New Orleans Republican., 1873-07-20
THE INTANGIBLE.
By BEVERLEY.

Iss opposte-the word tanSibie-.s q IA
vorite with man; he labors all MS life for
something tangible, he applies the word to
philosophy, he wants tangible reason, a
tangible idea intangible as their origin,
''she mind is. No toll is too great to pile
up the tangible dollars, to own broad lands,
great houses, lensthening railroads, and
vast ships; he looks upon these with an in
ward exultation that gloats upon his pos
Aesslons, and says, "Ah these are tangible,
lhave them il my grasp, and know OF my
wealth" In his eagerness for the tangible
lie almost SCOTS the intangibe nay. he
O;ten does. Yet truth is, the tangible is
gross matter, while the intangible is spirit;
ehe tangible must pass away; in its bright
est embryo Of young fresh creation, death
with its decay and destruction IS clasped
With life, and sooner or later must con-
Quer. The great intangible is God.
To us He is an idea. a spiritual perception;
ye: how mighty are His works. Worlds
upon worlds roll on through boundless
space. brought into existence by His will
held subject to but thought OF His option.
Tie earth with her bowels Of consuming g
Ere: her ribs Of stone and iron; her
mighty limbs Of sea and ocean: her great
teeming pregnancy Of life, giving birth and
hutriment to thousands upon thousands OF
various nature, with thousands of greater
worlds, yet are but moiety of His creative
power as compared 20 nan-for man has
that intangible thing, spirit. Yet prone
is he to pervert the right that he exalts, nay
almost deiies the tangible, while he depIe-
eiates the intangible. He puts away the
known fact that every bre ath o: .ife is a
cure knell of death and labors by day and
Soils by night to heap up riches unto him
eelt-as if this life were eternal-and ignores
ele demands of his higher, his eternal being.
So completely has LIE identified himself with
gangible, gross matter, that the intangible
Geems to his sensual being vague tancitGl,
o.. az best, too FAR Of Tor present attention,
and this while the Iite-watch within him is
s;cking away his hours with every second
of time. and he knows not but that hours,
Nay perhaps minutes. may close out matter
and time to him, and leave him with his
intangible, eternal soul before his offended
God without covering OF excuse, to give an
account of the deeds done III the body.
The intangible presents itself TO our intel
1ectual perception i'll different degrees in
thousands OF varied forms; wherever vegeta-
BILE or animal life exists we must acknowledge
1t; We observe a little knot protruding forth
from twig or oough: day by day it swells
and enlarges until il bursts its dark sac and
quietly steals forth into sunlight and air.
with all its beauty of color and form
trembling with a glad instinct of life We
turn TO the outrageous tree and behold
each bough. twig and leaf erect with life
in far greater strength: we see the work
and know that an intangible power has
been propelling il forward. though the
hand of the workman has never been seen
We look in the air and sea and upon the
Garth and the mystery OF animal life meets
as evcryYh here: We turn 10 ourselves and
through wonderful mechanism OF nerves |
we feel j; throughout every fibre of our
physical being: bu' here we Pause in mute |
amaze before Il higher. graudcr intanSibi.- |
6ty-the spirit. Intangible as this is, we
know that we possess II from its results. |
There probably never has been theory ad.
Sanced upon earth with fewer advocates |
than annihilatiun. W., have the witness |
within ourselves; we know that such pow
'ers and aspirations, sue. capacity FOR !
YHeasure and grief. Could not have been |
given by being "f such boundless wisdom
an. mercy as God has displayed in his
entire creation only ;os this purposeless !
Jte. ii there be no. one OF ctsrna, duration
GapacitateG 20 meet the cravings of orr
spirits. Nay. we sioub. Il ever there was
upon earth All acnest believer in annihila-
ton, ana Set wit: an intangible power
SerSadinS every form Ul lite upon earth III
SegulaT grade az increase Up 70 man ana
here 'ulhlnatlnE IL height and grandeur
unseen IN "a. "et: and A.rc crying ou' IA
all i's magnificent: parts for somethiu. ~
JOY anpolm'ed bv sin and c.in.c that Will
SneeS its cravings. and which is as eterna.
as itself. man lurh.s the demands of his
higher being until the cry is Silenced and
Le asks only for shr tangible. Oh. how
snaterai. how low is ..is view of life W.
sometimes think 'hae the man who weighs
al his acts by the weight of eternity.
with reference to the spiritual !lte
perhaps is the only man wholly re-
liable under any and al! circum-
stances Eternity with its incalculable
bliss on the one hand. and its terrible hor-
rors on the other. seems to us the only con-
SlGeration momentous enough to empower
snan to resist evil with all its tangible gains
and cleaye to right with all its highest
promises intangible. 1t is so hard for man
to give up that which he sees for that which
be only hopes for. Belief must. indeed. be
strong-nay. must be impressed upon the
hear, by God himself for us TO do it. Let
us weigh the tangible 10y its fleetness Let
US look upon all nature. and watch the in
tangible through its results and see how God
mas typliied that higher intangiblity-i e.,
the spirit of man. and. through this. that
highest, His own, and learn faith, the sim
plest and the grandest exercise of mind and
soul Dossibla to man. We think that no
r.sr r;nc eau believe VITA h's soul a. We
s.. t,g u ms ls God liie attrtules ana
mans relations to HIM as laid down in the
Bible without being honest aud upright in
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