Book 1, Nature, Addresses & Lectures : Chapter 3, Man the Reformer Summary and Analysis

The author is striving to encourage the new clerics in their endeavor. "The test of true faith, certainly, should be its power to charm and command the soul, as the laws of nature control the activity of the hands, - so commanding that we find pleasure and honor in obeying," (p. 84). During the speech he tells his audience about the trials and rewards he foresees in the daily doing of their work. He includes a brief discussion of genius in Literary Ethics, which was also presented as a public lecture. In summary: the principles of his thought emerge: "the resources of the scholar...are...coextensive with nature and truth...He cannot know them until he has beheld with awe the infinitude and impersonality of the intellectual power...