The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1874-04-24
secution mere mot estimated

they are now We hail the answer.
1t is indeed a partial shield for
these noble names, but it is also q
most significant admission of the
moral superiority of our age.
Such men could not have commit
ted such sins in times like ours.
There are Christian believers
who significantly hint at the de-
cay of morals since their child
hood, and still more since some
underlined Golden Age. To take a
single and, as they think, an IN
answerable instance, they assure
us that children are not brought
up as they used to be, and do not
turn out so we'll" OF the two
sons in the parable, was not oRe a
prodigal? (and the other a very
mean fellow?) Had not the great
est of the Antonines a son named
Commodus? and Solomon a son
named Reh oboam? and David a
son named Absalom? and Eli two
sons named Hophni and Phinehas?
and Adam a SON named Cain?
And then "the prevalent drunken
ness, the terrible profanity, the
practical abrogation of the Sab
bath?' Yes, it is all bad enough;
it is very bad; but the question
now is, is it worse than ever? We
think not. The philosophy of the
case is simply this: We feel our
own burdens, we only hear faint
report of the burdens of our an
cestors. The songs of the past
come down to US more distinctly
than its groans.
II we really believe that, after
all the hard lifting of Christianity
for eighteen hundred years, the
world was still sinking down,
down, lower and lower in vice and |
crime, where would be our cour-
age to put forth another moral eff
fort, or to offer another prayer to |
a Being who had proved so incom-
petent to do what he has under
taken, with the help of the very |
best agencies he could devise? A
fair study of authentic history
mast convince us that the morals
of to-day are an immense advance
on those of ancient times; that
the morals of Christian nations |
are a radical improvement on
those of heather nations; and
that the morals of Christendom in
this third quarter of the nineteenth
centuay are better than in the
first quarter. Has not slavery
been abolished? and fioggIng in
the navy? and imprisonment for
debt? and political executions?
Has not the grim Dragon of War,
which has tapped his terrible
wings over the world for a hun
dred generations, found his match
at last, and heard the first signal
of his destruction in the peaceful
of two great nations2
We cannot but believe that these
great facts are tidemarks of real
progress. The world moves.
But "the Church." some good
men say, "Alas! the Church is
corrupt" Her enemies, of course,
even as in the days of jeremiah,
may be expected to wag their
heads and ask, sis this the city
that men call the perfection of
beauty, the joy of the whole
earth?' 1t is pity that the half
despairing wall of her mistaken
friends should ever mingle with
the taunts of her enemies. Bet
ter far, and truer, il all could be-
lieve, as one of the most judicious
and Widely-traveled of our Bish-
ops declares, that "the Church
was aecer more pure than now, and
aeCeT' so pot0eJuI for her work"
Has not the Church during this
century first fairly taken to her
heart the great commission? Are
not the foreign missionary move
ment, and tue Sunday school en-
terprise, and the immense dissem-
nation of periodical religious lit
erature, three sublime monuments
for our century?
Let US believe it, the Golden
Age is IN the future. AS tor the
the day hastens when
they shall ''learn war no more"
but shall have abundance of
peace" and of prosperity, and
their rulers shall be cali right
eous." AS for the Church, it
shall fill the world, ''as the waters
cover the sea-" 1t shall no longer
be darkened by sin, nor SCARED by
conflict, but shall be ga glorious
Church, without spot or wrinkle,
or any such thing" AS for US. if
we are true to our Lord "we shall |
be like him." ISUrsum coTdd. |
Eden is ahead.