The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-04

fT IS TIE SUBJECT OF BACCA-
LAUREATE SERMON AT
RIACALESTER
DR.. PAXTON TO GRADUATES
Pastor OF House Of Hope Addresses
the Class of 1900 of the
Presbyterian Col
lege.

Rev. James Dunlop Paxton, pastor of
the House of Hope Presbyterian church,
delivered the baccalaureate sermon be-
fore the graduating class and students
Of Macalester college yesterday after
neon at Manchester Presbyterian church.
The speaker, as a preliminary to the
sermon, on 'Bible-Built Men" spoke on
''The True Cod 1t was DR.. Paxton
said, recognized fact that the best ma
tions of the earth were the Christian ma
tions, and as this applied to principalf-
ties it was equally true of individuals.
The heather wOrshiped idols, but men
of more enlightened nations created idols
before which they bent in worship. HUI
mility was more to be cherished than
extended theological knowledge. Theolo-
gy was we'll in it's place, but the man
who could occasionally say, 81 don't
know" was greater than the man
wrapped up in seIf-conceit regarding
scriptural matters.
Discussing 'BibIe-built men," the
speaker said:
The subject is Bible-built man To a
certain extent it is true that all men are
bib. c-built men" This Bible Of ours is a
strange book. Have you ever pondered
upon this book? How it has made its
Wav unconsciously into the very center OF
our civilized life? It is a strange book.
This book has revoutionized the world,
or it has kept the world from being what
the world would otherwise become.
The first enemy was the Jewish sys-
TEN, and it did not take very long for the
new religion to triumph over the old. And
then from Jerusalem the new religion
spread and soon we find it coming in con-
tact with art, the culture and the philos-
Ophy Of Athens, no mean enemy
Spreading in all directions, this new re-
IgiOn comes in contact with the Roman
power. What q power that was! But his
tory passes on and the stone of Nero =
palace, of the Forum, of the Coliseum,
are soon formed into St. Peter with is
galaxy of Christian churches.
The next enemy to be conquered was
the power of ecclesiastical Rome; the
Rome now becoming ecclesiastical instead
Of heathen builds up its grand papal
structure on the Bible. A grand struc-
ture it was, as each pope added his par
ticular column, but it was all built upon
closed Bible, and it soon became neces-
Sary that that structure should be over
thrown. Wycliffe and others tried to do
it, but it remained for Luther to grasp
this closed Bible from the great structure
of papal Rome and with a mighty effort
drag the Bible from under that structure
and then to spread it open to the world,
and accomplish another victory against
barbarism.
The Christian religion of today is as
sailed, or perhaps 1 should not put it in
the passive voice, the Christian religion
is today the assailer. The great conflict
today is between the Bible and the selfish
ness of man.
The chemist will tell you that of al
things in the universe, a certain very
large proportion, I think fOur-fifths at
least, is composed Of oxygen. Oh that we
had some chemist to weigh for us law
and custom and habit, to tell us how
much of the Bible there is in the world.
It would be a very large proportion.
Take away the Bible from the world, and
absolutely there is but very little left.
Blot out the sun and what would remain?
All color would vanish, color and life,
water and force of every kind would dis
appear.
Just So if we could in our imagination
subtract the Bible from history; if we
could recall all the facts which have hung
upon the Bibles power; if we could with
draw all men who believe in the Bible,
and who have conformed their lives to
it's precepts: if we could withdraw from
history all the facts brought about by the
Bible and all the battles that We're won,
all the dynasties it had overthrown-truly
there would be but little history left.
The Apostle Paul tells US, in the thir-
teenth chapter of I. Corinthians, some
thing of the heart quality of man. He
tells us if a man has wisdom and has
knowledge. and has all the gifts which
men would naturally desire, and has not