Europe. It juts out
between two seas as does no other country of that continent. Before the
discovery of America by Columbus, the Spaniards prided themselves on
the supposed fact that their country was the last point of solid land
on the earth westward. Beyond them, they thought, there was nothing but
a vast expanse of water--a shoreless ocean--a mystery never to be
solved. Consequently the early coins of that country, in order to give
prominence to this idea, were indented with a picture of the pillars of
Hercules, the two great sentries on each side of the straits of
Gibraltar. Encircling these pillars on their coins was the inscription,
_ne plus ultra_--nothing beyond. They imagined, therefore, that they
constituted the limits of creation; that beyond them there was nothing.
Consequently, as in creation the last is the best, they gave to
themselves the preeminence. In this proud idea they rested and praised
the Lord. In their own estimation, therefore, they constituted the _ne
plus ultra_ of God's favored people. Thus they constituted another
proud monument of man's folly and ignorance, from which it is well to
take warning. In course of time, however, Columbus conceived the idea
of another world west of Spain. After long years of discouragement,
sufficient to crush the spirit of all but those of noble impulses and
high resolves, he was permitted, with a small fleet, utterly
insignificant in this age, to sail westward. He thus discovered the
_new world_ whose existence, if ever known before, had faded from the
memory of man. On his return, when the Spaniards became convinced that
a great continent lay to the west of them, they were compelled,
humiliating as it was, to change the inscription on their coins,
encircling the pillars of Hercules, to _plus ultra_--more beyond. This
the demonstrated truth demanded. Thus the discovery of America took the
_ne_ off of their proud motto, thus teaching them a lesson which should
be a lesson to the world. Their negation was changed to an affirmation.
Their boasted limit of creation was changed to an acknowledgment of the
unknown beyond. Thus it has ever been in man's proud history. Thus it
will doubtless continue to be till we know as we are known. "Whether
there be knowledge, it shall vanish away; for now we know only in part,
but then shall we know even also as we are known."

The first thought with which I would impress your minds to-day,
especially the minds of those who go