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The l'liouiiKM ok civilization
Vol. vii,
what must he have seen in the complex
mechanism of the human body?
Alter tracing the Animal Kingdom
through all its variety of life he said,
"Have vc not here the manifestations of a
miiul us powerful as prolific ? the acts of an
intelligence us sublime as provident? the
marks of goodness as infinite as wise? the
most palpable demonstration of the exis
tence of a personal God, author of all
things, ruler of the universe and dispen
ser of all good? This, at least, is what I
read in the works of nature."
Religion to him was a reality, not mere
ly form and ceremony, but something
which entered into his very life, ever help
ing him to look through nature up to
nature's God. It has been truly said, that
"The great scientist, the profound think
er, and the " Prince of teachers" has past
away.
There is none to till his place. A great
light has gone out in the halls of science,
and the remaining torches burn dimly.
But the work that he has accomplished
remains and will be the most endurin' or
O
monuments.
P. H. II.
THE PliOULEM OF CIV ILL
ZATION
Science is constantly resolving the
deepest mysteries; even the nebula that
hides the distant future of civilization
must yeald to finite power.
Whether man will continue forever in
his researches and discoveries, or wheth
er the institutions of coming ages will be
infinitely superior to those of the present,
depends not upon the dictates of fate, but
upon conditions which man alone con
troles. The terrific commotions that at
times disturb the great current of human
progress do not prove the despairing theo
ries of deterioration. For notwithstand
ing the gigantic obstacles the human lace
has encountered, it has been pressing
nobly onward to a higher intellectual
.standard.
Though oppression has chained down
both soul and body, and war, Hoods and
coutlagrations have swept away the fruits
of industry, still midst all these embar
rassments men have been toiling for the
acquisition of the higher and the better.
During the Dark Ages, when the sun of
peace was obscured for centuries in the
clouds of tumult and revolution, time
were silent causes in action, working out
the problem of a higher civilization;
whose effects were soon visible dispell,
ing the shadows of anarchy, giving birth
to better social and political organizations
and laying the foundations for the great
empires of tne earth. If the pages of
history are overcast with scenes of adver
sity and crime, nevertheless they reveal
the grand progress of man's emancipa
tion from physical and mental bondage,
and many glorious victories of Right and
Truth. As the crude ore is refined by the
furnace, the world has been purified
through the storms of time, anil the nar
rowness of feudalism has given way to a
better state of society.
Hut, glancing forward through the mists
of futurity, can we not discern the desti
ny toward which civilization is tending?
Is it possible, as some have predicted,
that humanity has reached the meridian
of its day and must, sooner or later re
turn to (he darkness of the past? Must
it be its sad fate, after all its struggles
and trials, to turn around forever within
the same beaten circle, climbing the diz
zy ascent from degradation and barbarous
life to the heights of glory and intellect'
ual renown, only to descend again into the
depths of oblivion and despair? Or has
the human race, breaking the bonds of
thraldom, and escaping from its long
confinement, set forth under the guid
ance of libetty and truth, on the path
way to eternal triumph?
The very nature of circumstances shows
at least that the present status cannot long
endure. For in this era of thought and
action, society cannot stand still; wo
must advance or retrograde. And though
the prospects now appear brilliant, yet it