The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1857-10-17

For the Central Presbyterian.
Refor1ners.

h61OImSISs
Never was there an age so characterize
by reform as the present. Never an ag
so confident Of sudden reformation. Reform
is the watchword Of the times, the voice 0
the nation. Our institutions acknowledging
no merit but that of mind, encourage free
dom of thought, and strife for fame. W.
have no titled aristocracy to rest upon fore
ordained honors, no predestinated fools tt
an places Of public eminence. This coun
try is vast free theatre, where the phllo.
sophical dreamer in the opinion Of the multi
tude. may often transcend the philosopher
thinker. The host Of reformers may be di
yided into two distinct classes, very unlike
in their nature and operations; yet eacl
alike claiming to be the guide Of humanity
One may be said to seek the reformation O
the internal invisible heart, the other the
visible, the external action. And each class
has peculiar spirit. The one internal re-
form: the other external reform. What
but this last is the guiding spirit o.
the thousand so called reformatOry move
ments, which within the last century, have
sprung up at the NOrthf
1t is mostly indebted for its birth and life
to the sophistieal minds of modern day drea-
mers. A class who trust, for the progress
Of truth and happiness, entirely to externa
reform and mechanical invention, imagine
sudden moral revolutions; and are for re-
forming all grades Of vice and misery, by
the Wholesale way of precept and proclama
tion. They are a sort of progressive me
chanics who would improve and direct mind
like matter, by machinery. They are hk'
passionate literary boys, and in their wilt
flights, overlook the sad realities Of human
nature, the dreadful disease Of the heart
with which mankind is so universally sick
For example let us take the "spiritualists'
who now number about tkYce buHdrea tboH
4s u has taken tho carb Of religioI,
and oneneG eAtres pcHdcuce ,glth ueatvii.
By forming circles upon external meehanl-
cal principles, they can talk famiiarly with
the dead, and hold wise converse with the
Eternal!
Ponderous codes of morality, solutions
to all the mystic problems of life, and IN
deed all kinds Of spiritual literature are
drummed out in unreasonable quantities
from old tables. Mind need no more think
for the world, for it can now be done by
''spirits" and machinery. And these re-
formers have made such progress, that they
can readily comprehend in what manner
Deity lives, creates, and rules. The mere
physical wants of man, only engage the at
tention of another class of external retor-
mers. Instead Of kinding in the heart the
great conceptions of human destiny, and
implanting there the principles OF an lmmor-
tai life, they would make all mankind as
easy and lymphatic as themselves. As iflt
would make the poor and degraded, rich in
mind and virtue, to fatten them like swine,
or that giving them warm nest, would
create right motives, and purity OF heart
These are mere external refOrmers, and
their philosophy the silhest 'inhdelity bap-
tised." Instead Of regarding man as a rea
existence, and naturally needing change
in his thoughts and principles, they desire
as some one has ito be sOOthed, charmed
by something musical, spirited away from
themselves, and all the rugged realities o
an earnestlife, and by some esupersensuOus, ol
refined and spiritual minstrelsy to be gent
lv serenaded into heaven. Contemptuou;
of the past, they are too much wrapped III
In the future to think of the present. Like
the drunken enthusiast sweeping westward
across the plains Of Texas, to keep up, al
he said, with the car Of progress; they Il
outstrip the march Of science and true reli
gion, stride their peculiar hobbies, and ride
good fathers how they ride
We have abundant monuments of the sue
cess Of each of these systems. Look at th'
successive Revolutions of France, whicl
embraced all the elements of great mora
reforms They tried the external system
and by private sneer, and public contempt
sought to crush out the very idea of inter
nal reform. They made an attempt t.
tumble the moral world into ruins, and t
put out the sun of the moral system. The
decreed, that the pure ideas and charitie
of the Bible should be blotted out forever
and went about cutting each others throats
to establish fraternity among men
The most brilliant intellects Of the age
profound philosophy, amazing eloquence, an
brightest genius, were prOStituted to tn
shameless desecration Thus they fearless
ly put out in the ship reform, but without tn
true spirit at the helm they suffered mos
woeful shipwreck. The internal spirit cal
ries within herself, the trophies Of her pas
and the weapons Of her future conquest
She moves steadily onward in the grei
work, as if conscious that she holds tn
worlds destiny in her hands. She has light
ed her fires among the condemned despC
tisms, and false religions Of the old worlC
and on the dark islands Of every sea. Sh
has undertaken the reformation of the cart
and like strong ship, defyiug the way,
and tempests, viii reach her predestine
haven; for He is at her helm, by who's
word the winds were still and the sea at res
SOUTH SIDE.
The Inns of the ri0htpOus feed many: bl