New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1843-02-22
VOL. HI. NO. ego.


and glory, and SO possessing itself not to live or
glory in that which is beneath it. Accordipe,v
evil IS possible because the soul, in it's union with
the tesh!y nature, has the power to take to itself
as though Its own, good, or state Of indulgence
not properly It's own or fitting to it but of a lower
nature; 1t can even lose and merge itself and its
distinctive existence In inferior qualifications, in
the lower bodily existence, in the wants and ira
tienal cravings and pleasures of the bodily lifeso
one have the higher and the lower become in u.s.
mat we may lose ourselves in indulgence which
slerges the souls freedom and strength in the sat-
istacuon and pleasurable sense tions of the flesh
We assert, therefore, that the possibility and as it
were the elements Of intemperance are existent in
every man; every man has this evil in its rud-
ments within him, and few are there in whom this
evil has not already positive and fearful power
Men, all men, live upon the bosom of this Danger
Gus tendency of their natures and no man has his
safety from the lack of the essential elements and
conditions OF intempcrance within him, but if at all
by the positive victory ana the positive discipline
of the soul to higher virtue in the love of hi cher
good-and this discipline actual temperance alone
affords. The beginning and fountain of this evil
IS within US, in the actual power of lower ma
ture. There could be no higher and lower in the
soul without fleshly element conjoined with in
the same existence-no big her and lower among
the SOULS own proper exercises aud Joys The
higher or lower order of all joys pleasures is de-
termined by the order of the beings to which they
appertain and the nature in which such Joys are
found existent; the Joys and pleasures are not of
themselves, or having in themselves their charac-
ter, but they Of the being whose exercises they
are, and they have their character thence. The
brute has no higher or lower kinds of pleasures
his Qualifications all of one order; all his exer-
cises are upon one level, each one as high and as
low, as worthy and as base, as good and as evil
as another; they are just what brute, without
any distinction of higher and lower natures in his
being makes thcm-thc brute himself is all on one
level, mere moRotony in existence, dead level,
plain in which there is no ascending or descend
ing +; he is not an existence extending both to that
above and beneath; he cannot live or act upon two
different levels OF being; existence in him can
not put forth its energies in two spheres, and there
is no descent Of the higher into the lower and its
works. SO also perfect and free spirit must be
supposed to have all its exercises Of one order and
equally good; the utterance of a simple and har-
monious life; no lofty and no low no rising and no
falling, no effort and no sloth, no striving and no
rousing and no slumber but all as high as he is
as strong he is and rs noble ss he is and he is
neither beneath hia,elf nor above himself But
this is not the with man: he is himself
higher and lower, and such also are the powers
of his life. Though soul, and though there be
the life and exercises proper to soul gifted with
freedom and reason, yet can he, soul, be mere
creature Of flesh and Of self-indulsence in it; he
can give his soul up the power of a lower ma
ture, and to gross flesh indulgences of reason
or true freedom, and unmeet for it. Hence the
possibility and need of temperance for man,
strong and enduring life in the nobler element of
his existence, an inward strength and endurance
and real triumph of sou-and hence also the pos
sibility and danger of intemperancc, the soul.
weakness, the triumph and dominion Of the lower
heshy nature"
OF the popular Temperance movements of the
day, in an earlier part of the Address he thus
sideratcly speaks:
"With regard to the common Temperance move
ments of the day, l shall not stop now to inquire
particularly into their value, their correctness or
incorrectness, or the probable results from them.
We are all fully aware that a great amount of la
Dor has been performed, nnd great and continued
exertions put FORTH to convince, to persuade, TO
alarm to move by all fearful and by all generous
considerations, and to bind all men together under
the Temperance Pledge in one brotherhood OF
strict sobrie.y. We are all aware, too, that great
deal of seeming good, at least has been eilcc;ed,
and great changes wrought in matters az certain
ing 10 mans social we-being, and in at least the
more superficial opinions, prejudices interests and
decencies of life. That these movements have al
ways been wise, or always healthiul; that they
have always been of sufficient depth and soundness
to be relied upon no one need affirm for the int.
rests of temperance; and that they have been ut
terly false and injurious, very few are desperate
enough to considerably assert. The age has done
what was in it to do it has worked AS II could
it has shore forth with the light that was IN it 1t
has struggled with what of truth it had and what
of strength and wisdom the principles and men 1t
possessed could impart; it has done what it has
done, and the results of It's temperance efforts are
in a measure before u.s. be they more or less; al
belt they may be in some particulars failure, ana
in some q triumph. Multitudes OF men, however,
are always ready to magnify each temporary benefit
or mere seeming of good into the Summuna 6onufn.
So has it undoubtedly been in this matter; and
whilst the temperance movement has uprooted Old
habits, both in individuals and in society, and
swept off many evils that were so gross and visi-
BILE, some have worshipped like bacchanalians be-
fore its power and progress; forgot that even It's
pretensons and aims were but partial and par
ticular moral reformation; and thatit was tar from
being, in its object, as large as is the interest
of true temperance for any one soul OF man.
We have room for but one extract more, and this
shall be the sum of the whole m,tter-the prac-
teal admonition to which his philosophical con-
siderations have conducted. 1t is enforced with
loftier eloqueuce than have ever seen brought
to the subject before; it is the earnest pleasing OF
a true soul that feels not its want and weakness
only, but its dignity and real worth:
'.Surely, then, we cannot too well remember
that the man who would clothe his soul in reason