Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Envy.
ENVY .
" THE proper study of mankind is man ; " the poet mi g ht have added , the " profountlest" too . For whether we consider him in the plenitude of his physical powers traversing this lower orb , with high resolve labouring for the fulfilment of the plans sketched out to his view , and taking to pieces this mortal tenement , combining all that is vast in conception with all that is minute in execution , examine with curious eye the frame work that encloses the ethereal essence , which propels man to
action , and points out to him the course in which that action may be successfully and beneficially put forth : or , taking a more extended view of his nature , — " Call now to mind what high capacious powers Lie folded up in man ; how far beyond The praise of mortals , may the eternal growth Of nature to perfection half divine , Expand the blooming soul ?" and tracing through all his varied action , the high moral attributes with
which he is endowed , ses in him while yet a creature of earth , a candidate for heaven ; and though a partaker of mortal things , yet longing for immortality : in either sense , there is a vast ancl unexplored space , over which the inquiring mind may exert its noblest powers , and we doubt not that its return from the scene of its outgoings , shall be announced with the conclusion engraven as with the iron on its every faculty , that " the most interesting of all human studies is the knowledge of itself . " We are not now prepared , nor would our space permit , if we were , to enter fully into the inquiry of what man is capable , or to what he may
be ordained ; but we shall from time to time , as circumstances may direct us , trace the varied passions and emotions which make up the general amount of his being ; and we sliall have achieved a moral triumph of no common value , if we can arrest for awhile the attention from the cares by which we are constantly surrounded ; or by showing the impulses to good and temptations to evil , place a barrier in the pathway of sorrow , or prolong but for one fleet moment , the joy that
dances around the heart . It is not without an effort , that we withdraw our mind's eye from the beauty and the sunshine , to dwell on the shadows and spots which darken the picture of humanity ; but there is a passion of the mind which stands so prominently forward in man ' s composition , ancl makes such unceasing demands on his happiness ancl peace , as to require our serious and primary consideration : this passion is Envy .
Three thousand years have been added to the history of the past since he , who " had great experience of wisdom ancl knowledge , " proclaimed , that " a sound heart is the life of the flesh , but envy the rottenness of the bones : " time has not diminished from the impress of truth , which here is strongly marked in all its broadest outlines ; and the moral lesson it conveys should not be lost to our minds , certain as we are , that it is equally applicable to the present as to past generations . Of all the
passions which humanity is heir to , tending more than any other to lower man in the scale of creation , that of envy is the most baneful iu its influence ancl pernicious in its effects . To him o ' er whose mental vision this pall is thrown , it reverses every thing—transforms clay into night—" calls bitter sweet , and sweet bitter , " and causes his heart to go out to the world " a widowed thing . " It dams up the flowing tide of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Envy.
ENVY .
" THE proper study of mankind is man ; " the poet mi g ht have added , the " profountlest" too . For whether we consider him in the plenitude of his physical powers traversing this lower orb , with high resolve labouring for the fulfilment of the plans sketched out to his view , and taking to pieces this mortal tenement , combining all that is vast in conception with all that is minute in execution , examine with curious eye the frame work that encloses the ethereal essence , which propels man to
action , and points out to him the course in which that action may be successfully and beneficially put forth : or , taking a more extended view of his nature , — " Call now to mind what high capacious powers Lie folded up in man ; how far beyond The praise of mortals , may the eternal growth Of nature to perfection half divine , Expand the blooming soul ?" and tracing through all his varied action , the high moral attributes with
which he is endowed , ses in him while yet a creature of earth , a candidate for heaven ; and though a partaker of mortal things , yet longing for immortality : in either sense , there is a vast ancl unexplored space , over which the inquiring mind may exert its noblest powers , and we doubt not that its return from the scene of its outgoings , shall be announced with the conclusion engraven as with the iron on its every faculty , that " the most interesting of all human studies is the knowledge of itself . " We are not now prepared , nor would our space permit , if we were , to enter fully into the inquiry of what man is capable , or to what he may
be ordained ; but we shall from time to time , as circumstances may direct us , trace the varied passions and emotions which make up the general amount of his being ; and we sliall have achieved a moral triumph of no common value , if we can arrest for awhile the attention from the cares by which we are constantly surrounded ; or by showing the impulses to good and temptations to evil , place a barrier in the pathway of sorrow , or prolong but for one fleet moment , the joy that
dances around the heart . It is not without an effort , that we withdraw our mind's eye from the beauty and the sunshine , to dwell on the shadows and spots which darken the picture of humanity ; but there is a passion of the mind which stands so prominently forward in man ' s composition , ancl makes such unceasing demands on his happiness ancl peace , as to require our serious and primary consideration : this passion is Envy .
Three thousand years have been added to the history of the past since he , who " had great experience of wisdom ancl knowledge , " proclaimed , that " a sound heart is the life of the flesh , but envy the rottenness of the bones : " time has not diminished from the impress of truth , which here is strongly marked in all its broadest outlines ; and the moral lesson it conveys should not be lost to our minds , certain as we are , that it is equally applicable to the present as to past generations . Of all the
passions which humanity is heir to , tending more than any other to lower man in the scale of creation , that of envy is the most baneful iu its influence ancl pernicious in its effects . To him o ' er whose mental vision this pall is thrown , it reverses every thing—transforms clay into night—" calls bitter sweet , and sweet bitter , " and causes his heart to go out to the world " a widowed thing . " It dams up the flowing tide of