The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1878-10-17
HOW TO GET NEARER HEAVEN

HOW TO GET NEARER HEAVEN.
No one ever began to delve into q
subject of thought that he was not re-
minded, il he ever traversed the low
lands of the Mississippi, of an intermi-
nable lagune, shaded from shore to
shore by moss-crowned live oaks AID
cypress trees. Ascending the sluggish
stream and looking ahead, the end is
ever near at hand. But when the point
is reached, beyond which 1t seemed
the boat could not pass, we discover a
curve In the course of the lsgune,
and the cobwebs that hang lsZ' =
motionless water are again light
ed up for miles by the stray
sunbeams that creep down through the
dense, overhanging foliage. The bayou,
we begin to think, as one curve after
another is discovered, has no end, and
SO with this question of special proVl-
dence. The discussion and scope of
argument are alike intermInable. One
OF our exchanges asserts the STATEs-
MANS atheism, and simply because we
have questioned the practical advanta-
ges to be derived, in the presence of
an approaching epidemic, from fasting
and prayer. Buckle, the protoundest
thinker Of our time, has told US (page
464, vol. 2, His. Civ. of England) that
nothing is more ruinous in the pres
ence of plague than physical weak
ness and mental depression. But the
Scotch authorities, when they saw
cholera approaching, were resolved to
have day of humiliation, fasting and
prayer, as Buckle insists, "to prepare
them for the deadly poison that was
lurking around them" ''The deity
was to be propitiated and the plague
stayed. 1t was thought that the AL
mighty would interpose, violate ma
ture's laws, work miracle and pre-
serve his creatures from what, without
miracle, would be the inevitable
consequence of their own deliberate
act" The cholera was approaching
and the Scotch wanted the English
government to do what Cover
nor Hubbard did, issue a proc
lamation and inaugurate fasting
and prayer. But the practical English
only thought of cleansing their cities
and OF the enforcement of. rlgid sani-
tary measures, and the proclamation of
the Scotch church was only ridicuIed.
Lord Palmerston was at length induced
to reply to the Scotch Presbyters, and
with a hardihoOd, which would have
sent him to the stake two hundred
years earlier, and was refreshing for
its profanity in Scottish ears, the great
statesman informed the Presbytery that
the affairs of this world are regulated
by natural laws on the observance or
neglect of which the veal or woe of
mankind depends. One of these laws,
the philosophical Premier said, connects
disease with the exhalations of bodies.
1t is by virtue Of this law that conta-
gion spreads in crowded cities or
wherever vegetable decomposition pro-
crosses. Man can neutralize or dis
perse these Doxious influences. The
people were therefore advised by the
highest English political authority
that it was better to cleanse than to
fast and that activity was preferable
to humiliation and prayer. 1t is now
autumn, said Palmerston, and before
the hot months and cholera come
we should destroy causes of disease
by improving and cleaning the abodes
of the poor. II this be done all will
go well otherwise-msrk the words
''the pestilence will desolate the land
in spite of the prayers and HASTINGS of
an united but inactive nation" Buckle
says the ancient superstition, once uni
versal, but now almost extinct, no
longer impels US to contemplate Deity
as constantly moved to wrath. He
delights not in having his creatures
abase and mortify themselves either in
their sacrifices or susterities, or in in
tiicting pestilences. Events and calam-
ities once deemed supernatural are now
known to depend upon natural causes,
and are amensble to natural remedies.
On this theory the Presbyterian Presi-
dent of the United States is acting
when he fails to Hx a day of fasting
and prayer, and when, on the contrary,
he appoints q commission of experts
to gather facts that may enable us to
ward of, In future years, this fell de-
stroyer Of our race. Science and rea-
SON say that the calamities and griefs
that come upon US are the result
of mans ignorance, and that they
are not due to Gods lnterfer-
ence with terrestrial affairs. In this
science and reason do not differ from
" religion" but from mans "theol-
ogy." We assert the omniscience of
God and the eternity of His laws, and
cannot consent to array Hum in the vul-
gar garb of an earthly potentate inter-
posing here and there, uttering threats,
infiicting punishments and bestowing
rewards, Idolatry is not remote from
such conceptions of the God of the
universe.
When We are asked what IS accom-
phshed BY prayer, We can only recur
to the illustration employed above. II
the boat, OF which we have spoken, in
the midst OF the bayou were fastened
to tree on shore, and We tugged at
the cord the tree would remain un-
moved, but we would be drawn rapid
" towards it. Is this proper illus
tration of the efficacy Of prayerl Will
the two thousand church-goers Of Aus
tin, this brilliant Sunday morning,