The Christian philosophy of life

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Preface

Were I to select from among the younger half of Dartmouth's graduates any to be specially mentioned here, there is one I should name. He grew up in my home, and he passed all his college years with me. Peculiar ties of other kinds, also, bind us very closely together. Besides, it is at his instance that this volume has been prepared. I was reluctant, for I felt that my sermons when preached had done their work, and I was getting ready to destroy them. But he urged the thought of possible usefulness ; I might be doing something in the kingdom still. I listened, and yielded.

For the sake of some, I should say that, until very lately, college and village have worshiped together in Hanover from the viii PREFACE

very beginning. Until recently all students were required to be in church every Sunday, so that a chief part of my work in the pulpit was to hold their attention, and to benefit them so far as I might. My auditors were of very different ages, and often so among the students themselves.

Although these sermons express the convictions of a long life, — convictions for which that life has stood, — they are not intended to be examples of my preaching. At least forty Sundays a year for a generation, and twice a Sunday for much the greater part of that time — twenty-five hundred and more written or unwritten sermons cannot be represented by twenty. My range of topics has been large, perhaps unusually so. I could select only a few discourses on some of them. I have chosen, too, only such as have been preached in term-time of the college, with possibly a single exception. There is scarcely one of them that has not been given to several

PREFACE ix

college classes; on an average, each has been delivered three times, and therefore heard by at least ten classes.

Besides other limitations, I have adopted a specific subject for this volume, " The Christian Philosophy of Life." Hence I have left out many sermons on themes in which I take a deep interest, an interest even deeper than in some treated here. The topics of this book, then, are very largely ethical. Yet I have aimed always to keep within sight of Olivet, and from that Calvary itself is not far away. If it is asked whether all fall definitely within my subject, I avow that I can conceive of no real philosophy of life which does not distinctly recognize " Easter " with its implications and glorious hopes. Still more obviously, perhaps, must " Reconciliation," " Modern Thought," and " Christian Agnosticism " be considered, for the claims of the intellect must be fully allowed, nay, honored, for it is un-reason which the Gospel decries

X PREFACE

when it summons to faith. In preaching to the same young people for successive years, I felt called, without technical discussion, to lead them to discriminate justly, and so to perceive the solemn and practical claims of duty. I hold, too, that in a college pulpit, if not elsewhere, one third of the preacher's power for good depends on what he does not say. Among other things, half truths and assertions that need to be " discounted " are best omitted, like flippancy and levity. Exact thinking and lucid thinking are to be his earnest aim. He is to speak what he is stire of, and nothing else or more.

A word on the sermons selected may be desirable. The first might fitly be called a prologue. The second plainly applies to young men of all classes. The last matches the first in a way, as the next to the last does the second. The third is intended for those especially of ambitious aspirations. The fourth is intended for a number still

PREFACE xi

smaller, yet quite large, of whom the author confesses himself to be one, who shrink more than most from "dumb forgetfulness." Of the rest I will only say that some were aimed chiefly at directing the thoughts, others chiefly at shaping the lives, of those who heard them.

The author is as sensible as any one can be that he has not covered the whole ground. If there were no other obstacle, to do so would have required a much larger volume than this. But I trust that, as a whole, the book covers a much wider range of suggestion than might at first appear, converging, too, upon righteous character. And in my college pastorate of over forty years I have sought not more to lead my auditors to certain conclusions in thought than to create the atmosphere of love of truth. I would help them to think for themselves, and to correct the errors I might have made. I deem no right results really reached except as reached in this xii PREFACE

spirit. The true preacher of Christ would lead his fellow men to One who is Himself the truth.

?i

The forms and faces of how many whom I have addressed rise distinctly before me ! As I said once to some of them, " I have not been effusive toward you, and I will not begin to be so now." But I cannot forget their kindness and generosity of heart — what hearts young men have! I count them valued friends, and I would fain greet them all. This may not be. I must remember, too, that this volurne is not designed for them only, but for that larger body of college graduates of whom they are a part, and, indeed, for a still wider public. For, all are called to give earnest heed to the subject of the book.

To the Infinite Friend I commend those who heard and those who shall read.

S. P. L.

Hanover, N. H.

Contents

Introduction, by President William J. Tucker xv

I. Faith : Hindrances and Helps .

II. True Manliness

Introduction

The author of these sermons enjoys the distinction of having completed an active pastorate of forty years in a college church. I do not know a living minister upon whom the like distinction rests.

The period covered by Dr. Leeds's pastorate was one of intellectual and moral activity. No preacher of this period could ignore the issues raised by the civil war, or by the subsequent material development of the country, or by the incoming of theological inquiry and controversy, or if his lot was cast in a college community, by the sharp changes in the subject matter and methods of the higher education. Throughout his long term of service, and amid all the changes incident to it, Dr. Leeds kept pace with the growth of the mind and conscience with which he had to do. He made the personal advance essential to leadership. He kept himself so wisely informed of the progress of science and of religion xvi INTRODUCTION

that he committed himself to no false or untenable position. In the words of the minutes adopted by the church upon his resignation, " In a church and community marked by very divergent opinions, strongly held and openly expressed on religious, social, and political subjects, he maintained his independence without compromise and without offense ; and bringing no reproach upon the cross of Christ, he exhibited to all an unselfish gentleness."

The printed sermon cannot declare the personality of the preacher. Not even the quaint sentence, the kindling thought, or the evident striving of the spirit can tell just how the word was spoken. But the reader to whom these sermons are simply sermons will see on every page the intellectual hospitality, the fine temper, the spiritual insight, the assured faith, and the single purpose of the man who wrote them. Many who read these sermons will recall the preacher ; now and then one will recall a sermon as it was preached. Among the ten generations of college students who listened to Dr. Leeds, there may be some who will for the first time respond in their matu-

INTRODUCTION xvii

rity to the truths here repeated ; there will be others who will bear witness, out of long experience, to their essential truthfulness. To none will these sermons seem out of date. Whatever memories they may awaken, they will be recognized as having a rightful claim upon all who are willing to think and who wish to believe.

William Jewett Tucker.

Dartmouth College, May 1 8, 1904.

THE

I

By faith Abraham — : By faith Isaac — : By faith Jacob. —

Jesus said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. — John vi. 29.

The patriarchs whom I have named I have chosen from among others mentioned in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, in part because they were plain men. David was a king, Joseph was a great king's prime minister, Moses transcended any monarch. But these three were wanderers in a foreign land, having no fixed home, dwellers in tents by one and another fountain, or in one and another grove. They are better exemplars for us, then, in some respects, than if they had occupied the high places of the earth. I only add, that from a simply natural point of view, — from such a point of view, then, as we were never meant to take, — their course does not seem a wise one; that of their kinsman, Lot, much more so. Commonly, no course that is to be fruitful in grand results appears quite wise at the time to the world around. Faith is almost always irrational in the eyes of a merely worldly wisdom.

It was to descendants of these men that our Lord Jesus said, in answer to the inquiry what they should do that they might work the works of God,^» — the works which God commanded them, — " This is the work " — the supreme work — *' of God, that ye believe on him whom He hath sent," i. e. receive me as your heaven-sent Leader and Redeemer. And this is the word to all later generations of all peoples, to us to-day and to each of us, — receive Christ Jesus as Saviour and Lord. To do this is the consummate manifestation of that faith which the patriarchs practiced, the faith which is described in the first verse of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, like an inscription over the great entrance to Westminster Abbey. " Faith (I quote our American Revised Version) is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen."

I wish to speak briefly this morning of some of the obstacles and a few of the encouragements to that faith.

One chief obstacle is that its objects are out of sight. To a great degree Faith says, To-morrow. The world says (or self, as it interprets the world, says), To-day. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob " looked for a city whose builder and maker is God." The world says, " Here is a city, if not that city ; seek no farther ; rest and enjoy nowT This is one of the greatest hindrances to Faith. She confessedly lays chief stress on To-morrow, while worldliness claims the right to say To-day. And we are so much like children — even if children of a larger growth — that we want our good things right off. Listen to Bunyan : " I saw, moreover, in my dream that the Interpreter took Christian by the hand and led him into a little room where sat two little children, each one in his chair. The name of the eldest was Passion, and the name of the other

Patience. Passion seemed to be much discontented, but Patience was very quiet. Then Christian asked, What is the reason of the discontent of Passion ? The Interpreter answered, The governor of them would have him stay for his best things till the beginning of the next year, but he will have them all now, but Patience is willing to wait. Then I saw that one came to Passion and brought him a bag of treasure and poured it down at his feet ; the which he took up and rejoiced therein, and withal laughed Patience to scorn. But I beheld but a while, and he had lavished all away, and had nothing left him but rags. Then said Christian to the Interpreter, Expound this matter more fully to me. So he said : These two lads are figures ; Passion, of the men of this world, and Patience, of the men of that which is to come ; for as here thou seest. Passion will have all now, this year, that is to say, in this world, so are the men of this world; they must have all their good things now ; they cannot stay till the next year, that is, until the next world, for their portion of good." And yet, let us note as we go, it is not commonly true that To-day belongs to the world. Are the young men to whom it offers To-day — I will not say rich now — but are they likely to be so soon, if ever? For most of us, and for all of us most of the time, the world says To-morrow, just as much as faith does. " Ten, twenty, thirty years hence, young man, thou shalt be rich or famous." Well, even twenty years is not a very short way off. We have a much better prospect of heaven's treasure and heaven's fame — if we are Christ's disciples — by that time than we have of earthly. When the world says To-day, almost always, if you will listen closely, you will note, however loud the tone, a little lack of distinctness on the second syllable. At all events, its To-day commonly proves To-morrow. " When your hair shall be at least tinged with gray, when your eyesight has become a little dim, when the pleasure that honor or money might give you is one half gone, when those for whose sake chiefly you desire it have lain down wearily to their last sleep, then you may — perhaps — have what you covet." And as I have said, long before that, you may be enjoying a safe treasure and eternal praise. Forty years hence there will be a great many rich and honorable men of those now before me, but they will be up there, most of them.

And this is not all. Faith does own to-day in large degree, and to-morrow too. How, I will show presently when I speak of the encouragements to Faith. But here is a chief obstacle to it. The world claims the present, and we believe the world.

Another chief obstacle is that Faith's objects are always invisible to the bodily eye, — when you get them you cannot see them, — while the world's objects are, or seem, palpable to the eye and touch. Gold — you can handle it ; you can put it into bags and weigh it. Applause — you can hear it; the plaudits of the crowd, the praise of associates, — best of all, the old comrades' congratulations, — you can hear them, almost feel them. Jesus' word, " Well done," — it is the spirit that will hear that, not the bodily ear. Men prefer the loudtoned voice, the glaring aspect of the world.

And yet, is the world right in this, even .? Is it the gold that satisfies those who have it, except here and there a miser ? By no means. It is the power and the sense of power which its possession gives. Is it the audible applause that pleases ? Nay, it is that to which it only testifies ; and hence it is that the praise of a few dear friends, the praise of one dearest friend, is worth more to us than the loudest paeans of the multitude. So that, after all, the world really shifts its ground to that of Faith. But the world — as I have said, one's sinful self, misinterpreting or misusing the world — deceives men willing to be deceived. Its gifts are sure and they are here, it affirms, and we believe.

One more hindrance I name, scarcely more than name ; the throng is on the world's side. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob are alone. The nations are around them in their harvest-covered fields or their firmset cities, perish though they yet may and a Dead Sea sweep over them.

Here, then, are obstacles to faith. Good men feel them. The power of the visible and the present, the influence of the great throng, I might add their own imperfections, — Abraham felt them, no doubt, and doubtless even yielded to them at times.

But yet Faith has its encouragements also. I will name two. As I have already said, Faith greatly owns to-day as well as to-morrow. The patriarchs had much in the present. There are two kinds of ownership, — the one when legally we hold property, the other when we rightfully enjoy, more or less, that which our fellow man legally holds. It is what we get out of things which makes us rich, not their bare possession. Your neighbor adds field to field, and builds larger barns, and receives the proceeds of his toil and care; but you, too, enjoy his landscape, the distant hills, the nearer pastures, the green meadows, the sweet-breathed cattle faring home at sunset, the song of birds, the hum of insects all day long ; these are for you also. So Faith gets a great deal out of the present and the visible, as she goes onward ; the more, that she does not impatiently crush their objects beneath her feet, as worldliness so often does. One does not need to forget God and heaven in order to watch a sunset, to look at the starry vault at night, or to ponder the lessons of history or be profoundly interested in the deeds of living heroes, to read with beating heart the words of the poets, or to listen to the merry voices of children, or to enjoy friends or sweet home. If it is true that God makes His sun to rise on the evil as well as the good, it is as true that He makes it to rise on the good as well as the evil. Nature does not still her harmony as Christ's follower passes ; earth and sky do not lose their glories. Human life, so full of interest commonly, even when pathetic, does not part with its strange charm. No, indeed. Faith has a strong hold on to-day as well as to-morrow.

But besides and more, all these things, to Faith, reflect the Heavenly Father, God. The thing which chiefly makes them valuable, Faith has in a degree now. " God maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good," men say, misquoting ; Jesus said, " Your Father who is in heaven " doeth it, and Faith repeats after him. My Father who is in heaven. There is all the difference possible. The sunshine to the man of lo CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE

the world means something pleasant, useful, or splendid ; to the Christian it means all this and a heavenly Parent too ; all this, and an infinitely loving and lovable heart besides. The world says To-day, and its to-day means to-morrow, or, more likely, never; but even when Faith says To-morrow, its to-morrow begins in measure at once, and " coming events cast " something of their glory before.

That is one encouragement to faith ; there is another of a quite different kind. Every good thing here below, as I have already hinted, bears witness to its value. The best points in the world's best things, we have seen, borrow directly from it. Every worthy exhortation to virtue is an argument for it. You cannot be what the world calls a virtuous or good man without acting on principles which, if not of faith already, would, consistently carried out, bring you into the ranks of Jesus Christ as your Leader. For a truly good man denies himself for goodness' sake, resists temptation, fights the evil nature within, turns his back on the multitude, and stands with the few or alone when he must. Jesus' follower does

FAITH: HINDRANCES AND HELPS ii

only one thing more, essentially, and, on the other hand, receives great helps. A willingness to ask for these great helps, indeed, is a chief part of that one thing more, for the Christian consecrates himself to receive from Christ quite as much as to do for Him. He gives up self — self-lordship — to a Lord and Leader infinitely wise and kind; and he gains, as I have just said, the spirit of Christ to sustain him and inspire him with hope and strength.

It is a great encouragement to faith that there is no argument to manhood, to virtue, to wisdom, no argument for patriotism or for philanthropy, no argument in any right direction, that does not inure to its aid. " Make the most of this life, of this world." To such an appeal as that even, Faith responds, " Yea, verily." Let the appeal but be worthily made, interpreted in a way worthy of any honest, just, honorable person, and Faith heartily accepts it. It is not true that only the followers of Christ have to fight with evil within and without and to overcome it. Every one has a cross to carry. We go to Calvary, and we see three crosses there. It is not the All-righteous, All-holy, All-good alone who is upon one. And this mayserve as a parable to us ; daily, every man who lives justly and uprightly and kindly crucifies his lower and selfish nature. Our faith is helped greatly by the thought that every argument and appeal towards a right life, a wise life, a reasonable life, leads to the following and the fellowship of the Master, Jesus. His words are emphatically true, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom He hath sent."

In what I have been saying, I have given a glimpse at a reward of faith ; in the development of right character we have a reward as we go along. The patriarch went forth on his pilgrimage weak, comparatively untried, inexperienced ; he ended it, not in the possession of lands or houses, but with a soul trained to bear, to trust, and to obey.

Christian brother ! You know not what strength you are gaining, what a blessing, therefore, you are receiving, even now. To yourself you seem weak indeed, for your ideal is continually rising, and that is a part of your reward. Yes, that is a part of your reward, that, as you read your Leader's words, His precepts grow in breadth; that as you ponder His life, His example seems more wonderful than once it did. Once you thought that if you kept the commandments you did well; you keep them now in measure, but you see more plainly now that love to God and man is the law's grand requirement. That is a part of your reward. You are going to a world where love reigns, and it is well that you should understand this thoroughly before you enter it. Day by day your vision is being cleared ; you know more, understand more, of duty's laws, of your Heavenly Father s will, than ever before. And more of Jesus as Helper and Leader and unwearied Friend do you discover ; that, that is a part of your reward.

But the consummation of it, the fullness of it, who shall tell it here ? What mortal heart conceives it yet ?

" After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God and to the Lamb ! And one of the elders said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them " — their Leader still, you observe — " shall lead them unto living fountains of waters ; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

II

TRUE MANLINESS 1 Quit you like men. — I. Cor. xvi. 13.

The true hero is in a degree unnoticed in his own day. Surrounded by the crowd, obscured by the " Httle great men " of the time, he cannot receive, as indeed it is not well for him that he should receive, the appreciation which later ages may give. It is for this reason mainly that in seeking for examples our thoughts turn at once to the past. It may be, indeed, that a gifted author is right when he speaks of a class of men who walked the world with a more kingly mien two or three centuries ago than do any in this dusty present. I suspect, however, that the difference is in seeming only,

^ This sermon was preached first on the first Sunday of a new college year and during the Great War. Repeated twenty years later, a part was naturally omitted. It seems best to print it now as when originally delivered. For some it may revive old associations ; to others it may present a historic picture.

and that I have indicated the chief reason of the illusion. Romance and poetry, too, swell the praises and aggrandize the achievements of the heroes that have gone. Yet because those men of the past are so well known, I select them as indicating a certain high type of manhood to which I would ask your attention this morning. Sir Philip Sidney, and still more, though only because granted a longer life. Sir Walter Raleigh, are instances of men who united a high mental culture with lofty moral qualities. They were men of thought, and of achievement too ; and besides, they could suffer, when need was, patiently and even cheerily. In one word, they were complete men.

I propose, then, to take a certain ideal of true manhood, not because it is the only one, but to give more definiteness to our thoughts. I wish to speak of a manliness which includes intellectual as well as moral culture. I desire to urge a heroism which works through a mental training such as it is not the privilege of most to enjoy.

This ideal is not, I repeat, the only one. Far from it. Many are the heroes on whose

" humble birth fair Science frowned." The fathers of many of us, the brothers, the friends, have exhibited a manhood which we should be only too glad to rival. But on this first Sunday of an academic year, when hundreds of young men begin or resume a long and careful course of education, I may be permitted to point out to such that path which they, especially, should tread, — that path which would be trodden by those to whom I have just alluded, were it their privilege.

And even with these I would point a straiter way than might be expected. Not for a moment forgetting that a saintly virtue often exists in the cloister, it is not to a cloistered manhood that I would exhort, but to one of the open air in some great battlefield of life, one that would enable you, if need were, to go out into the actual battlefield where the patriot stands for his fatherland. For if I mistake not, in a highly civilized society we are in danger of incompleteness in this regard. Our literary men may be subtle in argument, copious in discourse, felicitous in expression, and yet be wanting in a certain vigor of thought and action, for whose sake we must repair to others educated only by the stern discipHne of life, — to the stout-hearted pioneer, to the " rough-and-ready " soldier. Ere we are aware, we may become like the Greeks of old, quick, sensitive, ingenious, mentally active, but enervate and indecisive and unmanly, the prey of the rude and virile Roman.

We need, need everywhere in Christendom, and here as elsewhere, a class of men who may be described to many of you by the mention of a name, Arnold of Rugby, men of true piety, of cultivated minds, and of certain high moral qualities, as they may be called ; men like him of whom the poet speaks, —

"... the elements So mixed in him, that nature might stand up And say to all the world, Behold a man ! "

This is the ideal of manhood which I would commend to your regard now.

As an important step toward its realization, I would speak first of that which is suggested by an apostle's words, " Glorify God in the body."

This is not the place for a discussion of the means of health. Yet I believe I only carry out the scriptural injunction just cited and speak the sentiment of thoughtful men when I urge the proper observance of these. I do not say that health is a requisite to the manliness I speak of; the shattered hero in every age disproves it. But this, I think, may be affirmed : that health in early life, health until cares, labors, or sufferings have broken it, is an admirable basis for a true manhood.