The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1873-02-14
MIR. GLADSTONE THE TEN
DENCY OF MODERN THOUGHT.

On December q, Mr.. Gladstone,
in 3 speech delivered st Liverpool
College, and bearing on the value of
old-fashioned education, said in the
course of his remarks:
But in preparing yourself for the
combat oflife, i beg you to take this
also into your account, thst the spirit
Of denial is abroad, and has challeng-
ell all religion, but especially the re-
ligion we profess 10 8 combat, OF lie
and death. venture to offer you
few suggestions, in the hope that
they NAV not be without their use.
You will bear in your sitter life much
of the duty and delight of following
free thought and in truth the man
who does not value the freedom OF
his thoughts deserves to De described
as Homer describes the slave he is
but half 9 man. st. Paul, ] suppose,
was teacher OF free thought, when
he bade his converts to prove sH
things: but it seems he went terribly
sstray ~hen he proceeded to bid
them "hold fast that which is good"
For he evidently assumed that there
was something by which they could
hold fast, and so he bade Timothy
keep that which was committed to
bis charge; and another Apostle has
Instructed Us to contend earnestly for
the faith which vas once delivered to
the Saints But the free thought Of
which we now hear so maeh seems
too often to mean thonght rowing and
vsgraut more than free, like Delos
drifting on the sess of Greece, with
out q route. 3 direction, or home.
Again, you will hear necessarily OF
the adVancementlot OF the present age,
aud of the backwardness OF those
which had gone before it. And truly
it hiss been a wonderful age; but let
US not exsggerste. 1t has been, and
it is, an age of immense mental as
well as material activity it is. by no
means an sge sbounding in minds Of
the first order, who become great i'm
mortal teachers of mankind. It has
tspped as it were, and made dispossble
for man vast natural forces; but the
mental power employed is not to be
measured by the mere size of the re-
suits To perfect that marvel of
traffic, the locomotive, has perhaps
not required the expenditure of more
strength and devotion than
to perfect that marvel OF music, the
violin. In the material sphere the
achievements of the age are plentiful
and unmixed.l In the social sphere
hey are great and noble, but seen
aver 10 be confronted by q succession
IF new problems, which almost defy
In the sphere Of pure in.
elect / doubt whether pOsterity viii
ate US as highly as we rate ourselves
But what most wish 70 observe It
his, that it is an insuffersble arrog-
'ance in the men Of any age to as
ume what may call airs of un-i
superiority over former
Iges. God, who cares tor US, cared
or them also. In the goods OF the
world we may advance by steps only,
nd not strides, and by slow, and not
.lways steady steps, that all desira-
lie improvement OF man in the high
It ranges Of his being Is effected.
Again, my friends, you will hear
much to the effect that the divisions
.mopg Christians render it impossi-
lie TO say what Christianity is, and
70 destroy the certainty OF religion.
But the divisions among Christians
ire remarkable, not less 80 10 their
lnity in the greatest doctrines that
hey hold. Well nigh fifteen hum
lred years-years Of 3 more sustain
ID activity than the world had ever
,efore seen-hsye passed sway since
he great controversies concerning
he Deity and the person OF the Re
Ieemer were, after long sgony, de-
ermined. As before thst time, in q
manner less defined, but adequate 3
Dr. their day, so ever since that time.
mid all chance and change, more
ye, many more-than ninety-nine in
very hundred Chaistisns have with
ne will confessed the Deity snd m
OF our Lord as the cardinal
nd central truths OF our religion.
urely there is some comfort here
ome sense of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
lofy IN the past-some hope for the
mes that Ereto come.