The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-03-27

temple towers. All over Judea a strange
commotion is going on. From one end of
the land to the other people are hurrying
to listen to the words and follow the foot
steps of strange young man from Naza-
reth. In thousand homes, alike in the
crowded streets of the city and in the quiet
of the country the anxious question is being
asked, els this he that should come or
lock we for another" She catches glimpses
of him as he traverses the hills and valleys
of Judea preaching his sublime gospel of
peace and good will to men, but prominent
among all the thronging pictures that make
up the life of the Son of Man, she sees him
gathering the little children in his arms,
clasping them to his heart and exclaiming
to his followers who would have warned
them away, "Suffer little children to come
unto me, and forbid them not, for of such
is the kingdom of Heaven"
Again the picture changes-the loud &C
claim of the city throng gathered to wei
come the great prophet who they hope is
to release them from the heavy yoke of
Rome. Joining the popular tumult the
children's cry too rises, filling all the tenn
pie courts, Hosanna to the Son of David,
blessed is he that cometh in the name of
The Lord" She notes the fact that while
the rulers look coldly on, the young read
ily proudly welcome the Prince of Peace.
The crucfixion is past, Christ has died
and risen, and now that last scene by Cali
lee is the object of the vision. The night
has almost passed, the fishermen have toled
all night and now at the dawn their labors
have been rewarded. The lake spreads,
sheet of silver berfore them, fire
of Goals sparkle on the shore, while
over the hills stream the first rays of the
dawn. While the risen Jesus bids his dis
ciples to the repast; it is upon Peter, re-
pentant, that his most searching glance
rests as he asks the question, "Simon low
est thou me?'' elf thou lowest me feed
my lambs" What sad commentary upon
history that the church has SO often forgot
ton this injunction. "Feed my lambs - is
now, as then, the dictate both of religion
and enlightened craftsmanship.
There is shifting of the train of images
from Palestine to other lands, and through
the dreamer's brain, uncontrolled by the
will, figure after figure passes, then gives
way to others as evanescent. There is the
young Cyrus training for the conquest of
the east. She notes the iron rule of Lycur-
gus. The young of Spartans training in
hardship and suffering that nation of
soldiers might be reared to meet and scat
ter the hosts of Persia at Thermophylae or
Platan. She sees the Spartan mother send
ing her son to battle with injunctions to
return with his shield or upon it, and thanks
the genius of modern civilization, that has
made war the exception instead of the rule
of the day as in the good old times of
Greece.
There are Socrates and Plato gathering
the youth of Athens around them and i'm
parting the maxims of that immortal phil
osopher that has come down to us along the
centuries as the worlds purest models of
thought, teaching the spirit and much of
the doctrines of Christianity, centuries be-
she sees at last the letters and the literary
culture of Greece and Rome overthrown by
wild boards of the north, or dying slowly
of themselves in an age of vice and luxury.
There is period during which the shad-
ows become indistinct, but through the
gloom in which the culture of the preced-
ing age becomes almost extinct, she notes
here and there that a few sparks of literary
culture still survive and at last faint rays
are seen. Though the church had leagued
with the barbarian arms to destroy all the
literature of the world, they failed in the
attempt at last. The language has become
a barbarous jargon, but out of the thick
night of these ages Charlemagne emerged
at last with the public school. She saw
the scholars of Bagdad and Cordova assert
ing the superiority of mind in spite of the
age. She sees how Alcuin, and Erigena
and Gerbert tower up as intellectual giants
amid the darkness of their age. Alfred
calls into being the university of Oxford.
One after another those great universities
take their places, and begin to pour their
| floods of light upon the darkness of their
age. There is Bologna and Pisa, Paris and
Orleans, Prague and Leipsic, and host of
others, each thronged with students. Lit
tie by little the long night of ignorance
| lifts and the {" Dark Ages" pass away.
| Little by little the sword yields to the pen
as the disposition grows stronger to learn
something of the years that had already
passed into history. There were Wickliffe
and Huss with the Bible, Gutenberg and
Faust with the printing press.
Among them all there is no figure that
leaves as vivid an impression as that of one
ofthese university students singing through
| the streets for his bread. A lady calls him
| to her side and offers him her home.
| The next scene Is one of wild commo
ton. The ancient city of Worms is aroused
as one man to get sight of Germany's
great preacher and reformer, who has
struck such fearful blows at the supersti-
| tons of his age. She catches glimpse of
the preacher in the crowd, and the street
singer and the great preacher are seen to
be one. lie IOllSnG tne, tlll tHeH, uhieaiu
of battle of free conscience, and unde
signedly to himself won the highest niche
in the worlds Pantheon of fame, but side
by side with his the name Of Ursula Gotta
the lady who fed the street singer and
saved him to the ranks of scholarship, will
60 down to the latest time, inseparably
linked with that of Germany's great re-
former.
The shadows grow less distinct as litera-
ture and art advance and they increase in
number. There is the mother of the Wes-
eys training her sons for their great mis-
sion. She dimly recognizes the figures of
Calico and Newton, of Watt and Fulton.
She sees the hardy American settler build
ing his school house in the forest clearing
or laying the foundation of his colleges,
viii the Indian yell still resounds through
the forests around the scattered hamlets
She sees as the piOneerS push westward