Ralph Waldo Emerson - Essays, First Series, 1854 by gnosisclassics

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ESSAYS.

E S

SAYS m

EMERSON

FIRST SERIES.

NEW

EDITION.

BOSTON: PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & 110 -WASHINGTON STBEET. 1854.

CO.,

Entered accordlag to Act of Congiess, in

tlie

year 1847, b;

Jamib Muhbok and Cohpaht, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

CAMBRIDGEi STIREOTTPED BY METCALF AMD COMPAHT. PRINTED Br WRIGHT ARD HASTT.

CONTENTS.

ESSAY

FAOB

EI8T0ST

ESSAY

II.

SSLT-RKUANCK

ESSAY

III.

COMPENSATION

ESSAY SFXRITirAL

IV.

LAWS

115

ESSAY

LOTE

ISl

ESSAY nUENDSHIP

VI.

ITS

CONTENTS.

ESSAY

Til.

13^

PRUDENCB

>...•••• ESSAY

HEROISM

VIII.

ESSAY

IZ.

S41

THB OTER-SOUl'

ESSAY

S71

CIRCUS

ESSAY

ZI.

S93

INTEIXSCT

ESSAY ART

ZII.

315

HISTORY. There

no great and no small

To the Soul that maketh all And where it cometh, all things aie ; And it cometh everywhere.

1 am owner of the sphere, Of tne seven stars and the solar year, Of Caesar's hand, and Plato's brain. Of Lord Christ's heart, and Shakspeare's

strain.

ESSAY

HISTORY. There

made

feel

may

what

;

mind

this is the

think

ol the

all

;

what a

What

Plato

saint has felt,

any time has befallen any maÂť,

Who

a party to

men.

individual

once admitted to the right of reason

he can understand. sal

all

same and

a freeman of the whole estate.

has thought, he

may

common to

inlet to the

He that is

same. is

one mind

Every man

all

hath access to that

this

univer-

or can be done, for

only and sovereign agent.

the works of this

mind history

the record.

by the entire series of days. by nothing less than all his history. Without hurry, without rest, the human spirit goes Its genius

Man

forth

illustrated

explicable

from the beginning to embody every faculty,

every thought, every emotion, which belongs to appropriate events. to the fact

mind

;

as laws.

all

But the thought

always prior

the facts of history preexist in the

Each law

in turn is

made by circum-

ESSAY

the limits of nature give

Stances predombant, and

power

to but

one

The

Epoch

man.

man

the whole

creation of a thousand

one acorn, and Egypt, Greece,

Gaul, Britain, America, first

at a time.

encyclopaedia of facts. forests

pire, republic,

after

Rome,

folded already in the

lie

epoch, camp, kingdom, em-

democracy, are merely the applica-

tion of his manifold spirit to the manifold world.

This human mind wrote history, and read

The Sphinx must

it.

If the whole of history

solve her

one man,

between the hours of our

turies of time.

life

the air I breathe

riddle.

it is all

distant,

and the cenis

drawn from

the great repositories of nature, as the light on

book

There

explained from individual experience. relation

must

this

own

yielded by a star a hundred millions of miles as

the poise

my body

depends on the

equilibrium of centrifugal and centripetal forces, so

by the

the hours should be instructed

ages explained by the hours.

each individual man its

mind

one more incarnation.

properties consist in him.

private

experience

bodies of

men have

ages, and the

the universal

flashes

Each new

a light

on what great

done, and the crises of his

refer to national crises.

Every

revolution

a thought in one man's mind, and

when

thought occurs to another man,

the

era.

fact in his

Every reform was once a

it is

was the

key

life first

same

to that

private opinion,

and

HISTORY.

when

shall

be a private opinion again,

the problem of the age.

correspond to something telligible.

Romans, Turks,

The fact me to be

will solve

narrated must credible or in-

become Greeks,

read must

priest and king, martyr and execu-

must fasten these images to some

tioner,

our secret experience, or

reality in

shall learn nothing right-

ly. What befell Asdrubal or Csesar Borgia is as much an illustration of the mind's powers and depra-

Each new law and

vations as what has befallen us. political

movement

fore each of

did

its

has meaning for you.

and say,

tablets

Proteus nature hide

the defect of our too

Stand be-

Under

this

mask

This remedies

itself.'

great nearness to ourselves.

This throws our actions into perspective

and as

crabs, goats, scorpions, the balance, and the waterpot lose their

meanness when hung as signs

so I can see

my own

in the zodiac,

vices without heat in the distant

persons of Solomon, Alcibiades, and Catiline. It is the universal nature

which gives worth

Human

ticular

men and

this

mysterious and inviolable, and

things.

their ultimate

sence.

reason

;

all

some command of

to par-

containing

we hedge

All laws derive hence

round with penalties and laws.

tinctly

life

express more or less disthis

supreme,

illimitable es-

Property also holds of the soul, covers great

spiritual facts,

and instinctively

at first

hold to

with swords and laws, and wide and complex combi-

ESSAY

The

nations.

the light of

obscure consciousness of

fact

this

our day, the claim of clainns

all

the

;

plea for education, for justice, for charity, the foundation of friendsliip and love, and of the heroism and It grandeur which belong to acts of self-reliance. read as suis remarkable that involuntarily we always

Universal history, the poets, the ro-

perior beings.

in their stateHest pictures

mancers, do not

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

in the

sacerdotal, the imperial palaces, in the triumphs of will or of genius

make men

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; anywhere lose our

us feel that

but rather

most

feel

is it

anywhere

true, that in their grandest strokes

home.

of the king, yonder

All that Shakspeare says of a boy that reads

slip

corner feels to be true of himself. in the great

ear,

intrude, that this is for better

moments of

history,

the

sympathize

in the

great dis-

coveries, the great resistances, the great prosperities

men;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; because

there law was enacted, the sea

was searched, the land was found, or the blow was struck for us, as we ourselves have done or applauded.

We acter.

have the same interest

honor the

ternally the freedom, to

be proper

said of the wise

rich,

place would

condition and char-

because they have ex-

power, and grace which

man, proper to

man by

essayist, describes to

in that

us.

all

Stoic, or oriental or

each reader his

own

scribes his unattained but attainable self.

feel

that

modern

idea, de-

All

liter-

HISTORY.

ature writes the character of the wise man. Books, monuments, pictures, conversation, are portraits in which he finds the lineaments he is forming. The

and the eloquent praise him and accost

silent

and he

moves

stimulated wherever he

sonal allusions.

true aspirant,

therefore, never

needs look for allusions personal and laudatory

course. self,

liim,

by perin dis-

hears the commendation, not of him-

but more sweet, of that character he seeks, in

every word that further, in

said concerning character, yea,

every fact and circumstance,

ning river and the rustling com.

homage tendered, love

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

in the run-

Praise

flows from

looked,

mute nature, from

the mountains and the lights of the firmament.

These

hints,

dropped as

were from sleep and

broad day.

night, let us use in

The

student

read history actively and not passively his

own

life

cles,

never to

Muse of history those who do not

the

commentary.

the text, and books the

Thus compelled,

to esteemi

;

will utter ora-

respect them-

man will read who thinks that what was done in a by men whose names have resounded

I have no expectation that any

selves.

history aright,

remote age, far,

has any deeper sense than what he

doing to-

day.

The world There

exists for the education of

no age or

tion in history, to

state of society or

which there

each man.

mode

of ac-

not somewhat cor-

;

ESSAY responding derful

to abbreviate itself and yield

manner

virtue to him.

own

history in his

home, and not

won-

thing tends in a

Every

in his life.

its

own

should see that he can live

person.

suffer himself to

all

must be bulhed by kings

solidly at

sit

he is greater than all government of the world he must transfer the point of view from which history is commonly read, from Rome and Athens or

empires, but

know

the geography and

all

that

the

and London to himself, and not deny his conviction

that

let

the court, and

any thing

them

England or Egypt have

say to him, he will try the case

ever be silent

for

must

not,

attain

and

;

maintain that lofty sight where facts yield their secret sense, and poetry and annals instinct of the itself in

we make of Time dissipates

the use

of history.

are alike.

The

mind, the purpose of nature, betrays

solid angularity of facts.

the signal

narrations

shining

ether the

anchor, no cable, no

fences, avail to keep a fact a fact.

Babylon, Troy, Tyre, Palestine, and even early Rome, are pass-

ing

already

into

the sun standing

forward to

all

The Garden

fiction. still

nations.

Gibeon,

Who

was,

when we have made

hang

of Eden,

poetry thence-

cares what the fact constellation of

heaven an immortal sign

London and Paris and New York must go the same way. " What is History," said Napoleon, "but a fable agreed up.''

;

HISTORY.

on ? " This life of ours is stuck round with Egypt, Greece, Gaul, England, War, Colonization, Church,

Commerce,

Court, and

as with so

wild ornaments grave and gay.

more account of them.

many I

flowers and

I believe in

make

not

will

Eternity.

can find Greece, Asia, Italy, Spain, and the Islands,

—

the genius and creative principle of each and of

my own mind.

eras in

all

are

facts

;

lesson for

What

and

is properly no history Every mind must know the whole

itself,

— must

go over the whole ground.

does not see, what

What

not know.

experience,

private

All history becomes subjec-

words^ there

in other

only biography.

our

them here.

verifying tive

coming up with the emphatic

always

history

does not

live, it

wiU

the former age has epitomized in-

to a formula or rule for manipular convenience, will lose all the

good of

verifying for

itself,

by means

Somewhere, sometime, it demand and find compensation for that loss by doing the work itself. Ferguson discovered many of the wall of that rule.

will

things

The

astronomy which had long been known.

better for him.

History must be

which the ture

;

that

this

nothing.

state enacts indicates a fact in is

all.

must

necessaiy reason of every fact,

and must be.

ourselves see the

— see

stand before

Every law human na-

how

could

every public and

ESSAY

before an oration of Burke, before a victory of Napoleon, before a martyrdom of Sir private

work

;

Thomas More,

of Sidney, of

Marmaduke Robinson,

before a French Reign of Terror, and a Salem hanging of witches, before a fanatic Revival, and the

assume

we under

that

affected,

or in Providence.

imal Magnetism in Paris,

should be alike

like influence

and should achieve the

An-

and we aim to

;

master intellectually the steps, and reach the same height or the same degradation, that our fellow, our

proxy, has done. All inquiry into antiquity,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

curiosity respect-

all

ing the Pyramids, the excavated cities, Stonehenge,

the Ohio Circles, Mexico, to

do away

this wild,

Memphis,

or Then, and introduce in the

Now.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the desire

There place the Here and

savage, and preposterous its

Belzoni digs and measures

mum-

in the

my-pits and pyramids of Thebes, until he can see the

end of the difference between the monstrous work

When

and himself. eral

and

as he, so

solved

satisfied himself, in

;

his

of temples

through them

also

have worked,

thought lives

and sphinxes all

gen-

was made by such a person

armed and so motived, and

he himself should is

he has

in detail, that it

ends to which the

problem

along the whole line

and

catacombs,

passes

with satisfaction, and they live again

mind, or are now. Gothic cathedral affirms that

to the

was done by

us,

HISTORY.

and not done by it

the

history

member

which

When we

tlie

nation increased

wood by

this

ed thereto the Catholic Church,' processions,

have, as

its

The

;

were, been the

process, and add-

its

cross,

its

man

that

made

men

Some men

is in

intrinsic likeness, or

The

ferences. all

profitable, is

stance.

;

and

the dif-

intellect

the poet, to the philosopher, to the

days holy,

fastened on the

and sacred,

all

life,

men

and

all

its

slights the

growth, teaches

cause, the variety of appearance.

the

events

For

divined

Every chemical substance, every

every animal

others

which neglects surface

things are friendly all

by color

the relation of cause

of the

progress

clearer vision of causes,

eye

their principle

classify objects

and size and-other accidents of appearance

saint,

the min-

could and must be.

difference between

effect.

music,

sufiicient reason.

of association.

value

the

Saints' days and image-worship,

we have seen how

have the

re-

carving led to the carv-

have gone through

its

;

temples, the

first

whole mountain of stone of a cathedral.

ing over the

ster

put ourselves

type, and the decoration of

first

given to

the

the forest-dwellers,

wealth of

the

was by man, but we

production.

its

adherence to the as

But we apply ourselves to

place and state of the builder.

the

into

Surely

us.

not in our man.

find

the

circum plants

unity

ESSAY

Upborne and surrounded

are

this all-cre-

ating nature, soft and fluid as a cloud or the

air,

why-

should we be such hard pedants, and magnify a few forms ? Why should we make account of time, or

of magnitude, or of figure

obeymg

not, and genius,

The

law,

its

soul knows them knows how to play

with them as a young child plays with graybeards and

Genius studies the causal thought, and,

in churches.

back

far

from one orb,

of things, sees the rays parting

that diverge ere they

as he performs the

infinite diall his

metempsychosis of nature.

Genius detects through the

fly,

through the caterpil-

through the grub, through the egg, the constant

lar,

individual

species all

fall

Genius watches the monad through

ameters.

masks

womb

in the

through countless individuals, the fixed

;

many

through

;

species, the genus

genera, the steadfast type

doms of organized She

casts the

through

;

through the king-

all

Nature

the eternal unity.

life,

mutable cloud, which

;

always and never the same.

same thought

into troops of forms, as a

poet makes twenty fables with one moral.

Through

the bruteness and toughness of matter, a subtle spirit

bends

all

things

its

own

will.

The adamant

streams into soft but precise form before whilst I look at again.

does

it, its

Nothing quite

deny

outline

so fleeting as form _

itself.

remains or hints of

all

that

it,

and,

and texture are changed

man we

;

still

yet never trace the

we esteem badges of

ser-

â&#x20AC;˘HISTORY.

fitude in the lower races his nobleness

formed

and grace

yet in him they enhance

;

as lo, in jEschylus, trans'

;

a cow, offends the imagmation

changed, when as

Isis

;

but

Egypt she meets

how

Osiris-

Jove, a beautiful woman, with nothing of the meta-

morphosis

left

but the lunar horns as the splendid

ornament of her brows

The

identity of history

diversity equally obvious.

mfinite variety of things

man

which

There

at the surface

at the centre there is sim-

;

How

plicity of cause.

equally intrmsic, the

many

are the

Observe the sources of our information the

Greek

acts

of one

recognize the same character

We have

genius.

in respect to

the civil history of that

Deople, as Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and

Plutarch have given

;

a very sufficient account of

what manner of persons they were, and what they did.

have the same national mind expressed for

us again in their literature, in epic and lyric poems,

drama,

and

very complete form.

once more

in their architecture, a

philosophy

Then we have

beauty as of temperance line

and the square,

we have

once again

;

itself,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a

limited to the straight

Then

builded geometry.

in sculpture, the

tongue on

the balance of expression," a multitude of forms in

the utmost freedom of action, and never transgressing the

ideal

religious

serenity

;

votaries performing

dance before the gods, and, though

some con-

ESSAY

vulsive pain or mortal combat, never daring to break

the figure and

decorum of

representation

Thus, of the

their dance.

genius of one remarkable people,

we have

a fourfold

and to the senses what more unlike

than an ode of Pindar, a marble centaur, the peristyle of the

cion

Parthenon, and the

last actions

of Pho-

Every one must have observed

faces

make

which, without any resembling feature, impression on the beholder.

copy of verses,

if it

and forms a like

particular picture or

do not awaken the same

train of

images, will yet superinduce the same sentiment as

some wild mountain walk, although is

nowise obvious to the senses, but

of the endless laws.

the resemblance is

occult and out

understanding.

reach of the

Nature

combination and repetition of a very few

She hums

mnumerable Nature

is full

out her works

semblances

the

old well-known air through

variations.

;

of a sublime family likeness through-

and the

delights in startling us with re-

most unexpected quarters.

have seen the head of an old sachem of the forest, which at once reminded the eye of a bald mountain summit, and the furrows of the brow suggested the strata of the rock. There are men whose manners have the same essential splendor as the simple and awful sculpture on the friezes of the Parthenon, and

the remains

of the earliest

Greek

art.

And

there

HISTOB.Y.

same

are compositions of the the books of

Aurora but

What

ages.

all

15 straiH is

be found

a moi'ning thought, as the horses in

only a morning cloud.

Guide's Rospigliosi it

are

If any one will but take

pains to observe the variety of actions to which he

equally inclined in certain to

which he

chain of

moods of mind, and

averse, he will see

how deep

painter told

nobody could draw a tte&\ or draw ai ; outlines of its form merely, \ that

by studying the by watching for a time

child

his

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

motions and plays,

the painter enters into his nature, and can then

him

the

affinity.

without in some sort becoming a tree

but,

those

into -the

So Roos "

every attitude.

at will in

inmost nature

draughtsman employed

of a sheep."

draw

entered

knew a who found

in a public survey,

that he could not sketch the rocks until their geological structure

was

first

state of thought is the

common

origin of

In a certain

very diverse

ItJsjhe^P^irit and not the fact that

works. tical.

explained to him.

a deeper apprehension,

iden-

and not primarily

by a painful acquisition of many manual skills, the artist attains the power of awakening other souls to a given activity. It has

been

what they do are."

said, that ;

souls

pay with

nobler souls with that which they

And why

awakens

" common

Because its

actions

profound

nature

and words, by

its

ESSAY

very looks and manners, the same power and beauty that a gallery of sculpture, or of pictures, addresses.

Civil and natural history, the history of art and of literature,

must be explained from individual history,

There

must remain words.

related to us, nothing that does

kingdom, college, of

things

all

Dome

nothing but

not interest us,

tree, horse, or iron shoe, the roots

are

Santa Croce and the

man.

of St. Peter's are lame copies after

model.

Strasburg Cathedral

Erwin of Steinbach.

poem

mind

the poet's

;

the true ship

In the man, could

builder.

should see the reason for the of his work

;

as every spine

lay

The is

tint in

and

tendril

the sea-shell

preexist in the secreting organs.^of .the JisL

whole of heraldry and of chivalry

man all

fine

manners

the ornament that

The fying

trivial

some

things the

titles

in courtesy.

The

pronounce your name with of nobility could ever add.

experience of every day

always veri-

old prediction to us, and converting into

words and

seen without heed. in

shall

true

the ship;-^

him open, we

last flourish

and

a divine

a material counter-

part of the soul of is

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the forest,

said

signs

A to

which we had heard and

lady, with

whom

me,

the

that

I was riding woods always

seemed to her to wait^ as if the genii who inhabit them suspended their deeds until the wayfarer has passed onward a thought which poetry has cele:

HISTOEY.

brated

I',

the dance of the fairies, which breaks off oi

the approach of

the rising

human

moon break

The man who

feet.

has been present like an archangel

hght and of the world. day, in the

fields,

has seer

out of the clouds at midnigh at the creation

remember one summei

companion pointed out

broad cloud, which might extend a quarter of a mile parallel to the horizon, quite accurately in the forrr

of a cherub as painted over churches,

block

in the centre,

which

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

a round

animate

was easy

with eyes and mouth, supported on either side by wide-stretched symmetrical

once

in the

atmosphere

wings.

may appear

What often,

appears

and

was

undoubtedly the archetype of that famihar ornament. I have seen in the sky a chain of

which

once showed to

that

summer the

lightning

Greeks drew

from nature when they painted the thunderbolt hand of Jove.

sides of the stone wall

of the

in the

I have seen a snow-drift along the

common

which obviously gave the idea

architectural scroll to abut a tower.

surrounding ourselves with the original circum-

stances,

invent

decorated preserves

which the plainly a

temples

anew

the orders and the ornaments

how each people merely The Doric temple the semblance of the wooden cabin in The Chinese pagoda is Dorian dwelt. The Indian and Egyptian Tartar tent.

of architecture, as its

still

see

primitive abodes.

betray the

mounds and subterranean

ESSAY

The custom

houses of their forefathers.

of making

rock," says Heeren, Researches on the Ethiopians, " determined

houses and tombs in his

in the living

very naturally the principal character of the Nubian Egyptian architecture to the colossal form which it already prepared

caverns,

In these

assumed.

nature, the eye was accustomed

shapes and masses, so sistance of nature,

without degrading

that,

to dwell on

huge

when art came to the asmove on a small scale

could not

itself.

What would

statues of the

usual size, or neat porches and wings, have been, as-

sociated with those gigantic halls before which only

Colossi could

sit

of the interior

}

watchmen, or lean on the

The Gothic

church plamly originated

adaptation of the forest trees

them.

with

all

in a

their

rude

boughs

solemn arcade, as the bands about the

to a festal or cleft pillars

pillars

still

indicate the green withes that tied

one can walk

in a

road cut through pine

woods, without being struck with the architectural appearance of the grove, especially in winter, when the barrenness of

one glass

will

see

all

other trees shows the low arch

In the woods in a winter afternoon

of the Saxons. as

readily the origin

of the

stained

window, with which the Gothic cathedrals

adorned,

the

colors

the western

ai'e

sky seen

through the bare and crossing branches of the forest. Nor can any lover of nature enter the old piles of

HISTOET.

Oxford and the English cathedrals, without feeling overpowered the mind of the builder,

that the forest

and that

his chisel, his saw,

duced

ferns, hs spikes of flowers, its locust, elm,

its

oak, pine,

fir,

still

repro-

and spruce.

The Gothic subdued by the

The mountain

and plane

cathedral insatiable

a blossoming in stone

demand of harmony

man.

of granite blooms into an eternal flow-

er, with the lightness

and delicate

finish, as

well as

the aerial proportions and perspective, of vegetable

beauty.

In like manner, ualized, at

all

public facts are to be individ-

private facts are to be generalized.

once History becomes

phy deep and sublime.

fluid

and

true,

Then

and Biogra-

the Persian imitated in

the slender shafts and capitals of his architecture the

stem and flower of the court in

its

madism of

lotus

and palm, so the Persian

magnificent era never gave over the noits

barbarous tribes, but travelled from

Ecbatana, where the spring was spent, to Susa

summer, and

Babylon

for the winter.

In the early history of Asia and Africa,

and Agriculture are the two antagonist

Nomadism

facts.

The

geography of Asia and of Africa necessitated a noi^adic hfe.

those

whom

But the nomads were the

had induced to build towns.

was

terror of all

the soil, or the advantages of a market,

Agriculture, therefore,

a religious injunction, because of the perils of

ESSAY

And

the state from nomadism.

in these

and

late

these procivil countries of England and America, the nation in battle old the out fight still pensities

and

The nomads

the individual.

of Africa were

constrained to wander by the attacks of the gadfly, which drives the cattle mad, and so compels the tribe

emigrate

rainy season, and to

the

The

drive off the cattle to the higher sandy regions.

nomads of Asia follow the pasturage from month In America and Europe, the nomadism

month.

of trade and curiosity

a progress,

;

the gad-fly of Astaboras to the

Sacred

of Boston Bay.

certainly,

to is

from

Anglo and Italo-mania

cities, to

which a periodical

was enjoined, or stringent laws

religious pilgrimage

and customs, tending to invigorate the national bond,

were the check on the old rovers

;

and the cumula-

tive values of long residence are the restraints

The antagonism

itineracy of the present day.

two tendencies

not less active

on the of ihe-

individuals,

the love of adventure or the love of repose happens to predominate. spirits

his

man

of rude health and flowing

wagon, and roams through

a Calmuc.

he sleeps

has the faculty of rapid domestication, lives

At as

sea, or in the forest, or in the

warm,

dines

with as good

associates as happily, as beside

eys.

Or perhaps

his

all latitudes as easily as

faqihty

his

snow,

appetitO)

own chim-

deeper seated,

the increased range of his faculties of observation,

HISTOKY.

which yield him points of

meet

objects

nomadism,

ual

interest

The

his eyes.

needy and hungry

to desperation

its

wherever fresh

were

pastoral nations

and

;

this intellect-

excess, bankrupts the mind,

through the dissipation of power on a miscellany of

The home-keeping

objects. is

wit,

ments of perils of

own

life in its

monotony and

soil

on the other hand,

which

that continence or content

finds all the ele-

and which has

;

its

own

deterioration, if not stimulated

foreign infusions.

Every

thing the individual sees without

him cor-

responds to his states of mind, and every thing turn intelligible to him, as his

him

into

the truth to

onward thinking leads

which that

fact or series be-

longs.

The

primeval world,

Germans grope for libraries,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

say,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Fore-World,

the

1 can dive to

as the

myself as well as

with researching fingers in catacombs,

and the broken

reliefs

and torsos of ruined

villas.

What feel in its

the foundation of that interest

Greek

history, letters, art,

periods, from the Heroic or

to the domestic

four

or five

life

men

all

and poetry,

in all

Homeric age down

of the Athenians and Spartans,

centuries

later

What

but

this,

that

every man passes personally through a Grecian period.

The Grecian

state is

the era of the bodily

nature, the perfection of the senses,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; of

the spirit-

ESSAY

22 tial

fit

nature unfolded in strict unity with the body.

human forms which supphed

the

existed those

'sculptor with his models of Hercules, Phojbus, and Jove not like the forais abounding in the streets of ;

-modern ,

wherein the face

cities,

a confused blur of

features, but composed of incorrupt, sharply defined, and symmetrical features, whose eye-sockets are so

would be impossible for such eyes to squint, and take furtive glances on this side and on The manthat, but they must turn the whole head. foi'med that

ners of that period are plain and fierce.

ence exhibited

The

rever-

for personal qualities, courage, ad-

dress, self-command, justice,

strength,

swiftness, a

Luxury and elegance are population and want make

loud voice, a broad chest.

not known.

every

man

his

sparse

own

valet, cook, butcher,

and the habit of supplying

his

and

own needs

soldier,

educates

Such are the Homer, and not far difXenophon gives of himself and

the body to wonderful performances.

Agamemnon and Diomed ferent his

the picture

compatriots in the Retreat of the

" After

the

army had crossed

Armenia, there

fell

Ten Thousand.

the river Teleboas in

much snow, and

miserably on the ground covered with

the troops lay

But Xenophon arose naked, and, taking an axe, began to split wood whereupon others rose and did the like." Throughout his army exists a boundless liberty of it.

;

speech.

They

quarrel

for

plunder, they wrangle

;

HISTORY.

new

with the generals on each IS

as sharp-tongued as any,

order, and

most, and so gives as good as he gets. not see that this

Xenophon

and sharper-tongued than

Who

does

a gang of great boys, with such a

code of honor and such lax discipline as great boys have ?

The deed of simply,

costly all

charm of the ancient tragedy, and

the old literature,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; speak

persons

sense without knowing

it,

admiration of the antique

reflective,

but perfect

health, with the finest

world.

;

The Greeks

in their

are not

senses and in their

physical organization in the

They made

vases, tragedies, and stat-

Such

things

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

that is, in

good

have continued to be made

in all

such as healthy senses should,

ages, and are ists

habit of the mind.

not admiration of

Adults acted with the simplicity and grace

of children.

taste.

good

great

before yet the reflective

the old, but of the natural.

ues',

who have

in-

speak

that the persons

become the predominant

habit has

Our

is,

now, wherever a healthy physique ex-

but, as a class,

they have surpassed

from all.

their superior organization,

They combine

the energy

â&#x20AC;˘

of manhood with the engaging unconsciousness of; childhood..

The

attraction of these

manners

they belong to man, and.3re_Jcnown to every

that

man

virtue of his being once a^hild ;T)es]3es that there

are 'always individuals^ho retain these characteristics.

A person of childlike genius

and inborn energy

ESSAY

24 is still

Greek, and revives our love of the Muse of

Hellas.

I admire the love of nature in the Philoc-

In reading those fine apostrophes to sleep, to the stars, rocks, mountains, and waves, I feel time I^feel the eternity of passing away as an ebbing sea. tetes.

man, the

The Greek had, The sun and I.

identity of his thought.

it seems, the same fellow-beings as moon, water and fire, met his heart precisely as they meet mine, ^'rjciea the vaunted distinction between Greek and English, between Classic and Romantrc When a schools^ seems superficial and pedantic. when thought of Plato becomes a thought to me,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

a truth that fired the soul of Pindar is

no more.

When

feel

that

fires

mine, time

we two meet

perception, that our two souls are tinged with the

same hue, and do,

were, run into one,

should I measure degrees of latitude,

count Egyptian years

why

should I

.''

The student interprets own age of chivalry, and

the age of chivalry

his

the days of maritime ad-

venture and circumnavigation by quite parallel miniature experiences of his own.

of the world, he has the same key.

the sacred history

When

the voice

of a prophet out of the deeps of antiquity merely

echoes to him a sentiment of his youth,

his infancy, a

prayer of

he then pierce^ to the truth through

all

the

confusion of tradition and the caricature of institu tions.

HISTORY.

Rare, extravagant spirits come by us at intervals, who disclose to us new facts in nature. I see that men of God have, from time to time, walked among men and made their commission felt in the heart and soul of the

commonest

Hence,

hearer.

evidently,

the tripod, the priest, the priestess inspired

the

divine afflatus.

Jesus astonishes and overpowers sensual people.

They

cannot unite him to history, or reconcile him

with themselves. tuitions

and aspire

they

come

to revere their in-

to live holily, their

own

piety ex-

plains every fact, every word.

How

easily these old worships of

Moses, of Zo-

of Menu, of Socrates, domesticate them-

roaster,

I cannot find any andquitj^in

selves in the mind.

They

them.

are mine as niucH~ar^ieirs._

I have seen the 'first monks and anchorets without

crossing seas or centuries. individual has appeared to

of labor

and such commanding

haughty beneficiary, begging

made good Stylite, the

The

to the

priestcraft

contemplation,

name of God, as century Simeon the

first

Capuchins.

of the East and West, of the

Magian, Brahmin, Druid, and Inca, the individual's private

life.

expounded

The cramping

of a hard formalist on a young child spirits

some

in the

nineteenth

Thebais, and the

than once

with such negligence

influence

in repressing his

and courage, paralyzing the understanding, and

ESSAY

that without producing indignation, but only fear

much sympathy

obedience, and even ny,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

with the tyran-

a familiar fact explained to the child

and

when

he becomes a man, only by seeing that the oppressor of his youth is himself a child tyrannized over

by those names and words and forms, of whose inThe fluence he was merely the organ to the youth. fact teaches him how Belus was worshipped, and how the Pyramids were built, better than- the discovery by ChampolHon of the names of all the work-

men and the cost of every and the Mounds of Cholula

tile.

at his

door, and himself

Assyria

finds

has laid the courses.

Again,

in that protest

which each considerate per-

son makes against the superstition of his times, he repeats step for step the part of old reformers, and

search after truth finds like them

in the

virtue.

learns again

new

what moral vigor

to supply the girdle of a superstition.

perils to

tiousness treads on the heels of a reformation.

many

needed

great licen-

How

times in the history of the world has the

ther of the day had to lament the

Lu-

decay of piety

" Doctor," said his wife to Martin Luther, one day, " how is it that, whilst sub-

his

own household

we prayed so often and with such now we pray with the utmost coldness

ject to papacy, fervor, whilst

and very seldom

The

advancing

.''

man

discovers

how deep

a proper-

HISTORY.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

ty he has in literature,

histoiy.

who

in all fable as well as in all

finds that the poet

was no odd fellow

described strange and impossible situations, but

that universal

man wrote by

his

pen a confession true

His own secret biography

for

one and true for

finds in lines wonderfully intelligible to

ted

down

before he was

he comes up fable of

all.

Homer, of

him, dot-

after another

private adventures with every

in his

^sop,

One

bom.

Chaucer, of Scott, and

Hafiz, of Ariosto, of

verifies

them with

his

own

head and hands.

The

beautiful fables of the_Greeks, being_proper

creations_of3 the imagination_and not of the fancy,

What

ai:e_universal_xÂŁdjifis.

a range ol meaniiigs^

and what perpetual pertinence has the story of Pro-

metheus

Beside

primary value as the

first

chap-

Europe, (the mythology

thinly

its

ter of the history of

veiling authentic facts, the invention of the arts,

and the migration of colonies,)

tory of religion with er ages.

ogy.

some closeness

Prometheus

man stands between the " of the Eternal Father and the race ;

of mortals, and readily suffers count.

But where

all

things on their ac-

departs from the Calvinistic

Christianity, and exhibits it

gives the his-

to the faith of lat-

the Jesus of the old mythol-

the friend of

unjust "justice

mechanic

represents a state of

him

as the defier of

mind which

wherever the doctrine of Theism

Jove,

readily appears

taught in a crude,

ESSAY*

objective form, and which seems the self-defence of against this untruth, namely, a discontent with

man

the believed fact that a

God

the obligation of reverence steal,

exists,

and a feeling that

onerous.

would

could, the fire of the Creator, and live

if it

apart from him, and independent of him.

metheus Vinctus less true to all

the

The ProNot

romance of skepticism.

time are the details of that stately ap-

Apollo kept the flocks of Admetus, said

ologue.

When

the poets.

are not known.

the gods

come among men, they

Jesus was not

;

Socrates and Shak-

speare were not.

Antaeus was suffocated by the

gripe of Hercules,

but every time he touched his

was renewed.

mother

earth, his strength

broken

giant, and, in all his

and

liis

Man

the

weakness, both his body

mind are invigorated by habits of conversaThe power of music, the power

tion with nature.

of poetry to unfix, and, as

were, clap wings to

id nature, interprets the riddle of

Orpheus.

sol-

TJie. phi-

mu-

losophical perception of identity through endless

form makes him know the Proteus.

tations of

else

last night

who

And what name

creature a

name

this

who

slept

morning stood and ran ^

see I on any side but the transmigrations

of Proteus the

laughed or wept yesterday,

hke a corpse, and

What

I can symbolize

thought by using

of any creature, of any fact, because every is

for

man

agent or patient.

you and me.

Tantalus

but

Tantalus means the impos-

HISTORY. sibility

of drinking the waters of thought which are

always gleaming and waving within sight of the soul.

The

transmigration of souls

were

men and women

but

;

I would

fable.

are

Every animal of the barn-yard, the

only half human. field,

and the

for-

of the earth and of the waters that are under

est,

the earth, has contrived to get a footing and to leave the print of

its

features

and form

some one or

brother, stop the ebb of thy soul,

many years

slid.

that old fable of the

now

near and proper to us

Sphinx,

who was

said to

man could is

or events

our

in If

not answer, she swallowed him alive.

If he could solve the riddle, the Sphinx

What

for

also

sit

the road-side and put riddles to every passenger. the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ebbing downward;

forms into whose habits thou hast

into the

oth-

of these upright, heaven-facing speakers.

life

was

slain.

but an endless flight of winged facts

In splendid variety these changes come,

spirit. Those men wisdom these facts or questions of time, serve them. Facts encumber them, tyrannize over them, and make the men of rouall

putting questions to the

who cannot answer by

tine the

facts

men

human

a superior

of sense, in

whom

literal

obedience to

has extinguished every spark of that light by

which man

truly

man.

But

his better instincts or sentiments,

minion of

facts, as

the

man

true to

and refuses the do-

one that comes of a higher race,

remains fast by the soul and sees the principle, then

ESSAY

30 the facts

know

fall

aptly and supple into their places

and the meanest of them

their master,

they

;

glorifies

him.

See

Goethe's Helena the same desire that evThese figures, he

ery word should be a thing.

would say, these Chirons,

Phorkyas, Hel-

Griffins,

en, and Leda, are somewhat, and do exert a specific

influence on the mind.

eternal entities, as real to-day as in the

Much

piad. his

they

far then are first

Olym-

revolving them, he writes out freely his own imagipoem be as vague and it much more attractive

humor, and gives them body to

And

nation.

fantastic as

than the

although that

a dream, yet

regular dramatic pieces of the

author, for the reason that relief to

images,

the mind from

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; awakens

same

operates a wonderful

the routine

of customary

the reader's invention

and fancy

by the wild freedom of the design, and by the unceasing succession of brisk shocks of surprise.

The nature

universal

through his hand a

nature,

of the bard,

too

sits

so that

;

strong for the petty his

neck and writes

when he seems

mere caprice and wild romance, the

exact

allegory.

utter great

Hence Plato

that

poets

and wise things which they do not them-

selves understand."

Age

said

to vent

issue

All the fictions of the Middle

explain themselves as a

pression of that

which

masked or

frolic

ex-

grave earnest the mind of

HISTORY.

Magic, and

that period toiled to achieve.

ascribed to

The

of science.

shoes of swiftness, the sword of

power of subduing

sharpness, the

that is

all

deep presentiment of the powers

it,

the elements, of

using the secret virtues of minerals, of understanding the voices of birds, are the obscure efforts of the

mind

The

in a right direction.

preternatural prow-

ess of the hero, the gift of perpetual youth, like,

and the

endeavour of the human

are alike the

bend the shows of

spirit

things to the desires of the

mind." In Perceforest and Amadis de Gaul, a garland and a rose bloom on the head of her fade on the

brow of

Boy and

the

who

the inconstant.

faithful,

the Mantle, even a mature reader

be surprised with a glow of virtuous pleasure triumph of the gentle Genelas postulates of elfin annals, like to

be named

not speak

;

that

and the

the is

tle

who

like,

however they might be Is

;

and, indeed,

that

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;I

for

find true in

may

Concord,

.''

Sir William

I read

Ashton

Ravenswood Cas-

proud poverty, and the foreign

mission of state only a industry.

and

Cornwall or Bretagne.

Lammermoor.

name

the

seeks a treasure must

a mask for a vulgar temptation, a fine

all

the fairies do not

otherwise in the newest romance

Bride of

may

at the

that their gifts are capricious

;

not to be trusted

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and

In the story of

Bunyan

disguise

for honest

aU shoot a wild bull that would

ESSAY

good and

toss the

which

fidelity,

beautiful,

fighting

Lucy Ashton

and sensual.

just

down the unname for

another

always beautiful and always liable

to calamity in this world.

the civil and metaphysical history

But along with

of man, another history goes daily forward, of the external ,

world, â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

strictly implicated.

the

also

consists

correlative

the

fact that his Jife

multitude is.

which he

in is

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

that

not less

compend of time His power of natm'e. the

of his

affinities,

the

intertwined with the whole chain_

of organic and inorganic being. public roads beginning at the

Rome

In old

Forum proceeded

the

north,

south, east, west, to the centre of every province of

the

empire, making

each market-town

of Persia,

Spain, and Britain pervious to the soldiers of the capital

so out of the

human

heart go, as

highways

to the heart of

reduce

under the dominion of man.

every object

were,

nature, to

man

bundle of relations, a knot of roots, whose flower

and fruitage

the world.

tures out of him, habit,

the fins

exists, or the

pose

and

His

faculties refer to na-

jiredict the

world he

of the fish foreshow

that

to in-

water

wings of an eagle in the egg presup-

cannot live without a world. Put Napoleon in an island prison, let his faculties find no men to act on, no Alps to climb, no stake to air.

;

HISTOKY.

play for, and he would beat the air and appear stu-

Transport him to large countries, dense pop-

pid.

ulation,

complex

and you

shall see that the

by such a

that is, tual

man Napoleon, bounded, and

profile

This

Napoleon.

and antagonist power,

interests,

not the vir-

but Talbot's shadow

" His substance

For what you see

outline,

;

not here

but the smallest part

And

least proportion

It is

of such a spacious,

of humanity But were the whole frame here,

Your roof were not

lofty pitchy

sufficient to contain it."

Henry

VI.

Columbus needs a planet to shape his course upon. Newton and Laplace need myriads of ages and thickstrewn

One may

celestial areas.

^olar_system

say a gravitating

already prophesied in the nature of

Newton's, mind.

Not

less

does the brain of

Davy

or of Gay-Lussac, from childhood exploring the affinities

and repulsions of particles, anticipate the

laws of organization.

man embryo

Does

not the eye of the hu-

predict the light

.''

the ear of,

predict the witchcraft of harmonic sound the constructive fingers of

}

Handel

not

Watt, Fulton, Whitteraore,

Arkwright, predict the fusible, hard, and temperable texture of metals, the properties of stone, water, and

wood

.''

not the lovely attributes of the maiden

child predict the refinements and decorations of civil

society

.''

Here

also

are reminded of the action

ESSAY

man on man.

mind might ponder

for ages, and not gain so

much

passion of love shall teach

himself before he has been

thought

its

self-knowledge as the

Who

in a day.

thrilled

knows

with indignation

an outrage, or has heard an eloquent tongue, or

has shared the throb of thousands tation or alarm

No man

a national exul-

can antedate his experi-

ence, or guess what faculty or feeling a

face of a person

the

first

I will not

whom

see to-morrow for

shall

now go

behind the general statement to

mind

tivejjiistory

in all

reproduce

its

One, and

Let

correspondency.

this

suffice that in the light of

Thus

object

time.

explore the reason of

that the

new

any more than he can draw to-day the

shall unlock,

these two facts, namely,

that nature

its

correla-

be read and written.

ways does the soul concentrate and treasures for

He,

each pupil.

too,

shaU pass through the whole cycle of experience.

shall

collect

mto a focus the rays of

History no longer

walk incarnate shall not tell

me by

shall

be a dull book.

nature. It

every just and wise man. languages and

of the volumes you have read. feel

what periods you have

the

Temple of Fame.

titles

You

lived.

shall

You

a catalogue

make_me man shall be

shall

shall walk, as the poets

have described that goddess, in a robe painted over with wonderful events and experiences ;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

all

his

;

HISTORY.

own form and shall

Foreworld

;

the calling of

lands

;

Age

him the

of Gold

;

the

Dark Ages ;

the

;

Temple

the building of the

Reformation

the

exalted intelligence

I shall find in

the Argonautic Expedition

;

Abraham

Advent of Christ

Letters

their

his childhood the

Apples of Knowledge the

features

be that variegated vest.

the Revival of

discovery of

new

the opening of new sciences, and new regions

;

man.

shall

be the priest of Pan, and bring

with him into humble cottages the blessing of the

morning

and

stars

and

all

the recorded benefits of heaven

earth.

Is there

Then

somewhat overweening

I reject

all

claim

this

I have written, for what

the use

But it know what we know not is the fault of our rhetoric that we cannot strongly state one fact without seeming to belie some other. Hear the I hold our actual knowledge very cheap. of pretending to

.-'

rats in the wall, see the lizard

under

foot, the lichen

on the

on the fence, the fungus log.

What do

know

sympathetically, morally, of either of these worlds

life

older,

.''

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

old as the Caucasian

man,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; perhaps

these creatures have kept their counsel be-

side him, and there that has passed

no record of any word or sign

from one to the other.

nection do the books show between the

What fifty

chemical elements, and the historical eras

con-

or sixty ?

Nay,

what does history yet record of the metaphysical

ESSAY

man

annals of

What

mysteries which

Immortality in a

liide

light

does

shed on those

under the names Death and

Yet every history should be written

wisdom which divined the range of our affinities at facts as symbols. I am ashamed to

and looked

see what a shallow village tale our so-called History

How many

is.

times

we must

say

Rome, and

What

does

Rome know

Paris, and Constantinople

of rat and lizard sulates

.''

these

What

Con-

are Olympiads and

neighbouring

of being

systems

Nay, what food or experience or succour have they for the

Esquimaux

seal-hunter, for the

Kanaka

in his

canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter

Broader and deeper we must write our annals, from an

ethical reformation,

from an influx of the

ever new, ever sanative conscience, trulier

.''

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

we would

express our central and wide-related nature,

instead of this old chronology of selfishness and pride to which that

we have

day exists

too long lent our eyes.

for us, shines in

on us

but the path of science and of letters into nature.

The

idiot,

not the

antiquary.

way

the Indian, the child, and

unschooled farmer's boy, stand nearer to the

which nature

Already

at unawares,

light

be read, than the dissector or the

;

SELF-RELIANCE. "Ne

te quaesiTeria extra."

" Man

is his own star ; and the soul that can Render an honest and a perfect man.

Commands

edi light, all

Nothing

him

Our Our

acts

our angels are, or good or

fatal

shadows that walk by us

Epilogue

influence,

falls early

all fete

or too late.

Beaumont and

ill,

still."

Fletcher's Honttt

Man'i FortuHt

Cast the bantling on the rocks, Suckle him with the she-wolfs teat

Wintered with the hawk and fox, Power and speed be bands and fee

ESSAY

II.

SELF-RELIANCE. 1

READ

the other day

some verses

written

by an

eminent painter which were original and not conven-

The

tional.

soul always hears an admonition in such

be what

lines, let the subject

may is

contain.

lieve that

what

true for

all

for the inmost in

and our

first

The

may.

own

believe your

true for

men,

latent conviction,

trumpets

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and

you

that

shall

thought, to be-

your private heart

genius.

Speak your

be the universal sense

due time becomes the outmost,

thought

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ;

rendered back to us by the

of the Last Judgment.

voice of the mind

Familiar as the

to each, the highest merit

ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton at

sentiment

of more value than any thought they

tliey instil is

is,

that they set

naught books and traditions, and spoke not what

men

but what they thought.

man

should learn to

detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his

mind from

within,

more than

the lustre of

ESSAY

II.

Yet he dismisses

the firmament of bards and sages.

because

without notice his thought,

every work of genius thoughts

they

come back

own

rejected

to us with a certam alien-

Great works of

ated majesty.

his.

recognize our

affecting lesson for us than

art

have no more

They

this.

teach us to

abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of side.

Else, to-morrow a

stranger will say with masterly

good sense precisely

voices

on the other

what we have thought and shall

felt

the time, and

all

own

be forced to take with shame our

opinion

from another.

There

imitation

suicide

wide universe on

that

that plot of

;

he must take himself though

that

;

that for jthe

of good, no kernel of nourishing him but through his toil bestow.ed

ground which

The power which

resides in

know

until

he has

himto

given to

him

and none but he knows what that nor does he

ignorance

is full

come

corn can

;

envy

as his portion

for worse,

better,

when he

a time in every man's education

arrives at the conviction that

is is

new

till.

nature,

which he caiTSo,

tried.

ing one face, one character, one fact,

impression on him, and another none.

Not for nothmakes much This sculp-

harmony.

memory is not without preestablished The eye was placed where one ray

should

that

ture

the

fall,

might

testify

of that particular rav

SELF-RELIANCE.

b ut half express ourselves,

and are ashamed

of that divine idea which each of us represents.

miy~Fe

safely trusted as proportionate

issues, so

ha ve

faithfully

wo rk made

bis

relieved and gay

his best

done otherwise,

shall give

tion,

;

not

man

his heart into his

but what he has said or

;

him no peace.

liverance which does not deliver.

genius deserts him

will

by cowards.

when he has put

work and done

God

imparted, but

manifest

and of good

It is a

de-

In the attempt his

no muse befriends

no inven-

;

no hope.

Tr ust

thy self:

every_heart vibrates to that iron

Accept the place the divine providence has

string

found for you, the society of your contemporaries,

Great men have always

the connection of events.

done

and confided themselves childlike to the

so,

genius of their age, betraying their perception that

was seated

the absolutely trustworthy

at their heart,

working through their hands, predominating their being.

And we

cept in

highest

destiny

the ;

are

mind

now men, and must the

all

ac-

same transcendent

and not minors and invalids

a protect-

ed comer, not cowards fleeing before a J^evolution, but

guides,

redeemers,

the Almighty effort, and

and benefactors,

obeying

advancing on Chaos and

the Dark.

What

pretty oracles nature yields us on this text,

in the face

and behaviour of children, babes, and even

ESSAY

brutes

II.

That divided and rebel mind,

that distrust

of a sentiment because our arithmetic has computed the strength and

means opposed

when we look

yet unconquered, and

conform

it,

So God

hood no

made

put by,

less with

if it

who

prattle

and play to

has armed youth and puberty and manits

own piquancy and charm, and

enviable and gracious and

eye

so that one babe commonly makes

four or five out of the adults it.

their

in their faces,

Infancy conforms to nobody

Vfe are disconcerted. all

to our purpose, these

Their mind being v^hole,

have not.

will stand

its

claims not to be

itself.

not think the

youth has no force, because he cannot speak to you

Hark

and me.

in the

ciently clear and emphatic.

speak to he

will

his

room

make

is suffi-

Bashful or bold, then,

contemporaries.

know how

his voice

seems he knows how

us seniors very unneces-

sary.

The

nonchalance of boys who are sure of a din-

ner, and

would disdain as much

say aught to conciliate one,

human is in

nature.

the playhouse

boy ;

as a lord to

do or

the healthy attitude of

in the parlour

what the

pit

independent, irresponsible, look-

ing out from his corner on such people and facts as

pass by, he tries and sentences in the swift,

them on their merits, summaiy way of boys, as good, bad, in-

teresting, silly, eloquent, troublesome.

cumbers

himself never about consequences, about interests

SELF-EELIANCE.

You must man is,

he gives an independent, g^enuine verdict. court him as

he does not court you.

were, clapped mto

jail

But

the

consciousness.

his

soon as he has once acted or spoken with is

a committed person, watched

the

eclat,

sympathy

or the hatred of hundreds, whose affections must enter into his account.

Ah,

he could pass again

that

Who

There

can thus avoid

all

no Lethe

into

now

for this.

his neutrahty

pledges, and having observed,

observe again from the same unaffected, unbiased, un-

must always be foron all pass-

bribable, unaffrighted innocence,

midable.

would

opinions

utter

ing affairs, which being seen to be not private, but

necessary, would sink like darts into the ear of men,

and put them

These

in fear.

are the voices which

but they grow faint and inaudible as world. the ty

Society everywhere

manhood of every one of

hear in solitude,

enter into the

in cons_piracy against

its

members.

a joint-stock company, in which the

Socie-

members

agree, for the better securing of his bread to each

shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater.

The

virtue in

Self-reliance is

its

most request

aversion.

It loves

conformity.

not realities

and creators, but names and customs.

Whoso would

He who

be a man must be a nonconformist.

would gather immortal palms must not be

hindered by the

name of goodness, but must explore

ESSAY

44 if it

11.

Nothing

be goodness.

last

is at

sacred but

Absolve you

yOur own mind.

integrity of

tlie

to your-

I self, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser, who was wont

to importune

On my

church.

the sacredness

within

with the dear old doctrines of the saying,

What

of traditions,

friend suggested,

may be from below, " They do not seem

have I I

live

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; " But these impulses

not from above." to

do with

wholly from

be such

the Devil's child, I will live then

I replied,

but

;

from the Devil."

No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this

;

the only right

man

tion, as if

every thing were

am ashamed

late to

affects

easily

to large societies

capitu-

and dead

vital,

and speak the rude truth

If malice and vanity wear the coat of

ways.

assumes

how

Every decent and well-spoken Individ-' me more than is right. I

philanthropy, shall

that

this bountiful

with his

I not

say to

it.

and sways

ought to go upright and in all

afterjny

against

and ephemeral but

titular

to think

badges and names,

institutions.

ual

what

to carry himself in the presence of all opposi-

he.

wrong what

constitution, the only

last

pass

If an

angry bigot

cause of Abolition, and comes

news from Barbadoes, why should

him,

love thy infant

;

love thy

SELF-RELIANCE.

wood-chopper that grace

;

be good-natured and modest have and never varnish yom- hard, uncharita:

ble ambition with this incredible tenderness for black

Thy

folk a thousand miles off.

home .'

but truth

ing,

love

Rough and

love afar

handsomer than the

is spite at

graceless would Be such greetaffectation

Your joodness must have some edge

it,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

else it is none. The doctrine of hatred must be preached as the counteraction of the doctrine of love

when

that pules and whines. I shun father and mother and wife and brother, when my genius calls me. I would write on the lintels of the door-post.

Whim. last,

I hope

but

somewhat

it is

we cannot spend

better than

whim

the day in explanation.

Expect me not to show cause why I seek or exclude company. Then, again, do not tell a good man did to-day, of my obligation to poor men in good situations. Are they my

why

me,

put

all

poor

.-'

Ijell thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such

me and

do not belong to

There

affinity

a class of persons

men

whom I do not belong. to whom by all spiritual

bought and sold

;

for

them

will

go to

prisonjjf^need be j^ but your miscellaneous popular charities ; the education at college of fools ; the building of meeting-houses to the vain end to which

many now

stand

;

alms to sots

fold Relief Societies

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; though

;

and the thousand-

I confess with

shame

ESSAY

I sometimes

wicked

hood

II.

succumb and give the dollar, it is a by and by I shall have the man-

dollar wliich

to vi'ithold.

Virtues are, in the popular estimate, rather the ex-

There

ception than the rule.

Men

virtues.

do what

the

called a

man and

good

his

action, as

some piece of courage or charity, much as they vifould pay a fine in expiation of daily non-appearTheir works are done as an apolance on parade. as ogy or extenuation of their living in the world, invalids and the insane pay a high board. Their

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

virtues are penances.

to live.

do not wish

for itself

life is

and not

much

be genuine and equal, than that

tering

prefer that

to expiate, but

for a spectacle.

should be of a lower strain, so

I wish

and unsteady.

should be

sweet, and not to need diet and bleeding.

mary evidence

that

appeal from the

myself

to his actions.

makes no difference whether

I ask pri-

you are a man, and refuse

man

glit-

be sound and

know I

this

that foi

do or

heir those actions which are reckoned excellent.

for ]

cannot consent to pay for a privilege where I hav4 intrinsic right.

Few

and mean as

my gifts may be, my own assur-

I actually am, and do not need for

ance or the assurance of

fellows any secondary

testimony.

What

I must do

the people think.

is all

This

that concerns

rule, equally

me, not what

arduous

in actual

SELF-RELIANCE.

and

may

in intellectual life,

serve for the whole dis-

between greatness and meanness.

harderj_becausejrou will always find those

who

tinction

they

know what It

it.

opinion

your duty better than you

easy in the world to

it is

;

But the great

easy

man

live after the

he who

The

own

;

independ-

the

objec tion to conforming to usages that have

become dead

you

is,

that

scatters

your force.

your time and blurs the impression of your

It loses

character. tribute

know

the midst of the

crowd keeps with perfect sweetness ence of solitude.

the

think

world's

our

in solitude to live after

If you

maintain

dead church, con-

to a dead Bible-society, vote with a great

party either for the government or against

your table

like base

housekeepers,

it,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; under

spread

all

screens I have difficulty to detect the precise

these

man

And, of course, _so much force is withdrawn from joui proper life. But do your work, and I shall know you. Doyour work, and you you

are.

shaU reinforce yourself.

a blindman's-buff

game of conformity.

know your

this

sect, I anticipate

man must

consider what

your argument.

If I I hear

a preacher announce for his text and topic the expe-

diency of one of the institutions of his church. I not a

know beforehand

that not possibly can

new and spontaneous word

with

all

this

.''

I not

he say

know

that,

ostentation of examining the grounds

ESSAY

II.

of the institution, he will do no such thing

not

know that he is

but at one

side,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

pledged to himself not to look the permitted side, not as a man,

He is a retained attornej, bench are the emptiest affectation. Well, most men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief, and attached themselves to some one of these communities of opinion. This conformity makes them not false in a few particulars, authors of a few lies, but false in all particulars. Their every truth is not quite true. Their

but as a parish minister ?

and these

two

airs of the

not the real two, their four not the real four;

so that every

word they say chagrins us, and we begin to set them right. Mean-

know not where to

time nature is not slow to equip us in the prisonuniform of the party to which we adhere. We

come quire

wear one cut of face and figure, and acby degrees the gentlest asinine expression.

There is a mortifying experience in particular, which does not fail to wreak itself also in the general history

;

mean

" the foolish face of praise," the

forced smile which

put on in company where

we do

not feel at ease in answer to conversation which does not interest us. The muscles, not

spontaneously moved, but moved by a low usurping wilfulness, grow tight about the outline of the face with the most disagreeable sensation.

For nonconformity the world whips you with

its

SELF-RELIANCE.

And

displeasure.

on him

askance

public

the

contempt and resistance

home

well go

or in

street

aversation had

If this

parlour.

friend's

man must know how The by-standers look

therefore a

sour face.

to^'^stunate

like his

with a sad countenance

its

the

origin

own, he might ;

but the sour

faces of the multitude, like their sweet faces,

have

no deep caused but are put on and off as the wind directs. Yet is the disconmore formidable than that of the

blows and a newspaper tent of the multitude

It is

easy enough for a firm

the world to

brook the rage of the

senate and the college.

man who knows

Their rage

cultivated classes.

dent,

themselves.

But when

indignation of the people rant and the

decorous and pru-

being very vulnerable

for they are timid as

their

feminine rage the

added, when the igno-

poor are aroused, when the unintelligent

brute force that lies at the bottom of society to growl

and mow,

and religion to

treat

made

needs the habit of magnanimity it

godlike as a

trifle

of no con-

cernment.

The

other terror that scares us from self-trust

our consistency

a reverence for our past act or

;

word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and

are loath to disappoint them.

But why shoulder

.''

should you keep your head over your

Why 4

drag

about

this

corpse of your

ESSAY

II.

you contradict somewhat you have Suppose you stated in this or that pubhc place ? should contradict yourself what then ? It seems to

memory,

lest

;

be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your alone, scarcely even

acts of pure

memory

memory, but

bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a

new

day.

In your meta-

physics you have denied personality to the Deity

when

yet to

them heart and

God

his coat in the

minds, adored by

Leave your theory,

hand of the

consistency

foolish

yield

though they should clothe

life,

with shape and color.

Joseph

come,

the devout motions of the soul

the

harlot,

and

flee.

hobgoblin of

little

statesmen and philosophers

little

With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think and divines.

now

morrow

hard words, and to-morrow speak what tothinks in hard

words again, though

you said to-day. be misunderstood.'

tradict every thing shall

be sure

then, to

be misunderstood

.''

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Ah, Is

con-

so you

so bad,

Pythagoras was misun-

derstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and

Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to

be misunderstood. I suppose

sallies

no man can

violate his nature.

of his will are rounded

All the

the law of his be-

SELF-HELIANCE.

Andes and Himmaleh are Nor does it

ing, as the inequalities of

curve of the sphere.

insignificant in the

matter

how you gauge and

ward, backward, or across, In

still

;

character

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; read

record day by day

for-

same

the

spells

God

wood-life which

this pleasing, contrite

allows me, let

try him.

Alexandrian stanza

like an acrostic or

thing.

honest

thought without prospect or retrospect, and, I cannot doubt, it

wUl be found symmetrical, though I mean

not, and see

pines

not.

and resound with the

swallow over

my window

book should smell of

hum

thread or straw he carries in his also.

We pass for

above our

wills.

what

Men

that

my web

bill into

Character teaches

are.

imagine that they conimuni-

cate their virtue or vice only

do not see

The

of insects.

should interweave

by overt

actions,

and

that virtue or vice emit a breath every

moment.

There

will

be an agreement

whatever variety

of actions, so they be each honest and natural in their hour.

For of one

will, the actions will

monious, however unlike they seem. are lost sight of at a

of thought.

little

tacks. it

distance, at a

One tendency

voyage of the best ship

See the

line

These

unites

be har-

varieties

height

little

them

The

all.

a zigzag line of a hundred

from a

sufficient

distance,

straightens itself to the average tendency.

genuine action will explain

itself,

and

will

and

Your explain

ESSAY

11.

Your conformity ex-

your other genuine actions.

Act

plains nothing.

ready done singly

singly,

will justify

you now.

If I can be firm

appeals to the future.

day to do

and what you have

enough

defend

ances, and you always may.

The

me now.

work

the majesty of

the heroes of the senate and the field, which so the imagination

days

great

The

consciousness

fills

of a train of

They shed an

and victories behind.

united light on the advancing actor. as

force of character

What makes

their health into this.

Always scorn appear-

All the foregone days of virtue

cumulative.

to-

and scorn eyes, I must have done

right,

so much right before as to how it will, do right now.

al-

Greatness

That

a visible escort of angels.

attended

which

throws thunder into Chatham's voice, and dignity mto

Washington's port, and America into Adams's eye.

Honor It is

venerable to us because

always ancient virtue.

because

it is

not of to-day.

homage, because homage, but

it is

no ephemeris.

We worship to-day We love and payit it

not a trap for our love__arid

self-dependent, self-derived, and there-

fore of an old immaculate pedigree,

even

shown

a young person.

I^hope

in these

days

we have

conformity and consistency.

heard^ the last of

Let the words be ga-

zetted and ridiculous henceforward.

gong

for dinner, let us hear a whistle

Instead of the

from the Spar-

SELF-RELIANCE. tan

Let

fife.

great

man

us never

coming

wish to please him

me.

please

affront

apologize more.

I do not

house.

I wish that he should wish to

;

would make

kind, I

and

for humanity,

stand here

I will

though I would make

Let us

bow and

to eat at

true.

and reprimand the smooth mediocrity

anTsquaUd contentment of

the times, and hurl in the

face of custom, and trade, and office, the fact which the upshot of

history, that there

all

a great re-

sponsible Thinker and Actor working wherever a

works

;

that a true

place, but

man

belongs to no other time or

the centre of things.

nature.

man

Where he

measures you, and

is,

there

men, and

all

OrdinaSyTevery body in society rembds us of somewhat else, or of some other person. Charevents.

acter, reality, reminds

place of

tlie

you of nothing

that

Every

true

he must make

much,

man

;

numbers and time

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and

posterity

follow his steps as a train of clients.

bom, and Christ

and cleave

for is

takes

a cause, a country, and an age

to accomplish his design

;

circumstances indifferent.

all

requu'es infinite spaces and

pire.

else

The man must be

whole creation.

ages after

we have

seem

man

;

fully

CiEsar

Roman Em-

born, and millions of minds so grow

to his genius, that

confounded with

virtue and the possible of

man.

institution is the

lengthened shadow of one

man

as,

Monachism, of

the

Hermit Antony

;

the

;

Reformation, of Luther

;

ESSAY

Quakerism, of Fox of

lition,

height of

Methodism, of Wesley

;

Clarkson.

Rome "

;

II.

Milton

Scipio,

and

all

Abo" the

;

called

history resolves itself very

easily into the biography of a

fevir

stout

and earnest

persons.

Let a man then know his worth, and keep things feet. Let him not peep or steal, or skiilk

under his

up and down with the

air

of a charity-boy, a bastard,

or an interloper, in the world which exists for him.

But the man

in the street, finding

which corresponds

no worth

which

to the force

or sculptured a marble god, feels poor

these.

him a palace, a

in himself

built a

tower

when he

looks

statue, or a costly

book have an ahen and forbidding air, much hke a gay equipage, and seem to say like that, ' Who are Yet they all are his, suitors for his noyou, Sir ? '

tice, petitioners

to his faculties

that they will

come

The picture waits for my command me, but I am to settle

out and take possession. verdict its

it is

not to

That popular

claims to praise.

who was picked up dead drunk to the duke's house, v?ashed

the duke's bed, and,

his

fable of the sot

in the street, carried

and dressed and

laid in

waking, treated with

all

obsequious ceremony like the duke, and assured that

he had been insane, owes that

its

the world a sort of sot, but

up, exercises his reason, and prince.

popularity to the fact,

symbolizes so well the state of man,

now and finds

who

is in

then wakes

himself a true

SELF-RELIANCE.

Our reading

mendicant and sycophantic.

our imagination plays us

history,

and lordship, power and lary tlian private

and the

common same

Why

all this

;

vocabu-

a small house

the

deference to Alfred, and Scanderbeg,

and Gustavus

Suppose

they wear out virtue

}

they,

were virtuous

steps.

;

did

great a stake depends on

your private act to-day, as followed

renowned

work ; but the things of life are sum total of both is the same.

day's

to both

estate, are a gaudier

John and Edward

Kingdom

false.

their

Whenjrivate men

original views, the lustre will

pubhc and

shall act with

be transferred from the

actions of kings to those of gentlemen.

The world

has been instructed by

its

kings,

have so magnetized the eyes of nations.

been taught by ence that alty with

this colossal

The joyful

due from man to man.

loy-

which men have everywhere suffered the

a law of his

men and

has

symbol the mutual rever-

king, the noble, or the great proprietor to walk

them by

who

things,

own, make

and reverse

his

theirs,

own

pay

among

scale of

for benefits

money but with honor, and represent the his person, was the hieroglyphic by which

not ^ith

law

they obscurely signified their consciousness of their

own right and comeliness, the right of every man. The magnetism which all original action exerts is explained when we inquire the reason of self-trust.

Who

the Trustee

.''

What

the aboriginal Self,

ESSAY

II.

on which a universal reliance

may be grounded

What

that science-baffling

which shoots a ray of beauty even pure actions,

The

pear?.

the least

mark of independence ap-

inquiry leads us to that source, at once

Spontaneity pr Instinct.

mary wisdom

mon

analysis'

this pri-

Intuition, whilst all later teachings

cannot go,

all

things find their "com-

For, the sense of being which

origin.

hours rises,

which

life,

denote

,In that deep force, the last fact behind

are tuitions.

which

and im-

into trivial

the essence of genius, of virtue, and of call

elements,

parallax, without calculable

without

star,

power of

the nature and

we know

calm

not how, in the soul,-

not

diverse from things, from space, from light, from time,

from man, bat one with them, and proceeds obviously

from the same source whence

also proceed.

first

share the

their life life

and being

by which

tilings

ture,

and afterwards see them as appearances in naand forget that we have shared their cause.

Here

exist,

the fountain of action and of thought.

are the lungs of that inspiration which giveth

Here

man

wis-

dom, and which cannot be denied without impiety and atheism. We lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which makes us receivers of its truth and organs of its activity.

When we

truth,

we do

beams.

its

discern justice,

when we

discern

nothing of ourselves, but allow a passage If

we ask whence

this

seek to pry into the soul that causes,

comes, all

philosophy

SELF-RELIANCE. Its

is at fault.

acts

tary

liis

its

absence

we can

is all

discriminates between the volun-

and

mind,

knows

ceptions, and tions

presence or

Every man

afBrm.

involuntary

his

that to his involuntary

a perfect faith

He may

due.

per-

percep-

err

the

expression of them, but he knows that these things are so, like day and night, not to be disputed.

and acquisitions are but roving

wilful actions

idlest reverie, the faintest native

and respect.

curiosity

;

—

My the

command

emotion,

Thoughtless people con-

tradict as readily the statement of perceptions as of

opinions, or rather

much more

readily

;

they do

for,

They

not distinguish between perception and notion.

But

fancy that I choose to see this or that thing. perception trait,

of time,

not whimsical, but

children will see

no one has seen of

it is

The

much

pure, that

me, and

course

may chance

For

before me.

that

perception

a fact as the sun.

it is

that

profane to seek to interpose helps.

world with his voice time, ;

when God speaketh he should commu-

nicate, not one thing, but

ture,

after

If I see a

relations of the soul to the divine spirit are so

must be

thought

— although

manldnd,

all

fatal.

souls,

;

all

things

;

should

fill

the

should scatter forth light, na-

from the centre of the present

and new date and new create the whole.

Whenever

a mind

simple, and receives a divine

wisdom, old things pass away,

— means,

teachers,

ESSAY

texts, temples

fall

future into the

lives

;

II.

now, and absorbs past and All things are

present hour.

sacred by relation to

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one

it,

much

made

as another.

All things are dissolved to their centre by their cause, in the universal miracle,

and,

acles disappear.

petty and particular mir-

therefore, a

If,

and speak of God, and

man

claims to

you backward

carries

know to the

phraseology of some old mouldered nation in another country, in another world, believe him not. the acorn better than the oak which

completion

whom

into

.''

the

he has cast

fulness and

is its

parent better than the child his ripened being

then, this worship of the past

The

Whence,

.''

centuries are

conspirators against the sanity and authority of the

Time and

soul.

space are but physiological colors

which the eye makes, but the soul is

day

where

was,

is,

an impertinence and an injury,

;

light

night

;

if it

;

where

and history be any thing

a cheerful apologue or parable of being and becoming. tlian

Man right

;

no longer up-

say 'I think,'

'I am,' but

timid and apologetic

dares not

;

quotes some saint or sage.

ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose. These roses under my window make no reference to for-

mer are

roses or to better ones ;

they exist with

to them.

There

God

;

they are for what they

to-day.

simply the rose

There ;

it is

no time

perfect in

SELF-RELIANCE.

every

moment of

has burst, er there

no more

life

in the full-blown flow-

;

in the leafless root there is

;

moments alike. members ; he does not in

acts

and

Its nature is satisfied,

less.

Before a Jeaf-bud

existence.

its

whole

its

all

satisfies nature,

But man postpones or

re-

live in the present, but with

reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on titpoe to foresee

the future.

cannot be happy and strong

until

too lives with nature in the present, above time.

This should be

Yet see what

enough.

plain

not

dare

God

yet hear

strong

intellects

unless

he speak the phraseology of I know not

himself,

what David, or Jeremiah, or Paul.

shall

not

always set so great a price on a few texts, on a few

lives.

are

children

who

repeat by rote

the sentences of grandames and tutors, and, as they

grow

older, of the

chance to see,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

words they spoke into the point of

men

of talents and character they

painfully

the

recollecting

afterwards,

;

exact

when they come

view which those had who uttered

these sayings, they understand them, and are willing

words go

to let the

words

truly,

man

;

any time, they can use

for, at

good when occasion comes. shall see truly.

be strong, as

When we

it is

memory

its

live

as easy for the strong

for the

weak

have new perception,

disburden the

be weak.

shall

gladly

hoarded treasures as

ESSAY

When

old rubbish.

be as sweet as

shall

the rustle of the

And now we

man lives with God, his voice the murmur of the brook and

com.

at last the highest truth

remains unsaid that

II.

say

this subject

probably cannot be said

;

for all

the far-off remembering of the intu-

That thought, by what I can now nearest it, is this. When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any

ition.

approach to say

known

way

or accustomed

the foot-prints of any other

man

face

the way,

the

you

;

You

experience.

man.

shall

;

not

thought, the

and new.

strange

shall

you you

;

take the

not discern

shall

shall not see the

name

hear any

good,

;

—

be wholly

shall

example and

exclude

way from man,

All persons that ever existed are

its

not to forgot-

Fear and hope are alike beneath it. somewhat low even in hope. In the hour

ten ministers.

There

of vision, there itude,

nothing that can be called grat-

nor properly joy.

The

soul

raised

over

passion beholds identity and eternal causation, perceives the self-existence of Truth and Right, and

calms

itself

with knowing that

all

things

go well.

Vast spaces of nature, the Atlantic Ocean, the South Sea,

—

long intervals of time, years, centuries,

of no account.

This which I think and

every former state of

does underlie

and what

life

—

are

underlay

and circumstances, as

present, and what

called death.

feel

called

life,

SELF-RELIANCE.

Power

Life only avails, not the having lived.

ceases ia the instant of repose

moment of

resides in the

;

from a past to a new

transition

in the shooting of the gulf, in the darting to

This one comes all

;

world hates, that the soul be-

fact the

for ever degrades

for that

state,

an aim.

riches to poverty,

all

the

past, turns

reputation to a shame, con-

founds the saint with the rogue, shoves Jesus and

Judas equally self-reliance

Inasmuch

of reliance

Speak

ing.

works and

then, do'

the

soul

power not confident but

there will be talk

Why,

aside.

prate of

present,

agent.

poor external way of speak-

rather of that which relies, because

is.

Who

more obedience than I

has

masters me, though he should not raise his finger.

Round him spirits.

I must revolve

fancy

eminent virtue.

Height, and that a

and permeable to

rhetoric,

the gravitation of

when we speak of

do not yet see

man

that virtue ia

company of men, plastic principles, by the law of nature or a

must overpower and ride

all

cities,

nations, kings,

rich men, poets, who are not.

This "each on

the

this, as

ultimate fact

which we so quickly

every topic, the resolution of

all

Self-existence the atmto the ever-blessed One. â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ibute of the Supreme Cause, and it constitutes the is

measure of good by the degree to all

lower forms.

which

enters in-

All things real are so by so touch

ESSAY

62 virtue

they

II.

Commerce, husbandry,

contain.

hunting, whaling, war, eloquence, personal weight,

are somewhat, and engage

its

respect as examples

law working

Power

nature for conservation and growth.

in nature

the essential measure of right.

Nature suffers nothing to remain

which cannot help tion of a planet,

recovering

same

I see the

presence and impure action.

The

itself.

its

her kingdoms

genesis and matura-

poise and orbit, the bended tree

from the strong wind, the

itself

vital

resources of every animal and vegetable, are demonstrations of the

self-sufficing,

and therefore

self-

relying soul.

Thus sit at

all

home

concentrates

let

not rove

;

let us

Let us stun and astonrabble of men and books and insti-

with the cause.

ish the intruding

by a simple declaration of the divine fact. Bid the invaders take the shoes from off their feet, for

tutions,

God is here within. Let our simplicity judge them, and our docility to our own law demonstrate the poverty of nature and fortune beside our native riches.

But now we are awe of man, nor is home, to put itself nal ocean, but

mob.

ter than

does not stand

admonished

to stay at

communication with the

inter-

goes abroad to beg a cup of water

of the urns of other men. like the silent

Man

his genius

must go alone. I church before the service begins, bet-

any preaching.

How

far off,

how

cool,

how

SELF-RELIANCE.

chaste the persons look, begirt each one with a precinct or sanctuary

we assume

ther, or child,

because they

blood, and I have

all

of being ashamed of not be mechanical,

folly,

but

for that will I

even to the extent

But your

it.

men have my

All

Not

men's.

adopt their petulance or

elevation.

Wliy should

sit.

around our hearth, or

sit

same blood

are said to have the

us always

let

the faults of our friend, or wife, or fa-

spiritual,

must

isolation

that

is,

must be

times the whole world seems to be

conspiracy to importune you with emphatic

fles.

Friend,

charity, all

client,

knock

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 'Come

child,

once

sickness,

fear,

tri-

want,

at thy closet door,

and

But keep thy state; come not into their confiision. The power men possess to annoy me, I give them by a weak curiosity. No man can come near me but through my say,

out unto us.'

" What we love that we have, but by desire act. we bereave ourselves of the love." If we cannot at once rise to the sanctities of obedience and

faith, let

us at least resist our temptations

;

wake Thor and Woden, courage and constancy, in our Saxon breasts. This is to be done in our smooth times by let

us enter into the state of war, and

speaking the truth. lying affection.

Check

this lying hospitality

these deceived and deceiving people with

converse.

Say

and

Live no longer to the expectation of

them,

father,

whom we

mother,

ESSAY

wife, after

I have

friend,

known unto you

obey no law

I shall endeavour to

must

fill

parents, to support

chaste husband of one wife,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

family, to be the

but these relations I

new and unprecedented way.

after a

peal from your customs.

for

what

you cannot, I

am, we

will

still

I will not hide

should.

what

will so trust that

shall

strongly before the sun and

I will love you

;

you are

true, but not in

the

your companions

;

selfishly,

you are

attentions.

You

will

me, cleave to own. I do this not

may

Does

this

soon love what if

will bring us out safe at last.

give these friends pain.

liberty

and

power,

your

It is alike

men's, however long

your nature as well as mine, and, truth,

truth with

in lies, to live in truth.

to-day

you are noble, you

I will seek

all

inly re-

not, I will not hurt

but humbly and truly.

and mine, and

terest,

same

holy, that I wih do

moon whatever

and myself by hypocritical

dwelt

or aversions.

tastes is

deserve that you

me, and the heart appoints.

joices

you can

be the happier.

seek to

deep

I ap-

I cannot

must be myself.

break myself any longer for you, or you. love

have

I will

less than the eternal law.

no covenants but proximities. nourish

with you

lived

Henceforward I am the that henceforward

appearances hitherto.

truth's. [

brother,

II.

in-

we have

sound harsh dictated

follow the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; But

Yes, but I cannot

you sell

save their sensibility.

SELF-RELIANCE.

Besides,

persons have their moments of reason,

all

when they look

out into the region of absolute truth

;

then will they justify me, and do the same thing.

The populace standards

think that your rejection of popular

a rejection of

antinomianism

;

name of philosophy

to gild his crimes.

There

of consciousness abides.

one or the other of which

als, in

You may

fulfil

are

will use the

But the law

two confession-

we must be

self in the direct,

or in the reflex way. satisfied

your

neighbour,

cousin,

Consider

relations to father,

town,

and dog

cat,

But

whether any of these can upbraid you. also neglect this reflex standard,

myself cle.

have

my own

It denies the

are called duties.

enables

who

truly

and has ventured to that he

if I

many

can discharge

;

may

offices that its

this

law

lax, let

debts,

him keep

day.

demands something godlike

has cast off the

High be

and absolve

to dispense with the popular code.

commandment one

And

stern claims and perfect cir-

name of duty But

any one imagines that its

shriven.

your round of duties by clearing your-

whether you have mother,

mere

standard, and

all

and the bold sensualist

common

him

motives of humanity,

trust himself for a taskmaster.

his heart, faithful his will, clear his sight,

may

good earnest be doctrine, society, law, may be to him as

to himself, that a simple purpose

strong as iron necessity

is to

others

ESSAY

If any

man

called

consider the present aspects of what

distinction society,

of these ethics. to

II.

be drawn out,

will see the

need

The sinew and heart of man seem and we are become timorous, de-

sponding whimperers.

are afraid of truth, afraid

of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other.

We no great and perfect persons. want men and women who shall renovate life and our social state, but we see that most natures are insolOur age

yields

vent, cannot satisfy their

own

wants, have an am-

bition out of all proportion to their practical force,

Our

and do lean and beg day and night continually. housekeeping tions,

mendicant, our

arts,

we have

our marriages, our religion,

sen, but society has chosen for us.

soldiers.

strength

our occupa-

shun the rugged battle of

not cho-

are parlour fate,

where

born.

they lose

young men miscarry in their first enterprises, all heart. If the young merchant fails, men

say he

ruined.

If our

If the finest genius studies at one

of our colleges, and

one year afterwards ton or

New

York,

himself that he

not installed in an office within

in the cities or it

seems

right in being

complaining the rest of his

New

life.

who teams

it,

and to

disheartened, and in

Hampshire or Vermont, who

the professions,

suburbs of Bos-

to his friends

farms

sturdy lad from in

it,

turn tries

all

peddles, keeps

a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to

Con-

SELF-KELIANCE.

gress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive

years, ,.and always, like a cat,

worth a hundred of these

his feet,

dolls.

abreast with his days, and feels '

falls

city

shame

walks in

not

studying a profession,' for he does not postpone his

He has

but lives already.

life,

Let a Stoic open the resources of

hundred chances.

man, and

tell

not one chance, but a

men

they are not leaning wiUows, but

can and must detach themselves

that with the exer-

;

new powers shall appear that a word made flesh, born to shed healing to

cise of self-trust,

man

the

;

the nations, that he should be ashamed of our compassion, and that the

moment he

from himself,

acts

tossing the laws, the books, idolatries, and customs

out of the window,

and

all

man

life

revere him, â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and

pity

him no more, but thank

that teacher shall restore the

to splendor,

and make

his

name dear

history. It

easy to

see

tions of

men

;

in their pursuits

ciation

;

that

must work a revolution

in their religion

their

;

their

greater

;

in their education

modes of

property

self-reliance

aU the ofEces and rela-

;

living

their

;

their asso-

speculative

In what prayers

That which they brave and manly.

some

call a

do men allow themselves holy ofSce

not so

much

Prayer looks abroad and asks

foreign addition to

come through some

as for

foreign

ESSAY

and loses

virtue,

and

Prayer

and

craves

that

thing less than

endless mazes of natural

itself in

supernatural,

mediatorial and

—

point of view.

private end

meanness and

God

pronouncing

as a

means

theft.

to effect a

supposes du-

alism and not unity in nature and consciousness.

soon as the man

the

of a beholding and

the spirit of

But prayer

his VForks good.

from the highest

life

It is the soliloquy It is

— any

Prayer

vicious.

contemplation of the facts of

jubilant soul.

miraculous.

a particular commodity,

good,

all

II.

one with God, he wiU not beg.

The

will then see prayer in all action.

of the farmer kneeling in his

field

weed

prayer it,

the

prayer of the rower kneeling with the stroke of his oar, are true prayers heard throughout nature, though for

cheap ends.

Caratach,

when admonished date, replies,

—

" His hidden meaning

Our

Another Discontent ity

Fletcher's Bonduca,

mind of the god Au-

to inquire the

lies in

our endeavours

;

valors are our best gods."

sort is

will.

of false

prayers

Regret calamities,

help the sufferer

;

our regrets.

are

the want of self-reliance

it is

infirm-

you can thereby

own work, and Our sympathem who weep

not, attend your

already the evil begins to be repaired.

thy

We come to down and cry for company,

just as base.

foolishly,

and

sit

instead

of imparting to them truth and health in rough elec-

SELF-RELIANCE. ti-ic

shocks, putting them once

own

with their

our hands.

the self-helping man.

him

all

For him

tongues greet,

eyes follow with desire.

Our

all

communication

The secret Welcome evermore

reason.

wide

of fortune

all

joy-

gods and

men

doors are flung

honors crown,

love goes out to

and embraces him, because he did not need

all

him

it.

and apologetically caress and celebrate

solicitously

way and scorned our men persevering mortal," said Zo-

him, because he held on his

The gods

disapprobation.

" To

hated him. roaster,

the

love him because

the blessed Immortals are swift."

As men's

prayers are a disease of the

their creeds a disease

of the

with those foolish Israelites,

will,

so are

They, say

intellect.

Let not God speak

we die. Speak thou, speak any man with and we will obey.' Everywhere I, am hindered

us, lest

us,

of meeting his

God

own temple

brother, because he has shut

doors, and recites fables merely of

God.

his brother's, or his brother's brother's

Eve-

new mind is a new classification. If it prove a mind of uncommon activity and power, a Locke, a ry

Lavoisier, a Hutton, a Bentham, a Fourier,

poses

its

system.

classification

on other men, and

im-

new

In proportion to the depth of the thought,

and so to the number of the objects brings within reach of the pupil,

But

chiefly

is this

apparent

his

touches and

complacency.

creeds and churches.

ESSAY

which are

II.

some powerful mind

also classifications of

on the elemental thought of duty, and man's

acting

relation to the Highest.

Such

kerism, Swedenborgism.

The

Calvinism,

pupil takes the

Quasame

new terwho has just learned botany in It will and new seasons thereby.

delight in subordinating every thing to the

minology, as a

new

seeing a

happen

girl

earth

for a time, that the pupil will find his

power has grown by the study of

lectual

mind.

But

tion

idolized, passes

all

unbalanced minds, the for the

intel-

his master's classifica-

end, and not for a

speedily exhaustible means, so that the walls of the

system blend

eye

to their

the walls of the universe

seem

that

how you

cannot imagine

to see,

;

remote horizon with

the luminaries of heaven

them hung on the arch

They

in the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; how

you

you can see

stole the light

from

;

their

aliens It

master

built.

have any right

must be somehow

They do

us.'

not yet

perceive, that light, unsystematic, indomitable, will

break into any cabin, even into chirp awhile and call est

and

be too

their

theirs.

own.

'do well, presently their neat strait

and vanish,

and low,

new

will crack, will

and the immortal

light,

2. tion

It is for

first

pinfold will

lean, will rot all

joyful, million-orbed, million-colored, will

the universe as on the

Let them

If they are hon-

young and

beam

ovei

morning.

want of self-cuhure that the supersti-

of Travelling, whose idols are Italy, England,

SELF-RELIANCE.

Egypt,

retains

cans.

They who made England,

its

fascination for all educated

AmeriGreece

Italy, or

venerable in the imagination did so by sticking fast

where they were,

ly hours,

traveller

his

home

duty

the wise

necessities,

him from at

;

and

still,

man

soul

home, and when on any occasion call

or into

foreign

make men

shall

The

our place.

stays at

duties,

his

house,

his

In man-

an axis of the earth.

feel that

lands,

sensible

by the

expression of his countenance, that he goes the mis-

wisdom and

sionary of

men hke

virtue,

and

cities

visits

and

a sovereign, and not like an interloper or a

valet.

I have no churlish objection to the circumnavigation of the globe, for the purposes of art, of study,

and benevolence, so that the man

first

domesti-

cated, or does not go abroad with the hope of finding

somewhat

travels to

greater

than

be amused, or

He who

he knows.

to get

somewhat wluch he

does not carry, travels away from himself, and grows old even in youth in

Palmyra,

his will

dilapidated as they.

Travelling

among old things. In Thebes, and mind have become old and

carries ruins to ruins.

Our

a fool's paradise.

first

jour-

neys discover to us the indifference of places.

home

dream

that at Naples, at

intoxicated with beauty,

pack

trunk,

embrace

and lose

Rome,

friends,

I can be

sadness.

embark on the

ESSAY

sea,

and

at last

the

that

identical,

wake up

stem

affect

and suggestions,

giant goes with

But the rage of

sad

from.

fled

Naples, and there beside

the

fact,

and the palaces. sights

II.

but

unrelenting,

self,

seek the Vadcan,

be intoxicated with

not intoxicated.

wherever I go. travelling

symptom of

deeper unsoundness affecting the whole

The

action.

intellect is

vagabond, and our system

of education fosters restlessness.

when our bodies imitate

mind

.''

;

Our minds

travel

home.

are forced to stay at

and what

Our houses

intellectual

imitation but the travelling of the

are built with foreign taste

ornaments

shelves are garnished with foreign

;

our

;

our

opinions, our tastes, our faculties, lean, and follow

the Past and the Distant.arts

own mind

own thought

be done and the conditions

why need we copy .''

created the

soul

that the artist sought his

an application of his

The

wherever they have flourished.

was

model. to the

in his

was

thing to

be observed.

the Doric or the Gothic

And mod-

Beauty, convenience, grandeur of thought, and

quaint expression are as near to us as to any, and if

the

American

artist will

study with hope and love

the precise thing to be done

by him, considering

the

climate, the soil, the length of the day, the wants

of the people, the habit and form of the govern-

ment, he wiU create a house

which

all

these will

SELF-RELIANCE.

and

find themselves fitted,

taste

73 and sentiment

will

satisfied also.

on yourself; never imitate. Your own you can present every moment with the cumu-

Insist gift

whole

lative force of a

cultivation

life's

but of the

;

adopted talent of another, you have only an extem-

That which each can Maker can teach him. No

poraneous, half possession.

best,

none but

his

man

yet knows what

has

exhibited

is,

Where

it.

have taught Shakspeare

nor can,

Where

person

that

till

the master

the

who could master who

could have instructed Franklin, or Washington, or

Bacon, or Newton

The Scipionism

Every

.''

of Scipio

great

Shakspeare

could not borrow.

by the study of Shakspeare.

man

will

There

at this

a unique.

which

that

moment

made

never be

signed you, and you cannot hope too too much.

precisely that part he

much for

as-

or dare

you an

ut-

terance brave and grand as that of the colossal chisel

of Phidias, or trowel of the Egyptians, or the pen of Moses, or Dante, but different from

Not possibly

all

these.

will the soul all rich, all eloquent,

with

thousand-cloven tongue, deign to repeat itself; but if

you can hear what these patriarchs

you can reply for the ear

them

Abide

thy

obey thy

the

say, surely

same pitch of voice

;

and the tongue are two organs of one

nature. life,

in the

in the simple

and noble regions of

heart, and thou shalt reproduce

Foreworld again.

ESSAY 4.

II.

our Religion, our Education, our Art look

abroad,

does

our

men

All

of society.

spirit

plume themselves on the improvement of society, and no man improves. Society never advances. side as al

changes

tianized, is

rich,

barbarous,

it is

;

loses

recedes as It

it is

scientific

What

old instincts.

and a

pocket, and the naked erty

on one

new

chris-

change

given,

arts,

and

a contrast between the

bill

American, with

New

of exchange

his

Zealander, whose prop-

a club, a spear, a mat, and an undivided

twentieth of a shed to sleep under

the white

man

the traveller

civilized

a day or two the flesh shall unite

you struck the blow

and the same blow

shall

man

the use of his feet.

but lacks so

see that

us truly, strike the savage with a

tell

shall

has lost his aboriginal strength.

broad axe, and

and heal as

But compare

two men, and you

the health of the

The

but this

;

well-clad, reading, writing, thinking

a watch, a pencil,

thing that

Society acquires

taken.

fast

imdergoes continu-

civilized,

For every

not amelioration.

something

on the other.

gains

into soft pitch,

send the white to his grave.

has built a coach, but has lost

supported on crutches,

much support of muscle.

has a

Geneva watch, but he fails of the skill to tell the hour by the sun. A Greenwich nautical almanac fine

he has, and so being sure of the information when

SELF-RELIANCE.

he wants

man in the street does not know a The solstice he does not observe

the

it,

star in tlie sky. tlie

;

equinox he knows as

calendar of the yeas

and the whole bright

;

without a dial in his mind.

His note-books impair overload his wit

little

memory

his

;

number of accidents

and

;

may be

whether machinery does not encumber have not

lost

his

;

libraries

the insLjrance-office increases the

;

a question

whether

by refinement some energy, by a

Christianity entrenched in establishments and forms,

some vigor of wild a Stoic tian

;

For every Stoic was

virtue.

but in Christendom where

the Chris-

There

no more deviation

moral standard

in the

than in the standard of height or hulk

men are now than ever were. A singular may be observed between the great men of and of the

three

time

four and

nor can

all

the

first

the science, art,

men

than Plutarch's heroes,

twenty centuries

the race progressive.

Anaxagoras,

Diogenes,

leave no class. will

;

educate greater

or is

ages

equality

and philosophy of the nineteenth century

religion, avail to

last

greater

are

He who

not be called

their

ago.

Not

Phocion, Socrates, great really

men, but they of their class

name, but

will

his

own man, and, in his turn, the founder of a sect. The arts and inventions of each period are only its costume, and do not invigorate men. The

ESSAY

II.

harm of the improved machinery may compensate

Hudson and

good.

its

much

accomplished so

Beliring

their fishing-boats,

Parry

astonish

and Franklin, whose equipment exhausted sources of science and

Galileo, with an opera-

art.

glass, discovered a more splendid phenomena than any one since.

the

New World

series

to see the periodical disuse

of celestial

Columbus found

undecked boat.

in an

re-

tlie

It is curious

and perishing of means

and machinery, which were introduced with loud laudation a few gi'eat

years

the improvements of the art of war

umphs of Europe by

reckoned

among

and yet Napoleon

science,

the

tri-

conquered

the bivouac, which consisted of falling

back on naked valor, and disencumbering

The Emperor

aids.

The

before.

centuries

genius returns to essential man.

perfect army, says

held

all

make a

impossible to

Las Casas, " without abohshing

our arms, magazines, commissaries, and carriages, until, in imitation

Roman

of the

custom, the soldier

should receive his supply of com, grind

his

hand-mill, and bake his bread liimself."

Society but

The same the

ridge.

persons

and

The wave moves onward,

a wave.

the water of which

Its

unity

who make up

composed does

not.

not rise from the valley to

particle does is

only

phenomenal.

The

a nation to-day, next year die,

their experience with

them.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 77

SELF-RELIANCE.

And

so the reliance on Property, including the

reliance on governments which protect

Men

of self-rehance.

the want

it, is

have looked away from them-

come

civil institutions

selves and at things so long, that they have

esteem the

and

religious, learned,

guards of property, and they deprecate assaults on these, because they feel

They measure

erty.

them

their

assaults

on prop-

esteem of each other by

what each has, and not by what each

But a

is.

man becomes ashamed of his property, new respect for his nature. Especially he

cultivated

out of

bates what he has,

came he

he see

that

him by inheritance, or

feels that

it is

not having

;

gift,

accidental,

or crime

him, has no root in him, and merely cause no revolution or no robber takes that

which a man

;

then

does not belong to lies there,

be-

away.

But

does always by necessity acquire,

and what the man acquires

which

living property,

does not wait the beck of rulers, or mobs, or revolutions, or fire, or storm, or bankruptcies,

renews

itself

but perpetually

wherever the man breathes.

" Thy lot

or portion of life," said the Caliph Ali, "is after thee it."

;

therefore be

at rest

Our dependence on these meet

numerous conventions

the concourse, and with each

nouncement,

The

delegation

after

foreign goods leads

us to our slavish respect for numbers. parties

seekmg

from seeking

The ;

political

the greater

new uproar from Essex

of an!

The

ESSAY

Democrats from Maine

New

II.

Hampshire

The Whigs

the young patriot feels himself stronger than

before by a

new thousand

of eyes and arms.

In like

manner the reformers summon conventions, and vote and resolve the

God

in multitude.

Not

method precisely the reverse. puts off

so,

friends

will

deign to enter and inhabit you, but by a

all

It is

man

only as a

foreign support, and stands alone, that I

see him to be strong and to prevail.

weaker

by every recruit to his banner. Is not a man better than a town ? Ask nothing of men, and in the endless mutation, thou only firm column must presently appear the upholder of

who knows

that

all

power

that surrounds thee.

inborn, that he

weak

because he has looked for good out of him and elsewhere, and so perceiving, throws himself unhesitatingly on his thought, instantly rights himself, stands

commands his limbs, works miracles just as a man who stands on his feet is stronger than a man who stands on his head. So use all that is called Fortune. Most men in

the

erect position, ;

gamble with her, and gain wheel

rolls.

all,

and lose

But do thou leave

all,

her

unlawful these

winnings, and deal with Cause and Effect, the chancellors of

God.

In the Will work and acquire, and

thou hast chained the wheel of Chance, and shalt sit

hereafter out of fear from her rotations.

cal victory, a rise of rents, the

A politi-

recovery of your sick,

SELF-RELIANCE.

or the return of your absent friend, or favorable event, raises

your

good days are preparing it.

Nothing can

bring

spirits,

for you.

some other

and you think

not believe

you peace but

yourself.

Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.

COMPENSATION. The winga

of Time are black and white,

Pied with morning and with night. Mountain tall and ocean deep

Trembling balance duly keep. tidal wave, Glows the feud of Want and Hare. -Gauge of more and less through space Electric star and pencil plays. The lonely Earth amid the balls That hurry through the eternal halls, makeweight flying to the void, In changing moon, in

Supplemental asteroid,

Or compensatory

spark,

Shoots across the neutral Dark.

;

Man 's.the

elm, and Wealth the Tine; Stanch and strong the tendrils twine ;

Though the frail ringlets thee deceive, None from its stock that vine can reave. Fear not, then, thou child infirm, There 's no god dare wrong a worm. Laurel crowns cleave to deserts,

And power

him who power exerts ? On winged feet, Lo it rushes thee to meet And all that Nature made thy own, to

Hast not thy share !

Floating in air or pent in stone.

Will rive the

And,

like thy

hills

and swim the

sea,

shadow, follow thee.

ESSAY

III.

COMPENSATION Ever

since I was a boy, I have wished to write a

discourse on Compensation

when very young,

that

for

seemed

this

subject

was

life

ahead of theology, and the people knew more than the

The documents,

preachers taught.

which the doctrine

cy by

their endless variety,

me, even

sleep

;

too, from

be drawn, charmed

fan-

and lay always before

for they are

the tools

our

hands, the bread in our basket, the transactions of the street, the farm, and the dwelling-house, greetings, relations, debts ter, the nature

ed to me,

and credits, the influence of characand endowment of

also, that in

all

men.

might be shovm

men

seem-

a ray of

divinity, the present action of the soul of this world,

clean from

all

vestige of tradition, and so the heart

man might be

bathed by an inundation of eternal

love, conversing with that

which he knows was

ways and always must be, because

really

al-

now.

ESSAY appeared, moreover, that

stated in terms with

which

intuitions in

us,

would be a

III.

if this

doctrine could be

any resemblance

this truth is

star in

those bright

sometimes revealed to

many dark hours and crook-

ed passages in our journey that would not suffer us to lose our

way.

was lately confirmed in these desires by hearing sermon at church. The preacher, a man esteemed I

for his

orthodoxy, unfolded in the ordinary manner the

doctrine of the Last Judgment.

judgment

not executed in

wicked are successful

;

assumed,

world

this

that

that the

;

good are miserable

that the

;

and then urged from reason and from Scripture a

compensation to be made to both parties life.

gregation at this doctrine. serve,

the next

offence appeared to be taken by the con-

when

far

as I could ob-

the meeting broke up, they separated

without remark on the sermon.

What Yet what was the import of this teaching mean by saying that the good are .'

did the preacher

miserable

the present

life

Was

.''

that

houses

and lands, ofSces, wine, horses, dress, luxury, are

had by unprincipled men, whilst the and despised

;

fications another day,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; bank-stock

venison and champagne ;

for

by giving them the

to these last hereafter,

sation intended

saints are

and that a compensation

.''

poor

be made

like grati-

and doubloons,

This must be the compen-

what else

that they are

;

COMPENSATION. to have leave to pray and praise

men

Why,

that they

85 to love

The

can do nov?.

inference the disciple would draw was, to

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

have such a good time as the sinners or, to

now we we could ;

push

shall sin ;

extreme import,

its

by and by

;

and serve legitimate

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; We have now â&#x20AC;&#x201D; You

are

sin

we would sin now, if we expect our re-

not being successful,

venge to-morrow.'

The

fallacy lay in the

the bad are successful

The

immense concession,

that justice

;

that

not done now.

blindness of the preacher consisted in deferring

of the market of what constimanly success, instead of confronting and con-

to the base estimate tutes a

victing the

world from the truth

presence of the soul

;

announcing the

the omnipotence of the will

and so establishing the standard of good and

ill,

success and falsehood. I find a similar base tone in the popular religious

works of the day, and the same doctrines assumed by the literary men when occasionally they treat the I