mental liberty and becomes a hindrance instead of a help. Those who fasten themselves to such a book, see nothing of value anywhere but in that book, become bigots and surrender up their independence of thought. Colleges have been built upon books of which the thoughts contained therein were as dead as the men who gave utterance to them. Other books are written upon these books by book-readers and not by communers with Nature; and thus, instead of a voice speaking directly to us, we have nothing but echoes that repeat the thoughts of those who have spoken and passed away. In this manner many make a poor beginning through surrendering themselves to the doctrines or systems of others instead of laying hold of the everlasting principles of thought which live within the souls of men, the expressing of which denotes
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