St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-07-10
DR.. Lamson,s BaccaIaureate.

llOHdl SHulSu, ~ JOHhopui " WIZ ~
interested in the following abstract
OF his baccalaureate sermon before
the graduating class at Mt. Holyoke
College:
The subject of Dr. Lamson's sermon
was Reverence" his text being taken
from Exodus 3:5, "The place whereon
thou standest is holy ground" 1t is a
common criticism that our student youth
are irreverent. Apparently they havet The
faculty of not allowing the perfect life TO
90 too early to seed. One is often
shocked at the hippant way in which
youth speak OF age, wisdom institutions
or scriptures, but these are often the
froth that floats on the surface, not the
deep current Of genuine life and respect
for the real and vital that flow beneath.
Truth should be judged not by the float,
but by the flow Of life. Reverence means
finding the divine in the world and con-
Tossing it. 1t is respect for character be
cause the true character is that which is
divinized. 1t is the alteration OF the
ideal because the ideal is our best bap-
tized by the finger OF God. The object of
education is to gain power to discover
the permanent quality in life, it's truths,
realities, sanctities, in word to find God
in his world. Education ought to teach
us what and how to revere.
Every life is made by its reverence.
When the soul goes forth as admiration
it returns as power. Every real adora-
ton changes the life. We are changed by
what we see aud are transformed by, and
into the image OF that which we behold.
The scriptures exalt the power of sight
because it is the organ ofrenewal. Most
of us having eyes see not, we can look at,
stare at nature or men, but seeing is
looking into things or history or society,
which is work and aspiritual act. Who
ever sees into the world discerns some
thing worthy and greater than himself,
that elevates him. The shallow soul cam
not reverence and the deep soul can
not help it; it is the means by which he
is made profound. No man goes away
from any altar the same as when he ap-
proaches it. Whoever falls on his knees
in prayer is taller when he stands up.
We are made by what we revere. In the
true life there must be reverence for law.
To he lawless is to be vulgar, uneducated.
To be useful to modern life there must be
set deep the conviction, | am under au-
thority. Truth is revealed to us in two
modes, the indicative and imperative,
and to know it well men must learn it in
two modes. Truth to be wholly revealed
must command us. That which is COM
mended to the reason must command the
will. What we call liberty is not the
right to do what we have mind to,
but in having the mind to do what is
right, By an active reverence for law
all law-woman can do much to correct
the lawlessness that now penetrates So
ciety, the home, the schools and every
form of public life
There must be also reverence for truth.
Reverence is seeing and being true to
truth. 1t is the spirit that cannot endure
the insult one offers himself in telling
falsehood or being false. 1t loves the
truth because to be false in spirit is to
die. We are not set to defend the truth,
it defends us. 1t does not depend on us,
we depend on it. We discover, not Gre
ate it. With it we may lose all things
and yet be rich, without it we may gain
all things and yet be poor. Truth is an
other name for the trustworthy. The
true life is one on which we can rely.
There is enough for all, each may rest on
truth, and thus be its witness. 1t is the
sovereign good of life to seek it, that is,
make love oft" to know it, that is,
Give in its society" to believe, that is
gain power through repose in it, be true
to it, that is, reverence it.
But reverence for all personal lite is the
highest. All vice is irreverence to self, all
viola t;o,, cc tba eaco,,J . n Llo &c IL. -.
irreverence to others, all sin irreverence
to God What we call courtesy is the
mode by which we declare our reverence
for Jesus. The power of reverence sees in
all the human something of the image of
God. Reverence for persons educates
children, Pounds hospitals, and gives the
world the gospel, 1t brought Christ to
the world and brings the world to Christ.
The woman who is educated in rever
ence learns how to detect the human and
meet it at the level OF it's worth. Person
atty is august. One who believes it will
60 forth to discover it, awaken nourish
and admire it. Therefore, reverence
yourselves and thus gain influence and
command respect, reverence life and all
that concerns it, do not admire any false
thing or fail to admire the true, rever.
ence your bodies not only because you
are in them, but because God is in them
reverence your work as Gods calling
reverence the past, it is always close tc
your duty, the present. 81 am" is the
divine name the future heaven is in it