Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1854-11-22
Nistorifnl.
THE PURITANS.
FRox N'cAULAY.

the most remarkable body of men, perhaps
z which the world has ever produced. The odi-
GUS and ridiculous parts of their character lie
!, on the surface. He that runs may read them
nor have there been wanting attentive and ma
licious observers to point them out. For ma
/ ny years after the Restoration, they were the
theme Of unmeasured inyectiye and derision.
They were exposed to the utmost licentious-
ness of the, press and of the stage, at the time
when the press and the stage were most licen-
tious. They were not men of letters; they
were as body unpopular they could not de-
fend themselves; and the public would not take
them under its protection. They were there
! fore abandoned, without reserve, to the tender
mercies of the satirists and dramatists. The
| ostentatious simplicity of their dress, their
sour aspect. their nasal twang, their stiff pos
ture, their long graces, their Hebrew names,
| the Scriptural phrases which they introduced
on every Accession, their contempt of human
| learning, their detestation OF polite amuse-
ments, were indeed fair game for the laughers.
But it is not from the laughers alone that the
| philosophy OF history is to be learnt. And he
! who approaches this subject should carefully
guard against the influence of that potent
| ridicule, which has already msled so many
excellent writer's.
| Those who reused the people to resistance
who directed their measures through long
| series of eventfu years-who formed out of the
most unpromising materials, the finets army
that Europe had ever seen-who trampied
down King, Church, and Aristocracy-who,i in
OH into S,t
rebellion, made the name of England terrible
to every nation on the face of the earth, were
no vulgar families. Most of their absurdities
were mere external badges, like the signs of
free-masonry, or the dresses of friars. We're
gret that these badges were not more attrac-
tive. We regret that body, to whose cour-
age and talents mankind has owed inestimable
obligations, had not the lofty elegance which
distinguished some of the adherents of Charles
L., or the easy good-breeding for which the
court of Charles III. was celebrated. But, if
we must take our choice, we shall, like Bassa-
MO in the play, turn from the spacious caskets,
which contain only the Deaths head and the
FOOLS head, and fix our choice on the plain
leaden chest which conceals the treasure.
The Puritans We're men whose minds had de-
rived a peculiar character, from the daily con-
temptation of superior beings and eternal in
terests. Not content with acknowledging, in
general terms, an overruling Providence, they
habitually ascribed every event to the will of
the Great Being, for whose power nothing was
too vast, for whose inspection nothing was too
minute. To know him, to serve him, to enjoy
him, was with them the great end of existence.
They rejected with contempt the ceremonious
homage which other sects substituted for the
pure worship Of the soul. Instead of catching
occasional eiimpses Of the Deity through an
obscuring veil, they aspired to gaze fnll on the
intolcrable brightness, and to commune with
him face to face. Hence originated their con-
tempt for terrestrial distinctions. The differ
ence between the greatest and mcancst of man.
kind seemed to vanish, when compared with
the boundless interval which separated the
whole race from him on whom their own eyes
were constantly fixed. They recognized no
title to superiority but his favor; and confident
of that favor, they despised all the accomplish
ments and all the dignities of the world. If /
they were unacquainted with works of philos-
ophers and poets, they were deeply read in the
oracles of God. If their names were not found
in the registers of heralds, they felt assured
that they were recorded in the Book Of Life |
Iftheir steps were not accompanied by splen- |
did train of menials, legons of ministering an
gels had charge over them. Their palaces |
were houses not made with hand: their dia- |
dems crowns of glory which should never fade |
away! On the rich and the eloquent, on no.
bles and priests, they looked down with con-
tempt: for they esteemed themselves rich in |
more precious treasure, and eloquent in more
sublime language, mobiles by the right of an
earlier creation, and priests by the imposition
of mightier hand. The very meanest of T
them was being to whose fate mysterious
and terrible Importance belonged-on whose I
slightest action the Spirits of light and dark
ness looked with anxious interest-who had |
been destined, before heaven and earth were
created, to enjoy fecility which should con-
ed away. Events which sho-t-sighted politi-
clans ascrbed to earthly causes had been or
dained on his account. For his sake empires
had risen and fourished, and decayed For
his sake the Almighty had proclaimed hiswill I
by the pen of the evangelist, and the harp of I
the prophet. He had been rescued by no COM
mon deliyerer from the grasp of no common |
foe.@ He had been ransoined by the sweat Of |
no vulgar agony, by the blood of no earthly /
sacrifice. It vas for him that the sun had been |
darkened, the rocks had been rent, that the |
dead had arisen. that all nature had shudder- !
ed at the suferings Of her expiring God