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the healthy action of free thought and the safety of pure motive we will not talk with him for we confide in him we will go to the critic who genius and us who knows that all good writing must be spontaneous and who will write out the bill of fare for the public as he read it for himself forgetting vulgar rules with spirit free to judge each author by his own intent nor think one standard for all minds is meant such an one will not disturb us with with prejudices or an undue vehemence in favor of to the petty plans or temporary objects neither will he disgust us by smooth and an lifeless gentleness he will be free and make free from the mechanical and influences we of on every side he wilt teach us to love wisely what we before loved well for he knows the difference between and and reverence and while in the genial of pan can perceive should bring his into audience that there may be strains more divine than those of his native groves to the of light through the winter night spreading far beyond yon hill when the earth is dark and still rippling o er the stars as streams ripple o er their oh for names thou vision fair to express thy rare blush upon the cheek of night light dream of the deep sunken sun beautiful sleep walking one sister of the moonlight pale star veil spread by heaven s watching of the darting on their course from their glittering source upward where the air doth round the sister beautiful and rare ib the heavens thou art their night blowing of the sky rose of of purple light or their lily clad in white who can name thy wondrous essence thou electric is to the july fire of the restless of toe sky who hath won thy mystery mortal science hath not ran witb thee through the where the cluster flower like on thy lustre after all the glare and toil and the daylight s thou dost come so mild and still hearts with love and peace to fill as when after with a talking company where the blaze of many lights fell on fools and one by one the guests have gone and we find ourselves alone only one sweet maiden near with a sweet voice low and clear murmuring music in our ear so thou to the earth after daylight s weary mirth is not human wild thee in nightly dreams like thy shifting but a better thou art of the of the heart reaching upwards from the earth to the that gave it birth when the noiseless of night summons out the inner light that hath hid its purer ray through the of the day then thee thou northern mom instincts which we deemed their hidden source mount upon and the spirit seeks to be filled with god s eternity c the journal of a scholar notes from the journal op a scholar non e none don e i read with continually new pleasure criticism of is like criticism upon natural scenery you may say what is and what is wanting but you do not pretend to find fault the is before us as a pile of mountains so blue and distant so simple and real even so much an image of majesty and power he is as as the earth and produces his changing scenery with the ease and the finish and the inexhaustible variety of nature never mistakes you might as well say there was in the song of the wind i notice s mention of an interview with a great it is with him always among the to have seen a great man an of a breakfast with any meeting with any heroic person which barely gave time to note him is text for memory and comparison is pious says describes that which exists not its effect on the he agreeable things not their writes from no theory as a point of vision he us what he sees not what he thinks is an glass he is even less than two or three witnesses have been in the who have stated the facts as they are and whose testimony stands from age to age such was perhaps a larger class state things as they believe them to be george fox a still larger class take a side and defend it the best they can milton from the of a scholar july o my friend shall thou and i always be two persons any strong emotion makes the surrounding parts of life fall away as if struck with death one sometimes questions his own reality it so and in the flame of a thought a relation that him up if that lives he lives there either be must live or have no life this afternoon we read the verse so sunk into me that as i toiled my way home under the cloud of night with the music of the storm around and overhead i doubted that it was all a remembered scene that humanity was indeed one a spirit continually a vast whilst individual men are but the points through which it passes we each of us furnish to the angel who stands in the a single observation the reason why is to me like morning is because i too lived while was and sailed in the hollow ships of the to sack the devoted town the rosy dawn as it the top of the broad sea shore dotted with tents the hosts in their painted and the rushing of and all these i too saw my ghost animated the frame of some nameless and in king john does but to me myself in the dress of another age the sport of new accidents i who am charles was sometime la hamlet i | 37 |
pondered and doubted we forget what we have been with the sleepy bowl of the present but when a lively in the soul is struck when the windows for a moment are the long and varied past is recovered we recognise it all we are no more brief creatures we our immortality and bind together the related parts of our being was a proper pagan he understood the height and depth of humanity in all its on the sea of circumstance now the waves mounting even to heaven on their steep sides and now drifting before the wrath of the tempest in himself he embraced this whole sphere the whole of man struggling with the notes from the journal of a scholar whole of fortune but of religion as it appears in the new of christianity as an element in the soul all the rest and exhibiting new phenomena of action and passion he had no experience almost i had said he had no conception the beauty of the of faith he never saw probably he was an in the creed of his time and looked on the new testament as a code that the freedom of the mind which was a law unto itself and as on the sublime mystery of our fate hence he delighted to get out of the way of christianity and not to need to calculate any of its influences what s brave what s noble let e do it after the high roman this was as be felt and in it is just sentiment but his men and women in the english plays often talk in the same christian style as or now our sign boards of and society everywhere in one mode or other the effects of certain truths sink and sow themselves in every soil and the most man unconsciously them in all his life and conversation had in its perfection the poetic inspiration applied himself without effort to the whole world the sensible the intelligent into all beauty into all suffering into all action into all affection he threw himself and yet not himself for be seems never committed in his plays but his genius his genius was thus and all he seems to have sat above this hundred handed play of his imagination pensive and conscious he read the world off into sweetest verse as one reads a book he in no way himself the individual with the scenes he drew and so his poetry was the very of nature and life the cloud itself and meaning became expression in proportion as the prophet sees things from a personal point of view and speaks under the influence of any temperament interest or his eye is pot clear his voice is the the perfect inspiration is that which the beauty and truth seen pure and as they lie in the lap of the divine order notes from the journal a scholar july was the inspired tongue of humanity he was priest at the altar not of the but of mortals his kingdom was of this world and the message he was sent to do he delivered he gave voice to the finest philosophical speculations he the eternal laws of morals but it was as they were facts in the consciousness nd so a part of humanity he gives no pledge breathes no prayer and religion is no otherwise than in his we behold him his gifts to his own use but never in the plays hamlet and as he counted them not his creatures but too to be so he not with their individuality nor himself on us as their if they lived be lived it is not true what says of he did not give up to party any more than gave up to conspiracy madness or lust his was not the nature of the but of the poet who is quite other than the with the faculty proper to genius he threw himself into the cause he and the reflections on the french revolution and the of were his and caesar wherein himself was lost and the truth of things only ot served the poet it is said has in him all the arts and letters of his time the is a of greek civilization in the age so in his speeches his era hence he could no more be a radical than a the spirit by which he was wedded to what was venerable was one with the spirit in which he welcomed the new of and liberty he was consistent with himself he had no sympathy with those who like george fox would clothe themselves in a suit of leather and the riches together with the of social life he did not under the splendid harness of old institutions appeared not the but the greatness of the man and his homage to the english constitution was like the courtesy which man pays to woman as beautiful in him to yield as in her to accept the of beauty the of beauty the devout mind is a lover of nature where there beauty it feels at home it has not then to shut the windows of the senses and take refuge from the world within its own thoughts to find eternal life beauty never limits us never us we are free spirits when with nature the outward scenery of our life when we feel it to be beautiful is always with the grandeur of our inward ideal it the heart s highest brightest dreams it does not contradict the soul s convictions of a higher life it tells us that we are safe in believing the thought which to us seems noblest if we have no sense of beauty the world is nothing more than a place to keep us in but when the skies and woods reveal their loveliness then nature seems a glorious picture of which our own | 37 |
inmost soul is the painter and our own loves and the subject it is the apt accompaniment to the silent song of the s heart the greatest blessing which could be bestowed on the weary multitude would be to give them the sense of beauty to open their eyes for them and let them see how richly we are here surrounded what a glorious temple we how every part of it is eloquent of god the love of nature grows with the growth of the soul religion makes man sensible to beauty and beauty in its turn to religion beauty is the revelation of the soul to the senses in all this outward beauty these soft and curves of the landscape which seem to be earth s smile this inexhaustible variety of form and colors and motion not but woven together in as natural a harmony as the thoughts in a poem this mysterious of the flowers this running of tangled vine and bending grass studded with golden this all embracing perspective of distance altogether into one rainbow colored sphere so perfect that the senses and the soul abroad over it feeling the presence and perfection of the whole in each part this perfect accord of sights sounds motions and vol i no i the of beauty july all to one harmony out of which run inexhaustible of every mood and measure in all this man first feels that god is without him as well as within him that nature too is holy and can he bear to find himself the sole exception does not the season then does not nature does not the spontaneous impulse of an open heart which has held such sublime worship through its senses more than justify an attempt to show how the religious sentiments may be nourished by a cultivation of the sense of duty this should be a part of our religious education the heart pines and or grows hard and contracted and when it cannot have beauty the love of nature ends in the love of god it is impossible to feel beauty and not feel that there is a spirit there the the the of chance is cheated of his doubts the moment this mystery him in his walks this surrounding presence of beautiful nature keeps the soul up forever into its element of freedom where its action is cheerful and where duty becomes lovely and the call to worship either by prayer or by self sacrifice is music to it he in whom this sense is open is put as it were in a communication with a life like his own which flows in around him go where he may in nature we forget our loneliness in nature we feel the same spirit who made it and it holding u up also through the open sense of beauty all we see and to us without it when no such sensibility exists how hard a task is faith how hard to feel that god is here how looks religion as without the air the body could not breathe so without beauty the heart and religious nature seem to want an element to live in beauty is the moral atmosphere the close in which our infancy was cramped of how much natural faith did it not rob us in how a garb did we first see knowledge and virtue how uninteresting seemed truth how looked instruction with what mean associations were the names of god and wisdom connected in our memory what a of nature s peace seemed duty what an intrusion upon the mind s rights what rebellion has been within tke religion of beauty us by the ugly to which artificial life and education have accustomed us how insensible and cold it has made us to the expressive features of god s works always around us always inviting us to high refreshing converse i hold then that without a cultivation of the sense of beauty chiefly to be drunken from the open fountains of nature there can be no healthy and sound moral the man so educated something most essential he is one sided not of a piece with nature and however correct however much master of himself he will be uninteresting and to the student of ancient history the warm hearted graceful greek all alive to nature who made beauty almost his religion is a more refreshing object than the cold formal jew and here around us resist it as we may our hearts are always drawn towards the open graceful children of impulse in preference to the stiff insensible patterns of virtue the latter may be very but at the same time very unreal the former though and careless they play through life yet have trusted themselves to nature and been by her beauty and nature will not let them become very bad consider a few of the practical effects upon the whole character of a growing love of beauty in the young mind it to order it gives birth in the mind to an instinct of propriety it suggests it gently but irresistibly to the fit action to the word in season the beauty which we see and feel plants its seeds in us gazing with delight on nature our will becomes to the same harmony the sense of beauty is attended with a certain reverence we dare not mar what looks so perfect this sense too has a something like conscience contained in it we feel bound to do and be ourselves something worthy of the beauty we are permitted to admire this feeling while it makes alive and yet is eminently in the best sense he who has it is always interested on the side of order and of all dear and associations he who wants it is as destructive as a the presence of beauty like that of nature as soon as we feel it at all us with respect | 37 |
and a sensitive dread of all violence mischief or the of beauty july discord the beautiful ideal piece of architecture bears no mark of wanton pen knife the handsome school room makes the children neat the instinct of obedience of of decorum reverence and harmony flows into the soul with beauty the calm spirit of the landscape takes possession of the humble yet admirer its harmony the within himself into therefore walk out like at even tide to and let nature with her divine stillness take possession of thee she shall give thee back to better more spiritual more sensible of thy relationship with all things and that in any thou but another grace of character which the sense of beauty gives the mind is freedom the freedom of fond obedience not of loose desire the man whose eyes and soul are open to the beauty there is around him sees everywhere encouragement to him the touch of nature s hand is warm and genial the air does not seem to pinch him as it does most narrow minded ones who can see no good in anything but gain to whose vision most that is natural looks hostile he is not contracted into himself by cautious fear and suspicion afraid to let his words flow freely or his face in confidence or his limbs move gracefully or his actions come out whole and hearty he nature for he has kissed her loveliness he knows that she smiles encouragement to him now think what it is that makes virtue so much partly our if you please but partly also her numerous specimens for it is the instinctive expectation of all minds that what is excellent shall also be beautiful lo natural and free most of the piety we see about us is more or less the product of restraint ind fear it stands there in contrast with nature approve it we may but we cannot love it it does not bear the divine stamp it not the love of nature makes in us an ideal of moral beauty of an elevation of character which shall look free and lovely something that its place naturally and as matter of course in the centre of nature as the life of did again the love of beauty higher aspirations the religion of beauty in us he who has felt the beauty of a summer like this has drunk in an infinite restlessness a yearning to be perfect and by obedience free he can never more rest contented with what he is and here is the place to attempt some account of the true significance of beauty and of what is its office to the soul beauty always suggests the thought of the perfect the smallest beautiful object is as infinite as the whole world of stars above us so we feel it everything beautiful is of something spiritual itself limited its and suggestions are infinite in it we seem to see all in one beautiful thing each dew drop each leaf each true work of painter s poet s or s art seems an of the creation is it not god revealed through the senses is not every beautiful thing a divine hint thrown out to us does not the soul begin to dream of its own boundless when it has felt beauty does not immortality then for the first time cease to be a name a doctrine and become a present experience when the leaves fall in autumn they turn golden as they drop the cold winds tell us of coming winter and death but they tell it in music all is significant of decay but the deep still harmonious beauty all felt in summer or spring before we look on it and feel that it cannot die the eternal speaks to us from the midst of decay we feel a melancholy but it is a sweet religious melancholy lifting us in imagination above death since above the grave of the summer so much real beauty the beautiful then is the spiritual aspect of nature by a delicate sensibility to it we make nature preach us a constant lesson of faith we find all around an illustration of the life of the spirit we surround ourselves with a constant cheerful to duty we render duty lovely and inviting we find the soul s deep thoughts written around us in the skies the far blue hills and swelling waters but then to this desirable result one stern condition must be observed if the sense of beauty to purity of heart so equally purity of heart is all that can keep the sense of beauty open all influences work one hand must wash the other said the poet the aa the of beauty july world is loveliest to him who looks out on it through pure eyes sweet is the pleasure itself cannot spoil is not true leisure one with true toil thou that taste it still do thy best use it not waste it else tis no rest behold beauty near thee all round only hath duty such a sight found rest is not the busy career rest is the fitting of self to its sphere tie the brook s motion clear without strife to ocean after its life deeper nowhere hath knelt fuller emotion heart never felt is loving and serving the highest and best and that is true rest d writings this work is the production of a writer whose native force of mind combined with rare philosophical has elevated him to a prominent rank among the charles or the converted o a boston charles c little and james brown s writings s of this country his history so far as it is known to us presents a cheering example of the ence of our institutions to bring forward the man rather than the scholar to do justice to the sincere expression of a human voice while the | 37 |
of learning meets with nothing but contempt mr we understand is under no obligations to the culture of the schools his early life was passed in scenes foreign to the pursuits of literature he was not led to by the desire of professional reputation but the various writings which he has given to the public are the fruit of a mind filled with earnest convictions that must needs be spoken out the great mass of scholars are impelled by no passion for truth they are content to clothe the current thoughts of the day in elegant forms they value ideas as the materials for composition rather than as the springs of the most real life their lonely are for the acquisition of knowledge or the of fame while the intense desire to pierce into the mysteries of the universe to comprehend the purposes of god and the destiny of man is a stranger to their souls they will never the bear to the spirit of nor till day break to obtain a from the angel of truth hence their productions though polished and classical do not satisfy the common mind the true secret of vitality is wanting and though they may gratify our taste they do not aid our aspirations there is a small class of scholars whose aims and pursuits are of a different character they value literature not as an end but as an instrument to help the solution of problems that haunt and the soul they wish to look into the truth of things the universe in its mysterious and terrible grandeur has acted on them life is not regarded by them as a or a dream it passes before their eye in dread and solemn beauty thought is stirred up from its lowest depths they become students of god unconsciously and secret communion with the divine presence is their preparation for a knowledge of books and the expression of their own convictions their writings accordingly whenever they appear will be alive they will probably offend or grieve many who make the state of their own minds the of but at s writings july the same time they will be welcomed by others who find in them the word which they were waiting to hear spoken the author of this volume belongs to the latter class it is evident from all that we have read of his writings that he is impelled to the work of composition by the pressure of an inward necessity he has studied as is apparent from the rich and varied knowledge which he brings to the illustration of the subjects he treats of more and profoundly than most persons but there are no traces of study for the sake of study no marks of a he seems to have read what other men have written on questions which had exercised his mind and to have appropriated to himself whatever was congenial and hence though we may observe the influence of eminent foreign writers on his cast of thought and expression everything has the freshness and of originality mr we believe was first introduced to the notice of our community by his to the christian the leading organ of the in this city these form a connected series of very striking articles distinguished for the fearless energy with which they grasp some of the most difficult problems for the animation and beauty of their style for the rare power of philosophical analysis which they display for their love of humanity and for the precision and clearness with which the systems of other are interpreted to the comprehension of the general reader the subjects with which they are concerned are all connected with the higher sphere of thought they are pervaded by the presence of a common aim we find in them the elements and of most of the productions which the author has since given to the public the purposes in this stage of his progress which mr has in view are the of the reality of the religious principle in the nature of man the existence of an order of sentiments higher than the calculations of the understanding and the of logic the foundation of morals on the absolute idea of right in opposition to the popular doctrine of the of a spiritual philosophy and the of christianity with the progress of society these topics are handled with skill their discussion in the s writings s a new era in the history of that able journal and has a strong influence in producing and the interest which is now so widely felt in the higher questions of philosophy mr s next work entitled new views of christianity society and the church is one of the most remarkable that has issued from the american press although it attracted less attention at the time of its publication than it has since received we are gratified to learn that many readers have been led to its perusal by their interest in the subsequent writings of its author it is not difficult to account for the small impression which this book at first made upon the public compared with its genuine merits the questions which it considers have been more warmly agitated in europe than in this country the ideas which it have no general among us and their could accordingly call forth no very general attention it is in fact an answer to the objections which have been brought against the christian religion by henry and some of the of the sl school on account of its bein as they suppose a system of exclusive and extravagant christianity they say all interests its kingdom is not of this world it aims at the of the spirit and the of the flesh it is therefore not adapted to the interests of man in the progress of modern it has become and must pass away mr to meet these views by pointing out the true character of | 37 |
christianity as it existed in the idea of the which it has experienced in the course of ages and the symptoms of the return of the church to the conception of its founder the christianity of the church according to this book is a different thing from the christianity of christ the idea of was the type of the most perfect religious institution to which the human race will probably ever attain this idea in opposition to the and which at that time had their exclusive representatives that there is no original and essential between god and man that neither spirit nor matter is in its nature that all things spirit and matter god and man soul and body heaven and vol no s july earth time and eternity with all their duties and interests are in themselves holy it writes to the lord upon everything and sums up its sublime teaching in that grand thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart and mind and soul and strength and thy neighbor as but the church failed to this idea it the conditions on which it was to be realized in stead of understanding to assert the of both spirit and matter it understood him to admit that matter was cursed and to of spirit alone it took its stand with and condemned itself to the evils of being exclusive this fact explains the doctrines the ceremonies and the exhibited by the church in opposition to christ it abused and degraded matter but could not it it existed in spite of the church it increased in power and at length rose against and demanded the restoration of its rights this rebellion is but properly speaking finished its work and expired in the french revolution at the close of the last century since then there has been a reaction in favor of this reaction was favored by the disastrous catastrophe of the movement in france in consequence of this men again of the earth and when they despair of the earth they always take refuge in heaven they had trusted too far they would now not trust it at all they turned back and sighed for the serene past the quiet and order of old times for the mystic land of india where the soul may in ecstasy and dream of no change when the sigh had just escaped that mystic land reappeared the old literature and philosophy of india were brought to light the influence of the ancient or spiritual word is visible everywhere it is remarkable in our poets it the form in to the ground in and entirely in the it acts with equal power on philosophy religion society what then is the mission of the present the east has reappeared and will it again become supreme this according to our author is out of the question we of the present century must either dis s s with all religious or or we must build a new church a new institution free from the of those which have been the first is impossible men cannot live in perpetual thej must and will their ideas of the true the beautiful the good the holy in some institution neither can an exclusive or ma bo this were an in the history of humanity for humanity does not an eternal circle it advances in one endless career of progress towards the infinite the perfect but and both have their foundation in our nature and both will exist and exert their influence shall they exist as principles is the bosom of humanity to be torn by these two i this cannot be the war must end peace must made here then is the mission of the present we are to reconcile spirit and matter that is we must realize the nothing else remains for us to do stand still we cannot to go back is equally impossible we must go forward but we can take not a step forward but on the condition of these two hitherto hostile principles progress is our law and our first step is union the union of spirit and matter was the result contemplated by the of the church attempted it but only partially succeeded and has therefore died the time had not come for the complete union saw this he knew that the age in which he lived would not be able to realize his conception hence he q of his second coming this will take place when the idea which he represents shall be fully realized that idea will be realized by a combination of the two terms which have received thus far from the church only a separate development the doctrine which shall realize the idea of the is that all things are essentially holy that everything is and that we must call nothing common or neither nor was aware of this truth saw good only in pure spirit god was pure spirit and therefore good our good consisted in resemblance to that is in being as like pure spirit as possible our duty was to get rid of matter all the interests of the material order were sinful s july on the other hand had no recognition of spirit it considered all time and thought and labor bestowed on that which this world as worse than thrown way it had no conception of inward communion with god it counted fears of punishment or hopes of reward in a world to come mere idle fancies fit only to amuse or control the vulgar it laughed at spiritual joys and and treated as serious affairs only the pleasures and pains of sense the doctrine of the these two systems this doctrine teaches us that spirit is real and holy that matter is real and holy that god is holy and that man is holy that spiritual joys and and the pleasures and pains of sense are alike real joys and real | 37 |
pleasures and pains and in their places are alike sacred spirit and matter then are sacred the influence of this doctrine can hot fail to be very great it will correct our estimate of man of the world of religion and of god and all our institutions it must in create a new civilization as much in advance of ours as ours is in advance of that which obtained in the roman empire in the time of we shall cease to regard man as the of good the slave will become a son human nature will be clothed with a high and com worth it will be seen to be a lofty and death less nature it will be felt to be divine and infinite will be found traced in living characters on all its faculties man will reverence man slavery will cease wars will fail education will destroy the empire of ignorance civil freedom will become universal it will be everywhere that one man has no right over another which that other has not over him all will be seen to be brothers and equals in the sight of their common father religion will not stop with the command to obey the laws but it will bid us make just laws such laws as a being endowed like man industry will be holy the cultivation of the earth will be the worship of god working men will be priests and as priests they will be and as priests they will reverence themselves and feel that they must maintain themselves the earth itself and the animals which it will be counted sacred we shall study in them the fl writings of god s wisdom goodness and power and be careful that we make of them none but a holy use man s body will be deemed holy it will be called the temple of the living god as a temple it must not be men will beware of it by sin by any excessive or improper indulgence as they would of ing the temple or the altar consecrated t the service of god every duty every act necessary to be done every of industry or thing to human use or convenience will be treated as holy religious worship will not be the mere service of the the universe will he god s temple and its service will be the doing of good to mankind suffering and joy virtue and well being when all this takes place the glory of the lord will be manifested unto the ends of the earth and all flesh will see it and rejoice together the time is yet distant before this will be fully realized but we assert the doctrine as an idea and ideas if true are as soon as humanity fully possesses this idea it will lose no time in it to practice men will their practice to it they will become personally holy will be written on all their thoughts emotions and actions on their whole lives and then will christ really be formed within the hope of glory he will be truly in universal humanity and god and man will be one the tones of a sincere voice are heard in the conclusion of the volume a part of which we copy here i must close i have uttered the words union and pro s as the creed of the new church the whole duty of man would they had been spoken in a clearer a louder and a sweeter voice that a response might be heard from the universal heart of humanity but i have spoken as i could and from a motive which i shall not blush to own to myself or to hun to whom all must render an account of all their thoughts words and deeds i once had no faith in him and i was to myself a child without a i was alone in the world my heart found no companionship and my affections withered and died but i have found him and he is my father and mankind are my brothers and i love and reverence mankind are my brothers they are brothers to one another i would see them no longer i labor to bring them together and to make feel and own that they are all made of one blood let them feel and own this and they will love one another they will be kindly one to another and the groans of this world will cease the spectacle of wrongs and s out no more tears be wiped from all eyes and pass from death to life to life immortal to the life of god for god is love and this for which the wise and the good and labor will be obtained i do not the age i hav not looked upon the world only out from the window of my closet i have mingled in its busy scenes i have rejoiced and wept with it i have hoped and feared and believed and doubted with it and i am but what it has made me i cannot it it union the heart of man is crying out for the heart of man one and the same spirit is abroad uttering the same voice in all languages from all parts of the world voice answers to voice and man to man there is a universal language already in use men are beginning to understand one another and their mutual understanding wiu mutual sympathy and mutual sympathy bind them together to god such is a very slight sketch of a work which we have one of the most remarkable that has appeared in the literature of this country it labors under the defect however of an excessive some of its most statements are hints rather than details and the style of its composition may blind many readers to the fulness of thought which it presents and the true logical | 37 |
in which it is arranged in spite of this obstacle to popular success this work cannot fail to act with great power on all minds of true insight its profound significance will be apprehended by many who find here the expression of their own convictions the result of their own which they have never before seen embodied in words and it has already formed a conspicuous era in the mental of more than one who is seeking for the truth of things in the midst of conventional forms since the publication of this work mr has a more numerous audience and a wider reputation by the establishment of the boston review this journal stands alone in the history of works it was undertaken by a single individual without the of friends with no external patronage by no interests and called for by no motive but the inward of the author s own soul a large proportion of its pages and it has now reached the middle of its third year is from the pen of mr himself the variety of subjects which it is no less striking than the vigor and boldness fl with which they are treated the best of the culture of philosophy in this country and the application of its results to the theory of religion the criticism of literary productions and the institutions of society we presume no one will dispute is to be found in the of this journal nor is it to be regarded as a work of merely interest it is conspicuous among the significant which are now called forth by the struggle between the old and the new between and principle between the i of authority and the suggestions of reason the vigorous tone of argument which it its freedom from conventional usage its fearless of the rights of humanity the singular charms and force with which it the results of philosophical and the depth and of its religious spirit are adapted to give it a permanent influence even among those who widely from many of its conclusions and to redeem it from the oblivion to which so large a part of our current literature is destined the work which we have made the occasion of the present notice charles or the converted is we think on the whole in point of literary superior to any of mr s former writings it is suited to be more generally popular it presents the most profound ideas in a simple and attractive form the discussion of first principles which in their primitive abstraction are so repulsive to most minds is carried on through the medium of a slight fiction with considerable dramatic we become interested in the final opinions of the subjects of the tale as we do in the catastrophe of a romance a slender thread of narrative is made to sustain the most arguments on the philosophy of religion but the conduct both of the story and of the discussion is managed with so much skill that they serve to relieve and forward each other charles who tells his own story is introduced to us as a young man who has attained the reputation of an in his native village this subjected him to the usual fate of those who call in question received opinions his good name on account of his from the prevailing belief his company was and though his character was liis sympathies with his kind s writings l ft deep and sensitive and his love of truth sincere he became the object of general aversion and terror he is surprised one morning by a visit from mr smith a young and zealous clergyman fresh from the school and burning with ail the to make that could be inspired by a creed which denied the possibility of salvation to any who doubted it he had heard that was an he had stepped in to convert him to christianity as he had never measured himself with an intelligent he counted on a speedy victory but his confidence was greater than his discretion i have called on you mr said mr smith a few common place remarks with a message from god indeed said i and when sir did you receive it last night when you the meeting without taking your place on the anxious seats god told me to come and deliver you a message are you certain it was god and how will you make me certain do you think i would tell you a falsehood perhaps not but what evidence have i that yoa are not yourself deceived i feel certain and do i not know what i feel doubtless what you feel but how do you know that your feeling is worthy of trust could not god give me when he spoke to me sufficient evidence that it was really he who spoke to me of that you are probably the best judge but admit that he could give it and has actually given it still you alone have it not i if then you come to me with the authority of god to for the of your feeling you must be aware that i have not that authority i have only your word the word of a man who for aught i know m as as myself you come to me as an from god produce your and i will listen to your my are the bible but pray sir how can a book written many ages ago by nobody knows whom be a proof to me that god told you last night to come and deliver me a message this morning i bring you just such a message as the bible and what then the bible is the word of god but was not quite so ready to admit this on the authority of the minister he brings certain objections to the supposition his spiritual adviser with questions and | 37 |
at last him to take refuge in the evidence of miracles this gives rise to an interest ing discussion s writings bat yon t replied mr smith after a short pause that the received hy the sacred writers bore the impress of god s seal god gave them all needed assurance that it was he himself who spoke to them if then they were honest men we ought to believe them that they were honest men worthy of all credit as speaking by divine i infer from the fact that they could work miracles all that is easily said whether god keeps a seal or not is more than i know but supposing he does are mortals well enough acquainted with it to it the moment it is presented do they know its impress has god lodged with them a of it god told them that it was his seal but how did they know it was god who said so had they had any previous acquaintance with him who introduced him to them assured them it was verily the almighty but this leads us back to where we were a moment ago i suppose you hold a supernatural revelation from to be necessary certainly and without a supernatural revelation we can know nothing of god nothing deprive us of the bible and we should be in total ignorance of god assuredly it is necessary to prove that the revelation said to be from god is actually from him undoubtedly the revelation is proved to be from god by the miracles performed by the men who professed to speak by divine authority yes miracles prove this because they are performed by the power of god and because god will not confer the power of working miracles on wicked men or men who will tell lies so i believe it requires some knowledge of god to be able to say of any given act that it is performed by god we say of what you term a miracle that it is wrought by the almighty because we seem to ourselves to detect his presence in it t ow if we were totally with bis presence should we be able to detect it it therefore requires some knowledge of god to be able to assert that what is termed a miracle is effected by divine power also it requires some knowledge of to be able to affirm that he will give the power of working miracles to good men only you start at the idea that he would give this power to wicked men because to do so would be inconsistent with the character you believe him to possess in saying that he will not do it you assume to be acquainted with his character and from your assumed acquaintance with his character you infer what he will or will not da in both of these instances no knowledge of god is whence do we obtain this knowledge every body knows enough of god to know when a miracle is performed that it is god who it and to know that god wiu not give the power of working miracles to bad men i no i s perhaps you at least may know to know this bat suppose you were deprived of all the light of revelation would you know enough of god to know this did i not understand you to say that were it not for revelation we should be totally ignorant of god i said so and say so still i presume sir that there is a point here which has in part escaped your attention i have observed that you religious people in defending miracles assume to be in possession of all the knowledge of god communicated by the supernatural revelation miracles are brought forward to you assume the truth of the revelation and by that your miracles and then your miracles to the revelation but i need not say to you that before you have your revelation you have no right to use it and before you can it on your own showing you must your miracles a thing yon cannot do without that knowledge of god which you say is to be obtained from the revelation only i do no such thing not i admit you have not a doubt of the truth of revelation your whole intellectual being is penetrated in all directions with its and you never make in your own mind an abstraction of what you have received from the bible and thus ascertain what would be your precise condition were you left to the light of nature you fall therefore unconsciously into the practice of reasoning in support of your faith from premises which tliat faith supplies and which would be of no if that faith were proved to be false and are of no when reasoning with one who questions it but sir this whole matter of miracles may be cut short what is a miracle you must know as much of god and the universe to be able to define a miracle as a miracle on any supposition can teach you therefore miracles are at best useless then the evidence of the extraordinary you term miracles is not altogether satisfactory all ancient history profane as well as sacred is full of marvellous stories which no sound mind can for one moment entertain serve to history the ancient historian who should fill his history with would by no means be held in so hi h respect even by yourself as one who confined his faith to the simple the ordinary the natural his faith in you would regard as an of his judgment why not do the same in regard to the bible you miracles as a proof of revelation when in fact nothing about your revelation or in it is more in need of proof than your miracles | 37 |
themselves then again miracles can prove nothing but our ignorance no event that can be traced to a known cause is ever termed a miracle a miracle is merely an event which can be traced to no known law of nature to say an event is miraculous is merely saying tiiat it is an in our experience and not provided for in our systems of science the miraculous events recorded in the bible may have occurred for aught i know but they are of no value as evidences of christianity i supposed i had already shown not you cannot know enough or god and the universe to know in the first place that what you term miracles are actually wrought by for aught you know s writings to the contrary there may be thousands of beings superior to man ca of performing them and in the second place yon can never infer from the fact that a man opens the eyes of the blind or a to life that he cannot tell a lie the fact that the miracle is performed does not necessarily involve the truth of the doctrine taught nor the of the miracle so far as you or i know a man may perform what is termed a miracle and yet be a teacher of false doctrines but if you should see a man raise a dead body to life in of his divine commission would you not believe him if your history be correct there were men who saw raise from the dead and yet neither recognised his claims as the son of nor as a teacher of truth but went away and took how they might put him to death before the raising of a man from the dead could be a sufficient warrant for me to receive any doctrine i must know positively that no being not by god can raise a dead body to life or that no being capable of raising a dead body to life can possibly tell a falsehood now this knowledge i have not and cannot have mr smith made no reply he remarked that he had hia time that an imperious engagement required him to leave me but he would call upon me again and continue the discussion a promise by the by which he forgot to keep or which circumstances prevented him from we must not omit the comment of the author on this conversation many years have elapsed since this conversation took place i have it often in various and moods of mind but i have not been able to detect any in my reasoning it is true that reasoning if admitted goes to show that a revelation from god to man is if the premises from which both mr smith and i started be correct all supernatural revelation must be given up tliey who deny to man all inherent to know god ml perception of truths place man out of the condition of ever knowing of god man can know only what he has a capacity to know god may speak to him and utter truths which he could not himself have found out but unless there be in him something which the voice of god and bears witness for god it is all in vain if there be not this something in man then can man receive no revelation from god there must be a god within to recognise and for the god who speaks to us from without now this inherent capacity to recognise god this power to detect his presence wherever he is and of course eve where i did not admit and not admitting this my conclusions followed from my premises mr smith admitted it no more than i did and therefore could not me denying this he admitted nothing by which a supernatural revelation could be for it required this capacity to detect the presence of god in the miracles not less than to detect it in the revelation itself not having this man could have no standard by which to try the revelation alleged to bo s july from god this was what i labored to make mr smith comprehend i demanded of him this standard the of spiritual truth the of god s seal with which to compare the impress on the sent us in his name but he not answer my demand many able of christianity fail to perceive the point they must establish in the very outset of this with this point is that man is endowed with an intelligence that knows god immediately by they who deny this may be religious but only at the expense of their logic we can and sustain religion only by the mystic element of human nature an element which in man is yet in relation with god and serves as the between god and man if we cannot establish the reality of this element which is sometimes termed the divine in man and which though in nature is supernatural it is in vain to seek for any scientific basis for and in god is the only conclusion to which we can come the force of argument it seems was not the only power that was brought to bear on the convictions of young ei wood he is led to talk of his religious views with a beautiful to whom he was engaged to be married in a few weeks she of course is shocked at his but is utterly unable to comprehend its character or to penetrate to its cause meantime she is told by smith the that her duty to god calls for the sacrifice of her lover the agony which elizabeth suffered during tliis whole conversation may be more easily imagined than described she had upon me all the wealth of her she had loved me with a sincerity and depth of affection by the apparently of my condition like a true woman | 37 |
she had clung to me the closer for the reason that all else seemed to have abandoned me it is not woman that leaves us when most we need her presence i have had my share of i have suffered from the world more than i care to tell but i have ever found in woman a kind and spirit her love has ever shed a light along my pathway cheered me in my darkest hours and me ever the courage and the strength to battle with my enemies and regain the mastery of myself there are those who speak lightly of woman i have learned to reverence her as the earthly of the divinity elizabeth had loved me and in all her visions of the future i of course held a prominent place and it were a foolish affectation to doubt that i constituted their principal charm to banish me now to strike my image from her heart to break with me the faith she had the thought of it was not to be endured and yet what a mysterious nature is this of ours the very intensity of her love for me alarmed her conscience she had been but recently converted and was still laboring under strong excitement she had just s to god she must be his and hie only did she not owe everything to god should she not love him with her whole and ought she not to sacrifice to him was not religion in its very nature a sacrifice w ould she not be its most solemn if she retained anything which she loved more than god did she not in fact love me more than him i was dearer to her than all the world besides but then would not the sacrifice of me to god be so much the more if she retained me would it not be a proof that she counted one treasure too previous to be surrendered was she not commanded to father mother sister brother for god to give up everything for god which should come between her and him though it should be like out a right eye or cutting off a right hand must she not now ch x se between god and man between religion and love she must i mean not to say that this was sound reasoning but i apprehend that it requires no deep insight into human nature to be made aware that in many individuals religion is a much stronger passion love and that in certain states of mind and if the religious affection takes that turn the more costly the sacrifice the more resolute are we to make it in her calm and rational moments i do not believe elizabeth would have come to the conclusion she did but as she was wrought up to a state of pious exaltation the idea of being able to achieve so great a victory over herself as that of sacrificing her love on the altar of religion as a powerful spell on her whole nature and blinded her to everything else it almost instantly became as it were a fixed idea to which everything must henceforth be religion therefore and with a martyr like spirit she resolved to give me up blame her not if she had not possessed a noble nature such a sacrifice she had never resolved to make the timid girl to the command of her adviser though in it is plain that her own heart is broken his state of mind subsequent to this passage is best described by himself i pass over several months in which nothing i can bring myself to relate of much importance occurred elizabeth and i met a few times after the interview i have mentioned she was ever the same pure minded affectionate girl but the view which she had taken of ner duty to god and the struggle which thence ensued between religion and love as she was by pious friends whose zeal for the hereafter far their knowledge of what would constitute its real well being here upon her health and threatened the worst results from those results i raise not the veil one tie alone was left me one alone bound me to my race and to virtue my mother bowed with years and still lived though in a distant part of the country a letter from a distant relative with whom she resided informed me that she was very ill and demanded my presence as she could not survive many days i need not say this letter afflicted me i had not seen my mother for several not because i wanted filial affection but i had rarely been able s writings july to do as i would is a stern master and when combined with talent and ambition often us to seem wanting in most of the better and more amiable affections of our nature i had always loved and my mother but her image rose before me now as it never had before it looked mournfully upon me and in the eloquence of mute sorrow seemed to me with neglect and to tell me that i had failed to prove myself a good son i lost no time in with my mother s request i found her still living but evidently near her last she recognised me brightened up a moment thanked me for coming to see her thanked her god that he had permitted her to look once more upon the face of her son her only child and to god the god in whom she believed who had protected her through life and in whom she had found solace and support under all her trials and sorrows she commended me with all the of piety and the warmth of maternal love for time and eternity the effort exhausted her she sunk into a sort of which in a few proved to be the sleep | 37 |
of death i watched by the lifeless body i followed it to its resting place in the earth went at twilight and stood by the grave which had closed over it do you ask what were my thoughts and feelings i was a but i was a man and had a heart and not the less a heart because few shared its affections but the feelings with which professed and meet death either themselves or for others are very nearly similar when death comes into the circle of our friends and the of affection it is backward we look not forward and we are with the departed as he lives in our memories not as he may be in our hopes the hopes by religion are very when grief exists only in anticipation or time has it but they have little power in the moment when it actually breaks in upon the soul and the heart besides there are few people who know how to use their immortality death to the great mass of as well as of comes as the king of terrors in the shape of a total of being the immortality of the soul is assented to rather believed believed rather than lived and withal it is something so far in the distant future that till long after the spirit has left the body we think and speak of the loved ones as no more rarely does the find that relief in the doctrine of immortality which he on with so much eloquence in his with he might find it he ought to find it and one day will but not till he that man is immortal and not merely is to be immortal i lingered several weeks around the grave of my mother and in the neighborhood where she had lived it was the place where i had passed my own childhood and youth it was the scene of those early associations which become the dearer to us as we leave them the farther behind i stood where i had in the freedom of early childhood but i stood alone for no one was there with whom i could speak of its one feels singularly desolate when he sees only strange faces and hears only strange voices in what was the home of his early life i returned to the village where i resided when i first introduced myself to my readers but what was that spot to me now nature had done much for it but nature herself is very much what we make s writings her there must be beauty io our souls or we shall see no loveliness in her and beauty had died out of my soul she who might have recalled it to life and thrown its hues over all the world was but of that i will not speak it was now that i really needed the hope of the world was to me one vast desert and life was end or aim the hope of immortality is not needed to enable us to bear grief to meet great these can be as they have been met by the with a serene brow and a tranquil pulse we need not the hope of immortality in order to meet death with composure the manner in which we meet death depends altogether more on the state of our nerves than the nature of our hopes but we want it when earth has lost its of novelty when our hopes have been our and the of life and the vanity of all human pursuits have come home to us and made us exclaim vanity of all is vanity we want then the hope of immortality to give to life an end an aim we all of us at times feel this want the feels it early in life he all too soon what to him is a withering fact that man does not complete his destiny on earth man never anything here what then shall he do if there be no hereafter with what courage can i myself to my task i may but the grave lies between me and the completion will come to interrupt my work and compel me to leave it unfinished this is more terrible to me than the thought of ceasing to be i could at least i think i could consent to be no more i have finished my work achieved my destiny but to die before my work is completed while that destiny is but begun this is the death which to me indeed as a king of terrors the hope of another life to be the of this steps in to save us from this death to give us the courage and the hope to the rough sketch shall hereafter become the finished picture the artist shall give it the last touch at his ease the science we had just begun shall be completed and the destiny shall be achieved fear not to begin thou hast eternity before thee in which to end i wanted at the time of which i speak this hope i had no i was shut up in this narrow life as in a cage all for whom i could have lived labored and died were gone or worse than gone i had no end no aim my affections were driven back to and become in mv own breast i had no one to care for the world was to me as if it were not and yet a strange restlessness came over me i could be still nowhere i from object to object my body was carried from place to place i knew not why and asked not myself wherefore and yet change of object change of scene wrought no change within me i existed but did not live he who has no future has no life l at began to find | 37 |
habitation by man may indeed have been no longer ago than hebrew but much of this about the date of creation arises from supposing that creation must have taken place in time but the of god are not in time but in eternity time begins with creation and belongs to created nature with god there is no time as there is no space he time and space he eternity and is both time and space when we speak of beginning in relation to the origin of the universe we should refer to the source whence it comes not to the time when it came its beginning is not in time but in god and is now as much as it ever was you should ink of the universe as something which is not as something which was god did not strictly speaking make the world finish it and then leave it he makes it he it now regard him therefore not if i may borrow the language of as its temporary and transient cause but as its permanent and in dwelling cause that is not as a cause which effects and then passes off from his works to remain henceforth in idleness or to create new worlds but as a cause which remains in his works ever producing them and s writings july them by being present in them their life and substance take this view and you will never trouble yourself with the question whether the world was created six thousand or six million of years ago the result of s inquiries is expressed in the conclusion of the volume and with it we will close the copious which we have been unable to avoid in looking back upon the long struggle i have had i must thank god for it i have been reproached by my christian brethren they have tried to make me believe that i was very wicked in being an but i have never reproached myself for having been one nor have i ever regretted it i would consent to go the whole again rather than not have the spiritual experience i have thus acquired i have but never m having doubted i have much to answer for but not for having been an i have no apologies to make to the christian world i have no forgiveness to ask of it i have done it no and it will one day see that i have not been an servant it has never fairly owned me but i care not for that even to this day it calls me an but that is nothing it will one day be astonished at its own blindness and when from the flesh in that world where i shall not be disturbed by the darkness of i shall see it doing even more than justice to my memory i have not lived in vain nor in vain have i doubted inquired and finally been convinced when the scales fell from my eyes and i beheld the true light i followed it and i have done what was in my power to direct others to it my task is now well nigh done and i am ready to give in my last account i say not this in a spirit of vain but in humble confidence i say it to express my strong faith in god and in his care for all who attempt to do his will i doubt not that many good christians may be shocked at first sight at what i have here recorded they will see no coincidence between the views here set forth and their own cherished convictions but i will assure them tliat as they read on and comprehend them they will find the coincidence all but perfect the christianity here set forth is the christianity of the universal church though presented perhaps in an uncommon light i cannot persuade myself that a new christianity is here presented but the old christianity which all the world has believed under a new aspect perhaps and an aspect more peculiarly adapted to the wants of the present age it cannot have escaped observation that religion for some time has failed to exert that influence over the mind and heart that it should there is not much open not much but there is a vast amount of concealed doubt and difficulty few very few among us but ask for more certain evidence of the christian faith than they possess many many are the to this effect which i have received from men and women whose religious character stands fair in the eyes of the church i have been told by men of piety that the only means they have to maintain their belief even in god is never to suffer themselves to inquire into s writings the of that belief the moment they ask for proofs they say they begin to doubt our churches are but partially filled and the majority of those who attend them complain that they are not fed our clergy are industrious and in most cases do all mat men can do and yet not many mighty works do they because of the people s we hear complaint even amongst the clergy themselves doubt finds its way learned professors proclaim publicly and emphatically even while that we can have no certainty that oar evidence of christianity is at best but a high of probability surely then it is time to turn christianity over and see if it have not a side which we have not hitherto observed perhaps when we come to see it on another side in a new light it will appear unto more beautiful and have greater power to attract our love and reverence the views here presented have won the love and reverence of one man who was once as obstinate an as can be found i know not why they should not have the same on | 37 |
others g we have a few words only to add with regard to the manner in which mr with the objections of the this we consider a leading merit of the work before us the author speaks from personal experience for he too has been through the conflict between received opinions and the light of truth he has seen the impressions of childhood fade from the mind with an earnest and susceptible religious nature he has felt the difficulties of speculation but he has never shrunk from the thought he has trod the wine press for himself and established the instinctive of the heart on the basis of the universal reason an experience similar to this is requisite in all who would fairly meet the mind of the sincere the want of such experience is the reason why so many of our standard writers on the foundation of faith are more ingenious than satisfactory and usually fail to remove the difficulty that was deeply felt they have no sympathy with doubt their minds are of a stamp from those that love to examine first principles they are well satisfied with the traditions of ages of the stern agony of thought by which a rational faith is produced in a state of society that questions everything they have no suspicion they may become powerful of the opinions which the multitude cling to but they know not how to touch the spot where doubt rests in the heart which other causes than any vice or lie have s writings u led to distrust its ancient faith when they enter that sphere let them hush the author of this work admits the full force of arguments whenever they are founded in truth he seems so sure of his cause that he does not wish to rely on aught which does not bear the test accordingly he no alarm when certain statements that have long been relied on are shown to be he clearly makes use of no reasons adapted to the presumed weakness of his opponent which are without force to his own mind he will not bring to the god of truth the sacrifice of a lie and in this manner he gives a peculiar weight and authority to the conclusions which he so that their force is most speedily felt by the strongest minds neither does he ever seek to the precise point on which the subject turns more distinctly than most on questions does he perceive the true issue and when he once states what it is he does not leave it without doing his best to despatch it entirely it is small praise to say that he from regarding as a crime the which he would remove on this account the present work will be listened to by many whom no persuasion can induce to enter the walls of a church and who look with suspicion on the of most of the professed of religion and they who are not converted by the here exhibited with will at least meet with much to them to further inquiry they may an aspect of religion which they had not considered before and new may at length give birth to new faith r the last the last farewell lines written while sailing out of boston harbor for the west indies farewell ye that the holy light farewell domestic re that broke the gloom of night too soon those are lost too fast we leave the bay too soon by ocean from hearth and home away far away far away farewell the busy town the wealthy and the wise kind smile and honest frown from bright familiar all these are fading now our on her way her is leaping o er the sea far away far away farewell my mother fond too kind too good to me nor pearl nor diamond would pay my debt to thee but even thy kiss upon my cheek to stay the winged vessel flies and round her play far away far away farewell my brothers true my yet my how desert without you my few and evil years but though aye one in heart together sad or gay rude ocean doth us part we separate to day far away far away farewell i breathe again to dim new england s shore my heart shall beat not when i for thee no more in yon green isle beneath the ray i murmur never while for thee and thine i pray far away far away the july the chapter first truth s lovely that once was a perfect shape most glorious to look upon was into a thousand pieces and scattered to the four winds from that time ever since tne sad friends of truth such as appear the careful search that made for the of went up and down gathering limb by limb still as could find them constant s journal from rome mother said as he broke the of a now shall you know this friend of mine his love sincere his thoughts his tears pure sent from his heart his heart as far from as heaven from earth ah this of and as you call it will keep your mind in such a chaos i fear that the spirit of god will never move on the face of the waters and say let there be light what can interest you so much in this young priest he always seemed to me to have his mother s enthusiasm and gentle as she was i certainly thought her as she glided about in her dark robes like a or sister of charity constant made me his friend by a well timed rebuke mother said as he took a letter from his desk and read as follows mt dear sir the heart its own bitterness and may heaven preserve you from ever feeling the pain which an expression of yours to day occasioned me i complain | 37 |
of no for probably you are ignorant that i am a catholic but i pray you never say again that our priests are or fools till you have proved the justice of your charge it is my dearest hope to be admitted to the holy office i vowed to my life to it as i knelt by my mother s death bed i was bred up in the church of which both my parents were members till i was fourteen years of age at this time the my poor became so ill that he was advised to winter in my mother of course accompanied him i need not dwell upon the sad history he rapidly declined and it was in these dark hours that my mother s mind was called as she saw him on whom she had rested passing in weakness away to turn for support to the friend who never and to hope for in heavenly homes with the beloved one whom affection could not retain on earth she sought relief in the services of the nearest church the touching of these holy rites deeply affected her and in her loneliness she appealed to the sympathy of the he them and before the last change came my mother had the divine joy of receiving together with my father the of the of seeing the extreme administered to him in his agony and after his spirit had departed of having the body buried in consecrated ground and of joining in sublime and masses for his eternal peace you will believe me when i say she returned home by her sorrows i was her only child and we became inseparable companions she directed my studies she guided my prayers she made me her in her works of benevolence and heaven forgive me if as i looked up in her sweet face becoming ever more spiritual as it day by day grew thinner and paler and into those eyes so calmly bright as if the light of another ufe beamed through them and listened to her tones so musical and mild that my melted heaven foi ve me if i worshipped her my mother must ever be to me a saint she as her dying prayed that i might become an honored minister of god in a few years heaven willing i shall be a priest alas how unworthy a one in contrast with the blessed thousands who through centuries have offered the perfect sacrifice constant there speaks at least a good son you will hear the journal now will you not the words of one so fervent even if enforce attention like sweet harmony vol i no i the rome this morning and am now quietly established at the college the huge building with its massive stones projecting and heavy carved windows looked gloomy as i entered and as our footsteps echoed through the silent court and long passages the thought me that so many years were to be passed beneath these solemn shades but the paternal welcome of father b and the courteous of my fellow students quite cheered my spirits and now that i have once joined in worship in our beautiful little chapel and have arranged my apartment i feel at home i like this high ceiling this deep window with its diamond shaped panes and these dark with age in the sacred recess i have placed my s agony in the s placid face smiles over my table my mother s copy of a is lying by my side and more than all dearest mother thy gentle look me from this miniature well may i feel happy in striving to fulfil your dying wish ad te after walked with a friend to the the sun was setting as we climbed the long ascent of steps and we reached the summit just in time to see the golden rim disappear behind the ridge on the west of the city where umbrella pines stood strongly marked against the sky a haze of glory such as so often dipped his brush in hung for a moment like a brilliant veil over the wilderness of roofs beneath us but as the shadows spread the scene grew clearer and i took my first survey of the holy city in front at the distance of a mile swelled sublime the dark dome of st peter s by the stretching wings of the nearer rose the round tower of st and winding at its foot the was revealed by its reflection of the still bright heaven while to the left stood the columns of and of with the bronze on its top and the eye rested on the low arched roof of the it was no dream i a child from a far land was really taken home to the bosom of the mighty mother who has fed the world with her and learning and art beneath that soaring dome so gracefully light yet so firm were at this moment the si burning the golden lamps around the tomb of st peter within those very walls had been held for centuries the sacred whose the holy spirit to guide under these very roofs which i now looked upon had been trained the hosts of martyr who have carried the cross over burning deserts and and the farthest ocean around me on every side was a vast multitude who had forsaken the world and its for the purity and of a religious life lights on a thousand clouds of incense from swinging of countless and murmured prayers of crowds of priests the very air i was in rome not imperial rome that blood stained desert but christian rome with truth the eagle has fallen before the cross the palaces of have the dust of centuries has buried the over which rolled the cars of cruel armies nature s kind have the sands of the from the ruins of barbarous pomp have | 37 |
sprung these graceful temples and halls of science and galleries filled with images of beauty which a divine faith inspired and in place of chained driven to the to gratify the bloody thirst of a come joyful troops seeking the light of peace and love to carry with self sacrificing toil to the whole world est walking to day through a narrow street with high walls gardens on each side i came to a where pious hands keep ever burning a light before an image of the virgin and there witnessed a sight which in all its picturesque simplicity is peculiar to catholic lands two peasant boys were kneeling before it one playing on a pipe the other who held by a string a pet goat repeating an ave maria the father stood behind wrapped in his dark brown cloak his hat with its brim in his hand i waited till their offering was over that i might give them they formed indeed a singular yet graceful group the boys in place of cloak had dressed sheep skins hanging on their shoulders their were blue and the were with the july pink and orange ribbons crossing the leg to the knee in their hats they each wore a short feather and their black bead like eyes looked brightly out over cheeks where ruddy health blushed through a brown skin long locks fell over their shoulders the father was dark and stern enough and it required no great imagination to see him with a on his shoulder watching behind a rock on the hill side for the traveller winding up the road rough and wild creatures truly yet the catholic church has a hold even on them how admirably wise has she been in herself to all classes of minds and what would these semi care for a or a tract but the picture of the holy mother can soften their rude hearts i have just withdrawn from my window to which i was attracted by the sound of feet and the glare of moving lights upon the wall it was a procession of each held in his hand a torch whose flickering blaze made the darkness in the street seem almost and falling down on their white sweeping robes them with a bright glory silently with even step and two by two they passed down the deserted street probably to a funeral how can speak with such rude suspicions of these holy devoted as they are to all sacrificing charity what other system as our venerable church does for the wants of the not a poor beggar dies in this city whose pains are not by the gentle cares of some sister of and whose remains are not followed to the grave by solemn and respectful attendants may i but this spirit of devoted benevolence of which i see such every hour attended mass to day at the church of the how can i speak of the music it came from a gallery raised near to the roof and the sound there echoed and softened seemed to fall from heaven it realized oh yes far more than realized my highest conception of sentiment language cannot utter our swelling emotions precise terms confine their flow the bat music where each note suggests without a thought and where the sounds are a symbol of a thousand feelings music is indeed the vehicle of devout expression first came a distant swell of the solemn bass of the organ like a flood lifting up its voice like the breaking of many waters fuller and fuller louder and louder in peal new ever mingling as the stream of harmony rolled on till the whole soul seemed borne aloft upon the waves of sound and then gently softly it sank into a calm the higher notes prevailing till there broke forth the toned voices of young like the greeting of from happier worlds i was deeply moved myself and could not but notice the effect of the services upon a young man kneeling at my side by his long light brown hair fair complexion and blue eye i knew him to be a german probably from his dress an artist repeatedly he kissed his while tears gathered and rolled down till seemingly overcome he bowed his head even to the marble floor and sobbed audibly how many recollections of distant dear ones and home how many hopes of success how many images of beauty were mingling at that moment with this tide of devotion oh barren indeed are other forms of worship in comparison with these appealing to the soul as they do through our most heavenly faculty the imagination on this young artist s mind who can estimate the effect of the grand architecture and the pictured forms of the richly priests and the white of the graceful curling incense the bell the solemn pause the burst of song poor reason men your sky and then you for in the dust of this work day earth i was much struck by seeing a lady in splendid figured silk kneeling near to a peasant who by his soiled dress had probably but just come in from the muddy roads of the country in rising he accidentally planted his iron studded and shoe on the rich skirt which spread itself over the marble not a sign showed that such a trifle could the s mind from the sublime exercises in which she was engaging or give even momentary offence where in lands can you see this true spirit of christian equality in the temple of the king of the july kings all the poor of caste reared by men s in the social world no the floors of these no poor divisions wall off the privileged few from brethren who come to worship a common father went to the english college to hear a lecture from the learned and eloquent | 37 |
dr w on the sacred use of classic learning the rooms were crowded with the chief of the church the leading literary men of the city artists distinguished foreigners and ladies the lecture was nearly two hours in length and took a wide range it was filled with the with descriptions of authors as marked and accurate as are the heads on ancient with exquisite from the old and poets and illustrated with large of the finest specimens of art and yet the church is said to learning and to base itself upon popular ignorance oh sad sad is this spirit of can it come from any one but the father of lies look at these mile long stored with the literature of all ages and thrown liberally open for the world of scholars to consult look at these where multitudes under professors are trained up in the best scientific philosophic historical and literary knowledge of every time how little do know the rock on which the church is built of light in a world of gloom of ancient truth nurse of thoughtful intent their god to please for christ s dear sake by human sympathies poured from the bosom of the church how have ungrateful children ignorant of thy wide interests and liberal wisdom thee mother church visited in my walk the how wise to the beautiful works of ancient art thus that as god has made this outward creation with its countless glories to minister in worship in that cathedral boundless as our wonder whose lamps the sun and moon supply its choir the winds and waves its organ thunder its dome the sky the so man should use his highest conception of grandeur and loveliness for his maker s praise how sublime too the change which this graceful dome these noble columns these marble have witnessed the gods ancient times were indeed the ideal of mere natural manhood but these pictures on the beam with a light of heavenly humanity as i stood examining an altar piece i was much interested in observing the various who knelt before it one was an old man with streaming white locks and beard who leaning heavily on his staff as he bent his form might have answered as a study for a saint next was a mother with a rosy faced boy of six years who and full of life seemed restless in kneeling so long on the cold hard stones while the sallow face deep marks about the mouth and sunken eye told a tale of suffering in her whose arm embraced him not far from them was a with her snowy cap standing out from her head her large gilded gay ribbons green and scarlet skirt and last a young girl of perhaps thirteen her coal black hair in long hanging down her shoulders and a covered basket on her arm graciously do our church doors stand open at all hours for those whose homes no privacy the passing emotion of is not as where religious service is confined to the sabbath sorrow may pour out its tears may confess its heart tempted nature may itself and the perplexed find peace at any hour returning this evening about dusk i was struck with a of the care with which the church goes out to seek its scattered sheep turning suddenly a corner i found myself in the midst of a singular company a cook with his glowing was dealing out to those who had a to pay for them women with their locks and bare necks and men in scanty and hats moved to and fro and their features strongly marked by the ruddy light of the fiery coals while just opposite a his brown robe round him t the by a rope his thrown back his arm bare and raised on high holding a was pouring forth to a knot of listeners an impassioned appeal thus in the midst of noisy crowds where hasty words bring rash deeds and the jest is followed by the gleaming knife the den stroke and the laugh is choked in blood there in the very haunts of levity and crime do the ministers of the word of life appear to day at the will explain why their faith does not such giant minds as have written the history of their thoughts in prodigal richness all over the walls of this palace when will produce its t its out of the crowd of sublime images which have this day enlarged my conception of power and beauty two alone rise prominent so eloquent are they of the deep reverence and the imprisoned strength of michael they are the and the prophet one may well be in thinking to interpret these magnificent visions but i fancied i saw a contrast between the darkened and the enlightened the withered dame with painfully frame is intently over the half open volume on which only a partial light falls and behind are two young boys to the neck and mute still as if listening through long ages for the voice which should loose their fixed attention in the below are sleeping figures one a mother pressing her infant to her bosom as if overcome in the midst of her she was still haunted by the of ills the other a vigorous and muscular man utterly spent with fatigue and lost in rest the perfect to heavy sleep is wonderfully given by the body bent forward till the chest upon the limbs and by the arm hanging down all speaks the midnight of ignorance as to human destiny a silence as of the secret chamber of a over it what intense action on the contrary in the the mother is the child looks brightly out as upon the sunny morning and the prophet his grand forehead and curling hair full in the the two boys a ike with lively | 37 |
gestures looking over him as he reads to be with a triumphant hope that i will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions the of such a man as michael the trust that knows not a doubt and which in the midst of evil times rises where can it be seen beyond the pale of that one holy church founded on the bodies of built up by the traditions of eighteen centuries and by the prayers and tears of countless saints the unity of tke this was the sublime inspiration which gave such full vigor to minds in times before the so called made a chaos but it was not merely with the awe which the genius of michael awakened that i regarded the here were the very seats here was the very altar where week by week the holy father and the unite in worship what do dare to think that the good old man who humble and lowly here in is the of that master whose keys he bears and these venerable long experienced whose days are spent in laborious and earnest consultation for the good of the faithful the world can any one who sees them exchanging that beautiful sign of the kiss of peace at the close of their rites suppose them earthly minded and ambitious must surely be ignorant of the poverty the the severe industry there i my dear that will do said mrs hope rising constant is as wild as his perfectly and yet he has sweet i grant but that he should have been so long in that city of moral death surrounded by sights of poverty wretchedness vice and idleness m the people and of luxury and proud in the witnessing parade and in place of true worship without having his eyes opened shows that he is a thorough if he had been bred up in such customs one could more easily pardon him do not i you let his taste and pretty words you he but a vol i wo i the divine in nature july i do fear for you my son seeing a smile struggling with respect on s face and i fear the more because i see that this sympathy looks generous and thus you may for a large wisdom will you forever be run away with by each new notion and caprice of other minds dear mother answered you must plead guilty for some part of my yon bade me be a dread not the spirit that rose at your bidding you have not foi the lines you early taught me yet some knowledge merely to be and idle curiosity that is some but to sell not freely to bestow these ne and spend both time and wealth arts by so some to build others which is but these to men the divine presence in nature and in the soul the doctrine of divine inspiration is one of no small importance for as it is received in one form or another it wiu bless a man or curse him will make him a slave to the letter which or a made free by the law of the spirit of life the doctrine of inspiration is admitted by the christian church it is commonly believed there have been inspired men though open vision is no longer continued the bible oftener than any other book perhaps speaks of men inspired by god most of its truths to take its own statement came directly from him since christians believe the bible they must believe in the power and of inspiration however they may limit its extent inspiration is the direct and immediate action of god upon man but to understand this the better we may consider his action upon matter since in both cases the action is direct and immediate though in and in the to fixed and laws the kind of action on god s part is perhaps the same in both cases and the effect with the powers and nature of the god is everywhere present and at all times let us take the fact of his as the point of departure what results follow from this perpetual and universal presence he is not idly present in any place or at any time the divine energy never nor sleeps it flows forth an eternal stream endless and without beginning which doth and embrace the all of things from itself proceeds and to itself returns this river of god the material world is perpetual growth renewal which never ceases because god who flows into it is the same yesterday to day and forever he fills the world of outward nature with his presence the fulness of the divine energy flows into the crystal of the rock the of the plant the splendor of the stars the life of the bee and here it is not idle but has an active influence on the world of matter plants and animals the material vegetable and animal world therefore receive this influence according to their several and from it derive their life and growth their order and beauty the very laws of their being and their being itself since he is everywhere no part of nature is devoid of his influence all depends on him for existence hence nature ever grows and changes and becomes something new as god s all energy flows into it without ceasing hence in nature there is constant change but no ultimate death the quantity of life is never diminished the leaves fall but they furnish food for new leaves yet to appear whose swelling crowd off the old foliage the dog and the having done their work cease to be seen by our eyes but there seems no reason for the spark of life once kindled in them | 37 |
is extinguished or vanished into soft air since god is essentially and present in each of space there can be no such thing as absolute of being well says the poet when will the river be weary of flowing under my eye when will the winds be of blowing over the sky the divine presence in nature july when will the clouds be of fleeting when will the heart be of beating never oh never nothing will die since god is the same and yet with active energy possesses the heavens and the earth the law on which they rest must needs be fixed beyond a change while the face of nature each day new forms thus the law of nature is the same at the pole and the line on the day of adam and at this day and yet there is variety on the sur ce of things where the divine spirit never itself now the obedience which all the objects in nature pay to this law is perfect there is never any of it not even the smallest the stones and the trees the sun and the waves yield perfect obedience no provision is in nature against a of this law thus for example we never see the water and the air change place with each other nor could the earth exist under such capricious changes the same may be said of the animal world with the single exception of man who is related to it by the body s side here also the obedience is perfect caprice has no place as a principle or a motive all the works of the elephant or the were in its structure and instincts if this were not so if this obedience of the elements and animals were not thus perfect there could be no safety for the race no continued existence even to the universe for its existence continues only on the supposition that its laws are obeyed and no provision has been made for the evil that would if any part of the creation save man alone should the law of its nature and act against the will of god the of a law then perfect in itself and perfectly though blindly obeyed is the entire extent of god s influence upon the outward world of nature la these bodies it would seem there is no individual will they seem not but only of a whole if they have any individual will it is subordinate to irresistible instinct now since there is no partial will there is no power to oppose the universal will and influence of god even in the slightest d therefore all the action of the unconscious world is mechanical or at the highest in and in the soul and in perfect harmony with god s will it is an important fact that all parts of nature are in perfect harmony with s and therefore reveal all of god that can be made manifest to the eye the ear and other senses of man in the universe of matter nothing ever or from god s all is order and all beautiful his laws seem to conflict but they never clash growth and decay perpetually but do not disturb each other so the rays of light as reflected from the flow i ers of a meadow to a thousand eyes cross and but one never the other from this obedience it comes that nothing in nature is really when seen from its true point of view he hath made nothing feet considered in its two fold relation of use and meaning in this manner the world is filled by god s energy and substance he is equally present in all parts of the material world equally active in the formation of a dew drop and an ocean now men of all ages the and the most refined have noticed this striking fact their spirit has been awakened and they have gained hints from it religious men see an higher proof of god s presence and influence in outward nature than in the mass of their fellow men if we would be possessed with devout and sublime emotions we go to the mountain visited night by troops of stars and not to the crowd of men that on a public day flow in full tide through the glittering streets of a great city we say the heavens declare the glory of god not that the assembly of men bears the same testimony to his goodness or loveliness hence do we conclude that the undisturbed presence and influence of god amid the hills and flower meadows of the country are more congenial to the growth of morality and religion than the close contact of self conscious men in crowded towns the reason is plain the divine energy acts without resistance in ture and therefore perfectly its idea while in man s will it a resisting medium and does not in all cases display itself so clear and so perfect but yet god is present in man as well as out of him the divine energy and substance possess the human no less than they constitute the law and life of outward the divine presence in i god is present in man as well as in matter and not idly present in him the presence of god in the soul is what we call inspiration it is a breathing in of god his action on the outer world is an influence on self conscious souls it is an inspiration by this he truth directly and immediately without the of second causes it has sometimes been denied that such inspiration was possible or that man ever received truth at first hand from god but the great mass of the human family has always believed the only a few have doubted it it was the faith of the ancient greek and of the jew still older both had their and | 37 |
men who professed to enjoy a closer intimacy with the most high to see higher visions from him and receive truths not commonly imparted to mankind these men were held sacred in times of trouble they ruled the nation by their council for the people fled unto them when clouds with ruin hung threatening round the horizon of their time there was always some or man of in every primitive nation some or moses some or samuel some or to offer advice and reveal the will of god made known to him the christian church believes the inspiration of certain men that have appeared in history that god of old spoke by moses the hebrew and that paul and his fellow were likewise inspired that of possessed a sublime degree of inspiration never before nor since imparted unto mortal man this doctrine represents a truth for these sublime persons were doubtless inspired they ran as they were sent they as the spirit gave them utterance but were these few men the only of god s spirit has the soul of all souls seen fit to shed his light only on some score of men has he who fills all time and all space and possesses eternity and spoken only in the earlier ages of the world to but a single race and merely in the hebrew tongue this is consistent neither with logic nor history in all ages from the dawn of time to this moment in all families of man the spirit of god his energy and substance have flowed into the soul as the rain falls in all lands as day by day year out year in the dew so the divine spirit enters each soul of and in the soul man over tlie head alike of the beggar and the king the heavens are spread for all eyes the waters on a night are beautiful and fair for all the moon walks in loveliness the stars shine the sun from his golden urn down the day and so for all the great fountain of life and truth sends forth the streams of his inspiration since every of matter is penetrated and with god it cannot be that a few hebrew or though never so noble have alone received from the soul of all souls and wholly absorbed the energy and substance of god so that all others must wander forlorn or catch some faint echo of inspiration reflected in a hebrew word the and of our own fathers in centuries long since forgot the wise men of other lands the whose influence is writ all the world over the saints and the of every the poor peasant and ignorant who with faithful breast put up a holy prayer to god by whatever name every true and lonely heart has felt the same inspiration not similar inspiration alone but the same inspiration as all bodies fall by the same gravity and all blossom in the same sun the spirit descended like a dove not only on of not on the banks of the alone but on every shore of the wide world and on each pure and faithful soul for so far as a man sees with his own soul religious or moral truth for example and feels them with his own heart so far is he inspired and possessed of the energy and spirit of god now to men there can be but one kind of inspiration it is the or direct and immediate perception of truth in some important mode for example religious or moral truth there can be but one mode of inspiration it is the felt and acknowledged presence of the highest in the soul this truth the conscious presence of him as truth charity justice or love himself into the soul and giving it new life there can be but one test or of inspiration the truth of the thought feeling or doctrine there may be various signs of inspiration more or less imperfect though but a single proof a man may have a deep conviction that he is inspired be may accurately future events the presence in nature july or do wonderful works all these are perhaps signs but not a test or of inspiration now in respect to the kind and test of inspiration all men stand on the same level but there is a great difference in respect to the degree of inspiration this depends on the quantity of being so to say and the amount of fidelity in each of inspiration all men by nature are not capable of the same d of inspiration and by character and culture they are still less capable of receiving the same measure thereof a man of deep noble intellect and heart can receive more than one of smaller gifts still farther the degree of inspiration depends no less upon compliance with the conditions on which inspiration can alone be obtained a man may perfectly observe these conditions and he will then receive all the inspiration his nature can contain at that stage of its growth or he may observe them imperfectly and will receive less therefore it depends in some measure on a man s self whether or not and to what extent he will be inspired he may keep his or may lose it by his folly and sin we see in all ages men of gifts obtaining an higher degree of inspiration than others of that were superior by nature in the end they who are thus faithful become superior in quantity of being as it were for obeying god s law they continually tend to improvement thus a in the right may well beat a in the wrong the truth of this statement appears in the history of some of the in the old testament and in that of christ s who were evidently men of small powers at the first but through their | 37 |
faithful obedience became and at the end it was so with and george fox not to mention many others now christ was beyond all doubt the noblest soul ever born into the world of time he realized the idea of human he did likewise the most perfectly of all men obey the conditions and laws of his being he therefore possessed the highest degree and greatest measure of inspiration ever possessed by man hence he is called an of god if his obedience was perfect then his reason certain and as the of instinct or the law of was the power of god acting through him without let or his and in the soul therefore was the highest and deepest ever made to man because he had in him so much that is common to all and so little that was personal and peculiar his doctrines go round the world and possess the noblest hearts he will continue to hold his present place in the scale of the human race until god shall create a soul yet larger and nobler than which shall observe the law of the spirit of life with the same then but not till then can a more perfect religion be proclaimed to men whether this will ever be done whether there are future in the infinite distance but nobler than he now on their way to the earth is known only to him who possesses the riddle of destiny and humble of the truth can answer neither aye nor no yet may this be said his revelation is perfect so far as it goes and this can be said of no other sage or it was said above that in nature we see god perfectly his idea and everywhere it in the formation of a worm or a world for is no opposition to god s will but perfect obedience and infinite harmony therefore the outer world is all of god which can be revealed or manifested to the senses now in we see the same obedience his will was perfectly in harmony with god s will and at all times in harmony his inspiration therefore was perfect he was one with god the father in him and he in the father and his whole life a of the father all the fulness of the dwelt in him and to us he was god so far as his power extended that is he was all of divine which can be revealed in the human form here then is the difference between the inspiration of and that of moses or other not a in kind in mode or in the test by which it itself to mankind but a difference in degree a difference which resulted from his superior natural and his more perfect to god s will he so fully possessed by the divine has more in with other men than they have with one another and less that is peculiar and limited to himself in him the race four thousand years of painful effort has reached its highest perfection all former and saints vol i no i t e divine presence in nature july what were they to him so the tree while it puts forth leaves each summer day and bears in its bosom a precious though unseen doth spread into a flower and mature into a fruit but once in a hundred years inspiration cannot be and absolute except the man s intellect conscience affection and religion are perfectly developed and inspiration is the result of the whole character not of its partial action and is not therefore to be expected of mortals for inspiration does not a man and take away his freedom it is by his own character and produces various results in one it appears in the iron hardness of reasoning which in another is subdued and by the flame of affection and becomes a stream of persuasion that as it runs the prophet has power over the spirit that is given him he may obey it partially or entirely or it entirely thus fled from the lord peter and told an and paul the cursed alexander the these facts show plainly that their inspiration was not and that they were free god s influence nature so that it can do no otherwise than as it does but his inspiration leaves human will and free this necessity of nature and this freedom of man are the ground of different of god in the fields and the city his presence revealed in all that is great or little renders the world of nature solemn and beautiful the trees the leaves which them in loveliness the com and the cattle the clear deep sky that folds the world in its soft embrace the light which rides on swift all it touches and harmless on an infant s eye lid after its long journey from the other side of the universe all these are noble and beautiful they while they delight us those silent and sovereign but yet the spirit of god as displayed in a good is nobler and more beautiful it is not the mere passive elegance of unconscious things which we see from man s voluntary obedience that might well charm us in nature but here the beauty is intellectual the beauty of thought which the world and understands its laws it is moral the beauty of virtue which and in the soul the world and lives by its own laws it is religious the beauty of which rises above the world and lives by the law of the spirit of life here the divine takes a form still more divine what is a tree or the whole green wood when matched against a man that is lovely and true what is the loveliness of this wide world with its sunny or long all with snow its rivers as they run its of stars | 37 |
shining like a city of god the new in the heavens what are all these compared with a man who is faithful to the infinite spirit whose open heart receives him as the the sun who loves man as himself and god above all it is as nothing for these outward things are transient and fleeting they know not of their exceeding loveliness but immortal man knows himself moves at his own wiu and is not in bondage to the elements measure the whole sum of lifeless things by the soul of and they vanish and are not seen for the world says a great writer i count it but as an hospital and place to die id the world that i regard is myself it is the of mine own frame that i cast mine eye on for the other i use it but like my globe and turn it round sometimes for my men that look on my outside only my condition and fortunes do in my for i am above his shoulders the earth is not only a point in respect to the heavens above us but of that heavenly and celestial part within us that mass of flesh which me limits not my mind that surface that tells the heavens they have an end cannot persuade me i have any i take my circle to be above three hundred and sixty though the number of the arc do measure my body it not my mind whilst i study to find out how i am a little world i find myself something more than the great there is surely a piece of divinity to us something that was before the elements and owing no homage unto the sun he that understands not this much hath not his introduction or first lesson and is yet to begin the of man now all men are capable of this inspiration though in different degrees it is not god s gift to the learned alone or to the great but to all mankind the clear sky is over each man or great let him his head the divine presence in nature july and there is nothing between him and infinite space so doth the of god all men the soul of its selfishness and sin and there is nothing between it and god who then will fill the soul each then may obtain his measure of this inspiration by with its proper conditions the pure in heart shall see god he who conscience is simple in character true to his mind and affections open hearted and loving before god receives divine inspiration as certainly as he that opens his eyes by day receives the light he that is simple tranquil faithful and obedient to the law of his being is certain of divine aid this inspiration must not be confounded with the man s own soul on the one hand nor on the other must man be in the divinity the eye is not light nor the ear sound nor conscience duty nor the affections friendship nor the soul god these come from without upon the man this doctrine that all men may be inspired on condition of purity and is the doctrine of the bible the spirit of man is the candle of the lord if we love one another god in us if a man love me he will keep my words and my father will love him and we both son and father will come unto him and make our abode with him this is equally the doctrine of common sense and daily experience no man thinks the truth of conscience the of reason or religion are his he claims no property in them they have been shot down into us without our asking and now stand in our minds facts which we may neglect but cannot alter or we all of us border close upon god he shines through into each pure soul as the sun through the air all the wisest of men have declared the word they spoke was not their own they were the self conscious and voluntary organ of the infinite as the lily of the valley is the unconscious and involuntary organ thereof my doctrine is not mine said the highest teacher who claimed no personal authority men in distress turn instinctively to this source for aid and all the of the world profess to come from this fountain moses and could only speak what they found given them to utter for no man ever devised a religion as human reason cannot create in in the soul this department it can only examine and conclude perceive embrace and repeat what it where there is no vision revelation the people perish it is through this that we gain knowledge of god whom no man can find out by searching but who is revealed without search to and every man who has ever prayed with the mind prayed with the heart knows by experience the truth of this doctrine there are hours and they come to all men when the hand of destiny seems heavy upon us when the thought of time the pang of affection and ill the experience of man s worse nature and the sense of degradation come upon us the soul and is ready to perish then in the deep silence of the heart when the man turns to god light comfort and peace dawn on him like the day spring from on high he feels the divinity in that high hour of thought is in feeling we forget ourselves yielding passive to the tide of soul that flows into us then man s troubles are but a dew drop on his his or his wealth or his poverty his honors the sad of life are all lost to the view diminished and then hid in the misty of the valley we have left it is no | 37 |
vulgar superstition to say man is inspired in such moments they are the seed time of life then we live whole years though in a few moments and afterward as we journey on through life cold and dusty and travel worn and faint we look back to that moment as the source of light and like go long days in the strength thereof the remembrance of the truth and love which then dawned on us goes like a great light a pillar of fire in the heavens to guide us in our lonely pilgrimage the same thing happens to mankind light of old time sprang up as the nations sat weeping and in darkness now all may turn to the truths which then burst through the night of sin and wo and which are still preserved in holy books as lights are shut in though once kindled at heaven s own fire these of inspiration are the opening of the flower the celestial bloom of man the result of the past the prophecy of the future they are not numerous to any man happy is he who can number one hundred such the divine in july in the year or even in a life to many men who have once in their lives felt this it seems shadowy dream like and unreal when they look back upon it hence they count it a dream of their a vision of a sickly fancy and cease to believe in inspiration they will say that long ago there were inspired men but there are none now that we must bow our faces to the dust not turn our eyes to the broad free heaven that we cannot walk by the great central light which every man that into the world but only by the of tradition can this be true has the infinite laid aside his and retreated to some little corner of space does he now stretch forth no aid but leave his child wandering in the palpable obscure without a guide feeling after god if he may find him who is now only a god afar off this cannot be for the grass grows green as ever the birds as gaily the sun shines as warm the moon and the stars are pure as before morning and evening have lost none of their former loveliness god still is there ever present in nature can it be that yet present in nature he has forsaken man retreated from the in the holy of to the court of the no more can this be true conscience is still god with us a prayer is deep as ever of old and faith remains the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen love is still mighty to cast out fear the soul yet the of god and the pure in heart see him or else religion were but a mockery morality a hollow form and love an hideous lie the substance of god is not yet exhausted nor the well of life run dry now as in the day of moses or he who is faithful to reason and conscience affection and faith wiu through these receive an inspiration to guide him all his journey through p sympathy alas i knew a boy whose features all were cast in s mould as one she had designed for beauty s toy but after him for her own on every side he open was as day that you see no lack of strength within for walls and posts do only serve for a pretence to and sin say not that was victorious with toil and strife who uie house of fame in other sense this youth was glorious himself a kingdom er he came no strength went out to get him victory when all was income of its own accord for where he went none other was to see but all were parcel of their noble lord he like the subtle breeze of summer that shows fresh to the eyes and worked without a murmur or rustling of a leaf beneath the skies so was i taken unawares by this i quite forgot my homage to confess yet now am forced to know hard it is i might have loved him had i loved him less moment as we nearer drew to each a stem respect withheld us farther yet so that we seemed each other s reach and less acquainted than when first we met we two were one while we did so could we not the simplest bargain drive and what it now that we are wise if absence doth this contrive may not the chance repeat but i must tread my single way alone in sad remembrance that we once did meet and know that bliss gone the henceforth my shall sing for has other subject none each strain of music in my ears shall ring of departure from that other one july make haste and my tragedy with fitting strain ye wo s and fields sorrow is dearer in such case to me than all the joys other occasion is t then too late the damage to repair distance my weak grasp hath the empty and clutched the useless but in my hands the wheat and left if i but love that virtue which he is it be scented in the morning air still shall we be dearest acquaintances nor mortals know a sympathy more rare t lines love oil on life s dark sea its toil our he around him clouds under this cover his arrows he the cloud was around m i knew not why such sweetness crowned me while time shot by no pain was within but calm delight like a world without sin or a day without night the shafts of the were tipped with down for they drew no blood and they knit no frown t knew of them not | 37 |
beauty the habits of an community are not to delicacy of sentiment he who would paint human nature must content himself with selecting fine situations here and there and he must address himself not to a public which is not educated to prize him but to the small circle within the circle of men of taste if like or he direct from nature only selecting and or choosing lights and i suppose he is as well situated now as he could ever have been but if like mr he aims at the ideal it is by no means the same he is in danger of being sentimental and picturesque rather than spiritual and noble mr has not fallen into these faults and if we can complain it is never of of but of always he has a high purpose in what he does never from his aim but sometimes fails to reach it the bible familiar to the artist s youth has naturally furnished subjects for his most earnest i will speak exhibition july of four pictures on subjects which were in this exhibition restoring the dead man by the touch of the prophet s bones i should say there was a want of artist s judgment in the very choice of the subject in all the miracles where christ and the act a part and which have been favorite subjects with the great painters poetical beauty is at once given to the scene by the moral dignity the sublime exertion of faith on divine power in the person of the main actor he is the natural centre of the picture and the emotions of all present grade from and cluster round him so in a however or oppressive the circumstances there is room in the person of the sufferer for a similar expression a central light which shall and all round it but a miracle effected by means of a or dry bones has the disagreeable effect of in this picture the is occupied by the body of the patient in that state of deadly and so offensive to the eye the mind must reason the eye out of an instinctive aversion and force it to its work always an circumstance in such a picture as that of the of the cents painful as the subject is the beauty of forms in childhood and the sentiment of maternal love so beautiful even in anguish charm so much as to the painful emotions but here not only is the main figure offensive to the eye thus one principal condition of art it is incapable of any expression at such a time beyond that of physical anguish during the struggle of hfe suddenly found to re demand its dominion neither can the exhibit any emotions higher than those of surprise terror or as in the case of the wife an overwhelming anxiety of suspense the and of this picture are very good and the individual figures managed with grace and though without much force the subjects of the other three pictures are among the finest possible grand no less than beautiful and of the highest poetical interest they present no to the of genius let us look first at in prison to the strength and dignity of the jew and the of the dress allowed fair play to the painter s desire to inspiration itself by a suitable organ as far as the and of the figures nothing can be better the form of the prophet is brought out in such noble relief is in such fine contrast to the pale and feminine sweetness of the at his feet that for a time you arc satisfied but by and by you begin to doubt whether this picture is not rather imposing than majestic the dignity of the prophet s appearance seems to lie rather in the fine lines of the form and than in the expression of the face it was well observed by one who looked on him that if the eyes were cast down he would become an ordinary man this is true and the expression of the bard must not depend on a look or gesture but beam with mild from every feature s is not the mournfully indignant bard but the robust and stately jew angry that men will not mark his word and go his way but is admirable his overwhelmed yet willing submission the faith which turns him pale and almost tearful in his eye are given with infinite force and beauty the d bu of this picture is excellent and it has great merit but not the highest there is hardly a subject which for the combination of the sublime with the beautiful could present greater advantages than this yet this picture also with all its great merits fails to satisfy our highest i could wish the picture had been larger and that the angry clouds and swelling sea did not need to be looked for as they do for the whole attention remains so long fixed on the figure of that you cannot for some time realize who she is you merely see this bounding figure and the are so kept under that it is to have the situation full in your mind and feel that you see not merely a girl dancing but the representative of rescued and triumphant what a figure this might be the character of beauty is so noble and profound this maiden had been in a fair and highly civilized country in the midst of wrong and scorn indeed but beneath the shadow of sublime institutions in a state of abject bondage in a as july to this life she had her soul in the memory of those days when god walked with her fathers and did for their such mighty works amid all the pains and of slavery the memory of joseph the presence of moses her soul to the highest pitch of national pride the | 37 |
had of late been strung to their greatest by the series of wrought in behalf of the nation of which her family is now the head of these the last and had just taken place before her eyes imagine the stately and solemn beauty with which such and such a position might invest the imagine her at the moment when her soul would burst at last the in which it had learned to move freely and proudly when her lips were and she was permitted before her brother of the most high and chief of their assembled nation to sing the song of realize this situation and oh how far will this beautiful picture fall short of your demands the most complain of a want of depth in the eye of for myself i make the same complaint as much as i admire the whole figure how truly is she what swelling joy and pride in every line of her form and the face though inadequate is not false to the ideal its beauty is mournful and only wants the heroic depth the flame of eye which should belong to such a face in such a place the witch of is still more unsatisfactory what a tragedy was that of the stately ruined by his of will despairing half mad refusing to give up the which he feels must in a short time be from his hands degrading himself to the use of means he himself had forbid as and devilish seeking the friend and teacher of his youth by means he would most of all men the mournful significance of the crisis the stately aspect of as celebrated in the history and the supernatural events which had filled his days gave authority for him with that sort of beauty and majesty proper to ruined what have we here i don t know what is generally thought about the introduction of a ghost on but it is to me as ludicrous as the introduction on the stage of the ghost in hamlet in his as the old play book direction was the effect of such a representation seems to me in a picture there cannot be due distance and shadowy softness then what does the picture mean to say in the chronicle the witch surprised and at the apparition reproaches the king why hast thou deceived me for thou art but here the witch a really fine figure fierce and as that of a should be seems threatening the king who is in an attitude of theatrical as well as degrading dismay to me this picture has no distinct expression and is wholly unsatisfactory all its of detail in fine the more i have looked at these pictures the more i have been satisfied that the grand historical style did not afford the scope most proper to mr s genius the and are for the michael the beautiful is mr s dominion there he rules as a genius but in attempts such as i have been considering can only show his appreciation of the stern and sublime thoughts he wants force to but on his own ground we can meet the painter with almost our first delight a certain bland delicacy all these as an atmosphere here is no effort they have floated across the painter s heaven on the golden clouds of these pictures i speak here only of figures of the a few words anon are almost all in repose the most beautiful are the lady reading a the evening hymn the italian shepherd boy and the excellence of these pictures is and even feminine they tell us the painter s ideal of character a graceful repose with a fitness for moderate action a capacity of emotion with a habit of reverie not one of these beings is in a state of not one is or perhaps could be thrown off its they are even the by entire though unconscious self possession while looking at them would be always coming up in my mind the line the genius feminine and f ir grace grace always july mr seems to have an exquisite to color and a great love for the last sometimes leads him to direct our attention too much to it and sometimes the are made too prominent we look too much at curtains rings feathers and i will two of these pictures which seem to me to indicate mr s as well as any the italian shepherd boy is seated in a wood the form is almost and the green glimmer of the wood gives the flesh the polished whiteness of marble he is very beautiful this boy and the beauty as mr loves it best has not yet unfolded all its leaves the heart of the flower is still a secret he sits as if he could sit there forever gracefully lost in reverie if we may judge from his mellow brown eye in the present loveliness of nature in the dimly anticipated of love every part of nature has its peculiar influence on the hill top one is roused in the valley soothed beside the absorbed and in the wood who has not like this boy walked as far as the excitement of exercise would carry him and then with blood listening in his frame and heart brightly awake seated himself on such a bank at he notices everything the clouds doubly soft the sky deeper blue as seen through the leaves the of golden light seen through the long the of a butterfly ready to light on some wood flower the peeping at him the flutter and wild notes of the birds the whispers and sighs of the trees gradually he ceases to mark any of these things and becomes in the harmony they combine to form who has ever felt this mood understands why the observant greek placed his departed great ones in groves while during this trance he hears the | 37 |
of nature he seems to become her and she him it is truly the mother in the child and the look out with eyes of tender twilight approbation from their beloved and loving trees such an hour lives for us again in this picture mr has been very fortunate in catching the and glimmer of the woods and his and to their peculiar light this is spoken of as s but i should think can scarcely have been suggested by the divine comedy the painter merely having in mind how the great loved a certain lady called embodied here his own ideal of a poet s love the of was no doubt as pure as gentle as high bred but also possessed of much higher attributes than this fair being how fair indeed and not for a poet s love but there lies in her no of the celestial destiny of s saint what she is what she can be it needs no to discover she is not a beauty neither is she a high and poetic one she is not a concentrated perfume nor a flower nor a star yet somewhat has she of every creature s best she has the golden mean without any touch of the she can the higher and compassionate the lower and do to all honor due with most grateful courtesy and nice tact she is velvet soft her mild and modest eyes have tempered all things round her till no rude sound her sphere yet if need were she could resist with as graceful composure as she can favor or bestow no vehement emotion shall heave that bosom and the tears shall fall on those cheeks more like dew than rain yet are her feelings delicate profound her love constant and tender her resentment calm but firm fair as a maid fairer as a wife fairest as a lady mother and ruler of a household she were better suited to a prince than a poet even if no prince could be found worthy of her i would not wed her to a poet if he lived in a cottage for her best graces demand a splendid setting to give them their due lustre and she should rather than cause her there are three pictures in the comic kind which are good it is genteel comedy not rich easily taken in and left but having the lights and shades well marked they show a in and the is particularly good and the whose head shoulder knee and foot seem to unite to spell the word is next best the sisters a picture quite unlike those i have named vol i no i exhibition july does hot please md much though i should suppose the execution remarkably good it is not in repose nor in harmony nor is it rich in du like the others it aims to speak but says little and is not beautiful enough to fill the heart with its present moment to me it makes a break in the chain of thought the other pictures had woven scene from bias also unlike the other in being perfectly and telling all its thought at once it is a fine mother and child a lovely little picture but there is to my taste an air of got up and delicacy in it it seems selected arranged by an intellectual effort it did not flow into the artist s mind like the others but persons of better taste than i like it better than i do jews full of character is too dignified and sad gold never the soul of the man that owned that face the at these i look with such delight that i have been at moments tempted to wish that the artist had concentrated his powers on this department of art in so high a degree does he exhibit the attributes of the master a power of sympathy which gives each landscape a perfectly individual character here the painter is in his theme and these pictures affect us as parts of nature so absorbed are we in contemplating them so is it to remember them as pictures how the clouds float how the trees live and breathe out their mysterious souls in the peculiar attitude of every leaf dear companions of my life whom yearly i know better yet into whose heart i can no more penetrate than see your roots while you live and grow i feel what you have said to this painter i can in some degree appreciate the power he has shown in repeating here the gentle the soul of the painter is in these but not his character is not that the highest art nature and the soul combined the former freed from slight or the latter from its merely human aspect these are too truly works of art their language is too direct too perfect to be translated into this of words without doing them an injury to those who confound praise with and who cannot understand the mind of one whose highest expression of admiration is a close scrutiny perhaps the following lines will convey a truer impression the foregoing remarks of the feelings of the writer they were suggested by a picture painted by mr for a gentleman of boston which has never yet been publicly exhibited it is of the same class with his and evening hymn pictures which were not in the above record because they inspired no thought except of their beauty which draws the heart into itself these two may be interesting as showing how similar trains of thought were opened in the minds of two to day i have been to see mr s new picture of the bride and am more convinced than ever of the depth and value of his genius and of how much food for thought his works contain the face disappointed me at first by its want of | 37 |
of the head to the soul not of nature not of history god man nature are miracles till because the soul is herself mysterious the saint is a mystic to the he lives to the soul he of her properties he dwells in her atmosphere of light and hope but the living to sense is identified with the flesh he dwells amidst the dust and of his own which dim his vision and obscure the heavens wherein the saint the face of god ix on the of her desires is an of the soul s eternity yearning for satisfaction yet ever of it from things she still her search for it and her faith remains amidst constant disappointments she would breathe life light her hope is eternal a never ending still beginning quest of the in her own bosom a perpetual effort to her divinity in time she feels the of both spiritual and material things she would appropriate the realm she by virtue her infinite direct all her members on things her vague and motions confess an aim beyond the of natures she is quivered with heavenly desires her is above the stars her arrows are snatched from the of heaven x every soul feels at times her own possibility of becoming a god she cannot rest in the human she after the this instinctive tendency is an of its own fulfilment men shall become gods every act of admiration prayer praise worship desire hope and the future of the soul xi discontent all life is eternal there is none other and all is but the struggle of the soul to herself of her immortality to recover her lost of the same by reason of her descent amidst the and worship of the of flesh and sense her discomfort her lapse from innocence her loss of the divine presence and sayings july fidelity alone shall the in her bosom xii temptation greater is he who is above temptation than he who being tempted the latter but the state from which the former has not fallen he who is tempted has temptation is impossible to the holy xiii choice choice the pure soul is above choice her hfe is unbroken she is a law to herself and finds no in her members against the instincts of conscience choose saints act from instinct and there is no of alien forces in their being xiv instinct and reason innocent the soul is quick with instincts of aim then she knows by what reason by laborious her and affections are direct and t worthy reason is the left hand of instinct it is awkward but the right is ready and by reasoning the soul to recover her lost groping amidst the obscure darkness of sense by means of the fingers of logic for treasures present and available to the eye of conscience must needs reason saints behold xv identity and it is the perpetual of conscience to divorce the soul from the dominion of sense to the of the apparent and restore the of the real the soul makes a double statement of all her facts to con science and sense reason between the two yet though double to sense she remains single and one in herself one in conscience many in understanding one in life in function and number sense in its infirmity breaks this unity to apprehend in part what it cannot grasp at once understanding notes conscience alone unity and all experience in identity of spirit number is of body alone not of spirit sayings xvi conscience ever present potent in the of mail there is that which never became a party in his guilt never consented to a wrong deed nor performed one but holds itself above all sin the deity of the heart the conscience of the soul the and the judge and of the divine law xvii in the of the soul do not rule god and the saints against them the of with voices and uplifted hand striving to silence the of the private heart and are special enemies of his and his multitudes ever lie every age is a and its into the hands of the multitude the voice of the private not popular heart is alone xviii speech there is a magic in free speaking especially on sacred most potent and it is refreshing amidst the common places in and to hear a hopeful word from an earnest upright men rally around it as to the in summer to the breeze that flows and refreshing from the mountains and their languid frames once heard they feel a sense of health and and wonder that tbey should have lain sick so long when a word has power to raise them from their couch and restore them to and once spoken it shall never be forgotten it charms ii visits them in dreams and haunts them during all their hours great indeed is the delight of sweet the sound of one s bosom thought as it returns laden with the fragrance of a brother s approval xix thought and action great thoughts and the still more is the of great deeds on tlie actor the i no sayings u j and joy of the soul at these of god is like that of the invalid again the mountain breeze after long confinement in chambers she feels herself a noble bird whose is in the that she is made to her bosom and herself in the of thought to and sing amidst the beholding the faces of and jove xx action action death into life into into experience man from the of tradition and the of habit the eternal scripture is thus of the into it by the of the ages action between conscience and sense it is the gospel of the understanding xxi most men are on the ebb but now and then a comes riding down in high hope from god on the flood tide | 37 |
of the soul as she sets into the of time old and laying waste the labors of centuries a new man wears channels broad and deep into the banks of the ages he away ancient boundaries and sets afloat institutions which the ever flowing present them on the shores of the past such is the of a new world a age hope an ark the dove over the waters the bow of promise the east the world is again and yet the sons of genius alone venture into the ark while most pass the rather down the stream of usage into the pool of oblivion the retreating tide rolls and by the of ease or urged by the winds of passion they glide down the waters and are not only the noble and heroic in time their exit from it xxii the world the state the church stand in awe of a man of and he their order and an unknown might in him he is an of out of the invisible god he comes to abide awhile amongst men yet neither men nor time shall remain as at his advent he is a element and men times life itself a new world in his ideal he the ages and reports to all men the will of the divinity whom he serves character is the only legitimate institution the only influence its power is infinite safe in the of his own integrity powers states to the man of character at last it is the temple which the soul to herself within whose genius and worship while the kneeling ages bend around them in admiration and love x x bread the hunger of an age is alike a and pledge of its own supply instinct is not only prophetic but when there is a general craving for bread that shall assuredly be satisfied bread is even then growing in the fields now men are lean and but behold the divine has driven his share through the age and sown us bread that we may not perish yea the even are going forth a and hopeful company while yet the fields weep with the of the morning and the wave in yellow soon a table be spread and the age rejoice in the fulness of plenty xxv prophet the prophet by of meditation and faithful to the spirit of the heart his eye of the of tradition his life of the of usage to the heights of immediate he the veil of sense he bridges the distance between faith and sight and spiritual without scripture or in the presence of god he with him ce to face xxvi method to benefit another either by word or deed you must sayings have passed from the state in which he is to a higher experience is both law and method of all all influence this holds alike of physical as of spiritual truths the demonstration must be the method living not i am not partial to your man who always holds his balance in hand and must weigh forthwith whatsoever of physical or chances to be laid on his counter i have observed that he thinks more of the accuracy and polish of his scales than of the quality of the wares in which he he never questions his own levity but yet these men are useful it is convenient to have standards of market these are the public s approved of and measures who determine the worth of popular wares by their favorite and usage it is well for the ages that genius both scales and men by a truer standard quite wide of or x viii prudence prudence is the of wisdom revelation the standing problem of genius is to divine the essential intimated in the life and literature of the past it of historical separating the foreign from the and the letter of the universal scripture into the spirit of life and letters xxx criticism to just criticism unity of mind is essential the critic must not esteem difference as real as and as permanent in the facts of nature this tendency is fatal to all sound and final thinking it never to the roots of things all minds have been inspired and guided by the law of unity their problem is ever to pierce the coarse and superficial of and discover the unity in whose core is the heart and seed of all things sayings we need what genius is unconsciously seeking and by some daring of the universe shall as discover a spiritual a whereby nature shall be divined in th soul the soul in god matter in spirit resolved into unity and that power which in all life and all shall itself as one universal present alike at the outskirts and centre of the universe whose centre and are one self yet containing all things in the unbroken of its being and corruption the soul the of nature in the reverse order of their composition read this backward for the natural history of their and growth generation and corruption are or adverse facts the tree first dies at the top to the house we first remove the the and analysis are from without according to the order of sense not of the soul all of nature must be through the order of decay science begins and ends in death in philosophy in organization art in creation each and all life all scientific analysis each organ and tion is modified in substance and varied in effect by the energy which throughout the whole my of things spiritual and the each is instinct with the all the all and in each spirit is all in all god man nature are a divine whose parts it is to genius must devoutly over all or analysis with her knife will seek to the of god god never his attributes fully in single he is instant but never wholly in his works nature | 37 |
may that we are too severe upon the we the following passage and from this account of obligation it that we are obliged to nothing but we ourselves are to gain or lose something by for nothing can be a violent motive to us as we should not be obliged to obey the laws or the magistrate unless rewards or pleasure or pain somehow or other depended upon our obedience so neither should we without the same reason be obliged to do what is right to practice virtue or to obey the commands f god and b ii c b translation of which the worldly selfish heart teaches this system came from and to and selfishness it is congenial to every soul in which the conscience and the spiritual faculties are not sufficiently developed to its influence and force its way up to a higher view of things but it is not every soul that has and force enough to do this there are many persons also whose thoughts are too much occupied with the business of their calling in life to allow them to give so much attention to the subject as to discover the and tendency of s system these men would fulfil the moral law but they are too busy to give much time to a study into its nature and they therefore take the most commonly received of that law as a standard of duty trusting that those who make it their business to study into these matters would never approve and recommend a or inadequate system if this system happen to be a low one the characters which they form upon it will be low too the system of any age is the of the state of morals in that age if the morals were better than the system the people would the system and if the system were much better than the morals it would be regarded as extravagant and be modified or laid aside for another hence he that would labor most for the improvement of a people s morals must also labor to introduce a more perfect theory of morals but as it is with a people so it is with individuals every man s theory is the of himself a man may borrow a theory that is higher or lower than himself but the dress never suits him it can never be his it is too small for him and he bursts it or it is too large for him and he is a david in s s system is wrong in that it does not recognise all the facts of man s moral nature the facts that has omitted either were not in his consciousness or else they formed so insignificant a part of it that they never attracted his attention therefore he omitted them a man constituted could not have done this it would be interesting to show if we had room how this system grew out of the time and place in which it appeared how looked upon the outside of ac s of july and saw them as they appear to the observer and not as they appear to the of them and then from the facts thus collected he inferred by the method then so busily applied to the natural the law from the facts just as he would have done in t ie natural assuming that whatever is is right he proceeded to the law of actions the moral law like the laws of motion from what was and not from what ought to be he could therefore get to no law that should lead us to higher the idea of progress is thus because bodies left fall to the ground it is inferred that is a law ordained of god and therefore right because men are or appeared to to act only from a regard to reward of punishment pleasure or pain he inferred that it is a law ordained of god it is their nature that they should do so so throughout his system it is no wonder that his system seemed clear judicious and sound for it was proving to them not that they ought to become more disinterested more and more holy but it was proving to them that what they were doing was right it flattered their vanity while it encouraged and gave them confidence in the and selfish course they were pursuing and which they were determined if public opinion were not too strong against them to pursue they felt exceedingly obliged to any one who would prove to them that this which they were so much inclined to was right was the law of the gospel and of god it would not be difficult to show that there is not a or criminal in our country or any other that cannot justify his course to himself by the principles of s philosophy as he would honestly understand it we the last of the foregoing sentence because it deserves particular attention and right prudence and conscience unite in if one could know all things his course would be the same whether he were guided by or by right although the motives and character of the individual might be different in the one case from what they would be in the other the course pursued would be the same in both cases but from this point and right prudence and conscience and the farther any individual is from it the more translation of the two rules of action will be for him hence the coarse which points out to any one will be oa a level with his character we can conceive how one may be so short sighted and have so strong and passions to justify to himself by the principles of s system any course of action that he may be strongly inclined to the pleasure and profit that will come from it far | 37 |
all the evil consequences that he can foresee will happen to himself there is too a chance of escaping these evil consequences and as by this system he is not bound to take anything else into consideration he will enter without hesitation upon bis desired course of action thus much will not have been said in vain if it serve to show the need of some work upon that shall take higher and more spiritual views than are presented in the popular it seems to us that m could not have taken a better method to communicate his views to the world than the one he has actually taken he begins by the false systems and showing wherein they are he would thus prepare the way for the true system we shall be obliged to be very brief in our analysis of the book our object in making the analysis is to recommend the book to our readers and show them what a rich treasure it is and to afford an opportunity for sundry remarks of our own upon the same topics in his first lecture m speaks of the different relations which a man his relation to god his relation to himself his relation to things his relation to his kind a knowledge of what b implied in and required by these four relations the whole of his philosophy the volumes before us are only an introduction to the great subject they consist mainly in a review of the systems of philosophy which make a system of impossible and a criticism of the and systems of that have been taught i the first system that m is that of necessity by denying that we can choose what we will do it the possibility of a law which shall to us what we ought to do one might as well speak of a moral law for the the great s translation of july ment for the doctrine of necessity is the of god to a thing that that thing is tain else it could not be but freedom of will that he thing about which the freedom is to be exercised is then requires that all things be certain and necessary freedom of will on the other hand requires that they be the problem is to reconcile the two if god events then he has made them certain or there is a fate behind him that has made them so and they are no longer upon the election of the will it seems impossible to solve this problem without greatly our view of god many do not feel its difficulty but of those that do feel it some adopt the doctrine of and necessity others get what they consider a solution while others like m say that they prefer to give up the of god if either must be given up they think they feel more sure of the freedom of their will than of the of god our only hope of a solution to this problem is by the foreign and contradictory element philosophy has now recognised the fact that time and space are only forms or modes of understanding things and not qualities of things themselves hence things only appear to us to sustain a relation to time and space the time element must therefore be from this problem as foreign and to it we should not then say that god but simply that he knows then there will appear to be no contradiction between god s knowledge and man s freedom ii the next false system which m takes up is the objection to is that it one from all his obligations to men and things and leaves only the relation of man to god and himself and not even these he says that rests upon two facts with all our efforts we cannot attain to more than a very small part of the good which our nature or accomplish except in an imperfect degree our destiny we cannot in this life secure even that measure of good which is actually within our reach except on condition of for the natural action of our faculties another mode of action whose characteristic is s of and whose consequence is fatigue we do not believe that the will acknowledge that these facts are the basis of their system actions like the walls of our houses have two faces which are totally unlike an outside face seen by the observer and an inside one seen by the of the actions only m not being himself a mystic and of course not having seen the inside of cannot represent it to their satisfaction he like everybody else must interpret others by himself it is very likely that a perception of these two facts would make m a mystic if anything would therefore he that it is the cause of wherever it appears we suspect that there must be some facts in the consciousness of a mystic which owing to a constitutional difference are not to be found or at least have not been found in s m however aims at nothing farther than to give an account of in so far as it influences in so far as it proceeds from the facts to which he its origin and leads to the consequences that he points out his remarks are quite satisfactory we should give another account of we should say that it originated in a great of the reason the faculty of insight over the understanding the faculty for explaining and things this constitution of mind is also usually accompanied with a large development of the imagination the mystic up so high as though to god face to face that his feet cannot touch the ground by so doing he sees truths or what he calls truths which his feeble understanding cannot and state he can only his impressions his imagination immediately presents image or series of | 37 |
images by which his thought can be suggested and he writes a a or an which taken literally that is interpreted by the understanding would give nonsense or at least bad sense one must put himself into the condition of the speaker or writer before he can understand him it would be unjust to these men and to history not to acknowledge that the men who have been in advance of their age in spiritual matters have always been considered by their more vol no translation of july or less inclined to they are the of the age they are made to utter what they cannot thoroughly understand and state to themselves we are like men entering a by its only mouth we the light by our own bodies so that it is dark before us and it is only when we turn round and look back and reflect upon what is behind us that all is light and clear all is darkness and mystery before us and therefore ihe foremost must be iii the third system that m is he takes this system as developed by the two lectures on this subject we presume will be found less satisfactory than any others in the book he that he does not fully understand as we shall be obliged to omit some things that we would gladly say if we could without our proper limits we will pass this account of with merely remarking upon its defects as the foundation of an system laying down the principle that there can be but one being and one cause necessarily all and thus ail liberty in one being and necessarily liberty to all but this one being even if it liberty to him as in some cases it does not hence man so far as moral obligation is concerned man s desires thoughts and good and bad are of god and if so they must be good and are bad only in appearance if at all hence the tendency of is to remove the moral from all our to and iv the other false system of philosophy which makes a system of impossible is this consists in denying that there is any such thing as absolute truth or in maintaining that if there is the human faculties are inadequate to its discovery with the there is no truth all is mere opinion if there is no truth or if we cannot know the truth there can be no system of which we shall feel obliged to obey we shall not know that that thing which is commanded is right and true and if it be not we are under no obligation to it the of this system is a statement of the fact that we do know some things to be absolutely true in as well as in s of in the next lecture m speaks of the of the present age this is a most admirable lecture we will not attempt to give an outline of it for every word of it is too precious to be omitted and we hope that all who read our article will read this one le ture if they cannot be induced or cannot find time to read the whole of the two volumes the reader will bear in mind that the author was a frenchman and is speaking more particularly of france but the most of what he says is as to other nations as to his own we have departed somewhat from the author s method of taking up his subjects before these four systems of philosophy which make a system of impossible he has two lectures upon the facts of man s moral nature these are two excellent chapters and contain the basis of s system their contents cannot be too deeply impressed upon the memory there are three successive in the soul each bringing new facts new motives and a new law of action the first is impulse then the intellect and after that the spiritual faculties the first development is that of impulse thus hunger and impulses of the like kind which arise from the very constitution of our natures are of this class they compel us to action these motives do not always have self but often the good of another person for their object thus the mother s care of her child is of this kind undoubtedly it makes her happy to take care of her child it is no less clear that it is in the highest sense of the word right and duty that she should but we suspect she does it not so much because of the happiness it will her or because she thinks it is right and a duty to do it as because she loves the child here then is the first class of facts in a man s moral nature we call them impulses because they because they arise in the soul sometimes by any outward object whatever and sometimes excited by some outward object and a man from within to action but when the intellect comes into activity we recollect that the gratification of our gave us pleasure hence a desire to this pleasure or gratification becomes a motive to action this is self love we seek s translation of july to ourselves with those things that will minister to our enjoyment we seek to know and do what will to our happiness if we are assured that the obedience to a certain law or the compliance with certain conditions will secure our happiness here and hereafter we and think it right to do so the development or rather the of thought does something for the benevolent impulses similar to what it does for the selfish ones the individual is conscious that he has promoted the happiness of one whom he loves intellect becomes a of his generous impulses and he means to do good to others while | 37 |
in this state we are to use the expression of st paul under the law we must go to the written law to know what is right we then obey it from a desire to escape the consequences of wrong doing or at best from a sense of duty and not from love as it is with religion so it is with other things if one would write a poem or he must study the authors that have written upon these subjects that he may know what are the laws of this class of and what is good taste he is not a law unto himself but is under the law he does not know that the soul never the laws of art or good taste we offend and mar only when we are stupid affected or seek to do mechanically what can be properly done by inspiration only the soul is always a poet and an artist it is a law unto itself in these matters true feeling and glowing thought will do more to give one a good style and manner than all outward but there is another law and other facts that are in the consciousness it is the idea of order of absolute good of right and a love of this becomes a motive to action we see something that is good and true in itself and therefore ought to be we feel it our duty to pursue it this motive is not impulse it is not a consideration of personal good whether it be the good of ourselves or of others it is a love of what is good and right and true in itself and for its own sake of any other considerations or motives whatever m treats this development of the soul only in relation to his subject as introducing new facts into a man s moral nature and furnishing a new motive and law s of of action this development if we mistake not deserves a more distinct recognition and a more full and scientific treatment than it has yet received we can of course pretend to give nothing more than an outline of it in the present article we shall speak of this development only in its relation to the thought of the individual in the earliest part of their lives persons are under the of their parents they can understand and receive before they can examine and for themselves they not only their parents views but also the common sentiment and belief of the community in which they live in politics they are of the same party in religion they are of the same and of the same school in philosophy with their parents and the friends by whom they have been surrounded of course they must have received all these views upon some outward authority for as yet their minds are not sufficiently developed to examine them thoroughly and perceive their truth this authority may be parents friends public sentiment usage or anything out of themselves with these views resting upon such grounds they are satisfied and content for a while they are content to take these things upon outward foreign authority because as yet know of no other they are under the law this law may be usage fashion public opinion the opinion of friends or of men of high reputation or the they are content to rest upon these outward foundations because as we have just said they know as yet of no other but with the development of the spiritual sense they have another foundation whereon to build a window is thus opened through which the mind can see or rather an eye is given by which to look into the nature of things we thus come to have an of what must be of the absolute and necessary it is seen to be as and absolutely necessary that love and not hate should be the law and condition of happiness among moral beings as that all the angles around any given point should be equal to four right angles it is seen that humility and self a foundation and necessity in the nature of things as much as that two and two should be four when one begins to see that truth and right are absolute and founded on the nature of things into which he s of july is now able to see for himself he asks why may not these become the basis upon which to build all that i receive is not this the rock upon which if one build he shall never be moved ah other foundations are sandy do the best that i can they will often admit of a doubt a suspicion suppose i could prove that god had sent a man into the world to reveal all the truth that we need to know a thing which it would be very difficult if not impossible to prove beyond the possibility of a doubt i should still be left to doubt in many cases if i understood him aright but if i build upon the soul there can be no doubt here then i empty myself of all that i have been taught of all that i have received and will henceforth receive nothing whose foundation in the soul i cannot see he thus passes from into from which he will gradually into a faith that cannot be shaken by this method he the ideal or perfect state and thus can understand the and wrongs of the actual one his tendency is to become a radical to tear down all things that do not square with the ideal everything that is wrong or imperfect he would have done away if he be of a bold ambitious temperament he by declaring war against all existing institutions and customs his tendency is to overlook the stubborn fact that the gross actual can never be brought up to the ideal if | 37 |
he be timid and care more for the of this world and the glory of them than for the kingdom of heaven he will his visionary and fall down and worship in ardent and susceptible the period of this change is one of great suffering the sufferer will go to friends for sympathy to the wise for counsel to books for instruction they can at best afford but temporary relief and very likely will make him worse he must tread the wine press all alone he can have no more rest until he have a faith built upon the soul if he will have patience perseverance and integrity stern integrity a cheerful faith will come in due time but he must make no compromise no shift if he would not sacrifice his prospect of a serene and tranquil life he must await the lord s time this change is sudden and violent in ardent and enthusiastic natures slow and gradual in s translation ill ones persons in whom sentiment and feeling greatly exceed thought and reflection and who therefore rest upon sentiment rather than upon thought may not be conscious of any change like what we have described they are more poetic than philosophic such is a very hasty and imperfect outline of the transition from to faith m after having the four systems of philosophy which in one way or another make impossible proceeds to examine the various false and imperfect systems of which have been taught he first the selfish system he takes it as developed and taught by and this system is wrong inasmuch as it fails to recognise the generous and benevolent impulses and any of the facts of the spiritual development so radical a defect must of course spoil the system even if it do not make it po mischievous these teachers recognise no higher motive than and no higher law than self interest well understood this is the very lowest view that any one who had any portion however small of human nature within him could possibly take our author then passes to a consideration of those systems which recognise disinterested motives motives that are distinct from self love and of these he first considers tlie sentimental system this system was developed and taught by adam smith it is usually called the system of sympathy smith taught that the essence of morality could consist only in such actions as could be generally approved of by sympathy we put ourselves in the condition of others and judge of the propriety of their actions from this impartial judgment we infer the general rule of action hence the rule of this system would be act so as that others will with you and approve of what you do in other words it would say all things whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you do ye even so unto them a great advance was made upon the selfish system the fact of had been recognised but we easily see the defects of this system its defect is that it does not recognise all of the impulses as motives to action and they are certainly right and proper s of july in certain cases as hunger for instance neither does it recognise at all the love of the true and the beautiful the good and the right of personal considerations its practical defect is that it does not give a stand ard or idea of duty that is sufficiently elevated i am to do what i would have another do unto me what if i am not good and wise enough to wish to have another do the thing that is right and best for me i am my own standard and in that case i should do what is not right and best for another i am to act so that others will with and approve of what i do this is appealing to public opinion for a standard but what if others are not wise and good enough to appreciate and approve of the highest and best things that one can do according to this theory he must not do them the next system that m was taught by butler and the former was a and man of the world the second was a divine and was a by profession they saw the of smith s system and sought to introduce a better one held with says that the good and the beautiful are identical philosophers of this class hold that good is a quality of actions and is to be seen by a special and appropriate sense called the moral sense just as color is seen by the eye what we thus see to be good we feel that we ought to do but this system is in not all of the motives to action that we are conscious of the practical defect is that it does not recognise the use of the understanding in what is our duty it teaches that all duty is perceived by a direct vision of the moral sense or conscience as color is perceived by a direct vision of the eye now in most cases this may appear to be true if we do not the action of the mind too closely but in difficult cases we know that we do not see at once what is our duty we often hesitate long before we can form an opinion and then frequently change it after it is once formed but if this system were true there could be no deliberation no of opinion as to right and duty any more than there could as to the color of an object whether it were black or white s translation of none of the false systems of that we have thus far spoken of recognise innate ideas as a part of the facts of consciousness the next step towards the true theory was the recognition of | 37 |
these innate ideas the systems that do this are called rational systems m takes the one developed by richard price the views of price are essentially the same as those taught by dr and the of his time this system agreed with the system of moral sense in teaching that good is only a quality of actions it considers good as a simple quality recognised at first sight but the rational system from that of the moral sense in teaching that this quality is perceived not by a peculiar and appropriate sense for it but by the a of the pure reason this change may seem unimportant at first thought but it is in reality a great change price was undoubtedly led to it by perceiving the defects of s theory by acknowledging that we have a price taught that we can have an acquaintance with absolute and necessary truths with truths that are above us and independent of our will and the activity of our minds we receive the mind of god into our minds and these a are the direct inspiration and gift of god a communication is thus opened between us and the infinite the eternal and the absolute these or of the pure reason must be in and the same in all minds for they are the mind of god hence the principles of morality and right are eternal and they are founded in the nature of things and are as necessary as the truths of this system is to the same practical objections that were brought against the system of the moral sense it leaves no room for the exercise of the understanding in what is duty this is contrary to fact and experience it moreover leads to and headlong in persons who have more activity than thought and to and in the their theory of morals does not teach them as it should that the quickness with which they arrive at their conclusions is only a result of their they consider the delay and deliberation of constituted minds as a moral they feel that vol i no i s of july they are not called upon to exercise charity those who think differently upon matters of right and duty any more than they are towards those that assert that gold is white and coal yellow but it always a high culture a much higher moral than intellectual culture to adopt the rational system we would therefore deal gently with it and treat those who receive it with great respect we are nevertheless compelled if we would do justice to every part of human nature to point out its defects these defects will be felt by those only who have a turn of mind by attending to the operations of their own minds they will find that they do not and cannot judge of a thing whether it be right and or not merely by knowing what the thing is in other words they will find that good and right is not a quality of actions but rather the relation of actions to some ultimate good which relation can be determined only by an exercise of the understanding m has not attempted to develop his own system in the work before us yet we think that it would not be difficult to foresee from what has been said what its essential features would be he must recognise every motive that we are conscious of the impulses the love of others and the love of the right and true and beautiful in and for itself he would deny that good and right are qualities of actions to be directly perceived by a special and appropriate sense he would maintain that there is an absolute good order right or beauty the ideas of which are furnished by the reason prior to any judgment of the understanding and before we can say of any act or thing this is good pr right or beautiful all things he would teach whether actions or institutions are judged of by comparing them with the ideas of absolute good and beauty furnished to the mind by the reason and approved or condemned accordingly whatever to bring about this absolute good is right and whatever does not is wrong and should be avoided duty is only a means to the absolute good the difference between this and the rational system consists principally in the result of the analysis of that action of the mind by which we come to know what is right would say that duty is but a means to the s translation of good and that we have no way of knowing what is duty of knowing what things are a means to this absolute good except by comparing them with it price and those who hold the sentimental system would say that we have a faculty for knowing these means by some quality inherent in them and that too without knowing the end until one has arrived at it it would not be safe or fair to proceed to examine s system until he has developed it himself yet we will venture a few remarks upon it when according to this system one has formed an idea of the absolute good the means by which it is brought about are left to be determined by prudence by so far as this feature of his system is concerned would with the systems of and others only in the end for which one is to labor both systems recognise and prudence as the method of what is our duty the difference consists mainly in the different ends proposed in the system of and the selfish systems generally the end is the good of self and morality is self interest well understood with the end is the absolute good by the former system we are taught to consult prudence and to ascertain what will be most to self interest | 37 |
by the latter we are to consult the same guides to ascertain what will be most to the absolute good m would say that having fixed upon the absolute good as the end we are left to prudence to choose the means we should think from the lectures before us that m s system would overlook what seems to be true in price s method of deciding upon duty is it not a matter of consciousness that we do decide concerning some things in and for themselves without any regard to their consequences that they are right and must never be omitted or that they are wrong and ought never to be done have we not certain instinctive impressions that make us feel that certain things are right and others are wrong without any regard to consequences or to absolute good or in other words is not this part of price s system true though not the whole truth k so s system is true but not the whole truth he takes the matter where price leaves it if m this part of price s system into his own and s of july then extends his system over the ground that is not covered by price s and we will not that he will not we think that he will leave but very little if anything for those who come after him to do except to carry out his system into its almost infinite and in the last lecture m passes in hasty review the rational systems of and wolf we cannot here notice their systems we cannot conceive of a better introduction to the true system of than one upon m s plan and his work is on the whole as satisfactory as we have a right to expect from any man it great clearness patient industry and his soul however is not one of the which contains within itself all other possible souls his heart is not ardent passionate and enthusiastic enough to have felt all that has been felt by the human heart his intellect is not comprehensive enough to have thought all that has been thought and therefore he does not comprehend all humanity within himself he cannot take all the points of view from which things human and divine may be considered he cannot be purely enough an intellect and have that intellect large enough to comprehend and his system he cannot put himself into a condition where reason and the imagination are sufficiently over the understanding to fully comprehend the yet the value of the book before us as an introduction to is but slightly if at all diminished on this account but there is an essential in at best their problem is to find a law of duty that shall apply to all cases a law which one person can determine for another a law to which every one has a right if not to enforce yet to expect and demand obedience but christ is the end of the law to every one that believes the highest statement of is justice but there is a higher than justice even love which is the of the law many things there are which ought to be done many things there are which the generous heart will feel inclined to do but which no system of can prove that he ought to do the highest thing that justice can say is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but love says resist not evil love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that use you and you but the law is a to bring us unto christ who is the end of the law it is therefore of great importance that we understand this law and to this end we the work of that we have been as one of the best helps tiiat can be found w if you have imagined what a divine work is spread out for the poet and approach this author too in the hope of finding the field at length fairly entered on you will hardly from the words of the ad here is none of the interior dignity of nor the elegance and fire of nor any be needed to remind you that from those older greek poets there is a sad descent to scarcely can you distinguish one harmonious sound amid this with the follies of men one sees how has its place in thought but hardly as yet in language when the muse arrives we wait for her to language and impart to it her own hitherto the verse groans and labors with its load but goes not forward singing by the way the best may be indeed is itself a and has a poor and trivial sound like a man stepping on the rounds of a ladder and and milton and marvel and are but the rustling of leaves and of twigs in the forest and not yet the sound of any bird the muse has never lifted up her voice to sing most of all satire will not be sung a or do not marry music to their verse but are measured at best stand but just outside the faults they july condemn and so are concerned rather about the monster they have escaped the fair prospect before them let them live on an age not a one and they will have travelled out of his shadow and harm s way and found other objects to as long as there is nature the poet is as it were one sees not but he had best let bad take care of itself and have to do only with what is beyond suspicion if you light on the least of truth and it is the weight of the whole body still which the faintest trace an eternity will | 37 |
a sense of our for what deed does not fall and imperfect from our hands but only a warning to less the of are the farthest possible from evidently a chosen not imposed subject perhaps i have given him credit for more earnestness than is apparent but certain it is that that which alone we can call which is forever independent and consistent was in earnest and so the sober consideration of all the artist and his work are not to be separated the most foolish man cannot stand aloof from his folly but the deed and the together make ever one sober fact the may not bribe you to laugh always at his they shall themselves in egyptian granite to stand heavy as the on the ground of his character t the shield the old man said take thou this shield my son long tried in battle and long tried by age guarded by this thy fathers did engage trusting to this the victory they have won forth from the tower hope and desire had built in youth s bright i gazed upon tlie plain there struggled countless hosts while many a stain marked where the blood of brave men had been with spirit strong i to the fight what sudden chill rushes through every vein those fatal arms me all in vain my fainting limbs seek their accustomed might were those arms for men of other mould our hands they our spirits free i throw them on tlie ground and suddenly comes back my strength returns my spirit bold i stand alone yet not alone who no law but what within he finds his own vision not to other minds he fights with thee father aid thou thy son j vol i no i the problem july the i a church i like a cow i love a prophet of the soul and on my heart fall like sweet strains or pensive yet not for all his faith can see would i that be wh should the on him which i could not on me endure not from a vain or shallow thought his awful jove young brought never from lips of fell the thrilling out from the heart of nature rolled the burdens of the bible old the of nations came lake the s tongue of flame up from the burning core below the of love and wa the hand that rounded peter s dome and the of rome wrought in a sad sincerity himself from god he could not free he better than he knew the conscious stone to beauty grew know st thou what yon wood bird s nest of leaves and feathers from her breast or how the fish her shell painting with mom each annual cell or how the sacred pine tree adds to her old leaves new such and so grew these holy piles whilst love and terror laid the earth proudly wears the as the best upon her and morning with haste her to gaze upon tne o er england s the sky as on its friends with kindred eye for out of thought s interior sphere these rose to upper air and nature gladly save them place adopted them into her race and granted them an equal date with and with these temples grew as grows the grass art might obey but not the master lent his hand to the vast soul that o er him planned and the same power that reared the the that knelt within v the with one flame the countless host the heart through and through the priest ue mind the word unto the prophet spoken was writ on tables yet unbroken the word bv or told in of oak or of gold still upon the morning wind still whispers to the mind one accent of the holy ghost the heedless world hath never lost i know what say the fathers wise the book itself before lies old best and he who both in his line the younger golden or mines the of his words are music in mv ear i see his portrait dear and yet for all his faith could see i would not the good bishop be come he leaves the earth and says enough and more unto thee have i given oh earth for all with hand free and gave i up but now i leave thy pale hopes and dear pains the rode fields where so many years i ve and where no other feeling gave me strength save that from them my home was aye in view for only transient clouds could hide from me my s home whence it came where should go enough more than enough now let me rest i and dreamed that life was beauty j i woke and found that life was was thy dream then a shadowy lie j toil on sad heart i and thou shalt find thy dream to be a light and truth to thee j of the past winter the op the past winter music has made a decided progress in our city this last winter this has appeared in the popularity of the compared with other amusements and in the unusual amount of good music which has not been wholly thrown away upon us of course many a lover of the art could not but look upon all this could not fail to see that people were determined to this or that concert by fashion rather than by taste and that the cheap of always carried away the crowd while the artist sang or played to the few we cannot flatter ourselves for a moment that we of boston are or shall be for years to come a musical people the devoted lover of the art is only beginning to be and recognised as one better than an he must still | 37 |
keep to his incredulous practical neighbors for the heavenly influence which haunts him he does not live in a genial atmosphere of music but in the cold east wind of utility and meets few who will acknowledge that what he loves has anything to do with life still we are confident we feel a progress is a musical element in the people for there is certainly a religious sentiment a restlessness which more than the actual affords an and yearning of the heart for communion which cannot take place through words and thoughts but only through some medium like music it is not nature s fault if we want the musical sense or organ slow but sure development under proper culture will prove this singing is taught in schools embracing thousands without much consciousness to be sure of the higher meaning of music but with great success in producing quick and correct ears and pure voices and in making the number of those who can sing and read music and of those who can enjoy and appreciate it vastly greater than it was this for the and there is a looking that way and the art bids fair sooner or later to have justice done it next to thorough in the we want inspiring models we want to hear good music in the of the past winter schools the surface of the soil is loosened it is time that good seeds should be dropped into it the of the country choir and the dancing master s fiddle the and variations of the music shop s songs and jim crow and are not apt to visit the popular mind with the deep emotions of true music should be heard more and and and the works of true genius which cannot be too familiar since they are always new like nature should salute our ears until the nobler within our souls respond we should be taught the same reverence for and as for and having felt the spell of their upon us should glow at the mention of their names every opportunity of hearing good music is to be hailed as an angel s visit in our community it is in this view that we look back with pleasure upon the of the past season that music of any kind draws crowds is encouraging but we have been more than encouraged on looking over our old concert bills which we have kept through the winter as a record of pleasant hours to see how much genuine classic music has been brought out with more or less success at the various music which the few devoutly musical had heard of and longed to hear with but a faint hope that they should soon be so music which us within the charmed of genius like s in attempting to single out the most significant from such a multitude of performances we shall of course omit much that was for our opportunity of hearing was limited nor is our memory sure nor our space sufficient most worthy of mention were the of the and society we had the twice and the creation several times s david had the greatest run as usual it is brilliant and and had been more thoroughly practised and learned than the other pieces but as a composition it should not be mentioned with them its interest away when it is repeated beyond a certain point while that of the steadily to the former we owe some bright hours to the latter an influence for life we feel tempted to call the the only and to doubt if of the part winter july there will ever be another david is something between the and the opera it is too too individual and personal too to be sublime the was brought out this winter for the first time in a manner which made it felt and conveyed some idea or of its true grandeur depth and beauty many hearers then for the first time discovered what a treasure the world contained and were moved to try to appreciate it this effect was owing in great part to the society s new hall tlie which gives ample scope to the great the though small was uncommonly good much as we loved this music before we were not properly aware until now of the surpassing beauty of the they were by when was limited and filled out with a glorious warmth of by to have done it so well his soul must have become with the very spirit of the original seems to have the one subject for an humanity s anticipation of its this properly is the one theme of all pure music this is the mysterious promise which it whispers this is the hope with which it fills us as its tones seem to fell from the blue sky or to through the earth s from its secret divine fountains music is the the of the heart to the infinite it is the prayer of faith which has bo fear no weakness in it it us from our actual bondage it us up above our accidents and us on waves of melody to the heart s ideal home this longing of the heart which is a permanent fact of human life and with which all know how to has received its most perfect historical form in the expectation of a the and coming of stand as a type forever of the divine restlessness the prophetic yearning of the heart of humanity has any poet found words for this feeling to match with those of the and the of old with wonderful judgment called out the noblest of those grand sentences and constructed them into a complete and unity they are almost the only words we know which do not limit the free world ever shifting genius of music words the language of thoughts of the past winter are too definite | 37 |
and the wings and the graceful movements of this spirit she of limits and charms us along with her to the infinite she loves to wander through the vague immense and seems everywhere at once then only is she beautiful with the growth of the musical taste therefore one a more and more decided preference for music rather than song music rather than music wedded another art which never can be quite congenial we prefer a s to anything ever sung with the single exception of s in that the words seem one with the music as eternal as sublime as universal and they set no limit to the music out contain in themselves seeds of inexhaustible and we could not spare a word or suffer any change the always must have meaning to all men it is so its are the voice of all humanity its songs are the communion of the solitary soul with the infinite but there is no or in it no talking of individual with individual either it is the sublime of the soul in the multitude or it is the sublime of the soul alone with god and then its depths of sadness from such depths alone could roll those mighty ocean of triumph the chorus the wonderful chorus and worthy the lamb the will always stand in its stern simplicity as one of the adopted of nature how different t e creation we are in another element with another man with that sunny genial busy nature if with all is unity grandeur bold simplicity here all is variety individuality profusion of detail if with it is to the unknown here it is description of the known if one another world the other lovingly the hues of this world with bold hand sketches gigantic shadows which lose themselves in infinite space with everything is happily planned within the limits of certainty and and gracefully finished it is the perfection of art a work of s is a temple there it stands complete in itself and fully executed and suggests no more a work of s still more of s is a cathedral of the past winter july which seems never finished but becoming growing yearning and striving upwards the beginning only of a boundless plan whose is in another world we enjoy with the serene pleasure of doing things the ever fresh surprise of accomplishment with him we round off and finish one thing after another and look upon it and it good but we do not lift our eyes away and for what is beyond constant cheerful activity was the element of hence the creation was the very subject for the man his whole nature chose it for him in the creation the are prominent and the voices secondary the the picture the voices but hint its meaning literal description of nature is carried even too far in it beautiful and surprising as those are of chaos and the birth of light and rolling ocean and smooth meadows and and birds and breezes monsters of the deep and of the forest and insects sparkling like gold dust in the sunny air yet often they seem too mechanical and curious and out of the province of art which should breathe the spirit of nature as a whole and not copy too carefully the things that are in it whoever has studied the pastoral or the pastoral of will feel the difference between music which flows from an inward feeling of nature from a common consciousness as it were with nature and the music which only copies from without her single features these pieces bring all summer sensations over you but they do not let you identify a note or a passage as standing for a stream or a bird they do not say look at this or that now imagine now thunder now mountains and now chasing shadows but they make you feel as you would if you were lying on a grassy slope in a summer s afternoon with the melancholy leisure of a shepherd and these things all around you without your noticing them you this or that by means of various qualities and of tone and various movements with wonderful success he calls up images you admire the ingenuity and the beauty but are not inspired we were glad to hear the opening representing chaos performed by the so as to give us some dim conception of of the past winter what it might be when given by a great and practised abroad here of course these things are done upon a small scale still they the lover of music an opportunity to study the great works of which he has heard and thus prepare himself to hear them whenever he shall be blessed with a hearing of them in their full proportions we do feel that we grow familiar with the though we have only heard it here the characteristic and eternal features of the composition as it was in the mind of seem to come out more and more clearly as we think it over and remain in our mind long after the accidents of an inadequate performance are forgotten an ideal of what the in itself must be is nourished in us by the as we have it under such comparatively poor advantages for this we thank the and society we congratulate them on the success of their last performances and think the interest with which a crowded audience listened a sign of some significance in a community only beginning to be musical would it not have been better to have repeated the again and again and then the ci as long as would come that so our people might study and get to appreciate this grand music they require to be heard many times until their wander through our vacant minds unconsciously as we walk and as we work a repeated performance of | 37 |
the as good as the two given last winter would do more to bring out the latent musical taste of the people than anything else unless it were a very perfect opera which we cannot have next to the we remember with most pleasure the two of mr and the two of mr the distinguished these gentlemen are both artists the former superior in elegance and finish of execution the latter in fire and energy the former seems to have accomplished most the latter promises most there is inspiration as well as skill in his performance they have introduced us to the new school of piano playing and have let us hear some of the wonderful of and these masters have given a new meaning to the piano having by practice vol i no i of the past july to more or less of genius attained to a mastery of its powers and bringing out the peculiar soul as it were of the instrument in a way unknown before their are peculiarly piano and adapted to the display of their new arts of astonishing execution it was a satisfaction to hear them they certainly have a great deal of character and are in their kind we can enjoy them for what they are without complaining that they are not something else they are rich brilliant wild astonishing they in rapture and rage of all fantastic motions they are the heaving of the deep now dark now lit by of lightning they are the sweeping breeze of the forest they are the flickering they are the cool flow of the summer evening they are the dance of the by moonlight they are everything marvellous and exquisite there is marked individuality too in the works of each there is sweet pathos in the of there is a fond dreamy home sickness in the de by and in his ff i were a bird fly to thee how the soul and away the instrument becomes the of was altogether the wildest and most original thing of all and displayed a genius which we might expect from this devout admirer of we can admire too though without much lasting soul satisfaction the massive gorgeous of one of the of this style of playing which is highly expressive consists in carrying on an air in the middle of the instrument with a accompaniment playing around it above and below the story seems earth and sky in this way the whole length of the piano speaks at once and it becomes quite an in itself it is with pleasure that we record these things and we hope to have an opportunity to appreciate them better that we may judge them more but we should have been much more pleased to have heard the of the concert stuck of and such true classic works not written for the sake of displaying the piano but for the sake of music the of the day show much of ambition too of inspiration of of the past winter true feeling in their playing and their choice of these performances varied by two of for piano c given in the best style of oar young german professors who always play as if they breathed an element which we do not these were rare sounds in our concert rooms the few artists who cultivate this music seem to keep it to themselves and to feel that it would be casting pearls before swine to produce it before which can be about but was not the result in these trials encouraging there was profound silence in the room followed by a gleam of pure satisfaction on most faces as we looked round or was it only the fancied reflection of our own mood we think not let us have more of this how can we ever have taste enough to keep warm if they will risk nothing upon us and never give us a chance to hear the best mr knight s last concert deserves particular notice as being the first and the only concert in this place composed entirely of classic from great masters it was music for the few who we trust are gradually becoming more and we were surprised that all the lovers of good music did not come out here we had s which however we were sorry to hear into an english song which is not nearly so beautiful and is moreover an entire change of subject not the theme which first inspired the music mr knight sang it in his usual and true style though with hardly enough of feeling the second movement too was sung much too rapidly it did not give the ear time to dwell upon those magnificent of the accompaniment which is as wonderful as the part for the voice but for a just criticism of this and of the whole concert we would refer to the excellent musical magazine of mr a work which we are glad to notice in passing for next to good music itself good musical criticism should be hailed as among the encouraging signs mr knight also sang with great effect the by and the king by two genuine flowers of german song then there was a of a by a of s and another of s and several the past tf inter july more pieces of that order mr knight is perhaps the most of all the singers who have visited us some of his own are original and highly intellectual his skill in accompaniment is remarkable for a audience his singing of a common sentimental song is too cold and fails to move but his singing of such music as the songs in the creation is more than if he remains with us we trust he will continue to presume upon the growing taste of the public and to labor for art more than popularity such efforts will in time be rewarded | 37 |
by the formation of a sure and audience the amateur have cultivated the higher classic music with encouraging success and by the to which they invite their friends occasionally do much to create a taste for the best and on the last occasion they were assisted by the social glee club the performances of both were excellent and the selection of pieces such as would interest an audience of the house was crowded the grand and dark of another by that of and a by the pupil of were given with much effect and evidently felt by the crowd of a similar character though more miscellaneous was the complimentary concert got up by the members of the musical corps for mr the modest and deserving leader for many years of the and enthusiasm for the man brought together the largest which has yet appeared in our city the to la was admirably executed it is worth noticing that this was the first instance we remember of an s being repeated at the call of an audience this promises something we could not but feel that the materials that evening collected might if they could be kept together through the year and induced to practise form an worthy to execute the grand works of and and audience would improve together and we might even hope to hear one day the and the of the boston academy have been very lately giving a short series of public performances which should be among of the past winter the most attractive and popular if there is any charm in the names of x c but the audience was not worthy of the occasion the general public those who go to for amusement or from the fashion of the thing had doubtless been wearied out with long before still worse those who went seemed not to be mainly of the musical class and a magnificent organ of performed by mr the most accomplished who has been among us was thrown away upon a yawning talking assembly the spring from s seasons was better appreciated because of its the academy want singers moreover their style of singing seems too merely mechanically precise without glow and a common consciousness instruments and voices into one our people are not yet so musical that they can be attracted by a piece without regard to the they will go to hear c sooner than they will to hear or but we hope the academy will in producing what they can of the great music the audience one day will come round much more might be mentioned but we have not space and it was our purpose only to mention what stood out in our memory most as signs of real progress looking back over this wide field of we note the few sunny spots our dial does not tell the time of day except the sun shine it what is dull and merely of course and the signs of hope were this the proper place we might say much of what has been done in a way in private musical circles much of the music of what the english call chamber has been heard and enjoyed in various houses by the few were all these little circles brought together it would form a musical public which no artist need despise this leads us to make a few suggestions in view of a coming concert season we want two things frequent public performances of the best music and a constant audience of which the two or three hundred most musical persons in the community shall be the good music has been so rare that when it comes those who know how to enjoy such do not trust it and do not go a dialogue july to secure these ends might not a plan of this kind be realized let a few of our most accomplished and refined a series of cheap like the or the classic of in england let them engage to perform c with occasionally a by the best masters and no other let them repeat the best and most characteristic pieces enough to make them a study to the audience to a proper audience there should be to the course the two or three hundred who are scattered about and really long to hear and make acquaintance with and could easily be brought together by such an attraction and would form a to whatever audience might be collected and would give a tone to the whole and secure attention why will not our friends messrs c undertake this it might be but a labor of love at the outset but it would create in time the taste which would it and reward it might not a series of lectures too on the different and be under the of the academy or some other association parallel with the musical performances a biography and critical analysis of the musical genius of for instance would add interest to the performance of the d a dialogue mt cup already doth with light o descend fair sun i am all for the hour come to thy flower the sun ah if i pause my work will not be done on i must run the mountains wait i love thee flower but give to love no hour the morning breeze post of nature of the wise most airy of the most keen of thy thoughts like still dear the sweetest scented flowers have been with s colors thou sunset paint with s dig celestial love with s pencil each deceit and of meanness and to devotion s highest flight sublime the mind by tenderest pathos art in tears the heart or bid it shuddering at crime the fond illusions of the youth ana maid at which so many world formed sneer when by thy altar lighted torch displayed our natural religion can appear all things in thee tend to one star all | 37 |
ease and convenience the belief in the proper inspiration of man has departed literary accomplishments skill in grammar and knowledge of books can never for the want of things which demand voice literature is a poor trick when it itself to make words pass for things the most original book in the world is the bible this old collection of the of love and dread of the supreme desires and of men proceeding out of the region of the grand and eternal by whatsoever different mouths spoken and through a wide extent of times and countries seems especially if you add to our the kindred sacred writings of the and the of the nations and all literature either the chronicle of facts under very inferior ideas or when it rises to sentiment the or of this the elevation of this book may be measured by observing how certainly all elevation of thought clothes itself in the words and forms of speech of that book for the human mind is not now sufficiently erect to judge and correct that scripture whatever is thought in a great moral element instantly approaches this old it is in the nature of things that the highest originality must be moral the only person who can be entirely independent of this fountain of literature and equal to it must be a prophet in his own proper person the first literary genius of the world the highest in whom the moral is not the element on the bible his poetry it if we examine this brilliant influence as it lies in our minds we shall find it not only of the letter of this book but of the whole frame of society which stood in europe upon it deeply indebted to the morality in short compared with the tone of the secondary on the other hand the do not imply the existence of or to no books or arts only to dread ideas and emotions people imagine that the place which the bible holds in the world it owes to miracles it owes it simply to the fact that it came out of a depth of thought than any other book and the effect must be precisely fancied that it was of circumstances that on modem literature gave christianity its place in history but in nature it takes an to balance an all just criticism will not only behold in literature the action of necessary laws but must also literature itself the erect mind all books what are books it they can have no permanent value how obviously they are to their authors the books of the nations the universal books are long ago forgotten by those who wrote them and one day we shall forget this learning literature is made up of a few ideas and a few it is a heap of and an or two we must learn to judge books by absolute standards when we are aroused to a life in ourselves these of letters grow very pale and cold men seem to forget that all literature is and y entertain the supposition of its utter disappearance they deem not only letters in general but the best books in particular parts of a harmony fatal and do not go behind and much less behind moses and st john but no man can be a good critic of any book who does not read it in a wisdom which the instructions of any book and treats the whole product of the human intellect as only one age and by him in our fidelity to the higher truth we need not our debt in our actual state of culture in the of experience to these rude they keep alive the memory and the hope of a better day when we all particular books as merely we truly express the privilege of spiritual nature but alas not the fact and of this low and boston of these humble and of mortal life our souls are not self fed but do eat and drink of water and wheat let us not forget the genial miraculous force we have known to proceed from a book we go musing into the vault of day and night no shines no muse the stars are white points the roses leaves and pipe and along the road we return to the and take up or and read a few sentences or pages and lo the air with life the front of thoughts on modem literature heaven is full of fiery shapes secrets of and grandeur invite us on every band life is made up of them such is our debt to a book observe moreover that we ought to credit literature with much more than the bare word it gives us i have just been reading poems which dow in my memory shine with a certain steady warm light that is not in their construction which they give me if i the sentences it me but is the genius and suggestion of the whole over every true poem a certain wild beauty a happiness and delicious fills the heart and brain as they say every man walks by his proper atmosphere extending to some distance around this beautiful result must be to literature also in casting its account in looking at the library of the present age we are first struck with the fact of the immense it can hardly be by any species of book for every opinion old and new every hope and fear every whim and folly has an organ it prints a vast of tradition every year with as much solemnity as a new revelation along with these it books that breathe of new morning that seem to heave with the life of millions books for which men and women peak and pine books which take the rose out of the cheek of him that wrote them and give him to the midnight | 37 |
a sad solitary man which leave no man where they found him but make him better or worse and which work on society and seem to it with a before any healthy result appears in order to any complete view of the literature of the present age an inquiry should include what it what it writes and what it wishes to write in our present attempt to some traits of the recent literature we shall have somewhat to offer on each of these topics but we cannot promise to set in very exact order what we have to say in the first place it has all books it the wisdom of the world how can the age be a bad one which gives me and paul and st and and sir thomas beside its own riches our presses thoughts on modem literature groan every year with new of all the select pieces of the first of mankind meditations history opinions which the age them if we should favorite studies in which the age delights more than in the rest of this great mass of the permanent literature of the human race one or two instances would be conspicuous first the prodigious growth and influence of the genius of in the last one hundred and fifty years is itself a fact of the first importance it almost alone has called out the genius of the german nation into an activity which spreading from the poetic into the scientific religious and philosophical has made theirs now at last the intellectual influence of the world with great energy on england and america and thus and not by mechanical does an original genius work and spread himself society becomes an immense not otherwise could the poet be admired nay not even seen not until his living conversing and writing had his spirit into the young and acquiring class so that he had multiplied himself into a thousand sons a thousand and so understands himself secondly the history of freedom it studies with eagerness in civil in religious in philosophic history it has every monument of saxon history and law and mainly every scrap of printed or written paper remaining from the period of the english it has out of england devoted much thought and pains to the history of philosophy it has in all nations where was any literature for the early poetry not only the dramatic but the for songs and the lied the poems of and henry of in germany for the in spain for the rough cast verse of the interior nations of europe and in britain for the of scotland and of in its own books also our age its wants achievements and hopes a wide superficial cultivation often a mere clearing and indicate the new taste in the hitherto neglected savage whether of the cities or the fields to know the arts and share the spiritual of the refined the time is marked by the multitude of writers soldiers sailors servants princes women write thoughts on modem literature books the progress of trade and the for have made the world again of course it is well informed all facts are exposed the age is not to be with it wishes to know who is who and what is what let there be no ghost stories more send and to explore and the let captain learn if there be a passage to america and mr learn the true course of the will go to and sir francis head to the to the of and to canada then let us have true and correct we will know where stood and settle the of the roman we will know whatever is to be known of of of of egypt of of thus has become a great reading room and its books have the convenient merits of the newspaper its eminent propriety and its superficial of information the age is well bred knows the world has no nonsense and is well distinguished from the learned ages that preceded ours that there is no fool like your learned fool is a proverb illustrated in the history and writings of the english and european scholars for the half that preceded the beginning of the century the best heads of their time build or occupy such card house theories of religion politics and natural science as a clever boy would now blow away what stuff in in in lord bacon with all his french wit and downright sense is little better a would wind him round his finger some of the medical remains of lord bacon in the book for his own use of the of life move a smile in the of the medical college they remind us of the and practice of the and of eastern romance thus we find in his collection of a of scarlet cloth or young healthy boys applied to the stomach so they be made of austere materials to remember for the mouth and orange flower water to be or up in the third hour after the is risen tp take in thoughts on modem literature air from some high and open place with a of b and fresh and to stir the earth with of wine and to use once during supper time wine in which gold is heroic desires to provide always an apt break st to do nothing against a man s genius to the substance of some of these we have no objection we think we should get no better at the medical college to day and of all we should reckon the best heroic desires and doing nothing against one s genius yet the principle of modern is different in the same place it is curious to find a good deal of pretty nonsense concerning the virtues of the ashes of a the heart of an the moss that upon the skull of a dead man and the comfort that proceeds to | 37 |
feelings of personal history a man may say j and never refer to himself as an individual and a man may passages of his life with no feeling of nor need a man have a vicious because he in abstract but the which these two habits in the poet s mind is the tendency of his composition namely whether it leads us to nature or to the person of the writer the great always introduce us to facts small men introduce us always to themselves the great man even whilst he relates a private fact personal to him is really leading us away from him to an universal experience his own affection is in nature in what ta and of course all his communication leads outward to it starting from whatsoever point the great never with their own consent become a load on the minds they instruct the more they draw us to them the farther from them or more independent of them we are because they have brought us to the knowledge of somewhat deeper than both them and us the great never hinder us for as the jews had a custom of laying their beds north and south founded on an opinion that the path of god was east and west and they would not by the of sleep the divine so the activity of the good is with the of the world with the sun and moon with the course of the rivers and of the winds with the stream of in the street and with all the activity and well being of the race the great lead us to nature and in our age to nature to the invisible awful facts to moral which are not less nature than is a river or a coal mine nay they are far more nature but its essence and soul thoughts an modem literature but the weak and evil led also to saw nothing in thought but luxury thought for the selfish became selfish they invited us to contemplate nature and showed us an abominable self would you know the genius of the writer do not his talents or his but ask what spirit is he of do gladness and hope and fortitude flow from his page into thy heart has he led thee to nature because his own soul was too happy in be holding her power and love or is his passion for the wilderness only the sensibility of the sick the exhibition of a talent which only shines whilst you praise it which has no root in the character and thus minister to the vanity but not to the happiness of the possessor and which all its from our conventional education but would not make itself intelligible to the wise man of another age or country the water we wash with never speaks of itself nor does fire or wind or tree neither does the noble natural man he himself to your occasion and use but his act expresses a reference to universal good another element of the modern poetry akin to this tendency or rather the direction of that same on the question of resources is the feeling of the infinite the perception now fast becoming a conscious fact that there is one mind and that all the powers and privileges which lie in any lie in all that i as a man may claim and appropriate whatever of true or fair or good or strong has anywhere been exhibited that moses and and are not so much individuals as they are parts of man and parts of me and my intelligence proves them my own literature is far the best expression it is true this is not the only nor the obvious lesson it teaches a selfish commerce and government have caught the eye and the hand of the masses it is not to be that selfishness and the senses write the laws under which we live and that the street seems to be built and the men and women in it moving not in reference to pure and grand ends but rather to very short and sordid ones perhaps no considerable perhaps no one man leads a quite clean and lofty life what then we in sadness the fact but we say that these low customary ways are not all that thoughts on modem literature in human beings there is that in us which and that which groans and that which triumphs and that which there are facts on which men of the world smile which are worth all their trade and politics the impulses namely which drive young men into gardens and solitary places and cause extravagant gestures starts of the countenance and passionate exclamations sentiments which find no or language for themselves on the in court or market but which are soothed by silence by darkness by the pale stars and the presence of nature all over the modern world the educated and susceptible have betrayed their discontent with the limits of our life and with the poverty of our of religion and philosophy they betray this impatience by for resource to a conversation with nature which is in a certain moody and exploring spirit as if they anticipated a more intimate union of man with the world than has been known in recent ages those who cannot tell what they desire or expect still sigh and struggle with indefinite thoughts and vast wishes the very child in the nursery and doubts and a wild striving to express a more inward and infinite sense the works of every art the of is said by those who understand it to labor with and aspirations than music has attempted before this feeling of the infinite has deeply colored the poetry of the period this new love of the vast always native in germany was imported into france by de appeared in england in and finds a most genial climate in | 37 |
the american mind scott and who formed themselves on the past had none of this tendency their poetry is in on the other hand it but in it is blind it sees not its true end an infinite good alive and beautiful a hfe nourished on absolute descending into nature to behold itself reflected there his will is he the accidents of society and his praise of nature is and selfish nothing the of this taste in the people more than the circulation of the poems one would say most united by some of on modem literature and the only unity is in the and the common to the three writers though a poetic mind is never a poet his muse is uniformly all his poems a good english scholar he is with ear taste and memory much more he is a character full of noble and prophetic traits but imagination the original fire of the bard he has not he is clearly modern and shares with and the feeling of the infinite which so labors for expression in their different genius but all his lines are arbitrary not necessary when we read poetry the mind asks was this verse one of twenty which the author might have written as well or is this what that man was created to say but whilst every line of the true poet will be genuine he is in a boundless power and freedom to say a million things and the reason why he can say one thing well is because his vision extends to the sight of all things and so he describes each as one who knows many and all the fame of is a leading fact in modern literature when it is considered how hostile his genius at first seemed to the taste and with what feeble poetic talents his great and steadily growing dominion has been established more than any poet his success has been not his own but that of the idea which he shared with his and which he has rarely succeeded in expressing the excursion awakened in every lover of nature the right feeling we saw stars shine we felt the awe of mountains we heard the rustle of the wind in the grass and knew again the secret of solitude it was a great joy it was nearer to nature than anything we had before but the interest of the poem ended almost with the narrative of the influences of nature on the mind of the boy in the first book obviously for that passage the poem was written and with the exception of this and of a few strains of the like character in the the whole poem was dull here was no poem but here was poetry and a sure index where the subtle muse was about to pitch her tent and find the argument of her song it was the human soul in these last ages striving for a just publication of itself add to this however the great praise of that more than any other contemporary thoughts on modem literature bard he is pervaded with a reverence of somewhat higher than conscious thought there is in him that property common to all great poets a wisdom of humanity which is superior to any talents which they exert it is the wisest part of and of milton for they are poets by the free course which they allow to the informing soul which through their eyes again and the things which it hath made the soul is superior to its knowledge wiser than any of its works with the name of rises to our recollection the name of his contemporary and friend walter savage a man working in a very different and peculiar spirit yet one whose genius and accomplishments deserve a wiser criticism than we have yet seen applied to and the rather that his name does not readily associate itself with any school of writers of thomas also we shall say nothing at this time since the quality and the energy of his influence on the youth of this country will require at our hands ere long a distinct and acknowledgment but of all men he who has united in himself and that in the most extraordinary degree the tendencies of the era is the german poet and philosopher whatever the age inherited or invented he made his own he has owed to commerce and to the of the understanding all their spoils such was his capacity that the magazines of the world s ancient or modem wealth which arts and intercourse and could command he wanted them all had there been twice so much he could have used it as well merchant king radical painter all worked for him and a thousand men seemed to lock through his eyes he learned as readily as other breathe of all the men of this time not one has seemed so much at home in it as he he was not afraid to live and in him this of facts which it has been the boast of the age to wrought an equal effect he was knowing he was brave he was clean from all he has a perfect propriety and taste a quality by no means common to the german writers nay since the earth as we said had become a reading room the new opportunities seem to have aided him to be that an modem literature resolute he is and his sturdy determination to see things for what they are to look at him one would say there was never an observer before what sagacity what industry of observation to read his record is a of time for you shall find no word that does not stand for a thing and he is of that comprehension which can see the value of truth his love of nature has seemed to give a new | 37 |
meaning to that word there was never man more in this world than he and he is an apology for the spirit of the period because of his analysis always were the result all all traditions he rejected and yet he felt his entire right and duty to stand before and try and judge every fact in nature he thought it necessary to dot round with his own pen the entire sphere of and for many of his stories this seems the only reason here is a piece of humanity i had hitherto omitted to sketch take this he does not say so in yet a sort of conscientious feeling he had to be up to the universe is the best account and apology for many of them he shared also the of the age and that too in both the senses i have with the eye for form color persons and manners he never stopped at surface but pierced the purpose of a thing and studied to reconcile that purpose with his own being what he could so reconcile was good what he could not was false hence a certain greatness every fact he treats for to him it has a soul an eternal reason why it was so and not otherwise this is the secret of that deep which went about among all objects he beheld to find the cause why they must be what they are it was with him a favorite task to find a theory of every institution custom art work of art which he witness his explanation of the italian mode of reckoning the hours of the day as growing out of the italian climate of the of egypt as growing out of a common natural in the granite in upper egypt of the architecture and the of the music of the in the habit of the wives of the singing to their husbands on the sea of the which is the of the natural cup of heads that thoughts on modem itself round every spectacle in the street of the of and paul which one may in the common daylight in every afternoon of the at rome of the domestic rural architecture in italy and many the like examples but also that other vicious that vice of the time him also we are provoked with his self complacency the air with which he to the genius and performances of other mortals the good our excellent the friendly c c is a good letter from to in which relates that read to a select party his journal of a tour in with the grand duke and their passage through and over the st it was says as good as s the piece is one of his most productions and is thought and written with the greatness peculiar to him the fair hearers were enthusiastic at the nature in this piece i liked the sly art in the composition whereof they saw nothing still better it is a true poem so concealed is the art too but what most remarkably in this as in all his other works him from and is that the me the everywhere through although without any and with an infinite this subtle element of in certainly does not seem to his but to lower the moral influence of the man he from all the great in the total want of frankness saw milton saw saw them do their best and utter their whole heart among their brethren no man was permitted to call brother he hid himself and worked always to astonish which is an and therefore little if we try by the ordinary of criticism we should say that his thinking is of great and all level not a succession of but a high table land dramatic power the talent in literature he has very little he has an eye constant to the fact of life and that never pauses in its advance but the great the miracles of poetry he has never it is all design with him just thought and instructed expression allusion illustration which knowledge and i no ii thoughts m modem literature thinking supply but of and the muse no syllable yet in the court and law to which we ordinarily speak and without to absolute standards we claim for him the praise of truth of fidelity to his intellectual nature he is the king of all scholars in these days and in this country where the scholars are few and idle where men read easy books and sleep after dinner it seems as if no book could so safely be put in the hands of young men as the letters of which the incessant activity of this man to eighty years in an endless variety of studies with uniform cheerfulness and greatness of mind they cannot be read without u into an industry let him have the praise of the love of truth we think when we contemplate the glory of the world that it were life enough for one man merely to lift his hands and cry with st who pleases i will wonder well this he did here was a man who in the feeling that the thing itself was so admirable as to leave all comment behind went up and down from object to object lifting the veil from every one and did no more what he said of may be said of him that it was fearful to stand in the presence of one before whom all the boundaries within which nature has our being were laid flat his are the bright and terrible eyes which meet the modern student in every sacred chapel of thought in every public but now that we may not seem to the question which all men ask nor pay a great man so ill a compliment as to praise him only in the conventional and comparative speech let us honestly record | 37 |
our thought upon the total worth and influence of this genius does he represent not only the achievement of that age in which he lived but that which it would be and is now becoming and what shall we think of that absence of the moral sentiment that singular to him of good and evil in action which his to the pure the spirit of his biography of his poems of his tales is identical and we may here set down by way of comment on his genius the impressions recently awakened in us by the story of all great men have written proudly nor cared to explain thoughts an modem literature they knew that the intelligent reader would come at last and would thank them so did so did has done this in we can fancy him saying to himself there are poets enough of the ideal let me paint the actual as after years of dreams it will still appear and to wise men that all shall right itself in the long morrow i may well allow and my novel may easily wait for the same the age that can damn it as false and will see that it is deeply one with the genius and history of all the centuries i have given my characters a bias to error men have the same i have let befall instead of good fortune they do so daily and out of many vices and misfortunes i have let a great success grow as i had known in my own and many other examples fierce and will and hate my name but every keen of life will justify my truth and will me of the cause of humanity by painting it with this fidelity to a profound soul is not austere truth the sweetest flattery yes o but the ideal is truer the actual that is but this changes not moreover because nature is moral that mind only can see in which the same order entirely an truth beauty and goodness each wholly in the other must make the of that eye which would see causes reaching to their last effect and the world forever the least of mixture the excess of one element over the other in that degree the of things makes the world to the observer and so far the value of his experience no particular gifts can this defect in reading i am charmed with the insight to use a phrase of ben s it is with life i find there actual men and women even too faithfully painted i am moreover instructed in the possibility of a highly society and taught to look for great talent and culture under a grey coat but this is all the limits of artificial society are never quite out of sight the vicious which hem us in like prison walls and which the poet should at his touch stand for all they ar worth in the newspaper i am never lifted above myself i i thoughts an modem literature i am not transported out of the dominion of the senses or cheered with an infinite tenderness or armed with a grand trust then must be set down as the poet of the ac not of the ideal the poet of not of of this world and not of religion and hope in short if i may say so the poet of prose and not of poetry he the base doctrine of fate and what straggling joys may yet remain out of its ban he is like a banker or a with a passion for the country he out of the hot streets before sunrise or after sunset or on a rare holiday to get a draught of sweet air and a gaze at the magnificence of summer but dares not break from his slavery and lead a man s life in a man s relation to nature in that which should be his own place he feels like a and is back presently to his task and his cell poetry is with thus external the of the chain the of his fate but the muse never those thunder tones which cause to the sun and the moon which by dreadful melody all this iron of circumstance and the old heavens and the old earth before the or of man that had not a moral perception to his other powers is not then i merely a circumstance as we might relate of a man that he had or had not the sense of tune or an eye for colors but it is the cardinal fact of health or disease since lacking this he failed in the high sense to be a creator and with divine drops by decree into the common history of genius he was content to fall into the track of vulgar poets and spend on common aims his splendid and has declined the proffered to now and then a man in many centuries in the power of his genius of a of the human mind he has written better than other poets only as his talent was but the ambition of creation he refused life for him is prettier easier wiser has a or two more on its robe but its old eternal burden is not relieved no drop of blood flows yet in its veins let him pass humanity must wait for its physician still at the side of the road and confess as this man goes out that they have served it better who assured it out of the on modem literature innocent hope in their hearts that a physician will come than this majestic artist with all the of wit of science and of power at his command the criticism which is not so much spoken as felt in reference to us directly in the hope of literature we feel that a man gifted like him should not leave the world as he | 37 |
found it it is true though somewhat sad that every fine genius teaches us how to blame himself being so much we cannot forgive him for not being more when one of these grand is whom nature seems to design for eternal and draw to her bosom we think that the old of europe and asia the trivial forms of daily life will now end and a new morning break on us all what is what is england what is our and social scale of ranks and shall not a poet redeem us from these and pale their lustre before the fires of the divine wisdom which burn in his heart all that in our sovereign moments each of us has divined of the powers of thought all the hints of and energy which we have caught this man should and constitute facts and this is the craving which alternately and men at this day the doctrine of the life of man established after the truth through all his faculties this is the thought which the literature of this hour and labors to say this is that which tunes the tongue and fires the eye and sits in the silence of the youth verily it will not long want articulate and melodious expression there is nothing in the heart but comes presently to the lips the very depth of the sentiment which is the author of all the life we see is for the riches of science and of song in the age to come he who doubts whether this age or this country can yield any contribution to the literature of the world only his own blindness to the necessities of the human soul has the power of poetry ceased or the need have the eyes ceased to see that which they would have and which they have not have they ceased to see other eyes are there no lonely anxious wondering children who must tell their tale are we not whipped by thoughts thoughts on modem literature in borrow and in love of thoughts not yet the heart beats in this age as of old and the passions are busy as ever nature has not lost one of her beauty one impulse of resistance and from the necessity of loving none are and he that loves must utter his desires a charm as radiant as beauty ever beamed a love that at the sight of its object is new to day the world does not than of old there are sad tliat must be told man is not so far lost but that he suffers ever the great discontent which is the of his loss and the of his recovery in the gay saloon he that these figures are not what and painted withered though he stand and though he be the august spirit of the world looks out from his eyes in his heart he knows the ache of spiritual pain and his thought can the sea and land what then shall hinder the genius of the time from speaking its thought it cannot be silent if it would it will write in a higher spirit and a wider knowledge and with a practical aim than ever yet guided the pen of poet it will write the annals of a changed world and record the descent of principles into practice of love into government of love into trade it will describe the new heroic life of man the now possibility of simple living and of clean and noble relations with men religion will bind again these that were sometime frivolous customary enemies into a joyful reverence for the whole and that which was ecstasy shall become daily bread e silence put their finger on their lip the powers above the seas their islands the i i ocean dip they love but name not love crossing the first crossing the what are you stepping westward yea upward along the vast crushing the withering oak leaves beneath his foot strolling the traveller goes toiling slowly behind him follows the stage heavy laden sometimes lost in the trees frequently seen far below on the summit he the s purple clusters the chestnut new dropped out of its thorn guarded nest wherefore now he musing down the long valley wherefore wander his eyes toward the horizon afar say is he waiting impatient to see when straining and smoking the heads of the horses may come winding up the white road or watching the rainbow glories which deck the opposite mountain where autumn of gives each tree a hue of its own perchance he looks at the river winds far below vexed and foaming round rocks which it cannot remove ah that river runs westward for from this summit the waters part like brothers who far from the family home some to the mighty atlantic some to the far on this dividing ridge turning he looks toward the land where is the home of his fathers where are the graves of dear ones whom has already snatched out of his circle of love and oh forgive ye forgive him that loved household circle if with his mother s form if with his sister he sees another and dearer shape gliding softly between them gliding gracefully up fixing his heart and his eye ah how lovely the picture how forever attractive the image which up from the past like to a beautiful dream yet not a dream was it but one of tlie picturesque moments sent to adorn our life cheering its years real was the heavy disease which fastened his head to his pillow real the burning heat in every feverish limb real the pains which tormented every delicate fibre rousing his drowsy soul to a half conscious life and so waking one night out of a long vague and feverish thoughts haunted as his brain all around was familiar it was his own little chamber | 37 |
but all seemed to him strange nothing would come to him right ghostly shadows were stretching their arms on the wall and the round and round within a of thoughts round and round they went his will had no power to restrain them round and ever around some insignificant thing it was as if on his brain a with a hammer was beating and each blow as it fell was to be counted by him moments spun out to years so long the torture continued wearied out at last he moved and uttered a groan then was the gloom dispersed for from the shadows a figure arose and lightly stepped to the side of the bed crossing the bent down gently and kissed his brow while her beautiful lay on his burning cheek and soft was the touch dearest she said and every which distressed him darted off at the word as if from s spear tenderly from her eye moist with gentle affection into his very soul entered her look she was his cousin and friend they were from their childhood therefore hers was the right in his sick chamber to watch cousin sister and friend many the titles he gave her now in each beating heart closer the union was knit softly pressing her hand to his lips he sank into slumber great o love is thy skill quite a physician art thou instead of the gold headed cane instead of the wig and the snuff box give me the boy him for a doctor i t e such was the picture which came before the mind of the this the image which rose constantly floating around such a beautiful moment haunts the soul with its who can tell it to sleep shut in the tomb of the past but see the carriage is near flee ye sweet recollections now must we seem a man easy and strong as the rest ready in word and act this alone will protect us just as this guards the young fruit from its foes thus then he the carriage sitting aloft with the wider the eye can range the heart can beat here now we have climbed to the summit now there open before us stretching fa to the west valleys and rivers and woods downward by gentle degrees along the side of the mountain winds our road close to shooting up from below spread the tops of the pine trees here a single rolls us a thousand feet down but courage trust to the driver trust to the sure footed horses trust to that mighty power who holds us all in his hand merrily the team of the well filled desirous where below like a map lie many houses and farms over them all we look over and meadows over the winding streams with of mist over an ocean of up to the distant horizon many a mile beyond stretches our road nature vast as thou art we can face thee look on thy giant forms with an eye he who carries within him a spirit conscious and active treasures of well arranged thought gathered from action and life has believed and loved who knows all the worth of the moment when soul soul together beat he has a world within to match beautiful mother he can give to thee more than he can take from thy hand wanderer tremble not before this grand let not this mighty scene weary heart or thine eye bring the romance of life to balance the romance of nature the spirit has hopes as vast the heart has its pictures as fair f c a sign from the west a sign from the west the here noticed is by of college when we remember that its author is and has for years been an eminent divine we cannot but regard this word of his as of the most and encouraging signs of the times we hail with joy this free utterance from the west we do not know indeed if even from this comparatively enlightened and liberal section of the country and from the bosom of the most body of christian any and bolder word has been spoken than this it cannot fail we think to spread panic through the ranks of the custom it cannot fail to be welcomed by every for truth without attempting a complete review of the work before us we would sketch roughly its main features give a few and perhaps add some reflections of our own it appears from the author s preface that he has been for a long time in a state the thoughts he says contained in the following pages were gradually suggested to the mind of the writer during the last twenty five years of course then he has been more or less suspected of but the he is on the part of his brother and not to be charged upon him for he says is departure from faith in christ as the chief corner stone and building with the gold silver wood hay or of human speculations he will by no means take the confession of faith as an rule of belief for this very confession says itself that the bible only is such a rule he will not suffer himself to be chained down to a he will be his own master and reverence his own soul the claims of truth he says are sacred and awful a mind by authority is to the god of truth who made it free is in three parts in which are shown its n evils and remedy by a vol no ii a sign from the west the work is in the form of and consists of eight conversations between the author and two friends a and a the significant names of these are and the conversation moves onward very pleasantly and naturally and without the of who | 37 |
what was it they were about making a system of what of the ef the eternal mind respecting what the infinite the boundless the unknown their projected system was to be a tower whose top should pierce the skies and overlook the universe an eternity they failed of course as did their on the plains of for the enterprise was too great for mortals their language was confounded they divided into companies and each company built a system so that the whole face of has become dotted over with the of these ant hills rather than towers the of angry insects ever ready to bite and sting each other except when they make a for the purpose of a common a set of opinions are extracted from the bible and put into the form of a system and this system is held more sacred than the bible itself that many make a religion of their which consists in a steady not to say obstinate to these opinions they are viewed as a sacred and precious deposit to be kept explained guarded and defended with the most jealousy and the most ardent zeal they are called god s truth his honor is supposed to be concerned in their preservation and feel as if to surrender one of them would be to put their salvation itself in on the next page he says the truths of divine revelation supposing those of his system to be identical with the truths of divine revelation were never proposed by their as matters of science truths to serve as subjects on which to exercise the powers of contemplation and but as great moral principles to move and the heart and to govern the life as presenting motives to the will sentiments and views to the spirit light to the conscience models of moral beauty to and exercise the desires and affections their use is as intimated before to produce not or a set of sound opinions but or a course of right conduct p a sign from the west this great truth the impossibility ot making a science a system of is well developed and illustrated in the third and fourth conversations the doctrine that spiritual things are only discerned is in opposition to that which that a man s creed is his religion we feel compelled to give our readers a rather long passage at the end of the fourth conversation in which the author his views with regard to spiritual and the evidence of miracles about the year the celebrated dr published a work on the evidences of christianity in which he rejected the internal evidences entirely his reason for so doing is remarkable i shall state it in his own words we have says he experience of man but we have no experience of god we can reason upon the prudence of man in given circumstances because this is an accessible subject and comes under the of observation but we cannot reason on the prudence of the almighty in given circumstances this is an inaccessible subject and comes not within the limits of direct and personal observation again he says there can be nothing completely above us and beyond us as the plans of the infinite mind which extend to all time and embrace all worlds there is no subject to which the cautious and humble spirit of lord bacon s philosophy is more nor can we conceive a more glaring rebellion against the authority of its than for beings of a day to sit in judgment upon the eternal and apply their paltry experience to the of his high and wisdom there is doubtless some in these remarks but taken together as advanced by their author for the purpose of tlie argument drawn from the internal evidences by showing that it is not a legitimate argument because to a subject inaccessible and beyond our reach they have filled me with no little surprise and especially as coming from a christian divine of such distinguished abilities how could it have escaped the penetration of such a mind as his that the objection he raises against the le of the argument from the internal evidence must with all its force upon the argument from the external evidences of miracle and prophecy on which he is anxious to rest the whole weight of the question were the deity to me an inaccessible subject had i no knowledge of him previous to the revelation proposed to me in the sacred of what use i ask would a miracle be to me suppose i saw for instance raised from the dead how would this convince that the effect produced was produced by the power of god if i knew nothing previously about the power of god were i entirely ignorant of the power of god i could not without presumption think or say anything whatever respecting it what it could or could not effect tho raising of a dead man to life might be beyond his power for anything i could tell and if on the subject i ought to reply god is an inaccessible subject i have no experience of him i dare not sit in judgment in a case where i know it would be an act of a sign from the rebellion against the humble and cautious spirit of bacon besides suppose i were somehow convinced that the of was indeed effected by the power of god still that would afford me no good reason why i should rely on any statement made ma by his messenger were i not previously acquainted with other attributes of his nature or were his character as to other traits of it an inaccessible subject god i might say has by his power restored this dead man to life before my eyes for what to gain my confidence in the truth of certain statements that are made or to be made in his | 37 |
name but power and truth have no necessary god may be a i have no experience of his character nor can i have it is an inaccessible subject he may be a selfish and malignant being and this very miracle may have been wrought to win and my confidence the truth is the very appeal made by miracles themselves on which dr is willing to rest the whole weight of the argument in favor of is a useless and idle appeal if made to a man in any age of the world and in any circumstances were man such a being as the dr s argument but he is not there is in his nature wrapped up in the depths of his spirit a revelation of god prior of course to all external revelation and but for this an external revelation were as useless as it would be impossible and at the same time as impossible as it would be to the beasts that perish where did we get our moral and their corresponding sentiments our sense of the true the right the just the beautiful the fair the to as the called it not from the bible surely any more than we got our eyes from the bible we use the latter in its sacred pages but we are not indebted to these pages for our eyes neither are we for the seeing spirit the living faith in moral goodness which the spirit of the eternal into us in lighting up within us the principle of an immortal life in virtue of which we can see god and with him trace the impressions left by his hand on the face of external nature and hear the sweet tones of his voice as they sound through all her lovely palaces and echo in the recesses of the temple in our own no god is not an inaccessible subject he is nearer us than any other subject our spirit touches his what am i saying his spirit ours in him we live and move and have our being we are his offspring and how could it be thought by a christian divine and philosopher that he had made himself inaccessible to his children hidden himself from the view of all of them except a favored few to whom a special revelation was to be made the paul thought differently for he says that his eternal power and are clearly seen in the visible creation st john thought differently for he in him was light and the light was the life of men the which every man that into the world the royal thought differently for he says the heavens declare the glory of the lord the his handy work day unto day speech and night unto night knowledge there is no speech no language their voice is not heard their sound is gone out into all the earth their instruction to the end of the world no god is not an inaccessible subject if he were no miracle a sign from the west no prophecy no words nor art of man could bring him within the reach of our thoughts we should want an within to teach us the import of whatever impression from without might be made upon senses were man made destitute of spirit how could he scale by the help of any outward revelation the heights by which the moral is raised above the physical pleasure he might understand through the soul as affected by impressions made on the bodily senses and but without spirit a moral nature how could he form a conception of moral goodness and beauty and without a conception of this how could he by miracle or any other means be made to apprehend god power he might discover but power is not god the skill of contrivance he might discover in the structure of nature but an almighty of boundless skill is not god god is a spirit god is love god is wisdom and goodness their ends these things he could not understand from anything without he must draw them up from the depths of his own spirit where god himself first to man and where man finds in himself those moral ideas which he puts together and out of these frames the grand idea of which god is the there is a which by hearing but before this in order and importance there is a faith which the word of revelation and which therefore this word does not produce according to the representation of the matter in the of the there is required a goodness in the soil which the seed that is sown upon it has no agency in producing this is the faith in question it is what may be called faith in moral goodness to this the when he says that the word of the gospel was revealed from faith to faith meaning from the faith that is of god its author to the faith or trust in him existing in those who were to receive it when the government of ancient greece sent abroad a public servant with whom a correspondence was to be carried on the matter of which required secrecy they adopted the following expedient two were formed exactly of the same dimensions one of which the officer took with him the other remained at home with the government and should occasion require a communication to be sent they took a narrow slip of and rolled it the staff beginning at one end and proceeding to the other till the whole was completely covered on this they wrote their communication it wan then taken off and sent to the officer should it bv any fall into the hands of an he could make nothing of it if it arrived safe the officer receiving it his staff with it and thus it became such a letter | 37 |
light which every one into the world it is no man s exclusive property it is common free and as the light the air and the water there can be no here the invitation is to all ho every one who come ye to the waters on me shall never thirst sin alone keeps us from the fountain unless we resemble our eyes will be that we shall not know him his character will seem too lofty for our imitation and his words too for our comprehension we may profess to follow him but it will be but a phantom not the real christ but let us be true to the highest within us as he was and our hearts will burn within us as we with him till of that beauty of of which he was so large a we become at length worthy of his holy name c sleeps sleeping with such an air of grace i found her as my transported fancy pictured ofl proud at her gentle touch fresh flowers sprang round her love s the to murmurs soft nature and art or the three nature and art or the three art ib called art because it is not nature a why dearest why dost thou so fondly linger gazing long upon that sky and gentle brook rippling the rocks among is it die bright warm air the sunny green the cheerful golden light all the waving trees above the dark below where the cool waters fall or that blue valley sweeping far away into the opening day tell me my love of this bright scene what part thus thy sense magic art it is not love a part though every part touches tlie soul but to the brooding mind and heart appeals the whole rocking the senses in a dream of youth calling up early memories buried long its nature life and truth ring through my heart like my own childhood s thus once wherever i turned my eye earth joyous smiled upon her joyful child no heavy shadow darkened land or sky no discord broke with grating sound the harmony profound but what a dark unnatural gloom what stifled air like in a tomb rests on this earth how motionless the trees are drooping as by a weight bent low and heavy clouds are downward stooping coming woe the waters hardly go and slow no sight of mirth no flitting bird nor lamb with happy bound icy chill which hangs around nature and art or the three and yet the picture moves the inmost mind faithful to of our life moves it more deeply painting with such power a dark and painful hour of inward solitude of mental strife o god on high thy love thy grace alone can cheer that dismal day with heaven descended ray its desperate doubts and thoughts the s bitter hell he who to tell such inward this frowning picture planned must have possessed a spirit deep and high joined to a master s hand all t n s italian landscape look forth my love once more upon a fairer scene than heights than s shore or s shadows thick and green see that half hidden castle sleeping mid leafy groves a all around it creeping like that which glances from the wings of in light uncertain motion and on the blue horizon stretching far amid the wide spread ocean rises a mountain pure and pale as evening a earliest star this ever smiling sea rough with no frowning storm this tranquil land which no rude shapes from all harsh free this grace this peace this calm life belong not to our world of sin and strife no not to outward earth belongs such peace as this yet to the heart of man an inward birth gives equal bliss when childhood s happy day of faith and hope is over and those sharp pangs have passed away when the cold ray of knowledge the heart round which fair visions then then may come a calmer better hour a deeper peace descend which our spirit to the power and makes our god our friend the art of ufe then nature sings again a hymn of joy and like a merry laughs out each hill each valley rock and tree laughs out the mighty sea earth and hollow heaven partake the spirit s ecstasy o happy artist whose god guided hand this second planned happy to execute this scene thou art happier to find its image in thy heart f c the art op ufe the scholar s live is an art when we consider what life may be to all and what it is to most we shall see how little this art is yet understood what life may be to all is shown us in the lives of the honored few whom we have learned to distinguish the rest of mankind and to worship as the heroes and saints of the world what life is to most is seen wherever we turn our eyes to all life may be freedom success to most men it is bondage failure defeat some have declared all life to be a tragedy the life of most men is rightly so termed what can be more than after long years of weary watching and ceaseless toil in which all the joy and strength of our days have been wasted in pursuit of some distant good to find at last that the good thus sought was a shadow a sham that the sum total of our endeavor with no positive increase has left us our youth our faculty our hope and that the years have been a illusion this is the great ground tragedy in which all other and sorrows and of man s life are such is the actual condition of mankind look at our educated men of the hundreds whom every year sends forth to wander in the various | 37 |
paths of active life how many are there who find or even seek the bread that alone can satisfy the dreaming heart of man how many sell their strength and waste their days and file their minds for some paltry or or ttie art of life or some phantom which they term a or at the best some dream of fame and find when the race is done and the heat is won that they are no nearer than before the true end of their being and that the great work of life is still to do the work of life so far as the individual is concerned and that to which the scholar is particularly called is the perfect of our individual nature to this end above all others the art of which i speak our attention and points our endeavor ti ere is no it is presumed to whom this object is wholly indifferent who would not willingly possess this too along with other provided the of it were with personal ease and worldly good but the business of self culture admits of no compromise either it must be made a distinct aim or wholly abandoned i respect the man says who knows distinctly what he wishes the greater part of all the mischief in the world arises from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims they have undertaken to build a tower and spend no more labor on the foundation than would be necessary to erect a hut is not this an exact description of most men s every man to build his tower and no one counts the cost in all things the times are marked by a want of steady aim and patient industry there is and in abundance but no considerate effort the young man into life with no definite course in view if he goes into trade he has perhaps a general desire to be rich but he has at the same time an equally strong desire for present gratification and luxurious living he is unwilling to pay the price of his ambition he to secure the present and lets go the future he turns into harvest eats the corn which he ought to plant if he goes into professional life he sets out with a general desire to be eminent but without considering in what particular he wishes to and what is the price of that excellence so he his time and talents among a great variety of pursuits to be all things he becomes superficial in proportion as he is universal and having acquired a brief reputation as worthless as it is sinks down into hopeless the art of life everything that man desires may be had for a the world is truer to us than we are to ourselves in the great bargain no one is but by his own or baffled but by his own will if any man fail in the thing which he desires it is because he is not true to himself he has no sufficient inclination to the object in question he is unwilling to pay the price which it costs of self culture as of all other things worth seeking the price is a single devotion to that object a devotion which shall all aims and ends that do not or indirectly tend to promote it in this service let no man flatter himself with the hope of light work and ready wages the work is hard and the wages are slow better pay in money or in fame may be found in any other path than in this the only motive to engage in this work is its own inherent worth and the sure satisfaction which the consciousness of progress in the true direction towards the stature of a perfect man let him who would build this tower consider well the cost whether in energy and endurance he have sufficient to finish it much that lie has been accustomed to consider as most desirable he will have to much that other men esteem as highest and follow after as the grand reality he will have to forego no must him from the of his devotion no engagements beyond the merest necessities of life must interfere with his pursuit a meagre economy must be his income spare fast that oft with gods doth diet must be his fare the rusty coat must be his obscurity must be his distinction he must consent to see younger and smaller men take their places above him in church and state he must become a living sacrifice and dare to lose his life in order that he may find it the scholar of these days has no encouragement from without a cold and timid policy everywhere his aspirations everywhere advice with scrupulous head seeks to and society has no rewards for him society rewards none but those who will do its work which if the scholar undertake he must straightway neglect his own the business of society is not the advancement of the mind but the care of the body it is not the highest culture but the greatest comfort accordingly an endless of physical an infinite vol i no ii the art of life economy has become the the worship of the age religion itself has been forced to minister in this service no longer a divine life an end in itself it has become a mere instrument and condition of comfortable living either in this earth or in some state a more refined species of enjoyment is the it holds out on all hands man s existence is converted into a tion for existence we do not properly live in these days but everywhere with patent inventions and complex arrangements are getting ready to live like that king of who was all his lifetime preparing to take his ease but must first conquer the world | 37 |
want of courage the want of faith the of church and state the of teachers whose lean and songs grate on their pipes of wretched straw the hunger of the taught who look up and are not fed and the frequent protest which he who may hear from all the better spirits in the land the time has come when good words are no longer of any avail book has become no man teaches with authority au are eager to speak none are willing to hear what the requires is not books but example high heroic example not words but deeds not societies but men men who shall have their root in themselves and attract and convert the world by the beauty of their fruits all truth must be lived before it can be known or taught men are to systems great doctrines are not the origin but the product of great lives the practice must the philosophy and out of s tub came forth in the end the wisdom of the eloquence of and the piety of on this ground i am disposed to rejoice in those radical movements which are everywhere springing up in the discontented spirits and efforts of modern reform per and all the forms of blind and headlong as they seem have yet a meaning which if it cannot command assent must at least contempt they are the of men who have too soon while the rest of mankind are yet in sleep and the new day still in the east the philosopher sees through these efforts and knows that they are not the light that is to come but he feels that they are sent to bear witness of the light and them as the welcome to of approaching day however our reason may however our taste may reject them the thoughtful mind will perceive there the symptoms of a vitality which appears nowhere else they are the life however of this generation there or nowhere beats the heart of the century thus the new in church and state is always preceded by a cynical radical spirit which wages war with the old every genuine reform has its preacher in the the art life ness first the john with hair cloth and then the god man with the bread of life meanwhile the scholar has his function too in this of repentance for him too the age has its problem and its task what other are to the moral culture he must be to the mind of his age by taste averse by calling from the practical movements around him to him is committed the movement of thought he must be a radical in speculation an in devotion a in independence an in his habits a in discipline secluded from without and nourished from within self sustained and self careless of praise or blame intent always on the highest he must rebuke the superficial the hollow pretensions the feeble and trivial productions of his with the of his the reach of his views the grandeur of his aims the earnestness of his endeavor it is to such efforts and to such men that we must look for the long expected literature of this nation hitherto our literature has been but an echo of other voices and generally in the history of nations song has preceded science and the feeling of a people has been sooner developed than its understanding with us this order has been reversed the national understanding is fully ripe but the feeling the imagination of the people has found as yet no adequate expression we have our men of science our our our we have our our but the american poet the american yet to come a deeper culture must lay the foundation for him who shall represent the genius and utter the life of this continent a discipline must prepare the way for our our our he who would write an said one of these must make his life an this touches our infirmity we have no practical poets no lives let us but have sincere earnest whole hearted heroic men and we shall not want for writers and for literary fame then shall we see springing up in every part of these b literature such as the ages have not known a literature with our idea vast as our destiny and varied bs our aj letter to a student letter to a student mt dear i was somewhat surprised at the information that you had commenced the study of but not sorry i assure you i supposed that you had looked at all the attractions which the study holds out and had found thai you were made for something else on that account i always avoided saying anything which might look like tempting you to engage in it being persuaded that a taste for our profession must be born in the heart and not awakened by any external persuasion or influence but now that you have made up your mind to devote yourself to its duties i cannot but rejoice with you in your determination and wish you the blessing of god on your prospects you enter on the study with the advantages of an ardent temperament a vigorous will no slight experience of the world and i trust with a pure purpose of yielding to the of your higher nature with a spirit of earnest and glowing piety with a true sympathy with christ and with your fellow men and with a rational zeal for the progress of humanity the promotion of light truth and joy in the world and all these qualities will be more and more developed as you go on if true to yourself you cannot fail of being happy in studies and in your profession should it please god to spare your life to enter it i need not tell how sincerely my best wishes are given to you at this | 37 |
moment how earnestly i pray that you may be a faithful student and a happy let me guard you against one almost fatal error into which i have observed our young men are too apt to fall and that is the habit of studying in order to find wherewith to maintain prevailing opinions rather than to attain to a clear and living system of truth which shall be to the soul what the blood is to the body a flowing fountain of inward strength and giving beauty activity and the glow of health to every outward you may think the day is past for any fear of this error you may suppose that our age and our community are too free and independent to present any temptations to such a course but i am compelled to believe that this is letter to a not yet the case with us a young man study with a view to the but he is well aware of what he is expected to learn to believe and to preach he knows that if he by a perceptible hair s breadth from this established line he will gain neither a parish nor a hearing he must either change his plan of life altogether or take good care to see no truth and listen to no arguments except to them which could tempt him to from the old path you may say that you are in no danger from this because you have your eye fixed on the liberal but let me here tell you a secret which on second thought is no secret after all young as you arc i dare say you have long ago found it out for yourself i allude to the fact that although as liberal christians we have the doctrines we still cherish too much of the exclusive spirit we are too desirous of of faith too fearful of future progress too anxious for the success of our party we do not maintain as we should a generous confidence in truth and in humanity now this spirit easily gains possession of the soul it grows upon it while we are asleep it over a character which in other respects is bright with many virtues but call it or what you will this spirit in its worst form is more at war with the spirit of christ with the essence of and the noble st interests of piety than the darkest doctrines of a bad doctrine is often and made harmless by a true spirit whereas a cowardly time serving selfish spirit cannot be from its degradation by an alliance with the purest doctrines that ever fell from mortal lips god preserve us from the most distant approach to such a spirit or we are as good as dead but we are too much exposed to this in our present state of society a young man study with a view to the liberal but here too he knows what is expected of him a strait path is marked out for his feet but while he is told to use his freedom and think for himself woe to him if he dare to choose any other he must avoid as he would the gates of everything like the old he must take care not to speak too much of sin or of the need of a new hearty not to use too frequently or too fer letter to a student the name of christ or of the holy ghost not to press too warmly the reality of religious experience and the heights and depths of the christian life lest he should be accused of too much zeal lest he should be thought not to be sound lest he should be suspected of some faint ow of approach to the gloom and darkness of but then he must also take good care not to fall into the gulf on the opposite side he must hold on to all the ideas which by a sort of vague common law have become part and parcel of liberal christianity if he venture to differ much from his teachers if he wishes to wipe the dust of centuries from some dark nook in the temple of our faith if he speak out from the fulness of his own heart and in the strength of severe conviction in with the prevailing echoes of departed voices he will be certain to raise a cry by no means musical against his presumption and independence he will be thought to compromise the interests of his party and of course perils his own reputation a man must have uncommon moral courage united with a truly and transparent mind to consent to run such a risk he therefore seeks for a safe and approved path rather than one which suits his own ideas he loves rather to ride in a troop on the dusty highway than to search out for himself those green and shady avenues of truth which are so full of goodly prospect and melodious sounds on every side that the harp of was not more charming hence the of sermons which is so much complained of no man can preach well unless he his own flesh and blood the living of his very heart into the words which he from the pulpit if he speaks what he has learned from others what he finds in books what he thinks it and that a man should say in his place he may indeed be a good in the pulpit he may help to hand down a worm eaten system of to those who have no more heart for it than he has himself but a true prophet of god a man with the holy ghost and with fire he can never be and for the want of such men how much are religion and the church now suffering compare the science of for it is a science | 37 |
sweet and soothing in the poor bird s gentle note and something cheering in its bolder melody yet there is an moaning in its music and a in its drooping wing which separate it from its free and mates of the woods and hills where is he who with pious but not timid hand may gently its prison house and say go forth patient sufferer and cheer the world with thy free and joyous song it in the ear of the young and of a happy chant it at the window of the till an answering strain is heard throughout the universe iv paul has said our convictions can never be so firm that they may not become firmer by their beautiful correspondence with those of another mind the rain is not less to water plants in the midst of their stream than to those growing on the bank not to him who new thoughts but to him who us in the convictions which are the result of our thinking do we feel ourselves most indebted when this confirmation of belief extends over a wide range of subjects and is uttered in a few select words of deepest wisdom we no longer accept it as cheering sympathy but bow to it as high authority when after years of careful observation and deep study of things we have detected a principle that them all in beautiful order around its centre and are rewarded for our toil by the discovery and we attempt to this principle to others in the language we can command how are we impressed by finding in one short sentence of a sage or bard of far off ages our slowly obtained experience uttered as the every day thought of his deeper wisdom could we find any record crowded with such it would be to us divine it would be to us revelation such revelations do we find in the of christianity however earnestly each may contend that the evidence most convincing to his own mind is the only true testimony so surely as each mind a god of its own so surely must each individual mind find its own evidence and its corresponding faith do i need a miracle to prove the divinity of the i am listening to take a miracle for my evidence and my faith itself is a miracle not the simple growth of my powers if confirmation of my own experience and deeper penetration into life than i have yet attained be the evidence i demand i gladly welcome that higher teaching and exclaim with as joy as the who received the glory to god in the highest amid all the of this bewildering life nothing perplexed me so long as to find the right place for its trifles as one class terms them its of a luxuries as they are named by the other i never had any with those souls who stem in principle reject all that cannot at once be into their own granite formation and frown incessantly on all the graceful shapes of minor form in which life flows out neither do i join that other company who value every lighter grace of intellect and every fair form that wit but away those and more common of beauty which lend a charm to every day life i was sure these trifles had their meaning and if their meaning their place too deep a meaning for those to interpret who live and move and have their being in them a few years passed and the love of perfection became my religion the quiet striving for it my aim then all things in heaven and earth took their true proportions the trifling of life assumed an importance not dreamed of by those who live in them they became expressions of a thirst for beauty that nature alone can satisfy the rose colored curtain of my was a reflection of the evening cloud my velvet couch in winter became my summer s bank of turf my flowers jewels my stars the more brilliant the more star like the shade of my the proportion of my shoe tie had to do with the harmony and order of the universe which i had no right to mar nothing was mean and with this self discovered truth came interpreted to me the command often lightly passed over before make to yourselves friends of the of and when these minor temporary charms of life have faded the spirit which they have helped to will open to you everlasting v yesterday was to me a most glorious day of wearied and by dusty every day cares and i stole from them for awhile for a good long reading in s journal for hours i bathed and floated in the sea of her beautiful thoughts rather in the flood of her rapture feelings from amid whose golden or moon light waves arose thoughts like green islands thickly scattered is a most rare creature from her earliest years generously and freely without from out of a ward obstacle or inward strife one who was born to tell us the secrets of nature and reveal to us what she to every loving soul grew up in h r lap like a pet kept apart from every other in that we might see how wise are the of our mother this is the first time i have ever seen written out in poetry or prose the best that can yet be said of this universe that lies about us or even my own narrow experience of its power and yet this is only the beginning of its many sided history this little heroine is the have ever known who thoroughly understood and used what we all enjoy nature was the loving nurse fo her infancy and though she sometimes showed to her favorite her features they were in a smile for her which won a confiding trust she was the | 37 |
of her youth and the companion of her early begun womanhood when she felt that her circle of life was till she met the kindred mind from whose fulness the richness of her own might be doubled and who might teach her with his elder wisdom more than she yet had learned of the universe and of herself not as of nature within and without her did she adopt him for before the vision of her innocence no awful mysteries presented themselves without and within all was clear and bright was to her the of the divine soul in humanity it might have been another perhaps perhaps some one else for it was not an individual it was being in a form which charmed that she demanded nothing could be more original and yet more natural than her passion for her all in one it was a perfectly pure and feeling of worship in him was concentrated the spirit of the universe life as it had looked out to her before from trees and and flowers and spoken to her in the hum of insect and song of bird he was the light of life to her and she expanded in it it asked no return it could not be returned it would have been disturbed and limited by an answering it only needed a protecting a placid grateful permission to be he was human and with the hope and expectation of return would have come disappointment perhaps despair at best the stream must flow at its own sweet will into all the and of the grassy bank it of a and fill it to the brim with its own fulness and flow back again laden with sweet and dancing with joy but if the bank move to meet it it and it in and changes it from a calm flowing river to a wild torrent with a little more of trust and kindness there would be something almost as beautiful in s calm way of encouraging s passion as in the passion itself he met it in tlie only way it could be met and most gently breathed upon it the profound wisdom of the little maid is as striking as her she never and her extravagance is of the most healthy kind she in the universe and in her love but the conditions to which the infinite has subjected the understands the of humanity and knowing that what she most is in its nature and will presently burst its perhaps it were well if many ardent natures should under such influences as s it is certainly most favorable for a noble free spirit to be attracted by the noblest it can find and undisturbed by any restless craving for sympathy love and admire at too great a distance from its object to perceive but near enough to feel the sunlight of what glory it may possess and therein then the condition of hopeless love from being the most degrading into which innocence can fall would become the noblest to be but ardent was s high praise and her love was so so little occupied with the details of admiration that its dignity is sustained and we hardly feel it to be a delusion no one should read this journal who is not at once so deeply interested in the of s rich nature as to lose sight of the thought that after years had passed she could the record of her love into a foreign language and spread it abroad over the world yet when we have learned to love her this thought becomes less we reverence the youthful trust that still to her and her to expose her intimate heart s history to the multitude for the sake of the kind ones who will welcome it she is so absorbed in the object of her passion that perhaps she did not regard the tale as her own history but rather as a worthy monument to him who inspired it j the wood fire the wood this wood fire so like to tn t which warmed and lit my youthful days how doth it back on the periods and with its ow the scenes of my youth all gone out now how eagerly its flickering blaze doth catch on every point now wrapped in time s deep shade into what wild by its flash and fitful is the picture made when i am glad or gay let me walk forth into the brilliant sun and with congenial rays be shone upon when i am sad or would be let me glide forth in moonlight s mystery but never while i live this life this past and future with all wonders never bright flame may be denied to me thy dear life close sympathy what but my hopes shot upward e er so bright what but fortunes sank so low in night why art thou banished from our hearth and hall thou who art welcomed and beloved by all was thy existence then too fanciful for our life s common light who are so dull did thy bright gleam converse hold with our congenial souls secrets too bold well we are safe and strong for now we sit beside a hearth where no dim shadows where nothing cheers nor but a fire feet and hands nor does to more by whose compact heap the present may sit down and to sleep nor fear the ghosts who from tne dim past walked and with us by the unequal light of the old wood talked the day breaks little child little child seeking a home to the great spirit come it is no holding back treasure t will lavish upon you without measure if you will but receive hold forth your hand and it is filled with the streaming light open your eyes look out o er the land behold it is day and you thought it was | 37 |
the mob in to their lords and when only the few had any regard for religion into whose generous hearts it is by nature so deeply sown that they are born religious at such a time in a little comer of the world of a people once pious but then to the heart of a nation well known only to be justly and universally hated there was born a man a right true man he had no advantage of birth for he was descended from the poorest of the people none of education for he was brought up in a little village whose inhabitants were wicked to a proverb and so little had schools and to do for him that his wondered he had learned to read he had no advantage of aid or instruction from the great and the wise but grew up and passed his life mainly with and others of like occupation the most of men this was a true man such as had never been seen before none such has risen since his time he was so true that he could nothing false so pure and holy that he and perhaps he alone of all men was justified in calling others by their proper name even when that a lesson for the day proper name was blind guide fool child of the devil he found men forgetful of god they seemed to fancy he was dead they lived as if there had once been a god who had grown old and deceased they were mistaken also as to the nature of man they saw he had a body they forgot he is a soul and has a soul s rights and a soul s duties accordingly they believed there had been revelations in the days of their fathers when god was alive and active they knew not there were revelations every day to faithful souls revelations just as real just as direct just as true just as sublime just as valuable as those of old time for the holy spirit has not yet been exhausted nor the river of god s inspiration been drunk dry by a few old great and divine souls though they were he found men clinging to tradition as orphan girls cling to the robe of their mother dead and buried hoping to find life in what had once covered the living thus men stood with their faces nailed to the past their eyes fastened to the ground they dreamed not the sun rose each morning fresh and anew so their teachers looked only at the west seeking the light amid dark and thundering clouds and mocking at such as turning their faces to the east the signs of new morning and wished for the day this true man saw through their sad state and comforting his fellows he said poor brother man you are deceived god is still alive his earth is your feet his heaven is over your head he takes care of the justice and wisdom and mercy and goodness and virtue and religion are not and ready to perish they are young as hunger and thirst which shall be as fresh in the last man as they were in the first god has never withdrawn from the universe but he is now present and active in this spot ever on and still guides and all who will open their hearts to admit liim there men are still men born pure as adam and into no less a sphere all that moses or possessed is open unto you just as it was to them if you will your inspiration may be glorious as theirs and your life as divine yea far more for the least in the new kingdom is greater than the greatest k k a lesson for the day in the old trouble not yourselves then with the and of thread bare tradition but be a man on your own account poor sinful brother said he to fallen man you have become a fool an deceiving and deceived you live as if there were no god no soul as if you were but a beast you have made yourself as a ghost a shadow not a man rise up and be a man thou child of god cast off these things of old let conscience be your reason your nature your temple your high priest and a divine life your offering be your own prophet for the law and the old were the best things men had before john but now the kingdom of heaven is preached leave them for their work is done live no longer such a mean life as now if you would be saved love god with your whole heart and man as yourself look not back for better days and say is our father but live now and be not but something better look not forward to the time when your fancied shall come but use the moment now in your hands wait not for the kingdom of god but make it within you by a divine life what if the and sit in the seat of authority begin your kingdom of the divine life and fast as you build it difficulties will disappear false men shall perish and the true rise up set not for your standard the limit of old times for here is one greater than or solomon but be perfect as god call no man master call none father save the infinite spirit be one with him think his thoughts feel his feelings and live his will fear not i have overcome the world and you shall do yet greater things i and the father will dwell with you forever thus he spoke the word which men had longed to hear spoken and others had vainly to utter while the great and gifted asked in derision art thou greater than our father | 37 |
jacob multitudes of the poor in spirit heard him their hearts with the mighty of his heart they were swayed to and fro by his words as an elm branch waves in the summer wind they said this is one of the old moses or even that greater prophet the desire of all nations they shouted with one voice a lesson far the day he shall be our king for human nature is always loyal at lis heart and never fails of when it really sees a real hero of the soul in whose heroism of there is nothing sham as the pay a shallow worship to rich men and conquering chiefs and other heroes of the flesh so do men of the spirit a faithful hero of the soul with whatever in them is deepest truest and most divine before this man had seen five and thirty he was put to death by such men as thought old things were new enough and false things sufficiently true and like and shriek fearfully when morning comes because their day is the night and their power like the of fable as the cock the mo in scarce had this divine youth begun to spread forth his brightness men had seen but the twilight of his reason and inspiration the full noon must have come at a later period of life when experience and long contemplation had the divine gifts never before nor since so bestowed nor used so faithfully but his doctrine was ripe though he was young the truth he received at first hand from god required no age to render it mature so he perished but as the oak the in autumn on the mountain side ripe over many a some falling perchance into the bosom of a stream to be cast up on distant fertile shores so his words sprung up a host of men living men like himself only and of smaller stature they were quickened by his words by his love and enchanted by his divine life he who has never seen the sun can learn nothing of it from all our words but he who has once looked can never forget its burning thus these men who had been with were lit up by him his spirit passed into them as the sun into the air with light and heat they were possessed and by the new spirit they had drunken in they cared only for truth and the welfare of their brother men pleasure and ease the of quiet life and the of home were all but a to them as they sought the pearls of a divine life their heart s best blood what was it to these men they poured it joyfully as wine was spent at the marriage in a lesson for the day of for as their teacher s life had taught th m to live so had his death taught them to die to the body that the soul might live greater and more in their hearts burned a living consciousness of god a living love of man thus they became rare men such as the world but seldom sees some of them bad all of woman s tenderness and more than man s will and strength of endurance which earth and hell cannot force from the right course thus they were fitted for all work so the steel we are told has a temper so exquisite it can trim a feather and iron bars forth to the world are sent these willing of god bearing in their bosom the christianity of christ desiring to scatter this precious seed in every land of the wide world the priest the philosopher the poet and the king all who had love for the past or an interest in present join forces to cast down and tread into dust these and tent makers they the limbs they murder the body but the word of god is not bound and the soul goes free the seed sown with faith and prayers springs up and grows night and day while men wake and while they sleep well it might beneath the hot sun of persecution and by the dew that shed the roman hard as iron from his hundred battles saw the heroism of christian flesh and beginning to worship that saw with changed heart the heroism of the christian soul the spear dropped from his hand and the man prayed greater and stronger than before roman men and from the stood round in the while some christian was burned with many for his faith they saw his gentle far stronger than the steel or flame that never says enough they whispered to one another those hard hearted men in the rude speech of common life more i than eloquence that young man has a dependent and feeble father a wife and a httle babe newly born but a day old he leaves them all to uncertain trouble worse perhaps than his own yet neither the love of young and life nor the care of parent and wife and child can make him an inch from the truth is there not god in this and so when the winds vol no ii a le on far the day scattered wide the eloquent ashes of the victim to or pride the dust which moses cast towards heaven was less and less powerful than his so the world went for two ages but in less than three centuries the faith of that lowly youth and so slain proclaimed by the fearless voice of those trusting written in the blood of their hearts and illuminated by the divine life they lived this faith goes from its low beginning on the lake through and the throne of the and great men and temples and towers and rich cities and broad lie at its feet what wrought this wondrous change so suddenly | 37 |
in the midst of such deadly peril against such fearful odds we are sometimes told it was because that divine youth had an unusual entrance into life because he cured a few sick men or fed many hungry men by unwonted means believe it you who may it matters not was it not rather because his doctrine was felt to be true real divine satisfying to the soul proclaimed by real men true men who felt what they said and lived what they felt man was told there was a god still alive and that god a father that man had lost none of that high nature which shone in moses solomon or or or but was still capable of virtue thought religion to a degree those not only never realized but never dreamed of he was told there were laws for his nature laws to be kept duties for his nature duties to be done rights for his nature rights to be enjoyed hopes for his nature hopes to be realized and more than realized as man goes forward to his destiny with perpetual increase of stature it needs no miracle but a man to spread such doctrines you shall as soon stay with a straw or hold in the swelling of an atlantic storm with the spider s most thread as prevent the progress of god s truth with all the kings poets priests and philosophers the world has ever seen and for this plain reason that truth and god are on the same side well said the ancient above all things truth away the victory such was the nature such the origin of the a lesson for the day or christ the true ideal of a divine life such its history for three hundred years it is true that soon as it was organized into a church there were divisions therein and fierce paul peter to the face it is true came from time to time to live upon the flock indolent men wished to place their arm chair in the church and sleep undisturbed ambitious men sought whom they might but in spite of all this there was still a real religious life christianity was something men felt and felt at home and in the by fire side and field side no less than in the pie it was something they would make sacrifice for leaving father and mother and child and wife if needful something they would die for thanking god they were accounted worthy of so great an end still more it was something they lived every day their religion and their life were the same such was christianity as it was made real in the lives of the early christians but now the of the church by which is meant that somewhat which is taught in our religious books and preached in our is a thing quite different nay almost opposite it often and men it tells them they must assent to all the doctrines and stories of the old testament and to all the doctrines and stories of the new testament that they must a particular and well defined character to god must believe as they are bid respecting christ and the bible or they cannot be saved if they then is the uttered against them true the is but of spoken wind yet still it is uttered as though it could crush and kill the church less on the divine life than on the doctrines a man believes it measures a man s religion by his creed and calls him a heathen or a christian as that creed is short or long now in the christianity of christ there is no creed essential unless it be that lofty desire to become perfect as god no form essential but love to man and love to god in a word a divine life on the earth is the all in all with the christianity of christ this and this only was the kingdom of god and eternal life now the church as keeper of god s kingdom bids you assent to arbitrary of its own device and bow the knee to a lesson for the day its forms thus the christianity of the church as it is set forth at this day the soul and must a man before it can bless him the is too small for the soul the bed is shorter than that a man can himself on it and the covering than that he can wrap himself in it some writer tells us of a statue of jove majestic and awful in its exquisite beauty but seated under a roof so low and within walls so that should the statue rise to its feet and spread the arms it must its temple roof and wall thus sits man in the christian church at this day let him think in what image he is made let him feel his immortal nature and rising take a single step towards the divine life then where is the church the range of subjects the church to treat of is quite narrow its doctrines abstract and thus christianity is made a letter and not a life an occasional of the understanding not the daily business of the heart the ideal now held up to the public as the highest word ever spoken to man is not the ideal of christ the measure of a perfect man not even the ideal of the and early christians teachers confess without shame that goodness is better than christianity true alas it is better in degree yes different in kind from the christianity of the church hence in our we hear but little of the great doctrines of the worth of the soul the value of the present moment the brotherhood of all men and their equality before god the necessity of obeying that perfect law god has written on the soul the | 37 |
consequences which follow necessarily from consequences which even cannot remove and the blessed results for now and forever that arise from obedience and the all importance of a divine life the power of the soul to receive the holy ghost the divine might of a man the presence of god and christ now in faithful hearts the inspiration of good men the kingdom of god on the earth these form not the substance of the church s preaching still less are they applied to life and the duties which come of them shown and enforced the church is quick to discover and the smallest from the belief of dark ages and to condemn vices no longer popular it a lesson for the day is conveniently blind to the great which lie at the of church and state sees not the rents daily yawning more wide in the bowing walls of old institutions and never dreams of those causes which like the of the prophet in the fable are asunder the idol of brass and clay men have set up to worship so the it has been said within the of an inch its vision extends over is of insight than the or the eagle bat to all beyond that narrow range is stone blind alas what men call christianity and as the best thing they see has been degraded so that if men be all that the pulpit commonly demands of them tliey would by no means be christians to such a pass have matters reached that if paul should come upon the earth now as of old it is quite doubtful that he could be admitted to the christian church for though thought much knowledge had made the ma l yet paul ventured no opinion on points respecting the nature of god and the history of christ where our utter and arbitrary as and accursed all such as be their life never so these things are notorious still more it may be set down as quite certain that if could return from the other world and bring to new england that same boldness of inquiry which he brought to that same love of living truth and scorn of dead letters could he speak as he then spoke and live again as he lived before he also would be called an by the church be abused in our newspapers for such is our wont and only not in the streets because that is not our way of treating such men as tell us the truth such is the christianity of the church in our times it does not look forward but backward it does not ask truth at first hand from god seeks not to lead men directly to him through the divine life but only to make them walk in the old paths trodden by some good pious jews who were they to come back to earth could as little understand our circumstances as we theirs the church expresses more concern that men should walk in these peculiar paths than that they should reach the goal thus the means are made the end it men to the bible makes it the soul s master not its servant forgetting a lesson for the pay that the bible like the sabbath was made for man not man for the bible it makes man the less and the bible tlie greater the said search the the recommended them as profitable reading the church says believe the if not with the consent of reason and conscience why without that consent or against it it all attempts to the bible and separate its from its facts and would fain wash its hands in the heart s blood of those who strip the rob of human art ignorance or folly from the celestial form of divine truth it the imperfect scripture of the word more than the word itself writ by god s finger on the living heart where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty says the but where the spirit of the church is there is slavery it would make all men think the same thoughts feel the same feelings worship by the same form the church itself not god who is all in au but a man born of woman grave teachers in defiance of his bid us pray to christ it the soul of all our souls cannot hear or will not ac a prayer unless formally in the church s phrase forgetting that we also are men and god takes care of oxen and and hears the young when they cry though they pray not in any form or phrase still called by whatever name called by an idol s name the true god hears the living prayer and yet perhaps the best feature of christianity as it is now preached is its worship of christ was the brother of all he had more in common with all men than they have with one another but he the brother of all has been made appear as the master of all to speak with an authority greater than that of reason conscience and faith an office his sublime and spirit would revolt at but yet since he lived divine on the earth and was a hero of the soul and the noblest and largest hero the world has ever seen perhaps the that is paid him is the nearest approach to true worship which the mass of men can readily make in these days reverence for heroes has its place in history and though worship of the greatest soul ever in the flesh however much he is and represented as incapable of sin is a lesson for the day s without measure below the worship of the god still it is the purest and best of our in the nineteenth century practically speaking its worst feature is that it and the highest ideal of man and makes | 37 |
sweet noted bell to rouse for them the yet were those men christians they did not gather of a lord in costly temples to keep an old form or kill the long hours but in small upper rooms on the sea shore beneath a tree in of the desert mountains or the of dead men in cities met those noble hearts to worship god at first hand and one another to a manly life and a martyr s death if need were we see indeed an advance in our people above all ancient time we fondly say the mantle of a more liberal culture is thrown over us all the improved state of society brings many a blessing in its train the arts comfort industry and foresight us in general a schools and the press which works with its iron hand day and night spread knowledge wide our our and churches for the poor give some signs of a christian spirit crimes against man s person are less frequent than of old and the legal less frightful and severe the rich do vol i no ii a lesson far the day not ride rough over the poor these things prove that the age has advanced somewhat they do not prove that the spirit of of christianity of love the spirit of christ of god are present among us and active for enlightened prudence the most selfish of selfishness would lead to the same results and who has the to look facts in the face and call our society spiritual and christian the social spirit of christianity demands that the strong assist the weak we appeal as proofs of our christianity to our attempts at improving tribes to our and sent with much self denial and sacrifice to savage races admitting the of the design the christian spirit is shown in these for this at least must be allowed and all heathen antiquity is vainly for a similar case there is still a most melancholy reverse to this flattering picture where shall we find a savage nation on the wide world that has on the whole been blessed by its intercourse with christians where one that has not most been and cursed by the christian foot let this question be asked from to from the ninth century to the nineteenth let it be put to the nations we of their and their leaving them in return our religion and our sin let it be asked of the red man whose bones we have broken to fragments and trodden into bloody mire on the very spot where his mother bore him let it be asked of the black man torn by our from his native soil whose sweat by christian our fields of cotton and corn and the wine cup of national wealth whose chained hands are held vainly up as his spirit to god with great prayers for vengeance and seem to clutch at the of just but terrible over our heads let it be asked of all these and who dares stay to hear the reply and learn what report of our christianity goes up to god we need not compare ourselves with our fathers and say we are more truly religious than they were shame on us if we are not shame on us if we are always to be in religion and whipped reluctant into decent goodness by fear never growing up to spiritual manhood a lesson for the day s admitting we are a more christian people than our fathers let us measure ourselves with the absolute standard what is religion amongst us is it the sentiment of the infinite penetrating us with such depth of power that we would if need were leave father and mother and child and wife to dwell in that we might worship god in peace o no we were fools to make such a sacrifice when called on for the sake of such a religion as that commonly commonly accepted and lived it is not worth that cost so mean and degraded is religion among us religion does not possess us as the sun possesses the giving them warmth and fragrance and color and beauty it does not lead to a divine character one would fancy the of were forbidden between christianity and life also as we are significantly told they have been between religion and philosophy so that the feeling and the thought like and never approach to clasp hands but dwell each in a several cell religion has become chiefly and with the well clad mass of men a matter of and they write christian with their name as they write mr because it is respectable their fathers did so before them thus to be christian comes to nothing it is true but it costs nothing and is fairly worth what it costs religion should be a thousand from the heart of man to man s god who is the original of goodness truth and beauty and is revealed in all that is good true and beautiful but religion is amongst us in general but a compliance with custom a calculation a matter of whereby men hope through giving up a few dollars in the shape of tax and a little time in the form of church going to gain the treasures of heaven and eternal life thus religion has become profit not reverence of the highest but vulgar hope and r fear a working for wages to be estimated by the rules of loss and gain men love religion as the his well endowed wife not for herself but for what she brings they think religion is useful to the old the sick and the poor to charm them with a comfortable delusion through the cloudy land of this earthly life they wish themselves to keep some running a lesson for the day account against the day when they also shall be old and sick | 37 |
and poor christianity has two modes of action direct on the heart and life of a man and through institutions and other machinery and in our time the last is almost its sole influence hence men reckon christianity as valuable to keep men in order it would have been good policy for a shrewd man to have invented it on speculation like other for the utility of the thing in their eyes the church especially the church for the poor is necessary as the court house or the jail the minister is a well educated sabbath day and both are parts of the great property establishment of the times they value religion not because it is true and divine but because it serves a purpose they deem it needful as the tax or the system a national bank or a sub treasury they value it among other they might give it a place in their of stock and hope of heaven or faith in christ might be up in the same column with money at one per cent the problem of men is not first the kingdom of god that is a perfect life on the earth lived for its own sake but first all other things and then if the kingdom of god come of itself or is thrown in to the bargain like and paper with a parcel of goods why very well they are glad of it it keeps all other things from does religion take hold of the heart of us here and there among rich men and poor men especially women you shall find a few really religious whose life is a prayer and christianity their daily breath they would have been religious had they been among and before the flood they are divine men of whom the spirit of god seems to take early hold and reason and religion to up by celestial instinct the and of their daily life judge not the age by its religious the mass of men care little for christianity were it not so the sins of the and the market place committed in a single month would make the land rock to its centre men think of religion at church on the sabbath they make sacrifices often great sacrifices to support worship and attend it most these men and women but here the matter a lesson for the day ends religion does not come into their soul does not show itself in their housekeeping and trading it does not shine out of the windows of morning and evening and speak to them at every turn how many young men in the thousand say thus to themselves of this will i make sure a christian character and divine life all other things be as god sends how many ever set their hearts on any moral and religious object on a perfect character for example with a of the interest they take in the next election nay woman also must share the same condemnation though into her rich heart god more generously the divine of religion though this is her strength her loveliness her excellence yet she also has sold her for ornaments and the admiration of lips men think of religion when they are sick old in trouble or about to die for getting that it is a crown of life at all times man s privilege his highest possession the chain that sweetly links him to heaven if good for anything it is good to live by it is a small thing to die a devil could do that but to live divine is man s work since religion is thus regarded or disregarded by men we find that talent and genius getting insight of this float off to the market the the the farmer s field or the court house and bring home with honor the of gold meanwhile arrayed in his lesson duly presses semi the consecrated cushions of the pulpit and forth weekly his impotent to be with bland praises so long as he not respectable in his nor touches an actual sin of the times nor an inch beyond the beaten path of the church well is it for the safety of the actual church that genius and talent its rotten walls to build up elsewhere the church of the first born and pray largely and like men thy kingdom come there is a concealed amongst us all this more deadly because concealed it is not a denial of god though this it is whispered to our ear is not rare for men have opened their eyes too not to notice the fact of god everywhere apparent without and within still less is it f the there has always been too much a lesson for the day belief in their letter though far too little living of their truths but there is a doubt of man s moral and religious nature a doubt if be so excellent we distrust goodness and religion as the blind doubt if the sun be so fine as men tell of or as the deaf might at the of a who among men conscience as he his eye or ear with them the highest in man is self when they come to outside goodness therefore they are driven by fear of hell as by a whip or by the distant pleasures of heaven accordingly if they embrace christianity they make who is the of a divine life not a man like his brothers who had human and passions was tempted in the flesh was cold and hungry and faint and tired and sleepy and dull each in its season and who needed to work out his own salvation as we also must do but they make him an unnatural character not man and not god whose was poured on him from some celestial urn and so was in no sense his own work and | 37 |
who therefore can be no example for us as we are by appetite and bearing the ark of our destiny in our own hands it is not the essential element of christianity love to man and love to men commonly gather from the new testament but some or some oriental dream how few religious men can you find whom christianity takes by the hand and leads through the and of the world men whose lives are noble who can speak of christianity as of their trading and marrying out of their own experience because they have lived it there is enough cant of religion written on faces as signs of that of heart which show but how little real religion that comes home to men s heart and life let experience decide yet if he would man cannot live all to this world if not religious he will be superstitious if he worship not the true god he will have bis the web of our mortal life with its of destiny and its of free will is most strangely woven up by the flying of time which rest not wake we or sleep but through this wondrous of the there runs the gold a for the day si thread of eternity and like the net peter saw in his vision full of strange beasts and creeping things this web is at last seen to be caught up to heaven by its four corners and its common things become no longer we cannot always be false to religion it is the deepest want of man satisfy all others we soon learn that we cannot live by bread only for as an ancient has said mt is not the growing of fruits that man but thy word which them that put their trust in thee without the divine life we are of strength without the living consciousness of god we are left to the of the world but our paper must end the christianity of the church is a very poor thing it is not bread and it is not drink the christianity of society is still worse it is bitter in the mouth and poison in the blood still men are and though not always after the true bread of life why shall we perish with hunger in our father s house is enough and to spare the christianity of christ is high and noble as ever the religion of reason of the soul the word of god is still strong and flame like as when first it dwelt in the of god and now the pattern man age has not the lustre of this light that all though they cover their eyes in obstinate and turn away their faces from this great sight man has lost none of his god likeness he is still the child of god and the father is near to us as to him who dwelt in his bosom conscience has not left us faith and hope still abide and love never fails the is with us and though the man no longer the earth the ideal christ formed in the heart is with us to the end of the world let us then build on these use good words when we can find them in the church or out of it learn to pray to pray greatly and strong learn to rev what is highest above all learn to live to make religion daily work and christianity our common life all days shall then be the lord s day our homes the house of god and our labor the of religion then we shall not glory in men for all things shall be ours we shall not be by success but enriched by affliction our service shall be worship not from the of the bible shall not and crash us its wisdom shall make us strong and its piety us paul and shall not be our masters but elder brothers who open the gate of truth and cheer us on leading us to the tree of life we shall find the kingdom of heaven and enjoy it now not waiting till death us over to the other world we shall then repose beside the rock of ages smitten by divine hands and drink the pure water of life as it flows from the eternal to make earth green and glad we shall serve no longer a bond slave to tradition in the host of sin but become free men by the law and spirit of life thus like paul shall we serve the christ within and like serving and knowing god directly with no intervening become one with him is not this worth a man s wish worth his prayers worth his work to seek the living christianity the christianity of christ not having this we seem but on an ocean and without bottom that sparkle a moment in the sun of life then burst to be no more but with it we are men immortal souls of god and joint with christ p how they go by those strange and men one glance on each one gleam from out each eye and that i never looked upon till now has vanished out of sight as instantly yet in it passed there a whole heart and life the only key it gave that transient look but for this key its great event in time of peace or strife to me a sealed book from if at a master s work i look what has been done with joy i see but if i read in mine own book i see what should have been done by me o sing songs of joy by the foaming tide beings of beauty who sit on the shore let the sweeping winds and the waves that glide bear your sweet notes the wide world o er staff and through the forest bound children are r | 37 |
the on the admission of to the and denied the name of poetry to every composition in which the and the material were not equally excellent in our middle age we have grown and have learned to and pleasure in verses of a strain to enjoy verses of society or those which in persons of a happy nature are the easy and translation of their thoughts and feelings into rhyme this new taste for a certain private and household poetry for somewhat less pretending than the and solemn verses which are written for the nations really we suppose that a new style of poetry exists the number of writers has increased every child has been taught the tongues the universal communication of the arts of reading and writing has brought the works of the great poets into every house and made all ears familiar with the poetic forms the progress of popular institutions has favored self respect and broken down that terror of the great which once imposed awe and hesitation on the talent of the masses of society a wider intercourse ministers to the ends of sentiment and reflection than ever existed before the practice of writing is becoming almost general and every day witnesses new attempts to throw into verse the experiences of private life poetry j what better omen of progress can we ask than an increasing intellectual and moral interest of men in each other what can be better for the republic than that the the white house and the court house are ing of less importance than the farm house and the if we are losing our interest in public men and finding that their spell lay in number and size only and acquiring instead a taste for the depths of thought and emotion as they may be sounded in the soul of the citizen or the does it not replace man for the state and character for official power men should be treated with solemnity and when they come to chant their private and doubts and joys they have a new scale by which to magnitude and relation art is the noblest consolation of calamity the poet is for his defects in the street and in society if in his chamber he has turned his into noble numbers is there not room then for a new department in poetry namely verses of the we have fancied that we drew greater pleasure from some manuscript verses than from printed ones of equal talent for there was the charm of character they were and the faults the imperfect parts the verses the halting had a worth beyond that of a high finish for they that the writer was more man than artist more earnest than vain that the thought was too sweet and sacred to him than that he should suffer his ears to hear or his eyes to see a superficial defect in the expression the characteristic of such verses is that being not written for publication they lack that finish which the of literature require of authors but if poetry of this kind has merit we conceive that the which demands a polish may be easily set aside and when a writer has the state of thought which produced the poem the interest of letters is served by it imperfect as we preserve studies and blocked statues of the great masters for though we should be to see the wholesome to which we have alluded broken down by a general of publication and every man s and woman s flying into the yet it is to be considered on the other new poetry hand that men of genius are often more incapable than others of that elaborate execution which criticism men of genius in general are more than others incapable of any perfect exhibition because however agreeable it may be to to act on the public it is always a secondary aim they are humble self moody men whose worship is toward the ideal beauty which chooses to be not so often in perfect hymns as in wild ear piercing or in silent their face is forward and their heart is in this heaven by so much are they for a perfect success in any particular performance to which they can give only a divided affection but the man of talents has every advantage in the competition he can give that cool and commanding attention to the thing to be done that shall secure its just performance yet are the failures of genius better than the of talent and we are sure that some crude manuscript poems have yielded us a more and a more diet than many and classic productions we have been led to these thoughts by reading some verses which were lately put into our hands by a friend with the remark that they were the production of a youth who had long passed out of the mood in which he wrote them so that they had become quite dead to him our first feeling on reading them was a lively joy so then the muse is neither dead nor dumb but has found a voice in these cold states here is poetry which asks no aid of magnitude or number of blood or crime but finds theatre enough in the first field or breadth and depth enough in the flow of its own thought here is self repose which to our mind is than the here is self respect which leads a man to date from his heart more proudly than from rome here is love which sees through surface and the gentle nature and not the costume here is religion which is not of the church of england nor of the church of boston here is the good wise heart which sees that the end of culture is strength and cheerfulness in an age too which with so strong an inclination to the philosophical muse here is poetry | 37 |
more purely intellectual than any american verses we have yet seen distinguished from all new poetry tion by two merits the of perception the poet s trust in his own genius to that degree that there is an absence of all conventional and a bold use of that which the moment s mood had made sacred to him quite careless that it might be sacred to no other and might even be slightly ludicrous to the first reader we proceed to give our readers some taken without much order from this rich pile of manuscript we first find the poet in his boat boat river calmly flows through shining through lonely where the owl shrieks though ne er the cheer of men has stirred its mute repose still if you should walk there you would go there again the stream is well alive another world you see where downward grows the form of eveiy tree like soft light clouds they like them let us in our pure loves reflected be a yellow gleam is thrown into the secrets of that of tangled trees which late shut out our gaze refusing to be known it must its its glories blaze sweet falls the summer air over her frame who sails with me her way like that is beautifully free her nature far more rare and is her constant heart virgin a quivering star is seen keeping his watch above the hill though from the sun s retreat small light is still poured on earth s mien we all are obeying evening s will thus ever love the power to simplest thoughts dispose the mind in each obscure event a worship find like that of this dim hour in lights and airs and trees and in all human kind we smoothly glide below the faintly glimmering worlds of li ht day has a charm and this night brings a mysterious show he shadows our dear earth but his cool stars are white poetry is there any boat song like this any in which the harmony proceeds so from the poet s mind giving to nature more than it receives in the following the writer a certain habitual worship of genius which many pieces in the collection breaking out sometimes into very abrupt expression october dry leaves with yellow they are fit wreath of autumn while a star still bright and pure our frosty air in twinkling points of thin celestial hair and one side of heaven i am beneath the moon s calm look most quiet in this sheltered nook from trouble of the frosty wind which curls the yellow blade though in my covered mind a grateful sense of change is made to wandering men how dear this sight of a cold tranquil autumn night in its majestic deep repose thus will their genius be not buried in high though of as mute tranquillity an anxious life they will not pass nor as the shadow on the grass leave no impression there to stay to them all things are thought the blushing s decay our death our life by this is taught find in eveiy haze that shines a brief appearance without lines a single word no joy for present is a power which we may not annoy yet love him stronger every hour would not put this sense from me if i could some great sovereign be yet will not task a fellow man to feel the same glad sense for no one living can feel save his given influence new poetry an flower how still its growth from mom to nor signs of hasty anger its tender form from birth to prime of happy and some who think these simple things can bear no goodness to their minds may learn to feel how nature brings around a quiet being winds and through us sings a stream to some is no delight its element diffused around yet in its flight there from its heart a sound like that of night so give thy true fair to children turn a social heart and if thy days pass clear as air or friends from part o humbly bear i the brook is in the forest all full of merriment the joy of breathing life is this green wood s employ the wind is feeling through his gentle bell i and my flowers receive music well why will not man his natural life enjoy can he then with his ample spirit toy are human thoughts as wares now baked to sell all up all round all down a thrilling deep a holy infinite the sense and praises leap shooting the entire soul with love intense throughout the all and can a man live on to weep n there never lived a man who with a heart resolved bound up in the good however low or high in rank he stood but when from him yourself had chanced to start you felt how goodness art and that an ever venerable mood i no ii new poetry of like the deep worship of a wood of its turns you a part let us live amply in the joyous all we surely were not meant to ride the sea the wave in that so small our infinite faculties utterly boom like a roaring humming to infinite speak loud speak hearts of eternity hearts of the deep proclaim from land to sky your mighty fate how that for you no living comes too late how ye cannot in creep how ye great from small surface reap shout excellent band in grand strain like midnight winds that foam along the main and do all thin rather than pause to weep a human heart knows of no man with no man s ways hath in one hour most glorious length of days a a joy a loveliness like keen shoots into far | 37 |
and always dwelling nigh is the remotest star lines thb of a thee mild day i felt not for myself the winds may steal from an point and seem to me alike soothing powers like thee the contrast is of a new mood in a man whose idle mind is suddenly revived with many pleasant thoughts our earth was gratified fresh grass a stranger in this frosty time peeped from the crumbling mould as welcome as an unexpected how glowed the evening star as it to glow in summer s midst when out of boughs the twilight bird sing flowing harmony peace was the will to day love in bewildering growth our joyous minds swelled to bounds the worldly left all hearts to nm poetry i felt for thee for thee whose inward outward life completely moves surrendered to the beauty of the of this day our birth days i these are the days of our bright lives when memory and hope within exert delightful reign when sympathy and that which late was in the soul grows warm and living and to us alone are these a knowledge may they hurt or cry aloud or frighten out the tone which we will strive to wear and as calm nature own ii whatever scenes our eyes once gratified those around our early homes to which our tender peaceful hearts replied to those our present happy feeling and takes a joy than from the of the pure scholar those ten thousand sights of constant nature flow in us as the spring these are the true delights wherewith solemn world the sorrowful these are proper manuscript honest great but crude they have never been filed or decorated for the eye that studies surface the vi was not afraid to write ill he had a great meaning too much at heart to stand for trifles and wrote for his alone this is the poetry of hope here is no french but and rather but the can be sweet and tender also we select from the one leaf for which we a more general popularity a p love i can remember well my very early youth my who was a girl of truth of golden truth we do not often see those whose whole lives have only known to be new poetry so sunlight very on harvest fields and trees could not more sweetly form rejoicing for these deep things than for me i lay beneath her soul as a lit tree that cottage where she dwelt was all o er green i still forever felt how nothing stands between the soul and truth why starving poverty was nothing nothing to thee grass beneath her faint tread bent pleasantly away from her ne er small birds fled but kept at their bright play not fearing her it was her endless motion just a true swell upon a summer ocean those who conveyed her home i mean who led her where the spirit does not had such small weight to bear they scarcely felt how softly was rung for thee that soft day girl i am no more below my life is raised on high my was slow ere could die it pressed me down but now i sail away into the regions of exceeding day and and i float on the red brown clouds that amply the very constant crowds of serene shapes play on thy happiest hour is that when thou may t die the second of the two following verses is of such extreme beauty that we do not remember anything more perfect in its kind had the poet been looking over a book of s drawings or perchance the and temples of with the maiden to whom it was addressed new poetry to mt mind the power that through all persons breathes and woods are and fields begin to sing and in me nature thou too art with me here the best of all design of that strong purity which makes it joy to be a distant thought of thine but here are verses in another vein plain human such as in ancient lands carved on stone and monuments at the roadside or in the of temples they remind us of the austere strain in which milton the hebrew in them is taught and easiest learned what makes a nation happy and keeps it so i the bible is a book worthy to read the life of those great was the life we need from all seeming ever freed be not afraid to utter what thou art t is no disgrace to keep an open heart a soul free frank and loving friends to aid not even does this harm a gentle maid strive as thou thou wilt not value o er thy life thou on a lighted shore and from tlie waves of an sea the noblest impulses tenderly to thee feel them as they arise and take them free better live unknown no heart but thy own beating ever near to no mortal dear in thy new poetry and wanting bread in poverty than to be a dread than to be afraid from to flee for it is not living to a soul believing to change each noble which our strength for a state half rotten and a life of toys better be forgotten than lose how shall i live in earnestness what shall i do work earnestly what shall i give a what shall i gain tranquillity but do you mean a in which i act and no man bless flash out in action infinite and free action with deep tranquillity resting upon the soul s true utterance and life shall flow as merry as a dance il life is too good to waste enough to prize keep looking round with clear eyes all thy brothers and for them endure many the reward is sure a | 37 |
little thing there is no little thing through all a joyful song is murmuring each leaf each stem each sound in winter has deepest for an anxious ear thou life is sad the father his wife and child keep in the midst of heavy sorrows a fair aspect mild a howling fox a shrieking owl a violent forms of the most madness these may not move thy heart to gladness but look within the dark outside shalt thou hate and thou meet st a common man with a show of can his acts are petty of natural greatness that show a dreadful of this life s mighty impulses a want of truthful earnestness new poetry he not does and in that shows no nobility a poor that no proper office knows not even estimation small of woes be not afraid his understanding aid with thy own pure content on highest purpose bent leave him not lonely for that his admiration on self and seeming only make a right of all thy strength to keep from swelling that so ample heap of lives abused of virtue given for and thus it shall appear for all in nature hast thou if thou unconsciously perform what s good like nature s self thy proper mood a life well spent is like a flower that had bright sunshine its brief hour it flourished m pure discovered strongest earnestness was for each wind was of lis own particular kind nor knew a tone of discord sharp breathed like a silver harp and went to immortality a very proper thing to die we will close our from this rare file of blotted paper with a lighter strain which whilst it shows how gaily a poet can gives us a new insight into bis character and habits yes they torment me most exceedingly i would i could flee a breeze on a river i listen forever the under cool weather these are pleasures to me new poetry what do torment me those living who live but to see indefinite action nothing but motion round stones a rolling no inward yes tliey torment me some cry all the time even in their prime of youth s flushing o out on this sorrow fear st thou to morrow set thy legs going be stamping be this of life is the lime hail thou mother earth who gave me thy worth for my portion at birth i walk in thy of but they who torment me so most exceedingly sit with feet on tlie hearth we have more pages from the same hand lying before us marked by the same purity and tenderness and early wisdom as these we have quoted but we shall close our here may the right hand that has so written never lose its may this voice of love and harmony teach its songs to the too long silent echoes of the western forest e art and artist with eye the lofty one moves on through life majestic as the mighty bud he knows no strife he sees the thought flow to the form and rise like bright a moment of beauty and it is gone dissolved in light the the chapter ii then let the good be free to breathe a note of elevation let their float around these and their glories or the of the noon day nor doubt that golden of good works mingling with the visions raise the soul to purer worlds as entered the hastily closed her and wiping away a tear rose gracefully to greet him ah is it you how glad i am it is no stranger i would not have an indifferent eye see me thus moved my saint has gone to join the blessed sister died night and after a moment gazing at him she added you shall see this sketch in which i have hinted to myself the lesson of her life took her hand and himself at the table they looked together at the three outlines the first represented a s mouth on the edge of a garden where in the distance dancing were visible entering the vault his face veiled one arm wrapped in his heavy robe extending behind him an aged man seemed slowly drawing on a beautiful girl whose feet followed while the averted head the straining eye the parted lips told that the heart was with one of the behind who stood watching her the second sketch was of a chamber in the rock lighted only from a and on the floor as in a the female form alone her face hidden in her mantle with one hand cast forward grasping the in the third was again a garden and a s mouth but now reversed and near and far under branches placid figures seemed conversing in the fore ground his back to the stood with light triumphant air a youth from whose presence glory seemed to beam while lowly in gesture but with and assured face glided forth from the dark prison the virgin and so she has cast off her earthly said vol i no ii the est i know not whether the bishop was right in persuading her to enter the god does not fear liberty why should the church not right why her lover was unworthy would you have had her thrown away a treasure to be trampled down by neglect and scorn o how beautifully maternal is the church that she thus to her quiet breast the poor foot sore think she had loved fully one who could never have known her worth the blossom opened on the dusty road and drooped would you have had her live on desolate her secret whispered everywhere each coarse eye her pale face the world offered nothing and by the very of her love was she fitted to be a bride of | 37 |
how meet in human coming and past n and such i knew a forest a of the natural year of the wise of and tides a lover true who knew by heart each joy the mountain impart it seemed that nature could not raise a plant in any secret place in on snowy hill beneath the grass that shades the under the snow between the rocks in damp fields known to bird and but he would come in the very hour it opened in its virgin bower as if a showed the place and tell its long descended race it seemed as if the breezes brought it seemed as if the taught him as if by secret sight he knew where in far the there are many events in the field which are not shown to common eyes but all her shows did nature yield to please and win this pilgrim wise he saw the drum in the woods he heard the s evening hymn he found the s and the shy hawk did wait for him what others did at distance hear and guessed within the thicket s gloom was showed to this philosopher and at his bidding seemed to come ra in he sought the gang where from a hundred lakes young rivers sprang he the forest floor whereon the all seeing sun for ages hath not shone where the and walks the surly bear and up the tall mast runs the he saw beneath dim in beds the slight hang its twin bom heads and blessed the monument of the man of flowers which breathes his sweet through the northern s he heard when in the grove at intervals with sudden roar the aged falls one crash the death hymn of the perfect tree declares the close of its green century low lies the plant to whose creation went sweet influence from every element whose living towers the years to build whose giddy top the morning loved to through these green tents by eldest nature he content alike with man and beast where darkness found him he lay glad at night there the red morning touched him with its three his great heart him a made so long he at will the boundless shade the timid it concerns to ask their way and fear what foe in and can stray to make no step until the event is known and ills to come as evils past not so the wise no coward watch he keeps to spy what danger on his pathway go where he will the wise man is at home his hearth the earth his hall the dome where his clear spirit leads him there s his road by god s own light and iv t was one of the charmed days when the genius of god doth flow the wind may alter twenty ways a tempest cannot blow it may blow north it still is warm or south it still is clear or east it smells like a farm or west no thunder fear the musing peasant lowly great beside the forest water sat the rope like pine roots grown composed the of his throne the wide lake edged with sand and grass was to a floor of glass painted with shadows green and proud of the tree and of the cloud he was the heart of all the scene on him the sun looked more serene to hill and cloud his face was it seemed the likeness of their own they knew by secret sympathy the public child of earth and sky ask he said what me through led through thick and wide i found the waters bed life and death the were m guide i travelled grateful by their side or through their channel dry they led me through the thicket damp through and the camp through beds of granite cut my road and their friendship showed the falling waters led me the waters fed me and brought me to the lowest land to the ocean sand the upon the forest bark was when the night was dark the purple in the wood supplied me necessary food for nature ever faithful is to such as trust her when the forest shall me when the night and morning lie when sea and land refuse to feed me t will be time enough to die then will yet my mother yield a pillow in her field nor the june flowers scorn to cover the clay of their departed lover life and death the waves speak of other where men have walked in noble bands ages have passed since they trod the earth yet they too had fallen from their high birth like us for the pure and right they fought like us they longed and earnestly sought and they too found little with all their pride he was the noblest who nobly died not one of them all led a manly life alas for mankind with its ceaseless strife record of the months record of the months the works of e d d four third edition welcome this beautiful edition from a foreign land of the writings of our eminent it is the only complete and correct collection of the works hitherto published which he wishes to appear under his name and on that account as well as for the value of its contents we rejoice that a corresponding edition is soon to be issued from the press in this city the present volumes afford a striking illustration of the course of their author as a in social progress and the advocate of reform there is a severe logical in the gradual of his views which to the reader is frequently concealed by the rich and flowing style of which dr is such an admirable master the statements which are here brought together in regard to the nature of man the essential character of religion the condition of society and the | 37 |
hopes of the human race may all be traced back to one or two ideas which have strongly acted on the mind of the author which he clearly and to which he is never false he with the recognition of the moral principle as the highest element in human nature the purpose of religion is to and mature this principle to give it a practical over the soul and to preserve it from degradation by the of the world this principle man with his maker makes him conscious of a divinity within him to him the enjoyment of immortality the obligation of duty and calls him to a sublime destiny religion accordingly is not the reception of a creed but the cultivation of life not the of forms but inward it cannot and the mind but its true influence is joyous and it god to his children in the brightest and most attractive forms and commands them to be like him but if the moral principle is the highest attribute of man and the medium of his with god all other distinctions become trivial and unimportant the possession of a moral nature makes man the equal of man everywhere hence all assumption of authority over the conscience all on freedom of mind all claims to property in man all to on account of outward record the months privileges are to the divine law they do injustice both to the nature of man and the purposes of god now these principles give us a test of social arrangements they must be applied as the measure of civilization every institution of man must be brought into judgment before their the society which does not to every individual the means of and his highest which any to pine in hopeless want which external prosperity more than moral perfection which makes the pursuit of wealth the object and the culture of the soul is not in accordance with the principles of religion or the laws of human nature such are the conclusions at which dr arrives and which he on the world with the fearless earnestness of a martyr he commenced with here his purpose was not so much to attack as to explain to redeem the moral element of christianity from the speculations which concealed it and the spirit of as a spirit of freedom of charity of of universal truth his position now is that of a social in his mind the religion of love cannot be he has faith in man in christ and in god and accordingly he looks forward to a better future than the past his writings which will be most honored by the coming generations relate to this object they cannot fail to appreciate aright the with which he refuses to yield to popular prejudices the calm wisdom with which he looks into prevailing the courage and firmness with which he the current of that a divine charity for the welfare of man always at first calls forth and the hopeful serenity with which he watches the struggle between light and darkness that the speedy dawning of a better day the preface to this edition contains the following words which may be regarded as his own confession of faith and which the creed of the youth of this country who are beginning not so much to protest against the past as to live in the present and for the future these volumes will show that the author feels strongly the need of deep social changes of a spiritual revolution in of a new bond between man and man of a new sense of the relation between and his creator at the same time they will show his firm belief that our present low civilization the central idea of which is wealth cannot last forever that the mass of men are not doomed hopelessly and irresistibly to the degradation of mind and heart in which they are now sunk that a now comprehension of the end and dignity of a human being is to social institutions and manners that in christianity and in the powers and principles of human nature we have the promise of something and happier than now exists it is a privilege to live in this faith and a privilege to communicate it to others record of the sermons on the kind treatment and on the tion of slaves preached at on sunday the a and sunday the of may a statement b f boston william and co these sermons form a signal exception to the manner in which the instructions of the pulpit are usually they were pronounced before an audience scarce one of which could be presumed to with the views that were urged they were intended not to set aside a error nor to enforce an abstract moral but to rebuke a sin that was deeply fixed in the habits of the people and so far from being adapted to win for the preacher the golden opinions of his hearers he uttered them at the risk of his popularity his reputation nay of his personal safety he might have had good reason to believe that when he that pulpit in which he stood to discharge a painful but imperative duty he would never be suffered to lift up his voice in it again if indeed he should not fall a prey to the wild wrath of those whose social he had to the quick the position which mr occupied was one of no common privilege calling for the exercise of a lofty him to accomplish an act of wise and noble self sacrifice presenting one of those solemn moments in which a soul of true vitality lives more than in many years of and worldly indulgence here was a young man fresh from the cold of the schools in the atmosphere of a dainty literature connected with a religious which a cautious prudence among the cardinal virtues and tempted by the counsels | 37 |
and customs of society to overlook a vice that was so as to be feared the sight of human beings in bondage moved his spirit to expressions of rebuke and pity he could not conceal from himself the sin into the midst of which he was thrown he saw it in its true light he judged it by the of the divine law he felt that it was one of the chief duties of a servant of christ to compare the practice of his hearers with the principles of his master and to give his public testimony to its character with an emphasis and distinctness that should not fail to be understood it is easy to conceive of the struggle which such a mind must go through before it could form the resolve to utter the most offensive truths to men with whom the speaker had lived in intimacy with whose characters in many respects he cherished a sincere sympathy and from whom his might him forever the spirit io which mr performed his difficult task record of the months was suited to the opposition even of an enemy his statements are nicely weighed they are free from the semblance of exaggeration not a of anger the purity of his rebuke he approaches the wounds he would and heal dot with but with sorrow and love he shows that he does not hate the while he the rights of the slave he fully the circumstances which the offence the good qualities which grow in an soil and admits the distinction between the victim of vicious institutions and the deliberate wilful of a divine law his language is like that of a brother pleading with a brother of a christian whose moral indignation is mingled with deep grief of a man who conscious of infirmity himself can make a just allowance for the infirmity of others in his first discourse mr the duty of sion and indulgence towards the slave the negro says he is our brother to be regarded with feeling is therefore his due we bestow it on him not as a favor but as a debt in the second discourse he points out the that proceed from this principle it entirely slavery christianity makes all men our brethren slavery makes men our tools the spirit of christianity must finally cast every yoke slavery is wrong we can own servants only as we own wives and children they cannot be a part of our property nor without great injustice can they be treated as such these are the general principles on which all right for the of the slave are founded it is the purpose of those who are now laboring for this object to give the to these principles to bring them home to the moral sense of society and to apply them to the heart and conscience of all who are concerned in the of slavery their triumph will be the triumph of moral truth over material in the immediate of these might have been anticipated by those who are aware of the jealous and sensitive spirit which is always produced by the assertion of an unjust claim truth courts discussion the consciousness of right the most searching examination it fears nothing so much as judgment without inquiry it loves the light and brings all its deeds and words to that test no man wishes to wink out of sight what he does not know to be wrong but evil always makes of those whom it its anxiety to hush up the faintest whisper its character hence the timidity of the hence the frantic violence with which he all discussion by which his deeds may be hence the primitive manner in which a servant of christ is vol i no ii record of the forced to leave ih scene of his labors us of paul let down by night in a basket or the earlier as they were persecuted from one city into another on monday morning mr was accused before the grand jury they looked into the offence examined many witnesses and dismissed the complaint he was then waited on by his friends who were anxious for his welfare and for the public peace they advised him to withdraw from the immediate presence of the multitude he complied with their suggestions and passed the night out of the city the next day the irritation increased the neglect of the grand jury exasperated still more the minds of individuals and the danger of personal violence became imminent he was to go away he followed the counsel and the city in his own opinion he was from not by the people of but solely by a in it we are inclined to think that it would have been better had he remained on the post of danger and submitted to the worst we know not that his life would have been the sacrifice if it bad been we believe that he would have found such a death not without joy to die for the assertion of a truth on which the welfare of man depends is not the greatest of evils by far the man who dies the freedom of the soul for the meek defence of a brother s rights for the rebuke of sin in high places for sympathy with the down trodden and forsaken is happier than he whom death finds in the of the battle field or on the couch of selfish luxury in this instance he would have probably escaped with personal and every example of this borne is a great gain every example of heroic fortitude amidst the mistaken judgments or the open hostility of the world is an accession to its highest wealth we need men who love their duty better than their lives who can take joyfully the of their goods and the destruction of their hopes who are willing to be made of no reputation for the sake | 37 |
of advancing the progress of truth and good and who have cheerfully volunteered their services on the forlorn hope of humanity the author of these was not called to such a fiery trial we trust however that he has a soul that will never shrink from it and that the voice of popular applause and the temptations of society will never lead him to forget the dreams of his youth we have a few words to add in regard to the manner in which mr has spoken of those to whom our country is indebted for the most effectual assertion of freedom for all its inhabitants we think the impartial verdict of history in their behalf will be of a different character from that which he has recorded we say this without any personal bias for our ac record the months s with is very limited we have never been in the habit of acting with we have no case to make out in their favor but our opinion is formed from their published writings which we have read diligently their oh is to declare to the world the convictions which they have attained in private to make it universally felt that the holding of property in man is a sin and thus by peaceful measures to destroy the crying vice of this nation and the disgrace of our age in the defence of their principles no doubt there may be the of human for man still shares in the fall of adam there may be much bad there may be a of the which hold well bred people in such fear of each other that they dare not speak out their minds they may sometimes utter the voice of rebuke and warning in tones that grate harshly on ears which are daily soothed by the sweetest music of flattery this is natural enough it could hardly have been avoided but they keep higher laws than they break we must pardon something to the spirit of liberty which fills their souls it is in their ranks that we must look for the most disinterested devotion to a great cause for the deep sincerity which will not let the tongue stay dumb for a noble disregard of fashion and prejudice for the intense perception of the rights of universal man and for a to brave persecution and death in their defence such qualities cannot long be overlooked once seen they cannot be despised the heart is true as steel to their attractions though now condemned in their most prominent by the society of this instant to morrow the voice of humanity will echo in their honor a letter to those who think by edward the author of this letter has been the of a church in the vicinity of boston and is distinguished as we understand from those to whom he is personally known for the simplicity of his character the purity of his intentions and his fearless inquiries into the foundation of prevailing institutions and opinions he is one of the increasing number in our free land who do not regard the voice of the multitude as the test of truth nor ask permission of society to express their convictions we honor him therefore as a sincere and no difference of opinion shall prevent ue from doing justice to the record of his ideas the tone of this letter is one of great calmness it is attractive by the simplicity of its style and wins attention by record of the months the air of genuine experience with which it is pervaded the leading purpose of the writer is to express his desire for a pure and noble of religion which shall comprehend all the elements of human nature the soul to the highest perfection of which it and advance society in free and love though it is no small matter to be a true christian says mr i now see that it is much more to be a whole a simple and a true man he would have man himself of and forms not live by recorded or upon the experience of others but go forth freely and in accordance with the of his own moral nature he needs but to know himself to cultivate and exercise the noble nature with which he is endowed to bring into harmony and beautiful order all that to his interest and happiness as an individual and a social being these statements considered in reference to religious ideas will be assented to by many over whose minds those ideas have no influence it is in vain to disguise the fact that the present administration of religion calls forth secret or open from no small portion of those for whom it is designed men are fast coming to the conviction that the highest sentiments of their nature demand a more generous culture than they have received that the soul can be content with naught but the most severe and stern reality and that to be truly religious is a thing of more vital and solemn import than the frivolous and worldly spirit of our age has ever imagined a higher form of religion than that which the drowsy soul to death like sleep in the midst of appalling and sins is now looked for with as much earnestness by thousands of hearts which as yet have only breathed out their in the faintest whispers as was the coming of the in those dark days of degradation which preceded the advent of the truest light that has ever shone upon the spiritual eye of man these hopes are to be realized as we believe by a clearer insight into the essential spirit of christianity and its application to the heart of society in its simplest and most universal form this is the problem which our age is called upon to solve and it is now addressing itself to the task with a calm but intense determination | 37 |
which its triumphant completion with these convictions we do not assent to the conclusion which mr thus i am convinced that christianity is to be as that has the human soul is it as it has previously other systems and in this statement we think that mr has fallen into an error by supposing that the record of the months christianity of is the popular religion of society he the pure simple divine ideas of christ which place him at such a wide distance from other religious teachers with the systems and which from the days of to the present have received the honors of christian but there is an essential distinction between the ideas of and the forms in which they have been represented between the divine truth to which he came into the world to testify and the construction which it has received from different ages between the universal laws which he announced and the which have been added to them by the of men the former constitute the religion of the latter the dress which it the former are everlasting the latter must pass away we do not believe then that society has christianity nor that it can ever it any more than it can the divine laws of nature the characteristic idea of was the of moral over physical power he directed men to the of god within their souls he assured them that all who received his word should enjoy the spirit of truth as their and friend forever and thus attain the dignity and freedom of simple true and whole men this idea is to be applied as a test to our present modes of worship to the institutions of society to the character of its members so far as the prevailing religion of society is not in accordance with this it must be but the of this will be the exaltation of christianity a religion which the of life in certain days which makes more account of formal worship than of the beauty of which gives divine authority to a between conscience and god which to sit in judgment on the human soul which fails to recognise the spiritual equality and brotherhood of men which takes no effectual means for the removal of oppression social wrongs and national sins which the service of over the service of god and men to lay up treasures on earth while any within their reach are starving for the bread of life which has no faith in an order of society established on the divine principles of justice and love such a religion by whatever name it may be called is not the religion of christ it is in opposition to his still more in opposition to his life and as men are aroused from the of sin made to comprehend the startling import of the ideas which now soothe the sleek in his sabbath repose and quickened to a new sense of responsibility by the of a faithful conscience which wounds to heal this religion will pass away and the religion of be in its place of the months we differ moreover from mr in regard to the remedy which he for the spirit of selfishness the love of gain the low standard of morality and the glaring of condition and opportunity which to so great an extent modern society in his opinion the present property system is the principal source of the crime and wretchedness which it a of the natural laws and the selfish and exclusive principles upon which the intercourse and business of men are now conducted must be exchanged for the benevolent and in this way he a community of interest if not a community of property would be established the interests of the many would be brought into unity and the practice of giving and requiring bonds notes and metal at every turn would be with regard to the evils alluded to by mr there is we suppose but one opinion among those who have made the condition of society an object of study they now the attention of many of the most vigorous minds of europe they are beginning to awaken a deep interest in this country philosophy its to investigate the causes of social suffering religion has learned that the salvation of the soul the elevation of man and the age which has perceived the great problem will not be content till it is solved but the cure of these evils must not be looked for in a change of systems the heart must be set right the true purposes of life comprehended the divine relations of man with man understood and acted on before the most perfect outward organization could be carried into effect even if it were discovered the social ideas remaining the same no good could come from the of a new system you do not destroy the love of gain by with the tokens of value you may give an egg for an apple instead of a coin but the difficulty is in removed society must be inspired with correct social ideas the divine law of love must be proclaimed until it commands the universal heart and the true idea will not fail in due time to itself in a true institution the great social evils of our day grow out of the lust of for personal objects the remedy for these evils is the effectual assertion of christian principles if the spirit which insisted on as the characteristic of bis pervaded every community which bears his name there would be no suffering for the want of means to sustain life for every individual to his whole nature to attain the culture gentleness and dignity of a true man the strong would help the of the weak and the very thought of selfish gratification at the expense of another s happiness or improvement would be the record of the months early christians we are | 37 |
in god in christ and in the church has been promoted by the philosophical labors of such men as and de this tribute is due in justice to the last named individuals ill adapted as their views may be to meet the popular wants in our own country after noticing some other less important objections to the study of philosophy dr closed his discourse with an admirable description of the spirit with which this study should be carried on in with religion the philosopher when approaching the of human thought especially when he attempts to investigate the divine essence and attributes should be impressed with the solemn nature of his inquiries should cherish a meek and disposition like the who when they bow before the presence of god veil their faces with their wings we trust that this powerful and luminous discourse will be soon given to the public from the press it may do much to correct many and at first view almost hopeless errors with regard to the true nature and purposes of inquiry a religious community has reason to look with distrust and dread on a philosophy which limits the ideas of the human mind to the information of the senses and the existence of spiritual elements in the nature of man they will welcome a philosophy of an opposite character a philosophy which a sublime harmony with the of which brings home the most vital truths to individual record of the and which the reality of freedom and as the noblest object of human endeavor such a philosophy has been taught in great britain by butler price and in germany by and in france by cousin and de and we rejoice to add is now taught with signal ability in the halls of our university by the author of this discourse the exhibition of and the gallery of paintings has been well worth visiting this year if only to see the very beautiful copy of the and the heads of and the each of which a treasury of fine suggestions the shows to great advantage between s two pictures so excellent in their way the dutch girl and spanish girl these are such pretty pictures of modern fine ladies in costume and seem to represent the idea which a highly cultivated fashionable society of grace and romance while the represents the wild luxuriant growth of real romance and suggests s lines o lavish nature why that dark eye where a spirit that replies to mood of skies yet at peace to be o another s first and then her own the dream is a fine picture in the romantic style it is one of those works which if not themselves of commanding excellence to us the sweet breeze from an age capable of all excellence among the pictures by modem artists we notice with great interest several by page this artist has a fine eye for nature and a contempt for all show and exaggeration his pictures are always full of character he does not seem bom particularly for a portrait painter inasmuch as these heads are not new revelations but persons such as we have seen and known them but all that we do find is true full of life and freshness his heads of children are excellent in a style of great and sweetness they are not well dressed little but rich in the promise of sincere and natural manhood and womanhood should this artist ever be able to his powers in a congenial element he is able to go a great way and may turn over a new leaf for america two little by deserve greater attention than from their record of the months size and position they are likely to receive they show a profound and quiet feeling of nature perfect and delicacy of taste they are deficient in freedom and fulness of expression but give reason to hope for the of these also several other pictures seem to claim our stay but the present limits oblige us to hasten into the hall of which demands our especial attention now from ts novelty the opening of which indeed forms to us ite an important era in the history of boston we reflect with great pleasure that these calm and fair manifested in and material have for the most part adorned for some years the houses of our citizens and doubtless have been the sources of love and thought to a great number of minds but that the public should be sufficiently interested in such objects to make it worth while to collect them yearly for exhibition is none the less an important event it is very pleasing to see how this influence has gone forth from the private to the public sphere the movement has been gradual genuine and therefore has meaning and it is of no trifling significance when men learn to love to see thoughts written in stone they must look to a noble they must know how to value repose it is never so pleasant to see works of art in a collection as when they are the ornaments of a home each picture each statue claims its to be seen to due advantage and yet in this hall there is an almost pleasure in walking as it were amid a grove or garden of beautiful taken from the ages of and of beings worthy the marble from the days of action we can see many of them on all sides and study the meaning of every line and here are many objects worth study there is s this is the truly beautiful the ideal this head is quite free from the got up air of disdain which most of him as it did himself in real life yet stern all craving all commanding even the heavy style of the hair too closely curled for grace is favorable to the expression of concentrated life while looking at this | 37 |
head you learn to account for the grand failure in the scheme of his existence the line of the cheek and chin are here as usual of beauty the bust of napoleon is here also and will naturally be named in with that of as the one in letters the other in arms represented more fully than any other the tendency of their time more than any other gave it a chance for reaction there was another point of resemblance in the external being of the two perfectly corresponding with that of record of the months the internal a sense of which peculiarity drew on some ridicule i mean that it was the intention of nature that neither should ever grow fat but remain a in the and both these beads are taken while ihey were at an early age and so thin as to be still beautiful this head of napoleon is of a stern beauty a head must be of a style either very stern or very to make a deep impression on the there must be a great force of will and of resources giving a sense of depth below depth which we call or else there must be that purity flowing as from an inexhaustible fountain through every which drives far off or all natures napoleon s head is of the first description it is stern and not only so but yet this no aversion the artist has caught its true character and given us here the the instrument of fate to serve a purpose not his own while looking on it came full to mind the well known lines speak gently of bis crimes who knows of god but in his eyes those crimes were virtues his brows are tense and damp with the of thought in that head you see the great future careless of the black and white stones and even when you turn to the beauty of the mouth the impression remains so strong that russia s and mountains of the slain seem the tragedy that must naturally follow the appearance of such an actor you turn from him feeling that he is a product not of the day but of the ages and that the ages must judge him near him is a head of very intellectual self and self fed but wrung and by thoughts yet even near the and napoleon our american men look to be in marble or bronze if it were only for their air of calm sagacity if the young american were to walk up an avenue lined with such he might not feel called to such greatness as the strong roman wrinkles tell of but he must feel that he could not live an idle life and should nerve himself to an weight without or shrinking the of and though admirable as deserved a genius of a different order from gives the man as he is at the moment but does not show the possibilities of his existence even thus seen the head of mr brings back all the age of so refined and classic is its beauty the two of mr by and powers are the difference be record of the prose and energetic prose indeed but still prose and poetry s is such as we see mr on any public occasion when his genius is not called forth no child could fail to recognise it in a moment powers s is not so good as a likeness but has the higher merit of being an ideal of the and at a great moment it is quite an american in its eagle calmness of conscious power of the groups many are our old friends and have been noticed elsewhere the cannot be looked at enough always her sleep seems sweeter and more graceful always more wonderful the a little by a pupil of pleases us much thus far the forlorn sweetness with which she sits there crouched down like a bruised butterfly and the languid of her mood are very touching the and with the eagle by are si ill as fine as on first acquaintance seems the and simplest of modern there is a breadth in his thought a freedom in his design we do not see elsewhere a by shows great talent and knowledge of the animal the head is admirable it is so full of and of but it is impossible in a short notice to farther for each of these objects that claims attention at all deserves a chapter to express the thoughts it calls out another year we hope to see them all again and then to have space and time to do them such honor as feeling would prompt to day we hope the beauty of the following lines suggested to a friend and correspondent by a picture now in the gallery called the dream may for the and haste of our little notice the dream a with gentle brow and tender cheek dreams in a place so silent that no bird no rustle of the leaves his break only from the stream is heard as its bright little waves flow forth to greet the one and play upon lis feet on a low bank beneath the thick shade thrown over bis brown hair are flitting his golden bending all lovely shone it seemed an angel s home where he was sitting erect beside a silver lily grew and over all the shadow its sweet beauty threw record of the dreams he of life o a noble maid toward bim with eyes of light in richest robes all arrayed to be his and his dear delight ah no the distance shows a winding stream no lovely comes no eyes do gleam cold is the air and cold the mountains blue the banks are brown and men are lying nd old but what have they to do with joyous visions of a youth so fair he must | 37 |
not ever sleep as they are sleeping onward through life he should be ever sweeping let the pale glimmering distance pass away why m the twilight art thou there wake and come forth into triumphant day thy life and deeds must all be great and fair thou not from the lily learn true glory pure lofty lowly such should be thy story but no i see thou st the deep eyed past and thy heart to sweet in dim cathedral aisle thou it last and fill thy mind with flitting yet know dear one the world is rich to day and the god gives glory forth list of recent of and other poems by john boston james and company mo specimens of foreign standard literature by george vii ix containing german literature translated from the german of by c c in three volumes boston gray and company mo two years before the mast a personal narrative of life at sea new york and brothers mo this is a voice from the though a narrative of literal truth it possesses something of the romantic charm of robinson few more interesting chapters of the literature of the sea have ever fallen under our notice the author left the halls of the university for the deck of a merchant vessel exchanging the tight dress coat silk cap and kid gloves of an at cambridge for the loose duck checked shirt and hat of a sailor and here presents us the fruits of his voyage his book record of the months will have a wide circulation it will be praised in the public prints we shall be told that it does honor to his head and heart but we trust that it will do much more than this that it will open the eyes of many to the condition of the sailor to the fearful waste of man by which the luxuries of foreign are made to increase the amount of commercial wealth this simple narrative stamped with deep sincerity and displaying an pathetic eloquence may lead to reflections which mere argument and sentimental appeals do not call forth it will serve to hasten the day of reckoning between society and the sailor which though late will not fail to come theory of by translated from the french of by r in two volumes boston weeks and company mo the law and custom of slavery in british india in a series of letters to thomas esq by william adam boston weeks and company mo the laboring classes an article from the boston review by o a third edition boston h vo before the of and vicinity delivered at mass by o a july boston and vo remarks on the hill monument addressed to the ladies engaged in getting up the fair for its completion by c w mo a discourse on liberty delivered before an assembly of the friends of in the christian chapel in providence july by thomas p providence vo a dramatic poem by translated into english prose with notes c by a hay ward esq first american from the third london edition and new york mo a collection of the political writings of william selected and arranged with a preface by in two volumes new york mo social destiny of man or association and of industry by philadelphia mo this work is designed to give a view of the system of m for the improvement and elevation of productive industry it will be read with deep interest by a large class of our population the name of may be placed at the vol no it record the head of modern whose attention has heen given to the practical evils of society and the means of their al his general principles should be cautiously separated from the details which accompany their many of which are so exclusively adapted to the french character as to prejudice their reception with persons of opposite habits and associations the great question which he brings up for discussion concerns the union of labor and capital in the same individuals by a system of combined and organized industry this question it is more than probable will not be set aside at once whenever its is fully perceived and those who are interested in its decision will find materials of no small value in the writings of m they may be regarded in some sense as the scientific analysis of the principle which has within a few years past engaged the public attention in england and in certain cases received a successful practical application the and political history of the of rome during the sixteenth and centuries by translated from the german by in three volumes london this beautiful work gives a sketch of the history of the church from the time of christ to tenth then a minute history of the epoch of the and especially of the attempts made in good faith within the church for its and shows how these proved notwithstanding the sincerity and enlightened views of many catholic the rise and progress corruption and destruction of the is carefully told the work with a view of the history of the church up to the time of napoleon and the present state of things in design and execution the work is truly a poem and it has been translated poetry for the people and other poems by richard london in america part the second by de in two volumes translated by henry esq london the life of with notices and of his popular writings translated from the german of by t s with an essay by the author of natural history of enthusiasm london the universal tendency to association in mankind and illustrated with practical and historical notices of the bonds of society as regards individuals and by john esq london the last days of a condemned from the french of m victor by sir p m p don record of the months account | 37 |
of the recent persecution of the jews at with reflections and an containing various documents connected with the subject by david esq london the fine arts in england their state and prospects considered to national education part i the economy of the fine by edward of the british museum london and letters of sir samuel with his political by his sons second edition in three volumes london vo s theory of colors translated from the german and with notes by charles lock r a london in religion or religious forms and three lectures delivered at the chapel in south place by philip london the title of this would lead one to expect somewhat significant in its contents such an expectation is not disappointed on the perusal we find here no stale thoughts repeated the breath of life is pressed out of them but the fresh and bold though now and then crude expressions of a mind that is clearly in earnest and wont to look at man and nature through no veil the spirit which ceases not to work through evil report and good report in the midst of our own society is quick and powerful abroad it is indeed almost startling to listen to the echoes of familiar voices as they are borne to us from strange lands let them be welcomed from whatever quarter the come as proofs pleasing though not needed of the identity of truth and its with the human soul the author of these lectures to consider the tendency more or less in all the great religious of mankind to religion to clothe the religious idea in a material garb and confine it in material forms he this tendency through the religious history of the world in three of the most remarkable phases which it has assumed and the following passage explains his point of view i have no then with the tendency to religion there is truth in it it is in a manner the beginning and the end the and the of all religion to read the spiritual in the material the infinite in the the invisible things of god in the things that he has made and then to re our spiritual in new material forms of life and action this is all the religion that the wisest of us can have the two principles of and are in their lower only in their form they the climax of the one is record of the months also the climax of the other thus a rude christianity is material to the mere personality of christ christ makes a god of him will hear of nothing but in christ love to christ obedience to christ a more refined and spiritual as represented for instance by the of s school leaves the man christ rather in the background and takes his doctrines his his religion and these and says that it does not very much matter what we think of him or whose son he was so that we take his religion and believe that a yet higher and more spiritual christianity comes back to the personality of christ and sees that he is his own religion that he is a sort of of god a word of god made flesh that he is the word the revelation the text and all the rest mere comment more or less in like manner a rude coarse natural religion to material nature makes and bows down to worship them the first step in refinement is to leave the material to break the images to seize the conception of the spirit that made the heavens and the earth and dwells apart outside the material world at the next step the mind the spiritual and the and the mighty thought of the all intelligence and power uie all love in whom we live and move and have our being who dwells in us and we in him through whom and by whom and to whom are all things the spirit of life however always to break through the material forms with which it is yet after all strong as the material form may be the spirit the living soul is stronger still natural vital growth is mighty even as a mechanical force the seed if there be but life in it will burst the hardest shell and the growing power of a principle will make its way through all the and of a form the prophetic administration of religion bold reaching forth and pressing forward to the will ever strong for the mechanical leaning lazily upon the past there is with all its and and golden down sunk like lead in the depths of the past and here is christianity up now this moment at the top of the world with its divine everlasting new thought and yielding new results of life and action like the tree of life in the that bare her every month beaming light in life and hope in death the will of and its aims a a spirit of truth and or god a holy spirit with us forever with inspiration as new and fresh as when christ first in his cottage home at ig there is truth in the idea of the catholic church which the author thus undoubtedly there is or if not is might could and should he a church universal a communion of saint a fellowship of ana true minds reaching through all time and spread over all a union of all minds and hearts in great moral convictions in a faith faith in one another faith in truth and in a true god we can con of the months of such a fellowship or church ns this a kingdom of of heavenly and love upon the earth we can the idea it was the idea in which christ lived and died we may | 37 |
conceive of such a church whether with or without what is called a general of the spirit of humanity with christ s spirit a kingdom of christ and of god which beginning like a grain of seed should gradually grow up by the vitality that is in true and good things into a tree a tree of life giving and shelter to all the of men this is the christian conception of a church catholic or universal and such a church would have authority it would to borrow the favorite old illustration be a kind of soul of the world whose will would be law to the body and governing all the movements of the body vitality to every limb sending the light of faith and the life of love through all social institutions and such a church would be in a manner the united moral of a community of minds each of them free and dealing reality on its own account the conscience of the human race cannot be false we might almost say of such a church that its of scripture would be since if we could but know the general impression which scripture makes on the intellect of mankind exercised freely and we should have in this united and experience of of minds endowed and trained what now we have not and cannot have the of scripture the sense which it is naturally fitted to convey error would error leaving a clear balance of truth and after striking out of the account as accidental and exceptional all that have not stood the test of tlie general intellectual experience of mankind we should have in the faith of the church universal something like a standard and such a church would realize the idea of the succession the christian or royal would be quickened by the same holy spirit or divine breath that made and kings ana priests unto god a spirit not at all confined to one little territory of some miles square called see or one solitary of italian princes called but all things with an as of the god whose spirit it is there is an essential of truth then in these favorite ideas of neither are institutions without beauty by its institutions the catholic church the idea of heavenly here likewise is truth vital essential truth but turned into falsehood by being hardened into there is something grand and in the principle that prompted the after a life than man lives here that gave men to earth for heaven to escape from the world and the evil of the world together and make a bright green garden spot an of god m the midst of the world s wilderness where piety learning meditation should reign and alone ana the soul rest no record of the in god and serve him day and ht in his temple with prayer and and solemn chant where a thoughtful could tend and trim the sacred fire which then flickering on the verge of was in days to burn forth with a brightness as of sun in his strength this is or was very grand and beautiful who can read even now such a book as that of thomas k without the sympathy of reverence for the earnest deep that it all this or great part of it was true once and it is right that the debt which civilization and humanity owe to those of tlie gentle and the wise should be paid in a generous and kindly appreciation we hope the imagination of the author has not thrown a false light around the tendencies of the age meanwhile there is and must be a mutual of the simply and wisely good of all churches and of no church the great tendencies of modern thought and feeling are essentially move in the direction of an sympathy with the true the good and the beautiful by whatever strange uncouth they may chance to themselves however it may fare with and churches which after all matters extremely little there is and must be a and united of free and true minds from all points towards that divine philosophy of the peasant prophet by whose name the world loves to call itself a philosophy which lays the foundation of a and the of a spiritual religion uttered in one of the sentences that ever fell from lips of man and there from age to age in the bible that we all but worship bringing the human into communion with the infinite divine god is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth the distinction between the spirit and the letter which is set forth in the following extract cannot be insisted on too strongly the idea of divine inspiration for instance breathing of god upon the soul is miserably and shut up in a mechanical form instead of a vital moral impulse touching the springs of thought and affection a divine spirit of truth leading into truth we have that poor cold artificial thing thus we say the bible is an inspired book which it is to a degree in which perhaps no other book is inspired instinct with a life and living power that can only come from the fountain of life the bible is an inspired book a kind of written word of god therefore and were could not make mistakes to say that a has been by history that a train of reasoning is that a is is to deny inspiration to the word of god bible worship has with us taken the place of the old catholic image worship it really would seem that the bible and the bible only it the religion of we worship the book | 37 |
as devoutly as our fathers the virgin and the saints the faith and reverence which our best human record the months s sympathies and religious convictions cannot but to this wonderful collection of writings to the divine spirit of beauty power love moral earnestness that breathes through it is hardened into a mere homage to the letter even to the letter of a particular text of a particular translation the text being known all the while to be partly and the translation to oe considerably yet both text and translation maintained tliat people a may not be shaken we worship the bible we allow of no religious truth except opinions no religious education without bible whole and for reading and book no religious instruction for grown men and women without a bible text for motto and preface no religious worship even without a bible chapter at the right time and place between prayer and morality religion must all be religion is not in ourselves but in the book the sense of which is to be got at by hard inspiration is a thing that was once that is now past and distant external to us and to be brought near by evidences christianity is a of opinions to be proved the materials of the proof lying in the bible or in proving the and inspiration of the bible the end of all which is that tlie bible is not understood is not appreciated is precisely the least understood and appreciated book that men read early days in the society of friends the obedience of faith in some of its first members by mary ana london the of their and from the on separating from the church and embracing the faith translated from the german of dr of by john b second edition london des la par c paris mo d de la an a la des en et par m v cousin par m g vo de du en ai d de notes et par victor cousin this volume the great enterprise of m cousin to which he has devoted the labors of nearly twenty years every student of modern literature can now find easy access to the thoughts of the master as they are here clothed in the and graceful style of one of the best french prose writers this admirable translation is not the least service which m cousin has rendered to the interests of philosophical learning the reception which it has found among us is a good omen for those who believe that the highest is not the ex record of the months privilege of the scholar may it help to more widely the pure love of beauty the spirit of contemplation and the perception of moral good which alone can save our age s und und von dr in this work the author gives a history of the english drama up to the time of thus putting the reader in possession of the poet s of sight a picture of the age in which he lived when the pomp of the middle ages acted strongly on the mind set free by the then follows an account of the poet s life and the greater part of the book is devoted to a development of s poetic vision of the world this book is spoken of in the in terms of high the author has the philosophic depth which we vainly look for in s criticism of the great poet des a fr professor in i des vo ii die sage vo iii und die professor is the author of another work und die which he regards as the of his present edifice in the volumes as we understand he attempts to derive christianity from the but in the latter obeying the public cry against he attempts to find its origin in it appears to be a work of great pretensions and little merit if we may from two able articles upon it one in the and the other in the und mil der von etc von f vo this is the last production of a writer formerly hostile to christianity his real name is he has been a priest but has lately come over to christianity der von in vol i und die vision vol ii der vol hi und die vo der von bis des der von us d edition vo the dial vol i january no iii man in the ages the ages have presented man in a two fold aspect as man as not man human things politics laws all have gone either on the fact rather we might say have grown out of the reality of man s individual worth or else and contrary to this on the assumption of man s individual with the one man the living soul the individual in his sole being is more than king noble church or state not he theirs or for them but they nothing save for him with the other state church noble king each is more than man he theirs and for them he little or nothing save as a of the general order a part and instrument of the whole has preserved to us a quaint illustration which he to an earlier antiquity than his own in which the course of each man is compared to the letter y and as he comes forward into action through the point whence it itself into two branches he passes either in the direction of the one or in that of the other through sin to death or through to life the ages of our race have presented a like they have parted off in a direction to man s true nature or into a direction and contrary to it and out now toward hell now toward heaven these whence are they not out of time which rolls over man as a flood not out of place which him everywhere not | 37 |
out of any outward power vol i no iii man in the ages pressing on him by laws of necessity not out of such things exterior to his being they are of himself tendencies in his own nature to the high and the low the true and the false the free and the the divine and the the ages of man are not centuries of time or periods of fact they are the garments spun and woven out of man s own nature to clothe him with which he wears till they are then drops off for a new robe likewise self their quality is of course one with the nature out of which they grow the robes are as the these latter as the interior life out of which they are drawn the fall of man that first great of the lower nature wherein his essential worth is lost in admiration and pursuit of something exterior a mystery which all nations hold in uncertain tradition and of which the earliest records even those of the hebrew give but a very general notice is indeed his fall his fall from a spiritual over outward things into a vicious to nature and outward things the highest as it is for soaring so far above the reach of humanity into the midst of remote has never yet been able to up to the level of man s true height and destiny it is the pure region of spirit spirit that and to one all that exists wherein man has his true life and abode there spirit is all phenomena of sense are but the man lives within and the inward life itself to without god is first dwelling in the soul making body and nature his temple and his the soul first with god through him with the world nd itself his fall is from this high state he sinks from god under the world from faith to sight from spirit to flesh from freedom to the ancient had an expressive mode of representing such in any of its instances saying that the man is less than pleasure less than money less than whatever it be which him in his fall we may likewise say man becomes less than nature less than the world less than the body now the very moment this depression of the true manhood begins that moment begins the of soul of individual worth in exterior worthless the man in the ages a s tree of knowledge of good and evil call it what you will the whole wonderful narrative this one free spirit to nature soul lessened below flesh the permanent subjects and itself to the mine all which can be brought within the compass of this same mine is sought rather than the being and growth of the myself such man s first fountain of all his in the of the ages in an we have a type of the rise and return of the soul to its true dignity he is the man the soul living id faith that is the highest to be said of any man but he stands almost solitary and his sons morally his sons i mean as examples of all who prefer man s to man that is sight to faith nature to soul flesh to spirit as a principle of political institutions that the soul shall be deemed of highest worth the body next property third and least with reason for soul alone is absolute being the other two but relative body least remote property farthest off those men and those human things which have for their reverse the with them body or property we can hardly say which is first and second soul third and either least or as some of these later ages have taught us nothing now and then as in an or a man himself in his manhood above its and accidents strong in the strength of an inward life but is left alone universal corruption nay cherished diffused is in the severe phrase of the the age the morality of the times into which others thrust themselves to be some beasts spending their mirth or rage upon the dreaming who fancies there is such a life as spirit and dares to preach the doctrine of the age ends as we might look for in violence filling it other end it could not have truth good this is infinite and infinite to each and all thing property this is and can come but in crumbling fragments to each and all the more perfectly the inward self is developed in forms of faith and love and the better it is for all the infinite of right and good is as boundless and man in the ages accessible as ever to each new man like light which no man may appropriate but it may be whole in every one nay the revelation of this inexhaustible open to all is in each succeeding instance a new communication of so that always by an office though particular virtue s whole common obliged are for in a virtuous act all good men share the contrary with whatever is accidental and property is not only but in what proportion it holds in that what it keeps in itself that keeping away from all others in proportion as the of an individual become great and extended himself meantime less than they not their lord but their servant does he either the or cross the wishes of his neighbor who seeks with the same desire the same things as he the more land for example he has within a given space the less is there of course for another and although the greater growth of his own cannot lessen the growth of his neighbor s absolutely yet it does lessen it and he is so much the more rival or superior to him in amount of riches so | 37 |
in the arts he who does but in song or his own idea of beauty for the love of infinite beauty loses nothing but himself and others though some other bard utter some other produce forms beautiful as his own but he who these divine arts not as the of his own soul but for what of praise or money they may bring feels himself injured in every rival loses whatever another gains and is high just as others are low thus it is in all things whence whence whence whence whence violence what is infinite in man man himself is in exterior things and repulsive which things as lords draw out the whole train of thoughts to potent or cunning warfare so was it with man in his first age dimly known to us as and the record of the flood bears in it that everlasting testimony which god has left that one soul living in faith and truth is of higher worth than nature and the world l man in the ages this first age is the type of every other say but this at any given instant longer is it now than formerly since man the ages more men are now in the world new trades cities new names and you have said the whole as these fair children of sun and water ever changing always one now just steaming up out of river or fountain now lying thin over low ground now resting heavy on hills now gathering into thick clouds now black like night now again shining out in all hues one in each the same earthly element obeying the same powers the one human nature thus itself we recognise in the two forms into which it perpetually goes out society worship society instead of being as political would have us think a cunning device a thing of compact on a self interest ascertained by experience is in fact the first natural growth of the human instinct put two men together or two thousand or a million and they will not live one day separate persons they will like so many streams into one centre and seek after that goal of human effort the of that unity the whole whereof each individual is a type in himself so for worship the apprehension of the idea of eternity the sentiment of reverence is rooted in the depth and heart of man s soul all toils of the flesh to root it out are vain but the pure spiritual principle society becomes forthwith the organization of worship the act of superstition this process grows out of fixed law through greater strength or cunning one man will seize and hold more than another each to gain will be self possessions will be enlarged by this of wealth and power the stronger man will come to appropriate what another has to himself ultimately to subdue his neighbors and become their lord their chief their king their tyrant come to worship the idea which is left of god passes of course into kindred and with the spirit thus lessened below the flesh with the soul living an outward life divinity of which man s inward nature is the image will be mixed with these lower elements of humanity to which it has no true correspondence such is fact of history so man in the ages soon after the flood appears in the aspect of to exterior power worship in the aspect of reverence to gods shaped according to the of man s lower nature an arbitrary king represents the one ness of society a bodily god the of the universe absolute society worship rights take the place of individual faith and love if we might refer to the three forms of government into which society shapes itself for the expression of its unity we may say that and aristocracy come nearest to the representation of the ap nearest to the representation of the man or if we look to the different systems of religion although perhaps all institutions of yet it is only christianity which stands forth as a faith and worship of the soul within itself for itself which finds in man the beginning and end of humanity which takes off crowns gowns robes of state all outward and sees nowhere on earth king noble priest master slave but man and only man quite man reflected by the ages in them we have hebrew egyptian roman frank saxon english and the like not man egypt a mighty kingdom mother of ancient wisdom the seat of solomon and his in their glory that proud imperial power the empire of the east which had we might almost say but one man greece renowned for war for song for philosophy rome the emblem of strength lands pouring torrents of armed hosts france the beautiful germany the strong and heavy england island of these and forms our historical ages are the who has condescended to remember that man is who thinks as he reads that the splendid things they point us to are but and which hide and the true man with their that the poorest man who the banks of the or the of or helped build the wall of or or walked in the city of or gazed on the triumphs of the first or dwelt in british or forests or wore wooden shoes in bit is a man in the ages form than greece or rome ever framed or fan of the ages so i have ventured to call them of these of man in time we may say what has been said of that single portion of them political institutions they are not created they grow the leaves they are and of humanity observe first they are by consequence what man is spiritual when man is spiritual usually because man has been oftener observe secondly they upon man him to themselves thus the very leaves and flowers which | 37 |
i is greater than tliey all shows these are empty shows not full lasting nay t is only because in such more than in common things soul dreams of seeing its own infinite forms only because disgusted with familiar every day the spirit hopes here to regain its innate and visions that they reach and touch the soul the spirit at all mystery covers them sacred words they continually speak god truth law right and mocking man draw him to homage well for him if he sees through the delusion and goes back to find the divine idea in himself and in the mirror of nature whence he to say tell me not henceforth of your and your priests and scholars your great heroes of all sorts the true man i find to be more than any or all things than these houses lands money what are they to me winged things which light a moment on me or pass me by while i stand fixed in eternity i have seen the butterfly hanging on a field flower shall ever the true hang for its life on shows let me rather control them all make an age of my own to wear for its hour servant to none or nothing inseparable from this principle of to corrupt ages is that essential element of spirit freedom all things in the universe come under one or other of these two freedom or two grounds are there of all changes mind force freedom of mind of force all which comes within the domain of sense is subject to the latter to the of necessity all which is within the sphere of spirit we to the former the spontaneous life of freedom the ages are complex so far as wrought out of man s mechanical nature they come under the laws of necessity so far as the working of his spiritual power they are out of the compass of those laws free deeds not fixed doom this divine element itself in every high noble impulse of the internal being and can never be wholly destroyed the two ideas spirit freedom are inseparable as forth in their type the wind breathing at will over mountain or valley land or water which inward freedom is the of all liberty state church family man in the ages individual is free just in proportion as this freedom dwells and itself from within in opposition to necessity or it from without now the ages so far as of what may be termed the force element in our nature have always sought to this inward power at least to obscure the consciousness of its presence of man for ignorance and of the poor necessity of property for a voice in protection of personal rights and interests of ancient opinions and institutions hereditary ranks the whole array indeed of doctrines and designed to transfer power from the man in whom it dwells to the of men in which it dwells but and have been resorted to for the purpose of the flame of freedom which burns up out of the inmost depths of every soul toward its kindred element in heaven that flame burns on forever despite of all as of the divine nature itself some wise men have doubted to say that it has been it will be but only it is so may we say concerning this celestial principle it is neither coming nor departing never past never future always present it is whence absolute and slavery save as absolute sin is it there cannot be no thanks to men however they have done their utmost to the life chains all engines of tyranny they have found insufficient to freedom for the good reason that they cannot the soul whose first law of being is freedom despite of lies the ages have told of which the ages have established freedom lives i have lived indeed to hear that blessed name taken in vain used in uttered with a sneer it will not be so always it was not so once it has been a sacred word sang it proclaimed it noble men died for it and felt the price cheap none counted how much gold could be out of dimly seen imperfectly understood its shapes its shadowy visions even rising amidst bloody clouds have been of joy not brighter more glad to the forlorn and weary traveller the first rays which look out man in the ages through the golden dawn than to and men the day break of nor is light itself or any exterior thing of good cheer to man conscious of bondage order tradition political laws of nations of the ages these are all nothing to the unseen invisible law of true freedom in man s soul those are of men this of man those of the world this of god i may regret to be sure that a dagger should have ever been hidden in bough i may mourn that in the name of liberty the least wrong should ever be done would that the blessed form needed never but voice soft as the evening wind more deeply should i mourn my tears more hopeless if saw her assailed nor hand nor voice lifted in the defence nay as in worst superstition i welcome the divine idea of religion as through dreams and filthy tales of i see and bless the living god nor ever feel more sure that god is that truth is and that man is made for god and truth so in and through frantic of an and freedom i see i feel that freedom is and is sacred and that it is everything to the soul of man carry me to paris in the frenzy of its revolution carry me to st in the storm of its carry me to hill amid its carry me to while its three hundred wait the sure death set me beside those whose names may | 37 |
no man touch them and another this plantation is mine and all it and these men also who work on it they are mine so the world over and in secret where none eye nor ear nor any regard a lone one and tears into the still stream ye rich i envy you not i complain not i must yet weep that ye are that the poor are ye tell me loudly of your your gifts to the poor ye make them poor by your then feed your pride with which your wealth their want give us back what god bath given his earth ourselves then we shall no longer need your help priests kings men of wealth cease to rob then we shall cease to toil rich man king noble priest all men hear man in sorrow god alone of bright days who sang in by or amid forests would that i might take your harp and sing as ye once sang then should this sorrow have voice he who has none to comfort should be heard through strains of mine over sea and land even to the heavy ear of and kings of and alas in lonely wood i can but sing to truth and love the wrongs of men nor any heed or hear but god i may take my harp to palace and castle and sing of mighty deeds of arthur and alfred of and how saxon and and reigned how king and knight loved and and won the fairest of the land then do cunning men and give me large gifts weep alone ye poor weep un pitied ye who are only men my strain is unheard if i but try to tell your rights and wants and woes and loves man in the ages not always so lift up your heads ye poor your shall come your hour is at hand was poor god s glad message is through him to your stricken hearts priest and king bishop and noble mighty and rich are nothing to him he knows but man whom he shall restore to himself blessing on thee man sacred venerable thy name thou shalt live the divine of thy nature shall yet and grow and bear celestial fruit god s own freedom and truth and love deeper woe hope sang the second nor freedom nor truth nor love of from these outward bonds broken be those bonds god speed the rescue but the holy fountain of life wells out from within oh when shall that fountain be open and flow through heaven earth ocean moon stars one inward spirit lives breathes all through soul of man that spirit lives most breathes as itself finds spirit but spirit to welcome and interpret its mysterious presence there is communion god is in us we in god life fountain of freedom of manhood of a age woe woe woe to the sons of men they have their nature god man a beast so have they said god power in the universal spirit they behold but might and skill infinite love once in god in all spirit whither is thy flight men see thee not thy light life was in all thy dove wings hovered over all where thou now where thou art there god is in god freedom truth where thou art not in rich or poor mighty or feeble lord or god is not nor aught divine deepest of laws of powers eternal fountain whence true law right power hath flowed men ancient modern dream of some outward laws and powers in nature in their ages and obey them they have obeyed the voice and gained wealth see these splendid palaces these rich store houses these hunting grounds these fruitful these horses and and gay dresses all are of obedience to law but what law sure other than the deepest the everlasting nothing here of divinity law there is in afternoon which god law of spirit of spiritual fruit divine wherein god forth to bless the soul and in soul the universe life of the father love proud things cannot raise thee without it low things cannot thee with it neither proud nor mean neither high nor low where this law dwells all are one in god out of him through all one boundless blessed harmony the ages themselves of men it at will woe to him who his age from its eternal law to winds waves heaving seas of our time in all through all first midst last of all in it is in freedom and joy out of it is in slavery and wretchedness man fell when he ceased to love his rise is in the birth of love man thou art wretched for thou hast shut thy heart to god open thy soul unto him be again thou in god god in thee then shalt thou be the life of new ages central of boundless radiance of thy purer self let grow from thy spirit the epoch of a true manhood so shalt thou be free blessed within without so shalt thou meet anew thine inmost life reflected in the calmness and which thee so shalt thou greet the divine light going forth of thy soul to re appear in all outward things in this fair earth in the serene moon in stars and sun in air and sky so shall thy free soul dwell in the infinite of freedom so thy being live and itself in the communion of purest spirit so wherever man is there shall the word of a highest inspiration be fulfilled we have known and believed the love that god hath to us god is love and be that in love in god and god in him s afternoon i e upon the earth and feed upon the drink in the soft deep blue falling from on high boughs all in gold quiver to and fro winds like spirits murmur as through the | 37 |
air they go my soul is filled with joy and holy and love for noble friends oa earth and angels pure above vol i no ill hath this world without me wrought other substance than my thought lives it by my sense alone or by essence of its own will its life with mine begun cease to be when that is done or another consciousness with the self same forms impress doth yon poised in air hang by my permission there are the clouds that wander by but the offspring of mine eye bom with every glance i cast when that is past and those thousand thousand eyes scattered through the twinkling skies do they draw their life from mine or of their own beauty shine now i close my eyes my ears and creation yet if i but speak the word all creation is restored or more wonderful within new do begin hues more bright and forms more rare than reality doth wear flash across my inward sense bom of the mind s soul that all say shall these glories pass away will those cease to blaze when these eyes no longer gaze and the life of things be o er when these beat no more thought that in me works and lives life to all things living gives art thou not perchance but the universe in trance a reflection flung by that world thou sprang from a dream of the world s thinking thou the theme be it thus or be thy birth a source above the earth be matter be thou mind id thee alone myself i find and through thee alone for me hath this world reality therefore in thee will i live to thee all myself will still that i may mid this bounded self in mind it is the moon gliding her saloon all she looks upon i am her for by she comes to me o i love her she into my window looks as i sit with lamp and books when the night the leaves and the dew drops down the o er my shoulder she o she loves me then she tells me many a tale with her smile so pale till my soul is with such dream light of the past that i needs must be and i love her mournfully oft i gaze up in her eyes light through winter skies far away she on i am no for she is too high for me and i love her hopelessly now she comes to me again and we mingle joy and pain now she walks no more afar with train bearing star but she and kisses me o we love now hymn and prayer hymn and prayer spirit who art round us ever in whom we float as in summer sky may neither life nor death the sweet bond which us to our unseen friend on high unseen yet not if any thought has raised our mind from earth or pure desire a act or noble purpose brought it is thy breath o lord which the fire to me the meanest of thy creatures kneeling conscious of weakness ignorance sin and shame give such a force of holy thought and feeling that i may live to thy name that i may conquer base desire and passion that i may rise o er selfish thought and will o the world s threat and fashion walk humbly leaning on thee still i am unworthy yet for their dear sake i ask whose roots planted in are found for precious vines are propped by stake and heavenly roses fed in darkest ground beneath my leaves though early and faded young plants are warmed they drink my branches dew let them not lord by me be shaded make me for their sake firm and pure and true for their sake too the wise and bold whose generous love has been my pride and stay those who have found in me some trace of gold for their sake my lead and clay and let not all the pains and toil be wasted spent on my youth by saints now gone to rest nor that deep sorrow my tasted when on his soul the guilt of man was tender and sensitive he the storm that we might fly a well deserved fate poured out his soul in warm looked with his eyes of love on eyes of hate let all this goodness by my mind be seen let all this mercy on my heart be sealed lord if thou wilt thy power can make me clean o speak the word thy servant shall be healed and the wife of is probably known to many readers through her beautiful letters to the or mrs s popular work the loves of the poets it is said that wrote to her continually her death the poet had retired from the social circle its mirth was to his soul a noisy discord its sentiment a mockery with grief he felt that the recital of a generous action the vivid expression of a noble thought could only the surface of his mind the desolate stillness of death lay brooding on its depths the friendly smiles the affectionate attentions which had seemed so sweet in the days when s presence was the boon in his earliest wish crown of his cup and of his dish could give the present but a ghastly to that blessed time while his attention to his wishes kept turning painfully inward the voice of the singer suddenly startled it back a lovely maid with moist clear eye and pleading earnest voice was seated at the she sang a sad and yet not hopeless strain like that of a lover who pines in absence yet hopes again to his loved one the heart of the listener rose to his lips and natural t | 37 |
his eyes she paused some youth of untouched heart shallow as yet in all things asked for a lively song the expression of animal enjoyment one of these mountain strains that call upon us to climb the most steep and rugged with an she hesitated and cast a glance at the the request was urged she over the keys an airy a cold rush of anguish came over the awakened heart rose and hastily left the room he entered his chamber and threw himself upon the bed the moon was nearly at the full a tree near the large window obscured the radiance and cast into the room a flickering shadow as its leaves kept swaying to and fro with the breeze vainly sought to soothe himself in that soft and varying light sadness is always deepest at this hour of celestial calmness the soul real and its wants and to be at harmony with itself far more than when any outward ill is or it weak fond wretch that i am cried he i the bard of to what purpose have i my soul on the virtues of that sublime model for whom no was too hard four years an angel with me her presence brightened me into purity and benevolence like her own happy as the saints who after their long strife rest in the bosom of perfect love i thought myself good because i not against a god of so apparent because my heart could spare some drops of its overflowing oil and for the wounds of others now what am i my angel leaves me but she leaves with me the memory of our perfect communion as an earnest of what us if i prove faithful to my own words of faith to these religious strains which are even now cheering on many an inexperienced youth and i the springs of life and love frozen here i lie sunk in grief as if a grave were the to all my thoughts the joy of other men seems an insult their grief a dead letter compared with mine own thou see me in mine hour of trial thou disdain thy chosen a strain of sweet but solemn music swelled on his ear one of those majestic which were there no other proof of the soul s immortality would create the intellectual paradise it closed and stood before him a long veil of silvery whiteness fell over her through which might be seen the fixed but nobly serene expression of the large blue eyes and a holy a dignity of mien knelt before her his soul was awed to earth hast thou come my adored said he from thy home of bliss to tell me that thou no longer love thy unworthy friend o speak not thus replied the and most penetrating of voices can beings look with contempt or anger on those the ills from which they are set free o no my love my husband i come to speak consolation to thy sinking spirit when you left me to breathe my last sigh in the and s s arms of a sister who however dear was nothing to my heart in comparison with you i closed my eyes wishing that the light of day might depart also the thought of what thou must my heart with one last pang once more i murmured the wish i had so often expressed that the sorrows of the might have fallen to my lot rather than to thine in that pang my soul itself from the body a sensation like that from exquisite fragrance came over me and with lightness i escaped into the pure serene it was a moment of feeling wildly free and i had not yet passed the verge of comparison i could not yet embrace the infinite and my joy was like those of earth words cannot paint even to thy eager soul my friend the winged swiftness the glowing of my path through the fields of i paused at length in a region of keen light such as beams from to thy planet on a mild october evening here an immediate conviction pervaded me that this was home was my appointed resting place a full tide of hope and satisfaction similar to what i felt on first acquaintance with thy poem flowed over this hour joyous confidence in goodness and beauty forbade me to feel the want even of thy companionship the delicious clearness of every feeling exalted my soul into an entire life some time elapsed thus the whole of my earthly existence passed in review before me my thought my actions were brought in full relief before the cleared eye of my spirit beloved thou wilt rejoice to know that thy could then feel her worst faults sprung from ignorance as i was striving to connect my present with my past state and as it were myself on the brink of space and time the breath of another presence came upon me and gradually from the bosom of light rose a figure in grace in sweetness how fixing her eyes on mine with the full gaze of love she said in tones dost thou know me my sister art thou not i replied the love of i have seen the of thy mortal and now i recognise that perfect beauty the full violet flower which thy lover s genius was able to anticipate yes she said i am on earth most happy yet and x most sad most rich and most poor i come to greet her whom i recognise as the of all that was lovely in my earthly being more happy than i in her earthly estate i have wife of in thy happiness thy lover was thy priest and thy poet thy model and was thy bosom friend all that one world could give was thine and i to think on thy | 37 |
fulfilled love thy freedom of soul and faith follow me now we are to dwell in the same circle and i am appointed to show it to thee she guided me towards the source of the light i have described we paused before a structure of dazzling whiteness this stood on a slope and overlooked a valley of exceeding beauty it was shaded by trees which bad that peculiar calmness that the of trees have below in the high noon of summer moonlight trees which are as still as the shades of trees below when they sleep on the lonely hill in the summer moonlight s glow it was decorated by of which i may speak at some future interview for they in manifold ways of wonderful express one thought i had not then time to examine them before rose a fountain which seemed one silvery tree from off whose leaves that stream of light fell ever and flowing down the valley divided it into two unequal parts the larger and farther from us seemed as i first looked on it with shapes as that of my guide but when i looked more i only the valley with large blue and white flowers which a here turning round asked is not this a poetic home i paused a moment ere i replied it is indeed a place of beauty yet more like the greek than the home and i were wont to picture for ourselves beyond the gate of death thou well she replied nor is this thy final home thou wilt but wait here for a season the coming of thy friend what said i alone alone in and has not then collected aught on which she might hast thou never read while i was musing the fire burned lady said i spare the reproach the love of whose grew up in golden whose strongest emotions whose most natural actions were through a long life constantly repressed by the of duty and honor she might here pass long years in that contemplation which was on earth her only solace but i whose life has all been breathed out in love and can i endure that existence to be reversed can i live without utterance of spirit or would such be a stage of that happiness we are promised true little one said she with her first heavenly smile nor shall it be thus with thee thou art appointed to the same which was committed to me while waiting here for that friend whom below i was forbidden to call my own she touched me and from my shoulders sprang a pair of wings white and wide and glistening she resumed spirit of love be this thine office a soul pines in absence from all companionship breathe in sweet thoughts of future sympathy to be deserved by steadfast virtue and mental growth bind up the wounds of hearts torn by teach them where healing is to be found revive in the betrayed and forsaken that belief in virtue and without which life is an odious dream fan every flame of generous enthusiasm and on the where it is kindled the incense of wisdom in such a thou never be alone since hope must dwell with thee but i shall often come hither to speak of the future glories of thy destiny yet more thou that marble retire here when thy are wearied give up the soul to faith fix thy eyes on the and the deeds and thoughts which fill the days of shall be traced on it thus shall ye not for an hour be divided hast thou aught else to ask messenger of peace and bliss said i dare i make yet one other request o is it not to ask vol i no iii the true in dreams that may be one of those to whom i minister and that he may know it is who him even this to a certain extent i have power to grant most pure most holy were your lives you taught one another only good things and peculiarly are ye rewarded thou occasionally manifest to and answer his prayers with words so long she continued looking at me as he shall continue true to himself and thee o my beloved why tell thee what were my emotions at such a promise ah i must now leave thee for dawn is bringing back the world s doings soon shall i visit thee again farewell remember that thy every thought and deed will be known to me and be happy she vanished the true in i have dreamed i have dreamed under beauty s star lit sky with the love of a poet s eye i have i have under beauty s morning smile trees and fields and flowers and birds with all the while idle hours idle hours lived thus by ht and day yet such truth did beauty i could not say her nay i have i have over books of h filled with and arguments to i have i have in their soil wide awake on winter nights wasting all my oil till i laughed till i laughed at the uncouth took me to my dreams and saw beauty one with truth the of lake the op lake stars tell all their secrets to the flowers and if we only knew how to look around us we should not need to look above but man is a plant of slow growth and great heat is required to bring out his leaves he must be promised a boundless to induce him to use aright the present hour in youth fixing his eyes on those distant worlds of light he promises himself to attain them and there find the answer to all his wishes his eye grows as he a voice from the earth calls it downward and he finds all at his feet i was riding on the | 37 |
shore of lake musing on an old english expression which i had only lately learned to interpret he was fulfilled of all words so significant charm us like a spell long before we know their meaning this i had now learned to interpret life had from the green bud and i had seen the wide as from earth to heaven between and the fulfilment of a fragrance beyond anything i had ever known came suddenly upon the air and interrupted my meditation i looked around me but saw no flower from which it could proceed there is no word for it exquisite and delicious have lost all meaning now it was of a full and penetrating sweetness too keen and delicate to be unable to trace it i rode on but the remembrance of it pursued me i had a feeling that i must forever regret my loss my want if i did not return and find the poet of the lake which could utter such a voice in earlier days i might have disregarded such a feeling but now i have learned to prize the of my nature as they deserve and learn sometimes what is not for sale in the market place so i turned back and rode to and fro at the risk of the object of my ride i found her at last the queen of the south singing to herself in her lonely bower such should a sovereign be most when alone for then there is no disturbance to prevent the full consciousness of power all occasions limit a kingdom is but an occasion and no sun ever saw itself reflected on sea or land hie of lake nothing at the south had me like the sickness and sorrow which have separated me from my kind have my loss by making known to me the loveliest dialect of the divine language flowers it has been truly said are the only positive present made us by nature man has not been ungrateful but consecrated the gift to adorn the darkest and brightest hours if it is ever it to be used as a medicine and even this me but no matter for that we have pure intercourse with these purest we love them for their own sake for their beauty s sake as we grow beautiful and pure we understand them better with me knowledge of them is a circumstance a habit of my life rather than a merit i have lived with them and with them almost alone till i have learned to interpret the slightest signs by which they manifest their fair thoughts there is not a flower in my native region which has not for me a tale to which every year is adding new incidents yet the of this new climate brought me new and sweet emotions and above all others was the a revelation when i first beheld her a stately tower of each cup an imperial full displayed to the eye of day yet guarded from the too hasty touch even of the wind by its graceful of firm glistening broad green leaves i stood astonished as might a lover of music who after hearing in all his youth only the harp or the should be saluted on entering some vast cathedral by the full peal of its organ after i had recovered from my first surprise i became acquainted with the flower and found all its life in harmony its fragrance less than that of the rose excited a pleasure more full of life and which could longer be enjoyed without its blossoms if plucked from their home refused to retain their dazzling hue but drooped and grew sallow like captive in the prison of a barbarous foe but there was something quite peculiar in the fragrance of this tree so much so that i had not at first recognised the thinking it must be of a species i had never yet seen i alighted and leaving my horse drew near to question it with eyes of love be not surprised replied those lips of untouched purity the of lake stranger who alone hast known to hear in my voice a tone more deep and full than that of my beautiful sisters sit down and listen to my tale nor fear that i will thee by too much sweetness i am indeed of the race you love but in it i stand alone in my family i have no sister of the heart and though my root is the same as that of the other of our royal house i bear not the same blossom nor can i unite my voice with theirs in the forest choir therefore i dwell here alone nor did i ever expect to tell the secret of my loneliness but to all that ask there is an answer and i speak to thee indeed we have met before as that secret feeling of home which makes delight so tender must inform thee the spirit that i utter once inhabited the glory of the most glorious i dwelt once in the orange tree ah said i then i did not mistake it is the same voice i heard in the season of my youth a time described by the prophetic bard per e e in se far in di on i stood one evening on a high terrace in another land the land where the plant man has grown to greatest size it was an evening whose splendor demanded perfection in man answering to that he found in nature a sky black blue deep as eternity stars of hope a breeze promising rapture in every breath to all i might have answered applying still farther the prophecy al i e i color tinge in negro i could not long endure this discord between myself and such beauty i retired within my window and lit the lamp its rays fell on an orange tree full clad | 37 |
in its golden fruit and blossoms how did we talk together then fairest friend thou tell me all and yet thou that even then had i asked any part of thy it would have been to bear the sweet fruit rather than the sweeter blossoms my wish had been expressed by another e of lake o that i were an tree that busy plant then should i ever laden be and never want some fruit for him that me thou seem to me the happiest of all spirits in wealth of nature in fulness of utterance how is it that i find thee now in another habitation how is it man that thou art now content that thy life bears no golden fruit it is i replied that i have at last through been into the secret of peace without unable to find myself in other forms of nature i was driven back upon the centre of my being and there found all being for the wise the obedient child from one point can draw lines and in one read all the possible of successive life o replied the flower and ever for that reason am i trying to my being how happy i was in the spirit s when first it was wed i told thee in that earlier day but after a while i grew weary of that fulness of speech i felt a shame at telling all i knew and all sympathies i was never i was never alone i had a voice for every season for day and night on me the merchant counted the bride looked to me for her the nobleman for the chief ornament of his hall and the poor man for his wealth all sang my praises all my beauty all blessed my and for a while my heart swelled with pride and pleasure but as years passed my mood changed the lonely moon me as she hid from the wishes of man nor would return till her due change was passed the inaccessible sun looked on me with the same ray as on all others my endless profusion could not bribe him to one smile sacred to me alone the mysterious wind passed me by to tell its secret to the solemn pine and the sang to the rose rather than me though she was often silent and buried herself yearly in the dark earth i had no mine or thine i belonged to all i could never rest i was never at one painfully i felt this want and from every blossom sighed entreaties for some being to j the of lake come and satisfy it with every bud i implored an answer but each bud only produced an orange at last this feeling grew more painful and thrilled my very root the earth trembled at the touch with a pulse so sympathetic that ever and anon it seemed could i but retire and hide in that silent bosom for one calm winter all would be told me and tranquillity deep as my desire be mine but the law of my being was on me and man and nature it they called on me for my beautiful gifts they themselves with them nor cared to know the heart of the o how cruel they seemed at last as they visited and me yet never sought to aid me or even paused to think that i might need their aid yet i would not hate them i saw it was my seeming riches that me of sympathy i saw they could not know what was hid beneath the perpetual veil of glowing life i ceased to expect aught from them and turned my eyes to the distant stars i thought could i but from the daily expenditure of my till i grew tall enough i might reach those distant which looked so silent and consecrated and there pause a while from these weary joys of endless life and in the lap of winter find my spring but not so was my hope to be fulfilled one night i was looking hoping when a sudden breeze came up it touched me i thought as if it were a cold white beam from those stranger worlds the cold gained upon my heart every blossom trembled every leaf grew and the fruit began to seem with the stem soon i lost all feeling and morning found the pride of the garden black stiff and powerless as the rays of the morning sun touched me consciousness returned and i strove to speak but in vain sealed were my fountains and all my heart beats still i felt that i had been that tree but now only was what i knew not yet i was and the voices of men said it is dead cast it forth and plant another in the costly a mystic shudder of pale joy then separated me wholly from my former abode a moment more and i was before the queen and guardian of the flowers of this being i cannot speak to thee in any language now possible us for this is a the of lake being of another order from thee an order whose presence thou feel nay approach step by step but which cannot be known till thou art it nor seen nor spoken of till thou hast passed through it suffice it to say that it is not such a being as men love to paint a fairy like them only lesser and more exquisite than they a goddess larger and of proportion an angel like still only with an added power man never he only the lines and colors of his own existence only a fancy could from the elements the form that took me home secret radiant profound ever and never to be known was she many forms indicate and none declare her like all such beings she was feminine | 37 |
all the secret powers are mothers there is but one paternal power she had heard my wish while i looked at the stars and in the silence of fate prepared its fulfilment child of my most hour said she the full pause must not follow such a burst of melody obey the of nature nor seek to retire at once into her utmost purity of silence the vehemence of thy desire at once promises and its gratification thou the of the arch and bound together the year thou not at once become the base of the arch the centre of the circle take a step inward forget a voice lose a power no longer a sovereign become a and bide thy time in the such is my history friend of my earlier day others of my family that you have met were formerly the religious lily the lonely fearless the cold autumn and answering the shortest visits of the sun with the brightest hues the so in self contemplation that it could not abide the usual changes of a life some of these have perfume others not according to the habit of their earlier state for as spirits change they still bear some trace a faint of their latest step upwards or i still speak with somewhat of my former and over ready tenderness to the on this shore but each star sees me purer of deeper thought and more capable of retirement into my own heart nor shall i again detain a wanderer him from afar nor shall i again subject myself to be love and insight sunset by an alien spirit to tell the tale of my being in words that divide it from itself farewell stranger and believe that nothing strange can meet me more i have by confession further penance needs not and i feel the infinite possess me more and more farewell to meet again in prayer in destiny in harmony in power the left me i left not her but must abide forever in the thought to which the clue was found in the margin of that lake of the south j h j love and insight the two were wandering mid the bursting spring they loved each other with a love so holy was their love that now no thing to them seemed strange the golden light above and all around was part of it and flowed from out their souls so did the clouds which showed a changing glory birds on rustling wing flowers upon slender waving stems did spring forth from their feelings tender full or mirth swift soaring or more lowly loving earth old ocean ceased its vast complaint its voice of mystery grew articulate waves rejoice beholding souls far greater than the abyss wherein they swelled earth stood enriched with wondrous beauty over each bare stone spread clinging moss nothing did stand alone or mournful now all wild fierce sounds were hushed the wind that once on wilful rushed now bore aloft sweet sounds of the glorious hour had come earth did see herself no longer and with song of love and life joined the high harmony which through the universe forever rolls along z sunset the sun s red glory amid complaining waves bright beings always go thus sink down into dark graves not only death but life hath graves than death o more dreary high hopes and feelings melt away and then come days most weary angels from heaven on earth appear but soon their light dim and all forlorn they mourn the past must it be so with vol i no iii u an give us an the winning waves with whispers low the winds that gently blow call me away to a land most fair come we will bear thee safely there so my silken sail i must and bound o er the that proudly curl sunny sea birds sail round me on high shooting like sun beams o er all the sky with the swelling waves does my bark heave like x fish h all i where shall i go what shall i find affectionate hearts ever gentle and kind such have i here old age serene and earnest youth forgetting all else in its search for truth such have i here men who build cities and armies lead forward to venture in noble deed such have i here beautiful forms with eyes that are made of in dew drops arrayed such have i here burst forth loud sweet and free hark to the music that o er the sea we have all that on this shore then what thou more a man who with power shall backward throw the curtain that hangs o er the infinite now that forth on the earth a glory may stream startling all souls from their mournful dream by that piercing light men shall see with surprise from their souls sprang earth the stars and the skies z birds shooting through air and fight pause in their rapid flight poised on tlie wing a joyous song they wildly then sweep along of high triumph should we pour from our souls as upward we through truth z of every day l fe op every day life no i is it yet so settled what life is has experience long since tried and made the most of it shall the son on in the footsteps of the father shall the first child s be fastened upon his children s children and the experiment of the ignorant first comer be law to all them that come after is there no room for improvement may not life in all its forms be lifted up and be inspired with an idea an energy a which shall make it no longer must man forever continue the slave of habit doing things for no more convincing reason than custom and positively making life a dull thing lest he | 37 |
lesson of endurance or of for himself or a new evidence of god and of his own immortal destiny from every day s hard task he up not only his fortune but himself by it he stores not only his but his mind as he drops the seeds into the earth all instructive nature having caught his eye drops other seeds that bear of every day life fruit more than once into his soul as he the ground of weeds with unseen hand the while he away the weeds of prejudice and wrong desire that are growing up to choke the plants of paradise within the garden of his heart the sunshine on his fertile fields looks doubly clear to him because of the sunshine of conscience in his breast and as he his golden grain his soul golden hopes and golden approbation in the field which he is for his god is one thing true labor is another no man has any right to be a no man was ever made for that if true to himself he cannot but be something more the seeds of something more are in him in his very nature there wait faculties to be unfolded which he has no right whatever to neglect faculties religious moral intellectual in which he lifts himself above the sense of want above the power of fear of fortune or of death feels his immortality becomes himself what god intended him to be in any kind of business or labor he can find sphere for the exercise of these his greatest faculties if he cannot he is bound to labor somewhere else no one has a right to live merely to get a living and this is what is meant by is not confined to the labor of the hands not to any one class of occupations there are intellectual and fashionable and there are hard working humble more free more dignified and manly in all they do or look or think than any who look down upon them some soil their hands with the earth others soil their minds by the pride and vanity which keep their hands so delicate the true man to conquer the vain man wears his head aloft while the rock is wasting from under his feet and the glow of disinterested activity the beauty on which he himself from his face the christian makes his business of whatsoever sort contribute equally to his acquisition of knowledge to his amusement to the trial of his faith tiie growth of his affections no less than to his health and his support into all his work he carries thought he makes it a science and so time for other things while he makes his labor interesting not the same old story every day but of every day life full of new and valuable suggestions to his mind to his curious mind the work of his hands becomes a practical illustration of principles and so the thorough going becomes the healthy he thinks for whom and for what he labors and his faith and his affections are increased too his imagination his sense of beauty become quickened daily with nature the glorious scenery of his labors a quiet enthusiasm in the heart of the farmer and a new source of happiness is now unlocked to him an intelligent farmer is certainly the happiest of men his daily toil is with every kind of higher culture he may make himself in every sense a man he need not be a mere hand he may trace out the laws of nature and let the sight of principles inspire him he may be a philosopher on the field he may cultivate a sympathy for all men while everything around him may fill him with sweet gratitude to god the all surrounding beauty may take possession of his soul till in his heart unconsciously he becomes a poet to this it only needs a religious spirit a spirit of constant self improvement for religion all the fountains of the soul and puts a man gradually in possession of all his powers he first finds out what be is and what is in him when he himself to god if he is truly religious he will grow intelligent free and happy and life to him will never lose its interest rest will not be idleness toil will not be but while he to his work he will be seeking truth loving his neighbor and with his god in labor too the christian feels a sweet when he makes himself independent of his comforts and is he both happy in himself without them enjoying the triumph of his own spirit and he returns to them with zest we know not the sweetness of any pleasure until we can forego it we appreciate none of our advantages until we cease to depend upon them all things become more beautiful to us when we find we can do without them there can be no rest where there has been no labor there is no sabbath to him who has not had his week of work d to to call it a work and such it seems this tale s a fragment from the life of dreams but say that years the silent strife and tis a record from the dream of life lady i a flower a token of all the thousand deep heart so warmly felt yet all which thrilled me at our former meetings when i hung o er thy form and dwelt in quiet luxury of vision but thy fairy beauty felt and our dull world a home a token of the better power thy purity of soul has given to strengthen me in trial s hour and lead me nearer on to heaven for gazing in thy eyes i in them thy nature trusting mild unchanged since from thy maker s hand thou st his gentle loving child a | 37 |
nobler love upon me came my heart adored with prayer and hymn that thy being s central flame which no earth mists had power to dim alas that time and change must ever round this pale united go alas that love is constant never and human faith so weak below could we have thought when side by side the thickly sparkling stars have seen us that this dark cloud of fear and pride and cold distrust could roll between us lady by thy deep trusting eyes by thy most lovely smile i swore that firm as these o er skies our hearts were chained they still are chained nor stars nor storms nor length of lonely years can break the tie young passion forms the links of thy past smiles and tears though dearest thou forget my name though memory s tear glass be broken the past will ever live the same and hold what we have done and spoken the summer flower forgets the dew which fed its young through the spring but in its ripe leaf s burning hue those pure may drops are v i know my fate to drift across s tinted ocean to hear iu singly to feel motion love b turned backward on mj breast must aod bitter there to live and is fate know and bear tu violet the violet pale violet to see the year are autumn s fit music for thee fragile one to hear will thy clear blue eye upward bent still keep its glow still lift its slender form above the snow why wilt thou live when none around thy pensive ray thou here a lonely thine in the clear day the tall green trees that shelter their last gay dress pot on there will be to shelter thee when their sweet leaves are gone violet like thee how could i lie down and die when summer light is fading and autumn breezes when winter reigned i d close my eye but wake with bursting and live with living nature a pure rejoicing thing had a sister once who seemed just like a violet her morning sun shone bright and calmly purely set when the were in their and summer in its pride she laid her hopes at rest and in the year s rich beauty died nature doth have her n each day but mine are far between content i cry for to say mine brightest are i for when my sun doth to rise though it be her her fairest field in shadow lies nor can my light abide sometimes i me in her day conversing with my mate but if we one ray forthwith her through his discourse i climb and see as from some eastern hill a brighter morrow rise to me than in her skill as t were two summer days in one two sundays come together our united make one sun with summer weather d h t german literature german literature opinions are divided respecting german literature if we are to believe what is reported and generally there is somewhere in new england a of discontented men and maidens who have to love everything from dutch to german it is supposed at least asserted that these persons would fain banish all other literature clean out of space or at the very least would give it of all other letters ancient or modern whatever is german they admire philosophy novels old and modern histories and and sermons but above all the and writings which it is supposed the are chiefly engaged in writing with the generous intention of the youth of the world restoring the worship of or pan or the pope it is not decided which is to receive the honor of universal homage and thus gradually preparing for the kingdom of and the dominion of chaos and most ancient night it is often taken for granted that the lovers of german works on philosophy and art amongst us are moved either by a disinterested love of whatever is german or else which is the more likely by a disinterested love of evil and the of the devil who it is gravely said has actually inspired several of the most esteemed writers of that nation this german we are told extends very wide it has entered the boarding schools for young of either sex and committed the most frightful therein we have been that it has sometimes seized upon a college nay on and both the faculty and the have exhibited symptoms of the fatal disease did we say no place is sacred not the church is free specimens of foreign standard literature by mt vol vii viii and ix containing german literature from the german of by c c in three volumes boston gray and co ib german literature it has attacked in silk and in lawn the doctors of divinity fall before it it is thought that fever and and the grim looked tyrant s heavy horse of war and those light troops of death that use small ceremony with our breath are all nothing to the german we meet men with and over shoes men to the teeth and suppose they are prudent persons who have put on against this subtle foe histories of this plague as of the have been written the public has often been called to defend itself from the enemy and are put in force against all suspected of the in short the prudent men of the land men wise to foresee and curious to prevent evil have not failed to advise the public from time to time of the danger that is imminent and to recommend certain as effectual we think a copy of the westminster or the of faith adopted by the council of or the creed perhaps if hung about the neck and worn next the skin might save little children and perhaps girls nearly grown up especially | 37 |
if they read these every morning but a more important specific has occurred to us which we have never known to fail and it has been tried in a great many cases in both the remedy is simple it is a strong of continued of this excellent will save any person we think from all but very slight attacks of this certainly it will secure the patient from the worst form of the disease the philosophical frenzy which it is said in and among young we think it does not attack the pulpit the other forms of the malady are mainly and easily guarded against it has often been matter of astonishment to us that the of the public welfare did not discover german literature when it first set foot in america and thrust it back into the and we can only account for the fact of its extension here from the greater activity of evil in general rank weeds do grow so this evil has grown up in the absence of our as the golden calf was made while moses was in the mount v s while the young men and maidens have been eating the german the of the public have been talking or pursuing or or they slept and must needs be however this may be they are now awake and in full cry now for our own part we have never yet fallen in with any of these dangerous persons who have this exaggerated admiration for whatever is still less this desire to overthrow morality and turn religion out of the world this may be taken as evidence of blind ness on our part if men will we sometimes indeed meet with men and women also well read in this literature they are mostly yes without a single exception as we remember persons they gang their ain gait and leave others the same freedom they have tastes of their own habits some of them are possessed of talent and no contemptible judging by the new england standard they honor what they find good and to their taste in german literature as elsewhere men and women some of them are who do not think all intellectual and excellence is contained in a hundred volumes of greek and roman authors profound and beautiful as they are they study german philosophy criticism and literature in general v as they would the similar works of any nation for the good they contain this we think is not forbidden by the or any other universal standard of right and wrong why should not a man study even philosophy if he will and profit by it in peace if he can we do not say there are no enthusiastic or admirers of this literature nor that there are none who go too far in their admiration which means in plain english farther than their critic but that such persons are by no means common so that there seems really very small cause for the panic into which some good people have seen fit to fall we doubt the existence therefore of this of men and maidens who design to confusion on her throne but on the other hand we are told and partly believe it that there is a party of cool headed discreet moderate sound and very respectable persons who hate german literature of these we can speak from knowledge german most men have heard of them for they have cried out like in the tale till all shook again they are plenty as in autumn and may be had for the asking this party has to speak gently a strong dislike to german literature philosophy and sometimes this is founded on a knowledge of facts an acquaintance with the subject in which case no one will find fault but far oftener it rests merely on prejudice on the most utter ignorance of the whole matter respecting this latter class of without knowledge we have a few words to say we have somewhere seen it written he that a matter before he it it is a folly and shame unto him we commend it to the attention of these judges they german literature by and o adopt the ingenious distinction of dr they issue their and have the shadow of some poor german brought into the court of their greatness and pass sentence with the most speedy justice never examining the evidence nor asking a question nor permitting the prisoner at the bar to say a word for himself till the whole matter is disposed of before this honorable bench and and and and and henry and jacob of universal renown and of in and and with their and are brought up and condemned as or in one word as thus the matter is disposed of by the honorable court now we would not protest against this method of proceeding ancient as it is and supported by from the time of to general such a protest would be a dangerous no doubt we would have no exceptions from the general method made in favor of german letters no literature was ever written into more than temporary notice and certainly none was ever written down german literature amongst us just the same treatment the classic authors received at the hands of the middle ages when those old and saints began to start out of the corners where night had overtaken them men were alarmed at their strange faces and antique and mysterious words what said they as they on one another in the parlor the the b german camp or the church with terror in their faces what study greek and roman letters greek and roman philosophy shall we men of the tenth century study authors who lived two thousand years ago in an age of darkness shame on the thought shall we who are christians and live in an age of | 37 |
light look for instruction to or men from dark pagan times it were preposterous let such works perish or sink back to their original night so it goes with us and it is said shall we americans excellent christians as we are who live in a land of education of of religion and know how to reconcile it with our three millions of slaves in the land of and we americans possessed of all needed intelligence and culture shall we read the books of the as they are who dwell in the clouds and are only fitted by divine grace to smoke tobacco and make out upon the thought no doubt this decision is quite as wise as that pronounced so gravely by and of the middle ages would you have me try the criminal before i pass sentence said the justice that were a waste of words and time for if should condemn him after examination why not before and so save the trouble of looking into the matter certainly the magistrate was wise and wherever justice is thus administered the complaint of the law s delay will never dare lift up its voice honor to the judge and his swift decision long may it be applied to german literature certainly it is better that ninety and nine innocent persons should suffer outrageous torture than that one guilty should escape why should not public opinion lay an on german words as on india or forbid their sale certainly it costs more labor to read them than the many excellent books in the mother tongue no doubt a ready reader the following anecdote is quite to the point one day in the year a french said in a new language been discovered which is called greek tou must take good heed and keep out of its way this language all i see in the hands of many a book written in this language it is called the new testament it is a book full of thorns and as for the hebrew language all who study that become jews immediately his des t xvi p in s would go over the whole ninety eight volumes of sir walter in less time than he could through and master the single obstinate book of s of the pure reason and brown and and and thomas dick and are quite easy reading they trouble no man s though he read them after dinner with his feet on the are not these writers with their illustrious and sufficient for all practical purposes why then allow our youth in and log to pore over and till they think themselves blind and the red rose to the white on their cheek in the name of good sense we would ask if english literature with the additions of american genius is not rich enough without our going to the forest where the scholars do not think but only dream not to mention milton and and bacon names without parallel in the history of thought have we not surpassed the rest of the world in each department of science literature philosophy and whence come the noble array of scientific works that connect general laws with single facts and reveal the mysteries of nature whence come the most excellent works in poetry criticism and art whence the profound on and whence the deep and wide volumes of the queen of all whence come works on the of greece and rome whence histories of all the chief concerns of man do they not all come in this age from england and our own bosom what need have we of asking from the or of studying their literature as the middle age said of the sit it is certainly right that the ghost of terror like mr in the story should cross itself in presence of such a spirit and utter its such an would no doubt crush the or a sugar but let us come out of this high court of justice and for a moment look german literature in the face and allow it to speak for itself to our apprehension german literature is the fairest the richest the most original fresh and religious literature of all modem times we say this l literature we do not mean to say germany has produced the greatest poetic genius of modern times it has no as the world has but one in whom the poetic spirit seems to though it will doubtless rise higher in better ages but we sometimes hear it said admitting the excellence of two or three german writers yet their literature is narrow superficial and poor when compared with that of england let us look at the facts and compare the two in some points classical taste and culture have long been the boast of england there is a wealth of classical allusion in her best writers which has an charm and forms the chief minor grace in many a work of poetic art classical culture is the pride we take it of her two ancient and honorable and their spirit everywhere in the island the english scholar is proud of his quantity and the of his from and but from what country do we get of the that are worth the reading in which modern science and art are brought to bear on the ancient text what country the men that illustrate the of and the dramatic poets who explain for us the of and write minute on the law of inheritance the tribes and manners of the men of who collect all the necessary facts and the ideas lived out or unconsciously on the banks of the the or the why the we do not hesitate to say that in the present century not a greek or a roman classic has been tolerably in england except through the aid of some german scholar the costly of greek authors that come | 37 |
to us from oxford and london beautiful of the and all these are the work of german german toil german genius sometimes the wealthy proud of their classic culture furnish white paper and luminous type but the curious diligence that never the profound knowledge and philosophy which brings the whole light of genius to a single point all this is german and german solely did it not happen within ten years that the translation of a german vol i no iii s work containing some passages in greek pointed in the original edition and therefore severely at home was about being published in and no man could be found in the of the north and no man in all scotland who could correctly accent the greek words the fact must be confessed so the book was sent to its author a professor of y and he put it into the hands of one of his pupils and the work was these things are trifles but a straw shows which way the stream runs when a mill stone would not whence come even the and of almost universal use in studying the ancient authors the name of and and and and give the answer where are the english classical scholars in this country who take rank with wolf and nay where shall we find the rivals of and and a host more for we have only written down those which rushed into our mind what english name of the present century can be mentioned with the least of these not one they labor and we may enter into their labors if we are not too who write ancient history like and and but for the the english would have believed till this day perhaps all the stories of that it rained stones and oxen spoke for so it was written in latin and the text was but some may say these are not matters of concern in things of great and moment we are superior to these giants would it were so perhaps in some of the physical the english their german friends though even here we have doubts which are strengthened every month one would expect the most valuable works on physical geography from england but we are disappointed and look in vain for any one to rival or even in works of general civil and political history in the present century though we have two eminent in our own country one of whom must take rank with and and england has nothing to equal the great works of yon hammer and why need we mention the german literature german histories of inventions of art of each science of classical education of literature in general why name their histories of philosophy from down to and in english we have but good in his time and valuable even now and a poor from the abound in histories of literature from the beginning of civilization down to the last fair in england such works are unknown we have as yet no history of our own literature though the have at least one quite and instructive even the dry and book of mr for such it is with all its many is drawn largely from its german though it is often inferior to them in vigor and almost always in and eloquence doubtless the english are a very learned people a very christian people no doubt but within the present century what has been written in the english tongue in any department of which is of value and makes a mark on the age the and the new edition of we blush to confess it are the best things in the criticism and explanation of the bible old testament or new testament what has been written that is worth reading nothing absolutely nothing of any permanent value save some dozen of books it may be drawn chiefly from german sources who have written the and by which the hebrew and greek are read why the who have written critical to the bible useful helps in studying the sacred letters why the who have best and alone developed the doctrines of the bible and explained them and practically why the again where are the men who shall stand up in presence of and and and and and de the von and and take rank as their we look for them but in vain we put our finger on them and they are not there what work on which has deserved or attracted general notice has been written in english in the present century we know of none in many such works are numerous they have been written by pious men and the scholars of the age s is doubtless a poor work but its equal is nowhere to be found in the english tongue its equal did we say there is nothing that can pretend to approach it where then shall we find rivals for such as and de even for and in history every body knows what sort of works have proceeded from the english and american scholars jones and these are our writers but what are their works they are scarcely known in the of scholars for our knowledge of history we depend on the from du pin and or more generally on those from the german and all our english histories what are they when weighed against the and why they might make on the which fall from these men s table the publish the fathers of the greek and latin church and study them to the english they are almost a garden shut up and a fountain sealed it is only the in this age who study or even the bible with the aid of enlightened and scientific criticism there is not even a history of in our language but this is not all by no means the chief merit of the german scholars | 37 |
within less than years there have appeared among them four philosophers who would have been conspicuous in any age and will hereafter we think be named with bacon and among the great of the world they are and silently these lights arose and went up the sky without noise to take place among the fixed stars of genius and shine with them names that will not fade out of heaven until some ages shall have passed away these men were all deep mighty they knelt reverently down before nature with religious hearts and asked her questions they sat on the brink of the well of truth and continued to draw german for themselves and the world take alone and in the whole compass of thought we scarce know his superior from to we do not find his equal no nor since need we say it was there not many a lord bacon in himself was not more nor the more profound what are in his thoughts his books are battles philosophical writers swarm in germany philosophy seems almost and a score of first rate american or half a dozen english might be made out of any of their philosophical writers of fourth or fifth magnitude here one needs very little to establish a name a small capital for the for the credit system seems to prevail in the literary as well as the commercial world and one can draw on the bank of possibilities as well as the fund of achievements one need but any number of the the or the and to see what a lofty spirit among the in philosophy criticism and religion there a great deal is taken for granted and supposed to be known to all which here is not to be supposed except of a very few the most learned philosophy and we reckon as the pride of the here their genius bursts into bloom and into fruit but they are greatly eminent likewise in the of poetry and elegant letters in general notwithstanding their wealth of they are eminently original and the east greece and the middle ages all pour their treasures into the lap of the german muse who not only makes but out of her own stores of linen and wool and silk and strong and beautiful apparel for all her household and the everywhere she herself of her clothing is silk and purple no doubt among the there is an host of whose mind travels out of itself so to say and makes to or or or some men think they are very because they obvious rules the sickly of his sensibility and affectation are every day in and and swift and and and walter scott not to name german others have in every street who remind one continually of the that once got into the eagle s nest set up to be king of the birds and attempted a scream still the of their literature is eminently original in point of freshness it has no equal since the days of who shall match with and the v so sweet and beautiful paul and and we need not mention lesser names nor add more of their equals in what we have said we would not english literature especially the works of former ages we would pay deep and lasting homage to the great poets philosophers and of the mother country in her best days their influence is still fresh and living throughout the world of letters but as these great spirits ascended the mantle of their genius or inspiration has fallen on the and not the english well says a contemporary modern works are greatly deficient both in depth and purity of sentiment they seldom contain original and striking views of the nature of man and of the institutions which spring from his there is a of thought and of sentiment among us literature art philosophy and life are without freshness and spirit most works since the days of milton require little thought they want depth freshness the meaning is on the surface and the charm if any is no deeper than the fancy the imagination is not called into life the thoughts are carried along the earth and often lost amid the low and things of sense and custom i do not at this time think of any writer since milton excepting and whose require a serene and thoughtful spirit in order to be understood as little would we be insensible to the merits of the rising literature of our own land little could be expected of us hitherto our business has been to down the forest to make paths and saw mills and to lay the foundation of a great people and provide for the of the day as yet there is no american literature which to the first principles of our institutions as the english or french literature a b in record of n school literature to theirs we are perhaps yet too young and raw to carry out the great american idea either in literature or society at present both are and seem rather the result of foreign and accidental circumstances than the offspring of our own spirit no doubt the time will come when there shall be an american school in science letters and the elegant arts certainly there is none now the promise of it must be sought in our newspapers and speeches oftener than in our books like all other nations we have begun with and shall come to doubtless before we end but there is one peculiar charm in this literature quite we think in modern days that is the religious character of german works we know it is often said the are in all ways and above all men not the old giants are of religion one would fancy or was the of the nation we say it that this is in our opinion the most religious literature | 37 |
the world has seen since the days of greek writing when the religious spirit seemed fresh and warm coming into life and playing grateful with the bland celestial light reflected from each flower cup and passing cloud and received direct and straightway from the source of all it stands an unconscious witness to the profound piety of the german heart we had almost said it was the only christian national literature the world has ever seen certainly to our judgment the literature of old england in her best days was less religious in thought and feeling as it was less beautiful in its form and less simple in its quiet loving than this spontaneous and expression of the german soul but we speak not for others let each drink of that spiritual rock where the water is most to him but we do not say that german literature no works decidedly and certainly we have read such but they are rare while almost every book not entirely scientific and breathes a religious spirit you meet this coming upon you where you least of all expect it we do not say that the idea of a christian literature is realized in germany or likely to be realized no the farthest from it possible no nation has yet dreamed of it nor can this literature be done until christianity the heart of the nations and brings all into to the spirit of life the christianity of the world is yet but a so literature is yet heathen and profane we dare not think we think against our faith as if truth were hostile to faith and god s house were divided against itself the greek literature represents the greek religion its ideal and its practical side but all the literature of all christian nations taken together does not represent the true christian religion only that of it these nations could into their experience hence we have as yet only the cradle song of christianity and its nursery the same holds true in art painting and architecture hitherto it is only the church not the church triumphant that has been represented a cathedral gives you the not the the resting in the fulness of god which is the end of christianity we have saints almost to with most and faces of the these however express the the wailing of the world lying in darkness rather than the light of the nations the son of man risen from the grave is yet lacking in art the christian or is not yet still less the triple graces and the jove of christianity what is saint peter s to the considered as of the two the same deficiency in literature we have inherited much from the heathen and so christianity becoming the of deceased has earned but little for itself history has not yet been written in the spirit of the christian scheme as a friend says hitherto it has been the history of elder brothers christianity would write of the whole family the great christian poem the tragedy of mankind has not yet been conceived a christian philosophy founded on an analysis of man is among the things that are distant the true religion has not yet done its work in the heart of the nations how then can it reach their literature their arts their society which come from the nation s heart christianity is still in the wrapped in bands and unable to move its its parent watches fearful with a pondering heart the shop german literature herds that honor the new born are still dripping as yet with the of ancient night the heathen have come up to worship guided by the star of truth which goes before all simple hearts and every man that into the world but they are heathen even now they can only offer gold and and they do not give their mind and still less their heart the celestial child is still surrounded by the oxen that slumber in their or wake to blame the light that prevents their animal repose the of superstition is troubled and his city with him alarmed at the new tidings he together his mighty men his chief priests and to take counsel of his twin the flesh and the devil and while he to seek only to worship he would gladly the young child that is born king of the world but christianity yet grow up to manhood and escape the of traditions to do the work god has chosen then and not till then will the gospel of beautiful souls fair as the light and terrible as an army with be written in the literature arts society and hfe of the world now when we say that german literature is religious above all others we mean that it comes nearer than any other to the christian ideal of literary art certainly it by no means reaches the mark such then is german literature now with those among us who think nothing good can come of it we have ing to say let them rejoice in their own cause and be blessed in it but from the influence this rich beloved and beautiful literature will exert on our infant world of letters we hope the most happy results the diligence which superficial study the boldness which looks for the causes of things and the desire to fall back on what alone is and eternal in criticism philosophy and religion the religious humility and reverence which it may well our youth to great works we would not that any one should give in his to a german master or copy german models all have their defects we wonder that clear can write so darkly as some do and that philosophers and are content with their after has written such vol i no iii german luminous prose we doubt that their philosophical or systems can ever take root in tlie american mind | 37 |
but their method may well be followed and foi will it be for us if the central truths their systems are made to preserve are sown in our soil and bear abundant fruit no doubt there is danger in studying these writings just as there is danger in reading or or lord or and st john as a friend says it is always dangerous for a young man to think for he may think wrong you know it were sad to see men run mad after german philosophy but it is equally sad to see them go to the same excess in english philosophy if is bad so is and truth b possessed entire by no german or english it requires all schools to get at all truth as the whole church is needed to preach the whole gospel blessed were the days when truth dwelt among men in her but alas they only existed in fable and now like in the story she is cut into fragments and scattered world wide and mortals must journey their life long to gather here a piece and there a piece but the whole can never be joined and in this life where there is much thought there will be some truth and where there is freedom in thinking there is room for also we hope light from germany but we expect shadows with it the one will not the sun nor the other be thicker than the old darkness we have felt from our youth up we know there is sm among the it is so wherever there are men and women philosophy in germany or england like the stout man a advances from day to day but sometimes loses the track and not knowing whither he nay sometimes into a ditch when this latter accident as it is confessed has befallen philosophy in america and england and men declare she is dead we see not why her friends might not call on her german sister to her from the distress and revive her once more or at least give her decent burial we are sorry we confess it to see foolish young men and old men not with wisdom trusting wholly in a man thinking as he thinks and moving as he the strings it is dangerous to yield german literature thus to a german or a scotch philosopher it were bad to be borne off on a cloud by and or to be made of the worm and brother of the clay by or but we fancy it was better to fall into the hands of jove than we cannot the result of the german movement in philosophy but we see no more reason for making henry and the of that movement as the manner of some is than for selecting and the to represent the church of england and were both roman men but which is the type let german literature be weighed in an even balance and then pass for what it is worth we have no fear that it will be written down and should be sorry to see any exaggerated statement of its excellence which would in the end lead to disappointment we turn now to the book named at the head of our article the author s design is to give a picture of german literature his work does not pretend to be a history nor to point out the causes which have made the literature what it is his aim is to write of subjects rather than to talk about books his work is merely a picture since this is so its character depends on two things namely the artist s point of sight and the fidelity with which he has painted things as they appear from that point the first question then is from what point does he survey the field it is not that of philosophy or politics he is no in either of these he is eminently national and takes the stand of a german amateur therefore it is his duty to paint things as they appear to a disinterested german man of letters so he must treat of religion philosophy education history politics natural science poetry law and criticism from this point of view it would certainly require an head to discuss all these subjects and bring them down to the comprehension of the it was scarcely to be expected that any one man should be so familiar with all of thought in a literature so wide and rich as this as never to make mistakes and even great mistakes now mr does not give us a faithful picture of things as seen from this position as we shall proceed to show in some details he german literature carries with him violent prejudices which either blind his eyes to the truth or prevent him from representing it as it is on his first appearance his hostility to began to show itself nay it appeared we are told in his published a little before this hostility to absolute hatred we think not only of the works but of the man himself this towards distinguished authors the whole work personal feelings and perpetually interrupt the cool judgment of the critic when a writer attempts as does to show that an author who has a reputation which covers the world and rises higher and higher each year who is distinguished for the breadth of his studies and the of his views and his exquisite taste in all matters of art is only a what can we do but smile and ask if effects come without causes respecting this hostility to insane as it obviously is we have nothing to say besides the has referred to the matter in the preface that as a man was selfish to a very high degree a and well bred who had little sympathy with what was highest in man so long as | 37 |
he could crown himself with rose we are willing to admit but let him have justice none the less mr sets up a false standard by which to judge literary productions j art and literature should be judged of by their own we would not censure the because it did not teach us nor the because it was not republican enough for our taste each of these works is to be judged by its own principles now we object to our friend that he judges literary works by the political complexion of their author thus for example not to mention he von whom as a he was not bound to mention among german writers and all his works because he was no for him of all the german writers i entertain the contempt no doubt the venerable historian as some one has said would be overwhelmed as he stands in for b and iv and but these we have never seen and only a few stray numbers of the german literature the fields with and to be despised by such an historian as so is condemned not for his and but because he wrote against the poles f it is surprising to what a length this is carried he ought to condemn the of no less than that of but because the former is a liberal and the latter a the same thing is in the one and condemned in the other words cannot express his of is commended as a philosopher because he was almost the only true among our philosophers must not be reproached with his coarse because he resigned his at rather than give up his liberal journal these few instances are sufficient to show the of his standard he in personal abuse especially does he pour out the of his on the young whom he for their personal abuse he seems to have collected all the little city as the significantly name it as material for his work and very striking are the colors indeed his abuse of this kind is so gross that we shall say no more of it mr is the of modern critics he all laws of literary warfare and and under the fifth and sometimes to tell a downright lie as we shall show in its place he often tries the works he by a moral and not a critical or artistic standard no doubt the moral is the highest and a work of art wherein the moral element is wanting deserves the censure no man can insist on this too strongly j but when a man writes for the artistic point of view we think it his duty to to his principles if a work is it is so far false to the first principles of art it does very little good we fancy merely to cry out that this book of or that of is it only makes foolish young men the more eager to read it but if the critic would show that the offending parts were false no i j see an able defence of von in s p t vol i p sea x read will vol iii p for an example german literature less than wicked and mere and on the body of the work he would make the whole appear and not attractive mr is bound to do this for he believes that the substance and the form of art are inseparable or in plain english that virtue is beautiful and vice ugly having made this criticism he might justly pronounce the moral sentence also if truth is harmonious then a work is false and detestable as well in an artistic as in a moral point of view but we cannot on this great question at the end of an article judging from his own point of view this work is in still graver points he carries his feelings wherever he goes and with very superficial knowledge passes a false sentence on great men and great things his mistakes are sometimes quite amusing even to an american scholar and must be doubly ludicrous to a german whose minute knowledge of the literature of his own country would reveal more mistakes than meet our eye we will point out a few of these in only two chapters that on philosophy and religion in the first we think the author may safely defy any one to divine from his words the philosophical systems of the writers he treats of take for a very striking example his remarks upon vol i p the great who stood on the boundary line between the old times of magic and sympathetic influences and the later times of scientific method united the of life belonging to these austere dark days with the clear light of our own he was animated with deep religious faith but still had the full vigor of thought living faith in god was his rock his system of world harmony showed nothing of the darkly colored cathedral light of the ancient it stood forth in the clear white light of the day like a marble temple on the mountain top from this statement one would naturally connect with and baron who really believed and taught the world harmony but who would ever dream of the which play such a part in the system of mr has translated harmony which believed in but it is not the meaning of th word german literature he tells us that has written a and history of philosophy which is very strange in a man who lived a all his days and fought against the critical philosophy though with somewhat more zeal than knowledge it is thought besides his history of philosophy was published in before the philosophy had become lord of the as he poets by the patriotic standard so he tries the philosophers by his rule and wonders they are hard to understand but these are minor | 37 |
defects come we to the greater his remarks on are exceedingly unjust not to speak more harshly the philosophical century wanted an earth without a heaven a state without a church man without a god no one has shown so plainly as how with this earth may still be a paradise the state a moral union and man a noble being by his own reason and power subjected to law vol i p we do not see how any one could come to this conclusion who had read s of judgment and practical reason and conclude our critic forgetting to look into these books in his of learning and study that makes men pale cut the matter short and rode over the high road in great state to the conclusion we pass over his account of and leaving such as have the ability to determine from his remarks what were the systems of these two philosophers and them at their leisure there is an old remark we have somewhere heard that it takes a philosopher to judge a philosopher and the truth of the proverb is very obvious to the readers of this chapter seems the object of our author s most desperate dislike his sin however is not so much his philosophy as his politics as it appears he does not condescend as an historian might do once in a while to give us a portrait or even a of his system but contents himself with such abuse as the following precious sentences first reduced god to a mere speculation led about by an evil spirit in the void of his heavenly heath who does nothing but think indeed nothing but think of thinking vol i p he makes no distinction between himself and god he gives himself out for god he says god first came to a clear consciousness of himself in the philosopher who has the literature only right philosophy therefore in himself in the person of thus we have then a miserable backed book learned god a wooden and man a man of the most painful and in a word a german on the throne of the world we need make no comments on the spirit which suggests such a criticism upon a philosopher like still farther he says declared over the grave of that beyond all doubt was himself tiie holy ghost the third person in the when we read this several years ago we believed tlie words were uttered by some man of an oriental imagination who meant no harm by his seeming but on inquiry we find it is not so one who heard mr s who had it lying before him in print at the time of writing declares there was no such thing in it but the strongest passage was this it not he who reconciled the with god inasmuch as he taught us truly to understand christ but enough on this subject let us say a word respecting the chapter on religion more particularly on that part relating to here the learned author s of book learning is more conspicuous than elsewhere though obvious enough in all parts of the book we pass over the first part of the chapter which contains some very good things that will come to light in spite of the smart in which they are floating and proceed to his account of in germany vol i p here in a work on german literature we naturally expect a picture of the catholic at least a reference to the chief catholic writers in this department but we are disappointed again we find and anecdotes well fitted for the penny magazine as a german critic says to whom we are indebted for some hints on this he throws together such remarks as would make excellent and smart in a newspaper but gives no calm philosophical view of the subject he can on the or on the influence of s and s philosophy and the reaction in favor of sup p t a writer in s vol xv p german for these subjects are in all mouths but he scarce looks at the great philosophical question on which the whole matter hinges his acquaintance with modern catholic writers seems to be as narrow as his philosophy is superficial and have escaped the sharp glance of our author in the portion of the chapter which relates to we find the same defects the sketch of the history of since is hasty and it does not give the reader a clear conception of the progress of ideas he makes some amusing on page and to which we will only refer among the most celebrated of german since the middle of the last century he forgets to mention de and many others of equal fame is mentioned as a distinguished writer on morals and are in a word is mentioned among the followers of and and is put after though he died only two years after the latter was born but it is an ungrateful task to point out these defects certainly we should but name them if there were great and shining beside but they are not to be found the chapter gives a confused of ideas and not a true picture true it contains passages of great force and beauty but throughout the whole section order and method accurate knowledge and an impartial spirit are wanting who would guess what great things had been done in criticism from mr words who would know that de had written profound works in each of the four great of indeed that he wrote anything but a couple of but we are weary with this fault finding however one word must be said by way of criticism his standing point itself german literature is not to be surveyed by an amateur merely the has no rule and in his pocket by which he can measure all the objects in | 37 |
this german ocean of books no doubt his see sup vol i no iii german literature of literature have hitherto been too often written in the special interest of learning and are lists of books and not living histories it is certainly well to write a history of literature so that all men may read but it would require a most uncommon bead to treat of all of literature and science in one word it is quite impossible to judge all by one rule the writer therefore must change his position as often as he changes the subject he must write of matters to religion with the knowledge of a on philosophical subjects like a philosopher and so of the rest any attempt to describe them all from one point of sight seems as absurd as to reckon pounds shillings and pence and quarters and tons in the same column a sketch of german literature ought to tell what had been done and what was now doing by and in the four great of historical and practical it should put us in possession of the idea which lies at the bottom of and and tell what form this idea and why it takes this form and no other but to this mr makes no he has not the requisite knowledge for this his learning seems gathered from newspapers the conversations literary gossip and a very perusal of many books the whole work in plan there is no unity to the book it seems a of articles written hastily in the newspapers and designed for immediate effect so the spirit of the appears everywhere we have instead of matter of fact and cool judgment still the work is quite entertaining its author no doubt passes for a man of genius but as a friend says who rarely judges wrong he has more show than and makes up in what he wants in depth we are glad to welcome the book in its english dress but we hope it will be read with caution as a guide not to be trusted its style and withering sarcasm remind us often of henry and the young with whom the author would not wish to be we think it will not give a true idea of the german mind and its workings to the mere english or aid powerfully the student of german to find his way amid the that literature the book is very suggestive if will but follow out the author s hints and avoid his and extravagance professor seems to have performed the work of translation with singular fidelity his version is uncommonly and fresh it reads like original english but here and there we notice a slight verbal in which scarce any human diligence could avoid we regard the version as a monument of diligence and skill the are fresh and spirited p the storm announced by all the trumpets of the arrives the snow and driving o er the fields seems nowhere to alight the air hides hills and woods the river and the heaven and the farm house at the garden s end the and traveller stopped uie s feet delayed all friends shut out the sit around the radiant fire place enclosed in a tumultuous privacy of storm come see the north wind s out of an unseen furnished with tile the fierce curves his white with projected roof round every stake or tree or door the handed his wild work so fanciful so savage cares he for number or proportion on or he han s wreaths a swan like form uie hidden thorn fills up the farmer s lane from wall to wall the farmer s sighs and at the gate a the work and when his hours are numbered and the world is all his own retiring as he were not when the sun appears astonished art to in slow stone by stone built in an age the mad wind s night work the architecture of the snow it would have heen a convenience to the readers if it had been stated in the preface that the version was made from the second german edition published at for the author only treats of things as they were at that time or before it view of s view op is that of a in the least sense of the term it is one which has long been applied in germany to petty and critics i do not wish to convey a sense so in speaking of he has a vigorous and brilliant mind and a wide though imperfect culture he is a man of talent but talent cannot comprehend genius he judges of as a inasmuch as he does not enter into and read the prophet by the light of his own law but looks at him from without and tries him by a rule beneath which he never lived that there was something he saw what that something was not he saw but what it was he could not see none could see it was something to be felt and known at the time of its apparition but the sight of it was reserved to a day far enough removed from its sphere to get a commanding point of view has that day come a little while ago it seemed so certain features of s personality certain results of his tendency had become so manifest but as the hours mature the plants he planted they shed a new seed for a yet more noble growth a wider experience a deeper insight make rejected words come true and bring a more refined perception of meaning already discerned like all his elder brothers of the elect band the forlorn hope of humanity he us to live and grow that we may walk by his side vainly we strive to leave him behind in some of the hall of our ancestors a few steps onward and we find | 37 |
him again of yet eye and more towering mien than on his other former of his size have like the bound by the round the infant only served to make him the unworthy compass the still rising sun with its broader light shows us it is not yet noon in him is soon perceived a prophet of our own age as well as a representative of his own and we doubt whether the of the century be not required to interpret the quiet depths of his sure it is that none has yet found his place as sure that none can claim to be his peer who has not sometime aye and for a long time been his pupil of yet much truth has been spoken of him in detail some by but in so superficial a spirit and with so narrow a view of its bearings as to have all the of falsehood such of the crown can only fix it more firmly on the head of the old heathen to such the best answer may be given in the of the others thy works i only know that they lead us on and on fort und fort till we live in them and thus will all criticism end in making more men and women read these works and on and on till they forget whether the author be a or a in the deep humanity of the thought the breathing nature of the scene while words they have accepted with immediate approval fade from memory these oft denied words of keen cold truth return with ever new force and significance man should be true wise beautiful pure and this man was true and wise capable of all things because he did not in one short life complete his circle can we afford to lose him out of sight can we in a world where so few men have in any degree their inheritance neglect a nature so rich and so considered needs no apology his so called faults fitted him all the better for the part he had to play in cool possession of his wide genius he taught the imagination of germany that the highest flight should be associated with the steady sweep and eye of the eagle was he too much the did he attach too great an importance to the cultivation of taste where just then german literature so much needed to be refined polished and was he too too much an how else could he have formed himself to be the keenest and at the same time most nearly universal of teaching philosophers and that nature them all commands them all and that no one development of life must the rest do you talk in the easy cant of the day of german obscurity extravagance and bad taste and will you blame this man whose greek english italian german mind so clear of these rocks and clearing and on each side wherever he turned his was s view of he not just enough of an just enough of a for his peculiar task if you want a moral is not there if piety of purest mystic sweetness who but sentiment that treasures each withered leaf in a tender breast look to your would you have men to find plausible meaning for the deepest or to hang up each map of literature well painted and dotted on its proper there are the men of ideas were numerous as in autumn and wrote the heart into philosophy as well as he could who could fill s place to germany and to the world of which she is now the teacher his much aristocratic turn was at that time a re element it is plain why he was what he wa for his country and for his age whoever looks into the history of his youth will be struck by a peculiar force with which all things worked together to prepare him for his office of artist critic to the then world of thought in his country what an unusually varied scene of childhood and of youth what endless change and contrast of circumstances and influences father and mother life and literature world and nature playing into one another s hands always by never was a child so carefully guarded by fate against prejudice against undue bias against any sentiment nature having given him power of poetical sympathy to know every situation would not permit him to make himself at home in any and how early what was most peculiar in his character manifested itself may be seen in these anecdotes related by his mother to of s childhood he was not willing to play with other little children unless they were very fair in a circle he began suddenly to weep screaming take away the black ugly child i cannot bear to have it here he could not be they were obliged to take him home and there the mother could hardly console him for the child s he was then only three years old his mother was surprised that when his brother jacob died who had been his he shed no tear bat rather seemed annoyed by the of those around him but afterwards when his mother asked whether he had not loved his brother he ran into his room and brought a view of from under his bed a bundle of papers all written over and said he had done all this for jacob even so in later years had he been asked if he had not loved his country and his fellow men he would not have answered by tears and vows but pointed to his works in the first anecdote is that love of in external relations which in manhood made him give up the woman he loved because she would not have been in place among the old fashioned furniture of his father s house | 37 |
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