The true Democrat., 1857-01-13
THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE.

BY MISS MAO. R., OF FORT SMITH, ARK. Go, search through all this Universe, o man! Throughout it's spacious temple roam, to view The things that God has made; and what the eye Cannot behold, let mind its mirror be. List thon their beauty, their sublimity! Then seeing, tell me, lov's thou not their charms So varied, yet so like the Being, who. In sweet creatiol's dawn, called them to light That all i'll one seem to unite. If 50, Deuy it not; for in that love there, joy And happiness the things that ell would f,iu Possess, yet few have found. But is it from The cold mysterious depths of mind, that such Emotions rise! No no, and reason, stern And selfish though it be, would wbisper. lis Not intellect, not genius alone That gives to such their birth It is htart Cnscared by sin, that feels the sacred puna; A A heart that nurses with tLs tvndest care The germ of future hopes: hopes which shall bloom In lmmmt tality for ever bright,
 Aud find r its uncei,sing bliss their fond Reality. show the man, if such There be- who doubts this truth, and w III say, there hreathes being who denies That love exists whose spirits thirst has he'er Boen quenched by it's delicious draught. Till tlis iS done be mute my tongue to speak of such: My unStrung harp remains forever sc! Love Is the link that binds the heart to frhil Mortality; lis it that looses in
 Its sweet uuconSciuu, theaus a memory Of all ifs ills; it k the light that guides The sOul to Heaven. Let wisdom ill the mind With intellectual wealth; let fancy crowd It with the visionary forms that dwell In cllnes unknown save to its own bright hopes But go to Dature--le;rn of her to love. Go to her varied fields where springs the dak here blooms the rose where ever swell the proyss With the music of the wild birds notes. Unto Her mountains and her waning valleys go, And read Ill all you there behold, that which the Would feel. When first to consciousness did man Awake; when earth and sky, vast, wonderful, sublime. first burst upon his sight his soul Was flooded with glorious light; and to Him, beauty, which in every object gowed Seemed fadeesS $ eternity itself. The world within, like that without, teenled with The sweets of life; for every blossom of The heart mad won from Heavens immdrtal bloom Its love.ness. Man looked around; he sdw Admired and caught the echo of loves song. LIS sweet influence inspired his thoughts: his hopes It did expand and bore them up on feet EXultlng wings to God who gave. Twas then That soul and mind did blend; that man G9nid say, this world IS 1uli of love, is filled With tlIee. oh, God! and rejoice that in My soul there dwellS the spirit of thy sonLr That happiness is mine! But fate decreeA that II nav th'7 bnght scene the hearts t)nd Eden of Delight. should pass away. anI aS q vain DeluSion but remembered be. When from That state of b>>tu!ncs> man fell. the hdpes The JoyS' the all that would have crowneli q race Wl'h happiness, were, in the darkness that Around hln ctoSed, eutombcd criminal Before offended Heaven stool he and in The anguish Of his soul cried out, " Oh..that This fatal hour had never come. could t Now pass away. But mo- such cannot bt Iwts mine to disobcy. and now lis mind To bear the pain.n He east one line'rint look Behind all had faded from his view Ihe smIng waterS-singing groves, and bright Eysan bOw'rs. which once were his to lave To these he bade adieu: From him had fled All happiness; for dead Was then lis heart To love, and only in the misery Of sin, it companion for himself lie found. Though darkness slept upon the souI And every holy fe, Hg found in it A grave; yet, in the mental heav'ns stars Oi O1 unHurpassing brightness rose and woh The triumph of the cay. Then, if in m nd tS W q Ina itill in It's degradation sleep? and monster vice Mans nature in the baseSt bondage holdh | Ihough dark and weary was the night that long Encompassed him. though cursed his bleak and shor, Existence here yet not forever was It thus to be. time was drawing near When he could call again his own what once Was lost, but not forgot; morn of joy About to dawn when soul should live and from O6hNlous gloom emerge. light from Heaven Was sent; new strength to man was given. that he Might scale again the heights from whcH he onco Had Tn disgrace been cast, On! what day Ot happiness and peace was 1t, that gave ] he spirit back it's hopes; that mirrored in kepentins hearts, the image and the lovt Of Redeemer Then, go, tell the soul That would have in annhilation slept, That God has saved it from the fatal curse Vain creatures of this world ye all. afk. ere then, as slumb from the grave called forth To hle in newborn light: and to enjoy The bright eternal ray of hope, which tlen Was spread OCT all the globe; bu. few diI heed, And fewer hailed with love- the star that rose To deck the spirits canopy. To such as happiness restored: for they had made Their peace with God, and living praisihg. caught The theme which angels dwell upon with fond Delight; the theme which spreads from sphere to
 sphere
 And never never dies. Rejoice 0 soul That thou hast felt the presence of thy God; That he has kindled in thy depths, flame This earth cannot extnguish. Then Most glorious thought, that that love is life ltsef and that there is no song winged with A purer light than that in which it breathss.