The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-03-31

icsl, it would be inferior to Judaism and to
natural morality 1t must embrace sound
philanthropy, wise political economy, and
contemplate millennial blessedness on earth
or it is but dream Of poetry, vision OF phllo-
sophical enthusiasm. The miracles of Christ
have obviously this signifcance-nature shall
be brought into obedience TO grace. "Greater
things than these shall ye do" foretells the per-
feet dominion over the elements which the Wis
dom of righteousness is destined to attain Man
is to be delivered from his slavery to the mate
rial world faith shall remove mountains, heal
the sick, feed the hungry, cast out devils, raise
the dead, and realize in the ordinary expert
ences of earthly life the sovereignty OF man.
hood over all its temporal conditions. The fact
that spiritual, moral and intellectual good, as
they grow proportionately overcome the evil
of the world, is dcmonstrstive evidence of
final triumph.
Want, meaning priyation, or poverty OF
means and opportunity, is in no sense or degree
the cause of our faculties, or of their activity
and improvement. Want, or DESIRE in the
sense of aspiration, is the impulse and cultiva-
tor of our powers and the presence and fitting
command of their proper objects is the neces-
sary condition of their activity and growth 1t
is not subsection to, but sovereignty over, the
physical forces which surround us, that best
displays our faculties, and elicits them most
favorably. Wealth is external, just as health
is Internal luxury, and all real growth of the
common life of men conditionally depends upon
them. Selfdenial and crOss-bearing in the
Christian system are strictly sacri6cial, atom
ing, redeeming they are death to the disciple,
and the good which they secure to the world
is abated, nevertheless, by the loss it sustains
in his destruction 1t were better if there were
no occasion for the sacrifice nay, the sacrifice
is made to remove forever the occasion itself,
and only for that purpose is it beneficial and
obligatory. The sufferings and services of be-
neyolence, patriotism, philanthropy, and reli-
gion, are evils and losses to the hero-evils in
trinsically, whose Office is to atone for other
evils and relieve and remove them. All gen.
uine joy is good-all suffering is the fruit of
sin, and carries ever with it the hereditary
blight
In the Divine purpose, man is the rghtful
lord of the earth, and master of its physical
forces. Provision is made in the constitution
of things for the establishment of his actual
dominion over all the inferior creatures, ami
mate and nanimate. They must be subdued
to his uses. As they were created by the word
of Almighty Power, they are yet to be govern
ed by the intelligence of the beings created in
the likeness of the Supreme Ruler. Humanity
inherits the rule from the Maker, with all the
rights, privileges, and powers, incident to the
inheritance.
To Labor is delegated the divine function of
continuous recreation. 1t is the Emmanuel,
the material form and force of the Good with
u.s." The insurgent forces of matter are every
where in hostile array but they are capable Of
dutiful and bene6cent service The conflict
would be greatly unequal, if animal force only
were opposed to their resistance Nature obeys
lawS; these laws are the method the rule of
action, of the Divine Mind The discovery of
His ideas makes them ours, and gives US their
controlling power. He created all things by
word we may rule them by thought, when
we shall have conquered our way into His Be-
cret When we shall know the laws, we will
need but to adjust the elements to each other,
and they will do our work, and then the master
or nature VIII be emouv'P.Voa nvs.s bio ais'os
and invested with the complete viceroyalty of
the globe. The dynamcs of steam and mag
netism are in proof and prophecy of such con-
summation.
The history of labor in the past the facts of
its progress and present condition, teach the
great truth that material force, by the economy
of nature, is necessarily the slave of mind. 1t
is rightfully subordinate, whether it be in the
form of dead machinery, or animal or human
muscles matter, it is instrumental, merely,
and it cannot be directory or governing. Phys
ical power is but the servant of intellect, and
its subordnation, whether human, instructive,
or mechanical is inevitable. 1t cannot it
should not, be otherwise. The supremacy of
the soul over the body is necessary to all the
highest ends of our existence. The whole
economy of earthly things compels it. Its pur-
poses are oil benefcent. Its actual workings
are abundant in good fruits already gathered,
and full Of promise for the future. The law,
rightly understood justifes the ways of Proyi-
dence to man.
In our next article we will look into the
facts of history and its teachings, for the light
they can afford us upon our subject.
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