The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1872-08-07

NINTH ANNIVERSARY, ON WEDNES
DAY, JULY 3lsT, 1872, BY
GEN. SAMUEL McGOU4N.
Mr.. President: I occupy this plac'
very reluctantly. I feel that [ am un
fit to treat properly the great subject o
the Bible, its value and the Importance
of its distribution. But approving the
custom of having a yearly discourse
upon the subject, and having been elec
ted in turn to perform my part, vii
do the best I can taking good care
not to intrude into the sacred province
of the pulpit, but standing afar OFT with
reverential respect, give expression to
the crude though ghts Of one anxious to ar,
rive at truth, yet claiming to be in nc
way Illuminated.
DR.. Paley opens his natural theology
with a remark as felicitious as it IS sim.
pie: "In crossing a heath suppose l
pitched my foot against stone, and were
asked how the stone came to be there, |
might possibly answer that for anything
! know to the contrary, it had lain there
forever nor would it perhaps be very
easy to show the absurdity of the answer.
But suppose l had found ecatch upon
the ground and it should be inquired
how the watch came in that place, |
should hardly think Of the answer 1 had
before given, vet why should this answer
not serve for the watch as well as the
stone? For this reason and no other.
When We come to inspect the watch we
perceive that its several parts are formed
and put together for a purpose, and we
think the inference is irresistible that
the watch must have had q maker who
comprehended its construction and de-
signed its use." So says DR.. Paley.
Man is born. Soon as his eyes open
and his faculties sufficiently expand, he
looks around and finds himself in the
world without agency or will of his own.
He beholds the beautiful face of nature,
the earth, thesea and the starry heavens"
He observes the rising and setting sun,
the alterations of day and night, of
Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
He soon perceives that the race from
which he sprung is only a very small
part of a magnificent system. He learns
from the records of his ancestors that
this stupendous structure as he finds it,
has certainly stood for centuries-that
generation after generation have been
born, lived and have died as he must die
and, finding himself possessed Of that
strange something called reason, he most
:anxiously inquiries whence is all this !!
whittier going and to what end! We
think the first impression must be that
the mechanism Of the acatch is as nothing,
and that it is impossible to conclude that
this sublime system came by chance, or
,"has lain here forever" These grand
evidences Of design prove the existence
of adesigner-of a great First Cause, all
powerful and as benevolent as powerful.
1None but the fool has said in his heart
there is no God"
Closely connected with the belief in a
great First Cause, without beginning and
without end, comes the idea of the i'm
mortality of the soul. Man, like other
portions of the animal kingdom, comes
into the world, lives his appointed time,
dies, and the places which knew him
know him no more forever. Does he
turn to dust like the brute which
perishes? Or does any part of him-his
intellectual or immaterial nature-his
spirit live beyond the grave? This is to
him the most important of all questions.
He is religious animal. His first
aspiration is for Immortality, but this
alone cannot establish tie truth of fu-
ture state Of existence. He is not con-
tent with the idea of annihilation. He
sees himself at the head of all created
beings of which he has knowledge. He
is created little lower than the angels.
He looks in upon himself and perceives
how fearfully and wonderfully he is
made. His span of life is short, restless
and soon to pass away. He lives, he
breathes, he has his existence and he
dies! The thought is irrepressible and
has been from the beginning of the
world, IS this the end! Was it to end
thus, that the great First Cause evoked
order out of chaos Was it for this alone
the magnificent system of worlds was
called into existence! Was it for this man
was created from the dust of the earth and
a living soul breathed into his nostrils? ?
Is it all thus to live and thus to die? No
one has risen from the dead to tell us,
but something whispers that it cannot
be so. There is a monitor within which
teaches that it is not all Of life to live,
nor all of death to die!
We believe it is true as a historical
fact that no people have ever been dis
covered in any age or part Of the
the world sunk so low in ignorance and
barbarism as not to have hope at least
in the Immortality of the soul, and a
system of religion, involving the idea
that after death there is to be second
existence, among spirits who control the
world, whose approval is desired and
whose worship is enjoined. The un!et-
tered Indian recognizes the Great Spirit
and Governor in the thunder Of the
storm cloud. The Magians and fire
worshipers see him in the sun. Some
ancient.philosophers believed in metemp-
sychosis and the transmigration Of the
soul-that after death it passed into
other bodies and lived again in that
form. 1t is believed that, in some form
or other, all the peoples, of the earth, ex-
cept perhaps some small sects such as the
Saduccees among the Jews, entertain the
opinion that Man has within him the
germ-of Immortality. The idea is beau.
tifully expressed in Addison's Cato
when driven to the last extremity by the