Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-02-19

WIN .ua HaIH EHlAHH -A #|HH
lfat lowest sicn as Dc weFet Of tha
hrono Of God, that step 50 low
hat 4 can 0VeFtOp nOna, % hear
hat none can overlook tive bsgin
upward and around, and even
g ne immanaity Of the subject, %
.pprehand Hlho breadth and length
nd depth anl height Raised
me step higher, we know the love
" Christ; we look on the uuveil-
a mystery Of Redemption we lay
.a1t hold Of lhe Atonement, aud
Ihen-deGh measures the only In
.eFval that remains between the
christian and Christ, between him
who knOws the love 0 fChrist, that
passes knowledge, and Him who
Is seated at the right hand Of the
Eternal Majesty aud is "flled with
III the fulness Of God" by breth-
rem, / ask you, | ask myself, Is this
ArhapsOdy? II so, Il is the rhapsO-
dy Of divine inspiration. Is 1t
1t Is the madness that
Felix charged upon st. Paul. Is 1t
q mystery? Thank God It is a
mystery ; and woe to poor shallow
finite man If It were not; woe to
orr weak and blind humanity II no
benefit could be conferred upon as
beyond our comprehension
Brethren In the Lord, this doc
trine of His divinity will live, this
truth continue to be spoken IN love
while Christianity, while Christen-
dom, exists. II is the logic Of the
heart, the only logic, that, In the
end, satisfies the reason.
The man who gave the world an-
other world-to the Old a New
World-great benefaCtor as he was,
our reason says, was bat a man.
But no who gave to the Old and the
New World another world, and to
the living aud the dead, and to all
generations of men, "A better world
tho reason will never say, was
but q man /; so long, at least, as she
admits the reality Of that mighty
discovery, equally astonishing atFec-
ting and sublime. II the Church,
who holds the evidence Of that rev.
citation in s.this which we call
the year Of The Lord, 1870, go an
cient is her testimony Is not the
living power she was when mcn
bowed %reverentiy, with heart and
soul and reason, before her teach
ings, it is not because she has Ceas-
ell TO speak the same truth, nor,
perhaps, because she does not con-
tinue to speak il with the same
mouth, but because, In so many
things she has forgotten TO speak
the truth in love.
To give this subject, my breth-
ern, a more personal bearing than,
under other circumstances | should
be either justified in doing, or in-
clined to do--as one who has him.
self felt how hard II Is for him who
loves the truth, 10 love also the enc
mics of the truth, or loving justice,
t. love those who offer il ma
jestic image the show OF violence,
let me say that | have had expert.
encc of the utility of hatred and The
power oflove. Aud il aughl could
temper native vehemence Of
disposition--if aught could soften
aud subdue d heart, by nature,
harder, and q spirit harsher than
mine, II would be to return, as l
have returned, to a world that al,
ready seemed to me to belong TO
memory, aud to stand where | now
stand, among the graves Of buried
friends, and buried hopes.
II seems to me that | address
more than this living audience.
Before my nind's eye there are
forms that | know are not now abb
sent from yOurs-noble aud stately
men, women of pure and gentle as
pect, and children lovely as their
own innocence-forms Of the past.
Mol by that great instinct OF the
heart, that will not let them die in
the interior world of memory and
love, not Of the past! Though to
us but memories, they r not such
memories as we retain of
things that perish when
they disappear, the clouds
that passed over, the flowers that
bloomed and witheed, the birds
that sung to US, and are silent now
forever. They have a place IN
that mysterious world upon which
God himself impressed reality be.
You'd what mere sense can bestow.
when, by q law of our nature, he
forbade us to love with the love oil
the heart anything merely mortal
or to bind up our life with the life o.
things that utterly perish.
There are graves in yonder cen
etery that assure me Of immortal
ity. There are those there, amongs
the dead, who have left an argu
mcnt for 1t in my heart more con
vincing than all the arguments tina
Plato has left to the world. Thi
argument, l admit, is not address
cd to my reason; but it is address
cd to my nature, and can not re
ject it without discrediting mysel
and my creator. There are mystic
rious influences that come iron
that world of the past aud draw m
with magnetic power toward til
future invisible world. There ar
spiritual forms that come to Inc !
the dark hours of my life and Ia
their cold, pale hands in mine all
strengthen and purify my SOL
There are amongst them minds
clear intelligence, more than ON
pure and lofty spirit, with whOI
while they still wore earthly form
my own spirit held high commur
ings, and whom neither my fait
nor nv nature will permit me