Morning journal and courier., 1884-06-23

operations and varied calls for personal and pecuniary sacrifices, all these would suggest what need not say, that waste of zeal and l lack of judgment have been the scandal and reproach of every one of those good causes, and brought every one of them into more or | less discredit A conspicuous hero in one Of | the greatest of these movements was buried l a few months ago, splendid by his rhetorical | gifts and unequalled in some of the equip l ments which make men leaders of their kind, ! but who in the extremity of his one-sided | partisanship seemed never so happy as when l he used his silver tongue in the utterance Of paradoxes that were most offensive to that common sense and common morality by which social order stands, That his fellow men should honor him for his personal worth and praise him for his courage was just and natural, but it is 8 significant proof of the lack and need of discriminating judgment that there has been so little manly criticism of the grievous errors of his social parsdoxes, as if forsooth the brilliancy of the fireworks which he manipulated so effectively could el- low us to forget that they were loaded with deadly missiles, and that the magician who directed them, whether he knew 1t or not, was scattering 'frebrands, arrows and death" I refer to this case as an example of the tendency ameng the educated men of our country to indiscriminate partisanship either for or against the cause with which they are identified, especially if the cause propose moral or religious ends. If another example were needed it might be found in the temperance reform which for some fifty years has occupied public attention and is doubtless most important to our social vel fare. This reform has been characterized by series of what are called great tidal movements, each of which has been supposed to carry public sentiment upwards and on- wards to higher level, Possibly this may be true, but it cannot be denied that each ad- vance stirred not little dirt and refuse and foam and fury which had better have been spared, N Nhich each refux has left behind in enormous masses. At this moment the ques- tion of prohibition and license and the possi- bility of settling this question on principles which will take it out of the hands of ethi cal abstractionlsts on the one side and those who call themselves practical politicians on the other is one Of the pressing and almost hopeless questions of the hour.
 The advancing movements of the church repeat the same history ind enforce similar lessons. While nothing can be more blessed and nothing more hopeful than the increase of Christian enterprise and the nultifarious expansion of evangelism, while it is equally clear that this expansion must and will be increased a thousand fold without eXhausting the resources of the Christian church, it is equally obvious that with this increase of zeal and activity there must be commensu- rate increase of wisdom and good sense if we would save ourselves from thousands of fail ures. The sacramental host of Gods elect like every other community of living men, is liable to manifold weaknesses and errors, and it is certainly followed like every other army by many irregular combatants. Its solid battalions it's gitterirg squadrons. it's ponderous artilleries and its brilliant officers are attended by motley crowd of partisans who are often as jealous as they are zeslous, and are as ignorant as they are conf and hope of the cause. If you ask them for the reason of the faith which is in them. they will tell you that faith is above reason and owes no allegiance to reason. If you appeal to con- mon sense and common prudence, they ap- peal to their personal inspiration and to God. There is nothing strange or new in all this. 1t has been true from the beginning that ''in great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earth" But it is none the less true that the more sacred the cause and the more in- spring and solemn the motives which move mankind, the more imperative the necessity that it should be guided by intelligence if it is to be crowned with success. To use disci- plined intelligence in these highest of all services iS the especial duty and high privi- lsge of educated men For to have been educated signifies nothing unless it means that you have been trained to think before you act and to give reasons for your actions, especially when you act in
 
 when these movements connect you closely ! with the advancing kingdom of God While ! I would inspire in each of you as the highest of all ambitions to be efficient and trusted leaders of your fellow-men, in every social ' movement that brings them nearer to God, ! l would urge with equal earnestness that you ! can only do so with success as you have clear and scientific convictions which have been formed in the light of trained intelligence.
 Finally-Such intelligence thus applied is essential to give dignity and strength to the individual character, and energy and symmetry to the personal life What we are and the life which besides. The manhood after which we as- pire, the manhood which we achieve, not the place which we hold or the gains which we acquire. are the great objects for which to live. For success in this aim there is no rule but the rule of reflective intelligence. Zeal and ardor do not suffice. Self-consecration and self denial by themselves are not the only equipment for the man who professes to form his own principles and to direct those of others by tine light of intellectual faith It is true the controlling spirit and aim is the chief thing. If an educated man is avowedly and consistently selfish in his theory of life, if he distinctly avows and consistently prac tlces the doctrine of ''Every man for him. self" he is doubly cursed, for he turns his backs on his nobler impulses and on the eternal law of love, and reads under his feet the exa mple of the Lord, who conse crated for all the ages the spirit of self-sacrifice by his own death on the cross. But it is not enough that 8 man is moved by the holiest and most un- selfish aspirations He must know what he believes and why he believes it. He must know what he rejects and why he rejects it. He must distinguish the essential and prac- tical truth which Is open to all men who ba ohaIo and technical and partisan truth which is limited to the few. He must be able wisely to lead his fellow-men in the great social movements which tend to human progress and human salvation. To the student pre- eminently all these are the conditions of a symmetrical character and successful life Young gentlemen of the graduating class that you may aspire after such character and attain such life we have invited you to the services of this hour, under the association of this place. Here have you been assembled for your daily worship during the years that are now fin fshed- Here all of you, as we hope have now and then been lifted to higher aspira- tlons, even if those aspirations have often dissolved ike the breath of the morning and these resolves have been melted by the fires of temptation. To this place and it's worship all of you will look back as to the sacred altar in the home from which you so soon are to go forth as wanderers in the journey of life or it may be as conbatants in It's stern con- hlcts But though you have been trained by the forms of Christian worship and under the influences of positive Christian faith, it has been in no narrow technical spirit, least of all with any limitations up- on the freest inquiries or any fear of the wakeful criticism of the times. You have been encouraged by example and pre- cept to prove all things by the tests appro- priate to each and every truth. At the same time you have been admonished to hold fast whatever is good in the gveat truths of Chris tian theism, Christian history, Christian eth- ics and the Christian salvation. I need not say that to the enforcement of these truths this college is pledged by all the traditions of the past. by all the obligations of the pres yet it is now, as it ever has been, foremost in testing these old truths by the lights of the severest criticism and fearless in casting their most precious ores into the hottest fires