Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-10-02
THE STATE UNIVERSITY.
COMMENCEMENT WEEK EX-
ERCISES.
Address Before the Law Class
by E. G. Ryan.
From the Madison Journal |

ten to the address of the veteran law
yer, E. G, Ryan, of Milwaukee, befor.
the law class, and they were we'll re
paid, for it was philosophical, acute
vigorous, pungeut and comprehensive
We have not heard so strong and char
acterist1c a speech from Mr. Ryan Il
many years. 1t was marked by felicity
ofexpression- its invective was terrible
Theodore Parker. master of invectivt
never impaled his victim with more
certainty Of aim more ease and relish
To attempt condensed report of this
speech is like publishing a synopsis OF
a poem. Every word should be given
to do the speaker justice.
We understand it is to be printed in
pamphlet form and so we give but an
outline of his address, which was quite
long and received with great favor.
Judges Davis and Hopkins of y. S.
Court, the Governor, some of the state
officers, and members Of the Supreme
Court, members Of the bar in the city
and state and citizens, including many
ladies, were present.
Judge ? S.sSpooner introduced the
speaker.
Mr., Ryan said law in its highest
sense is the will of Cod nothing is
above His universal law. All things
in nature are obedient to His law
The natural forces hidden in the spheres
travel in obedience to laws existing since
the creation so with trees and grasses
the plants grow, wither and die in obe-
dience to law. Every fish, beast and
animal lives and passes from its exis-
tence in obedience to law, but man hay-
ing a higher nature has higher law
To him alone has God given a moral
law. Man alone knows God and obeys
Him. Man is the subject OF nature,
has the option Of obedience and DISC
bedience at his peril His duty rests
in his will True freedom rests upon
Liberty alone is respon-
sible. Liberty not responsible would
be vicious license-there is none such
in nature. Obedience to law is man S
whole duty. The brutes have purely
animal life. We are taught that our
life is more than animal. We are
taught On the one hand that we are a
body without soul, on the other that
we are a soul without body. We have
a double life, sensual and intellectual.
This presupposes immortality, and saves
us from the errors Of senselesS super
stition Of the doctrine Of evolution
The higher we cultivate the moral, the
more we know of the animal and intel
lectual We have dual nature, and
are subject to opposing forces, The
soul has a tendency to refine US. The
animal nature embrutes the soul
These are conditions Of our dual nature
The force of spirit on flesh and flesh
on spirit, philosophy cannot penetrate
Human lie is an inconsistency, and
man only is disobedient Matter is
perfect in nature so is vegetation
Brutes ere all subject to their own
laws ; man only has the power to vol
UNFAIRLY change. He may, by disohe-
dience, fall to the lowest point of his
animal nature, or, by obedience, rise
to the highest moral height. He is
born for self-culture he alone has an
ancestral memory. True progress rests
in obedience to the laws appointed for
man. True civilization is obedience
to Gods laws. Obedience to law is
the sole condition of man good. Out
side Of society there is no progress.
Man is gregarious. Society is not the
creature Of man will. 1t rests on the
law Of his being. Man organized 30
ciety, but God ordained it. Man Is
the germ Of all society. The family
is society segregated. There is no
omission in the Divine law. From the
it is always the same. The
problems Of society spring not from the
insufficiency of the law, but from dis
regard Of the law. Obedience to law
is essential to the order of society.
We know that free man sets up his
desires for the laws of God While
God suffers man to set up his law; He
rules. Events are accidental, but his
tory is not blind chance. Civilization
is the work of man, under the guidance
of God. The personal submission Of
man is hard. The sins of man are not
merely personal, but social. God gives
the law, but does not directly enforce
it, or directly punish dlsobedlence.
He leaves man to the control of his
will. SO society needs more than the
law it needs more than the law it
needs the power to punish. This is
the authority of the State. We speak
Huently of nature laws, but do not
often comprehend them. Human study
of divine wisdom is dtful, sometimes
arrogant. We sometimes mea@rre d.
vine law with a foot rule. Without
the light Of revelation man sees but
phantoms of the truth rather than truth
itself: It is weak blasphemy to say
that man has outgrown revelatlon-he
has not vet risen to its comprehension.
1t is our duty to still study it. 1t is
the security of society to formulate di-
vine law. In primitive society the law
was not formulated, but enforced by
the father in the family, aud by the
chief in his elan. This was despotism,
for it depended on a single conscience.