Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-06-05
The Constitution Against the
Empire.
ACADE=ICAL WEEK.

of the greatness and prosperity OF |
GAINESVILLE is involved in her posi-
ton as a center of education that |
during that week all other interests
retire into the background. 1t is
well, and as journals are nothing
but the reflex OF society. our coli
umns too shall be mainly reserved
for commencement exercises.
The week commenced worthily
on Sunday with
THE COMMENCEMENT SERMONS.
These We're assigned to the two
men who, perhaps better than any
other men, were able to command
public attention in GAINESVILLE. In
the morning DR.. j. B. West deliv-
cred the commencement sermon to
the graduating class of the Female
Academy, and DR.. Palmer, in the
evening, preached to the graduates
of the S.-W. p. University.
DIR. West therefore demands our
first attention. 1t has been said that
a prophet is never prophet i'm his
own country, but assuredly the
proverb has to be reversed i'm the
case Of DR.. West. We know well
that his profound thought, deep re-
ligious fervor, and sympathetic
warmth Of appeal, command the
attention of the best intellects wher-
ever he speaks, but it is in Clarks-
willie that he breaches at his best.
Elsewhere he is received as a dis
tinguished divine, but here as a
beloved father, who, after a long
absence, is welcomed home by his
children, who yearn to hear again
the words of sympathy and counsel
as they fall from his mouth. He
happily reminded the girls whom
he addressed that he had himself
gone to school with their grand
parents, had taught their mothers,
and came among them as to home
tenanted with happy family of his
children and his chjIdren's children.
He told them that he did not intend
to occupy them with the weary
routine of topics customarily dealt
with in commencement exhorta-
tiOns, such as woman's mission, etc,
etc, but would endeavor to give
them such instruction as would for
tify them against the perils Of a
restless, skepticaI, questioning era.
He chose his text therefore from
John, W, Z: What I do thou ksaOlC-
est not ROiC, 6ut thou shalt LIlOlC here
after.
This text naturally suggests the
limitations of human knowledge in
the present state compared with the
flood of light that may be antici-
pated when we shall look upon all
things in heaven and earth no
longer as in glass darkly, but face
to face. He applied the principle to
our knowledge Of the material uni
verse, TO our knowledge of the
moral government Of the world, and
to our knowledge of God. The uni
versal attestation of men engaged
IN the study of nature was quoted in
support Of the first principle, all of
whom acknowledged that the
grandest of discoveries are to the
ilIimitable unknown as a rivulet to
the ocean. Kepler's laws of mo-
ton, which are now taught to boys
and girls in our public schools, were
once justly hailed as the grandest
achievement of human thought; they
are now looked upon as a mere step
ping-stone to the vast system of
astronomy and physics based upon
them by Newton, La Place, the
two Herschels and the astronomers
Of the present day, and these latter,
in their turn, are looking out into q
vast armament of conjecture in
hopes of discoveries of which what
they have so far learned are regard
ed as the mere rudiments. That,
however, which has been demon
strated as true is true, and no one
thinks Of questioning it simply be-
cause there is so much behind it
which is not and may never be un-
derstoOd.
On the second head he suggested
that our limited knowledge of the
divine purposes is a source of greater
perplexity to the average Christian
than all other difficulties put to-
gether. Some calamity falls on one
which produces a crushing effect
upon his desires and affections; he
ut once begins questioning the de-
crees Of providence and asks, Is this
consistent with the justice and low
ing kindness Of God? What have
done to be singled out for such a
blow? The remedy urged for such
repinings was a consideration of the
narrow and partial view that any
one person can get of the dealings of
God with men, not only as regards
his purposes in this world, but also
those of the world to come, and of
course the inference was that he
who knows so little is no competent
Judge of the right and wrong of
transactions of whose far-reaching
purposes and consequences he is alb
sOlutely ignorant.
But when we come to consider.
not the works of God or his deal
ings with man, bat God himself,
every candid man must admit the
futility of demanding to understand
with logical completeness what is
revealed of him before accepting the
revelation. The finite demand to
comprehend the infiniteI Absurd
ity is on the very face of the claim.
The very angels which look ON the
face of the living God desire earn
estly to gaze into these mysteries
which are only adumbrated to us In
certain statements, as Of the trinity
and the incarnation, which, because