The aspect of nature is devout5. Like the figure of Jesus, she stands with bended head, and hands folded upon the breast. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.
Of that ineffable6 essence which we call Spirit, he that thinks most, will say least. We can foresee God in the coarse, and, as it were, distant phenomena7 of matter; but when we try to define and describe himself, both language and thought desert us, and we are as helpless as fools and savages8. That essence refuses to be recorded in propositions, but when man has worshipped him intellectually, the noblest ministry9 of nature is to stand as the apparition10 of God. It is the organ through which the universal spirit speaks to the individual, and strives to lead back the individual to it.
When we consider Spirit, we see that the views already presented do not include the whole circumference11 of man. We must add some related thoughts.
Three problems are put by nature to the mind; What is matter? Whence is it? and Whereto? The first of these questions only, the ideal theory answers. Idealism saith: matter is a phenomenon, not a substance. Idealism acquaints us with the total disparity between the evidence of our own being, and the evidence of the world’s being. The one is perfect; the other, incapable12 of any assurance; the mind is a part of the nature of things; the world is a divine dream, from which we may presently awake to the glories and certainties of day. Idealism is a hypothesis to account for nature by other principles than those of carpentry and chemistry. Yet, if it only deny the existence of matter, it does not satisfy the demands of the spirit. It leaves God out of me. It leaves me in the splendid labyrinth13 of my perceptions, to wander without end. Then the heart resists it, because it balks14 the affections in denying substantive15 being to men and women. Nature is so pervaded16 with human life, that there is something of humanity in all, and in every particular. But this theory makes nature foreign to me, and does not account for that consanguinity17 which we acknowledge to it.
Let it stand, then, in the present state of our knowledge, merely as a useful introductory hypothesis, serving to apprize us of the eternal distinction between the soul and the world.
But when, following the invisible steps of thought, we come to inquire, Whence is matter? and Whereto? many truths arise to us out of the recesses18 of consciousness. We learn that the highest is present to the soul of man, that the dread19 universal essence, which is not wisdom, or love, or beauty, or power, but all in one, and each entirely20, is that for which all things exist, and that by which they are; that spirit creates; that behind nature, throughout nature, spirit is present; one and not compound, it does not act upon us from without, that is, in space and time, but spiritually, or through ourselves: therefore, that spirit, that is, the Supreme21 Being, does not build up nature around us, but puts it forth22 through us, as the life of the tree puts forth new branches and leaves through the pores of the old. As a plant upon the earth, so a man rests upon the bosom23 of God; he is nourished by unfailing fountains, and draws, at his need, inexhaustible power. Who can set bounds to the possibilities of man? Once inhale24 the upper air, being admitted to behold25 the absolute natures of justice and truth, and we learn that man has access to the entire mind of the Creator, is himself the creator in the finite. This view, which admonishes26 me where the sources of wisdom and power lie, and points to virtue27 as to
“The golden key
Which opes the palace of eternity,”
carries upon its face the highest certificate of truth, because it animates28 me to create my own world through the purification of my soul.
The world proceeds from the same spirit as the body of man. It is a remoter and inferior incarnation of God, a projection29 of God in the unconscious. But it differs from the body in one important respect. It is not, like that, now subjected to the human will. Its serene30 order is inviolable by us. It is, therefore, to us, the present expositor of the divine mind. It is a fixed31 point whereby we may measure our departure. As we degenerate32, the contrast between us and our house is more evident. We are as much strangers in nature, as we are aliens from God. We do not understand the notes of birds. The fox and the deer run away from us; the bear and tiger rend33 us. We do not know the uses of more than a few plants, as corn and the apple, the potato and the vine. Is not the landscape, every glimpse of which hath a grandeur34, a face of him? Yet this may show us what discord35 is between man and nature, for you cannot freely admire a noble landscape, if laborers36 are digging in the field hard by. The poet finds something ridiculous in his delight, until he is out of the sight of men.
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1
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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3
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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7
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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8
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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9
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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11
circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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12
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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14
balks
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| v.畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的第三人称单数 )；（指马）不肯跑 | |
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15
substantive
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| adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体 | |
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16
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
consanguinity
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| n.血缘；亲族 | |
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18
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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19
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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20
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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inhale
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| v.吸入(气体等)，吸(烟) | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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26
admonishes
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| n.劝告( admonish的名词复数 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责v.劝告( admonish的第三人称单数 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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27
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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28
animates
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| v.使有生气( animate的第三人称单数 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
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29
projection
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| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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30
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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31
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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32
degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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33
rend
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| vt.把…撕开，割裂；把…揪下来，强行夺取 | |
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34
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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35
discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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36
laborers
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| n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工 | |
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