Evening journal., 1900-11-05
RESPONSE TO
THE TOAST
Where There Is a Will There
Is a Way
BYlPROF. WILLIAM ?. STEWART
The Instructor Of Agents Of The Mu-
,ual Life Insurance Company
Of New York
BYlPROF. WILLIAM ?. STEWART

Professor Stewart, the Instructor OF
agents Of the Mutual Life Insurance
5 Company Of New York, delivered the
following toast on Friday night at the
dinner given in his honor by Herbert
& n. Fell, the general agent.
Mr.. Chairman and Conference.-The
& toast assigned me tonight, is one per-
q tinent not only TO this occasion, and
TO yourselves as strivers. but to all oc-
casions and 10 the world in general.
1t Is an oid aphOrsm and a trite say.
ing. l cannot tell you of It's origin
nor OF its age nor what its nationality
Il lnstinctively, it must have been the
4 primary germ Of thought in all life;
a effectively, it must have wrought for
4 itself that recognition which has made
t. it admittedly so automatic. In the
a light of our common reason, we must
see that in the general order Of erea-
tion will must have been first No star
could have taken its place in the urn
ament of heaven unless there had been
first a will that il should exist You
cannot conceive of two particles OF
matter jostling together into animate
relation without first a will determin-
ing that there should be indivdualized
life. Before there was the eye to see
there was the wish for it, and the will
that it should be. Before there were
the legs to carry, the hands to clasp,
the wings to lift, there was the CROP
ing out through the mere stomach
through the need OF these-the aspira-
tion that was will-compelled to the
realization that perfected the proverb
or our toast-in the finding Of the way
1t is doubtless true that this aphor-
ism pertains to all people and is
stored up In all tongues OF all Eng
lish proverbs. however, there is none
more venerated, quoted and acted
dpon. There was a time, psychologi
cally speaking. when the viii had tC
superintend all the functions of the
body; now these functions have mostly
become automatic, in the same sense
in which genius. which first had to
turn off and on by hand the steam in
the piston chamber. found a way to
make the piston rod wait upon itself
The hand-power is still there, but the
touch IS more remOte.-in the primary
principle Of moGOn-that is to say, in
the fire underneath the boiler. So in
the human structure, so in the grea
universe of all,-the will is still there
however relegated or remote, and the
way is still found
For the Supreme Will we have nc
aphorism. but for the will of man
recognized in relation to his fellow
man. to his natural powers and {
natures means and opportunities
there is this tritely significant. right
asserted. and inspiringly applied aphor-
ism.-"Where there is a will, there iF
n way"
not the iconoclast that gave thif
1t is not the proverb of crime. It is
thought expression; it was the Builder
the life, the mind the soul builder
and in itself it is the synonym Of ere
ative power, of constructive aspiration
and for the ideal as much as for the
concrete 1t is not for the wicked
will, for the cruel will, that there shall
be the way as of natural sequence
but for the normal will,-that self-per-
sOnified. set-off will from the grea
Goodwill, which seeks to operate in
harmony with it's essential nature and
with the essential order of things; it
this will that shall find the suificien
way.-that is to say, the right attain
ment.
In respect to men, will is thus tOb
regarded as his primary power, as
is evidently that of all nature. But
is not to be conceived of as separated
from its identity, nor as unconsciou
Of the object to be attained, nor as
force that is at all times of the on
potency and expression. No; hereiI
lies the firstadmonition of the proverb
You may will to do things, or you ma.
will not to do them. You may viii
to a supreme effort, or you may vii
to sloth and supineuess. You ma
will your will to grow puny, or yo
may will it into muscle. In this it
not an affair of its physical size
though in effect this must be more o
less potential, as the physical gives
personality even in its mental an
spiritual blend. Still, for no on'
however at disadvantage ia life, ca
the human will be regarded as divest
ed of the significance of this adage,-
Where there is a VIII, there is
Way" .aFStl
But the way-this is another al
piication to be made. The way-ho
is it to be known, how is it to I
sought to what end is it to be wor
Here is why will asked for eyes an
got them, and asked for feet and g
them, for hands and got them. for Il
distinct ego that it is, and because Il
immortal wonder we behold and al
For always and through all time W
has blazed, and will always blaze
own pathway. What It does not kno
Il will seek to know. What it needs
know, it will know. Knowledge
power--in other words; for witho
the sentient Me, will is not conceiy
BILE. nor a sentient Me without the wi
Thus we come to a belief in God a
10 a conviction and certainty concer
ing ourselves, and the hopes we ch,
ish Of another life.
But there is the composite vii
That is to say, the direct, generic ev,
exerted will OF God and the compl
interviewer will Of the many. togetl
the composite will of the universe
life, to which the free will OF man
subordinated and up against which
comes,-not as its limit. for this
limitless. but as against the barrier
the particular direction, or for the D
ffov1or fav. hi1f never the barrfar