Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1852-12-22
FOR THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.
Human Prnprass

The heart of the philanthropist and patriot
must thrill with the ~liveliest emotions when
they look around and behold so many evider-
ces of 4 healthy, beneficial Human PROGRESS
The s2onldering fires Of reform that have so
long zen aothered by the rubbish of irno-
rance and superstition, now blaze out with
respleEdent brightness, lighting up the dark
places of the earth and unfolding to the amaz-
ed vision Of man. his osUn individual power
and dread responsibility. And shaking off a
tmid conservation, he pushes boldly on the
great mission for which he was created he
acts not on the principle Of your primitive
man, who was content to live in the caves of
the earth and eat pots. No, he is impressed
with a great idea tf something better, nobler,
than he has hitherto seen or enjoyed. Thus
we see At the PRESENT day, the world in q more
hopeful condition than at any former period.
owing, as we believe, to this great5 doctrine
winch has ceased to be a chimera and is an
ln-dWellng principe in the soul of man. New
er has the cause of humanity been pleaded
WITH such terv0r and elOquence-never have
men with bold and confident hands, laid hold
with more zeal and strength on the great
truths that tend to their prosperity and wei.
fare. The result i, that truth from an infant
has grown to be algiant, and stretching out its
potent arm, is deHolishing mountains of error
and prejudice, and erecting on their hoary ruins
the proud structures Of virtue and morality.
From its hitherto lowly and bending posture.
1t has-spFang TO its natural attitude, and is
heard in the giIded palaces of ROYALTY. rebu-
king without embarrassment the Tiara and the
crown.
Again, we see this great doctrine of Human
Progress manifest, in the bold traveller. who is
standing amid the boary pyramids and moul-
derlng columns Of Greece and Rome. decy-
phering with accuracy the characters that re-
cord events, which the stony lips of the
Sphynx alone could communicate. We ace #
in the d~isentombment of those interestier
relics tnat have laid undisturbed for aces. on
the plains of Nineveh-we see it in every mr.
agraph OF intelligence that comes from the
warm, dark glades Of interior Africa. And #
is this great doctrine that has cost Britain the
loss OF Il great navigator and honored citizen.
An el0quentdivine has said: Human PROGRESS
is a truth, and consequently is subject to a
tGoC, as much as the march of the waters or
the evolutions of geological changes. is accor-
ding to a law. And this law is found in the
idea of lmprovement-in other words, in the
principle Of reform. If as a race of beinrs we
progress, how can we do so, unless we alter
e1istsng institutions and seize upon sometime
new and better. If every custom or opinion
IS snEsredtnremain precisely where it is now.
we shall be stationary; or rather we shall ret.
rograde, we shall grow WQrse-for the spring
OF health is action, and our life becomes tain
ted and stagnant-if we do not move"
Events that are now Transporting in the old
world, prove beyond doubt the correctness sf
the above quotation. It is 4 law, e higher
law" that the world should progress in free
dom, intelligence and refinement, and against
this law, nothing under heaven shall prevail.
1t spurns the old dust-worn parchments that
men call law and right, throws aside the chain.
the rock and the gibbet, and unfurls to the
winds OF heaven the banner of Truth and Love,
and bids man to follow it. And it will be fol-
lowed; bayonets may CLEAN in the shadow of
every PEASANTS home-the regular tramp of
armed s%oldlerly may sound in every street Of
Europe, still this great principle will continue
to develop itself, and as it does, the arm of
down-troddcn humanity will be nerved with
strength-every rock will become 4 rampant.
and the great truth that is enshrined in HUI
man Progress, Resistance to tyranny is
obedience to Cod" will be echoed from the
sunny plains of France, to the frozen hills Of
Russia. And when man shall have shaken off
the manacles of despotism, this great law will
still point him to a cructied Redeemer. who
burst the rock-bound tomb and arose with
deaths pale garland in his triumphant hand.
that he might not only live free and happy
here, but have everlasting life in the world to
come. 10
Raleigh, Dec, 1852.