he Sermon
on the Mount was spoken by a young man, and it moves with the impetuous
virility of youth. The old are water-logged physically. They are mentally
bound up with the institutions inside of which they have spent a lifetime,
and they want to enjoy in peace the wealth and position they have
attained. We shall be just the same forty years from now. But while we are
young is the time to make a forward run with the flag of Christ, the
banner of justice and love, and plant it on the heights yonder. We must
not only be better men and women than we are now. We must leave a better
world behind us when we are through with it. Whatever we affirm in our
growing years will work out in some fashion in our years of maturity and
power. If fifty thousand college men and women a year would range
themselves alongside of Jesus Christ, look at our present world as
open-eyed as he looked at his world, see where the social standards of
conduct are in contradiction with his spirit and with modern need, and
work to raise them, the world would feel the effect in ten years. And
those who would strive in that way would live by faith in the higher
commonwealth of God and have some of its nobility of spirit.

Suggestions for Thought and Discussion

I. _Living Up to the Old Standards_

1. What would happen if a college community began to live up to the
standards of work and honor which all acknowledge?

2. Does human nature welcome a moral advance?

II. _The Ethical Program of Jesus_

1. What advance does Jesus' program make necessary? State the main
principle in Matt. 5:17-48, and the six applications made by Jesus
himself. How was this principle connected with his idea of the Kingdom?

2. Can we agree with the principle? How far can we go with Jesus in his
application?

3. Would a man get more or less satisfaction out of life if he obeyed
these maxims in private life?

4. How far could a man hold his own if he obeyed them in a reasonable way
in business or in public life? If a man loved his enemies and turned the
other cheek, would he be everybody's doormat or everybody's friend and
refuge?

III. _Raising the Standards Today_

1. On what ethical questions have we come to the point where the moral
standards accepted by society can be and must be raised?

2. If you could purchase one single advance by your life, what would you
choose?

3. How does an expansion of the area of full social obligation operate to
raise the st