The daily morning oasis., 1919-05-23
"THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE"
(By Chaplain l. C. Snowden.)

(By Cnaplaln L. y. SnOWQen.)
This is not an age of speculation,
but of action. knowledge is spreading
from nation to nation, bringing all
within the sphere of it's operation. Its
operation. Its immediate tendency is
to reduce the artificial distinctions
which time and power have created,
and to establish common standard OF
virtue and intelligence. By this
standard princes and people must be
judged. We cannot be idle spectators
of these efforts and their effects.
We are connected with other nations
by ties of intercourse not so easily
severed; and we ourselves are deeply
interested in the operation of those
causes which can meliorate the condi-
ton of mankind, either in their social,
political, or moral relations; which
can add stability to our institutions,
prosperity to our country, and con-
tentment to our citizens. There was
a time when historians could not re
cord SO many daring deeds as at
present Men now desire successful
achievements as they do their daily
food. The school master is more
powerful antagonist than the soldier,
and the alphabet a more efficient
weapon than the bayonet. And as
the great mass of mankind is being
instructed, and public opinion en-
1ightened, moral force is eXerted
which governments dare not resist.
Permit me to say that we never would
have had SO many inventions had not
the spirit of the people been aroused.
When England oppressed the Thirteen
Colonies, there was nothing that
marx the displeasure more than the
zeal every where displayed by the
people. They marched in the van of
their government and forced their way
to war. Indeed we lWe in a golden
age; an age where Literature, Science
and Art are carried to the remotest
verge of civilization. The benefits Of
life around US are SO common that we
hardly appreciate them; and yet these
natural elements around us are among
the choicest blessings of life, which
we enjoy without reflection, but could
not lose them without destruction.
And if rich treasures of intelligence,
science and art were taken out of ex-
!istence we should then know how much
we had possessed, by feeling what we
| had lost. Only century and hall
has passed away since the introduction
of the newspaper which is great
instrument of information to our
modern civilization. The invention OF
the steam engine annihilates space
and brings nations closer and closer
together, but these advantages are
peculiar to the age in which we live.
The telephone, the telegraph, the wire
less telegraphy and the cablegram af-
ford excellent opportunities for quick
communication which is essential to
our age. The field of endeaver lies
open to every one who will investigate,
for the purpose of becoming wiser as
the spirit of the age demands. The
country is lending it's aid in every
direction for the promotion of in
telligence, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, and from the ice bound course
of the North to the sunny cline of
the South. Life is the gift of God
and each must live for the benefit of
all. AS in the system of nature the
sun shines not to display its own
brightness and to answer it's own con-
venience, but to warm, enlighten, ano
bless the world; so in the system oi
intelligent beings there is de.
pendence, correspondence, and a re-
lation in which no man liveth to him
self and no man dieth to himself
Friend is related to friend; the father
to the son, and the Individual to tn:
community. This is an age in which
man feels responsible for the wei
being of his brother. The weak, the
feeble, and the unlearned stretch fortl
their hands to the learned and asl
for an admittance into the field O
science and of knowledge. Can We
be Indifferent to the call, 81 sa!
not". We know that centuries o
darkness and servitude have rested up
ON the land of the Nile; the cradle O.
science and art. It's history, like tn
source of a mighty river which give
it fertility, eludes our research, AM
it's monuments have survived tn
memory of their founders and the OBJ
ject of their construction but ever