The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: to reckon all things shadow-like, and utterly devoid of weight or
value, that had not its divine essence as the life within their
life. Then what was he? -- a substance? -- or the dimmest of
all shadows? He longed to speak out from his own pulpit at the
full height of his voice, and tell the people what he was. "I,
whom you behold in these black garments of the priesthood -- I,
who ascend the sacred desk, and turn my pale face heavenward,
taking upon myself to hold communion in your behalf with the Most
High Omniscience -- I, in whose daily life you discern the
sanctity of Enoch -- I, whose footsteps, as you suppose, leave a
gleam along my earthly track, whereby the Pilgrims that shall
 The Scarlet Letter |