Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-09-05

3 caves ana eating NGOIne ike Wild beasts.
/ What force, then. was K that gave the
steady continuity OF progress from ,hat
first hut of wuttas on Graliau sNl t0
+ the mangnideant Pantheon ct Athausg
+ | was this veW GOd-eiyeu faculty OF the
mind y0 build ideals ON the low and mar.
Ir0w basis of actual fact For every ideal
must have atleast feeble real for It's point
Of departure, otherwise 1t loses tha vital
ity of truth, it makes q clean severance
from human experience, and conveys no
available instruction to the mind
But this creative faculty of the mind
does something more than people the past
and the future with its impersonatiOns, IL
fills this living present with IFS human
ideals, which are as dear TO us as "the
immediate jewels of our souls: dearer far
than the bare human realities that belong
to our astual companiouship. How cod
and cruel would fall tie hand upon our
hearts and homes that should drive out of
our Eden the beloved ideals that walk
with Us among its flowers, and even taste
with us the forbidden fruit of its tree of
knowledge of good and evil Why, every
day ideals marry and are given in MARI
age to each other In our midst The hap
piest homes on earth are the home Of liv-
ing-ideals; the homes of husbands and
wives, parents and children, radiant with
the idealiSm whiCh'ones gives to the other.
There is many poor woman, pinched and
pale with poverty, who can say, aui does
say to her half crippled, homely, and fret,
ful husband;
although yoq are r@.h hing in tbeworld
You are all The world 60 me-
The very term we use to designate the
qualities of the highest beings OF our
faith and worship illustrates this ideal
ism. We speak Of the attributes Of such
a being. These are the dispositions the
faculties, the heart and mind, which we
attribute to one; the qualities we believe
him to possess. and which make no his
character 10 our honest apprehension 1t
is one of the happiest faculties Of the
human mind that we can attribute these
qualities even 70 those nearest and dearest
To U.s. that, while they walk by our side
through life we can robe their real beings
with the soft velvet Of our ideaIism hid
ing all the unwelcome discrepancies and
unpleasant features of bare fact which we
do not wish 10 see. Not one of the Christ
ian graces acts without some faculty of
llA ultlAb pun III tAtIAAHts anu NIAIANAt
th2g GROWING virtue of them ull -'char-
ity that beareth all things, believeth all
things, hopeth all things, endureth al
things; charity that suifereth long and is
kind, and enveth not, and thinketh no
evil, this the greatest of all the grdces
that brighten and sweeten the life of hu
man society acts more through this
faculty of idealism than through any
other power of the mind What a
wretched aggregation of human being
society would be if they lived and moved
together in the bare bones Of actual fact,
unoothed upon by that soft mantle of our
idealism, which Is woven in the same
loom as charity's best robe, wherewith she
covers such a multitude of sins, blots. and
specks which would otherise be seen
TO the hurt OF our social happiness.
We have, then, the clearest testimony
that God could give, in nature, in reyela-
ton, and in the history of mankind, that
there is no power of the human mind
through which he works so manifestly 30
iiresistibly, for the uplifting and salvation
OF our race, as this very faculty Of ideal
ism Not family or tribe OF mankind
has ever made one step Of progress in civ
iLzatioh except through the exercise Of
thss faculty Not an individual soul has
made its pilgrimage on earth and reached
the opened gate Of the heavenly city with.
ont the constant help of tins faculty. II Is
the faculty that creates for the heart, the
eve, and ear, and hand of faith new
heaven and q new earth, and peoples both
with ideas which are a hundred times more
Vivid, tangible, Compaulonable, and help.
fui b il than the best realities that are
found ia flesh and blood ID would require
volumes TO record the history Of this great
faculty; of It's training and progress
through the ages; Of tie successive stages
by which it has carried mankind forward
on the high road of civilization; OF the In
dustrial and fine arts 1t has produced. and
of the thousand ways IN which it has
worked for the glory of God and the good
of man All the mechanical, chemical,
and electrical forces now in operation for
mankind have been developed through
chs reserve force of the intellect Their
history is the history Of idealism brought
to bear upon the pure and simple facts Of
nature
In all the mythologies and poetical con-
ceptions Of Greece, Rome, and other conn-
tries in the pagan ages, we see what
characters and what Characteristics made |
up the beau-ideals of their conception
They represented and dehled tine brute
forces Of humanity, the strength, courage,
and feats Of the warrior. Their highest
qualities were the brute force virtues,
which then inspired and filed ali that the
imagination Of society could grasp of good
ami glory. As these qualities we're "a
that Imagination the diviDist that man
could attain and illustrate, 40 they supple
mented their actual historical heroes With
ideal beings who had exhibited these qdal
tiles 20 a superhuman degree Of power and
courage. Thus we can trace the progress
Of the human mind in It's conception aud
estimation Of the moral virtues by the
character OF the ideals il has created. lu
what are called the classic or heroic eras,
these ideas were all OF the same cast ,
they were alI martial heroes, who fought
with the gods or against them, or were
held as divine IN their origin and end.
10 is peculiar feature Of inspired ideli- +.
ism. or Of the fictitious characters wrought
under the influence Of divine revelation. /
that they illustrate what we may call
th1 reactive virtues Tho exhibit the cu' /
turr Of the human soul training and de- /
velopment Of lis faculties Of thought and /
feeling and moral action % the highest