The weekly Columbian. [volume] (Columbia, Tuolumne Co., Cal.) 1856-1???, 1856-12-06
Congressional Debating Society.

This Society met on last Tuesday evening,
pursuant to adjournment:
Speaker in the Chair.
The roll was called, the minutes of the previ-
GUS meeting were read, when the Speaker an
nounced the Special Order of the evening, which
was to receive an address, according to action
of Committee, from Dr. VIM. P. Gibbons.
ADDRE SS.
When one of the gifted pioneers of the gospel,
entered the city of Athens after beholding her
magnificent palaces of marble, and the costly
temples which gave to Rome the science of
architecture, he observed an inscription over
one of their affairs "7o the uuknocn God"
We may not feel surprised that such inscrip-
tons should be found in that homestead of an
Gent heroes and poets; for long previous to that
era, had the craftsmanship and patriotism of
Themistocles and Aristides contributed largely
to the Immortality of the Empire. The learn
ing of Scion and Licurgus had diffused intel
lectual vgOr among her ctizens-the master
spirit of Pericles had converted her quarries of
marble into magnificent superstructures which
still remain as models of study to the modern
artist while the poetry of Homer, and the
divine philosophy of Socrates were transmitted
from mind to mind giving purity of thought
and refinement OF character to a people en-
crying from the penumbra of barbarisnl.
1t is not reasonable to suppose that the re-
buke thus administered by the man of God had
reference to a proclivity to idolatrous usages.
The history of the age shows that the human
mind was progressing to its legitimate destiny.
and the men who gave classic character to the
soil of Greece, and first opened the paths of
history, philosophy, and science to growing
world not only replenlshed the land with their
offspring, but transmitted their intellectual en-
dowments to unborn generations.
| How then can we wonder that in those pri
meval ages, minds accuston ell to observation
and logical science should be lost while contem--
plating the features of the physical world They
could observe the precision and regularity of
| planetary movements; but the laws which regu-
lated those motions to them were involved in
profound mystery They gathered the fig and
the olive and the fruitful soil responded to their
labor by producing luxuriant fields of grain; but
the mode whereby the nutient processes ofvegeta-
BILE life were accomplished, they could not solve.
| They nurtured the fruits of the marriage cove
| nant, land beheld the image of humanity pro-
/ gress from infancy to manhood-frOm manhood
to senility. and above all, contemplated that
mysterious development of physical power,
which made their race in form SO like an angel,
| in apprehension, so like God;N without being
dDlc W comprehend Tue dEdlODlCdl structure,
| and the mode in which the different organs per-
formed their functions in that wonderful fabric.
COMPOUNDED by multitudes of phenomena thus
resulting from the relation of material atoms to
each other. it is not surprising that they should
| make an inscription ''To the unknown God"
while they recognised the existence of pow
er, infinite in goodness wisdom. and in unseen
resources.
Since those days almost 1000 years baveregister-
ed their passage over our world. The restless
spirit of humanity has established one national
superstructure after another. each one of which,
like the fable Of Phoenix sprung from the ashes
ofits parent Yet amid all the revolutions iiich
have disturbed the quietude of the human fami-
ly, with some exceptions small in the aggregate.
there has been steady progress in the arts of
civilization, in science and in government
Were the sages of Greece now recalled to the
earth they would find themselves surrounded by
more than seventy times seven, whose intellec
tua light would outshine them. Were Socra-
ties and Pythagoras in our midst, they could
not claim immortality on the mere intellectual
science which elevated them so infinitely be-
yond their contemporaries. Were Hippocrates
and Eesculapius practising physic in our day,
they would be eclipsed by almost every student
OF medicne; and there's not living quack but
would consider his advertisements more pro-
found than the classic lore of Greece.
But though the human family is so infinitely
superior in all respects to its condition in the
early or middle ages of the world, it is yet on
the mere base of that mountain. from which it
can survey its ultimate destiny, and reign tri-
umphant as an intelligent agent of the Crea-
tor. over the physical world which it inhabts
Yet there are conditions annexed to the at
| tainment of this great end. AS wealth is the
| result of toll, so is gifted mind. The offspring
OF labor. Progression necessarily implies con-
| tinued activity and systematised eXertion. A
man light as well attempt to grow strong by
sleeping as to become great without toll. which
| is as much the pabulum of intellectual life. as
food is OF the physical organization. And more
than this; the vigor and expansive power of
mind once acquired cannot be retained without
| continuous application; any more than consec-
utive crops of fruit can be produced on a full
grown tree, without steady supply of the nll-
TRENT material. Mind is not mummy:-to be
swaddled up in the lore of ages. and then laid
aside to retain its form without its life, till the
living tomb in which it is encased shall be dis
solved. Neither is it an adjunct Of the organi-
cation: given for the mere purpose of guiding
the instincts, and of entertaining the passions:
1t is the chief element of our nature. Not i'm
parted to favored few but to the entire race.
Not parceled out in fee simple. like mining
| claims, in which some may toll, obtaining
bare sustenance to intellectual life, while others
may gather their piles day after day, without
exhausting the fountain of their treasures but
given as common property. for every one to
| improve as much as he pleases, and for each
one to enjoy the fruits of his cultivation. 1t is
moreover like borrowed money. The prin-
cipal has been acquired from Others and what
ever increase we may be able to effect on that
capital, belongs to society at large. He who
| refuses to do his part in sustaining the intelli-
gent character of his community, is faithless to
the duty which he imperatively owes to his fell
low-citizens, and to the trust which God has
| committed to his keeping. Should all men
confine their exertions to their private interests