The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-06-06
MONTANA UNIVERSITY.
Com encement Exercises Opened
With 4 Baccalaureate Sermon
by Dr.. Pullman.
The Audience Hall Crowded With
Members Of the Faculty
and Students,
This Evening Exercisss to Close
Wednesday.

The commencement exercises Of the
Montana university began yesterday and
will continue until "Wednesday. Rev.
Joseph Pullman, of New Britain, Conn.,.
preached the b~nocalaureate sermon at three
p. M, to . largo audience composed of
members Of the faculty students and
friends OF the university. II WAS a mastery
effort. The audience was crowded
and the floral decorations and music in
keeping with the occasion, brightness and
s~acredness. The text of tho sermon was
what 10 ManY' from Hebrews II SO.
That il the inquiry Of the skeptic and of
tho philosopher. And the answer OF
Christianity 10 that man ID ! being born for
vast dominion and 1 great destiny. The
epistle to the Hebrews was written TO allay
skepticistn. A mildev Of skepticism had
settled upon the faith Of certain
community of Christians in the
Apostolic age. and this great letter
was written to confirm their loyalty to
Jesus Christ. They were converts from
Judaism, and as Hebrews. in common with
ell their nation. they had expected a tenn
poral Messianio kingdom which should
vindicate the God of their fathers and
secure for them . pre-eminent place among
the nations of the earth. Those expecta.
tions had been disappointed. That the
messiah had bsen crucifed had caused
many to stumble.
II was : period OF transition in tho appre-
hsnsion Of gospel truth, and periods of
transition are periods OF danger. When
the old must 20 and the new is still shadowy
and uncertain, = sore temptation falls on
all whose faith has been in forms and sye-
TENS or crseds, n not in the living God.
The Christian church in our time 10 passing
through an experience not unlike that
first century. We are sweeping into the
horizon of new CONSULTATIONS of truth.
The heavens about ne are changing. On a
shelf in my library il a book With the title
1.-THE New Chemistry" That title works
a revolution in our conceptions Of nature
words are in the air. NJ the new astronomy.
the new science Of historical criticism. that
terrible, investigator and sitter Of ancient
opinions. These titles indicate that We are
living in a time when all ancient ~institu-
hons are examined afresh. Nothing is be-
lieved simply because il is ole.
But let no one dream that this is q new
experience for Christianity. Darwin, who
troubles Israel to-day, has had his prede-
cessor in Newton with his gravitation, and
in Copernicus with his theory of the heav-
ems, n like those eminent explorers Oar
ress n a servant of Christianity.
Our text starts with tho inquiry, "What
is man3" Out in the sands of the Egyptian
desert, not far from the great pyramids, is
the huge figure of the Sphinx, weird. colos-
sal, incomprehensible, the riddle of the
What % the nearing of the sphinx? Man
10 the Sphinx Of human thought. What is
man? was the inquiry of the psalmist, and
it is still the "unsolved riddle. What is he?
How did he get his start or this planet?
What is his nature? A bit of vitalized
What lies before him in the future?
Science, Philosophy and Religion have al
ways been at work on this riddle, but never
the Zest and intense curiosity Of to-
day.
Science has found out some things. or at
raj part and a product of that vast system
laws We call nature. As the first blossom
on the apple tree in the early June is a
of the tree, 80 man is a part and a
product of the Cosmos. Science il very
bold. The universe is infinite in space she
the universal law Of RravitRtion. 1t is also
infinite in time and bound together by a
single law. the law of continuity, the law of
evolution or derivation. And through the
vast geologic ages nature was gestntive
mother of man, who after long embryonic
came to birth and independent
life on the planet.
That is the general verdict of science to-
day as to mans body. But if you ask her,
10 man an ingenious mechanism who like II
watch will soon run down, or like a flower
will soon Obstinate. or is he a spirit irnmor-
tai, endowed with faculties that demand y
and immortal life, science ia not
ready with an answer. Shc talks of force
but she does not know what it is. She as-
sumes primordial atoms, but cannot tell
whence they came. She speaks of the law
of evolution. but is puzzled to account tor
law without a law giver.
that attempt to dispose of this sphinx.
Positivism. a philosophy quite in fashion a
few years ago, tries to dispose Of it by ig-
noring it. 1--WE have nothing to do with
the riddle of the sphinx. or with guesses o.
of any kind" Then a little later
came agnosticism boldly declaring that it
is impossible to have any knowledge or ra-
tional beliefs OF religious subjects. God is
infinite. if there be a God. How can man
grasp the infinite? And this form of skep-
ticism is now the fashion. The coming
man will be a snint without religion,--Felix
Adler, Of New Yotk. tells us. Robert Els
mere told the working men of East London
the resurrection of our Lord was IAN
exquisite fnble'' began in the exalted brain
Of "a few mourning Calileans," Other
come forward, materialists, pessi-
mists, like Schopenhaner preaching a phil
OF despair. There ia a tone of sad