The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-08-13

ne mystery OF CllngS anu C0uSSuV nooS
i the prophetic breath of the coming
morning, such as Bacon, Kepler, New
on, Faraday aud Others, were earnest
tudents of the Book, in which they dc.
,outlv believed the heavens were truly
effected and the earth's mysteries an
open secret"
It is interesting to observe how inev-
ABLY candid inquiry brings men back
" however circuitous q road to the
cardinal doctrines of the. New Testa-
nent, as the true goal of human perfect
ness. Mr., Herbert Spencer: building
his colossal system of synthetic philoso-
DIV, after SO wide and careful explorac
ion, finds the tremendous pyramid
to a point whose top'stone
At last must be the truth which "little
child - might at the beginning get from
Scripture. For in his . Data of Ethics
he sums up all in the humble hope and
faith that some reasoned form OF the
ethics of the New Testament may yet
become the life-core of society. he
thus declares that this wonderful book
which has preceded the modern era 10
still in advance of it, and reaching TO-
ward the sublime ideal as yet unreached.
Considering how slowly:,moral ideas are
evolved, and the specially depressed
condition of human society when the
New Testament was written, the prob.
lem still remains unsolved, how out OF
the least cultivated Nation Of that in
ferior age there issued an ideal to which
the nineteenth century looks up as still
transcending its best attainments. a
The conclusion seems fair that some
element unexplained and as yet mex
plicable enters into the origin of these
phenomena. The book did not "fall
down from Jupiter" like the Ephesian
image; it grew on earth; it was not
written upon the sky in fire, but in hu.
man language in the earthly page; put
though written by "hand OF man." that
hand seems to have been ''pnder the
wing of the cherubim.' Its fruits and
its unaccountable origin place it beyond
the range of mere human phenomena.
How diversified in authorship, in era,
in locality, and in form. Compendious
statements of scientific truth, genealo-
eies, state documents like the Chronic
Giles, tidyls like Ruth, statutes like
Leviticus, epics like Job, lyric and
didactic verse in Psalms. concrete earth
" wisdom in Proverbs, Pessimistio
signs in Ecclesiastes, commingled his
ft0ry, poetry and oratory as in the
PROPHETS, unstudied memoirs in the
Gospels, equally artless records OF
travel and experience in the Acts.
epistles which uncover the social and
individual heart history Of the time, and
the gorgeous vision of the evening pass
ing through night to morning At the
end. teta ~: j.ssasfi17 Us ~
But the record is US comprehensive
as it is diverse, and being so compre-
hensive, how compact and clear in out.
lime. Remember the grim criticism of
Carlyle upon the disproportionate YER
biaee of our time, compared with the
severe sententiousness ofithe Penta,
touch. In the hands of our modern
chroniclers, he says: 1.-the account q:
the burning of Brunswick theate7
takes more space than the creation Of :
world" T'a e i',"t 49,
Yet, again, though 50 allembracing,
how symmetrically complete. 1t doei
| not, like the yoluble Herodotus, pour
an unassorted flood Of gossip through
it's pages. 1t finds all history verte'
, brate land along that line it moves, re-
yealing the whole structure OF the typ
, ical past The Cainte races, the mas
, i've Egyptian, Chaldean and ,Ninevite
: civilizations. the various changing for
times Of the world at large are not
overlooked, but put in their incidenta:
|, and subordinate place and SO the per
, spe ,tive of history 7-unknown to the
classic writer's Ola lar later days rec
| ognized and preserved.
. - / need scarcely here dwell Tor a mo-
3 ment upon the further thought so well
J. emphasized in our time-thei corner
i. stoae of the system which Mr.. Buckle
. Sir John Lubbock and others have
g wrought to such top-heavy proportion
! that our civilization is normally tn
. product of antecedenr material and IN
a tellcctual conditions. 1t is plain tina
Il without telescope and microscope,
4 opening our vision into the two worid
!. hidden, one by its greatness and TN
Il other by it's smallness, from our natura
o vjsion-the sweepingly inductive con
" viction of the all. pervading unity Woul
e not have naturally arisen. While tn
~ boundaries Of the earth were unknow
At ito symmetrical structure conld not b
e learned. Until, by long preparation
i. the social soil was tit for the seed
- col,ld not grow. Imperfect Statute
- alone could betit imperfect Israel. The
"a We're not the best, but the best posa
h. bic, considering "the hardness Of the
es heart. - - ta s.,'5at,,
So l think it not u.apt, therefore.
al conclude that the marvellous insig
q which penetrated The fluent secret
4. this mysterious complex of nature q
Nv humanity long before such viei n cou
fe in the order Of natural developer Q Il
- which saw the whole plant, leaf, VOW
s and fruit in the seed ..before
- prew"-was somehow at least touch
~ with an element Uncommon -urats wi
* known and explored causes.
o. Is it rash to Suggest that the 9
rio which gets "a; day telescope help
he You'd hseH 70 range among the St;
mar thep have been enlarged by 2
"a who made the stars also,' and v
ore formed the eyer"