The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1881-06-02

sects. Those who have one great
object ia view is to fud ont one an
other throughout q vast extent OF
country. join their forces, settle
their mode Of operation, and act to-
gether with the uniformity OF we'll
disciplined army. So extensive
have coalition become, aud so rapid
are the means of communication
that, when few leaders have agree |
on an object. an Impulse may be
given in q few days to the whole
country, and q voice like that OF
many waters be called forth from
immense and widely separated mul e.
titudes. Here is new power
brought to bear on Society. and it is
a great moral question how it ought
to be viewed and what duties it i'm
poses.
That this mode OF action has adj
vantages and recommendations is
very obvious. The principal argu-
ment in its favor, are stated in few
words. Men, it is Justly said, can
do jointly what they cannot do siu-
gly. The union OF minds and hands
work wonders.
Men grow efficient by concentrat-
ing their powers. Joint effort con.
qners nature, hews through noun
taius, rears pyramids; dykes out the
ocean. Man, left to himself, living
without fellow, if he could indeed
so live, would be one of tho weakest
OF creatures. Associated with his
kind, he gains dominion over the
strongest animals, over the earth,
aud the sea, and, by his growing
knowledge, may be said to obtain a
kind of property in the universe.
Men not only accumulate power by
union, but gain warmth and earnest.
ness. The heart is kindled; an
electric communication is establish
ed, or at least should be, between
those who are brought nigh, and
bound to each other in common la
bors. Man droops in solitude. No
sound excites him as the voice of
bis fellow creature. The mere sight
OF a human cOuntenance, frightened,
with strong aud generous emotions ;
gives new strength to act or to suf-
fer. Union not only brings to a
point, forces, which before existed,
and which were ineffectull through
separation, but by the feeling aud
interest which it arouses, it becomes
a creative principle, calls forth new
forces, and gives the mind con
seriousness Of power which would
otherwise have been unknown. We
have here given the common argu-
ments by which the disposition to
association is justified and recom-
meuded. They may be summed up
in a few words namely, that our So
cial principles and relations are the
great springs of improvement, and
OF vigorous and efficient excrtion.
That there is much truth in this re
presentation of the influences of So
ciety we at once feel. That without
impulses and excitem ents from
abroad, without sympathies and com. /.
munication with our fellow creatures,
we should gain nothing aud accomp-
lish nothing, we mean not to deny.
Still, we apprehend that on this sub
Ject there is want of accurate views,
and just discrimination.
We apprehend that the true use
OF Society is not sufficiently under
stood ; that the chief benefit which
it is intended to confer, and the
chief danger to which it exposes us,
are seldom weighed and that errors
or crude opinions on these points
deprive us Of many benefits of our
social connections.
1t is plain that the better we un-
derstand the true use, the chief ben. +.
ht, and the chief peril OF our social
principles and relations, the better
we shall be prepared to judge Of as
sociations which are offered for our
patronage. Society is chiefly im.
portant as it ministers to, and calls
forth, intellectual and moral energy
and freedom.
Its action on the individual is
beneficial in proportion as it awak-
ems In him a power to act on himself,
ana TO control or Withstand the So
cial influences to which he il at first
subjected. Society serves us by
furnishing objects, occasions /;
Materials, excitements, through
which the whole.soul may be