New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-03-06
Address 0s President o. o. How
ara 40 eHc Graduates at the Med
lCa1 college, Howard EuAyerAiiy

The President Of College or University
has been, and is now, usually, q Reverend
Doctor OF Divinity, and therefore, upon &C.
caslohs Ike the present, a graduating sermon
mas zen very proper. Your President not
being entitled to such authority and honor,
ncterlheless, feels, as the time of graduation
Tno separation creeps On, an undednabl Q
longing to preach q sermon. DO not mean
a discourse in sombre prose, containing plati-
tudes that everybody knows. do not mean
the performance Of the MINISTER'S solemn duty
OF re'teraf'on, with line upon line and precept
upon precept thrown at you again and again,
like the ott-repeated blows Of trip hammer,
TO shape and impress you. This formative
process has been part and parcel of the regu-
lar curriculum OF instructlon long to Crap
pie with some truth Of God and fastcn it upon
your souls.
You have been tudying the bodies Of men
you know how the human temple is made up
from LIQUIDATION to capital; you know, with
out DOORS, the names Of all homes, muscles,
slnews, joints, cavities, arteries, veins, and
nerves, OF all fluids and gases; and are
doubtless able to follow the intricate me-
chanism Of human machinery almost into the
depth. Of mystery, wherein dwell tho five
senses OF hearing, seeinS, touching, smell.
ing, and tasting; yet hope you have not
reached that transcendental insanity that
puts the machine for the power, and so
mixes and strs up tho material and the in
material, as to drive the sou! from the body,
and God from the universe.
II you have been close thinkers, you can
not have failed Of daily consciousness Of mind
power; you had it when you came to our
school, you had it the day you were born.
we have been trying to so confne, and regu-
late, and direct it, that it shall be Of high use
to you. The coal existed before 1t was quar-
RED, u burned under furnace. Steam isds,
beiora it carried people and goods to CALI
iornia, or Europe; mind-power pas, is, and
wiA :. You have been regulating 1t /; you
have been applying it Ia the lecture-room,
t..e wards Of th0 hospital, and in that aw.
.ul, elevated chamber Of the Medical College
mystery. In the line Of preparation OF the
whole mental machinery for life-work, be-
lleye there has been fidelity most praise
WORTHY. Ifso, then you are prepared to ask
where Is the need OF sermon? OF wba.
imp! .ant truth of God do we Lack kuowl-
edge?
The very qualifying phrase "sf God" sug-
gests 1t. Such words as those Of the visest
man, Fear God and keep his command.
ments, for this is the whole duty Of man, -
suggest 1t. The first OF the ten Divine Laws,
Thou shalt have no other Gods before me }"
suggests it. Let me state my meaning en-
phatically. II student has not discovered
this truth, that the supreme allegiance Of his
whole being Is. due TO God and If he has not
brought his body poSer, h!s miad poser, and
his .prit possr, into practical subordinatlon to
this truth, he is but ship adrift in a storm
without compass, or rather a ship manned
wholly by landsmen, when neither the cap
tain, mate, pilot, nor sailor knows Of the
guiding star.
Without this truth thoroughly eaten, d.
gested, and Incorporated, the highest sYscsss
Il impossible. Without it your thoughts VII!
groysl; the first thing on awakening will be
yourself; the gauge Of YER responsibility
VIII be what men say or hink Of you. With
1t, your first thought, on starting 70 do your
work Of human service viii be, "God knows
my heart, God will help me-" The con-
science will be opened not only by what ID
good and true IN mems tau, but By the clear.
unfaIllng light Of Gods truth.