Dignity Or FIa ran Nature.
{"newspaper_name": "Iowa territorial gazette and advertiser.", "edition": "01", "page": "p1", "byline": ""}
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l may be tUid that l dream, and that
have peopled the world with the creations
Of my lonely imagination. ,Whall Is il
only in dreams, that beauty and loveliness
have bea.ned on me from the human conn-
tenance. that have heard tones Of kind
ness which have thrilled through my heart,
that ! have found sympathy in suffering,
and patient joy in friendship Are II
the great men or past ages only dreainsf
Are snch names as Moses, Socrates, Paul,
Alfred, Milton, only the ficiions of my dis
Iturbed Imagination Are the great deeds
Of history, discoveries Of philosophy, the
creations ofgenius, only visions? Oh! no.
| do not dream when I speak Of the divine
capacities Of human nature. 1t is i real
page in which read Of patriots and mar
tyrs, Of Fenelon and Howard, Of Wash
ington and Hainpden. And tell me no,
that these were prodigies, miracles, i'm
measurabiy separated from their race; tor
the very reverence which has treasured
up and hallowed their memories, the very
sentiments OF admiration and love with


which their names are now heard, show
that the principles Of their greatness are
diffused through all your breasts. The
germs Of sublime virtue are scattered lib
orally on our, aarth How often have
seen, IN The obscurity Of ,dnraa..ia Er..
strength Of love, Of endurance, Of pious
trust, Of virtuous resolution which, in a
public sphere, would have attracted pub
lie homage. l cannot but pity the man,
who recognizes nothing God-like in his
own nature. | see the marks Of God in
the Heavens and the earth; but how much


more in liberal intellect, in magnanimi-
ty, in unconquerable rectitude, in phi
lanthropy which forgives every wrong,
and which never despairs Of the cause Of
Christ aud human nature. Neither the
sneeis Of worldly scepticism, nor the
groans Of a gloomy theology, disturb my
faith in its God-like powers and tenden-
cies. | know how it is despised, how j,
has been oppressed, how civil and reli-
gious establishments have for ages con-
spired TO crush it. know its history.
shut my eyes on none Of its weaknesses
and crimes | understand the proofs, by
which despotism demonstrates, that man is
wild beast, in want of master, and only
safe in chains. But, injured, trampled on
and scorned as our nature is, still turn
to it with intense sympathy and strong
hope. The signatures Of its origin and its
end are impressed too deeply TO be ever
wholly effaced. / bless it for its kind af-
iections, for its strong and tender love.
honor it for its struggles against oppres-
sion, for its growth and progress under
the weight Of so many chains and preju-
dices, for its achievements in science and
art, and still more for its examples of he
roic and sanity virtue. These are marks
Of divine origin, and the pledges Of a celes-
tial inheritance; and l thank God that my
own lot is bound up with that Of the hu-
man race Channing. .t.