The Portland daily press., 1866-02-01
Thursday Morning, February l, 1866.
PORTLAND AND VICINITY
M. L. A. LECTURES.

ISoV' H. n. Cnapm on ''The Age OF Iron."
The Seventh Lecture of the Mercantile Ii
orary course was delivered last evening. by the
Rev. DIR, Chaplin. The subject of the speaker
was the present age, which he chose to repre-
sent as one OF Iron. The past has had its Golden
Age, at least in the fancy of the poet, its Ages
OF Stone and of Bronze, but ours can only fad
fitting symbol in the hard, enduring, homely
but useful Iron.
The age of iron, Mr.. Chaplin said, presents
itself under three aspects-substance, quality
and use. The engine, the railroad, the iron
ship, the telegraph wire, were the work of
modern civilization. Iron was incorporated
with our progress as type of solid utility; that
is the tendency OF our day. Some thinkers
had been disposed to see in political economy
new Evangel of the Race This was truly an
age of facts rather than of ideas. Neyerthe-
less, these facts, these great inventions, were
but applications of ideas which lay further
back. There are discoveries which shift the
axis of vision, events which almost whirl the
human race off its feet.
The Copernican theory transposed the
earth and the heavens as much as did the
Christian religion the moral universe. Such
was not our era. We were merely reaping the
fruits of germs long planted. Whatever did
not bring cotton and corn and oil and coal
was neglected. The representative men of
our day, were the men Of executive ability.
"Realize" is the most expressive word in our
modern vocabulary. American civilization is
engrossed by industrial pursuits. Lured by
intimations Of boundless wealth of nature, our
enterprise is tempted into limitless labors.
The speaker said it was customary to stig-
Matte ours as a materialistic age. He ven
tured to affirm that il is not a degraded one.
The old times were reckoned bad by those who
lived in them, though we think them golden
Doubtless every age has had its gross vision
its scared hearts, its lives scanned with crime
and clothed with iniquity. Population is as
old as coin; shoddy, as ancient as fg-leayes;
passion as old as Cain. All sense and all grow
cling mingle backward with the worship of
stocks and stones. Our materialism is of an
improved sort at any rate. 1t is thinking
age, but also an age of Realism.
The materialism he considered under three
relations; those of manhood, labor and faith.
The progress Of the world is toward democra-
cy, toward the fuller recognition of the work
OF the individual man. Everywhere is this
observable. England, Italy, Austria, have
modified their privileges, and even Napoleon
is not SO much Emperor of France as Empe-
ror of the French. The doctrine that all men
were created equal is being tried in harness
and works well. Honorable recognition Is still
owing to those who have toiled to build the
stately fabric of our civilization. The greatest
merit Of our day is to honor the sweat of la
Dor. BY the iron pressure of the age, slavery
is dead forever. ys. rsI bs-G sI0l1ll-
He did not think it true that there was any
lack of faith in our age. The marvels of ma
terial discovery and accomplishment had lit
tie dazzled US. There is a disposition in cur
rent Philosophy to defy Nature. The most
comprehensive dialectic and the most vigorous
minds challenge us to the discussion but these
skeptical tendencies end only in clearing the
basis Of faith. This prevalent skepticism was
better than the suffering infdelity Of the pas t
CCubuJs 4n0 AuLldu uuuCIotduIluE must
finally take refuge In the belief that the uiti,
mate fact of the Universe is Spirit and not
Matter. And il we have less of spiritual OBJ
struction, of blind faith, we do not lack faith
tulness.
n Material as we are, the nation furnishes
glorious example ofdeyotion to an idea. Among
all the treasures to be plucked from four
years war. none are more precious than those
memorials of sacrifices, those who fell in the
hour Of disaster and gloom with nothing but
a sense of right and duty to sustain them.
The problem of our time is dominion over
nature and prejudice Iron is power. The
ak, hammer, pillow and engine, open the world
for us. Knigntly spirits have not died out.
When embrasures and turrets shall have
crumbled into dust and rust, the great arsenal
of Patriotism viii live imperishable. Rows of
| bristling steel, and plates and torpedoes and
muzzles are the agencies relied upon for polit
| ical and national power. gIUF Al .OE
I The tendency ofpower to-day is from indirid-
uals to masses. No colossal figures now tower
| up above their fellows ,as Charlemagne, Mahom-
ct, and Luther tower above theirs, represent
ing, almost embodying, the whole. We exper-
fence acomparative paucity of great men, the
genius is only diffused, transferred to the mass
es. In our great struggle the greatest heroes
| were only opponents of the popular idea, and
had they fallen others could have been found
to take their places. While that theory of so
ciety is to be deplored which represses individ-
uality, it is natural and necessary, for while
the few are falling the race is rising ~
The great work before US in America is con-
struction. For this we need generous conf
dence and good viii, but most of all Justice
Our Union is like married life, it must be q
union of hearts. Policy, victory and charity
alike forbade vengeance. We need only ask
justice to humanity. We ask rational suf
| frage, not prejudice and caste. He believed
suffrage should be limited, but whatever the
limitations they should be equal and rational
1t was useless for us to set ourselves against
the spirit of the age. He would have neither
obstacles nor irritations. He pleaded for
peace peace which should endure. The
martyred dead, the unborn and ungown fu-
ture plead for such peace. We must see
that all our sacrifice has not been vain. We
need patience, diligence and faith; with them
we may contemplate nation erect, puissant
and glorious. With us the Golden Age lies In
the future.
Tbs lecture occupied nearly an hour and a
half in delivery, though spoken in the rapid,
vigorous, and often imprisoned manner which
is characteristic of the speaker. 1t was in the
highest degree able, philosophic and eloquent
was listened to with absorbed attention, and
elected frequent bursts of applause.
COUNTY TEMPERANCE AssocIATloN.-A
meeting Of this Association was held at the
Ferry Village, last Thursday, but in conse.
quence of the severe storm, the attendance