The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1871-02-01
Wy IM1 ESIT S. S. Tg DIR %,
Wednesday Morning, Feb. I. 1871
LrG%s::Aia' SrratiOy.SI.


liuXi'y in his clay Sermons" ad
ve.at,s the study Of Physical Science
as ""n antidotc to that phase of de.
sp'ir that cones upon every earnest
thinker, in view of the endless revo.
iutions that take place in human af
fairs" No doubt, in thi; matter
Huxley Is right. In tho whole field
of phy>ical research, development and
progress according to unvary ing law
rcrvadc its chdcss manifestations Of
ccIsclcsS change, SO that the impress
sion gains upon the student that hu.
man society muat also be al vancipg
according to some unyielding lazy of
social progress not yet discovered or
understood. All growth neccssitatcs
and springs out of decay, old things
passing away, or rather being repro.
dnccd IN an order Of things that is
nc". And mcn are promo to look
"P'" '"i' F"i i"ilcl uCSlTUCllNe process
exclusively at times, and not to OBJ
serve the hcw forms Of life that nrc
Sp'inging contcmporaneously with
them from the ruins of those forms
that arc passing away. Some ac-
1unintancc With science tends, there
fore, no doubt, towards Il more cheer
Iul view of life for the spirit Of all
science is hopcfulncss, and despair is,
in tho estimation of all earnest stu
dents, Synonymors with insanity, and
but another name for folly.
Turn another department of learning,
II F"r "'ich Huxley has no tasto and
> 'i'i'' very inadequate apprecia-
tIon, since he So evidently undertakes
the amount of truth which man can
obtain by means of testimony arid by
Lriicf in authority, as oven to state
that the spirit Of skcpticism as opposu1
to IaHh ia the very spirit of science;
believing: says he, in classification by
vcrlIlcaticn and not by faith"-turn
to history. History warns nations
against the suicide of despair. As
long MS they hope, so long have thcy
good reason to hope on. A stranger
who had been present when the Ro-
man Senate met after the battle of
Cannac, in which the flower of Roman
manhood had fallen, and sixty thous-
and of Romc's choicest soldicry lay
dead and unburicd upon the field of
that dreadful defeat, and had heard
the unanimous vote of thanks to tho
defeated general whose mismanage-
mcnt had caused the calamity, "bt-
cause" in the hour Of disaster he had
not de>paircd of the republic" would
have felt assured Of tho result of tho
conflict between Hannibal and Rome.
The gcuius of Hannibal, however
transccndcnt, could not cope with the
genius of this manly people. Hope
proved stronger than revenge.
And five turn to still another field
of thought, which Huxley, with that
conceit so frequently cngcndercd by
devotion to physical science, affects to
patronize..(lct tho reader just think of
it-Thomas Huxley patroniying St.
Paul, "that greatest of ali the great
men that the great God ever Great
ed !') the great Apostle Of tho Cen
tiles tells us, that our God is the
"Ood Of Hope" Mark tho cxtraor.
dlnary elevation Of the beautiful pas.
sage, and judge for yourself, reader, if
this man be teacher inspired from
on high, or no-"now TIE Gop OF
HorN fill you with all Joy and peace
in believing, that 80 may abound in
hope, through the power of the Holy
G host"
Thus whether we consult Science,
History or Religion, a hopeful spirit
is proved to be the dictate of sober
reason, and to despair is to choose sor.,
row and to cultivate misery with a
foolish sadncss, in world in which
eight is sown for those that do right
in darkness" darkness being the very
soil out of which light springs) and in
which "sorrow may endure for night,
but JOY co"oth in the morning"