The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-03
BACCALAUREATE BY REV. DR. ANDERSON To Graduating Class of Bir-
 mingham College THE COMPLETE LIFE Tells How No Man Can Be Thorough ly Understood Until His Religion
 Is Understood--A Large
 Congregation Present

The Rev. stonewall Anderson of Nash- vile, Tenn, secretary of the education board of the Methodist Episcopal church. south. delivered the commencement ser mon to the graduating class of the Blr- mlngham college yesterday morning at the First Methodist church. The audi torium of the church was packed Wlth tho students of the college and the con- gregations of several of the Birmingham churches who had dispensed with services for the morning in order to hear Dr. Anderson.
 In his sermon yesterday morning pr Anderson took the text from the second Collossians: And ye are complete in Him. He said In part
 "The apostle sets before us as the ob-
 ieet of our striving a complete life. The opposite of completeness Is. of course, in- condolences. The lives of men range all the way from mere fragment to the complete life of a Christian apostle. II has ever been a part of the task of Chris tianity to inculcate a discontent with life as meagre, impoverished thing to arouse in the human breast a yearning for the fullness of life.
 "The apostles statement teaches us that Christ In furnishing certain conditions and meeting certain needs, is necessary | in order to complete life. We belong to
 the order of living beings. Life with ns as with all other forms of this order
 has It's embryonic beginning, it's process of unfolding and its complete realiza-
 tion The process Of unfolding, as vel
 as the completed condition must be sup ported by favorable conditions and sus- tained by suitable nourishments. The needs of life must be met What those
 needs are depends upon what we are ready
 to agree that we are embodied spirits l living with our fellows in Gods world Our needs, therefore, may all be grouped
 in three classes. Material, social and spiritual.
 Spiritual needs are intellectual, emo- tional and volitional. Our religious needs are not in one of these groups but in all of them Mans religion Is vitally related
 with that life sphere. It dominates also his social life. Religion Is not concerned merly with the intellect or the feelings or With YUnllOnS put Wltn ail VI thSAii. Wherever men have thought they have thought of religion, wherever there mas been emotional life religious feelings
 have been experienced, wherever men have acted religion has powerfully infiu- enced their actions. Man cannot be un- derstood without understanding his re lligion. He cannot be brought to great
 ness and completeness except through hi
 religion It was Carlyle who said, "Tht
 primary fact with reference to man is his l religion, and creatvely determines all the rest Jesus Christ came to meet this all eonrrehensive need and to bring men to completeness of life. This He does in a number of ways. By giving sufficient light adequate knowledge, by healing broken lives, removing discord and talk ing away a bad conscience; by forgiving us and starting anew; by strengthening our moral weaknesses, enabling us 10
 make q successful struggle against the low and the sordid and the base ie us in our surroundings. The fight for cnarac- ter is a very sad one. He meets the need by giving us a worthy task, worthy of our best thoughts and efforts 'Co-opera-
 tiou in building on earth the Kingdom Of
 God bringing on the sign of righteous
 ness
 pr. Anderson's sermon was one of the
 best commencement sermons ever heard
 ir, Birmingham, and it was thoroughly ap- preciated by an exceptionally large audi