Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1858-08-31
Com nj ltuitatr0.
Fer the Meigs County Telegraph.
Human Progress.


Progress is always gradual Every
radical change in the condition Of material
things or in the character of spiritual
things, must be effected little by little
step by step. A thing must be prepared,
by successive modification and develop
ment, for what it is to be. Just as the
most refined gases and others are changed
into the rude forms and substances Of the
leaf and flower. Just as the little seed
produces the tree yielding fruit after his
kind.
I.aws Of Order govern uii thlnss.-
These laws are immutable and know no
haste, and the greater thing is the more
gradual is its progress. We cannot see the
flower grow. 1t is only by comparing its
appearance in different times that we can
observe the changes in its size and form.
How much more is this true Of the Giant
of the Forest! Months and years pass
away and the old oak seems to remain un-
changed, so gradual is its growth. 1t re-
quires years to change the character of a
man. Political systems move still slower,
and revolution after revolution, and re-
form after reform are required for their
perfecting. In considering the progress
Of the aOorzd, then, we must compare
widely separated periods in its history
and observe the changes that take place
during the lapse of ages.
In Judging men and nations we have n
Divine rule to guide us-"By theirJruits
We shall know them"-that is, by their
outward acts. Now i'll every act of man
these three things are involyed-the end,
the cause, and the effect-the impeling
motive, the efficient means, and the con-
sequent result. 1t is evident that the last
is the completion of the others, and con-
tains them, and that the end, passing
through the cause, and becoming ulti-
mated in the effect, gives to the effect it's
character. Therefore by examining the
end for which men act we shall learn their
real interior character-we shall know
them by their fruits. The Same princi-
pies apply equally to men, to nations. and
to the world. We have only to learn their
ends of action and we know their charac-
ter.
now propose to show that the ends Of
human action have cbanged-that former
ages have worked for mere show and
empty power, while the present age has
use for the object of its labors-and, !,
therefore, that the world has really been
making progress.
We must judge of the character Of the
ancient world, chiefly from the few ruins
which have survived the ravages of time.
History is almost silent upon the subject.
From her we can scarcely learn anything
beside the characters of Kings, and the
result of Unsuccessful or successful
war" But upon those ruins are stamped
in indelible and imperishable characters,
the spirit and purposes of the departed
ages. They are monuments to the great
ness--they are indices to the civilization
of their tunes, and from them, if we will
but read we can learn the character Of the
ancient world.
Among the most remarkable of these
relics are the pyramids of Egypt and Bah
ylon, and India and Mexico. These seem
| to have been favorite ornamental editices
among all the ancient nations, and their
/ prcUokcnce makes them etill more truly the
hey 10 ancient character, Upon them the