The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-09
ANNUAL SERMON AT PURDUE
Delivered by the Author of "The Re-
demptiOn of David COrsOn."

laureate sermon for the Purdue students
was delivered this afternoon at the Second
Presbyterian Church by the Rev. Charles
G.. Goss, of Cincinnati, author Of 1.-The Re-
demption of David Corson," who was Sc
cured in place Of the late DR.. John Henry
Barrows, of Oberlin. The church was hand
somely decorated for the occasion and was
filled TO its utmost capacity by an audience
which gave close and appreciative atten-
ton to the sermon. Prof. c. A. Rowland,
of the Ann Arbor School Of Music, added 10
the excellence of the service by his bari
tone solos, the regular church choir con-
tributing special numbers.
DR.. Goss preached from the text, Ephes-
ians, iV, u: And we toll, working with
our own hands" He paid warm and elo-
quent tribute to DR.. Barrows, outlining the
salient points Of his career, and then pro-
ceeded:
1T made no difference how humble any
occupation was; how near to mental toll
as soon as John Henry Barrows undertook
IL, ii suddenly assumed dignity, beauty,
holiness. 1t was this fact that led TO
the choice of my text. We toll, working
with our hands'-and my theme, The
TRANSPORTATION of Labor The association
of ideas is instantly apparent. Paul, the
great apostle, possessed this same sublime
faculty. He who lent an added glory 10
oratory on Mars Hill Just as easily
turned tent-making into a fine art. AS he
sat cross-legged on the ground stitching
skins or canvas, mental occupation sud
utuly pdSStu luIOuSu mysterious Cudu5C
like the illumination of the darkened win
dows OF a cathedral by the lighting o, the
candelabra on the altar! Drudgery became
divnel Fra Angelica painting angels
convent walls does not seem one whit more
holy than St Paul making tents or sails
in some fsherman's hut on the shores of
the Mediterranean. Now, how shall we &C
count for this? What principle explains
this mystery OF the TRANSPORTATION of labor
from drudgery into beatitude? Again and
again you ii. Moses kept the tiocks of
JPtrO. Amos a herQSman in TekOa.
Jesus a carpenter; John fisherman; Gar
field a mule-driver; did those tasks de-
grade the man, or did the man transhgure
the tasks?
Around the toll of a young rail splitter
in the backwoods of Illinois driving the
wedge into the log with his heavy beetle
imagination plays with as much fascination
as around the infant Mozart lingering the
ivory keys in the organ loft or Phidias
carving statues for the Parthenon What
is the secret? How shall we explain the
mystery? L will tell you. 1t is the light
/ within the soul! There is in all beautiful
and holy souls a light that plays on even
mental tasks as sunlight plays on vernal
howers-as moonlight plays ruined
towers. There is absolutely no toll, no task
in human life, that cannot be turned to
poetry and to worship by men and women
who thrill with sense of the glory of the
universe, the sacredness OF human life and
the dignity of human labor. Will you give
me by suffrance to-day little of that fixed
and eager attention you would have be-
slowed upon the noble president of Oberlin
by Il SOTl VI ulNiIlt COIpulSlOIl--N L
| illustrate this theme. am not as wise and
eloquent and good as he, but do not yield
| to him or any one in the deep intensity OF
/ my interest in the souls and in the for
! to launch your barks on the stormy ocean
! of life. l know its rocks and shoals; /
! know its gulf streams and tidal waves; l
know it's Scyllas and its Charybdes too well
| mot 10 feel for you.
1T is a thrilling picture of the trained,
| imaginative painter of this navy of a hun
L drpd thousand and scholars
| thus putting out to sea in the leafy month
| of June. What symbol is beautiful enough
| in which to represent them? Not even that
| of a whilte-saied fleet of boats; not even
! that of a thousand nests of singing birds
! let loose in eastern skies. Only that of
! God, the gigantic husbandman, stalking
! from East to West across the American
continent, and with lavish hand scattering
you living seeds of a new and glorious era OF
human progress, and as you fall into the
! open burrows of our national domain, sing
! ing in deep and solemn tones of celestial
music the song of the harvest home-"Bring
| forth! Bring forth Bring forth! Some thir
| ty, some sixty and some a hundred foldi
| Bring forth! Bring forth Bring FORTH
! I'm whatever symbolism one views the
/ scene, il is a deeply moving one, and with
/ a solemn sense of my responsibility and OPP
portunty L speak these words-You will
1 transfigure your task in proportion to the
| clearness with which you perceive that
| labor is a beautitude. In order to develop
this thought let me say-that there are
three views of labor; first, as a punishment
! ana curse, second, as means OF pfeSerN-
| ing existence and securing pleasure; third
as sanctitude and psalm. Let us pass
! them in review. First-as punishment and
a curse. 1t must have been once, for so
says holy writ, although it is hard doc
trine to me, but 1T still is to those who
think IL so! Let man regard his task as a
| calamity and Ii becomes so. This is as true
/ of the most exalted as well as the most
degraded toll. The artist at his easel; the
surgeon at his operating table; the mother
| over her cradle; the priest offering incense
at the altar have found their task as be-
! numbing and degrading as the scavenger.
man has but to settle down to the idea
| that work is drudgery, and that il is
ignoble, and by the irreversable law of being
! IL begins to coarsen and brutalize him.
! Nothing can stay this influence; nothing
| arrests this result. AS sure pitch defiles
| the man who touches il, labor will defile the
| man who hates ii. 1t does not slowly in
doctrinate and convert him to a better view.
it slowly maddens and destroys him. You
must make love to labor, for she will never
make love to you. warn you here and now
that if you are leaving this university with
| a contempt for toll nothing can save you
from destruction! Labor will revenge the
insult of your contempt with sort Of
| divine jury.
"Second-As a method of preserving exist
ence and procuring pleasure. Myriads of peo-
pie who do not see the deeper significance of
| labor tolerate 1T as means to an end. They
| submit TO daily fatigue and exhaustion be-
cause they are animated by the anticipated
! reward of food shelter, clothing, recrea-
ton, wealth. power, luxury. Now - this
| something. III is mucnt III Is the laDOrer III
the field toling for that evening loaf of
| bread which hunger sweetens; the sailor
casting his net through long hours of toss
ing on the great deep to win a cabin for
his bride; the blacksmith hammering at
horses hoofs to earn supper for a brood Of
little children; the artist toiling at his
easel; the author at his book to gain i'm
mortal fame-in these great ends the drudg-
cry of toll is swallowed up. II is forgotten
or ignored. Effort is longer misery.
Ii is shot through with sort OF pleasure.
But this pleasure, mark you, is only by
indirection. 1t is reflected from the object
sought-not generated by the toll itself.
This is a nobler view of labor than the
other, but not the best of ALL
''Third-There is apOther view-a view
that will make life divine for each one of
you If you can cherish it. 1t is that labor
Is a sanctitude and psalm. My friends,
this is the first time l have ever addressed
the graduates of a technical school.
have often spoken to those of classical in
situations and academies Of art, from which
the graduates were faring forth TO prac-
ways a moving thing TO do So The thought
deliver the orations. make the laws. preach
the sermons write the books, sing the
songs of the next generation-in fact 10
| perform the most delicate and highly hon.
| Ored functions of the social system, stirs
the heart to it's center But l have always
felt an unutterable sentiment of reverence
for the men ana women who perform for
their social organism its manual labor The
/ more ignominious the toll, the profounder
| my sympathy. l have always experienced
| a certain resentment against the fact that