Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1837-09-05
From the Lady's book.
HE INFID Z L.
BY MISS L. E. PENEALLow.

Dh, lives there Heaven beneath the broad expansc
One hopeless, dark idolater OF chance!
4N Would that, at the present day, when
Religion, literature, all that can dignity
and elevate man in the scale Of moral and
I intellectual eAcelence-when all these
may raise their heads and rejoice in the
triumphs achieved over sin, ignorance
and error-would that at so luminous
period the picture were all thus bright
81 would that the reverse exhibited no dark
q shade on which the eye must rest with
painful intensity of interest. That dark
& shade, that gloomy reverse, is now pre-
sented 10 us in the progress OF lntidellty.
Yes, under the broad, blue vault of Heay-
en-, under that beautiful canopy, studded
with myriadS Of brilliant suns and worlds,
man, formed in the image of his Creator,
with heart to feel and mind to compre-
bend the vast mysteries Of nature, can
wilfully pervert those powers, exert those
energies 10 throw blighting influence
over the future and eternal hopes of his
fellow man, and openly scott at and deny
the existence of an Almighty and over
ruling Power.
When we review the past history of
our race what do its annals present to US?
Previous to the rise Of the bright Star of
Bethlehem, which shed SO pure radiance
over the world, how desolate the picture!
4 In what bold relief are our own blessings
\ placed by such comparison! Some flow
q ers, indeed, we're scattered along their
n pathway of life, but they resembled ra-
n Their the whitening garlands of the ceme-
try, than the bright and beautiful ones,
which spring up in those perennial gar
dens on which the Sun of Everlasting
81 Truth sheds its beams. What did the flu
ture offer to their ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
lutely nothing; no joys beyond the pres
ent; the limits of each formed the boun-
Diary Of their hopes; or, if few gifted
minds, who felt within them the high Ca
pacity for indefinite improvements, and
were painfully conscious Of the vast dis
proportion between their powers of mind
and the period permitted for their devel-
ppement: if they pierced the veil which
concealed the future, and obtained hope
Father than certainty of an hereafter;
X what was that but dim moonlight ray
10 aid their wanderings, compared with
he bright and glorious beams, the full
Sun-llght which we enioy9 How much is
NE value of existence enhanced--h
much the sacredness of domestic ties in
creased, by the certainty of prolonged ex-
istence, where Improvements may be in
definite, affection immortal That ra-
X tlonal being can be indifferent to such
M gifts, and wantonIy cast them from him,
VI throwing himself back into the darkness
IN OF the past is moral anomaly of which
we could form no idea, did not the painful
reality force itself upon us. How can
we account for so strange perversion OF
mans noblest powers, so blind an insensi-
bility to the highest of gifts. The gift Of
Immortality is spurned, rejected--by
n whom? Him who without it would be
but the poor wanderer Of day. But
while we depIore the fact, and weep over
the evil, we may go further; we may an
alyze some of the causes which have pro-
duced so painful result; and may then,
perhaps, find them such as benevolence
and enlightened zeal may aid in remov-
ing. have often mourned over the divi-
sions, the impossible boundaries which
sectarian feeling has erected, and which
even Christian charity SO seldom over
leaps, while have thus reflected on the
powerful weapon thus given to the com
mon enemy.
Frank Ellwood was the son of opulent
parents who moved in an elevated sphere
OF life. The world pronounced them tex
eellent peoples" and so they were--but,
unhappily, upon the most important Of all
subjects--religion--they differed widely;
while neither party, however sincere in
their belief, possessed sufficient judgment
10 fnrnsnn tho nfnnt liknl,r 70 no nrndncnh