uties which
have filled my life, have prevented my thinking deeply on
several of the great subjects which these friends have at
heart. I suppose, if ever I become capable of judging, I shall
differ from most of them on important points. But I am not
afraid to trust any who 'are true, and in intent noble, with
their own course, nor to aid in enabling them to express their
thoughts, whether I coincide with them or not.

'On the subject of Christianity, my mind is clear. If Divine,
it will stand the test of any comparison. I believe the reason
it has so imperfectly answered to the aspirations of its
Founder is, that men have received it on external grounds. I
believe that a religion, thus received, may give the life
an external decorum, but will never open the fountains of
holiness in the soul.

'One often thinks of Hamlet as the true representative of
idealism in its excess. Yet if, in his short life, man be
liable to some excess, should we not rather prefer to have
the will palsied like Hamlet, by a deep-searching tendency and
desire for poetic perfection, than to have it enlightened
by worldly sagacity, as in the case of Julius Caesar, or made
intense by pride alone, as in that of Coriolanus?

'After all, I believe it is absurd to attempt to speak on
these subjects within the limits of a letter. I will try to
say what I mean in print some day. Yet one word as to "the
material," in man. Is it not the object of all philosophy,
as well as of religion and poetry, to prevent its prevalence?
Must not those who see most truly be ever making statements
of the truth to combat this sluggishness, or worldliness?
What else are sages, poets, preachers, born to do? Men go an
undulating course,--sometimes on the hill, sometimes in the
valley. But he only is in the right who in the valley forgets
not the hill-prospect, and knows in darkness that the sun will
rise again. That is the real life which is subordinated to,
not merged in, the ideal; he is only wise who can bring the
lowest act of his life into sympathy with its highest thought.
And this I take to be the one only aim of our pilgrimage here.
I agree with those who think that no true philosophy will try
to ignore or annihilate the material part of man, but will
rather seek to put it in its place, as servant and minister