Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1848-04-05

~--.,..uc.ted 70 the New York Tribune.
LETTER II.

-
c-mapcated to the New York Tribune.
LETTER II.
~ ST. PETERsBUnc, Sept. 1871.
ssrho FIRST point Of view in which have
..s..J Won 10 consider the Bible. is in the
s.hs Of Divine Revelation. And what
- "a to understand by these terms! }
,..cnd as much as possible. to avoid the
x.U of controversy. which ] am not well
a....;nted with. and for which have little
.~sect. and still less inclination. My
-. of the Bible as Diuinc Rcrefai'"H IS
sc,n.lcd upon its practical use to mankind,
mi not upon metaphysical subtlciics.
There are three points Of doctrine, the be-
i;.r ~ which forms the foundation OF all
p,oraii,y. The first is, the Existence of a
1:od. the second is, the Immortality OF the
Human Soul; and the third is, a Future
S,atc Of Reward and Punishment. Sup
nose Il possible for a man TO disbelievc
|, e.;ther oil these articles Of faith, and that
.,en will hmvr no consc fence, he will have
no other law than that of tie tiger. or the
shark; the laws of man may bind him in
chains, or may put him to death, but they
never can make him wise, virtuous, or
happy. u is possible to believe them all
without believing that tho Bible is a Divine
Revelation. II is so obvious to every rea-
sonabIe being that he did not make HIM
self, and the world which he inhabits could
A. little make itself. that the moment we
begin to exercise the power of reflection,
it seems impossible 10 escape the convic-
ton that there is Il Creator.
Il is equally evident that the Creator
must he spiritual, and no, material be-
ing: there is also n consciousness that the
thinking part of our nature is not material
but spiritual-tl,at it is not subject to the
laws OF matter, nor perishabIe with IT..
Hence arises the belief that We have an
immortal soul; and pursuing the train OF
thought which tho visible creation aud
observation upon ourselves suggests, we
must soon discover that the Creator must
also be the Governor Of the Universe; that
His wisdom, and His goodness. must be
without bounds,-tI,at lie is Il righteous
God and loves igltcousncss,-thatm man
kind arc bound by the laws of righteous
ness and are accountable to Him for their
obedience 10 them in this life. according
10 their good or evil deeds This compile
Ton Of Divine Justice must he reserved for
another life The existence Of a Creator
the Immortality Of the human soul, and il
future state Of retribution. are therefore so
perfectly congcnial to natural reason when
once discovcrcd--or rather it is SO impos-
sible for natural reason To disbelicvc them
that it would seem the light Of natural
reason alone suffice for their discovery;
bat the conclusion would not be correct.
Human reason may be sufficient To get an
obscure glimpse OF these sacred and inn
portani truths. but il cannot discover them
in all their clcarncss. For examplc:-in
~ their numbcrlcss. false religions. which
have swayed tho minds of men in differ
ent ages and reg ions of the world the idea
Of a God has always been included:
'.Father Of all. in every age,
-74 iti In every CLINE adored-
by Saint. 10y Savage, aud by Sage
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord
So says Popc's Universal Prayer. Eut
it is the God Of the Hebrews alone who is
announced to us as the Creator of the
world. The ideas OF God entertained by
all the most illustrious. and most ingenious,
nations Of antiquity were weak and absurd.
Tho Pcrsians worship the Sun; the EgNp-
tians believed in an nnun,crablc multitude
Of gods. and worshippcd no, only oxen
crocodiles, dogs. and cats. but even garlic>
and onions. The Greeks invented !;
poc,ical religion. and adorcd men and wo-
man. virtues and vices; air. water and fire,
and every thing that vivid imagination
could pcrsonify. Almost all the Greek
Philosophers reasoned aud mcdita,cd upo,,
the nature OF the gods; but scarcely any OF
them reflected enough even to imagine that
there was but one God. and not ono o!
them ever conceived of Him as the Creator
OF the world. Cicero has collected toge-
their opinions upon the nature Of the gods.
and pronounced them more like the dreams
Of nadn,en than the sober judgment OF
wise men. In the first book of Ovid
Alctamorphoscs. there is an account OF
the change of Chaos i'll the world. Be-
Gre the sea and the earth, and the sky
that surrounds all things, says Ovid) there
was thing called Chaos. aud some Of the
gods (hc does not know whichl separated
from each other the elements Of this Chaos
and turned them into the world: thu, Tar
and no farther could human reason ex-
tend. But the first words of the Bible are
..in the beginning Cod created the heavens
aud the earth The blessed and sublime
idea Of God. As the Creator of the uni
verso. the source of all human happiness
Tor which all the Sa.cs and Philosophers
If Greece and Rome CROPPED i'm darkness
and never found. is recalled in the frs,
Verse Of the book OF Genesis. I call il
the source of all human virtue and hap
pinc>s; because when we have attained the
conception of "a Hcing. who by the mere
act of Ills will, created the world. it would
follow as an irresistible consequence
even II We were not told that the same Be
ing must also be the Governor of Ills own
crcation--that man, with all other things.
was also created by Him. and must hold
ms feIicny and virtue Oh the condition o!
obedience To His will
!" the first chapter of the Bibl, there is
short and rapid historical narrative OF
the manner in which the world and man
we're made-of the condition upon which
happiness and immortality was bestowed
upon our. first parenis-of their trangrcs-
sion of this condition-of The punishment,
denounced upon then,--and the promise
at. Y0(lsrRption from il bv the ..Scetl OF III e