The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-16
THE CLASS SERMON.
Raccalaureate Address Of the
State University.
ELOQUENT AND EARNEsTWoRDs.
rev. wallace Nutting Talks to the
Graduates Of Character and tho
Supreme Character.

4 dents OF the State university was preached
at Plymouth Congregational church yes
,erday morning by Rev. Wallace Nuttine.
The church was crowded to the doors.
Seats had been reserved for the students.
and the faculty occupied the platform
around the altar. The eloquent discourse
was listened to with rapt attention, not
only by those to whom it was directly adj
: dressed, but by every person in the house.
The sermon found its theme in tho fol-
lowing passage:
John u:20-21: "Now there were certain
Greeksa ong those that went up to worship at
tae feast these therefore came to Philip which
was of Bethsada of Gaiilee, and asked him, say
ing, sir, We would see Jesus"
DR.. Philip Lindsay said to his pupils: zone
of the best preparations for death is thorough
knowledge OF the Greek grammar" If this be
true your studies have not been in vain I am
ready to say that the loss of the average man in
being unable to read this beautiful passage in
the original is so great that the study of three
years, to repair that loss, is well worth the
while.
The naturalness of Jesus nowhere appears
more strikingly than here, and it is very essen
tial that we shall comprehend the naturalness
o. Jesus in order to comprehend the meaning of
3 His words. Jesus had reached the week of the
crucifxion. Indeed, twas the Wednesday or
THURSDAY before the Friday OF the crucinxion,
he Uau u Jay or TWO DeiOre cledUbeu the temple,
and he had taken up his abode there, as his nat
ural home. The cleansing of the temple means
that He had driven from the outer court, or the
court OF the Gentles, the tradera This court of
the Gentiles We hear OF in Solomons day. That
prince of broad mind had provided for a court
where the world at large might worship the true
God, and he had thus shown a dim perception
OF the great truth to break forth in Jesus, that
God was the GOD of all men. But the Jews, in
stead of welcoming proselytcs in the proper
spirit, had filed the court intended for their
worship with all sorts OF hucksters, of sacrifi-
cial victims and with money changers, to con-
vert, at usurious rates of exchange. the coin
OF Jews coming from all quarters of the world
into the legal money of the sanctuary That
Jesus had the wide world OF worshpers in
S.mind rather than the Jews alone when he
cleansed the temple is apparent from the words
that He spoke to justify His act: "My house
shall be called house OF prayer for all the ma
tons. But ye have made il den of robbers"
, Imagine yourself seeker after God from q
Gentle nation going up to Jerusalem to wo--
ship as the place where God had specially re-
veaied Himself Going into that part
OF the temple Enclosure which had been
particularly designed for your use, you
ind 1t swarmng with covetous rogues ready to
trade upon your devotional spirit You easily
see how revolving such an experience would be
10 sense OF reverence, and how little calcu-
lated 1t was to make the character OF God known
and loved. Jesus then had shown by his brief
administration of the temple and by his inter-
pretation of the truth there how he would re-
vive and extend the glories OF Solomon and
how broad was his view OF the world wide privi.
lege of worship.
Now there were at this most important occa-
sion of the religious year Cthe Passover certain
Greek proselytes who had come up to the tenn
pie to worship. They had perceived beneath the
rubbish of Jewish tradition the glorious and
eternal truth of the one God, who was the
father OF all men, Their Greek birth had made
them the inheritors of the magnificent treas
ures of Hellenic philosophy-treasures so rich
: that they are still read in our halls of learning
as the highest illustrations of the unaided
power OF mind, and as the noblest form OF lin
gulstic expression, unsurpassed even by our
otherwise unrvalled English. 1t matters little
for our present purposes whether these Greeks
were or were not deeply versed In their national
philosophy. Suffice il to say that the proselyte
coming from a distance and grasping the great
truths OF the Mosaic law was in all likelihood u
person of broad mind and no little culture.
Under such circumstances it is apparent that
the commotion caused at Jerusalem by the radi-
cal measures of Jesus in taking control of the
temple out of the hands OF the chief priests and
their numerous servants and police-it is appar
en-, that these measures greatly interested the
Greeks, who benefited mostly by them, and
whose respect for Jesus was accordingly in
creased Here was Jew free from the usual
-. Jewish faults OF excluslveness; Jew, IN fact,
who seemed to personify those great and desir-
abe qualities which had attracted them in the
Jewish religion.
y Now the only apostles among the twelve who
had Greek names were Philip and Andrew. The
Greek name meant some connection with Greek
thought and Greek people. The Greek prose
lytes therefore sought out Philip 70 serve as
their agent in an introduction to Jesus They
addressed him by the title sir, elsewhere gener
trpn tod tnVH lima TO ~a-
ton for Christ in the respect they showed even
toward His apostle. "Sir, we would see Jesus"
It'll evident that they meant something more
than merely look at Him, for that might have
been brought about for themselves. Philip
understood the gravity OF such a request
for he knew that the ministrations of Jesus had
been confined TO the Hebrew nation. He did
not venture before consulting the other apostle
ofGreek name, Andrew, to go to Jesus with the
significant request And when they together
told Jesus, lie made answer: 1.-THE hour IL come
that the son of Man should be glorifed." The
Appropriateness OF the answer appears now 10
u, after the long Introduction by which We
q have come to it For in this request the hour
P'struck when the outside world. and particularly
that part of il which was most inteiligently
seeking after God. showed Itself ready TO receive
the Christ aud to "ind in Him the Fatherhood
III God revealed"
Jesus was greatly moved. The climax OF the
Jews rejection of Him had been reached at the
came time that the world a. large was beginning
among its choicer spirits TO see Him in His
broader self He felt that the great catastrophe
was at hand which should break through His
rlrcumscrlbed life as a Jewish rabbi and lift
Him above and away from mere nationality to
hls true position as the world Savior.
The kernel of wheat, common emblem IN the
greek mysteries, could not multiply and at the
came time save Its own little life. The two dis
clpies with Greek sympathies doubtless saw In
their tidings way out for Jesus from the furi-
Gus hatred OF the Jews 20 the ready acceptance
oi powerful friends The history of Eusebius
states that the king Of odessa sent an embassy
70 Jesus Offering him safe asylum aud distin-
euished honor. But Jesus now nipped IN the
scd any faint ambitions Of the two disciples by
- we solemn assurance: "Verily, verify. / say
unto you that ii the corn OF wheat die, il bearsth
= maeh fFniL / shall not withdraw. He that
leSeth his life loSeth it in the very boarding,
sof 1t shrivee and cannot grow; but he who
SHOWS generous contempt for the narrowDess
oi ms ilte AS II Is now shall keep it unto lie
s'ernal by its expansion out of itself into the
World. Ny Fathers voics tells Me that as He
has giorifed His name in Ny life among Ny
feop,e he Will more greatly glorfy il again
smong ali people In this call of the Greeks the
solemn hour or evil Is reached the dominion OF
darkness VIII be broken. and |, being lifted up,
ANAL draw - Myself sll men. This is My
ssSer to the Greeks" With this word Jesus dis
gappeared as public teacher The light of the
Jewish nation went ont. to dawn again with
mnIupliei power upon the world at large.
present u you, therefore. Jesus the inter
prefer o. lie aud all its occupations. knowledge
waiting II DC crowned appears in these Greeks
"uo seek 20 have Intercourse with Jesus. Jesus