Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-11-28
THE GREAT GIFT.
THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR
UNIVERSITY BENEFACTION.
Sermon by Rev. Horatio Stebbins,
ID. d., of San Francisco, on the
Scheme of Gov. Stanford.

to all that have done for this people-lNehe
miah, ill.,, 10.
They were restoring the walls of the city
Jerusalem was depressed, and the newly
chosen Governor saw that the only policy
that would restore the heart of the nation
was to rebuild the walls of the city, max
ing it defensible against the attacks Of
marauding heather, thus rendering civil
government once more possible, reviving
the spirit of the people, and their attach
ment to the ancient capital Of the mon
archy. The times were hard the people
had been badly treated by former Govern
ors, paying heavy taxes, borrowing money,
and mortgaging their lands to pay the
kings tribute Nehemiah, just arrived
from Persia with commission from the
king, saw all this, and was righteously an
CRY at it. He abolished the grievous
taxes, and the usury, and the bondage, and
relinquished his own allowance. And he
says that he did this for the people, for the
glory Of the commonwealth Of Israel, to re-
store and preserve the national and relig-
ious life of Judah. In this he had earn
estly sought Gods blessing by prayer and
fasting; and as he casts backward look
on what he had DONE in the simplicity of
his heart, and in the consciousness of an
upright and pure purpose, he imploringly
exclaims, think upon me, my God, for
good, according to all that have done for
this people"
The doings of Nehemiah suggest some
facts and events Of great public in
terest and welfare among US of
late. A great benefaction, unequaled
In our country, or in Christiandom it may
be, in the substantial grandeur of it, or in
its prophetic idea, has been founded and
proclaimed by a citizen who has long been
conspicuous figure in the State, and who
by these recent acts attracts the attention
OF the most thoughtful portion of mankind.
Making all allowance for the momentary
effects of brilliant deeds, the historic i'm
agination must dwell on it as a distin-
guished event in the affairs of men, and
look forward with calm, believing hope TO
the future glory and power of it that shall
be revealed.
| desire to speak Of the citizen and of the
event which he has made-not that sup
pose that ne or it needs my Endorsement or
my opinion even, but for my own sake and
yours, and the commemorative, and the
country's sake | speak. do not speak for
Mr.. Stanford, but / speak Of him.
speak Of him, for he is no private person,
but by his position and his action he has
made himself the cynosure of all eyes, and
given his fellow-men of the present and
future generations vested rights in his
name.
If it may BE said of any man that he is
the product of an age or a period, then
Mr.. Stanford may be said to be the product
of the new epoch of human affairs and
modern thought. A man of good sense by
nature, and Of that happy combination of
the great common powers of man which
constitutes worldly wisdom, he is in de-
gree above his fellow-men, fitted to grow
wiser; and careful observation of his
career attests that his development as man
and citizen has not been based merely on
good habits which are stationary, but on
inward vitality and salient power that can
assimilate new facts and circumstances, and
change them to experience To this
healthy moral digestion, the secret of all
sustained and continuous growth of char
acter, he adds power of silence and sit
ting still, while other men are excited,
talkatiye and busy, to degree amount
ing almost to genius. Among the
men of his generation, few are so distin-
guished for the development of their pow
ers on the table-lands of life, or after that
period at which the constitution commonly
homes fixed and rigid.
On such man, in commrait5 on the
western borders of the continent a COM
munity where industry was habitually in
toxicated by brilliant uncertainty, and en-
terprise verged toward insanity, yet where
the staying powers of human nature to
subdue the earth has rarely been surpassed
in history; community separated from
the populous world by mountain nights
and vast abysses and desert stretches, or
dreary ocean attitudes; a community that
attracted men from afar, and drew the
wondering eyes of many peoples; on such a
man, in such a community, dawned the
railroad age and the era of common carri-
ers It was the fulfllment of the old say
ing of the man and the occasion, that they
always come together. The truth of the
saying lies in the fact that the man is al
ways here, while the OCCASION is not.
To suppose that man thus situated
comprehends the occasion, or takes in the
landscape that yet lies beyond the horizon,
is alike unsound in its intellectual and
moral assumptions, and contrary to that
great universal human experience that "it
is not in man who walketh to direct his
steps" 1t is enough for him if he walk,
the turn OF the road is not his it is enough
for him if he apprehend the future to
understand is revelation of the past.
Thus men become part Of great events,
and build better than they know.
The first transcontinentsl railroad en-
countered doubt, Indifference andopposition
as a commercial enterprise. 1t vas natural
enough that it should've obstacles
seemed too great and the result too small
the commercial formula was reversed, and
maximum was on the minimum side OF
the account It needed to be allied to
wider and more universal interests