The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-12-16
Written for the Star.
RehGi0n.

AS10sSos
Sweet religion unfolds to man
his brilliant destiny; it occupies his
mind with its premises; it is . pro-
tector which guides him amid per-
ils; it shows the spirit of loved ones
lowering around him, spplauding
his good deeds, and rejoicing when
he shuns the path Of passion or of
crime; it supports him as he falters
amidst precipices, and amid the
darkness Of ignorance and error; it
consoles him who is dying upon a
bed Of pain. II man, the monarch
of nature, is loaded with chains,
she breaks them; her sublime in
SEPARATIONS elevate him to the Deity.
She says to the thoughtless, who,
to harden himself in his career of
crime, cries "the Eternal does not
exist, there is no Eternity Mon
stsr of pride and imperfection, thou
wouldst abase the Divinity, in or
der to elevate myself to Him; thou
wouldst enchain Him in the narrow
circle Of thy thoughts. No! thou
hast not annihilatcd the Great Be.
ing. The proofs of His existence
are written in the eupola OF Heav-
en-, in characters of FIRE, on the firm
ament, where thy spirit wanders.
What, can man be u compound!
Can song be immortal, and live
through slee ping centuries, and not
the soul who gave it birth? Can a
trnnsitory cause have an everlast-
ing effect! No, it is impossible.
Is then, immortality, the immortal
ity Of the soul and God, too vast
and too sublime for thy comprehen-
sion! Too bright for thy vision!
Is the idea of Immortality more as
tonishing to thee than the faculty
Of thought! Canst thou not mag
inc world inhabited by beings SUI
perior to myself! And, if such
world is possible, wherefore should
it not exist? Can not thy magma
tions rise on the wings Of thought,
above the sphere Of beings the
most perfect and intelligent, to the
Sovereign of all-thc Almighty
Ii chance be the ruler of the world,
then chance is god whom mor,als
should worship and adore. Ii the
Eternal is the offspring of imagin-
alton, then is man the creator of
the universe. The least perfect of
mortals is the first of beings. Shall
the poor be the dupe of virtue, and
suffer unrecompcnsed privations,
with no resource save crime and it's
concealment! Then are the bonds
of society broken, and it is time
for man to fly to the forests and
herd with animals; no longer cul-
tivating his heart and his intellect.
Reason, knowledge and scnsibility
would render him the most wretch
ell of beings, were there no immor-
tality, no God. No. man is not the
offspring of chance, to he cast into
nothingness after death. Can it be
that the Supreme Ruler should
have created senticnt beings and
left them usclessly exposed in this
world to its destructive agencies!
The path leading to the Heavenly
Temple is not rough and thorny, i,
exacts not that mOrtals shall suffer
fear or, that, break
ing the bonds which bind them to
surrounding objects, they shall con-
denim themselves to austcre prin-
ciplos and practice, or to a life OF
contemplation which is contrary to
His law. The chain which binds
man to earth is not heavy one. |
Through meditation, he can rise
above it. In the vast regions of
thought and Imagination, his spirit
can find enjoyment that all the
agents Of the evil genius of evil
cannot obliterate. The wrongs of
death are to him an asylum. With
Ilisdain he sees the cohorts Of he'll
searching for their prey on the
spot which he has loft. Like the
unsecmly worm, which after having
crawlcd along upon the earth, an
object of contempt and contumely,
and at length casts off the mask
which concealed it's beauty, spreads
in the sunshine its glowing wings,
she triumphantly rises above those
who heretofore have trampled her
underfoot. So with the man, then, |
when he leaves this earthly tabcr-
nacle and mounts to Him upon
high, he will then bless the strong
hand which rescued him from an
nihilation-rcligion.
MossBAcK.