The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-31
SERMON TO STUDENTS
A Splendid BaccaIaureate Address on
"0ur Elder Brother"---Dr. DetwiId-
er's Strong Sermon Before
the Y. M. C. A. on the
Function OF True
Manhood.

Chapel Hill, N. c., May 30.-The
first Of the commencement exercises
of the University came yesterday at
Ii O'clock when Rev. James l. Vance,
ID. d., of the North Dutch Reform
church, Newark, N. j.. delivered the
| annual haccalaureate sermon III
Gerard hall
The hall was filled to its capacity
with students, town people, people
from ali parts of Orange county, who
drove in town in private conveyances,
and others who came from all parts
of the State to be present at the COM
mencement.
At II O'Clock the college bell ceased
marching intothe hall single file pre-
ceded by DR.. Venable. Prof Williams,
DR.. Vance and Rev. Mr.. w. ID. Moss,
led by Chief Marshall Hubert Hay
wood. The seniors were seated in a
group just in front of the rostrum.
Music was furnished by the Univer-
sity choir, led by Mr.. c.. Waller.
after which the audience was led in
prayer by Prof. Williams.
The Baccalaurcate Sermon.
DR.. Venable then presented Rev.
DR.. Vance, who, using for his text
"A man shall be an hiding place
lIOIn Inc WluQs anu IL covert from tile
| tempest as rivers of water in a dry
place as the shadow of great rock
| in weary land Isail 32:2, said
| among other things:
THE text is a philosophy, portrait,
Il prophecy, promise and a plea.
1T is a philosophy of life, and that
philosophy is that the development
and control ofthe world are in
the hands of it's best men. 1t is the
man that makes the age, rather than
the age the man.
"Great men are not all Of the world,
but they make life possible for little
men. They lift the race on their
shoulders. They are like the rock
that stands between the drifting sands
and the oasis sheltered behind it.
| They stop the drift and conquer the
desert. Here and there a great man
! has stood, rock-like in his principles
and convictions, sheltering smaller
and weaker lives, and on him, the
storm meant for them and which
would have destroyed them, has
broken and spent itself Abraham
was such a man. He checked a
world-drift and an elect nation be-
came possible. Moses was such a
man. He checked a social drift and
an emanciDated people marched
away from slavery. Faul was such
a man. He checked q race-drift and
| Christianity became history. Luther
was such a man. He checked an
| age-drift, and the Protestant Refor-
nation became a fact. William of
Orange, Oliver CromW ell. Thomas JEFF
ferson have been such men and in
them again history records the glory
/ of n man.
"Thus il comes about that it is pos
| Sible to write human history with the
names Of man. This is the true philo-
| ~ C.1 5c IN ha rcf-
ness of making a man. Primarily, he
is not forming governments and
founding schools and leading armies
| and thrusting out reformations. He
! packs himself into a man, and the
man docs the rest The glory Of
nation is not it's laws, its trade, its
/ institutions its resources, but its peo-
pie and 4 college education that does
not make a student more man IS
curriculum of wind.
! my text is also a portrait OF the
| worlds best man. What is he like2
TWO things characterize him. He is
self-resourceful, and he uses what he
is and has for others. His glory is
not in suppressi 0n, but in expression
of his great powers.
HE mas the strength of the granite.
| But he is as gentle as he is strong,
and as considerate as ne is resource
| full. He uses his great strength, not
| to glorify himself, but to bless those
whom he may help. he weak lean
on him, the frightened lice to him, the
weary lie down in mis- presence and
rest, the thirsty are refreshed the
| hungry are fed There is safety be-
| side him He is q strong, resourceful,
self forgetting, world-blesslng and
world blessed man..
"The kind of man Christ became is
| related in the text. 1t is the bio
! graphy of Jesus. He was an hiding
place from the wind and a covert
from the tempest
! "Follow him through the world and
see how the prophetic portrait be-
comes a living reality Yonder
| blind beggar with the wintry winds
| biting through the rags, cries to
| Jesus, and Jesus shelters him and
he find in Christ a hiding place from
the wind. There a woman caught in
shame is dragged before him. and
he Dities her and she finds him a
covert from the tempest. There again
a mother, with her joy dead, follows
mournfully beside the bier of her only
son. Christ halts the funeral process
sion and raises the dead and becomes
to a womans withered heart as rivers
of water in a dry place. And yonder
a thief hangs on a cross praying to
Christ, Remember me- and the