The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-05
PRESIDENT JAMES REID
Baccalaureate Sermon at the
University Chapel.
HIS THEME, TRUE LIBERTY
1.-THE Truth Shall Make You Free"-A
Scholarly and Dignif1ed Discourse
by the Head of the Agricul-
tural College.

Missoula. June 4.--Before a large and
appreciative audience this afternoon
President James Reid of the state agri-
cultural college at Bozeman, at the
university chapel delivered the bacca-
laureate sermon for 1899. His theme
was True Liberty and his text was
from John chapter viii, verse 80, The
truth shall make you free" The dis
course was scholarly and dignified and
the speaker held his audience closely
throughout. He said:
ideals which seemed in past years
very visionary and unpract ical are be-
ing realized to-day in the lives of in
dividuals and nations. If Spoken to-
day, these words might not stir even a
passing thought but, when we consider
the time and the conditions under which
they were uttered they become both
prophetic and significant. They bring
out principle which has been asserting
itself in all history in the lives of in
dividuals and nations namely, that the
real source of bondage or freedom is in
the Individual or national thoughts OF
ideals.
The truth shall make you free, and
its antithesis, The false shall make you
slave are written 50 clearly down
the centuries of human history that
the simplest, if he thinks at all, may
decipher them. The words to which /
have called your attention were spoken
before the influences of modern civil
ization had thrown any light upon the
intercourse of men and nations and
when conquest meant for the conquer
ed suffering and slavery of the most
barbarous nature-the most degrading
serVitude prevailed everywhere and i'll
every form, and liberty, if it had
name or existed as an ideal, had no real
existence.
TT was in the time of Rome's march
to universal empire and the speaker
could see the marks of foreign OPPRESSION
and servitude on every fortress. The
systems of philosophy failed to bring
to men the liberty their founders had
promised and hoped for ardently. Juda-
ism as a religion had degenera'ed into
d lifeless and dry Journalism and had
ceased to be morally elevating, and the
glory, the refinement, the greatness of
Greece and Rome We're being buried by
the tidal wave of materialism and im
morality which was sweeping over
them. That great religious ideal, which
centuries before had taken such deep
root in the heart of Israel that a small
handful of people We're held together as
one and for generations drove back
their foes, but at last, losing the ideal
which made it so potent. the Lowry
NaZarene, who spoke these words. en-
tered the Holy City and temple and
| found a religion utterly material-a
| body without a soul. There is nothing
| that can paralyZe religious or social or
| national life like the loss of great ideals.
| While great ideals haunted the public
,nr,t
Rome grew in majesty and greatness.
! but. corrupted by wealth and luxury,
| she gave herself up to the material, pre-
| ferring to WalloW in sensuality and
| gluttony to treading the heights where
| glory dWelt, then Rome fell. Rome is
| but type of what has been transpiring
| all the way down the centuries of ma
| tiOnal life One nation after another
| came upon the scene, lived few years
or centuries in the sunshine of progress,
then to be cast into the shadow of de-
cline and fall. Follow the stream of his
| tory and you become more and more
| impressed with the fact that the earth
is the tomb of dead empires.
"Cherishing those ideals. and living in
| harmony with those ethical laws which
| are essential to the most vigorous social
and national life, then prosperity
smiles. But when tempted by con-
| quest, wealth or luxury to cast aside
| the high and noble ideals and princi-
pies, the might of armies and navies
| cannot prevent disaster and decay. The
| most potent forces in national life are
| the ideals. the moral principles of the
people. Along with the progress of our
| age in science, we are conscious of an
| Increasing spirit of unrest. 1t IS affect
| ing the relations of capital and labor.
| of employers and employed, of rulers
and their subjects. While the increas-
| ing knowledge of science is changing
mental conditions, the application of
science in ten thousand forms is chang
| ing even more radically material and
social conditions. The complexities of
| modern civilization perpeX and appal
| us. We cannot get our bearings, we
| cannot adjust ourelVes. 1t is true OF
nations as well They are being liter
ally transformed by the progress of in
| ventiOn. Their fancied strength, wher
| tested, may be utter weakness. What
havoc such an age as this makes of oul
notions of things, Even the creeds and
| dogmas, more ancient than empire
| upon which men have built their eter.
nal hope and which they have been mis-,
| taking for faith and religion, even these
are crumbling and men think thai
| truth itself is gone. Pilates question
What is truth?' has been echoing anc
| re-echoing down the corridors of the
| Christian centuries and men are askins
| it still.
He who has arrived at maturity ant
has not asked the question and has
| never desired intensely to know the
| truth. does not yet know himself anC
has not yet found himself. Do you i'm
asine the great teacher had in mint
the truths of science or philosophy?
presume He cared very little for human
| tradition or science or philosophy
though each had it's bearing upon hui
| man life. What He longed for most
intensely was their freedom. His mis-
sion was to give men the freedom long
ed for. He knew no other ambition
| How often have men mistaken thE
| source and character of true freedom!
| These words of the Great Teacher bring
out the thought that he, and he only
is a free man whom a knowledge of the
| truth makes free.
| There are many who boast of free
dom, and the boastings are empty and
vain. AS a man thinketh in his heart
| SO is he Filled with false ideas of dutH
| and false notions of his relations to his
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