Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-06-28
COMMENCEMENT DAYS.

July NoiicSe was lulS year DleSseu Nltn
the finest of June weather-just the kind
to bring out the gayest of summer cos
tunes among the ladies and make every
gathering of the week as much a delight
to the eye as the exercises were toIthe
| intellect.
Ihe baccalaureate sermon by President
Ezra Brainerd on Sunday morning was
/ listened to by large audience.
President Brainerd took for his text.
John l:lS, mo man hath seen God at
any time; the only begotten Son hath
declared him." and said In part
The Great Being who made and up
holds all things is invisible. He is
spirit who dwells in the light which no
man can approach unto. But in the per-
son of Christ He is revealed to us.
Christ, as Paul has said, Is the image of
the invisible God.
Every spiritual existence must have
material embodiment if it is to be
brought within our knowledge. We
apprehend every real object through the
medium of the senses. The human body
thus images the soul. In like manner the
spoken or written word is the embodi-
ment of the thought Unless man can
put his thoughts and ideas into words.
they are even to his own mind vague and
uncertain and to other minds they are as
| If they did not exist. Beauty is an un-
real thing, unless materaliZed in the
/ dover. or the landscape, or the human
| face The musician may invent sweet
melodies and harmonies. but his music is
"a dead thing until it takes sensible form
/ in the tones of the voice or instrument.
In like manner there is a human necessity
/ that God, who Is a Spirit, should mani
TEST himself in some concrete form. We
cannot satisfactorily apprehend God by
any purely intellectual process. Natural
science cannot discover God. 1t peers
/ through its telescopes far out into space
/ but it finds no heaven where God resides
such as men had supposed there was in
| the blue vault above them. Science
scrutinizes matter with its microscopes.
and analyZes it into elements in its labo.
ratory, but it finds no sustaining God
there. Nor does philosophy reveal God
to Us much more clearly than science
The mind can construct no metaphysical
formulas which are sufficient to bow the
soul in alteration and loye.
God, therefore, needs to appear to man
! in some concrete form in order to be a
power IN the heart and life. In other
words, mans mental limitations necessi-
]
! fitness in the human form to represent
God. Personality involving conscious
Intelligence and free will is the most ex
alteG pc Of being that the mind of man
can cOLcelve. Furthermore, we read in
the account of the creation, that man
was made in the image of God: and 30
God can appear in the likeness of man.
The revelation of God in Christ satisfies
at once the demands of the intellect and
of the heart it is suited to all grades and
conditions of men.
/ Members of the senior class | doubt
not that the great world appears far diff
ferent TO you now than at the beginning
of your college course four years ago.
If your experience has been ike that of
others, your study of science has trans
formed the aspect of the material world.
Your acquaintance with the great events
of history. with the laws of mind and
with the principles of social intercourse
has given you deeper insight into the
significance of mans life on earth.
But your attainments in knowledge
have been of little value. if you have not
learned that this wide universe is full of
ineXplcable mysteries. Back of all
material forces lies an inscrutable Power,
in whom they subsist-so say the most
radical of modern evolutionists. Behind
the grand and orderly progress of events
in the development of the world from
the primeyal tire-.nist. are suggestions of
the presence of an Eternal Mind. In the
authority of conscience over men and in
the moral ideals that command our
reverence all thinkers discern a Power in
human life thar makes for righteousness.
Christian philosophy calls upon us to
behold the manifest tation of this inetfable
| God in the person of Jesus Christi In
this great truth we find the climax of all
human knowledge. The dim intlmations
of science and the uncertain visions of
philosophy are superseded by the reyela-
tion of God in Him who is the brightness
of His glory and the express image of
His person.
As you separate from Us and from one
another, and go forth to the varied eX
periences of life that await you, | can
wish for you no higher good than that
which devOut faith in this revelation
Will bring you. The handspring of char
acter is right attitude of mind and
heart toward God. This gives dignity
to life, emphasis to duty and courage in
adversely. May you, in the long years
that are before you, ever have faith in
the unseen, and may you endure as see
ing the invisible.
The musical program, which was in
charge of Mrs. G ID. Miner, the organist
OF the church, was of an exceptionally
pleasing character. 1t consisted of a
violin solo by Miss Florence Chapman,
"Adante Religioso" by Thome, with
organ accompaniment by Mrs. Miner; an
anthem, I'm Thankful Hymns" by the
choir; vocal solo from the oratorio of
"Jairus's Daughter" by Miss Ella Bond,
"My Hope Is in the Everlasting"; and a
solo by Frank Thomas, "Passenti
Numi, from Mozart's "Maglc Flute"
The anniversary meeting of the Col
lege Christian Associations were held in
the Congregational church on Sunday
evening.
President Fay \. Simmons introduced
the Rev. Vernon Harrington of the class
of '9l, who conducted the devotional ex-
ercises, rendering from PHILIPPIANS, "
chapter. After the devotional exercises