Telegram-herald., 1890-04-05
PRESENT Us. PAST
Rev. DIR. Potts Lecture az the d.
ylsion-Streer n. 4. Church.
4 BRILLIANT HISTORICAL REVIEW
ne Holds that by All Fair And LoEie~i
Companions. the Werid -
Growing Better
aud Better.

At the DiylSion-StTeet Methodist
Church, last evening, Rev. J. ii. Potts,
d. D., OF Detroit, editor of the ChrssssaA
Adroeate, delivered lecture entitled,
"Is the World Growing Better The
lecture was gwen under the auspices OF
the Young Peoples Endeayor Society,
OF the Ames NJ. L. Church.
Or. Potts Is stone deaf, and referred
pleasantly. though not apologetiealiy,
TO ms iniirmiIy. He began his lecture
by saying that some think the
world Is growing worse. But, mas
much as this view cut off all hope OF the
eyangelization OF the world, he did not
stop 10 dwell long on this view OF the
case, but contented himself by detail
ing few of the causes which had put
THIS gloomy view into mems hearts.
He said that the world can not be made
10 appear 10 be growing worse, except
10y sophlstcal comparisons OF the pres
ent with the past. IL We compare GER
tain bad localities of today with the
better ones of the past, the false i'm
preston could thus be produced, but
not otherwise, that the world is growing
worse.
The first question that naturally
arises IN the discussion is, Is the world
growing wiser? for he thought ignor-
ance a certain bar against the progress
of moral hte. If 1t can be said truly
that the world is growing wiser, increas-
ing IN wisdom, then there is the assur-
ance OF hope that il IS growing better.
There Is natural connection between
knowledge and moral condition. "The
truth shall make you free" The old
idea was that education could be and
should be given only to the few; but in
view of the universal diffusion of
education today, the question may be
answered at once: Yes, the world is
growing better. Here the speaker gave
an eloquent exposition of modern
life rs IL mas been affected
by the discoveries and inventions of re-
cent years; and all this he contrasted
wildly with the immediate past, and
the comparison showed very unfsvor-
ably for the past. In the past, the IN
tellectual process for reaching truth
was TO formulate theory and then ex
PLAN the facts by the theory. The
modern process is first TO marshall the
facts, and from them to infer the law
by the process of generalization. The
principles of inductive philosophy are
the only absolute authority, which the
ancIents knew nothing of rs an actual
process. Again, the ancients reasoned
from the material to the intellectual,
and reduced the operations of mind
70 la W of NH
permeates matter. This brings into
the moral life fatalism or law of
necessity, which destroys moral and in
dividual responsibility. THIS was the
philosophy of the ancient HindoO, the
Mohammedan, the school-men. 1t is
the philosophy of the infidel of all ages.
The judgment | form in the midst of
my environment, | form of necessity,
and not by the free choice of moral
being. ii this be the true view, there
Is no moral responsibility; hence no
punishment; hence no truth in the
Bible; hence no redemption, no Chris
tlanity.
But our best modern life is marked
by conformity To a system based upon
our conscious laws of thought involv-
ing personal responsibility. An old
theology used to deny that man could
repent. Now there Is Il recognition tnat
all may be saved who Will.
From this point the speaker proceed
10 make some exhaustive comparisons
between the moral, religious, political,
industrial and social life of the past and
of the present, and reached the hope
full conclusion that the world was
moving onward to a very high destiny.
At the conclusion, the speaker was
highly applauded by the audience, but
he heard nothing Of II.