Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-08-30

the limits of truth, they give then
selves up to curious fancies, to val
imaginations, and to the wild dream
of false philosophy. The principl
of curiosity, and the desire of novelty
as strong in this as in any other agt
still allure the people to unsuhstantis
theories, and enchain them to delusiv
errors. They, too, as did the Athen
lans, spend their time in nothing els
than IN hearing or telling some ney
thing in regard to the great and lon
established questions of religion
Abandoning the old and beaten path
of venerable sires, yet bright with tn
shining footprints of the departed, the,
wander from Heaven through new ant
devious ways of error. Forsaking tn,
steady lights that have guided millions
safely through the perils of time t.
glory, they follow false lights, born O
the dark marshes of sin, and fed b,
the noxiOus vapors of earth.
And this, alas, is true of some who
aspire to be leaders of the people
They delight in the novelties of reli
gion, are ever seeking fresh discover,
les of truth and feverish in their enun.
Citations of new theories in morals
They are ever lowering on the bound.
aries of truth !; dwelling in a region
midway between light and darkness
and delightiug themselves and anus
ing others with the bleared pictures OF
their own disordered minds. Aban.
doning reason as safe guide, and fol-
lowing the illusions of an unrestrained
fancy, they become captivated by un-
substantial dreams, and are transport
ed with the bright but unreal visions
of the ideaL 1t looks as if some of
them had rather be original than right,
and would sooner announce a novelty
in religion than proclaim truth, an
cient as time and glorious as heaven
itself. They are delighted with
strange views, eagerly pursue every
new light that appears in the horizon
of observation, and devote heart and
life in opposition to everything vener-
able with age. They grow eloquent
over recently discovered ideas, and ex-
haust rhetoric in adorning visions light
as air, and beautiful but frail as the
mist of the morning. And these frothy
vapOrings of an unhealthy imagination,
in which some so fondly indulge, con-
stitute their entire stock in trade, and
is the sole secret of whatever success
they may have achieved in life. Many
a pompous actor who now struts the
stage of life would shrink into an in
sigfcant lackey were he stripped of his
borrowed plumes, or shOrn of the
mere novelties in art, or science, ORE
ligion. Prick the bubble in which he
has fioated to the crest of observation,
pierce the painted balloon in which he
has sailed to questionable notoriety,
and he would at once and forever dis
appear from sight. And there is no
more mournful sight than man stand
ing between the living and the dead,
surfeiting the hearts of the people with
pious froth, and bewilderiDg their
minds with the reveries of his own
disordered imaginations. Oh, it is pitt
full to see him feeding the hungry null
titudes with painted loaves of bread,
and seeking to slake their thirst with
the deceitful mirage of the desert, in
stead of the bright waters of life,
drawn from the deep wells of salvation.
From all such, good Lord, deliver US.
We but repeat the solemn warning of
two thousand years: Beware lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and
vain deceit, after the traditions of men,.
after the rudiments of the world, and
not after Christ.
There is nothing new In religion.
The truths of salvation are as old as
the world. The doctrines of the gos-
pei are for all times, and were pro-
claimed to the first as they shall be
proclaimed to the last of the race of
man. The plan of human recovery
from sin, including every dispensation
of grace and all periods of time, is the
same from age to age. The way of
to Abel is the way of saliva
tion to US, and shall be the way of sal
vation to those who shall follow US on
the stage of human action, down to
the last syllable of recorded time. The
necessities of man were such as to re-
quire in the beginning clear annuncia-
tons of truth; certain and fixed limits
of salvation, from which there could
be no possible variations in the future.
And it may be safely affirmed, and
with the highest possible emphasis,
that, In anything essential to the re-
covery of man from sin, whatever pro-
fesses to be new is, of necessity, false.
There can not be, nor was it ever in
tended there should be, any new fac
tor entering into the solution of the
problem OF human salvation. 1t is
now what it always was and what it
always will be: a work finished and
complete, to which all additions would
be superhuous and any detractions
would be utterly ruinous. And woe
be to him that addeth to or taketh |
any thing from these ancient and ven-
erable truths of the Gospel.
The immutability of the essential
truths of religion might be argued
from the permanency of the state of
man. Man is the same, and SO long as
he remains as he is these truths must |
remain unchanged. Were he to change |
his state and become a new being, it |
would necessitate a change In the |
Divine administration towards him. |
But human nature is now what it has |
ever been since the fall and the state
of man is marked by all the charac-
of stability The passions
that sway us and the appetites that
govern us swayed and governed our
fathers before us, and will sway and |
govern our children after us. The |
tffals we endure, the temptations that !
buffet us, and the affections under
which we grOan, are nothing new under
the sun; but such things as are COM
mon to men and with which they have
been familiar from the beginning of
time. And were we to ascend the
stream of life to the fountains, and
traverse all the climes of earth, we
should find no striking variations in
the state and natural condition of man.
The currents of existence have deep
ened and widened, but the complexion
of the waters is the same. and they will
flow on forever without becoming
purer or brighter. From age to age,
from generation to generation, and
through all the fortunes of earth,
human nature ever presents the same
sad image, Scared by misfortunes and
distorted by violent passions. The
history of the past and of all nations
is but a mirror in which We see our
own lives reflected, and from which
We may obtain a uniform and perfect
picture of the whole race of men.
And this permanency of the state of
man requires immutability in the es-
sential principles of religion. Human
nature being the same, the causes,
conditions aud efficient agents of saliva
A.. Al