A MAN! what is he, in his
essential attributes? What is it that gives a delight in him? Ah! I
am full of ideal visions--for in all history I find not one man that
altogether fills my vision of what a man should be. From the
Alexanders and Caesars I turn with loathing--their fierce, rude,
outre life, their selfish, grasping ambition, suggest to me the
vision of snarling wild beasts, battling over the torn and
palpitating limbs of nations. These men could never have touched my
soul; they could never have dispelled the darkness of my mind; they
could not be friends. But was there ever a man that could have
answered the questions for the solution of which my spirit yearns?
Plato was beautiful; around him was a pure, intellectual light. But,
after all, he _knew_ very little; his writings are mostly
suggestive. But suppose here was a man who could reveal all the
hidden things of life? How sudden would be the delight of learning
of him, of communing with his spirit? And what if he knew, not only
everything relating to this world, and my own intellectual being,
but could tell me of all the universe, of all the after life? Oh!
what a joy such a man would be to me! How would this midnight
darkness melt into the clearest and most beautiful day!
But did such an one ever exist? Why is it that now comes over me the
vision of my childhood, of the Divine Man walking over the hills of
Judea? Oh, Christ! who wert Thou? My thought goes forth to Thee;
beautiful was Thy life upon the earth.
Pages:
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237