The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, October 1883Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Philosophy
The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, October 1883
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
Kings of the earth have fought that they might hold the power in their
own hands, and the many might be subject to them. The people have
risen, and grown strong, until at last they have trampled the king
and the army under their feet, and have rushed into the citadel and
the palace and taken possession, and the citadel of oppression and
the palace of luxury have become the temple of liberty. The priests
have fought long that they might keep the people out of the temple and
hold the mysteries of religion an exclusive possession. But the people
have surged up against the priests and trampled them under foot, and
occupied the temple of religion. The temples of earning are open; the
kings of learning stand at the door, and with their scepters beckon
you to come and share their coronation and their crown. The priests
of learning bid you come, that they may open to you the mysteries of
literature. For in the republic of letters there is no aristocracy but
that of service. And they only are great who have learned how best to
serve their fellow-men.
The triumph that I read in your eyes is not a false triumph. You have
plucked the first fruits, and all the other brightest and best are
before you for your plucking. The expectation that I read in your eyes
is not a delusive expectation. The fruit is yours. The desire that
I read in your eyes is not a cheating desire. The aspiration that
burns within you for learning may have its gratification. You have no
money? Literature is cheap. You have no time? You have as much time as
Schliemann had, who stood in the long line before the postoffice and
studied his Greek while waiting for the letters. You have as much time
as Mary Somerville had, who wrote the volume which gave her a princely
reputation among astronomers, while tending with motherly care the
children in the nursery pulling at her skirts. The forces of nature
come out of the ground and offer themselves to you to do the drudgery
which aforetime was left to human hands, that you may have time to
learn the truth of God, and the works of God, and the will of God. We
stand to-day on the mountain height. We look just across the valley.
The Jordan is no longer overflowing its banks, but is a narrow and
shallow stream. The promised land lies there in all its richness and
brilliance, and God’s providence utters its promise to us Americans in
this nineteenth century: “Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid,
neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God has given thee this
land for a possession forever.”
* * * * *
Another immense audience assembled in the Amphitheater at two o’clock
to listen to the addresses delivered to the graduating class by
President Lewis Miller, and Dr. J. H. Vincent.
ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT LEWIS MILLER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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