National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-03-22
TIE WORLDS BEST CENTURY.
Robert Laird Golfers Sermon on Prog
ress-The Poeticnl VS.. Scientific Idea.

ress-The POeticnl VS. Scientific Idea
At All Souls Unitarian Church Rev.
Robert Laird Collier preached to a large
congregation yesterday morning from Gala
tians II, Is: ~ build again the things which
l destroyed" lie said that in modern civ
ilization faith in progress is universal n
was, indeed, a tenet Of modern philosophy
that progress is an instinct Of human nature;
in other words, It is perfectly natural; man.
kind has feeling that mankind must go
ahead. Both poetry and history seem to be
in conflict with this theory Of modern soci-
ETY., but in point Of fact there is a prollmi-
nary question which cannot be set aside II
we propose to ask an Endorsement from
either poetry or history for this general be-
lief OF the race.
What ia progressP Even psychologists
are not agreed as to what animals may
properly claim to be called the higher ami
mails, and II Is not strange that In the COM
pick problem Of society no criterion has
been agreed upon as standard Of prog
ress. No rule for determining the stand
ard OF progress can be stated upon which
all men would agree, but rule OF progress
may be stated which most people would
admit to be true and against which oppo-
sitlon would stand no chance In establish
ing creed Of the civilized world.
The Oldest traditions of especially the
older group Of nations confirm In some way
or other the old Hebrew story that man be-
gan at his best. The modern scientific
theory is that man began at his worst.
Through all classical antiquity there was
tradition Of the golden and silver ages that
had precedod; just as among the Hebrews
there was the same tradition, In kind, OF
Eden and Of the perfect first man. These
were poetlcal traditions, and there We're
40 Y,n1 tha
| and the principle Of this poetry. Whole
nations had remained stationary, as to pro
| grces OF any sort, from the dawn OF their
| history. Other nations have advanced for
| long periods without any perceivable set
| back, and then at last come to point
beyond which they have never gone, as the
| Chinese; and this national immobility has
| become with that nation q sacred creed.
| Other nations still, once the most powerful
and endowed with splendid civilization,
are now in state Of decay; such nations
are the Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, and
Roman. Others still have passed wholly
| from the face Of the earth. We find com
munitiCs In close proximity to the track OF
civilization that have been steadily going
back and which give signs Of ultimate eX-
| tinCtion; for instance, the tribes OF Aus
tralia, Of North and South America, are
| being swept from their hold on the earth,
| just rs the nations that preceded them sue
cumbcd to the invasion Of still higher
| races.
Some one calls civilization the blossom
ing Of the migration OF tribes, and is OF
the opinion that every great section Of pro-
| gross has started from some barbaric in
vasion, and further, that the most nobly
organized races Of men have always had
the greatest tendency to migrate. Europe,
for instance, has had its three ages-the
stone, the bronze, and the iron-each period
corresponding to a different race aud terri
torial supremacy. The bronze men came
from q great distance and introduced the
| knowledge OF metals and their working
together with q sense Of art, and the custom
of burning the dead, whilst the tall, strong,
long.hcaded men Of the iron age represent
the first for war and conquest, and brought
the tribes which preceded them into sub
lection.
Mr. Herbert Spencer, on the other hand
says civilization Is the increase OF the
adaptation OF man to his environment
that Is, the adaptation of his internal pow
ers and wishes to his external light ant
life. A tribe of Australians may be bette
able to throw boomerang or light flr'
without matches than the English colonist
near them, but in everything that make!
happiness and enjoyment, In the use o
implements and utensils, and In that tina
makes II possible for them to resis tbarbari'
hostility, skill In war, the natives are q
the mercy of the intruding Englishmen.
That Interpretation Of history which dc
! MES progress gets its theory and its con
clusion from the fact that 1t mistakes th
form for the spirit Of the history itself. In
. vestigation seems to show that the decln
Of one civilization has been the direct RI
. suit Of the progress of another. Egypt ha
: not lost her instinct Of progress unit
. Greece had woven into the very texture @
, her thought and life whatever was valuabl
. in that old civilization. And Greece, Il
her turn, Invested In the Roman civllizl
: ton whatever she had that was best an
highest before her progressive impulse wa
= lost. So the essence of all civilization
goes to make up the civilization of tn
+ nineteenth century. Not all that wa
l valuable:in past civilizations has been pre-
served for us, but the better elements hay
been to such an extent handed down tina
this is, upon the whole, the best century /
the history Of the world.
The progress Of the arts is proof OF Oh
continued progress Of civilization, and c
the arts the most conspicuous for progress
is the military art. Napoleon could hay
conquered Alexander. The battle array G
mankind, the fighting forces of the huma
1 race, constantly mark the essential and pc
sistent law of civilization. Force hi
tended to concentrate itself more an
: more in certain groups which We call ii
c Of progress IN the arts of war is the fact thi
II military vices actually decline as miltal
Is strength augments There is an improv,
10 mentin the moral fiber of civilization.
/, Cardinal Newman has said that men al
Q, guided always by type and not by arg
Ie ment. 1t is the life Of the teacher which
e catching and not his doctrine. The Chri
70 tian era was ushered In by the power OF
ir life, which life became type and not
rs logic. The first ages of the Christian r
D. ligion were ages of simple faith. 1t WI
h the life Of Christ that caused those abol
/ Him to believe in Him. There was no SUI
9, thing as critical method. Christ himse
g was wonder, miracle, a revelation
God; and to represent Christ and to repo
his sayings the simple and honest write
everywhere, in the most simple and hone
T. way, used the language of wonder and
T. miracle. They are telling the story of fat
"a not of fact. 1t was believed that the kin
m dom Of God somehow (and nobody kne
is howl was at hand-that the Messiah hi
" come upon the earth, and every hour in Il
., life OF our Master, every saying and eve
"a was fulhllment of all the law and d
3, prophets. Men for the first time came
Il the consciousness that God was right her
" and from this proceeded ground swell
IT. feeling which gained in force through d
% entire apostolic age. Cold intellect, aft
y twenty centuries, stands dumb or doubtil
IL UelOFe Inesc TeCOTusi loT VIC Cohio WI
! critical spirit and nineteenth.centu
r methods. But who shall say what is tr
N and what is false in this domain of feeling
~ We have entered upon an age OF spiritu
u, reason, criticism. AS 1t was attempted
Va prolong the conquests of feeling when I
ID feeling itself had passed away, now VIII
ID this era OF ecclesiAsticism, of the authori
4 of popes and churches, OF prepostero
q, creeds and frightful anathemas have Il
n their power over the conscience OF the raC
ne there is struggle as unto death to ma
as tain its sway, but spiritual reason now
rs tingushes between the poetry and the IA
k, criticism seems to approach midday glo
Il the light has come, darkness disappears,
pcumenical council no EVANGELICAL ALLAN