Their sagacity, industry and probity, which brought prosperity even in times of financial crises, gave their firm a stainless reputation. Their success, however, Mr. Colgate ascribed, in a spirit of genuine humility, to “God’s hand”
leading them and he prayed that the record might show he had been a faithful steward of his earnings.
A feeling of responsibility for Madison University was a family legacy for James B. Colgate and his brother, Samuel, who had continued in the flourishing soap business their father had established. Several of their relatives and friends were quite indifferent to Madison University and could not understand why the brothers should spend their time and money on “an insignificant Baptist school.”
A large part of the answer at least may be found in their reputation as two of the most committed Baptist laymen of their time. They were active in many denominational enterprises’ for which the institution had as its primary function the training of qualified young men. As he grew older, James B. Colgate believed more firmly than ever that religion and education should join forces; universities which stressed intellectual distinction without regard for Christian character he strongly opposed. He did not wish to impose Baptist doctrines on others but urged that the claims of religion in general be presented to students and he hoped that the trustees and faculty of Madison University might always be Baptist.
Prior to Dodge’s presidency, James B. Colgate, a Trustee since 1861, had already contributed generously to its needs, individually, and in association with his brothers, Samuel and Robert, and his partner, John B. Trevor. On his 70th birthday, 4 March 1888, after writing in his journal of his gratitude for health, family and friends he noted that
God has helped me with an abundance of this world’s goods. I hope I
shall make a wise use of them. As God’s steward, I have made some
distributions for His cause from time to time. I hope wisely, for in my
gifts I have tried to act conscientiously.
He felt generous giving to be a duty; no matter how little a man might earn, a percentage should be expended for charity. “The value of all you possess,”
he said to students in 1878, “grows out of the community in which you live. Therefore you are its debtor.”
Samuel Colgate had been a trustee of Madison University since 1857 but his particular interest was the Seminary and its supporting organization, the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York, which