The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 9, May, 1835Various
History
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 9, May, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
When we survey with a philosophic eye the varied and complicated works
of nature, there is nothing upon which the mind rests with more
pleasure, than the contemplation of the harmony, the order, and the
unity of design, manifested throughout. The physical philosopher
points to the centripetal and centrifugal forces, to the annual and
diurnal revolutions of the earth, to the periodical return of the
seasons, the regular succession of day and night, to the laws of
cohesion and repulsion, and shows with pride the wondrous harmony
which exists in all the departments of the physical world, all working
and conspiring to one great end. The political economist delights to
look to the nations of the earth, composed of vast multitudes of
individuals; to scan the great variety of occupations which the
endless division of labor has generated, and to see how the almost
countless millions of inhabitants, although each one is busily and
selfishly engaged in the pursuit only of his own little narrow
schemes, are nevertheless, when we embrace the grand whole, working,
in as perfect harmony and accord, as if the spirit of unbounded wisdom
and universal philanthropy guided every head and touched every
heart.--While to the common observer, the great volume of the human
mind is uninteresting, with its pages confused and scattered like the
sybil leaves of antiquity, it becomes to the metaphysician who can
arrange and interpret it, a source of knowledge, of pleasure, and of
gratitude. He beholds the nice lineaments of feelings and
passions--observes the operations of our various intellectual powers
and faculties. He sees a beautiful harmony and unity of design in the
whole Ideal Republic; and finds with wonder and astonishment, that all
our passions, instincts and faculties are so nicely arranged in
relation to each other, that, like the bodies in our planetary system,
not one could be struck from existence without endangering the harmony
of the whole. Thus shall we find, look where we will, through the wide
range of nature's works, part corresponding to part, power to power,
mind to mind, and to matter too; and the whole moving forward with
that beautiful harmonious action, which at once demonstrates the
illimitable wisdom of the designer,--his benevolence and his
consistency. Among all these beautiful adaptations in the universe,
there is not one perhaps, which presents itself to the mind under a
more engaging, a more interesting aspect, than the relations of the
_sexes_. To increase and multiply, seems to be the great law of
animated creation; and the attractions by which the sexes are brought
together for the fulfilment of this universal law, are so many, so
complicate, and yet so beautiful and delightful, while shedding their
benign influence over the rugged journey through life, that it is
impossible to contemplate them, without an immediate acknowledgment of
their sublime harmony, and of the benevolent design of him who ordered
and established them.
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