The Times

It is an old saying, that the times change, and we change with them, but whether this is exactly the case, in point of fact, men of reflection can judge. The promise made to Noah: "while the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease," continues with all its variety, grace, glory, wonders, and seed-seeding seed. But man, from one family has multiplied to millions: one language or tongue, has branched out into thousands of significant, insignificant, and melodious modes of conveying ideas to the understanding, and patriarchal, fatherly, or family government, has swelled from simplicity for ordinary purposes and conveniences, to states, kingdoms, empires, and despotisms, for conquest, for slaughter, for safety, for wealth, for greatness, or grandeur, for ambition, that the voice of the people might supercede [supersede] the voice of God. The early simplicity of living, of thoughts, of government, and etiquette, have grown into luxury, cunning cruelty, and impropriety. We view these innovations upon the comfort, society, & friendship of man, as inventions that have degraded him from the "image" of God to (almost) passions and likeness of a beast. There is now extant a very erroneous idea of the knowledge of the first families of the earth, from Adam to Abraham. They possessed intelligence derived from God himself:-and they lived to the age of nearly one thousand years, in good health and vigor.-There were men of renown and giants in those days. Now we see dwarfs, mean men, consumption, short lived hypocrites and learned speculators upon all the vicissitudes, calamities and phenomena of nature, without the power to change one hair white or black. Surely we live in peculiar times, which if time permits, we shall speak further upon hereafter.