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transitory tension of a muscle that can keep it up ; volition will not balance gravitation . True it is that , by a momentary concentration of the will , incredible things may be accomplished . We stand for an instant sublime over all allurements and necessities , wondering at the weakness of men , and re membering our own former weaknesses as an indistinct dream . But , my friend , you must not expect those ecstacies to be permanent , nor groan too bitterly in spirit when they disappear . They never came unpurchased . A horse-power is a horse-power still , whether it be employed in raising a weight
one hundred feet in a second , or one foot in a hundred seconds . These ecstacies leave your total force the same as before . If a man ' s fortune allow him nothing more than moderation in meat and clothing , then any expansion of the one necessarily exists at the cost of the other . These quicksilver delights may be similarly obtained , and the flaccid reaction which succeeds them is exactly analogous to the vacuous stomach of the dandy who spends , in a bouquet at Covent-garden , the sixpence which might have purchased him a lunch .
The devil , like an English sapper , takes " ubique " for his motto . He is the spokesman of the propensities , against which your ecstacies finally break like prismatic soap-bubbles . They are ever and everywhere present , slumber ng or awake , continuous forces which cannot be annulled by a momentary force . The ball on the bowling-green springs from the powerful arm of the gamester , but every grass blade is an obstacle in its way . The exertion of strength was momentary , the friction is continuous—push , push , push , every little push destroying a corresponding amount of velocity , till at length the ball stands still . Thus a bomb shot from a cannon ' s mouth travels side by side with the sound of the explosion—a thousand feet in a second or
upwards—while a paltry sixteen feet is all that can be imparted by gravity , it must surely wander on for ever ; but , no , it was propelled by an impulse ; but gravity is no impulse ; the line of motion soon bends , the missile swings through a parabola , at the other end of which it will be found stuck in the clod . Where , then , are we to seek a power to help us up the gradient along which the propensities gravitate ? Can intellect help us ? Intellect is a mercenary who will fight under any banner , and never once stumbles over moral scruples ; a cabman who drives Whigs and Tories with equal alacrity from Charing-cross to Westminster ; a Birmingham gunsmith who sells his wares to Turks and Russians ; a bravo who will kill any given man for a consideration , a former employer inclusive ; a moral Janus ; a chameleon , at
morning as white as a dove with silver wings , at evening as black as the devil . But intellect receives a kind of polarity from culture , by virtue of which it points and tends , as tree boughs receive a permanent direction from a prevailing wind . By culture a kind of mutual attraction is established between the intellect and its objects , which draws it upwards to the stars of heaven , or downwards to the gates of hell ; and this polarity , as we have called it , this acquired spontaneity of the intellect to associate itself with all that is good and noble , is the victory of the moral warrior . We behold him a conqueror , but must not forget the struggle where his bays were won . With toil and effort he has moulded his own stuff , but the impress is permanent , and he is now great without effort . The arch once turned equilibrates itselfits symmetry is the symmetry of nature .
] n culture , therefore , we discern a bridle for this brute ; a hook for the nose of this leviathan . Is it necessary to say that this power is not gathered in a day , nor is it a transferable gift . In this respect I partake of the essential property of matter—impenetrability . My place cannot be filled by another ; nature refuses a substitute . The voice of a Carlyle can perhaps arouse me , and steel my resolution for an hour ; but more it cannot do . Thus the magnet awakes in the approaching wire an electric stream which vanishes in an instant . It is my task to render the current permanent . Carlyle ' s strength cleaves to him ; between him and me is an isolating
atmosphere which prevents its transfer . The battle is mine , and cannot be fought by proxy . In vain I shirk it , and make trial of the orthodox quackeries around me ; they cannot satisfy me—they cannot heal me ; in this Gilead I find neither balm nor physician . There , before me , on the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of lire by night , stands written the inexorable decree , " Face thy task or die ! " Shall I then hysterically demand of Carlyle " what wouldst thou have me to do ? " I doubt his power to assist me here . I accept his experience so far as it suits my case ; beyond this I reject him , and seek instruction first hand . I lay myself with infinite trust upon the bosom of nature , and need no Carlyle , or other Queen ' s counsel , to expound the law which she declares to be my duty .
Culture ! where , then , shall we begin ? My friend , on this point you are best acquainted with your own power and position . There are a million avenues into nature , and the chief thing is , that you seek a path with the energy and determination of a man that must find one . Ferguson learned astronom y by his own methods , wrapped up in a sheepskin upon the Highland hills . The brave and earnest soul is never at a loss for methods ; requires not to be spoonfed like a child unable to find the way to its own mouth . Make the trial ! what if it fail ? Try again . Faraday is , perhaps , at this
moment the best experimental philosopher in Europe or out of it ; yet I would venture to affirm that a thousand vain experiments have been the purchase-money of each of his results , nay , I would venture to say that his very defeats have been the richert portion of his experience ; denials of results which he expected , anomalies which contradicted him , but drove him at the same time to deeper discussions with nature , from which he issued victorious . Shall I then complain of the difficulties and darkness of my path ? Shall I not rather accept them as the tutors and monitors of the Eternal ,
appointed for my discipline and development . My friend , you must not expect my love for you to express itself in gifts of gingerbread and sugarcandy . I have no velvet sward , lined with primroses , to recommend to your attention . Briars and thorns are in your way ; push through , then , my boy , the meadows and primroses are beyond ! The an # el Gabriel could not lift you over this difficulty ; this cup cannot pass away % in it lies the moral
chemistry by which afiinities are established between you and Gabriel , and angelic visitations first rendered possible . Have you slipped and fallen ? That is not the point . The question is , " How long will you remain down ?" The sin is nothing compared with the tendency to remain in sin which its commission fosters . To have slept till nine o ' clock thjs morning is a small matter ; but to find myself to-morrow morning stupified by the act , rendered indolent , and less able to shake off the incubus which squats upon my
faculties—this hints at the true danger . A certain rage is somewhat necessary to scare away this devil . A fervour whose utterance sounds like the smack of thongs to the money-changers and poultry-men of the temple . Anything but agreeable to those who , shrinking from the duties of a noble life , have quietly compounded with their senses to live a comfortable one . Who have thus drugged the law of conscience into silence , and now find in intellect their obedient servant and supple attorney , ready at any given moment to prove the said law a mere legal fiction of the het nd the
moralists , a kind of metaphysical John Doe . To these the prop a preacher , in all ages , have been intolerable bores . Were it not as useless as impolitic , they would damn the very sunbeams which , breaking in through their window chinks ,, disturb their slumbers , and hint that it is time to be stirring . Facts are the expression of laws . Knowing the law , the fact will not surprise us ; and a few considerations in the above line , furnishing , as they do , an ct priori solution of the matter , will disarm us of all amazement as to the universal goose-cackle which a strong man ' voice has lately aroused
in England . Let the reader remember that these latter words are not levelled at him in particular . We ourselves boast no cushion of sanctity which shields us from this impost . Each of them strikes some portion of our proper individuality past or present . We have not gone abroad to seek for error , but have merely generalized a phase or two of personal experience . Whom the cap fits may wear it—ourselves inclusive .
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CHAUNTS OF THE ANGELS . We have watched o ' er thee , sister , Have seen all thy tears ; Have known thy misgivings , Thy doubts , and thy fears . Made strong through affliction , To thee is revealed Those truths of the Spirit , Prom others concealed .
Thou wilt treasure thy Bible * But know it to be " The Book" of the Hebrew ^ " A Book " unto thee * . And know and affirm That the Song of the Bard—The speech of the Seer—Are also God ' s word . That no tempest or sunshine-No streamlet or flower—But is pregnant with meaning—A Book for the hour .
The strange tides of Being Rise high and recede ; But thou , be thou steadfast , God knoweth thy need . Each phase hath its lesson The strong mood alway ; And sympathy dieth , Hearts ceasing to pray . The sun of the morning Disperseth the dew : The twilight of evening Distils it anew .
No prophet shall lead thee , Each prophet shall aid . Thy Life ' a law too lofty , Thy Life shall persuade . The boon and the blessing Are theirs who can gain , Through slander forbearance , Presh insight through , pain . Then God lead , thee sister , And add to thy faith ! Lead thee onwards and upwards , Through life and through death
Kind nature will teach thee All sorrow , all joy ; He who prizeth the treasure Will take the alloy . k . B .
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June 29 , 1850 . ] HCtte 3 LtK \ t $ t + 333
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 29, 1850, page 333, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1844/page/21/
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