The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1868-10-28
Political Retrihntion

SS"foA " hdiiOh tuc icliidliiS VI Ill ludt OfkCe
had life but nature with mexorable energy
gradually reduces all dead things to dust.
Slow but sure in her operation, she has no
respect for anything useless, but continues
the abrading process till nothing remains
but the original elements; and the most
elaborate process of embalming can only de-
lay, not debar the work. Laws, usages, in
stitutions, SYSTEMS of religion and govern
ment, received by millions of men as based
upon vital truth, have passed away SO COM
pletely as to be not only unregretted, but
even aforementioned, by the majority Of the
civilized world Man, however, clings to in
stitutions long after they have lost utility or
even significance; and the respect for what
is old, long established, authorized by law
or usage, simply as such, will doubtless al
ways continue to influence human action. A
deeply rooted prejudice pervades the minds
of the unthinking, that any institution hal
lowed by prescription would never have
been sanctioned by so long period Of time,
by so many generations of good and wise
men (now long since dead and always count
ed wise) had it been wrong. Nay, such rea-
soners go even further, and make the Al
mighty himself responsible for every evil
permitted under His providence This faith in
the prescriptive right ofhoary abuses, though
held by many well informed, conscientious
and even religious men, springs from very
narrow view of Gods providence and very
limited acquaintance with scripture as well
as profane history. We read in Holy Writ
that to God thousand years are as a day,
and numerous are the instances there cited of
his long suffering patience with fallen man
we know from the discoveries of science that
the work of creation has occupied ages and
will still occupy ages, and we are all familiar
with the accepted doctrine that this life is
only probationary, and that the human race,
like each individual and nation, has 4 season
of infancy, youth, maturity and old age, re-
peating its experience in ever advancing
circles; but one of the plainest teachings of
all this viz: that abuses are permitted and
will be permitted until they become intolera-
bile to degree which compels their removal,
does not seem to be generally accepted Thus
the men who first proclaim some hoary insti-
tuition to be an evil, are stigmatized as bias
phemers, heretics, incendiaries, radicals, ac-
cording to the nature of the proposed reforms
and the standpoint of its opponents. When,
in addition to the merit of antiquity, the in
stitution attacked possesses that of minister
ing to the pride or profit of its Fotaries, then
indeed are history and philosophy pleaded
in It's defence, scripture wrested from its true
meaning for its support, and the Almighty
himself cited as its indicator. Thus idola-
try, polygamy, and slavery have all claimed
a divine origin, and offered prescription as
an unanswerable argument in their behalf
Many eminent clergymen and statesmen in
the North, as well as in the South, preached
from the pulpit and proclaimed from the
platform, that to touch the institution of
slavery was to touch an institution God him
self had hallowed and made sacred. Through
their teaching, even after the war broke out,
and the more clear-sighted recognized in
slavery the real enemy of the country, the
masses could not be brought to see it, and
trembled at the suggestion that a profane
hand should be laid upon it. With what
conscientious caution, with what prayerful
hesitation, the martyred hero ofliberty signed
the proclamation of emancipation And
with what shout of derisive laughter was
that measure received by the proud people
whose rebellion had made Unnecessary They
did not see in it the codicil to the will of the
people, as published in that first State paper,
which proclaimed that "all men are created
freeand equal" and yet the germ Of the eman-
cipation and reimbursement of the colored
race in this country, was as indisputably con-
tanned in the Declaration, as that of the oak
is in the acorn. Politics may be made up Of
compromises, but history is consistent; and so
we see to-day that emancipated and enfran-
chised race forming a'large proportion of the
voting population of the South, and their
former masters appealing to them for their
support
Science proves to us that all organic de-
velopment advances, not by leaps, but ty
calm, continued progress, and that natures
laws work to their predestined purpose with
the most rigid logical sequence The mills
of the gods grind slowly, but they grind to
powder The institutions of the past geneY.
alton are passing away. holy men arc preach
ing the same Gospel of Christ in the Sou4h,
but with holier benediction, and clearer
mental and spiritual illumination of the
truth it contains. The church has lost and
will lose none of its force over the religious
nature of man, but it Will come down close
to that natural desire in the heart of every
human being to be free, and in recognizing
it, see the element that will, through time.
raise the human race to full moral recogni-
ton of and obedience to the moral nature of
God.
Chatham County.
We learn from friend in Chatham that
the very best spirit prevails in this County