No More Learning

Is it not persuaded that they were born weak
and trembling, as they now are seen? Well!
From the midst of so many illusions, how
virtuous and sensible is he who devotes him-
self to a lasting attachment; the tie which
binds this life to the other! Ah, how noble
is a manly and dignified expression, when,
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? OP LOVE IN MARRIAGE. 245
at the same time, it is modest and pure!
There we behold a ray of that heavenly
shame which beams from the crown of holy
virgins, to light up even the warrior's brow.
If a young man chooses to share with one
object the bright days of youth, he will,
doubtless, amongst his contemporaries, meet
with some who will pronounce the sentence
of dupery upon him, the terror of the children
of our times. But is he, who alone will be
truly loved, a dupe? for the distresses, or
the enjoyments of self-love, form the whole
tissue of the frivolous and deceitful affections.
Is he a dupe who does not amuse himself in
deceiving others? to be, in his turn, still
more deceived, more deeply ruined perhaps
than his victim? In short, is he a dupe
who has not sought for happiness in the
wretched combinations of vanity, but in the
eternal beauties of nature, which all proceed
from constancy, from duration, and from
depth?
No; God, in creating man the first, has
made him the noblest of his creatures; and
the most noble creature is that one which
has the greater number of duties to perform.
It is a singular abuse of the prerogative of a
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? 246 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
superior nature to make it serve as an in-
strument to free itself from the most sacred
ties, whereas true superiority consists in the
power of the soul; and the power of the
soul is virtue.
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? MODERN WRITERS, &C 247
CHAPTER XX.
Modern Writers of the ancient School in
Germany.
Before the new school had given birth in
Germany to two inclinations, which seem to
exclude each other, metaphysics and poetry,
scientific method and enthusiasm, there were
some writers who deserved an honourable
place by the side of the English moralists.
Mendelsohn, Garve, Suleer, Engel, &c. have
Avritten upon sentiments and duties with
sensibility, religion, and candour. We do
not, in their works, meet with that ingenious
knowledge of the world, which characterizes
the French authors, La Rochefoucault, La
Bruyere, &c. German moralists paint so-
ciety with a certain degree of ignorance
which is interesting at first, but at last be-
comes monotonous.
Garve is the writer, of all others, who
has attached the highest importance to speak-
ing well of good company, fashion, polite-
ness, &c. There is, throughout his manner
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? 248 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
of expressing himself on this head, a great
desire to appear a man of the world, to know
the reason of every thing, to be knowing
like a Frenchman, and to judge favourably
of the court and of the town; but the
common-place ideas which he displays in
his writings on these different subjects prove,
that he knows nothing but by hearsay,
and has never taken those refined and
delicate views which the relations of society
afford.
When Garve speaks of virtue, he shows
a pure understanding and a tranquil mind:
he is particularly engaging, and original, in
his treatise on Patience. Borne down by a
cruel malady, he supported it with admirable
fortitude; and whatever we have felt our-
selves inspires new ideas.
Mendelsohn, a Jew by birth, devoted
himself, from commerce, to the study of the
fine arts, and of philosophy, without re-
nouncing, in the smallest degree, either the
belief or the rites of his religion; and being
a sincere admirer of the Phedon, of which
he was the translator, he retained the ideas
and the sentiments which were the pre-
cursors of Jesus Christ; and, educated in
the Psalms and in the Bible, his writings
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? MODERN WRITERS, &C. 249
preserve the character of Hebrew simplicity.
He delighted in making morality perceptible,
by parables in the eastern style; and that
style is certainly the more pleasing, as it
deprives precepts of the tone of reproach.
Among these fables, I shall translate one,
which appears to me remarkable:--" Under
"the tyrannical government of the Greeks,
"the Israelites were once forbidden, under
"pain of death, to read amongst themselves
"the divine laws. Rabbi Akiba, notwith-
"standing this prohibition, held assemblies,
"where he gave lectures on this law. Pappus
"heard of it, and said to him, 4 Akiba, dost
"thou not fear the threats of these cruel
"men Y--4 I will relate thee a fable/ re-
"plied the Rabbi. --* A Fox was walking on
"the bank of a river, and saw the Fishes col-
"lecting together, in terror, at the bottom of
"the river. "What causes your alarm Y'
"said the Fox. --" The children of men," re-
"plied the Fishes, "are throwing their lines
"into the river, to catch us, and we are
"trying to escape from them. "--" Do you
"know what you ought to do? " said the
"Fox. "Go there, upon the rock, where men
u cannot reach you. "--" Is it possible," cried
"the Fishes, "that thou canst be the Fox,
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? 250 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
"esteemed the most cunning amongst ani-
"mals? If thou seriously givest us this
"advice, thou showest thyself the most
"ignorant of them all. The water is to us
"the element of life; and is it possible for
"us to give it up because we are threatened
"by dangers ? "--Pappus, the application of
"this fable is easy: religious doctrine is to
"us the source of all good; by that, and for
"that alone, we exist; if we are pursued
"into that refuge, we will not withdraw
"ourselves from danger, by seeking shelter
"in death. '"
The greater part of the world give no
better advice than the fox: when they see
persons of sensibility agitated by heart-aches,
they always propose to them to quit the air
where the storm is, to enter into the vacuum
which destroys life.
Engel, like Mendelsohn, teaches morality
in a dramatic manner: his fictions are tri-
fling; but they bear an intimate relation to
the mind. In one of them he represents an
old man become mad by the ingratitude of
his son; and the old man's smile, while his
misfortune is being related, is painted with
heart-rending truth. The man who is no
longer conscious of his own existence, is ail
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? MODERN WRITERS, &C. 251
frightful an object as a corpse walking with-
out life. "It is a tree," says Engel, " the
"branches of which are withered; its roots
"are still fixed in the earth, but its top is
"already seized upon by death. " A young
man, at the sight of this unfortunate crea-
ture, asks his father, if there is on earth a
destiny more dreadful than that of this poor
maniac? --All the sufferings which destroy,
all those of which our reason is witness,
seem to him nothing when compared with
this deplorable self-ignorance. The father
leaves his son to unfold all the horrors of
the situation before him ; and then suddenly
asks him, if that of the wretch who has
been the cause of it, is not a thousand times
more dreadful? The gradation of the ideas
is very well kept up in this recital, and the
picture of the agonies of the mind is repre-
sented with eloquence that redoubles the
terror caused by the most dreadful of all
remorse.
I have in another place quoted a passage
from the Messiah, in which the poet sup-
poses, that, in a distant planet, where the
inhabitants are immortal, an angel arrived
with intelligence, that there existed a world
where human beings were subject to death.
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? 252 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
Klopstock draws an admirable picture of the
astonishment of those beings who knew not
the grief of losing those they loved. Engel
ingeniously displays an idea not less striking.
A man has seen all he held most dear, his
wife and his daughter, perish. A sentiment
of bitterness and of revolt against Providence
takes possession of him: an old friend en-
deavours to re-open his heart to that deep
but resigned grief, which pours itself out on
the bosom of God; he shows him that death
is the source of all the moral enjoyments of
man.
Would there be affection between parent
and child if man's existence was not at once
lasting and transitory; fixed by sentiment,
hurried away by time? If there was no
longer any decline in the world, there would
be no longer any progress: how then should
we experience fear and hope? In short, in
every action, in every sentiment, in every
thought, death has its share. And not only
in reality, but in imagination also, the joys
and sorrows, which arise from the instability
of life, are inseparable. Existence consists
entirely in those sentiments of confidence,
and of anxiety, with which the soul is filled,
wandering between heaven and earth, and
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? MODERN WRITERS, &C. 253
death is the principal cause of our actions in
life. ?
A woman, alarmed at the storms of the
South, wished to remove to the frigid zone,
where thunder is not heard, nor lightning
seen:--our complaints against our lots are
much of the same sort, says Engel. In fact,
nature must be disenchanted, if all its dan-
gers are to be removed. The charm of the
world seems to belong to pain. as much as to
pleasure, to fear as much as to hope; and it
may be said, that human destiny is ordered
like a drama, in which terror and pity are
necessary. ;. '
Undoubtedly, these thoughts are not suf-
ficient to heal up the wounds of the heart:
whatever we feel we consider as the over-
turning of nature, and no one ever suffered
without thinking that a great disorder existed
in the universe. But, when a long space of
time has given room for reflection, repose is
found in general considerations, and we unite
ourselves to the laws of the universe by de-
taching ourselves from ourselves.
The German moralists of the ancient school
are, for the most part, religious and feeling;
their theory of virtue is disinterested; they
do not admit that doctrine of utility, which
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? 254 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
would lead us, as it does in China, to throw
children into the river, if the population
became too numerous. Their works are
filled with philosophical ideas, and with me-
lancholy and tender affections; but this was
not enough to struggle against the selfish
morality, armed with its sarcastic irony.
This was not enough to refute sophisms,
which were used against the truest and the
best principles. The soft, and sometimes
even timid, sensibility of the ancient German
moralists was not sufficient to combat, with
success, an adroit system of logic, and an
elegant style of raillery, which, lik<< all bad
sentiments, bowed to nothing but force.
More pointed weapons are necessary to op-
pose those arms which the world has forged:
it is therefore with reason that the philoso-
phers of the new school have thought that a
more severe doctrine was requisite, a doctrine
of more energy, and closer in its arguments,
in order to triumph over the depravity of the
age.
Assuredly, all that is simple is sufficient
for all that is good; but when we live at a
time in which it has been attempted to range
wit on the side of immorality, it is necessary
to attempt to gain over genius as the defender
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? MODERN WRITERS, &C. 255
of virtue. Doubtless it is a matter of much
indifference whether we are accused of silli-
ness, when we express what we feel; but
this word silliness causes so much alarm
among understandings of mediocrity, that
we ought, if possible, to preserve them from
its infection.
The Germans, fearing that we may turn
their integrity to ridicule, sometimes attempt^
although much against their natural dispo*
sition, to take a flight towards immorality,
that they may acquire a brilliant and easy
air. The new philosophers, by elevating
their style and their ideas to a great height,
have skilfully flattered the self-love of their
adepts; and we ought to praise them for
this innocent species of art; for the Germans
have need of a sentiment of superiority over
others to strengthen their minds. There is
too much milk of human kindness in their
character, as well as in their understanding.
They are perhaps the only men to whom we
could recommend pride, as the means of
moral improvement. We cannot deny the
fact, that the disciples of the new school
have followed this advice to rather too great
a length; but they are, nevertheless, the
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? 256 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
most enlightened and the most courageous
authors of their country.
What discovery have they made? it will
be asked. No doubt, what was true in morals
two thousand years ago, is true at the pre-
sent moment; but, during this period, the
arguments of meanness and corruption have
been multiplied to such an excess, that a
philosopher of good feeling ought to pro-
portion his efforts to this fatal progress.
Common ideas cannot struggle against a
systematic immorality; we must dig deeper
inwards, when the exterior veins of the pre-
cious metals are exhausted. We have so
often seen, in our days, weakness united to
a large proportion of virtue, that we have
been accustomed to believe in the energy of
immorality. The German philosophers (and
let them receive the glory of the deed) have
been the first in the eighteenth century, who
have ranged free-thinking on the side of
faith, genius on the side of morality, and
character on the side of duty.
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? ignorance and frivolityof spirit.
257
CHAPTER XXL
Of Ignorance and Frivolity of Spirit in their
Relations to Morals.
Ignorance, such as it appeared some ages
past, respected knowledge, and was desirous
of attaining it. The ignorance of our days
is contemptuous, and endeavours to turn
into ridicule the labours and the meditations
of enlightened men. The philosophical spirit
has spread over almost all classes a facility
of reasoning, which is used to depreciate
every thing that is great and serious in
human nature, and we are at that epoch of
civilization, in which all the beauties of the
soul are mouldering into dust.
When the barbarians of the North seized
upon the possession of the most fertile
countries in Europe, they brought with
them some fierce and manly virtues; and in
their endeavours at self-improvement, they
asked from the South, her sun, and her arts
and sciences. But our civilized barbarians
esteem nothing except address in the manage-
ment of worldly affairs; and only instruct
vol. in. a
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? 258 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS*.
themselves just enough to ridicule, by a few
set phrases, the meditations of a whole life.
Those who deny the perfectibility of the
human understanding, pretend that progres-
sion and decline follow each other by turns,
and that the wheel of thought rolls round
like that of fortune. What a sad spectacle
is this! the generations of men employing
themselves upon earth, like Sisyphus in hell,
in constant and useless labour! and what
would then be the destiny of the human
race, when it resembled the most cruel pu-
nishment which the imagination of poetry
has conceived? But it is not thus; and we
can perceive a destiny always the same,
always consequential, always progressive, in
the history of man.
The contest between the interests of this
world and more elevated sentiments has
existed, at every period, in nations as well
as in individuals. Superstition sometimes
drives the enlightened into the opposite
party of incredulity; and sometimes, on the
contrary, knowledge itself awakens every
belief of the heart. At the present sera,
philosophers take refuge in religion, in order
to discover the source of high conceptions,
and of disinterested sentiments; at this sera,
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? IGNORANCE AND FRIVOLITY OF SPIRIT. 259
prepared by ages, the alliance between phi-
losophy and religion may be intimate and
sincere. The ignorant are not, as formerly,
the enemies of doubt, and determined to
reject all the false lights which might disturb
their religious hopes, and their chivalrous
self-devotion; the ignorant of our days are
incredulous, frivolous, superficial; they know
all that selfishness has need to know; and
their ignorance is only extended to those
sublime studies, which excite in the soul a
feeling of admiration for nature and for the
Deity.
Warlike occupations formerly filled up
the life of the nobility, and formed their
minds for action; but since, in our days, men
of the first rank have ceased to study any
science profoundly, all the activity of their
genius, which ought to have been employed
in the circle of affairs, or in intellectual
labours, is directed to the observation of
manners, and to the knowledge of anecdotes.
Young persons, just come from school,
hasten to put on idleness as soon as the
manly robe: men and women act as spies
upon each other in the minutest events,
not exactly from maliciousness, but in order
that they may have something to say, when
s2
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? 260 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
they have nothing to employ their thoughts.
This sort of daily censoriousness destroys
good-nature and integrity. We are not
satisfied with ourselves when we abuse the
hospitality which we exercise or receive, by
criticising those with whom we live; and we
thus prevent the growth and the continuance
of all sincere affection; for in listening to
the ridicule of those who are dear to us, we
tarnish all that is pure and exalted in that
affection: sentiments, in which we do not
maintain perfect sincerity, do more mischief
than indifference.
Every one has his ridiculous side; it is
only at a distance that a character appears
perfect; but that which constitutes the in-
dividuality of each person being always some
singularity, this singularity affords an opening
to ridicule: man, therefore, who fears ridi-
cule above every thing, endeavours, as much
as possible, to remove the appearance of all
that may signalize him in any manner, whe-
ther it be good or bad. This sort of effaced
nature, in however good taste it may seem
to be, has also enough of the ridiculous
about it; but few have a sufficiently delicate
tact to seize its absurdities.
Ridicule has this peculiarity; it is essen-
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? IGNORANCE AND FRIVOLITY OF SPIRIT. 261
tially attached to goodness, but not to power.
Power has something fierce and triumphant
about it, which puts ridicule to death ;--be-
sides, the men of frivolous mind respect the
wisdom of the flesh, according to the expres-
sion of a moralist of the sixteenth century;
and we are astonished to discover all the
depth of personal interest in those who ap-
peared incapable of pursuing an idea, or a
feeling, when nothing could result from
either, advantageous to their calculations of
fortune, or of vanity.
Frivolity of understanding does not lead
men to neglect the affairs of this world.
We find, on the contrary, a much more
noble carelessness, in this respect, in serious
characters than in men of a trivial nature;
for their levity, in most cases, only consists
in the contempt of general ideas, for the pur-
pose of more close attention to their personal
concerns.
There is sometimes a species of wicked-
ness in men of wit; but genius is almost
always full of goodness. Wickedness does
not arise from a superfluity of understanding,
but from a deficiency. If we could talk
upon ideas, we should leave persons at rest
if we believed that we could excel others by
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? 262 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
our natural talents, we should not wish to
level the walk that we are ambitious to
command. There are common and mode-
rate minds disguised under a poignant and
malicious style of sarcasm; but true supe-
riority is radiant with good feeling as well as
with lofty thoughts.
The habit of intellectual employment in-
spires an enlightened benevolence towards
men and things. We no longer cling to
ourselves as privileged beings, when we
know much of the destiny of man; we are
not offended with every event, as if it were
unexampled; and as justice only consists in
the custom of considering the mutual rela-
tions of men under a general point of view,
comprehensiveness of understanding serves
to detach us from selfish calculations. We
have ranged in thought over our own exist-
ence as well as that of others, when we
have given ourselves up to the contemplation
of the universe.
Another great disadvantage of ignorance,
in the present times, is, that it renders us
entirely incapable of having an opinion of
our own upon the larger portion of subjects
which require reflection : consequently, when
this or that manner of thinking becomes
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? IGNORANCE AND FRIVOLITY OF S PI RIT. 26S
fashionable from the ascendancy of events,
the greater part of mankind believe that
these words, " all the world acts, or thinks,
in this manner," ought to influence every
claim of reason and of conscience.
In the idle class of society, it is almost
impossible to have any soul without the cul-
tivation of the mind. Formerly nature was
sufficient to instruct man, and to expand his
imagination; but, since thought (that fading
shadow of feeling) has turned all things
into abstractions, it is necessary to have a
great deal of knowledge to have any good
sentiment. Our choice is no longer balanced
between the bursts of the soul, devoid of
instruction, and philosophical studies; but
between the importunate noise of common
and frivolous society, and that language
which has been holden by men of real
genius from age to age, even to our own
times.
How then can we, without the knowledge
of languages, without the habit of readings
communicate with these men who are no
more, and whom we feel so thoroughly our
friends, our fellow-citizens, and our allies?
We must be mean and narrow of soul to
refuse such noble enjoyments. Those only.
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? 264 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
who fill their lives with good actions, can
dispense with study: the ignorance of idle
men proves their dryness of soul, as well as
their frivolity of understanding.
After all, there yet remains something
truly beautiful and moral, which ignorance
and emptiness cannot enjoy: this is the
union of all thinking men, from one end of
Europe to the other. Often they have no
mutual relations; often they are dispersed to
a great distance from each other; but when
they meet, a word is enough for recognition.
It is not this religion, or that opinion, or such
a sort of study; it is the veneration of truth
that forms their bond of union. Sometimes,
like miners, they dig into the foundations of
the earth, to penetrate the mysteries of the
world of darkness, in the bosom of eternal
night: sometimes they mount to the summit
of Chimboraco, to discover, at the loftiest
point of the globe, some hitherto unknown
phenomena; sometimes they study the lan-
guages of the East, to find in them the
primitive history of man: sometimes they
journey to Jerusalem, to call forth from the
holy ruins a spark, which reanimates reli-
gion and poetry: in a word, they truly are
the people of God; they who do not yet
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? IGNORANCE AND FRIVOLITY OF SPIRIT. 265
despair of the human race, and wish to pre-
serve to man the dominion of reflection.
The Germans demand our especial grati-
tude in this respect. Ignorance and indif-
ference, as to literature and the fine arts, is
shameful with them; and their example
proves, that, in our days, the cultivation of
the understanding preserves, in the inde-
pendent classes of society, some sentiments
and some principles.
The direction of literature and philosophy
was not good in France during the last part
of the eighteenth century; but, if we may
so express ourselves, the direction of igno-
rance is still more formidable: for no book
does harm to him who reads every book. If
idle men of the world, on the contrary, are
busy for a few moments, the work they meet
with is an event in their heads, like that of
a stranger's arrival in the desert; and when
this work contains dangerous sophistries,
they have no arguments to oppose to it.
The discovery of printing is truly fatal for
those who only read by halves, or by hazard;
for knowledge, like the spear of Achilles,
ought to cjire the wounds which it has in-
flicted.
Ignorance, in the midst of the refinements
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? 266 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
of society, is the most hateful of all mix-
tures: it makes us, in some respects, like the
vulgar, who value intrigue and cunning alone:
it leads us to look but for good living and
physical enjoyments; to make use of a little
wit, in order to destroy a great deal of soul;
to boast of our ignorance; to demand ap-
plause for what we do not feel; in a word,
to unite a limited understanding with a hard
heart, to such a degree, as to be deprived
of that looking upwards to heaven, which
Ovid has recorded as the noblest attribute of
human nature.
Os homini sublime dedit; ccelumque tueri
Jussit, et erectos ad sidera toll ere vultus.
He, who to man a form erect hag given,
Bade his exalted looks be fix'd on heaven.
END OF THE THIRD PART.
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? PART THE FOURTH.
RELIGION AND ENTHUSIASM.
CHAPTER I.
General Considerations upon Religion in
Germany.
The nations of German extraction are all
naturally religious; and the zealousness of
this feeling has given occasion to many wars
amongst them. Nevertheless, in Germany,
above all other countries, the bias of mind
leans more towards enthusiasm than fanati-
cism. The sectarian spirit must manifest
itself under a variety of forms, in a country
where the activity of thought is most ob-
servable; but, in general, they do not mix
theological discussions with human passions;
and the different opinions in regard to reli-
gion seldom wander out of that ideal world
which enjoys a profound peace.
For a long time they were occupied, as I
shall show in the following chapter, with
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? 268 RELIGION AND ENTHUSIASM. *
the inquiry into the doctrines of Christianity;
but, for the last twenty years, since the
writings of Kant have had great influence
upon the public mind, there have prevailed
a liberty and a comprehensiveness in the
manner of considering religion, which nei-
ther require nor reject any form of wor-
ship in particular, but which derive from
heavenly things the ruling principle of ex-
istence.
Many persons think that the religion of
the Germans is too indefinite; and that it is
better to rally round the standard of a more
positive and severe mode of worship. Les-
sing says, in his Essay on the Education of
the human Race, that religious revelations
have been always proportioned to the degree
of knowledge which existed at the time of
their appearance. The Old Testament, the
Gospel, and, in many respects, the Reforma-
tion, were, according to their seasons, per-
fectly in harmony with the progress of the
understanding; and, perhaps, we are on the
eve of a developement of Christianity, which
will collect all the scattered rays in the same
focus, and which will make us perceive in
religion more than morality, more than hap-
piness, more than philosophy, more than
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? RELIGION IN GERMANY. 269
sentiment itself, since every one of these
gifts will be multiplied by its union with all
the others.
However this may be, it is perhaps in-
teresting to know under what point of view
religion is considered in Germany, and how
they have found means. to connect it with
the whole literary and philosophical system,
of which I have sketched the outline. There
is something imposing in this collective mass
of thought, which lays the whole moral order
completely open to our eyes; and gives this
sublime edifice self-devotion for its base, and
the Divinity for its capital.
(/It is to the feeling of the infinite that the
greater portion of German writers refer all
their religious ideas; but it may be asked,
Can we conceive infinity? Do we not con-
ceive it, at least in a negative manner, when,
in the mathematics, we are unable to sup-
pose any boundary to duration or to space?
This infinity consists in the absence of limits:
but the feeling of the infinite, such as the
imagination and the heart experience it, is
positive and creative.
t^The enthusiasm, which the beautiful in
idea makes us feel (that emotion, so full of
agitation and of purity at the same time), is
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? 270 RELIGION AND ENTHUSIASM.
excited by the sentiment of infinity. We
feel ourselves, as it were, disengaged by ad-
miration from the shackles of human destiny;
and it seems as if some wondrous secret was
revealed to us, to free the soul for ever from
languor and decline. When we contemplate
the starry heaven, where the sparks of light
are universes like our own, where the bril-
liant dust of the milky way traces, with its
worlds, a circle in the firmament, our thoughts
are lost in the infinite, our hearts beat for
the unknown, for the immense, and we feel
that it is only on the other side of earthly
experience that our real life will commence^
In a word, religious emotions, more than
all others together, awaken in us the feel-
ing of the infinite; but when they awaken
they satisfy it; and it is for this reason,
doubtless, that a man of great genius has
said: "That a thinking being was not
"happy, until the idea of infinity became
"an enjoyment instead of a burthen to his
"mind. "
/In effect, when we give ourselves entirely
up to reflections, to images, to desires which
extend beyond the limits of experience, it
r is then only that we freely breathe. When
we wish to confine ourselves to the interests,
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? RELIGION IN GERMANY.