s
further determinations; yet it can never be entirely understood by any
one who, unknown to himself, personally remains continually under its
influence; it may in general, however, be clearly perceived that
such a law exists. This law is a surplus of the figurative
which amalgamates directly with the surplus of the unfigurative
primitiveness in the phenomenon, and thus, precisely in the
phenomenon, both are then no longer separable. That law absolutely
determines and completes what has been called the national character
of a people--the law, namely, of the development of the primitive and
of the divine. From the latter it is clear that men who do not in the
least believe in a primitive being and in a further development of
it, but simply in an eternal circle of visible life, and who, through
their belief, become what they believe, are no nation whatsoever in
the higher sense; and since they do not, strictly speaking, actually
exist, they are equally powerless to possess a national character.

The belief of the noble-minded man in the eternal continuance of his
activity, even upon this earth, is based, accordingly, on the hope
for the eternal continuance of the nation from which he has himself
developed, and of its individuality in accordance with that hidden
law, without intermixture and corruption by any alien element and
by what does not appertain to the totality of this legislation.
This individuality is the permanent element to which he intrusts the
eternity of himself and of his continued action--the eternal order
of things in which he lays his perpetuity. He must desire its
continuance, for it is alone the releasing agency whereby the brief
span of his life here is extended to a continuous life upon the earth.
His belief and his endeavor to plant what shall not pass away, and
the concept in which he comprehends his own life as an eternal life,
constitute the bond which most intimately associates with himself,
first, his own nation and, through that, the entire human race--which
brings the needs of them all, to the end of time, into his broadened
heart. This is his love for his nation, and through it, first, he
respects, trusts, rejoices in it, and takes pride in his descent from
it; the Divine has appeared in it, and has deigned to make it his
covering and his means of direct communication with the world; the
Divine, therefore, will continue to break forth from it. Therefore
man is, secondly, active, efficacious