Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1915-06-03
COMMUNITY
''''''"'I EXERCISES
BaccaIaureate Sermon Preached
in the Municipal Auditorium
FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS
thoughtful, Inspiring Address by Rev
William Frederick Phillips.

by invitation from the BTdQuaUlug
class of 1915 from the Mineral Point
High School, Rev. William Frederick
Phillips preached the baccalaureate
sermon in the Municipal auditorium
Sunday evening. Rev. W. j. &. Bond
invoked the blessing and read lesson
from scripture. There was good music
by the orchestra, the Boys Glee Club,
and the Royal Male Quartet. Master
Everett Wiesen with his clear, sweet
voice sang GA Perfect Day" The
audience joined in singing Coward
Christian Soldiers" and America.
The sermon by Rev. Mr.. Phillips was
thoughtful and inspiring, and was we'll
delivered. Here are few extracts:
The speaker took his thought from
the 18th chapter, 31st verse of Gospel
according to st. Luke, Behold, we 20
to Jerusalem.
"It has been we'll said every true
man, every true woman, have their
Jerusalem to which they are always
going up. 1t is their object in life, their
goal, their winning posts; it is what
they live for, hope for, struggle for,
suffer for Every true man has his
Jerusalem on the hill top and he has
to climb to it. 1t may be his profession,
or wealth, or glory, or success, or a
great political cause; but whatever it is
there it stands high up, and it must be
climed for The person with no Jerusa-
lem in life, 10 aim, no ambition, is the
most wretcned of creatures; such one
does not climb but crawl. Every one
who succeeds sets his Jerusalem before
him, and climbs to it, has his mark and
aims it. Columbus determined to dis
cover the new world. That was his
Jerusalem He persevered through diff
iculties. opposition, ridicule, and he
succeeded. And when we think of the
worlds history. score after score OF
characters will be remembered, who in
the face of sneers and ridicule, managed
to win out by their determination to
conquer.
Zone of the hardest lessons you must
learn in your Jerusalem is the lesson of
patience. For instance, this boy feels
that he must enter the university in the
autumn, and one day the father tells
him that it will be impossible for him
to do, so as there is other work for him
to do, and it seems more than the boy
can endure to give up his cherished
plans and to do what he considers COM
mon work when he was so eager to do the
big things. Or this girl who feels that
she has career rebels when she is told
that she must help her mother, for time
at least, in the duties of the household.
Many boy and many girl have suf-
fered, and suffered deeply, by being
obliged to give up for time, perhaps
for many years. their life work, on ac-
count of other work, other duties, or
lack of money. These waitings, these
delays in your journey are not pleasant.
And yet if you managed to reach your
desired destination, Notwithstanding
these obstacles, you are the stronger
man, the braver woman, for having
won out.
"Impatience is not peculiar to our
own age and time, for in every age men
and women have learned with difficulty
the great lesson of patience. Yet it is
possible that the difficulty is aggravated
by the character of the age in which we
live; an age of life at high pressure, of
hurry and speed, for the outer life will
always act upon the inner life. Sur
rounded by the hurry and activity of an
age of steam and electricity, when rail-
roads rush from end to end of mighty
continents, when the roar of all sorts OF
machinery fills the air, when immeas-
urable distances are quickly flashed by
messages through deserts and over rag
ing seas, when work is done at rate
that would scandalize our forefathers
of hundred years ago, we must be
prepared to find the outer life effect
very powerfully the inner life. And
yet the good things of this world are
seldom won without patience.
Your object, your Jerusalem in life
should mean something more than mere
success as the world sees it, something
more than mere empty honor, glory,
wealth. All men and women who are
truly in earnest generally find their
Jerusalem, but often after finding their
labor is but lost. You must not stop
short at worldly success, but you must
determine to go on far enough, up to
the top; not merely of worldly success,
but on to the Jerusalem of pure, holy
upright life. Your plans. ambitions
and aims are too low if they are all OF
the earth. You should determine tc
lead pure life, to go onward and up
ward; to be not merely successful men
successful women, but good men and