The primitive Republican. (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-1852, 1851-04-17

| her appreeiatire mind, had discovered q
: that he's man Of iintelleetual might
J This called forth the essay sin question, whic
were addressed to her. They succeeded
gaining him, both wide reputation, and
bride worthy aman Of his gifted genius
These productions we're essentially mor'
ia tendency, and, Ne snny add religious
tone They we're the first Of new KIND
rel gious literature, and were as ditieren
Il from that pressing, bigotcd, and lgnorap
hummer, ii which, the ethicsof the gospt
'lwero being presented, as one can well COZ
fceivc It was as Gan eagle intermlnglln
. with i dance Of tWilight bats: The beate
track, where prosaic. saneness disgustl 1
turgidity Of expression, silly sychophantisrn
and ranting bigotry, had alternately prevail
ed, and by which, the cultivated were begin
1 ing to hold, what was called, religious litera
ture, in utter conte1npt tbs path, Foste
left; and with an energy showing his earn
cstness--a freshness, in proof Of his orig
nality--a grandeur, in keeping with the sys
TEN, whose evangels Of morality, he felt him
self commissioned to proclaim, and bold
ness of expression, becoming manly indie
pendent, thinker, he poured forth along tn
path Of religious Literature, new, and an at
tractivc light he was Ike that celestia
ship Of Southey 'shell-shaped, rigget
81 -
with rainbow, colorcd with the green ligh
Of evening, bearing away boldly for thu
ISwerga7 such ship, proudly sweeping a,
way from fat-boats and mishapen "riyer.
crafts" was John Foster, as a religious wri
ter, when compared with others, who had
doomed religious productions, to compan-
ionship with the supcrstitio1ls and the dotard-
His uplifted voice, as it rang forth, from his
volumes, was as "a trumpet soundingsudden-
ly, amid twang of Jews harps."
Mr.. Foster, was an original thinker. lie
had = vision of his own, through which, he
looked at truth. This vision may not always
wear to US the appearance of clearness, yet
was it no imitation. What has been said of
another, may be applied to him, Gle read
the universe, not by sunlight, nor starlight,
nor moonlight, but just by the fairy lustre,
round his own head" His thought howev-
er obscure to the reader, was clear to the
writer. 1t was essential to him, to think
profoundly; and in his deepening plunge, we
often lose sight of him. Obscurity of tho't,
nas become fashionable, in these days of jer-
nanized literature; and there are net a few
literary pedants, who affect it, and with their
lesser wing make ''most unearthly futter-
ng" With him however, it was owing to
he dcepness Of. his well Of thought, and the
of his style, as the Interpreter
# that thought. His organization was pc
uliar, aud predisposed him to a rcceptivity
i truth, solemn, and sombre, and, to an cx-
emf. joyless. lie seems to have looked at
Kings, through an autumnal mist, and some
ines through the cold, storm, and dreary
spect Of winter clouda. He looked out up
n the world, and saw It locked IN sclfslness,
he abode OF suffering, tho. scene Of oppres-
ion, the thoatreof evil, crowded with a pops
Ilation, who, while they should have felt, and
acknowledged, brotherhood, were "lying in
vait," to entrap, and deceiyc-to curse and
Icstfoy-one another; and. his sensitive and
yrung, and tortured soul, sent forth protest,
10Th sarcastic and dirge-like-onc, of alter
tate bitterness and lamentation His, was
,urdened spirit, torn and rent wicll an ago
y, inexpressed, and inexpressiblc. On thcI
ubject of moral evil, with its unsolveable
nigmas, he was sometimes frantic with de
ire to pass the bounds of human knowledge,
ud to lift the shadows, that are hung outup-
N the face of eternity.
Those paragraphs of incomprehensible i'm
,ort, and thatrestless inquiet, and consequent
ndeayor to force the oracle, over which,
here resteth deep silence, to speak, have
oyered his thoughts with great shadow.
With the heavens and the earth engloomed,
nd with no foothold Of security, but the
gospel, his cry was for the coming of the
great teacher death, " in order to the recep-
ion of satisfying knowledge.
His manner of expressing himself, was al
o original. His style isamedley, including
il measures, and every popularity. His
are long and short-collossal and
eomplicate and simple-ornatc and
barren. He sometimes seems to give chase
0 an object, as it bounds along the path Of
until he loses himseH-or rath-
+, his readers-in the sFdeep, tangled Wild
vood' of speculation; and we behold him
olunging and tossing about, with the wild
'ury of maddened giant. In these moods
# fercencss, he appals, but never satisfies
We have the raging battle Of thought, as it
$ waged in the shadow of an obscuaity, we
annot penetrate, yetwe can only hear. Oc-
there breaks from his pages a
yleam of light, the clearer, because Of the
lowering duskiness; yet, his style being are
lection Of his mind, has ever a sombre hue,
esting upon it, ike the laying. of q mountain
hadow, upon the bosom of the valley. He
lad a Trofound Enoyu1SacIro oF Az I,,,,o,,