The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-05-11

democracy. Accepting as an unalterable
truth, That equality IN mems conditions is
of talent, it extends the sphere of indiyid-
ual Independence. and gives every man his
true end of government to be the equality
of mems privileges, not their fortunes
or G,. their pleasures it seeks equality OF
THE MAN FROM KANSAS.
The third Grafton was 1.-The Province of
Faith" by ]. w. wetzell, of Southwest
Kansas College, Winfield, Kan. 1t was in
part as follows:
Left to reason alone, man has no light,
no certainty, no hope; but faith Is the IL
Elimination of reason, the instinct, as 1t
were, OF the human soul. 1t is the evidence
OF what sense canot interpret, the sub
stance out OF which Is built the soul uni
verse. The work of the development of
lectual nature has been developed sufficient
ly TO enable a rational faith possible.
The worlds experience reveals the fact
that there comes to mankind no great vic
tory or blessing except born OF faith.
I'm philosophy ages of theories and dog
mas, tainted by agnostic and materialistic
conceptions, terminate in grosser darkness
and subtler distractions. Aristotle, the
worlds raost profound thinker, gathers up
the best of all the ancient PHILOSOPHERS,
combines them into one full of subtleties
no one can wish to understand, and deduces
therefrom the infinite, the great imipaterial
and immovabie Here are centuries Of
stands unsolved and unsolvable. The great
chasm between mind and matter remains
unbridged: and we turn from these empty
philosophical theories only TO realize that
the universe Is a great congeries OF facts;
that through the medium of faith alone the
hindrances to the apprehension of the in
finite are being removed, and that it alone
is the supreme characteristic of the human
THE PRIZE WINNER.
"The Policy of Richelieu" was the subject
~ the fostr+h 0,a4;ar the m fhot fanE tho
first prize. 1t was delivered by c. T.
Wishart, of Monmouth College, Monmouth,
ILL., He said in part:
History reveals no character so de-
PRAYED and yet so majestic as that of the
model of absolutists, the master spirit of
TWO centuries OF French petty, the man
fitted to rule chaos'-Cardinal Richelieu.
Entering the vicious politics Of the court
of Louis XII, ne found a nation incapable
solutism or national disintegration,. he chose
the former. ObSeQuious to strength, tyran-
Meal TO weakness. a Jesuit in intrigue. a
domltable will and purpose. over broken
oaths and treacherous alliances, he climbed
his way to fans and power; He held them hem
tile court by his sleepless cunning, and the
relentless punishment of his p~resumptuous
collection of petty municipalities; he left it
a strongly centralized and powerful nation.
With every new regime the power OF
cries naughty Louis, Il am the State. I'll
Jared it for thy Bourbon brood when Lib
and carnage taught all tyrants that the
people are 1.-The state"
While the great Cardinal lived he mas
tered his system and repress I'd its evils.
But his death, like that of Mirabeau, UNI
chained the mischief OF which he had been
at once the author and the restraining pow
er. The victor march of the seventeenth
century became the funeral dirse of the
eighteenth. Richelieu invoked the spectre
Of aggressive absolutism, and IL would not
down; no hand was strong enough TO con-
lure with the dead mans wand. Could such
: system-false in principle and fatal in re-
Sults-have been a necessity In the evolu.
the times demand absolutims for France?
Did the ruler Of nations miscalculate when
ne threw this factor into his century prob
lem Of national development?
Richelieu, cruel, INSCRIPTIONS, false, he
was still the champion of the order. he
n T0ered a pay e,n a na az e15hoa dimui law she II fii he
was a tyrant, he believed tyranny better
than anarchy. If he preserved the dross of
hbSolutiSm, he preserved with II the gold
IF social order and permanently. Rejecting
The giittering casket of individual license
that held destruction ito the state, he chose
the leaden casket OF tyranny that concealed
The sacred treasure-law.
To condemn the evils of this policy has
been a fayorite work of superficial phil
osophy. The patriots task should be to
learn those evils only that he may avoid
them; to read for the nineteenth century
the lessons Of the seventeenth. And no
example Of state-craft is more replete with
warning for our present social tendencies
than this. 1t is pre-emlnently important
because pre-eminantly typical-fraught with
the same dangers that threaten cur own
civilization. Power in the hands Of cor
rupt men and national disregard Of pIin-
ciple. He courted men and hated princi-
pies, Expediency was the sole standard Of
of patriotism. But the policy that
lives must be built on principles mightier
than any man. Men worship a nations
emblem because 1t stands for an idea.
Right or wrong let ii be a tangible glow
ing ideal, and they make of 1t a victorious
battle cry. emblazon it on their banners.
a right principle touched and quickened by
the holy fire Of Gods eterna truth, 1t Is
invincible. and the nation that disregards
it is doomed to destruction.
THE same disregard OF principle Is
threatening our public life. We demand
class legislation and make sectional inter
ests the measure OF national policy. We
surrender municipal government to misrule
because clean-handed citizenship is too self
ish to trouble itself with politics"
MR.. DIMMIT'S GRAFTON.
l.. f. Dimmit, of DePauw University,
was the representative of Indiana His
subject was 1.-THE Humane Spirit in Modern
Civilization" He spoke substantially as
follows:
Civilization is the concrete expression
Of a whole peoples ethical perception and
life. The thoughts, choices and Intentions
Of men determine their manners and insti-
tutions. Mankind is greater than any man.
and there the individual may rise
above the masses and become conspicuous
by his genius; but 1t Is the thought. faith
and morals of the common people that de-
termine the quality of any prevailing civili-
cation.
This vital relation Of the common people
TO civilization is to-day recognized as it was
not in oiden times. There is now an in
visible, democratic, ethical force prevailing
among enlightened peoples, holding the
thought and shaping the opinions of all.
Nineteenth century civilization is diStin-
guished by a spirit of common brotherhood,
binding men into a social unity more fra
ternal and compact than any the past ever
study of human rights and duties,
men have come to a new, a
more profound and practical recognition of
the great principles of liberty, equality
and fraternity. Fraternity is the distinctive
product of Christianity. 1t was Christ who
proclaimed, with authority, the universal
brotherhood of man. From the new and
larger perception of the meaning and obli-
cation of liberty, equality and fraternity
has come into modern life an ever-opera-
tive, potent force which We may call "the
humane spirit" This humane spirit touches
every relation that man suStainS to man.
This spirit is bringing religious worship
ers into closer fellowship, and is making
that ancient text, One Lord, one faith, one
BAPTISM 10 be a common creed and a liy-
ing experience. 1t is making the church feel
that its mission is to universal man-apd
to his body as well as TO his soul, that its
work in the world is not merely TO denounce
evil. but. with positive good, to improve
49, n tho EnIf~ta0l world