Year: 1859

If all the world ugly, defomity would be monster


ga hook is well lost that catches salmon"


One of the saddest mistakes which good
people have made, is in supposing the world
to be mistake. To these people-and
their number is not small-the earth is but
theater of pain and sickness, sorrow and
death. Joy is ilusive, pleasure a cheat,
laughter a mockery, and happiness thing
impossible, and net even to be looked for
on this side the grave To them, every
thing in the world which tempts them to
withdraw for a moment from the contem-
plation of the future life is thug to be
trodden under feet. The performance
of all duty is the taking up" of what they
call "a cross" They are actually afraid to
be happy, under an overshadowing impress
sion that they have no right to be happy in
this life. They believe that there is some
thing intrnscally bad in the world they
inhabit, and all the joy that proceeds from
it, They have an idea that the moral evil
which afflicts the human race has struck in,
and that an intimate analysis would detect
it in the oldest of the geological strata
All the sufferings of the brute creation
bhNl WI OSo VI ioOOlt uuu vi OOuJ .
and pains of death-are so many voices
proclaiming the fatal failure of Adam.
Human nature itself is an awful thing. God
is great law-giver, an neXorable avenger,
an awful judge, Being to be feared, more
than loved. Life is a trial-severe, unre-
lenting, perpetual. All that seems good
and graceful and glorious in the world is q
hollow sham, for the deception of the un-
wary and the ruin of the unwiSe Every
thing is at war with the SOUPS best inter-
ests, and everything is in league against the
soul to trip its heels foully, aud play it scan
dalouS tricks.


So these sad people walk through the
world with long faces, bent upon the ground,
which they only lift to heaven in depreca-
tion Of judgments which they have an aw-
ful conviction that they deserve. The JOY
GUS life that comes in contact with them
shrinks from them repulsed and dsgusted.
The religion which they profess is an un-
loved and an unlovable thing. 1t possesses
no attractive feature to secure even the re-
spect of those over whom it yearns with
honest tears, and over whose pursuits it
breathes the words of the preacher-"van-
lty of vanities-all is vanity p The day
OF death is kept constantly in view and,
though contemplated with terror, is regard
ed as the only chance for release from
that which is deceptive and dangerous, and
the achievement of that which is true and
enduring. They have an idea that God is
dealing mysteriouSly with their souls in eve
ry spasm of dyspepsia, every suspension of
bile, every attack of cGtarrh. Wars and
rumOrs of wars, storms, hurricanes, earth
quakes-all connections OF mind and mat
ter-are so many indications of the Divine
wrath and prophecies Of coming evil. What
is worse than all the rest, these people not
only live, but they keep diaries and write
books from them-long, drawling, dreamy,
dismal platitudes, in which they dssect
themselves and their daily experience
healthy TO the very core, and utterly repuls-
i've to every robust aud healthy soul that
loves God, and blesses him for life and a
place to live in.


have not intended iu these essays to
discuss theology TO any considerable ex-
tent but il becomes necessary for me TO
say here that this ineffably horrible disease
that has fastened itself like cancer upon
the Christianity of the world has its birth
in false aud every way dishonorable view
of God. Pietism is not piety penance is
not minister to Christian life Both are
children Of falsehOod and the type of
opinion and life against which ! write is the