Spirit of the times. [volume] (Ironton, Ohio) 1853-1858, 1855-09-04
P O l. I IT I G A l. .
The Office Of the People in Govern
ment, Religion and Art.
BY GEORGE BANCROFT.

nVUtS xtV4lS 4Ou duu nIts
BY GEORGE BANCROFT.
The material world does not change
in its masses or its powers. The stars
shine with no more lustrc than when
they first sang together in the glory OF
their birth. The flowers that gemmed
the fields and the forests before America
was discovered, now bloom around US in
their season. The. sun that shone on
Homer, shines on us in unchanging lus.
tire. The bow that beamed on the patri.
arch still glitters in the clouds. Nature
is the same. For her no new forces are
generated, no new capacities are discov.
cred. The earth turns on its axis, and
perfects its revolutions, and renews its
seasons without change or advancement.
But like passive destiny does not
attach to the inhabitants Of the earth.
For them the expectations Of social i'm.
provement are no delusion. The hopes
Of philanthropy are more than dream.
The FIVE senses do not constitute the
whole inventory Of our sources Of know.
ledge. They are the organs by which
thought connects itself with the external
universe but the power of thought is
not merged in the exercise Of its instru.
ments. We have functions which con.
meet US with heaven, as we'll as organs
which set us in relation with earth. We
have not merely senses opening to US the
external world, but an internal sense,
which places US in connexion with the
world Of intelligence, and tine DEGREES
Of God.
There is a spirit in man: not in pri.
vileged few not in those Of US only who
by the favor OF Providence have been
nursed ia public schools: it is in man,
1t is an, attribute OF the race. The
spirit, which is the guide TO truth. is the
gracious gift to each member Of the hu-
man family.
Reason exists in every breast. mean
not that faculty which deduces inferen.
ces from the experience of the senses,
but that higher faculty, which from the
infinite treasures Of its own conscious.
ness, originates truth, and asseEts to it
by the force of intui,ive evidence that
faculty which raises us beyond the con.
troll Of time and space, and gives faith
in things eternal and invisible. There
is not the difference between one mind
and another, which the pride Of philos-
ophy ight imagine. To them no (acul.
ty is conceded which does not belong to
the meanest Of their countrymen. In
them there cannot spring up which
does not equally have its germ in every
mind. They have not the power Of ere.
alton /; they can but reveal what God
has implanted in every breast.
The Intellectual functions, by which
relations are perceived, are the common
endowments Of the race. The differ.
ences are apparent, not real. The eye
in one person may be dull, in another
quick in one distorted, in another clear
and tranquil yet the relation Of the eye
to light is in all men the same. Just SO
judgment may be liable in individual
minds to the bias of passion, and yet its
relation to truth is immutable and uni.
versal.
In questions of practical duty, con
science is Gods umpire. whose light il
lumines every heart. There is nothing
in books, which Aad not first, and ha
not still its life within US. Religion it
self is dead letter, wherever its truth
are not renewed in the soul. Individua
conscience may be corrupted by interes
OF dsbauched by pride, yet the rule o
morality is distinctly marked; its har
monies are to the mind like music to tn
ear; and the moral judgment, when care
fully analysed and referred to its prin
ciples, is always founded in tight. Th
eastern superstition, which bids its vic
tins PROSTATE themselves before TIE &C
vancing car Of their idols. springs frol
a noble root, and is but melanchol
perv ersion Of that self.devotion, whie
enables the Christian to bear the eros
and subject his personal passions TO Il
will Of God. immortality Of itself ne
or won to ito support the inward. voice
conscience, il questioned, never forge
to curse the guilty with the memory
sin, to cheer the upright with the met
tranquility Of approval. And this a
mirable power, which is the instinct
Deity, is the attribute Of every man {;
knocks at the palace gate, it dwells
the meanest hovel. Duty, like Dea
enters every abode, and delivers its m
sage Conscience, like reason a
judgment, 10 universal.