The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1913-06-12

You do this in order that you may be
not only a graduate but a Christian
| graduate.
In giving you the "Godspeed'' of the
Christian Church, | do so witho tut
debating to you one iota. l speak
not as a dictator but as friend. You
are no longer children whose first
duty is to obey the mandates of their
elders. You are thinking men and
women, with hopes of your own, with
ambitions of your own, with aspira-
tons of your own, with ideals of your
own. | speak to you as such-put-
ting myself along side of you as you
assume the responsibility of your own
| lives and endeavoring to treat you as
an equal. | speak to you, not to de-
mand that you agree with what l say;
but to try to help you by telling you
one or two things which have been of
help to me. Having gone through
most of the experiences which you
will be called upon to go through in
these next years | may be able to
render you a friendly service by thus
! letting you know some of the valuable
hints that | acquired during similar
experiences.
In speaking, | speak not only as
| friend but as Christian friend. There
is a difference. A friend may tell you
| how to attain eminence as a cook, as
seamstress, as an athlete, as a poet
as a scholar, as a lawyer, as dentist
! as a doctor, as a teacher, as a finan-
| cier, as a business man, or as a mini
ster. A Christian friend will tell you
how to attain eminence as a person.
a child of God. A friend may tell
you how and where to make living.
A Christian friend will tell you what
kind of living is worth making. Life
is more than preparing meals, making
dresses, doing dumbbell exercises,
writing poems, studying books plead
ing cases, pulling and filling teeth,
rendering first aid to the injured and
administering palliative and curative
drugs, assigning lessons of from one
to fifteen pages in a text book and lis
tening to the pupils recite, making
and loaning money, buying and SELL
ing cheesecloth and shoes and canned
goods and confectionery, or even pre-
pairing and delivering sermons. All
these are parts of life. But these
things are not life. Life is
not desolating. Life is enravishing.
Life is real, and life is earnest,
Life is not an empty dream"
So | say that l speak not only as a
friend but as Christian friend.
desire for you not only eminence in
your respective occupations. l de-
sire for you also life.
Life includes every activity upon
which you enter. If you play tennis,
that is part Of life. If you study
that is part of life. If you go driv-
ing, that is part of life. If you GO
! to college that is part of life. If
) you enter an Office that is part OF
/ life. If you have brothers and sis
ters, these are part of your life. No
: one OF these things is life itself. Life
/ includes them all.
Life is very complex. You desire
some simple, all-inclusive principle
easily remembered, never ambiguous
by which to guide yourselves in sett-
ling every question that arises in your
lives from this moment forward. You
desire this just as you desire the other
preparation which you have had
Think of what tremendous nuisance
it would be in doing Algebra lessons
if you had not learned addition ant
satisfaction and multiplication anC
: division and proportion and such Other
things before you entered High School
Think of what terrible inconvenience
it would be if in taking your fina
, examinations this week, you did no
: know how to spell and how to write
but had to turn to a copy book anC
? laboriously draw out each letter a:
you used to do back in the Primary
School.
1t will be just as great a handi-
cap in your future careers if you dc
, not know just exactly how to settle
question and settle it Immediately
| wish TO give you just such prin'
ciple this evening-one which is sim
pie and unambiguous, therefore read
, lily understand and impossible of mis-
, interpretation; one which is brief
therefore easily remembered and i'm
, possible TO forget. Let me say also tina
. the principle has been tried and 1t has
been proved 1t is perfectly safe fol
you to take it and keep it until yol
are absolutely convinced that there Is
!, another which is simpler, more conf
+ prehensive, more easily remembered
and truer. For myself, ! will say
/ that after several years of study
, during which time | have examined tht
greatest religious beliefs and the mos
prominent philosophical systems o
the entire world the Orient as we'll az
the Occident-I personally find this
principle to be the most practical ant
the best. This principle is alread.
familiar to you all-Thy Kingdom
1 come.
! To be satisfactory, our principle
must touch on every side of life. Lift
consists of three things-persona
. thoughts and habits, social intercourse
, and relationship with God. By Vir
tue of the very nature of the worlt
in which we live, from the momen
, that we are born into the world VI
must live with ourselves, with others
and with God. Now, then, does this
principle by which | advise you Il
guide your lives touch on all three
Z sides of life? Jesus likened the King
l dom of God to a mustard seed, Il
! leaven, to a net to feast, to field
> and to several other things. But
!. think he never defined just what ht
meant by the Kingdom of God. III
was not interested especially in defini
. tons. You and | are interested IL
g definitions. And fortunately Pau
! gave us just what we are looking fo
4 when he wrote to the Romans THE
kingdom of heaven is not eating ant
g drinking, but righteousness and peace
, and inv in the Holy Shirt Thii