Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1866-02-11


Nations, no more than individuals. can
escape the penalties which are suspended
over breaches of the moral law. There
Is, above Us, a Power which rules and
governs the destinies Of men aggregated
in communities, as well as the destiny of
the individual man. Leaving out of
view, in both cases, mOoted questions OF
special or general Providences, it is in
dubitsble that violations Of what the ex-
perience and the educated conscience OF
mankind recognize as Moral Law, are
ever attended. sooner or later, with retri-
hutive punishment 1t is so alike with
individuals and with nations; and al
though with the last named it may often
seem slow in its coming, it is no the less
sure and inevitable:
The mill Of God grinds slow.
But grlnds exceeding strong"
and when the hour strikes, that nation
which has forgotten God, " isirresistibly
ground into the dust Of nothingness.
Recognizingthis teaching alike Of Rev
citation and of Tradition, are We not, as
apeople, tending downward? Through
gu the North, the teeming prosperity
which is seen on every side, far from
awakening int exercise a feeling Of
gratitude to the "Giver Of every good
and perfect gift seems but to have
stimulated into intense activity every
lust and passion Of our poor, frail nature
Pride, which forgets its dependence.
vainglory which vaunts its self-suff.
cheney and faunts its vanity in the eye
Of heaven-lust that riots, and hatredi
and uncharitableness that burn out al
there. Murders. from hot angel
or sordid greed for Unsacrifcing self-in.
diligence, stalk over the land-dOmesti,
woes, Of origin in most scandalous beas
TALLY, crowd upon the attention o
courts Of law, and the press, ever the
most influential and respectable, regalt
their eager and expectant readers witt
all the disgusting minutia Of woman.
weakness and degradation, and man:
brutal scoundrelism-while the worship
OF msmmon in every department and
vocation Of life, seems to have swallowed
up every other worship, and to have ex,
PEELED all other reverence except that
slavish subseyvieney paid to the favored
mes Of his devotees.
Thisin the enlightened, civilized, Chris
tanned States Of the North. And in the
South, though chastised, not chastened,
though cas- down from our high eyrie OF
proud self-reliance, As were scarcely
ever before abased any people, not
BUNDLED before Ged-how is it? We
much fear that we are not profting, as a
pious people should profit by the severe
experience through which we have
passed. II is much to be feared that the
B~abylonish example Of our Northern
brethren engages our observation as an
auurement, rather than as a warning.
With thousands, and tens Of thousands
Of them, il Is not 70; but the eager desire
for wealth, the ~yeaThing for pleasures
foregone during the war, the contempt
for the simple, honest, old-fashioned
moral rules Of life which so distinguish
the enterpris gpeople who overwhelmed
them, is yet strong within many other
thousands, who are more likely to catch
and spread the infection, than to resist
and curb its ravages
As a nation we are becoming strong,
powerful, rich,-a mighty influence in
the worlds affairs but to the mind Of
the Christian patriot il is by no means
certain that we are advancing in that
Righteousness which eXalteth a nation
Col grant that these indications of
national immortality may prove to be the
subsiding turbines Of a recent state of
civil commotion, rather than the poison
ing of the fountain head Of the national
character.