MAN-HIS DIGNITY AND DESTINY.

be more unworthy than to waste his strength in effeminacy, his days in tickling his palate or in the gratification of still more ignoble desires.

We must, on the contrary, consider that the true life, which is conducted on strict principles, where the body is contented with little care, the pasCICERO. sions are kept in subjection, and where freedom and modesty are preserved.

Thy mighty being, O God, appeared when all things slept in night, and when the earth, which thy love called into being, commenced its existence. Millions of beings greeted thee, O God; and thy paternal eye, and thy heart, all-embracing, rejoiced at the pleasures of creation.

But of these millions of beings, none looked up to thee, nor could read Though sun the stars. The earthly life alone occupied their thoughts. and moon, and thousands of worlds, swung round in golden splendor, none saw their brightness, nor him who made them.

Once more, O God, thy power uttered a summons, in a loftier tone; and then did nature's beloved son issue from the womb of earth. And the rich chain of existence now possessed its most beautiful link; and creation an ornament consecrated by God.

Look upwards! Delightful knowledge, that we are not dust. The father says so, and his child looks up to heaven; recognizes the hidden Master in his great masterpiece; feels God summon him to heaven. And thus God becomes the object of his desires.

O holiest of pleasures! Man, recognize thy vocation! Thou art more I can recognize my than all the suns; thy vision reaches beyond suns. Creator; can look upon the vault of the heavens; and my soul can discover Him within the substance of this world.

Virtue, after which we strive, is noble, not because to be free from evil is a good in itself, but because it loosens the fetters of the mind, prepares it for a knowledge of heavenly things, and renders it fit to enter into intercourse with God.

The mind attains to the perfect and complete state of happiness of which the human race is capable, when it treads every evil beneath its feet, and elevates itself, and penetrates into the inner depths of nature. The mind is the noblest part of us.

God is nothing but mind.

He is all reason; while mortals are so completely in the power of error, that men take to be the result of chance, of mere accident what is most beautiful, legitimate and carefully devised.

To become nearly acquainted with God is, to pass without the mortal nature, and to become partaker of a splendid destiny.

SENECA.

What a morning; when a new sun shall enrapture the free awakened spirit; when, in the joy of heaven it shall gaze for the last time upon its rejected shell! What a morning; when, beside itself with pleasure, the soul shall become part of the new and golden creation; when a choir of heavenly forms shall surround their newly glorified brother! When the vast universe opens before him, he hears the sweet and holy sounds of heaven, millions of paradises blossom before him, and a thousand suns rise and set! Yes, there is a rest to come. Beyond the grave lieth eternity. Blessed, blessed are those who die in the Lord! Our faith is immortality!

Man was not created that he might live forever in the lowest place in the universe, but that he might at last possess heaven, which in this life he regards with wonder; and that he might practice himself in considering and caring for heavenly things.

Aristotle says, "Man is made for a condition of happiness; practice and inform himself in virtue."

that is, to

But in the infirmity and weakness of nature, who can attain to this end?

But man, as the scripture saith, is made to be like God, and to live with him forever.

Here on earth he must praise and worship God, must thank him, and obey his word in patience.

But in the future life we can entirely attain to that end.

Man is destined to a higher and better life than this temporal and bodily one, even though his nature had remained unperverted and perfect.

If you would rightly define man, call him a being endowed with reason. Man is a peculiar being, created in order that he may become a participant in the divine nature and in immortality.

One man is a better creation than heaven and earth.

LUTHIER.

Although man is a being who stands upon the confines of time and unity, between the primeval conception and its expression, between the worlds of the understanding and of the senses, a partaker of both natures, a being intermediate between two extremes, placed at the horizon of nature, yet notwithstanding these two natures, his proper aim, his real destiny, is a spiritual one.

For the human soul is independent, divine, lord of nature yet free of it, living from itself, complete, of infinite powers, a medium of eternal truth, all-efficient, all-surpassing.

What therefore is the aim and destiny of this being?

To attain to the highest existence, for the reason; the highest degree of insight, for the feelings; and to the highest good, for the will.

This is shown by the insatiableness with which, whenever we anticipate a new truth or advantage, thither we direct our investigations and desires. The desire of perfection is born in man.

He can not endure Sometimes, Somewhere, Particular, Partly, Single; he desires Always, Everywhere, Üniversal, Wholly, All.

His mind is unlimited.

Wherever he is, he finds himself in a center, and his power of imagination unlimited.

Nor is this endeavor of the mind after perfection, empty or unsubstantial.

Universal nature expands herself before him in all her splendor, and promises him satisfaction.

But is it not to be feared that these researches into the immeasurable will make us indifferent to our earthly lives?

By no means.

For, however lofty the end after which our higher nature strives, yet our investigations are limited, while in this life, by our material constituents, to what we now are. GIORDANO BRUNO.

Of plants and animals, nature both fixes the destiny, and also accomplishes it.

But of man she determines it only; and leaves to himself the fulfillment of it. It is this alone which makes him man. SCHILLER.

Thou, O God, dost form into thine own image the son of the dust; thou hast filled him with thy spirit; he looks toward thy throne.

Thou thyself hast consecrated him ruler of the globe. He lives in communion with spirits; his lot is eternity.

Even here below, shall he walk in the holy starry road of truth; even here shall he be near the angels, in the brightness of virtue.

Endow me, O God, with courage to follow their steep path. I strive after the highest good; I implore thy counsel.

MAN-HIS DIGNITY AND DESTINY.

Upon earth is my place of labor; yet thou dost summon me hence. Virtue is the reward of virtue-I trust always in thee.

Humanity should, and must, and can have but one destiny.

Let this inspiring prospect not trouble you. Indeed, this destiny of mental and moral perfection will never be perfectly attained.

Yet it is not merely a sweet dream-not merely a delusive hope for the They ought, they must ever approach nearer necessary progress of men. to this end. AUTHOR of Contributions to the Correction of a few Ideas on Education.

Believe in a better world.

This alone will satisfy the reason; which finds no peace in the dry knowledge of a systematized activity of the senses; no truth in the teachings of metaphysical artists in thought; no rest in gloomy denials. There must be something better than what there is now.

This fundamental idea includes all the necessities of our knowing, feeling and determining existence.

It is the last support of the weary.

It maintains the courageous, amid the confusion of the world.

BOUTERWEK. It casts, along the nightlike path of fate, a light now weaker and now stronger, but never wholly extinguished.

Through storm and tempest, through pains and labor, anguish and misery, through the terrors of death and of the grave, the spirit of the world leads the race of man, from one step to another, of education, of F. L. SCHLENKERT. development, of proving, purification and ennoblement, into the temple of immortality.

The highest golden age of men will come, when the sciences are carried to the highest state of perfection admitted by the human organs; when man shall have clearly defined the limits within which his knowledge of the universe is confined; when he shall comprehend the irreconcilable difference between his desires, and what he can attain on earth; and, instructed by the strange results of this difference, shall turn about and establish a healthy and proper equality between those desires, and the objects within the actual sphere of his activity; when, lastly, enriched with all the knowledge of which his nature is here below capable, he HEMSTERHUIS. shall unite with those acquirements and adorn with them the happy simplicity of his primeval condition.

There is but one mode of building which will continue; the simplest, the greatest. It outlasts all the centuries of the nations. Physically, as well as morally, and politically, humanity is in a process of eternal progress and endeavor.

Perfectibility is no dream; it is the means and purpose for the development of all that the character of our race-humanity needs or affords. Lift up your eyes and see!

Here it is corrupted, and germinates;
Everywhere, the seed is sown.
there it grows, and ripens to an eternal fruit.
Here, it lies beneath snow and ice. Courage!

snow disappears, and uncovers the seed.

The ice melts, the

No evil which humanity encounters can or will be other than useful to Let us hope and labor! HERDER. it. Such is my confession of faith. He, before whose mental vision shines in peace the lofty beauty of virtue-who, far from pride and self-seeking, likens himself to her inward goodness-who practices goodness without ulterior design-he, saith Jesus, shall see the Lord.

Such a one aspires after the highest good; after wisdom and righteous

ness. For, said esus, if you possess this, all else is already yours; you possess peace, rest of soul; all things will be given you.

Yet hope not, O Christian, that virtue will always secure you happiness on earth. How many have since youth been conscious that its light and strength were nearer them; have shone, pure as angels, with inward beauty, but yet have sighed beneath earthly sorrow.

It is virtue only; only goodness of soul, inward excellence, which is entirely within our reach. It is not chance nor good fortune, opportunity, nor time, but the wisdom of God, which has thus ordained and put so much within the power of all!

Therefore propose not for the highest object any preference which virtue is to ensure. No. Act justly and do good, though even your good design fails. And if you ask, What profit is it to me? That you do it, must be your reward.

For know, that what God commands, reason requires. Your loftiest aim is ennoblement. For that only are you living here. To this only look; and reject all lower aims.

And if you follow faithfully the inner voice, hope for a corresponding reward. God, the witness and judge of your life, is also the future requiter of it. Immortal life, and blessedness, are its sure rewards.

Heaven is not virtue only, but pleasure also and blessedness. Here, they are often not united; yet this condition aids toward perfection. The noble souls who do good actions here, will there be raised to pure happiness.

But O man, fall not into the error of expecting heaven, as your hire. Let your motives be reason; preference for the better; it is your duty to be good and noble. What art thou? Only a sinful servant. For before God, who is justified?

Yet, what God has clearly promised through the mouth of Jesus, that, reason also bids us hope; and we may pursue our path with joy. A heart pure from sins and vices can not be forever miserable.

Often must I-for God, and duty, require it, offer up my life. And if in this there is no compensation, then, my soul, thou dost contradict thyself within me; then would reason, under the impulsion of virtue, become its own destruction.

Yet, if you have finished the fight here, your reward follows in a future life. If you die in the cause of virtue, you win, although seeming to lose. Thus did Jesus Christ, the model of every virtue, die in his duty.

Let me never mistake Thy summons, O God, who hast given me reason, and Scripture. Let Jesus continue to call me his disciple, true to my Master, even to the grave. May my highest purpose be right and duty; and let not the reward of thy grace fail me.

MARIE LOUISE WILHELMINE, Princess of Neuried. (Poem.) Through the world and its armies sounds the lofty call. Exultingly the angel choirs sing, "One is he who made us!" Yea, the mind in its activity, the earth in her splendor, were created by one wisdom only; are maintained by only one power.

The great work of our God pervades all the spheres of space. All is unconcealed before him; and all is the object of his love. His laws never change; the same great plan teaches the worm to abide upon his leaf, and lays out the path of the comet.

Upon earth he hath laid out a lovely garden for man. To await in faith his paradise, did He summon him into the world; to diffuse light and blessing along the path of his life here; to recognize the greatness of God; and to raise himself toward the angels.

Within the nature of man, the image of his Creator is faithfully shown.

God's love, God's goodness, beam mildly from man's brow. Hail to man! May he never lose this heavenly brightness! And thus may he at last, in the higher spheres, attain the destiny of his life!

As we recognize ourselves to be double beings, souls acting within earthly bodies, so is our destiny a two-fold one; our life on earth is a mission, for time and for eternity. For this present world; within which, in proportion to our knowledge, our powers, and our opportunities for noble efforts, each of us contributes to the collective well-being of our race in the field appointed him by God. For the world beyond the grave; whose coast the longing soul pictures to itself as does the mariner a neighboring shore; for which we must, in the faithful performance of our duty, prepare ourselves, by continual endeavors after the improvement of our souls and hearts.

In this point of view, man is like an amphibious animal of higher grade. As these live either in water or on land, so does he live for time and for eternity. Man constitutes the connecting link between the unreasoning beings of this earth, and the realm of spirits; whither, as their instinct carries birds to warmer regions, he is impelled by holy longings, aspirations and hopes, which can as little deceive him, as the instinct which carries the birds with certainty, over mountains and seas, to the countries. they seek.

As the magnet points surely to the north pole, so do the needs of the spirit as certainly lead towards our everlasting home.

Only thus will man act in accordance with his double destiny, live in a manner corresponding to his dignity, and possess the highest happiness of which he is capable on earth, his security for the attainment of his highest grade of perfection. (Poem.)

Who can think, under the burning rays of the noonday sun, the same thoughts and in the same manner as at midnight?

Thus, then, we find ourselves as it were in another world, without observing the change, when, if there were no sunset and no twilight, we should experience a painful shock, as we do to a perceptible extent, when the sun or moon is eclipsed.

Thus, my feelings tell me, the darkness and the heavenly host were created, to turn aside our gaze from earthly things, to loose the burden of our temporal periods and labors, to give us, by their innumerable sparks of light, another and a lofty sense of the infinite, of eternity; since by the very fact that we know not what and where they are, they speak to us of so many mysterious and supernatural things.

Thus saith God from heaven, every day, and every night.

The day saith it to the night, and the night answereth the day.
They say it to all the nations of the carth.

HERDER.

Throughout all the animal creation we see that each being has a certain number of ways pointed out to it, upon which it may go; and that all others are prohibited to it.

Nor is it enough that it can not actually pursue these; it has not the power to desire to do so. Its desires, as well as its means, arc fettered.

On the contrary, no single direction is exclusively prescribed to the activity of man. Of anything which is not directly possible to him, he can remove the inward difficulties by practice, and the outward by all manner of auxiliary means; and he can at least desire and endeavor after what is wholly impossible.

This characteristic clearly displays his character; and his distinctive physiognomic trait is, a tendency to development, such that even the idea of constraint is unendurable to him, and which is intelligible only by means of freedom.

This, it is true, does not reveal itself in any single trait, but in the