The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1878-08-21

How marked is the contrast! Bot q
few hours ago we were living in
gloom. Night had cast her sombre
shadow over every form ofgrace and
beauty. All we're husbed in silent
repose. Now the king Of day is
seated upon his golden throne. He
has dispersed the gloom of night
His radiant beams give new energy
to living nature, while everywhere
there is life and activity.
This is o typical picture. Dark
ness is the emblem of vice, Ignorance
and oppression. Light is the EN-
blem Of virtue, intelligence and free
dom. As the physical world has its
days and nights, so the moral and in
~tellectusl world has its intervals oil
light and darkness. But light can
only reach US through mediums.
That which gives brilliancy to this
spacious chapel, comes streaming
through the windows. They are the
mediums of the sunbeams. Darken
them, and We are in gloom /; build up
the solid walls and we are in impen-
etrable darkness. The sunbeam il
the emblem Of truth and virtue; the
window the emblem of the means by
which the mind is enlightened. The
glass may be clear IS crystal to let
in the beralds Of health, life and
beauty, or it may be stained with
the darkest colors to make obscure
and unattractive every thing within
these walls. Thus it is that man
may welcome truth and virtue, and
live with the intelligent and the free;
or, rejecting these, pine with the ig.
norant and the oppressed.
In the early ages the tendency Of
man was TO avoid the light of
heavenly truth. Then the world
preferred to "look through a glass
darkly.n For when the source of
light had disappeared from Palestine,
how rapidly gathered the succeeding
darkness; how quickly fell the veil
of superstition upon all nations.
Then truth gave way to error, intel
ligence TO ignorance, and divine
light to the base superstitions Of the
Papal church. But there came q
time when man became weary of
cropping 10 the dark; there came q
time when the great Luther pierced
the black cloud and let in The light Of
revelation-feeble at first, but gath
ering strength, it penetrated deeper
ard deeper into heather minds, until
to-day every tribe and nation may
boast OF its advantages, and every
civilized people claim q Christian re-
ligion.
Intellectual light has had it's strug-
gle. la the chaos and confusion of
the dark ages, few and feeble were
the rays that penetrated that cloud
of ignorance. When the men of sci.
ence were few, the scope of intelli-
gence YVES narrow but now that
light is the power Of nations and the
strength Of men. Every day brings
forth some new law, or evolves some
new truth for the benefit Of society
or the advancement Of education.
Again, the stain Of oppression had
been one of the deepest dyes in the
worlds history. Nations have strug-
gled on for years, but at every at
tempt made, the veil of tyranny and
oppression was only drawn closer,
until the star OF freedom refused to
shine through the years of despot.
ism. But even that dark stain could
not stand the growing intelligence.
Man would be free, and the last Gen.
fury has shown him capable of rest
ing the government upon the individ-
ual.
Fortunately, ours is q country
where the sunbeams of heavenly truth
shine far and free intelligence is pro-
vided for on every hilltop while lib
erty is stamped uro1 the brow of
everyone that treads American soil.
As a nation, we look through a med
ium of apparent clearness-a window
with no deep stain upon it. But are
we as individuals living in the same
light? Is the medium of each mind
transparent? We need but notice
the ignorance, the selfshness, and
the dishonesty by which we are sur
rounded, to find an answer. All.
there is diversity among individual
minds. One looks through a win
dow, dimmed by Ignorance, clouded
by superstition, darkened by selfish
ness, to him, nature is yelled in OBJ.
security /; the fiery orbs of heaven are
but SO many demons created to exert
an evil influence over him /; the noble
actions of the great and good are the
result Of selfish motives. Another
looks through a transparent medium
window that offers no resistance
to the pure light of science, the genial
rays of Truth, the radiant sunbeams
of q generous spirit. To him, nature
owe her hidden beauties; the
the starry heavens declare the power
of their Creator ; the circle in which
he moves is made happy by his pres
ence.
Need it be thus? Has God Great
ed one man to be happy and another
to be miserable? Has he Set one
in the pure light and another in the
darkness? Nay, we are free and
equal. We are the authors of u
own happiness the architects of our
own fortunes. Is our mental vision
darkened by ignorance la the vast
storehouse of knowledge may be
found means for the culture CT every
faculty. Every effort made for self
improvement brings US in a purer
light every hour spent 10 the acqui-
sition Of knowledge evolves new
truths for the intellect, and new
beauties for the heart. Is the win
dow Of the mind stained by jealousy,
sellishness, envy and vice. Around
US are Out fellow-men; they claim
our assistance, they demand our gen.
crosby, they need our sympathy.
But above these ia be who claims
our all. The condition is effort on
u part. Every act Of kindness
gives us strength to do another ; Eve
~ word of cheer makes us only the
richer every good thought is a jewel
TO the thinker.
1t is light or darkness. aud we
choose the one or the other. Little
by little the dust gathers on the pane
hy o,r paplaof ar ficparcfS nv our