Natural history of intellect, and other papersEmerson, Ralph Waldo
Philosophy
Natural history of intellect, and other papers
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
American essays -- 19th century; Boston (Mass.); Intellect; Memory; Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564; Milton, John, 1608-1674
truth, not accommodating truth. His opinions on all subjects are
formed for man as he ought to be, for a nation of Miltons. He would
be divorced when he finds in his consort unfit disposition; knowing
that he should not abuse that liberty, because with his whole heart
he abhors licentiousness and loves chastity. He defends the slaying
of the king, because a king is a king no longer than he governs
by the laws; “it would be right to kill Philip of Spain making an
inroad into England, and what right the king of Spain hath to govern
us at all, the same hath the king Charles to govern tyrannically.”
He would remove hirelings out of the church, and support preachers
by voluntary contributions; requiring that such only should preach
as have faith enough to accept so self-denying and precarious a
mode of life, scorning to take thought for the aspects of prudence
and expediency. The most devout man of his time, he frequented no
church; probably from a disgust at the fierce spirit of the pulpits.
And so, throughout all his actions and opinions, is he a consistent
spiritualist, or believer in the omnipotence of spiritual laws. He
wished that his writings should be communicated only to those who
desired to see them. He thought nothing honest was low. He thought
he could be famous only in proportion as he enjoyed the approbation
of the good. He admonished his friend “not to admire military
prowess, or things in which force is of most avail. For it would not
be matter of rational wonder, if the wethers of our country should
be born with horns that could batter down cities and towns. Learn to
estimate great characters, not by the amount of animal strength, but
by the habitual justice and temperance of their conduct.”
Was there not a fitness in the undertaking of such a person to write
a poem on the subject of Adam, the first man? By his sympathy with
all nature; by the proportion of his powers; by great knowledge, and
by religion, he would reascend to the height from which our nature is
supposed to have descended. From a just knowledge of what man should
be, he described what he was. He beholds him as he walked in Eden:—
“His fair large front and eye sublime declared
Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad.”
And the soul of this divine creature is excellent as his form. The
tone of his thought and passion is as healthful, as even, and as
vigorous, as befits the new and perfect model of a race of gods.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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