CHAPTER IX.

From the Argus of January 30, 1823.

TO THE PUBLIC.

THE undersigned have become sole proprietors of the "Argus" printing establishment, and this paper will be henceforth published by Kendall and Meriwether.

In relation to the principles which will govern our future course, it is not necessary to say much, because our political opinions are well known. The only charge we have lately heard against the "Argus" is, that it is too democratic. If we err at all, we prefer erring on that side, because it is the safest. The people had better have too much power than too little, because it is very easy to delegate power to our rulers, but not so easy to resume it. In all contests for power, therefore, where there is reasonable ground to doubt, we always have been, now are, and doubt not always shall be, in favor of leaving the contested power with the people. Nor shall we be deterred by any temporary loss or inconvenience from discussing principles freely and boldly; because we are satisfied that in the end "Honesty is the best policy."

But we have been editors so long to little purpose if we have learned nothing from experience. We are convinced that mere personal vituperation not only does no good, but degrades the press and lessens its beneficial influence on the community. Human nature is so prone to return abuse for abuse, with interest too, that it requires great command of one's temper to restrain it. But we are determined to make the effort, and, if possible, to preserve perfect decorum of language, whatever may be the provocation or whoever may offer it. Let it not be understood, however, that we shall suffer ourselves to be abused in silence. To repel the blackguard, it is not necessary to descend to his level.

As our individual attention will be bestowed upon this establishment,

we shall give a greater variety to our articles, both original and selected, than they have heretofore possessed. Not only politics, but agriculture, manufactures, commerce, education, literature, anecdote, poetry, morality, and religion will claim a considerable share of our attention. The longer we live, the stronger becomes our conviction that society cannot exist in a civilized state unless it be deeply imbued with the principles of religion. The promotion of that which constitutes the basis of all our social enjoyments, even by means of a common newspaper, cannot be wrong or impolitic.

We have some enemies. Our errors have been magnified into crimes, and our mistakes into wilful falsehoods. This is to be expected whenever we chance to run athwart the course of ambitious men. In the heat of controversy, however, we have been carried further than was justified by prudence or propriety. Like other men we cannot divest ourselves of human passions, and therefore we dare not promise that we will not hereafter be led astray. But, whenever convinced that we have, through misinformation, passion, or prejudice wronged any man, we shall not hesitate to do him justice, whatever may be thought or said by men who think it more honorable to stick to an error than to acknowledge it. Some of those who have shown themselves our enemies, we esteem, in the main, as honest men, and capable of being serviceable to the public; and whenever a proper opportunity offers, we shall show that we are not actuated by such feelings as they are. Though we cannot hope, so long as we are obliged to mingle in political contests, to live in peace with all mankind, yet we shall always endeavor to give no reasonable cause of offence. With this view, we are determined to avoid, as far as practicable, all interference between individual candidates, farther than their interests may be affected by the discussion of general principles.

With heartfelt gratitude we acknowledge the favors already received from the people and legislature of Kentucky; and so long as we remain honest and faithful we have no fears of losing their confidence and support.

THE BIBLE.

AMOS KENDALL,

A. G. MERIWETHER.

From the Argus of February 26, 1823.

SUNDAY REFLECTIONS.

The institution of a Bible Society in Franklin County naturally calls our attention to this ancient and venerable book.

There

is no man, whatever may be his religious opinions, to whom the contents of this volume are not highly interesting. It purports to give a history of the origin of our race, of the destruction of mankind by an

universal deluge, of the patriarchal and pastoral manners of the early ages; gives us the system of laws, civil and religious, delivered to the Jews through the medium of Moses; contains the history of that people from a single ancestor almost to the dispersion of the nation; and relates to us the origin and progress of the Christian religion in its earliest stages. Merely as a history, it is therefore of great importance, and should be read with the utmost attention by every one who wishes to become acquainted with the events of antiquity.

To the admirers of morality and singleness of character it is also invaluable. From beginning to end it inculcates the existence of one God, the Creator of all things, and represents him as delighting in the devotion of his creatures to his service, their kindness towards each other, and their honesty and sincerity in all their dealings. Humility and self-abasement are everywhere represented as among the first of virtues, and man is called upon to bring his passions and appetites into complete subjection by giving up those possessions and pleasures which are dearest to his heart. Under the ancient religion, he who could, with perfect resignation, see the firstlings of his flock and the most precious fruits of his labor offered up as sacrifices to his Maker must have acquired a considerable control over the passions of his bosom. In Christianity, too, men have to make these sacrifices, not of their flocks or their fruits, but of their pleasures and follies. Nor are these sacrifices less painful to the human heart than the firstlings and firstfruits of the old dispensation. Perhaps it requires even a greater effort, a more perfect control over one's desires and passions, to deny ourselves the gratification of our propensities than to surrender the most precious articles of our property. Infidels as well as Christians accord to the New Testament that it exhibits a system of more perfect morality than was ever taught by any other book. He who uniformly practises the rules there prescribed for the regulation of our conduct towards each other, will not only escape the censures of mankind, but the reproaches of his own conscience. "Do unto others as ye would have them do unto you." Language cannot convey the sum of all morality in a more brief, simple, and forcible manner. For its pure morality, therefore, independent of religion, the Bible, and more particularly the New Testament, ought to be possessed and read by every man who seeks to be honest, or admires that virtue in others.

But the Bible has still higher claims to the attention and perusal of man. It is the source of the Christian religion, which changes the heart and renders men moral and good by purifying the source whence all their actions spring. Religion produces pure morality as naturally as a pure fountain emits a pure stream. The Old Testament gives us

an account of man's fall from that state of innocence in which he was

created, with many allusions to the future redemption of his race. The New Testament gives us a history of that redemption, and promises to man, in a future world, the happiness which he has lost in this. Almost every man who reads much and thinks much is religious, in theory at least. Some, indeed, disbelieve all religion, because they cannot understand its mysteries. As well might they disbelieve the existence of the most familiar objects in nature. Creation is full of mysteries, by day and night mysteries innumerable roll before us, we are mysteries ourselves. Whence came man? Who formed his beautiful limbs, and breathed into him the breath of life? Who gave form and variety to his senses, organized his brain, and set in motion his palpitating heart? Wilt thou say, it was God? If so, tell us in what manner the Great Supreme formed the first of human beings, and for what end? Is he capricious, and did he make man for nothing? Thou who refusest to believe in mysteries, art thyself the greatest mystery which thine eyes behold or thy thoughts embrace. Why not disbelieve thine own existence, and disbelieve even thy own disbelief, and think that thou dost not think, but that thou art all a delusion! There are few who deny that there is a Supreme Being, and that he created man; for to deny this would be to ascribe to man self-creation, which is not only a mystery, but a contradiction. If, therefore, God created man, he must, in the act of his creation, have exercised both upon his body and mind a direct and supernatural power. The very act of man's creation which is proved by his existence was a greater miracle than is ascribed to our Saviour in the New Testament, or to any of the prophets in the Old. Yet this miracle, the most extraordinary which the Bible records, is almost universally admitted to be true, even by those who reject religion on account of its mysteries.

an act

For what end was man created? Merely to grow to manhood, play a few pranks before high Heaven, decay and die? A God influenced by such motives as the creation of an inferior being, would indeed be a mystery deeper and darker than that which shrouds the foundation of our religion. But this was not the design of man's Creator; the world was peopled for some higher and nobler purpose. What was that purpose? It is man's felicity, both in this and a future world, — it was religion and the reward of religion.

But some will not believe that God ever spoke to man, or held communion with his mind. Is there more mystery in communicating a thought to the mind than in creating that mind? He who made the mind could surely inspire it with a thought, and if the latter is too great a mystery to be believed, surely the former is also. Hence, he who believes that God created the mind ought not to think inspiration unreasonable, or reject religion because it purports to be a communica

tion from God to man. Why should not the rules for the government of a moral agent come from the being who created him? Nothing is more reasonable or would seem to be more natural. God is a mystery, the universe is a mystery, the creation of man is a mystery, inspiration is a mystery; but the last is the least mystery of them all. Its mysteriousness is not, therefore, an argument against religion, nor against its emanation from the Divine mind.

These remarks are hastily thrown together for the purpose of exciting new thoughts in some of our readers, and calling their attention to an Old Book which is too much neglected. If the religion of our country be true, it is a matter of the highest importance for every one of us; and if it be false, it is the most moral and useful fable ever palmed upon mankind. To believe it can do no harm, and to disbelieve it may lead us to unimagined mischiefs. Let him who admits the existence of a God and the creation of man reflect, that he already assents to as great mysteries as religion presents, and that he can no longer, on that ground, refuse his credence to the whole system. But let him also reflect, that its beauties do not consist in its mysteries, but in its influence over the hearts and manners of men. If, on account of its mysteries, there is no ground to disbelieve it, there surely may be found in the beneficial effects which it produces the most forcible reasons to believe it a real emanation from the Great First Cause for the direction and benefit of the creatures of his power.

From the Argus of February 6, 1823.
OMINOUS.

The late news from England informs us that a considerable squadron of ships of war is fitting out in one of the ports of that country for a Secret Expedition. In the present state of the world, and with the neutral professions of the British government, what can be the object of this armament? There have been intimations in the English papers that Great Britain would not interfere with the affairs of Spain, that she would use her influence, if not her arms, to prevent the interference of others, and that Spain was to give her some equivalent for her friendship. What if this equivalent should be the island of Cuba, and what if to take possession thereof should be the ultimate destination of this secret expedition? It has always been the policy of the British government to secure all the commanding points in the commercial world, for the purpose of securing to herself the dominion of the ocean and controlling the trade of all nations. Next to Gibraltar, there is no point of the globe whose attitude is so commanding over the commerce of other countries as the island of Cuba. Look at the valley of the Mis