Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-04-30
THE INTELLIGENCER.


work of supremeIEisdOm, or OF supreme folly
II 1t can only be ifpsed TO he the former, point
OF infinite imporp.iee is gained; if we can show
that the fOEty ih been with mankind and
those blind leade of the blind" the inierDre--
ters OF ScriPtures mother important point will
| be gained; we prppose these things to ourselves!
Nor let any say That this work is supereroga.
tory; those who so most nssuredly ignore TINT.
which every dAJ's experience demonstrates,
viz: that society teens with ay0wed Athe.
lists (ulany of whom. arc conscientiously such1
and FURTHER th4tH i composed almost entirely
of those whose lidehs respecting Religion are al
together without truth and life!
What is man a question only to be an
swered by knowing what is God That which
He is infinitely, even such is man finitclv. Man
is man because God is Man;-infinite man; fin.
lite man! Wers it possible to suppose the
Creator anything other than he is, then of ne
necessity all His works would be different and
other than they are. The tree is known by its
| fruit, the workman by his work; this, reason
teaches. hlaTi'in perfect state, land in such
State only Is be man. is in the image and like
ness of his Maker; his Maker is Infinite Love
and Infinite Wisdow, therefore, man is love and
wisdom, or evil and ialSity, according to his
state of receptiyity of his Informing Divine
Author. He is a free being also; he Tiay choose
the guidance Of his own sclf-hood with its evils
and lusts; or that OF the Divine Creator The
former tends ever TO more and more evil; the
latter to more and more good. 4 neutral con
dition is impossible to u being possessed of self
voltlon. The one positive good i'll the universe
alone is God; and to he good man must conform
himself to God This being so, the least
departure from Him is step toward cgii for, as
before observed, neutral condition is not pos
Sible to a man. "Yc cannot serve tsoo mastersln
1t is ensier and more pleasant TO man 10 love
himself than his Maker. The guidance OF his
lusts is as u slnOoth, flowing stream, but whose
end is darkness and storms; that of Divine Love and
prdh is at first irksome but its end is pleasant
ness and JOY iOrevermorc! Man chooses the form
er, and perisles in the hoods-ull save a remnant
-aremnant is always saved! And it is saved by
means of the Divine Word; it is saved not be-
cause it is necessary to God to save man, but
out of his tender love and mercy for that CrGa
ture whom he tuadc into his image and likeness,
and whom lie would fain bless foreveH Is il
asked why docia being of Infinite love and
wisdom, suffer its creatures to perish-why not
restrain them from erring and sinning?" We
recur to what we have stated. and reiterate that
man is endowed with freedom; aud further state
that he could not be man, unless he were free;-
therefore could not be saved-coud not be an
freedom, that He suffers iu,r - Perpetrate eve
ry enormity Of evil aud sin, rather than, by CO.
ercing his freedom, deprive him Of his manhood!
Reason teaches and acknowledges this! For
what could be easier to Being Otiniinite power,
than to control the willing and action Of the
lures Of His own formation? What moro de-
lightful TO Being whose tender mcrcies are
over all Ills works. than to constran by every
gentle, vet efficient means, his favorite creature
perpet0ally to do nothing but His will? But
this He will not do because, thereby man would
be deprived of the faculty OF election choice,
aud therefore of manhood! The possession of
freedom and nationality, the consequence
and proof of ,han being made in the image and
likeness of God; and these actual blessings be-
come by evil and the perpetration of evil, the
source apparently Of his greatest woes! Yet,
without them he is 10 longer man, but a mon
ster+-ths, experience chcs-prcscicnce sees!
"Nn man can see God and live "Nn one
hath at auy time heard His voice or seen His
shapes yet is he ever present, ever essential to
his eSIste1re; not merely as an abstract Ems or
power, butas q guardian, friend, Saviour, is
lie necessary TO us, and that continually. BY
freedom and selfwOrShip, man fell even from
the State Of beatitude; for, tho the seventh day
found "all things Uery good, aud the Maker
"resting from his labors, yetwa this Serpent
SELF with its heretica whisperings, able to wean
from its allegiance, that spouse Of the under.
staudiug-thc will!-which it imbued with the
damning creed, that the fruit of the tree of the
the knowledge Of good and evil, (self Worship
was better than that off the tree OF ife-or the
worship of God! Up to this time, tnnn "walked
with GOd;" thencefOrth hc walked with him
self and fine journey has 1t been! All
moral evil has arisen from this cause alone;
the ahtetype of all our woes, individual, col
iectiyS aud national, are to he found in
that dread dark hour, lin the Garden of
Edonn--of that state of the soul of which the
Recr ;ator said. at is very good!' Strange
seeming anomaly When had gaiNed all
that he should then dash the blessings from
him. And now arose the necessity for writ
ten IFord as visible means of communication
between man and his Maker; for men having
Iyolastarily departed from open and visible
corsinunion with the purer and interior life of
Divine order and consequently from all con.
sciris fellowship with Spiritual intclligences;
wi fe yet the tender mercieS of God could by
no means forsakc them, il became necessary TO
| inIitute another, more external, and natural
| mjde of preserving the relation of the natural
| uan with Spiritual life. The only mode was by
! mans OF a Word or Book, which, while written
| ii words known to aud understood by man, vet
| ,3ntaincd an interior, Spiritual, celestial and
! Swine sense, capable at once of serving as n
j lie of action for fallen man, and an eternal
/ ,xt-book OF wisdom for Angels and Spirits in
4 ie Eternal and Internal World!
1t is conceded that nothing can exist apart
rom its efficient cause: the 1st efficient cause
Of all things is the Divine Law operating by the
tIivine Wisdom. 1t is further conceded that
the end, purpose, or design in every work is the
reason foi, aud explanation of that work; fur
IL the and heinz known eNDlninS the r,aftire