BEAUTY IN THE WORLD OF MATTER,
CONSIDERED AS A REVELATION OF GOD.
A SERMON PREACHED AT MUSIC HALL, BOSTON, ON SUNDAY, JULY 16, 1856.
PREFATORY LETTER.
In the summer of 1855 I preached a series of discourses treating in an abstract and metaphysical way certain, great matters, which required some severity of attention to master, or even comprehend. When it was nearly finished the weather became exceedingly warm, and it seemed to me not quite fit to lay heavy burthens on the minds of men to be borne in the heat of such days. Surely the wise minister will not change the blessed day of rest into a day of torment for the body as well as the soul. So, taking the hint alike from the season and the handsome things it brought forth so abundantly, I paused a little in my course of abstractions, and taking a theme which was sure to require none but spontaneous attention from any audience, I preached "Of the Lesson of Beauty,—a Sermon for Midsummer Day." The unusual form of the discourse may easily be objected to, and declared unfit to be preached from the pulpit ; but I think the listeners then found it fit to be heard in the pews : and now, when thousands of miles from home, and compelled to be silent, I hope the readers will equally accept the lesson which the Infinite Teacher offers us all in the facts of nature, whence I have tried to translate it into plain human speech.
Had I written the sermon in this fair-skied island of the Holy Cross, the lesson would have been the same, but the
