The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-05-18
BRAIN AS A MOTOR.
How the Common People Rale and
Are Elevated.

io" INC SoihIhoh fcople taie ant
Are Elevated.
This was prophecy fifty year
ago; it is history to-day" said MI
Beecher last night at the Congrega
tioaal church, in his lecture, 9Th
reign of the Common People" III
had been speaking of a book entitled
democracy in America" writer
half a century ago by Frencl
scholar, who had visited the United
States to study its manners and it
institutions. In this work he made
known to Europe the rise and prog
ress of the great democratic move
ment-using the word not in
political but philosophical sense
the movement of the minds of th,
whole people in public affairs, rathe
than the movement of the minds O
a class of men. He prophesied ther
that this movement would compe
all Europe to change its forms o
government. His words" said Mr.
Beecher, "have come true. Tha
change has gradually come over th,
whole civilized world and is extend
lug even further. Great Britain is
as much republic to-day as we are
A monarchy is not necessarily ;
monarchy because it has that name
nor is republic really a republic
because it is called so. The mind
and will of the common people is a;
much felt in Great Britain-it i:
even more directly operative-than
it is in this Republic. France is q
declarative republic. Spain is awak
ing, and as long as such men a;
Castelar, have such companionship;
and opinions, it cannot long be
asleep. When two men have dieo
there will be a great change in Ger
many. Austria is far ahead of Ger
many SO far a representation of pub
lie influence in administration is
concerned. The name of Austria
used to be synonym for all that
was absolute and arbitrary, but tho
ploughshare of war has turned up
the soil for the more generous harry.
est which is to follow.
RUSSIA ALONE STANDS CLoOMILY,
a great empire subject to great con.
cussions, for that mysterious some
thing known as the popular will is
constantly being generated when
there is no channel through which
it may be carried safely away. II
you generate steam and have no
safety valve nor cylinder, you will
be sure to have something else
Russia is in that position. There is
a continual development of popular
force and without a legitimate chan
mel to carry it off, the explosion is
sure to come. No power can bind
an ocean of people, even as no power
can bind the ocean itself.
WHAT IS TRUE DEMOCRACY?
''True democracy has been the
physiological and psychological de-
velopment of the human race. 1t
has been such a development of the
brain force as that now it is not
only the brain which rules, but the
superior brain. 1t is no longer the
man of muscle that controls the
world. Hercules was well enough
for his time. But time has gone,
and men have come up through a
whole cycle until that part which is
characteristic of men-brain force
has come into the ascendency in
communities. The progress of dem
ocracy indicates not merely the
fortunate invention of political in
stitutions and methods, but it in
dicates the development of the hu-
man race up to point which it
never attained until the present day.
How did this all come to pass?
WHAT HAS DEVELOPED MAN
in this way? Now, if the theory of
evolution is true, and it is true l
do not mean everything is true that
is connected with that word, but
that method of creation was not in
staneity, but was the creation of the
rudimentary germ form, which
under the influence of natural law,
gradually unfolded in successive
stages so that they ran through
ages. / believe, and every man of
intelligence believe, be he Christian
or Agnostic, and certainly if he be
under forty years of age; for my
part | believe that the human fami-
" has come up. | don't know
whether our ancestors were monkeys
or not, and | don't care. 1t is all
mere speculation. Darwin was not
there when it took place. He don't
know. If a man was ever evolved
out of n monkeys skin, he did not
keep a journal. / would just as lief
it was proved that | was descended
from a monkey, provided that l
have descended far enough. Seri-
ously though,
THE HUMAN FAMILY BEGAN,
not at the highest stage, but at the
very bottom, and has risen through
various stages. You tell me the
says that our first pa
rents were made in the likeness of
God. Very true. But the catechism
also says that they fell from their
high estate and all their posterity
with them. When they fell they
made complete business Of it.
They fell fiat, but they have come
up again. So, strangely, science and
the catechism are together on that
point. If evolution, then, be true,
we should expect that this develop
ment should have taken place ac-
cording to this doctrine. We should
expect that the brain unfolding
from the inferior conditions of the
nervous system, would be carried on
and up to the time when the moral,
rational, superior brain of the hui
man race would overbalance the
mere animal brain. This has taken
piece"
Continuing, the lecturer asserted
that whatever Droduced excitement