The Portland daily press., 1873-11-01
Now.a. days and the Days of Old.

his congregation graphic sermon on the boil
lowness, heartlessness and hopeless depravi-
ty that pervaies all classes and conditions in
society 1t was a dreadfully dark picture,
aud If his hearers took it to heart, they must
have felt very uncomfortable. There was
much of truth in it, more of imagination
aad perhaps little of that dys peptic so n :
sreness taat comes of good dinners with too
little out-of-door exercise and too little actual
contact with all kinds of men.
Like this good man, there are lots of peo-
pie who put on look of hopeless despond-
sncy when they speak OF nowadays. Since
the beginning of the 10Th century. they can
see 20 good, and during the last quarter of
century nothing but evil. Their faces are
Aways turned to the past. In the glow of
antiquity, the fogs and mists Of superstition,
snd ignorance of the past become a divine
halo around this now wrecked globe, and its
men and women appear in it as gods and
goddesses. The men who then died in dun
geons or at the stake for truths sake, were
martyrs Of god. like mould, while the humble
men and tinid women who volunteered 20
comfort the dying in Memphis hospitals and
thsre became victims of the fever scourge,
were the weak devotees of sentimentalism,
eager for any service that would lift them out
OF the selfish throng to which they belorg
and Of which they were part In their es-
timation there were never warriors of such
courage and devotion as those who fought on
the plains OF Marathon. The men who sue
fsred at Valley Forge are only magnifed into
heroic size as years separate them from the
present, while those who crimsoned the
rugged hills of Gettysburg with their blood
were but ordinary men inspired by vulgar
enthusiasm over a bit of bunting George
Washington alone of all our Presidents is
held up as model of wisdom and patriotism
while Abraham Lincoln was but an ignorant
backwoodsman when living, and now is only
vsnerated because his life and deeds are mat.
ters ofhistory. Indeed this class of good peo-
pie are only happy when reading the records
OF venerable historical societies..
1t is not our purpose to extol the intell-
gence and virtue of the present day. The
Aillennial period has not yet begun nor is
there any immediate prospect that the
thousand years of peace" and perfection are
ready to be rung in. True the Bourbons in
Europe still insist, in puerile prattle that they
are "kings by the grace of God'' and have a
divine right to move nations like puppets and
tax and clash them together at their pleasure.
In our own country, the Jay Goulds and
Vanderbilts by fraud and violence, bind heavy
burdens upon commerce and industry, but
the late upheaval in Wall street has so nearly
broken their sceptre that their abdcation is
only question of time Indeed, the phan
tom of the Democratic party, like Banquo's
ghost won't down" and still insists on being
rs-organized as living and positive power of
darkness. Nevertheless we have no sympa-
thy with those Who continually glorify the
past an denounce the present and it will re-
qlire but superficial survey OF The history of
the past and comparison with the present TO
show that the world never held so advanced
. position in civilization, general intelligence,
and morality as to-day.
The moral status of community can only
be ascertained by noting the degree of acute
ness on moral questions, and the degree of
reprobation which they visit upon exhibit
tions Of vice. Apply this test to the past
and the present and the comparison it enables
us TO draw will be favorable to the latter. Da-
vid an Solomon were excellent men. according
to the standards of their time in which their
great virtues obscureG and palliated their Of
fences; but judged by the severer mo ality of
to-day, no amount of intellectual power or
pious professions could save them from be-
coming social outlaws, or would render them
available as candidates for public place.
To-day the moral sentiment of Great Britain
would be so outraged by the licentiousness of
the court of Charles II. time, lhatpublic indig-
nation would find expression in revolution.
In our own country in its earlier days, per-
sonal purity was cf so little account that
Aaron Burr, infamous for his immoralities,
was elected Vice President, and came within
one vote only of securing the Presidency.
Literature that was freely read by all classes
hundred years since, has since been banish-
ed as indecent So sen4itive is the public
mind to the purity of character of its public
men, that rumor of impropriety against one
is followed by demand that he either clear
his skirts of it or stand condemned.
The history of the development of Christi
anity viewed from the present stand point.
affords abundant evidence that the Christian
church of to-day has fuller realization of
the import of the Masters teachings and is
nearer in its approach to His high standard
than ever before. In the days of the refor-
nation. both Romish and Protestant history
is disgraced by frequent deeds of savagery
that would now appall the civilized world.
There is no question but that the Pilgrim
fathers were the most devoted and the most
conscientious men of their times, but the |
method they employed to convince Baptists |
and Quakers of the error of their ways. would
not be sanctioned to-day. Our older people
tell US of ordination dinners" where the |
most exemplary of divines grew merry on the |
abundance of good liquors, always furnished |
on those occasions. To-day public sentiment |
In Maine condemns the use of wines at public /
dinners, and the German clergyman who re-
Gently defended moderate drinking in Massa- |
chusetts, was held up by the press of the |
country as curiosity greater than an Egyp- |
tian mummy. All of us can remember when |
leading clergymen in the North defended the |
crime of human slavery, when leading de- |
nominational papers were conservative on
this subject, and the American Tract Society
refAsed to publish tract against the system.
To-day there is not a clergyman in the LAM |
who will not declare that it was great wrong |
and in antagonsm with the positive teaching
and spirit of the Bible.
Slnce the dawn of the Christian era there
has been conflict between the kingly few
ano 1ne masses. AS intelligence has become
general, as the teachings of Christ have been
ssuer understood and more generally accept
ad' lne rights of man have been recognized,
until to-day the civilized world laughs at the
i.osnt ietter OF Count de Chambord as relic
VI the aack ages. Yet it was but few wears
S'1'9 'n"' tue reformers who denounced slav-
"! wrong were mobbed in the cities Of
'ns sor'n Oymen who held positions of respect
aoi''y Later national party sneered at tbs
Idea OF a higher law" and emblazoned mon
its banners, ''slavely extension r. . 49,