Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-03-22

With light and love aud JOY.
Contemplating on solitary hills
Beneath canopy of cold gray cloud
Maniled 'gainst northern winds, and never E-lt
The holy presence OF invisible powers
Nor could distinguish with attentive ear,
Voices either hand From deep rayines,
/ Fainter than rustling Of their dry leaves,
Come the last qnayers Of the harvest song.
Which Autumn reapers sang mid their fields
Golden with sunlight, while from greenest meads
And azure vistas, shadowy, revoke,
The fsiry bugle Of the frolie SPRING
Calling The bright-eyed flowers around her feet,
Echoes like water ripping in dream.
Thus oscillaies the mighty weight Of Time,
Towards and backwards. on our human heads,
Counting our lives out With its solemn beat,
pendulum of Memory and Hope.
That links the Future sweetly 10 the Past,
And ON the Present sheds the JOY ofboh.
NATnEz. Miss.
We take the liberty of saying that the
Following eloquent essay is from the pen of a
distinguished iurist.--EDs. SENTINEL.
For the Indiana State Sentinel
The Bible.
AT no period in our history, have party
issues of greater magnitude, divided the Opin-
ions or excited the passions of our people
but there are questions of still wider and
more enduring interest upon which no public
journal can give forth feeble or uncertain
sound, without being false to God, our coun-
try, and to truth.
History has been compared to the lights in
the stern of vessel, which only illuminate
the track over which she has passed What
ever NAV be thought of the general accuracy
of this illustration, there is one point upon
which all candid and intelligent men must
admit that history sheds broad and I'M
changing testimony. However dubious may
he her oracles on other subjects, there is no
mistaking the lesson which she teaches as
to the connection between virtue and freedom.
CoLERIDGE never uttered profounler truth,
| than when he thus moralized, in his ode on
France, written amid the throes of her revo-
! luton
| The Sensual and the Dark rebel in vain,
Slaves by their eompuIsioni In mad game
| They burst their manaclcs, and wear the name
OF Freedom, craven a heavier chanl'
The friends of the Bible may claim as natu-
raj allies, all to whom the interests of liberty,
|
and scholars, the patriots and philanthropists
of the land. All the study and experience
of the wise and good must increase their
sense of the value of the Bible; a volume
which comes recommended to them by all
that is awful in authority, venerable in wis
dom, or touching in goodness; volume
| ,,b;ob a,,branao ;n6,ita haino within tho
range of its truths, and pours through every
department of life the streams of its consola-
tons volume which, replcte with the pre-
cepts of morality and the lessons of wisdom,
has every where invigorated the energies,
ennobled the feelings, and elevated the pur-
suits of man; which increasing the sources
of individual happiness, quickening the pulse
of social life, and Strengthening the founda-
tons of national security, has extended its
fostering care to every institution on which
the hopes of humanity repose; which like
the alchemy of Medea that caused the dry
and barren earth to CLEAN with the verdure
and flowers of spring, has reclaimed society
its influence upon the refinement of manners
the amelioration of law, the correction of
practical errors in government the purity
dignity and beauty ofliterature, and the gene
raj progress of truth, has UNNECESSARILY en-
HANGED the grace, comfort and glory of human
life
One of the most obvious benefits resulting
from the circulation of the Bible, is the
amount of useful knowledge which it diffuses
throughout the community 1t is not pre-
tended that the Bible furnishes that practical
information concerning the laws, and institu-
tions of the country which is necessary to
qualify the citizen for the discharge of his
civil duties.
But if the Bible does not in itself furnish a
system of popular education, it is peculiarly
fitted to form the best introduction to one.
How often has the infant prattle been hushed
by its simple cloquence and natural pathos
Thus, while its grander themes require the
highest exercises of reflection, it mparts a
variety of pleasing knowledge level to the
meanest capacity, and by exciting the feelings
and stimulating the thinking faculties, gradu-
ally unfolds the powers of the mind The
Old Testament is a national literature in
itself 1t contains every form of composition
which has been vivified by the breath of
genius. The power of Imagination, splendor
of language, tenderness of sentiment. and
elegance of imagery which distinguish its
Poetry, have made it the favorite study of
schOloS, the most distinguished for their taste
and genius. Low strikingly beautiful is that
Parallism, peculiar to Hebrew Literature
I" Its amplications of a given thought are
like the echoes Of solemn melody; its repe-
ttion of 1t like the landscape reflected in the
stream. In thus repeating the same idea in
different words, the Hebrew muse seems as
if displaying fine Opal in which we discover
fresh beauties in every new light to which it
is turned" Take up its Proverbs and Max
inns, and who can help admiring their original
and practical thought their airy sarcasm and
caustic satire, their felicitous phrase and sem
tentious wisdom. They are replete with wit,
Tearing and genius. Look at its history, and
we find it free from the frivolous anecdote.
the absurd fable, the vulgar superstition
which digust us, in other compositions of a
rude age. Its narrative is rs minute as the
chronicles Of FRoIssART, as poetic as the slaves
of an old ballad, and luminous on every page
with the presence of God, and the designs of
his Providence. There is no other history so
unaffected, yet so full of dignity, so rich in
poetry, yet so simple in style, so affecting in
its pathetic recitals, yet so vivid and powerful
in its grand and terrific scenes.
There is one striking fact connected with
the composition of the Bible, which inn
presses upon it, character peculiar 10 itself