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Show "QUESTION OF DISCIPLINE" TAKEN . AS SUBJECT FOR ADDRESS TO fflGM SCHOOL GRADUATES BY REV. GARVER i A crowded congregation gathered at the First Methodist Episcopal church last evening when tho baccha-laureatc baccha-laureatc sermon for tho senior class of the Ogden high school was delivered deliver-ed by the pastor. Rev. Christian R, Garver. Tho devotional program was as follows: Organ Voluntary, "BclloVe mo if all these endearing young charms". . . . Mrs. Vera Frey Beason Song. "The Angel" High Sohool Glee Club Male Quartette, "Remember now thy creator" Messrs. Laird, "Wilton, dangle and Rockefeller. Violin solo, Selected. .. .Paul Wheeler Postlude, March ....Ogden High School Orchestra Mr. Garver's subject was "The Question of Discipline." Ho said in part. "Wo may differ upon political and othlcal questions but wo aro all agreed that our national character needs thoso qualities of self-control, of quick and unquestioning 'obedience, of Joyful contempt of hardship, and zest, in difficult" and arduous undertakings, under-takings, which wo attributo in such rich measure to 6ur forefathers and which the moral exigencies of our national task today demarfds. I do not know of a betteV starting point than is found in tho closing year of King David's life. While tho story may seem ancient and far away, yet let him do as he pleased." No, that It riot tho reading of tho text but Instead It says: "His father had not displeased him at any time saying, 'Why hast thou done so?' This refer-renco refer-renco is to David and his son Adonljah and to tho want of discipline by which his father ruined his life. Modem Theory "Wo may of course say that David the king" was busy .about tho affairs of state, and besides his heart was lndultrfent toward his children. Adon ljah seems to havo been his youngest son, and David let him have his way, never reining him in up or checking him by asking why he had done thus or so. David pursued the modern theory of child training, which Is. that the one principal by which children should bo educated, Is that of lotting what is natural In them come out; that they must not be frustrated or crossed, or havo any external discipline discip-line or control laid upon their lives this of course, is tho extremo of it, but in some form or other wo seo the theory applied every day. "At any rate that -was tho way Adonljah was brought up . His father was rich. The boy had his own establishment, es-tablishment, his own horses arid his own retlnuo of servants and round about him tho usual crowd of flatterers flatter-ers and sychophante. There was no , will or desire that he had not the means to gratify, and his father let him have his way. It must be confess- ' ed that this was tho easy way of going about the whole matter. It is far cas-i ier to let a child" have its own way than to endeavor by wisdom and patience pat-ience and strength to study and decido what 13 -best for tho child. ''It may be easy, for a while butj thero comes a timo When it Is not longer easyi or when in his little room abovo tho gate. King David bowed his grey head In his hands and with breaking heart sobbed out, "O my son Absalon, my son, my son, Absalom, Ab-salom, would to God I had died for thee." It was no longer the easy way that David had pursued. And In our oWn lives the easy education does not , go easily all tho way. J 4 , "There comes a time when having indulged ourselves, wc can't break ' the habit; when never having taken our lives In our hands and reined them to the great ministries of mankind, man-kind, wo discover that wo cannot do so. We find that we obey our cap-prices; cap-prices; follow any Impulse, cannot stick to any task; do not know a princlplo when we sec it, havo no iron in the blood'; are , the riff -raff of tho world that worthy men and womon have to bear along as they go. Kipling expresses this thought in the folloing lines: ' "We was rotten 'fore wo started we was never disciplined; " 'Wo made it out a favor If an order was .obeyed; " 'Yes. every little drummer 'ad is rights and wrongs to mind, " 'So we had to pay for teaching an' wo paid.' "All men and women who want to bo masters of their lives and to havo strength to lay beneath tho work of the world must ask God that discipline discip-line be given them. Unless a man learns control from without he Willi never learn self-control. This only Is character tho binding' of life beneath be-neath the firm sovorlgnty of tho principle that Is the heart of God. And if nations do not realize this they will pay heavily for their failure. '"Make your educational laws strict,' said Ruskln, 'and your criminal laws may be gentle; but leave youth' its liberty and you will have to dig dungeons for ages.' Ijlbcrty and Freedom "And It is this. that gives freedom. There is no freedom outside of character. char-acter. Liborty Is the ability to do as wo ought and the freedom Wo need is not tho freedom of caprice and whim and listening to impulses. It is tho , freedom which enables our eyes ( clearly to sec what right- is and then empower us to do it. "Tho appeal of Christ has always been for discipline. Tho disciplined j nation comes in only one way by answer an-swer of Individuals to the divine call. The appeal of Christ was always addressed ad-dressed to the sacrificial and the heroic. Ho never smoothed things over for the sake of pleasing people or winning followers. There were times when ho seemed to try to make It hard. Christ never concealed his own adjustments and convictions as to life's values In theso matters, and spoke with tho greatest scorn of all Indulgence, and softness of life. And Instead of repelling men ho drew them. "He actually obtained tho men for whom ho was hunting, not by offering offer-ing them worldly Inducements but by addressing the sacrificial spirit In them, and making an appeal to tho latent capacity for heroism. God pours his contempt upon smoothness ; of life becanse it cannot make great- W ness of soul. Christianity derides smoothness of life, because It separ- ates us from fellowship with the noble and suffering life of God and of humanity. hu-manity. It is said of Napoleon that he never for a moment lost sfght of his onward way in tho dazzle and uproar up-roar of present circumstances. He saw only one object. It Is said that H-V Columbus, after the discovery of 7" America feared that ho might never T live to tell the story of his discovery ' -IJi and Joaquin Miller in his greatest poem uses the following words: i ' " 'My men grew mutinous day by day, Tho stout mate thought of home; i ' - spray ' Of salt wave washed hia swarthy cheek. What shall I say, brave admiral, say, If We sight not land but sea at dawn?' " " 'Sail on, sail on, sail on.' " oo j |