and have the courage to declare it in the face of all opposition. It is easy enough, my friends, to have a passion to find a truth, or to find a fact, rather, that coincides with our preconceived notions and ideas, but it sometimes takes courage to search diligently for a truth, that may destroy our preconceived notions and ideas.
The man that only has a passion to find the truth is not a complete and great man; but he must also have the courage to declare it in the face of all opposition. It does not take any great courage for a man to stand for a principle that meets with the approval of public sentiment around him. But it sometimes takes courage to declare a truth or stand for a fact that is in contravention to the public sentiment.
Now, my friends, the man—I am not speaking in regard to the issues in this case, but I am speaking in general terms—that a man who is big enough to search for the truth and find it, and declare it in the face of all opposition is a big man.
Now, we spoke—Dayton has been referred to. That the law—that something big could not come out of Dayton. Why, my friends, the greatest Man that has ever walked on the face of the earth, the Man that left the portals of heaven, the Man that came down from heaven to earth that man might live, was born in a little town, and He lived and spent His life among a simple, unpretentious people.
We do not measure greatness by the size of the village or the town or the neighborhood from which it came. But greatness depends upon the principles that are involved. Some one recently wrote on this subject, and in referring to this case that the great Dred Scott bill, one of the most famous lawsuits ever tried in America, a case that drew public attention, perhaps, from the whole world simply involved the liberty of one colored man.
Someone has also referred to a case from the District of Columbia, where the president of the United States appoints the magistrates, and President Adams appointed a magistrate but failed to issue his commission and went out of office; that he later mandamussed a successor of President Adams to compel him to issue a commission to him for the simple office of justice of the peace. John Marshall, the man that ruled and reigned, that presided over the supreme court of the United States for thirty-four long years, and one of the most noted lawyers and judges that ever lived in America, made his fame and laid the foundation for his fame by writing the opinion involving the office of justice of the peace.
Now, my friends, the people in America are great people. We are great in the south, and they are great in the north. We are great because we are willing to lay down our differences when we fight the battle out and be friends. And, let me tell you, there are two things in this world that are indestructible, that man cannot destroy, or no force in the world can destroy.
One is truth. You may crush it to the earth but it will rise again. It is indestructible, and the causes of the law of God. Another thing indestructible in America and in Europe and everywhere else, is the Word of God, that He has given to man, that man may use it as a waybill to the other world. Indestructible, my friends, by any force because it is the word of the Man, of the forces that created the universe, and He has said in His word that "My word will not perish" but will live forever.
I am glad to have had these gentlemen with us. This little talk of mine comes from my heart, gentlemen. I have had some difficult problems to decide in this lawsuit, and I only pray to God that I have decided them right. If I have not, the higher courts will find the mistake. But if I failed to decide them right, it was for the want of legal learning, and legal attainments, and not for the want of a disposition to do everybody justice.
We are glad to have you with us.
(Applause.)
