Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-06-12
BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS.
Closing Scenes for the Glass of 1900.
Rev. Cordick Speaks to the Sen
iors.-Graauate Wednesday
and Thursday.

prevailed to have a Senior address de-
livered to each graduating class of the
High School, and the sixth one of that
number was given in the St. Paul
church on Sunday evening, by Rev
w. j. Cordick, rector of St Johns
Episcopal church. The protestant
churches unite each year in this com
mon service, and the occasion has come
to mean much to the people, who turn
out in a body at that time to listen to a
helpful address to the graduates, who
are about to take up the battle of life
and win for themselves a position
among the worlds workers.
At the time of the opening of the
services on Sunday evening, at 7.45
o'clock, the church was crowded. Miss
Cornelia Schaer presided at the large
pipe organ, and the High School
Chorus, under the direction of Miss
Margaret Reed, occupied the rear end
of the balcony The ministers of the
Gospel and Supt. Karl Mathie occupied
the platform in front of the organ. The
organ prelude, very pretty selection,
was rendered by Miss Cornelia Schaer,
following which the opening hymns,
Abide With Me- and Jerusalem the
Golden" were sung by the High School
chorus The fresh, young voices were
harmoniously toned, and the church
was filed with melody of sound.
Prayer was offered by Rev. w. o. Car
rier, followed by the singing of Gloria
Patri" by the congregation. The
chorus then sang Praise Ye the
Father after which the scriptures
were read by Bev A. Fawcett. Holy,
Holy, Holy" was sung by the chorus,
and following that the entire congre-
CATION sang the doxology, during which
the graduates filed down to the lower
floor from their positions among the
singers in the chorus, and were seated
in the section of the church reserved
for them.
The baccalaureate address was then
begun by Rev. w. j. Cordick, who
selected as his text, 1st Cor. 1913:
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith,
quit you like men, be strong"
The speaker took his audience back
to the time when the great Creator
framed this world out of chaotic matter,
when he said let there be light and
there was light. This planet was not
prepared as is generally supposed in a
few days, but ages upon ages were
spent in volving from the lowest
forms of life for the fit habitation of the
higest form, man, who was made in
Gods own image. These preparations
which followed one another with such
infinite care, emphasize the fact that
when man arrived a corresponding
preparation was to follow on his part,
to fit himself worthily to carry out the
idea which existed in the mind of God,
when he breathed the breath of life into
the new beings, who were to subdue the
lower forms of life and make them sub
ject unto them.
The ancient heather realized the high
destiny of man. They knew that there
was an unexplainable gap existing
between the lower forms of
animal life and man, conse-
quently he had some knowledge
of a higher power and some phase of
religious worship, by which he was en-
abled in some degree to come near to
his maker His idea of his God gradu-
ally clarified, and his vision began to
conceive other attributes of that
power, such as love, mercy, beauty,
instead of simply wrath and awfulness
of aspect In this manner has our
religion of today grown out of the
religions of the past. We have joined
the many different phases and truths of
the many conceptions of God which
were held in the past, and consequent
ly we have broad religion which re-
ceived its personification in the life OF
our Lord Jesus Christ. From the first
verse in Genesis to the last verse in the
book of Revelation there is gradual
but constantly increasing unfolding of
the nature of God-his perfect holiness,
his divine purity, his justice, his mercy
and infinite love, which brought the
Christ, Gods only son, to voluntarily
give his life on the cross of Calvary be
cause of his love for the world.
Rev. Cordick especially impressed
upon the minds of the graduates the
the great truth, that in order to quit
themselves like men they must develop
true manliness and cultivate spiritual
ity. The class motto, "Our future de-
ponds upon our ambition is sugges-
tive one, and each must be ready to
seize his opportunities as they appear,
and bend all his energies toward their
fulfillment, in order to successfully
perform his mission in the world. To
accomplish this, singleness of purpose
and decision of character must be cult
waited, that the right thing may be done
at the right time. Studies and even
amusements, should be bent toward the
preparation that will help to attain a
definite purpose in life, to fit one fol
his life work whatever it may be
Every man placed in the world ha:
mapped out for him a definite work, 8
vocation we call it. Scholars under
stand, in their school life, how neces
sary it is for them as school to have
but one purpose in view. If they are
divided into cliques, with a diversity Of
interests, there can be no system and
little discipline. So it is with the indi
vidual If his aims and interests ART
divided, he virtually accomplishes
nothing, like the person who is Jack
of all trades" The Glass of 1900 ha:
been preparing for the battle of life
but its moral strength as yet has mo-
been tested; it knows not what lies be
fore it, except that life is filled witt
combinations and rivalries, through
which it hopes to hold its own. How