The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-07
UNITY OF HISTORY.

|
 church at the last meeting, Dr. A. H.
 Bradford of Montclair, N J., delivered
 a lecture 'The Unity of History" Dr, l Bradford spoke in part as follows
 George Mathewson in his The Dis-
 tinctiYe Features of the Various Relig-
 ions,' says that only one people and
 one religion of all the races and creeds
 live in the past rather than in the fu- ture. The Chinese are the only people
 who look back rather than forward;
 live in the past, rather than in the flu | ture.' Whether this statement is true
 as regards other peoples and religions
 we do not know; but as regards the Hebrew and Christian religions it is | surely correct, From their very incep- | tion these religions have exemplifled | the progress of civilization, and the | doctrine of unity and purpose in this world. I have come here tonight to | speak to you on the subject The Unity | of History but my subject could well | be stated in the form of that frequent | ly asked question, Is the world grow ing better?' Tonight I shall try to
 give you my reasons for answering this | inquiry in the affirmative.
 "AIl the development of history has been in the direction of righteousness. And it is this fact that makes histo-
 rians optimists. Whenever history is interpreted rightly it will always make an ortimist of the reader. The student of history is always an optimist Poets and philosophers of the second and
 third grades, and foolish boys and
 girls are generally pessimists. Those
 who take the long birdseye view of
 events know all is well with the world.
 Those who take short views, particular
 views of history lost themselves in the
 labyrinths of pessimism and skepticism
 In every branch of this worlds activi-
 ties we find splendid illustrations of
 the unity of purpose in history, and of
 the optimism that undelies events.
 Take as the first illustration the devel-
 opment of government from tribal bar
 barism to human cooperation, from
 slavery and a cast system to liberty and law and order. In religious life we
 have the contrast between the horrible
 N with the homage paid to God to-day. From worship characterized by shocking atrocities, which made the place of prayer nothing short of slaughter house. from this materialistic form of homage to God we have pro- gressed to a mode of worship extremely spiritual and edifying. Tn social life there was a time when the head of the family was it's master in the broadest sence of the word. His wife was liter ally his slave. The position of woman was a degraded one. Even the life of his children depended upon his whim. !. But -day we have the home where the man is the master; but the woman is no longer the slave. She is now his | helper and equal. The children have rights which the father cannot over rule. and even those who have no fa- ther and mother are in the beautiful words of Edward Everet Hale The | children of the public
 We are often told that the gulf be- tween the rich and the poor is widen ing. But this is not true. It is true the rich are growing richer, but the poor are not growing poorer. Never WdS there i llLlt NIiel Sltii tL NoiiSSi V ed action was being made in behalf of the poor: never a time in which the poor folks, the poor boy and girl had such an opportunity to better their con- dition to-day.
 We find splendid example of the I am illustrating tonight in the progress made during the last cen- tury in international relations. In the first decade of the last century there was not the case of arbitration. Tn the last ten years of the century just clos ed we have sixty-three cases of arbitra- ton. and not one of them but would have meant a war fifty years ago, the last century there were 195 cases of arbitration.
 Tn the domain of moral ideals and conditions we find a marvellous upward as the years roll by. When [ was in London last year I inquired If a policeman, who had served in that for twenty-five years, if he 'ound that vice and crime were de- ,reasing, and he answered my question n the affirmative, giving as the prin- ,ipal reason for the change the growth if bovs' clubs. and the school system n London. met tile SdIllt dIsW6I | when l asked the same question of Dr. Dale, the eminent English divine, in and in fact wherever l vent in England.
 When we have contemplated all hese marvellous examples of an up- yard movement. we cannot help ask ng if there isn't something behind all his progress besides blind force if here is not superior intelligence and eason behind happenings here.
 "In our study of history we must ad- ,it that there are eddies in the cur cnt; but the current itself is ever on- ard. Or as pr George Adam Smith s 0 beautifully put it, This world is like
 ship in the mid-Atlanttc tossed about , the waves. but ever speeding stead V toward the goal 8 harbor. There ,ay be much the matter with the indi- idual passengers of that vessel, but all | |, well with the ship. The lookout at le helm every hour shouts that all is I ell with the ship despite the individ- al distresses of it's passengers so we iust believe that all is well with the A orld despite particular setbacks, and dividual mistakes
 Nothing is more convincing than to ,e how even the bad men of history ave been used In the interests of pro- II 'ess. Alexander was ambitious, cruel. s wal ba rnnda Igau for l