Chapter XLVII

This great and religious Poem has been absurdly said to teach Pantheism, which these stanzas refute; or perhaps they rather deny the doctrine of Spinoza, if that be clearly understood.

At any rate, to be conscious of "a separate whole"--a distinct individuality--and yet merge at last

"in the general Soul,
Is faith as vague as all unsweet:
Eternal form shall still divide
The eternal soul from all beside;
And I shall know him when we meet."

St. Paul is not more distinct and emphatic upon our individuality hereafter, when he says, we shall "be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven," 2 Cor. v., 2; that is, we shall put on a spiritual _body_, that will give identity and form.

Delighting in the thought of

"Enjoying each the other's good,"

he feels to have attracted the approving Shade of Hallam, and this reluctantly fades away, with the tender parting:

"Farewell, we lose ourselves in light."

_If indeed we are to be merged in the universal Soul, let us have at least one more parting, before we lose our individualities in the Great Being._