The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-08-26
VOICE OF THE PULPIT
.NoBLESsE oBLIGE:- THE CHOICEST
FLOWER OF FEUDALIsM.
By Rev. $. w. Sample. ID. D., Pastor OF
h Independent Conversational
Church, Jamestown, n. j..

The maxim "Noblesse oblige" mobility
imposes obligations) was the choicest
flower at that half-black and half-white
social tree known as feudalism.
Feudalism was the form which European
society by slow degrees assumed after the
disruption of the Roman empire. 1t came
into existence somewhere in the tenth
century, lasted for several hundred years,
beginning to grow weak near the close
of the fourteenth century, and reached its
most perfect and symmetric development
in France and Germany, the matured sys-
tenn attaining its last stage of progress
in the latter country under Conrad the
| Salic about 1887.
Feudalism may be defined in a tenta-
tive way as that politico-social system
which practically divided society (save
the royal households and the few towns
people there were) into the two classes
of lords or mobiles and the shareholders
or serfs. The legal fiction which served
as the basis Of feudalism was that all
the land originally belonged to the King,
and that, on certain conditions, it was
given over by the King to his vassals.
the mobiles, and again given over by them,
on certain conditions. to their v~assals, the
serfs. Unless the conditions were fulfilled
the lands and all rights and privileges
going with their trusteeship were forfeited
back to their original owners.
The characteristic distinction of the serf
was his obligation to remain on his lords
estate. On the other hand, the noble could
not detatch the Serf from the estate, nor
dispose Of the one without at the same
time and to the same person disposing of
the other. There was involved in feudalism
Il a mntIlal contract of fidelity and nrnfpc-
ton. Certain obligations of service were
laid upon the serf, but corresponding OBJ
legations of protection were imposed upon
the noble. If these obligations were vio-
lated the serf forfeited his 'fief" Cor pos
session. and his claim 10 protection, the
noble forfeited his dominion and his claim
to allegiance.
FEUDALISM. GOOD AND BAD.
Like all other institutions begotten and
developed upon this planet. feudalism was
neither wholly divine nor wholly daemonic.
1t had its good features and its bad fea-
lures. In estimating its worth to the
world the student of history should not
compare it with present-day civilization,
but with the state of affairs which it sup
planted. 1t was doubtless 1.-The dirty water
which fetched the pump" of social and po-
litical progress. The political principles
of trial by peers and of taxation only by
consent of the taxpayer were fruits which
dropped from this tree, and, as the cau-
tious Hallam affirms, it was owing TO this
system that the very names of right and
privilege were not swept away In Europe
as they had been in Asia by the deSolat-
ing hand of unchecked tyranny. On the
other hand. there is no denying that the
feudal system was a species of slavery
which came to ruin because it was no
longer tolerable.
Two antipodal tendencies found shelter
inside this systematic tendency toward
unlimited tyranny of the strong over the
weak and the tendency toward complete
human solidarity. Two antdgOniStic theo-
ries found standing room and more or less
encouragement here. One theory was that
the nobility were born to be served and
the vassals born to do their pleasure and
bear their burdens; the other theory was
that nobility creates obligation and calls
to se~rvice-that mobiles ought not TO live
solely to please themselves, but to bear
the nfirmities of the weak.
These two theories have been bequeathed
TO the present time, and are now arrayinS
their hostile forces in deadly warfare upon
the nightless battlefield of human life.
Should the theory that nobility creates spe-
cial exemptions and privileges prevail, hui
man society will be engulfed in desolation
darker than that of buried Babylon
Should the theory that nobility creates OBJ
legation prevail, this earth of ours will be
well prepared for its millennial era.
The nobility of feudalism meant rank;
but the term has been broadened to in
(''
every advantage, whether of character
or of circumstance, which ii is possible
for an individual to enjoy. Accepting this
broader sense Of the word nobility, ii is
my earnest conviction and positive afirma-
ton that the most needful gospel for to-
day Is the simple truth that mobility in
wolves obligation"
We rack our brains and torture our
hearts over the sins of the ignorant, the
vicious and the criminal; but the weight
lest obstacles to the coming of Christ's
Irn0dnr, - not nrn ArA H"t $50 10
the higher strata of society. Gould We
somehow get the culture, the wealth and
the goodness of the world to live for one
year as they ought. we could see our way
picking problems concerning the so-called
dangerous classes. The power of the bad
is the sleep of the good.
"Noblesse oblige." Superior advantages
involve superior obligations. All true mem
bers of the nobility must be masters of
the art of noble living. knowledge, happi-
ness and virtue have no moral right to
isolate themselves from the ignorance,
wretchedness and sin of the world. but are
called by their greater endowments TO the
work of bearing the infrmities of their
weaker or needier brothers. The strong
should serve the weak, the rich serve the
poor. the cultured serve the ignorant, the
happy serve the wretched. the good serve
the bad.
WEAKNESS FINDS HELP.
There is at least one corner of the world
in which strength now bears the burdens
and washes the feet of weakness. This
corner is the home. Paradise" said Ma
homet, SIS at the feet of mothers There
it is the law that the strong should not be
self-pleasers, but should bear the weak
nesses of the weak. The new born babe is
king and all the members of the household
hasten to enroll themselves In its royal
service. They do not give it everything
it cries for; they do not let it's blind in
stincts override their far-seeing reason: but
they do bend down their knowledge and
strength In the service of its ignorance
and weakness. They sacrifice their pleas
ures for its good and find their highest
happiness in so doing. When people come
fully to understand that the entire human
race constitutes but one family, that which
is now the law of all true homes shall be-
come the law of all human life, and all the
strong shall become knights in a new
chivalry, all the worlds nobility shall
brood %helpfully, sacrificingly and sayingly
over all the worlds weak ones as the true
mother broods over her helpless babe.
There are two theories of wealth. One
regards wealth as an opportunity for en-
larged self-indulgence, for exemption from
duties which others must perform. for
shifting all heavy burdens upon somebody
else's shoulders The noble conception is
that wealth is a call TO augmented world
earx-;oo opd opfaroaI hnpoo1 b>fnf,-Inao.