nature, and filled and glowed within my heart. I felt myself
exalted by this overflowing fulness to the perception of the
Godhead, and the glorious forms of an infinite universe became
visible to my soul! Stupendous mountains encompassed me, abysses
yawned at my feet, and cataracts fell headlong down before me;
impetuous rivers rolled through the plain, and rocks and mountains
resounded from afar. In the depths of the earth I saw innumerable
powers in motion, and multiplying to infinity; whilst upon its
surface, and beneath the heavens, there teemed ten thousand varieties
of living creatures. Everything around is alive with an infinite
number of forms; while mankind fly for security to their petty
houses, from the shelter of which they rule in their imaginations
over the wide-extended universe. Poor fool! in whose petty
estimation all things are little. From the inaccessible mountains,
across the desert which no mortal foot has trod, far as the confines
of the unknown ocean, breathes the spirit of the eternal Creator;
and every atom to which he has given existence finds favour in his
sight. Ah, how often at that time has the flight of a bird, soaring
above my head, inspired me with the desire of being transported
to the shores of the immeasurable waters, there to quaff the
pleasures of life from the foaming goblet of the Infinite, and to
partake, if but for a moment even, with the confined powers of my
soul, the beatitude of that Creator who accomplishes all things
in himself, and through himself!

My dear friend, the bare recollection of those hours still consoles
me. Even this effort to recall those ineffable sensations, and
give them utterance, exalts my soul above itself, and makes me
doubly feel the intensity of my present anguish.