The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-06-06
] IiGllllperaa
Fton tho Southern Christian Advocate.
.Alasiresses ssy Esr. 81 Pierce,
And Bishop Andrew.

liyered on the occasion ofithe presenta-
tion d: a Bible by the Ladies of Ok.
ford, Ga, to the Andrcw Division,
No. 33, Of the Sons of temperance;
and are published at the request of the
Division.
iab 6 BY DIR. PIERCE.
Worthy Patriarch and Gentlemen
Of TIE Andreao Diuision Of the Sons
Of Tsmperance;-In obedience to re-
quest of the young Ladies of Oxford,
communicated to me by Committee
of their own appointment, rise to pre-
sent to you, in their name, Bible
that "word which God has magnified
above all his name" and for which I
now bespeak, what 1 know you will ac-
cord,a reverent welcome. You will
permit me to remark that think the
gift appropriate, whether you consider
the character Of those who present it,
or Tie objects contemplated by your or
ganization. You propose, by the bless
ing Of God, to redeem the fallcn-to
reform the erring, and to throw around
the innocent the safeguards and sccuri-
ties of an honorable pledge, and o high
moral association. And although there
may be much of what is simply human
in the ceremonies of your Order, and,
perhaps, even in the obligation you as
sumo, / can but believe that the i'm
pulse from which this great moral en-
terprise proceeds, is of God. 1t is cer-
tainly accordant with the genius and
precepts of our holy Christianity, and
auxiliary to the more spiritual designs
of tho christian Church and ministry.
Moral institutions, institutions for the
relief of physical suffering, and espe-
cially for the prevention of vice and
crime, arc peculiar to those lands on
which the Bible shines. The ancient
mythology inculcates no moral senti-
ments, save such as are tinged and i'm
bued with the vices of the deities it re-
veals.. And the philosophers of those
times, whatever their distinction, as
compared with the multitude, left the
world to its debaucheries and its miser.
les, unpited and unhelpcd. Religion
ITSELF with them was but a superstitious
charm, the plant agent of a corrupted
State, and the instrument of oppression
to the masses. Throughout the ages
of earth, down to the present era, eve
ry system which rejects the Bible, or
modi6es its teachings, taking counsel
of human wisdom, either leaves man to
struggle alone with the imbeoilities and
corruptions of his nature, or ayails it.
self of his social feeling, to find in CON-
munity of interest, cloak for community
OF crime. Look at the doctrines of So
cialism, Owenism, Fourierism, ct al
on.ine genus; brotherhood of hypo-
crites--a stealing of the livery of heav-
en- to serve the Devil in-a malignant
perversion of all that is kind in the
great heart of humanity, ignorance the
dupe, and lust the motive. Look at
the rites of modern Paganism, with
creed, dark, polluted, aud abominablc,
its subjects are ferocious and imbrutcd.
Under its dominion the whole land lies
desolate, hcrbless, strengthless,--a ter
ritic wilderness. The verlant grass
may grow on volcanic mountains side:
earth,s delicate flowers may lean their
pale cheeks on Alpine SHOWS; music YOU
may find in the tcmpest's roar, when
WIND and waves together rush; harmo.
ny In the battlc.shout of the raging ele-
mllents; but an institution of charity and
love you will never find amid the self.
ishness of heathenism, or the monu-
mental glories of an inidcl philosophy.
No Gentlemen, Bethesda's pool belongs
to the Gospel, and the Angel that trou-
bles its healing waters comes from the
heaven of the Bible. The Bible is the
basis fall morality, the subsistence of
every virtue. 1t follows man into the
domestic circle, the citizenship Of the
country, the communion of the church,
"a light that never Aickers, q guide in.
falllble, the prophet of better days, and
amorc glorious existence. For thou
sand years and more the Bible has sur
viyed the mutations of earth and time
and government, and proved itself the
author and the ally of law and order,
civilization and science. It is always
in advance Of the nations, as the pillar
OFT fire before the hosts of Israel. And
when it shall have accomplished the cir
cult of the world diffusod its princi-
pies, and infused its spirit, we shall
have lberty-that universal brother.