The Portland gazette. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1818-1824, 1823-09-16

loughly detached you from the world, an
! made yon the inhabitant of regions, where a
lone il is impossible 10 be always active with
out impurty, and where tile ardor Of your sen
sibility had unbounded scope amid the mex
haustible combinations Of beauty and excel
lence. Ii j. not given Us 70 preserve an exacl
medium. Nothing j. 50 difficult a. 10 decide
how much ideal models ought to be combined
with experience, how much Of the future
ought TO be let into the present, 10 the prog
ress Of the human mind 10 exait aud purify H.
self, without raising Us above the sphere Of our
usefulness; TO qualify us for what we ought t0
seek, without uniting US for that TO which we
must submit. These are great and difficult
problems which can be but imperfectly solved
Ii is certain the child may be 100 manly, not
only for his present enjoyment, but for lis fu-
ture progress. Perhaps, my good friend, you
have fallen into this error of superiour ma
lures. From this errour has, think. arisen
the calamity with which il has pleased Proyi-
dence TO visit you, which to mind less
fortified BY reason and religion, should not
dare to mention, but which really consider
| in you as little more than the Indignant strug-
giles Of pure mind with the base realities that
surround il, the fervent aspirations after re-
gions more coDgenial to il, aud a temporary
blindness occasioned BY the fixed contempIs
ton Of objects too bright for human vision. ]
may say in this case, 10 far grader sense
than the words were originally used BY the
poet
And vet the light which led astray,
Was light from heaven"
On your return to us, you must have scarcely
found consolation in the only terrestrial pro-
dnce which is pure and truly exquisite, ia the
affections and attachments YOU had inspired
and which no human pollutions can rob Of
their heavenly nature. If ! were TO prose-
cute the reflections and indulge the feelings,
which at this moment fill nv mind, should
soon venture to doubt, whether for calamity
derived from such source and attended with
such consolation, should yield 90 far to the
vain opinions Of men as 10 seek to condole
with you; bnt 4 check myself and exhort you
my most worthy friend, to check your best
propeDsities for the sake Of obtaining their OBJ
lject. You cannot live for men without living
NTH them. Serve God BY the active service
OF men. Contemplate more the good yo,t can
DO, than the eUat you can only lament. Allow
yourself to see the great loVeliuess of human
virtue amidst all its imperfections, and employ
your moral Imagination, not so much by bring
| ing it into contrast with the model of ideal
perfection, as IN gently blending some of the
fainter colours of the latter with the brighter
rays Of real experienced excellence. thus
| heightening the beauty instead OF broadening
the shade which must surround us, ill we
awake from this dream III other spheres of
existence. My habits Of life have not been
favorable to this train Of meditation. I have
been too busy and too trifing. NV nature
would have been better consulted If had
been placed in quieter situation, where
speculation might have been ray business, AID
visions Of the fair and good my chief venera-
ton. Whenever l approach You, feel a
powerful attraction towards this, which seems
to be the natural destiny of my mind but
habit opposes--obstacles and duty call me of,
and reason frowns on him who wastes that
reflection on destiny independent of him
which he ought to reserve for actions Of which
he is the master. In another letter, NAV
write to you on miscellaneous subiects-ai
present | cannot bring my mind to think 81
them. JAMES MACINTOSH.