The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1909-06-14
life" DISCUSSED
BY DR.. VITTUM
RETIRING PRESIDENT OF FARGO
COLLEGE DELIVERS sAccALAu-
REATE SERMON TO THE
CLASS OF 'os OF THAT INsTI-
TUITION SUNDAY MORNING.

Life, It's Purposes. It's Greatness.
It's Responsibilities and IT'S Possibili-
ties, was discussed yesterday morning
by DIR. e. w. Vittum. the retiring pres
ident Of Fargo college, in the annual
! baccalaureate sermon TO the Fargo
college student graduating class. The
sermon was preached az the First
Congregational church. and beside be-
ing che baccalaureate sermon was DR..
Vittum's farewell address In Fargo
DR.. Vittum took as his text the
: words; "Whosoever liveth and be-
lieveth in me shall never die"
He took from the text four great
things: Life. faith, the personality
Of Jesus and immortality.
Life" said he, ais like river, the
true way to measure it is not by it's
length Or breadth or depth, but by its
intensity. 1t is not the greatness Of
life which counts for most, but the
character OF life."
In order to have faith there must be
a personality in whom to believe, and
the personality indicated in the text
was Jesus Christ.
''In Jesus" said the doctor, 1--WE find
our weaknesses and our possibilities
Faith in Christ means the acceptance
Of the Christ ideal
A Man Of cosmie Vision.
Jesus was man of cosmic vision
de- not like to use that phrase be-
cause it sounds pedantic, but it ex-
presses what / wish to say exactly.
1t means that he had the power to
see the whole universe and to see 1t
as universe and at the same time he
could see the little trivial details that
went on all about him In the little
world in which he lived.
THE people of the present day
should not be narrow or near sighted.
If we 90 through life seeing only the
little things that concern us, living
only for the little present, we will go
through great barren field, stumb-
ling over stones and We will leave
those stones for others to stumble
over.
Jesus was man of self-mastery
and that is what hope for you
young people who are just starting in
life. There is a deal Of difference
between the wish and the will The
weakling wishes but the warrior wills.
You have greater task in life than
overcoming the physical problems that
you will meet. If you can gain the
mastery over yourself you will have
accomplished greater feat than the
harnessing of Niagara falls to make
| 1t light twenty cities.
Il do not mean for you to be selfish
/ but each man has responsibility for
himself that he does not have for his
Ineighbor."
DIR. Vittum then went on to say that
he did not believe that it was neces-
sary for a genius to be immoral. That
the man of mighty genius, would also
necessarily be a man OF mighty pas
sion, he admitted, but he believed that
he would also have mighty moral
power A man who is mighty OF
genius and weak in moral character is
a monstrosity according to the doctors
way of thinking.
Need Of Dynamic Power
He spoke Of the necessity OF getting
that dynamic power which brings
about concentration and intensity OF
purpose.
In the latter part of his address he
spoke of the folly Of thinking that
possession means happiness. Posses
ion," aid he, "mean opportunity. 1t
| is sin and shame and disgrace
to this age that great lawyers, great
reformers and good men must spend
their time, in exhorting and compel
ling men to live justly with their
lneighbors.''
In closing he spoke of the immor-
tality expressed in the last words of
the text Shall never die.
"You can begin to practice inrnor-
tality right now. The things Of this
world win perish and pass away.
Great things Of the past have passed
away and in time the world and the
stars shall be gone, for planets die.
The sun shall be no more, for suns
burn themselves out. But after all
this happens, see light and that
| light Is tie man standing in the glory
of endless life, the man with the
thorn brow and the hands
pierced by the troubles OF the world.
The man. living in who, we all may
| have eternal life.'
/
| Phone us your orders for Office sta
/ tionprx. We make daIfvar-ios Kna0r,t