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Fichte - Nature of the Scholar
such as it saw in the schools.
But this
did not ensue,--and it was impossible that it should ensue.
The founders of the first Universities were Scholars of dis-
tinguished talent and energy; they had fought their way
through the surrounding darkness of their age to whatever
insight they possessed; they were wholly devoted to their
scientific pursuits, and lived in them alone; they were en-
compassed by a brilliant reputation; in the circles of the
great they were esteemed, honoured, consulted as oracles.
They could never condescend to assume the position of
overseers and pedagogues towards their hearers. Hence it
was, that they held in contempt the teachers of the lower
schools, from whose level they had raised themselves by
their own ability; and for that reason they would neither
practise, nor allow themselves to be distinguished by, those
things which characterized the former. Their call assem-
bled around them hundreds and thousands from all coun-
tries of Europe; the number of their hearers increased both
their importance and their wealth; and it was not to be
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? OF ACADEMICAL FREEDOM.
187
expected that they should expose to annoyance those who
brought such benefits to them. Besides, how was it possible
that young men, with whom they had but a passing ac-
quaintance among hundreds of their fellows,--who in a few
months, a year, or at most a few years, would return to dis-
tant homes,--should interest them closely, or engage their
affections ? --Neither the moral demeanour nor the scientific
progress of their hearers was of any consequence to them;
and in these days a well-known Latin adage which speaks
of "taking gold and sending home," very naturally arose.
Academic Freedom had arisen, as emancipation from the
constraints of school, and from all supervision on the part of
the teacher over the morality, industry, or scientific progress
of the Student, who was to him a hearer and nothing more.
This is one side of the picture. It may easily be ima-
gined, and, where no very high standard of morality existed,
it might very naturally occur, that these founders of the
early universities did so think of this matter, and that a
portion of this mode of thought has come down to us
through past centuries. Let us now look at the other side.
What, then, would be the natural and reasonable effect
of this idea of Academical Freedom on the minds of the
Students? Could they have thought themselves highly
honoured by this indifference on the part of their teacher to
their moral dignity and scientific improvement ? --could
they have demanded this indifference as a sacred right? I
cannot believe it,--for such indifference amounts to disre-
gard and contempt of the Student, and it is surely most of-
fensive to tell him to his face by such conduct--" It is no-
thing to me what becomes of you. "--Or would it have been
natural for them to conclude, from the carelessness of others
about their moral demeanour and regular application to
study, that therefore they themselves were entitled to ne-
glect these things if they chose? --would they have acted
reasonably had they regarded their Academic Freedom as
only a right to be immoral and indolent? I cannot believe it.
Much more reasonable would it have been, had they deter-
mined, because of this want of foreign superintendence, to
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? 188
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
exercise a stricter surveillance over themselves; if out of
this freedom from outward constraint had arisen a clearer
perception of their duty to urge themselves onward so much
the more powerfully, to watch over themselves so much the
more incessantly, and to look upon their Academic Freedom
as liberty to do all that is right and becoming by their own
free determination.
In short, the Academic Freedom of the Student, taken
historically, according to its actual introduction into the
world, exhibits in its origin, in its progress, and in what of it
still exists, an unjust and indecent contempt for the whole
class of Students, as a most insignificant class; and the Stu-
dent who considers himself honoured by this Freedom, and
lays claim to it as a right, has fallen into a most extraordi-
nary delusion ;---he is certainly ill informed, and has never
seriously reflected on the subject. It may indeed become
the well-disposed man of riper years, who is always a lover
of life and youth, to turn aside from the awkwardness, the
rudeness, and the many errors into which unbridled energy
is apt to fall, goodnaturedly to laugh at these, and to think
that wisdom will come with years; but the youth who feels
himself honoured by this judgment, and even demands it as
his due, cannot be supposed to possess a very delicate sense
of honour.
Let us now consider this subject--the Academic Freedom
of the Student--in its philosophical sense; La. as it ought to
be; as, under certain conditions, it may be; and, what fol-
lows from thence, how the actually existing Academic Free-
dom will be accepted by the Student who understands and
honours his vocation. We shall open a way to the attain-
ment of insight into this matter through the following prin-
ciples :--
1. The external freedom of the Citizen is limited, in
every direction and on all possible sides, by Law; and the
more perfect the Law the greater is the limitation,--and so
it ought to be, for this is the proper office of Law. Hence,
there is no sphere remaining in which the inward freedom
and morality of the Citizen can be outwardly exhibited and
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? OF ACADEMICAL FREEDOM.
189
demonstrated,--and there ought to be no such sphere. All
that is to be done is commanded, under penalties; all that
is not to be done is forbidden, likewise under penalties.
Every inward temptation to neglect what is commanded, or
to do what is forbidden, is counterbalanced in the con-
science of the Citizen by the firm conviction, that should he
give way to the temptation, he must in consequence suffer
a certain amount of evil. Let it not be said,--" There is no
existing legislation so all-comprehensive, nor is the sagacity
and vigilance of any tribunal so infallible, that every offence
is sure to meet its punishment. " I know this; but as I said
before, it ought to be thus, and this is what we should regu-
larly and constantly approximate to. Legislation cannot
calculate on the morality of men; for its object--the free-
dom and security of all within their respective spheres--
cannot be left to depend on so uncertain a thing. For the
just man there is indeed no law under any possible legisla-
tion; he will commit no evil even although it were not for-
bidden, and whatsoever is good and right, that he will do
without reference to the command of authority; he is never
tempted to crime, and therefore the idea of its attendant
punishment never enters his mind. He is conscious of his
virtue, and in this consciousness he has his reward within
himself. But externally there is no distinction between him
and the unjust man who is withheld from the commission
of wrong and impelled to the performance of duty only by
the threatenings of the law:--the former cannot do any-
thing more or leave undone anything more than the latter,
but only does or leaves undone the same things from a dif-
ferent motive, which is not outwardly apparent
.
2. Under this legislation, the Scholar and the unlearned
person stand, and ought to stand, on common ground,--as
Citizens. Both can raise themselves above the law in the
same way,--by integrity of purpose;--but this is not cal-
culated upon in either of them, and in neither can this in-
tegrity become apparent in the sphere of external legisla-
tion. And since the Scholar is further a member of a cer-
tain class in the State, and practises in it a certain calling,
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THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
he lies also under the compulsory obligations belonging to
that class and calling;--and here once more it cannot be
apparent whether he fulfils his duties in this sphere from
integrity of purpose or from fear of punishment; nor does
it in any way concern the community by what motive he is
actuated so that his duties are fulfilled. Lastly, in those
regions which have either not yet been reached by an im-
perfect legislation, or which cannot be reached at all by an
external legislation, he is still accompanied by the fear of
disgrace; -- and here again it cannot be seen whether he
does his duty in consequence of this fear or from inward
integrity of purpose.
3. But, besides these, there are yet other relations of the
Scholar, with which external legislation cannot interfere
and in which it cannot watch over the fulfilment of his
duty,--where the Scholar must be a law to himself and
hold himself to its fulfilment. In the Divine Idea he
carries in himself the form of the future Age which one
day must clothe itself with reality; and he must show an
example and lay down a law to coming generations, for
which he will seek in vain either in present or in past
times. In every age that Idea clothes itself in a new form,
and seeks to shape the surrounding world in its image, and
thus do continually arise new relations of the world to the
Idea, and a new mode of opposition of the former to the
latter. It is the business of the Scholar so to interpose in
this strife as to reconcile the activity with the purity of his
Idea, its influence with its dignity. His Idea must not lie
concealed within him; it must go forth and lay hold upon
the world, and he is urged to this activity by the deepest
impulses of his being. But the world is incapable of receiv-
ing this Idea in its purity; on the contrary, it strives to
drag down the Idea to the level of its own vulgar thought.
Could he forego aught of this purity, his task would be an
easy one; but he is filled with reverence for the Idea, and he
can give up no part of its perfection. Hence he has to set
before him the difficult task of reconciling these purposes.
No law,--but why do I speak oilawsf--no example of the
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? OF ACADEMICAL FREEDOM.
191
fore-world or of his own time can reveal to him the means
of this union,--for so surely as the Idea has assumed a new
form in him has his case never before occurred. Even re-
flection, of itself, cannot give him this point of union; for
although, by reflection, the Idea itself in all its purity is re-
vealed as the first point of the union, yet much more is
needed before the second point--the mental condition of
the surrounding world, and what may safely be expected
from it--can be clearly and fully comprehended in the same
thought . Well may those who have wrought most mightily
upon their age have closed their career with the inward
confession that their reliance on the spirit of their time had
ever proved fallacious, that they never supposed it to be so
perverse and imbecile as it afterwards proved, and that
while they accurately estimated one of its aberrations and
avoided it, another, hitherto unperceived, revealed itself.
To succeed at all at any time, there is needed, in addition
to reflection, a certain tact, which can only be acquired by
early exercise and habit . s
Farther, it is clear that in this matter--in doing every-
thing possible to reconcile the opposition between the in-
ward purity of the Idea and its external activity -- the
Scholar can be guided only by his own determination, can
have no other judge but himself, and no motive external
to himself. In this no stranger can judge him--in this no
stranger can even wholly understand him, nor divine the
deep purpose of his actions. In this region, so far is respect
for the judgment of others from aiding his intention, that
on the contrary he must here cast aside foreign opinion
altogether, and look upon it as if it were not. He must
be guided and upheld by his own purpose alone;--and tru-
ly he needs a mighty and immovable purpose to keep his
ground against the temptations which arise even from his
noblest inclinations. What is more noble than the impulse
to action, to sway the minds of men, and to compel their
thoughts to the Holy and Divine ? --and yet this impulse
may become a temptation to represent the Holy in a com-
mon and familiar garb for the sake of popularity, and so to
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? 192
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
desecrate it. What is more noble than the deepest rever-
ence for the Holy, and disdain and abnegation of every-
thing vulgar and opposed to it ? --and yet this very rever-
ence might tempt some one to reject his age altogether,--
to cast it from him and avoid intercourse with it. A
mighty and good will is needed to resist the first of these
temptations, and the mightiest of all to overcome the
second.
It is evident from these considerations, that, for his pecu-
liar vocation, the Scholar needs shrewd practical wisdom, a
profound morality, strict watchfulness over himself, and a
fine delicacy of feeling. It follows, that at an early age he
ought to be placed in a position where it is possible and
necessary for him to acquire this practical wisdom and deli-
cacy of feeling, and that this cultivation of mind and cha-
racter should be a peculiar element in the education of the
future Scholar. Every Citizen, without exception, may cul-
tivate these qualities, and must have it in his power to do
so; legislation must leave this possibility open to him,--it
is compelled to do so by its very nature. But it does not
concern the legislature or the commonwealth whether the
Citizen does or does not elevate himself to this vocation, be-
cause his calling will still remain within the range of exter-
nal jurisdiction. But as for the Scholar, it is of importance
to the Commonwealth, and to the whole Human Race, that
he should both raise himself to the purest morality and ac-
quire sound practical wisdom, since he is destined one day
to enter a sphere where he absolutely leaves behind him all
external judgment. The legislation for him, therefore,
should not merely allow him the possibility of moral culti-
vation like every other Citizen, but, so far as in it lies, it
should place him under the outward necessity of acquiring
this cultivation.
And how can it do this? Evidently only by leaving him
to his own judgment as to what is becoming, seemly, and
appropriate, and to his own superintendence of himself. Is
he to create for himself an independent sense of what is
proper and becoming? How can he do so if the law accom-
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? OF ACADEMICAL FREEDOM.
193
panies him everywhere, and everywhere declares what he is
to do and what not to do? Let the law prohibit those whom
she can retain under her yoke from indulgence in every-
thing which she wishes them to renounce; but, as for him
who must one day leave her jurisdiction, let her trust him
betimes as a noble and free man. The man of refined
morality does not wait until the law discovers a thing to be
unseemly and directs its prohibition against it,--it would
be ignominy for him to need such direction;--he antici-
pates the decree, and relinquishes that in which the vulgar
around him indulge without scruple, simply because it is
unbecoming his higher nature. Give the Student room to
place himself in this class by his own effort alone. Is he to
unfold in himself a profound and powerful morality, a ten-
der delicacy of sentiment, a deep sense of honour? How can
he do this surrounded by threats of punishment? Let the
law rather speak to him thus:--" So far as I am concerned,
thou mayest leave the path of right and follow after evil;
no other harm shall overtake thee but to be despised and
scorned,--despised even by thyself when thou turnest thine
eye inwards. If thou wilt venture on this peril, venture on
it without fear. " Is the Human Race one day to confide to
him its most important interests, and in his dealings with
those interests is he to have confidence in himself? How
can men trust him when they have never proved him ? --
how can he trust himself when he has never proved his own
strength 1 He who has not yet been faithful in small things
cannot be entrusted with great things; and he who has not
been able to stand a trial before himself cannot without the
basest dishonour accept an important trust. On these
grounds we rest the claims of Academic Freedom,--of an
extensive yet well-considered Academic Freedom.
In a Perfect State, the outward constitution of Universi-
ties would, in my opinion, be the following:--In the first
place, the Students would be separated from other classes of
the community pursuing other vocations, so that these
classes might not, by the possible abuse of Academic Free-
dom, be harassed or injured, tempted to similar irregulari-
Ca
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? 194.
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
ties, or misled into a hatred of the law while living under
its rule by daily contact with a class free from its restraints. The Students at these Universities would enjoy a high
degree of freedom;--instructions on Morality and Duty, and
impressive pictures of a True Life, would indeed be laid be-
fore them; they would be surrounded by good examples,
and their teachers would not only be profound Scholars, but
the Slite of the best men in the nation;--of compulsory laws,
however, there would be very few. Let them freely choose
either good or evil: the time of study is but the time of
trial; the time for the decision of their fate comes after-
wards;--and our arrangement would have this advantage,
that unworthiness, where it existed, would be clearly recog-
Jnised as such and could no longer be concealed.
The present actual constitution of Universities is indeed
by no means of this kind. It is doubtful whether Academic
Freedom was ever looked upon from the point of view from
which we have described it, particularly whether it was ever
so looked upon by those who gave the Universities their cons-
titution. Academic Freedom has actually arisen in the way
described in a former part of this lecture,--i. e. from disre-
spect towards the Student-class: and we may leave it un-
determined by what influence the remnants of this system
are now maintained; for even were it admitted that the same
disrespect for the class, which still exists although in a less
degree, and perhaps want of opportunity to get rid of these
relics of another age, were its only supports, yet this is of no
moment to the true-minded Student, who judges of things
not by their outward form but by their inward spirit.
Whatever others may think of Academic Freedom, he, for
his part, takes it in its true sense:--as a means by which
he may learn to direct himself when outward precept leaves
him,--watch over himself when no one else watches over
him,--urge himself forward where there is no longer any
outward impulse,--and thus train and strengthen himself
for his future high vocation.
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? LECTURE VII.
OP THE FINISHED SCHOLAR IN GENERAL.
The true-minded Scholar looks upon his vocation--to be-
come a partaker of the Divine thought of the universe--as
the purpose of God in him; and therefore both his person
and his calling become to him, before all other things, ho-
nourable and holy; and this holiness shows itself in all his
outward manifestations. Such is the point at which we
have now arrived.
We have hitherto spoken of the Progressive Scholar--the
Student; and we have seen how the sense of the dignity
conferred upon his person by this exalted vocation expresses
itself in his life. How his conviction of the holiness of
Knowledge pervades and influences his studies we have
already noticed in one of the earlier lectures, and it is not
necessary to add anything to what we have said upon this
point. k
And it is the less necessary since this reverence for
Knowledge which is felt by the Student manifests itself
chiefly in the appropriate estimation and consecration of his
person and is therein exhausted; while it is quite otherwise
in the Finished Scholar. In the Progressive Scholar, that
which he strives after--the Idea--has yet to acquire a
form and an independent life:--these it does not yet
possess. As yet the Student does neither immediately
possess, nor is he thoroughly penetrated by, the Idea; he
reverences it only at a distance, and can comprehend it
only by means of his person, as the standard to which
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? 196
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
that person ought to raise itself, the spirit by which it
ought to be swayed. He can as yet do nothing directly
in its service; he can only live for it indirectly, by con-
secrating and devoting his person to its use as its appoint-
ed instrument; preserving himself pure in sense and
spirit because all impurity would mar and disqualify him
for that function; by giving himself up entirely to its in-
fluence and pursuing and executing with unwearied indus-
try everything which may become a means or opportunity
to the Idea of unfolding itself within him. It is other-
wise with the Finished Scholar. As surely as he is such,
the Idea has already commenced its proper and indepen-
dent life within him; his personal life has now actually
passed into the Life of the Idea, and is therein absorbed;--
an absorption of self in the Idea which was only striven
after by the Student. As surely as he is a perfect Scholar,
so surely is there now no longer in him any thought of self,
but his whole thought is henceforth absorbed in the
thought of the Idea. And thus the distinction which we
originally made between the holiness of his person and the
holiness of his vocation now becomes a point of transition
from the contemplation of the Progressive to that of the
Finished Scholar,--the portraiture of whom it is now my
purpose to place beside that of the Progressive Scholar.
Hitherto we have considered the Progressive Scholar
chiefly in the character of a Student at a University; and
these two Ideas have been almost constantly associated to-
gether in our previous lectures. Now, for the first time,
when we have to accompany the Student from the Academy
into Life, we must call to mind that the studies and cha-
racter of the Progressive Scholar are not necessarily com-
pleted with his residence at the University; nay, further on,
we shall even perceive a ground upon which we may say that, properly speaking, his studies have their true begin-
ning only after his academic course has closed. This much,
however, remains true, as the sure result of what has been
already said,--that the youth who during his residence at
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? OF THE FINISHED SCHOLAR.
197
the University is not at least inspired with respect for the
holiness of Knowledge, and does not at least learn to honour
his own person to such an extent as not to render it un-
worthy of his high vocation, will never afterwards attain to
any true sense of the dignity of Knowledge; and whatever
part he may be called to play in life, he will take to it as a
common handicraft and with the sentiment of an hireling
who has no other motive to his labour than the pay he is to
receive for it. To say anything more of such an one lies
beyond the boundaries of our present subject.
But the Student who is penetrated with the conviction
that the essential purpose of his studies will be defeated
unless the Idea acquire an intrinsic form and independent
life within him, and that in the highest perfection,--he will
by no means lay aside his studies and scientific labours
when he leaves the University. Even if he be compelled
by outward necessity to enter upon a secular employment,
he will devote to Knowledge all the time and ability he can
spare from that employment, and will neglect no opportu-
nity which presents itself of attaining a higher culture. The
exercise of his faculties in the pursuit of learning will be
profitable to him even in the transaction of his ordinary
business. And amid the brilliant distinctions of office, and
even in mature age, he will restlessly strive and labour to
master the Idea, never resigning the hope of becoming
greater than he now is, so long as strength permits him to
indulge it. Without this untiring effort, much true Genius
would be wholly lost, for scientific talent usually unfolds it-
self more slowly, the higher and purer its essential nature,
and its clear development waits for mature years and manly
strength.
The Student who is penetrated with deep respect for the
holiness of the Scholar's vocation, will be guided by that
respect in his choice of a civic profession; and, particularly,
in the province of learning, if he do not feel the deepest
conviction of his ability to fulfil its highest duties, he will
choose a subordinate occupation, restrained from assumption
by his reverence for the dignity of Knowledge. But a sub-
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? 198
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
ordinate Scholar-occupation is one in which the ends to be
attained have been prescribed by some other intellect pos-
sessed with a knowledge of the Idea, and in which the capa-
cities which have been acquired through study, pursued for
the attainment of the Idea, are employed only as means to
fulfil those purposes which have thus been prescribed from
without. His person is thus not degraded into a passive
instrument; he is for ever secured against that by the
general view he takes of human life and its significance;--
he serves God alone in spirit and in sense; and, under the
guidance of his superiors, whom he leaves to answer for the
direction which they give to his actions and their results, he
promotes God's purposes with men, which must embrace all
forms of human activity. Thus does he proceed in his
choice of a secular employment as surely as he has been
inspired in his youth with respect for the dignity of the
peculiar vocation of the Scholar. To undertake such an
employment without consciousness of possessing the needful
power and cultivation is to profane it, and manifests a want
both of delicacy and of principle. And it is impossible that
he should fall into error on this point; for if he has passed
through his academic course in a creditable manner, then
he has certainly acquired, in some degree, a perception of
what is worthy, and has obtained a standard by which he
can take his own intellectual dimensions. If a conscientious
course of study at a University secured no other advantage
than that of presenting to youth a picture of the dignified
calling of the Scholar as a model for life, and of repelling
from this sphere those who are not endowed with the requi-
site ability, such a course would, on account of this advan-
tage alone, be of the utmost importance to the Student.
We have thus generally described the nature of a subor-
dinate Scholar-occupation. It does not demand in him who
pursues it, the immediate possession of the Idea, but only
that knowledge which is acquired in striving after such pos-
session. It is to be understood that in this again there are
higher and lower grades, according as the occupation re-
quires a wider or narrower range of knowledge,--and that,
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? OF THE FINISHED SCHOLAR.
199
in this respect too, the conscientious man will not under-
take anything which exceeds his powers. It is unnecessary
to describe these subordinate Scholar-occupations in detail.
The higher and peculiar calling of the Scholar may be de-
scribed so as to exhaust all its particular forms, and it is
then easy to draw this consequence:--" All those pursuits
which are usually followed by educated men, but which do
not find a place in this all-comprehensive delineation of the
higher calling of the Scholar, but are excluded from it, are
subordinate Scholar-occupations. " We have therefore only
now to lay before you this perfect delineation.
In our first lecture we have already definitely character-
ized the life of him in whom Learned Culture has fulfilled
its end:--his life is itself the life of the Divine Idea in the
world, changing and reconstructing it from its very founda-
tion. In the same place we have said that this life may
manifest itself in two forms;--either in actual external Be-
ing and Action, or only in Idea; which two distinct modes of
manifestation together constitute the peculiar vocation of
the Scholar. The first class comprehends all those who, by
their own strength, and according to their own idea, assume
the guidance of human affairs, leading them on to ever-new
perfection in constant harmony with each succeeding age;
who, originally, as the highest free leaders of men, direct
their social relations, and the relation of the whole to pas-
sive nature;--not those only who stand in the higher places
of the earth, as kings, or the immediate councillors of kings,
but all without exception who possess the right and calling,
either by themselves or in concert with others, to think,
judge, and resolve independently concerning the original dis-
posal of these affairs. The second class embraces the Scho-
lars, properly and pre-eminently so called, whose vocation it
is to maintain among men the knowledge of the Divine
Idea, to elevate it unceasingly to greater clearness and pre-
cision, and thus to transmit it from generation to genera-
tion, ever growing brighter in the freshness and glory of re-
newed youth. The first class act directly upon the world,--
they are the immediate point of contact between God and
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? 200
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
reality;--the last are the mediators between the pure spiri-
tuality of thought in the God-head, and the material energy
and influence which that thought acquires through the in-
strumentality of the first class; they are the trainers of the
first class,--the enduring pledge to the human race that the
first class shall never fail from among men. No one can
belong to the first class without having already belonged to
the second,--without always continuing to belong to it
.
The second class of Scholars is again separated into sub-
divisions, according to the manner in which they communi-
cate to others their conceptions of the Idea. Either their
immediate object is, by direct and free personal communica-
tion of their ideal conceptions, to cultivate in future Scho-
lars a capacity for the reception of the Idea, so that they
may afterwards lay hold of it and comprehend it for them-
selves :--and then they are educators of Scholars, Teachers in
the higher or lower schools;--or, they propound their con-
ceptions of the Idea, in a complete and finished form, to
those who have already cultivated the capacity to compre-
hend it. This is at present done by books,--and they are
thus--Authors.
The classes which we have now enumerated, whose seve-
ral occupations are not necessarily portioned out to different
individuals, but may quite readily be united in one and the
the same person, comprise all true and proper Scholars, and
exhaust the whole vocation of those in whom Learned Cul-
ture has fulfilled its end. Every other function, whatever
name it may bear, which the Educated Man* (who may be
distinguished by this title from the True Scholar) is called
upon to fulfil, is a subordinate Scholar-occupation. The
Educated Man continues in it, only because he has not by
his studies been able to attain to the rank of the True
Scholar, but nevertheless finds here a useful purpose to
which those capacities and knowledge which he has ac-
quired may be applied. It is by no means the object of
* Germ. "Studirte," one who has studied,--contrasted with "Studirende," one
who studies. We have no single equivalent for "Studirte" in English. --Tr.
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? OF THE FINISHED SCHOLAR.
201
Learned Culture to train subalterns, and no one should study
with a view to the office of a subaltern; for then it may
happen that he shall not attain even to that rank. Only be-
cause it was certain that a majority of Students would fall
short of their proposed destination, have subordinate occu-
pations been set apart for them. The subaltern receives the
direction of his activity from a foreign intellect; he must
exercise judgment in the choice of his means, but in respect
of the end only the most punctual obedience. The acknow-
ledged sacredness of the peculiar vocation of the Scholar
restrains every honest 'Educated Man' who is not conscious
of the possession of the Idea, from undertaking it, and con-
strains him to content himself with a subordinate office:--
this and nothing more have we to say of him, for his busi-
ness is no true Scholar-employment. We leave him to the
sure guidance of that general Integrity and faithfulness to
Duty which already during his studies have become the
innermost principle of his life.
Such an one, by renunciation of the peculiar calling of the
Scholar, shows that he looks upon it as sacred; he also, who
with honesty and a good conscience accepts this calling in
any of its forms, shows by his actions and by his whole life
that he looks upon it as sacred. How this recognition of
the Holy specially manifests itself in each particular depart-
ment of the Scholar's vocation, as these have now been set
forth,--of this we shall speak in succession in the subse-
quent lectures. To-day we shall confine ourselves to show-
ing how it manifests and reveals itself in general--i. e. to
that form of its manifestation which is common to all the
departments of the Scholar's vocation.
The true-minded Scholar will not admit of any life and
activity within him except the immediate life and activity
of the Divine Idea. This unchangeable principle pervades
and determines all his inward thoughts;--it also pervades
and determines all his outward actions. With respect to
the first,--as he suffers no emotion within him that is not
the direct emotion and life of the Divine Idea which has
taken possession of him, so is his whole life accompanied
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? 202 THE NATURE OP THE SCHOLAR.
by the indestructible consciousness that it is at one with
the Divine Life,--that in him and by him God's work shall
be achieved and His Will accomplished; he therefore re-
poses on that Will with unspeakable love, and with the
immovable conviction that it is right and good. Thus does
his thought become holy, enlightened, and religious; bless-
edness arises within him,--and in it, changeless joy, peace,
and power,--as these may in like manner be acquired and
enjoyed by the unlearned, and even the lowliest among
men, through true devotion to God and honest performance
of duty viewed as the" Will of God. Hence these are no ex-
clusive property of the Scholar, but are noticed here only
with the view that he too may become a partaker in this
religious aspect of life, and become so by the way which we
have pointed out.
This principle pervades the conduct of the True Scholar.
He has no other purpose in action but to express his Idea,
and embody the truth which he recognises in word or work.
No personal regard, either for himself or others, can impel
him to do that which is not demanded by this purpose,--no
such regard can cause him to neglect anything which is re-
quired by this purpose. His person, and all personality in
the world, have long since vanished from before him, and
entirely disappeared in his effort after the realization of the
Idea. The Idea alone impels him; where it does not move
him, he rests and remains inactive. He does nothing with
precipitation, hurried forward by disquietude and restless-
ness; these may well be symptoms of unfolding power, but
they are never to be found in conjunction with true, deve-
loped, mature and manly strength. Until the Idea stands
before him clear and breathing, finished and perfect even to
word or deed, nothing moves him to action; the Idea rules
him entirely, governs all his powers, and exhausts all his
life and effort. To its manifestation he devotes his whole
personal being without reserve or intermission, for he looks
upon his life as only the instrument of the Idea.
Would that I could make myself intelligible to you,--
would that I could persuade you,--touching this one point
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? OF THE FINISHED SCHOLAR
203
which we now approach on every side! --Whatever man
may do, so long as he does it from himself as a finite being,
by himself, and through his own counsel,--it is vain, and
will sink to nothing. Only when a foreign power takes
possession of him, and urges him forward, and lives within
him in room of his own energy, does true and real existence
first take up its abode in his life. This foreign power is
ever the power of God. To look up to it for counsel,--
implicitly to follow its guidance,--is the only true wisdom in
every employment of human life, and therefore most of all
in the highest occupation of which man can partake,--the
vocation of the True Scholar.
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? 204
LECTURE VIII.
OF THE SCHOLAR AS RULER.
-
He in whom Learned Culture has actually accomplished its
end,--the attainment and possession of the Idea,--shows, by
the manner in which he regards and practises the calling of
the Scholar, that his vocation is to him, before all other
things, honourable and holy. The Idea, in its relation to
the progressive improvement of the world, may be expressed
--either, first, in actual life and conduct; or, secondly, in
ideas only. It is expressed in the first mode by those who,
as the highest free leaders of men, originally guide and
order their affairs:--their relations with each other, or the
legal condition,-and their relation to passive nature, or the
dominion of reason over the irrational world;--who pos-
sess the right and calling, either by themselves or in con-
cert with others, to think, judge, and resolve independently
concerning the actual arrangement of these relations. We
have to speak to-day of the worthy conception and practice
of this vocation. As we have already taken precautions
against misunderstanding by a strict definition of our mean-
ing, we shall, for brevity's sake, term those who practise this
calling-- Rulers.
The business of the Ruler has been described in our early
lectures,--and so definitely, that no further analysis is ne-
cessary for our present purpose. We have only to show
what capacities and talents must be possessed by the true
Ruler,--by what estimate of his calling, and what mode of
practising it, he proves that he looks upon it as sacred.
He who undertakes to guide his Age and order its consti-
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? THE XATUBK OF THE SCHOLAK.
205
tution, must be exalted above it,--must not merely possess
an historical knowledge of it, but must thoroughly under-
stand and comprehend it. The Ruler possesses, in the first
place, a living and comprehensive Idea of that relation of
human life which he undertakes to superintend;--he knows
what is its essential nature, meaning, and purpose. Further,
he perfectly understands the changing and adventitious
forms which it may assume in reality without prejudice to
its essential nature. He knows the particular form which it
has assumed at the present time, and through what new
forms it must be led nearer and nearer to its unattainable
Ideal. No part of its present form is, in his view, necessary
and unchangeable, but is only an incidental point in a pro-
gression by which it is constantly rising towards higher per-
fection. He knows the Whole of which that form is a part,
and of which every improvement of it must still remain a
part; and he never loses sight of this Whole in contemplat-
ing the improvement of individual parts. This knowledge
gives to his inventive faculty the means of accomplishing
the improvements he may devise; the same knowledge se-
cures him from the mistake of disorganizing the Whole by
supposed improvements of individual parts. His eye always
combines the part with the Whole, and the idea of the lat-
ter with its actual manifestation in reality.
He who can not look upon human affairs with this un-
fettered vision is never a Ruler, whatever station he may
occupy,--nor can he ever become one. Even his mode of
thought, his faith in the unchangeableness of the present,
places him in a state of subordination, makes him an in-
strument of him who created that arrangement of things in
the permanence of which he believes. This frequently
happens; and thus all times have not actual Rulers. Great
spirits of the fore-world often rule over succeeding Ages
long after their death, by means of men who in themselves
are nothing, but are only continuations and prolongations of
other lives. Very often too this is no misfortune; but those
who desire to penetrate human life with deeper insight
ought to know that these are not true Rulers, and that
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? 206
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
under them the Age does not move forward, but rests,--
perhaps to gain strength for new creations.
The Ruler, I said, thoroughly comprehends that rela-
tion of human life which he undertakes to superintend; he
knows the essential character and idea of all its component
parts, and he looks upon it as the absolute will of God with
man. It is not to him a means to the attainment of any
/ 1end whatever, nor in particular to the production of human
happiness; but he looks upon it as in itself an end,--as the
absolute mode, order, and form in which the human race
should live.
Thus, in the first place, is his occupation ennobled and
dignified in proportion to the nobility of his mode of
thought. To direct his whole thoughts and efforts,--to
devote his whole life to the accomplishment of such a
purpose as this:--that mortal men may fall out as little as
possible with each other in the short span of time during
which they have to live together, that they may have some-
what to eat and drink, and wherewithal to clothe them-
selves, until they make way for another generation, which
again shall eat, and drink, and clothe itself,--this business
would appear to a noble mind a vocation most unworthy of
its nature. The Ruler, after our idea of him, is secure
against this view of his calling. Through the idea of
human life by which he is animated, the Race among
whom he practises his vocation is likewise ennobled. He
who has constantly to keep in view the infirmities and
weaknesses of men, who has to watch their daily course,
and who has frequent opportunities of observing their
general meanness and corruption, and who sees nothing
more than these, cannot be much disposed to honour or to
love them; and indeed those powerful spirits who have
filled the most prominent places among men, but have not
been penetrated by true religious feeling, have at no time
been known to bestow much honour or respect upon their
Race. The Ruler, after our idea of him, in his estimate of
mankind looks beyond that which they are in the actual
world, to that which they are in the Divine Idea--to that
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? OP THE SCHOLAR AS RULER.
207
which therefore they may be, ought to be, and one day
assuredly will be; and he is thus filled with reverence for a Race called to so high a destiny. Love is not required of
him; nay, if you think deeper of it, it is even a kind of
arrogance for a Ruler to presume to love the whole Human
Race, or even his own nation,--to assure it of his love, and,
as it were, make it dependent on his kindness. A Ruler
such as we have described is free from such presumption:
his reverence for humanity, as the image and protected
child of God, does more than overpower it.
He looks upon his vocation as the Divine Will with
regard to the Human Race; he looks upon its practice as
the Divine Will with regard to himself--the present indi-
vidual; he recognises in himself one of the first and imme-
diate servants of God,--one of the material organs through
which God enters into communion with reality. Not that
this thought excites him to vain self-exaltation;--he who
is penetrated by the Idea has in it lost his personality, and
he has no longer remaining any feeling of self, except that
of employing his personal existence truly and conscienti-
ously in his high vocation. He knows that it is not of
himself that he has this intuition of the Idea and the power
which accompanies it, but that he has received them; he
knows that he can add nothing to what has been given him
except its honest and conscientious use; he knows that the
humblest of men can do this in the same degree as he him-
self can do it, and that the latter has the same value in the
sight of God which he himself should have in the same sta-
tion. All outward rank and elevation above other men
which have been given not to his person but to his dignity,
and which are but conditions of the possession of this dig-
nity,--these will not dazzle him who seeks to deserve high-
er and more substantial distinctions. In a word:--he looks
upon his calling, not as a friendly service which he renders
to the world, but as his absolute personal duty and obliga-
tion, by the performance of which alone he obtains, main-
tains, and repays his personal existence, and without which
he would pass away into nothing.
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did not ensue,--and it was impossible that it should ensue.
The founders of the first Universities were Scholars of dis-
tinguished talent and energy; they had fought their way
through the surrounding darkness of their age to whatever
insight they possessed; they were wholly devoted to their
scientific pursuits, and lived in them alone; they were en-
compassed by a brilliant reputation; in the circles of the
great they were esteemed, honoured, consulted as oracles.
They could never condescend to assume the position of
overseers and pedagogues towards their hearers. Hence it
was, that they held in contempt the teachers of the lower
schools, from whose level they had raised themselves by
their own ability; and for that reason they would neither
practise, nor allow themselves to be distinguished by, those
things which characterized the former. Their call assem-
bled around them hundreds and thousands from all coun-
tries of Europe; the number of their hearers increased both
their importance and their wealth; and it was not to be
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? OF ACADEMICAL FREEDOM.
187
expected that they should expose to annoyance those who
brought such benefits to them. Besides, how was it possible
that young men, with whom they had but a passing ac-
quaintance among hundreds of their fellows,--who in a few
months, a year, or at most a few years, would return to dis-
tant homes,--should interest them closely, or engage their
affections ? --Neither the moral demeanour nor the scientific
progress of their hearers was of any consequence to them;
and in these days a well-known Latin adage which speaks
of "taking gold and sending home," very naturally arose.
Academic Freedom had arisen, as emancipation from the
constraints of school, and from all supervision on the part of
the teacher over the morality, industry, or scientific progress
of the Student, who was to him a hearer and nothing more.
This is one side of the picture. It may easily be ima-
gined, and, where no very high standard of morality existed,
it might very naturally occur, that these founders of the
early universities did so think of this matter, and that a
portion of this mode of thought has come down to us
through past centuries. Let us now look at the other side.
What, then, would be the natural and reasonable effect
of this idea of Academical Freedom on the minds of the
Students? Could they have thought themselves highly
honoured by this indifference on the part of their teacher to
their moral dignity and scientific improvement ? --could
they have demanded this indifference as a sacred right? I
cannot believe it,--for such indifference amounts to disre-
gard and contempt of the Student, and it is surely most of-
fensive to tell him to his face by such conduct--" It is no-
thing to me what becomes of you. "--Or would it have been
natural for them to conclude, from the carelessness of others
about their moral demeanour and regular application to
study, that therefore they themselves were entitled to ne-
glect these things if they chose? --would they have acted
reasonably had they regarded their Academic Freedom as
only a right to be immoral and indolent? I cannot believe it.
Much more reasonable would it have been, had they deter-
mined, because of this want of foreign superintendence, to
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? 188
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
exercise a stricter surveillance over themselves; if out of
this freedom from outward constraint had arisen a clearer
perception of their duty to urge themselves onward so much
the more powerfully, to watch over themselves so much the
more incessantly, and to look upon their Academic Freedom
as liberty to do all that is right and becoming by their own
free determination.
In short, the Academic Freedom of the Student, taken
historically, according to its actual introduction into the
world, exhibits in its origin, in its progress, and in what of it
still exists, an unjust and indecent contempt for the whole
class of Students, as a most insignificant class; and the Stu-
dent who considers himself honoured by this Freedom, and
lays claim to it as a right, has fallen into a most extraordi-
nary delusion ;---he is certainly ill informed, and has never
seriously reflected on the subject. It may indeed become
the well-disposed man of riper years, who is always a lover
of life and youth, to turn aside from the awkwardness, the
rudeness, and the many errors into which unbridled energy
is apt to fall, goodnaturedly to laugh at these, and to think
that wisdom will come with years; but the youth who feels
himself honoured by this judgment, and even demands it as
his due, cannot be supposed to possess a very delicate sense
of honour.
Let us now consider this subject--the Academic Freedom
of the Student--in its philosophical sense; La. as it ought to
be; as, under certain conditions, it may be; and, what fol-
lows from thence, how the actually existing Academic Free-
dom will be accepted by the Student who understands and
honours his vocation. We shall open a way to the attain-
ment of insight into this matter through the following prin-
ciples :--
1. The external freedom of the Citizen is limited, in
every direction and on all possible sides, by Law; and the
more perfect the Law the greater is the limitation,--and so
it ought to be, for this is the proper office of Law. Hence,
there is no sphere remaining in which the inward freedom
and morality of the Citizen can be outwardly exhibited and
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? OF ACADEMICAL FREEDOM.
189
demonstrated,--and there ought to be no such sphere. All
that is to be done is commanded, under penalties; all that
is not to be done is forbidden, likewise under penalties.
Every inward temptation to neglect what is commanded, or
to do what is forbidden, is counterbalanced in the con-
science of the Citizen by the firm conviction, that should he
give way to the temptation, he must in consequence suffer
a certain amount of evil. Let it not be said,--" There is no
existing legislation so all-comprehensive, nor is the sagacity
and vigilance of any tribunal so infallible, that every offence
is sure to meet its punishment. " I know this; but as I said
before, it ought to be thus, and this is what we should regu-
larly and constantly approximate to. Legislation cannot
calculate on the morality of men; for its object--the free-
dom and security of all within their respective spheres--
cannot be left to depend on so uncertain a thing. For the
just man there is indeed no law under any possible legisla-
tion; he will commit no evil even although it were not for-
bidden, and whatsoever is good and right, that he will do
without reference to the command of authority; he is never
tempted to crime, and therefore the idea of its attendant
punishment never enters his mind. He is conscious of his
virtue, and in this consciousness he has his reward within
himself. But externally there is no distinction between him
and the unjust man who is withheld from the commission
of wrong and impelled to the performance of duty only by
the threatenings of the law:--the former cannot do any-
thing more or leave undone anything more than the latter,
but only does or leaves undone the same things from a dif-
ferent motive, which is not outwardly apparent
.
2. Under this legislation, the Scholar and the unlearned
person stand, and ought to stand, on common ground,--as
Citizens. Both can raise themselves above the law in the
same way,--by integrity of purpose;--but this is not cal-
culated upon in either of them, and in neither can this in-
tegrity become apparent in the sphere of external legisla-
tion. And since the Scholar is further a member of a cer-
tain class in the State, and practises in it a certain calling,
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? 190
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
he lies also under the compulsory obligations belonging to
that class and calling;--and here once more it cannot be
apparent whether he fulfils his duties in this sphere from
integrity of purpose or from fear of punishment; nor does
it in any way concern the community by what motive he is
actuated so that his duties are fulfilled. Lastly, in those
regions which have either not yet been reached by an im-
perfect legislation, or which cannot be reached at all by an
external legislation, he is still accompanied by the fear of
disgrace; -- and here again it cannot be seen whether he
does his duty in consequence of this fear or from inward
integrity of purpose.
3. But, besides these, there are yet other relations of the
Scholar, with which external legislation cannot interfere
and in which it cannot watch over the fulfilment of his
duty,--where the Scholar must be a law to himself and
hold himself to its fulfilment. In the Divine Idea he
carries in himself the form of the future Age which one
day must clothe itself with reality; and he must show an
example and lay down a law to coming generations, for
which he will seek in vain either in present or in past
times. In every age that Idea clothes itself in a new form,
and seeks to shape the surrounding world in its image, and
thus do continually arise new relations of the world to the
Idea, and a new mode of opposition of the former to the
latter. It is the business of the Scholar so to interpose in
this strife as to reconcile the activity with the purity of his
Idea, its influence with its dignity. His Idea must not lie
concealed within him; it must go forth and lay hold upon
the world, and he is urged to this activity by the deepest
impulses of his being. But the world is incapable of receiv-
ing this Idea in its purity; on the contrary, it strives to
drag down the Idea to the level of its own vulgar thought.
Could he forego aught of this purity, his task would be an
easy one; but he is filled with reverence for the Idea, and he
can give up no part of its perfection. Hence he has to set
before him the difficult task of reconciling these purposes.
No law,--but why do I speak oilawsf--no example of the
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? OF ACADEMICAL FREEDOM.
191
fore-world or of his own time can reveal to him the means
of this union,--for so surely as the Idea has assumed a new
form in him has his case never before occurred. Even re-
flection, of itself, cannot give him this point of union; for
although, by reflection, the Idea itself in all its purity is re-
vealed as the first point of the union, yet much more is
needed before the second point--the mental condition of
the surrounding world, and what may safely be expected
from it--can be clearly and fully comprehended in the same
thought . Well may those who have wrought most mightily
upon their age have closed their career with the inward
confession that their reliance on the spirit of their time had
ever proved fallacious, that they never supposed it to be so
perverse and imbecile as it afterwards proved, and that
while they accurately estimated one of its aberrations and
avoided it, another, hitherto unperceived, revealed itself.
To succeed at all at any time, there is needed, in addition
to reflection, a certain tact, which can only be acquired by
early exercise and habit . s
Farther, it is clear that in this matter--in doing every-
thing possible to reconcile the opposition between the in-
ward purity of the Idea and its external activity -- the
Scholar can be guided only by his own determination, can
have no other judge but himself, and no motive external
to himself. In this no stranger can judge him--in this no
stranger can even wholly understand him, nor divine the
deep purpose of his actions. In this region, so far is respect
for the judgment of others from aiding his intention, that
on the contrary he must here cast aside foreign opinion
altogether, and look upon it as if it were not. He must
be guided and upheld by his own purpose alone;--and tru-
ly he needs a mighty and immovable purpose to keep his
ground against the temptations which arise even from his
noblest inclinations. What is more noble than the impulse
to action, to sway the minds of men, and to compel their
thoughts to the Holy and Divine ? --and yet this impulse
may become a temptation to represent the Holy in a com-
mon and familiar garb for the sake of popularity, and so to
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? 192
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
desecrate it. What is more noble than the deepest rever-
ence for the Holy, and disdain and abnegation of every-
thing vulgar and opposed to it ? --and yet this very rever-
ence might tempt some one to reject his age altogether,--
to cast it from him and avoid intercourse with it. A
mighty and good will is needed to resist the first of these
temptations, and the mightiest of all to overcome the
second.
It is evident from these considerations, that, for his pecu-
liar vocation, the Scholar needs shrewd practical wisdom, a
profound morality, strict watchfulness over himself, and a
fine delicacy of feeling. It follows, that at an early age he
ought to be placed in a position where it is possible and
necessary for him to acquire this practical wisdom and deli-
cacy of feeling, and that this cultivation of mind and cha-
racter should be a peculiar element in the education of the
future Scholar. Every Citizen, without exception, may cul-
tivate these qualities, and must have it in his power to do
so; legislation must leave this possibility open to him,--it
is compelled to do so by its very nature. But it does not
concern the legislature or the commonwealth whether the
Citizen does or does not elevate himself to this vocation, be-
cause his calling will still remain within the range of exter-
nal jurisdiction. But as for the Scholar, it is of importance
to the Commonwealth, and to the whole Human Race, that
he should both raise himself to the purest morality and ac-
quire sound practical wisdom, since he is destined one day
to enter a sphere where he absolutely leaves behind him all
external judgment. The legislation for him, therefore,
should not merely allow him the possibility of moral culti-
vation like every other Citizen, but, so far as in it lies, it
should place him under the outward necessity of acquiring
this cultivation.
And how can it do this? Evidently only by leaving him
to his own judgment as to what is becoming, seemly, and
appropriate, and to his own superintendence of himself. Is
he to create for himself an independent sense of what is
proper and becoming? How can he do so if the law accom-
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? OF ACADEMICAL FREEDOM.
193
panies him everywhere, and everywhere declares what he is
to do and what not to do? Let the law prohibit those whom
she can retain under her yoke from indulgence in every-
thing which she wishes them to renounce; but, as for him
who must one day leave her jurisdiction, let her trust him
betimes as a noble and free man. The man of refined
morality does not wait until the law discovers a thing to be
unseemly and directs its prohibition against it,--it would
be ignominy for him to need such direction;--he antici-
pates the decree, and relinquishes that in which the vulgar
around him indulge without scruple, simply because it is
unbecoming his higher nature. Give the Student room to
place himself in this class by his own effort alone. Is he to
unfold in himself a profound and powerful morality, a ten-
der delicacy of sentiment, a deep sense of honour? How can
he do this surrounded by threats of punishment? Let the
law rather speak to him thus:--" So far as I am concerned,
thou mayest leave the path of right and follow after evil;
no other harm shall overtake thee but to be despised and
scorned,--despised even by thyself when thou turnest thine
eye inwards. If thou wilt venture on this peril, venture on
it without fear. " Is the Human Race one day to confide to
him its most important interests, and in his dealings with
those interests is he to have confidence in himself? How
can men trust him when they have never proved him ? --
how can he trust himself when he has never proved his own
strength 1 He who has not yet been faithful in small things
cannot be entrusted with great things; and he who has not
been able to stand a trial before himself cannot without the
basest dishonour accept an important trust. On these
grounds we rest the claims of Academic Freedom,--of an
extensive yet well-considered Academic Freedom.
In a Perfect State, the outward constitution of Universi-
ties would, in my opinion, be the following:--In the first
place, the Students would be separated from other classes of
the community pursuing other vocations, so that these
classes might not, by the possible abuse of Academic Free-
dom, be harassed or injured, tempted to similar irregulari-
Ca
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? 194.
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
ties, or misled into a hatred of the law while living under
its rule by daily contact with a class free from its restraints. The Students at these Universities would enjoy a high
degree of freedom;--instructions on Morality and Duty, and
impressive pictures of a True Life, would indeed be laid be-
fore them; they would be surrounded by good examples,
and their teachers would not only be profound Scholars, but
the Slite of the best men in the nation;--of compulsory laws,
however, there would be very few. Let them freely choose
either good or evil: the time of study is but the time of
trial; the time for the decision of their fate comes after-
wards;--and our arrangement would have this advantage,
that unworthiness, where it existed, would be clearly recog-
Jnised as such and could no longer be concealed.
The present actual constitution of Universities is indeed
by no means of this kind. It is doubtful whether Academic
Freedom was ever looked upon from the point of view from
which we have described it, particularly whether it was ever
so looked upon by those who gave the Universities their cons-
titution. Academic Freedom has actually arisen in the way
described in a former part of this lecture,--i. e. from disre-
spect towards the Student-class: and we may leave it un-
determined by what influence the remnants of this system
are now maintained; for even were it admitted that the same
disrespect for the class, which still exists although in a less
degree, and perhaps want of opportunity to get rid of these
relics of another age, were its only supports, yet this is of no
moment to the true-minded Student, who judges of things
not by their outward form but by their inward spirit.
Whatever others may think of Academic Freedom, he, for
his part, takes it in its true sense:--as a means by which
he may learn to direct himself when outward precept leaves
him,--watch over himself when no one else watches over
him,--urge himself forward where there is no longer any
outward impulse,--and thus train and strengthen himself
for his future high vocation.
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? LECTURE VII.
OP THE FINISHED SCHOLAR IN GENERAL.
The true-minded Scholar looks upon his vocation--to be-
come a partaker of the Divine thought of the universe--as
the purpose of God in him; and therefore both his person
and his calling become to him, before all other things, ho-
nourable and holy; and this holiness shows itself in all his
outward manifestations. Such is the point at which we
have now arrived.
We have hitherto spoken of the Progressive Scholar--the
Student; and we have seen how the sense of the dignity
conferred upon his person by this exalted vocation expresses
itself in his life. How his conviction of the holiness of
Knowledge pervades and influences his studies we have
already noticed in one of the earlier lectures, and it is not
necessary to add anything to what we have said upon this
point. k
And it is the less necessary since this reverence for
Knowledge which is felt by the Student manifests itself
chiefly in the appropriate estimation and consecration of his
person and is therein exhausted; while it is quite otherwise
in the Finished Scholar. In the Progressive Scholar, that
which he strives after--the Idea--has yet to acquire a
form and an independent life:--these it does not yet
possess. As yet the Student does neither immediately
possess, nor is he thoroughly penetrated by, the Idea; he
reverences it only at a distance, and can comprehend it
only by means of his person, as the standard to which
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? 196
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
that person ought to raise itself, the spirit by which it
ought to be swayed. He can as yet do nothing directly
in its service; he can only live for it indirectly, by con-
secrating and devoting his person to its use as its appoint-
ed instrument; preserving himself pure in sense and
spirit because all impurity would mar and disqualify him
for that function; by giving himself up entirely to its in-
fluence and pursuing and executing with unwearied indus-
try everything which may become a means or opportunity
to the Idea of unfolding itself within him. It is other-
wise with the Finished Scholar. As surely as he is such,
the Idea has already commenced its proper and indepen-
dent life within him; his personal life has now actually
passed into the Life of the Idea, and is therein absorbed;--
an absorption of self in the Idea which was only striven
after by the Student. As surely as he is a perfect Scholar,
so surely is there now no longer in him any thought of self,
but his whole thought is henceforth absorbed in the
thought of the Idea. And thus the distinction which we
originally made between the holiness of his person and the
holiness of his vocation now becomes a point of transition
from the contemplation of the Progressive to that of the
Finished Scholar,--the portraiture of whom it is now my
purpose to place beside that of the Progressive Scholar.
Hitherto we have considered the Progressive Scholar
chiefly in the character of a Student at a University; and
these two Ideas have been almost constantly associated to-
gether in our previous lectures. Now, for the first time,
when we have to accompany the Student from the Academy
into Life, we must call to mind that the studies and cha-
racter of the Progressive Scholar are not necessarily com-
pleted with his residence at the University; nay, further on,
we shall even perceive a ground upon which we may say that, properly speaking, his studies have their true begin-
ning only after his academic course has closed. This much,
however, remains true, as the sure result of what has been
already said,--that the youth who during his residence at
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? OF THE FINISHED SCHOLAR.
197
the University is not at least inspired with respect for the
holiness of Knowledge, and does not at least learn to honour
his own person to such an extent as not to render it un-
worthy of his high vocation, will never afterwards attain to
any true sense of the dignity of Knowledge; and whatever
part he may be called to play in life, he will take to it as a
common handicraft and with the sentiment of an hireling
who has no other motive to his labour than the pay he is to
receive for it. To say anything more of such an one lies
beyond the boundaries of our present subject.
But the Student who is penetrated with the conviction
that the essential purpose of his studies will be defeated
unless the Idea acquire an intrinsic form and independent
life within him, and that in the highest perfection,--he will
by no means lay aside his studies and scientific labours
when he leaves the University. Even if he be compelled
by outward necessity to enter upon a secular employment,
he will devote to Knowledge all the time and ability he can
spare from that employment, and will neglect no opportu-
nity which presents itself of attaining a higher culture. The
exercise of his faculties in the pursuit of learning will be
profitable to him even in the transaction of his ordinary
business. And amid the brilliant distinctions of office, and
even in mature age, he will restlessly strive and labour to
master the Idea, never resigning the hope of becoming
greater than he now is, so long as strength permits him to
indulge it. Without this untiring effort, much true Genius
would be wholly lost, for scientific talent usually unfolds it-
self more slowly, the higher and purer its essential nature,
and its clear development waits for mature years and manly
strength.
The Student who is penetrated with deep respect for the
holiness of the Scholar's vocation, will be guided by that
respect in his choice of a civic profession; and, particularly,
in the province of learning, if he do not feel the deepest
conviction of his ability to fulfil its highest duties, he will
choose a subordinate occupation, restrained from assumption
by his reverence for the dignity of Knowledge. But a sub-
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? 198
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
ordinate Scholar-occupation is one in which the ends to be
attained have been prescribed by some other intellect pos-
sessed with a knowledge of the Idea, and in which the capa-
cities which have been acquired through study, pursued for
the attainment of the Idea, are employed only as means to
fulfil those purposes which have thus been prescribed from
without. His person is thus not degraded into a passive
instrument; he is for ever secured against that by the
general view he takes of human life and its significance;--
he serves God alone in spirit and in sense; and, under the
guidance of his superiors, whom he leaves to answer for the
direction which they give to his actions and their results, he
promotes God's purposes with men, which must embrace all
forms of human activity. Thus does he proceed in his
choice of a secular employment as surely as he has been
inspired in his youth with respect for the dignity of the
peculiar vocation of the Scholar. To undertake such an
employment without consciousness of possessing the needful
power and cultivation is to profane it, and manifests a want
both of delicacy and of principle. And it is impossible that
he should fall into error on this point; for if he has passed
through his academic course in a creditable manner, then
he has certainly acquired, in some degree, a perception of
what is worthy, and has obtained a standard by which he
can take his own intellectual dimensions. If a conscientious
course of study at a University secured no other advantage
than that of presenting to youth a picture of the dignified
calling of the Scholar as a model for life, and of repelling
from this sphere those who are not endowed with the requi-
site ability, such a course would, on account of this advan-
tage alone, be of the utmost importance to the Student.
We have thus generally described the nature of a subor-
dinate Scholar-occupation. It does not demand in him who
pursues it, the immediate possession of the Idea, but only
that knowledge which is acquired in striving after such pos-
session. It is to be understood that in this again there are
higher and lower grades, according as the occupation re-
quires a wider or narrower range of knowledge,--and that,
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? OF THE FINISHED SCHOLAR.
199
in this respect too, the conscientious man will not under-
take anything which exceeds his powers. It is unnecessary
to describe these subordinate Scholar-occupations in detail.
The higher and peculiar calling of the Scholar may be de-
scribed so as to exhaust all its particular forms, and it is
then easy to draw this consequence:--" All those pursuits
which are usually followed by educated men, but which do
not find a place in this all-comprehensive delineation of the
higher calling of the Scholar, but are excluded from it, are
subordinate Scholar-occupations. " We have therefore only
now to lay before you this perfect delineation.
In our first lecture we have already definitely character-
ized the life of him in whom Learned Culture has fulfilled
its end:--his life is itself the life of the Divine Idea in the
world, changing and reconstructing it from its very founda-
tion. In the same place we have said that this life may
manifest itself in two forms;--either in actual external Be-
ing and Action, or only in Idea; which two distinct modes of
manifestation together constitute the peculiar vocation of
the Scholar. The first class comprehends all those who, by
their own strength, and according to their own idea, assume
the guidance of human affairs, leading them on to ever-new
perfection in constant harmony with each succeeding age;
who, originally, as the highest free leaders of men, direct
their social relations, and the relation of the whole to pas-
sive nature;--not those only who stand in the higher places
of the earth, as kings, or the immediate councillors of kings,
but all without exception who possess the right and calling,
either by themselves or in concert with others, to think,
judge, and resolve independently concerning the original dis-
posal of these affairs. The second class embraces the Scho-
lars, properly and pre-eminently so called, whose vocation it
is to maintain among men the knowledge of the Divine
Idea, to elevate it unceasingly to greater clearness and pre-
cision, and thus to transmit it from generation to genera-
tion, ever growing brighter in the freshness and glory of re-
newed youth. The first class act directly upon the world,--
they are the immediate point of contact between God and
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? 200
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
reality;--the last are the mediators between the pure spiri-
tuality of thought in the God-head, and the material energy
and influence which that thought acquires through the in-
strumentality of the first class; they are the trainers of the
first class,--the enduring pledge to the human race that the
first class shall never fail from among men. No one can
belong to the first class without having already belonged to
the second,--without always continuing to belong to it
.
The second class of Scholars is again separated into sub-
divisions, according to the manner in which they communi-
cate to others their conceptions of the Idea. Either their
immediate object is, by direct and free personal communica-
tion of their ideal conceptions, to cultivate in future Scho-
lars a capacity for the reception of the Idea, so that they
may afterwards lay hold of it and comprehend it for them-
selves :--and then they are educators of Scholars, Teachers in
the higher or lower schools;--or, they propound their con-
ceptions of the Idea, in a complete and finished form, to
those who have already cultivated the capacity to compre-
hend it. This is at present done by books,--and they are
thus--Authors.
The classes which we have now enumerated, whose seve-
ral occupations are not necessarily portioned out to different
individuals, but may quite readily be united in one and the
the same person, comprise all true and proper Scholars, and
exhaust the whole vocation of those in whom Learned Cul-
ture has fulfilled its end. Every other function, whatever
name it may bear, which the Educated Man* (who may be
distinguished by this title from the True Scholar) is called
upon to fulfil, is a subordinate Scholar-occupation. The
Educated Man continues in it, only because he has not by
his studies been able to attain to the rank of the True
Scholar, but nevertheless finds here a useful purpose to
which those capacities and knowledge which he has ac-
quired may be applied. It is by no means the object of
* Germ. "Studirte," one who has studied,--contrasted with "Studirende," one
who studies. We have no single equivalent for "Studirte" in English. --Tr.
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? OF THE FINISHED SCHOLAR.
201
Learned Culture to train subalterns, and no one should study
with a view to the office of a subaltern; for then it may
happen that he shall not attain even to that rank. Only be-
cause it was certain that a majority of Students would fall
short of their proposed destination, have subordinate occu-
pations been set apart for them. The subaltern receives the
direction of his activity from a foreign intellect; he must
exercise judgment in the choice of his means, but in respect
of the end only the most punctual obedience. The acknow-
ledged sacredness of the peculiar vocation of the Scholar
restrains every honest 'Educated Man' who is not conscious
of the possession of the Idea, from undertaking it, and con-
strains him to content himself with a subordinate office:--
this and nothing more have we to say of him, for his busi-
ness is no true Scholar-employment. We leave him to the
sure guidance of that general Integrity and faithfulness to
Duty which already during his studies have become the
innermost principle of his life.
Such an one, by renunciation of the peculiar calling of the
Scholar, shows that he looks upon it as sacred; he also, who
with honesty and a good conscience accepts this calling in
any of its forms, shows by his actions and by his whole life
that he looks upon it as sacred. How this recognition of
the Holy specially manifests itself in each particular depart-
ment of the Scholar's vocation, as these have now been set
forth,--of this we shall speak in succession in the subse-
quent lectures. To-day we shall confine ourselves to show-
ing how it manifests and reveals itself in general--i. e. to
that form of its manifestation which is common to all the
departments of the Scholar's vocation.
The true-minded Scholar will not admit of any life and
activity within him except the immediate life and activity
of the Divine Idea. This unchangeable principle pervades
and determines all his inward thoughts;--it also pervades
and determines all his outward actions. With respect to
the first,--as he suffers no emotion within him that is not
the direct emotion and life of the Divine Idea which has
taken possession of him, so is his whole life accompanied
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? 202 THE NATURE OP THE SCHOLAR.
by the indestructible consciousness that it is at one with
the Divine Life,--that in him and by him God's work shall
be achieved and His Will accomplished; he therefore re-
poses on that Will with unspeakable love, and with the
immovable conviction that it is right and good. Thus does
his thought become holy, enlightened, and religious; bless-
edness arises within him,--and in it, changeless joy, peace,
and power,--as these may in like manner be acquired and
enjoyed by the unlearned, and even the lowliest among
men, through true devotion to God and honest performance
of duty viewed as the" Will of God. Hence these are no ex-
clusive property of the Scholar, but are noticed here only
with the view that he too may become a partaker in this
religious aspect of life, and become so by the way which we
have pointed out.
This principle pervades the conduct of the True Scholar.
He has no other purpose in action but to express his Idea,
and embody the truth which he recognises in word or work.
No personal regard, either for himself or others, can impel
him to do that which is not demanded by this purpose,--no
such regard can cause him to neglect anything which is re-
quired by this purpose. His person, and all personality in
the world, have long since vanished from before him, and
entirely disappeared in his effort after the realization of the
Idea. The Idea alone impels him; where it does not move
him, he rests and remains inactive. He does nothing with
precipitation, hurried forward by disquietude and restless-
ness; these may well be symptoms of unfolding power, but
they are never to be found in conjunction with true, deve-
loped, mature and manly strength. Until the Idea stands
before him clear and breathing, finished and perfect even to
word or deed, nothing moves him to action; the Idea rules
him entirely, governs all his powers, and exhausts all his
life and effort. To its manifestation he devotes his whole
personal being without reserve or intermission, for he looks
upon his life as only the instrument of the Idea.
Would that I could make myself intelligible to you,--
would that I could persuade you,--touching this one point
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? OF THE FINISHED SCHOLAR
203
which we now approach on every side! --Whatever man
may do, so long as he does it from himself as a finite being,
by himself, and through his own counsel,--it is vain, and
will sink to nothing. Only when a foreign power takes
possession of him, and urges him forward, and lives within
him in room of his own energy, does true and real existence
first take up its abode in his life. This foreign power is
ever the power of God. To look up to it for counsel,--
implicitly to follow its guidance,--is the only true wisdom in
every employment of human life, and therefore most of all
in the highest occupation of which man can partake,--the
vocation of the True Scholar.
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? 204
LECTURE VIII.
OF THE SCHOLAR AS RULER.
-
He in whom Learned Culture has actually accomplished its
end,--the attainment and possession of the Idea,--shows, by
the manner in which he regards and practises the calling of
the Scholar, that his vocation is to him, before all other
things, honourable and holy. The Idea, in its relation to
the progressive improvement of the world, may be expressed
--either, first, in actual life and conduct; or, secondly, in
ideas only. It is expressed in the first mode by those who,
as the highest free leaders of men, originally guide and
order their affairs:--their relations with each other, or the
legal condition,-and their relation to passive nature, or the
dominion of reason over the irrational world;--who pos-
sess the right and calling, either by themselves or in con-
cert with others, to think, judge, and resolve independently
concerning the actual arrangement of these relations. We
have to speak to-day of the worthy conception and practice
of this vocation. As we have already taken precautions
against misunderstanding by a strict definition of our mean-
ing, we shall, for brevity's sake, term those who practise this
calling-- Rulers.
The business of the Ruler has been described in our early
lectures,--and so definitely, that no further analysis is ne-
cessary for our present purpose. We have only to show
what capacities and talents must be possessed by the true
Ruler,--by what estimate of his calling, and what mode of
practising it, he proves that he looks upon it as sacred.
He who undertakes to guide his Age and order its consti-
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? THE XATUBK OF THE SCHOLAK.
205
tution, must be exalted above it,--must not merely possess
an historical knowledge of it, but must thoroughly under-
stand and comprehend it. The Ruler possesses, in the first
place, a living and comprehensive Idea of that relation of
human life which he undertakes to superintend;--he knows
what is its essential nature, meaning, and purpose. Further,
he perfectly understands the changing and adventitious
forms which it may assume in reality without prejudice to
its essential nature. He knows the particular form which it
has assumed at the present time, and through what new
forms it must be led nearer and nearer to its unattainable
Ideal. No part of its present form is, in his view, necessary
and unchangeable, but is only an incidental point in a pro-
gression by which it is constantly rising towards higher per-
fection. He knows the Whole of which that form is a part,
and of which every improvement of it must still remain a
part; and he never loses sight of this Whole in contemplat-
ing the improvement of individual parts. This knowledge
gives to his inventive faculty the means of accomplishing
the improvements he may devise; the same knowledge se-
cures him from the mistake of disorganizing the Whole by
supposed improvements of individual parts. His eye always
combines the part with the Whole, and the idea of the lat-
ter with its actual manifestation in reality.
He who can not look upon human affairs with this un-
fettered vision is never a Ruler, whatever station he may
occupy,--nor can he ever become one. Even his mode of
thought, his faith in the unchangeableness of the present,
places him in a state of subordination, makes him an in-
strument of him who created that arrangement of things in
the permanence of which he believes. This frequently
happens; and thus all times have not actual Rulers. Great
spirits of the fore-world often rule over succeeding Ages
long after their death, by means of men who in themselves
are nothing, but are only continuations and prolongations of
other lives. Very often too this is no misfortune; but those
who desire to penetrate human life with deeper insight
ought to know that these are not true Rulers, and that
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? 206
THE NATURE OF THE SCHOLAR.
under them the Age does not move forward, but rests,--
perhaps to gain strength for new creations.
The Ruler, I said, thoroughly comprehends that rela-
tion of human life which he undertakes to superintend; he
knows the essential character and idea of all its component
parts, and he looks upon it as the absolute will of God with
man. It is not to him a means to the attainment of any
/ 1end whatever, nor in particular to the production of human
happiness; but he looks upon it as in itself an end,--as the
absolute mode, order, and form in which the human race
should live.
Thus, in the first place, is his occupation ennobled and
dignified in proportion to the nobility of his mode of
thought. To direct his whole thoughts and efforts,--to
devote his whole life to the accomplishment of such a
purpose as this:--that mortal men may fall out as little as
possible with each other in the short span of time during
which they have to live together, that they may have some-
what to eat and drink, and wherewithal to clothe them-
selves, until they make way for another generation, which
again shall eat, and drink, and clothe itself,--this business
would appear to a noble mind a vocation most unworthy of
its nature. The Ruler, after our idea of him, is secure
against this view of his calling. Through the idea of
human life by which he is animated, the Race among
whom he practises his vocation is likewise ennobled. He
who has constantly to keep in view the infirmities and
weaknesses of men, who has to watch their daily course,
and who has frequent opportunities of observing their
general meanness and corruption, and who sees nothing
more than these, cannot be much disposed to honour or to
love them; and indeed those powerful spirits who have
filled the most prominent places among men, but have not
been penetrated by true religious feeling, have at no time
been known to bestow much honour or respect upon their
Race. The Ruler, after our idea of him, in his estimate of
mankind looks beyond that which they are in the actual
world, to that which they are in the Divine Idea--to that
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-27 00:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu. 89090378035 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? OP THE SCHOLAR AS RULER.
207
which therefore they may be, ought to be, and one day
assuredly will be; and he is thus filled with reverence for a Race called to so high a destiny. Love is not required of
him; nay, if you think deeper of it, it is even a kind of
arrogance for a Ruler to presume to love the whole Human
Race, or even his own nation,--to assure it of his love, and,
as it were, make it dependent on his kindness. A Ruler
such as we have described is free from such presumption:
his reverence for humanity, as the image and protected
child of God, does more than overpower it.
He looks upon his vocation as the Divine Will with
regard to the Human Race; he looks upon its practice as
the Divine Will with regard to himself--the present indi-
vidual; he recognises in himself one of the first and imme-
diate servants of God,--one of the material organs through
which God enters into communion with reality. Not that
this thought excites him to vain self-exaltation;--he who
is penetrated by the Idea has in it lost his personality, and
he has no longer remaining any feeling of self, except that
of employing his personal existence truly and conscienti-
ously in his high vocation. He knows that it is not of
himself that he has this intuition of the Idea and the power
which accompanies it, but that he has received them; he
knows that he can add nothing to what has been given him
except its honest and conscientious use; he knows that the
humblest of men can do this in the same degree as he him-
self can do it, and that the latter has the same value in the
sight of God which he himself should have in the same sta-
tion. All outward rank and elevation above other men
which have been given not to his person but to his dignity,
and which are but conditions of the possession of this dig-
nity,--these will not dazzle him who seeks to deserve high-
er and more substantial distinctions. In a word:--he looks
upon his calling, not as a friendly service which he renders
to the world, but as his absolute personal duty and obliga-
tion, by the performance of which alone he obtains, main-
tains, and repays his personal existence, and without which
he would pass away into nothing.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-27 00:10 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/wu.
