Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-29
COLUM BAN GRADUATES
Baccalaureate Sermon Delivered Yesterday
b. President B. L. Whitman.
His Theme "a Call To Servicc"-Thc
Discourse Delivered in Pres
ence OF Large Audience.

The baccalaureate sermon to the gradu-
ating classes of the Columbian University
was delivered at Calvary Baptist Church
last evening by the Rev. DIR. b. l.. Whit
ma H. president of the university. The fac
u!ty and graduates were seated in the CEN
ter of the church directly in front of the
pulpit, the rest of the auditorium tcing
crowded with members Of the church and
specially invited friends of the graduates.
Among the members of the faculty present
were Mr.. Justice Harlan, Rev. A. J. Hunt
ington, dean of the college; Professor c. +.
Munroe, Professor l.. d. Lodge, Professor
j. H. Gore, Rev. ]. Mcbride Sterrett, and
others
President Whitman was the sole occupant
OF the pulpit, and the university culorS,
orange and blue, adorned the platform. An
excellent program of music was rendered
by the choir quartet, Mrs. Kitty Thompson
Berry, soprano; Miss McNally, contr2lto;
Mr.. w. d. MacFarland, tenor, and J. u.
Metals, baritone
Call to Service.
President Whitman selected as the sub
ject of his discourse "A Call to Service"
taking his text Psalms viii:4: What is
man that Thou art mindful of him." He
said three main thoughts lead through the
heart of the Psaimists inquiry, the first be-
ing that man is the master and key of
nature, the second concerns mans attitude
toward opportunity and responsibility, and
the third urges him to administer life a
sacred trust Inside of man there is a Sus-
cepuble soul, made in very much the same
manner that the activities of what is known
as light are called into being. When the
eye is closed there is no light. When the
ear is closed there Is no sound. Hence,
there can be no phenomena like truth I'M
less there Is a soul in man, and without
rational Intelligence truth cannot exist. No
ear. no soul; no eye, no light. So the world
is light or dark TO man, just as the light is
In his heart Man is akin to nature, and he
is therefore gladdened by the glories of
spring and saddened by the falling leaves
of autumn. Man sympathiZes with nature
IN her moods because her moods are within
him, and as there are attractions and re-
pulsions in nature, so are they in man.
speaking of mans opportunities and
sponSiblities, DR.. Whitman said there have
always been certain types of men and GER
tain attitudes of life that have proved to
be unwise. There is the man who says, Il
don't know" and the one who says, Il
don't accept and the one who says. Il
don't care" All three are types of intellec-
tual Incidence, intellectual skepticism and
intellectual defiance.
Determining Thing I'm Man.
Principle is the determining thing in man,
for law does nothing, it being the w-keep-
ing and the lawdoing man who counts in
life. The line Of power with which man is
endowed can only be transformed into eff
cheney as the man in whom it abides re-
CARDS the eye, tongue hand, foot brain
and soul many investments by which
that power my work its will.
Life is an Offering to God. not mans but
Christ's. who gave it, and man should make
1t in every way acceptable to God. Man is
richly endowed with rare gifts, but not so
much for his own sake as for the benefit of
his fellows. DIR. Whitman advised the grad
yates to remember the words of Carlyle:
From a small window one may see the in
finite. There is, he declared, no vocation
so cramped, so small or so unpromsing but
that in it one may render service that will
gladden. God and his angels. OF whatever
task they appointed themselves to. he told
them to take large, liberal views and what
ever duty awaited them to make it noble by
the spirit in which they should go TO
meet it