In the year 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople, and “many Greek scholars took refuge in Italy. The times were propitious for them.” Let it be remembered that this was one of the mileposts in the history of the Dark Ages. The Latin tongue had been the universal language during the days of papal supremacy. There was an uprising against the tyranny of the papacy over thought, and the modern tongues began to appear. In order to stem the tide without losing ground, the papacy turned the attention of men’s minds to Greek classics rather than to the Bible of Wyclif or Erasmus, and a little later to the writings of Luther. Indeed, for the papacy the “times were propitious.” “Noble and wealthy patronage was not lacking, and under its fostering care they (the Greeks) became for a time the teachers of Europe. _They succeeded in kindling a remarkable enthusiasm for antiquity._ Manuscripts were collected, translations were made, _academies were established_, and libraries were founded. Several of the popes became generous patrons of ancient learning.... Eager scholars from England, France, and Germany sat at the feet of Italian masters, in order afterward to bear beyond the Alps the precious seed of the new culture.”[43] Painter further gives the effects of this spread of Greek classics: “In Italy it tended strongly to _paganize_ its adherents. Ardor for antiquity became at last intoxication. Infidelity prevailed in the highest ranks of the church; Christianity was despised as a superstition; immorality abounded in the most shameful forms. The heathenism of Athens was revived in Christian Rome.” And scholars from England, France, and Germany sat at the feet of these heathen teachers, drinking in their philosophy, and then hastening across the Alps to propagate these ideas in the schools for the education of the young. This was the influence against which the Reformation had to fight. It is from Oxford, Cambridge, and the universities of Germany and France that American colleges and universities have imbibed these same pagan ideas. [Sidenote: Nature of the classics] The classics form the backbone of paganism, as _the Bible forms the basis of Christian education_. The classics are enduring, because they are the highest product of the human mind. The recent move in educational circles, and on the part of some of our leading colleges against the study of the “humanities” (the Greek and Latin classics), and in favor of the study of “moderns” (that is, science, modern languages, and history), can never reach a point of stability until the Bible is put in its proper position as an educational factor, for to push out the classics without putting in their place that which is equally as strong, _if not stronger_, is useless. A reaction is inevitable, and the classics will be returned to their old-time place of honor. Christian education in its simplicity is the only alternative.