Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-01-05

'S hNi'HSi III IdTuulsCs HUT pdluc-
moniums,-an age of splendid failures. 1t is
ON the whole superior to any that have gone
before. Never were more minds engaged in
giving knowledge to the masses Men now
THINK and act instead of dreaming Men used
to read travels and histories, now every man
travels for himself and thinks he could write
history if he only had time. Mind now
rules, Metternich said he had rather Web
ster had thrown 10000 armed men into
Austria than have written the IIulseman let
ter
We used to measure time by weeks, now by
events. The aristocracy of mind takes pre-
eminencc. We ask not who is he or his
his iathcrl' but what's the fellow done =
1t is an age OF great moral activity. Science |
used to laugh at Religion and Religion was !
afraid Of Science She feared lest Science in
her haGlmerings among the stones should |
break the Rock Of Ages, or pluck the wings
OF the Cherubim to see how the uuills were
made, Now the two go hand in hand. Re
Il6lOn says to Science, You cant harm me
by anything that's trtIe. too can show YOU
wonders. If you leave disclosed new stars
have brought islands Of the sea into new
existence. can show you where the deaf hear
with their eyes and the blind see with their
fingers, Christianity has taught mon how t.
use everything. They had the art of print
ing in China thousand years before it was
discovered in Europe. Christianity gave it
its power for the Advancement Of knowledge
among men,
Formerly, books We're gathered into great
Libraries, now libraries are carried in the
columns OF the newspaper to the door Of the
humblcst cottage. The Press is vast
rings round the world. Men 20 to and fro,
and know ledge is increased. We are not sur
Erlscd to know that steamboats, pillow the
Red Sea, over the sunken chariots OF Pha-
raoh, or that the iron horse follows on the
path in the desert where Moses led tho chill
drcn OF Israel. it is an age Of transition
Men now dread to fight they do not now
think that a cannon is the best shape for
iron. The engineer Of the city Of Lawrence,
Mass, was once commander of a fortress
. ,
the largest in the world, in the same place,
was the captain Of the ship which threw the
first bomb al Vera Cruz When before could
such things as these be, without LOSING caste'
The progress is not without checks but the
tumults and outhreakings are but the falls of
the child learning to 60. When men tell us
slavery is to be perpetual, We tell them God
has given usa book based on the rights of
conscience and liberty God nav have pu t
powcrin flax seed to sweep Slavery from our
land
The picture has it shades 1t is ar ara Of
credulity. Any man may make his fortune
from a soap pill, il he will but put lie enough
in it, Mortals pretend to bring US messages
from the other world, and find believers for
stun fit only to fill branless skulls. We are
in danger of canonizing public opinion. The
Word OF God has settled all the great cues
u'ns We arc glad to see growing tcnden-
cy to appeal to this great Bill orRight. We
are In danger Of feeling that Gods great pur.
+ poses must rush to their completion. We
in bangor of thinking that Irc can ma ke
nations, We want GOODNESS TO miuglc with
the heat Of the Age Wcare too much like
the Vermont Physician who kept u large vial
which he called the Tiger, filled with calo-
mel, castor oil, laudanum, and such like cruel
medicines, and when he had bad ease which
would yield to nothing else, was wont Il
shake up old Tiger and give rouSing dose.
which either put the patient hrough or put
him nnd'r. We are apt to give hger doses.
In this land we love our country much-w
boast Of it too much 1t has its faults hut
listen and you may hear t. voice from every
land crying for its perpctuity.
We have given but a few of the sentences.
condensed, humorous and cpigramatic, which
""mT"e"d This "v""odingly interesting lecture.
Mr.. Todd, though not an elegant or very
lorclhle speaker, held his audience with alb
sorbed attention to the end, in spite Of cry
oil fire, and of uncouth noises from the rooms
below which, as on some previous occasions
in the same place, seriously intcrfcred with
the hearing Of the lecture and the pleasure
Of the evening, and which if a necessary &C
compartment, will seriously lessen the value
Of Concert Hall for such purposes
We are sorry that there was not larger
audience. 1t should be duty with our citI-
Gems to support these lectures. Perhaps thoy
are not aware that the pecuniary RESPONSE
tility for them rests ona very few Gentlemen,
whose lahors are At best without any re-
munrratlon, and who must make up out OF
their own pockets, the deficiencies, which in
the case Of th, and Of the last lecture were
not small