Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1868-12-01

tions. And yet there IS one higher
element. The Bible perfectly satisfies
the demands Of Justice IN ITS scheme Of
for SIN. The great problem
for humanity has been. "How shall
man be just with God ?" How shall
the sinner be restored to Divine IA
vor? How can clemency be extend
ed, and the law be not dishonored,
nor justice outraged? We look down
the ages and behold the affairs, and
sacrifices, and penances, and self tor
lures. to which men have resorted,
and we hear the same despairing cry
Of the great heart of humanity ever
ascending with the smoke of those al
tars, and borne above the pain of those
tortures. Where is that victim whose
blood shall cleanse from guilt, the
merit OF whose sacrifice shall furnish
a complete expiation, honoring the
law, and satisfying justice, and pur-
chasing peace with God?
The Bible solves the problem, and
presents the scheme 1t lifts to view
"The Lamb of God slain from the
foundation of the world" by whose
all prevailing sacrifice God may be
'.just and yet the justifer of him that
believeth.'
This is the very center and soul of
the Bible. The great end for which
it was given was to reveal this way of
pardon for the sinner
Here is an impartial and infexible
adherence to rectitude. Justice is
not overShadowed But forgiveness is
brought within the range of great
principle Of moral government. Di-
vine wisdom has so adapted it as to
meet the demands of the most enlight-
ened conscience, and yet to provide
for the wants of the guilty. Can the
human soul stand before this stupen-
dous work Of mercy, or trace this
scheme in the Bible, and not be over
whelmed with a sense of moral purity,
and Justice, and the Infinite evil OF sin
in that, to vindicate his government
and yet pardon the sinner, God spar
ed not his own son, but freely deliv-
cred him up for US all !"
And these views of the adaptation
of the Bible to human conscience gain
an additional significance if we refer
to the actual results which have taken
place in those individual minds, and
nations where the Bible has been dis,
carded. We find such anomalies
standing out in history to warn u.s.
Take but ne or two notable examples.
France once spurued the bible. She er-
ccted a throne, and crowned there the
Goddess Of Reason as Supreme. She
endeavOred to blot from her code ev-
cry trace and shadow of revelation,
and wrote high the name OF Inhdel up
on her national escutcheon. She abol-
ished the sabbath. and proclaimed
death an eternal sleep. But has his,
tory forgotten the Reign of Terror
and the scenes OF blood, the moral
corruptions Of all ranks of her people
and the murders of thousands and tens
of thousands throughout that finest
country of christendom?
Tom Paine blasphcmed his God
denied the Bible, and ridiculed relig
ion. But we surely have not lost the
lesson of that moral degradation, as
he "Sank deeper in the mire of sensu
ality," till at last he seemed "a rudder
less wreck. tossed to and fro upon the
fiery waves of alcoholic stimulants,
and died disappointed in his expec
tations, and deserted by bis friends.
III. But We pass now to another
thought, viz: The Bible manJests 1t.
pOacer IN jts adaptation to the heart.
The heart is the seat of the affec
tions, and the affections are that part
of our being by which we are most
susceptible to enjoyment or suffering
"They are to the other faculties of
man what the light is to the body of
the sun, or what the leaves and bios
SONS are to the tree" Feeling waits
on knowledge and right. Our emo
tive nature goes out in its appropri
ate action as the intellect is aroused
and the conscience quickened. AnC
the Bible in its system regards thi;
part of our nature according to its
proper value and relations. The re
ligion which the Bible presents is g
religion ot love; i. &, it makes love
the cu1er and governing principle of
action. The light which it gives is
the light of love, and the duty which
it enforces is the duty of love. And
this not of a selfish order; but of that
high disinterested and afectionate
subordination which regards every in
terest, and every object according tc
its true value in the scale of being
thus bringing everything into Gods
designed harmony. Every truth which
the Bible unfolds, and the multiplied
relations of all the various truths, are
integral parts of a perfect system, and
all adapted to stimulate and call forth
and harmonic the affections. Fol-
first of all here is presented sm6fcien1
and unchangabte object af Ioue. The
great difficulty with which the human
soul labors is, it finds no object large
enough for its expanding affections
and none permanent enough to hold
them at firm anchorage. A being of
Immortality must have infnity and
eternity for its object. 1t reaches out
after these like the tendrils of the
vine for its support. But here every.
thing around it is narrow, finite, inf
nitely small, and continually chang
. ing. 1t therefore constantly turns