Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1883-07-02
PRESIDENT BUCKHAM'S
ADDRESS.


of the University of Vermont which
began June "a, at Burlington, with
the baccalaureate by President Buck
ham, whose text was, ''The kingdom
of our Lord and of His Christ" (Rev.
XII, 15), and his subject, sLoyalty
to Christ as the true regulative prin-
ciple of human life." No problem,
he said, no problem has more vexed
and divided the thoughts of Chris
tians in all ages than the true relation
of the secular to the religious life,
and no errors have cost the church
more dear than the various false So
luton which the question has receiv-
ed. Among these false solutions he
enumerated the disparagement of the
religious element, the disparagement
of the secular life, and the alterna
ton of the religious and secular ele-
ments. The last is the most prevail
ent in our times. All these errors
have a common twofold origin-a
wrong view at once of religion and
of life. They look upon religion as
having an Independent existence
apart from life, and upon life as hav-
ing an independent existence apart
from religion. Now turn to the New
Testament, and there see the true
solution of this veXed problem. Not
subserviency to the world, not hos
tillty to the world, not compromise
with the world, but appropriation Of
the world-this is Christ's relation
and this the relation of all who are
| Christ's, to the earth and all it con-
tains. Christ is to subdue, possess
| and reign in this world-nOt only all
the men in it, but all the life of it,
all the activities, operations and pro-
cesses Of it. He is not to rule in the
church only; all mundane affairs are
to be equally religious. The secular
life and the religious life are blended
into one. The principle of religion
enters into everything. The true
Christian lives, works, goes to and
fro, in a bright, warm religious at
mosphere. He puts the spirit of a
Christian into the thing that is said
OF done at this moment and the next.
This view of the true relation of
humanity to religion is not new. 1t
is as old as the teachings of Jesus
Christ and the preaching and writings
of his followers. But the practical
realization of it will make a new era
in the worlds history. The material
world is in a splendid condition for
spiritual uses. The arts and indus
tries are far in advance of moral pro-
gress. But when the eyangeliZihg
spirit shall come, as it will one day
come in great power, it will find the
world on the material side well pre-
pared for the service which will be
required of it. Culture, learning,
science, what is their relation to the
kingdom of God? Do they sympa-
thize with virtue and piety, or with
their opposites? A distinguished di-
vine once uttered this imprecation-
s'Cursed be all learning that is op-
posed to the cross of Christ; cursed
be all learning that is not subservi-
ent to the cross of Christ" Were
it not better to say, "Blessed be all
true and sound learning, because in
the end it shall advance the cause of
Christi" Christian scholarship is
supremely loyal to truth, believing all
truth to come from God. Unchris-
tian or anti-Christian scholarship is
biased against all that truth, which
can come only by revelation, and is
thus liable to get only of any truth.
Christian scholarship, welcoming
truth from all sources, gets that light
all around a subject which sets it out
in its completeness and perfection.
See, then, the noble work which
science finds lntrusted to in in the
kingdom of God, to teach men tc
think Gods thoughts after Him. tC
make the stars tell of His glory and
power, to read the sermons He has
written in the stones and the hymn:
in plant and flower, and above all t.
find in man himself perpetual incen
: tives to love God with all the hear
and serve him with all the life. Th,
kingdom of the world, the suprem
government of the world, shall b,
the Lords. Secular gove1nmen
shall submit to divine control. 1t i
not said that secular governmen
shall cease. Man is a political be
ing. In the kingdom of God in soci
ETY. as it ought to be mems relation
to their fellow-men in the state vii
be the subject of profound study
Every man Will give some of his bes
thought and his best activity to poll
tics. The reason why odium attach
es to the name and defilement to th
business of politics is because goo
= men have too much withdrawn fro1
this field of activity, and left it to
Sc much to the management of bad mer
nd But in the regeneration politics wi
DIS be controlled by the principles c
W " Christianity, which exalt and purif
all human relations.
After speaking of the ministry g
= the highest but not the only divin
:. calling, President Buckham declare
his belief that one day the world wi
enthrone Jesus Christ, as its rule