Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-06-20

Gives US fear; bat much that has hap
psHed sivss W Aspe.
When We kroup together the null
tifarious activities Of the human
race in politics. in government, ia
religion and III the other relationl Of
mankind ana speculate on the fut-
ure. wonderiAg il it Is true that the
world makes progress, We hsed some
sort OF IN answer to which We ear
give our Intellectual assent And
the best answer to the idea of pro-
gress liAs ia the very human work.
hope. A. Dean Ines Of g. Paufs
Cathedral. London, points 6at in a
very rekAarkAble essay. man ms not
better things in store. The ancient
Greeks HAD little or no conception Of
progress. Their golden age was in
the pAst; and they regarded men as
the degenerate descendants Of the
gods. Christianity certainly brought
in new idea. But in the third
century after Christ. when civiliza-
ton was really in danger. Pasans
and Christians alike, Joined in a
chorus OF woe. Patriotic literature
and the poetry OF the middle ages
took refuge in a mystic New Jerusa-
lem: ana the writer's OF the Re-
M issa nee received the memories OF
golden age that was somehow to
be imposed Upon an expectant
world In the last century the doc
trine Of evolution started the wor-
ship Of progress as a cult. Herbert
Spencer asserts roundly that pro-
greAs IL not an accident but neces-
sitS. what we call evil and immo-
rality." he says, must disappear. 1t
is certain that man must become
perfect. The ultimate development
Of the ideal man is certain-as Ger
tain "a any conclusion in which we
place the most implicit faith; for In
stance. that all men will die" And
some writer's of the present see in
the theory Of human progress very
real religion TO such doctrines the
candid mind cannot Immediately
consent. Those races in the world
which seem the most unprogressive,
the Chinese and the Hindeo. for ex-
ample, have survived the whips and
sc6rns of time while superior civiii-
zations like the Egyptian. the Greek
and the Roman have gone under
Many brave men lived before Aga
memnon: and all we can say IS that
human nature may be capable or
further IMPROVEMENT We will be
saved il at all by hope. The most
reasonable conclusion is that man
progresses. then goes backward. then
goes forward again; but that each
hill he reaches is a little higher than
the one he left. Progress is more
like the tide than the river. But it
;s tide that draws from out the
boundiess deep. 1t swings to and fro
to a mighty purpose. What matter
il we in our generation are on the
ebb or the flow
say not the struggle nauEht avalleth
The labor and the wounds are Vaih'
The enemy fair1ts not nor 1aii ss, re-
And as things have been they re-
main.
For while the tired waves. vainly
breaking
Seem here no painful inch to gain.
Far back through creeks anu iniets
Comes silent flooding in. the main"
Into one realm Hope leads us-the
realm Of Immortality. Except IN the
Rosspy corners of the ouija board and
automatic writing. we seem today to
shy away like a nervous steed from
ant discussion ~ the future OF the
soul So many men. seem to be bent
on making good job of this present
tiny life and so making an end OIL 1t.
Put the Christian College which deals
eternalIy With the things of the spirit
ought not to have her sons ignorant as
those who have ~, hope. Materialism
which chokes the sources of high mo-
tives lie making some of us cynical, and
more of us Indifferent concerning what
is to come But it is as sure today as
ever that. in the words of Bishop
Rerkely. those who never reflect upon
the great problems of the end and aim
and purpose OF life may he suitable to
belong to a colony of Industrious an
finals but never can rise to the height
of being men and women. Or as the
first Christian poet. Prudentius, puts
1t:
Does not thts thing separate mankind
From beast? Those things before
their very eyes
They deem the good. Ero contra spero
But l hope"
To those who cannot yet bring them
selves to a belief in personal in1mor-
tality there comes this great Christian
virtue Hope" sings the great Cath
Ollie poet with whose praises on this
the s00th Anniversary Of his death the
whole world rings:
Hope is an expectation sure
OF glory that shall be which is pro-
duced
BY grace divine and merit that pre-
cedes"
Thus Hope is not merely general
cheerfulness Of disposition or the an
tidote to despair: it is a positive force
which shines through the clouds Of
doubt and iIlun1ines the way.
The great German poet Schiller. OK
presses all these ideas in his lovely
lyric, Hoffhun1:
I'VE speak with the life, and we dream
OF some better and fairer day,
Forever beheld on our race to goal
Shining golden afar on the way. .
The world grows old and the world
grows Young: yet befall
What there may still aoth man hope
the better in al"
'It is not a smiling delusion tina.
Nor 4. folly That reason should seorn;
tbs the voice Of the heart which 50
loudy proclaims
Ana that which tRk inner veicA bids