Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-06-11
BaCCd|aurGatOO Sermon
President A. T. Perry.

and dissipating their mental energies ?
There must surely be way by which
parental authority can be steadily and
kindly exerted. Our children will
bless us in days to come for control
, ling them.
This is only oGe manifestation of a
tendency that extends very widely.
In our educational system we are told
by some who call themselves advanced
| that the young person of ten, twelve
or sixteen is competent to decide with
out help what is the best course of
study. 1t is supposed that the profess
sion or particular calling in life is to
Le determined by the child, and then
pursued by some sort of specialization
| through High School, College and I'm
! iversity There are to be sure many
voices raised in protest, yet still this
view is pressed. We are told that there
can be no true success except along the
! line of interest, and so what pupil is
! interested in and likes. that is to be
studied Does boy like science, let
him study science. Does he dislike
mathematics, let MIN shun mathema"
tics. Does history please. him, let him
pursue history; is language hard for
him, let HIM drop languages. This
adopted as pedagogical principal can
only result in making weak, Informed
Cil cd rThprn ic 1iCpi-
pline so good as that of mastering
hard and somewhat distasteful subject.
Il ceases to be distasteful indeed as it
| is mastered, but the victory over self is
worth all it's costs. To follow the line
of least resistance in study is to give
present ease and enjoyment at the ex-
pense of permanent power and profit.
His exaggerated emphaeis upon in
dividual initiative and control exalts
! the human choice to an inoTdinate de-
gree. Wnen this is combined with the
materialistic temper of the time, which
! minimizes the providence of God, and
! rules the divine out of human affairs,
we have the individual human will en-
throned Each man must carve his
own destiny. Each must achieve his
own career. BY my own wisdom | am
to determine what my own life is to
be. and am to struggle to realize my
personal ideal. This view may be
stated in way to be very attractive.
1t appeals to self-reliance; it fiatters
strength of will; it extolls the human
reason. But the question comes
strongly home to us. is this for the
Christian the ideal? Is there no better
way? / believe there is. and against
this modern drift of opinion in its ex-
! cessive individualism, l would hold up
before you another ideal of life.
! However much of truth there may
be in these contentious, which | would
{ by no means deny, they have become
] in their extremer forms subtle temp
| tation to many young people, and give
them wrong perspective in their out
! look on the world
/ For this is Gods world;
we must hold to that. The won
drous order of the universe, its
adaptation Of part;-to part
the harmony ruling in the midst OF
! strife; the evidence of design manifest
on every hand; these all bear witness
to the power, the wisdom, the goodness
of Gcd. For the invisible things oI
Him since the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being perceived
through the things that are made. ev'
en- his everlasting power and divinity.
And if His mind has planned this mat
erial order, and His will controls these
material forces for the attainment oi
His purposes, shall we dare to say thai
He has no plans for the highest of His
creatures, and that those whom He has
made in His own image must wander
helpless and without a guide in thu
will ierness of this world? There il
surely every reason for accepting thu
presumption that the Almighty Fath
er who has made man has some pur
pose for him to fulfil in the great cos
mos. And because he is not infinite
in his power and wisdom and love, tina
plan Of His embraces not merely thu
race as a whole, it extends to eacl
member of it. In this broad sense, a
DR.. Bushnell shows in that immorta
sermon of his, every mans life is {
plan of God For each there is plac
and a part in the broadening sweep o
His kingdom, and this whether tn
man be good or evil He maketl
even the wrath of the man to prais
Him" He could say to a Pharaoh
"and in very deed for this cause hav
raised thee up, for to shew in the
my power"
We may come closer to our thought
The Christian is to believe that hi
Master has a purpose for his individ
ual life; that He who called us out o
darkness into His marvellous light di
, | ro ~ nrdar IN ,ca nc for coma dpfinit