Harvard Classics Volume 28: Essays English and American
General
Harvard Classics Volume 28: Essays English and American
American essays; English essays
There are certain thoughts, principles, ideas, which by their
nature rule over all knowledge, which are intrinsically glorious,
quickening, all-comprehending, eternal, and with these I desire to enrich
the mind of the laborer and of every human being.
To illustrate my meaning, let me give a few examples of the great ideas
which belong to the study or science of mind. Of course, the first of
these, the grandest, the most comprehensive, is the idea of God, the
Parent Mind, the Primitive and Infinite Intelligence. Every man's
elevation is to be measured first and chiefly by his conception of this
Great Being; and to attain a just, and bright, and quickening knowledge
of Him, is the highest aim of thought. In truth, the great end of the
universe, of revelation, of life, is to develop in us the idea of God.
Much earnest, patient, laborious thought is required to see this Infinite
Being as He is, to rise above the low, gross notions of the Divinity,
which rush in upon us from our passions, from our selfish partialities,
and from the low-minded world around us. There is one view of God
particularly suited to elevate us. I mean the view of Him as the "Father
of our spirits;" as having created us with great powers to grow up to
perfection; as having ordained all outward things to minister to the
progress of the soul; as always present to inspire and strengthen us, to
wake us up to inward life, and to judge and rebuke our wrong-doing; as
looking with parental joy on our resistance of evil; as desiring to
communicate himself to our minds for ever. This one idea, expanded in
the breast of the laborer, is a germ of elevation more fruitful than all
science, no matter how extensive or profound, which treats only of
outward finite things. It places him in the first rank of human beings.
You hear of great theologians. He only deserves the name, be his
condition what it may, who has, by thought and obedience, purified and
enlarged his conception of God.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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