The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-12-17
SERMON BY BISHOP POTTER.
DISCOURSE BEFORE THE BERKE-
 LET AssOCIATIOs OF YALE.

Advice to Young Men-rhs Power of Per
 sonaiity-Materiai Progress in the World
 The Powerful Personality of Abraham
 Lincoln.
 The Right Rev. Henry O. Potter, D. D., bishop of New York. preached be- fore the Berkeley association of Yale university in Trinity church last even- ing. The church was filled to Its ut most capacity by people desirous of hearing the discourse of the eminent bishop. His text was: And Moses said unto God. who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh. and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt" Exodus Iii. Il. He spoke in part as follows:
 It Is a rare man that these words bring before us. He had in that emi- nent degree that rare quality of leader ship which appears only once or twice in a century. We had such a one in our country. and one whom the repub- lie will more and more delight to honor. His biography is on my library table In ten octave volumes. A friend said to anyone find to say about Abraham Lincoln that would fill ten octave vol umes? A great many people may have the same thought and idea. But for all that he stands out as an eminent, domi- nant. enduring. great and majestic fig ure of this century. What 1t is that makes him so am here tonight to tell you. He is an appropriate character for you young men standing and Wboking forth from these porches of learning to study. You are all of you before long to be called upon to answer the question of what you are going to do in life. It should be your aim to confront the issues of life as a being who under God is the master of his own destiny. We are prone nowadays to believe In the forces a man has in himself. There is one class of men in America whom I greatly admire. It is the class of men who manage and administer our great enterprises of commercial traffic and intercourse. What have these men done in material progress? And be- cause they have done so much is it at all wonderful that their success should have become symbolic? If they can do such things, these kings of corpora tions. should we not worship them and | make them our rulers? But then the question may be asked: To what do it all amount? For people who believe SO much in material progress are apt to slight mental progress. These people do not recognize any realm of the imagination or anything that is not to be eaten, drunk or worn. When you go out in the world you will be expected to make your way honorably, honestly and beneficently.
 There are a great many men in the world who are overcome with indiffer- ence. Some lose their illusions very young, and before them the world ap- pears to be a poor, mean place, full of poor, mean desires and longings. But one day a man full of enthusiasm comes along and alters the entire course of his life by the great power and force of his personality. Certain great and conspic- uous men have risen from the obscure and inferior people who make up the grea! mass of the population of the country. The power of personality is greater than any material force. There occur to me now three great Dersonali- ties, who sgnally illustrate this: Lord Lawrence. the savior of India; David Livingstone and Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was uncouth, unrefined at times and perhaps too much given to testing in times of danger. But beneath all this exterior there was a. seriousness and consciousness of his power that manifested itself to all who knew him thoroughly. So it is is what you are and what you are to be that determines your character and the estimate which men will put on you.