The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1869-07-21

tnliio ore to enrich him and promote
his comfort.
Ina similar manner, it might be
shown that the earth is adapted to
mans rational nature. The material
system, is cxquisitcly adjusted to his
mental constitution, All the laws
and agencies of nature are 80 arrang-
cd as to facilitate the acquisition of
knowledge
The uniformity Of nature in her
regular laws is adapted to q being
who acquires knowledge by observa-
tion, abstraction, comparison and
classification.
AS a rational being pcience opens to
man her boundless fields for the exer.
cise and unlimited expansion of his
faculties, affording him at once the
widest scope for Improvement, and an
inexhaustible source of enjoyment. AS
a being endowed with imagination, and
tcste, ho can contemplate the beauti-
full and the sublime in the actual
world, and soar into the regions of
possible beauty-evoke the hidden
forms of nature and give them do
cal habitation and name ;" and thus
entertain himself indefinitely with
visions of beauty, majesty, and glory,
which eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, and which he has no power
adequately to express; affording him
the most refined and elevated intel
lectual Joys, filling him with noble
and lofty aspirations, and elevating
him above the gross and sensual things
of earth. The graceful forms and
delicate coloring of nature, her mag
nificent landscapes, her gorgeous sun
sets, her sublime mountains, oceans,
and cataracts, respond to his love of
the beautiful, the grand, and the sub
lime; and he is endowed with that
marvellous creative and constructive
power Of calling into existence new
worlds, and peopling them with his
own ideal creations.
Again, there are emotions in the
human breast which nothing but the
gush of music will satisfy--sources of
joy and happiness which nothing but
her magic key can unlock. Now the
earth is vast sounding gallary re-
spending to these emotions and sensi-
bilities. God has inlaid the princi-
Piles of harmony in mans nature, and
filled the world with music to awaken
and develope them. He formed the
spirit Of the air, and set in motion
those invisible wings. He contrivcd
the cunning mechanism of the ear to
respond to those mysterious undula-
tions, and framed the soul to inter-
pref their hidden meaning. sHe gave
to the extended wire it's melodious
vibrations, and breathed into the or
gan pipe its solemn voice. Thus
music meets an essential want of our
nature, and comes as divine messen-
ger to supply this felt necessity, and
preside over the mysterious operations
of the soul.
We observe further, that the forms
of matter are not unchangeably fixed,
but capable of infinite combinations,
to suit our infinite needs; and this is
adapted to the genius of man, whom
God made in his own image, when he
endowed him with creative power,
out Of existing materials to construct
new forms of matter, in the sphere of
fine art, and useful invention, as we'll
as new forms of beauty and sublimity,
in the realm Of poetic and imngiua.
tive literature.
Now put these facts together. On
the one hand, VIC find man endowed
by his Creator with reason, imagina-
tion, taste, the love of music, the
power of invention.
On the other hand, we find nature
singularly adapted to such being in
her uniformity and variety, her analo-
gies and correspondenoies, her images
of beauty and grandeur, her music,
and materials for instruments of mu-
sic, her mutable and mobile forms of
matter, susceptible Of infinite change
and combination.
Thus it appears that it was our
Creators design, that Nature should
furnish the material for the supply Of
our physical and rational wants. Only
in 80 far as these wants are supplied
can We be happy. But these materi.
ais to meet our wants must be known
and applied. They are obtained by
knowledge, and this knowledge is de.
nominated Science, Philosophy, Poe
try, Art, Literature, according as it
is applied to our various wants, to
satisfy our reason, imagination, inven-
tion, and taste. z