The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-16


De Pauw University, and DR.. Swain, presi-
dent of Indiana University. presided. Music
was furnished by the college organization
DR. Johns subject was The DOMAIN OF
Faith" He spoke in part follows:
The domain of faith is as broad as the
universe of all living beings. IL underhes
all the activities of men 1t is the warrant
of every movement in history. whether in
dividual, social, political, natlonaI OF cos
mopolitan. 1t is frequently urged as an oo-
lection to the Christian religion that IL rests
on faith but instead of being valid OBJ
lection this is indeed its strongest claim 10
the support OF intelligent men, for II Is the
basis on which everything human proceeds.
THE processes of life show the validity,
authority and universality of faith. Physi-
cal life is ptrpetuated by eating, drlnklng'
breathing, sleeping, exercising ana the IKE
every act OF which rests on faith. Take
the common act of quenching our thirst.
Whence came the water issuing from the
earth? From the clouds through air
tainted with poison, over rocks on which
the venomous reptile had summed himself
through poisonous germs and fetid remains
in the soil, through vaults and caVerns
where disease breeds and death reigns
through fields of ver6ure and assures in the
rock, at last leaping with joy through the
crust of earth into the sunshine and air.
Did we stop with microscope or spectre
scope to look for invisible messenger OF
death? We slaked our thirst by faith in
God and the uniformity of His law.
when ray of light enters. the eye the
atoms of the invisible ether strike our retina
with almost infinite velocity as they vibrate
back and forth in their infinitessimal paths.
The red wave makes 45O trillion vibrations
a second between the molecules of our
retina setting them going at the same in
conceivable speed, while the violet wave
makes double that almost infinite number of
vibrations every second. Yet We do not
hesitate TO look at the rose or the violet
lest our eye be shattered by this
paralleled bombardment So we find faith
in every step in the processes of living, II
we must reason before trust shall
die before we reach our conclusion.
1T is equally true with the relations of
life. While the act of living is faith in the
superhuman, the relations of life show faith
In the human. Suppose you should lose
faith in your mother: what further ambi-
tion would you have in life? When falth In
your mother dies with IL dies faith In nu-
manity. If her love is not unselfish then all
love is selfish. If she does not reign on the
throne of your faith there are no thrones
in the world worth striving for. Let the
husband lose faith in the wife. the wife in
the husband, the brother and sister in each
other; let suspicion and fear of inhdelity
creep into the inner circle of the home and
the family will disappear as an institution
among men. Oh, pure and holy was the
faith that was born with your birth, that
was developed in the nursery, that grew
brighter by the f1reside and the evening
lamp, that kindled into hope and love, and
that you would not suffer to be extinguished
for a crown and throne.
What is the bond that holds the COM
munity together? 1t is faith of man in man.
True, we bar our doors at night. and why?
Because some men unworthy TO be
trusted. But these are the exception, not
the rule. Suppose all were untrustworthy.
Then must society disintegrate. and every
individual stand alone for himself. But
jority of their fellows. That is why men
do not go armed, day and night, TO defend
themselves from deadly assault. And If
more men had confidence in more of their
fellows the bolts in our doors would be-
come needless devices. Men may, with
impunity, open the doors and windows of
= r1,1t~ Ill. l.-E..
hearts to their fellows. They may. with
safety, expose their treasure publicly
as they show their faith in men. They
may-and will in the new civilization
safety vaults when they thow away the
key to their wide-open hearts Strikes Will
disappear as faith appears: The restless
ness of the unemployed will vanish when
the employed show their faith in them.
The anarchy of the hungry will disappear
before the oncoming faith of the fed in the
unfed. Society will become indisscluble
when the faith of men in men becomes
unusual and permanent.
THE PHILOSOPHERS of life rest on faith.
History is the basis of science and both
history and science are the foundation Of
philosophy. But history rests on faith.
Who knows the past at first hand? Does
the historian himself know it? The
historian recites facts TO you, but who re-
cited them to him? And who recited them
to his teacher and to his teachers teacher
back through the long line of men TO the
one who touched the original fact? For
every fact in history that you accept you
exercise faith not only in your historian,
but in his faith in his historian back to
the beginning That is. you unequivocally
declare your faith in faith. History deals
directly with the fact; science deals with
the manner of the fact, and must. there
fore. doubly rest on faith-that is, faith in
history and faith in the uniformity and
continuity OF nature by which the manner
of the fact becomes certain and permanent.
1t rests on induction, and induction is
faith. Philosophy deals with the reason of
the fact and the reason of the method of
the fact and is, therefore, trebly dependent
on faith. for given the fact and it's method
philosophy stands dumb in the presence Of
the question. Why are the fact and its
method what they are?
so, in the end, all knowledge rests on
faith. 1t cannot, therefore, be an objec-
tion to the religion of Christ that il rests
on the same foundation. On the contrary.
it would be an insuperable objection
against any religion that would exclude
this universal instinct of the SOUL