The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1878-05-31


We are to know that we are never
without . pilot. When we know not
how 70 steer, and dare not hoist q sail,
we can drift. The current knows the
way. though we do not, When the
stars and sun appear; when we have
conversed with navigators who know
the coast, we may begin 10 put out an
oar or trim q sail. The ship OF heaven
guides itself, and will not accept q
wooden rudder.
How came this creation 80 magi-
cally woven that nothing can do me
mischief but myself--that an invisible
fence surrounds my being which screens
me from all harm that viii to resist ?
II will stand upright. the creation can
not bend me. But II / violate myself,
II commit q crime, the lightning loi-
tiers BY the speed Of retribution, and
every act Is not hereafter but instanta-
neously rewarded according to its
quality. Virtue Is the adopting Of this
dictate of the universal mind by the in
dividual will. Character Is the habit Of
this obedience, and religion is the ac-
complaining emotion, the emotion Of
reverence which the presence Of the
universal mind ever excites in the indi-
vidual.
The mystic or theist is never
scared BY any startling materialism. He
knows the laws Of gravitation and Of re-
pulsion are deaf to French takers, be
they never so witty. If theology shows
that opinions are fast changing, 1t Is not
SO with the convictions of men with re-
gard to conduct. These remain. The
most daring heroism, the most accom-
plished culture, or rapt holiness, never
exhausted the claim Of these lowly du-
ties-never penetrated TO their origin,
or was able TO look behind their source.
We can not disenchant, we can not i'm
poverish ourselves, by obedience; but
by humility We rise, by obedience we
command. by poverty we are rich, by
dying we live.
Man does not live BY bread alone,
but by faith, by admiration. by sympa-
thy. lis very shallow to say that cot
ton or iron, or silver and gold, are kings
of the world; there are rulers that will
at any moment make these forgotten.
Fear will; love will; character will.
Men live by their credence. Govern
ments stand by it-by the faith that peo-
pie share-whether it comes from the
religion in which we were bred, or from
an original conscience in themselves,
which the popular religion echoes. II
could only stand by force,
II the instinct Of the people was to resist
the government, it Is plain the govern
ment must be two to one, in order to be
secure, and then 1t would not be safe
from desperate individuals. But no;
the old commandment, "Thou shalt not
KILL" holds down New York, and Lon
don, and. Paris, and not a police, or
horse-guafds.
The credence of men it is that
molds them, and creates at will one or
another surface. The mind as It opens
transfers very fast its choice from the |
circumstances TO the cause; from cour-
esy to love, from invention to science. |
rom London or Washington law, or
public opinion, TO the self-revealing
dea; from all that talent executes to
he sentiment that fills the heart and
iictates the future Of nations.
The man Of this age must be matric-
'lated in the university Of sciences and
endencies flowing from all past periods.
lie must not be one who can be sur
'rised and shipwrecked by every bold
# subtle word which malignant and
cute men may utter in his hearing, but
hould be taught all skepticisms and un-
'eliefs, and made the destroyer Of all
ard-houses and paper walls, and the
liter of all opinions, by being put face
Q face from his infancy with Reality.
"A man who has accustomed him.
elf to look at all his circumstances as
cry mutahle, TO carry his possessions,
Is relations TO persons, and even his
pinions, in his hand, and in all these to
ierce to the principle and moral law,
nd everywhere to find that-has put
imself out Of the reach Of all skepti-
ism; and 1t seems as II whatever Is most
lfecting and sublime in our intercourse,
l our happiness, and in or losses,
ended steadily to uplift US TO life so
and one might say, super
uman.-NorM american Reuew.