The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-11-10

We give the following abstra t from the Gin.
einnati Gazette of Mr. Mann's address at the
opening Of Antioch College
His theme was the capacities of man, and
the best means of redeeming the race from the
degradation into which it has fallen. He be-
gan by addressing the Board of Trustees and
friends and patrons of Antioch College.
Let US thank God for the happy auspices
under which we are met. Ii is pleasant to the
eye to behold the grand and imposing edifice
in which We are assembled; but oh! how
much more joyful to the heart 10 contemplate
the bene6cent and sacred purposes for which
1t has been erected Let us dedicate it TO the
two great objects which can never be separa-
ted from each other-the honor of God and
the service of man and while we consecrate
this material structure to religion and TO hu-
mainly, let us renewedly con,ecrate our own
hearts to the worship of our Father in heaven,
and the service Of our brethren upon earth
But why these solemn services this naugu-
ration of Faculty selected from different
parts OF our wide country, and known at least
for their earnest desires, if not for their ability
to promote the well-being of mankind and
why this invocation of the blessing Of God upon
our enterprise? The inquiry is momentous
one. The answer to it comprehends whatever
OF veal or woe our race can enjoy or suffer.
Man is believed to be the last and most per-
feet workmanship of the Creator upon earth
His organization is most complex and elabo-
rate, and to the eye of Causality each of all
his faculties has an amazing significance. As a
reaper of pleasures, all worlds are his harvest
fields As sufferer of pains, every spot in all
the worlds may be Guatamozin's bed Of fire.
HIS faculties have a range OF scope above,
around, below, through, what We call immor-
tality vision backwards and duration on
wards, through what we call eternity. He has
| moral and religious endowments 70 that the
door of the moral and religious universe
wherein dwell God and all good spirits, stands
forever open to welcome his entrance. His
spirit is the only spirit in our sphere that Can
learn it's origin in the remote past, or trace its
| destiny in the remoter future; that can con-
| verse with men and commune with God, can
live with it, fellow-beings while they live here
upon earth, and when they die, can follow
their disembodied souls into the spirit land.
But which shall inspire us with the deeper
awe-these godlike prerogatives, or the fright
ful perlls that accompany them! Our more
com licated organization gives scope to more
complicated arrangements. Give your harp a
thousand strings, to multiply it's melodies and
you multiply its capacity of discord in still
greater proportion. Send out the human nerves
beyond the surface of the body, that they may
ramify over mankind, in order to partake of
their pleasures-through retrospectiOn over
the ancients, and through anticipation over
posterity-and thousand piercing pains shall
tell you that these nerves can be conductors of
horror as well as of joy Endow the soul with
| free agency, that it may earn a happiness II
| else would never feel, and by this same gift you
| enable it to deserve a remorse it otherwise
| could never suffer
Hence we cannot fail to see that the human
being may be infinitely the most bissful of all
| beings within our sphere, or on the other
hand infinitely the most wretched.
| Mr.. Mann proceeded to describe the down
fall of the race, from the time when it came
fresh from the hands of the Creator Thi,
downfall, these many falls instead of one, he
ascribed to the disobedence Of Gods laws
Until the Egyptian captivity, the ancient rec
ords give no sign of human maladies All men
appeared to live the whole length of their natu
raj lives. When they passed away, they were
said to be cold, and full of days" The degene
rating process has gone on ever since, and the
only means of restoring the race to its pristine
power, is by renewed obedience to the physical
intellectual, and moral laws of Gods provi
dence Religious men teach us to accept weak
ness and suffering as the appointed lot of hui
mainly Hence the rules of health and Ion
| govty are not merely disregarded, but ignored
| and the most learned men on other subjects arc
| here ignorant of elements Clergymen are
deep in patristc lore, to learn what God may
have impaired to the fathers, yet use tobacco
They are Boanerges for the advancement of
Their own sect but eschew cOmpanionship with
that sect of the Nazarites who drank no wine
| The time must come when we shall speak OF
| Christian and unchristian health, as we now
| do of Christian and unchristian character. AL
civilization that is based upon any other found
| alton than obedience to the laws of God, is
empty sound. Through body man holds
| relation to all material things, and through
| his spirit to all spiritual existences. IL man
moves in harmony with the universe around
him, it prospers and besses all his works, lends
him its resistless strength, endows him with it,
unerring skill, cnriches him with its boundless
wealth Whoever will not learn and obey
these laws of Nature, challenges her lightning,
| to blast him, her waters to drown her fires tC
consume her pestlences to extinguish.
Intellectually, man holds direct relation with
| all the truths which God has materialized ii
| may so speak, and Incorporated into the
frame of Nature. The material universe i:
piled with scientific treasures, inconceivable
boundless endless Knowledge is the key by
which these treasures can be Enclosed Who
ever will understand the system to which he
belongs, can command such wishes as imperial
or oriental despot never dreamed of.
| Morally, man is born on the dividing line
between two worlds-betweeen universe Of
| Joy and a universe of love As the infant lies
| unconscious before us, is it not appalling TO
think that obligations, reaching through eter-
nifty, have already attached to him? He is to
live two lives While the race lives, he is to
live on earth, by the influences for good Or for
| i'll which he leaves behind and he is to live
in another sphere, high or low, near to the
Central Perfection or afar off, as his nature
shall be unfolded in obedience or hostility to
that Perfection
Now, it is the comprehensive duty Of the
College, as far as it can be done by human
agency, to equip the youth whom it receives
with armor Of celestial temper to meet the
tremendous exigences of their being Above
all, it is its duty TO teach them to equip them
selves
Mr.. Mann then went on to unfold the three
classes of duties, in their order Ii is impossi-
BILE to give any abstract of the amplifcation Of
his subject