Western Reserve chronicle and weekly transcript of the times. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1854-1855, 1855-02-07
TRUMBULL COUNTY, OHIO, WEDNESDAY,

country's welfare. Whatever may have
been the evils the agitation has only come
through men, not from them. 1t is of
GoD. 1t is the underheaving of Provi-
dence. Mariners might as well blame
you for the swing and toss of their craft
when tides troop in or march out of your
harbor, as us, for heaving to that tide
which God swells under us. Tides in
the ocean and in human affairs are from
celestial bodies and celestial beings. The
conflict which is going on springs from
causes as deep as the foundations of our
institutions. 1t will go on to crisis
its settlement will be an era in the worlds
history, either of advance or of decline.
wish to call your patient attention
to the real nature of this contest. 1t is,
The CONFLICT BErwERN NORTHERN
THEORIES AND SOUTHERN THEORIES OF
MAN AND OF SOCIETY.
There have been, from the earliest Pc
riod of the world, two different, and op-
pugnent, doctrines of man his place,
rights, duties and relations And the
theory of man is always the starting
point of all other theories, systems, and
Governments which divide the world.
Outside of Divine and Authoritative
Revelation, men have had but one way
of estimating the value of man. He
was to them simply creature of time,
and to be Judged in The scientific method
by his phenomena. The Greeks and the
Romans had no better way. They did
not know his origin, his nature, or his
destiny, 10 bring these into account, in
estimating man. Accordingly they could
DO no better than to study him in his de-
velopments and rank him by the POWER
which he manifested. Now, if bota-
mist should describe a biennial plant,
whose root and stem belong TO one sea-
son, whose blossom and fruit belong to
another, as if that were the whole of it |
which the first year produced, he would
commit the same mistake which the |
heathen idea of man commits in meas
uring and estimating being whose true
life comes hereafter, by the develop
ments which he makes in only this world.
From this earthly side Of man springs
the most important practical results. For,
the doctrine of man, simply as he IS an
this life, logically deduces AbsoLutiSm and
Aristocracy.
If the poVer Of producing effects is the
criterion of value, the few will always
be the most valuable, and the mass, rel
subordinate, and the weak and
lowest will be left helplessly worthless.
And the mass of all the my riads that
do live, are ..of no more account than
working animals; and there is, on such
a theory, no reason a Oriori, why they
should not be controlled by superior men,
and made to do that for which they are
the best fitted = Work and Drudgery!
Only a long experiment could teach a
doctrine contrary to the logical presumP-
ton arising from weakness. There could
be no doctrine of human rights. Itwould
be simply doctrine of human forces
RigM would be a word as much out of
place as among birds and beasts. Au-
thority would go with productive great
ness, as gravity goes with mass in matter.
The whole chance of Right and the whole
theory of Liberty, springs from that part
of man that lies beyond this life.
As a material creature, man ranks
among physical forces. Rights come
from his spiritual nature. The body is
of the earth, and returns to earth, and is
Judged by earthly measures. The soul
is of COP, and returns to COP, and is
judged by Divine estimates. And this is
the reason why free, unobstructed Bible
always works towards human rights. 1t
is the only basis on which the poor, the
ignorant, the weak, the labOring masses
can entrench against oppression.
What then is that theory of man which
gives forth2
1t regards man not as perfec. thing
put into life to blossom and die, as per-
feet flower doth. Man is seed, and
birth is planting. He is in life for cul-
.ivation, not exhibition; he is here chiefly
10 be acted on, not to be characteristically
an agent. For, though man is also an
actor, he is yet more recipient. Though
he produces effects, he receives a thou
sand fold more than he produces. And
he is to be estimated by his capacity OF
not of doing. He has his least
value in what he can DO it all lies in
what he is capable of having done TO him.
The eye, the ear, the tongue, the nerve
of touch, are all simple receivers. The
the affections, the moral
sentiments, all, are, primarily and char
recipients of influence; and
,nly secondarily agents. Now. how diff
erent is the value of ore, dead in its 81
ent waiting places from the wrought
blade. the all but living engine, and the
carved and curious utensil
OF how little value is ship standing
helpless on the stocks-but half-built, and