What is this? that a seed produced a seed, and so for a thousand seasonsl Ascend a thousand steps, thy ladder leaveth thee in air: co, lo slulets- al Thou canst not climb to God, and short of Him is nothing; q rayond ouT There is no cause for aught we see, but in his present will do 70 Begin from the Maker, thou carriest down his attributes to reptiles, T The sharded beetle and the lizard live and move in Him: q njohW Begin from the creature, corruption and infirmity mar thy foolish toil bu A Heap Ossa on Olympus,how much art thou nearer to the stars? :77 It is easy running from a mountain's top down to the valleys at its foot, But difficult and steep the laborious ascent, and feebly shalt thou reach itf; Yet man, beginning from himself, that first deluding mystery,ibed ofT Hopeth from the pit of lies to struggle up to truth suit Twoger sifT So, taxing knowledge to its strength, he pusheth one step further, li offT And fancieth complacently that much is done by reaching a remote effect: Then he maketh answer to himself, as a silly nurse to her little one, Evading, in a mist of words, hard things he cannot solve;now Judw buA Till, like an ostrich in the desert, he burieth his head in atoms, tol T Hoping that, if he is blind, no sun can shine in heaven. 1 I-70nod jadł dw dfft glich solidno to motoew? Therefore cometh it to pass, that an atheist is ever the most credulous,10 I Snatching at any foolish cause, that may dispel his doubts jonq od And, even as it were for ridicule, a spectacle to men and angels, 3d77 The captious and cautious unbeliever is of all men weakest to believe I Cut from the anchorage of God, his bark is a plaything of the billows;ol The compass of his principle is broken, the rudder of his faith unshipped Chance and Fate, in a stultified antagonism, govern all for himg3 taft woH Truth sprang from the conflict of falsities, and the multitude of accidents hath bred design!oll lo que you doing ytrichoon to assiga todT Where is the imposture so gross that shall not entrap his curiosity? szint I What superstition is so abject that it doth not blanch his cheek row tadW Whereof can he be sure, with whom Chaos is substitute for Order? How should his silly structure stand, a pyramid built upon its apex? Yea, I have seen gray-headed men, the bastard slips of science, pescama oT Go for light glowworms, while they scorn the sun at noon so пo Men, who f fear no God, trembling at a gipsy's curse, dat zoladnovoří Men, who jest at a revelation, clinging to a madman's prophecy se omo rozrot bus loot ow of woid-bigt ow ob nullify-low SIB 95nedW There is a pleasing dread in the fashion of all mysteries, & grote woł For hope is mixed therein and fear; who shall divine their issue1?b nedW I quidion an dtoob mi borishoup ed toibi arofanoom edt liv baA Even the orphan, wandering by night, lost on dreary moors, Is sensible of some vague bliss amidst his shapeless terrors; When crime hath whispered his confession, and the secrets are written there in blood: The village maiden is elated at a tenderly confided tale ; The bandit's wife with sickening fear guessed the premeditated murder ; For mystery is man's life; we wake to the whisperings of novelty: Sweeten or embitter daily life with the honey-gall of mystery. For we walk blindfold,—and a minute may be much,—a step may reach the precipice; What earthly loss, what heavenly gain, may not this day produce? How dull the face of earth, unfeatured of both beauty and sublimity : Praise God, his hosts on high, for the mysteries that make all joy; To number every mystery were to sum the sum of all things: None can exhaust a theme, whereof God is example and similitude. Nevertheless, take a garland from the garden, a handful from the harvest, Some scattered drops of spray from the ceaseless mighty cataract. Whence are we,-whither do we tend, how do we feel and reason? How strange a thing is man, a spirit saturating clay! When doth soul make embryos immortal,-how do they rank hereafter,And will the unconscious idiot be quenched in death as nothing? In essence immaterial, are these minds, as it were thinking machines? The brain may be clockwork, and mind its spring, mechanism quickened by a spirit. Who so shrewd as rightly to divide life, instinct, reason; Trees, zoophytes, creatures of the plain, and savage man among them? Or the dog less than reason,—or the brute man more than instinct? Is practice electricity ?-Yet all these are but names. Doth normal Art imprison, in its works, spirit translated into substance, O mysteries, ye all are one, the mind of an inexplicable Architect Fields, and forests, and cities of men, their woes, and wealth, and works, For a little way, a little while, ye hang dependent on each other, But all are held in one right hand, and by His will ye are. Here is answer unto mystery, an unintelligible God, This is the end and the beginning, it is reason that He be not understood. Standing supreme as the mystery of mysteries, every where, yet imCal Panriobair ofzo personate, Essential one in three, essential three in one! to smower ni taft o2 : brim shl of Linsquo5 bis 5mike, petard or 310 PRINTmbs 40991 ed oT Sulbbit salt b-13 629 od w— gia • *y Il Le Janar 207 baA But the in and sad mob ult 10 won him ; gave him gifts, and won I HAD a seeming friend;—I gave him gifts, and he was gone; orodt al A Nevertheless, give for it shall be a discriminative te test, Separating honesty, from falsehood, weeding insincerity from friendship Give, it is like God; thou weariest the bad with benefits:96 nat flT Give, it is like God; thou gladdenest the good by gratitude. Give to thy near of kin, for Providence hath stationed thee his helper : Hath he been prosperous and blest? a flower may show thy gladness; Nor suffer idle sloth to lean upon thy charitable arm: To diligence give, as to an equal, on just and fit occasion; Or he bartereth his hard-earned self-reliance for the casual lottery of gifts; A man's own self respect is worth unto him more than money, There are who sow liberalities, to reap the like again; Yea, there are who give unto the poor, to gain large interest of God: And haply after thine, alms, thy calculated givings, The hurricane shall blast thy crops, and sink the homeward snip; Give, saith the preacher, be large in liberality, yield to the holy impulse, And men extol the noble hearts, who rob that they may give. Receivers are but little prone to challenge rights of giving, Nor stop to test, for conscience-sake, the righteousness of mammon : cause; And thus an unsuspected bribe shall blind the good man's judgment: It is easy to excuse greatness, and the rich are readily forgiven: What, if his gains were evil, sanctified by using them aright? |