Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1900-04-28
THE DAY OF PRAYER.
sermon by the Rev. j. Everett
Frame, Instructor In. the New
Testament Department at the
Union Theological Sc eminary.

Union Theological Seminary.
Mark l0:43 "WkOsoever would be-
come great among You shall BE- your
servant"
! The recurrence Of the Day Of Prayer
Tor Colleges affords the thoughtful
Christian a fitting opportunity once
more to note what Is the trend OF inilu-
snces making for education in our coun
Try and to raise again the question OF
the ideals which should he held forth In
the academies, colleges and universities
In prayerful remembrance of which w
are gathered together today. 1t saNors
somewhat of tritens IS To remind cur
selves that the future Of our soc al
structure rests largely with the ideals
presented in our schools 1t makes all
the difference in the world whether the
boy has been taught both by precept ard
by example to consider knOwledgr, or
money, or power, something to be-
boarded, or whether he has been taught
to consider them worthful only in so fas
as they are useful to purify and to en-
noble life. 1t makes all the difference in
the world whether the boy learns at
cal strength. selfish in his use of money,
iogmatic in his use of knowledge. or
whether he has been educated to trans =
ate his possessions lovingly into terms
Of helpful service.
AS we cast our eyes back over the his
tory of college life, We find that the ear
liest English colleges were established
with the sole end of educating men tn b.
ministers. The term minister. however.
was rather narrowly interpreted. The
''ministry' was not in every case "ser-
vice" The sphere Of its practical ac-
tivity vas straitly limited. while the
sphere of its speculative thought was
confined almost wholly to problems of
the future life. Furthermore. the IN
wholesome distinction between sacu ar
and sacred was persistently emphasized.
Gradually, however, by dint Of an in
stinct divinely human, ii welcome reac-
ton set in. Attention was directed 10
the needs OF throbbing humanity. a
tendency to- shift the emphasis from the
future to the present life. from the clois-
ter to the street. made itself felt The no.
ton that the college is primarily re-
ceptacle for gathering and boarding
knowledge for private purposes gets
obsolete. The holy aloofness of college
from life is now stamped as an antiquity
"a relic Of Pharisaic separtism. The
trend of teaching is no longer the pro-
duction Of scholars whose sole and only
interest is in speculative theories neither
applied ror applicable to the wOrka-
day life Of the people. Students are
trained M longer to become simply ma
chimes for research. knowledge is as
sessed as worthfrl only in so far as it is
convertlble-nnt commercially but ethi-
cally-intO terms Of the richest and no
blest living. Thc old ana fashionable
distinctions between secular and sacred
have been sheirei. Secular has come to
mean simply that which tends to serve
neither GDd nor man. Sacred simply
that which tends to serve both God and
nan. All thngs-whether knowledge, or
money, or power.-which are lovingly
used for the uplifting of the total life,
are sacred, all else is secular The ia
nous aphcrisn: I'm order to learn We
must attend; IN order to profit by what
we have learned, we must think, that is.
Vel1ttt. I1t ffliv WIZ iclltClS.
This famous a.phorism is carried point
further. Mern attention and reflection.
however noble, however necessary, may
prove to be pure luxury, may but cumber
the ground. unless they be transformed
into living characters. We must not only
attend and reflect; we must act. The
test of greatness is no longer possession
but service, and this, loving serv
ice. In the words of a former teacher of
mine: "Eeliefs ore really rules of actions
and the whole function of thinking is but
one step in the production of action. The
ultima te test for us of what a truth means
is indeed the conduct 1t dictates or in
spires" Or deeper, in the words of the
text: "Whosoever would become great
among you shall be your servant" 1t Is
the Christian ideal, Greatness Is serv-
ice. which desire to call to remembrance
this morning; an ideal which shifts the
emphasis from possession to use from
reflection to action; an ideal which should
be held up continually before the eyes
OF our growing student body. Greatness
is service.
/ think all of us, as we attend to this
worth estimate of our Lord and reflect
on it seriously are struck by the serene
with which the Teacher moves
the accent from having to serving. from
keeping to using. No wonder his nearest
friends. even his own family. did not at
first comprehend him. They We're ILL
prepared ny education for such spiritual
directness and depth. You see, Jesus
tacitly assumes that in every one of us
there is the sense of the Infinite. the long
ing for the unattained, the yearring after
the spiritual more in each of us, to which
we may attain and with which we may
unite: that there is in us a divine life,
richer than the isolated life of the self,
to be appreciated and to be lived out:
that the primary call of every man is to
find that Infinite for himself and to help
others to find it for themselves: that no
matter how stringent the needs of the
body may be. food. clothing. shelter. and
that sort of thing. the satisfaction of
those needs is to play but a relatively
small part in the larger life. Our Lord
warns us, in fact, to avoid an over en-
phasis on the material, for fear we may
become enamored of the less and grow
cold tc the more. for fear we may tend
to become animals and sink in the scale.
when the Infinite is in us by birth. He
urges accordingly that we determine
rcsolutely 10 lose our private. insulated.
separated self, not indeed, for the sake
of the losing. nor for the comm ercial gain
possibly resulting from the venture but
to lose that self for the ethical gain of
finding the self again, infinitely enriched.
in the sphere of the life Of the more.
boarded. consequently. whether
it be named goodness or holiness or
is really good or great.
Goodness appears. and with it. great
ness, Just when our possessions are di-
rected to the life outside of the isolated
self, to the life Of the Infinite, in whom
we live and move and are.
All this may sound strange and enig-
matte to you, young gentlemen. why"
you will say. "if greatness be not pos
n u;n,, h,,t carvics tn on knOu.Iaaoa