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A^OL. III. 



SPEINGFIELD, DECEMBEll, 1858. 



NO. 12. 



T n E 



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1 5i5?m"ii, 



Bailliaclie & leaker. 

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S. FRAXCIS, Editor. 



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Ideas on Progress. 



That the world is Jidvancing in all that 

 concerns its material interests, is obvious 

 to all. Af^encies, subtle, incorporeal 

 and invisible, are pro.sse<l into service, 

 and are made, •with little fear of coutra- 

 dietion, 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 investi^ra- 

 lions can reach, shows that man's mind 

 is brought into coraraunion, however er- 

 ratic and disordered the interpretation, 

 with the physical agencies that surround 

 us. The electric Avire was no sooner 

 laid under the ocean, and man's voice 

 had triumphed over space, than an in- 

 voluntary anthem of praise vras 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 ■\vitli these fearful 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 n uestion vrheth- 

 er the world was better \o-d;iy than it 

 had been in times past, and his hearers 

 must bave been impressed with the savno 

 unsettled conviction. AVcmiglic take 

 thirty or forty years since, in'tlie then 

 settled portions of the United States, 

 and how little there was to startle or 

 disturb the staid and sober demeanor of 



the population? IIow changed now, 

 even in New York citv? At that dtiv a 

 murder held the imblic interest for 



i. 



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 lia.ve crraduallv 

 yielded to, has only been gained at great 

 loss of reverence and respect, is too 

 manifestly apparent. The days of 

 witchcraft and the In([uisition are gone; 

 but there is a license on subjects both 

 serious and and secular unknown to the 

 severe discipline of Loyola or the Xew 

 England Puritans. V^e have lost the 

 evil withoitt bavin o; attained the {rood. 

 This may be cited as a type of the Avorld 

 at large. We have missionary enter- 

 prises, asylums for all classes of human 

 infirmities, other glorious works of bene- 

 volence, but no individual fidelity. We 

 have great and controlling iileas of souie 

 comprehensive good; but without speci- 

 fic results, without the induction or tlie 

 successive steps by which to attain it. 

 We have the completed structure but 

 not the desijrn or orderly arrangement 

 of parts. The old landmarks are broken 

 down without 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 stibject 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 arc also 

 centripetal forcos to guide him. Tliere 

 are the low deeps of socialism and free 

 loveisra, that doubtless originate from 

 pure minded abstractionists; but are 

 c."'jght up by the multitude and become 

 the very pandem.onium of pollution,, 

 showing that wo 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 women, term- 

 ed, women's rights,' and as v.-e 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 accc])tance of influences 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; wc see 

 the symbols, but not the siirnificance. 



Innovation's ever perilous and the 

 world is now full of it. The defence of 

 ideas good in their pix>por 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 

 pi'ogress, shape your views of action as 

 though 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 got, his party about all 

 the security there is for freedom or right, 

 his country all the virtue and patriotism, 

 his circle all the decency, ttc. 



The Scriptures assert, with all due 

 allowance, for metaphor that there will 

 be a brilliant day fur 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, tliat if traveling through 

 the air was ever successfully accomplish- 

 ed, the plan would be matured by one of 



