The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1879-07-26

more than the alchemist aims at
when he seeks to transmute base
metal into gold for we can make
wrong the seed OF right aud right
eOusness; we can transmute error
Into wisdom; We can make sol.
rows bloom into a thousand forms
like fragrant flowers. These great
truths should not only give rs
coutentment with our positions,
but hope for the future. The
great question what we are pres
ses itself upon US a. we grow old,
or flashes upon us when our lives
are cut short By accident or dis.
ease. Within these walls but few
days pass without that question
being forced upon the minds of
some who have reached the end
of life's journey. Surely it should
give hope and consolation to all
to feel that they can, in the soil.
tude of the cell or in the gloom
of the prison, by. thought, by self
examination, make out of the
past with its crimes, its errors and
it's SORROWS, the very means 10y
which they Can lift themselves
into higher and happier 'condi
tions. This word of transmitting
evil into good is a duty to he done
by all conditions of men, and it
can be wrought ont as we'll in
The prisoners cell rs in the high.
est and most honorable positions.
All human religion holds out
hope to men who feel regret for
every evil act. l wish to call
your minds to that amazing truth
that there is Il Being who rules
the world with such benevOlence
that he enables weak aud erring
mortals, if they will, to turn their
very sorrows and errors into
sources of happiness. We have
; many theories in these days in
which men try to tell us how the
world. acting upon certain fixed
: laws, has evolved itself; that 1t
goes OH by a progress that re-
CARDS nothing but certain rules Of
advancement, regardless OF all
other considerations, save their
) own irresistible, self-compelling
principles. But here we have u
truth, not only given us in holy
writ, but proved by our own expe
%rience, that mental regret will
convert a material wrong into Il
blessing or, if the offender wills,
it will make the same u hundred
. fold more hurttul it he rejoices
:. in his wrong doing or hardens his
heart against regret. Material
wm. evolution, pantheism, OF any
. of the theories which deny thu
. government Of All intelligent Cod
are c0nfuted 10y this truth, thai
we can, by cOntOs ming to His
. laws, which demand repentance
convert evil into good, or by vic
+ lating them, make evi! ten-fo.t
= more deadly and destructive
l. We can by our minds and sent
ments change the influence OF ne
terial events, and vary the action
IT Of laws which govern the world
); 1t II man, with all his weakness
Il can do this, it can only be b
- the aid of higher power whic
III shapes, directs, and regulates.
T. III know that what l have sai
is but al imperfect statement q
e the great truths, compared wit
the teaching of the pulpit, whic
- you hear each Sunday. Az m
10 purpose ia merely to speak
70 yOu what 1 have learned in til
walks Of life, 1 could give yOI
III from this narrow field but pa
'h tia[ views OF great truths. The
may be of no value to yor, yet
trust you will accept them ;
,,e, least as proof of my symppathi,
with your condition and SORROW
OF for if any ambition fingers in ii
IN breast Of him who speaks to sc
re now, it is that he may I've Il
'et friend and adviser of the erriu
We and wrong doer. He has bee
taught by self-examinatiOn al
the study of others that we Il
belong to that class, and that y
W. owe to one another any aid '
can give to our fellows when tn,
TO fall by the waysidp."-FrOm
'ns Utica Herald, July 5.
to