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 MORAL VIEW OF RAIL ROADS. 
 
 *" A 
 
 DISCOURSE, 
 
 DELIVE 
 
 RED OS 
 
 • 
 
 SABBATH MORNING, FEBRUARY 23, 1851, 
 
 ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CLEVELAND AND COLUMBUS RAIL ROAD. 
 
 BY REV. S. 0. AIKEN, D. D., 
 
 Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. 
 
 CLEVELAND: 
 
 STEAM PRESS OF HARRIS, FAIRBANKS & CO. 
 
 1851. 
 
 1 • . . . J
 
 f,
 
 MORAL VIEW OF RAIL ROADS, 
 
 DISCOURSE, 
 
 DELIVERED ON 
 
 SABBATH MORNING, FEBRUARY 23, 1851 
 
 ox THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CLE7ELAXP AND COLUMBUS RAIL ROAD. 
 
 BY REY. S. C. AIKEN, D. D., 
 
 Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. 
 
 CLEVELAND: 
 
 STEAM PRESS OF HARRIS, FAIRBANKS &. CO., HERALD BUILDING. 
 
 1851,
 
 3^5 imw^^ 
 
 Columbus, Feb. 24, 1851. 
 Rev. Dr. Aiken, — 
 
 Dear Sir : The undersigned were present and had the pleasure of hearing 
 your very appropriate, able, and eloquent discourse, in the First Presbyte- 
 rian Church, in the city of Cleveland, on Sunday, the 23d inst., and would 
 most earnestly and respectfully request, that you furnish us with a copy fijr 
 publication, at your earliest convenience. 
 
 We are, Rev. Sir. with great consideration and respect, 
 
 your obedient servants. 
 
 R. WOOD, S. MEDARY, 
 
 CHARLES C. CONVERS, EZRA McKEE, 
 
 JOHN F. MORSE. PHILIP MARCH, 
 
 ALFRED KELLEY, JOHN" A. DODD, 
 
 CYRUS PRENTISS, JAMES RAYBURN, 
 
 C. ENGLISH, H. S. BUNDY, 
 
 WILLIAM CASE, WM. MORGAN, 
 
 H. B. PAYNE, JNO. D. BURNETT, 
 
 H. VINAL, JOHN BENNETT, 
 
 CHARLES ANDERSON, R. B. HARLAN, 
 
 E. R. ECKLEY, J. J. GAINES, 
 
 SAM'L WILLIAMSON, JOS. H. GEIGER, 
 
 G. E. PUGH, J. KILBOURN, 
 
 JAMES H. HART, M. C. BRADLEY, 
 
 JOHN M. SMITH, W. H. SNOOK, 
 
 E. GLASGO, W. HOWARD, 
 
 GEO. B. MERWIN, D. LINTON, 
 
 LEWIS BROADWELL, B. RANDALL, 
 
 L. VAN BUSKIRK, H. FERGUSON, 
 
 JAMES MYERS, WM. LAWRENCE. 
 G. W. BARKER, 
 
 Cleveland, Feb. 28, 1851. 
 To His Excellency, Gov. Wood ; Hon. C. C. Coxvees, Speaker of the Senate, 
 Hon. J. F. Morse, Speaker of the House ; Hon. Alfred Kelley, Pres. of 
 C. C. it C. R. Road ; Hon. Cyrus Prentiss, Pres. of C. & P. R. Road ;. 
 Hon. C. English, Mayor of Columbus ; Hon. William Case, Mayor of 
 Cleveland ; and others. 
 
 Gentlemen : The discourse, a copy of which you do me the honor 
 to solicit for publication, was — as the critical eye will readily discover — 
 prepared with great haste, and without a thought of its being published. 
 
 It is said, that circumstances form characters ; they also make sermon-s. 
 the interest and value of which depend on the incidents which give rise tx) 
 them. To this class, in my opinion, belongs this discourse. Confiding, 
 however, in your judgment rather than in my own, and influenced by a re- 
 gard for the high source, whence the request emanates ; a copy is herewith 
 submitted to your disposal. 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. C. AIKEN. ■ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^■■^-vo- 
 
 -^/f^./
 
 A DISCOURSE. 
 
 NAHAM II. 4: 
 
 The chariots shall rage in the Streets: they shall justle one against 
 another in the broad ways : they shall seem like torches, they shall 
 eun like the lightnings. 
 
 On reading this verse, one might naturally suppose 
 that the prophet lived in the days of Rail Roads 
 and Locomotives : But it was not so. His chariots 
 of lightning were chariots of War — armed and 
 sent forth by the King of Babylon, to effect the 
 conquest and ruin of the city of Nineveh. From 
 the passage however, I shall take occasion to speak, 
 not of war, which has proved such a curse to the 
 world, and yet, has often been over-ruled for good : 
 but of the developement and progress of a new 
 power, which, we trust, is destined to supercede 
 war and to introduce into our world, a new order 
 of things, which seems to betoken the rapid fulfil- 
 ment of prophecy : " Behold, I create new Heavens 
 and a new earth : and the former shall not be re- 
 membered, nor come into mind : — In the wilderness 
 shall waters break out and streams in the desert — 
 and a highway shall be there, and a way, and it 
 shall be called, The way of Holiness."
 
 8 
 
 This prophecy reminds me of an occasion similar 
 to the one, that has called so many strangers to our 
 city : — when, on the opening of the Erie Canal, it 
 was my privilege, on the Lord's-Day, to address De 
 Witt Clinton, and the Commissioners, in grateful 
 recognition of the benificent Providence, which had 
 carried them on to the completion of a work, 
 deemed chimerical by some and impolitic by others: 
 but which has proved a high-way for commerce, 
 and made many a wilderness and solitary place to 
 blossom as the rose. 
 
 In a moral and religious point of view, as well as 
 social and commercial, to me, there is something 
 interesting, solemn, and grand in the opening of a 
 great thoroughfare. There is sublimity about it — 
 indicating not only march of mind and a higher 
 type of society, but the evolution of divine pm'po- 
 ses, infinite, eternal — connecting social revolutions 
 with the progress of Christianity and the coming 
 reign of Christ. 
 
 To overlook such an event — to view it only in its 
 earthly relations, would be to overlook a movement 
 of Pro\adence, bearing directly upon the great in- 
 terests of morality and religion — the weal or woe 
 of our country, and of unborn millions. It is the 
 duty of Christians, and especially of Christian min- 
 isters, to watch the signs of the times — to see God^ 
 and lead the people to see Him, in all the affairs of 
 the world, whether commercial, political or religious,,
 
 in the varied aspects, in wMdi He is presented to 
 our view in His word. 
 
 The history of roads is one of the best commen- 
 taries upon the intellectual and social state of soci- 
 ety. Of course, it will not become the time and 
 place, to go into it any further than is needful as 
 preliminary to my subject. 
 
 A road is a symbol of civilization — the want of 
 it, a symbol of barbarism. By its condition we 
 may ascertain, with considerable accuracy, the de- 
 gree of the one or of the other. "Let us travel," 
 says the Abbe Raynal, "over all the countries of the 
 earth, and wherever we shall find no facilities of 
 traveling from city to town, and from a village to a 
 hamlet, we may pronounce the people to be barbar- 
 ous." The government is weak — the inhabitants 
 poor and ignorant. The road, then, is a physical 
 index of the condition and character of any age or 
 nation. Viewed from this stand-point, its history 
 may correct one of our errors, and lead us to see, 
 that we are not quite so far in advance of antiquity, 
 as we are apt to imagine. 
 
 If we look back to the earliest period of the 
 world, of which we have any record, we find that 
 roads were the dividing line between civilization 
 and barbarism. The first country, of which we have 
 any definite knowledge, distinguished for the arts 
 and sciences, was Egypt. Could We read its lost 
 history, we should see that under the reign of its
 
 10 
 
 Pharaohs, it rose to a pitch of civilization and gran- 
 deur of which, probably, we have no conception. 
 This fact is indicated by its pyramids and magnifi- 
 cent remains, wliich clearly show its former glory. 
 If Thebes had its hundred gates, it is likely, that it 
 had also its paved and spacious avenues leading 
 from it into every part of the kingdom, on which 
 the chariots of its kings and nobles rolled in splen- 
 dor. 
 
 Nor was the Jewish commonwealth without its 
 roads, constructed in the most durable manner, un- 
 der tlie rei2:n of Solomon. Those leading to and 
 from the cities of refuge, have probably never been 
 excelled. But in the uncivilized surrounding na- 
 tions, we hear nothing of roads. 
 
 Mark also the Roman empire at the period of its 
 highest prosperity and grandeur. The famous "iVp- 
 pian Way," celebrated by Horace, built three hun- 
 dred years before Christ, remains of which are still 
 visible after the lapse of more than twenty centu- 
 ries, is familiar to every reader of history. Two- 
 thirds of it, from Capua to Brundusium, were built 
 by Julius Caesar — and formed one of the most 
 splendid memorials of that Emperor's reign. Its 
 entire length was nearly four hundred miles — 
 graded so far as practicable to a level — paved 
 with hewn stone in the form of hexagonal blocks, 
 laid in durable cement — with a surface spacious 
 and smooth. Besides this, there were other roads.
 
 11 
 
 constructed by different emperors, sucli as the Sa- 
 lernian, Flaminian, Ostian, and Triumphal, leading 
 from the capital — one of which extended fom' 
 thousand miles, from Antioch on the north, to 
 Scotland on the south — at one place tunneling a 
 mountain of rock,* at another, stretching over ra- 
 vines and rivers by bridges and aqueducts, inter- 
 rupted only by the English channel and the Hel- 
 lespont. 
 
 Nor were the Romans so greatly behind us as 
 to speed. History records the fact, that "one Cesa- 
 rius went post from Antioch to Constantinople — 
 six hundred and sixty-five miles — in less than six 
 days. The modern traveler in his rail-car smiles at 
 the statement ; but he forgets, that the Roman horse 
 was neither fire nor steam, and that he is indebted 
 for his speed to the discovery of a new and won- 
 derful power of which the ancients knew nothing. 
 
 Now turn and consider the old Saxons. Look at 
 the Feudal ageof comparative barbarism, when each 
 community or county had its Baron and castle, built 
 upon inaccessible rocks ; — when the people dwelt 
 in walled cities, with sentinels upon the towers ; — 
 when there were no roads — no wheeled vehicles, 
 except a few, and those of the most cumbersome 
 kind; — when the mode of travel was on foot or 
 horseback, through fields and streams and forests. 
 
 * Tlie under ground tunnel of Pozzuoli, near Naples, is said to have been 
 half a league, or, in American measure, one mile and a half. The passage 
 was cut through sohd rock fifteen feet square.
 
 12 
 
 Then it was, tliat the arts, sciences, and religion 
 were at a dead stand. There were no ducts for 
 commerce — no life or motion. Day and night, the 
 peojDle lived in fear of robbers, and their only hope 
 of safety lay in having no intercourse with one an" 
 other, nor with distant neighborhoods and provin- 
 ces. So it has always been. So it is now. Point 
 me to a country where there are no roads, and I will 
 point you to one where all things are stagnant — 
 where there is no commerce except on a limited 
 scale — no religion, except a dead formality — no 
 learning, except the scholastic and unprofitable. A 
 road is a sign of motion and progress — a sign the 
 people are living and not dead. If there is inter- 
 course, social or commercial, there is activity ; " ad- 
 vancement is going on — new ideas and hopes are 
 rising. All creative action, whether in government, 
 industry, thought, or religion, creates roads," and 
 roads create action. 
 
 To an inquisitive mind, it is extremely interesting 
 and instructive to mark the progress of mechanical 
 invention. To one accustomed to trace effects to 
 their causes, it is more than interesting. He sees 
 something besides human agency at work in the 
 provision of materials — in the adaptation of means 
 to ends — in the wisdom, order, and regularity of 
 general laws, which the practical mechanic has learnt 
 to accommodate to his own purposes. But he is not 
 the oi'iginator of those laws, nor of the materials on 
 which he operates. He has discovered that certain
 
 13 
 
 agents will serve particular ends. Of these agents 
 he skillfully avails himself, and the result he aimed 
 at is produced. 
 
 The elements of water-power have been in exist- 
 ence since the world was made ; and yet, there 
 doubtless was a time when there was no water- 
 wheel apphed to a dashing current, to propel ma- 
 chinery. Why did not the human mind grasp at 
 once the simple law, and dispense with animal 
 power to grind meal for daily bread? On the 
 principles of philosophy, this question is not so 
 easily answered. To say that mind is slow in its 
 develoj^ement, does not solve the difficulty. From 
 the earliest ages, it has accomplished wonders in 
 the arts. It has built cities and pyramids — aque- 
 ducts and canals — calculated eclipses and estab- 
 lished great principles in science. 
 
 The truth is, there is a providence in mechanical 
 invention as well as in all the aftairs of men. And 
 when God has purposes to accomplish by this in- 
 vention, he arouses some active spirit to search for 
 ' the laws already in existence, and to arrange the 
 materials with reference to the end. 
 
 In past ages, for all practical purposes, the world 
 has done well enough with the mechanical powers 
 it possessed. The water-wheel has moved the ma- 
 chinery attached to it. The stage-coach has trun- 
 dled its passengers along, contented and happy with 
 the slow pace, though not always convenient or
 
 14 
 
 comfortable, because they had. no better mode of 
 conveyance. The merchant has cheerfully commit- 
 ted his goods to the sail boat, because he knew of 
 no more powerful agent than the winds. But the 
 human mind has received a new impulse. It is waked 
 up to unwonted energy. It is filled with the great 
 idea of progress. It is leaving the things that are 
 behind, and pressing onward. 
 
 Nothing has contributed more to wake up the 
 mind fi"om its sleep of ages — to draw out its pow- 
 ers and to set it on the track of discoveiy, than the 
 invention of the steam enoine. This event occm'red 
 about eighty years since, and the name of the invent- 
 or is inscribed on the talilet of immortality. It was 
 no freak of chance — no random thouo'ht of thehu- 
 man intellect, unaided by that Infinite Intelligence, 
 at whose disposal is all matter and mind ; and who, 
 in his own time and way, makes them subserve his 
 own purposes. Was Bezaleel raised up by God and 
 filled with wisdom "to devise cunnino- work — to 
 work m gold and silver and brass '' — to aid Moses in 
 building the tabernacle ? "Was Hiram afterward en- 
 dowed with great mechanical skill in the erection of 
 Solomon's temple ? So was Watt. God raised him 
 up to invent the steam-engine; and, when "he gave 
 it to mankind in the form in which it is now em- 
 ployed for countless uses, it was as if God had sent 
 into the world a legion of strong angels to toil for
 
 15 
 
 man in a thousand forms of clrudgeiy, and to accom- 
 plish for man a thousand achievements which human 
 hands could never have accomj)hshed, even with the 
 aid of such powers of nature as were previously 
 known and mastered. The earth with the steam- 
 engine in it, and \\dth all the capabilities which be- 
 long to that mighty instrument for aiding the indus- 
 try and multipl}^mg the comforts of mankmd, is a 
 new eaith, — far better fitted in its physical arrange- 
 ments for the miiversal establishment of the kingdom 
 of Christ, or in other words, for the universal prev- 
 alence of knowledge, liberty, righteousness, peace, 
 and salvation." 
 
 The apphcation of steam, as a mechanical power, 
 to locomotion on land and M'^ater, forms a new era in 
 invention, and in the history of the world. Twenty 
 years ago, the first successful experiment with the 
 locomotive, was made between Liverpool and Man- 
 chester. Now, we can hardly compute the number 
 of railways. Forty-three years ago the Hudson was 
 first successfully navigated by a steamer. In the 
 summer of 1838 the Atlantic ocean was crossed for 
 the first time by vessels exclusively propelled by 
 steam power. Now look at the progress. The 
 steamer ploughs our navigable rivers — our great 
 lakes — our coasts ; — and asserts its supremacy over 
 all other craft, fi'om the Pacific to the Atlantic, and 
 from the Atlantic to the Indian ocean. The changes
 
 16 
 
 in the moral and physical condition of our world, by 
 means of this wonderful agency, are what no one can 
 witness, without mingled emotions of admiration and 
 wonder. That the hand of the Almighty is in it ; 
 that he has some good and grand design to accom- 
 plish through its instrumentahty, must be evident to 
 all who beheve Him to be the moral Governor of 
 the world. AVere a new planet to start into exist- 
 ence, I should as soon think it the result of a fortu- 
 itous conglomeration of atoms, as to disconnect the 
 present revolutions by steam, from the wisdom and 
 power of God. 
 
 Some good people, I am aware, look with a suspi- 
 cious eye upon the iron-liorse. They fancy there is 
 a gloomy destiny in it — a power to subvert old and 
 estabhshed customs ; — to change the laws and ordi- 
 nances of God and man; — to introduce moral and 
 poKtical anarchy, ignorance and impiety, and to make 
 our degenerate race more degenerate still. 
 
 Now, I am not troubled with such spectres. I 
 look for evils to be multiphed with the increase of 
 travel. But order will reim — law will reisrn — re- 
 hgion will reign, because there will be an increase 
 also of counteracting agents. If the effect should 
 be the increase of wealth only, we might well pre- 
 predict fearful consequences. To look upon the rail- 
 road simply as an auxiliary to commerce — as a great 
 mint for coining money ; is to take but a superficial
 
 17 
 
 and contracted view of it. If we would contemplate 
 it in all its bearings, we must consider it as a new 
 and vast power, intended by Providence to act upon 
 reKgion and education — upon tlie civilization and 
 character of a nation in all the complicated interests 
 of its social organism. This is a great subject, and 
 while I have neither time nor abihty to do it justice, 
 I can see in it matter that may well employ, and wiU 
 yet employ the best heads~and hearts which God has 
 bestowed on mortals. Without anticipating evils, 
 there are certain benefits to follow, which will prove " 
 more than an antidote. To name a few. 
 
 The increase of commerce and wealth is a consid- 
 eration which I leave to the political economist. In 
 no country should they be overlooked, much less in 
 our own. Wealth is power, and when properly used, 
 is a source of unspeakable good. 
 
 As to commerce, there are two aspects — aside 
 from its bearing on wealth — in which I love to con- 
 template its coimection with the rail-road. 
 
 One is, as a preventive of war. TLis remark ap- 
 plies more to commerce as now conducted by steam 
 on the ocean. It is bringing the nations together, 
 and making tliem feel the sympathetic throbbings of 
 one family heart — of one great brotherhood. Would 
 the idea of a World's Fair have been conceived, had 
 it not been for steam navigation ? It was a noble
 
 18 
 
 thouglit ! Let tlie people of every tongue, and kin" 
 dred, and nation from under heaven assemble. Let 
 them gather under the same magnificent crystal pal- 
 ace, and through its transparent dome, raise their 
 eyes to the same God, and feel that he has made 
 them all of one blood, and united them, by one com- 
 mon tie of interest and affection, to the same father 
 and to one another ; and we may expect to hear that 
 a motion has been made and carried by acclamation, 
 to "beat their swords into plough-shares and their 
 spears into pruning hooks " 
 
 The other view of steam-commerce is, its tendency 
 to unite more closely the states — bringing them into 
 more intimate relations, and subjecting them to the 
 influence of mutual intercourse. 
 
 Owing to emigration, we are becoming a hetero- 
 geneous people — unhke in habits, language and 
 religion, and scattered over a vast territory, from 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific. How States, formed out 
 of such a population, thus widely dispersed, can be 
 held together and consolidated, is a question vitaUy 
 interesting and important. One thing is certain ; 
 it cannot be done by law, nor by military power 
 alone. Sectional interests and jealousies will spring 
 up against which the Constitution and brute force 
 will form no barrier. Under circumstances so un- 
 precedented in the history of nations, our only
 
 19 
 
 hope, it seems to me, lies in tlie general diffusion of 
 religion and education, and in tlie kind and frequent 
 intercourse which the rail-way is calculated to j)ro- 
 mote, — bringing distant portions of the country 
 into the relation of neighborhoods, and thus remov- 
 ing sectional jealousies and animosities, and inspir- 
 ing mutual confidence and affection. It is for this 
 reason, as well as others, I rejoice in the construction 
 of a rail-road, connecting, us I may say, with the 
 Southern States. The influence, according to all 
 the laws of our social being, cannot fail to be peace- 
 ful and happy. On a little better acquaintance, our 
 brethren of the South will feel more kindly towards 
 us, and we towards them ; and, possibly, some mis- 
 takes and misapprehensions, on both sides, will be 
 corrected and removed. By means of recent inter- 
 course with foreigners, the Chinese begin to think it 
 doubtful whether the earth is a plane, and they in 
 the centre of it, and all upon the outside barbarians. 
 By a law of our nature, minds in contact assimilate, 
 and, for this reason, we hope to see good result from 
 the intermingling of the North with the South ; 
 and, could a rail-road be extended to the Pacific, it 
 would do more to promote union in the States — to 
 circulate kind feelings — to establish our institution* 
 in California, Oregon, Utah, and New Mexico, and to 
 consolidate our glorious confederacy, than all the leg- 
 islation of Congress from now until doomsday. A
 
 20 
 
 new and vast trade would at once spring np be- 
 tween tlie parent States and those more recently 
 formed, also with the numerous islands of the Paci- 
 fic, and with the populous regions of eastern Asia, 
 In its tendency all legitimate commerce is peaceful 
 and happy, because its benefits are mutual and recip- 
 rocal. Every new rail-way, therefore, constructed 
 in our country, is another link in a chain of iron, 
 binding the States together. 
 
 Another benefit. In one respect, the rail-road is 
 a leveler, but it levels up, not down. Its tendency 
 is to place the poor on a level with the rich, not by 
 abolishing the distinction of property — it is no so- 
 cialist — not by dej^ressing the rich, but by elevating 
 all to the enjoyment of equal advantages. It is hke 
 the Press. Before the art of printing, the poor had 
 no books. Now, the possession of books is no very 
 distinctive mark of wealth. Manufactories are lev- 
 eling in the same way, by bringing to the firesides 
 and wardrobes of the poor, articles of comfort and 
 luxury, which once were attainable only by the rich. 
 So with the rail-way. The poor can travel with as 
 much ease, rapidity and cheapness as the rich. They 
 are not doomed, as formerly, to spend life within 
 the limits of a parish or a city ; but, can take their 
 seat beside the millionaire, breathe the pure air of 
 the country, recreate and recruit health and spirits
 
 21 
 
 in its vallies and on its mountain tops. But tliere 
 are other advantages still greater. 
 
 One is tlie general diffusion of education. " ]\Iany 
 shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be in- 
 creased." The motion of the body quickens the mind. 
 The rapid passing of objects — the active interchange 
 of commodities in commercial intercourse, is attended 
 with the interchange of ideas. Then, possibly, such 
 active intercourse may be unfavorable to education. 
 In a passion for travel, there is danger of cultivating 
 the senses more than the intellect. Should knowledge 
 degenerate into mere sight-seeing and become super- 
 ficial, the effect will be deplorable. But as an offset 
 to this evil, which we hardly anticipate, we see eve- 
 rywhere the multiplication of schools and a disposi- 
 tion in the people, and especially in our rulers, to 
 patronise and encourage education. Hapj^ily for the 
 world, rulers are beginning to see, that they are in- 
 vested with power not for themselves, but for the 
 people ; that the interest of one is the interest of 
 both ; and, that in shaping their policy so as to ad- 
 vance general knowledge, industry, equal rights and 
 privileges ; they are la^ang a broad foundation in 
 the intelligence and affection of the masses for per- 
 manent peace and prosperity. In political science, 
 this is a great advance from the old gothic notion 
 that God made the people for the king and the king 
 for himself. This branch of my subject I cannot
 
 22 
 
 close better, tlian in the words of an eloquent wri- 
 ter. Speaking of govei'nments, lie says : — " Having 
 it for their problem to make every man as valuable as 
 possible to himself and to his country, and becom- 
 ing more and more inspired, as wc may hope, by an 
 aim so lofty, every means will be used to diffuse edu- 
 cation, to fortify morals and favor the holy power of 
 religion. This being done, there is no longer any 
 danger fi'om travel. On the contrary, the masses of 
 society, will, by this means, be set forward con- 
 tinually in character and intelligence. As they run, 
 knowledge will be increased. The roads will 
 themselves be schools, for here they will see the 
 great world movin?,and feel themselves to be a part 
 of it. Their narrow, local prejudices will be worn 
 off, their superstitions forgotten. Every people will 
 begin to understand and appreciate every other, and 
 a common light be kindled in all bosoms." 
 
 The effects to result from the great facilities for 
 travel in re^rard to the g-eneral interests of relioj-ion 
 is another subject on which a large portion of com- 
 munity feel a deep interest. And well we may. 
 Whatever tends to loosen the bonds that bind us to 
 our Maker, tends also to loosen the bonds that bind 
 society together — to uproot law and order — to in- 
 troduce anarchy and misrule, guilt and wi'etchedness. 
 
 There is one ffict, however, which encourages us to 
 hope that the influence of railways will be favorable
 
 23 
 
 to religion. As I have already said, tliey mark a 
 new era in the world. They are destined to effect a 
 great revolution in all the departments of society. 
 Now, if we look back on the past half century, we 
 see nothing but a succession of revolutions in gov. 
 ernment — in the arts and sciences — in the condi- 
 tions of political and social life ; and yet, where is 
 there one that has not immediately or remotely fav- 
 ored the extension of Christianity — given prosperity 
 and power to evangehcal truth, and caused the heart 
 of christian philanthropy to beat more intensely for 
 the happiness of universal being ? On that one, I can- 
 not place my eye. It is not in memory. It is not 
 on record. Wrongs deep and di'eadful there have 
 been, and are stiU ; but every attempt to perpetuate 
 them — as is obvious to the nice observer — is work- 
 ing out, slowly it may be, but surely, their removal. 
 
 When rail-roads were first projected, it was pre- 
 dicted, and not without some reason, that they would 
 demolish the christian Sabbath. But what has been 
 the result ? So far as ascertained, I confess I see no 
 occasion for alarm. True, this sacred season of rest, 
 given to man by his Creator, and which his physical 
 nature imperiously demands — being able, as has 
 often been demonstrated, to do more labor with it 
 than without it — is shamefully desecrated by steam- 
 ers, rail-cars and other modes of conveyance. But,
 
 24 
 
 so far as rail-roads are concerned, experience both in 
 this country and in England is gradually deciding 
 in favor of remembering the Sabbath day to keep it 
 holy. If correctly informed, several lines are al- 
 ready discontinued and others will be. Wherever 
 the voice of community favors it. Directors are not 
 backward to let their men and enginery remain quiet 
 on this day ; for it is found that nothing is gained 
 and much lost by running. Ail the business can be 
 done in six days of the week ; while, not only one- 
 seventh part of the expense is saved, but the hands 
 employed are refreshed and in\agorated by rest, and 
 better prepared with safety and fidehty to dis- 
 charge their duty. Thus the evil is working out its 
 o\^Ti remedy. The trath is, the law of the Sabbath 
 is written, not only in the Bible, but upon the con- 
 stitution of man ; and such are the arrangements of 
 Providence that it cannot be violated without incur- 
 ring loss. The penalty will follow, and if religion 
 does not enforce obedience, self-interest will. All 
 that is necessary is, to direct the attention of con- 
 siderate men to the subject, and leave it with con- 
 science and common sense to decide. This done, I 
 have no fears of the result. 
 
 Another thing. When a railway is managed as 
 it should be, and as I coniidently beheve ours will 
 be, it is found to be an important auxiliary to the
 
 25 
 
 cause of temperance. In a concern invohnng so 
 great an amount of life and property, it is worse 
 than folly to employ men wlio are not strictly tem- 
 perate. The public expect and have a right to de- 
 mand, for the sake of safety if nothing else, the most 
 scrupulous adherence on the part of directors to the 
 principles of temperance, in the appointment of their 
 agents. This will inspire confidence in the traveling 
 community, and secure patronage ; and if no higher 
 motive actuates, its mfluence will be good, at least 
 upon a large class of persons necessarily connected 
 with such an establishment. 
 
 But it is in the power of directors — and that 
 power can be easily exercised, especially at the first 
 start of a rail-road — to extend the healthful influ- 
 ence of temperance, along the whole line; — opera- 
 ting benignly upon the population at large, through 
 which it passes. They can and ought to control the 
 eating-houses and depots maintained for its accom- 
 modation ; and if this be so, the prohibited use of 
 intoxicating liquor m them, by its example, will do 
 good to the whole state. If this wise and practica- 
 ble measure be adopted, as it has been on some other 
 roads, and with entire success, it can readily be seen 
 how powerfully it will aid the cause of temperance. 
 For years past, one prolific source of intemperance, 
 has been the taverns and grog-shops upon our great 
 thoroughfares. Pei-sons who drank but little at
 
 26 
 
 home, under the excitement or fatigue of traveling, 
 have thought it pleasant if not necessary to indulge 
 in the intoxicating cup, especially where none but 
 strangers could be witnesses to their delinquency. As 
 these sources will in a great degree cease to corrupt, 
 if others are not opened on the I'ail-road, incalcula- 
 ble good will result to the public. May we not hope 
 that the noble stand will be taken and maintained, 
 and that our rail-way, so big with promise to other 
 interests, will apply its mighty fires and forces to dry 
 up the poisonous fountains of intemperance? It 
 will be an achievement worthy of the age. It will 
 reflect honor upon our State. Its example will teU 
 upon other rail-roads and upon the nation. In a few 
 years, it will save money enom'h to repay the build- 
 ing of the road. It will scatter unnumbered bless- 
 ings of contentment, peace, prosperity, and religion 
 over our great commonwealth ! 
 
 Let me, in conclusion, recall your minds to the 
 thought already suggested ; that the hand of the 
 Almighty is concei-ned in the vast system of rail- 
 roads. Id their construction, the object of man may 
 be commerce, convenience, pleasure, profit, or nation- 
 al glory. But "my thoughts are not your thoughts, 
 neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For 
 as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my 
 ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than 
 yom- thoughts." What God intends to accomplish.
 
 27 
 
 we are incompetent fully to determine ; but we may 
 rest assured, that he has some great and glorious 
 object in view, and will make man's agency in this 
 earthly enterprise instrumental in bringing it about. 
 Do you think it derogatory to Him who creates 
 worlds and guides them in their orbits, to have any 
 tiling to do with rail-roads ? Or, tlo you adopt the 
 Epicurean theory, revived by the author of "Vesti- 
 ges of Creation" — a work replete with palpable 
 and enormous blunders — a work based on the prin- 
 ciple, that God, after creating the world, left it to 
 take care of itself, and retired into the bosom of 
 eternity ? Revelation forbids the thought. Reason 
 forbids it. The presence and action of universal laws 
 forbid it. Look at the wisdom, order and harmony 
 of these laws. Look at their unity, and in that uni- 
 ty, see the agency of one Infinite Mind upholding 
 and governing all. Or do you take another view of 
 the subject less revolting to the Christian mind? Is 
 God in nature, but not in its movements and evolu- 
 tions ? Is he in matter, but not in the mind that 
 moulds it ? Is he in the stars, but not in the tele, 
 scope, nor in the mechanic that made it ? Is he in 
 the bow in the cloud, but not in the beautifid me- 
 chanism of the eye that looks upon it ? And is he 
 in the fires of Etna, and not in the locomotive ? Give 
 me the philosophy of David, rather than that of 
 Laplace. " O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! 
 in wisdom hast thou made them all." David looked
 
 2:8 
 
 up only to adore. Laplace never woreliipped. Da- 
 vid saw God everywhere. His boundless glory filled 
 the universe. Laplace looked into the. temj^le of 
 omnipotence to scrutinise the principles of its struc- 
 ture, but saw nothing of " its Builder and Maker 
 who is God." Let us not be equally blind, unbe- 
 lieving or irreverent. Let us not say, God is a spirit, 
 infinite, omnicient, omnipresent ; and yet deny him 
 an agency in those mechanical forces destined to 
 change the face of the world. Rather let us love 
 and adore. Let us rejoice in the truth, that God 
 reigns and " doeth his j)leasure in the armies of hea- 
 ven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." 
 
 It is this view of the subject which I love to con- 
 template ; and it is because deeply impressed with 
 this view of it, that it is in my heart to congratulate 
 the President and Directors, and my fellow citizens 
 generally, on the completion of the first railway 
 connecting Cleveland with the Capital, and with a 
 great inland city upon the beautiful banks of the 
 Ohio. I feel it to be a noble achievement — worthy 
 our state — worthy the age ; and while I praise God, 
 who has furnished the men and the means, the skill 
 and the talent, to carry it forward, amidst toils and 
 difilculties, to a successful termination ; I must not 
 forget to mention the only drawback upon om' re- 
 joicings. 
 
 In the prosecution of the work there was one, who 
 from its commencement has sustained a high and
 
 29 
 
 honorable part in it. Of h\^ forecast, integrity, me- 
 chanical skill, incessant toil and uncompromising 
 energy and perseverence, I need not speak. In con- 
 nection witli this road, the name of Harbach will 
 long live in our affectionate remembrance. Strange, 
 that just as it was completed, he should drop into 
 the tomb ! But we know that active mind lives, and 
 is active still ; and who can tell the interest it may 
 now take, viewing events in the clear light of eter- 
 nity — in the wondei-fal developements connected 
 with his short but useful career ! 
 
 " God moves in a mysterious way, 
 His wonders to perform." 
 
 Those most useful — whose services to the world 
 seem indispensable, are often, as was our friend, sud- 
 denly called away. Let the dispensation, mournful 
 to us all, and espscially to the bereaved partner and 
 family, with whom we deeply sympathize, teach us, 
 that in the midst of life we are in death ; — that life 
 is only good and great as it works out the problem 
 of a higher destiny, in the realization of a blessed 
 hope of immortality through Jesus Christ. 
 
 My Friends, the stirring scenes through which we 
 are passing — the movements of which we are spec- 
 tators, and in which we are actors, are great to us. 
 And, indeed, connected with the progress of our 
 race, and with the destiny of our country and world, 
 they are great in reality. But another existence is 
 before us. Other scenes are yet to open — scenes
 
 30 
 
 of still deeper interest — vastly different in their 
 nature — of a higher order — spiritual, eternal; and 
 we are all approaching them in the great rail-car of 
 time, with a speed more rapid than lightning — 
 more irresistible than chariots of fire. 
 
 God grant, that through infinite mercy in Jesus 
 Christ, we may be faithful in our day and generation 
 — hve to some valuable purpose — that when we 
 reach the great depot of our earthly existence, and 
 go out of this tabernacle, we may enter into the 
 building of God — "x\n house not made with hands, 
 eternal in the heavens."
 
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