Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1857-01-26

I CONFtIHI.
( our men servants, our maid servants, our houses
T and our lands daughter
Sir. | come now TO the Bible argument. he'
gin al the beginning of eternity. tl.angaier. -
What is right aud wrong' That's the question
of questions. :, -,
! Two theories have obtained in the world. The
one is. tina, right and wrong are eternal iao's-
that they exist per Sc in the nature of things
that they are ultimate truths above God; tha' ne
must study. and does study Ia know theIn' as IL
ally as man. and that he compartments them III re
clearly than only because he Is a better SUI
dent than man Now. Sir this theory Is nihe-
ism. For.if right and wrong are Ike mnth'n'a'
ioal iruihk-fxed facts-then, may ma mem
out as find out mathematical truths, withon.
instruction from God. | do not ask God to tell
me that ono and one make two do not ask Tim
10 reverb To me the demonstrations OF bnchd.
thank lin for the mind 10 perceive. But per
ceisa mathematical relations without his telling
me. because they Exist Independent of his will
If then. moral truths, if right aud wrong, IT
reciitude and sin are, in like manner fixed, eter-
! nal facis-lf they out from. aud above, God
/ like mathematical entities then may find them
for myself | may conde.cend, perhaps. to TO.
gard the Bible n horn book. in which God, an
older student than |, tells me how TO begin TO
learn what he had to study; or. may decline 10
be taught, through the Bible, how 10 learn right
and wrong | may think the Bible was good
fH'hgu may ~, TOT if1e lsfhPillt IN IgyHi hhu
in Canaan; good enoGgh for the Christian i'll Jo-
rusalem, aud Antioch, and Rome, bat not good
enough, even II horn. book for me. the man OF
the nineteenth crntury--the man of Boston.N
York, and Brooklyn! O no. may think need
it not at all. What next? Why. sir, if may
think | need not God 10 teach me moral truth.
may think need him not 10 ieach me any thing.
What next The Irresistible conclusion is !
may think | can live without Gcd; That Jehovah
i . patsti, | nd 4t
or die. q, sir, will be the fool to sa,--tlere
IL no God. This i, tho result of the notion that
night and wrong exist in the nature of things
The other theory il, that right and wrong are
results, brought into being. mere contingencies.
means to good made Ia exist, solely by the will
OF God, expressed through his Word o. when
his will is not thus known, he shows tin the hn-
man reason by Which he rules the natural hrnrt.
This Is - hscau-p, God, in making ull things.
Jaw that il the relations he would constitute be-
tween himself and Intelligent creau,ures. mud
amongst themselves, NATURAL GOOD AND
EN IL would come 10 pas. In his benevolent
wisdom. lie then willcd LAW 10 cont oil tbs natu-
raj good aud evil. Aud he thereby made oontor-
nifty TO that law to be- right. aud non. conformity
10 DO wrong. Why simply hrcnn 50 be saw II
10 be good aud mnde II To- bo right, mol because
he saw it TO be right, bat because no mndc IT 10
be right.
ono moral law Of love, nre just tea rules which
God made I" regulate the natural good and "vll
which he knew would be in the ten relations
winch he himself constituted, between himself
and man, md hotwecn man and his neighbour
III" Bible settles the question sin is tho trans
erosion al the law-and whore thrrc is no law
there Is III Il
must advance ono step further What is Sin
as "a mental state2 Is it some GUILTY. some
4 an pttt =
particle IN henaiurc Of things somethlng black.
, OF red like crimson, in the constitution of tho
soul-or the spul aud body az nlgutcd No
Is It self loye' NJ. l. II seli-hnessl No
What is It just exactly self viii. Just that.
!, the creature. WILL not 10 submit 10 thy Will.
God. the creator. 1t is the AN, created. who
dares 10 defy aud d-honor the AN, not created.
the Lord cod the Almighty Holy Eternal.
That i SIN, per Sc. And that is all of it 80
help mo God. Your child, thrre -Jehn-says IL
lis father. II WILL not submit to your will. =
why not John - Aud he answers and says.
"Becausc | WILL not There, sir, John has
veaed al of sin, earth ar in he'll. Satan has
never sad never gay more. |, Satan, Will
Nor, because WILL not To- submit to thee, God
Ny WILL, not thine, shall be.
This beautiful theory is the iay of light which
! ads US FROM night and twilight, and fog. md
nat, and mysticatiou, on This subject. to clear
day. ] will illustrate ii by the law which has
controlled, and now reeuIhta. the most delicate
ii all tn relations OF he, VIZ: that Of the inter
course between the sexes. take Ibis because
II presents the strongest apparent objections 10
my argument.
Cain aud Abel married ther sisters Was il
wrong IN the nature of thiugsl Here DR. Wis
ner spoke out. aud said certainly. | deny it
What All ahsurduy 10 suppose that God could
not provide for the propagation of the human
race, from one pair without requiring them 10
sin! Adams som aud daughters must hive mar
ned had they remained in innocence. They must
then have suned, in Eden, from the very neccs5
sity OF tho command upon the race-"Be fruit
ful, and multiply aud replenish the earth" Gen.
! chimp. -. What pure nonsens| There, sir
I that, my ole question, DIR. WiSner's re-, ~ and
my relondrr brlnS out, perfectly, the two thco-
! nes o! right and wrong Sir, Abraham married
I his half sister. And there Is not u word forbid
dug such marriage until Sod gave the law Lew
i, prohibiting marriage in certain degrees Of
| eonSangmnlty. That law made. then, such mar
riage is sin. But God gave no such law in the
family of Adam because he made. himself the
marriage Of brother and sister the way, aud the
only way. Tor tho increase of the human race He
commanded them thus To marry. They would
! have sinaed had they not thus married-for they
would have trnnsgressed his law. Snch marriage
WAS not even natural evil in tho then family OF
man,
/ But when in the increase ofnumbers. it be-
came Nataral evil, ply steal and social God pla.
/ ced man on higher platform for the develop
ment OF civilization, morals and religion aud then
made the law regulating marriages, in the partic-
ulars 81 bieod. but he still left polygamy UNI
touched. Hero Dir. Wisner again asked if DR..
X. regarded the Bible ms sustaining the pnlyra-
my 81 the odd Testament, Dir. R.-les sir yes
| SIR yes sir. Let tho reporters mark that oncs.