The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-11
THE CONTEST IN ORAT0RY.
George L. Mcintosh, of Wabash College,
the Successful Speaker.
FraRNin College Awarded Second HonOrs-
The Meeting of the Association
Fraternity Conventions.

'Opera-h house last night, before an auCuehce OIL
about 800 people, made up entirely OF the col
llege mates and friends Of the contestants, the
following colleges being represented in the con
test: Butler University State University, De-
PAW University, Hanover College, Franklin
college and Wabash College. These six con-
Dtestants are the picked men of 1,4O0 college
youths, and the representatives of the eduea-
tional and progressive leaven in our Com
nnonwealth The programme opened
with an invocation by DR.. Lemuel
Moss, which was followed by brief address by
Mayor John L. McMaster, who welcomed the
contestants and their friends in the name of the
city and on behalf of its citizens, who recognize
this as the noblest form of contest and appreci-
ate these efforts to achieve something in the
.yorid of thought, and thus keep the intellectual
progress of the nation abreast with its material
progress
The first speaker was G. L. Mcintosh, of Wa
bash College, his subject being 1.-THE Unity of
Science and Religion He spoke as follows,
and at the conclusion of his grafton was warmly
sappauded
Men seldom seek truth for its own sake. The
personal and professional element enters largely
Into all their Investigations Theologians are
more eager to uphold their theology and SCENT
f7StS to defend their tne0r1eS JDAn Is elbnef 10
strive for truth in its broad and comprehensive
alnity This tendency in mans nature, while it
1,As imperative uses, has led to nearly all the
conflicts and disputes of the world of thought.
Most of all has it caused the seeming discord be-
tween some of the truths Of religion and science.
Through the whole course Of human thought this
lantagouism has prevailed. Two principles seem
to parallel in every age and civilization and,
indeed, in each individual mind. The one is en-
bodied in empirical science, the other in religious
faith
Intellect is the controlling force of the first,
reverence of the second. The former is icono-
elastic and aggressive, the latter conservative
and restraining Developed in harmony, they
arc the counterbalancing forces on whose nice
adjustment must ever depend the symmetrical
advancement of the human race But if either
is advanced at the sacrifice of the other harmony
of movement is destroyed and beneficial progress
is impossible. Religious faith without intel
1eetual enlightenment is superstition Intellect
without the restraining influences OF religion in
eVitably drifts into atheism and despair.
Pendulum-like, the world has swung from one
to the other of-these extremes. On the one hand
we find tthe unquestioning faith and unreasoning
superstition of the middle ages on the other,
the impious audaeity and coarse materalism Of
the French philosopher The former reduced
beautiful and Lefty faith almost to fetichism;
the lsScer raised reason and shame to the throne
Of Divinity. Each in turn had overstepped its
proper boundaries and assumed to itself the
whole province of thought. Each had scornfully
rejected the claims Of the other in order to Sc
cure absolute power to itself
+ Even in the nineteenth century the conflict
for supremacy goes on with unabated vigor.
Once more to-day We are told, in no modest
TERMS that this is the age Of science, that science
BIS the light of the world before which the penny
rushlights of religion must inevitably pale into
linsignifcance. What then is this mighty sci
lencel Science is what man knows of sensible
things and their relations, and its utmost bounds
are mans capacity to know. With indomitable
courage science has gone forth to meet the mys
L. - To-
left no field untried Measuring illimitable
spaces or gauging molecule, calculating the age
of planet or an insect it is ever patient, per
sistent and daring No work of visible creation
has escaped it's penetrating eye. Its ambition
knows no bounds. To build a pyramid from
whose lofty summit the whole domain of knowl
ledge might be surveyed, has ever been its cheer
ling and inspiring hope In pursuance of this
design individual facts are classified, classes are
systematzed and united in the idea Of unvarying
law. Here science ends And what is law
lis this word to conquer with and climb
the empyrean of Divinity Law saws Monies
Cuieu lis the necessary relations that arise
from the nature of things" Has science, then,
in reaching law established an ultimate prin-
ciple? Does the law of gravitation keep the
planets in their orbits and maintain the har
mony of the spheres2 Does the law of evolution
generate germs and speciesl Law is but the
method of force. Law is a pure abstraction.
Beyond law must be the real impelling force,
and of this science gives no explanation. All
things. Astronomy ends with the nebular
hypothesis; chemistry with the atomic theory,
and geology fades into the illimitable ages of
the past. Physical science, reaching out in
every direction, is met at all points by blind,
impenetrable infinity. 1t is indeed, a torch in
the night, but as it grows brighter it only rem
ders more palpable the darkness beyond. AS
it is multiplied it only widens the circle of the
unknown.
If science is unable to solve the problems of
tbs physical universe, how shall it answer the
questions of higher existencel
Astronomy may calculate the almost infinite
oath of a comet but what science answers the
Emperor's question, whittier goest thou, oh
my soulp Chemistry may resolve the physical
universe into its elements, but what magic heart
has analysed a singular human emotion9 Biology
may trace the descent Of species and reveal a
PLAUSIBLE evolution, but who has found the germ
of being2 In the depths of every human soul,
in the dreams of sleep, in every flower that lifts
its head to heaven, in every senseless, useless
lclod is lodged a mystery far transcendng scien-
itifc skill to comprehend.
Must we then agree with Compile, that in
positive science the range Of thought is ex
hauSted2 Must we reject all we cannot compre-
hend reduce all our views and beliefs to the five
senses, make human nature but refined british
instinct, and this short pittance of time our only
Immortality! From such dismal conclusions of
the intellect the, soul instinctively recoils and
finds within itself a protest against such petty
limits. From other than scientific sources
comes positive knowledge. From the depths of
consciousness comes the certain proof that be-
yond all tins array of phenomena and form there
reigns supernal power. The intuitions of the
soul are real phenomena, and they connect man
with the infinite Invisible to which mere science
can never attain. This is evinced in the com
mon consciousness of mankind. 1t is seen in
the sculpture of the Greeks and the painting of
the great masters 1t is found in the Vedas,
the Koran and the Bible 1t is typifed in the
Valhalla of the wild Norsemen and the Nirvana
of the stolid Burmese. 1t is sung
in every line of genuine poetry
from Homer to Tennyson. 1t is proved by the
temples Of the past and the living faiths of the
present Through every age and civilization
ern science, from its very inability to destroy it.
only adds another proof to the accumulated evi-
dence of the ages.