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Untitled Article
and participate in those pure and elevated associations , the very capacity of comprehending- whteh constitutes , perhaps , one of the highest attributes of the human naind . The statesman , with his breast jewelled with the orders of his liability , may proceed in pomp to the Upper or Lower House of Parliament , there to
deliberate on the intricate machinations of political philosophy ; the merchant , fat as the late Sir William Curtis or Daniel Lambert , may ostentatiously exhibit himself on the pave of the Stock Exchange , buying in and selling out to an extent which may confound the judgment of the less initiated ; yet the stern truth must recur to a reflecting mind , that a coronet does not always command authority or respect , and that worldly riches are not always the symbol of
human felicity . When , indeed , we compare the eventful changes which are constantly occurring in the government and destiny of nations with the immutable peace and harmony which prevail throughout nature , we observe an affecting contrast ; thrones may totter and blood be shed , yet will the valleys and uplands far away , be not the less verdant ; the war-cry , too , of rebellion may re-echo from street to street through affrighted cities , yet will the sweet birds , which make ' their summer-lives one
constant song , ' as joyously and as ' innocently open their glad wings ; ' nor will they chaunt their wood-notes wild less melodiously or happily . Away ,, then , from the polluted atmosphere of the mercantile or political world : let us seek the divinity of science , not as a Sybil weaving mysteries to perplex the intellect and confound our natural feelings in a web of sophistry , but as a directing angel , who , in revealing to us the most curious and interesting truths in nature , will unseal at the same time the
fountains of the heart , so that its best affections may mingle with all we see and hear until humanity , which is the element of all moral goodness , becomes itself identified with knowledge . Away , then , with us into solitude ; yet is it not solitude , for to the eye of a pantheist , —and there are many who believe in that gentle heresy , —rocks , mountains , valleys , rivers , lakes , are all instinct with a spirit which may inspire a congenial mind with many reflections which seem to stretch away into infinity . In all seasons and in all climates , in sunshine and in storm , the lover of
nature may cherish this as his true catholic faith;—nor is this all earth , air , ocean and all its tributary streams , are peopled with myriads of living beings which have still a more direct and touching claim upon his sympathies ; for even in childhood the desire of companionship , which is inherent in the human heart ,
prompts us to select for our solicitude or love , a bird , an insect , a flower , —any sensate being which will manifest the ordinary phenomena of life and participate in the common destiny of mortality . Our interest , too , is insensibl y excited b y the very happiness which appears to bo so universally diffused throughout the animate creation ;—tho merry antics of the kitten by the fireside , —the
Untitled Article
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1835, page 269, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2644/page/45/
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