Differ, by mystery not to be explained; And as we fall by various ways, and sink One deeper than another, self-condemned 1110 Through manifold degrees of guilt and shame; So manifold and various are the ways
Of restoration, fashioned to the steps Of all infirmity, and tending all
To the same point, attainable by all— Peace in ourselves, and union with our God. For you, assuredly, a hopeful road
Lies open we have heard from you a voice At every moment softened in its course By tenderness of heart; have seen your eye, 1120 Even like an altar lit by fire from heaven, Kindle before us. Your discourse this day, That, like the fabled Lethe, wished to flow In creeping sadness, through oblivious shades Of death and night, has caught at every turn The colours of the sun. Access for you Is yet preserved to principles of truth, Which the imaginative Will upholds In seats of wisdom, not to be approached By the inferior Faculty that moulds, With her minute and speculative pains, Opinion, ever changing!
A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract Of inland ground, applying to his ear The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell; 1135 To which, in silence hushed, his very soul Listened intensely; and his countenance soon Brightened with joy; for from within were heard
Murmurings, whereby the monitor expressed Mysterious union with its native sea. Even such a shell the universe itself Is to the ear of Faith; and there are times,
I doubt not, when to you it doth impart Authentic tidings of invisible things; Of ebb and flow, and ever-during power; 1145 And central peace, subsisting at the heart Of endless agitation. Here you stand, Adore, and worship, when you know it not; Pious beyond the intention of your thought; Devout above the meaning of your will.
-Yes, you have felt, and may not cease to feel. The estate of man would be indeed forlorn If false conclusions of the reasoning power Made the eye blind, and closed the passages Through which the ear converses with the heart.
Has not the soul, the being of your life, Received a shock of awful consciousness, In some calm season, when these lofty rocks At night's approach bring down the unclouded sky,
To rest upon their circumambient walls; 1160 A temple framing of dimensions vast, And yet not too enormous for the sound Of human anthems,―choral song, or burst Sublime of instrumental harmony, To glorify the Eternal! What if these Did never break the stillness that prevails Here, if the solemn nightingale be mute, And the soft woodlark here did never chant Her vespers,-Nature fails not to provide 1169 Impulse and utterance. The whispering air Sends inspiration from the shadowy heights, And blind recesses of the caverned rocks; The little rills, and waters numberless, Inaudible by daylight, blend their notes With the loud streams: and often, at the hour When issue forth the first pale stars, is heard, Within the circuit of this fabric huge,
One voice-the solitary raven, flying Athwart the concave of the dark blue dome, Unseen, perchance above all power of sight- An iron knell! with echoes from afar Faint--and still fainter-as the cry, with which The wanderer accompanies her flight Through the calm region, fades upon the ear, Diminishing by distance till it seemed
1185 To expire; yet from the abyss is caught again, And yet again recovered!
But descending From these imaginative heights, that yield Far-stretching views into eternity,
Acknowledge that to Nature's humbler power Your cherished sullenness is forced to bend 1191 Even here, where her amenities are sown With sparing hand. Then trust yourself abroad To range her blooming bowers, and spacious fields,
Where on the labours of the happy throng 1195 She smiles, including in her wide embrace City, and town, and tower, and sea with ships Sprinkled ;-be our Companion while we track Her rivers populous with gliding life;
While, free as air, o'er printless sands we
Or pierce the gloom of her majestic woods; Roaming, or resting under grateful shade In peace and meditative cheerfulness; Where living things, and things inanimate, Do speak, at Heaven's command, to eye and
And speak to social reason's inner sense, With inarticulate language.
Who, in this spirit, communes with the Forms Of nature, who with understanding heart
Both knows and loves such objects as excite No morbid passions, no disquietude,
No vengeance, and no hatred—needs must feel The joy of that pure principle of love So deeply, that, unsatisfied with aught Less pure and exquisite, he cannot choose 1215 But seek for objects of a kindred love In fellow-natures and a kindred joy. Accordingly he by degrees perceives His feelings of aversion softened down; A holy tenderness pervade his frame. His sanity of reason not impaired, Say rather, all his thoughts now flowing clear, From a clear fountain flowing, he looks round And seeks for good; and finds the good he
Until abhorrence and contempt are things 1225 He only knows by name; and, if he hear, From other mouths, the language which they speak,
He is compassionate; and has no thought, No feeling, which can overcome his love.
"And further; by contemplating these Forms In the relations which they bear to man, He shall discern, how, through the various
Which silently they yield, are multiplied The spiritual presences of absent things. Trust me, that for the instructed, time will
When they shall meet no object but may teach Some acceptable lesson to their minds. Of human suffering, or of human joy.
So shall they learn, while all things speak of
Their duties from all forms; and general laws,
And local accidents, shall tend alike To rouse, to urge; and, with the will, confer The ability to spread the blessings wide Of true philanthropy. The light of love Not failing, perseverance from their steps 1245 Departing not, for them shall be confirmed The glorious habit by which sense is made Subservient still to moral purposes, Auxiliar to divine. That change shall clothe The naked spirit, ceasing to deplore The burthen of existence. Science then Shall be a precious visitant; and then, And only then, be worthy of her name: For then her heart shall kindle; her dull eye, Dull and inanimate, no more shall hang Chained to its object in brute slavery; But taught with patient interest to watch The processes of things, and serve the cause Of order and distinctness, not for this Shall it forget that its most noble use, Its most illustrious province, must be found In furnishing clear guidance, a support Not treacherous, to the mind's excursive power. So build we up the Being that we are; Thus deeply drinking-in the soul of things, 1265 We shall be wise perforce; and, while inspired By choice, and conscious that the Will is free, Shall move unswerving, even as if impelled By strict necessity, along the path
Of order and of good. Whate'er we see, 1270 Or feel, shall tend to quicken and refine; Shall fix, in calmer seats of moral strength, Earthly desires; and raise, to loftier heights Of divine love, our intellectual soul."
Here closed the Sage that eloquent harangue, Poured forth with fervour in continuous stream,
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