Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-07-16
! HIELlLL,,s, FI n
A sermon su,.abIe 70 tho rImes,


extracts Of sermon, delivered fe'
days ago by Rev. DR., spalding in tn
Unitarian church at Cincinnati, viii b
read with little interest by some of on
readers:
WE ARE SEVEN.
You all remember the touching line
of Wordsworth entitled I'VE are Seven.
A little girl was interrogated us TO th'
number Of her brothers and sisters. She
pointed to those that were yet living, ans
then she pointed to the little graves IL
the church-yard close at hand. The poe
sought to separate the dead from the
living, the little graves from the children
that could yet walk hand-in-hand with
the little questioner- that could YET
climb the father knee and cling around
the mother neck--could yet pillow Their
heads in the warm bosom of parental
love. But the child could not be brought
to accept that separation, and she shil
persisted in the declaration we are
seven Can not that sweet poem be sung
by that child in the spirit world. or can
not it be uttered still in the higher life
A HARD QUESTION.
Said heart that has been touched
most seriously this week to me: Il never
knew how precious my dear son was to
me until the angel had passed over my
threshold and left its shadow there
never knew what he was TO me until he
was called away" How many of you
have felt within your own hearts heforce
of these words2 You did not know, and
could not know, how beautiful, how
how filled with affection, and
with every element that could endear
heart to heart or the treasures God gave
you, until he sent his angel to take them
from your side. Can you be happy in
the spiritual world, perfectly so, il these
your lost treasures shall not be given to
You again there? | have asked this
question of my own heart You have
asked it Of your heart. We have all
put it 10 our hearts at times. 1t is
question which in this world cannot be
settled.
IMMORTALITY.
If the soul is immortal, it will bear
along with it in its spiritual STATE all of
It's essential elements, all the spirit laws
hat govern II, and all of those princi-
pies of truth and love, and justice and
that serve to develop and per-
ect it. These principles are the food
ipon which it mast be fed not only in
line but also through eternity. These
avs are a part of itself; they cannot be
eft behind and the soul be immortal.
These elements one and all of them, are
essential to the Immortality of the soul
n our spiritual natures we are confined
o the spiritual elements Of our being.
md the laws that govern them, and the |
dement's that serve to uphold them.
THE SPIRIT WORLD
The heavens will evermore declare the I
.lory of God, and the earth evermore
how forth His handiwork In every |
cart that beats within Gods universe.
Thether it beats within the material form
r surrounded by spiritual robes, there
5 lesson of encouragement and hope,
lesson of sympathy, lesson of love, of
ruth aud sincerity, which in its farthest
each, must, in the very nature of things,
.rove-ifnot Immediately, ultimately
lessing 10 every other heart, just as the
hood within our system finds its way to
very point thereof, bearing health,
trengtk and physical enjoyment So
be element Of divine truth. The dIvin-
" there is in every heart in Gods uni
erse, conveying 3 quickening influence
0 every other part of the great human
ody; for while we are many members,
ct are we one body" and there is not
dice from flower or star, from whisper
az wind or singing brook that does not
zach US of the hereafter, Of the glorious
pirit world.
THE BRINK or PERDITION.
1t ought to be kept before the people =
he young, middle-aged, and the old
ecause every soul is liable at any mo-
lent to have the brittle thread Of his
arthly existence sundered, and il he
! not converted tremendously, he is lost,
nd lost forever. Though be may have
cen faithful and true in all his work, in ,
Il his utterances, until now, if he shall
lie, unconverted, he sinks into utter and .
ternal darkness. And he should, there
ire, be told, and told often, that be
ands upon the brink of perdition.
ENDLESS MISERY.
If the doctrine of endless wretehed-
ess be true, it is the great. truth of the
ible; it is the central and most inhuen-
al truth Of the Bible, and it needs to be
lost frequently sounded in the ears of ,
le people. The best way TO create 4
18th in that truth is the frequent utter
ace of that truth The men who took ,,
e covenant oath Of perdition every }
lnday, and allowed people to look into I
in all its horrors, were the men of that ,,
it'll. John Milton, who has drawn a a
cture of perdition, such as no other !
an has been able to draw, was q man Of !
it'll, teacher of this truth
JUSTICE.
What is justice on earth is justice in I
.aven What is justice in a Divine Be- !
g would be equal justice in human i
ing and God has given to US our rea-
n and our moral natures that we might
me 70 some conclusion upon this ques- o
IN Of justice in its bearing upon the c
iestion of the punishment Of the :
cked. We stand here to-day to /
irm that the doctrine Of infinite J
d eternal Indebtedness Of the
cked is in direct conflict with the prin- I
pie Of justice, human or divine. Il is :,
possible for finite being to deserve !.
Unite punishment-it is impossible for /.
IN, whose life, at the most, terminates 4
IS side of hundred years, to deserve q
are not how wicked, TO end that life in s
'rnal pain. The consequence is not in ?
oportion to the ofense. \
cHISANgs AND IDIOTS ALL RIGHT. 4
Of the heather world, numbering 60O,- u
1000 Of beings, how many are there e
o have never heard of the existence .