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wretchedness (comparatively, that is to say, with what might be and ought to be)-in which society is sunk. The Church has heretofore miserably neglected its high duty to interpret and apply this profound and vast meaning of the religion it has so little understood, so little felt. It has made itself, on the contrary, as a general rule, the most formidable impediment in the way of all liberating, elevating and progressive reform. Democracy has lately been earnestly pleading with Religion, to come forth from the indolent inertness in which it has been so long sleeping, within the dim shades of the sanctuary, lulled by the soporific monotony of a well-paid preaching, and to walk abroad hand in hand together, in a lovely and holy sisterhood, indissoJuble henceforth in the unity of a common origin, authority, and aim. And the latter is beginning to listen to the voice once so abhorred and dreaded.

If Democracy was infidel in the last century, there was much to cause and to excuse it; but it is now profoundly, earnestly Christian; and the truest and highest Christianity is democratic. Long estranged, they are again coming together, in spite of all the efforts of many of the votaries of each, still blind in their ancient prejudices against the other, to keep them asunder. And behold them now bending over the same sacred page, where they not only read the divine record of their own common original, but those principles and those precepts of Him who spoke as never man spake, which it is henceforth the joint and blessed mission of both to apply in practice to the regeneration of human society, to realize that inconceivably glorious result, of the coming of the Kingdom of God upon the earth, of which He himself promised the attainment, as well as taught the way.

THE SCULPTOR IN HIS STUDIO.*

WHAT Sweet imaginings have haunted me!
Divinities of old, and demi-gods,

With all who peopled grove, and fount, and stream!
Morn's purpled brightness, twilight's shadowy veil,
Night with her stars, and Dian's gentle beam,
Brought with them lyre-sounds, and ideal shapes
Of matchless beauty, and the fearful realms
Solemn and dread, where Pluto reigns in awe.
Ever before my vision Orpheus stood,
Seeking his lost Eurydice. I gazed

Till my brain reeled with faintness, trembling then
I poured my soul into the work, and wished

For spark Promethean, that the form might start

At once to god-like motion and to life!

When in the days of old, Olympian Jove

Arose majestic from the Athenian's hand,

As well for its own interest as for the illustration of the above lines, we add in a note the following extract from the letter enclosing them.-E». D. R.

"The accompanying lines were suggested by the following passage, in a letter from Mr. Crawford to his sister, accompanied by an engraving of the Orpheus:'

"I am writing,' says he, in the midst of a terrible thunder storm, and can scarcely proceed, for the incessant flashes of lightning which dart every moment into the window of my studio; my statue of Orpheus is before me, and when I look upon it in the midst of this thick darkness, which is brightened occasionally by a glare of rapid red light, it is difficult to persuade myself, that this inanimate creation of mine is not starting from its pedestal, and actually rushing into the realms of Pluto. The thunder is getting really awful, and I must stop to compose myself. I have been thinking of the story about Phidias and his wonderful statue of Jove. You know that upon finishing it, he requested some sign from the god, to know if he were pleased with the representation; it seems the nod was given, for at that moment the statue was circled by lightning, which came and passed off with such a noise as could only be produced

For one approving sign the artist prayed;
Swift flew the lightning forth, with fiery wreath
Circling the statue's brow; deep thunder rolled,
Peal echoing peal, till shook the gorgeous fane,
While Phidias stood, awe-struck yet proud, and felt
Immortal triumph in that hour of fame!

Were ours the age for such high fantasies,
I too would hope. Hark to the wild uproar!
The sky of Rome is darkened o'er with clouds,
Chasing like storm-waves o'er the troubled deep,
Bright lurid flashes light the darkness up,
And 'mid this awful elemental strife,
Mine own inanimate creation seems
About to dare a deeper gloom, and rush
Impetuous onward through the gate of Hell!

Fond dreamer! what glorious visions are thine,

A worshipper, thou in wild rapture hast bowed,
At each soul-thrilling, hallowed, and beautiful shrine,
Round which loveliness floats like a glory-hued cloud.
Thou livest in light, in a world of thine own,

Gemmed with stars of the past, which resplendently shone,
In those days when mount, river, and valley, and grot,
Were each teeming with beauty, a wild haunted spot.
Fond dreamer! might each ideal form

To rapt enthusiast dear,
Wearing a halo bright and warm,

For ever linger near.

Couldst thou still dream of fame-wreaths wove

Around thy brow by hand of love,

Soar on through cloud-land and yet live,
Without the pangs deep feelings give.
Vain wish! the fire that lights the soul,
And upward sends each piercing ray,
The thoughts that spurn earth's dull control,
Like birds that heavenward shape their way,
Too oft like love-fraught censers fling

Their treasure on a heartless shrine,
Too often plume their spirit's wing

To fall, as falls the mountain pine,
By lightning blasted and upturned,
Beneath the lowly shrub it spurned.
Pray God, a happier fate be thine,

Than aught that's emblemed here,

And may thy spirit's light divine,

Caught from a high and heavenly sphere,

Burn on, till earth's bright forms shall be
Dimmed, lost, in Immortality.

J. C.

by heaven's artillery. Were we living in that age, or were ours the religion of the ancient Greeks, I too might interpret the sign in my favor.'

"In a letter received a short time since, the artist states that the Orfeo will be in Boston this summer.' Another group now in his studio, 'Hebe and Ganymede,' has, both from Thorwaldsen and others, elicited the warmest praise. There are also three noble designs for statues of Washington, Jefferson, and the late Dr. Channing. The writer of this, has a tracing of the bas-relief for Mr. Tiffany of Baltimore, mentioned by Mr. Sumner, and also one illustrative of the sixty-second Ode of Anacreon, designed for the Boston Athenæum. It would exceed the limits of a note, to mention the designs for many works, some of which have been ordered by private individuals. The artist has commenced the publication of a series of engravings in Numbers; each of the Numbers will contain three engravings, illustrative of designs which he has executed while in Rome; the first of these is about being published.

"There is a mistake in the note to your paper on the Orpheus. Crawford was born the city of New York, and always resided here, until his departure for Italy."

REMARKS ON UNIVERSAL HISTORY.

SECOND ARTICLE.

BY O. A. BROWNSON.

IN a former article on Universal History, we stated that the History of Humanity is subjected to a plan, that Providence is realizing in it a prescribed end, in reference to which it should be studied and written; and that because so subjected it is capable of scientific exposition. Without going into any particular consideration of this plan, or the end for which man and men exist, we assumed man's progressiveness as our point of departure, and opened the inquiry-In what does progress consist, and by what agencies is it effected? We then proceeded to discuss, 1. The War Theory, which places progress in the struggle with, and in overcoming, as far as possible, outward and eternally irreconcilable enemies; 2. The Humanitarian Theory, which places the principle of change, and therefore of progress, in human things, in the human intelligence alone; and 3. The Rationalistic Theory, which finds this principle, and therefore the origin of the facts of human history, in the Spontaneous or Impersonal Reason, reservation being made in regard to nature, the theatre on which it displays itself. In accordance with the promise at the close of that article, we now proceed to discuss another theory, which we shall denominate

THE PROVIDENTIAL THEORY.

The Providential Theory, which probably in some form is recognized or intended to be recognized by all philosophers, may be contemplated under two different points of view:

I. The Pantheistic view. II. The Religious view. In what we have to offer on each, we shall make M. Cousin our representative of the first, and Bossuet of the second.

I. M. Cousin is a professed Eclectic, and it is the boast of his system of history, that it excludes no element from its appropriate share. Under a certain point of view, he assuredly does admit all the elements that can

VOL. XII.-NO. LX.

72

be conceived of as at work in human affairs. But granting that he admits all the elements, does he in his account of them, recognize and describe them all in their true character? In order to answer this question, we must return upon his system for a few moments, and contemplate it under a different point of view from that under which we contemplated in our former article. He recognizes five elements in human history, five original ideas, whence have proceeded, and to which may be referred as their source, all the facts of the life of humanity consid ered collectively or individually.

1. The idea of the Useful;
2. The idea of the Just;
3. The idea of the Beautiful;
4. The idea of the Holy;

5. The idea of the True. The first creates Industry, and the mathematical and physical sciences; the second, the State, government, jurisprudence; the third, the Fine Arts; the fourth, Religion (cultus); the fifth, Philosophy, which clears up, accounts for, and verifies the other four. That these five elements exhaust human nature, there can be no doubt; that all the facts of human history in time and space, however various or complex, can be all included by the historian under the respective heads of industry, politics, art, religion, and philosophy, is unquestionably true; and so far M. Cousin's boast of having in his Eclecticism overlooked no element of human life, is well founded. But in the creation of industry, politics, art, religion, philosophy, does humanity work alone and on her own funds; or does Providence come to her assistance? If Providence intervenes, is it in the form of a fixed, permanent and necessary law of humanity; or in the form of a free, sovereign power, distinct from humanity, graciously supplying her from time to time with new strength and materials to work with? Here lies the whole question between Providence in the pantheistic sense, and Providence in the religious sense.

Under the point of view we are now considering the subject, M. Cousin is to no small extent a disciple of John Baptist Vico, born at Naples 1668, educated in the study of the ancient languages, the scholastique philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence, known as the author of the Scienza Nuova, or New Science, a work of vast compass, of immense power, and a mine of rich and profound thought, too little prized and studied by even our best scholars. Vico, though recognizing religion, and the action of Providence, yet starts from the principle that humanity is, so to speak, her own work. God acts upon the race, but only by it, in its instinctive operations. He explains nearly all the facts of human history from the political point of view; but he traces the various laws of nations, the inanners and customs, and all the materials which enter into the history of humanity, to the "common sense of nations." Humanity is divine, but there is no divine man. The great men of ancient history, poets, prophets, sages, legislators, are not to be taken as individuals. They are mythical personages, creations of the national thought of their respective nations and epochs, formed by the slow accretions of centuries. God does not speak to men by special messengers, does not guide and govern them by outward religious establishments; but he speaks to the race in its own instincts, and out from these spring up all the religious, artistic, philosophical and political institutions of all nations and epochs.

The only objection we can find that M. Cousin makes to this doctrine is, that Vico takes, in his explanation of the facts of history, too exclusively the political point of view, and makes too much depend on the government and the laws; an objection which we feel is well founded. But Cousin agrees with Vico, if not in deducing all from the "common sense of nations," at least from what amounts to the same thing, the common instinct ive wants and aspirations of the race. God undoubtedly is; and undoubtedly is in all the events of history; for it is in Him that we live, move and have our being but He enters there only in and through the instincts, or spontane ous intelligence of humanity. Ascertain what is common to the race, regular, permanent, reproduced with each

new generation, and you have ascertained the word, the law, and the provi dence of God so far as concerns human beings. Whatever of wisdom, energy, power, there may be for good, to aid us in achieving our destiny, in the spontaneous reason which lies at the basis of human life, so much aid we receive and continue to receive from our Maker, but no more.

To justify us in this statement, we translate his own account of "History as a manifestation of Providence."

"History reflects not merely the movement of humanity; but as humanity is the résumé of the universe, which is a manifestation of God, it follows that, in the last analysis, history is and can be only the last counterstroke of the Divine Action. The admirable order which reigns in it is a reflex of the eternal order; the neces‐ sity of its laws has for ultimate principle God himself-God considered in his relations with the world, and particularly with humanity, the last word of the world. Now God considered in his perpetual action on the world and on humanity is Providence. It is because God, or Providence, is in nature, that nature has its necessary laws, which the vulgar call fatality; it is because Providence is in humanity and in history, that humanity has its necessary laws, and history its necessity. This necessity, which the vulgar accuse, and which they confound with the exterior and physical fatality which does not exist, and by which they designate and disfigure the Divine Wisdom applied to the universe,-this necessity is the unanswerable demonstration of the intervention of Providence in human affairs, the demonstration of the government of the moral world. The great facts of history are the decrees of this government revealed to humanity by its own history, and promulgated by the voice of Time. History is the manifestation of God's providential views in relation to humanity; the judgments of history are the judg ments of God himself. If humanity has three epochs, it is because Providence has so determined; if these epochs follow one the other in a given order, it is still by an effect of the laws of Providence. Providence has not merely permitted, it has ordained (for necessity is everywhere its proper and essential characteristic) that humanity

should have a regular development, so that this development should reflect something of itself; something intellectual and intelligible; because Providence, because God is intelligence in his essence and in his eternal action, and in his fundamental moments. If history is the government of God rendered visible, all is in its place in history; and if all is in its place, all is good, for all conducts to an end prescribed by a beneficent power. Hence the lofty historical Optimism, which I do myself the honor to profess, and which is nothing else but civilisation placed in relation with its first and last principle, with Him who has made it in making humanity, and who has made all with weights and measures for the greatest good of the whole. Either history is an insignificant phantasmagoria, and therefore a bitter and cruel mockery, or it is reasonable. If it is reasonable, it has its laws, and necessary and beneficent laws; for all law must have these two characters. To maintain the contrary is to blaspheme existence and the author of existence."*

We do not choose to interpret this passage without considering it in the light of M. Cousin's subsequent explanations and modifications. We assuredly, in designating his view of Providence the Pantheistic View, do not wish nor intend to prove him a pantheist, which he is not, save in certain tendencies, against which he always seeks to guard, though in our judgment not always with complete success. Pantheism consists in absorbing the universe in God; in making the universe, not an image of God, the visible outshadowing of the Invisible, but identical with God; in making the finite and relative forces at work in the universe, not merely work after laws originally impressed upon their natures, and which are indistinct copies or transcripts of the law of the Divine Activity itself, but in making these finite and relative forces identical with the Infinite Force; so that, strictly speaking, there is throughout the universe only one and the same Force displaying itself. M. Cousin protests against this view time and again, almost to weariness, and in general succeeds in escaping it.

Nevertheless, this view of Providence which we have given as his, and which we find distinctly stated in the passage we have introduced, is, if not pantheism, at least on the declivity to pantheism; inasmuch as according to it, it is only in the inherent and necessary laws of nature, that we can find the Divine Action on nature, and only in the inherent and necessary laws of humanity, that is, in humanity itself, that we can find the Divine Action on humanity. This resolves Providence into what Vico calls the common sense of nations, into what we commonly call the instincts of the race, and identifies it with the Spontaneity, the source and principle, according to Cousin, as we showed in our former article, of all the facts of the life of humanity. Now, we are far from contending that in the life of humanity, we can always separate by a broad and continuous line the Divine Action from the human; but, nevertheless, we must not confound or identify the two actions, if we mean to escape the error of pantheism. But where, on the ground here taken, shall we find in the facts of human history, not the separation, but the distinction between the Divine Action and the human; or where find the force properly and strictly human, and the force properly and strictly Divine?

It is a capital objection to this theory of Providence, that, while it is brought forward to show, among other things, a safe and solid ground in the very wants of the human soul, and instinctive indications of the race, for religion, it is, when once admitted, fatal to all religious exercises. According to Jouffroy, religion belongs only to the human intelligence in a given stage of its development; Vico has the air of confining it to the first of his three epochs, which is the epoch of ignorance, of infancy; and Cousin himself places philosophy above religion, of which he makes it the judge. The moment we have learned through philosophical culture that religion is a creation of an original and inherent want of the human soul, and that religious institutions are only the result of the instinctive efforts of the race to meet and provide for this want, religion and religious institutions lose all their authority, all

* Introduction à l'Histoire de la Philosophie, Leçon VII., pp. 37-39. Paris, 1828,

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