The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864: Devoted To Literature And National PolicyVarious
History
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864: Devoted To Literature And National Policy
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
It must not be supposed that a complete catalogue of virtues would do
justice to the character under consideration. It is not only the
completeness, but still more the even proportion and perfect harmony of
virtues and graces apparently opposite and contradictory, which
distinguishes him specifically from all other men. This feature has
struck with singular force all the more eminent writers on the subject.
It gives the finish to that beauty of holiness which is the sublimest
picture presented to our contemplation.
He was free from all one-sidedness, which constitutes the weakness as
well as the strength of the most eminent men. He was not a man of one
idea, nor of one virtue, towering above all the rest. The moral forces
were so well tempered and moderated by each other, that none was unduly
prominent, none carried to excess, none alloyed by the kindred failing.
Each was checked and completed by the opposite grace. His character
never lost its even balance and happy equilibrium, never needed
modification or re-adjustment. It was thoroughly sound, and uniformly
consistent from the beginning to the end.
We cannot properly attribute to him any one temperament. He was neither
sanguine, like Peter, nor choleric, like Paul, nor melancholy, like
John, nor phlegmatic, as James is sometimes, though incorrectly,
represented to have been; but he combined the vivacity without the
levity of the sanguine, the vigor without the violence of the choleric,
the seriousness without the austerity of the melancholic, the calmness
without the apathy of the phlegmatic temperament.
He was equally far removed from the excesses of the legalist, the
pietist, the ascetic, and the enthusiast. With the strictest obedience
to the law, he moved in the element of freedom; with all the fervor of
the enthusiast, he was always calm, sober, and self-possessed;
notwithstanding his complete and uniform elevation above the affairs of
this world, he freely mingled with society, male and female, dined with
publicans and sinners, sat at the wedding feast, shed tears at the
sepulchre, delighted in God's nature, admired the beauties of the
lilies, and used the occupations of the husbandman for the illustration
of the sublimest truths of the kingdom of heaven. His virtue was
healthy, manly, vigorous, yet genial, social, and truly human, never
austere and repulsive, always in full sympathy with innocent joy and
pleasure. He, the purest and holiest of men, provided wine for the
wedding feast, introduced the fatted calf and music and dancing into the
picture of welcome of the prodigal son to his father's house, and even
provoked the sneer of his adversaries that he 'came eating and
drinking,' and was a 'glutton' and a 'winebibber.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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