But, if we must make our choice, we shall, like Bassanio
in the play, turn from the specious caskets which contain only the Death's
head and the Fool's head and fix on the plain leaden chest which conceals
the treasure.
The Puritans were men whose minds had derived a peculiar character from
the daily contemplation of superior beings and eternal interests.
Not content with acknowledging in general terms an overruling
Providence, they habitually ascribed every event to the will of the
Great Being, for whose power nothing was too vast, for whose inspection
nothing was too minute. To know him, to serve him, to enjoy him,
was with them the great end of existence. They rejected with contempt
the ceremonious homage which other sects substituted for the pure
worship of the soul. Instead of catching occasional glimpses of the
Deity through an obscuring veil, they aspired to gaze full on his
intolerable brightness, and to commune with him face to face.
Hence originated their contempt for terrestrial distinctions.
The difference between the greatest and the meanest of mankind seemed
to vanish, when compared with the boundless intervals which separated
the whole race from him on whom their eyes were constantly
fixed.
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