The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-08-02

From Chambers Journal.
Gross Thinkers.
For what end it may have been de
signed, We cannot tell but the fact i:
certain that, in all questions, great and
small, public and private, there is a elias,
of minds which are sure to embrace the
side of weakest argument. For a palpa
bic and certain truth such minds have nc
relish. A great broad principle which
recommends itself to the common sense
of the bulk of mankind is, in their eyes
an impertinence. In doctrine every
where prevalent and popular, they sec
only vulgarity. A deduction irrcsstibly
logical, only cxcites in them the suspi
cion of some rrofoundor error. If. on
the other hand you tell them something
extremely hard to believe, they will
make manful struggle to swallow it
and probably will succeed AS MlLroN's
Satan says Evil, be thou my good, 4,
so they cry "Sophism, be thou our rea-
son p
The pious Jesuit who said "I be-
lieve it because it is impossiblcn was a
type of this class Any one can believe
the possible-thorc is no merit in that
but to accept in unshrinking faith some
thing utterly incongruous with expert
ence and common sense, is to do that
which few can do, and to do it is, accord
ingly, great glory. There is some van
ity in the matter, if | go with the multi
tude- my voice is lost in it | may
be right, but | attract no attention. But
if | stand up by myself, or with some
smaller sect, and declare my attachment
to some strangely hcterocltc ideas, |, at
least, do not pass notolcssly The mass
feel little troubled by my dissent, aud
perhaps even think it worth while to
take some pains to bring mo over to
their way Of thinking. One becomes
somebody i'll these circumstances.
1t is also observable Of this class of
thinkers, that even they concur with the
majority in any profession of faith, they
quite disregard all the leading and i'm
portant points Of the system, and fastcu
exclusively upon some merely external
or accidental pcculiaritics. \ funda-
mental doctrine which most men feel
goes down into the profoundcst depths
Of their moral being, has no attraction
for them; but they are careful to see
the upholstery and millinery of the sys-
tenn preserved in all their ancient in
tegrity. just because a thing looks Of
no Consequence they think it important.
Were it really to become Of consequence
they would desert it,
An almost supcrhuman suspiciOusness
is constant feature of the Gloss think
cr. According to him, an author is not
the author Of his own books. There is
always some person behind backs who
writes them for him. He may write
some other body's books, but not his
own. When the Cross thinker sees
political opponent taking course which
shows remarkable degree Of moral
and obviously exposes him to
damage in his worldly ailairs,hc feels as
sured there is some transcendcntal sell
fshncss at the bottom Of it. When the
three thousand English clergy withdrew
from their charges, rather than submit
to the Act Of Uniformity, ,hc would have
been quite clear that they had good
grounds for expecting to better their in,
comes by woat they were doing. A
very martyr burning at TIE stake would
scarcely get credit for sincerity with
'ur Cross thinker. There would be
great reason to suspect that he had been
I'll along acting part and at the las.
moment had expected to be repricvcd
In considering by what means any
,reat result has been brought about,
'ur friends overlook all the prominent
md great causes, and seldom fail, with /
IN air of mysterious sagacity, to draw
'ur attention to certain others so small
IS TO appear almost indifferent, or which
'ossibly you are more inclined to rank
IS distractions. For example, they
would never think of attributing the .
'eSt points of the general character of
he gentlemen of England to either the
Inherent qualities of the stock, or what
nay be sound and good in the education
o which they are subjected They
'ould profess to sec some vast influence
or good in the tagging system of tho
'ubiic schools-that system by which a
10Y Of fourteen is entitled to tyrannizo
yer boy of ten, and make menial
t him, as if it could bs good for any
ne to be either oppressed or an opprcs-
or. With pervcrse ingenuity which
'ould be amusing if it were not so sad
= out of harmony with truth, our friends
MI argue for virtue in that which is ,
reality vice. They will give to
ase' old, bad thing, which only has not
lcccoded in preventing real intellectual
nd Moral advancement, the credit of
Il the good which has been accomplish
i. The fact is, true cause is vul.
ar, stupid thing, which anybody can
ppreelate. If you wish to make any,
llng for yourself out of case, you
lust strive to establish some no-cause
a cause-'always the moro merit the
lie less tenable your propositions. Let
one be afraid of wanting support for
10 conclusions in favor of such improb (
bilitics. just in proportion to the
ntonableness Of his doctrines, he will
c the more certain to have party raj
ing around him, to proclaim his anna.
ng profouudnoss of views, his irrcsista.
le logic, his almost suporhuman sagac- {
y.
CrOssthinking has Of course litera.
lro of its own, and also system of I
'iticism. One CoRyrHeUs of the set
rites huge history, in which every. |
ling is traced to the least operative
'uses, and the lessons of all the prin.
pal events are duly mislead Anoth- {
: is an oracle of journal, which for
ing course of years has done all it can
, resist whatever is calculated for the !