Southern standard., 1852-12-04

which the wlsest philosopher may find reason
for humility. and the prcudest skeptic an argu-
ment for faith.
Life, l repeat-and 1 say, let the dull in
thought, let the children of sense be aroused by
the rehection-life is full of mysteries. If we
were wandering through the purlieus of vast
palace and found here and there closed door, or
an inaccessible entrance, over which the word
MYSTERY was written, how would our curiosity be
awakened by the inscription Life is such wan
dering; the world is such structure; and over
many door forbidding all entrance-and over a
mazy labyrinth, is written the startling inscription
that tells us of our ignorance, and announces to
US unseen and unimagnable wonders. The ground
we tread upon is not dull cold soil, not the mere
paved way which the footsteps of the weary
and busy are fastening, not the mere arena on
which the war of mercantile competition is waged; );
but ''we tread upon enchanted ground
The means of communication with the outward
scene, are all mysterious. Anatomists may ex-
plain the structure of the eye and ear, but they
leave inexpcabe things behind ;--seeing and hear
ing are still mysteries. The organ that collects
within it the agitated waves of the air, the cham
bers of sound that lie beyond it, after all dissec-
ton and analysis, still abyrinths and regions
of mystery And that little orb, the eye which
gathers in the boundess landscape at glance,
which in an instant measures the near and the dis
tant, the vast and the minute, which brings knoWl
edge from ten thousand objects in command
ing act of vision-what mystery is that!
And then, if the soul communicates with the
outward world, through mysterious process, what
power has that world-its Objects its events, its
changes, its varying hues, its many toned voices,
what mysterious power have they to strike the Sc
cret springs of the soul within
cit may be sound
tone OF music-Summer's eve-or spring
A HOWPr-thp Wind-thn
Striking the electric chan wherewth we are darkly
bound
And how and why we know not nor can trace
Home to its cloud, this lightning of the mind"
But if nature is bound with almost magic spells of
association to our maturer years, with pure and
fresh mastery is it to our childhood All child
hood-beautiful mystery how does nature lie all
around thee, as treasure house of wonders-
Sweet and gentle season of being whose flowers
bring on the period of ripening, or bloom but to
wither and fade in their lovelness-time of thick
coming" joys and tears of tears that pass quick
ly away, as if they did not belong to thee of joys
that linger and abide long, and yet make the long
day short-time of weakness yet Of power to
| charm the eye of sages from their lore;-Child-
hood what mystery art thou, and what mystic
ries dost thou deal with What mystery is there
in thy unfolding faculties, that call forth wonder
from those that gaze upon thee, and seem to thy
self at times, almost as if they strange remi-
niscences of an earlier being What mystery is
there in thy thoughts, when thou art first strug-
Cling to grasp the infinite and eternal when thou
art told of immortal regions where thou shalt wan
der onward and onward for ever, and sayest, even
to the teaching voice of authority, ''It cannot,
father, it cannot be p
And there are mysteries, too, thickly strewed
all along the moral path of this wonderful being
There are mysteries Of holy religion Miracles
of power giving attestaton to its truth, ushered il
into tie world Wonders of heavenly mercy are
displayed in its successive triumphs over the hu
man soul. Gracious interpretations, too, of the
teaching Spirit, and succouring Providence, hell
| the infrmities and struggles of the faithful.
: And the results, moreover, of this great and
solemn trial of human nature, that is passing OF
earth, are as mysterious as the process-the heav
enly interpositon of the human effort, and these
too, alike mysterious--the heavenly interpositioI
D certain but undefnabe; the human will strange
y balanced somewhere, but no body can tel
n where, between necessity and freedom
: Goodness, in the heart, is mystery No Ian
1 guage can define it, which does not equally neet
definition. No man can tell what it is. No maj
t can know but by an inward experience, and an ex
: perience in reality inexpiessible. Goodness is
e breath in the soul, we know not from whence;
. cometh and it goeth, like ''the wind that blowet
l. where it listeth;" it is the inspiration of tn
/, Almighty.
e And sin how great and tremendous is tha
l. mystery That beneath these serene and pur
e heavens which beam with the bengnity of thei
Maker that amidst the fair earth, amidst ten thou
/, sand forms of perfecton--that, were all else a
perfect, the spoer should have gone forth to ma
e and to crush the noblest and fairest-this is tn
mystery of iniquity that hath been hidden froI
is ages" and is not yet unfolded.
,r
re The mysteries of our present being, though me
s. with in daily experience, though recognized by th
ir severest philosophy, never perhaps more ser
re sibly, or so 10 speak, consciously shadowed fort
in to u.s. than in that of strangely mingled e.
t. perience and illusion, that world yelled from tt
t. eyes of philosophy-the world of our Dreams
b. Mr.. Hogg somewhere remarks, and it seems to
more than poetcal fancy, that our dreams al
b. emphatically mysteries hitherto sacred from metz
ry physical analysis. The writer hopes he may
to excused, therefore, if he introduces as appropr
e. ate to the meditations of this paper, dream
st, his own -
to An excursion for health, carried me some yea
n ago, through the beautiful villages of Concord al
It, Lancaster, to the brow of the noble Wachuset
at 1t was in the month of our summers glory-Jun
n know not how it may appear to others; but tn
We enjoyment leading to surfet and oppression, whl
We is often described as attending upon one class
our pleasures, seems to me as more than reallz
by in the overpowering, the almost oppressive, q
nd mysterious delight with which we gaze upon t
d. eYerrenewed and frightened vision of nature.
nst Such it was to me; and when the evening cam
asst its calmness was as grateful to me, as the RI
ra- which hospitality offered.