Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1907-06-19
A NAS|ERLY ADDRESS
Delivered by President Bruske
Last Sunday Evening at the
Presbyterian Church.
SEATING CAPACITY TESTED.
DR.. Bruske Took for His Text John
vi:12. Rightly using the Broken
Pieces of Life's Feast

Sunday evening Or. Bruske delivered
his baccalaureate sermon for the TWEEN
tieth annual commencement OF the col
lege before the graduating classes of the
different departments in the Presbyterian
church which was crowded by an appre-
ciative audience Dr. Brushes address
was profound and full of wisdom. He
chose for his subject Rightly using the
broken pieces of life's feast" The sermon
was based on John vi;I2 and in part was
as follows:
Leather up the broken pieces, let
nothing be lost. What text this has
been for all generations, What multitudes
whom no man can number are seen by
the eve of history-to whom is broken
that bread which came down from
heaven. They have all been fed and
filled and the broken pieces are more
abundant than ever
"Our subject may be divided into two
propositions--(I Life is really feast.
careful in gathering up the broken pieces.
"'Is life worth living" The question is
as old as the book of Job. The devil made
the first recorded answer. All that man
hath will he give for his life We all
know that that is an internal lie. We
have known it since the days of Thermo
pile-since the time of Judas, John and
Simon Macceabeus Every Roman mother
who preferred death to dishonor-every
Christian who chose rather to be burned
in the public street than recout his faith,
every explorer who has given his life in
search of new lands and seas, every mis-
sionary who has fallen victim to fevers
of Africa or the infuriated mobs of China
every one of these has said in the lam
guage of deed-'Neither count my life
dear unto myself.
However there is the opposite extreme
The view of the worthlessness of life.
The pessimist in life is as old as Ecclesia-
stes. Now il seems to me a sufficient
answer to say to this dismal preacher that
the life he pictures is that of self indul-
gence and animal pleasure OF the life
of self and sin we may say with Goethe
'Es lat NIGHTS wierdig'-or with one who
has little clearer vision:
Out, out brief candle Life's but a
walking shadow, poor player that struts
and frets his hour upon the stage and
then is heard no more; il is tale told by
an idiot, full of sound and fury signify
ing nothing
"But can this be true of all life-a life of
knowledge, virtue, patriotism, philanth-
ropy? A Hartman still answers Exist
ence itself is an evil i'll proportion as its
range is longer and you know it more,
and that of cultivated men is worst of
ali. Yea the constitution of the world
would be an objectionable crime, did it
issue from a power that knew what it
was about?
$50 spake the infallable Pope of Pes
simism. But humanity will not hear him.
We will far sooner hear the voice of that
sane man Samual Johnson-when PEN
stoned by grateful country-he even
then wished 10 rise earlier in the morn
ing to enjoy the pleasures of conscious
existencel
"But there is Christian answer to the
question: rs life worth livingH Human
opinions may swing to opposite extremes.
Nature may have varied replies. The
bride may sing in the sunshine and
shiver in the cold. The trees may smile
in June and the moon in December, but
the voice of Christianity is never uncer-
tain and never changes. God is on the
throne, all is well with the world, weep
ing may endure for a night, but Joy
cometh in the morning. The greatest
disappointments, failures and suffering
that can come to ms are but the punctua-
tions in the literature of our joys. They
are the light affection which is but for a
moment and worketh for us more ard
more exceedingly and eternal weight of
glory, while we look at the things which
are seen, for the things which are seen
are temporal, but the things which are
not seen are eternal
"Now, young ladies and gentlemen
there can hardly come to you in these
closisg days of your College life more
important question than how to make
the most of this feast of life. Nay, did
you not come here with this question in
your hearts, Did you not enter upon a
course of study because you wanted to
make the most of life2 Is not this subject
still uppermost in your thoughts Hear,
therefore. the exhortstion of the great
Teacher: Gather up the broken pieces,
let nothing be lost. They are the rem
nants left at the end Of the banquet. Let
me vary the figure They are the saw
dust of the mill that turns logs into lum-
Der. They are the shavings which the
carpenters leave behind them when they
have finished the house and departed.
They are the refuse Of the factory after
the beets have been changed into crys-
tails Of snowy whiteness and honied