Page:Romance & Reality 1.pdf/178

172 the mental world that now requires discovery and cultivation. And has not much been done even in this? How much has reason softened religious persecution and intolerance! Every day do not we become more and more convinced of the crime and cruelty of war? How little is the exercise of arbitrary authority endured! How much more precious is the life of man held! How much more do we acknowledge how intimately the good of others is connected with our own! How is the value of education confessed! Only look on the vast multitude who are at this moment being early imbued with right principles, accustomed to self-control, and fed with useful knowledge. Look at the youthful schools filled with quiet, contented, and industrious children, now acquiring those first notions of right and wrong—those good and regular habits, which will influence all their after-life. Open the silver clasps of yon huge chronicle, and you will see it is not so long since human beings were burnt for a mere abstract opinion—not so long since the sword was appealed to in the court of justice, to decide on right and wrong, and its success held as God's own decision—not so long since a man looked forward to the battle as the only