Beneficiary Education [pp. 236-264]

`IS76.] bENEFICIARY EDUCATION. 243
the propagation of their religion. These pupils they collect
from the families of both the rich and the poor, some from~
orpbaned houses, some literally from the "highways and
hedges." To the support of these the worshipers at the temples gladly and liberally contribute. In most eastern countries
`the building and endowing of schools and seminaries, and the
,`~ratuitous instruction of the young, are regarded as acts emi~ently honorable, and to be recompensed in a future state.
The missionary, Ward, in his well-known HIstory oft/ic Hjndoos,
says, "No Hindoo teacher receives wages from his pupils. It
~s considered as. an act of very great merit to bestow learning.
He therefore endeavors to collect a subsistence at festivals,
;~nd by annual or more frequent tours among the rich, who
`readily support an individual thus devoting his time to the instruction of others."
"Romanism, too," to use the words of the Secretary of
the Presbyterian Board, "ever employs a wise and admirable
sagacity in selecting devoted and capable young persons, in dis~o~eflng their peculiarities and aptitudes, in training and em,ploying them through her various orders in the most effective
way, and in interesting her people to supply them with the
~means of comfortable maintenance and of ecclesiastical and
charitable activity. Her theological students are decently
dressed, well fed, and`abundantly provided for, as if they were
the cadets to whose fidelity, affection, and discipline she must
`trust in the stern conflicts of their generation."
Charlemagne, the Augustus of France, eleven centuries ago,
stood pre-eminent among earthly monarchs as the patron of
iearning and the priesthood. He invited the most eminent
men from other countries to plant in the French cities schools
~f literature and theology. The Emperor enriched these schools
with the spoils of war, and with the proceeds of the tillers,
which he enforced by law'. He loved the Word of God, especi~lly the Psalms and Gospels, and required a copy of the latter,
written in letters of gold, to be placed in his hand before his
burial. He induced many of the most capable young men t3
receive a suitable education, and then sent them to make known
~hristian truth among the pagan nations of the West which he
J~ad subdued.
The priesthood of the Roman Church, during the middle
i6