Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1881-02-15
DIR. THOMAS GUARD
On rs Keatal Activities of Me Age and tie
Bi5e.

Inc Lecture OF DR.. Guard last Friday
night. We venture to predict, will form an
epoch in the life aud menery of al Who
heard him.
We will not attempt anything moro than
q meagre outline of the Lecture, because any
description beyond this would be to those
Whs were not present inadequate and useless.
while to those who heard him, il would be
Almost q profsaatien. No reporter will ever
DO able to do justice to Dr.. Guard. One
might as well attempt to photograph the
Northern Lights. or daguegeotype a metsoris
shower.
His eSordinm is simple, and for perhaps
thirty minutes, or such a matter. ths lis,
teasf IS merely impressed with the eonvis-
tiea that the secret of elOqzeacs (wLatevor
nay ss) is eAbedied in a high degree in
the f~.ultlsss eloeusionist who stands before
him. During this period his gestures arc
few, aad style conversations. There is a
close eeneatsnatien Of thought, copioxs die.
ton, beautiful illustration; but. as vet.
nothing Of that sublimity Of power-thst
"God>like aetion"-WLioh mskes DR.. Guard
0AatOA AkD CuuGGl.
The distinguished lecturer FIRST called at
tsntion to- the extraordinary activity which
characterized the present era Of tho worlds
progress; the rapid increase of populations;
the wonderful facilities and stimulated ener.
gies of travel; tho more thorough invossiga.
tiona, AID aisbsH triumphs of science and
letters.
-
Amid this scene of the worlds develop
ment, We find a volume called the Bible
that Is 10 say: The Book. In every ehaa>
mel Of nssiTity-with the soldier +; With the
sailor; the traveller !; the emigrars; the c Z
P'sreF; The artist ; the ~entiquary ; the soi>
eut:st; With young and old, male asS female,
em:pe ct G6iqae, We find this Bosk-this
Bible.
We are shus stimulated into inquiry into
its origin, its ~isfuenes, and its clains.
Is thsre here any relation Of cause and
effect! Is the Book in sympathy with this
progress and Development? Or, if ia con.
hiot, what will be she outcome of the Con.
fiss? The Book eaanes b. disregardad
because it processes to teach, prsanineptly
sad above all other volumes, the truth. Ia
touadef and his Apostles, with sns voice,
ceased aos 20 emphasize their mission to
taRoh ths truth, which should E,nks men
trss. This claim at Oaee acts as q powerful
stlmuiaat to mans mind or intellect. a. dia.
tlnguished from sensation and enetien or
koai. But it is net an intellectual ~irri.an.
ea!y fer it prosIains a concrete truth. ia a
singis. Nord-God! And nsa's nature piyss
sask not al sehe. but q response: a now
activity springs Into life, which ws call coz.
te,snse' dh9s a man cannot csrDestly con.
s'der tsis BOOK, bus As is at once aroused TO
@est0'ty-to hLe-and becomes, in the osy-
melosleal or pailosoPhic, if not theological
sense, redeemed. The nature eff truth is not
sisse to command acauieseenoe man is 90
constituted that its presentation begets also
opposition and the vigilance of its adhe.
fenss IL constantly met by the s~lsssIcss ao-
tiVlty Of its focs. HillieDs Of ser.ops. rood
or bad eloquent or Eoporifo; and as MANY
SantaJ school lessons, weekly cxhibis the
Partially of mems minds to this Book: Will.
o no less splendid tribate to It's power ia
fsand in the apparently nosiVeless assaults
of its enemies.
Nos only it's revelation, but its silence,
also, arsuses tho mental activity Of mankind.
1s iasss pres!ens which nan utterly failed
20 solve 1t furnishes him the key but in
tue CONAN OF physical nature, man is left
TO tho saif>sducatieu Of curiosity, invasion.
SS1SAS A0u uulluSGDQV.
A nest remarkable period OF mental
growth marked Its advent aad rrosrsss-
Moses. a man learned in all the LEARNING Of
the East, cav the dawn Of the most ciyilizsd
period OF Egyptian history afterwards. the
Augustsn era, or Golden age, of the Roman
"erla marked the advent of the New Tcs>
lament: while the Reformation attended
that .'RencisGnce" OF lettars and e~ivil;za,
ton, which was attributed to tho fall Of Con-
stsntlEsPls, and the resurrection eff anoie,t
learning from the vaults of the Byzantian
Libraries. Is was close on to this epoch. that
Martin Luther accomplished tho liberation
Of the German miad.
At this point in bis lecture, the speaker
had wrought himself up to the full height
OF his grand argument. He Represented The
great Refermer as liberatire a Gagged eagle
bTsGkinE the bars of the cage-and shattor,
ing the chain link by link-until the im>
PsFiai bird sprsng upward to baths his plun1-
age Ia the emPyreGn. AS q pure triumph Of
rhetorical effort, nothing scRld exeesd the
Iuslinity ef this climax. We de aOt knew
thas we have ever seen anything to approach
it. II the orator be. OF last, but an actor
: PersonaHng himself, it is ne deregation fres
che sioqRsnOe Of DR.. Guard, to saw that, as
. piece eft dramatic pertraitpre, this passage
mlgat sxaits The sayy af q Receius or q Sal
Elni. There is nsthinc like ran. about i.
net q symptom of violence or straining-
nothing bat a sezss of security and an sx.
hibitIsa of pSWer-Apolle driving his OWE
chariot.
The Bible was not only a libsrator, but an
educator, AS Coleridge said, it finds" ~,
AID finds us in the %stilIsBt, and hottest depths
OF ear being. 1t combined o utility no less
essential than salvation itself, with a bsauty
which no other production had ever co anlcd
OF even approached. Msn in former ages
had ever examined lis claims in q spirit Of