The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-06-15
NORMAL COMMENCEMENT.
BaecaIaureate sermon of Rev Riehal
fortSEev
And these all. having obtained a good renor
through faith. received not the Promise."-
Hebrews. vi %.

4 roll of honor Here are the names O
Y propheisthrough whom he had taught hi
:; word; of heroes through whom he hat
: wrou ght his will; and of martyrs whom
he had called to die for him and the truth
l These names stretch along the whole
line of the four thousand years which
Bible history covers, and are the mIlC
. stones of the worlds progress. Tn,
I prophets foresaw and foretold bright
er day; the heroes helped to bring it on
the martyrs died that II might come
, But neither prophet, nor hero, nor mar
, tyr saw the day they foretold or fastened
or died for. Here were men who fore
told the coming of better things but new
er touched them, who helped 10 bring. a
better day but never saw its
twilight, who were the bearers of promi.
ses they never saw fulfilled; the inspirers
of hopes they never saw realized. Or in
the graphic words of the conclusion OF
the list, "these all, having obtained a
good report through faith, obtained not
the promise" They heard the promise,
they saw its glory from afar, they helped
To hasten its coming, they died IN its be-
half, but they never saw it fulfilled.
They obtained good report; that is
they did good work and deserved good
report: they were faithful To their place,
but never saw the glorious end to which
they contributed, and for which they
toiled and suffered.
There was Abraham who heard the
Divine call and left his home in the
north, and went out, not knowing
| whittier he went, and came and dwelt in
the land he should afterwards receive for
an inheritance. But he himself lived
wanderer in the land of promise, dwell
ling IN tents, and going from place to
place and never possessing foot OF the
land except burying place where his
bones might lie He forsook home and
| friends and wandered and toiled. that
his descendants 400 years later, might
dwell in the land wherin he was
| stranger.
| David organized Israel into a COM
pact, orderly and prosperous nation.
His valor secured peace on every side;
his sagaciiy and craftsmanship secured
progress and prosperity throughout all
4 her borders He set his heart on build
/ ing u temple unto the Lord as the
! browning work of his life. Without the
peace he conquered, without the nation
| he organized, without the wealth and
| material he gathered, the temple had
| never been possible. But he who made
| the temple possible, must never build
| it, He obtained good report through
| faith, but received not the promise.
There was Moses giving this life to
| the deliverance of Israel and the attain
ment of Canaan. He had refused to be
| called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
dom of Egypt; he had for
saken the palace of the king;
he had Unidentified himself with his own
slave people: he had secured their re-
lease from Pharaoh, he had led them
through the sea; he had borne with
them the tolls of the desert journey;
he had done more; he had transformed
nation of slaves into we'll ordered
commonwealth of free men. reducing to
order turbulent people, and giving
law to lawless multitude. Now the
work is done, the law has been given,
the nation has been subjected to order
and discipline, the desert has been passed
They stand on the borders of that land
for which he has been preparing them,
and towards which he had been bring
ing them these forty years. Shall not
the weary warrior, statesman, law-giver
enter into the land for which he has come
SO far, toiled so long and suffered so
much !? No, he can merely climb the OPP
posite mountain top and look over the
river that still intervenes, and see the
glories of that land which has ever been
the symbol of the heavenly rest. He had
led them through the desert; another
must lead them over Jordan. He
has borne the toll, another must enjoy
! the triumph; he has endured the jour
ney, another must enter into rest.
So we might call the roll of these
Bible heroes and each could tell essen
TALLY the same tale. They subdued
Kingdoms, wrOughtrighteOusne and
obtained good report. but received not
the promise.
Or we might come further down and
call the roll of martyrs. cOnfessnrs and
reformers, of the early age, OF the medi-
;eval age, or OF any age, and we shall
find the same law prevailing. There is
nothing peculiar in Bible history. except
as it uncovered the Divine plan while
other history leaves it concealed. These
noble men of bible times, who foresaw
and received not. who wrought and at
tanned not, suffered no unusual fate.
"Theirs was the common fate OF all"
Think not" said Peter, concerning the
fiery trial which is to try you, as though
some strange thing had happened to
you"
so it has been with the far-seeing and
gifted men of all ages and in all depart
ments. Wise men and men of genius,
poets and prophets of the world in all
generations, have seen day in the dis
lance, have wrought for it and predicted
its coming, hut never reached it. The
more exalted they were, and the more
divinely gifted, the more distant the day
| they fUresaw, and the more they fell
short of its attainment. The plodders
work only for the day they live
in, and they have their reward
! nut they who have been touched
OF Gcd have wrought FOR future in
| the distance" and il has been ''in the
distance" still when they closed their
work, but not so distant as when they
began. They who have done most have
seldom received most.
Columbus spent a toilsomc life amid
all sorts of distractions and insults
and annOyances, that he might open
the way to a new world Others
gathered fortunes, founded empires
| and acquired honors on the
| continent he discovered, but he himself
never knew he had done more than open
a new path to the Indies.
| The pilgrim fathers left home and
| friends and crossed the sea to establish
liberty of conscience and of life. and
| found an empire in the west. When they
landed amid the rocks and storms of
Plymouth, they sang songs of joy and
hope.
/
And the stars heard. and tine sea,
The sounding aisles OF the dim woods rang,
With the anthems of the free -
They found an unfricndlY cline,
niggardly soil, scant haIvests and a
savage foe. Theirs was a life of large
labor ana small results. The promise
which drew them TO the new world was
never fulfilled in their day. They knew
it was coming but they never saw it :;
God had provided some better thing for
US that they, without US, should not be
made perfect That is, their toll would
be a wasted service but for the inner
itance we have received from it.
The pioneers who have leveled the for
ests and opened the prairies have sell
dom attained their expectations, but
they have left fields and farms and homes
for an after generation who have entered
int their labors.
So those who have added 10 the
worlds store of thought and knowledge
have not often themselves received the
profit of il. Milton never knew of the
Immortality that was in store for him
Other men who were to him only as
hewers of wood and drawers of water 70
r a king, made fortunes from print
ing his Paradise Lost; he scarcely re.
ceived a weeks support for its creation
: Bunyan, dreamer though he was, never
;. even dreamed what a wonder he
had produced. Not till years after he
was gone did men begin to know what
: a marvellous gift he had left them
E Goldsmith received but $500 for writing
/. the Vicar of Wakefield, while his pub
, Usher just coined money from II, and il
has been like beam Of sunshine to all
English speaking people. Even the few
!. successful men of genius In modern
d times, do not receive 1.-THE of whai
4 others make out of their work Tenny
son will receive 5000 for poem, anG
the publishers will receive $500
Even in money making, the men WHIT
/ have added the most 20 the VERDI
wealth, have not received the most o