The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1876-12-27

| you are to shed around you a quiet,
luminous, refreshing influence, mot as
noisy debators, not as vociferous and
rand takers, not as vain prcsumers
on the license granted to youth and
beauty, but as educated ladies and
gentlemen, whose studies have inyig-
GRATED their understandings and quail
lied them to act sensible part in so.
oiety. You will be obliged, in your
intercourse with others, to hear opin-
ions that are crude, and often false
sentiments, not only untrue, but of a
most destructive tendency. Life and
society are composed of the heteroge.
neous elements; various opiRions and
characters enter into their compost.
ton, -.f a
1t is in the friendly collision and In
tercourse of these that God has or6aiu-
ed our faith, our general principles and
courses of action shall be firmly settled.
Youth not unfrequently runs a most
perilous course the glory and the
pleasure that lift themselves in the
future often blind it to the course of
the current on which it floats, until
the roar of the rapids suddenly falls
upon the ear. Error is often urged By
persuasive lips, deceitful words.
like honey gathered from certain
flowers, may convey the dead
liest poison, while truth may appear
in plain, rude speech. Error may sp-
pear in all the Vaccinations of O win.
ming sophistry the principles of evil
robed as angels of light, may beckon
us on into flowery paths, while truth
and holiness may wear homely garb
and seem opposite to the joyous state
of youth.
There are two of Coles pictures,
which, at this time of your fife, would
form most instructive study: / al
lude to "Youth" and "Manhood," in
his Voyage of Life" The first, with
its glory lifting itself so grandly in the
future, while the current Of life's river
sweeps the voyager away from ever
the prospect of it. The second, with
its cataracts and rapids below, and its
scowling fends and angels of mercy
above, conveys to the heart lesson Of
actual life, which if you will but learn,
vii prepare you to meet many.a temp
tation, that, coming suddenly upon
you, might prove too strong for the
principles of good you now cherish.
In this state Of things, it belongs to
your discipline for eternity, to learn
how to discriminate the evil amidst lis
shows Of beauty, - the good amidst its
seeming evil. This is high attain
Inent in education.
| And now, ladies and gentlemen, if
so much is required to fit and qualify
you as teachers, how solemn and re-
spousible the position you occupy.
Into your care We commit our dear
boys and girls, whose minds you are
to cultivate, whose characters you may
mould for time and for eternity. They
are to be the boys and girls of the fu-
ture. They will take your place in
the school room. They will become
fathers and mothers; they will fill our
pulpits, preside in our courts. As
physicians they will attend the sick
and the dying. They will stand in
our legislative halls, occupy the Senate
chamber, end perhaps sit in the Presi-
dental chair. How grand and noble
is your calling; what brilliant pros.
poets open before you.
In view of all this, let me ask you,
as minister and as a friend, TO be-
religious. You may be moral without
being religious. but you cannot be
truly religious without being moral. |
care not how great, your intellectual
attainments may be, or what amount
of success you may achieve in the
world, it will profit you nothing, nay
more: your life will be a. miserable
failure, if you lose your precious and
immortal soul. Without religion fn-
telligence is only blind force, such
as Milton has embodied in his gigan-
tic creation, Of the prince of fallen an
gels. Without it no man or womanis
perfect. Reason may be God-iike, but
true religion in the heart is more truly
Deity itself
If you would be man in all his
nobler characteristics, if you would be
woman in all her true virtues your
hearts must beat true to every right
affection. Intellectually no person is
perfect who is the slave of vice, there
is a cog broken out of the wheel.
There is mental weakness which re-
veals itselfi in the loftiest intellects of
this class the world has ever seen. In
religion are found the deepest ques-
tions vital to our highest interests aud
profound beyond the long line of NOR
tails. Here Socrates reasoned and
Plato speeulated. and Cicero put forth