The Portland daily press., 1898-09-30

prayers, that God may bless us in the
future in even greater measure than IN
the past
Following Mr.. Payson's address came
the very scholarly and very interesting
address of President Butler Of Colby.
1t was listened to with rapt attention and
the charming speaker held the closest at
tention of the largo audience from the be-
ginning to the end.
His subject was The Leadership OF
Christ. He said in part that when Christ
says to men: 'Follow Me-" he asks us
to do with reference to himself what we
shall sursly do with reference to some
thing or leader; for men are always fol-
lowers, worshippers. The children gather
I about leader in their sports; the boy
aspires to be like the man. Men choose a
leader and gladly follow him, and men
erect statues and preserve likenesses and
memorials of those who have been their
great leaders to new elevations Of freedom
and truth. And the reason for erectlng
these statues is that we instinctively feel
that any visible memorial helps us in our
| ~
least, those whose memories they per-
petuate. We accept the leadership OF these
men in proportion as we desire something
better and still better for ourselves. We
are all learners, lovers. patriots, hero
worshippers. And thus we are at the very
fartherest remove from the zero point of
individuality and personal power. There
Is when We are drawn out of ourselves
| in devotion to some true end or noble
leader, fullness and intensity of life not
otherwise attainable.
Great men may, in very true sense,
be regarded as the gifts of God sent into
the world to do u work. OF each 1t may
be said that he appeared in the fullness of
time. And what they have accomplished
for the world cannot be measured by any
standards of history, because perhaps the
larger share of their mission to us il not
only in what they have done in their
own time, but in their influence on hu-
man character in all time in stimulating
us all to higher type OF life-a more
heroic endeavor-a more successful
achievement. Hence 1t comes to pass that
next to personal acquaintance and asso-
citation with such men, nothing is more
stimulating to the best that Is in us than
the study OF well-written biography.
Thus such men as Luther, Gustavus
Adolphus, Gladstone, Bismarck, Philip
Sidney, franklin, Abraham Lincoln, do
great work for us in enlarging and
elevating our own personality.
| All this serves to illustrate the fact that
the impulse of worshipful following is
deeply Embedded in our nature; that it Is
not an unworthy or self,contradictory
impulse; that it is really at the basis of
the best activities that we have put for,
ward. And the view that great men are
| Gods gifts to us, and especially in their
| influence upon men in all time, will lead
us to see the reasonableness and even the
necessity of Gods placing before us some
thing more worthy of our worshipful fol-
lowing than these, at best, imperfect
models. That He has done so is the
declaration of the Christian gospel; and
| therefore it is true that there is nothing
more important for every man than the
clear apprehension and practical accept
ance of the truth that Jesus Christ is the
only perfect model after whom human
life and human character. are to he
life is to follow Him.
| In regard to the invitation to follow
Him, we are to notice three things.
| First, that the invitation is perfectly in
| telligible second, that we are at liberty
to do as we please in reference to 1t; and,
third, that in our choice Of leadership
among all the things that claim our fol-
lowing is involved the whole question
of our character and influence In the
world.
After developing these points in detail,
the speaker dwelt upon the fact that the
leadership of Christ has been vindicated
by nearly two thousand years of trial In
the world, and that, as matter of his
tory, in proportion as the nations have
followed Christ the world has come out
into the light; that it is incredible that
men should read history intelligently OF
thoughtfully observe their own times
without believing In Him and Loyalty fol-
lowing Him. For it is a perfectly we'll
understood principle, accepted alike by
historians and students Of political ano
social science, that whatever reform W.
hore for. our ultimate confidence Of sue
cess lies not in getting the laws right
but in getting men right. Not lega
restraint but new moral forces at worf
| in the human heart. These alone in thu
past have and these alone in the future
can work radical reform; and that thu
only hope for getting new moral forces
work in the heart is in the way appointed
By the Gospel. This question is no ut
terance of narrow religious creed or de
n educational formula, but broad scien
I'll ic theorizaton, SO that nobody Ii
surprised and nobody dissents when Mr.
Gladstone exclaims: ''Talk about TIT
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