The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-10-11
CLOSING BOOK
OF JUDGE ME Mt
CONTINUED From Fifth Page.)
~ has been an interrninable tragedy OF

mlsconceptlon, melancholy record or
judgement To be sure, the responsibility
for misjudgement cannot always be fast
ened upon the blind and ignorant multi
tude. The mob has too much of the wild
beast in its composition TO be capable
Of judgment 1t has been to the greed
of kings and the craft OF priests, who
throughout the years OF medieval dark
ness played upon the mass prejudice and
hatred, that we may trace the fatal
judgments that have fallen upon the sub
missive head of the unonending Jew.
But the people are apt TO be misled.
We know that national judgments are
apt to be influenced by the schemes and
ambitions of these high in the nations
confidence We know. too, that demo-
cratic peoples are peculiarly liable TO be
nodded by the facile fingers of national
guides and leaders. It behooves US, then,
for at every crisis in our national ca
reer, before every momentous judgment
that is to affect our national policy and
ideals, to put to ourselves the question:
Are we being actuated by motives, su-
perficial. momentary, misleading; are we
being led by interest. gain, ambition; are
we sufficiently aware of the eternal fact
that man judgeth according to the ap-
parent. but God seeth into the inward
heart of things?
National misjudgment is deplorab Bile
enough, but how the burdens OF respon-
sibility lies largely with those who guide
and direct the national mind. 1t is when
we come TO lie individual, to the judg-
ment OF man by man. that the full fig-
niicance and responsibility of the sov-
ereign privilege of judgment is brought
home TO us. Here 1t becomes eSp.c ally
necessary to realize our shortcomings
and deficiencies, our restrictions and lin
itations. Here it becomes peculiarly ur-
gent to keep q vigllant eye upon or
bias and prejudices. Here we should re-
eiize that our fell Of obscrvation Is
pitifully limited ana circumscribcd. Here
we should proceed with that care and
caution that springs rom The knowI-
edge that after all. with the light furn-
ished by education, observation and ex-
perience, we arc gropiTg IN the dark.
we are limited to the mere semblance
Of the real, we are handling the hard,
impenetrable rind, behind which lies the
heart of truth. Man indeed bases his
judgment upon the mere exterior. while
the heart, with its truth and reality. its
mysteries and secrets. it's hidden springs
and inexplicable motives, its complex
mass Of impulses, aspirations and hopes,
and ideals, is for the eye of God alone.
If our eye of flesh could peer into the
conscience of our neighbor, If we could
but penetrate with our mortal gaze into
the secret crannies of the soul if we
could sound the depths of the heart with
our paltry intellectual judgment. If we
could stand as 1t were behind the cur
tain that screens these mysteries from
our sight. we could Judge a man far
more truly by what he thinks, feels,
dreams and hopes, than by what he does.
performs and achieves.
For, after all, the act is only the in
complete realization OF a thought, the
imperfect reproduction of an idea. the
defective embodiment of a wealth of
spiritual image. Acts and deeds are like
the tops of islands rising from the
vast abyss of the sea. Beneath the
surface lies the explanation of these
otherwise incomprehensible phenomena.
And so. too, the mysterious world of mo-
tive and incentive that lies beneath the
vast level of life furnishes the truest eX-
PLANTATION of the phenomena of conduct.
We are too ready to base our conclu-
slons on the mere outward superficial
fact. We are either too indolent or I'M
willing to plunge beneath the surface in
search Of motive or incentive We give
too little credit for what men dream and
hope. We are too prone TO seize upon
the imperfect and defective as the mirror
of reality.
All! If we were to measure the worth
of our poets and idealists by what they
did rather than what they thought and
dreamed. we should be forced to strip
the galleries of some of the fairest pic
lures and erase from our heart some of
its most cherished names. Were we 10
take the petty, circumscribed lives of
Goldsmith. Byron or Shelley as the cri-
terra of our judgment OF the men. the
standard of our estimate of their infiu-
ence. their names would long since have
persisted from the worlds memory But
it is their lofty aspira tons, their noble
enthusiasms, their soaring ideals. the i'm
pulse and incentive they have given 10
men to move on to better things, that
has given them a cherished niche in the
worlds heart. We fail to realize that
often the crushing weight OF necessity
falls upon the unfolding aspiration.
mangling 1t beyond recognition. We fail
to realize that often the iron pressure OF
circumstances distorts the fair outlines OF
the ideal. We fail TO realize that men
come and go and what they DO in this
limited physical life amounts to very lit
tie but what they hope. think. dream and
aspire to. is what survives 10 influence
the minds and hearts OF posterity. Not
the mere outward action. the superficial
deed. the impulsive act. is the true meas
ure OF the heart and most accurate glage
OF the soul. IT'S not what a man does
that exalts him. but what he would do"
Action involves volition and has has in
it a touch OF earth. Dreams and aspira-
tons move the summer clouds across the
vault OF the soul. Deeds and acts sug-
gest some physical or mechanical slim
illus Ideals and aspirations are the
mysterious civilizations that rise from the
unfathomable depths Of truth and reality.
Man looketh upon the outside. but God
knoweth the heart Man looks upon the
cloak OF truth. God alone sees reality.
Man looks upon the body. the mobile face.
the uncertain eve. the indices OF truth
God peers directly into the soul. the
heart. the conscience. where reality
stands revealed. The human body is
COAX. the human face a mask. the human
eye an Elusive light The soul is reality.
tho heart Is truth. the conscience Is
verify II we could only peer behind that
in.penetrable cloak. snatch aside that mo
bile mask. and look II upon the man
standing screened and protected By the