the elevation of mankind, with liberty and truth and right, will never be forgotten. The men of conscience and the men of God are those whom the world will not willingly let die. Paul will outlive the Cæsars; Luther and Wesley will outlive the reigning princes of their times, Garrison will outlive Clay; Whittier will outlive Emerson; Nehemiah has outlived Artaxerxes.

Young ladies and gentlemen of the graduating class, problems are already presenting themselves to you requiring prompt solution, problems that no other can solve for you, problems that either time or you will settle. You with your own vigorous grasp or time with its onward flow. Which will it be?

To everyone of you has already come again and again that solemn question of Pilate-What shall I do with Jesus? Has your answer thus far been what you intend it shall be before life closes? Would that we could part company with everyone of you in the confident assurance that Christ is formed within you the hope of glory. If some of you have said "He is mine" what place have you given Him within you? Is he in the very centeron the very throne of your being? Do you rest in his Love? Do you bow to his will? What are you doing with Jesus? What does your higher nature bid you do with him? Reason and conscience both say Let him be enthroned high above every rival claimant for possession of our souls. He only is truly wise who is wise for eternity and wise today. Soon if you are not already there, you will be confronted by another question of very serious import. What use shall I make of my gifts and attainments? Undoubtedly providential opportunities will be a large determining factor here. Yet there is always a large domain in every life in which there is liberty of choice. We may consult with ourselves and the conclusion will correspond with our ideals and general purposes. Let us urge upon you here also to make Reason, Conscience and God, your advising cabinet.

Ask yourself" What am I fitted for? In what direction do my divinely given powers point me? In what avocation am I likely to be successful? Ask yourself Where are the moral risks so great that I dare not venture on them? In what line will I be likely to develop the best character? Where can I do the most good? Ask God to shine upon your way, to be your interpreter of events, to lead you whithersoever He would have you go. As the wise men followed the Star in the East so do you follow these guiding stars of your higher nature toward the sunset of life and they will lead you beyond the hills that skirt your horizon into a wide country where all is clear and pure and joyous forever. May the Lord guide everyone of you by his counsel and afterward receive you to glory.

Other problems will present themselves to you as you go, some intricate, others sharply defined, some requiring wisdom, others courage. Some will belong to you personally, others you will meet in common with your fellows. In every age there are great questions of Church and State, of morals and reform. Where shall you settle them for yourself? Where but at the bar of your own reason and conscience? Take no heed to public clamor. Yield not to the dictation of either good men or bad. Make God's law as revealed in conscience and the Bible your standard. Seek God's spirit as the illuminator of your understanding. Endeavor to act rationally, conscientiously and christianly and surely you cannot go far astray. These are stirring times in which we live. Sometimes the very foundation seems to be giving way. Who shall guard and maintain the pillar of social order? Who shall stand at the breach? There is need of true

hearted women and right-hearted men of moral, thoughtful, law-abiding, God-fearing men and women, with intelligence enough to discern the follies of wild theorists and force enough to resist their designs. No reed shaken with the wind" will do. But what can

you or I do? We seem like the almost invisible mote in the air, that the sunbeam discovers to us, or like a drop of water falling into the sea. But not so! Who can tell the value of a single noble life? It may not be great in itself as the world judges and yet be felt the world over through other lives which it has influenced. It maybe the slender cord that draws the mighty cable that spans the moral chasm. The pious little maid in Naanan's house had an influence that was great as well as Esther in the palace. Even a single voice crying in the wilderness may prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. Let us not then take a despairing view of life. Go forth hopefully, strong in your conscious integrity, strong in the truth that has taken possession of you and above all strong in God. Go forth with love to God and men, unselfishly consulting your nobler self, with the purpose to do good to men as you have opportunity, to make your lives a blessing to mankind.

Let me commend to your attention that picture of a loyal soul, drawn by the master hand of Milton

Among the faithless, faithful only he;
Among the innumerable false unmoved,
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified

His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal,

Nor number, nor example with him wrought

To swerve from truth, nor change his constant mind.

66

And remember that a greater than Milton has said, as one having both authority and power, Be ye faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life." May that crown be put upon the head of everyone of you. "I consulted with myself," I need scarcely say, does not mean making self the center of one's being. There is a wide gulf between being self-centered and self-mastered, between living for self and living from self.

In The Life of Henry Drummond by Dr. George Adam Smith is related the following illustrative fact:

There was a medical student a year or two ago who was half-way through his course when it dawned upon him that he had been living for himself and he decided to change and go and see if he could find anyone to help. He found an old chum who had gone to the dogs, given up his work and his exams and was living aloof from other students and drinking hard. He went and found him lying on the floor drunk. He paid his debts, took him to his room, gave him supper and put him to bed. On the next day he had a talk with him and they entered into a written contract to keep them both straight as follows

1. Neither of us to go out alone.

2.

Twenty minutes only to be allowed to go to the college and return; overtime to be accounted for.

3. One hour every night to be given over to reading other than studies.

4. That bygones be bygones.

A

Both men signed and they lived together. After a time No. 2 saw that in the evening hour outside of studies the Bible was read. No. I never spoke to him about it; he simply read - At last No. 2 changed. What he changed to I need not say. The last I heard of them was this says the narrator. No. 1 is filling an appointment of great importance in London. No. 2 passed his exams that year with the highest university distinction and is now in private practice.

It was a splendid piece of self-mastery and self-sacrifice. Did it pay? Though no life here calls for such heroic devotion, it may suggest to us how admirable a thing it is to be the helper of another to an overcoming life. Will you consult with yourself about it?

SERMON II, 1887

A YOUNG MAN'S COURAGE

Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.- 1 Samuel 17: 32.

CHAR

HARLES KINGSLEY says of David-"A great man-warrior, statesman, king, poet, prophet. A man of many joys and many sorrows, many virtues and many crimes; but through them all every inch a man.” The prophet Samuel predicting the downfall of Saul and the elevation of another to his place speaks of David as the Lord's choice and "the man after God's own heart." He was a man of the people and a man of God. He won the hearts of the people because God had won his own heart. He was manly because he was godly. He was manly enough to be sorry for sin and to say so with a heartiness that inspired new confidence. Let him who confounds pride with nobleness, stubbornness with firmness, insolence with courage, learn a lesson of humility and penitence and even passionate confession of sin from this hero of the valley of Elah. He was never more manly than when he cried out of the depths of his soul-"I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me."

He was likewise manly enough to forgive as well as to confess. It is the small soul that cherishes a grudge and bides its time for revenge. It is the magnanimous man or woman that can overlook an offense and bury it out of sight. Nabal sent an insulting reply to David's courteous request and for the moment his blood was hot and his heart was bent on vengeance. But when Nabal's wife did what she could to make amends for her hus