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good influence operating on the soul of society j aw 9 tfcflf irad ^ o ^ onftr * the inspiration of C ^ od upon the heart , but the , pressure of pr iest * upon tte wiH ; no longer a principle of love , but the power of fear- Art had give ^ n no impulse to human ingenuity ; and commerce , except in tWd or ffire ^ ci tiei of Italy , brought no contributions even to external and physical eiWffiRAllte Force and superstition wen * the only preservers of social order . Abn 69 t tite only method by which genius could pour its ideas , and senthnenfc itito t ] ie popular mind , was by the recent , or recently revived , invention of oil-painting
—the divine art , which , at its birth was consecrated to religion , and bfougpt before the e " ye of unlettered multitudes the grace and pathos of Sctjftttrre story , and , enshrined in rude hearts the love of purity ana the aspirations 6 f holiness , binder the images of Mary and of Christ . Amid the sleep of the general mind , a promise , indeed , of better days had arisen . The writers of Grreece and Rome had just been rescued from a long oblivion ; but it was only by an indirect atid circuitous influence , by furnishing the impulse td the production of national and popular literature , that their recovery couid act on the great mass of men . After a long polar winter of the mind , the brilliant
orb of ancient learning had arisen on the summits of society , and begun to melt the snpws which had frozen its genius ; but the valley still lay beneath the night , and were unvisited yet by the descending streams of thought , that were to clothe the wilderness with fertility . * Suppose another cycle gone , and our eye turned again upon the world : All darkness still ; fear , and strife , and bloodshed walk the earth in inelan *
choly triumph . The labourers of Providence in the peaceful arts of civilization seem fewer and more dispirited than before . But , in the obscurity of a German city , an instrument is seen , of little note indeed , ani power undeveloped , but great significance ; in which the spirit of foresfght perceives that Providence was never more beneficent ; and' humanity never on the eve of a mightier career . The implements of Printing are at work . to look the
* When the periodic visitant returns a ^ ain upou earth , the face of all things is changed . For itself , it is not likely to lurk any longer unnoticed in the heavens , and glide through its course unrecognized * fbi * Copernicus is there to gaze ; and Algebra , a new instrument of unrivalled power in the scientific interpretation of nature , is already in men ' s hands . There is a perceptible accession of refinement to the hearts , and dignity to the minds of men : for they have held converse with the creations of poetry and
art ; the genius of Italy has converted ' a material into an ideal existence , and visited them with the perceptions of beauty , and aspirations after better life . The thraldom of fear upon the passions is relieved by the sentiment of intellectual admiration , and the impulses of moral sympathy . Above all , the consolidated tyranny of Rome is cleft in twain ; and though it has been truly said of the Reformation , that it gave to the human mind many lords instead of one , still it is something to have a choice of masters ; and by that species of infinite division to which Protestant intolerance tends , despotism becomes attenuated into liberty , and fanaticism must be starved for want 6 t
sympathy . The fatal spell of Pontifical Tradition was broken . The book of life was open before the eyes of men ; and however their ignorance map misunderstand , and their passions pervert its meaning , it teaches too van * ously , by parable and precept , by model and by miracle , the infinite paternity of God , the universality of his Providence , and the equal an < J immqml relation of all men to him , not to drive away the fierce fancies of bigotry aft>f .
ahd sublime the devotion , while it refines the morality of the world . TrntJlt iA , that within the very generation of which I speak ; one of the" most tt * lte ~ naat act * of intolerance was committed ; and Calrin , after himself wflactiilg the doctrine of Transubstantiation , one of the twin mysteries of Rome ; tiitrnf Servetus as a heretic , for rejecting the Trinity , which was the other . But in the mean while , so long as persecution should'WsgriuseHlhe arintili ox ate old world , a refuge Was not itt ^ SceMbtt J ; fbr Americ ^ fuel $ «^ Wg « p p M j pkh ^• w ^ rkte ^ itncl ' wtt ^ destined fsb Tteeoiue ( fee' Hk * j luul * cC 0 ]>)> ieffeJClTeiigfenJ Tub forest mine of infant liberty .
Untitled Article
GrMMl N * M * . Hit
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1835, page 753, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2651/page/61/
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