The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-05-31
dr. ". +. TILLETT'S
Bacca aureate Sermon at the
University Commencement.
"A TRULY GREAT SERMON
FRANKLIN'S MISTAKE OF TRUST
ING TO HIMSELF FOR PER
FICTION.
SAID INITIATE SOCRATES AND CHRIST"
The Life Of Ensign Worth BagIey Referred
to as an Example Of Perfect Man
hood--Visiors Already
Arriving.

| ured ana third annual commencement ol
the University Of North Carolina is on
1t began yesterday morning at IL o'clock
| with the baccalaureate sermon, which
was preached by DR.. Wilbur f. Tillett
of vanderbilt University.
The speaker was introduced by DR.. r.
!. Alderman, president of the university,
in a few well-chosen words. In his re-
marks DR.. Alderman said that lie was
| glad to introduce to the audience DIR.
| Tillett for more than one reason; first
because he was engaged i'll the great
4 work of educating the young men in Il
i sister institution Of learning; second, be-
| cause he was North Carolinian by
| birth and third, because he had seen ser
/ vice within the walls of the University
Of North Carolina.
/ DIR. Tillett then arose and announced
as. his text the 18th verse of the 4th
| chapter OF Ephesians: It'll we are come
| in the unity of the faith, and Of the
| knowledge of the Son of God, unto the
measure OF the stature of the fitness OF
| Christ
He began by taking the life Of Benja-
min Franklin to introduce his subject.
Franklin tried to attain unto perfection
| oy practicng thirteen rules laid down by
himself These he went over day after
day, but finally abandoned the task be-
cause he found that to obtain perfection
| in this way was impossible When lie
saw his folly he advised his daughter and
others to identify themselves with the
church as much as possible. He was one
Of the number to assist in drawing up
| the Constitution Of the United States.
and he had ii clause inserted saying that
Congress should be opened by prayer.
He did this because he had come 10
know the Importance Of prayer Later
in life he inserted after his thirteenth
rule these words: Initiate Socrates and
Christ" What a pity it is that he did
not see this need Of Christ in early man
hood. We can learn by Franklin's eX-
ample and failure to start with Christ as
the true example Of perfect life and get
our ideal Of life from Him.
DIR. Tilleft then announced his SUBJ
ject as divided into the following three
subdivisions:
/. Perfect manhood, the ideal Of Christ
life
2. The place Of faith and knowledge
in ideal manhood.
3. Conformity to Christ who is the
only perfect patterns the final test of
perfect manhood
He explained what he meant by per-
feet manhood. under the first division.
The Greeks had two words for man
one man as an ANIMAL the other the
true man. 1t was Of the latter KIND that
re wished to speak. The Bible calls Oh
us TO be perfect men and to do this we
must be perfect as Christ would have us
to be perfect. Here the speaker quoted
from various New Testament writers and
showed that they all commended the per
feet manhood as their ideal of life.
There is a place for both faith and
knowledge, but faith has the first place
in making perfect man. 1t is Il fOunda-
ton on which perfect manhood is to be
built. Some men say that it makes no
difference what you believe, provided,
your life is right; it is Il question of
character and not creed. The preacher
recognized some element of truth in the
statement, but said it was false in some
respects. 1T is Of the highest import
ance.' he said, what men believe. The
great men Of history have all been great
believers. Great faith makes man
great. A man is never better nor greater
than his faith, be that what it may"
This point he illustrated by saying that
this was not only true in religion, but
was equally rs true in science. The man
who believes something will do some
thing Columbus had faith and as a
result of that faith America was given
to him rs a discovery The great war
engines Of today are the result of Besse-
mer's faith, that the method Of fighting
| could be improved The discouragements
shown him by England did not stop his
faith, but when France offered an OPP
| portunity he improved the guns, discov-
cred way Of cheapening steel and made
modern warfare what it is today.
DIR. Tillett appealed to Abraham,
! Joseph, Moses, Daniel. Paul, Martin,
| Luther, Wesley, John Knox and others,
| to show how great faith produced great
| men. On the opposite side to show how
| bad faith makes bad men he referred to
| Notaire, Paine, the French Revolution
lists, the Jesuites, Socialists and Mill
lists, whose faith led them to destroy all
/ good work and government The one
| great object of faith to make character
| is Jesus Christ as the Son of God The
/ divinity Of Christ is here shown. 1t must
| be a personal faith and not mere credul-
1
ment Mere assent TO a creed, however
/ orthodox, cannot make character. IT
must be personal faith. Belief upon evil
| dence necessitates the exercise of rea-
son. Belief without evidence is mere
credulity. 1t can never make any one
great. Personal faith means that you do
your own thinking; that you know what
/ you believe and why yOu believe it.
The speaker expressed the faith that
| all Christians. the world over. are com
ing into the unity of faith. The old his
torical creeds. written three hundred and
fifty years ago. are being remanded to
the rear and Christ, His teachings and
Ills ethics are being given a place OF
prominence and power in the church TO
day. The theology Of Christ and the
creed Of the church enunciate great
morals and not minute rules. They rep
resent the faith Of the catholic chris