Jane Eyre , by Charlotte Bronte 5
substituted for the world-redeeming creed of Christ . There is -- I repeat it -- a difference ; and it is a good , and not a bad action to mark broadly and clearly the line of separation between them .
The world may not like to see these ideas dissevered , for it has been accustomed to blend them ; finding it convenient to make external show pass for sterling worth -- to let white-washed walls vouch for clean shrines . It may hate him who dares to scrutinise and expose -- to rase the gilding , and show base metal under it -- to penetrate the sepulchre , and reveal charnel relics : but hate as it will , it is indebted to him .
Ahab did not like Micaiah , because he never prophesied good concerning him , but evil ; probably he liked the sycophant son of Chenaannah better ; yet might Ahab have escaped a bloody death , had he but stopped his ears to flattery , and opened them to faithful counsel .
There is a man in our own days whose words are not framed to tickle delicate ears : who , to my thinking , comes before the great ones of society , much as the son of Imlah came before the throned Kings of Judah and Israel ; and who speaks truth as deep , with a power as prophet-like and as vital -- a mien as dauntless and as daring . Is the satirist of " Vanity Fair " admired in high places ? I cannot tell ; but I think if some of those amongst whom he hurls the Greek fire of his sarcasm , and over whom he flashes the levin-brand of his denunciation , were to take his warnings in time -- they or their seed might yet escape a fatal Rimoth-Gilead .
Why have I alluded to this man ? I have alluded to him , Reader , because I think I see in him an intellect profounder and more unique than his contemporaries have yet recognised ; because I regard him as the first social regenerator of the day -- as the very master of that working corps who would restore to rectitude the warped system of things ; because I think no commentator on his writings has yet found the comparison that suits him , the terms which rightly characterise his talent . They say he is like Fielding : they talk of his wit , humour , comic powers . He resembles Fielding as an eagle does a vulture : Fielding could stoop on carrion , but Thackeray never does . His wit is bright , his humour attractive , but both bear the same