You and I; . ay or any way to theInfinite must bring the supernatural into our thought andlife, and thenceforward (as Proctor has it) There is nothing to do but to bow the knee. The mere sentimentalist finds in nature only an echo ofhis own voice. He makes of her a nose of wax to be twistedinto the image of his own fancies. Such men hear and seenothing of God in nature. Tympanum and retina are bothpreoccupied. As the Scotch say: Whas like our ain sels?Sentiment is not to be depreciated, and for its just use natureis prepared with inexhaustible store of parallels to humanexperiences and subtle
You and I; . ay or any way to theInfinite must bring the supernatural into our thought andlife, and thenceforward (as Proctor has it) There is nothing to do but to bow the knee. The mere sentimentalist finds in nature only an echo ofhis own voice. He makes of her a nose of wax to be twistedinto the image of his own fancies. Such men hear and seenothing of God in nature. Tympanum and retina are bothpreoccupied. As the Scotch say: Whas like our ain sels?Sentiment is not to be depreciated, and for its just use natureis prepared with inexhaustible store of parallels to humanexperiences and subtle correspondences with human moods;but sentimentalism simply imposes itself on nature and rarelyfinds anything, much less God. Those who take the com- THE J NFL UENCES OF NA TURE. 179 mercial view only see so many acres—woodland, upland orbottomland—with such and such capacities for grain or gra-zing. In the trees they see shade or merchantable the skies they never look except to keep the weather-. as well as the higher half of its utility. The pride of posses-sion comes in to distract the mind here, as that of intellectand feeling came to the others, and he is ready to say, Mybarns and my goods, with an emphasis which is apt to bringGod upon the scene with a startling, Thou fool. See how the really religious suggestions of nature acceptall that is true in each of these views and then go science opens the scroll and describes the hieroglyphics,but the religious suggestion gives them a meaning, and the 180 YOU AND I. perplexing symbols reach their noblest meaning in causing ourminds to touch the Divine Intelligence, and putting the handof our weakness into that of Infinite Power. Mere sentiment-alism tricks out nature in the tawdry gauds of half-unreal andhalf-wicked feelings, while the religious suggestions wouldpresent her with all possible power of sympathy, yet arrayedin the pure and dignified garb which artists always give toangels. The merely commer
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