COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES 371 



jewel." For him imagination tnrns every dull fact into picture and 

 poetry by making it the symbol of a thought. Every resplendent fact of 

 our intellectual natures is a shining finger pointing not to the star 

 dust^ but to him who steppeth enthroned above the stars, whom we 

 call our Father in Heaven. 



However wonderful the mastery over nature thus far achieved by 

 man, we are confident that the twentieth century will witness still more 

 surprising achievements. We live in an age of wonders. Steam and 

 electricity are bringing the nations closer together. Each land shares 

 in the treasures of other lands. Commerce is doing magnificent ser- 

 vice in drawing peoples toward each other. Such is the perfection 

 of travel that one may aim for a city in the East or Far East, and strike 

 it within five minutes of the time set down in the steamship's itinerary. 

 Men are sharing similar ideas and hopes. The doctrines of divine 

 fatherhood and human brotherhood have gone out far beyond the 

 bounds of Christendom. The richest thoughs of men are more unified 

 than ever before. Christ has become the commanding center in the 

 world of religion. The nearer men get to him the nearer they get to 

 each other. 



Among the wonders of our time has been the sudden emergence of 

 America into the rank of world powers. Only a year has passed 

 since Admiral Dewey anchored Asia off our Western shores. New re- 

 sponsibilities have been thrust upon us. New opportunities open out 

 before us in all directions. Where are to be trained the scientists, teach- 

 ers, engineers, diplomatists, missionaries, demanded by the needs of the 

 twentieth century? Doubtless in the higher schools of our country. 

 And there is no more promising sign of our times than the vastly in- 

 creased devotion to the higher education. Never before were such ap- 

 propriations made by states and private individuals for the Colleges of 

 the countr}'. Never were such gifts made to libraries. Almost every 

 poor boy of our country has educational opportunities open to him 

 which were denied to princes and nobles in the sixteenth century. We 

 need a thoroughly educated people, and we need highly trained minds, 

 and strong, virtuous characters in order that we may meet the re- 

 sponsibilities pressing upon us. We have heard much in the last year 

 of the man who stood behind the gun; and we have applauded the 

 training given by our naval service. The men who are to man the 

 guns of civilization in the coming century require the best training of 

 all the ages. But there is no training that equals in importance that of 

 character. Eeligion is not outgrown. Christianity is the supreme manifes- 

 tation of religion. My studies and observations in the Orient have con- 

 vinced me that the best treasure which America clasps to her bosom 

 is that religion which shows God seeking with redemptive purpose after 

 man, and not man groping blindly through mists of error, after God. 

 Christianity is the religion of reason and redemption, of hope, brother- 

 hood, and progress. It is not a rubbish heap of out-worn superstitions. 

 It is the mountain of God's truth and God's love. 



We should be exultant rather than depressed. What are to be the in- 

 evitable results of America's becoming an Asiatic power? Besides a 

 desirable increase of our naval and military strength, an increase which 

 would promote peace and not war, new moral responsibilities have come 

 to us, and a new sense of old responsibilities. Everj- American mission- 



