The Baccalaureate Sermon.

Appleton Chapel was well filled yesterday afternoon on the occasion of the baccalaureate sermon to the senior class, preached by the Rev. Francis Greenwood Peabody, Plummer professor. The service was opened by the spirited rendering by the choir of the anthem, "O be joyful in the Lord.' After the introductory exercises, the preacher announced his text as follows: "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having under me soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it." The thought upon which the preacher dwelt was the necessity that as he went forth to take his position of leadership in the world, the liberally educated man should himself be able to command and control himself. This could be done only through a long period of preparation. The temptations and trials which so suddenly sweep down upon men in life are to be met, not by an equally sudden impulse of the will for safety, but only by the discipline and training to perfect obedience of that will. The opportunity for such discipline, the preacher continued, had been enjoyed by those young lives before him. They might not carry away much detailed knowledge; every one after an examination has experienced the shedding from his brain, as from a roof, of the floods of facts that have been poured upon it. But they could and should carry away what was of much more value. The patient labor of college years is the means of securing that training and soldierly discipline which is essential for the victory in the struggles which have to be met. This may not seem to be the case. But it will be found that such discipline will serve us in the hour of danger as does the discipline of the trained British soldiers against the fanatical Arab mob.

And how is the life of self-command to be attained? Only through the religious life. And what is the substance of religion? The sum of the religious life, the preacher said, is faith. This does not means, as we so often hear it said, a system of belief, but a loyalty to a person, a soldierly obedience to God. It is only through this loyalty and subordination that our lives receive that power which enables them to exert power over those we seek to command.

Prof. Peabody concluded his discourse with an earnest and eloquent address to the graduating class. The singing of a hymn written for the occasion, and the benediction, pronounced by the preacher, closed this very interesting service.