Baccalaureate Address

The following is the Iiaccaluureatc addien in full, delivered by Rev. Dr. B. F. Cocker, last Sabbath afternoon, at I Ui versity hall : " TUI wc all come unto perito! manJiood, unto the nitüisiirr of the stature of the fallness ol Cbrist."- Kl-mcsiANS, iv., 18. l-'.vcry lorui of culture, whether ebusio, BuIeUCiBo, r ..lirisliall, llUH lor tSüllli the carrying ut the n.iture of man to its hijflu-r-t perfeotion. On tliis point all are agret d. .Men iii:iy differ as to thi'ir ldr:il o!' i ui - ture, and as to the moiliods of culture, Imt there is do diflerenoe of opinión aa lo tlio ciiciiil aiin of all cnltUte, iiamcly : the (orniation ot' noble traman obaraoter, the development of' the bighest type of man houd. This statement, however, is very genera! and very indefinite ; and it furnishes no practical guidaucc as to the Bpedfle kind of culture we should seek to realize in our modern life. It iuust be obvious to every one, that, if we are to do any effective work eiiher in self-culture, or in the culture of those who are placed under our care, we must have sonie definite conception as to what we uiean by 'iiighest perfection," by "noble human character," and similar forma of expression that are just now current in certain quarters, and acoeptable because of' their very indetiuiteness. Thry are good phrases for rhetorical effect. Thejr havo a stateliness and rhythin which pleases the ear. They look well in IMWtpaper articles ; aud withal, they are convenient teruis for tlie use of such as do not wili to be committed to more dcfinite and serious views as to the taipreme end of life, and the relation of all true culture to that end. Hut if we are in earnest to do our work in life, aud l'uiliil the end of our exiMence Uit' , wa vaat to be told in dun umiit teruis what our work is, and what U tlu: end of our exislence here. 11' we ar.' serioualy intent upon the formation of noble human character, we want a preciee and definite idea of whüt is bigbeet, anti nobleet, and best, in human charucicr. It is nut euough fur the a&piring artit to desire to prodooe the best, the mot perfect work of art. This general wish will be 1'ruitles.s of results; and any amount of indeterminate effort will aecompliah nothing. First of all things, he must have a well defined idea of what is "best," what is "perfection ;" and by what methods that which is best and inost perfect may be produced. And he must not only have precise ideas, and understand well the principies of bis art ; but he must have an ideul be fore the imagination, in which abstract ideas are clothed in forms of sensible nature and of real life. Even a iMichael Angelo cannot produce a sculptured Moaea without first having au ideal Moses in the imagination. The greatness of a "masterpiece' ' consista as much in the conception as in the ezcoution. And so, if we are intent upon building character of the highest type, wecertainly need an archetype according to which we must build. Do we desire the "noblest forin of charaoter " ? we must have some definite standard oí' "nobility." Do we seek "the highest style of manUood " ? we must clearly understand what we mean by "tho highest and the bot. " Do we propose to atrive after "thé greatcst perfection"? we must have some means of knowing what "perfection" is; what t is wc want to perfect, that is, what powers or capabilities of human nature we desire to develop to the uttermost. To say, in a general way, asmany writers on culture have eaid, that "their aim is to develop to the full all the oapabilities of man," is simi!y to niake a word do duty lor a thought. Man has some capaeities, whieh, most of us belicve, deruand repreeóon rather than expansión - some pasbions and ambitions which require restraint rather than dcvelopiuent. Man is capable of hate, of revende, of pride, of envy, of jealousy, of greed, of avarice, of lust, of despotie use of power, and of that .strange "delight in the infliction of pain" to which our modern evolutionists are pointing as proof of hi descent, Dotnmplv fruui a savage, but a brutal anoistry. h is, therefore, obvious that wo need intelligent guidance and moral discrimination, so that we may know what to cultívate and what to uproot, what to develop and what to repress. If human nature is to be cultivated and shaped into forms of excellence, and power, and beauty, whieh it does not possess, we must know what those forms are and how they can be produecd. Surely it was never more denirablo than now, when every movement of our modern life so rapidly acquires momeutura and becomes a pernicious or benignant power, that those who are concerned in the work of educatiop should ponder wejl the iraettion- What is that definite ideal which culture should seek to realize in our modern life? What is that type of character we would desire to have most prevalent in our land? I nhall venture a few thqughts on this question, which 1 trust wijl not be deemed out of place on this occasion. There are many persons, even in our day, who believe that the grandest ideal of culture is still to be found in the polished Athenian of the age of Pericles. Athens is still, with them, the synonym of all that is greatest and best in the geniu.s of man. Others there are who recognize their ideal in the cultivated Human of the Augustan age, whero the intellect and beauty of Hellenic culture is combined with the strength and energy of the Latin mi ml. Others again there are who see their ideal in the men whom Carlyle sarcastically styles "the Exeter Hall l'hilunthopist" and attacks with fiercest scorn ; such men, for instance, as John Iloward, William Wilberforce, and Thomas Clarkson. More recently, the man of science, with healthy body and vigorous inind who fully understands the laws of nature, and has trained himself to a strict and loving obedience thcreto, has been presented as the best ideal of the culture demauded by modern life Here wo have at least three markcd types of culture. One in which the classic (that is, the literary and icsthetic) element is predominant ; a second in which the scientific spirit ia the inaster-power ; and a third in which the ethical (that is, tbc moral and religious) element appropriates and assimilates all the Ntt, The most powcrful advocate for the supicmacy ofolassie culture (aniong th Englisb-speaking acoples) m Matthei Arnold. He earnestly and justly eoatend tliat lln worth ol'any culturo is not to b meamred by ts atilitarian reralu - tbal not by the tecliuical skill wliicli i aequired nor by the auiouut ot'knowlcdgo which i fiiM.,1, nor by iha ïinil'essinnal suoce.s which is seeured, but by the elevation o character which is given to the man - by his greater ireedom froui prejudice, by hl grcater brcadth of thought, by bis uiore expansire .-yujpathu.s his more cailioU and human fcelings, and his higher an more unselfish ideal of hfe ; in short, am in wurds whiofa liave become proverbial by greater "swectness and light." 80 ar we may well agree with him ; bu .Mr. Arnold bas more to say with which we are not so well pleased. He thinks tha tho age in which the intellcetual and tht boautit'ul 9 and light" were pre emiiiently coinbined was the ase o Parióles, "an age so well representad ir the poetry of Sophocles, where the idea o beauty and of a i'ully defeloped humanity takes toitself a spiritual and a relígious direotion." lie ventures the extreme as sertion that tlie aims of liteiaiy and OSthetic culture "transeend tbc atms of re liííioii." Al a harinonious development of all the powers which niake the beaatj and worlh of huinanity, classic culture beyond religioo as religión is generally oooceived by us." Religión, he aays, only at the oiltiration of sonu of the powers of tbe niiod, and thorcfon it fails to give a complete and evenlybalamvd dovalatirprnL 'l'liis sentiment is Bonictinics rauicJ iu the rerge of bitternesa. While iIil Hellenii1 culture is represented as tbc sourc-i1 of swcciiicss and iight, the Hebre culture is repreteoted as Um souroe ol sournesB and gloom. For the religión ol the Puritan and the "Evangelist" be bas a barely ooooealed oontempt. He pietures to himself Virgil and Shakespeare acoompanying the Pilgrim Fathers on the vovage to Au, erica. He does not insinúate that tbc Pilgrim Fathers wotild have been intolerant of these men, but he asks if the two poets woold nut have i'ound the oompany of the Pügrim Fathers intolerable to the ui. Thi.sslyle of thought is not original with Mr. Arnold. Sueh seatíawnts have been prevalent in Geriuauy sitice the time of Schiller and Goethe. Bageobaeh says of Schiller that "he cast his eyes longingly back tu the old Hellenistio land of tables and wisbed the gods of Greece back into tbc vcry midst of C'hristianity." And in a letter written by Goethe to F. Jacobi in 1813, he says - "As a poet and artist I am a polythcist, asa natural philosopher 1 am a pantheist, and theorie as decidedly as the other." To Lavate.r he wrnte- ''I have' pitied your tliirst Rr Cbrist. You are ia ¦ worse eondition tban we Ileaibcn, lor in times of trouble oor god appear to ut." Tbis tendenoy. this "reversion," may we pot eall it, to llcllenic liinuaiii.Mii M I" coming more aiul more prevaleut in denuany. In an article on "The JeWi in GennaBf," wbicb appeared in the "Uontemporary Review" brjaooary, lssl , Irmii the pen of the author of "Germán ll.jmc l;il'c," it is said "Perides and Alabiados were no more OOinpletely Pagan, or less trannueled by prejudioe iban the Pruasian statesmao and warrior of to-day, There are believing Cbvistians in (ieniiany. but who holds them to te of any account ? lieligionists of all denominations are trcaled by 'the general' either as hypocrites and timeservers, or as illiteratr imbceiles whose vain babblings are of no account." "The 'cultivatcd' Germán is cdueatcd beyond the point of dogmas and belief. 11e is fiatikly pagan." This, I think, is not the species of culture which we desire or need. This is not tho spirit which would beautify and Mees our American lile. It is intolerant, bitter, supercilious, and vain. The advocates of the scientific theory of culture are quite numerous, here and in Eogland. In tin ir estimation the valueof every species of culture is to be determined by its secular resulis, such as more perliet health, longer lifo, greater wealth, more l'recdom, wider fuiue, aud "the ireatcst happluesa of the greatest numser. " These are the only rational ol if pursuit ; in a word, temporal welfare and iiappiness are the bighest good. It is elaimed tbat soience can secure all these resulls, and thcri i'irc science is "tlieone thing aeedfaL" It really possesses tho secret of life. It is, therefore, proposed tbat our edooatioD ihall be almost exclusivdy scientific, and that scientific metbods and resaks shall be the only guide of life, not merely in thinga tbat pirt;iin to tbe physical order, but in tfaose tbat pertain to the moral order of life. All civil, social, moral, and even religious questions are to be subeet to its arbitratnent. Our physical science teachers are to be the supreme exponents of all truth. Such being their general principies, we nay conceive what their Ideal of culture is. Mr. Huxley has made the task easy by 'arnisbing tbe following picture of "the deal man." the man who is to be, as the productor" truly liberal education : "fle las been so trained in youth that his body s the readv servant of the will, and does with ease and pleasare all tho work tliat, a machine, it is oapableof; his intellect á a clear, cold, logic enginc with all its parts of equal strength, and in smooth working order ; ready like a steam -entine to be turued toany kind of work, and spin the goasamen as well as forge the anchors of the tnind ; his mind is stortd with a knowledge of all the greatand fundamental truths of nature, and of the laws of operati.in-; one who, no stunted asectic, is full of life and fire, but whose paasions are trainad to come toheel by a vigorous will, the tervaat of a tender concience ; who bat l'arned to )ov2 all beauty whether of nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as himself." This is Professor Huxley's "ideal man," the product of scientific culture alone. He is a being without the fear of God ; without religión ; and wituout any idea of morality, save as a computatiou of profit and ; for say Mr. Huxley: "If it een be shown by observation and experiment, that theft, murder, and adultery do not tend to diminish the happiness of society, they are not social immoralities." He is a being without moral freedom, boeaoaa [luxley's pnilosophy representa him as "a con-cious automaton" ; whose to-ealled "conscieuce," tender or otherwise, is nothng more than a developed animal instinct, ike to that of the "retriever" dog. The best critieism we could offer on this theory of culture would be to quote what :he same Professor wrote only two ycars jefore. "Hy mere intellectual drill your cbild may be converted into 'the mostsubtle of all the h oasis of the field,' but we know what has become of the original of that description." "Xow my belief is that no loman being, and DO society of human bt'nijs ever did, or ever will, come to much unlesa their conduct was governed and raided by the love of some ethical ideal." But we are concerned that society around us shall " come to something," shall develop the bigbeet type of execllenee, and therefore we raut have an ethical ideal." Thk brings us now to the consideraron if the ethical theory of culture, and under he term "ethical" we embrace the moral and the religious, becausc Ethics is ihe science of Duty wlicther to God or man. And tirat óf all we premiso that the ethical f.heory of culture lias no controversy witu science, that is, with a i-cience that knows itrf own liuiits, and ooafnei ttselfto the OO-ordiaatioB and interpretaron of physioal faota. If' pbysioal íeience can Keure us better health and better br;s- it ït can teacb ña hpw to picvcnt airan. and to prolong life, theo even ethifll druiands that we shall hearken to tb.Q voiee and subwit to the guidancc of phyeieal soieooe ; and this for many reasons, chiefly, beotnie the bjfhMl moral perreetion can never be seoured in men with disordered nerves and iiiipoverished brains. So far, also, as science furoishei more accurate knowledge of the invisible forces, and the uniform and chanceless laws of nature and thus becomes the great antidote of vulgar errors and debasini,' siipcrBtitions - so far as seience, in its applioatiipii to the mechanica! art?, emancipates man ii om the severer foruis of toil, and secures him time fer mental culture- in that uieasure does it become a tuighty force in human civilization, and "the true handmaid of religión. " We premise, further, that tho ethical theory of culture has no word to utter in depreciation of that culture which literature and nrt can Bnppty. Chrlstianity luis neitber depreciated nor neglected oïasgic studies. Jn the Patristic period, extend ii. from the first to the close of the elghth eintury, they furnied part of the curriculum of the ''cloistcr schools." The "liberal arts and duoipliaet" m taught ly Boethius, ('assiodorus, and the Anglo¦ ¦¦"- w m true that in the earlier oentnnea of the Hcholasiw period oUasioal and philosophical studiën were negleoted, but it mu.st uct r.r gotten that Tatmaa Aqbkmd was (na lirst to secure a trauslatiim of the works of AristotU from the original mek. And, when the revival of classical learning did come, it took place, not outside of, but io, the very bosom of the church. It wal Dante and Petrarch, in the XIV'. century who revived the fame. and the study of the Roman poets. The patrons of this grand re-instauration were Nicolás V'. iu Home, and Cosmo de Medici, in Florence. It v;is under the patronage of the latter that Ficinus restored Plato to bis rightful supremacy in the world of philosopbic thouirht. The reformation gave a mighty impulse to classical learning. The distinguished nanies of iteuchlin, Erasmus, Melancthon, the twoStephens (Uobertand Henry) with i'ln is, will at once recur to the memory of the student in this connection : and I think it will not be denied that, until very reoeatly, the firt scholars of the world, hat is, thosc whose reading in the ancient s was most extensive, and whose ac]uaintance therewith was most critically accurate, were ibund in the church. l'hcn, if we turn our attontion to art, we shall find that the grandest creations of MMDting, music, or poetry were produced undcr the fostering influence of Christianiy. We simply suggest as instances, the ¦luiri'h of St. BOpbia at Constantinople, the Gothic cathedral at Cologne; the eliefs of the so-callcd "Gates of Paradise" jy Lorenzo (ihiberti ; the Descent from he Uross by Michael Angelo ; the )i-;itorios of Handel ; the Divine Comedy of Dante ; and Milton's Paradise Lost. The ethical theory of culture has, there'ore. no antagonisms with scienee, or literature, or art in so far as their tendencias are mond, butby this toueh-stone it claims o test everything. Itaccordsto theui the 'ullest credit for all the iufluences they lave exerted in the world's civilization. [iut it contends that they are inadequate to the realization of the highest ideal of icrlection - a "completely rounded human xcelleuce." Operating alone they are imited in their influence, and eoneiously ncomplete, Pure intellect alone ia alIt will have everything onlorin to its theoretical conceptions, which are notalways tho broadest or best. tt cannot adjust itt-elf to the real needs of luman existence, and it has no patience with the errors, and DO sympathy {or CM ot'thu ie.-s iiivurtd of our raco. Lt 18 liarti, stern, pitilesa ; often suiercilious and vain. Furthermore, that ñenoe which assumes to decide alj moral and social questions by the material and secular rcsults of conduct, and which will recognize no ideal standards of excellence, no intrinsic rightness or justness per m ïas airead; a feeble moral wnsibilitv, and may be expected to exhibit a pliable conscience. Classic literature and modern science alone are not adequate to the developmcnt and nurture of the inoro ex)an.-ive sympathics, the more catbolic and ïuiuane iëelings, the more unselíish ideas )f life, and the wider cliarities which are the tupreme need of our times. They cannot translbrm the hideousness, and ïcal the viciousness, and conquer the selfishness we sec around us in the world. Let us imagine the ideal man which these cultures would produce. He is a nan in perfect physical health, an Apollo n fbrm and a Hercules in manly strength. lis intellect is, in the words of Iluxlcy, a lerl'ect loiical machine. His imagination md taste have been cultivated by the study of' classic models. He is well read n history. He has a perfect knowledge of and a loving reverenoe for the laws of nature. Have we now a satislying ideal, a model of human per f eet km? Does this character exhale any fragrance, bas it any attraetion, does it warm our affections, does it couipel the homage of our hearts? n a word, has it any moral inspiration md any elevating forcé? I think we shall e obliged to answer, No. This is not "the visión of the highest and the best," which overpowers and captivates the hearts of men, which lives in their reverent love, and before which even sinful men bow heir heads in silent worship. Men will not worship mete strength, whether intelectual or physical. The imperial ñames which are to rule the hearts and guidc he lives of men are not the names of sceptcred monarchs, and laureled héroes, - not even the names of scholars whose works have been "crowned" by Royal Academies, or of discoverers to whom have een awarded "golden medals" ; but the names of men who have been distinguished br integrity and veracity, and purity, and tenevolence, and unselli.-hms. These are undorstood and appreciated and reven d iy all men - these command theinvoluntary ïomage of every human heart - tliese will rule and guide the ages. What. then, is the theory of ethical culure ? First, it assumes Jiat the highest brm of culture is that of the moral nature of man - the culture of the will, of the conscience, and of the moral perceptions; n a word, of all tbat enters into the coneption of junonoüty considered in its writy and perfection. Matthew Arnold .dmits that the aim of culture is not mercy to render the intelligent man more inelligent, but "to make reason and the ¦CiiiL'Hom of God prevail." lt may !„¦ imcult to teil what Mr. Arnold means by he "Kingdoin of God." From an exct- ' f scrupulosity Mr. Arnold seldom usea the ' name "God" ; he prefers to gpeak of "a ower Dot ourselves, which works for i m say, then, that "the i ingdom of (Jod" is the totality of all ( thieally good things, - that it is an order i r constitution of society in which every i im of biinianily is eentralized in one holy I aim, ?., as Plato states it, "to retemblé God ; " a state of human BOÓetJ in whicli righteoBemn, peace, purity, and beneficeoce are ilio predouiinant key-noto, and with which all otber notes are nade to harmonize. This u a conception of "tlie Kiiigdom of God" wl.i.h u nol lar froin tlie Christian idea. Secondly : it demuda tliat all other forms of culture sliall bu mada mtmnrinnt to ttiis. Athe ioorfkoio is subordínate to thc organic, thc vegetal to the animal, tito animal to tlie intellectual ; so (he intellectual must be subordinated to tlie i thicaL, that is, the moral and the spiritual. As Bishop Martensen has said : "lío human aim is excluded orexempted from thc ethical, it embraces every development oí' human talent." It iuipresses every intellectual cffort with the sacredness of duty. It gives to the development of human talent a moral significance, beeause it maltes it subservient to tlie formatiou of character. To cultívate one's natural gifts aiiht is to mould tbem uto inatromenta and means for the special aims of personal, that is, rtponatbl being- it is to employ tbem all in the service of morality - that is service of God. An artist may cultivate hii talent in tl of art alone, bot be lil'ts art into the highor sphere of moráis when lic makea hb artist life subservient to tho developmnnt and perfection oi' hu mural heilig. Then liis arti.-tic erealions have, what Plato ealls "a divine beauty ;" they bear the impresa of purity, and therefore they ixert an elevating oiid saootifying inttuence upoti buman .society. Within the entire rcalm of lims the ethical is thc highest aim, and the physioal, the artistic, and the intelleotu&l mast be rabordinated to ihc moral hm) the apiritual. I his N du: demarid of ria-on. 'J'iiis, ,-ays 'nt, is ilio une unconditioned i imand - the categoncaliniperauvtr; m ,,,.....: . rson is to be always regardcd ;i to , never mcrely as a mean. It is the demand of conscience, wliieh proelaims the sacredness and supremacy of duty, and requites that everything else shall bow to this. It is the command of God, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father who if in heaven is perfect" ; and this perfection is unquestionably moral perfection. The ethical theory of culture contends that "there is uo scionce like that of duty, no beauty like that of bolineas." Personal righteousness is the highest thing in tho uniyerse. The free moral personality purified and perftcted, is thu absolute good. There is no "visión of' the highest and the best" beyond this. Perfect moral freedom, perfect self control, perfect lovc of righteousness, perfect charity fat all, perfect soundness of mind - can a worthier or nobler conception be foruied by man ? - can a greater gift be bestowed by God? Finally, the ethical theory of culture has not only its abstract moral ideas and principies, but it has its concrete ideal in whicli all abstract moral exei ¦Ilem-ics are combined. That ideal is found in the myatetiou man of Nazareth- the uni-iallr,l w.hUtoxr. he wkoin fíntíhfi. the most worldiy and .ell-suniek'tif ol modern poeta, hal ealled "the Divine Man," "the Holy One," and of whom .lian l'aul Richter said : "lle is the jmrest among the mighty, and the mightiest among the pure." This is our ideal, our exemplar - the visión of a perfect ly nnaelfiah Hfi - a lite in which every desirc and every volition is suboidinatcd to the infinitely righteous will, in which every activity and every aim that centres exclusively in the pleasure of the individual is sunendenil, and all the energies of life are consecrated to God and goodness - to building up the Kingdoui of God upon earth, and securing the highest well-being and blesedness of man. I shall not attempt a portraituro of the moral character of Christ. No biographer, or moralibt, or artist who bas studied the Gospels can be satisfied with any attenipt to set lbrth the purity, and strength, and benignity which shine in the face of' Jcsus of Nazareth. These transcend any possible conception or representaron by the mimi, or the longue, or the pencil oi " ''Y picture ui Ch" ,','¦ -fe" " ''f the „„u-ici-nand of a Iíubens or a Ilaphael ; uo epic though conceivcd by the genius of' a Dante or a Milton" ; no biography though written by a Lange or a Parrar can equal thc effect which is produced upon the higheat genius, as well as upon the humblest mediocrity, by the simple and tl tiesa narrativo of' the pospels. The powerful improssion which is made by the narrativo as a whole, as wcll as by the separate scones and incidents with whieh it abounds can never bc enhanced and aan ba weakened by humau artifice. Ilumanity will never forget it. Men are still wondering at the "gracious words which proceeded out of the lips of Christ" ; and still persist in wyinff, "Xever man spake liko this man." TÍie BOenet at the tonib of Lazarus ; at the saté of' Nain ; in the happy family at liethuny ; in the garden of Gethsemane ; and on thc summit of Culvary, still touch and melt the hearts of men. The remembrancc of the patience with which He bore wrong, the gentl with which lle rebukcd it and the love with whieh He forgave it: - the synipathy He manit'estcd for the afllicted, the compassion He had on the multitude which secmed to him as theep without a sliep herd, the tears lle nept over Jerusalem, the numberloss acts of benign oondesoen sion whieh won for him the name of "the Friend of Publicans and Sianers : - these, and a hundred things more which crowd those ''concibe memorials of love and soriow," still continue to charm and attract the souls of men, and do infinitely more to inspira them with those scntimenls of compaasion, and forbearance, and benignitj, which beautify and bless our civilization than all othcr culture beside. Even the sceptioal Künan confesses that Christ to day is a thousand times more alive, a thousand time more beloved, thao during bil passage here below ; and that he has become i-o completcly "the corner stone of hunianity, that to tcar his name fiom the world would be to reed it to its foundations." "Whatever," says he, "may be the sugrise of the future, Jesus will never be surpaased. Ilis worship will grow young without ceasing ; his legend will cali furth tears without end ; hissuffcrings will melt the ooblest hearts; his spirit will inspire and form the noblest lives] ; all ages will proelaim that among the af men there is none bom gieater than .J esus. We shall take it as gcnerally cuneedcd that iu Christ we have the highest Ideal of moral excellence the world has ever seen, or the human huart has even conceived. It may be qoeatiooed whether this Idt'al can ever be realized by man without supcrnatural aiil ; and it may even rted that the Christian church of to-day presents a (-orry approxituation to this Ideal, ,-till, I think, it will not, be denied that, to make us like Christ - to eail us more and more to approach the moral perfection of his character, to teach us to love mankind as he loved mankind, and to labor in the unselfi.-.h marnier that he labored for the purifyingaii'l perfeotílg of human nature, must be the ultímate end of all culture. Now, that a radically new type of eharseter was early revealed umler the influence of Christian life and culturo is i denialile. Some men have asserted that Lh(! moral aphorisms of Jesús wcre not i original, and that they may be paralleled i Crom .lewish and 1'aL'an lOtUOOg. 'l'hi-, I i un Mire, is erroneous, but I cannot stop to refute it now. It is enough for my purto assert, what will scarcely bcdenied liy any ono, ,hai the moral character of Christwaaaod isunparalleledin history,and thnt thc type of charaeter whicb his spirit and teaching developed in his followcrs was unequalcd in that or any preceding age. It is a typo of character which is strictly nri({inal, and ita features go distinetly expresa an order of feelings and ot' ideas to which the llebrew, the llellenie, and the Jtaliaii raoaa were strangers, as to compel the conclusión that "a creative action of vast spiritual power" was its cause, and that it could not be a development from previous types of civilization by natura! selection or sociai environment. It was as iMurtineau expresses it, "a new edition of human nature," and a new edition with vast corrections and emendations by the author. As Mr. Martineau further remarks, "Whcn the free [proud] Roman breaks the bread of communion with ¦lavea - when theslippery Syrian forswears lying and theft- wheo the beedless Greek changes his eagerness of the present moment into a living for eternity - when a people ignoraot of Stoic inaxims display a eontempt of torture and death aubliiuer tha the deal of the l'orch, it is plain that au influenoe is. at work whioh has penetrated to hitherto unknown depths of the liunian soul. This plienomenon becomes all tho more peculiar and .strikiii wheu we take account of the malcriáis from which the early ChristiaO coinmuniticn were gathered. It ucily bo Buppoeed thal they were iniiposed of elfinciits pcciiliarly choice. Indeel it is dilh'cuk to conceive how, toiid the; amveraaJ oonraption of moral umi exhansttofl of wholesouie spiritual life, anv decent nlenianti rnnld bawe hñen aaL leotea; especial ly When it is remembsred that Chrit invited the publican and sinner, the prodigal and the proflígate to the "gospel least." "Without adopting Giboontemptooiu estimate of the body of primitive lielievers, we cannot doubt that it comprised very mixed ingredients; we know that it contained great numbers of the servile class, and very few whose station aud culture gave them aceess to the higher ideas familiar to the schools of philosophy ; yet from these unpromising sources a new society which, in severity of moráis, in intensity of affection, in heroism ofendurance, [in unselfish effort fbrothersj reversed the habits of the world," and turned the btream of bistory. This is the crucial point. It is idle for scoptical criticism to raise the question whether Cbrutiaoity contains in its teaching any ethical elements that are ab-olutely new. in moráis as in art, words are iiDtliiiig deeds are everything. Truth beoom .- of raiae to the world only on condition that it is traaeformed into feeling ; nul it :ittuins all its preciuusnehs only whcn itis realizod in tbc world as a faet. Men of very indifferent inoráis have given utterance to good maxims. But the palm beinrn's tn liU", ,'tlITK' """ , . , "'' , "" " "[ i ana ni aéea, to lnm wlio telt the truth. ' and ;it tlie price of his blood, made it ¦ tri tiiu pliant. In this respect we conteud that Chrilt, nul the men whose characters . were fonned after the Christ-model are i utiiiii;iled, and tliat theChristian Ideal of i Lile has inspired and sustained whatever is Dobles! and best in human society. It lias been well said that every one is sensible of a chango in the whole elimate ' of thouirlit aud feeling the moment he crosses any part of the boundary which divides Cliristian civilization from Pagan l civilizalion. I wish we had time to treat ' this point analytically and discuss the i tiue8tion in detail. But I must forbear. l will simply open tho pages of ecclesiastical i history, and sulect one or two concrete jnstanoM which will exhihit this contrast j in bold relief. I When the Decían persecution (A. D. ] 250) and its accompanying tumults had fillml 1 1 -i ii. 1 ri-i rilii anoK ulo n nli t.ir ao t,i ' .un 'l . l ,i A.lJKll J.l Wllll SUUI1 MdllMiri Í18 Ml breed pestilence from the bodies of tho ili'inl, the Chrisiuu. ¦¦"""'' ¦¦' oujirjiiij i ;..j uu, ai.ii, ;is it wen, permittiog tbc physical calatuitics to avengo their wrongs, MMMMd tbc dutics ot' public iiuims of tbi; plaguu-stricken, and pirformed the Imthwi offices from wbicb tlio paun priests and magistraten liad fled. 'The plaque made its appearancc with tremcndous violence aud alinost desolatod the city. In this cmergency the rated ('liristians forgot everything but tlicir Lord's command, and were unwearied in their attcndance on the siclc ; many pcrished in the performance of tuis duty Ly taking the infectiou. In this way -av DyonyWUS, the bishop of Alexandria, with touching siniplicity, " the best of our bruthren departcd this life ; the heatheijs haviug nbandoncd tbeir own friends and relations to the care of the very persons whom thcy had persecuted as their worst enemiea." A liko spirit of' noble self-sacrifice was shown at Carthage when tbe pestilence wliicli had desolatcd Alexandria made its appearaucc in that city. We are told, in the words of a contemporary, that the heatben fled in horror froui the contagión, abandoning thcir relations and friends, as f tbcy thought by avoiding the plague the could escape death altogether. Meanwhile the city was strewed with the decaying bodies of the dead wbich comed to cali for pity from the passer by ; but no one cared for anything but self, no one did for inother what he would have wished that others should do for him. The bishop called together his flock, and setting before them the cxample of their Lord called upoii then to follow it. Ho said that f they took care of their own people only thej did imply wbat natural feeling would díctate. The .servant of Christ must do more, he must love his enemies and pray for his persecutora. The Christian people responded to his appeal. They organized themselves intocompanies for relief. Those whoso poverty prevented them from doing more gave tbeir personal attendance, whilst those wlto had wealth added yet more ; and no one quitted hts post but with his life. So, likewise during the fainioe and epidemie wbich desolated Antioch in the third century. The Pagan governor, when urged by the inliabitants to inake authoritative arrangement for relieving the sufforings of a pcrishing populace, replied tbat "the gods hated the poor ;" but the t'hriHtians who themselves were chiefly poor, pluiiL'iid inti) the centre of danuer, and carried into tho reecsses of lever and di spair the ijuiet pres-ence of help and hope, giving of their substance to relieve ÜM sulforcr.s, and cheerfully laying down iheir lives in the effort to save thelives of tbeir persecutora and enemius. I have no time to offer any comment on '!i"-c taets, and, indeed, none is needed. Words would only disturb the sacred feeling which the contemplatton of these .-¦cenes awakens in our hoarts. Let usconclude with ¦ briol' ([iiotation from the New iment which furnishes the key to the wbcilt.' : "Hut I say unto you love your cnemios, liloss them tbat curse you, do good to them that bate you, and pray fbrthem which despitefuUy uL' you and persecute you." "lVarly beloved, avenge not yourtfejves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it ¦ writtcn : renKcance u mine, I will repay s.iitb tbi' Lurd ; ÜMfflfore, if thine enemy hunir:r feed him, il bo thirst give him drink. Ie not overeóme of cril but overeóme evil with good." This is the quint¦ of ('liristianity. Thi.s is the cipline of Christian culture. Is it needful to proceed anolher step io couiparing it witli Hellenic culture or Roman culture or any Other f'orm of culture that has appeared on earth? It devolves upon nie, in behalf of my associates, to aay to you, the membersof the graduating class, a farewcll word. Dear rienda, our hearts desire and prayer to God for you is that you may be Uhristlikc in your spirit and lires. I name ino strange word on our IÍM. We have coinniendod Him to you before tbis day as the ;uide uf your youth. Thatik God, lii.i naitiü is not forgotteo in these h:ill of IcarnIng. In our lccture rooms we have luentionrd the great oaincs in literature, in science, and in philosothy. We have s]i..ken ot' Sócrates anJ Piatii, of Newton an.l Faraday, of Shakespeare and irgil, but with us still the name of Uhrist is "the name which is above every name." Wt long to send forth from this Univcrsity a body of men and wonien who shall be a blussing to their native land - a ]urifyng power in our pulitiual, commercial, and social lile. But we do not expect that you will accomplish much that is great or good if you are not Cliristians. The spirit of Christ resting upon you will be a source of' iight and power. In temptation, discouragement, and aftliction it will be your stroiik't.hand consolation. And wlicn other names are fnrgotten, or havo lust thcir rndearment, this name shall bc prteiOM la you in the hour of death. May Uod blaai you and guide you, uiay He aanat bj to shiuo upon you, andgive ycu pama,