Philosophy at the Foot of the Cross (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1854 Excerpt: ... It was a place of extraordinary beauty. In one part, the green grassy grave attracted the thoughtful look; in another, the effigies of the deceased carved in stone. Here arose a shattered pillar, wreathed with roses; there a funereal urn, overshadowed by cypresses. Flowers of the most brilliant dyes beautified the narrow house. The pathways were smooth, and, as in the North, yellow with gravel. From the depths of the glen behind, the rich deep wail of the nightingale came mingling at evening with the splash of a tiny waterfall. XX. It was my custom in the summer night, to repair thither to meditate in the presence of death. Airs from the ocean breathed gently upon me between the trees, whose leaves and blossoms diffused a delicate fragrance. The moonbeams, white and tremulous, fellupon the shallow stream, which ran murmuring among the graves, and glittered on the marble monuments, and rested lovingly among the tufted foliage of the cypresses, which waved and whispered to the passing wind. Sadness, I know not why, would at times come over me. I looked upon the green mounds at my feet, and at the glittering Stars above, and sought to follow in thought the winged spirits of the departed through the illimitable expanses of the universe. In spite of devotion, in spite of faith, cold doubts would now and then insinuate themselves into my soul, and diffuse over it the waters of bitterness. I thought of all the generations which had nourished like flowers upon the surface of the earth, and laughed in the sunshine, and been wet with dew, and shaken by the winds, as joy or sorrow or calamity was their portion, until the places that had known them knew them no more for ever. New forms of life, new hopes, new fears, had succeeded to the old; and then, through a break in..