The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1911-05-31

THE MACHINERY AND THE DYNAM

T! / Baccalaureate Sermon
THE MACHINERY AND THE DYNAMO
when the living creatures went the
wheels went; for the spirit of the liv.
ing creatures was in the wheels
Ezekiel l:l9, 90.
To the class OF 1911, I bring the
words Of this great pOet-preacher
who, though leashed in body by cap.
tivity, yet cast of the shackles Of cir.
cumstance, and scared on the wings OF
spiritual desire TO the loftiest crae
upon the mount Of prophecy, from
which station Of vantage he looked
with eyes Of hope and love the world
and saw deep into the-heart Of things
BY the banks Of the Chebar in far
Chaldea, his face cleaning with the
splendOr, he saw that whose unearthli-
ness refuses to be conveyed fully
through the medium Of human speech
Beyond us to compass. as beyond him
to tell. the uninterpretable mystery
and dream. but We can see iecks Of ce-
elstiai glory upon the flowing words,
which suggest like some strains of
eternities which We can see under the
spell of the harmony. but alas. they
refuse to march in order with the syl-
tables of human speech.
Have you ever Weakened on a sum-
mer's night under the terrific faScina-
tiOns of an electric storm. gazing into
vistas Of fiery magnificence while the
earth shuddered under the elemental
vOlleys, and your very soul seemed to
shrink and stagger? Then, when 1t
had passed - appalling. measureless -
gone back to slumber. and i'm the mel
ody, the fragrance, the soft smile of
the succeeding morning, have you at
tempted to write or tell of that md
night awe? So does this prophet strug-
gle to transcribe a terrible and unut-
terable beauty-fiery running rings.
involution of object shot with wild
color. supernal faces, illimitable wings.
But while the words gasp and tOtter
under their burden, two great i'm
pressiOns emerge-of force and form
form used. force using.
Thus the vision explains itself in
the text: when the living creatures
went the wheels went: for the spirit
of the living creatures was in the
wheels" So here you see the machin-
cry of the wheels" astir with the mo-
ton generated by the dynamic force
of the living creatures" And climb
ing up to that mountain place from
whence you can see life's. panorama
spread out before you, you see the
form Of all organization thrilled and
made to progress through, and only
through the applied force Of inspira-
ton. The dark ages, then, bespeak
machinery, rusty and inanimate, be-
cause of the lack of some dynamic
spirit to thrill il with power; of organ
iZation, inert and decadent,' because Of
the absence of the inspiration to move
the wheels along civilizations track.
This is an age of organization. There
is no crying need to impress upon You
its value. for the generation You will
power. 1t has been abused. perverted.
and the problem of the moment is to
correct and limit it. The Latin root
of organization is organon. OrganOn
means implement, tool fitted for
task. The task is life; the tool Is that
which you must use to accomplish the
task Did you catch what said? You
must use, You must thrill the tools,
the machinery. the organizations of I.fe
with power and make them flash with
motion by your applied energy.
The tools may he rusty through ne
glect. Work, use. will clean them.
Moses took a dispirited people whose
hearts as we'll as their bodies were
bowed down in hopeless slavery. He
led them out of the land Of bondage.
and despite their constant murmuring.
lack of cooperation and Oft-repeated
desire to revert to "the feshpot of
Egypt" held them true to the course
of a worlds destiny. inspired them with
seif-respect nerved their dull hearts
by his own splendid courage; and when
at last he turned his face toward NebO
and God he had thrilled them with
that marvellous energy and unity that
wrote the deeds of their nation upon
the most brilliant pages of ancient his
tory.
Christ came saying, Il am come that
they should have life. and that more
abundantly" and he did nothing but
apply the voltage of his own great
personality to the rusty, hampered.
hardly moving wheels of his age,
and changed the very character Of his
age, and all ages. because he was will
ing to put in his life. and that more
abundantly.
There is an Ezekiel of the present
day in American politics. He saw the
growth of wholesale iniquity under
the old party machine. He saw that
the citizens Of this republic were held
captive by the chains of party fealty.
He saw they knew it not, for they were
lulled into apathy by the dulcet strains
of the political harpists who
thrummed the tune Of Prosperity. He
saw that men were going through the
form Of voting. instead Of making their
ballot an expression of intense, alert,
E,oral conviction. 1t was not a pro-
pitious time for an icOnoclast. But La
Toilette knew that the machinery OF
government was running down. He
knew why. and he dared to tell Of ci,ty
politics and sleeping civic conscience