The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1853-06-07
,Jnisfsllaaeous.
From tile Due West Telescope.
The Bible a Civil Blessing.

Our earliest recoections have been associated
with the Bible. 70 venerate its Author, an6
bow to its holy precepts, has been the lesson. o
our lives Under its counsels and teachings, We
have lived and prospered, and to-day, as Chris
tian people, we treasure the Bible as the Book
of all our hopes.
But gratefully as we receive, and cordially as
we embrace this sacred volume in its bearing
upon the soul and eternity, may we not prize i;
too lightly in conncxion with the common bles
sings of life y? As citizens of this world, how
often are we disposed to live under the light o
the gospel, and enjoy the temporal advantages
of religion, without recognizing our obligation to
the Bible and its Author?
How much the citizens Of our land is indebted
to the Bible for all that endears bis home to
him, we cannot tell. What. the condition o
that man is, whose path has never been illu;
mined by the light of the Gospel and whose
heart has never E.en made glad under the ciui.
Axing influence of Christianity, we cannot tell
Where Religion, even in its, influence upon
man as citizen of this would, rises to our view,
we are presented with interests which none can
fully appreciate; but, when, on the other hand
our sympathies are enlisted in behalf of those
who know no religion but that of Nature, we are
wrapped in darkness of which none can give an
adequate description, and bow in silence beneath
a misery that falls with the blight Of death upon
the entire man. No songs of sacred melody are
ever heard-no flowers Of heavenly loveliness
are ever seen-ald from peace and JOY such as
meet the heart and hopes Of rational beings they
are forever estranged,
To know how much We are indebted to the
Bible for all that endears life to us, we have, in
strange contrast with this gloomy picture, but to
look out upon our own happy home. -
Of God as a rule Of life, yet giving cordial as,
sent to its heavenly origin; Under its divine
light, they devise and enforce those wholesome
laws and regulations that have ever been found
necessary.to the well,being Of society. Under
its great principles, they erect temples Of Litera;
ture and Science and subject their time and day
to the influence of lightened mind,
It's influence is seen in, the conduct of those
who exhibit an. ever expanding regard for man,
as he rises in the scale Of true greatness, but
-conamiseration as he seeks his happiness amid
the mean and beggarly elements of,infamy and
crime. Every Wholesome law Of our land, is but
an embodiment of its spirit; ard every high ell;
gagement Of life, but a willing subsection to its
heavenly restraints. :,
It's blessings are not confined to the heart OF
home Of the Christian, but are dispensed with
boundless munifcenee among those who scorn
/; tie communion of the Church, and resist the au
thority of Him who holds their souls in being.
|, As citizens of this world orr ayistence is nm.
der an angry cloud, and amid fearful elements
but with the Bible in our hands those elements
may be hnslled into harmless repose, and that
cloud is even now spanned with the bow Of pro
mise and hope.