Ralph Waldo Emerson - Nature, an Essay, 1836 by gnosisclassics

University of California

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Mr.

as the gift

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Stephen Walter

NATURE.

" Nature is but an imago or imitation of wisdom, the last thing of the soul; nature being a thing which doth only do, but not know." PLOTINUS.

BOSTON: JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY. M DCCC

XXXVI.

Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1836, Co. By JAMES MUNROS

in the Clerk's Office

of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

Cambridge Press

Metcalf, Torry, &, Ballou.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER

NATURE.

CHAPTER

II.

COMMODITY.

CHAPTER

III.

BEAUTY.

CHAPTER

IV.

LANGUAGE.

CHAPTER

DISCIPLINE.

CHAPTER IDEALISM.

VI. 59

CHAPTER

VII.

SPIRIT.

CHAPTER PROSPECTS.

VIII.

INTRODUCTION.

OUR

age

retrospective.

ulchres of the fathers.

The

and criticism.

histories,

God and

rations beheld

Why

should not

Why

original relation

we have

should not

foregoing gene

nature face to face

we, through their eyes. also enjoy an

builds the sep

writes biographies,

;

to the universe?

a poetry and philoso

phy of insight and not of tradition, and a relig ion by revelation to us, theirs

us,

Embosomed

whose

and not the history of

for

a season

in nature,

floods of life stream around and through

and

invite

us by the powers they supply, to

action proportioned to nature,

why should we

grope among the dry bones of the past, or put the living generation into masquerade out of

faded wardrobe

There

The sun

more wool and

its

shines to-day also. flax

the

fields.

INTRODUCTION.

There

new

new men, new thoughts. demand our own works and laws and

are

Let us

lands,

worship.

Undoubtedly we have no questions to ask which are unanswerable. We must trust the perfection of the creation so

far, as to

believe

that whatever curiosity the order of things has

awakened

our minds, the order of things can

Every man's condition

satisfy.

a solution in

hieroglyphic to those inquiries he would put.

acts

truth.

life,

before he apprehends

In like manner, nature

forms and tendencies, describing

already, in its

as its

own design.

Let us interrogate the great apparition, that shines so peacefully around us. to

what end

Let us inquire,

nature 1

All science has one aim, namely, to find a

theory of nature.

have theories of races

and of functions, but scarcely yet a remote approximation to an idea of creation.

now

are

so far from the road to truth, that religious

teachers

dispute

speculative

men

and hate each other, and are esteemed

unsound and

INTRODUCTION. frivolous.

But

abstract truth

sound judgment, the most

to a

Now many

will

Its test is, that

nomena.

Whenever

the most practical.

a true theory appears,

dence.

will

its

own

evi

all

phe

explain

are thought not only

explained but inexplicable

as language, sleep,

;

dreams, beasts, sex. Philosophically considered, the

universe

composed of Nature and the Soul. all

speaking, therefore,

that

Strictly

separate from us,

which Philosophy distinguishes as the NOT ME, that is, both nature and art, all other men all

and

my own

body, must be ranked under this

name, NATURE.

In enumerating the values of

nature and casting up their sum,

word its

both senses

;

philosophical import.

ral as

;

common

unchanged by man leaf.

Art

with the

;

use the in

In inquiries so gene

no confusion of thought

Nature, in the

will

I shall

common and

our present one, the inaccuracy

material

the

its

not

will occur.

sense, refers to essences

space, the

air,

the river,

applied to the mixture of his

same

things,

as in

a housCj a

INTRODUCTION.

canal, a statue, a picture.

But

his operations

taken together are so insignificant, a

little

chip

ping, baking, patching, and washing, that in an impression so grand as that of the world on

the

human mind,

they do not vary the result.

NATURE. CHAPTER To as I

go into

solitude,

much from

not

his

solitary is

though nobody be alone, that

let

man needs

chamber whilst

with me.

him look

come from

those

and write,

I read

But

to retire

from society.

man would The

rays

heavenly worlds,

will

the stars.

One separate between him and vulgar things. might think the atmosphere was made trans parent with this design, to give man, in the

heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime.

Seen

great they are

night

in the

streets

cities,

If the stars should appear one

thousand years, how would 1

how

men

NATURE.

l(f

and

believe

adore;

generations

and preserve

God which had been shown come out

for

remembrance of the

the

many of

city

But every night

these preachers of beauty, and light

the universe with their admonishing smile.

The

awaken a

stars

certain reverence, be

cause though always present, they are always inaccessible

;

but

all

natural objects

kindred impression, when the mind

Neither

appearance. extort

open to

does

the

wisest

man

her secret, and lose his curiosity by

all

finding out

became

Nature never wears a mean

influence.

their

make

all

her perfection.

a toy to a wise spirit.

Nature never

The

wisdom of

his best hour,

much

flowers, all

the

as they

had

the animals, the mountains, reflected

delighted the simplicity of his childhood.

When we we have

the mind. sion this

the

speak of nature in this manner,

a distinct but most poetical sense in

mean

the integrity of impres

made by manifold

natural objects.

which distinguishes the wood-cutter,

It is

stick of timber of

from the tree of the poet.

NATURE. The charming

landscape

which

saw

this

indubitably made up of some twenty morning, or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke is

and Manning the woodland beyond.

that,

But

none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate that

is,

the poet.

This

men's farms, yet to

them no

this

all

the parts,

the best part of these their land-deeds give

title.

speak truly, few adult persons can see

Most persons do not see the

nature. least they

sun.

have a very superficial seeing.

The

sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child.

The

lover of nature

outward senses are other

;

who

still

he whose inward and truly adjusted to

each

has retained the spirit of infancy

even into the era of manhood.

His intercourse

with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food.

In the presence of nature, a wild

delight runs through the

sorrows.

Nature

says,

man, he

in spite of real is

creature,

NATURE.

and maugre

his impertinent griefs, he shall

all

Not

be glad with me.

hour and season yields

but every

alone,

tribute of delight

summer

the sun or the

;

its

hour and change

for every

corresponds to and authorizes a different state

of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest

Nature

midnight.

well a comic or a health, the air

a setting that

mourning

fits

piece.

equally

In good

a cordial of incredible virtue.

Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles,

under a clouded sky, without having thoughts any occurrence of special good

twilight,

fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration.

Almost

woods

I fear to

too,

think

man

casts

snake his slough, and life, is

how

always a child.

glad I am.

off his

In the

years, as the

what period soever of In the woods,

per

petual youth. Within these plantations of God, decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial Bf festival is dressed,

he should

tire

and the guest sees not how

of them in a thousand years.

In the woods, we return to reason and

There

feel

that

nothing can befal

faith.

NATURE. life,

eyes,)

no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my which nature cannot repair. Standing

on the bare ground, blithe air, and uplifted

mean egotism currents

through

The name

the ;

into infinite space,

nothing.

master or

and a disturbance.

and

uncontained

the

I see

wilderness,

be brothers, to be

beautiful as his

greatest minister,

relation

own

man

and

beholds somewhat as

which the

and

fields

the suggestion of an occult

between man and the vegetable.

I to

In the

in the distant

nature.

delight is

beauty.

something more dear

not alone and unacknowledged.

the lover

in streets or villages.

line of the horizon,

then

servant,

tranquil landscape, and especially

The

circulate

Being

immortal

find

and connate than

woods

The

all.

of the nearest friend sounds then

acquaintances, a

all

a transpa

or particle of God.

part

foreign and accidental.

trifle*

become

Universal

head bathed by the

vanishes.

rent eye-ball.

them. 1*

The waving

They nod

am to

of the boughs

NATURE.

14 in the storm, is

new

by surprise, and yet

effect

like that

and

old.

takes

not unknown.

Its

of a higher thought or a

coming over me, when I deemed was thinking justly or doing right. Yet it is certain that the power to produce

better emotion I

does not reside in nature, but in

this delight,

man, or

harmony of

both.

It is

necessary

to use these pleasures with great temperance.

For, nature

not always tricked in holiday

but the same

attire,

scene which yesterday

breathed perfume and glittered as for the

frolic

of the nymphs, today.

is overspread with melancholy Nature always wears the colors of the

spirit.

heat of his there felt

man

laboring under calamity, the

fire

hath sadness in

it.

Then,

a kind of contempt of the landscape

by him

friend.

own who

The

has just lost by death a dear

sky

less

grand as

over less worth in the population.

shuts

down

CHAPTER

II.

COMMODITY.

WHOEVER will

world,

considers

the final cause of the

discern a multitude of uses that

enter as parts into that result.

They

all

admit

of being thrown into one of the following

Commodity; Beauty; Language; and

classes;

Discipline.

name of Commodity,

Under the general I

rank

owe

all

those advantages which our senses

This, of course,

to nature.

which

perfect in

nature which

man

a benefit

temporary and mediate, not ultimate,

like its service to the soul. it is

kind, and

its all

men

Yet although low, is

the only use of

apprehend.

The

appears like childish petulance,

misery

when

explore the steady and prodigal provision

that has been

made

ball

this

green

for his

which

support and delight

floats

him through the

COMMODITY.

What

heavens.

angels invented these splendid

ornaments, these rich conveniences, of

firmament of earth between tent

this

lights,

striped

fire,

The

him.

water, field

this

zodiac of this

clouds,

fourfold year

this

and

stones,

this

dropping

coat of climates,

Beasts,

ocean

this

ocean of water beneath,

above, this

air

once

corn

his

floor,

work-yard, his play-ground, his garden,

serve

and

his his

bed.

" More servants wait on man

Than

Nature, in material, but

he'll take notice of."

its

ministry to man,

also the process

All the parts incessantly

hands

for the profit

seed

the

;

work

and the

result.

into each other's

The wind sows

of man.

sun evaporates

wind blows the vapor

not only the

to the field

the sea ;

;

the

the ice, on

the other side of the planet, condenses rain on this

;

the rain feeds the plant

the animal

;

the plant feeds

and thus the endless circulations

of the divine charity nourish man.

COMMODITY. The

new

useful arts are but reproductions or

combinations by the wit of man, of the same

He no

natural benefactors.

favoring

but by

gales,

longer waits for

means of steam, he and carries

realizes the fable of ^Bolus's bag,

the two and thirty winds in the boiler of his

boat.

diminish friction, he paves the road

with iron bars, and, mounting a coach with a of men,

ship-load

animals,

and merchandise

behind him, he darts through the country, from

town

town, like

through

the

how

aids,

air.

private poor

Noah

man

office,

a swallow

to that of

hath

bridges, built for him.

eagle

the aggregate of these

the face of the world changed,

from the era of

The

Napoleon

cities, ships, canals,

goes to the post-

and the human race run on his errands

all

that happens, for

him

court-house, and nations repair his sets

human

;

book-shop, and the human race read

the

and write of

his

;

to the

wrongs.

house upon the road, and the

race go forth every morning, and shovel *

out the snow, and cut a path for him.

COMMODITY.

But there

no need of specifying particu The catalogue is end

lars in this class of uses. less,

and the examples so obvious, that

I shall

leave them to the reader's reflection, with the

general remark, that this mercenary benefit

one which has respect to a farther good.

man

is fed,

may

work.

not that he

may be

fed,

but that he

CHAPTER

III.

BEAUTY.

NOBLER want of man

served by nature,

namely, the Jove of Beauty.

The

ancient Greeks called the world xoej^o?,

beauty.

Such

the constitution of

or such the plastic

that the primary forms,

all

things,

human

power of the

eye,

moun

as the sky, the

tain, the tree, the animal, give us a delight in

and for

themselves

outline,

color,

;

motion,

pleasure

seems partly owing to the eye is its

the best of

artists.

arising

and grouping.

from

This

The

itself.

eye

the mutual action of

structure and of the laws of light, perspec

tive is

produced, which integrates every mass

of objects,

of what character soever,

well colored and shaded globe,

the particular objects are

so that

mean and

the landscape which they compose,

into

where

unaffecting, is

round and

BEAUTY.

And

symmetrical.

poser, so light is

no object so

make

of painters.

first

And

the stimulus

affords to

the sense, and a sort of infinitude which like

and time, make

space

Even

the corpse

There

that intense light will not

foul

beautiful.

com

as the eye is the best

the

hath

its

own

hath,

matter gay.

all

But

beauty.

beside this general grace diffused over nature,

almost

all

the individual

to the eye, as

tions of

the

some of them, the

pine-cone,

forms are agreeable

proved by our endless imita

as the acorn, the grape,

wheat-ear,

the

wings and forms of most birds, the the

serpent,

clouds,

the

butterfly,

buds, leaves,

egg,

the

lion's claw,

sea-shells,

flames,

and the forms of many

trees, as the palm.

For

better consideration,

we may

distribute

the aspects of Beauty in a threefold manner. 1. is

First, the simple perception of natural

a delight.

The

tions in nature,

lowest functions,

forms

influence of the forms and ac so needful to it

seems to

of commodity and beauty.

lie

man,

that, in its

on the confines

To the body and mind

BEAUTY.

which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal and restores their

The

tone.

tradesman, the attorney comes out

of the din and craft of the sky and the woods, and eternal

their

calm,

are never tired,

man

demand

The

a horizon.

we can

so long as

again.

himself.

finds

health of the eye seems to

and sees the

street,

see far

enough.

But

in other hours,

purely by

its

spectacle against

from the

angel

over

hill-top

house, from day-break

to sun-rise,

might share.

long slender bars of cloud float like fishes

in the sea of crimson light. as a shore, I look out

seem active dilate

How

the soul

have seen the

benefit.

of morning

with emotions which

The

satisfies

loveliness, and without any mix

of corporeal

ture

Nature

From

the earth,

into that silent sea.

to partake its rapid transformations

enchantment reaches

dust,

the

and I

and conspire with the morning wind. does Nature deify us with a few and

cheap elements

Give

health and a day,

BEAUTY.

22 and

make the pomp of emperors The dawn is my Assyria; the

ridicu

I will

lous.

and moon-rise

realms of faerie

Paphos, and unimaginable

broad noon

;

sun-set

shall

my Eng

land of the senses and the understanding; the night shall be

my Germany

of mystic philoso

phy and dreams.

Not

less

excellent, except

ceptibility in the afternoon,

our less sus

for

was the charm,

The

evening, of a January sunset.

last

western

clouds divided and subdivided themselves into

pink flakes modulated with softness; and the air

sweetness, that doors.

Was

meaning

trees

would say

and which

become

and

within

in the live repose

Shakspeare could not re-form for leafless

life

come

that nature

valley behind the mill,

The

of unspeakable

had so much

was a pain

What was

there no

tints

Homer in

of the or

words

spires of flame

the sunset, with the blue east for their back

ground, and the stars of the dead calices of flowers,

and every withered stem and stubble

rimed with

mute music.

frost,

contribute something to the

BEAUTY. The

inhabitants of cities suppose that the

country landscape

pleasant only half the year.

I please myself with observing the graces

the winter scenery, and believe that

much touched by of summer.

field,

as by the genial influences

the attentive eye, each

of the year has

same

own

its

moment

beauty, and in the

beholds, every hour, a

picture

which was never seen before, and which never

be seen

are as

The

again.

shall

heavens change

every moment, and reflect their glory or gloom

The

on the plains beneath. in the

state

of the crop

surrounding farms alters the expression

The

of the earth from week to week.

succes

sion of native plants in the pastures and road sides,

time the

which make the tells

the

summer

divisions of the

observer.

The

silent clock

hours,

will

by which

make even

day sensible to a keen

tribes of birds

and

insects, like

the plants punctual to their time, follow each other, and the year has

courses,

the variety

room

for

greater.

all.

By water

In July, the

blue pontederia or pickerel-weed

blooms

BEAUTY.

large beds in the shallow parts of our pleasant river,

and swarms with yellow butterflies in con

Art cannot

tinual motion.

purple and gold. petual

and

gala,

this

rival

Indeed the river boasts

pomp

a per

each month a new

ornament.

But felt as

this

beauty,

day, the

dewy morning,

the

shadows eagerly

still

water,

when

necessary

shimmers

who and

moun

moonlight, like,

too

't is

its

mere

tinsel

;

light shines upon

The

journey.

out of the

beauty

that

in the yellow afternoons of October,

ever could clutch it is

shows merely, and

house to see the moon, and

your

stars,

us with their unreality.

will not please as

seen and

rainbow,

and the

become

hunted,

The shows

the least part.

orchards in blossom,

tains,

mock

beauty of Nature which

gone

it 1

Cio forth to find

only a mirage as

it,

you look

from the windows of diligence. 2.

The

presence of a higher, namely, of the

spiritual element

The

essential

to its perfection.

high and divine beauty which can be loved

BEAUTY. without effeminacy,

which

that

combination with the human

Beauty

separate.

heroic act

also decent,

all

upon Every

are taught by

the property

Every rational crea

it.

nature for his dowry and estate.

is his, if

sets

graceful.

great actions that the universe

of every individual in

found in

and never

and causes the place

and the bystanders to shine.

ture has

will,

mark God

the

Every natural action

virtue.

will.

He may

divest himself of

It it

;

he may creep into a corner, and abdicate his

kingdom,

most men do, but he

the world by his constitution.

entitled to

In proportion to

the energy of his thought and will, he takes up

" All those things

the world into himself.

which men plough, said an

build, or

of the ablest navigators."

moon and noble act

all

obey virtue;

are the sun and

the stars of heaven.

done,

great natural beauty; three

" sail,

The winds and " are always on the side

ancient historian.

waves," said Gibbon,

When

perchance in a scene of

when Leonidas and

hundred martyrs consume one day

for

his in

BEAUTY.

moon come each and

dying, and the sun and

look

mopylae

them once

when Arnold Winkelried,

;

of Ther

in the steep defile

in the high

Alps, under the shadow of the avalanche, gath ers

a sheaf of Austrian spears to

his side

break the line

comrades

for his

;

are not these

heroes entitled to add the beauty of the scene to the beauty of the deed

Columbus

nears the shore of

When

the bark of

America

before

;

it,

the beach lined with savages, fleeing out of

all

their huts of

cane

;

the sea behind

and the

;

mountains of the Indian Archipelago around, can we separate the man from the liv purple

ing picture his fit

Does not the

New World

clothe

form with her palm-groves and savannahs as drapery

like air,

Ever does natural beauty

and envelope great actions.

steal in

When

Sir

Harry Vane was dragged up the Tower-hill, sitting on a sled, to suffer death, as the cham pion of the English laws, one of the multitude cried out to him, " You never sate on so glori

ous a seat."

Charles

II., to

intimidate the

citi

zens of London, caused the patriot Lord Rus-

BEAUTY. sel to

<J7

be drawn in an open coach, through the

principal streets of the city, on his

scaffold.

way

to the

But," to use the simple narrative of " the multitude imagined they

his biographer,

saw

and virtue

liberty

private places,

among

sitting

by his side."

truth or heroism seems at once to

the sky

as its

Jet

his

draw

temple, the sun as

Nature stretcheth out her arms only

sordid objects, an act of

thoughts

its

to itself

candle.

embrace man,

be of equal greatness.

Willingly does she follow his steps with the rose

and the violet, and bend her lines of grandeur and grace to the decoration of her darling child. Only let his thoughts be of equal scope, and the frame

will suit the picture.

in unison with her works, tral figure

in our

fitly

virtuous man,

of the visible sphere.

Socrates,

dar,

Phocion,

memory

The

themselves

visible

and earth sympathize with Jesus.

ful

Homer, Pin

associate

with the whole geography

and climate of Greece.

mon

and makes the cen

And

heavens in

com

whosoever has seen a person of power character and happy genius, will have relife,

BEAUTY.

28 marked how

easily

he took

all

him,

and nature became ancillary 3.

There

still

to a

man.

another aspect under which

the beauty of the world as

things along with

the persons, the opinions, and the day,

may be viewed, namely, intellect. Be

becomes an object of the

side the relation of things to virtue, they have a relation to thought.

The

intellect searches out

the absolute order of things as they stand in the

mind of God, and without the tion.

seem

The to

intellectual

colors of affec

and the active powers

succeed each other in man, and the ex

clusive activity of the one, generates the exclu

There is something each to the other, but they are

sive activity of the other.

unfriendly in

and work

like the alternate periods of feeding

ing in animals

each prepares and certainly

;

be followed by the other. ty,

Therefore does beau

which, in relation to actions, as

we have

seen comes unsought, and comes because sought, remain

of the intellect the active

for the ;

it is

apprehension and pursuit

and then again,

power.

will

in its turn,

Nothing divine

dies.

All

BEAUTY. good

The

eternally reproductive.

nature reforms

men

beauty of

the mind, and not for

itself in

barren contemplation, but for All

new

creation.

some degree impressed by the

are in

Some men even

face of the world.

to delight.

This love of beauty is Taste. Others have the same love in such excess, that, not content with admiring, they seek to

embody

The creation of beauty is Art. The production of a work light

upon

of art

new

forms.

of art throws a

the mystery of humanity.

work

an abstract or epitome of the world.

It is the result or expression

of nature, in mini

For although the works of nature are innumerable and all different, the result or the ature.

expression

Nature

of them

all

similar

and

a sea of forms radically

even unique.

single.

alike

and

leaf, a sun-beam, a landscape,

the ocean,

make an analogous impression on

the mind.

What

common

perfectness and harmony, fore the standard of beauty,

of natural

forms,

the

is is

them

beauty.

all,

that

There

the entire circuit

totality

of nature

;

BEAUTY.

which the "

Italians expressed by defining beauty

piu nelF uno,"

alone

nothing but

single object

Nothing is

the

beautiful in the whole.

only so far beautiful as

The

gests this universal grace. ter,

quite beautiful

sug

poet, the pain

sculptor, the musician, the

architect

seek each to concentrate this radiance of the

world on one point, and each in his several

work lates

to satisfy the love of beauty

him

Thus

to produce.

which stimu

Art, a nature

passed through the alembic of man. art,

does nature work through the will of a

filled

with the beauty of her

The

Extend

uttermost, and I call

this

Beauty, in

beauty. is

sense,

the

one expression

all-fair.

ty, are

its

element to the

why

largest

the soul seeks

and profoundest

God

for the universe.

Truth, and goodness, and beau

but different faces of the same All.

beauty

in nature

herald

of inward and eternal

* 4

man

satisfy the

an ultimate end.

reason can be asked or given

works.

first

world thus exists to the soul to

desire of beauty.

Thus

not

ultimate.

But is

the

beauty, and

BEAUTY.

not alone a solid and satisfactory good.

must therefore stand

as a part

and not as yet

the last or highest expression of the final cause

of Nature.

CHAPTER

IV.

LANGUAGE.

A is

THIRD use which Nature subserves

that of

Language.

thought, and

Nature

man

the vehicle of

in a simple, double,

and threefold

degree. 1.

Words

Particular natural facts are symbols of par

are signs of natural facts.

ticular facts.

the symbol of spirits.

Nature

Words

are signs of natural facts.

use of natural supernatural creation

history

history.

The

give us aid

use of the outer

to give us language for the beings

and changes of the inward creation. Every word which is used to express a moral or intel lectual

fact, if

traced to

its

root,

found to

be borrowed from some material appearance.

Right

means straight ; wrong means Spirit primarily means wind; trans-

originally

twisted.

LANGUAGE.

gression, the crossing of a line; supercilious ,

the raising of the eye-brow. to express emotion, the

head

and emotion

and thought

say the heart

denote thought;

their turn,

are,

words borrowed from sensible things, and now appropriated to spiritual nature.

Most of the

process by which this transformation is made, is hidden from us in the remote time when

language was framed

may be

but the same tendency

;

daily observed

children.

Children

and savages use only nouns or names of things,

which they continually convert apply to analogous 2.

But

mental

this origin of all

history of language,

matic

;

It it

is is

Every natural fact.

our least

debt

not words only that are emble things fact is a

which

state of the

are

emblematic.

symbol of some

Every appearance

some

words that convey a

so conspicuous a fact in the

spiritual import,

nature.

and

into verbs,

acts.

spiritual

in nature corresponds

mind, and that state of the

mind can only be described by presenting natural appearance as

its

picture.

that

enraged

3 -

;?**,

LANGUAGE.

man

a lion,

man

a rock, a learned

lamb

a cunning

innocence

flowers express

;

man

snake

a fox, a firm

a torch.

subtle spite

;

the delicate affections.

Light and darkness are our familiar expression for

knowledge and ignorance

respectively our

Who and

Throw that

and heat

;

for

Visible distance behind and before us,

love.

image of memory and hope.

looks upon a river in a meditative hour, not reminded of the flux of

propagate themselves

type of

all

Man

influence.

all

things?

and the circles

a stone into the stream,

are

the

beautiful

conscious of a

universal soul within or behind his individual life,

wherein, as in a firmament, the natures of

Justice, Truth, Love,

This universal

mine or thine or

And

the private earth

eternal calm, and

full

of Reason.

considered,

calls

but

his,

property and men.

type

Freedom,

soul, he

call

arise

Reason are

its

;

and shine. :

it is

are

not its

the blue sky in which

buried, the sky with

of everlasting orbs,

That which,

its

the

intellectually

Reason, considered in rela-

IF*

LANGUAGE. we

tion to nature,

all

call Spirit.

Spirit hath

Creator.

life

in his

FATHER.

seen that there

It is easily

the

And man

ages and countries, embodies

language, as the

Spirit

itself.

nothing lucky or

capricious in these analogies, but that they are

These

constant, and pervade nature.

are not

the dreams of a few poets, here and there, but

man

an analogist, and studies relations in

objects.

placed in the centre

all

of beings,

and a ray of relation passes from every other being to him.

And

neither can

man

be under

stood without these objects, nor these objects

without man.

All the facts in natural history

taken by themselves, have no value, but are bar

But marry

ren like a single sex. history,

and

Linnaeus'

catalogues

it is full

life.

Whole

human

Floras,

all

and BufFon's volumes, are but dry of facts

;

but the most

trivial

these facts, the habit of a plant, the organs, or

work, or noise of an insect, applied to the

illus

tration of a fact in intellectual philosophy, or, in

any way associated to human nature,

affects

LANGUAGE.

us in the most lively and agreeable manner.

The

seed of a plant,

gies

made use "

of, in all

who

Paul,

calls

that

discourse, up

human

the

little

fruit

to the voice of

corpse a seed,

sown a natural body

The motion

spiritual body."

;

raised a

of the earth round

and round the sun, makes the day, and

its axis,

These are

the year. light

what affecting analo

the nature of man,

and

But

heat.

certain amounts of brute

there no intent of an

analogy between man's life and the seasons? And do the seasons gain no grandeur or pathos

from that analogy

The

instincts of the

ant

are very unimportant considered as the ant's

but the

moment

tend from

a ray of relation

man, and the

seen to be a monitor, a heart, then

all

its

little

;

seen to ex

drudge

body with a mighty

habits, even that said to be

recently observed, that

never sleeps, become

sublime.

Because of tween ges,

this radical

visible things

who have

correspondence be

and human thoughts, sava

only what

necessary, converse

LANGUAGE. As we go back

in figures.

in history,

becomes more picturesque,

when

all

poetry

all

make

The same

the

all

languages ap

passages of the greatest

And

eloquence and power. is it

as this is the first

This immediate de

last.

pendence of language upon nature, sion of an outward

somewhat

to affect us.

cy to the

phenomenon

human

life,

It is this

never loses

of a

conversation

nature

this

conver

into a type of its

power

which gives that piquan strong-natured

farmer or back-woodsman, which

Thus

all

men

interpreter,

means man converses with

his fellow

relish.

by whose

men.

man's power to connect his thought with it,

simplicity of his character,

that

love of truth and his desire to loss.

The 3*

A its

depends on the

proper symbol, and so utter

without

ele

has moreover been

languages.

language, so

infancy,

the original

observed, that the idioms of

proach each other

language

its

or, all spiritual facts are

;

are found to

symbols

until

by natural symbols.

represented

ments of

is, upon his communicate it

corruption of

man

follow-

LANGUAGE.

When

ed by the corruption of language. plicity of character is

sim

and the sovereignty of ideas

broken up by the prevalence of secondary de

sires, the

desire of riches, the desire of plea

sure, the desire of power, the desire of praise,

and duplicity and falsehood take place of sim plicity

and

truth, the

interpreter of the will,

power over nature is in

a degree lost

as an ;

new

imagery ceases to be created, and old words are perverted to stand for things which are not; a

paper currency

employed when there

bullion in the vaults.

In due time, the fraud

manifest, and words lose

all

nation,

may who for

no is

to stimulate

power

the understanding or the affections.

of writers

Hundreds

be found in every long-civilized a short time believe, and

make

others believe, that they see and utter truths,

who do its

not of themselves clothe one thought in

natural garment, but

who

upon the language created

feed unconsciously

the

primary

writers of the country, those, namely,

who hold

primarily on nature.

LANGUAGE. But wise men pierce words again to

fasten

picturesque language

this rotten diction

visible at

things

and God.

alliance with truth

so that

once a commanding

he who employs

certificate that

;

and

it, is

man

The moment

our

discourse rises above the ground line of familiar facts,

and

thought,

inflamed with passion or exalted by

is it

conversing

clothes in

earnest,

lectual processes, terial

his

itself in

will

image, more

A man

images.

he watch his

intel

find that always a

or less luminous, arises in

mind, cotemporaneous with every thought,

which furnishes the vestment of the thought. o Hence, good writing and brilliant discourse are This imagery is sponta perpetual allegories. neous.

It is

the blending of experience with

the present action of the mind. creation.

proper

the working of the Original

Cause through the instruments he has already made.

These

facts

may

suggest the advantage which

the country-life possesses for a powerful mind,

over the

artificial

and curtailed

life

of cities.

LANGUAGE.

know more from

we can

nature than

at will

* -%

communicate.

Its light

evermore, and we forget

mind

flows into the

its

presence.

The poet,

the orator, bred in the woods, whose senses

have been nourished by their after

changes, year

without heed,

shall

together,

in the roar

politics.

Long

terror

national

fair

and appeasing

year, without design and

not lose their lesson

hereafter, amidst agitation

and

in the hour of

councils,

these solemn images shall

revolution,

of cities or the broil of

pear in their morning lustre, as

fit

reap

symbols and

words of the thoughts which the passing events awaken. At the call of a noble sentiment,

shall

again the woods wave, the pines murmur, the river rolls

and shines, and the

cattle

the mountains, as he saw and heard infancy.

And

low upon

them

in his

with these forms, the spells of per

suasion, the keys of power are put into his hands. 3.

are thus assisted by natural objects in

But

the

expression

how

great a language to convey such pepper

of particular meanings.

corn informations!

Did

need such noble

LANGUAGE.

races of creatures, this profusion of forms, this host of orbs in heaven, to furnish

man

with the

dictionary and grammar of his municipal speech?

Whilst we use affairs

this

have not yet put

grand cipher to expedite the

to its use, neither are able.

Whilst we see that

always stands ready to clothe what

say,

feel that

are like travellers using the cinders of a

volcano to roast their eggs. it

of our pot and kettle,

we cannot

characters

avoid the question, whether the

are

not

significant

of themselves.

Have mountains, and waves, and nificance but what

The world

skies,

sig

consciously give them,

when we employ them thoughts

we would

emblems of our

emblematic.

Parts of

speech are metaphors because the whole of ture

a metaphor of the

human mind.

The

laws of moral nature answer to those of matter

as face to face in a glass.

and the relation of the invisible." late the

Jaws of

greater than

its

parts,

The axioms ethics. ;

visible

world

the dial plate of

of physics trans " the whole is

Thus, " "

part

The is

reaction

equal to

LANGUAGE.

42 action lift

" " ;

the smallest weight

may be made

the greatest, the difference of weight being

" and many the like pro compensated by time which have an ethical as well as phy positions, ;

sical

These propositions have

sense.

more extensive and plied to

human

than

life,

much

when ap

universal sense

when confined

technical use.

In like manner, the memorable words of his tory,

and the proverbs of nations, consist usu of a natural

ally

fact, selected

parable of a moral

truth.

stone gathers no moss

worth two way,

in the

bush

;

cup even

;

trees

make

roots

first;

rolling

Make

hay

hard to carry a

full

wrong

;

the son of wine

Vinegar ounce broke the camel's back ;

A bird in the hand is A cripple in the right

will beat a racer in the

whilst the sun shines

last

;

as a picture or

Thus;

and the

;

The

Long-lived

like.

In their

primary sense these are

trivial facts,

peat them

of their analogical im

for the value

port.

What

fables,

parables, and

true of proverbs, allegories.

but

true of

all

LANGUAGE.

This relation between the mind and matter

not fancied by some poet, but stands in the will

of God, and so It

appears to

in fortunate

wise

man

free to be

men, or

known by

if,

all

at all

men.

When

does not appear.

we ponder

hours

doubts,

this miracle, the

other times, he

not

blind and deaf; " Can these things be,

And overcome

us like a summer's cloud, Without our special wonder ? "

for

the universe

light

becomes transparent, and the

of higher

through

it.

has exercised

laws

than

its

shines

own,

the standing problem which

the

wonder and the study of

fine genius since the world began from the era of the Egyptians and the Brah

every

mins, to that of Pythagoras, of Plato, of con, of Leibnitz, of Swedenborg. the Sphinx

the

road-side, and from

age, as

each prophet comes by, he

tune

reading her riddle.

There

;

Ba sits

age to

tries his for

There seems

to be

a necessity in spirit to manifest itself in material

LANGUAGE.

44 forms

and day and night, river and storm, bird, acid and alkali, preexist in

;

beast and

necessary Ideas in the mind of God, and are what they are by virtue of preceding affections, in the world of spirit. A Fact is the end or last issue

spirit.

The

visible creation

the

terminus or the circumference of the invisible " Material objects," said a French phi

world.

losopher,

" are necessarily kinds of scoria of

the substantial thoughts of the Creator, which

must always preserve an exact relation first

origin

have a

;

to their

in other words, visible nature

spiritual

must

and moral side."

This doctrine is abstruse, and though the " " " scoriae," mirror," images of garment," &c., may stimulate the fancy, we must the aid of subtler and

make

summon

vital expositors to

Every scripture is to be inter preted by the same spirit which gave it forth," is the fundamental law of criticism. A life in

plain.

harmony with nature, the love of

of virtue, text.

will

truth and

purge the eyes to understand her

By degrees we may come

know

the

LANGUAGE.

primitive sense of the permanent objects of na ture, so that the

world shall be to us an open

book, and every form significant of life

and

final

new

its

hidden

cause.

interest surprises us, whilst,

under the

view now suggested, we contemplate the fearful since " every extent and multitude of objects ;

object rightly seen, unlocks a soul."

faculty of the

That which was unconscious

comes, when ject,

new

interpreted and defined

a part of the

new amount

to the

truth, be in

an ob

domain of knowledge, magazine of power.

CHAPTER

DISCIPLINE.

IN view of this significance of nature, we once

rive at cipline.

at a

new

fact, that nature

a dis

This use of the world includes the

preceding uses, as parts of

itself.

Space, time, society, labor, climate, food, loco motion, the animals, the mechanical forces, give

us sincerest lessons, day by day, whose meaning is

unlimited.

They educate both

standing and the Reason.

matter

the

Every property of

a school for the understanding,

lidity or resistance,

its

figure, its divisibility.

its

The

ing nutriment and room

understanding adds,

for

and finds everlast its

activity in this

Meantime, Reason transfers

these lessons into

its

inertia, its extension, its

divides, combines, measures,

worthy scene.

Under

own world

all

of thought, by

perceiving the analogy that marries Matter and

Mind.

DISCIPLINE. 1.

Nature

a discipline of the understanding

in intellectual

ble objects

truths.

Our

dealing with sensi

a constant exercise in the neces

sary lessons of difference, of likeness, of order,

of being and seeming, of progressive arrange ment of ascent from particular to general of ;

;

combination to one end of manifold forces. Proportioned to the importance of the organ to

be formed, tuition

the extreme care with which

its

a care pretermitted in

provided,

single case.

What

tedious training, day after

day, year after year, never ending, to form the

common

what continual reproduction of what annoyances, inconveniences, dilemmas what disputing rejoicing over us of little men sense

;

of prices, what reckonings of interest, all

and

form the Hand of the mind to instruct " are no better than good good thoughts ;

us that

" dreams, unless they be executed !

The same good perty and

its

filial

office is

performed by Pro

systems of debt and credit.

Debt, grinding debt, whose iron face the widow, the orphan, and the sons of genius fear and

DISCIPLINE.

48 hate;

which consumes so much time,

debt,

which so cripples and disheartens a great with cares that seem so base,

whose lessons cannot be forgone, and most by those who over, property,

to snow,

blown into

suffer

from

spirit

a preceptor is

most.

needed

which has been well compared

if it

drifts

fall

level

to-day,

will

merely the

to-morrow,"

surface action of internal machinery, like the

Whilst

now

it is

the gymnastics of the understanding,

it is

hiv

index on the face of a clock.

ing in the foresight

of the

spirit,

experience in

profounder laws.

The whole vidual

character and fortune of the indi

affected by the least inequalities in the

culture of the understanding

the perception

;

for

of differences.

example, in

Therefore

Space, and therefore Time, that man may know that things are not huddled

sundered and individual.

and lumped, but bell

and a plough

have each their use, and neither can do the office

of the other.

coal to burn,

Water

wool to wear

;

good

to drink,

but wool cannot be

DISCIPLINE.

The

drunk, nor water spun, nor coal eaten.

man shows

wise

wisdom

his

separation, in

gradation, and his scale of creatures and of merits,

no range is as

The

wide as nature.

in their scale, but

have

suppose every

man

What

every other man.

and what

call the worst,

foolish

not good they

not hateful, they call

the best.

In like manner, what good heed, nature forms in us

She pardons no mistakes.

Her yea

yea, and her nay, nay.

The

first

steps in Agriculture,

Zoology, (those

first

steps

Astronomy, which the farmer, the

hunter, and the sailor take,) teach that nature's

dice are always loaded

;

that in her heaps

and

rubbish are concealed sure and useful results.

How calmly one

after

and genially the mind apprehends

another the laws of physics

What

noble emotions dilate the mortal as he enters into the counsels of the creation, and feels by

knowledge the privilege refines him.

his

own

The

breast.

His insight

beauty of nature shines in

Man

greater that he can see

DISCIPLINE.

50 this,

and the universe

less,

because

Space

Here again we

Time and

known.

relations vanish as laws are

are impressed and even daunt

ed by the immense Universe to be explored. 4

What we know,

know.'

Open

a point to what

we do not

any recent journal of science,

and weigh the problems suggested concerning Light, Heat, Electricity, Magnetism, Physiolo gy, Geology, and judge whether the interest of

natural science

soon exhausted.

likely to be

many particulars of the discipline we must not omit to specify two.

Passing by of nature

The power

exercise of the Will or the lesson of

From

taught in every event.

the child's

successive possession of his several senses up to " " the hour when he saith, thy will be done !

learning the secret, that he can reduce

under his

will,

not only particular events, but

great classes, nay the whole series of events, and so conform is

all

facts to his character.

thoroughly mediate.

It is

receives the dominion of ass

made

man

on which the Saviour rode.

Nature

to serve.

meekly

as the

It offers all its

DISCIPLINE.

kingdoms to man as the raw material which he may mould into what is useful. Man is never weary of working and delicate

up.

air into

forges the subtile

wise and melodious words,

and gives them wing as angels of persuasion and command.

More and more, with every

thought, does his kingdom stretch over things, until the will,

tions

world becomes,

at last,

only a realized

the double of the man.

Sensible objects conform to the premoni

of Reason

and

All things are moral

;

reflect

and

the

conscience.

their

boundless

changes have an unceasing reference to ual nature.

Therefore

spirit

nature glorious with

form, color, and motion, that every globe in the

remotest heaven; every chemical change from the rudest crystal up to the laws of

change of vegetation from the

first

life

;

every

principle of

growth in the eye of a leaf, to the tropical forest and antediluvian coal-mine every animal func ;

tion from the sponge

or thunder to

and echo the

to Hercules, shall hint

man the laws of right and wrong, Ten Commandments. Therefore

DISCIPLINE.

52 is

nature always the ally of Religion

pomp and

her

Prophet and

lends

all

riches to the religious sentiment. priest,

David, Isaiah, Jesus, have

drawn deeply from this source. This ethical character so penetrates the bone and marrow of nature,

which is

was made.

as to

seem the end

Whatever

private purpose

answered by any member or

part, this

public and universal function, and ted.

Nothing

use.

When

uttermost,

Thus

means.

itself, is

wholly

new is

for

its first

an ulterior ser

converted into a

in the great doctrine is

good

new

of Use,

only so far as

that a conspiring of parts and efforts to

;

the production of an end,

truth,

never omit

Commodity, regarded mean and squalid. But it is to the

namely, that a thing

being.

its

the use of

mind an education

serves

a thing has served an end to the

In God, every end

vice.

exhausted in

in nature is

for

The is

essential to

any

and gross manifestation of this our inevitable and hated training*, in first

values and wants, in corn and

meat

DISCIPLINE. It

has already been illustrated, in treating of

the significance of material things, that every natural process

but a version of a moral sen

The moral law

tence.

lies

the centre of na

ture and radiates to the circumference. pith and tion,

the

marrow of every substance, every rela All things with which

and every process.

deal,

preach to

mute gospel and

It is

The

What

us.

chaff and the wheat, weeds

plants, blight, rain,

sacred

emblem from

the

fields.

it is

insects, sun,

first

the last stack which the

takes in the

a farm but a

furrow of spring to

snow of winter over

But the

sailor, the

shepherd,

the miner, the merchant, in their several resorts,

have each an experience precisely parallel and leading to the same conclusions.

organizations are radically alike.

doubted that scents the

this

air,

Because

Nor can

all

moral sentiment which thus

and grows in the grain, and im

pregnates the waters of the world,

man and

sinks into his soul.

caught by

The moral

in-

fluence of nature

every individual

upon amount of truth which

illustrates

that

him.

/t.

DISCIPLINE.

Who

can estimate this?

much

the fisherman .

Who

can guess how

firmness the sea-beaten rock has taught 1

how much

man from

reflected to

tranquillity has

winds

unspotted deeps the

kle or

stain

forevermore drive

and leave no wrin

of stormy clouds,

flocks

been

the azure sky, over whose

how much

industry

and pro

vidence and affection

we have caught from

pantomime of brutes

What

self-command

er of

of Health

Herein Nature,

the varying

phenomenon

especially apprehended the Unity of

which meets

the Unity in Variety,

All the endless variety of things

a unique, an identical impression.

phanes complained

where he would, Unity.

the

a searching preach

us everywhere.

make

in his

all

Xeno-

age, that, look

old

things hastened back to

was weary of seeing the same entity

in the tedious variety of forms.

Proteus has a cordial truth.

The

fable of

Every particular

in nature, a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a momenj; of

time

related to the whole, and partakes of the

perfection of the whole.

Each

particle is a

DISCIPLINE. crocosm, and

renders the likeness of

faithfully

the world.

Not only resemblances exist in things whose analogy is obvious, as when we detect the type

human hand

of the

the flipper of the

saurus, but also in objects wherein there

unlikeness.

Thus

frozen music/ by

superficial

called '

A Gothic church/

great

architecture

Stael and Goethe.

said Coleridge,

a petrified

Michael Angelo maintained,

religion.'

fossil

an architect, a knowledge of anatomy

that, to is

essen

In Haydn's oratorios, the notes present to

tial.

the imagination not

only

motions,

as,

of the

snake, the stag, and the elephant, but colors also;

The

as the green grass. in its

differenced

laws only by the more or less of heat, from

the river that wears flows, resembles the air

granite

away.

air

The

river, as it

that flows over

resembles the light which traverses

the

;

with

subtile currents; the light resembles the

heat which rides with creature

likeness in

through Space.

only a modification of the other

them

more than the

Each ;

the

difference/ and

DISCIPLINE.

their radical law is is,

one

that a rule of

Hence

one and the same. art,

or a law of one organ

ization, holds true throughout nature.

timate

is this

Unity, that,

it is

easily seen,

lies

under the undermost garment of nature, and be trays

its

source in universal Spirit.

vades Thought

also.

which we express

Omne verum

possible circles

;

drawn, and comprise

side.

But

The same

sions of

vero consonat'

which, however, it,

in like

manner.

may be Every

Ens seen from one

has innumerable sides. central Unity

Words

ous in actions. infinite

per

truth

on a sphere, comprising

the absolute

in words, implies or supposes

every other truth.

such truth

universal

Every

It is like a great circle all

For,

more conspic-

still

are finite organs of the

They cannot cover the dimen

mind.

what

and impoverish

it.

truth.

They

action

break, chop,

the perfection

and publication of thought. A right action seems fill the eye, and to be related to all nature. " The wise man, in doing one thing, does all ;

or, in the

one thing he does

likeness of

all

which

done

rightly,

he sees the

rightly."

DISCIPLINE. Words and

actions are not the, attributes of

mute and brute nature. that singular form

This

other forms.

introduce us to

They

which predominates over the

human.

all

All other or

ganizations appear to be degradations of the

human

form.

among

fers

this,

have

as this,

many

this organization

that surround

others.

all

It says,

can speak again.

thought already formed and

the eye,

From such

the mind,

power and order that

lie at

fact,

always accompanied ;

and these are

richest informations

the

I will

can yield

alive.'

by these forms, male and female

incomparably

In such

found and beheld myself.

I It

it.

appears

the spirit pre

it,

drawn joy and knowledge.

have

speak to

When

of the

the heart of things.

Unfortunately, every one of them bears the marks as of

some

defective.

deaf and

injury

;

marred and

superficially

Nevertheless, far different from the

dumb

nature around them, these

rest like fountain-pipes

on the unfathomed sea of

thought and virtue whereto they alone, of ganizations, are the entrances.

all

DISCIPLINE.

5g It tail

were a pleasant inquiry

to follow into de

their ministry to our education, but where

would

stop

and adult

life

are associated in adolescent

with some friends, who, like skies

and waters, are coextensive with our idea answering each satisfy

who,

;

to a certain affection of the soul,

our desire on that side

whom we

;

lack

power to put at such focal distance from us, that

we can mend

or even analyze them.

not chuse but love them. course with a friend

When much

can

inter

has supplied us with a

standard of excellence,

and has increased our

respect for the resources of

God who

a real person to outgo our ideal

;

thus sends

when he

has,

moreover, become an object of thought, and, whilst his character retains effect,

its

unconscious

converted in the mind into solid and

sweet wisdom, is

all

closing, and he

it is

a sign to us that his office

commonly withdrawn from

our sight in a short time.

CHAPTER

VI.

IDEALISM.

THUS

the unspeakable but intelligible and

practicable meaning of the

man,

world conveyed to

the immortal pupil, in every object of sense.

this

one end of Discipline,

all

parts of na

ture conspire.

noble doubt

whether Universe

this ;

mind, and so makes

sun and moon,

itself,

utter

God

will

teach a

sensations,

which we

call

man and woman, house and trade.

impressions they

test the authenticity

senses, to

know whether

the

make on me correspond with

outlying objects, what difference does

whether Orion

human

the receiver of a certain

impotence to

the report of

exists.

account of that Appearance we

the World, that

number of congruent In

suggests

and whether nature outwardly

It is a sufficient

call

perpetually

end be not the Final Cause of the

up there in heaven, or

make,

some

IDEALISM.

god paints the image soul

The

the firmament of the

and the end of

relations of parts

the whole remaining the same, what

and sea

ference, whether land

the dif

and

interact,

worlds revolve and intermingle without number

deep yawning under deep, and galaxy

or end,

balancing galaxy, throughout absolute space,

or,

whether, without relations of time and space, the same appearances are inscribed in the con stant faith

Whether nature enjoy

of man.

substantial existence without, or

apocalypse of the mind,

alike venerable to me.

me, so long as

ideal to

only

alike useful

what

cannot

may,

try the

in the

and it is

accuracy

senses.

The

frivolous

make themselves merry

Ideal theory, as if

lesque

;

as if

its

with the

consequences were bur

affected the stability

God

of nature.

never jests with us, and

It surely

does not.

will not

compromise the end of nature, by per

mitting

any inconsequence

Any

distrust of the

its

procession.

permanence of laws, would

paralyze the faculties of man.

Their perma-

IDEALISM. nence is

sacredly respected, and his faith therein

The

perfect.

set to the

all

nature.

wheels and springs of

man

are

hypothesis of the permanence of

are not built like a ship to be toss

ed, but like a house to stand.

It is a natural

consequence of this structure, that, so long as the active powers predominate over the reflective,

we is

resist

with indignation any hint that nature

short-lived or mutable than spirit.

broker, the wheelwright, the carpenter, the

man,

are

much

entirely in the per

natural laws, the question of the

absolute existence of nature, It is

still

remains open.

the uniform effect of culture on the

mind, not to shake our particular

phenomena,

not

substance

existence to spirit

dent and an

;

human

faith in the stability

as of heat, water, azote

but to lead us to regard nature as a

non,

toll

the intimation.

displeased at

But whilst we acquiesce

manence of

The

;

phenome

attribute necessary

to esteem nature as an acci

effect.

the senses and the

unrenewed understand

ing, belongs a sort of instinctive belief in the

IDEALISM.

In their view

existence of nature.

absolute

man and

nature are iadissolubly joined.

are ultimates, and they never look

The

sphere.

The

faith.

this

Things

beyond

their

presence of Reason mars

this

first

effort of thought tends to relax

despotism of the senses, which binds us to

nature as

we were

nature aloof, and, as

a part of it

were,

it,

and shows us

afloat.

Until this

higher agency intervened, the animal eye sees, with wonderful accuracy, sharp outlines and col

ored surfaces. to outline

When

the eye of

and surface are

Reason opens,

once added, grace

These proceed from imagina and affection, and abate somewhat of the

and expression. tion

angular distinctness of objects.

If the

Reason

be stimulated to more earnest vision, outlines

and surfaces become transparent, and are no longer seen

them.

;

The

causes and spirits are seen through best, the happiest

moments of

are these delicious awakenings of the

life,

higher

powers, and the reverential withdrawing of na ture before

its

God.

IDEALISM.

Let us proceed to indicate the ture.

sophy

Our

first

effects

of cul

institution in the Ideal philo

a hint from nature herself.

Nature

made to

cipate us.

alteration in

eman

our local position apprizes us of a

dualism.

conspire with spirit to

Certain mechanical changes, a small

are strangely affected by seeing

the shore from a

moving

ship,

from a balloon, or

through the tints of an unusual sky.

The

least

change in our point of view, gives the whole world a pictorial

A man

air.

who seldom

rides,

needs only to get into a coach and traverse his

own town,

to turn the street into a puppet-show.

The men,

the

women,

fighting,

tering,

the

talking, running, bar

earnest

mechanic, the

lounger, the beggar, the boys, the dogs, are realized at once, or,

from

all

parent,

least,

wholly detached

relation to the observer, and seen as ap

not

substantial

beings.

What new

thoughts are suggested by seeing a face of try quite familiar, in the rapid

rail-road car

(make

coun

movement of

Nay, the most wonted

the

objects,

a very slight change in the point of vis-

IDEALISM.

In a camera obscura, the

sion,) please us most.

butcher's cart, and the figure of one of our family amuse

us.

Turn

face gratifies us.

by looking

at the

the eyes upside down,

landscape through your legs,

and how agreeable have seen

own

a protrait of a well-known

the picture, though you

any time these twenty years

In these cases, by mechanical means,

sug

gested the difference between the observer and the

between

spectacle,

Hence

arises a pleasure

man

mixed with awe

say, a low degree of the sublime fact,

probably, that

whilst the

himself 2.

the

world

man

and

is felt

nature. ;

may

from the

hereby apprized, that,

a spectacle, something in

is stable.

In a higher manner, the poet communicates

same

neates, as

camp, the

By a few

pleasure.

air,

city, the hero, the

ent from what

strokes he deli

the sun, the mountain, the

maiden, not

differ

we know them, but only

from the ground and

unfixes the land and the sea,

around the axis of

lifted

afloat before the eye.

his

makes them revolve

primary thought, and

dis-

IDEALISM. poses them anew.

Possessed himself by a he

roic passion, he uses matter as symbols of

The

sensual

man conforms

thoughts to things

rooted

and

;

The

the poet conforms things to his thoughts.

one esteems nature

it.

fast

;

the

other, as fluid,

and impresses his being thereon.

refractory

him,

the

world

ductile and

he invests dust and stones with hu

flexible;

manity, and makes

The

Reason.

be, the use

them

the

imagination

words of the

may be

defined to

which the Reason makes of the

material world.

Shakspeare possesses the power nature

of subordinating

for

the purposes

poets. His imperial muse expression, beyond tosses the creation like a bauble from hand to all

hand, to embody any capricious shade of thought that

spaces

in his mind.

uppermost

sundered

things

are

remotest

brought together, by

subtile spiritual connexion.

that magnitude relative,

The

of nature are visited, and the farthest

and

all

are

made aware

material things

merely

objects shrink and expand to

serve the passion of the

poet.

Thus,

his

IDEALISM.

sonnets, the lays of birds, the scents and dyes

of flowers, he finds to be the shadow of his beloved

which keeps her from him,

the suspicion she has awakened,

time,

;

his chest

;

her ornament

;

The ornament

of beauty

crow which

His passion

flies in

No,

Suspect,

not the fruit

swells, as he speaks, to a

was builded

It suffers not in

heaven's sweetest

far

of chance;

city, or a state.

from accident

smiling pomp, nor

Under the brow of

air.

;

falls

thralling discontent;

It fears not policy, that heretic,

That works on leases of short numbered hours,

But .

all

alone stands hugely politic. :

In the strength of his constancy, the Pyra

mids seem to him recent and the freshness of youth and

with

its

resemblance to morning.

Take those

Which

And

transitory.

love

lips

so sweetly

those eyes,

away were forsworn

;

the break of day,

Lights that do mislead the morn.

And

dazzles him

IDEALISM. The

wild beauty of

say, in passing,

this

hyperbole,

may

would not be easy to match

in literature.

This transfiguration which through the

undergo this

power which he

magnify the small,

all

passion exerts, at

material objects

of the poet,

any moment, to

to micrify the great,

might

be illustrated by a thousand examples from his

have before

Plays.

the Tempest, and will "

cite only these

ARIEL.

The

Have The

few

lines.

strong based promontory

made shake, and by

the spurs plucked

Prospero

calls

for

music

sooth the frantic

Alonzo, and his companions

;

A solemn air, and the best comforter To an

Now Again

pine and cedar.

unsettled fancy, cure thy brains useless, boiled within thy skull.

;

The charm And,

as the

morning

dissolves apace

steals

upon the night,

Melting the darkness, so their rising senses

Begin

chase the ignorant fumes that mantle

Their clearer reason.

IDEALISM.

Their understanding Begins

to swell

Will shortly

That now

The

and the approaching

foul and

lie

(that

muddy.

perception

events,

tide

the reasonable shores

fill

real

say,

between

affinities

of ideal

affinities,

for

those only are real,) enables the poet thus to

make

with the most imposing forms and

free

phenomena of the world, and to assert the pre dominance of the 3.

soul.

Whilst thus the poet delights us by animat-

ing nature like a creator, with his

differs

from the

philosopher

own

thoughts,

only

that the one proposes Beauty as his

herein,

main end

;

But, the philosopher, not less

the other Truth.

than the poet, postpones the apparent order and relations of things to

The problem "

Plato,

is,

for

the

empire of thought.

of philosophy," all

according to

that exists conditionally, to

find a ground unconditioned and absolute."

proceeds on the faith that a law determines

It all

phenomena, which being known, the phenome na can be predicted. That law, when in the

IDEALISM. is

mind,

an idea.

Its

beauty

The

infinite.

true philosopher and the true poet are one, and a beauty, which

beauty,

truth,

and a

the aim of both.

Is not the

one of Plato's or Aristotle's of the

like that is,

which

truth,

charm of

definitions, strictly

Antigone of Sophocles

both cases, that a spiritual

imparted to nature

;

life

has been

that the solid seeming block

p ^

of matter has been pervaded and dissolved by a thought

;

that

penetrated the

this

vast

informing soul,

feeble

human being

has

masses of nature with an

and recognised

their

itself in

harmony, that

when

is,

seized their law.

this is attained, the

In physics,

memory

disburthens

cumbrous catalogues of

particulars,

and carries centuries of observation

in a single

itself

its

formula.

Thus even

***"'**' in physics, the material

degraded before the spiritual.

The

ever

astronomer,

the geometer, rely on their irrefragable analysis,

and disdain the results of observation.

The

sublime remark of Euler on his law of arches, " This will be found contrary to all experience,

IDEALISM.

70 yet

true

" ;

had already transferred nature

into the mind, and

matter like an outcast

left

corpse.

science has been observed to

4. Intellectual

beget invariably a doubt of the existence of " He that matter. has never Turgot said,

doubted the existence of matter, may be assured he has no aptitude It fastens

for

metaphysical inquiries."

the attention upon immortal necessary

uncreated natures, that their beautiful

Whilst we wait

upon Ideas

of nature

in this

and in

Olympus of gods, we appendix to the soul.

ascend into their region,

" These are they

feel

dream and a shade.

these are the thoughts of the

ing,

;

and majestic presence, we

that our outward being

think

is,

who were

set

and know that

Supreme Being. up from everlast

from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

When

he prepared the heavens, they were there when he established the clouds above, when he ;

strengthened the fountains of the deep.

Then

they were by him, as one brought up with him.

Of them

took he counsel."

IDEALISM. Their influence

proportionate.

objects

of science, they are accessible to few men.

men

all

Yet

are capable of being raised by piety or

And no man

into their region.

by passion,

touches these divine natures, without becoming, in some degree, himself divine. Like a new

renew the body.

soul, they

become physi

cally nimble and lightsome; we tread on life is

no longer irksome, and we think

never be or

No man

so.

death, in

their

out

transported

fears

air;

will

age or misfortune

serene company, for he the

district

change.

Whilst we behold unveiled the nature of Justice

and Truth, we learn the difference between the absolute and

apprehend

absolute.

time, we exist.

first

the conditional or relative.

the

were, for the

become immortal,

for

learn that time and space are relations of

matter;

that, with

a perception of truth, or

virtuous will, they have no 5. fitly

affinity.

Finally, religion and ethics, which may be called,

the practice of ideas, or the in

troduction of ideas into

life,

have an analo-

IDEALISM.

72 with

effect

gous

all

lower culture, in degrading

nature and suggesting

Ethics and religion is

the system of

man;

dependence on

its

herein

differ

human

duties

the other, from God.

the personality of

God

;

Religion includes

Ethics does not.

" religion

is,

temporal

;

nal."

The

foot.

The

They and

last lesson

are

that

things

seen,

puts an affront upon nature.

are

may be heard

The

in the *

ignorant sects,

is,

churches of the most

Contemn

dreams, shadows, unrealities

The

does

uniform language

the unsubstan

shows of the world; they are

of religion.'

which philosophy does

Berkeley and Viasa.

that

tial

first

They

both put

the things that are unseen are eter

that for the unschooled, for

spirit.

that the one

commencing from

are one to our present design.

nature under

;

vanities,

seek the realities

devotee flouts nature.

Some

theosophists have arrived at a certain hostility

and indignation towards matter, as the Manichean and Plotinus. They distrusted in them selves any looking back to these

Egypt.

flesh-pots of

Plotinus was ashamed of his body.

IDEALISM. short, they

better say of matter,

all

might

Michael Angelo said of external beauty, the

frail

what " it is

and weary weed, in which God dresses

the soul, which he has called into time." It

appears that motion, poetry, physical and

intellectual

and religion,

science,

all.

tend to

our convictions of the reality of the ex

affect

But

world.

ternal

ungrateful

own

there

something

expanding too curiously the par

ticulars of the

general proposition, that

imbue us with

ture tends to

all

cul

have

idealism.

no hostility to nature, but a child's love to I

expand and

live in the

to fling stones at

warm day

Let us speak her

melons.

gentle

like corn I

and

do not wish

beautiful mother, nor soil

nest.

fair.

it.

only wish to

indicate the

true position of nature in regard to man, where in to establish as the

human

ground which life,

that

is,

all

right education tends

attain is the object of

of man's connexion

and brings the mind to

which

;

with

Culture inverts the vulgar views of na

nature. ture,

man,

call that apparent,

uses to call real, and that real, which

IDEALISM.

74 it

uses to call visionary.

appears only,

The

arise

on the mind

first.

advantage of the ideal theory over the

popular

faith,

is this,

in precisely that view

the mind.

that

presents the world

which

most desirable

phy and

thought, the world always it

phenomenal

to the mind.

sees the world in God. circle

philoso

is,

For, seen in the light of

virtue, take.

subordinates

the view which Reason,

It is, in fact,

both speculative and practical, that

virtue

true,

belief that

an afterthought, but with cul

will as surely

ture, this faith

as did the

Children,

believe in the external world.

;

and

Idealism

beholds the whole

of persons and things,

of actions and

events, of country and religion, not as painfully

accumulated, atom

after

atom, act after act, in

an aged creeping Past, but as one vast picture,

which God paints on the instant the contemplation of the soul.

eternity, for

Therefore the

soul holds itself off from a too trivial and

croscopic

study of the

respects the end too

universal

much,

tablet.

immerse

itself in

IDEALISM. the means.

It sees

something more important

in Christianity, than the scandals of ecclesiasti cal history or the

of criticism

niceties

;

and,

very incurious concerning persons or miracles,

and not

evidence, as

disturbed by chasms of historical

at all

finds

accepts from

it,

ligion in the world. at the

God

It is

not hot and passionate

appearance of what

or bad fortune,

other persons.

the phenomenon,

and awful form of re

as the pure

calls its

No man

its

enemy.

cepts whatsoever befals, as part of is

a watcher

only that

more than

may

own good

the union or opposition of

its

a doer, and

the better watch.

lesson.

it is

ac It

a doer,

CHAPTER

VII.

SPIRIT.

essential to a true theory of nature

of man, that

Uses that are exhausted or that may

gressive.

be, and

all

man

end

facts that

that

harbored, and wherein

his

all

one, which yields the activity of

Through

all its

and outskirts of things,

Spirit.

petual

had

The

its

man

effect.

And

all

summed

kingdoms,

faithful to the

it is

origin.

infinite

to the suburbs

cause

always speaks of

suggests the absolute.

It is

a per

a great shadow pointing

sun behind

us.

aspect of nature

always to the

faculties

and endless exercise.

the uses of nature admit of being

whence

cannot

in the statement,

true of this brave lodging wherein

find appropriate

scope.

and

should contain somewhat pro

devout.

Like the

figure of Jesus, she stands with bended head,

and hands folded upon the

breast.

The

happiest

SPIRIT. man

who

learns* from nature the lesson of

worship.

Of that

ineffable essence

he that thinks most,

God

foresee

which we

will say

call Spirit,

least.

in the coarse and, as

phenomena of matter; but when

can

were, distant

try to define

and describe himself, both language and thought desert us, and

savages.

That essence

propositions, but intellectually, the

to stand

are

refuses to be recorded in

when man has worshipped him noblest ministry of nature

the apparition of God.

great organ through which the universal

speaks to the individual, the individual to

When we views

and

the

back

it.

see that

the

already presented do not

include

the

consider Spirit,

must add

related thoughts.

Three problems

What is Whereto ? The mind

spirit

strives to lead

whole circumference of man.

some

and

fools

helpless as

;

are

matter first

put by nature to the ?

Whence

it 1

and

of these questions only,

the ideal theory answers.

Idealism saith

mat-

SPIRIT.

78 ter is a

Idealism

phenomenon, not a substance.

acquaints us with the total disparity between the

evidence of our

own

being, and the evidence

The one

of the world's being.

other, incapable of any assurance

of the nature of things

part

divine

dream, from which

awake

to the glories

Idealism

;

perfect

;

the mind

the world

we may

the is

a a

presently

and certainties of day.

a hypothesis to account for nature

by other principles than those of carpentry and chemistry.

Yet,

if it

only deny the existence of

does not satisfy the demands of the

matter,

spirit.

It leaves

God

out of me.

in the splendid labyrinth of

Then

wander without end. because

perceptions, to

the heart resists

it,

baulks the affections in denying sub

stantive being to

men and women.

so pervaded with

human

thing of humanity in

But

leaves

this theory

all,

life,

and

makes nature

Nature

that there

some

in every particular.

foreign to me, and

does not account for that consanguinity which

we acknowledge

it.

SPIRIT. Let

stand then, in the present state of our

knowledge, merely

useful

hypothesis, serving to apprize us distinction

between the soul and the world.

But when, following the

we come

thought,

introductory

of the eternal

Whence

to inquire,

and Whereto? many truths

learn that

man, that

one, and each

spirit

creates

nature, spirit

not

;

present

that spirit, that

in space

is,

through is,

the

all

which ;

in all

that

throughout

that spirit

;

one and

upon us

and time, but

ourselves.

Therefore,

Supreme Being, does not

up nature around

through

that

that spirit does not act

from without, that

build

entirely,

for

that behind nature,

;

compound

spiritually,

not wis

or power, but

and that by which they are

things exist,

or beauty,

love,

matter

present to the soul of

the dread universal essence, which

dom, or

arise to us out of

the recesses of consciousness.

the highest

steps of

invisible

us,

but puts

us, as the life of the tree puts forth

forth

new

branches and leaves through the pores of the old.

a plant

upon the

earth, so a

man

rests

SPIRIT.

upon the bosom of God; he

nourished by

unfailing fountains, and draws, at his need, inex

Who

haustible power.

man

possibilities of

can

set

Once

bounds

the

inspire the infinite,

by being admitted to behold the absolute natures of justice and truth, and access to the entire

learn that

self the creator in the finite.

admonishes and power

me where

lie,

man

mind of the Creator,

has

him

This view, which

wisdom

the sources of

and points to virtue as to " The golden key

Which opes carries truth,

upon

face the highest certificate of

its

because

the palace of eternity,"

animates

to create

world through the purification of

The world

proceeds from the same

the body of man.

It is a

But

differs

one important respect. subjected to the is

human

inviolable by us.

spirit as

remoter and inferior

incarnation of God, a projection of uncoYiscious.

my own

soul.

God

in the

from the body in

It is not, like that, will.

Its

now

serene order

It is therefore,

to us,

present expositor of the divine mind.

the

It is

SPIRIT.

whereby we may measure our depart As we degenerate, the contrast between

fixed point

ure.

us and our house

much

evident.

strangers in nature, as

God.

The

are as

are aliens from

do not understand the notes of

fox and the

more than

away from us

deer run

bear and tiger rend us. uses of

birds. ;

the

do not know the

a few plants, as corn

appJe, the potato and the vine.

and the

Is not the land

scape, every glimpse of which hath a grandeur, a face of

him

discord

between man and nature,

Yet

this

may show

not freely admire a noble landscape, are digging in the field hard by.

us what

for

The

you can laborers

poet finds

something ridiculous in his delight, until he out of the sight of men.

CHAPTER

VIII.

PROSPECTS.

IN inquiries respecting the laws of the world and the frame of things, the highest reason is That which seems faintly always the truest. it is

possible

because

it is

so refined,

often faint and

deepest seated in the

the eternal verities.

Empirical science

to cloud the sight, and,

dim

mind among is

apt

by the very knowledge of

functions and processes, to bereave the student

of the manly contemplation of the whole. savant

becomes unpoetic.

naturalist

who

But the best read

lends an entire and devout atten

tion to truth, will see that there remains to learn of his relation to the world, is

The

much

and that

not to be learned by any addition or subtrac

tion or other comparison of

but

known

quantities,

arrived at by untaught sallies of the spirit,

continual

humility.

self-recovery,

will

and by entire

perceive that there are far

PROSPECTS. more

excellent

qualities

and

preciseness

student

the

infallibility;

that

than ii

guess

than an indisputable affirma

often

tion,

and that a dream may

fruitful

us deeper into

let

the secret of nature than a hundred concerted

experiments.

For, the problems to be solved are precisely those which the physiologist and the naturalist

omit to

know as

state.

all

It is

not so pertinent to

know whence and whereto

tyrannizing unity in his constitution,

more ing

man

the individuals of the animal kingdom, is

this

which ever

separates and classifies things, endeavour

reduce the most diverse to one form.

When

behold a rich landscape,

purpose

to recite

position

of the

strata,

thought of multitude

than to

is lost

less to

know why

all

a tranquil sense

cannot greatly honor minuteness in

of unity.

details, so

long as there

relation

it is

correctly the order and super

no hint

to explain the

between things and thoughts

;

no ray

upon the metaphysics of conchology, of botany, of the arts, to show the relation of the forms ol

PROSPECTS.

84 flowers,

shells,

animals,

mind, and build science

architecture,

upon

ideas.

we become

net of natural history,

the

In a cabi sensible of a

certain occult recognition and sympathy in re

gard to the most bizarre forms of beast, fish, and insect. The American who has been con fined, in his

own

country, to the sight of build

ings designed

after foreign

York Minster

entering

models, or

St.

surprised Peter's at

the feeling that these structures are

Rome, by imitations

also,

Nor

archetype.

faint

copies of an invisible

has science sufficient humanity,

so long as the naturalist overlooks that

wonder

congruity which subsists between man and of which he is lord, not because he the world

ful

;

is its

the most subtile inhabitant, but because he

head and heart, and finds something of him

self in

every great and

mountain fact

small thing, in every

stratum, in every

astronomy,

color,

atmospheric influence

which observation or analysis ception of this

new law of

lay open.

per

mystery inspires the muse of

George Herbert, the

beautiful psalmist of the

PROSPECTS. The

seventeenth century. part of his "

little

Man is

all

following lines are

poem on Man. symmetry,

Full of proportions, one limb to another,

And

to all

Each

part

the world besides.

may

For head with

And

call the farthest,

foot

brother;

hath private amity,

both with moons and tides.

Nothing hath got so far But man hath caught and kept

His eyes dismount the highest

little all

as his star

prey;

;

the sphere.

Herbs gladly cure our flesh, because Find their acquaintance there.

that they

" For us, the winds do blow,

The

earth doth rest, heaven move, and fountains flow

Nothing we

see, but

means our good,

our delight, or as our treasure

The whole

;

either our cupboard of food,

Or cabinet of pleasure. " The

stars

have us

Night draws the curtain

bed ;

which the sun withdraws.

Music and light attend our head.

;

PROSPECTS.

All things unto our flesh are kind, to our mind,

In their descent and being ;

In their ascent and cause.

Than he

servants wait on

'11

take notice

man In every path,

of.

He treads down that which doth befriend When sickness makes him pale and wan. Oh mighty Another

The

love

attraction

ence, but the end the means.

which draws men

lost sight

to sci

of in attention to

In view of this half-sight of sci

we accept

the

sentence of Plato,

poetry comes nearer

vital

that,

truth than his

Every surmise and vaticination of the

tory."

mind

one world, and hath

him."

to attend

perception of this class of truths makes

the eternal

ence,

Man

him

entitled

a certain respect, and

learn to prefer imperfect theories, and sentences,

which contain glimpses of truth, to digested systems which have no one valuable suggestion.

wise writer will

feel

that the ends of study

and composition are best answered by announc ing undiscovered regions

of thought,

and so

PROSPECTS.

communicating, through hope, new the torpid I

spirit.

conclude this essay with

therefore

shall

some

activity to

man and

traditions of

certain poet sang to

have always been

the

reappear to every bard,

nature, which

and which,

;

world,

may

as they

and perhaps

be both history and

prophecy, ''

The

but in

foundations of

man

are not in matter,

spirit.

But the element of

therefore,

spirit is eter

longest series of events, the oldest chronologies are young and

nity.

recent.

from

it,

In the

whom

cycle

the

of the

known

the

centuries are points, and

universal

individuals all

history

man,

proceed, is

but the

epoch of one degradation. ' We distrust and deny inwardly our sympathy with nature. We own and disown our relation to

it,

by turns.

dethroned, like an ox.

are, like

Nebuchadnezzar,

bereft of reason,

and eating grass

But who can

dial force of spirit

set limits to the

reme

PROSPECTS.

88 '

man

shall

life

innocent,

be longer, and

into the immortal, as gently

dreams.

Now,

rabid, if these

shall

are

pass

we awake from

the world would be insane and

disorganizations should last for

hundreds of years. and infancy.

death

When men

a god in ruins.

kept in check by

the

Infancy

perpetual

Messiah, which comes into the arms of

men, and pleads with them

fallen

to return to para

dise. *

Man

Once he was

the dwarf of himself.

permeated and dissolved by

spirit.

nature with his overflowing currents.

filled

Out from

him sprang the sun and moon from man, the sun from woman, the moon. The laws of his ;

;

mind, the periods of his actions

externized

themselves into day and night, into the year and the seasons.

huge

But, having

the veins and veinlets

made

;

sees, that the structure

him

colossally.

now

for

fills

shrunk to a drop.

still fits

Say, rather, once

corresponds to

himself this

he no longer

shell, his waters retired;

him from

far

him, but it

fitted

fits

him,

and on high.

PROSPECTS. He

adores timidly his

slumber, and wonders

and muses strangely

paramount, his

word

man

starts

in his

himself and his house,

resemblance betwixt

at the

is still

he have elemental power, "

sterling yet in nature," it

the follower

perceives that if his law

if still

scious power, his will.

woman

Yet sometimes he

of the moon.

it.

Now

own work.

the follower of the sun, and

him and

it is riot

con

not inferior but superior to

Thus my Orphic poet

It is Instinct.'

sang.

present,

man

He works

force.

standing alone.

by a is

applies to nature but half his

on the world with his under

penny-wisdom

;

lives in

it,

and masters

and he that works most

it,

but a half-man, and whilst his arms are strong

and

digestion good, his

his

and he

standing fire,

a selfish savage.

power over

ture, his ;

wind,

water,

;

under

the economic use of

and the

human body by

imbruted

His relation

mariner's needle

steam, coal, chemical agriculture

of the

through the

it, is

by manure

mind

;

the

;

repairs

the dentist and the sur-

PROSPECTS.

90 geon. if

This

such a resumption of power, as

a banished king

should

buy

inch by inch, instead of vaulting his throne.

Meantime,

his territories at

once into

in the thick darkness,

there are not wanting gleams of a better light,

occasional

examples of the action of

upon nature with as well as

his entire force,

understanding.

man

with reason

Such examples

are

;

the traditions of miracles in the earliest antiqui ty of

all

nations; the history of Jesus Christ;

the achievements of a principle, as in religious

and political revolutions, and in the abolition of the Slave-trade

;

the miracles of enthusiasm, as

those reported of Swedenborg, Hohenlohe, and the Shakers facts,

many obscure and yet contested now arranged under the name of Animal ;

Magnetism; prayer; eloquence; self-healing; and the wisdom of children. These are exam ples of Reason's tre

;

momentary grasp of the scep

the exertions of a power which exists not

in time or space, but an instantaneous in-stream

ing causing power.

The

difference between

the actual and the ideal force of

man

happi-

PROSPECTS. ly figured

by the schoolmen, in saying, that the

knowledge of man

an evening knowledge,

God

vespertina cognitio, but that of

ing knowledge, mat utina

The problem

when we look

The

eye.

morn

cognitio.

The

tion of the soul.

see

of restoring to the world origi

nal and eternal beauty,

solved by the redemp

ruin or the blank, that at nature, is

axis of vision

our

own

not coincident with

the axis of things, and so they appear not trans

The

parent but opake.

reason

why

the world

lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps,

because

man

disunited with

cannot be a naturalist,

demands of the demand,

spirit.

as perception.

perfect without the

until

Love

But

in actual

There

life,

Deep

the marriage

are innocent

much

its

Indeed, neither can be

other.

thought.

satisfies all the

the

uttermost

devout, and

calls

unto deep.

meaning of the words, thought devotion

is,

himself.

not celebrated.

men who worship God

after

the tradition of their fathers, but their sense of

duty has not yet extended to the use of

all

their

PROSPECTS.

And

faculties.

there

are patient

naturalists,

but they freeze their subject under the wintry light of the understanding.

unfound

No man

ful thinker, resolute to

But when

thought,

with the

God go

the

shall, at

anew

when

the

mind

mark of wisdom

What child?

What

summer

What

prepared

invariable

to see the miraculous in the

is ?

The

for study, to search for objects.

common.

the light of

into the creation.

not need,

It will

same time, kindle science

of the holiest affections, then will

fire

forth

a faith

detach every object from

and see

relations,

into the

ever prayed heartily,

without learning something.

personal

not prayer also

a sally of the soul

a study of truth, infinite

a day

What

sleep?

things seem unaffecting.

What

a year

woman ? What

say, to

when

make

fables to

the higher law of the mind.

the fact

our blindness, these

hide the baldness of the fact and conform

it,

But

seen under the light of an idea,

the gaudy fable fades and shrivels.

the real higher law.

behold

the wise, therefore, a

PROSPECTS.

and the most beautiful of fables.

fact is true poetry,

These wonders

You

also are a

known

Man

hath

door.

and woman, and their fortune,

fear,

Learn that none of these

you.

superficial, but

things

own

are brought to our

man.

social life, poverty, labor, sleep,

are

that each

phenomenon

roots in the faculties and affections of

its

Whilst the abstract question occu

the mind. pies your

intellect,

nature brings

crete to be solved

by your hands.

the con It

were a

wise inquiry for the closet, to compare, point by point,

especially

remarkable crises in

life,

our daily history, with the rise and progress of ideas in the mind.

new

shall

eyes.

we come It

shall

What

of the intellect,

What

affections,

to look at the world with

answer the endless inquiry

but

what

fluid.

by yielding

itself

Then

come

good?

passive to the educated Will. to pass

truth? and of the

poet said

' ;

Nature

Spirit alters, moulds,

makes

immobility or bruteness of nature,

spirit

;

pure

shall is

not fixed it.

The

the absence

spirit, it is fluid, it is volatile,

^PROSPECTS.

obedient. Every spirit builds itself a house;

it is

and beyond

its

house, a world;

Know

world, a heaven. exists for you.

What we

fect.

Adam

that

had,

and can do. earth

;

haps

Yet ion

fast as

phenomenon per we see. All

all

that Caesar could,

of ploughed land

Rome; you

as great

;

per

hundred

or a scholar's garret.

;

and point as

you have and

called his house, heaven

yours, a cobler's trade

your domin

for point,

theirs, though without fine

Build, therefore, your

you conform your

your mind, that

the

its

the world

are, that only can

Adam

line for line

names.

then, is

Caesar called his house,

call

acres

For you

and beyond that

will

life

unfold

own

world.

to the pure idea in

its

great proportions.

correspondent revolution in things will attend

the influx of the ble

spirit.

fast will

disagreea

appearances, swine, spiders, snakes, pests,

mad-houses, prisons, enemies, vanish

temporary and sordor and

filths

shall

;

they are

be no more seen.

The

of nature, the sun shall dry up,

and the wind exhale.

As when

the

summer

comes from the south, the snow-banks melt, and

PROSPECTS.

the face of the earth becomes green before so shall

the advancing

ments along beauty it

shall

its

visits,

path,

spirit create

its

and carry with

and the song which enchants

draw beautiful

faces,

the it

acts,

around

its

The kingdom of

way,

until evil is

man

over nature, which cometh not with obser

vation,

dominion such

dream of God,

he shall

wonder than the blind man

;

and warm hearts,

and wise discourse, and heroic

no more seen.

it,

orna

now

beyond his enter without more feels

ally restored to perfect sight.'

who

gradu

PS I L