Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-06-20

s. b = A.
Out of pseudo Christianity. the way is
sincerity; the using of all doctrines
rites and spiritual exercises as mere
means to the one great end of know
ing. doing. loving the Fathers great
good will. Out of anti ti-Christianify, the
way is candor; the honest discrimmina-
ton between the Misrepresentation
and eXcresences of Christianity, and
that knowing. doing. and loving of the
Fathers good will for all. which is the
one essential feature of pure Chris
tianity. Out of un-Christian hardness
and cruelty, the way is penitence; g
heartfelt sorrow for whatever we do
that is contrary to the Fathers good
will for all his human children.
Out of secondhand Christianity tho
way is direct. immediate, habitual con-
tact with the sources of warm spiri-
tual life: reading, reflection. and COM
munion with the Father, and with
Christ who shows us the Fathers will
and way.
These four things used as ways anf
means of keeping close to the Fathers
good will-sincerity and candor, peni-
tence and prayer--these four together
constitute the straitened way that lead
eth unto life. May we all be among
the few. who. in spite of frequent wan
derings and many falls ever come back
to it: ever rise up and follow it. unto
eternal life.
Members of the Graduating Glass: II
is great thing to be the largest clas.
that ever graduated from the college
1t would be vastly greater and better
thing to be the most Christian class. It
is great thing to be a college man
1t is a vastly greater and better thing
to be Christian man. Fundamentally
there are these five ways of living
four of which lead to destruction. and
only one to life. If you try to live on
the moral and spiritual momentum de-
rived from home. school and college
the outcome will be a thin veneer OF
outward respectability. covering an in
ward hollowness and corruption, which
soon or late will break through the
veneer when strain and temptation
come. If you frankly adopt a brutal
selfishness your hearts will grow hard
er and harder. filling the lives you
touch with sorrow and your own souls
with bitterness. If you oppose some
misunderstanding of Christianity. and
feed your souls on pride and hate. you
will shriveI into shallow and conceit-
ed self-righteousness, incapable of ad-
niring the good in others. or cultivat-
ing it in yourselves. If you put creeds
forms, exercises. valuable as they are
as means. into the place of ends. and
try to feed your souls on these out
ward and visible husks of the spiritual
life, insinceritv. and unreality will eat
out your hearts. and leave you in a
sour and ugly cynicism, incabable of
belief in God. trust in man. or respect
for yourselves. So sure does one form
of destruction or another await you at
the end Of these four branches of the
broad way-the way of the secondhand
Christian, the un-Christian. the anti
Christian, and the o-Christian.
That you may be among the blessed
few that find the narrow gate of shar-
ing the Fathers great. good will, ant
the straintened way of loving service
to all the persons and the interests
whom your lives shall touch. as it was
the hope and desire of Jesus for the
world. so it is the parting prayer and
aspiration of the college for you who
henceforth are to be her sons.