Page:Margaret Fuller Ossoli (Higginson).djvu/26

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MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI.

There is no evidence that Margaret Fuller herself had ever thought of any such analogy as I find between the type thus strongly indicated and the race from which she sprung; but in my own mind it is clear and gave the key to her life. Let us go back to her ancestry and trace this fine thread of New England vigor — which was a Roman vigor, touched by Christianity — running through it all.

Thomas Fuller, entitled “Lieutenant” in the probate proceedings on his will, came from England to America in 1688, and left this record of his spiritual experiences.

In thirty-eight I set my foot
On this New England shore;
My thoughts were then to stay one year,
And here remain no more.
 
But, by the preaching of God’s word
By famous Shepard he,
In what a woful state I was,
I then began to see.
 
Christ cast his garments over me,
And all my sins did cover:
More precious to my soul was he
Than dearest friend or lover.
 
His pardoning mercy to my soul
All thought did far surmount;
The measure of his love to me
Was quite beyond account. . . .
 
I said, My mountain does stand strong,
And doubtless ’t will forever;
But soon God turned his face away,
And joy from me did sever.