Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1839-03-08

aud example Of that All Of which | atm re
ferred to the Cause and the Vital .Priuci
pie, From thus quarter, then,-namely
my own consciousness Of myself mus
de rive my view of the character Of the
Primordial Power. Now, 1t is nv owr
consciousness which is sick, suffering
p!aguc-stricken; and it is from its mlserie:
that I am directed to take refuge in that
Divine Idea which is ye, go plainly shown
to be itself wounded with the same weapon
and infected by the same poison. 1t is the
very mala dv and desperation of all withic
me which leads me to seek help from some
thing outward. IF that Outward be but q
repetition O fthc interior Existence, mag
nified in the concave mirror Of the Universe,
all its distortions and scars, it's blood and
tears and stcel-spiked crown, are also re-
flected and enlarged there. If, again, am
sent TO the Bible. I soc, indeed, clearly
enough that what | will not call the jupiter
Of that Illiad, but the llilad. but the Fate
Of that High Hebrew Tragedy, would con-
denim and punish inc for not being other
than I am. But how I shall become other,
how be fashioned BY that standard, seems
to me as vain an enquiry as how the flying.
fish can change itself into the dolphin which
pursues it, and so find refuge in the waters.
Finally, miracles are no evidence to him
who has no clear conception of the Being
they are said to proceed from; and even II
they were, they would 60 to establish q
system which, from the inconformity Of my
mind to its principles, leaves me an outcast
or makes the a victim.
cannot recognise myself or my expert
ence of life in The Sacred Records. When
I read them | find myself travelling in an
enchanted region that has almost nothing
in common with my accustomed country.
There is little in it that joins on to any
thing p%re-eXisent in me. | acknowledge,
indeed, here n rich and profuse beauty, as
in fairy pictures; there, a dreary awfu'
power, as in Druidical or Egyptian re.
mains; wonders. again, as unprepared and
Incoherent as those Of dreams; lastly
gushes Of human feeling and strains Of
thought which really seem to belong to the
same nature as mine, but which stand in
no close or necessary relation to the loftier,
stranger, more oracular portions. can as
little enter into the old Hebrews views o
divine and human things as he, could he
now revive. would comprehend my feeling:
as to nature, art. and man. His world is
indeed. a and of ma-vcis, many Of them
lovely and many expressive, but ali shu'
up within a circuit of huge walls, 1t seem,
to me the chief Of all confounding paradox
es that so many millions Of men, in tune:
and modes 60 different from those, shoult
fancy the grew and laundering cloud OF TIA.
old Eastern Theocracy can renal built ny
like a Cyclopian wall in our ireer calme'
sky.
In the family I live in there is no on,
who has the smallest notion that my opin
ions differ at all from their own and from
those ofthe clergyman ofthe parish. Their
is no one Of them who could ever be bro
to understand the leas: portion of my views
Now if, as cannot but suppose, there arr
many other instances Of the same entir'
misconception as to the characters ant
thoughts of those we live with daily, wha
a world Of secret and unguessed life mus
be concealed within that which is polpnbl,
f and common place! How many hidden
treasure chambers, forgotten graves, burie'
habliations, and inurned yet beating hearts
mus, lie under the soil which the feet o
busy men hourly and SO heedlessly trave
over! Perhaps the world would gain wer,
it to unknow all it knows, provided it couI
also learn all it. does not know. The com
mon, the public, the familiar, is the prodnc
o chance, interest, Indifference, fraud. Tn
hidden and personal, that which he VIII
, possesses it shrinks from casting into ,h
open mud pool of society, is the growth o
! inward feeling and reflection, the winning
of earnest endeovor. We wrap up an
i, conceal the sacred spoils that are s,aine
with the dear blood we have shed 10 gain
, ing them; but we hawk in open basket
, the pebbles, shells, and weeds, which n
f may gather by the highwayside, or on th
t bare and trodden sand of the frcquenle
? bay. The rush and throng of life are f;
i ever driving back into cells and nook
. whatever would come forth Of Independent
e genuine, peculiar. The light, easy, empty
n popular, is received into the kindred ef
:. ment, is borne along with and swelIs tn
mass. Thus, probably, what each succe;
8 sive generation has added to the world
u, possessions is but the husks and scum of il
= existence while whatever has been trul
, noble and severe was sunk and lost wit
:, or before its creators. Could the figure
. in the apperent picture of history be sue
. denly effaced. and the glass they are pain
+ ed on be made transparent, so as to sho'
= the reality it now hides, how complete
might our views of all things and %ourselvt
be reversed and transmitted We shouI
i see, perhaps, in many n family of tbo'
G poor barbarlans whom Cesar slaughtere
by myriads, more dignity, sensiblIi,y, gel
e uine sense of nature and power. than in tt
accomplished, radiant emperor. Known
i. how in myself what is deep, nrduous, al
high minded shrlnks from view, and o
y lha: is initiative, hollow. selfish, and sequ
u cious lies on the surface, or rather forms
" may | not believe that the like is true
Of the world and all ITS history?
e., To-day is likely to be a memorable OF
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