On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    be no less barbarous in the eyes of simplicity and common sense , than in those of a philosophy the most subtle . The man unsubdued by the force of habit , and the < jhud before he is made to take words for ideas , are equally qualified to refute some of their gravest ' dogmas . The very congregations who repeat them ,. are compelled , from time to time , by the progress of reason , to soften the meaning of them in their own minds ; till at length a persuasion comes up , that profession and belief are different things , and that it is necessary in this world to say one thing and mean another;— an insincerity , the danger of which is evident , and which has been extremely pernicious . "

    Leigh Hunt , grown grey through time and sorrow , and much meditation , has never lost the youthfulness of heart which fits him to be a teacher both to young and old ; like Ulysses , he has " learned from what he has suffered" — -efxaOev erratie—hut no amount of tribulation has made him blaspheme against Life and God , by calling this a " vale of tears . " It is therefore a Religion of Cheerfulness he inculcates ; and his words should have weight , because they do not bubble up in foam of levity , but come from the very depths of sorrowing experience ; his cheerfulness is healthfulness , not levity ; it does not ignore the presence and necessity of pain , it does not evade the solemn and serious appeals of all experience , but regarding pain as transitory , evil as the shadow of an infinitely more abundant good to which in the end it is subservient , his Religion is meant to comfort and sustain with hope and earnestness , not to terrify and depress with threats and lamentations . Let us first quote a passage far on in the volume , wherein he explains what is

    THE BELIGION OF THE HEART . " And what ,: it may be asked , is the Heart ? Physically speaking , it is that organ of the body which , from its sensibility to emotion , has been thought the seat of the affections , and which is looked upon as their symbol and representative . Morally speaking , it is the Heart of our Spirit ; or that something within us , of which everyone is more or less conscious as his innermost truth ; something -which is as vital to our spiritual , as the heart bodily is to our bodily welfare ; -which keeps the current of our affections warm and pure ; which directs all our faculties to their completest ends ; which makes knowledge wise and benevolence active ; and without whose entire sanction , good conscience itself is not thoroughly good , not entirely secure from self-reproach , from tyrannous mistakes . and unholy transports . For though the heart , in the individual , is not always equally good and wise , no wisdom can without thorough-heartedness be thoroughly wise in any one ; can thoroughly feel all which is to be felt for all , and so give no fellow-creature a right to rebuke it .

    "Upon this innermost heart of man , God , the Great First Cause ,. in the mysterious graduality of his ways , imprinted those first sentiments of good and just , to grow with his growth in knowledge , and strengthen with his strength in wisdom , which , however imperfectly read by conscience for a time , were never wholly overlooked by it ; which , however forgotten or renounced by passion , have never been without some regret from passion ; and which , however confused with local or other ordinances , or refused participation in their authority , have never failed to prove their sole and exclusive divineness , by remaining whole while the others perished , and by meeting with love and recognition in every corner of the earth , instead of dispute and hatred .

    "These , then , and these alone , are the scriptures of which it can be said , that ' not one jot or one tittle can pass away ; ' these , and these alone , the texts that require no explanation and give rise to no wars and heresies , in whatever book wo meet with them : and to know thus much , and abide manfully and devoutly by the knowledge , is the only religion which men can cease finally to dispute , because it is the only one that can secure brotherhood on earth , and that preaches hope , without exception , for all who die . " The ritual is very simple ; and although it is open to the objection which assails all rituals , —namely , that by repetition it may degenerate into mere form , yet , on the other hand , if no form be given , " the wandering mind has seldom a guarantee against allowing oblivion to bury the beat intentions ; The daily servico is as ^ follows : ~ " ASPIRATION IN THE MOENING .

    " When tho hour lias arrived in the morning-, at whicli the reader thinks it ; right for him ( or her ) to got up , ho will repeat mentally and with his greatest attention ( or aloud , if a companion ia agreed with him in so doing ) tho following wordw . In tho latter case , tho poroonal pronoun singular will bo changed lor tho plural . " 1 . In tho name of tho Groat Beneficence , to whom bo all reverence-, with a filial trust . " 2 . My first duty this day is to delay , or slur over , nothing which I am bound in conscience to perform . " . ' $ . The hour has come , at which it is therefore time for mo to rise . '' 4 . Thou , O my heart , biddost me rise , for tho sake of others an woll as myself ; "fi . BecauHC on theo tho Divino Spirit has written the laws , which love tcacliow knowledge to road : " 0 . And beea-uso thoy toll me , that duty miiHt ho done , and that affection niuHt be earned by good offices .

    " 7 . May 1 discharge , throughout tho day , every other Huch duty aH conscience enjoins mo : " 8 . Beginning- tho day with a kind voice to others ; " D . Ami ending it with no reproach to myself . " AHJMKAT 1 ON AT NOON . " ( To bo repeated an tho foregoing , and an near to tho hour of noon fin possible . ) " 1 . Blessed bo God : blessed' bo His beneficence , working towanln itn purposes in the noon . " 2 . It jh good for mo , whether unoccupied or huHy , to withdraw my thoughts awhile- into a hohho of my < lution towards God and man ; towards tho appreciation of tho good and beautiful in His universe , and tho diffusion of their blessings among His creatures .

    " ! $ . Tho sun , glorious whon tho sky is clear , glorious also , for it gives light , when the sky in clouded , is tho mightiest , and at tho hiuiio timo tho most beneficent , of all his visible creatures in this our upbore : " 4 . And yofc it is but one of an iiinumorablo starry brotherhood : "C > . What a proclamation of tho nuturo of himself ] "May exalting mid huinani / . ing thoughts for ever accompany mo , making mo oonfulont without pride , and modest without servility . " 7 . 1 ' orhaps my dearest friend is now thinking of mo ¦ " 8 . Perhaps , moro than olio of my doar frionda and kindred .

    " 9 . May I ever be such as generous affection would have me ; " 10 . And may strength and happiness be theirs ! " aspiration in . the evening . " ( To be repeated at dusk . ) " . " 1 . Blessed be God : blessed be His beneficence , working towards its purposes in the evening . " 2 . The portion of the globe on which I live is rolling into darkness from the face of the sun .

    " 3 . Softly and silently it goes , with whatever swiftness . " 4 . Soft and silent are the habitual movements of nature ; " Loudly and violently as its beneficence may work , within small limits and in rare instances . " 6 . Let me imitate the serene habit ; " 7 . And not take on my limited foresight the privilege of the stormy exception . " 8 . May I contribute what I can , this evening , to the peace and happiness of the house in which I live ;

    " 9 . Or of the fellow-creatures , anywhere , among whom I may find myself . " ASPIRATION AT BEDTIME . " ( To be repeated as the foregoing-. ) " 1 . Blessed be God : blessed be His beneficence , which neither sees wisdom in haste , nor has need of rest . " 2 . If I have done any wrong to-day , or fear so ; " 3 . Or if I have left any duty undone , as far as I could perform it ; " 4 . Let me not fail to make amends to-morrow . " 5 . Let me not have to repeat this wish to-morrow night . " 6 . May M . have a happy sleep : t " 7 . MayN . :. " 8 . May all whom I love : " 9 . May all who are to sleep this night . " 10 . I hope grief and pain will find respite ; " 11 . And wakefulness discover its cure .

    " 12 . Gentle and good is darkness : " 13 . Beautiful with stars ; " 14 . Or working to some benefit of a different aspect , with clouds . " 15 . God ' s ordinance of the rolling world takes away the light at bed-time , like a parent ; " 16 . Shall I not sleep jcalmly under its shadow ? " 17 . May I drop as calmly into the sleep of death ; " 18 . And wake to an eternal morning . " On Sunday there is a fuller service . JTere are spine extracts : — " DURING A TIME OF TROUBLE . " Peace be to this meeting . May duty and love be its support . May it strengthen itself by still giving that comfort to others which at this moment it finds it difficult to receive .

    " Tears , and sorrows , and losses , are apart of what must be experienced in this present state of life : some for our manifest good , and all , therefore , it is trusted , for our good concealed;—for our final and greatest good . '' But part of our good consists in the endeavour to do sorrows away , and in the power to sustain them when the endeavour fails ;—to bear them nobly , and thus help others to bear them as well . '' Let us take care , therefore , that we do not degrade our sorrows by sullenness and ill-temper , and that we may ever be ready to accept a kind relief . " Let us seek also rational and generous comfor t ourselves ; and therefore let us begin by bestowing it . '' Some tears belong to us because we are unfortunate ; others , because we are humane ; many because we are mor tal . But moat are caused by our being unwise . It is these last only that of necessity produce more . The rest dissolve into patience and hope , and may add to the sum of our blessings , by enlarging our hearts .

    '' But ho may the others , if we grow wiser . Whenever evil befalls xia , wo ought to ask ourselves , after the first suffering , how we can turn it into good . So shall wo take occasion , from one bitter root , to raise perhaps many flowers . " Neither let uk repeat this to ourselves as a thought to be approved , but an a thing that can be done : and never let us forget , that , on this as on all other occasions , the endeavour is half the work . Come what will , to bo weak is only to be moro miserable . To be strong is to have a double chance . The supports of sorrow aro patience , activity , and affection . May wo bo strong in ourselves : may we bo strong in loving and being beloved by one another . Linked with ono another ' s hearts , let us be equally prepared to present a firmer front to adversity , and to partake the dew of whatever blessing shall fall upon our heads . "

    SECRETS . " We inu . st regard every matter as an entrusted secret , which we believe tho person concerned would wish to bo considered as such . Nay , further still , wo must consider all circumstances as secrets entrusted , which would bring scandal upon another if told , and which it is not our cortain duty to discuss , and that in our own persons , and to his face . The divino rule of doing as we would be done " by , is never better put to tho test than in matters of good and evil speaking . Wo may sophisticate with ourselves upon the manner in which wo should wish to bo treated , under many circumstances ; but everybody recoils instinctively from the thought of being spoken ill of in his absence . "

    ON THE DEATH OV ANY ON 10 DEAR TO VS . " Mo has gone before us . The spirit within him , that used to talk to us , to enjoy with uh , to look at us with kind eye * , ban left its body to dissolution , and is visible to uh no longer . ' Blessings on his memory ! May he also , if he behold us , bless us ! for wo need blessing . Greatly wo need it , with these hopeless yearnings for his proHonoo ; these impatiences constantly reminded of the dreadful necessity of patience ; them . fears , even in the midst of conviction to the contrary , that we did not do all that might have been done for him ; this consternation and astonishment perpetually recurring , at tho difference between what , wax and what is ;~ this awful experience of the terrible thought 'No More , ' of the inexorable truth 'Never ; ' thin almost shame at tooling that we are warm and living , while he in cold and motionless ; at homo and housed , while he is away and in tho earth ; seeing thousands still privileged to remain who seem of no worth , while ho , ho kind and so good , is gone for ever !

    " But , these aro our thoughts , nothiH ; and though thoy aro permitted to tho first bursts of our sorrow , to continue them would bo uudutifnl towardti tho Beneficent Mystery , without whoso ordination of death as well as life , ho himself would not have existed to bless us . Mis body in not his spirit ; and perhaps hiH npirit looks upon uh thiH momonty and hcoh how wo loved him , and how wo suffor .

    Untitled Article

    October 22 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 1025

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 22, 1853, page 1025, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2009/page/17/