The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-07
SERMON TO PURDUE SENIORS.
indianapolis Plymouth Church
Preacher the PrOdigaI Son.

LAFAYETTE, Ind, June 6-The bacca-
laureate address to the Purdue graduating
classes this afternoon delivered by
DR.. +. E. Dewhurst, of Plymouth Church,
indianapolis. The exercises were held at
the Second Presbyterian Church. Rev. A.
A. Pfanstiehl read the parable of the prodi-
gal son, offered prayer and then President
Smart, of Purdue, introduced DR.. Dew
hurst. His lecture occupied thirty-five min
utes in delivery and was well received by
his large audience. DR.. Dewhursts subject
was THE Finding Of Life" the text being
taken from Luke XIV, II: When he came to
himself he SAID L will arise and go to my
Father"
The story of the prodigal" said the
speaker is an illustration of a wider truth
than is sometimes drawn from it; it gives
a deep hint of the way in which man comes
to the discovery of his real life and of what
that discovery means 1t shows us that the
finding Of ones true self takes one straight
back to the bonds and fellowships which
had been broken, that it re-establishes re-
lations and duties. Finding ones self is
finding, not an isolated, independent as
sertiVe self; 1t is finding self which must
cooperate with other Selves it is finding
sonship and fatherhood This is the funda-
mental doctrine of Christ; and it is all ex-
pressed in the simple word, 1 will arise
and go to my Father"
The address then unfolded this thought
of the discovery of life in it's bdaG'ing upon
the intellectual, the social and the ethical
lie or man. In relation to the intellectual
life, 1T was shown at length how the in
tellect of man is beginning to act in the
sympathetic and constructive way
The day will come" continued Mr.. Dew
hurst, when the intellect of man has fully
come to itself and the self of which it is
conscious will be not the isolated self which
asks for the division of the estate, but the
related self which, with full and deep de-
sire, cries out i will arise and go to my
| Father And that will be the day of mans
achievement likewise
| of his greatest emancipation; for the liber-
| ty of fugitive slave can never be like the
| liberty of the son who dWellS in the house
| of the father
But man is coming to himself in other
| to a sense of larger selfhood in the great
organic world society. In the old days a
recent writer has said, individuality, the
right and duty of a human being to live his
| own life, to think his own unhampered
| thought to come to his own honest con-
| clusion and to speak it out had little place
| in politics religion. Even the philos-
opherS into whose equations 1t entered did
not treat it as a universal vital fact They
| looked at it as idle people looked at the
| stream which came out of the spout of the
| kettle on the fire and never dreamed what
| it could do. But in the sixteenth century,
when powder and printing and Columbus
| and Copernicus were added together, in
| dividuality appeared at the foot of the
| column.
And these recent centuries have seen the
reign of this individual; have seen the great
| revolutions; have seen man with this new
| consciousness of power and liberty demand
| ing his own, claiming his full share of the
| inheritance and giving almost prodigal ex-
| preston to his life. There had been through
| it all an older son abiding at home; con-
SENATORS of ancient customs In state and
| church who seem not to have dreamed that
| anything was going on or the household
| was divided or at most waiting for the
| prodIgal brother to return and accept
| obediently the ancient conditions as when
| the holy pOntiff at Rome now and then
| holds out a gracious hand to his rebelliouS
brethren But in the social world this kind
of return is forever impossible. The asser-
ton of the individual has been too signit-
cant, the revolutionary influences have
been too radical, the emancipation has been
too complete. The lines of progress have
been extended by the individual; the
triumphant achievements of the last
centuries are the result of this new and
vigorous assertion of the individual man.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
But already are there indications of a
new expression of the human reaction
upon the world, reaction which is disclos-
| ing the fact that indivdualism with all it's
| truth and all its triumphs is not the final
| condition The man who is coming to HIM
| self is the social man, and in the heart of
| the social man is the mpershable hunger
| for the fathers house. The social man is
| learning that it is impossible for man to
| live alone, that he neither liveth nor dieth
| TO himself He is discovering with surpris-
| ing rapidity that the isolated life is not
| only false, but that it is impossible For
| this man who asserted himself with such
| independence who launched himself upon
| the crest of the revolutionary wave with
his proud boast of equality and freedom
and rights-this man is learning that he
is not isolated, but related, that what he
knows to be the best and dearest life is q
life which holds him in connection with a
vast network of human interests and rela-
lions. Take the individual man away from
his relation to the family, the state away
from the associations of friendship, of toll.
1 Of Fol hat hn Ia2 n n "
man be left to boast and pirate? The era
of indivdualism is merging into the era of
personalism, and it is the very essence of
personality to know and recognize its re-
lations. The man awakening to conscious
ness of true personality at once declares,
/ will arise and go to my Fathers house.
What the ultimate social form is to be-
no man is yet wise enough to predict. And
who need care? One may well cherish the
splendid unconcern of Jesus about details
for he said: The day and the hour no man
knoweth, but only the Father The one
thing to be sure about is that the kingdom
of God, the true life OF man. Will ultimately
prevail and to herald all it's signs with
glad heart. And who can doubt that this
dawning consciousness of the social self is
higher and truer than that OF the former
individuals SELF that we see in it one more
indication that man is surely awakening 10
himself Finally | would affirm the same
truth in the realm of the ethical life. Man
is awakening to the conviction that the
moral life and the religious life are insep-
arably united. Man is destined TO Know
that he cannot order his conduct Alright
Without arising and going to the house of
his Father.
Hgion is a much VeXed question, perhaps
unnecessarily sophisticated. Can man live
n mofal life and not be a religious man?
If by that one wants 10 know whether a
man can be honest and truthful. can dis
play Justice, friendship, afectlOn, integrity,
without acceptance of the forms of religion
or even without conscious belleI IN God, 1t
is hardly necessary to raise the question.
The world is too full Of people who are daily
demonstrations OF it's truth to make ii worth
by religion one means the maintenance of
historic forms of belief and OF historic
symbols there is a great variety OF rea-
sons why men of irreproachable Character
one means TO specify the lines OF approach
TO speculative definitions of the Divine Be-
ing, there are many reasons OF strength
and urgency why multitudes who feel the
spirit of the age do not believe or suspect
they do not believe in God. But my own
conviction is that the whole question needs
raising 10 a higher plane demands con-
sideraUon in a clearer light. What IS NOR
atty? 1t Is conduct and character deter
mined by the laws and facts of the world
ligon. what is that2 Is ii not based as
Benjamin Stilman. the great chemist said
upon the recognition OF power in the uni
verse good enough TO make ruth-telling
safe and strong enough 10 make truth-t tell
ing effective?
TO THE GRADUATES.
And now, young men of the graduating
class, let me say the last word to-day di-
rectly ard especially TO yourselves. You
stand here to-day at the meeting noint be-