The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1889 vol. 1 no. 11

              Vol. 1.________________ THE BULLETIN OF ATLANTA   UNIVERSITY Issued monthly during term time from the University printing office. Entered at the Atlanta, Ga., post office as second class mail matter. Subscriptions at 25 cents a year may be sent to the treasurer of Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. Remittances of donations for current expenses or student aid may be made to, Pres.  HORACE  BUMSTEAD, D. D., Atlanta,  Ga. This number of The Bulletin appears at the end of the month and will be the last issue before the autumn. We make special acknowledgement of the receipt of $1000 toward our endowment fund from Mr. Roland Mather of Hartford Ct. Will not many other friends follow his   good example ? COMMENCEMENT, The baccalaureate sermon was preached by President Bumstead Sunday May 26, in the Chapel of Stone Hall to a large congregation. The sermon is printed in this number of The Bulletin for the benefit of some who desired copies for preservation and of others who, it is hoped, will not regret this opportunity of reading it. The public examinations were held May 23 and 24, and the Commencement exercises May 27,—the change to these earlier dates being necessitated by the State examinations for teachers," appointed for the last week in May. The various classes examined gave evidence of good training through the year. The industrial classes, as usual, drew special attention to themselves. Never was the work of the normal girls in their practice with the children of the primary school more interesting and instructive. On Commencement day, three young men were graduated from the college course with the degree of A. B., and twelve young women received diplomas of graduation from the normal course. The orations and essays delivered by these graduates before a very large audience in Friendship   Baptist    Church   not   only ATLANTA, GA., JUNE, 1889. averaged high in their quality  but-were unusually uniform in their excellence. The Board of Trustees met May 29, every member but one being present. Four new trustees were elected as follows : Rev. Joseph H. Twichell of Hartford Ct., Rev. Lewellyn Pratt D. D. of Norwich Ct., Rev. James W. Cooper D. D. of New Britain Ct., and Rev. James Brand D. D. of Oberlin O. The office of permanent President of the University, which has been vacant since the death of President Ware four years ago, was filled by the election of Professor Horace. Bumstead D. D., who has temporarily filled the office during the two academic years of 1886-87 and 1888-89. An arrangement was made for continuing the limited co-operation of the American Missionary Association with the University. OUR TWENTIETH YEAR. A year of heavy trials, yet not without progress and encouragement. An unusual amount of sickness among students and teachers laid heavy burdens upon us for many weeks, brought sorrow to our hearts in the death of two teachers and three students, and created alarm throughout the State which materially diminished the number of students in attendance. Largely as a result of this sickness, the payments from students have been some $2000 less than last year, while some of our expenses were unavoidably increased. At the same time, receipts from donors have been some $7000 less than last year, the year just closing having been for us, as for others, one of the most difficult in many years for soliciting funds from the benevolent public. Consequently, for the first time in our history, we close a financial year with a serious debt—not far from $9000. Amid all discouragements, our teachers have labored with a zeal and consecration well nigh heroic, while the great majority of our students have, by their continued presence and earnest work and good conduct, proved their loyalty to the University. In certain lines of work, notably in those of scientific, mechanical, normal, and typographical instruction, marked progress has been made. Are there not friends who, during the coming summer, will help us to clear off No. 11. the debt so unavoidably and unfortunately incurred, and thus help us to begin our third decade of work, next October, with no entanglements of the past to retard the progress of the future ? ----------_*------------ BACCALAUREATE SERMON. By Pres, Horace Bumstead D. D. To  class of '89, Atlanta University. Acts I. 6-7-8. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ? And he said unto them It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in ail Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. This was the first baccalaureate sermon ever preached. The school of Christ was about to send out its first, and only, graduating Class.    The devine Master and Teacher speaks his final instructions. The text is furnished in a question asked by the class. The body of the sermon is a refutation of the errors involved in the question. There can hardly be a better baccalaureate sermon preached to any graduating class today than the one Christ preached to his class in the first Century. "Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?"—Why not, Lord ? Did not the prophets speak of thee as the Deliverer of Israel ? Did not the angels welcome thy coming into the -world as a Savior ? Art thou not indeed the King of Israel ? Has not Israel suffered long enough as a vassal of Babylon and then of Rome ? Hast not thou suffered enough in thy humiliation, thy poverty, thy weary wanderings, thy persecutions, thy cruel death ? And have not we suffered enough in forsaking our friends, our homes, our business, our prospects in life that we might follow thee and learn of thee and be trained by thee? Of  what avail has all this experience been, of what avail has thy coming been, if the kingdom be not now restored to Israel ? Lord we want the kingdom and we want it now. Let us not be harsh with these dull disciples for the narrowness of their conceptions. We should have been just as dull learners if we had been among their number. Christ was not harsh with them. He did not rebuke them. He  did not tell them they were  dull and