The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-14
WABASH COLLEGE.
DIR. Burroughs Discusses ''The Return
of Faith" in an Interesting Way.


Special TO the Indianapolis Journal
CRAWFORDSVILLE,I Ind, June 13.-To-
day was commencement Sunday of Wabash
College In the morning the baccalaureate
address was delivered and in the evening the
commencement sermon The services this
morning opened with an organ voluntary,
followed by the doxology and invocation.
The choir consisted of Mrs. Ben Crane Miss
Edna Dice and Messrs. A. A. Mccain and
Homer Cox. The choir rendered an anthem,
"Te Deum" q. r. Thomas), and a duet,
GLORY to Thee, o God of Light (Gounod.)
The prayer was offered by ex-President
futile Dr. G. S. Burroughs, president of
Wabash College. in his baclaureate, had for
the subject of his discourse THE Return of
Faith the text being II believe help thou
mine unbelief, Mark tx, "A. DR.. Burroughs,
in part, said:
This was the cry almost twenty CEN
turtles ago, of a man in his need to Jesus,
the man of faith. The colossal character
of Jesus, which was not only the fruitage,
but also the very incarnation of faith called
It forth. The bitter sense of helpIessness
and the terrible realization of the urgent
peril of one who was dearer than life voiced
themselves in it, Humanity spoke, the Di-
vine Man heard. Faith imperfect, faint,
wavering. yet sincere came unto faith per-
feet strong, mistaken, yet condescending
in sympathy. The result was life, sound
full, grateful-the gift of a love divine.
1T is surely significant that leading
student of the facts of human conscious
ness viewed as the material of a So-called
natural science, a master investigator, the
character of whose work might, as he him
self has said almost be called materialiStic
should have lately given to the public, first
through periodical literature and then in en-
larged and more permanent form, his ut
terance of personal conviction that faith Is
at present returning among men of widest
and deepest thought everywhere, and added
the testimony Of his Judgment that this
a ( a & knOWlp6OR
is clearly worth, for life in every sphere
not only so much as knowledge but even
vastly more. This witnessing of Dr. Will
liam James may clearly be regarded, L be-
lieve, "a sign of the times, of
the many simultaneous symptoms that hu-
manity, moving in that upward spiral OF adj
vance, which often seems to the surface
observer to be but a recurring cycle, is
again seeking for the satisfaction of its
own inherent life to enthrone faith in the
center of human experience. Again as often
before but now as it would appear, in a
larger, higher sense, it is being found that
= Faith is the subtle chain
Which binds us to the Infinite; the voice
OF deep life within, that will remain
Until we crowd it thence.
THE RETURN OF FAITH.
Let us then notice some of the peculiar
tiles in what we may speak of as the pres
ent return of faith. See this first of all
Faith is being clearly rediscovered to be
pre-eminently personal confidence in a per-
lily and most important to be noted the
return 10 the primitive Christian concep-
ton of it. or as 1 should like to put it, to
the Jesus conception of it. For in the liv-
ing of Jesus of Nazareth pre-eminently die
faith first enter into our world, world
then well nigh in despair through utter
faithlessness. AS has been said, Jesus was
the man of faith. We are accustomed TO
speak of faith in Jesus. thinking of Him
as its object. This is right. But first we
must understand how in Him faith espe-
cially dwelt, how He was, above all others,
faiths subject. More and more we see that
His wondrous life was thoroughly human;
1t was the normal perfect life of man. 1t
was this normal perfect life in that it was
n life of faith Because He was full of faith
He was empty of sin.
Gather TO a focus in your mind the
words of Jesus as expressive of His conVic-
lions of life. gather together His deeds as
showing forth the underlying principles by
which He guided himself along the pathway
of daily conduct. What is the outcome Of
your induction? Is il not this? Jesus had
faith in God as seen in nature This faith
was personal toward His Father as the life
of the natural world. 1t was indeed scien-
tific faith of the best sort such faith as We
see modern science in her best deepest and
most thorough going thinking. more and
more insisting upon.
Again, Jesus had faith in God as He is
seen in the nature of man. Here once
more, His faith was personal. going out
toward His Father as the natural life of
His Fathers child, bearing the Fathers