Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1847-01-07
VOL. XII, NO. WHOLE NO. 2o9o.

intellectual pride, its power over other minds
IS greatly reduced by an imperfect reliance
on its facts and deductions. The testimony
upon which we receive ordinary truths is
not adequate to the establishment of those
which are strpnge and startling; and if they
stand opposed to early prejudice, or to the
evidence of sense, they are not admitted like
other truths of which we have the evidence
of demonstration. They are portions, in
deed, of our knowledge, but not articles of
our creed, and though we may regard them
as possible, or even rank them among prob
abilities, they neither guide the judgment,
nor rouse the affections, nor regulate the
conduct. How few men really believe that
they sojourn on a whirling globe, and that
Teach day and year OF life is measured by its
lrevolutiohs, regulating the iabour. and,th
repose of every race of beings How few
believe that the great luminary ofthe firma-
ment, whose restless activity they daily wit
ness, is an immovegbe star, controlling, by
its solid mass, the primary planets which
compose our system and forming the gnomon
of the great dial which measures the thread
of life, the tenure of empires, and the great
cycles of the worlds change. How few be-
lieve that each of the millions of stars
those atoms Of light which the telescope can
scarcely descry-are the centres of planetary
systems that may equal, if not. surpass our
own! And how very few believe that the sol
id pavement of the globe upon which they
nightly slumber, is apelastic crust, imprison-
ing fires and forces which have often burst
forth in tremendous ene9gy, and are at this
very instant struggling to escape,-now find
ing their way i'll volcanic fires-now heaving
and shaking the earth-now uprising isl
ands and continents, and gathering strength
for that final outburst which is to usher in
the new heavens and the new earth, "wherc'
in dwelIeth righteousness" Were these
great physical truths objects of faith as well
as deductions Of reason, we should lead d
better life than we do, and make a quicker
preparation for its close. No man willingly
sleeps on the precpicc's brink. Few can
stand unappalled with thunderbolt over.
head, and fewer still are unmoved when the
earthquake is SCATTERING their neighbour.
household gods and desolating their shrine
If it be want Of faith in religious truth which
keeps us under the bondage of sin, it is wan
of faith in physical truth which keeps u:
from seeing the mighty arm that is ever re
'vealing itself around us,-from standing il
awe amid its wondrous manifestations >
from living sober and godly lives, and thus
qualifying ourselves for the citizenship of ;
better kingdom.
If there be any soundness in these views
the education of the people-the instruction
of the whole population--in physical truth
becomes the duty of Christian State. Ed
ucation, however, is not knowledge, nor i
knowledge wisdom. L is but the instrumen
by which knowledge and wisdom are acquir
ed, and like all other instruments, it may b,
employed for purposes that are mischievou
or useless. There are many truths which i
is not profitable to know, and of which it i
better to be ignorant There are man,
which are appropriate to one sphere of life
and not to another but there are some
which deeply concern every responsible be
ing, and in making him a wiser, make hin
a happier and better man. We do not al
Jude to the doctrines of revelation, abou
which there is no question, but to those CRANE
truths of the natural world which indicate
the power and wisdom, and show forth tn,
glory of the Creator. The cardinal truths
Of Astronomy and Geology have pre-emi
nently this character, and along with other
of high importance, ought to form the sub
stance of the earliest lessons that are com
mitted to the memory Of the young. Re
ceived as facts to be believed, and not a
truths to be previously demonstrated or ever
explained, they demand little exercise of TIN
mind, and will take their place in its capa
cious storehouse, the germs of present pie
ty, and the seed Of the tree of knowledge.
1t is in vain, however, to expect that sucl
views will receive any attention in the pres
ent age, when nations are ruled only by thu
principles Of a worldly policy, and no higho
objects contemplated in the education of thu
community than to maintain social order, Il
promote agriculture and commerce, and t.
eXalt by naval and military triumphs, thu
falsely called glory of the nation. A Gov
eminent must be wise in itself before it car
make others wise and senators must fea
God before they can make man fear him.
When birth and not wisdom is called t.
high counsels, -when eloquence overbear
knowledge, and the idolatry of wealth ant
power replaces godly fear, we must remain
the subject of distracted and unblesse'
empire, imbibing the wisdom of the serpent
and smitten by the poison of its sting