The news & observer., 1905-06-09
[Y[QnIc[c At
LALlIUIOLO nj
STATE NORMAL
The Thirteenth Annual
Commencement.
Preached a Beautiful and PoWerfl
Sermon. DR.. Peabody Addressed
the College Last Night. Annual
Banquets a Notable
Feature.
Especial to News and observer


Today dawned bright and beautiful,
the crisp fresh air of delightful pied
mont June morning tempering the sun
to comfort, while the inspiring sur
roundings of the college of lovely
flowers, green lawns. the young trees
proudly Haunting their full blown
foliage, the birds making music from
was truly auspiciouS, glorious.
At noon five hundred college wo-
men filed in the auditorium, every
other inch of available space being
previously filled with visitors from the
State and city, gathered there to wit
ness the beginning exercises of the
thirteenth annual commencement of
the State Normal and Industrial Col
lege.
The guests were comfortably provid-
ed for by the college marshals
Misses Elizabeth Hicks, chief; Janet
Austin, Mary Benbow, Stella Blount,
Willie Brown, Daisy Donnell, Josie
Doub, Helen HIS, Hattie O'Berry,
Florence Terrell, Matte Winfield
A distinguished company occupied
the stage, among them besides the di-
rectors and faculty of the college be-
ing Rev. Drs. Det tviler and Battle of
Greensboro President Venable, of
Chapel Hill; DR.. Peabody, of Cam
bridges Major j. M. Morehead, State
Senator Scales, Greensboro, and Su-
perintendent Joyner, Raleigh.
After Invocation by Drs. Rattle and
Detwiler and singing of the anthem
from Handel foratorio of the Messiah
by the college Glee Club, Rev. James
l. Vance, of Newark, N j., was pre-
sented who after reading a scripture
lesson, began a sermon which for
beauty and power has rarely been eX-
celled in this city. He preceded his
text announcement by saying that he
felt it q great privilege to be able on
such an occasion to speak to the wo-
men of great commonwealth through
those present, and he hoped to be
able to bring a message which would
put a song in their hearts. He then
announced his text: First Peter, first
chapter tenth verse, "Of which saliva
tion the prophets have enquired. and
searched diligently, who prophesied OF
the grace that should come unto you.
He said in part:
"When we remember that God made
us and our circumstances, circum-
stances, we are prone to think, often
unmake us. 1t is a little difficult for
US to get the idea out of our heads
that our failures are Gods RESPONSE
bilities. not ours But we must also
.
of thing that happens, it is q thing that
is wrought out. We cannot reach
perfection, but perfection can be ap-
preached by growth into the more per-
feet way There is vast difference
between q foundry and a forge. one
works clay or brittle metal transitory,
unsafe for time and wear; the other
is wrought by hammer of steel and
fire and crucible that is life, life worth
more than clay the potter ever fash
ioned life worth the living, life glo-
rious in the dying, for Life is in the
loom. room for it room.
"rhe glory of America is its peo-
pie An. obscure child of the noun
tains with a human soul lowered with
Gods grace and skilled by man, edu-
cation. right of development, is
grander product than all the great in
! duStrial output Of our amazing pro-
gress materially. Beecher, replying to
a question from an impatient war par
tisan, who asked why The rebels had
not been whipped in the first saX
months, returned from his Plymouth
church pulpit: Because. sir, we are
lighting Americans, not British.
He then paid q glowing tribute to
the value of character, and continuing
said:
Faith gives US our first impulse to-
wards God, and until there is some be-
lief in the all-poWerful unseen the soul
refuses to grow. You need to capture
first the angel of faith. Believe in
something, something of the glory of
man to the glory of mans maker.
do not say believe in the old faiths
or the new faiths; | do say let your
belief be intelligent. The trouble with
faiths like Christian science, Dewey,
etc and all such is that their follow
ers have never caught hold on the
fundamental essence of Christian be-
lief. faith in its scriptural significance.
'"Then there is the angel of strength.
This is an element that must be used,
and then comes the angel of growth.
The proof Of the presence of the angel
of strength is shown by the presence
Of the angel Of service. Scotland is
Knox's monument because he believed
so WELL he, through his faith, captured
his nation by his service"
Here followed other beautiful his
torical illustrations of the great deeds
wrought by faith and service in the
fields of literature, science, patriotism,
letters and religious endeavor. He
said:
IF the invisible power of electricity
can be thrown into a dead piece of
iron called a ships crane and lifts
with ease thousands of tons in weight
to any altitude, is it strange that the
spirit of God properly sought could
not come to us as faith and service and
lift our human lives, big as they are in
Continued on Page Six.)