The Winchester weekly appeal. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn.) 1856-1856, 1856-10-10
Written for the Winchester Appeal
Solitary Musings.
CONTINUED.

VIC U|O F~ootHS NW"y' oeyohe 'ho
termination Of mans corporeal existence
he is obliged to extend his hopes. His
capability Of the most refined contempla'
tons on the works and goodness of his
Creator, r,-of increasing and advancing
his knowledge and speculation in all
things,--of his never being satisfied in
searching after truth through all the me.
anderlngs and hidden recesses of nature,
demonstrate the divinity Of his origin,
and its fulness beyond the trammels and
imper(ections Of earth. In spite of the
ingenuity Of the most obstinate atheists,
or our own doubts devise, our very mag.
ination reaches to eternity. Beings so
highly gifted in the scaleof intcllectuali.
ty, capable of such vast ranges of thought,
whose powers Of comprehensi5ility trans
cend the limits Of terrestrial existence,
must ultimately move in a sphere COM
patible with the Developments Of their
intellectual advancement, and their near
affinity to the Diuine Intelligence that
spoke them into being. We are but pas
sengers on the bosterous ocean Of life,
embarked in frail vessel, which, though
it proudly careers over the billowy tide,
moved on by pleasant breezes, is liable
at any moment to be dashed into ruin by
the concealed rock, or claimed as a wreck
by the lowering tempest. From the
time our earth was spoken into being,
and man placed upon it, generation after
generation have been toiling on to Eter.
nifty. For six thousand years the ealth
has been the sepulchre of life to it's busy,
bustling millions-the vast burying ground
where now molder the children Of ages in
undistinguishable equality"
There are many pleasant scenes con.
nected with mans brief stay on earth, but
they fit off like passing shadows. In
the progress Of his earthly career, sensi.
bile pleasures are often in his path many
objects, as he passes on, present them.
selves with claims on his admiration; he
sees a great variety of objects in the
natural world that please and delight,
while at the same time he views the ele.
ments of instability and change, decay
and desolation, visibly and veritably at
work, from the centre to the circumler.
ence Of the globe.
The violent disruption and ruin Of the
earth by deluge, as recorded in the Sa.
cred History, most conclusively demon.
strated by its superior hidden strata un.
connected throuehou its extent with the
more primary facts of Geology; the ma.
ny earthquakes and volcanoes deeply
seated in the bowels Of the globe; the
"severeL continents and islands upheav.
ell in the bosom of Ocean, with their
frowning battlements Of rocks and hills"
the subterraneous explosions shaking
earth and ocean, and the great number Of
burning mountains, "dottn5 the map of
earth with their lurid glare and desolating
lava" are but the results of instability
and dissolution. This globe, "with all
it inherts," is a mighty theatre Of change
and desolation.
In the world Of animated nature, as
well as throughout the mighty extent of
the physical world, revolution follows on
the heel Of revolution. The vexatious
scenes and leaden. footed cares Of this
life, presuppose disease and death. Chill
dren Of mortality while in the midst
of life we are in DEATH" We are pass.
ing away from earth--from its tempests
and its storms only to begin to live.
The habitation Of which we are tenants
is not "castle of brass or palace of adj
anant." 1t is too frail to withstand the
storm-tun.ultuated ocean Of life;" then
as natural consequence, we must leave
this earthly habitation for an everlasting
home Somewhere in the immensely of be.
ing. Whatever may be our thoughts in
relation to the amazing, the vast un.
known, somewhere spread out before US,
certain it is, we are rapidly tending thith.
er to find future replete with good or
evil. Happy they who AXE lessons sin
Gods school,! who subdue the bsnelul
passions Of their nature, resign them.
selves to all the dispensations Of Provi.
dence, and live in harmony with the gov.
erning principles Of the Universe. To
such there can be no terror in the thought
of passing from earth through +" the dark
valley of the shadow Of DEATH" to enter
upon a state Of progress commensurate