Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1905-06-26
THE WORD OF GOD HIS THEME
Baccalaureate Sermon Delivered To
The Graduates of The
High School.
DIR. DAvIDSoN'S GOOD ADVICE.
Based Upon Teaching of Holy Writ
Religion Without Mys-
tery Defined.

A perfect Sunday in June brought
out a large number of young people
Yesterday morning 30 the eleven
O'Clock service at the Maryland Ave
nue. NJ. T.. Church. the Rev. John L.
| Walsh, pastor, The auditorium was
hlled with school girls, and school
boys, with a sprinkling of older wor
shippers 60 hear the hacCalaureate ser
mon to the graduating class OF the An
napolis High School af r.
The clergy occupying the pulpit
were the Rev DR.. J. n. Dashiell, the
Rev. Or W. l.. Davidson, secretary
Of the American University OF Wash
ington, D. G e., and the pastor of the
church, the Rev John l.. Walsh. The
front row of seats was occupied by
portion of the board of school trustees,
among whom were Mr.. Frank A. Nun
roe, Mr.. John Strange, Mrs. Joseph p.
Girault and Mrs Robert Moss.
The four graduates occupied the
next seat and the principal, faculty
of the school and undergraduates tilled
the remaining seats of the middle
aisle. The opening prayer was made
nv the Rev. j. II. Dashiell d. D..
and DR.. Davidson read portion of
the CXIX Psalm, which, he said, con-
tains l16 verses, nearly every one OF
which has some reference TO the Bible.
The pastor introduced the preacher OF
the occasion. saying that DR.. David
son is the Chancellor of the American
University aud an educator OF note.
DIR. Davidson took for his text Isaiah.
10th chapter, Sth verse 1.-The grass
withereth the flower fadetb, but the
word of our God shall stand forever"
The minister said his sermon was
not only to the four graduates, but to
those going ON TO graduation, and to
those engaged in the active work Of
life. He said il had now been more
than twenty.six hundred years since
Isaiah wrote this verse yet ~ still
staudR. and is a strong argument that
a hand mightier than the hand of man
wrote these words. He said no book
had been so attacked as the Bible, yet
other volumes had gone down TO obliv-
| ion, but the Word of Sod will endure
| forever. He referred TO attacks upon
religion and Gods word by the Vul-
| garisms of Voltaite and Paine, and
the blatant blasphemy OF Ingersoll, but
| said these attacks had not served TO
blot out the teachings OF the Blessed
| Book, for the word of our God shall
stand forever.
4
sixty six bookp, written by about forty
men and il took fifteen hundred years
TO write it, It has been eaid the
'tBible is too hard for the tooth OF
time. " il cannot perish IN the flame
that consumeth all else There is
necessity for such a book az the Bible.
Men always and everywhere have be-
lieved in prayer. Confucius and Budha
wrote books, but God aud Solomon
wrote Proverbs. DR.. Davidson said
nature speaks softly of God. That peo-
pie have habit OF saying that they
will "look through nature up TO ma
ture's God, =" but there is little in ma
ture that speaks of Gods love. Every.
where in nature there are evidences OF
| Gods power, but little evidence of
| His love. It was DR.. Deems who said
''Vith the black ink Of His power God
wrote the book of nature; with the
red ink of His love He wrote the book
| OF Revelations.
The Bible, the preacher said, was
| the only letter God has even written
TO this world, and the only one He
ever will write. The Bible Ia Gods
love letter to US, telling us how to
| fight life's battles and how TO get
| home 60 Heaven There are many
/
| understand Religion is more or less
mysterious. A religion without mys-
/ erv. is q religion without God. God
| is infinite and we are finite. What
| fits our needs we eau comprehend in
| the Bible. He dwelt upon the Bibles
Influence on the lives of the best men
and women of ages past Watt lie
said. was a Christian; Fulton, who
| invented the steamboat, was a Chris
/ tian, so was Morse, who invented the
1 telegraph. The first message that
| tingled over the small wires stretched
| between Baltimore and Washington
| was What Hath God Wrought, " Civ
/ ing the credit for this great achieve
/ meut -telegraphy, TO the giver of
every good and perfect gilt. Edison
is Christian, although skeptics like
| 10 claim him IL is Edison who said
"There is enough in chemistry alone
/ to nrove the existence of personal
God. a" Burke, Pitt, Washington. Lin
coin. Bismarck Grant. Garfield, Nc
Kinly and Roosevelt, everyone be-
| lieved in the divinity of the Holy
Book and IN the divinity of prayerE
The best poets, he said. were Chris
tiane. and they took tue Bible 10 il
lustrate their best themes. This is also
| true of the best composers Of music
/ Hadyn. Mendelssohn, Mozart, Beeth-
oven. Their grand compositions burst
from the heart filled with Christian
melody, and they have told the story
| Of the Redemption in mnsic. Many
Young men and a few young women,
| DIR Davidson said, think IT a sign of
intellect to boast Of ekepticism. They
say the Bible is out of date 1t Is
good enough. .for their mothers day,
/ but not now. God sometimes seems 20
leave US alone just to see how we can
get along without Him, God is going
| IA win cut, but az much as He wants
the Young man and young woman o.
/ today; He cap win the battle withou
them If we don't work here, "
cannot serve yonder, The preach
closed his sermon admonishing
1 graduates to lift high their ideals,e
TO march on TO victory under
blood stained banner of Emman
singing Hallelnjah, the Lord
Omnipotent Reigneth.