74 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. But to require of God that he should at once command the Soul into that state that it is thus kindly to ripen into in succession of time, is to expect that the Seasons of the year should be thrown headlong one upon another on a heap, and that there neither should be Buds nor Blossoms, (though they have their peculiar Use, Beauty, and Fragrancy,) but that it should be Autumn all the year long. But the Divine Wisdom is the best dispenser of his Goodness, who to set all the powers of Nature a-working, brings in Monsters as well as Hercules into the World, that Valour may have a proportionate Object. And were not the Kingdom of Darkness itself some way useful, and did not some homage or other to the high Sovereignty of Divine Wisdom and Goodness, I dare pronounce, it would not subsist one moment, but be quite exterminated out of Being. Henry More. Of a truth we ought to know and believe that there is no life so noble and good and well pleasing to God as the life of Christ, and yet it is to nature and selfishness the bitterest life. A life of carelessness and freedom is to nature and the Self and the Me, the sweetest and pleasantest life, but it is not the best; and in some men may become the worst. Now, since the life of Christ is every way most bitter to nature and the Self and the Me, therefore, in each of us, Nature hath a horror of it, and thinketh it evil and unjust and a folly, and graspeth after such a life as shall MAN BOTH AN END AND A MEANS. 7.5 be most comfortable and pleasant to herself, and saith, and believeth also in her blindness that such a life is the best possible. Now, nothing is so comfortable and pleasant to nature, as a free, careless way of life, therefore she clingeth to that, and taketh enjoyment in herself and her own powers, and looketh only to her own peace and comfort and the like. And this happeneth most of all, where there are high natural gifts of reason, for that soareth upwards in its own light and by its own power, till at last it cometh to think itself the true Eternal Light, and giveth itself out as such, and is thus deceived in itself, and deceiveth other people along with it, who know no better, and also are thereunto inclined. Theologia Germanica. Man, whether in his individual, or in his corporate capacity, is neither to be regarded solely as the end of his own being, nor solely as a mean and instrument employed for the well-being of others, nor again as partly one and partly the other,- but as both at once, and each wholly. Nay, so inseparable is this twofold office, and indivisible, that he cannot rightly fulfil either, except by fulfilling the other. He has a positive and significant part to act in the great drama of the world's life and that part derives a double importance from not being designed to pass away like a dream, but to leave a lasting impression on the destinies and character of the race. Moreover it is by diligently performing the part assigned to him, by topping it, as the phrase is, that he does his utmost to forward the general action of the drama. Guesses at Truth. 76 MAN BOTH AN END AND A MEANS. As Heraclitus observes, those who are asleep may be said to help the World forward. Even he that complains, makes head against his Fate, and strives to pull the Administration in pieces, even such a testy Mortal as this, is useful in his way. Consider then how you are ranged, and whether you have joined the Dutiful or the Disaffected Party. Antoninus. If you have observed a Hand or a Foot, cut off and removed from the Body, just such a thing is that man to his Power, who is either a Malcontent or Overselfish; who struggles against Fate, or breaks off from the Interest of Mankind. The Man that pulls himself asunder by his untoward aversion to his Neighbor, little thinks how by this unhappy Division he disincorporates himself from the Body of Mankind. This untoward behavior amounts to Amputation, and destroys the Union of Nature. But here lies the Goodluck of the Case; 'Tis in your power to retrieve the Maim and set the Limb on again. favor is allowed to no other part of Creation. Consider then the particular Bounty of God Almighty to Man in this privilege. He has set him above the Necessity of breaking off from Nature and Providence at all. But supposing his Miscarriage; 'Tis in his power to rejoin the Body, and grow together again, and recover the advantage of being the same Member he was at first. This But if this Misfortune is often repeated, 'twill be a hard matter to restore the Part and close the Division. For as Gardeners observe, a Bough cut off and grafted in THE ACTUAL AND THE IDEAL. 77 again, is not in the same good condition with another which always flourished on the Trunk. For though the First does not grow out of its Kind, yet it suffers somewhat in its Figure and Beauty. Antoninus. We have seen or heard of many extraordinary young men who never ripened, or whose performance in actual life was not extraordinary. When we see their air and mien, when we hear them speak of society, of books, of religion, we admire their superiority; they seem to throw contempt on the whole state of the world; theirs is the tone of a youthful giant, who is sent to work revolutions. But they enter an active profession, and the forming Colossus shrinks to the common size of man. The magic they used, was the ideal tendencies which always make the Actual ridiculous; but the tough world had its revenge the moment they put their horses of the sun to plough in its furrow. They found no example and no companion, and their heart fainted. What then? The lesson they gave in their first aspirations is yet true, and a better valor, and a purer truth, shall one day execute their will, and put the world to shame. Emerson. At this very moment there is perhaps hardly a youth to be found, who does not believe, that, like a shrine, the sanctuary of a saint, or a mummy case, he bears secretly about within him a spiritual giant, and that, if the shrine or the mummy case could be opened, the said giant would be found within, alive and vigorous. Yes, the writer of 78 EVERY PERSON HOLY TO US. this sentence was, in early life, five or six great men in quick succession, as he imitated them exactly. But when we come to years, that is, to understanding what is really great, we find ourselves to be nobody. Richter. Most natures are insolvent; cannot satisfy their own wants, have an ambition out of all proportion to their practical force, and so do lean and beg day and night continually. Emerson. Thou art in the end what thou art. Put on wigs with millions of curls, set thy foot upon ell-high rocks. Thou abidest ever what thou art. Goethe. A man can at last only say "Here I am!" that his friends sparing him may rejoice in him. Ib. Lass uns nicht vergessen Dass von sich selbst der Mensch nicht scheiden kann. - ль. To sit idle aloft, like living statues, like absurd Epicurus-gods in pampered isolation, in exclusion from the glorious fateful battle-field of this God's-world, it is a poor life for a man, when all Upholsterers and French Cooks have done their utmost for it! Nay, what a shallow delusion is this we have all got into. That any man should or can keep himself apart from men, have 'no business' with them, except a cash account 'business!' |
