New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-09-07
THE INTANGIBLE vs.. THE TANGIBLE
BY BEVERLEY.


BY BEVERLEY.
To fit man for abiding with God through
out eternal ages a spiritual being must DC
given; for in the world in which he was 10
live materiality was essential; so God with
infinite wisdom combined the two in one;
the higher to rule the lower, the lower but
to obey. Yet how eagerly does the man
labor to place the material above the spirit
ual, and rather make it minister to the
body; often, oh! how often, does he debase
the noblest, the grandest part OF man to
the vilest work but to pamper the body.
Far be it from us to depreciate activity
and determination in all the avocations OF
life; the material must be preserved IN
health and strength as far as possible, as 1t
is the vehicle of the soul while upon earth,
, and indeed requires both to enable it to do
its bidding well; and since the deeds done
in the body are the evidence of our accept
ableness with God, the body is simply sec
ond to the soul and should be carefully
cared for; but we would have the spirit
hold the reins and consider its own higher
mission; we would have it demand tor its
eternal exaltation and progress that hon
esty, truth, mercy and all charity be the
propelling elements of every deed upon
earth; we would have man stand in awe of
the tribunal Of his own spirit held subject
to Gods law. O, God. how has man de-
based the spirit for the body when, for self
ish gain, he Expresses the weak and poor,
cheats the less shrewd defrauds his coun-
try and lies before man and God. Surely,
this is no false picture Of the massof man
kind; surelyQ we have thousands upon
thousands to-day in ous own Christian
America.
Oh when will truth, justice and honor
become the triune spirit of our land! When
will she unfurl her wings and overshadow
us as in the days of Washington, diffusing
her own being into individuals, commune
ties, States and country, sitting, in all her
lovely proportions and pure, chaste rela-
tions. in our halls of justice, in our legisla-
tive bodies and in our Congress. making
man grand in the image of his God and
raising our country to the high honor Of
standard for the world to initiate.
Reader, pardon this depression, in making
an application to our country. We do love
her 80, we do so long to give her our homage
as well as our love. Integrity and justice
we can honor even when allied to false
Judgment What we ask for our country is
truth and justice in her every integral part,
and wisdom as her handmade.
Much as man debases the spiritual to the
material, there is not that single one upon
earth who has ever effaced it from his being,
and in strange odd hours it will unexpect-
edly assert itself and make the depraved
sensual creature tremble at its fiat, as If
God would have no man finally lost with
out Judgment and sentence from Himself
Gods mercy is extended TO us so
broadly and so deeply that He
has revealed the spiritual to us as
completely as the intangible may be; He
has sent forth His own spirit into all nature,
that He may speak with US through the
medium of matter, that appeals to our ma
terial senses, and by them be conveyed to
our own spirits. We feel it when the rosy
touch of light first pencils the earth with a
thousand dyes; we feel it when the midday
sun floods the earth in an ocean of light;
we feel it when soft, tender twilight steals
like spiritual essence over the world.
hushing its tempestuous spirit, cooling Its
feverish heat. and wooing it to spiritual
reveries; we feel it when the star-gemmed
heavens, and the soft, effulgent MOON beam
gently down upon us and beckon us
We hear it in the thunderings
Of heaven, in the heaylngs OF
the sea and the roaring OF the
cataract We hear it in the ripping rivulet, |
in the song of birds, in the hum of insects
and in the whispering of rustling leaves; we |
feel 1t in the hush of night when darkness |
NANTES the earth; we feel in ii the solemn |
stiffness Of the woods, whe re sunlight and |
shadow weave mystical spell until we
almost hush our breathing in vague half I
belief that we shall have an audible revela-
ton. We hear it in the still small voice |
within us and tremble with mingled awe
and pleasure to know that We have a wit
ness within testifying of God and eternity.
All this God has wen to testify to us in
accord with His inspired word, and yet
man will dare with the light of natural and
revealed truth to stand up before his fellow
men and his outraged God in all the power
Of intellect and intelligence lying knave'
and an oppressor of the helpless Oh that
We of America would shake of the detling
shsckles of materiality so far as to iberate
the immortal within us and give into its
power individual control. Then would our
nation built up of such material, stand
forth glory to the earth and tribute to
is God. Every living man who bushes his
nner being and lives for his selfish greed is
dot upon his kind and dishonor to his God,
md woe to him when in his eternal day he
lands face to face with an offended Maker;
hen will his knavery be impotent to avail
i'm and his oppression forever cease. All
hat we could all keep ever in mind that the
angible, the material, is passing away,
bile the intangible, the iMmaterial is