Morning journal and courier., 1884-06-23
Baccalaureate Sermon,

I
 Delivered by President Porter, of Yale
 at Batten Chapel Sunday Morning June 22.
 & lst Th... % '. 2l. Prove all things; hold fast tha
 II Pet. I, 5. And to virtue, knowledge
 ! Cor. xiv, 20. But in understanding be men.
 These words may seem to be common
 place-so often used as to be entirely out
 worn, and in losing their freshness to have
 lost their meaning. There are reasons, how
 ever, why they may be taken as especially
 l appropriate to the age in which we are iv-
 ing. This age may bs properly called, as above all others, the critical age, the age of
 criticism by eminence; an age in which men | literally attempt to prove or test all things 1 more persistsntly and variously than ever be- 1 fore. The time-spirit, it is now familiarly
 called, is pre-eminently spirit of question 1 ing analysis such the world has hitherto 1 never seen. Everything that man knows or l fanciss that he believes or denies, is now l brought to the bar of the critical reason and l summoned to give an account of itself, to es- tablish or renounce it's claims. Systems of faith and systems of philosophy, theories of I government and theories of revenue, the | laws of fashion and the laws of trade, the l creeds of religion and the creeds of atheism, l dogmatic assertions and agnostic denials, ev- l cry conceivable theory of literature, poetry, l diet, exercise and fashion all distinctly ! challenged, as they pass in slow or rapid re- view before the eye of criticism, and are tried and tested by it's more or less comps- | tent tribunals
 Men in other times were content to enjoy. I In these times they cannot enjoy unless they l also understand They arc not satisfied to ! eat, even if they become healthy and strong unless they have mastered the processes of | digestion and can trace the several clements ! of nutriment and the relations of each to | animal life. They cannot enjoy the raptures
 into which music lifts up the soul until they | have mastered the theories of harmony or I the special philosophy of the composer They cannot pray without completed phi l losophy of prayer. They can neither believe l in man nor il. God without series of criti- l cal questioninss which begin with denying both, and which often end with only a half belief in either. They cannot believe in knowledge itself without first challenging the I authority and trastworthiness of their own power to know, and ending in doubt as to whether they more than half know anything We are concerned with the relations of this spirit to the religious life and with the appro- priate remedy. In other words, we ask how we can and why we should prove all things
 and hold fast whatever is good: In order to answer this question satisfactorily we need to scrutinizs more closely the critical spirit it self. We notice
 l. That it Is in part the legitimate out ! growth of the scientific spirit which is the l glory of our times. Science is nothing if it
 
 distinguishes, and it cannot distinguish un- less it sharply observes When 1t reasons 1t must scrutinize evidence. When it experi- ments it must apply every conceivable test When it arranges and completes 1t must ad- just every fact or truth to it's fellow with the most scrupulous severity. It must look everything squarely in the face. To do this with continuity and success requires the con- centration of the attention either upon 8 limited number of facts or a limited number of relations. It is all the same whether the scientist studies the universe of drop of water with it's animalculs or the universe of the Kosmos as to it's celestial mechanics. In either case he limits his attention to few subjects-matter. Hence every special science expands itself into the work of lifetime and occupies the microscopical as truly as the comprehensive attention of the devotee who is determined to master 1t. Whether 1t be the natural history of family of plants
 or insects, or ths geology of the few pre- historic periods, or the science of politics, or
 morals or religion whether it be the philos~
 ophy of matter or spirit, or the relations and dependencies of each, any one of these de- partments may suffice for lifetime and oc- cupy the days and nights of the sharpest ob- server and closest thinker. Within each one of these separate spheres each man is intel
 lsctually at home and often is at home mo-
 where else Beyond this sphere he finds lit-
 tie interest and professes to few clear and
 ialty he is confident and strong, walking In
 the light of accepted and luminous truth
 and he walking with an assured and fearless
 step. In respect to what is beyond he may
 be positive and dogmatic or timid and mod est. If he has true scientific spirit he will
 defer to the opinions of his neighbors in re- spect to questions which lie within their pro- vince. The geologist will not presume to meddle with the historian, nor the chemist with the literary critic. Even the most many sided men, the broedest and most varied thinkers, best know the specialties in which they are strong, and know as we'll that be- yond these they are relatively weak.
 There is, however, one great domain be- yond any and all of these separate fields of scientific truth, common to all men, inelu- ding them all, having relations to all men, the presence or possibility of which all ac' knowledge, if they will but think. How is 1t with the domain of faith? Into what attl- tade does the critical and scientific spirit bring it's devotee with respect to the unseen and the immortal, with respect to God and duty and eternal life ? We raise no ques- l tions here as to the compatibility of trusting faith with critical science. Ail that we as- sert is that if these truths are not tried and | tested by the scientific mind, after 1t has been sharpened by the analysis of logic and schooled by the evidence of fact, there Is | serious danger that they will be left unsolved ! in the limbo of the unscientifc prejudices of childhood, with the intellectual trumpery of an unscienti6c age and the traditions of un- l scientific thought. Here lies the chief dan ger from the scientific side of oar critical age.
 2 In literature the critical spirit assumes another form. Wherea5 in science it Is eau tious and modest. and sometimes narrow, in | literature it assumes ts be positive, all-judg- | ing and all knowing. It's characteristic air 1 ana aim is to seem to knog everything in re ! spect to every question, and to express what l it knows in forms so brilliant and imposing l that no men shall have the presumption to question it's authority. The enormous num- Der and unouestioned ability of reviews and | journals of every sort afford the amplest op- portunity for the quick eye, the rapid gener- | alization, the dogmatic boldness and the 1m- posing diction in which literature delights, and which it's leaders of the present day so much affect. Next to this quality of our literature we notice the number of cultivated l persons for whom it furnishes the bulk of l their reading, who derive from it the most of their knowledge and their opinions. Of this potent instrumentality the tme-splrit has taken almost complete possession, summon ing to judgment all opinions, theories and creeds, all phiIosophies and fashions, by the medium of is dashing leaders, it's insinuating essay, it's elaborate review. No subject in earth or heaven is too lofty for it's aspira- tions no theme too trivial for it's notice The names of few prominent writers, hv- Ing ana QeaQ ID EugIduu auu AueElCd VIII occur to you, who are fair representatives of critical writers, who have been esteemed ora- cles of wisdom in their time especially to the young and from whom so many in the last two generations have indirectly and directly derived their principles in respect to the most important of all questions.
 As in other times so in our times, literary critics have exerted potent influence upon the attitude of their generations with respect to the Christian faith. To their honor be it said that in eur times they have to large extent incuIcated reverence and respect for the Christian ideal of life. and for the Chris tian history as best symboliziug this ideal But when they encounter the supernatural and historical truth of the New Testament l history, they too often either directly deny it's reality or indirectly assume that it is slow ly disintegrated by the searching tests of modern criticism or has been already aban- doned by the mysterious time-spirit. It would also seem that as fast as there goes out of modern literature the personal rever- euce for the historic Christ, there goes with it a practical and fervent recognition of the living God as the father of men, who pities their sorrows and consoles their griefs and
 listens to their prayers and receives them at