The Washington herald., 1908-06-01
ALLIANCE WITH GOD
DR.. Wood Points Its Joys to
g. w. U. Graduates.
SERMON AT BELASCO THEATER
Two Hundred Candidates March from
University 10 Theater, Headed by
President, Board of Trustees, and
Faculty i'm Official Robes-Devo-
tionnI Services by Rev. MIR. Harlan.

ham, members Of the board Of trustees.
and the faculty, all attired in their robes.
about 200 candidates for degrees of the
George Washington University formed in
line in front Of the University Hall. Fiji
teenth and II streets northwest, yesterday
afternoon shortly before 4 o'clock and
marched in column OF twos TO the
Belasco Theater. where their baccalau-
reate service was held
10 Upon entering the theater the officers
and faculty took seats on the stage,
while the students were seated in the
center part of the main floor. The stage
was attractlvely decorated with palms
and the university colors In the boxes
were members of the families OF the
faculty, with their guests. the public
well filling the sides Of the main floor. as
we'll as the balcony
Devotional parts OF the service were
conducted by Rev. Richard D. Harlan.
son Of Mr.. Justice John NJ Harlan, Of
the Supreme Court. Mr. Percy S. Foster
directed the hymns, with Mr.. Otis 7.
SWEET at the piano. After the reading OF
the Scripture-lesson and prayer, Or.
Needham introduced Rev. Charles Wood.
d. D.. pastor Of the Church OF the Cove
nant who delivered the baccalaureate
sermon. Or. Wood took as his subject,
Mans alliance with Cod" and evolved
from il a scholarly discourse that held
the attention of his hearers until the very
last word. He said. in part:
Breaking through the appearance Of things az the
height Of his brilliant career the warrior monarch
found hfrrrr
God and God alone is king As he gazed long and
steadily about him IN this realm Of reality he sees
thar beside God there is no other factor Of PRIME
importance IN tho life o. man. and he announces his
conclusions IN the CD: Whom have in Heaven but
Thee This outburst Of David registers the high
water mark Of human dependence
Human Alliances with Nature.
Human life in The last few decades has been enor.
mously enlarged and enriched BY vastly increased
number Of alliances which wise men have succeeded
In making with forces and energies Of which God
Is the author and owner Man allies himself with
the SIN. the greatest Of the stars and that mighty
mass Of light and heat fights for him in his gardens
IN his Conservatives. in his vineyards and fields
Man allies himself with steam about which ne
thinks he understands much and his ally conouers
space and storms for him. He skins over the sea
IN colossal structures that SIrTass kings PALACES in
magnifccnce. Man allies himself with electricity
about which he confeses ne knows little and con
Quers both distance and darkness. He communicates
almost nstantaneously with every continent in the
world. He couverses with cities a thousand miles
away A. easily as with a friend in the next room.
Man allies himself with gases and gauze-like sub
stances and cUnquers gravitation and the hitherto
rcsistless currents of the air. he rises from the
earth in winged SHIPS and sails toward any point
Of the compass. II may be well that in one OF these
monstruus gigantic birds he will some day hover
over the north pole Man allies himself with sound
BY subtle combinations and contrivanccs 81 pipes
aud pedals and bellows and KEYS until the soul is
thrilled by snch music b. surpassed only in
Heaven
Living in n Narrow World.
The man who refuses 10 enter into these univer
sally available and constantly preferred alliances finds
himself shut into a very little world with a narrow
horizon He Is slave among free men. a dwarf
among giants. But even the man who has most
eagerly accepted such alliances has been haunted by
the feeling that behind all these forces using them
IN ways he himself cannot. there is something or
some one.
ANY project that docs not soon make good must
he flung a-ide As imrr7cticabc. Prof Hity savs
Men Of principle need not succeed. Success Is
necessary only 20 schemerS' The men who have
done most for humanity Abraham Moses David
Isaiah. Judas Maccabeus Paul. Chrysostcm Luther
Lincoln-have all died on Nebo the mountain Of
seeming failure. They have looked over tho land
which they could not enter They have all worked
they found their reward. Their true lives were
lived with the cause and belonged 20 the Eternal.
Not in any other life nor IN an other lives
combined. is the true significance Of what alliance
with God may mean for man made 20 evident as
In the life II Christ He announced the fact Of this
alliance from the very first. Il have cone 10 do
the will of Him that sent me" Hitherto hath
my Father worked. and worked " Il am alone
yet not alone There was no fear In His heart
Of the visible the invisible.
The Unity Of Life.
Members Of the graduating class this impression
Of the unity and simplicity Of life which have
tried TO make upon You is In all probability in
striking contrast with the appearance Of discon-
nectednes and inexpcableness of most Of the lives
that VIC SEE around us. These lres seem 10 us like
tho mad dance Of atoms in the Wild gust Of a sum.
mers storm. They sweep on. as If eager for a goal
in sight only to sweep back as swiftly toward an
opposite goal. Most men a few decides after their
graduation perplexed and beTildered and many
are altogether dsillusioned They surrender s1pnely
20 fate or chance
Such black despair is the inevitable result Of seal
ing up life from light and Cod With God as Co
worker and ally there viii come also a sense Of Sc
cIrity and JOY. The most joyous souls the world
has ever seen have drawn their supplies Of Joy not
from the sources which the multitudes have al
ways relied: not from wealth. power fame. all the
elements Of which earthly success is composed
and whose heaven is but the vision Of fulfilled de
sire but their Joy has come from their relations 10
God
Communion with the Master.
The sense Of being in league with the powers that
be is unalloyed JOY II is the JOY not only Of the
captain fighting with an always victorious yelling
ton OF Grant. the JOY Of a painter working with
Raphael or Titan. or the JOY Of a poet sitting at
he fcaf ~ Chale and II a..