the history of Yale, in which perhaps
he plays a more intimate part than I
do in regard to details, although I am
equally enthusiastic.
Your football pictures, we call them
on our side your list of benches, are,
through the kindness of your football
secretary, sent to. me, and I am- able
to learn from various sources when you
come out on top, or when, through cir-
cumstances over which you have no
control—(laughter). It is always my
wish, as a distant and attached member
oi the University, that not only in foot-
ball, but in everything else, that is
where you should come out.
I am very glad that my intimate
friend, Prof. George Adam Smith, is
coming to the University, and I wish
to say that if you do not know him al-
ready, though he visited this University
in some capacity in the past—if you do
not know him, there is not a more
brilliant scholar in the Scottish church,
and I also want to add that there is not
a better-hearted man. He is an alto-
gether delightful man, whose age I
fancy cannot be much below my own
by mere mechanical reckoning, but
whose age otherwise is about eighteen.
You will be delighted with him and he,
of course, will be delighted with yon.
And while his lectures will be of ines~
timable service to those preparing for
the holy ministry, he himself will be be-
yond all his lectures and will be of
service to you all.
It is perfectly true, as Dr. Fisher said,
that Dr. Smith is a special illustration
of that most happy tendency in the
Scottish church, namely, the reconcilia-
tion, not only of scholarship, but the
reconciliation of criticism with evan-
gelical faith, There have been some
people, and I quite understand the posi-
tion, who feel that if any one shoulda
consider that it was not quite in the
nature of things that Moses should
write the account of his own death,
that that person must be on the high
road to agnosticism and certainly could
not be trusted to hold the great doc-
trines of the Christian faith.
Well, it has now been, I think, very
fairly established by the critical evan-
gelical school, that the whole question
of the criticism of Holy Scripture is a
literary and historical question, and
that entirely separated from that is the
consideration of the spiritual contents
of this blessed volume. Whoever may
have written a particular book, or how-
ever that book may have afterwards
been edited; however the books may
differ in their value (and no sane per-
son would put the same spiritual value
to the book of Ecclesiastes, however
great a value that book has in its own
place,—no sane person would, I say, put
the same spiritual value to the book of
Ecclesiastes that they would to Isaiah
or to St. John’s Gospel); however the
books may differ in value, there is con-
tained within this united, harmonious,
progressive, immortal and perfect litera-
ture, a certain message which is a mes-
sage from the Eternal to the human
soul. It has been stated in different
terms, according to the age, and it ul-
timately culminates in the words and
in the life and in the person of Jesus
Christ.
AN IMMENSE GAIN.
Well, now, gentlemen, this is an im-
mense gain; that a man now shall not,
in order to be a believer, be obliged
to accept any particular theory about
the authorship or dates of the books of
the Bible, but that every man is a be-
liever who accepts the voice that speaks
through Scriptures to the soul, and
especially if that voice clarifies, if I
may so say, and crystalizes itself, in the
message given by Jesus Christ. When
a man accepts Jesus Christ as his Mas-
ter, then he is a believing Christian,
and he is at liberty to hold any theory
about the date or authorship of the
whole Scriptures.
This was the work that was done by
Prof. Robinson Smith in history of
the criticism of Theology. And it again
illustrates, gentlemen, that every great
advance is won by blood. The
freedom where with the Scotch church
is free—a freedom to know; combined
with a freedom to believe,—was won by
one whom she virtually cast out, and
who died virtually of a broken heart.
Fie was removed from his chair, though
not from the communion of his church.
He went to the University of Cam-
bridge and obtained a high position
there. But he never recovered from the
YALE ALUMNI
blow and he was cut oft too soon from
scholarship. He was a man of marvel-
ous attainments, not only in Semitic
scholarship, but in Philosophy, Physics
and many other departments of learn~
ing—a great and magnificent scholar.
He was cut off too soon and he died,
but he did not die in vain. Professor
George Adam Smith has perfect free-
dom and what is better than freedom
(for freedom is in itself a poor thing),
he is able now to prove, and the people
are able to understand, the lengths and
‘the depths and the breadths and the
fullness of the Christian faith.
FAITH AND WORKS.
Gentlemen, you are members of a
Christian Association and there are two
sides to your religion; one of them a
side of faith to which I am alluding,
and the other a side of works, which I
would earnestly beseech you diligently
to cultivate. Be sure of. this, that in
any university there are men who do
not believe and who are curious to know
what is the kind of life on the part of
a man who does believe; and it is no
ordinary thing for one of us, without
ostentation and yet quite distinctly, to
stand up as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
It lays an enormous responsibility upon
a man, and there must be a number
of very curious and searching eyes upon
one. Therefore, if a man believes, he
must have works. Now about works
and faith, One man will say: “Well,
you know we can’t be very certain
about anything, and there is really no
use in vexing one’s soul about great
religious questions. Let a man live
squarely and honestly and kindly, and
I don’t see it can go wrong with him
in this world or in the world which is
to come.” Another says: “Well, I think
a man is bound to think about these
things, and they are the greatest things
a man ever has thought about. They
are very difficult and deep, and as peo-
ple have been thinking about them for
a long time, and as that great historical
organization, the Christain church, has
gone into these things and has de-
clared her mind about them, I don’t
see how a man can_do better than to
accept her conclusions. -I therefore
think that, if a man is to do well, he
must believe in the doctrine of the
Holy Trinity, the divinity of Jesus
Christ, the atoning sacrifice of the Lord
and other doctrines. As regards works,
that will doubtless follow.”
If we feel like any one of these men
at different times, there are times too
when we are so sick of speculation that
we say: “Well, I am going this morn-
ing to do my duty; I will bother my
reason about nothing, I will find my
work to do and will do it, and will lie
down to rest with a quiet conscience.” |
Other times we begin to think and be-
gin to want to know, and then we say:
“Well, on the whole, let me get a firm
hold on the Nicene creed. The saints
made it; the saints believed it: it has
been a green pasture to many, and the
best have walked in it, and let me get
hold of it and believe it too.”
WHAT FAITH MEANS.
Gentlemen, the creeds would not be
so serious for us, if we were more
careful to understand what we meant by
creeds and what we meant by works.
What does a man mean by creed, espe-~
cially in a believing sense, the sense in
which you say you believe? Faith sim-
ply means to accept the doctrines which
have been formulated by theological
science, the greatest of all sciences?
Then, I admit at once that I do not
see how believing in the doctrine of the
Holy Trinity can have the slightest
effect on the human life, and that it is
of no particular importance, except from
a scientific point of view, whether a
man believes that doctrine or any other.
In that sense, it is simply an intellectual
Proposition that you accept, one
wrought out by processes of reason just
aS you accept a proposition of Euclid.
When you state that a man is a be-
liever, you do not mean simply that he
has accepted some proposition which
he has wrought out with his intellect.
Consider that our Master, who preceded
all the church councils and preceded
the whole theological science, used to
insistently make the demand of faith.
What did he mean by this demand. of
this great enterprise.
WEEKLY
faith? What did he mean when he said
to John and Thomas—those men who
rallied around him, and started that
Christian band of young men about the
age of thirty—what did he mean when
he said to them: “Will you believe in
me?”
Why, did he not mean personal trust
and personal loyalty, and confidence?
Of course he did. If you helieve in me
and in my cause, commit yourself to
me and throw your whole being into
You believe in
me John?
and everything. And so said the other
apostles. They gave up everything ana
filled with loyalty, they said: “We will
go with you anywhere and everywhere,
sink or swim with Jesus. Christ.’
Jesus said: “Now I can do something
with them, I will make men of them.”
. And he made new men of them and with
them a new world. Gentlemen, do not
confound the acceptance of an intellec-
tual creed—the acceptance of an intel-
lectual proposition—with this magnifi-
cent spiritual and ethical act charged
with emotion into which the whole pas-
sion of a man’s being goes. You might
as well say that it is the same thing to
believe in the battle of Waterloo and
believe in your own mother.
FAITH THE SOURCE OF POWER.
You can believe a thing intellectually
and it is not without its value to so be-
lieve, but it is simply an intellectual
act, and it may not make the slightest
change in your life. It is this spiritual
devotion, this spiritual faith, belief and
loyalty in Jesus Christ, that changes a
man’s whole life. And when people
talk lightly of faith, do they know any-
thing about history and about human
nature? What has been done by a man
as a personal factor, and what has been
accomplished by a man who has not
placed his faith in some one or some
thing? As a matter of fact, if you go
back to strength, you must go back.
to faith, and if you seek dynamics you
must go back to faith. There has been
no great movement in history that has
not had its foundation in faith. Colum-
bus discovered the new world through
his faith; your Puritan forefathers came
over and founded this country in faith,
and there has never been a movement
that did not have its origin in faith.
To accomplish anything, a man must
believe it, as Carlyle would say, with
the marrow of his bones. A man who
believes a thing in his very soul, will
inspire ten, twenty, a hundred, a thou-
sand other men, with the same faith;
and they become irresistible. If that is
true in temporal matters, what effect do
you think it must have upon a man
who believes in Christ? If a man’s
whole intellect (for mark you, intellect
acts here), if a man’s whole heart is
surrendered to Jesus Christ, as the
revelation of God and Saviour of the
world; surrendered absolutely to him in
love and confidence as his leader, com-
mander and redeemer, what is there
Christ cannot do with that man, and
what is there that that man cannot do
through Jesus Christ? There are no
works that are not possible for him.
Here is the seat of work, the spring
from which all work sprung. Instead
of faith being a contrast to works, faith
is really the source, the spirit, the
spring, the vital sap of all works.
Of course, a person can say, I know
a man who does not believe in Christ
at all, although he admires him, and he
lives a very decent life. God forbid
that we should say that men have not
lived decent lives who do not believe in
Christ. I wish more of us lived as good
a life as Marcus Aurelius, as some
agnostics I know, live. But you do not
touch the root of the question. Faith
in Christ will create a particular charac-
-ter and a particular kind of work, that
cannot be created except through the
spirit of Jesus Christ. If you will read
the sermon on the Mount, you will dis-
cover a certain kind of spiritual char-
acter. That character was never known
before Christ came, and never realized
except in communion with Jesus Christ.
I do not say a man will not pay his
debts who is not a Christian; I do not
say that a man who is not a Christian
will- beat his wife; I do not say that
a man who is not a Christian will not
give at Christmas time some money to
the poor.
I do, Pi leave my boats |
185
THE MOST SQUALID MINIMUM.
Why, gentlemen, that is the most
squalid minimum of living. Christ did
not need to come into the world to
teach us those things, and we do not
need to believe in Christ to keep out
of the bankruptcy court.
Christ came to raise life to its very
highest, and life at its very highest is as
far lifted from this commonplace plane,
this dusty road of ordinary, petty
moralities, as the orbs are raised above
the valley beneath. The heroisms, the
tendernesses, the patiences, and all the
other qualities that grace the spiritual
life and raise a man above the earthly
plane, come through a belief in Christ
and are never seen apart from Christ.
Then, coming to ordinary morality. By
the way, I am not so sure that ordinary
morality, except witn a number of pure
and austere souls and in a Christian
land, would, without the support of
Jesus Christ, endure for three genera-
tions. Do you know what I think is a
very mean thing? I think the meanest
thing and the smallest thing is for a
man to point to this thing or that thing,
which is good and beautiful in life, and
then say that it could go on and it
would go on without Christ. He cre-
ated all this purity of family, all this
public charity, all this devotion to the
highest and better things. Was it not
Lowell that said, that whenever you can
discover a few square miles anywhere
in the world, where a man can live with
his wife and family in decency and com-
fort, have a just reward for his labor
and can have a good and pure environ-
ment, and Jesus Christ had not been
there first, then he would listen to at-
tacks on. Christianity? Christ comes
first and it is Christ that raised us to
the great heights.
“ONE WORK AS GOOD AS ANOTHER.”
When you come to works it is all un-
necessary to say that one work is as
well as another. Take the common-
place giving of money. Is there no dif-
ference between two kinds of works
there—what we call in the Bible a dead
work and a living work? Suppose, to
take an old-fashioned illustration, a
man goes to a street and he sounds his
trumpet, and then, when the crowd col-
lects, he dispenses his money to the
poor, not in order to be noticed, but
it happens it is noticed. He regrets to
see that a number are looking on, but
they will go. That’s charity; he gives
his money to the poor. But it is not
charity according to the teachings of
Christ, and he used to speak in very
uncomplimentary terms of the gentle-
men who distributed their charity by
these methods. But there is no differ-
ence in the work, it is charity. .So
much money is distributed.
And another case. A woman goes
into the temple, waits till all the rich
people are past, and then creeps up,
supposing no one saw. No one did
see, except the Master, who has the
knack of seeing those things. She puts
in all her living. Is that the same?
Not so much money. No. The same
kind of work—charity. Is there any
method of calculation by which you can
reduce these two works to the same
level? One is morality; one is Chris-
tianity, the spirit of God and the spirit
of Jesus Christ.
Then take another case. Go back to
boyhood. I hope when you were
young—you are not very old yet—I
hope when you were young, that you
began, as soon as you could manage, to
give a present to your father and mother
on their birthdays. It is a great thing
to take one home from the University.
I declare to you now, as a middle-aged
man beginning to forget things and
getting a little dull—I declare to you,
that one looks back with peculiar
pleasure and quickness of memory on
the savings that one made during the
college days in order that when going
home at Christmas time, one might
take home a nice gift to one’s father
and mother. Sometimes it was a diff-
cult matter to save the money, and it
was a serious qtiestion of calculation,
when we reached the station, whether
we had money enough to get the
presents and travel to our destination.
Still, if we had enough to get home,
and had the present, we were satisfied.
TWO GIFTS.
Supposing we had but little anyway,
a penny a week pocket money. Ours
is a poor country, you know. Well,
