From opposite parts of the country, from various schools of sentiment,
we have come together, at this happy anniversary, to interchange
salutations, to mingle in friendly communion, and to catch such words
of cheer as the occasion shall convey. Here are the young, with
freshest laurel of Alma Mater, with joy brightening and hope elevating
the countenance, still unconscious of the toils which enter into the
duties of the world. Here are they, too, of middle life, on whose
weary foreheads the sun now pours his meridian ray, resting for a
moment in these pleasant retreats to renew their strength. Here, also,
are the fathers, crowned with length of days, and rich with ripened
wisdom, withdrawn from active struggle, and dwelling much in meditation
upon the Past. The Future, the Present, and the Past, all find their
representatives in our Fraternity.
I speak of _our_ Fraternity; for, though a stranger among you, yet,
as a member of this society in a sister University, and as a student
of letters in moments snatched from other pursuits, I may claim
kindred here. Let me speak, then, as to my own brethren. Invited by
your partial kindness, it is my privilege to unfold some subject,
which, while claiming your attention during this brief hour, may not
improperly mingle with the memories of this anniversary. I would, if
I could, utter truth which, while approved by the old, should sink
deep into the souls of the young, filling them with strength for all
good works. Mindful, then, of the occasion, deeply conscious of its
requirements, solicitous of the harmony which becomes our literary
festivals, I cannot banish from my thoughts a topic which is intimately
connected with the movements of the present age,--nay, which explains
and controls these movements, whether in the march of science, the
triumphs of charity, the widespread convulsions of Europe, or the
generous uprising of our own country in behalf of Freedom.
Wherever we turn is Progress,--in science, in literature, in knowledge
of the earth, in knowledge of the skies, in intercourse among men, in
the spread of liberty, in works of beneficence, in the recognition
of Human Brotherhood. Thrones, where Authority seemed to sit secure,
with the sanction of centuries, are shaken, and new-made constitutions
come to restrain the aberrations of unlimited power. Men everywhere,
breaking away from the Past, are pressing on to the things that are
before.
Recall for one moment what has taken place during a brief span of time,
hardly exceeding a year. I do not dwell on that mighty revolution in
France, with whose throes the earth still shakes, and whose issues
are yet unrevealed; I do not pause to contemplate the character of
that Pontifical Reformer who has done so much to breathe into Europe
the breath of a new life; I can only point to Sicily and Naples,
rising against a besotted tyranny,--to Venice and Lombardy, claiming
long-lost rights,--to all Italy, filled with the thought of Unity,--to
Hungary, flaming with republican fires,--to Austria, roused at last
against a patriarchal despotism,--to Prussia, taking her place among
constitutional states,--to Germany, in its many principalities,
throbbing with the strong pulse of Freedom. These things are present to
your minds.
Other events, of a different character, are not less signs of the age.
Discovery has achieved one of its most brilliant, as also one of its
most benign results. The genius of Leverrier, traversing the spaces of
the heavens, has disclosed a new planet. By the application of ether,
the dreaded pain of the surgical knife, and even the pangs of Nature,
are soothed or removed, while Death is disarmed of something of its
terrors.
These latter times have witnessed two spectacles of another nature
and less regarded, which are of singular significance,--harbingers, I
would call them, of those glad days of promise which we almost seem
to touch. I would not exaggerate, and yet I must speak of them as
they impress my own mind. To me they are of a higher order than any
discovery in science, or any success in the acquisition of knowledge,
or any political prosperity, inasmuch as they are the tokens of that
moral elevation, and of that Human Brotherhood, without distinction
of condition, nation, or race, which it is the supreme office of all
science, all knowledge, and all politics to serve. I refer to the
sailing of the Jamestown from Boston with succor to the starving
poor of Ireland, and to the meeting of the Penitentiary Congress at
Frankfort. All confess the beauty of that act, where prophecy seems
fulfilled, by which a Ship of War was consecrated to a purpose of
charity. Hardly less beautiful is the contemplation of that assembly
at Frankfort (perhaps it is new to some whom I have the honor
of addressing), where were delegates from most of the Christian
nations,--from military France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, the
States of Germany, England, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Poland, distant
Russia, and frozen Norway,--convened for no purpose of war or
diplomacy,--not to agitate selfish coalitions, not to adjust or disturb
the seeming balance of Europe, not to exalt or abase the vaulting
ambition of potentate or state, but calmly and in fraternal council
to consider what could be done for those who are in prison, to hear
the recital of efforts in their behalf among all the nations, and to
encourage each other in this work. Such a Congress forms a truer epoch
of Christian Progress--does it not?--than the Congress of Vienna, with
the bespangled presence of great autocrats distributing the spoils of
war, as the sailing of the Jamestown is a higher Christian triumph than
any mere victory of blood.
Profoundly penetrated by these things, you will confess the Progress
of Man. The earnest soul, enlightened by history, strengthened by
philosophy, nursed to childish slumber by the simple prayer, "Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," confident
in the final, though slow, fulfilment of the daily fulfilling promises
of the Future, looks forward to the continuance of this Progress during
unknown and infinite ages, as a _law_ of our being.
* * * * *
It is of this that I shall speak to-day. My subject is THE LAW OF
HUMAN PROGRESS. In selecting this theme, I would not minister to
the pride or gratulation of the Present, nor would I furnish motives
for indifference or repose. Rather would I teach how small is the
Present and all it contains, compared with the Future, and how duties
increase with the grandeur upon which we enter, while we derive new
encouragement from knowledge of the law which is our support and guide.
The subject is vast as it is interesting and important. It might well
occupy a volume, rather than a brief discourse. In unfolding it, I
shall speak _first_ of the history of this law, as seen in its origin,
gradual development, and recognition,--and _next_ of its character,
conditions, and limitations, with the duties it enjoins and the
encouragements it affords.