It is not the
geologist's hammer, or the astronomer's telescope, or the naturalist's
microscope, that is going to take away the need of the human soul for
that Rock to rest upon which is higher than itself, that Star which never
sets, that all-pervading Presence which gives life to all the least
moving atoms of the immeasurable universe.
I have no fears for myself, and listen very quietly to all your debates.
I go from your philosophical discussions to the reading of Jeremy
Taylor's "Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying" without feeling that I have
unfitted myself in the least degree for its solemn reflections. And, as
I have mentioned his name, I cannot help saying that I do not believe
that good man himself would have ever shown the bitterness to those who
seem to be at variance with the received doctrines which one may see in
some of the newspapers that call themselves "religious." I have kept a
few old books from my honored father's library, and among them is another
of his which I always thought had more true Christianity in its title
than there is in a good many whole volumes. I am going to take the book
down, or up,--for it is not a little one,--and write out the title,
which, I dare say, you remember, and very likely you have the book.
"Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying, showing the Unreasonableness of
prescribing to other Men's Faith, and the Iniquity of persecuting
Different Opinions.
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