New-York daily tribune., 1865-12-01
LECTURss.
The Age Of fIren-Lscsure By Dr.. Chapi..

The Age Of fIrsn-Lecturo By DR.. Chapiu.
The Rev. Dr.. Chaplin delivered the first of a
series of lectures designed for the benefit Of Sunday
Schools and Churches in the lower portion Of tho city
at the Laght-st Baptist Church, to very respectable
audience, on Wednesday evening. The mex! lecture Of
the course is to be frosu Mr. Horace Greeley.
The age of iron said the speaker is to be regarded
in three aspects-substancc quality. use The engine.
the railroad the iron ship the telegraph wire, we're the
work OF modern civilization. Iron was incorporated
with our progress type Of SOLID utility shat is
the tendency Of day. Some thinkers had been dis
posed to in political economy new Evange OF the
Race This truly an age OF facts rather than OF
ideas 49,
The great inventions but applications of ideas
which lay further back. There are discoveries which
sniff the axis Of vision. The Coperncan theory trans
posed the earth and the heavens mnch as did tho
Christian religion the moral universe Such was not
our era. We merely reapng the fruits OF germs
long planted. Whatever did hot bring cotton and com
and oil and coal was neglected.
Executive men were the acknowledged representa-.
tves of today Realize" is the most expressive word
by which to style our status American civilization Is
Of boundess wealth Of nature our enterprise tempted
into limtless labOrs.
Afer all, is this materiastio age' venture to
affirm 1t is not q degraded one The old times were
eckoned bad by those who lived in them though we
think them golden. Doubtless every age has had It's
gross vision, its scared hearts, its lives scanned VIVA
crime and cloted with iniquty Shoddy Is rs ancient
as fig leaves passion old as Cam All sense and al
grOyeng mingle backward with the worship OF stocks
and stones Our masralism is Of an improved sort at
any rate. 1t is thinking age put also al age o'
Realism.
The progress OF man Is toward democracy; nowhere
does 1t take step downward. England. Italy Austria
have modified their privileges. and even Napoleon Is
not 50 much Emperor OF France as Emperor OF the
French lApplause) The doctrine that all men were
created equal Is being tried in harness, and works we'll
Honorable recognition Is stil owing to those who have
oiled to build the stately fabric civilization
The greatest merit Of our day Is to honor the sweat OF
labor
BY the pressure Of the Age Slavery Is dead beyond
revival. There Ia o disposition In current Phi.
lo.ophy to defy Nature. The most comprehensive
dialectic and he most vigorous minds challenge US to
the dscrsson but these skepcDl tendencies end only
In clearing the basis Of faith. This prevalent skepti
cism better than the suffering nfdeliy OF the past
century. The human understanding must finally take
refuge in the belief that tie ultimate fact OF the Universe
Factitious as are, the nation furnishes glorious
example OF devotion ~ idea. Among all the treas
precious than those memorials Of sacrifices those who
fell In the hour OF disaster and gloom WITH nothing but
q sense Of right and duty to sustain them Iron IL
power. The problem Of the time Is Dominion over
Nature aud prejudice The OK, hammer. plow, and
engine open the world for us. Kaghtly spirits have
not ded oct. When em5rasrres and tnrrets shall have
triotism will live npcrsbabl". Rows ofbrstling STEEL
and plates aud torpedoes and muzzes the agencies
relied npon for political and national power
Civilization either makes man better or II makes
him vorse. Power tends from individuals to masses.
We experience q comparative paucity Of great men.
but the genius only difused. transferred TO the
masses In great struggle the greatest heroes
merely experiments Of the popular Idea, and had they
fallen others could have been found to take their places
While that theory Of society IL to be deporcd which
represses individuality il natural and necessary for
While the few falling the race Is rising.
The great work before Is reconstruction. For this
need generou, confidence and good wili Our Union
Is Ike married life; it Is u union OF hearts Policy,
victory and charity caused all vengeance. We need
only ask Justice to humanity. We ask rational suf-
fIage not prejudice and CASTE ! think 1t should DO
limited ra,er than universal but whatever its limit
race property or education 50 let 1t be equally reason
ably app!ied Let us have neither obstacles nor irr-
tants plead for peace. The msrtyred dead the I'M
born and ungrown future. pleads for peace; but we
must Zee that the sseriIce has not been vain By all
the prayers aud surngs OF the past let have peace
We need patience dill gcpce and filth; with them
nsy contemplate nation erect. pussant and glorious
For III tho Golden Age lies In the future.