a lay delegate in the General Convocation of the Church in Philadelphia in 1883 was notable, when Senator Edmunds declared himself "a candidate for no Presidency," and ex-Secretary of State Hamilton Fish was another distinguished one of the laymen in that body.

HIS FAITH.

The simple, earnest Christian faith of the man, which knows no doubt and has not been shaken by the assaults of modern Agnosticism, is set forth in the report by an Indianapolis newspaper of an address by ex-Governor Hendricks before the Young Men's Church Guild in that city, in course of which he said:

"I care not which one of the highways you pursue toward knowledge, you will come to a place in the course of your travel where you will stop -where you can go no further-as upon the road it shall be a mountain or an impassable gulf, and beyond that what is the distant land then becomes a question exclusively of faith. This side of that boundary line it is not allowed to us to adopt faith; but I take it that the providence which intended that human intellect should always be stimulated to inquiry intended that we should rely upon our efforts and investigation within the realm of proper inquiry. But we reach a line and boundary beyond which inquiry cannot go, sometimes, very early in our progress. I know scarcely

any question that does not have this limit and restriction. Take your own person, and you know of its existence, you know of its faculties and powers; but really you know but little of yourself. Have you any idea how it is that your will does govern your body? You know the fact that by the will the mind itself does work, but how it is and what it is you know not. You know that some faculty is connected with your body that controls its action; but just what that faculty is you know as much as Adam and Eve when they stepped out of the garden. They knew just as much as you do. No philosopher has gone further. How it is that spirit dwells with matter, and how it influences the action of matter, no man knows nor will ever know. So I might go on to give several illustrations, but I will not undertake it. For myself, when I come to that boundary where faith begins, I choose for my faith that which is the most beautiful, the most charming, and that which will promote man's happiness to the greatest extent and add to the glory and honor of the Great Author of all things."

TRIBUTE TO CHRISTIANITY.

No less sincere and eloquent was his tribute to Christianity in his oration at the laying of the corner-stone of the new Capitol building of the State, in Indianapolis, in 1880, when in tracing the elements of a State's greatness he thus ex

pressed the obligations of society to the religion of Jesus Christ:

"We can judge of the future by the causes only that have operated in the past and that are operating now. While the religion of a people should be, and in this country is, kept separate and distinct from its civil government, still the religion of a people insensibly moulds the national institutions. It tempers their charácter, and to this temper their laws must conform. It is the atmosphere that surrounds and pervades the very structure of government. In conjecturing as to the future of a people, its religion should be regarded. The social and political institutions that have taken their form and spirit under the influences of the prevailing religion will be beneficent in their influences and of longer probable duration in proportion as it is true and enduring.

"Christianity has breathed its spirit upon the institutions that surround us. Some of its solemnities have attended the laying of this cornerstone. If the frightful thought could enter our minds that Christianity is all a delusion that must fade away before the advancing light of science, still a comforting assurance would remain that its gentle and humanizing and elevating influences have already so potently acted upon the minds of men that no pernicious or degrading superstition could ever take its place in any land that it has enlightened. If it were possible that skepticism,

born of science, could destroy our belief in the divinity of Christ, and overthrow all that part of our religion that teaches our duties to heaven, it cannot be conceived as possible that any form of faith could ever be substituted that would better teach man his duties in his relation to earth, or that would be incompatible with our political institutions."

CHAPTER XII.

S

A POPULAR PUBLIC SPEAKER.

INCE the day he met Nathan Earlywine on

Flat Rock, Mr. Hendricks has maintained

his reputation and popularity as a public speaker. He is not violent nor declamatory in his expression, nor is he specially gifted with strength of voice and grace of manner; he has not the happy anecdotal style of the popular stump speaker, nor is he distinguished for ready wit, quick repartee, and severity of invective. He neither tears a passion in tatters nor splits the ears of the groundlings; he does not drape his thoughts in splendor of rhetorical imagery, and he suffers somewhat from a lack of imagination and inability to readily quote from his extensive reading of the English classics and parliamentary debates, with which, for other purposes, he is familiar. But he has a candid, vigorous, persuasive style that attracts and holds the attention of the average auditor and entertains without tiring, while it convinces and instructs an audience and challenges the respect of even the unwilling listener. His language is always well chosen, and usually dignified and temperate; if he is caustic and merciless to opponents, his severity is