The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-07-04
BACCALAuREATE SERMONS.

of our knowledge. 1t is the beginner
who is satisfied and wearied, and who
does not look beyond himself. A man
who has gone far on in the way and who
seems to us to know most everything,
sees the field ever widening before his
vision and reaching out into little linn
itless distance. His own attainments
are but the little things, while the great
things are IN the future. The progress
of life in his way brings every truly edu-
Gated man to a constantly increasing
readiness to receive all the lessons which
experience in every line may teach. Our
sphere of working is always larger than
ourselves. The sorrowful thing about
our lives in this regard is that we leave
unused 80 much of our power which we
could make effective if we only laid hold
of the opportunities that offer them
eelves to us. 1t is the weakness within
which loses the reward, The man him
self fails. He may fill his surroundings
with the peacefulness of his soul if he
only makes his soul be full of faithful
ness and love. This is a lesson which
we in this age are peculiarly prone to
forget as we look out upon life from its
beginning and oftentimes a we move
onward in it. But let man study him
self as the years pass, and we will know
its truth"
To those about to graduate he address
ed himself as follows cat this dividing
point of life which ends for you the
time of preparation and begins your
time of work and service for the worlds
wellbeing, would turn your minds
away from the past, or which they so
fondly rest, toward the future. The
future Is full of possibilities and prom
ice and the largest life of your manhood.
These years which follow the beginning
ale unknown to you, and therefore you
cannot now understand what they have
to tell you and to give you, but to us
who have moved on in the way before
you somewhat of the revelation has been
granted, and we see more and further
than we once did. We would impart to
you the inspiration, the encouragement,
the hope, the apprehension Of the mys'
tery and glory of life which we have
gained in our measure as the years have
passed and thus would make life become
to you continually brighter and happier
But if you would know all that life has
to bestow upon your soul, you must take
ll6 l6dCulDk5 W DO Aoh obu 10
fast as you are able to receive it, and
must be ready to believe what you do
not yet see, Above all, you must know
and guide your lives by the knowledge
that truth is felt, as truly as it is per
ceived; that duty is the end toward
which all truth of the souls deepest life
directs its energizing force, and the les
sons of the years all point forward to
what is beyond this world and to it's
needs of an ever-growing likeness to the
Heavenly Father"
Rev. DR.. Huntington of Grace Church
New York, preached the baccalaureate
at Trinity. Addressing the graduates he
said
~ have been speaking to you of the
Christian Commonwealth. No questions
loom so heavily on our horizon as the
social questions. Here within college
walls you have been studying them in
an academic form, but presently as clti-
zens, as ministers of the Gospel, as law
yers, as men of affairs, you will find
yourselves graphing them in dead ear
nest. Every great era of progress in
scientific knowledge and of invention in
the arts has been the precursor of an era
of civil change. Unprecedented discov.
cry lies just behind us, it may be that
unprecedented notifications of the So
cial fabric lie close ahead. We cannot
tell. We know not even what to pray
for as we ought. But have striven to-
night to place in your hands talisman
that shall stand you in good stead, even
though, by and by, you should hear the
sea and waves roaring, and find mems
hearts failing them for fear. Hold fast
your faith in the monarchy of Almighty
God. Be not afraid or ashamed to be
known as the subjects of that King.
Have no misgiyings as to the stability of
His throne. Remember that whatever
else passeth away, He abides, and that
His law of righteousness know no re-
peal. Moreover, set your faces toward
the sunrisng, and let your voyage be
onward into light"
Bishop E. G. Andrews of the Metho-
dist Episcopal Church preaching on the
subject of Christianity and the mothod
of asrertaining its truth spoke as follows
at Wesleyan University
1.-THE first method that is suggested
for attacking this problem is the method
of the clear head, co-called. This is a
method which, perhaps, might under
proper conditions be suited to men OF
leisure, but it has no aptitude for the
great masses of men, who have neither
the ability nor the culture nor the ma
terials for the inquiry to enable them to
reach conclusions in this manner. If
there is no other method then vast
masses of men must remain in doubt, or
depend upon other minds than their
In, raualatinn IF fha that
Christianity processes to be there might
naturally be helps of moral or spiritual
kind for which the poor intellect, the
reasoning argumentative faculty has no
calculus whatever. The law of growth
of faculty is by use. This law obtains
through all parts of our nature.
''If the longing soul, convinced by
higher or lower degrees of probability,
yields to the mastery of Jesus Christ,
than another range of evidence comes
into the light. He enters into an appre-
hension of divine and heavenly things.
Now he has lifted the veil of the temple
and has entered where the Shekinah
CLOVIS over the mercy seat. The method
of the pure heart is the one that the
masses of men follow. Although con-
scious of puzzling questions, their faith
remains mistaken, their hold on God is
sure, because Christianity and Christ
answers to their every needs. To them
Jesus of Nazareth is the only key that
fits the lock of human destiny"
Christ's character was the theme of
President Carter's discourse to the Will
iams students 1t is, the president
SAID, a well-known fact that in every
generation one great man does not ap-
pear alone. Had Christ been the out
growth of his time, we must believe that
various characters approaching Him in
purity and power, in aims and love,
would have grouped about Him. But
there are certain features in Christ's
character that no laws of organic evolu
ton or environment can explain. In
narrow and provincial people He was
universal. AS teacher, intercessor and
Saviour, He was not for narrow nation,
not for His own country, but for the
world. There are two points which
make for the supernatural character Of
Christ, One is the breadth and yastness
of His plan, which lie without suggestion
of parallel among reformers or found
ers OF religion. The other is the equally,
perhaps more, amazing fact that this
universal conception, this unlimited love,
sprang from member of the narrowest,
most exclusive race in history; that it
was then any product of His earthly be-
longings.
1t is not too much to say that scientific
scepticism has made little Roadway in
its assaults on the character of Christ,
When that character is honestly studied
and the influences that ever since His
day have protected it are subjected to
the closest analysis, it is seen that the
water which He gave is the water clear
az crvatal that nroceedeth out of the