Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-06-14
SERMON TO HIGH SCHOOL
At FIRST NJ. {. CHURCH
DR.. Mcneil breaches the Bac-
calaureate to Graduates.
THE IDEALS OF CHRIST.
The Call Of the Hour for Young Men
and Young Women to Accept
They Shall Beat Their Swords
Into Plowshares."

I
| muncement Week. as seniors, juniors
and other undergraduates marched
into the First Methodist Church yes
terday morning.
| The occasion was the preaching of
| the baccalaureate sermon by the pas
tor. the Rev Dr. Walter G. Mcneil, TO
the High Schol graduates. The church
was beautifully decorated with flow
ers in profusion, and the music by the
choir was of a high order. The text
of the sermon was taken from Isaiah
second chapter. fourth verse: They
shall beat their swords into plOw-
shears" The preacher spoke. in part
as follows;
"All men who have turned ont 20 be
great men have been dreamers: they
have had their hours of vision lsa-
iah was one of these. In his early
manhood he pictured a time when he
nations should not learn war any
more. il was but a few years until he
saw his visions rudely shattered
But the later years brought to him
deeper confidence as to the final out
come; he saw God at work among the
nations leading on TO "a glorious con
summation
"Men have been dreaming dreams
| like Isaiahs, but they have been shat
tered by the spectre of war Plow-
shares are being beaten into swords
all of the resources of the nations are
being laid under tribute to sustain the
carnage. What has become of the
3 .
| confidence that God is in the midst of
| life we must keep our faith that the
ultimate triumph will be on the side
of Gods Righteousness. Not all are
optimistic enough to believe that this
will prove a war upon war. that after
this they shall not learn war any more
| But may we hope that the spirit OF
| the prophecy is to have accentuation.
and that the disposition of the nations
shall be furthered to beat their swords
into plowshares
1T is another meaning OF the words
of the text that we seek this morn
/ ing Whatever value these words may
/ ever have in speaking Of the nations
/ will arise from the permeation of their
/ spirit through the life Of the people.
| Il is the individual application that in
| terests us today. They shall beat their
| sword into plowhares,' the transfor-
nation OF the sword. The sword is
the instrument Of destruction the plow
share is the instrument of life, of use
fulness. We are to think of the trans
formation of mans powers under the
| processes of divine grace. God pro-
poses to take all those powers OF the
soul which make for destruction and
ruin. and convert, transform them into
| powers of usefulness and service for
the welfare of mankind All the pur-
poses of God have in view the saving
Of man, through the power of Christ
Many persons make the mistake Of
supposing that the Christian religion
has suppression as its keynote II is
not so. There are truly lives, out OF
which deadly things must be removed,
even as there is often need of the sur
geon's knife in the treatment of hu-
man lis Some things must be remov-
ed because they are deadly. But the
keynote of religion is transformation
Christ seeks not to destroy but TO turn
TO higher uses all the powers of mans
soul
Man has himself ever been seek
ing to control and transform natures
destructive forces Fire and wind
from early ages, have been compelled
by him to keep their bounds. and to dc
his will It has remained for tho
modern man 10 harness the electric
forces, which are so potent of de
struction, and to transform them into
light and heat and energy. Mans
purpose has never been to destroy .bu
ever to transform. Even so does tn,
| God who made man 20 do His work
| He took a man of tempestuous ma
. | ture, changeful as the winds Of tn
, lake upon which he sailsd. and trans
1 | formed him into a man Of rock. II
took under His Transforming Dowe
/ the man who was quick to summon
> the thunders upon those whom he la
ted, until at the last this man becam
. the very apostle OF love. He caIle
, the prosecutor, the murderer. an
transformed him into the preacher. tn
martyr. II was not a destructfve.b .bu
. a reconstructive process that wrough
/, upon these men.
The symbolism of our text forbid
II this wrong view Of suppression
n Swords are to become plowsharel
4 Now plOwshares are the instrument
! Of change. their work is 10 cut and /
+ overturn. 1t was the hardness an
! the keen edge Of the sword that CAV
il value as a plowshare in the Easf
n ern land. and in its new use it wa
still To be an instrument Of disturb
ance. All the qualities Of soul ths
= we possess are capable of respondin
to the transforming influence Of Chris
He viii convert hatred into love. an
viii crystalline the shifting sands
i character into rock-like quality. Il
will make the unjust man just. ii
unkind man kind. He will give coui