The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-06-18
SERMON TO GRADUATES
PRESIDENT SCOT BUFFERS BACCA-
LAUREATE ADDRESS.
The Subject of His Discourse Was
endure Hardness as Good Sol
dfer"-The Programme.

o CLOCK IN the cnapel or the cOiiege. Every
seat in the room was occupied The facui-
ty. sat on the rostrum, and the senior class
had reserved seats in front. The service
began with singing the "Doxology" and in
vocation by Prof. Allen R. Benton. re-
tired member of the faculty. Frank Taylor
sang a solo, followed by prayer by DR..
Jabez Hall, dean of the Bible school. The
audience sang "All Hail the Power of Je-
sus' Name" and then Scot Butler, presi-
| dent OF the college, delivered the bacca-
laureate sermon His subject was Endure
Hardness as a Good Soldier" taken from
Second Timothy, second chapter and third
| verse. In part he said: These words were
written by one who, through experience,
knew well what that hardness was TO
which his words referred. They were writ
ten TO young man, sanguine, as 1t Is nat
ural and right that the young should be;
of high courage. but the quality of which
remained yet to be tested. They were writ
ten warning. an exhortation. They
were written as a reminder of Christian
duty and manly fortitude.
1--WE, at this day, shall scarcely imagine
the environment of the early Christians.
The cruelty practiced upon them by the
spired largely by misconception of their
! character and purpose. The best superiors.
those Of the largest view, those that had
the worlds good most at heart, were
among the bitterest and most persistent
enemies. That Is a hard thing-one of the
hardest things in life-to suffer through
misapprehension of others, and when Paul
said to Timothy, Endure hardness his
thought compared this, / doubt not, and
dwelt on it as the very climax of cruelty.
PAUL IN PRISON.
Paul was an old man in prison; his life
was behind him; his death was before him;
and, reviewing that hard life and antici-
pating that cruel death, he said: Endure
hardness good soldier" There is moth
ing in our modern life analogous to the
trials and prosecutions Of the early Chris
tians. Pagan prosecutions that made mar
tyrs of the saints ceased In the third CEN
fury. There have been later martyrs, 1t Is
true, but the martyrdom of such has been
due to the church itself and not to enemies
of the church from without The church
has been Its own prosecutor, and the mar
tyrdom within the church to-day is
martyrdom to self-conceit rather than to
conscience. They are willing victims that
court publicity, the exploitation Of the
cries that touch not the life Of our human
ity.
There are two sorts OF men in the world,
differently constituted mentally. There al
ways have been these two sorts, and there
always will be. My neighbor cannot see
the truth as / see It; cannot see the truth
as he sees it. Nevertheless. there is room
in the church for all of US If only we shall
be mutually tolerant. / read in Gods word
an allegory that speaks to me Of higher
spiritual meaning. Another reads there a
bare record of literal fact. Each draws
higher to God, but each by his own way.
For him, my way. and for me. his way.
leads down to death. I cannot believe in
God as he believes; he cannot believe in
God as believe; for, in the spiritual sense
also, IT Is true that one mans meat is an
other mans poison. / hold this to be true.
that mortal man never has and never will
enter into any adequate conception of the
nature and purposes Of the Divine Being;
and Furthermore, that our conflicting theo-
ries shall fall so far short of the glory of the
ineffabie truth as to appear In His eyes all
equally futile. Nevertheless, however men
differ, God is, and in His church there is
room for all and food for all-for each
according to the demands of his nature,
and his modern Christian martyrdom,
whether on the part of prosecutor or of
prosecuted, is destitute of every element
of Christianity.
A GREATER CHURCH.
but there is a greater church. which is
the world, and the preachment of this hour
is for you as members of that greater
church. The world has hardness. They say
at funerals, you know, man that is born of
woman is of few days and full Of trouble
They say, it is true. that in heaven the
balance shall be made good and they
promise to the faithful recompense un-
imagined and unimaginable. Oh, joyless
commentary this life of ours-if that he
all; If there be no sweet source of sat
isfaction here. no joy of conquest, no peace
that comes of steadfast endurance, no
high exaltation Of soul that the strong may
feel, no lofty scorn that triumps over lfe's
vicissitudes, no calm indifference to every
wind of i'll that blows and brave to look
straighteyed into that that lies beyond. But
there is; and the gospel is given us not
much as passport to future paradise
means Of present grace in this present
world, and in this strength of soul lies the
justification of any mans life, Endure
hardness as good soldier
Life Is wonderful-wonderfuli How shall
! interpret ii to you? You remember, per
haps,to have lain supine on the fiat breast
OF n, mother s, earth d deeply richly smelling
gazed into the illffnitable depths where
orifted. drifted the white cloud films, and
oh. the far, far thoughts you had them
What knew you OF worlds and worlds, and
trackiess void and mystery of the illirnit-
e BILE? But what knows any man? Science?
Science with appraised eyes measures labor
ious step along the level earth. Rather hap
piness Is his, and truth and revelation %
eternal mystery, that, as the child, hears
Apollo singing. For his ear the sound of
grosser music dies, and all the earth Is
full of subtle undertones that change the
listener and transform him.
HOW TO BEAR TROUBLE
Science indeed! This is enough for the
present purpose; there is hardness In life;
endure II as good soldier. What want
to say is to speak of some of the hard
things that come TO all of us in life and to
tell you the best may, how they are to be
borne. The lesson of the hour, IL it is to
have any force. must be drawn largely
from my own experience. Any man, to
speak with satisfaction, must speak out of
his own heart. Nor considering, the occas-
ION and our relative positions. do I think
that an apology is necessary for such dis
course. The business to-day is. in peculiar
sense, between YOU and me. This Is a
solemn occasion for us on both sides Your
heart Is open to me to-day as perhaps IL
never has been before. doubtless ii never
will be again. because the occasion en-
phasizes the office that perform before
you. and with the passing season our rela-
tionshiD changes. / would find the way to
YOUR hearts I want to speak words that
shall be true and right. believing that IT,
even in some small measure. I shall sue
true. YOU. forgetting other things, will re-
member that
THE doctrine OF pessmism Is hard 10
preach. Have patience for little while
Without pessimsm there is not optimism
IL haf live IN he