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INTERIOR VISION. 49
suddenly upon these — ay, and to hear? Miracle, or flash, in the (contrarily-struck) waves of spirit and body.” . . .
“Men secretly tremble. But they hide their fears under the supposed defiance and in the boastful jest. In company they are bold. Separately they reflect,*in their own secret minds, that, after all, these things may be true. True from such and such confirmatory surmises of their own; true from, perhaps, some personal unaccountable experiences, or from the assurance of some friend whom they are disposed to believe. But only disposed to believe. Modern times reject the supernatural; are supposed to have no superstition. Superstition? When this modern time is full of superstition !
“But, unfortunately, man has restless curiosity; he loves real truth; he solicits that which he can finally depend upon. He would believe if he could. Butthe evidence of supernatural things is so evasive —so fantastie — so, in one word, unreliable, that he will hold by the ordinary scientific explanations. All mystery, he says, is that only partially known. When that which constitutes a thing is understood, man declares, the mystery ceases. He only finds nature. Unknown nature before — now known nature.
“The faculty of wonder is a gift; by wonder we mean that highest exhaustive knowledge of the things of this world, upon which to set up, or to construct, the machinery of converse with another. By the ladder of the several senses, we climb to the top platform, the general sense. In most men’s minds this bridge of intelligence is not stretched. And this knewledge of the supernatural is rejected like precious gems to grasp which there are, literally, no hands. A compliant cowardice, and an ashamed, merely half-belief have pervaded writers who, really, ought to have known better — who believed while they denied.”
‘We feel a sensation of surprise and shame, that some writers who, out of the secret strength of their minds, and not out of its weakness, saw that there is more in that which is called superstition than meets the eye, should, because they hesitated and were afraid to deal with it seriously, condescend to disparage and to treat it with ridicule. Superstition is degrading; a sense of the supernatural is ennobling. Walter Scott — although from the constitution of his mind he could not fail to be a believer-—— has surmised and supposed, and apologized for, and toned into, commonplace and explained, until he has resolved all his wonders — we may say, stripped all his truths —into nothing. Will itneverbeseen that even truth — that is, our truth —may be only plausible? Walter Scott's mind was not profound enough for a really deep sense of the Invisible. We greatly doubt whether he had, or by nature could have, the true wise man’s sense of the Great Unseen; that which holds this world but as an island in it. Whether, indeed, he did not designedly deal with the marvellous, and chip and pare, amidst his superstitions, and trim all up with the instincts of a romancist, and the eye to a balance in his favor of the
suddenly upon these — ay, and to hear? Miracle, or flash, in the (contrarily-struck) waves of spirit and body.” . . .
“Men secretly tremble. But they hide their fears under the supposed defiance and in the boastful jest. In company they are bold. Separately they reflect,*in their own secret minds, that, after all, these things may be true. True from such and such confirmatory surmises of their own; true from, perhaps, some personal unaccountable experiences, or from the assurance of some friend whom they are disposed to believe. But only disposed to believe. Modern times reject the supernatural; are supposed to have no superstition. Superstition? When this modern time is full of superstition !
“But, unfortunately, man has restless curiosity; he loves real truth; he solicits that which he can finally depend upon. He would believe if he could. Butthe evidence of supernatural things is so evasive —so fantastie — so, in one word, unreliable, that he will hold by the ordinary scientific explanations. All mystery, he says, is that only partially known. When that which constitutes a thing is understood, man declares, the mystery ceases. He only finds nature. Unknown nature before — now known nature.
“The faculty of wonder is a gift; by wonder we mean that highest exhaustive knowledge of the things of this world, upon which to set up, or to construct, the machinery of converse with another. By the ladder of the several senses, we climb to the top platform, the general sense. In most men’s minds this bridge of intelligence is not stretched. And this knewledge of the supernatural is rejected like precious gems to grasp which there are, literally, no hands. A compliant cowardice, and an ashamed, merely half-belief have pervaded writers who, really, ought to have known better — who believed while they denied.”
‘We feel a sensation of surprise and shame, that some writers who, out of the secret strength of their minds, and not out of its weakness, saw that there is more in that which is called superstition than meets the eye, should, because they hesitated and were afraid to deal with it seriously, condescend to disparage and to treat it with ridicule. Superstition is degrading; a sense of the supernatural is ennobling. Walter Scott — although from the constitution of his mind he could not fail to be a believer-—— has surmised and supposed, and apologized for, and toned into, commonplace and explained, until he has resolved all his wonders — we may say, stripped all his truths —into nothing. Will itneverbeseen that even truth — that is, our truth —may be only plausible? Walter Scott's mind was not profound enough for a really deep sense of the Invisible. We greatly doubt whether he had, or by nature could have, the true wise man’s sense of the Great Unseen; that which holds this world but as an island in it. Whether, indeed, he did not designedly deal with the marvellous, and chip and pare, amidst his superstitions, and trim all up with the instincts of a romancist, and the eye to a balance in his favor of the
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