THE LIBRj\RY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 THE COLLECTION OF 
 NORTH CAROLINIANA 
 
 C378 
 
 UK3 
 
 1892c 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00039 
 
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 This book must not 
 be token from the 
 Library building. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS, 
 
 Baccalaureate Sermon^ 
 
 By J. W. Carter, D. P., 
 
 + -^To the Class of '92. 
 
 '•''Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness 
 shall look dow7i from heaven.''"' — Psalms Ixxxv: 11. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 THE SENIOR CLASS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 RALEIGH, N. C: 
 
 Edwards & Broughton, Printers and Binders. 
 
 1892. 
 
 ^\j 
 
TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 ''Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look 
 down from heaven.'' — Psalms lxxxv: ii. 
 
 Heaven and earth were made for each other. The same 
 infinite God created both. I am not here to tell you when 
 He made them, or how He made them, but the fact upon 
 which I insist is that He did make them by methods and 
 processes of His own choice. He linked them together in 
 sympathy and interest. It was His evident intention that 
 each should sustain fixed and definite relations to the other. 
 Earth received love, care and counsel from heaven, and 
 gave back love, reverence and loyalty to heaven. Each 
 needed the other. When sin came and threatened to divorce 
 earth from heaven, God would not allow the two worlds to 
 be separated. When the bonds by which they were first 
 joined together failed. He replaced the broken bonds by 
 others that were better and stronger. 
 
 If a planet should break away from its orbit, and go wildly 
 rushing through space, disaster would be almost certain. 
 There might be a "crush of worlds." Now earth was torn 
 from the spiritual orbit in which it was intended to move; 
 but Jesus Christ came in our own human form and nature, 
 to arrest a guilty world in its retreat from God, bringing it 
 back from its wanderings, and restore it to fellowship with 
 heaven. It is said that "there is joy in the presence of the 
 angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." (Luke xv : 10.) 
 The angels are bright and happy spirits that not only sing 
 and soar and shine in heaven, but they watch the conflicts 
 and struggles of earth, and when any sinner repents they 
 rejoice. You and I do not see them, but they see us. We 
 cannot see the holy heights of glory, because " the veil of 
 
 1/i 
 
flesh " which " hangs darkly between " hides heaven from our 
 mortal vision; but surely earth and heaven cannot be so far 
 apart, when the repentance of one sinner on earth sends a 
 thrill of gladness through heaven. Surely earth should look 
 up to heaven with joy and confidence, because heaven looks 
 down on earth with compassion. In the text of this morn- 
 ing, we are reminded by the writer of the eighty-fifth Psalm 
 that the Lord, in the beginning, established relations of sym- 
 pathy and cooperation between heaven and earth. 
 
 " Truth shall spring out of the earth : and righteousness 
 shall look down from heaven." The subject about which I 
 want to talk to you to-day is Truth and Righteousness. 
 
 I. Let us first notice that truth does s-pring out of the earth. 
 The first statement of our text is manifestly true. But here 
 a question that is both simple and profound arises. 
 
 It is this : What is truth ? It is an ancient question. It 
 has echoed through the centuries. It has been asked mil- 
 lions of times. Anj^body can ask it, but it is hard to answer. 
 It was Pilate's question. That is a thrilling scene that is 
 described in the eighteenth chapter of the fourth gospel. 
 The perfectly holy, but falsely accused and wickedly con- 
 demned Jesus stood before the haughty Roman ruler, and, 
 speaking with quiet dignity, said : " My kingdom is not of 
 this world : if my kingdom were of this world, then would 
 my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews : 
 but now is my kingdom not from hence." When Pilate 
 heard the lowly prisoner speak of His kingdom, he eagerly 
 asked : " Art thou a king, then ? " Jesus calmly answered : 
 "Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, 
 and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear 
 witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth 
 heareth ni}'- voice." Then the baffled and troubled Pilate 
 grimly exclaimed, " What is truth ? " and without waiting for 
 an answer went out. (John xviii : 36-38). What is truth ? 
 Various answers have been given to the question. But every 
 man who feels the kingly power of the truth, and bows to 
 
its royal majesty, knows that he cannot full}' define it. One 
 definition says that the truth is harmony with the Divine. 
 It is agreement wdth God. He is the Supreme and All-glori- 
 ous. In Him all possible perfections combine without any 
 mingling of error or touch of human weakness. Every fact 
 of His Universe is truth. Every act which agrees with the 
 methods by which He governs the world is truth. Every 
 thought and word and deed which agree with His word or 
 will are truth. 
 
 Another definition says that the truth is realit}-. "We may 
 hate the real, denounce it, and deny its existence, but it is 
 still truth. We may love the unreal, praise it, and worship 
 it, but it is still falsehood. We cannot make truth. We can 
 search for it, find it, and rejoice in it. We can love it and live 
 it. We can enthrone it in our hearts, and exalt it in our 
 lives. But we cannot manufacture it. Christ Himself did 
 not come to create truth that did not exist before, but to 
 reveal and declare truth that had existed from the begin- 
 ning — not to make new truth, but to bear witness to ancient 
 and eternal truth. It is just as true that we cannot unmake 
 truth. We may oppose and oppress it; we may employ all 
 earthly weapons in life-long attempts to destroy it, but it 
 still survives, and will judge us in the great and final day. 
 Neither can we fully comprehend it. It is vast and myriad- 
 sided. It constantly presents aspects which are new and 
 strange. We may compile our creeds and systems of phil- 
 osophy. Perhaps we may put much truth into them. Pos- 
 sibly they are all truth; and it may be that we think that 
 they contain the whole of the truth. But we are greatly 
 mistaken. The truth is so mighty and measureless that we 
 cannot make any vessel large enough to hold it all. Some- 
 times when we are ready to think that we have about mas- 
 tered it, it suddenly flashes some new ray of light into our 
 minds and dazzles us with its brightness, or turns upon us 
 some aspect that we never saw before, and confounds us with 
 a sense of our ignorance. If we try to pour it into the largest 
 
6 
 
 earthen vessel, we will find that it will overflow in mighty 
 waves which will roll away to the ends of the universe. But 
 if we are earnest students of the truth, it will steadily grow 
 upon us. Here I recall a passage from one of Frederick W. 
 Robertson's sermons. He said : " The truth is infinite as the 
 firmament above you. In childhood both seem near and 
 measurable, but with years they grow and grow, and seem 
 further off, and further, and grander, and deeper, and vaster 
 as God Himself; till you smile to remember how you once 
 thought you could touch the sky, and blush to recollect the 
 proud and self-sufficient way in which you used to talk of 
 knowing and preaching the truth." A man who thinks that 
 he knows all the truth, or that his little mind can hold it 
 all, is as mistaken and foolish as the child that stretches 
 upward his puny hands and thinks that he can snatch the 
 moon from the overarching skies. 
 
 Now, it is a fact that truth sjjrings out of the earth. God 
 made this great green earth for man. It is a mighty maga- 
 zine of forces and resources. But nature is a good secret- 
 keeper. Myriads of facts are locked up in her faithful keep- 
 ing. She is not loose-tongued. She does not give up her 
 secrets easily, but she guards them with ceaseless vigilance, 
 and holds them with stubborn grasp. Yet, if we will come 
 into sympathy with her, learn her language, get close to her 
 great heart, and commune with her, she will speak to us 
 with countless voices, and tell us ten thousand things that 
 we never knew before. Every object that is above, around 
 or beneath us, has its own peculiar history. Every stone by 
 the wayside, every dust that floats in the air, everj'' wind that 
 blows, every water-drop in fountain, stream or ocean, every 
 mineral that lies hidden in the earth, every stratum of rock 
 beneath our feet, every plant that grows, every flower that 
 blooms, every earth-worm that burrows in the ground, and 
 every living creature that creeps or walks on the earth, flies 
 in the air, or revels in the waters — yes, everything — can tell 
 
us something that is new and startling about itself, if we 
 will only learn its language. 
 
 Much of the work of science is to make truth " spring out 
 of the earth." When man began his career, he knew but 
 little of nature, and still less of the processes by which she 
 is wooed and won. It looked as if he was the helpless ser- 
 vant of nature, and as if she could smite and buffet him as 
 she pleased in return for the little which she gave to him. 
 But he slowly advanced. His knowledge of nature and her 
 methods steadily increased. Every inch of ground was stub- 
 bornly contested. Every forward step cost struggle and 
 anguish. Students and philosophers, Colleges and Universi- 
 ties, have been diligent and patient in their efforts to wring 
 the secrets of nature from her sealed lips and closed hands. 
 They have made many mistakes, and suggested many false 
 theories; they have often halted for a long time in front of 
 some painful problem, but they have overcome enormous 
 difficulties, and made wonderful discoveries. As a result of 
 their labors civilization is pushed forward, comforts and con- 
 veniences are multiplied, and the conditions of life are vastly 
 improved. In former ages the lightning seemed to be as 
 capricious, defiant and unmanageable as anything could be. 
 But now man has converted it into his useful servant. He 
 snatches God's own fierce lightning from along its own sun- 
 path in the trackless heavens, and uses it to flash the whis- 
 pers of love, the rumors of war, and the fluctuations of trade 
 across the continents, and under the oceans, " in the twink- 
 ling of an eye." At his bidding, it works his machinery 
 and drives his loaded cars along his railways. He harnesses 
 it to the chariots in which he rides. The millions who cul- 
 tivate the soil, and those who work in the mines, and those 
 who navigate the waters, and those who labor in the shops 
 and factories, and those who toil in the homes, and those 
 who teach and are taught in the schools, are all greatly 
 indebted to modern science for the benefits and advantages 
 which it brings to mankind. In all directions the domain 
 
of human knowledge is widened. Not only does scientific 
 truth "spring out of the earth," but, it seems to me, that 
 many hints and suggestions of moral truth come from the 
 same source. I know that nature is often severe. She has 
 no mercy on those who break her laws, and offers no pardon 
 to those who sin against her. But to the reverent spirit she 
 is a teacher of religious truth. When God made man and 
 placed him on the earth, He knew that our wants w^ould 
 increase in number and extent, and provided for them. All 
 that is needed for our physical nourishment and comfort, 
 and our mental stimulation, is put within our reach, and is 
 locked up in earth, and air, and fire, and water. And now, 
 as science marches along its path of conquest ; as it multi- 
 plies its triumphs; as it uncovers new resources and discov- 
 ers new forces; and as it makes new uses and applications 
 of forces long known, does it not proclaim the foreknowledge, 
 wisdom and goodness of God, and remind us of the duty of 
 giving praise to Him? 
 
 But the progress of science still continues. The time 
 when it can be said, " Hitherto shalt thou come, but no 
 farther," is doubtless far away in the future. At the present 
 time truth "springs out of the earth" more readily and 
 abundantly than ever before. But more still remains to be 
 done. Nature is only partially conquered. She still holds 
 thousands of secrets which she will yet reveal ; and Astron- 
 omy, Geology, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology and the other 
 sciences are the methods of persuasion by which she is 
 induced to talk to us, and tell us much that the past could 
 not learn. 
 
 We all rejoice in the prosperity of this honored institution 
 of learning, which will soon close its first century of labor 
 and usefulness; and we do not forget that one purpose for 
 which it was established, and for which it still exists, is to aid 
 in the work of causing truth to " spring out of the earth." 
 
 II. We next notice that righteousness looks doum from 
 heaven. Righteousness is right-doing. If we do right from 
 
9 
 
 right motives, we are righteous ; but if we do wrong, we are 
 unrighteous. True righteousness regards the state of the 
 heart as well as the outward life. If we inwardly love truth, 
 goodness, purity, and duty, and consistently follow them, 
 we are righteous. But if we love any form of falsehood, or 
 iniquity, or engage in any evil practice, we are unrighteous. 
 Righteousness requires not only that we shall be pure and 
 truthful in our speech, honest in our dealings, and honora- 
 ble in all the relations of life, but that we shall also worship 
 and serve the living God. It demands that we shall love 
 both God and man, and regard all moral and christian obli- 
 gations to both God and man. Some people claim that 
 because they are moral, or because they speak the truth, pay 
 their debts, and are decent in their lives, or because they are 
 not thieves, liars, drunkards, or libertines, they are good 
 enough for both earth and heaven, and God is bound to 
 save them. But they have not considered the breadth, 
 depth and height of righteousness. While morality is always 
 better than immorality, is always good as far as it goes, and 
 should always be encouraged, it is not all there is of right- 
 eousness. Godliness is the highest form of righteousness. 
 As the highest form of righteousness, it includes the lower 
 forms of righteousness; but the lower forms of righteous- 
 ness do not always include the highest form. 
 
 A young man is a clerk in a great wholesale store in 
 which scores and hundreds of other clerks are employed. 
 He treats his fellow-clerks properly ; he doesn't deceive or 
 cheat them ; he takes no unfair advantage of them ; but he 
 robs his employer to enrich himself. Most of the money 
 that he squanders on himself or invests for his profit is 
 stolen. Yet he insists that he is a good and true man, 
 because he does not steal from the other clerks. But is he 
 righteous? Surely he is not. You know that he is a thief. 
 But he is very much like the men who think that the gates 
 of glory will fly wide open before them, because they treat 
 their fellow-men fairly and kindly — though they rob God of 
 
10 
 
 the love, praise and service which He requires. Scripture 
 righteousness includes not only morality, but also sincere 
 worship and spiritual religion. 
 
 But it is a fact that we are all sinners. We have all broken 
 the perfect law and exposed ourselves to the wrath of God. 
 Our moral nature is corrupt; and sin, like a cleaving and 
 clinging curse, taints our blood and lives. There is not one 
 of us who can boast of a righteousness that is sufficient to 
 justify him before the heart-searching God. It is not in our 
 power to take our guilt away, or change our perverse nature. 
 The holy law threatens to overwhelm us with the awful con- 
 demnation which crushes the angels that sinned and fell. 
 We cannot, without help from above, raise ourselves from 
 sin and earthliuess to fellowship with God. What, then, can 
 we do? Is there any way of escape for us? Yes, there is. 
 Legal righteousness cannot save us ; but gospel righteous- 
 ness can lift us to heights of bliss so lofty that angels and 
 archangels look up to them with admiration. " God so 
 loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life." (John iii : 16). There is one who is "mighty 
 to save." Jesus Christ, the divine Son of the infinite Father, 
 came into the world in the likeness and nature of man ; lived 
 the life of faultless obedience and stainless holiness ; helped 
 the needy; healed the sick, and raised the dead; died the 
 death of sacrifice; went down into the lonely grave; con- 
 quered death in his wintry territory; rose from the dead and 
 ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He " ever 
 liveth to make intercession for us." He is our Almighty 
 Saviour, and if we truly repent of our sins, turn from them 
 to Him, lay hold upon Him by faith, and come into union 
 with Him, we will find that " Christ is the end of the law for 
 righteousness to every one that believeth " (Rom. x : 4), and 
 that " the righteousness which is of faith " can cleanse our 
 guilt away, change us from nature to grace, and robe and 
 crown us in heaven. How we should love Christ, and devote 
 
11 
 
 our powers and lives to His service ! How we should honor 
 and exalt Him ! I do not wonder that the ancient prophets 
 looked forward with unrestrained gladness to His coming. 
 Many of them lived when times were dark and threatening. 
 Sometimes, as they sat upon the " Mount of Vision," and 
 peered away through the dense gloom into the far future, no 
 star of hope rose before them. They almost feared that the 
 great waves of wickedness would roll all around the earth 
 and drown out every spark of faith and goodness. They 
 were often in the deepest distress. The tears gathered in 
 their eyes, and their souls were bowed down with grief But 
 they would suddenly catch a glimpse of the promised Christ, 
 and of the greatness and glory of His Kingdom ; and then 
 their faces would brighten with joy ; the tear that had started 
 in the eye would forget to fall ; the sigh that had swelled 
 the heart would die half-born on the lips ; and the prophets 
 of Israel and the poets of Judah would shout their songs of 
 triumph, and sweep anew their harp-strings to the praise of 
 God! 
 
 Noiv, ive are told that righteousness looks down from heaven. 
 It is so. There is no touch or taint of sin in heaven. It is 
 the glorious abode of everlasting righteousness. " There shall 
 in nowise enter into it anything that defileth, neither what- 
 soever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." (Rev. xxi : 27). 
 The inhabitants of heaven are all perfectly righteous. The 
 angels that surround the throne are as righteous as God Him- 
 self can make them. " The spirits of just men made perfect" 
 have risen to unmingled righteousness. God is infinitely 
 righteous. His Kingdom is a Kingdom of righteousness. But 
 He is exalted so far above us, that we cannot solve all the mys- 
 teries of His government. When we try to explain His move- 
 ments and methods in Providence, we often fail most griev- 
 ously, because our knowledge is so limited. In our attempts 
 to understand His ways and works, we are often dazzled by 
 that " excess of brightness " which produces the most pain- 
 ful blindness. Speaking out of the unseen glory, He says: 
 
12 
 
 " My thoughts are not your thoughts ; neither are your ways 
 my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than 
 the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my 
 thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah Iv: 8, 9). We dwell 
 in a kind of murky twilight. We see only some fragments of 
 the past and the present. The future is all hidden from our 
 gaze. We look at things from the lowly standpoint of this 
 life. With dimmed eyes and imperfect vision, " we see 
 through a glass darkly;" and, of course, we make many 
 mistakes. But God, who beholds the past, present and future 
 at every glance of His eye; takes in all the interests of all 
 worlds at every thought of His mind, and directs the march 
 of events from the height of His own throne, often sees 
 order where we see chaos, gains where we see loss, and suc- 
 cess where we see failure. 
 
 On the 14th of April, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assas- 
 sinated. The gigantic war, which is still so fresh in the 
 recollections of multitudes of the American people, was just 
 closing. The victorious North was all in a blaze of rejoicing, 
 while the defeated South was almost crushed with depression. 
 The whole country was convulsed with excitement. But 
 just at the time when Lincoln would have proved to the 
 world how generous and great-hearted he could be in the 
 hour of his triumph, he was struck down by the assassin's 
 bullet. The nation felt the shock. That shot touched mil- 
 lions of American hearts. Next day thousands of excited 
 men gathered at Union Square in New York City. They 
 were angry and turbulent. Each man felt as if he wanted 
 to avenge the death of the fallen President. Persons and 
 property were threatened. But at a critical moment a stranger 
 of fine appearance stood on the platform and made a brief 
 speech. He said : 
 
 " The Lord reigneth ; let the earlh rejoice ; let the multi- 
 tude of isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round 
 about Him : righteousness and judgment are the habitation 
 of His throne." (Psalms xcvii: 1, 2). 
 
The people were calmed, and violence was prevented. 
 That stranger was James A. Garfi-eld. A little more than 
 sixteen years afterwards, when he was President of the 
 United States, another assassin fired another fatal shot. After 
 eighty days of languishing, another murdered President 
 went down through the prayers of millions into the grave; 
 and again we were reminded that though "clouds and dark- 
 ness are round about Him," yet "righteousness and judg- 
 ment are the habitation of His throne." Yes! " clouds and 
 darkness are round about Him," but it is eternally true 
 that " righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His 
 throne." Often the clouds and darkness are so thick that 
 the}^ obscure the righteousness and judgment; but when 
 the clouds and darkness pass away, and are gone, the right- 
 eousness and judgment still remains, and shine like the sun 
 in his splendor. The righteous heaven looks down with 
 sjanpathy upon this sinning and suffering world. The right- 
 eousness of heaven bends downward to help us in our trials 
 and sorrows, and guide us onward and upward until we 
 shall see "the King in His beauty." 
 
 III. There is the fullest agreement between truth and right- 
 eousness. It is a well known fact that men often con- 
 tradict each other in the name of truth and righteousness ; 
 but in this world no man's righteousness is perfect, and no 
 man's knowledge of the truth is perfect. Sharp disputes 
 arise between some men whose righteousness is imperfect, 
 and other men whose knowledge of the truth is imperfect; 
 but the contentions in which they engage are not a warfare 
 between truth and righteousness, but rather a fight between 
 ignorance and bigotry There can be no positive disagree- 
 ment between absolute truth and pure righteousness. No 
 antagonism can divide them, because both come from God. 
 In heaven they walk together hand in hand, and live together 
 in sweetest accord ; and on earth they seek each other. The}'- 
 can no more oppose each other than God Himself can be 
 opposed to Himself There cannot be a conflict between 
 
14 
 
 them any more than there can be a conflict between heat 
 and light, or a conflict between sun, moon and stars. 
 
 Righteousness is based upon truth. It needs the truth for 
 its guidance. It is a consistent practice of the truth. 
 Truth is the foundation of righteousness, and righteous- 
 ness is the natural fruit of the truth. Righteousness 
 without truth would soon die, and truth without right- 
 eousness would cease to be a blessing. The greatest of the 
 Apostles said : " The wrath of God is rev^ealed from heaven 
 against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who 
 hold the truth in unrighteousness." (Rom i : 18.) It is not 
 enough for us to " hold the truth," but we must hold it in 
 righteousness. Much depends upon the spirit in which it is 
 held. To hold even the truth in unrighteousness, is a sin 
 w^hich cries aloud for the withering wrath of heaven. We 
 must hold the truth righteously, and be righteous through 
 obedience to the truth. Truth and righteousness are 
 related as closely as the railroad track and train. The 
 well graded, well laid and well ballasted track is useless 
 without the train ; and the well equipped and well manned 
 train is helpless without the track. Each calls for the other. 
 As the train needs the track, so righteousness needs the 
 truth; and as the track guides the train, so the truth guides 
 righteousness. If we possess tlie truth without regard to 
 righteousness, we are like a man who has a good railway 
 track but no train to run on it. But if we seek righteous- 
 ness without regard to truth, we are like one who has a com- 
 plete train, but no track for it to run on. While the train 
 keeps on the track, it is safe, unless the track is obstructed ; 
 but when it leaves the track it rushes on to ruin and death, 
 and is, perhaps, crushed into a shapeless mass of broken 
 timbers, mangled flesh and splintered bones. As long as 
 righteousness follows the truth, we may know that it is 
 genuine; but when it departs from the truth, moral peril 
 comes. 
 
 In this age of discussion, it is often said that there is " an 
 irrepressible conflict " between science and religion. It is 
 
15 
 
 sometimes declared, with great emphasis, and perhaps with 
 intense bitterness, that science contradicts the Bible. But 
 such statements are rash, and, indeed, ahnost reckless. I 
 am ready to admit that some men's interpretation of science 
 does contradict other men's interpretation of the Bible, but 
 that does not prove that there is any necessary antagonism 
 between them. The truth is that neither is fully under- 
 stood. We know many things about science ; we also know 
 many things about the Bible; but we do not know every- 
 thing about either. The Bible is old, but it still lives in the 
 freshness of youth, and in the hearts of scores of millions of 
 the best men and w^omen. Science is young, and still has 
 much both to learn and to teach. The man who can scale 
 all the heights, sound all the depths, and measure all the 
 lengths and breadths of the wonderful book which holy men 
 were inspired to write, has not yet lived. It is equally true 
 that the man who has searched all the universe of God, 
 mastered all the branches of science, and correctly interpre- 
 ted all the facts of all departments of science, has not yet 
 come. We are still waiting for him, but with no hopeful 
 prospect that he will ever get here. Now, when we are living 
 without any perfect knowledge of either science or the Bible, 
 is it modest, or even sensible, to declare that there is a con- 
 flict between them, unless, indeed, the contradiction should 
 be very evident and glaring? 
 
 The men who discuss the Bible and science ma}' be divided 
 into four classes. The first class consists of those who know 
 something of science, but nothing of the Bible. The second 
 class consists of those who know something of the Bible, but 
 nothing of science. The third class consists of those who 
 know something of both science and the Bible. The fourth 
 class consists of those who know nothing of either. And, 
 perhaps, it is not strange that the men of the fourth class are 
 often the most violent and vociferous of all the debaters. 
 They can afford it, because they have so little to lose. They 
 have no knowledge of facts to restrain them. A few crude 
 
16 
 
 second-hand opinions are all their stock in trade; and all 
 they have to do is to turn themselves loose, and hear them- 
 selves talk. It is nothing new for fools to " rush in where 
 angels fear to tread." You may find many an irreverent 
 man whose knowledge of Christian truth is painfully limited ; 
 but rough-shod with ignorance and egotism, he stamps and 
 struts with heavy and reckless step over ground so sacred 
 that angels would walk it softly, and with unsandaled feet. 
 
 It is easy to see that only men of the third class — those 
 who have some knowledge of both science and the Bible — 
 are at all competent to discuss the subject to which I refer, 
 and they are quite likely to be modest and careful in their 
 statements. When you hear some learned theologian 
 denouncing some of the conclusions of science in the name 
 of the Bible, it may be well enough to pause and reflect that 
 perhaps he knows very little about science; or, when you 
 hear some worshiper of science denouncing" the Christian 
 religion in the name of science, it may be well enough to 
 stop and consider that, probably, he is fearfully ignorant of 
 the Bible. 
 
 God has revealed Himself to us in two books. One is the 
 vast volume of nature, and the other is the more condensed 
 volume of inspiration. He has given us two revelations of 
 Himself. One is the nature-revelation, and the other is the 
 word-revelation. Though they touch each other at various 
 points and angles, yet, in the main, they lead along different, 
 but often parallel pathways ; open different, but often adjoin- 
 ing fields of thought, and present different aspects of the 
 divine character, and different facts of the divine govern- 
 ment. Both revelations are specially important. Each may 
 aid us in the study of the other. Each supplements the 
 other. Each may modify our interpretation of the other. 
 Each may help us in rising to a larger and better concep- 
 tion of God, but neither is perfectly understood. I am not 
 anxious that the Bible should agree exactly with the science 
 of the present day ; for if it did agree precisely with the 
 
science of today, it is certain that it could not agree with 
 tlie corrected and improved science of the future. When 
 both shall be better understood than they are now, and shall 
 speak their last, best, truest word to mankind, it will be 
 found that the}^ will sustain and confirm each other. With 
 united voice, they will declare the perfection of God; and, 
 living together in everlasting harmony, will serve His king, 
 dom. Jesus Christ wall be the Lord of heaven and earth ; 
 His redeemed church will be His Bride, and she w411 go forth 
 in truth and righteousness to bless the nations; and all the 
 sciences will bring their brightest trophies and lay them 
 down at the feet of the glorified King and His ransomed 
 Bride. 
 
 IV. Ill the formation of character, trutli and rightiousness are 
 essential, and should be intelligently combined. The value of 
 worthy character cannot be overstated. What a man is, 
 is vastly more important than what he has. What he has 
 may be soon lost, but what he is will endure forever. What 
 he has may be only transient, but what he is will be eternal. 
 Of all we have in the present world, we, when we go hence, 
 can take nothing with us, except the character that we form 
 in this fleeting life. When we die, home and friends, wealth 
 and poverty, earthl}' joys and sorrows, honors and strivings 
 will all be left behind, but the character we make here will 
 go with us into the presence of the Supreme Judge, and will 
 decide our destiny in the awful other world. Never, in lim- 
 itless eternity, can we get away from it. Volumes of moral 
 truth and personal experience are condensed into the 
 familiar quotation: "Sow the thought, and reap the act; 
 sow the act, and reap the habit; sow the habit, and reap the 
 character; sow the character, and reap the destiny." The 
 most important work that God gives us to do is character- 
 building. It is solemn, serious work, which will outlive the 
 earth itself. Every man builds a character. Every man is the 
 architect of a house, with which he must either stand or fall. 
 Every day that we live, we are making character, either good 
 
18 
 
 or bad ; character which will be either a blessing or a curse 
 in eternity as well as in time. In character-building, two 
 things are necessary. The first is a safe foundation. It is 
 already laid for us, and is waiting for us to build on it. We 
 find the foundation that we need in the Christ of the gospel, 
 and in the truth which He taught, and which He is. Listen 
 to what He said: "Whosoever heareth these sayings of 
 mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, 
 which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, 
 and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that 
 house, and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And 
 every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them 
 not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his 
 house upon the sand : and the rain descended, and the floods 
 came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it 
 fell ; and great was the fall of it." (Matt, vii : 24-27.) If we 
 hear the words of Christ, and obey them, we are wise build- 
 ers, because we build on the ancient Rock of the truth; and 
 it is a foundation that can never be moved. Amid the 
 tempests of the judgment it will remain as unshaken as the 
 throne of God. But if we reject Christ and the salvation 
 that He offers, we are foolish builders, because we build upon 
 the "sinking sand." Our house is doomed. It will tumble 
 into ruins when we need it most. Instead of being a secure 
 refuge, it will be a slaughter-house of the soul. 
 
 In addition to a sure foundation, we also need good build- 
 ing materials ; and we find them in the practice of the pre- 
 cepts and principles of righteousness. The inspired apostle 
 wrote : " Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, 
 silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble ; every man's work 
 shall be made manifest : for the day shall declare it, because 
 it shall be revealed by fire ; and the fire shall try every man's 
 work of what sort it is." (I Cor. iii : 12, 13.) If we build 
 our character of the gold, silver and precious stones of right- 
 eousness, our work will endure. Final fires — the fires which 
 will melt the great globe and lick the ocean dry — will test 
 
19 
 
 it, but will not hurt it. But if we build of the wood, hay 
 and stubble of earthliness, our labor will be in vain. It 
 will perish. The fire will make short work of it. A char- 
 acter must be a structure of righteousness built upon the 
 foundation of the truth, to stand the final fiery test. The 
 character which consists of righteousness, founded upon the 
 truth, will abide. 
 
 Here I will mention two perils which threaten character. 
 One is intellectual. It is the temptation to exalt truth, and 
 especially secular truth, at the expense of righteousness. 
 Ambitious young men see that " knowledge is power." They 
 observe that trained intellect compels recognition, and is a 
 dominant force in the management of the world's affairs. 
 They also know that the leaders of thought, who rule the 
 nations by the ideas which they enforce, are educated men. 
 Many of the best and most promising young men go to col- 
 lege, and devote years of patient labor to studies which are 
 especially intended to develop and train the intellect. The 
 pursuit of knowledge is often most absorbing. A student 
 may be so intensely interested in his work that he heeds no 
 warning until the nervous collapse comes, and his body is 
 broken and wrecked. There is also a worse peril. Some 
 students may come to feel that secular education is sufficient; 
 and may neglect or pervert the moral and the religious in 
 the development of the intellectual. But we are often 
 reminded that mental culture is no certain protection against 
 animalism. Men may be brilliant and learned, and yet be 
 the slaves of vice. They may have the best training of the 
 best schools, and yet be guilty and godless. They may be 
 great and gifted, and yet wallow in selfishness and sensu- 
 ality, and walk the downward path of moral degradation. 
 
 Away in a quiet country neighborhood there is a Chris- 
 tian home. The father and mother worship the God of 
 truth and righteousness. Their religion brightens and beau- 
 tifies their lives. They love their children, and wish to give 
 them a better chance than they enjoyed. They have a boy 
 
20 
 
 who is their pride. They send him to college. They toil and 
 save to support him while he is getting his education. They 
 look forward with bounding hope to the time when he'will 
 finish his course of study, and expect to find the reward of 
 their painful sacrifices in his intelligence, character, and 
 usefulness. But they are disappointed. He yields to temp- 
 tation. The chains of evil habit are fastened upon him. 
 He opens his mind and heart to ruinous errors. He returns 
 home to squander his manhood in wickedness, and sneer at 
 the Bible and the God of his father and mother. It is a 
 sad sight. Angels might almost weep while loving hearts 
 almost break. Righteousness is needed. Unless we add 
 righteousness to knowledge, we leave great spaces and areas 
 of the soul without cultivation. Let us seek truth that we 
 may use it for righteous purposes. 
 
 But there is also an opposite peril. It takes the form of 
 an overdone spirituality. Some sincere but mistaken men 
 who realize that — 
 
 " Religion is the chief concern 
 Of mortals here below," 
 
 think that, because godliness is better than earthly learning, 
 therefore all human learning is worthless. They would not 
 only leave piety in its own large place, but they would also 
 put it in the place of intelligence. They claim that right- 
 eousness is so precious that it can dispense with all truth 
 that requires special study. Of course, the conclusion is 
 false. It is worse than that. It is a burlesque on common 
 sense. You must combine truth with righteousness if you 
 would form the kind of character that a good man must 
 have. People who are so pious that they despise useful 
 knowledge, and do not seek or love the truth, and are not 
 willing to be guided and guarded by it, are in daily danger. 
 Their righteousness, if they have any, is weak and wavering. 
 Their character is either feebly good, or positively bad. Even 
 if they pretend to righteousness, they run into wild excesses, 
 
21 
 
 or rush into deadly errors ; they freeze with formalism, or 
 burn with fanaticism; or they sink into mere sensational- 
 ism or rank superstition. It is hard to restrain our contempt 
 for men who seem to think that the religion of Christ 
 thrives on ignorance, and sanctifies idleness and foolishness. 
 Spiritual pride may be as offensive as intellectual vanity. 
 Either is an enormous injury to character. God gives us 
 both brain and heart. He doubtless means that both should 
 be cultivated. If either is neglected, both suffer. No man 
 can damage either without maiming and laming himself 
 most dreadfully. The best and grandest man is he whose 
 character is the finest combination of truth and righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 Now, I close with a few words of honest appeal. Each of 
 us is a character-builder. There are many things which you 
 may never do. You may never hold an office, or make a 
 speech, or be a candidate, or write a book, or edit a news- 
 paper, or cultivate a farm, or manage a store or factory. But 
 there is one thing you must do. You must build a charac- 
 ter. You couldn't help it, if you were to tr3^ A character 
 of some kind is the inevitable result of the life that you live 
 and the pursuits that you follow. And the only character 
 that is worth having — the only character that is not worse 
 than none — is that in which truth and righteousness are 
 combined. Remember, also, that generally decisive direc- 
 tion is given to character while we are young. The outlines 
 of the character of the future are commonly laid in child- 
 hood or youth. In later years there may be much filling in 
 and refining, and many additions and subtractions, but it is 
 not often that the original outlines are greatly changed. 
 
 Far beyond the largest meaning of the strongest language 
 that I can use, it is important that the young men who come 
 to our State University for intellectual training should form 
 and possess the best character to which they can attain. 
 What a blessing it would be to them hereafter! How it 
 would give them a keener and juster sense of their obligations 
 
22 
 
 to God and humanity ! How it would enlarge their moral 
 manhood ! How it would increase their usefulness ! How 
 it would widen and hallow their influence! How it would 
 lead them along a higher and brighter pathway ! What an 
 untold benefit it would be, not only to them, but to us all, 
 to our honored Commonwealth, to our great country, and 
 to our world, still bleeding from thousands of wounds that 
 need to be healed! Be faithful students; strive for the best 
 scholarship; get the richest and ripest culture that you can 
 obtain ; but above all, be men, genuine manly men — men 
 of sterling character. Have I not a right to say that your 
 wisest and safest friends — parents, some of whom make 
 severe sacrifices that some of you ma}' be here; brothers and 
 sisters, who anxiously await your home-coming, and are 
 eager to look into your faces and grasp your hands; teachers, 
 who are so worthy of your respect and confidence, and so 
 capable of giving the best instruction, and Christian friends 
 who follow you along life's pathway with interest and 
 prayer — have I not a right to say that all these desire, not 
 only that you may secure the best culture, but that your 
 character may testify to the wondrous power of truth and 
 righteousness. Soon some of you will go forth from these 
 " classic shades" to fight the stern battles of life, bearing the 
 honors of your Alma Mater. She entrusts much of her repu- 
 tation to your keeping. With what deep interest will she 
 watch your course, and with what profound pleasure will 
 she, in coming years, inscribe your names on the lengthen- 
 ing roll of her honored sons, if you add the beauties of high 
 character to the graces of broad scholarship. 
 
 Go preach " the everlasting gospel," and tell the weary and 
 the wandering of the Crucified. Go, and in the halls of leg- 
 islation give your voice and influence to the enactment of 
 righteous laws, which will secure " the greatest good to the 
 greatest number." Go, and administer justice from the 
 bench, or plead for righteousness at the bar. Go, and carry 
 the benefits of the healing art to the sick and suff'ering. Go, 
 
23 
 
 and adorn and dignify the teacher's profession with your 
 scholarship and fidelity. Go, walk " the highways and 
 byways of literature, and enrich our libraries with fresh 
 flowers plucked from Parnassan heights. Go, and amid the 
 struggles and strivings of business life, show that education 
 does not unfit men for practical affairs. Go, cultivate the 
 soil, and prove that the educated farmer may be the success- 
 ful farmer, and that man's oldest occupation is still worthy 
 of his best efforts. But wherever you go or whatever you 
 do, wherever you live or wherever you die, do not forget the 
 abiding and supreme value of that character which is the 
 best product of truth and righteousness.