Mysticism in English Literature by Caroline F. E. Spurgeon
page 119 of 156 (76%)
page 119 of 156 (76%)
|
method of crystallising a great truth in an apparently trivial fact. We
have seen some of these truths in the Proverbs, and the _Auguries of Innocence_ is nothing else but a series of such facts, a storehouse of deepest wisdom. Some of these have the simplicity of nursery rhymes, they combine the direct freshness of the language of the child with the profound truth of the inspired seer. If the Sun & Moon should Doubt They'd immediately Go Out. It would scarcely be possible to sum up more completely than does this artless couplet the faith--not only of Blake--but of every mystic. Simple, ardent, and living, their faith is in truth their life, and the veriest shadow of doubt would be to them a condition of death. They are the only people in the world who are the "possessors of certainty." They have seen, they have felt: what need they of further proof? Logic, philosophy, theology, all alike are but empty sounds and barren forms to those who know. To Francis Thompson the presence of the Divine in all things is the one overwhelming fact. As a result of this sense, the consciousness that everything is closely related, closely linked together, is ever present in his poetry. It is the vision of this truth, he believes, which will be the revelation of a new heaven and a new earth. When to the new eyes of thee All things by immortal power, Near or far, Hiddenly To each other linkèd are, |
|