The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-10-21

dramal We're they not all but the fruits OF time.
the progeny OF old paternities. the products of
forces and conditions which We're older than the
first appearance OF the Aryan race in Europe,
older than Egypt, older than Chaldaa and lDdiai
These but the transient actors in q scene
which. extending through twenty-one centuries
OF time, was itself but single act III that world
drama which absorbs the energies and elfolds
the destinies of all men and nations from the be-
ginning TO the end of time.
Mark, also, the Incidents OF the middle ages.
Peter, OF Picardy, little old monk in wooden
mantle, breaches holy war against the infidels.
He rouses barbarian Europe and leads n cru
sading host in wild array of fight TO fall upon
the deflers OF the holy city. For two centuries
the world Is in turmoil. and Peter Is Its master.
Such has been the story or our book history, and
TO that the opinion OF mankind has long con-
formed. But who was Peter. and how
should he be a force among the ma,
tionsl Ignorant, superstitious, angry, mounted
on a mule. how should he make historyi
Does history proceed from fool and
mulel Nay. nay. Consider for moment the
far-oT antecedents. Yonder the Arabian prophet
arises. He has been preparing since the Hight OF
Abraham. He comes and converts his people
from idolatry. He and his generals conquer the
East. race Of irOn-f0rging TurcOmans out OF
the Atlas make their way westward and smite
Persia. Assyrla and Asia Minor fall before their
prowess. They accept the doctrines OF Islam
from the conquered. but cannot bo stayed till
they possess themselves OF the city Of David
and sit cross-legged on the holy tomb.
Hitherto Christian pilgrims had been well
treated by the polite Arabians In the East, but
to the Turcomans all Christians were giaours
Europe had become converts to Christianity.
Through more than four centuries they had been
fare. All OF these conditions had been prepared
in the vast laboratory OF history and no man
had been consulted. When the news came OF
outrages done TO pilgrims In Palestine what
should parbaric Christendom do but explode
with volcanic glare, and smoke, scorla
and cataciysm OF both nature and man:
until the rage should appease itself
with blood and destruction! Now came
Peter and Urban; then Godfrey and the Lion
Heart; Barbarossa and St Louis. What were
thesei What but the products OF agencies
working through three continents and compell-
ing men to battle as the clouds are compelled by
the windsl There along all roadsides from tho
Alps to Antioch three millions of the Crusaders
piled their bones 1t was the wreck of European
fanatcism-a wreck of Ieudal elements thrown
BY the hands OF history. Was not the Hermit
born in Asia much in Europei Did he lead
the Crusade! or was he not rather himself, with
all the rest-Badwin Raymond Godfrey, Plan
tagenet, Red Beard, peasant. Pope, king-borne
along on the turbulent flood rolling through the
centuries. pursuing its own course, and swal-
Or mark the intellectual progress Of the world.
This also is accomplished by human agency; bnt
the men in whose brains the dawn-torches OF the
new centuries are lighted are prepared for their
places By the same laws which make them nee
essGry In no other light eau the intellectual
leaders OF mankind be understood and inter
preted. The time came when the human mind
demanded new concept OF the heavens and
the earth. The old concept no LONGER siitficed-
became a mock in the high courts OF reason.
such notion of the universe must be cast forth
and thrown on the refuse-heaps with all myth
oloxies and lies. with all false notions OF nature
and COLLINS OF the mind. there to decay with the
ofsal of the ages.
order must he found and instituted In the
skies. The epoch or discovery was first pre-
pared, and then the discoverers. They were nee
essary in their season 10 I'LL the expectations of
the world. 1t was thus that history found Gall
leo and Copernicus. Afterwards she devised
Newton and Laplace. These she commissioned
spheres. new worlds and suns and new laws for.
the government OF all. True IL Is that the great
astronomers were the organs OF intelligence. the
teachers of order, the evangelists of suolimity
for all men and nations, but they were them
selves born into the world of infinite paternity
and were developed by tho eompulslon OF forces
that had been working among mankind since the
dawn or the civilized life
In like manner the old concepts OF animated
nature passed away. The intellect was no long
satisfied with those notions of irregularity.
accidents. lawlessneSs and chance which had
prevailed respecting all living beings. and the
laws OF their creation. The mind demanded that
the natural history life be rewritten in intelgi-
BILE language. and for this work she chose not
only her age aud her race. but also her man.
a still small voice was heard above the roar and
confusion OF the nineteenth century TWAS the
voice OF Darwin prUciaining new law for man
and nature IL was voice that stirred the top
10 moved like u viewless sound through
all the courts aud corridors of civilization. It
caught like an electric spark in the understand
ings OF men. and the prevailing crude opinions
OF the race respecting the phenomena OF life
were transformed into sublime and beautiful
order. But Darwin himself was the product OF
his age lie was the of England and human
fty. lie WIS demanded. and found and devel-
oped by anteceients and conditions ~ old rs the
revival OF learning; old Us the curiouo specu-
lations or the Greeks. old as the spirit OF in
quiry III the bosom of mankind The theme be-
comes an echo of itself The illustrations or its
truth spring from every age and from eyery phase
OF human progress. The old concepts OF states
inanship vanish from the human IN .fi'l. and
the ancient view OF philanthropy Is changed for
more rational concept OF the good deeds and
holy characters OF men, Pence and war arc no
longer determined by tho personal wills and
puny arms OF the actors In the conflict. Nations
aud peoples IN all the forms OF their activity aud
accompaniment are seen 10 DO but the effects OF
cau.es-the offspring Of the past. The heroic
figures who impersonate their epochs. who ex-
press In their lives the highest thought and pur
pose or their cent ury made by historical
forces, are borne aloft the brief day OF their
activity on the pillows az the eternal seas.
Thus came Crom we'll out of the stormy bosom
aud motherhood OF Ang.o-Saxon England. The
field Of his activity had been long preparing hy
armies. and parliamenfs. and kings. by religious
Instructions. by battling opinions and the onset
OF racrs His paternity extended through
millennium of time. amt fixed itself with thou
sand roots among the institutions. fyraunics and
turbulence or the dark axes. William The Silent