We have proved Hither, then, do we come at last. and held fast. We have found the pearl of great price and we will not part for an instant with our heavenly birthright for the beggarly elements of the world. We will cling firmly and lovingly to that tried gospel of Christ which has proved itself both to be the power of God unto salvation and to be the mainspring of all that is lovely and good in human life and human affairs. We gaze upon its central figure in "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," and behold, around him cluster the great coherent facts in the scheme of redemption. Not surer is the universal reign of gravitation than the universal reign of sin. Not more unmistakable the light of the sun than the light and life that radiate from the "Sun of righteousness," who is therein and thereby the great Son of God; yea, "God over all, blessed forever." Not more certain and undeniable the power of the rushing wind, blowing where it listeth, than the effects of God's Holy Spirit on human characters and lives. As ineradicable as our own moral being is the great law of holiness, and as inevitable as the law of cause and effect is the decree that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." The volume which, when all human wisdom failed, sets forth the divine remedy for human ruin is and shall be to us the Word of God. Here we stand and will stand firm on our solid rock. And when we launch forth on the voyage of exploration we will never cast overboard the compass of the ages nor the chart of all blessed experience. For we know that they who begin with destruction end with destruction; and they who cut adrift from all that is hallowed in the past will remain adrift from all that is blessed in the future. We will have no fear of the new, for it can be tested; nor will we rush eagerly after novelty, for it will not hurt with keeping, and the old is tried. When the new is proved true we will cheerfully accept it; but should the novelty come into absolute collision with what is proved and known to be highest and holiest, then we will stand on our rock and hurl it to the winds. Meanwhile we look calmly on all efforts to dislodge this Gospel of Christ from the seat of its power. While he that sitteth in the heavens laughs at all attempts to dethrone his royal Son, we on earth can afford quietly to smile at the desperate renewals of a struggle that has been for two thousand years a defeat. Steadily we move on in our Master's appointed work and way, bringing forth from the treasury of his gospel things new and old the same ancient and eternal truth in its ever-new aspects and applications, knowing that it is "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit," saith the Lord. Confidently we pray to him. "that heareth prayer." Cheerily we labor on, assured that we "shall reap if we faint not." Firmly we press home the sad fact of human guilt and ruin, knowing God's witness is in the human breast. Gladly we offer to the sinner that "only name," believing and seeing that he is as freshly present now as eighteen hundred years ago. Joyfully we look for the outpouring of the Spirit, having beheld time and again how vain are all arms and defenses against his in-rushing power. And "having done all, we stand," saying once more with him of old: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." Young Gentlemen of the Graduating Class: You have now received your last lesson from college teachers. As you go forth into life under your own personal guidance momentous questions will open before you, and great issues will depend on the answers you shall give them. You enter on an arena of conflict, of questioning, doubting, dogmatism, of which the intensest form is the dogmatism of doubt. Seldom, if ever, has there been a more tempest-tossed sea than that on which you set sail. Scarcely a principle supposed to be settled in the past but is alleged to be unsettled now. This may be a transient fog, but it is none the less bewildering. Let me, then, earnestly press upon you as our closing. lesson the heavenly wisdom of this Scripture text, with the whole force of its climax, "Prove all things," but above all things, "hold fast that which is good." Hold fast to personal integrity and honesty of mind and heart. Hold fast to every good influence around you. Hold fast to that Word of God identified with everything that is lovely and good. Hold fast in loving faith. to the living God and Saviour who is the foundation and the fountain of all that is good, lovely, true, and holy. AN ATTRACTIVE PIETY. BACCALAUREATE SERMON, JUNE 26, 1881. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.- PHILIPPIANS 4:8. T was the privilege of the great apostle to address IT one church wholly in the spirit of grateful and confiding love. In every other instance he was compelled to mingle his exhortations with warning and rebuke. But the piety of the Philippians seems to have kept clear of all reproach. Not a word of censure drops from his pen, but unqualified praise. No opposition here had resisted his authority. No heresy had disturbed the peace. No scandal had brought sorrow and shame. The ardent zeal that loved the teaching loved the teacher too; and the consistent piety that fulfilled the weightier matters of the law had overflowed in thoughtful attentions to the man of God himself. On three several occasions they had sent to the harassed apostle the means of temporal relief. The apostle was moved. Their blameless conduct gladdened him; their Christian courtesy unlocked the fountains of his heart, and he pours out the fullness of his affection. "I have you in my heart," he says; and once he calls them in a breath, "My brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, . . . my dearly beloved.” In the words of the text we thus seem. to hear the voice of the affectionate teacher giving the last finish to his favorite disciples. We have not here an exhortation merely to a complete, but to a lovely and a winning, piety. It is no set enumeration of separate Christian graces. You can hardly draw the line. between the traits he describes, or sharply discriminate between the terms he employs. His expressions and the qualities they include do not meet like the hard edges of some iron armor, but they overlap like the plumage of some bright and graceful bird. Let your religion, he would say, go forth into all that is sincere and true, noble, upright, unsullied, winning, and reputable, into everything that is truly virtuous and truly praiseworthy. The sentiment involved is that TRUE PIETY SHOULD RESULT IN THE PRODUCTION OF ALL THE QUALITIES THAT RENDER THE CHAR- Very much, no doubt, is here included: fidelity, sincerity, and honorableness; elevation and refinement of feeling; attention to the proprieties and decencies. of life; magnanimity and delicacy of sentiment; thoughtful kindness and considerateness; and all those nameless graces, the outgrowth of a good and genial spirit, which surely win respect and good will, and influence for good. These things have been severed from religion by various classes of religionists: by some, from native rudeness unsubdued; by others from low and narrow views of the regenerate man; by some who would substitute mere amiableness for spiritual |