The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-07-13

our laws, moral, criminal and civil.
Also the government of many nations,
the civilizations, society and the
three great sacred and divine institu-
Ifions-the home, the church and the
State. Those great nations that arose,
fourished and decayed; whose gov
ernnment in a large measure has been
! forgotten; whose civilization no long
er exists, and the traces of which only
serve to furnish information to the
lovers of history; whose society was
once characterized by purity, chastity
and virtue but has long since been
dragged in the dust and thrust in the
grave of oblivion; allowed themselves
! to be placed upon principles other
than the truth, and hence went down
in utter shame and defeat, rather
Hlan stand upon the glorious and eter-
nal truth, WELD their power and ex-
ert their influence upon all the ma
tions of the world until Father Eter-
nifty shall declare with regard to the
things that pertain to this mundane
sphere all is over. This great princi-
pie as has already been intimated is
the foundation of all knowledge When
men in the dark ages were endeav-
oring to throw off the CALLING yoke
of superstition and ignorance; to
bring about a revival of learning; to
open the windows that eternal truth
might penetrate all within, and that
the youth of the land-the future
home, the future State and the future
church may be prepared for life's
duties-they turned to the great
source of all knowledge. Yes, they
knew that truth alore offered the balm
so sadly needed, and to obtain that
which she offered would repair the
broken links in the chain, bring order
out of chaos, convert darkness into
light, transform the old into the new
and bring to pass that which is essen
tial to good government, pure, society
and prosperous and happy nation.
When real serious and solemn
thoughts come into the minds of men,
thoughts that pertain, not only to this
| life but also that which is to come,
then they turn to the eternal source Of
all truth, namely, the word of God.
There they learned the cost Of sin,
the love of God and the salvation of
men, and the knowledge that they OBJ
tanned from this source is both cor
rect and b. Il question, because the
foundation is .4ue-the revealed will
of God to man.
Men in the past ages of the world
labored under great Disadvantages in
seeking knowledge both for them
selves and to be impaired to others,
because the great basic principle was
not known and understood as nova
days. Because revelations concerning
God to man were not studied and
comprehend. Because the light,
power and influence of the truth were
not felt and recognized as today. But
that some of them were not far from
this great principle is fact which no
reasonable and conservative mind
would for one moment attempt to
question. In this connection I gladly
refer to the greatest philosopher Of
his day, namely: Socrates. When he
came upon the scene and began to
exercises his strong mental faculties
upon questions of great moment he
soon realized that "The Ethical ele-
mant in philosophy, the higher nature
in man as he designated, the very
foundations of truth, Of all certainty,
and science, had been denied.
Scepticism had been enthroned and
was reigning triumphantly He also
saw that the only way to save science
itself from destruction was to, lay
hold Of this strong eternal element
of truth, this hitherto neglected ele-
ment, the moral nature of man; that
in him which was higher and nobler
than the mere physical facts and laws
of his being and Of the material ex-
istences around him. 1t was thus
he lifted the eye Of man to a sublime
height of Wisdom and true science,
while he secured the integrity Of
truth and the possibility of human
knowledge from being utterly swept
away by the flood of scepticism.