The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that Come with us and we will do thee good. Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness and INTRODUCTORY ONE of the sermons in this volume was preached at Mansfield College, Oxford, and two at Scottish universities; the rest were preached during the last two years at many of the American universities and colleges. My own seminary sets me free for some months each year of express purpose to visit the universities, and I appreciate the great privilege so freely offered me of entering somewhat into the college life of America. The open-mindedness which is so attractive a feature of American life is also characteristic of the universities, and whatever be the special religious colour of each, I have had the same cordial invitation and generous welcome from all. These sermons were delivered as university preacher at some of the older universities, such as Yale and Harvard and Princeton, and at some of the smaller colleges, like Williams and Amherst, and also at some of the newer universities, and even at some of the State universities, which, though they do not have the office of university preacher, make other provision. Four of the sermons are in pairs, which were 7 given on successive Sundays, one pair at the University of Chicago and the other at Cornell University. The sermons generally were not chosen for their academic character, but were expressly designed to avoid scholastic issues. It is my experience that the last thing an academic audience at public worship wants is an academic discourse, partly because students have a surfeit of that in their ordinary studies, and partly because a college congregation, after all, consists very largely of young men who are not much more than beginning their education, and whose problems are the practical problems of all youth. More than guidance in speculation, do they need simply inspiration for life. At many colleges where opportunity offered, in addition to the regular chapel service I met the men later in a less formal way, and we discussed the intellectual and speculative bearings of religion, often in the form of questions supplied by the students. Superficial observers sometimes speak of the materialism of America. Nothing could be further from the truth, when we look deeply and broadly. It might even be said with far more truth that America suffers in every region of life from an unregulated idealism. Certainly no one can know intimately the mass of students without being struck by the ready response they give to every high thought and every generous passion. No one can despair of the future who knows the splendid material the colleges of the land contain, and how eagerly men long to attempt great tasks. If anything, the practical and ethical interests overmatch the intellectual. In religion the social side bulks largest, and this because of the new ideals of social service, which is only another way of stating the demands of the Kingdom of Heaven. Men are anxious to know how best to invest their lives, and never before was there such keen desire to find a place to serve. It is the most hopeful thing in our situation that our educational institutions are supplying men with large and noble ideals of social duty. |