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


: minds of ambitious men and provOk
D groundless quarrels between peacefi
5 neighbors. The art of war with VI
e with its skillful materials, its pomp an
!, circumstance, is something very differ
!, ent to what it was in rude and bal
l barous age, when the bow, the wal
e club and the scalping- knife were th
: sole instruments of destruction. Blu
, war itself, through all these changes
' has been the same angry, cruel, blood
Z strife between men.
Again. The elementary principle
of the arts and sciences haveremaine,
, steadfast though endless modification
: have been made in their application
to the purposes of life. The wisdom
of man has discovered a better use o
these principles and wiser adapta
ton of them to the interests of socie
ty; but the primary truths themselve
have suffered no conversion, and hav,
steadfastly resisted all change. 1t i
thus of sculpture and painting, of geol
ogy, chemistry and astronomy, and
indeed, of the whole round of the art
andsciences.
And as of these, so of religion bu
IN pre-eminent degree. In its pri
mary truths, and in its essential princi
piles, it has remained the same
though the methods of its advancement
have undergone various changes tc
meet the changed conditions Of life
From the rude groves of our forefath-
ers, where they truly worshipped Him
who is immortal and invisible, to the
stately temples that adorn our cities
and attract public attention, even the
places of our devotions have been
wonderfully transformed. In the Pat
riarchal, the Jewish and the Christian
dispensation, the circumstances of re-
ligion have passed through many
changes to meet the wants of the peo-
pie and to attain the ends of mercy.
And even in these different dispensa-
tlons, and from time to time, the mere
accidents of religion. were altered,
amended or abolished, as the interests
of society may have required. Every
where we see the hand of the artist
molding and fashioning the instru-
ments of grace, and modifying old
methods of mercy to meet new and
unexpected emergencies in the work
of human salvation. All that is out
ward, visible and circumstantial in re-
ligion is temporal and changeable, and
is perpetually influenced by the condi-
tions of society, and will bear forever
the image of its culture and refine
ment. And the methods now so con-
fdently relied on to advance the work
of grace may be changed on to-mor-
row, and will be wholly different in
coming age, and under new conditions
of life. Here nothing is stable, but
everything is huctuating as the waves,
inconstant as the winds.
But the essential truths of religion,
through all these changes, have re-
mained the same. Amid the universal
fluctuations of earth they have suffer-
ed no variableness, nor shadow of turn
ing. As each feeting globule of water
wears the same hue, and the shifting
currents bear the same image, so these
primary truths of religion, amid the
ebbing and flowing events of time,
have retained the same unblemished
picture The rock amidst surging bill
lows, and the mountain encompassed
by raging storms, are fit emblems of
religious truths, and type their immu-
liability. With all their circumstan-
tial changes, and despite the modifca-
tions of this or any other age, the
counsels of the Lord shall stand, and
his thoughts to all generations. Heaven
and earth may be shaken, and all
things temporary pass away, but the
foundations of our faith standeth sure,
and will abide forever. As a great
rock, over which the ages have passed,
and up whose granite surface even the
heavy foot of time has left no impress
ion /; so these religious truths have
survived the mutations of time, and
claim companionship with eternity,
Ancient and venerable as the hills and
firm and immovable as the everlasting
mountains, they shall survive even the
race of man, and stand unchallenged
amid the heaviDg elements of final
ruin. The foundations of the earth
may be removed, and the strong pill
lars of nature may bend and break
amid dissolving worlds, bat not one
jot or title of these truths shall ever
fall to the ground or perish. Asplan-
cts above us keep their stations in
the sky, though the air is full of shoot
ing stars and of meteoric splendors,
and shine on with serene beauty, hold
ing the spheres in order and harmony,
so these truths of religion, ensphered
in our mental horizon, shall shine on
with undiminished and characteristic
brightness till their light is absorbed
in the advancing glOries of heaven.
All flesh is as grass, and all the glory
of man as the flower of the grass; the
grass withereth and the flower thereof
fadeth; but the word of the Lord en-
dureth forever.
There is nothing new in religion
Her truths are as old as time, and they |
have been familiar to all the genera
tions of men. They have illumined
the mind and blessed the hearts of the |
departed millions of our race, just as |
they illumine and bless our hearts to-
day. The mind is now quickened and |
the heart is thrilled by the same joys |
that enraptured the souls of our dead |
kindred and of the forgotten genera
tions of men. The ages have passed, |
mighty centuries have silently followed |
each other to oblivion, and vast changes |
have swept over the face of men and
things, but the same light shines in our
sanctuaries of piety, the same fire
burns on the altar of devotion, and
the same songs watt the soul to heaven
on wings of flame. And these sub
lime, immutable truths shall continue
to chase the darkling mists of time.
To cheer the mariner with friendly light
Through shelving rocks, to guide his course
To show, beyond the deep, that peaceful
Where waves suhside and tempests rage no
But heavens unsetting splendors radiant
glow,
know.
There is nothing new in religion
Whatever is new is false. Let no man,
on peril of his soul, trife with these
venerable truths by vain speculations.
They are guarded against innovations
and novelties by all the infinite per-
fections of God, and death awaits him
who spends his time in nothing else
than in hearing or telling some new
thing about religion. Wo be unto
him who would burn strange fire on
hallowed altars, or who would stretch
forth an unknown hand to stay the
falling ark of God,
But there is sense in which the
truths of religion are always new
They themselves retain their age; but
we are brought into new relations to
them. and they become as fresh to US