at the head of our warriors, laid the broad and solid foundation of his immortal fame, and raised the superstructure high as humanity is wont to rise; at the head of those statesmen and sages who framed our constitution, he has added another loft to the stupendous fabric, has finished the superstructure, and his character thus completed now stands the loftiest and noblest pyramid of human greatness the world has ever seen. 66 WE'LL MEET AGAIN." BY SAMUEL Ꭲ . HILDRETH. I ASKED if I should cherish still Those dreams and hopes of earlier days, The hill looked down with calm delight, Those random gifts should I preserve, The chance-plucked leaf- the silvan flower, And would she think, when groves were bare, My holiest thoughts would cluster round Her glance met mine- their deep reply ENERGY OF THE WILL. BY PROF. THOMAS C. UPHAM. A HIGHER degree of voluntary power, than is allotted to the great mass of mankind, seems to be requisite in those, who are destined to take a leading part in those great moral, religious, and political revolutions, which have from time to time agitated the face of the world. It is no easy task to change the opinions of men, to check and subdue vices which have become prevalent, or to give a new aspect and impulse to religion and liberty. The men, who take a lead in these movements, are in general men of decision and firmness; no others would answer the purpose. If the gentle spirit of Melancthon had been placed in the precise position occupied by Luther, would the great event of the Protestant reformation have been urged forward with the same impetus, and to the same issues? Not unfrequently have the philanthropist and the Christian Missionary placed themselves in situations, where extreme suffering and even death itself seemed to be inevitable. Unalterably fixed in their high purpose, amid present suffering and the sure anticipation of future and greater woes, they have often exhibited a wonderful heroism, not indeed in the cause of war and its attendant devastations, but for the sake of renovating the sensibilities, and soothing the countless miseries of their fellow-men. In the boundless forests of North and South America, on the shores of the Nile and the Ganges, and on the banks of solitary streams unknown to civilized man, in frozen Greenland and the burning sands of Africa, in the distant islands of the sea, amid the wretched hamlets of the dreary Alps, wherever there is ENERGY OF THE WILL. 345 ignorance to be enlightened or sorrow to be soothed or souls to be saved, their astonishing labors of benevolence have been witnessed, and their names will be held in veneration down to the last ages. When society becomes greatly unsettled either in its religious or political aspects, when there is a heaving and tossing to and fro, a removal of the old land-marks, and a breaking up of the old foundations, then it is, that men, not merely of intellect, but of decision and energy, (sagacious, cool, decided, persevering, resolute,) find their way upward to the summit of the conflicting elements, and subject them to their guidance. Such is the natural course of things; such men are needed, and no others are capable of taking their places; and they become almost of necessity the advisers and leaders in the nascent order of society. The prominent leaders, therefore, in every great religious or political revolution will be found to illustrate the fact, that there are original and marked differences in the degree of power, which is appropriate to the will. Look at the men who presided at the events of the great English Revolution of 1640, particularly the Puritans; men of the stamp of the Vanes, Hampdens, and Fleetwoods; who, in embarking in the convulsions of that stormy period, had a two-fold object in view, the security of political liberty, and the attainment of religious freedom! Were they weak men? Were they men wanting in fortitude? Were they uncertain and flexible, vacillating and double-minded? History gives an emphatic answer to these questions. It informs us, that they entered into the contest for the great objects just now referred to, with a resolution which nothing could shake, with an immutability of purpose resembling the decrees of unalterable destiny. They struck for liberty and religion, and they struck not thrice merely, but as the prophet of old would have had them; smiting many times, and smiting fiercely, till Syria was consumed. They broke in pieces the throne of England; they trampled under foot her ancient and haughty aristocracy; they erected the standard of religious liberty, which has waved ever since, and has scattered its healing light over distant lands; and by their wisdom and energy they not only overthrew the enemies of freedom at home, but made the name of their country honored and terrible throughout the earth. They seem to have entirely subjected their passions to their purposes, and to have pressed all the exciting and inflammable elements of their nature into the service of their fixed and immutable wills. In the prosecution of their memorable achievements, "Of which all Europe talked from side to side," they acted under the two-fold pressure of motives drawn from heaven and earth; they felt as if they were contending for principles which were valuable to all mankind, and as if all mankind were witnesses of the contest; at the same time that they beheld on every side, in the quickened eye of their faith, the attendant angels eagerly bending over them, who were soon to transfer to the imperishable records on high the story of their victory and reward, or of their defeat and degradation. All these things imparted additional fixedness and intensity to their "Death purposes. had lost its terrors, and pleasure its charms. They had their smiles and their tears, their raptures and their sorrows, but not for the things of this world. Enthusiasm had made them Stoics, had cleared their minds from every vulgar passion and prejudice, and raised them above the influence of danger and corruption. It sometimes might lead them to pursue unwise ends, but never to choose unwise means. They went through the world like Sir Artegale's man Talus with his flail, crushing and trampling down oppressors, mingling with human beings, but having neither part nor lot in human infirmities; insensible to fatigue, to pleasure, and to pain; not to be pierced by any weapon, not to be withstood by any barrier." |