Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1905-06-23
BACCALAUREATE SERMON.

n n ~
MEMBERS OF CLASS OF 1908, HoNoREr
FACULTY, MEMBERS AND FRIENDS or
OUR HIGH SCHOOL
If we want a parallel TO that most
masterful summing up of the ten com
mandments by Christ we would do well
to turn TO these words of Micah chosen
for our text. Yea, we might say, this
do and thou shalt live. These words
for our consideration is the answer of
the prophet TO the question, How shall
please Jchovah?" Shall come before
him with burnt offerings; with calves a
year old: With thousands of rams, or
with ten thousands of rivers of oil:
Shall | give my firstborn for my Trans
gression, the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul? To Jew of his time
any one of these and especially all Cf
them together was considered man
greatest service TO his God. But Micah,
the inspired prophet that he was, de
clared a higher, holier service unto God,
without which no life was acceptable in
his sight
Members of the class of 1908. the
most interesting subject 10 You tonight
is life And your future Will be shaped
by your definition of that one small
word of four letters, Life. 1t is told in
familiar and fascinating legend that
long ago the cruel sphinx assailed the
frightened inhabitants of Thebes with
a puzzling riddle add visited immediate
destruction upon all who failed 10 give
correct answer. After much havoc and
bloodshed. a noble and valiant prince
came forward and solved the problem.
The Sphinx Immediately destroyed her
self. and a thankful multitude joyfully
enthroned Oedipus as king of Thebes.
Life presents TO each of US its difficult
riddles. What is life? If our answer
be wrong and we enter upon life
with a false conception of the pur
pose of our being, certain and often
speedy destruction awaits us: If we are
able TO solve the riddle of life, the
fatal nemesis disappears, and, like
Oedipus of old, as princes we may wear
the crowns of achievement and power.
The riddle is propounded, What Is
life? Is it power: No, not power, or
why did the vast empire of Alexander
the Great disintegrate nearly as rapidly
as the body of its great genius moulder-
ing in the grave?- Or why did Rome
decline: Why are the palaces of the
Caesars in ruin, and the massive COL
iseum the abode of owls and bats? IF
life be power" says one, then Nero
would be immortalized and Henry VIII
would be enshrined in the grateful
memory of men. -
Is life force? Napoleon can tell Us,
as with melancholy strides, an exile on
lonely isle, he deplores that with
Caesar and Alexander and Charlemagne
he had undertaken TO establish king
dom by force. Well for Napoleon If he
had been student before monarch,
and had asked wisdom of God, and had
studied the principles laid down by Him
who founded perpetual empire upon
love. No, life is not force but love. Ii
is the meek and not the mighty who
inherit the earth.
Is life fame? Poor stuff for heroes
Men who have worshipped fame have
generally died without name. The
Grecian historian has recorded that
Themistocles was robbed of his sleep
as, with consuming envy he heard of
Miltiades' victory at Marathon. He who
is falsely ambitious and he who seeks
for fame are Of the same family though
they differ in name, and someone has
well said, Ambition hath one foot
nailed.in He'll, though it stretcheth its
fingers up to the Heavens" and among
the things joaquin Miller has written
nothing is truer than this: "And have
said it ever, as the years go on and the
world goes over, 'Twere better TO be
content and clever in tending Of sheep
and tossing of clover, in grazing of
cattle and growing Of grain, than a
strong man striving for fame and gain"
Is life fortune?ls Then if it were, he
who is the wealthiest is the happiest.
But we know this is not true Many a
man.with his dinner pail in his hand is
happier.than he who tonight is king of
finances. And many a palace is the
prison house of its keeper, while many
a humble cot is "Home, sweet home"
No, fortune, wealth, stocks and bonds,
lands and houses are not life.