Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1900-06-18
A SPLENDID SERMON
Was Preached by DR.. Worcester

His Subject was 1.-The Young Mans
Entrance into Life"--0ne of the best
Discourses Ever Heard Here A
Plain, Common Sense Talk Free from
ali Cant and Nonsense.
The Baccalaureate sermon preached
yesterday morning in Commencement
Hall BY Rev. Elwood Worcester was
one Of the finest ever heard here
Other features Of the program were the
organ prelude and postlude by Prof
Ellenberger, invocation by ReY. Leech,
scripture reading By Rev. Barnes, and
singing by the Women's and Mems
Giee Clubs of the University. Below
we give synopsis of the baccalau-
reate sermon:
/ am always at home before a body
OF students. For eight years ] was
an undergraduate and for fourteen
years since graduation / have been
Intimately connected with students.
To Inc the student Is one Of the worlds
most interesting characters. Standing
on the threshold of life his destiny is
to be determined and his future for
Therefore | shall take for nay theme,
1.-THE Young Mans Entrance into
Life
Happy indeed are the young. Life,
with all its hopes and dangers, its
pedastals of safety and its pitfalls of
danger, stretches before the youth
like a vast expense of water chafed by
the storms, beloved by the waves,
and soothed by the Gains. Never
think that life is not worth living.
Such a conclusion is the hardened, re-
morseless Illusion Of the pessimist.
Life is good. For my part L have al
ways enyied those old Patriarchs we
read about in Genesis, such as Me-
thuslah and Moses. They had time
TO accomplish great undertakings
but with their unfortunate descend
ants the case is different. At three
score and ten, or thereabouts the
light Gfiickers out and the pilgrim
falls by the wayside If our steward
ship here below is of such brief dura.
tion then it behooyes US to treasure
the golden and make every opportunf-
ty the prelude Of some benel1cent act.
To frivolous minds life spent in col
lege is wasted, but when you have
reached further stations on the high
way of life, and look back over the
past, and the happy, fearful memories
born OF contemplation come flooding
in, then you will realize that the four
years or more you have spent in school
have been the most beneficial Of your
life. In college glorious opportunities
are to be caught on the wing. The
treasure houses of the past are open
ed TO you. For you the mathemati-
clans delved, the philosophers pom
dered, the historians wrote, the poets
sang, the romanticists dreamed and
the astronomers swept the sky. Free
your minds from all superstition. Su-
perstition has led man into the desert
wllds.
Possibly the most benign results of
education is that it teaches man to
appreciate the best things he knows.
One OF the most convincing arguments
with which the Devil confronted
Faust was that he dared not teach the
best he knew. God pity the man who
~ uclu III SuCu tilTdlIuOm.
/ congratulate you upon the time
in which you will have your being
You are standing ia the morning twi-
light Of the twentieth century. The
present century has been the greatest
in the history of the earth. Sixty
centuries Of authentic history stand
behind Us yet We are about to turn
our back to the most illustrious of
them all. 1t has witnessed the great
inventions which have reyolutlonized
the Industrial, commercial, and social
world as we'll as turned a new leaf ia
the moral life of mankind. But the
twentieth century is more pregnant of
glorious promise than the present
century hundred years ago And
in 1t you will live. What feeling
Of sadness comes to the mind when
we think that in few months the
greatest epoch in the history Of man.
kind is to become a few dry leaves in
the encyclopedia. And how sublime
are our emotions when we realize that
soon the curtain is to be lifted on
what will most likely be more glorious
still. l hope you will live to see the
greater portion of this new century.
But life is so uncertain, who knows
that you will. A beautiful lady once
sat weeping as the sun went down.
The philosopher consoled her saying,
Tomorrow it will rise again" Yes,
said she, but | may never live 10 see
it,
In the twentieth century America
will lead the world. And what new
meaning will be attached to decrease
death, life and immortality. Pessim-
lists have objected to education be-
cause it increases human sorrow. How
fallacious! But it is true that the
unfolding of human mind by educa-
tion increases its wants. Increase OF
knowledge means increase OF sorrow
bncallsn of the mind bpcnmas mora can