, 1925-05-20
Beatty D Mvers
Id Address to Cody
m Graduating Class
CONTINUED from Page u

America. But the finest thing about
Cody is not the Cody canyon that
is heralded by all our metropolitan
papers and magazines. but the boys
and boys of our school. What a
fine crowd they are! How l admire
them as 1 look at them, What
glorious possibilities, And the
thought occurred to me what a
small part religion plays in their
lives. We are not a church going
people. We + out on the firing
line. People whom you naturally
look up to are not in churches.
Religion is divorced from life. There
is no religion in our public schools.
not eve the Lords prayer. Our
churches are small. our congrega-
tons pathetically small. have so
often thought of you young men
and women starting out in life with
so much hope and enthusiasm. with
your glorious visions and ideals of
youth, to see religion so emasculat-
ed. as you see it.
Religion must seem of no great
Importance in life. How l wish that
you could see that chaste, gloriousCa-
thedral of Notre Dame in Paris,
which you saw in n picture the other
day, with its thirteenth century
glass, which we cannot make today,
and it's perfection from foundation
stone to pinnacle. or st. Paul's, Lon
don, towering over the city, and its
thousands upon thousands of wor-
shipersi How l long to have you
hear the Tramp! Tramp Tramp!
of untold thousands in ireland 60
ing to Mass before dawn. I remem-
Der once sitting in Westminster
Abbey in London, a candle by my
side. unable to see scarcely anyone,
and the untold multitude hat poured
out. Religion is a tremendous thing
in life and has played a big part
in life all down the ages. l am not
talking about numbers. The Chris
tian church created the present
world. The Christian church created
our present civilization, our hos
pitfalls, our home for the poor, the
aged and the infirm, and homes for
little children. Every coin dates
from the birth of Jesus Christ. Life
is opening up before you, and life
looks to your youthful eyes so glor-
ious and fascinating, N if some of
us religious people look petty and
small, and of no great account in
the world, l beg of you not to
throw religion down. A reaction
from the course materialism of the
present age is bound to come, and
l beg of you to get something of
the power and glory of religion into
your lives as you are stepping out
to take your place in life. Some
of you are naturally religious. You
all have your visions and ideals
and dreams. Do lot let the world
rob you of them. for those dreams
of the soul are the visions of God,
for the boy or girl who has them is
clothed with the power of God, and
is to the age in which he lives a
revelation of God.
You are going out into life and
you wan life. We all van life.
Life, with it's joys and rewards.
Will you take the easy way? Life,
it seems to me, comes with-Can
you make the steep climb? Can
you climb the jagged rocks with
bleeding feet? Can you stand the
test? Are you the stuff of which,
heroes are made? Will you be tru
to yourself at all costs? Homer
must wander like a beggar through
the cities of Greece: Socrates must
drink hemlock; Joan of Ark must
perish in flame; Raleigh must Ian
,.;rl ~ nricon. Columbus mnGf
return in chains; Hudson is cast
adrift on the sea bearing his W
name; Lincoln must be the victim
of an assassin's bullet. l love to
think of Lincoln on his knees free
ing the slaves, begging the help of
Almighty God, and Lincoln with all
the cares and burdens and trials of
war, yet writing the letter to the
woman who had lost seven sons in
the war-a letter of such matchless
beauty that it adorns the portals of
Oxford. oh, my young friends, sue.
cess in life, success that counts,
must come by the thorny road of
the Cross, and the ideal of untold
millions is still Jesus with no place
to lay his head. who endured the
whipping post of PLATE and the
Cross of Calvary. He who would
save his sou shall lose it. l remem-
Der as a child, hearing the teacher
telling the story of Livingstone, and
that over his tomb were always a
bunch of flowers. Later I went to
Westminster Abbey, passed statue
after statue of statesmen. generals,