Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-29
SERMON To STUDENTS
Exercises of George Wash
ing University.
IN MEMORIAL HALL
DIR. RADCLIFFE breaches FOR
THE STUDENTS.
First of Series Of Exercises Marking
Close Of Successful
Term.
IN MEMORIAL HALL


site on which the new university buildings
are to be erected. The annual baccalau-
reate services were held In Memorial Con-
tinentai Hall, which is yet In an unfinished
condition, but is being pushed to compile
ton by the Daughters of the American
Revolution
The baccalaureate sermon was preached
by Rev Wallace Radcliffe, pastor of the
New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, to
large assemblage.
picturesque scene preceded the services
in Memorial Hall. The faculty, graduates
and undergraduates met in front of the
university medical school on H street, and
there arrayed in cap and gown, they
marched to the hail. past the White House
and through the grounds to the south
At Memorial Continental Hall the faculty
was seated on the platform, back of them
being the famous full-length oil painting of
George Washington.
In the body of the hall the graduates
and undergraduates were seated. After
the invocation by Rev. DR.. Radcliffe the
Girls Glee Club sang Lift Thine Eyes"
a Scriptural reading was by Rev. Frank
recitation of the apostles creed and the
Lords Prayer. There was a song by the
University Glee Club
Rev. Wallace Radcliffe then taking his
ttAt ACTS -D.l5, L was not OlSODeUl-
ent to the heavenly VISION" preached an
eloquent and forceful sermon.
DR.. RadcIiffe's Sermon.
ITO every man." said DR.. Radcliffe, 1.-The
heavenly vision comes No soul is shut In
to hard. prosaic existence. Every life has
it's garden, its we'll and mountain top Truth
does not always and to every one appear
full-orbed, but it does appear. Your young
mo hal Vie x,,itI al
vine purpose. They inspire motive. They
ordain conduct. They determine history.
They mold character. They shape events
and ages. The face of the world was
changed because Paul had this vision. To
every young man going down the Damas-
Gus road comes glowing vision of desire
and opportunity. Not every vision carries
the imperative voice. Every Paul must
find his Ananias. Truth is truth to the
end of the reckoning. The ten command
ments are not abrogated. Love II above
the letter, the spirit above the flesh and
the word of God does not contradict itself.
Obedience to the heavenly vision will bring
to you exactly what it brought to Paul.
at gave definteneSs. 1t was revelation
and revolution. 1t gave direction to his
thought, theme to his preaching, center to
his emotions and concentration to his en-
ergy. This one thing 1 do Defniteness
is power. When a man knows what he
wants he is half way on the road toward
getting 1t. But If he wants the earth he
will end on dunghill. Ours IS the age of
specialists. The world Is waiting for the
man who can do one thing better than his
neighbor. Put motive into life. Crystalline
thought. energy. attainment around one
dominant idea that will determine calling
and send through all existence it's glow
and heat. The bow shot at a venture only
hits sometimes. Definite aim is the asser-
ton of ones individuality. The individual
Is in great danger of being lost in the
crowd. Culture is refining away effective
obar CDmbina tons crush ont
the distinctive attributes of the man. The
overpowering magnitude of combination
and commercialism are terrifying and de-
feating manhood. We must return to the
Individual. God thought 1t worth while to
make you a man. Honor that thought.
1T emphasized the supernatural, VINO
art thou Lord?' That was the vital force
of the vision. 1t brought not change, but
life; not reformation, but regeneration.
The strong man is made by the spirit of
God 1t is the needed emphasis for today.
The spiritual eye is being blinded. We
magnify the material thing. We are over
powerd by its glamour. We are tempted to
ignore and even to deny the thing not seen.
But the materialist has not vision, but a
nightmare Germs do not explain every
thing. Environment or heredlty Is not the
great first cause God is the ultimate
cause the full explanation. That man Is
dwarf and one-sided who denies to himself
the presence and power OF spiritual things
He studies so much about butterflies that
natural body and there is a spiritual body.
Darwin confessed that by his exclusive ma
terialistic studies, his spiritual nature had
become atrophied. 1t Is worth while to feel
the power of Lord Kelvin's testimony that
science Itself makes every one of us feel
within him the miracle of creative and
directive power. If you would have visions
you must open the spiritual eye II you
would keep visions you must keep wide
open that spiritual eye. God. the word. the
Christ, from these the world cannot get
away. Questions of labor, the negro, the
criminal. the immigrant, the poor-cannot
be settled by PHILOSOPHERS or legislations or
benevolenceS, by conventions or college set
Elements; their only solution is Christ in
the heart. For this the world waits. Christ
is the answer. the complement, the crown.
ut transfigured character. We are made
by our visions. Tell me your ideal and l
will tell you what you are. The dream re-
veals the man. The glory of the opened
heavens TRANSPORTED the principle, purpose
and emotion of the heart and made Paul
the grandeSt gentleman, save Christ, that
ever lived. A mans manner is his charac-
ter. Paul never forgot himself Love per-
suaded him and his work. The Christian Is
a knight errant of piety. A Christ-like boor,
a praying termagant are anomalies in the
household of faith Fashion Is based upon
religion. The man of society may after all
be only Pharisee paying 1.-THE of mint.
anise and cummin while the Christian In
velvet fustian by thoughtfulness, by kind
righteousness, by charity. shall so Illustrate
the love that is the fulfilling of the law that
man shall forget the lack of studied grace
or polished phrase and recognize the voice
and stature of a man.
1T compelled success. Ideals rule the
world. Luther dreamed Of the open Bible
before a reformation came. Columbus
dreamed of the new world before he saw it.
The crusades were accomplished visions.
The cathedrals were dreams In stone. Paul
obeyed and by and by the man of Macedonia.
then the angel on the angry Mediterranean
and the unutterable things whether in the
body or out of the body he could not tell.
The second comes to him who obeys the
first. We learn Of doing. Obedience Is the
law OF development The dilletante does
not get very far. We learn the sermon on
the mount by doing 1t. We learn the in
spiration Of the Bible by putting 1t into life.
Incarnate your dream. Work 1t out"
The service was concluded by the singing
OF Bethoven's worship Of God In Nature"
and the benediction by DIR. Radcliffe.
The formation of a corporation to include
all the hop growers Of Washington, Oregon
California, New York and New England is
proposed. The plan proposes a pooling of