WEBVTT
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(choir sings)
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♪ And he sought beyond your river ♪
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♪ Of a water on high ♪
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(opera singing)
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(choir sings)
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(choir sings)
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♪ Amen, amen, amen, amen ♪
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[Church Officiant] Will the congregation please stand
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for the reading of the Gospel lesson?
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The Gospel lesson is from Saint John chapter one.
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In the beginning was the Word,
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and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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He was in the beginning with God.
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All things were made through Him,
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and without Him was not anything made that was made.
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In Him was life, and the life was the light of man.
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The light shines in the darkness,
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the darkness does not overcome it.
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He was in the world, the world was made through Him,
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yet the world knew Him not.
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He came to His own home and His own people received Him not.
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But to all who received Him, who believed in His name,
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He gave power to become children of God,
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who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh,
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nor the will of man, but of God.
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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
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full of grace and truth.
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We have beheld His glory, glory as of the
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only Son from the Father.
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Here ends the reading from the Gospel lesson.
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Amen.
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(organ playing)
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(choir singing)
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It is with a sense of profound gratitude
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to the President of this university for this invitation,
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and yet it is with a sense of great awe that I stand
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in this chapel to share and worship
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with you on Founder's Day.
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For Duke University has touched and influenced my own life
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in a multitude of ways.
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And I am doubly grateful to be privileged to share
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in the honor that this university, my alma mater,
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has bestowed upon one of my own members,
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an exemplary Christian friend
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and beloved Methodist, Stanley Kreschke.
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For the Bible knows that a great life
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is a classroom of its own,
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and his too, is a great life.
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Let us pray.
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Father, we have heard the living Word.
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May it come alive anew into spoken word.
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And may the words of my mouth
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and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable
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in Thy sight.
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For Thou alone art our strength
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and our Blessed Redeemer.
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Amen.
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During recent weeks, I have sought to discover
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something of the man and his driving faith
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for whom this university is named.
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James Buchanan Duke, on December 11, 1924,
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established The Duke Endowment.
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And yet, this university does not bear his name.
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It is named for the man he admired and loved
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the most in this world, his father,
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Washington Duke.
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And as I've pondered about Washington Duke,
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I kept remembering something that Alfred North Whitehead
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once said, that moral education is impossible
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without the vision of greatness.
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And that is the judgment which the biblical writers
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implicitly concur.
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For again, and again, in the pages of history,
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we have seen throughout biblical history,
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the absorbing and instructive passages
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are essentially biographical.
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The lives of the great Abraham, David, Moses,
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are held up as an inspiration for later generations.
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"Let us now praise famous men and our fathers
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who begat us", begins a familiar passage in Ecclesiastes.
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Jesus Corea is studied with allusions to ancient worthies,
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Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah.
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And he said, if his contemporaries could not
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see the purposes of God in history,
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they would never see them at all.
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And then there is that notable passage in
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the 11th chapter of Hebrews, which calls
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the role of Israel's great and near great,
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who surround us now as then
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as a great cloud of witnesses.
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For the sake of our understanding better
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the influences that shape this remarkable family,
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The Dukes of Durham, I want us to look at the patriarch
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on this Founder's Day.
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For in a home where the light of education had never shown,
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Washington Duke lit a lamp of learning,
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which would be fueled by his sons,
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whom he affectionately called Ben and Buck.
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James Buchanan Duke was heard to say,
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"I want to do big things for God,
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and great things for humanity."
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And later, he would write, "My old Daddy used to say,
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that if he amounted to anything in life,
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it was due to the Methodist circuit riders,
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who frequently visited his home, and whose preaching
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and counsel brought out the best that was in his life."
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And then he added, "If I ever amount to anything,
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it will be because of my Daddy
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and the Methodist Church."
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So, let's look at his daddy and a faith that was
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engendered in his heart by the Methodist Church.
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He was a plain man, of English and Welsh ancestry.
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Washington Duke's forebears settled in the red clay
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hills of eastern Orange, now Durham county
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in the mid-18th century.
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He was the eighth of 10 children,
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and his parents managed to give the brood enough schooling
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to learn a smattering of the three R's.
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His family hewed out a living with ax, and hoe, and plow
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on a modest farm along the Little River,
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near Bowl Town which is the present village of Bahama.
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During my student days in this divinity school,
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I was appointed by Bishop Garber to serve
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the Mount Bethel Church in that crossroads community.
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I did not know at that time,
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what I came to know whilst there.
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That in that place, a significant event took place
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in the life of a timid 10 year old boy in 1830.
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In a protracted meeting, as they called them,
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during the hot dog days of August,
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under a brush arbor canopied by giant oaks,
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he was brought under conviction and converted.
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This lad, who had earlier joined the
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Mount Bethel Sunday School, now joined the
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Methodist Episcopal Church.
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And whatever we may think from our late-20th century
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sophisticated vantage point of revival meetings
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and protracted meetings, that singular event is of
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utmost significance to all of us who later would
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be touched by the Duke family.
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For it's abundantly clear that outside his own family,
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Methodism was the most powerful
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lifelong influence upon this man.
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The fiery preaching, and the spirited singing
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of early Methodists would shape his character,
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would sturdy his faith, and steel him for the
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personal tragedy and loneliness that lay ahead of him.
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Now his conversion must surely have pleased
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his eldest brother William.
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Later, Wash and another brother, were bound over
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to Billy, for whom they would work from crack of dawn
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to bedtime at an endless round of farm chores.
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Lean and wiry was this lad, and later in life
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he would write to a group of blacks,
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"I've plowed more furrows in God's earth than
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any man of my age in North Carolina."
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And we can be sure that brother Billy nurtured
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that young convert with a
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healthy dose of zealous Methodism.
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Deeply interested in Billy's church work,
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the younger Wash helped build a retreat,
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Duke's Arbor, where the camp meetings
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and the revivals could be held close at hand.
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And the church was the center of his life,
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spiritual and social, and understandably so,
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in that simple, rural society.
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His adult life began as a tenant farmer,
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and at age 22 he married Mary Caroline Clinton.
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She bore two sons.
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And in 1847, his father died,
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and then Mary Caroline his wife.
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Washington Duke was not quite 27, widowed,
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and his motherless boys were sent to live
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with his wife's parents.
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In his loneliness, he turned even more to religion.
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And he toiled away on the land.
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He built a modest house in the early 1850s,
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and on December 9, 1852,
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he married Artelia Roney.
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And he brought his pretty, singing wife,
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reunited with his two young boys
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to what we now know as the Duke Homestead.
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Oh, it must have been a joyful Christmas for him
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that year, but little did he conceive
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the lurking tragedy which lay ahead.
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During the next five years, she would bear
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three children, Mary, Benjamin Newton,
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and on December 23, 1856, James Buchanan,
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named we are told, in honor of the new
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Democratic President-elect.
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But then the scourge of the countryside,
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the typhoid epidemic of 1858, struck twice
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in Wash Duke's home.
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His 14 year old son Sidney died,
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and ten days later, beautiful Artelia.
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She was 29, he was 37.
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In little more than a decade,
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this God-fearing, Bible-believing,
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church-going farmer had buried
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his father, two wives, a son, and his mother.
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A single parent, responsible for four children,
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and a farm of 300 acres, he turned to two
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of his wife's younger sisters and his own
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unmarried sister Melinda, and they took turns
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caring for those four motherless children.
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Can we not see now how in later life he would have
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a special sympathy and care towards orphans?
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This was also a time in his life when
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he violated his own conscience.
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He was opposed to slavery, but he bought a slave girl,
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Caroline, and he brought her as a nurse
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and house servant for his children.
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You see, so bitter was his opposition to slavery,
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that both Wash Duke and his brother Billy
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changed their political affiliation in 1860
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and voted for Abraham Lincoln.
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Decades later, he would help to build a hospital
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for black people in this city,
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and he called it Lincoln Memorial.
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He opposed North Carolina's secession from the Union,
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but when he was conscripted into the Confederate Army
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in 1863, he went without complaint, risking his life
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in a cause in which he did not believe.
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But he was a good Methodist, and methodically
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he arranged for the care of his children,
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for the slave girl, and for Aunt Betty.
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He turned over his farm to a neighbor,
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and he marched off to war.
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And as he left, he learned that his youngest brother
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Robert had been killed in Virginia.
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During the final weeks of that war he was imprisoned
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in Libby Prison in Richmond.
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Mustered out in New Bern, penniless and ragged,
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he made his way back, 135 miles to Durham.
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He had a single 50-cent piece in his pocket
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that he had traded a souvenir-hunting Yankee soldier
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his last, practically worthless,
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five dollar Confederate bill.
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And when he arrived, he found the home place looted,
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the livestock killed or driven off.
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He was confronted with a desolate situation,
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a veritable paw of doom and darkness,
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and the only thing that greeted him were two blind mules.
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This is the man for whom this university is named.
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At this time in his life he had nothing,
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but his children and his faith.
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But Washington Duke's faith had a promise in it.
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We rejoice at Saint Paul and our sufferings,
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for we know that suffering produces hope.
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Now that is new, and different, and strange.
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You would expect it to be otherwise,
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that suffering produces despair.
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But Wash Duke found what the early Christians had found,
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that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can
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turn anything upside down.
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Suffering has a promise in it.
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Washington Duke's staunch Methodist faith
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enabled him to shoulder that suffering and to start anew.
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Let's examine on the basis of what we know about this man,
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his faith, and what we can be sure about it.
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Let it be said, first of all, it was a simple faith.
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We're here on this third Sunday of Advent,
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and I know what that conjures up in the minds of most of us,
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this holy season of love.
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Washington Duke reminds me of one of
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the main characters in that draw.
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He reminds me of the shepherds who came to the manger,
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the faithful, the devout, the people who may not
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have much book learning, who may not be very
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sophisticated religiously, but good people,
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intuitively open, and accepting people,
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strong in their faith but not dogmatic about
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forcing their belief on other people,
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the ordinary people who are the salt of the earth,
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and the light of the world.
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That's the kind of faith Wash Duke had, then,
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and 'til the end of his life.
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We need to be reminded of a faith like that.
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We need to be reminded that the church is not
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an exclusive club of people like us,
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whatever our category may be.
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The church is not restricted to those
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with an IQ over 140, or to those who have an income
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in the 30 or 40% tax bracket.
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It is not for those activists whose very soul
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is uplifted by the thought of a new demonstration
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or a new cause.
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Or those who would reduce to statistics the milk
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of human kindness if they could.
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Remember that scene in Mark Twain's book
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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court?
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Where the American sees a medieval saint swaying
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to and fro in the ecstasy of religious devotion.
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It seemed like wasted energy, and so he hooked up
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the saint to a device to provide power for a sewing machine.
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A lot of people think the church is useless
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unless it's geared up for something.
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But the church is more than that.
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It should be open, and it should encourage and produce
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people of simple piety.
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For a faith like his, is a spiritual resource
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that is open to all persons.
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"Truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain
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of mustard seed", said Jesus, "You can say to this mountain,
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move hence to yonder place, and it will move,
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and nothing will be impossible to you."
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So, when you think of Washington Duke,
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I hope that you will celebrate that kind of faith.
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And I'm not about to argue that anything is possible
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if only you have faith.
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They taught me better than that in this place.
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But as I am concerned today with this man,
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I want to say that is not what Jesus meant
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when he made that statement.
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Jesus' word here is deliberate, proverbial, hyperbole,
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and ought never to be read in any other way.
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What I'm going to say about Washington Duke's faith is this.
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For this is what I think it says to us,
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that nothing is possible until you believe.
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Unless you have some kind of real faith,
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some kind of expectation, unless you make
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some kind of commitment before you can possibly
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know the outcome, you will never do
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as much as tie your shoe.
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Faith, in its usual biblical sense, is not as many
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people seem to think it is, an illogical belief
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in the occurrence of the improbable.
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It is more nearly, what I call, reason
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grown adventurous.
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It is an act of confidence in the reliability
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of the moral order.
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What was it that Isaiah said to dispirited,
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defeated, frustrated people?
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There shall come forth a chute from the stump
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of Jesse, the royal line of David is like a tree
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that has been cut down.
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And just as new branches sprout from a stump,
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so a new king will arise from David's descendants.
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That is faith, adventurous and confident
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in the reliability of the moral order.
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When I think of Wash Duke trudging 135 miles
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from New Bern to Durham county at the end of the Civil War,
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I think of Jeremiah.
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He lived in a bleak, uncertain time,
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400 years of empire, proud independence
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for the Hebrew people were dissolving.
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The nation was caught between two superpowers,
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and he did not know where to turn.
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Jeremiah had preached himself into prison,
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but silencing the prophet never changes
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the ills he has diagnosed.
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And things kept getting worse.
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One day, with all the signs pointing to total disaster,
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Jeremiah did a strange thing.
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He bought a piece of property from a cousin.
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The strangeness of it all was not merely
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that he was in jail, or that he had no
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immediate prospect of using the land.
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The strangest thing of all, is that it was
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property already that had been conquered
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and was in the hands of the enemy.
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And yet, he paid cash for it.
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And he was careful to see that the deed
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was properly notarized and recorded.
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Why did he do it?
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It was an adventurous faith, a deliberate act of faith,
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and the reliability of the moral order of things.
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A way of saying to the frustrated and the frightened,
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"Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel,
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houses, and fields, and vineyards shall be
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bought in this land."
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No, the Bible does not mean in any literal sense
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that all things are possible if only we believe.
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But what it does say to us, is that nothing
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00:26:42.300 --> 00:26:47.300
is possible until we believe.
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And we will never cast out the demons that plague us
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and our time except by faith.
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The third thing I want to say about
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Wash Duke's faith is this, it had more to do
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with holiness than happiness.
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I know a lot of people, who, when they become
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the least bit unhappy, lose their faith.
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His faith was not based on happiness.
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His faith was based on that of which
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the Scripture says, "The Word was made flesh
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and dwelt among us."
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The conviction that God was in Christ,
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and even though He came unto His own,
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and His own rejected him, that kind of goodness
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is something that will not be done away with.
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00:27:39.726 --> 00:27:43.115
It has nothing at all to do with happiness,
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00:27:43.115 --> 00:27:46.520
it has a lot to do with holiness,
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goodness, moral maturity.
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The indenture that created this university
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was signed during the season of Advent.
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We're in the midst of that holy season,
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with all the stories about the baby, and the star,
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and the angels, and the wise men.
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00:28:05.700 --> 00:28:08.809
And they all are ways of saying that Jesus
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00:28:08.809 --> 00:28:12.476
was the embodiment of Godliness.
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00:28:12.476 --> 00:28:16.220
That in Him, we see what the nature, or likeness
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00:28:16.220 --> 00:28:18.843
of God really is.
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00:28:18.843 --> 00:28:21.890
He is the flesh and blood demonstration
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00:28:21.890 --> 00:28:25.183
of God's outgoing love.
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00:28:25.183 --> 00:28:29.560
The New Testament holds that Jesus is a model for us,
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00:28:29.560 --> 00:28:32.440
that we are to be imitators of Him,
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00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:35.130
that we are to walk in the way in which He walked,
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00:28:35.130 --> 00:28:39.173
that we are to follow in His steps.
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00:28:39.173 --> 00:28:44.165
That is the way Wash Duke walked,
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00:28:44.165 --> 00:28:49.070
and it had more to do with holiness than happiness.
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00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:53.980
Perhaps a clue to the love that Ben and James Buchanan
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00:28:53.980 --> 00:28:56.070
had for him and his influence over them
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00:28:56.070 --> 00:28:58.480
is caught up in the holiness of his life
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00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:00.775
and his example.
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00:29:00.775 --> 00:29:03.650
Albert Schweitzer said, "Example is not the main
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00:29:03.650 --> 00:29:08.317
thing in influencing others, it is the only thing."
417
00:29:10.270 --> 00:29:12.870
And real faith has more to do with holiness,
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00:29:12.870 --> 00:29:16.250
moral maturity than with happiness.
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00:29:16.250 --> 00:29:19.167
For it enables us to have a close
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00:29:19.167 --> 00:29:23.880
working relationship with God.
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00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:28.880
Finally, Washington Duke, this man of simple faith,
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00:29:29.290 --> 00:29:31.490
whose life shows us that nothing is possible unless
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00:29:31.490 --> 00:29:34.730
you believe, that real faith has more to do
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00:29:34.730 --> 00:29:39.730
with holiness than happiness, became a man
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00:29:40.128 --> 00:29:44.059
of the purest integrity.
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00:29:44.059 --> 00:29:46.366
And that is something for us to celebrate
427
00:29:46.366 --> 00:29:48.390
on this Founder's Day.
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00:29:48.390 --> 00:29:51.750
It's a fact that we can thank God for any day,
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00:29:51.750 --> 00:29:54.990
for it's rare enough in any age to make us wonder
430
00:29:54.990 --> 00:29:58.090
whether or not it has completely disappeared,
431
00:29:58.090 --> 00:29:59.750
but it keeps turning up.
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00:29:59.750 --> 00:30:02.850
First here, and over there, in unexpected places,
433
00:30:02.850 --> 00:30:05.700
in unexpected times.
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00:30:05.700 --> 00:30:10.700
Let me say, that it is one of the things we ought
435
00:30:10.750 --> 00:30:14.360
to be looking for most of all, and reward,
436
00:30:14.360 --> 00:30:17.553
in our political leaders today.
437
00:30:17.553 --> 00:30:20.290
That's the criterion that ought to be in our minds,
438
00:30:20.290 --> 00:30:23.205
more than any other.
439
00:30:23.205 --> 00:30:25.410
More important than a party platform,
440
00:30:25.410 --> 00:30:27.670
more important than whether a candidate
441
00:30:27.670 --> 00:30:31.020
has supported a particular issue.
442
00:30:31.020 --> 00:30:35.680
What will affect this nation four years from now,
443
00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:38.290
40 years from now, 400 years from now
444
00:30:38.290 --> 00:30:43.290
is not whether anyone is for or against the ERA,
445
00:30:43.790 --> 00:30:48.400
for or against the draft, pro-life or for
446
00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:50.980
freedom of choice with respect to abortions,
447
00:30:50.980 --> 00:30:54.873
for or against tax cuts.
448
00:30:54.873 --> 00:30:57.814
What will count most
449
00:30:57.814 --> 00:31:00.997
is whether the candidates we elect
450
00:31:00.997 --> 00:31:04.914
are persons of integrity,
451
00:31:04.914 --> 00:31:07.047
persons of courage,
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00:31:07.047 --> 00:31:11.348
and consistency, and unselfishness.
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00:31:11.348 --> 00:31:15.140
This man, Washington Duke,
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00:31:15.140 --> 00:31:19.610
became a man of integrity.
455
00:31:19.610 --> 00:31:24.610
In 1905, he died.
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00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:28.640
The trustees of Trinity College said, "We have never
457
00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:32.651
seen him less than a man acting under the fear of God
458
00:31:32.651 --> 00:31:37.030
and under the inspiration of lofty purpose."
459
00:31:37.030 --> 00:31:40.160
There was no act of his life for which
460
00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:44.473
the college need make apology.
461
00:31:44.473 --> 00:31:46.978
What integrity.
462
00:31:46.978 --> 00:31:50.600
The faculty said, "He never hampered us with a small idea,
463
00:31:50.600 --> 00:31:54.262
or a personal wish, or preference."
464
00:31:54.262 --> 00:31:57.337
What integrity.
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00:31:57.337 --> 00:32:00.400
A generation ago, Herbert Butterfield was professor
466
00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:04.755
of modern history at the University of Cambridge England.
467
00:32:04.755 --> 00:32:09.755
I think he has a word to say to us,
468
00:32:10.137 --> 00:32:13.760
"The profoundest effects on our civilization have been
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00:32:13.760 --> 00:32:18.660
produced by people who were not thinking of affecting
470
00:32:18.660 --> 00:32:23.318
the course of human affairs at the mundane level.
471
00:32:23.318 --> 00:32:28.318
They have come by the unanticipated byproducts of lives
472
00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:33.679
intent on spiritual things."
473
00:32:36.210 --> 00:32:41.210
Maybe the life story of Washington Duke has a
474
00:32:41.480 --> 00:32:46.480
remarkable parallel in William Booth,
475
00:32:46.530 --> 00:32:48.380
the founder of The Salvation Army.
476
00:32:48.380 --> 00:32:53.380
He was asked one time what was the secret of his success.
477
00:32:53.440 --> 00:32:58.415
And his answer was, "God had all there was
478
00:32:59.500 --> 00:33:02.190
of William Booth."
479
00:33:02.190 --> 00:33:05.645
He never claimed to be a great thinker.
480
00:33:05.645 --> 00:33:09.330
He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
481
00:33:09.330 --> 00:33:13.205
He never got any particular breaks in life.
482
00:33:13.205 --> 00:33:15.470
He left British Methodism because it wouldn't let him
483
00:33:15.470 --> 00:33:17.460
do a job that he thought he could do,
484
00:33:17.460 --> 00:33:21.126
and he started from absolute scratch.
485
00:33:21.126 --> 00:33:24.700
But he said, "From the day that I got the poor of London
486
00:33:24.700 --> 00:33:28.500
on my heart, and a vision of what Jesus Christ could do
487
00:33:28.500 --> 00:33:32.578
with the poor of London, I made up my mind
488
00:33:32.578 --> 00:33:37.578
that God would have all there was
489
00:33:37.961 --> 00:33:40.569
of William Booth."
490
00:33:40.569 --> 00:33:43.210
Years later, that devotion would be tested.
491
00:33:43.210 --> 00:33:45.610
He was stricken with eye trouble,
492
00:33:45.610 --> 00:33:47.690
and when the final medical verdict was in,
493
00:33:47.690 --> 00:33:51.667
his son Bramwell had to break the news to him.
494
00:33:51.667 --> 00:33:56.667
"You mean that I'm blind?", said the old man.
495
00:33:56.887 --> 00:34:01.461
"I fear we must contemplate that", said his son.
496
00:34:01.461 --> 00:34:04.580
"I shall never see your face again?"
497
00:34:04.580 --> 00:34:09.270
"Not in this life, Dad."
498
00:34:09.270 --> 00:34:12.670
"Bramwell", he said as he reached out his hand
499
00:34:12.670 --> 00:34:17.490
and grasped his son's hand, "I have tried to serve
500
00:34:17.490 --> 00:34:22.391
God the best I can with my sight.
501
00:34:23.540 --> 00:34:28.540
I shall now try to serve him the best I can
502
00:34:28.598 --> 00:34:31.189
without sight."
503
00:34:31.189 --> 00:34:36.180
God had all there was of William Booth.
504
00:34:37.750 --> 00:34:42.691
Maybe we have this university today
505
00:34:44.858 --> 00:34:49.808
because God had all there was
506
00:34:51.174 --> 00:34:55.290
of Washington Duke.
507
00:34:55.290 --> 00:34:58.806
Let us pray.
508
00:35:01.190 --> 00:35:04.920
Almighty God, we now praise famous men,
509
00:35:04.920 --> 00:35:08.130
remembering especially the father of
510
00:35:08.130 --> 00:35:10.050
the new Trinity College and the man for whom
511
00:35:10.050 --> 00:35:14.146
this university is named, Washington Duke,
512
00:35:14.146 --> 00:35:18.308
one of Thy surprising saints.
513
00:35:18.308 --> 00:35:22.519
For him and to Thee on behalf of us all,
514
00:35:22.519 --> 00:35:27.519
including his children, we say thank you Father.
515
00:35:27.890 --> 00:35:29.773
Thank you.
516
00:35:29.773 --> 00:35:32.481
Amen.
517
00:35:36.240 --> 00:35:38.907
(organ playing)
518
00:35:56.870 --> 00:35:59.537
(choir singing)
519
00:36:45.403 --> 00:36:48.070
(organ playing)
520
00:37:32.270 --> 00:37:35.490
Let us affirm what we believe.
521
00:37:35.490 --> 00:37:37.940
We believe in God, who has
522
00:37:37.940 --> 00:37:40.240
created and is creating.
523
00:37:40.240 --> 00:37:43.260
Who has come into truly human Jesus
524
00:37:43.260 --> 00:37:45.880
to reconcile and make new.
525
00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:49.510
Who works in us and others by the Spirit.
526
00:37:49.510 --> 00:37:53.740
We trust God, who calls us to be the church,
527
00:37:53.740 --> 00:37:56.690
to celebrate life and its fullness,
528
00:37:56.690 --> 00:38:00.440
to love and serve others, to seek justice,
529
00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:05.440
and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,
530
00:38:05.920 --> 00:38:08.390
our judge and our hope.
531
00:38:08.390 --> 00:38:12.720
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
532
00:38:12.720 --> 00:38:14.550
God is with us.
533
00:38:14.550 --> 00:38:16.360
We are not alone.
534
00:38:16.360 --> 00:38:18.560
Thanks be to God.
535
00:38:18.560 --> 00:38:20.459
The Lord be with you.
536
00:38:20.459 --> 00:38:22.070
And with you also.
537
00:38:22.070 --> 00:38:23.643
Let us pray.
538
00:38:35.094 --> 00:38:39.427
Oh Lord, our God, who has made us a royal priesthood
539
00:38:40.350 --> 00:38:43.760
that we may offer unto you prayer and intercession
540
00:38:43.760 --> 00:38:45.560
for all your children.
541
00:38:45.560 --> 00:38:47.493
Hear us now as we pray.
542
00:38:48.600 --> 00:38:52.040
For all who labor with their hands, that they
543
00:38:52.040 --> 00:38:55.023
may enjoy the rewards of their industry.
544
00:38:55.870 --> 00:38:58.590
For those who bear the responsibilities of
545
00:38:58.590 --> 00:39:02.080
leadership and administration, that they may not
546
00:39:02.080 --> 00:39:06.830
use their authority and power for selfish advantage,
547
00:39:06.830 --> 00:39:11.113
but be guided to do justice and to love mercy.
548
00:39:12.710 --> 00:39:16.480
For those who have suffered in the battles of life,
549
00:39:16.480 --> 00:39:19.580
through the inhumanity of their fellows,
550
00:39:19.580 --> 00:39:23.840
through their own limitations, or the incomprehensible
551
00:39:23.840 --> 00:39:27.830
forces of evil, that they may contend against
552
00:39:27.830 --> 00:39:31.970
injustice without bitterness, and learn to accept
553
00:39:31.970 --> 00:39:34.803
with patience what cannot be altered.
554
00:39:36.180 --> 00:39:39.020
For the rulers of the nations, that they might
555
00:39:39.020 --> 00:39:42.060
act wisely and without pride.
556
00:39:42.060 --> 00:39:45.880
May seek to promote peace among the peoples
557
00:39:45.880 --> 00:39:49.333
and establish justice in our common life.
558
00:39:50.820 --> 00:39:54.190
For students, here at this university,
559
00:39:54.190 --> 00:39:57.760
who struggle to study, to show themselves approved
560
00:39:57.760 --> 00:40:02.753
unto God in all their habits and in their honest work.
561
00:40:04.070 --> 00:40:07.370
For teachers and ministers of the word, that they
562
00:40:07.370 --> 00:40:10.860
may rightly divide the Word of truth and not be
563
00:40:10.860 --> 00:40:14.620
tempted by any passion to corrupt the truth
564
00:40:14.620 --> 00:40:16.423
to which they are committed.
565
00:40:17.760 --> 00:40:21.700
For families and loved ones, who gather in this
566
00:40:21.700 --> 00:40:26.580
holy Advent season, that their lives may shine forth
567
00:40:26.580 --> 00:40:29.823
with a light of your presence and hope.
568
00:40:30.780 --> 00:40:35.750
For prophets and saints, who awaken us from laziness,
569
00:40:35.750 --> 00:40:39.330
that they may continue to hold their torches high
570
00:40:39.330 --> 00:40:43.223
in a world that is darkened by prejudice and sin.
571
00:40:44.064 --> 00:40:48.320
Oh God, who has bound us together in this very
572
00:40:48.320 --> 00:40:53.320
bundle of life, give us grace now to understand
573
00:40:53.350 --> 00:40:58.350
how our lives depend upon the courage, the honesty,
574
00:40:58.420 --> 00:41:02.460
and the integrity of all our brothers and sisters,
575
00:41:02.460 --> 00:41:05.260
that we may be mindful of their needs,
576
00:41:05.260 --> 00:41:09.240
grateful for their faithfulness, and faithful in our
577
00:41:09.240 --> 00:41:11.760
responsibilities to them.
578
00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:15.126
For it is through Jesus Christ our Lord that we pray
579
00:41:15.126 --> 00:41:19.580
and whom taught us to pray saying.
580
00:41:19.580 --> 00:41:22.440
Our Father who art in Heaven,
581
00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:24.450
hallowed be Thy name.
582
00:41:24.450 --> 00:41:29.363
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done as it is in Heaven.
583
00:41:30.300 --> 00:41:32.910
Give us this day, our daily bread,
584
00:41:32.910 --> 00:41:36.410
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those
585
00:41:36.410 --> 00:41:38.680
who trespass against us.
586
00:41:38.680 --> 00:41:43.170
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
587
00:41:43.170 --> 00:41:46.030
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power,
588
00:41:46.030 --> 00:41:47.712
and the glory forever.
589
00:41:47.712 --> 00:41:48.545
Amen.
590
00:41:56.288 --> 00:41:58.955
(organ playing)
591
00:43:34.176 --> 00:43:36.843
(choir singing)
592
00:44:07.296 --> 00:44:09.963
(choir singing)