New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1856-04-19
n rev. ~. T1eyyey n. lectures u.

Rev. DR. Dewey delivered his last lecture "a tnls
city, at Dr.. Gapps church last evening: II was ex
eeedingy lengthy occupying about two honlss ana 4
half forits delivery, reason Of which We can at
tempt to give only the OF the remarks
Dr.. Dewey commenced with survey Of humanity
in it's fixed and stated conditions from which he pro
ceeded 10 the creation, and thence onward through
the elopn,ent Of mankind in successive ages. In
+be beaniina the world there wasa moral infancy
Adams highest Intellectual achievement was naming
The animals. There has beena constant growth ever
SINCE II 4s t55s.3S tt t3sss5$$
The agencies employed in human progress and the
steps taken towards the final result were reviewed.
Thought divided into history of philosophy and then
| q Developments that history were considered.
Every mans life is a picture Of the worlds I'M
pressions come first, then assumptions, then infer
ences The worlds infancy was in Asia, its youth in
Rome, and We have its manhood. In the ancient
world religion ruled supreme; even to the present
day every really great idea is a religious one.
There has been d constant religious progress. Fee
tichis human idealization and heroic worship paved
the way for Christianity. In this respect the lee:
turer reviewed the Hebrew worship to when Chris
atianity arose.. III s5as N ss,J8s
The institutions that have followed the IDEAS of the
world are next to the ideas themselves acts succeed
ing thoughts. The combinations Of the world and its
inyasions those Of France in Africa and England in
sAsia-become pertinent to this point. But nations
grow debased, and then from primeval fountains flow
streams Of fesher life in which, the better portion
Of what is old being retained the rotten supplanted
by what is ripe. Political revolutions generally do
good to society Before such fates as those of Wal
lace and Tell, thrones and pulpits are both SILENT
Secondly, the steps Of humanp progress were alluded
to- For two Thousand years the world was very dark;
then Abraham arose Concerning these old nationals
ties We can only know some general facts From the
whole it appears that every step the world has taken
has been an advance. The world had birth in South
ern Asia thence the genius of humanity passed to
Greece, whose literature the pragmatist may find
much sound matter. Our own literature, compared
with that Of Greece and the literature Of Rome were
then anazed and the results given both politically
and poemically Rome dissolution, resulting in the
feuda1 system Of the middle ages, was only pre-
paraton and initiative for own times, which date
from the sixteenth century. sS E
Can all Of this progress die? No. The spirit Of
improvement has taken too firm root, too strong
hold. The theater on which we stand at present, the
actors and scenes, and the probabilities Of further
continuance in prosperity were alluded to. Our own
notions Of nsig nifcance amongst all the ages are
$unsound We are the heirs of a glorious ancestry
and shall yet crown their inchoate creations.
Some general remarks, with fitting and pleasant
excuse for the lectures length brought the address
4 to its close.