



YOL. III. 



SPEINGFIELD, DECE31BEK, 1858. 



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?51 



PUBLISHED MONTHLl, 



Bailliaclae <fc IBaker, 

 Journal Buildings, - - vSpringfield, Illinois. 



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S. FRANCIS. Editor, 



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Ideas on Progress. 



Tliat tlie woi-ld is a.dvancing in all that 

 concerns its material interests, is obvious 

 to all. Agencies, subtle, incorporeal 

 and invisible, are pressed into service, 

 and are made, ■vvitb, little fear of contra- 

 diction, a connecting link between spirit . 

 and matter that is incomprehensible and 

 inconceivable. The phenomena of spir- 

 itualism, a mundane influence so far as 

 the highest and most reliable investiga- 

 tions can reach, shows that man's mind 

 is brought into communion, however er- 

 ratic and disordered the interpretation, 

 with the physical agencies that surround 

 us. The electric wire was no sooner 

 laid under the ocean, and man's voice 

 had triumphed over space, than an in- 

 voluntary anthem of praise was shouted 

 forth to corroborate its connexion with 

 peace on earth and good will to men. 



But has human progress in the moral* 

 world kept pace with these feaHul and 

 propulsive material agencies? The gift- 

 ed bishop of this diocese in his late an- 

 nual address said, in an incideutal allu- 

 sion, that it was an open question wheth- 

 er the world was better to-day than it 

 had been in times past, and his hearers 

 must have been impressed with the s.vaie 

 unsettled cpnviction. We -might take 

 thirty or forty years since, in°the then 

 settled portions of the United States, 

 and how little there was to startle pr 

 disturb the staid and sober demeanor of 



the population? How changed now, 

 even in New York city? At that day a 

 murder held tho^ public interest for 

 months, not so now: in any sacred esti- 

 mate of human life. - 



That the liberal tendency of the times, 

 the emancipation from much religious 

 intolerance that all sects have gradually 

 yielded to, has only been gained at great 

 loss of reverence and respect, is too 

 manifestly apparent. The days of 

 witchcraft and the Inquisition are gone; 

 but there is a license on subjects both 

 serious and and secular unknown to the 

 severe discipline of Loyola or the Kew 

 England Puritans. We have lost th^ 

 evil without havin"; attained the good. 

 This may be cited as a type of the world 

 at large. We have missionary enter- 

 prises, asylums for all classes of human 

 infirmities, other glorious As'orks of bene- 

 volence, but no individual fidelity. We 

 have great and controlling ideas of some 

 comprehensive good; but without speci- 

 fic results, without the induction or the 

 successive steps by wdiich to attain it. 

 We have the completed structure but 

 not the design or orderly arrangement 

 of parts. The old landmarks are broken 

 down Tfithout others to supply their 

 place! ' 



In politics we have those who would 

 withdraw all restraint from human ac- 

 tion, give slavery and polygamy, for in- 

 stance, their free course, relying upon 

 that higher law, as we must suppose 

 these respectable advocates hold, that is 

 to subject all human things to its con- 

 trol. There is certainly a disposition to 

 see what unrestrained men may do, for 

 if there are centrifugal there are also 

 centripetal forces to guide him. There 

 are the low deeps of socialism and free 

 loveism, that doubtless originate from 

 pure minded abstractionists; but are 

 caught up by tlie multitude and beconie 

 the very pandemonium of pollution, 

 showing that we must keep in this world, 

 use its practical common sense appli- 

 ances if we desire to gain advantage 

 over the realms of darkness. 



There are the labors of Avomen, term- 

 ed, women's rights,' and as we accept 



all that may elevate her, we think much 

 may be done in opening new employ- 

 ments, in protecting her rights and per- 

 son and property, and that there is a 

 positive progress in this direction amid 

 all the rubbish that is heaped upon it. 

 We may with little abatement then unite 

 in thinking that man has gained but lit- 

 tle in the acceptance of ii^uences that 

 when rightly used are to regenerate the 

 world, ever kept in abeyance to the Di- 

 vine command. We see powers, innova- 

 tions and disturbances, that are unset- 

 tling the existing order of things, and we 

 may well ask, if they are or are not the 

 harbingers of a true progress to come? 

 We see churches filled with communi- 

 cants; we see the ordinances, the obser- 

 vances, the ceremonies of religion in full 

 vigor: but we do not sec the life; we see 

 the symbols, but not the significance. 



Innovation is ever perilous and the 

 world is now full of it. The defence of 

 ideas good in their proper use run into 

 excess and extravagance, and we suffer 

 the consequences. But waving this 

 treatment of our subject we would yet 

 say to every young person, believe in 

 progress, shape your views of action as 

 thouirh future time would be better than 

 the present and was holding you in judg- 

 ment on your present acts. We must 

 think ^that any member of society loses 

 the best part of his influence, who be- 

 lieves the world is a sort of stationary 

 platform; that his sect has about all the 

 truth it will ever get, his party about all 

 the security there is for freedom or right, 

 his country all the virtue and patriotism, 

 his circle all the decency. &c. 



The Scriptures assert, with all due 

 allowance, for metaphor that there will 

 be a brilliant day for mankind, and 

 though man has been .fickle, empires 

 have risen and declined, a dark age has 

 passed over our favorite Christianity; 

 still we are none the less satisfied that 

 the prophecy will be fulfilled, — believe 

 that the world will be better and it will 

 do not a little to make it so. It was said 

 by a farmer, that if traveling through 

 the air was ever successfully accomplish- 

 ed, the plan would be matured by one of 



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