The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-05-27
DIR. JOHNSON ON A
SIGN or THE TIMES
Literary Address at Wake
Forest College.
THE SPEECH is NOTABLE
Mr. J. W. Bailey Of Raleigh Follows With the
Alumni Address, His Subject Being
"The Future OF the Denomin,-
tional College,"
THE SPEECH is NOTABLE
(special to News and observer.l }

NcIDecld1 10 NEWS anu ODSeINcI.J
Wake Forest, N. c.. May 26.-In spite
of frowning skies, a large crowd assem-
bled in Wingate Memorial Hall this morn.
ing and heard the literary address by DR..
R. p. Johnson pastor of the Fifth Avenue
Baptist church. New York city. 1t was
great effort; he brought an inspiring mes
sage, and it thrilled and delighted his
hearers.
The exercises opened with prayer by
Rev. r. l.. Potter, OF High Point; after
which the orator OF the day was intro
dueed by Rev. j. w. Lynch, of Wake
Forest, who was a classmate OF DR.. John
sons at Louisville Theological Seminary.
THE LITERARY ADDRESS.
Dr. Johnson announced as his subject,
"a Sign of the Times. He began by tell
ing the young men that this is good age
of the world in which to live.
Because of the mysterious and magni-
flying power of memory and the glamor OF
tradition it becomes extremely easy to
show how inferior is the decadent and de-
generate present, to the robust and heroic
past. And many people are prone to do
only the easy thing. So we are not sur
prised to read that in the sixth generation
after Adam wiseacres had begun to shake.
their heads and say, Times are not what
they used to be. There were giants in
those days. Almost the first things I
remember was hearing my elders recount
the advantages of the days that were
gone and / was wont to grow depressed
in heart and rebellious in spirit that |
had been born too late for the golden age
But later began to grow skeptical
about the superiority of the past, and be-
gan to wonder If the supposed degeneraey
of the present was not q dream of de-
cadent age rather than a hard and 1is
couraglng reality And at last | began
actually to rejoice that / lived today and
not yesterday and became convinced that
was living in the best age of a world
that is constantly growing better.
But while it Is easy to institute
derogatory comparisons between the past
and the present, it is difficult at this tiIne
to find what is the ruling passion OF any
age There is so much movement, and
it is easy to mistake a short-lived fad for
permanent impulse, an eddy in the cur
rent for the main stream. Then preju
dices stand in the way, while finally it is
so much easier to criticize than to cor
struct that many naturally follow the
line OF least resistance and despair of the
present while they idealized the past.
Moreover with many people gloomy
pessimism seems so much more pious than
an active. hopeful optimism that the voice
Of lamentation has drowned the cherry
voice of the courageous workers. But our
work is to be done today, and If we are
to do our best work, we must not go it
blindly. We must know the signs, the
tendencies OF our time, if we are to curb
its evil tendencies and correct its defects.
According to my diagnosis, back
Of the multiform activities and in
tense strenuousness of the age, be two
supreme passions-the Distinguishing char
acteristics of our time.
1.-THE first of these is an intellectual
passion for truth-a desire to know so
unselhsh that it is more religious than IN
telleetual. Everywhere men are asking.
not in Pilates cynical spirit, but in fearless
sincerity, What is truth? The coat of
arms of that age is the interrogation Point
1t is not the symbol of doubt, but OF lie
sire to know. 1t seeks to learn not what
tradition says, not what men have believed
but what are the ultimate facts.
ssTake the theories OF the origin of the
world-theories blindly accepted by man
kind for thousands of years. But the new
spirit put the world into the witness box
and began to question it. Patiently the
toilers pressed their inquiry, and forced
the secrets of the ages from rocks and
fossils, hills and valleys, rivers and seas.
A new song of creation reached us, and
the marvels of geology took their place
among the acknowledged facts. The
heavens were searched until the stars and
planets unfolded their story, and man
added the triumphs OF astronomy to his
stock of knowledge.
"Then men turned their attention to
life-that mysterious something which
eluded all analysis--and began to question
it, The chasm that was supposed to sep
arate plant and animal has disappeared,
and that which is supposed to separate
organic from inorganic matter bids falr
also to pass.
"If the first great tendency of our times
is our intellectual passion for truth, the
second is a moral passion for it's applIca-
tion. The age is knightly, but it is prac-
tical. 1t is eager to know that it may
apply
1T is on these two things-the intel
lectual passion for truth and the moral
passion for its apphcation-that all our
progress is based.
Look at our problems-and / repeat
that the problem is healthy sign. The
problem is a germ, progress its develop
ment to healthy, active life Here is the
Labor Problem. Ct don't know whether
you have it down here-except the good
women.) But out students of economics
and sociology began to search for truth
for the truth as to the rights OF pro-
ducer and capitalist and the justice of the