This topic involves two preliminary questions and two main questions. The preliminary questions are, What is meant by “athletics”? and, What is meant by “college”? The main questions are, What is the place which athletics should occupy in college work? and, What kinds of athletics are best adapted to accomplish this purpose?
The term “athletics” is commonly understood to mean outdoor sports, games, and exercises, as distinguished from gymnastics, or those exercises which are conducted within the gymnasium. To this meaning the discussion will adhere.
The only question about the meaning of the term “college” in the topic grows out of the fact that this Association is composed entirely of Christian denominational colleges. The men present to-day are Christian men, the representatives of these Christian colleges; hence it would seem to be hardly worth our while to discuss the place of athletics in secular or State colleges. I therefore understand the term as referring to Christian colleges; and from this standpoint shall proceed to the discussion of the first of the main questions, restated as follows:—
What is the place of outdoor games and exercises in a Christian college?
Place refers to rank or importance or appropriateness of related objects. What place, for example, should Bible study have in a Christian college?—A very high place indeed. The Bible is the handbook of Christianity, and hence its place would be found in the front rank of studies in a Christian college. What place should the study of agriculture have in such a college?—Clearly it would not be out of place. Indeed, it is deserving of a higher place than it has; for not only are its study and practise in harmony with Christianity, but they can be shown to be conducive to the growth of the principles of Christianity. However, no one would think of according to agriculture as high a place as to the Bible in the curriculum of a Christian college. What place should the study and practise of gambling have in a Christian college?—None whatever. Gambling is subversive of the aims of Christianity, and would be entirely out of place in a Christian college.
Similarly, we must ascertain the place of athletics in the work of a Christian college. Is that place in the front rank as becoming a matter of greatest importance? Is it subordinate, as something in harmony with the aims of a Christian college and helpful in reaching those aims? Or are athletic games entirely out of keeping with the work of a Christian college? The only way of reaching a satisfactory answer to these questions is by considering the aims and purposes of a Christian college, and noting whether athletics are in harmony with such aims and purposes and adapted to their promotion.
A Christian college is a place where men go to obtain a general summary of the world’s knowledge, to learn how to interpret this knowledge in the light of the teachings of Jesus Christ, and to prepare to use in the world’s work the knowledge thus gained as the great Founder of the Christian religion would do if he were in their place. Christian colleges should not pattern after the colleges of the world. They have a mission peculiarly their own; viz., to stem the tide of worldliness and commercialism, which at present threatens to sweep everything before it, and to hold aloft the banner of Christian principles, in following which is found the world’s only hope of salvation. Anything adapted in its nature, and shown by experience, to be good for promoting Christian principles should be welcomed to a large place in such a college. How stands the case with athletics?
One of the fundamental principles of Christianity is this, that the body, as the instrument of the soul and the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit, should be kept as free from defilement and as perfect in health as possible. This principle is thus stated: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Rom. 12: 1. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Cor. 3: 16, 17. “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6: 19, 20.
It is clear, therefore, that anything which promises to promote the health of the body and to develop and build up its various organs is entitled to a place in the work of a Christian college. Now the practise of athletics makes this very promise, and with large show of fulfilment. It calls the student out of stuffy rooms into the open air, floods his lungs with life-giving oxygen, sweeps the poisonous gases from his blood, and sends him back to his books with mind invigorated for its work. It gives exercise to his muscles, develops strength, courage, and endurance, cultivates accuracy and skill in the use of his members, and, in short, prepares the body to become the ready and efficient instrument of the mind. All these results are conducive to the growth of Christian character and the practise of Christian principles, and hence that which produces them should have an honorable place in a Christian college.
But that place should be a subordinate one. There are matters more important than the cultivation of the bodily powers. The soul powers are more important than those of the body. As Watts replied when the queen asked in disappointed surprise, “Is this the great Dr. Watts?”—
“Were I so tall to reach the pole,
Or mete the ocean with my span,
I must be measured by my soul,
The mind’s the measure of the man.”
It is important to cultivate the powers of the body, but it is more important to develop the powers of the soul. By athletic exercises the body may be made strong to subvert the principles of Christianity. Whether the cultivation of the bodily25powers is a blessing or a curse depends upon the mental and moral powers which control the body for good or ill. Clearly, then, the place of athletics in a Christian college is subordinate to the main work of such a college.
This conclusion would not seem worth stating if it were not for the fact that athletics sometimes seem to occupy a more prominent place than morals, judging by the attention they receive and the excitement they occasion. How large a place should athletics occupy in college life? This is a difficult question to answer. Before attempting to do so, it may be well to consider some of the dangers growing out of the practise of athletics. It was President Roosevelt who said that “athletic sports, if followed properly, . . . are admirable for developing character.” But what if they are not followed properly? What if, for example, they are followed so immoderately as to injure the body? What if they absorb so much of the student’s time and strength as to leave little of either for his lessons? What if they develop so great a desire for the mastery that foul means for winning are used, as well as fair? What if in the pursuit of athletics the passions are so aroused that life and limb are in jeopardy, and games of strength and skill become slugging matches? What if they become the occasion of regular betting? What if limbs are broken and scores of lives are annually sacrificed in the worship of athletics? That these evils are well-nigh inherent in the system as commonly followed is evident from their prevalence in spite of public sentiment and the efforts of colleges to allay them. But these evils are contrary to the principles of Christianity and subversive to the end of a Christian college. Unless they can be cured, the place of athletics in a Christian college is small indeed. If I were asked to define it, I would say: A place large enough to secure the advantages of open-air games, but small enough to exclude the evils that have been mentioned. What this place is will appear more clearly in the discussion of the final question, What kinds of athletics are appropriate in a Christian college?
Here men will differ in judgment, according to their conception of a Christian college and their perception of the fitness of things. I shall therefore content myself with noting three classes of athletic games, and expressing my opinion merely as to what place they should occupy in a Christian college:—
First, those games which furnish good exercise, call forth only gentle rivalry, and do not commonly have evils connected with them; such as, walking, rowing, running, swimming, skating, jumping, vaulting, and bicycling. These I would accord a place in a Christian college, as being likely to do good and not harm.
Second, those games played in teams, where the rivalry is more pronounced, but still friendly and not rising to the point of ill feeling, and where the danger from accident and overexertion is comparatively small. Here I would mention baseball, basket-ball, tennis, lacross, quoits, and tug of war. These I would admit, but would safeguard them by prohibiting match games, which are liable to arouse ill feeling and stimulate to overexertion.
Third, three very popular amusements—football, boxing, wrestling—I would exclude entirely, as tending to develop the same characteristics as did the games of ancient Rome; namely, love of domination, pride in mere brute force, and disregard of life. It will be observed that in these games the strength and skill of each actor is exerted largely upon the person of his antagonist, which is doubtless the reason why these games have a strong tendency to arouse ill feeling.
It should not be forgotten that “the tendency of most athletic sports is a subject of anxious thought to those who have at heart the well-being of the youth. Teachers are troubled as they consider their influence on the students’ progress in school. Frequently they are carried to excess. Their influence does not always tend toward refinement, generosity, or real manliness. They stimulate the love of pleasure and excitement, and thus foster a distaste for useful labor and a disposition to shun practical duties and responsibilities. They tend to destroy a relish for life’s sober realities and its tranquil enjoyments, thus opening the door to dissipation and lawlessness.” Hence I may be pardoned, in conclusion, for calling attention to some nearly obsolete forms of athletics known as plowing, hoeing, digging, pitching, spading, sowing, planting, pruning, reaping, etc. It is true that this suggestion is like the doctor’s prescription, between the lines of which his patient thought he could read the word “work;” but nevertheless, if carried out, it might solve some of the perplexing problems which now surround the question of athletics. If our Christian colleges had farms and extensive gardens to cultivate, the students would be interested in these forms of recreation, and would not only receive the benefits of fresh air, pleasant exercise, and genial sunshine, but would be impressed with the dignity of labor, and would learn the great lesson that all creatures have a part to act in the economy of God.