The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1843-09-07
THE GENESIS OF ATHEISM.
BY DIR. BEECHER.

Some time ago, after chaos and old
night had reigned undisturbed from eter-
nifty, and matter had fermented, and toss
ed, and rolled into almost infinite forms,
it happened to fall, for the first time, into
lust those relations which constituted the
volcanic power when, in moment, an
explosion took place, loud as ten thou
sand thunders, which sent out innumer-
able suns, flying in fusion through space,
streaming athwart the darkness their
baleful lig hit, till they stopped and be-
came fixed stars in the glorious firma"'
ment above. But they carried in their
bosom the sad accidents which gave them
birth; and new throes eDsued, sending
out around them comets, and planets,
and satellites, all moving in elliptic or
bits, with arithmetical accuracy, so that
for ages past, and for ages to come, the
almanac discloses their movements with
as exact accuracy as the clock tells OF
time. What chance it was which check
ed their flight, and by resolution of
force, wheeled them round in their clip
tic career-or why, the centriPetal pow
er exhausted they did not fall back, with
accelerated momentum, into the horrible
crater whence they sprvng-or where
that mass may be, which could furnish
matter, of which to make the universe,
and sustain the reaction of sending it out;
that mighty cannon, whose shot are suns,
and worlds, our philosophers have not
yet discovered. But SO it happened -
they were exploded, and as yet they have
not fallen back.
And now, leaving the suns, and orbs,
and other systems, we descend to trace
the history of our own mother earth,
whom we meet reeking from her recent
explosion, her waves of fire tossing and
raging; which as they cooled, crusted
and stood upright as an heap, and be-
came the perpetual hills and everlasting
mountains, The weightier masses sunk
downward, towards the center, with light
er and lighter deposits above, leaving
the crust, when pulverized, for fallow
ground and harvests.
As yet, however, the earth was with
out form and void, and hideous naked
ness spread over its late burning surface.
When, strange to tell, grass and trees
sprang up and began to ornament the
hills and carpet the valleys-and hard
on the footsteps Of this wonder, trod an
other; the waters teemed with organic
life, which dashed with oar the plant
wave, and sported in the deep;- and
suddenly the hills sent down to the val
leys, and the valleys sent back to the
hills, the bleating Of flocks and herds;
while the groves sent forth the joyous
notes of birds and insects. All these,
in grand concert, burst out upon the ST.
lence ofnature, and all, as they needed,
waited on almighty chance, who gave
them their meat in due season
The organization of this delighted
choir, was such as demanded respiration,
and the flowing Of warm blood, for
which an elastic atmosphere was needed;
and it happened, as the earth cooled and
consolidated, that several gases escaped
from confinement, so exactly of the same
specific gravity, and blessed with such
social and friendly dispositions, that they
agreed to exist in partnership, and to
surround the earth, and most benevo-
lently to volunteer their aid for respira-
ton. Each, alone, delay to life, but
united, its sustaining power.
This world of breathing animation,
rose up with optics-camera obscura in
the head, to pencil inside the images of
objects without When, 10, the orb of
day, when he fled from his heated prison,
forgot not in his panic to take with him
stores of light, manufactured for imme-
date use, which ever since, he has been
pouring out unexhausted, in marvellous
abundance. Light, so dexterously COM
pounded of seven colors, as to be color
less, and we'll adapted to the purposes of
vision.
But amid this exuberance of animal
ed being, there was not man to till the
ground or admire the beauties of nature.
Behold then another wonder the fortu-
itous concourse of atoms, before the earth
so cooled as to stop fermentation, pro-
duced a human skeleton; around which,
with kind affinity, came the sinews and
the muscles, and took their place. The
lungs for breathing, and the arteries and
veins 10 carry around the vital fluid, Of
fered their aid, and were accepted. The
nervous system--semi- animal, semi-spir-
itual--took its middle place, as arbitra-
tor between the soul and the body. And
to cover what otherwise had been un-
slightly, kind nature provided a blanket,
and with kind sympathy threw its velvet
covering over the whole. The eye, too,
lit itself up accidentally, just at the mo-
ment it was wanted, and the socket stood
excavated for its reception, and the mu-
Gus warm to make it easy, and the liga-
ment to tie il in. The mouth opened at
the right time to prevent suffocation, and
in the right place for speech, and orna-
mented with double rows Of ivory for
mastication. While natures self, with
pencil dipped in tho colors Of heaven