n has begun, and the laborer, above all
men, is to feel its happy and exalting influences.

Such are some of the circumstances which inspire hopes of the elevation
of the laboring classes. To these might be added other strong grounds
of encouragement, to be found in the principles of human nature, in the
perfections and providence of God, and in the prophetic intimations of
his word. But these I pass over. From all I derive strong hopes for
the mass of men. I do not, cannot see, why manual toil and
self-improvement may not go on in friendly union. I do not see why the
laborer may not attain to refined habits and manners as truly as other
men. I do not see why conversation under his humble roof may not be
cheered by wit and exalted by intelligence. I do not see why, amidst
his toils, he may not cast his eye around him on God's glorious
creation, and be strengthened and refreshed by the sight. I do not see
why the great ideas which exalt humanity--those of the Infinite Father,
of perfection, of our nearness to God, and of the purpose of our
being--may not grow bright and strong in the laborer's mind. Society,
I trust, is tending towards a condition in which it will look back with
astonishment at the present neglect or perversion of human powers. In
the development of a more enlarged philanthropy, in the diffusion of
the Christian spirit of brotherhood, in the recognition of the equal
rights of every human being, we have the dawn and promise of a better
age, when no man will be deprived of the means of elevation but by his
own fault; when the evil doctrine, worthy of the arch-fiend, that
social order demands the depression of the mass of men, will be
rejected with horror and scorn; when the great object of the community
will be to accumulate means and influences for awakening and expanding
the best powers of all classes; when far less will be expended on the
body and far more on the mind; when men of uncommon gifts for the
instruction of their race will be sent forth to carry light and
strength into every sphere of human life; when spacious libraries,
collections of the fine arts, cabinets of natural history, and all the
institutions by which the people may be refined and ennobled, will be
formed and thrown open to all; and when the toils of life, by a wise
intermixture of these higher influences, will be made the instruments
of human elevation.

Such are my hopes of the intellectual, moral, religious, social
e