Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-05
FACE FUTURE WITH CONVICTION
Y0UHAVE REAL PLACE INLlFE
TOFILL,L OPER TELLS SENIORS
Wear Your Own Armor," Text Of Minister s
Baccalaureate Sermon to High
School Graduates.

church preached the annual baccalaure'
ate sermon to the graduating class OF
Central high school Sunday evening a.
the school auditorium. The life OF
David and instances from it were cited
by the pastor in explaining his con-
ception of the way in which a young
person should go out into life. Face
life with the conviction that you have
a real place to fill with the realization
that you have the latent powers to fill
that place: with the ambition to de-
velop these powers to their highest
usefulness" he told the class.
Mr.. Loper's text and his sermon
follow:
WEAR YOUR OWN ARMOR"
".And Saul clad David with his
apparel, and he put a helmet Of
brass upon his head, and he clad
him with a coat Of mail. And
David said unto Saul, ! cannot 90
with these; for ! have not proved
them.'-i Samuel 1889.
There are some things which are
very difficult to find. If l were to
send you into this city or even the
country to find q person who answered
to the following description, ! wonder
how many of you would succeed in the
search. He has a great many marks
of Identification. He is a skillful must
clan, and yet is noted among many ma
tons as a fighter. He is an outlaw
and has been hunted among the noun
tains and deserts of his country as
though he were a dog. and vet be is
a ruler who consolidated a great coun..
try and brought it into a place of
prominence. lie is a sinner who has
been guilty of some of the worst crimes
And yet he is q repentant sinner who
looked to God for forgiveness and at
tempted to undo the wrong which came
from his shortcomings. He is q man
who is denounced as q barbarian in
one of the greatest books Of the last
decade and yet he is loved by a great
people as being the flower of their
long race history. Such a character.
if he were to walk into this assembly.
would be interesting, to say the least.
But you say there is no such man. con-
sequently nothing is to be gained by
searching for him. Yet history yields
him in the form of David.
Refused Saurs Armor
Zone of the most interesting events
of his life is his combat with Goliath,
the champion Of the Phillistines. The
story was so popular among the Jews
that it is recorded several places in
the Bible. The events are familiar
and we will not pause to describe the
conquest Of this famous warrior by
the shepherd musician. Rather we will
60 to the opening events of the duel
and take for our text the following
words:
"'And Saul clad David with his ap-
parel, and he put a helmet of brass
upon his head. and he clad him with
a coat of mail. And David said unto
Saul. | cannot go with these for ] have
not proved them Thus David refuses
to wear the helmet and armor which
Saul has offered. although it must have
been of the very best. and faces his
combat armed as had been his custom.
Taking off the helmet and the armor
be picks up again his staff. He selects
five stones. puts them IN his shepherd
bag. and taking his sling in hand he
the opposing army. So is initiated
this battle which has been written on
the eternal pages Of history.
"A study of it will yield several
outstanding facts. First. W. note the
conviction of David that there is a real
place in the world for him. He had
been only a lad on the hills tending
his fathers sheep, yet he had dreamed
of the time when he would play some
large part in the affairs of men. He
carried this confidence with him to the
camp of Saul. When he heard the
challenge of Goliath he said. Here is
my place. I will fill it,
Press Towards Goal
Il would that ! might bring this
same conviction into the minds OF each
Of you on the eve of your graduation.
Paul said: One thing do, forgetting
the things that are behind. and stretch !
ing forward TO things which are before.
l press on towards the goal This
one thing / would have you do. Press
to your goal on the field of life. 1t
awaits you. There is something for you
TO achieve. There is some real place
for you. The tragedy Of life is that
many have never bad this convection.
have been so crushed or sub
merged by the stern facts of life that
they have lost it.
These people are usually colorless re-
gardless of the circle Of society in
which they move. They have acquain-
tances but few friends. They are dis
but not hated. They are content
not happy. They have no buoyant
faith and little that is winsome and
Life in the main 20 them
of four processes which follow
each other in dull monotony: They eat
md sleep. they work and play. All of
exercises are necessary. but the
circumference of the life Of a dog CON
tains them all. And at times they are
on fully as high a plane as when exhib-
tied in the ives of some men.
God preserve you from this. The
of His creation is man. The
instrument of power in the
is a man who is attempting to
out the purposes Of his Creator.
You are such a creature. the flower of
your Fathers heart. He has made you
to do something more than a dog. You
have received an equipment to do
things in His world. It be-
hooves you to justify your possession of
Il. Nobody was ever made before who
just like you You can get a thou
sand likeless crystals to form them
selves into identical shapes.
Each Has Place
But the minute you have anything
With the possession Of life, you have
something that is different from any
thing else. Each has his own charac-
and each has his own place in
life. You have no rivals in the true
sense OF the term. Your place belongs
o you and nobody can take it from you
you yield it ~. Then it remains
vacant, vainly CRYING for YOU to fulfill