Sturms Reflections PDF Download

Excerpt from Sturm's Reflections on the Works of God: And His Providence Throughout All Nature The continued and increasing demand for the works of Sturm has occasioned the present edition of his Reflections to be presented to the public; before whose tribunal they have so long been, that to descant now upon their nature, merits, and design, would be superfluous. It may, however, be briefly staled, that these reflections are calculated to enlarge the mind and to purify the heart: they lead the attentive observer through the whole creation, inform him of its stupendous works, and conduct him within the temple of the great God; whilst they inculcate resignation to the divine will, humanity, benevolence, and the most amiable virtues which dignify and adorn human nature. Several translations of this work have already appeared; but they arc all either grossly inaccurate, and deficient in grammatical purity, or they arc written in a tame, insipid style, devoid of elegance and destitute of interest. Let it be remembered, that something more than merely expressing the thought is required; the harmony of the cadence, the rounding of the period, and the poising of the sentences, all arc necessary to excite and to arrest the attention; and unless the attention be stimulated and stabilitated, it will be to very little purpose that the moralist declaims, or the philosopher writes. For purposes merely didactic, when something is to be told that was not known before, a style the most naked and beggarly might, perhaps, be endured; because the novelty of the matter may induce us to overlook the poverty of the manner: not but, even in this case, the thought will receive additional strength and lustre from elegance and splendour of diction; as a beautiful woman appears more lovely when arrayed with neatness and simplicity, than when cloaked to the heels in very rags and tatters. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com 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.