The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-17

''To him that overcometh will l give
| to eat of the tree of life, which is III
/ the midst of the paradise Of God"
and also from the twelfth verse of the
/ twentieth chapter of Revelations,
reading: And | saw the dead, small
and great. stand before God; and the
| books were opened, and another book
twas opened, which is the book of life,
and the dead were judged out of
| those things which were written in the
books, according to their works.
Upon these words and the ideas in
volved in them DR.. Blackwell preach
ed a sermon of force and power,
| evolving as the theme of his discourse
! that all life in it's various stages, from
THE incipiency of self to the final
limit of existence, was found in the
| narrative of the Bible, the truths of
/ which he applied with telling effect to
tbe feveloDment of his sermon. Adj
vising the young ladies to whom he
was preaching, he said in part:
The RaccaIaureate Sermon.
II would that you could look at this
book the Bible, as / look at it. 1t is
not to me a book of advice, nor a
body of prescribed truths. 1t is n liT-
ing. throbbing, pulsing thing, filled
with the living life. There is nothing
| dead nor abstract about it, because
il reveals myself to myself. ana L
reveal it to men. There is an inter
playing between this book AMI myself
| and the different sections of it IeTeal
to me the different sections OF ny
life's experience l find it mans soul s
| paradise.
! There is sixteen hundred years of
time spaced in this Bible in few
chapters of the beginning. Back in
| those early years of life and then
1 growing out of those years certain
| events i'm which the memory itself
touches itself. 1t may be significant
to my life and yours. There is a man,
an ark building, a flood, and tower
| looms up and then a little further
over in the book we begin TO see Wis
/ ions and have dreams. Abraham has
a vision, Joseph his vision, and Isaac
| his vision. they dream-and the rest
of the book in the unfolding of these
dreams and vision So in your life,
you will not see anything that has not
already been seen in q vision or a
dream-and as these people left Gods
chosen lands and went down into
/ egypt just so you went down into
Egypt just before you began to learn
things out of books. You had to get
the A, b. Cs God wrote the great
A. C's in those ten letters, and those
| ten letters of His alphabet, is the
worlds alphabet in religion and phil
osophy.
And then He began to teach the
| children by pictures. He showed them
| the different pictures and greater gar
den for religion. Then came discipline
into them. God gave them agreements
and kept them from breaking them.
They were not fighting the bread Pat
| tie of life. They then went u the
district school. Benjamin had MS
| lands to rule, and there were the diff
| ferent nations, all had to form their
own individuality, just as you had to
| do in your school. If the man or "o-
| man is selfish now, you know they
were selfish back yonder in school.
'And then we came to the twelve
books beginning with Joshua. rms Is
the period that the girl or boy gels
| the idea that she knows more than
| father or mother: it is the smart
! Aleck' period when they think they
| know il all 1t is the athletic peri 81,
| the flesh is in prominence. IL is the
| period OF impressions and passion. that
| go out to make the hero When the
muscles are half divine. Then comes
the period of the First Ming rms
is the period of choice. They are fllled
with the desire to rule and begin to
look for king--a man with shoulders
above all other men. They tnlnk Only
of books Thy make them KING ana
then find that they have made mis-
take just as the man VIII marry
woman Just for the. turn of her eyes,
or the woman will fall in love with
a mustache. but happiness VIII not 81
low, they will find that they had n'tde
a mistake.
"They choose again. a second king
is found God looks down into the
mans heart and sees nothing there
that looked king. They had chosen
again for display and fame, and hence
trouble and sorrow come again just
as II comes to the man who thinks he
is marrying a queen. 1t is all for dis
plav and sorrow follows. 1t is vision
arv period. and when he falls in love
! with his queen he goes out on the
mountain side and sits in the m@oh-
shine. and il is so evident that ne mas
vision that one would think he has
been born again.
Then again beginning with Isaiah
and closing with Malachi. The younS
man and woman are now married
They set up home and start a new
! life. The little children come and are
a pleasure to them and to the church'
put as the children grow the Iatner
is out at work. the mother mas her
duties and both are absent now from
church. The years pass on they are
unnoticed. they are now fighting fhe
battle for his home and house, the
question with him is whether in two or
I'VE years his home will be sold. He
is now stranger to the church. His
face Is becoming wrinkled. Tn
preacher breaches. but the man that
is lighting the real battle is not here
and his wife is not here. Their chill
dren are at Sunday school but they
will tell you thousand lies as reasons
why they are not here. The voice of
the preacher has not reached their
home and hearts. This period goes
down through the captivity of Baby
lon.
that we find in Malachi where God