The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-06-26


thing in life. She is satisfied with no di-
ViGed service
If you ask me to be more specific then
say:
First, be loyal in all matters of person
al conduct. Have you ideals in lfe2
Cherish them; resolve, God helping YOU
to realize them. Dare to be yourself. Be
not afraid to think your own thoughts
or TO shape your own career. Seize fast
hold of the tiller of your life's boat:
steer, do not drift. Hear the words of
the old Prophet, Son of Man, stand up
on thy feet-thy feet, not another's."
Secondly, be oval to convictions in so
ciety in business, and in your ordinary
relations with your fellows. 1t is easy
TO be sheep and go with the flock. 1t
Is not so easy to be yourself and stand
alone. But into every life there come
times when we must stand alone, or be
untrue. DO not seek to stand alone
there is no virtue in isolation or in being
odd. But dare to stand alone if you
ought.
The temptation is to let ones self down
TO the moral level of the community in
which one lives, or Of the persons with
whom one happens 10 be. Let yourself
morally down, never. Conforms to all
customs that are harmless; conform to
none that are evil. Help others TO be
strong and true by being true and strong
yourself
Thirdly be loyal to your convictions
in politics. nave convictions, and then
yield them to nobody. There is hardly
anything so demoralizing 10 our Ameri-
can life as AFFECT subserViency to par
ties. Political names blind US as com
pletely as if bandages were about our
ey es. We excuse the worst evils if they
are within cur own party. we condemn
the best measures If they are in an op-
posing party. We run with shllt eyes to
elect the most unprincipled men to office,
and to give our influence in favor of the
most corrupt legislation, if the party boss
so commands. So important do we hold
loyalty to party, and so lightly loyalty
to truth and honor and political right
eousnessi So weak and cowardly are we
in political matters, Shame on us. Let
us have the courage of our convictions.
Let US refuse to follow the leadership of
base men, plotting for base ends. Let Us
put purity, principle, the welfare of the
public, as high above party as the heav-
ems are above the earth.
Finally, he loyal to your convictions
in religion. mis- is most important of
all; and the reason is that religion goes
deeper, or ought TO, than anything else
If We are sound and honest and true in
religion il will go far toward making
us sound and honest and true in all our
life; while, on the other hand, if we are
false and insincere, If We hide our real
convictions and go with the crowd tor
popularity's sake, if we keep silent wheE
we should speak, if we let ourselves ap.
pear to believe what we do not believe,
and outwardly assent to what our hearts
deny, then we undermine our own char
acter, and make that which ought 70
minister to our moral life minister to our
moral destruction. The terrible thing
about religious disloyalty or insincerity
is that it not only destroys our own re-
ligious honor, and paves the way to our
own spiritual death, but it Injuries in the
deepest way the cause of religion in the
world. Men soon see through our pre-
tense, and because of our cant and in
sincerity they turn away from religion
itself with distrust and contempt, saying
it is fraud and delusion.
Members of the graduating class of
Oahu College, / know of no better word
to speak to you this evening than to urge
you TO be loyal to your deepest convic-
tons of what is true and noble and
right. There is no higher ideal you can
take with you as you go forth into the
world than the Christ ideal. Make His
exalted life-motto yours-''Not to be min
istered unto, but to minister, and to give
his life a ransom for many" If ever
w.
its ignorance, it's suffering and it's sim
you and I must have a part in saving it,
Do you want such part? ifen take up
your cross daily and follow Him whose
life was the very embodiment of loyalty
and love and self-sacrifcing service. If
you would attain to the Christ ideal Of
loyalty, you cannot evade the cross
Upon some cross of pain or woe
Each son of God must lie;
Each som redeemed from self and pain
Must know its Calvary"
In one of the most terrible battles Of
the American Civil War, a color bearer
who saw the line near him waverinC,
broke from the ranks and started with
the flag to the front. The captain shout
ed to him: Bring back the colors to
the regiment" But the answer came
lack in accents of defiance: mo, l win
not; you bring the regiment up 10 the
colors." Even so Christ, whom we cau
Master, calls back to you this evening.
What response will you make? o, that
you might feel that overmastering sense
of loyalty to Him which one OF our poets
has expressed in burning words:
II Jesus Christ is a man
And only a mani say
That of all mankind 1 c1eave - him
And to Him will 1 cleaye alH
If Jesus Christ is Cod
And the only God--I swear
1 will follow him through Heaven and
Hell,
The earth, the sea, and the air.
In bidding you Godspeed. this evening.