Year: 1875

For the Conn. Western Newf.J

 Difficulty.

 Few persons are SO fsvorably circum- stanced as not to be aware that life is en- circled with care and perplexities. All at tainable advantages have to be gained, as 1t were by conquest. Man everywhere en- counters an antagonism of impediments without an expenditure of faculty, of labor, of valiant personal endeavor there is DO possibility of progress or advancement Tn any of the paths of social or individual we'll being. All the satisfactions of the universe require to be purchased-must be resolutely won-by vigorous displays of manly force, and are yielded to none save under stern compliance with conditions.

 The dominion of Nature is despotic; an inviolable obedience to her appointments is indispensable to the success of every action, nor is there any means whereby man can fulfill his authentic destiny otherwise than by reconclling his aims and aspirations with the necessary tendencies of the natural enconomy. Human freedom is hence con- tingent upon due perception of the spe- cislities of the Divine arrangements, and . practical conformity with these, which con stitutes Q virtuous activity, demands great and faithfully sustained efforts and wig orous and determined discipline of spirit. That moral liberty, which IS the highest and most desirable attainment in mans experience, is achievable only by victory over obstacles, by resolute and successful subjugation of those circumstantial imped iments which obstruct the growth and man Hesitation of the souls powers and capabil- ities.

 Thus the position of man in the world Is one of imminent and ineyitable difficulty. Having to work out his life into harmony with the general design of things, and be- ing by nature liable to endless misapprehen- sions, and not the less to manifold practical shortcomings, he is continually opposed by bitter and harassing contradictions which dissipate and happle his best strength and frequently overwhelm him with discourage ment and failure. It IS not, however, on that account to be inferred that the opposi- tions and perplexities which we encounter | in ever SO many instances of modified dis aster. exerting over us nothing but evil in fluences, and calculated only to damage that unity and entirety of being which per sons desirous of faithfully fulfilling their destination are understood to be earnestly striving to attain. On the contrary it is true, and by little reflection may be rem dered clear to the understanding that all evil which does not take the shape of @ practical and personal wIckedness is invest ed with certain tendencies of benefit, and contributes indirectly 10 the production ol manifestation of some psrticular good, which, without collision with its opposite, might not have been brought into visible action or appearance.

 Of this kind are obviously all those ex- ternal hindrances which obstruct the free and spontaneous expansion of human char acter. Repression of any force has dis position to strengthen and augment the force itself So long as the vital power is not utterly extinguished, or to any consid' erable extent impaired in its essential prop. critics, the antagonism will tend mainly to consolidate and intensity the repressed en- ergy so that, on the ultimate removal or vanquishment of the obstruction, it will probably shoot forth into a more perfect development than would have been other. wise attained.

 Instances of the sort are by no means singular in the history of the human mind, nor even in the wider history of nations. And certainly it is a fact clear to the loos' est observation, that the men who have been least obstructed In their culture, or have fewest obstacles to contend with in their general life progress, have nowise been remarkable by the greatness of their success, or for any visible superiority over those who were less fortunately situated while, on the other hand, it is sufficiently well known that the most eminent and noteworthy of mankind have for the most part been those whose early career was al- most Intentionally beset with dificulties which needed to be reconclled or overcome before any satisfactory progress could be made towards realizing their peculiar aims and aspirations.

 Indeed nothing great or worthy has evel been done in the world without struggle Man is evidently bern to contend with op position, to wrestle with whatsoever diff culty may anywhere withstand him. sne by that lusty and invigorating exercise tt win additions to his native strength. Heu the more man through every successful conflict with hardship Or temptation. Onc' inspired with noble purpose, all adversity cannot quench the unkindled puissanc' within him, nor subdue the earnest striving by which he seeks to give form and beins to the living thought which he personities Like a suppressed or hidden plume, whicl for long time burns in secret. making nc visible breach in the mass of msteria which surrounds and covers it, but at last through some slight crevice ascends gradu ally towards the air and envelops all abou it in one common conflagration so by din degrees does the fire of manly power worl silently among the vaults and invisible pas sages of circumstance, till the floors ant beams which conceal and keep it down ar all ablaze with it's irresistible heat, and darts up finally in volumes of awe ant splendor.

 And as the vastness of the havoc in th' material catastrophe is invariably propor, toned to the extent and bulk of impedi ment which, by hiding the presence of fire fostered it's undermining layages so it is { matter of experlence that the greater th' . accumulation of clrcumstantial obstacles