Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-06-26
ABUNDANT LIFE
|Baccalaureate Sermon by Professor S. F.
Emerson at University of Vermont
Commencement
Commencement

halted on Its march, has suffered dis
aster and been menaced with dissolution.
The ono touch alone by which states
and institutions may be tested Is their
ability to put man into contact with
the fountain of lfo. No achievement
OF arms, no amassing of possessions. no
conquests of nature, no sweep of author
ity can compensate for failure to estab-
lsh this contact and the consequences of
such failure are seen in the wreck and
ruin which mark the pathway OF the
ages.
WORLD SHAKEN BY EMPIRES
COLLAPSE
We have had recently striking con-
frnation of this truth. The modern
world has been shaken to the center by
tho collapse Of four great empires.
Those empires controlled exhaustleas re-
sources. They were occupied by numer-
Gus peoples of wide diversity and hardy
stock. Three of these empires had eS-
listed for centuries. The collective ex-
perience of more than a thousand years
was at their disposal The story Of
previous empires was we'll known; their
swift rise to power, their brief day Of
glory and their precipltate decline
Moreover. these great empires claimed
each as distinctive merit It's own peculiar
type of religion which was supposed TO
feed the fountain springs Of life; to
assure individual contentment and to
solidfy the foundations of the state
Here ut least it might be expected that
prudent authority should rest on per-
mancnt foundation. Amongst the millions
Of subjects there might be set flowing
those streams of influence, those sources
of impulse which should vitalize whole
masses Of tho population and call forth
the capacity for self-direction, for sober
Judgment for contcnted enjoyment Of
natures bountles and OF intelligent devo-
ton to an order of society puls,ng with
the throb of wholesome life forces. The
collapse of these empires has revealed
their hollowness, their instability, their
specious pretense. their grotesque arti-
ficiality, their lack of vitality. And the
people whom they misgoverned have
been smitten with a kind of palsy. They
have lost confidence in all authority and
in the institutions which supported them.
They have lost confidence in themselves
and are the ready prey of despot or
demagogue. Their helplessness is cause
for infinite pity, but also for stern con-
demnation of system of government and
n condition of society which sealed the
fountains of life and permitted the souls
of men to famish for lack of nourish-
ment.
But the collapse Of the Teutonic
empire has deeper significance. Here
was a people of high intelligence which
had not been crushed by authority. but
disciplined and developed and had at
tanned a remarkable civic organization.
It's educational system was a marvel
| of thoroughness and it's scientific re-
search was unsurpassed. The world s
literature was at it's command and the
| worlds experience was a matter Of COM
mon knowledge. Moreover. this people
| had been the first to break the bonds
| Of a calling ecclesiastical tyranny. to
| set flowing once more those fountains
| of living water whose channels had be-
come choked with an accumulation of
| ecclesiastical tradition and ceremony
| And through contact with these living
waters a rich literature had been stimu-
lated and an enlarged conception of the
meaning of life prevailed and the prom
Use of our text, which had remained un-
| fulfilled through long centuries, seemed
about to be realized That a great, in
telligent and disciplined people should
| desert the sources which had fed its
noblest life and surrendered itself er
masse to the allurements of power and
! position and pelf is an event 80 dis
heartening as almost to make one despair
of the ultimate redemption Of mankind
For four years the world has stood
aghast at the ruin wrought by ingenious
devices on land and sea and in the al,
and men are asking with accent Of doubt
| if not despair Is the promise CT life
which Jesus announced after all these
centuries of ardent anticipation to bt
! falsifed? And now after a moment OF
jubilation over a victory desperatel,
won, the scars of which are ineffaceablt
and the consequences of which are in.
calculable, there looms upon the hori
zon cloud of portentous omen Amongs
the masses of the bewildered, cruell,
repressed, easily beguied, despera tel,
! excited. property-less populations OF
Europe and America. provided at las
with leadership and with deep, though
erroneous, convctions-amongst the
masses of modern society there is gath
ering with elemental force a movement
| which threatens to overwhelm the exist
ing fabric which human society ha.
erected with such infinite pains and a
such Unreasonable cost One dare no
|
! heaval. The threat of it greets us II
| the headlines of every mornings Jour
nal. Its mutterings form, deep under
tone in every industry and disturb th
peace of every domestic circle. Its de
annexation is Numbered out against tn,
whole existing social system. It Il
equally hostile to autocratic and demo
cratic government 1t classes prince,
and industrial magnates in the sam,
category, the church and the colleg,
receive concurrent condemnation; tn,
creations of art and literature are thrown
together into the discard.
SIGNS OF THE TIME
II Is OF the utmost Importance tina
those who In any degree mould opinion
and direct the agencies of co-ordina @,
activity should read Alright the signs o
the time
am certain thhat beneath this con
fused babel Of demand and denunciatiol
one clear consistent and righteous not,
can be detected. 1t is the demond 70
NE Tor Abundant Life. and the denun
cation against the existing order o
things derives its sting from the conyic
ton or the denial of this elementa
right.
Our world is passing through a PRO
found transformation. No period O
history has witnessed such fundamen
tai upheaval and the present is tn
evident prelude of still profounde
changes. A score Of nationalities ha
heen suddenly called into existence
These incipient states are filled wit
ira