Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-07-01
MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE.

THE EVENTS OF ITS 92D COMMENCEMENT.
The commencement of the college,
which began on Sunday and continued
through Wednesday. passed of in man
ner most gratifying 10 all concerned.
The public exercises were of high
order without exceptions; the attendance
was fair, the weather taken into account.
and there was manifest Il spirit of good
feeling toward the college and hopeful
ness for its future that must bring re-
suits.
THE BACCALAUEEATE
The baccalaureate sermon was preached
at the Congregational church on Sunday
morning by President Ezra Brainerd.
The edifice was well filled. Mrs. G..
ID. Miner presided at the organ and the
singing was by IA double male quartet
composed of DR.. Sheldon, Mr.RichardsOn,
Mr. Hubbard, Mr.. Woodward and
Messrs. Toleman, Seeley, CushInan and
Wells of the college. The service began
with II voluntary, followed by the singing
of the doXology, the invocation, the sing
ing of the anthem, 80 be joyful in the
Lord by the quartet, the reading of the
L
the quartet of at is the Lords oW Ii day,
the reading of the scripture lesson, the
first Is verses of the lst chapter of John I;
prayer by President Brainerd, and the
singing by the choir, which included, in
addition to those named, Misses Elga
Stewart Mary Steele and Carrie, Ella
and Mable Bond, of hymn 522, Rise,
glorious cOnquerUr, rise. Then came
the sermon and the service closed with
prayer by the president, the singing OF
HYMN 5G3, How firm foundation" and
the benedction.
The sermon, which concluded with the
customary address to the members of
the graduating class, who had seats in
front ana arose as that part of the dis
course was reached. was founded on the
words in Colossians i:l5--"Who is the
image of the invisible God" The fol-
lowing abstract will show somewhat
of the drift of the thought, though it
gives but an inadequate idea of Il lneaty
and practical talk
The great Being who made and uphOlds
all things is spirit whom no mortal eye
can see; He dwells in the light which no
man can approach unto. But in Christ
we behold his image; in Christ God ap-
pears in Il form that we can apprehend
and love and adore. As an historic event
the incarnation is the greatest in all time;
as IA religious truth it is at the foundation
of all theology.
1t is general law of mind that every
spiritual existence must have material
embodiment in order to bring it within
our knowledge. The human body thus
images and reveals the soul. In like
manner the spoken or the written word
is hn n thnnUhf
God would reveal his eternal truth to the
world it was necessary that it should APP
pear in the form of human words, which
could he seen or heard. Beauty is an un-
real thing until it is embodied before us
in the flower or the landscape or the hu-
man face. The musician inVents sweet
melodies and harmUneS. bur ii Is dead
thing until il takes sensible form in the
tones of the voice or the instrument.
There is Il like human necessity that God
shoul manifest himself in some concrete
form.
Natural science cannot adequately dis
cover God. 1t peers through its tele-
scopes far out into space, but it finds no
heaven where God resides such as men
have supposed there was IN the blue vault
above them. Science scrutiniZes matter
with its microscopes, but it can find no
sustaining God there, any more than with
its dissecting knives it can find the human
soul in the body. Nor does philosophy
reveal God much more clearly than sci
ence. The mind can construct no meta
physical formulas of God which are suf-
/ ficient to bow the soul in alteration and
love.
There is IA pre-establshed fitness in the
human form to represent God. Man was
/ Ha in ha nt ,nd
can appear in the likeness of man. Per-
sonality involving conscious intelligence
and free will is the most exalted type of
being which the mind of nan can con-
ceive, and therefore it is the least inapprO-
pirate symbol to represent God. Even
before the coming of Christ men were
constrained to conceive of God as in the
/ likeness of man. ldolatry in its origin
is but the perversion of natural instinct.
/ The sublime truth of the incarnation
satisfies at once the demands of the intel
lect and of the heart. Christianity does
not deny that God in his essence is in
/ scrutable; it does not assert that God is
a man, but that perfect humanity is the
| least inadequate representation OF God. 1t
distinguishes the image from the sprtu-
al object that it manifests. 1t looks
/ through the symbol and thereby appre-
hends the inefiable Reality beyond; lust
as we look into the face of friend and
/ become aware of the invisible soul with
| in, to which alone our thoughts and af-
fections 90 forth.
This manifestation of God in Christ is
suited to all grades and conditions, The
child who can understand " suffer little
children to come unto me" can learn to
know and trust God in Christ. The ig-
norant savage who listens to the simple
story of the cross can apprehend the love
of God in Christ. While, on the other
hand, the brightest intellect the race has
produced can bow in alteration before the
image of God in Christ without misgiv-
ing or superstition.
ANNIv vERSARY OF THE COLLEGE v NJ. c. A.
On Sunday evening the anniversary of
the college Young Mems Christian asso-
citation was celebrated at the Congrega-
tional church. Mr.. HesselgIave, presi-
dent of the association, had direction of
the exercises. They opened with vol
untary, Mrs. Miner presiding at the Or