Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-06-27

| gained, how much better had II been for
France, for England. for Scotland, for
| law, for liberty, for religion, But alas.
| that Is just where destructive reform
shows Its weakness. Anybody can start
an iconoclastic fury--not even John Knox
could stay II. Anybody can start n run
| on perfectly sound bank--it takes nnan-
| cial skill to quiet II. Jack Cade can sta TT
great social riot-a small vine grower
can raise n rebellion that throws France
into turmoil; but TO bring back peace
and order requires a statesman. IF men
ever get so far with their inventions as
to be able to raise storms and tcmpests
In the heavens, the harder task will be
to quell the storms they have raised 1t
Is a perIlous thing to have dealings wit,
the destructive forces Of nature-or Of
society. Reflection comes haltingy into
the arena when the conflict Is on-repen-
lance comes too late.
| came, said Jesus, not to destroy--but
to fulfll. 1t would seem that II Jesus
were the reformer, lie is sometimes
thought to have been. n His method and
secret was to discard all that was and to
begin all over again. there never was
better time for that method Abuses
were abundant, and shameless, and de-
FAINT. What an awful story of human
corruption, individual and social. Is Sc.
forth by St Paul IN his epstle to tho
Romans. If we did not know. we should
have said. that n divincly commissioned
reformer Of mankind in the reign OF
Tiberius Caesar, would have made short
work Of every institution known to men.
Preachers often tell us what Jesus would
10 On to Go
cisco. or Paris. and they always imply
that He would not leave one stone upon
another of the moral, social and political
fabric. He would overturn, and over
turn, and ovcrturn, till society was like
the debris of St Andrews cathedral.
But we know that whatever He would do.
this He certainly would not do He came
not to destroy but to fulfill He came to
seek out the good that s in essential
humanity. the humanity which was His
own-and which He believed into seek
It out. to discover It to itself-to en-
courage it, to revvfy ito fulhll It. till
by infusing His own divine energy into
1t. He should enable it TO overcome, over
master, dominate and finally expel and
annul the evil and all it's be-
longings and accessories. lie was, in
wrongs, He used SO little of the destruc-
tive forces at His command that men OF
the reforming temper are apt 70 be dis
appointed with n certain amiahle weak
ness which they think they discover in
Him. So slow are we to discern power,
except when power asserts its presence
by violonce-not seeing that violence is
manifestation of weakness and not OF
strengthen force which soon spends it.
sci. and lapses-in contrast with the calm
sustained, continuous potency which has
time and eternity at its command.
The history Of mankind seems to show
that. from time to time, under the work
tngs Of evolution, or, which is the same
thing. under the eadings of divine
violence, great social changes are due
and must come. When the time is ripe
for any such change. the great question
is, whether 1t will come normally, by
process of fulfllment or abnormally by
a process of destruction and restoration.
Is social progress necessarily violent and
wasteful? Is It necessary to destroy i
magnificent cathedral with all its en-
bodied history. and it's aids to true wor-
ship, in order to utter a protest against
some abuse which a more patient zeal
might correct?
May it not be well for us at a time
when We seem to be threatened with So
cial changes more or less revolutionary,
Zen the most popular mea sures are the
most startling, when men are outbidding
each other for popular favor by out
clamoring each other FOR changes which
upset and dislntegrate long esta blished
principles and institutions, may it not
be worth while 70 cool and quiet our
minds by looking for a little into the
other method-the method which aims TO
accomplish its work not by destroying
but by fulflins-thc method in accord
ance with which
l. In the first place we seek motive and
insp!ra ton rather from the possible good
which Is before us than from the evil
which Is behind US. Anger against wrong
does not furnish so good motive as en-
thusiasm for the right. Indignation may
be sharp stimulus. but It Is not a
sure guide, II is safer to steer by a star
In front than by a smoke in the rear |
What the world is always wanting GER |
tainly always needing, Is more apprecia- |
ton, more admiration, more inspiration |
There Is place In the world of ideas |
and in the social world, for the satir,s,.
but to have too much of him. or too |
many of him. is to get distorted and NOR |
bid views OF things. I could name a |
widely read newspaper on which to be |
a constant proof reader would endanger |
not only good temper but sanity. More I
II possible than even a poet, reformer |
needs imaginat!on-a sane and wide |
viewing magiration. True reformers are |
poets, or as we call them Ctopians mon |
who have visions OF what Is desirable. |
and can make 1t desired and per- |
suade men that Il Is feasible How to |
preserve ST, Andrews cathedral from |
deseCration and by we'll ordered and mag
niticent worship, make II tributory to the
greater glory Of God and the elevation Of |
mans heart and llfe-what a triumph |
had that been for Scottish re-
former, How TO make the human temple |
more glorious without and within-how
to build together the varieties OF human
abilities and apt!tudes into an organism
which would at once perfect the parts
and complete the whole-how to utilize
The immense wealth producing power OF
our civilization SO as to make 1t an ac-
OF energies waiting and will
ng to be subimated and pirtualized-
how much better than the repressive and
tndiotlve measures which destroy and
10 not fulfill. Waste Is not merely the