The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-10-24
POSSIBILITIES In REFORM.

sition he holds in the world and the
light in which he is beheld by his
brothers, is povcrbially prone to pass
a judgment upon himself harshel
than the calumy of his enemies, borr
from the darkest despair and utter
hopelessness. He finds possibilitie:
in reform. He thinks he is too base
too far descended in the paths of de.
gredation ever to feel the influence
of a resurrection in his moral ma
ture, too sinful to hope for or receive
forgiveness. After the hours in which
such reflections possessed him pass,
he plunges even more careless of sou
and life into the downward vortex
nor is he likely to again rise up into
the calm evening sunlight of renewed
and sustained virtue. Faith is lost
Faith and hope. Without these the
mortal becomes less than human,
degenerates into the sullen animal.
In our age the philanthrophy of re-
form has become a "craze' even ir
the light that word is applied to a
new sport Or fashion. A nature full
of sympathy, big with humane COM
passion and tenderness, proud of his
race and time, taking further pride
in the ultimate success of his land and
race, assumes the garb of a disciple
and breaches to the criminal and sin.
full classes the doctrines of reforma-
ton and creeds of salvation. 1t is
not strange the lessons fall short OF
their mark and fail SO frequently to
exert any permanent benefit upon
the piteable scholar. He is told OF
the Joys awaiting those who turn
from evil ways to paths of truth, he
doubts his ability to gain those joys.
He is told of the benignant love and
forgiveness that awaits the penitent,
he pictures himself too evil to attain
that forgiveness, and the moralist' $
words, the lecturer S sentences serve
only to bring back the bitterness of
past reflections upon his heart which
soon sees the birth of fresh despair
and eventually a deeper plunge into
the illimitable darkness. The mod
ern reform, the reform that is needed
to perfect and prepare our world for
its immeasurable reaches upward
after the conuuests of mind and mat
ter in future ages, the reform that is
to relieve our country and its chris
tan element from the burden of
vice and moral prostitution the GRIM
inal classes place upon its shoulders
must court its subjects with compli-
ments. Unjust tell them of their posi-
bilities to attain the joys of the pure
and forgiveness of the divine. With
hopes and aspirations planted in the
human breast no matter how base
and sinful its course may have been
will grow upward into desires for
and afterwards into the lofty accom-
plishment of revived morality. In
structed in this way the breaker of
the ten divine mandates will not fail
to see possibilities in reform for even
so base a dog as himself. A lesson
of this character, however, becomes
mountainous task to administer,
The mind to be reached by its in
huence is beforehand made dull and
obtuse by the actions Of the profaned
body, and is imperyious to intellec-
tual impressions. 1t is strange that
nature, the pure, the exalted, the
uncontaminated should ever be made
a handmaiden for mans SMILES in
presenting reformatory lessons. In
view of this new regime in moral
teaching she presents an inCompar-
able text: Let the imagination pic
ture lake, clear and crystalline as
the dew of morning, beautiful in be-
ing calm. At its bottom, however,
must lurk, as the laws of organic for
nation have decreed, the blacklist
and vilest mud, yet, how often from
such pollution, through the all-pure
surface of the pool spring those
flowers, delicate as the hands of an
gels,-thc Water Lilies? SO is it
even possible that from the darkest
regions of vice the sinner may bios
som forth through the limpid purity
of moral creeds into the delicate
flower of Virtue, Cases of this kind
in the Plant Kingdom are visibly nu-
merous each Responsibilities of their
occurrence in the human family are
thrice multiplied. The criminal needs
to be told not alone of his vices, and
duty to the races of the earth and
sky, but of his capacity to share with
the white-robcd and cleansed, the
bread and wine of their communion.
The bright and sunny nature of our
land and the people who tread its
paths, must not be married by the base
actions and desires in portion of
mankind. The blue and beautiful
armament should ever smile down
upon universe of perpetual virtue
and morality. Let the simple but
invaluable sentence of the MASTER
eye who believe i'll me me shall have
life everlasting" be more frequently
whispered in the ear of the moralist's
subject and thrice multiplied num-
Der of members Of our incorporate
and vicious classes will begin to per
ceive infinite possibilities in reform.