Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-06-18

and sound Judgment in refusing to
trade any smallest part of Heaven
for what little earth could offer.
What l have been saying about
Browning's Grammarian will perhaps
pave the way for two things I wish
to say about money. which think are
worth remembering. Now l have no
quarrel with money. Indeed, for the
last five or six cars it has been my
chief quest and / have seen some
substantial amounts of it put to uses
in this college that will, believe.
make for the permanent enrichment
OF the world. The two general re-
marks that I wish to make about
carry it out Of the world into the
next; there is no pocket in the
shroud; and second, that one can
leave behind one finer things than
money; ones heirs had better inherit
good name rather than riches.
Some OF the members of the class
who have been abundantly supplied
with money for their college expenses
and have had to sign no notes and
make no promises to pay, feel that
they are going out of college free from
debt. But not so. Those of you who
have not had to borrow money for
your college expenses and those of
you who have are alike indebted to
society for your education. If St
Paul had gone to college his ac-
acknowledgement of Indebtedness to all
sorts and conditions of people
Greeks and Barbarans, learned and
ignorant, might well have been made
on commencement day!
You have had special exemption
from productive labor through four
adult years and on that account owe
larger debt than you would other
! wise have incurred. Mills, mines,
farms-these three chief agencies of
production-have made college
education possible for you. The sur
plus products Of labor have paid
your college course. Everywhere the
country over, brains have been busy
planning and hands have been busy
working that you might enjoy the
privileges that Colby college offers.
The very last person who should
ever say 1.-THE world owes me a liv-
ing" is the person to whom the
world has given a college education.
At the end of your college course you
should entertain no baser purpose
than that Of using your education for
strictly personal or selfish ends. To
do what you can to tighten the bur-
denS Of those who have toiled in
your behalf, try to help them secure
a larger share of the products of
their labor and enjoy in fuller degree
the higher satisfaction of life. should
| in all fairness and justice be your
aim and effort. 1t ill becomes a col
| lege graduate to adopt a harsh, I'M
sympathetic attitude towards men
who work with their hands.
| l spoke to you first about the debts
some of you owe individuals for
| money you have borrowed, debts that
must be paid in money. l have just
been speaking about the debts all OF
you owe society, debts transcendins
in magnitude and importance al
mere money obligations-debts that
must be paid in sympathy and friend
illness and all helpful service. l now
wish to remind you that the pay
ment of this debt to society is not
| simply for value received. not bust
ness transaction, but an obligation
| imposed upon you by virtue of youl
being Christian men and women. Ir
the light of the Gospel the true char
| acter of this debt plainly appears.
From this Christian college are
you carrying away a Christian edu-
cation? What is a Christian educa-
ton? One can not tell whether you
! have a Christian education or not
| until one sees what you plan to dc
| with it. If you think of your educa-
ton as an avenue of escape from
hard work. as a ladder up which tt
climb to other peoples shoulders tc
be carried for the rest Of your life
your education is anything but
Christian. Your education is Chris
| tan only so far as you look upon II
as n sort to be administered for the
benefit of all with whom you have tt
do.
Go and pay thy debt, I say to eacl
and every one of you as Christian
men and women, for these debts &c
| fellowmen. debts to be paid through
service and sacrifice. when viewed
in the light of the Gospel, assume
larger Importance and payment be-
comes all-imperative, not on any
account to be cvaded.
There arc two outstanding Gospel
| doctrines, embracing the whole mes
sage and mission of JcsuS,-the two
great facts that Jesus everywhere in
sists upon. They are the fundamcn-
tails of the Christian faith. There is
1lTSC lIc ldtutIliOOtl VI Ioi. IL NfoN
were not our father there would be
no such thing as human brotherhood
No ties of kinship would bind us
Our relations with one another
would not be matters of duty and
obligation but matters of convenience
and profit. Discard this essential
Gospel doctrine of the fatherhood OF
God and there is no reason why
everybody should not devote himself
exclusively to looking out for num-
Der one. Indeed the worlds troubles
right now are obviously due to the
widespread denial of the first of the
two fundamentals of the Christian
faith. International rivalries and
iealousies, racial antagonisms. per-
sonal lust and greed,-all are the re-
suit of the general refusal to accept
the practical truth of Jesus that God
is our father and that being his sons
we are really brothers. Go and pay
thy debt: 1T is an obligation imposed
by our father.
I have spoken of the first two
fundamentals of the Gospel, the
fatherhood of God. The second is the
immortality of man. Christ brought
Immortality to light in the Gospel.
For mans dim wavering insure hope
of immortality. Christ substituted
clear, certain, settled faith.
To that world-old question. II
man die, shall he live again? Jesus
gives triumphant answer.
The one absolutely essential Cos
pel miracle, the miracle that gives
the Gospel its unique potency. is the
miracle of Christs resurrection. The
Great Apostle we'll knew that the
mower of His resurrection is the
dynamic quality of the Gospel. With
out such pledge and symbol the Cos
pei would be but the beautiful
dream of an idealist,-a man of
knowledge, insight. love- a greater
Plato indeed.-but it would still be