and for the first time assembled here. Only one feeling still
rules,--unanimity alone maintains her sway, and in this place only do all
devote themselves to the same end. He who has the happiness of
commanding you may easily forget all other glory. I own we have
suffered, and still suffer, much, especially since the full exercise of
our powers is restrained. But in the feeling of the vengeance which we
take on the sons of dust,--in the contemplation of their madness and
crimes, by which they continually thwart the purposes of their
being,--lies a recompense for our suffering. Welcome, thrice welcome,
all ye whom this sentiment inflames.

"Hear now the occasion of the festival which I intend this day to
celebrate with you. Faustus, a daring mortal, who, like us, is at war
with the Eternal, and who, through the strength of his spirit, may at
some future period be deemed worthy to dwell along with us here, has
discovered the art of multiplying, on an easy principle, a thousand and a
thousandfold, those things denominated books,--those dangerous toys of
men,--those vehicles of delusion, of error, of lies, and of
horror,--those sources of pride and of painful doubt. Until now they
have been too costly, and only in the hands of the rich, whom they filled
with fancies, and from whom they chased that humility which God had for
their happiness infused into their hearts. Triumph! Soon will the
poison of knowledge and inquiry be communicated to all classes. New
cravings, new wants, will arise; and I doubt whether my enormous kingdom
will be able to contain all those who will destroy themselves by this
delicious poison. But this were only a slight victory: my eye pierces
deeper into that distant period, which is to us no more than an hour is
to man. Soon will cavillers and haters of the established Church spread
about like the plague: pretended reformers of heaven and earth will
arise, and their doctrines, from the facility of communication, will
penetrate even into the hut of the beggar. They will think to do good,
and to purify the object of their hope from falsehood. But, if men begin
well, how long do they continue to act so! Sin is not more inseparable
from them than are ill consequences from their noblest pursuits. The
well-beloved people of God, whom he endeavoured to snatch from evil by
the sacrifice of his only Son, will quarrel about tenets which no one
understands, and will tear each other to pieces like w