This was the first occasion on which he had ever attempted to
broach, in a direct form, his favorite theory of the "lost tribes."
Let a man get once fairly possessed of any peculiar notion, whether
it be on religion, political economy, morals, politics, arts, or
anything else, and he sees little beside his beloved principle,
which he is at all times ready to advance, defend, demonstrate, or
expatiate on. Nothing can be simpler than the two great dogmas of
Christianity, which are so plain that all can both comprehend them
and feel their truth. They teach us to love God, the surest way to
obey him, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Any one can
understand this; all can see how just it is, and how much of moral
sublimity it contains. It is Godlike, and brings us near the very
essence of the Divinity, which is love, mercy, and truth. Yet how
few are content to accept the teachings of the Saviour in this
respect, without embarrassing them with theories that have so much
of their origin in human fancies. We do not mean by this, however,
that Parson Amen was so very wrong in bestowing a part of his
attention on that wonderful people, who, so early set apart by the
Creator as the creatures of his own especial ends, have already
played so great a part in the history of nations, and who are
designed, so far as we can penetrate revelation, yet to enact their
share in the sublime drama of human events.
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