Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1851-12-23

progress? Is it i1 the style ane
staple of our Ateratue? Why W,
have Dick ems, and Bulwer +, and Tup
per's Proverbial Philosophy, ant
Eugene Sues works, as the veritablt
TYPES of the seven plaques Of tht
press, that are in our kneadine
troughs and upon our beds. Ane
society had formerly Milton and
johnson, and Shak kspeare and Ba.
con, and host Of stalwart old giants
of Saxon learning. Andif you cal
this change progress, it is the pro-
gress Of an avalanche-from the top
of a heayen-piercing Alp, to the bot
tom of a quagmlre in Italy. Or is
there progress in ou 7 practical mo-
rality? Why, if yd u 5 TODD on Ply
mouth Rock to-day, and followed the
horizon with your eye toward the
northwest, WheIe the land breaks the
sea view, you would discern a small
island-and that isla nd will stand on
the geography OF the Millennium,
haleed with glory, as the spot where
the old pilgrims spent their first
Sabbath. Yes, fatig gued, worn and
well nigh dead with their long sea
voyage, in full view of the land Of
their adoption--yea, wi thin half an
hours sail of the welcome coast, the
Sabbath dawned oh them right
abreast of that island; and because
they would not let Gods wind work
for them unnecessarily on the Lord s
day-there they moofed their bark,
and on that desolat9 island, f1ost
bound and homeless, dnder a sndwy
sky and freezing sleet, they rem4 I'm
bered the Sabbath day and kept it
holy. And think you their childFen
have outmarched them in progressive
morality2 All! let the rush Of Ten
thousand iron wheels over Gods
murdered Sabbaths and bleeding laws
be the answer. Our progress in
practical morals, is akin to that III
our ecclesiastical architectqre-from
the light, sweet churches, where our
fathers worslfipped God in fitting
guise, to the loW-eaved medieval
barn, full of stained windows and
Gothic hobgoblins. Or is it in the
uprightness and integrity Of the men
who bear rule in the councils of the
nation, that we find proofs of TINS
vaunted progress? Why, we had
Benjamin franklin. and John Han
cock, and John Withefspoon, and
George Washington. Al I'D we have
now-we have now-well, you know
who we have if it be a pro-
gress, it is such an one as Bishop
Hughes Celtic ancestors would have
called ga Atghst" from til he top Of
great wall to the bottom of a great
gutter.
Nay, my hearers, withou ut further
we declare ourselves utter
ly at a loss to discover in the midst
Of us any indications of TIL ut advance
towards perfection which renders it
in the nature Of things,
that in the full tide of our march
under our glorious Eagle, we should |
right about face to the darkness of
Our only progress
sci ems to be in the accidents rather |
tha an the elements of our noble spe-
cies. Nay, farther, had We the i'm
lts, we might show you cohclusively \
that, apart from Evangelical inau-
en ces, there never has been, and
lever can be, one hand breadth Of
human progress. Were the Indian
tribes making progress whe en the pill
grims found themg Has there been
any progress in Africa? Is Carthage,
Or Numldia, or Egypt, in advance Of
their position in long antiquity
Has there been for a long Thousand
years a single advance in China, or
the Indian Islands, or Hindostan?
No! no! the grand lesson Of all
history is, that without Gods quick
ening Spirit, the progress of all So
cial and civil manhood is only that
If lifeless body from corruption tol
corruption. And in respect Itof our
own favored and beloved land, God +
hath only just to remove the candle
stick out Of it's place, Jesus Christ
hath only to leave the political bark
with his disciples, he is
crossing the stormy deep, and verify,
With the wind dead ahead, we shall
,e swept backward again to the dark
ness of night and the fragments Of
,hipwreck. /
Without commenting on these el-
,quent paragraphs, which Contain |