Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/271

Rh cultivation, in humanity, I behold Thee; if I look to the formation of the great communities which call themselves the Christian church, I again behold Thee;—although now darkened by ecclesiastical walls—reflecting the heavenly vision of a divine revelation; if I look down into the depths of my own spirit, and inquire after that which, even from my childhood, taught, enlightened, reproved, admonished and admonishes me to the exercise of my daily individuality, I again find Thee, Thou brightly burning flame, Thou holy, secret fire; source of disquiet and source of heavenly rest, eye of truth, light of the Light of God! Thou dost not control my will, but Thou makest me the judge of it, makest me the judge of my own actions. Silent, but shining like the pillar of fire which guided the children of Israel on their way through the desert, Thou continuest to go before the human race upon its pilgrimage; Thou goest secretly guiding onward every formative work, every work of its genius, and leadest it forward to its goal—perfection. Thus in legislation, morals, social forms, science, art, the church, the state, individual and general life. Primal forms in the Divine and the yearning after His kingdom—intuition of the imperfect, the impulse towards perfection and the necessity for harmony, these are the secret canons and the springs of action in humanity. These compel humanity to seek for the highest, for the perfect in the idea and the reality, and it will attain to no peace, it will attain to no rest until it have worked out into reality every ideal of life and transformed life itself into a kingdom of God. This is the goal. How human beings are to arrive at it depends upon the