THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA THE COLLECTION OF NORTH CAROLINLVNA PRESENTED BY B. G. Hall C378 UK3 189B,1 00039136461 This book must not be token from the Library building. Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive in 2010 witli funding from University of Nortli Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.archive.org/details/wholemanbaccalauOOmoor THE WHOLE MAN BACCALAUREATE SERMON Preached at the XlNiVERbixY of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C, May 81st, 1891. BY PROF. W. W. AOORE D. D. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. wilmington, n. c. : Jackson & Bell, Steam Printers and Binders. i8qi. The Whole Man. I. The reign of Solomon marks the culmination of Israel's material prosperity. Inheriting from his warlike father a wide and fertile domain, and having no occasion nor desire for further conquests, he inaugurated a different policy from that of his predecessors, under which the land teemed with plenty and the people dwelt in peace. He was the first of Israel's rulers to break over that exclusiveness which is one of the most inveterate traits of the Hebrew race and to establish cordial relations with the external world. By his alliances with foreign powers and his expeditions to foreign lands he created for the only time in Jewish history a flourishing com- merce. His fleets sailed from harbors on the Red sea as well as on the Mediterranean, and re- turning poured into Palestine the products of all lands from the ivory of India to the silver of Spain. Of gold alone he received every year a quantity valued at more ]than ;^3o,ocx),ooo, while the taxes upon traders and the tribute of vassal 4 princes swelled his income to well nigh fabulous figures. He made silver to be as stones in Jeru- salem, and the costly cedar as the common syca- more for abundance. In view of the great build- ings with which he adorned his capital, he might have anticipated the boast of Augustus Caesar, who said that he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble. The queen of Sheba, ac- customed though she was to the enormous wealth of an oriental court, was overwhelmed at the sight of Solomon's Temple and viaduct and his multitude of attendants in costly apparel. He imported large numbers of swift and beautiful horses, and organized a force of fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand cavalry-men, as much for display no doubt as for defence. Jose- phus, the Jewish historian, gives us a lively picture of the king's mounted body guard, composed of tall and handsome young men, armed as archers, clothed in Tyrian purple, their flowing hair sprinkled with gold dust, which glittered in the sunlight as they swept along the highway. In the midst of this truly royal retinue rode Solo- mon himself, clad in pure white and occupying a chariot of unexampled splendor. In all these ways it was that his name became a synonym for magnificence. And when our Saviour wished to emphasize the matchless beauty of the lilies he could find no comparison so suitable as "Solo- 5 mon in all his glory" affirming that even he was not arrayed like one of these. The same divine teacher gives testimony to the wisdom of Solomon. His reign was not only one of material prosperity, but of intellectual ac- tivity as well, the king himself being the fore- most man of letters in the realm. "He spake three thousand proverbs," says the historian, a portion of which have undoubtedly been preserved to us in the book of that name, along with proverbs from several other in- spired philosophers. "His songs were a thousand and five." These have all perished, with the possible exception of two or three which may linger in the Book of Psalms. Nor were his teachings confined to economic and religious subjects. Botany and zoology as well received the contributions of his versatile and enterprising mind. In addition to this secular grandeur, ma- terial and intellectual, there was promise of spir- itual prosperity also in the earlier portion of his reign, as evinced by his reverent recognition of dependence upon God, by his erection of the great temple for his worship, and even by the solemn silence in which the work was done — 'No sound of axe or iron hammer rung, Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung." His prayer at the dedication of the temple breathes a spirit of true devotion and lofty spir- ituality. All this, however, was only the golden morn- ing of a day whose evening was black with clouds and whose sun sank amid the shadows of apostasy and doubt. Prosperity is a severer test both of national and individual character than adversity. The transition from the frugal sim- plicity of earlier days to the flush times which followed the successful wars of David and ac- companied the commercial expansion of Solo- mon was a grave crisis in the history of Israel. And it soon became evident that instead of using the larger wealth of this Augustan age for the promotion of still nobler national and religious ends, both king and people had been betrayed by it into luxury and corruption. The three most conspicuous features of his latter reign were Polygamy, Polytheism and Despotism, those deadly foes of the family, the church and the state. By his profligacy, idolatry and tyranny Solomon became the great corrupter of Israel and sapped the very foundations of their civil, social and moral life. His despotism undermined the national life of the people, invaded their ancient liberties, and reduced them from their free citizenship to the condition of oppressed subjects. His multipli- cation of horses and chariots in violation of the Mo»aic law, his formation of an expensive court with its army of attendants, his erection of costly palaces for himself and his favorites, his acque- ducts, fortresses, docks and navies, imposed upon the people an enormous burden of taxation. • Think of the outlay necessary for the mainte- nance of his foolish ostentation and luxurious pomp. At the tables in his palace there was daily provision for fourteen thousand officials. In short, the nation was enslaved for the glory of the individual. This was the oriental idea of government, but it was not God's idea. From the beginning He had insisted upon a reversal of the theory that the king is everything and the people nothing. He had taught Israel that rulers exist for the good of the people and not the people for the glory of the ruler. And now Solomon scouts this great democratic thought of God and makes of Jehovah's freemen the ordinary subjects of an oriental despotism. No wonder the mutterings of a storm were heard even before the close of this ruinous reign. No wonder that storm burst upon the head of Solomon's son. But further. Not only did his despotism un- dermine the civil life of the people. His poly- gamy undermined their social life as well. And it is after he has formed his seraglio of a thou- sand idolatrous women, whose gods are worship- ed with impure rites, that we read in Proverbs of the prevailing licentiousness in Jerusalem. That herd of strange women in the palace were only the forerunners of other thousands on the streets. But again. Solomon's idolatry undermined the religious life of Israel. The sanctuaries of Astarte, Chemosh and Moloch, were established at Jerusalem, and in the immediate neighborhood of the temple of Jehovah, while Solomon himself set the example of apostasy to all the people. II. The sum, then, of what we would say about Solomon is this. His possessions were as great, and his experience was as varied, as those of any man that ever lived He had all those things that are commonly regarded as capable of con- ferring happiness upon their possessor. He had genius and learning. He had position and power. He had riches in unlimited abundance. He commanded all the sources of worldly pleas- ure. Nor was the range of his enjoyment re- stricted by conscientious scruples. Morally, as well as otherwise, he played the whole gamut. He made actual trial of every phase of human conduct. He tried righteousness and he tried iniquity. He served God and he served Satan. He built the temple and he debauched the peo- ple. Here are lights and shadows indeed — such as we find in no other single life. Now, suppose we had the testimony of such a man as that, after such an experience, as to the real ends of life, as to what pursuits and possessions can give true happiness to man, would it not be of priceless value to any young man whose life still lay be- fore him with all its splendid possibilities? Sup- pose we had all the wisdom and experience of Solomon packed into one strong, clear state- ment of ideal manhood, what a motto that would be for any college boy to write over his mantle- piece or on the fly leaf of his text book ! What a rule of conduct that would be for any youth to inscribe upon his memory in letters of light! 'Suppose" we had it? Young gentlemen, we have. Here it is. "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole man." "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole man." Not learning, not power, not wealth, is the true end of life, the attainment of which can round out to perfection, your character and happiness, but to fear God and keep His commandments. This is the utmost output of the observation and experience of Sol- omon. This is the supreme exploit of his wis- dom. Mr. H. Rider Haggard, a strangely popular novelist of our time, in writing of books which have influenced him, says there is one immortal work which has moved him more deeply than lO any other, "a work that utters all the world's yea'rning anguish and disillusionment in one sorrow- laden and bitter cry, and whose stately music thrills like the voice of pines heard in the darkness of a midnight gale." Do you know what book that is ? It is the book of Ecclesiastes ; and the upshot and climax of Ecclesiastes is in the 1 2th chapter and 13th verse. " Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter ; Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole man." And I would, young gentlemen, that every man of you would ponder this mighty statement until you shall see how it transmutes that mournful minor strain of the mere worldling into the jubilate of the child of God, and sweeps the soul not with midnight gales and dreary storms, but with sweet and bracing airs from heaven, which shall eventually carry all clouds from the sky and flood the spirit with everlasting sunlight. III. If such be the potency of .this truth, it is well worth our -^hile to try to learn itj and to this end will you not give me your careful attention for a few moments while we endeavor to arrive at the exact meaning of the terms here used ? The word " fear" is employed in the Bible in two widely different senses. Sometimes it expresses a feeling of terror and hostility ; at other times it ex- II presses a feeling of reverence and attachment. By "the fear of God" is sometimes meant a slavish dread of the Divine Being regarded as an enemy, while at other times it means a filial feel- ing full of loyalty and love. Since the same word is used of two opposite dispositions there would seem to be danger of confounding them. But there is a criterion by which we can infallibly discriminate between them. The spurious fear which is essentially hostile to God, seeks only to escape His wrath. The genuine fear which is essentially loyal to God, seeks to do His loill from hearty acqui- esence in it. The spurious fear dreads only the punishment of sin. The genuine fear dreads sin itself. That is, to tear God truly is to serve God. The fear of God and the doing of His command ments are inseparable. Hence the two things are put together by the psalmist when he says, "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in His commandments. And so in our text, too, we find them joined, "Fear God and keep His commandments." One is the root. The other is the fruit. As Thain Davidson says : "The fear ot God in the Old Testament answers to 'Faith in God' in the New; and this exhortation to the principle and prac- tice of true religion to what the apostles call 'Faith and Works.' " Both are necessary. Dr 12 Guthrie has somewhere compared a mere pro- fession to a tree lying across your path with the bark unbroken. You put your foot on it and instantly it breaks through. Insects and poison- ous fungi have eaten out the heart. So with a man who says he fears God but does not keep His commandments. He is not sound. There is corruption at the core of him. He is a mere pretence of a man in God's sense. He is no more a whole man than a rotten log is a whole tree. And this brings us to our third point as to the terms of the text : "Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole man." Have you noticed that I leave out a word as I read that familiar pas- sage ? The English version reads thus: "Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole (iw^?/ of man." But if you will examine your Bibles, you will see that the word "duty" is printed in Italics, indicating that it is not in the original but has been inserted by the translators, and like many other insertions in the English Bible, it is enfeebling and misleading. What the English version says is true, but it falls far short of the sublime statement of the original — "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole man." "Fear God" — that's the inward principle, "and keep His commandments" — thit's the outward practice, "for this is the whole 13 man." This principle of faith and this practice of obedience make up the whole man, the ideal man, man in his entirety, as he came from the hands of his Creator, bearing the image of his God, and no living creature is a whole man unless he does fear God and keep His commandments. This is but another way of saying that religion is essential to manhood. Without it no human being is a man in the true sense of the word. He may have genius and learning and position and power and possessions, but unless he has religion he is not a whole man. IV. The next witness to this truth, whose testi- mony we cite, is the English language itself The word "whole', is radically the same as the word "holy." The words "heal," "health," "hale," "whole" and "holy" are all fundamentally the same. The "whole" man then is the "holy" man. And no man is "whole" who isn't holy. Here we have the testimony of the English race to the great truth that in order to perfect man- hood the spiritual nature must be sound. The very choice of the word "holy" to express the highest spirituality proves it. To be "whole" in the physical sense is to be well, and when in the Gospels diseased persons are said to have been made whole by the power of Christ it means that they were restored to ^4 sound health. A man whose limbs are paral- yzsd or whose hands are eaten away by leprosy, cannot be called a whole man, such a man as came from the hands of the Creator when he saw the work which he had made and pronounced it very good. A mental imbecile cannot be called a whole man, for practically he has no intellec- tual faculties. Nor can a man who disregards God and disobeys His law be called a whole man, for his spiritual nature is diseased so that his moral powers do not perform their functions aright. But a man who does fear God and keep His commandments is a whole man, for by com- mon consent we call him holy. Now this question arises, if man has a physi- cal, an intellectual and a moral nature, is not the soundness and healthful activity of each nature essential to a whole man? Undoubtedly. A sound body, in which there is a diseased mind or a depraved soul, is not a man. Such a creature is only a strong and handsome animal. Absa- lom was beautiful and John L. Sullivan is strong ; but is either of them your ideal of manhood ? There is the physical completeness without the spiritual. A brilliant intellect joined to a feeble body, or an imbruited conscience, is not a whole man. Alex. H. Stephens was a gifted statesman, but, with his shrivelled body, is he your ideal man ? There was the intellectual completeness 15 without the physical. There died in England a few months ago a member of the British Parlia- ment by the name of Arthur Kavanagh, who was born without either arms or legs, and who, nevertheless, achieved splendid success in life. But with all our admiration for his great talents, his high character, and his iron will, no one of us would call him a whole man. There too was the intellectual completeness without the physi- cal. Voltaire was a genius, but can you call a creature with such a soul in him a true man ? There was the intellectual completeness without the spiritual. But, some one will say, how about a sound spirit allied to a diseased body or mind? How about a soul that does fear God and keep His commandments and yet inhabits an emaciated and feeble frame ? Is such an one a whole man ? We answer — yes, potentially he is. For that soundness of spirit will eventually carry with it soundness of body and soundness of mind, and these together constitute the whole man, man as he was when he came from the hand of his Maker, man as he shall be when he reaches Paradise restored, and wears again in its fullness the lost image of God. But, mark you, the converse is not true. It does not follow that a man with a whole body or a whole mind will one day have a whole spirit. But a man who is a child of God i6 — a man who is sound of soul — will eventually be sound of body and of mind. His body will be raised in incorruption and his mind will re- ceive an expansion never dreamed of in this life. So that the English-speaking races made no mis- take, theologically or otherwise, when they called the man whose soul was sound the holy man, that is the whole man. The same truth has been embodied in two other common words of our language, viz: right and wrong. Right means straight. Wrong means wrung. By sin the soul of man is wrung, twisted, distorted, crooked not straight, deformed not symmetrical, diseased not whole. When Richter said that every language was "a diction- ary of faded me-aphors," he was right. But it would mightily promote our spiritual health to get the color back into some of them, and to see how these words in daily use by all men confirm the truths of scripture and experience. "Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole man." So says language. So says Sol- omon. So says God. "Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect." As your Father in Heaven is perfect — assimilation to Him then is the measure of perfection ? Yes. That is holiness, wholeness, completeness, perfectness. "Be ye therefore perfect" is the same as to say "Be ye therefore holy." 17 V. But, young gentlemen, how difficult it is to realize an abstract ideal ! How hard it is to make something that you have never seen — something of which you have had only a description. Sup- pose that Mr. Jefferson, when planning the Uni- versity of Virginia, had said to a contractor : "I want you to build a library exactly like the "Roman Pantheon," and when the contractor asked for drawings, suppose Mr. Jefferson had answered, "Oh, drawings are not necessary, I will give you a full description of it." Do you think the contractor would have undertaken it ? It might have been possible to do such a thing, but it would certainly not have been easy to build that house from a mere description. How much better to have full drawings of the proposed building. A complete model of it would have been better still. And best of all, if such a thing were possible, would have been the Pantheon itself standing before him, so that every detail of the work might be determined by and compared with the original. Now as it is with the archi- tect of the material building, so it is with man as the architect of his own character. Besides ab- stract instructions he needs a model to work to. He needs a pattern to go by. He needs an em- bodiment of his ideal. Can any such model be found ? Is there any such embodiment of ideal i8 manhood in the universe? Yes, there is. Not in any of this world's heroes however. Not even in George Washington, though Mr. Everett, in his celebrated oration, did try to indicate his character by describing a perfect circle with his finger in the air, for while he ivas. a man of unu- sual symmetry and poise, there is one authentic case of a public outburst of temper and profanity — and many a sin besides. No, Washington was a sinner, and Cicero, and Seneca, and Paul and Moses. Is there anywhere an incarnation of ideal m^mhood ? Yes, there is. In that one whose fear of God and whose obedience to His commandments were perfect, and who is there- fore the holy man, the whole man, the perfect man, the ideal man, man at his best, man as he was when he left his Creator's hands, and who is therefore called the second Adam, and who calls himself by the title of "Son of Mau" more frequently than by any other because, as Lid- don says. He would teach the fact that "He is the representative or ideal man the one son of our race who is not unworthy of its high origin, in whom its original idea is perfectly realized." VI. But notice. The very fact that he is unique — the very fact that in the whole history of the human race there has been but one perfect man — but one who filled to completeness the outline 19 of God's ideal — proves that there is something radically wrong with the rest of us. There is. Indeed there is. That desperate and universal malady which puts us beyond the healing power of any mere truth whether abstract or embodied. What boots it to know that the fear of God and obedience to His law will make us whole when there is within us an inborn antipathy to God and a fatal gravitation to disobedience ? What boots it to know that Christ is a perfect example if we have no spiritual power to imitate Him? And so we come to the next great truth. Christ is more than a mere example. He is an Al- mighty Saviour. To fear God and keep His com- mandments we must have a spiritual power within us. That power Christ supplies. To them that have no might he increasetli strength Without Him we can do nothing. But we can do all things through Christ strengthening us — strengthening us from within by the power of his spirit. Here we reach rock bottom, obedience to Christ, through the power of Christ, by faith in Christ. Thus and thus only can we fear God and keep His commandments. Thus and thus only can we become whole men. Your personal relation to Christ then becomes a matter of tremendous moment. Will you not thoughtfully consider that relation to-day, as you 20 turn your backs upon your boyhood and look forth to the Hfe that lies before you ? Years ago Dr. H. A. Boardman wrote a little book entitled "The Great Question." On reading that title one naturally wonders what the great question is, and when he looks within he finds it to be only this — "will you consider the subject of personal religion ?" That is the great question. Will you} If you will then you can answer that other great question — What is the whole of man ? Otherwise you cannot, VII. What is the whole of man ? Money, answers the average American, as he bows before the Almighty Dollar. No, says Solomon, I have tried that. What is the whole of man ? Cul- ture, says the apostle of literary dilletanteism — to know the best that has been said and done. No, says Solomon, I have tried that. What is the whole of man? Power, says the votary of ambition. Place, says the political demagogue. Sensual enjoyment, says the epicurean, let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die. Even Thomas Carlyle with all his pessimism and doubt knew better than that. After sailing over all the seas of human speculation and sounding all the depths of worldly philosophy, he wrote at the close of life this conclusion : "The older I grow, and I now stand upon the 21 brink of eternity, the more comes back to me the sentence in the catechism which I learned when a child, and the fuller and deeper its meaning becomes — " What is the chief end of man ? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." Carlyle was right. Sol- m on was right. God is right. Nothing but the eternal God and His service can satisfy the cravings and aspirations of the immortal soul. And so, gentlemen, I make no apology for pre- senting as the subject of your Baccalaureate meditation this great truth concerning the per- fect manhood and the method of its attainment. I make no apology for urging upon each of you the consideration of your personal relation to the Saviour of sinners who alone can make of you a whole man. When the sufferings of the late Senator Benja- min H. Hill of Georgia, were ended a few years ago by death and his will was opened and read, it was found to contain at the close the following passage : "I now give and bequeath to my wife and children that which someof them already possess and which I assure them, in full view of death, is far richer than gold and more precious than all human honors. God is a living God and Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I 22 beseech them to have faith in Christ, for by this faith alone can they be saved." That was the richest legacy ever left by a father to a family ; and that was a noble testi- mony of Senator Hill to the preciousness and power of the religion of Christ. It's the best thing to live by. It's the best thing to die by. It's the one thing needful in life. It's the one thing needful in death. It's the one thing need- ful in eternity. Ben Hill spoke many a word in his eloquent prime which thrilled the great pop- ular heart of his country, but he never said a truer or grander thing than that. And to-day, young gentlemen, as you stand on the dividing line between academic life and the practical duties of manhood — on behalf of all these people of God who have assembled to tes- tify their interest in your graduation, on behalf of the president and faculty of this venerable in- stitution who are profoundly solicitous for your welfare, on behalf of all the good of every age, and in the name of our Redeemer and King — I would urge upon you that exhortation of the dying statesman — "I beseech you have faith in Christ" Give him your heart. Make Him your model. Live for His glory. Trust in His righteousness. "Fear God and keep His com- mandments for this is the whole man." 23 Is not this an ideal worthy to be realized in any man's life ? Is not this a dream worthy to be carved in any man's career ? Chisel in hand stood a sculptor boy, With his marble block before him, And his face lit up with a smile of joy, As an angel dream passed o'er him. He carved it then on the yielding stone, . With many a sharp incision; His face with heavenly beauty shone — He had caught that augel vision. Sculptors of life are you, as you stand, With yoiir lives uncarved before you. Waiting the hour wheu at God's command, Your life dream passes o'er you. What is the meaning of this message which I bring you from the word of the Lord to-day ? Is not this the life dream that He would have you carve in your future career? May you carve it then on the yielding stone, With man}' a sharp incision — Its heavenly beauty shall be 3'our own, Your lives that augel vision.