The Progress., 1893-10-21
bosses, by tricky politicians, an.1 they
have followed skillful leaders blindly.

! bosses, by tricky politicians, AL they
have followed skillful leaders blindly.
AN EXPLOSION IMMINENT.
Sointense are becoming these elements
of corruption that it cannot continue
longer without an explosion. The lamp
has been lit, and it has been left burning.
A woman in a western home during the
war sent servant into the cellar with
( lighted candle to look for some object
/ The servant returned without the candle
The housewife asked where she had left
| t. She said that she had left it III a bar
rel of sand in the cellar The housewife
remembered that there was a barrel OI
powder standing open in the cellar
Without moments hesitation sine
rushed below and found that the igno-
rant girl mad thrust the candle down into
/ the loose powder and left it burning. She
lifted it carefully and extinguished it.
The movement for universal suffrage
in this century has placed the candle Of
knowledge, without a candlestick, i'll the
loose powder of the common people.
This light of knowledge is burning closer
and closer, and the heat is becoming
more and more intense with each mo-
ment. There is no power on earth, un-
der the earth or above the earth that
can remove that candle from its posi-
tion. By law as sure as the law of
gravitatiOn. the flame is approaching
the powder, nearer and nearer every
day. When it reaches the end-that is.
the point of actual, conscious contact
with their mind-there will be an explO-
sion that will unsettle thrones and ira
ditions, whether occupied by the czar of
Russia or Richard Croker | of New
York.
INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION.
Fourth-The universally Of education
is factor in the closing of the nineteenth
century which must make new world
in the twentieth.
We havenow entered upon the democ-
racy of letters. Hitherto in the history
of mankind knowledge was confined to
the few. The higher professions were
open only to the sons of distinguished
men. Now they are opened to the child
OF the state born and reared in obscurity
and disgrace and poverty. There is no
limitation to the possibilities of human
endeavor, because education has been
brought within the reach of all. In
America we have 100000 children in
our public schools. This means that the
next generation will be a new people.
With this wide diffusion of knowledge
has come the scientific spirit of inquiry.
New blood has been brought into our
world of science, our world of philoso-
ply. Men no longer reason by the stand
ards of Aristotle and Plato They do
not ask what has been taught by the
/ great men of the past and stop there.
They do not seek authority for action.
They search for truth for itself. They
refuse to be bound by the traditions of
the past. The time was when knowl-
edge was confined to certain clique in
society. They had their peculiar ideas.
| They were educated in their own pc
culiar schools. They thought in ruts.
! Their minds never travelled beyond cer-
tain well defined limitations, and in con-
sequence they travelled in q circle con-
tinuously.
A GENERAL READJCSTMENT.
With the universal diffusion of knowl-
edge and the introduction of new spirits
in the field of investigation, all this has
been changed. Nothing is now settled
save that which is settled upon the basis
/ of proved fact. Every tradition, every
theory, every creed, must stand the test
of this investigation. Every theory of
state, every notion of society, every
theory of religion, must be resubmitted
to this court of last adjustment-the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the
truth.
For the first time in the history of the
world this spirit dominates the educated
mind. Hitherto we have simply clung
to the past with passionate and blind de-
votion. Father Ryan well expresses this
ancient ideal:
Veal Men will cling.
With love to the last,
And wildly fling
Their arms round their past
As the vine that clings to the oak that falls,
AS the ivy twines round the crumbled walls;
For the dust OF the past some hearts higher
| prize
Than the stars that flash out from the futures
I bright skies.
I REVISION OF THE CREEDS.
This was in the old days. Now all
things are being made new. All things
are being brought in question. Nothing
is accepted as authoritative because it is
ancient. The creeds of Christendom are
all undergoing radical revision. The
traditionalists may resist with all Their
power-they fight against the stars.
The creeds of the world within the
next generation will be fixed on facts
not fancies. Superstition and tradition
are being destroyed with a rapidity thai
will give the world new religion with
in the next 20 years, and that religion
will be the Christianity of Jesus Chris
in its simplicity as Jesus lived it ant
preached it. 1t will be the religion, il
other words of the spirit. not the letter