Los Angeles herald., 1890-06-23
UNIVERSITY.
Baccalaureate Sermon Preached by
President Bovard.


Yesterday morning, an hour before
the time appointed, the college chapel
began to fill up with students and
friends who had come to hear the bac-
calaureate sermon by President M. M.
Bovard. On the left side of the rostrum
was seated a choir, composed of Messrs.
Rice, Hayes, Robinson, Daugherty,
Ross, Hall, Conaway and Lapham, with
Mrs. Coe as pianist. Seated in a semi
circle back OF the choir were President
Bovard, Dean Cherington, Profs. Whitted,
Coe and Gray, Rev. B. B. Corey of Red
lands and DR.. Matthew, pastor of Uni
versity church.
Promptly at IL O'Clock a hymn was
announced, and after singing, Rev.
Corey led in prayer. Miss Leila Breed
then sang my Redeemer and My Lord"
dudley Buck). DR.. Matthew read as
scripture lesson Corinthians, 18th chap
ter. Dean Cherington made the an
nouncements for the remainder of COM
mencement week, after which President
Bovard preached the baccalaureate SER
mon, taking for his text the fifth verse
of the first chapter of First Timothy:
Now the end of the commandment
is charity out of a pure heart, and of a
good conscience and Of faith unfeigned."
The following is brief synopsis of
his remarks
l understand that the word "end''
here means final cause, and that "com-
mandment" is general and means the
word of God. 1t would then read ''the
gospel is charity out of a pure heart"
The object of the commandment is that
men may live a true life and that it may
not be a failure, but success. He
wanted to emphasize ''true life'' more
particularly than usual that this class
which is now to graduate may recall
each commencement Sunday, as the
years roll on. Without any prelim-
inaries, he would call attention at
once to the need of faith rooted and
grounded. The fundamental element is
the belief of the truth. 1t is not easy to
know all the truth. Some things we can
never know, but the things that con-
Germ us largely are those we do not know
but believe. Paul says: Gath is the
substance OF things hoped for, the evil
dence of things not seen.' The educa-
ton OF this class is to enable them to find
out what is truth, and they ought to
have not had the advantages. They
ought to be all OF unfeigned faith, one
that rests on testimony that we can be-
lieve. The ground of unfeigned faith is
deep conviction.
Belief enlarged till it is unfeigned
faith is the foundation of true life
The guide to a true life is good con-
science. 1t has sometimes been said
that good conscience is one that is
free from pain on account of guilt A
poor one might be that. A good con-
science is more than one void OF offence.
1t means one that is a real benefit, that
will detect right quickly and feel wrong
keenly. We need nowhere more to fol-
low the guiding of a trst-class conscience
than in Southern California, and follow
it for Christ's sake. The good conscience
must come out OF pure heart, SO we
must get the pure heart. This is an age
of charity but the motive can be
improved. 1t must come out of pure
heart. The mistake that has been SO
often made in this country in preaching
OF pure heart is that it is the end of all
things. God wants charity; God wants
loving deeds; God wants from all these
people good fruits out of pure heart,
not simply pure hearts.
The difficulty we have in keeping our
religion is not in telling of it, but in not
doing it. Only tell it to save and benefit
others. Use Christ as an example.
Every true life has grand aim. He
then advised the senior class to spend
much time in reading Gods word and in
prayer, and not make religion and right
living secondary to their business. A
hymn was then sung and the benedic-
tion pronounced by Dean Cherington.
Rev. B. G. Corey in the evening
preached the annual sermon from the
text: For the earnest expectation of
the creature waiteth on the manifesto