(March 11, 1796–September 30, 1865), was an American clergyman, author and educator. He was the president of Brown University, 1827–55, and the first president of the American Institute of Instruction, 1830. He was instrumental in devising the school system for Providence, Rhode Island. A graduate of Union College and Harvard University, Francis Wayland wrote: Elements of Moral Science, 1835; Elements of Political Economy, 1837; Thoughts on the Present Collegiate System in the United States, 1842; and A Memoir of the Life of the Rev. Adoniram Judson, D.D., 1842. As a well recognized American clergyman, Francis Wayland stated:
That the truths of the Bible have the power of awakening an intense moral feeling in every human being; that they make bad men good, and send a pulse of healthful feeling through all the domestic, civil, and social relations;
that they teach men to love right, and hate wrong, and seek each other’s welfare as children of a common parent; that they control the baleful passions of the heart, and thus make men proficient in self government;
and finally that they teach man to aspire after conformity to a Being of infinite holiness, and fill him with hopes more purifying, exalted, and suited to his nature than any other book the world has ever known—these are facts as incontrovertible as the laws of philosophy, or the demonstrations of mathematics.2105