New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-01-07


sprrheDded a. mysericu:ly and iuvsbly ever in re-
lstion with souls and excite no fear or love- awe
or aspiration. is simply incoaociy>Sle That snch an
AGENT should be spprrhended inspires not ony feeling
but feeling very peculiar In he kind and uuder certain
Influences very intense in its degree The naked
reasoning faculty. il not then the faculty OF ths spprc-
tension and pure scicnce is not the expression Of IT,
Abstract mathematics Is the prrest OF al science Such
mathematics not only give no living Apprehension Of
God bu, afford no means of ever passiSely knowing
Han Though absolute in their Truth, mathematics
have no concern with the spiritual and the moral The
symbols Of ocinstion have no acton on
spiritual thought or moral emotion. Such symbols,
strictly cannot carry out Of himself for In thear
abstract and unconditiorsd reasoning unmixcd and In
dependent Of experience, they are cut necessary
forms Of the mind Mathematics give the intellect
perfect Truth but Is truth that stands in rs own
sbsolnteness. IL 10 circunscribed by the mind thai
erssps IL. The truth which the mind demonstrates
ni&ihsmatically il holds only within itself Truth OF
this order s perfect 10 the mind il Is nothing Il
s ufcency in its ideas and involves no conscious
mess Of dependence or defect. Free from sense acc
dent or event-from will act, or powcr-,he intellect
in holding H. Is sefeoncentered reason and Is content
in a circumscribej and necessary certainty.
The reasoning faculty dealing with mind gives ne only
laws il does not give us life gives the order and
connection of ideas and ii keeps within Ourselves
Dealing with matter the reasoning faculty gives yct
bu, laws we are then out Of ourselves and eth more
remote from hfe In mind studied from personal con
sciou ness, logic may give Us the lsws OF our own
thought In the universe, sccnce-which Is but larger
ceic-may family indicate the laws OF Gods thought;
hut life in ourselves or Col comes not into the function
Of snsys In the universe trace the laws Of order,
of arrangement of notion Of tendency and the
mere knowledge the lsw could give us sense Of the
Divine in lis nnity of goodness and Of life we are soon
Loot in the immcnsty of mnuteness In the immensely OF
magnitude or in the immeusiiy OF transcendant force.
TO have the idea of God living within the soul we
must have il in the consciousness OF some simple zen
timent Buf this cannot be obtained amid inscrufabe
tenuics and Observation-Disclosures Astronomy
is the grandes and dvncs: Of sciences but the objects
with which /, deals, are too huge and too remote to
impress themselves on the mind with any distinct
limoges of reality. Our sensations nor even our 'msgn
ipgs keep pace with the deductions of intellect An
effort 10 conceive the distance OF the nearest star hum
bes the boldest being The quickness Of thoughtass
behind the motion Of light To grsspip thought,
our own solar system. with the portion Of space in
which il moves the most daring genius presumes not
to attempt. How vain the attempt would be- we may
illustrate in few facts sisted the authority Of Arago
The diameter OF the sun is $4,000 miles. The volume
of the sun il 400 900 times that OF the earth. the
center ofhe sun be sned the center Of the earth
then this volume would not only reach the spherein
which the moon revovcs-i, would also extend nearly
FAR again. These results have the certainty OF geo
metry, and are based ON il The sun Is 9aooooO0 OF
miles from U.S. tsppears to the naked eye a. single
luminous sphere. Modern science has Tiautcly en-.
IL If, and b,, ~ s,,y
but composite There is first dark, central orb and,
them three atmosphercs one cloud rehectng another
luminous; third of light and gaseous character.
This, after all 10 but star, and II Is demonstrated,
not the greatest The nearest stars from earth
more than 2O6 900 times the distance Of our earth from
the sun.-that H. more than 100000 multiplied by Is
miles such distances immensely transcend concep-
ton The action of light is commonly used 40 an In
termediae fact to gvshep nthose cases TO imagination
Yet, how con that help Imagination, which masnatio
iself cannot approach IL IS but change from thein'
conceivable in one way, to the uncomfortable In ano
Their from the inconcevabe in space to the nconcev'
able in time from the inmagnitude TO the
inconceivable in motion. Alpha In the constellation at
Centaur 10 the nearest star to the earth and the light
of that star takes three years reach Light moves
Mt the rate of 900 miles second there are 3D. 100
seconds In dsy-there are 3G5 days In year; and
three times this period has the ray been moving IL
dashed from It's native star until Il pierced tho rc.na Of
the human eye Already our most vigorous minds at
compr ehending such facts ost in the unfathom-
able and, yet we but on the margin Of the uni.
verse.
Afer a few more remarks upon this head, the lee.
turer proceeded to speak Of the relation Of the inward
nature to man, and remarked that the action Of the
inward nature In relation to God Is by faith the action
of the inward nature In relation by sympathy
and this function of life Is scarcely css mysterious
than the other 1t is by sympathy live with The In.
6ny of life around me, and peculiarly with the life OF
my kind. This as united with the absoluteness Of my
individual consciousness, seems great mystery Per
sonaty Is Isolated and independent Il cannot be-
penetrated and Il cannot be shared Ii excludes every
idea of community contradictory to Ii and impos
sble il is not only incommunicsbe beyond ITSELF but
also beyond itself 1t IL inconceiyablej IL more
think what Is In another mans mind, than caa think
what in the remotest depths OF space and when he
tells me what il Vs. though he lives with la the same
mcment and speaks by my side, the personal con
scousness of which il made a part, Ia NJ far from
mine az that Of man at the other side Of the earth
Of one at the beginning Of the world.
The last sspec. In which the lecturer regarded the In
ward nature, ia relation TO Duty and without go
ing into the secrecies and mysteries of that hidden ex
perence in which mans Interior history Is the same
az another he took the great distinctive principle
which 10 law 10 lava law inherent In three natures
"a law written in their hearts law common 10 all
humanity. But he maintained, that though Duty ss
law common TO ell humanity, the vital apprehension Of
1t, the vital application Of it, Is strictly individual 10
nothing 90 much In bis moral nature Is man sbso
lutey an individual bis moral being comedies with
his personality and from that u insepsrsbIe. No one
can share with him this awful and invisible personality
in this he isolated independent and alone Even the
Deity does not crush by his presence or his power this
mysterious and indestructIbe integrity Of spiritual e.
renee This Is tbs divine thing In man, which 10 the
very life Of his life the soul Of all hstoryof ell phi
losophy--of all theology. We call Il Conscience
And only as conscience Is 'acredly maintained, main
tsned in purity of mind maintained In recttade Of
ton, the moral life sccordant with the highest rea-
tons Of the spirit snd with it. highest functions.