Gospel Herald, 1859-09-17

              HERAL
Devote-l to CUristiai-iity, Morality, the interests of SabbutH  Schools, Social Improyemeixt, Te.-nperance, Edncation, ancl General News.
BEHOLD,   I   BEING   YOU   GOOD   TIDINGS   OF   GREAT   JOY  ....   OH   EAETH   PEACE,   GOOD   WILL   TOWARD   MEN."
VOL. 16.
DAYTON, 0., SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1859.
NO. 19.
ORIGINAL POETRY.
Tl'i-iV^fii/br the Gospel Herald.
She Conies ¥o More.
¦-        iiY jiiss 11. y. seoTT.
.¦^lio comes no more:   We listen in vain Eor her echoing step—or her voice's strain— And taiiily we f^laiice toivards the openiul? door—
.¦^lu
Iters it not—she i
She comes no more when the social throng
All merrily wander our halls along,
¦When the gleeful shout—and the song they pour—
She comes no more when the board is spread— Ent vacant her seat rem.aineth Instead, Her fenslinKS and fiiatiugs ou Earth arc o'er— Her bread is of Heaven—she comes no luore.
She coiiic'i 110 more to onr hearth at liiglit Thouali brightly is gleaniing tho fagot's llKht— Her shadows iVdl not, with ours on the floor— Ilor furiii liatli departed—alio comes no more.
She eomea no more at the hour of prayer And sadly vve gaze on her waiting chair— But we know there's a holier—happier .slioro Where her Saviour slio worships.   She comes no i
She comes no more—when ivoary and lono Our hearts look back fondly to days that aro gon And ive feel that her iiresence could glildiieas resto But vain are our l.iiigiiigs—she comes no more.
She cones no mure.    Since the bitter d.ay That saw lier l,oriie i'rom our home aivay— Our souls hath not ceased lliia burden sore
ir<.
vn Co., 0.
ORIGINALITIES.
Wriltenfor the Gospel Herald.
Divine Origin of Christianity. No. 1.
BY .lAftlE.S MAPLE.
3Ii-. Eiiitor:—I liavo been oarnestl.y | solicited to prepare a sei.-ie.'s of articles for your paper on the divine origin of the .saerod scriptures, and I have con¬ sented to do so. I shall avail myself of tho labor of all the learned writers on this snbjeet tbat are "witliin my reach. For the facts and arguments I shall use I do not claim originality. I have gathered them from various sources during tlie studies and labo]',s of fifteen years. I write not for the ad¬ vanced scholar, but for the benefit of the youthful readers of tho Herald. Al- niost every youngperson passes through a season of doubts and difficulties on the divinity of our holy religion. This seems to he as natural as for them to have the'nieasles and the mumps. But few have tlie means to procure or the time to read the many learned -svorks that have been written on this subject. It i.s tor this class I write, and if any have difticulties in their minds that t.lie facts and arguments presented in my articles do not meet, if they will give them to me I will try to remove them.
Three subjects of knoweledgo un¬ fold tbemselvos to the mind.
Ist. Those things which we, learn from tlio light of nature alone, such as the being and existence of God. Horn. 1: 19, 20'; Ps. 19, 1-1: 2d. tSiich things as are ofa pure and simple revelation, wliich cannot bo discovereii by the light of nature; lut only by a revela¬ tion from God, under this head will come the great sj-stera of salvation as revealed to the -avorld in the gospel of Christ. Hero are subjects of knowl-, edge that conld not be- learned, from, the feeble light of nature-alone. 2:Tim, 1, 9, 10: 3d; Such.things-.a3 are discov¬ erable by the light of nature; but avcf not sufficiently clear as,to be perfectly-
satisfactory and beyond all doubt; but need the light of rcvalation to illucidatc, and confirm thom. Under this head comes the doctrine of a tiitnre state, and of eternal rewards and ininJslunent.— This great and treineudons truth is dimly imprinted upon the W'orks of na¬ ture and th e dis]iensation s of pro vidence bnt it needs the light of divine revela¬ tion to illustrate and firmly establish it.    I shall notice,
1st. The possibility of a divine rcvala¬ tion. lie who believes in tlie existence ofa Supreme Being, and looks abroad into tho stupendous works ofthe uni- vcrse,and roads tliere the Omnipotence, tho Omniscience, and greatness of the Almighty author of all things, cannot deny for ono moment, that it is possi¬ ble for .riiin to maico known his will to man in a different way and independ¬ ent of tho means, and way in which men naturally acquire knowledge. If i God is Omnipotent hi.s power must ex-; tend to all things that does not imply a j contradiction, and thia cannot be sup-; posed in this case. Our ideas come to [ us in various ways, are excited in our j minds by various causes; but ^vc can-1 not clearly explain liow; and can it bo supposed that Gfod wdio is infinite in his perfections, cannot conininnicatc ideas to our minds. The fact that we cannot clearly explain tho how aud the wherefore oi" a thing is no argument against the probability of tho thing, ily arm moves in obedience to my ¦\sdll; but why it docs, and the connection between tho will and tho action, cannot be explained. Its a profound mystery but M'ho doubts the fact? A distingu¬ ished antagonist to the Bible, Lord Bolingbrook, acknowdedges this; and observes that "an extraordinary tiction of God on the human mind, wiiicli the word inspiration is now used to denote, is not more inconceiveable tlian the or¬ dinary action of mind on body, or body on mind;" and "that it i.s impertinent to deny tho existence of any phciiom- inon, merely because we ctinnotaccount for it." Tlicrc aro many things wdiose e-xistence we cannot doubt, but whose nature we cannot explain. Who doubts tho existouco of such a law as gravit¬ ation; but who has or who can explain what it is?
It cannot bo doubted but that God can reveal himself to tho human ini.ud, even in an extraordinary manner; antl it is but reasonable to suppose that he can give man satisfactory evidence that it is ho who speaks to the mind. Can man .speak to us in suchamannicraato give us to understand wdio it is that speaks to ns, and sliall wo deny the same.power to the author of mind?
2nd. Thepjrobability of a divine rcvala¬ tion. Tliere aro vtirioiis reasons that render it probablo that God wonld,re¬ veal hims^alf to the world of mankind.
1. The goodness of God as developed in the material nnivers*, and ia th-e exal&erant provis-ions ho has made to nieo-t the physical wants of man. W.e rcB(l the goodness, benevolence, and lore of God in every thing that we bo- hokt.
They all speaj:: to ns in a voice of lo've and mercy: In tho order,.beauty, awd harmony,'of"the- tiniverae—in, the i-ioli provisions that he has made for its mytiads of inhaMtantS—in all the naan- ifo&tations of Deity;, and, even, in our owffiiphysical natwro-we read thegeod- aosa-.of God and his-pateriial earo-for
his creatures.   Every thing that is ncc- j essary to meet our physical wants, tind { perfect our ]iliysical happiness God .has richly provided,    l^ow is it reasonable to suppose that God woukl make such rich and ainjdo provisions fortho phj'S- ical man and leave tlieiutellectual man nn]jrovidod for?—that he Avould bo so careful in mooting all the wants ofthe least part of man and neglect tho high¬ er and nobler nature of man?—that he would provide for tho lowest and neg¬ lect tho highest good of man ?—that he should richlj^ provide for tho A\'ant9 of the body, that must soon flill beneath the destroying hand of death, andneg-! loot the wants  of the  immortal soul | that is predestined to live as long as < eternity    itself shall  last? — that lie AAOuld provide for the physical wants : of man and neglect the moral and spir-: itual ¦wants of th e soul ?  Th is wonld im-; peacli the wisdom  and benvolonco of God.    It is  probable then  from -the goodness and wisdom of God as devel¬ oped in tho  material universe, and in the rich  provisions that ho has mado fortho out ward man, that ho would re¬ veal himself to the soul and meet aB its wants.
2. From tho deep sense of all man¬ kind of their need of a divine revela¬ tion, and the credit given in all ages to false revelations. From tho hislo- ry of man wo learn that all men, in all ages, and in all climes, have believed tiiat some kind of intercourse or com¬ munication existed between God and man, by which he made known his will to he Iinraan fiimily. This is tlie foun¬ dation of all the i-eligious s_ystcins that we find in tho world. And from tho same cause the most celebrated Philsos- ophers aud legislators of antifiuity all thought it necessary to profess some intercourse with the God.s. Zoriiastei- Minos, P,ythagoras, Solon, Lycurgus, Nunia, Tiusis, Amphiaiiaas all pretend¬ ed to have commnnication with .heav¬ en. This was done to sanction thoir teaching, and thought necessary, not¬ withstanding they wen) armed with secular power. This fact is co-iiilirmod by tho celebrated heatlien Geographer Strabo, wdiose obser\fation on the sup¬ posed intercourse between God and man is too striking and important to bo omitted: "Whatever," says ho, "bo- comes of the real truth of these rela¬ tions, this hoiwover is certain, tluitmen Din BELIKVE THEM I'o HE THOE: and, for this reason, pro]>hets wero held in such honor, as to be thought worthy sometimes of ro^'^al dignity, as. persons who delivered precepts and admonitions from the Gods, both while they lived, and after their death." \7© find that all the n.ations of the earth had their oracles to which they looked for divine iustruotion. Tho principal oracles of antiquity are, that of Alao, mentioned by Herodotus; that of Amphiaraus, at Oropus in Macedonia; that of Branch- idao at Bidynieum; that of tho camps at Laudemon;^tliat of Dodona; that of Jupiter Amnion; that of Nobarea,,in the counLry of tho Anariaci, near tho Caspian sea; that of Trophenius, men¬ tioned by Herodotus ; that of Chrysor. polls; tbat of Caros, in Ionia;: that of AraphiloehuH at Hallos; tha:t of Pilp- rea; that of Pi 11a in Macedonia; tliatol'i Fhasilioos in Oelieia; that of .Sinope.in' Faphlagonia; that of Orpheus'' head at! Iiesbos, mentioned by Pliilostratus;:, bat of all oracles, the oracle of" ApoUo.l
Pythius at Delphi was tho most cele¬ brated. The heathen Gods all had their respective oracles. The existence of these oracles showth.at the deep con¬ scious sense of mankind of their ignor¬ ance, their need of a revelation, of di¬ vine assistance, and that they believed the Gocls held intercouse with man. It i.s highly probable, and altogether rea- sonabloj that God should supply this want ofthe human mind.
3. The wisest antl most celebrated philosopher.s of an Li quit}', and especi¬ ally Socrates and .Plato, felt and ac- kijowdedgcd tlio necessity of a tliviiie revelation to instruct man in matters of the utmost importance. They saw, aud acknowledged, that there was no means of reforming and regenerating tho world without a revelation from heaven—that all human means were inadequate to tho work. Thoy also expressed the hope that God would at some period make such a revelation of himijclf that would disjiel the clouds of darkness in which they were involved. All jainds, in all ages, and in all climes havG' felt the great necessity of a reve- latio'n from God, and the assistance of heaven in building up the kingdom of truth and love in tlie soul. The abso¬ lute necessity of a divine revelation- renders it highly probable that God would make such a revelation, for ho has not left any ofthe physical wants of man mssupplied, and wo would na¬ turally infer that lie would not leave any of the moral and spiritual wants of man unsuppliod,
Cottage Home, Franklin co., 0.
. Written for the Gospel Herald.
Truth Triumphant.
BY  HENRV. Y.  EUSH.
The grand element of success in eve¬ ry eniterprise, is its harmony wdth truth. The historyi of falshood, proves , it to bo of ephemeral growth. It may flourish in a darlc age of ignorance; ¦' but it will ever vanish beforo'the rising day of truth. Truth is of God, and on this foundtjition must ovory cause bo- based; for this only will insure stabili¬ ty and success. The old Jewish Doe- tor expressed a grand fact when he said,. "If this work be of men, it will come- to naught; but if it be of God, ye can¬ not overthrow it." Gi-amaliel has hint¬ ed a "wise lesson to those reverend trait¬ ors who foraalco tho old landmarks to drift along with the popular tide, fear¬ ing the truth will not suppoit them un- d,er tho pressure of public sentiment. A timely hint is given, too, to the pul¬ pit trio, who expects to revolutionize tho church, as but an introduction to a ministry of a far moi"© eventful fu¬ ture. No element in the ministry has the power of plain, practical truth. It wil >vin its Aviy when sgecnltition be¬ comes lost in its o-ft-n niaBes, Specula¬ tion may facinate and chains an. audi¬ ence; but trith delights tho mind, and tunas oui' foot-ste|5« into tho path of duty. One we admire for Avliatit seems; the other we reverence for wliat it de- .nionstrates itself to be. Better siicoess W'jll attend (ihe minigtryby g<)tt,ingthe great truths^of religion in a ju8t".<ind .clear light, than by constantlj/'declaim- ing against the'errors: and','follies-of ,nianki]aid.
Proiilaimi the truth, andiGod wilLde- fend it. Man may oppo.se it by every power-ho  aau  command; bnt still'it