Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1914-01-22
0PE Mn G'ADDRE SS
liiven by.Rev. Hufd Allyn Drake In
College Chapel
STUDENT HEARD AN ALUMNUS
Subject, "ChrlStalnity Supplying the worlds
Needs"

The second term OF Alma college
for the year 1894, opened Tuesday
morning with chapel exercises. Some
excellent music was furnished by the
college choir and chorus, followed
by a few Introductory remarks by
President Blaisdell and a prayer by
DR.. Clizbe, after which Rev. Hurd
Allyn Drake of St. Louis delivered
lecture on christianity Supplying
the " orld's Needs He first made
few remarks in regard to Alma, his
alma mater, and its rank OF efficiency
in comparison with other schools.
showing thereby that Alma college
ranked second only to the school OF
life He then drew a word picture of
Paul the apostle, a prisoner in the
quarters of the Praetorian guards,
carrying his hearers in imagination
to ancient Rome, describing the
guards, how they contrasted with
Paul and how out of place he seemed
while prisoner among them; how
the rough soldiers in their brutal ig-
norance were insulting God and his
works and casting slurs on every
thing holy. 1t was there that Paul,
under such conditions and surrounded
by such people, although aged and
not far from death, wrote the epistle
to the Philippians, and in spite of his
apparent hopeless state said My
God shall supply every need of yours
according to His riches in glory in
Jesus Christ Those Introductory
words expressed an idea Immediately
suggestive of the general proposition
That Christianity is inherently ca
pable of supplying the spiritual needs
OF men" After discussing Paul's life
in Tarsus, Rev. Drake suggested the
above proposition as 1914 motto for
the students.
Rev. Drake then asked the question,
is Christianity capable of supplying
the spiritual needs of men" He pro-
ceeded to prove that it was. Taking
the three stages of history, one at
time. he showed in the ancient world,
before the birth of Christ, the empti-
ness of life among the Jews and
Gentiles, and how Christianity met
this need with religion of redemp-
ton. During the middle ages he
pointed out an endless procession of
monks, secluded and sequestered
hermits, knights and their squires on
crusades for the holy land and pill
grims on their journeys. He dwelt
on how the monks. secluded and Sc
creted away, studied and prepared
themselves for the Renaissance and
the future and wrote manuscripts
which are handed down even to this
day. This was for the sharpening of
the mind and the uplifting and elevat-
ing of the personal qualifications and
of the soul. He used Martin Luther
as an example. In other words the
conditions were met. through the CON-
servation of knowledge and through
the thought-providing theological
controversies.
And the last. the modern period, is
altogether different from the needs
Of the ancient or the medieval world.
Has Christianity met them? Is it
meeting them today? Let us see.
Today men are thinking of CONNER
cial affairs. reports of the stock mar
kets. etc. in addition to the many
current needs of the twentieth CEN
fury The needs of today are being
met in various ways. By modern
philanthropy. !. e.. hospitals. asylums.
industrial applications of the Chris