USA > North Carolina > Guilford County > Greensboro > The history of the first North Carolina reunion at Greensboro, N. C., October eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth, nineteen hundred and three > Part 3
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Hence arose the necessity for a system of plainer and more effective teach- ing, and the demand for a leader of creative genius to organize such a system. "The ages call, and the heroes come." In this crisis of the chosen people, second only in importance to the Exodus, there appeared a leader second only to Moses. Amidst the wreck of the ancient institutions of the country, amidst the rise and growth of the new, there was one counselor to whom all turned for advice and support-Samuel, the prophet. And so grandly did he meet the crisis which evoked him, that for three thousand years his influence upon man- kind has been second to that of no mere man that has ever lived since his day. For Samuel was not only the organizer of what we call constitutional govern- ment, but he was the originator of two of the most potent aud beneficent ageu- cies of our civilization-the pulpit and the school.
He revolutionized the political and religious life of Israel. He was the last of the judges, the first of the prophets, the founder of the monarchy. He was the connecting link between the old regime and the new. He was reformer, organizer, epoch-maker of the first magnitude. And there is no career in all
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Scriptural history from which the men of the transitional epoch in North Carolina can learn so much, for they have the same kind of problems to solve, and the same kind of work to do. 1686816
Before proceeding to make good these statements as to his work and influ- ence, some of which may seem to you at first sight extravagant, let us call to mind once more the familiar picture of the child and the man, and the familiar story of his antecedents, character, and training.
1. And first of all, if we would know how such men are made, we should note that Samuel was the son of his mother. The most potent influence in the making of the man who made Israel, who first founded schools, and who first organized preaching, was that of a wise, gentle, just, and loving mother. It is not merely an alliterative epigram when we say, "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world". Our age has seen more clearly than any other that even the prenatal influence of a mother on her child is very great. It was not a mere accident or coincidence, as some one has pointed out, that Nero's mother was a murderess, or that Napoleon's mother was a woman of prodigions energy, or that Sir Walter Scott's mother was a great lover of poetry, or that Lord Byron's mother was a proud woman-ill-tempered and violent, or that John Wesley's mother had executive ability enough to manage an empire, or that Washington's mother was devout and pure and true, and of the loftiest character-the woman of whom he said: "All that I am I owe to my mother". There must be something besides mere chance in an array of facts of which these are but specimens. When to the prenatal influence is added the after influence of association, example, and instruction, moving along in the same direction through all the years of special susceptibility, nothing short of eter- nity can reveal how decisive has been the influence of a mother's life and personality upon the life and personality of her child. The development of the affections in children precedes that of the intellect. The mother governs through the affections, and, as she alone is brought into the closest relations with the children during the formative period of their lives, they learn to love her with a far different feeling from that which is inspired by the father. His is largely the rule of authority. Hers is the rule of love; and hers is infinitely stronger and more abiding. Hence the greatest need, not only of France, as Napoleon Bonaparte said, but of every nation, is mothers. Now, Hannah was a mother after God's own heart. She prayed for a son; and when a son was given her she recognized and assumed her responsibilities with a cheerful and whole-hearted devotion. She wore no crown like Queen Victoria; she led no army like Joan of Arc; she slew no tyrant like Charlotte Corday; she founded no school like Mary Baldwin; but she made the man, who made the monarchy, who planted the seeds of all constitutional government, of all opposition to tyranny, and of all organized schools and colleges, and who made the pulpit what it has ever since continued to be.
If the men and women of our stock have been of any use to North Carolina or to other States in which they have lived, let us thank God today first of all for our North Carolina mothers. Astronomers tell us that the light of a star lingers lovingly around the world for centuries after the star itself has disap- peared from the firmament. However that may be, certain it is that the influ- ence of these blessed luminaries of the home abides with power upon their children and their children's children long after they have gone hence. Turn once more to that delightful little volume of Drumtochty stories, and read the sketch entitled "His Mother's Sermon", if you would see what "Ian Mac- laren", the most popular writer of that species of literature in the world, thinks
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of the posthumous influence of a mother upon her son. A man learns his politi- cal and other opinions from his father and other men, but he learns his religion from his mother, and, as Thomas Carlyle has said, a man's religion is the main fact about him, it is that which more than anything else makes him what he is.
2. The circumstances attending Samuel's response to the first call of the mysterious voice show that he had also early developed the self-denial and self- control which are indispensable conditions of the highest success in lite, especially in an age of intricate and irritating and explosive problems and of strenuous activity like ours.
3. The most notable thing about Samuel's training for his great career was his gradual growth, the continuousness and consequent harmony and strength of his development. The silent. inward, unconscious growth of Samuel is in strong contrast with the violence and profligacy of the times, and. as Stanley points out, is the expression of a universal truth. The fact that in him the vari- ous parts of his life hung together, without any abrupt transition, explains the marvelous success of his work in binding together the broken links of two diverging epochs, and imparting to the age in which he lived the continuity which he had experienced in his own life. In proportion as our minds and hearts have grown up gradually and firmly, without any violent disturbance or wrench to one side or the other; in that proportion do we accomplish our best work for God. The steady, solid, lasting work of the world is done by the men who come from Christian homes, are trained by godly mothers, and develop through a pure childhood and youth to a strong, well-balanced, and fruitful manhood. My brethren, let us learn this lesson. In our work for North Carolina henceforth, let us continue as heretofore to magnify the work of the home. "And the child Samuel grew on and was in favor with God and man." If our State has been noted for any one type of character it is the balanced type. We are not men of extreme views. Other States may have more genius, but no State has more sense-good, hard, solid, everyday sense. "The maelstrom attracts more notice than the quiet fountain; a comet draws more attention than the steady star; but it is better to be the fountain than the maelstrom, and to be the star than the comet." Our people will not follow men of extreme views. They will not lay their course by sky-rockets, but the steadfast pole-star they will always follow. Symmetrical. solid, well-knit men, free from extravagances of doctrine and method. are the kind of men now needed by North Carolina.
4. Samuel was a transitional man. It is this feature of his life which invests him with peculiar interest to the young men of the South, who have grown up amid the changes in our Southern land which were wrought by the great revolution in the sixties; men who have had to be at once conservative and progressive, who combine profound reverence for the past with buoyant belief in the future; steadfast in their adherence to the principles which have given their people and country a glorious past, coupled with a clear recognition of the changed conditions brought about by the war and other causes, and the consequent ueressity for some changes of method in the application of those principles.
Samuel was not a founder of a new state of things like Moses, nor a cham- pion of the existing order of things like Elijah. He stood literally between the two; between the living and the dead, between the past and the future, between the old and the new, with that sympathy for each which at such a time affords the best hope of any permanent solution of the questions which torment it. See his attitude towards ritualism, though brought up on the ritual of the taber- nacle; and hear his definition of religion: "Behold to obey is better than
Honorable Robert M. Douglas Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina
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sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams". See his attitude towards the monarchy, though brought up under the old system of republic and judges. We need men today of equally open mind, broad outlook, and power of adaptation.
There, then, we see what makes the transitional wan; his mother's influ- ence, his early mastery of self. his gradual and symmetrical training, and his sympathy alike with the old and the new.
Now what does the transitional man make?
5. The greatest work of Samuel's life was the establishment of the prophetie order, and the organization of the prophetic schools. He not only reformed the civil and religious life of his people, but he took measures to make his work of restoration permanent as well as effective for the moment. He established schools which should furnish a regular succession of trained men to teach religion. At Ramah, at Bethel, at Gilgal, at Jericho, these were gathered in companies, and " Samuel stood appointed over them".
This is the first mention, the first express sanction, not merely of regular arts of instruction and education, but of regular societies formed for that pur- pose-of schools, of colleges, of universities. of theological seminaries. Long before Plato had gathered his disciples round him in the olive grove, or Zeno in the portico, these institutions had grown up under Samuel in Judea. On this unique occasion, in this good State, with the whole atmosphere electrical with educational enthusiasm, it is impossible not to note with peculiar interest the rise of these, the first places of regular religious and general education. For one man to have inaugurated and methodized these three great innovations-consti- tutional government, national education, and a continuous succession of trained preachers-and to have given them stability and permanence, is an unique achievement, which confers upon its author everlasting renown, and, looking to the subsequent effects of these institutions, impels us to pronounce Samuel one of the supreme benefactors of the human race.
My brethren of North Carolina, believe in the teaching method, and prae- tice it with all your might-in the home, in the school, and in the pulpit.
The Reunion Sermon
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Rev. A. C. Dixon, D. D., of Boston, Mass. Who Preached the Reunion Sermon
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The Reunion Sermon
This was delivered by Rev. A. C. Dixon, D. D., Boston, Mass., at 3.00 p. m., in the Grand Opera House, to the largest audience ever seen in that splendid auditorium. There was scarcely an inch of available standing space to be found, and hundreds were turned away by the ushers.
Following is the full text of the sermon :
The Vision of God and Man
The heavens were opened, and I san visions of God .- Eze- kiel 1 : 1.
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me donm in the midst of the valley which was full of bones .- Esekiel 37 : 1.
Five times the heavens are said to have opened: Above Christ at his bap- tism, when he heard the approving words of the Father; above Peter on the house- top, when he received his life-commission; above Stephen whilst he was being martyred, when he saw Christ at the right hand of God; above John on the Isle of Patmos, when he caught glimpses of the Celestial City; and here above Ezekiel in the land of captivity, by the river Chebar.
This vision of the opening of the heavens was a preparation for the vision of dry bones. Until we get a glimpse of God, and begin to realize that divine forces respond to human, and that God is in his world, working a way worthy of himself, we are not ready for the work of transforming bones into men, making life come out of death. It was a preparation for the life-work of the prophet, and we see in this process the method by which the desert becomes a garden, the wilderness a city, and the colony with rude, lawless beginnings a state with civil and moral order. It is God coming down through the opening heavens and touching men-bringing them into life. Man is but a bone of his former self. Created in the image of God, he has so marred that image by his sin that compared with God he is only as the dry bone compared with the living body. And the question of all questions is, can these bones live? As we study this vision of God, we will find an answer to that question. Only God can bring them into life.
First of all, we see the union of the human with the divine. In the peculiar creatures of this vision there are wings, and a hand under each wing. The wing everywhere in Scripture is the symbol of Deity. "The shadow of His
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wings" is a familiar phrase. The hand is the symbol of the human, so that we have the union of God with man. And you notice there is much wing and little hand. It is the wing moving the hand, rather than the hand moving the wing. God controlling the human. God managing the affairs of men. " What we need today to transform the desert into a garden, and to place life where there was death is to put God in the place of pre-eminence. The tendency at this time is to magnify man and forget God. We are apt to make the hand bigger than the wing, and make man occupy a place of honor and of dignity, whilst we forget that God is the ruler of all. But when we put God first, he can still create something out of nothing. If I had a blackboard here, I would write on it the figure 1. Then I would put before it a nought, and it is only one. I put two noughts, only one; three noughts, only one. But if I write the nought after, it is ten, and two noughts it is one hundred. If you put the one first, you can make ten out of one nothing, one hundred out of two nothings, and one thousand out of three nothings. When you put God first, he can create something out of nothing. When you have learned to spell God, with those three letters you can spell all that is good. I really like the religion of the good, old, colored woman in Georgia, who went to school at sixty years of age, and she went up to the teacher and said, "Miss, I just wish you'd tell me how to spell Jesus first, because I think if I could spell Jesus first, then all the rest would come easy". I tell you that is good religion. It is the kind that puts God first. He is equal to the task of transforming the human, and making it into the image of the divine.
And as you gaze at these peculiar creatures in the vision, you see a winged intelligence. There is the face of a man, and the human face is always the symbol of intelligence. Reason linked with God. Reason with a wing. When man links his intelligence with God, and puts his mind, his imagination, his taste, his judgment, his whole intellectual being under the direction of the Spirit, then it is that he has power to influence and mould character. And you will find that the men who elevate reason above revelation (and we have many of them in New England) are usually controlled by the slave of self. Reason is more often in shackles than in liberty. It is controlled by ignorance, prejudice, and passion. During the French Revolution, you remember the leaders said, "Down with the church; down with the Bible; up with reason", and instead of going to the University of Paris and selecting a broad-browed philosopher as the personification of Reason, they go to a theater and select a dissolute actress, put her on a throne, and ask the people to bow at her shrine; and the men of Brittany who worship reason are the men, as far as I have learned them, who are controlled by selfishness, passion, and lust. Reason is a good courtier of the King. It does the bidding of the master; but reason exalted above revelation is an ignorant and sometimes a cruel tyrant. What we need today is to let reason listen to the God of reason. Let reason do the bidding of the King. Let reason take the promises that God has given, and draw the conclusions of mercy and power. The man who is influenced only by cold, calculating reason is as near the devil incarnate as ever lived. The man who is never influenced by gratitude or friendship or love has been demonized, and the tendency of this modern time to exalt reason above the Bible is to demonize man, is to deprive him of the pure Scriptural instinct that links him with God, and should control his reason as the master of the servant of the Almighty. Intelligence with a wing is the ideal Christian life.
As you look more closely, you will notice a winged courage. There is the face of a lion, and the lion is everywhere a symbol of courage. Courage linked
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with God, conscious of God's presence and of God's power, and courage not only in the presence of danger but of difficulty. It sometimes takes more courage to meet difficulty than danger. When God commissioned Joshua to go forth to battle, he said, "Be of good courage". When God commissioned Solomon to build the temple, he said, "Be of good courage", and it took as good courage for Solomon to face the difficulties of temple-building as for Joshua to match into the danger of battle. Many a man who could meet danger succumbs in the presence of difficulty, but God is equal to all difficulty. Difficulty does not exist in his vocabulary, and when you are linked with God you can be brave in the presence of difficulty as well as of danger. Our fathers were strong in building up this State, in establishing and maturing the church; in turning the desert into a garden, in making the wilderness a city, because they were brave not only in the presence of danger that would kill. but of difficulty that would daunt. The Cavaliers who first landed at Jamestown, and the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock had the courage that met danger from savage, difficulty from climate and failure of crop and internal dissension. When Chauncey Depew made the witty remark that when the Pilgrims came to this country, they landed first upon their knees and then upon the Aborigines, he struck the keynote of their success; for they were men that lived much upon their knees, and they could rise from their knees ready for the savage, or ready for the cold of the New England climate. Men that stand linked with God are ready for battle or ready for any difficulty that may meet them anywhere.
As you gaze farther at this vision, you will notice a winged patience. There is the face of the ox, and the ox is always a symbol of patient toil. He bears the yoke. His mission is the unpoetic one of doing the dusty, humdrum drudgery in the deeds of everyday life. You know it takes more grit and grace just to walk every day and do its drudgery cheerfully and well than it does to mount upon wings as eagles, than it does to meet the great crises of life. Henry Stanley said he never feared the elephants in Africa. Why he could meet the elephants out openly and proteet himself against them, but what he feared was the jiggers, little microscopic insects that got under the nails of his men and killed about half of them. For my part, I would rather meet a Bengal tiger, if I had a Remington rifle, than to fight Jersey mosquitoes one night. Meeting a tiger appeals to the heroic in you, and all that is in you comes to the surface for battle; but meeting a mosquito does not appeal to anything except trepidation, fretfulness, and worry. If the truth were written on many a tombstone, the epitaph would read, "Died of jiggers and mosquito bites". Not killed by tigers, not overcome by great calamities, but destroyed by the little worries and friction of life.
I come to you with the comfort that our God is a God not simply for crises and emergencies, but a God for the worries and the bothers and the humdrum and the drudgery. God can make the heart sing under the voke as well as when it soars up above the mountain peak and cap. The great God of the universe is not too big to watch the sparrow as it falls, and label the hairs of our heads, and look after the least of his children, protecting them in danger and helping them to overcome difficulties.
The most beautiful picture Murillo ever painted is a kitchen scene-a woman at the commonplace thing of cooking dinner. As you gaze at the face, you notice angel forms begin to appear. The angels are helping her cook dinner. As you gaze a little closer, you notice that the woman herself is an angel. What Murillo meant to teach was that cooking dinner is just as angelic as mov- ing in high society or sitting on a throne. As you read from this prophecy of
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Ezekiel you will find that when this vision oveurs again, as it does once or twice, the face of the ox has dropped out, and the face of an angel takes its place, as if God would teach us that honest everyday toil marks the purely angelic nature, not the great crises, rising up to the hero, but doing in the spirit of song aud of joy the drudgery of everyday life. The missionary on the foreign field, with pagan death all around him; the Christian worker on the frontier, standing among the bones of character dumped frou great cities; the business man on the board of managers, the majority of whom are dead to righteousness; the loyal Christian woman, surrounded by the gilded death of worldly society; the honest politician. working with those whose one thought is the spoils of office : the college student, in the atmosphere of academic indifference and scepticism; indeed, every man who, having been quickened by the life of God, seeks to express that life in the midst of death, and so express it as to carry life to others, needs the patience of the ox, with the wisdom, power, and sympathy of God.
And then, as you gaze, you see a winged aspiration. There is the face of an eagle, and the cagle is everywhere the symbol of aspiration. Aspiration linked with God. Aspiration with wings. Aspiration that soars. There is an aspiration common in this day that simply moves on swift wings. Its ambition is to keep up with the times, the great sin of which is to lag behind. We are going so fast, there is danger that we will get left, and we must keep up, and, like some birds, it flies low, and keeps parallel with the earth, until it drops down among the bones aud dust. It never soars, it rises up towards God, and I tell you there is a spirit that imitates it; contemplation upon God and rising up on wings of faith, hope, and life, may not bring in the best financial returns, but it pays if you have in view high thinking and high character-building. The spirit that soars because it is linked with God, that does not try simply to go fast, but feels the presence of God daily, and lives for him. The kind of spirit that is needed for the valley of dry bones is here suggested-courage that has God in it, the patience of the ox that is linked with the wisdom. power, and sympathy of God. the aspiration of the eagle that does not rise with its own wings, but with the wings of God. You need not go into the valley of bones if you go there simply to reason, for I tell you you can not argue a bone into life. There is not any possibility of reasoning a bone into life. There is nothing but the breath of God that can make a bone live, and you need to be patient. Those of you who have been set down, in the provideuce of God, in the midst of the valley which is full of bones, will need the patience of the ox, the wisdom and power and sympathy of the Holy Spirit.
Every man who. quickened by the life of God, wants to express that life in the midst of death. will find that he needs the very power of God for courage, and the power of God for aspiration, and the power of God for patience; and in this vision we have the human in this courage, in this intelligence, in this patience, in this aspiration, linked with God for time and for eternity.
But gaze again, and you will see a winged directness. These creatures moved in straight lines. In nature the curve, we are told, is the line of grace and beauty. In marching, a straight road is the line of grace and beauty. Diplomacy, which is the art of doing things with indirection, is not among the Christian graces. Bismarck, in speaking to a company of diplomats, said. "Young gentlemen, always tell the truth; for nobody will ever believe you"". A Russian General said, "I would die for my Czar, and of course I would lie for him". That sort of diplomatie spirit is in polities up in New England. It used to be in North Carolina, and is in commerce and stock exchange, and
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