Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1888-06-23

was begun yesterday afternoon ct O'Clock in
Battell chapel, when six young men from
the graduating class contested for the De-
Forest prize. Mr.. Henry Lewis Stimson, of
New York city, carried eff the honor. Mr..
Stimson is the one who took the 'S8 junior
exhibition prize, and his grafton yesterday
on Sir Henry Vane was fully worthy of the
DeForeat. All the speakers yesterday were
deserving of prizes, for the entire programme
was of an unusual degree of excellence Mr..
Harold Russell Gxifith, of Springfield, was
the first speaker and 'tThe Fersrunnsrs of
the Protestant Reformation his subject
The Protestant Reformation, what was it?
1t was the declaration of half of Europe
reused by Luther that it would hencsforth
worship God az It thought best. It has be-
come 30 vital part Of Ms that We cannot
conceive OF our life without 1t. We do not
underrate the position Of Luther, bat il wa
dependent on those who had gone before. II we
would understgnd rightly tbe< Refor-
nation NE must study the
lives of these forerphuers. We
can mention only three names. It is now
working in his London study. He Razsd
with an eye yelled nef at all into the nnys-
teries of truth and right Ten years after
WychHe's death was born one who became a
martyr Tor his honor and conscience sake,
John H1ss. To me he IL one whose figure In
every moral point of visw is the grandest
Ha$Mas frmer than rock to his own con-
science. He never swerved and never tenn
porized. His career in the University of
Prague was noble and useful one to all
about him. From the moment he left
Prague en- his way to the Council Of Cons
Stance he was in the midst of his foes. There
Is another, q man who lived one hundred
years after Wycliffe, man who towers above
the darkness of the age, Geronimo SaYonaro-
la. The quick coming wrath of Jehovah was
his one topic. Mr.. Griffth's Grafton was
written in most pleasing style and was well
delivered.
Mr.. Fred Palmer Solley of Orange. N. j.,
the class poet, followed. He spoke of the
historic attitude of the Christian church
toward new discoveries in physical science.
Among many other things he said were: The
religion of the people has always been one of
the potent factors in their progress or de-
cline The Christian religion has exerted an
influence which no other has done. 1t has
succeeded in inspiring the barbarian mind
with its great principles and thus overcome
its conqueror. To Christianity Is due, If not
the discovery of science, the turning of it to
its proper use. The truths Of religion are In
the nature of truth Interchangeable. Such
hostility as has existed in the church against
science has been on the part of the eccleeiasti-
cal leaders, and has been not against wei
established truths but against new theories.
Mr.. Orland Sidney Isben of New Haven
spoke of the tendencies toward centralized
government of the United States since the
close of the civil war. He said in fact,
when the despotism Of George III drove the
colonies to combine for defense, the greatest
importance was laid upon q not toe great
Capitalization of government. From the
time of jackson the national idea has been
nva that of tho CkofA INN fo.
ly after the war, in itself the grandest expos
sition of federal power there came period of
reconstruction, and three constitutional
amendments were excessively passed in
which it was the nation, not the State, that
said who should be voters. Justice Davis in
1875 speaking of the Union Pacific railroad
said It was a national work, undertaken on q
national basis and filing q national, want.
The labor question is one of recent
growth and about all the gov
eminent has done has been
to establish labor bureaus for the collection
ject. It is plainly apparent that the leader
in this eentralizing movement is the legisla-
tive department. The Supreme court, while
maintaining the supremacy of the national
government, has striven to leave untouched
the powers of the State.
Irving Fisher of this city, valedietolian of
'S8, followed Mr.. IsbelI and spoke on the
liz
f'The attitude of the church toward science. !"
A few things that he said are quoted.
So absorbing is the present discussion be-
tween science and religion that we often for
get its historic genesis and regard il as q new
question. In the first period of the Christian
church, the FIRST sixteen centuries of the era,
the church passed through three phases In its
relations with each scientific qnestion-an-
tagenism, apologize compromise and defeat.
Up to the seventeenth century we see the
church intolerance toward science, but with
the renaissance came new life for science.
The time WAS past when devotee of science
was also her martyr. Though the struggle
began to crumble. The modern science
most notably persecuted Is geology. The
social causes for this historic attitude most
frequently assigned were the defects in the
church organization. Deeper human causes
are to be sought. The tendencies to glance
every age. The true contest was between in
tellectual rest and intellectual motion.
The next speaker was the man destined to
take the prize. Mr.. Stimson's 6ne Grafton
was gracefully delivered and at once impress
cd itself upon the auditor as the probable
winner. "Slr Henry Vans the Younger
and the Commonwealth" was his subject.
He said In part: At the close Of the great
civil war In England the contest had ceased
to be between an injured parliament and an
aggressive king, but became q struggle for
the federation Of its religious views. During
these years two men had been rising side by
side into prominence, and now Sir Henry
Vsne was scarcely less prominent than Crom-
weIl-Yans, the statesman and the crater,
Cromwell, the soldier, the man of Nasely and
of Narston. On the 30th of January, 1649,
the King of England went to the block, and
besides its historical importance the event Is
of interest to us as throwing food of light
on the character of Henry Vane. He
was was Of Of the party party Of the Eicto5s.
vanquished. BE took his stand firmly with
neither. From this time he drifts apart
from Cromwell, and at the latter's death he
brought forward his old plans unchanged by
the experience of former years. Throughout
his life are indications of that principle
which bind him closely to our own country,
the spirit of freedom and equality. The ex-
ecution Of Sir Harry vane by Charles the
I'd has been branded as the meanest act of
the meanest character in all English history.
The programme ended with another ora
ton on the Historic Attitude of the Chris
tisn Church toward Science" delivered by
Mr.. Harlan Ward Coley of Dubuque, Iowa.
ization is the history of struggle between
the better and nobler endowments within
man and his base tendencies. It was as
early as the second century that the conflict
between reason and faith began. It was the
entire reliance on the Bible which led to the
position of the church in it's relation to sci
ence One of the greatest battles between
religion and science was that over the posi-
ton of the sun among the heavenly bodies.
The science of chemistry has also been re-
tarded in its growth by the stand taken by
religion in regard to it, but It must be
said that this opposition came chiefly
from the franciscan and Dominican orders
of monks. The Protestant church stands
far in advance OF the Catholic in its search
after truth. Science brought to view not
one world, but myriads balanced In the
heavens and obeying in their motions not
caprice but the immutable law of God. How
much grander is this conception than the old
one. Men are only too ready to formulate
their knowledge, to make too hasty conclu-
sions and thus arrive at false views. Mr..
Cooley's effort was an excellent one, and in
the opinion of many he must have pushed,
Stimson hard for tho honor.