- end_line
- 9987
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:09.931Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 9919
- text
- Now, _now_, the page is out-spread: to the simple, easy as a primer; to
the wise, more puzzling than hieroglyphics. The eternity to come, is
but a prolongation of time present: and the beginning may be more
wonderful than the end.
“‘Then let us be wise. But much of the knowledge we seek, already we
have in our cores. Yet so simple it is, we despise it; so bold, we fear
it.
“‘In solitude, let us exhume our ingots. Let us hear our own thoughts.
The soul needs no mentor, but Oro; and Oro, without proxy. Wanting Him,
it is both the teacher and the taught. Undeniably, reason was the first
revelation; and so far as it tests all others, it has precedence over
them. It comes direct to us, without suppression or interpolation; and
with Oro’s indisputable imprimatur. But inspiration though it be, it is
not so arrogant as some think. Nay, far too humble, at times it submits
to the grossest indignities. Though in its best estate, not infallible;
so far as it goes, for us, it is reliable. When at fault, it stands
still. We speak not of visionaries. But if this our first revelation
stops short of the uttermost, so with all others. If, often, it only
perplexes: much more the rest. They leave much unexpounded; and
disclosing new mysteries, add to the enigma. Fellow-men; the ocean we
would sound is unfathomable; and however much we add to our line, when
it is out, we feel not the bottom. Let us be truly lowly, then; not
lifted up with a Pharisaic humility. We crawl not like worms; nor wear
we the liveries of angels.
“‘The firmament-arch has no key-stone; least of all, is man its prop.
He stands alone. We are every thing to ourselves, but how little to
others. What are others to us? Assure life everlasting to this
generation, and their immediate forefathers—and what tears would flow,
were there no resurrection for the countless generations from the first
man to five cycles since? And soon we ourselves shall have fallen in
with the rank and file of our sires. At a blow, annihilate some distant
tribe, now alive and jocund—and what would we reck? Curiosity apart, do
we really care whether the people in Bellatrix are immortal or no?
“‘Though they smite us, let us not turn away from these things, if they
be really thus.
“‘There was a time, when near Cassiopeia, a star of the first
magnitude, most lustrous in the North, grew lurid as a fire, then dim
as ashes, and went out. Now, its place is a blank. A vast world, with
all its continents, say the astronomers, blazing over the heads of our
fathers; while in Mardi were merry-makings, and maidens given in
marriage. Who now thinks of that burning sphere? How few are aware that
ever it was?
“‘These things are so.
“‘Fellow-men! we must go, and obtain a glimpse of what we are from the
Belts of Jupiter and the Moons of Saturn, ere we see ourselves aright.
The universe can wax old without us; though by Oro’s grace we may live
to behold a wrinkle in the sky. Eternity is not ours by right; and,
alone, unrequited sufferings here, form no title thereto, unless
resurrections are reserved for maltreated brutes. Suffering is
suffering; be the sufferer man, brute, or thing.
“‘How small;—how nothing, our deserts! Let us stifle all vain
speculations; we need not to be told what righteousness is; we were
born with the whole Law in our hearts. Let us do: let us act: let us
down on our knees. And if, after all, we should be no more forever;—
far better to perish meriting immortality, than to enjoy it
unmeritorious. While we fight over creeds, ten thousand fingers point
to where vital good may be done. All round us, Want crawls to her
lairs; and, shivering, dies unrelieved. Here, _here_, fellow-men, we
can better minister as angels, than in heaven, where want and misery
come not.
- title
- Chunk 3