a moment o time i draw from nature the lesson of an intimate divinity our health and reason as men needs our respect to this fact against the and against the contradiction of society the of man needs the of this force his nobility needs the assurance of this inexhaustible reserved power how great have been its they are a drop to the sea whence they flow if you say the acceptance of the vision is also die act of god � i shall not seek to penetrate the mystery i admit the force of what you say if you ask how can any rules be given for the of gifts so sublime � i shall only remark that the of this spirit as long as there is life are never tenderly tenderly they and court us from every object in nature from every fact in ufe from every thought in the mind the one condition coupled with the gift of truth is its use that man shall be learned who his learning to practice affirmed that it was opened to him that the spirits who knew truth in this but did it not at death shall lose their if knowledge said the unto practice well if not it away the only way into nature is to our best insight instantly we are higher poets and can speak a deeper law do what you know and perception is converted into character as islands and were built by invisible or as these forest leaves light and and the oak to live a thousand years is the arrest and of the most and currents the doctrine of this supreme presence is a cry of joy and exultation who shall dare think he has come late into nature or has missed anything excellent in the past who the admirable stars of possibility and the yet untouched continent of hope glittering with all its mountains in the vast west i praise with wonder this great reality which seems to drown all things in the of its what man seeing this can lose it from his thoughts or entertain a subject the entrance of this into his mind seems to be the birth of man we cannot describe the natural history of the soul but we know that it is divine i cannot tell if these wonderful qualities which house to day in this mortal frame shall ever re in equal activity in a similar frame or whether they have before had a natural history like that of this body you see before you but this one thing i know that these did not now begin to exist cannot be sick with my nor buried in any grave but that they through the universe before the world was they were nothing can bar them out or shut them in but they penetrate the ocean and land space and time form and essence and hold the key to nature i draw from this faith courage and hope all things are known to the soul it is not to be surprised by any communication nothing can be greater than it let those fear and those who will the soul is in her native and it is wider than space older than time wide as hope rich as love and fear she refuses with a beautiful scorn they are not for her who on her robes and goes out through love to universal power discourse on th� transient and permanent cl ti ti d at the of mr charles c in the place church in boston may by minister of the second church boston printed for the author boston printed by and b washington street preface this discourse is now printed in consequence of some and printed statements respecting its contents i have made a few verbal alterations changed the order of a few sentences omitted here and there a few words which were only of former sentences and added a few which though written in the manuscript were necessarily omitted in consequence of the length of the discourse but i ave changed nothing in the substance or doctrine and have made the alterations only to set the doctrine in a clearer and stronger light the and somewhat style though less well adapted to reading than hearing i could not change without exciting a suspicion of with the above exceptions the discourse is printed just as it was delivered it is not necessary i should remark upon the article relating to this discourse signed by several and so by the religious journals the thing speaks for itself others likewise i find have lifted up their heel against this discourse or the of it i was not so vain as to expect my humble attempts to make a distinction between religion and or to deliver christianity from heathen and notions � would be either acceptable or understood by all nor yet am i so young as to be surprised at the cry of and which has been raised against nearly all of the religion of from to worth west june discourse xxi beaten and shall pass away but ht shall not pass in this sentence we have a very clear indication that of believed the religion he taught would be eternal that the substance of it would last forever yet there are some who are by the faintest rustle which a makes among the dry leaves of they tremble lest christianity itself should perish without hope ever and anon the cry is raised the be upon us and christianity is in danger the least doubt respecting the popular or the existing machinery of the church the least sign of distrust in the religion of the pulpit or the religion of the street is by some good men supposed to be at enmity with faith in christ and le of shaking christianity itself on the other hand a few bad men and a few pious men it is said on 