The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-02-06
AT EARLHAM
Prof. Royce on George Fox
as a Mystic.

George Fox as a Mystic" was the
subject Of a lecture delivered by Prof.
Royce. yesterday morning in the
chapel at Earlham college, which was
largely attended by the clergy and
others from the city, as well as the
usual Earlham audiences, the treat
ment of such a subject, SO intimately
connected in way with the religious
proclivities Of this community by
one of the greatest contemporaneou
scholars and profound thinkers nat
urally attracting a large number of
people.
Prof. Royce gave learned pre-
amble Of the meaning of mytieism in
general, stating in the large that
mystic was any one possessed of
extraordinary or supernatural power
in relation to the unseen world. re-
ferring to mysticism as exemplifed
in the religions of various countries,
10 its various temperamental mani
festa tons and in its general psyche
logic and philosophical aspect Ay8
ticism is frequently possessed Of high
critical intelligence aside from emo
tional tendencies. In Fox was ex-
emplifed what IS termed the emo
tor" type of mystic, his activities
taking the form of the wanderer, this
being augmented by a Temperament
tai tendency which was termed a sort
of vagabondage, an eternal restless
ness. This led to those wanderines
chronicled in his journals, DR.. Royce
quoting at length from this personal
record Fox, while not a typical mys-
tie, being beset by certainly consti-
tutional weaknesses and fatal tempera-
mental anachronisms, still had no in
terest in life which was not colored
by his religious fervor.
To quote from Prof. Royce s manu-
script, "What made him historically
important was his practical work as
leader of men, as an organizer of
religious communities, as a social re-
former and as a consistent expounder
and eXemplar Of the principal ideals
that resulted from the English Re
formation. Other mystics have writ
ten words that people treasure for
heir own sake as pure literature or
IS speculative illumination or as emo
riolal inspiration. But what Fox
wrote was intended to guide his fol-
lowers in the tasks Of their lives and
IN the problems of their generation
and was bare Of all adoTnment ex-
cept of that which this fervent prac-
teal spirit inevitably produced.
"Yet Fox was not typical mys-
tic. And, in fact, just the difference
between his experience and that of
typical mystics proves to be the fea-
ture of his religious life which was
most in his favor as an effective
teacher. For. since he was no
poet and also no speculative thinker.
since he neither was a man possessed
of richly sensuous Imagination noI
one fond of long continued practical
contemplation, his experiences in tie
mystical realm, important as they
proved to be for his life, would have
meant little to him or to anybody
else if they had not always been
translated, almost Immediately, into
terms Of humane activity"
In his peroration Prof Royce
further said: ellis vision Of God de-
spite all his quaint interpretations of
scripture, and all his capricious pri-
vate limitations of supernatural
guidance, remains nearer to being a
revelation of truth than it would
have been had he sunk deeper into a
mystical trance, and. above all the
."Lieht," taught this unresting soul
how to labor amid the storms and the
lurid hatreds Of his day not in vain,
but humanely, valiantly and benefic-
emily"