The Irish standard., 1906-04-07


wards. That in material prosperity
we have made giant strides is ap'
parent. Our towns, cities and state:
have increased and multiplied. Mel
have amassed wealth running into the
millions and hundreds of millions. Oul
corporations are striding q continent
But are we not equally accursed by
incipent pauperism and discomfort: dc
we not know that thousands are deprived
of the necessaries of life; deprived OF
the benefits of education, religion and
ings which our constitution guarantees
and which God seemingly intended for
every man, woman and child in our
land?
A fact which stands prominently
forth in our history is that virtue has
decreased in proportion to the destruc-
ton of the religious sentiment among
our people, and it requires no prophet
to tell what must be the inevitable
end if some check to the rapid inroads
Of socialism and materialisln he not
found
Kingdoms. empires and republics,
some of which. in territorial aggran
dizement, We're larger than our own;
some obtaining an intellectual suprcm-
acy which yet commands the admir-
alton of the world, have at times
Slistened along the past, only To be
extinguisled and to fade us utterly as
the vivid glories of sunset.
We know that more of mans destiny
has been committed to our country
than to any other nation in .Christen-
dom; but we also know that nations,
like men, may live to the fulncss OF
their time, OF may perish prematurcly
for want Of guidance or through in
ternal disorders
Viewing, therefore, the causes which
threaten our national existence, most,
if not all of which are directly trace
able to moral decadcncc among our
people, may we not protitubly innuitc
into the remedy for these evils? That
they could not have become so alarm-
insly augmented and prevalent We're
we as Il people as virtuous now us in
the past, is equally dcmonstrablc. 1t
is conceivable that even Il highly cdu-
Gated and intelligent people may he
both corrupt and immoral, as shown
by the history of Greece and Rome:
but it is IL contradiction in terms to
assert that any people with deep seated
moral convictions can be other than Il
virtuOus people.
All thoughtful men value the in
estimablc blessings conferred by re-
iiEon in developing the men who
hewed out of :mpcnetrable forests Il
country. Il government ana q constitu-
ton that is the envy Of the world,
insurcs not only to the present but to
ages unborn the divine rights of civil
and religious liberty.
Our great achievements. our phcnon-
cnal growth our long list of illustrouS
heroes. were the result of the religious
spirit abiding in our people. ana which
found expression "in an admirable pub !
lie conscience. rich in naXms of
sublime morality. in laws Of justice
and equity, in sentiments of honor and
dignity, in Il profound respect for mar
oil bat 1,r1> ,
tendency to improve the condition O:
the many to protect the weak and sue
cor the unfortunate, in the indclible
stamp which it has affixed on all our
laws and all our institutions, and which
has given us Il civilization superior
to that Of all other civilizations. ancient !
or modern"
II we are to maintain u parity Of
growth between the material and the
intellectual and the moral, 1t is certain
in the ultimate analysis that. as NOR
ality Is based on religion it will be
only through the spread of religious
principles that any high moral stand
days this truth was recognized. Plato |
observed that 1T is an incontrovertible
fact that if God prcsideS not over the /
establishment of Il city. and it has only
human foundation. it cannot escape |
the greatest calamity If a !
state is founded on impicty and !
governed by men who trample on JUS !
tice, it has no means of security"
DR.. Chaplin. a great preacher not of
our faith, has said: "It is we'll to rec
! ognize the fact that the moral sanctions
of the universe move steadily forward:
that their reward ana their retrlbutions /,
Sirdlc communities as well as in /;
divid,lals; that the gain which is /
bought with corruption and the luxury |
which is STEPPED in vice. and the
prosperity which takes away the |
thought of God, embosom the seed of !.
ruin: that material greatness alone,
strengthened by all the inventions of |
the time, cannot prop up a state; that
prosperity is not an enduring or saving
good: that nothing endures or saves
but truth and virtue.
Such is the deep moral lesson that
unfolds itself in the city we now look