Benjamin F. Porter
Published: 2015-07-08
Total Pages: 46
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Excerpt from The Past and the Present: A Discourse Delivered Before the Erosophic Society of the University of Alabama A few facts, simple in themselves, but wonderful in their connexion and results, make up the entire history of man, and explain his relation to the planet he inhabits. The earth, itself, is but a vast tomb of buried matter, man but the rudiment of a future. Both are destined to a more perfect and useful state. The one to become the base of mighty physical changes, the other the source of moral and intellectual reforms. If, on the one hand, all is destruction, so, on the other, all is re-production. Nothing lives or perishes without its purpose. No variation in nature occurs in vain. If fires burst forth from the centre of our globe, and heave, and twist, and break into fragments, immense beds of rock; if the fountains of the great deep are broken up, and the winds rushing from their prison house, overturn the barriers between sea and land; if empires are destroyed; if whole races of men become extinct, and the records of their sciences crumble to dust; - it is only that new seas and new lands, new races of beings, and new civilization, may rise in their places. All, from the land we stand upon, to the most refined intelligence, is in a state of progression. Each atom of existence forms a part of that great system, which evolves the destiny of man, and advances him nearer and nearer towards his God. There may be discovered in many of the writers and speakers of the day, a disposition to undervalue the times in which we live. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.