The Seer, Vol. 1 of 2
Or Common-Places Refreshed (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Seer, Vol. 1 of 2: Or Common-Places Refreshed<br><br>The following Essays have been collected, for the first time, from such of the author's periodical writings as it was thought might furnish another publication similar to the Indicator. Most of them have been taken from the London Journal; and the remainder from the Liberal, the Monthly Repository, the Tathr and the Round Table. The title, of course, is to be understood in its primitive and most simple sense, and not in its portentous one, as connected with foresight and prophecy; nor would the author profess, intellectually, to see farther into a mill-stone than his betters. His motto, which thoroughly explains, will also, he trusts, vindicate all which he aspires to show; which is, that the more we look at anything in this beautiful and abundant world, with a desire to be pleased with it, the more we shall be rewarded by the loving spirit of the universe, with discoveries that await only the desire.<br><br>It will ever be one of the most delightful recollections of the authors life, that the periodical work, from which the collection has been chiefly made, was encouraged by all parties in the spirit in which it was set up. Nor, at the hazard of some imputation on his modesty, (which he must be allowed not very terribly to care for, where so much love is going forward,) can he help repeating what he wrote, on this point, when his heart was first touched by it:<br><br>"As there is nothing in the world which is not supernatural in one sense,- as the very world of fashion itself rolls round with the stars, and is a part of the mystery and the variety of the shows of the universe, so nothing, in a contemptuous sense, is small, or unworthy of a grave and calm hope, which tends to popularise Christian refinement, and to mix it up with every species of social intercourse, as a good realised, and not merely as an abstraction preached. What! Have not Philosophy and Christianity long since met in the embrace of such loving discoveries And do not the least and most trivial things, j)rovided they have an earnest and cheerful good-will, partake of some right of greatness, and the privilege to be lionoured ;if not with admiration of their wisdom, yet with acknowledgment of the joy which is the end of wisdom, and which it is the pri ilege of a loving sincerity to reach by a short road Hence we have had two olyections, and two hundred encouragements; and excellent writers of all sorts, and of all other shades of belief, liave hastened to say to us, 'Preach that, and prosper.'<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.