Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1864-05-05
80 For the Charles City Intelli
Teachings Of Nature.
Dubuque, April 25h, 1864.

~ 10 "H 'otciSstHS HHohyb oo"
much mind unbiased by sin might
learn of God without a written reve-
lation. The atheist, whose intellect
sin has darkened, boldly asserts there
is no God and when you ask him
why he assumes this hopeless position.
he proudly answers, Because | see him
not, apprehend him not. One of the
strongest pillars of intidelity, is the
denial that we are bound to believe
any farther than we can comprehend.
Destroy this foundation, and the base
less fabric will totter and fall. l
would like to address the man who is
pressing to his bosom the forlorn hope
that chance or fate is the only deity,
and this brief hour his all of life.
Hast thou, my brother, resolved TO
believe only what thou canst compre.
hend? Begin then, at once. by deny
ing thine own existence for thou
canst no more tell ho'o thy body--so
fearfully and wonderfully made--be-
came what it is, and continues in be-
ing. or how that spark of intelligence
was kindled up within thee, than thou
canst tell how One Self-Existent Spir-
it has lived from eternity. One inf.
del writer, Hobbes,) at least, has
found himself rduced to this dilemma,
and, to appear consistent. is said to
have denied his own identity and,
like Berkely, to have resolved every
thing into aa idsa. Bot would ask
him how he came with the ability TO
form an idea. And when upon his
own principles, he has satisfactorily
answered this question, then | shall
be able to explain to him the existence
Of the Infinite God. .z-E ....l ...
An eternity to come is as truly q
mystery as the eternity past. In the
former, most profess to believe and
yet, if you should ask the Christian
philosopher, just on the verge of heay.
en-, whether he comprehends eternity,
his answer will accord with the words
whicE he lisps at his mothers knee:
59' "My God. an infant cannot tell ~.... &.
How such thing can be; H.a
only ask that may dwell
."" That long, long time with thee" a
Who has not listened to the teach.
ings Of nature, till his whole soul was
swayed and melted by her voice? l
have gazed upon a sunset cloud-va'
ried by its roseate glow-and it has
spoken to my heart of another and
brighter world. have listenedu a,
evening, to the murmur Of the rip
pling brook, or the cadence Of the
gentle waterfall, till every discordan,
passion was hushed to reposc. have
heard the sad moan of the autumna
storm, as 1t swept through the for
est, scattering its faded leaves, and
my heart responded to the lesson,
/ "All that's bright must fade.
The fairest still the feetest."
| have stood on the mountain height
and looked far down upon the scattcret
villages and winding streams. ant
then around upon, the vast oxpanse
until my soul has been strengthened
and enlarged by the sublimity Of it,
own emotions. ! have seen the fipgel
of God writing bis name in character,
Of fire and with the lightning's speed
upon the dark cloud, aud heard his
voice thunder therefrom, and a sens,
Of his presence has awed my soul in
to silence. l have stood upon ocean.
shore. and felt how strong must b,
that hand that keeps the proud waves
within their appointed bounds.
I" Ths undcvout astronomer is mad
for " the heavens declare the glory o
God, and the armament sheweth hi'