Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1851-05-09
RETROSPECT OF THE Pact;
AND, CONTEMPLATION OF THE
FUTURE.
BY PHILIP S. WHITE, P. NJ W. P.

BY PHILIP S. WHITE, P. NJ W. P.
II is well 10 tuIn from the busy scenes
that encircle us, and gaze out, at inter-
walls, through the long vista Of years,
and mark the changes and revolutions
that have passed over the world. In !
the whirling together of hostile atoms
amid the grand commotion Of elemental
strife, stirred by spirit Of free inquiry
and investigation, the mists of ignorance
and clouds of superstition have been dis
PEELED and the glorious sun of science,
of knowledge and Of virtue, allowed 10
shed his warm and refreshing rays along
the path of man. Under its benign in
fuence, we have witnessed crowns and
thrones crumbling to ashes; the servile
yoke Of bondage falling from the neck Of
oppressed millions, and the going out Of
false dogmas and opinions in Religion,
metaphysics and philosophy, that claimed
authority from heaven, and the high pre-
rogative Of tyrIanizing over the minds,
bodies and consciences Of men. As
wave succeeds wave upon the bosom Of
the great deep, so has revolution follow
ed revolution upon the boisterous ocean
of life; bringing up tIom its depths the
whole mass of moral energies, which has
swept on with increasing force until the
entire aspect of this globe has been
changed-until its gloomy and extended
wilderness appears in the beautiful garb
of flowery and sunny landscape. And
notwithstanding destruction has, at times,
marked this spirit OF progression, yel
from the very ruins, from the blood, the
carnage, the havoc with which they have
, strewn the earth-as from the floods o
, lava sent down by the volcanoes to del
uge the vail sys,-has arisen fertilizing
. principle, to cover with beauty and NOR.
n al verdure the great plain Of human af
fairs; until society, which cannot fai
! 10 progress while the noble principles o
man are in motion, is carried up TO tha
q sublime height on which we now stand
{ where the light of the accumulated truth
/ wisdom and experience of sixty centu
r. ries breaks in upon the enraptured vision
= Well may we exclaim, new era ha
dawned upon man! Awakening from
;s his long and inglorious sleep of centuries
i he has marked, with lightning in tn,
,s heavens with floating cities that bridg,
m the ocean, with gorgeous palaces upo
the earth, with the iron steeds of stear
~ that draw his triumphal cars, his certi
~ ficate to divinity of origin; and thong
fallen from the high estate, is still
re splendid wreck. and like eternal Rome
i sublime even in ruins So great ha
~ been the improvement in his moral il
tellectual and political condition-so mi
s- aculous the achievements wrought
m the arts and sciences in the promotio
a. of his physical and social wants, th;
cIedulity itself can scarcely credit.
cd Amid all these convulsions,-thes
upheavings of mind, that, like volcan
he in throes, have wrecked some of ii
of- mightiest fabrics Of human creation, mo
,lv al power has gained supremacy ovt
lie mere brute force Revolutions in GO
IN. ernments, that change the entire civ
polity Of nations in religion that bres
, of down idols at which superstition b
ion bowed for ages: and in philosophy,
Ugh opinions that had held the force of la
, for untold generations; are now carri,
ng,, on and concluded without violence
sun bloodshed- without hushing the song
500 the reapers, or stilling the sound Of bu
nee machinery. And of all the sublir
Ives lights loomed out in the moral horizc
SER none of modern date have cast su
cheering beams over oppressed and dow
be- trodden man-none have done so mu
top for ameliorating his condition-for re
ming, advancing and elevating his int
,nIs I lectual, moral and social being, as
M great Temperance Reforntatiea that is
rapidly extending itself throughout
,ody civilized world-dispellins torpid glo
pri- that has SO long blighted and obscuI
rma- the intellects ofthousands, poisoning
land nobler emotions of their natures, bl;
Ten ing their every prospect of earthly b
., piness and hope of future bliss.
this star Of Temperance that directs
e as drunkard TO his earthly saviour
% un- whose pure light, shining through
widows tears and orphans sighs, 81