Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1905-06-19
COLLEGE Y. M. C. A.
Hears a Good Sermon At The First
M. L. Church.
DELIVERED BY THE REV. II. F.
RAIL-, y. d.

The Rev. Fl. Frank Rail, pastor of
| the First n. +. Church. of Balti-
more, delivered the annual address be-
| fore the ST johns College Y. NJ. O..
A. at the First NJ. l.. Church last
| night. He chose his text from the
| 10th yer Of the tenth chapter OF the
| Gospel according TO St Mark: For
even the Son of man came not to be
| ministered unto, but 90 minister. and
| to give His life ransom for many. "
In opening his address Mr.. Rail
| said that there are two words which
are the explanation Of life. The first
Of these words is 'Be.' 1t was SAID
of Goethe that one day as a mere boy
Of four years playing in the garden.
he rushed in to his mother and in a
tone half of fear and half of joy said :
Mutter, ieb bin Elm ioh, '-MotLer,
| am an /. II here is a time in the
life of each 6nd every one of as when
we awaken to the realization of the
fact that we are not leaves, as it were,
blown about at random on the face of
the earth, but distinct personalities.
Sat there is another word, which we
read in the thought of our text, that
the meaning of the richest culture is
when man has all devotion to what
is true and good. This second word
is serve.
We are always ready to be, we are
ready to command. We are ready TO
enjoy, but we are not always ready
to serve. Any state which does not
command the devoted and true service
of all its inhabitants is a failure. Men
are what they believe -Gcd to be.
They may not reach their highest
idea, but they are all the while work
ing towards it. One of the greatest
word sGod ever spoke was "My Father
worketh until now, and | work.
This is something which no pagan
believes, but which is the Christian
conception that God is the servant of
man.
He is not god who made worlds,
turning them off his finger and throw
ing them into space and now rests on
his throne; not God who sends men
forth to fight battles, and then sits on
the throne OF his power and watches
without interfering. Our conception
is that tGcd is i'll the world today
working out the destiny Of men, with
his hand on the currents of events a
God who helps all men who are work
ing to help him. You and l love be-
cause.-The loves, You aud labor, because
he labors. You and l have conf
denCe in what we undertake because
he is there. You ask what is the most
beautiful thing in the world. The
answer to this depends on the ideal
of different men. You could take a
heather into the finest art gallery in
the world, and he would probably net
be at all impressed. Or you could
-
which soma of the finest music was
being played, but il he did not have
music in his soul, he would not appre-
ciate it.
There is one beauty which the
whole world has learned to revere
the beauty of pure and strong char
acter. What is most beautiful and
most gracious in this character 1t
does not lie in the power which
brought miracles; not in that match
less purity which lived its life before
men, but when purity and stainless
character came to earth and served
men is the most beautiful time. Mr..
Rail spoke of Washington and Napol-
cop, comparing the two He said that
while Napoleon was a more consum-
mate genius, q greater general than
true devotion in his soul, and was
earnest in all his work, while Napol-
con was low among the low, and mean
among the mean, because be never
LEANED the alphabet of service He
argued for some time on the theme
that we need men in this generation,
and seemed TO think China was the
place for young men to go-that doors
were opening in China as they
did III Japan two generations ago