The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-12-08

the way to the supremacy OF the stronger anu
the creation of the kingdom. Thus individual
manhood is lost sight ot-the will of the dcs'
NOT is carried out by the sword and brute force.
This was the period of primitive Asiatc and
Egyptian kings. Then there is a great dcyas-
tation of kingdoms and demolition of en-
pres under the leadership OF mighty generals,
the Cyruses, the Philips of Maccdon, the Alex
anders and the Caesars. In this catastrophe
nations tumbcd together countcracting
thoughts FLASHED, laws, customs and different
national experiments are brought together
This gave the opportunity to select new ba
SIS of government AS all was on a dead level,
there was an cndeayor TO bring the whole INTO
an organic unity.
This is a great change. Instead Of one cen
trail head, radiating authority to all parts OF the
land, there is in each province or section lit
tie nucleus of law-powcr, each woven with the
other, and conyerging in the council OF the
senate. This is the Roman period.
But, mark you, after this comminglng of
the nations and during the Roman progress,
there is a new factor coming upon the theatre
of action This is the Christian religion. This
lis the most wonderful of all changes. Christi
Ianity seeks the individual. 1t is a divine
kingdom within thceXtcrnal, 1t is the lcavcn
hidden in the individual soul. 1t seeks TO
make of an individual an unit with an unit
power IN the government that rules him. In
spirit, it makes void the statutelaw, delegated
power star officials, letters and prisons, by de-
veoping law and order in the soul and con
science. 1t puts a man on his own response
billy; it establishes the principle Of universal
fraternity, it brings the mother back to her
family and causes in man an internal moral
change.
My friends we believe in evolution but we
first believe in involuton, 1t is law of ma
ture that you cannot get out of II thing except
what you put in a thing. You can't get divnl-
ty out of a nation except first you put divinity
into it, You can't get the godlke image out
of the human heart until first God tabernaclcs
in the heart.
This was the great error Of antiquity. They
believed in evolution without inyolution.
They thought that they could bring out a
clean thing from an unclcan thing. Did not
the promised love of Brutus open the way to
Caesarisln and death? Did not Lycurgus So
ion, silent phocion and eloquent Demosthenes
fail because they tried to draw out of the PEG.
plcwha was not in them? Do We not fail to
get law and order out Of the lower strata of
society, because we have neglected to put law
and order in that strata first by education and
Christly teachings? To-day our state prisons
over the land stand there to show the value of
involutiop
Now when Christ came into the world he
came to involve. He put something in the
soul before he expected anything to come cut
And he involved so much in the life of man
that il takes the development of the ages to
evolve it. In the stable Of Bethlehem was the
beginning of our American representative
government. That was the time when the
thought Of man ~ man began 10 be graspcd
and retained before the law That was the
time when man began to be governed for his
own sake and not for the sake Of the governors
This individual manhood idea went on eyolv
ing until, toward the close of the second cen
fury, Christianity had permcated Il vast terri.
tory and extended its indwelling influences in
to the joints and marrow of political fabrics
But its teachings were in conflict with Greek
and Roman ideas. For this reason, on ten diff
terent occasions it was prosecuted by the civil
government Yet it gained the asccndcncy
over ancient learning, transformed ancient
civilization, and attained supremacy over that
same civil power.
Having thus advanced, two circumstances
happened to give il dominion over the human
heart |. The insuiicnCy of old ideas The
worlds intellectual nerve was waning; but
Christianity widened the intellectual vision
rent the eternal veil of spiritual truths beyond
which the Shckinah dwclt in the hottest Of all
1t went down among the poor. 1t taught the
rugged, muscular natures of the dust 1t cared
for the needy, the sick and sorrowing, and it
Imitigated the evils of war .. In this epoch
the world was stirred from center To cirCumtcr-
encc. The great military confederation OF the
Northmcn spread over the Roman empire
The Goths came to Dacia ana the borders of
the Black sea- the Nandals poured down the
Danube the Jutcs, SaXons and Angles passed
the Elbc into Gaul, and the Huns veXed the
Barbarians of Asia and caused them to flow
ii
nations gained three things. l. II had the OPP
portunity to cast the influence OF Christian
principles into the formation of new govern
ments ,. 1t had an opportunity TO teach Bar
barans from all parts of the world. 3, When
these Barbarians returned they carried the Cos
pei with them to their homes. Now had
Christianity built on the same basis rs the old
civilization it would have died in these foreign
countries, But, rs it had built upon IL moral
change of heart every slave became nucleus
for little church and he became teacher of
= Christ
But let us 80 back and take another look at
:, these Northern tribes, especially the Anglo
E Saxons They were a brave people and living
i under the icudal system This system had a
tendency to freedom and independence We
c discover this tendency in the relation existing
n between king and people. During the Anglo
c Saxon reign the kingly dignity was elective.
a They had no hereditary king, though they had
c a kind of royal family. Still the office was
; above personal dignity. Sometimes attempts
] were made to give the elective power To the no
) bility and clergy, but the power was virtually
Il with the nation There was "a grca, national
; council composed of the noble and wise of the
t kingdom. This was the legislative body
But the common people had no voice in il and
a there were no deputies. This assembly had
G il Oripin in the forest of Germany and some
c have considered it as the prototype of the mod
5 ern parliament.
+ But when William of Normandy conquered
; England in 1866 he divided the country among
/ his chiefs and gradually extended the power OF
j the throne and cncroachcl on individual liberty
e Still that buoyant pcr>cyering, unrclcnting
c free spirit of the Saxon was within and ready
1 at any time to burst the shell of royal authority
1 Tyranny and free spirit were there, like fire