s feet,
doubtless better much than outer darkness, beautiful and full of God, if
he could have the heart to look up, and the eyes to make use of its
vague light; but he is miserable, and afraid, his next step is what he
is thinking of; a lamp secured against all winds of doctrine is put into
his hands, it may, in some respects, widen the circle of darkness, but
it will cheer his feet, it will tell them what to do next. What a silly
fool he would be to throw away that lantern, or draw down the shutters,
and make it dark to him, while it sits "i' the centre and enjoys bright
day," and all upon the philosophical ground that its light was of the
same kind as the stars', and that it was beneath the dignity of human
nature to do anything but struggle on and be lost in the attempt to get
through the wilderness and the night by the guidance of those "natural"
lights, which, though they are from heaven, have so often led the
wanderer astray. The dignity of human nature indeed! Let him keep his
lantern till the glad sun is up, with healing under his wings. Let him
take good heed to the "sure" {logon} while in this {auchmero topo}--this
dark, damp, unwholesome place, "till the day dawn and {phosphoros}--the
day-star--arise." Nature and the Bible, the Works and the Word of God,
are two distinct things. In the mind of their Supreme Author they dwell
in perfect peace, in that unspeakable unity which is of his essence; and
to us his children, every day their harmony, their mutual relations, are
discovering themselves; but let us beware of saying all nature is a
revelation as the Bible is, and all the Bible is natural as nature is:
there is a perilous juggle here.

The following passage develops Arthur Hallam's views on religious
feeling; this was the master-idea of his mind, and it would not be easy
to overrate its importance. "My son, give me thine heart;"--"Thou shalt
_love_ the Lord thy God;"--"The fool hath said in his _heart_, There is
no God." He expresses the same general idea in these words, remarkable
in themselves, still more so as being the thought of one so young. "The
work of intellect is posterior to the work of feeling. _The latter lies
at the foundation of the man_; it is his proper self--the peculiar thing
that characterizes him as an individual. No two men are alike in
feeling; but conceptions of the understanding, when distinct, are
precisely similar in all--the ascertained relations of truths are the
common propert