Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-03-29

| most heartleSS STRIFE are general and man
psesses upon his fellow man, instead of
loving his neighbor as himself; when peo.
pie are forced TO practice cunning, and
stratagem six days out Of the seven, or
sink into the lower classes to toll In wretch
edness, beg or starve; how can the Church
expect, we say, that truth and justice can
be practiced by men, the love of God and
I thu speighbor warm their hearts, and good
reigA Asapfeme in the world?
aThek Church and the Government are
the two great agents to which the world
has looked for pffitaal ana temporal pro-
gress and improvement, and the moral and
physical elevation of men. Have they
done and are they doing their mission fully
and faithfully? The past and present con-
dition of mankind, the flood of misery and
wrong which overwhelms ChristenGom, an.
swers NO.
Where is the good to come from? what
are the ins:rumentalities which are to Sc
cure the social elevation Of mankind, and
the reign of social happiness on earth?
We believe that the various reform meas
ures which are now agitating society, are
the beginning Of the grand Movement des-
tined to accomplish this great work; they
are the agencies in transitional state,
accompanied by many of the lmperfections
which belong to all beginnings and transit
tions. They contain the spirit that has
not yet shaped itself, the germs of improve.
ment, which will ultimate in plans of uni
versnl practical reform, and are deeply
significant Of the coming change in the
world which shall fulfil al our hopes.
The. conviction of the necessity Of So
cial reform, and the grand idea of q better
order of society upon earth, are spreading
rapidly among men. They see that i'm
perfect civilization is social purgatory,
and connot be the order designed by God
as the destiny of man.
The humanitary benevolence which
prompts to labor for the elevation and hap
piness of the race, is springing up also in
the hearts Of numbers. Let this conviction
and this sentiment spread through society.
and take hold Of the liberal and elevated
minds, and mighty social transformation
will be the inevitable results. The vari-
Gus reforms now agitatiDg society, and
which are but branches of the same trunk
and are the first results of this new faith.
greater or less extent to guide them, but
they will follow in due time, and when
once gained, they will enable the pioneers
in this great work to direct it to triumph
ant success.
Labor is the only source Of wealth, and
to a great extent Of the health and long
evity of man. 1t is Labor which fertilizes
the earth, and transforms the wild forests,
and uncultivated prairies into fruitful fields;
it is Labor which builds our cities, COR
structs our fleets, our roads, our means of
conveyance; which manufactures our CLOTH
ing, furnishes our dwellings, and produces
our food; in short, which creates all OBJ
jects Of use or luxury. Without Labor,
man is poor and helpless creature, the
slave Of his physical wants and the ele-
ments. With Labor, he is powerful be-
ing, controlling the physical powers Of the
earth, the climate and the elements, as we'll
as the creations below him. -
Thus Labor is the source Of all wealth,
of mans material happiness, of his power,
and of health. It is the means by which
he flfls his destiny of ovERsEER of the
globe, and is the foundation Of his great
ness.
Prosecuted falsely, and incoherently as
it now is, Labor is for those who are fore
ed to exercise it, a scourge instead of q
blessing. Itsinks the laboring classes who
compose the ma jority1e of mankind into pov-
erty, and by subjecting the body to physi-
cal toll, and depriving the mind of culture
and expansion, degrades and brutalizes
them. Repelling the rich by the poverty
and contempt which are its reward, it
leaves them prey to idieness, to debility
and disease. Thus Labor, under its pres.
ent organization, is curse to the two ex.
tremes Of society, to the rich and the poor,
to those who exercise it and to those who
do not. In word, the present system Of
Labor is the cause of the two fundamental
evilsofth social world-Poverty and lg-
norance. @
Poverty and Ignorance are the parents
of nearly all the miseries that aff1ict man.
kind. Prolific monsters, they curse the
world with thousand vices, and .thous-
renders the higher powers Of the mind
subservient to mere physical wants, gene
rates sel6shness, and subjects man to the
dominion Of materialism, and makes the
great majority of human beings what we
now see them, poor groveling laborers on
the one hand, or cheats and defrauders of
labor, such as the trafickers of our time,
the pettifogers, the quacks, and hypocrites
of all professions. ignorance enslaves
the mind, Supplies it, closes it against the
divine light which should flow into it, sub
stitutes folly in the place ofwisdom, makes
it prey to superstition and prejudice, and
robs it of all independent action, and of all
power to hel p ITSELF - 81 -
If the present repugnant and unnatural
system of Labor entails so many evils upon
Man, it entails equally as many upon Ties
kingdoms of Nature below him and uIacus
the earth itself The globe is unculti,go.
ted or miscultivated; immense regions II
deserted and neglected; vast marsh oh
steepes, and burning deserts cover its $. R
face, deranging the whole climate of 8
earth, producing excesses and ffuctuatis al
in the temperature and the seasons, and eips
gendering miasmatic exhalations and pesa
tilential winds. - "
Wbon ,vo raHecf ,,nont The =irnmense