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    348 NOTICES OF BOOKS.

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    German Litjehatuhe.

    many of our fellow-creatures would not deserve _Carlyle's reproach , of continually whining * after happiness ifinstead of pining after

    impossible ideals and endeavoring to alter , the bias of their own natures , they were content to idealize the common every-day duties of life .

    Novalis has defined character to consist in a perfectly educated will . To carry out this thought , we may say that the educated will will

    offcen discover true happiness in its own self-sacrifice . A thousand schemes of bliss -which we plan for the future depend hut on an

    uncertain hap , for the _imguided human will is the most impotent of powers , as useless as the momentum of a body which is stopped by

    an opposing force . Yet man ' s hindrances , " it has been said , are " God's opportunities . " The life of each of us is a schooland the

    , definite life plan which is marked out for us is calculated to develop to the highest extent the peculiar faculties of each ; but Frau

    _Pfannenschmidt has forgotten to point out the fundamental distinction between mere happiness which depends on outward

    circumstances , and that more permanent joy which originates in the soul , and is independent of all exterior surroundings . *'

    We thank her , however , for dwelling with emphasis on one important point—that the object of culture and of religion is not to

    thwart the tendency of our own natures . " Nature , " as old Jacob _Belimen said" did not come into man for the sake of sinand why

    , , should it fall away for the sake of grace ? " The dynamics of human nature are to _Tbe turned to the right direction ; they are not to

    be destroyed . To find out one's duty and to do itor to endeavor to fulfil in

    , existence the object of our creation , is , according to this simple teaching , to go on our way rejoicing . It is a hopeful sign when a

    writer attempts to draw the attention of his readers to the blessings of lifeand teaches them to find a healthy enjoyment in the good

    , gifts which are around _xis . We think some evil is done in the present day by a style of

    writing which represents this world too exclusively as a place of dreary pilgrimage—a time of nothing but suffering and sorrow—and

    endeavors to solace the hearts of the afflicted by theories of luxurious ease in a Paradise to come . Why should we separate as

    two lives that which is really one ? The eternity to come is a continuation of the immortality whichas Christianswe have with

    us in this life . Earth is the nursery , for heaven , and , as children it befits us to wait and work . We can form no exact conception

    of the future , for words are weak as symbols of what no mortal tongue can utter . But we know that the truest rest may be

    consistent with the noblest energy , and our every-day lives may be translations of Christianity . The Gospel was given to us to bring

    " Wbnne * The _^ The G _^ nd erman " Zelig sup form p heit lies ; " " w Das ith iness other Glilck w ' ords refers for to rath " joy er , " atin su fortune cli as fortune " Freude pro and s _" -

    perity " joy " . to the word Saxon exult . , " The happ Greek , " also answers maintains the L distinction " . , "

    348 Notices Of Books.

    348 NOTICES OF BOOKS .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1862, page 348, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011862/page/60/