THE FOUNDATIONS OF DARTMOUTH

A sermon preached on Sunday, April 26, at St. Thomas' Church by the Rector, Rev. John Dallas, D. D.

"The city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Hebrews 11:10.

Dartmouth's strength lies in her foundations. She was builded and is building today on religion. Furthermore these bases upon which this College and this community are laid consist of material whose durability exceeds that of granite and of marble. The writer of our text had an idea of a structure similar to that which the planners of Dartmouth College had—a city whose builder and maker is God.

Student generation after student generation succeed each other. Teachers and administrators come and go but the cornerstones and walls of this city continue and stay. Religion, a faith in God, a belief that man works with God, are so woven into the fabrics here that one might call forth with Ezekiel, "The name of the city . . . shall be, the Lord is there." Furthermore and better, the God upon whom and in whom the College and community have been constructed is a God whose chief est characteristic is a moral quality. Also he is a God that works through an idea of democracy which in this part of the world has been associated with the New England Congregational Churches. This academic institution and this village started around the belief that God possesses moral qualities and that these moral qualities can be taken up and fostered by the crowd.

That edifice, the White Church (The Church of Christ at Dartmouth College) has stood like a sentinel at the corner of the campus for a long time. Like the old cathedrals abroad it has the appearance of a tower of refuge. Therein a succession of voices have been raised in the name of a moral God and of a democratic idea, Doctor Leeds—Dr. Vernon— Ranney—Janeway—Falconer Chamberlin. Without that old white building there as a cornerstone for this countryside we cannot imagine what the development here ever could have been.

Go to another corner of the village and there now stands the beautiful structure of Saint Denis' Church. More recent in its actual physical appearance but with a tradition, an ancestry, and a power beyond the calculation of the most of us. Ponder and weigh if you will, the influence that has strengthened and sweetened human souls that have poured out their burdens in the ear of that great and ancient loving mother. Consider the moral teaching and advice that has been woven into society by way of that organization which knows and understands men and women. And dare one think of the daily task and duty and privilege of the priest who at the altar enacts the story of the Broken Heart of God. (You who don't believe that jesus of Nazareth is a revelation of the very heart of God won't understand those words. You will think them poetry or things worked up out of the imagination). But the poor, half-clad, half-starved, poverty-stunned woman on her knees understands as' shebows in adoration. Or the young captain as he dedicates himself and his company to victory in the name of Jesus, understands as he adores on bended knee. Those who can suffer and can sacrifice will appreciate the wealth of spirituality and of humanity contributed to this College and town by the Roman Catholic Church.

More recently still the Church of Christ Scientist has opened rooms where their members may gather and read and be quiet and think. Therein is a tremendous reality, an every-day religion, a philosophy that faces the daily tasks of life and the happiness of men's bodies and minds. There is no method whereby any of us can estimate the influence and good of that increasing group of men and women.

Within the undergraduate group there has been for a long time an organization which has all the charm and devotion and fearlessness of youth. It is a following of the youthful Jesus, a giving away of self. Those of us who do not know maywell investigate and judge for ourselves the power of the Dartmouth Christian Association. Prayer groups, deputation trips, Sunday School classes, personal work and innumerable other activities carried on in the name of religion under the leadership of a man whose honesty and sincerity has given him a distinct power among the undergraduates.

The College Chapel decade after decade has allowed this crowd of young Americans to see itself under the inspiration of great ideas and ideals—to catch the power that comes from contact with prophets, priests and poets—to be made aware of a Presence and of a Person who broods over and in the race of men. It was only the other day that a young graduate spoke there of the realities of religion—that another, a worker amongst God's poor and neglected, laid bare the woeful needs in the structure of society. Another, a prince in his generation of preachers, who spoke a plea full of passion, a plea for intellect in religion. All of you have heard words of gratitude for one man and another, Marshall, Wood, Janeway, who at different times and under circumstances of war and peace have spoken in the' name of God from the chapel pulpit. It is superfluous to tell with what eagerness and affection the present body of students listen to every word fraught with insight and prophecy of President Hopkins. The President, however, is only one of that numberless army who like nothing better than to recall the sermons that fell upon their undergraduate hearts from that gentleman who in his revered and honorable retirement still prays for this College and community. There is in no American community life a richer spiritual, prophetic or practical religious inheritance than that which Dartmouth and Hanover possess in the work of Doctor Tucker.

The spiritual fabric of this College has had woven into its very texture color and design contributed by a band of men whom to mention stirs the gratitude in countless graduates and undergraduates from all over America. The teachers of Dartmouth, those searchers after truth, some of them not able possibly to sign on the "dotted line" of creed or organization but who have opened the eyes and ears of the souls of youth through the one-hundred and fifty years of their labors here. Many are the names that should be inscribed on that list of teachers who have inspired and stimulated the men that lingered in church and lecturehall and class-room. And today it is significant that the lay workers in all of our churches in this community are to such an extent professors and instructors in the College. The senior deacon in the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College and also the senior warden of the Episcopal Church are members of the Department of Philosophy—-the latter president of the American Philosophical Society.

Into the walls of this spiritual city much else than these things and people we have mentioned has been builded. There is a body of tradition and sentiment, an old-fashioned morality and democracy fostered and urged by the prayers, hopes and ambitions of a horde of parents who down through this century and a half have with jealousy born with religion kept watch over these walls and ramparts "not built with hands." Further only God knows the aspirations, the yearnings and dreams that have lived and still abide in the students. Not necessarily in Church, nor in the Christian Association nor even in the class-room but by way of much reading, discussion, thinking, wondering, questioning, there has come into this structure a body of spirituality beyond reckoning. As long as men live here who have the fearlessness and the idealism shown even recently in the editorial columns of TheDartmouth, we may have assurance that the invisible kingdom of spiritual values holds sway on this campus.

Do you recall the fear that came upon the servant of Elisha—"When the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host with chariots and horses was round about the city. And his servant said unto him, 'Alas, my master! how shall we do?" And he answered, "Fear not; for they that are with us are more than they that are with them." And Elisha prayed, and said, "Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see." And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about1 Elisha."

Yes. Little do we reckon the unheard and unseen forces abuilding the city of God in our beloved community.

There was an ancient poet whose heart and mind and soul were completely involved in an idea of the city of God. He had to burst into song—ordinary language could not contain his thought and his feeling. "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together. Whither the tribes go up. The tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my bethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good."

May God give us all eyes to see and ears to hear the building of a city of God in Dartmouth.

The earliest engraving of Dartmouth, 1793.