President Seth Low 1896 Morningside Campus Dedication Remarks

We are met to-day to dedicate to a new use this historic ground. Already it is twice consecrated. In the Revolutionary War this soil drank the blood of patriots, willingly shed for the indepen dence of the land. Since then, for three generations, it has witnessed the union of science and of brotherly kindness devoted to the care of humanity suffering from the most mysterious of all the ills that flesh is heir to. To-day we dedicate it in the same spirit of loyalty to the country and of devotion to mankind to the inspiring uses of a vener able and historic university.

How characteristic all this is of the city of New York. As early as i686 Gov. Dongan, in his charter, spoke of the city as a "historic city." And indeed it is. Here was inaugurated the government of the United States under which we live, where Washing ton was sworn in as the first President of the new nation by Robert R. Livingston, a son of Columbia College. But how hard it is to preserve the sense of historic value in the midst of conditions that are undergoing perpetual change ! This is not even the first removal of Columbia College from its original site close by the City Hall. And yet we have courage to-day to hope that the university here will enter upon its permanent home. If this site were upon the ordinary grade of the city we should be no more secure here than we have been elsewhere. But upon this noble eminence, flanked to the east and west by parks and precipices, it would seem that we can continue to abide without fear of disturbance, at least until the navigation of the air supersedes the roadways of the solid earth and until, for that reason, business chooses the lofty places of the earth because of their accessibility in preference to the plains. In the meanwhile it is not to be forgotten that the life that is to inhabit the buildings that are rising here, the life that is to animate teacher and scholar, student and investigator alike, is the same full, rich life that has been gather ing power to serve and power to inspire, from generation to genera tion, during all the eventful years since it had its origin as King's College in the small city of New York in 1754. The things that are seen change and pass away ; but the things that are not seen endure.

It would be hard, I think, to find a situation more ideally suited to be the home of this university. Here Columbia will once again look out upon the waters of the Hudson as King's College looked out upon them so many years ago. And as she looks how can she fail to realize at once the vast continent behind her that she is set to serve, and the salt sea beyond her that washes the shores of many nations .and reminds her that God has made of one blood all the peoples of the earth. Both the water and the land upon which her vision falls are all aglow with historic interest. A university so situated must be blind indeed if it does not recognize its obligations reverently to study the past in order that it may faithfully serve the present, and courage ously trust the future. For in the past are to be found the origins of things, of nations, of institutions, of customs, of ideas, of beliefs, and a university that traces the development of these things through the ages must needs have much to say on the living questions of every age. This university, therefore, in our day must make itself a vital part of these times and of those that are to follow, by drawing out of its treasures things old and new. For if it be part of its mission to interpret to the present the meaning of the past, so it is equally a part of its duty to enlarge the life of the future by extending in every di rection the boundaries of human knowledge.

A university that is set on a hill cannot be hid. I count it a matter of no little moment that here, in its new home, Columbia can not escape the observation of the city, nor can the city escape from it. In the desire to be of service to the city, the university must ever find a potent inspiration. The university may not be indifferent to what is going on in the great city of which it is a part, and neither can the city forget, as it looks toward this hill, that there is in its midst in this university a life the great watchword of which is truth. The university by its very nature seeks first to learn the truth ; then it seeks to teach the truth ; and always it seeks to make men true to the truth they know. That is why, in my judgment, your college- bred men are so often idealists. The city may well cherish the uni versity as one of the forces that make for its own ideal life.

It is no small part of the suitableness of this site for the uses of the university, that the university here will find itself in the inspiring presence of so many other forces that make for the uplifting of the city. If New York is taunted in the years to come with being a city wholly given up to the love of money, she may well point to this eminence with its cathedral, its hospital, its educational institutions, its monument to General Grant and say : " These are my jewels ; these are the things my children care for more than they care for money —religion, philanthropy, education, patriotism ; therefore, I wear these things in my civic crown." The cathedral will remind the university that " the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork : that the earth also is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; " that here, even in the midst of all this splendor, " we have no continuing city ; " so that the university as it questions the heavens and the earth for their secrets shall do so reverently, 53 and yet fearlessly, in the confident expectation of the fulfillment of the promise graven from the beginning on the College seal, " In Thy light shall we see light."

I ask you also to notice how fortunately the hospital stands be tween the cathedral and the university; for if the hospital acquires from the cathedral its motive, it derives from the university its power. Modern medicine, modern surgery, and modern sanitation are all the children of the university ; so the hospital stands, it may well be hoped, as a type of the rich blessings that are in store for men, so that in the days to come science and religion in all things shall recognize each other as natural allies, without reserve. Patriotism is represented on this plateau by the tomb of General Grant ; and I am glad that the work of the university is to be done under the shadow of this monument. Here was a man who consecrated every power that he had to the preservation of his country on the dreadful field of war, and when the war was over, consecrated all the influence he had won at the head of our successful armies to the work of reuniting the country he had done so much to save.

It was no accident that his remains were followed to the tomb by men whom he had led and by men whom he had fought. I could not wish for young Americans preparing themselves in this university for their life's work a finer inspiration for all the duties of citizenship than is to be gained in the contemplation of that silent monitor. And thus the university will do its work in its new home in the midst of all these ennobling influences, at once inspiring and being inspired. It is an interesting circumstance, I think, that the university is the central figure of the entire group ; certainly not because education is entitled to dominate either religion or patriotism, but because education should so certainly serve both. In order that the foundations of our new home may be laid deep in love of country, and in the hope that a patriotism that shall know neither fear nor reproach may always be characteristic of this university and of all connected with it, arrangements have been made to receive to-day from Lafayette Post, G. A. R., a national flag that was tendered to the university by the Post several years ago. It is the purpose of the Post to present to the university a handsome base and standard for the flag, but it is not possible as yet to give to these their proper places. The flag to be presented to-day will fly, therefore, from a temporary staff; but itwill hallow the ground none the less, for it is the flag of our country. The ceremony of presenting the flag will now take place.