The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-21

one that spake; and He said. son of man.
stand upon Thy feet. and l will speak TO
thee. Ezekiel II, /.
He was by the river. the prophet says.
when the heavens were opened and he saw
visions OF God. There was what we should
can an electric storm, as one may guess,
sweeping over the land. blended Of the tor
nado and swift Ightnings. with splendor
I'm the heavens as Of amber and crystal fire,
sapphire and FURNISHED brass. noise like
that of great waters. and the noise of an
host. and the voice OF the Almighty.
He was cverborne by the vision, as men
brave otherwise are overborne by the cleo
trio storms on our Western prairies, and
fell on his face. not alone for safety. but in
abject fear. For God was in the tornado
and the fires, and to his sorely shaken
heart this was the one way TO meet. the
awful presence. the posture OF the most
awe-stricken alteration. And then the voice
was heard-that the Most High he would
worship In this fashion would suffer no
such abasement. he must not be less, but
all the more a man in the stress of the
storm and the fire. or the whole worth of
the truth he must now learn and teach will
be lost to him.
Needing the voice he becomes one of
the men whose words still pulse with a
divine power and inspiration. because at
the divine bidding he burst stand on his
feet and be a whole man, when the
world was to his heart in the grip of doom
stand on his feet and face the worst
that the best might come. and make known
the truth that the spirit he revealed be-
fore he came TO himself can never be the
ittest for our manhood; nor will the Eter-
nal have US fall down before him in such
abasement. Only as we rise to our true
and proper manhood, look right in the
face OF whatever may befall us, and hear
I'm our own heart the voice which bids
US rise up, be men and not mere things
only thus can we receive the message
heaven waits to reveal. only thus do true
honor to the divinity which touches US
or the humanity Ii touches.
AN IMPORTANT TRUTH.
Is not this the truth we must take to
our hearts-that we can never realize the
true relation of the soul toward the Most
High in any one of the ways in which this
is made clear to us in our Scriptures-of
God as a father, a monarch, or a Judge
I'm the light which shines for US now. and
fail to see into what slough of base
the voice which came to the prophet in
the olden time?
For-to speak first of the relation of
father and child-you always feel 1t Is a
shameful thing when you go into some
home and find this pitiful spirit in the
children when their father speaks to
them; because you are aware that the
spirit you love to see in them, of the love
which casts our fear. is crushed out Of
their hapless lives. Every good and grac-
tous father loves to have his children stand
up Well and hold their own before him
in true fashion, and feel sure in their
hearts that they are dear to him because
they are his very own II We crouch and
tremble before our Heavenly Father, We
do what lies in our power to show We are
mot children, but slaves
Turning from the father to the monarch.
j think the truth holds good again. When
England sent embassy TO China many
years ago, and the ambassador was told
Brother of the Sum- he said mo, will
do no such thing. He stood squarely on his
feet like man. He would render due rev.
erence-that and no more-becauSe, stand
ing there, he stood for the majesty of the
nation as well as for the manhood of the
man that he was During the visit of the
. Prince of Wales to America a prominent
merchant held out his hand to the royal
heir and said: ALBERT Edward, am
glad to see you for your mothers sake and
your own. / have great regard for your
mother. She is a right noble woman, and
am glad and proud to meet her son."
The Supplemented citizen honored the
prince by that greeting, standing fair on
his feet, as man to man, and going right
to the marrow of the matter.
And so Milton. who saw so far into this
question, was fam TO confess his dislike
for that which sets forth the Most High
as king without parliament, congress
or constitution. He saw with the true
seer's glance there was another and nobler
conception we should nourish.
JUDGE AND. CRIMINAL.
1t is the truth, once more, when you cast
this question into the most searching cru
chile of the three-that of Judge and the
criminal In our courts, everything which
can be done Is done, or should be, TO in
spire the man at the bar with some sense
OF the right he holds in his own man
hood. and through his advocate to order
his cause before the judge and jury, and to
show every possible reason TO the Judge
himself why he should have in any case
no heavier penalty than fits his deserving
1nded, If were the judge L should respect
the man who would face me in this wise,
and feel just the opposite toward one who
was ready to crouch before me In craven
fear, and then try TO creep from under a
Just penalty through such abasement be-
fore the judgment seat
Yet this, once more, is the ancient con-
ception OF the Most High-as a Judge i'm
whose presence We must all PROSTATE our
serves. ana IL Is woven through and
through the religious teaching still drawn
from these conceptions. Yet we know that
with all our complaints about the laws
delay and vexations. we should not toler-
ate for a day the ideas and usages touching
Judge and criminal which still hold their
grip on the courts i'm those old eastern
lands; while we hear continually how, I'M
der English rule in India, the native man
first wonders, and then is glad for the new
order. where the prisoner can stand on his
feet like man and have fair trial. And
this Is slowly reforming the whole concep-
tion of the old eastern manhood
There is no honor then. in such abase-
ment. either in the home, the kingdom or
the courts. Wherever il is done we want
and, TO those who compel or permit It, that
the measure of the mans abasement is the
standard for their own.
Another lesson which lies in this text is
that the whole worth of what we have won
from these awful forces OF storm and fire.
TO defend ourselves from them and to curb
and direct them into channels of untold
beneficence. has lain in this power of the
man TO hear the command 10 stand upon
his feet. to look them bravely in the eyes
and see what he can do tC turn them from
evil 10 good. from bane ito blessing-to
transform the bad masters into good serv-
ants for the help OF our human kind.
THE skys afire; / must fall on my face"
they cry through the ages. crouching be-
fore the awful mystery. as the stroke %
God against which there was no appeai
and no defense. But the time came when
the old cry went forth: THE sky's afre"
and a man stood upon his feet. kite and
key in hand. saying: This flame from
heaven must have some fairer purpose than
Staying and hurting down the works of
God and man into the dust"