Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1871-05-12

DR.. DUNcAN's LECTURE. intelligent audi
ence assembled at the NJ E. Church, South, last
night, to hear the lecture on ''The Power and
Perils of the Age" by Dr. James A. Duncan,
President of Randolph Macon College In the
introduction, the lecturer said that only few of
those who lived in this age knew and recog-
missed their day; few who act in the scene take
the place assigned them and act fully their
part. Nations, whose failure and eclipse are
so signal, do not fail from dire necessity, but
from failure to take the position allotted them
they are left behind. Epochs dating from
periods commemorate some particular mind.
which did the thinking TOR the masses who were
swayed and moulded by the thought An age
devoid Of such thinker is not, cannot be
progressive one, and is only an heir of posses
sion, accommodating nothing, and multitudes
who do not even know the names of the Illus
trious students, are swayed and ruled by them
Cnquestionably the men who think are the
men who rule the age, and however much the
bone and snew" of the land may think that
they only are the men who are useful, those
only who live near the light Of knowledge and
in its radiance are the men who move the
world The whole practical world is obliged to
wait for those pale thinkers to explain the
cause and effect All arts and sciences orig-
mated thus Even the gospel OF the Son OF
God is given to us in the form of IDEAS.
Such is the progrcssvcncss of the day that
men now are hardly startled at anything Mind
stretches itself over space and compasseS the
world, and at the same time lengthens time by
the accumulation OF knowledge; the wealth of
ages is found in the lap Of Il single generation.
Nations can no longer live alone Thought
claims the right to go everywhere, and the
tendency OF civilization Is to seek its equilibrium
\ generation living in such Il day cannot be
calm. But with this increased opportunity is
Increased responsibility Of individuals.
The sensational literature of the.day was for
chilly and scathingly described rightly called
cheap, horribly cheap, the mere foam on the
margin of the strong current, asocicty for the
suppression of which should be formed.
The power Of the age being the thinkers OF
the times, the pcrils Of the aye We're not SO
much wrong thinking, which would right itself
and be righted by its surroundings, but were
TO be feared III the naturallstlc tendencies OF
the times. The man was sacrificed to his blsl'
ness, the mind lost and merged in the pursuits
of life. The prostitution Of the age was to
money, to get rich, the aim to which all other
NclC W pC oohIS WIZ
so full of this desire that they would be rich
even by owing other people.
The signs OF the times were such as to cause
all the virtuous to grid on their arlnor. 1t isa
day Of power, not OF peace. The great peril is
that men will be lost, swallowed up in the vor,,
tex and whirl OF business. \ forclblc appeal
was made to the men and women Of Virginia
to cultivate the habit and charm Of honesty. In
few years the type Of our civilization as a
State will be determined. Let us not only
cling to our past and let no one laugh Il, lis for
honoring it, but let us also accept the present
and move on with the future. All the world
belongs to this generation. Before breakfast
We scan the face of the civilized globe in the
daily papers, and the man Of to-day goes forth
possessed Of the life of years, and is older at
forty than was Mcthuaclah.
The lecture was listened to throughout with
profound attention, and the report does injus-
ticc to its lofty sentiments and eloquent lam
guayc