The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1910-04-22
COMMENCEMENT SERMON.

ms, OF this city, at the Cumberlan
Presbyterian Church in Kenton befor
the graduating class Of the Kenton Higl
School last Sunday night
The Foundation OF God Standetl
Sure. I'll Tim, 2:19.
The endurance Of building depend
upon the character Of its foundation
Architects tell US that the strength o
weakness of a foundation builds ftsel
up into its superstructure.
See the tiny bloom 10 the top Of al
oak tree. The entire tree is the foun.
dation out of which the bloom develops
into an acorn. In turn the tree has q
foundation in the earth and the earth
has its foundation in the granite rock o.
eternal principles--in God
| Humanity is tree and each indiyid-
ual bloom, intended to be developed
into character. Unlike the acorn bloom
man can determine the nature and ex-
tent of his unfolding.
There is an impression that the re-
sponsibility Of laying the foundation OF
character rests with the individual, but
God has reserved to Himself that right.
Other foundation. etc. (" Cor, 3:11
Because this is an age of thought and
culture, men are trying to discover other
foundations upon which character may
be builded. Tom Payne, Voltaire and
Bob Ingersoll all tried that and failed,
coming to death at last with but weak
character What men need to do, is to
settle down upon the foundation already
laid, and begin to build or develop char
acter.
Now let us turn our thought for a lit
tie while to the building. This is to be
no small affair if we build upon Gods
foundation. s
Emmerson saw such building and
exclaimed, Man, thou palace of sight
and sound, carrying in thy senses the
nights and mornings, the summers and
the winters, carrying into thy brain the
geometry of the city of God, in thy
heart all the bowers of love, and all
realms OF right and wrong"
Man is great, not because God made
him, for He made the ant as well and
the ant is not great, but man is great,
only as God is built up into him.
An icicle is formed by the freezing OF
a single drop OF water at time and the
character Of the icicle depends upon the
character Of the water.
1t is in similar way that character
is formed
Emotion after emotion, thought after
thought is added until the whole char
acter is finished.
II you see to it that your every thought
be pure and right your character will
be bright and lovely and will sparkle
with Joy and gladness. TO do this you
must guard well the avenues OF thought,
the books that you read, the associates
that you form.
Too many people are willing that their
characters should be like Joseph's coat
many colored.
Aim to develop for yourselves flaw
less characters, like those Abel, Joseph
Obadiah, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, Ezra
and Nehemiah, and as near as may be
like that of Jesus Christ.
Remember that the soul within is the
germ OF the unfolding man, as the germ
within in the seed is the plant 1t is
by drawing properly modified sunlight
into the seed and God into the soul that
is made.
And now to you, my young friends
OF the class Of 1910, should you live for
ten or twenty years, you will then be in
position to appreciate more fully than
you can now what have said. .asr
Remember that your lives are to be !
bright or gloomy, happy or miserable,
won or lost, by the thoughts and. emo
tons that you allow to enter into, your
character
1t was said Of John Keats that his
lace was the face Of one who had seen
! vision. So long had the eye Of. .Ms
soul been fixed upon beauty, 50 long
lad he loved that splendid vision, so
ong had he lived with it, that his s5uIfi
lot only took on the loveliness 81 what
he contemplated, but the very lines Of
lis face were ehiseled into beauty, those
ldept sculptors, thoughts and ideals.
John Wilton, one Of the world great :
81 spirits, is said to have opened his
mind only to pure thoughts and for him
tlso there was heavenly vision. Walk