Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1910-01-27

iaces' with bits OF old implements and
armor. no flowers or vines. Rut nv
tne time we come to the Haxthorns
story a bridge spans the Slough Of De-
spond. and Vanity Fair Is a salubrious
village In which passengers stop OF
Tor Few days. This difference he
tokens not a declining but a sauer
ana more wholesome moral life. Life
In the days OF John Bunyan wa. a
nightmare in a demon haunted world.
Inc intellectual outlook Of that time is
SO utterly foreign to the mind OF our
time that IL Is with difficulty that
we can imagine II. And yet the whole
tone OF our social life Is not only
purer and higher. but great social
wrongs which were overlooked in the
age OF Bunyan now rise up before us
in all their horror.
Aitruism has grown. whereas the
man In the Bunyan allegory thought
only Of himself. The world feels more
and Its sympathy is quicker and deep
er. Men have come to a kinder knowl.
edge OF man. II not to a kinder iguo-
rance OF God. Here Is no assault upon
the past. no disrespect for the old. no
hostile criticism OF yesterday-far
from 1t. But 1t is a simple fact that
deep moral and religious change has
come over the spirit OF the age. rem
dering obsolete much both OF the faith
and the fears of other days. No one
now attacks those ideas and there are
Few to defend them. They have suf.
fered the deepest and most terrible OF
all refutations. for the moral sense
OF the race has outgrown them. II
any one asks for proof that a new day
has dawned. let him take note OF the
signs of the times-the penetrating
light OF science. the drum-beat OF a
auickened and splendid moral sense.
the words OF those prophets who teach
us the beauty OF holiness. and the
works Of those artists who show us
the holiness Of beauty. Never were
there so many sweet voices echoing
from end TO end OF the earth.
Never were the relations OF God to
man closer or more real than they are
to-day. Men do not feel that they
work alone in their struggle to abolish
poverty. cruelty and sin One OF our
great free souls OF literature. George
Meredith. has been for 80 years not
only a singer OF faith. OF courage. OF
the rest and joy Of life in a God H.
lumtned world. but a teacher as well Of
the reality Of prayer. and its value as
factor In the culture Of personality.
Sn'le speaking Of Meredith. let ne
guolo a saying OF his which strikes
the keynote Of our day: For this rsa-
son 80 many fall from God. Who have
attained him. thar they cling to him
with their weakness. not with their
strsngth- This Is a day Of strong
men ~ho. laying hold Of God. With
their strength. are making the church
and religion stronx. attractive, rea-
sonahle. beautiful. deyout-a tower OF
good citizenship. a power for right
eousness-a happy. hearty. hospitabIe
fellowship Of clear-handed and kind
hearted folk who are ready to serve
their race They stand erect under
vide sky. at once subdued and in
spired With a sense OF the beauty and
kinship Of their souls with the Spirit
which gives TO the world its strange
and solemn loveliness. They do not
know all things. but they make what
Newman called the venture Of faith
and no one has stated their feelings
better than Robert Louis Stevenson:
If from my spy hole. looking with
purblind eyes upon the least part OF a
fraction Of the universe, yet perceive
in my destiny some broken evidence OF
q plan and some signals of an over.
ruling Godliness. shall I then be so
mad as to complain that all cannot be
explained Shall I not rather wonder
with grateful surprise that in so vas,
scheme I seem to have been able
to read. however little. and that little
encouraging to faith,'
We are living. we are moving in the
dawn Of a new day of faith. No mere
fancy is II that this age is big with
ethical and spiritual adventures, and
with unguessed conquests of truth and
Of character. No good thing will be
lost. no beautiful thing destroyed
And in the new day. with the magic
of its passing hour. time. which
changes all good and evil things. is
fashioning from the old love new
shapes of beauty and service
Still holy lives reveal the Christ
OF whom the letter told
And the new day verifes the old.
Unity.