The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1891-05-29
BACCALAUREATE SERMON.
Rev. Jno. Barbour speaks words OF
Wisdom to the Normal Graduates.

As usual on such occasions. the
opera house was crowded Sunday
forenoon by a throng DESTROYS of hear
ing Rev. Jno. Barbour preach the an
-nual sermon to the Normal gradual
ing class. The latter. with the fac
ulty and alumni. occupied reserved
seats in the parquet. The stage was
beautitied by bank of flowers. and
was occupied by the clergy of the city.
with chorus of eight voices, consist
ing of Misses Griffin, Hutchinson,
Moffett and Sweetland, and Messrs.
Cushing, Pond, Hughes and Davies.
The music was generally commented
upon as excellent.
The sermon by Rev. Barbour was a
very fine one, showing Thoughtful con-
sideration and an intelligent apprecia-
ton of the needs of society.
The text was-the statement Acts
7:22 that Moses was learned in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians and was
mighty in words and in deeds"
This showed Gods estimate of an
education. The genius of Moses, his
experience in the wilderness. and even
the pledge OF Divine help was not
enough. He was TO have the finest
academic advantages of Egypt. By
wonderful stroke of Providence he
was adopted into the family of the
Egyptian princess, introduced at
court, and given all the advantages of
secular culture.
To this, in part, Stephen attributed
his after eminence The subject de-
duced was the connection between
culture and usefulness, culture and
character.
Moses history showed that a
thorough education did not disquali-
fy for the actualities of life. Many
people think it time lost. They say
il envelopes one in a web OF theories.
There is nothing your Self-Styled prac-
tical man hates so much as a theory,
and there is nothing he has so many
Of-mere theories, most Of them.
Fathers often reason that their boys
do not need so much schooling for the
lives they are to lead.
Moses was poet, historian. litera
teur. law giver, yet see him taking up
life as he came TO it in the field and
camp.
The cases of Gladstone, Disraeli and
the greatest Of England's statesmen
and merchants were cited. They
were University men. The speaker
claimed that Americas great material
advance was owing partly TO the en-
tering of college men into business
life.
Nor did Moses learning take the
heroic fibre out Ofhim. Hamlet had
showed certain scholarly irreSolution,
but Moses was the type OF that other
class of scholars who plunge with
prepared minds into life. He slew the
Egyptian and accepted Punishment
for his brethren'S sake. The tenden-
cy of true culture is TO enlarge the
heroic deposit in the soul of all. 1t is
wonderful how much of the struggle
for liberty connects itself with the
Universities. Erasmus was a time
server, yet the man of the day-Luth-
er-was a college professor. In Eng
land there were Pym, Hampden, John
Milton-all college men. In Ireland,
Swift, Grattan, OConnell and Burke
were the same. The French reyOlu-
tion was the work of scholars. After
they lost control the terrOrS came. In
America educated thought had mould
ed New England and that had moulded
the nation. Educated BigOtS drove
out Roger Williams, but Roger Will
Jams was scholar. The war of indie
pendence was inspired by such schOl-
airs as Sam. Adams, Jonathan May
hew. Jas. Otis, son of Harvard, and
Jay Scott and the Livingstons, and
men of letters Like Jefferson and
Franklin. Hamilton, Jay and Madison,
sons of Columbia and Princeton, gave
us our constitution. The educated
class had been charged with cowardice
in the slavery agitation, but give us
greater names than John 9. Adams,
". Phillips, Whittier, Longfellow,
Lowell. Emerson, Parker, Beecher. 1t
was not claimed that educated men
had accomplished all, but the small
proportion of college men was to be
considered. Nor were the surprises
of genius to be forgotten-LincOln and
Patrick Henry had little education,
but this did not excuse the rest of US
from full preparation for life's work.
Nor did scholarship throw apart the
classes Of society. The truest Repub-
lie is the republic Of letters, where
merit only wins. There was nothing
finer in human annals than Moses
giving upa splendid career to serve a
degraded and despised people.
Again, wide learning is not inimical
to the religious spirit. Moses was the
most devout of men. The churches
had always founded schools. Religion
must thrive by the truth or die.
All this had been said defensively.
The educated class is to-day an ar
raigned class. Business men do not
believe in it. Voters do not prefer
educated men for legislators. 1t is
claimed editors are better who do not
90 to college, and as to the poor
theoIOgians, the men educated in re-
ligious science, they were for every
bedy's ridicule. The speaker claimed
that history showed the folly of this
prejudice. Beside it impeached the
human intellect, it betrayed fear of
the truth, evinced a pitiable ignor-
ance of the true problem of life. The
educated people of the country must
redeem business, politics and society
from the low views of expediency that
prevailed. There was great truth in
Vinet's saying '"There is nothing
more useful to our students than
things fer which they are to have no
daily use." Men who are to be shut off
from study in after life were the very