The record-union., 1892-08-26

| might, with whole catalogue of words
Whlcn modern sophists used either in a
uouple sense orlnvolving the very propo-
sition which they protested to establish.
nat ne was insisting upon was that in
that Institute, at all events, they were
I Drought TO the test and discussed In the
open, IN the presence of many who were
Doth able and willing to ask with impair
Uial judgment whether the particular the
| SIS was established or not Certainly no
age ever demanded such an institution
| more.
among the many advantages intro
duced by the facility with which printed
natter might be circulated there was the
corresponding disadvantage that error
was consulted as easily as truth. And
error was ignorance, not knowledge.
one great Roman poet denounced with
bitter indignation the poetasters of his
tlme who degraded the literature of his
country. In our time we had the print
ing press, which Juvenal had not. Each
period had its popular madness. and the
torrent of trash which each age in turn
produced in full measure was turned in
ulIIerent directions. In these DAYS il had
taken the form which induced each pub
ncatlon to contribute its own little addi-
tlon TO the literature of unbelief. But.
side by side with an incongruity not
without example in the way of human
gree the most marvellous credulity on the
subject of spiritual manifestations and
table turning. Many who, ifthey did not
reject it absolutely, treated with a polite
indifference the teachings of eternal
truth. Some there were in this, our dav.
VINO even went beyond the carpenter of
Old who fashioned a god out of one part
or a tree and warmed himself with the
other, for they used the same piece of
wood for both purposes; they sat round a
table and listened to the rappinps and
ereaklngs with half belief, if not more
in the inspired character of the mahogany
Oh which they afterward ate their din
ner. one was not very likely to under
value the services to knowledge in its
widest sense of the researches Of scien-
tific men.
1t was absolutely bewildering to think
OF the silent but effective additions to
knowledge that were being made from
day to day, often without reward except
the satisfaction which success in such
research afforded for its own sake. Here,
however, was remark made by no
mean authority on the subject, that the
highest achievement of the most exalted
genus OF man had only been to trace a
part, and very small part, of that order
which the Deity had established in His
work. When we endeavor to pry into
the causes of that order, we perceived
the operation of powers which lay far be-
yond the reach of our limited faculties.
Those who had made the furthest ad-
vances in true science would be the first
to confess how limited those powers were,
and how small part we could compre-
bend of the ways of the Almighty
Creator. They would be the first to
acknowledge that the highest acquire
nent of human wisdom was to advance
to the line which formed its legitimate
boundary. They would not doubt that
their faith would long survive the caviIs
OF each succeeding wave of unbelief.
Not for the first time IN the history of
Hnrlstendom mad heresies seemed for a
time to prevail A period of great intel
lectuaI activity would naturally give rise
to many varieties of thought. But the
darkness of one period might be only
the precursor OF brighter dawn to sue
ceed