Great Are the Myths.

GREAT ARE THE MYTHS.

1

¹GREAT are the myths—I too delight in them; Great are Adam and Eve—I too look back and accept
them; Great the risen and fallen nations and their poets,
women, sages, inventors, rulers, warriors, and
priests. ²Great is Liberty! great is Equality! I am their fol-
lower; Helmsmen of nations, choose your craft! where you
sail, I sail, I weather it out with you, or sink with you. ³Great is Youth—equally great is Old Age—great are
the Day and Night; Great is Wealth—great is Poverty—great is Expression
—great is Silence. ⁴Youth, large, lusty, loving—Youth, full of grace, force,
fascination! Do you know that Old Age may come after you, with
equal grace, force, fascination? ⁵Day, full-blown and splendid—Day of the immense
sun, action, ambition, laughter, The Night follows close, with millions of suns, and
sleep, and restoring darkness. [ begin page 250 ]

ppp.00270.252.jpg ⁶Wealth, with the flush hand, fine clothes, hospi-
tality; But then the Soul's wealth, which is candor, knowl-
edge, pride, enfolding love; (Who goes for men and women showing Poverty richer
than wealth?) ⁷Expression of speech! in what is written or said, for
-get not that Silence is also expressive, That anguish as hot as the hottest, and contempt as
cold as the coldest, may be without words.

2

⁸Great is the Earth, and the way it became what it is; Do you imagine it has stopt at this? the increase aban-
don'd? Understand then that it goes as far onward from this,
as this is from the times when it lay in covering
waters and gases, before man had appear'd. ⁹Great is the quality of Truth in man; The quality of truth in man supports itself through all
changes, It is inevitably in the man—he and it are in love, and
never leave each other. ¹⁰The truth in man is no dictum, it is vital as eye-
sight; If there be any Soul, there is truth—if there be man or
woman there is truth—if there be physical or
moral, there is truth; If there be equilibrium or volition, there is truth—if
there be things at all upon the earth, there is
truth. ¹¹O truth of the earth! I am determin'd to press my
way toward you; Sound your voice! I scale mountains, or dive in the
sea after you. [ begin page 251 ]

ppp.00270.253.jpg

3

¹²Great is Language—it is the mightiest of the sci-
ences, It is the fulness, color, form, diversity of the earth, and
of men and women, and of all qualities and pro-
cesses; It is greater than wealth—it is greater than buildings,
ships, religions, paintings, music. ¹³Great is the English speech—what speech is so great
as the English? Great is the English brood—what brood has so vast a
destiny as the English? It is the mother of the brood that must rule the earth
with the new rule; The new rule shall rule as the Soul rules, and as the
love, justice, equality in the Soul rule. ¹⁴Great is Law—great are the few old land-marks of
the law, They are the same in all times, and shall not be dis-
turb'd.

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¹⁵Great is Justice! Justice is not settled by legislators and laws—it is in
the Soul; It cannot be varied by statutes, any more than love,
pride, the attraction of gravity, can; It is immutable—it does not depend on majorities—
majorities or what not, come at last before the
same passionless and exact tribunal. ¹⁶For justice are the grand natural lawyers, and per-
fect judges—is it in their Souls; It is well assorted—they have not studied for nothing
—the great includes the less; They rule on the highest grounds—they oversee all
eras, states, administrations. [ begin page 252 ]

ppp.00270.254.jpg ¹⁷The perfect judge fears nothing—he could go front to
front before God; Before the perfect judge all shall stand back—life and
death shall stand back—heaven and hell shall
stand back.

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¹⁸Great is Life, real and mystical, wherever and who-
ever; Great is Death—sure as life holds all parts together,
Death holds all parts together. ¹⁹Has Life much purport?—Ah, Death has the great-
est purport.