rises to a dignity which humbly
represents the greatness of the Divine intellect; that is, it rises more
and more to consistency of views, to broad general principles, to
universal truths, to glimpses of the order and harmony and infinity of
the Divine system, and thus to a deep, enlightened veneration of the
Infinite Father. Do not be startled, as if I were holding out an
elevation of mind utterly to be despaired of; for all thinking, which
aims honestly and earnestly to see things as they are, to see them in
their connections, and to bring the loose, conflicting ideas of the mind
into consistency and harmony, all such thinking, no matter in what
sphere, is an approach to the dignity of which I speak. You are all
capable of the thinking which I recommend. You have all practised it in
a degree. The child, who casts an inquiring eye on a new toy, and breaks
it to pieces that he may discover the mysterious cause of its movements,
has begun the work of which I speak, has begun to be a philosopher, has
begun to penetrate the unknown, to seek consistency and harmony of
thought; and let him go on as he has begun, and make it one great
business of life to inquire into the elements, connections, and reasons
of whatever he witnesses in his own breast, or in society, or in outward
nature, and, be his condition what it may, he will rise by degrees to a
freedom and force of thought, to a breadth and unity of views, which will
be to him an inward revelation and promise of the intellectual greatness
for which he was created.

You will observe, that in speaking of force of thought as the elevation
of the laborer and of every human being, I have continually supposed this
force to be exerted for the purpose of acquiring truth. I beg you never
to lose sight of this motive, for it is essential to intellectual
dignity. Force of thought may be put forth for other purposes,--to amass
wealth for selfish gratification, to give the individual power over
others, to blind others, to weave a web of sophistry, to cast a deceitful
lustre on vice, to make the worse appear the better cause. But energy of
thought so employed, is suicidal. The intellect, in becoming a pander to
vice, a tool of the passions, an advocate of lies, becomes not only
degraded, but diseased. It loses the capacity of distinguishing truth
from falsehood, good from evil, right from wrong; it becomes as worthless
as an eye which cannot distinguish between colors or forms.