San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-10-21

| BApOSlllOu.
Nor by any manner of means of work
ing for men the hopeless task that peSSi-
miStS would fain proclaim it to be. Pro-
greSS Is the law OF nature and the law oil
natures God. Since the Creator has be-
| slowed upon us faculties capable of eX-
pansion, it must be His will that we
draw into action their latent forces.
| Since He subjected to us the earth. ii
must be His will that we take possession
| of it, and ASSERT our maStership of its
| every part. Powers lying dormant and
idle find no favor in Gods eye. Progress
is the continuity of creation; to arrest it,
| through malice or Incidence. is a crime
| against creator and creature. Chrst'S
| gospel is throughout a gospel of progress.
II announces that all things should be
| put to profit and increase; the talent
wrapt up in a napkin, not made TO fructi-
| fly, draws down upon its pOSSeSsOr the ire
| of the master. The parable of the talent
| rather primarily applies to progress in
material things History is the witness
| that humanity under ChriSt's touch was
| impeled into moral and spiritual pro.
| gresS with such might that centuries do
| not still the sublime vibration. The pes
Slmist who stands idly by uttering words
of encouragement, reads not natures
lessons in the brightness of its morning
sun, or in the richness of its autumnal
fruitage; he reads not in the bible the
divine lessons OF mercy and grace. There
shall always be in limited humanity sin
and misery, suffering and death. But
evil may be leSsened, and good may be
increased, and this Is progress. | will
never believe that good must necessarily
yield to evil, that the devil is stronger
than God, and hence | shall never cease
to put my hope in the progress of human
ity.
The history of humanity is history
&c A 81 . n
scene will not always bring out this i'm
pOrtant truth. There are in the tide of
progress backward currents and tortuous
WindingS. We must consider the general
movement of which the trend ceases not
to be toward higher planes.
Forward then; but still remember how
the course a time will swerve,
Crook and turn upon itself in many
backward streaming curve"
Disguised III rhythm of rise and de-
cline, of ehh md flow, of growth and de-
cay, the prog. rSS of humanity continues.
and the no rs nf the workers in the cause
of human't! obtain their rewards.
Through the ages one increasing pur-
pose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widening
with the process of the suns
The effect OF the work of our congresses
will be to give marked impetus to the
forward stream of progress. Their DELHI
erationS will provide the charts for the
march OF future generations.
The congresses organized by the con-
greSSsauXiliary will not be meetings of
pleasure or friendship: they will be sol
emn conventions of earnest men and wo-
men, working with MIND and heart for
progress, comparing together their obSer.
vatiOnS ana conclusions, drawing from
contact with one another light and heat.
and when separating more firmly reSOlV-
ed than before to labor for fellOwmen
The time is most suspicious. Manifest
Iy we live in one of those mOmentouS cy-
Giles OF history, when humanity is casting
around for new pathways and girdling
itself for unusual manifestations of it's
energies. How much has been done since
the days OF Columbus! Much more will
be done in the new period, whose ap-
prOach already brightenS the landscape
Ours lis an age Of unrest, of searchiugs
and dreamings. Past achievements have
but Whetted the appetite. We are today
less satisfied with inventions and dis
cOVerleS than we were when the steam
ship and railroad car were mere expert
mentS. Science is more restless in It's in
quiries into cause and effect, than when
IL made its first step beyond the border
land of gueSSings. Signal victories in
the. extension of popular rights and
OF ind ivtdual liberty, the elevation
OF the ina SEES, the enlargement of the
sphere of woman, make known how
much more may be obtained. and awaken
new and untried ambitions
Another feature of the age is its Ques-
tlOnlng spirit, Its tireleSS inQuiSitiveneSS
1t puts all things to the test: it peers into
the heights and depths, so as to arrive at
tn real facts, the ultimate foundations,
content TO repOse itself upon nothing else
No possibilities escape the vision, and 90
0ittlPnltipS a tfriDht tho haart Of 10
is embOIdeCed Y the past and enriched
with its accumulated treasures of know
ledge and experience. Never was hu-
manlty as daring as it is today, never so
ready to leave far behind the pillars of
Hercules and steer its ships over undis-
covered seas.
would remark, too, the universally
of its energies and labOrS. The manfeS-
tatiOnS of The age can be reduced to no
single force or trait. All the diverse en-
ergleS OF proceeding ages combine in it,
aud many others born of itself All for
ceS physical, scientific, social, moral are
evoked, and all are challenged to show
their best results.
The age is ready for great featS. If we
are the loyal workers OF progress our
lines are, indeed, cast amid hopeful sur
rOundingS.
The future! What will it be? Mate
rial progress, no doubt, will continue on.
ward with ever-lncreaSing velocity. The
widest dreams scarcely, | believe, fore
shadow the realities: nothing need be I'M
expected. The travellers to the Column
bian Exposition a hundred years hence
will perhaps, birdlike, sail through the
air, J0urneying in half-dOzen hours
from the Atlantic coast TO the city of the
Northwest on the banks of the Mississip-
pi. More unlikely would the prophecy of
| travel 0V rail, or steam, or electricity
have seemed to our forefathers one CEN
| tury ago.
trust in Providence and in humanity,
| and have confidence that the moral and
| social forces which now so profoundly
| agitate the world, will work into an in
crease of goodness and happiness among
men. Much will depend upon the intelli-
gence and zeal of those whom position