250 History of Universities
colonial college was religious. It was the nature of their faith
that made Puritans more keen on education than any other
class of Englishmen—the same reason that led Calvinist
Scotland, Switzerland, and The Netherlands, to do more for
education than many larger and wealthier countries. A sup-
ply of learned clergy was an imperious necessity if the Puritan
way of life were to continue; and the experience of Virginia
showed the difficulty of importing competent clergy from the
Old Country. In a ritualistic church, a mere formal educa-
tion would enable a minister to “get by” ; but the Puritans
required men “mighty in Scripture” to expound the Word.
The teaching function, implicit in every Christian ministry,
was explicit and almost exclusive in the Puritan ministry. And
in those simple days teachers were supposed to know the sub-
ject they professed, not merely to be trained in teaching
methods by teachers’ teachers at teachers’ colleges. Hence
no amount of godliness, good will, or inspiration could com-
pensate for want of learning. Down to the American Revo-
lution and beyond, only a “learned” minister could qualify
for a Congregational, Anglican, or Presbyterian Church in
the Colonies. He must be learned not only in the Sacred
Tongues, but in the vast literature of exegesis and interpreta-
tion that had grown up around the Scriptures. There was
nothing more dangerous and detestable, in the eyes of most
English Protestants, than an uneducated preacher presuming
to interpret Scripture out of his own head.
Thus, as an early pamphlet, “New Englands First Fruits,”
puts it : “After God had carried us safe to New England, and
wee had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our
Iiveli-hood, rear’d convenient places for Gods worship, and
setled the Civill Government: One of the next things we
longed for, and looked after was to advance Learning, and
perpetuate it to Posterity, dreading to lave an illiterate