The Splendor of Lowly Duty
CLAYTON PALMER
This 1s the season for graduation. In a little less than a month from now
thousands of men and women, from Maine to Oregon, will complete their
courses of study at our universities and colleges and take their place in the civic
life of our nation. They represent institutions which are training for the
world’s work. Tomorrow morning a class will be graduated from this college
and its members will enter their life work as uplifters of the nation, yea, of
mankind. Why this diversity of purpose? Decause we represent a college
which trains for Christian service. Thus we have before us the two great types
of colleges and between these two there is an unbridged gulf.
What is it, then, that makes graduation from this place a high honor?
This4s my answer. On the one hand is the call of the world, a call that brings
with it promise of wealth, honor, and power. On the other hand is the call
of the Man of Nazareth—a call that means the laying down of cherished plans
if need be, that means hard, relentless service, and no promise of earthly reward.
| hear someone ask, What fosters this spirit and keeps alive in your school
this idea of service? Go with me on Thanksgiving day to the University of
Michigan athletic field and watch the 15,000 people go mad in defense of her
football honors. With shouts and cries of victory piercing the air, observe
the seething mass as it vents its enthusiasm around a roaring bonfire, and that
night the streets will swarm with marching lines of students, wild with the
delirium of triumph. That is their school spirit, measured by demonstrations
when the glittering trophies are won.
Now, to show the contrast, let me show you another scene. Some day
next fall the students of this college will have a holiday and will scatter in
companies throughout this county for the purpose of raising a sum of money
for the advancement of the gospel of Christ in foreign lands. They will reach
their goal and that night there will be a celebration, not the wild, unbridled
orgy of the football victory; but the evening will be devoted to praise and
thanksgiving that God has enabled the school to contribute another “bit”
toward the furtherance of His gospel. There will be no victory bonfire on the
campus, but the fires of love for lost humanity will burn in the hearts of all.
There will be no silver cup to receive idolatrous worship on a velvet throne,
but the Recording Angel will write opposite the name of each participant,
“Well done.” That, my friends, is the type of school spirit which lives.
One night during the World's Ifair Exposition at Chicago, a fire broke
out among the exposition buildings. A short distance away stood that mag-
nificent statue of the Republic, a fitting symbol of the unity and strength of
the nation we love. Closer and closer drew the flames until the statue was
completely surrounded. Suddenly a veering wind drove back the flames and a
few hours later, amid smoking ruins, the proud Republic stood, unscathed.
In my fancy it seems to me that I can see a stately monument, symbolic of this
college and for what it stands, and across this monument js emblazoned the
word “Humanity.” Thus shall this college monument be preserved from the
bitter fires of opposition—preserved in the lives of those who go from here.
In China, in India, in the homeland, we shall realize to the full the “splendor
of lowly duty.”