utterly unlike any writings that had appeared before, declares
that we shall exist forever. The religion which has arisen from
this book, in its whole structure and dispensation, is predicated
on the assumed fact, that we shall exist forever in another life,
happy or miserable, according to our deeds on earth. Jesus,
_the author and finisher of this faith_, announces himself _the
resurrection and the life_; with a voice of power calls his dead
friend from the tomb; declares, that death has no power over
himself; that, after suffering a violent death, on the third day
from that event, he shall arise from the dead. He arises, according
to his promise; and, in the midst of his awe-struck friends he
visibly ascends to his own celestial sphere. Millions, as by one
impulse, catch the spirit of this wonderful book--love each other
with anew and single-hearted affection, as unlike the spirit of
all former ties of kindness and love, as the doctrines of this
religion are different from those of paganism. The new sect look
with a careless eye upon whatever is transitory; and will submit
to privation, derision and torture, of whatever form, rather than
waver, or equivocate, in declaring themselves subjects of this
hope of immortality. This Christian hope, in every period from the
time of its author, has made its way to the heart of millions, who
have laid themselves down on their last bed, and felt the approach
of their last sleep, expecting, as confidently to open their eyes
on an eternal morning, as the weary laborer, at his evening rest,
trusts that he shall see the brightness of the morrow’s dawn.
I recur, with new and unsated satisfaction, to these arguments for
the soul’s immortality. I love to evoke the venerable shades of
Socrates and Plato and Cicero, and hear them, each in his own way,
persuade himself, that the thoughts and affections, of which he
was conscious, could only belong to an immortal spirit. I listen to
the eloquent and impressive apostrophe of Tacitus, to the conscious
spirit of him, whose life he had so charmingly delineated, with
feelings which I cannot well describe.
‘Si quis piorum manibus locus; si, ut sapientibus placet, non
cum corpore extinguontur magnæ animæ, placide quiescas; nosque,
domum tuam, ab infirmo desiderio, et muliebribus lamentis, ad
contemplationem virtutum tuarum voces, quas neque lugeri, neque
plangi fas est: admiratione te potius temporalibus laudibus, et, si
natura suppeditet, similitudine decoremus.’[H]
I repair with new confidence and hope to the gospel, and strive to
imbibe the cheering conviction, as I hear Paul sublimely declare,
_that this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal
immortality, and that death shall be swallowed up in victory_.
I have no disposition to deny that these arguments would be, in
themselves, insufficient to turn the balance against the evidence
of the senses, and produce the conviction of immortality from the
deductions of simple reason, if religion were an impression to be
raised and sustained by argument. But, if we are religious, in
some form, from our very constitution, if immortality be felt as
a sentiment, with more or less clearness and force, I deem that
these arguments have their appropriate effect, in giving form and
direction to this interior sentiment; that believers have been
such, because these doctrines have found a concurrent sympathy
in their spirit, a suitableness to the wants of their heart, a
development of the germ of their hopes. It seems to me, that
whoever has a heart, cannot look upon the earth and the firmament,
without exclaiming ‘there is a God,’ nor within himself, without a
conviction, that his soul is immortal.
I see in the enthusiasm,--the embraces, cries, tears, swoonings and
the revolting extravagances of various sects under the influence
of high religious excitement, nothing more than the morbid
development of this latent religious sentiment. Instead of being,
as scoffers affirm, subjects of a mere factitious intoxication,
these people, who seem only to demand wings, to soar aloft, are
only manifesting the unregulated action of nature working at the
bottom of their hearts.
For myself I feel that I am immortal, and that those fellow
sojourners, to whom I have been attached by the affection of long
intimacy, and the reception of many and great kindnesses, will
exist with me hereafter. I pretend to conceive nothing, I wish
to inquire nothing, about the mode, the place and circumstances.
I should as soon think of disturbing myself, by endeavoring to
conceive the ideas that might be imparted by a sixth sense. It is
sufficient that my heart declares, that a being who has seen this
glorious world, cherished these warm affections, entertained these
illimitable aspirations, felt these longings after immortality,
indulged ‘_these thoughts, that wander through eternity_,’ _cannot_
have been doomed by Him, who gave them, to have them quenched
forever in annihilation. Even an illusion so glorious would be
worth purchasing at the price of a world. I would affirm, even to
repetition, that there is given us that high and stern power, which
implies a courage superior to any conflict, and which gives the
mind a complete ascendency over any danger, pain or torture, which
belongs to life or death. But we would not be so extravagant, as
for a moment, to question that death, as the present generation
have been trained, and as we are accustomed, by all we see, and
hear to view it, is a formidable evil, fitly characterized by its
dread name, _the king of terrors_. Many a debilitating interior
misgiving will assail the stoutest mind, in certain moments, in
view of it. There are dark intervals by night, in the midnight
hours of pain, periods between the empire of sleep and active
reason, when the terrific and formless image rushes in its terror
and indefiniteness upon the mind. As age steals upon us, and the
vivid perceptions, and the bright dreams of youth disappear, many a
dark shadow will cloud the sunshine of the soul. The conflict, in
which all these terrors are overcome by unaided nature and reason
is, as has been seen, a cruel one. The tender sensibilities, the
keen affections, the dear and delusive hopes of our nature must all
be crushed, before we can be unmoved in the endurance of the pain
and torture that precede, and the death that follows.
It is only to a firm and unhesitating faith, that it becomes as
easy and natural to die, as to sleep. Glorious and blessed hope,
the hope of meeting our friends, in the eternal land of those who
truly and greatly live forever! There we shall renew our youth, and
_mount as on the wings of eagles_.
‘But we shall meet, but we shall meet,
Where parting tears shall cease to flow:
And, when I think thereon, almost I long to go!’
Note 62, page 177.
That is an unworthy opponent, who assails what assumes to be
important truth, by no better argument than ridicule and sarcasm.
That is a despicable one, unworthy of exciting any feelings but
those of pity and contempt, who attempts to bring to bear upon
it the blind and fierce prejudices of the multitude. This last
is the prevalent mode of modern attack. By those, who deem that
wisdom will die with them, and that they can learn nothing more,
who dogmatize without examining, and measure the views of others
by their own preconceived and settled opinions, all the foregoing
doctrines, which militate with the established prejudices and
habits of the age, will be denounced, I am aware, as heretical,
imaginary, false.
‘He would teach people how to be happy,’ say they with a sneer,
‘as though they were not compelled to pursue happiness by a law
of their natures.’ My business is not with such opponents, and I
should consider their opposition an honor and a distinction.
The fact will remain true, be it welcomed, be it ridiculed, as it
may, that a few, in all time, have found the means of being more
comfortable and happy, than others in the same circumstances. They
had a method of their own in creating this difference. That method
might be so indicated, as to be reduced to general, and settled
rules. This is the amount of the foregoing doctrines. The object
has been to discuss and fix some of those rules. No moralist was
ever so stupid, as to expect, that the world would not pursue
its headlong course, inculcate what he might. Every one, who
understands the analogy of the present to the past, will expect
that no form of virtuous effort will be screened from question and
ridicule; and that no purity of purpose will conquer the blind and
fierce hate of the multitude.
But there will still be a few quiet, reflecting and philosophic
people. What is better, the number will be always increasing. For
such, are these my labors, and those, which I have adopted from
another, chiefly designed. Their suffrage is an ample reward. Their
plaudit is true fame. If they say, ‘we and those about us may be
better and happier; let us make the effort to become so,’ my object
is attained.
To encourage us to shake off the superincumbent load of
indifference, ridicule, and opposition, and to make efforts to
extend virtue and happiness, it is a sublime reflection, that
a thought may outlive an empire. Babylon and Thebes are, now,
nowhere to be found; but the moral lessons of the cotemporary wise
and good, despised and disregarded, perhaps, in their day, have
descended to us and are to be found everywhere. As the seminal
principles of plants, borne through the wide spaces of the air by
their downy wings, find at length a congenial spot, in which to
settle down, and vegetate, these seeds of virtue and happiness,
floating down the current of time, are still arrested, from age to
age, by some kindred mind, in which they germinate, and produce
their golden fruit. No intellect can conjecture, in how many
instances, and to what degree, every fit moral precept may have
come between the reason and passions of some one, balancing between
the course of happiness and ruin, and may have inclined the scale
in his favor. The consciousness of even an effort to achieve one
such triumph is a sufficient satisfaction to a virtuous mind.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] E.g. Robert Owen and others of the atheistical school.
[B] These _Notes_ will be found at the end of the volume. The small
numerals, in the text, refer to them.
[C] Leonidas.
[D] Themistocles.
[E] Pelopidas and Epaminondas.
[F] Marcus Junius Brutus.
[G] Regulus.
[H] Tacit. Vit. Agricolæ, _ad fin._
* * * * * *
Transcriber’s note:
The ERRATA (page vi) directs that the anchors for Notes [5] [29]
[32] and [51] be deleted, since actual Notes for these references
do not exist. However Note [51] does exist, it is Note [49] that
is missing. Therefore, anchors for [5] [29] [32] and [49] have
been deleted in this etext. The ERRATA change for page 200,
(replace “Note 5, page 44.” with “Note 6, page 45.”) has also
been made.
In addition to these four missing references, several anchors
had the same number, but referenced two separate Notes. For clarity
the duplicate anchor number has been amended with an ‘a’ suffix.
The etext now has [15] and [15a]; [21] and [21a]; [24] and [24a];
[27] and [27a]; [28] and [28a]; and [39] and [39a].
There was a single anchor [53], but two separate Notes for this
one anchor. A second anchor [53a] has been added on page 152, and
the second Note heading “Note 53, page 150.” has been changed to
“Note 53a, page 152.”
Obvious punctuation errors have been corrected after careful
comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation
of external sources.
There are numerous typographical errors in the original text which
have been corrected in the etext. These are noted below.
Except for those specific changes also noted below, all misspellings
in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
=Typographical errors=
Page 20: =digust= changed into =disgust=
Page 20: =nto= changed into =into=
Page 23: =consisten twith= changed into =consistent with=
Page 50: =commencment= changed into =commencement=
Page 56: =associa ion= changed into =association=
Page 56: =feeleness= changed into =feebleness=
Page 61: =badethem= changed into =bade them=
Page 96: =amy= changed into =may=
Page 99: =pu= changed into =put=
Page 101: =whe= changed into =when=
Page 101: =exac= changed into =exact=
Page 156: =Themore= changed into =The more=
Page 158: =orms= changed into =forms=
Page 161: =concsious= changed into =conscious=
Page 172: =done upon upon earth= changed into =done upon earth=
Page 174: =call us= changed into =calls us=
Page 197: =corse= changed into =corpse=
Page 198: =al= changed into =all=
Page 208: =paticular= changed into =particular=
Page 211: =controling= changed into =controlling=
Page 219: =Hohenloe= changed into =Hohenlohe=
Page 225: =resolved= changed into =resolve=
Page 231: =e lfish= changed into =selfish=
Page 241: =contemptiole= changed into =contemptible=
Page 250: =permament= changed into =permanent=
Page 253: =there= changed into =their=
Page 255: =aquainted= changed into =acquainted=
Page 256: =Home, sickness= changed into =Homesickness=
Page 263: =Serviu= changed into =Servius=
Page 264: =kind cf heart,= changed into =kind of heart=
Page 267: =and and moral creation= changed into =and moral creation=
Page 273: =some times= changed into =sometimes=
Page 274: =conspicious= changed into =conspicuous=
Page 296: =corse= changed into =corpse=
Page 296: =corses= changed into =corpses=
Page 305: =weekly= changed into =weakly=
=Other changes=
Page viii: =l’Art d’Etre Heureuse= changed into =l’Art d’Etre Heureux=
Page 6: =wholly unnecessary= changed into =wholly necessary=
Page 176: =L’ART D’ETRE HEUREUSE= changed into =L’ART D’ETRE HEUREUX=
Page 185: =conscientious instructer= changed into =conscientious
instructor=
Page 193: =l’ art d’ étre heureuse= changed into =l’ art d’ étre
heureux=
Page 199: =different instructers= changed into =different instructors=
Page 213: =Bastile after= changed into =Bastille after=
Page 220: =Why drew Marseilles’s= changed into =Why drew Marseilles’=
Page 240: =eclaircissemens= changed into =éclaircissements=
Page 307: =A single asservation= changed into =A single assertation=