In the middle ages the sound of the chisels carving the marble dreams of Michael Angelo was drowned by the shrieks of victims of the Inquisition; and later in England, villains and serfs, even after Magna Charta, were hanged for stealing five shillings. In our own land Cotton Mather tells us men were crushed by heavy stones upon their breast, as punishment for petty offenses, and witches swung in the breezes of Salem; and less than fifty years ago human slavery was sanctioned by law. All these horrors and the cruelty of the world have been because men have not let love illumine the soul and energize the heart of humanity. To-day all this is changed. The ægis of the law protects the humblest citizen, and the fate of nations is decided not by a Hannibal or a Charlemagne, but in legislative halls and courts of justice. And all men may work and hope, for fame is waiting with willing laurels for souls aglow with the fires of love and genius, who are destined to be torch bearers along the highways of heavenly harmonies.
The heaven of all the heavens above,
The god of all the gods is Love.
Carlisle, that rugged old thinker, declared that man should imitate his maker and "Create, create, create." This is the chief object of life. Not alone in the propagation of his race, but to build houses and temples, erect monuments, write books, fertilize deserts, and cause the earth to blossom with new flowers of fragrance, and new thoughts of beauty.
In order to thus glorify life and make it a divine ecstacy, and a stepping-stone to celestial worlds, love must be the guiding star, and will the creative-impulse. These two are the sovereign forces of the universe in man and Deity; and uphold and control all others.
Therefore man should make love and truth his ideals, and will his sceptre of power, and with each rising sun proclaim:
"These two things should no man forget or lose
Or sacrifice: his will and his ideals.
These two things are the man. In leaving them
Behind him in the dust of broken dreams