Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-29
SERMON TO STUDENTS
DE. 0oRDoN'S ADVICE no HOW
ARD UNIVERSITY GRADUATED
Greatness Rests In Not What q Man
Does, But What He Wants
to Do.

President Gordon Of Howard University
preached the baccalaureate sermon to the
students Of the institution over which he
presides yesterday afternoon. The serv-
Ices were held at the Andrew Rankin Me-
mortal Chapel in the college Enclosure and
were attended by a large congregation,
including members OF the faculty, students
and their friends,
The exercises were opened at 4:3O o'clock
and the sermon was listened to with the
strictest attention. DR.. Gordon directed the
attention Of his hearers to the fact that 1t
Is not what man does in the world, but
what he wants to do. that makes him
great. A man who aspires to great things
might become great even though he does
not attain the object to which his ambi-
tons were directed. He cited the case of
MT William Jennings Bryan as an exem-
plar OF this fact, asserting that Mr.. Bryan
Is larger man today than he would have
been had he not made the presidential can
vass twice.
Dr. Gordon advised his hearers to be
ambitious. provided the ambition is noble.
Right Sort Of Ambition.
ut were a pity if any who spend a few
years in Howard University and who might
carry away with them much of highest
'aAue' oiiouiu Only gain q DeIeI tndt the
great power to be invoked by one who
would be chief among you, is the political
fetish influence DR.. Gordon declared 1t
is said that the question asked about a
stranger In New York is what is he
WORTH in Philadelphia who was his
grandfather and in Washington what is
his innuenceT Nowhere else in our ceun-
try Is influence. SO deifed. But l should
deeply regret II it's students carried away
from Howard as one Of their chief beliefs
this that what they need Is influence
Christ spoke right out against that, and
what Christ said then holds true now.
Granted. Of course. that influence does ac-
compiish some results in Washington and
In New York city, and in some other
places, in the matter of prizes which are
political In their character.
But life Is not game Of politics. Poll
tics plays very small part in the game
Tar between as compared with other re-
wards. Chieftainships come mostly in other
ways: comparatively seldom by influence.
Get out of your minds If it has found any
Judgment there, the idea that you are
going to succeed in proportion to your
ability to get names signed to a petition,
and that the head chieftainship goes to
the man who gets most names attached to
his petition or that the United States SEN
ators distribute the prizes Of life and that
to have their influence insures your fu-
ture. Get that out of your heads as soon
as possible. In the game of life, the great
game played for great stakes, influence
counts for very, very little.
Money Not Proper Reliance.
"Once more, the reliance of him who would
be chief is not money material possessions.
In saying SO again run counter to popular
IDEAS In Washington you hear much of
influence When you shall have gone out
into the world you will find many proclaim
ing that what you need in order to secure
respect is money. and that If you have
good bank account you will win respect.
There was never worse heresy, under
standing the term bank account as meaning
wealth or every kind. Material as this age
is, 1t has not yet come to pass that a bank
account, however large, commands respect
for its pOssessOr. Were that true even meas
urably, 1t would demand Of all good men
and women that they band themselves to-
gether to combat such STATE of affairs.
Young men and young wOmSn, it has never
yet been true that a bank account, or what
a bank account stands for, material possess
sions. commands respect and. other desirable
things. Look around you Int this very city
and note those who are most respected, and
why-and remember, as you. are doing so.
there are some very wealthy people in
Washington. The held in the highest
esteem, and there will be no controversy
about this, is President Roosevelt. He Is
the first citizen, venture to say, not only
of Washington but of the United States.
And why? For his bank account? Young
men and young women, every one knows
that has nothing, absolutely nothing. to do
with 1t.
Because He is a Man.
Theodore Roosevelt is held in esteem be-
cause he is a man, and not because he has
bank account. Go into the United States
Senate Which senators are held in the
highest respect. 1 shall not speak of the
living, only of one of the recent tllustrious
dead, friend from the first of Howard Uni
whole generation people held him second to
none-did they not? Why? For his bank
account? You know 1t was for something
The people you respect, the leaders whom
you follow-you know you do not line up
behind them because of their bank accounts.
l warn you solemnly If you think you will
win respect by accommodating a fat bank ac-
count you are doomed to bitter disappoint-
ment The multitudes. the people whom
you desire to make your friends, will smite
you in the face with Simon Peters denun-
citation of Simon Magus: Thy money per-
ish with thee, because thou hast thought
that the gift of God may be purchased with
money
Young men and young women, you who
have most of the mind Of Christ, are near
est the divine Nazareth; or who better
vindicates his right to exist than God,
whose services are what Is most APP
parent Of him? Not his glory. None
has seen that and lived. Not his eternity,
his infinity, his moral attributes; which
have all been proved, but only the
result of long and intricate reasoning pro-
cesses. But the services he renders these
show his Godhead. Such services pro-
viding mans daily bread, making wheat
and corn grow, providing wool and cotton
for clothing. healing the sick. comfort
! ing the sorrowful. acting as the widows
husband and the orphans father-IIis serv-
| ices every moment. every day, every year.
never sleeping. never stopping but con-
stantly, forever, making grass grow and
water run and the sun shine and the rain
and the dew fall and the tides ebb and
| flow and the seasons follow each the other;
but to give the list of His services for
man, were to enter upon an endless task"
TO GO AFTER PoACHERS.