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 GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA 
 
 1452—1498
 
 SAVONAROLA 
 
 OR 
 
 The Reformation of a City. 
 
 With Other Addresses on 
 Civic Righteousness. 
 
 By E. L. Powell, LL. D. 
 
 LOUISVILLE: 
 Sheltman & Company 
 
 1903 
 
 - 
 
 ■ 
 
 • . > , • >
 
 Copyright. 1903, 
 By Sheltman & Co. 
 
 
 1 « * «. *
 
 BR 
 
 / or 
 pi 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 
 As this book lays no claim to scholarship, but 
 -*' 
 gj is sent forth in the hope that occasional addresses 
 
 prepared in a busy pastorate may exert an added 
 
 influence when placed upon the printed page, it 
 
 ;? may seem somewhat presumptuous to dedicate such 
 
 to 
 
 cm a volume to an old and honored institution of 
 
 § learning. In view of the honor recently conferred 
 upon the author by Kentucky University — the be- 
 ^ stowment of the honorary degree which is placed 
 ^ on the title page — and as expressive of his appa- 
 O ciation of the scholarship and ability of its be- 
 
 o 
 
 ^ loved president, this book is modestly dedicated to 
 
 UJ 
 
 ^ Kentucky University. 
 
 U 
 
 45x7;
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Province of the Preacher 5 
 
 Savonarola, or the Reformation of a City 11 
 
 The Need of Prophet Leaders 27 
 
 Sleeping Citizenship 39 
 
 The Citizen on Guard 47 
 
 Public Men and Morals 57 
 
 The Ministry of Warnings 67 
 
 The Imperialism of the Gospel 79 
 
 The Early Ideals of the Republic 89 
 
 The Battle Hymn of the Republic 99 
 
 Our Heroic Dead 107 V s x 
 
 The Divine Presence in Political History 119 
 
 Anarchy 125 
 
 The Woman in Politics 129 
 
 Is the World Growing Better? 133 
 
 The Dignity of Man 143
 
 The Province of the Preacher* 
 
 As justifying the discussion of civic questions from the 
 pulpit the following article prepared for the Louisville 
 Courier-Journal, may serve as a fitting introduction to this 
 little book. 
 
 In the first place — to follow the sermonic 
 habit— the preacher is a man. It is his own 
 fault if he permit himself to be thought of as an 
 hybrid— neither male nor female, but having a 
 sex peculiar to himself. He has a man's work 
 to do in the world, and he needs a man's heart 
 of courage to get it done. Why should it be 
 thought that the pursuit of goodness is an enter- 
 prise suited to pale and colorless individuals or 
 that the proclamation of righteousness requires 
 a thin and tenuous voice, an apologetic air and 
 an assumed and strained mien that is neither 
 natural nor becoming? How does it happen 
 that the preacher should be caricatured as an ut- 
 terly forsaken, woe-begone, shrunken and shriv- 
 eled creature, whose abject attitude invites a 
 kick and whose mournful countenance, in its com- 
 plete lack of intelligence, suggests neither the 
 repose of the soulless sphinx nor the pathos of 
 blank idiocy, but rather the sickly, constrained 
 and embarrassed features of the gawk and pro- 
 vincial? It is so that the comic papers repre- 
 sent him. T am inclined to believe that this no- 
 tion of the preacher has its rise in superstition 
 and ignorance. The preacher in the Apostolic 
 Church walks like a man, delivers his message in 
 the language of men and moves across the stage 
 as a strong, vigorous, commanding personality. 
 
 o Province of the Preacher.
 
 Peter, Paul, James, John— each is a clearly- 
 marked individual and stands erect with "bare, 
 bold brow" and feet firmly planted on the solid 
 earth. When these men preached, their audience 
 said: "They are turning the world upside 
 down. ' ' Their presence was electric with power 
 and the energy of the elemental forces of nature 
 was in their words and work. They had about 
 them no atmosphere of weakness. They were 
 as commanding Generals on the field of conflict. 
 It was not until ecclesiasticism was born that the 
 preacher was changed from the flaming herald 
 and passionate evangelist into the religious of- 
 ■ficial, belonging to an establishment, having an 
 esoteric individuality, supposed by many to be 
 endowed with peculiar and magical powers and 
 having a sort of monopoly of heavenly and spir- 
 itual things which could be bestowed on others 
 only through his priestly offices. Gradually, in 
 this way, the preacher was further and further 
 removed from the world of man until in the 
 average thought he came to belong to another 
 world and to have only the remotest connection 
 with the affairs of this terrestrial existence. 
 And so the preacher presently becomes as a 
 heavenly visitant, who does not dwell in the 
 skies and who is not at home on the earth. It 
 does not take long to have this strange figure— 
 at first reverenced, it may be, as being possessed 
 of peculiar and magical virtues — it does not 
 take long, when the thought of the preacher as 
 a minister has supplanted the thought of him 
 as a priest, to have this strange and uneasy 
 figure converted into ridicule and caricature. 
 
 Province •»/' the Preacher. I>
 
 And so the cartoonist finds in the preacher a 
 model after his liking, and right well has the 
 model been used. 
 
 If one is asked to talk about his work, he is 
 not only pleased, but he feels himself to be mas- 
 ter of the situation. He knows his work. He 
 thinks in terms of his work. If he be a true 
 workman his work in a very true sense is the 
 revelation of the man. Allowing for the exag- 
 geration, a shoemaker is likely to measure the 
 world by shoe-strings, a grocer to think in terms 
 of tea and sugar, a carpenter to put his universe 
 together by rule of thumb. The preacher can 
 talk "shop" with the rest. And this leads me 
 to ask : What is the preacher's world? Answer 
 might be made that he is the messenger of relig- 
 ion, or to employ the very expressive figure of 
 Ralph Connor: he is the "sky pilot." But when 
 you begin to think of what religion means — that 
 it has to do with all life and the use of all things, 
 that it claims all provinces of thought and ac- 
 tivity for its territory — you will see that the 
 preacher as a messenger of religion must be a 
 many-sided individual and must touch life in 
 one way or another at almost every point. The 
 preacher by the very requirements of his office 
 and work must be cosmopolitan. It is strange 
 that a different conception of tin 1 preacher 
 should be entertained. Generally, however, he 
 is regarded as provincial in that his range of 
 thought is limited by certain subject-matter 
 denominated religious as contradisti 111:11 ished 
 from all the real and vital matters of human 
 pursuit aur] endeavor, and consequently the 
 
 - Province of the Preacher.
 
 world at large conceives of him as necessarily 
 narrow in his tastes and sympathies and service. 
 The explanation of this view of the preacher is 
 found in the entirely false and contracted con- 
 ception of religion entertained by the average 
 man. The religion of Jesus Christ has to do 
 with all men and all things, and with all of a 
 man— body, soul apd spirit. And he who would 
 proclaim that religion, must be "a man of the 
 world" in a very different sense from that in 
 which the phrase is used. There must be no 
 realm that is foreign to his endeavors. The 
 more he knows of life, the more effectively he 
 can bring his message to meet the recpiirements 
 of human need. 
 
 Should the preacher enter politics? Cer- 
 tainly not as a profession, but in the proclama- 
 tion of righteousness he must necessarily have 
 to do with the politician and with the affairs 
 of government even as in preaching honesty, 
 purity, love, he is declaring principles that 
 touch every business and avocation of life. 
 The preacher cannot be side-tracked during the 
 week or given to understand that his business 
 belongs to Sunday and the church. Every day 
 is his day of opportunity ; every realm is his 
 field of service and duty, all places, if they be 
 entered in the spirit of his Master, furnish him 
 with a pulpit, To the extent that preaching be- 
 comes a mere profession — having to do with cer- 
 tain things that can be labeled and classified, 
 the preacher is provincial. To the extent that 
 preaching is the proclamation of the gospel of 
 life, the preacher has the world, in the words 
 
 Province of the Preacher. S
 
 of Wesley, as his parish. I do not know any niaH 
 who requires a deeper, richer or fuller life for 
 his work than does the preacher. 
 
 Province of the Preacher.
 
 SAVONAROLA, 
 
 OR- 
 
 The Reformation of a City. 
 
 This address on Savonarola was delivered in a time cif 
 eager discussion as to the prevalence of crime in the city of 
 Louisville. The address was stenographieally reported by 
 the Louisville Herald . 
 
 To-night I am to speak to you of Savonarola, 
 or the Reformation of a City. It is a thrilling 
 story, and I could wish myself possessed of the 
 power to tell it in such fashion as to stir your 
 hearts and to knit your souls into a life-holding 
 resolution to make the world better because of 
 your presence in it. It is narrated that when 
 Luther was on his way to the Diet of Worms 
 he kissed the picture of Savonarola. It is an 
 incident no less .significant than beautiful. 
 It is significant because Savonarola prepar- 
 ed the way for the work of Luther. There 
 are four great names which precede that of 
 Luther. They are John Wickliffe, of Eng- 
 land; John IIuss, of Bohemia; John Wessel, of 
 Germany, and Savonarola, of Italy. They have 
 been designated "The Morning Stars of the 
 Reformation." They constituted the dawn of 
 which the Sixteenth century reformation was 
 tin- day, and of these four names, that of Savo- 
 narola stands forth conspicuous and splendid. 
 
 In the zenith <»i' his fame, and when at the 
 height of his influence ami power lie was a 
 veritable archangel of righteous indignation 
 and flaming energy. In sober truth, il may be 
 said of him that In- was a God-intoxicated man. 
 
 I i Savonarola
 
 We feel the very breath of the Almighty in the 
 tremendous enthusiasm and passion of this man 
 as he smites vice with whips of steel, and flings 
 defiance in the face of his foes. He moves across 
 the stage of history as an irresistible and un- 
 conquerable presence. With no robes of office, 
 he is sublime in the simplicity of his greatness. 
 Tn an age of great men, in a century that gave 
 to us Michael Angelo. Leonardo da Vinci, 
 Copernicus and Columbus, in an age when the 
 new world was discovered, the name and fame 
 of this humble Monk of St. Boniface shines 
 forth with undimmed splendor. In a time of 
 great research and learning, his work is not 
 thereby minimized. 
 
 Born in 1423, trained by a religious mother, 
 his childhood marked by serious thought and 
 prayer, his determination to enter the monaste- 
 ry fixed at the age of twenty-three, he enters 
 the convent of St. Dominico at Bologna, and 
 there spends eight years of his eventful life. 
 It is worth while for us to remember, my 
 friends, that monasticism has given to the world 
 Fra Angelico, Catherine of Sienna, Luther and 
 Savonarola. This does not prove that monas- 
 ticism is good. It proves that. C4od uses existing 
 institutions, whether they be good or bad, to 
 train and to develop his chosen servants. 
 
 And so, after spending eight years in the 
 monastery, the trained and disciplined man 
 comes forth to begin his great task. He appears 
 first, as a preacher in the city of Ferrara, his na- 
 tive town. There he makes but little impres- 
 sion. Then he comes to Florence— splendid 
 
 Savonarola. ]i>
 
 Florence, the light of Italy, the theater of his 
 splendid labors and his death. 
 
 We must, in order to understand this man 
 and his mission, understand as well the charac- 
 ter of the age to which he came, and the charac- 
 ter of the message which he brought to that age. 
 But what was his ruling passion? Every re- 
 former has had some dominant thought that 
 has mastered him. that has possessed him, that 
 has called into being every power, every facul- 
 ty, every energy of body and mind and soul. 
 With Moses it was law; with Confucius it was 
 morality; with Buddha it was renunciation-, 
 with Luther it was justification by faith ; with 
 Savonarola it was righteousness. He comes 
 with the spirit and power of the old Hebrew 
 prophets. He is John the Baptist risen from the 
 dead. He has all the marks of the prophet upon 
 him. He is rugged: he is intense: his brow is 
 furrowed with earnest, anxious thought in grap- 
 pling with awful moral conditions. He feels 
 himself commissioned of God. He speaks as 
 an inspired agent of Cod. Compulsion lays its 
 hand upon him. He must speak. The fire con- 
 sumes his bones. All of the marks of the He- 
 brew prophet you discover in the character, 
 in the spirit, in the personality of this man. 
 and now. when you think of the age to which he 
 came, you will understand the need for the man 
 and his message. 
 
 It was an age of culture, an age character- 
 ized by the refinements of an intellectual and 
 wealthy society. Art flourished, architecture 
 flourished, learning flourished, but history 
 
 18 Savonarola.
 
 teaches us in unmistakable fashion the lesson 
 that the most splendid outward civilization is 
 compatible with the deepest infamy. It has 
 been said that "the polished Greeks, the world's 
 masters in the delights of language and in range 
 of thought, and the commanding Komans, over- 
 awing the earth with their power, were little 
 less than splendid savages, and the age of Louis 
 XIV, of France, spanning so long a period of 
 worldly magnificence, thronged by marshals 
 bending under military laurels, and enlivened 
 by the unsurpassed comedies of Moliere, digni- 
 fied by the tragic genius of Corneille, illumined 
 by the splendors of Bossuet, is degraded by im- 
 moralities that cannot be mentioned without a 
 blush, by a heartlessness in comparison with 
 which the ice of Nova Zembla is warm, and 
 by a succession of deeds of injustice not to be 
 washed out by the tears of all the recording 
 angels in heaven." Such, precisely, was the age 
 to which Savonarola brought his message. There 
 was outward respectability, but inward rotten- 
 ness. 
 
 Lorenzo de Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent, 
 was at the zenith of his fame and popularity. 
 Tie had made Florence the idol of his heart, he 
 had made her a city of palaces, and her neigh- 
 borhood a garden of delights. When Savo- 
 narola came to Florence he greeted a Queen in 
 beauty and in power. He found there 170 
 churches, representing the very highest forms 
 of architecture, and the magnificent cathedral 
 of the Duomo, far-famed in history. The deep 
 notes of the organ were heard, the gorgeous 
 
 Savonarola. ]4
 
 ritual of religion was not neglected, the long- 
 drawn aisles and fretted roof, and the dim, sub- 
 dued lights — all were there. Savonarola could 
 have said of Florence, as Paul said of Athens 
 when he looked upon gods innumerable : "I 
 perceive that in all things you are too relig- 
 
 ious." 
 
 But all this was outward splendor. It was 
 the old story of the whited sepulchre, beauti- 
 ful without, but degraded within. It was as the 
 gorgeous plumes on the hearse that bears the 
 dead man to his grave ; it was as some mauso- 
 leum, in which lay dead faith and religion. 
 
 No age, perhaps, other than that which is 
 characterized by the Apostle Paul in his letter 
 to the Romans was more corrupt than that of 
 the time of Lorenzo. The most corrupt Popes 
 that had ever sat in the chair of St. Peter dis- 
 graced that high office. The church was abso- 
 lutely rotten. The State was absolutely cor- 
 rupt. Licentiousness, lying, cheating, gamb- 
 ling, all of the grosser vices and all of the 
 finer vices characterized that civilization. It 
 was to such a people and at such a time that 
 Savonarola, the prophet of God, came. When 
 he first entered Florence, after having preached 
 for a while, no impression was made, and mod- 
 estly he writes: "I have not even moved a 
 chicken. I have no voice, no lungs, no style." 
 It is alw ays true, my friends, that the truly 
 great man does not. know that he is great. He 
 wears his greatness as unconsciously as the rose 
 bears its blushes, as unconsciously as the sun 
 gives forth his benediction upon a waiting world. 
 
 ]5 Savonai -ola
 
 He does not dream of fame; he does not think 
 of leadership. He is concerned simply with the 
 task of the hour and the importance of getting 
 it done, getting it done with dispatch, and get- 
 ting it done under the spirit of God Himself. 
 
 But one day Savonarola announced a sermon 
 to.be delivered at the convent of St. Mark. It 
 was a great occasion. It was a memorable occa- 
 sion. A great multitude assembled in the great 
 church and the great preacher stood before them. 
 The man and the hour had met. The oppor- 
 tunity for which in the providence of God he 
 had been kept back now flashed in all its brilli- 
 ance before him. Behold the orator as he 
 comes before his audience. I give to you a 
 description of his personal appearance: "He 
 was of slight stature, about five feet six or 
 seven inches high, erect in carriage and easy 
 in bearing. His complexion was dark, but clear. 
 His forehead was massive, of the retreating 
 order. His eyes were his wonderful feature. 
 They were dark blue under thick, heavy eye- 
 brows. They were luminous; they sparkled; 
 they shone; they emitted sparks of fire; they 
 glowed like lamps in his head in times of 
 his impassioned oratory. They were like the 
 eyes of Frederick the Great— awful in their in- 
 tensity when aroused with anger or excitement, 
 and most pleasing in their expression when rest- 
 ing upon you with favor or affection. His nose 
 was very prominent, and hooked, his nether lip 
 protruding, his mouth large— a countenance on 
 the whole rather repulsive and ugly; but the 
 soul behind the face transfigured the gaunt fea- 
 
 Savonarola. -ia
 
 tures, and they became beautiful and winning." 
 He stood at this critical moment before this 
 critical audience. Here was a man who did not 
 strive in his speech to drop "ruby commas, and 
 emerald semi-colons." He was no courtier. It 
 might be asked concerning him as Jesus asked 
 concerning John the Baptist: "What went you 
 out in the wilderness to see ? A man clothed in 
 soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft 
 clothing are in kings' houses. But what went 
 ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, and I say 
 to you, more than a prophet." 
 
 If ever a man was earnest, if ever a man felt 
 the awful responsibilities resting upon him at a 
 given crucial moment, it was Savonarola as he 
 faced the self-indulgent and wicked and ele- 
 gant Florentines. He spoke of the crimes of 
 Lorenzo. He spoke of the immoralities of 
 the Pope. He denounced the sins of his age. 
 He warned the people that unless they turned 
 from their sins the wrath of God would come 
 upon them. There was no mincing. There was 
 no use of the soft pedal in his speech. There 
 were no flute tones. It was the trumpet tone 
 of a mighty leader summoning upon his blast 
 the host to conflict and to victory. I imagine 
 that those eyes of his flashed with unwonted 
 splendor and that the great orator's eloquence 
 swept that audience as the wind sweeps through 
 the pines, with not quite so much melody-pro- 
 ducing effect, but with the same majesty and 
 glory. 
 
 The crusade had begun, and the sound of the 
 trumpets, announcing the bailie had been 
 
 1 7 Savo7iarola.
 
 heard. The city of Florence was aroused. Lo- 
 renzo had heard that something was going on, 
 and he sends a committee to wait upon the 
 preacher and to say to the preacher: "Your 
 preaching is good, but you ought not to 
 be quite so severe on gambling." Savon- 
 arola replied to the delegation : "I know 
 who sent you. Go and tell your master to re- 
 pent, and that the Lord does not fear the 
 princes of the earth." So he went steadily for- 
 ward in his mighty work. He could not be brib- 
 ed. When the Pope offered him promotion he 
 said: "I will have no Cardinal's cap: I will 
 have only the cap made red with my own 
 blood." Here was a man who was in earnest, 
 a man to be reckoned with. Here was a spirit 
 touched by the living fire from off the altar, in- 
 spired by the breath of the Lord God Almighty. 
 You cannot pooh-pooh a man of that sort out 
 of your path. You may dismiss your gay 
 Lotharios, you may push aside the little man 
 with a little message and never holding to that 
 message very strongly, but when a flaming 
 prophet of God stands in your path with 
 the glory of heaven shining upon his brow 
 and with a message of imperative command in 
 his hands, you must reckon with him. Lorenzo 
 did well to communicate with Savonarola. In 
 a sermon delivered shortly afterward, Savona- 
 rola predicts the death of the Pope, the death 
 of Lorenzo, and the invasion of Italy by a for- 
 eign foe. All of these prophecies came true, and 
 the result was that the influence of the preacher 
 was strengthened. 
 
 Savonarola. IS
 
 As the work proceeded men began to think 
 and to study, and finally they came to Savona- 
 rola with a request that he should map out for 
 them a programme; and the programme was 
 this: "True liberty, that which alone is liber- 
 ty, consists in a determination to lead a good 
 life. What sort of liberty can that be which 
 subjects us to the tyranny of our passions? Do 
 you Florentines wish for liberty? Do you citi- 
 zens wish to be free ? Then, above all things, 
 love God and your neighbors." The new govern- 
 ment was formed on these lines, and Jesus 
 Christ was proclaimed king. We are told that 
 the law and public documents of that period 
 read almost like the sermons of Savonarola. 
 
 There is, my friends, no other programme. 
 Men may come with suggestions on paper. They 
 have their day and cease to be. They can come 
 with a specific and it will be considered and dis- 
 missed. If we are in earnest about the reforma- 
 tion of any city we must remember that it is 
 only through the righteousness of the individual 
 citizen that such reformation can be achieved. 
 
 I need not speak of the closing days of this 
 great man, for I wish in conclusion to draw a 
 few very practical lessons from the story which 
 has been so briefly recited. 
 
 What are the conditions of reforming a city 
 in the light of the history which has been given 
 to you to-night? In the first place, leadership 
 that shall be marked by moral earnestness and a 
 spirit of self-sacrifice, linked with courage and 
 ability. It is not necessary that this leadership 
 should be vested, as in the case of Savonarola, 
 
 19 Savonarola.
 
 in a priest or a preacher. At this particular 
 juncture of affairs in our own city it seems to 
 me that the leadership ought to be invested in 
 the men who have been chosen by the people to 
 guard the welfare of the city. A brilliant op- 
 portunity is offered, for instance, to the Prose- 
 cuting Attorney of our Criminal Court. He 
 must be a man of courage. He must be a man of 
 brains. He must be a man of conscience. He 
 must fear neither man nor the devil. He must 
 know all the tortuosities and the sinuosities 
 of the law, and all the labyrinthine windings 
 that the most expert lawyer can create or manu- 
 facture. He must be able to measure himself 
 against any opponent for the defense who shall 
 stand before him. Given such a man, dead in 
 earnest, with a heart all aflame with zeal for the 
 welfare of his city, and you shall hear of a re- 
 formation in this city that will meet the require- 
 ments, I think, of the most exacting imagina- 
 tion. 
 
 All of the officers ought to be men of high re- 
 pute, of splendid character, of unquestioned 
 ability; but, given this one man who under- 
 stands his business, and who means to get it 
 done or die in the effort, and just as sure as 
 Savonarola, for the time being at least, swept 
 the Florentines into a temporary kingdom of 
 God, just so sure this man would bring to pass 
 results that would be most gratifying to all of 
 us. 
 
 The leadership need not be invested in a 
 preacher. It ought to be, I repeat, in the hands 
 of these men who have been delegated and sAvorn 
 
 Savonarola. 20
 
 to care well for the city they have been called 
 upon to serve. And I might say here that this 
 leader ought to love his city. I think it is Tal- 
 mage who makes a remark to this effect, that the 
 man who does not love his city has done some- 
 thing mean there. It is a very good evidence, 
 but love must smite as well as smile. Love must 
 thunder as well as whisper. Love must say, 
 "Woe unto you Scribes, Pharisees and hypo- 
 crites, how shall you escape condemnation?" 
 as well as ' ' Come unto Me, all ye that labor, and 
 I will give you rest. ' ' The love of God is strong, 
 it is virile. It knows when to strike. It knows 
 when to lift the mailed hand and when to lift 
 up the hand of benediction. 
 
 But this leader of whom I am speaking 
 ought to be a man with great love in his heart 
 for the city he is serving, and who is determined 
 to be true to that city through weal and through 
 woe, until he shall be retired from the high office 
 to which he has been called. 
 
 Another lesson we may learn from this story 
 of Savonarola, namely, the claim of righteous- 
 ness upon the city is something absolutely im- 
 perative and authoritative. If a man shall pro- 
 claim righteousness simply as desirable he may 
 as well retire from the ministry. If he shall 
 proclaim it as beautiful and ornamental and at- 
 tractive and fascinating only, he might as well 
 retire from the ministry. But if he would 
 bring about a reformation either in the individ- 
 ual or in the city, or in the State, or in the na- 
 tion, he must, like Savonarola, say unto all men: 
 "E verywhere righteousness is the divine and 
 
 21 Savonarola.
 
 imperative claim of God Almighty upon you, 
 and no officer in the City Hall is more exempt 
 from this imperative claim than the preacher 
 who stands in the pulpit or the church member 
 who sits in the pew." 
 
 It was this message which the Monk of St. 
 Dominico brought to his people. Still another les- 
 son is that temporary reformation ought to be 
 welcomed. One, in reading this history, would 
 perhaps hurriedly come to the conclusion that, 
 as this reformation of Savonarola lasted for so 
 short a while, it was hardly worth while. Says 
 another : ' ' When the life of Florence was eaten 
 out by the Medicis, Savonarola purified the city 
 for a time with a thunderstorm. The Floren- 
 tines cast out their Herods at the bidding of 
 their Baptist; they burned their vanities in the 
 market place; they elected Jesus King of Flor- 
 ence by acclamation. In a little while they 
 brought Herod back and burned the Baptist in 
 the same market place. ' ' 
 
 Was it failure? 
 
 You do not minimize the sweetness of the rose 
 because it lasts only for a few brief hours. It 
 has no such permanence as the rock-ribbed hills, 
 but the brief fragrance that it gives forth is just 
 as valuable as the hills which appeal to us 
 through the ages and the centuries. The re- 
 formation may be brief, but it is good while it 
 lasts, and besides, it brings before us a vision 
 that we shall never forget. When a man goes 
 to some mountain height and looks out upon a 
 splendid landscape stretching about and around 
 him, it is true that he may come down again to 
 
 Savonarola. 22
 
 the commonplace duties of life, to the vulgari- 
 ties of life, but he shall never forget the vision, 
 whether in the shop or on the street, or in the 
 market place. 
 
 Savonarola brought a vision to the world 
 that it was possible, say for twenty-four hours, 
 say for a week, say for a month, to live with 
 Jesus Christ nominally acknowledged, at least, 
 as King. Here is a possible city of God. We 
 have seen the vision. It is an absolute fact of 
 history. We cannot forget it, and so long as 
 that vision abides, and it abides at this hour 
 with us, we shall be stimulated to greater efforts 
 in the cause of truth and righteousness. 
 
 I do not think that the life and work of 
 Savonarola are to be marked with failure. John 
 the Baptist was beheaded, and his work lasted 
 only a very brief period of time, but he did not 
 fail. He was the harbinger of the King, and 
 made straight the paths for His royal feet. 
 When we look over history, we shall find that 
 the path of progress has been marked by the 
 blackened stakes that tell of martyrs for truth 
 and for righteousness. Jesus Christ did not fail, 
 although men attacked Him, and with wicked 
 hands nailed Him to the cross, and even His 
 own disciples turned away, saying: "Let's 
 take up the old business, for the Master has left 
 us." Out of His death, out of His agony has 
 come to us redemption, and possihly enthrone- 
 ment in this life and in the life that is to come. 
 There is no such thing ;is failure in the realm of 
 mora ] reform. Each wavelet on the ocean tossed 
 adds to the ebbtide and the flow, and so Savona- 
 
 ^>;{ Savonai via
 
 rola died or rather was burned, but while the 
 body perished, the spirit survived, and the spirit 
 of Savonarola is in every movement of reform, 
 in every splendid cause that is waged in behalf 
 of righteousness, in every noble effort that is 
 put forth to make the world better and brighter 
 through the religion of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Savonarola has come again, and he will come 
 again. King Arthur, though deadly wounded, 
 still lies at rest in his misty island and will yet 
 appear for the deliverance of his people. So 
 lies the great Karl in his hollowed sepulchre ; so 
 the Emperor Barbarossa, of the Germans, in his 
 mountain cavern, and Olaf in the north. So 
 the ancient Hebrews were told that their pro- 
 phet, Elijah, would come back at the approach 
 of the great day that should need him most. 
 
 It is often the dream of an age that its great 
 men shall reappear in the coming time to take 
 up the great work left by him unfinished; and 
 when Savonarola, shall come again it will not 
 be in his splendid personality, but he will be re- 
 incarnated in the quickened conscience, in the 
 awakened hearts of the men and women of this 
 splendid century in which we are living. 
 
 This, my friends, is the message which I wish 
 to bring to you to-night. I do not look for any 
 ideal city, a city of the New Jerusalem, but I 
 do look for a city that shall not be ashamed of 
 God. I do look for a city that shall have a 
 manhood that is unpurchasable and that is dig- 
 nified and chastened by the mighty force of 
 righteousness. I do look for a city that cares 
 for law and order, and for truth and for jus- 
 
 Savonarola. 9-1
 
 tice. I do look for a city that shall enable us, 
 as we look upon her streets, and her residences, 
 and her splendid places of business, and her 
 public institutions, to say: "Thou art not as 
 fair as the city of God, but there is naught more 
 fair on this earth than is the smile upon thy 
 face." 
 
 i is X 
 
 
 i « 
 
 nJ 
 
 og Savonarola.
 
 The Need of Prophet Leaders. 
 
 The following address was delivered at a time when the 
 State was passing through one of the most exciting and 
 bitter political campaigns in its history : 
 
 I think it will not be questioned by thinking 
 men that this is a time of political peril. The 
 dangers which confront us are not of a commer- 
 cial character. The country was never more 
 prosperous. Let us remember, however, that 
 when the Roman Empire Mas overthrown, the 
 people of Rome could say, "never was the conn- 
 try more prosperous." From $200,000 to $400,- 
 000 were sometimes spent on a single banquet. 
 It is said of one man that he spent $4,000,000 in 
 luxurious eating and drinking, and then com- 
 mitted suicide because he had only $400,000 be- 
 tween himself and starvation. We have enor- 
 mous wealth. Colossal fortunes are a character- 
 istic of the century. National bankruptcy most 
 certainly does not stare us in the face. The 
 perils which threaten us spring from our moral 
 condition, and being of unsound health morally, 
 we are as a sick man in an elegantly appointed 
 and luxuriously furnished house — an environ- 
 ment of splendor, but no health to enjoy it- 
 To-night I would speak of the need of pro- 
 phets in this time of political peril. It is not 
 my purpose in this address to consider the dis- 
 tinctive peculiarities of 1 lie Bible prophet, or to 
 point out those particulars in which he stands 
 forth unique and alone In so far as lie is a 
 ■'man apart' having special endowments and 
 
 27 "Seed of Prophet Leaders.
 
 powers, he cannot be imitated or reproduced. 
 He constitutes an order of his own and it is not 
 permitted us to share his fellowship. But as 
 "lesser mortals who do but haunt the slope" we 
 can find much in the character and work of the 
 prophet capable of being copied into our own 
 lives and fitting us for high and holy service in 
 the world. The realm of prophecy in this larger 
 sense is limited only by fitness to enter and not 
 by any arbitrary fixing of its metes and 
 bounds. It is not confined to any age or people. 
 ' ' God sends his teachers unto every age, to every 
 clime and every race of men." We may not 
 invade the solitariness of these mighty souls, 
 whose mighty message has been preserved for us 
 in the pages that never grow dim, but we may 
 at least give forth the divine light that is in us 
 —only a thread of light, it may be, but illumi- 
 native according to its intensity and persis- 
 tence. We may be successors to the prophets in 
 certain essential elements of life and character, 
 even though it be true that "only Ulysses can 
 wield the bow of Ulysses." 
 
 There is supreme need for men with the 
 spirit and power of these prophets of an elder 
 time, who shall become the leaders of the people. 
 Leadership of a certain sort we have, but a fine 
 moral leadership is the exception, rather than 
 the rule. "Leadership is the grand, permanent 
 necessity of humanity." There must be those 
 who shall lift for us the standard, if the hosts 
 shall rally. In the army of righteousness we 
 must have our captains of tens and of thou- 
 sands. The people slumber, because they hear 
 
 Need of Prophet Leaders. 28
 
 uo clear, ringing bugle-blast summoning them 
 to duty. The best cause must have an advocate. 
 Truth does not win its way without champions. 
 And when the leader comes, he is instantly 
 recognized. Men may refuse to follow him, but 
 his primacy will not be questioned. He may 
 be hated, but the very hatred will be an ac- 
 knowledgment of his power. We are not apt 
 to mistake the rumbling of cart-wheels for thun- 
 der, or the jangling of bells out of tune for true 
 music. Every true leader of men has his cre- 
 dentials in himself. He does not need to wear a 
 crown, or hold a sceptre— his authority is in his 
 message. He does not need that holy oil shall 
 be poured upon his head; his anointing is that 
 of the heart and spirit. His character is his 
 certificate of royalty. Such men have ever been 
 the prophets of their time — "souls," as Carlyle 
 hath it, "actually sent down from the skies with 
 a God's message to us." The forces of right- 
 eousness to-day are only waiting such leadership. 
 The music which the world wants to hear, and 
 which one day it shall hear, is slumbering in 
 men and women all about us. The master-hands 
 who can sweep the harp, are needed, and the 
 great melody will come forth sublime and 
 majestic as the music of the spheres. In consid- 
 ering the qualifications of the prophet, and, 
 therefore, of all prophets whom our time de- 
 mands — in a word, the conditions of that moral 
 leadership which must conduct us out of our 
 political bondage, I shall mention inspiration as 
 chief and all-inclusive. This is a wonderfully 
 comprehensive word. T will ask you to think of 
 
 •"I Need of Prophet Leaders.
 
 inspiration— not as a theological term, but as 
 that quality which must inhei*e in every life 
 at all conspicuous for service. He who has it is 
 called of God to the task which claims him. 
 
 I use it as opposed, in the beginning, to a 
 shallow indifferentism. Gallio, who cared for 
 none of these things, was not an inspired man. 
 One who can look unmoved on the political de- 
 gradation of his State and country, and Avho 
 only shrugs his shoulders and says, "It is none 
 of my business," is not an inspired man; and 
 one who lazily draws about him the robes of his 
 silken selfishness, while he drawls, "Nothing is 
 worth while; what's the use for a fellow to trou- 
 ble himself?" is not an inspired man. Inspira- 
 tion cares, and cares intensely; the inspired man 
 feels the degradation of his country as a person- 
 al affliction. The men who dishonor her institu- 
 tions are his enemies, and insults flung in the 
 face of political liberty are felt by him as a per- 
 sonal affront. Our prophets must be men who 
 feel the woes they would remedy, to whom pub- 
 lic shame becomes a personal experience. It is 
 not enough that, one should tell us in elegant 
 English the evils which are undermining our 
 political life. He must feel the humiliation be- 
 fore he can strike with a right arm clothed with 
 power. Indifference to the public weal on the 
 part of the average political leader is one of the 
 most distressing features in our political situa- 
 tion. These men do not seem capable of feeling 
 righteous indignation in the presence of the 
 moral infamy with which they are confronted— 
 and hence their words do not come forth as 
 
 Need of Prophet Leaders. 30
 
 thunderbolts, but as spent-balls. Beware of the 
 man whose heart has been pierced by the woes of 
 his people. The sting is the needed spur to 
 effort. 
 
 The slee pjng jion is not dreaded, but let him 
 b e woundectand his roar shall ring as the trum - 
 pet, of doom in the ears of his enemies. We mus t 
 seek our leaders among those whose souls are sen - 
 s itive enough to hear the "still, sad music of hu- 
 manity /' and who can weep over a land despo iT 
 rrThy piin "Reformf"-° bay p Q ver been men of pro - 
 f ru-mrl fpolino-— mpn of the type of those Hebrew 
 prophets whose souls were stirred as the heaving 
 t umultuous ocean.. 
 
 Another element of inspiration is vision— 
 the recognition of the ideal. There must be, 
 first, the vision of the actual— the clear recogni- 
 tion of existing evils. The idealist is a mere 
 "'dreamer of dreams"— a spinner of impractic- 
 able theories, if he be not in touch with actual 
 conditions. He is but a citizen of cloud-land, 
 who has no more influence over the life of to-day 
 than an inhabitant of Mars. But acquaintance 
 with the actual is not enough. Our leaders must 
 see "the something better," and inspire within 
 the hearts of their followers the desire to obtain 
 it. The man who is working in the slums must 
 ever keep his eye fixed on the star. There can 
 be no change for the better until the "better" is 
 made to shine with the brightness of a beckoning 
 angel. And here is the opportunity and duly 
 of the newspaper. "What a pulpit/' says 
 Lowell, "the editor mounts daily, sometimes 
 with a congregation of fifty thousand within 
 
 .{j Need of Prophet Leaders.
 
 reach of his voice, and never as much as a nod- 
 der even among them. And from what a Bible 
 can he choose his text— a Bible which needs no 
 translation, and which no priestcraft can shut 
 and clasp from the laity— the open volume of 
 the world, upon which, with a pen of sunshine 
 or destroying fire, the inspired present is even 
 now writing the annals of God. ' ' But has he no 
 mission other than to tell us "how goes the day 
 of human power?" Is he to narrow his oppor- 
 tunity, for the sake of gain, to the advocacy of 
 partisan- political measures, while there comes 
 not to him the "vision splendid" of a redeemed 
 humanity? Is he simply an annalist who shall 
 bring before us dry-as-dust facts, but who can 
 create no perspective along which we may tread 
 to better customs, better men and better times? 
 The inspired prophet-editor is the man who re- 
 ports the battle, but who sees in the distance 
 the coming of the "Imperial Guard" of right- 
 eousness, and who never leaves us in doubt as to 
 the final triumph of the right. "Let us get the 
 the best we can and let the rest go," is the 
 spirit of the opportunist. The true prophet 
 says: "There is something better. In God's 
 name, let us go up and possess the land." We 
 do not ask that our editors shall be saints— "a 
 crown upon their foreheads and a harp within 
 their hands," but we do ask that once in awhile 
 they shall come out of the valley of political 
 wrangling and corruption, and, standing on the 
 mountain height of hope, shall point us to 
 "fairer worlds, and lead the way." There is 
 that in every man which responds to the ideal. 
 
 Xccd of Prophet Leaders. 32
 
 and the editor, therefore, may be sure of his 
 constituency. 
 
 And squarely should our leaders in Con- 
 gress answer this demand of the human soul. 
 In criticising the statement. ''It is the business 
 of the Senate not to set before the country no- 
 ble ideals, but to put into working operation 
 such ideals as are at the time practicable of ac- 
 complishment.'' a writer says: "As I appre- 
 hend it, a legislator has a good deal larger re- 
 sponsibility than merely to keep at the mean 
 average of the people and formulate what hap- 
 pens to be the people's notion at the moment. 
 Thirty years ago Ave used to have Senatorial 
 utterances that would ring clear across the con- 
 tinent, and be a moral stimulus to the entire 
 nation. The secret of the power of these utter- 
 ances was that they proclaimed the ideal, and 
 by the magnificent enunciation, the whole life 
 of the people was lifted. Passages of just that 
 sort of idealism were printed in the reading- 
 books that we used at school, and we learned 
 1 hem, and in the days when the boys'spoke pieces' 
 we declaimed them, and the thrill of them is in 
 the hearts of some of us still." Let us not sup- 
 pose that it is the business of the preacher only 
 to proclaim the ideal. This, unquestionably, is 
 the function of the pulpit, but is none the less 
 the business of every man who aspires to leader- 
 ship. Otherwise he is one of the crowd— one 
 wliu does not escape the average, and who can, 
 therefore, bring no inspiration to his fellows. 
 'The seer is he who discovers and asks us to 
 consider what is fixed ;ind abiding on the rest- 
 
 88 v. , a of Prophet Leaders.
 
 less ocean of life, the landmarks of the way, 
 what features do not shift, and stars do not set 
 . . . For as the Pyrenees and Himalaya peaks, 
 Capes Horn and Good Hope stay on map and 
 globe for successive students and visitors, so 
 these supernal things shift not. They are fea- 
 tures of the universe ; we go to them with less 
 doubt than to Niagara or the White Hills; for 
 no flood wears away their basis, and no storms 
 crumble their structure into interval — dust." 
 Still another element of inspiration is moral 
 enthusiasm. The enthusiast in art is the man 
 who is possessed and dominated by the love of 
 his art. Speak to him of painting or sculpture, 
 or music, his eye kindles, and with the eagerness 
 of a boy, he throws himself into the discussion. 
 The moral enthusiast is the man who is domi- 
 nated by a passion for righteousness. The topo- 
 graphy of his soul shows plainly drawn the 
 lines of right and wrong. Principles of truth 
 rule him with the authority of God. You feel 
 at once that such a man must speak his mes- 
 sage. It is a matter of moral compulsion. The 
 eternal righteousness bids him speak. With 
 Luther, he says , ' ' Here I stand ; I can do no 
 other. God help me!" As says another, "He 
 is not appointed like an army officer, nominated 
 like a chief justice, or confirmed in any Senate. 
 If he be ambassador, it is with an inward de- 
 spatch." Sin is hateful, and he seeks to crush 
 it as he would a viper, and as instinctively and 
 spontaneously his denunciation comes forth. 
 Truth is his pole-star, and he will tell his best 
 friend, "I can do anything but lie for you." 
 
 Need of Prophet Leaders. 34
 
 Try to bribe him, and you will think that the 
 central fires of the earth have been concentrat- 
 ed into his blistering rebuke. Suggest a com- 
 promise involving dishonor, and if you escape 
 without a blow you will be fortunate. Tell him 
 that the spirit of the times demands that he 
 must corrupt voters in order to secure his office, 
 and he will say to you— not in the language of 
 cant, but of sincere conviction, "I would rather 
 be right than president." Say to him, ^Every- 
 body does it, and you will but make yourself an 
 eccentric by refusing," and he will say to you, 
 '"I will not go with the crowd to moral destruc- 
 tion." Moral enthusiasm has been the charac- 
 teristic of all epoch-making men. Genius has 
 never inaugurated or carried to successful con- 
 summation any cause that has not been upheld 
 and sustained by moral sentiment. It is the 
 condition of the highest courage. The histo- 
 rians do not tell us of men who have been will- 
 ing to die for a fad or a fancy, but they tell us 
 of thousands who have died for what they be- 
 lieved to be right. Men do not spill their blood 
 when the question involved is one of office, but 
 give them something worth dying for— some- 
 thing that appeals to their moral enthusiasm— 
 and the blood will be willingly surrendered. 
 Evermore the supreme choice has been between 
 the right and the wrong, and this has tested 
 every leader, and every nation. 
 
 35 Need of Prophet Leaden
 
 Once to every man and nation 
 
 Comes the moment to decide 
 In the strife of truth with falsehood 
 
 For the good or evil side ; 
 Some great cause, God's new Messiah, 
 
 Offering each the bloom or blight 
 Parts the goats upon the left hand, 
 
 And the sheep upon the right. 
 And the choice goes by forever, 
 
 Twixt that darkness and that light. 
 
 We need and must have in our leaders the 
 elemental virtues. The art of the orator is ad- 
 mirable, the skill to put things effectively and 
 beautifully is not to be despised, the social gift 
 which can win friends is capable of splendid 
 use, but the serious task of making the world 
 better requires not only these ornamental vir- 
 tues, but the elemental virtues of loyalty, truth, 
 justice and purity— in a word, high, moral en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 I have indicated some of the qualities which 
 must characterize the men who shall lead us 
 forth to better things. Their inspiration must 
 have these elements, or they shall be but as 
 "reeds shaken by the wind," or as "dwellers in 
 king's houses" wearing the soft raiment of ef- 
 feminacy. I have not been speaking of imprac- 
 ticable virtues. Human life all through the 
 ages has illustrated them, and in so far as they 
 have found exemplification, the world has 
 grown better. Thank God that the pages of our 
 political history shine with the names of many 
 such men, nor is the political stage of to-day 
 vacant of their presence. But if we shall have 
 more of them— and God give us a host— the 
 moral life of the nation must be quickened. 
 
 Need of Prophet Leaders. 3ft
 
 With very great force, it has been asked : "How, 
 then, can we be prophets? we the worldly; we. 
 the sensual ; we, the idle and sluggish ; we, the 
 vulgar and conventional ; we, who worship 
 mammon and love pleasure, and delight so much 
 in scandal and hatred and lies? As we are, we 
 can not be prophets; but are the wings of the 
 six-winged seraphim — the twain with which they 
 did fly, folded forever? Is there no temple 
 more? Is heaven closed forever? Burns there 
 no fire on the altar? Has the chariot of heaven 
 ceased to descend to earth ? Are there no hot 
 coals of fire to touch and purify the unclean 
 lips? Does the Lord say no longer from His 
 throne above the cherubim, 'Whom shall I 
 send, and who will go for us ? " ' It is our fault 
 that the necessary moral leadership is wanting. 
 God has not exhausted Himself by giving a few 
 great men in the days a gone. He shall give us 
 others when ourselves are ready for them — 
 "men who can stand before a demagogue and 
 scorn his treacherous flatteries without wink- 
 ing; tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the 
 fog in public duty, and in private thinking." 
 
 I might add, in concluding this address that 
 the prophet-leader has always been a messenger 
 of hope. "Abraham had his vision of a poster- 
 ity numerous as the stars in the Syrian sky, un- 
 der which he pitched his tent, and he died with 
 only one son the heir of his vast promise." Bu1 
 the vision has none the less come true. "Moses 
 had his vision of a multitude of slaves wrought 
 over into a mighty nation, conformed in the 
 whole reach of personal, domestic and civic life 
 
 87 Need of Prophet Leaders. 
 
 451759
 
 to the conscience of Jehovah, and he went up 
 into Pisgah to die, leaving his people in the plain 
 below, little better still than a crowd of slaves." 
 But in the on-going of time the great nation 
 was born. "The apostle beheld a new heaven 
 and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, 
 and after the labor and sorrow of nearly two 
 thousand years, men wait for the realization of 
 the dream." But the true prophet-leader still 
 hopes. The dominant note should be that of 
 hope. A writer has said : ' '.Presently depres- 
 sion will go out of fashion. It is the mood only 
 of the diseased or imitative ; it is never the mood 
 of the healthful and the original; and when it 
 goes out of fashion, people will look back and 
 smile at the importance which has been attach- 
 ed to certain manifestations of the pessimistic 
 temper in our time." We will enter into the 
 vision and feel the mighty spell of its beauty, 
 but we will share as well that patience which 
 can "wait on the Lord and be of good courage." 
 With Tennyson we will bathe our souls in the 
 glory of the golden year, and when we are told 
 that it shall not come in our time, with him we 
 shall say : 
 
 But well I know that to him who works and knows he works, 
 That same glad year is ever at the door. 
 
 Ni ■ d of Prophet Leaders. 38
 
 Sleeping Citizenship 
 
 •'Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." 
 Am. 6:1. 
 
 Little is known of Amos, other than the 
 facts that he was a prophet of the Southern 
 Kingdom, that he earned his livelihood as a 
 herdsman and fruit-gatherer and that he pro- 
 phesied several hundred years before Christ. 
 With the man we are not particularly concern- 
 ed, but we neglect his message at our peril. 
 Amos, no less than all the Hebrew prophets, 
 gives us in himself an example of the preacher 
 in politics— not having to do with politics, but 
 with principles. Dr. Hodges says: "The Jew- 
 ish Church was the Jewish nation. The prophets 
 were patriot-orators, who preached politics 
 with vehemence, and entered might and main 
 into public life. It is impossible to think of 
 Isaiah as a quiet parish priest, living at the cen- 
 ter of a narrow circle, letting the great world 
 outside go uninterrupted on its own mistaken 
 way. In New York, in Boston, Isaiah would 
 have been the heart and soul of a great, out- 
 spoken, radical, independent, righteous news- 
 paper. Amos and Hosea were interested in pub- 
 lic questions profoundly and supremely. The 
 saints of that time were the natural heroes." 
 
 Our prophet speaks to his countrymen be- 
 cause he can no longer keep silence. "The lion 
 hath roared, who can but hear? The Lord God 
 
 ;}i| 8h eping Citizenship.
 
 hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" In his 
 case, silence would have been shame. When 
 social and political corruption confront any 
 true prophet, he must speak or, with shame, 
 resign his commission. Nor does Amos consid- 
 er the consequences. Excuses for "sticking to 
 his farm" he might have offered. No king had 
 summoned him, no audience had solicited his 
 message, nobody had urged him to undertake 
 this responsible and ungrateful task. But there 
 had sounded a voice within, and duty must sub- 
 ordinate expediency. And so he comes forth 
 from his retirement and suddenly appears be- 
 fore the people as a messenger of judgment. 
 His trumpet blast startled the nation, even as 
 the fiery eloquence of Savonarola in the Duomo 
 of Florence. He came with the old gospel ap- 
 plied to existing political conditions. The na- 
 tion was asleep morally, and he thunders in 
 their ears, "Woe unto those that are at ease in 
 Zion." That moral apathy which precedes 
 moral death had seized upon the people whom 
 he loved. 
 
 1. Amos was confronted in the very out- 
 set with the indifference of officialism. "Also 
 Amaziah (the priest) said unto Amos. thou 
 seer, go, flee thee away unto the land of Judah, 
 and there eat bread and prophesy there; but 
 prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it 
 is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house." 
 You feel the contempt of the little great man, 
 clothed with his official authority. How can the 
 messenger of righteousness reach the conscience 
 of self-satisfied officialism? The storming of the 
 
 Sleeping Citizenship. 40
 
 Bastile was an easier task. Fed at the public 
 crib, comfortable in their wickedness, these high 
 dignitaries only asked to be let alone. "0, thou 
 seer, go back to your quiet village of Tekoa and 
 tend your sheep. Keep out of politics. We can 
 run the government." And yet. if our public 
 officials are indifferent to the claims of right- 
 eousness, the entire nation must suffer. An easy 
 and polite dismissal of the prophet is only to 
 postpone the day of doom. 
 
 2. Again, Amos was confronted with the 
 indifference of liberalism. As says another, 
 "It was an age of liberalism. It was permitted 
 to men to worship what god they pleased, in 
 what manner they pleased ; not because men 
 had the catholic conception that every faith has 
 some truth in it, and in the free battle of creed, 
 the errors will vanish, and the truth be preserved, 
 but because they did not care whether men be- 
 lieved truth or falsehood, whether they worship- 
 ed God or Baal. ' ' This is the condition which pre- 
 cedes utter moral ruin. It is the easy indifferent- 
 ism which refuses to draw moral distinctions. 
 Righteousness is tame and insipid. It is not 
 worth while. What matter, so long as business 
 prospers and there is plenty of money in the 
 country ? In avoiding Puritanism, with its 
 hard and fast requirements, we are in danger of 
 swinging off to moral license, when nothing is 
 worth while that does not affect our financial 
 interests or our political organizations. "I 
 know," says the prophet, "how manifold are 
 your transgressions, and how mighty are your 
 sins: ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe 
 
 41 Sleeping Citizenship.
 
 and that turn aside the needy in the gate from 
 their right. Seek good and not evil, that ye 
 may live." We are building upon the sand if 
 we are building a political fabric whose founda- 
 tion is not laid in the eternal laws of God. 
 "Seek him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, 
 and turneth the shadow of death into the morn- 
 ing, and maketh the day dark with night; that 
 calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth 
 them out upon the face of the earth. The Lord 
 is his name." 
 
 3. The indifference of wealth was another 
 phase of this moral apathy against which the 
 prophet thundered. "Ye that put far away the 
 evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come 
 near; that lie upon beds of ivory and stretch 
 themselves upon their couches, and eat the 
 lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the 
 midst of the stall; that sing idle songs to the 
 sound of the viol ; that devise for themselves in- 
 struments of music like David; that drink wine 
 in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief 
 ointments— but they are not grieved for the 
 affliction of Joseph." What a picture of self- 
 indulgence in the midst of moral obliquity! 
 Don't trouble us with your reforms and gospels. 
 Give us music and dancing, and talk to us of 
 pleasant things. It is almost as bad as Nero 
 fiddling while Rome was burning. Our luxury 
 is undermining moral earnestness ; our prosperity 
 is our danger. It is the spirit which says : 
 "Comfort first, serious matters af tenvards. " 
 It is not wealth, but the moral indifference 
 
 Sleeping Citizenship. 42
 
 which self-indulgence engenders, that the pro- 
 phet condemns. 
 
 4. Another phase of indifference on the 
 part of this people was a false faith. To the 
 stern accusations of the prophet — the truth of 
 which could not be denied — answer is made: 
 "We are waiting for the day of the Lord. He 
 will set all things right. It is God's business. 
 We can only wait." It is the old answer of 
 pious laziness to the call of duty. It is the old 
 effort to shirk responsibility by pleading a re- 
 ligionism utterly false. "The day of the Lord 
 will come," says Amos, but it will be "darkness 
 and not light," unless you rouse yourselves 
 from your lethargy and moral apathy. Let no 
 man excuse himself from active participation 
 in any effort of reform by supposing that God 
 will work a miracle of political regeneration. 
 God uses existing agencies to bring to pass his 
 purposes. It is through the men and women 
 with consciences, enthusiasm and ideals that 
 our present abuses will be eradicated. God 
 works through means, and the means are to be 
 found in an aroused people— not drunk with 
 passion, but calm with determination to bring 
 in a better day. It was God who brought to us 
 the day of political liberty, but not until our 
 forefathers were ready to die for the cause of 
 independence. It was God who gave to us the 
 reformation of the sixteenth century, but the 
 •gift was conferred through the awakened con- 
 science of the German nation. Yes, we are 
 "waiting for the day of the Lord," but we dare 
 not \\iiil idly. We are waiting for the overthrow 
 
 4:5 Sleeping Citizenship.
 
 of our enemies, but it is God's strength put in 
 human arms and hearts that must bring about 
 that overthrow. We are waiting for the cessa- 
 tion of lawlessness, but we shall wait in vain 
 unless we ourselves become law-abiding, and see 
 to it ourselves that we have as our representa- 
 tives those who put law above license, and prin- 
 ciple above party. Credulous indeed are we, if 
 we nurse our laziness and indifference, thinking 
 that God will come forth as a besom of destruc- 
 tion to sweep away political corruption. The day 
 will come — the shadow will be lifted— but "men 
 of thought and men of action" must clear the 
 way. 
 
 5. The nation which the prophet addresses 
 was at ease with respect to the future, because 
 its outward social and religious observances 
 were still maintained. There was a temple at 
 Dan in the north, at Bethel in the south and at 
 Gilgal midway between the two. The national 
 institutions flourished. Altars, sacrifices, and 
 hymns were still features of worship. But what 
 says God through the mouth of his prophet: 
 "I hate and despise your church festivals: I 
 smell no sweet savor from the sacrifices of the 
 great crowds at your feasts. Though you bring 
 me burnt sacrifices and flour offerings, I will 
 not accept them. The thank offering of your 
 fatted calves, I will not look upon. Take away 
 from before me the voice of your hymns, chant- 
 ed round your altars ; let me not hear the music 
 of the harps of your priests. Instead of these, 
 let justice flow down your streets like water, 
 and righteousness like mighty streams. True 
 
 Sleeping Citizenship. 44
 
 religion, not outward, is the thing that can save 
 you. ' ' 
 
 The prophet thus draws for us in masterful 
 fashion the picture of a nation that was dead 
 while it yet lived— having all the forms of re- 
 ligion, but wanting its spirit; having the husk, 
 but wanting the kernel. We call this in the 
 church, religious formalism, or hypocritical 
 Pharisaism. But is it not time to talk and 
 think about political formalism and political 
 Pharisaism? What is it? It is having all the 
 forms of government, while the purpose of 
 government is ignored. It is having courts and 
 legislatures and political institutions— all the 
 forms that are necessary in the conduct of gov- 
 ernment—while the spirit of righteousness is 
 wanting. It is government without God. It is 
 having some other spirit than that of righteous- 
 ness to run the political machinery, so that we 
 have a nation without life. 
 
 We have a galvanized corpse — the semblance 
 of life, but not its reality. Are not our courts 
 running as usual? Yes, but they are a mockery 
 and a pretence unless they are being run in 
 harmony with the purpose of their creation— 
 the promotion of justice and righteousness. If 
 they are dominated by party spirit, you have 
 the form of a court, but not its reality. You 
 have a thing that has all the motions of a court, 
 but maintained by mechanical and artificial 
 means. So of our legislature and our executive 
 department. As long as these departments are 
 dominated by the purpose of their creation 
 the bringing to pass of better social, economic 
 
 45 Sleeping Citizenship.
 
 and righteous conditions— they are discharging 
 a high and holy mission. But when the spirit 
 of passion takes possession of them, when party 
 zeal is the secret of their activity, then they be- 
 come mere forms. Then God turns upon them, 
 as upon the stickler for religious reforms with- 
 out meaning, and say, ' ' I hate and despise your 
 courts and legislatures, and political activity." 
 What is it that God asks of us? "Let justice 
 flow down your streets like water, and right- 
 eousness like mighty streams." 
 
 Sleeping Citizenship. 4t;
 
 The Citizen on Guard ♦ 
 
 An address delivered in anticipation of an approaching 
 election. 
 
 My subject as announced is entitled— 'The 
 Citizen on Guard." If I know my heart, there 
 is in it no other desire than to deepen the respon- 
 sibility which rests upon us as Christian citi- 
 zens and to dignify, if I may. the high and sacred 
 right of suffrage. My plea shall be made in the 
 name of the Christ of truth and righteousness 
 and not in the interest of any party or candi- 
 date. I conceive it to be my right — no less than 
 my privilege — to speak of the demands that are 
 made upon us by the voice of duty and the 
 obligations which are inherent in Christian cit- 
 izenship. The pulpit is no place for the pro- 
 clamation of political sectarianism ; it is the 
 place from which should be sounded forth the 
 unchanging and unchangeable principles of 
 righteousness. While I shall not intentionally 
 drop one word by which my own political lean- 
 ings can be discovered, I do desire to place my- 
 self emphatically on the side of truth, order, 
 law, decency and fair dealing, and in doing this, 
 I am not registering myself as a member of any 
 of the parties contending for supremacy, for no 
 one of them has a monopoly of these virtues and 
 excellencies. 
 
 Let me urge upon every Christian man who 
 is legally entitled to exercise the right of suf- 
 frage, to east his vote in the coining election. It 
 is not my right, nor have I any desire 1<> tell you 
 
 47 The Citizen on Guard.
 
 how to vote ; it is my right to urge upon you with 
 all possible earnestness the imperative duty which 
 claims you as Christian citizens, (a). There are 
 those who claim that a Christian man should not 
 exercise the right of suffrage. They claim that 
 since the State and the Church are separate in- 
 stitutions, the Christian man should leave those 
 who are not Christians to take care of the inter- 
 ests of the State and Nation. This is equivalent 
 to saying that a Christian man should not take 
 any part in any of the activities that are sepa- 
 rate and distinct from the life of the church. It 
 follows, therefore, that he should not enter into 
 business or literature as a distinct profession, 
 or art or any of the thousand humanitarian and 
 refining agencies that are contributing to the 
 betterment of the world . In other words, there 
 is nothing left for him to do, except to go to 
 church and sing psalms. 
 
 First, let me say, that such procedure on the 
 part of Christian men is a denial of the very 
 aim and purpose of the Christian religion, which 
 is to christianize all government and bring it 
 under the sway of Christ's rule and life. If 
 men who are not Christians are to be the exclu- 
 sive governing power of the nation, then gov- 
 ernment will mean no more than the reign of 
 wickedness, and Christianity might as well not 
 exist, since its influence is to be kept in the air- 
 tight compartment of the church. 
 
 Secondly, it is a cowardly attempt to escape 
 responsibility— a responsibility which is thrust 
 upon every American citizen whether he be in 
 the church or out of the church. One does not 
 
 The Citizen on Guard. 48
 
 cease to be an American citizen when he comes 
 into the church, otherwise the church would be 
 an enemy to the government and could not con- 
 sistently ask to remain in its territory. Chris- 
 tianity aims to make him a better citizen. Not 
 to discharge the duties of an American citizen 
 is simply to be a shirker. 
 
 Thirdly, This refusal of suffrage on the part 
 of Christian men is not only to turn the govern- 
 ment over to the exclusively non-christian forces 
 and to shirk a responsibility which is inherent 
 in American citizenship, but it is to fail in the 
 discharge of a plain Christian duty. "Render 
 unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's," is 
 part of the duty enjoined in the further exhor- 
 tation to "render unto God the things that are 
 God's." No man can discharge his duty to 
 God who is neglecting his duty to Caesar. 
 
 Fourthly, It is to deny the obligation of 
 rulership in the injunction, "let those who rule 
 do so with diligence." Every citizen, on elec- 
 tion day, is a ruler. It is for him to say what the 
 government shall be and do. On that one day, 
 he is a sovereign. He is more than a sentinel 
 standing on guard, he is a king swaying a scep- 
 tre. Truly the honor conferred upon him is an 
 exalted one and he must rise to the demands 
 which this honor imposes, (b). Furthermore, 
 there are not a few Christian men who refuse 
 to vote because of the corruption of the exist- 
 ing political parties. It is this very apathy 
 which is at the root of our troubles. If a man 
 should say, "I will not work in my garden be- 
 cause there are so many weeds," he would preS- 
 411 The Citizen on Guard.
 
 ently find in that garden nothing- bnt weeds. 
 Because the parties are corrupt, it is all the 
 more imperative that you should do your duty 
 as a Christian citizen. And, besides, we must 
 remember that we can but use existing tools until 
 we can get better. To say that we will have 
 nothing to do with existing parties because they 
 are bad, is to fail to recognize the ministry of 
 the imperfect — the use of imperfect means to 
 secure better conditions in the coming time. If 
 an absolutely perfect party existed — one with 
 a monopoly of virtue — there would no longer 
 be any need of government, for the millenial age 
 would have begun. ( c) . But it may be asked 
 what is the use of voting when your vote will not 
 be counted as cast? The question gives me op- 
 portunity to say that there are three funda- 
 mental principles in this matter of voting, the 
 violation of which constitutes infamy unspeak- 
 able. 
 
 First, A vote should be free, otherwise it is 
 not the expression of the voter's honest convic- 
 tion. To intimidate a voter in any way, wheth- 
 er by threat or force, should bring down upon 
 the man who does it the indignation of the 
 community: If a vote be not free, it is without 
 meaning. Before election is the time to argue and 
 enlighten, but on election day the voter must 
 be permitted to register his honest conviction. 
 We speak of religious liberty — the right to wor- 
 ship God according to the dictates of our own 
 conscience, none daring to molest or make afraid 
 — let us see to it that the voter in the discharge 
 of his duty shall be equally protected from in- 
 
 The Citizen on Guard. 50
 
 terferenco. Jesus laid the axe at the root of all 
 intimidation when he said — "Call no man mas- 
 ter." In religion, we recognize no authority 
 over the conscience other than that which is 
 divine ; in politics, we are free men and must be 
 permitted to enjoy that liberty without let or 
 hindrance. Paul said: "Let no man trouble 
 me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord 
 Jesus." Tins was his certificate of independ- 
 ence — the marks of his master. Likewise the 
 humblest American citizen can say, "let no man 
 trouble me in the exercise of my sacred right, 
 for I bear in my person the marks and legal 
 evidence of an American Citizen." 
 
 Second, A vote should be unpurchasable 
 and unpurchased. The man who permits him- 
 self to be bribed is so contemptible as to call for 
 pity, and the man who offers a bribe is taking 
 advantage of this depravity and insulting hu- 
 man nature besides. Here are two great par- 
 ties, each charging the other with the use of a 
 vast corruption fund to influence the poor crea- 
 tures that can be bought as cattle in the market. 
 It should bring the blush of honest shame to 
 the cheek of any man who claims to be an Amer- 
 ican citizen. 
 
 Third, A vote should be counted as cast. 
 Any interference with the votes of a free people 
 is worse than looting the sanctuary; it is invad- 
 ing the sacred citadel of the soul itself. It is 
 the murder of self-government. It means the 
 crucifixion of the Republic of our fathers. And 
 lest this reference shall be construed as parti- 
 san, in the light of recent utterances, permit 
 
 51 The Citizen on Guard.
 
 me to say that neither of the great parties of 
 this country is exempt from this infamy. The 
 commonplace word in both the press and from 
 the rostrum of both the great parties, is Fraud. 
 Let the party that is without sin in this partic- 
 ular, cast the first stone. 
 
 Is there an audience of Christian men in 
 America that will not approve the sentiments 
 which have been uttered? If so, we have reach- 
 ed a stage of moral deterioration that calls im- 
 peratively for the moral indignation of a hun- 
 dred Savonarolas to rouse us from a spiritual 
 apathy that is infinitely worse than physical 
 death. I care not what may be your party affilia- 
 tion, if you are a Christian man you cannot un- 
 der any circumstances approve of intimidation, 
 bribery or robbery. Better by far that this tre- 
 mendous experiment of self-government should 
 never have been made; better that our beloved 
 America should never have stood forth on these 
 shores as the champion of the rights of man, than 
 that her people should forge for themselves 
 chains of infamy a thousand times worse than 
 any tyrannical power could possibly have fas- 
 tened upon them. 
 
 Fifth, Let me further urge that you vote in 
 such a spirit and under the influence of such 
 high and noble feelings as that the act for you 
 shall be transfigured. As says another: "The 
 pulpit is the place for enforcing upon the con- 
 sciences of citizens the solemnity and sacred- 
 ness of the obligations which rest upon them 
 and their duty to discharge these obligations 
 (as the Prayerbook says of another great en- 
 
 Tlic Citizen on Guard. 52
 
 gagement) 'reverently, discreetly, advisedly, 
 soberly, and in the fear of God.'" And how 
 shall the common, ordinary business of voting 
 be lifted for you out of its selfish, profane and 
 coarse environment into a noble and splendid 
 performance? By the contemplation of the 
 meaning and purpose of the act. (a). Think of 
 what the privilege of self-government has cost. 
 As you go to the polls on next Tuesday, call to 
 mind the former days of the Republic. Think 
 of the toils, tears and sacrifices of the men who 
 made it possible for you to exercise this right 
 of suffrage. Let the spirits of Washington and 
 the Revolutionary heroes hover over you and 
 hear them as they say: "We fought at Lex- 
 ington, Bunker Hill and on a hundred battle- 
 fields that we might confer upon you the glori- 
 ous power of self-government. See that you are 
 worthy of it as you vote to-day. "(b). Or, again, 
 think of your country— its present welfare and 
 its future destiny. Your vote will contribute 
 to the weal or woe of the land you love. Let 
 your ballot represent something more than par- 
 ty or property consideration. Let it represent 
 the love and loyalty of an American citizen for 
 this country which is his birth-right and under 
 whose flag he hopes to sleep his last sleep. 
 
 0, friends, let us do what little we can to 
 make America the land of fulfillment — the land 
 where the noblest ideals of the old world Govern- 
 ments shall be realized; the land where brother- 
 hood shall mean equal rights for all and special 
 privileges for none; the land where liberty shall 
 be an actual possession, rather than a noble 
 
 53 The Citizen on Guard.
 
 word brought forth too often for political pa- 
 rade or rhetorical effect; the land upon whose 
 flag shall be inscribed in letters of living light, 
 mingling with its stars and stripes — as forming 
 part of the very life and constitution of the na- 
 tion—this sentence: "Righteousness exalts a 
 nation." May I conclude with the sentiment of 
 a distinguished Englishman as he contemplates 
 the destiny of the American Republic in a mo- 
 ment of high inspiration : "In that memorable 
 hour— memorable in the life of every man, me- 
 morable as when he sees the first view of the 
 pyramids or of the snow-clad range of the Alps 
 — in the hour when for the first time I stood be- 
 fore the cataracts of Niagara, I seemed to see a 
 vision of the fears and hopes of America. It 
 was midnight, the moon was full and I saw 
 from the suspension bridge the ceaseless contor- 
 tion, confusion, whirl and chaos which burst 
 forth in clouds of foam from that immense cen- 
 tral chasm which divides the American from the 
 British dominion ; but as I looked on that ever- 
 changing movement and listened to that ever- 
 lasting roar, I saw an emblem of the devouring 
 activity and ceaseless, restless, beating whirl- 
 pool of existence in the United States. But into 
 the moonlight sky there rose a cloud of spray 
 twice as high as the Falls themselves, silent, 
 majestic. In that silver column, glittering in the 
 moonlight, I saw an image of the future of 
 America's destiny, of the pillar of light which 
 should emerge from the distractions of the pres- 
 ent—a likeness of the buoyancy and hopefulness 
 which characterize the American both as indi- 
 
 The Citizen on Guard. 54
 
 viduals and as a nation. ' ' Out of the confusion 
 and excitement of the coming election and out 
 of the storm and stress of many another experi- 
 ence, America shall come forth with eye undim- 
 med and strength unabated, for God is with her 
 and his purpose shall not fail. 
 
 5f> 
 
 The Citizen on Guard.
 
 Public Men and Morals* 
 
 This address, altho' delivered during a political cam- 
 paign, finds its justification in every period of the Republic's 
 history. The text of the address is taken from Exodus, ISth 
 chapter, as follows: "Moreover thou shalt provide out of 
 all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, 
 "hating unjust gain." 
 
 The time has come when men who ask from 
 the people positions of trust and responsibility 
 must be required to show their credentials of fit- 
 ness for the positions they seek. When men ask 
 for our support in order that they may be plac- 
 ed in public office, our own moral self-respect 
 demands that we shall consider their moral 
 ■character. It is not enough that they represent 
 our economic views, but do they represent our 
 moral convictions? Righteousness is more vital 
 than the most orthodox political faith. Out- 
 candidate must represent those eternal princi- 
 ples of truth and justice without which no indi- 
 vidual or government can long escape the just 
 punishment of Almighty God. 
 
 The sort of man whom we can support con- 
 scientiously is not required to be an ideal man- 
 one who is without "fault or blemish." "We 
 will not construct him from poetry and fiction. 
 We will not ask that he shall be an "Achilles, 
 who, in the hour of battle can bear himself like 
 iron and who has a hand that can feel the fall 
 of a rose petal." We will not put him upon a 
 pedestal with a diadem of stars upon his brow. 
 We are not. asking for an impracticable and 
 impossible humanity. The man of whom we 
 
 .57 Public Men and Morals.
 
 speak is only an every-day man of flesh and 
 blood, who possesses certain qualifications for 
 public office— chief among which shall be his 
 unswerving, unpurchasable moral integrity. 
 His goodness is not of the tame and insipid 
 variety. It is the goodness which has its roots 
 in conscience and in that moral nature with 
 which God has endowed him — the goodness 
 which feels righteous indignation in the presence 
 of infamy and which, conscious of its sure 
 foundation, says : 
 
 Come one, come all, this rock shall fly 
 From its firm base as soon as I. 
 
 No more concise and yet comprehensive 
 statement of the qualifications for public office 
 in a Republic can be found than that given m 
 the advice of Jethro to Moses. It should serve 
 as the "vade mecum" of every official — from 
 the lowest to the highest — in our great country. 
 
 First, Our public men — those who are to rep- 
 resent the people— should be chosen from the 
 people. "Moreover, thou shalt provide out of 
 all the people * * * men." "Self-govern- 
 ment by the people and for the people, with 
 God above as the invisible Counselor and Pro- 
 tector," was declared to be the true government 
 by the Old Testament writers. The original 
 polity of the Hebrews was essentially that of a 
 republic. The establishment of Jewish kings 
 was a human suggestion, which Jehovah allow- 
 ed, but warned them against it, bidding Samuel 
 tell them that in seeking a king "they have re- 
 jected me, that I should not reign over them/ 
 But our public officers must be chosen, not only 
 
 Public Men and Morals. 5g
 
 by the people, but from the people, in order that 
 association and knowledge may fit them to pro- 
 perly represent the people. It is required of 
 men who are to speak for the people that they 
 shall know the people, their needs, their hopes, 
 their aspirations, their burdens. No man who 
 has not put his ear close to the heart of the 
 people, and heard its beating, can represent 
 them fairly in any public position. This knowl- 
 edge can come only from association and sym- 
 pathy — meeting the people, talking with them, 
 as brother to brother— and having one's heart 
 stirred by their woes and hopes. Contempt of 
 the people or supercilious treatment of the peo- 
 pla absolutely unfits any man to represent them. 
 Our public men — especially just before elec- 
 tion—are adepts in flattering the people, but 
 unless they are genuine lovers of the people, 
 their whole public service is hypocrisy and pre- 
 tence. By the people, I mean the struggling, 
 battling, toiling masses. James G. Blaine never 
 uttered truer words than these: "America's 
 peculiar glory is in the masses— their intelli- 
 gence, their comfort, their domestic happiness 
 and dignity, their right thinking and right act- 
 ing, their recognition and due discharge of re- 
 sponsibility, their freedom from unworthy ambi- 
 tion, their adoption of intellectual, moral and 
 spiritual aims. If in this she does not excel all 
 other nations, America will have been discover- 
 ed in vain. Great men, prodigies of thought, 
 poets, philosophers, inventors, generals, preach- 
 ers, scientists — the republic has them all. But 
 such natures break all bonds everywhere and 
 
 59 Public Men and Morals.
 
 come to the front by virtue of inborn and ir- 
 repressible energy. No continent need be laid 
 bare for them. They force their own field. It 
 is the will and opportunity of the masses, help- 
 less, except in combination and organization, 
 for whom America was kept intact and virgin 
 from shore to shore— tenanted by no man and 
 no race that left an institution to hamper the 
 future." We want not one "great commoner," 
 but hundreds if we shall long remain more than 
 a Republic in name. Is it of the people, other 
 than as means for keeping them in office, that 
 our public officials are thinking? Does the up- 
 lift of humanity come to them as a spur and in- 
 centive to noble endeavor? 
 
 Second, Our public men must be ' ' able men. ' ' 
 Ability of a certain sort we unquestionably have 
 among our politicians. There are men who are 
 able to control primaries and to lead voters to 
 do their bidding as submissively as sheep led to 
 the slaughter. Able are they in manipulating 
 the machinery of an election, and in adjusting 
 policies to their wishes. And really it takes 
 some intellectual vigor to be a political boss, a 
 certain grasp of details, and force of will and 
 executive talent, which, if employed righteously, 
 would make of the political boss a most respect- 
 able citizen. Nobody denies ability to his 
 Satanic Majesty. But it is of genuine ability 
 —the ability of character and brains I am now 
 thinking. Have we not had about enough of 
 the machine politician? George William Cur- 
 tis says : 
 
 "Could Gladstone have so swayed England 
 
 Public Men and Morals. (50
 
 with his fervent eloquence, as the moon the 
 tides, had he been a gambling, swearing, boozing 
 'Squire, like "Walpole? There is no sophistry 
 more poisonous to the State, no folly more stu- 
 pendous and demoralizing than the notion that 
 the purest character and the highest education 
 are incompatible with the most commanding 
 mastery of men and the most efficient adminis- 
 tration of affairs." In every other realm than 
 politics, it is admitted that ability is the condi- 
 tion of success. "VVe insist that the engineer 
 should be no novice, for life is at stake; that the 
 physician shall not be a quack for the same rea- 
 son. Let us demand that our public men shall 
 be men of ability, for the life of a government 
 is at stake. In God's name, let us not continue 
 to turn over the management of serious affairs 
 of government to ward politicians, who can 
 swear and drink and swagger and bulldoze, but 
 who imagine nothing higher than that America 
 was discovered to keep them in a job. 
 
 Former Secretary Olney, in an address on 
 the "Scholar in Politics," has this to say: 
 
 "In respect to the true worth and dignity 
 of politics, the educated class, if they have not 
 shared, have at least given countenance to the 
 most pernicious error in popular speech and 
 popular thought. The pursuit of politics as a 
 profession, instead of being an adoption of the 
 most ennobling of vocations, is hardly respecta- 
 ble. * * This degrading view of politics the edu- 
 cated class is responsible for, because it studi- 
 ously stands aloof from politics and persistently 
 neglects to prepare a suitable quota of its mem- 
 
 (>l Public Men and Morals.
 
 bers for the discharge of political duties." And 
 where educated men hesitate to enter, rascals 
 do not fear to tread. I see no salvation from 
 the rule of the boss and the machine until our 
 men of ability— men who have studied public 
 questions— shall forego a life of ease and ele- 
 gance, and for love of country, enter the less 
 pleasing, but more important arena of politics. 
 The crying need of politics to-day is men of abil- 
 ity — men in whose leadership we have confi- 
 dence, whose names are synonymous with intel- 
 lectual force, and whose primacy will not be 
 questioned by their followers. It is worth while 
 to give up a lucrative position for the sake of 
 country. What are our colleges and universi- 
 ties doing for the politics of our State? Shall 
 every other profession have its ornaments and 
 the science of government be degraded into a 
 source of revenue only? 
 
 Men who "fear God" is the third mention- 
 ed qualification, although fundamental and pri- 
 mary. Rugged Thomas Carlyle, in the midst 
 of his despair says: "A very great work, 
 surely, is going on in these days— no less a work 
 than that of restoring God and whatever was 
 God-like in the traditions and recorded doings 
 of mankind. The essential and still awful and 
 ever-blessed fact of all that was meant by 'God 
 and the God-like' to men's souls is again strug- 
 gling to become clearly revealed, will extricate 
 itself from what some of us, too irreverently in 
 our importance, call 'Hebrew old clothes,' and 
 will again bless the nations and heal them from 
 their baseness and unendurable woes and wan- 
 
 Public Men and Morals. 02
 
 derings in the company of madness." What is 
 it to fear God? It is to reverence that which 
 God is— truth, holiness, love. Wanting this 
 reverence, we shall reverence no other authori- 
 ty. Our public men must have some other use 
 for the name of God than to point an oath or 
 adorn a joke. It matters little whether the 
 name of God be found in our Constitution ; it 
 is of infinite importance that the authority of 
 God be recognized in our government. I do not 
 insist that our officials shall represent any 
 church or any creed— but only that their work 
 shall be done as under the "great Taskmas- 
 ter's" eye. Pitiable, indeed, was the state of 
 France, when an author could say: "France 
 believed neither in the ancient God, who had 
 been despoiled, nor in the new God, who had just 
 been proclaimed ; the Eternal Father was too 
 old, and the Supreme Being was too young." 
 Anarchy and atheism go hand in hand. 
 
 Nor will it do to say that the same standard 
 by which we measure the private citizen should 
 not be applied to the public officer. His high 
 position increases his responsibility. Is moral- 
 ity applicable only to the humble and unno- 
 ticed? Shall greatness be exempt from its re- 
 quirements? Shall we look for it in ordinary, 
 unpoetical lives — and judge genius by some dif- 
 ferent standard? Is there any favoritism in 
 the realm of right? James G. Holland says: 
 'To all those whose education in the truth has 
 been limited, whose circumstances of life have 
 been adverse to the development of purity, who 
 are weak and ignoranl and low in instinct and 
 
 63 Public Men and Morals.
 
 aspiration, I would extend a charity that pities 
 while it blames and considers while it con- 
 demns. But to sin in high places, among men 
 and women who are crowned kings and queens 
 in the realm of intellect — those whose brows have 
 been lifted into God's own light and whose 
 tongues and pens reveal something of the divini- 
 ty which struggles to enthrone itself in them— no 
 excuses, no palliations, no patronage. ' ' To canon- 
 ize vicious greatness is to undermine the founda- 
 tions of God's throne. The man who does not 
 reverence God reverences not himself or his 
 brother man, both of whom are made in the im- 
 age of God and he is therefore a menace to any 
 community. 
 
 Fok rili. Our public men must be "men of 
 truth." The man of truth is one whose nature 
 is true, and who, therefore, speaks the truth 
 and lives the truth. A true organ is an instru- 
 ment that gives forth no false note. Its nature 
 is sound. The true man does not lie— not be- 
 cause it is forbidden, but because his nature is 
 in accord with the divine law. God give us 
 "men of truth," whose plighted word is as good 
 as any bond and to whom all falseness, trickery 
 and corruption are abominations. These words, 
 spoken recently by a distinguished political 
 leader, are worthy of everlasting remembrance : 
 ' ' I believe we should go back to those days when 
 men were measured by their integrity, by their 
 fidelity and not by the standard of wealth. A 
 good name is rather to be chosen than great 
 riches. And I would that that quotation from 
 Solomon might find a lodgment in the heart of 
 
 Public Men and Morals. (54
 
 every man elected to a public office, so that no 
 matter what temptation came, no matter what ad- 
 vantage might be offered to him as a reward for 
 departure from the path of duty, he would re- 
 member that nothing that could be bestowed by 
 an interested party would be equal to the reward 
 that he would find in the consciousness of having 
 ".'ell performed his duty." Let a man be ambi- 
 tious, if only his ambition shall not lead him to 
 be false. "Climb, but with honor." is a motto 
 which our public men might adopt with advan- 
 tage to themselves. The "man of truth" is 
 greater than any Croesus who has builded his 
 fortune dishonestly. Can you think of one 
 higher than the "Man of Nazareth"? His 
 proudest distinction was this— "I am the truth." 
 
 'Be true to yourself and it will follow as the 
 night the day. thou canst not be false to any 
 man." 
 
 Finally, "men hating unjust gain" is an 
 indispensable qualification. Greed of gold is 
 our curse. It penetrates with its poison our 
 whole civilization. And so it has come to pass 
 that public office is sought as a source of reve- 
 nue only. The average politician wants office, 
 not as a public trust, but as a "private snap." 
 The office is used not for the benefit of the peo- 
 ple, but for the benefil of the holder. The office 
 of Publican anions the Jews was a position 
 
 'farmed out." so that the Publican, in order to 
 reimburse himself, robbed the people. Is not 
 something akin to that the state of affairs in our 
 own country? Men spend so much money in 
 getting the office thai they use the office to their 
 
 »')■") Public Men and Morals.
 
 own advantage and profit. Has public office no 
 higher meaning than to make it pay some pov- 
 erty-stricken individual? "Public office is a 
 public trust" is a catch phrase until we have 
 some high examples of its meaning in public 
 life. Office is opportunity— opportunity open- 
 ed to do something that shall be helpful to hu- 
 manity. It is an open door of service. It is an 
 honor which demands the sacred discharge of 
 its duties and responsibilities. "Noblesse obligi . " 
 
 Public Men and Morals. HH
 
 The Ministry of Warnings* 
 
 An address delivered after the assassination of a prom- 
 inent politician when the reputation of the State was dis- 
 honored by a foul crime. 
 
 It has been said: "To the warning word no 
 man has respect, only to the flattering and prom- 
 ising is his attention directed." None the less 
 true and divine is the ministry of warnings. 
 " hey are the uplifted hand of God to stay the 
 mad march of humanity: they are the divine 
 signals of danger— the red light of heaven giv- 
 ing notice of peril ahead; they are angels of 
 mercy with the message "beware" on their lips. 
 
 Every pain warns us against disease; every 
 disorder warns us against its cause; every 
 wrecked life wains us against sin. We live in 
 a world of warnings, each one of which pro- 
 claims the protecting love of that heavenly 
 
 her who is not willing that any man or na- 
 tion should perish, and. therefore, sends the 
 warning before the woe. the flash before the 
 fall. "Earth has scarcely an acre that does not 
 remind us of actions that have long preceded 
 our own. and its clustering tombstones loom up 
 like reefs of the eternal shore to show us where 
 so many human barks have struck and gone 
 down." 
 
 Tin- ministry of warnings is one of the ways 
 in which God shows himself to be still living 
 and interested in the welfare of His children. 
 In every warning Me is s^yin^ to us: "I am 
 watching for you. Here is danger: avoid it. 
 There is a yawning chasm; halt. There are 
 
 67 Ministry of Warni
 
 bleached and whitened bones all along- the way 
 upon which you are about to enter: beware. 
 There is death in the cup ; do not put it to your 
 lips." Blessed is the man who hears this voice 
 and gives heed to its message. For him, it is yet 
 time to save the day, to turn threatened defeat 
 into triumphant victory. 
 
 In my address to-night I shall speak of the 
 ministry of warnings in its bearing upon the 
 State we love, and in whose soil we hope some 
 day peacefully to rest. 
 
 It seems to me that our present political con- 
 dition, and the causes which have brought it 
 about, constitute a warning against unrighteous 
 leadership, unrighteous partisanship, unright- 
 eous methods and unrighteous indifference on 
 the part of Christian citizens; a warning, I say, 
 as conspicuous and clear as even the articulate 
 voice of God himself could have made it. The 
 happenings of the past few weeks as imperative- 
 ly call upon us to halt in the path we are tread- 
 ing as if some trumpet-tongued angel of heaven 
 had issued the order. We have seen, as never 
 before, the outworking of party passion ; we 
 have seen to what desperate measures greed of 
 office will drive men; we have seen the results 
 of corrupt political methods written in blood; 
 Ave have seen a State government severed in 
 twain before our very eyes ; we have read in the 
 press of the country the story of our disgrace 
 and humiliation; we have been put upon so 
 lofty a pinnacle of shame that we have been 
 unable to escape the gaze of our remotest neigh- 
 
 TUinistry of Warnings. 68
 
 bors — surely this bitter experience is a warning 
 against further political transgression. 
 
 News therefore, be wise, O ye kings : 
 
 Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 
 
 Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling; 
 
 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way, 
 
 For His wrath will soon be kindled. 
 
 1. It is the ministry of these warnings to 
 eall us back to God, for all our trouble lias 
 sprung from our forgetfulness of God. In the 
 abuse of the ballot, in the resort to trickery and 
 intimidation, in the attempt to bribe, in the crim- 
 ination and recrimination of our journalists, 
 in the ruthless trampling under foot of or- 
 der and decency — in these and other par- 
 ticulars we have been dishonoring God, for eve- 
 ry transgression and disobedience of the State 
 is open rebellion against the divine govern- 
 ment. The Psalmist recognizes this truth when 
 he represents the wickedness of nations as an at- 
 tempt to cast off the authority of God. "The 
 kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers 
 take counsel together against the Lord and 
 against His anointed, saying, Let us break their 
 bands asunder and cast away their cords from 
 us." Every such effort brings its consequences 
 of disaster and grief. "He that sitteth in the 
 heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them 
 in derision. Then shall He speak unto them 
 in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeas- 
 ure.'" Who can adequately express the awful 
 meaning involved in the simple phrase— "for- 
 getting God"? As says another. "God forgot- 
 ten is God ignored; God ignored is God doubt- 
 
 gg Ministry of Warnings.
 
 ed;.God doubted is God denied; God denied is 
 sooner or later God detested." Let us be warn- 
 ed in time. 
 
 Let us come back to simple faith in honesty, 
 purity and justice. We have tasted some of the 
 fruits of political wrong-doing ; let us now ' ' turn 
 unto the Lord, who will have mercy, and unto 
 our God, who will abundantly pardon." There 
 is heart-rending tragedy in the slow and grad- 
 ual withdrawal of God from a people who by 
 their wickedness have declared "We will not 
 have the Lord to reign over us." Canon Farrar 
 describes the Jewish conception of this widen- 
 ing breach. "God had spoken to them (the 
 Jews said) face to face, as to Adam in Para- 
 dise; then only by the Urim; then only by 
 dreams; then only by prophets; then only by 
 the vague uncertainties of the daughter of a 
 voice, which was but to the few an intelligible 
 utterance, to the many but an articulate roll- 
 ing of the distant thunder peal." 0! my 
 friends, it is possible by our continuance in 
 wickedness to make the clear voice of God to us 
 an awful silence or only the "far-off roll of the 
 retreating thunder." And the last condition 
 is that of blank, horrible materialism in which 
 man is no better than the brute which perish- 
 eth. 
 
 2. We have been warned not only by the 
 actual occurrences of recent days, but as Avell 
 through an aroused political conscience. The 
 very shame we have been able to feel is a warn- 
 ing against further transgression, for every new 
 offense means less susceptibility to the beauty 
 
 Ministry of Warnings. 70
 
 of truth and the binding force of righteousness. 
 It is not yet too late to recover our self-respect, 
 for we can still blush for our sins, we can still 
 feel the sting of conscience, we can still recog- 
 nize the awful disparity between that which is 
 and that which ought to be. Thank God, we 
 have not become so bad as to be content in our 
 badness. Not yet have we become wholly im- 
 pervious to the demands of decency and justice. 
 This very prodding of conscience is a warn- 
 ing against continuance in our evil ways. The 
 danger consists in the death of conscience. 
 "'When there is any hope for a wound it contin- 
 ues to give pain, but when it has mortified, the 
 pain ceases." Even so ceases the throb of a 
 conscience which is sleeping and dead. "For," 
 in the strong language of a modern writer, 
 "'either its voice grows fainter and fainter as the 
 voice of temptation grows louder and louder 
 or becoming hateful by its reiterated condem- 
 nation, it so inflames the sinner's anger that he 
 deliberately silence-s, chokes and murders it. And 
 then lie is let alone. His conscience will cease 
 to torment him. and then he may go on for years 
 and years, filling to the brim the cup of his ini- 
 quity: for years and years he may be dishonest, 
 a drunkard, an adulterer, a blasphemer and 
 never once boar again the voice be lias stifled. 
 Nay more, he may. such is the mystery of ini- 
 quity and because it is < tod 's decree that the more 
 we know of sin. tbe less we feel its real nature. 
 he may actually substitute for conscience an- 
 other voice; ;i voice not true, but lying: a voice 
 thai palliates, that excuses, that encourages, that 
 
 7] Ministry of Warnings.
 
 whispers continually, 'Peace, peace,' when there 
 is no peace. And this is the most perilous of all. 
 It comes to all in proportion to their guiltiness, 
 in proportion to their insincerity." The history 
 of the individual is the history of the State and 
 nation. May God save us from a seared con- 
 science ! Let any punishment befall rather than 
 that, for with the death of conscience, all hope 
 dies, and the mourners may well go about the 
 streets. What is physical death in comparison? 
 Truly the king is dead, when such an awful 
 catastrophe becomes history. 
 
 3. The warnings of God, let us remember, 
 are not generally attended with noises and 
 voices. Their tread is not heard. They give 
 forth no thunder to announce their presence. 
 Of the warning given to Jerusalem to which we 
 have referred, we read— "there, before the 
 Savior's gaze of tears, lay a city, splendid appa- 
 rently—and in peace, and destined to enjoy an- 
 other half century of existence. And the day 
 was a common day: the hour a common hour; 
 no thunder was throbbing in the blue, uncloud- 
 ed sky; no deep voices of departing deities were 
 rolling through the golden doors, and yet- 
 soundless to mortal ears in the nnrippled air of 
 eternity— the knell of her destiny had begun 
 to toll, and in the voiceless dialect of heaven, 
 the fiat of her doom had been pronounced, and 
 in that realm which knoweth and needeth not 
 any light save the light of God, the sun of her 
 moral existence had gone down while it yet 
 was day." And so our warning — the. warning 
 to our State — has not come to us with supernat- 
 
 Jvinistry of Warnings. 72
 
 lira! manifestations, but rather in the nature 
 of intimations and tendencies. 
 
 The single thread of flame gives warning 
 that the house will be destroyed; that slight 
 flame is the beginning of a mighty conflagra- 
 tion : and so recent happenings are tendencies to 
 warn us against inevitable ruin unless these 
 tendencies are checked. "A physical accident, 
 a criminal ambition, a misinterpreted dispatch, 
 the changing of a word, the stumbling of a 
 horse, have influenced the fortune of nations." 
 An assassin's bullet is enough to startle us from 
 our lethargy. It is the outcome of a political 
 and moral condition which may well give us 
 pause. It is a symptom, but a symptom which 
 proclaims a dangerous disease. We dare not 
 look upon it as insignificant when our indiffer- 
 ence to its meaning or our heed of its message 
 may change the whole current of our political 
 history for better or worse. 
 
 Further, our very privileges are our warn- 
 ings. When one stands upon a lofty eminence, 
 he must needs beware lest he stumble and fall. 
 High places are dangerous places. This is the 
 lesson of Capernaum. "And thou, Capernaum, 
 shalt thou be exalted unto heaven ? Thou shalt 
 go down unto hades: for if the mighty works 
 had been done in Sodmn which were done in 
 thee, it would have remained until this day." 
 
 O. thou who art lifted high on the pinnacle 
 of privilege, understand thy duties and respon- 
 sibilities, else thou shalt he cast down into sharae 
 and defeat. He who wears a crown must meet 
 the demands of thai crown, or it should be 
 
 73 Ministry of Warnings.
 
 snatched from his brow. He who wears the pur- 
 ple of royalty must show himself worthy of the 
 royal household, or expulsion will be his just 
 doom. To know one's privileges, to recognize 
 the duties thereby imposed, to walk worthy of 
 one's high vocation— this is to preserve his hon- 
 ors untarnished, to maintain his eminence with- 
 out molestation. 
 
 But alas ! our very exaltation too often be- 
 comes the agent of our overthrow. Our prosper- 
 ity proves our curse. Think of Jerusalem— "if 
 thou hadst known, even thou, at least, in this 
 thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, 
 but now they are hid from thine eyes." What 
 a high place was that upon which Jerusalem was 
 planted, seemingly forever ! But she knew not 
 the meaning of "noblesse oblige" — high posi- 
 tion demands service. And so the great Patriot 
 sobs over her coming doom. 
 
 'It was as when a traveler stands on some 
 great misty mountain top — longing to gaze on 
 the magnificent expanse of city, and plain, and 
 river, and the rippling sea — and for one mo- 
 ment, through one great rent of the enshrouding 
 mist, he looks on a fairy vision, bathed in sun- 
 light and overarched with iris — but almost be- 
 fore he has seen it, the rent in the mist is closed 
 once more and ragged and gray the clouds roll 
 up, and he is alone, and miserable, and chilled 
 and disenchanted. Even so was it with that 
 momentary glimpse of the possible Jerusalem; 
 it was. also, but a vanishing 'might have been.' " 
 She refused to be warned by her opportunities 
 and privileges. 
 
 Ministry of Warnings. 74
 
 And is not Kentucky exalted unto heaven 
 in the wealth of her opportunities, in her splen- 
 did position among the States of this Union? 
 Is there a more favored country in the world ? 
 
 What a splendid history is her heritage! 
 Churches, schools, libraries and all the facilities 
 of culture are hers. Nothing is wanting to 
 give her the leading place in the future history 
 of our republic. Immortal names and deeds are 
 ever before her as inspiration to high endeavor. 
 In the language of one of Kentucky's poets: 
 
 Hail to the Queen, the fairest and the best 
 That ever yet has reigned in this wide West, 
 That from her royal mother's mountain bound, 
 Came through, to grace and glorify the ground. 
 Hail to the Queen ! who on this frowning wild, 
 Looked with her sun-lit eyes until it smiled ; 
 Who, in the darkness of a land unknown, 
 Built up the golden splendor of her throne. 
 God save the Queen ; who shows her right to reign, 
 By royal flow of blood and strength of brain ; 
 Who rules and leads and keeps her forward way 
 Toward the endless light of endless day. 
 
 But like Jerusalem, she must know "the 
 things which belong unto her peace" -she must 
 be worthy of her crown— else her golden throne 
 will be "no more durable barrier against the 
 encroachments of misery than are a babe's sand 
 heaps to stay the mighty march of the Atlantic 
 tide." Ths actual Kentucky of to-day reminds 
 us of a Queen who has forgotten her right to 
 reign, and lias cast aside her crown as a worth- 
 less bauble. We have forgotten that the price 
 of true enthronement is the worship of the High- 
 est, the reverence of truth and righteousness. 
 
 --, Ministry of Warnings.
 
 Our pre-eminence otherwise is only a pageant 
 with no enduring foundation. 
 
 Let us be warned by the history of States 
 and Nations who have mistaken prominence for 
 real power. Listen to the thundering roll of 
 prophetic doom concerning Jerusalem, beauti- 
 ful for situation" and once "the joy of the 
 whole earth." "How art thou fallen from 
 heaven, day star, son of the morning ! how 
 art thou cut down to the ground, which didst 
 lay low the nations. And thou saidst in thine 
 heart: I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt 
 my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit 
 upon the mount of congregation, in the utter- 
 most parts of the world. I will ascend above the 
 heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most 
 High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, 
 to the uttermost parts of the pit." Our salva- 
 tion is in giving heed to the warning voices of 
 history. Capernaum and Jerusalem say to us : 
 "Beware of high privilege that forgets duty. 
 It is but a mockery and delusion." France's 
 reign of terror says to us: "Beware of great- 
 ness that has not its foundation in goodness." 
 
 Rome says to us— the once crowned mistress 
 of the world— "beware of power that forgets 
 the All-Powerful." Greece says to us: "Be- 
 ware of intellect without holiness, beauty with- 
 out purity, eloquence without conscience, art 
 without religion, insight without love. They are 
 but blossoms whose root and life are in the cor- 
 ruption of the grave." May God save Ken- 
 tucky from the doom of those States and na- 
 tions who knew not their "day of grace"— and 
 
 Ministry of Warnings. 76
 
 who. failing to meet the demands of their lofty 
 privileges fall into the abysmal depths which 
 they themselves had prepared. Kentucky can 
 never be the same again. 
 
 And then cometh a mist and a weeping rain, 
 And life is never the same again. 
 
 She must be better or worse. God has called 
 upon her to halt and consider. She has been 
 summoned by the ministry of warnings to re- 
 member her dignity and her duty. She must 
 lay aside her sack cloth and ashes to put on the 
 royal purple or resign herself to the domination 
 of those evil forces and principles which must 
 prove her moral ruin. Let us pray that a re- 
 generated Kentucky shall come forth from this 
 baptism of shame and sin. Shall not our calva- 
 ry be made our throne even as was true of Him 
 who rules us from his cross? Our smiting may 
 yet prove our healing. 
 
 m 
 
 
 -- Ministry of Warnings.
 
 The Imperialism of the Gospel 
 
 An address delivered during the political campaign of 
 1900, when the battle-cry of one party was: '•Imperialism 
 
 the paramount issue." 
 
 The whole fabric of Christianity rests on the 
 monarchy of Jesus Christ. His authority is 
 sacred and supreme. His crown fits no other 
 brow, nor can His sceptre be swayed by another 
 hand. He exacts unquestioning obedience. If 
 we fail, it is for His grace, and not our merit, 
 to make good the deficiency. He accepts no di- 
 vided allegiance; therefore, unconditional sur- 
 render is the proof of our loyalty. 
 
 His rule is as impartial as the shining of the 
 sun; hence there is no favoritism in His king- 
 dom. In His church no officer exercises authori- 
 ty save in His name; no ordinance exists save 
 by His appointment; no terms of fellowship 
 are permissible save with His approval. His 
 sway is autocratic, absolute, imperial. There is 
 no title indicative of authority, from which has 
 been eliminated injustice, cruelty and wicked- 
 ness, which may not be applied in sober truth 
 to the author of Christianity. 
 
 The claims of Pontiff, King, Emperor, Sov- 
 ereign, are insignificant in the presence of an 
 authority which, although supreme, has brought 
 only happiness, peace and blessing to all who 
 have yielded to its sway. In the words, acts 
 trial and death of Jesus, we behold everywhere 
 and always this imperial dignity and power; 
 and Mis very cross lias become the throne from 
 
 -i, Imperialism of the Gospel.
 
 which shine forth undimmed the majesty and 
 splendor of His dominion. 
 
 We are to consider to-night, first, the extent 
 and character of our Lord's empire. It is not 
 within the purpose of this address to discuss the 
 reign of Christ over worlds of which we know 
 not, and over beings whose presence is invisible. 
 We will not explore the meaning of that won- 
 derful declaration which comes like the mighty 
 music of the ocean, from depths which have 
 never been fathomed— that declaration which 
 reads: 'For by Him were all things created 
 that are in Heaven and that are in earth, visi- 
 ble and invisible, whether they be thrones or 
 dominions, or principalities, or powers: All 
 things were created by Him, and for Him. And 
 He is before all things, and by Him all things 
 consist," We are concerned now to know the 
 character and extent of His earthly empire. 
 
 He claims dominion over all men, and over 
 all things with which humanity has to do. A 
 marked characteristic of the religion of Jesus is 
 its universality. "Go into all the world"— this 
 is the commission which the church has received 
 from her Lord. The earthly boundaries of this 
 empire of the Christ are defined by the world of 
 mankind— the domain of thp human race. 
 His sceptre is co-extensive with man's pres- 
 ence on the globe. "Ask of me and I will 
 give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and 
 the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses- 
 sion." The program of Christianity is interna- 
 tional, intercontinental, and all-inclusive in its 
 tremendous sweep and purpose. 
 
 Imperialism <</' the Gospel. NQ
 
 But not only does Christ claim the right to 
 rule over all men, but over all things with which 
 man has to do — laws, customs, institutions, gov- 
 ernments, business and every pursuit and activ- 
 ity of life. How else can Jesus reign over men ? 
 His rule within the heart of man must necessa- 
 rily manifest itself in every piece and part of 
 man's environment. He can not govern the in- 
 ner life apart from the outer any more than one 
 can influence the will apart from its acts. The 
 whole frame-work of society is, therefore, in- 
 volved in the imperial program of Jesus Christ. 
 Dr. Briggs says: "Poverty, vice and crime are 
 inconsistent with Christianity. Christianity 
 has undertaken to remove them from the world. 
 Christianity is inconsistent with the present so- 
 cial condition of the great cities of the world. 
 The Bible, through and through, insists upon 
 the redemption of the bodies of men, as well as 
 their souls, and of the whole framework of hu- 
 man society." And so the regency of Christ 
 contemplates the bringing of our homes, our 
 politics, our trades— all the means, agencies and 
 things with which we are connected— under the 
 sway of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Further, this empire of Christ means the 
 rule of Christ over the individual, as contra-dis- 
 tinguished from a sort of general superintend- 
 ence and control. The imperialism of Christ 
 not only contemplates the domination of all men 
 and all things, but it seeks this control by domi- 
 nating each man and the interests of each indi- 
 vidual life. All through the ages humanity lias 
 been influenced through the individual. The 
 
 81 Imperialism of the Gospel.
 
 history of Israel is the history of individual 
 leaders— Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah. 
 The history of Christianity is but the record of 
 individual history— that of Peter, James, John, 
 Paul. "The kingdom advances by individual 
 conversions; it stands in individual consecra- 
 tion. Yesterday the kingdom was one man ; now 
 it is a group." Presently the State, the nation, 
 the world, will be its territory. 
 
 The imperialism of the Gospel would make 
 its dominating spirit still more exhaustive and 
 complete by bringing all of the individual man 
 —body, soul and spirit— under the mastery and 
 authority of Jesus Christ,— "casting down im- 
 agination and every high thing that exalteth it- 
 self against the knowledge of God, and bringing 
 into captivity every thought to the obedience of 
 Christ." No part of the individual heart and 
 soul can be left to its own government. Every 
 thought, aspiration, feeling, must be brought 
 into captivity to the will of Christ. 
 
 All men and all things, each individual man 
 and his particular interests, and all of each man 
 —this is the extent of the territory covered by 
 the imperialism of the Gospel. 
 
 You will observe that the imperalism of the 
 Gospel concerns itself with minds and hearts, 
 and all the affairs and interests with which minds 
 and hearts are associated. It is not the acqui- 
 sition of territory for the sake of territory. It 
 knows nothing of conquest for the sake of ma- 
 terial gain. It is the conquest of hearts, and 
 the projection of the new spirit which comes 
 
 Imperialism of the Gospel. S2
 
 from this conquest into the management and 
 control of all material things and concerns. 
 
 Hence there can be no force in extending the 
 imperialistic sway of the gospel. Krupp guns 
 can kill bodies; they cannot affect souls. You 
 cannot shoot the gospel into an individual or a 
 people. It must enter human lives as music, as 
 sunshine, as the breath of flowers. Material 
 force can level cities or desolate a populous 
 country; it cannot make one life more subject 
 to the mind of the Master. 
 
 Always, and necessarily, in the extension of 
 Christ's kingdom, there must be the consent of 
 the governed. He will not enter until admitted. 
 He will not accept grudging hospitality. His 
 message is, "If any man will open the door of 
 his heart I Avill come in and sup with him." If 
 there be not the consent of the governed then 
 the governor becomes an arbitrary sovereign. 
 Jesus will have no sway that does not come with 
 the soul's full consent and permission. 
 
 The price our Lord pays for sovereignty is 
 the sacrifice of Himself for the benefit of those 
 over whom He seeks to rule. Christianity does 
 not countenance the sacrifice of human life for 
 the sake of material gain. In the light of our 
 Lord's example, it approves and honors the 
 sacrifice of life for the uplifting of those whose 
 condition makes necessary the sacrifice. It is 
 Christ-like for men to die that Cuba may be 
 free; it is commercial cruelty to sacrifice one life 
 for all 1 lie dollars of the world. Jesus pays the 
 price of His own blood, that He may reign over 
 men's hearts and lives for their own good, and 
 
 v :i Imperialism of the Gospel.
 
 with their consent. If this be our aim in deal- 
 ing with our new national charges we prove our- 
 selves a Christian nation; otherwise we are but 
 "robber barons" who have thrown off the yoke 
 of divine authority. 
 
 Let us next consider the basis of this sover- 
 eignty claimed by Jesus Christ. He will not 
 wear the purple without justifying its assump- 
 tion. He will not occupy the throne without 
 making good his right. He will not be consid- 
 ered either a usurper or pretender. What then 
 are the grounds on which He rests His primacy? 
 
 His testimony to the truth: "To this end I 
 was born and for this purpose came I into the 
 world, that I might bear witness to the truth." 
 The truth-bringer always speaks with author- 
 ity. Truth is its own justification. There is no 
 power higher than itself, and hence no source 
 from which it can receive a commission. Jesus 
 claimed to speak the truth, and to live the truth, 
 and, therefore, claimed sovereignty over human 
 life to the extent that this claim was vindicated. 
 There is no escape from the power and authority 
 of truth except in submission. You may kill 
 the man who brings the message, but truth will 
 stand unharmed, as it says: "I am your mas- 
 ter, and me you cannot overthrow. ' ' 
 
 The claim of Jesus to be King by virtue of 
 His testimony to the truth, was and is supported 
 by the confirmation of the human soul. We are 
 so constituted that we can but recognize the truth 
 when we hear it. It may anger us ; it may arouse 
 our violence; it may lead us to crucify the truth- 
 bearer— but all this is but proof that the soul has 
 
 Imperialism of the Gospel. 84
 
 recognized the truth which has been spoken, al- 
 though rejecting the truth's rightful supremacy. 
 
 This is the power of the reformer— the re- 
 cognition on the part of the souls of men, of the 
 truth he brings. He may be killed, but the very 
 act is proof of the power of the truth over his 
 murderers. "Jesus and His disciples were out- 
 lawed. John the Baptist who prepared their 
 way was beheaded in the interests of official 
 peace. Paul, that daring spiritual adventurer, 
 was loosed from prison, to be led to his execu- 
 tion. St. Francis died of a broken heart, Sa- 
 vonarola was both hung and burned after fear- 
 ful agonies of torture. The Protestant reform- 
 ers were the hunted and hated heretics of their 
 day. AVesley, Edwards and Finney were driven 
 from their churches. Mazzini and his friends 
 were vagabonds on the face of the earth." What 
 does all this mean, but that the truth was recog- 
 nized, and its right to supremacy was sought to 
 be challenged by the persecution and death of 
 its advocates? Jesus virtually said: "My 
 imperialism is that of truth. You know it to be 
 the truth. You may kill me, but that is only an 
 admission of my mastery." 
 
 Furthermore, our Lord's sovereignty is bas- 
 ed on His self-sacrificing service. He claims 
 over the lives of men the authority of love : ' ' He 
 who would be chief among you; let him be ser- 
 vant of all." The chieftaincy of the Christ rests 
 • Hi tins ground — the most unselfish ministry of 
 which the world knows, reaching its sublime 
 consummation in His (hath on the cross. Do 
 
 v.", Imp. ri'ilism of the Gospel.
 
 you ask by what right He wears the crown? His 
 answer is: "Behold the print of the nails in 
 my hands, and the scars made by the thorn- 
 crown on my brow. ' ' Herein is found the secret 
 of the imperial sway of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Some one said to Richelieu: "I could estab- 
 lish as good a religion as Jesus Christ, if I could 
 only get a start in the work. How shall I get a 
 start?" "I will advise you," said Richelieu, 
 "to become such a reformer, such a leader of 
 the race, in truth, that the race will crucify you 
 inside of three years — and then show such di- 
 vine power as to rise from the grave in three 
 days." It is He with the "dyed garments," 
 who comes to humanity, "glorious in His ap- 
 parel, traveling in the greatness of His 
 strength." Suffering love is the basis of our 
 Lord's supremacy, for this suffering love is but 
 the full flower of His divine character. 
 
 It may be said, still further, that the imperi- 
 alism of Christ rests upon necessity. The highest 
 in the nature of the case must rule. In all other 
 kingships, lordships, we find limitations. In 
 the Christ alone we find ability adequate to 
 achieve all that His sovereignty represents. All 
 human authority is a broken reed. It can go so 
 far, and then fails. The authority of Christ ex- 
 tends over all life, and all those interests which 
 concern our happiness in both time and eter- 
 nity. 
 
 What an empire is that of the Christ ! It 
 has no geographical boundaries. It is like the 
 Gulf stream, of which it has been said: "The 
 grandest river in the world has no banks ; it 
 
 Imperialism of the Gospel. X(i
 
 rises in the Gulf of Mexico ; it sweeps up through 
 the Atlantic Ocean along our coast; it crosses 
 the Atlantic, and spreads out in great, broad, 
 fan-like form along the coast of Europe; and 
 whatever land it kisses, blooms and blossoms 
 with the fruit of its love. ' ' 
 
 Wherever it is welcome, this empire makes 
 its way. It will not establish its throne upon 
 any hostile soil; overcoming, first, hostility with 
 love. It relies on the character and truth of its 
 founder for its victories— that character and 
 truth reproduced in the life of its subjects, and 
 proclaimed as an evangel to all the world. 
 "The mile-stones of its onward march down the 
 ages have not been monuments of material pow- 
 er, but the blackened stakes of martyrs, trophies 
 of individual fidelity to conviction." 
 
 It pauses not in its aggressive movement- 
 one province of wrong conquered, its pioneers 
 are already in the heart of another— and yet 
 there is heard no tramp of armed men, or thun- 
 der of artillery. Upon those who refuse its sway, 
 no penalty is inflicted other than that which the 
 mind must pay when it refuses knowledge, or 
 the heart when it refuses love, or the flower 
 when it refuses the kisses of the sun. Although 
 the subjects of this empire have never seen the 
 face of their Emperor, they feel His presence; 
 they hear in the quiet sanctuary of the soul the 
 music of His voice ; they respond to His com- 
 tnands as soldiers to the blast of bugle, or the 
 roll of drum ; they are sustained by His spirit, 
 and count it joy to die in His service. 
 
 87 Imperialism of the Gospel.
 
 To tell of the conquering progress of this 
 Empire, would be to recite the most glorious 
 pages in the history of eighteen centuries. These 
 pages are more thrilling than romance, more in- 
 spiring than the inventions and discoveries of 
 material science. The imperial Christ, as He 
 moves across the ages, lays under tribute for the 
 accomplishment of His mighty purpose, all 
 thrones, all forms of government, all sovereigns 
 and sovereignties. Monarchy and Republic are 
 alike but the agents of that imperial will to 
 which at last— however distant the day — "every 
 knee shall bow." 
 
 In the flag of this empire, I behold every 
 color which represents love, liberty and frater- 
 nity; every hue which tells of the fulfilment of 
 true human longings and ideals in all the past 
 history of mankind; every figure and emblem 
 which may speak to man of progress by way of 
 Gethsemanes and Calvaries ; every mark on every 
 standard which has stood for God, duty and 
 noble destiny. It is a composite flag ; all the na- 
 tions shall find their own highest life and ideals 
 written upon its folds— and adopt it as the one, 
 only universal banner of the hosts of righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 Fling out the banner — let it float 
 
 Skyward and seaward, high and wide 
 
 The Sun that lights its shining folds — 
 The cross on which the Savior died. 
 
 Fling out the banner— wide and high, 
 Seaward and skyward, let it shine ; 
 
 Nor skill, nor might, nor merit ours ; 
 We conquer only in that sign. 
 
 Imperialism of the Gospel. 88
 
 Early Ideals of the Republic* 
 
 This address was one of a series of addresses, and later 
 was reduced to the limitations of a newspaper article, and 
 as such, is printed in this book of addresses. 
 
 It is well to call to mind the former days of 
 our nation, lest we forget the eternal and di- 
 vine principles upon which has been builded the 
 fairest and strongest government this world has 
 ever known. Of what were those men thinking 
 who gave to us the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence and the Federal Constitution? What were 
 the hopes and dreams and aspirations of those 
 mighty souls of an elder time? "What is the 
 meaning of Bunker Hill monument, which as 
 in Webster's time, still "meets the sun in his 
 coming," and on whose "summit parting day 
 yet lingers and plays"? It is worth our while 
 in these days of party strife and political wrang- 
 ling to read anew the mighty history of our be- 
 ginnings, that the fires of patriotism may be 
 kindled anew. 
 
 Thinking of the mighty dead, 
 
 The young from slothful couch will start, 
 
 And vow, with lifted hands outspread. 
 Like them, to act a noble part. 
 
 It is within the province of the statesman 
 and political philosopher to discuss the ideals in- 
 volved in the structure of our government— to 
 analyze the Constitution and show forth the hid- 
 den wisdom and strength of this "Magna Char- 
 ta" of our liberties. "Only Ulysses can wield the 
 bow of Ulysses." Mine is the humbler task of 
 
 s;i Early Ideals of the Republic.
 
 pointing yon to familiar ideals, the glory of 
 which we are in clanger of losing, because we 
 have so long been accustomed to their shining 
 faces. 
 
 In reading the literature of the early days 
 of the Republic, especially the Declaration of 
 Independence, the innate dignity of man is a 
 fundamental thought; and indeed, is the expla- 
 nation of our whole system of government. 
 Whatever would bring honor and opportunity 
 to man as man — whatever would develop his 
 God- given possibilities in so far as these powers 
 and possibilities might be affected by govern- 
 ment — that was the goal toward which the Re- 
 public eagerly pressed. It would seem that in 
 the providence of God, America was born to 
 teach the world in the very structure of her gov- 
 ernment — the basic principles upon which it 
 rests — the sacredness of humanity. It remained 
 for America to declare that government exists 
 for the benefit of the governed, not for the benefit 
 of one man called king, but for the benefit of all 
 men — those who are kings by virtue of the 
 anointing of the Almighty in their creation. It 
 has been said with great truth : ■ ' The develop- 
 ment of the modern world is toward all men and 
 not toward one man. To build up the marvels 
 of antiquity the few led, the many followed; 
 the few ruled, the many were driven. The toil- 
 er was not considered. He was a beast of bur- 
 den. He had no voice in affairs. He was built 
 into the walls of cities ; his blood outlined the 
 boundaries of nations; his labor wrought the 
 luxury of kings ; but himself had no civic ex- 
 Early Ideals of the Republic. 90
 
 istence." The Republic on the other hand, 
 -crowns man as man, giving to him the honor, 
 dominion and power which are his by virtue 
 of the nature with which God has endowed him. 
 This, to my mind, is the supreme distinction of 
 America — the enthronement of man. This has 
 given to America the supreme place in the his- 
 tory of nations. 
 
 "We have not improved upon the past to any 
 ■■considerable extent in any other particular of 
 government. "In the stability of her institu- 
 tions, China has not been surpassed ; in the skill 
 of her mechanics, Egypt has not been reached. 
 Modern imagination reconstructs an unparal- 
 leled splendor from the ruins of Assyria. Nine- 
 teen centuries have not added to the grace of the 
 Greek column or to the strength of the Roman 
 arch. Xo proverb has supplanted the patience 
 of Job or the wisdom of Solomon. No poet has 
 plucked from Homer his laurels. No brush has 
 stolen a tint from the fame of Apelles. No 
 chisel has chased a line of loveliness from Phi- 
 dias. Moses and Solon have never been surpass- 
 ed in statesmanship, or Alexander in military 
 science, or Plato in philosophy, or Cicero in elo- 
 quence." But America has done something of 
 which the ancients had never thought, and which 
 no modern nation, other than herself, has fully 
 recognized and honored — she has "proclaimed 
 to mankind the inalienable rights of human 
 nature" and made these rights "the only law- 
 fid foundations of government." She has 
 taught that institutions exist for the benefit of 
 man. not man for the benefit of institutions — 
 
 '.)! Early Ideals of the Republic.
 
 that man, in himself, is greater than his works,, 
 and, therefore, that government, which is his 
 creation, must ever remain his servant. _She 
 has "brought the achievements of the highest 
 clown to the service of the lowest, and thus the 
 impress of value is stamped upon the individual 
 human being." Art, science, literature, govern- 
 ment, religion, all are for the benefit of man 
 and, Avhen made to exist for themselves, can no 
 longer justify their existence. Government for 
 government's sake is as false as art for art's 
 sake. All is for man, and that in order to his 
 highest development as a creature of God made 
 in the divine image. 
 
 In the light of this great truth— the innate- 
 dignity of man— consider the great underlying 
 principles of the Declaration of Independence. 
 There is no grander document in literature. All 
 honor to those brave men who imperilled life 
 and fortune for the sake of humanity and yet 
 who, in signing their names to this paper, wrote 
 them in letters that shall last as long as "time 
 has its cycles or the ocean rolls its waves." Im- 
 mortal words are these: "And for the support 
 of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the 
 protection of divine Providence, we mutually 
 pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes and 
 our sacred honor." 
 
 In the first place, this Declaration is abso- 
 lutely unique in recognizing the inherent and 
 inalienable rights of man— rights with which 
 men have been "endowed by their creator."" 
 The "Magna Charta" demands rights which 
 government can grant ; the Declaration demands 
 
 Early Ideals of the Republic. <!2
 
 the recognition of rights conferred on man in 
 his creation — rights which, therefore, cannot be 
 taken away by government without robbing him 
 of his nature. And it is this truth which makes 
 any tyranny monstrous. To deny office to citizens 
 would not be tyranny, for no man has an in- 
 herent right to an office, but to deny him "life, 
 liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is to in- 
 trench upon the nature with which God has 
 created him. It is to oppose and to seek to over- 
 throw the plain purpose of God concerning man, 
 as that purpose is made evident in the very be- 
 ing and constitution of man. The Declaration 
 virtually says: "We speak in behalf of the nat- 
 ural rights of man. They are from God— not 
 bestowed by any king, and, therefore, not to be 
 interfered with by any government on this earth. 
 We demand that these God-given rights shall be 
 respected, and for their maintenance we are will- 
 ing to sacrifice all our earthly possessions, and 
 our lives, if need be. ' ' Here was a collossal stride 
 in the onward march of humanity. It was a 
 proclamation of man's inherent dignity. 
 
 To guard these rights, to preserve them in- 
 violate, is the purpose of government, or, in the 
 words of the Declaration, "to secure these rights, 
 governments are instituted among men, deriving 
 their just powers from the consent of the gov- 
 erned." This Republic, therefore, was not in- 
 stituted as an office-dispensing society, or for the 
 preservation and perpetuation of one or many 
 political parties; it did not come through a 
 stormy revolution, in order to illustrate the work- 
 ing of a piece of political machinery different in 
 
 (, : ; Early Ideals of the Republic.
 
 structure from any other political machinery 
 of which the world had any knowledge. In- 
 finitely higher and deeper was the aim— viz:, 
 the defense of the citadel of man-soul, the pro- 
 tection of man himself against any government 
 — monarchical, republican, or what not— which; 
 did not recognize the inextinguishable and eter- 
 nal rights of human nature as created by God. 
 
 Second. Another proposition in this Decla- 
 ration is fundamental, and must ever serve as 
 the ideal toward which the Republic must press 
 forward. "All men are created equal." This 
 truth, it seems to me, grows out of the inaliena- 
 ble rights of man. Each man has these rights, and r 
 therefore, in this particular, stands on an equal- 
 ity with every other man. It would be ridiculous 
 to imagine that the framers of this Declaration 
 meant that in capacity, in mental endowments, 
 in intellectual and spiritual equipment, all men 
 are created equal. There never was a time when 
 Shakespeare and the stableboy Avere on a level. 
 God made Shakespeare to soar and sing, and 
 another to plow and dig. But in respect of in- 
 herent rights, every man stands equal before 
 the law. In this realm there must be no favor- 
 itism. Any law that seeks to protect one at the- 
 expense of another, that aims to give opportuni- 
 ties to one for self-advancement not offered unto 
 all, that seeks to provide happiness for a class 
 and not for the- mass, that creates a realm of 
 privilege for a favored few, while excluding 
 therefrom the many, is antagonistic to this great 
 doctrine of equality. 
 
 In this day of vast combinations of capital, 
 
 Early Ideals of the Republic. 94
 
 authorized by law, we need to consider this doe- 
 trine of the fathers— equality before the law. 
 The law must be impartial, giving to every man, 
 so far as its provisions are concerned, equal 
 privileges, equal opportunities, equal respect. 
 It is in the use of these equal provisions that 
 one man, because of his superior endowments, 
 surpasses another, and thus brings about varie- 
 ty of fortune and conditions, but the law itself, 
 like Providence, must send its rain on the just 
 and the unjust, and make its sun to shine on the 
 good and the evil. Some will win through the 
 chance given them under the law ; others will fail, 
 but in no case must the law discriminate in its 
 provisions. All men are recognized as equal. There 
 never was a time when we needed so much to 
 honor this principle, for it is the very heart of 
 a republican form of government, The republic 
 can give us just laws: it is not expected to fur- 
 nish capacity and brains. It can provide equal 
 opportunity; it cannot insure equal success. 
 It honors the inherent rights of man in doing 
 the one; it is impossible to do the other. 
 
 Third. The right of liberty is another ear- 
 ly ideal of the republic. Here again, more must 
 not be put in the word than the nature and pur- 
 pose of government involve and include. There 
 is, too, a liberty which no government can confer, 
 the liberty of righteousness, which comes about 
 through Christ, who sets the soul free from the 
 power and dominion of evil. This liberty must 
 be wrought out by the individual under the 
 guidance of him who said: "Ye shall know the 
 truth, and the truth shall make you free." But 
 
 '.■.") Early Ideals of the RcpuhUc.
 
 the just government will provide that environ- 
 ment of law and political condition which makes 
 it possible for the individual man, without mo- 
 lestation, to develop himself to the highest de- 
 gree. He must have liberty to think, and hence 
 government must permit no censorship or in- 
 quisition. He must have liberty of religion, and 
 hence there can be no discrimination against 
 any religion that shows itself to be a religion 
 within the definition of the term. He must have 
 liberty of person within the limitations of pro- 
 tection to the community and hence, foreign 
 or home oppression must be resented. Liberty, 
 within the scope of the great truth— "the great- 
 est good to the greatest number." Priceless 
 blessing, indeed ! Our fathers appreciated it be- 
 cause they themselves had fought for it, and not, 
 as we, received it as a legacy. They had spill- 
 ed the first blood which reddened the fields of 
 Lexington. 
 
 But we are, as yet, far from the attainment 
 of the ideal. As yet we have only entered upon 
 the possession of the land ; we have not culti- 
 vated the territory. Says another: "We abol- 
 ish the despotism of imperialism and there comes 
 in its place the despotism of the mob in the 
 French revolution ; worse than the despotism of 
 the Bourbon monarchy, except that it was 
 shorter. We abolish monarchy, we abolish 
 bureaucracy, and presently there springs 
 up on American soil the machine and 
 the boss to control the primaries and man- 
 age the elections, to put the ballots in our 
 hands and tell us how we shall vote and rule us 
 
 Early Ideals of the Republic. 96
 
 through our suffrages. We abolish slavery and 
 there springs up feudalism in its place, the land 
 owned by a few and the many having to work 
 upon the land as serfs. We abolish feudalism 
 and there springs up in its place a capitalistic 
 system in which all the tools and implements 
 are owned by the few and the many can work- 
 only with the consent of the owners.'' It is a 
 pathetic progress. We can only hope that man 
 shall one day enter fully upon his inheritance. 
 
 'Tis weary watching wave on wave, 
 And yet the tide heaves onward. 
 
 Fourth. Finally, among the inalienable 
 rights, is religion, and so recognized in this 
 Declaration. Man is entitled to life, liberty and 
 the pursuit of happiness, because they are his 
 by gift of the Creator. In making a plea for in- 
 alienable rights, therefore, religion is necessa- 
 rily involved. It is universally admitted that 
 man is a religions animal, and consequently he 
 must be permitted to worship God according to 
 the dictates of his own conscience. Nothing is 
 more noticeable than the constant recognition 
 of (iod in the writings and speeches of those who 
 gave us the Declaration and the Constitution. 
 
 I have indicated the foundation stones of the 
 republic — the inalienable rights of man, equal- 
 ity before the law. liberty and religion. In keep- 
 i I]'-!' them before us lies our safety. If we honor 
 them in thought and life, what a fortune is be- 
 fore this country! Oh for the patriotism bora of 
 love I'm- these everlasting and underlying prin- 
 ciples ' 
 
 '.ty Early Tdeals of the Republic.
 
 Battle Hymn of the Republic* 
 
 (an interpretation.) 
 
 The outline of an address delivered at the time of the 
 declaration of the Spanish-American war. 
 
 Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; 
 He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath 
 
 are stored : 
 Hi has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible, swift 
 
 sword — 
 
 His truth is marching on. 
 
 I have seen Him in the watchflree of a hundred circling 
 
 camps ; 
 They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and 
 
 damps : 
 I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring 
 
 lamp 
 
 His daj is inarching on. 
 
 I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel, 
 ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall 
 d< i! ;" 
 Lei the hero born of woman crush the serpent with his heel, 
 Sine God is marching on. 
 
 Ih has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call re 
 
 1 1 1 at : 
 lb is sitting out the hearts of men before his judgment scat. 
 c I' ' be swift, my soul, to answer him! Be jubilant, my feet! 
 Our God is marching on. 
 
 In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, 
 Willi a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me, 
 In died to make men holy, let us die to mal<e men free 
 While God is marching on. 
 
 The die is cast, the issue is clearly defined. 
 !i is humanity againsl cruelty; it is Liberty 
 againsl oppression. If ever there was ;i right- 
 eous war, we are now entering upon it. IT ever 
 ilc sword should be unsheathed this is the time ; 
 iliis. the very hour. 
 
 r.,iiih ii mi, n ,,f ih, Republic.
 
 I have chosen the famous "Battle Hymn of 
 the Republic" as expressing the spirit of a 
 Christian nation in waging a war of conscience 
 and conviction. The solemn tread of its majes- 
 tic lines may well quicken the pulse of every 
 patriot. It is fit music to stir the slumbering en- 
 ergies of the indifferent. Its solemn tones— 
 deep as the bass of the ocean and religious as the 
 prayer of saint — give forth no uncertain call to 
 the Christian manhood of America. The hymn 
 is permeated with scripture teaching and needs 
 no text to emphasize its summons to service and 
 to death— if so costly a sacrifice should be de- 
 manded. It is a classic in literature. It was 
 struck off- when the soul was at white heat, and 
 its mighty force will not be abated until every 
 fetter has been broken and God and truth shall 
 be supreme over human life. The particular 
 occasion that called it forth has passed, but its 
 ringing music abides and the principles it enun- 
 ciates have in them the potency of irresistible 
 and unconquerable righteousness. 
 
 It is my wish and purpose to point out some 
 of the truths that lie on the surface of this mar- 
 tial and magnificent production. First, the 
 vision of faith. 
 
 "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the com- 
 ing of the Lord." Faith transcends the ut- 
 most reach of sight, even when sight is aided by 
 the most magnificent telescope of human inven- 
 tion. Faith gazes on a glory that outshines the 
 sun or the stars— the glory of the Lord, mani- 
 fested in the overthrow of wrong, in the vindi- 
 cation of right, in the progress of truth, in the 
 
 lUiiilr Hiimn of the Republic. 100
 
 advance of righteousness. The '"coming of the 
 Lord" may be thought of as a personal manifes- 
 tation. Viewed from this standpoint, we are 
 watching and waiting "for the sounding of His 
 footfall this side the golden gate." Or His 
 coming may be thought of as a judgement. His 
 coming, then, is as one "whose fan is in his 
 hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and 
 gather his wheat into the garner; but he will 
 burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." It 
 was so that He came to Jerusalem. "There be 
 some standing here," the Christ said to his con- 
 temporaries, "who shall not taste of death until 
 they see the Son of Man coming in his glory." It 
 was no far-off coming of which He spoke, for they 
 were to be witnesses. They saw his coming 
 when they looked upon the Roman eagles of Ti- 
 tus and heard the tread of doom in the thunder- 
 ing legions of his conquering army. And still 
 again. His coming may be thought of as the 
 gradual spread of His spirit and life in the 
 world. In this sense our Lord is ever coming — 
 even as the sun slowly mounting to the zenith — 
 advancing higher and higher until high noon 
 proclaims his supremacy. 
 
 I believe that the coming of the Lord, upon 
 whose glory we shall look at this time, is His 
 coming in judgment- in the overthrow of op- 
 pression, in the punishment of inhumanity, in 
 the vindication of the inalienable rights of man 
 to liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 
 
 It is this coming whose far-shining shall be 
 seen by the nations of the earth. 
 
 It is our high privilege to look upon this 
 
 ]nl Battle Hymn of the Republic
 
 coming — to behold His glory as "He looses the 
 fateful lightning' of His terrible, swift sword" 
 — to gaze with awe and submission upon the di- 
 vine presence as He marches on to the fulfil- 
 ment of His purposes. 
 
 As the poet sees God in the bursting bloom 
 of spring, as the philosopher sees God in the 
 laws which govern the universe, so we may say 
 — believing our cause to be just — 
 
 I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling 
 
 camps ; 
 They have builded Him an altai in the evening dews and 
 
 damps, 
 I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring 
 
 lamps, 
 
 His day is marching on. 
 
 But with this coming in judgment, will be 
 His fuller and more glorious coming into the 
 hearts and lives of men. "This fiery gospel 
 writ in burnished rows of steel," says to all 
 lands and the inhabitants thereof— "you shall 
 not oppress wantonly your fellowmen. You 
 shall not starve innocent women and children 
 for the sake of territory. You shall not enslave 
 men who want to be free and who have caught 
 the vision of a better day." 
 
 1 can but think that this message will ad- 
 vance by many leagues the onward march of the 
 victorious Christ,- It means his fuller coming 
 in the life of humanity. 
 
 Another thought in this battle hymn is tin- 
 vitality of truth and the livingness of God. 
 Truth is marching. It is not dead or imprisoned. 
 God is living. Nations, as well as individuals. 
 
 Baltic Hymn of the Republic, 102
 
 sometimes imagine that God is dead, or asleep. 
 or gone on a long journey. 
 
 ' ' If thou seest the oppression of the poor and 
 violent perverting of justice and judgment in 
 a province, marvel not at the matter, for he that 
 is higher than the highest regardeth: and there 
 he higher than they." God regardeth. He heard 
 the voice of His people in Egypt and sent Moses 
 to deliver. He has heard the cry of the distress- 
 ed—not once or twice, and has come to their res- 
 cue. God is living and is marching on. 
 
 "Do not those revolutions which hurl kings 
 from their thrones and precipitate whole na- 
 tions to the dust — do not those widespread ruins 
 which the traveler meets with among the sands 
 of the desert: do not those majestic relics which 
 the field of humanity presents to our view — do 
 they not all declare aloud a God in history? 
 Gibbon, seated among the ruins of the capitol 
 and contemplating its august remains, owned 
 the intervention of a superior destiny. He saw 
 it. he felt it; in vain would he avert His eyes. 
 Thai shadow of a mysterious power started from 
 behind every broken pillar." T can hear the 
 mighty tread of God in the gathering of our 
 troops and in the assembling of our ships. "He 
 is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of 
 wrath arc stored.*' God is living: God regard- 
 eth: < rod is marching on. 
 
 '■'>. Every time of trial is a day of judg- 
 ment, 'lie is sifting out the hearts of men 
 before His judgmenl seat." As a nation, we 
 have been weighed in the balance; we have had 
 to choose between indifference and the eager 
 
 103 Battle Hymn of the RepuWi
 
 espousal of a righteous cause, between mercena- 
 ry considerations and the cry of justice, be- 
 tween commercial self-interest and the love of 
 righteousness and fair play. Thank God, we 
 have not been found wanting. 
 
 Tho we love jewels and gold in store, 
 Sir Knight, we love honor and virtue more. 
 
 And as individuals, it may be that our hearts 
 are to be tried. God grant we may not be put 
 To too severe a test. But if our country needs 
 us; if we are called upon to choose between the 
 comforts of home and a call to the front, let us 
 say: 
 
 Oh, be swift my soul to answer Him, be jubilant my feet. 
 
 4. The Christliness of Self-sacrifice— "In 
 the beauty of the lilies. ' ' What was that glory 
 in His bosom? The glory of self-sacrifice. It 
 transfigures every life it touches. It transfig- 
 ured His life and changed His cross into a 
 throne. 
 
 "To die to make men free" is the holiest 
 sacrifice of which humanity is capable, if free- 
 dom can be secured better by death than life. 
 
 Life should be valued as a precious gift of 
 God— too precious to be squandered, too pre- 
 cious to be wasted on dissipation; but so cheap 
 that any holy cause may have it for the asking. 
 The patriot says, if the voice of duty bids him 
 to the front: 
 
 battle Hymn of the. Republic. ](l4
 
 Let me pass, when life her light withdraws, 
 
 Not void of righteous self-applause, 
 
 Not in a merely selfish cause — 
 
 In some good cause, not in mine own. 
 
 To perish, wept for, honored, known, 
 
 And like a warrior overthrown. 
 
 Whose eyes are dim wilh glorious tears, 
 
 When soiled with noble dust, he hears 
 
 His country's war cry thrill his ears; 
 
 Then dying of a mortal stroke, 
 
 What time the foeman's line is broke, 
 
 And all the war is rolled in smoke. 
 
 The blood which lias been shed in the cause 
 of liberty is holy. No life laid on the altar of 
 freedom has ever been sacrificed in vain. 
 
 5. The ultimate victory of the right— "He 
 has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never 
 call retreat." I believe that the stars in their 
 courses will fight on the side of righteousness. 
 The nature of righteousness makes it uncon- 
 querable. 
 
 We have a united people. AVe have one flag, 
 whose every star shines out a clear and lumin- 
 ous purpose. AYe have a righteous cause. God 
 has placed Excalibur in our hands. On the one 
 side is graven, "Take me." on the other "Cast 
 me away. " The meaning is plain, "Take thou 
 and strike"— the time to cast away shall be when 
 its righteous work shall have been accomplished. 
 God grant that it may then be sheathed forever. 
 and that Peace may be the guardian saint of our 
 republic. 
 
 Peace beginning to be 
 Deep as the sleep of the sea, 
 When the stars their faces glass 
 In its blue tranquillity : 
 
 w 
 
 ]Q5 Battle II u in n of the Republic.
 
 Hearts of men upon earth 
 
 Never once still from their birth. 
 
 To rest as the wild waters rest, 
 
 With the colors of heaven on their breast 
 
 Love, which is sunlight of peace, 
 Age by age to increase, 
 Till angers and hatred are dead 
 And sorrow and death shall cease. 
 
 "Peace on earth and good will ! 
 Souls that are gentle and still." 
 Hear the first music of this 
 Par off, infinite bliss I 
 
 Battle Hymn of the Republic. l(j(j
 
 Our Heroic Dead* 
 
 An address delivered during the progress of the Span- 
 ish-American war when the sons of the South and the son.; 
 of the North alike surrendered life on the altar of freedom's 
 
 Our blessings, in one way or another, are asso- 
 ciated with suffering. We may not lightly re- 
 joice in the rich inheritance that is ours to-day. 
 for it was paid for in tears, and toils, and blood. 
 "Other men have labored, and we have entered 
 into their labors." There is genuine pathos in 
 the progress of the world. Each generation has 
 gone forward through the self-sacrifice of pre- 
 ceding generations. The stepping-stones by 
 which we mount are the lives of men patiently 
 surrendered for the sake of truth, for the sake 
 of the future. The greater number are unknown 
 and forgotten. Some man steps forward, and, 
 as another puts it, "utters the decisive word in 
 a supreme fashion, and then fades away into 
 darkness, after having represented for a min- 
 ute, in the light of a flash, the people and God." 
 Self-sacrifice is at the root of all that is fairest 
 and best among the sons of men. It alone has 
 given to us an undying literature. 'If the He- 
 brew race had not pierced its heart with the ter- 
 rible griefs of life, the Psalms would not have 
 been written; if Dante had not walked the soli- 
 tary path-of exile and climbed the lonely stairs. 
 there would have been no divine comedy." The 
 highest art is sprinkled with blood. Pain, and 
 labor, and weeping, and death have enriched the 
 
 K.7 
 
 Our Heroic Dead
 
 soil from which have sprung the graces, and 
 achievements, and glory of this marvelous age. 
 The old story of Curtius fitly represents the 
 method of the world's advancement. There was 
 a great gulf suddenly opened in the city of 
 Rome. How should it be filled? The Oracle 
 made answer: "That which is most precious 
 to Home must be surrendered." And so the 
 people brought their wine, and their wheat, and 
 their jewels, but still the gulf yawned and cried 
 for more. Finally Curtius threw himself into 
 the abyss, saying: "That which is most pre- 
 cious to Rome is Rome's manhood." The gulf 
 was closed, and the city was saved. And so the 
 world has time and again found itself halted in 
 its advancing life. The yawning gulf, rejfre- 
 senting the difficulties and obstacles of progress, 
 has given pause to the marching army. And 
 then manhood has thrown itself into the chasm, 
 and the way is made smooth, and the world's life 
 ^oes forward another league. 
 
 Who docs not honor this spirit of self-sacri- 
 fice? Whose heart-beats are not quickened as 
 he reads of those who have not "counted their 
 lives deai' unto themselves" when the voice of 
 duty has summoned? Such examples should be 
 the most sacred treasure of the nation's life. 
 They speak silently and eloquently of con- 
 science, of principle, of faith in all things high; 
 they cause us to breathe an atmosphere that has 
 no tincture of self-interest, but comes from the 
 everlasting hills of (iod. They make us to feel 
 that the brightest crown that can be placed upon 
 the brow of man is woven, not of flowers gath- 
 
 Our Heroic Dead. 108
 
 ered from the fields of pleasure, but rather 
 woven of the thorns that pierced the. brow of 
 the Son of God; they lift life out of the com- 
 monplace and bid it flame with the light of hero- 
 ism; they reveal to us by contrast the littleness 
 of soul which clings to life, when God calls for 
 the smoke of sacrifice to rise from His altar: 
 
 There are times when a man must die. 
 Imagine, for a battle-cry 
 From soldiers, with a sword to hold — 
 From soldiers, with the flag unrolled — 
 The coward's whine, this liar's lie, 
 A man uinst live. 
 
 A brilliant thinker has said: "If I read 
 God's history aright, civilization and Christian- 
 ity have not come from the survival of the 
 fittest, but by the sacrifice of the best. What 
 puny human intelligence dares to assert that the 
 blood of Lexington was not sacred, even as the 
 blood of Calvary. Warren at Bunker Hill, 
 Baker at Ball's Bluff; Bagley at Cardenas, all 
 gloriously died to hasten the coming of God's 
 kingdom on earth!" The blood of Calvary has 
 a sacredness all its own, but surely no man has 
 ever laid down his life for a high and holy cause 
 who has not entered into fellowship with the 
 greatest martyr of all the ages. 
 
 And so to-night we would honor the men 
 who have died for Cuba. Theirs is the glory 
 of self-sacrifice. Theirs is the death of he- 
 roes. Theirs is the sleep of the brave. In their 
 death they have become transfigured — no longer 
 men of flesh and blood, but immortal spirits in 
 
 lo'.l Our Heroic Dead.
 
 the Valhalla of the world. In falling, they have 
 risen to grander heights; in dying, they have 
 
 won i ni mortality. 
 
 All of us fee] the pathos of such passing 
 away. It is hard to die away from home. Some- 
 how we long for the presence of those we love. 
 We wish our last look to be upon faces that have 
 become endeared to us by the sacred associations 
 of childhood. We crave the touch of hands that 
 have toiled and struggled for our happiness. 
 We long to meet eyes that have more than once 
 shed tears of affection as they have thought of 
 us. as they have prayed for us every step in the 
 way of life. There is nothing more natural 
 than this longing for mother and home. Our 
 hearts would be hard, indeed, did they not re- 
 spond to this tender incident, which one of the 
 l>apers reported at the time of its occurrence: 
 "At Siboney, the hospital surgeon told Scanlon 
 lie had an hour to live. He laughed back, 'I'll 
 live to get back to my mother, and ask her for- 
 giveness for running away.' He did. and died 
 with his head on her breast last night." I 
 imagine that that mother did not give to her boy 
 opportunity to ask for forgiveness. I imagine 
 that one like unto the Son of man was near that 
 death-scene and perchance said to that mother's 
 heart "He that loseth his life shall find it." 
 Our hearts ache as we re;id this description of 
 the night after the terrible fighting of July 1st, 
 before Santiago. "Our troops bivouacked on the 
 ground they had taken so gallantly, but it was 
 stained with the blood of many brave men. 
 Stricken homes and saddened lives had been left 
 
 Our Heroic Dead. 1 lo
 
 behind, and many a brave boy lay sleeping with 
 the dew of death upon his beardless face and 
 curling lock, while mother or sweetheart far 
 away lay dreaming of him, all unconscious that 
 he had given his life to his country." "Who 
 shall say that they did not have the companion- 
 ship of those immortal spirits who "through 
 faith wrought righteousness, stopped the mouths 
 of lions, put to flight the armies of the aliens, 
 and out of weakness were made strong"? 
 Perhaps the invisible host of departed heroes 
 pitched their unseen tents on this moon-lit field 
 of death. Let us think of the dew of that night 
 as the tender kiss of God upon those lips that 
 were blanched by death. 
 
 Certainly there is pathos in the thought of 
 sleeping in an unknown grave. Many of our 
 brave boys will rest in such graves. May the sod 
 grow green above them! Every one of them 
 deserves the epitaph cut upon the slab which 
 marks the resting place of a nameless soldier 
 in the Southland. 'Ttis name is unknown, but 
 he fought for what he believed was right, and 
 God will give rest to his tired body, and peace 
 to his brave heart." It little matters that their 
 names are not known. They belong to that great 
 company of the anonymous whose deeds are 
 their enduring monuments. Unknown though 
 they be. they are not unhonored. Although tin 1 
 ground in which they sleep has not been blessed 
 by priestly hands or priestly prayers, the blood 
 they have shed for freedom has made their rest- 
 ing place holy ground, and the God who notes 
 the Fall (it every sparrow will not forgel his 
 
 ] ] ] Our Heroic Die,'.
 
 heroes. These unknown graves, no less than 
 others which have been marked by loving hands, 
 have their sacred ministry. Have you ever 
 thought of this sacred ministry — the ministry 
 of graves? They have no audible speech or lan- 
 guage, but who has not heard their voice? To 
 each heart they come with a silent message- 
 now speaking of the vanity of earthly things 
 and the sweetness of rest, or again inviting us 
 to thoughts of the great hereafter. But the 
 graves of heroes stir our souls to mighty aspira- 
 tions — 
 
 Thinking of the heroic dead 
 
 The young from slothful couch will start. 
 And vow with lifted hands outspread, 
 
 Like them to act a noble part. 
 
 And so — 
 
 The graves of the dead with the grass overgrown 
 May yet prove the footstool of liberty's throne. 
 
 We honor to-night the spirit of seH'-sacrifice 
 which animated the hearts of these men, so ad- 
 mirably expressed in the dying words of Capt. 
 Gridley, "The battle of Manila killed me, but 
 I would do it again." We honor unselfishness as 
 it shines in the words of the dying Captain Al- 
 lyn K. Capron, of the Rough Riders. "Don't 
 mind me, boys; go on with the fighting." We 
 honor that magnificent loyalty to duty which led 
 these men and their living comrades as well, to do 
 the thing bidden uncomplainingly and cheerfully 
 with danger and death confronting them— 
 "theirs not to reason why; theirs but to do and 
 die", that devotion to duty which did not hesi- 
 tate, but answered the country's call with the 
 
 Our Heroic Dead. 112
 
 ringing declaration, "Here am I, send me." We 
 honor the self-forgetfulness of that unknown 
 soldier of the 9th New York Regiment, who was 
 shot through the head, on the first day at San 
 Juan, and who said to his comrades, when they 
 offered him water to slake his burning thirst, 
 "I'm the 9th, too, and I'm dying. Keep your 
 water; you'll need it up in the firing line where 
 you belong. They want you there, but I'm 
 done. ' ' 
 
 But I need not further enumerate these in- 
 cidents, for the papers have recited them, and 
 others like them, until we have been made proud 
 of our humanity— disfigured by sin, but still di- 
 vine; walking on the earth, but breathing the 
 atmosphere of the skies. I do not need to eulo- 
 gize the patriotism of our heroes. Their blood 
 has given a richer color to the red in our flag. 
 They have given new meaning to those words of 
 Henry "Ward Beecher: "This nation has a 
 banner, the symbol of liberty. Not another flag 
 on the globe has such an errand, or goes forth 
 upon the sea carrying everywhere, the world 
 around, such hope to the captive, and such glo- 
 rious tidings. And wherever this flag comes, and 
 men believe in it ; they see in its sacred emblaz- 
 oning no ramping lion and no fierce eagle, no 
 embattled castles or insignia of imperial au- 
 thority; they see the symbols of light. It is the 
 banner of dawn." They have helped carry its 
 light to the oppressed, and those who have sat 
 in darkness have seen in its ample folds the 
 sheen and shine of liberty. Certainly there has 
 been no more touching incident published than 
 
 1 1 :{ Our Heroic Dead.
 
 that given in Edward Marshall's "Recollec- 
 tions." May I read it? 
 
 "There is one incident of the day which 
 shines out in my memory above all the others 
 now as I lie in a New York hospital writing. It 
 occurred at the field hospital. About a dozen 
 of us were lying there. A continual chorus of 
 moans rose through the tree branches overhead. 
 The surgeons, with hands and bared arms drip- 
 ping, and clothes literally saturated with blood, 
 were straining every nerve to prepare the wound- 
 ed for the journey down to Siboney. Behind me 
 lay Captain McClintock, with his lower leg bones 
 literally ground to powder. He bore his pain 
 as gallantly as he bad led his men, and that is 
 saying much. I think Maj. Brodie was also 
 there. It was a doleful group. Amputation and 
 death stared its members in their gloomy faces. 
 
 "Suddenly a voice started softly: 
 
 My country, 'tis of thee, 
 Sweet land of liberty, 
 Of thee I sing. 
 
 ' ' Other voices took it up : 
 
 Land where my fathers died, 
 Land of — the — Pilgrim's — pride. 
 
 "The quivering, quavering chorus, punctuat- 
 ed by groans and made spasmodic by pain, 
 trembled up from that little group of wounded 
 Americans in the midst of the Cuban solitude— 
 the pluckiest, most heartfelt song that human 
 beings ever sang. 
 
 "There was one voice that did not keep up 
 with the others. It was so weak that I did not 
 hear it until all the rest had finished the line: 
 
 Our Heroic Dead. 114
 
 Let freedom ring. 
 
 Then, halting, struggling, faint, it repeated 
 slowly : 
 
 Land — of — the — Pilgrim's — pride, 
 Let Freedom — 
 
 ' ' The last word was a woeful cry. One more 
 son has died as died the fathers. ' ' 
 
 These men died in order to help make true 
 the ideals of America— the inalienable right to 
 be free ; opportunity to develop individual life in 
 harmony with its constitution; fair play be- 
 tween government and people no less than be- 
 tween man and man; the bringing of hope to 
 every son of man who is willing to work and to 
 think. They died to carry the gospel of free 
 America to those who know not its glorious pri- 
 vileges and blessings— what it means for mind 
 and manhood and national life. Not in vain 
 have they enriched the soil of Cuba and the is- 
 lands of the sea with their hearts' best blood. 
 The blood of heroes is the seed from which shall 
 spring the mighty harvest of liberty. The Gol- 
 gothas and the Calvaries have not been in vain. 
 They have been the milestones along the way of 
 human progress. "Brothers," cried one who 
 felt the glory of the coming time, "the man 
 who dies here dies in the radiance of the future, 
 and we shall enter a tomb all filled with dawn." 
 It is the future to which our heroes have made 
 the contribution of their blood, and the future 
 will be made brighter and better through the 
 costly sacrifice they have made. No blood shed 
 for progress, for truth, for reason, for civiliza- 
 tion can be wasted. It is vital. It is germinal. 
 
 [15 Our Heroic Dead.
 
 And so we can but believe that out of all this 
 sacrifice — springing from the graves of these 
 brave men— shall come the fulfillment of the 
 dream of the poet, Joaquin Miller, penned eigh- 
 teen years ago, the prophecy and dream of Cuba 
 f/ee. Behold his vision and hear his song: 
 
 She shall rise, as rose Columbus, 
 
 From his chains, from shame and wrong, 
 Rise as morning, matchless, wondrous, 
 
 Rise as some rich morning song — 
 Rise a ringing song and story, 
 
 Valor, love, personified ; 
 Stars and stripes espouse her glory, 
 
 Love and liberty allied. 
 
 The people who forget their heroes will in 
 turn be forgotten ; ' ' they will ingloriously per- 
 ish from the face of the earth." We have no 
 ruined castles; no churches and tombs that can 
 be called ancient; no monuments whose founda- 
 tions have been laid in the dust of buried cen- 
 turies. We have no shrines hallowed by age to 
 which travelers from distant lands repair that 
 they may commune with venerable greatness. 
 We have a richer treasure by far. We have our 
 heroes. Surely poetry may find subject-matter 
 for a great and deathless song in reciting their 
 deeds and glorifying the spirit in man from 
 which such deeds have sprung. There is no 
 grander theme than the death of man for man. 
 These are the men who belong to the true order 
 of nobility, an order which passing king and 
 changing customs can not change, for it is 
 founded on character. All honor to our uncor- 
 onated and untitled noblemen. I share with 
 Carlyle in a profound admiration for the hero 
 
 Our Heroic Dead. 110
 
 -the man who steps to the front and does ad- 
 mirable things from which lesser mortals shrink 
 back affrighted. "If we ourselves be valets, 
 there shall exist no hero for us; we shall not 
 know the hero when we see him." We reveal 
 our own nobleness in the recognition of nobility 
 in others. 
 
 But we must turn from our dead to take up 
 the daily tasks of life. I hope we have paused 
 long enough to catch inspiration from their noble 
 sacrifice. Unworthy as is our tribute, it is the 
 sincere expression of love and admiration. As 
 we think of them to-night, beautiful in death, 
 we feel like calling the roll, and as their voices 
 are forever stilled, we will answer as each name 
 is uttered— "dead on the field of honor"— the 
 field of the cloth of gold. 
 
 117 Our Heroic Dead.
 
 Divine Presence in Political History 
 
 An address delivered at the close of the Spanish- 
 American war. 
 
 There are those who say, in the condescend- 
 ing language of a certain character in fiction, 
 "After all, something must be offered persons 
 who are down in the world — the barefooted, the 
 stragglers for existence and the wretched; and 
 so they are offered pure legends — chimeras — the 
 soul-immortality — paradise — the stars — to swal- 
 low. They chew that and put it on their dry 
 bread. The man who has nothing, has God, and 
 that is something at any rate. God is good for 
 the plebs. " If this were so then history would 
 be but the dry narration of meaningless facts, 
 and men and events would be fulfilling no pur- 
 pose. If there be no controlling, directing and 
 governing intelligence in the world, then the 
 mightiest work of man only happens to have re- 
 lations with the future, and the great men of 
 past ages are only accidents of the time and 
 the hour. Says a distinguished historian, "Gib- 
 bon, seated among the ruins of the capitol and 
 contemplating its august remains, owned the 
 intervention of a supreme destiny. He saw it ; 
 he felt it; in vain would he avert his eyes. 
 Should not we discern amidst the great ruins 
 of humanity that Almighty Hand which a man 
 of noble genius, one who had never bent the 
 knee to Christ, perceived amid the scattered 
 fragments of the monuments of Romulus, the 
 sculptured marbles of Aurelius and the trophies 
 
 l]!t i', inn Presena in Political History.
 
 of Trajan— and shall we not confess it to be the 
 hand of God?" It is the folly of superficialism 
 and wickedness to ignore God. 
 
 Never a daisy that grows 
 
 l!ut a mystery guideth the growing; 
 
 Never a river that flows. 
 
 But a majesty scepters the flowing. 
 
 God is in humanity, evermore working 
 through humanity the fulfillment of his bene- 
 ficent purpose concerning the world. Carlyle 
 declares: "For the faith in an Invisible, Un- 
 namable, God-like, present everywhere in all 
 that we see and work and suffer, is the essence 
 of all faith whatsoever; and that once denied, 
 or still worse, asserted with the lips only, and 
 out of bound prayerbooks only, what other 
 thing remains believable?" 
 
 History becomes animated, the dry bones 
 live, when one hears the stately steppings of Al- 
 mighty God down through the centuries. Oth- 
 erwise it is sterile, barren. The breath of Saha- 
 ra sweeps over the plain of Death. 
 
 But belief in God is not only necessary in 
 order to give history a purpose and meaning; it 
 alone makes national or individual life worth 
 living. It is admirable to hear "the man of iron 
 and blood" — Bismarck — saying: "When I 
 have felt as though I would throw off this life 
 like a dirty shirt, the saving thought has always 
 come that belief in God makes it worth while to 
 live." If there is no one who cares; if there is 
 no one who is using our feeble endeavors for 
 some worthy purpose ; if there is no one who is 
 fitting these lives of ours into some worthy de- 
 
 Divine Presence in Political History. 120
 
 sign, then of what value is life? And so of na- 
 tional history. Either the nation is an instru- 
 ment of a higher power for loftier ends, or there 
 is no reason for its continued existence. Its na- 
 tional life is worthless. Its battles are murder, 
 and its greatest deeds have no value beyond the 
 passing moment. Why should soldiers die for 
 a cause, when that cause may not, as accident 
 shall determine, be related to the future welfare 
 'of mankind? 
 
 If there be no controlling intelligence, what 
 ■guarantee is there that the blood shed to-day 
 for liberty shall not be wasted and futile? To 
 fight for truth, for liberty, for righteousness, 
 is to fight for the future, but what assurance have 
 we that the future shall claim its inheritance if 
 there be no superior wisdom to overrule our 
 -endeavors and bring them to this consumma- 
 ' tion ? 
 
 The facts of history, as well, force upon us 
 the recognition of God. As Victor Hugo shows. 
 Chance cannot explain Waterloo. He asks, 
 1 Was it possible for Napoleon to win the battle ? 
 We answer in the negative. Why? On account 
 •of Wellington, on account of Blucher ? No; on 
 account of God. Bonaparte, victor at Waterloo, 
 did not harmonize with the nineteenth centu- 
 ry." A little rain delayed Napoleon and gave 
 Blucher opportunity to come up; the hollow way 
 of Ohain. hidden from Napoleon, notwithstand- 
 ing bis careful scanning of the field, into which 
 plunged the Imperial Guard; Napoleon's guide 
 deceiving him. Bulow's guide enlightening him 
 
 12] Divine Presence in Political History.
 
 — these are small things, but if they be chance r 
 "Eternal God did guide that chance." 
 
 The stars in their courses fought against 
 Sisera. God was in the shadow, and the Al- 
 mighty Hand could use the little as well as the 
 great to fulfil his purpose. 
 
 In view of the tremendous results of AVater- 
 loo, it was more than accident that on the af- 
 ternoon of a summer day a peasant boy said to 
 a Prussian in the wood, "Go this way and not 
 that." 
 
 Likewise, in our war with Spain there are 
 these little incidents which speak of providen- 
 tial interference. A writer has called attention 
 to some of these: "The storms which at this, 
 season are common in the Caribbean Sea, and 
 one of which might have dispersed if not de- 
 stroyed the American fleet, were conspicuously 
 absent. It was not American strategy that delay- 
 ed the rainy season in Cuba. The events which 
 left Dewey no option but to sail into the harbor 
 of Manila after the Spanish fleet are as signifi- 
 cant as his decisive victory when he found it. 
 Events wholly beyond our control might have 
 thwarted our best endeavors; events wholly be- 
 yond our control have co-operated with us." We 
 cannot explain these things on the principle of 
 chance. We acknowledge the finger of God. It is 
 in vain that we try to get rid of the thought of 
 divine interposition in the affairs of men. In a re- 
 cent speech of Mr. Henry Watterson he asks, 
 "Why should Washington, the Virginia planter,, 
 be chosen to lead the Continental armies? Why 
 Franklin the representative of the colonies in 
 
 Divine Presence in Political History. ] 22*
 
 London and Paris?" He adds: "Philosophers 
 may argue as they will and rationalism may 
 draw its conclusions, but the mysterious Power 
 unexplained by either has, from the beginning of 
 time, ruled the destinies of man." Surely, the 
 recognition of God is reasonable. There is an in- 
 telligence greater than ours which is ever guiding 
 men and nations, bringing to pass results not 
 dreamed of in our philosophy. 
 
 "The Americans did not take up arms at 
 Lexington to achieve the independence of the 
 American colonies; nor did General Anderson 
 reply to the guns trained on Fort Sumter in or- 
 der to abolish American slavery. Four years 
 after we had officially and in the strongest terms 
 disavowed all purpose of interfering with 
 slavery, slavery was abolished by constitutional 
 amendment." Who is it, what is it that brings 
 out these vaster issues? What brings to pass 
 these larger results? So, we started out to free 
 Cuba, but Providence has given us territory of 
 which we did not dream, bidding us destroy 
 Spanish misrule in all her colonies. 
 
 Because this recognition of God is reasona- 
 ble it is manly. It is an evidence of intellectual 
 vigor rather than superstition. AVe are told 
 that one of the greatest conquerors of modern 
 history, Gustavus Adolphus, the "Lion of the 
 North," with all his troops bent his knee to God 
 Almighty before he rushed victorious into bat- 
 tle. Washington did not think it weakness to 
 acknowledge Almighty God in a public address 
 at Annapolis just before resigning his sword to 
 Congress. * If my conduct lias merited the con- 
 
 l')'.i Divine Presence in Political Histoi i.
 
 fidenee of my fellow citizens and has been in- 
 strumental in obtaining for my country the bless- 
 ings of peace and freedom I owe it to that Su- 
 preme Being who guides the hearts of all, who 
 has so signally interposed his aid in every stage 
 of the contest, and who has graciously been 
 pleased to bestow on me the greatest of earthly 
 rewards, the approbation and affection of a 
 free people." The creators of the Constitution, 
 it has been well said, never dreamed of the 
 wretched demagogism which has discovered that 
 it is unconstitutional to recognize the existence 
 and the kindness of Deity. 
 
 Let us recognize and bow before "That un- 
 seen Hand back of human affairs that shifts the 
 scenery and thrusts the actors on and off the 
 historic stage." 
 
 Divine Presence in Political History. 124
 
 Anarchy* 
 
 An address delivered at the Auditorium, Louisville, on 
 the occasion of the assassination of President McKinley. 
 
 The man who can think indifferently of the 
 shameful shooting of the President of his coun- 
 try, in whose breast flames no hot indignation, 
 and from whose heart proceeds no sympathy, 
 needs to pray with passionate fervor the prayer 
 of the Psalmist : ' ' Create within me a clean 
 heart, God, and renew a right spirit within 
 me. ' ' 
 
 With few abnormal and monstrous excep- 
 tions, we can all say to the stricken man in 
 Buffalo : 
 
 Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, 
 
 Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
 
 Our faith triumphant o'er our fears 
 
 Are all with thee — are all with thee. 
 
 Perish our political jealousies and rivalries, 
 our prejudices and passions, our party bick- 
 ering and bitterness, as we stand in loving 
 thought to-night by the bedside of one among 
 the gentlest, kindest and most Christian of 
 all our Presidents. Can we forget his graci- 
 ous thoughtfulness and loving devotion for the 
 old mother whose aged and honored form he 
 gave back to earth so reverently and so tender- 
 ly? And what one of us has not been touched 
 as he has observed that delicate consideration 
 and beautiful love with which the devoted hus- 
 band seeks to shield his invalid wife from the 
 slightest touch of anxiety and suffering? We 
 
 i •_».-, Anarchy.
 
 have a President who is not ashamed to love, 
 who believes in the sacredness of the marriage 
 vow, who honors morality, not as an ornament, 
 but as an essential part of character; who is 
 kept serene in the midst of political turmoil by 
 conscious rectitude; whose political views may 
 be wrong, but whose moral platform is as sound 
 as the right principles of love, duty and right- 
 eousness by which his life has been governed, 
 and whose heart-loyalty to his country— its flag, 
 its constitution— no man can doubt who has 
 sympathetically followed him in his private and 
 public career. 
 
 It seems passing strange that unreasoning 
 hate should choose such a man for its victim. 
 Anarchy is the Frankenstein of modern civili- 
 zation. It is the product of a reckless individ- 
 ualism that seeks to destroy without end or mo- 
 tive. It is impervious to any appeal of reason 
 or common sense. It would make a bonfire of 
 all existing institutions and have a desolate 
 world as its congenial home. It is fanaticism 
 with torch, dagger, pistol and dynamite as its 
 working tools. Its god is hate ; its creed is mur- 
 der ; its heaven is hell. 
 
 There is danger, however, lest by intemper- 
 ate speech and threats possible of execution 
 we fan into fiercer flame the fire we seek to ex- 
 tinguish. What shall be done with the anarch- 
 ist? Persecution means multiplication. De- 
 portation is impossible until the offenders have 
 been caught and are proven anarchists— two 
 things not easy of performance. Hanging only 
 rids the world of one anarchist at a time, and 
 
 Anarchy. 1 2(1
 
 eould not be made effective as a method of ex- 
 termination unless we could make one neck of the 
 whole company. Legislation can do something 
 to check the evil, although unable to eradicate 
 it. The time has surely come when liberty 
 must be defined in terms of law, and freedom 
 of speech must mean something more dignified 
 than the hiss of the serpent or the siss of the 
 flame. For myself, I see but three ways of deal- 
 ing with anarchy— first, kill the anarchist (and 
 this, alas ! we can only do when his deed makes 
 him a murderer) ; secondly, kill the spirit of 
 hate and discontent out of which anarchy 
 springs, and this is an impossible program, since 
 it would involve nothing short of a complete so- 
 cial, industrial and governmental revolution. 
 Nothing remains, therefore, in the third place 
 save improved legislation, quick and summary 
 punishment and constant police watchfulness to 
 detect and bring into the light of day these mon- 
 sters of the dark, where the public eye can see 
 them and the public press can keep track of their 
 movements and make impossible their miserable 
 conspiracies. 
 
 And now. once again, our heart turns to 
 AVilliam McKinley, the President of our common 
 country, and in thought we would reverently 
 kneel by his bedside and pray : God of our Fath- 
 ers, Thou who didst bring us into this goodly 
 land ; Thou who hast gone before us in majesty 
 and power unto this day; Thou who canst make 
 the wrath of man to praise Thee and bring to 
 naught the counsel of the foolish— raise up 
 Thy servant, restore him to his country, and 
 
 i 27 Anarchy.
 
 send him forth on his mission, sanctified by his 
 affliction and cheered by the assurance that the 
 hearts of his countrymen shall answer with love 
 and loyalty to every noble endeavor he shall 
 make to fulfill the hopes and dreams and aspira- 
 tions of the great American people. 
 
 i ^ % 
 
 Anarchy. 128-
 
 The Woman in Politics* 
 
 An address delivered before the Woman'fj Emergency 
 Association of Louisville. 
 
 The mother sustains to the child, and. there- 
 fore, to the coming citizen, a relationship and 
 responsibility which may he shared, but not as- 
 sumed by any other soul in the universe. This 
 boy. the future American voter and ruler, is 
 bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh, and through 
 her agony has come into this world of trial and 
 opportunity. Out of her Gethsemane this new 
 life has been born. Her cross gives to her a 
 unique and peculiar claim upon this new life. 
 She can say as the father himself cannot say: 
 he is my very own, this boy. life of my life, pur- 
 chased by my vicarious suffering, the crown of 
 my sorrow. And, therefore, upon the mother 
 rests in a peculiar degree the responsibility of 
 molding this new-born life, for the memory of 
 her touch and her love must ever make the blue 
 in whatever' sky may bend over this boy in all 
 the coming years. The influence of the mother 
 upon the future American citizen is of such 
 strength and persistence that it is impossible 
 for any man to get away from it utterly, how- 
 ever much he may outrage it or seek to conquer 
 it by an evil course of life. What a tremendous 
 task is set before the motherhood of America ! 
 If we work upon marble, says Webster, it will 
 perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface 
 it : if we rear temples, they will crumble into 
 the dust, but if we work upon immortal minds. 
 
 129 The Woman in Politics.
 
 imbuing them with principles of truth and life, 
 with a just fear of God and love of our fellow- 
 man, we are engraving upon those tablets some- 
 thing which shall brighten unto all eternity. 
 This is the high commission of the motherhood 
 of America. 
 
 What is the duty of the mother to the fu- 
 ture American citizen? In the first place, she 
 must be unto her son more than a teacher. She 
 must be an atmosphere calling forth all those 
 high and noble feelings in his nature even as the 
 springtime awakes the buds and the blossoms. 
 More than a teacher, she must be a source of in- 
 spiration arousing and awakening the divine 
 that is within him. Blessed is that son, when 
 the winter of his discontent has come, the memo- 
 ry of whose mother is as the breath of summer 
 flowers reviving and strengthening those nobler 
 ideals and higher notions which were brought 
 to him under her influence and love, while as 
 yet he was a boy. Instruction, of course, under 
 the spell and charm of this noble motherhood 
 is essential. She must teach this boy, the future 
 American citizen, patriotism — not the cheap pa- 
 triotism which shouts for one's country while 
 ignorant of the genius of her institutions— not 
 that kind of patriotism which is blind to the ex- 
 cellencies which may be found in other govern- 
 ments and in other constitutions, but that pa- 
 triotism which is born of whatever is high and 
 heroic and noble in the history of our own land. 
 Let him understand that patriotism is giving, 
 not getting, the giving of the very best that he 
 has, even his very life if need be, and asking 
 
 ■ 
 
 Ihr Woman in Politics. 130
 
 only in return that his country shall be true to 
 her high mission and to her splendid destiny. 
 Tell the story of America, until the historic and 
 heroic figures of the noble past shall stand be- 
 fore that boy clothed in flesh and blood, looming 
 before him large and solemn, not to dwarf his 
 stature, but to show to what bigness he may 
 grow, and let this story of America fall not from 
 the lips of the public school teacher or the pri- 
 vate tutor, but from the lips of the mother her- 
 self, and then it shall come as an enkindling 
 message forever more which shall be associated 
 in that boy's mind with the music of her voice 
 and the love-light in her eye and the inspiration 
 of her presence. 
 
 Let the mother teach her boy religion, and 
 let her add to that instruction that religion has 
 to do with all life, and, therefore, with political 
 life. Do not permit him to entertain the false 
 notion that the political realm is a thing apart, 
 with which religious principles have nothing 
 whatsoever to do. The refined man is one 
 whose refinement is manifest in his home, in 
 his society, in his business, in all the things with 
 Avhich he has to do. You might as well under- 
 take to separate refinement from the things with 
 which a man has to do as to separate religion 
 from the pursuits and the activities of life. Re- 
 ligion, my friends, is either a part of the man 
 or an external ornament. 
 
 Let the mother teach this boy, this future 
 American citizen, that he must be an active par- 
 ticipant in politics. Let our sons and our hus- 
 bands understand that it is a high and honora- 
 
 [g| The Woman in Politics.
 
 bJe and sacred duty to enter into this political 
 realm and do what can be done to ennoble it, 
 to transfigure it and to glorify it. There 
 was a Roman woman who was proud to 
 call herself the daughter of Scipio. For long- 
 years she was known as the daughter of Scipio. 
 Finally she married, and there came into her 
 home two boys. Those boys grew up to manhood 
 and their names became illustrious in the his- 
 tory of her country. She said to her friends 
 one day : ' Call me no longer daughter of Scipio. 
 Distinguished as that honor may be, I glory still 
 more in being the mother of the Gracchi.' 
 Blessed is that woman who can send out into 
 this old world in which we live noble Christian 
 •citizens, tall men. sun-crowned, who rise above 
 the fog in public duty and in private thinking." 
 
 llic Woman in Politics. 132
 
 Is the World Growing Better ? 
 
 When we speak of the world's growing bet- 
 ter, we, of course, have in mind moral progress. 
 It may be questioned, despite this marvelous 
 century, whether the world has made any no- 
 table advance in architecture, mechanics, let- 
 ters, painting. But along moral and ethical 
 lines, despite seeming retrogression, there has 
 been a steady continuous, forward movement. 
 The "thoughts of men have been widened with 
 the process of the suns." We know more of 
 God, more of truth, more of the power of right- 
 eousness. We have wider sympathies, grander 
 ideals, and mightier incentives to activity. We 
 read higher meanings in the works and words 
 of God, and life has become infinitely more pre- 
 cious, because of its conscious possibilities. The 
 world is growine: better but not yet is the mil- 
 lennium at hand. The golden year, alas! does 
 not greet the twentieth century. But the good 
 time is coming! 
 
 We sW'ep and wake end sleep, but all things move. 
 The sun flies forward to his brother sun, 
 The dark earth follows wheel'd in her ellipse ; 
 And human things returning on themselves 
 Move onward, leading up the golden year. 
 
 First. The reasons for a gloomy view of the 
 situation are superficial. Our vision does not 
 sweep all along the line. It may be that in our 
 particular locality, corruption is predominant. 
 Hut our locality is a very small part of the 
 world. The cowardice of one company is no 
 
 igg is the World Growing Better T
 
 proof of the cowardice of the army. Because 
 seven men stop a train and rob the passengers, 
 we must not conclude that robbery is on the in- 
 crease, for there were five hundred passengers 
 on the train who utterly abhorred the deed. If 
 we take within the scope of our vision the whole 
 length of the line of battle, we shall observe that 
 the movement is forward and onward. 
 
 Again, we hear and read more of crime, be- 
 cause greater publicity is given to it. Let us 
 not, therefore, conclude that the world is grow- 
 ing worse every day. "Every barbarous act of a 
 drunken mob," says one, "is heard the next 
 morning from Maine to California. But there 
 does not go along with it the record of the tem- 
 perance reformation in the same county, the 
 progress of the public schools, or the quiet and 
 devoted labors of earnest men and women." If 
 the same publicity were given to the good, we 
 should all be optimists. 
 
 Further, in our gloomy view, we do not take 
 into consideration the fact that moral progress 
 is necessarily slow. The world does not get bet- 
 ter by leaps and bounds. Moral progress is not 
 revolutionary, but evolutionary. "First the 
 blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the 
 ear." We should not grow impatient, because 
 the seed does not spring up a fiower while we 
 gaze upon it. Of righteousness it may be said, 
 as of the hemp, "All seasons are its servitors; 
 all contradictions and extremes of nature meet 
 in its making. The vernal patience of the 
 warming soil, the long, fierce arrows of the sum- 
 mer heat, the long, silvery arrows of the summer 
 
 Is the World Growing Better* 134
 
 rain, autumn's dead skies and sobbing winds, 
 winter's sternest, all-tightening frosts." Let 
 us wait. Time must do its work. 
 
 Perhaps the most distressing thought — that 
 which often staggers our faith — is the suffering 
 connected with progress. When we consider the 
 toils, tears and blood all along the way, we ask 
 ourselves, is the world which not only permits 
 this suffering but is immediately responsible for 
 it — is such a world growing better? "Ours is 
 a world," says a brilliant writer, "that pays 
 Socrates with a cup of poison and Christ with a 
 cross. Tasso polished his cantos in a mad house. 
 Cervantes perfected his pages in a prison. 
 Roger Bacon wrought out his principles in a 
 dungeon. Locke was banished and wrote his 
 treatise on the mind while shivering in a Dutch 
 garret." But obloquy, agony, martyrdom are 
 the price of progress. The beaten and wounded 
 are the leaders in this army. The prophets are 
 killed, but from their supulchres spring the 
 power and inspiration which are needed to fight 
 the battles and win the victories of the future. 
 
 Second. In considering the evidences of the 
 world's moral advance we can only indicate the 
 surface signs of this advancement : 
 
 Consider the sweeter, nobler conceptions of 
 religion which are ours to-day. The character 
 of our living is largely dependent upon out- 
 Christian faith. As that takes on higher beauty 
 life is ennobled. To-day life is happier, strong- 
 er, because of the things we have left behind. 
 Says a writer: "The Church is journeying 
 away from the falsities of medievalism, but car- 
 
 1:55 la the World Growing Betirrf
 
 ries forward the sweetness and light of Jesus 
 < ihrist. Gone forever the hideous dogmas that 
 tortured our fathers ! Gone forever the scholas- 
 ticisms that confused Satan with God. Never 
 again will the cross mean pacifying the wrath 
 of an angry deity. Never again will a man be 
 asked to debase his reason in order to exalt his 
 heart. The Church is exchanging the worship 
 of the past for the heritage of the present, the 
 old philosophies for the new living Christ." 
 
 Think, too, of the altruistic development 
 which is one of the most marked characteris- 
 tics of our age. There has come to us a greater 
 knowledge of the world's suffering, and, there- 
 fore, an increased tenderness. We know more 
 of social conditions, and, therefore, we love 
 more. The age of organization in the Church 
 was followed by the age of dogma, and now we 
 have come upon the age of love. The certificate 
 of Christianity is something more than proved 
 propositions. It is a helpful life. There has 
 come a new conscience, which makes it impossi- 
 ble "for men to be content to have, while their 
 brothers have not. The physical misery of the 
 world's disinherited is becoming the spiritual 
 misery of the world's elect." 
 
 This growing and deepening altruistic spirit 
 is manifesting itself as never before in the dis- 
 tribution of wealth. 
 
 And slow and sure comes up the golden year, 
 When wealth no more shall rest in mounded heaps, 
 But smit with freer light shall slowly melt 
 In many streams to fatten lower lands. 
 
 I have seen the statement that there are now 
 
 7.t the World Growing Better? ]8'>
 
 seventy American estates that average $35,000,- 
 000 each. The question is asked whether the ex- 
 isting hundred millionaires foreshadow the com- 
 ing billionarist? This tendency to the accumu- 
 lation of vast fortunes will not be checked by. 
 legislation, but by the mighty moral sentiment, 
 coming to be more and more pronounced, that 
 will put under the ban of condemnation any 
 man who dares to keep his money for himself— 
 handing it down from generation to generation as 
 an inheritance of pride and selfishness. The 
 time is fast approaching when it will he a dis- 
 grace for a man to hoard and preserve a great 
 fortune as a family inheritance. Because the 
 woes of the world are better known, and the still 
 sad music of humanity cannot he drowned. Be- 
 cause selfishness is coming to be clearly identi- 
 fied with littleness and meanness. Because no- 
 ble examples of generous living will sting and 
 shame miserly souls into liberality. Because of 
 the growing appreciation of simple and high- 
 minded manhood apart altogether from its pos- 
 sessions. The "golden calf" is already being 
 melted and coined into kindly ministries and 
 helpful agencies to aid in the world's redemp- 
 tion from misery and vice. It must endow col- 
 leges, build churches, rear hospitals, help to 
 spread the gospel, give wings to those goodly 
 ships of which the poet-prophet sings: 
 
 Fly happy sails, and bear the press ; 
 Fly. happy with the mission of the cross, 
 Knit land to land, and blowing heavenward. 
 With silks, and fruits, and spices, clear of tell. 
 Enri.h the markets of the golden year. 
 
 |gy Is the W'orld Growing Better?
 
 These are only a few of the indications of 
 advancing moral progress. 
 
 Third. Consider the guarantee of continu- 
 ed progress. First, the presence of God in his 
 world. Dr. Alex. Maclaren in a letter to Dr. 
 Theo. L. Cuyler says : "Many a time I am ready 
 to thank God— when I see the deadness in the 
 churches and the awful problems that have to 
 be faced — that I am nearer the end than the be- 
 ginning of my course. But as Luther wrote 
 with some spilled wine on the table, 'Vivit — he 
 lives—and that is enough.' " The cause of 
 righteousness is God 's cause, and he will not for- 
 get his own. He lives in his world now. He has 
 never withdrawn his presence. He is working 
 in the men of to-day as surely as in the past- 
 stirring their interest as never before in socio- 
 logical questions, deepening their sense of re- 
 sponsibility by making more real the brother- 
 hood of man, putting it into their hearts to be 
 more liberal in the distribution of their wealth, 
 enlarging their sympathies to carry the gospel 
 to the whole creation, and leading forth from 
 many of our universities into the foreign field 
 "the flower and chivalry of our youth." God 
 is working in humanity in all the great educa- 
 tional and missionary movements of this mar- 
 velous age, in all the multiplied agencies for the 
 pushing forward of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. 
 We recognize this presence in every honest effort 
 that is being put forth — even though not re- 
 warded with immediate success— in the interest 
 of municipal and national reform. We recog- 
 nize this presence in the growing spirit of peace 
 
 Is the World Groivina Better? 138
 
 that shall yet express itself in international ar- 
 bitration. In all these ways and through all 
 these ministries God is making his presence felt 
 in the world. Our God is marching on. "Thanks 
 be unto God, who is giving us the victory." 
 God wills. God works. God will win. To doubt 
 this would be practical atheism. 
 
 Another reason, close akin to the first, upon 
 which we rest our hope of the final supremacy 
 of righteousness, is the nature of righteousness 
 itself. It is the only indestructible principle of 
 the universe. Error is temporary and transient. 
 It has its brief day, but whenever it has gained 
 any long-continued influence it has been because 
 of its likeness to truth. Error, speaking in the 
 name of truth, wearing the mask of truth, is 
 powerful only until the day of exposure. Error 
 known to be error is a broken reed upon which 
 the world, conscious of its need of support, will 
 not willingly lean. Righteousness alone is clothed 
 with irresistible power, and, therefore, its very 
 nature requires that it shall win. The unjust 
 thing cannot last. As Carlyle says: "If unjust, 
 it will not and cannot get harbor for itself or 
 continue to have footing in this universe, which 
 was made by other than one unjust. . . . Prom 
 all souls of men, from all ends of nature, from 
 the throne of God above, there are voices bid- 
 ding it away! away! Does it take no warning? 
 It will continue standing for its day. its year, 
 its century, doing evil all the while, but it has 
 one enemy who is Almighty: dissolution, explo- 
 sion and the everlasting laws of nature inces- 
 santly advance toward it. -,\n(] the deeper its 
 
 13U I.i the M r orJd Growing Better?
 
 rooting, more obdurate its continuing, the deeper 
 also, and surer, will be its ruin and overthrow." 
 
 Furthermore, the cumulative power of right- 
 eousness is another reason for the hope that is 
 in us. Righteousness has become more powerful 
 in each generation by virtue of inheriting the 
 good which came from the preceding generation. 
 
 We are "heirs of ail the ages." Not in vain 
 have martyrs given their bodies to the flame; 
 not in vain the blood and tears of the world's 
 Ciethsemanes and Calvarys; not in vain the bat- 
 tlefields where men have struggled for right and 
 justice. All the heroic endeavor of the past is a 
 contribution to the present. Therefore, the 
 righteousness of to-day feels the noble blood of 
 preceding centuries beating in its veins. Its 
 strength is its own inherent strength multi- 
 plied by the strength which has been transmit- 
 ted to it from an historic and heroic past. This 
 increasing power from generation to generation 
 means ultimate supremacy and enthronement. 
 What a debt of gratitude we owe to these count- 
 less, unrecorded, silent workers of the centuries 
 that lie behind us! "Other men have labored 
 and we have entered into their labors." The 
 assurance of victory is brighter because they 
 have lived and wrought. We may say as Napo- 
 leon: "Forty centuries look down upon you." 
 'Forty centuries live in you," giving their ac- 
 cumulated power to head and heart and hand in 
 the mighty conflict of righteousness. 
 
 The sure promises of our God give us assur- 
 ance that shall not be brought to shame: "Every 
 knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess 
 
 7? the World Groicina BetterT 140
 
 that he is Lord." Of the final supremacy of 
 righteousness there should be no doubt. Jesus 
 Christ shall claim as his own all the kingdoms 
 of earth and God's will shall be the law of life. 
 "The golden rule of Christ shall yet bring in the 
 golden age of man." 
 
 Hi 
 
 Is the World Growing Better?
 
 The Dignity of Man* 
 
 My theme is "The Dignity of Man" or as 
 better indicating the scope of this address— 
 "The Royalty of our Human Nature." The 
 term "man" transcends the narrow limitations 
 of sex and claims for its full significance and 
 interpretation a whole humanity. It is worth 
 while to remember that the name given to 
 "man" in the beginning includes both the fem- 
 inine and masculine— "male and female creat- 
 ed he them; and blessed them and called their 
 name Adam in the day when they were creat- 
 ed." In exalting man I am honoring woman, 
 for the human nature in both is the same, al- 
 beit in woman it is finer. We may not disso- 
 ciate that which God has joined together. The 
 man and the woman have walked side by side 
 through the ages— one and indivisible— alike 
 created in the image of God, alike defacing that 
 image through sin, alike in the gracious thought 
 and purpose of God in their relations to both 
 time and eternity. The sad, glad story of hu- 
 manity is the story of Adam— both the father 
 and mother of our race. Permit me, therefore, 
 to speak of the glory of our common humanity 
 -not that we may have meat upon which to 
 feed our pride, but that we may give ourselves 
 to generous endeavor. We cannot fail to hear 
 the minor chord in our song of exultation. The 
 opening note in this anthem of rejoicing is the 
 cb'ppest bass which has ever been sounded in the 
 
 j (g The Dignity of Man.
 
 music of the world. I do not forget the terri- 
 ble, tremendous fact of Sin, nor the terrible, 
 tremendous consequences of Sin. I do not 
 forget that an enemy and intruder laid waste 
 the fairest garden of which any poet ever 
 dreamed and drove forth man from his blissful 
 home into an unfilled and unknown wilderness. 
 But— let us add quickly— his banishment was 
 his enthronement. Not until the flowers of the 
 garden have been exchanged for the thorns of 
 the field does man become conscious of his pow- 
 er. The unfilled wilderness suddenly speaks 
 forth invitation and challenge. The rocks of the 
 field are defiant until smitten. The new and 
 strange environment says— "touch me and you 
 shall discover the hidden possibilities of your 
 own nature." I do not minimize the guilt, the 
 shame and suffering of sin j I rather magnify 
 that divine grace which so endowed man that 
 through sin — grappling with the conditions 
 wrought by sin — his dormant powers were 
 aroused and he starts forth on his career "as an 
 athlete rejoicing to run a race." Man's digni- 
 ty becomes manifest as he measures himself 
 against his task, as he subdues the earth to his 
 own will and purpose, as he smites down oppos- 
 ing forces, and like the strong swimmer bat- 
 tling with the waves, converts resistance into 
 progress, hindrances into helps, weights into 
 wings. The wilderness into which goes forth 
 the banished exile is transformed into the 
 splendid scene of opportunity and destiny. 
 Better than the flowers of Eden— the idyllic 
 happiness of innocence — are the sword and 
 
 the Dignity of Man. 144
 
 shield of the wairior— the struggle which both 
 reveals and develops the mighty strength of an 
 advancing and conquering humanity. Apart 
 from this view of the subject which finds in 
 man's sin, through the arrangement of divine 
 love, a revelation of man's greatness, we may 
 further add in the words of the poet Young, 
 that even "his crimes attest his dignity." The 
 inverted image of the ship mirrored in the calm 
 lake reveals its true and normal dimensions and 
 so the depth of infamy into which man has de- 
 scended is proof of the height of holiness to 
 which it is possible for him to attain. "Goethe 
 summarizes the argument when he reminds us 
 that Faust can only be as devilish actually as 
 he was divine potentially." Read the pages of 
 history and the letters are blurred because of 
 the blood with which man has stained those 
 pages. You hear his terrific tread on ten 
 thousand battlefields; you behold the marks of 
 his reckless destructiveness all along the path- 
 way of human existence ; like some awful Frank- 
 enstein, he comes striding across the stage of the 
 centuries, leaving behind him devastation and 
 death; as imagination, using the facts of histo- 
 ry, pictures him in his wickedness, he is colos- 
 sal, stupendous, terrible. And yet the story of 
 man's crimes is a revelation of man's grandeur. 
 Like "a steed in frantic fit, that flings the froth 
 from curb and bit" and who by this fiery tem- 
 per reveals the mettle which the trainer seeks 
 in the horse of which he shall some day be proud, 
 so man's defiant wickedness— his bold, daring 
 iniquity— reveals the splendid quality of that 
 
 145 The Dignity of Man.
 
 spirit, which when trained for truth and God, 
 can work miracles of righteousness and register 
 moral achievements that shall outshine all stars 
 and suns and systems. 
 
 But, passing into another realm of our sub- 
 ject, let us remember that God sets a unique 
 value upon man in giving to him the supreme 
 place in the divine thought and regard. The 
 Universe itself represents God's thought for 
 man since it was created for the sake of man and 
 has no meaning apart from his presence on the 
 earth. Anticipating the appearance of the chief 
 actor, God makes ready a worthy theatre for 
 the exercise and training of his mighty powers. 
 For him the stars were lighted and the sun was 
 kindled ; for him the mountains were reared and 
 the valleys were touched into peace and beauty. 
 That God should think enough of man to pre- 
 pare this earth-home as his temporary residence ; 
 that He should have taken ages to make it 
 ready and fit it for man's occupancy; that the 
 thought of man as the end of the long creative 
 process was ever in the divine mind— surely 
 such considerations make man the "crown and 
 glory" of the Universe. The whole creative 
 movement finds its justification in man. "When 
 I consider man, final product of the creative 
 process, what are sun, moon and stars? Wheth- 
 er the astronomic bodies contain human beings, 
 I know not. If they do, then man there, as here, 
 is supreme. If they do not, then vast in mass, 
 in distance, and in the swings of their revolu- 
 tions as these bodies are, they are insignificant 
 compared with the chief tenant of this small 
 
 The Dignity of Man. 146
 
 terrestrial planet." The Universe exists for 
 the sake of man's moral and spiritual culture — 
 and in the creation of the world, therefore, man 
 is enthroned in the thought of God. May we 
 not read that magnificent Psalm in the light of 
 this larger thought: "When I consider thy 
 heavens, the work of thy hands; the moon 
 and the stars which thou hast ordained" how 
 great is man — the creature for whose benefit 
 and happiness this splendid environment was 
 brought into existence. Or, to employ a differ- 
 ent speech, the Physical Universe is the gorge- 
 ous robe woven by the thought of God for man. 
 As we think of the loom — the mind of God — in 
 which it was woven, the long aeons in which the 
 great weaver was busy with his task, the radi- 
 ant beauty and richness and fitness of the gar- 
 ment which was finally deemed worthy for the 
 creature's use and joy, we begin to appreciate 
 in part the supreme place which man has al- 
 ways occupied in the divine thought and inter- 
 est. Man was created to wear the purple and the 
 royal garment had been prepared in anticipa- 
 tion of his appearance. 
 
 But as yet we have been speaking only of the 
 intimations and suggestions of man's greatness. 
 Let us now consider his essential dignity — that 
 in his nature which crowns him with glory and 
 honor. We are fond of magnifying the human 
 body. A marvelous mechanism it is and a reve- 
 lation of that divine wisdom which is manifest 
 in every part of the wonderful structure. We 
 are told that "all the excellencies of the lower 
 animal creation are swept together and united 
 
 147 The Dignity of Man.
 
 in man's body." "In form and movement, how 
 express and admirable! The beauty of the 
 world! the paragon of animals!" And yet man's 
 body is no match against the wild winds and 
 ungovernable forces of nature. It is no durable 
 barrier against the Atlantic tide. A clod can 
 crush it; disease can conquer it. Man's essen- 
 tial glory is not to be discovered in the transient 
 and perishable body. The body is but the tem- 
 ple through whose doors and windows the inner 
 splendor shines— the splendid but imperfect 
 medium through which the true glory seeks for 
 itself expression and manifestation. It is but 
 the dumb organ with its dumb stops and keys 
 and pipes until the touch of power startles it 
 into the energy of grand music. Nor do we 
 arrive at man's essential dignity in magnifying 
 his achievements in the realms of nature, liter- 
 ture, science and art, for great as these have 
 been they are but the expressions of a greater glo- 
 ry. Man measures himself against the sea, and 
 its dangerous winds and waves become the min- 
 isters of commerce. The mountain still stands 
 unterrified, but man makes it his pedestal. The 
 forces of nature are trained and harnessed and 
 driven with a steady hand. And yet when man 
 shall become the master of every element in land 
 and sea and sky, he will still recognize in him- 
 self a greatness that has not been exhausted by 
 all that he has wrought and achieved. We are 
 told that Hamlet is the highest expression of 
 literature, the Parthenon the highest expression 
 of architecture, the Ninth Symphony the highest 
 expression of music and yet poet, architect and 
 
 The Dignity of Man. 148
 
 musician has each felt himself to be something 
 more and higher than his immortal work. 
 
 Never a Shakespeare that soared, but a stronger than he 
 
 did enfold him, 
 Never a prophet foretells, but a mightier seer hath foretold 
 
 him. 
 Back of the canvas that throbs the painter is hinted and 
 
 hidden ; 
 Into the statue that breathes the soul of the sculptor is bidden. 
 
 And so man is more than the works he has 
 made in the world; something higher than his 
 temples, grander than his oratorios, vaster than 
 the mightiest results of his creative intellect. 
 These are but the tracks he has made across the 
 centuries— his footsteps on the sands of time. 
 They proclaim a great presence in our world, 
 but they do not reveal the secret of that great- 
 ness—the essential, indestructible and unchang- 
 ing dignity of which all achievements are but 
 the story and the song. 
 
 In what, then, consists this essential dignity? 
 What is that inner fire whose radiance and glow 
 we see and feel in the history of humanity? 
 What is that invisible and mighty power which 
 moans and sobs in man's purest sorrows and 
 sings and soars in his highest joys? What is 
 that royal endowment which is both the myste- 
 ry and glory of our human nature? From out 
 the depths of an infinite Past and from the un- 
 changing heights upon which the Almighty is 
 throned comes the deep-toned and everlasting 
 reply— "And God said, let us make man in our 
 image, after our likeness * * * So God 
 created man in his own image, in the image of 
 
 149 The Dignity of Man.
 
 God created he him; male and female created 
 he them." This is the certificate and explana- 
 tion of human greatness. Upon man's nature 
 is the divine handwriting and it reads: this is 
 my image and superscription. Reason, free- 
 dom, love of the good, hatred of the evil— the 
 endowments of a spirit that corresponds in 
 character to the God who is its Father — here, 
 at last, we discover man's essential dignity. It 
 is the divinity of humanity that gives to it 
 glory, sacredness and power. It is the greatness 
 of God— the possession of a spirit that is the 
 "dim miniature of greatness absolute"— this it 
 is that makes man great. He is a spark struck 
 off from the central Sun, but of the same nature 
 as that Sun; he is a drop dissevered from the 
 boundless sea, but in essence one with that sea. 
 It is the possession of this "image of God" 
 that makes possible the revelation of God's 
 thought and character to man, for unless there 
 be in man that which corresponds to God's 
 thought and character, how shall connection be 
 established and His will and ways be made 
 known? If love and justice and righteousness 
 in man be something different in their essence 
 from these qualities in God, how shall they ever 
 become for us more than words when applied 
 to the divine nature? As says another: "Com- 
 munion ceases when there ceases to be a faculty 
 held in common. If crimson or gold to the ar- 
 tist means black to the beholder, there can be no 
 gallery. And unless duty, hope and love in men 
 stand for these rich qualities in God, there can 
 be no relationship. While Tennyson walked 
 
 The Dignity of Man. 150
 
 in his arbor and mused aloud over his "In Me- 
 moriam'' he saw a caterpillar crawling up his 
 desk. But the little creature understood not one 
 whit of all the pathos of grief and weight of 
 love that the poet was pouring aloud in his 
 sweet song. There was no mental chord in the 
 worm that answered to the chord in the man. 
 Could Tennyson have endowed this worm with 
 reason, it would have understood his thought; 
 with taste and affection, it would have sympa- 
 thized with his grief; with conscience, it would 
 have understood his inspiring prayer." Prayer 
 becomes reasonable when we remember that man 
 is made in God's image. 
 
 Speak to Him, thou, for he hears, and Spirit with Spirit can 
 
 meet ; 
 Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet. 
 
 Man, in his essential being is one with God 
 and therefore intercourse is reasonable and pos- 
 sible and necessary. 
 
 It is because man is made in the image of 
 God that he is dissatisfied with the imperfect, 
 the transient, the things of time and sense. 
 What is it but the noble discontent of the caged 
 eagle instinctively feeling that it was made for 
 the clouds and chafing under its limitations? 
 We can imagine the acorn saying — "I feel stir- 
 ring within my tiny form the presence and im- 
 age of the oak. I cannot be happy until thai 
 image has been wrought out or developed in 
 trunk and branches and leaf and my possibili- 
 ties have been brought to their fruition." It 
 is so with tiian. Created in God's image, noth 
 
 151 The Dignity of Mai.
 
 ing short of that image can satisfy him. "I 
 shall be satisfied" cries the Psalmist "when I 
 awake in thy likeness." Now the lines of that 
 image in man's nature are very indistinct — in 
 many almost erased. To bring them ont in 
 completeness and beauty until the very face of 
 God shall be seen in man— this is the meaning 
 and purpose of Christianity. Some day "we 
 shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 
 Have we not, also, an argument for the im- 
 mortality of the soul in the great truth that man 
 is created in God's image? Man uses only a 
 part of his vast power in dealing with earthly 
 conditions. He sends forth his intellect into 
 the world and brings back science, literature, 
 music, art and the refinements of civilization. 
 He sends forth his imagination and there comes 
 to him "the delicious sense of indeterminate 
 size" — the sense of marvelous enlargement and 
 enrichment. But yet he feels forces within him 
 that have scarcely been called into action in all 
 the vast excursions of mind. "When the last and 
 grandest picture has been painted by genius; 
 when the last hidden force of nature has been 
 brought to light by the scientist ; when this earth 
 has been subdued by the will i*nd mind of man 
 and the stars and suns have grown weary of re- 
 sisting man's importunity and have yielded 
 their secrets— even then this mighty, divine, 
 spiritual nature of man will require for its ope- 
 ration and exercise new scenes and conditions. 
 Immortality is necessary to give the divine im- 
 age the opportunity for its fulfilment and real- 
 ization. As says Browning: 
 
 The Dignity of Man. 132
 
 I know this earth is not my sphere, 
 For I cannot so narrow me, but that 
 I still exceed it. 
 
 Furthermore, it is this divine image in man 
 which explains and interprets his highest and 
 best moods. However commonplace our lives 
 may be, there come to us high moments when 
 aspiration is awakened. Then the stars come 
 out and the night is holy. Then we see white 
 presences among the hills. Then we move and 
 have our being in worlds unrealized. Then 
 heaven touches earth and familiar objects be- 
 come transfigured. As says another: "Vision 
 hours are God's torches revealing the soul's 
 hidden treasure. The ideals and longings of the 
 soul in its luminous states are overtures from 
 God. Mariners sailing over the sunken island 
 of Atlantis imagine they hear the voices rising 
 from the sunken city. Thus there are great, 
 deep convictions lying low down in the hearts 
 of men that ever and anon send up mysterious 
 voices, reminding men that they are divine and 
 must not live on any level lower than God's." 
 You are made in God's image and hence in your 
 best moods you long to be pure and good. Give 
 the soul a chance and because of its constitu- 
 tion and nature it will cry out for God; it will 
 dream of a heaven where the white light of 
 love and righteousness shall forever shine— 
 the land of fulfilled dreams and realized visions. 
 
 If time permitted, I might speak of the roy- 
 alty of our human nature as declared in the great 
 fact of the incarnation. It is not denied that 
 there once lived upon this earth a man whose 
 
 55:5 The Dignity of Mai:.
 
 splendid life has never been surpassed or equal- 
 ed in the history of humanity. That life says 
 to us : " This is humanity as realized in the 
 thought and purpose of God. This is royalty 
 come to its throne and wielding its sceptre of 
 power. This is man as he shall be and as he was 
 designed to be." If we are stirred by the 
 thought that a Washington has worn our na- 
 ture, what noble ambitions should be awakened 
 in our souls as we think of the possibilities of 
 this nature as developed and perfected in the 
 man of Nazareth? Gaze upon him only as a 
 sublime historical personage, and the vision can 
 but prove a source of inspiration and power, 
 even as when you study a great painting the 
 thoughts of beauty can nevermore be wholly 
 absent from your life. If I were preaching a 
 sermon, I would point you to a cross outside 
 Jerusalem which to all Christian minds and 
 hearts is the supreme revelation of the value 
 which God places upon man. Well and beauti- 
 fully has it been defined as "God's eulogy on 
 man, written in letters of crimson, the temporal 
 display of God's eternal heart-ache." 
 
 But it is now high time to speak our con- 
 cluding words and to give our message its pres- 
 ent and immediate application. Because of the 
 dignity of your human nature, take as your 
 motto— "noblesse oblige" — nobility compels. The 
 King must meet the crown's demands; high sta- 
 tion calls for high service. It is because you are 
 great that you must live greatly. Let the tiger 
 be ravenous and. the snake sinuous— for this is 
 their nature; but man, made in the image of 
 
 The Dignity of Man. 154
 
 God, must be good. Remember whose likeness 
 you bear and dare to keep it unsullied and un- 
 tainted. You are kings and queens— live roy- 
 ally and maintain your high, state with self-re- 
 spect and honor. Go forth as Knights and La- 
 dies of Heaven to champion the cause of the 
 right against the wrong— of truth against false- 
 hood. 
 
 May God help you to realize your dignity, 
 to feel the hidings of your power, for not until 
 then will you bring things to pass or register 
 achievements that are worth while. 
 
 So near is grandeur to our dust, 
 
 So close is God to man, 
 When Duty whispers low "thou must,' 
 
 The youth replies, "I can." 
 
 Remember always that there can be no true 
 culture apart from the culture of the spiritual, 
 the divine part of your being. You may be able 
 to ' ' counterpart the dance and trance of Shakes- 
 peare 's art;" you may be trained intellectually 
 until all the realm of scientific knowledge is 
 your playground; you may have all the gifts 
 and graces of mind and body, but if you have 
 forgotten that you were made for love, for duty, 
 for self-sacrifice, for righteousness, for God. 
 your richest endowments have been turned from 
 their high and holy purpose and are as "withered 
 plants in an herbarium," as words without 
 music, the picture without warmth of coloring. 
 
 To be truly cultured is to set free for ser- 
 vice all the faculties and powers with which the 
 
 ]Q5 The Dignity of Man.
 
 Creator has dowered you — to give the Spirit its 
 opportunity no less than body and mind. 
 
 Let me urge you to go forth as optimists- 
 believers in the moral, material and spiritual 
 progress of the race, because believing in the 
 dignity and divinity of humanity. God is in 
 man and, therefore, the "thoughts of men will 
 be widened with the process of x he suns." God 
 is in man, and, therefore, the world must grow 
 better with each advancing century. God is in 
 man, and, therefore, music shall be yet touched 
 with a divine strain, literature shall more and 
 more be consecrated to life, and science shall be- 
 come a holy shrine in the temple of our God. 
 And so the vision widens and grows more 
 beautiful until faith and dreams are lost in the 
 radiant reality of eternity. And then — 
 
 Only the Master shall praise us, 
 
 And only the Master shall blame, 
 And no one shall work for money, 
 
 And no one shall work for fame, 
 But each for the joy of the working, 
 
 And each in his separate star, 
 Shall draw the thing as he sees it, 
 
 For the God of things as they are. 
 
 Carry faith and hope and love into the work 
 of the world and you shall be as welcome as the 
 breath of Summer flowers, and your presence 
 shall be as the benediction that follows after 
 prayer. 
 
 The End. 
 
 The Dignity of Man. 136
 
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