The Portland daily press., 1886-06-25
A. F. Moulton, Esq, class of 1862 Follow
ing is an abstract:

A. F. Moulton, Esq, class of 1869. Follow,
ing is an abstract:
TRIAL BY ORDEAL.
Writers upon the English Common Law
make frequent mention of an ancient form OF
trial, called Trial by Ordeal. 1t was named
in formal language Judicinne Del, the judg-
ment of God, and was regarded with super
stitious reverence. 1t existed in many forms.
There was the ordeal by fire, where the per-
| son accused was made to walk barefoot and
blindfolded over the place where nine red
hot ploughshares were laid atirregular inter-
walls. If he passes the dangerous spot in
safety, it was held that Providence had
shown his innocence. In the ordeal by wa
ter, the arm would be thrust into boiling
water to the elbow If at the end of three
days no scar was found, the prisoner went
free. In trials for witchcraft the suspected
person was thrown into pond of water. If
he floated his guilt was clear. but the unfor-
| tunate innocent person was likely to be
| drowned before he could be rescued.
| Still another method was the ordeal of bat
| tie, where the accused threw down his glove
and appealed to heaven to prove his inno-
cence, Then if he. or his chosen champion
| could hold his own from day dawn until the
| stars appeared at night, the judgment was in
| his favor. This form of trial, though recOg-
nized by law, gradually passed into disuse,
| but less than seventy years ago prisoner in
| dicted for high crime threw down his glove
| in open court and demanded trial by ordeal
of battle.
The judges, after looking up preeedents,
| held that his request could not be denied, but
meanwhile Parliament repealed the old
| statute and the case was quietly dropped.
The theory indulging all this was two
| fold:
First That there is Higher Law which
| actually governs the affairs of men.
Second-That in accordance with that law
| men are and should be put to test and that
truth and right alone give power to with
stand such test.
All through the past this idea of the test
| by some form of ordeal under the Higher
| Law has been well nigh universal. :Gautama
the founder Of the Buddhist religion, tradi-
ton declares, passed a mighty ordeal be-
meath the Bodhi-tree before he entered upon
his mission. Hafiz. the poet of Persia, was
tested forty nights before he became one of
the four immortals of the earth. The true
knight in the days of chivalry passed many
high test to prove his valor and worth, and
even some Indian tribes have similar forms.
And when we consider the general course
of the worlds history and the events Of every
day life, we must admit that this almost uni
versal belief is founded upon truth. The old
forms were crude and superstitious, but the
principle they blindly sought to apply is
true in a broader sense than they compre-
hend Life is an ordeal, a test of fitness un-
der the higher law where rights as general
rule succeeds rather than wrong. The
planet moves save in its orbit because obedi-
ent to the laws of motion. So human ac-
tions that conform to the no less exacting
laws of rectitude and justice, are in the true
line of success. They cannot vary long
without collision and eclipse.
The old nations, Notwithstanding their
wonderful attainments, passed away as all
agree, by reason of their corruptions. 1t is
the same story in Egypt, Assyria and all the
tellectual. His ideal was the ideal of beauty.
The Romans were true conquer0rS and gov
ernment builders. Whatever they subdued
they retained and their aim was permanency.
The idea OF government based upon glory
and chivalrous sentiment was tested to the
full in France under her great Emperor.
Cromwell attempted to found his common
wealth npon religious fanaticism. None of
these had the qualities which could make
them permanent. But out of the general
wreck there still remains the infinite truths
taught by Socrates and the portion of the
Roman code regulating the intercourse OF
man with man which satisfies the universal
idea of right. BOnaparte and Cromwell
builded better than they knew and prepared
the way for the growth of popular freedom.
There is wonderful power in true idea.
ST. Paul came to Europe armed only with the
doctrines of Christianity, and that intangible
thought which he brought spread and con-
quered until it revolutionized the world.
There is an inherent power in masses of
people to distinguish and retain the truth.
They do not seem to learn it so much as to
There is world of evidence behind the say
ing, Vor pOpuIi UOG Del. As a pendulum,
after swaying from side to side, at length
comes to rest and points straight to the
centre of the globe, so popular sentiment is
very sure to gravitate in the end to a correct
result.
However true these conclusions may be
as applied to the past and the abstract they
are equally true as applied to the present,
and the concrete affairs of every day. In
each individuals life the rules for success
are found in the precepts of the higher law.
1t may seem that the hasty roads that lead
by devious and crooked ways will bring the
most Of profit if not of honor. But judge not
too hastily of these things. Right action
succeeds in larger majority of cases than
we are apt to consider The fortune of the
man who succeeds by lucky venture is
known to all as the brilliant meteor which
flashes along the evening sky, is spoken of
with general wonder, while the shining of
the eternal fixed stars attracts no mention.
The cold statistics of business experience
show that no great commercial house has
existed forty years without reputation for
sterling integrity. Mercantile men lay par
ticular stress upon what insurance men
would call 'the moral hazard" the DISPOSE
ton to be honest or otherwise, and good rep
utatiOn has large commercial value.
1t was a favOrite idea of Prof Upham of
Bowdoin, that as once bodily strength held
sway, and then yielded its precedence to the
intellect, so the time would surely come when
moral power would be supreme. In the
union of the three, body, mind and will, each
in order superior to, and controlling the 9TH
er, is the type of perfect manhood. the ideal
toward which our faces should be turned
Magellan saw in eclipses the round shadow
Of the earth on the moon. Goods laws he
said ''never fail. If the shadow is circular.
the substance is so too, ana he pressed on
with faith that never faltered until the
passage to the West was found. In wider
sense it may be said that Gods laws do not
fail. and we should go forward with faith
equal to his
Webster said that an eagles flight higher
than the Berkshire mountains SCARED the
constitution of the United States, but heaven
high beyond the eagles fight rests forever
the higher law of justice and absolute right.
That is the unseen influence which governs
in the great trial by ordeal to which all are
subjected and which we cannot escape if we
would.