Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-02-25
HIsToRY-PAsr AND PRESENT.

ana customs, follow each other
too rapidly in this age for the proper
study Of their history, the full reali
cation Of their origin, their tendency
and their tinal end. To-day's history
is but the history of the past in diff.
ferent form and order.
We study history in the school as
children, observe it in the events of
the day as men, only to note names
aud dates, and form ideas aud opin.
ions, according to our religious train
ing or political education. The
characters of the past and the per.
sonages of the present are good or
bad, bright or dark, great or Insigni.
ticant, according to the bent OF our
mind or the scope and nature of our
knowledge.
All that is not history. 1t is in the
close scrutiny of every side OF II
questionable careful weighing OF
mems words and actions, the deep
sitting OF nations courses, aud fail
measurement of the causes and ell.
fects that have oppressed and liberia.
ted the human family, retai ded or
fastened mental p:ogress,-that We
arrive at something like an impair.
tlal study of history. In DUNG this,
alas! we find daik side to many OF
our brightest heroes and most fault
. less saints; and a bright side to
many of our darkest lights aud most
obscure shades of character. Ii
takes long, sometimes, to rid our
selves of the ideas and concep.
tions first formed. Misfortune aud
a fellow feeling carry us back the
quickest to souls that have gone out
to US centuries ago, and this day of
meeting has been appointed by time
and circumstances.
1t would be- rashness and presump.
ton to question the conclusions of
the learned with our limited advau-
tages of study and research; yet
otherwise humble and degraded, our
faculties OF mind are God given and
we are allowed to make contrasts
and comparisons that bear upon
each other between past and present
history, in relation to our own good
and the welfare of succeeding gener.
ations.
That which surprises us most and
lmpresses us strongest, is the growth
and development of opinion as APP
piled to religion and science the
condemnation of men in one age for
their advanced ideas and inventions
and their adoption and use In the
next;-the opposition of the church
and the civil laws that makes the here
sy of their own time the prosperity
of the future. The failure of one age
is the success of another. That which
leads one man to persecution and
degradation to-day, will bring anoth-
er man high reward and renown to
morrow. OF the many examples re.
corded there is none that appeals
more to the sympathy Of modern
science for the perpetuation Of men,
DRY and the credit Of discovery, than
that of the poor franciscan, Roger
Bacon. The fruits of his labors
other names enjoy to undying fame.
Three centuries after him Lord Ba.
con reaped the harvest of the seed
he prepared on rocky ground. He
corrected the computations of time
which ages after and to the present
passes for the Gregorian calendar.
But for his persecution and impris.
onment the telescope and microscol e
and the discoveries of a Gallileo and
Newton would have seen the light
OF day,-a blessing to science-cen.
turtles before their time. Yet in all
his Universities he was resigned and
submissive amid the ignorance and
prejudice around him, and liberation
in his old age only brought SORROW
for the pain he had given himself in
the interest of science. This age and
country should cherish the memory
of Roger Bacon, for he is the corner
stole of our science, rejected by the
builders in one age to be accepted
by them in another.
We cannot bring ourselves to &C.
cept the causes advanced for the
conduct of The church Ia former times
in her relation to science,-fear for
the safety of orthodox faith and
morals,-the dangers threatened to
society by innovations and untried
theories,-for it is plain fact that
all the social, religious and politi-
cal upbeayals of history broke out of
the church from ,cithin and not in
from without. 1t seems more reas.
enable to suppose that the pent up
heat was generated by the social
and religious friction of free thought
and independent action that threat
ened the wealth and power of the
existing order of things. What