--If men would only open their eyes to the fact which stares them in the
face from history, and is made clear enough by the slightest glance
at the condition of mankind, that humanity is of immeasurably greater
importance than their own or any other particular belief, they would no
more attempt to make private property of the grace of God than to fence
in the sunshine for their own special use and enjoyment.
We are all tattoed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the
record may seem superficial, but it is indelible. You cannot educate a
man wholly out of the superstitious fears which were early implanted in
his imagination; no matter how utterly his reason may reject them, he
will still feel as the famous woman did about ghosts, Je n'y crois pas,
mais je les crains,--“I don't believe in them, but I am afraid of them,
nevertheless.”
--As people grow older they come at length to live so much in memory
that they often think with a kind of pleasure of losing their dearest
blessings. Nothing can be so perfect while we possess it as it will seem
when remembered. The friend we love best may sometimes weary us by his
presence or vex us by his infirmities. How sweet to think of him as he
will be to us after we have outlived him ten or a dozen years! Then we
can recall him in his best moments, bid him stay with us as long as we
want his company, and send him away when we wish to be alone again. One
might alter Shenstone's well-known epitaph to suit such a case:--