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 Ferguson, Robert Gracey 
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 BACCALAUREATE 
 SERMONS 
 
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 BY 
 
 R. G. FERGUSON 
 
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 L»br. o-( religious tnoucfht-. 
 
 BOSTON 
 RICHARD G. BADGER 
 
 THE GORHAM PRESS 
 
Copyright, 1919, by Richabd G. Badges 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 Made in the United States of America 
 
 The Gorhara Press, Boston, U.S.A. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Two reasons influence me in publishing these Bacca- 
 laureate Sermons. 
 
 First and chiefly to meet the expressed wish of many 
 of " my boys and girls " of several college generations. 
 They are all over our great country from Maine to 
 California and from Oregon to Florida; they are all over 
 the world — in China, Japan, India, Egypt, Persia and 
 other missionary fields; they are in goodly number 
 " Somewhere in France " and with khaki-clad men in 
 other lands. I have had and still have them in my heart 
 and their desire has with me something of the force of a 
 command. But a second reason is the hope that when 
 my few years are ended I may still be preaching a little 
 to those who may read the book. 
 
 The sermons are given with scarcely any change, with 
 the local and temporal coloring retained. 
 
 I commenced work in Westminster College in 1884 
 and I am still with it in 191 8. My successors in the 
 office of the Presidency — Rev. Robert McWatty Russell, 
 D.D., from 1906 to 1915, now of the Moody Bible School 
 and Rev. Wm. Charles Wallace, D.D., the present in- 
 cumbent have both shown me great courtesy and good 
 will and have encouraged me to remain with the College. 
 This I have been glad to do and to contribute however 
 little to the prosperity and usefulness of the institution 
 as a servant of Christ and His Church. Bivat, creseat, 
 floreat, Westminster! 
 
 New Wilmington, Pa. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 SfcHMON PAGE 
 
 I Individuality 9 
 
 II A Young Man's Courage .... 21 
 
 III " And Who Is My Neighbor? " . . . 32 
 
 IV Complicity with Crime 44 
 
 V SOBER-MINDEDNESS 56 
 
 VI Obedience 68 
 
 VII The Importance of Words . . . .81 
 
 VIII Truth in the Inward Parts ... 93 
 
 IX The Christian Race 105 
 
 X Alone, Yet Not Alone 121 
 
 XI The Girdle of Righteousness . . .136 
 
 XII Bible Ethics . 150 
 
 XIII Work 164 
 
 XIV The Ministry of Service . . . .178 
 XV Decision vs. Drifting 192 
 
 XVI The Final Test of Heroism . . . 203 
 
 XVII Followers of Christ 214 
 
 XVIII Knights of the Cross 228 
 
 XIX The Manliness of Christ .... 242 
 
 XX Him That Is True 253 
 
 XXI Recruits for the Army of the Lord . 266 
 
 5 
 
BACCALAUREATE SERMONS 
 
BACCALAUREATE SERMONS 
 
 SERMON I, 1886 
 
 INDIVIDUALITY 
 Then I consulted with myself. — Nehemiah 5: 7. 
 
 THE condition of things in Jerusalem at this time 
 was already ominous and daily growing worse. 
 In meeting the common danger from foes without, at- 
 tention had been withdrawn from another danger that 
 was silently, yet rapidly developing within. There were 
 inequalities and oppressions. The rich were taking ad- 
 vantage of the necessities of the poor. Lands were mort- 
 gaged and children were sold into bondage. The rich 
 were growing richer and the poor were getting poorer. 
 The pangs of poverty were keenly felt and there was 
 despair of any immediate improvement of their condi- 
 tion. At length a cry arose, a wail of agony and an ap- 
 peal for redress. There were many notes of complaint 
 — yet they were all of one strain. There was an out- 
 cry of men and women who were in straits to get bread, 
 who could hardly solve the problem of mere living, who 
 were tearfully parting with everything they held dear to 
 keep soul and body together. If not a bread-riot, it was 
 like the muttering that presages such a storm of human 
 passion. The elements were marshalling for a serious 
 disturbance of the peace and prosperity of the community 
 of which Nehemiah was the head. 
 
 Well was it that such a large-hearted, self-poised, 
 resolute man was at the helm of affairs or his enterprise 
 
 9 
 
io Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 might have been shipwrecked on the very verge of suc- 
 cess. 
 
 Nehemiah was indignant. His strong nature was 
 roused by the unbrotherly conduct of the wealthy Jews. 
 His own simple statement is " I was very angry." His 
 whole soul was moved by a deep and intense resentment 
 against the wrong that was done which constrained him 
 to rebuke the wrong-doers. He did not however lose his 
 balance and rush headlong into unwise contention. With 
 equal self-control he adjusted himself to the situation. 
 " Then I consulted with myself and contended with the 
 nobles and the rulers." He did not take counsel of his 
 clique or club or order. He did not watch to discover 
 what way the prevailing winds were blowing. He had 
 not surrendered his manhood to the keeping of others, 
 be they many or few and therefore when the exigency 
 arose he says — " I consulted with myself." Perhaps the 
 example of Nehemiah may emphasize a lesson or two 
 worth learning for those who are just pushing out from 
 the shore with the oars in their own hands. 
 
 I. Nehemiah 's soul was in his own keeping. 
 
 Personality has been described as " that in man which 
 enables him to say I." Not only can he be distinguished 
 but he distinguishes himself from every other. In a sub- 
 dued sense that line of Wordsworth might be spoken of 
 every human being — " Thy soul was like a star and dwelt 
 apart." There is that in each of us which no other 
 shares. It belongs to one alone — it constitutes him 
 what he is. If we have a personality of the same nature 
 as that of others, which we may recognize in them as well 
 as in ourselves, it is none the less true that we are sep- 
 arated from one another by the whole breadth of being. 
 We are conscious of self as existing apart from every 
 other and give expression to the fact in our common 
 modes of speech— "I" and "Thou" and "He" or 
 " She." 
 
 But not only are we distinct from each other as per- 
 
Individuality 1 1 
 
 sons, but we are diverse from each other as individuals. 
 There are peculiarities of form and feature, of intellect, 
 sensibilities and will that make each of us differ from 
 every other. When we call one a poet; another a 
 thinker, another a philanthropist, another a hero, we are 
 simply labeling them so as to set forth their prominent 
 individual characteristics. You think over your as- 
 sociates in class and hall and you say of one — " He is a 
 keen observer," of another — " He has a wonderful 
 memory," of another — " He will have his own way," of 
 another — " He is the soul of honor." You say of one — 
 " She has a brilliant imagination," of another, " She has 
 more intellect than she gives herself credit for," of an- 
 other, " Her cheerful honest face was a perpetual bene- 
 diction," of another, " She was reverent toward God and 
 every sacred thing." But what is the meaning of these 
 statements? What but this that these are the impres- 
 sions of their individual characters that have been stamped 
 upon you by your association with them, while similar 
 impressions of your individual character have been fas- 
 tened in their minds by the fellowship of months and 
 years. 
 
 But why has the Creator thus set us apart from one 
 another and given us such diverse endowments? Is it 
 not to make monotony impossible ? Is not our individual- 
 ity given us as a charge to keep? Let it not be surren- 
 dered at the bidding of any, nor stolen away while we 
 sleep. We but serve our common humanity when we 
 hold our rightful God-given place, when we fill up the 
 deficiencies of one another by using the powers which God 
 has given in the field which God has assigned. There 
 is a proper assertion of one's individuality and of this 
 Nehemiah gives us a right noble example. Sensible of 
 the responsibility of his high position and conscious of his 
 own powers he " consulted with himself " how he should 
 act in this trying hour. He belonged to himself and had 
 not submitted himself to the keeping of another. 
 
12 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 I know there are many offensive ways of asserting our- 
 selves against which we do well to guard. Here rises 
 the egotist who is constantly thrusting his personality on 
 the attention of others, who is absorbed in thoughts of 
 self and pours them out of the abundance of his heart 
 on long-suffering and disgusted hearers. Here sits an- 
 other stubbornly planted in the path of progress, like a 
 stump in the middle of the road, content if he is only giv- 
 ing uncomfortable jolts to every passer-by. Yonder 
 comes another with lightning in his eye and thunder in 
 his voice and power in his hand, imperious, domineering, 
 crushing every other man's individuality in order to main- 
 tain his own. All these we condemn without hesitation 
 and without stint. But shall we fly from one extreme to 
 another? Shall we descend from imperiousness to im- 
 becility? If there be undue self-assertion there is also un- 
 due self-repression. There is a time to speak as well as 
 to be silent — a time to speak brave earnest words of 
 counsel or rebuke. There is a time to withstand as well 
 as to coincide, a time for fearless action as well as for 
 patient submission. No man has a right to barter away 
 his birthright of independent thought and action for what- 
 ever mess of pottage is promised him. 
 
 It is true that college life does not always encourage 
 that sturdiness of character for which we speak. The 
 individual is swallowed up in the mass. Thomas Arnold 
 of Rugby counted this the bane of the Public Schools of 
 England and unless the public sentiment be a healthy 
 one, it is apt to be the bane of schools and colleges with 
 us. Dean Stanley, speaking of Arnold's desire to culti- 
 vate in his pupils an abhorrence of evil, says of him — 
 " Amongst all the causes which in his judgment contrib- 
 uted to the absence of this feeling and to the moral 
 childishness which he considered the great curse of public 
 schools the chief seemed to him to lie in the spirit which 
 was there encouraged of combination, of companionship, 
 of excessive deference to the public opinion prevalent in 
 
Individuality 1 3 
 
 the school." Let us cherish the hope that in this little 
 world of ours we are coming to the ideal condition in 
 which in any matter each may have an opinion of his or 
 her own and suffer no loss of general respect and esteem 
 but rather the contrary. 
 
 But out in that great world to which some of you are 
 about to go there may be yet stronger foes to your in- 
 dividuality. You will be enticed to put a noose about 
 your neck. It will be lined with fair promises of benefits 
 and decked with flowers of plausible speech. But if it 
 fetters the mind and hinders the free exercise of judg- 
 ment and conscience it is an enemy in disguise. Mr. Mill 
 says truly — " Even despotism does not produce its worst 
 effects as long as individuality exists under it; and what- 
 ever crushes individuality is despotism by whatever name 
 it may be called." Beware of everything that would rob 
 you of that which is emphatically your own. Let noth- 
 ing — custom, fashion, public opinion, party lash, associa- 
 tion or order — override or delude you to give up your 
 ownership of yourself. To thine own self be true. 
 
 Who is it will not dare himself to trust : 
 Who is it hath not strength to stand alone : 
 Who is it thwarts and bilks the inward must: 
 He and his works like sand are blown. 
 
 Seek if you will the counsel of your wise and faithful 
 friend but accept no Lord and lawgiver but the Divine. 
 Preserve through all the years the manly strength — the 
 womanly dignity to consult with yourself concerning the 
 course you pursue. Respond for yourself with Joshua — 
 " As for me I will serve the Lord." Answer with a ring- 
 ing " NO " the enticements of evil. 
 
 In the world's broad field of battle, 
 In the bivouac of life, 
 Be not like dumb driven cattle; 
 Be a hero in its strife. 
 
14 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 II. Nehemiah took counsel of his higher nature. 
 
 " He consulted with himself." He stopped to think 
 instead of acting on the noble impulse of the moment. 
 His course was not taken from a mere outburst of feeling 
 — a momentary flash — a sudden dart. This only 
 moved him to prompt consideration of the present evil and 
 such decisive action as the case demanded. But with 
 what elements of his nature did he consult? Certainly 
 not with the lower, for the very idea of counsel with them 
 is utterly incongruous. Appetite and passion brook no 
 restraint and to parley with them is to become their slave. 
 Says Paul — " I buffet my body and bring it into bondage 
 lest by any means when I have preached to others I my- 
 self should be rejected." How sad it is when this is re- 
 versed and the body has supreme lordship over the Spirit! 
 Alas! how many noble minds and generous hearts have 
 been reduced to the most abject bondage by the appetite 
 for drink, and how many more fall into the deeper degra- 
 dation — the bottomless pit of lust. 
 
 Nehemiah took counsel of his higher nature — of his 
 reason and conscience — of all within him that brought 
 him into kinship with the angels and with God. 
 
 First of all he consulted his conscience. He raised that 
 prime question that should take precedence of every other 
 in deciding upon a course of action, " What ought I to 
 do? " His sense of justice caused him to sympathize with 
 the oppressed whose despairing cry fell upon his ear. 
 Nor did his emotions evaporate without producing any 
 impulse to right action. He knew that with him rested 
 the right solution of the problem presented and con- 
 scientiously set himself to solve it. Having determined 
 what he ought to do, he asked further — How can I best 
 do it? He did not cling to principles and ignore means. 
 Having settled the question of principle he sought with 
 all diligence and candor the speediest and best way of 
 securing its triumph. There are those who plunge into 
 the battle and leave their wisdom behind them with their 
 
Individuality 1 5 
 
 forsaken baggage. They run wild and lose their power 
 to consider clearly and honestly what the times demand. 
 If they do better than those who, though interested in the 
 right, lazily dismiss it from their minds they do less than 
 is worthy of themselves or the cause they espouse. 
 Surely the cause that has enough in it to fire our souls 
 with zeal has also enough in it to engage our earnest 
 thought — to cause us to look before we leap. 
 
 And who can doubt that Nehemiah turned his thoughts 
 heavenward in that hour of serious consideration? It 
 was impossible that he should exclude God from that con- 
 sultation with himself. Is not He a part of the neces- 
 sary environment of every human soul? Does he not en- 
 velop our souls as the atmosphere envelops these bodies 
 of ours? My conscience within me is the "voice of 
 God," and every intuition of right brings me into the 
 presence of the Divine Lawgiver. My indwelling sense 
 of dependence leads out my thoughts to an Omnipotent 
 Father on whom I can lean. I stretch forth my hand 
 and everything I touch in nature reminds me of an In- 
 telligent First Cause. I turn over the leaves of the past 
 and as I watch them closely there comes out upon them 
 so that I must read it — The hand of God is here. Ah 
 no! We cannot seclude ourselves from the " Father of 
 our spirits," whose handiwork is the created universe and 
 whose unceasing care extends to every smallest part of it. 
 Few men lived more in the joyous consciousness of divine 
 presence than did Nehemiah. When he heard the har- 
 rowing tale of Hanani concerning the desolations of Jeru- 
 salem he sat down and wept and fasted and prayed for 
 days together. He thought if he could only enlist the 
 King but he knew not how. The burden of his soul 
 during his long season of prayer was — " Grant mercy in 
 the sight of this man." As the King's cupbearer he went 
 into the King's presence, but contrary to his usual custom 
 with a sad countenance. And when he told the reason 
 and the King opened the door of opportunity by asking — 
 
16 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 " For what dost thou make request? " he did not spring 
 forward to enter it but silently prayed to the God of 
 heaven for guidance lest he should make mistake. 
 Alas! how often when flushed with unexpected successes 
 and large opportunities are opened up before us instead 
 of being solemnized we are only emboldened and in our 
 pride and self-confidence we prepare for a fall. Ne- 
 hemiah took God with him all along the way. When he 
 reached the holy city he says — " I told them of the hand 
 of my God which was good upon me." When enemies 
 sought to hinder the good work he records — showing 
 how he combined energy with piety, vigilance with faith 
 — " We made our prayer unto God and set a watch 
 against them day and night." Former governors took 
 tribute of the people and their servants bare rule over 
 them but he solemnly affirms — "So did not I because 
 of the fear of God." Can we then doubt that in this 
 transaction with himself there was an invisible Witness 
 whose presence was recognized? If his life be all of a 
 piece, this counsel with himself in all probability took 
 place on the house-top where Peter prayed at mid-day or 
 in a private chamber such as that of Daniel. He was 
 alone, except that God was with him. He whose name 
 is Counsellor was by his side, suffusing his mind and heart 
 with His Spirit. 
 
 Reason ! Conscience ! God ! 
 
 Would that we could write these words upon your 
 memories, yea imprint them upon your characters. 
 Would that we everyone of us could exalt them to their 
 supremacy over our souls! Thus would we be brought 
 into fellowship with all the truly great ones that have 
 ever lived upon the earth. Who are they that shall be 
 held in everlasting remembrance, that the ages to come 
 will love to hear about? More and more as Christianity 
 gains the ascendency will military glory and unsanctified 
 brilliancy drop out of the consideration of men. But as 
 long as the ages last those whose names are linked with 
 
Individuality 1 7 
 
 the elevation of mankind, with liberty and truth and right, 
 will never be forgotten. The men of conscience and the 
 men of God are those whom the world will not willingly 
 let die. Paul will outlive the Caesars; Luther and 
 Wesley will outlive the reigning princes of their times, 
 Garrison will outlive Clay; Whittier will outlive Emer- 
 son ; Nehemiah has outlived Artaxerxes. 
 
 Young ladies and gentlemen of the graduating class, 
 problems are already presenting themselves to you requir- 
 ing prompt solution, problems that no other can solve 
 for you, problems that either time or you will settle. 
 You with your own vigorous grasp or time with its on- 
 ward flow. Which will it be? 
 
 To everyone of you has already come again and again 
 that solemn question of Pilate — What shall I do with 
 Jesus? Has your answer thus far been what you in- 
 tend it shall be before life closes? Would that we could 
 part company with everyone of you in the confident as- 
 surance that Christ is formed within you the hope of glory. 
 If some of you have said " He is mine " what place have 
 you given Him within you? Is he in the very center — 
 on the very throne of your being? Do you rest in his 
 Love? Do you bow to his will? What are you doing 
 with Jesus? What does your higher nature bid you do 
 with him ? Reason and conscience both say — Let him 
 be enthroned high above every rival claimant for posses- 
 sion of our souls. He only is truly wise who is wise for 
 eternity and wise today. Soon if you are not already 
 there, you will be confronted by another question of 
 very serious import. What use shall I make of my gifts 
 and attainments? Undoubtedly providential opportuni- 
 ties will be a large determining factor here. Yet there 
 is always a large domain in every life in which there is 
 liberty of choice. We may consult with ourselves and 
 the conclusion will correspond with our ideals and gen- 
 eral purposes. Let us urge upon you here also to make 
 Reason, Conscience and God, your advising cabinet. 
 
Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Ask yourself — "What am I fitted for? In what direc- 
 tion do my divinely given powers point me? In what 
 avocation am I likely to be successful ? Ask yourself — 
 Where are the moral risks so great that I dare not ven- 
 ture on them? In what line will I be likely to develop 
 the best character? Where can I do the most good? 
 Ask God to shine upon your way, to be your interpreter 
 of events, to lead you whithersoever He would have you 
 go. As the wise men followed the Star in the East so 
 do you follow these guiding stars of your higher nature 
 toward the sunset of life and they will lead you beyond 
 the hills that skirt your horizon into a wide country where 
 all is clear and pure and joyous forever. May the Lord 
 guide everyone of you by his counsel and afterward re- 
 ceive you to glory. 
 
 Other problems will present themselves to you as you 
 go, some intricate, others sharply defined, some requiring 
 wisdom, others courage. Some will belong to you per- 
 sonally, others you will meet in common with your fel- 
 lows. In every age there are great questions of Church 
 and State, of morals and reform. Where shall you settle 
 them for yourself? Where but at the bar of your own 
 reason and conscience? Take no heed to public clamor. 
 Yield not to the dictation of either good men or bad. 
 Make God's law as revealed in conscience and the Bible 
 your standard. Seek God's spirit as the illuminator of 
 your understanding. Endeavor to act rationally, con- 
 scientiously and christianly and surely you cannot go far 
 astray. These are stirring times in which we live. 
 Sometimes the very foundation seems to be giving way. 
 Who shall guard and maintain the pillar of social order? 
 Who shall stand at the breach? There is need of true- 
 hearted women and right-hearted men — of moral, 
 thoughtful, law-abiding, God-fearing men and women, 
 with intelligence enough to discern the follies of wild 
 theorists and force enough to resist their designs. No 
 " reed shaken with the wind " will do. But what can 
 
In dividuality 1 9 
 
 you or I do? We seem like the almost invisible mote 
 in the air, that the sunbeam discovers to us, or like a drop 
 of water falling into the sea. But not so! Who can 
 tell the value of a single noble life? It may not be great 
 in itself as the world judges and yet be felt the world 
 over through other lives which it has influenced. It 
 maybe the slender cord that draws the mighty cable that 
 spans the moral chasm. The pious little maid in 
 Naanan's house had an influence that was great as well 
 as Esther in the palace. Even a single voice crying in 
 the wilderness may prepare the way for the coming of 
 Jesus. Let us not then take a despairing view of life. 
 Go forth hopefully, strong in your conscious integrity, 
 strong in the truth that has taken possession of you and 
 above all strong in God. Go forth with love to God and 
 men, unselfishly consulting your nobler self, with the pur- 
 pose to do good to men as you have opportunity, to make 
 your lives a blessing to mankind. 
 
 Let me commend to your attention that picture of a 
 loyal soul, drawn by the master hand of Milton — 
 
 Among the faithless, faithful only he ; 
 
 Among the innumerable false unmoved, 
 
 Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified 
 
 His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal, 
 
 Nor number, nor example with him wrought 
 
 To swerve from truth, nor change his constant mind. 
 
 And remember that a greater than Milton has said, 
 as one having both authority and power, " Be ye faithful 
 unto death and I will give thee a crown of life." May 
 that crown be put upon the head of everyone of } r ou. " I 
 consulted with myself," I need scarcely say, does not mean 
 making self the center of one's being. There is a wide 
 gulf between being self-centered and self-mastered, be- 
 tween living for self and living from self. 
 
 In The Life of Henry Drummond by Dr. George Adam 
 Smith is related the following illustrative fact: 
 
20 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 There was a medical student a year or two ago who 
 was half-way through his course when it dawned upon 
 him that he had been living for himself and he decided 
 to change and go and see if he could find anyone to help. 
 He found an old chum who had gone to the dogs, given 
 up his work and his exams and was living aloof from 
 other students and drinking hard. He went and found 
 him lying on the floor drunk. He paid his debts, took 
 him to his room, gave him supper and put him to bed. 
 On the next day he had a talk with him and they entered 
 into a written contract to keep them both straight as fol- 
 lows — 
 
 i. Neither of us to go out alone. 
 
 2. Twenty minutes only to be allowed to go to the 
 college and return ; overtime to be accounted for. 
 
 3. One hour every night to be given over to reading 
 other than studies. 
 
 4. That bygones be bygones. 
 
 Both men signed and they lived together. After a time 
 No. 2 saw that in the evening hour outside of studies the 
 Bible was read. No. 1 never spoke to him about it; he 
 simply read — At last No. 2 changed. What he changed 
 to I need not say. The last I heard of them was this — 
 says the narrator. No. 1 is filling an appointment of 
 great importance in London. No. 2 passed his exams 
 that year with the highest university distinction and is 
 now in private practice. 
 
 It was a splendid piece of self-mastery and self-sacrifice. 
 Did it pay? Though no life here calls for such heroic 
 devotion, it may suggest to us how admirable a thing 
 it is to be the helper of another to an overcoming life. 
 Will you consult with yourself about it? 
 
SERMON II, 1887 
 
 A YOUNG MAN'S COURAGE 
 
 Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and 
 fight with this Philistine. — / Samuel 17: 32. 
 
 CHARLES KINGSLEY says of David — " A great 
 man — warrior, statesman, king, poet, prophet. A 
 man of many joys and many sorrows, many virtues and 
 many crimes; but through them all every inch a man." 
 The prophet Samuel predicting the downfall of Saul and 
 the elevation of another to his place speaks of David as 
 the Lord's choice and " the man after God's own heart." 
 He was a man of the people and a man of God. He won 
 the hearts of the people because God had won his own 
 heart. He was manly because he was godly. He was 
 manly enough to be sorry for sin and to say so with a 
 heartiness that inspired new confidence. Let him who 
 confounds pride with nobleness, stubbornness with firm- 
 ness, insolence with courage, learn a lesson of humility and 
 penitence and even passionate confession of sin from this 
 hero of the valley of Elah. He was never more manly 
 than when he cried out of the depths of his soul — " I 
 acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before 
 me." 
 
 He was likewise manly enough to forgive as well as to 
 confess. It is the small soul that cherishes a grudge and 
 bides its time for revenge. It is the magnanimous man 
 or woman that can overlook an offense and bury it out 
 of sight. Nabal sent an insulting reply to David's 
 courteous request and for the moment his blood was hot 
 and his heart was bent on vengeance. But when Nabal's 
 wife did what she could to make amends for her hus- 
 
 21 
 
22 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 band's outrageous act, he turned from his dire purpose 
 and blessed God that by her coming he was saved from 
 the guilt of blood. Saul pursued David as a hunter pur- 
 sues a partridge in the mountains. Everywhere he sought 
 him that he might take his life; yet twice Saul was in 
 David's hands and he might have been avenged. But he 
 refrained from vengeance and also restrained his friends. 
 David's nobleness in this awakened some responsive noble- 
 ness in Saul so that he returned from following him and 
 exclaimed — " Behold I have played the fool and have 
 erred exceedingly." And when Saul died upon the bat- 
 tlefield, instead of chuckling over the fall of his sworn 
 foe, he utters this immortal dirge, welling up from with- 
 in his distressed soul — " How are the mighty fallen! — 
 The bow of Jonathan turned not back and the sword 
 of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were 
 lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their death they 
 were not divided ; they were swifter than eagles, they were 
 stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over 
 Saul." It is the sorrowful tribute of a friend rather than 
 the constrained testimony of a foe. 
 
 What do we know of the youth of this generous, 
 knightly, heroic man? When he was a young man what 
 promise did he give of a noble career? 
 
 Yonder he comes at the call of his father Jesse. He 
 has been keeping his father's flock upon the hills and 
 plains. He comes with the bounding step of one who 
 has been breathing the pure air and drinking in health 
 with every breath. As the Jews describe him, his hair 
 is red, his size is medium, his face is ruddy and beautiful. 
 Such are his endowments of body and soul, of nature and 
 grace, that he is singled out by Samuel by direction of 
 the Spirit as the anointed of the Lord for the office of 
 king. The record is — " And the spirit of the Lord came 
 mightily upon him from that day forward." Yet he 
 serenely and loyally bided his time. He waited for God 
 and steadily performed his humble task. Still he kept 
 
A Young Man's Courage 23 
 
 his father's flock and found in this employ a school for 
 every kingly virtue. Here he fought with wild beasts 
 and wild men and soon gained repute as a valiant man. 
 At length opportunity came to show his valor before the 
 eyes of the nation. The armies of Israel confront the 
 armies of the invading Philistines. A mail-clad giant 
 sallies forth each day as champion of the enemies of the 
 living God and casts defiance in the face of Israel's host. 
 Who will accept the challenge and take away Israel's 
 reproach? Dismay and fear filled the hearts of all till 
 David appeared upon the scene and said to Saul — " Let 
 no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go 
 and fight with this Philistine." Let us consider 
 
 I. This young man's courage. Need we stop to define 
 courage? The essential quality of mind which it rep- 
 resents is so marked and striking that we are in little 
 danger of misconception. It may be mingled with other 
 elements, noble or ignoble, on account of which we dis- 
 tinguish between a false courage and a true. But in that 
 which is peculiar to itself, it is easily recognized by all. 
 It is that which gives strength, solidity, force to the man. 
 It is that which makes one superior to difficulty or danger. 
 Can we discover some of the factors that entered into the 
 courage of David? What made him courageous when 
 all about him were terrified? 
 
 1. David was no doubt conscious of physical strength. 
 He had all the buoyancy of youth and robust health. 
 No doubt physical vigor helps to make a man brave and 
 strong. Depression of mind is likely to accompany physi- 
 cal weakness. It becomes therefore a duty of every one 
 who would act a heroic part in life to care for the body 
 through which his purpose must be achieved. And on the 
 other hand, it is more shameful for one equipped by God 
 with noble powers of body and mind to shirk the task to 
 which his powers are more than equal. 
 
 Emerson says — "The first wealth is health; sickness 
 is poor-spirited and cannot serve any one." There never 
 
24 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 was a braver man than Elijah — stern, self-contained, 
 intrepid. He was the John Knox of Ahab's day, who 
 never feared the face of man, yet once in his life even 
 he lost heart and asked God that he might die. And 
 why? No doubt there were reasons for his despondency 
 but that which gave them control over him was his 
 physical exhaustion. The nervous strain of Carmel and 
 succeeding events and the weariness induced by travel left 
 him at the mercy of discouraging thoughts. But God 
 gave him, what he needed, sleep and food — the shelter 
 of the juniper tree and seasonable meat and drink till he 
 rose refreshed and went in the strength of that meat 
 forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of 
 God. It is one of the commendable things about the 
 Y. M. C. A. that it emphasizes physical as well as 
 spiritual culture. 
 
 2. David's past experience gave him courage. He re- 
 membered it and spake of it in this connection. Let us 
 think of it now only on its human side. There were 
 achievements which his intellect had planned and his 
 hands had wrought. We do not fear to undertake what 
 we have accomplished before. The surgeon who has per- 
 formed many a difficult operation finds his highest pleasure 
 in the case that tasks his skill. The veteran of many 
 battles sometimes seems absolutely devoid of fear. We 
 wonder at the steadiness that results from drill and hard 
 service. Why is it that ordinary men attain such in- 
 difference to danger? A military man discounts our ad- 
 miration by calling it a " mechanic courage which the 
 ordinary race of men become masters of from being always 
 in a crowd." But surely David's courage was not due 
 to the contact and supporting presence of others, for he 
 stood alone amid a panic-stricken host and the inspira- 
 tion of his courageous act was from within himself and 
 from his own record. He relates to Saul to kindle con- 
 fidence — " Thy servant smote both the lion and the bear ; 
 and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them." 
 
A Young Man's Courage 25 
 
 It is a conclusion of his mind which he can employ to in- 
 struct others and not a mere impulse of the moment or 
 contagion of circumstances. It is an intelligent infer- 
 ence from facts, that has weight with all who are capable 
 of appreciating the facts and reading their lesson. He 
 knew what he could do with his strong right arm and 
 therefore was not afraid to accept the gage of battle 
 thrown down by Goliath of Gath. We learn to be self- 
 reliant, whether in mental or physical effort, by training 
 our powers by use. 
 
 3. David's courage was the direct outcome of faith in 
 God. He trusted in God and therefore was eager for 
 the fray. His self-reliance was born of reliance upon 
 God. Whatever influence we may attribute to his 
 natural and acquired fitness, the supreme influence was 
 divine — a faith that had God as its Author and its 
 Object. On this alone does David lay any stress what- 
 ever. His experience to which he refers is not a matter 
 of trained muscles, but of help received. He does not 
 come in sight as an Actor, but thrusts God before the 
 vision of Saul as the real Victor — " The Lord that deliv- 
 ered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw 
 of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this 
 Philistine." And as with bounding step, armed only 
 with his staff and sling, he ran to meet his antagonist 
 in the open field, how marked the contrast between the 
 proud disdain of the one and the humble joyful confidence 
 of the other. Listen to this answer of faith and you 
 cannot mistake the paramount source of his courage — 
 " Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear 
 and with a javelin; but I come to thee in the name of the 
 Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which 
 thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee 
 into my hand." 
 
 How all this changes the nature of the spectacle we 
 behold ! 'Tis not a mere measuring of swords, a trial of 
 physical strength and skill. It is lifted up into the 
 
26 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 higher region of moral courage — of championship of the 
 living God. There is a high issue at stake between right 
 and wrong, between God and his enemies, and David in 
 God's name undertakes the battle of the right. And 
 wherever such an issue is made, it is faith in God that 
 gives courage and constancy to the defenders of the 
 righteous cause. Take away faith in God and you clip 
 the wings of every noble aspiration. Men will be con- 
 tent to eat and drink and die and seek for nothing higher 
 than present comfort and ease. Take away faith in God 
 and you cut the sinews of effort for the welfare of the 
 race. Write it in the convictions of men that there is 
 no God and no hereafter and you write the death-war- 
 rant of every moral reform. But let, on the other hand, 
 warm, vigorous, vitalizing faith in God possess men's 
 souls and it will make them strong to do and dare in 
 behalf of truth and humanity for His sake. 
 
 The heroes of the ages are heroes of faith. Put your 
 finger at random on any name conspicuous in history in 
 connection with the moral progress of mankind and you 
 may without fear of mistake include him in this class. 
 Moses endured as " seeing him who is invisible." 
 Stephen could furnish the first example of Christian 
 martyrdom because he believed that his Divine Redeemer 
 was at the right hand of power. Luther cried — "So 
 help me God." Wilberforce and Buxton were men as 
 eminent for piety as for philanthropy. Lincoln, under 
 the heavy burden of his exalted station, sought once and 
 again an interest in the people's prayers. Bismarck and 
 Gladstone were great enough to do homage to Him whose 
 throne is in the heavens. Gordon, the hero of the last 
 century, the uncrowned king, was pre-eminently a man 
 of faith. You remember how the eyes of the world 
 turned toward Khartoum with intensest interest. And 
 why? Because the world's most heroic life was in 
 jeopardy. And what was the secret spring of his hero- 
 ism? As he left Cairo he wrote — " I am so glad to get 
 
A Young Mans Courage 27 
 
 away. I go up alone, with an infinite Almighty God to 
 direct and guide me ; and am glad to so trust Him as to 
 fear nothing and indeed, to feel sure of success." Not 
 only was his heroism associated with piety, but his piety 
 was the very foundation from which it rose, the seed 
 from which it grew. His faith was as singular and pro- 
 nounced as his fearlessness. 
 
 Thus it has been in all the past. Thus it will be in 
 the eventful future. The heroes of truth and justice and 
 liberty and humanity will be those who shall follow the 
 footsteps of Joshua and Samuel and David, of Luther and 
 Knox and Gordon, and by faith in God tread difficulties 
 and fears under their feet. Unto the exercise of this 
 moral courage — this brave championship of every good 
 cause — God calls every one of you young men and 
 women. " Hearken unto me, ye that know righteous- 
 ness, the people in whose heart is my law ; fear ye not the 
 reproach of men, neither be ye dismayed at their revil- 
 ings. For the moth shall devour them like a garment, 
 yea, the moth shall devour them like wool : but my right- 
 eousness shall be forever, and my salvation from genera- 
 tion to generation. Who art thou that fearest man that 
 shall die, and forgettest thy God? I will put words 
 in thy mouth, and cover thee in the shadow of my hand, 
 to plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the 
 earth." 
 
 II. The cause which called out this young man's 
 courage. There is a natural physical courage that may 
 be wedded to either good or bad. There is the courage 
 of the bandit springing from the lust of gain or the love 
 of adventure. There is the courage of the Nihilist born 
 of despair. But when it is a thing of the mind and con- 
 science and is devoted to a worthy cause, it is twice noble 
 and our admiration may be unchecked and unqualified. 
 
 1. David's courage was for the honor and safety of 
 Israel. He was no enemy to law and order. He did 
 not scatter fire-brands and death. He did not seek to 
 
28 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 undermine the existing government or unsettle the foun- 
 dations of society. 
 
 Never was subject more loyal to the king than David 
 was to Saul. He said, " Thy servant will go." Propos- 
 ing no terms, setting up no claims, recognizing Saul's 
 superior rank, he offers the service of a faithful, law- 
 abiding, obedient subject. He is a servant and except in 
 a lawful war, he would not consent to be anything else. 
 His loyalty is the more remarkable because of his own 
 knowledge of God's purpose concerning him. Samuel 
 had years ago anointed him to be Saul's successor. Why 
 not take the first opportunity to gain the hearts of the 
 people and spring into Saul's seat? Why not rebel and 
 summon Samuel as a witness to his right to it? No, no. 
 David's mind is quite the opposite. He will bide God's 
 time. He will learn to rule by first learning to obey. 
 Even when Saul became his enemy, he would not lift a 
 hand to strike him down. This gallant act won for him 
 the hearts of the people, but it was not meant for this. 
 It was his simple, honorable, loyal purpose to maintain 
 the government of Saul and the honor of Israel. 
 
 It seems strange that Mr. Mill should speak of patriot- 
 ism as a virtue lost sight of in a " purely Christian 
 ethics." The career of David prior to his ascension to 
 the throne is itself sufficient answer to the false assertion. 
 And the same might be said of Joseph and Moses and 
 Nehemiah and Paul — ■ nay of every representative Jew 
 of the olden time. Patriotism is not less a Christian than 
 a national virtue. But how shall patriotism be shown? 
 Is he a lover of his country who praises everything and 
 censures nothing? If there are great wrongs, shall they 
 go unrebuked? or shall we, David-like, hurl at them the 
 stones of God's truth? Wherever there is national sin, 
 there is national weakness and he best loves his country 
 who loves God more. 
 
 2. David's courage was for the honor of God. He 
 not only had faith in God but had a single eye to his 
 
A Young Man's Courage 29 
 
 glory. How clearly this appears in the account of this 
 transaction. He justifies his eager confidence in going to 
 meet Goliath by the declaration — " Seeing he hath defied 
 the armies of the living God." His mission was equally 
 to take away Israel's reproach and to vindicate Jehovah. 
 " That all the earth may know there is a God in Israel." 
 And is it not the mission of every right-hearted man in 
 our time to bear aloft the standard of Jehovah? 
 
 Is God's law set aside? Is God's Sabbath trampled 
 upon? Is God's image in man defaced? Do men con- 
 spire together to resist God's will? Do they plot against 
 the Lord and his anointed ? Do they obstruct the progress 
 and triumph of Christ's kingdom? In such a time as 
 this, the friends of Christ must come forth both for de- 
 fense and attack. There is need of brave men and 
 women whose hearts God has touched to stand in the 
 breach — to maintain the cause of God in the world — 
 to push on the conquest of Immanuel. Let every 
 Christian join the ranks of true reform, for sake of God 
 and home and native land. Let every Christian further 
 the cause of missions at home and abroad for sake of God 
 and humanity. 
 
 wanted; men 
 
 Not systems fit and wise 
 Not faiths with rigid eyes 
 Not wealth in mountain piles 
 Not power with gracious smiles 
 Not even y the potent pen. 
 Wanted ; men. 
 
 Men and deeds 
 Men that can dare and do 
 Not longings for the new 
 Not pratings of the old 
 Good life and action bold — 
 These the occasion needs, 
 
 Men and deeds. 
 
30 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Young ladies and gentlemen of the graduating class of 
 1887, if I mistake not you enter upon life at a time in 
 the nation's history when you will have ample opportunity 
 to display either cowardice or courage. Which shall it 
 be? You mean it to be courage. But distinguish be- 
 tween the appearance and the thing. A bluff and bluster- 
 ing manner may only conceal a craven spirit. A humble, 
 quiet demeanor may be the modest veil of an earnest, in- 
 tense, courageous soul. Be right at heart, all on fire with 
 love to truth and right and God and you will need no 
 tragic manner to let people know it. 
 
 Conspicuous service is seldom or never a mushroom 
 growth. Out on the peaceful hills, where he tended his 
 father's flock, with no eye gazing on him but the Om- 
 niscient, David was true to his trust and with faith and 
 courage rescued the lamb from the lion and the bear. It 
 was after all the experience of his retirement that he slew 
 the giant and returned from the field to hear the air rent 
 at the gates of every city with the shout — "Saul hath 
 slain his thousands and David his ten thousands." So it 
 will be with you. By performing a courageous part 
 wherever God puts you now, you will husband strength 
 for a more important day in the future. Moreover, 
 have you ever thought how much of the world's best 
 work is done by her young men and women? John 
 Howard was 28 when he began to alleviate the miseries 
 of mankind. Elizabeth Fry entered on a similar work 
 at 30. Luther had gone through all his long struggle 
 for light and freedom and yet was only 34 years of age 
 when he nailed his 95 theses on the door of the church 
 at Wittenberg. Garibaldi began his revolutionary career 
 at 28. Joan of Arc took the field at 18 and led forth 
 the French troops to victory. McCheyne lived not quite 
 30 years to make his name a household word all over 
 Scotland — yea all over Christendom. The life of Jesus 
 — if we may mention his matchless name along with those 
 of his servants — was only a few years in length and yet 
 
A Young Mans Courage 31 
 
 it was enough to change the face of the whole earth. 
 
 Do not then wait for the future. Begin at once to live 
 out a noble spirit. You may not have any other years 
 to do good in than those which are now passing. In any 
 case they are your training school for future usefulness. 
 It is the " village Hampden " who will, if occasion re- 
 quire, withstand the tyrant of the Commonwealth. But 
 expect not to escape the penalty of faithfulness. There 
 may be trials as the test and voucher of your fidelity. 
 But let not your heart fail because of this. Solomon 
 said — " A living dog is better than a dead lion," and the 
 words are true as he meant them, true concerning the 
 capacity for enjoyment and effort in the present life. 
 But if you estimate men by their moral worth, their real 
 worth to mankind, let us rather say — " A dead lion is 
 better than a living dog." Haddock dead counts more 
 than his murderer alive. A dead Gambrell is better than 
 a living champion of the saloon. Be bold for the cause 
 that commends itself to your judgment and conscience as 
 right. Be zealous for the honor of God and the wel- 
 fare of man. Be a Christian at all hazards. I am as- 
 sured that all the members of this class make confession 
 of the name of Jesus Christ. Let me urge you to be 
 loyal, consecrated, courageous servants of your acknowl- 
 edged Lord and Master as long as you live. 
 
 Keep looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of 
 your faith who for the joy that was set before Him en- 
 dured the cross, despising the shame. And when life is 
 closed and the judgment is set, may you every one stand 
 unabashed before Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire 
 and hear Him say — " Faithful over a few things, I will 
 make thee ruler over many things. Enter into the joy 
 of thy Lord." 
 
SERMON III, 1888 
 "and who is my neighbor?" 
 
 But he, willing to justify himself said unto Jesus — " And <who 
 is my neighbor? " — Luke 10: 2Q. 
 
 RATIONALISTIC interpreters are accustomed to 
 speak of Jesus as a " wonderful genius," whose clear 
 seer-like insight into truth and men awakens their fervent 
 admiration. While we recognize in Him something infi- 
 nitely more than they find — words as well as acts that are 
 Divine, we may admire with them the brilliant answers, 
 the matchless skill of the man Christ Jesus. We read 
 the simple, unadorned story of his encounter with the 
 Pharisees and Sadducees and Herodians who came to en- 
 tangle him in their talk (Math. 22). We see him foil 
 their attack at every point of approach. The Sadducees 
 came with a poser concerning the resurrection ; but to the 
 astonishment of the multitude he put them to silence by 
 arguments they could not gainsay. Then the Pharisees 
 learning nothing from the discomfiture of their old time 
 foes pressed forward to the attack. But so quickly and 
 authoritatively came the answer to their test-question, 
 an answer so obviously complete and true that they too 
 were driven back into a state of quiescence. Then turn- 
 ing upon them Jesus pressed his advantage with a question 
 they could not even attempt to answer. Their rout was 
 so complete and overwhelming that " No man was able 
 to answer him a word ; neither durst any man from that 
 day forward ask him any more questions." 
 
 Who can restrain admiration of the man as we see him 
 thus calmly and effectively disposing of his assailants one 
 by one, without bitterness and yet without coming short 
 of their entire vanquishment. 
 
 32 
 
"And Who Is My Neighbor?" 33 
 
 We have a somewhat similar feeling as we read this 
 account of the interview of a certain lawyer with Jesus. 
 What wondrous tact the Saviour shows! What freedom 
 from assumption ! What deference to the learned scribe ! 
 Yet what certainty of aim! How simply and surely he 
 leads him into the truth and arrests cavil by making it 
 well-nigh impossible. The lawyer asks, " Master, what 
 shall I do to inherit eternal life ? " and Jesus adroitly 
 refers the question by asking — " What is written in the 
 law? how readest thou?" The law was the scribe's 
 own standard. It was his business to know and declare 
 it; Jesus asked what he could not refuse to answer and 
 at the same time made a graceful recognition of his learn- 
 ing in the law. So the answer came without any ap- 
 parent reluctance — " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy 
 strength and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thy- 
 self." Immediately Jesus declared his approval — " Thou 
 hast answered right, this do and thou shalt live." The 
 lawyer came for controversy and lo ! it is ended before 
 it has begun. He came to entrap Jesus and only gets 
 from him a confirmation of the doctrine of the law. 
 
 Prompt to see his situation, he seeks to cover his re- 
 treat by another question. Though they seem so well 
 agreed, possibly on some one point their views may be 
 diverse. Willing to justify himself, hoping to shield his 
 personal pride, he asks — "And who is my neighbor?" 
 The answer came in the parable of the Good Samaritan, 
 which is equally admirable as an answer to the questioner 
 and as an exhibition of a great truth. Certainly we owe 
 a debt to this ancient caviller, whose perversity became 
 the occasion of the creation of so precious a treasure as 
 is here imbedded in the Christian Scriptures. Let us 
 seek to discover the Saviour's answer to the lawyer's 
 question and what it involves in human duty. 
 
 I. Who is my neighbor? 
 
 II. What is neighborly conduct? 
 
34 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Neighbor means one near to me. But what is it makes 
 one near? What are the boundary lines of neighborhood? 
 How extensive is the enclosure within which its law 
 should reign? In ancient times it was variously circum- 
 scribed. Society was divided by both horizontal and 
 vertical lines. Barriers of mountain and river and 
 language were intersected by barriers of rank and station 
 and prejudice. 
 
 The Greeks counted all outside of their own nation 
 Barbarians, deserving only their contempt. The term it- 
 self means alien, but the exclusive hostile spirit of the 
 Greeks gave it a new and opprobrious meaning that 
 almost covered the original from view. It was so used 
 by the Romans, who borrowing their learning from the 
 Greeks, readily imbibed their spirit and regarded all be- 
 yond those favored nations as deserving of no considera- 
 tion at their hand. 
 
 The Jews likewise had the same national narrowness. 
 All outside their own race were Gentile dogs, to be driven 
 from their presence as unclean. Their own law said — 
 " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." But by their 
 interpretation their neighbor was a Jew and a Jew only 
 and so by their false gloss they changed the whole 
 character of the second great commandment of the law 
 until it read in their thought — " Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor and hate thine enemy." They made it sanction 
 the very thing it was meant to condemn. They brought 
 hate into equal prominence with love and placed both 
 under the approving aegis of Sinai. 
 
 They so interpreted neighbor as to exclude therefrom 
 even the Samaritan who dwelt in their own land of 
 Palestine. Geographically they were very near, but af- 
 fectionately they were distant as the poles. In the days 
 of Jesus so bitter was the antipathy that they had no busi- 
 ness or social relations, no dealings whatever with one 
 another. When the Jews were angry with Jesus because 
 he told them the truth, they could find no word that 
 
" And Who Is My Neighbor? " 35 
 
 would so give vent to their anger and expression to their 
 contempt as the name of the hated sect. They hurl it 
 as a fierce javelin in the face of Jesus with all the energy 
 of their fury — " Thou art a Samaritan and hast a 
 devil." This questioning lawyer no doubt would have 
 scorned to reckon the Samaritan as the object of his love 
 and therefore when the Saviour pictured him performing 
 a philanthropic act he refused to give him credit except 
 by the paraphrase — " He that showed mercy on him." 
 
 But there were other lines than those which bound 
 states and provinces that limited neighborhood. Brah- 
 mans and Sudras were kept apart by inflexible rule, and 
 whatever reform Buddhism effected in any way it never 
 touched the institutions of caste. Through all the dreary 
 centuries of Hindooism there is no displacement of rank, 
 no crossing or intermingling. High caste and low caste 
 cannot be neighbors because there are unscalable walls 
 between them. Plato's state was a pyramid with a 
 philosopher at its apex and the mass of the people at its 
 base. Individuality was to be crushed out and the state 
 was to be all in all. Aristotle said — " It is evident that 
 some persons are slaves and others freemen by the ap- 
 pointment of nature." These highest teachers of ancient 
 philosophy thus limit the domain of neighborhood to those 
 of like capacities. Philosopher to philosopher, ruler to 
 ruler, slave to slave — is neighbor. As yet the worth of 
 man as man is undiscovered. Not till Christ came was 
 it announced that man to man is neighbor, that accidents 
 of nationality and rank and gifts are all subordinate to the 
 royal dignity that belongs to every man as the possessor 
 of a human soul. To Christianity belongs the honor of 
 furnishing a right ideal of humanity and of securing sway 
 for it over great masses of men. Jesus exhibited it in his 
 own life of impartial fellowship for service with men 
 of all classes and conditions, with Publican and Pharisee, 
 with sinner and saint, with nobleman and slave, with rich 
 and poor. He put his estimate upon any and every soul 
 
36 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 by the price he paid for its redemption. The Gospel of 
 his Kingdom is not fettered by conditions for one any 
 more than for another. The call is to all — to sinful 
 men and women without exception. — Come and be saved. 
 The glory that is promised is the common possession of 
 all the ransomed of the Lord. Lazarus, notwithstanding 
 his poverty, was carried by the angels into Abraham's 
 bosom and the thief on the cross entered as soon as he 
 died into paradise with Jesus. Let facts and truths such 
 as these enter into the experience and convictions of a 
 man and his whole conception of man's worth is changed. 
 He sees that everyone is near to him, who has the same 
 nature with himself, the same sinfulness, the same op- 
 portunity of salvation, the same endowment of immortal- 
 ity. This is the lesson taught by this parable. And 
 here again mark the insinuating, masterly way in which 
 it is done. He does not spring at once to the delicate 
 point of his answer. We can scarcely say it is by in- 
 direction yet certainly it is not by direct statement. We 
 have as it were the negative from which the picture is 
 transferred. We look as it were upon the face of the ar- 
 ranged types from which the glowing page is taken. 
 The parable contains the answer to the lawyer's question 
 and the impression it makes is clear and legible. The 
 man in the way is neighbor to priest and Levite and 
 Samaritan alike. The Samaritan excelled those who 
 went before because without thinking of his belongings 
 he saw the man and his plight and came to his rescue. 
 Hold this parable up in the light and there comes out as 
 in a transparency this inwoven truth — Ever}' man is thy 
 neighbor. 
 
 And yet we must own the world is slow to learn it — 
 ever learning yet never coming to the full understanding 
 of it. Every age must learn for itself and give it some 
 new application. And yet the world is making headway 
 toward its perfect recognition. The light shines more 
 and more as it advances toward the perfect day. Step 
 
"And Who Is My Neighbor?" 37 
 
 by step since Christ has corne we see the steady gain of 
 man. The Reformation was an advance on scholasti- 
 cism; the declaration of Independence is a long stride 
 ahead of the political symbols of the old world. And 
 yet in this republic flaunting this declaration to the breeze, 
 declaring all men free and equal there were slaves through 
 three-fourths of our history. Mrs. Browning voiced the 
 feelings of the runaway slave in a poem, which contains 
 these words — 
 
 Whips, curses; these must answer those 
 For in this Union, you have set 
 Two kinds of men in adverse rows, 
 Each loathing each ; and all forget 
 The seven wounds in Christ's body fair. 
 
 Thank God! that reproach is taken away. Never 
 more shall the wail of the oppressed be heard in our land. 
 So say we all. But is it true? Is the struggle of Christ's 
 truth concerning man ended ? Have we no more to plead 
 the cause of the poor against the oppressor? Alas! the 
 bright vision is soon dispelled as we look within and 
 around us. It is a dull ear that hears no cry. It is a 
 dull intellect that discerns no divergence from this law of 
 Christ. We need not go beyond our own thoughts and 
 feelings to find discriminations and partialities and injus- 
 tices that are at variance with it. We need to learn it 
 over and over and over again, to drink in its very spirit, 
 to square our sentiments and actions by its measure. 
 
 Men of the South, abate your prejudices against the 
 man of darker hue. The black man is thy neighbor. 
 Capitalist of the North, consider him who toils for thee 
 in mill or mine. The workman is thy neighbor. Social 
 leaders, be not of those whom Hannah More describes, 
 " Who think their little set mankind." They are thy 
 neighbors who do thee faithful service. The Ribbonman 
 is neighbor to the Orangeman, the Chinese quarter is 
 
38 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 neighbor to the sand lots. The Nations of the earth are 
 open to each other as never before. God is bringing them 
 together by steamship and railway and telegraph, until 
 scarcely any land can be said to be afar off. The very 
 ends of the earth are saying to each other — We are 
 neighbors. Thus events seem to echo and emphasize the 
 thought of Christ — that man to man is neighbor — 
 every man to every other the world over. Let us now 
 in the second place inquire 
 
 II. What is neighborly conduct? 
 
 The principle of it is in that old command, which is 
 ever new — "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 Love and not hate is the essence of true philanthropy — 
 nay of all Christian morality. " Love is the fulfilling 
 of the law." This is the " royal law " of which James 
 speaks to fulfil which he declares is " to do well." 
 
 We have a good practical illustration of it in the 
 parable to which we are wise to give attention. 
 
 It suggests the positiveness of the affection required. 
 That is something more than indifference. To love is 
 not merely not to hate. Indifference can pass by on the 
 other side. That was what the priest did and the Levite 
 did little more except that he stood and looked at the 
 sufferer before he passed on. So there are many who 
 congratulate themselves on their supposed innocence be- 
 cause they hate nobody or on their supposed benevolence 
 because they are ready to exclaim — What a pity ! But 
 genuine love does more than look on the object of pity. 
 It yearns to help and does it if it can. It is the fire 
 within its possessor that impels him to seek after and 
 relieve the needy. What a picture of a generous, large- 
 hearted man of wealth is that given by Job — " When the 
 ear heard me then it blessed me; and when the eye saw 
 me it gave witness to me; because I delivered the poor 
 that cried and the fatherless and him that had none to 
 help. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came 
 upon me and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 
 
" And Who Is My Neighbor? " 39 
 
 — I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame. 
 I was father to the poor; and the cause which I knew 
 not I searched out." True love does not wait to be 
 goaded to do good but searches out its object. The 
 radiator in your room in summer time simply receives its 
 temperature from the surrounding atmosphere, but in the 
 winter time it radiates heat till the whole atmosphere 
 about it is warm and comfortable. The former fitly 
 represents the many: the latter the few. It is only here 
 and there, or at least only now and then for the most 
 of us that we are consumed with the desire to bless man- 
 kind. While we bless God that there are exceptional 
 instances of devotion such as John Howard and Florence 
 Nightingale and David Brainerd and Livingstone, we 
 may well take shame to ourselves that they are excep- 
 tional. Are we not living at a poor dying rate, though 
 we scarcely seem to know it? If we look again at the 
 parable it suggests that true philanthropy is practical. 
 When the Samaritan saw the waylaid sufferer, he came 
 where he was. He did not gather up his robes lest they 
 be defiled and keep at a self-protecting distance. He did 
 not suffer ecclesiastical or social conventionalities to check 
 the impulse of a warm heart. He " came where the man 
 was." There is a double benefit given and returned 
 when with our own hands we minister to the needs of 
 others. We must visit them where they are if we would 
 confer the greatest benefit and fully enjoy the luxury of 
 doing good. 
 
 The Samaritan, having come to a full knowledge of the 
 man's condition, " bound up his wounds, pouring in oil 
 and wine, and set him on his own beast and brought him 
 to an inn and took care of him." He was pains-taking 
 and thorough. He spared neither expense nor labor. 
 He was disinterested and self-sacrificing. He assumed 
 the inn-keeper's bill, paying part in advance and giving 
 his obligation for the remainder. All this was done for 
 a stranger to whom others were as much related as he. 
 
40 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 He differed from them in this only, that he felt the obli- 
 gation to befriend the stranger and they did not. He 
 did not wait for the co-operation of others but carried 
 out independently the noble suggestions of his own heart 
 and conscience. It is not enough for us to say — Be ye 
 warmed and filled, if we give not those things needful 
 for the body. It is not enough for us to pity the poor 
 victims of vice while we never reach out a hand to lift 
 them out of the pit into which they have fallen. It is 
 not enough for us to cry — Bravo! to the heroic souls 
 that count not their lives dear to them, that they may 
 carry good tidings to the perishing while we maintain a 
 cowardly missionary policy at home by our niggardliness. 
 While we pray — Thy Kingdom come ! we should second 
 our prayers by helping every practical effort to hasten its 
 coming. True neighborly conduct has regard to the 
 whole man — to his physical comfort on the one hand 
 and to his moral and spiritual well-being on the other. 
 When rightly adjusted, efforts in either direction will 
 contribute to the success of efforts in the other. The 
 starving must have bread before he will listen to the 
 cheering story of the Gospel and on the other hand when 
 the Gospel is received it will promote industry and thrift. 
 Earl Shaftsbury had a heart that sympathized equally 
 with the poor in London and the degraded in foreign 
 lands and when he died one of the most striking tributes 
 to his memory was the fact that " the shoeblack brigade 
 with crepe on arm stood outside Westminster in the rain 
 while his funeral went on within." What a beautiful 
 story is that which is told of the Princess Eugenia of 
 Sweden. Her friends were amazed at her folly, yet 
 eternity will disclose her wisdom. Selling her jewels, the 
 heirlooms of many generations, she built from the pro- 
 ceeds a home for cripples on an island she happened to 
 visit in search of her own health and then crowned her 
 generous gift with her own personal service. Daily she 
 went to minister to those poor afflicted ones for Jesus' 
 
"And Who Is My Neighbor?" 41 
 
 sake. And the beginning of her reward came in her 
 work, the end of it will never come. A poor woman 
 to whom she had brought the news concerning Jesus 
 blessed the Lord for the Princess' coming and kissed 
 her hand while tears from her dying eyes fell on it. 
 And as the Princess saw the tear-drops glistening in the 
 sun-light she said — " O my Saviour, I sold my jewels for 
 thee, but I see them all restored, and how much more 
 beautiful they are than when I formerly owned them ! " 
 Was she not all the more queenly because she fulfilled 
 the royal law of God — " Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
 as thyself." 
 
 But while the spirit of Jesus, who went about doing 
 good, leads men and women to care for the bodies of men, 
 it is especially concerned about the souls of men. It is 
 the moral and spiritual degradation of the drunkard that 
 more than all else awakens the pity of his fellows and 
 causes such energy of purpose in behalf of the cause of 
 temperance. It is the fact that men everywhere need the 
 Gospel and without it are lost that arouses the zeal and 
 enthusiasm of the Church in behalf of the missionary 
 cause. Every noble charity — every true reform — every 
 agency of the Gospel has a claim on us because it is in 
 the interest of humanity. Henry M. Stanley went first 
 to the Dark Continent in search of Livingstone, some- 
 what in the spirit of adventure. But contact with the 
 old hero changed his whole idea of missions. He writes 
 — " In 1870 I went to him as prejudiced as the biggest 
 atheist in London. — But there came for me a long time 
 for reflection. I was out there away from a worldly 
 world. I saw the solitary old man there and asked my- 
 self — ' How on earth does he stop here ? — What is it 
 that inspires him? " But little by little his sympathy for 
 others became contagious ; my sympathy was aroused ; 
 seeing his piety, his gentleness, his zeal, his earnestness, 
 and how he went quietly about his business, I was con- 
 verted by him, though he never tried to do it." Such 
 
42 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 testimony is honorable alike to both and is sufficient to 
 link their names together as lovers of their race. 
 
 My young friends, I only wish that I might enlist 
 you more heartily in the cause of man. Your fields of 
 service may be various — some in one vocation and some 
 in another — some at home and some abroad — some in 
 retirement and some in the high places of the field ; but 
 let it be the ambition of you all to leave the world, better, 
 happier, purer for your having lived in it. 
 
 Believing that Christianity is the only cure for the ills 
 of society and that its universal prevalence in power is 
 more to be desired than anything else, I am glad that so 
 many of you expect to serve God and your fellow men 
 in the ministry. It is an inspiring moment in the history 
 of mankind and especially in the history of missions. 
 Never was the cry of the nations so clear and urgent 
 as now — Come over and help us. The fields are open 
 and everywhere whitening to the harvest and the prayer 
 of the Church is ascending to the Lord of the harvest that 
 he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Some of 
 you that may be yet halting, I trust may be the answer 
 to that prayer. 
 
 But if providence marks out for you another course, 
 still let me assure you that Christ wishes your service 
 none the less. Christ needs men in all callings. If God 
 in the years to come shall give you abundant means, the 
 cause of India needs money as well as men. Said Andrew 
 Faller to Carey the pioneer missionary to India — 
 " There is a gold mine in India; but it seems almost as 
 deep as the centre of the earth. Who will venture to 
 explore it?" And the answer of Carey was — "I will 
 go down, but remember that you must hold the ropes." 
 If there are men going to Englewood and Denver and 
 Portland and San Diego — to Egypt and India as ex- 
 plorers in search of souls, there is need of a strong body 
 of men and women to hold the ropes, to sustain them by 
 their means. 
 
"And Who Is My Neighbor?" 43 
 
 The outlook is cheering. We sometimes picture the 
 threatening cloud, the coming storm, the approaching 
 crisis in such appalling colors that we are well-nigh ready 
 to lose hope. It is no doubt well to realize the magnitude 
 of our undertaking. But let us often turn and look also 
 on the brighter side. Compare the present with any- 
 former day in regard to reform or missionary zeal and 
 you will find reason for renewed confidence — not for 
 complacency or pride maybe but surely for encouragement. 
 There are struggles but there are heroes to maintain them. 
 There are defeats but they are the stepping stones to 
 larger victories. We're beaten back in many a fray, Yet 
 ever strength we borrow. And where the vanguard 
 rests today, the rear shall camp tomorrow. 
 
 Young men and women of the class of 1888, we do 
 not ask you to espouse any lost or losing cause. 
 
 We would rally the sons and daughters of our time 
 to the cause of truth and right — the cause of God and 
 humanity that must and will prevail. We do not ask 
 you to pitch your tent in the words of Garfield in any 
 " graveyard of dead issues." The living issues of every 
 time are those which concern the liberty, progress, eleva- 
 tion and salvation of men. Let it be the aim of everyone 
 of you to bless mankind by unselfish, cheery, serviceable, 
 consecrated lives. Love God and Jesus Christ and you 
 cannot fail to love your neighbor who is made in the 
 image of God. Really love your neighbor and you can- 
 not fail to serve him. And when you pass away from 
 the scenes of earth may it be written of you — not on 
 your tombstones, but in God's book and in the grateful 
 memory of others, of this one — " He served his genera- 
 tion well " and of that one — " She scattered blessings 
 wherever she went " and of you all — " They were faith- 
 ful ; worthy followers of Him who was himself the Good 
 Samaritan — " who came not to be ministered unto but to 
 minister and to give his life a ransom for many." 
 
SERMON IV, 1889 
 
 COMPLICITY WITH CRIME 
 
 But they said — " W hat is that to usf See thou to that." — 
 Math. 27: 4. 
 
 CANON FARRAR, writing of the intense terrific 
 experience of Judas, says this — " There is in a great 
 crime an awfully illuminating power." It reveals the 
 downward trend of the soul. It shows whither its ap- 
 petites and passions are driving it and suggests to one not 
 set in evil ways the necessity of resisting them. I re- 
 cently heard one tell how the surprise of a single drunken 
 revel discovered to him the danger of indulgence and led 
 him to form the purpose he had faithfully kept never 
 to let intoxicating liquors pass his lips again. In the light 
 of one disgraceful act he read the truth that in abstinence 
 only is there safety. 
 
 Sometimes there is bitter anguish connected with the 
 disclosures made by a single crime. It is a painful glare 
 that it creates under which the soul cries out. The con- 
 science is roused from its sleep and thick and fast fly its 
 sharp, piercing arrows. 
 
 See yon electric light above the street. In the distance 
 it flashes like a diamond. As you pass under it, how 
 strong is the light, how distinct are the shadows on the 
 pavement beneath your feet! How it waxes and wanes! 
 how it sputters and flares and then burns with a steady, 
 strong white light. Such a glaring, raging, intense light 
 is kindled in the soul by the commission of a grave of- 
 fense. Such a light is conscience when startled into un- 
 wonted activity by a great crime. Judas went out from 
 
 44 
 
Complicity with Crime 45 
 
 that upper room where Jesus and the disciples ate the 
 passover and " it was night " — night without and night 
 within. But when the wicked transaction was made and 
 its full consequences began to appear, no night was dark 
 enough to hide him from himself. Harrowing thoughts 
 came trooping into mind and in his extreme agony he 
 hurried back to the partners of his crime to get some relief 
 if possible by confession, saying — " I have sinned in that 
 I have betrayed innocent blood." 
 
 " After my death," said Queen Mary of England, 
 " you will find Calais written on my heart " — so great 
 was her grief at its fall. So we might expect to find 
 Betrayal written on the heart of Judas — written so in- 
 delibly that eternity itself cannot wear it out. 
 
 But what answer gave the chief priests and elders? 
 Only yesterday they were glad to welcome him to their 
 council and covenant with him for aid in accomplishing 
 their wicked designs. Only last evening they accepted 
 him as their ally and profited by the deceitful kiss with 
 which he identified his Master. Surely he might now 
 expect some slight recognition at their hands — if not 
 sympathy with him in his sorrow, at least some pity of 
 him in his misery. But no! The tools of wicked men 
 are always cast off when they have served their purpose. 
 Judas in his present mood could only hinder their hell- 
 ish scheme and therefore they dismiss him with the 
 pitiless answer — "What is that to us? See thou to 
 that." 
 
 Yet were they not abettors of his crime? Had not 
 they a share in the guilt of the betrayal? If Judas was 
 the principal actor, were they not accessories? In spite 
 of their bluff reply, was it not something to them that 
 Judas betrayed innocent blood? Words cannot alter 
 facts and facts concerning their relation to his crime 
 fastened guilt upon them as well as upon him. 
 
 Let us notice first — 
 
 I. How we are partakers of the sins of others. Our 
 
46 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 lives touch other lives and every point of contact gives 
 opportunity of influence for good or evil, of communi- 
 cating healthful, holy, inspiring impulses or of kindling 
 appetites, passions and ambitions that drive men down 
 to the pit. So sensitive is the soul to impressions from 
 without that the most casual touch of a stranger's life 
 may leave its mark upon it. How then can we measure 
 the result of the necessary or cordial fellowship of 
 years, especially the impressionable years of youth and 
 early manhood or womanhood? 
 
 Our participation in the sins of others may be either 
 great or small, active or passive, open or concealed. It 
 may range from leadership in evil deeds to evil influ- 
 ence unconsciously exerted. It may be a positive, pur- 
 poseful impact upon another soul, or only a silent con- 
 tribution to the unwholesome atmosphere in which he 
 lives. 
 
 He who plans what another executes is by way of 
 eminence a sharer in the other's crime. However hid 
 from view, he is the chief partner in the transaction 
 and if brought to light should receive the greater con- 
 demnation. We hear men say — " He moulds the bul- 
 lets and others shoot them." They compliment him for 
 his smartness and in heart despise him for his meanness. 
 Moulding bullets is a perfectly safe business, but shoot- 
 ing them exposes one to danger. Surely if execration 
 be even lawful it ought to be hurled at the man who 
 with brazen face and craven heart plots daring mischief 
 for braver and less wicked men to accomplish. Let us 
 withhold our indignation from the miserable agent who 
 bribes another and bestow it on the principal who with 
 greater villany prompts the wicked act. He who 
 throws the bomb is only more fearless, not more fiendish 
 than he who conceives and promotes the hellish plot 
 against the lives and happiness of his fellows. One far 
 away from the frightful scene of havoc may furnish the 
 fertile brain and energizing will that brings it all to 
 
Complicity with Crime 47 
 
 pass. And is not he the arch-conspirator that deserves 
 the heaviest penalty of all? 
 
 He who solicits another to do evil is likewise par- 
 taker of his evil deed. The tempter is more blame- 
 worthy than the tempted who actually commits the 
 wrong. He says — "Come with us — Cast in thy lot 
 among us," and by fair words and happy prospects lures 
 into the evil path. Many an innocent one is thus en- 
 snared and ruined and when the ruin is complete, what 
 says he who laid the snare? Will he help him with 
 kind words now and try to rekindle hope of better 
 things to come? Will he take part of the burden of 
 accusation upon himself and thus relieve the distressed, 
 over-burdened spirit of him whom he misled? Or will 
 he blame him for his weakness and remind him that 
 "every man must bear his own burden"? Will he as- 
 sume an air of innocence and mock his appeal for sym- 
 pathy and say — "What is that to me"? True enough 
 it is the duty of everyone to maintain his own integrity 
 by resisting the enticements of sinners, but that does 
 not in the least lessen the guilt of the enticer. You 
 read in the Scripture — " Woe unto him that giveth his 
 neighbor drink," and you point to the liquor-seller and 
 say — " There he stands. His eyes stand out with fat- 
 ness and wealth is pouring in upon him. But God's 
 curse is on him — on his estate, his family and his 
 soul." You say only the truth. God's providence in 
 multitudes of instances sanctions your assertion and 
 eternity we fear will give it awful confirmation. But 
 is this all the truth? Is the curse exhausted on the 
 liquor-seller? What of him who follows the social cus- 
 tom of treating and says to his friend whom he meets ■ — 
 " Come, take a drink with me." W T hat of him who 
 sends for a gallon of whiskey and in some dark hole 
 measures it out to his friends? Do not these equally 
 with liquor-seller come under the fearful weight of this 
 course — " Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, 
 
48 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 that putteth thy bottle to him and makest him drunken." 
 He who indicates approval of another's evil deed par- 
 takes of his sin. If the approval is in word only, it none 
 the less encourages and supports the man in his evil 
 course. This approval may be shown by community of 
 interest, by friendly intercourse, by uninterrupted com- 
 panionship, during the time of its commission. It may 
 be expressed in word and by no less significant act. It 
 may be done considerately or idly, with bias of friend- 
 ship or partizanship. But whenever there is approval of 
 wrong-doing there is participation in the wrong and cor- 
 responding guilt. 
 
 Companionship is a most delightful social fact and 
 yet it is not an unmixed blessing. It is a factor in evil 
 as well as in good. Men do in companies what they 
 would not do as individuals. They strengthen each 
 other in carrying out an evil purpose. They cast tempta- 
 tions in each other's way and hinder sometimes the as- 
 sertion of their better selves. Would that we all might 
 bring this social element of our natures into service and 
 make it add not only to our joys but to our virtues and 
 victories over self and sin. Would it not be a high and 
 noble ambition to be able to say when we separate from 
 familiar haunts — " I leave my friends better than I 
 found them and my enemies, if I have any, no worse." 
 Many other ways might be mentioned in which it is 
 possible for us to become partakers of other men's sins. 
 If my example is a false light on the shore; if I am an 
 apologist for wickedness; if I by haughtiness or harsh- 
 ness provoke another to do evil; if I altogether keep 
 silent when wickedness abounds; if I am a shield to the 
 wrong-doer have I not a share in his ill-desert? Nay 
 more. Are we not responsible for the whole sum of our 
 influence over our fellows. Unconsciously we elevate or 
 degrade those with whom we associate. We are either 
 weights or wings. There is an aroma of real character 
 that silently steals into other souls to refresh and bless 
 
Complicity with Crime 49 
 
 them. And from the false character just as silently and 
 certainly there goes forth a deadly, blighting influence to 
 all who come in contact with it. How solemn is the 
 responsibility that is thus laid upon us as we mingle 
 with others. The thought of it should prompt the daily 
 prayer of everyone of us — " Teach me, O God, to live." 
 Jesus forewarned his disciples of the risks of living in 
 this strong statement — " It is impossible but that of- 
 fenses will come but woe unto that man through whom 
 they come! It were better for him that a millstone were 
 hanged about his neck, and he be cast into the sea than 
 that he should offend one of these little ones." 
 
 II. How vain the endeavor to rid ourselves of the fact 
 of complicity. We would do so if we could. We even 
 imagine we succeed in doing so and roundly assert that 
 we are free. The chief priests had entered into con- 
 spiracy with Judas, or rather they had admitted him to 
 the secret of a conspiracy they had already formed. 
 They paid him a price to do the very act that so weighed 
 upon his conscience afterward. They followed his act 
 to its legitimate conclusion in the crucifixion of the master 
 he betrayed. And yet when he came to them with 
 troubled spirit they said — "What is that to us? See 
 thou to that." But did that scornful answer make the 
 slightest change in the fact of their complicity with his 
 crime? If the thirty pieces of silver were a bribe re- 
 ceived by Judas, they were at the same time a bribe given 
 by the priests and bribe-giving and bribe-taking are 
 equally heinous offences in the sight of God and good men. 
 If he was a traitor, they promoted his treason beforehand 
 and at the time took possession of the innocent man 
 whom he delivered into their hand. 
 
 How easy it is for us to be deceived about ourselves. 
 It is one of the amazing inconsistencies that we all ob- 
 serve that we cannot see in ourselves what we so readily 
 blame in others. We must admit the fact whether we 
 can explain it or not. We are blinded by self-interest 
 
50 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 or self-love and our judgments concerning our own acts 
 are comparatively worthless. There is of course a dif- 
 ference in persons. Some are more capable of candid 
 unbiased criticism of themselves than others. Yet 
 scarcely any can look with a perfectly single eye on his 
 own faults. We are apt to invert the telescope so as to 
 minify the object when we investigate our own sinfulness. 
 So that everyone may fitly use the Psalmist's words — 
 "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from 
 secret faults." Nor are those who are swift to judge 
 others more likely to be impartial judges of themselves. 
 If " those who live in glass houses ought not to throw 
 stones " it does not follow that those who do throw 
 stones do not live in glass houses. The poet says — 
 " They who credit crime are they who feel their own 
 hearts weak to unresisted sin." And a distinguished 
 essayist writes — "Those who see much to find fault 
 with in others, and who are prone to magnify and dwell 
 upon the shortcomings of their neighbors, are those who 
 have an interest in depreciating the life and character 
 around them. Men do not work for nothing." These 
 declarations may be too sweeping and yet they may at 
 least offset the false impression that condemnation of the 
 wrongs of others is any evidence whatever of the perfect 
 conduct of the censor. 
 
 Need I crave your pardon, my friends, if upon this 
 occasion I touch upon the liquor question as often as 
 the line of thought will allow? Even a digression for 
 the purpose might be overlooked in such a time as this. 
 But fortunately enough for me, the subject makes digres- 
 sion unnecessary. The liquor traffic, Judas-like, is guilty 
 of innocent blood. It la3 T s its treacherous, bloody hand 
 upon the young men of our land and slays its thou- 
 sands annually. Who is responsible for this? Temper- 
 ance people have spent a good deal of time in the past in 
 blaming one another. They have been saying to one an- 
 other — " See thou to that! " 
 
Complicity with Crime 5 l 
 
 With the storm above us driving 
 
 With the false earth mined below 
 
 Who shall marvel if thus striving 
 
 We have counted friend as foe 
 
 Unto one another giving blow for blow? 
 
 To all this we have at least a truce and with one 
 mind and one mouth we are pleading for prohibition. 
 However we may have differed, we are now agreed that 
 every man in this commonwealth has thrust upon him 
 the responsibility of saying whether this carnival of blood 
 shall continue or not. If he says it shall or fails to say 
 by his vote and influence that it shall not, how can he 
 rid himself of direct complicity with the accumulated 
 crime of the liquor traffic. The line is squarely drawn 
 between allies and supporters on the one side and op- 
 posers and enemies on the other and every man must 
 choose his position with his eyes open. If we say to 
 one another — "See thou" — let it be not to shirk 
 our own duty but to spur others to the same good works 
 we endeavor to perform. It is something to you and 
 me that our boys are endangered in almost every town 
 in the commonwealth. It is something to you and me 
 that every year multitudes are swept down by the tor- 
 rent of wickedness of which the liquor traffic is the source. 
 And therefore it is something to you and me that it be 
 outlawed — placed under the ban instead of as now 
 under the benediction of law." " What is that to us? " 
 — do you say. I answer — " It is everything we prize. 
 We sum it up and say — " 'Tis God and home and 
 native land." 
 
 III. There is no sin or suffering in this world of which 
 the Christ-like man will say — What is that to me? 
 We widen our thought now beyond those instances in 
 which our own complicity should make us tender toward 
 the sinner. Our sympathies should reach out to every 
 penitent soul — to every sinning man or woman — to 
 every stricken community. 
 
52 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 For a long time we have been learning at the feet of 
 Jesus what is the worth of man. We have been break- 
 ing the fetters from both body and mind so that he 
 may work out his own destiny unhindered. We assert 
 the right of every man to a free and fair chance in the 
 race of life. " Break every yoke " is the cry — every 
 yoke of law, custom or sentiment and let the imprisoned 
 spirit of man go free. Let him accept the opportunities 
 freedom gives and ask no more. 
 
 But is there not a companion truth that ought to be 
 considered? Besides the doctrine of individualism we 
 must place the doctrine of the solidarity of the race. We 
 are members one of another. Liberty must walk hand 
 in hand with fraternity. I am my brother's keeper. 
 There is another lesson yet to be learned at the feet 
 of Jesus. He did not so much emphasize self-assertion 
 as self-surrender — not so much rights as duties. By 
 teaching and example he set forth the glory of service. 
 " Whosoever will be great among you let him be your 
 servant." He never said to the busy population of 
 Capernaum — Let the strongest survive and the weak 
 perish. He commended the Good Samaritan, because he 
 neither despised nor neglected but cared for and sup- 
 ported the weak. Never a cry came to his ears — of 
 weakness or woe — that was not heeded. The bereaved 
 Mother, the anxious publican, the young ruler, the fallen 
 woman of Samaria, the thief on the cross — all were 
 taken into his pity and received kind, honest, helpful 
 treatment at his hands. Had even Judas gone to Jesus 
 with his bitter wail of remorse instead of to the ac- 
 complices of his crime how different might have been 
 his reception and humanly speaking his fate! Who can 
 doubt that the word of Jesus that has buoyed many a 
 sinking soul in all the centuries since it was uttered 
 would have found in him a signal illustration — " Him 
 that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Did 
 he not a little later look down from the cross on his 
 
Complicity with Crime 53 
 
 murderers and pray — "Father forgive them for they 
 know not what they do." 
 
 Who among us can look with indifference on the fate 
 of Johnstown? What a moment of awful agony it must 
 have been to some, when the angry waters swept almost 
 all they cared for on earth away from their embrace 
 forever! What maddening suspense must have wrung 
 the hearts of others who knew that friends were en- 
 dangered and feared that they were lost! Could any- 
 one among us have the want of heart to say — What is 
 that to me? 
 
 Something more than a year ago the Synod of Pitts- 
 burg met at Johnstown and two of us spent an evening 
 with Rev. Dr. Beale, an old college friend, then pastor 
 of the Presbyterian Church. On Tuesday I saw his 
 name among the dead at Leechburg. But though not 
 a friend was lost or sorrow-stricken did not the hearts 
 of all of us swell with emotions of astonishment and 
 grief as we read of the sudden, overwhelming destruc- 
 tion of our human brothers? Did we not all respond in 
 heart and as we were able to the cry of the impoverished, 
 sorrow-laden living? The unparalleled calamity was 
 promptly followed by a liberality that knows no parallel 
 outside of lands leavened by Christian influence. The 
 thousands of rich men and the small gifts of the poor 
 came pouring in from far and near to help these strangers 
 who are bound to us by no other tie than that of the 
 race. All hail ! this blessed day when the kinship of men 
 is honored, when one member suffers and all the other 
 members suffer with it. The spirit of the song of the 
 angels is abroad in the earth — " Glory to God in the 
 highest, peace on earth, good will to men." 
 
 Young gentlemen and ladies of the graduating class, 
 take note of these signs of better things. Have faith 
 in God. Have faith in the workings of divine grace 
 in human souls. Coleridge paints by these few masterly 
 strokes the poor blind pessimist — " The owlet Atheism 
 
54 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 sailing on obscene wings athwart the moon, drops his 
 blue-fringed lids and holds them closed, And hooting 
 at the glorious sun in heaven, cries out, ' Where is it? ' ; 
 Let the atheist be a pessimist if he will — the darkness 
 is his native haunt. Let him shut his eyes and hoot, 
 when the sun dances joyously in the heavens and flings 
 down radiance upon the earth. But let us who have 
 faith in the Heavenly Father's government of the world, 
 keep our eyes open to see all that is gladdening and 
 beneficent in its history. Cultivate that serenity that 
 comes from contemplation of the throne of the eternal. 
 " Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he." 
 
 Recognize the brightness there is in the world and 
 endeavor to make it brighter. There are perils and 
 miseries and sin. There are poverty and oppression and 
 greed and lust and violence. There are " ragged 
 children, with hungry eyes " for whom Mrs. Browning 
 pleads — 
 
 If no better can be done, 
 Let us do but this endeavor 
 That the sun behind the sun 
 Shine upon them while they shiver. 
 
 There are giant iniquities that must be smitten with 
 the fist of righteous law. In many places yet Satan is 
 unbound. To all these sad serious facts you must be 
 awake. There is need of earnestness and patience as 
 well as serenity and hope. 
 
 Mordecai rallied Queen Esther from her listlessness 
 and called upon her to plead the cause of her doomed 
 people — " Who knoweth whither thou art come to the 
 Kingdom for such a time as this." And the queen an- 
 swered nobly — " I will go in unto the King which is not 
 according to law; and if I perish, I perish." Equally 
 admirable are Mordecai and Esther — the burning zeal 
 of the man and the self-sacrificing devotion of the 
 
Complicity with Crime 55 
 
 woman. Let us commend them to your imitation as you 
 enter upon life with the purpose of serving God, and your 
 fellow men. 
 
 Who knoweth whether you are coming to the King- 
 dom — the Kingdom of manhood and womanhood — 
 for the times in which you live. Shirk not your re- 
 sponsibility nor seek to impose it upon others. Say not 
 — "What is that to us? See thou to that." Rather 
 press into the conflict with — " Here am I ; send me." 
 Make the world better by work under and in harmony 
 with Jesus Christ who came to minister to others and 
 to save the lost and count it reward enough if at the last 
 you hear him say — " Come ye blessed of my Father, in- 
 herit the Kingdom prepared for you from the founda- 
 tion of the world ; for I was an hungered and ye gave 
 me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a 
 stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me; I 
 was sick and ye visited me." 
 
SERMON V, 1890 
 
 SOBER-MINDEDNESS 
 Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded. — Titus 2: 6. 
 
 YOUTH is impetuous. Young men are ever ready 
 to do exploits. They are charmed by the romantic 
 and the heroic. The element of risk only gives zest to 
 any enterprise. They respond promptly to any appeal 
 that calls for daring. They are not appalled but rather 
 attracted by the perils of missionary life in the heart of 
 Africa, they deprecate most of all what is called a hum- 
 drum life — without excitement, without apprehension, 
 and equally without expectation — a calm and placid 
 sea unstirred by storm and scarce by gentle breeze. 
 Few of them would understand Lord Shaftsbury who 
 when urged to accept a high office, replied, " One 
 million six hundred thousand operatives are still ex- 
 cluded from the benefits of the Factory acts, and so 
 long as they are unprotected, I cannot take office." 
 Fewer still would understand Chinese Gordon, the hero 
 of the century, when he wrote, — " Is it my fault or my 
 failing that I never have a respectable assistant with me 
 to bear a part of my labors? The men who would suit 
 me are all more or less burdened with their families, 
 etc. ; those who are not so loaded, are for money or great 
 acts, which do not accord with my views." 
 
 Money and great acts are apt to be the ambition of the 
 great majority. The ideas of serviceableness to man and 
 submission to God, are far from dominating their lives. 
 They respond to motives of glory rather than of duty, 
 of gain rather than of godliness, of pleasure rather than 
 of sacrifice. 
 
 56 
 
Sober-Mindedness 57 
 
 Titus was left by Paul at Crete to set things in order. 
 The people in general of all ages and sexes seem to have 
 been blinded by sense and sloth. Paul quotes one of 
 their own prophets concerning them, — " The Cretans are 
 always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies," and adds, " This 
 witness is true." Accordingly he gives Titus specific 
 charges concerning the various classes that would com- 
 pose his congregation. As the chapter has been read, 
 you have noticed how similarly they are to be addressed, 
 how substantially the same virtues are to be pressed upon 
 them all — " that the aged men be sober, grave, temper- 
 ate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience, — the aged 
 women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh 
 holiness; that they may teach the young women to be 
 sober, discreet, chaste, keepers-at-home, good." And 
 then follow these words concerning those whose employ- 
 ments are more likely to nourish the illusions of early 
 life, " The younger men likewise exhort to be sober- 
 minded." 
 
 The word " likewise," interpreted by the preceding 
 verses, brings the younger women as well as the younger 
 men within the scope of this exhortation and makes it 
 appropriate enough as the basis of a closing word to 
 young people of both sexes. 
 
 What is it to be sober-minded? 
 
 Let the white light of Scripture illuminate the answer. 
 Paul writes to the Thessalonians, " Let us not sleep as 
 do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that 
 sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are 
 drunken in the night, but let us who are of the day be 
 sober, putting on the breast-plate of faith and love; and 
 for an helmet the hope of salvation." 
 
 To be sober-minded is to live as the children of the 
 day, to have our eyes open and our minds alert, to look 
 the difficulties and dangers of our situation squarely in 
 the face, to be well-gjrded and well-guarded with the 
 Christian graces of faith, and love and hope. Viewed 
 
58 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 in this wide sense sobriety takes in the whole discipline 
 of Christian life. It particularly includes moderation 
 to which Paul exhorts, " Let your moderation be known 
 unto all men. The Lord is at hand." Likewise it in- 
 cludes temperance or self-control, of which Peter speaks, 
 " Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and 
 to knowledge temperance." It is a synonym for wisdom, 
 that large-minded, long-sighted, practical wisdom that 
 resists the tyranny of the present and considers the final 
 outcome of one's acts, both here and hereafter. " See 
 that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 
 redeeming the time." " In understanding be men." 
 
 Be sober! Need I utter a word of warning against 
 the intoxicating cup ? Who does not know the deadly 
 poison it contains? Who has not witnessed the havoc 
 of the demons set loose upon society by strong drink? 
 See the drunkard's awful wreck of himself — of all the 
 noble gifts with which his Creator has endowed him. 
 His power of thought, of speech, even of locomotion, are 
 overcome. He essays to go, and his feet refuse to do 
 his bidding. He speaks, and his maudlin talk bewrays 
 his besotted condition. His reason is dethroned and wild 
 imaginations course through his mind unbridled. He 
 casts away his opportunity of employment in any im- 
 portant task. He fills with the flush of shame the face 
 of those who love him. " Who hath woe ? Who hath 
 sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath redness of 
 eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go 
 to seek mixed wine." My young friends, if you would 
 escape these evils, you ■ must not tamper with the cup 
 that contains them. The " original package " cannot 
 hurt the man whose unalterable purpose is to neither 
 touch, taste, nor handle it. 
 
 Pass on now from the region of the physical, or 
 psycho-physical, to that of the mind alone. Is there any- 
 thing here corresponding to the intoxicant effects of 
 which we have just spoken? Is it possible for one to 
 
Sober-Mindedness 59 
 
 be sober in the ordinary sense, the eye clear, the step 
 steady, the intellect bright, and yet not be sober-minded? 
 Are the rightful rulers in the kingdom of the soul ever 
 overthrown? Does prejudice ever warp the judgment, 
 or interest ever silence the conscience? Is the soul ever 
 frenzied with grief, or wild with passion, or drunk with 
 excitement? Is there reason enough why we should all 
 be urged to soberness of mind? 
 
 Let us select a few out of many suggestions contained in 
 this comprehensive exhortation. 
 
 I. We commend to you sober-mindedness as one 
 against the sway of mere feeling. 
 
 There is no doubt a place for feeling and for the 
 experience of it. It is a false notion that emotion is to 
 be constantly suppressed or hidden from view. Stolid- 
 ity is very far from being strength. The strong man 
 is the earnest man, whose very soul is on fire with devo- 
 tion to a great cause. 
 
 " He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, 
 acts the best." That man is to be pitied who cannot 
 feel, the fountain of whose emotions is sealed. He looks 
 upon the beauties of nature and art without any glow 
 of admiration within him. He walks through the fields 
 of literature and is never regaled by the fragrance of 
 its flowers. He hears burning words from the advocate 
 of a great cause, and marks his stupidity at the close by 
 a flippant remark at its expense. We pity him, though 
 he perhaps will wrap the icy mantle of his independence 
 about him, and fancy himself superior to the common 
 mass whose souls respond to truth and right. For his 
 superciliousness he needs our pity all the more, notwith- 
 standing he deserves our blame. 
 
 Sometimes there is a vicious sentiment abroad con- 
 cerning this. There is a sort of " nil admirari " school, 
 whose members wish it to be known that they wonder 
 at nothing, that they are interested in nothing. They 
 especially try to repress every outward manifestation of 
 
60 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 the emotions they feel. They incase themselves in a 
 shell of propriety, or may be, of pugnacity. Would that 
 we could dislodge such a false sentiment whereon it has 
 fastened itself. It will cut a deep scar in the character 
 of every man or woman who cherishes it. Says Ruskin: 
 " The ennobling difference between one man and another 
 is precisely in this, that one feels more than another." 
 Right emotions are the springs of right action and right 
 character, and ought, therefore, to be cultivated and 
 shown without restraint. Let us not, however, suffer 
 them to assume the place of government. While al- 
 lowing the free action of the feelings, they must not 
 usurp the throne of the soul, which is rightly occupied 
 by reason and conscience. Yet, alas! too often in the 
 history of all of us this true order of things is reversed. 
 The feelings master us instead of being mastered. 
 Scarcely a day passes in which the close observer of him- 
 self will not see this illustrated. We say we acted on the 
 impulse of the moment. We mean that the feeling of 
 tenderness or anger, of admiration or disgust, prompted 
 us to do what our judgment disapproves. 
 
 Sometimes these feelings get a dominant and abiding 
 sway. Anger ripens into hate ; love into idolatry ; tender- 
 ness into sickly sentimentality. It is no sudden burst 
 of feeling, but a steady flow in a single direction, appear- 
 ing as often as circumstances give occasion for its 
 entrance. 
 
 See it where one is ruled by a malignant passion. I 
 hate another. A single event excited my enmity, and 
 henceforth all that he does is seen not merely in the 
 light of the event, but of the ill-feeling it created. He 
 does a worthy act, and I attribute to him an unworthy 
 motive ; he achieves distinction, and I give the credit of it 
 to circumstances; he makes a misstep, and I denounce 
 him without mercy. " Which of these was neighbor 
 unto him that fell among the thieves? " asked Jesus 
 of the scribe. He would have choked in the attempt 
 
Sober-M.inded.ness 6 1 
 
 to say, " the Samaritan." And, therefore, answered by 
 phrase, " He that had mercy on him." Why do I mis- 
 judge my brother man? Because there is a feeling in me 
 that overrules my reason and makes me less than just. 
 Let him that is without sin among you cast the first 
 stone at me. 
 
 The same injurious supremacy of mere feeling may be 
 seen in an opposite class. Not to speak of partialities 
 of family, friendship, community or party, we notice what 
 we may call indiscriminate tenderness. It seems to lean 
 to virtue's side, and yet it is too boneless a thing to de- 
 serve the name of virtue; it grieves equally over the death 
 of a pet canary and a darling child ; it sheds tears at all 
 graves, and sends bouquets to all criminals; mercy is its 
 only plea, and justice, law and the general good are 
 utterly ignored. Feeling has absolute sway and every 
 dictate of right reason is swiftly set aside. 
 
 There is indeed no danger from a passion as long as 
 it is kept subject to the proper ruling power of the mind. 
 Only when it runs wild does it bring damage and dis- 
 aster. Let it be harnessed to a worthy object, and under 
 the guidance of an intelligent understanding let it speed 
 on. The goal of achievement will be sooner won. " It 
 is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing." 
 
 When reason, like a skillful charioteer, 
 Can break the fiery passions to the bit, 
 And spite of the licentious allies, keep 
 The radiant tract of glory, passions then 
 Are aids and ornaments. 
 
 II. We commend to you sober-mindedness as over 
 against self-will. Paul writes to the Romans (12:3), 
 " I say through the grace given unto me, to every man 
 that is among you, not to think of himself more highly 
 than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according 
 as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." 
 Among the qualifications for a bishop which he gave to 
 
62 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Titus (1:7), in this epistle is, "not self-willed." And 
 Peter writes of certain ones of his time — anarchists of 
 the first century — " Presumptuous are they, self-willed." 
 Putting these passages together we learn that one of the 
 evils resulting from not thinking soberly of ourselves is 
 self-will, undue self-assertion. 
 
 He is indeed a pitiable object who lacks will — a mere 
 reflection of another, a puppet or plaything in the hands 
 of his friends. Will means force — strength to resist or 
 to assail. Condemnation of self-will is quite in keeping 
 with commendation of sturdy self-poise, of high moral 
 purpose, often it is the highest exercise of righteous-will 
 to overcome self-will. It is fighting the good fight of 
 wisdom. Here is a great battle-ground with nearly all 
 of us. We naturally like to have our own way, but 
 sometimes we get ashamed of our selfishness and deter- 
 mine to conquer our own spirits; sometimes it dawns 
 upon us that others have rights as well as we; some- 
 times we recognize the fact that the general interests 
 demand permanent consideration. So we set ourselves 
 with firm purpose to discipline ourselves unto obedience 
 to the behest of duty. Self-will has supreme regard to 
 self; strength of will has regard to an £nd in view. Had 
 Speaker Reed's persistency been concerning a matter 
 purely personal, he could not have so won the approval 
 of others. But the end in view, the correction of what 
 was believed to be a great abuse, made him in the eyes 
 of his friends the hero of the hour. 
 
 When self-will displays itself in the common inter- 
 course of life, it may be nothing more serious than dis- 
 agreeableness. But when one occupies a representative 
 position, it is fraught with danger to whatever large in- 
 terests are involved. In the crises of our nation's history 
 they are to be admired most who surrendered cherished 
 notions for the common good, sinking personal prejudices, 
 opinions, wishes, for the sake of the great end to be 
 reached. 
 
Sober-Mindedness 63 
 
 What a debt we owe to the men who composed the 
 Federal Convention which framed our National Consti- 
 tution. The Articles of Confederation had proved to be 
 a snare. From all the States came men with their own 
 views and State prejudices to frame a plan to remedy 
 the acknowledged evils. There was long and earnest dis- 
 cussion, and little seemed to be accomplished, until even 
 the courageous heart of Washington seemed ready to 
 despair of any good results. There were great men in 
 that convention ; men such as Madison and Randolph, 
 Hamilton and Franklin. They had opinions and dared 
 to maintain them, but they were patient as well as candid, 
 respecting their compatriots as well as themselves. They 
 were awed by a sense of a great responsibility, and they 
 held together till the demand of the hour was met by an 
 agreement. Hamilton's words expressed the sober- 
 minded spirit of many as he looked upon their completed 
 work — " No man's ideas are more remote from the plan 
 than my own are known to be; but it is possible to de- 
 liberate between anarchy and convulsion on one side, and 
 the chance of good to be expected from the plan on the 
 other." 
 
 William H. Seward, before the nomination of Lincoln, 
 was the best known advocate of freedom in the land. 
 Yet, in the early months of 1861, when secession was 
 threatening, he stood in the Senate pleading solely for 
 the Union, until his former friends began to criticize him 
 for his timidity. In reply to a letter from his friend, 
 Dr. Joseph P. Thompson, he gives the reasons for his 
 course in a private letter, which was not published till 
 eleven years had passed, and Mr. Seward had gone to his 
 reward. He wrote: "Twelve years ago freedom was 
 in danger and Union was not. I spake then so singly 
 for freedom that short-sighted men inferred that I was 
 disloyal to the Union. I endured this reproach without 
 complaining, and now I have my vindication. Today, 
 practically freedom is not in danger and Union is. Now, 
 
64 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 therefore, I speak singly for Union, striving if possible to 
 save it peaceably; if not possible, then to cast the re- 
 sponsibility upon the party of slavery. For this single- 
 ness of speech I am now suspected of infidelity to freedom. 
 — Do not publish or show this letter. Leave me to be 
 misunderstood. I am not impatient." Whatever opin- 
 ion we may entertain concerning his course in those 
 stormy days, must we not admire the faith, courage and 
 self-forgetfulness that asked no vindication till the coming 
 ages, that patiently accepted misunderstanding rather 
 than jeopardize his country's weal? 
 
 It is not long since the commanding figure of Samuel 
 J. Randall passed into the unseen world. No man who 
 knew him will question his resolute will. But never was 
 it more nobly employed than in the days of the Hayes- 
 Tilden conflict. His own wishes, hopes, interests, con- 
 victions, were all in favor of Mr. Tilden. His party 
 friends were clamorous for the rights of their favorite, 
 but the cool head and iron will of one man carried the 
 day for peace. Were these three men — Hamilton, 
 Seward, Randall — ever more courageous than when each 
 in his day subordinated self to the welfare of this land? 
 Let us in our smaller spheres emulate their example. 
 Let us set at least three limits to our self-assertion — 
 the rights of others, the larger interests affected by our 
 action, and the will of God. 
 
 III. We commend to you sober-mindedness as over 
 against unbelief. We take now a longer view. We re- 
 member that there is a limit to this present life, and that 
 eternity lies beyond. That other world that is eternal 
 unbelief ignores, and is therefore mad. 
 
 There is a God. It is the fool who says in his heart, 
 " There is no God." All God's works declare him, and 
 only the lips of man have ever contradicted their testi- 
 mony. Stanley comes out from the jungles of Africa to 
 testify that the living God is a reality today, and hears 
 prayer. He says — " I vowed a vow in the forest soli- 
 
Sober-Mindedness 65 
 
 tudes that I would confess his aid before men." And 
 the letter from which we quote is a partial fulfillment of 
 the vow. And thousands more, not less trustworthy, 
 though less compensated, confirm his testimony. 
 
 There is a Redeemer — the hope of Israel, the hope 
 of mankind. Eighteen hundred years ago a noted pris- 
 oner stood before his prince to make his defense. There 
 was a great company of military and civil officers and 
 chief men of the city gathered to hear him. Undismayed 
 — nay, rather stimulated by the splendid opportunity to 
 utter the truth before kings, he gave with all the earnest- 
 ness of conviction and loving purpose the reason for his 
 hope. Boldly he announced the line of his defense — as 
 " For the hope of the promise made of God unto our 
 fathers ... I am accused of the Jews." He told of 
 his former unbelief and enmity to the Lord Jesus, and 
 how his mad career had been arrested by the vision of 
 the Lord at midday, as he went to Damascus. He told 
 of the command laid upon him to witness concerning these 
 things to the Gentiles, to turn them from darkness to 
 light, and from the power of Satan unto God. " Where- 
 upon," he declares, " I was not disobedient unto the 
 heavenly vision " ; and " I continue unto this day wit- 
 nessing . . . that Christ should suffer, and that he should 
 rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, 
 and to the Gentiles." And as he waxed warm in his 
 proclamation of the gospel, Festus said with a loud voice, 
 " Paul, thou art beside thyself ; much learning doth make 
 thee mad." But Paul answered with equal spirit and 
 courtesy, " I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak 
 forth the words of truth and soberness." 
 
 Which now of these two was mad — Festus or Paul ? 
 Which of these is sober-minded — the man of the world 
 or the man of faith? Each as he looks from his own 
 standpoint charges the other with folly. The worldling 
 stands with his back on the future; the Christian has be- 
 fore his face both time and eternity. The worldling 
 
66 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 stands in the plain ; the Christian stands on the mountain 
 top and looks out over the pleasant plain and over the 
 mountains to the interminable stretches of his inheritance 
 that lie beyond. 
 
 Some of you, maybe, believe with Paul and act with 
 Festus. Is your folly less by reason of the difference 
 between you and the heathen ruler? Nay, rather it is 
 increased. If Jesus Christ is the hope of mankind as you 
 confess — the only hope of your own soul, I beseech you 
 do not neglect him. I would that every one of you were 
 not only almost but altogether Christians. " Be wise 
 today, 'tis madness to defer." 
 
 Young gentlemen and ladies of the graduating class 
 of 1890, you are now looking out upon life as you never 
 did before. The great world with its manifold activities 
 seems just at hand. I have tried to present to you an 
 idea of life as something serious. It is no holiday ad- 
 venture, but earnest work, with some things to be borne. 
 There is a grave responsibility of life. And yet it is a 
 pleasant world we live in. You need not sit down under 
 a juniper-tree and wish to die. We bid you be of good 
 cheer and give good cheer. Take courage and give 
 courage. First of all, be a child of God by faith in the 
 Lord Jesus. Then fear not the future, for it is in your 
 Father's hand. If there are clouds, the light will shine 
 through them. If there are trials, they do not abide. 
 Time and the hour run through the roughest day. 
 Especially you can brighten your own life by brighten- 
 ing life for some others. Help him over hard places, 
 cheer him on the way. Coleridge relates an incident of 
 Sir Alex. Ball and a very young midshipman. The latter 
 in his first battle was trembling with fear, well-nigh 
 panic-stricken, when Lieut. Ball took him by the 
 hand and whispered, "Courage, my boy! Don't be 
 afraid of yourself, you will recover in a minute or so." 
 It was but a word — a timely word, but it saved him 
 from dishonor, and was remembered ever afterward with 
 
Sober-M.indedn.ess 67 
 
 gratitude. May each of you in your first battles find 
 some reinforcing friend, and in turn may you reinforce 
 others. If we would do the utmost for God and human- 
 ity, we must join hands for mutual support. We must 
 not waste force by standing in each other's way. Rise 
 to the height of magnanimity that your religion and your 
 life-work require. As sober-minded men and women, 
 do earnestly and hopefully what your hands find to do, 
 while you listen for the bugle-call of progress — the 
 marching orders of the providence of God. 
 
 " The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes 
 of all nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the 
 salvation of our God." 
 
 There is a fount about to stream, 
 
 There is a light about to beam, 
 
 There is a morning twilight broadening unto day, 
 
 Men of thought and men of action lead the way. 
 
 Go forth with your face toward the better time coming, 
 and do what you can to hasten it, and may the blessing 
 of God go with you. 
 
SERMON VI, 1891 
 
 OBEDIENCE 
 Obedient unto death. — Phil. 2:8. 
 
 WE hear much in the present concerning the reign 
 of law. Modern science makes us familiar with 
 the idea of law in the material universe. So wide and 
 comprehensive are its generalizations that it affirms the 
 existence of a law that embraces within its scope all 
 gradations of matter, life and mind, from star-dust to 
 man, from the deep sea ooze to the gigantic mind of a 
 Plato or a Webster. 
 
 But what is law? Is it an independent entity? Is 
 it self-existent, self -sustained, self-determined? Is it 
 blindly dominant, without origin, without purpose? Is 
 there not a law-giver behind the law? Paley is right 
 when he says — Law presupposes an Agent. 
 
 But if law implies an agent in one view it also implies 
 a subject in another. If a law-giver is a correlative of 
 law in one direction, obedience is its correlative in an- 
 other. Obedience is neither more or less than conform- 
 ity to law. You bring together oxygen and hydrogen 
 and in accordance with the law of chemical combination 
 in fixed proportions, the obedient elements unite to form 
 water. You strike an ivory ball against another and in 
 obedient rebound it flies in the precise direction required 
 by the law of incidence. The mysterious law of gravita- 
 tion holds its silent sway over the obedient stars and 
 suns and systems. Men stand in admiring awe before 
 the majesty of law as with unvarying uniformity it rami- 
 fies and reigns over the entire universe. 
 
 How strange it is that they so admire the obedient 
 68 
 
Obedience 69 
 
 earth and the obedient sky and care so little for the 
 obedient soul. Would that we could make it clear to 
 you that the rational obedience of an immortal man is 
 not less but more admirable than the unbroken allegiance 
 of the spheres — that the moral law ought to reign 
 supreme over every moral agent in every moral act and 
 only so far as he is in heart and life conformed to it is 
 the highest end of his being attained. 
 
 How can we be brought to realize this truth to which 
 we will readily assent? Precepts fail to give us vivid 
 conception of the excellence of duty or to attract us to it. 
 Let us rather look upon a man embodying the divine 
 ideal, illustrating the beauty of goodness by a blameless 
 life, magnifying the law and making it honorable. 
 Where shall such an attractive example be found? 
 There has been but one faultless man in all the ages. 
 In the judgment of friends and foes alike his place among 
 men is unique. He stands on a moral level higher than 
 Socrates or Seneca, Buddha or Mahomet, Luther, or 
 Washington. While denying the supernatural, the ra- 
 tionalistic critics of Christianity are constrained to repeat 
 the declarations of Pilate concerning the character of 
 Jesus — "I find no fault in this man." Reman says — 
 " He is the uncomparable man, to whom the universal 
 conscience has decreed the title of the Son of God, and 
 this too with justice." 
 
 He was indeed more than a perfect man as Reman 
 with apparent unconsciousness declares, but his example 
 of obedience is glorified by the fact that he is also the 
 Son of God. See him subordinating, suppressing, veiling 
 his Deity — becoming a real man, subject to law. He 
 " counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God 
 but emptied himself, taking form of a servant." 
 
 All this was preparatory to the obedience which he 
 rendered. Clothed now with all the attributes of human- 
 ity he lived his life, did his work, died his death. And 
 what was the essential quality, the distinguishing glory 
 
70 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 of it all. It may be expressed in a single word — 
 Obedience. " He became obedient unto death, even the 
 death of the cross." 
 
 I. His complete obedience to God. His soul responds 
 at once to every intimation of the divine will. It is 
 sensitive as the needle that trembles with unerring, un- 
 hampered impulse to the pole, steady as the full of the 
 moon that lifts the rising tide at its established time. His 
 guiding star was the will of Him that sent him. Sub- 
 jection to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, 
 the fulfilment of all righteousness in the observance of 
 divine requirements, the execution of his appointed mis- 
 sion — these constitute the purpose of his life which was 
 ever present and pressing on to realization. At the 
 Washington Centenary in New York, President Har- 
 rison said of Washington in happy phrase — " He was the 
 incarnation of duty." With a vastly larger significance 
 the words might be applied to Jesus, who though he were 
 a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he 
 suffered. 
 
 If we look at him on the planes of home and citizen- 
 ship, what an example of filial and civil obedience he 
 furnishes us. That single incident of his childhood in 
 which he appears talking with the doctors at Jerusalem 
 and coming into clear consciousness of his divine mission, 
 only forms a background to bring out in bolder relief 
 his subsequent subjection to his parents. He left the 
 city with its enlarging views and congenial fellowship 
 to return to the despised village of Nazareth to work in 
 the carpenter shop of his father and do his daily bidding. 
 He recognized the divine arrangement by which parents 
 are made the governors of their children and by his 
 example sanctioned beforehand the words of Paul — 
 " Children obey your parents in the Lord ; for this is 
 right." 
 
 His relation to civil authority is of like character. 
 
Obedience 7 1 
 
 He was no anarchist attacking the foundations of social 
 order. He was no revolutionist except as his radical ideas 
 were revolutionary in individual souls and as the cen- 
 turies pass, in the world. He would not consent to be a 
 King. He was crucified because he would not play the 
 worldly part which the Jews expected of him. He 
 wrought a miracle in order to pay the tribute to the 
 Roman government. He was " subject not only for 
 wrath, but for conscience sake " — not from fear of the 
 penalty of the law but from filial fear of God. " Is it 
 lawful to pay tribute unto Caesar or not?" — asked his 
 enemies. They thought to entrap and entangle him, but 
 he astonished and silenced the hypocrites by his candor. 
 His loyal soul gave prompt response and the questioners 
 marvelled and went their way. But that admirable an- 
 swer, setting forth the duty and the limits of subjection 
 to the powers that be, putting God both behind human 
 authority and above it has been echoing down the ages 
 ever since and was never more clearly heard than now 
 — " Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and 
 unto God the things that are God's." 
 
 But let us now consider his direct relation to God. 
 Let us enter into the inner sanctuary and see how he 
 thinks and feels concerning God. What does he think 
 of his revealed will in the Old Testament? Does he as- 
 sume the role of a " higher critic " and minimize its 
 worth? Or does he show the deepest solicitude about its 
 fulfillment to the last jot or tittle? Is he jealous of any 
 invasion of his prerogative? Or does he make haste to 
 take the place of a servant? Does he with wanton in- 
 dependence break through the hedge of divine commands 
 and purposes? Or does he bring every thought into sub- 
 jection to the will of the Father? Everyone of you, 
 familiar with the life of Christ as contained in the Gos- 
 pels knows what is the only answer that can be made 
 to these questions. And yet it may be that you have not 
 
72 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 fully realized the fact that obedience to the Father was 
 the very key-note of that brief life that has so changed 
 the face of the world. 
 
 What does he say of himself ? Let us listen to his own 
 testimony. As about some simple, familiar air the musi- 
 cal genius gathers endless variations, while the central 
 melody gives direction to the intricate whole and ever and 
 anon rises to the surface to charm the listener, so does 
 the thought of the Father's will permeate the whole 
 wondrous life of the Redeemer, while ever and anon it 
 comes out into clear and distinct utterance of his lips. 
 You can hear it in these words to his Mother — Wist 
 ye not that I must be about my Father's business? or in 
 my Father's house? You can hear it in these cheery 
 words from the weary traveller at the well of Sychar. 
 " My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to 
 finish his work." You can hear it in these answers to 
 his cavilling foes — " I can of mine own self do nothing; 
 as I hear I judge; and my judgment is just because I 
 seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which 
 hath sent me " — " I came down from heaven not to do 
 mine own will but the will of him that sent me." " He 
 that sent me is with me; the Father hath not left me 
 alone; for I do always those things that please him." 
 Everyone of these passages declares in almost identical 
 phrase the animating purpose of all his actions. " The 
 will of him that sent me " — " the will of the Father " — 
 " his work " — " those things that please him " ; it is the 
 same sweet strain of obedience that is heard in them all. 
 Then as the end draws nigh and he anticipates the com- 
 plete fulfilment of his purpose we hear him addressing 
 the Father and making the triumphant claim — " I have 
 glorified thee on the earth ; I have finished the work 
 which thou gavest me to do — a claim repeated a few 
 hours afterward as with his expiring breath he cried to 
 God and men — " It is finished." 
 
 Besides all this direct testimony how many indirect 
 
Obedience 73 
 
 intimations we have of an obedient spirit ! How often 
 the name of the Father falls from his lips! It is the 
 unconscious manifestation of his affectionate loyalty. 
 More than a hundred times in a single Gospel — the 
 Gospel of John — do we find a record of his reverent use 
 of this endearing name. With what manifold variation 
 is the central strain thus wrought into the several parts. 
 Listen and see how the Father is ever uppermost in his 
 mind — " I am come in my Father's name and ye receive 
 me not " — " I honor my Father and ye do dishonor me " 
 — " I am the true vine and my Father is the husband- 
 man " — " In my Father's house are many mansions." 
 And when he is about to leave the world, his way of 
 expressing it is — " I go to the Father and after his 
 resurrection with his thoughts still turning spontaneously 
 in the same direction he says to Mary Magdalene — " I 
 ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and 
 your God." 
 
 What further evidence do we wish? If anything need 
 be — can be added — it is contained in the fact declared 
 in our text. He became obedient unto death. The 
 faithful and true Witness sealed his testimony with his 
 blood. Like the soldier who abides at his post when the 
 well-aimed missiles of the enemy fly about him — 
 obedient unto death. Like the Pompeian guard, stand- 
 ing erect till the descending shower of hot ashes covered 
 him where he stood to be revealed by the excavators 
 of later centuries the eloquent monument to his own 
 fidelity, obedient unto death. 
 
 But is this all ? Was death only the outer limit — the 
 golden clasp of his obedient career? Was it nothing 
 more than martyrdom for the truth? Was he only a 
 passive subject? Was he not obedient in his death? 
 Was not his death a part of his obedience? Was it not 
 the very climax of his active obedience, the culminating 
 act of his execution of the will of the Father? Could 
 we have positive action asserted more clearly than in 
 
74 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 these words of Jesus? — " Therefore doth my Father love 
 me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. 
 No man taketh from me but I lay it down of myself. 
 I have power to lay it down and I have power to take 
 it again. This commandment have I received of my 
 Father." He was not torn in pieces by the relentless 
 forces of evil, but surrendering himself to their hand he 
 laid down his life at the Father's bidding. Yea in the 
 very act of his final surrender to death his action is 
 clearly seen as he " cried with a loud voice and yielded up 
 his spirit." 
 
 The obedience of Jesus, notwithstanding infirmities of 
 the flesh, notwithstanding constant contact with the vice 
 of his time, notwithstanding attacks of men and devils, 
 through all his years, through all he did and said and 
 thought, through every purpose, imagination and feeling, 
 was unfaltering, unswerving, absolutely perfect, receiving 
 the highest possible sanction in his resurrection from the 
 dead by his own and the Father's hand. 
 
 II. Let us now in the second place consider the at- 
 tractive example which his obedience furnishes to his fol- 
 lowers. 
 
 We do not forget that Christ's perfect obedience is 
 even more intimately connected with our salvation. He 
 is an Atoner as well as an Exemplar, the obedience of 
 the cross laying the foundation of our hope. By its 
 inexhaustible merit the believer is justified before God. 
 Paul's statement to the Romans (5: 19) is pertinent and 
 sufficient — "As by one Man's disobedience many were 
 made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be 
 made righteous." 
 
 But we choose at this time to confine our thoughts to 
 Jesus as an example. In this we are warranted by the 
 introducing context — " Let this mind be in you which 
 was also in Christ Jesus who . . . being found in fashion 
 as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient unto 
 death, even the death of the cross." It is the obedient 
 
Obedience 75 
 
 mind that is commended to our imitation. We are not 
 to reproduce the circumstances but the spirit of his life. 
 We might live in Galilee, gather about us the fishermen 
 of the lake, retire betimes to the solitude of the mountain, 
 wander about from place to place — in short, copy many 
 external details of the Redeemer's life and yet have none 
 of his spirit; on the other hand we may abide in a palace 
 like Joseph, or languish in prison, like Bunyan, or lie 
 on an invalid's couch like many of God's purest saints 
 and have the mind of Christ without any outward like- 
 ness to his life. Dr. Arnold of Rugby tells of a saintly 
 sister who for twenty years was confined to a crib, never 
 changing her position for all that time, in this enthusi- 
 astic way — " I never saw a more perfect instance of the 
 spirit and power of love and of a sound mind, intense 
 love, almost to the annihilation of selfishness; a daily 
 martyrdom for 20 years, during which she adhered to 
 her early formed purpose of never talking about herself 
 — ■ enjoying everything lovely, graceful, beautiful, high- 
 minded, whether in God's work or man's, with the keen- 
 est relish ; inheriting the earth to the very fullness of the 
 promise; and preserved through the very valley of the 
 shadow of death from all fear or impatience, or from 
 every cloud of impaired reason which might mar the 
 beauty of Christ's glorious work. May God grant that 
 I may come within one hundred degrees of her place 
 in glory." That was no slavish copy but a real imita- 
 tion of the self-emptying example of Jesus. 
 
 Our obedience, like Christ's, should be constant. His 
 was rooted in love — love to the Father whose will was 
 obeyed, love to the law which was the expression of his 
 will. He could have compassion on the weakness of 
 others, but he could not be tolerant of anything less than 
 perfection in himself. Without blushing or effrontery he 
 could challenge his hearers — " Which of you con- 
 vinceth me of sin?" As youth and man, whether 
 obscure or popular or persecuted, he always did what 
 
76 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 pleased the Father. So the obedience of believers should 
 flow steadily on from year to year — from day to day. 
 Out of an unfailing spring of love to Christ it should 
 descend into the ways of life. Said Chalmers of an elder 
 who died of cholera in Glasgow — "Instead of saying 
 that he labored I should say that he luxuriated in well- 
 doing." Love makes obedience a luxury instead of a 
 task. " He that hath my commandments and keepeth 
 them, he it is that loveth me." In silent days of retreat 
 as well as in the throng of business, on the journey as 
 well as in the home, at midnight's holy hour as well 
 as in the glare of day, there is a silken cord binding him 
 to the throne of God and the line of duty. 
 
 The shallow critics of John Howard, the philanthro- 
 pist, found fault with him because he could go to Rome 
 and neglect its splendid art. But what was the secret 
 of his neglect? Was it indifference or rather self- 
 denial? It was the act of a soul wedded to a single 
 purpose, using every hour to accomplish it, resisting every 
 attraction to turn aside. The sarcasm of the essayist is 
 only too just when he says — " Such a sin against taste 
 is very far beyond the reach of common saintship to com- 
 mit." Common saintship may criticize but cannot ap- 
 proach the magnificent self-surrender of Howard. It 
 may sneer at him as narrow, as the shallow brook might 
 sneer at the mill-race that runs the machinery, that grinds 
 the grain. There is a narrowness of vision, of prejudice 
 that means ignorance. But there is also a narrowness of 
 concentration that means power. Howard's neglect had 
 a precedent in Paul's at Athens, when his soul was stirred, 
 not by the marks of its intellectual supremacy but by 
 its abounding idolatry and ignorance of God. " This 
 one thing I do," was the motto of both Paul and Howard 
 and it was a splendid reflection of that of the Master — 
 " I must work the works of him that sent me while it is 
 day." Our obedience, like Christ's, should also be joy- 
 ful. His was free and unconstrained as the song of the 
 
Obedience 77 
 
 bird. He was eager for every requirement of his mis- 
 sion. "Then said I, Lo'I come; in the volume of 
 the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will 
 O my God, yea thy law is within my heart." He 
 bounded forward to the duty of every time. When his 
 hour was come he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusa- 
 lem, undeterred by the knowledge that Gethsamane and 
 the cross were before him. 
 
 If we could only have something of the same spirit, 
 the same ungrudging, untrammelled, hearty subjection to 
 God, what a pleasure obedience would become! We 
 would be ready for any service, equally ready for any 
 sacrifice. 
 
 The spirit of obedience is perfectly consistent with the 
 bounding spirit of liberty. Queen Mary had no more 
 loyal subjects than the liberty-loving Knox and his 
 compeers. But liberty is not license. True liberty is 
 married to righteous law and cursed be he who seeks 
 to put them asunder. What idle talk we hear! " I 
 must be free " — I refuse to surrender my liberty — I will 
 submit to no yoke — I glory in my independence." 
 What does it all mean? Is law outgrown? Is liberty 
 gone mad? Has the spirit of independence dethroned 
 God? Do men mean to disregard all authority human 
 and divine? Emphasize individuality as over against 
 the shackles of caste and outworn dogma and tyrannous 
 precedent but surely not against the law and truth and 
 right. Let the individual reason be subject to truth and 
 the individual conscience be subject to right. To the 
 mind of Webster no thought seemed so great as that of 
 responsibility to God. And to a soul rightly attuned, 
 no pleasure can equal that of glad surrender to the 
 guidance and government of Him to whom we are re- 
 sponsible. 
 
 " Whosoever committeth sin," says Jesus, " is the bond- 
 servant of sin." Sin enslaves; obedience emancipates. 
 How pitiable the abject victim of lust or envy, of wrath 
 
78 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 or pride, who says — "I hate my chains but I cannot 
 break them." He only is the Lord's free man who can 
 bid Satan — Get thee hence! and sing with David, "O 
 how I love thy law — thy law is better unto me than 
 thousands of silver and gold." 
 
 Let it be admitted that they who worship the spec- 
 tacular will not be attracted by such a life as Christ led. 
 Ribbons and parades and huzzas draw them. Gorgeous 
 Herod is their idol rather than the modest Christ. They 
 must be conspicuous or they are nothing. But true great- 
 ness can walk in quiet paths. It can abide alone with 
 God. If need be, it can do without the world's homage. 
 It can be zealous and not say with Jehu — " Come see 
 my zeal." It is belittled in its own eyes when it becomes 
 conscious of mere self-seeking. It blushes for shame 
 when its inward thought is — Behold me! Behold me! 
 It says to itself — " seekest thou great things for thyself ; 
 seek them not." 
 
 Let it be your ambition to shine like the stars with a 
 steady light, rather than to blaze like a meteor that only 
 startles for the moment. Be ambitious to fulfill your 
 appointed destiny, to fill as large a place as God has made 
 you for and fill it full with worthy service rather than 
 empty announcements. " That which makes us men," 
 said a distinguished bishop recently, " is the capacity for 
 regarding the eternal." If you would be men, see that you 
 do not lose this capacity in mere pleasure-seeking and 
 money-getting. Carry God and the moral law into 
 whatever calling you enter. True manliness springs 
 from " seeing Him who is invisible " and bending our 
 souls into harmony with his holy will. 
 
 Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 1891, I shall be 
 glad if I have been able to fasten anew in your minds 
 the thought of obedience, commended to you by the 
 example of Jesus. I trust you will go forth to be law- 
 abiding citizens, faithful husbands or wives, — above all 
 to be loyal subjects of our Peerless Chief — Jesus of 
 
Obedience 79 
 
 Nazareth. Count it not beneath you to sit at His feet 
 and learn. Think it no infringement of your liberty to 
 be hedged about by the Ten Commandments. Ask no 
 longer tether-line, no larger sphere than the will of God 
 allows you. 
 
 First of all be obedient to the command of the Gospel 
 — " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." That will settle 
 the question of your salvation and leave you free to serve 
 him further with a loving, willing mind. Then wait 
 upon him for orders. Raise every day the question — 
 — What wilt thou have me to do? To the call of 
 Providence — " Whom shall we send and who will go 
 for us? let your heart respond — " Here am I ; send me." 
 Keep in touch with Christ, like Enoch walk with God 
 and whether in the Gospel ministry or in secular call- 
 ings, in our own or in other lands, fulfil the duty of the 
 time and the hour. 
 
 Are you attracted by the thought of doing good to 
 others? Do you long to be serviceable to mankind and 
 whether recognized or unrecognized to be among the 
 world's benefactors according to your measure? The 
 story of Jesus grandly illustrates the fact that service to 
 man and obedience to God are only different phases of 
 the same thing — of one life. 
 
 Within sight of the shore of Africa, the English ves- 
 sel, Birkenhead went down to the bottom of the sea 
 with 450 men on deck. Called suddenly from their 
 hammocks they were apprized of the danger that was 
 imminent. The boats were only sufficient to save the 
 women and children and before they could return to 
 rescue the men the awful catastrophe was sure to come. 
 Yet the command came to the men — " Fall in on deck 
 by companies," and with sublime heroism as soon as they 
 knew what it all meant they obeyed instantly with scarce 
 an exception. The Captain's wise order secured the 
 safety of all the women by the self-sacrifice of the noble 
 men. The path of obedience was the path of glorious 
 
80 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 service. The captain of our salvation is in command 
 and the world is sinking to its doom. How shall the 
 helpless ones be saved? Let us wait on the orders of 
 our Commander. Let us go down with him into the 
 depths. 
 
 My young friends, be obedient unto him and all will 
 be noble and well with you. Be obedient unto him and 
 your life will be a continuous blessing unto others. Who- 
 soever will be great among you let him be your minister; 
 and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your 
 servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered 
 unto but to minister and to give his life for a ransom 
 for many." " Let this mind be in you which was also in 
 him." 
 
SERMON VII, 1892 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF WORDS 
 
 By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou 
 shall be condemned. — Math. 12: 37. 
 
 MEN talk of empty words and no doubt much of 
 conversation and public speech affords illustration of 
 their meaning. Yet is it not rather the empty mind that 
 gives character to speech? We are apt to deceive our- 
 selves with the thought that there is some inherent empti- 
 ness in words. As Hobbes utters it — " Words are wise 
 men's counters, they do but reckon by them; but they 
 are the money of fools." But are they mere counters 
 with no intrinsic value? Are they not the recognized 
 currency in the world of intellect, the medium of ex- 
 change, having a substantial basis of thought? Are they 
 fools who suppose that their words convey actual value? 
 
 Words and ideas are counterparts of each other and 
 to make the one antagonistic to the other is to separate 
 chief friends, yea even to divorce the wedded after they 
 have long and lovingly dwelt together. 
 
 If a word is regarded as a mere combination of signs 
 or sounds, a thing of sense only, no wonder its importance 
 is undervalued. But if its symbolic character is discerned 
 and behind the signs and sounds we see the lines and 
 shades of thought and feeling, the clear distinctions of 
 reason, the sweep of imagination, the play of fancy or of 
 impulse, the rugged outline of purpose, if it stands for 
 all that takes place within and between two worlds, the 
 world of nature and the world of man, a word becomes 
 a thing of supreme value and almost of reverence. They 
 who have said seemingly extravagant things concerning 
 
 81 
 
82 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 words have been nearer the truth than they who have 
 belittled them. They have been mighty forces in the 
 world's life. " Syllables govern the world," is the sweep- 
 ing statement of the learned Selden. " Words make 
 truth to spangle and its rays to shine," said John Bun- 
 yan and his own writings give sufficient proof of it. 
 Solomon's high estimate of the importance of words ap- 
 pears both in his condemnation of the evil and his com- 
 mendation of the good. How true to life is this — 
 " There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword." 
 And how charming is the familiar picture which this 
 verse contains — " A word fitly spoken is like apples of 
 gold in baskets of silver." But in our text we have the 
 authoritative declaration of Jesus. He leads us out 
 beyond the present influence of what is said, beyond the 
 power of words in past or current history. He quickens 
 our sense of responsibility for our words by confront- 
 ing us with the eternal judgment and assuring us — 
 " By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words 
 thou shalt be condemned." 
 
 I. A man's words are the chief exponent of himself. 
 
 An exponent is that which sets forth or fitly represents 
 that for which it stands. A standard-bearer may or may 
 not be a true exponent of his party. He may be a man 
 of principle, while his supporters may be only hungry for 
 the spoils. Or he may be the fittest man of his time, 
 the beau-ideal to embody the sentiment that reigns in the 
 breasts of his fellow-reformers. In this sense a man's 
 words, taken as a whole, flowing out spontaneously, in- 
 evitably from within, are the exponent of the man. 
 
 We sometimes bring words and acts into comparison 
 to the great advantage of the latter and rightly too in 
 many a single instance. Your liberal gift to the needy 
 shows more than your strong commendation of a philan- 
 thropic effort. But after all, is not the real contrast be- 
 tween profession and practice — between seeming and be- 
 ing? A deed may be a pretense; a word may be nobly 
 
The Importance of Words 83 
 
 sincere. One may give to be seen of men and another 
 may speak to the glory of God. Either word or deed in 
 an isolated case may misrepresent the man. Yet words 
 and deeds alike are the natural indices of character and 
 either, in the mass of what is said or done, at home or 
 abroad, in private or in public, to friend or foe, will re- 
 veal the soul within. 
 
 Have you ever thought how much of your life is taken 
 up with speaking or hearing, writing or reading words? 
 You read the scriptures or the newspaper, the story or 
 oration; you write a letter or a brief or a prescription 
 or a sermon. You meet your neighbor and you exchange 
 salutations. You visit your neighbor and you chat about 
 the old times and the new, the joys and the sorrows, the 
 hopes and the fears and soul is revealed to soul through 
 transparent speech. The community assembles and grave 
 problems of public improvement and public safety are dis- 
 cussed. It may be a case of village improvement. We 
 remove unsightly things, plant trees and shrubs and 
 flowers, beautify our streets and residences as if moved 
 by one common impulse. We say our deft fingers and 
 muscular arms and strong shoulders have done it. But 
 the first digging and planting and ornamenting were done 
 by words, words of invitation to assemble, words of sug- 
 gestion, quickening and hope when assembled. Purpose 
 and plan were born of kindly, earnest discussion in which 
 as iron sharpeneth iron so a man sharpeneth the counte- 
 nance of his friend. Prov. 27: 17. 
 
 Think over any particular day of your life at its close 
 and what is it that responds promptly to memory's call? 
 A conversation, a remark spoken or heard, maybe a 
 prayer. Some word of another rankles in your breast, or 
 maybe conscience lashes you for an ill word spoken by 
 your own lips. Some appreciative word has spread sun- 
 shine through your soul or some timely, happy word of 
 yours has wrought good to men or service to truth or 
 glory to God. 
 
84 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Ah! how divine a gift is speech! It is the bond and 
 spur and glory of the human race. " This," says Max 
 Muller, " is the Rubicon the brute has never crossed." 
 What a dull and spiritless thing life would be if men, 
 aye and women too were mute and all this delightful 
 intercourse of thought and experience were brought to an 
 end. 
 
 Not only do words constitute a large part of one's 
 activity but that part which is most distinctive of him 
 as an individual. They reveal his personality as nothing 
 else can do. The salient features, the distinguishing 
 characteristics will impress themselves on his language. 
 As the Saviour expresses it — " Out of the abundance of 
 the heart the mouth will speak," and the obverse state- 
 ment of that truth is that the utterance of the mouth will 
 declare the abundance of the heart. 
 
 It is true of a nation that we may infer its character 
 from its phraseology. Tell us what are the dominant 
 words of a people and we know what dominates their 
 life. We sometimes compare the English and the French 
 for example. Duty, pluck, fair play are the watchwords 
 of the one, glory, brilliancy are the words of admiration 
 of the other and in them we read the prevailing spirit of 
 each. 'Tis said we Americans worship smartness and 
 money and I fear our words of common use would sustain 
 the uncomplimentary assertion. 
 
 And what is true of nations and races and communities 
 is equally true of individuals. Carlyle writes of Luther 
 in this way, " Richter says of Luther's words — his words 
 are half battles. They may be called so. The essential 
 quality of him was that he could fight and conquer, that 
 he was a right piece of human valor." In short his words 
 were charged with his essential quality and therefore 
 rightly characterized as half battles. Grant too sum- 
 marized and set forth his own character in a few 
 tremendous phrases that are as familiar as household 
 words. " No terms except unconditional and immediate 
 
The Importance of Words 85 
 
 surrender can be accepted." " We will fight it out on 
 this line if it takes all summer." " Let us have peace." 
 Each one is a photograph of the man, a front or side 
 view of one whose quiet, rugged strength all the world 
 admired. 
 
 If the intimate correspondence between words and 
 character seems more marked in these than in ordinary 
 instances it is only because the personality is more marked. 
 Everywhere the correspondence exists. Even though one 
 study concealment his most ordinary speech will betray 
 him. No matter whether many or few, whether guarded 
 or unguarded, his words open windows through which 
 we can look into his very soul. The thoughts within 
 press for utterance and the heart is laid bare ere he is 
 aware of it. There are indeed Sphinx-like persons, 
 human enigmas, who are unknown by their fellows, but 
 even in such a case the enigma is in the person and his 
 words announce correctly enough his nature. There goes 
 a noted reformer, an advocate of all " sweetness and 
 light," but a surly, ill-mannered remark at a railway 
 station shows that he partakes of the nature of the bear 
 as well as of the angel. Hear another prate of refine- 
 ment yet ever complaining of scanty income and con- 
 stant appeal and you are quite sure that sordid, unre- 
 fined greed is his ruling passion. Hear another im- 
 patiently claiming everything as his own and you know 
 he is either a baby or a bully. So might we go over 
 human traits without limit and say to their possessors — 
 " Surely thou art thus and so, for thy speech bewrayeth 
 thee." It would be interesting to show farther how 
 words impress one's personality on others. Speech not 
 only reveals but conveys thought and purpose. It is 
 the grand medium of influence. Even a casual word 
 may either rescue or ruin another. It may set in 
 motion a wave of influence from soul to soul that will 
 never reach the farther shore but keep on and on through 
 eternity. 
 
86 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 A dreamer dropped a random thot — 'Twas old and yet 
 
 'twas new, 
 A simple fancy of the brain, but strong in being true, 
 It shone upon a genial mind and lo! its light became 
 A lamp of life, a beacon ray, a monitory flame, 
 The thought was small, its issue great — a watch-fire on 
 
 the hill, 
 It sheds its radiance for a dawn, and cheers the valley 
 
 still. 
 
 A nameless man, amid a crowd that thronged the daily 
 
 mart 
 Let fall a word of hope and love, unstudied from the 
 
 heart ; 
 A whisper on the tumult thrown, a transitory breath 
 It raised a brother from the dust, it saved a soul from 
 
 death. 
 O germ! O fount! O word of love! O thought at 
 
 random cast! 
 Ye were but little at the first, but mighty at the last. 
 
 II. The place of words in the judgment, " But I say 
 unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak they 
 shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. 
 For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words 
 thou shalt be condemned." 
 
 In what way will words justify or condemn? Just 
 in the same way as works do. John's vision is of a 
 great white throne before which stand great and small to 
 be judged out of the things written in the books accord- 
 ing to their works." Words are works. Neither will 
 make men righteous before God. Let us hold fast to this 
 that the only ground of justification is the obedience and 
 blood of the Redeemer. But both words and works do 
 manifest the state of the heart. Words have a moral 
 character which makes them deserving of the scrutiny of 
 the judgment. The element of will enters into them 
 
The Importance of Words 87 
 
 with varying force from well-nigh unconscious consent 
 to the strong purpose of an Apollyon or a Gabriel. So 
 competent a witness as Professor Whitney says concern- 
 ing language in general — " Not one item of any existing 
 tongue is ever uttered except by the will of the utterer; 
 not one is produced, not one that has been produced or 
 acquired is changed except by causes residing in the human 
 will." If this be true of all speech it is emphatically 
 so of that which crosses or coincides with the moral law. 
 There is an accentuation of will when men come to 
 choose between right and wrong and fix their choice by 
 declaring it in words. How incalculable is the distance I 
 how wide and awful the gulf between one who could 
 say of Jesus — " Crush the wretch! " and one whose love 
 of Jesus and his truth burned as a consuming fire and 
 prompted the exclamation — " Give me Scotland or I 
 die." 
 
 Not only will men's words because of their moral 
 character be matter of judgment but evidence in judg- 
 ment. The design of the judgment is manifestation as 
 much as decision. It is to vindicate the ways of God 
 to the universe. Words are outward signs, the visible 
 proofs, a part of the evidences of character in accordance 
 with which the righteous are acquitted and the wicked 
 condemned. 
 
 We dare not be indifferent to the words we speak, 
 if we have any regard to the account we must render. 
 Playful words indeed may serve an earnest purpose, but 
 idle, useless, unholy words are marks of the condemned 
 and danger-signals of the judgment. 
 
 Every man will be considered by himself, apart from 
 his respectable position, from upholstered pew and 
 pompous gift, from stocks and bonds, from station and 
 influence. Every accident of earth will be stripped away 
 and naked, alone, the soul will stand to be judged. 
 Every man shall bear his own burden and that alone — 
 " By thy words " shalt thou stand or fall. 
 
Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 III. Some classes of words that specially show the 
 character and determine the issues of a perfect judgment. 
 
 Have your words been reverent or irreverent? Have 
 you lightly spoken the names of God and Jesus Christ? 
 Have you trifled with his word ? Have you sacrilegiously 
 tipped your arrows of wit with scripture phrase? Have 
 you sought to provoke laughter by quotation of sacred 
 words in untimely and incongruous ways? Have you 
 followed, afar off it may be, that arch-blasphemer who 
 causes roars of laughter in treating the serious holy theme 
 — What must I do to be saved ? 
 
 There is a kind of profanity to which minds of the 
 brighter sort are prone. The snare is insidious because 
 the sin is condoned by those whose instincts are shocked 
 by profanity in its ruder form. The temptation is strong 
 because of the self-exaltation that usually accompanies any 
 sally of wit. But does it any less reveal an irreverent 
 mind. At least temporarily the sense of God is weak- 
 ened, or else the love of God is wilfully overborne by 
 love of fun. Such irreverent sport may cause a ripple 
 of satisfaction to pass over the company who listen, but 
 what does God think of it? Will not He count his 
 honor sacrificed for a petty triumph? Will He not re- 
 gard as an insult to Himself what thoughtless friends 
 have regarded with approval? 
 
 All this and more is true of common swearing. Alas, 
 that it should be so common. You can scarcely spend 
 an hour in any public waiting room without being com- 
 pelled to hear profane words. The presence of the 
 friends of God is ignored. What matters it that their 
 hearts are wounded by the vain use of God's name ! 
 Apart from its gross immorality, the impoliteness of it is 
 inexcusable. Why do men swear? Not for gain, for 
 there is none. It looks like wanton, unrewarded disre- 
 gard of God. It adds nothing to personal dignity. It 
 adds neither elegance nor force to speech. It advertises 
 intellectual poverty that makes up in sound what is lack- 
 
The Importance of Words 89 
 
 ing in sense, that resorts to oaths because strong right 
 words are wanting. I was glad not long ago to read this 
 sentence in the personal memories of Grant, " I am not 
 aware of ever having used a profane expletive in my life." 
 
 But that which gives momentous importance to these 
 words is that the Lord will not hold him guiltless who 
 uses them. They are the signs of an impious mind. 
 God is not in all the thoughts. Men heap imprecations 
 upon others, only to bring down heavy judgments upon 
 themselves. There may be no lightning stroke to record 
 at once the Divine displeasure. But sooner or later his 
 threatening will be fulfilled — " Thou shalt not take the 
 name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not 
 hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain." 
 
 Are your words clean or unclean? Pure or impure? 
 Vulgarity is less impious but more debasing than pro- 
 fanity, even the hearing of vile words gives the soul a 
 lingering taint. We dare not listen lest we be defiled. 
 We speak of the deadly miasma. It enters into the blood 
 and reaches to every part of the body. For a time, under 
 favorable conditions of place and season, it may seem to 
 be eliminated. But how often it re-appears with greater 
 virulence than before. With vicious tenacity it clings to 
 its victim, slumbering for awhile but waking betimes to 
 assail with accumulated energy. Such a deadly poison 
 do unpure words inject into the soul. They defile the 
 imagination, the conscience, the affections. Time and 
 wholesome influences and the spirit's cleansing power may 
 do much to remove their slimy marks. But the traces 
 are never wholly gone and alas they often surprise us by 
 coming into sudden distressing relief. My young friend, 
 flee, as from the plague, from the man of foul mouth. 
 Let none paint pictures on the chambers of your soul that 
 years hence you will seek in vain to remove. Above all 
 do not yourself besmear the pure soul of another by filthy 
 conversation. Blush for shame if you ever catch your- 
 self using words with double meaning. Count it an in- 
 
90 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 suit if another presumes that you draw no line between 
 the facetious and the vile. There is a low coarse wit 
 that revels in impurity, that appeals to all that is vile 
 in the listener. It flatters the intellect maybe, while dis- 
 counting and destroying the moral character. Avoid it, 
 discountenance it, have no fellowship with it, turn from 
 it and pass away. " Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth 
 and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth 
 and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of 
 thine eyes; but know them that for all these things God 
 will bring thee into judgment." 
 
 We might illustrate further by words of truth or false- 
 hood. Lying is almost wholly a thing of words. Yet 
 how much it reveals of character. It means untrust- 
 worthiness, dishonor, ruin. Organized society is impos- 
 sible in a community of liars. Its constituents have no 
 more coherence than a pile of sand. Let us cultivate a 
 sensitiveness like that of the magnetic needle with refer- 
 ence to truth, that will instantly correct the slightest 
 divergence. 
 
 Words of kindness or malignity are also important in- 
 dices of character. " Kind words can never die," we 
 say, and a like immortality belongs to the unkind. Love 
 is the greatest thing in the world and love speaks, can- 
 not but speak, out of the heart's deep affection, words 
 of praise to God and blessing to man. Hate too like a 
 bitter spring pours forth of its abundance bitter envious 
 words. Every man is continually describing himself by 
 what he says of others. What a paradox is the tongue 
 of man. It is his glory and anon his disgrace. In speech 
 how like an angel; in speech how like a demon! There- 
 with bless we God even the Father; and therewith curse 
 we men which we made after the similitude of God. 
 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. 
 
 The phonograph registers and reproduces the sounds 
 which it receives. It catches the weeping of a child, the 
 
The Importance of Words 91 
 
 whine of a dog, the cheer of the crowd, the shout of 
 victory, the strains of music, the eloquent sentences of the 
 orator, and gives forth each again with such exactness 
 that recognition is easy and immediate. The individual 
 is reproduced and seems to say — " I am with you once 
 again." As the invention is perfected we may expect re- 
 sults of more wondrous accuracy. Yet in its full per- 
 fection it will but foreshadow the perfect reproduction of 
 the judgment. How it will startle one to hear again be- 
 fore the universe his own angry retort, his own lewd 
 talk he would not now have published for the world, 
 his own refusal to do good, his own branded falsehood. 
 How it will delight one to have recalled the words he 
 spake to serve the right, to cheer the desponding, to bind 
 up the broken-hearted, to honor the Lord. " Then shall 
 ye discern between the righteous and the wicked, between 
 him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." 
 " By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words 
 thou shalt be condemned." 
 
 Young ladies and gentlemen of the class of 1892. 
 Pleasant intercourse have we had with you by reason of 
 this divine endowment of which we have been speaking. 
 Your main business here has been to learn how to use 
 it with readiness and effectiveness. You go out from us 
 let us believe not only with minds trained to think but 
 with skill to express your thoughts clearly and forcefully. 
 By your words you will impress yourselves on your gen- 
 eration. You dare not be careless about them. You 
 must be circumspect in speech as well as in walk. An 
 operator of whom we read failed once to give the ap- 
 pointed signal and the on-rushing train carried those on 
 board into awful destruction. It was more than he could 
 bear and thenceforth his maddened cry was, " O, if I 
 only had." Who can tell the possible damage of a word 
 spoken! Who can tell the possible loss of a word un- 
 spoken. Perhaps the wails of some lost soul will be, 
 
92 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 when the histories and destinies of men are known — 
 Oh, if I only hadn't, or, Oh, if I only had spoken. May 
 no such vain lament be uttered by any one of you. 
 
 The Psalmist tells of some who say — "With our 
 tongue will we prevail ; our tongues are ours ; who is lord 
 over us?" They own the power of the tongue but dis- 
 own responsibility to God. Be guilty of no such pre- 
 sumption. Acknowledge Jesus Christ as your Lord and 
 try to say and do what pleases him. 
 
 That your words may be right, keep 3<our heart with 
 all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. The 
 influence of words and thoughts is reciprocal. Keep the 
 heart and words will follow. Keep the words and you 
 greatly modify the course of thought. 
 
 Jesus spake as never man spake because he was unique 
 in his sinlessness. Spurgeon's words were weighty be- 
 cause back of them was a strong earnest soul. If you 
 would be heard be in yourself deserving of a hearing. 
 Be a man or woman first and a speaker or writer second. 
 Be of the same mind with Christ and rest assured God 
 will not let your words for Christ fall to the ground. 
 May it be true of everyone of you in the day of Christ. 
 " By thy words thou shalt be justified." 
 
SERMON VIII, 1893 
 
 TRUTH IN THE INWARD PARTS 
 Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. — Ps. 51: 6. 
 
 DENYING the freedom of the human will Spinoza 
 declares logically enough that " repentance is not a 
 virtue or does not arise from reason ; but he who repents 
 of any deed he has done is twice miserable or im- 
 potent." But however consistent with himself, his as- 
 sertion is contrary to all human experience. Sin finds 
 men out and exacts its penalty within the soul itself. 
 Only a mind drugged with metaphysical opiates or brutal- 
 ized by vice or hardened into insensibility by familiarity 
 with sin can escape altogether the anguish of remorse. 
 They die " without bands " because they have lost the 
 power to think and feel concerning the realities of the 
 moral universe. 
 
 Christianity makes repentance a fundamental virtue. 
 " Except ye repent," is written on its very forefront as a 
 condition of admission to its blessings. It hears the cry 
 that comes out of the depths of human souls and gives 
 satisfying answer. It does not seek to hush it by show- 
 ing there is no need nor wisdom in it, but to respond to it 
 with a proffer of forgiveness. 
 
 For a long time David's monstrous sin deadened his 
 moral sense. Only when it was quickened by faithful 
 words of rebuke and by the Spirit's power did he begin 
 to realize his true situation and call on God for mercy. 
 Then he began to feel that God was round about him — 
 closer than his fawning courtiers. In the brightness of 
 God's felt presence his sin came out unto clear and bitter 
 
 93 
 
94 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 consciousness. He exclaims with great intensity of 
 emotion — " I acknowledge my transgression and my sin 
 is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have I sinned 
 and done this evil in thy sight." 
 
 Frederick the Great once said — "I have just lost a 
 great battle and it was entirely my own fault," concern- 
 ing which Goldsmith says — " This confession displayed 
 more greatness than all his victories." Never did David 
 display such greatness as when he sacrificed appearances 
 at the shrine of reality, when he acknowledged before 
 God and men profound sense of his own sinfulness. 
 Nothing could be more appropriate, truer to the truth 
 of things, more pleasing to God because in harmony with 
 his will than the passionate utterances of this penitential 
 psalm. Penitence is the first of virtues, because man is 
 first of all a sinner. " The sacrifices of God are a broken 
 spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt 
 not despise." Penitence is the return of the sinner to 
 his right mind. The prodigal " comes to himself " and 
 sees things as they are. Above his horizon rise God and 
 eternity, truth and salvation, responsibility and duty and 
 his whole estimate and ideal of life are changed. The 
 unseen henceforth moulds the seen; the spiritual trans- 
 forms the material. The unseen God, the unseen heaven, 
 the unseen heart are the real things and all else is sub- 
 sidiary. " Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts 
 and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know 
 wisdom." 
 
 Let us consider — 
 
 I. The meaning of " truth in the inward parts." 
 
 II. God's desire for it. 
 
 I. It means veracity — truth as opposed to falsehood. 
 God desires truth in the outward expression. " Lying 
 lips are an abomination to the Lord." The sycophant, 
 the whisperer, the false witness, the exaggerator, the back- 
 biter are all alike in this, however else they differ, that 
 they speak falsely and are displeasing to God. He who 
 
Truth in the Inward Parts 95 
 
 trifles with truth, trifles at the same time with his Maker 
 and his own character. There is an awfully blighting 
 influence in a single clear-cut falsehood. The penalty 
 God attaches to untruth is untruth and its exaction is 
 immediate. It is only once that the wilful deviation has 
 occurred but that once has lowered the standard of char- 
 acter. It has made falsehood easier and our homage to 
 truth less hearty and constant. It has strained one lead- 
 ing string of this delicate instrument — the human soul, 
 so that its sounds are never so clear and melodious again. 
 Its response to the touch of other souls reveals the injury 
 it has received. Let us be careful how we mar what 
 we can scarcely ever mend. " Truth," says Ruskin, 
 " forgives no insult." God desires truth in the inward 
 parts — in the intellect, the conscience and the affections. 
 He wishes it to be to man — the law of his mind, whose 
 operation is never suspended, never relaxed. 
 
 Let it hold sway over his intellect. How often, alas, 
 even our intellectual processes are vitiated by want of 
 candor. The senses give a false report because we allow 
 prejudices to direct their exercise. We see what we wish 
 to see and by and by become incapable of seeing and our 
 testimony is discredited by those who know us. How 
 often experts called by opposing litigants, flatly contra- 
 dict each other in regard to facts submitted to the obser- 
 vation of them all! It is no wonder that confidence in 
 such testimony is lessened when their disagreement in so 
 many cases seems to be the result of the expectations of 
 their respective employers. The same is true of the 
 memory. If we report past occurrences carelessly, we 
 soon lose the power of accuracy and confidence in our- 
 selves. Even in the higher processes of thought, of argu- 
 ment, dishonesty may spoil it all. Says Luther — " Noth- 
 ing is more pernicious than sophistry. I compare it with 
 a lie, which like a snowball the more it is rolled the 
 greater it becomes. I like not brains that can dispute 
 on both sides and yet conclude nothing clear. But I love 
 
96 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 an honest and well-affected mind that seeks after truth 
 simply and plainly and goes not about with phantasies 
 and cheating tricks." To all this let all the people say, 
 Amen! Let each one, especially for himself, guard 
 against shuffling and subterfuge and sophistry and all 
 intellectual deceits. Let every man seek to make his 
 own intellect a faithful and true witness. 
 
 Let truth likewise hold sway over the affections. Let 
 every manifestation of them be genuine — setting forth 
 truly the love and joy and hope and fear that reign 
 within. 
 
 Not Katrine, in her mirror blue 
 Gives back the shaggy banks more true 
 Than every free-born glance confessed 
 The guileless movements of her breast ; 
 Whether joy danced in her dark eye, 
 Or woe or pity claimed a sigh, 
 Or filial love was glowing there, 
 Or meek devotion poured a prayer. 
 
 Thus Sir Walter Scott describes the inward guileless- 
 ness of his heroine and commends her to our admiration. 
 It is a picture any young woman might well study and 
 seek to copy in her own life. Nothing is more beautiful 
 in man or woman than transparency of character, simpli- 
 city, truth in the inward parts. Better far be a simple- 
 minded, guileless Nathanael, than a cunning Mephis- 
 topheles or a subtle Sphinx. I wish I could so impress 
 you all with the importance of truthfulness that you 
 would seek to avoid whatever might weaken or destroy 
 it. Allow yourself no breach of truth in either word or 
 act. Cultivate such sensitiveness as will make it the high- 
 est offense of another to question your veracity, yea more, 
 such as will cause you profoundest grief when your 
 veracity is suspected by yourself and will lead to the 
 correction of false statements however inadvertently 
 made. You may draw aside the magnetic needle for a 
 
Truth in the Inward Parts 97 
 
 time, but as soon as it is set free from foreign interfer- 
 ence it springs back to its true place and points unerr- 
 ingly to the North. With like spontaneity should the 
 soul return from every careless or constrained wandering 
 from the truth. If the machinery of our souls be set to 
 truth and never wilfully swerve from it, we shall be the 
 delight of God and shall dwell in his presence. " Lord, 
 who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in 
 thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly and vvorketh 
 righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart." 
 
 2. Truth in the inward parts means reality — being 
 rather than seeming. The prophet Jeremiah says of the 
 prophets of his time that they " walk in lies," and our 
 modern Jeremiah, the prophet of Chelsea would say — 
 " We live in an age of shams," and Ruskin holds up 
 one of his " lamps of architecture " to convince us of the 
 same fault of our time. Everything of value has its cheap 
 imitation. Gilding answers instead of gold and manu- 
 factured gems vie with the genuine in their sparkling 
 brilliancy and beauty. What is more important, we 
 estimate men and women by the outward appearances. 
 Even we Americans rise up in the presence of titles and 
 rank and forget our lusty proclamation of the dignity of 
 common manhood. We pay homage to the shadow of 
 greatness and are less concerned about the substance. 
 We wish for ourselves to appear well. We blush when 
 the collection basket finds us empty handed and with 
 brazen face dismiss the representative of a good cause 
 with our pockets full. We would seem to be generous, 
 brave, courteous, magnanimous, noble and too often the 
 seeming a miserable cheat. Are we not all alike de- 
 ceiving and being deceived? Let him that is without 
 sin among us cast the first stone at another. Let us listen 
 to Socrates, the heathen teacher, who died for the truth 
 to be uttered. These are his words — " Let the reason- 
 able and true man study, as the one thing needful, to be 
 the thing he zuould seem to be." Would you seem a 
 
98 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 gentleman? be a gentleman. Would you seem a 
 Christian? be a Christian. For seeming is the natural 
 reflection of being. We do not by any means condemn 
 some regard to appearance. Reputation is a thing of 
 value and ought not lightly to be thrown away. But 
 character which lies back of it is of far greater importance 
 and when either must be surrendered for sake of the 
 other let character be maintained. Better let a cloud 
 pass over a fair name than introduce corruption into the 
 very core of one's being. Popular approval is often 
 wrong and always fickle but the approval of one's own 
 heart and of God who is greater than our hearts is an 
 abiding benediction. Pilate on the throne of Judgment 
 was the plaything of a mob, yielding to its clamor, be- 
 cause he cared more for the favorable opinion of the Jews 
 than for justice and truth. Jesus at his feet, charged 
 as a criminal, was calm and serene, unmoved by the out- 
 cry of his accusers, his cheek unblanched with fear, his 
 soul aflame with love to the Father. The one seemed 
 to be some great one, the other was. Which of the two 
 will we choose to be our model? 
 
 3. Truth in the inward parts means sincerity — inner 
 experience rather than outward manifestation. Let us 
 speak here of the religious life. Very many of us profess 
 the Christian faith. Are we in very truth joined to the 
 Lord in faith and love? Do we make glad and fervent 
 acknowledgment of Him as our Redeemer and Lord? 
 Are we really wedded to Him and to all that concerns 
 his honor and the triumph of his Kingdom? We are all 
 here as worshippers in God's house. Is our worship 
 sincere? It needs no rare gifts to discern that they who 
 by irreverent conduct or idle conversation or gaping 
 curiosity or any engagement foreign to the service simply 
 pass the hour in God's house have not worshipped at all. 
 They have even dared to mock God by their unseemly 
 conduct. But it is possible to observe the forms with 
 scrupulousness, while the heart is unengaged. We must 
 
Truth in the Inward Parts 99 
 
 not only give attention to the service, but wait devoutly 
 and sincerely upon Him into whose presence we come. 
 The words of Jesus are suggestive and solemn — " God 
 is a spirit; and they that worship him must worship him 
 in spirit and in truth." 
 
 The same heartiness should also characterize our serv- 
 ice. Impelling all our efforts there ought to be the 
 enthusiasm of love to Jesus and to souls. Our zeal need 
 not to be tumultuous but ought to be intense. Just here 
 lies a danger connected with popular religious movements. 
 They begin at white heat and cool as they progress. The 
 brazen serpent was God's instrument of deliverance to the 
 bitten Israelites. But when it became an idol Hezekiah 
 in the spirit of true reform broke it in pieces and called 
 it Nehushtan — nothing but a piece of brass. Many a 
 movement of modern days has had a similar history. In 
 the beginning the hand of God was in it but it became 
 only an idol of those who continued it and fit only for 
 destruction. If it will be a continued source of blessing 
 it must live not upon the past but in the present. Its 
 geuineness must be preserved or it will cease to be useful 
 and deserve to die. God struck down Ananias and Sap- 
 phira for their pretense of a fuller consecration than they 
 possessed. The community of believers were awe- 
 stricken but the Church was saved from a deluge of 
 hypocrisy. The movement was kept real and power went 
 with it wherever it advanced. Veracity, reality, sincerity 
 — diverse yet blending rays of the sun of truth. We 
 must have these or our lives will be empty and unfruit- 
 ful of good. Truth in the inward parts — we must have 
 it or be only as the sounding brass or the tinkling cymbal. 
 
 II. Consider the fact that God desires it. Nature 
 and the Bible alike make this known. 
 
 i. Nature is honest. The signs she gives are uni- 
 formly true. All the investigations of science are based 
 upon this principle of the uniformity of nature. The un- 
 tutored child of the forest can also read her language 
 
IOO Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 and rely upon it. The vine that bears grapes can readily 
 and always be distinguished from the barren climber. 
 Taught in nature's school, we are never so foolish as to 
 seek oranges from the oak, nor grapes upon thorns, nor 
 figs upon thistles. Everything brings forth fruit after its 
 kind and in its season. 
 
 The Saviour's miracle upon the barren fig tree simply 
 interprets the ordinary lesson of nature. It unseasonably 
 gave signs of fruit that were delusive and he pronounced 
 his curse upon it, under which it withered and died. 
 Its foliage must not lie and bring reproach upon its 
 kind. You recline beneath the maple or the oak in the 
 confidence that you are safe from any poisonous exhala- 
 tion. You walk in your garden and the rose lifting its 
 head to the sunlight and the lily of the valley hiding it- 
 self beneath abundant leaves greet you with their respec- 
 tive odors, always the same. The strawberries upon your 
 table do not disappoint you with some new and un- 
 satisfying taste. So everywhere the things with which 
 we are familiar are saying to us with one harmonious 
 voice — Be true, Be true. 
 
 2. In our own nature, likewise, God has indicated 
 his desire for truth. We are made for it. It is a human 
 characteristic, preserved in large measure from the ruin 
 of the fall. If it were otherwise, social order among men 
 would be impossible. Sir Thomas Browne was once 
 asked — "Do devils lie?" and answered — "No, for 
 then even hell could not subsist." As long as a soul is 
 unsullied from the world, unperverted by lust, it speaks 
 truth and expects the truth to be spoken by others. This 
 natural, spontaneous activity reveals God's desire con- 
 cerning the soul. The inveterate credulity of our fel- 
 lows, for which we blame them, is itself testimony to an 
 inborn tendency to adhere to truth ourselves. We ap- 
 prove truth and condemn falsity in others; we are con- 
 scious of a certain violence to our natures when we 
 transgress by lying or deception. So it is written in the 
 
Truth in the Inward Parts 101 
 
 very structure of our being and in our social relations 
 that we must be true in the inward parts. 
 
 3. Let us, however, turn to his word, in which his will 
 is more clearly revealed. Time would fail us to repeat 
 all the precepts and exhortations and commands that 
 directly refer to truth and honesty of heart. Let us 
 recall but a few. " Keep thy heart with all diligence for 
 out of it are the issues of life." " Speak ye everyone truth 
 with his neighbor." " Lie not one to another seeing ye 
 have put off the old man with his deeds." " Let love be 
 without dissimulation." " My little children, let us not 
 love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in 
 truth." " Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, 
 neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but 
 with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." 
 " This I pray that your love may abound yet more and 
 more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may 
 approve things that are excellent; but ye may be sincere 
 and without offense till the day of Christ." Need I 
 quote more? Do not these sufficiently express God's 
 great desire that his children be right-hearted men and 
 women — rooted and grounded in every virtue and 
 especially in love which is the sun and perfection of all the 
 rest. 
 
 God's treatment of those who dishonor truth likewise 
 shows his regard for it. Severest penalties and denuncia- 
 tions are heaped upon the liar and the hypocrite. Gehazi 
 returned to his master's house with his hands full of the 
 rewards of iniquity but when he went out he became a 
 leper as white as now. The acted lie of Ananias and 
 Sapphira — for they said nothing — brought upon them 
 the stroke of God's judgment and an immortality of in- 
 famy. The Pharisees — the hypocrites of the Saviour's 
 day — were singled out by him for the severest rebukes. 
 We can scarcely believe our ears as we hear these words 
 from those lips where grace was wont to flow — " Woe 
 unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour 
 
102 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayer; 
 therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe 
 unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are 
 like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beauti- 
 ful outward but within are full of dead men's bones 
 and all uncleanness. Even so ye outwardly appear 
 righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy 
 and iniquity — Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how 
 can ye escape the damnation of hell?" How intense 
 must have been the Saviour's indignation that impelled 
 him to make this tremendous arraignment. It is God's 
 judgment against hypocrisy in every time that should 
 strike terror unto all our hearts and constrain us to be 
 what we would seem to be. 
 
 From this dark picture, though drawn by a master 
 hand, we gladly turn away. Let us look upon 
 another in perfect contrast with it portrayed by the Spirit 
 in the Gospels, Jesus was God's own embodiment of truth 
 — the only perfectly guileless man. Peter, after most 
 intimate fellowship for years, wrote of him — " Who 
 knew no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." 
 Whether in the synagogue or in the solitude of the 
 mountain his prayers were but the natural overflow of 
 his earnest, loving soul. He had no worldly policy and 
 cared not to be a King. He rebuked Peter when he 
 sought to dissuade him from his self-sacrificing course. 
 What but love — true, intense, absorbing love — can ex- 
 plain his humble life of toil and self-denial and bene- 
 ficence. What a striking illustration of his consuming 
 zeal have we in his driving the money-changers from the 
 temple. His character gave momentum to his words and 
 acts or he could not have done it. No hollow eye- 
 servant could have made the impious and avaricious Jews 
 quail with nothing in his hand but a scourge of small 
 cords. 
 
 When this man was brought before the high priest and 
 
Truth in the Inward Parts 103 
 
 questioned concerning his disciples and his doctrines, what 
 did he say? Did he shrink from the scrutiny of his past 
 life? Did he fear the disclosure of some hidden shame? 
 Did he defiantly bid them hunt him to his lair? In the 
 most candid, straightforward way he answers — " I 
 spake openly to the world ; I ever taught in the synagogue 
 and in the temple whither the Jews always resort; and 
 in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? 
 ask them which heard me what I have said unto them; 
 behold, they know what I said." Noble, inspiring words, 
 worthy to guide the life of any young man or woman who 
 wishes to live so as to be able to look the world in the 
 face and not fear. 
 
 Young ladies and gentlemen of the class of 1893. 
 What shall I say to you? Desire for yourself, what God 
 desires for you. God desires truth in the inward parts 
 — therefore be true, be true. Let truth be the law of 
 your mind — of your speech — of your conduct — of 
 your life-work. Sir Frederick Leighton, the President 
 of the Royal Academy of Art in London, recently ad- 
 dressed a body of art-students to whom he gave this ad- 
 vice — " I would beg you to keep ever before your eyes 
 the vital truth that sincerity is the well-spring of all last- 
 ing achievement and that no good thing ever took root 
 in untruth or in self-deception." Sincerity is the well- 
 spring of achievement in art and in every good enterprise. 
 The soul of art is the soul of the artist. The soul of 
 every good work is the soul of those who project and 
 carry it forward. Put your very soul into whatsoever 
 you undertake and you must succeed. 
 
 Let me urge upon you to choose a work worthy of you 
 and then give yourself to it. 
 
 First of all, you mean to be a Christian. To the ap- 
 peal of the Master, " Son, daughter, give thy heart," you 
 have responded — " My Lord and my God. I give my- 
 self to thee." Be loyal to this first and best of masters 
 
104 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 wherever you go. Whatever prosperity you have in other 
 lines let him share it with you. Your whole life will be 
 ennobled by the consciousness of such a partnership. 
 
 Then follow him whithersoever he may lead you. It 
 may be unto the thickest of the conflict, where great 
 principles of right and truth contend for the mastery 
 over the powers of darkness. But fear not. The only 
 success worth having will be yours. Some righteous 
 cause will be nearer its triumph by reason of your life. 
 " In all battles," says Carlyle, " if you await the issue 
 each fighter has prospered according to his right. His 
 right and his might, at the close of the account were one 
 and the same." Living thus an earnest life you will 
 please God who desires truth in the inward parts. You 
 will achieve a success that will not disappoint you. 
 When the echoes of men's applause die away you will 
 still have something left. You can cross the threshold of 
 eternity with a pleasing glance backward over a life well 
 spent and a look forward to a land untried, yet full of 
 hope, where the rewards of faithful service beckon to 
 their enjoyment. " Faithful over a few things," says 
 the Master whom we serve, " I will make thee ruler over 
 many things." 
 
SERMON IX, 1894 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN RACE 
 
 / therefore so run not as uncertainty : so fight I not as one that 
 beateth the air. — / Cor. g: 26. 
 
 GRAMMAR, music and gymnastics were the chief 
 branches of education among the Greeks. Athletics 
 has perhaps a more robust and a wider meaning in our 
 day than gymnastics. It stands for physical culture in 
 its manlier forms and bids fair, as with the Greeks, to 
 absorb a third of the energies of the schools. Is it neces- 
 sary that we become wildly athletic in order that we 
 may escape the opposite extreme of becoming ascetic? 
 Is it necessary either to despise the body or to enthrone 
 it? To neglect it is to trifle with health and health is 
 an essential condition of mental or even spiritual vigor. 
 On the other hand, to make it supreme is to ignore the 
 divine arrangement by which it is made subservient to 
 the soul which it embodies. Let it be developed and 
 strengthened — not that it may lord it over man's nobler 
 nature — but that it may furnish it with a worthier serv- 
 ice. If out of our running and jumping, our swinging 
 and vaulting, our contests of skill and strength, there 
 come not only stronger bodies but sturdier manhood, 
 purer, truer, steadier, readier men for the real conflicts 
 of life, athletics will pass the final judgment of good men 
 and be marked — approved. But if it runs riot and pays 
 little heed to any code of morals that threatens to inter- 
 fere with present success, if it develops brutality and boor- 
 ishness rather than genuine manliness it will pass under 
 just condemnation. There is undoubtedly a great good 
 
 105 
 
106 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 here. The only question is whether it shall be swallowed 
 up by a greater evil. I believe that it will not because 
 I have faith that the sober judgment of our young men 
 will ultimately prevail and that in it righteousness will 
 outweigh glory — that what ought to be will seem more 
 important than what can be or must be. Nay, wrong will 
 be the only impossibility and righteousness the only neces- 
 sity. I look for flowers of virtue as well as of health 
 to grow upon our athletic field. 
 
 Paul made use of the Isthmian games, their races and 
 contests — to illustrate the Christian life. With equal 
 aptness we might turn to spiritual account the athletic 
 exercises of the present time. 
 
 A race in our age is much the same as when Corinthian 
 racers sped to the goal in Paul's day, or when Herod the 
 Great was an interested witness and patron of the 
 Olympian sports of Jerusalem and Caesarea. There is the 
 same expectancy at the start, the same intensity at the 
 finish ; the same straining of nerve and muscle, the same 
 pride and assurance of friends, the same misery of blunder 
 and defeat, the same joy of victory, the same tumultuous 
 enthusiasm of the crowd that so readily veers to the 
 winning side. 
 
 Any contest, physical or intellectual in stadium or 
 forum, is full of interest. It brings every faculty and 
 feeling into play. Competitors and spectators alike run 
 the whole gamut of the soul's emotions — anxious, ex- 
 pectant, despondent; disappointed, surprised, elated, fear- 
 ing, hoping, exulting. Purposes and thoughts chase each 
 other rapidly through the chambers of the soul. He must 
 be stolid indeed who can participate in, or even watch, 
 such a struggle and be a stranger to its tense and varied 
 experiences. 
 
 Paul imagines the Christian encompassed by an in- 
 tensely interested company of beholders — heroes of a 
 similar contest of faith in the preceding ages, whose names 
 are on the roll of honor for all time and for all eternity, 
 
The Christian Race 107 
 
 when he writes to the Hebrews, — " Seeing we also are 
 compassed about with so great a cloud of witness — let 
 us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily 
 beset us and let us run with patience the race that is 
 set before us." And when he writes to the Philippians 
 it is evident that the spirit of the racer is in him when 
 he draws that life-like picture in a single sentence — 
 " One thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind 
 and stretching forward to the things that are before, I 
 press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high call- 
 ing of God in Jesus Christ." 
 
 So in this section he imagines himself again as a com- 
 batant — not in any mimic contest for a fading chaplet 
 of laurel, but in the real contest of living with its un- 
 estimable prizes of character and immortal life. With a 
 profound sense of the value of the stake, with a clear 
 view of the hindrances to be overcome he spurs himself 
 to the effort — "I, therefore, so run not as uncertainly; 
 so fight I not as one that beateth the air." In speaking 
 from these words, consider 
 
 I. The Christian life is both a race and a battle. 
 
 It is no very remote suggestion of these figures that the 
 Christian life is a manly one. There is in it spirit and 
 strength — courage and joy. He knows better than any 
 other the zest of living. His sources of enjoyment are 
 rich and perennial and leave no dregs of bitterness. 
 When he gains his end there are no accusations of a 
 guilty conscience or sullied honor to discount his joy. 
 And when he loses there are unused streams of satisfac- 
 tion that pour in upon him through divine promises whose 
 glad meaning first reveals itself when the earthly springs 
 begin to fail. If we welcome the champion with cheers 
 and shouts to the field of sport where he contends for the 
 preeminence let us give greetings to the young man or 
 woman who enters to run the way of God's command- 
 ments or to fight the good fight of faith. It is the noblest 
 engagement any one of you will ever enter upon and right 
 
108 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 nobly should you fulfill it. In this higher sphere of 
 morals and religion be a hero in the strife. 
 
 I. The Christian race is not competitive but coopera- 
 tive. It is not true in it that what one wins another 
 loses. The prize is within the reach of all who run well. 
 
 In the race of a mere worldly life how keen is the 
 struggle and sometimes how direful the effect! Political 
 economists of a previous generation made competition the 
 very center of their system. It seemed to them the open 
 sesame of social well-being. Hands off! was their cry, 
 while they encouraged the strife of numberless com- 
 petitors for the prizes society held in its keeping. The 
 sole function of government was to secure fair play while 
 the war was raging. Who does not know something of 
 the remorselessness of the contest, how the weak suc- 
 cumbs to the strong, how the strong falls with a crash 
 like a mighty oak by the stroke of the strongest. And 
 though a kindlier school of economies has risen that places 
 man's well-being in the centre, though it shrinks not 
 back when its ethical demands are contemptuously dis- 
 missed as paternalism, though it is doing something to 
 modify social conditions, to care for the weak as well as 
 give opportunity to the strong, the competitive character 
 of life is yet manifest. " One receiveth the prize " — 
 the few are achieving success and many fail. There must 
 be pain for a noble soul when his achievement means 
 another's downfall. On the other hand, there is added 
 pleasure when his success helps his fellow to victory. 
 How delightful the fact that Christian life is thus co- 
 operative. Let me lay aside every weight and run the 
 Christian race for thereby I help instead of hinder my 
 companions. As the prancing steeds shorten the way for 
 each other and speed away under the spur of each other's 
 pace, so let me be a spur to my yokefellow and receive 
 a similar incitement in return. Let there be a conscious 
 effort to be mutually helpful. Let them that fear the 
 Lord speak often one to another — let them consider one 
 
The Christian Race 109 
 
 another to provoke unto love and good works. But 
 whether there be conscious purpose or not there will be 
 quickening to others from every worthy life. He who 
 adds to his own faith, virtue, temperance or godliness, 
 not only does not subtract from the graces of others but 
 makes it easier for them to add to them. He who strives 
 after perfection contributes to the perfection of his 
 brethren. With hand in hand and heart to heart we 
 may all press on toward the goal with the inspiring 
 thought that the spiritual progress of one will further 
 the progress of every other. Nay more, our own progress 
 will be retarded if we do not help those by our side. 
 It is laid upon us as an obligation that we love one an- 
 other — that no man seek his own but each his neighbor's 
 good — that we bear one another's burdens and so fulfil 
 the law of Christ. 
 
 2. The Christian race may be — ought to be accelera- 
 tive from the beginning to the end. In it no slackness 
 of speed will husband strength for a critical moment. 
 No spurt at the close can make up for the loss of the 
 laggard along the way. " The path of the just is as the 
 shining light that shineth more and more into the perfect 
 day" (Job 17:9). 
 
 Christian life is no mere dash — a paroxysm quickly 
 over, but a sustained effort to achieve something worthy. 
 " Patient continuance in well-doing," is a good statement 
 of it. Not a single virtue is all at once what it may be. 
 
 Do you lament the weakness of your faith? It may 
 be stronger. Keep on believing and praying, using the 
 faith you have and seeking for the spirit's bracing energy 
 to increase its power. " Lord, I believe, help thou my 
 unbelief." Do you grieve that so often you do not have 
 yourself well in hand, that passion runs riot and reason 
 is powerless, that feelings banish faith and wisdom and 
 hope. Is there a little member that sets the world on 
 fire all around you, that offends with words that are 
 as darts and arrows? Though you often trip and fall, 
 
IIO Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 be not discouraged. Arise and renew your efforts. 
 Persevere in the race for self-mastery and with help of 
 grace you will reach the goal of victory. 
 
 Or is there a deeper evil still that distresses you? Is 
 there found bubbling up from the heart the dregs of 
 malice or pride, of insincerity or impurity? Does it 
 seem to you that such a bitter fountain will never be 
 made to send forth sweet waters? Yield not to cowardly 
 thoughts like these. Listen to the voice of God — 
 " Cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and 
 spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God " ; what- 
 ever virtue you lack, whatever grace you desire, do not 
 begrudge it time and room for its full development. It 
 may indeed spring into sudden strength and beauty but 
 more probably it will need to be rocked by the winds 
 of temptation and nourished by the rich soil of truth and 
 moistened with dews of heavenly grace. Time and 
 prayer, purpose and endeavor must contribute to its 
 growth. Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season 
 ye shall reap if you fail not — reap results of Christian 
 character here and heavenly reward hereafter. Says our 
 Master — " If ye continue in my word, then are ye my 
 disciples, and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall 
 make you free." 
 
 3. The Christian life is not only a race but a battle. 
 The chief additional suggestion of this metaphor is the 
 resistance to the Christian life. If the race is not com- 
 petitive as among themselves, there are common enemies 
 that resist their onward march. While brethren stand 
 shoulder to shoulder as they advance, these enemies that 
 confront them must be overcome. 
 
 The scene of conflict may be the world. On its broad 
 field the forces of good and evil meet in terrible struggle. 
 Sometimes right is on the scaffold ; sometimes wrong is on 
 the throne. Sometimes the cause of God seems crushed 
 and broken. And when it makes headway it is often 
 through storm of shot and shell that the vantage ground 
 
The Christian Race III 
 
 is reached. Yet in spite of disaster and defeat and fierce 
 opposition, in the long ages the cause of truth and right 
 is triumphant. The " eternal years of God," belong to 
 it. 
 
 Speak History — who are life's victors? 
 
 Unroll thy long annals and say 
 
 Are they those whom the world called victors, who won 
 
 the success of a day? 
 The martyrs or Nero? The Spartans who fell at 
 
 Thermopylae's tryst, 
 Or the Persians and Xerxes? His Judges or Socrates? 
 
 Pilate or Christ? 
 
 The scene of conflict may be a narroiu field. It may 
 rage within a single human soul and this is clearly the 
 meaning here. Paul tells here of his own inner life and 
 characterizes it as a tremendous battle. They who re- 
 gard the Christian life as a holiday affair did not learn 
 about it from Paul. In its complete outworking he con- 
 sidered it a Herculean task to which he spurred himself 
 by every motive of love and ambition, of hope and fear, 
 Are you a Christian? You answer, yes. But what do 
 you mean by your answer? Do you mean only that 
 you have subscribed your name unto the Lord? That 
 is worth doing and ought not to be undervalued. Do 
 you mean that you sit regularly in your comfortable pew 
 on the Sabbath? This too is well. But true religion 
 means more than this. Do you not know that it means 
 compliance, not with the world but with the will of 
 Christ — a hand to hand struggle with the evil about 
 you wherever you are — resistance to the devil and your 
 own evil heart? It means that you "Quit your mean- 
 ness " — meanness to your fellow men and meanness to 
 your Maker. When one was asked — " Who is the elder 
 brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son ? " he slowly 
 replied — " myself " — and then told of some envious feel- 
 
112 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 ings he was obliged to suppress on hearing of another's 
 spiritual prosperity. It was a tender conscience that ap- 
 peared in his reply rather than unusual wickedness. He 
 who has never yet been ashamed in his own presence 
 and God's, though no ear of man has heard, nor eye of 
 man has seen has scarcely commenced the Christian war- 
 fare. 
 
 The Christian life is simple in its beginning but it is 
 unceasing in its demands. " Patient continuance in well- 
 doing," is no easy thing. The world is lying in wait to 
 take us captive, the evil one threateningly crosses our path 
 and a treacherous heart needs continual watching. He 
 who would be loyal to God in the world and be cm ned 
 victor at the last, must work out his salvation with fear 
 and trembling — must fight the good fight of faith and 
 lay hold on eternal life. What a bugle-blast is that of 
 Paul, urging us to heroic effort — " Be strong in the Lord 
 and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor 
 of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of 
 the devil, for our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, 
 but against the principalities, against the powers, against 
 the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual 
 hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 
 
 " Wherefore take up the whole armor of God that ye 
 may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done 
 all to stand." 
 
 II. Some conditions of success in the race and battle 
 of Christian life. They are much the same as in similar 
 contest in the natural sphere. 
 
 i. He who would be successful must be a man of in- 
 telligent purpose — who knows what he means to do and 
 means to do what he knows. He must have some fixed 
 principles for his guidance. He runs " not as uncer- 
 tainly." 
 
 There are many things we do not know. Like 
 Abraham we go forth not knowing whither. There is 
 a providence that " shapes our ends, rough-hew them how 
 
The Christian Race 1 13 
 
 we will." We are every one of us voyaging under sealed 
 orders and know not at what ports we will touch. New- 
 man's beautiful hymn makes the trusting soul say amid 
 the " encircling gloom " — " Lead thou me on. Keep 
 thou my feet : I do not ask to see the distant scene, — one 
 step enough for me." 
 
 I may not know where I am to labor, nor what God 
 wills concerning me. I may find truest happiness in wait- 
 ing upon God day by day for orders. 
 
 But concerning some things God's will has been already 
 revealed. Concerning some things we must know if we 
 would be strong. First of all there must be no uncer- 
 tainty concerning our relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Is He the Saviour of the world? Is He higher than the 
 highest of God's creatures? — the Son of God, himself 
 God ? Did he rise again from the dead on the third day 
 according to the Scriptures? Is his religion the light 
 and life of our souls and do we hang all our hopes for 
 eternity upon it? If there be any lurking doubt in our 
 minds concerning these points, there is a worm at the root 
 of our piety that will either kill it or give it a sickly life 
 and hue. 
 
 Half-heartedness is due in many instances to uncon- 
 scious lack of conviction. But when the things of Christ 
 are as real to us as the things of daily life, when we can 
 say with Paul — " I know whom I have believed and am 
 persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have com- 
 mitted unto him against that day," then we can serve 
 Christ with buoyancy of spirit and bounding feet. 
 
 The Church is shorn of its strength ; its very life is 
 eaten out when liberalism and levelism in religion blur 
 the faith of its members. When its clear, sharply defined 
 outline fades out of sight, what have men to contend 
 for? 
 
 They may be borne along by the Church's remaining 
 life or their own habit, but they can have no genuine 
 interest in its services and work. Away with a flabby, 
 
114 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 sentimental theology that apologizes for its own existence 
 and praises what it feebly opposes, that places Christ not 
 as the one bright and regnant star in the whole heavens, 
 but as one among many, including him in a brilliant 
 constellation along with Buddha and Confucius and Plato 
 and thus robbing him of his unique glory as God's own 
 Son and the World's Redeemer. He who teaches thus 
 may be called a seer or an advanced thinker or an erudite 
 student of comparative religion but his Christianity is 
 too diluted to be of much use to him or to those who sit 
 at his feet. 
 
 Let him who enters the Christian race understand what 
 he is doing. Let the essential facts and distinctive doc- 
 trines of Christianity be accepted or else let its name be 
 abandoned. 
 
 Further, there ought to be no uncertainty concerning 
 the fundamental principles of good morals. Here also 
 let us so run not as uncertainly. 
 
 There is indeed scarcely any difference of opinion 
 among men in regard to truth and justice, honesty and 
 purity. These are intuitions of the soul and no bias of 
 interest can altogether prevent their recognition. There 
 may however be clearness of view without purpose — 
 sentiment without principle. Uncertainty may arise in 
 the will as well as in the thoughts. Will he stand to 
 his thoughts? — is the question. Says Robertson — "If 
 we look at it deeply, it is will that makes the difference 
 between man and man — not knowledge, not opinions, 
 not devoutness, not feeling, but will — the power to be." 
 Men can grow eloquent in defense of a virtue and then 
 sacrifice it for a consideration. Yea, they are honestly 
 grieved when it is slain in the streets, and yet slay it them- 
 selves under stress of a situation. Several of our greatest 
 men of a past generation, giants in intellect like Webster 
 and Chase, who hated slavery with sincere hatred, receded 
 from their high positions that they might conciliate the 
 slave power and its friends and reach the chief magistracy 
 
The Christian Race 115 
 
 of the nation. So are men today bowing to the behests 
 of the liquor power, though in heart they despise it, lest 
 they lose some worldly ambition in politics or trade. So 
 are we all in danger of loosing our hold on righteousness 
 from considerations that are selfish. There is need of 
 settled purpose concerning these things or we will often 
 be overborne by temptation. Settle it in your very soul 
 — I must be always honest — I must be true — I must be 
 pure. What a model young man was Joseph! Tempta- 
 tion fell back from him like the stormy waves at the feet 
 of Gibraltar. God was with him as the rock of his 
 strength. He would not — could not — abuse the con- 
 fidence of his earthly master nor disobey the law of his 
 God. " How can I do this wickedness and sin against 
 God?" 
 
 There was no uncertainty about Ruth when she took 
 her place by the side of Naomi and of God. There was 
 none about Daniel when, contrary to the King's interdict, 
 with windows open he kneeled upon his knees three times 
 a day and prayed and gave thanks unto God." There 
 was no uncertainty about Esther when forgetful of her 
 own ease and safety, she replied to Mordecai — " I will 
 go in unto the King and if I perish I perish." There 
 was none about Nehemiah when to his wily enemies who 
 sought to bring him down to their level, he said — " I am 
 doing a great work and I cannot come down." 
 
 My young friends, follow the example of men and 
 women such as these. Be upright, reliable, heroic men 
 and women and you will be trusted by those who know 
 you best and successfully run the race that is set before 
 you. 
 
 2. A second condition of success in the Christian life is 
 skill. There is an art of Christian living. " Add to your 
 faith, virtue and to virtue, knowledge," — knowledge that 
 is due to experience, that discriminates between good and 
 evil in the entangled circumstances of life with the 
 promptness that results from practice. 
 
Il6 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Thrice blest is he to whom is given 
 The instinct that can tell 
 That God is in the field when He 
 Is most invisible. 
 
 Blest too is he who can divine 
 Where real right doth lie 
 And dares to take the side that seems 
 Wrong to man's blinded eye. 
 
 However excellent one's purpose, there is need of train- 
 ing in right ways. " So fight I not as one that beateth 
 the air," says Paul — not with aimless, ineffectual strokes 
 but with the skill of a trained boxer. 
 
 There is a kind of training that is general. Its aim is 
 to build up spiritual strength and health. The Church 
 with all its appliances and opportunities for religious in- 
 struction and activity is a sort of spiritual gymnasium. 
 In it we become familiar with the Christian weapons and 
 warfare. We learn how to believe and to love, how 
 to pray and to labor, how to be silent and to speak, how 
 to endure and to dare. We learn above all the value of 
 the sword of the Spirit, which like the flaming sword 
 that kept the way of the tree of life turns every way to 
 guard the soul of the believer. He who neglects this 
 general discipline is not likely to be ready for the sus- 
 tained strain of the battle of life. 
 
 Special training is however equally valuable. It is in 
 the practice of specific virtues that skill and certainty are 
 gained in their exercise. There is a habit of conscientious 
 living that makes it comparatively easy to do right. 
 Habits there will be and youth is the seed-time of habits, 
 either good or bad. The only question is — What will 
 your habit be? What grooves are you cutting into your 
 imagination ? What grip of will are you getting on your 
 appetites and passions? What is the quality of the emo- 
 tions you are cherishing unto dominance? 
 
The Christian Race 117 
 
 You have, may be, an ideal of life that sometime you 
 wish to realize. But whatever your ideal, it is your 
 present action that is determining the future. 
 
 Sow truth if thou the truth wouldst reap 
 Who sow the false shall reap the vain ; 
 Erect and sound thy conscience keep 
 From hollow words and deeds refrain. 
 
 bow love and taste its fruitage pure, 
 Sow peace and reap its harvests bright, 
 Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor, 
 And find a harvest-home of light. 
 
 There was no beating of the air when Jesus as the 
 champion of redeemed humanity resisted Satan's attack. 
 He knew how to handle the sword of the Spirit and with 
 repeated strokes — It is written! — It is written! — It 
 is written! sent him reeling to the pit whence he came. 
 The final verdict of history — even his rejecters agreeing 
 thereto — accords with that of Pilate — " I find no fault 
 in this man." He is the one faultless man of all the ages 
 — the perfect example of holy living. Follow him and 
 you will become skilled in battle and gain the victory of 
 those who overcome by faith and by the word of God. 
 
 3. A third essential to success is enthusiasm. There 
 must be some warmth of interest if we would succeed in 
 any engagement. You can hardly read these words of 
 Paul without feeling the fire that burned within his 
 breast. It kindles your spirit as you touch his and you 
 are ready to say — "I must gird myself for a worthier 
 life." 
 
 The source and substance of a genuine enthusiasm is 
 love. If we fall in love with God's laws it will be easy 
 to obey them. " O how I love thy law," sings the 
 Psalmist, " It is my meditation all the day." There were 
 both patriotism and Christian zeal — love of country and 
 
Ii8 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 love of Christ and his cause in the exclamation of Knox — 
 "Give me Scotland or I die!" It was love that sent 
 Carey a century ago to hard sendee in the indigo factories 
 of India. Why did Livingston and Hannington and 
 Mackay leave the comforts and refinements of their native 
 land and brave the dangers of a death-laden climate and 
 of wild beasts and savage men ? Love did it — love for 
 the souls of men. 
 
 Why did Juliet Henshaw the trained nurse volunteer 
 to go to Swinburne Island in the cholera panic two years 
 ago? In spite of plain forewarning of the risk, without 
 bravado, without fear, moved by the thought that some- 
 one must go and that her training made it possible for 
 her to be serviceable she went to care for the sick and 
 dying. Week after week she continued with three hours' 
 rest out of twenty-four, with strength lessening to do the 
 humble, disagreeable work that was required. " She in- 
 spired the doctors with admiration, the sick people with 
 hope and the other nurses with resolution." She was 
 a constant enthusiastic servant of humanity because she 
 had a heart full of love for humanity. 
 
 There was one in your own midst, whose devotion to a 
 deformed sister was as heroic and admirable as that of 
 any I have mentioned. Through long years, with perfect 
 good cheer, with no complaint on the lips, with no burden 
 on the heart, she gave the needed service till her own 
 strength failed in martyrdom to the welfare of another 
 and she went home to a well-earned rest. It was love did 
 it. 
 
 Love to Christ alone can constrain us to run well the 
 Christian race. Let us rally around the Captain of our 
 salvation with a more inspiring enthusiasm. Let us sup- 
 port his cause with loyal affection. Let Hope add bright- 
 ness to the enthusiasm love kindles. When some one said 
 to Leonidas — " The enemy is near us," he rejoined with- 
 out dismay, as if eager for the fray — " And we are near 
 
The Christian Race 1 19 
 
 the enemy." 'Tis as if he said — We are Spartans — 
 'Tis the enemy should be in dread. 
 
 Would that the name of Christian might wield such 
 magic power over all of us who bear it that with more 
 than Spartan heroism we might resist the devil and all 
 our spiritual foes. And when at last we stand entrenched 
 on the heights of assured victory may it be ours to say 
 as we look back — " O my soul thou hast trodden down 
 strength." 
 
 Members of the class of 1894, you all acknowledge 
 the divine origin of the religion of Jesus. Nearly all of 
 you have identified yourselves with his cause. You have 
 entered for the Christian race, you have enlisted as 
 soldiers of the cross. Do you mean to make a success of 
 it? Do you find within you the conditions of a success- 
 ful Christian life? 
 
 Have you formed a thoughtful purpose to follow 
 Christ? Are you now living in habitual obedience to his 
 will? Have you an abiding glowing interest in all that 
 contributes to your own right living and the glory of 
 your Master? Can you say — will you not say with all 
 earnestness, henceforth — " I therefore so run not as un- 
 certainly ; so fight I not as one that beateth the air." 
 
 Yourselves being judges, this is the chief thing. You 
 may be in doubt about your profession or occupation 
 and have good reason for your questioning. But you 
 can have none for indecision here. I care not what line 
 you pursue, if you take a warm Christian heart along with 
 you, j r ou will be a blessing to the world. My sincerest 
 wish for every one of you has been and is that you may 
 so learn Christ here that he will be a power in your lives 
 in all the future. Let your signature to Christ's cause 
 have your own heart's blood in it, your consecrated will. 
 Sign ! but sign with firm faith, with resolution, with af- 
 fection and though the race is not to the swift, nor the 
 battle to the strong, you will reach the goal at last, con- 
 
120 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 querors and more than conquerors through him that loved 
 us. 
 
 Everyone of you, perhaps, is building a castle in your 
 mind concerning this present life. I would not check 
 your fondest hopes of earthly happiness, your aspirations 
 after greatness, goodness, or wealth. But there is a beyond 
 and there is a motive from it to the best life that ought 
 to be pressed upon you — that you should press upon 
 yourselves. It seems to come from far and therefore 
 loses something of its power. And yet it may be near 
 and that possibility ought to be considered. I look back 
 over ten years here and can put my finger on one here 
 and there of the graduates of this period that has gone 
 already and sometimes that one has been among the 
 strongest of the class. That one singled out by divine 
 providence may be you. Can you afford to ignore such a 
 possibility? 
 
 An Arab in a circle of jewellers of Basrah related this 
 story — " Once I missed my way in the desert and having 
 no provision left I gave myself up for lost — when I hap- 
 pened to find a bag of pearls. I shall never forget the 
 relish and delight that I felt on supposing it to be fried 
 wheat, nor the bitterness and despair which I suffered 
 on discovering that the bag contained pearls." There are 
 pearls of earthly good that may measurably satisfy you 
 now. But the time will come when there will be an un- 
 speakable hunger for the heavenly good. If you have 
 none laid up in store, nor within each reach of the prac- 
 tised hand of faith, you will be given over to the bitter- 
 ness of despair. May you have bread in your basket for 
 your journey through the desert land and on the other 
 side come out into a land of plenty! May the Lord pre- 
 pare you for your future, whatever that future be, guide 
 you by his counsel while you live and bring you to his 
 glory without one missing! 
 
SERMON X, 1895 
 
 ALONE, YET NOT ALONE 
 
 Ye shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone because the 
 Father is with me. — John 16: 32. 
 
 THE days of the public ministry of Jesus are ended. 
 His last discourse to the thirsty multitudes in the 
 temple enclosure has been preached. The last effort of 
 love to save the wicked city from its impending doom 
 has been made — made, alas! in vain. Tomorrow he will 
 be crucified. One of his own disciples has already left 
 the company of the rest to fulfil his wretched bargain 
 to betray his Master into the hands of his enemies. In 
 a few hours under the traitor's guidance a multitude will 
 pursue him to his accustomed retreat in Gethsemane and 
 the succession of iniquitous events will commence that will 
 culminate in the tragedy of the cross. 
 
 How will Jesus spend the few hours that remain? 
 Read the chapters that make up the wonderful discourse 
 from which our text is taken and you will get an answer. 
 He is with the company that journeyed with him and 
 shared his public life. In the upper room where the pass- 
 over was observed and the supper instituted, he invites 
 them to a full and free interchange of thought and feel- 
 ing. He calls them friends and assures them that he 
 withholds nothing from them. He comforts them con- 
 cerning his departure — telling them whither he goes 
 and why. " I go to prepare a place for you. If I go 
 not away the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if 
 I go, I will send Him unto you ... I came out from 
 the Father and am come into the world ; again I leave 
 the world and go unto the Father." He reveals to them 
 
 121 
 
122 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 the secret of fruitful holy living — intimate union and 
 communion with himself. He forewarns them of the 
 hour of sorrow and gives them some foregleams of the 
 chastened, yet satisfying joys that his presence with them 
 will impart. 
 
 Under the influence of his gracious impressive words 
 the faith of the disciples is quickened into enthusiasm and 
 they exclaim — " Now are we sure that thou knowest all 
 things, and needest not that any man should ask thee; 
 by this we believe that thou earnest forth from God." 
 
 But Jesus knew them better than they knew themselves 
 and disclosed to them a sequel that in this happy hour they 
 would never have suspected. He seems to arrest their 
 fervent confession and summon them to solemn thought 
 — " Do ye now believe ? Behold the hour cometh, yea, 
 is now come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his 
 own and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, 
 because the Father is with me." 
 
 Let us meditate upon the situation of Jesus here de- 
 clared — alone yet not alone — and upon a possible 
 counterpart of it in our own lives. Let us not so separate 
 him from ourselves that we learn no lessons from his 
 recorded experience. 
 
 There was indeed a cup of which he drank whose 
 bitterness we may never taste. There were experiences 
 that wrung his soul as the great sin-bearer, that shield 
 us from the like sense of the divine wrath. He trod the 
 wine-press of the wrath of God alone and of the people 
 there was none with him. The solitariness of his suffer- 
 ings as the atoning Redeemer was absolute and unique — 
 separated from all others in kind as well as in degree — 
 without a precedent and without a copy. 
 
 But I like to think of Jesus here as the perfect human 
 friend conferring with his fellows. For years together 
 he has enjoyed their companionship, partaking of their 
 toils and travels and privations. He prized their human 
 sympathy and is grieved by the anticipation of its loss. 
 
Alone, Yet Not Alone 123 
 
 Those words spoken in Gethsemane were no mere pass- 
 ing rebuke of the disciples, but an expression of the deep- 
 est feeling of the Master on account of their separation 
 from himself — "What! could you not watch with me 
 one hour?" It is the beginning of that hour of which 
 the words of our text gave a timely preview. He has 
 passed beyond them — passed within a veil through which 
 their eyes cannot pierce. They do not — cannot — fol- 
 low and therefore abandon him to the solitude of experi- 
 ences they cannot share. It was a lonely hour with Jesus 
 when Peter, James and John — the beloved trio — and 
 especially when John, the " disciple whom Jesus loved," 
 could not enter into his experiences, could not keep him 
 within their wakeful consciousness for so brief a time, 
 could not watch with him one hour. 
 
 These were the bitter experiences of a man — of a man 
 bereft of friendly offices and in His record here given 
 we may find an example and illustration of a human life 
 — with its changing conditions and its abiding compen- 
 sations — its human faithlessness and its divine unfailing 
 fellowship. 
 
 Let us consider 
 
 I. The loneliness of a soul. 
 
 II. The companionship that relieves it. 
 
 To be alone and to be lonely may not be exactly the 
 same. The former states a fact ; the latter, an experience. 
 Yet the fact and the experience are so closely related that 
 the same word includes both meanings. The feeling of 
 loneliness arises ordinarily from the fact of being alone, 
 and so loneliness, while having originally an objective 
 significance, has come to have a subjective one that almost 
 supplants the original. 
 
 There is a loneliness of simple solitude — the absence 
 of friend or fellow. It may be a brief retirement to some 
 secluded nook, which is often very delightful. Or it may 
 be the prolonged, unsought solitude of the interminable 
 forest or the sea-girt isle or the " wide, wide sea " itself. 
 
124 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 It has lasted long and the end is not. Hope, that springs 
 eternal in the human breast, grows faint through many 
 sickening disappointments. Imagination plays upon the 
 past and sights and sounds are seen and heard within the 
 chambers of the soul that never fell upon the eye or 
 trembled on the outer air. 
 
 Tennyson pictures Enoch Arden sitting — 
 
 In the seaward-gazing gorge 
 A shipwrecked sailor, waiting for a sail ; 
 No sail from day to day, but every day 
 The sunrise broken into scarlet shafts 
 Among the palms and ferns and precipices. 
 
 He thinks of wife and child and horse and boat and 
 all the associated memories of home. 
 
 Once likewise in the ringing of his ears, 
 Though faintly, merrily — far and far away — 
 He heard the pealing of his parish bells; 
 Then, though he knew not wherefore, started up 
 Shuddering, and when the beauteous, hateful isle 
 Returned upon him, had not his poor heart 
 Spoken with That, which being everywhere 
 Lets none, who speaks with him, seem all alone 
 Surely the man had died of solitude. 
 
 There is something awful about being all alone and 
 the soul would sink within itself and die were it not for 
 the fact that the Infinite is a spirit kindred to our own 
 from whose immanent presence we are never far away. 
 
 There is a loneliness of decision. Every spirit is in- 
 dividual and dwells apart from every other. We say, 
 " I " and " thou " and " he " and thus recognize the 
 separateness — the personality of each. But emphasis is 
 given to individuality when choices are made. Even 
 though our choice coincides with that of others, it is not 
 
Alone, Yet Not Alone 125 
 
 less our own. Yet the conspicuousness of decision is 
 heightened when it cuts one off from fellowship — when 
 he becomes the one man in his generation or community to 
 advocate a neglected cause or defend a despised truth, 
 or when his brave and righteous act singles him out as a 
 hero or marks him off for a victim. 
 
 There are crises in all lives when such decisions must 
 be made. It is an hour of solicitation to evil. The net 
 is spread on every side. Only a courageous heart can 
 break through its meshes and walk at liberty. Such a 
 crisis came to Joseph in Potiphar's house and the heroic 
 answer he gave has been like a shield to many ever since 
 — " How can I do this great wickedness and sin against 
 God?" 
 
 Such a crisis came to Daniel more than once. It came 
 as it comes to us in connection with very ordinary matters 
 of eating and drinking and praying. Shall he offend God 
 or Darius? Shall he make his petition to his God con- 
 trary to the king's decree or make his petition to the king 
 alone contrary to the divine decree? Will he choose 
 Jehovah and the den of lions or Darius and the second 
 place in the kingdom? Daniel's enemies made no mis- 
 calculation. They gave him credit for unflinching loyalty 
 to the law of his God and his actions justified their con- 
 fidence. When the hour of noon was come, Daniel 
 flung open the windows of his chamber toward Jerusalem 
 and prayed as aforetime. His decision was unhesitating, 
 though it separated him from every man in power in the 
 Persian dominion. 
 
 Not less picturesque is that familiar scene in the life 
 of Luther when at the diet of Worms he stood before 
 princes and ecclesiastics and said — " Here I stand; I can 
 do no other." 
 
 Such scenes as these come unheralded as life is flowing 
 on in its usual course. They come as the ledge of rock 
 comes to the onrushing stream and the leap is made ac- 
 cording to the momentum of character behind it. 
 
126 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Anywhere in any life there may be the occasion, sud- 
 denly or slowly matured, of heroic action — of decision 
 for or against truth or right or God. Anywhere there 
 may be necessity to stand alone if we would maintain a 
 conscience void of offence or further the causes we love. 
 
 There is the loneliness of desertion. 'Tis lonely to 
 never see a " kindly human face, nor ever hear a kindly 
 voice." Lonelier still is it when one by his own act steps 
 out from the mass of men and separates himself from the 
 very atmosphere in which they live and breathe. 
 
 But loneliest of all is it when one is forsaken of old 
 companions and friends — when those who shared his life 
 and joys and hopes, who sympathized with his purposes 
 and plans, prove false and faithless and abandon him to 
 his fate — to failure or to doom. 
 
 'Midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men, 
 To hear, to see, to feel and to possess, 
 And roam along, the world's tired denizen, 
 With none to bless us, none whom we can bless ; 
 None that with kindred consciousness endued, 
 If we were not, would seem to smile the less, 
 Of all that flattered, followed, sought and sued ; 
 This is to be alone; this, this is solitude." 
 
 The pang of desertion was keenly felt by our Saviour. 
 Not one of all that loving band that circled about him for 
 three years was to him 
 
 True as the needle to the pole, 
 Or as the dial to the sun. 
 
 When the hour of his suffering and ignominy came, 
 they every one shrank back in selfish terror. 
 
 " Ye shall be scattered every one to his own," is the 
 Saviour's explanatory hint concerning the departure of his 
 disciples. Each was scattered to his own — his own busi- 
 
Alone, Yet Not Alone 127 
 
 ness — his own family — his own interests. It is the too 
 familiar story of love to Christ supplanted by love to 
 self — of friendship vitiated by selfishness. 
 
 There are indeed links of friendship that are often 
 stronger than those of kindred. Yet even these are some- 
 times corroded by ambition and covetousness or snapped 
 asunder by the strain of worldly threats or promises. 
 Slowly and bitterly we yield to the conviction that the 
 friend we trusted has failed us in the hour of need — 
 that there is a limit to his constancy that has already been 
 reached. 
 
 More bitter far than all, 
 
 It was to know that Love could change and die ! 
 Hush ! for the ages call, 
 The Love of God lives through Eternity 
 And conquers all. 
 
 We can only, like Jesus, fall back upon the Gibraltar 
 of our confidence — upon the bosom of the Almighty 
 Father whose faithfulness and love endure forever. " Ye 
 shall leave me alone; and yet I am not alone because the 
 Father is with me." 
 
 Let us now in the second place consider 
 
 II. The Divine Companionship that brings relief in 
 every lonely hour. " The Father is with me," was the 
 Saviour's comfort when the disciples were scattered from 
 him. There never was a moment in all his earthly course 
 when he could not say — The Father is with me. Per- 
 haps we cannot unravel all the mystery connected with 
 the relation of the Divine-human Mediator to the Divine 
 Father. How can he be a Sin-bearer, enduring the smit- 
 ings of divine wrath, and at the same time an object of 
 the divine approval? How can he suffer under the frown 
 of God as an angry Judge and yet enjoy the favor of 
 God as a loving Father? The seeming paradox may per- 
 plex us for a little, yet will pass away as we reflect upon 
 
128 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 it. God may impose a burden and yet approve the con- 
 duct of the burden-bearer. He may even exact a penalty 
 and yet sanction the assumption of it by the sinner's rep- 
 resentative. He may deal with him in righteousness as 
 occupying the sinner s place or he may deal with him as a 
 servant fulfilling his appointed, accepted task in the sin- 
 ner's behalf. So that we may say that the Saviour was 
 never more pleasing to God than when he drank to its 
 bitter dregs the cup of divine justice pressed to his lips. 
 In the " Believer's Riddle," Ralph Erskine thus presents 
 the mysterious truth in rugged verse — 
 
 In him concentred at his death 
 
 His Father's love, his Father's wrath, 
 
 Even He whom passion never seized 
 
 Was then most angry, when most pleased. 
 
 Not only did he possess the Father's favor, but he lived 
 in the joyous consciousness of it. The Father's name 
 was continually upon his lips, because it was ever in his 
 mind. Forty-one times he speaks of him in these dis- 
 courses contained in the three chapters beginning with the 
 14th of John. Six times he breathes his name in that 
 intercessory prayer in the 17th Chapter and every line in 
 it tells equally of reverence and familiarity. " Father, 
 the hour is come . . ." " Holy Father, keep through 
 thine own name those whom thou hast given me," — " O 
 righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I 
 have known thee and these have known that thou didst 
 send me." 
 
 As he hanged upon the cross not many hours after- 
 ward, we hear him praying for his crucifiers — " Father, 
 forgive them, for they know not what they do." And 
 when the days of his humiliation were over and at the 
 dawn of the day he appeared to Mary Magdalene at the 
 sepulchre, the first words he uttered tell of his home-going 
 to God — " I ascend to my Father and your Father — 
 
Alone, Yet Not Alone 129 
 
 to my God and your God." The very air is to him 
 peopled with the Father's presence and every object or 
 event is seen in the light of the relation he sustains to it. 
 This exalted companionship with the Father compensates 
 for every loss, heightens every joy, suffuses every experi- 
 ence with sweetness and peace. In all the vexing details 
 of his successive trials before ecclesiastical and civil tri- 
 bunals he maintained a demeanor of entire calmness. 
 Amid a perfect storm of human passion, he showed a com- 
 posure absolutely undisturbed, a freedom from excitement 
 that marks superiority to all that were about him. 
 
 How can we account for this intimacy and this result- 
 ing assurance and peace? They could walk together be- 
 cause they were agreed. He was at one with the Father 
 because he sought not his own will but the will of Him 
 that sent him. His own explanation of the foundation 
 of his confidence is given in these words — " He that sent 
 me is with me ; he hath not left me alone ; for I do always 
 the things that are pleasing to Him." There was never 
 a flaw in his perfect obedience — not an act or thought 
 or feeling or wish that was out of harmony with the 
 Divine mind. Therefore there was never a break in their 
 fellowship and the language of the Fatherly heart con- 
 cerning him is exuberant and joyous — " Behold my ser- 
 vant whom I uphold ; my chosen in whom my soul de- 
 lighteth." 
 
 Is the same source of relief in lonely hours open to 
 any human soul ? Is the name of the Lord a strong tower 
 into which any one of us may run and be safe? Yes — 
 whosoever will may become a child of God by believing 
 in his Son and may keep company with his heavenly 
 Father in the way of faith and obedience. Abraham was 
 called the " friend of God," and this distinction belongs 
 to all who like him believe unto righteousness. But as 
 the pleasures of any friendship may be marred by suspi- 
 cion or unfriendly action, so the joy of the divine friend- 
 ship may be interrupted by sin. We can only hope to 
 
130 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 enjoy in full freedom the sweetness of the Father's fel- 
 lowship by doing always as Jesus did those things that 
 are pleasing in his sight. We must separate from every 
 company that is inconsistent with God's if we would re- 
 tain the satisfying consciousness of his favor and presence. 
 " Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith 
 the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will re- 
 ceive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be 
 my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 
 
 Oh, what a privilege is this! What love amazing 
 that we should be called the sons of God! What solace 
 we often find in resting our weary, lonely heads upon 
 the bosom of God. Many a time some of you have felt 
 that there is no comfort anywhere but in him and have 
 fled from man to hold converse with God. No other 
 could understand so perfectly ; no other could help so 
 tenderly and mightily. I think of Jacob, fleeing from 
 the frown of his deceived father and the anger of his 
 supplanted brother, on that long journey to Padan-Aram, 
 lying in the open field with the sky for his covering and 
 a stone for his pillow, with not one friend or fellow by 
 his side, leagues away from any man or woman that loves 
 him or can speak to him. What a glad surprise it must 
 have been to him to hear a voice breaking the awful 
 silence — " I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father 
 and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest to 
 thee will I give it and to thy seed. . . . Behold I am 
 with thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou 
 goest and will bring thee again into this land ; for I will 
 not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken 
 to thee of." 
 
 I think of Henry Martyn, who, when a young man, 
 was spoken of as a " student who never lost an hour," 
 who gave his life to Christ and Foreign Mission work 
 in India. After doing a great work in translating the 
 Scriptures and setting an example of devotion that has 
 borne fruit ever since, health failed and rest was abso- 
 
Alone, Yet Not Alone 13 1 
 
 lutely necessary. He set out on what he described as 
 " my long journey of 1300 miles," to Constantinople on 
 his way home to England. It was a wearisome, danger- 
 ous, hurried flight from post to post until his exhausted 
 frame could endure no more and the heavenly home was 
 reached before the earthly came in sight. The last 
 record he made was of an hour of unexpected repose — 
 " I sat and thought with sweet comfort and peace of 
 my God — in solitude, my Company, my Friend and 
 Comforter. Oh, when shall time give place to 
 eternity? " 
 
 I think again of Livingston as Stanley found him in 
 the heart of Africa, hating slavery and loving God and 
 men. He, too, took ill on the homeward journey and 
 one morning, as his attendants looked in upon him, they 
 saw that he was gone. His spirit had taken its flight 
 when none was with him — ■ suddenly caught up to glory 
 by the Father's hand. They found him, not in bed, but 
 kneeling at the bedside with his head buried in his hands 
 — alone, yet not alone, for he was with God and God 
 was with him. 
 
 The companionship of God is not only valuable for 
 comfort, but for support. There is no brace to right 
 decision like the consciousness of his righteous presence. 
 Moses endured as seeing Him who is invisible. The 
 three Hebrew heroes refused to worship the golden image 
 Nebuchadnezzar set up because they could affirm with 
 confidence — " Our God whom we serve is able to de- 
 liver us out of the burning fiery furnace." 
 
 Carey's heart was impressed with the awful need of 
 the heathen and offered to go as a missionary to India. 
 Many doubted the wisdom and practicability of the pro- 
 posed enterprise and even reproached him for wild 
 fanaticism. But with unshaken faith and courage and 
 hope, he proclaimed his convictions. The key-note of his 
 answer to every objector was — " Undertake great things 
 for God ; expect great things from God." 
 
132 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Ye who have a share in unpopular movements, be not 
 disheartened when you find that there are laggards and 
 stragglers and gloomy prophets. Whoever deserts a 
 righteous cause, God never disowns it. He may not at 
 once appear to hasten its triumph, but his heart is with 
 it and with every man or woman who espouses it, and 
 sooner or later his presence and power will give it 
 success. At the first, Methodist was a term of reproach 
 and even so good a man as our own John Brown of Had- 
 dington blessed God for having " kept him from follow- 
 ing that man of sin, John Wesley." Yet who now would 
 question the appropriateness of Adam Clarke's epitaph 
 written with diamond on a pane of glass in his study 
 window in Manchester — "Good men need not marble; 
 I dare trust glass with the memory of John Wesley, late 
 fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford; who with indefati- 
 gable zeal and perseverance, travelled these kingdoms, 
 preaching Jesus for more than half a century by his un- 
 paralleled writings and labors. He revived and spread 
 Scriptural Christianity wherever he went, for God was 
 with him." Yes, God was with him and is with every 
 faithful servant and will at last bring forth his righteous- 
 ness as the light and his judgment as the noonday. God 
 is with every worthy cause and will sooner or later make 
 it to ride upon the high places of the field. 
 
 Some day Love shall claim his own, 
 Some day Right ascend the throne 
 Some day Hidden Truth be known, 
 Some day — some sweet day. 
 
 We hear much in our day of the necessity for a practi- 
 cal religion — a religion that will straighten out the 
 tangles of the present world rather than offer a way of 
 happy escape to a better world. As it is expressed in a 
 recent work on Social Evolution — " Christianity is in- 
 tended to save not only men but man and its mission 
 
Alone, Yet Not Alone 133 
 
 should be to teach us not only how to die as individuals, 
 but how to live as members of society." 
 
 But what is the preaching that affects living? Not 
 moral essays without reference to a moral Governor — 
 not sensational thrusts at manifest evils that curse society 
 — ■ not denunciation of doctrine and dogma with a fling 
 at our fathers — but old-fashioned Bible truth, brought 
 home with blood-red earnestness to the hearts and con- 
 sciences of men. The world needs motive as well as 
 vision and there are no motives like those that come from 
 Sinai and the cross — from the awful majesty and the 
 amazing love of God. The religion that takes hold on 
 the other world is the most practical for this. Eliminate 
 from it every invisible element — God and heaven and 
 hell — providence, eternity and responsibility — and 
 what have you left worth speaking of to constrain men 
 to live for the elevation of themselves or their fellow- 
 men? Let a man live with God and for God and he 
 will have the best preparation for living with man and 
 for man. 
 
 Religion's all. Descending from the skies 
 To wretched man, the goddess in her left 
 Holds out this world, and in her right, the next. 
 
 Members of the graduating class of 1895, aspire after 
 the filial fellowship with God which characterized your 
 Saviour. I know not what trials may be in the path of 
 any one of you, what desert places you will pass through, 
 what sharp crisis will come to you when decision will 
 tremble in the balance, what disappointments you may 
 have in friends and associates in labor. But I do know 
 that this way has been trodden by Christ and that his 
 passage over it has made it easier for you and me. 
 
 I know no better provision for your happiness and 
 safety than to take God with you. Do not be afraid of 
 being thought religious. Let the world know that you 
 
134 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 stand with God-fearing men and women. Speak daily 
 to God in prayer. Listen to Him as He speaks to you 
 in His Word. Cultivate in all appropriate ways a sense 
 of the Divine presence. 
 
 Be a thorough-going Christian. Be a living branch 
 of the life-giving vine. He that hath the Son hath life 
 — life that is life indeed. 
 
 A month ago or more some of the trees were just 
 putting forth their green and tender leaves and giving 
 promise of a rich and abundant foliage. But one chill 
 and desolating night destroyed their beauty and black and 
 withered and dead they seemed for weeks. 
 
 Will they revive? Or will they stand abashed 
 through all the live-long season? They have life and 
 life contains the potency and promise of victory. 
 Already new branches displace or overshadow the old 
 and life exults in her triumph over desolation and death. 
 
 May such life — vigorous, dominating spiritual life be- 
 long to every one of you! Then come what will, you 
 will survive the hindrances and dangers of your post. 
 You will be able to stand the chill and shock of every 
 adverse circumstance. You will overcome by the renew- 
 ing, transforming, irrepressible power of life in Christ 
 Jesus. " I am come," says Jesus, " that they might have 
 life and that they might have it more abundantly." 
 
 When God scattered the children of Israel among the 
 heathen, he gave this assurance to the remnant that be- 
 lieved in his name — " I will be to them a little sanctuary 
 in the countries where they shall come." I trust this 
 promise will be fulfilled to every one of you, wherever 
 you may be scattered in our own or other lands. May 
 the Lord be to you a sanctuary — a sacred and sure 
 refuge. I wish I could convince you that this is not 
 mere rhetoric. I speak of the basis of the best life — 
 of real life — of your life and mine if we will. It is 
 possible for you so to live that like Jesus you can say 
 everywhere and always — " The Father is with me." 
 
Alone, Yet Not Alone 135 
 
 God likewise told the Children of Israel of a time 
 when he would gather them again to their own land 
 and put his Spirit within them and write his own name 
 upon them and claim them as his own. Such a gather- 
 ing time will come by and by for all the sons of God 
 on the plains of the promised land on high. We'll all 
 meet again, will we not? Yes, we'll meet again by the 
 grace of God in that far off land. We can already hear 
 the welcome of him who has gone before. Centuries ago, 
 he said — " I go to my Father," and the words he spake 
 before he went yet linger in the ear of humanity — " In 
 my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, 
 I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 
 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come 
 again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there 
 ye may be also." 
 
 It will be no more the experience of faith — " The 
 Father is with me," but the experience of open vision — 
 I am w T ith the Father and see him face to face — home 
 after many wanderings — home to stay. " Now unto 
 him that is able to keep you from falling and to present 
 you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceed- 
 ing joy, to the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory and 
 majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. 
 Amen." 
 
SERMON XI, 1896 
 
 THE GIRDLE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS 
 Faithfulness shall be the girdle of his reins. — Isa. II: 6. 
 
 MR. BRICE in just and friendly criticism of our 
 " American Commonwealth," mentions among our 
 salient features — " a fondness for bold and striking ef- 
 fects — an enthusiasm for anything that can be called 
 genius with an over-readiness to discover it." A dis- 
 tinguished American lecturer does not hesitate to speak 
 on a Boston platform and within hearing of all the Eng- 
 lish-speaking world of " American reverence for success- 
 ful sharpness." 
 
 Are these estimates as just as they are frank? Do we 
 run wild after brilliancy in achievement? Do we ad- 
 mire most what may be proclaimed upon the house-top, 
 or in more modern phrase may be spread abroad by posters 
 and headlines? Do we care less for something to say 
 than how to say it — for elocution than for education 
 — for the clapping of the hands of the multitude than 
 for the consciousness of honest attainment? Do we prize 
 most the shining, conspicuous qualities of men and women 
 rather than their quiet sterling worth? 
 
 If these things be so, we are not true to the beginnings 
 of our nation's history, to the examples of our forefathers. 
 They were men who lived under the inspiration of duty 
 rather than of glory, who cared as much for the corner- 
 stone as for the capstone, who built year after year for 
 truth and right and God all unconscious of the greatness 
 of their endeavor. Washington, in his modesty and re- 
 serve and fidelity to duty was a fit exponent of the men 
 of his time and his words in the darkest hour of the 
 
 136 
 
The Girdle of Righteousness 137 
 
 revolution contain his own idea of his mission — " I see 
 my duty — that of standing up for the liberties of my 
 country; and whatever difficulties and discouragements 
 lie in my way I dare not shrink from it; and I rely on 
 that Being who has not left to us the choice of duties, 
 that whilst I shall conscientiously discharge mine I shall 
 not finally lose my reward." Pomp and pageantry were 
 foreign to his mind; duty, God and heaven were the in- 
 visible environment that made its impress on his thoughts 
 and purposes. 
 
 I wish to commend to you the very commonplace 
 virtue of fidelity. Like charity, she " seeketh not her 
 own." She hides herself in retired places; she dies and 
 makes no sign, yet she is the servant of every good. 
 She lends dignity to drudgery ; she gives equal grace to the 
 palace and the hut. 
 
 How shall we make her attractive to our sense-veiled 
 time? How exalt her in the eyes of all so that we shall 
 seek her before praise or pelf? How shall we supple- 
 ment the constraint of conscience in her favor? How 
 shall we enforce the lesson of our earliest national his- 
 tory? Let us study in the light of this grace the ex- 
 ample of the Perfect One. Above all that have ever 
 lived he was faithful — a merciful and faithful High 
 Priest — the Amen, the faithful and true Witness. 
 Long before he came prophets foretold his coming. The 
 Prophet Isaiah, centuries before Christ, saw his day and 
 joyfully announced his character — " The spirit of the 
 Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and under- 
 standing, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of 
 knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. . . . And right- 
 eousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness 
 the girdle of his reins." To this keynote of his career 
 we invite your attention — " Faithfulness shall be the 
 girdle of his reins." 
 
 Consider : 
 
 I. The Redeemer's girdle. 
 
138 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 II. Its admirable qualities. 
 
 The girdle was an essential part of Oriental dress. 
 During hours of inactivity it might be laid aside. But 
 when one was summoned to action the girdle was fastened 
 around the loins and the loose garments were gathered 
 within its grasp. It was fitted close to the person and 
 was both a support and an ornament. It was thus that 
 " Elijah girded up his loins and ran before Ahab," leav- 
 ing in the distance the swift chariots of the King. 
 
 It is a frequent figure in the Scripture for a tense state 
 of mind — a readiness for whatever exertion the situa- 
 tion may require. Peter, for example, exhorts the scat- 
 tered, persecuted disciples, " Gird up the loins of your 
 mind, be sober and hope to the end." 
 
 Faithfulness, like a girdle, adheres to the Redeemer's 
 soul, says God by the prophet Jeremiah (13: 11) — " As 
 a girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused 
 to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel." So does 
 faithfulness encircle and cleave to the mind of Christ. 
 It touches the whole circumference of his being. It 
 gathers up into its loving embrace every faculty and 
 feeling of his nature and makes them subservient to his 
 mission. It holds in subjection even those elements that 
 tend to lawlessness, that have in themselves no principle 
 of government — the desires and appetites and passions 
 — and makes them contribute to the fulfillment of a 
 righteous purpose. It enters into every relation of his 
 life and finds therein conspicuous illustration. 
 
 As a relative and friend he was girt about with faith- 
 fulness. What an example of obedience to parents he 
 set in his return from Jerusalem to Nazareth, after his 
 mind had been opened in the temple to the vision of his 
 heavenly relationship. " He was subject unto them," — 
 places the rebuke of his example on the conduct of every 
 son who casts off the yoke of parental authority because 
 of his exaggerated notion of his own liberty or wisdom. 
 The distance between Jesus and Joseph was wider far 
 
The Girdle of Righteousness 139 
 
 than that between any young man and his parents and 
 yet Jesus submitted himself without question to family 
 authority. His fidelity as a son shines forth with equal 
 splendor just at the close of his career. When the 
 agonies of the crucifixion were wearing out his own life 
 he thought of the torn bleeding heart of his Mother. 
 With the tenderest solicitude about her comfort he com- 
 mends her to the care of the disciple whom he loved. 
 No untried guardian will do; no coarse, unsympathetic 
 nature will answer for such a charge. Not till he saw 
 the disciple standing by whom he loved, did he look down 
 from the cross and say — " Woman, behold thy son," and 
 to the disciple, " Behold thy mother." When accord- 
 ing to the early prophecy of Simeon the sword was pierc- 
 ing her very soul, Jesus did all that a noble son could 
 do to assuage her grief and fill the void that his ap- 
 proaching departure must make. He was faithful unto 
 death to the Mother that bore him. There was a family 
 made up of two sisters and a brother whose hospitality 
 he often enjoyed and whose loving regard he prized and 
 reciprocated. When the brother died Jesus soon came 
 to Bethany to mingle his tears with theirs. What a 
 tribute is given to his faithful friendship in the repose- 
 ful confidence they manifested in him in that hour of 
 bereavement. How they clung to him, sitting at his feet, 
 listening to his words. The strongest testimony one 
 friend can give to another's fidelity is to lean upon him 
 when the burden is great and the night is dark and the 
 way is lonely. In such a time as this these sisters so 
 unlike in many respects were one in their restful waiting 
 upon Jesus and seemed by all their intercourse with him 
 to declare — "There is a friend that sticketh closer than 
 a brother." 
 
 There was a little band of twelve that circled round 
 him as a magnetic center. How did he act toward them 
 during the three busy years they companied together? 
 He kept them as the apple of his eye. He was patient 
 
140 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 with their infirmities. He was thoughtful about their 
 physical wants, providing them safety and food and rest. 
 With unwearying iteration he repeated the lessons of the 
 Kingdom for their instruction. He forewarned them of 
 the dangers they would encounter. He gave that last, 
 best proof of friendship that he rebuked their faults as 
 well as praised their virtues. He commended Nathaniel's 
 guilelessness and the Baptist's rock-like firmness. To the 
 same person on one occasion, he said — " Blessed art thou 
 Simon Barjona," and on another — " Get thee behind me 
 Satan," and love prompted the utterance in both cases 
 alike. To the foolish and vengeful suggestions of the 
 disciples concerning the Samaritan village, he answered — 
 " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." O for a 
 friendship such as this, that shrinks not from the task of 
 rebuking our ignorance when love demands it, that loves 
 us too well to be silent when we are blindly going on to 
 our hurt. Whatever else is lacking we ask for fidelity 
 in a friend. It was the girdle of the Redeemer's friend- 
 ship that ought to be the girdle of ours. 
 
 The girdle of faithfulness was worn by the Redeemer 
 as a servant of God. He was true to his trust. He ful- 
 filled his mission to the uttermost. The announcement 
 of the angel at his birth was — "Unto you is born a 
 Saviour." The supreme design of the coming of the Son 
 of God into this sin-cursed world was to save lost men. 
 His own testimony is — " The Son of man is come to 
 seek and save that which was lost." How did he carry 
 out the purpose of God? Was there ever a time when 
 it was out of his mind? Did it not color and energize 
 his whole life? Paul describes him as a "merciful and 
 faithful high priest in things pertaining to God." Dur- 
 ing his public ministry he never forgot for one moment 
 for what he came. Wherever men were to be found, 
 in the street or by the wayside, in the temple precincts 
 or by the seashore, he had the same message of love and 
 life for them all. The odium and degradation of sin in- 
 
The Girdle of Righteousness 141 
 
 stead of setting bounds to his ministry in any case, were 
 a challenge to the exhibition of his gracious saving power. 
 The iniquitous tax-gatherer and the depraved harlot were 
 each saved by a miracle of grace. To the diminutive, 
 despised Zaccheus, he said — "Salvation is come to this 
 house." It was the woman that was a sinner that loved 
 much because she was forgiven much. The outcast 
 lepers were the objects of his pity — were cleansed and 
 their lips filled with praise. How many sermons he 
 preached that taught with greater or less directness — " I 
 came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." 
 Let the proud Pharisee or the rich Sadducee find fault 
 with him for receiving sinners. His course is not modi- 
 fied in the least, He will not suffer any shadow to fall 
 on this transcendent glory of his life. It was the sinner 
 that was the magnet that drew him from the skies. It 
 was salvation for the sinner, rest for the heavy-laden, 
 water for the famishing, life for the dead, that he came 
 to proclaim. Even his miracles were parables of his 
 saving power and all he did and said gave proof of his 
 fidelity to the grand mission of salvation on which he was 
 sent. He was ever thinking — " I must work the works 
 of Him that sent me while it is day for the night cometh 
 when no man can work." 
 
 As the night approaches his devotion to his appointed 
 task becomes clearer still. At Jerusalem the end is to 
 come. The sacrificial atonement is to be made. More 
 than once he has had a full pre-vision of it all — the 
 cross, the garden and the tomb. He forewarns his 
 disciples of his crucifixion. What are his feelings in 
 anticipation of the final onset of the powers of darkness? 
 Does he go reluctantly to the ordeal? Or does the end 
 in view make him run with eager feet to meet it? Does 
 he welcome the cross because it is an essential element in 
 his saving work? Listen to the record — "And it came 
 to pass when the days were well-nigh come when he 
 should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to 
 
142 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Jerusalem." Hear Jesus himself say — " I have a 
 baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitened 
 till it be accomplished." Resolutely he faces the very 
 crisis of his undertaking. The cross is no catastrophe 
 in his view, but the climax of his endeavor. He might 
 call legions of angels to rescue him from his crucifiers — 
 but how then will his mission be fulfilled? He might 
 descend from the cross, but how would he save others 
 if he saved himself ? With unswerving fidelity he pressed 
 forward to the conclusion of his unexampled task until 
 with his expiring breath — may I say? — with exulting, 
 triumphant spirit he cried — " It is finished! " Finished 
 was his holy life and finished too his appointed work. 
 The ransom is fully paid for man and deliverance is 
 achieved. He is worthy of the name of Jesus because 
 he has been faithful unto death, even the death of the 
 cross that he might save his people from their sins. 
 
 Faithfulness was the girdle of the Redeemer in his 
 every day life as a man. This is the true test of 
 character. How does he deport himself on great occa- 
 sions ? is not half so good a searchlight as — " How does 
 he act in ordinary life ? " 
 
 Grant entering Vicksburg to receive the sword of Pem- 
 berton or reviewing the army at Washington at the close 
 of the war was not revealed in his real personal glory 
 as he was in his modest, magnanimous treatment of Lee 
 and his army or in his indomitable purpose in writing 
 his own memoirs in spite of his daily sufferings. The 
 romances of Walter Scott are not so good a discovery of 
 the nobility of the man as his heroic effort to liquidate 
 a debt by the untiring use of his pen. Peter the Great 
 deserved his name, not so much when in 1710, he re- 
 turned to Moscow after the battle of Pultowa, in which 
 he won a great victory over Charles XII of Sweden, 
 to pass under triumphal arches and set all the bells of the 
 capitol ringing, as when, as a ship-bulder in Amsterdam, 
 he learned the arts he wished to teach to his subjects. 
 
The Girdle of Righteousness 143 
 
 And Nicholas II, Peter's successor to the throne of all the 
 Russias, will deserve the same title not because of the 
 pomp and pageantry and festivities of his recent corona- 
 tion but by serving well the vast populations that are 
 under his dominion, by loosing the iron hand of oppres- 
 sion in his own territory and making his great empire 
 not a menace but a hope of the world. Let us con- 
 template Jesus, not as transfigured on the mount, not 
 as walking in the majesty of a God, on the unyielding 
 sea, but as a man walking along the shores of Gen- 
 nesaret or the streets of Capernaum or traversing the 
 hills and vales of Palestine. In this everyday life he 
 was without a fault. He knew no sin neither was guile 
 found in his mouth. Whatever company he was in he 
 turned not a hairsbreadth from the path of strict recti- 
 tude. 
 
 What a plea for heart-morality we have in the sermon 
 on the mount — a plea that only a soul conscious 
 of its own untainted righteousness could make. He 
 taught that a murderous act is not more truly a violation 
 of the holy law than a murderous spirit, that a look or de- 
 sire as much as an overt act may make one a law-breaker. 
 He could dare to interpret in this penetrating way because 
 his own heart was beating in constant harmony with the 
 law of God. 
 
 Nor did he show any respect of persons in the judg- 
 ments he announced. His enemies stated but the truth 
 when they came to him saying — "Master, we know 
 that thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth, 
 neither carest thou for any man ; for thou regardest not 
 the person of men." These were the claims he had made 
 in his own behalf. With unpartial fidelity he spake 
 the truth. His enemies meant no doubt to lure him unto 
 some unguarded statement. In their short-sighted cun- 
 ning they knew not that his candor was his shield. 
 They understood not what men are slow to learn that 
 entanglement comes from shuffling more than from 
 
144 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 straight-forward movement. Neither could persecution 
 turn him aside from his integrity or his testimony. It 
 was included in his calculations of life. His expectation 
 concerning himself is indicated in his requirement of his 
 disciples — " If any man will come after me let him deny 
 himself and take up his cross and follow me." 
 
 Thus he lived every day and as the events of providence 
 unfolded in succession he was the same pure, candid, 
 courageous, spotless man. Into the Father's plan of his 
 life he wrought the outlines and graces of a perfect 
 character. One night Nicodemus came to him and the 
 interview transformed him and its results are still ac- 
 cumulating wherever the 3rd Chapter of John is read. 
 He sat upon the well of Sychar and the opportunity of 
 reaching a shameless woman was embraced notwith- 
 standing his weariness. He went into the temple and 
 the presence of the sordid money-changers stirred his 
 righteous indignation and he drove them out. They 
 hanged him on the cross between two thieves and he 
 preached to them the Kingdom and one of them gave 
 good heed and joined him in paradise shortly after. 
 Thus everywhere he acted out the spirit of fidelity that 
 was in him — circumstances changing, himself ever the 
 same. 
 
 II. Its admirable qualities. The fact that the Re- 
 deemer wore it is sufficient recommendation to those who 
 delight to be his followers. But let us call to mind some 
 of its excellent qualities. I would I could so set them 
 forth that you would, like the merchant man who found 
 the pearl of great price, purchase it at whatever cost. 
 
 1. Let me mention its adaptiveness. It will fit any 
 mind or any set of circumstances. It is however not 
 so much adjustable as adjusting. It can lay claim to any 
 combination of talents or events and make appropriate use 
 of them. 
 
 Faithfulness does not need to stand upon the pedestal 
 of high place in order to appear, nor require the brilliant 
 
The Girdle of Righteousness 145 
 
 hues of genius to increase its charms. It is equally ad- 
 mirable in the King on the throne and the servant at his 
 feet. The lowliest may exhibit it with the same at- 
 tractiveness as the highest. Here, at least, if nowhere 
 else, I may be the equal of a Gladstone or a Sherman — 
 of a Spurgeon or a Moody — of a Whittier or a Tenny- 
 son. Nay I may exceed them in faithfulness, however 
 inferior in mind or station. 
 
 This virtue is adapted to all kinds of situations. It 
 may have a background of blandishments or it may rise 
 to view amid adversities. However tried, it pursues the 
 ever tenor of its way. 
 
 It is the same in the dark as in the light. It does not 
 require publicity to shame it into exercise. It can make 
 its brightest display in the lonely desert where no eye 
 watches over the traveller but God's, or in the secret 
 chamber where sleepless vigil is kept over a loved one, 
 or in the personal interview where one soul stands face 
 to face with another in friendly, faithful counsel. This 
 girdle of fine linen may be yours or mine. Let us desire 
 to wear it without change because it is adapted to every 
 one of us in every spot our feet may tread. 
 
 2. Another attractive feature of this girdle is its ser- 
 viceableness to others, its entire unselfishness. It looks 
 not on its own things but on the things of others. It is 
 not for glory or for gain that it is exercised. It carries 
 one out of himself in a life of devotion to humanity, to 
 truth and right, to God. It sets aside mercenary and 
 personal considerations at the call of duty. No bribe can 
 seduce it from the straight line of righteousness. It can- 
 not be bought with money to vote for the worse candidate 
 or cause against the better. It is not for sale at any 
 price. 
 
 What an example of unfaithfulness we have in 
 Balaam! He had too much conscience to go headlong 
 into the enemy's camp. Yet he dallied with the 
 messengers of Balak because of the rewards of iniquity. 
 
146 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 He talked beautifully about the " Word of the Lord my 
 God," and then went down step by step toward the 
 bottomless pit. He could not speak against Israel and 
 yet he could lay snares for their feet. Nothing could in- 
 duce him to take an openly hostile attitude toward Israel 
 and yet he could set on foot schemes that meant their 
 utter overthrow. And what was the root of his zig-zag 
 faithless course? It was selfishness, regard for his own 
 wealth and honor and might. Why even his religion, 
 his poetic strains of pious ejaculation, were vitiated by 
 a selfish taint. Contrast with him another old Testa- 
 ment character of the same age of the world — Caleb, 
 who followed the Lord fully. When he returned from 
 viewing the promised land, he did not consult his ease 
 or his fears, but the divine promise and said with deci- 
 sion — " Let us go up at once and possess it." He said 
 what he thought without regard to the consequences that 
 might follow. " I brought him word as it was in my 
 heart," is his own version of the event. He gave an 
 honest, fearless statement of the situation as it appeared 
 to an eye of faith and not merely to the selfish eye of 
 sense. If you wish to serve mankind, if a philanthropic 
 spirit moves you, gird your loins with faithfulness and 
 go forth to do what each day brings to you to be done 
 as to the Lord and not to men. 
 
 3. Yet another admirable quality of this girdle is its 
 strength. One chief design of the girdle was to give 
 support to the body. The Lord says of his servant, 
 Eliakim, " I will strengthen him with thy girdle." 
 
 So faithlessness girds the servant of God with strength. 
 It means a holy will and that is the essential element of 
 a strong, manly character. The faithful man may not 
 express himself in vehement, intemperate speech, he may 
 be neither extreme nor bitter. 
 
 Not thine the bigot's partial plea, 
 Nor thine the zealot's ban ; 
 
The Girdle of Righteousness 147 
 
 Thou well canst spare a love of Thee 
 Which ends in hate of man. 
 
 But the faithful man has convictions and can abide 
 by them, he can suffer and be strong. John the Baptist 
 was faithful to his mission and his generation — an out- 
 spoken preacher of righteousness and Jesus challenges his 
 hearers — " What went ye out to see? a reed shaken with 
 the wind?" No, no, he was a well-knit, sinewy man, 
 like his prototype Elijah. 
 
 Lord Wellington embodies the Englishman's ideal of 
 fidelity. The eldest of the Tennyson brothers, all of 
 whom were poets, fitly describes him as — 
 
 That tower of strength 
 Which stood foursquare to all the winds that blew. 
 
 The Earl of Beaconsfield describes him in equally fitting 
 words — 
 
 Duty thine only idol, and serene 
 
 When all are troubled ; in the utmost need, 
 
 Prescient; thy country's servant ever seen. 
 
 His well-poised soul did not make haste to change or 
 flee. Shall Portugal be abandoned by the English 
 troops? The answer was left with Wellington and it 
 came in these loyal, vigorous words — " I conceive that the 
 honor and interest of our country require that we should 
 hold our ground here as long as possible; and please 
 God I will maintain it as long as I can." 
 
 There is no boasting, no bravado, no prophecy, but 
 resolution, purpose inspired by patriotism and duty and 
 recognition at the same time of his limitation by the 
 pleasure of the Almighty. 
 
 In our little sphere of college life we had an example 
 of fidelity in one whose earthly career was closed a few 
 
148 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 months ago. Duty was his watchword and nothing was 
 a trifle that contributed to its thorough discharge. After 
 the weariness of his toilsome working day, the night comes 
 and God giveth his beloved sleep. Let us not too soon 
 forget the example he set us. 
 
 In the year 1681 it was observed that there were 
 numerous cracks in the cupola of St. Peter's at Rome and 
 however filled in they kept on widening until there was 
 great alarm concerning the safety of this crowning work 
 of Michael Angelo. Many theories were advanced and 
 at length three eminent mathematicians were selected to 
 examine and determine the causes of the breaches and 
 suggest a remedy. They confirmed the fears of the 
 friends of art by affirming that the pressure of weight 
 was greater than the support, that ruin had been pre- 
 vented so far by an iron collar around the base of the 
 dome. They suggested as a remedy that six solid iron 
 girders be put around the huge periphery of 420 ft. 
 After much discussion their report was adopted and the 
 gigantic undertaking begun. In 1747 the work was com- 
 pleted and by these invisible bands imbedded in the stone 
 work the magnificent dome has been held in its place and 
 after 150 years no sign of further damage appears. 
 
 Such an invisible cordon of iron is the spirit of faith- 
 fulness in the architecture of character. Make it strong 
 and unyielding so that whatever pressure of interest or 
 affection or desire may bear upon it, it may suffer not a 
 seam to show itself in the building you erect. 
 
 Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 1896, let me urge 
 you to put on this girdle your Redeemer wore. Re- 
 member the exhortation of Paul — " Let your loins be 
 girt about with truth." 
 
 Most of you, perhaps all of you, acknowledge Him as 
 your Lord and Master. I trust no one of you will pass 
 out of college without a saving interest in Jesus Christ. 
 Then follow the fashion he has set, 
 
The Girdle of Righteousness 149 
 
 O Lord and Master of us all, 
 Whatever our name or sign, 
 We own thy sway, we hear thy call, 
 We test our lives by thine. 
 
 Be faithful like him — be faithful to him, strive to be 
 as true to his interests in the world as he was true to 
 yours by his life and by his cross. 
 
 By and by he will come to reckon with you. Let your 
 loins be girded and your lights burning and ye yourselves 
 like unto men that wait for their Lord — Blessed are 
 those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find 
 watching. 
 
 To each of you he has given talents in greater or less 
 number — to some one, to some two, to some five — " to 
 each according to his several ability." What use have 
 you made? — what use do you intend to make of all 
 that is entrusted to you? Keep near to the heart of 
 Christ, keep Christ near to your heart, keep walking in 
 his steps and you will be ever ready for the account you 
 must render when he comes. 
 
 I have no greater wish concerning every one of you 
 than this — that when life is done you may hear him 
 say — "Well done! good and faithful servant! thou hast 
 been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler 
 over many things; enter into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
SERMON XII, 1897 
 
 BIBLE ETHICS 
 
 The law of the Lord is perfect. — Psalm ig: 7. 
 Be perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. 
 — Matthew 5: 48. 
 
 THE highest element of man's complex being is his 
 moral nature. Evolution reaches the height of its 
 sublime attempt when it undertakes to account for man's 
 ethical condition. Consciousness being the witness in the 
 breast of all men attests that conscience is supreme — 
 that the idea of right which it contains is superior to every 
 other conception of the soul. Any religion claiming the 
 allegiance of men must be able to stand the testing of 
 man's moral nature — must keep pace with it in its highly 
 developed state in the best civilization. 
 
 How is it with the religion of the Bible? Has civil- 
 ization advanced beyond it at this crucial point? Has it 
 in any degree ceased to be an ethical force in our modern 
 life? Or, if so, have we only failed to live in accord- 
 ance with its spirit and requirements? Maybe the fault 
 is not with the religion, but a lessening regard to it. 
 Our religion is less Biblical than before and therefore 
 ill-adapted to the times. The flag is still in the van of 
 progress, but the men have fallen behind it. 
 
 It will not be a useless service for us to examine the 
 ethics of the Bible anew. We will find, I believe, that 
 its day is still bright — that its larger prevalence is the 
 need of the hour — that it gives promise of blessing to 
 the race in all the future, long after the gloomy prophets 
 shall have ceased their croaking. 
 
 The ethics of the Bible is the same in both dispensa- 
 150 
 
Bible Ethics 151 
 
 tions. The new commandment of the Christian dispen- 
 sation is an old commandment which men had from the 
 beginning. It is as old as Sinai — as old as humanity 
 itself with the law written on its heart. Behind the 
 rugged exterior of the Mosaic prohibitions, there lies the 
 same principle of love that is reflected in the beautiful 
 beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. Much rough 
 scaffolding that was serviceable enough in its day is now 
 removed and the essential fabric of divine law appears in 
 full view. The one is to the other as a seed to a flower, 
 or as the undeveloped stock to the mature plant. The 
 one is associated with the unfolding of a blessed hope of 
 a coming Messiah ; the other is wrought into the very 
 texture of the history of a Redeemer who has actually 
 come. 
 
 That summary of duty given by the Saviour was sanc- 
 tioned by the Scribe who was learned in the law and 
 distinctly connected with the past by the Saviour himself 
 when he said — " On these two commandments hang all 
 the law and the prophets." — Matt. 22 : 34-40, Deut. 
 6:4, Lev. 19: 18. We may then take the last form of 
 the revelation and find in it what is the substance of the 
 whole. Christian ethics may engage our study as the 
 full-blown flower — the fully developed form of Biblical 
 ethics. What saith Christ? What say his apostles? 
 What was Christ? What were his servants who fol- 
 lowed in his steps? 
 
 Ethics has been variously defined as the science of con- 
 duct, the science of duty, the science of moral character. 
 It has been called the " philosophy of the art of the true 
 life." With a little greater stress on the internal ele- 
 ments of moral life, it has been called the " science of self- 
 revelation." It is the character within that is mani- 
 fested in the life without that gives importance to con- 
 duct. It is the self — the personality behind the act 
 that gives it all its value. 
 
 Christian ethics sets forth the principles of morals in- 
 
152 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 eluded in the Christian system. What are the laws of 
 right conduct which it announces? What are the ideals 
 with which it awakens aspirations after better things? 
 What models does it offer for our imitation? With what 
 thoughts does it constrain us to the life of duty? Ques- 
 tions such as these arise at the very threshold of our sub- 
 ject. 
 
 I. Christianity presents a high ethical standard. 
 " The law of the Lord is perfect." It re-affirms the 
 moral law contained in the ten commandments given on 
 Sinai. " Think not," say Jesus, " that I am come to 
 destroy the law and the prophets; I am not come to 
 destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till 
 heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no 
 wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever 
 therefore shall break one of these least commandments 
 and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the 
 kingdom of heaven." There is no lowering of the de- 
 mands of righteousness. The standard is absolutely right 
 and all moral beings in God's universe must conform to 
 it or bear the penalty of disobedience. The morality of 
 the Bible is imperative and not a matter of expediency. 
 It says— "Thou shalt," and "Thou shalt not." It 
 chimes in with the voice of conscience, declaring in 
 thunder tones — " I ought." 
 
 During the Sesqui-Centennial celebration of Princeton 
 University, President Patten was reported as affirming 
 that Princeton stood for " comparative morality." 
 Whereupon some one scenting for heresy in an unlikely 
 place took exception to the suspicious phrase, as if the 
 mission of Princeton were the striking of moral averages. 
 But the report was a misrepresentation that was corrected 
 in a subsequent issue by substituting " imperative " for 
 " comparative," so as to make the famous institution, in- 
 stead of a leveller, a staunch defender of the old morality, 
 with the categorical imperative of conscience behind it 
 and the sanction of the Bible signature — Thus saith 
 
Bible Ethics 153 
 
 the Lord. The Bible keeps the conscience in the place 
 of command where nature placed it. It only clarifies its 
 decisions and re-inforces its authority. It never encour- 
 ages indifference, nor balancing of results in human hap- 
 piness, but proclaims the imperative obligation of the 
 divine commands. It is the voice of God we hear and 
 there is nothing for us to do but to obey. 
 
 This moral obligation extends to every moral being and 
 every moral act. Thus the Bible emphasizes the im- 
 portance of the individual — something greatly needed 
 in a time like ours when so many industrial, social, and 
 philosophic foes to individuality are found. It singles 
 each man out from the mass and addresses him in warn- 
 ing or entreaty or command. It presses upon him the 
 thought of his own responsibility for his acts — that be- 
 fore the infallible tribunal every man must bear his own 
 burden. Every word and thought and purpose — every 
 secret thing, will be tested by the moral law and ap- 
 proved or disapproved in the day of judgment. As the 
 law of gravitation pervades all nature and equally holds 
 a world in space or attracts a falling apple to the earth 
 or a particle of matter to its fellow, so the moral law of 
 God reigns in the world of moral action, holding sway 
 over prince and peasant, over thought and word and 
 deed, over feeling and desire. We cannot escape it, we 
 cannot conjure it away. We may dismiss it from our 
 thoughts but we cannot get it out of its realm and sooner 
 or later the law-breaker will come to grief. " Be sure 
 your sin will find you out." 
 
 What now does the moral law contain ? What is its es- 
 sence as interpreted in the New Testament? What is 
 the distinctive content of Christian ethics? 
 
 It is not necessary that we refuse all credit to heathen 
 moralists. We may acknowledge that many beautiful 
 and true sentiments, many right principles were taught 
 by Socrates and Plato and Aristotle and Seneca and 
 Cicero and others. We may even admit that there is 
 
154 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 scarcely any Christian virtue that has not some feeble 
 adumbration somewhere in their writings or reported con- 
 versations and that the Christian may be benefitted by 
 reading such a treatise as the " Nicomachean Ethics of 
 Aristotle," at least as much as by reading Spencer's, 
 " Data of Ethics," or even the writings of some Christian 
 philosophers. What then has Christ added to morality? 
 I. The morality of Christ is peculiar in its complete- 
 ness. There is not one of the great names of antiquity 
 that gives a rounded, flawless system. Plato introduced 
 such vagaries into his plan of human relations as would 
 in our time take him at once out of the list of sober 
 advisers. Aristotle, whom Dr. Thornwell, a competent 
 judge in this line, pronounced the author of the " finest 
 discussion in the whole compass of ancient philosophy," 
 could advise the heartless exposure of sickly infants. We 
 read with kindling, glowing admiration the story of the 
 death of Socrates. We place him among the heroes who 
 calmly and without complaint die for a cause. He seems 
 to us like the one great man of his time — a great teacher 
 and a great character. But he had his limitations. His 
 domestic life will not bear scrutiny and even in the clos- 
 ing scenes his family are dismissed that he may converse 
 with his friends. Xenophon, his loyal friend, years after 
 his death, records his impressions and recollections of the 
 man and his conversations. But there is a fly in the 
 ointment — Socrates would have stood better with the 
 world if some conversations had not been reported. As 
 we come upon his advice to an immoral woman how to 
 use her charms so as to captivate the unwary, we are 
 shocked and he at once descends to a lower moral rank 
 in our estimation. How different from all these partial, 
 imperfect teachers is Christ. Says Dr. Peabody — "The 
 peculiarity of Christ is that he brought all moral laws 
 together, so that we find nothing lacking in his morality, 
 while at the same time there is nothing that ought not 
 
Bible Ethics 155 
 
 to be there." It is the symmetry of his character and 
 teaching that makes them unique. 
 
 2. The morality of Christ is peculiar in the emphasis 
 it places on the milder virtues. It exalts meekness and 
 patience and gentleness, forgiveness and charity, brotherly- 
 kindness and courtesy. Aristotle does talk of meekness 
 as a " mean state on the subject of angry feelings," and 
 then damns it with faint praise. " The meek man seems 
 to err rather on the side of defect; for he is not inclined 
 to revenge but rather to forgive." ..." It is like a slave 
 to endure insults offered to one's self and to overlook them 
 when offered to one's relations." Seneca writes an essay 
 upon Anger, in which he tells us of the insolence of an 
 Athenian ambassador toward Philip of Macedon which 
 called forth the admirable counsel of Philip — " Pray tell 
 the Athenians, that it is worse, to speak such things than 
 to hear and forgive them." Yet Seneca pleads for and 
 practices suicide, which flees away from the will of God 
 instead of yielding to it. 
 
 But how different it is with Christ. These less con- 
 spicuous virtues are everywhere commended in the New 
 Testament. They constitute the very atmosphere which 
 the Christian religion creates. Read the Sermon on the 
 Mount once more — that early declaration of principles 
 of the kingdom of God. Matt. 5 : 3-10. " Blessed are 
 the poor in spirit. . . . Blessed are they that mourn. . . . 
 Blessed are the meek. . . . Blessed they which do hunger 
 and thirst after righteousness. . . . Blessed are the merci- 
 ful. . . . Blessed are the pure in heart. . . . Blessed are 
 the peace-makers. . . . Blessed are they which are perse- 
 cuted for righteousness' sake." Take up any epistle of 
 Paul or of Peter or of John and you will scarcely fail to 
 find the same lessons reproduced. Rom. 12: 10, 17-21. 
 — " Recompense to no man evil for evil. ... If it be 
 possible, as much as lieth in you live peaceably with 
 all men. ... Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil 
 
156 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 with good." (Eph. 4; 31, 32 — Let all bitterness, etc. 
 4 : i — 3-) James 3:17 — The wisdom that is from above, 
 etc.) 1 Pet. 2:20. "What glory is it if when ye be 
 buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But 
 if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, 
 this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye 
 called ; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an 
 example that ye should follow his steps." 
 
 Paley says, " The preference of the patient to the heroic 
 character is a peculiarity of the Christian institution," 
 and affirms that " no two things can be more different 
 than the heroic and the Christian character." I should 
 rather say that patience and courage are twin graces. 
 Each involves superiority to pain which may be either 
 endured or resisted. He who bears patiently is in the 
 highest sense heroic. Grant was not less a hero on Mt. 
 McGregor than in the campaign of Vicksburg. There is 
 a bravery of the pugilist and the foolhardy. But is it 
 as noble and admirable as that of the man who welcomes 
 hardships and privations, hunger and cold that he may 
 carry salvation to the perishing? If Paul be an example 
 of the virtues he so strongly urged, of humility, forgive- 
 ness and kindness, he was none the less but all the more 
 a man of heroic mould, counting not his life dear unto 
 him that he might compass the ends of his blessed ministry. 
 Let us get rid of the thought that vociferation has any- 
 thing to do with brave action, that courage must ignore 
 wisdom. It may be the veriest cowardice to do what 
 men applaud as courageous. It may be the highest hero- 
 ism to resist the temptation to stand well with the multi- 
 tude. The glory of the Christian morality is that it 
 weds again what the spirit of the world divorced — that 
 it brings into perfect harmony the active and passive vir- 
 tues. The Christian religion teaches us to undertake 
 great things on the one hand and to endure all things on 
 the other. 
 
 3. The morality of the Gospel is peculiar in the central 
 
Bible Ethics 157 
 
 place it gives to love to man. In one view this is not new, 
 for the second table of the law is — "Thou shalt love 
 thy neighbor." The scope of neighborhood is enlarged so 
 as to include the whole human race. Whoever belongs 
 to humanity should be the object of our love. Let the 
 Jew love the Samaritan ; let the Christian love his enemy 
 and do good to him. Says the author of " Ecce Homo " 
 — " While the new morality incorporated into itself the 
 old, how much ampler was its compass. A new continent 
 in the moral globe was discovered. Positive morality 
 took its place by the side of negative. To the duty of 
 not doing harm, which may be called justice, was added 
 the duty of doing good, which may properly receive the 
 distinctively Christian name of Charity." 
 
 Personal holiness is not ignored. " Be ye perfect as 
 your Father in heaven is perfect," is a command of Christ. 
 But holiness is best expressed in service and service best 
 develops holiness. A life that terminates on self is in- 
 complete. Like the spring that keeps itself fresh and 
 sweet by pouring its waters out to gladden the earth, 
 so the soul is sanctified as it blesses mankind by loving 
 service. What a eulogy of love is that of Paul in the 
 13th of Corinthians? " Love suffereth long and is kind; 
 love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed 
 up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, 
 is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil . . . beareth all 
 things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth 
 all things. . . . Now abideth faith, hope, love, these 
 three; but the greatest of these is love." What patience! 
 What self-forgetfulness ! What blindness to faults! 
 What hopefulness! is here expressed. There is nothing 
 too hard for Christian love — for that enthusiasm for 
 humanity that is inculcated and infused by the Gospel. 
 It can carry a refined woman into unkempt vermin-in- 
 fested huts that she may tell the story of salvation. It 
 can support the missionary as he travels through swamps 
 and jungles, sometimes sick and sometimes assailed by 
 
158 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 those he seeks to save. It can drive a Shaftsbury out at 
 midnight from a home of elegance and comfort to watch 
 for the soul of a street Arab. " Love never faileth," — 
 nay, love must not fail from the life of the Church, else 
 the morality of Christ will be vitiated at its very founda- 
 tion, will be stricken at its very heart. " Love is the 
 fulfilling of the law." 
 
 The night has a thousand eyes 
 
 And the day but one ; 
 Yet the light of the whole world dies 
 
 With the setting sun. 
 
 The mind has a thousand eyes 
 
 And the heart but one ; 
 Yet the light of a whole life dies 
 
 When love is done. 
 
 II. Christianity is an ethical force. It is more than a 
 system of morals. It is first of all a religion, while re- 
 flecting the moral image of its divine author, and the 
 religion secures sway from the morality. 
 
 It furnishes a model for right living in the perfect 
 life of Jesus. His example illuminates the ideal life 
 which his precepts set forth. It might have been consid- 
 ered before this as the embodiment of the standard. But 
 we look upon it now rather as a means of influence — 
 as a powerful incentive to good. The power of example 
 is proverbial. We are imitative, impressible creatures 
 from childhood till the end of life. A few persons begin 
 to stare in pity and dismay at a fainting woman and a 
 whole audience rises to imitate their action. Spontane- 
 ously we laugh or yawn or cry with others. A man or 
 woman in conspicuous place is seen of many and all who 
 look upon them, especially if it be with interest and ap- 
 proval, become assimilated to them. As we read the life 
 of a man, we come into a sort of fellowship with him 
 
Bible Ethics 159 
 
 and as face answers to face in the mirroring water, so 
 we become like the men whose biographies we read. 
 
 What a stream of holy influence issues forth from the 
 life of Jesus as we come into touch with it in the believ- 
 ing, sympathetic study of it in the Gospels. John Stuart 
 Mill, though educated from childhood into irreligion, says 
 this of Jesus — " Not even now could it be easy for an 
 unbeliever to find a better translation of the rule of virtue 
 from the abstract to the concrete than to endeavor so to 
 live that Christ would approve our life." We learn what 
 Christ would approve by what he said and did — by the 
 concrete testimony of his spotless life. It is his example 
 of passionate regard for humanity that is kindling the 
 fires of philanthropy and missionary zeal in Christian 
 hearts everywhere, and leading the nations forward, in 
 spite of reactionary action of political leaders to universal 
 peace. 
 
 The ethical force of Christianity arises not only from 
 the model but from the motives it furnishes. His example 
 is only one of many incentives to a right life. They 
 spring out of the religion — the redemption of Christ. 
 
 Ely in his " Economics " remarks incidentally — " The 
 greatest thing in human life is its incentives." Without 
 them action is routine and drudgery — a mechanic thing 
 — a shell — a sham. 
 
 It is at this point that merely human systems have 
 failed. They lacked motive force and, therefore, did not 
 powerfully influence even the few who received them. 
 How different with Christianity! How clear and lumin- 
 ous its announcement of the immortality of the soul! 
 How solemn its appeal to the hereafter with its rewards 
 and punishments! It does not attach the soul to an ice- 
 berg of abstractions, but brings it into contact with the 
 warm, living, sympathetic spirit of a personal God. It 
 teaches men to say — " Our Father who art in heaven," 
 and in the communion of worship we become like him. 
 Realizing our common fatherhood in God, we cannot 
 
160 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 fail to recognize at the same time the brotherhood of men. 
 The religion of Christ thus provides in its very funda- 
 mental principles the motives that give power to Christian 
 morals. 
 
 But there are even stronger and more characteristic 
 motives than these, springing out of the cross of the Re- 
 deemer. Christian friends, what is it that constrains you 
 to practical Godliness? What moves you to be patient 
 and brave, pure and strong? What makes you wish to 
 put your steps in his as you trace them in his word? Is 
 it not gratitude that attracts you to his side in loving con- 
 formity to his will? Is it not love feebly answering his 
 that lifts the commonest meanest act out of the hell of 
 drudgery into the heaven of service? Is it not the abiding 
 sense of his love as seen in his cross that constrains you tc 
 live not unto yourself but unto Him who died for you and 
 rose again? 
 
 Alas, it is sometimes true that even these motives do 
 not operate as they ought. Why is it? Have we ceased 
 to love Him who redeemed us? Has the impress of his 
 love passed from our souls? A soldier in the army of 
 Napoleon, when a shell fell near by, sprang between the 
 emperor and the shell to shield his master's life at the 
 risk of his own. The act extorted from the lips of 
 Napoleon the words of admiration — " What a soldier ! " 
 Who among us is ready to fling ourselves into the breach 
 for Christ and his cause? What meaning would these 
 words have concerning any one of us? Would it sound 
 like eulogy or derision if the Master should say of us — 
 "What a soldier!" 
 
 Let us further add that the ethical force of our religion 
 arises from the fact that Christianity is a life. It takes 
 account of sin — of man's spiritual impotence — of the 
 need of divine favor and help. It brings God to the 
 aid of reason, conscience and will. Men are begotten 
 again by the Gospel and brought into living union with 
 the life-giving Person of Jesus Christ. At the very 
 
Bible Ethics 161 
 
 threshold of the kingdom, we hear the distinct alterna- 
 tive — " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting 
 life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, 
 but the wrath of God abideth on him." Life not only 
 lies in God's favor, but courses through the soul, renew- 
 ing and vitalizing every faculty and principle. Among 
 the last words of the Saviour to his disciples were these, — 
 " Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear 
 fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can 
 ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the 
 branches; he that abideth in me and I in him, the same 
 bringeth forth much fruit ; for without me ye can do noth- 
 ing." Here is the secret of holiness — real heart-holi- 
 ness. Without this union of life with Christ Jesus, even 
 the morality of the Bible would be a dead morality. 
 Only when faith unites us to Christ and by unremitted 
 exercise keeps us in fellowship with him — only when 
 the regenerating, invigorating power of the Holy Ghost 
 is experienced, is there the principle and potency of a 
 new life. Then will be produced — not the obedience of 
 the letter merely — nor mere imitations of living things, 
 but the real fruits and flowers of holy living. Think 
 not that you can illustrate the Christian morality apart 
 from Christ. The infidel may indeed breathe in the at- 
 mosphere of Christendom and plume himself on his good 
 life without owning the debt he owes to his Christian 
 environment. But every truly Christian virtue is a grace 
 — a gift of God — and only adorns those who are par- 
 takers of the grace of God in Christ. The fruit of the 
 Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness. 
 
 As we asked at the beginning, let us ask again — How 
 stands the religion of the Bible when the 20th century 
 is nearing the horizon? Does it meet the demands of 
 the present civilization? Was there ever more need of 
 an inflexible standard such as it gives? When social and 
 industrial problems are every day growing in perplexity 
 is there not need of calmness and patience and disinterest- 
 
1 62 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 edness and forgiveness that enter so largely into the 
 Christian ideal of manhood? Will not the meek inherit 
 the earth in our day? And do we not need the powerful 
 motives of the Gospel — motives from the cross uplifted in 
 the past and from the crown of immortality that looms up 
 in the future? And is not the Divine inworking as need- 
 ful now as ever that the Divine law may be re-written on 
 the heart and man learn to love his neighbor as he loves 
 himself? Christianity is yet in the vigor of its strength 
 and is keeping pace with the world as it advances toward 
 the millennium of perfected brotherhood. Its eye is on the 
 future and nothing can disappoint its hope for itself and 
 the world. 
 
 He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call 
 
 retreat, 
 He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment 
 
 seat, 
 Oh! be swift my soul to answer him! be jubilant, my feet! 
 Our God is marching on. 
 
 In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, 
 With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me, 
 As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men 
 free! 
 
 While God is marching on. 
 
 We are just beginning to learn the meaning of — Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbor. Let us march on with God — 
 enlarging our view — widening our sympathies — till 
 everywhere every man possesses to the full the heritage 
 that comes to him from God. 
 
 Young men and women of the class of 1897, let me 
 bespeak from every one of you a life of unspotted morality. 
 Be centres of influence wherever you go in favor of sound 
 morals. Culture is a great word, but character is a 
 
Bible Ethics 163 
 
 greater. Let a noble character shine out in your every 
 word and act. 
 
 Take this Bible for your guide. Let it be the light to 
 your feet and the lamp to your path. Consult it often 
 1 — consult it thoughtfully — consult it prayerf ullly — 
 consult it daily. Its morality may be considered a little 
 old-fashioned in some places, but it will be none the less 
 adapted to the times. By it your father and mother have 
 squared their lives and commended themselves to their 
 generation. Follow in their footsteps and you will 
 commend yourselves to yours. Live moral lives, yet be 
 not mere moralists. Let your morality spring out of 
 your religion. Be men and women of God. Be Christ- 
 filled and Christ-like. Seek large measures of the enlight- 
 ening and renewing Spirit. Then live according to the 
 larger light you receive and you will adorn the doctrine 
 of God our Saviour on earth and make yourselves ready 
 for the inheritance of the saints in light. As the aged 
 John wrote to his children in the Gospel in his third letter, 
 so let me say to you as you pass out from under our care, 
 — " Greater joy have I none than this, to hear of my 
 children walking in the truth." 
 
 " Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we 
 should appear approved, but that ye should do that which 
 is honorable, though we be as reprobates. For we can 
 do nothing against the truth but for the truth. For we 
 rejoice when we are weak and ye are strong; for this also 
 we wish even your perfection." 
 
 " The law of the Lord is perfect. Be ye perfect as 
 your heavenly Father is perfect." 
 
SERMON XIII, 1898 
 
 WORK 
 
 / must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. — 
 John g: 4.. 
 
 IN any occupation or course of life there will come oc- 
 casions of doing good. "It was as Jesus passed forth 
 from thence he saw a man named Matthew (9: 9) sitting 
 at the receipt of custom, and he saith unto him, Follow 
 me, And he arose and followed him." It was as Jesus 
 passed by he saw a man which was blind from his birth, 
 — " and he prescribed a way for his recovery and he 
 washed and came seeing." In both these instances what 
 Jesus saw in the most casual way gave direction to his 
 action. In the one case he won a soul for his service, 
 in the other he brought relief to a sufferer. So he lived 
 his life, taking advantage of circumstances as they arose 
 to fulfil his mission of mercy and grace. As he passed 
 along he found the occasions of his greatest service. 
 
 It may be so with us, if we only have something to give 
 out and are watchful for the opportunity to do so. But 
 if we pass along with our eyes closed and our souls empty, 
 if we are either barren or blind, we lose the chances of 
 doing good that are ever opening as we go. 
 
 As you or I pass by is anyone the better for it? You 
 pass this way but once, what springs of action are you 
 touching? What footprints are you leaving behind you? 
 Are you awakening in your companion any thrill of holy 
 purpose? Are you putting out your hand to check him 
 in a career of recklessness and folly? We touch other 
 lives as we go by, and by silent influence, or conscious act, 
 or timely word, we may, like Jesus, bless them for both 
 
 164 
 
Work 165 
 
 worlds. Whether we will or not will depend on whether 
 or not we catch the spirit of our Master and model our 
 lives after his. What earnestness is expressed here! 
 What depth! What intensity! What compulsion of 
 love! As he passed along, at sight of a poor blind man, 
 the impulses of a love that passes knowledge already 
 stirring within him, he says to his disciples, — " I must 
 work the works of him that sent me while it is day, for 
 the night cometh when no man can work." 
 
 These words indicate that Jesus recognized, 
 
 I. The necessity of Work. He says, " I must work." 
 That was the law of his being — the impulse of his un- 
 spoiled nature, that had never been lethargized by sin. 
 
 All nature is busy. Matter is inert, we say; yet there 
 is not a particle that does not gravitate toward and act 
 upon its fellow. And what abounding activity we see 
 in all forms of life! The seed sown reaches out thread- 
 like hands to appropriate the elements of the soil for its 
 development; it reaches upward through the sod and 
 toward the sky; it responds to the embrace of the air and 
 the kiss of sunlight; it shoots forth and buds, and 
 blossoms, and bears fruit. How all nature seems to leap 
 in the spring-time into myriad forms of blade, and leaf, 
 and flower, covering the fields with fragrance. A giant 
 spirit awakes and with invisible hands more deft than 
 any woman's, weaves a covering of beauty for the earth. 
 Everywhere there is movement, and energy and victory. 
 
 All forms of animal life begin, too, to creep or fly forth 
 after the long sleep of winter. The lambs play upon the 
 hill-side and the forests become vocal with the songs of the 
 birds. " All nature seems at work. Slugs leave their 
 lair — the bees are stirring — birds are on the wing — 
 and winter slumbering in the open air, wears on his smiling 
 face a dream of Spring, and I, the while, the sole unbusy 
 thing, nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing." 
 
 Shall this word of the poet be exemplified in the life 
 of any one of us? Shall men or women be the " sole un- 
 
1 66 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 busy thing," in this busy world of God? Let it not be 
 so! Rather let nature shame us into activity. Let it 
 stimulate us to purposeful, laborious work that exceeds 
 the bounds of nature herself. It is a false sentiment that 
 makes idleness respectable, that makes one shrink from 
 honorable labor. To the simpering, shallow boast — " I 
 do not need to work," Jesus answers — " I do need to 
 work — I must work." He emphasizes the teaching of 
 nature, that idle hands and idle minds are a monstrosity 
 in a universe like ours. He re-announces the old com- 
 mand of the decalogue — " Six days shalt thou labor." 
 He prepares us to hear the command of Paul that, " If 
 any would not work, neither should he eat." 
 
 The first work of Jesus of which we hear was work 
 with the hands. Like every young Jew, he learned a 
 trade and worked with his father at the carpenter's bench. 
 He was reared according to the Rabbinical principle, 
 that, " Whoever does not teach his son a trade is as if he 
 brought him up to be a robber." He was the carpenter 
 and the carpenter's son. Every tradesman may walk the 
 earth with a loftier step because of his fellowship with 
 Jesus in manual labor. One of the recent English poets 
 describes the feeling of Kinship with Joseph, the Car- 
 penter, in the following homely verses — 
 
 Isn't this Joseph's Son? — ay, it is He; 
 Joseph, the Carpenter, — same trade as me, 
 I thought as I'd find it — I knew it was here, 
 But my sight's getting queer. 
 
 I don't know right where as His shed must ha' stood, 
 But often as I've been a-planing my wood, 
 I've took off my hat just with thinking of He 
 At the same work as me. 
 
 He wa'nt that set up that he couldn't stoop down 
 And work in the country for folks in the town, 
 
Work 167 
 
 And I'll warrant he felt a bit pride, like I've done, 
 At a good job begun. 
 
 I think of as how not the parson hissen 
 As a teacher and father and shepherd of men, 
 Not he knows as much of the Lord in that shed, 
 Where he earned his own bread. 
 
 Nothing could be more fitting than that Jesus should 
 appear in such a form. Had he appeared as a king or a 
 courtier, a priest, or a Dives, how different the relation 
 he would sustain to men. He would be separated from 
 them by the conventional barriers of rank and place. It 
 is easy enough for the King to descend to the humble 
 toilers, but not so easy for the toiler to be unembarrassed 
 in approach to the King. Jesus was conspicuous only by 
 his worth. He stood forth in the dignity of his own 
 noble nature. He thus put honor upon common manhood 
 — upon the lowest as well as the highest. How can any 
 follower of Jesus think or speak disparagingly of those 
 on whom Jesus himself puts honor by his own toil? How 
 silly is that pride of idleness — that looks down upon the 
 man or woman that serves by honorable labor — that 
 gives not sympathy but scorn to those who — 
 
 Work — work — work, 
 
 From weary chime to chime 
 
 Till the heart is sick and the brain benumbed 
 
 As well as the weary hand. 
 
 Let the Christ spirit prevail and a wider sympathy will 
 bind every man to his fellow, and unite all in a common 
 brotherhood, showing itself in a mutual service. 
 
 At the age of thirty he entered upon a new line of work. 
 He became a teacher, a preacher, a philanthropist. It 
 was no uncommon thing, Edersheim tells us, " for the 
 rabbis to rise from the humble walks of life. Hillel was 
 
1 68 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 a wood-cutter ; his rival, Shammai, a carpenter, and 
 among the celebrated Rabbis of aftertimes we find shoe- 
 makers, tailors, carpenters, sandal-makers, smiths, potters, 
 builders — in short every variety of trade." Jesus' previ- 
 ous life of manual labor seasoned him for the higher em- 
 ployment. He learned patience and perseverance — he 
 grew in wisdom and in readiness for his work. When he 
 entered upon it, it was with no misgiving, no need of 
 experimenting, no retracing of mistaken steps. He 
 plunged into it like one thoroughly equipped, with a plan 
 fully developed in his own mind and a purpose fully 
 formed. He wrought with untiring zeal to the end of 
 his course. If there were days of retirement and rest, 
 they were but the husbanding of strength for further 
 labors, and were taken for others' sake rather than his 
 own. He might be weary at the side of the well of 
 Sychar, but not too weary to enter into conversation with 
 a sinful woman and guide her footsteps heavenward. He 
 gave the night as well as the day to his beneficent min- 
 istry, and therefore Nicodemus was welcome to the inter- 
 view that settled his destiny. He was preaching in the 
 synagogue or by the lakeside, or in the court of an 
 Oriental house; he was entering into the distresses of men 
 and women, of heart-wrung fathers, and widowed 
 mothers, and orphaned sisters, of the blind, and halt, and 
 diseased, and demonized. It may be all summarized in 
 the phrase, " He went about doing good." 
 
 Yes, the example of Jesus magnifies work. It pours 
 contempt on the idler. It rebukes the man or woman 
 who squanders life in doing nothing. Would that every 
 one among you might breathe in the spirit of Jesus and 
 be impelled by it to say — " I must work." I am an 
 immortal being, endowed above the sloth and the butter- 
 fly; I feel within me the instincts and aspirations of a 
 human soul, pressing for expression: — " 1 must work." 
 I see a world in need, that lays just claim to the service 
 I am able to render; that abounds in ignorance, want 
 
Work 169 
 
 and sin ; I cannot look out upon it without aroused 
 sympathies and a sense of shame if I put forth no exertion 
 for its relief — / must work. Work is the nourisher of 
 self-respect, the source of well-being as well as of wealth ; 
 close of kin to everything lofty in human experience. 
 " All true work," says Carlyle, " is sacred ; in all true 
 work, were it but handlabor there is something of divine- 
 ness. Labor, wide as the earth, has its summit in heaven. 
 Sweat of the brow, and up from that to sweat of the 
 brain; sweat of the heart, — up to that, " agony of bloody 
 sweat which all men call divine. O brother! if this is 
 not worship, then I say the more pity; for this is the 
 noblest thing yet discovered under God's sky." 
 
 II. These words declare the fact that Jesus was con- 
 scious of a divine mission. His work was an allotment 
 of the Father. " I must work the works of Him that 
 sent me." Our Saviour is himself divine. His works 
 of infinite power and mercy are his own as well as the 
 Father's. The distinct personality of each is implied in 
 the words, " Him that sent me." But they are one in 
 substance and one in purpose. In the account of the heal- 
 ing of the impotent man on the Sabbath day, the Jews 
 are represented as persecuting Jesus for his merciful deed 
 because it was done on the Sabbath, thus making the 
 Sabbath a fetter instead of a blessing. Jesus answered 
 them in a way that increased the offense to their blinded 
 eyes — "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." 
 They understood him to assert his own equality with God, 
 and sought the more to kill him. But he rose higher 
 with each attack declaring with tremendous emphasis — 
 Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of 
 himself but what he seeth the Father do ; for what things 
 soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For 
 the Father loveth the Son and showeth him all things 
 that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works 
 than these that ye may marvel. For as the Father 
 raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the 
 
170 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Son quickeneth whom he will, for the Father judgeth 
 no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, 
 that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor 
 the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth 
 not the Father which hath sent him." 
 
 To no mere creature could these mighty works be com- 
 mitted. They require the resources of the infinite for 
 their fulfilment. Yet it is as a voluntary subordinate — 
 a willing mediator — a Son in the assumed relation of 
 a servant that all these mighty works are done by Him. 
 They are the works of one sent — sent by the Father. 
 
 How often he refers to his appointment in the dis- 
 courses recorded in the Gospel by John. " I seek not 
 mine own will but the will of the Father which hath 
 sent me " (5 : 30) ; " I have greater witness than that of 
 John ; for the works which the Father hath given me 
 to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me 
 that the Father hath sent me" (6: 30) ; " I came down 
 from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of 
 Him that sent me" (7:29); "I know Him for I am 
 from him and he hath sent me." I have counted nineteen 
 times in which he speaks of himself as one sent. 
 
 Who can describe the mission of Jesus? 
 
 Who can measure its tremendous sweep? 
 
 We may say as of no other, that we read his life and 
 know fully what his mission was, for he fulfilled it per- 
 fectly. It was not for his own generation only, but for 
 all the generations of men. It was the opening of a 
 fountain that has been pouring blessing through all ranks, 
 and times and climes. It was the germination of a seed 
 that has shot forth branches which extend inviting 
 shelter to all the nations and races of the world. Though 
 we cannot fathom its meaning and follow it out to its 
 farthest reach of application, we summarize it in fitting 
 expressions from the word itself. He came to do God's 
 will — " Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." He came 
 to fulfil all righteousness by personal obedience to the 
 
Work 171 
 
 divine law. He came to set us an example that we 
 should walk in his steps. More than all, he came to 
 save sinners — to seek and save the lost. His grand mis- 
 sion was to bring salvation to a lost world, and he could 
 not slacken his efforts till it was accomplished. At a later 
 hour in his life, as he is talking with the Father, we hear 
 him exulting in the completion of it. " I have finished 
 the work thou gavest me to do." And when at last he 
 breathed out his life on the cross, pouring out his life- 
 blood on the altar of humanity, he cried with a loud 
 voice — "It is finished! It is finished!" His mission 
 is accomplished and the world is redeemed. 
 
 " Him that sent me," — may these words be echoed by 
 others besides Jesus? We read of another — " There was 
 a man sent from God whose name was John." Can we 
 put any man's name into that sentence and express the 
 truth? Has God sent ordinary men and women into 
 the world to subserve an end ? Have you and I a mission 
 to perform from which we cannot escape? We may not 
 be able to accept the view that design is intuitively dis- 
 cerned in everything — in the clod of the valley as well 
 as in the wondrous mechanism of the eye. But can we 
 deny that every man shows marks of design in his own 
 being and in relation to the beings about him that make it 
 manifest that he is a creature with a mission. It may be a 
 humble one or it may be similar to many others. It may 
 be a little niche that he is to fill ; he may be a small link in 
 a long chain. But, however lowly the service we any of 
 us render, it is ennobled by the thought that it is that to 
 which we are appointed. How it dignifies any work to be 
 able to say of it — " It is the work of the Lord for me." 
 
 Some men have been used of God without recognizing 
 the Hand that held them. Napoleon was a man of 
 destiny, but not a man of God. Alexander did a mighty 
 service to the world in carrying Greek civilization to the 
 ends of the earth. The Greek language, which became 
 the vehicle of the Christian revelation, was carried with 
 
172 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 it, and thus a channel was prepared for the spread of the 
 Gospel among the nations. He was, in an important 
 sense, a forerunner of Christ, though he knew it not. 
 In fact, every man, good or bad, is under the control of 
 God's providence, and is working out his decretive will. 
 
 But the happy men and women are they who, like Jesus, 
 see and feel that they are sent of God. They recognize 
 the divine hand in their lives. They are asking God the 
 way that they may walk in it — asking God as he speaks 
 in the predilections and powers of body and mind ; asking 
 God as he speaks to them through the providential setting 
 of their lives, and not less as he speaks to their hearts by 
 the still small voice of the Spirit. 
 
 Here is one of whom we say — " He is a man with a 
 mission," or, " She is a woman with a mission." Such 
 a one was Wilberforce or Howard, or Florence Night- 
 ingale, or Frances Willard. But we make a broader 
 claim than this. To everyone under God's government 
 is assigned a place and a work. There is a service to 
 which each one of us is sent, and a blessed thing it is to 
 know that we have found our distinctive mission and are 
 in the way of fulfilling it. How satisfying a thing is a 
 life that is spent in waiting on God for orders. A letter 
 from a sailor on board the Olympia, to his parents in 
 Atchison, Kansas, written before the naval victory that 
 made the name Dewey famous, told that the Commodore 
 issued these instructions to his men in anticipation of an 
 engagement, — " Keep perfectly cool, and pay attention to 
 nothing but orders." It is the right command for the 
 soldiers of the cross. " Be careful for nothing," is a very 
 good biblical equivalent for, "Keep perfectly cool"; and 
 single eyed obedience is a frequent New Testament re- 
 quirement of all who love the Lord. " Ye are my 
 friends," says Jesus, " if you do whatsoever I command 
 you." 
 
 I wish I could make you all see that your comfort and 
 serviceableness and glory depend upon your cordial con- 
 
Work 173 
 
 sent to the divine mastery of your lives. There is no 
 earthly halo that can compensate for the absence of the 
 divine favor or approval. The real glory of every one 
 of us is found in service to God and humanity — to 
 humanity under the direction of God. 
 
 There is no virtue that so excites our admiration as 
 courage. Every exhibition of it stirs the hearts of men. 
 But, like every noble thing, it has its counterfeits and its 
 exaggerations. I submit to you that no courage is clearly 
 admirable that has no worthy end in view. There is a 
 difference between mere hardihood and heroism. He who 
 sacrifices his life to no purpose is a fool. The suicide 
 dares to throw himself under the wheels of the locomotive 
 — to rush unbidden away from ills of time to the un- 
 certainties of eternity — and we call him a coward. He 
 who risks everything on a daring venture when nothing 
 is to be achieved thereby, is regarded as fool-hardy. But 
 he who has a mission and bravely fulfils it is a hero 
 in the eyes of all. Lieut. Hobson's fearless action in sink- 
 ing the Merrimac in the channel at Santiago de Cuba re- 
 ceived unstinted praise not merely because of his bravery 
 but because of his brilliant success in gaining an important 
 end. There was a reason for his attempt that justified 
 the hazard of life and helped to make his act glorious. 
 
 Young men ! Young women ! There is room for 
 heroic action in every life. And is there not the in- 
 spiration of the sublimest courage in the thought that God 
 is behind you, that there is a mission on which he has 
 sent you and that there is no such thing as fail as long 
 as you keep your eye on your Master for orders. 
 
 III. These words show that Jesus recognized the limit- 
 ation of his earthly activity. 
 
 It is only a day and the night is coming, 
 I must work the works of him that sent me while it is 
 day for the night cometh when no man can work. 
 
 His working time was short as compared with many 
 
174 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 others, and shows how it is possible to compress into a 
 few years more value than the accumulating centuries, 
 with all their brave men and true, could gather. Out of 
 that brief life flowed the stream of beneficent influence 
 that has been ever since irrigating the waste places of the 
 earth, and will flow on and on till the whole desert earth 
 shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. 
 
 Not a moment of that life was idle. Every moment 
 of it was fully and worthily spent. The coming night 
 cast its shadow of seriousness over the whole working 
 day. 
 
 In one respect his life differed from ours. He knew 
 beforehand what each day and hour required. He 
 ordered himself from day to day with strict regard to the 
 line marked out for him. We hear him saying, " Mine 
 hour is not yet come," and the evangelist John declares 
 on several occasions, by way of explanation of what oc- 
 curred, " His hour was not yet come." With him, in- 
 deed, every hour was laden with a mission of its own — 
 of duty or endurance, of sympathy or speech or power. 
 Let the hour pass unused and it would never return, and 
 its mission would be lost. 
 
 The same is true, in large measure, with you or me. 
 You cannot compensate for the past by cheating the 
 present. You cannot turn the mill with the water that 
 has gone by. If days and years are lost, they cannot be 
 regained. They remain as blank spaces in the record of 
 your lives and ground of perpetual regret. Use, then, 
 the moments as they fly in building up a larger self, and 
 in serving man and honoring God. 
 
 " The night cometh ! — comes steadily — may come 
 suddenly. We cannot afford to procrastinate concern- 
 ing the thing that must be done. The work of personal 
 salvation — the work of building up a character — the 
 achievement you have promised yourself to make, on 
 which your very heart is set — will you let any of these 
 
Work 175 
 
 hang on the uncertain hope of coming day, when all you 
 are absolutely sure of is coming night, when no man can 
 work? Would you delay repentance for that fearful sin? 
 Would you cherish still that malignant purpose? Would 
 you count the darkness a sufficient cloak for your mis- 
 deeds? Would you do any of those things that your rea- 
 son and conscience condemn if you knew that the search- 
 light of eternity were just at the door. 
 
 I wish for everyone of you a long working day but I 
 do not know nor do you. In this very year we have been 
 taught the old lesson that youth is no sufficient shield 
 against the sharp sickle of death. Therefore rest not, 
 haste not, while the light of day still shines upon you. 
 
 " The night cometh when no man can work." Jesus 
 but recoins the golden precept of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 
 — " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, 
 nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest." There is 
 no second probation — no additional opportunity of doing 
 the works on which hang the everlasting future. 
 
 The night cometh ! blessed be God it may be trans- 
 figured into a morning. The day of this life may close 
 into night only to open on a brighter day beyond. It was 
 so with Jesus, who through the gateway of death entered 
 into his glory. It may be so with you or me if the present 
 working day is well-spent in abiding in Christ, following 
 after Christ and in winning others to Christ. " They 
 that be wise shall shine as the firmament and they that 
 turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. 
 
 Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 1898, let me urge 
 you to be ambitious to make the most and best of your 
 lives whether they be longer or shorter. You remember 
 the little poem which Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote 
 about the chambered shell of the Pearly Nautilus. It con- 
 tains good meditation for you as you lift your eyes toward 
 the future that awaits you. The story of the creature 
 
176 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 that built and inhabited the shell and the lesson its out- 
 reaching life contains are best told in the poet's own 
 words — 
 
 Year after year beheld the silent toil 
 That spread his lustrous coil ; 
 Still, as the spiral grew, 
 He left the last year's dwelling for the new, 
 Stole with soft step its shining archway through, 
 Built up its idle door, 
 
 Stretched in his last found home and knew the old no 
 more. 
 
 Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, 
 Child of the wandering sea, 
 Cast from her lap, forlorn ! 
 From thy dead lips a clearer note is born 
 Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn ! 
 While on mine ear it rings, 
 
 Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that 
 sings. 
 
 Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 
 
 As the swift seasons roll ! 
 
 Leave thy low-vaulted past! 
 
 Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
 
 Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 
 
 Till thou at length art free, 
 
 Leaving thine out-grown shell by life's unresting sea. 
 
 How may each of you build more stately mansions for 
 your soul as the years go by? How can you make every 
 new year wider than the last? How can you make your 
 dead selves the stepping stones to nobler things? Let me 
 commend to you the example of Jesus as we have been 
 viewing it through his word as containing the secret of a 
 growing, expanding soul. 
 
Work 177 
 
 Work! Work under orders from heaven! Work 
 with the energy of one who has only twelve hours to work 
 in. Catch the energetic spirit of the Master as he says 
 — " I must work the works of Him that sent me while it 
 is day." 
 
 And when you pass out of " Life's unresting sea," into 
 the haven of eternity may you be included in that happy 
 number of whom it is written — " His servants shall serve 
 him, And they shall see his face and his name shall be in 
 their foreheads." May the Lord guide you every one by 
 his counsel while you live and receive you at last into his 
 glory. 
 
 The Lord bless you and keep you ; the Lord make his 
 face shine upon you and be gracious unto you ; the Lord 
 lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. 
 
SERMON XIV, 1899 
 
 THE MINISTRY OF SERVICE 
 / am among you as he that serveth. — Luke 22: 27. 
 
 THE Saviour was no enemy to rightful authority. 
 He wrought a miracle in order to pay the tribute 
 exacted by the Roman Government. He kept clear of the 
 meshes the wily Jews were spreading for his feet, by the 
 discriminating declaration — " Render unto Caesar the 
 things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are 
 God's." But he was the foe to all forms of tyranny. 
 His religion is in deadly antagonism to the despotic prin- 
 ciple. It announces the equality of men before God. It 
 everywhere undermines despotism, slavery and caste. 
 It changes the monarch from an instrument of oppression 
 unto a servant of the people. It transforms official posi- 
 tion into a public trust. There are official relations that 
 obtain in both Church and state that ought not to be dis- 
 owned. The ruler and the ruled may recognize what is 
 due to and from each other without any assumption of 
 personal superiority on the part of the one or loss of per- 
 sonal dignity on the part of the other. It remains true, 
 however, whatever distinctions we allow, that the ruler 
 is not more than a man and the ruled is not less than a 
 man. 
 
 The Kingdom of Christ is essentially different from the 
 Kingdoms of the world. The spirit of lordship — of 
 pride and rank — prevails in the world. " But ye shall 
 not be so," says Christ to his disciples. The spirit of 
 Christ is the spirit of service — not only to their common 
 Lord but to one another. Jesus teaches this lesson both 
 by precept and example. He could well rebuke the un- 
 
 178 
 
The Ministry of Service 179 
 
 seemly contention for place among his disciples because 
 his whole life was free from self-seeking. In the con- 
 sciousness and courage of the truth of what he spake he 
 says — " Whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat or he 
 that doth serve? Is not he that sitteth at meat? But / 
 am among you as he that doth serve/' Whatever claim 
 concerning himself a man makes must be true or it will 
 rebound against the rebuke he is administering. Yet 
 Jesus knowing full well that their familiarity with his life 
 would put his words to the test said, with all confidence 
 of their confirmation, — " I am among you as he that 
 serveth." Consider — 
 
 I. The condescending humility of Jesus. His most 
 amazing condescension took place when being the Son of 
 God he became man. " I am among you," — in that he 
 humbled himself most of all. " The word was made 
 flesh and dwelt among us." In this commingling with 
 men, this veiling of his divine glory in a human life, this 
 participation in the nature of man and association with 
 sinful men in their ordinary relations he stooped from 
 the loftiest height to the very lowest depth. Without any 
 approach to extravagance we may describe his condescen- 
 sion as infinite. 
 
 When this step is made we can scarcely wonder at any 
 additional descent. And yet we are quite as much im- 
 pressed with the next step as with the first. We can 
 estimate the distance between one man and another better 
 than we can that between the Creator and the creature. 
 Our worldly perspective is too limited for any comparison 
 of the human and the divine. But when Jesus says — 
 " I am among you as he that serveth " — we can under- 
 stand it because the objects of comparison are within the 
 compass of our narrow vision. As a man he took a 
 lowly place among his fellows. His parents were of the 
 poorer class. His birth-place was a despised village. 
 His companions were not princes but peasants and fisher- 
 men of Galilee. Among the twelve he was not ministered 
 
180 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 unto but ministering. He was not above performing the 
 most menial service when any good end might be ac- 
 complished thereby. He washed his disciples' feet and 
 then said to them — " Know ye what I have done to you? 
 Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am 
 — I have given you an example that ye also should do 
 as I have done to you, Verily, verily I say unto you a 
 servant is not greater than his lord; neither is one sent 
 greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things 
 happy are ye if ye do them." 
 
 The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians 
 (2:3-8) commends to us the Saviour's example of 
 humility. He brings into view his whole course from 
 the throne in glory to the cross on Calvary to stimulate 
 us to the exercise of this essential grace. " Let nothing 
 be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of 
 mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Look 
 not every man on his own things but every man also on 
 the things of others. Let this mind be to you which was 
 also in Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God, 
 counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God 
 but emptied himself taking the form of a servant; and 
 being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and 
 became obedient unto death even the death of the cross." 
 May the Lord help us to yield ourselves to the trans- 
 figuring influence of his shining example, to take his yoke 
 upon us and learn of him who was meek and lowly in 
 heart. What is humility in man? It is the opposite of 
 pride and vanity. It is a lowly view of one's self before 
 God and among men. Our Saviour uttered a parable to 
 teach the folly of pride and wherever his picture of the 
 proud Pharisee has been seen it has fastened odium upon 
 the name. He uttered another parable to teach the folly 
 of vanity when he " Marked how they chose out the chief 
 seats." Both parables he concludes with the same moral, 
 — " For everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled ; 
 and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." 
 
The Ministry of Service 181 
 
 The same lesson is taught by precept and example both 
 in the Old Testament and the New. Solomon tells us 
 that " with the lowly is wisdom," and " before honor is 
 humility." And Paul exhorts " every man that is among 
 us not to think of himself more highly than he ought to 
 think." Humility means a just estimate of one's gifts 
 and virtues. Says one — " Humility in man consists not 
 in denying any gift that is in him but in a just valuation 
 of it; rather thinking too meanly than too highly." 
 There is a pride that undervalues one's gifts — a vanity 
 that wears a veil of humility and sometimes the disguise 
 is very ineffectual. We decline a service because we are 
 unwilling to perform it except with eminent success. Is 
 it modesty or subtle pride that prompts the refusal? 
 
 Dr. Thomas Brown of Edinburgh, in his discussion 
 of this grace regards humility as a relative term, imply- 
 ing a comparison of some sort with an object higher or 
 lower. If we compare ourselves with lower objects we 
 are filled with pride ; if with higher, we bend in humility. 
 It is the glory of the Christian religion that it keeps our 
 eye toward the heights of excellence, keeps our minds 
 comparing ourselves with the noblest spirits of earth, with 
 the perfect man of Nazareth and with the holy, just and 
 true God. 
 
 And yet this beautiful view scarcely fills out the idea 
 of humility as it appears in the scriptures. We are to be 
 lowly among the lowest as well as the highest. " In low- 
 liness of mind let each esteem other better than him- 
 self." Even the clear-sighted Calvin raised the question 
 — How can this be? We too may be puzzled to reconcile 
 a just estimate with a superior estimate of every other, but 
 whatever difficulty there may be in theory the truly 
 humble heart solves it easily enough in practice. Paul 
 was by his natural force a leader of men and could not 
 be otherwise, yet he could say of himself — " I am less 
 than the least of all saints — I am not meet to be called 
 an apostle. I am the chief of sinners." These are not 
 
1 82 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 empty words. They utter the profoundest thoughts of his 
 heart when he was face to face with sin and with God. 
 
 John Howard was vexed with the proposal to erect 
 a monument to his name and begged them to desist as he 
 claimed no credit for his exertions in behalf of prisoners 
 as he was merely riding his hobby horse. Said Sir Isaac 
 Newton — " If I have seen farther than Descartes it is by 
 standing on the shoulders of giants." There is fine 
 courtesy as well as humility in this disclaimer, giving 
 credit to his mighty predecessor into whose labors he had 
 entered. Do we value this grace and seek it in its reality ? 
 It is of the very essence of Christian character. Augustine 
 being asked the first step to heaven, answered, Humility; 
 and the second, Humility; and the third? Humility. 
 No other grace is perfect without it. So Peter after he 
 had urged other graces, sobriety and prayerfulness and 
 charity, says, " Be clothed with humility." Let this be a 
 covering to hide them from our view — a covering to 
 shield them from attack. 
 
 It is easier to preach about humility than to be humble. 
 While we think about it and especially when we talk 
 about it, it vanishes. As Dr. Cummings puts it — " The 
 moment humility tells you, I am here, there is an end 
 to it." It is so sensitive that we cannot even look on it 
 without injuring it. We must be ever looking outward 
 and upward, seeing by faith Him who is invisible and 
 rejoicing in his love. If we walk humbly with God we 
 will be able to live humbly among men. 
 
 II. The spirit of ministry in the life of Jesus. " He 
 that serveth," — is his own designation of himself. And 
 how well his whole life illustrates the truth of it. We 
 purposely omit from consideration the sacrifice of him- 
 self on the cross. That was indeed the summit of his 
 ministry to the race of men — the greatest service of all 
 to mankind. He thereby lifted the curse of the broken 
 law, broke the chains of the soul enslaved by sin, pur- 
 chased liberty for the captives and the opening of the 
 
The Ministry of Service 183 
 
 prison to them that are bound. But all his dealings with 
 men while he was on earth were in perfect harmony with 
 this culminating fact of redemption. He was a servant 
 of men, of all men whose lives he touched, especially of 
 those who came into intimate relations with him in the 
 social life. 
 
 1. He served in the ordinary sense of the word, as we 
 use it in speaking of the household. He took the humblest 
 place — he performed the most menial service. He re- 
 buked the self-seeking of the disciples by his example and 
 by his words. He told them that the Son of man came 
 not to be ministered unto but to minister. He taught 
 them to be mutually helpful by performing kindly offices 
 one for another. As the disciples were reclining on one 
 occasion at the paschal supper a question arose about the 
 usual custom of washing the disciples' feet. Who shall 
 do this service seeing all are on the same social level? 
 Jesus sets at rest any dispute that might have arisen by 
 himself, their Lord and Master, assuming the servant's 
 garb, removing the dust-covered sandals and washing their 
 feet one by one and wiping them with the towel where- 
 with he was girded, the symbol of the inferior place he 
 had taken. He thus teaches us that no work is in itself 
 dishonorable and, when necessity requires it, no work is 
 beneath the dignity of the highest. If we have the same 
 spirit as he we cannot look with disdain on any life how- 
 ever lowly. On the contrary wherever the Christ spirit 
 prevails disdain rebounds and brings contempt on the one 
 who shows it rather than on its object. 
 
 Henry Ward Beecher, in his first charge in the West, 
 from which he was called to Brooklyn, swept the floors 
 and cleaned the lamps as well as preached the Gospel 
 to the plain people. John Eliot, the Apostle of the 
 Indians, stopped at nothing, enduring hardships, travelling 
 by night and day, through wet and cold, accommmodating 
 himself to the life of the ignorant savage people he sought 
 to save and when at 80 years he was obliged to desist 
 
184 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 from arduous labors among the Indians he gathered the 
 negro servants about him to teach them the word of God. 
 If we go back a century farther we find George Buchanan, 
 the great scholar, the tutor of Princess Mary and James 
 of Scotland, similarly employed. Andrew Melville, com- 
 ing in one day, found him teaching a serving lad the 
 alphabet and expressed his wonder at finding him in so 
 humble a work. " Better this," bluntly repliedly the dis- 
 tinguished man, " than stealing a sheep or sitting idle 
 which is as ill." 
 
 It is not the work that dignifies or degrades the man 
 but the man that dignifies or degrades the work. 
 
 2. Jesus was among men as one that served in the sense 
 of rendering help to others. He made himself a blessing 
 to all who came in contact with him. 
 
 How tenderly he looked after the bodily comfort of 
 others! He went about doing good to those who had 
 bodily diseases and infirmities. He found pleasure in 
 ministering to health and happiness. How many little 
 touches of the Gospel narratives show his delicacy and 
 thoughtfulness. How liberally he provided against any 
 embarrassment at the wedding feast at Cana! He comes 
 to the house of the ruler of the synagogue whose little 
 daughter, twelve years of age, lies asleep in death. The 
 people are gathered there, and there is a great tumult — 
 Jesus quietly takes the father and mother with his 
 disciples into the inner sanctuary where the dead child 
 lay. Every cold unsympathizing gazer is excluded and 
 only they who loved her shall witness the act of Christ. 
 And when the miracle is announced and a great astonish- 
 ment seizes upon all and the restored child with her wants 
 was in danger of being forgotten, it was Jesus who " Com- 
 manded that something be given to eat." Just as when 
 Lazarus was raised from the dead and stood bound hand 
 and foot with grave-clothes it was Jesus who said unto 
 them — " Loose him and let him go." Thus by his timely 
 interposition here and there as he went as well as by his 
 
The Ministry of Service 185 
 
 mighty works that showed his divinity he was giving help 
 where it was needed. 
 
 But his service to humanity was farther reaching than 
 this. The body was for sake of the spirit — the instru- 
 ment and revealer of the spirit. His main work was to 
 teach the truth, to express and embody right ideals, to 
 reach men's souls and do them good. His whole thought 
 was how he might impart some spiritual good, how he 
 might serve his fellow-men. He took advantage of every 
 natural fact and every passing circumstance to find an 
 entrance and a lodgment of the saving truth in the minds 
 of men. The thought of service was in everything he did 
 and said. Even the denunciations of the Pharisees and 
 the penetrating words to Judas were only a last effort 
 of love to reclaim them from their waywardness and 
 sordidness. 
 
 How different is this attitude from that of the vast 
 majority! So many act as if they might be saying — I 
 am among you as he that is to be served. They are press- 
 ing for their rights, claiming precedence, cultivating 
 friendships for selfish ends and discarding them when the 
 ends are served, joining hands for the spoils sake and 
 quarrelling over them when fully secured, striving to out- 
 shine in society and gloating over the discomfiture of a 
 rival. It is a great triumph of culture and of grace when 
 a generous thought pervades our lawful contests. It will 
 be a grand advance of the world when self shall be sub- 
 dued and love shall bind all together in one brotherhood, 
 when the thought of each for every other shall be — How 
 can I serve him best? 
 
 We are accustomed to say or to hear it said that the 
 only solution of the labor problem is the prevalence of 
 Christian principles in both employer and employee. And 
 no doubt the problem will reach a vanishing point when 
 all act upon the declaration of Christ — I am among you 
 as he that serveth. The question will not be — How 
 much can I get? but how much can I give? The hollow 
 
1 86 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 eye-servant will be a fact of the past. The greedy capi- 
 talist will have passed away. Until this reign of mutual 
 service has been fully entered upon there may be necessity 
 for laws and regulations, for conferences and agreements. 
 But there are instances of this happy state to be found 
 here and there, streaks of the early morning that give 
 promise and hope of the glorious dawn of that day the 
 angels announced to the shepherds, of peace on earth and 
 good-will among men. May the Lord hasten it in his 
 time! 
 
 III. The new conception of greatness which Jesus has 
 introduced. This whole discourse was called out by a 
 dispute among the disciples who should be the greatest. 
 By greatness they meant pre-eminence in place and power. 
 But Jesus assures them that in His Kingdom another 
 conception of greatness must prevail different from that 
 which was cherished by Gentile thrones. There was in- 
 deed to be organization and order but no lordship over 
 God's heritage — no despotic government since all the 
 disciples are Kings and priests unto God. " But ye shall 
 not be so; but he that is greatest among you let him be 
 as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve." 
 This is no isolated unsupported statement. The same 
 sentiment is variously expressed and the same expressions 
 are used on various occasions. " Whosoever will be great 
 among you, let him be your minister and whosoever will 
 be chief among you let him be your servant; even as the 
 Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to 
 minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." The 
 only pre-eminence to be sought is that of service ; let the 
 only contention be who shall serve the most. 
 
 Here is something within reach of us all. Here is a 
 spur to the ambition of the man or woman of the least 
 talents or possessions. You or I may be great in service 
 — great with the greatness of Christ. This is the great- 
 ness that will last — when thrones and crowns and monu- 
 ments of marble or bronze and the emblazonry of history 
 
The Ministry of Service 187 
 
 and poetry have passed away. It makes its impress on a 
 soul that never dies which in turn impresses other souls 
 that never die. Marble will crumble, bronze will tarnish, 
 other great names loom up to obscure the glories of the 
 past but the soul of man is immortal and what is written 
 there is carried forward into the eternity where all earthly 
 glories are unknown. 
 
 This new conception of greatness is advancing in the 
 world. Wherever the Gospel goes it must go with it. 
 And although there is much that seems like the dominance 
 of the old worldly spirit even in Christendom and even 
 in the Church of Christ, I believe these are signs that the 
 world is yielding to the power of Christ's truth and 
 coming to consider all things in the light of service to 
 humanity. Strength has its devotees. We all rise up be- 
 fore the man of giant strength. It sometimes seems as if 
 the whole community were following the man who has 
 an arm like a catapult or the shoulder of a Hercules. 
 But it is not so. We pay the highest homage after all 
 to the man and not the brute. W^e distinguish in the 
 final judgment we render between Samson, the deliverer, 
 and Sullivan, the bruiser. When the Presbyterian Al- 
 liance met in Toronto seven years ago, there was an 
 excursion to Niagara and many of the visitors and their 
 friends took part in it. A woman of one of the com- 
 panies fell through one of the bridges across the Niagara 
 River above the Falls and caught upon one of the girders 
 and would soon have fallen farther into the rapid stream 
 below. Dr. Ramsey, a Scotch delegate, quickly sprang 
 down and reached her in time to save her from falling 
 further. It was a skilful, heroic act that called out the 
 applause of all and was recognized by a public introduc- 
 tion to the Assembly next day. Perhaps in the athletics 
 of the university he developed that strong arm and that 
 promptness of action, but it was a brave heart and the 
 spirit of service that added nobleness to strength. Men 
 shudder at the act of foolhardiness of a Blondin and 
 
Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 glory in an act of heroism like this. Wealth in the eyes 
 of many is greatness. It certainly means power and in- 
 fluence and great opportunity. And yet apart from high 
 qualities of character do men highly esteem it in others? 
 Do we look upon a Croesus or a Rothschild with more 
 of admiration than upon the impersonal Bank of England ? 
 But when Baron Hirsch, with love for the impoverished, 
 oppressed Jews of Russia, spends millions for their rescue 
 we praise him with one acclaim. When Jay Gould, 
 scarcely purged from the charge of wrecking other men's 
 fortunes, died leaving many millions behind him the world 
 gave a half hearted praise to his achievement but when 
 Helen Gould shows the spirit of sympathy with the nation 
 and with the suffering a nation rises up and calls her 
 blessed. 
 
 It is come to this, that men of wealth are expected to 
 consider the responsibility of wealth — are placed upon 
 their honor with reference to its use in the service of 
 humanity. What a splendid chance does the possession 
 of large means give! The very highest human greatness 
 is within the grasp of the millionaire if he only enters 
 into the spirit of Jesus which enables him to say, I am 
 among you as he that serveth. Military and naval 
 prowess have filled the eye of the world of late. At 
 mention of the names of our heroes men go wild and 
 loud huzzas fill the air. All honor to them! and yet is 
 not the cause that inspired them with courage as well 
 as the courage itself in our minds when we make the 
 welkin ring with our tumultuous cheers. When a few 
 years have passed — about a generation — Grant still 
 looms up as the most illustrious general of the Civil War. 
 But when we remember him, probably the first thought 
 of him will be his generosity to a defeated foe and his 
 famous sentence — Let us have peace ! Not Julius Caesar 
 or Alexander the Great or Napoleon — men who scourged 
 the world but Cromwell and Washington and Lincoln — 
 men who blessed the world as leaders in the cause of 
 
The Ministry of Service 189 
 
 liberty are in the thoughts of men today. Who knows 
 the names of the military leaders on either side in the 
 Crimean War and yet who has not heard the name of 
 Florence Nightingale, the ministering angel of its mangled 
 hosts and how many have read of Hedly Vicars and 
 Arthur Vandcleur who stood as bravely for Christ as for 
 the cause of the Allies. 
 
 What makes a nation great? The same as makes a 
 man or woman — mighty service. Wordsworth sang of 
 old England — his country. " For dearly must we prize 
 thee; we who find in thee a bulwark for the cause of 
 man." To our land has been given a like distinction or 
 even a greater — to be not only a bulwark but a champion 
 of the cause of men. May she never forget to keep this 
 as the pole-star of her destiny — an example of the na- 
 tions — a magnificent embodiment of the spirit of Christ 
 who came to serve and to save. Has it not come to this 
 in this world of ours, where already the regnant forces 
 are Christian, that the Christian conception of greatness 
 has such sway as to make all other ideals subservient to it 
 and every hero in art or literature, in war or peace, in 
 finance or statesmanship must justify his title to greatness 
 by the service he renders to mankind. 
 
 Members of the class of 1899 let me commend to you 
 the example we have been considering. What is to be your 
 future calling is a very important question you are ask- 
 ing yourselves just now. Let me tell you it is not nearly 
 so important as this — In what spirit shall I pursue the 
 calling I choose? It is possible to enter the sacred office 
 of the Gospel ministry with only selfish ends in view. 
 It is possible to give selfless service to Christ and to men 
 in any honorable secular calling. My young friends, 
 whatever inferior ends you may hope to secure make your 
 lives sublime by the larger purpose and hope of achieving 
 something for the good of the world while you are in it. 
 
 Neither let it be a thing in the distance. Begin at once, 
 if you have not already begun, to brighten the lives of 
 
190 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 those that are nearest to you. Despise not the little things 
 that contribute so much to happiness and character. 
 Speak a kind word and never a bitter, taunting, sneering, 
 disdainful one, speak a faithful word if it be needed but 
 in a loving, tender spirit, give a cup of cold water to the 
 thirsty, pick a stumbling block out of your neighbor's way, 
 cast a covering over his feet, " Lift up the hands that hang 
 down and the palsied knees; and make straight paths for 
 your feet lest that which is lame be not turned out of the 
 way but rather let it be healed." 
 
 However it be it seems to me, 
 'Tis only noble to be good ; 
 Kind hearts are more than coronets, 
 And simple faith than Norman blood. 
 
 As a lover of men join the forces in the world that 
 are in favor of human well-being. Be a friend and loyal 
 supporter of the Church of Jesus Christ which is his own 
 agency for the advancement of human welfare. Be 
 known as a friend of temperance and liberty and 
 righteousness and law — pillars of the republic — staunch 
 girders of the ship of state on whose safe riding of the 
 sea rests the great hope of humanity. In this time when 
 all things are concentrating — when combinations rule in 
 the business and social world — when as Tennyson puts 
 it, " The individual withers and the world is more and 
 more," you cannot accomplish all that is possible for you 
 if you stand aloof from the movements and organizations 
 that embody the philanthropic spirit of the times. Be a 
 man — never lose your individuality ; but be a man among 
 men, co-operating without petty fault-finding, with hearti- 
 ness of soul in all that promises well for humanity, in 
 carrying out the program of Christianity long ago an- 
 nounced by Isaiah — " To bind up the broken-hearted, to 
 proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the 
 prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the accept- 
 
The Ministry of Service 191 
 
 able year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our 
 God ; to comfort all that mourn in Zion, to give unto them 
 beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment 
 of praise for the spirit of heaviness." 
 
 Young men and women, you are getting pictures of 
 your friends as you are about to leave them, and after 
 awhile you will hang them up to remind you of one 
 another and the happy days gone by. I have sought this 
 afternoon to hang a picture within the chambers of your 
 minds — a picture of Immanuel God with us — of the 
 Man of Galilee stooping down to bless others — a picture 
 with this inscription below — " I am among you as he 
 that serveth." Keep the picture ever before you and keep 
 the inscription clear and you will be happy in making 
 others happy. Blessing will respond to blessing. Love 
 will beget love. Conscience will approve. The Father 
 will smile down from above and through the gateway 
 of life's close there will open before you vistas of bright- 
 ness and joy such as earth cannot give. 
 
 And so make life, death and the vast forever, 
 One grand sweet song. 
 
SERMON XV, 1900 
 
 DECISION VS. DRIFTING 
 
 Therefore ive ought to give the more earnest heed to the things 
 that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them. — He- 
 brews 2: I. 
 
 IN a sheltered place a little vessel rests upon the waters 
 of the lake. It is not tied to the shore by any chain of 
 iron, nor anchored in its place by any grappling hook 
 beneath. But it lies securely enough upon the placid sur- 
 face and there is no fear of damage. The shore is within 
 sight and the mighty deep is far away. Why waste 
 anxiety upon the unfettered, unsuspecting craft? Let it 
 enjoy its freedom and dance as it may with the swaying 
 waves. 
 
 But there may be currents beneath that bear it along. 
 The swell of the great ship passing by may draw it away 
 from its place of security. The rough winds may drive 
 it out toward the danger line. By advances made insen- 
 sibly, by constant current or sudden shock, by wind and 
 wave imparting motion however slight, it glides out to 
 sea. And now it becomes the sport of the elements. 
 The heat of the summer's sun and the breath of the North 
 wind test its timbers. From all quarters the winds play 
 upon it and drive it hither and thither; the storm attacks 
 it and dashes it against its fellow or upon the rocks. 
 Who can predict its destiny as it floats upon the waters, 
 with no control, the veriest plaything of every breeze 
 and eddy. It drifts and drifts and drifts and none can 
 tell where. 
 
 Something like this is in the writer's mind when he uses 
 the figure contained in our text. " The things that were 
 heard " — the precious things of the Gospel — stretch like 
 
 192 
 
Decision vs. Drifting 193 
 
 a beautiful shore line of truth before our minds. They 
 are as abiding as the bounds of the sea and the salvation 
 of the soul is assured by keeping near to them. The 
 things we have heard come from God. Even when they 
 come through prophets and apostles behind them was the 
 authoritative voice of the Lord. But in these last days 
 the Lord himself hath spoken by the voice of his Son. 
 Out of the opened heavens the Father has certified him 
 to us with the clear announcement and command — " This 
 is my Beloved Son ; hear him." In the preceding chapter 
 we have the wonderful attributes and glories of the son 
 of God set forth — his power and dominion and righteous- 
 ness and changelessness — his superiority to every 
 creature, the highest angels being subservient to him, his 
 ministers that do his pleasure. It is He who speaks to us 
 and " therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed 
 to the things that were heard lest haply we drift away 
 from them," or as John Owen translates it — " lest at 
 any time we flow away from them." 
 
 The subject suggested might be stated as — Decision 
 vs. Drifting. There is the possibility of a great loss by 
 drifting away and there is a contrary possibility of provid- 
 ing against it by taking earnest heed. It is not rescue 
 that is urged, but protection. We are to take heed lest 
 we fall — to prevent disaster rather than repair it. How- 
 ever inspiring the work of rescue it is not so wise or so 
 hopeful as that of prevention. Love no doubt bids us 
 lift up the fallen but it calls with louder voice to us to 
 shield the upright. It pleads with ourselves to abide in a 
 safe harbor and take no risks on life's treacherous sea. 
 
 I. The evil to be avoided is drifting away from Christ 
 and the Gospel. 
 
 It is assumed that it is a very undesirable thing for any 
 soul to pass out from under the influence of Christian 
 truth. This is the view not only of the writer but of 
 those to whom his words are addressed. And I doubt 
 not it is the view of you to whom I speak to-night. You 
 
194 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 believe in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ 
 his own Son and our Saviour. You believe in the Bible 
 as the word of God and in the Christian Church as the 
 great agency of God for the betterment of mankind. You 
 believe in worship as due from every rational creature 
 to the Creator and in service as due from every blood- 
 bought sinner to his Redeemer. You affirm your belief 
 in these things and express your hope that you may never 
 believe them less nor fail to square your lives in accord- 
 ance with them. You would not turn your back upon 
 Christianity any more than you would upon the mother 
 that has borne you and borne with you until now. No 
 matricidal hand of yours will ever stab this cherishing 
 mother of all that is good in our civilization. You are 
 ready to ask with Hazael when confronted with his own 
 future cruelties, " Is thy servant a dog that he should 
 do this thing? " 
 
 But there are more ways than one of wounding and 
 destroying those we love. He who would not lift a hand 
 except to bless his mother may break her loving heart 
 by waywardness and neglect. He who would not, could 
 not bitterly assail the religion of Jesus, may become in- 
 different to its claims. 
 
 Drifting is very often an unconscious process. Little 
 by little the change takes place and we are far from our 
 moorings ere we are aware of it. It creeps upon one as 
 age comes upon the grown man. In the significant figure 
 of Hosea this spiritual and moral deterioration is set forth 
 — " Gray hairs are here and there upon him and he know- 
 eth it not." In many a case if the drift were clearly seen 
 it would be arrested. But hidden from the sight it works 
 its full damage unchecked. You sit by the open window 
 when the chill of the evening begins to come on and im- 
 perceptibly you are affected by the draft. So do chilling 
 winds blow upon the soul out of the social atmosphere of 
 the world and the injury is received before they are 
 noticed. 
 
Decision vs. Drifting 195 
 
 Drifting further implies passivity. The soul yields to 
 whatever influences play upon it. It is not actively, 
 vigorously marking out its course and destiny but lan- 
 guidly consenting to the control of others. There is blind 
 surrender to the forces that are about it. It is " carried 
 about by every wind of doctrine " or drawn away by 
 every wave of practice. Nothing can be more pitiable 
 than such subserviency to environment — such effacement 
 of individuality. What a miserable thing is a piece of 
 driftwood! It initiates nothing; it contends for nothing; 
 it yields to all things. Yet such is man when he basely 
 abandons his divinely given right of self-control and both 
 intellectually and morally " faces nowhere in particular." 
 
 It is, however, of drifting away from Christ that our 
 verse speaks. 
 
 It may be intellectual — drifting from the faith — 
 from the truth as it is in Jesus. 
 
 Sceptical notions are not so much a conclusion definitely 
 reached as a condition into which men have settled un- 
 thinkingly — a residuum precipitated from their sur- 
 roundings, their reading or companionship or practices. 
 
 How much of it springs out of current literature/ It 
 may be in the form of a novel in which the orthodox 
 minister is made a narrow repulsive character and the 
 heretic is clothed with all the graces of a noble life. It 
 may be a periodical that in every issue finds something 
 for criticism in the principles, measures and men that 
 stand by the faith of the fathers. It may be a lecturer 
 who wins the applause of the crowd by his attack on 
 creeds and confessions. It may be that no single instance 
 produces any marked effect. But a continual dropping 
 wears away the stone — an impact of sceptical thoughts 
 produces a total effect that was never anticipated at the 
 first. Men do not stop to answer insinuations and criti- 
 cisms and therefore the impression remains and contributes 
 to the views that are ultimately held. I know it is true 
 that Christ was never more in literature than now — 
 
196 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 that Wordsworth and Browning and Tennyson are 
 saturated with Christian thought. But it is also true that 
 there are counter-currents of infidelity and that there are 
 volumes that flaunt the name of Christian that in their 
 influence as a whole are unfriendly to the Divine Christ. 
 Be on the watch as you read lest you drift away from the 
 truth. Keep near you some antidote to the poison you 
 will find in many a beautiful flower. " Stand fast in the 
 faith, quit you like men : be strong." 
 
 The drift from Christ may be practical or experimental 
 — from the life rather than from the faith of the 
 Christian. Each, however, is likely to produce the other. 
 Wrong beliefs work themselves out in wrong practices; 
 wrong practices blind the eyes to right beliefs. The same 
 influences contribute to both. 
 
 Here let me illustrate by companionship. We hear 
 much in our day of occult communication of mind with 
 mind. We may be slow to believe all that we hear men 
 tell. But who can doubt that there are silent influences 
 of one upon another as we meet? We can scarcely touch 
 elbows with a stranger on the car and be afterward exactly 
 the same. But when you add to presence, acquaintance 
 and friendship and fellowship, the power of a strong per- 
 sonality, of expressed thought, of asserted will, who can 
 estimate the power of one person over another? Then 
 add to all this the power of the crowd for men rarely 
 rise superior to its dictates whether the crowd be made 
 up of many or few. Is it any wonder that men are borne 
 down by these influences that come from others — that 
 they are borne along like the fragments of rock in the 
 bosom of the moving glacier. 
 
 Possibly some of you have felt the power of which I 
 speak in your college life. You have drifted away from 
 Christ through Christless companionship. Perhaps you 
 have not so much opposed as suppressed Christ in your 
 lives. Something will be gained if you recognize the fact 
 
Decision vs. Drifting 197 
 
 and whether here or elsewhere issue orders upon yourself 
 to discontinue the perilous process. Still more will be 
 gained if you realize your impotence and cry to God — 
 ° Heal thou our backsliding and love us freely." 
 
 " Be not carried about with divers and strange 
 doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be estab- 
 lished with grace." Heb. 15: 9. 
 
 II. The Shield against the evil of drifting away from 
 the Gospel. " We ought to take the more earnest heed 
 to things we have heard." 
 
 We will not, however guarded, escape the attack. We 
 will be obliged to resist the forces that operate against our 
 faith. The world will still be round about us and work 
 as insidiously as ever. But the trap will be set in vain 
 for the watchful soul. The boat that is anchored to the 
 shore may be jostled and swayed, but none the less it is 
 held in its place; it feels the current that pulls this way 
 or that, but it never goes beyond the length of its chain. 
 So the soul that gives earnest heed to the things of Christ 
 will never, however pressed, be drawn away from them. 
 What do we mean by this? What is earnest heed? 
 
 It means first of all, attention — the intent applying of 
 the mind to the matter in hand. 
 
 Denial of the things of the Gospel very commonly 
 arises from lack of consideration. Dr. Johnson said of 
 Foote, the comedian, " That if he were an infidel he was 
 an infidel as a dog is — that he never had a thought on 
 the subject." And there are other cases of the same silly 
 sort. On the other hand conviction is wrought in a man 
 by diligent thought. Attention is an act of the will and 
 may exist in various degrees. When we lay distinct em- 
 phasis upon it we mean it in a high degree. Ex-President 
 Harrison in a recent talk on education said this: " From 
 a mental standpoint there are in truth only two great 
 classes among men — the men who give attention and the 
 men who do not." Christian truth will be a thing of sur- 
 passing worth to us only when we give resolute, thorough 
 
198 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 attention to it. Let a whole mind be given to it and the 
 heart will be likely to follow. 
 
 The church economy has provided aids to reflection on 
 the things of Christ. We have in our hands a collection 
 of inspired writings — an infallible record of the revela- 
 tion of God. We have the services of the sanctuary in 
 which the truth is uttered by the living voice so as to en- 
 gage the heart of man. We have memorials of Christian 
 facts making constant appeal to our perceptions and emo- 
 tions. Are you using these aids to attention ? Alas ! they 
 may be used without attention — in formal, listless way. 
 Their end may be thwarted and even reversed so that in- 
 stead of fixing the mind they only lull it to sleep. Are 
 you not only attending but attent to the word of God 
 and his worship? Hold your mind to the things of 
 Christ until they make their imprint upon it. 
 
 Taking earnest heed means enthusiasm for the truth. 
 It is an application of the heart as well as the mind to 
 it. Nothing engages attention to any matter like interest 
 in it — earnest devotion to it. Why does the man of 
 science pursue with unwearying diligence an elusive fact? 
 Because he is in love with science. Why does the artist 
 linger amid the works of great masters? Because he is 
 wedded to his art. Why did John Howard dismiss from 
 his consideration the beauties of nature and art and give 
 unremitting attention to his high calling of philanthropy? 
 Because of his absorbing love for mankind. Something 
 akin to all these must possess him who will fulfil the 
 injunction contained in the words we are considering. 
 Says one: "We do not win our strength and stability 
 by mastering ideas, but by being mastered by them — held 
 in their grip." Paul was mastered by the Gospel when 
 he said, " For me to live is Christ." — " I am set for the 
 defense of the Gospel of Christ." There is a vast differ- 
 ence between a mere perception of a truth and possession 
 by it. One may say, " I believe in God," and another 
 lives as in his presence. One says, " I believe in a future 
 
Decision vs. Drifting 199 
 
 life," and another lives and breathes and walks and talks 
 under the power of the world to come. One says, " I 
 accept the evidence of the love of God," and another has 
 the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy 
 Ghost given unto him. Into this deeper experience of 
 divine truth let us all strive to enter. There is no shield 
 against unbelief like genuine Christian experience — like 
 the life of God in the soul from center to circumference. 
 
 I fear we sometimes feel that the things we hear are 
 scarcely real. We contrast faith with fact. I lately 
 asked a medical student if the tendency of study in medical 
 schools was unfriendly to faith in the Bible or Christ. 
 He replied, " In them we deal only with facts and leave 
 out of view the realm of fancy and faith." It seemed 
 like an unconscious confession of the very thing I feared. 
 
 But we all need to re-assure ourselves of the certainty 
 — the reality of the things of Christ. The soul is a sub- 
 limer, surer fact than the body. I am more certain of a 
 percipient and a perception than of the object perceived. 
 Faith is no fancy and they must not be classified to- 
 gether. Faith takes hold on realities. Fellowship with 
 God is as real as fellowship with men. Jesus Christ 
 is no phantom, but the most magnificent fact in the uni- 
 verse. Let us dwell upon these verities until they take 
 possession of us. If you have drifted into indifference, 
 will you not bestir yourselves into enthusiasm. Fall in 
 love anew with Jesus and his cause and devote yourself 
 to his name and kingdom. 
 
 Taking earnest heed means obedience. We say to the 
 child, "Do you hear?" and "Will you heed?" To 
 heed means more than to listen ; it includes regard to the 
 direction, caution or command. When Saul of Tarsus 
 heard the voice of the risen Lord who appeared to him 
 on the way to Damascus, he was " not disobedient to the 
 heavenly vision," but at once made a full surrender to his 
 newly found Lord, and raised the question, " Lord what 
 wilt thou have me to do ? " From that day onward he 
 
200 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 had no will but that of Jesus — no policy but that of un- 
 swerving obedience. 
 
 Said a French nobleman, " Every man goes down to 
 Damascus once in his life." A glorious form flits across 
 his vision, a voice, a summons is heard, the summons 
 enters into his inmost soul and awakens every element 
 of his being into an unwonted activity. What will be 
 the result? Decision will be made on the way to 
 Damascus and it will be either obedience or disobedience 
 
 — everlasting loss or gain — heaven or hell. How has it 
 been with you? Jesus of Nazareth has passed by and 
 you have had some glimpses of his glory. The Holy 
 Spirit has exalted the Lord before your eyes and you 
 have been attracted by his beauty and love. But what is 
 the issue of it all? Has your heart been won and are 
 you wedded to him in the bonds of a perpetual covenant? 
 Let such a decision be made and you cast a sure anchor 
 against drifting away. You will follow on to know the 
 Lord in ways of obedience to his requirements. And as 
 you go your assurance will increase and you will be able 
 to say, " I know whom I have believed and am persuaded 
 that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto 
 him against that day." 
 
 Members of the class of 1900, I have announced my 
 theme in an alliterative way in the hope that I might 
 fasten it better in your memory — " as a nail in a sure 
 place." 
 
 Decision vs. Drifting. I have but one aim in view 
 
 — to move each of you, if I may, to an unalterable deci- 
 sion in regard to matters that concern your highest wel- 
 fare. 
 
 Ours is a time of unrest in the religious world, when 
 the bonds of many are loosed. Men are saying bitter, 
 even blasphemous things of revered symbols of faith. It 
 is the age of the keen, sharp critic rather than the strong, 
 heroic believer. One may take almost any position and 
 find himself not without company. 
 
Decision vs. Drifting 201 
 
 I do not urge you to a blind belief, to accept without 
 consideration every tradition of the fathers. It is to be 
 remembered, however, that the old is not probably false, 
 nor the new certainly true. But may I not urge you to 
 think in some conclusive way about these things — to 
 settle questions upon the answer to which so much de- 
 pends. Make up your mind in such fashion as will not 
 be moved by the bluff of pretentious scholarship or by the 
 gush and slush of sentimentalism or by the invasion of 
 pleasure-seeking, money-loving worldliness. Cast anchor 
 at the cross of Christ and the word of God and the life 
 of godliness. 
 
 As soon as you take up your abode in any place, find 
 in it a spiritual home. Join yourself to some body of 
 Christian people, wait regularly upon the church services, 
 show an interest in its activities, keep God's Sabbaths and 
 reverence his sanctuary. Take your stand decidedly and 
 at once upon the side of Christ. Will you do it? Deci- 
 sion is yours and yours only. It is an act of will and 
 none can perform it for you. I plead with you to be 
 a Christian in faith and in practice, unweakened by 
 frivolous doubt, unblighted by a single cherished sin. 
 Abide by the things you have heard in the old home 
 church, in your father's house, from your mother's lips 
 — the same that you have heard during your stay with 
 us. I plead for Christian decision as against drifting be- 
 cause it will put meaning into your life, iron into your 
 blood, strength in your character. By reason of it you 
 will be a nobler, sweeter woman, a manlier man. What 
 is more important than all, it will secure your soul's sal- 
 vation. How near eternity seems to us these last weeks 
 as we hear of one and another crossing over! Life is 
 a thread easily broken ; the margin between the present 
 and future is narrow and we may stumble across it. It 
 becomes us therefore to provide against an eternal failure 
 by anchorage at the foot of the cross of Christ — by ac- 
 ceptance of the great salvation. 
 
202 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Let me return in ending to the figure at the beginning. 
 Out of this port you are just about to sail. You launch 
 out on the great sea of life, gayly bedecked, streamers 
 floating, hopes high. I wish you all a happy, prosper- 
 ous voyage, fulfilling the poet's words about a noble soul 
 — compared to a ship at sea : 
 
 He cuts his way with skill and majesty. 
 
 You will touch at many points as you go and finally 
 enter port again on the other side — and where? Are 
 you at the helm or drifting? That will determine your 
 destiny. 
 
 Christian, God speed thee, 
 
 Let loose the rudder bands, 
 
 Good angels lead thee, 
 
 Set thy sails warily, 
 
 Tempests will come. 
 
 Steer thy course steadily, 
 
 Christian, steer home. 
 
SERMON XVI, 1901 
 
 THE FINAL TEST OF HEROISM 
 And having done all to stand. — Epk. 6: 1 3. 
 
 WE speak of the battle of life. And however trite 
 the comparison we keep on using it because of its 
 perennial suggestiveness. It has ever fresh illustration 
 in our personal experience. 
 
 Even to live requires a perpetual struggle. It some- 
 times seems as if nature were conspiring against the life 
 of man. The beasts of the field thirst for his blood and 
 must be subdued under him. There is poison lurking 
 in the green and beautiful leaf and man must learn to dis- 
 tinguish between the harmful and the wholesome. Even 
 the atmosphere is sometimes laden with death so that he 
 needs protection against its insidious attack. Even in 
 himself there is a deathward tendency, a waste that must 
 be repaired by appropriating the products of nature and 
 pressing its forces into his service. But if the struggle 
 to live is great, the struggle to live well is greater. The 
 moral warfare is more strenuous and unceasing than the 
 material. It is ever on and on with us all, however 
 favorable our surroundings. There are enemies within 
 and enemies without, seen and unseen, open and disguised. 
 To maintain in the face of them all a pure and undaunted 
 spirit, an upright life, a right relation to the issues of the 
 land and the time, in every way a conscience void of of- 
 fense toward God and man — this is to be a victor in- 
 deed. But such a triumph will not be won without a 
 hard fight and a strong Helper. 
 
 The passage from which our text is taken is a sort of 
 203 
 
204 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 battle-cry. The little band of three hundred men blew 
 their trumpets and threw the Midianites into fearful 
 panic with the battle cry — " The sword of the Lord and 
 of Gideon." At the battle of Naseby the soldiers of 
 Cromwell overwhelmed Rupert and his cavaliers with the 
 cry upon their lips as they advanced — " God is with us! 
 God is with us! " So does Paul urge on the Christian 
 soldier in this passage to valiant deeds. And we may 
 urge one another to the conflict and to readiness for it 
 with the ringing words he gives us — " Finally, my 
 brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his 
 might. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may 
 be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we 
 wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against princi- 
 palities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness 
 of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 
 
 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God 
 that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and 
 having done all to stand." 
 
 It is difficult to give an idea of a battle on canvas. 
 Yet frequent attempts have been made by artists to paint 
 the pivotal battles of great wars. Rothermel has sought 
 to give us some impression of the Battle of Gettysburg. 
 But they are disappointing because only an instantaneous 
 view of a battle can be given, while in the real world 
 the scene is ever changing. Something like this we seem 
 to have in the words we have chosen as our text. There 
 has been a preliminary skirmish as the Christian has met 
 the enemy and withstood him in the evil day. There 
 is a lull in the strife and the enemy, though foiled, is 
 not destroyed. At that critical instant Paul paints the 
 scene as it should be — as it must be, if the vantage 
 ground is to be maintained. It is, as it were, a snap-shot 
 in the on-going battle of life. Let us look for a little at 
 ths instantaneous picture, this exhortation for a moment 
 of supreme importance — " And having done all to 
 stand! " 
 
The Final Test of Heroism 205 
 
 It presents for our consideration the final, supreme duty 
 of the Christian soldier. 
 
 What is it? To stand — to maintain the ground he 
 has won — to hold on till the end of the combat. Thrice 
 in this entire passage is the same word employed. In 
 the eleventh verse we have, " That ye may be able to stand 
 against the wiles of the devil," and in the verse follow- 
 ing our text the order is repeated — " Stand, therefore." 
 It seems to express the great thought of the apostle's 
 mind, the highest aim of the believer's life. Let him put 
 on God's armor, not to glory in its gilded trappings for 
 it is invisible, not to possess it as a precious thing or heir- 
 loom, but to wear it in the actual conflict. If there is a 
 sharp attack let him withstand the assailant with the 
 skill and vigor of one who is well-armed and strong. 
 And then, however decisive may seem his victory, let him 
 hold the field with unrelaxing vigilance. It will not do 
 to stop to celebrate the victory or to be off guard for a 
 single moment. " Having done all," — all that can be 
 done in the way of preparation or of actual engagement, 
 let him stand firm. 
 
 There is a subtle danger that comes to us in the hour 
 of success, even in the hour of moral and spiritual triumph. 
 And strange as it may seem it is more likely to come 
 in regard to those traits of character in which we sup- 
 pose ourselves to be well established. Abraham was pre- 
 eminently the man of faith and more than once his faith 
 was signally displayed. Yet even he, the father of the 
 faithful, failed at this very point when he thought of his 
 beautiful wife and prevaricated for her sake instead of 
 trusting God. Elijah is the hero of the Old Testament 
 — the man of courage. As we read the story of his 
 defiance of Ahab, the King, and his challenge to the 
 multitude of Baal's prophets we admire him. But just 
 after the triumphant vindication of Jehovah on Mt. 
 Carmel, when we might have expected to find him elated 
 and strong in God, he is seen sitting down under a 
 
206 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 juniper-tree, dispirited and lone, a pitiable creature wish- 
 ing that he might die. So may it be with you or me. 
 You may win the day when some temptation assails you. 
 You escape the snare that is laid for your feet. It may 
 have been a strong provocation to ill-temper, or irrever- 
 ence, or to discouragement or to grosser forms of evil. 
 But by your own will and God's gracious help you have 
 overcome. Thank God for that! nevertheless, be on your 
 guard lest through carelessness or pride you prepare for 
 yourself a fall. " Be not high-minded but fear." It is 
 for you " having done all to stand " — to be alert at the 
 very place where you have just achieved something 
 worthy. 
 
 I. This duty to stand may pertain to personal character. 
 As in Bunyan's " Holy War," the contention maybe for 
 possession of the city of man-soul. The Kingdom of God 
 is within us. It is the business of the Christian to re- 
 sist the enemies of his own soul, to keep his heart with 
 all diligence, to control his thoughts, affections and pur- 
 poses and subject them to the will of God — to abide with 
 God in purity and righteousness and virtue. Having 
 chosen the way of obedience let him not be jostled from 
 it by the world, the flesh and the devil. " Beware," says 
 Peter, " lest ye also being led away with the error of the 
 wicked, fall from your own steadfastness." And Paul 
 exhorts — " Be ye steadfast^ unmoveable." Sometimes 
 men speak lightly of habits of virtue as if it detracted 
 somewhat from an act to flow from a habit. But what 
 is a habit but a permanent tendency? and is an act any 
 less virtuous because it issues from an everflowing fountain 
 of good? What is heaven but a place where the in- 
 habitants habitually and spontaneously do the will of 
 God — like the " angels that excel in strength, that do 
 his commandments hearkening to the voice of his word? " 
 True there are external habits that hold only to the rule. 
 But there are also internal habits, principles that reign 
 within, laws written on the heart by the spirit of God, 
 
The Final Test of Heroism 207 
 
 The psalmist tells about them in the 1 igth Psalm. In how 
 many ways he voices the sentiment of a soul that is firmly 
 wedded to the truth, " O how love I thy law! it is my 
 meditation all the day " — we sing with much fleshly 
 fervor. Do we also realize its deep spiritual meaning? 
 Does it give voice to the profound emotions of our own 
 hearts? If so we cannot lightly set aside any one of the 
 divine precepts. We cherish the spirit that will stand 
 steadfast and unmoveable in all the will of God. 
 
 After a certain victory a staff officer said to Lord 
 Hardinge — " Havelock, my lord, is every inch a 
 soldier." He received this reply — "Yes, Havelock is 
 every inch a soldier; but he is more and he is better; he 
 is every inch a Christian." He stood out amid the un- 
 favorable surroundings of army life a conspicuous example 
 of fidelity to Christ and to duty. Admiral John W. 
 Philip was not only a valiant commander during the naval 
 battle of Santiago but brave enough to call his men to- 
 gether when the battle ceased to acknowledge God in the 
 issue. He stood equally well for the flag of his country 
 and the banner of Christ. 
 
 Some of you are disposed to think that it is difficult 
 to live out the Christian life in college. It is true that 
 the life here has its peculiarities that mark it off from 
 life elsewhere. Stress is laid upon the intellectual side 
 of men and women by educational pursuits and they may 
 so engross the attention as to exclude the spiritual. Then 
 there is the tyranny of associations, the sway of the mass, 
 the leadership of the noisy rather than the wise — that 
 make it hard to stand for Christ and what is right. And 
 yet these conditions are to be found everywhere and the 
 real battle with them is after all within. If we are living 
 at a distance from God, it is hard to be a Christian any- 
 where. And if we are living in perpetual touch with 
 the source of spiritual power it is easy to be true to Christ 
 anywhere. James A. Garfield, when a student at 
 Williams College, went with a company of students up 
 
208 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 into the mountain top not far away and as they stood on 
 one of the highest peaks, awed by the grandeur of the 
 scene, young Garfield broke the silence by saying — " Boys, 
 it is a habit of mine to read a chapter in the Bible every 
 evening with my absent Mother. Shall I read aloud?" 
 And he read and they prayed together at eventide on the 
 mountain top. He stood for the religion of his Mother 
 and his own. Alas, there are others who are so cowed 
 by companions and surroundings that they are afraid to 
 own that they have a Mother that prays. Shame on the 
 young man or woman who can cast a slur on the word 
 or worship of the living God, or in cowardly fear dis- 
 own the God of his father and mother. Young people, 
 stand for what you believe in your heart of hearts. 
 Stand for what is clean and pure and honest and Christ- 
 like. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; stable as 
 the rock thou shalt hold on thy way with increasing ex- 
 cellence. Hold fast what you have attained and you keep 
 a base for further conquest. Faith will rise to higher 
 faith ; love will beget more love. Every grace that you 
 cherish will ripen toward perfection and the battle for 
 personal character will be crowned with eminent success. 
 II. This duty may pertain to the kingdom of God in 
 the world, to the war of ideas and principles — to the 
 conflict between truth and falsehood, right and wrong, 
 Christ and Satan. The line is clearly drawn ; the forces 
 are arranged on one side or the other. Sometimes in the 
 dust and smoke of the battle we may not be able to dis- 
 tinguish friend from foe. But when the heart is right 
 the soldier of the cross sooner or later finds his true place. 
 Neutrality, as our membership covenant affirms, is detest- 
 able, if indeed it be possible. Vacillation is weakness and 
 in the place of responsibility may be wickedness. Pilate 
 with his judicial authority might have set Jesus free. 
 But he wavered and soon was over-awed by the clamor 
 of a mob. He comes down in history with the contempt 
 of mankind though he had the chance to win golden 
 
M The Final Test of Heroism 209 
 
 opinions by following firmly his own convictions. He 
 left an indelible stain upon his name because he did not 
 stand by the truth as he saw it. Is it possible to be 
 neutral when in a great cause the issue is squarely drawn ? 
 Whether neutrality arises from indifference or cowardice 
 it weighs on the side of triumphant wickedness. 
 
 Oh ! there are moments when such 
 
 As will not help to lift us, strike us down! 
 
 Neutrality is Hate; the aid withheld, 
 Flings its large balance in the adverse scale ; 
 And makes the enemy we might have quelled, 
 Strong to attack, and certain to prevail, 
 Yea, clothes him scoffing in a suit of mail. 
 
 As Jesus himself puts it — " He that is not with me is 
 against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth 
 abroad." 
 
 What is your attitude toward the Kingdom of God? 
 May you be counted first and last without question on 
 the side of Christ? Hesitating, fitful, changeful allegi- 
 ance is not worthy of the name. Can you stand for God 
 and truth and right? Are you loyal to the old Book 
 as the very word of God, from whose decisions there is 
 no appeal? Are you among the sworn friends of the 
 Sabbath, and may you be depended upon when the day of 
 battle comes? Are you set against every licensed or un- 
 licensed hell on earth, whether it be saloon or brothel 
 or gambling den? Are you opposed to every form of 
 slavery however disguised or gilded may be the chains it 
 forges ? 
 
 What, my young friends, is your ideal for the future? 
 What do you mean to do for the generation in which 
 you will live? Of one thing I am sure that the great 
 need of this generation is men that can stand fast in their 
 personal integrity and in their devotion to principle. In 
 
210 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 almost every line of business or professional activity there 
 is pressure to be resisted. In some spheres of life — the 
 political for example — the pressure is well-nigh irre- 
 sistible. The wonder is not that many fall but that any 
 stand against it. Yes, we need brave men for the times 
 we live in; men like Edwin M. Stanton, the great war 
 secretary, of whom one wrote — " Who, in leaning on this 
 man, ever found him a broken reed? He never despaired 
 of the Republic. In the darkest days, though he was oft 
 times full of sorrow and sometimes full of agony, yet his 
 steady nerve never trembled ; his stout heart never played 
 the coward "; men like Benjamin Harrison, who was too 
 great a statesman to be a good politician, too strong in 
 his sense of duty as President to be swayed by venial 
 motives, held in higher esteem when he became a mere 
 citizen of the Republic than during his term of office, 
 admirable for his qualities of mind but more admirable 
 for his poise of soul and his high purpose, a man of God 
 as well as of the people, a leader in the Church and the 
 nation, a fit presiding officer of a Missionary Council — 
 he served his generation well by the will of God and has 
 fallen asleep ; men who in less conspicuous spheres can be 
 true to themselves, their country and their God. 
 
 Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy, 
 Men who possess opinions and a will 
 Men who have honor, men who will not lie. 
 
 We have a great host who can hurrah. We have not 
 a few who can act well on an occasion or in a crisis, who 
 can advance in face of shot and shell, who can storm a 
 castle or plant the flag across the seas. But the final 
 test of heroism is to hold the post of danger with quiet 
 determination, to stand calmly to duty though un- 
 supported by others, to bear the brunt of a moral conflict 
 in the days of its weakness, to stand alone with God if 
 need be. This calm moral fight may be waged on any 
 field. 
 
The Final Test of Heroism 211 
 
 Dream not helm and harness, 
 
 The sign of valor true, 
 
 Peace hath higher tests of manhood 
 
 Than battle ever knew. 
 
 They will come to every one of you whatever be your 
 sphere of life — to you, young women, as well as to young 
 men. You will have the chance of heroism and I may say 
 more, you will have the spirit of it, too. It belongs to 
 woman to endure, to make sacrifices, to hold fast to what- 
 ever wins her heart. If her history tells not of camp and 
 march and bloody strife, it tells of waiting and watching 
 and hardship and tender ministry and brave counsel. 
 Recently, in China, women, as well as men, braved the 
 ferocious mob in hope of shielding God's little ones won 
 to Christ from heathenism by their efforts. I trust that 
 none of you may be thus exposed. But I know you will 
 not escape the moral test, the temptation to be silent when 
 truth is on the scaffold, to be pliant when wrong is on 
 the throne, the temptation to follow the ways of an un- 
 godly world, the temptation to compromise with Satan 
 rather than withstand him. You can only hope to do 
 good in the world as a Christian by standing to your colors 
 — by exalting everywhere Christ and his cause. Do you 
 now ask me — " How shall I be able to stand ? How 
 shall I do this either as a personal or public duty? It is 
 well for me to be forewarned but only if I may be fore- 
 armed. 
 
 You have sometimes seen a pole that is exposed to the 
 pressure of strong winds held in its erect position by wire 
 supports. You have seen a plant or young tree tied to a 
 post sunk in the ground to keep it from a crooked growth. 
 Are there any ties by which we may be held to an up- 
 right life? Are there any firm pillars to which we may 
 attach ourselves and be strong? The Church of Jesus 
 Christ may be a " pillar and ground of the truth " for all 
 who love it and work in it and for it. The companion- 
 
212 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 ship of the choicest spirits we can find may hold us to 
 the right line of truth and duty, may even draw us back 
 from downward tendencies to which we are prone. So 
 my first answer to your inquiry' is — Train with upright 
 men and you will grow upright. Keep fellowship with 
 the friends of Christ in the services and work of his 
 Church and you will be a friend of Christ yourself. 
 
 But I have another answer that comes out of the con- 
 test. In order to stand you must have strength. After 
 a few years have passed the young tree that was coupled 
 to a post ceases to need the latter's support. The winds 
 may play upon it from every side but it swings ever back 
 to its perpendicular position. Instead of doing it any 
 harm they only assist its more perfect development. 
 What is the difference between then and now? It has 
 gathered strength with the years and therefore is able to 
 stand alone. Our first need is strength and where shall 
 we get it? Paul's answer is — "Be strong in the Lord 
 and in the power of his might." In another epistle, he 
 says, — " By faith ye stand " — faith in God and in Jesus. 
 Speaking of his own experience, he says, — " When I am 
 weak then am I strong," and the reason of it is that the 
 " power of Christ rests upon him " and finding strong 
 assurance in his past experience he says — " I can do all 
 things through Christ which strengtheneth me." 
 
 This source of strengh is open to you and me. It can 
 be had if we only believe. The reason why any of us 
 have so little strength is because we have so little faith. 
 The heroes of the ages have been heroes of faith. Moses 
 endured as seeing Him who is invisible. Stephen could 
 resist the enemies of the Gospel and bear to be stoned 
 to death because he saw Jesus standing at the right hand 
 of God. It was faith that enabled Luther to say before 
 the Diet at Worms — " Here I stand, I can do no other, 
 so help me God." It was faith that made Gordon the 
 most heroic man of the last century. And we will be 
 truly brave and strong just in proportion as we walk 
 
The Final Test of Heroism 213 
 
 before the Lord, as we live in the Lord by faith. Let us 
 cleave unto Jesus with a faith that is living, that will 
 vitalize and energize all that is good in us. Let us pray 
 — " Lord, increase our faith ! " Thus furnished with 
 strength the Knight of the Cross puts on the armor of 
 God and enters on his life-long combat. The armor is 
 both offensive and defensive, visible and invisible. Faith 
 is itself one piece of this invisible, unpenetrable coat of 
 mail. When every part of it is on it covers the head and 
 the breast and every vital part. The shield can be turned 
 to one side or another according to the point of attack. 
 The sword hangs by his side and it is a keen blade pierc- 
 ing to the thoughts and intents of the heart, laying bare 
 the subtleties of Satan's wiles and devices. We cannot 
 speak of this armor at length and in detail. But I bid 
 you notice that it is the armor of God — prescribed, sup- 
 plied by God. For this reason you may have unbounded 
 confidence in it. It will not disappoint you in the day 
 of trial. You know also where to apply for it. It is 
 furnished by God and He gives it for the asking, " Stand, 
 therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and 
 having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet 
 shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above 
 all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able 
 to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the 
 helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is 
 the word of God praying always with all prayer and sup- 
 plication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all per- 
 severance." 
 
SERMON XVII, 1902 
 
 FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST 
 Follow thou me. — John 21:22. 
 
 THE first impression we are likely to receive from 
 the story of Peter is that he is very human. He is 
 so like ourselves, so forward and bustling in his action, 
 so independent of his fellows, so impetuous and outspoken, 
 so impressible and immediate in his conclusions, so prone 
 to err in judgment and in speech, yet withal so frank 
 and manly and companionable that we feel that he is one 
 of us, of our kith and kin, of like passions and infirmities 
 with ourselves. 
 
 A second impression of the story swiftly follows. It 
 gives us a vivid exhibition of the amazing love and grace 
 of Jesus. It reminds us of Pope's line — 
 
 To err is human ; to forgive divine. 
 
 Recall a few of the incidents of Peter's life that illus- 
 trate both the frailty of Peter and the Master's tenderness. 
 When Jesus foretold to his disciples his death at Jerusa- 
 lem, Peter could not bear the thought of such a cruel and 
 untimely end to the career of his beloved. His unwise 
 affection and zeal led him to rebuke his Lord saying — 
 " Be it far from thee Lord; this shall not be unto thee." 
 Jesus in turn rebukes him severely and instructs him con- 
 cerning the conditions of discipleship and a few days aft- 
 erward takes him up into the mount of transfiguration and 
 shows him his glory and permits him to hear the heavenly 
 visitants, — Moses and Elias — speaking of his decease 
 
 214 
 
Followers of Christ 215 
 
 which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. He softens 
 his rebuke by bringing him closer to himself and unveiling 
 to him more fully the secrets of his kingdom. 
 
 You remember the shameful conduct of Peter which we 
 usually refer to as his denial of his Master. It was an 
 aggravated succession of sinful acts, involving him in the 
 guilt of breaking solemn vows and of falsely and profanely 
 disowning his Lord. But where sin abounded, grace did 
 much more abound. One look from his grieved Master 
 brought him to his senses and led to his recovery. Pricked 
 to the heart by that loving, piercing gaze, he " went out 
 and wept bitterly." And when the crucifixion was past 
 and the days of his humiliation were brought to an end 
 by his resurrection from the dead Jesus sends a special 
 message to Peter for his encouragement by the women 
 who were early at the sepulchre — " Go your way, tell his 
 disciples and Peter." Jesus knew how the arrow would 
 stick in him and draws it out with a particular message of 
 love. " And Peter " — singles him out from the rest and 
 summons him to the meeting with the disciples in Galilee. 
 And now in this chapter we have an account of a search- 
 ing and gracious interview of Jesus with his erring disci- 
 ple. The probe may seem severe but it is the condition 
 of returning health. It brings his love to Christ into 
 conscious exercise and prepares the way for his complete 
 re-instatement in his place of honor and service to the 
 Church. It is the loving-kindness of the Lord that shines 
 out in his history from beginning to end. Love heals his 
 backsliding, silences his fears and doubts, draws him back 
 when he presumes, lifts him up when he despairs, urges 
 him onward in the path of obedience and service. 
 
 And when the interview comes to an end, the first 
 word that rings in Peter's ears is — " Follow me! " And 
 when Peter seeks to pry into things that do not concern 
 him Jesus holds him to the message he has already given 
 — " Follow me." Curiosity about John may well give 
 place to thoughtfulness about himself, " Jesus saith unto 
 
216 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 him, " If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that 
 to thee? follow thou me." 
 
 It is a message for the disciples in every age and may 
 contain some lessons peculiarly adapted to our land and 
 time. We hear a great deal about the duty of leadership. 
 Especially are educated men and women reminded of their 
 obligation to take their place of leadership. Be it so! 
 Our powers whether native or acquired are meant for 
 use. Let one forge to the front in any line of endeavor 
 for which he is fitted and carry others with him. Let 
 him especially influence others to pursue worthy aims and 
 to help on to triumph great causes of truth and right. 
 
 But there is another aspect of duty that is just as im- 
 portant. We are to be followers as well as leaders. 
 This aspect of duty may make a less effective appeal 
 to our egoistic age. It may not flatter our pride so much 
 as that of leadership. But there is no real antagonism 
 between them. The largest and best leadership is at- 
 tained by those who humbly follow the lines marked out 
 for them by the providence of God. And the valuable 
 leaders of Christian thought and endeavor are always those 
 who keep watching for the footsteps of their divine 
 Leader. Christ puts no check on a holy ambition but 
 rather spurs us on to the highest greatness when he says 
 — " Follow thou me." 
 
 I. Follow me — follow my teaching. One who ac- 
 cepts another's views of religion or philosophy, especially 
 one who accepts the distinctive peculiarities of his system 
 of opinions is called his follower. We thus speak of the 
 followers of Spinoza or Kant or Locke — of Mahomet 
 or Buddha or Confucius. And thus also we call one who 
 embraces the truth he announces — a follower of Christ. 
 In the case of any philosophy of mere men the view is ac- 
 cepted because it commends itself to the mind that exam- 
 ines it, without much reference to the personality of the 
 author. But Christ is recognized by his followers as one 
 who speaks with authority and his teachings appeal to us 
 
Followers of Christ 217 
 
 not only by their appearance of truth but by the supreme 
 source of truth from which they come. His followers 
 not only listen and weigh but surrender to the authorita- 
 tive declarations of a Master. He came to bear witness 
 unto the truth and the Kingdom he sets up in the world 
 is a Kingdom of the truth. It is ours to accept his testi- 
 mony and adhere to the truth, he declares, and because 
 he declares it. In the fullest sense of the word we are 
 to be followers — not primarily leaders, nor originators, 
 but followers — yielding assent to every word which he 
 speaks, acknowledging the binding force of every precept 
 which he enjoins. He delivers a message and we reject 
 it at our peril. 
 
 Where do we find the teachings of Christ? In general 
 we may answer, " In the scriptures." The Old Testa- 
 ment testified of him ; he endorsed it by his constant ap- 
 peal to it as the law of his human life. You cannot read 
 the story of his life and fail to get the impression that it 
 was saturated and dominated by the word of God as then 
 possessed by the Jews. The New Testament gives yet 
 clearer and fuller displays of the truth — as compared 
 with the Old is like noonday compared with the dawn. 
 It is the record of a revelation made by the advent of the 
 Son of God. Like its predecessor, it is written under 
 the inspiring guidance of the Spirit of God. The Spirit 
 was promised to the Apostles to guide them into the 
 knowledge of the truth and their claim is that they spake 
 and wrote words which the Holy Ghost taught. The 
 whole Bible, rightly interpreted, sets forth the teaching 
 of Jesus and ought to receive our reverent attention. 
 President Roosevelt closed an address to the Long Island 
 Bible society in June, 1901, with these words of strenuous 
 loyalty to the old Book. — " We plead for a closer and 
 wider and deeper study of the Bible, so that our people 
 may be in fact as well as in theory ' doers of the Word 
 and not hearers only.' " 
 
 But let us for a moment confine ourselves to the teach- 
 
218 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 ings of Jesus as uttered by himself during his earthly 
 ministry. These are found in the four Gospels, which 
 give us a four-fold picture of his life on earth, which 
 tell us what he said and did. His example is very in- 
 structive but his words state clearly the things we are 
 to believe. He speaks of the very highest things — of the 
 hereafter, of immortality, of salvation, of God — and 
 speaks with the positiveness of one who knows. How 
 often he prefaces his address with — " I say unto you," — 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto you." When the traveller 
 returns from Italy or Egypt or Palestine he tells con- 
 fidently what his eyes have seen in the country he has 
 visited. So is Jesus an eye-witness of the land that lies 
 beyond our present experience. Nay, it is his native land 
 which he describes — his home with God. " He that 
 cometh from above is above all; he that is of the earth 
 is earthly, and speaketh of the earth ; he that cometh from 
 heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, 
 that he testifieth." John 3: 31-32. He came from God 
 and revealed God — as a Spirit to be worshipped in spirit 
 and in truth, as a Father who has compassion on his 
 prodigal children. He came from heaven and made 
 known what its wisdom and grace devised for our ruined 
 world. He proclaimed the advent of the Kingdom of 
 God with its prerequisite of a new nature and the blessed- 
 ness that springs from character. He announced himself 
 as the Son of God and the Saviour of men. We hear 
 him say — " For God so loved the world that he gave his 
 only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
 not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not 
 his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the 
 world through him might be saved. He that believeth 
 on him is not condemned ; but he that believeth not is 
 condemned already, because he hath not believed in the 
 name of the only-begotten Son of God." He foretold 
 his own death and its atoning purpose. We hear him 
 say — " The Son of man came not to be ministered unto 
 
Followers of Christ 219 
 
 but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many." 
 . . . And again in connection with the institution of the 
 sacramental supper, he says — " This is my blood of the 
 New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission 
 of sins." He tells of the last day — the day when he 
 shall sit upon the throne of judgment and before him 
 shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them 
 one from another, the sheep from the goats, the just from 
 the unjust, and then he seals their destiny by adding — 
 " These shall go away into everlasting punishment but 
 the righteous into life eternal." 
 
 These are enough to show that Christ's teaching was a 
 doctrine to be believed as well as a code to be observed. 
 He was no enemy to theology. You might as well speak 
 of nature as an enemy of science. It is not necessary 
 that the bones of a system protrude. They may be cov- 
 ered over with the beautiful forms of nature or of actual 
 human life but they exist. There is an underlying system 
 of doctrine in the teachings of Christ that comes clearly 
 to view when our attention is turned to it. He was no 
 boneless, creedless sentimentalist — no jelly-fish or air- 
 cushion adjusting himself to every sect or opinion. He 
 spake truth and called upon all men who heard him to 
 receive it. " If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die 
 in your sins." What a ring of conviction is here! Let 
 us arrange our lives upon the same key as his — be fol- 
 lowers of him in adherence to the truth he taught us. 
 We may take issue with the creeds of men, but the creed 
 of Christ is truth itself. With Tennyson we may say — 
 
 They are but broken lights of thee, 
 And thou, O Lord, art more than they. 
 
 Still they are lights breaking through the clouds and 
 hastening toward unhindered day. Let us not shut our 
 eyes upon them, lest we shut out also the larger light 
 that streams from the word of Christ himself. 
 
220 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Let knowledge grow from more to more 
 But more of reverence in us dwell; 
 That mind and soul according well 
 May make one music as before. 
 But vaster. 
 
 II. Follow me — follow my life. A follower of Jesus 
 is one who seeks to become like him — who takes him as 
 an example and tries to walk in his steps. The fitness 
 of this interpretation is so clear that it needs no illustra- 
 tion. To think as he thought, to feel as he felt, to do 
 as he did — to labor and teach and minister, to love and 
 sacrifice and endure — to do all things as he did — this 
 surely is to follow him. Belief and conduct are very 
 close of kin. Belief leads on to action and action often 
 colors belief. If we accept cordially Christ's teachings 
 they will move us to conform to his precepts and life. 
 The ethical standard of Christ is confessedly the highest 
 reached by man and is illustrated by his perfect example. 
 It thus gets a power over men that no mere code of 
 morals could exert. It is concrete truth — virtuous ac- 
 tion — that influences others to be virtuous. When 
 Jesus goes before us in the way of righteousness we are 
 drawn into the same way by contemplating his acts. 
 Whatever sentiment is embodied in action gets life and 
 power thereby. " Follow my directions," makes no such 
 appeal to us as when Jesus walks before us and says — 
 Follow me! We cannot set forth in few words the per- 
 fect life. Our age has been rich in the endeavor to 
 interpret the life of Christ to the scholar and to the child. 
 But no work of mere man can take the place of the brief 
 biographies written by the inspired evangelists. No pic- 
 ture of human genius impressed upon the mind can com- 
 pensate for lack of familiarity with the simple story of 
 the Gospels. Let each for himself come into touch with 
 the Son of man by studying the original records of his 
 life. 
 
Followers of Christ 221 
 
 As we thus study the portrait of the man, Christ Jesus, 
 certain features will come out in bold relief. First of 
 all we find him anchored by the throne of God, his whole 
 life regulated by the will of God, his whole soul per- 
 meated with the thought of God. How many times he 
 speaks of his Father and of him that sent him ! We might 
 condense the meaning of them all in his own familiar 
 words that tell of fellowship without break or reserve — 
 " He that sent me is with me; the Father hath not left 
 me alone; for I do always those things that please him." 
 In equal prominence appears another trait of his character 
 — his amazing love for men. He was no mere pietist. 
 He was equally pious and philanthropic. The two traits 
 were complementary, each affording background for 
 the display of the other. He went about doing good, 
 spending his strength in ministering to human need. He 
 tells us that he came to seek and save the lost and at last 
 he gave his life a ransom for many. 
 
 The fine balance of his character attracts the attention 
 of all who study it. What strength and yet what gentle- 
 ness! What simplicity and yet what dignity! What 
 meekness and yet what firmness ! What calmness and yet 
 what sensitiveness of soul ! What love of nature — of 
 sparrow and lily and child — is combined with supreme 
 love of God and souls of men! What winsomeness is 
 added to sinlessness to make him the perfect example of 
 
 men 
 
 And now to all this he invites you and me. To such 
 a sense of God and enthusiasm for humanity, to this many- 
 sided ideal of perfection he calls us all when he says — 
 " Follow me." The life of the world has furnished many 
 inspiring examples. Not a few men have left the world 
 richer for all time by the nobility of their deeds. We 
 could not, if he would, we would not, if we could, dis- 
 possess ourselves of the heritage that descends to us out 
 of the ages past. But no one of the world's worthies ap- 
 proaches the rounded, symmetrical, completeness of the 
 
222 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 life of our Saviour. Though he is more than an example, 
 — though he is our royal, atoning Redeemer — he is not 
 less a man and a model for our invitation. Fellow 
 Christian, the universal verdict of men is that Jesus' 
 character is unique, without spot or blemish. Can we 
 then acquit ourselves of blame if we neglect or refuse to 
 follow him? 
 
 Where shall we find a perfect life, whereby 
 To shape our lives for all eternity? 
 
 This man is great and wise ; the world reveres him, 
 Reveres, but cannot love his heart of stone ; 
 And so it dares not follow, though it fears him, 
 But bids him walk his mountain path alone. 
 
 That man is good and gentle, all men love him, 
 
 Yet dare not ask his feeble arm for aid ; 
 
 The world's best work is ever far above him, 
 
 He shrinks beneath the storm-capped mountain shade. 
 
 O loveless strength ! O strengthless love ! the master, 
 Whose life shall shape our lives is not as thou ; 
 Sweet Friend in peace, strong Saviour in disaster, 
 Our heart of hearts enfolds thine image now. 
 
 Be Christ's the fair and perfect life, whereby, 
 We shape our lives for all eternity. 
 
 — C. F. Richards. 
 
 III. Follow me — follow my banner. It is a rallying 
 call from the Leader of a great cause — from the Captain 
 of the Lord's host. How much importance we attach to 
 the flag! It may stand for a society or an institution or 
 a cause. It may gather about it all the associations of 
 fatherland and fireside as the flag of the land we love 
 the best. It is sacred as the symbol of what we hold dear. 
 
Followers of Christ 223 
 
 I heard a man in the frozen North with more protrud- 
 ing granite than soil tell why he would not seek a home 
 under more genial skies this side of the line — " I want 
 to stay beneath the flag of Old England." I heard 
 Chaplain McCabe tell how the prisoners in Libby Prison, 
 during the great Civil War, gave their last garments 
 of white or red or blue to make a rude flag for the Fourth 
 of July and how when he was returning home, emaciated 
 and feeble on the deck of the vessel he kissed the folds 
 of the old flag as it floated into his cot while, with tears 
 of joy in his eyes, he held it to his breast. What is it that 
 moves us in Whittier's simple story of Barbara Frietchie? 
 It is her simple, yet sublime, loyalty to the flag of the 
 free. To something like this we are summoned when 
 Jesus raises the standard of the cross and says — " Fol- 
 low me." 
 
 He has organized his church to display and maintain 
 his banner among men. It is the recruiting agency and 
 the camp of instruction of the army of the Lord. Nay, 
 it is the army itself under marching orders, moving for- 
 ward to the conquest of the world. " Follow me," means 
 identification with the Church in its organized form and its 
 essential activities. It may not be all that the Captain of 
 our salvation meant it to be. There may be lines of divi- 
 sion that had better be obliterated. Its several parts may 
 not co-operate to secure the common end. The esprit de 
 corps may lag and show half-hearted endeavor. Courage 
 may be wanting to stand the shock of battle for Christ's 
 cross and crown. But, with all its confessed shortcom- 
 ings, the Church is Christ's own and his followers must 
 not stand aloof from it. It is the place of promised bless- 
 ing, where believers may grow side by side in Christian 
 grace. If it is not what it ought to be you can make 
 it better in the little corner you occupy. Take a larger 
 share in its work and you will find a larger profit and 
 pleasure in its service. Happy is the man or woman who 
 makes the church the place of privilege and not of duty — 
 
224 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 a home and not a mere lodging place — a comradeship and 
 not a mere aggregation. 
 
 It is possible, however, for one to be a member of the 
 Church and yet not a close follower of Jesus Christ. 
 He ma) 7 even be near to the preacher and not very near 
 to the Christ. This exhortation goes behind officers and 
 organization to the Church's living Head. It is personal 
 loyalty to the Lord himself that is here urged — " Follow 
 thou me." Whatever other claimants of your devotion 
 may appear you must never forget that you belong to 
 Christ. You must stand for him, true to your colors, 
 faithful to your vows. 
 
 What will you do when the day of trial comes? Will 
 you make a truce with evil? Or will you hold the field 
 for Christ against all comers? 
 
 The test of your loyalty may come in very simple 
 fashion. The temptation may be nothing very unusual. 
 It may be to suppress your testimony for Jesus in the 
 company of the irreligious. It may be solicitation to join 
 the crowd in what your conscience scarcely approves. It 
 may come from your social circle, your partners in busi- 
 ness, your fellow partizans who constrain you to share 
 with them in a doubtful transaction. It may appeal to 
 you with the urgent claims of necessity. Something you 
 prize will suffer if you fail to join with them. 
 
 But is there not a paramount necessity for the Christian ? 
 Let his answer be — " Come what will I must be loyal 
 to my Master. I must not merit the reproach of breaking 
 from his ranks and doing the work of his enemies." May 
 the blessed spirit in every such day of danger remind us 
 of our living Lord and our first and foremost obligation 
 to be loyal to Him. 
 
 But following Christ means more than resistance to at- 
 tack. It means a gracious invasion under his leadership. 
 This evil world is to be conquered and brought under the 
 dominion of Jesus. Our marching orders are — " Go ye 
 into all the world and preach the good news to every 
 
Followers of Christ 225 
 
 creature." Jesus came to seek and save the lost and 
 lost men everywhere and the lost nations of the earth are 
 the field of conquest for his followers. The Son of God 
 was manifested that he might destroy the works of the 
 devil and wherever evil lifts its hideous head it is Christ- 
 like to strike it a blow. Who can tell what the 20th 
 century will disclose? We call this a missionary age. 
 Will the Gospel be carried to every land and tribe in this 
 century? We call this a philanthropic age. Will the 
 love of man grow more intense as the years go until no 
 iniquity can withstand its fiery zeal? 
 
 What will you and I do in our generation? Will we 
 help or hinder the triumph of Jesus? Will we be mere 
 camp-followers in his army or among the never despair- 
 ing invincibles who press on toward the final victory? 
 Our hope of victory is sure. The Commander of the 
 host says — " Lo, I am with you alway even to the end 
 of the world." It is no mere captain's battle, however 
 valiant the captains may be. The commander-in-chief is 
 ever within hailing distance. When at any point along 
 the line there is loss, it is because we disregard his wise 
 orders. He will make this world beautiful if we will 
 only come to his help. He will by his spirit make the 
 desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose whenever the 
 Church is ready to follow him whithersoever he goeth. 
 
 There's a fount about to stream, 
 There's a light about to beam, 
 There's a warmth about to glow, 
 There's a flower about to blow. 
 There's a midnight blackness changing 
 
 Into gray: 
 Men of thought and men of action clear the way! 
 
 Once the welcome light has broken 
 
 Who shall say, 
 What the unimagined glories 
 
 Of the day? 
 
226 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 What the evils that shall perish 
 In its ray? 
 
 Members of the class of 1902, let me urge you to keep 
 your eye on your Master. The emphasis of the text 
 might well be laid on the last word — Follow me. Let 
 Jesus engage your eye and your heart and your will — 
 Jesus more than any other — Jesus rather than any other. 
 To be subject to the absolute domination of any fellow- 
 man is a degradation, though, alas, no uncommon thing 
 in this commonwealth. But to surrender to the will of 
 your rightful Lord and Master is ennobling — is the very 
 acme of freedom. The liberty is perfect in proportion 
 as the surrender is complete. The happy Christian is the 
 thoroughgoing, out-and-out Christian. 
 
 May I urge you to unreserved devotion to Him? Some 
 of you will follow his flag to other lands; most of you 
 will accept posts of duty in our own land. But wherever 
 you go and whatever you do, keep floating in front of 
 you the flag of the Kingdom of Christ, whose cause in 
 the world is everywhere paramount to every other. Said 
 one in Jesus' time — " I will follow thee whithersoever 
 thou goest." Let there be no reserved sections of your 
 life from which Christ is excluded. Get riches, if you 
 will, but not in unclean ways, nor for its sake, nor for 
 your sake alone but for Christ's sake. 
 
 Be ambitious, if you will, but for service rather than 
 glory. Pursue literature, music, art, statesmanship — but 
 whatever your attainments or gains, cast them all at 
 Jesus' feet, keep your eye on Him — call no man Master 
 but Him and no pursuit Master at all. 
 
 General Sansom, a brave general of the Union forces, 
 was directed to take a certain fort in front of Vicksburg 
 and as the men wavered under the enfilading fire of 
 shot and canister, the fearless Commander seized the 
 colors of a regiment and rushing to the front, waved 
 them over his head and shouted — " Forward men ! We 
 
Followers of Christ 227 
 
 must and will go into that fort. Who will follow me? " 
 Inspired by his example, the men pressed on and gained 
 the ditch in front of the fort without delay. 
 
 Such a rallying cry comes to the Church of today — 
 to you and me. Will we heed it? Yes, there may be a 
 leaden hail where Jesus leads, there may be attack and 
 wounds and anguish of spirit, there may be self-denial 
 and cross-bearing and loss of life. But still he calls — 
 Who will follow me? — whosoever shall lose his life for 
 my sake and the gospels the same shall save it. And what 
 shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose 
 his own soul. The victory of personal completeness and 
 final glory will be yours. You will scale the battlements 
 of heaven and be enrolled among the heroes of the great 
 war of all the world — the war of the Captain of our 
 salvation against sin and Satan. 
 
 When the roll of the faithful is called up yonder, may 
 you and I be there. With the battle scars all healed, 
 with past anguish all forgotten, with palms of victory in 
 our hands, with our eyes still on Jesus, may we everyone 
 participate in that swelling song of praise to our trium- 
 phant Commander — Thou art worthy for thou wast slain 
 and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every 
 kindred and tongue and people and nation and hast made 
 us unto our God, kings and priests and we shall reign 
 on earth. 
 
 Follow Jesus Christ through your life and I am sure it 
 will be well with you both here and hereafter. 
 
SERMON XVIII, 1903 
 
 KNIGHTS OF THE CROSS 
 
 God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I 
 unto the world. — Galatians 6: 14. 
 
 '*' I ''HE age of chivalry has gone; the age of human- 
 A ity has come." To this sentiment we may sub- 
 scribe and yet claim that the spirit of chivalry abides and 
 is fitted to adorn and ennoble any age. 
 
 When the institution was at the zenith of its history, 
 there were chevaliers who lacked the lofty sentiment it 
 was designed to cherish. Yet it was in general as Burke 
 declared, " the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enter- 
 prise." 
 
 Imagine a young nobleman of twenty-one years, after 
 fourteen years of training and pleasant anticipation, sur- 
 rounded by a multitude of men and women of rank as- 
 sembled to do him honor. He stands forth within full 
 view and hearing of them all and declares his vow to 
 " speak the truth, to succor the helpless and oppressed 
 and never to turn back from an enemy," and then is 
 solemnly invested with the symbols and instruments of 
 the order, the belt and spurs of the horseman and the 
 lance of the conquering knight. The long training cul- 
 minating in such a significant ceremony could not but 
 impress the young novitiate and mould him into the form 
 of the splendid ideal. He would rise from his knees a new 
 man, with the purpose to be true and tender and brave. 
 While some would abide in the shell of the outward 
 form and only glory in the fiery charge and the gleaming 
 lance, others would fulfil the poet's picture of a knight — 
 
 228 
 
Knights of the Cross 229 
 
 Who reverenced his conscience as his king, 
 Whose glory was redressing human wrongs, 
 Who spake no slander, no, nor listened to it, 
 Who loved one only and who clave to her. 
 
 The essential elements of chivalry are with us still. 
 The trappings, the joust, the tournament, the lance and 
 spur, the crusade have passed away; but courtesy, great- 
 heartedness, valor and honor abide with us. Paul, the 
 Missionary, was a knight in the first Christian century 
 and through all the Christian centuries since, there have 
 been those who have followed after him, enduring hardness 
 as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. As one has said — " The 
 modern phenomenon has in him the mediaeval phenome- 
 non, a chevalier." We have in Paul's words the 
 Christian's vows of knightly devotion and service to his 
 Master — "God forbid that I should glory save in the 
 cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." The Christian is a 
 knight of the cross and if the twelfth century gave oppor- 
 tunity for splendid service, 
 
 When ever}' morning brought a noble chance, 
 And every chance brought out a noble knight, 
 
 the chances of the twentieth century are unparalleled and 
 the call for heroes was never louder nor more impres- 
 sive than now. Are any of us ready to respond to the 
 call in the words of the Apostle, glorying only in the 
 cross ? i 
 
 Let our theme be — The knights of the cross. 
 
 I. The knights of the cross are saved by it. The 
 knights of the cross are sinners of mankind and by nature 
 children of wrath even as others. They differ from 
 many in being conscious of sin. They have realized in 
 some measure their degradation and their doom. Sin has 
 ceased to be with them a peccadillo, an indiscretion, a mis- 
 take, a pardonable offense, an unimportant breach of rule. 
 
230 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 It is seen in the light of a holy and just law of which 
 it is a violation and of a holy and august God against 
 whom it is a grievous offense. It is seen under the lurid 
 blaze of Sinai and in the clear light of Calvary. More 
 than anywhere else is sin seen in its true colors in the 
 death of the Redeemer. If Paul could say — "By the 
 law is the knowledge of sin," the church of God reading 
 from the experience of believers in every age might say — 
 " By the cross is the knowledge of sin." Economists tell 
 us there is a poverty of lack of goods and a greater 
 poverty of lack of wants. So there is a spiritual poverty 
 of sin and there is a deeper poverty of our ignorance of 
 sin. It is the glory of the cross that it both makes us 
 conscious of our sin and enriches us with forgiveness and 
 peace. It creates the want which it supplies. It 
 humbles that it may exalt. It awakens a profound sense 
 of sin that it may appease it with plenteous redemption. 
 It wrings from the guilty sinner the cry of the aroused 
 conscience that it may answer it and put it to silence with 
 the peace-speaking atonement. 
 
 Well might we be in consternation when we reflect 
 on the might and majesty and purity of God with whom 
 we have to do. How puny must be our defense against 
 his Almighty Arm! I crush with the slightest pressure 
 of my finger the tiny insect that all unconscious of danger 
 traverses the page as I write. Far more easily might you 
 or I be crushed beneath the finger of God. But, alas, 
 until the Spirit comes to unveil the deceitful heart, we 
 are as ignorant of danger as the insect. The flatteries 
 of the darkened heart cause us to have not only inadequate 
 thoughts of ourselves, but positive delusions concerning 
 our state. Like Laodicea, we know not that we are 
 " wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked," 
 we fancy ourselves rich and increased in goods and having 
 need of nothing. If we only come to know the truth 
 about ourselves, we are ready to cry out in bitterness 
 of soul — " Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and 
 
Knights of the Cross 231 
 
 done evil in thy sight," and vaguely reaching out toward 
 the Deliverer the Gospel brings, we ask — "What must 
 we do to be saved ? " At such a time the satisfying an- 
 swer to all the accusations of a quickened and guilty con- 
 science is the cross of Jesus Christ — Christ — and him 
 crucified. Not the cross separated from his personality 
 but the Crucified One meets all the sinner's need. And 
 yet it is the cross, the death of Jesus, the blood of atone- 
 ment that attracts his gaze at such a time above every 
 other feature of the Gospel. It becomes, if I may so 
 speak, the most picturesque figure in the experience of his 
 conversion. It stands out bold and clear, not isolated in- 
 deed, but central and conspicuous, the ground of peace, 
 the door of hope. Says Bunyan — 
 
 Thus far did I come, laden with my sin, 
 Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in 
 Till I came hither. What place is this? 
 Must here be the beginning of my bliss? 
 Must here the burden fall from off my back? 
 Must here the strings that bound it to me crack? 
 Blest cross! Blest sepulchre! Blest rather be 
 The man that there was put to shame for me. 
 
 The cross gives the sinner an answer to every accuser. 
 Let Justice stand forth to plead against him. The cross 
 has satisfied every claim that justice can present. Let 
 Law with stern and unchanging visage demand that her 
 threatenings be fulfilled. The cross has magnified the 
 law and made it honorable in the endurance by Him who 
 hanged thereon of an equivalent penalty for the sins of 
 men. Let Satan, the accuser of the brethren, brandish 
 his sword and issue his fiendish challenge in the believer's 
 face and seek to reduce him to despair. With his eye on 
 the cross, he can answer the challenge with triumphant 
 boldness — " WTio is he that condemneth? It is Christ 
 that died, yea rather, that is risen again." 
 
232 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 To Martin Luther said the devil — " You're a miser- 
 able sinner." " I know it." " You deserve to go to 
 hell." "I know it." "You're going there." "Now 
 you lie, for I am saved by his blood who died for me." 
 
 The story of the conversion of Colonel Gardiner is al- 
 most trite, yet it is historic and pertinent. He had been 
 living a roystering, reckless life and one night as he retired 
 from his carousals his eye lit on a book with this attractive 
 title — " The Christian Soldier, or Heaven Taken By 
 Storm." He picked it up with the intention of making 
 it the mark of his ridicule and contempt. But as he read, 
 he fell asleep and dreamed and in his dream he saw a 
 bright light upon the book and suspended in the air a 
 representation of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross 
 and he heard some one say — "This I did for thee. 
 What hast thou done for me? " He awoke conscience- 
 stricken and sought and found pardon at the foot of the 
 cross. The sight of the cross both awakened and soothed 
 him, brought him to penitence and peace. So Bunyan's 
 pilgrim got rid of his burden at the cross. Whoever has 
 become a knight of the cross has been initiated by the 
 same process, varying in intensity and detail but the same 
 in contrition for sin and peace by a sight of the crucified 
 one. Fellow sinner, if you would enter this noble rank, 
 the way is open. But you must stoop to enter, you 
 must kneel at the cross. Your burden will fall off at 
 the threshold and you will rise to go on your way rejoic- 
 ing, having found joy and peace in believing in Him who 
 saves his people from their sins. 
 
 II. The knights of the cross are its interpreters and 
 defenders. They raise it aloft as their standard. They 
 adhere to the doctrines of the cross and are set for their 
 maintenance. 
 
 What mean we by the cross? It is no meaningless 
 symbol, a mere shape or figure, a rallying centre without 
 significance. It is no idle charm, or ornament to a per- 
 son or a spire. It is no empty word, a thing of rhetoric, 
 
Knights of the Cross 233 
 
 something to conjure with. It is no mere dividing line 
 between Christian and anti-Christian hosts. It has a 
 meaning for the enlisted soul and for the world — a 
 meaning clear and unmistakable, deep and satisfying. 
 
 By the cross Paul means the doctrine of the atoning 
 death of Christ. There is indeed light streaming from 
 the cross of Christ in many directions. It affords the 
 grandest example of self-sacrifice the world has seen. It 
 reveals God to man and man to himself. It is all radiant 
 with the love of God. But the centre and core of its 
 meaning is the propitiation Jesus made for our sins, the 
 ground of reconcilation with God laid by his atoning 
 sacrifice. It is expresssed by the Master himself in such 
 words as these — " Even as the Son of Man came not 
 to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life 
 a ransom for many." ..." I am the good shepherd; the 
 good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep ... I lay 
 down my life for the sheep." " This is my blood of the 
 New Testament which is shed for the remission of the 
 sins of many." These expressions are clear enough. 
 They tell us how Jesus voluntarily laid down his own 
 life as a ransom for many. Paul only unfolds a little 
 more fully the doctrine of the cross. Under the guidance 
 of the promised Spirit, in words which the Holy Ghost 
 teaches, he interprets the event of Jesus' death after it 
 occurred. He tells us that Jesus " died the just for the 
 unjust that he might bring us to God," that " God made 
 him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be 
 made the righteousness of God in him," that " through 
 the redemption that is in Christ Jesus " it has been made 
 possible for God to be " just and the justifier of him 
 that believeth in Jesus." In these sentences we have the 
 very essence of Paul's teaching upon this essential theme. 
 There is no mincing of words, no fencing on the right 
 hand and the left, no drawing of hairlines. He who runs 
 may read what Paul means and the uncritical reader 
 drinks in the truth with every perusal of the epistles. 
 
234 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 If the critics only keep on eulogizing the Bible and leave 
 the text unmutilated except in their own minds and the 
 people keep on reading it, we need not fear the result of 
 their criticisms. They will pass away and the word will 
 continue to shine in its own light and the generations 
 to come w T ill be illumined by the word of God which 
 endureth forever. 
 
 It is altogether possible that the meaning of the cross 
 will not be quite the same to all persons. One may be 
 impressed with one phase of its teaching and another with 
 another. To one it may be a spring of hope ; to another, 
 a spring of holiness. One may be awed by its mystery 
 and another may be attracted by its love. And yet can 
 we do better than to hold fast to the undiluted Pauline 
 teaching and to reject any contrary view of the atone- 
 ment however lauded as resting on a more rational basis? 
 We are suspicious of diluted views of sin and law and 
 justice. Nor is our suspicion allayed when we find the 
 advocates of some more modern view holding fast to 
 words whose use is distinct and fixed, while emptying 
 them of their distinctive meaning. We hear of vicarious 
 suffering and find that instead of having its usual, sharply- 
 defined content of suffering instead of another, the phrase 
 is applied to every form of sympathetic suffering. It 
 does not mean substitution but fellowship, not taking the 
 sinner's place but standing by his side, the suffering of a 
 mother as she beholds the sufferings of her child, of the 
 family when any member of it incurs dishonor. Then, 
 too, we find the word satisfaction used in a similar way. 
 It has had a clear meaning of satisfaction to divine jus- 
 tice. But though the stalwart word is retained, it is 
 shorn of its strength, for justice is well-nigh eliminated 
 from the vocabulary 7 of this modern view and from the 
 character of God. I searched in vain through a recent 
 and admirable work to find the word justice in connection 
 with the discussion of the atonement. Although the 
 words sin and law, atonement and vicarious suffering, ex- 
 
Knights of the Cross 235 
 
 piation and satisfaction are found, the justice of God is 
 never mentioned. Has not the strong coloring faded out 
 of these words when they are used without any reference 
 to the divine justice? What is sin if there be no righteous 
 moral Governor? What is atonement on the divine side, 
 if there be no justice to be appeased? The mystery of the 
 cross grows upon us, if there is no reason for the suffer- 
 ings of Christ in the necessities of the case, in the de- 
 mands of inflexible justice of Him with whom we have 
 to do. 
 
 Let the knights of the cross face the awful facts of 
 their sinful, lost, ruined state and think of sin as an of- 
 fense against a holy law and a holy and just God. Then 
 let them glory in the safe hiding place afforded them 
 in the cleft rock of the Redeemer's side and keep on 
 telling to a lost world " the old, old story of the cross," 
 as the propitiation for our sins, the satisfaction to divine 
 justice and because of this the utmost display of the divine 
 love. 
 
 III. The knights of the cross march under the banner 
 of the cross to the conquest of the world. They are not 
 content to enjoy its shelter while others are out in the 
 storm. They are acknowledged debtors to the world till 
 all the nations are under its protection. It cannot be 
 too much to say that one cannot be a Christian who has 
 none of the evangelistic spirit and that he is most like 
 Christ whose strong desire is to spread the goods news 
 of salvation to the ends of the earth. Mr. Moody said 
 — " Before my conversion I worked toward the cross, but 
 since then I have worked from the cross ; then I worked 
 to be saved, now I work because I am saved." He does 
 not hoard the treasure won but distributes it to others 
 and by a strange law of spiritual economics increases it 
 for himself. He grows in grace as he gives it away. 
 
 The fact of the crucifixion is not one to be concealed 
 anywhere. Jesus did not seek to escape from the cross, 
 but pressed on to Jerusalem to endure its torture and 
 
236 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 shame. Nor would he have his disciples hide it from 
 any sinner's view. On the contrary he instituted a 
 memorial to keep it ever fresh in their recollection. The 
 Papal missionaries to the Chinese not only misinterpreted 
 the mind of the Master, but misrepresented the Gospel it- 
 self by the suppression of all testimony to his death. The 
 very heart of the Gospel lies in the cross. 
 
 So far from keeping under all reference to the cross, 
 we must keep it conspicuous in our propagation of the 
 Gospel. After Constantine's vision of the cross in the 
 heavens his battle-cry was — " In hoc signo vinces " — by 
 this sign we conquer. Let it be ours likewise. That 
 which distinguishes Christianity from every other re- 
 ligion is the cross of Christ and God forbid that we 
 should glory save in the cross and in Him who was nailed 
 to it. Listen to Paul as he writes to the Corinthians — 
 (1 Cor. 1 : 17) — " Christ sent me not to baptize but to 
 preach the Gospel; not with wisdom of words lest the 
 cross be made of none effect. For the preaching of the 
 cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which 
 are saved it is the power of God." ..." For after that 
 in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not 
 God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to 
 save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign 
 and the Greeks seek after wisdom ; but we preach Christ 
 crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the 
 Greeks foolishness, but unto them that are called, both 
 Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the 
 wisdom of God." 
 
 Dr. Storrs speaks of Jesus as the " supreme visionary 
 of the world," when he said when the inquiring Greeks 
 sought him — "And I if I be lifted up from the earth 
 will draw all men unto me." The cross was then the 
 symbol of shame, the way of death for the worst criminal. 
 To die thus seemed like the vanishing of the last flicker- 
 ing hope of success, the descent into oblivion. Yet Jesus 
 in that hour declared it to be the beginning of power, 
 
Knights of the Cross 237 
 
 the condition of the world's conquest. And his words 
 are coming true. The vision is coming to a fuller reali- 
 zation as the centuries pass and the magnetic, transform- 
 ing power of the cross is felt today as never before in 
 the history of the world. Men are going forth into all 
 lands bearing aloft the standard of the cross and strong 
 in the conviction that the Master's words were true and 
 that the Crucified One will draw all men unto himself. 
 
 What induces any one to become a missionary to 
 the heathen? If the religion of Christ is not essential, 
 if it is not the only hope of the world, why make sacri- 
 fices to send it abroad? If any other religion answers 
 the need of any people, why seek to displace it by an- 
 other? If Christianity offers nothing that the heathen 
 religions cannot furnish, why are precious lives given 
 to such a useless task? It is not so. The missionary 
 goes because he believes the world is dying without the 
 Gospel, that it contains the only remedy for sin-sick 
 humanity. 
 
 What will he do when he reaches the benighted lands? 
 What will he say to weary, heavy-laden, burdened souls? 
 Will he linger long by the beautiful precepts sprinkled 
 through their own sacred writings? Will he compare 
 the ethical precepts of Christ and urge their acceptance 
 as something just a little better? Will he not rather 
 satisfy the hungry heart with the announcement of for- 
 giveness? Will he not disclose the love of God to one 
 who seeks in vain to appease the anger of his gods ? Will 
 he not point to the crucified one and say — " There is the 
 propitiation for your sins"? Will he not tell the story 
 of the cross and say — " The blood of Jesus Christ 
 cleanseth from all sin" ? Tidings such as these are found 
 nowhere else. They meet the sinner's need. They 
 answer that cry — that universal cry — that comes out 
 of the depths of the human soul everywhere — What 
 must I do to be saved ? 
 
 Dr. Burrell tells a story received by him from the lips 
 
238 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 of a veteran missionary in India — Dr. Chamberlain — 
 of one coming to the Ganges on hands and knees to bathe 
 in its waters that he might find peace for his conscience. 
 He crept out of the river and lay upon its banks in 
 despair because his gnawing pain remained. As he lay 
 there, he heard the missionary's voice as he preached the 
 Gospel under a banyan tree near by. He came nearer 
 and heard the story of the cross and it made an instant 
 appeal to him. He rose upon his knees and listened, 
 then to his feet, then clapped his hands and cried — 
 "That's what I want! That's what I want!" It is 
 what men everywhere want. Down in the slums of our 
 great cities and out in the wild life of the frontier and 
 in the heart of Africa and along the coast of Siam and 
 in India and Egypt this is the news men are hungry to 
 hear. Well may our heroic missionaries go forth with 
 the joyous enthusiasm of couriers of good tidings, for 
 they have something to give adapted to the wants of 
 those they address. Gallant knights are they — the Jud- 
 sons and Paton and Mackay — Dunlap and McCauley 
 and Mateer — and our own noble standard-bearers in 
 Egypt and India. Will any among us be honored to 
 stand by their side? Will any among us occupy these 
 high places of the field? Let us at least enter into the 
 splendid fellowship of those who do by being mission- 
 aries wherever God places us and by giving and praying 
 for the missionary cause. We can salute the same flag 
 and fight the same battle and win like victories by the 
 same means. All hail! this blessed day when the open 
 door beckons every Christian to service, when the 
 Macedonian cry is sounding in the ears of the whole 
 church and the chances for knightly devotion abound. 
 Wherever we labor and in whatever calling let us each 
 do our part in exalting the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Let us help to send its glad message to the ends of the 
 earth in the generation in which we live. 
 
 Members of the class of 1903, I rejoice to believe that 
 
Knights of the Cross 239 
 
 most of you, perhaps all of you, are saved by the cross. 
 If any one is yet away from Christ, I pray you to hasten 
 to him ere the thickening cares of life cast up a barrier 
 hard to overcome or the chains of habit bind you to 
 eternal death. What will it profit you when your life 
 ends, however great in learning, riches and honor it may 
 have been, if you are unsaved? Once more I invite you 
 to the cross of Christ which is the power of God unto 
 salvation to every one that believeth. Some of you will 
 be preachers of the cross. I submit to you there is no 
 higher vocation than this. Dr. Cuyler, when demitting 
 his charge, said to his people concerning his life in the 
 ministry — " When I recall the joy of my 44 years of 
 public ministry, I often shudder at the fact of how near 
 I came to losing it. For many months my mind was 
 balancing between the attractions of a legal and political 
 career. A single hour in a village prayer-meeting turned 
 the scale. . . . Would that I could lift up my voice in 
 every academy, college and university on the broad con- 
 tinent. I would say to every gifted Christian youth — 
 God and humanity have need of you." 
 
 Is it too much to say that every educated young man 
 with sufficient gifts ought to be able — not to give rea- 
 sons why he should, but reasons why he should not enter 
 the Gospel ministry? All other avenues are full but this. 
 It may not offer large worldly gains, but it does offer 
 large returns of satisfaction now and large rewards of 
 grace hereafter. 
 
 I wish your theology might get from the start a definite 
 and indelible stamp from the cross. Some months ago 
 I had occasion to take a short trip through the country 
 to a place I had never visited. As the way was new, 
 I watched with some eagerness the finger-boards at the 
 parting of the ways. Some were bold and clear and a 
 joy to the ignorant traveller's heart, others were a dis- 
 appointment as the names and figures in some were 
 wholly faded out and in others scarcely decipherable. 
 
240 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Others were so placed that it was difficult to tell in which 
 direction they were pointing. Let it not be so with you. 
 Point the wayfarer on life's highway without vagueness 
 or veering to Christ and him crucified. Say to every in- 
 quiring soul in unmistakable terms — To the cross! to 
 the cross! "Be determined like Saul to know nothing 
 among your people save Jesus Christ and him crucified." 
 Finally, my young friends, let me say to you — Use the 
 cross in your spiritual life. Sit beneath it and think. 
 You will be humbled by a sight of its anguish and con- 
 strained by its love and moved to self-sacrifice by its in- 
 spiring example. 
 
 Keep your eye there and you will be humble. Among 
 the eulogies of Emerson lately given, I was a little sur- 
 prised to find this given as a matter of praise that " he 
 taught men not to be humble." If it be so, I would 
 rather take a lesson from the Seer of Nazareth than 
 from the seer of Concord — from the lowly Nazarene 
 who said — " Take my j'oke upon you and learn of me, 
 for I am meek and lowly in heart." It becomes us to be 
 humble in view of what we are and of what God is. 
 
 Keep your eye on the cross and your love will grow. 
 You will love him who has so loved you. You will be 
 impelled by love like his to serve mankind. You will 
 grow in holiness which is the fruit of love. The world 
 will be crucified unto you and you unto the world. 
 
 Keep your eye on the cross and you will be happy. 
 It will be a well-spring of joy to you. You will see 
 the price of your ransom and rejoice in your liberty. 
 You will rest anew on the foundation of your faith and 
 be at peace. Your feet will be on the rock and you will 
 have a new song in your mouth, even praise to our God. 
 
 In view of all the cross is to you — of forgiveness and 
 purity and abounding joy — and in view of all it is to the 
 world — of hope and renewal and deliverance, let your 
 banner, your battle-cry, and your song of triumph be — 
 The Cross! The Cross! 
 
Knights of the Cross 241 
 
 Thy cross and passion and thy precious death 
 
 While I have mortal breath, 
 Shall be my spring of love and work and praise, 
 
 The life of all my days ; 
 Till all the mystery of love supreme 
 
 Be solved in glory, glory's endless theme. 
 
 God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me 
 and I unto the world." 
 
SERMON XIX, 1904 
 
 THE MANLINESS OF CHRIST 
 
 Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, 
 went forth and said unto them — " Whom seek ye? " They an- 
 swered Him, " Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus saith unto them, " I 
 am He." — John 18: 4, 5. 
 
 IF, as the poet says — "The Christian is the highest 
 style of man," it is because he copies after a perfect 
 model. Jesus of Nazareth acquitted himself as a man 
 at every stage and crisis of his earthly course. To follow 
 him closely is to attain the highest possible excellence. 
 
 He knew how to bear prosperity. Many a man who 
 boldly confronts a foe will fail to resist the enticements 
 of a friend. He who quails not before the angry mob 
 may be swerved from the right line of integrity by the 
 huzzas of the cheering crowd. It is one of the severest 
 tests of manliness when those who admire a man and 
 lift him into prominence, urge upon him what duty for- 
 bids him to accept. To listen to the " still, small voice " 
 within, and turn away from the clamor of the mistaken 
 multitude without, requireth the rarest courage. He is 
 truly self-poised who can stand erect despite both the 
 false attraction of friends and the resistance of foes. 
 How did Jesus endure this supreme test? In the palmy 
 days of his public ministry, when multitudes came to hear 
 him, how did he act? He never swerved in the least 
 from the straight line of uprightness and truth. To great 
 and to small he declared the same message. In the 
 Sermon on the Mount he presented an ideal of true living 
 that contradicted squarely the notions then prevalent. 
 To Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, He spake no flatter- 
 
 242 
 
The Manliness of Christ 243 
 
 ing conciliatory words because of his high position. He 
 astonished him with the bold challenge — " You must be 
 born again." Wherever he was, whether at the well of 
 Sychar talking with the women of Samaria, or in the 
 house of one of the chief Pharisees, He spake brave, 
 honest words, such as were needed. He yielded neither 
 to Mary at Cana, nor to his brethren in their excessive 
 prudence, nor to his disciples who would stay him from 
 the cross, nOr to the multitude who would take him by 
 force and make him a king. 
 
 It is, however, under circumstances of an opposite 
 character that the text presents the man Christ Jesus. 
 He knew how to bear adversity. Within a few hours of 
 his life have been crowded many important events and 
 experiences. The Last Supper was not yet finished when 
 Judas went out into the night to carry out his black 
 designs against his Master. While he was busy with the 
 chief priests consummating his villainous bargain and 
 gathering the motley crowd that came with swords and 
 staves to apprehend him, the Son of Man was passing 
 through the untold agonies of Gethsemane. Though 
 he shrank from the cup that contained ingredients of 
 Divine wrath as well as hellish fury, such as no martyr 
 ever experienced, he yet prevailed in prayer to the Father 
 so as to say heartily — " Nevertheless, not as I will, but 
 as thou wilt." And now the band is at the garden gate 
 eagerly seeking their prey. Judas leads them to the 
 spot whither he knew his Master was accustomed to re- 
 sort with his disciples. But the base kiss, the prear- 
 ranged signal by which he should single him out from 
 the rest, was not needed. " Jesus, therefore, knowing all 
 things that should come upon him, went forth and said 
 unto them — Whom seek ye ? They answer him, Jesus 
 of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them — I am He." 
 
 Let us consider — " The Manliness of Christ " as 
 brought out in this connection. It is clearly manliness 
 shown in circumstances of adversity, of seizure, of ap- 
 
244 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 proaching disgrace and death, of disaster and defeat ap- 
 parently overwhelming. How did he act in the trying 
 moment? In what does his manliness appear? 
 
 I. The manliness of Christ does not consist, in any 
 measure, in physical strength, nor arise from the con- 
 sciousness thereof. 
 
 When he came boldly forth to meet his enemies, it was 
 not because he relied on any physical force to resist them. 
 When Peter rashly used his sword and struck a servant 
 of the high-priest, Jesus disclaimed all responsibility for 
 the act by touching his wound and healing it. He re- 
 fused to use the force that was under his control, or to 
 call to his aid the legions of angels on high that stood 
 ready to do his bidding. In his own strength, as a man, 
 he certainly was not stronger than others; and in the 
 devoted, but defenseless eleven that were with Him in 
 the garden, He had but a poor dependence. Nor did he 
 expect the Divine power to be put forth in his behalf 
 at this point. He did not expect to escape through a 
 panic of his foes, as the sequel shows he might have done. 
 It was in the utter abandonment of all these things as a 
 ground of fearlessness that his true nobility as a man ap- 
 peared. 
 
 It may seem needless to assert this point. But when 
 such stress is laid on physical culture as in our time and 
 popular helps to this are glorified as the only manly 
 sports, it may not be amiss to estimate physical strength 
 at its true value as related to manhood. A man may 
 be a champion in the prize ring and be a poltroon. He 
 may be the Samson of his neighborhood and be nothing 
 but a bully and a coward after all. Let health and 
 strength be sought by means of athletic sports, but let 
 them not be canonized and exalted above measure but 
 made to serve a manly spirit that resides within a sound 
 body. 
 
 II. The manliness of Christ was not mere hardihood. 
 Fearlessness does indeed enter into true manliness; but 
 
The Manliness of Christ 245 
 
 if it stands alone, it comes far short of it; it is grim and 
 unlovely, commanding respect but kindling no enthusiasm. 
 The sentiment of Emerson — " Always do what you are 
 afraid to do," must be taken with some allowance. To 
 accustom one's self to face danger, when circumstances 
 demand it, is no doubt an advantage: but to court danger 
 for sake of our own discipline alone is scarcely justifiable. 
 
 The same false principle underlies what has been 
 falsely called the " code of honor." It applauds reck- 
 lessness of danger at the expense of all moral considera- 
 tions. It gives a stamp to the counterfeit that belongs 
 of right only to the genuine coin. It writes the word 
 " honor " on an act that by a correct standard would be 
 judged dishonorable. We condemn with one voice the 
 man who trifles with his own life and that of others by 
 sporting on the edge of a precipice or sailing too near 
 the thundering cataract. Wherein does it differ from 
 this, when two men deliberately place each other's lives 
 in,' peril by firing at one another? Wherein does it 
 differ except in greater wrong-doing and guilt? And 
 though men admire and extol the bravery of a Hodgson, 
 is not the applause of good men mixed with blame when 
 there is evidence of undue recklessness of life in the brave 
 act? We express our disapprobation by calling it fool- 
 hardiness. 
 
 To no such useless, aimless sacrifice did Jesus lend the 
 sanction of his example. How careful he was to secure 
 the safety of His disciples? He would not have them 
 unnecessarily exposed by association with him. He 
 guards against any mistake by assuring them that he was 
 the one they sought; and then said — "If therefore ye 
 seek me, let these go their way." 
 
 III. The manliness of Christ appeared in fearless ac- 
 tion for what was worth the risk — yea, in view of his 
 foreknowledge, we may rather say, for what was worth 
 the sacrifice. He knew all that was about to happen and 
 with undaunted face came forth to meet his assailants. 
 
246 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 We might see a reason sufficient for his conduct in his 
 desire to spare his disciples. Like the mother-bird draw- 
 ing attention to herself in order to protect her brood, 
 he took the brunt of the attack upon himself and averted 
 it from them. But there was a further reason of greater 
 weight; He had a work to do that was not yet 
 finished. He had undertaken to redeem the world from 
 sin and he could not do this but by paying the price 
 of his own blood. He was commissioned of the Father 
 to fulfil the law and satisfy the justice of God and was 
 straitened until His commission was fully carried out. 
 And now His hour was come. The time was at hand 
 when he should be offered up, and with all that was 
 before him present to his mind, he gave himself up to be 
 taken, arraigned, condemned and crucified. For the joy 
 that was set before Him — the joy of ransomed souls, 
 the fruit of the travail of his own soul — he endured the 
 cross, despising the shame. 
 
 It is this having an adequate reason for the risk we run 
 that raises freedom from fear into the region of true 
 manliness. If for the sake of truth, liberty or duty, we 
 surrender life itself, we do well and nobly. There is the 
 true ring in the words — 
 
 I dare do all that becomes a man: 
 Who dares do more is none. 
 
 To do what conscience bids us do is always manly. 
 To have the approval of our own hearts and the approval 
 of God who is greater than our hearts is a most worthy 
 aspiration. And though we may not be called to posts 
 of peculiar danger, where gallantry may be conspicuous, 
 we may each of us act bravely in our own sphere of labor 
 and influence. As another has truly said — " The every- 
 day courage of doing your duty is the grandest courage of 
 all." It is this brave fidelity in ordinary life that pre- 
 pares one for the test of the day of special trial. Men 
 
The Manliness of Christ 247 
 
 do not spring suddenly into magnanimity of character. 
 The act of Jesus in this scene at the garden's edge was 
 consistent with all that went before. So it is by doing 
 as we pass along what each day demands of us that we 
 are braced for the emergency that strains our stability 
 to the utmost. It was life-long fearlessness in behalf of 
 the truth that gained for John Knox, when he died, this 
 encomium from his antagonist — " There lies one who 
 never feared the face of man." 
 
 IV. The manliness of Christ was seen in his patient, 
 single-handed endurance. He willingly trod the wine- 
 press alone. He knew what would come upon him. 
 He saw beforehand the mockery, indignity, humiliation of 
 the trial, the pain and shame of the cross, the deeper 
 sorrow of the Father's desertion, yet he calmly, resolutely, 
 went forward to drink the cup the Father mingled. 
 
 There was no sustaining excitement — nothing but 
 quiet acceptance of what lay before him. Often the 
 soldier gets a degree of credit for what is done in a spasm 
 of enthusiasm that is out of all proportion to the actual 
 courage exercised. The Pennsylvania Reserves did many 
 valiant things before that gallant charge at Round Top 
 that turned the tide of battle at Gettysburg; and it may 
 be that greater courage was shown where less praise was 
 given. There is a support from companionship in arms, 
 or an inspiration from the situation sometimes that con- 
 tributes to gallant achievement. But when one stands 
 alone at the post of danger, or goes unsupported to the 
 place of death, courage is put to a harder test. The pilot 
 at the helm of the burning ship, doing all in his power 
 to save the passengers on board and falling headlong at 
 the last; the French physician going into the dissecting 
 room and examining and recording the facts concerning 
 the plague for the benefit of mankind, and then dying 
 himself as its victim — as he expected to do — teach us 
 the nobility of self-sacrifice. What we admire in them 
 shines most conspicuously in the life and death of the Son 
 
248 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 of Man. " He loved the church and gave himself for 
 it." " He came not to be ministered unto but to minister 
 and to give his life a ransom for many." To save the 
 lost, he assumed their place and died in their stead. To 
 the executioners of the divine law he says — "Let these 
 go their way," because he comes to pay all its just de- 
 mands. To all this he went forward alone. From this 
 point onward, of the people there was none with him. 
 He dismissed the disciples from his company and went 
 unattended to his trial and crucifixion. Yet he never 
 wavered. He steadily pursued his path and work till 
 he cried — " It is finished," and gave up the ghost. 
 
 It is difficult to consider the manliness of Jesus, shut- 
 ting out all thoughts of his divinity. We cannot forget, 
 in looking at him on the human side, that he is God as 
 well as man — indeed his divinity is very plainly implied 
 in what is here written of him. Only as God could 
 he foreknow what was certain to come to pass. We need 
 not quote passages besides this one to prove his omnis- 
 cience. This same evangelist tells us (2:24) — "He 
 needed not that any should testify of man ; for he knew 
 what was in man." And Peter is recorded as saying to 
 Jesus — "Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that 
 I love thee." 
 
 His divinity is that which gives value to his work and 
 glory to his purpose of redemption. Had he been only 
 a man, his purpose would have failed; but he achieved 
 his object through the infinite value given to his sacrifice 
 by his divine person. Let us bless his name that, though 
 he " thought it not robbery to be equal with God," he 
 humbled himself and became obedient unto death, and 
 that through his obedience he has procured salvation for 
 all who believe in his name. 
 
 But while we never forgot the height from which he 
 came — his glory as the only-begotten of the Father — 
 we do well to contemplate him as a man giving us a model 
 
The Manliness of Christ 249 
 
 life for our imitation. It is likewise through his human- 
 ity that he reveals the glory of God unto men. 
 
 Jesus of Nazareth is a historical character and it is the 
 glory of Christianity as it appears in history that its 
 Founder is absolutely spotless. Let his character be sub- 
 mitted to whatever tests, it never fails; it only shines 
 the brighter under thorough investigation. Does it stand 
 the test of manliness? To every infidel and scoffer we 
 boldly answer, Yes! In prosperity and adversity, in 
 favor and disfavor, in triumph and defeat, in life and 
 death he always did as a man ought to do. In this single 
 incident, what nobleness appears! what openness of 
 character! what fearlessness! what thoughtfulness of 
 others! what dignity of action! 
 
 Let us try to imitate him in all His manly traits. Let 
 us seek to have the same mind in us which was also in 
 Christ Jesus. Let us listen to the word of his servant 
 — "Watch ye; stand fast in the faith; quit you like 
 men; be strong." 
 
 Be strong! 
 We are not here to play, to dream, to drift. 
 We have hard work to do, and loads to lift. 
 Shun not the struggle; face it. 'Tis God's gift. 
 
 Be strong! 
 Say not the days are evil. — Who's to blame ? 
 And fold the hands and acquiesce — O shame ! 
 Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God's name. 
 
 Be strong! 
 It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong, 
 How hard the battle goes, the day, how long, 
 Faint not, fight on ! Tomorrow comes the song. 
 
 Do I forget that a large portion of the class is of the 
 
250 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 gentler sex ? By no means. Have we no model for their 
 imitation? Yes, surely. Jesus is the pattern for all 
 humanity — for the woman as for the man. The traits 
 of character I have mentioned are womanly as well as 
 manly. It was a woman who wrote these stirring words 
 (Charlotte Bronte) — 
 
 No coward soul is mine, 
 
 No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere 
 
 I see heaven's glories shine, 
 And faith shines equal, arming me from fear. 
 
 But if some heroic virtues seem more befitting to man, 
 there are other virtues that are as admirable that find 
 their best development and illustration in woman. Both 
 classes of virtues find their perfection in Him who is by 
 way of eminence the Son of Man — the son of humanity. 
 He represents the human race in its entirety and blends 
 in one perfect life the distinguishing virtues of both sexes. 
 He is outspoken yet not harsh, tender as he is brave and 
 true, considerate yet uncompromising in his devotion to 
 truth and right, weeping with those who weep and re- 
 jocing with those who rejoice and yet denouncing sin 
 in high places and low. " There is neither Jew nor 
 Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male 
 nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." " There 
 was in him," says Robertson, " the woman-heart as well 
 as the manly brain — all that was most manly and all 
 that was most womanly." He revealed " the divineness 
 of what is pure above the divineness of what is strong." 
 
 Young men and women of the class of 1904, study the 
 unique life of Jesus in order to the improvement of your 
 own. Every excellence you find in him may be copied 
 into your lives and add to their completeness. You men 
 can shed tears with him and show no feminine weakness 
 and you women can have his sublme courage and not be 
 mannish women. Whatever your natural idiosyncrasies 
 
The Manliness of Christ 251 
 
 of character, he will by his example perfect that which 
 concerneth you. 
 
 You all know how strenuously I have urged that the 
 Saviour is much more than Exemplar, that he is first of all 
 a Redeemer by the blood of the cross. I do not abate by 
 one jot or tittle the claim that the very essence of the 
 Good Tidings is the proffer of salvation through the 
 death of the Saviour. Yet it is well to make much of the 
 life of Jesus as the standard of living, as the embodiment 
 of the loftiest ethics the world has ever known. Now 
 especially we do well to lay to heart the lessons of the 
 text and context. What courageous fidelity to the trust 
 committed to him is here expressed — " Of them which 
 thou gavest me have I lost none." Nothing was lost 
 that was consigned to his care. So be you absolutely 
 true to your task so that nothing shall be lost by your 
 negligence or insincerity. What self-sacrificing devotion 
 to his disciples! " If ye seek me, let these go their way." 
 That was the spirit of his entire life — the very purpose 
 of his death. " If ye seek me let these go their way " — 
 let me suffer, let them go free. He is still the everlast- 
 ing, impenetrable shield of his disciples. May this un- 
 selfish spirit be yours — that seeks not ease, that fears 
 not pain, that presses not for advantage, that rejoices 
 to serve even the unthankful and the evil, that pours down 
 showers of blessing on the just and on the unjust. May 
 it grow in your esteem and experience as the years flow 
 on! Be like Him! Put to yourself the question — 
 How would Jesus have thought and felt and spoken and 
 done in the place where I am? Let it be your set pur- 
 pose to make the world a little better by your living. 
 
 'Tis not for man to trifle! Life is brief 
 
 And sin is here. 
 Our age is but the falling of a leaf, 
 
 A dropping tear. 
 We have no time to sport away the hours, 
 All must be earnest in a world like ours. 
 
252 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Not many lives but only one have we, 
 
 One, only one. 
 How sacred should that one life ever be, 
 
 That narrow span ! 
 Day after day filled up with blessed toil, 
 Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil. 
 
 New spoil every hour! But from whom? Men are 
 eulogized today for achievement alone, without considera- 
 tion of its nature or means, forgetting that achievement 
 alone may be iniquitous and injurious. Men are praised 
 for their resourcefulness, who are only abundant in 
 schemes of wckedness, forgetting that the arch-fiend is 
 more resourceful than any of his minions. Why not 
 praise him? If spoil be taken from truth and right, 
 is it cause for gratulation ? If Christ's cause be wounded, 
 can Christ's followers rejoice in the triumph that strikes 
 the blow ? But to take new spoil from the domain of sin 
 in your own life or in the life of the world, to win men 
 away from the enemy of souls, to contribute to human 
 welfare, to glorify God — these are the only real and 
 abiding achievements in the life of any man or woman. 
 I have no greater wish for each and all of you than that 
 you may go forth like Christ — trustfully, hopefully, 
 cheerily, bravely into life and that you may gain in your 
 several spheres some worthy conquests for your Master 
 and for the world, following Him who is both the Divin- 
 est and the Manliest, the Son of God and the incom- 
 parable Man. 
 
 " This book of the law shall not depart out of thy 
 mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night 
 that thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein ; 
 for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous and thou 
 shalt have good success. ... Be strong and of a good 
 courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the 
 Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." 
 
SERMON XX, 1905 
 
 HIM THAT IS TRUE 
 " We are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ." 
 
 WE cannot read the letter of John, without feeling 
 that he writes out of a deep experience. His 
 theology is concrete, entering into his character and life. 
 It is no mere abstraction that he gives us but a testimony 
 to what he has seen and felt and tasted and handled of the 
 word of life. He looks out from the vantage ground of 
 a long life of fellowship with the Master and tells us what 
 he sees. " That which we have seen and heard declare 
 we unto you, that ye may also have fellowship with the 
 Father and truly our fellowship is with the Father and 
 with his Son Jesus Christ." When he speaks of the Di- 
 vine Saviour, he says: "We have seen and do testify 
 that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the 
 world." And when his thoughts turn to the love of 
 God, he connects himself with it in faith and love and 
 says: " We have known and believed the love that God 
 hath to us." " We love Him because He first loved us." 
 We traverse with Him no cold and barren field, but fields 
 of living green. We look out on no bleak and wintry 
 scene, but on springing blades and opening buds and 
 ripening grain of joyous Christian experience. 
 
 It is with no uncertain tottering step that the apostle 
 John advances toward the threshold of eternity. What 
 a ring of assurance is in his words! How much there 
 is about which he can say — " We know." How many 
 things he encourages the disciples to look for in the 
 developing Christian consciousness. " We know that 
 whosoever is born of God sinneth not. . . . We know 
 
 253 
 
254 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 that we are of God. We know that the Son of God is 
 come and hath given us an understanding that we may 
 know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, 
 even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and 
 eternal life." It is strange that words of the straight- 
 forward character of these should be the subject of con- 
 troversy. And yet their very plainness provokes attack 
 from those who oppose the truth. They must be gotten 
 out of the way or the truth they express will stand in 
 clear and certain view. John's Gospel is so pronounced 
 in its assertion of the Deity of our Lord that its testi- 
 mony cannot be broken except by challenging the witness 
 and denying John's authorship. And so this passage from 
 his epistle, that is in such harmony with his Gospel upon 
 the same point, has been assailed by those who refuse 
 to honor the Son even as they honor the Father. We 
 enter not into the controversy. We simply ask that the 
 passage be permitted to shine in its own light — that men 
 read it and let it speak for itself — and we are sure it will 
 appear, without any twisting of the meaning or any 
 gloss of interpretation that our Saviour is the true God 
 and eternal life. We limit our consideration to these 
 words. 
 
 " We are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus 
 Christ" and find in them these two themes: 
 
 I. The Saviour's characterization as Him that is true. 
 
 II. The Christian's participation in his life and 
 character. 
 
 " Him that is true " — the simpler phrase contains a dec- 
 laration of the Saviour's Deity. In its fullness of mean- 
 ing it cannot be affirmed of any mere man. The very 
 best of men cannot meet the requirements of God's meas- 
 uring line. We take no gloomy view of our fellowmen. 
 We would not indulge or arouse suspicion of the great 
 and good men with whom we mingle. We trust them 
 without stint in all the ways of life. We listen with 
 interest and confidence and act upon their counsel. And 
 
Him That Is True 255 
 
 yet there sometimes flits across the mind a minimizing 
 thought of what we hear. Concerning even the best of 
 men who live with God, men whom we delight in and 
 love, we harbor questions. Does their experience 
 measure up to their announcements? Does their knowl- 
 edge extend as far as their opinions? Are they not only 
 sincere but absolutely true, true as the forces of nature, 
 true as the needle to the pole. We roundly assert our 
 own integrity and pride ourselves in the accuracy of our 
 speech and the sincerity of our course and yet we do not 
 claim perfection. We do not trust ourselves to the ut- 
 most. We would be ashamed to have another know us 
 altogether. Whether then we look at ourselves or others, 
 we cannot escape the conclusion that there are limits to 
 humanity and that God only is true. How often he is 
 spoken of as the true God. John in the intercessory 
 prayer of our Lord records this testimony. 
 
 " This is life eternal that they might know thee the 
 true God." Paul writes to the Thessalonians as those 
 who have " turned from idols to serve the living and true 
 God." And John declares of the believer in Jesus that 
 he has set his " seal that God is true." God is true as 
 opposed to unreal and true as opposed to false, true to 
 reality and true to his word, capable of fulfilling the 
 functions of Deity and incapable of any slightest varia- 
 tion from the right line of uprightness and truth. Jesus 
 speaks of him exultingly — " He that sent me is true." 
 
 And yet the very same phrase is here and elsewhere 
 applied to Jesus. " We are in him that is true, even in 
 his Son Jesus Christ." John, the Revelator, thus prefaces 
 the message to the angel of the church in Philadelphia 
 (3-: n). These things saith he that is holy, he that is 
 true." And in the vision which he records in the 9th 
 chapter concerning the great world-war, the great Com- 
 mander, of whom it is written — " His name is called the 
 Word of God," and " His vesture was dipped in blood," 
 is described in these words — " I saw heaven opened and 
 
256 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 behold a white horse; and he that sat sat upon him was 
 called Faithful and true and in righteousness he doth 
 judge and make war." 
 
 It is the Captain of our salvation who is thus charac- 
 terized. He is one with the Father, having the same sub- 
 stance and essential attributes. He was and is to come 
 the True One — who is the eternal Son of God and very 
 God and fitly described as " Him that is true." 
 
 Every word that he has spoken may be relied on to 
 the utmost. Is it a word of threatening? Be assured it 
 is no idle threat, no empty bravado such as foolish men 
 sometimes indulge in. If he says — "He that believeth 
 not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abid- 
 eth on him," the dread alternative will come to pass. It 
 must be so or else his word of promise will be weakened 
 by the same process that weakens his word of menace. 
 But no, his word is true and whatever be the nature of 
 the message, it will stand forever. Does he say — " I will 
 give you rest " . . . " Peace I leave with you, my peace 
 give I unto you." — Lo, I am with you alway even to the 
 end of the world." — " In my Father's house are many 
 mansions; if it were not so I would have told you; I 
 go to prepare a place for you." Does he say these things? 
 Then doubt not, for not one jot or tittle of all that he has 
 spoken shall fail. They will all be fulfilled because they 
 are the words of Him that is true, of the faithful and 
 true Witness. 
 
 What an invaluable friend he is! He has spoken, but 
 that is not all. He lives — lives today and ever lives to 
 befriend those who trust him. 
 
 You have had maybe one friend that was another 
 self to you, that was better and truer to you than you 
 could have been to yourself. Mountains and seas may 
 have divided you, fellowship may have been broken by 
 long separation, diverse aims and pursuits and relations 
 may have exerted a divisive influence, yet confidence was 
 undiminished and fellowship was eagerly resumed as soon 
 
Him That Is True 257 
 
 as you came together. What was the secret of it ? Why 
 did you confide in another so serenely? Because you 
 knew him to be true, often tried and always true. 
 
 You have had other friends maybe and have learned 
 their limitations. Their limitations are in their very na- 
 ture. They are not true to you to the utmost because 
 they cannot be. The work of the world would scarcely 
 go on if we would at once break with everyone who has 
 failed us at some point. We take men and women as 
 they are and go on with our associated endeavors count- 
 ing them to be friends, who within their own limitations 
 are friendly and true. 
 
 Yet we feel the need of some one better and truer 
 than they — a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. 
 Very rarely we find one among our fellows who rises 
 superior in our estimation to the mass of men. But we 
 find such a friend pre-eminently in the covenant-keeping 
 Redeemer and rejoice in him with an unspeakable joy. 
 Judas may betray and Peter may deny and even John 
 may forsake, but Jesus is — " He that is true. We lean 
 on Him with unshaken confidence. We fly from the 
 false many to the faithful One, who is the same, yester- 
 day and today and forever. 
 
 But what of Jesus as a man? As a man he must be 
 true. There can be no schism in the person of the God- 
 man. His human nature was real yet sinless. It must 
 be so else the union with his divine person would be 
 most unseemly. Such incongruity between holy God and 
 sinful humanity would be monstrous. But the supposi- 
 tion is vain ; no semblance of inconsistency appears. The 
 impression he made on his own generation and on the 
 generations since then is that he was a perfect man. In 
 the face of this general verdict of the ages it would take 
 some hardihood to pick flaws in the character of the man 
 Christ Jesus. Even those who stumble at his divinity, 
 will not deny or impugn his veracity or fidelity or purity 
 as a man. 
 
258 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 What did his contemporaries say of him? I think 
 the Herodians, however insincere themselves, uttered the 
 prevailing sentiment and the real truth when they said — 
 " We know that Thou art true and speakest the words of 
 truth and carest not for any man." 
 
 What did they say who were close to him? The con- 
 fidence of Mary, his mother, is shown by her command 
 to the servants at the marriage of Cana — " Whatsoever 
 he saith unto you, do it." Judas charged himself with 
 the betrayal of innocence. It is as if he said in the words 
 of the prophet Isaiah — " He did no violence, neither was 
 any deceit in his mouth." John the Baptist instinctively 
 shrank from the baptism of Jesus, and said — " The 
 latchet of his shoes I am not worthy to unlcose." Peter 
 looking back over the years of intimacy with his Master, 
 wrote in his first letter — " He did no sin, neither was 
 guile found in his mouth." No insincere praise, no 
 words of double meaning intended to mislead, no exag- 
 gerated statements, no suppression of a part of the truth, 
 no falsehoods however petty or harmless or conventional, 
 ever escaped from his lips. To all who accept the New 
 Testament record, it is simply unthinkable that Jesus 
 should have prevaricated or broken faith or deceived, 
 that anything crooked or tortuous should have marred 
 his straightforward, unspotted course. His very silences 
 were true. Carlyle said — " It seems to me the finest 
 nations of the world — the English and American — are 
 going all away into wind and tongue. Silence is the 
 eternal duty of a man." Jesus knew how and when to 
 be silent. He sometimes hungered to be alone and with- 
 drew from the crowd. He sometimes kept silent when 
 speech was expected. He was too true to be casting 
 pearls before swine. He would not speak to gratify the 
 whim of the flippant, cunning Herod, nor to assist Pilate 
 in finding a loophole of escape from his self-wrought 
 entanglement. More than one evangelist records that 
 the governor marvelled greatly and no wonder. Jesus' 
 
Him That Is True 259 
 
 self-poise, his refusal to waste words on a conscience- 
 less court, his calm silence was a rebuke to Pilate's in- 
 sincerity and a wonder to his worldly mind. 
 
 There is yet another test we may apply to Jesus — • 
 the test of his own consciousness. And certainly there 
 is no failure at this point. He knew that he was true. 
 His whole course implies this. How outspoken he is 
 in regard to the claims of truth ! How he insists on the 
 inner virtues of the heart! How his indignation 
 thunders against the hypocrites! How often he appeals 
 to the present scrutiny of the Heart-searcher! How 
 often to the future revelation of the secrets of men in the 
 great day! He could not do all these things without 
 coming face to face with reality. Either he was con- 
 scious of his own integrity, or with reverence be it spoken 
 he was an imposter and hypocrite. Who can hesitate in 
 the presence of such an alternative. The thought of 
 hypocrisy is blasphemous and beyond the belief of the most 
 superficial student of the life of Christ. He knew that 
 he was true. He made no confession of sin. He 
 challenged his traducers — Which of you convinceth me 
 of sin? He swerved not once nor in the least particular 
 from the path of perfect truth and uprightness. 
 
 I have read recently that the most accurate clock in 
 the world is in the basement of the Berlin observatory. 
 It has been running since 1865 and often for three months 
 at a time with a daily deviation of not more than fifteen- 
 thousandths of a second. But this is not accurate enough 
 to suit astronomers and so it is put in an air-tight under- 
 ground room so as to reduce the variation to its lowest 
 point. Such an accurate measuring instrument is Jesus 
 in the sky of the human soul — nay, even such accuracy 
 does not approach that of Jesus. He varies not the least 
 from the moral standard of the universe. Whoever 
 regulates his life by the example of Jesus will make no 
 wrong calculations and take no wrong steps. My young 
 friends, keep your eye of contemplation and faith and 
 
260 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 love — on this perfect moral and spiritual regulator — 
 on Him that is true and you will be true yourself. 
 
 Let us consider the second place. 
 
 II. The Christian's participation in the life and char- 
 acter of Christ, " We are in Him that is true, even in his 
 Son Jesus Christ." 
 
 " In Christo " has been called the monogram of St. 
 Paul, so frequently does it appear in his epistles. Thirty- 
 three times the very phrase occurs and many times more 
 its equivalents. It shows how much the life of believers 
 lies in union with Christ. They are as close to Him as 
 the members of the body to the head, as close as the 
 thinking brain to the movement of my hand in gesture 
 or my lips in speech. They are as close to him as the 
 living branch to the living vine, whose continuous out- 
 flow of nourishment gives support and vigor to the 
 branch. Separation from Jesus means arrest of Christian 
 life altogether. Jesus in his discourse to his disciples 
 says: "Severed from me ye can do nothing." The 
 early Christians understood this and traced every good 
 thing they experienced to this source. In the Roman 
 catacombs, the frequent inscription on the tombs, rudely 
 written yet with sufficient clearness, is " in Christo," with 
 various accompaniments such as these — " In peace and 
 in Christ — Accepted in Christ — Hope in Christ — A 
 lovable and holy person in Christ — Sleeps in Christ." 
 
 This reveals what was and is the keynote of Christian- 
 ity. This is what it is to be a Christian. Primarily and 
 chiefly and forever it is to be in Christ Jesus. What- 
 ever other notes we sound let them be held in harmony 
 with this keynote. It must not be smothered by forms, 
 nor lost amid pledges and promises, nor dissipated amid 
 the endless branches of a complete organization. Over 
 all these and through all these let it ring out clear and 
 strong, for out of fellowship with the living Christ come 
 all things good and great in Christian life. 
 
Him That Is True 261 
 
 'Tis life, whereof our nerves are scant 
 O Life, not Death for which we pant, 
 More life and fuller is what we want. 
 
 Our Saviour is not only an example — a revealer of 
 what is highest in human character, but a character — 
 making power in the human soul. Oneness with him 
 means participation in his virtues. The writer to the 
 Hebrew Christians says — " We are made partakers of 
 Christ Jesus." There is a spiritual continuity between 
 him and us, so that his very nature flows into us. " I 
 live," says St. Paul, yet not I but Christ liveth in me and 
 the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of 
 the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." 
 
 How may I maintain this spiritual continuity so that 
 his life may become mine? By believing in him, by exer- 
 cising my faith upon him with ever fresh vigor. We may 
 not be able to eliminate wholly the mystical element 
 from the spiritual commerce between Christ and us. Yet 
 the means of it are clear and the results of it are of 
 supreme practical importance. The whole power of the 
 Christian life lies here and we grow in holiness as we 
 increase in intimacy with our Lord. 
 
 Perhaps we may be helped to a better understanding 
 of the power of Christ in us by considering the influence 
 of a merely human fellowship. How is it that associa- 
 tion leads to assimilation? Why is companionship such 
 a tremendous force in shaping character? Solomon says 
 it in the strongest way and the widest observation will 
 confirm his words — " He that walketh with wise men 
 shall be wise; but the companion of fools shall be de- 
 stroyed." Whether we understand it or not we know 
 the fact and make it the plea for elevating friendships. 
 If we make a companion of Jesus, if we find delight in 
 study of his life and sayings, if we trust and love him as 
 our own Matchless Friend, if we keep in close touch with 
 
262 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 him and meet him as often as we may in the places he has 
 appointed, by this natural law we cannot help becoming 
 like him. " But we all beholding as in a mirror, the 
 glory of the Lord; are transformed into the same im- 
 age from glory to glory; even as from the Lord the 
 Spirit." The very perfection of the heavenly life will be 
 attained in this way according to the word of John — 
 " We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is." 
 Dr. Deems, long pastor of " The Church of the 
 Strangers," in New York, wrote to his friend when he 
 was past his seventy years in this glowing way — "To 
 my increasing love for the personality of Jesus Christ I 
 attribute all that is sweet and good in the present condi- 
 tion of my life. Increasingly he seems to become the 
 rarest, finest gentleman I have ever known; the noblest, 
 truest, most satisfying Friend I have ever had; and so 
 grand a conqueror of all worlds that I am ready to stay 
 with him in any world or go with him to any world." 
 Who can estimate the transforming efficacy of such a 
 fellowship ? 
 
 This assimilating process will advance most in regard 
 to those virtues on which we dwell much in our thoughts. 
 This afternoon we have meditated on a trait of Jesus' 
 character that is central and pervasive and that ought 
 to be central and pervasive in our lives. We are in Him 
 that is true. I wish we might get so near to the heart 
 of our Redeemer in this direction that we would get the 
 rhythm of it in our hearts — ours beating in unison with 
 his. I verily believe that there is nothing that so seri- 
 ously vitiates a character as falsehood and that no virtue 
 is so far-reaching and profound in its influence as sin- 
 cerity. The man who lies has a worm at the root of 
 every virtue he seems to possess and there is always 
 ground of hope of him who scorns a lie. Even one clear- 
 cut departure from the King's highway of truth often 
 cuts a sluice in the character out of which may flow every 
 good thing. How often the element of pretense spoils 
 
Him That Is True 265 
 
 the grain of the wood in a character otherwise exemplary! 
 How often a single false step starts one on a career of 
 mendacity and trickery, partizanship and sham. 
 
 You have read George Eliot's " Romola," in which 
 Tito is an important character. He is an attractive, 
 brilliant young man, making many friends. Then comes 
 a moment when he must make a choice between selfish 
 ease and self-sacrifice. We see him entering into serious 
 colloquy with himself. Shall he expend the price of 
 gems on himself or for the ransom of one to whom he 
 owed all that he had become? It was no very decisive 
 thing that he did and there were very good and plausible 
 reasons for the doing of it. Yet it was the beginning of 
 falseness at the core of his being. He began by juggling 
 with his own mind, yielding to the " impulse to conceal 
 half the fact " from himself as well as from others. And 
 then in the expressive phrase of the reviewer his " talent 
 for concealment " fast developed into something less 
 neutral and then as a " virulent acid appeared eating its 
 rapid way through all the tissues of sentiment " — of 
 gratitude, of honor, even of humanity. As one has well 
 said — the moral of the story of Tito lies, not in the vivid 
 story of his outward fortunes, or in the poetic justice 
 and the tragic suddenness of his death, but in the un- 
 folding step by step of the deterioration of a brilliant and 
 gifted nature through the preference of what is pleasant 
 to what is right." First the shutting of the eye on half 
 the fact, then a growing facility in concealment, than an 
 all-devouring acid of selfishness and at last complete moral 
 ruin. May it not be the record of the life of any one of 
 
 you 
 
 I commend to you the fellowship of Him that is true 
 as a sufficient shield against such a course and such a 
 fate. As one has said — " His very company kills insin- 
 cerity." That which is true in Him reinforces what so- 
 ever things are true in us. " He that abideth in me and 
 I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." 
 
264 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 We are gathering about the broken body of our Lord. 
 We are about to enter into communion with Him at His 
 table. It seems fitting that he should be the theme of 
 our thought at the very threshold of our privilege. 
 
 What is Jesus to you? I trust he has already won 
 your heart in faith and love. Is he your Beloved; have 
 you already seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
 Christ ? I wish that every one of you might catch the ex- 
 pression of his face that is contained in our text and 
 carry it with you to the end of your days. 
 
 I can appreciate the feelings of the Italian painter 
 who was making a picture of the Last Supper. One 
 by one he painted the Apostles, giving expression to his 
 own conception of their respective characters. Then he 
 began to study the character of the Saviour, taking up 
 his attributes in detail, spurring his imagination to the 
 great task of duly setting him forth. At last he threw 
 down his pencil in despair and exclaimed — " The face of 
 Jesus cannot be painted." I do not wonder at his despair. 
 
 I have never taken much interest in a composite por- 
 trait in which the artist has combined the faces of a 
 given collection of men in one. It looks characterless as 
 compared with the distinctive character of each of the 
 faces lost in the combination. So it seems to me it is not 
 possible to bring out the whole character of Christ in a 
 single face. He is so many-sided, pre-eminent in so many 
 things that the attempt to produce them all in one is hope- 
 less if we would give adequate expression to any. This 
 afternoon we have sought to hold your gaze on a single 
 feature of that face, a single ray from that gleaming 
 character. If the artist were painting a portrait of Jesus 
 as suggested by our text he would present a countenance 
 full of strength, frank, thoughtful, earnest, honest as the 
 day, transparent as the crystal. Let me urge you to 
 carry this mental picture somewhere near your heart. 
 Think of Him henceforth as the One that is True and 
 strive to be like him. What the home needs, what society 
 
Him That Is True 265 
 
 needs, what the church needs, what the country needs, 
 is men and women that are true — true to God, true to 
 themselves and true to one another. 
 
 Trueness is the richest charm of woman. Trueness is 
 the noblest crown of man. May it adorn every one of 
 you in all the relations of life. Be what you would seem 
 to be. Clarify your vision, simplify your needs, shun hol- 
 lowness and vanity, be true, be true. For we are in 
 Him that is true even in His Son Jesus Christ. 
 
SERMON XXI, 1906 
 
 RECRUITS FOR THE ARMY OF THE LORD 
 
 Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy power 
 in holy array: out of the womb of the morning thou hast the 
 dew of thy youth. — Ps. Ho. 
 
 THIS psalm is clearly Messianic. Perowne says — 
 " It is more frequently cited by the New Testament 
 writers than any other single portion of the ancient 
 scriptures." And the citations always have a clear ap- 
 plication to Jesus as the Messiah. When the Pharisees 
 and Sadducees buried their differences for the time and 
 joined hands in an assault upon Jesus, the last word with 
 which he crushed them into silence was taken from this 
 psalm. Read the swift record of it as given by Matthew 
 (22:42-46) — "What think ye of the Christ? Whose 
 son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. He 
 saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call 
 him Lord, saying — The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou 
 on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. 
 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And 
 no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst 
 any man from that day forth ask him any more ques- 
 tions." And Peter in his discourse on the day of Pente- 
 cost nails with this scripture his argument for the 
 Messiahship of Jesus — " For David is not ascended into 
 the heavens; but he saith himself, The Lord said unto 
 my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy 
 foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel 
 know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus 
 whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ." So, too, 
 the author of the letter to the Hebrews quotes this psalm 
 
 266 
 
Recruits for the Army of the Lord 267 
 
 no less than five times in the course of his comparison of 
 Christianity and Judaism. If Peter and Paul and other 
 New Testament writers and likewise our Lord himself 
 appeal to this psalm as authoritative and ascribe it to 
 David as its inspired author, surely we do well to study 
 its meaning and accept the lessons and promptings it gives. 
 
 Christ is the theme of this psalm — Christ the exalted, 
 reigning King, " who being the brightness of God's glory, 
 and the express image of his person and upholding all 
 things by the word of his power when he had by him- 
 self purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the 
 Majesty on high." His royal right is disputed by wicked 
 men and devils and he wages righteous war to establish 
 his claim. Around his standard rally heroic souls in 
 every time and clime, won from the ranks of his enemies 
 by the winning, melting, subduing power of his grace. 
 They wage war along with Him against sin and Satan. 
 They submit themselves to Him and join with Him to 
 make conquest of the world, to take possession of thrones 
 and principalities and powers, institutions and customs 
 and laws. They are reconstructing society on Christian 
 lines and seeking to break the yoke from the neck of 
 every slave of vice and misrule, of superstition and dark- 
 ness, of evil inclination and habit and prejudice. 
 
 Already has the rod of his strength gone forth out of 
 Zion. When the day of Pentecost was fully come his 
 saving power was manifested in the conversion of multi- 
 tudes in a day. It began in Jerusalem but did not 
 end there. It began in Jerusalem and went forth 
 into all the world to reclaim it. The marching orders 
 of the King had in view the dethronement of that old 
 usurper — the prince of this world — in all places of his 
 dominion. 
 
 And so the scepter of his power stretched out over 
 Asia Minor and Greece and Rome under the leadership 
 of the Apostle Paul. It renewed its sway over the lands 
 of Europe under Luther and Melancthon and Calvin and 
 
268 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Beza and Knox. It touched the dry bones of Israel in 
 the days of Wesley and Whitfield and a great host of 
 valiant defenders of the faith sprang into life. It has 
 kept alive and vigorous the spirit of godliness in in- 
 dividual souls and homes and congregations and countries, 
 reviving the saints of God and subduing sinners under 
 his yoke. It is extending its rule into the islands of the 
 sea and into the great unevangelized continents of Asia 
 and Africa today. 
 
 Will the conquest ever be complete? Will the army 
 of the King be furnished with recruits for such a world 
 campaign? — world-wide and world deep, deep as its sin 
 and wide as its domain? Will there be enlistments to 
 meet the requirements of the service? Will they have 
 the spirit, the consecration and courage to take up the 
 conflict where they are or to go where they are sent? 
 The answer to all such inquiries may be heard in our 
 text — " Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day 
 of thy power in holy array; out of the womb of the 
 morning thou hast the dew of thy youth." 
 
 I. The soldiers of the army of the Lord are mustered 
 in and endued for service in the day of Christ's power. 
 They are enlisted through the agency of the Holy Spirit. 
 We refer not now chiefly to conversion, though that 
 prime experience is certainly due to the power of the 
 quickening life-giving Spirit. It may likewise be said that 
 the germ of all subsequent consecration to the service 
 of God is contained in the genuine conversion of the soul 
 to God. And yet there are those who in the judgment 
 of charity are converted, who are not warriors for the 
 Lord. It would seem like irony to call them soldiers of 
 the cross. They undergo no discipline, they endure no 
 hardship, they undertake no duty. They are at ease in 
 Zion, they stand for no principle of righteousness, they 
 are not known as defenders of the faith or supporters 
 of the cause of Christ, they are not enlisted to be first, 
 last and all the time on the side of their Master. Yet 
 
Recruits for the Army of the Lord 269 
 
 their names are on the roster of the Lord's host and they 
 are encamped with his followers. 
 
 When the army of the Lord is mobilized for service 
 the people of God are not only enlisted but empowered. 
 The Apostles, though for three years they were under 
 the coaching and instruction of the Lord himself were 
 commanded to tarry in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy 
 Spirit. They had preparation but they still lacked power 
 and, therefore, the Master said to them — " Ye shall re- 
 ceive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." 
 
 Power appears in very various ways. It may roar like 
 a lion, or it may come upon us as silently as a sunbeam. 
 It may shake the earth's surface as if it were a jelly and 
 not a solid crust, casting down lofty structures and towers 
 and domes of human achievement in one indiscriminate, 
 valueless mass, or it may lift a great weight of rock by 
 the invisible enginery of the frost. So is the Spirit's 
 power variously manifested. It may be in " the mighty 
 rushing wind " or in the " still, small voice." It may 
 appear in the crowded assembly where Torrey speaks and 
 Alexander sings, or it may be in the hand-picking ministry 
 of the house to house visitor, or in the quiet life of a 
 godly mother. It may happen that a single bed-ridden 
 saint has more real power than goes forth from a skill- 
 fully managed convention. Some of you will remember 
 the story told by Mr. S. D. Gordon in the quiet talks 
 he gave us some years ago, the story of a confirmed in- 
 valid in London, who for two years had been praying 
 for a revival in the cold, dead, church to which she be- 
 longed. One day her sister went home from Church and 
 told her a man from America by the name of Moody 
 preached that morning. She simply answered — " Our 
 church is going to be revived ; for two years I have been 
 praying for the coming of that man." The revival came 
 and the place of power was in that sick woman's chamber, 
 all unknown to the world. 
 
 Let us not think that the power of the Holy Ghost 
 
270 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 is for the revivalist alone, for the great meeting only, 
 for the ministry and the missionary. Surely it is for these. 
 But not less surely is it for every Christian in every place, 
 in every good calling, in every set of circumstances, with 
 every kind of gift. Let us every one be ambitious for 
 power, power to do good in the world, power to glorify 
 Christ with whatever gifts we have. 
 
 Neither let us think of the day of power as some day 
 of great things in the Church's life, some splendid day 
 of the Spirit's power when a mighty electric thrill ran 
 through a vast audience and stirred it to enthusiasm and 
 action. The day of his power may be for a single in- 
 dividual. 
 
 You love to tell of some great concourse of people, 
 moved as one man to act for a great cause. Perhaps it 
 was a day when the separated fragments of the Church 
 of God came together in happy union and their jubilant 
 praise was like the sound of many waters. Perhaps it 
 was a day when the hosts of freedom assembled and in a 
 solemn silence pledged themselves to God and one another 
 to break the chains of slavery. Perhaps it was a great 
 convention of laymen, coming, under the Spirit's guid- 
 ance to know and feel their relation to the Kingdom of 
 God and their responsibility for it. " These were the 
 days of his power," you say and say truly. But not any 
 more so than when he comes to a single soul with a great 
 blessing or a great conviction or purpose. It was the day 
 of God's power when Joel Stratton laid his loving hand 
 on John B. Gough and won that genius of oratory to 
 the cause of temperance. It was the day of God's power 
 for Wendell Phillips when, at 25 years of age, he horri- 
 fied the aristocracy of Boston by identifying himself with 
 the odious Abolitionists and when not long after he made 
 the walls of Faneuil Hall ring with his volcanic eloquence 
 in defense of liberty. And so the power of God may 
 come upon you personally. It may be in a situation alto- 
 gether inconspicuous. It may make no appeal to your 
 
Recruits for the Army of the Lord 271 
 
 love of display. It may be an impulse to pray, a sugges- 
 tion to speak to another, an infilling of strength to bear 
 a heavy load. It may inflame your zeal to labor or put 
 iron in your blood to stand. 
 
 The day of power is here and now. The center of 
 power is at God's right hand. Thence issues the Spirit 
 to abide with us forever. Do we wish to be in connec- 
 tion with this infinite source of power? Do we crave 
 it? Do we pray for it? 
 
 More than anything else we need it. We know better 
 than we practice. We talk better than we live. We 
 seem better than we are. Our show window is larger 
 than our stock of goods. It is not so much more knowl- 
 edge and better speech that we need, but more power, 
 power to will and do, to resist winsome, winning wrong, 
 to speak the right word when speech is the bravest action, 
 power divine to support our feebleness, to chasten our 
 earthliness, to thrust us out from ourselves. 
 
 To be like Him ; to keep 
 
 Unspotted from the world ; to reap 
 
 But where he leads ; to think, 
 
 To dream, to hope, as one who would but drink 
 
 Of purity and grow 
 
 More like the Christ ; to go 
 
 Through time's sweet labyrinths pure and brave and true ; 
 
 To stand sin's tests ; to dare, to do 
 
 For Him though all the price 
 
 Re stained in dye of sacrifice. 
 
 This were to be 
 
 Sustained by his infinity 
 
 And given 
 
 A foretaste of the ecstasy of heaven. 
 
 — George Kringle. 
 
 II. The soldiers of the army of the Lord are volun- 
 teers. They offer themselves willingly in the day of 
 
272 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 God's power." No one is compelled to be a subject of 
 our King, nor to enter the ranks of his professed follow- 
 ers. By their own free and hearty choice they rally 
 to his standard. 
 
 Nothing could be more foreign to the spirit of his 
 Kingdom than conscription, conversion by force. Men 
 of the Saviour's day sought to make him such a King 
 but he refused. Sometimes his followers in later ages 
 so far forgot his orders as to make conquests in his name 
 by force of arms. But the real genius of the Gospel 
 is altogether different. The Kingdom of Christ is a 
 Kingdom of the truth. He is the Truth — the living 
 truth — its personal embodiment and when he is fitly 
 presented he wins the hearts of men. Persuasion is the 
 instrument to be employed and not compulsion. Men 
 are to be drawn and not driven. 
 
 It was a new thing on the earth. It did not, as the 
 Ethnic religions, depend on the power of the state to give 
 it sway. It was false to itself whenever it so allied itself 
 with the state. Uniformity of belief was purchased at 
 too great a price when paid for by surrender of the 
 liberty of the individual to search the scriptures for him- 
 self, to join with others in adherence to the truth as they 
 found it. Christ makes men free. He does not oppress 
 but liberates. He appeals to the conscience and the rea- 
 son and the larger interests of men. His own ministry 
 was a preaching one. He says, distinctly, — " Therefore 
 came I forth" (Mark 1:38). His commission to his 
 recruiting officers does not say — " Go subdue them by 
 arms," but, " Go spread the Gospel." The means of 
 their subjugation is speech not force. When they sur- 
 render, it is a glad surrender, with the full consent of 
 every element of their being, with faith and love and 
 joy as they survey the excellencies and glories of their 
 new Master. What a blessed promise is that of Isaiah 
 and how gloriously it has been fulfilled in New Testa- 
 ment times — " I will pour water upon him that is thirsty 
 
Recruits for the Army of the Lord 273 
 
 and floods upon the dry ground ; I will pour my spirit 
 upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring; and 
 they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the 
 water courses. One shall say, I am the Lord's; and 
 another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and 
 surname himself by the name of Israel." Isa. 44:3—5. 
 Their experience is as spontaneous as the growing grass 
 of the springtime or the willows that shoot up on the 
 edges of the stream. Their words are the outbursts of 
 genuine emotion as they claim the Lord as their own and 
 write it down as a perpetual convenant not to be broken. 
 
 The soldiers of the cross are not merely willing but de- 
 termined to serve Christ. They will to offer themselves 
 unto God. Their decision is not negative but positive. 
 It is not consent wrung out by undue pressure but pur- 
 pose born of conviction of mind and heart. It may 
 spring into existence like a flash or it may come slowly to 
 its dominion. But when it is reached it kindles the whole 
 being into flame or burns with a steady glow. It may 
 not be noisily in evidence and yet be burning intensely 
 within. It may be felt by those who come near rather 
 than displayed to those who are afar. Beecher explains 
 the power of the apostles by their zeal and says — " They 
 were hot all over and everywhere men caught fire on their 
 sacred touch." They were constrained by the love of 
 Christ to love him and they compassed sea and land to 
 gather others to his standard. 
 
 Perhaps no man of the last century gained such mastery 
 over men as Napoleon, such personal devotion from those 
 who followed his fortunes. Yet these words are at- 
 tributed to him and seem to be authentic — " I know men 
 and I tell you that Jesus Christ was not a man — There 
 is between Christianity and other religions the distance of 
 infinity. 
 
 " Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and myself all 
 founded enterprises. But on what did we rest the 
 creatures of our genius? Upon sheer force. Jesus 
 
274 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 Christ alone founded his empire upon love; and at the 
 hour millions of men will die for him." 
 
 Are these words true? Yes, there are men and 
 women in this age, as there have been in ages past, who 
 are willing to die for Him. There are living heroes 
 as well as those of precious memory. Some are on the 
 firing line, enduring hardness as good soldiers of Jesus 
 Christ and others are in the supporting column and others 
 are chafing in reserve and all alike are filled with a con- 
 suming zeal. It is the fulfilment of the word of the 
 Baptist — " He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost 
 and with fire." In the day of the Spirit's power there 
 will be more fiery zeal, more fervency of spirit, more 
 love for Christ and souls of men, more intensity of de- 
 votion to the Kingdom of Christ. Of bodily exercise 
 we have enough — it is more godliness we want. Of 
 ecclesiastical machinery we have enough — it is the 
 dynamic of real earnestness we should seek for. 
 
 Some seem to think they are doing a great thing, even 
 complimenting Christ by giving their names to him. 
 They come, as John Berridge the witty contemporary of 
 Whitfield says — " like a coxcomb thinking if he is some- 
 thing so are they." Their profession is a new feather 
 in their own cap instead of an oath of allegiance to 
 Christ. They are holiday soldiers, skulkers when the 
 fight is on, with no real fire in their bones, no real con- 
 secration to Jesus. Heaven forbid that we should be of 
 this number! For very shame come out from among 
 them! 
 
 You are willing to be known as a Christian. Are 
 you as honestly willing to have Christ reign over you? 
 Will you listen for the orders of the Captain of your 
 salvation and obey? In view of all the possible demands 
 of his service, do you declare your readiness to let Him 
 have his way with you? 
 
 III. The soldiers of the army of the Lord are attrac- 
 tively equipped. They offer themselves willingly in holy 
 
Recruits for the Army of the Lord 275 
 
 array. Equipment usually includes habiliments and arms 
 and in this connection stress is laid upon the former. 
 They are clad in garments of a priest, indicating some- 
 thing of the nature of their warfare. They are priests 
 as well as soldiers, not cruel but gentle, ministering in- 
 stead of mangling, leading men back to God by the grace 
 of their own lives. 
 
 That which gives them their attractive power is their 
 holy array. It differs from the array of display. It 
 comes from within instead of being put on from without. 
 Herod's royal apparel could not long conceal the mass 
 of moral and physical corruption that was beneath it. 
 Jesus on the other hand needed not the gorgeous robe 
 
 Ipf Herod's mockery, for the glory of his matchless 
 character shone through every outward covering. Jesus 
 said of the lilies at his feet — " Solomon in all his glory 
 was not arrayed like one of these." With his clear in- 
 light into common things he saw what others failed to 
 see. The glory of the lily was of its very nature, coming 
 out of its very heart. But the glory of Solomon was a 
 thing of gold and gems that might be laid aside and, alas, 
 was no true index of the inward glory of the man. Holy 
 array of this deep, inwrought kind is the distinguishing 
 mark of the Christian warrior. It attracts others to the 
 cross of Christ. By its means he wins; by lack of it he 
 loses even where he seems to win. 
 
 We are loath to lose the old phrase — " the beauties 
 of holiness," even though its place is taken in the revised 
 version by such elegant words as " holy array." There 
 is a pleasure in the discernment of beauty in all its kinds. 
 It is sought and prized as a thing of value. No incense 
 of flattery is so grateful to many as to overhear the words 
 of admiration — How beautiful! It may be beauty of 
 form or carriage, or beauty of dress or color, or beauty 
 of expression beaming forth from the windows of the 
 soul, or charm of manner or of intellect. But higher 
 than all these is beauty of character and highest of all in 
 
276 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 character is the beauty of holiness. To be true and 
 tender and just and pure — in short, to be holy is the 
 very acme of beauty — the beauty of God. To be this 
 and yet unconscious of it, to be humble as well as holy — 
 this is the finest and best equipment for the service of 
 Christ. This is the " fine linen, clean and white," which 
 is the "righteousness of saints" Rev. 19:8-14. My 
 friends, there is no such a thing as conquest for Christ 
 by unrighteousness; to do wrong is always and every- 
 where to fail. God may overrule the wrong-doing of 
 his people, but it is none the less a hindrance. Jacob 
 would have been a better instrument of God, if he had 
 never been a wicked supplanter. Lot's compromising at- 
 titude did not regenerate Sodom and Samson with his 
 manifold faults and sins left the work of deliverance for 
 Israel half-done. On the other hand, Caleb who fol- 
 lowed the Lord fully was mighty in driving out the 
 enemies of Israel and permanently establishing himself 
 in his inheritance. 
 
 " Anything to win! " will not do in any campaign for 
 the Lord. It is a devil's maxim anyway in any kind of 
 enterprise. In all their undertakings the children of God 
 are not bound to win, but to be worthy to win. And in 
 the enterprises of Christ there is nothing but failure and 
 weakness whenever we trail our flag in the mire of sin. 
 
 Do you think you can win men to Christ by lowering 
 your standard of morals to the level of theirs. No! 
 No! Your thought is vain, you may spread yourself over 
 a wider surface, but you destroy your influence for good 
 and maybe tip the scale of influence to the nether side. 
 
 Mr. Speer in his sketches of " men who overcame " 
 calls Henry Camp of Yale the " knightly soldier," not 
 only because he fell in one of the hard-fought battles 
 of the Civil War, but because of his soldierly qualities 
 as a Christian. A brother officer tells that on one oc- 
 casion they were playing chess together when one of the 
 
Recruits for the Army of the Lord 277 
 
 number used impure language and further says — " Camp 
 blushed like a maiden and then as the same style of re- 
 mark was repeated, he arose from his seat, saying, " Let 
 us find another place; the air is very foul here." A re- 
 buke tactfully and vigorously given and well deserved. 
 One of his college friends said of him — " All of us who 
 were about him perceived that Henry Camp was a 
 Christian who followed Christ. All things that were 
 true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, shone in 
 his walk and conversation." Mr. Speer, himself, says — 
 " He was graduated from college in i860 with high 
 honor; but what is more, with the deep love of men 
 who had seen no flaws in him and some of whom he had 
 won to the Saviour." I commend to you college men 
 his example. It teaches this great lesson that whoever 
 without angularity yet with straightforward sincerity 
 pursues unswervingly a right life will win the final re- 
 spect of his fellows and exert the mightiest influence upon 
 them for good. 
 
 IV. The conquering army of the Lord is made up of 
 those in the dew of their youth — young men and 
 maidens. However variously these somewhat intricate 
 phrases are disentangled all discover in them substan- 
 tially the same thought. The youthful warriors are com- 
 pared to the dew of the morning. In the day of God's 
 power they shall be like the dewdrops in multitude in 
 sparkling beauty and in refreshing influence making the 
 desert earth to rejoice and blossom as the rose. 
 
 The armies of the zuorld are made up of young men. 
 Those who conquered the rebellion were the young men 
 of the time, the great majority of the soldiers ranging in 
 age from sixteen to thirty. Many of the scarred 
 veterans were mere striplings forty-five years ago. That 
 so many are yet with us is evidence enough of this fact. 
 Always a great war draws heavily upon the youth of the 
 country. 
 
278 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 More and more, as life grows complex and strenuous, 
 the world's work as well as its warfare is done by young 
 men. 
 
 Need we wonder then if in the great moral war — 
 the war in behalf of the Kingdom of Christ, the chief 
 dependence must be upon the youth of the Church, young 
 women not less than young men, young women as often 
 as otherwise being in the van of the conflict. Years ago 
 I heard an eminent minister say — " The best work of 
 the world is never paid for." I often think of it as I 
 see the unofficial, unpaid, self-sacrificing labors of young 
 women in Sabbath Schools and temperance organizations 
 and missionary societies and other lines of Christian work. 
 
 The characteristics of youth eminently fit them for all 
 kinds of aggressive activity. Of course, there is a place 
 for everyone of whatever age in the service of the Lord. 
 There is need too of wisdom as well as fire and energy. 
 I like to think there is some good meaning in Oliver 
 Wendell Holmes' definition of youth as " something in the 
 soul which has no more to do with the color of the hair 
 than the vein of gold in a rock has to do with the grass 
 a thousand feet above it," or as another says, that, " a 
 man is only as old as he feels." And yet we must admit 
 that youth is in the blood as well as in the soul and a 
 man is likely to feel as old as he is. Youth is optimistic, 
 enthusiastic, energetic. It fears not to project great 
 enterprises; it is brave in the face of dangers. Says Dr. 
 Parker in his own vivid way — "What is my life? A 
 youthhood bright with cloudless hope; a passion; an eye 
 at a telescope — a wind southerly and rich with promises 
 and blessings; a wild strength; a scornful laugh at diffi- 
 culty; a challenge to presumptuous rivalry; a victory ere 
 the fight begins." What a bright picture of a young 
 man's hopeful outlook on life! Let this "wild strength 
 be harnessed to the chariots of God. Let our young men 
 and women in the spirit of their years, undertake great 
 things for God and expect great things from God. Let 
 
Recruits for the Army of the Lord 279 
 
 them set a pace for themselves in zeal and labor that even 
 advancing years cannot wholly check and thus run a 
 whole life of fidelity to God and man. 
 
 Young men and young women of the class of 1906, 
 my words tonight are addressed to you especially. The 
 dew of your youth is yet yours and great are the possi- 
 bilities that lie before you. 
 
 To what will you devote your lives? What is the 
 thing of most importance to you? What will you in- 
 scribe on the topmost round of the ladder of your ambi- 
 tion? 
 
 I am not thinking now of this calling or that — of the 
 ministry or the mission field, but of the central, control- 
 ling spirit of your lives. What is the interest you intend 
 to make supreme with you, I submit to you that the 
 rightful King of every man or woman is Jesus Christ — 
 that to be under Him, to be for Him is the very highest 
 conception of living. Let your calling be what it may 
 only so it be in harmony with the law of God, but let 
 it be not an end in itself but the means to the larger, 
 nobler end of service to Christ. 
 
 I have in my mind's eye a man of thirty-five in the 
 full tide of prosperity, with all the vigor and bloom of 
 health and strength. He has succeeded in the enterprises 
 of business and already has a competence and bright 
 prospect of wealth and worldly influence. He has friends 
 among good men and is without degrading habits or 
 associations. Men praise him for doing well. But it 
 seems as if God is lost out of his life and eternity is very 
 far off and Jesus Christ the King of men is almost for- 
 gotten. The world is in his heart and his heart is in the 
 world. 
 
 I have in mind another, a young woman of attractive 
 form and feature, of bright intellect, inheriting a modest 
 competence. She has given her life to a degenerated 
 people and identified herself with their narrow conditions 
 that she may the better serve them. 
 
280 Baccalaureate Sermons 
 
 She has abandoned the pleasures and rivalries of society 
 for which she is sufficiently well-fitted and gone to live 
 with the objects of her philanthropic endeavor. She is 
 happy in the love of those whose elevation she seeks. 
 The world is under her feet and Christ is on the throne 
 of her heart. 
 
 Which of these, think you, is making the most of life? 
 
 You cannot exactly duplicate any other life. But in 
 the great war of the world you can have your heart in 
 the right place and you can keep yourself from being 
 in morals and religion a nonentity. Whatever be the 
 weight of your personality, throw it on the side of the 
 King, on the side of stalwart righteousness, on the side 
 of truth and purity and love. 
 
 Sometime the war will be over and the hosts of God 
 will celebrate their victory. I can imagine with what 
 a proud step the veterans at the grand review at the 
 close of the Civil War tramped the streets of Washing- 
 ton. They were proud of the splendid fellowship of 
 brave men and the victorious issue of their struggles! 
 They could say — " I helped to win the battle for the 
 right." There will be another assembling of victorious 
 hosts when this cruel world-war is over. The Kingdoms 
 of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Satan will be dethroned and sin will be 
 uprooted and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. 
 Happy will we be if we can say in that day — " We 
 helped to win the victory. We willingly offered our- 
 selves in holy array in the days of our youth and gave 
 our entire lives to the mighty struggle." 
 
 My young friends, is not this the one thing that is 
 worth doing? Is not this what makes life worth living? 
 Is not this the best possible issue of the life you are now 
 pressing into? Make your life a psalm. Fill it with 
 praise of your Redeemer. Keep your ear to the ground 
 to hear some notes of that song of the white-robed multi- 
 tude that stand before the throne with palms of victory 
 
Recruits for the Army of the Lord 28 1 
 
 in their hands, crying with a loud voice — " Salvation to 
 our God which sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb." 
 
 Hark! those bursts of acclamation, 
 Hark! those loud triumphant chords, 
 Jesus takes the highest station, 
 Oh! what joy the sight affords. 
 Crown Him, crown Him — 
 King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 
 
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