The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-01
University of Alabama Completes S3d Year;
 Commencement Begins
(Continued from Page One)


 them for better service in life. He uses the current Gnostic and Stoic terms to preach Christ to his learned readers, when he designates him as the image of the invisible God, the first born >of all creation,' the head of the body" "the beginning 'the first born from the dead" ''the pre- eminence.'' the funess,' etc, all of which were technical terms in the Gnostic and Stoic philosophies and well known to his readers and if we would interpret his meaning We must read these term in the light of the language of these schools of philosophy. These two epistles have, therefore, been not inappropriately termed the Messianic gospel to the philosophers; and they make special appeal to the learned and the thinking.
 Know Thyself'
 But whenever we begin to philosophize about the universe we discover that the chief being in it, who determines it's life estate and lige processes, is man in all his complex relations and affiliations and so the dictum of philosophy was know thyself.' The ancient philosophers were greatly hampered as compared with present day philosophers, in that they had to work with folklore in the form of tradition and popular observation, instead of scientific data such as we have and are securing more and more. The scien- tist and the critic must go before the philosopher, and put Knowledge into exact and systematic form for the philosophers interpretation; and every education is now radically deficient which is not both scientific and philosophical but with the ancinet Greeks it was philosophical but unscientihc So the interpretations of the world as they saw it through the eyes of unaided nature fruited in crule and ill., founded theories inadequate for attaining the highest and best life. Philosophy Is one of the necessities of our life. We are born philosophers, nor can we attain to our normal estate without philosophizing.
 I saw little child sitting on the door step crying and being asked what ailed her, she replied that she did not know who made God. Thus budding nature cried out in philosophizings nor is it possible for it to rest content until the thirst of the soul is satisfied. I want to enter my plea today against retiring phi losophy from our colleges and universities as a necessary discipline in preparation for life; for as human beings we must seek human comfort through some evalua- tion of the world which surrounds us and our relations to 1t in living.
 Tt is not the sole purpose of education to make men materially serviceable, to furnish the world with an oversupply of material comforts; for man cries out for moral veal and soul comfort in his jour- ney through life; nor can he live to high est advantage without these. It Is there- fore an occasion for thanksgiving that the religion of Jesus furnishes, along with other blessings, view of life in it's re- lations to the universe which is soul com forting and inspiring May I therefore commend to you these two epistles which are an appeal specially to the thinking and educated, and one peculiarly full of soul comfort to you who have spent time and energy to know the universe into which you will be baptized.
 T need not take the precious moments of this hour to expound to you the theories of emanatioas and eaons, of worldly ele- ments and rudiments, in the philosophy current among those to whom this epistle was written; for they have long since passed away and been superceeded by more scientific ones. Philosophy. in it's benefits to man, is not dependent on it's scientific correctness as an objective ex- planation of the universe: but in the effect it may have in the dis cipline of the soul for experiencing life in the passing flow of reality. What a scientist might call bad philosophy may function better than what in his eyes might beSa better one If the sit uation psychical and physical call for the more deficient, Our philosophy, let us not forget Is a part of our life and hence must grow with that life in organic relations to it. We have. how ever. expressed in terms of the gnostic and stoic a philosophy which is after Christ view of the world which com ports with and comforts the messianis in life, and this 1t is worth the while of every Christian to think over and