The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-06-01
MR.. MACCOLL
TO GRADUATES
Pastor Of South Street Presby-
terian Church breaches
to Dana Class.
THE COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES


Of the class of 1909 of Miss Dana's
school. Sunday afternoon at i've
O'Clock the baccalauraUe sermon TO
the graduating class of Miss Dana's
seminary was preached in the South
Street Presbyterian church by the
Rev. Alexander MacColl. The SUBJ
ject Of -the sermon was I Loyalty !"
and the text Philippians ::-27-28,
Stand fast in one spirit with one
mind striving together"
Mr.. MacColl said at the outset that
the great condition of all strong and
satisfying life is that we shall be for
ever loyal to something, or to some-
body; that life shall be dominated by
supreme allegiance which always
inspires and guides and tests, always
drawing out the best that is in us and
concentrating it upon some definite
end. "The first lesson of the Chris
tian life is this" said Robertson of
Brighton, a be true, and the second is
this be true, and the third is this be
true.n
The simplest and most precious form
of loyalty is that Of personal loyalty
the devotion Of friend to friend so
beautifully illustrated in the friend
ship of David and Jonathan, in the
refusal of Ruth to leave Naomi With
some Of you the strongest and most
enduring influence you will carry from
your school will be the friendships you
have made within its walls. If these
friendships are to be to you what they
may be through life you must remem-
Der that that friendship is only worth
while which is making Of life better
and stronger thing, helping both to
conquer SelfishneSs and kindling in
both ever higher ideas Of life. TO my
mind the most beautiful picture OF
friendship in literature is that scene
recorded in the sacred book when jon
athan, hearing of David's troubles as
he was hunted from hill to bill like an
outlaw, Hwent to David into the wood
and strengthened his hand in God, as
though he took his friends hand in
his time of need and put it into the
hand of God. A true friendship, a
friendship that will endure, is that in
which in perfectly natural and un-
strained way one is revealing ever
more perfectly to another the real
meaning and glory of life and Him in
whom alone that meaning becomes
clear.
The preacher spoke of some classic
instances of loyalty to friends and
loved ones. Greater, he said, to my
thinking than all his military victories
was the constant loyalty of Napoleon
to the members of his family, to this
early teachers, to all who in any way
had helped him. AS great as the
scientific achievements of Louis Pas
teur was his touching devotion to his
parents and sisters. Greater far than
all the portraits the famous Romney
painted was that act of his wife OF
humber years, whom with his chill
dren he deserted for thirty-five years,
who, when he returned to her old and
sick, received and nursed him to his
death.
Mr.. MacColl said that if loyalty to
friends is to be worth while at its root
must be deep loyalty to self, to ones
ideals for self. He spoke of the ideal
OF self-realizatien, the ideal Of helpful
service, and the. ideal of responsibility
The only life that satisfies is the life
that has found something to do that
is worth doing and is always seeking
to do it to the best. There is no ideal
of life that requires more constant
loyalty than that of helpful service.
For very often the path of service is
the path of Encouragement. Results
are slow. The people we would help
are unresponsiye. And others are al
ways ready to say it is no use. Then
is the time to be loyal. If there were
no difficulty what credit to win at
last If the world is all wrong it is ours
not whining to give up, but working
to set it right. The world is full Of
people who are ready to do things
when the weather and the mood and
the liver are in perfect order. In
every form of earnest activity the
great need of our times is young peo-
pie who feel a sense of responsibility
for that which they have undertaken
and can be absolutely counted on to
be true to it.
The preacher spoke in closing of
loyalty to Christ as the heart and es-
sence of the Christian life. You are
passing, he said, into world whose
religious thinking is in many respects
changing with the changing years
and ii you think deeply and read wide
ly on the highest themes you will at
times have a bad half hour with your
self as you seem to find that this
teaching OF olden time and that must
be abandoned, that this cherished con-
viction demands REVISION, that this
historic creed has somehow lost real
ity. But in all the readjustments OF
life thought and there is one anchor
sure and steadfast which will never fail
you, it is personal loyalty to Jesus
Christ, to the ideal Of life for which