Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-12-17
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.
THE PENALTY OF GREATNESS"

THE PENALTY OF GREATNESS"
senior Grafton q. j. H. swift. +. 4 NJ. Col.
lese.
While mans physical inferiority and
to external powers and uni
versal law is established by human science,
yet there is revealed in him 4 potent incor.
poreal essence which proves him infinitely
greater than the wole world Of surround
ing forces. Each individual is created
with 4 special spiritual nature, conscience
to discern right from wrong. a will free to
act in pursuit Of either, and certain posi-
bilities which he is to realize in their high
est state ofdeveiopment. And then to ac
this, the ideal Of his being, con-
stitutes the one grand aim and mission Of
his life. But through his connection with
a disorganizing spiritual power, the ac-
tions and impulses of man become tainted:
and in his endeavor toward lf-perfection
he meets continually an Oppos-
ing force in his own nature and in
his immediate relations. On becoming
conscious OF the possibilities lodged with
in him he feels the presence Of these two
hostile powers and would he realize the
ideal devOlopement, he must force the
will to act the dictates Of conscience, con-
tend against the opposing force, overcome
it, and in this struggle pay the penalty Of
his inherent weakness. In endeavOring
to accomplish this devepement, multiform
passions arise, opposing interests and
aims spring into prominence and struggle
to usurp supreme control and the baSer
elements of his nature, leagued with the
opposing hostile forces, bring on conflict
which no tongue OF pen with the combined
genius of ages can portray. Counter pas
sions provoked, mistakes and crimes occur
involving misfortunes Of various kinds
which often culminate in a final catastrO-
pho. The consequence Of the actions re-
col! OH the actor, eternal justice enters
to restore the broken harmony, and the
principles of right stand revealed in full
glory.
IllustriOus characters Of all ages, intro
ducing new revolutions in human pursuits
and human governments, have been at
tended by what may be indeed heavens
own great ordinance. Through the silent
acquicsccnce and fOrbearance Of the mar
tyrs, the roadside meeting Of the Pupil of
Gamaliel and the Babe of Bethlehem be-
came an actual possibility. Reformers and
old church fathers, amid tyranny and des-
potism, proclaimed the only potentate. and
through much tribulatiOn herOica!ly ad
vanced the banner of the cross. The TN.
holy deeds of princes and monarchs seek
ing praise of men mark and mar the pages
of history and their own sad ends, volun-
tary or involuntary, verify the dominant
power of right and conscience. In the
rush Of waters that submerged u world,
and the roar of flames that laid Sodom in
ashes, the same vindictive power of retri-
butive justice is manifest, only in a higher
and truer sense. On the shores
strcwn with dead, beside sea which
opened its gates for the escape of Israel and
closed them on Egypt, burying king and
hammered hosts beneath its whiring waves,
Moses and Miriam sang triumphal song.
The magnificence of Babylon, it's naughty
wealth, it's luxury, pomp and architectural
splendOr, are only mere shadows of the
same spirit which brought upon it an
awful judgment. In the deep, decided
individuality of every oriental wonder
making nation, slumbered the power thai
crumbled its own foundations, and sent
the star of empire whirling towards thu
west. They rose, fiourished, and fell
Magnificent ruins are all that remain o
their former grandeur. They paid thu
penalty of their greatness, passcd from th'
worlds stage of action, and now rest in tn
silent dust-covered tomb of oblivion.
| He who ventures forth on the Sc;
of inquiry into the reasons of al
divine and human things, vii
find that it has srlrSing billows
cliffs and shoals, and that only through
nights and days of cloud and storm is the
haven to be reached. And when he has
gained plane of thought above his fel
low-crcaturcs, lie feels ''thc whips ant
scorns Of time, the oppressor's wrong ant
proud mans cOntumely,' ana finds tn
seeds of ruin Are sown in the very birth O
his greatness. Actuated by passionate
ambition he g!ides forth into the atmO
sphere of glory with strong personality
which bears II record of the result Of pas
actions and aids him in determining new
ones but ''high- blown pride' carries hin
far bcyoud his height, and the air-fOrm
that kept him alOft vanish at last, AM
weary and old with service he sinks, IN,
amid pangs and agonies ''feels his hear
new opencd.'
"Ob, Cromwell! Cromwell had bu
served my God with half the zeal served
| my king, He would not in mine age have
left me naked to mine cnemies"'
Side by side with his higher achievements
we find sorrow, trials, inward conflicts
an inner life giving pain to conterac
the joy of success, and stripped of the
pomp and pride of power, We may find tho
individual gaunt, haggard and half con
sumed with burning anxiety. The higher
the order of genirs, the rarer the talent
the more colossal the possibilities, th'
more susceptible to the tempter and th'
more liable to destruction. The acute
nervous, sensitive temperament which
characterizes craftsmanship is ATTENDED
by mysterious fatality that often cul
inmates in a tragic end. Hero after hero
receiving retribution at the hands an of
Tended Deity, marks the progress O
anarchy and sclf-agSrandizcment from tn,
TeutObergian Forest to the Roman Sen
| ate-where many mighty cOn4uests, many
glorious trlumphs, circling the world:
proudest conguerer, were brought 'lOw
by Casca's stroke, and Rome began hcl
downfall. The little germ of immorta
life sown deep in the stony heart Of tina,
magnificent and corrupt empire, against
which other tribes had broken theil
strength, sprang up and became the true
tree of life to younger nations Of Jehovah
We turn from contemplating the exile:
gigantic powers, the vastness of his dc
signs, the bOldness Of their execution, ant
the slaughter-fields of his ambition, t.
| witness his burning torture on Helena'
lonely isle and we find that his 'towerin.
intellect and lofty ambition added a two
fold force to the consuming pangs of disap
pointmcnt.
The atmosphere saturated with the un
! Wholesome breathinOS Of treason, that G.