-
Articles/Ads
Article HISTORICAL VIEWS OF PROGRESS. ← Page 2 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Historical Views Of Progress.
blind faith . By faith the Jew rose : b y want of faith he fell . His faith was a faith in symbols , which at first represented realities , but which , year by year , century by century , lost that connection , and at last became a hollow , withered , and dead thing . Tlie Jew represents the action of the greatest power ever yet brought to bear upon the mind of man . But he represents it in its material and special form . It is a question at once too wide and too vexed to askwhere is the universal and spiritual form
, of faith ? But wherever it is to be sought , there is one of the first , and most important , and indispensable conditions of progress . Greece ! what a host of tumultuous ideas , each with its own voice and form , come rolling on the mind , like ocean waves upon the sandy beach . What visions crowd upon the mental sight of old Philosophy with scanty locks , and furrowed brow , and gentle eye , and fair young beauty full of fire and grace . What thoughts of Spartan virtue and endurance—of
the undying heroism of Lacedremon , which has made Thermopylae through ages the shrine of valour—of Athenian learning , luxury , pliancy , and grace—of Theban prowess . Old Greece , the home of the beautiful , the brave , the wise , but scarcely of the good and moral . Old Greece , of subtle brain and dexterous hand—where sculptured pillar and capacious dome , temples instinct with loveliness of form , served as the shrines of the most human gods the world ere saw . Old Greecewhere ' there
, were brain and head , but scarcely heart—where the dread indefinite seeking after the unknown vented itself in mystic and deceitful oracles —where human nature , idealised and personified , was worshipped , and the great essences of nature were things rather for schoolmen to wrangle about , than for multitudes to adore .
Greece had science , and skill , as yet unsurpassed . She had philosophic lore , on which is founded the best of modern morality . She had all the productions Or the head , but the heart was comparatively barren . She worshipped herself , for her gods were but personifications of the attributes of her own nature ; they represented power , and craft , and force , and wisdom , and beauty . She was a great egotist . There was one altar to the unknown Gotl ; but of that blind , unreasoning faith which held together Israeland built the Templeshe was destitute . But if Greece
, , had less faith , she had more freedom . Freedom of thought and of action * which led her on to seek after the beautiful and the true , and to produce results both material and ideal , of which the faith-bound Israelites were utterl y incapable . Greece wanted faith , and her philosophy , the best part of her mental framework , was too ideal and abstract for practical use . It was rather the instrument of a metaphysician than the tool of a philanthropist , a
statesman , or " a patriot . We are turning it , I hope , to better account . Greece fell ; but let its remember , too , that she did not fall till she had become a conqueror , and before she became a conqueror she herself was conquered—her small states were subjugated—her power was consolidated under one nian , and made the instrument of his vast ambition . Armies marched—blood flowed—nations fell , and the spirit of Greece died . The death-bed of Liberty is a battle-field—its dirge is a martial
charge ; and when Liberty falls , Genius does not long survive . Rome ! the once imperial mistress of the world—the thrower down of thrones—the conqueror . Rome , the arbitress of the destinies of nations —whose bondslaves were hioharchs and whose power was limited but by the sea and sky . Rome , the offspring of marauders and freebootersin her infancy winning for herself by the strong hand , whatever she
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Historical Views Of Progress.
blind faith . By faith the Jew rose : b y want of faith he fell . His faith was a faith in symbols , which at first represented realities , but which , year by year , century by century , lost that connection , and at last became a hollow , withered , and dead thing . Tlie Jew represents the action of the greatest power ever yet brought to bear upon the mind of man . But he represents it in its material and special form . It is a question at once too wide and too vexed to askwhere is the universal and spiritual form
, of faith ? But wherever it is to be sought , there is one of the first , and most important , and indispensable conditions of progress . Greece ! what a host of tumultuous ideas , each with its own voice and form , come rolling on the mind , like ocean waves upon the sandy beach . What visions crowd upon the mental sight of old Philosophy with scanty locks , and furrowed brow , and gentle eye , and fair young beauty full of fire and grace . What thoughts of Spartan virtue and endurance—of
the undying heroism of Lacedremon , which has made Thermopylae through ages the shrine of valour—of Athenian learning , luxury , pliancy , and grace—of Theban prowess . Old Greece , the home of the beautiful , the brave , the wise , but scarcely of the good and moral . Old Greece , of subtle brain and dexterous hand—where sculptured pillar and capacious dome , temples instinct with loveliness of form , served as the shrines of the most human gods the world ere saw . Old Greecewhere ' there
, were brain and head , but scarcely heart—where the dread indefinite seeking after the unknown vented itself in mystic and deceitful oracles —where human nature , idealised and personified , was worshipped , and the great essences of nature were things rather for schoolmen to wrangle about , than for multitudes to adore .
Greece had science , and skill , as yet unsurpassed . She had philosophic lore , on which is founded the best of modern morality . She had all the productions Or the head , but the heart was comparatively barren . She worshipped herself , for her gods were but personifications of the attributes of her own nature ; they represented power , and craft , and force , and wisdom , and beauty . She was a great egotist . There was one altar to the unknown Gotl ; but of that blind , unreasoning faith which held together Israeland built the Templeshe was destitute . But if Greece
, , had less faith , she had more freedom . Freedom of thought and of action * which led her on to seek after the beautiful and the true , and to produce results both material and ideal , of which the faith-bound Israelites were utterl y incapable . Greece wanted faith , and her philosophy , the best part of her mental framework , was too ideal and abstract for practical use . It was rather the instrument of a metaphysician than the tool of a philanthropist , a
statesman , or " a patriot . We are turning it , I hope , to better account . Greece fell ; but let its remember , too , that she did not fall till she had become a conqueror , and before she became a conqueror she herself was conquered—her small states were subjugated—her power was consolidated under one nian , and made the instrument of his vast ambition . Armies marched—blood flowed—nations fell , and the spirit of Greece died . The death-bed of Liberty is a battle-field—its dirge is a martial
charge ; and when Liberty falls , Genius does not long survive . Rome ! the once imperial mistress of the world—the thrower down of thrones—the conqueror . Rome , the arbitress of the destinies of nations —whose bondslaves were hioharchs and whose power was limited but by the sea and sky . Rome , the offspring of marauders and freebootersin her infancy winning for herself by the strong hand , whatever she