The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-11-15

bAternhl MRnuAtug, We have had many
significant tokens, that our prosperity,
chAstened though Il has lately been, has
deaiened our spiritual ear and danled and
Impaired our spiritual vision.
ThGie 10 no measure 50 sure and con.
slant for estimating tue state Of religion,
A. the state Of public and personal NOR.
ality.8MoralIty ls not religion, but Fell.
RiOn Is q superstition and a peril without
II. And there may, doubtless, be much
oil emotional religion among certain TEN.
potamenIs, In times and places where
moral standards and moral lie are low.
Indeed, ollentlmes, tho Oxcltements and
reViyals which arc resoTted 10, with many
outwatd, Indications Of success, are actually
created by q decay Of morality. People
lose 30 completely their Seli.FespeCt and
become 50 hopeless Of themselves, besides
losing the only sure corrective Of super.
sution-an active moral sOnsO-Lhat they
bCtGke themselves tOtellgisus exClloments
IN crowds, and become the victims OF self.
deluded and deluding fanatics. Among
the deepest and worst slRnS Of a low moral
life In the people have been 10 sweep OF
these popular religious revivals within the
last tow years. For this very period has
been fertile In tho weeds and tares Of pub
lie Vices and private crimes. Never have
80 many breaches Of trust, so many great
deiAultors In high lie aud among hitherto
respected or respectable people, 10 many
wlie-nurders, RsSRssinAliOns, suicides, W
many prccoClOus villains among boys and
girls, so many women Ia Iail, and often
Tor tho worst Of crimes, been alarming
and distressing carelll observers OF the
public lie. We have hardly known whom
We could trust, and often looked about in
vain for safe executors and administration
Tor our estates In the interest Of widows
and dependent children.
Can II DO that ii IA only n greater pub
LEFTY, the growth Of the press, that gives
this air oil alarming increase to the vice
and crime Of the nation? Arc the aban.
donod or divorced wives and iorsaken
children In our Asylum8 and refugees, all
only In ordinary course Of mortal weak
ness? should not like 10 believe II (; II ID
so hunllliatlng TO our common nature.
Are our political murders, our bought and
sold nominations, our corrupt legislatures,
our land mOnOpOlips, our falling savings
banks, our rings, hone tho less dangerous
because now often formed by superior
and decent class Of conspirators against
the Ignorance Of the publiG-are all these
signs oil r9ttennCss only the usual inhrml.
ties Of civilization in Christian hands9 Is
1t only the voice oil CASsanlra that Croaks
blind to the broad daylight, In her little
cloud OF smoke and dIlStP Have VIC a
right to say with many, ayes, all you OBJ
serve and report Of evil Ia true, but II Is
only small part Of the truth. There ia
more vice than usual, but there Is also
more virtue than ever; more irrcverence
and worldlineSS, but also more piety and
Observation-Disclosures; more accidents,
but more safety. You can't have many
railroad accidents, except where there arc
numerous railroads; Bor mauyiailureS, ex.
cept where there Is great amount
OF business nor many crimes, except
where there Is a great amount OF property
to tempt men," This Ia tho optimistic
view, and Is held 20 be very scientific aud
PhilOsoPhical-bu It is very deadening 10
the pulpit and to the cause OF Christ.
Doubtless there Is some truth in this form
OF excuse; thOrG Is more explanation, il
not apology, to be found in the freedom oil
our laws, the universality Of our suffrage,
the immigration otthe less governable por.
tions OF other nations, the new wealth in
hands Impractical to manage il, In tho
effects OF the long and demoraliElng war,
and IN the unhappy consequences OF an
unreal and deceiving currency. Thereare
many, many excuses TO DO made for our
moral declension. But, alter all arc al.
lowed iOr, there remains the decay OF faith
and worship, which is enough to accouu.
Tor the whole without any other reasons.
And mark you, It Is not tho changes in
theological opinion, the falling away Of old
dogmRs, that Is 10 DO lamented. That has
been inevitable. Ithas happened in spite
Of Us from the now light tlat has flooded
the world and betrayed tho talsity OF many
old creeds. Nor hGs that portion Of the
church or the world that has held on to
the old dogmas In form, escaped tho decay
OF that inward faith, the survival and sway
OF which Is the only really important In.
terest oil religion or Of humanity. The de.
cline In spirituality, or in reverence, "a.
piration and Observation-Disclosures, Is not
mere intellectual skepticism, or uncerlan.
~ as to the truth oil articles OF faith. il Is
q letharGy Of the spiritual principle, a
disuse and neglect Of our highest faculty,
which Is moral and spiritual vision. When
men cease 10 ponder and mediate upon
the infinite and unseen, cease TO exercise
q spiritual Imagination, cease to visit the
recesseS Of their own nature and explore
the destiny which their hidden powers
suggest and prophesy, they soon dwindle,
shrink and dry up. They become sensual
or worldly, vulgar and selfish, by fatal
necessity. When they cease 10 pray, they
cease to soar, cease to grow, for they cease
toltyein God and Christ. So long as inquiry
doubt, speculation, leave men in state,
Irevorent, .Prayerful and aspiring-it may
DO well with them, But when their souls
lose their eyes and their wings in this pro.
cess oil world.accommOdation, men begin
to groVel and sink into purely secular
and earthly creatures. And this Is q pro.
cess now only too plainly going on.
The. 10Th century, and especially the
American representation OF it, knows that
something Is wrong in our general life
wrong nj the top as well as ut tho bottom;
that 1t Is not ignorance, poverty, vice and
crime IN the lower classes-the slums OF
cities, the frontier Of emigration, or al tho
mouths Of our mines OF coal and precious
metAls-but in the Schooled and socializcd
and cultured class. We tried for while
- think thatit was popular education that
was going to cure everything. But eduCa-
honI IN the absence Of moral training, is
often found to be curse, Strengthening
the power Of mischief and liberatinv new
facilities to become the tools OF sordid or
dlAbolicll passions. We are now largely
trying tho influence OF esthctic culture.
and make much Of pictures and music and
pottery, TO which our youth gives an ever.
increasing and much admired attention.
But all the while It Is evident that Il IL not
reading and writing and arithmetic, nor
drawing and ColOring, nor music and soft
manners that eau radically improve our
condition. What We suffer from Ia tho
decay OF spirituralliie-oi the awe Of God
and the 6rOOding sense Of eternity, OF tho
and love.
Mr., Carlyle has ImmortalI4ed himself by
his liie-strnggle with the prosaic, utilila-
rian, worldliness that has reduced Eng
land to the vulgarity OF her recent dis.
graceful wars and treaties and imperial
ambitions. Mr.. Emerson has won his
deathless crown by maintaining the
authority OF spiritual substances against
tho tyranny OF debasing shows and shams.
But both. these great and spiritual mon
have emphasized the individual soul al
the expense Of tho common life inCarnat.
cd In Institutions. They have ignored
the church and made light Of tho faith,
which, except for phenomenal persons,
must DC drawn from common stock and
instituted and Cultivnind hy AIonIv aud
public methods. There must hO n public
faith omhOld0Rel III collective religious
life, from which average men and women
and children can draw sustOnancC, lean
on Tor support, and rellght their con.
sciences and the flame OF their devotion,
blown upon, as they constantly arc by
me gusts Of the worlds four winds,
There never was period 10 our history
when religious Institutions WOFO suffering
more from neglect, or from q low view Of
their Importance. Empty and closed
churches arc common. Before q more
living and nhnninn lnlIh all nrnInnninnn