New-York tribune., 1910-06-06
BACCALAUREATE AT VASSAR
DR.. Taylor Discusses Aims and
Ideals of Christian Colleges.
rBv telegraph to Tho Tribune ]

By Telegraph to Tho Trfbune.J
Poughkeepsie. N Y. June President
James Taylor preached the baccalaureate
sermon at Vassar College this morning.
taking for his text Luke X, p, with all
thy heart and soul and strength and mind"
The sermon was to the graduating class
but the chapel Was crowded to the doors.
Pr Taylor said, in part
Religion is not, as often said. morality
touched with enthusiasm. 1T is more. 1T
is a reasonable basis of morals. the higher
source of moral impulse and law. They
lean on it, just as faith. in Arnold s con-
ceptiOn, is reason leaning on God So the
demand of religion is that man shall an
swer to this highest nature and conform
TO the ideals OF the infinite life.
1t is here that the Christian faith ex-
presses. defines and supplements this gen.
eral call of mans natural righteousness. II
defines the infinite in terms we can under
stand. tells US OF the Father of our spirits,
and shows us In a life we can know and
follow. and love, the very will of the
Father and the way in which we may @
said, that if He should be lifted up all
men would be drawn to Him. Not only
the really spiritual recognize this. but nat
ures like NapoleOn's, or Rousseaus, be
cause the deepest heart of them felt the
call of his exalted ideals and life. He
mirrors the divine love, yeaTning for us
and drawing us-exalted. holy, demanding
the highest in us, calling to reason as to
feeling, insisting that life shall show his
spirit. Kindness. helptulneSS. cheer. and
steadfast work, with never an end of hope
and never ObscurinG of the vision OF
faith in q redeemed world and a better
manhood.
The Gospel is His life, no more. no less
ethical. whole, but also inspired by a di-
vine fire and Cheered by divine vision.
and sustained by divine conpaniOnship.
The great moral awakening of our time,
like all great movements of reform and re-
generation in Christian history has come
out of this life of the Christ. It is that
r1-biP tS RI IS
not its creeds. but the life that still quick
ems our lives and moves our hearts to love.
That now is what the Christian college
inCulcates, and what 1t would have every
individual to be-religiOus. and expressing
religion after the model of that one per
feet life of love and service and purity. II
insists on a fun strong wholesome life.
but it goes further, 1t dwelS on the funda-
mental need of spiritual outlook. on the
right relation of the heart TO God. Only
so is there Wilderness. only so does our
nature utter itself completely. The meas
ure of our wealth is. the riches of our
spirits and the attitude toward the spirit
and life of Jesus Christ fixes that for every
such is the viewpoint and the actual
stand of our Christian colleges. There
was never and never will be absolute
agreement among thinking men. and the
tests of the twentieth century are not like
those of the thirteenth. Faith in the broad
essentials is not the same thing as inter
pretatious of faith. But despite diversities
there is no question as to the aims and
ideals Of our Christian institutions Their.
main great lines of work are laid down on
the life and ideals of Him who called Him
self the Truth and Way. The deep currents
of its life arc Christian and the aims Of
its CIassroOms are chiefly inspired by the
spirit of the Son of God, and the service
Of the Son Of Man.
Mrs Taylor Will give her annual recep-
ton tomorrow afternoon. and in the even
ing the Phi Beta Kappa address will he
delivered by Dr.. Myra Reynolds. of Chi
cage University, Vassar so.