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attainment of this extended view , that we eagerly took up the * Mystfeism <* f Plato . ' But to those , who , attracted by the volume contained in this title , look to find some , if it were only the small coin , of the riches of imagination , or the treasures of heart-wisdom , it will prove a disappointment . Such is not here . We find ourselves suddenly in the midst of scholastic criticism , couched , it is true , in most nervous and
eloquent sentences , on the old subject of the \ 0 y 09 . The body of Plato is there , but , alas ! the soul is afar ofF . Yet this criticism has its use in these days of dogmatical controversy , and rarely is it touched in so philosophical a spirit . The author shows * that orthodoxy was borrowed from Platonism ; yet , that in transferring the idea , as well as the word , what was abstract in Platonism was made personal in orthodoxy ; what was mystical was made real ; and ,
in one word , a Platonic mysticism was converted into an orthodox . reality / ( p . 34 . ) In the comprehensive spirit of his master ' doctrine , ' the founder of an universal religion , that is , of a religion which was to supersede all other religions , arid into which every other religion was to be absorbed , as rivers flow into the sea , ' the evangelist identified him with the Platonic Xoyo ? , and it was only in after times that the ward was personified , and the mystic doctrine literalized , and vulgarized , misrepresenting alike the apostle and the philosopher , and fabricating from the language of metaphysical truth , common to them
both , a preposterous creed , to be enforced by persecution . The name of Plato made us expect more and other matter . Doubtless at this time but a faint semblance can be had of that unfathomable and majestic mind , and that little only to be grasped by those who have an ardent love and search after that truth and beauty which is immutable , and of which , were there the desire for it , some portion might be seen by all , as it rests not in things , but in the mind of the searcher . Still , for this work , if he did no more , the author must rank high among
those who have done good in their generation ; with an ardent , yet aeute and calm intellect , he has boldly stepped over the little mud entrenchments , and innumerable hillocks which are error ' s favourite abiding places ; and though he has not passed on to the high mountains , yet his is not the mind to be discouraged that still higher and higher the bright peaks arise beyond him , nor because that the distance is to our sight lost in clouds ; he will go on his way rejoicing in each inch of ground gained to the good cause ; and with heart and soul we say , God speed him . Will the realist smile , and the cold-hearted scoff ?
Surely , —for is not the power of each beirrg to approach the source of all good , limited by the imperfections of its own character ? So it was from the beginning , and ever will be . But if when the fulness of time shall have come , and the mists shall have cleared , and the sun shine out fully , better spirits shall predominate , then will they bow their hearts to the few , who , through doubt and thick darkness , kept alive a hopeful faith in higher things .
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A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles through the United States of America . By S . A . Fe . rrall , Esq . London , 1832 . Veity lively , graphic , clever sketches . They bear obvious marks of correctness , and are alike full of entertainment and of wisdom . There
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64 & Critical Notices .- ^ -The Mysticism of Plato ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1832, page 646, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1820/page/70/
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