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Untitled Article
And you that have ventured to advance through the mists , and have passed the marsh-fed meteors—you who see , and point to the notice of others , the sloughs into which the ignes fatui have led mankind—who have dared to think for yourselves in behalf of your fellow men—step on with full firm foot ; fearless and calmly bold , smile at the scoffs that will hurtle in your ears . Remember that nothing truly great or truly good , no outbursting of mighty genius , no grand flood-light of intelligence , no measure of expansive benevolence , no
generous , universal utility , has escaped the scathe of ridicule . Remember that every discovery which has revolutionized science has been opposed by sneers and contempt , and afterwards adopted by the sneerers . Remember the bitterness of disappointed efforts , the mockery of his entreaties , the contumely and scorn which Columbus
endured , —yet America holds its ground . Remember that Galileo was persecuted , even to the verge of death , —yet the earth revolves . Remember that every medical man in the nation poured his phial of derision on Harvey , —yet the blood does circulate . Remember that * Fulton ' s folly * was the by-word , and the sneer , and the jest , and the pity , of all wl o watched , and all who gaped in brainless and vacant curiosity , —yet st < am-boats and steam-ships do traverse rivers , lakes , and oceans safely . And do not forget that the loudest scoffers have , in all cases , been foremost and greediest in grasping at the pecuniary profits which these martyrs in the cause of human nature placed within the reach of dull insolence and cupidity . Among the greatest gainers by the Erie and Hudson New York Canal , are those who jeered most plentifully at ' Clinton ' s big ditch . ' The greatest of men have withered away existence in labouring for their species . Martyrs ?
Martyrdom ? The noblest spirits have not yet received their apotheosis—the worthiest of martyrs are not canonized . Their glory is now enveloped in obscuring clouds , which futurity shall waft aside , away and away for ever : then shall its vast and purely luminous globe irradiate the universe , and not scorch a single nutritious herb , nor defile the tint of a flower : it shall gladden all men , without dazzling the mentality of one by its splendour . More honourable , more worthy , more divine are such martyrdoms , than any which have been consummated at the stake in stubborn adherence to a mysterious creed . For such were seldom the benefactors of man . They did not love God ' s own family of nature . Shift the rod of power into their hands , and these adherents even to burning , would have become the burners .
Will the reader be good enough to pardon , if he have not skipped , this long digression ? He will perceive that it was thought growing out of memory , and reflection warming upon thought . Preparations were made for going to sea . Here was new bustle and fresh excitement , which , for a time , took away the moping dulness that succeeded my astonishment on discovering the quality of my new comrades . There was none of the wailing arid sorrowful leave-taking between sea-farers and their friends , of which I had read such very pretty and interesting accounts . To the miserable wretches in the hold , the first indication of a movement was a joy which they acknowledged in a rattling cheer from their dungeon ; it promised a termina-
Untitled Article
Autohiography of Pel . Verjuice . 699
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1833, page 699, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2624/page/39/
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