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pie in any new Hue is indeed n critical
poriod for the sowing of freedom must go
before the reaping of its fruits.
Finally it may be urgetl that the adop
tion of universal freedom the abolishing
of nil artificial restraints and society regu
lationswould destroy all order and in
troduce a state of chaos. With the pros,
cnt civilization this must be admitted, but
in the future a happier state is wailing
and already its early light is dawning upon
the world. Society is founded upou a
harmony of views. In the past, this liar,
mony was secured by force. Tastes, man
ners and institutions, naturally antagonis
tic and repelling, were drawn together
and crowded into one compact mass by
pressure from without. Such a society
must bo temporary, lor the pressure weak
ened or drawn into other channels, the
mass Hies in pieces by its own rcpellant
forces. This has been the history of the
past, one society established only that
from its ruins another might spring. The
society of the future is to based upon an
other principle. Harmony will prevail,
but from a different cause. A unity will
be secured, but it will be the unity of free
doin not of force. Each relation having
established itself under freedom, will be
permanent, and every interest will be a
bond holding every other in security.
" Take, freedom, take thy radiant round,
When dlinm'd, revive, when loBt, return,
Till not a shrine through earth be found,
On which thy glories shall not bum."
A. W. Field.
PERSONAL FREEDOM.
Mankind must yet be free. Free, not
merely in the seuso of our hundred years
old Constitution and Declaration of Indc.
pendence, but free from these unfeoling
fetters which bind a man to party: nd
these rags that Bmell of the gloomy pris
sou chambers of creed must drop, drop
from the soul and leave him responsible
to himself alone. To man there is but
one occasion for praise, that he knows
that he lives, and that he has the power to
ay "lam." Tins given, nnu tor the rest
mun must praise or blame himself. But
the question comes, Why this knowing
ego? Why this willing self? Thus we
concede that back of all is purpose pure,
high, divine whose origin was in the
very beginning, dwelling with the abso
lute itself, and through this mighty tele
phone of time sending a whisper to all fu
ture ages. But what is the end of purpose?
All men will say perfection. And truly
for the route to perfection is the stairway
of all art, all science, all hope, and in the
thought all knowledge entrenches itself
and "hold the fort" against the inroads of
ignoraice and superstition. This ascent
to perfection is the ladder that Jacob saw
whereon one could rise round by round,
and on which the angels ascended and
descended. The ladder is still standing
but now.a-days it stands alone, for the
angels have left it and mau must make
his own way upward". Few rise high.
And what is their means of ascent? We
would answer, it is the bone and sinew
affected by the wholesome diet of culture.
Religion is conduct, and conduct is three
fourths o life, says Matthew Arnold. But
if you ask what is is the base of conduct,
we answer culture. True, we have stolen
the fruit of life from the orchard of the
gods, but we have concealed it beneath
the fig-leaves of fashion, where it has
heated and decayed, while the world has
been starving, aye dying for culture
But what are the means of culture ? Even
the babes and blind men will cry out, rev.
elation, revelation ! But wise men will
say reason. For that revelation which
comes from the hand of an interpreter is
no revelation. It bears the stamp of soc
ondhaudeduess, and is like packed mack
erel and salmon that huvo lost nine-tenths
of their sweetness in the brine. True rev
elation comes straight to the heart. It
strikes the consciousness of all men alike
and lias but ons meaning. And that rev
elation upon which men nan reason is no
revelation, but must at last give place to
reason. Hence reason io our only means
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