The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1892-06-16
HARDWOOD SEMINARY.
Commencement Exercises Largely At
tended.

Harwood Seminary, our popular educa-
tional Institution for young ladies, gave
our people this week most delightful,
interesting and instructive series of enter
tainments in the commencement exercises
THE BACCALAUREATE SERMON
was preached Sunday at the Presbyterian
Church by Rev. j. G. Patton, of Hender.
son, KY, brother OF Rev. j. H. Patton, OF
this place. The church was crowded by
the intelligence, refinement and culture Of
our city. The graduating young ladies
occupied chairs on the right of the pulpit
as you enter. while the trustees occupied
seats in the rear.
The opening prayers were made by Rev.
j. G Patton and Rev. II. j. Ellis After
appropriate songs and reading lesson,
Rev. Mr.. Patton took the 38th verse Of the
18th chapter of John as his text-"Pilaae
said unto Him, what is truth p E
The speaker said the ancient Greek heroes vent
to the distant East after prizes of golden Aeeces
through toll, pain and peril, Jason, beloved Of
from the pine trees of the mountains, was looked
uRAR.a endowed with the spirit of prophecy.
ed the oars, defying the elements of air
- He came back triumphant in possession
ZINC golden fleece but it was emptiness of heart,
"a Jason's last days were of grief and despair.
The immaterial world with its prizes, can not sat
isfy manor give the nature of man rest-and in
the diligent search for the things that saties the
cravings of the heart, the prize of truth, when
found, prompts its possessor to cry out Eureka.
Socrates returning after periods of profound
research in the philosophy of his time after truth
in all the various domains of human thought
put the question, what is truth and attempted to
answer it by the practical reasoning resting below
the multifarious affairs of life, in the quality OF
human action, but this was incomplete, erroneous
and dangerous, and in consequence his disciples
were skeptics.
Newton returning from the sombre exact sci
ences of Kepler, Paschal and Wallace, having
reached the acme of investigation in PHYSICAL and
Mathematical sciences in answer to what is truth
said it the intintessimal calculus the basis of
all calculation but in his physical conception of
the universe and the great Law Giver, he missed
the true answer.
Copernicus in viewing the wonderful machinery
of the universe, said truth the music of the
spheres, but he missed it.
Angelo, as he stood before block of marble
with mallet and chisel, consuming the moments
and days, planning to sculptured perfection and
beauty, considered truth the ideal in stone but
he was mistaken.
Literature, music, art sculpture, cannot give
to that inward feeling in man. the solution to the
question, What is truth? Ages of human deyel-
opment have failed to fill the void The real sub
stance in the soul of man cannot rest upon what
Jason found. Your soul and mine cannot find
truth in science, mathematics and the works of
nature, and what men call wisdom, was the
wisdom of Solomon.
Absolute truth in its relative bearing has but
human wisdom. Absolute Truth was given by the
Son of God eighteen hundred years ago in those
wonderful words, al am the truth" The nature
OF man can find no rest until he finds it in
Christ as the needle turns to the polar north, or
the little stream of the mountain is borne to the
ocean, SO emind of man turns to and can find
no rest only in the soul of God.
How and why Christ embOdies the characteristics
OF absolute truth. His wisdom planned the mar
BILE, perfected the ear to the sounds of music, adj
the universe with beauty that breaks upon the
eye. He is the incarnate One. The highest con-
ception of wisdom is in the redemption of the race
OF man. Angels could not solve the problem, there
me" lie came to earth to effect the reclamation,
the redemption of fallen man. Here 10 wisdom
commensurate with justice and satisfies the d-
vine law, for God loved the world,as to give His
only son to die for the world here is love COM
mensurate with divine power and complete
Hence in Jesus is the fountain of wisdom abso-
lutte TRUTH giving to the sous:of men lasting salts.
| faction and perfect rest.
Students of this world, in hunting for truth in
the intricate relations of your being and in the
science OF language, you will find all rules Of law,
| ideas and knowledge, cannot satisfy the soul.
I Jesus is the embodiment of love and beauty
Upon yon verdant banks, of crystal lake with its
silvery ripple, slopes Of green, waving reeds where
| the primrose with its delicate perfume fills the
air, where the lilly blooms in the splendor of God
raiment, not even Solomon being arrayed like one
OF and as the sun goes to rest sheds glory
to the vision, all the senses being enchanted with
the scene, we exclaim that is Gods idea of trans
cendent beauty.
| AS we walk out into the music hall of natures
grand cathedral, where the forest is resonant with
the music of feathered songster, We find hid
Den mere the very soul of harmony, ten thousand
harps attunej to angelic symphonies. That is
Gods idea of music.
Traverse the land sail the sea, visit the rainbow
and pass the milkway, and standing upon some
distant star look down upon the:world Of nature,
beautiful and attractive IL is but little raw from
the fountain Of light, giving but feeble express
| ion OF the wisdom of God, or the beauty of the
Prince OF Peace. who was likened unto the rose of
sharon,.the lilly of the valley, the bright and
| morning star.
Christ is the embodiment of love. A mothers
| love is uudying for her child. Bending in anxious