The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-08-21

prophet imagery! WHdC Is
the thought around which this sub
lime drapery is thrown' Behind the
material universe, the "heavens and
the earth" there is something greater
than the material universe, some
thing before which the material uni
verse. as we see it and know it, passes
for a season away and does not come
into mind. There are things that be-
long to a higher sphere and nobler
life, things that are not "of the earth,
earthly" things that are symbolized
by the great white throne and center
in Him who sits upon it, of which
we now and then catch glimpses.
There are times when the outward
heavens and earth that seem so solid
vanish as unsubstantial shadows. and
the throne of the Eternal, standing
for God, for righteousness, for purity,
Justice, love, for Immortality shines
clear and bright before the mind.
That throne symbolizes something
that is more real than hills, lakes,
trees and rocks; something that is
more stable than this ''sure and firm
set earth, more lofty and serene than
the 'azure vault fretted with golden
fire" As the outward vanishes, that
which represents the interior and
central appears. We see, not visible
shapes. but hidden principles and
forces.
Upon that great white throne and
all that it signifies, man looks with
different vision from that which gazes
upon sea and landscape. That realm
is not beheld by the outward eye; it
is not appreciable by the senses.
"Reverently," says DR.. Bartol, I'VE
may apply this sublime verse to Illus
trate how before a divinely inspired
human imagination, sublunary things
flee and become as chat from the
threshing floor, and put on new
shapes, as symbols and ciphers OF
realities which, with the soul, abide
forever" Before the inner and not
the outer vision of the prophet rises
the great white throne. The magma
ton is the faculty which bids the un-
seen take shape, which shows us the
beauty and glory of moral qualities,
which brings us into communion with
the great life that throbs through all
nature, which summons back to our
sides the ones who have flown away.
When this great magician of the
soul, the Imagination, flashes before
us such revelations as these, the pomp
and pageantry of earth grow pale
and mans proudest material move
ments fade from granite into mist.
"The heavens and earth flee away"
The throne and Him who sits upon it
occupy, for the time the whole hori-
zon.
WHAT IS IMAGINATIoN!-lt is the
divining construction and pictur-
ing power of the human soul in
whatever direction it may be exer-
cised. 1t pierces through all dis
guises: it sees things as they really
are; it pictures them as they might
be; it builds new worlds out of old
materials.
l. First of all, then, Imagination
is that poauer of the mind aoh'ch
pierceS through the OUTWARD appear
ance, and sees things as they are, on
may be, or ought to be.
Leigh Hunt says: "There are two
worlds, that which we can measure
with line and rule, and the world
which we feel with our hearts and
imaginations." Tennyson sings of
the poet.
CHE saw thro' life and death, thro good
and i'll;
He saw through his own soul,
The marvel of the everlasting will
An open scroll
Before him lay;
To put this part of the definition
into still different phrasing, Imagina-
ton is the eye behind the eye that
sees the world behind the world.
Every true picture is more than a
mere copy of some object, more than
an exact reproduction of house or
a face. The eye of the painter, the
inner eye, sees something else sug-
gested which he tries to realize. 1t
is not an object, not a sky or land
scape or lake that he wishes to set
before US; but a thought, a senti-
ment, embodied in the cloud on field
or wave. And he who would see
picture truly, must look upon it with
the painters eye; he must see the
idea that informs it. 1t is the same
faculty of poet and painter which,
in the apostle, looked mot upon the
things which are seen, but upon the
things which are not seen; for the
things that are seen are temporal,