The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-05-30
BISHOP THOMPSON, OF MISSIS~
SiPPI, MAKES 4 SPLEEN
DID IMPRESSION.
JUDGE CONNOR'S EXCELLENT ADDRESS
Words Of Wisdem to Young Men Entering the
the Practice of Law from One Whose
Career Gives him The RICH,
to Give Advice.


The one hundred and fourth annual
commencement of the University Of
North Carolina was begun yester-
day by the preaching of the bacca-
laureate sermon by the Ri. Rev. Hugh
Miller Thompson, Bishop of the do
cese of Mississippi. Promptly at II
O'Clock the Senior Glass, wearing caps
and gowns, formed in the South build
ing, and with President Alderman and
the visiting divines marched to the
chapel in the following order: j. ).
Carr, president Of the class, and
Chief Marshal Moore first, followed
by President Alderman and Bishop
Thompson. Next came Bishop Che
shire of the eastern diocese of North
Carolina, and Rev. DR.. Meade, who
were followed by the Senior Glass,
marching by twos.
Services in the chapel were open
ed with bass solo, My Hope is Built
on Nothing Else" by Mr.. Anderson,
of the University. The morning serv-
ice and prayer were read by DR..
Meade, and Bishop Cheshire read the
lesson oil the morning.
President Alderman introduced the
Rt Rev. Hugh Miller, Bishop of Mis-
sissippi, baccalaureate preacher for
this academic year.
Bishop Thompson selected his text
from Paul's Second Epistle to limo
thy, 9th and 18th verses, and preached
for nearly three-quarters of an hour.
His wide reputation as a scholar and
preacher and teacher had attracted q
large crowd from surrounding towns
to hear him, and those who came left
with words of great praise for the
cminen. divine. His sermon was what
would have been expected from one
of the ablest and most scholarly di-
vines in the American church today
it was more-it was grand beyond
description. Filled with impressive
truths and manly power it carried u
lesson to each nearer not soon to be
forgotten. The sermon was not the
result of an hours labor, but bore
the indelible stamp of the preachers
own virility and life-work. The clos
ing ten minutes We're consumed in an
cXhortation to the members of the
Senior Class who will be graduated
on Wednesday, The preacher here
was at his best, irving to these young
men the benefit of the accumulated
experience and observation of a long
life of usefulness His exhortation
came spontaneously as the advice
from father to son--from st. Paul to
st. Timothy.
Below / give an abstract of the SER
mon, which must of necessity have
lost great part of its brightness
the gem robbed of so much of its
brilliancy:
Second Timothy, 4; 6 AMI :, verses.
''Fcr am now ready to be offered and the
time of my departure is at band. have fought
good fight. have finished my course, have
kept the faith"
1t was an old man advising a young
man. 1t is very bold thing to do under
any circumstances, for there are
few men whose lives are not largely
failures, and the man who writes this
is a prisoner at Rome and does not
expect to come out of the prison until
he comes out to die. yet he advises
one in the full flush of manhood.
The prisoners ancestors were kings
and princes and prophets when the
old Norman blooded English were
running wild in the German forests.
His pedigree was part of the ma
tons life. He was educated in ,Ieru-
salem at the highest school to learn
the theology of his own people; was
educated in Greek literature; was a
Roman lawyer and a Roman gentle
man. He was not only a jew Of high
descent and highly educated, out he
was Roman citizen. His psychology
was that of Plato body, soul ANA
spirit make up the man. This Llan
began life with every element of sue
cess: but one day there came 20 him
a conviction and he cast away every
advantage he had in life; his friends
turned against him and slanlcrcd
him. and heaped malediction and per-
secution upon him. who had been The
hope of the race, with any place open
to him as a Roman or a jew lie lad
gone to a &cct which every man talked
against. He left all these advantages
at the very dawn of life not for great
rewards, for ! think he was aware
of what awaited him-bonds and pun
inshment, imprisonment and ship
wreck, and at Last the Roman prison
and the Roman death.
And yet this man had decided to adj
wise the young man he loved as a son
to take the same course. BY the mea-
sure OF the forum st. Paul had made
most abject failure, vet he does not
seem 10 think he has failed. Il have
fought good fight, / have finished
the course laid out. | have kept the
faith. henceforth there is laid up for
me crown of righteousness He
claimed the victory with his feet on
the brink of the grave and the grave
crumbling underneath, and the grave
bloody one.
Is ST. Paufs measure of success
ours2 ! believe it to be the sole abid-
ing measure of success for all men
worthy the name man. There is only
one thing which a man can hold as "A
permanent possession in the face OF
q condition like Paul's. and that is his
own personal character. The rich man
becomes poor and yet the man has
not failed in your estimation of a