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ESSAYS,

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS

E. THOMSON, D. D., LL. D,

EDITED BY

REV. D. W. CLARK D. D.

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PUBLISHED BY L. SWORMSTEDT & A. POE,

FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, AT THE WESTERN BOOK CONCERN,
CORNER OF MAIN AND EIGHTH STREETS.

R. P. THOMPSON, PRINTER.
1856.

*4»

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856,
BY SWORMSTEDT & POE,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District
of Ohio.

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SOME time since a valued friend of the author —
Rev. Dr. Roe, a superannuated preacher of the
Cincinnati conference — solicited permission to collect
some essays and other papers that had appeared
over my signature in different periodicals, or in other
forms, within the last eighteen or twenty years, and
publish them in a volume.

An appeal to one's friendship it is difficult to re-
sist ; and, reluctant as I was that my articles should
appear in book form, I yielded, on condition that I
should reyise and arrange them before they were
sent to the press.,

Accordingly the Doctor issued a volume of " Essays,
Educational and Religious," which, fortunately, met
with an encouraging sale.

Soon after he applied for the series of Letters
which I had written for the "Western Christian Ad-
vocate during my recent visit to Europe, with a view
to their publication in a book; and these also were

granted, in the hope that he might find them as sala-

3

4 PREFACE.

ble as the former Volume, to the profits of both which
he was heartily welcome.

Just as they were prepared for the press, the Doc-
tor, with my full consent— by no means necessary —
sold his interest in both books to Messrs* Swormstedt
& Poe, Cincinnati.

Thereupon these enterprising Publishers expressed
a wish that I should add other volumes to them, and
generously offered me compensation for whatever ad-
ditional matter I might furnish* The consideration,
however, which chiefly moved me to comply with
this request, was the desire to improve the arrange-
ment which had previously been adopted*

Upon consultation, it was agreed that the second
part of the volume published by Dr* Roe, entitled
" Religious Essays," should be omitted, and its place
supplied by articles pertaining to education, so as to
make the first volume homogeneous ; that the Letters
from Europe should be published in a separate vol-
ume; that a. third volume should consist of .Bio-
graphical and Incidental Sketches ; and that a fourth
should be made up in part of the matter comprising
the second portion of the volume which appeared
under Dr. Roe's direction, and in part of other
essays of a kindred nature.

The last is the volume that we here introduce.*
The additional matter, the writer frankly acknowl-
edges, was not prepared for the occasion, but taken

PREFACE. 5

rather at random from files of discourses, such as he
is accustomed to write every week for the benefit of
the youth under his care.

Perhaps it would have been better to have selected
essays all bearing upon some one topic — such as the
Evidences of Revelation, or Theoretical or Practical
Ethics — but to this there were objections. We have
already a great many systematic works on such sub-
jects, and, moreover, such unity would not accord
with the variety of the previously-printed pages with
which the new matter was to be combined.

Some of these productions bear upon their face
the evidence that they were called forth by particular
public events ; it is hoped they will be none the less
interesting on that account.

Should the reader think they were written with a
hurried pen, he would not be wrong ; should he com-
plain of this, he would have the sympathies of the
author. They should, indeed, have been carefully
rewritten before they met the public eye; but such
are the writer's engagements, that the only question
with him was whether they should go to press in
their present form or not at all. He preferred the
latter alternative till he was overpersuaded by his
friends, and by the circumstances in which they had
placed him.

As the essays are more in the style of verbal
address than they would be if rewritten, they will,

6 PREFACE.

perhaps, be none the less acceptable to the greater
part of my readers — the young.

Although the book may present inaccuracies and
errors, it is a satisfaction to the author to reflect
that it contains no important principle or sentiment
•which he regards with doubt or hesitancy — nothing,
therefore, which he can not commit to a generous
public with an earnest prayer for the Divine blessing.

If it shall remunerate the Publishers, and, at the
same time, awaken the attention, confirm the faith,
strengthen the graces, or soothe the sorrows of some
sluggish, inquiring, struggling, or suffering fellow-
men, the writer will not regret its publication.

Delaware, July 9, 1856.

Contents.

PAGE.

The Bible Friendly to Reason 9

Religious Meditation • 31

The Sublimity of the Bible 45

Unanimity Among Christians 58

Discourse on Skepticism 81

The Missionary Enterprise 104

Missions Remunerative 117

Christ as a Teacher 125

Temperance 141

Self-Knowledge 168

Love of Truth 191

The Duty of Benevolence 206

Religious Excitement « 227

The Pulpit and Politics 254

Inspiration of the Bible 276

Necessity of the Bible 298

The Great Cure for Evils 314

The Divine Glory 328

Preaching Christ 345

Music. 363

7

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

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GENTLE reader, you, doubtless, value your mind above
all other treasures; you will therefore put a high es-
timate upon any thing which tends to improve it. The
Bible has a greater influence in developing and cultiva-
ting the intellect than any other book of which I have
any knowledge.

I grant that the chief object of the Bible is to show
us the way of salvation; but in achieving this end it
accomplishes many minor ones. Indeed, there is not a
fiber of the body, nor a faculty of the soul, upon which
it does not lay its hand of mercy — not a temporal inter-
est or relation upon which it does not send forth a stream
of blessings. Many look upon it as a book which, though
suitable enough for the simple and the afflicted, has no
attractions for strong and healthy minds. Now, ponder
my argument against this error ; and that I wander not
from the point, let me state my proposition :

The Bible promotes the development and cultivation
of the intellect.

It enlarges the foundations of knowledge. Neither in

things natural nor supernatural can we proceed a step

without primary truths. That there are such truths

must be apparent; for without them every process of

reasoning would be interminable. A primary truth

9

10 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

may be known by the following signs : it can neither be
proved nor refuted by clearer propositions ; and it forces
men, whether they admit or deny it, to act as though
they believe it. A philosopher, for example, may deny
the existence of an external world, and may meet with
no one who can refute him; nevertheless, he will be as
careful to avoid fires, and rivers, and blows, as if he
taught that flame will burn, and water drown, and that
action and reaction are equal.

A large basis of these truths is afforded to man by in-
tuition, and upon it he erects the structure of natural
science; but it is evident that, however high he may
carry up the edifice, he can not broaden it. But the
Bible enlarges the foundations of knowledge ; it lays a
number of basis truths in the faith — such as the exist-
ence of God, the beginning of the world, the origin of
evil, the future life, the resurrection from the dead, the
judgment to come, and the scheme of salvation through
our Lord — and on this added and supernatural founda-
tion man can build, as on Jacob's stony pillow, successive
stories, like the rounds of the mystic ladder, and side by
side with the ascending angels of God, rise higher and
higher, till he bathes his head in the Divine glory.

It may be alleged by some, that the propositions just
stated are first truths of natural knowledge, and, there-
fore, need no revelation from Heaven. Try them. Are
men compelled to act as though they believe them? do
they not generally act as though they disbelieved them?
It is alleged by many that they may be built upon other
truths; the being of God, for instance, upon the axiom
that every effect must have an adequate cause. Perhaps
some of them are discoverable by unassisted angelic
minds; but are they by unaided human ones? What
ancient philosopher ever reasoned himself up to any one
of them? True, here and there a gray-haired sage, after

THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 11

the labor of a life, caught a glimpse of some; but it was
a mere glimpse, beheld with doubt and fear, and leading
to no useful result. Nor was this ignorance due to any
want of interest in religious themes. What nation that
ever emerged from barbarism did not speculate upon
these points, and, by its absurd notions concerning them,
demonstrate that the " world by wisdom knew not God V

Let it not be said that their errors were owing to im-
perfect mental cultivation. Philosophers, to whom, so
far as intellect and polish are concerned, the world has
looked up for ages, and still looks up, sought after this
knowledge as after hid treasure, yet died without the
sight. Simonides, on the fortieth day of his search after
God, crkd, "The more I consider the subject the more
obscure it becomes/ ' Greece confessed her ignorance
when she erected an altar to the unknown God; and Soc-
rates, her noblest son, marked the end of the longest
march of unaided mind toward God by a sacrifice to Es-
culapius. I know that reason may render the truths in
question probable before they are revealed, and may illus-
trate them afterward; but she can never advance them
from the probable to the certain till she hears a voice
from heaven. Skeptics who, with all the light of mod-
ern science, reject the Bible are in darkness concerning
even the being of God and the immortality of man.

You perceive the discouragement which every mind
must feel when there is no revelation — a discouragement
which must increase with every succeeding age. Who
would deny himself ease, and home, and pleasure, to en-
ter upon a voyage which has always terminated in ice-
bergs, and clouds, and shipwreck, and confused cries
dying out into eternal silence ? Yet such has been the
end of every voyage of human reason in search of the
"golden fleece" of religious truth. No wonder; for it
is an attempt to reach the infinite by the route of the

12 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

finite. We see the encouragement which the Bible gives
to study — it starts us on our journey far in advance of
the most laborious researches of philosophy. The child,
with the Bible in hand, begins his lessons far beyond
where Socrates closed his.

The Bible requires the exercise of reason in examining
its evidences. If I am required to receive the Bible upon
the ground of authority, custom, antiquity, or law, what
distinction can I perceive between the true religion and
the false ? Leave it to the priests of Pagan temples to
challenge belief without proof; it is the distinguishing
glory of the G-ospel that she brings her witnesses into
reason's court, and demands the coolest, strictest scru-
tiny. We blame not the infidel because he reasons, but
because he either does not reason enough, or reasons from
false premises. I know that many good men receive the
Bible without examination, and become established in the
faith by the fruits which it brings forth ; but if they had
traced the analogies between natural religion and re-
vealed, studied the dependencies and correspondencies
of the old and new covenants, listened to the harmonies
of both, and the answering echoes of the heart and con-
science, and ended their investigation by comparing
prophecy with history, till they saw the proof that Jesus
is the Son of God, beaming round the earth upon the
brows of three millions of the living children of those
who led him to Calvary, and saw in the broken columns
of Nineveh, and the scraped rock of Tyre, and the bar-
ren hills of Syria, and the cursed valley of the Nile, the
sad and silent demonstrations of the Divine origin of
holy oracles, their faith would rest on broader founda-
tions. Hence, the Bible says, prove all things. Prepare
to satisfy your neighbor as well as yourself, by giving a
reason of the hope that is in you. Study, argue, till you
can give every leaf and every providence a voice for the

THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 13

Son of God, and make every Alpha and Omega of the
New Testament speak of his divinity and his era, as the
galleries of the stars mark the footsteps of the Deity,
and the petrifactions of the rocks chronicle the days be-
fore the flood.

The Bible demands our reason, that we may develop its
truth. Made up as it is of various books, written by dif-
ferent authors, at sundry times, during the lapse of many
centuries, each part bearing the stamp of its own times
and the peculiar style of its own writer, it requires care-
ful examination, and an application of those rules of ex-
egesis which are used in the interpretation of other an-
cient writings, in order that it may exhibit its meaning.
And the meaning which the words express is what we
want : he who looks for hidden senses looks for his own
fancies ; he who allegorizes adds to the revelation.

Let reason, however, approach the Bible as the prophet
did the burning bush ; for it hath fallen — it stands on
holy ground ; it can never find out God to perfection j it
seeks things hidden from the wise and prudent to be
revealed unto babes. Let it not merely approach, but
tarry and deliberate ; for Christ saith, " Search the Scrip-
tures. " Alas ! many, like they of Thessalonica, are men-
tal beggars, because they will not — a few only, like the
Bereans, are moral noblemen, because they do so daily.
It is easy to read; but to understand we must think. The
ox sees the sun merely as a ball of fire; the philosopher
sees in it the attraction that binds the planets and the
spectrum that spans the heavens, the heat that warms,
and the light that cheers a set of worlds, and the power,
and wisdom, and goodness of Him that hath set the king
of day his tabernacle, and kindled up his fires. And
what makes the difference but thinking? No one can
understand a book unless his mind can pass with the
author up the same steps of thought which he traveled

14 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

when he penned it. He, for example, who would com-
prehend Euclid's problems must think himself up to
Euclid's elevation. And 0, what discipline must the
mind undergo to receive truth from the pen of that phi-
losopher ! How should we close our eyes, and bend our
knees, and tax our energies when we pass through the
chambers of the Scriptures, beyond the ranks of cheru-
bim and seraphim, to place our ears to the mouth of
God ! It is the glory of the Bible that it brings down
philosophy through prophets, apostles, and the God-man,
from the Almighty to the infant. It is its higher glory to
lead up the infant by its philosophy through the armies
of the blest to the bosom of the Almighty. Let us de-
light in the pure truth. I have thought that uninspired
books are at once a blessing and a curse to the Church.
Let us not depreciate the fathers; they are, for the most
part, redolent of piety, radiant with learning, and deep
with argument; they often throw light over dark places
of truth, and lift dim curtains that hide unspeakable glo-
ries. But better never read human writing than trust in
human authority, or share the glory of Christ with his
frail servants. He who does so can not enjoy God's
word. The soul that sails the ocean of truth in the
pitcher of human teachings, feels not the baptism of its
immortal waters.

One of the great benefits derived from the word is its
soul exercise. This it was which nourished up such
minds as Luther, Knox, Wesley — those colossal intellects
that stand among mankind like pyramids amid Egyptian
sands. Religious controversy, though, on many accounts,
to be deplored, has been a blessing to the Church, by
driving her to search the Scriptures. Alas ! for want of
it, in these peaceful times, Zion is in danger of getting
bedridden.

Let reason approach the Scriptures with patient prayer.

THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 15

The prophet on Cariners hights cast himself down upon
the earth, and put his face between his knees. "And
he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea.
And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing.
And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass
at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a
little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And it
came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was
black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain."
So be thy spirit on the Divine hights of the Bible — bow
down; and if, as you look toward the sea, you see noth-
ing, pray on; and though you look seven times before
you see a cloud, like a man's hand, say not that the
Bible is a dry book, but be thou still a kneeling, and thy
moral heaven shall be filled with fatness and her earth
drenched with rain.

The Bible demands our reason, that we may develop its
nee. Tell me not that reason has done enough when
she has given us the meaning of the Scriptures. Sci-
ence is the final cause of reason, truth is the element of
science, and nature and revelation are the reservoirs of
truth. We remember, compare, classify, and judge as
the sparks fly upward; intellect leaps spontaneous; and
if the Bible is not an arena for it, it is neither suitable
for man nor worthy of God. One of the strongest proofs
of its heavenly origin is the fact, that, although it has
been the sphere of mental activity for the best minds
during the last two thousand years, it is still the scene
of interest and the field of discovery.

But what are objects of Bible science ?

AVe should seek for the origin, combination, and his-
tory of the words in which the Scriptures are cast, that
we may not repeat them parrot-like, but, as the apostle
directs us to sing, "in the spirit and with the under-
standing also."

16 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

We must bind the facts together by their leading prin-
ciples. How can they be remembered unless they be ar-
ranged ? how can they be arranged unless they be classi-
fied? and how can we classify without analysis? and how
can we analyze without reason? He who could remem-
ber all the facts by mere force of memory would have but
imperfect knowledge, compared with him who has traced
them through successive generalizations to the great sun-
truth of the cross, and who from the cross can connect
and explain them all.

But it is not only the historic truth we want ; we need
also the doctrinal, which lies beneath it. Let it not be
said that practical religion is all-sufficient : the practical
rests upon the theoretical ; the action lies behind the
will, the will behind the emotions, the emotions behind
the intellect. As a man's views of God, so is his feeling
toward him; as his feeling toward him, so will be his vo-
lition; and as he wills, so he acts. Every sentence in
the Bible bears a relation to God, or Christ, or man; and
when this is perceived it awakens a feeling of obliga-
tion— the only permanent foundation for morality.

We should not only eliminate the doctrines of the Bi-
ble, but trace their connection in a system; for the
Bible, though it does not teach systematically, neverthe-
less contains a system. In this respect there is an anal-
ogy between nature and revelation ; both are regulated
by connected general principles, which, while they seem
to hide, they constantly illustrate, thus alluring us to
scrutinize and compare. In this way we are led to con-
nect facts and dispensations, and bring independent and
apparently contradictory propositions into a coherent and
harmonious whole.

It may be said that this is not essential to salvation.
I know it. It is with particulars, not with generals, that
we arc chiefly concerned both in natural and spiritual

THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 17

life, and every one's capacities are adapted to his necessi-
ties; but both in nature and the word of God we are in-
vited, as well by duty as curiosity, to trace the particulars
upward to the generals, and downward to the elements,
in a never-ending series of beautiful analyses. Hence,
the Psalmist made the law his meditation day and night.
For want of this there is so much unsteadiness in the
Churches. We have cast away the catechism, nor will
we catechise ourselves. Be not afraid that speculation
will lead to intolerance. He who reasons most is most
tolerant ; for he knows with what difficulty truth is dis-
covered and error avoided. It is usually, the ignorant
that deems himself infallible 5 he who will not think for
himself that persecutes him that does.

Nor think that there is no hope of further discovery
in the Bible. We have dogmas and tenets enough, but
there is yet a chance to bring out great thoughts from
the Divine treasury of knowledge. Indeed, a new era is
opening upon us. The philosophy of Bacon, which has
shed such floods of light upon the physical sciences, has
but just been brought to the threshold of the theological.

The Bible requires our reason, that we may judge of
the excellence of its law and the rectitude of the Divine ad-
ministration. I speak reverently but firmly, because I
speak with the warrant of the inspired word. God in-
vites us to reason; he honors his own image in man;
he is pleased that his child should exercise his noblest
powers upon the tvords as well as works of his Creator.
How else shall man see that " the law is good V or ex-
claim, as he traces the Divine dispensations, " Just and
true are thy ways, thou King of saints V or cry, as he
stands before the Shekinah, like the seraphim in pro-
phetic vision, " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts I"
Hence, God says to the sinner, "Come, let us reason to-
gether." The obedience he demands is a rational one;

18 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

no other would be consistent either with the creature's
happiness or the Creator's glory : hence, he is willing to
submit the matter in controversy between himself and
his people to their own judgment: " Judge ye are not
my ways equal : are not your ways unequal."

But let us beware how we use our reason. To calcu-
late without data, or to argue where the premises are im-
perfectly understood — this is not to use reason, but to
abuse it. So far as duty is concerned, we may expect
full knowledge ; but there are things referred to in reve-
lation the full comprehension of which " is reserved in
heaven," and, for aught we know, is beyond the capacity
of the human mind. To attempt to speculate on these
were madness. Do not wonder that there are such points
in the Bible, for there are similar ones in philosophy.
Between cause and effect, impulse and motion, organiza-
tion and life, there lies a region as mysterious as that
which lies between the holiness of God and the origin
of evil, or between the freedom of man and the sover-
eignty of God. Mysteries peculiarly befit revelation.
When Jehovah, from his mountain home, sends down a
messenger, what wonder that there should be some spots
upon his face too bright for mortal eye, and whose
brightness must, therefore, be shaded. Happy are we
that there are. They speak of the King eternal, im-
mortal, invisible, and of his inaccessible dwelling of
light; they speak of the immortality, and progress, and
coming illumination of th& soul; they keep the mind
forever on the knee and forever on the wing. More
especially should we anticipate mystery when God reveals
himself; we may expect to see the glory of the Almighty
through a cleft in the rock. What would you think of a
philosophy that should profess to bring the science of
the sun within the little doors of an insect's soul ?
What, then, of a revelation that should profess to bring

THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 19

the full glory of the eternal God within the narrow open-
ing of a human intellect, or that should leave nothing
unexplained between the surface and the depths of its
discoveries ? What a death to all thought ! what a stop
to all progress! Where eternity is concerned we may
look for mystery. WThat wonder if the distant hill-tops
are covered with shadows that we can not pierce ! But
shall we, therefore, complain ? Wrho blames the earth
because it hides more than it reveals? Who blames the
telescope because in bringing one star near it shows oth-
ers afar off? Who blames the philospher because in
leading his pupil up the hill of knowledge he widens, at
every step, the visible horizon of his ignorance? Suffi-
cient for us that we can follow a pillar of cloud as well as
of fire, and that all over those distant hills of darkness
there shall erelong break the beams of an eternal morn-
ing. Let it not be said that the mysteries of Scripture
paralyze the mind; they stir it from its foundations. It
is when the curtains are drawn around the sky that the
contemplative mind is filled with the utmost awe and
reverence; and as the stars peer out one after another,
and the heavens are crowded with shining worlds, imag-
ination kindles and burns till the soul is all on fire. And
why? Because there is mystery in every star, and
mystery in every space; and the mystery deepens as you
go from sun to sun, and system to system, till the soul is
overwhelmed in the unfathomed depths.

It is worthy of remark that the line which separates
the mysterious from the comprehensible in the Scrip-
tures is not a fixed one, but is continually receding be-
fore the advances of the pious mind; and this brings me
to remark that the Bible entices us to the use of our rea-
son by the promise of supernatural aid. The Spirit of
God reveals to us no new truth. We are assured that the
Gospel is not only the latest, but the last will and testa-

20 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

ment of our Father, and that a curse will alight upon
him who adds a codicil to it. The overlooking of this
fact has been the cause of Millerism, Mormonism, and
the delusions of such visionaries as Jemima Wilkinson,
Joanna Southcote, Beheniin, Vane, and Venner. They
all adopted the false principle, that the Spirit gives a new
law, instead of writing the old one in the believer's mind.

The Spirit, in leading us into all truth, does not alter
the human faculties. We need not, therefore, expect
to have visions, and phantasies, and impressions, of
which we can give no rational account, or to be deprived
of strength, reason, and will, and cast motionless upon
the ground, as the ancient sibyl in her silent prophetic
illapses. The Spirit is not to make us prophets, but to
acquaint us with the prophets. How the Spirit aids the
mind in its researches, we can only say suggestively.

It may prepare the heart to receive truth. It is some-
thing, when we would solve a difficult problem, to have
the slate wiped clean. Socrates said, he who would re-
ceive the pure must not himself be impure. It may dis-
pose us to the proper and strenuous use of our natural
faculties in searching for the riches of the full assurance
of understanding; it may remove the hinderances to
faith. The heart influences the intellect : hence, it is
difficult to feel " an argument against an interest/' or to
see an evil in the things we love.

The Spirit of God allays passion, removes prejudice,
and breathes into the soul the disposition to obey.
There is no argument to remove skepticism like the bend-
ing knees. How did Solomon obtain wisdom? Now,
"if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God." Would
we receive truth, we must invite it, as Abraham did the
angels. Would we have the Scriptures opened to us, we
must walk with God, as the disciples did with Christ on
the way to Emmaus.

THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 21

May not the Spirit aid the mind in apprehending truth
Dy leading it up from the region of mere understanding,
which is discursive, which judges by sense, to the region
of reason, where all is fixed, reposing on the constitution
of the human mind — :that region whence we obtain the
axioms of the exact sciences, and such ideas as eternity,
infinity, and power? Let the soul shake off the defiled
garments of sense, bury its idols, and go up to the
Bethel of pure reason, where the truths rise unbidden
like stars in the sky, and doctrines before unseen may
shine like the belt of Orion at midnight.

May not the Spirit more directly influence the soul, as
is implied in such a promise as this: "When he, the
Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all
truth I" Without the communication of any new truth,
the Bible may be made a new book to us. It would re-
quire but a little change in the eyeball of a man to
enable him to see the sun an orb of fire, filling the hori-
zon, or the moon full of flowery mountains and goodly
forms, or the stars floating and filled worlds of light — no
change need be wrought on the universe, no change in
the humors and lenses of the eye, only a little alteration
of its form. Now, who shall say that the Holy Spirit
can not so influence the soul as, without changing its
faculties, or altering the truth, it shall cause that soul to
see its revelations magnified? Let the mind, then,
touched by the divine Spirit, approach the borders of
religious mystery, and wrestle with the angel that guards
them, and wrestle on, even though it should seem that
the thigh of the reason must be dislocated in the strug-
gle ; and wrestle on, as if it had power with God, and it
shall see day break; it may stand at Penuel; it may sec
God; and as the sun rises, it may halt upon the very
limb that seemed to be disjointed in the struggle.

Now, in order that I appear not obscure or enthusias-

22 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

tic, let me further explain. Long, and painful, and pray-
erful contemplation, though it may discover no new
truth, may embody and illuminate old and project long
beams of light over what was before dark.

The Bible gives ample scope to the ablest minds. It
compels us to examine ourselves — a duty which few dis-
charge. Where is the man who considers what he is?
To almost every one his own soul is a foreign country.
The world on which we look is the terrestrial, not the ce-
lestial sphere — earth that is finite, not soul which is infi-
nite. And wherefore ? Not because men do not know
better; for Reason, unguided by revelation, wrote "know
thyself" upon Apollo's Delphic temple, and ever since
she hath boasted in the precept. Why, then, this
neglect of it? Because its observance is difficult; and
herein I find the proof that it develops and strengthens
the mind. Indeed, every thing does which tasks its pow-
ers. All the plans of education may be judged by this
principle. Now, let a man begin and end his education
in the school of his own soul ; he will have a vigorous
intellect and a deep knowledge ; he will become a phi-
losopher in spite of himself; he knows his powers — he
learns how to apply them ; he observes his relations — he
feels the obligations which spring out of them; he tra-
ces his habits — he knows how to correct them; he gets
thoughts, and must clothe them.

But if this is all that is necessary to make strong in-
tellect, may we not find it among the illiterate ? Yea,
verily, you may often find amazing mental power and pro-
found philosophy sheltered by the cabin roof. Many a
pious Christian has a philosopher's head without a phi-
losopher's library; many a poor widow, who has no
books but the Bible and Baxter, is a metaphysician and
a logician without knowing it, and will, so soon as
she is released from the body, find herself a fit com-

THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 23

panion for such souls as Jonathan Edwards and John
Wesley.

Diogenes lighted his lamp at noon, and went out into
the market-places in search of a man. Do not imitate
the Cynic, or, like him, you might search in vain ; but
take the lamp of God's word, and go into your own heart,
and look through and through it, and you shall erelong
find a man.

The Bible introduces us into a spiritual world. Ever
since the days of the inspired Hebrew, and the ancient
Greek, men seem to have been turning their backs upon
things unseen. Now and then a Milton has reversed his
face till it has shone like that of Moses descending from
Mt. Sinai. A small company still strive to look behind;
but they can not long resist the general current of earth-
ward though ta which has swept from creation all imagin-
ary spiritual existences. Would you see above the stars,
you must come to the Bible; there is left for you no
other stream to convey you from material worlds, no other
ferryman than faith. What though we outfly the eagle,
outpush the whirlwind, outdig the earthquake, outsmite
the lightning! we do but move mere matter. What is
the spirit of the age, but an imprisoned Samson, working
with terrific power, but eyeless sockets, in the mills ?
Blessed be God ! the Bible is still, to some extent, felt,
and here and there is a soul with eyes, looking into the
tents of angels.

The Bible introduces us to God — not the Pagan's pol-
luted fancy, nor the philosopher's anima munch', but the
one eternal, supreme, infinite Intelligence, who burns
with consuming fire for the evil, and glows with eternal
joys for the just; whose hand guides every star and
opens every bud ; whose breath is alike in the roar of
the mountain storm and the sigh of the quiet sea; who
follows the wandering' prodigal and watches the infant's

24 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

pillow, while lie marshals the ranks of angels and orders
the worlds on high ; who hath revealed himself in Jesus
and made an atonement for sin, thus bridging the gulf
between himself and man. Here is the most glorious of
all truths, the comprehension of all; a truth in which
the mind may range forever, and still see before it fields
of undiscovered glory; a truth sufficient to engage and
energize a universe of minds forever. This truth is the
same yesterday, to-day, and forever; but every revolving
moment, every new object presents it in some new aspect,
and unfolds its burning glory. Every new struggle of a
redeemed militant soul, and every flutter of the pinions
of a saved, triumphant, and ascending spirit in heaven's
eternal sunlight, makes this great truth a more deep,
more glorious, and more interesting mystery. Is there
not power in it to raise the mind to the loftiest regions
of thought, and hold it spell-bound there; to swell the
heart into grand proportions, move it with supernatural
might, and fit it either for the intensest sufferings or
highest achievements of humanity ? Answer, ye Luthers
in bondage ! ye martyrs in fire !

This great thought not only girds up the soul, but sug-
gests the true path to science ; indeed, it gives to science
a center, and binds all its departments together by indis-
soluble bonds.

Men knew but little of natural science where the Bible
was not known, though they had the same faculties and
scenes as we. No wonder; they had gods many and
lords many. Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto divided the
realms of nature among themselves; in the supernal
courts there were plots and politicians ; and who could
say what a day would bring forth in heaven, earth, or
hell? Moreover, each realm had its subdivision, and
each subdivision its local deity. The operations of na-
ture were mysterious; none would venture to investi-

THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 25

gate thein with daring and hope; for he might be in-
truding into the chambers of a jealous goddess; or if
he found her secrets, he might derive no further advan-
tage from them after he had crossed a stream or as-
cended a mountain. How different the feelings of the
Christian philosopher, who looks through nature to the
one living and true God ! Nature, he cries, is one, for
her God is one ; there must be harmony and simplicity
in her laws. There sits Newton in his garden ; the apple
falls before him, and his mind is led to think of the
power which brought it down ; he thinks not of some
wood-nymph, called into existence with the tree's opening
blossoms, to take charge of its leaves and fruit, but of
some law which the Maker of all things has ordained;
he observes that gravity does not sensibly diminish at
the tops of the highest trees, nor the roofs of the loftiest
buildings, nor the summits of the highest mountains :
why not, then, extend to the moon ? if so, does it not
hold her in her orbit ? May it not hold other planets in
their spheres ? may it not bo the solution of the great
problem of the universe ? What gave Newton the bold-
ness to bound upward from the tree to the mountain-top,
from the mountain-top to the moon, from the moon to
the farthest planet in space? what but the faith that he
was traveling through the dominions of one Monarch
over which one law was outstretched ?

Again: the Christian says, "God is wise:" hence,
even where all appears to be confusion, he can study for
order, as the young statuary hovers over the Apollo for
beauty — sure it is there.

The Pagan had no assurance of the staVity of sci-
ence; for his gods were fickle and subject to chance.
The Christian, amid all changes, sees the same Intelli-
gence presiding and carrying forward his purposes by in-
variable laws. Whether the earth stands in the water or

26 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

out of the water, whether the heavens shine tranquilly or
pass away with a great noise, the Christian expects his
possessions of truth, moral or natural, to be like God —
eternal.

The Bible, by the reflected light of the eternal world,
gives sublimity to the most unimportant events of this.

If the soul of man were to be blown out as a candle,
or pass into other bodies like a viewless gas, why should
we kindle the midnight taper, or point a tube to the
heavens ? Plato, after speaking of Acheron and the isl-
ands of the blessed, says, "For the sake of these things
we should make every endeavor to acquire virtue and
wisdom in this life." What, then, is the influence of
that Gospel which brings life and immortality to light ?
The Christian says, "I shall, like Jesus, rise from the
grave ; I shall walk the heavenly plains. All these trials
are working out for me a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. I shall reap the advantage of this
mental discipline and this moral cultivation, when I see
light in God's light; when I take in knowledge with my
understanding as I do now with my eye ; when I move as
swiftly as I think" How little encouragement would
the youth have to study, if he were sure that he would
be laid in the grave before he graduated, and had no
hope beyond it? It is the expectation of honors and
usefulness in another and higher sphere in life that spurs
him onward. So with the Christian; he looks into the
heavenly city; he sees that one star differeth from an-
other star in glory; he hears the harps of angels; his
heart leaps responsive to their call.

The Scripture, too, explicitly teaches the doctrine of
human responsibility. Scripture assures us that each
man shall, in the last day, give account of himself to
God. All actions shall be brought to light ; all words,
even the idle shall be charged, and every thing that has

THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 27

been done or uttered shall be traced to its proper motive.
This great doctrine can not fail to be strengthening to
the soul. Suppose we were placed in some mysterious
spot, where every thought should be telegraphed upon a
column in the court-house — how careful should we be to
think true, and strong, and pure ! Suppose we stood be-
fore a mirror which reflected all our actions to the eyes
of the community — how careful should we be to do that
which is "holy, just, and good !" Suppose we spoke in
some whispering gallery, which repeated our words in
every ear in the nation — how careful should we be to
utter the words of truth and soberness only ! Under
such a process, if the mind could bear it, would it not
be girded up to its highest energies! Now, there is
such a telegraph, docketing our words on the column of
the court of the universe ; there is such a mirror, reflect-
ing our acts to the eye of God ; there is a gallery, which
repeats our words in his ear ; and every time the Chris-
tian meditates upon it his mind is nerved and impelled
heavenward.

This doctrine gives interest and dignity to the most
uninteresting scenes and unimportant actions of life; it
invests every word with majesty, because it invests it
with immortality. Suppose that, by putting forth your
hand, you could start irito existence a steam-engine,
whose marchings should be outward to the farthest verge
of created things, and then round the zodiac of the uni-
verse, and after performing one circuit it should com-
mence another, and so on forever — how would your mind
think and think to take the bearings of those eternal
wheels, before you put forth the magic touch that should
begin their endless and resistless revolutions ! Would
you dare move a finger without the command of him who
sees all things from everlasting to everlasting? Well,
man's acts have this power and circuit, not in space, but

28 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

in duration; not in consequence of the properties of his
hand, but on account of the properties of the human souls
on which he operates. If you cut a gash in a man's head
you may heal it, but you can never rub out, nor wash out,
nor cut out the scar. It may be a witness against you in
his corpse ; still it may be covered by the coffin, or hidden
in the grave; but then it is not till decomposition shall
have taken place, that it shall entirely disappear. But
if you smite a soul, the scar remains ; no coffin or grave
shall hide it ; no revolution, not even the upturning of
the physical universe, shall obliterate it; no fire, not
even the eternal furnaces of hell, shall burn it out. This
thought, while it awakens fear, arouses hope. Go learn
astronomy; point your tube toward unknown depths of
space; discover far off in ether a glorious planet; de-
scribe its orbit; take its weight, and write your name
upon its bosom. 0, what an achievement ! But I tell
you what is worthier : a He that converteth a sinner
from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death;
and shall hide a multitude of sins." Go rescue that
wanderer from the verge of perdition, and, under God,
you may plant a soul in the far-off ether of glory, that
shall sphere itself around the throne, and bear upon its
breast, as it wheels its eternal courses, your name, to be
read by the angels of light.

Hence, it is no wonder that the Bible has intensely in-
terested minds of the greatest compass and power — minds
which mark the steps of moral progress from Moses down-
ward. Men that have studied it night and day, with
head uncovered and on bended knees, till they could re-
cite any passage, together with its context, and the criti-
cisms of the best commentators, have felt increasing in-
terest and made new discoveries in its pages every day.

Locke found the profoundest depths and Newton the
sublimest hights in the book of God. Napoleon cried

THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 29

out, "The religion of Christ is a mystery which subsists
by its own force." Luther exclaimed, "I am an old
Doctor of Divinity, yet to this day I am not come out of
the child's learning — the creed, the commandments, and
the Lord's prayer." No wonder the greatest of modern
philosophers — Lord Verulam — said, " Theology is the
complement of the sciences, the Sabbath of the human
intelligence, the divine day of repose and illumina-
tion."

We have argued from the tendencies of the Bible.
We might reverse the line of argument with equal fa-
cility, and show from the effects of the word of God its
power to enlighten and enlarge the mind. Trace it
either round the earth or over the pages of history, and
you describe a line of light. Indeed, scarce a ray of
knowledge can be found that did not issue, directly or in-
directly, from the altars which the law or the Gospel has
enkindled ? Why, then, you ask, has it not, by this time,
filled the earth with rays ? Because the earth would not
receive it. The dark ages were brought on by neglecting
it. Even through that night the embers of the Bible
glowed beneath the ashes of the altar; and ever since
the days of the Reformation it has been illuminating the
nation. Who pours light over the fields of philosophy?
Who harnesses the lightning and yokes the steam ?
Who pants for universal conquest? Who stands, like
the apocalyptic angel, in the sun ? The Christian. And
why, but because of his everlasting Gospel, which he
holds for every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and
people ? And now bear in mind that we have presented
only one out of many of the blessings of the Gospel, and
that but a comparatively inconsiderable one. The great
secret of the Creator is simplicity of causes reconciled
with multiplicity of effects. That sun which enlightens
the planets preserves them from chaos, marshals them

30 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

into order, and wheels them in harmony. The same Bi-
ble that illuminates the world is its fountain of order, of
peace, and of salvation. It is not only a sun that illumin-
ates the earth, it is a ladder that reaches into heaven,
and a choir of angels singing, "On earth peace, good
will to men," and, " Glory to God in the highest I"

RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 31

RELIGION carries her own bliss with her. There are
flowers enough in all her paths to attract and reward
the traveler. Were there no world of light to which the
heaven-born pilgrim tends, wisdom would still point with
undeviating index to religion's ways of pleasantness — to
religion's paths of peace. There are no hills like the
hills of Zion; there are no songs like the songs of Israel;
there are no joys like the joys of the redeemed. How
great is the happiness of the Christian ! This is seen
even in his trains of thought. "I meditate/' says
the Psalmist, " on all thy works : I muse on the work of
thy hands. "

Religion attracts Tier votaries into the suhlimest walks
of external nature. There can be no theology without
philosophy. I do not mean to be understood that the
Christian must have a library and a telescope, and an
herbarium and a laboratory; that he must be confined to
the study; that he must spend his days in experiments,
and his nights amid books. There is an artificial philos-
ophy and a natural philosophy. The one traces the laws
by which the world is governed, the other surveys the
world itself; the former busies itself with explanations,
the other with facts; one is intellectual drudgery,
the other mental pleasure. The mere philosopher con-
cerns himself with the former, the mere Christian may
enjoy the latter. The courtier in Shakspeare asks the
shepherd: "Have you studied natural philosophy ?"

32 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

"0 yes/' says the shepherd, "my philosophy is all nat-
ural. I know it is the property of water to wet, and
of fire to burn — that good pasture makes fat sheep — that
he that lacks money, means, and content, lacks three
good things." This affords an amusing illustration of
the foregoing remark. Have you never reflected, gentle
reader, how slight is the difference between the peasant
and the sage; that the great field of important facts lies
open to both; that the one contents himself with isolated
truths, the other generalizes ?

Having premised thus much, we return to our proposi-
tion, that there can be no true theology without philoso-
phy, and proceed to observe, that God is the Alpha and
Omega of all theology. His attributes are natural and
moral. Power and wisdom are the chief of the former;
justice and mercy the foundations of the latter. Can
almighty power and wisdom be learned as a lesson in the
spelling-book? To be understood they must be illus-
trated. It need scarcely be said that words are arbitrary
sounds — that they must be associated with the ideas they
are intended to convey, or they are destitute of meaning.
Does a father wish to teach his son the meaning of hu-
man power? He takes him where he may witness its
operations; perchance he takes him to the blacksmith-
shop, and while he shows him the arm of the artisan
raising the ponderous hammer, and bringing it udown
upon the anvil, and by repeated strokes causing the
shapeless iron to assume the form which he designs — he
says that is human power. Or he points him to the
majestic city, pointing a thousand spires to the sun, and
says, "Mark these streets, these walls, these cathedrals,
these towers — they are the results of human power."
Does he wish to teach him human wisdom ? He may
point to the philosopher calculating the eclipses and sta-
tions of the heavenly bodies for far distant years, and to

RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 33

the accuracy of a moment, and say, this is human wis-
dom. Or perhaps he takes him to observe the steamer,
with her proud pennon floating in the breeze, freighted
with the merchandise of a city and the population of a
territory ; yet buffeting the winds and surmounting the
billows, and progressing to its destined port with un-
erring prow ! and explaining to him the machinery
by which the results are accomplished, he says, this is
human wisdom. Thus would a father teach his son
God's power. Let him take him out in the freshness
of the morning, and open his eye upon the sun issuing
from the chambers of the east to spread light upon the
mountains; or let him lead him to the contemplation
of the midnight heavens, and show him the Most High
walking among the stars as a shepherd among his flocks.
"Would you learn what is meant by Divine wisdom? Go
view the ordinances of heaven, or look into your own
wonderfully and fearfully made frame. Would you learn
lessons of Divine goodness ? Go to the green of earth, or
the freshness of ocean; to the beauties of spring, the
glories of summer, the fruits of autumn, the fetters of
winter; to the gentle dew that distills upon the tender
grass; to the refreshing showers, and revolving seasons,
filling the earth with joy and gladness. Would you know
God's providential care ? " Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow : they toil not, neither do they spin,
yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one
of these." " Behold the fowls of the air ; they sow not,
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your
heavenly Father feedeth them."

Nature can not lead us to God without revelation.
The condition of the heathen world teaches this. Yet
revelation does not attempt to lead us to God, but
through the medium of nature. She points to the works
of God at her very portals. She opens the way for her

34 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

glorious truths through the heavens and the earth.
Her first page describes the creation. She shows us
light issuing from the Creator's fiat — the firmament
stretching itself out in the midst of the waters — the
seas gathering together to their appointed places, and
the dry land rising — the earth bringing forth grass,
the herb yielding seed, the tree shedding fruit — the
lights taking their appointed stations in the firma-
ment— the fruitful waters bringing forth abundantly —
the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may
fly in air. Then she presents the earth bringing forth
living creatures, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts
of the earth. Finally she shows man coming forth
from the hand of God — in his image, after his like-
ness, invested with dominion over the fish of the sea
and the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over
all the earth. The work is finished, the universal ap-
probation pronounced, and the general blessing sent
down; the morning stars sing together, and the sons
of God, in their heart's fullness, shout for joy over the
new creation.

By referring to this grand and beautiful universe, she
impresses us with a sense of the majesty and glory of
Him whose words she is about to utter. Thus does
she prepare us to listen with awe and reverence. She
does not pretend to teach us philosophy; but in teaching
us religion, she leads us through all its paths. Can
any one read this chapter without taking a jaunt into the
fields of astronomy, geology, natural history, chemistry,
and botany?

Nor is it only at the commencement that revelation
calls us to the contemplation of the works of God; but
as she progresses in disclosing her heavenly lessons, the
"range of the mountain is her path, and she searches
after every green thing" for illustrations. She leads us

RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 35

through the vegetable world, from the cedar of Lebanon
to the hyssop that springs by the wall ; from the ant that
provides her meat in the summer, to behemoth the chief
of the ways of God, trusting to draw up Jordan into his
mouth; pointing as she passes to the wild goats of the
rock, the wild ass of the mountains, the unicorn with his
strength, the war-horse whose neck is clothed with thun-
der, the peacock with his goodly wings, the ostrich with
his feathers, the hawk stretching her wings to the south,
the eagle making her nest on high.

The prophets are generally poets of the highest order.
As the profoundest philosophy of ancient Rome and
Greece lighted her taper at Israel's altar, so the sweetest
strains of the pagan muse were swept from harps attuned
on Zion's hill. Mark how the prophet's soul pushes its
way through the most majestic scenes, gathering meta-
phors of the sublimest cast as she passes: "Who hath
measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and
meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the
dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mount-
ains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Behold the
nations are as a drop of a bucket, and counted as the
small dust of the balance : behold, he taketh up the isles
as a very little thing."' "It is He that sitteth upon the
circles of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as
grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a cur-
tain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in/'

The religious meditations of the patriarchs and apos-
tles were associated with the scenes of nature. Abraham
called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God,
amid his flocks and herds, in the plains or on the mount-
ains, or in groves which he had planted. Isaac was in the
habit of walking forth at eventide, to meditate in the
field ; and Jacob learned to worship leaning upon the top
of his staff.

36 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Religion conducts us not merely into the field of external^
out into the depths of internal nature. The world has
been endeavoring by its own observations and reflections
to learn the human soul. But though capable of pene •
trating into every thing else, the intellect is incapable
of searching out itself. No system of metaphysics has
been devised which men can agree to call truth. Yet
there are metaphysicians — profound ones too — and they
are to be found among those who have never read a sys-
tematic work on mental philosophy. They have learned
the laws of the human spirit from the teachings of its
Maker ; they have studied the Bible, and it has led them
through all the chambers of the soul. True, there is no
system of metaphysics in the Bible — God makes no sys-
tems. He made the Bible as he made nature. He
threw truths, mental, moral, and natural, irregularly in
the Bible, as he scattered trees and shrubs and flowers
over the face of nature. Here in the Bible is metaphys-
ics, and it may be systematized. Let a man sit down
and take for granted all that the Bible asserts or assumes
in relation to the human mind and heart, and he will
have a perfect and unexceptionable system of meta-
physics. Hence it is that the apostle James compares
the Bible to a mirror. As we turn over its pages it is
perpetually presenting new phases of human character,
ever true to nature, ever true to experience. No sinner
can sit down before the wonderful little instrument with-
out perceiving his own likeness in all its native deformity.
He will be able to trace his alienation from God, his
native proneness to sin, his defilement, the perverseness
of his affections, the turpitude of his nature. It is for
this reason that the sinner turns away in disgust from
the most sublime productions ever afforded to mortals ;
and will plunge into the most profound abyss of science,
and wander in the most intricate mazes of speculation ,

RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 37

or amuse himself with the low ribaldry of infidelity, or
shiver in the icy regions of atheism, rather than gaze
upon the gorgeous drapery of Isaiah, or the beauteous
moral scenes drawn by the Savior's pencil. It is for this
reason that the minister, deriving his discourse from
the Bible, is accused of personality even by the stranger.
Hence also it happens that he that is spiritual judgeth
all things. The divine mirror shows him his own soul,
yea, the soul of every rational man, its propensions, laws,
hopes, and fears; its motives, temptations, and corrup-
tions; and he stands judge of the rational world. Is
metaphysics an elevated science ? Is the soul a sublime
subject of meditation ? Surely the Christian's contem-
plations are of the highest order.

Rational devotion leads to true philosophy, as true
philosophy generally leads to rational devotion. The
caves and mountains and plains of Judea inflamed the
devotion of the Psalmist. At times, that he may kindle
his soul with holy flame, he goes forth to the isles and
the ends of the earth ; he walks forth at morning to be-
hold the sun as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race; he goes
abroad to survey the heavens, which declare God's glory,
and the firmament, which showeth his handiwork. He
marches forth from his midnight couch to consider the
glittering hosts of heaven — the moon and stars, which
God has ordained ; and as he advances through the beau-
tiful and the sublime, sweeter, stronger, deeper are the
notes which issue from his harp. The devotional soul
soars away from mortal habitations to the temple of her
God — pluming her wings, she dwells in scenes such as
might imparadise an angel. She finds a fane in every
grove, and a lyre in every leaf; every voice in nature is
an organ to her ear; every star in heaven touches a new
chord in her heart ; and every gale that sweeps by her,

38 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

wafts fresh praises from her lips. She meets no breath
that doth not soften, no scene that doth not enliven, no
flower that doth not beautify, no sound that doth not
solemnize. The whole universe is a temple fitted by
Jehovah's hand to inspire devotion; and every-where she
finds herself between the wings of the cherubim :
ascending from world to world with glowing raptures,
she carols in the embraces of her Father and her God.
'Tis thus the angel does : plunging through the regions
of space on voyages of discovery, he flings his tuneful lyre
on the breeze, and as new scenes pass before his vision,
ever fresh, ever glorious, ever lovely, he perpetuates
and multiplies his raptures, and returns to the skies with
the swelling song, always one, and always fresh, yet bet-
ter and better understood, " Great and marvelous are thy
works, Lord God Almighty."

Let Moses stand before the burning bush — burning,
yet unconsumed; or let him view the Almighty from the
cleft in the rock ; why need we complain, who may see
God's goodness and power and love in the visible uni-
verse. No limited demonstrations of the Divinity, how-
ever glorious, can equal the world's on high. 0 let me
learn God in an unlimited universe, that my ideas of my
Maker may admit of unlimited expansion, and my devo-
tion of unbounded swell !

Religion , by delightful associations , hightens the pleasure
arising from the contemplation of nature. The rose and
the lily have new beauties for him who thinks of the
Rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley. Even the
desert gushes with fountains, and the wilderness blossoms
for him who meditates of the holy One of Israel, before
whose footsteps earth shall be transformed. The sun in
heaven suggests the Sun of righteousness, who rises on
the soul with healing in his wings; and every star in the
galaxy beams with added luster upon the eye that views

RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 39.

the Star of Bethlehem. Winds, ye are gales that waft
to heaven, when ye suggest that Spirit which comes we
know not whence, and goes we know not whither, and
breathing, blesses. Cities, villages, rocks and mount-
ains, hills and plains, lands and seas, earth and skies, ye
all come crowded with pleasing recollections, for Jesus
once animated such with his divine presence. Religion
fills the universe with glorious suggestions, and descend-
ing from above, hallows the earth we tread, and spreads
our meanest blessings with holy associations. How fresh
is this atmosphere — how beautiful this earth — how glori-
ous these heavens! Thus cries the mere philosopher.
Yes, adds the Christian, and these are my Father's.
The child of God can look up and see the Almighty's
hand wheeling the planets in order and harmony, and
can be cheered by the reflection that it is the hand of
One who loves him. How much sweeter the perfume
of the gales, and the fruits of autumn, and all the
blessings of earth, and the unnumbered attractions that
make "all nature beauty to the eye, and music to the
ear," when we can regard every blessing as sent from our
heavenly Father in token of his love !

Religion tveaves the contemplation of nature with many
salutary lessons, which are usually lost to the mere philos-
opher. Nature teaches by her magnitude the humbling
lesson of man's insignificance. It was when the Psalmist
considered the heavens that he cried out, " Lord, what is
man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man,
that thou makest account of him ?" How healthful to
the soul such humiliating meditations; how do they
eradicate pride and ambition, those roots of bitterness,
which, springing up, deform and defile that garden
which might else be a paradise. How effectually do
they cast down every vain imagination, and every thing
that opposeth or exalteth itself against the knowl-

40 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

edge of God, bringing our thoughts into captivity to
Christ.

Nature enforces the lesson, "Lay not up treasures upon
earth/' Every thing upon her bosom is subject to muta-
tions. The law of change is written every-where. We
see it not merely in the passing cloud, the revolving sun,
the rolling seasons — it is written in every leaf in na-
ture— it is graven with an iron pen on all her tablets
of lead — it is inscribed in the rock forever. Thus relig-
ion would impress us with the truth, that the fashion
of this world passeth away* — that here we have " no
abiding place," "no continuing city" — a lesson which
strikes a death-blow to those ten thousand cares and
anxieties that often prey upon the heart, and make ex-
istence a burden.

Religion teaches us to learn from nature, by analogy,
our own frailty. As she leads us through the green, she
reminds us that "all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man
as the flower of the field." As the grass withereth, and
the flower fadeth, thus perisheth mortality, and all the
comeliness thereof. At the same time she teaches by
contrast the durability of that world which abideth for-
ever. The Christian can contemplate his own frailty with-
out any anguish, " For we know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens." To him indeed the frailty of humanity is a
pleasing theme —

"For he would not live always, away from his God,
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode."

" For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being bur-
dened ; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed
upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life."
The transitory nature of things seen increases our attach-
ment to the eternal things unseen. The Christian can

RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 41

mark the earth crumble beneath his footsteps without
sorrow, when it leads his thoughts to the inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, re-
served in heaven.

Religion leads beyond philosophy. The Christian rises
side by side with the philosopher into the starry heavens.
They tread, foot to foot, the zodiac around. Together
their souls expand, and burn, and wonder, and adore.
And here the Christian bows to his learned companion,
and leaves him in the milky way, and on his wings
of faith ascends the upper skies, enters the paradise of
God, soars through fields of light, and surveys the man-
sions of the blest. He wears the crown of life, and
waves the palm of immortality. He mingles with the
blood-washed throng, and repeats their halleluiahs. He
bows at the altars where saints perfected worship, and
enters the chapels where rejoicing angels sing. He
soars to the heaven of heavens, sees God the Father,
Jesus his Son, and God the Holy Spirit; and lifting his
eye upward he cries, "This is thy throne, dear Father —
these are my native skies. " At length, however, sense
incumbers the wings of faith, and he gravitates to earth
again; but like the deputation which Israel, when en-
camped upon the banks of Jordan, sent across the river
to explore the promised land, he bears back a cluster
from the vine-hills of the celestial Canaan, and as he
feeds upon the delicious fruit he sings,

" In such a frame as this,

My willing soul would stay ;
And sit and sing herself away,
To everlasting bliss."

In such a frame as this the apostle wrote, "We are confi-
dent, I say, and willing rather to be with Christ, which is
far better."

What prisoned eagle would not wish his cage to burst,

4

42 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

that lie might mount to the morning sun and make his
nest on high ? Wonder not that the Christian, when his
eye of faith catches a glimpse of heaven, should wish
the coil of mortality in which his spirit is impris-
oned to unravel, and let the prisoner free. Well may
he pray,

"0 would he more of heaven bestow
And let the vessel break;
And let our ransomed spirits go,
To grasp the God we seek."

But let us leave the Christian's intellect, and pass to his
heart. We have seen what are his meditations, let us see
what are his feelings.

Religion opens a world of grace, adorned with brighter
scenes than nature knows. Here she teaches divine love
and mercy and justice, God's moral attributes. Here she
shows how God can be just, and the justifier of him that
believeth in Jesus — a lesson which angels desire to learn.
Amid the brightest scenes of nature the soul may be in
hell. The angel, whose happiness is the award of inno-
cence, may find a paradise in nature; but not so rebel
man. Let him reflect, as he must at times, upon the
purity of God's law, his personal liability, his bold and
repeated transgressions, the justice of the penalty, and
for him at least the sun and moon shall be darkened,
and the stars shall withdraw their shining. Methinks I
see the sinner, humbled by some solemn providence, and
led to reflect on his ways, entering the closet with his
Bible. He opens and reads with prayer — his sins rise
before him — clouds encompass him, "and a day of dark-
ness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick
darkness" comes upon his soul. The earth quakes as
if willing to shake the rebel from her bosom — the pillars
of heaven totter as if impatient to crush him — "a spirit
passes before his face — the hair of his flesh stands up.

RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 43

Fear comes upon him, and trembling, such as to make all
his bones to shake. Hell is naked beneath him, and de-
struction is uncovered : a fire consumes before him, and
behind him a flame burnetii!" What shall he do? Is
God just, or merciful? Will he punish, or may he for-
give? Thrilling questions! where shall he find the an-
swer? The earth says, "It is not in me;" the deep
cries, "It is not with me." The Star of Bethlehem
rises on his midnight. He cries, 0 blessed Jesus ! He
faints, he falls, but falls in mercy's arms.

This is a world of sorrow. The wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores— the groans, and shrieks, and death
of the body, are enough to make a God incarnate weep.
Alas ! these are nothing to the sorrows of the heart.
The spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity, but a
wounded spirit who can bear ? Doth not anguish at
times cleave to thee? Doth it not follow thee to the
table, and from the table to the bed, and cause thee to
inquire,

"Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased?
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow —
Raze out the written troubles of the brain,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote,
Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous suff
That weighs upon the heart?''

How mighty are the passions of the soul — how strong
its hate ! When once it penetrates an object, its hold is
unshaken. The principle that binds the planets lets go
its grasp in the wreck of dissolving nature; but mortal
hate rises victorious over the dissolution of all things.
Survey its love. The shock of battle, the loss of all
things, the flames of the martyr's stake, death itself,
which destroys every thing physical, can not shake it,
for it "is stronger than death." Behold its ambition.
Earth is lost in it, as a drop in the ocean — the universe
can not fill it. Measure now the depth of its deathless

44

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

passions, and then tell the depth of its capacity to suffer.
My God ! thou only canst tell what this little human
heart can suffer. 0 for some fountain to cool its pas-
sions ! 0 for some balm to heal its wounds ! 0 for some
anodyne to moderate its pulsations! Religion leads t© a
fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuers veins —
points to the dying Savior, and cries,

" Here bring your wounded heart,
Here tell your anguish —
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can not cure."

THE SUBLIMITY OF THE BIBLE. 45

SUBLIME, etyniologically, means high; applied to the
arts, that which transcends nature; to the soul, a cer-
tain emotion, an expansion, elevation, agitation — better
felt than described; and to composition, those ideas which
awaken this emotion. That the Bible abounds in such
ideas it is easy to show.

1. Its first line carries us back to the beginning.
Should you see a mountain calmly rise by volcanic force
from the bosom of the sea, would not your soul, as you
watched it lifting its head for the first time to the clouds,
be conscious of sublime emotions? and would not such
emotions be revived as often as memory recalled the
scene? Go back, with the Bible, to the beginning, when
there was no earth nor sea, no sun nor star; not even a
thin cloud, nor glimmering lightning, nor breath of air,
nor gravitation, nor impulse, and watch till this teeming,
glowing universe rises before you, and you shall feel the
emotion of the sublime.

2. Creation is another sublime idea of the book of God.
Ancient philosophers could not attain to it; they thought
matter to be eternal, and God to be a mere architect, who
constructed the universe from pre-existing materials.
When you see a noble edifice rising rapidly under the
labors of workmen, who are supplied with materials, you
are conscious of a sublime emotion ; but could you see a
temple rise instantly, without materials and without
hands, how much more would the soul be moved ! Think

46 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

then of that voice which* spoke in the infinite void, and
at whose utterance up rose the earth and heavens amid
the shout of the sons of God !

3. It gives the idea of the end as well as the begin-
ning. I know not which is the more sublime. "Who can
think seriously of his own end, even though he reflect
upon death as the avenue to higher life, without being
deeply moved ? The idea of parting with the world and
all its struggles and prospects, with earth and skies, with
sun and moon, with wife and children; of hovering on
the verge of an unknown state of being; of hailing the
disembodied spirits, angels and heaven, God and Christ,
is capable of awakening in any susceptible mind the
mightiest movement. It was this idea that pressed from
the soul of Mozart the sublimest strain perhaps that
mortals ever heard, who have not heard the heavenly
halleluiahs. He thought he was composing his own re-
quiem. There he sat, the idea of death upon him, com-
bining the solemn sounds that were wafted to him from
the enchanted land of song, till the overpowering emotion
crushed his body and liberated his soul. But what is the
death of a single man to the burial of this earth and
these heavens? Think of it! To stand on the globe
when the last trumpet is blown; when the cities are
emptied, and the shores are dumb; when the waters are
pulseless, and the plains are cold; when the sun wipes
the death damps from the face of the world, and the
dying agonies of the universe begin! The conception
has produced one of the finest lays of the English lan-
guage— "Campbell's Last Man."

Another of the Bible's sublime ideas is immortality.
Multiply the sands of the shore by the dews of the morn-
ing, and you would have a number which could hardly be
enunciated in an age by the united labors of all the
tongues of earth. Let that number stand for years, and

THE SUBLIMITY OF THE BIBLE. 47

it were as nothing to eternity. Yet this interminable
duration is the inheritance of the soul; and through it
that soul shall preserve its personality, its capacities, its
susceptibilities, and may ascend the steeps of light with
uninterrupted and accelerated progress, with wider un-
derstanding, deeper emotions, finer sensibilities, nobler
principles, higher duties, riper fellowship, and through
more elevated ranks of the angelic hosts, and grander
demonstrations of infinite power. He who can not see
the sublimity of this thought, can not have meditated
upon it. Let his soul struggle day and night with that
serpent thought annihilation, till it would seem that it
must be strangled by its folds; then let him lift up the
swelled eyeballs of his suffocating spirit to see the seraph
Immortality descend from her native hills to his rescue,
and he shall know how the soul can swell at the mention
of the word. Deprive a people of the idea of immortal-
ity, and you check their noblest aspirations and impulses,
you blight their affections, you strengthen their vices,
you weaken their virtues, and sweep away the foundation
of statuary, painting, eloquence, and song. Grecian
genius attained its hight when the great Athenian martyr
reasoned his soul into a belief of a pure and invisible
world; and the glory of Rome culminated when her great
orator cried out, u 0 preclarum diem cum ad Mud divi-
num animorum concilium, csetumque proficiscarj cumque ex
hac turha et colluvionc discedam" — "0 glorious day, when
I shall withdraw from this crowd and dust, and go to join
that general assembly of glorified spirits !" The idea of
immortality may be found in other books than the Bible;
but no where else is it presented steadily, distinctly, cer-
tainly, authoritatively. In connection with this doctrine,
the Bible presents us with the sublime idea of a resur-
rection— an idea foreign from the suggestions and even
the dreams of philosophy, but not contradicted by either

48 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

reason or analogy. Distinctly is it announced by Him
who said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
The Bible not only announces the doctrine, but illustrates
it. We see an illustration of it beneath that cloud of
the excellent glory which overshadowed the mount of
transfiguration, when Moses and Elias from the courts of
heaven conversed with the incarnate God and his flesh
and blood disciples, till the face of Immanuel did shine
as the sun, and his very raiment was white as the light.
We have another illustration at the period of the cruci-
fixion, when many of the saints which slept came forth
from their opened tombs in the rocks, and walked the
streets of the holy city. But the brightest and most
perfect illustration is afforded by the Son of man, when
he comes forth from the sepulcher with his body, and
bears it, with all its wounds and scars, up the heavens to
the throne of God. The idea must strike every one as
sublime, but its full power can not be felt under ordinary
circumstances. It may be your privilege, gentle reader,
to love intensely some beautiful fellow-being, and to enjoy
his fellowship with increasing affection, till he becomes
the idol of your heart, the angel of your pathway, the
sunshine of your home. It may be your calamity to have
the ties which bind you to him suddenly broken : then,
as you follow his coffin to the grave, and feel that the
earth is robbed of its brightness, and that you are the
lone pilgrim of the desert, you will be able to compre-
hend the sublimity of these words, piercing your ear as
from the lips of God, "I am the resurrection and the
life." I have hailed that glorious sun at his rising, and
stood entranced in his setting beams; I have looked up
to heaven at midnight, and mused on the moon and stars
when none but God was with me; I have sat silent and
solitary in my closet, and thought over, one by one, my

THE SUBLIMITY OF THE BIBLE. 49

Savior's miracles; I have- pictured to my mind the Al-
mighty molding the earth of the fresh creation into a
human form, and breathing the breath of life into the
nostrils of Adam; but never has my heart been so agita-
ted as when I have thought of Jehovah coming forth; at
the blast of the last trumpet, to summon together the
scattered dust of the corpse, and mold it into a body
spiritual, incorruptible, immortal, radiant as the sun, and
fashioned after the glorious body of the God-man. Of
all miracles the miracle of the resurrection is the most
sublime. No wonder that it has inspired some of the
noblest strains of song and the greatest triumphs of art.
The Bible gives us the notion of angels. It often
recalls to us these glorious beings. An angel stands by a
fountain of water in the wilderness to speak a beautiful
promise to a wandering and broken-hearted mother.
Angels converse with Abraham in his tent door; and
smite a crowd with blindness to protect a good man in a
guilty city. They crowd a mountain to guard one prophet,
and drive a chariot up the skies to bear another home.
They walk the burning furnace on Dura's plain to protect
the martyrs from the power of fire. An angel breathes
on an Assyrian camp, and spreads the earth with corpses
of the ungodly host. ' Nor are these messengers confined
to former dispensations. One of them announces to the
shepherds Messiah's birth, and presently a multitude of
the heavenly hosts throng the plain around him, and fill
the midnight air with the ravishing music of their song.
Angels minister to the Mediator after his temptation;
they strengthen him in his prayer of agony and blood,
roll away the stone from the mouth of his tomb, and
spread before the eyes of his disciples the vision of his
glory. They are with his apostles after his ascension;
for them they bear down messages from heaven, and bear
up praise from earth; they are with them in prisons and

5

50 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

in shipwreck. That wonderful vision of the Apocalypse,
which closes the sacred canon, is as full of angels as the
arch of heaven is full of stars. They blow the trumpets;
they open the seals; they pour out the vials of wrath
upon earth and sea, rivers and fountains, sun and air.
Indeed, revelation's history begins and ends with the
ministry of cherubim and seraphim. After the expul-
sion of man they guard the gates of Paradise, and at the
final judgment they sever the wicked from the just.
That this adds to the sublimity of the Bible who doubts?
The mythology of Greece and Rome, which peopled the
stars and the elements with divinities, and even turned
natural phenomena into mysterious existences, inspired
the genius of those nations, and gave vast range and
power to their chisels, their pencils, and their songs.
Though nature herself is grand, her mountains, her
storms, her. clouds become far more inspiring when re-
garded as animated with the ghosts of the dead, and
gleaming with the shields of the gods. The immortal
works of the past owe their sublimity chiefly to the stim-
ulating influence of the conception of the supernatural
upon human imagination. Job well describes this effect :
"In thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep
falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which
made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before
my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: it stood still,
but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was
before mine eyes, there was silence. " Think how you
would feel if your slumbers were broken by unearthly
sounds, or your vision greeted with such midnight appa-
ritions as that which struck the prophet to the earth on
the banks of the Ulai ! You would feel those spirit-
stirring surges of the soul whose echoes are eternal.
With what sublimity does Christ invest the infant, when
he paints an angel at its cradle to watch its slumbers,

THE SUBLIMITY OP THE BIBLE. 51

hear it3 prayers, and represent its little joys, and griefs,
and dangers in the courts of the Eternal ! Inspiring
was ancient mythology; but what was it to the Bible!
Its most glorious gods were encompassed with the infirmi-
ties of humanity, discordant in sentiment, conflicting in
interest, disunited in aims, limited in range, imperfect in
wisdom and power, without kindly sympathies for man,
and defamed and degraded with vices and crimes too
shameful to name. The angels of God are clothed with
majesty: one flies through the midst of heaven; another
stands in the sun; another enlightens the earth with his
glory; another comes down from heaven, clothed with a
cloud, and a rainbow is upon his head, and his face is as
it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. John saw
in vision angels standing at the four corners of the earth,
holding the four winds of heaven. Ezekiel beheld cheru-
bim, the sound of whose wings was as the voice of the
Almighty when he speaketh. They are ho7i/, they dwell
in heaven, commune with God, share his spirituality and
purity, are instruments of his providence, and heralds of
his love; and though they are ten thousand thousand and
thousands of thousands, they all move in obedience to
his will. They sympathize with man, they are ministers
to the heirs of salvation, they have fellowship with
saints, and are responsive to the invocations of sacred
lyrics: u Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in
strength V " Bless ye the Lord from the heavens, praise
him in the hights : praise ye him all his angels, praise ye
him all his hosts I'1

Our philosophy tends strongly to sensualism; and per-
haps this is the chief reason why our canvas so rarely
entrances, and why no glorious epic rolls its majestic
pentameters through our groves. The Church has caught
the prevailing spirit. Under pretense of purifying relig-
ion from its abuses, she has nearly banished angels as

52 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

well as saints from both her conceptions and her songs
Let her not suppose that in doing so she honors God.
Does it disparage him who employs physical ministers for
the supply of our natural wants, to suppose that he ap-
points angelic ministrations for our spiritual necessities?
Let us not imagine that by excluding angels we render
the idea of God more sublime. Blot out sun, moon, and
stars of light, and would you render your idea of infinite
space more lofty? Nay. If you would be moved with
immensity, ascend the heavens, and, with the measuring
rod of modern astronomy, pass from sun to sun, from
system to system, upward, still upward, and your soul
shall be oppressed with emotion.

Blot out angels from your faith, and what is your idea
of God? Interminable distance stretches out between
you and the infinite One, and the sublimity of the
thought is lost because the mind can not grapple with it.
Now let concentric horizons of angels rise one above
another between yourself and God, making the interme-
diate space vocal with their halleluiahs, radiant with
their robes of light, and warm with their loves and sym-
pathies, and you can ascend, as on the ladder of Jacob,
to the sublime hights, from which you get that sight of
God that almost suspends the consciousness by its op-
pressive sublimity.

Never let the Church think she can improve her piety
by destroying the notion of angels. The Sadduceeism
which denies angels usually denies spirit, too. The
nearer the saint draws to the better world, and the more
entirely he commits himself to God, the more does he
expect the death-privilege of him who died full of sores
at the rich man's gate. His quivering lips usually utter
some such strains as these :

"Bright angels are from glory come:"

" They're round my bed, they're in my room."

THE SUBLIMITY OF THE BIBLE. 53

But there are bad as well as good angels; and this leads
me to another sublime revelation of the Bible. It is
that of an incessant conflict in this lower world between
the powers of evil and those of good. See two brave and
mighty men step out for battle ! See the flashing eye,
the compressed lip, the uplifted head, the stretched
limbs, the clinched fist; mark the advance of the com-
batants, the blows falling like hail-drops on each other's
head, the blood flowing in streams down their breasts and
mingling at their feet, the successive suspensions and
renewals of the conflict, till both fall bloody and breath-
less upon the sand ! Though the sight is horrid, yet
hath it that which is sublime — the power of muscle and
of mind, the consuming fire of passion, and the deathless
energy of will. But what is the rush of body on body
compared with the life-grapple of spirit with spirit?
Look over yon broad stream. See the warrior summon-
ing his troops from the garrison, and marshaling them in
battle array! And now onward, onward, they tramp,
their bayonets gleaming in the sun, whose setting beams
must shine on many of them cold in death. Are not
those moving columns sublime? Hark! the enemy's
bugle blast breaks on the ear, and the war-horse smelleth
the battle. Kegiment meets regiment, volley succeeds
volley, the heavens grow dark with smoke, and the earth
shakes with the thunder of artillery; and now, from
line's end to line's end, soldier meets soldier, rushing on
the cold steel. As you stand viewing the scene, even
from afar, does not your cheek turn pale, and your heart
swell with emotion? But what were such a scene to the
great conflict of souls, for which the whole earth is a
battle-field, and all time the day of combat, and on the
issues of which depend eternal life and death? 0 could
we see, as angels do, the gleaming shields of the embat-
tled hosts, and mark the advances and retreats of the

54 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

opposing ranks, the obsequies of the lost soul, and the
crowns of the triumphant ! could we see mingling in the
fight " helmed cherubim and sworded seraphim/' fresh
from the courts of glory, and principalities and powers
of darkness following "the black standard that flouts the
skies !" could we behold the slow but steady advances of
Truth's bright forces and the retreat of Error's mad
lines — 0 how sublime, how inspiring a sight ! No won-
der every advance of Immanuel's banner raises a new
shout through all the armies of the blest !

There is another sublime idea of the Bible — that of
man. There is a philosophy which teaches that man is a
part of God, as the breath of his nostrils is a part of the
atmosphere; that his actions and words flow from the
Divine will, as the streams flow from the fountain; that
he is borne onward to his destiny, as the vapor to the
ocean; that, of course, he has neither personal soul, nor
free agency, nor responsibility. Where, then, his sub-
limity? A world of living men, in such a view, would
present no more to move the soul than a world of
sponges — their loves were but the affinities of matter,
and their aspirations as indifferent as the ascending
wreaths of the " will-o'-the-wisp." The bloody murderer
on his way to the gallows is as pure and good as the bene-
factor with his priceless charities. Such a philosophy is
death to painting, poetry, and song. The Bible stands
man up in the image of God, personal, moral, immortal,
free; law, obligation, sin, holiness, an avenging power,
heaven, hell, all come to view; now revive gratitude,
love, sympathy, brotherhood; now every word, idle though
it be, is docketed for the last judgment — every human
act is sublime, for its vibrations are eternal.

Another idea is that of God — the greatest of all ideas,
the comprehension of all; an idea which alone would fill
a rational mind forever, and turn an infinite void around

THE SUBLIMITY OF THE BIBLE. 55

it into an infinite fullness; an idea susceptible of indefi-
nite enlargement, and incapable of being fully grasped.
That the Scriptural idea of God is sublime need hardly
be asserted. Indeed, every great conception is sublime
only in proportion as it approximates this idea. Is great
hight sublime? "If I ascend into heaven, God is there. "
Is great depth sublime? "If I make my bed in hell,
God is there. " Is great extent sublime? If "on the
wings of the morning I dwell in the uttermost parts of
the sea, even there shall thy hand find me/' Is the ex-
hibition of great power sublime? "He is almighty/'
Is solitude sublime? "Thou art God alone." Is dark-
ness sublime? It is his secret place. Are the clouds
sublime? These are his chariot. Is thunder sublime?
That is his voice. Is obscurity sublime? His ways are
past finding out. Is rapid motion sublime, as that of
lightning? God speaks, and it is done; he reproves, and
the pillars of heaven tremble. Is unbending will sub-
lime? See God's will moving through eternity, sweeping
before it all opposition, as the cataract does the canoes
upon its bosom! Is holiness sublime? "Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God of hosts ! the whole earth is full of
his glory." Is benevolence sublime? God out of his
infinite fullness fills an empty universe.

And this brings me to another sublime idea of Scrip-
ture— that of Christ. Considered merely as a concep-
tion, where is there a parallel? He is the subject in
whom is fulfilled a thousand prophecies, uttered, in vari-
ous forms and at different times, during a period of four
thousand years. He is to be born of a virgin. Strange
thought! He is to unite the most violent extremes.
He hath not where to lay his head, yet by him all things
consist; he is despised and rejected of men, yet wor-
shiped by all the angels of God; he is hunted as a par-
tridge upon the mountain, yet attended by legions of

56 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

celestials; the object of scorn, yet crowned with glory
and honor; he is of spotless virtue, yet he dies by the
hand of the public executioner; the infant of days, yet
the everlasting Father; feeble man, yet the mighty God;
he sinks in death, yet rises from the grave. Why this
mingling of man and God? 0 it is the mystery of
mercy! Hush! tread softly, speak low, draw not those
curtains; in this room a child lies dying. See the par-
ents standing at the cradle ! How the tears fall, as they
mark convulsion after convulsion pass over that beautiful
form ! It is an innocent child, a loving child, a well-
beloved child. The father looks at the doctor, whose
countenance says, "0 that I had never chosen this pro-
fession V* That look is too much for him. He rushes to
his chamber, overpowered by emotion; he sinks upon the
floor, and, resting his bosom on the bedside, he says, "0
God ! thou who hast given me this child, and this heart
to love it, pity me ! I can bear to be a beggar, a cripple,
a maniac; but 0 can I bear to lose this babe? Take, I
pray thee, my life for the child's life. 0 here, while I
am upon my knees, make me a corpse, and warm again
the limbs of my first-born I" The position of that father
is sublime; but what is it to that of Jesus, who, when
sinful, unrepenting man was dying, stepped forth amid
the hosts of heaven, with his eye upon the cross, and
said, " Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body
hast thou prepared me I"

I imagine myself in the world's great gallery of arts.
The first object that strikes, my attention is that amazing
statue at the end of the gallery. I ask whence did the
artist derive that godlike simplicity, that quiet grandeur,
that mental strength, which he has impressed upon the
marble ? The answer is, that is the statue of Moses —
Michael Angelo's embodiment of the Hebrew law. My
attention is next drawn to the cartoons of Raphael. Ad-

THE SUBLIMITY OP THE BIBLE. 57

miration, gratitude, astonishment, rapture breathe from
the canvas, and the graces in unsurpassed attractions
wait around; but what is before me. save a silent Gospel?
Here stands the God-man on the mount of transfigura-
tion, there the cripple leaps; here the deaf has his ears
unstopped, there the dumb speaks; and here the blind
man opens his eyes for the first time.

But hark ! there is sublimity in sounds. What num-
bers are these that flow over me, so that the tide of life
is almost arrested in its channels ? They are the strains
of Haydn's sublimest oratorio — the first chapter of Gene-
sis in music.

Enter the world's library, and ask its librarian for its
noblest uninspired poem. He will hand you Paradise
Lost. Open the book. Mark how uniformly grand its
line of thought, and how, under the magic touch of its
author, the beggar springs into a patriarch, the infant
teems with man, the man teems with angel, and even the
damned spirit of the pit is stamped with grandeur. How
was Milton inspired ? He sat at the feet of the prophets
of God. Turn to the historian, and ask for the sublimest
uninspired character. He will point to Luther. See
him, while the daggers of earth are drawn at him, and
all hell, according to' his fancy, emptied on him! how
firm, how calm he stands ! He looks up to heaven, and
sees "its arch sustained without any pillars/' and he
knows that the same Hand which holds up the stars can
hold back the daggers and the devils. Ask him from
heaven what nourished him up to his giant manhood. He
will say,' "I hung upon my pater-noster as a child upon
his mother's breast."

58 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Ittinumitg arajung Christians.

IN union is strength. What built the pyramids ?
What gave Europe religious freedom ? What gave
Columbia civil liberty ? "Union. Combination is as im-
portant in the Church as in the world.

Christian union is likely to be the question of the age,
and every intelligent friend of Jesus rejoices at the pros-
pect. It is time for rival sects to look at points of agree-
ment rather than of difference, and combine their ener-
gies against common foes, instead of wasting them in
wars among themselves. Chalmers, Bickersteith, James,
and kindred spirits, are sounding the alarm upon the
mountains of Zion, and mustering Israel's scattered
hosts.

Favorable for the Protestant cause as are the signs of
the times, infidelity rejoices, and Romanism triumphs.
The reason is obvious. Efforts at union press upon the
world the question, "Why disagree?" the stumbling-
block of the skeptic — the palisade of the Pope. It is to
this we ask attention.

It is necessary, however, to make some preliminary
observations. Every man of sound mind, with the Bible
in hand, can as readily maintain a proper relation to the
moral world as he does to the external. The great truths
that there is a God, that man is a sinner, that Christ is a
Savior, that repentance and faith are the conditions of
salvation, that obedience to God is the way to heaven, are
as easily understood from revelation as that fire will burn,

UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 59

and water drown, and food nourish, or that when the
buds put forth we have spring, and when the leaves fall
from the forest there is autumn. And, so far as these
truths are concerned, Christians — few exceptions — har-
monize— perhaps much farther.

The points in which Christians agree are more numer-
ous than those in which they differ. While we are con-
stantly seeking for differences, and turning our eyes from
correspondences, we may fancy ourselves far apart; but
place two different Protestant Christians in Pekin, or on
the banks of the Nile, and they will run to each other's
embrace. As they lift the standard of the cross in the
sight of heathen abominations, they stand shoulder to
shoulder; and as they proclaim the unsearchable riches
of Christ, they are scarce conscious of any discord in
their instructions.

The points in which they agree are in the Bible ; those
in which they disagree are out of the Bible, and in creeds
and confessions of faith.

The points in which Christians agree are fundamental;
those in which they disagree are of secondary import-
ance. In the terraqueous globe, we see transition, sec-
ondary, and tertiary rocks overlapping one another in a
long series; yet, at the' profoundest depths, and the lofti-
est hights, we find the granite; so, though infinite the
strata, and diversified the forms, in which the revolutions
of ages have deposited secondary doctrines, they all re-
pose upon the flanks of primitive mountain truths, which
underlie and overtop them.

It is matter of little consequence to a dying sinner
how, or how many God has elected, if he has made his
own calling and election sure. He that persevereth to
the end, will not be damned because he has mistaken
concerning the doctrine of u final perseverance." Would
that we could draw the attention of the Church more to

60 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

fundamentals — the region of disturbance is that of non-
essentials. It is said that there is a bay in Lake Huron
over which the air is so charged with electricity, that no
person has ever traversed it without hearing peals of
thunder; but that bay is out of the ordinary paths of
commerce.

The points in which Christians agree are facts ; those
in which they differ are theories. There is a God; this
is a fact. None denies it but the fool, and he denies it
in his heart, not head. But if we venture into the fath-
omless question, how he exists, we may expect storms.
There are three persons in the Godhead — another fact.
Admitted. But the moment we begin to inquire how
the Trinity is in unity, we speculate — we dispute. It is
a fact that Jesus saves. Agreed. How ? How many ?
Now we theorize. Beware, or we shall differ. The Holy
Spirit operates in regeneration — a fact — a concord. The
disagreement is on the question, how? wherefore?

But we recur to the question, why, since Protestant
Christians agree that the Bible is the only and sufficient
rule of faith, and that whatever is not contained therein,
or may not be proved thereby, ought not to be received,
do they differ even in minor points?

1. There are original differences in mind. Variety
beautifies all the Creator's works. In the mineral world
we have hill, valley, desert, and plain : in the vegetable,
the lichen of the reef, and the oak of the mountain
united with intermediate vegetation, blending by imper-
ceptible gradations; in the animal, a similar series, from
the polypus to the mammoth ; so in the rational, minds
range one above another; so in heaven, one star differeth
from another star in glory. But unanimity on all sub-
jects would imply equality of mental power. True, near
objects, in a strong light, may be seen with sufficient dis-
tinctness to prevent dispute, by men possessing optics of

UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 61

different degrees of perfection; but let the objects be re-
moved farther, or the light diminished, and the superi-
ority of the sharp-sighted will be manifest.

We do not all survey things with equal advantages.
Our secular avocations place us in various positions, plung-
ing some through the shafts of the mine, and raising
others to Chimborazoan hights. Our training differs.
Some are left to look out merely with the mental eye-
balls which nature has given them ; others are furnished,
by education, with every variety of intellectual optical
instruments. Some can scarce find time to reflect that
there is a God; others have nothing to do but, in outer
or inner temples, to gaze, and reason, and wonder, and
adore.

Minds differ in capacity. Some, like sponge, are soon
satiated ; others, like water, which, all through the scale,
has an undiminished appetite for heat, however high
their attainments in science, are never without an ar-
dent thirst. Some are achromatic; they refract light
without dispersion : so that, however feeble the ray, or
distant the object which radiates it, the vision is dis-
tinct; others, like the prism, decompose every simple
beam they transmit, and hence array every thing in rain-
bow plumage. Happy souls, to them all is beautiful —
nothing clear.

Minds differ in tenacity. On some, facts are inscrip-
tions on the sand, on others pyramids in dog-tooth spar.
So in temperament. One shoots his pistols with an ici-
cle, another, like phosphureted hydrogen, takes fire at
every puff, and always rises in a wreath of vapor. Thus,
also, in regard to consistency. One, like asbestos, remains
fixed even in the furnace, another, like the bay, fluctu-
ates with every wind.

2. Among the most operative and wide-spread influ-
ences that warp the judgment are the moral feelings.

62 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Their power is frequently alluded to in the Scriptures.
Mark the effect of rebellion in the following passage :
" Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him
not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in
their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened :
professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."
Romans i, 21, 22. Mark the influence of obedience :
" If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doc-
trine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of my-
self." Behold the blinding effect of avarice : •" If our
Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom
the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not," etc. No man can see truth through
a gold bandage. If one take up the Bible to refute it,
ought we to expect that he will be convinced ? A man
has no right within a jury-box when a prisoner whom he
has prejudged is at the bar. The influence of passion
upon judgment is discoverable every-where and every
day. The sluggard always sees a lion in the way. How
difficult to convince the coward of a necessity for the
sword, or to find an object of charity sufficiently forlorn
to loosen the miser's purse-strings ! Rooted hostility to
God impairs the sinner's vision, while the increasing
spirit of obedience clarifies the medium through which the
saint looks at God's word. As he treads the path which
shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day, he is
more and more qualified to read; and pages which he
could not decipher at all, at setting out, he can readily
comprehend as he nears the plains of light. But we
need not argue this point, since it is one so generally
admitted. How common are such expressions as these :

' Convince a man against his will,
He's of the same opinion still."

"The wish was father to the thought !" When we con-

UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 63

sider how various are men's moral states, how many are
the degrees between the lowest and the highest grade of
piety, we need not wonder that there should be various
opinions in regard to moral truth.

Allied to the feelings are some mental habits which
strongly influence the judgment. Credulity is a tend-
ency to believe a statement without sufficient proof.
This is natural ; indeed, no child could be reared without
it. What evidence has the child that water will drown ?
Our credulity in relation to matters of religion is stronger
than in regard to any thing else : hence, we find the
faith of the father generally adopted by the son. Thus
are transmitted many errors and absurdities. Some
minds, when convinced that they are too credulous, run
to the opposite extreme, and either deny the Bible, or ra-
tionalize its statements, till they make its miracles op-
tical illusions or mesmeric phenomena. This is the more
dangerous and unphilosophical, and, in our day, more
common extreme.

Superstition — considered subjectively — is a mental
habit to which we are naturally prone, in the inverse
ratio of our knowledge. It leads us to believe, without
adequate reason, in the supernatural — ghosts, specters,
apparitions — phenomena often nothing more than the
illusions of the fancy or the sense — or to ascribe to
supernal or infernal agency events traceable to sec-
ondary causes, or which may, by reasonable analogy, be
inferred to result from such causes. Disease, for in-
stance, is often ascribed to witchcraft. Any thing which
is clearly demonstrated by experience, or asserted in the
word of Grod, we are bound to believe ) and whatever is
traced in the sacred Scriptures to supernatural power, it
is madness to ascribe to physical causes. But we must
guard against that tendency of our nature, which in-
duced the heathen to trace every thing to superhuman

64 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

power, and populate every mountain, and valley,
plain with divinities.

Superstition has given rise to much error and confu-
sion in the Christian Church, by leading to a false inter-
pretation of the Bible, and by perverting true doctrines.
Lord Bacon has the following just observations on this
subject:

"It is better to have no opinion of God at all, than
such an opinion as is unworthy of him; for the one is
unbelief, the other is contumely; and certainly supersti-
tion is the reproach of the Deity. Plutarch saith well
to that purpose : ( Surely, I had a great deal rather men
should say there was no such man as Plutarch, than that
they would say there was one Plutarch that would eat his
children as soon as they were born, as the poets speak of
Saturn.' And as the contumely is greater toward God,
so the danger is greater toward men. Atheism leaves a
man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to
reputation, all which may be guides to an outward moral
virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dis-
mounts all these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy in
the minds of men ; therefore, Atheism did never per-
fect states, for it makes men wary of themselves, as look-
ing no further — and we see the times inclined to Athe-
ism civil times, as the time of Augustus. But supersti-
tion hath been the confusion of many states, and bringeth
in a new primum mobile, which ravisheth all the spheres
of government."

3. The Bible is often studied in a wrong spirit. Too
great liberties have been taken with it. Catechisms,
creeds, and commentaries have their uses. If a man
fairly deduce important truth from the word of God, he
will have a desire that his children and neighbors should
derive benefit from his labors, and his duty coincides
with this desire. There can be no reason why he should

UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 65

not print as well as utter what he believes; and if he
arrange it in interrogative form, he will have a catechism.
If an ecclesiastical council agree upon the results of
more extensive labors, why not embody and perpetuate
those results in a confession of faith ? If they disagree
in their conclusions, there is a still greater reason why
those conclusions should be expressed. There being
in the Bible allusions to customs, manners, and events
not generally understood, why not have a commentary ?
But all these productions should be cautiously made and
used. In imparting divine truth, arrangement may be a
very important matter, and surely that of the Holy Ghost
is the best — the irregular, not the scientific. The enter-
prise of treating theology as a science was not under-
taken till the seventh century; nor was it till the elev-
enth that the first production in the shape of a general
system of theology — that of Anselm — made its appear-
ance. We know not, however, that the first century
found any more difficulty in understanding the word
than the twelfth. Mode, also, may be of consequence.
He who teaches by catechism or creed, adopts the syn-
thetic: he who instructs by the Bible, the analytic.
Revelation, for instance, no where announces the truth,
" There is a God/' but leads us out to nature, and says, "In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
It no where formally says there is a Redeemer, but it in-
troduces us to Jesus, and shows him dying on the cross.
It is the beautiful and just remark of Fourcroy, that
the sciences are studied analytically, and learned synthet-
ically. Is the Bible to be learned or studied ? More-
over, it is not only a science, to be grappled by the mind,
but a moral panorama, intended to move the heart. If
you wish to impress your child with the beauties of na-
ture, would you analyze your garden, and present to him
the fragrance in one bottle and the colors in another, the

6

66 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

roots in this basket and the stems in that ? or would you
take him out, and let the living, blooming wonders regale
his senses as he passed ? Send youth into the garden of
God. The Bible presents truth in a certain consistence;
the catechism and the creed concentrate it; the com-
mentary dilutes it. The range within which we may
safely distill or weaken truth has its limits. Although
our natural food may be variously dressed to suit our
tastes, we may easily make it unwholesome. A farmer,
learning that the nutriment of hay might be extracted
by boiling water, fed his cattle on decoctions, but soon
found they were dying. The part he deemed useless,
though without nutritious properties, was necessary to
give the distension indispensable to healthy digestion.

The Bible should be primary, in relation to the creed,
both in time and importance. If this order be inverted,
the human production becomes the medium through
which the divine is read. Look through a green glass;
you see the sun itself green. Study the Bible through
the spectacles of a creed or commentary, and you see
eternal truth discolored. Look, therefore, at the creed
through the Bible, not the Bible through the creed.

The Bible is often studied without a proper object.
Many in searching the Scriptures do not find truth,
simply because they do not icant it. Their seeking of
holy things, like the Pharisee's prayer, inflates them with
self-consequence, and fits them to dispute. Some study
objectless. Bernard rode all day along the Lemnian lake,
and at last inquired ivhere he was. So have we seen men
travel with great pains through and through the Bible,
and never know where they are. Such may be led any
where by the sleight of men, or the cunning craftiness
of the deceiver, who lieth in wait. Others read with a
vain curiosity. The colonists of Jamestown once discov-
ered a rivulet blushing with shining particles, which

UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 67

they took for gold. They immediately abandoned the
culture of the earth to search for this pretended treas-
ure, and soon loaded a boat with useless talc. A famine
was the consequence. The desire of imitating the wise
induces thousands of ignorant men to seek for the shin-
ing dust washed down by the river of truth, instead of
drawing the bread of life from its banks, and the water
of life from its crystal stream. Foolish souls, they have
many disputes over their spangles, and finally famish.
These are they ever learning, and never able to come to
the knowledge of the truth. We saw one distressed
about the roots of " Gog and Magog." He lost the root
of the matter in the root of the words.

Some enter upon the truth with a spirit of wild temer-
ity. A designing or crazed priest blows a new horn upon
the mountains. Thousands, charmed with the novelty,
neglect their families and pursuits, and, with Bacchana-
lian cries, follow the strange leader. Ignorant of his-
tory, they talk flippantly of the ancients; without study,
they philosophize about sun, moon, and stars ; without
Hebrew, or Greek, or hermeneutics, they go through the
fields of theology, Shamgars, or Jaels, slaying every en-
emy with an ox-goad, or a nail. Abroad in Matthew,
they are at home in Daniel; blind to plain truth, they
behold with open vision where Gabriel might spread his
wing over his eye. These are they to locate hell and
unsettle earth, to name the father of Melchisedek, and
fix, to a day, the birth of Satan and the death of the
world. Presently u they come up with their cattle and
their tents, and they come up as grasshoppers for multi-
tude, and they enter into the land to destroy it." Fi-
nally, some one among them dreams of iC barley bread
tumbling into the host," and they are gone. Such men
are proof against the resources of logic; for, in fancy,
they bake unleavened cakes for angels ; but they grad-

68 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

ually yield to the slow workings of common sense.
Their vagaries are, however, the seeds of future error
and contention.

The spirit of controversy is unfavorable to truth. There
are times when controversy in Zion is necessary ) but ere
we commence it, let us see that it is unavoidable and
well-timed; that it succeed not precede investigation,
and that it be conducted in the fear of God. Alas ! how
many theologians debate with less reverence than the
mathematician bends over his equation, the statuary his
marble, or the painter his canvas. When Sir Isaac New-
ton approached the solution of his great problem, he was
so overcome that he was obliged to call upon a friend to
complete th j demonstration. With what solemnity should
we handle the truth of God ! Can men see truth when
they contend for victory? Not were she to come visibly
as an angel of light. In the battle of Thrasymene, the
heated soldiers of Rome and Carthage fought in the bo-
som of an earthquake, and knew it not.

4. Human authority is often put in the place of Di-
vine. The mind, conscious of its weakness, and averse
to laborious inquiry, is prone to repose confidence in the
authority of great names. This inclination explains the
fact, that errors outraging common sense have been
widely spread and long perpetuated. For thirteen centu-
ries Aristotle, unquestioned, gave universal laws to phi-
losophy, and Galen to medicine. The rabbis blinded
the Jews to their prophecies, and the monks brought on
the dark ages. There are systems of theology yet rear-
ing their venerable heads, defying the assaults of reason,
because shielded by the aegis of authority. Many, too,
are the modern errors which survive, because they orig-
inated at universities, or are sanctioned by honored
names. Often does error take the place of truth, be-
cause introduced by authority, while she herself is re-

UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 69

sisted, because unfashionable. For more than two centu-
ries fruitless efforts were made, by argument and experi-
ment, to bring the potato into use, till Louis XV, on a
festive day, wore, amid his court, a bunch of its flowers.
At once its virtues were acknowledged, and its use
spread through all ranks and all lands. The pusillani-
mous youth, who, to ape some pseudo-philosopher, and
exhibit his contempt for inferior minds, tramples the
Bible in the dust, would press the treasure to his lips,
if he should see some monarch or warrior wear a leaf of
it in his hat. The crowning argument of thousands still
is, "Have any of the rulers believed on hini?" Shame
on poor human nature, that the millennium must delay
till kings become nursing fathers, and queens nursing
mothers in the Church.

Think not so meanly of your soul as to repose your
faith upon another; nevertheless, remember that there is
a mad independence. Let none contemn his fellows, or
refuse their reasonable aid. There are who fail to dis-
cern between the budless and the blooming ensigns of
authority. God teaches reliance on our fellows to a cer-
tain extent. There are limits within which the child
must look to the father, and the youth to the tutor, and
there is a point where reason must yield to faith. Nature
is prone to extremes. Voltaire, prince of infidel dark-
ness, long blinded by authority, bursting the brazen fet-
ters with which his peerless powers had been bound,
rashly seized the pillars of truth, and said, "I will be
avenged for my two eyes." He was to be pitied ; but
not more than he who, in consideration of some author-
ity he courts, or dreads, bars the truth that struggles in
the prison of his conscience.

5. Imagination has had much influence in perverting
the truth. Men seek to introduce the fine arts into the
house of God. Because Athens had her Jupiter, Rome

70 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

must have her Peter ; because Asia had her Diana, Eu-
rope must have her " Mary." The fine arts have their
sphere, and it is great and gorgeous. Let the Athenian
mold Apollo with his curling locks ; let Polycletus shape
Juno with her broad forehead ; let Phidias hew Jupiter
on his throne, with his scepter and his eagle ; or frame
Minerva full armed, with a score of deities beneath her
feet, we will not complain, nor shall we wonder, if on
asking the poor Pagan, " For what intent?" he should
reply, u To add new feelings to the religion of Greece."
Nor will we curse him should we see his own bald head
stamped upon the buckler; but let the chisel and the
pencil, if they would sport with eternal truth, think of
"the men of Bethshemesh." The fine arts may have
sacred uses. We quarrel not with the Moses of Michael
Angelo, though we shudder at his living or dead Christ.
Such things may be forgiven the dark ages, but what
of this age if it turn God's revelation into pictures ?
But blasphemy stops not here. It would represent the
burning bush before which Moses unbound his sandals,
and the mount that burned amid blackness, and dark-
ness, and tempest, even the glory that passed by when
the Mediator of the covenant was hid in the cleft of the
rock — it would lend coloring to the Invisible, and relievo
to the Eternal — it would make a show of the Father, and
lead us to love him by apparitions of his son. Restrain
not that image of God which Scripture presents, and
which, because unlimited, admits of expansion forever.
Many, from a laudable desire to make the truth attract-
ive to the tasteful and the fashionable, have attempted to
ornament it. Ornament ! What ! would you tie ribbons
to the sun ? The characters of Scripture have been
made the interlocutors of the drama, and even repre-
sented upon the stage. Disgusting profanation — like ad-
ministering baptism to a dog. The oracles which God

UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 71

hath immured with dread by putting into them his holy
name — that name which rends rocks, shakes hell, iinpar-
adises heaven, have been borne on the shoulders of giant
genius up the steeps of Helicon, to be the sport of fan-
tastic wanderings through illusive groves, and by intoxi-
cating fountains. And poetry hath apologized for her
daring, by assuming that the divine Being needed the
aid of fantasy uto justify his ways to man." Behold
absurdity married to recklessness ! Poetry justify — ar-
gue— investigate? Poesy has her walk. She possesses
wit, imagination, and sensibility. Bring folly and she
can satirize; beauty, and she can paint; vice, and she
can declaim ; blow a trumpet, and, like Achilles in Scy-
ros, she'll rattle armor; close all her senses, and she'll
plume her wings for boundless flight. But in investiga-
tion she hath ever been as Polyphemus, one-eyed or eye-
less. "What of sacred poetry? That is an exception.
David, Isaiah, etc., like the angel that appeared to Ma-
noah, ascended upward in the altar's flames. I may be
thought to despise what all the world worshipeth. Mil-
ton had an eagle genius, and its flights were of surpass-
ing sublimity, but better had it perched in other garden
than that guarded by cherubic sword — better spread its
wing of light on other darkness than the " blackness of
darkness;" better performed its gyrations in other fir-
mament than that irradiated by the Eternal throne. I
know he is considered steady in the main, and it is a
wonder how his inflated spirit, in her sightless flights,
could so well baffle the sportive winds.

6. Association has frequently given rise to confusion
and contention. It is often difficult to distinguish be-
tween the casual and the essential. Soranus, the cotem-
porary of Galen, prescribes as a remedy for the aphtha3
of children, honey taken from bees that hived near the
tomb of Hippocrates. Is it wonderful that certain ordi-

72 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

nances and graces, because they go pari passu, may be
regarded as cause and effect; that where two or more
conditions are required for a specific effect, one only may
be regarded in accounting for the result; that a cause
may be considered an effect, or an effect a cause, as in
considering the subject of prayer? Is it wonderful that
the healing influence of the balm of Gilead should be
attributed in part to the cup in which it was adminis-
tered; that we should often be sent for divine truth
through the most revolting human errors, or that the
purifying power of Jesus' blood should be confounded in
the imagination of the sinner with the wood of an im-
aginary cross? Moreover, we are wont to regard with
reverence whatever awakens religious emotion; nor is
this tendency of our nature difficult of explanation. The
home of youth, how dear ! Whether we have been reared
in the region of ice or of palm-trees, in the ship-girded
city or the solitude of the forest, beside the toppling gla-
cier, or on the flowery banks of the Nile, the scenes
where we first drank in the light, and caught our guile-
less hearts in love, are charming to the sense, because
they awaken in the soul its earliest, liveliest, sweetest
joys. Hence the strange charm of maternity — hence
the fond reminiscences and pardonable croakings of tot-
tering age. Thus, too, every thing is sublime which the
eye sees when the heart trembles and is moved out of its
place. Thus, 0 God ! when thou dost cause thy glory to
pass before us, whether in the silent chamber or in the
midst of the riven thunder cloud, the ground is holy.
Is it surprising that we cling to the altar, the creed, the
song consecrated by conversion, and the thanksgiving of
our new-made hearts! Go, proud infidel, if thou canst
reconcile it to the dignity of philosophy, survey the
motley, ghastly, lengthened crowd of errors that religion,
in her march of ages, has chained to her chariot wheels.

UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 73

By these would you fix upon her the stamp of folly or of
mischief? Know that they are trophies of her matchless
power — hostages for the fealty of her subjugated realms.
Show another triumphal car that can drag such a train.
Christian, be not impatient to thrust the plowshare of an
avenging God through every wheat-field that hath tares.
Thy Savior taught a better philosophy.

7. Numerous as are the errors #and disputes resulting
from original peculiarities of mind, moral feelings, im-
agination, and association, they are less numerous than
those resulting from causes more purely intellectual, of
which we shall only mention a few.

Misunderstand ing. Language is but an imperfect in-
strument of thought. Terms are liable to be employed
in different degrees of comprehension, and to be used out
of their common acceptation. They are ambiguous,
either in themselves, or from being used in different
intentions. Take charity and faith as examples. If
words belong to a living language, they are subject to an
entire reversal of their meaning. An example of this is
the word u prevent," which, in the Methodist Discipline,
means assistance, and, in common parlance, hinderance.
Many a discussion might have been spared, if the dispu-
tants, before entering upon it, had defined the terms of
the proposition to be discussed. Theologians have been
too much in the habit of denning for each other instead
of allowing each to define for himself. When sensible
and pious Christians understand each other perfectly,
they feel but little inclination to contend.

Hasty generalization : the fault of superficial and impa-
tient observers. Werner, inhabiting Saxony, where the
rocks, all stratified, evidently belong to the aqueous
period, supposed the globe was deposited from water.
Hutton, dwelling in Scotland, a primitive region, where
the rocks are igneous, believed the world to be made by

7

74 31 ORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

fire. These theories for years divided geologists, who
debated them with feelings into which more of the Plu-
tonian than the Neptunian element entered. Thus, some
theologians, observing the moral world chiefly in its more
orderly aspects, have regarded its monuments of evil as
depositions from a pure ocean, by the gradual influence
of disturbing causes. Others, from a different but no
less partial survey, trace all the scenes of the moral
world, with the exception of a little spot around them-
selves, to the upheaving of hell's volcanic paroxysms. A
comprehensive view shows both agencies : the fiery ocean
of depravity and the cooling seas of grace.

Wrong methods of interpretation. It is impossible for
men to educe the same truths from a boot, unless they
agree upon rules of exegesis. How various have been
such rules for the word of God ! In the first age suc-
ceeding the apostles, oriental philosophy sought a union
with Christianity, and gave rise to the error of Gnosti-
cism. Foremost among celebrated commentators on the
Bible stands Origen — wayward in fancy, laborious in re-
search, rich in learning, exalted in piety, but lamentably
deficient in judgment. He laid down the principle that
the Bible must not be understood as it is written, but
according to a hidden sense. This opened an unknown
sea, and hid both rudder and compass. Every bark
launched upon it was the sport of the winds; and if two
of its navigators reached the same port, the event was
mysterious. In the third century came Manes, a Persian,
who endeavored to form a union of the doctrines of the
Gospel and those of the magi. God he considered to be
light, the evil principle darkness, and Christ a messenger
from God to hasten the return of the imprisoned spirits
to the celestial country. Next came the scholastic the-
ology, led on by Gregory Nazianzen among the Greeks,
and Augustine among the Latins. This was a fusion of

UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 75

the Bible with the philosophy of Plato, and like the
image of Nebuchadnezzar was, of course, of heterogene-
ous materials, presenting, however, the gold in the foot,
and the clay in the head. At a later period arose the
Biblici, who adopted a similar plan to that of Origen,
aiming to express "the internal juice ;" and the Scholas-
tici, who subjected the Bible to the decisions of the Aris-
totelian philosophy. The Reformation, which attracted
the human mind from the enchanted circle of logical
processes to the highway of Biblical generalization, did
not emancipate it from metaphysics. Calvin, Luther,
etc., were the profoundest metaphysicians of their age.
Even now, men who investigate for themselves instead
of following the track of others, first frame a system of
mental philosophy, and then interpret the Bible by it.
Better sit down to the Bible, take for granted what it
takes for granted, or asserts, in relation to the human
mind, and then interpret or frame mental philosophy by
the Bible. Since the attention of men has been strongly
recalled to the natural and exact sciences, other erroneous
modes of interpretation have been adopted. Locke has
a fine passage on this subject: "Some men have so used
their heads to mathematical figures, that, giving a prefer-
ence to the methods of that science, they introduce lines
and diagrams into their study of divinity and political
inquiries, as if nothing could be known without them ;
and others, accustomed to retired speculations, run natu-
ral philosophy into metaphysical notions, and the abstract
generalities of logic. And how often may one meet with
morality and religion treated of in the language of the
laboratory, and thought to be improved by the notions of
chemistry V9 The language of the Bible is human lan-
guage, and, therefore, needs no succession of authorized
interpreters. Although it bears the impress of the times
and nations in which it was originally given, on all great

76 t MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

principles it rises above temporary and local peculiarities.
It is to be interpreted by common sense, as other books
are interpreted; but with three peculiar rules: First, no
disconnected book of Scripture is perfect; second, proph-
ecy must not be interpreted literally; third, typical rep-
resentation must not be overlooked.

Wrong methods of investigation. A German philoso-
pher has recently announced certain alleged discoveries,
made, not by an observation of facts, but by a twenty
years' meditation. This statement may excite risibility
in the reasoning reader, yet it expresses the usual mode
of investigation up to the era of Bacon and Descartes.
Prior to this, men either constructed philosophy of pure
abstractions, or beginning with experiment, soon pro-
ceeded to hypotheses. Hence, there were as many sys-
tems as there were reasoning philosophers, and those of
one day became the sport of the next. No wonder the
world slept for ages, only now and then opening her eyes
to close them in deeper slumbers. Upon the bringing in
of a better method, nature was studied, facts accumula-
ted, inductions made, and systems framed by slow and
cautious generalization. Then came harmony, activity,
solidity, progress; onward we go in the natural sci-
ences; onward over the hills, down the valleys, digging
the mineral, breaking the rocks, gathering the fossils;
onward, across the prairies, through the forest, up the
stream, over the sea, collecting specimens of every plant,
and bird, and beast, and fish; onward, from fact to fact,
from system to system, from science to science, from earth
to heaven, from age to age, with footstep, slow, steady,
sure, onward, onward.

Unhappily, the reform thus introduced into philosophy
has not yet extended into theology, perhaps, because men
are jealous of invasions upon consecrated forms. Theo-
logians still soar into the airy regions of speculation, spin

UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 77

in fancy's flights their cobweb systems, and then return
to the Bible, determined to find a basis on which to rest
them. Under this inverted process, men are tempted to
overlook the missing thread, and make a way witli the
present one, if it do not fall into the frame-work of their
b. Mr. Addison relates the story of a portrait painter,
who not having skill to paint from nature painted from
fancy, and having finished his portraits, watched the
crowd to find faces to suit them. Do you smile? Behold
that man commencing his investigations by inquiring
what, how, and why, God should teach, and ending by
searching the divine word for proof of his vain con-
jecture !

The Bible is not a suit of abstractions, but a collection
of facts. The creation, the fall, the deluge, the call of
Abraham, the history of the Jews, and of him whom
they crucified — every thing in the Scriptures is fact, past,
present, or prospective. If, therefore, there be a volume,
above all others to be studied in patient detail, it is God's.
Let men come to the Bible as Xewton went to nature.
Sacrificing preconceived opinions, curbing imagination,
casting to the moles and the bats the idols of original
and reflected prejudices, let them sit with childlike
docility at the feet of Jesus, humbly gather the rich
truths which fall from his lips, and proceed by slow and
careful induction from particular truths to general prin-
ciples, and from general principles to a system; then
shall they have one, durable in material, grand and har-
monious in proportions, resting upon the Rock of ages,
and bearing upon its walls watchmen, who, so far as de-
sirable and possible, see eye to eye.

But shall we ever attain entire unanimity? There is a
way that promises to effect this; namely, let one man
think for the whole Church. This is the Pope's plan,
but even he does not succeed. The Roman Church has

78 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

been convulsed with controversy in every age, although
she has made her elastic articles assume all shapes to fit
the expansions or contractions of the religious mind.
Compare the popes — you will find one a Pelagian, pro-
claiming heaven for good works; another, as indulgence
peddler, offering salvation for good pay. The different
patron saints are emblematic of the various phases of
doctrine which the Catholic Church assumes in the coun-
tries over which those saints respectively preside. Even
the Alps break the continuity of Catholic opinion. The
different corporations of friars are each the embodiment
of a distinct conception — each animated by a spirit sui
generis. Indeed, the idea of restraining private judg-
ment in religion is preposterous, for it must be exercised
even in essaying to renounce it. Before becoming a
Catholic, a man must settle the following questions : Re-
ligion or no religion, Christianity or some other religion,
infallibility or no infallibility? Pope, or patriarch, or
council? But suppose we could renounce private judg-
ment, and thus secure unanimity, were it desirable at
such cost? It is a general law that when action is proper
inaction is cursed.

Every political or religious body which locks itself up
in unsocial exclusiveness degenerates. What is the ste-
reotyped mind of China worth? What would have be-
come of the Plymouth colony, if the barriers erected by
the narrow policy of the Brownists had not been broken
down? Glory, strength, and wisdom followed freedom of
thought from Egypt to Greece, from Greece to Rome,
from Rome to England, from England to Columbia. Yet
Mother Church would trammel immortal mind. Nor is
the Pope the only ecclesiastical tyrant.

There are Protestants who can not brook contradiction.
Like the famous Attican robber, who fitted his guest to
his couch, by stretching him, if too long, and clipping

UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 79

him, if too short, they would cripple or reduce all minds
which do not fit the measure of their dogmas. We have
no patience with these intellectual sons of Procrustes.

"Man talketh of himself as ignorant, but judgeth of
himself as wise. His own guess counteth he truth, but
the notions of another are his scorn. But bear thou yet
with a brother, whose thought may be less subtile than
thine own." Evils, we know, issue from religious liberty,
but they soon remedy themselves, and at worst are less
than those which spring from mental bondage. Better
have error, enthusiasm, fanaticism, than stagnation of
mind. But has the Reformation produced more of those
dreaded results than the dark ages ?

If the supreme Being had desired doctrinal unanimity
in the Church, would he not have made a confession of
faith, or group of articles? Were a council of new-made
men or angels called to devise a plan for making a world,
they would probably fix upon a system. They would have
all the hills here, and alLthe plains there, and all the
waters yonder; they would put all the trees in one place,
and the shrubs in another, and the flowers in another,
and arrange all other things systematically. But what
sort of a world would they find when they came to use it?
If the Council of Nice had been permitted to direct in
making a revelation from heaven, they would, doubtless,
have had every thing straight; but God's ways are not
ours. Man is brought into revelation as he is into
nature. He opens his eyes upon variety, wild, gorgeous,
infinite, alluring, on which he can gaze without ever be-
ing tired of seeing, and employ all his powers in explor-
ing, without ever finding a limit.

Every age has its mission : that on which we are enter-
ing will be unspeakably important, especially in its relig-
ious aspect. Man is prone to extremes. The past half
century having been ecclesiastically a period of division,

80 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

the next will probably be one of union. There is reason
to fear, lest in the effort at reunion religious liberty may
be sacrificed. Let this point be guarded. Let us re-
member, that there is a circle within which men may be
expected to differ; that we can not move mind as we do
matter — brains are not galvanic batteries — hearts are not
blood pumps. Meanwhile let us promote a safe progress
toward practicable union. This is to be done, not by pit
debate, nor quadrangular discussion, nor great assemblies,
in which the few are to be overawed and outvoted by the
many, but by carefully avoiding the errors which have
heretofore led to confusion, by cultivating fraternal inter-
course, by incidental fireside conversation on disputed
points, and by an increase of the spirit of devotion.

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 81

§istavnit an j&Iupiirijm.

THE third day after the crucifixion had dawned, the
angel of the snow-like raiment and lightning-like
countenance had rolled away the stone from the door
of our Savior's sepulcher, the keepers had fled, and
Christ had come out. The Marys and Salome, bearing
their spices to the Redeemer's grave, at the rising of
the sun, had been startled at the opened vault; Mary
Magdalene had run to tell Peter and John, both what she
had seen and what she suspected, leaving the other Mary
and Salome to go on and hear the angel say, "He is
risen. " She who had been forgiven much, weeping at
the sepulcher after the rest had departed, had seen and
talked with Jesus. Mary and Salome, hastening to the
disciples with the angel's message, having met the Sav-
ior by the way, and held him by the feet, had worshiped
him. Cleopas and his companion had conversed with
the Lord on their way to Emmaus; Christ with his open
wounds had stood in the midst of his disciples, and
breathed on them the Holy Ghost. But Thomas was not
convinced. The witness said, "We have seen the Lord;"
but he replied, "Except I shall see in his hands the
print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of
the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not be-
lieve." There is a large class of which St. Thomas is
the type; they are generally respectable, favorable to
the institutions of the Christian religion, and profess-
edly covetous of its graces, but they ask for higher

82 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

proof of its Divine authority than is consistent either
with the economy of God or the probatory state of man.
They demand the evidence of sense or of consciousness.
This is the class here addressed, not in the language of
harsh rebuke, but of earnest expostulation. The propo-
sition is this, their skepticism is owing to imperfect
views.

To enter fully into this discussion were inconsistent
with the limits of a single discourse. Let us, therefore,
select a few particulars.

I. This class has imperfect views concerning faith, its
necessity, nature, extent, and power. Why should it be
thought incredible that eternal life should be dependent
on faith, seeing that temporal life is suspended on the
same condition ? Without faith how could a child be
reared? Rejecting testimony it could not suppose, prior
to experience, that fire would burn, or water drown, or
poison kill, or a sharp instrument make a fatal wound.
Without faith how could a mature man live? It were
easy to imagine a thousand accidents fatal to life which
he could not long escape, while it were impossible to find
a single occupation in which he could gain a livelihood.
All through this life we walk by faith rather than by
sight. How could we eat, or talk, or compose ourselves
to sleep in peace ? how sell or buy, accept of office 01
discharge its duties, plight our troth or lead a bride to
the altar without faith ? The natural world, as well as the
spiritual, would soon come to an end without it. So
much for its necessity. As to its nature this class often
errs, alleging that our faith in testimony ariseth from
experience. Not so ; it is rooted in nature. Children
at first credit all they hear; it is not till they have been
repeatedly deceived that diffidence arises in their hearts;
and however unfortunate a man's education and circum-
stances may have been, he is incapable of eradicating

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 83

this proneness to faith from his breast. I am aware
that the carnal heart, the career of transgression, and
the example of a wicked world, have a tendency to over-
come faith concerning Divine things, but the utmost
they can effect in the most hardened wretch, and through
the longest life, is a state of doubt. This class, too,
seems unapprised of the wide range of faith compared
with the narrow limits of sense. In every direction in
which science pushes her researches she soons finds a
boundary to her walks; yet skeptics say, "We will believe
only what we can comprehend. n Then you can believe
nothing; for from the smallest mote in the sunbeam to
the most distant star in the milky way, there is nothing
comprehensible to human minds. Do you say, then, we
will believe nothing f You can not be excused. Do you
admit the existence of God? What more incomprehen-
sible than a being without beginning and without
bounds ? Do you deny the doctrine ? What more in-
comprehensible than its contradictory? "I had rather
believe," says Lord Bacon, " all the fables in the Legend
and the Talmud, and the Alkoran, than that this- uni-
versal frame is without mind;" but either there is a God
or there is not.

Skeptics are at a loss to see the merit of faith ; they
should observe that though faith depends on evidence,
the relation of evidence to the mind depends greatly on
will, and the impression of proof on the intellect de-
pends much on the condition of the heart. They are at
a loss to discern the power of faith; they deem it incred-
ible that it should bring salvation. Look around you.
What can not faith do ? With its mighty energies in
the soul, the chained captive becomes a conqueror; with-
out it, the throned leader of armies is as powerless as an
infant of days. What overturns thrones, and dominions,
and principalities, and powers? what moves Luther, Mil-

84: MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

ton, and Newton upward and still upward ? what are the
pyramids and the temples, the science and the songs —
all the monuments of a nation's glory — but the meas-
ures of a nation's faith ? Why wonder that in spiritual
things "it should be according to our faith f that by that
which subdues and adorns the earth the soul should
cleave and climb the heavens?

II. Then skepticism has an imperfect view of God ; for
it charges that miracles are antecedently improbable and
unreasonable. This is founded in the supposition that
God is limited either as to his power or his love. If, as
Socrates declares, and history demonstrates, man needs a
revelation from heaven, God must be disposed to give
one — a revelation demands faith, faith implies evidence,
and the kind of evidence required is to be determined by
the nature of the matte?- to be proved ; for a proposition
and its proof must be homogeneous. If moral truth re-
quires moral evidence, and algebraic truth an algebraic
process, and mathematical truth a mathematical demon-
stration, supernatural truth must require supernatural at-
testation ; then is there an antecedent probability in favor
of miracles, measurable by the proof that mankind needs
further moral and religious light. Nor must we suppose
a miracle unreasonable because it is contrary to natural
laws. He who does so must deny God and deify the laws
of nature. Go educate yourself up to the idea of the
Almighty, and you will see that he produces all effects ;
that the laws of the universe do but map out the chan-
nels of his power; and since it is as easy for him to work
contrary to laws as according to them, so we may suppose
that he will do so when he can thereby accomplish a
paramount purpose. Unless, therefore, we know all that
God knows, we can not say that the reversal of a known
law is unreasonable.

III. This class has imperfect views of its own terms.

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 85

It says a miracle, being contrary to experience, is not
provable by testimony, since it is more reasonable to
suppose that testimony is false than that a miracle is
true; this sophism is full of ambiguities. There is an
ambiguity in the word contrary ; its meaning is opposite,
or contradictory. When I say it is contrary to my expe-
rience that gold should be gathered with the sand, I use
the word contrary in a popular, though loose and im-
proper sense ; for I mean to express not opposite experi-
ence, but absence of experience. When I say that it is
contrary to my experience that wild cherry-tree bark
should invariably cure consumption, because I have
known it used unsuccessfully, I use the term in a proper
sense, to denote contradictory or inconsistent experience.
Taking the word in the latter sense, it is not true that
our Savior's miracles are contrary to experience ; for we
were not at our Savior's side to experience the opposite
of them. Taking the word in the former sense — absence
of experience — this argument is worthless ; for by parity
of reason, we could show that it is impossible to prove
by testimony that there is any gold in California.

The word experience, also, is ambiguous. When I say
that, according to experience, bloodletting will reduce in-
flammation, I use the -word experience in the improper
but popular sense, to express a judgment derived from ex-
perience. When I say I have experienced the pleurisy, I
use the word in the proper sense, to denote what has oc-
curred to my own person. The infidel, when he employs
the sophism referred to, evidently uses the word in the
latter sense ; but in this it is susceptible of three appli-
cations; namely, 1. To the individual. 2. To all men.
3. To mankind in general. If he mean individual expe-
rience, his argument is worthless; if universal expe-
rience, he assumes the very point in dispute; namely,
that no one ever experienced a miracle; if usual expe-

86 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

rienee, he proves too much; for, according to this, wo
can not prove any thing extraordinary. When the news-
papers announced the discovery of the electro-magnetic
telegraph, he should have said, it is contrary to expe-
rience for thoughts to be conveyed through wire, but not
contrary to experience that men should lie ; therefore, no
testimony can prove that there is such a thing as Morse's
Telegraph. There is another ambiguity in the sophism
under consideration ; it is in the word testimony. This
may mean either testimony in general, or a particular tes-
timony; if the word be used in the former sense, the
premise is true, but the argument is invalid; for it is not
by testimony in the abstract, but by a particular testi-
mony that the miracles of the Gospel are established.
Though testimony in general is fallacious, there is a spe-
cies of it on which men implicitly rely; that is, a spe-
cies which at once excludes the idea of fraud on the one
hand, and delusion on the other — the very kind which we
offer for the Christian miracles. To illustrate in a popular
mode, suppose you go into court with indisputable proof
of your title to a particular estate, what will it avail for
opposing counsel to say, testimony is faPacious; this is
testimony, therefore this is fallacious? you would reply,
" Grant that testimony is fallacious, it is incumbent on
you to show, in order to defeat my claim, that the partic-
ular testimony on which it rests is false. "

IV. This skepticism takes imperfect views of the
Christian evidences. I instance in the following par-
ticulars :

1. It judges of these evidences as of ordinary testi-
mony. The skeptic charges us with unfairness, because,
as he alleges, we judge of the testimony in proof of mira-
cles as we would of that adduced on the trial of a prisoner
in a court of justice, whereas it requires more evidence to
prove a miracle than an ordinary fact. We deny the

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 87

charge, and assert that we adduce more proof of miracles
than of common events; if we require as much evidence
of every thing as we offer for the Christian revelation, it
is doubtful whether the world could prove any historic
fact; and now we retort the charge — the skeptic is unfair,
because he judges of our testimony as he would if it
were adduced before a civil tribunal, in the examination
of a point such as is usually litigated among men. In
other words, he judges of the testimony after taking it
from its connection, which is as though he were to exam-
ine the eloquence of a tongue after cutting it from its
mouth. Would you, says the skeptic, if you had been
on the jury which tried Dr. Webster for the murder of
Dr. Parkman, although the evidence had been as strong
as you can imagine, have been ready to convict him, if,
while you were seated in the jury-box, Dr. Parkman had
come bodily into court ? I answer, no. To do so would
be to suppose that a man once dead can, by the opera-
tion of ordinary laws, come to life; but a miracle, in the
theological sense, involves no such supposition. What is
a miracle ? It is a suspension, control, or reversal of a
known law by the act, assistance, or permission of God,
and preceded by a notification that it is performed for
the evidence of some particular doctrine, or the attesta-
tion of the authority of some particular person. In the
case supposed, three things are wanting to constitute
it miraculous : 1. The previous notice, which creates ex-
pectation and awakens scrutiny; 2. The supposition of
Divine interposition, which would be an adequate cause;
3. A heavenly message for mankind, affording the Al-
mighty sufficient motive for his interference with estab-
lished laws.

2. It judges of each miracle as though it were alone.
A chain that might moor the earth could not, if its links
were separated, hold a ship to her anchor. If you could

88 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

find a mode of explaining each miracle of our Savior's
separately, ascribing one to legerdemain, another to col-
lusion, a third to enthusiasm, a fourth to optical illusion,
etc., it would by no means follow that you could account
for the whole series without the supposition of super-
natural power; more particularly when you consider their
number, instantaneousness, variety, publicity, obvious-
ness, benevolence, certainty, permanence, and independ-
ence of second causes, besides the pure morality and
blameless lives of the Savior and his followers. Let us
illustrate. Suppose a prisoner on trial for his life, and
the verdict of the jury is to turn upon the question
whether a certain suspected mixture contains arsenic.
To determine this point, it is placed in the hands of a
skillful chemist, who brings it into court in four vessels,
in which he has the results of so many different tests.
In one he holds up a yellow precipitate, in another a
green one, produced by a certain preparation of silver, in
a third he exhibits a turbid liquid, resulting from the in-
troduction of a particular acid, and in the fourth he
shows a metallic ring obtained by a certain gas. Now let
the question be put : Can either of these tests be relied
on ? The answer is, no. Let the further question be
asked : Can all these tests, taken together, be relied on ?
The answer is an unequivocal, emphatic "yes;" they
exclude doubt. The miracles in the one case are pro-
duced by one character, and the appearances in the other
by one metal, and the problem in each case requires a so-
lution consistent with this unity. The fallacy in scien-
tific language is that of composition, and the following
one is analogous to it : Three, and two, and four are three
numbers; nine is three, two, and four; therefore, nine is
three numbers.

3. Skepticism is chargeable with another mark of un-
fairness. It overlooks one whole class of our Savior's

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 89

miracles. Miracles are of two kinds; namely, displays
of supernatural intellectual power, and displays of super-
natural physical power. Were one to bid you to go to
the banks of the Detroit, and cast a net into it at a par-
ticular spot, and assure you that if you followed his direc-
tion you would take a fish having in its mouth a Spanish
pistareen, bearing date 1753, should you verify his pre-
diction you would have before you a display of supernat-
ural mental power; or were one to predict that the Mich-
igan peninsula one hundred years hence would be occu-
pied by the Turks, and governed by the Sultan, and
should his prophecy be fulfilled, he would work an intel-
lectual miracle.

Observe that this is entirely* different from a shrewd
guess, or the foresight of surpassing wisdom, which some-
times works wonderful conclusions from given data; for
here there are no premises to go upon, no causes in train
to produce the result; indeed, all appearances and laws
are against it. Were one to turn back the waters of the
Ohio with a rod, or overthrow a spur of the Alleghanies
with a touch, he would work a physical miracle. Our
Savior is alleged to have wrought both kinds, yet the
former is often overlooked by the skeptic.

4. It is wont to overlook the fact that our Savior was
himself a miracle. Were you to tell me that a carpen-
ter in Pontiac had risen from the grave the third day
after his interment, I should give no heed to your tale,
but let it pass as the idle wind. Go another step, bring
before me twelve men, of unimpeachable character and
good sense, who testify to the fact, I should think them
deceived. Prove that they could not be deceived ; that
they knew the carpenter well; that they were with him
when he died; heard his last words, and closed his dy-
ing eyes ; that they saw the surgeon open his breast and

examine his lungs and heart; and that after his resurrec-

8

90 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

tion they had talked with him, eaten with him, and put
their hands into his side ; that he had predicted his res-
urrection, and that his enemies had hired armed men of
their own number to watch the place of his interment;
that while they were on duty the earth was thrown from
the grave, and the body was missing, I should then think
they were dishonest. Prove that for their testimony
they had suffered the loss of goods, reputation, office,
and that, stripped of all things, they were engaged in
proclaiming the miracle in the midst of toils, dangers,
and sufferings; lead them out before a platoon of sol-
diers, and read them an order from government that if
they persisted in their testimony they should be shot
dead, if, while the bullets were speeding to their breasts,
they should joyfully renew their testimony, I should be
in a quandary. Mind has its laws as well as matter; it
is contrary to physical laws that a dead man should burst
from the grave ; it is inconsistent with mental laws that
human mind should break from motive influence and
reverse its mode of action. Here, then, I should have,
on the one hand, a natural miracle, on the other a moral
one. Which I should choose I wot not. Add another
circumstance, that the resurrection was announced be-
fore as a work of God, in attestation of the Divine au-
thority, of a glorious and salutary revelation to mankind,
and the balance would begin to incline in favor of the
physical miracle. At this point prove that the carpenter
was more than a carpenter, a great, a popular, a blame-
less, an effective reformer — more than a man, a miracu-
lous character, the antitype of a line of types, and the
subject of prophetic song in all past ages, my doubts
would be dissipated, and I should cry, "All hail V

5. Skepticism overlooks the fact that the nation which
gave Messiah birth is herself a miracle — a miracle in her
origin, her character, her institutions, her preservation,

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 91

her dispersions; no less a miracle in her sins than in her
obedience, her trials than her triumphs. From the time
that it was first said that the God of glory appeared to
our father Abraham, down to the present hour, she is a
problem of which the strange hand of Omnipotence is
the only solution. View her rising from Goshen, and
moving through the sea; behold her as she comes from
Sinai, and rises up from Mt. Seir with ten thousand of
her saints, and the fiery law streaming from her right
hand; view her dwelling in safety beside the fountain
of Jacob, issuing upon a land of corn and wine beneath
heavens that drop down dew; view her smitten, yet not
destroyed; plunged into the furnace, but not consumed;
carried captive, but preserving her tribeship and her
ensigns till the coming of her Sliiloh, and you must
contemplate her with wonder and with awe. Do you
reject the history of her miracles? She is still a mira-
cle. Her moral law, which, in all her wanderings, she
never lost; her altars to the true God, which, in all her
sins, she never suffered to want a whole burnt-offering;
her ceremonial law, which, for fifteen hundred years,
and with a hundred trumpet tongues, bore witness to a
coming Christ; and her glowing hope of deliverance,
which all her flood of suffering never quenched, are they
not miracles as great as the divided waters and the trem-
bling mount? While all the rest of the world is bap-
tized in lust and blood, and shrouded in darkness, "Lo,
Israel, like a sea of mingled glass and fire reflecting the
face of God, and radiating the beams of truth, and bearing
up thousands that have gotten the victory over the beast,
and over his image, and over the number of his name,
having the harps of God and singing the song of Moses,
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
* Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty;
just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints/ ;; When

92 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

you contemplate this moral sea, standing fifteen hundred
years to give birth to Jesus, are you not prepared, as
the God-man lifts his calm head above the billows, to
hail him ? u Who shall not fear thee, 0 Lord, and glo-
rify thy name ?"

6. Nor should skepticism forget that the period which
produced our Savior had a miraculous stamp. The Ro-
man legions, having tramped a highway through the na-
tions, from utmost Thule to Asia's most distant plains,
had deployed to survey a conquered world reposing in the
arms of peace. An expectation of a remarkable person-
age pervaded all nations; the harp of the Jews was taken
from the willows to sing of his approach, and the sweet-
est lyre of the pagan world echoed Isaiah's prophetic
strain. Eastern magi, carrying gold, and frankincense,
and myrrh, came to Jerusalem in search of the Redeem-
er's cradle. An orbitless star guided them to the man-
ger of Bethlehem, while an orchestra of tuneful angels,
from the " courts of glory," alighted on Judah/s plains to
charm the listening shepherds with the choral song,
" Good will to men, on earth peace, and glory to God in
the highest." Perhaps you say I assume the truth of
the evangelic story. Not so. All except that which re-
lates to the angelic choir could be proved from Tacitus,
Seutonius, Chalcidius, and Virgil.

The character of an agent always has an influence on
our belief in alleged wonders performed by him. Sup-
pose Dr. Franklin had died immediately after bottling
the lightning, and that there had been no witness of the
deed but a silly boy, his testimony would have been read-
ily believed, because the act comports with the character
and pursuits of the philosopher. Christ descends a path
of prophecies extending through four thousand years —
prophecies which have never met and can never meet in
any other than himself. It is vain to say, with Boling-

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 93

broke, that Jesus provoked his own suffering and death,
in order to give his disciples the benefit of an appeal to
the prophecies; for it were not enough that he should
procure his own death, he must also plan his lineage,
and the time, place, and circumstances of his birth.
"When we see this are we not prepared to listen to the
evidence of his miraculous conception, resurrection, and
ascension ? But the inquiry may arise, Is the testimony
to our Savior's miracles such as would be that of the
hypothetical case of the Pontiac carpenter? Why not?
Because of the lapse of time since it was given ? Non-
sense. On which does the credibility of testimony de-
pend, on the period of time at which it was given, or the
ability, honesty, and diligence of the witnesses ? If ex-
clusively upon the latter circumstances, then as long as
they can be evinced so long will the testimony be credi-
ble. The evangelic and apostolic books which the
Church in the second century had, we have. What
those books contained then they do now. These propo-
sitions could easily be established. If lapse of time
diminish credibility, then would you be less capable of
believing in the existence of Caesar now than when you
were a youth, much less capable than was your father in
his boyhood; so that the belief that Caesar existed, and
every other historic fact, must sooner or later ooze out
of the world. Now, the contrary of this is the fact.
Since the invention of printing, the reformation of relig-
ion, and the restoration of letters, the progress of science
and literary research has been perpetually bringing up
new evidence of old truth; so especially respecting Scrip-
ture history.

But you say the Bible has come down through the dark
ages. True, but not without traces. If you were to
travel carelessly one hundred miles through a pathless
forest, we might never be able to follow your tracks; but

94 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

if you were to blaze your way upon the trees nothing
would be easier. The Gospel, by the baptism, the eucha-
rist, and the Sabbath, has blazed its way through from
the resurrection morning. This leads us to remark,

7. That skepticism usually overlooks the fact that the
book which records our Savior's miracles is itself of a
miraculous character. It has mysterious power. To give
a people an open Bible is to give them a general illumin-
ation; for it allures them to deeper and deeper learning
by the promise of greater and greater capacity of ascer-
taining the mind of God. Look at the map; England,
Prussia, and the United States have an open Bible and a
diffused intelligence. Spain is without a free Bible, and
her coast without a light-house symbolizes her mind.
And Africa, rich in the gifts of nature, is poor in knowl-
edge; she has no open Bible mine. Look at history;
but on this I do not insist. The Bible, by giving infinite
breadth and undying energy to motives, promotes inves-
tigation. Hence, the career of discovery is always in its
wake; it has pointed the telescope and set up the types
of Faustus; opened and civilized the new world, and
renovated and energized the old. It stimulates mind — it
opens to the soul a garden of eternal spring — it sheds its
starlight over the unseen and gives us the astronomy of
the endless future — it spreads, for the baptism of man's
immortal mind, a blessed bath which, like the ocean, can
neither be exhausted nor improved, and in which, though
a babe may safely float, an angel can not wade; but
neither on this do I insist; for though it proves the util-
ity of the Bible, it does not conclusively evince its
authority. I pass to say, it emits heavenly light. It
reveals God. How came the idea of the Creator in the
world? not by sense, surely; not by intuition, for unin-
structed mutes have it not; not by consciousness, for
that certifies only our own being, faculties, and states;

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 95

not by reason, or it had never been lost or perverted —
what reason can discover it can certainly preserve; by
revelation, then, for there is no other avenue of knowl-
edge. Mark, too, the form of the idea as it stands
revealed. Survey the heathen world swarming with
gods; behold its supreme deity owning a grandfather,
and in the hight of his power a mere chairman of the
committee of gods, in which all things are determined
by majority of votes; see Elysium denied with lust and
rent with rebellion, and the altars of Moloch and Tiphon
stained with human blood; then come to the Bible and
see the one living and true God coming forth from the
beginning to create the heavens and the earth, and pur-
suing his voiceless path of justice through eternity, dis-
posing all things according to his own will, and looking
down upon his creatures with eyes of purity and heart of
love. Will you ascribe the darkness of paganism to
ignorance? But what, Plato ignorant! — of modern sci-
ence, we grant he was. Turn, then, to modem science.
With the experience of six thousand years and the
meridian light of revelation, what new discovery, con-
cerning God, has she? Does not the Almighty, as he
sweeps by her hiding-place, still proclaim himself as he
did to Moses in the' cleft of the rock, "The Lord God,
merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands and for-
giving iniquity, transgression, and sin/' etc. Science
has ascended the heavens; let her continue her journey
and extend wider and wider her surveys through eternal
ages ; never can she lift her thoughts above the God of
the Bible, or find a spot which his pavilion does not
cover. On topmost hights, or profoundest depths, or
remotest wandering of adventurous flight she must still
say, " Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall
I flee from thy presence V Herein is mystery. In the

96 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

world's infancy and idolatry, could uninspired Jewish
intellect overleap at one bound all the discoveries of infe-
rior science, and on an eminence unattainable and in a
light inaccessible, even to a philosophy matured by sixty
centuries, discourse of sublimest, all-comprehending
knowledge, in strains unsurpassed and unsurpassable?

The Bible brings to light the doctrine of immortality;
although this idea commends itself alike to reason, con-
science, and heart, we can not suppose that it could be
discovered by either or all. Socrates, the pride of phi-
losophy and the boast of Deism, drank the hemlock,
though with hope, yet without assurance. Look, too, at
the form of this revealed idea. Cicero spoke of immor-
tality, but with doubt. Grecian Theists believed in it,
but it was one in which the soul lost its individuality in
God as a drop in the ocean. Hindoos look for a future
life, but it is one of dreamless and eternal slumber. The
Stoics believed the world would be renewed, but that cor-
ruption would creep in again, and the same process of
decay and renewal go on forever. The Bible im-
mortality is a doubtless one — "I know that my Redeemer
liveth;" an individual one; a thinking, acting one; a
social one — heaven is a city echoing the shouts of re-
deemed thousands; a progressive one — it gives the soul
the wing that never tires, the eye that never blinks, the
life that knows no death; it is a righteous one — it presses
the elements of evil below an impassable gulf; it is a
humane one — it rolls the stone from the door of the sep-
ulcher, fills its caverns with light, wakes the sleeping
dust, and bears it in incorruption, immortality, and glory
to the heavens; unlike all the dreams of philosophy, this
doctrine bears the stamp of the divinity.

The Bible has a mysterious, self-preserving power.
The rolls of the rabbis bear the same prophetic testimony
for Christ as the translation of King James; the Gospel

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 97

of the convent speaks the same denunciation against the
man of sin as the Gospel of the pulpit. It has a self-
perpetuating and multiplying power. Infidels have writ-
ten books : where are they? Where is Porphyry, Julian?
Fragments of them there are; but we are indebted, even
for this, to Christian criticism. Where is Hume, Vol-
taire, Bolingbroke? It requires the world's reprieve to
bring a copy out of the prison of their darkness. Where
is the Bible? Wherever there is light — speaking the
language of heaven in sevenscore and three of the
tongues of earth, and giving the word of God by forty
million of voices to five times as many million ears, and
in tongues spoken by six hundred million of men; and
having swept its path of storm through all time, it still
walks triumphant, despite earth's dying malice and hell's
eternal wrath, and, like the apocalyptic angel, though it
wraps its mantle of cloud around it, calmly looks out
upon the world with a face, as it were the sun encircled
with the rainbow.

Skepticism generally overlooks the fact that the Church
which Christ established is miraculous. In her origin,
her preservation, her spread, her present prospects and
prospective triumphs, what is she but a miracle ? Where
is paganism ? Once it was a tree whose hight reached
unto heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; but
it hath heard the voice of the watcher, and the holy One
coming down from heaven and saying, "Hew down the
tree; and though the stump of the roots thereof are yet
in the ground and banded with iron and brass, its portion
is with the beasts." To speak without a figure, pagan-
ism no more rears the teachers or the conquerors of man-
kind, but is pervaded with a conviction of its own inani-
ties and an expectation of a better inheritance.

Where is Mohammedism — that Apollyon, the echo of
whose arms was once the terror of the nations? Its spirit

98 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

has been consumed by its own fires; and though its giant
frame still lingers, it treads steadily and heavily to the
grave.

Where is infidelity? Oft it has risen an image whose
brightness was excellent, and whose form was terrible;
but though its head is fine gold, its breast silver, and its
belly and thighs brass, its feet are but crumbling clay.
A touch from the stone of truth brings the unmingled
mass to the ground. Through nearly twenty centuries
both thrones and dominions of the state, and principali-
ties and powers of science have combined with the ener-
gies of the depraved heart to set up Deism in the earth,
and where is it? Where the continent, the island, the
cape, the stream, the plantation? where the nation, the
tongue, the tribe, the kindred, the family over which it
holds an undisputed sway? Voltaire boasted that he
could set it up, but his press is now printing Bibles;
France turned the Christian Church into a harlot's tem-
ple, but is now fast purifying the altars of Jesus.

To the Church of the living God under heaven let us
turn. By preaching " Jesus and the resurrection" she
changed the religion of the world. Among the Jews she
encountered the prejudices and passions of a nation
elated with the hope of a martial deliverer and an earthly
pre-eminence. Among heathens she contended with the
arms of a jealous government, the malice of a crafty
priesthood, the scorn of a proud philosophy, the gods of
a crowded Pantheon, and the passions of a sinful world;
yet with nothing but the cross she pushed her path
through academies, temples, garrisons, and mobs, and La
less than a generation sowed the whole earth with the
crimson seed of the Church, and where is she now? Her
morning hymn goes round the earth with the sun.
;Twere easy for a vine to take root in an unoccupied soil —
easy for it to grow if first with ax and plow you prepare

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 99

the way; but see that plant dropped in thickest woods — it
plunges down its root and sends up its stalk, the under-
brush gives way before it, oaks and cedars are uprooted
by its advance till the whole forest disappears and blooms
as the garden of the Lord; meanwhile the boar of the
wood whets his tusk upon its roots, the wild ass of the
wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure,
lifts up her heel against its trunk, the wild beast of the
field tears in anger its branches, lightnings play about it,
and earthquakes rumble beneath it; but its shadow cov-
ers the hills, and its boughs are like the goodly cedars,
and still it sends out its boughs to the sea and its branches
to the river; its fruit becomes more and more precious,
and its leaves more and more healing to the nations in
proportion to their capacity to appreciate its virtues.
Such a plant is the Church of God.

Skepticism generally overlooks the fact that they who
predicted, and they who first preached Christ, wrought
miracles. Bring all these things into one view, that the
miracles of our Savior were numerous, instantaneous,
public, sensible, or moral, independent of second causes,
and commemorated by monuments set up and ceremonies
instituted at the time of their performance, which have
since been constantly observed — that Christ himself was
a miraculous character, the subject of prophecy relative
to his nature, period, birth, life, death, resurrection, and
moral triumphs — that the Church founded by him is
miraculous in her origin, preservation, and progress, and
you have not yet the full strength of the case. Suppose
you have witnesses in the court ready to testify to the
resurrection of the carpenter we have imagined, and that
before they utter a word, according to his promise, the
sound of a mighty rushing wind is heard and fills the
house; that cloven tongues, as of fire, seat themselves on
their heads, and that, though they are ignorant men,

100 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

each of their hearers, whether Frenchman, German, Ital-
ian, or American, hears them speak in his own tongue
the wonderful evidence; suppose that, as these witnesses
disperse, one heals by a word a man lame from his birth,
another by a volition strikes an opposer blind, a third
breathes life into a corpse that has fallen on the pave-
ment— would you, could you doubt? Do you say, give us
such testimony and we will believe you? We have bet-
ter. It is reasonable to suppose that he who gives a reve-
lation should attest it by supernatural evidence, both to
cotemporaries and succeeding ages — physical miracles are
suited to the former purpose, intellectual miracles or
prophecies to the latter. God has drawn a belt of proph-
ecies around the globe of time, so that man, by looking
up from any point of it, might see a celestial sign of the
divinity of the cross. What is the sign in this day and
hour? you inquire. There are many; one only need be
named. Moses predicted Christ; was he a true prophet?
In Deuteronomy we have a prediction concerning the
Jews, from which we extract these words: "Ye shall be
plucked from the land whither thou goest to possess it,
and the Lord shall scatter thee among all nations from
one end of the earth even to the other. And thou shalt
become an astonishment, and a proverb, and a by-word,
among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.1'
Mark, the language is literal, the prediction whence it is
taken declaredly prophetic, the priority of it to the event
by twenty centuries, beyond all question, the fulfillment
accurate, wonderful, visible. Can it be accounted for
without inspiration? Was it a shrewd guess? Could
Moses know positively that the victorious Jews could be
conquered; negatively, that they would not be merely re-
duced to subjection, but deprived of the land of which
they were to take possession; nor merely so, but deprived
by violence: that they should not be colonized, but scat-

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 101

tered — not merely scattered, but scattered from one end
of the earth to the other; that they should be a proverb,
astonishment, etc., not merely among Christians, but
ans and Mohammedans; that they should neither in-
corporate with any other people nor utterly perish, though
petually persecuted; that their dispersion should be
protracted through centuries? Will the prophecy be
ribed to accident? Strange accident that it should
happen to be connected with other fulfilled prophecies,
and should find its place in the Bible, and contribute to
establish the divinity of Messiah ! Strange, not only in
its connections, but in itself, as though a rain of blood
should fall upon the bosom of the sea in obedience to a
prophet's word spoken centuries before, and that the red
drops should float upon the billows ages on ages, never
absorbed by the air, nor washed to the shore, nor mingled
with the waters ! Are you not startled ? Then it is for
the reason that you are not startled by that glorious Sun.
And why this obstinate resistance to the proof of our
Savior's miracles ? Is there any thing incredible in the
revelation which they attest ? They who think so must
look for Christianity where it is not, and shut their eyes
upon it where it is. What is the primal, central, final,
comprehensive truth of the Gospel? "God so loved the
world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting
life." Look out upon this beautiful world; look inward
upon your aspiring soul; look upward into this deep blue
universe, the shadow of God; listen to its utterances by
day or by night, then say if this grand truth is unworthy
of thine almighty Father. To reveal a scheme for the
preservation of health, the prolongation of life, the dif-
fusion of incalculable blessings on all paths and abodes,
the elevation of the whole family of man in wisdom^
wealth, and honor were not unworthy of God; but what

102 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

is all this to a deliverance both from sin and perdition,
and the opening of heaven's gates to human footsteps?
Do you deny the necessity of redemption ; that is, the fall
of man ? This is the doctrine of reason ; ay, of experience.
It is written on every volcano, breathed in every tempest
and every pestilence, and proclaimed in all the sorrow, and
disappointments, and diseases that attend us to the tomb.
The sages of antiquity, which Deism venerates, thought
it too obvious to be proved, and wasted their ingenuity in
attempting to account for it. Do you see a better method
of redemption than the Gospel? What is it? Repent-
ance carried to reformation? Ask Providence, Does re-
pentance, though followed by reformation, renovate the
broken constitution of the inebriate, the blasted intellect
of the glutton, or the ruined fortune of the profligate ?
Question reason on this point, she will say, to pardon in-
iquity upon repentance is to remit the penalty of the
law; that is, to destroy law, to destroy government.
What says the universal heart of humanity? Every
temple; every altar crimsoned with a victim's blood; ev-
ery prayer that cleaves the heavens, proclaims the irre-
sistible conviction of man, that he is barred from God
unless he brings more than repentance to the mercy-seat.
There must be a redemption. Is there aught incredible
in the Gospel method of achieving it? In this world
are not being and blessedness bestowed through ap-
pointed instrumentalities, and is not mercy through me-
diation ? Why, then, start at a Mediator between God
and man? Think it not strange, that he who in his
Providence sends the silent messenger of love to the
gloomy lanes of vice, and want, and woe, and even bids
them drop the tear of compassion, and lay the hand of
mercy on broken-hearted humanity pining in the cell,
should, in his grace, send the man of sorrows, as the
agent of his love, into this world of sin and death. Nor

DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 103

be astonished at the Savior's agony. Seemeth it to you
inconsistent that Jehovah should allow the innocent to
suffer for the guilty? Look you, he does allow it; yea,
command it daily. How much less objectionable the
plan of his grace than that of his providence; for Jesus
chooses his cross, crying, as he clothes himself in flesh,
" Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast
thou prepared me.''' u Lo, I come, (in the volume of the
book it is written of me,) I delight to do thy will, 0
God." Hail, thou Lamb of God ! thy errand is God-
worthy, thy revelation is glorious, while ten thousand
times ten thousand angels sing with loud voice, " Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and
blessing." We would shout back from the earth, and the
seas, and the lakes, saying, " Blessing, and honor, and
glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever."

104 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

If* Ithn0ttarg &vtttt$titt.

1T7TIAT is it to send the Gospel? It is to send a new
'* and strong stimulus into the muscles of men; it is
to increase the productiveness of human labor, for it is
sooner or later followed by the plow, the compass, the
light-house, the railroad, the telegraph, the steam-en-
gine ; it is to husband the resources of man ; it is to in-
crease the necessaries of life, multiply the conveniences
of life, and improve the arts of life ; for the Gospel hath
the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that
which is to come.

It is to send a new, and powerful, and permanent im-
petus into the minds of men; for, sooner or later, to
send the Gospel is to send the schoolmaster, the alpha-
bet, the map, the blackboard, the scale which measures
the heavens, and the balances which weigh the planets;
it is to send Locke, and Newton, and Milton — philosophy,
and science, and song in their noblest forms. But, aside
from this, the Gospel is itself the great stimulus of intel-
lect— its doctrines, its promises, its revelations expand,
awaken, energize the soul.

To send the Gospel is to send liberty. It is a great
declaration of independence; it is a Divine declaration
of independence; it is a Divine declaration of human
independence; it is the Magna Charta of human rights;
it proclaims the dignity, the equality, the immortality of
man ; it stands him up in the image of the Creator, the
child of God, the heir of glory; it points him inward

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 105

to a tribunal more august than any human bar; it
points him upward to a higher law, which sweeps the
compass of the universe; it points him onward to the
fires of the last day, when, independent of all human
governments, each man shall stand up to give account of
himself. Once let a man understand his religious rights,
and he will soon assert his civil rights; for the major in-
cludes the minor — the path of civil liberty has always
been in the rear of religious liberty, and always will be.

To send the Gospel is to send morality — a perfect rule
of right — love to God and love to man — a rule which,
though it might not be discovered by reason, commends
itself to reason — a perfect motive to obedience, which,
because it is infinite, can not be exceeded — an encourage-
ment to a fallen and guilty man to struggle with tempta-
tion, even the promise of infinite aid.

To send the Gospel is to send salvation — to close the
mouth of hell and open the gate of heaven.

Does not the world need this Gospel? Let us take a
bird's-eye glance at it. Run your eye northward, toward
the Polar Sea — you find a belt of land, whose sterile, frozen
soil symbolizes the moral condition of its inhabitants.
On the east, with the exception of a few missionary
spots, the Esquimaux sits in his wintery solitude, un-
warmed by the beams of grace ; on the west, the Aleutian
islander reposes in his subterranean abode, unenlightened
by the rays of the Sun of righteousness; while on the
broad lakes which lie between, and the streams which
bear their waters to the sea, the pagan red man rears
his humble dwelling beneath a cloud that bears no prom-
ise on its bosom. Come to that belt on which we stand,
and you find eastward the bright beams of British and
American civilization; but westward, on the slopes of the
Rocky Mountains, and on the banks of the rivers which
bear their melted snows, on the one side, to the Gulf, and,

106 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

on the other, to the Pacific, wandering tribes of red men,
without hope and without God in the world; look south-
ward, round the Gulf, and over the isthmus, and down
to Cape Horn, and you find mingled with paganism a
Christianity whose corruptions and imperfections call
loudly for your aid. Turn to the old world. Here is
Europe, so long the radiant center of science and relig-
ion, having thousands of pagans on one border, and
millions of Mohammedans upon another, and scattered
from side to side three millions of the children of Abra-
ham, while the Christianity which it presents is, to a
great extent, paganized. Ascend the Ural Mountains,
and look down upon Asia, the birthplace of the human
race, and the birthplace of its Redeemer; the land on
which the floods descended, and on which the ark re-
posed ; where the law came down from heaven, and God's
own temple rose from earth ; where patriarchs walked
with God, and apostles stood with Christ; the birthplace
of science, of poetry, and of art; at whose altar-fires the
Grecian and the Roman lighted their tapers, and from
whose groves there is still wafted to us the strains that
left Isaiah's lips of fire, and David's consecrated harp !
Do we not owe her something? and is she not worthy
of our noblest exertions — the land of broad streams and
cloud-capped mountains, of immense empires and throng-
ing populations? Be not alarmed at her magnitude.
The Christian warrior may say, as once the Grecian did,
in view of Persia's hosts, "Show us not how many the
enemy are, but where they are !" for the genius of Asia
is a driveling dotard, the patron of Sabean superstition,
the father of the false prophet, the nurse of the follies
of Boodhism, and the absurdities and abominations of the
Brahminic faith. Look onward to the Pacific islands,
and you witness the same scenes; turn to Africa, and
along its northern border, and through its interior, you

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 107

have Mohammedanism; while, with the exception of a
few missionary stations on the coast, all else is one black
cloud of pagan darkness.

Throughout this field which we have surveyed human-
ity is sluggish. You find either savagery or barbarism,
or stationary civilizations — no activity, no accumulation,
no progress. So mentally; you see either sottish stupid-
ity, or gross ignorance, or dreams and fictions. There is
no liberty; every-where you see either anarchy or des-
potism in their worst forms. Woman, one-half of the
race, is depressed, degraded, enslaved — here locked up in
the seraglio, there yoked by the peasant to his plow;
here bought and sold as a chattel personal, and there de-
nied access to the table of her husband and the temple
of the gods. Woman in her ingratitude may complain
of the Gospel as abridging her liberties ; but let her go
beyond the limits of Christendom, and she will find that
she has left her shield. Man also is enslaved. Look
at that great Indian peninsula, where caste prevails ; and
what means caste but that the greater part of men must
be outcasts? The sudras — the laborers — the most nu-
merous and useful portion of the inhabitants, are denied
access to the Vedas, the sacred books. He who teaches
them religion is doomed to hell. Almost every-where in
paganism we find the population divided into masters
and slaves, a distinction which I am sorry to say is found
in some regions of Christendom, but it will not be when
Christianity is thoroughly Christianized. There is, too,
no morality worthy of the name — no perfect rule of life,
no sufficient motive to obedience, no sufficient encourage-
ment to guilty and fallen man. Every-where we find
either infanticide or parricide, or man-stealing or man-
eating, or human sacrifices practiced, not as wrong, but
as right. Long as the Indian pursues his foe with up-
lifted tomahawk, crying, "Revenge is sweet!" long as

108 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

the Mohammedan mingles with the eternal truth, there
is one God, that eternal falsehood, Mohammed is his
prophet; long as he sums up the rule of duty in the
four precepts, "Pray five times a day, looking toward
Mecca; give alms to the widow and orphan; eat no meat
by daytime during the fast of the Ramadan, and make
the pilgrimage of the Cahaba;; — precepts which the
vilest villain on earth may scrupulously perform ; long as
to his excited imagination the most beautiful houris
stretch their arms for the most bloody warriors, and the
goodliest gate of glory opens upon the most sanguinary
plain of earth ; long as the Berber is an habitual thief,
and the Rind and the Loories are malignant robbers, and
the Bedouin transmits his hostilities to his children, and
unoffending family meets unoffending family upon the
sand, crying, "There is blood between us I" long as the
Hindoo luxuriates in self-torture as the means of salva-
tion, and the Chinese mother eagerly thrusts her infant
to the arms of death, and the Malay lifts his murderous
cries, and runs his deadly ua much ;" long as the Galla
arrays himself in entrails, and besmears himself in blood,
and rushes out to push his incursions in every direction,
sparing neither age nor sex; long as the Makooas are
cannibals, and the marts of Africa are crowded with hu-
man stock, and the altars of Dahomey and Ashantee
smoke with human victims, so long will I pray the Gos-
pel may have free course through the earth.

There is in this field no knowledge of salvation.
Viewed in any light, the condition of the heathen is suf-
ficiently alarming. See them in their lust, and blood,
and darkness. If the harvest is determined by the sow-
ing, and if the same laws prevail in the next world that
we find in this, then so sure as there is a resurrection, it
must be for them a resurrection unto shame and everlast-
ing contempt. Close, now, the volume of nature, and

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 109

open the volume of revelation, and you read that God's
first great law is against idolatry; look upward, and you
see over the gate of heaven the inscription, "No idola-
ter can enter;" look downward, and you find around the
mouth of hell these words: "The nations that forget
God." I confess I can not take those cheerful views of
the heathen that some do. I see no other way whereby
men may be saved than through Jesus. " This is life
eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent." Do you say they will be judged
by the law written on the heart? Granted. But do
they not violate this law? Is it possible that obedience
to a law written by the finger of the true God should
work out such desolating results as we see in the pagan
world ? Does not the apostle Paul conclude that the
heathen are without excuse, because that when they
knew God they glorified him not as God, but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was
darkened ?

But we are not left to infer our duty. We have but to
open the New Testament, and we read the great commis-
sion, " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature;" a command accompanied by the promise,
"Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the
world," and illustrated by the closing words of the sacred
canon, " And the Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let
him that is athirst come," etc. But the Christian need
not open his book; let him but open his heart, and he
will find his commission. The first drop of grace let fall
upon a human heart makes it a witnessing heart ; it cries
out, "Draw near, all ye that love God, and I will tell you
what he hath done for my soul;" and the next drop
makes it a missionary heart, crying out, "I have great
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for my breth-
ren, my kinsmen according to the flesh;" and the third

110 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

drop, methinks, makes it a martyr heart, crying out, "I
could wish myself accursed from Christ." I could be
crucified, as was Jesus, if by dying I could lead my fel-
low-men to God. But the Christian need not open his
heart; let him but open his mouth, and forth will come
the proof of his high calling; for he will, if he pray
according to the Savior's model, say, " Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. "
He will testify that he is apprehended to emulate the
angels, to endeavor to spread around the globe the
happiness, the obedience, and the anthems of the skies.
The object is desirable — is it practicable? Can we, in
our own day, evangelize the world ? I answer, yes.
Look at the history of missions. Modern missions date
in 1534, when Ignatius Loyola put some of his disciples
under the vow of poverty and chastity, to consecrate them-
selves to the conversion of the heathen. The first great
movement was in 1541, when Xavier, the great apostle
of the Indies, set sail for the scene of his toils and his
triumphs. What was the result ? So encouraging that
the Pope indorsed the enterprise, and engaged the whole
Church in it. Soon the Indian peninsula, China, and
the islands beyond, received the Gospel, and a cordon of
missionary ports was placed in the old world around the
Levant, and in the new world, from Hudson's Bay to the
reductions of Paraguay. In the Indies and China there
was a reaction, but it was of the political element which
the Church had mingled with the religious. True, the
ministry was expelled, and I am sorry to say that it was
not the Gospel, but the missionary that was introduced.
Still, it was difficult even to expel him; it took fifty years
of bloody revolution in Japan, while in China and India
the chapel and the monastery still stand. In the new
world there has been no reaction. This missionary en-
ergy of Rome lias been its salvation. If she, with her

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. Ill

corruptions and disadvantages, can do so much, what
may not we do ? The Protestant missionary enterprise is
scarce fifty years old. True, before that, the Dutch, the
Danes, the Swedes, and the English had missions, and
Constantinople and London had three missionary socie-
ties ; but the Church had not educated herself up to the
great idea of evangelizing the world. No denomination
in Christendom, if we except the six hundred Moravian
exiles, had opened its eye upon the duty.

Since we have commenced with a proper view, what
have we accomplished ! Although the Church has been
slow in reaching a conviction of her obligations to the
world; and although, in the last fifty years, she has prob-
ably given less than one hundred millions of dollars; al-
though this year, which has probably been the year of
her greatest liberality, she gives in America seven hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars, and in Europe about two
millions, yet what hath she accomplished ! She has
planted missionary stations in every part of the globe, so
that the sun in his march around the earth looks down
upon no half degree from which the voice of prayer does
not ascend, in the name of Christ, to the gate of heaven.
She has two hundred and fifty thousand communicants in
the mission Churches, and two hundred and forty thou-
sand children and adults in the mission schools; she has
her presses at work at almost every station ; she has
translated the Bible into two hundred living languages —
languages accessible to six hundred millions of earth's
population. It is as though a warrior who meditated the
subjugation of the world, had planted his military posts
in the most advantageous positions round the globe, had
fortified these posts, had manned them with soldiers, had
furnished these soldiers with arms, and ammunition, and
skillful officers, and had planted his Paixan peace-makers
just where, the moment the spark was applied, they would

112 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

rake the fields of the foe. "Well, can we not finish the
work ? Do you say we have not the men, we could not
fill up the chasm? Suppose we need six hundred thou-
sand. Well, if Christian Russia can spare more than
seven hundred thousand soldiers, and Christian France
five hundred and eighty-one thousand soldiers, one hun-
dred and thirty thousand seamen, eighty thousand horse-
men, and one hundred and forty thousand more, and Chris-
tian England six hundred and seventy men of war, and
seventeen thousand marines, besides an immense land
force, from productive labor, to do nothing in time of
peace but march and countermarch, and form hollow
squares and long columns, and sham-battle lines, and in
time of war to fight with the iron of wickedness, can not
all Christendom furnish six hundred thousand men to
fight the battles of righteousness ? And observe that
God seems to be multiplying population in Christendom
with a view to such a draft, while all heathendom does
not increase more than about three millions per annum.
Russia doubles her population every fifty years, and the
United States every twenty years. Observe again that
this number would not be wanted long; for the heathen
when converted would furnish their own ministers. But
they must be ministers, and we have a scarcity at home;
where shall we find them? In that great graveyard of
buried talent, the Church of God. Bring him who
spoke in the dull, cold ear of death to this spiritual
sepulcher, and the spiritual Lazaruses will rise and
say, "Here are we, send us." Look around the world.
Lo, the harvest of undying souls — for every acre of it,
sure as there's a God in heaven, he has a laborer on
earth. " Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would
send forth laborers into his harvest."

But the missionaries must be qualified. True, and we
can furnish qualified men by tens of thousands — men

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 113

better qualified than the apostles, both absolutely and
relatively. God has for years past been taking the golden
candlesticks out of the heathen nations and putting them
into Christian nations, so that they have become the
great center of the world's illumination; and a man can
no more be raised in Christendom without being enlight-
ened, than an angel could be raised amid the lamps of
heaven without being illuminated. The mere Sabbath
school scholar, yea, the very slave that knows no letter of
the alphabet, knows more of God, of man, of human
duty than did Socrates or Plato. The Church, like God
when he came to chaos, says, Light; instantly light is over
every moral and intellectual field.

The apostles went from an obscure province of the
Roman dominions and encountered prejudice wherever
they moved. The modern missionary goes from Britain
and America, nations whose flags float in every sea, and
are respected wherever they float. God seems to have
been taking power from pagan nations and giving it to
Christian. A few British cannon battered down the
Chinese wall of centuries — thirty thousand British sol-
diers keep in subjection one hundred and twenty million
Hindoo pagans. It is said in the Bible, one shall chase
a thousand; but here we see one chase four thousand.
Four hundred and twenty-eight Americans marched in
and out of Japan; for what Britain can do so can her
daughter, and the missionary going from either country
can hold up his head better than ever did Roman in the
palmiest days of his empire. The apostles preached to
proud polished Romans — speculative, scornful, and philo-
sophic Grecians; the modern missionary preaches to such
as the besotted African or the stupid Hindoo.

But where shall we obtain the money? The war ex-
penses of Great Britain alone, during the last fifty years,

were £1,237,143,931 — a sum which, if put at interest at

10

114 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

six per cent., would fiirnisli a missionary for every thou-
sand inhabitants among the heathen forever. Now, if
one Christian nation can spend such a principal for the
destruction of men, can not all Christian nations together
furnish the interest of it for the salvation of men ? But
how much money is wanted? Say six hundred mill-
ion dollars — the estimate is extravagant, but set it down —
well, fifty million for our share ; double it — one hundred
millions — well, let each inhabitant pay four dollars, and
the sum is raised. The last census shows the wealth of
the country sufficient to give every citizen three hundred
and fifty-six dollars. Can not each, then, spare four dol-
lars for the conversion of the world? Suppose, however,
we rely upon the Church alone. We have say four mill-
lion communicants; let each pay twenty-five dollars, and
the sum is raised; and if the wealth of the whole popu-
lation average three hundred and fifty-six dollars, the
wealth of the Church must be one thousand dollars per
member. Let it be observed that God is taking wealth
out of pagan nations and giving it to Christian. The
best lands, the most productive mines, the richest com-
merce, and the most profitable manufactures belong to
Christendom. The mines of California and Australia
have just been given to Protestant Christendom, for which
they seem to have been reserved. The Levant once sup-
plied Europe with cutlery; now Europe supplies the Le-
vant. India once manufactured for the west; now the
British manufacture even India cotton for India.

Mark, too, that missions are remunerative. Thrust but
the plow through Africa or Australia, and what untold
resources would come forth, and whither would they flow,
but into the bosom of the Christianizing nation? Look
at the Sandwich Islands, converted by an outlay of eight
hundred and eighty thousand dollars — scarcely enough to
build a ship of war and keep it in action a year; now she

THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 115

is the mart of our commerce, and our half-way house to
China, sending out missionaries at her own expense to
the regions beyond her.

Mark, too, that this outlay would not long be required,
for every year would probably diminish greatly the neces-
sity of missionaries — congregations would become self-
supporting.

Observe, too, that Christians would not have to raise
their missionary contributions alone; for if the Church
once resolved to do her duty, infidelity would be silenced,
indifference would become alarmed, and men would fly to
the gates of Zion as doves to their windows.

Observe the facilities which Providence affords us for
the work. The apostles had to travel on foot and send
out their missionaries in the same way, or, at best, on
horseback. We can send missionaries by steam; we can
supply their wants by steam. In Paul's day the Church
had to save their copper and silver, and when the contri-
bution became considerable detail a special messenger
to travel on foot through difficult roads and over danger-
ous mountains, often infested by robbers, to convey their
beneficence. Now, the want of a missionary being made
known in the metropolis, travels along telegraphic wires
in no time to every congregation in the land, and the
contributions of the Church are sent on slips of paper-
drafts — by the mail, an agency unknown to the apostles —
traveling at the rate of thirty or forty miles an hour.
We can travel to the ends of the earth in less than the
time which Paul required to go from Jerusalem to Rome.
The British mail goes regularly from Southampton to
Hong Kong, a distance of 11,500 miles, in fifty-five days.

There is no telling what energies reside in a man till
he is tried. Who dreamed that there was power in Alex-
ander to achieve the conquest of the world ? Yet when
he set the object before him the power came out of him.

116 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Who dreamed that there was power in the colonies of
these United States to contend successfully with the
colossal might of Great Britain? Yet there was; and
nothing more was needed to develop it but to set before
them the magnificent object of national independence.
Let the Church set before her the glorious enterprise of
redeeming the earth, and she shall not fail. Let any one
of this assembly set before himself the glorious object of
being an apostle of the Gentiles, and, by the grace of
God, he shall go through the earth as a flaming Paul.

0 that we could breathe into you the missionary spirit !
Great is the undertaking, but great is the promise. An
ancient king, on the eve of a battle in which the enemy
were ten times as numerous as his own troops, went forth,
in the darkness, among his tents to observe the spirit of
his men. He found a group murmuring against him,
comparing their own numbers with those of the opposing
host, and declaring it madness to meet the foe. Throw-
ing aside his robe and displaying the insignia of royalty,
he said, "But how many have you counted me for?''
Would you go forth against a world? Sit down and esti-
mate how many He may be counted for, who has said he
will be with you alway.

In reflections of this kind I have often been alarmed.
An infidel said to me the other day, there is as much in-
fidelity in the Church as out of it. Alas ! there is much
reason for the remark. If the Son of man were to come
to-day, would he find faith on the earth ? If he were to
come into this assembly, would he find it among us? O
if there were faith as a grain of mustard-seed, mountains
would be removed and cast into the sea! Lord, we be-
lieve, help thou our unbelief.

MISSIONS REMUNERATIVE. 117

IHssiflttiS $tmttitmtitot.

I AM expected to say something of the advantages
which the Church derives from her missionary opera-
tions. I begin by saying that missions promote the
education of the Church. It is a principle in political
economy that demand is the measure of supply. Mis-
sions demand disciplined intellect, and disciplined intel-
lect comes forth for them. Take an illustration. We
are now at peace with all the world, and we can name but
few men among us qualified to lead armies. Let war
break out, and with foemen worthy our steel ; let a neces-
sity arise, for example, to bear the star-spangled banner
to Constantinople or Paris, and a patriotic enthusiasm
would spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific; our sem-
inaries and colleges would be turned into military acad-
emies, and a hundred thousand swords would leap from
the thighs of heroes. So if we widen the mission field
as we should, and create a demand for one hundred thou-
sand moral heroes to fight the battles of the Lord, we
shall have them.

Missions promote the intelligence of the Church. Let
a man take an interest in them, and he will read reports
of their progress ; thus reading, he will find many allu-
sions to geography, geology, botany, zoology, etc., and
will find himself allured into these sciences and collat-
eral ones. Moreover, he will take such papers as the
Missionary Advocate — full of statistics as any thing I
know. We may defy a man, a Church, a Sabbath school,

118 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

to take a deep interest in missionary operations without
making steady, if not rapid, progress in almost all de-
partments of useful knowledge. The missionaries have
thrown light upon the pages of the Bible, as well as
those of nature. They have translated the word of God
into two hundred languages, and every time they have
translated it, they have made every noun, verb, and par-
ticle, from the beginning of Genesis to the close of the
Apocalypse, a subject of patient, intense, and prayerful
study. They have settled some of the most interesting
problems which have ever engaged the attention of the
human mind — such as the unity of the human race,
which they have illustrated by the unity of human lan-
guages— the universality of depravity, which they have
illustrated by the identity of mental and moral affinities
in all parts of the world — the divinity of the Gospel,
which they have proved by reviving, with its pages, the
moral miracles of its author.

Missions tend to silence the enemies of the Church
We lament that a vast amount of gifted and cultivated
mind, in the United States, England, and France, is infi-
del. How is it to be converted ? Not so much by our
arguments as our lives. Let us show, by our zeal in the
promulgation of the Gospel in the earth, that we believe
what we teach. The Papacy is feared by many who look
upon this great valley as the theater of the great battle
of modern times. Be it so. How shall we prepare for
it? Not by supineness, but by sending troops abroad
and teaching them how to fight, by keeping up the flames
of holy zeal, by entering into alliances with distant parts
of the earth ; so shall we have the tactics, the ammuni-
tion, and the auxiliaries for the occasion.

Missions relieve the Church of her burdens. The first
of them is her surplus revenue — a curse, whether in
Church or state, particularly in the former. It must

MISSIONS REMUNERATIVE. 119

neither be hoarded, nor spent sinfully, but spent in mis-
sions. The last is the only safe outlet sufficiently large.
If it be hoarded, the Church will be in the situation of a
horse attached to an overloaded cart; unable to move. It
were a mercy to her if a part of the load were taken off,
even if it were cast into the sea. If her means be spent
sinfully, her piety will die out. Hence, she must turn
to her missions for her salvation. She has a burden of
emotion. Some think this an apathetic age; but it is an
intensely-excited one. The emotion, however, is pent
up, and, therefore, corrupted; hence the various forms
of superstition, enthusiasm, delusion. Let it out in the
great channel of missionary benevolence, if you would
prevent its stagnation.

Another burden of the Church is surplus talent.
There was a time when enlightened minds were like
volcanic summits, here and there one lighting up a sea
of darkness. Now the whole platform of society is
raised up to a level with the volcanic craters, and the
flames are spreading all around, as in a prairie on fire.
Go through the villages, and you find where the Church
has not sent off colonies, she is not so strong as she was
five or ten years ago — too many great men — they are
checkmated. Look over the Church : you find too much
controversy, too much strife. We have division upon
division, till Protestantism is rendered almost ridiculous;
and the end is not yet; there is still agitation, discon-
tent. New forms of doctrine and discipline must be
tried. Widen the sphere of action if you would cure
the evil.

Allow an illustration. A naval commander found him-
self at sea, in the midst of a mutiny. He was a gallant
captain; but his strict discipline and haughty bearing
had aroused to rebellion some ambitious spirits under his
command. He received information of the designs and

120 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

plans of the mutineers in detail, even to the watchword,
"Buff the cue/' meaning kill the captain. The infor-
mation was timely, and he might have promptly tried the
mutineers by drum-head court-martial, and hung them
one by one at the yard-arm. But he loved his troops,
even though rebellious, and he thought of a better way.
Concealing his plans, he gave directions to change the
course of the vessel. But whither? Not homeward.
It was a time of war, and he steered for the foe. Soon
he saw two vessels of the enemy, each superior to his
own, and promptly placed himself between them ; and when
the decks were cleared for action, and the marines were
waiting for the signal, the commander stood before them,
and pointing on one side and on the other to the cannon's
opening mouths, and above to their country's honored
flag, he said, "Now, my boys, I'll teach you how to buff
the cue !" The mutiny was over, love took the place
of hatred, the marines knew how to be forgiven, and
never did sailors fight more nobly or gloriously than they.
And now the decks are slippery with blood, the cockpits
groan with the dying, and the shrouds are filled with the
dead. Ah! that gallant "cue," that moves erect amid
the storm of battle, is the last thing that the sailor would
"buff." So when Zion's fleet becomes rebellious let
her Captain sail her out into the thickest of the
foe, and she will have work enough without "buffing
the cue."

Missions are the only theater upon which can be dis-
played, at the present day, the power of the Christian
faith. In Christian countries Christianity is protected,
sometimes patronized, her temples built, her altars
planted, her priests paid, from the public purse. Even
where this is not the case, she is respected. She at-
tracts to herself wealth, influence, education, integrity,
all the elements of respectability. She sends to the

MISSIONS REMUNERATIVE. 121

forum and the field, the bench and the bar, the halls
of science and the halls of legislation, their noblest
ornaments. Hence, she is not opposed, not persecuted.
I know, indeed, that the world, though an angel of light,
is still an angel of darkness, that the flesh, though in
appearance a dove, is in reality a serpent, and that the
devil, though he has changed his tactics, is not dead,
nor even sick ; but persecution has ceased to be visible
in Christendom. We must go abroad to show the full
power of faith. View the mission field in any aspect
you please, it is grand. It is a field of discovery. As I
survey the past with my eye upon the waters, I find noth-
ing more sublime than Columbus approaching the new
world, and pacing his deck overwhelmed with emotion,
while he thinks of the strange consequences of his land-
ing. The missionary sails to a mental world, which is as
much a terra incognita to the civilized earth as was this
continent to Ferdinand and Isabella, and as much more
sublime than that as mind is superior to matter. The
consequences of his landing, too, are as much more im-
portant as eternity exceeds time ; his motives are supe-
rior. The geographical discoverer is actuated either by
a desire of fame, as was Columbus, or avarice, as were
Verrizani and the Cabots, or a thirst for the fountain
of immortal youth, as was Ponce de Leon, or a hope of
finding an El Dorado, as was Ferdinand de Soto. The
missionary renounces goods, and fame, and ease, and
health, and life, if need be, that he may make the moral
desert blossom as the rose, and open in its sands the
fountain of eternal life. View the mission field as one
of conquest, how grand ! Six hundred Moravian exiles,
for example, poor and persecuted, resolve to take the
world. They seize Asia in the center and at its southern
extremity, Africa at its northern and southern extremities,
and America at Greenland, South Carolina, and Gruiana.

11

122 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

What forces equally small have ever been equally
aspiring? View it as a field of difficulty and danger.
See Christian David and the brothers Stach going to
Greenland, without money or influence; or hope of either,
without a knowledge of the geography of the country or
the language of its inhabitants, and even without an in-
terpreter. They have a fishing-boat, with which they
support themselves on seals and sea-weed. How are they
treated ? At first the savages endeavor to allure them to
their own wanton practices. Failing in this, they visit
the missionaries with insult and abuse. When they bow
down to pray, or sing, the savages drown their voices
with hideous howlings and the beat of drums. As this
is patiently endured, they stone them, or leap upon their
backs, and tear their hair, and seize their boat, and
endeavor to drive it out to sea. What do the brethren ?
Why, what no warrior ever did. They resolved to " be-
lieve when nothing was to be seen, and hope when noth-
ing was to be expected."

" Fired with a zeal peculiar, they defy
The rage and rigor of a northern sky,
And plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose
On icy fields, amid eternal snows."

Look at G-nadenhutten. The mission family is at sup-
per. A barking of dogs arouses them. A brother goes
to the back door to see what is the matter. The report
of a gun brings the mission family to their feet. Some
rush to the front door. A platoon of Indians fire as it
opens. One missionary drops dead at the threshold.
His wife and others are wounded by his side. The well
and wounded rush up stairs and barricade the door with
bedsteads. The Indians pursuing them, baffled, fire the
building. A sick woman crawls from a window, and con-
ceals herself; two brethren leap from the burning roof
and escape; a third, essaying to do so, is shot and

MISSIONS REMUNERATIVE. 123

scalped; the rest are burned. The concealed woman
looks out upon the scene, and beholds her sister on the
burning roof, in the attitude of prayer, and hears her
, in a clear, sweet voice, "'Tis all well, my dear
nor!" Tell me not of Regulus or Carthaginian tor-
ments in view of such a scene.

The missionary enterprise brings scenes of moral
grandeur to our own doors. Have you seen the mis-
sionary leave his native land? Then you have thought
of Paul at Miletus, when, amid the elders of Ephesus, he
said, "I know that in every city bonds and afflictions
abide me. But none of these things move me, neither
count I my life dear, so that I may finish my course with
joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord
Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God." You
have been reminded how the elders fell on the apostle's
neck, and kissed him, and wept sore, sorrowing most of
all for the words which he spoke, that they should see his
face no more. In the weeping group around the depart-
ing missionary, perhaps there is a mother. It was a
precious service which that one rendered who anointed
the Savior's head with precious ointment, and which she
rendered who washed his feet with her tears, and wiped
them with the hair' of her head, and which the Marys
tendered, when they repaired to his sepulcher with
spices ) but there are Marys in our day who have offered
that which is more precious than all — their sons. "What
mother of Maccabees, what mother of Greeks, sending
her sons to battle, and charging them to bring their
shields back, or be brought back upon them, what
mother of Scipios or Gracchi, girding her sons for
bloody fields, surpasses the mother of Lyman, who,
when told that her son had fallen in the mission field,
that he was slain and devoured by cannibals, said, "I
thank God that he ever gave me such a son, and I would

124 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

that I had another that I might send to preach Jesus to
the savages that drank his blood I" The skeptic asks
us for proof that our faith has power; and well he may;
for other things have power. Sensuality has power — eat-
ing out a man's fortune, and reputation, and happiness,
and vitals, and even moral and mental faculties. Avarice
has power — often pressing a man till it gets him into
the hardest possible state and the narrowest possible
compass of a man. Ambition has power — often leading
a man over the Pyrenees, and the Alps, and the Apen-
nines, and the Rhine, and the Hhone — the ancient
barriers of nations — plunging him into a sea of slaugh-
ter, to swim in blood till he sinks beneath the wave.
Liberty has power now and then — building a tomb in
some new Thermopylae, or rushing upon destruction at
some new Marathon, or reviving the serried lines of
Platea, or renewing the sea-fight of Salamis. Well,
religion has a power that excelleth. We might point to
that cloud of witnesses who, through faith, subdued
kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of
fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness
were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight
the armies of the aliens; women received their dead,
raised to life, and others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance, and others had trials of cruel mockings and
scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments.
But the skeptic has not faith to see these worthies.
Well, the history of missions gives us an appendix to the
eleventh chapter of the Hebrews, and renews the cloud
both of dving and living witnesses.

CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 125

tist as a ®m||tr.

FIRST. He is a popular teacher. He attracted the
masses. Although he was without folly, without art,
without depravity, in a world of frivolity, and deceit, and
wickedness; although he appealed to no interest, or pas-
sion, or prejudice, but set his pupils, as their first lesson,
to solve the hard problem of poverty, shame, and perse-
cution for the truth, yet men in throngs press after him :
in the streets and in the temple, in the city and in the
wilderness, a sea of excited human heads dashes about
him. Scarce can he eat, or drink, or sleep without ob-
servation. Now the roof is open above him to let down
a suffering sinner to his sight, and now a vessel is an-
chored at his feet that he may escape the pressure of the
crowd that arises around him on the land. Now he as-
cends a mountain that he may look down upon the up-
turned faces below him, and now he must hide himself
in the darkness and in the thicket to have an hour of
private prayer. It is only occasionally that any man can
get a crowd. No man can hold it long: the multitude,
after hearing once or twice, lose their curiosity. When
Socrates taught, a few young men only were enchanted
by his voice ; and when Plato lectured at the Pyreus, the
people, though they ran together to hear him, left him
as rapidly as they collected. Jesus not only gathered the
masses from city and watch-tower, from palace and cot,
but kept them around him till he died. "At the begin-
ning of his ministry great multitudes followed him from

126 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and
from Judea, and from beyond Jordan;" and when he
closed it, the multitude spread their garments and palm
branches beneath his triumphant feet, and shouted him
through the streets of the city. Even while he hangs
dying on the cross, all Calvary is alive around him.
What is the secret of his popularity?

1. His doctrines are popular. The earth has produced
many great and good men, but where is one whose words
are so broad as those of Christ ? The words of an Alex-
ander may move armies; the words of Jesus move hearts.
The words of a Demosthenes may move a nation; the
words of Jesus move the world. An Aristotle may sway
the human mind for ages, but he must erelong drop the
scepter. Christ extends his moral dominion with every
revolving year. The words of Zoroaster, Confucius, Mo-
hammed, abide not the light; the words of Christ make
light, and make it more and more abound. Scott, Bax-
ter, Byron, can move only a particular frame of mind
and tone of heart; the Savior reaches the mind in all its
frames, the heart in all its tones. Every principle he
announces has a world-wide sweep. Mark his summary
of the law: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy mind," etc. — a precept so narrow as to measure the
smallest thought of the smallest man; so broad as to
compass the mightiest outgoings of the largest angel; so
perfect as to bind all moral beings to the throne of God,
and produce eternal and universal harmony, and happi-
ness, and progress. Mark, too, his revelation of God:
"God so loved the world," etc. Neither the element —
love; nor the measure — the gift of his "only begotten ;"
nor the purpose — the "whosoever" — can be exceeded
even in conception.

2. His style is popular. He that would teach the peo-
ple must condescend to speak as they speak. Christ's

CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 127

style is either dialogistic, as when he would confound his
foes; or allegorical, when he would reprove the captious;
or metaphorical, when he would instruct the inquiring —
just the style of that great Grecian sage who sought to
bring down philosophy from heaven to earth. He always
teaches. In the field and in the highway, in the tumult
and in the solitude, walking and resting, seated at meals
or reposing on the mountains, he is, concerning things
both temporal and eternal, "a living epistle, known and
read of all men." He flies through all the scenes, and
employments, and trials of life, scattering " apples of
gold in pictures of silver." He so associates truth with
the heavens and the earth as to make every thing a me-
morial of duty, a remembrancer of truth, or a reprover
of sin. He charges the delighted babe drinking at the
fountain of the breast, with the message to its happy
mother of "Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the
word of God and keep it." He hath taught the hammer
to echo to the ear of the laborer in every stroke the
admonition, "Labor not for the meat that perisheth."
Who doth not drink water? Well, over every fountain
and flood Christ hath poured this crystal stream of truth,
"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again,
but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst." Who hath not lifted up his
eyes to that glorious sun? Well, in his bosom Christ
hath set this eternal truth, "I am the light of the world. "
Who hath not felt the night closing around him? Well,
Jesus hath written on all its curtains this luminous line,
" The night cometh when no man can work." Who hath
not had his thoughts carried down to the chambers of
death? Well, there is a voice from the sepulcher, "I
am the resurrection and the life." Thus Christ touches
almost every object in nature; and whatever he touches,
though it be but a lily or a sparrow, forth leaps a living

128 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

truth. With simplicity Jesus blends majesty. When he
states a precept, it is as though he had planted a new
rock on the earth. When he utters a doctrine, it is as
though he hung a new star in heaven.

8. Jesus is popular in his sympathies. Teachers often
make distinctions among their pupils. Thus Aristotle
confined his attention to Alexander because he was Phil-
ip's son, and Plato left the Academy that he might in-
struct Dionysius ; but Christ, like his Father, is " no re-
specter of persons." He looks at man as man ; he pier-
ces through parentage, and rank, and wealth, and fame,
and genius, and power on the one hand, and through
shame, and toil, and ignorance, and suffering, and rags
on the other, to the simple spirit; and when he finds it,
he estimates it by its character and qualifications, all that
constitutes its manhood — its capacity to be angel or devil
forever. Whether he treads the highest or lowest walks
of life, he stands upon the same platform ; whether he is
surrounded by beggars or princes, he speaks as to the
same brotherhood. While he pays due attention to Nic-
odemus, and the centurion, and Joseph, of Arimathea,
he is wont to turn from the palace to the hut, to gather
around him the children of want and sorrow, to move in
light and mercy amidst blinded minds and bleeding
hearts — not because of his partiality, but of their neces-
sities. With a godlike spirit he stooped to children ;
with kingly condescension he ate at the tables of the
poor. Without sympathy with sin, and as a shepherd
goes into the wilderness to seek and to save the lost, he
preached to publicans and harlots. Not with the rude
elbow of stoical indifference, but with the soft hand of
life-giving love, he touched the coffin and the couch. In
all this there is a peculiar beauty and propriety. Behold
poor Bunyan in his prison, as his children have gathered
around him ! to which does his heart most strongly turn ?

CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 129

to his poor, pale, blind daughter; and now as they bid
him farewell, see how he grasps the hand of the helpless
one, and detains her after the rest have gone, and pours
over her his most earnest, agonizing prayer! Now, had
the Father of mercies come down to that family, would
he not, also, have shown most pity and tenderness to his
less one? Even so when he did come to this world
in the person of the blessed Jesus.

Christ was a teacher democratic in the largest and best
sense — for the people, for all the people, for even the
lowest of the people, for all the people alike. If he had
not been, our hearts would have turned from him as be-
ing unworthy to represent the Being who lighted up that
sun, and poured the oceans from his urn.

Second. Christ was a humble teacher. His spirit is
one of meekness and lowliness. Let us beware of mis-
take here. These qualities may be passive; if so, they
are infirmities ; they are incompatible with decision, dig-
nity, energy — with highest manhood. In Christ they are
active. His answers are soft, because he chooses that the
words which might burst from his lips, like the rebukes
of Sinai, should distill as the dew of Hermon; his re-
proofs are gentle, not because they want force, but be-
cause they enter the heart obliquely; his censures are
mild, not for lack of power, but for abundance of love;
his manners are affable, not because he is fearful, or un-
steady, or dependent, but because, while he holds the
keys of death and hell, he wills, by bearing injuries, and
reproaches, and persecutions, and crucifixion with a for-
giving temper, to set revengeful man an example. He is
humble, not because of his fallibility, but because he
would correct the arrogance of fallible man ; he is mod-
est, not because he undervalues his own qualifications,
but because man overvalues his; he was lowly, not be-
cause his mind was not set on high, but that he might

130 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

teach us how, while we pour heavenly music on the skies,
we may dwell upon the ground. On suitable occasions,
when mild reproof had been neglected, he stands up like
fire and breathes like famine. In his dilemmas there was
a caustic that burned scribes and Pharisees to the quick;
in his hand there was a scourge before which the defilers
of the temple fled; in his parables there played a hidden
lightning which erelong rent every tower and palace in
Jerusalem ; yet his prevailing manner how gentle ! how
sweet ! To those who listen to learn he gives, with un-
tiring patience, line upon line, and precept upon precept.
In the wayside he halts to welcome the softest voice of
supplicating sorrow. When he delivers his farewell to
his disciples, we see how he would " gather his children
together as a hen gathereth her brood under her wing."
When the disciple that had denied him with oaths and
cursing, stood trembling in his presence, and he says,
" Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?"
we learn what that meaneth, "He will not break the
bruised reed." Though Christ suffered even to the
cross, he acted — ah, how gloriously ! He touched all the
realms of nature, and they felt him ! they feel him now.
Though he went down to the sepulcher, he ascended the
skies, and bade his disciples follow him to heaven.
Though he owned no foot of land, "he gave notice of his
coming conquest of the world.

The themes of Christ evince his humility. Had he
opened the veins of silver, or formed the philosopher's
stone, or invented the elixir of mortal life ; had he
pointed to the compass, or the steam-engine, or the
press; had he exhibited the imposing spectacle of his-
tory, or lifted the vail from the invisible world, how
would warriors, philosophers, and monarchs have tracked
his footsteps to lay their honors at his feet ! True, his
mind moves through all nature as though he were fa-

CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 131

miliar with its laws, and he not only makes no mistakes
concerning them, but flashes beams of light across them
which the intellect of man requires ages of study to ap-
preciate ; but he does not teach science, not because he
could not, but because man could. Jesus, however, has
no jealousy of philosophy; he never condemns it; he
often, indeed, entices man to nature, and would have him
linger over its precious wells. He has no prejudice
against books. This well, too, is deep, and he leaves it,
not because he has no bucket, but because he that would
draw can make a bucket for himself. He confines his
attention to moral knowledge — that which the world by
wisdom could not know. But though his themes are
most novel, most elevated, most satisfying, yet the
blinded and depraved world concentrates all its con-
tempt upon them.

The pretensions of Christ are humble. True, he says,
"I and the Father are one;" and yet it required the
greatest humility to make such a pretension. If a man
even profess that (rod has forgiven his sins and made
him his child, he is branded as an enthusiast; he is
watched, and hated, and, if opportunity serve, pierced.
How much philosophy has cried against Jesus, "He hath
a devil and is mad !" No wonder the mob took up stones
to stone him; no wonder the Sanhedrim could not rest
till they led him to Calvary. But we see not yet the
depth of his humility. In the passage quoted he speaks
of the divinity within him ; in others he speaks of his
humanity as contradistinguished from it. "I can of
mine own self do nothing;" instead of setting up his
human reason as a God, he brings it to naught. It is
not in figurative, but in literal language; not merely in
one, but in many forms that he ascribes his teaching to
another, even the Father. "My doctrine is not mine."
It is not to God, as the Creator, that he ascribes his doc-

132 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

trines, as though he would remind us that intellect is
of God; but to G-od, as the Revealer, that he attributes
his plans, his doctrines, his very words. He who touched
all nature as God, who brought life and immortality to
light, and opened a fountain of mercy for all lands and
all times, says, nothing of my wisdom has welled up
from my own soul — it hath all come down from the
Father of lights.

Third. Christ is an independent teacher. It is a pretty
speculation of philosophy that every great man is either
an embodiment of the genius of his own age, or a happy
anticipation of the next. According to this theory, the
race, like the individual, is progressive, and its great
minds are the marks of its successive stages of advance-
ment. Bacon, for example, did but give visibility to the
great thoughts that had been gathering over the civilized
world ages before he arose ; Newton did but catch the
apple which his times had already ripened ; and Wash-
ington was but a manifestation of the spirit that had
long rushed through the quickened veins and breathed
through the dilated nostrils of his ancestors. As in the
distant spaces of creation a new world is the mere con-
densation of floating nebulae, so in the regions of mind.
But Jesus stands alone — the embodiment of no age, the
anticipation of none ; though he lived two thousand years
ago, he is ten thousand years ahead. His character has
been studied age after age, and the more studied the
more admired. Who hath ever found a fault in it? His
enemies have sought for one as for hid treasures, but in
vain. And yet, if it were there, it would be as a mount-
ain in a plain — conspicuous from all points. His friends
have endeavored to equal it, but no one has succeeded.
It is more than primitive innocence and goodness.
Though visible on earth, its place is far in heaven 5
and, to see it, you must look through a long colonnade

CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 133

of celestial light. The truth he brings is not truth in
blossom or in fruit, but in seed ; not to adorn and wither,
but to fall into the soul and germinate. Within his
simplest rule of man's duty are wrapped up the grandest
principles of God's government; by proverbs and exam-
ples he sets up guide-boards on all the cross-roads in the
realm of truth ; in outline he sketches the map of hu-
man knowledge, and by hints points us to the details ;
his instructions have been the subject of study for cen-
turies, and they are still of unexhausted interest — an un-
iting cruse of oil to feed the fires of mind. In a few
sentences, such as, " Take no thought what ye shall eat
and drink/' " When thou doest thine alms, do not sound
a trumpet before thee;" "Lay not up for yourselves
treasures on earth ;" " Fear not him which can kill the
body;" "Ye are the salt of the earth" — he teaches
the great principles of the subordination of the body to
the soul, of fame and interest to duty, of the present life
to that which is to come, of individual to general happi-
ness, etc. — principles which, philosophers and poets,
kings and prophets, sought but never found. We may
develop, and illustrate, and systematize Christ's teach-
ings, but never go beyond them. The germs of mental
philosophy, as well as morals, are all in his blessed
words. Political economy lies wrapped up in his golden
rule, and all the forms of charity and improvement are
but streams from the fountain of his law of love. He
discloses the true principle of reformation. It is doing
little to point out sin; it is doing little to punish it; it
is even doing little to prevent it. You may padlock the
fists, and the feet, and the lips, and yet the murder, and
the lust, and the lie may be in the man. Back of or-
gans and nerves in the intentions and principles of the
living agent is vice or virtue : hence, to make better men
you must make better hearts. The Spirit of Christ upon

134 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

the soul, like the warm body of the prophet upon the
corpse of the child, wakes up the stagnant pulse of spir-
itual life. In this Christ had no exemplar.

Jesus is independent of instructors. Few great men
are self-taught; they generally owe their excellences to
their opportunities : hence, Philip thanked the gods, not
so much that they had given him a son as that they had
given that son an Aristotle. Even the mightiest intel-
lects are very dependent. Plato, although he had en-
joyed the tutorship of Socrates, and the companionship
of Xenophon, goes to Cyrene to listen to Theodorus ; he
travels to Megara, and sits down, day after day, with
Euclid to enlarge and settle his mathematical knowl-
edge; he journeys to Italy and Sicily, to quicken his
reason and store his memory by conversation with the
learned — to collect materials of wisdom from primitive
sources, and inflame his imagination by extraordinary
natural objects. He compares teacher with teacher, ar-
gument with argument, system with system, that he may
correct his errors and enlarge the compass of his truth.
While communing with the giants of his own times, he
communes also with them of old; he stands with holy
awe on the banks of the Nile, till he seems to see Or-
pheus tune his lyre and Solon light his lamp. It was
otherwise with Christ. He was not reared at an Athens;
no Porch, or Academy, or Lyceum opened its gates to his
footsteps. He was the son of a carpenter, in an obscure
village of a rural district, in a despised province of the
world; and when he read the Scriptures to his neigh-
bors, they said, in astonishment, "How knoweth this
man letters, never having learned ?*' He travels not be-
yond the limits of his native land; he is a radiator, not
a reflector of light.

He is independent of books; he reads none, he writes
none, he needs none. He turns every thing around him

CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 135

into books; he makes legible the sympathetic ink with
which every soul is overwritten. He did but touch Na-
thaniel's memory, and he brought out the truth, "Thou
art the King of Israel ;" he did but touch Peter's heart,
and forth leaped the exclamation, "Thou art the Christ;"
he did but breathe his dying prayer over the centurion
that guarded his cross, and out burst the revelation,
"Truly, this man was the Son of God." It was not
Christ's words that startled the Samarian woman at the
well, but her own biography, which he telegraphed to her
in an instant; it was not what Christ wrote upon the sand,
but their own quickened consciences which convicted
those that stood around the adulteress, and made them
slink away one by one. How much better this unwritten
knowledge than all written: it is unerring, adapted to
each case. It was an experiment of modern times to re-
store a sick body by transfusing the blood of a healthy
one into its veins; but it was unsuccessful, because the
transfused current was not in a proper relation to the
vessels which received it; it irritated and bloated the
sinking system. Too much of our learning is of this
kind — a transfusion of thought into channels unadapted
to it, which only vitiates and puffs them up. The sick
soul, like the sick .body, must restore itself; its vital
organs must be aroused to vigorous action before its
streams can be enriched and purified. Of Wesley it is
said, that he was the quiescence of turbulence ; calm
himself, he set every thing around him in motion. He
learned this lesson of his Master, who, wherever he
moved, set the world on fire. But how did he do it ? by
kindling a furnace in himself and radiating the heat
around him? Nay; but by touching the heart and
quickening the pulses of men; the heat which he kin-
dled within them was vital — the more they ran from it
the more it flamed; it fed upon their thoughts, and was

136 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

fanned by their emotions; it was a part of them ; they
feel it now ; they will feel it ever. The word of Christ
resting upon the moral world is like the spirit that
brooded over chaos — it makes all life and motion, but to
each its own life and its own motion, while all is beau-
tiful and all is good. Some men seem to think that
their capacity to teach depends upon the number and
size of the books which they master. Enoch, Noah,
Abraham were teachers — world teachers — before there
were books. The heavens and the earth are full of
truth; it shines down and leaps upon all men alike. 0,
that our eyes were couched to see it ! The human soul
is pregnant with truth; let it be but delivered of its
burdens, and it will have a family of living children,
whose cherub faces will fill the spiritual house with
light. The greatest of ancient teachers said that he
was but a moral midwife, aiding the youth to bring forth
their ideas and sentiments, and to distinguish between
the abortive and the living birth. Alas ! the births
were too often dead. The Spirit of Christ overshadows
the soul as the power of the Highest rested upon his
mother, Mary, to quicken the holy things within, that
they may come forth " sons of God."

Teachers are too much afraid to try this plan. They
seem to think that all the truth of the universe has been
gathered. Earth has golden mines of knowledge yet
unopened in her mountains; as to the sea, the known
things of her are to the unknown as a few sands of her
shore to the waters which it encompasses; and as for the
sky, it is ever opening new worlds to the eyes of men.
And what shall we say of the spirit ? Are two souls cre-
ated alike ? Has not God given to each a peculiar power
and a peculiar treasure? Who shall describe the endless
variety of beauties which Jesus may open in his gardens
of grace and glory? Through the demonstrations of in-

CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 137

finite wisdom and power the thinking soul may always
find fresh paths.

Wo in this land should be the last to complain of bar-
renness of mind; for the new world is around us. Alas!
alas ! we are thrashing over and over again the old world's
dry straw, instead of thrusting the sickle into the new
world's green and waving harvest. These cloud-capped
hills are strewn all over with legends ready to be bound
into the bundles of Homeric odes and epics. These ven-
erable woods stand thick with God's own thoughts; they
leap by us in every deer that crosses our path; and fall
upon us in every descending leaf. New forms of human
love, and sympathy, and sin, and suffering, look out from
those cabin windows and burning brush-heaps, from yon-
der canebrakes and the far-off wigwams. We have book-
teachers enough. 0, for more bookless ones !

Jesus is independent of human reason. This is man's
pride ; yet it is a frail instrument, prone to error and
swayed by passion — of some use in discerning error, of
little in discovering truth. For near six thousand years
man sought, by dint of reason, to discover the origin, and
essence, and laws of all things, and all that time he was
demonstrating that he knew nothing. It is impossible to
exceed the absurdity of philosophy. Nothing so hum-
bling to the pride of human reason as the history of its
own achievements. At length we have learned to come
down from the clouds of speculation, and walk the earth
as Adam did the garden, waiting for the voice of God.
We gather truth as a child gathers flowers; we compare
facts; we group them together; we deduce general prin-
ciples, and arrange them in systems; and we call this
science; and so it is — science which God wrote for us
when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons
of God shouted for joy. (Similar volumes has he written
in the soul and we may study them, and copy, and test

12

138 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

our copies by the echo of the breast.) Man sought also
by reason to scaffold himself up to God; but his labors
produced only a blasted and confounded Babel. The
greatest philosopher of ancient times, as the greatest of
modern times, was but a negative teacher. Socrates was
mighty only to the pulling down of strongholds of human
reason ; he was light only as he revealed the darkness of
heathen wisdom ; he went through philosophy as the
angel of death did through Egypt. As Lord Verulam
sent men to nature for natural knowledge, so Socrates
bade man look to God for moral knowledge. Jesus comes;
-he disperses the clouds and darkness which were round
about God, in nature and in providence, and in the
Old Testament; he marshals into harmony the stars
which appeared to cross each other's paths in the skies
of truth; he opens a path beyond the grave; he lifts the
curtain from the judgment and the retributions which
are to follow. All around the horizon of past and future,
even outward eternally, Jesus floods the mountains with
light. And yet he reasons not; he speaks not as man,
with hesitation, with supposition, with argumentation,
but with authority — an authority to which, while miracles
certify, the soul itself responds; for, although his reve-
lations could not be discovered by reason, they commend
themselves to reason. As face answers to face in water,
so the truths of Jesus to the heart of man. The light
which comes millions of miles across the regions of
space is subject to the same laws as that which issues
from the candle ; so the light which traverses the spaces
of revelation from the face of the angel is the same as
that which shines in the face of the saint. All through
the New Testament we see the same principles that walk
the earth walking also the heavens. The Savior's heav-
en, indeed, is but the maturity of earthly goodness; his
hell but the ripening of the seeds of sin. Moreover,

CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 139

God has put bis witness in the breast, and when Jesus
hails the soul, that witness leaps within as John leaped
in the womb of Elizabeth at the salutation of Mary.

Jesus is independent of circumstances. Great men
are, to a considerable degree, influenced by the circum-
stances of their birth, land, education, and station ; like
the planets, they pursue a path resulting from the centri-
fugal and centripetal moral forces to which they are sub-
jected. Christ pursues one which defies all calculation
of external influences, and of which there is no solution
but in the throne of God. He takes no counsel, he
yields to no prejudice; he goes athwart the prejudices
of all men — of the people, who desired to make him a
king; of the priests, whose ritual he abolished; of the
Pharisees, whose hypocrisy he exposed; of the Sadclucees,
whose infidelity he rebuked; of the Jews, whose spiritual
walls he crushed; of the Gentiles, on whose idols he
breathed death. He thwarted all philosophy by his res-
urrection of the body, and all passion by curbing all un-
righteousness. He thwarted even the circle of his own
disciples, who often cried, " This is a hard saying/7 and
many of whom went back, and walked no more with him.
When he said that he must suffer many things and be
raised again, one of .the chiefest of his apostles said, in
confusion and alarm, " Be it far from thee, Lord: this
shall not be unto thee." Though the multitude rushed
around him, they did not sustain him any more than the
billows of the sea sustain a rock. Not only did no party
support him — all opposed him. Herod and Pontius Pi-
late, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, com-
bined to plant the cursed cross. Princes decreed, phi-
losophers sneered, orators argued, the heathen raged;
the whole world, in convention, resolved against the holy
child ; human nature, in rebellious conclave, determines
rather than receive him to break the bands of Divine

140 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

law, and cast aside the cords of moral obligation; but
she imagined in vain; the Lord had her in derision:
Jesus sat on his holy hill above the rage, as the ark on
Ararat in the subsiding flood.

In many respects this character is inimitable, but it
is a sure and perfect guide. Reader, be popular in your
views. Your notions must be wrong if they are narrow.
This universe is not to be measured with a two-foot rule.
Be popular in your style. If you would be a "will of
the wisp," you may appear in darkness; but if you would
be a sun, brush the clouds from your face. Be popular
in your sympathies; think, feel, pray, with your knees
upon the round globe. See Africa, a continent of dry
bones; Asia, a pyramid of moral death; Europe, strug-
gling in the folds of the serpent, and the isles of the
sea crying for help. If the supineness of Athens pro-
duced a Philip, shall not the prostration of a world pro-
duce a Paul ?

Be humble. Seek not for the knowledge that puffeth
up, but for that which edifieth. Never be inflated by
success; for what hast thou that thou didst not receive?
Be not wise in your own conceit. Shall the incarnate
God say, I am nothing; and shall that worm — man — say,
I am rich? Be independent. God made you; lift up
your heads among his sons. Think for yourselves. If
there are books upon the shelf, thank God for them; but
remember the open leaves of creation and the unbound
volume of the soul. Dare to speak out. When the
thoughts burn, let the flames have a flue. What fear
you? Shall he whose exemplar died upon the cross be
afraid of sneers, and stripes, and blows? " Strike, but
hear me I" cried the great Athenian at the battle of Sa-
lamis. " Kill, but hear me \" let the Christian cry at
the battle of the world.

TEMPERANCE. 141

IN the remarks which follow, I shall confine myself to
the two following heads, namely:

1. The danger of our country from intemperance.

2. The proper security against it.

1. The danger of our country from intemperance.

Before proceeding to the immediate topic of discourse,
I deem it proper to advert to some physiological princi-
ples, which, though they may appear irrelevant to some,
and uninteresting to others, will be found by all to have
a close connection with the sequel.

Man is compounded of two natures — body and soul; the
former material, the latter immaterial ) the one a tempo-
rary fabric, the other an immortal tenant. These two
elements are mysteriously and intimately united ; and
the being which they constitute presents a strange com-
bination, embracing some of the attributes of every being
in the scale of animated nature; from the parasite of the
ocean rock, where life is scarce suspected but by the phi-
losopher, up to the angel that gazes upon the throne, and
soars into the perfections of Jehovah.

The body is subjected to the same physical and vital
laws as those which govern other portions of the animal
creation. As in all other material fabrics, use is uni-
formly followed by waste in the human body. Hence the
necessity of an arrangement for its repair. The animal
is designed for locomotion ; it can not, therefore, like the
vegetable, draw up nourishment by means of fixed roots.

142 MORAL AND R E L I GI 0 XT S ESSAYS.

The apparatus for its supply must be portable; it is,
therefore, placed within the being, in an appropriate
cavity constructed for its accommodation. Unlike the
arrangement for the nourishment of the vegetable, the
organism for the sustenance of the animal is not in con-
stant contact with sources of nutrition. Its food must
be collected and taken in from without. To indicate the
want of supplies, and force the being to furnish them,
man has sensations denominated hunger and thirst.
These are necessarily strong; were they unheeded, our
connection with earth would soon be dissolved. Ab-
sorbed in the pursuits of life, or enraptured with the
creations of fancy, man might forget to supply the wants
of his physical system, were not the desires for food and
drink intensive. God, in the exuberance of his benevo-
lence, has connected pleasure with the indulgence of
these appetites. Besides the sensations already alluded
to, when the system is in want of nourishment, there is a
general sense of languor, or " malaise" spread over all
the organs of the body, and extending to every fiber.
The call of nature for supplies being satisfied, the local
and general uneasiness is not only removed, but in their
stead is substituted a local and diffused pleasure. The
organs all act with increased power, and every little ves-
sel, and nerve, and fibril, feels a consciousness of in-
creased life, and comfort, and power. The mind par-
takes in the enjoyment, and moves and triumphs in the
assurance of augmented energies. This field of pleasure
has its limits. God has drawn a line at a certain point,
and said, "Hitherto shalt thou go, and no farther." If
we transcend this limit, we suffer the consequences an-
nexed to the violation of the laws of the physical system,
and, in addition to this, incur the Divine displeasure.
The punishment of such a transgression, which flows
from the operation of physical laws, is twofold, consist-

TEMPERANCE. 143

ing, first, of loss, positive and negative, and, secondly, of
pain and suffering. By the former I mean, first, the
negation or absence of numerous enjoyments which are
incompatible with sensuality, and, second, a gradual ex-
haustion of the susceptibility to pleasure. Our capaci-
ties of enjoyment are limited, and when any appetite or
passion crosses its boundaries, it must trespass on and
despoil the territories of another. Moreover, rampant
and unrestrained appetites, in consequence of their very
liberty, grow unsusceptible of the delights of indul-
gence, ^

But in addition to this loss, there are pains and suf-
ferings inflicted. The following are inevitable results
from an imprudent indulgence in food : First. Plethora.
By this I mean repletion, or fullness of blood. The ma-
terials of its creation being furnished in superabundant
proportions, and the organs destined for its manufacture
being unduly excited, this fluid must necessarily be in-
creased in quantity; its channels are consequently in-
creased in size, its circulation is accelerated, and hence the
whole system is rendered liable to inflammatory diseases;
a class of maladies more acute in their nature, more sud-
den in their onset, more rapid in their career, and more
destructive in their effects than any other class in the
nosology. These effects are more certain in persons of
the sanguine than in those of other temperaments. In
the former, acute diseases are the speedy results of ex-
cess; and they frequently run their course in a few
hours, and precipitate the foolish victim into the tomb
ere he is aware of his folly or his danger. In the latter,
dyspepsia, chorea, convulsions, palpitation of the heart,
and a host of other chronic maladies, are more likely to
ensue; and these, though they do not destroy life so sud-
denly, render it a burden.

A second evil which results is premature old age

144 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Man has but a limited amount of vitality assigned him.
If prudently husbanded, it may keep his frame in motion
for three-score years and ten; if lavishly employed, it
will be exhausted long before that time. When we in-
dulge our appetites in such a degree only as to secure a
regular and limited action, we prudently expend our vital
treasure ; if we exceed that degree, we must waste this
irreparable donation, and that, too, in the ratio of our
excess. Our principle of life may be compared to a re-
pository of fuel — our life to a fire fed by this fuel ; now it
is evident that in proportion as the flames are increased,
will be the rapidity of the exhaustion of the store. If
they are gentle and equable, the fuel may last long; if
they become brilliant, it will soon be consumed.

A third result will be a preponderance of the physical
desires — those which we have in common with brutes —
over the social and intellectual — those which we enjoy
in common with angels. The perfect health and comfort
of the body is compatible with a high tone of moral feel-
ing, as well as a vigorous action of the mind; but go
above this point, and as you ascend you will find the
merely animal propensities increased, and, in the same
ratio, the finer feelings — the social and religious affec-
tions— blunted. When do we feel most disposed — all
things concurring — to pure affection and devotional exer-
cises ? When do we feel the greatest disposition to
cherish those feelings which unite the family circle, and
render the domestic hearth the loveliest spot on earth ?
When do we feel the greatest access in prayer; the
highest veneration for God; the richest delight in, and
capacity for his service? I answer, when we have been
cautious to dispense to the body only that amount of
nourishment which is requisite to secure its preservation
and comfort. When do we feel the least disposed to cher-
ish those affections or perform those duties — all other

TEMPERANCE. 145

things being equal? I reply — in the opposite condition
of the system — we may have affections then, but they
are those of the brute, not those which bind man to man,
humanity to God. Hence, he who knows our feeble
frame has required temperance under every dispensation
of religion, and has connected abstinence with the re-
pentance of his people; and hence, too, hell has, in all
ages, made the means of physical stimulation the prepar-
atives to deeds of darkness.

The effect of repletion in destroying the social feelings
is plainly indicated in Deuteronomy xxi, 18 : "If a man
have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey
the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and
that, when they have chastised him, will not hearken
unto them; then shall his father and mother lay hold on
him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and
unto the gate of his place; and they shall say, This, our
son, is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our
voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard." So intimately
connected were disobedience and sensuality in the mind
of the Jewish lawgiver, that the proof of the former was,
with him, conclusive evidence of the latter; and, by a
statute of his code, it seems that these sins were jointly
charged upon the delinquent. The most reproachful
accusation the Jews could bring against our Savior, was,
that he was gluttonous and a wine-bibber. This was, in
their minds, a generic charge, embracing in its compre-
hension all that was evil. The connection between stim-
ulation and immorality is more than intimated in Exodus
x, "Woe to thee, 0 land, when thy king is a child, and
thy princes eat in the morning. Blessed art thou, O
land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes
eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness."
The incompatibility of devotion and sensuality is pointed
out in the direction of the Savior: "Take heed lest at

13

146 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and
drunkenness, and cares of this life, so that day come
upon you unawares. " Watch ye, therefore, and pray.
Tn Romans xiii, 13, the apostle Paul gives this general
direction : "But put ye on the Lord Jesus, and make no
provision for the lusts of the flesh."

The intellectual as well as the moral feelings are im-
paired by gluttony. Does the experienced orator wish to
make a display, he will abstain from the pleasures of the
table. Does he wish to prostrate an antagonist in debate,
he will rejoice to meet him on returning from a feast.
Mark the features of him who indulges, unrestrained,
the desire of stimulation — there is an appearance of fatu-
ity about them. The reason is obvious— his spirit has an
apoplexy. You might as well command the palsied limb
to strike a nervous blow, as the glutton's oppressed soul
to move with a giant's footstep. As well might you
attempt to fire a plank beneath the waters as to strike an
intellectual spark from his eye. It is only when the
proper limits have been regarded in satisfying the phys-
ical desires that the genius can make his mighty efforts;
draw the resources of the body to the aid of the soul;
warm the cheek, light up the eye, fire the spirit, and
send it out in flames. There is, indeed, a conflict be-
tween the desires of the body and those of the soul.
Philosophy and common sense have agreed in all ages to
represent virtue under the notion of a warfare. Revela-
tion unites with reason on this as on other points. He
who made human nature has, by an inspired apostle,
declared "that the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and
the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the
one to the other/ ' Perhaps you all know the remark of
Araspes, on being reproached for a crime by his amiable
sovereign, "0, Cyrus, I am convinced that I have two
souls — when the good soul rules, I undertake noble ami

TEMPERANCE. 147

virtuous actions; but when the bad soul predominates, I
am forced to do evil." This, though unphilosophical,
very justly represents the struggle between flesh and
spirit, pointed out in Revelation; and perhaps the con-
asnesa of this antagonism within us, rather than any
reflection upon external nature, is the foundation of the
belief in the plurality of gods so prevalent among the
heathen. The desire of physical excitement is the weak
point of our nature. We pant for happiness, yet we
shrink from toil. The pleasure derived from the gratifi-
cation of the physical appetites is obtained without intel-
lectual effort, while the rich and pure enjoyment derived
from the culture of our moral and intellectual nature
requires exertion. Hence we are prone to violate the
limits prescribed to the former; from which we seek
the enjoyment that ought to be obtained from the latter.

The stimulation which we are capable of effecting by
simple food and drink is not great; for the appetite soon
fails, and the digestive organs grow weary of their task.
Man has learned from experience that there is a variety
of articles which have a tendency to excite the appetite,
and, at the same time, assist the powers of nature in dis-
posing of an oppressive burden ; these have been gath-
ered, and mingled with the materials designed by nature
for our nourishment. Our list of condiments is a long
one. We have consulted the experience of all preceding-
ages to learn what articles are of this nature, and what
combinations of them will best effect the object of stimu-
lating the stomach; and, by means of our commerce, we
secure the contributions of the whole globe at our table.
The stimulation we can effect by food, even when highly
sjjiaiL is not so refined or destructive as that effected by
other means, because it less affects the nervous system,
in which chiefly reside the powers of life.

It was early discovered that there are artificial means

148 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

of exciting the system. Nature furnishes a variety of
articles which possess this power. Many of them were
doubtless given for the food of inferior animals, and bear
such a relation to their systems that, instead of stimula-
ting, they are digested, and furnish nourishment.

One class of artificial stimulants is denominated nar-
cotics, to which belong tobacco, opium, stramonium, etc.;
these all possess the power of stimulating, though in dif-
ferent degrees, and each has properties peculiar to it-
self. They are valuable resources in disease, and, viewed
as remedial agents, may be regarded as a benefaction to
our race. The mercy of Heaven is not only manifest in
their bestowal, but in the fact that they are all of them
repulsive to the senses. For the sake of their stimulant
effect, however, we bear with their offensive properties ;
and, as it is a general law of the animal economy that
repetition decreases effect, we soon become accustomed to
them. We should not find fault with this law; for it is
that by which man has the capacity of adapting himself
to different climates and pursuits. When the system is
habituated to preternatural stimulation, it is rendered
miserable if the stimulus be withdrawn.

There is another class of stimulants which I may men-
tion; namely, incitants, the chief of which is alcohol.
This is the basis of most of those beverages which are
used to stimulate. It simply incites, without producing
any modification of the nervous influence; hence it is
very valuable when the powers of life are sinking from
disease, and hence, too, the reason why its use is so gen-
eral and so ancient; for, though alcohol was not discov-
ered till the tenth century, yet it was used long before
that period. It is the result of vinous fermentation, one
of the most simple and common processes performed in
the laboratory of nature ; and its effects were felt long
ere the alchemist devised the process for separating it

TEMPERANCE. 149

from the other ingredients with which it is usually asso-
ciated.

Now, all the effects which have been described as the
results of excessive stimulation, produced by the natural
stimuli — food and drink — follow the employment of artifi-
cial stimulants. Let us recapitulate them. They are,
first, loss, positive and negative, resulting from the ab-
sence of other and purer pleasures; and insensibility to
physical gratification, consequent on constant indulgence.
Second, punishment, consisting, first, of a predisposition
to disease, proportionate to the excess, and modified
in its baneful influences by the constitution, structure,
temperament, and pursuits of the individual. Here
allow me to remark that it may, at first sight, appear
wonderful to the physiologist that the drunkard does not
speedily die of acute disease, resulting from the excess-
ive action into which his system is habitually thrown;
for it is a law of the animal economy that in proportion
as an organ is exercised, so is it liable to disease. The
reason is found in this fact, that the artificial stimuli
furnish no nourishment — nothing to enrich the blood —
and, in proportion as the appetite for artificial stimuli
increases, the desire for ordinary food decreases. Na-
ture, ever provident, manages to diminish the fuel when
the bellows is applied ; were it not for this, the drunk-
ard's mortal tenement must soon be wrapped in a general
flame.

I return to the recapitulation. The second result I
mentioned was premature old age. The effect of artifi-
cial stimulation in hastening dissolution, must be much
greater than that of natural stimulation, to whatever ex-
cess it may be carried, because the former acts chiefly
upon the nervous system, the very citadel of vitality, and
diminishes the appetite for salutary food.

The third result is a preponderance of the physical

150 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

over the moral and religious feelings. When artificial
stimulants are used, this effect is very strongly marked.
The physical propensities of the inebriate are all excited,
and he is little above the level of the brute — and let it
be remembered that every drop we take produces an ap-
proximation to that point. Your experience, and the
history of the past, need only be referred to in proof of
this position. We can not, however, forbear to intro-
duce a few quotations from the Scriptures in support of
it. "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging." "Who
hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath wounds without
cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long
at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine." Proverbs
xxiii, 29, 30. In his Epistle to the Thessalonians, the
apostle associates drunkenness with darkness : " They that
are drunken are drunken in the night" Mark the follow-
ing collocation of vices: "When we walked in lascivious-
ness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and
abominable idolatries."

The effects of artificial stimulants upon the moral and
religious feelings are such as might have been antici-
pated from the foregoing remarks. They almost obliter-
ate them. I would not unnecessarily wound the feelings
of any man; I am especially careful of those of the
drunkard; of all men he is most deserving of commis-
eration; for, unless he reform, he has no happiness in this
life but the pleasures of the brute, and no hope in refer-
ence to the next, except that which shall perish when
God taketh away his soul. But truth and humanity
require me to say what I do speak on this subject.
The drunkard gradually loses his affection for his father,
mother, wife, and children, and his veneration for his
God. I have known him to mangle the partner of his
bosom, to stagger over the corpse of his child, and look
into the grave of his mother with a maniac grin. I have

TEMPERANCE. 151

heard the culprit, as he held in his hand the rope by
which he was hung, confess that intemperance had been
his ruin; and had induced him to split open the head of
his wife, and deliberately cut the throats of his children.
The drunkard is an anomaly in creation. There is a feel-
ing of love for the offspring, which has descended from
the skies downward, through all the ranks of animated
beings. There is not a songster that warbles in the
breeze, not a fish that moves within the deep, not an ani-
mal that walks the earth, not a beast that prowls the
rt or the forest, not even the hyena itself excepted,
that preys upon the tombs, which does not love its off-
spring, and delight to cherish and protect them. Man
only, with a heart charred by intemperance, presents the
strange spectacle of an unfeeling parent. He only can
hear his young cry for want unmoved, commit them one
by one to the cold charity of the world, or imbrue his
hands in their blood.

The intellect suffers as well as the moral feelings — it
still acts, but not with vigor. The drunkard may talk,
but he can not reason — he may be witty, but not pro-
found— he may grovel, but he can not soar. Indeed, in-
temperance has blasted the mightiest minds.

Considering the havoc which it makes with the im-
mortal part, we need scarce say that it. tends to destroy
property, reputation, and all that man holds dear; nor
need we wonder that upon the gates of the New Jerusa-
lem should be inscribed the awful sentence, " No drunk-
ard can enter."

These are the general effects of artificial stimulation —
they are of course realized in a degree proportionate to
the excess, and modified by the peculiarities of the stim-
ulant employed, and the physical and intellectual pecu-
liarities of the transgressor.

Destructive as are the consequences of using artificial

152 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

stimulants, the love of excitement has induced men
in all ages and countries to employ them. I say the
love of excitement; for I do not suppose that men have
a natural appetite for each, or any one article of the nu-
merous class of stimulants. Perfect health can be en-
joyed without them, and, indeed, disease is the conse-
quence of their habitual employment, even in moderate
quantities; nevertheless, men have a desire for physical
excitement, and this has led to the use of these articles
in every period of man's existence. In looking over the
pages of the world's history, we find no age or nation
innocent of this crime. Noah, the last patriarch of the
old, and the first patriarch of the new world, was de-
graded by intoxication. The companion and nephew of
the " father of the faithful " was guilty of drunkenness,
and some of its associate crimes. Intemperance was one
of the sins of the Israelites. All the great nations of
antiquity were addicted to it. Babylon was taken while
she was indulging in a drunken revel. Most of the
ancient cities were periodically plunged into all the folly
and debauchery of Bacchanalian orgies. The priests and
priestesses of ancient oracles and temples, probably per-
formed their deceptions under the influence of narcotics.
Almost all the rites of heathen worship were connected
with inebriation. It is a curious fact that, in proportion
as man progresses in civilization, does his liability to suf-
fer from intemperance increase. Many causes may be
referred to as tending to produce this result. As our
knowledge is increased, and our dominion over nature
extended, our catalogue of stimulants and our acquaint-
ance with their different properties are enlarged, so
that we are enabled to select the most refined and power-
ful, and render the object of our choice the more agree-
able. Moreover, in the savage and barbarous states, in
which men rely upon fishing and the chase for subsistence,

TEMPERANCE. 153

their time is nearly all consumed in seeking the supply of
their simple and natural wants; whereas, in the civilized
condition, in which agricultural arts are employed, and the
soil is made to produce in rich abundance the materials
of food, the simple necessaries of life are readily obtained,
and, consequently, a large portion of unoccupied time is
thrown upon our hands. Our constitution is such, that
when inactive we are unhappy. A sensation denominated
wi creeps over us, to remove which we resort to the
various means of bodily and mental excitement. Hence
have originated the different species of gaming, theatrical
performances, and all the amusements and diversions of
civilized society. Now, indulgence in these requires
money ; hence, as means to their attainment, wealth and
power are sought. Here a new train of passions is devel-
oped, the chief of which are avarice and ambition. By
these men are led into new scenes of exertion and dan-
ger, giving rise to new classes of cares and anxieties, and
calling for more than natural efforts. To alleviate the
former, and qualify him to sustain the latter, man re-
sorts to stimulants, which at once blunt the sensibili-
ties, and arouse to an unnatural pitch the powers of the
system.

Though all nations have stimulated, they have not all
agreed in their selection of stimulants. Different nations
have been influenced by the nature of their discoveries,
the peculiarities of their religion, or the productions of
their soil, in selecting their materials of excitement.
Thus, the Mohammedan, forbidden the use of wine by
his Koran, uses opium. In Italy and France, where the
grape is abundant, wine is used; in Great Britain, beer,
ale, porter, etc., are the chief articles. The principal
stimulant of our own country, as you are aware, is whisky,
an article containing more alcohol in a given quan-
tity than almost any other that has ever been in common

154 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

use; and one that has worked more evil to our country
than any other which can be named.

The ingenious hearer may inquire, "If it be used mod-
erately, what is the difference between alcohol in whisky
and the same, ingredient in wine, cider, etc.?" There
is a slight difference : in the latter productions its effects
are modified by the other ingredients of the compound,
so as to prove less detrimental to health. It may also be
remarked that different classes of diseases are produced
by different beverages; thus, wine has a tendency to pro-
duce diseases of the stomach and joints; beer, porter,
etc., nervous diseases, as apoplexy, palsy, chorea, etc.;
whisky affects, more or less, every part of the system,
but particularly the stomach and liver; and is, more than
any other article, calculated to produce that frightful
disease, " delirium tremens.7' I believe it is generally
observed that wine countries are the most temperate —
whisky countries the most intemperate. It is a familiar
and melancholy fact, that foreigners who emigrate from
certain parts of Europe to our country, after their habits
have become established, generally become intemperate ;
the substitution of whisky for the beverages to which, in
their native land, they were accustomed, operating to
hasten their destruction. It follows, that of all countries
we have been the most unfortunate in the selection of
our stimulants.

From the foregoing remarks it may be fairly inferred,
first, that we are all in danger from intemperance. We
have shown that there is a strong tendency in man to
seek undue stimulation. It is this desire for excitement
which has opened so wide the gate to ruin, and crowded
the way to destruction with such masses of ruined minrf
and matter. This is the weak point of humanity. Did
I seek to ruin a soul, and plunge it into hell, I would
attack it here. Homer, in the twelfth book of the Illiad,

TEMPERANCE. 155

represents Hector as endeavoring to force the intrench-
ruents into which the Greeks had retired. Numerous
efforts prove unavailing. At length Sarpedon makes a
broach in the wall. At this point the war henceforth
rages. Ajax and Teucer rush to the spot. The be-
siegers are repulsed. They rally and renew the assault.
The Greeks, in solid phalanx, unite at the breach, and
the Lycians join and thicken to force their way through.
Hector, discovering the weak point, rushes to it with the
fierceness of a whirlwind, fires his host with repeated
cries, and, with one mighty and combined effort, forces
his passage. The breach being once passed, the Trojans
flow in with an uninterrupted current, and the Greeks
fly, trembling and overwhelmed. When Satan attempted
to force the intrenchments of the world, he knew the
weak point. It was at the desire of forbidden physical
pleasure that he hurled the mysterious weapon. "And
when the woman saw that it was good for food/' etc., she
ate, and the work was done. Satan having once entered
the breach, a troop of vices follow him ; the earth is
strewed with slain, and the skies rent with tumult. The
foe has not yet changed his tactics. He attacks the
nation and the individual at this point now. Secure
this, and he will find difficulty in breaking through the
wall; conscience and reason are not so easily forced.
Let this breach be undefended, and, without assistance
from Heaven, the battle is over and the victory won.

I infer, secondly, that we are in peculiar danger as
men of the nineteenth century. I have shown that as
men advance in civilization, their danger from intemper-
ance is increased. Perhaps there never was an age of
greater intelligence and effort than the present. The
whole globe is rousing from the lap of slumber, proudly
bursting the withes with which it had consented to be
bound, and moving in triumph its giant limbs. It is

156 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

obtaining a power over nature never before enjoyed, and
preparing for an exertion never before accomplished )
and, as it opens new springs of stimulation, trembles all
over impatient of exertion, and springs to its lofty enter-
prises, will not its temptations to stoop down and drink
at those fountains which, while they pervert, yet develop
and sustain excitement, be increased ?

As Americans we are in appalling danger. Our land
ranks high in point of civilization and science. We are
not behind any nation in activity, intelligence, or enter-
prise. Till lately we ranked as high in the scale of in-
temperance as of science and exertion, and of all nations
we have selected the worst stimulant.

I proceed to show the means by which we are to guard
against the danger we are in. It may be proper to glance
at the efforts which have been made to effect this object.
It was not till after the discovery of alcohol that it was
used in a concentrated form. I attribute its introduction,
in a great measure, to the influence of an erroneous med-
ical theory. An eccentric but talented man, Mr. Brown,
who has been styled the child of genius and misfortune,
during the early part of the last century, invented a new
medical theory, which may be represented by a gradu-
ated scale, on which is inscribed the names of diseases.
In the center of the scale is health. Above this point
are diseases of decreased, and below it diseases of in-
creased action. He taught his students that to cure the
former stimulants only were necessary, and to cure the
latter depletion simply was required. They went forth
armed with the lancet in one hand, and the brandy bottle
in the other, prepared to cure every disease by using the
one or applying the other, according as it was located
above or below the central point on the imaginary scale.
The captivating simplicity of the Brunonian system, the
location of the author at one of those fountains whence

TEMPERANCE. 157

descend the streams of medical influence throughout the
civilized world, and the commanding abilities with which
it was illustrated and defended, secured this theory a
general reception. Though the doctrines of Brown have
long been exploded, we see their effects in the common
of brandy as a medium for the exhibition of medicine,
as well as in its employment as a beverage.

The first attempt which was made to dispense with the
use of distilled spirits was made by Geo. Fox, the founder
of that temperate, moral, and respectable sect, the
Friends. His creed, if I mistake not, forbade the use,
manufacture, or sale of any alcoholic beverage. To this,
as well as all other preceptive parts of their original creed,
this body of Christians has faithfully adhered. The
great Doctor Fothergill, himself a member of that society,
labored to extend this principle beyond the limits of his
sect. I recollect an interesting anecdote of this distin-
guished man. During the prevalence of a certain epi-
demic, he employed alcoholic stimulants with obvious
benefit. He gave an account of his treatment to his
class in a triumphant manner. About a year after, he
stated to the same class that he was in error when he told
them of what he had effected by treating the malady.
He stated that instead of curing the disease he had only
substituted another in its place, to wit, drunkenness;
and that he thought it better to let a patient descend to
the tomb, than to raise him with a habit which would
render him a pest to himself, to his friends, and to
society. The next effort was made by Wesley, an orb
mind of the first magnitude, and the founder of the
society to which I am attached. One of. his general rules
forbade the use of spiritous liquors, " except in cases
of extreme necessity." This rule has been modified by
American Methodists, who have expunged the word
"extreme." This great and good divine urged the sub-

158 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

ject of temperance to his people with all that zeal and
genuine eloquence by which his labors were eminently
characterized. The Methodists, I believe, have always
been regarded as a temperate body, and few of them have
fallen into the vice of intemperance. This remark is
more strictly applicable to the Methodists of Wesley's
time, than to those of our own days, and to those of the
mother country, than to their American brethren.

The next great champion in the cause of temperance
was Doctor Eush. He was a great and a good man ; few
men have had more genius, none more goodness. He was
among mankind an oasis in the desert. I would give
the world for his reputation, for he is immortal; his
name is as imperishable as English literature, as lasting
as philanthropy. The sagacity of Eush led him to see
the evils resulting from intemperance, and his goodness
induced him to endeavor to suppress them. Accordingly
he made an address to the public on this subject in a lec-
ture, written in his usual masterly and eloquent style,
and recommended an association among the agricultur-
ists, for the purpose of suppressing the use of ardent
spirits. He indeed furnished the programme of that
more enlarged plan, which has been developed so success-
fully in the present day.

It was discovered a few years since, by a judicious and
able philanthropist of New England, that a successful
plan might be readily adopted for abolishing the evils of
intemperance in the United States. It consisted in unit-
ing together all temperate men in the community, in a so-
ciety, whose members should be pledged to abstain from
ardent spirits themselves, and, by all honorable means in
their power, to discontinue its use in society. The proj-
ect was attempted. Two millions were soon embodied on
the proposed principle ; two millions more were brought
practically to adopt it. The statistics of intemperance

TEMPERANCE. 159

were published. Information was diffused by means
of agents, and weekly and quarterly periodicals. Dis-
cussion was excited in all ranks of the people. In-
temperance was put to the blush. Hundreds were in-
duced to banish liquor from their stores — thousands from
their farms — tens of thousands from their shops. Even
the ship was taught to mount the ocean wave, and walk
across the deep without being provided with this element
of destruction; and the following facts were made to
glare around the globe :

1. That the use of ardent spirits is a most prolific
source of pauperism, disease, and crime.

2. That it is of no service in health, and rarely in dis-
ease.

3. That it is uniformly injurious to both body and
soul — unless employed medicinally — and leads to the for-
mation of intemperate habits.

4. That there is no department of human exertion in
which it can not be dispensed with.

5. That the traffic in it is an immorality.

The reformation soon extended to the continent of
Europe. It first took root in Belfast through the exer-
tions of Professor Edgar, of that city. It soon proved
that, though an exotic, it could flourish in the new soil,
to which it had been transplanted. From the Emerald
Isle scions were carried to England and Scotland, which
grew and bore abundant fruit. Switzerland, in 1830,
made application for a branch of the parent trunk, and
Sweden, through her " Royal Swedish Patriotic Society/'
followed the example. From the European continent
branches of this evergreen were borne across the deep,
and planted in Asia, and the islands of the sea. In
1832 Mr. Brougham, then Lord Chancellor, publicly ac-
knowledged the obligations of Great Britain to America
for her temperance principles, and in the same year the

160 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

style of the London Temperance Society was changed to
" British and Foreign Temperance Society/' as more in-
dicative of its extended plan of operations. In 1834
germs of the reformation sprung up in Russia, South Af-
rica, and New Holland; meanwhile, in other places
where its roots had been planted, its branches were ex-
tended and multiplied.

This effort to suppress intemperance has been success-
ful. It has lifted the eyelid of the globe, and darted
this truth — that intemperance is one of the greatest aux-
ilaries of hell, upon her naked sight. Having origin-
ated in America, it was specially designed for our na-
tion, in which the common means of stimulation was dis-
tilled spirits. Hence, in other countries, where they have
adopted our pledge without modification, and where other
articles were employed as stimulants, it has not effected
as great an amount of good as might have been accom-
plished, although the facts and reasonings disseminated
are applicable to every species of intemperance.

It has also been proved that in directing our efforts ex-
clusively against distilled liquor, we have been operating
upon a basis too narrow for ourselves. Individuals have
resorted to other means of stimulation after abandoning
ardent spirits ; wine has been imported in increased
quantities; and cider, beer, ale, and domestic wines
have been manufactured in greatly-augmented quantities.
While we have been solely directing our efforts to one
quarter, the enemy has been strengthening himself in,
and assailing us from other quarters. The chief imple-
ment with which we contend, our moral influence, is
blunted. The user of ardent spirits says, as we approach
him, that the only difference between himself and " tem-
perance men" is this: they use one and he another mem-
ber of the family of stimulants, while " temperance
men" themselves have found that, so far as they were

TEMPERANCE. 161

concerned, the reformation was insufficient; and that,
from the milder beverages, they were in danger of con-
tracting habits of intemperance, which, however formed,
constitute the drunkard.

History is a valuable source of instruction; experience
is the greatest teacher; let us profit by consulting the
history of the past. From the brief review I have
taken I have deduced the following conclusions :

1. In the accomplishment of the temperance reforma-
tion, united, systematic, and persevering effort is de-
manded. In union there is strength; we avail ourselves
of it in every department of physical exertion ; the agri-
culturist, the mechanic, the warrior, and the capitalist

I unite the strength of many to carry out their mighty

, plans. Union is as requisite in moral, as in physical or
commercial enterprises. Hence, though good men la-

I bored single handed to put down intemperance, in former
ages, they accomplished but slender triumphs; and when-

I ever combined efforts were made by the friends of tem-
perance, they fairly shook the globe in their onward
march.

2. If we would perfect the temperance reformation in
our own country, or extend it around the world, we must
strike, not at the species only, but at the whole class of in-
toxicating articles.

Milton describes a battle in heaven between Michael
| and his angels and the devil and his host. The oppos-
ing armies meet in awful conflict — flaming swords, spears,
fiery darts in flaming volleys, are their weapons. The
issue of the fight long seems doubtful. At length Mi-
chael and Satan meet in personal combat; the former
draws down his resistless sword upon his antagonist, and
with a swift reverse wheel of the weapon " shares all his
right side." Satan falls, and writhes to and fro with ag-
ony. Many of his host interpose for his defense, and

14

162 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

bear him from the field. His wound soon heals; for says
the poet —

" Spirits that live throughout —
Vital in every part —
Can not but by annihilating die."

We have met the enemy, and, with furbished weapon from
the armory of truth, we have dealt a continuous wound
upon the champion spirit; but his friends have borne
him to his chariot, and he has measurably recovered from
the stroke.

We return to the description. The routed host assem-
ble to deliberate on the future prosecution of the war.
Nisroch advises that some new arms and ammunition be
invented, calculated at the same time to defend them-
selves and offend their yet unwounded enemies. Satan
assures him that the invention is already conceived, and
then reveals it. He says beneath the bright surface of
the ethereal mold, " adorned with plant, fruit, flower am-
brosial, gems and gold," " there are materials dark and
crude, of spiritous and fiery spume;" these, he contin-
ues, "in their dark nativity, the deep shall yield us,
pregnant with infernal flame;" then in appropriate weap-
ons they shall prove such implements of mischief as
shall subdue all opposition.

The celestial soil is upturned and the sulphurous and
nitrous materials discovered; these were mingled, con-
cocted, adjusted, and reduced to blackest grain, and
finally conveyed to store. Then providing their engines,
the devils finished their preparations. At the return of
day they renew the assault. The embattled legions meet.
The fight rages. Satan's artillery answers his highest
expectations; the host of Michael fall by thousands — an-
gel on archangel rolled.

Our enemy finding himself defeated with his ancient

TEMPERANCE. 163

weapon, has devised new ammunition; the plants, ambro-
sial flowers, and fruits of the fair earth, are concocted and
adjusted, and in new and more insidious weapons, he
aims most fatal blows at the temperance ranks; thou-
sands fall — advocate on advocate is rolled in ruin.

I return to the description once more. The angels of
Michael now find that their old weapons are useless; so,
throwing them aside, they seek new ones. They pluck
the seated hills from their foundation, bare them with all
their load, and pile them mountain high upon all the
cursed artillery of the devil, till those implements, the
confidence of hell, are whelmed and buried deep; then
is the battle fair — between angel and angel. The Son
of God now interposes, and the host of rebel angels is
precipitated into hell.

Our old weapons are now of no use, for the arms and
ammunition of the foe are changed. Let us throw them
away. Let us take our pledge of total abstinence; pile
up influence upon this principle mountain high, till the
whole complicated artillery of Alcohol, however con-
cocted, combined, fermented, adjusted, or reduced, is
buried forever beneath it. Then may philanthropy suc-
cessfully encounter misanthropy; and then may we not
expect the Spirit of God in unusual power to descend,
hurl the latter into the wasteful deep, and seat the
former in millennial rest?

I pass to notice one or two arguments against this so-
ciety. It is contended that wine in eastern countries is
used temperately; that when so used it may be benefi-
cial; that the Savior countenanced its use. I answer,
oriental climates are enervating, our climate is bracing;
oriental wine is pure, ours adulterated; oriental habits
are temperate, our habits intemperate; and though in
certain situations and under certain circumstances it may
be innocently used, yet in our country and age it can not

164 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS,

be so employed. But it is inquired, may not oriental
wines be obtained by some, unadulterated, used by them
temperately, and when those wines are thus used is their
employment wrong? I answer, others are injured by
their example ; and the apostle says, " If meat make my
brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world
standeth."

It is further argued that this society is an attempt to
substitute temperance for religion. If this were true I
should abandon it at once, and forever. Never will I
compromit the doctrines of the Bible. " God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross." I look upon the effort
in which we are engaged, as one purely prudential, grow-
ing out of the circumstances of the nation and the age;
an enterprise in which every patriot, philanthropist, and
Christian, of whatever party, creed, or sect, may cheer-
fully engage. I embark in it as the capitalist engages
in cutting a canal to unite two distant seas. The primary
object of the former, as of the latter enterprise, is to in-
crease the wealth, the commerce, the science, and the
happiness of the world. If by the one, or by the other
process, we should also open a portal through which we
can readily transmit the Bible and the cross, so much
the more will we rejoice, and to God give all the glory.

A few words more and I have done. To temperance
men I beg leave to address a remark. This is a critical
period of the reformation in which we are engaged. I
speak, of course, of the general reformation. The illus-
trious Shakspeare, who well knew all the springs of hu-
man action, and attentively observed all the wheels of
human exertion, has said, " There is a tide in the affairs
of men, which taken at the flood leads on to fortune."
In the history of nations and of societies, we can see
points from which they either pushed on to success, or
sunk back defeated. Such is the point on which we now

TEMPERANCE. 165

gtand. We have entered into the field; we have gained
numerous positions ; we have put forth our efforts upon a
large scale, and if now we boldly sustain ourselves, our
triumph is sure. But if at this juncture we relax our
efforts, final overthrow is certain. When our success was
small, our positions few, our efforts projected on a mod-
erate scale, we might rally after a repulse; but if in the
general engagement we should be overcome, the banner
of temperance must be struck.

To the enemies of temperance I propound a question.
If by opposing you dishearten and depress the friends of
temperance, and ruin the cause, what will you effect?
You will not injure those great and good men who pro-
jected this noble scheme, and at the sacrifice of personal
interest and popularity maintained it, with all the powers
of their vigorous minds and holy hearts. You may cover
their names with obloquy and their cause with contempt,
but they will not suffer. They have already grown gray
in the service of their God and their generation; they
are standing upon the margin of the grave, and will soon
descend into its bosom; posterity will do them justice in
this world, and Heaven in that which is to come. But if
you succeed, you will affect yourselves, and do the world
an injury. If the experiment now making should fail,
when will it ever be repeated ? Let history inscribe the
names of Beecher, Edwards, Edgar, Fisk, Hewitt, Drake,
and their coadjutors on the roll of defeated champions,
and record the fact, that the American Temperance Soci-
ety, after having dotted the globe around with her auxil-
iaries, proved an abortive enterprise, and in what land,
and at what period of the world's existence, will be
found heads sufficiently strong, and hearts sufficiently
bold, to raise the fallen standard? A failure of the
American temperance revolution would dishearten the
friends of temperance in every land, as much ae the

166 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

breaking up of our government would sink the hearts of
the champions of liberty throughout the world.

Perhaps a drunkard may ponder these pages. If so,
let me say to him, we invite you to sign our pledge,
though we do it with fear and trembling. Time was
when we thought no drunkard could be reformed, but ex-
perience has corrected this opinion. Total abstinence is
the only plan that is of any avail in your case. Perhaps
you think it is impossible to apply it. Let me say, you
have proved the power of habit in becoming intemperate;
avail yourself now of that power to reform. I give you
the advice of Hamlet to his mother :

" Refrain to-night, and that will lend
A kind of ease to the next abstinence, the next more easy, for use
Can almost change the stamp of nature,
And master e'en the devil, or throw him out,
With wondrous potency."

I look upon you with regard \ I see beneath your rags a
soul, in comparison with which the earth and the heav-
ens are as nothing. For you a Savior hath died, and
the cross offers to your acceptance as rich a drop of blood
as ever issued from ImmanueFs veins. I look upon you
with sympathy; you are my fellow-man — my brother.
You have been assaulted at the weak point of your na-
ture, and you are descending to destruction, temporal and
eternal. I can weep over you — as you go down the steeps
of ruin my pity shall deepen. And if you should go to
the lowest point of degradation and crime, I will pursue
you to your dungeon, throw the mantle of kindness over
you upon the gallows, and drop the tear of sympathy
upon your coffin. But spare me, 0, spare me, by timely
reformation, the anticipation of such offices of sorrow
and anguish.

I ask the attention of the ladies one moment. I have
no disposition to offer you discourtesy on the one hand,

TEMPERANCE. 167

or flattery on the other. Your goodness must protect
you from the former, and your good sense would repel
the latter. I will not talk to you about the soft and
silken cords of your influence, but I will call upon you, in
the name of God, to wield aright those mystic chains
which Heaven hath given you, and which must be em-
ployed either in drawing the globe into the whirlpool of
vice, or raising it to the millennium of virtue. The cause
in which we are engaged must fail unless it attract your
support. No great enterprise was ever accomplished un-
sustained by female influence. Our Revolutionary strug-
gle would have proved abortive had it not been for fe-
male feeling and female toil. The hearts of the patriot
lines which bled on Bunker's hill would have sunk had
they not been sustained by the emotions of ranks of pat-
riot mothers and daughters. And whatever might have
been the feelings of the Revolutionary army, they could
not have kept the field without the labor of female
hands. Had not sisters and mothers wove new gar-
ments for them, the sons and fathers of the Revolution
must have perished on the tented plain.

We have met the enemy, we have found him strong;
"he is no mortal foe," but " fiercer than ten furies, ter-
rible as hell." We are growing weary, and now we call
on our mothers and sisters to put their hearts by the side
of ours, and to weave around us the garment of their in-
fluence, that we may not faint and fail while exposed to
the chilling blasts of an ungodly world.

168 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

ANCIENT philosophy concerned itself chiefly with the
inner world. For example, Aristotle divides the
circle of knowledge into three departments: metaphys-
ics, physics, and ethics; and assigns the chief place to
the last. This, too, was the grand theme of the porch,
the academy, and the lyceum. It is to be regretted that
modern philosophy confines itself almost exclusively to
the outer world, and that the Christian student fre-
quently runs his curriculum without being led by his
instructors into fields mental, moral, immortal. Let us
dwell for a few moments upon self-exploration — a duty
which was held in as high importance in the school of
Socrates as in that of Christ. Know thyself — yvooQt,
asavtov — was one of the sayings of the wise men of
Greece. It was ascribed to Solon, the wisest of them
all, and cut upon the entrance of Apollo's Delphic
Temple.

Men are strongly inclined to examine each other — to
scan with curious eye the fears and hopes, the motives
and purposes of those with whom they associate. This
inclination is manifested as well in savage as in civilized
life, by youth and age, weakness and wisdom, and too
often it is like the raven, which in a world of fragrance
scents corruption only. For the discovery of evil in
others we have an amazing capability; we can see a
mote in another's eye when we can not discover a beam
in our own. While busy examining the condition of

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 169

others, we are ignorant of our own. Often we abhor the
task of gazing inward. Nor is this wonderful; when
the sinner looks within he sees an awful void, over
which fearful forms are hovering, and from whose un-
known depths alarming sounds arise. He shrinks in-
stinctively as from the verge of a precipice, and flies to
business, pleasure, books — any thing that will divert
attention from himself. When the saint looks within,
unless his life has been of surpassing purity, he, too, sees
many things to pain his sight ; imagination holds out
forbidden images; memory, recorded delinquencies; rea-
son, neglected dictates; and conscience, a sharpened
sting; and, alas! too often does he go to the temple when
he should enter the closet — too often carol the songs
of praise when he should warble the dirge of penitence.

In enforcing the duty of self-exploration, that I be
not tedious, I limit myself by the following questions—
when, how, and why it should be performed :

I. When?

1. Daily. When men settle with each other frequently
they rarely differ; for they can readily oorrect mistakes
and remember valid charges. " Short settlements make
long friends." Would you live on good terms with
yourself, call your soul to account day by day. Indeed,
no man can know the general course of his life or
average strength of his character without frequent, not
to say daily, self-interrogation. Little does he know of
Niagara who examines it only here, where it encompasses
Grand Island, or yonder where its waters plunge the
fearful precipice. To form an adequate idea of it, we
must trace it from Erie downward to Ontario ; moreover,
we should examine on ordinary as well as extraordinary
occasions. There are who survey not the heart while
the stream of feeling flows in ordinary channels, who
look inward only when the showers of grace have swollen

15

170 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

it to the freshet-mark, or when the sun of prosperity
has well-nigh dried its bed. In either case the sight
may startle, but is it not deceptive ? How shall he who
gazes at Jordan only when the melting snows of Lebanon
and Hermon have swelled its current to a torrent, or
when the lion finds his lair within its outer banks, form
a just idea of its average breadth and strength?

Certain periods of the day are peculiarly appropriate
to this duty. Such is the morn, when the soul rises
renovated from its nightly tomb, before business raises
its distracting hum, or temptation uncovers its alluring
scenes, while silence reigns around, and the moral sun
is ready to scatter mists from the spirit as the natural
one does from the mountain-tops, Would you gather
manna? would you wrestle with an angel? would you
settle with your soul ? Let thine eyelids open with the
eyelids of the morning. Nor is evening unfit for mental
introversion; by its silence and its shade it is suited to
awaken solemn thought, to remind us of the close of
life, the darkness of the tomb, and the great tribunal
beyond it. In its business uses, no less than in its
solemn associations, it suggests self-investigation. If
the merchant at the close of day, with anxious heart,
compares his losses with his gains, the contracts he has
made with the means of their fulfillment, shall not the
soul consider the responsibilities it has assumed, the
penalties it has incurred, and the progress it has made
either toward eternal bankruptcy or everlasting mansions?

2. At the close of the week how fitting that we should
retrospect its labors ! I have often admired the Puritan
custom, which observes the evening and the morning as
the first day, because it secures us a Saturday night calm,
sober, inviting to self-communion. Good were it to
spend the hours that immediately precede the Sabbath
in preparation for its holy rest. If we do not, at least

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 171

let us set apart the Sabbath mora to examine the history
of the previous week in imitation of God, who, before
his Sabbatic rest, surveyed his six days' work. The
Sabbath is his day. What searching of heart and mem-
ory to meet an earthly judge! What surpassing self-
exploration to near the God of judgment! Though the
Lord is every-where present, yet specially is he in his
holy temple. To go into his house as the horse into the
battle is to rush against the bosses of his buckler. We
meet in the temple to enjoy the light of God's word;
if we would have its beams we must not only close the
shutters of business, but open the windows of the soul.
AVe assemble to proclaim his most worthy praise; but
with what heart, if we have not surveyed his mercies?
We come together to ask those things that are necessary
as well for the soul as the body; but how shall we know
for what to ask without previous inquiry of the inner
man?

3. At the close of the year it is the custom in some
countries for business men to close their accounts, and
make a thorough examination of their pecuniary condi-
tion. This is wise ; suspense is less endurable than
ruin. Moreover, the merchant, upon the borders of in-
solvency, is often enabled, by a knowledge of his condi-
tion, to avoid the gulf he is approaching; he sees how
to retrace false steps, retrench needless expenditures,
and employ remaining resources. 0 that men cared as
much for their spiritual and eternal interests !

4. At the termination of important epochs of life.
Some of you, perhaps, are taking leave of the period of
pupilage; it is a favorable moment to reflect. "The plan-
ets have just measured off a large portion of your short
life; shall this not give you pause? Since you first com-
menced it, Providence has placed many of your friends in
the grave, but he has brought you up amid innumerable

172 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

mercies. Have you no oil to pour upon the memorial
of divine care and goodness ? During the period just
closed you have been acquiring the means of immeasura-
ble evil or incalculable good; will you not ask, which?
You have completed a long march ; will you not inquire,
whither? You are about to enter upon the important
duties of maturer years ; you now ask, am I prepared ?"
Although the periods I have named naturally suggest
the duty, yet it may be performed at others; but we
insist that stated and frequently-recurring seasons be
set apart for it, and that they be sufficiently long and
hedged from company and worldly cares as by a fiery
wall. By regularly attending to this duty the mind will
at the appointed times assume the necessary collected-
ness. But there are occasional as well as stated periods
for self-interrogation.

(1.) Before and after every important action. The cap-
tain who sets out on a long voyage should see that his
vessel be sea-worthy; and when he returns to port with
a rich cargo he needs a watch upon the deck. Our ex-
amination into the motives with which we enter upon
momentous schemes should be made timely — before pas-
sion is aroused or consistency involved — that the design
may be distinctly seen, and the bearing and sweep of
the contemplated course of conduct adequately compre-
hended. The examination which should follow an im-
portant action should be serious and careful, that we
may see the evil, and endeavor to neutralize it — that we
may discern the good, and aim to give it greater efficiency.

(2.) In periods of affliction consider. There is a
graceless philosophy which teaches that all human events
happen according to general laws — that there is no spe-
cial providence. Patriarchal religion, however, teaches
that afflictions do not spring from the ground nor sor-
rows come by chance. The prince of apostles declares,

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 173

"Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receivetli;" and that these " light
afflictions, which are but for a season, work out for us
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory/'
Sickness, misfortune, and bereavement may sometimes
be punitive — usually corrective. The sweet singer of
Israel says, u Before I was afflicted I went astray, but
now have I kept thy law." When God drops a cur-
tain before our temporal prospects, it is that he may
direct our attention to our spiritual. It is not enough
that we patiently submit to his trying dispensations; we
should retire into our hearts to learn their uses — to in-
quire what roots of bitterness he would eradicate from
our soul, what grace he would cultivate within it, or from
what path he would reclaim our wandering footsteps.

(3.) Periods of revival. There are times to favor
Zion, yea, set times. So says God's word — so teach the
analogies of his providence. There was a pool in Be-
thesda whose waters were supposed to have no virtue save
when an angel troubled them ) how eagerly did the suf-
ferers who waited at its margin watch for the heavenly
messenger, and pray to be thrust in when his footsteps
raised the waves ! When God pours an unwonted spirit
of supplication upon his people and an unusual flood
of light upon his word, then, though Satan tempt to
dissipation and the world multiply snares, go into thy
closet to commune with thy heart. Such moments are
precious — moments of heavenly suffrage — and with you
they may soon cease forever.

There is one season of life particularly favorable to
this duty — youth; while the mind is impressible, the
heart susceptible, the habits flexible, and the conscience
tender. It is easy to stop a race-horse at the start, but
not at the top of his speed, even upon the brink of a
precipice.

174 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

There is one period particularly unfavorable to this
duty — old age; because it is then of little use. When
the keepers tremble and those that look out of the
windows be darkened, it is a poor time to set the house in
order. If a man would tame the lion of his rampant
powers, let him not wait till u the grasshopper is a bur-
den. " If he must upheave the atlas of depraved mental
habits, let him do it before " the golden bowl is break-
ing." If he would bind the Hellespont of his passions,
let him begin ere "the silver cord is loosed. " This
would be the dictate of reason even if the work were
of equal difficulty at all periods of life; but the diffi-
culty of the task increases as the capacity of the man
diminishes. Yonder is one determined to turn the cur-
rent of the Mississippi. He enters his canoe, and goes
down from the gentle source to the very mouth before
he steps out into the middle of the stream to breast the
waters. Lo ! an emblem of him who defers the work of
regulating his soul to the season of age. And who
knows that he shall ever see old age? There are ten
thousand forms in which accident or disease may de-
prive you instantly of life. Earth may open its jaws
beneath your footsteps, or heaven may smite you with
its bolt. Suppose you could be assured of old age, de-
lirium or ennui may make it senseless. Suppose you
could insure your reason, have you any evidence that
you would be inclined to the retrospection of a life of
sin, the training of an uncultured mind, the explora-
tion of a hardened heart, and the computation of eternal
retributions? The probability is that you would be
either in a state of unnatural insensibility or unwonted
sensibility. If in the former, you would be dozing in
the scorner's seat; if in the latter, you would need no
self-examination. Memory unbidden would testify with
damning accuracy and comprehensiveness, imagination

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 175

give prelibations of bottomless perdition, and conscience,
gathering recuperative energies with your departing
breath, might renew its scorned admonitions in tones
of thunder, till hell itself might be regarded as a refuge
if it hide you from yourself

Let us consider,

II. How this duty should be performed.

This question respects both the objects and the mode
of inquiry. And,

1. As to the objects. To a due attention to

(1.) Our physical nature we need not be exhorted.
It is a beautiful remark of Cicero, in his Tusculan Ques-
tions, that when our body is diseased, it is an object of
anxious scrutiny; but when the mind is disordered, we
feel no interest in discovering its condition — no solici-
tude for a remedy; because in the former case the mind,
which feels the body's pain, is sound, but in the latter
the thing which examines is itself the subject of the
disease. To the soul, therefore, would we direct your
chief attention, remarking that we should examine it as
respects,

(2.) The intellect. Although it requires the whole
spiritual essence to think or feel, yet, for the sake of sys-
tem, we divide its functions into the intellective, the
sensitive, and the voluntary. The first comprehends
memory, imagination, association, and reason. As the
senses inform us of external existences and movements,
consciousness certifies us of mental states and opera-
tions. It is the eye of the mind, and by will we can
fix our attention upon the objects of which it is cog-
nizant or withdraw it from them. As when we see a
painting, we may pass it without appreciating it or pause
and examine it till we feel its beauties, so we may hurry
through the gallery of paintings which the interior art-
ist— imagination — draws, without being conscious of

176 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

their forms, or we may survey each drawing till we are
sensible of its beauty or deformity. The latter is our
duty. We may either hasten through a cabinet of nat-
ural history without any more benefit than from a dream,
or we may examine every specimen till we perceive its
properties and relations. Memory is such a cabinet; its
treasures should be studied, that they may be properly
classified and arranged. Reason is the power by which
we compare ideas and draw conclusions; its operations
should be scanned. One great object of mental scrutiny
is our intellectual habits. Like the body the mind hath
its customs, which are gradually formed by its individual
acts, and if suffered long to go unchecked become uncon-
trollable. Our opinions constitute another object of this
species of examination.

Besides thoughts resulting from the operation of our
own minds, the Bible teaches that we are subject to
temptations from the unseen world. These should be
objects of severest scrutiny.

Happily there are gracious influences also from the
invisible world, which should be studied that they may
be cherished, and may be distinguished by the following
tests : Are they promised in the Scripture ? Do they lead
to duty and to God ?

(3.) We must examine the soul with reference to its
moral states. We are not born of flint, but have feeling
as well as thought. Thoughts are followed by pleasures
or pains, and thus naturally call forth desires, or fears,
comprehending appetites, propensities, affections, and
passions. These all have their limits, within which they
should be kept, and their habits are liable to become
inveterate. In examining them we are favored with
explicit rules in the word of God. Besides natural emo-
tions and desires — which we have in common with
brutes — we have moral emotions and feelings of obli-

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 177

gation ; these link us with angels and with God. What
am I ? what are my faculties, relations, and responsi-
bilities? are questions which ought to take precedence
of every other, and to be prosecuted with an intense and
unequaled solicitude. Till they are settled no man can
be happy. What madness for a man to be toiling night
and day, exhausting his physical energies and taxing
mental powers to the utmost for a few words and
iigures, when, lo ! he feels about in the damp midnight of
agonizing conjecture in regard to himself and his eternal
interests — when he might, by patient, prayerful, daily
thought, stand in the serene sunshine of settled convic-
tion ! I proceed to the question,

In what manner should we examine ourselves ?

(1.) Patiently. Some enter with spirit upon the task,
but soon quit it in despair. So have we seen the youth
enter upon a science with energy, and, because he could
not see the end from the beginning, abandon it in dis-
gust. When first yon direct attention inward, you find
the operation difficult and painful — like reversing an eye
in its orbit — and when at last it is turned, at the least
relaxation of volition, it revolves to outward objects, as
a needle deflected by the electric stream turns to its be-
loved star the moment the circle is broken; you must
turn it again and again, till you hold it by an unbroken
will, and habituate it to a steady, inward gaze. When
this is done there will still be need of patience ; for at
first you will see nothing but darkness brooding over con-
fusion; continue looking, and you soon see a star peering
from parted clouds, and then another and another; at
length broad belts of sky shall send lo-ng streams of
light, uncovering an inner world — dislocated, unsphered,
flood-swept, and tempest-tossed.

(2.) This duty must be done prayerfully, or it never
will be done perfectly. We need God's aid to see our-

178 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

selves. The starlight of nature and philosophy shows
us only the superfices of the soul. The heart is deep,
and no power of analysis, no patience of investigation,
no concentration of mental energy — unless supernatu-
rally aided — can explore its depths. Not till the Sun
of righteousness floods the soul with his holy light can
we see into the depths of the depraved heart.

(3.) We must examine ourselves by a proper standard.
To find standards by which to try our intellectual treas-
ures were easy.* A few general remarks will suffice.
But what is the standard in morals? Not the average
level of human motive and action. Many compare their
character with that of the multitude, and, finding few
better than themselves, say, what will become of the
millions if we be lost? — -not considering that the road
to perdition is broad and thronged, and the gateway to
hell wide and perpetually crammed with ruined mind
and matter. Are the torments of eternal flame less
certain because the mass of mankind crowd into it?
Nor is the common measure of character in the Church
of Christ a safe standard. Tares and wheat grow to-
gether till harvest, but the angel-reapers will make a
fearful separation in the day that shall burn as an oven.
A man without a wedding-garment may seat himself at
the supper of the Gospel; but detection, exposure, con-
fusion, and torment await him at the inspection of the

*ln examining our mental states and habits we must be wary, and have
an eye upon the great and good. In examining our opinions we must
guard against two extremes : that credulity which is satisfied with su-
perficial investigation, and that skepticism which, forgetting that a propo-
sition and its proof must be homogenous, looks for demonstration when
it should rest in moral evidence. In examining our science we should see
that our premises are facts, our deductions logical. Nor should we, in
separating the true from the false, forget to divest ourselves from preju-
dice or pride. In the words of Lord Bacon, we must enter the kingdom
of truth, no less than the kingdom of heaven, as a little child.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 179

guests. Not "few" will say at the final judgment,
"Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?" To
whom the Judge will reply, "Depart from me, I never
knew you."

Nor is sincerity the standard of innocence. We may
unintentionally err through ignorance ; but this igno-
rance may be culpable. It certainly is so if it be ow-
ing to a neglect of our faculties or of our means of
information. The subject is bound to obey the govern-
ment. This obligation involves the duty of inquiring
into the law; if the law has not been placed within his
reach, or if he be unable, with all the aid he can obtain,
to understand it, he is exonerated from obedience; oth-
erwise " ignorance of the law is no excuse." Suppose
a criminal object to receiving sentence because he did
not know that his crime was contrary to law; the judge
would respond, "It was your duty to know it; and where
knowledge is a duty ignorance is a crime. Had you
doubted whether the act were criminal, you might have
resolved that doubt by going either to the prothonotary
or the magistrate, in whose offices the government is
careful to deposit copies of its statutes." Paul was sin-
cere when he consented to the death of Stephen, and
breathed out threatening and slaughter against the dis-
ciples of the Lord; but was he innocent? He might
have known better. The heathen, who, possessing wis-
dom, became fools, and changing the truth of God into
a lie, worshiped and served the creature, were doubt-
less, in many cases, sincere. Yet they were without
excuse, because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them; for the invisible things of him —
attributes — are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made. They who stoned, and sawed asun-
der, and burned the prophets, and they who quenched
the violence of fire with the blood of martyrs, verily

180 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

thought they were doing God service ; but did he accept
the toil of their bloody hands, or hold them the less
guilty, because they brought their victims to his altar,
and kneeled sincerely before the flames ? Did nature or
truth give bloody instructions?

In examining ourselves, we must bear in mind that our
responsibility reaches up to the measure of your capac-
ity and means of knowing the Divine will. You may
close your ears to the glory which the heavens declare,
and shut your eyes upon the handiwork which the firma-
ment shows; you may restrain your feet from the thresh-
old of the temple, and your hands from the leaves of
the book of life ; you may stiffen your neck against the^
providences of God, and harden your heart even under
the dews of the divine Spirit; but you can not escape
the responsibility which your privileges impose. In the
equity of the Divine administration, as many as have
sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; and as
many as have sinned without the (written) law, shall also
perish without law, being judged by the works of the
law written on the heart, and the witness of conscience,
which alone are adequate to our condemnation.

We may sincerely desire to do right, yet err from defi-
cient sensibility of conscience. You ask, "If my moral
sense fail to admonish me of obligations, am I not ab-
solved from them?" This depends upon the question
whether you have previously obeyed all its monitions,
Conscience owes its power, in a great measure, to the
treatment it receives. As we are entitled to all the ben-
efits of its improvement, we are responsible for all the
consequences of its misimprovement. Were this not so,
the murderer who drinks without compunction the blood
of his mangled victims, because he has seared his con-
science as with a hot iron, were innocent as he who, by
due cultivation of his moral powers, has made it as

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 181

sensitive as the apple of his eye. Where, then, is the
standard by which we are to try our moral state? It is the
law of God. It were easy to show, that if this is not the
standard there is none. What is this law? The one
given amid the thunder and lightning of Sinai — a law
which relates, not merely to the overt act, but requires
purity in the inner man, claiming him for a homicide
who merely hates his brother; and while it broadens be-
fore our vision so as to sweep the compass of the moral
world, narrows so as to enter the breast, and span the in-
cipient thought of the most solitary man — being in sub-
stance, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart/' etc. Now, what is, we do not say the most, but,
the least that this can mean? Is it not that we entertain
an unmixed, unvarying, affectionate desire to please God ?
Any action performed with this motive is right; any one
to which we are led by a motive different or below this is
wrong. Whoever will examine his heart or life by the
law thus explained, will see the appalling truth, that the
carnal mind is enmity against God. Thus, the law will
be a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ; for, he will see
that the great question with every sinner is, whether he
is "in the faith."

I proceed to the question,

III. Why we should examine ourselves ?

The answer respects both the mind and the heart.
Why should we examine the mind?

1. Because the mind, if left to itself, forms perni-
cious mental habits. Melancholy illustrations of these
remarks are to be found every-where — persons who, re-
signing their minds to the influence of external impres-
sions, casual images, and accidental associations, find
thought a task, and business a weariness; and spend
the best portion of mortal existence in dreams which,
whether of rapture or of anguish, are alike idle and

182 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

vicious. "We should see that the mind forms healthful
customs of collecting, classifying, and arranging useful
knowledge; of so tracing relations among its stores of
facts, as to educe the principles which they involve, and
of so applying all its acquisitions, whether of fact or in-
ference, as to promote the great purpose of human life.

2. Because our opinions may be erroneous; indeed,
truth, in this world, is difficult to find ; error, difficult to
avoid. Every individual is likely to have many false opin-
ions. Some of these — as each of us has his besetments —
may be peculiar to himself; others he may have imbibed
from his relatives and associates; a larger class, handed
down from age to age in the schools, he may derive
through his instructors ; there is death sometimes even
in the prophet's pot; but the largest class of errors of
opinion are as old as sin; and, resulting from our natural
bias to evil, are common to the human family.

Erroneous opinions are by no means confined to the va-
cant mind that swallows doctrines as the ox does water.
The active, the learned, the illustrious maybe in grossest
error. Nor is error always injurious only to the possess-
or; it was a mistaken opinion that founded the Inquisi-
tion; it was an error of judgment that led Tamerlane
through fields of slaughter.

3. Because our minds are subject to temptation. It is
not my purpose to vindicate the doctrine of temptation
from the cavils of a vain philosophy; suffice it, in pass-
ing, to say, that temptation, like atmospheric pressure,
may be needed to the saint. It exercises virtue. The
eagle tries her young ones by the sun ; Christ by the fur-
nace. It develops character. Angels were tried; our
first parents were tried. Development of character may
be necessary alike for our own information, to qualify for
important enterprises, and to illustrate the justice of the
Divine government at the great day; for what though

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 183

God, who sees the heart, acquit or condemn j could man
assent if latent rebellion or obedience were not set free ?

4. Because it invigorates the mind; and this is the
great object of education. Collegiate studies are instru-
ments, not ends; and they derive their value from their
tendency to task the mental powers; but what problem
or paradigm so rouses to intellectual exertion as the
study of one's own soul? He who habitually pursues it
must acquire habits of patient observation, of keen dis-
crimination, of stern self-command; in fiue, must obtain
the mastery of his powers, that highest attainment,
which rendered Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato illustri-
ous, and to which Locke, Newton, and Franklin owed
their superiority. Go, then, through mathematics, clas-
sics, logic, but remember that there is, in the gymnasium
of your own skull, a mathesis better than they all.

It facilitates the training of mind. The horticulturist
should know the nature of his soil. Souls differ as much
as soils.

He who cultivates the earth needs to examine that
which springs up in his field, that he may eradicate the
thorns which, if not removed, would disappoint him of
his crop. Atheism, Deism, Universalism, etc., are self-
sown briers of the mind, which often choke implanted
truth. The husbandman should often walk a field to see
that the seed he sows be covered, lest the fowls of heaven
devour it. An examination of our useful knowledge is a
harrowing of the mental ground, and causes that to germ-
inate which else would be lost.

It prepares us for the most profitable use of our intel-
lectual powers and resources; and what are they worth un-
less employed? Arms stacked in the armory never drive
the enemy. Each man has peculiar gifts, which he
should carefully study if he would direct his energies to
the best advantage. Knowledge is good only for show,

184 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

unless mastered; nor can it be thoroughly mastered with-
out frequent revision.

It enables us to mark our mental progress. We read
of some who are ever learning and never able to come to
a knowledge of the truth. Satisfied with moving, they
do not examine whither they are going, or whether they
advance. Some years since, when there was a circle in
Philadelphia called Center Square, a teamster, anxious to
return home, left his lodgings late in the evening, and,
getting into this square, somewhat sleepy, drove round
and round it all night; and when morning came, found
himself only a few paces from his starting-point, after a
hard night's drive. So have we seen a student go round
and round a little circle of science, vainly supposing that
he made rapid progress, because he was now and then out
of breath.

It secures tranquillity in exigencies. Suppose the gov-
ernor of a city to be surrounded by enemies who had em-
issaries within his walls; were he to neglect the fortifica-
tions of his capital, the weak points of his outposts, and
the movements of his foes, what could he do in case of
attack? whom shall he trust? whither summon strength?
How vastly different his position and feelings under
a diligent and daily exploration of all things abound
him!

5. Self-inspection is an elevated employment. I ad-
dress the young and studious who, should they make a
discovery in science, would rush like Archimedes, from
the bath, crying, Eureka. The soul is the sublimest of
all studies. Within it are metaphysics true as God — per-
fect as creation; ethics, written by an Almighty hand.
At the bottom of the Red Sea the coralline is of various
and captivating colors and forms, presenting a scene gay
and lovely as the most beautiful parterre. There are
charms, too, in the soul's profound; use but the spiritual

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 185

diving-bell. The heavens and the earth will pass away;
the soul will live on and on.

The astronomer predicts the position and bearings of a
comet for a hundred years to come; more sublime to fix
virion an intelligent soul will occupy ten thousand
ten thousand years ahead; wrhether it will sweep
ratio course through the fiery gulf, or shine as a
star in the galaxy of heaven. You would gaze with a
feeling of elevation upon the invader of Mexico in the
midst of his tents; but the soul is a spectacle to heaven,
and earth, and hell Devils in platoons besiege and at-
tack it, and around it armies of cherubim and seraphim
encamp.

6. We have more interest in the soul than in every
thing else. From other things we must part; fortune

honors fade, friends die ; we must soon bid them all
farewell. The soul is our only exclusive empire, and when
properly regulated, external circumstances have little
power over it. How vain to study the heavens and the
earth, and the things under the earth, while we neglect
the glorious sight, the ever-burning, never-consuming
bu h within! Shall we seek, by compassing, at the risk
of life, both sea and land, for knowledge, when, lo ! it is

r precordia" in our minds?

7. Its operations — there is much reason to believe —
] will be eternal. To use the words of another, uIn the

web of human thought which has been weaving upward
through successive generations, each individual has en-
j twined his own intellectual history; and thus, through
' coming years, shall it be inwove with all human concep-
j tions, till the last infant of the species shall have drawn
J upon it his silver line of thought. Then shall it be sus-
J pended in the tapestry of that spacious temple, when the
j race shall reassemble, alike for intellectual as for moral
■ retribution. "

16

186 MORAL ANt) RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Let us speak next of the reasons for moral examina-
tion :

Our probationary state lays us under obligations to it.
Suppose a captain sailing on the borders of a maelstrom,
a short distance from a port which, if gained, would give
him a fortune for life; how sleepless would be his eye;
how eager his mind ! but what were his danger to the
dangers of a soul on probation for eternity? Should God
place us upon the summit of the universe, and direct us
to tread the zodiac round, would we not ponder the path
of our feet? but what is this to an entrance upon eter-
nity? I shudder when I think that there trembles
within me an immortal soul. How is my alarm increased
when I reflect that I stand upon a narrow neck of land,
between eternal and ever-deepening damnation on the
one hand, and endless and progressive rapture on the
other!

As might be expected, this duty is distinctly com-
manded in Scripture. To question its necessity, there-
fore, is to impeach Divine wisdom. Like all other du-
ties, it has its rewards in the present life. It gives stabil-
ity to character. Some animals can live either in air or
water. Some Christians, likewise, are amphibious ; main-
taining one position at all times. When the stream of
devotion rises and covers them, they appear to be very de-
votional ; and when the waters subside, and leave them
in the world's warm sun, they are equally worldly. Such
do not examine themselves; they have no fixed princi-
ples— mere creatures of circumstances. He who, under-
standing himself, acts from principle, is likely to be uni-
form in character.

Knowledge of ourselves leads to the subjugation of the
heart. Some are good Christians in every thing but the
conquest of the passions ; without which no man can be
either good or happy. It is the crowning victory of virtue.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 187

He who achieves it, is greater than the conqueror of a
city. The royal philosopher and poet of Israel, who
spoke three thousand proverbs, and whose songs were a
thousand and five, was conquered by his heart. Had he
faithfully examined it, would he have been subdued?
Can a man know that his bosom is full of rattlesnakes
and not tear them out ?

Every action has a tendency to good or evil without
end; for our influence will be felt to the end of time — in
eternity. When a man's movements may bring life or
death to thousands, how circumspectly should he act !

Our liability to self-deception shows the necessity of
this duty. Man is prone to flatter himself. How often
does he who acknowledges that he should know his heart
better than any thing else, prove that he knows it less!
Who does not arrogate to himself virtues he has never
displayed, and credit himself for abstaining from vices
which he has never had an opportunity to practice ? Who
does not fondly dream that the abhorrence with which he
views guilt in the hour of devotion will attend him
through the whirlwind of temptation? but as well sup-
pose that you would be safe amid explosion, because you
can cross the magazine with impunity before the spark is
applied. The world flatters us. When conscience wakes
up, how often does the world, like the heathen at the fu-
neral pile, rattle her drum to drown the cries ! The prog-
ress of sin is slow and almost imperceptible. A fault is
committed, and we say, as Lot of Zoar, "Is it not little?"
but if a boy at midnight enter your bedroom window
would you say, "Is he not a little fellow?" and sleep on?
True, he may be small, but large enough to light a match,
or slip a bolt.

"The heart [itself] is deceitful above all things." If
God should speak from heaven and say that your bosom
friend was deceitful, would you not watch her? That

188 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

truth of inspiration, unwelcome and alarming as it is,
finds an illustration in the broad fact that unregenerate
men do not consider themselves "wicked" Special illus-
trations, too, abound. How little did Hazael know of his
heart when he said, "Is thy servant a dog that he should
do this thing ?" The young man who went to Christ
saying, "What good thing shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life V thought he had kept the law from his
youth; but when Christ touched his heart at a vulnerable
point, he at once manifested his inherent spirit of rebell-
ion. Need we remind you of that bold apostle, who
said, "Though all men forsake thee, yet will not IT'
How often, upon the sick-bed, do men fancy they repent
and believe, but when they rise, forget or scorn their re-
ligious feelings and vows?

Though we may deceive ourselves, we can not long de-
ceive our fellow-men. We live in a world full of eyes,
and can find no hiding-place from their keen and pene-
trating glances. Ours, too, is a thinking world; though
men are generally averse to study, not so when each
other's characters are the subjects. In the store, the
market, the street, even in the sanctuary of home, we
are subjects of scrutiny; little prattlers often conceal be-
hind keen eyes most busy brains, which, without knowing
any thing of logic, go through the most complicated proc-
esses of analysis, with a view to the ascertainment of
character. Nor are the elements of investigation into the
human heart difficult of attainment. The most opaque
garments the soul can weave are more or less transpar-
ent; and who has not moments when his spirit looks out
at her window?

Nor can we deceive God. When Lafayette was im-
prisoned at Olmutz, he never looked through the keyhole
of his cell without seeing the eye of a sentinel looking
upon him. You may lock yourself up in the citad*! of

SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 189

your breast; but remember, God's eye looks through the
walls.

But you say, how cau I examine myself? My duties,
my conversation, my reading, my very devotion, leads me
out of myself. Suppose a spirit alight before your face
to-day ; it stands still, but you can not discern the form
thereof; an image is before your eyes; there is silence,
and }Tou hear a voice; would not the hair of your flesh
stand up? Suppose the mysterious one were to fix a fiery
gaze upon you; to follow you to your fireside; be at your
down-lying and your up-rising; and compass all your
paths; would you not inquire with a shudder into his
character and designs? And are there not mysterious
forms in the soul's depths, that attend your living paths;
that will haunt your dying pillow, and, if you repent not,
torment you in the regions of the lost? Can you not in-
quire into them? Suppose that to-night some ruffians in
disguise should seize you in your bed, and binding you
hand and foot, and fettering your tongue, should hurry
you by fleet horses to some island in the gulf; would you
not inquire, who are my captors? whither do they hurry
me ? what will they do with me ? how can I escape ?
Sinner, your sins hold you captive, and are driving you
at fearful speed to a gulf, of which that of Mexico is but
a faint emblem. Say you not, whither am I going? who
•are my captors? what my fate? and is there no escape?
Suppose that to-day you should be taken sick; the physi-
cian gives you, by mistake, a dose that puts you into a
mysterious sleep, simulating death; you are wrapt in the
winding-sheet, and watched all night as a corpse; to-
morrow your friends assemble for your interment; the
minister offers a solemn prayer at your coffin ; your
mother and father, clad in mourning, wring their hands
in anguish over you, and rain tears upon your pallid
cheek; brother, and sister, and friend, sigh as if their

190 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

hearts were breaking. Slowly the hearse conveys you to
the grave; the mourners follow in solemn procession
through the streets ; the pall-bearers lower you into the
narrow house; the minister utters the solemn words of
Jesus, " I am the resurrection and the life;" offers the
funeral prayer; and dismisses the assembly; the clods of
the valley fall thick and fast upon your coffin; the grave
will soon be filled up; and now you wake from your
trance. What mean the shrieks, the groans, the sound
of struggling arms beating against the coffin lid? They
tell the astonished sexton and wondering multitude that
crowd like madmen to the yet open grave, that you have
found out where you are, and are struggling for your life.
But what is all this to burying alive an immortal soul ?
As you lie in the tomb of sin, and ministering angels
weep at your grave, and the world shovels in its smother-
ing earth upon you, and the Savior's voice from the sky
pierces your ear with the words, " Awake thou that sleep-
est, and arise from the dead," do you tell me you can't
think where you are, nor make a struggle to burst your
spiritual coffin?

But one may say, I have arisen from the sepulcher of
spiritual death — need I examine myself? Look! Two
well-matched gladiators step into the arena; honor, life,
depend upon the conflict. Brandishing their furbished
weapons, they step, now forward, now backward, now
sideways; and now, as if looking all ways at once, they
pause; their muscles all trembling to leap, but each com-
batant unwilling to strike till he can begin the battle
with a desperate, if not deadly stroke. Would either
need to be told to see well to his position? What would
be the consequence should one grow negligent and begin
to ogle the gaping multitude? In such a position as
these gladiators are you, 0 saint, but the fight is more
desperate, the issue of infinitely greater consequence.

LOVE OF TRUTH. 191

%abt at %tnt\.

THE age is one of anomalies, of revolutions, of epochs;
of Apocalyptic trumpet-soundings and seal-openings.
It calls for men. That we may respond to this call we
must have many characteristics ; one of which is love
of truth.

Truth, as I use the word, is right opinion, or the
conformity of notions to things ) by love of truth I
mean such an attachment to it as will lead us to seek
for it, publish it, defend it, and, if need be, suffer for it.
Contemptible and hypocritical is the man who delights
not in the society of his wife, who is slow to speak in
her praise, or is unwilling, at the hazard of his own life,
to defend her honor and shield her heart. You ask,
how can I love truth? Place it before you in lovely
attitudes — regard it as the divinely-ordained companion
of the soul — to cleave unto which man, if need be,
should forsake father and mother, and side by side with
which it may stand up naked before its Maker and not
be ashamed. View it as the sweet solace of care, the
soft bosom of rest, and the God-appointed reward of
intellectual toil.

The advantages of love of truth are incalculable — it
promotes science, comfort, usefulness, .glory, salvation.
It promotes science by fixing and limiting attention, and
clarifying the mind, and purifying the heart. Our age
is an inquiring one, an educated one. Time was when
the man of superficial scholarship might be eminent,

192 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

now to be distinguished a man must be profound. To
be profound in any science we must give intense atten-
tion to it — imperfect views, though frequently repeated,
make no permanent impression.

The object must be apprehended firmly and held
steadily before the mind till it becomes the clear, strong,
exclusive object of perception before deep impressions
can be made upon the memory; but to do this requires
great energy of will, and how is the will to be moved
without emotion, and where is the emotion that can
move the will at all times to direct, condense, confine
the perception upon useful science. Avarice, ambition,
pride, vanity ; emulation may often answer this purpose
for a time, but truth courted with these motives is gen-
erally soon forsaken. She is a coy maiden ; she some-
times leads us across rivers, and over rocks, and
through forests; she often hides her beautiful face, and
suppresses her sweet song, and conceals her rosy gar-
land, and even takes her way by the glittering chests of
the miser, and within view of the looming entablature of
the capitol, and through the glittering saloons of pleas-
ure, and the enchanted castle of indolence, that she
may try her suitors and rid herself of all but true lovers.

The love of truth not only fixes attention, but it con-
fines it within a limited circle. He who pursues knowl-
edge with any other motive will be likely to diffuse
his attention over the whole encyclopedia. A scientific
coquette, he will wander from author to author, from sub-
ject to subject, without thought, and just as inclination
or interest may dictate. What is the consequence? He
recollects nothing distinctly; his mind is filled with
half-formed images and unsettled opinions; the proof
and doubt are mixed together; the balance not struck;
and, what is worse, the mind, undisciplined to nice dis-
crimination and patient thought, is incapable of con-

LOVE OF TRUTH. 193

centrating its powers or analyzing its subject. What
can it do? "Jack of all trades, it is master of none/'
You would as soon think of employing it in a mental
operation as of employing him who makes his own pen-
knife and his own pitchfork, the coat for his own back
and the shawl for his wife's, the shoes for his children
and the shoes for his horse: who pleads his own law,
preaches his own Scripture, and manufactures his own
pills, in a mechanical operation.

He who cultivates a love of truth for its own sake,
will soon have his attention riveted upon some beautiful
form of truth that will captivate his soul. To this his
visits become frequent and long, till at length the fair
enchantress is his life, and inspires him with a love for
her stronger than death. You inquire, Will he not grow
tired of her? Nay, he sees new beauties every day, and
fancies that she has excellences which angelic mind
could not fathom. What is the consequence ? If he
have any mind he becomes eminent. One fell in love
with Music — heavenly maid; his love grew more and
more intense; at length it occupied all his attention
and absorbed all his heart — he seemed to know nothing
but Music's power. Now, mark ! he touches the strings,
and mankind are entranced ; he touches again, and the
tide of life almost stops. Another becomes enamored
of Philosophy; so devoted does he become to her, that
he is little better than a fool in every thing else. But
he sheds luster on his age, is gazed on as a supernal
being, and becomes immortal as his language. One falls
in love with Christ and him crucified; and, though the
idea is to the Jew a stumbling-block and to the Greek
foolishness, being deeply loved, it is fully grasped, and,
being fully grasped, it fills his soul and provokes his
firm resolve to shut out every thing that would interfere
with its supremacy. "I determined to know nothing

17

194 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

among you," etc. Other thoughts this apostle had,
numerous and grand, but, like the planets of the solar
system, they were held, governed, warmed, and illumin-
ated by the central fiery orb — thought of the cross.
This truth palsies all the ordinary passions of man —
sensuality, ambition, avarice — and transmutes the alluring
objects of earth into "dung and dross." It bears up
the spirit under labors, watchings, fastings, and perils;
it robs prisons, chains, reproach, pain, and persecution
of their power to disquiet or alarm, and vacates the
charms of the most glorious objects and most glowing
associations of both nature and art. This one thought
produces one line of action. Mark the course of that
man who is under its power ! Whether on a wreck in
the Mediterranean, or in a parlor of the imperial palace;
before the elders of Ephesus, or the tribunal of Agrippa;
at the court of the Areopagus, or surrounded by the
inhabitants of a desolate island; sailing under the limbs
of the Colossus, or chased by pirates up the iEgean ;
musing in full view of the Acropolis, or singing hymns in
the Philippian jail— ask him what he is doing? His
answer is, " This one thing I do, forgetting those things
which are behind," etc., "I press forward/' Indeed, ex-
ternal circumstances seem to have but little power over
him; he must have passed the graves of Lycurgus and
Solon, and the birthplaces of Apelles, Hippocrates, Py-
thagoras; he must have followed the traces of the blind
old man of Scio's rocky isle, and stood before the most
gorgeous temples and most noble statuary of the gods ;
and yet, with a mind fitted to take fire at the glorious
scenes of classic renown, he 'does not intimate that he
had ever seen them. What was the consequence? He
became Paul the apostle of the Gentiles. But in ac-
counting for his success by his unity of thought and
purpose, am I not guilty of assigning a false cause?

LOVE OP TRUTH. 195

Now, how else will you account for it? By his learning?
But the gift of tongues placed the fishermen of Galilee,
in the apostolic college, upon a level, in respect of lan-
guages, with Paul himself. By his eloquence? Doubt-

- he knew how to sweep the chords of the human heart.
But his speech and his preaching were not with enticing

rdfl of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the
spirit and of power. He forbore to exercise the arts of
oratory, lest the excellency (virtue) of the power might
appear to be of him and not of God. Moreover, Apollos
was eloquent, and mighty in the Scriptures too. yet he
was no Paul; his soul had not felt to its full extent the
expulsive, condensing power of the evangelical affection.

It promotes purity of thought. Philosophy was once
encompassed and arrested by false theories and human
prejudices. How came she to emerge from the cloud,
and proceed on her way rejoicing? Bacon fell in love
with simple physical truth. His first work was to point
out the delusions of human philosophy, which he justly
denominated idols, and divided into four classes : idola
tribus, or prejudices common to all men; idola sjiecus, in-
dividual misconceptions ; idola fori, idols mutually recip-
rocated by mankind; idola theatri, or the prejudices of
the schools. His next step was to teach men to cast
away these idols. His third step was to bid men enroll
the pure phenomena ; his fourth was to make men com-
pare their tables of instances; and his last to arrive at
real knowledge by full and honest induction. The eman-
cipation of the world from the systems of false philoso-
phy, and the splendid achievements of modern science,
are traceable to Lord Verulam's love of pure, physical
truth. This principle operates in a similar way in all
cases ; it is to error and prejudice, what the sandal-tree
is to insects — it demands death or departure.

It promotes moral purity and simplicity. T say not

196 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

that without grace it will purify the soul, yet such is its
tendency; it predisposes to the Bible; for truths, like
the stars, are reciprocally attractive.

It inclines also to that simplicity of expression and de-
sign which abhors scheming, falsehood, tergiversation.
The lover of truth, like Truth herself, prefers transparent
garments. The world once was shrouded in religious
night; the Church seemed to have lost her power of rev-
olution under a starless heaven. What brought in the
light? Luther saw a Bible; turned away his eye from
the clouds, and fell upon his knees. Erelong the bosom
of the Church warmed beneath the rays of a moral sun.

Love of truth promotes comfort. It may lead us into
conflict, but not with conscience or with reason. Our
foes will be all external; no discord, nor fear of discord,
within the breast; but harmony, sweeter than of lutes,
more stirring than of trumpets.

It keeps the soul in its natural element. Interest, am-
bition, avarice, may plant the soul where all its faculties
are repressed; love of truth places it where its powers
must be developed. The cedar, in a cave where there is
no light, nor change of air, nor genial showers, can never
flourish; on the mountain-top, fanned by the breeze,
warmed by the sun, and watered by the shower, it will
strike deep its roots, and lift to the clouds its head.

Truth is the mind's element; bathing in it, it can
grow freely, like the tree planted by the river's side,
whose leaf never withers, and whose fruit never fails.

When the soul moves in truth there is no necessity for
concealing motives, nor shame at their revelation. The
selfish man has an everlasting ado to keep his motives
buttoned under his breast, and he must be a genius if he
can keep the dirty things from crawling out from beneath
the covering; but the honest man wears a jewel on his
breast — the love of truth — and he cares not who sees it.

LOVE OF TRUTH. 197

It promotes usefulness, by promoting decision, activity,
and confidence. Without decision no man was ever
greatly useful ; with it a man must be a madman, a devil,
or a fool, if he be useless. But what, save the love of
truth, can make the truly-decided character? If a man
be governed by interest, he is as liable to change as the
chameleon; if by popularity, as the passing breeze,
which comes, we know not whence, and goes, we know
uot whither. Truth only, in this world, like God, is im-
mutable. The frail mortal seated on this rock is stead-
fast— like that column in the capitol; come at morn, at
noon, at night; come in the calm or in the storm, you
find him in the same relative position ; nay, more, he is
unmovable; the column can be removed by the power of
man — the soul on truth, like a rock in the ocean, bids de-
fiance to all but Omnipotence. I care not how small the
mind, if it is planted on truth its position is sublime, its
power tremendous. See Luther, a solitary monk, rising
against a power that made kings do homage and earth
tremble. Tetzel, clothed with the thunders of the Vati-
can, burns his thesis with ignominy, and denounces him
as a damnable heretic, but he stands. A thousand barbed
ecclesiastical arrows quiver on the string, directed at his
heart, but he trembles not ; he meets the Papal legate at
Augsburg, and mildly, firmly, maintains his position; la-
menting that he is regarded as the leading adversary of
the whole Church of God on earth, yet speaking with
unfaltering accent. Summoned to battle against the
combined powers of Church and state, in the Diet at
Worms, his friends gather around him to dissuade him,
urging that they who had burned his writings would burn
his body. "I would go, if I knew there were as many
devils at Worms as tiles on the houses/' is his grand reply.

By promoting activity. Nothing so paralyzing to the
will as the want of the hope of success. Call on a man to

198 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

overturn a mountain, and what will his energies be
worth? Convince a man that his labor must be success-
ful, and you may command his utmost powers. Truth is
invincible; men may denounce it, legislate against it,
join hand in hand, the world around, to put it down, but
all in vain. Suppose all nations to form a league against
the law of gravitation ; to compel every society, and col-
lege, and corporation, to pronounce against it, and choke
every utterance of it with the point of the bayonet.
What were all this? The earth would still wheel in its
orbit, and the waters roll to the ocean, and every human
footfall preach the true philosophy.

God has his moral as well as his physical laws, and
they are uniform and irresistible ; yet men sometimes
league against them. They collect in some city or plain,
and, seizing some great cord of the moral universe, they
say, "Gro to, now, let us break this band, and cast away
this cord from us;" but, "He that sitteth in the heav-
ens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. "
Men may gather a great party, and get a great name, and
manufacture a great deal of brick, and mix a great deal
of slime, and build a great Babel, and get a great many
offices and emoluments in opposing moral truth; but there
runs through human nature a great feeling of moral obli-
gation, that, sooner or later, will break into a thousand
fragments any party that sets itself in opposition to the
laws of the universe. Every man knows this, and when
he puts himself on the wrong side, this conviction puts
out one half his strength. Reverse the picture, if you
would see the influence of truth on activity and power.
Though a man may have no great name, no party, no
money, no offices, on his side, he has no fears; though
truth may suffer a temporary depression, he sings,

" Truth struck to earth will rise again;
The eternal years of God are hers."

LOVE OF TRUTH. 199

Not only does love of truth stimulate to activity, but it
prevents any waste of it. Its operations are simple and
effective ; it takes no trouble to procure the subscription
of philosophers, the indorsement of societies or parties;
it is at no pains for drums, and flags, and mottoes; it
needs no Pantheon, or Coliseum; no St. Peter's, or St.
Paul's; no cathedrals, or Nauvoo temples, or statuary, or
ghostly ceremonies, to drown its fears, or waken its en-
thusiasm, or excite the world's attention.

It asks not protection from civil government; as soon
would it ask it for the sun, moon, and stars. As Luther
said, the good man looks up into God's beautiful arch
and fears not lest it should fall, though he see not and
feel not any pillars; so he looks up to truth; and though
it be encompassed with clouds, and without visible sup-
port, he knows there is a bow of promise to span it, an
eternal arm to bear it up.

Truth must eventually prevail. Let a man take a truth
against the world, and proceed to conflict; and within a
single lifetime he may bring the whole human race
over to his side. Harvey said, the blood circulates — the
rest of the world said, it does not; the priesthood cried,
blasphemy; the schools grinned in contempt; conserva-
tism, in holy veneration of antiquity, cried out against
modern madness; but ere the great anatomist died, he
saw his profession revolutionized. Galileo was twice per-
secuted by the Inquisition, and compelled to abjure the
Copernican system; but he lived long enough to say, "it
moves," and yet breathe freely. Columbus, inferring
from the lunar eclipses that the earth was a sphere, con-
cluded that it might be traveled over from east to west,
or from west to east. With this great truth, and the
means of its demonstration, he was for years little better
than a wandering pauper; but he at length kissed the
ground of San Salvador, and was led in triumph through

200 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

his native land as admiral of Spain, and the discoverer
of a new world.

Thus, also, with moral truth. Wesley seized, in his
solitary musings, a glorious truth ; but he found himself
in opposition to priests, and colleges, and nobles; to the
Church, patronized and fortified by the state, and orna-
mented by the talent, learning, wit, and wealth of the
nation. He went into the highways and hedges, the
mines arid coal-pits; and before he lay down his trum-
pet, his name was pronounced with veneration half over
Europe and America, and the islands of the sea, and his
disciples were as the stars for multitude. Clarkson found
a precious truth, but it was resisted by almost every man
in the United Kingdom. It was opposed, more or less,
to every man's interests and prejudices; it was barred by
the strong battlements of antiquity and law, and assailed
by matchless eloquence and wit. Steadily, prudently,
does the great apostle of liberty preach his doctrine, and
gradually does the whole nation fall before it, till, at an
expense of one hundred thousand millions of dollars, it
sends across the ocean the mighty word that slavery
should exist in her colonies no longer.

0, 'tis wonderful, what one mortal, with one truth, can
achieve in this wicked world; and yet, not wonderful, for
truth is omnipresent. "Do you think the Pope fears Ger-
many?" said the legate of St. Peter's chair, to the hum-
ble but honest monk at his feet. "Do you think the
princes will defend you with arms ? Most certainly they
will not; whither, then, will you find refuge?" " Under
the wide heavens," was the noble reply.

He who goes with the party, and shouts as the people
shout, may be compelled, by the death of a president,
the vote of a council, or the passage of a river, to change
his note ; but he who follows truth, though he should as-
cend to heaven, or make his bed in hell, or take the

LOVE OF TRUTH. 201

wings of the morning, to dwell in the uttermost parts of
the earth, will find the universe dovetailed to his doc-
trine.

Truth is not only always present, but always operating.
When the drums cease beating, and the flags no longer
fly, and the people return to their houses, the popular
enthusiasm evaporates, and you know not how to raise an
argument or hurra for error; but truth, in private, no
less than in public; in shade equally as in sunshine; at
midnight, as well as at noon ; and oft in visions of the
night, when deep sleep falleth upon man ; wherever
there is a conscience to feel, or a mind to think ; truth,
like the law of gravitation, with its silent but sweet and
irresistible attractions, works out its blessed problems.
Stay it? as soon stop Niagara ! It may begin as a little
spring in the mountain side; it may roll silently along
the meadow, concealed by the grass; it may gurgle as a
rivulet over its pebbly bed; but its gathering might
laughs at chains, as the Hellespont at Xerxes.

Truth is glorifying. Look over the scroll of fame, and
you shall find none possessed of an enviable immortality,
but such as have been truth's consistent champions. Great
talents, great industry, great eloquence, have, in every age,
gone down to the grave without honor; while, in numerous
instances, inferior mind, linked to a great truth, has se-
cured an everlasting renown. True, a man may suffer for
truth ; may die for it. Well, let him die ; and, like
Epaminondas at the battle of Mantinea, with the javelin
in his breast, let him inquire the fate of the battle, and he
shall be able to say, "I have lived long enough." When
we bury him, we will write upon his gravestone, " Go,
traveler, tell truth I lie here in obedience to her laws."

It were a miserable thing to sacrifice truth, even to
save life. Cranmer was enticed by the Papists to do so.
They promised him the restoration of his dignities, and

202 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

the favor of the Queen if he would but sign a brief and
ambiguous renunciation. This he did ; it was sent to the
council and returned; another was presented, more full
and with less reserve. Ashamed to retreat, and unwill-
ing to lose the benefit of his first subscription, he signed
this also. It was forwarded, and returned as not satisfac-
tory; another was offered more full and express. This
process was continued till the sixth paper was signed, in
which he anathematized and renounced what he believed
to be true, and acknowledged as true what he believed to
be false. And now, when he looked for the reward, his
enemies, without any warning to him, led him to the
stake, and announced that it was expedient for him to
die, although he had become a good Catholic, because no
confidence could be reposed in him. No tongue can de-
scribe the agonies of soul that he felt as he listened to
the declaration; sometimes lifting his streaming eyes to
heaven, and sometimes in uttermost dejection casting
them to the ground. At the close of the announcement
he fell upon his knees and uttered a prayer commencing
with the following words: lt 0, Father of heaven; 0, Son
of God, Redeemer of the world; 0, Holy Ghost, proceeding
from them both; three persons and one God; have mercy
upon me, most wretched caitiff and miserable sinner ! I,
who have offended both heaven and earth, and more griev-
ously than tongue can express ! Whither then shall I go,
or where shall I fly for succor ! To heaven I am ashamed
to lift up mine eyes, and on earth I find no refuge."

On rising, he said, among other things, "And now I
come to the great thing that so much troubleth my con-
science, more than any thing I ever said or did in my
whole life ; and that is, the setting abroad a writing con-
trary to the truth, which I here renounce as things writ-
ten with my hand contrary to the truth which I thought
in my heart, and written for fear of death.' ' Being

LOVE OF TRUTH. 203

chained to the stake, he raised his right hand, saying,
u This is the hand that wrote; therefore it shall first suf-
fer punishment." Fire being applied, he stretched out
his right hand to the flame, and held it there unmoved —
except that once he wiped his face with it — till it was
consumed; crying with a loud voice, "This right hand
hath offended, this unworthy right hand !" 0, how differ-
ent this martyrdom from that of Ridley or Latimer!
"What a lesson for the young! The traitor to the truth
loses the confidence of friends, the respect of foes, the
consciousness of rectitude, the favor of God, the might
of truth, and often the promised reward of treachery;
and is in the end forsaken, despised, and burned, by the
very men for whom he has sacrificed his all. Year after
year, Washington, London, Paris, has many cases of
political martyrdom; not of glory, but of shame; and
hell doubtless has its myriads of martyrs who, in the
eternal flame, cry out forever, "This hand hath offended;
this unworthy right hand."

Bilney, through the persuasion of friends, and the in-
firmity of nature, was influenced to recant; but when he
returned, and was offered the congratulations of his
friends on his escape from the flames, he refused to re-
ceive them, but fell into appalling gloom and anguish,
which continued two years; during which neither food
nor drink, nor friends, nor even the communication of
God's word did him any good. He thought the whole
volume of truth was against him, and sounded to his con-
demnation. At length he arose from his bed of sor-
row and remorse, by resolving to die for that truth
which he had renounced. And now, with gladness he
ate his food, and met his friends, and parted with them,
saying, "I go to Jerusalem, and shall see you no niore."
Then he preached both publicly and from house to house,
till he was arrested. In prison he was cheerful as a lark

204 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

mounting to the morning sun. On the eve of his execu-
tion he said, "The fire may be hot to my body, but the
Spirit of God will refresh and cool my spirit with ever-
lasting comfort. In the flame I shall fed no heat; in
the fire no consumption; the body shall be wasted, but
the soul shall be purged; the pain shall be short; the
joy that shall follow, unspeakable." He marched peace-
fully to the stake, and, doubtless, ascended to heaven in
his chariot of flame, leaving his mantle on earth, to be
worn in all succeeding ages.

Francis Spira, a celebrated lawyer of Citadella, in Italy,
embraced the doctrines of the Reformation, as soon as
they were introduced into that country, and freely ex-
pressed his opinions of them. As he was a man of great
abilities, the archbishop of Benevento determined to
crush him at once. When he was informed of his dan-
ger he was persuaded, for the sake of his family, to beg ab-
solution, promise obedience, and make a public recanta-
tion, which he did against his clear convictions. His con-
science reproached him again and again; he was struck
with unutterable horror, and fell into despair. He ex-
pressed himself in language too awful to repeat concern-
ing his crime and his damnation from God. He was re-
moved to Padua, and placed under the care of physicians,
who declared that his case was moral, and beyond their
reach. He was surrounded with the clergy, who recited
to him the beautiful promises of God; but he insisted that
these were not for him, who must be damned to ever-
lasting torment, because he had abjured the truths of
God, knowing them to be so. He said he felt the pains
of hell within himself; that he wanted to be at the worst
with hell, as the expectation of more torments increased
those he already sustained. In this state of mind he left
the world, giving it a lesson which should not be lost.

How miserable the life, how unlamented the death,

LOVE OF TRUTH. 205

how shameful the memory of Arnold! He was a traitor;
and will be execrated while his country lasts. More
shameful the traitor to truth than the traitor to liberty.
He may win money and office, but he will soon be found
wanting, and numbered with the hateful and odious. In
■ shipwreck a man will save his jewels, and let the rest
go. Whatever calamity we may suffer, let us save the
jewel of truth; in so doing we shall save honor, peace,
and a good conscience, which the world can neither give
nor take away.

You may think this exhortation needless. We have
no fear of the stake; but ambition, lust, avarice, pride,
intemperance, slavery, infidelity, are as hard masters as
ever the Papacy was ; they bribe as often, they deceive
as often, they destroy as cruelly, when they obtain power,
as ever did Bloody Mary. Every year they lure their
victims from the truth, and are sure, when they succeed,
to plunge them, in the end, into a fiery death ; happy in-
deed are they if they escape the second death!

It promotes salvation. The man who loves truth must
hate sin. They are contrary, the one to the other. No
man who loves his father will do that which is displeas-
ing to him ; or, if he do, he will grieve over it, repent
of it, seek to atone for it, and rest not till he has obtained
forgiveness. Let a man only love truth, and he will soon
love God and holiness. On the other hand, let him love
error and commit wrong, and he will hate God and his
laws. One celebrated sinner cried out, " I see all glory
and excellency in God; but so far from loving him on
that account, I more horribly hate him."

0, love but the truth, and the truth will make you
free! Why should you love error? it is from hell, and
will lead you thither.

206 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

THE modes and the motives for this duty might be
appropriately treated. Dismissing the former, let us
confine our attention to the latter. These may be
summed up in three words — interest, duty, and grati-
tude. Lest we be wearisome, let us omit the first and
the last, and treat simply of the interest we have in our
own good deeds. If we could see the end from the
beginning, doubtless we should perceive that nothing
wrong is expedient, nothing right inexpedient, so inti-
mately has God blended our interest with our duty.
Even with the imperfect vision allowed we are at no
loss to discover that, as a general rule, when we promote
the interest of another we subserve our own. Benefi-
cence promotes our safety, prosperity, and happiness.
It increases our safety. There is no protection like the
love of those around us, and there is no way to provoke
love in others so effectual as to exhibit it toward them
ourselves. The robber will hardly pick the lock of his
benefactor ; the slanderer's tongue will not move against
a patron of the poor, unless, indeed, it be set on fire of
hell, and even then the flames would soon be quenched
by public indignation. The cheapest, swiftest, most
effectual policemen, indeed, the only ones that can guard
alike one's person, estate, and character, are deeds of
charity. More especially is this the case where public
will makes law and public feeling executes it.

Most men have relatives to protect — mothers, or sis-

DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 207

ters, or brothers, or wives. Let your kindred live among
those who have either enjoyed or observed your sym-
pathy or your bounty, and they will walk in safety and
sleep in blessings.

They tell me that once in a certain city, when the
cholera was raging, there were a few beautiful young
ladies who, like Paul at Ephesus, or the blessed Jesus
at Jerusalem, went about from house to house as angels
of mercy ministering to the sick, consoling the bereaved,
soothing the dying, and arraying for the grave the
forsaken corpse; they walked about by night as by
day; nor needed an attendant, however thronged the
passage or dark the night; they moved with as much
security even amid ruffians, as if they had moved among
the angels of God — no fear that they should be assaulted
or even insulted. And what was the security? Not that
a pall hung over the city — not that every pillow was
pressed by the dying and every coffin filled with the
dead; for, in seasons of appalling, overwhelming calam-
ity, human depravity often breaks forth in its wildest
form — the son has been seen playing a jewsharp on the
bier of his father, and hearses have run races to the
grave, and men have robbed the orphan, and the widow,
and the dead — no; their security was their goodness,
which can disarm even the madness of wickedness.

Every man has an interest in the rising generation.
It ought to be his chief care to protect it. How shall
he do this ? All may be summed up in one expression —
impart good character. But how shall this be done?
Partly by good domestic training, partly by good common
school and academical instruction and discipline, partly
by ecclesiastical teaching and influences; but not wholly
by all these together. Something must be done for
your neighbor's children. If you would know whether
your son is to swear, you may have to inquire concern-

208 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

ing the son of even the meanest and obscurest of your
neighbors. When does a boy learn his first oath?
While he is scarce able to go beyond his father's garden,
and knows no distinction between his companions, and
has no guide in his little journeys but his careless
nurse. If you would know whether he is likely to grow
up vain, and frivolous, and foppish, you must ask what
is the character of the young men around you; if you
would know whether he is to be an idle, pleasure-seeking
spendthrift, ask whether the young ladies of the vicin-
age are so ; if you would know whether he is to be a
sensual profligate, you may have to ask even the vilest
of the vile that walk your streets in gay apparel.

Such is the connection between the different parts of
society, that if a man would protect himself he must
protect others, and if he would save his own offspring
he must concern himself for the offspring of his neigh-
bors. Adjacent to the lot on which I live is a vacant
piece of ground overgrown with Canada thistles. Hav-
ing in vain solicited the owner to cut them down, I cut
them down myself: thus I prevented them from going
to seed and overspreading my own grounds. I shall
continue to do so till I root them out. I do this for my
own protection. Well, there are thistles much more to
be feared. If you would not have your own spiritual
garden overgrown you must see to those near you. Many
there are all absorbed in efforts to cultivate their own
inclosures; they plant the pomegranate and the dahlia,
the myrtle and the vine, and sing, " Awake, 0 north
wind, and come thou south : blow upon my garden, that
the spices thereof may flow out." But when the flowers
are on the earth and the time of the singing of birds is
come, instead of lilies there come up thorns, and
instead of myrtles thistles, and when the owner looketh
for sweet grapes, lo! sour ones. The care should have

DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 209

extended to the neighboring hill-side, whence the winds
blew upon the cultivated spot.

Suppose the cholera appear among us next summer,
and suppose we could be assured that cleanliness is a
prophylactic, it would avail you not to cleanse every
apartment and every vessel on your premises unless your
neighbors were to do likewise. From some drain, or
stable, or aviary of an adjacent street might be gen-
erated the pestilential malaria, which might be borne
upon the passing breeze to your trim kitchen and burn-
ished vessels.

So the principles and feelings of your fellows consti-
tute a moral atmosphere which you and your children
must breathe, and from some neglected family may arise
the virus that shall spread corruption through the hearts
of your best beloved. Had you resided at Erie when
the railroad bridges were destroyed, think you that you
could have prevented your children from breathing a
mob spirit? No; if you had shut them up they would
have caught the enthusiasm through the windows^ as
their youthful companions marched the streets with
sham cockades, floating their little red banners inscribed,
" Six foot and bridges, four foot ten and no bridges V

The connections of society are sufficiently intimate
every-where ; they are particularly so in this country,
where there are neither castes, nor entails, nor titles;
where the rich of to-day may be the poor of to-morrow;
where the miser may leave a widow to marry the man
whom he despises, or a daughter to become the wife of
one whom he would not set with the dogs of his flock.
Even while you enjoy distinction and Wealth, you and
yours must mingle with others less favored; must meet
them in the market, and church, and town-hall, and
meet them as equals ; must travel with them in the
same coach, or steamboat, or car, and travel with them

18

210 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS,

as equals; must meet them at the jury-box and the
poll-box, and meet them as peers, receiving as well as
imparting influence. Further, rich and poor meet in
the same school, and read the same books, and pam-
phlets, and papers; and, as the poor are the many, and
the many determine the character of the press, you per-
ceive how important for yourself that they should be
wise and pure. Men may sit together and yet be far
apart, one having a soul groveling in sensuality, the
other a spirit afar off on the isles of Greece or among
the prophets of Judah. Irelat in the Chamber of Peers
said, "We do not feel alike, we do not use the same lan-
guage; the land we inhabit, humanity itself, its laws, its
requirements, duty, religion, the sciences, the arts, all
that constitutes society — heaven, earth — nothing appears
to us in the same light that it does to you." On the
other hand, they may be separated physically yet be
near spiritually, if they dwell upon the same themes
and thrill with the same emotions. Vain to hope that
you have saved your son merely because you have
hedged him round by day with books, and fashion, and
company, and by night with brick and mortar, if his
soul has been seized and mastered by some demon. How
many have been ruined by some vile acquaintance of
early life; how many have been haunted by devilish
sentences and images drawn upon the walls of memory,
when it was peculiarly impressible, and standing out with
appalling vividness, when the mind was enfeebled by
disease or approaching through the gates of death to a
holy God, and when especially he would hide from them
as from the flames of hell ! 0, the struggles, the deep
and keen anguish, of a soul under such circumstances,
when he would desire nothing but pure thoughts to
breathe into the ears of friends, and wife, and chil-
dren, and make his last impression upon a world that he

DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 211

is leaving forever and prepare for the worship and song
of heaven !

We read in the Living Age, in substance, the follow-
ing narrative : A gentleman stepped into an English
railroad-car, in which there was but a single person;
the train was soon under way, when he discovered that
his fellow-traveler stared upon him with fiery eyes, and
became very uneasy, moving his limbs impatiently,
peering anxiously out of the windows, staring at the
wheels, and changing his seat frequently in manifest
excitement. The train was an express, and rushing on-
ward at utmost speed, nor destined to stop till the city
was reached. Presently the gentleman found his wild
fellow-traveler upon him with a long sharp knife, saying,
in the manner of a maniac, i{I am going to kill you!"
A death-struggle began; the assailed man attempted to
disarm the assailant, who seemed to possess superhuman
strength. He could not escape ; he shrieked for help,
but his cries were drowned by wheels and steam, though
hundreds were moving with him before and behind.
The glittering blade moved hither and thither with
frenzied force about the struggling man, who, gashed
and bleeding, was dreading each blow as the fatal one.
At length he wrested the knife from the maniac's hand
and threw it out of the window. He was now seized at
his throat as by an enraged tiger; but, by a desperate
effort, he threw his assailant; and, placing his knee
upon his breast, held his hands, every moment, however,
growing weaker from loss of the blood which poured
from his open wounds as the maniac writhed in frantic
efforts beneath him. 0 what a condition ! The past and
future come up in that moment as in panorama — the
light of life seems to fade away and the body to dissolve
in its supernatural struggles; but, as the train slackened
its speed, hope revived; and, as he made his last effort

212 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

for life, the door opened and he was saved. This is but
a faint emblem of the soul overmastered by some sin-
ful habit, or haunted by some devilish association, in-
wrought in its very being, and standing out in bolder
and bolder relief as the powers of life sink. The earth
rolls on, the wheels of commerce rattle through the
streets, friends smile before and behind, but no one sees
the conflict, no one can give relief but God.

We must reform men for our own political protection.
The bad are the many; the many make the laws, and
choose the officers by whom they are to be both inter-
preted and executed. The good are embarked with the
rest in the ship of state, and are to share the same po-
litical destiny; how important that they should commu-
nicate to the fellow-passengers their own knowledge and
virtue — the only means of securing a suitable captain,
pilot, and helmsman, and avoiding the rocks and quick-
sands of the coast! In most governments power is
stealing from the many to the few — in ours, from the
few to the many. In this there is no harm ; but there
is something farther — a tendency to remove all restraints
from the people. Although a republican, both in feel-
ing and philosophy, I look with alarm upon this tend-
ency, which has exhibited itself in nearly all the polit-
ical changes that have occurred since the organization
of the government. Liberty depends not upon the num-
ber who govern, but upon the restraints which are
thrown around the rulers. An unlimited democracy is
as much to be dreaded as an unlimited monarchy; per-
haps even more, as it is affords less hope of relief. Our
only salvation from anarchy on one hand or despotism
on the other, is in the elevation of the masses; and this
is to be accomplished by means of their superiors, just
as a barbarous nation is civilized or a civilized nation
enlightened — by colonies from a nation in advance of it.

DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 213

"If/' said Daniel Webster to a friend, "religious books
are not widely circulated among the masses in this
country, and the people do not become religious, I do not
know what is to become of the nation. "

I proceed to remark, that a proper consideration
of the masses promotes our prosperity. So intimately
blended are the temporal interests of men that a gain
to one is a gain to all — a loss to one is a loss to all. Who
does not perceive that a fire which would destroy one-
half of this city would injure the remainder, or that
the addition of a million dollars to the fortune of one
of its inhabitants would be a pecuniary benefit to all
the rest? The more capital a man has the louder his
call for laborers, and the louder the call for laborers the
higher their wages rise, and a rise of wages in one de-
partment is followed by a rise in others. To relieve the
sickness, to encourage the hearts, to quicken the indus-
try, to enlighten the minds, to correct the habits of our
neighbors is to add property to every household in the
neighborhood; negatively, by diminishing the taxes; pos-
itively, by increasing the resources of the country. And
this is no difficult task ; where poverty is owing to mis-
fortune, nothing is wanting but temporary relief; where
it is the result of idleness, or intemperance, or any
other vicious habit, still, we should labor with courage
and hope. The reforms of the age are sufficient to
animate every philanthropist, and the promises of the
Gospel to stimulate every Christian. The increased
facilities for beneficence and the increased light which
has been thrown upon the subject, the multiplication of
good books and the cheapness of innocent pleasures, are
enough to silence every cynic. What though habit have
power, and nature be depraved, and the majority be
evil, and the way of death be downhill, still God, and
Christ, and truth, and reason are on the good man's side.

214 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

The increased pecuniary prosperity resulting from the
elevation of the masses is nothing compared with the
increased intellectual advancement of the country. Who
that reflects upon the nature and capacities of a human
soul, can look over the immense fields of undeveloped
intellect even in our own country without melancholy
and regret ! What a gloomy sight is a man bound hand
and foot, and confined to a dungeon year after year, never
enjoying the light of day, or the green of earth, or the
fragrance of air, or the freshness of ocean ! Far more
mournful an object is ah immortal mind blindfolded in
a universe of glorious thought, neither enjoying the
beauty of the intellectual world nor contributing aught
to its cultivation; storing with folly a memory which
should be a magazine of truth; dragging in the mire
of sensuality the wings of an imagination that should
soar like the eagle, and giving up that reason to grovel
which might walk, like Newton's, among the stars. He
who goes forth to open the prison-doors of mind, unbind
the captives, and let oppressed souls go free, shall have
his reward. By teaching he himself shall learn; his
information will become at once more accurate, more ex-
tensive, and more readily applied; his mental habits will
be improved, especially his habits of attention, investiga-
tion, and speech, while his knowledge of human nature
will be vastly enlarged. This improvement in himself
will be communicated to his friends, who will hang
with delight upon his lips, and insensibly catch his
habits of disciplined thought, accurate expression, and
chastened feeling. Much of every man's knowledge is
vague, because he does not impart it; few, indeed, mas-
ter a subject without first having a desire to communi-
cate it. Hence, no minds are more rapidly improving
than those of teachers. If the Sabbath school were of
no service to the pupils, it would nevertheless be an un-

DUTY OP BENEVOLENCE. 215

speakable blessing to the Church, by training up the
teachers to adorn in future the pulpit, the bar, the halls
of legislation, and the fields of missions. This personal
improvement is a first fruit of an effort to enlighten
others; but the secondary efforts, who shall describe?
When the whole mass of our mind shall be exalted and
purified, how many epics like Milton's, how many elegies
like Gray's, how many lyrics like Watts's; how many
Burkes, and Ghathams, and Shakspeares, and Scotts, and
Websters, and Clays shall arise ! and how many forms
of genius hitherto unknown shall burst forth ! God is
not weary, time is not unfruitful, the forms of beauty
are not exhausted. Indeed, we have but begun to learn
the power of the human mind or to realize its high
achievement. We have but begun to cultivate the sci-
ences. In geology one thing answers to another; so in
Scripture, so in chemistry, so in every thing. The
brightest fields of knowledge have many dark regions.
When the mind of the whole earth shall awake, and its
various parts shall exert a mutual influence upon each
other, and compare their several discoveries, what a
change will come over the face of science! God has
probably stamped a peculiarity upon each mind; for this
peculiarity there is an object, and perhaps the full tri-
umphs of humanity can never be achieved till all these
objects are compassed. It requires the seven colors of
the prism to make one perfect ray of light; so it may
take all the hues of mind to make one perfect ray of sci-
ence. Malaysia and Africa, Australasia and Polynesia
must unite with Asia, and Europe, and America; every
class and every latitude must contribute its share of
thought and research before the regions of science shall
be flooded with a pure and perfect light. Hitherto we
have enjoyed the labors of only a small part of the race,
and that belonging mostly to a certain class of society

216 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

reared under nearly the same influences. Hence, we have
been reading in decomposed intellectual rays; some of
the prismatic colors have been disproportionate, others
absent, and, for aught we know, this may account for
our disagreements. Be this as it may, we find that the
wider the extent of mind by which science is cultivated
the nearer are its watchmen to seeing eye to eye.

Endless are the modes by which God puts men under
bonds to improve each other. No man can make pro-
ficiency in any art or science without having an immedi-
ate interest in the improvement of those around him.
If a man be a perfect musician, where can he best
succeed in winning either fame or money by his skill ?
where, but among those who have already some musical
taste? Among the untutored Indians a mere dauber
might attract more attention and receive more emolu-
ment and praise for his coarse forms and glaring colors
than a Kaphael, and a mere stone-cutter might pass for
a greater genius than a Michael Angelo, and a spouter
or a plagiarist win more golden opinions than a De-
mosthenes. It is related that the Dey of Algiers once
captured a vessel conveying a philosopher. He knew
what to do with carpenters, masons, sailors, soldiers, but
had no service for the wise man, till, reflecting that his
habits were sedentary, he employed him in hatching
chickens. To menial offices may every philosopher be
doomed till he shall have thrown light around him.
We are more or less dependent upon other minds for
knowledge. It is impossible for any man to be great
in more than one department; hence, a man the most
eminent may be instructed in some things by almost
any other; he may be taught by the mechanic, the
sailor, the farmer, even the savage or the slave; for
they observe nature, they observe man in aspects which
he does not; they encounter dangers and meet emerg-

DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 217

encies, and possess useful facts and resources to which he
is a stranger. The very inequalities in mind, like in-
equalities in the earth's surface, may be of use. Sir
Isaac Newton, it is said, scarce ever met with a man at
whose feet he could not sit with profit and delight.
Nothing that God has made, not even the meanest worm
that crawls the earth, is not pregnant with instruction;
so, transcendcntly, with man's immortal soul. There is
scarce a discovery or invention to which many minds
have not contributed their action. Take the steam-en-
gine, for example. First, Hiero of Alexandria proposes
to apply the mechanical agency of steam. Ages pass,
and De Caus proposes to raise a column of water by its
elastic force. Other ages pass before Lord Worcester
publishes a description of a rude high-pressure engine.
All this before the properties of vapor are unfolded. In
1683 Moreland determines the numerical proportion in
which water increases its volume when evaporated under
the pressure of a single atmosphere. Next Pepin dis-
covers the method of producing a vacuum; then Savoy,
and Newcomen, and others apply the discovery to me-
chanical purposes. In the middle of the eighteenth
century Watt improves steam-engines, and observes the
relative volumes of steam as commonly used in steam-
engines, and the quantity of heat absorbed in evapora-
tion and evolved in condensation. Black soon after makes
his discoveries concerning latent heat, which explains
the facts that Watts had recorded. Dalton shows the
relations between the temperatures and pressures of the
vapor of water throughout the common range of the
thermometric scale. Marriotte next makes known his
law, in virtue of which the pressure of all gases and
vapors increases in proportion to their density at a given
temperature. Then Guy Lussac discovers that all gases
and vapors receive the same increase of pressure or

19

218 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

volume for each degree of temperature. Then come the
important experiments of Prony, Arago, etc.; then the
various improvements and applications of the engine;
not only by such minds as Fitch and Fulton, but even in-
ferior ones — one of the most important improvements
being made by an ignorant boy. Thus the ancients and
the moderns, the east and the west, the new world and
the old, the young and the aged, the poor and the rich,
the mechanic and the philosopher, all contribute, each
in his own way, to the production of that great instru-
ment of civilization — the steam-engine, which superficial
minds regard as the production of our own times only.

When the whole mind of any country shall be devel-
oped and cultivated, and every farmer, and sailor, and
carpenter, and man, and woman shall look with a dis-
criminating and philosophic eye on nature, what discov-
eries and inventions may be born in a day! With what
ease shall each one earn the comforts of life, and with
what abundance shall our rivers float ! For who needs to
be told that in proportion to the intelligence of a people
is industry rendered more productive?

There is, however, something more than knowledge
necessary to prosperity — virtue ; and this must be pro-
moted by every good man. Labor in this depart-
ment also is attended with its reward. In grace as in
providence the " liberal soul shall be made fat." No
man waxes stronger in faith, and hope, and charity than
he who cultivates these graces in the hearts of others.
Give and it shall be given to you in abundant compensa-
tion. Indeed, every man must hold forth the word of
life to others if he would not walk in darkness himself.
As the miseries of some are allowed, that the benevo-
lence of others may be cultivated, so the moral maladies
of sinners may perhaps often be endured, that they may
try the grace of Christians. Men generally address

DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 219

themselves to this duty with more reluctance than to any
other, although it is at once more important, more easy,
and more abundantly rewarded than all others. Let a
man live virtuously, and he will generally find his fellow-
men cheerful to listen to his admonitions, warnings, and
reproofs. Although men in certain positions are pecu-
liarly exposed to temptations, to intemperance and blas-
phemy, yet they will often be found more open to convic-
tion than the more refined, whose temptations to pride
and infidelity present more powerful barriers against the
Gospel. When the more humble are once converted,
they are perhaps more likely to remain firm in faith.

The late martyrs among us were both of the poorer
class. I refer to the little Norwegian at Chicago, who
was drowned because he refused to assist some older boys
in robbing an orchard — he died a martyr to the ten com-
mandments; and to the case which occurred in Wiscon-
sin, where a boy about nine years of age was taken from
the Orphan Asylum in Milwaukie, and adopted by a
farmer in Marquette. He discovered criminal conduct
on the part of his adopted mother, and mentioned it to
another child, who communicated it to the guilty woman.
She insisted that he should declare the statement false,
and persuaded her husband to whip him till he should.
The man proceeded to the task by procuring a bundle of
rods, stripping the child, and suspending him by a cord
to the rafters of the house, and whipping him at inter-
vals for over two hours, till the blood ran through the
floor below; stopping only to rest and interrogate the
boy, who always replied in a firm, gentle, affectionate
manner, "Pa, I told the truth, I can not tell a lie."
When, at length, the poor little orphan hero was released,
he threw his arms around the neck of his murderer, and
sweetly kissing him, said, "Pa, I am so cold," and died
with the words, "I can not tell a lie," upon his blessed

220 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

lips. Such a case affords encouragement to every philan-
thropist, to every parent ; it makes us feel that we belong
to a noble race; that, though fallen, we have the elements
of sublime heroism ; that, even in early life, they may be
quickened and sanctified by grace; and that an unpro-
tected orphan may defy the universe to drive him from
the path of virtue. Neither rags, nor orphanage, nor
misery, can obliterate the glorious powers of the soul.
Lazarus, at the gate of Dives, among the dogs, was
worthy the ministry of angels, and the mansions of par-
adise.

The work of beneficence promotes our happiness. It
is in accordance with our nature. The gratification of
any desire affords pleasure. See the unperverted youth !
how naturally does he communicate his knowledge and
his emotions ! It is not till he has been repeatedly re-
buked that his little tongue can be prevented from pour-
ing forth his stores of information and his fountains of
feeling upon all around him. So, too, he distributes his
goods among his companions, and rejoices to be a bene-
factor. When he beholds distress, he weeps, and would
relieve; nor will he cease to weep with them that weep,
or pity and relieve the suffering, till he shall have taken
many lessons in the school of a selfish world. As to
gratify desire within prescribed bounds is to receive en-
joyment, so to smother it is to produce distress.

The most dangerous and painful diseases of the body
arise from suppressed secretions. So the most distress-
ing maladies of the soul arise from suppressed sympa-
thies. I can think of no more pitiable object than a
miser.

It places us in harmony with nature. God has made
one thing to correspond with another, as sound to the
ear, and the ear to sound. Where a proper relation sub-
sists between corresponding objects, there is order, and,

DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 221

if the parts be sensitive, happiness. Providence has
made intelligence for ignorance, and wealth for poverty,
and health for sickness, and cheerfulness for discourage-
ment; and in this world it is only when they are brought
together that we have harmony. Moreover, nature is
made upon a certain plan, and it is only by putting our-
selves in the channel of her laws, that we can glide
smoothly through the world. And what is the plan of
nature? It is the plan of giving. The sun gives his
rays constantly, generously, joyously; the ocean gives its
vapors to the skies; the skies give their rains to the
earth; the earth warms and waters each seed within her
bosom, and sends it up in greenness and richness, and
nourishes and cherishes it, that it may give bread to
the eater. The animals give their strength and swiftness
to man, or lay down their lives for his sake. There is
no chest for hoarding in all God's works; no reservoir
for saving sunbeams, or air, or rain-drops, or fountains.
If the sun, or old ocean, or mother earth, should turn
miser, we should soon have universal death. Salvation,
too, is upon the plan of giving. God gives his Sotf, and
Christ gives his life, and saints give themselves; and
thus, opposite characters are brought together, and made
mutual benefactors-; for, while the sinner is saved, the
saint has a new diadem placed on his brow, and a new
joy planted in his heart. The parts of the physical uni-
verse are held together by a series of attractions : cohe-
sive attraction, holding similar particles; chemical affin-
ity, dissimilar ones; and gravitation, holding the planets
in their spheres. If any one of these attractions were to
cease, the world would crumble down, the universe fall to
pieces. The disorders of the human race are all owing
to the loss of moral attraction to each other and to
God; the harmony and happiness of the race can be re-
stored only by the recovery of the lost attractions. The

222 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

predicted ages of prophetic song, for which the faithful
yearn, are the ages when all classes of society shall dwell
in mutual love. "The wolf also shall dwell with the
lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and
the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the
bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suck-
ing child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the
weaned child shall put his hand on the cocatrice's den."
The great object of our Savior's coming was to bring
" on earth peace, good will to men ; and glory to God in
the highest." And will not the consummation of this de-
sign be a source of enjoyment? Yes. "The ransomed of
the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy
and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

It brings us into sympathy with angels. They are
happy ; and to sympathize with them, is to enter into
their joy. And how are they employed? They have
charge over saints, lest they dash their foot against a stone ;
they attend the cradles of slumbering infants. Are they
not all ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation?

It brings us into sympathy with Christ. "Ye know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was
rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that ye through
his poverty might be rich." Look, then, unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of your faith ; who, instead of the
joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising
the shame. And wherefore? "Christ also suffered for
us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his
steps." He who lived to bless mankind, and died to
save them, will say in the last day, " Forasmuch as ye
did it unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto
me."

DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 223

It brings us into sympathy with God. "Love your en-
emies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you. and pray for them that despitefully use you:"
and a fortiori for all others; "that ye may be the chil-
dren of your Father in heaven; for he maketh his sun
to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on
the just and on the unjust/' "Beloved, let us love one
another, for love is of God; and every one that loveth is
born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not
knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was mani-
fested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
his only-begotten 3bn into the world, that we might live
through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that he loved us. and sent his Son to be the propitia-
tion for our sins."

Suppose a father have two sons who have violated their
obligations to him, and have righteously been banished
from his house; and suppose that one fall upon his knees
before his father, and sue for the pardon of his brother,
saying, "0, my father, let thy wrath fall upon me rather
than him; let me alone be banished; I can bear the
thought of suffering myself, but 0, restore my brother."
What surer route could he take to his father's heart?
So, when the saint, like Moses, stands pleading for the
rebellious; when, like Paul, he has great heaviness, and
continual sorrow for his brethren, then does he most
truly sympathize with God, and, paradoxical as it may
appear, drink purest, deepest joy.

When the skeptic charges upon Christianity that it is
not sufficiently sober and practical; that in its zeal for
the soul, it neglects the body; in its concern for eternity,
forgets time, he shows that he does not understand his
business. And how many, alas, do not! When Dr.
Priestly was in France, he tells us that he met infidels
in the highest circles of the kingdom — even profound

224 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

statesmen and philosophers — who knew no more what
Christianity is than an unintelligent Mohammedan or pa-
gan. Christianity must be tried by Christ. He went
about doing good; he healed the sick, cleansed the leper,
gave sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf, and
comfort to the distressed. See him on the cross — he
treads the wine-press of Jehovah's wrath; he cries, in
the mysterious darkness, "My soul is exceeding sorrow-
ful, even unto death. " He looks forward to the ages to
come, and sees the travail of his soul; and onward to the
hights of the redeemed in heaven ; but not all these de-
pressing or sublime considerations render him insensible,
even to the bodily safety and temporal comfort of those
around him. He turns his dying eye upon his mother.
Methinks I hear him say, " You nursed me tenderly in
infancy; you watched over me affectionately in youth;
you have attended me faithfully in maturer years; when
men have denounced me, you have blessed me; when
apostles have forsaken me, you have followed me; and
now that I am dying on the cross, thou weepest at my
feet. A little while and they will lay me in the sepul-
cher, and you will weep for me. I have no money, no
habitation, to bequeath you; for though the foxes have
holes, and the birds of the air have nests, the Son of
man hath not where to lay his head; but I have a friend,
and you will need a son; there he stands. " "John, I
have loved you, and you have loved me; we have taken
sweet counsel together; we have prayed, and suffered, and
sympathized together. You have laid in my bosom, and
I have loved you as I have loved no other. I have no
fortune to leave you, but there is a precious legacy — a
memento of friendship; there is my mother. Mother,
behold thy son." Would you sympathize with Jesus;
would you enter into the joy of your Lord, do good.
Men who regard religion as something not provable are

DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 225

mistaken. The law we have been considering is just as
easily and clearly proved to be a law of the universe as
the • law of gravitation, and by an analogous process.
Such persons are wont, if they give at all, to do so merely
to save appearances.

A man, whom I asked the other day for a subscription
to the Bethel cause, said, "It is nothing to me; I do not
care if the whole lake shore were to sink into hell f yet,
that man has large investments in railroad stocks. I
needed but to ask him what would become of his stock,
if such was the terminus of his road.

If you ask a subscription of such a man, for the refor-
mation of poor families, he will probably say, "I have
enough to take care of my own, let others take care of
theirs." Alas! what folly! This is the folly which de-
stroys by the thousand; which opens saloons, and tramples
down Sabbaths, and closes churches. You love your
children; you would do any thing to save their lives;
yet you suffer their souls to be seized. Better that your
son, while yet innocent and lovely, be seized and stabbed,
and handed back to you a corpse, than enticed, and re-
turned to you a drunkard or a debauchee.

We read of an Indian mother who carried her dead
child day after day over the frozen earth, and suspended
it night after night upon the tree beneath which she slept,
because she could find no place to bury it. But better
bear your child in the coffin through the streets, day by
day, and sleep with it every night, than to bear him year
after year in the form of a living being, but with a cold
and putrescent soul.

Why is mother Church strong ? With all her despot-
ism she is mighty, even in republics; with all her cor-
ruptions she is strong, even in the midst of Protestant-
ism; and with all her follies and legends she is venera-
ble, even in enlightened lands. Her chief power is in

226 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

her eleemosynary institutions. Long as her sisters of
charity stand at the pillows of suffering, and her brothers
of mercy give sight to the blind, and strength to the
feeble, she will have power with men.

Let Protestantism show her superior light by her supe-
rior love; let her strive to excel in good works; to mul-
tiply her Howards and her Oberlins; to follow more closely
the Savior's footsteps; to breathe more of his spirit; to
exhibit his self-denial, and his self-sacrifice; to enter into
communion with his sufferings; to "put on charity,"
that survivor of all other graces, that bond of perfect-
ness, that girdle of the universe.

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 227

lUIigifftts <£mhnunt.

EXCITEMENT is agitation; religion is returning to
God.

Excitement must be distinguished from fanaticism.
The latter term was originally applied to the priests of
ancient temples, and subsequently to all those who tar-
ried ill the place of heathen worship, and engaged in
extravagant acts of devotion, such as cutting themselves
with knives. It has been applied in modern times to
the anabaptists of Germany, and the Shakers of our own
country and times; and generally to those who, in relig-
ious matters, disregard reason and Scripture, and; influ-
enced by feelings, run into the wildest opinions.

It should be distinguished from superstition. "This is
from superstitio, and is applied to idolatrous worship,
vain fears, extravagant and misdirected devotion, or the
observance of unnecessary and uncommanded rites or
practices in religion. It may describe the abominations
of Juggernaut; the vain reliance of the formalist; the
follies of witchcraft, or the mummeries of Romanism. It
rests upon no authority; religious ardor is roused by
Divine truth. Enthusiasm is from two Greek words, **
and 6so$. It is applied to a mental transport, which
leads its possessor to imagine himself inspired. Religious
excitement differs from enthusiasm in this, that the emo-
tion which attends it is genuine and rational. The dis-
tinction may be drawn very clearly in the results. The
one is consistent with revelation, the other is not; the one

228 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

leads to humility, rational devotion, and holy action, the
other to pride, irrational worship, and an erratic career.

Religious excitement implies excitement of reason.
Reason is intimately concerned in religion; in the exam-
ination of its evidences, its doctrines, its precepts, and
its tendencies. Although the Bible is perfect in wisdom,
sublime in doctrine, pure in precept, and holy in influen-
ces, and addresses itself to our present and eternal wel-
fare, it is not likely to engage attention without some
degree of excitement. As man is fallen, the objects of
sense withdraw attention from those of faith, and passion
shrinks from influences which would bind it with appro-
priate restraints; while the career of transgression cre-
ates perpetually-increasing aversion to law. Hence, al-
though the truths of religion are familiar to all the sub-
jects of Christendom, there are millions within her pale
upon whom they exert no saving influence. Neverthe-
less, the Bible has not lost its power to affect the soul ;
for though, when a man walks with his back to the sun
of revelation, and sees the light only by reflection, he
can pass his days without thinking of the orb that lights
his path, yet, when he turns around, and directs his eye
upon the moral heavens, he is made to think of the great
Source of light. The apathy of the mass on religious
subjects is owing to inattention. Now, to attract the
reason, we may appeal to her satellites.

Religious excitement implies excitement of the imag-
ination. There was a time when reason was driven from
devotion ; now, some would banish every thing hut rea-
son.

Imagination is to be utterly excommunicated from the
temple; a cheerless philosophy is to impress her taste-
less spirit upon the holy place ; a spiritless logic is to dis-
course from the pulpit in cold syllogisms, and no light is
to issue from the altar but the sparks from flinty intellect.

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 229

It must be conceded that imagination, when unsanctified,
is an instrument of mischief, and has often obscured the
truth; but in her proper sphere she is the handmaid of
reason, going before her to the temple of knowledge, and
lighting a lamp in her interior apartments. Without it,
reason might still be a monarch, but she would sit upon
an idle throne. It is imagination that spreads a charm
over the world of truth; that strews her fields with flow-
ers; that breaks her surface into mountains and vales,
investing all her scenes with beauty, novelty, or grand-
eur; and arouses, engages, and leads forward the intel-
lect. Reason may prepare the elements of conviction,
but imagination is best suited to convey them to the
heart. It is especially necessary in the pulpit. This fac-
ulty is more ardent in youth than in age ; in the ruder
periods of society, than in the more refined; in the
lower paths than in the higher walks of life. Though
charming to every class, its services may be dispensed
with in the chair of philosophy; but in the pulpit,
which is concerned with the mass of mankind, it is indis-
pensable. It is a wonderful error which leads some to
suppose that ornamented composition is not plain. What
can be more plain than the language of Tecumseh or of
Homer; yet what more richly decorated ! How simple,
and yet how rich, is that splendid specimen of our Sav-
ior's style — his sermon on the mount ! Every- where it
glitters; the robes of Solomon, the lily of the valley, and
similar images, invest it with alluring graces. What
work is more plain than the Bible, and where is beauty
more engaging, novelty more charming, or sublimity
like unto hers! It was imagination that made Apollos
like a sweet-toned lyre, and Peter like a thunderbolt; yet
probably both were plain.

It not only engages attention, but impresses the mem-
ory. Though a man may forget the deductions of his

230 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

reason, he rarely fails to remember the images of his
fancy. The play once heard will never be forgotten, but
the lecture thrice repeated may vanish as the morning dew.

It aids faith. By filling up the outlines of history,
imagination makes the past like the present. As with
the wand of Endor's witch, she conjures from the man-
sions of the dead the moving, speaking images of life,
and spreads around us scenes which have long since van-
ished from the earth. Breathing upon the cold forms of
truth, she warms and animates them, and makes us feel
their presence and their power. Imagination fills the
soul with sympathy, and is necessary both to enable us to
act upon the golden rule, and feel the powers of the
world to come. The fact that this faculty is pernicious
when emancipated from the control of reason and virtue,
is no argument against its judicious employment. Who
would cut off his feet because, when they run in the way
to death, they bring him to pain and sorrow ?

Religious excitement implies excitement of the feel-
ings. There are few occasions on which men assemble
when it is not proper to appeal to some passion. Even
when sober age presides; when mature reason deliber-
ates; when questions of fact or of expediency are the
subjects of discussion, feeling may at times be aroused.
The hoary senate is occasionally convulsed with the most
terrific storms of passion, and struck by thunderbolts of
sublimest eloquence. That the preacher may appeal to
the feelings is evident from the object of the pulpit.
The purposes of preaching are the following: conviction,
instruction, and persuasion. Although conviction and
instruction may, to a certain extent, be aimed at in every
sermon, and on some occasions the one or the other may
be the primary object of pulpit discussion, yet, since
there are few persons in Christendom who are skeptical,
and fewer still who are ignorant of the fundamental

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 231

truths of religion, the chief object of the sacred desk is
persuasion. This can not be effected without an appeal
to the feelings. To persuade, two things are necessary;
namely, to show that certain means will accomplish a
certain end, and that such end is desirable. The first is to
be accomplished by an address to the reason ; the second
by an appeal to the heart. To attempt to persuade by
either means alone, must be fruitless labor. And yet,
there are some who introduce their sermons in this man-
ner. I appeal to your reason, not to your passions. So
far from desiring to raise excitement, I warn you against
it, and seek to persuade you by sheer logic. If such an
exordium is founded on the laws of the soul, the pro-
foundest philosophers of every age and nation have been
in egregious error. They have denominated the passions
the active principles of our nature. And why? because
they only can move the will. As authority is not to be
disregarded on a question of this kind, hear Dr. Camp-
bell. I need hardly say that no higher authority can be
cited. I quote from his Philosophy of Rhetoric, a
work at once profound and beautiful :

uTo say that it is possible to persuade without speak-
ing to the passions, is but, at best, a kind of specious
nonsense. The coolest reasoner always, in persuading,
addresseth himself to the passions some way or other.
This he can not avoid doing if he speak to the purpose.
To make me believe, it is enough to show me that things
are so. To make me act, it is necessary to show that the
actions will answer some end. That can never be an end
to me which gratifies no passion or affection in my
nature. "

Dr. Whately, a distinguished logician, and an archbishop
in a Church, surely not inclined to fanaticism, speaking
of an address to the feelings, uses the following lan-
guage : "This is usually stigmatized as an address to the

232 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

passions instead of the reason; as if reason alone could
ever influence the will and operate as a motive, which it
no more can, than the eyes which show a man his road,
can enable him to move from place to place; or, than a
ship provided with a compass, can sail without a wind."

I may, perhaps, be asked if there are no counter au-
thorities ? I frankly admit that Aristotle, the father of
logic and rhetoric, condemns appeals to the passions as
an unfair mode of influencing the reason. But, when
properly understood, his views are coincident with those
of the authorities already cited. He was too great a phi-
losopher not to understand the great principle, that no
man can be moved without an appeal to his heart.
When he condemns appeals to the passions, he means
passions which ought never to be excited, or which are
unsuitable to the occasion.

Had man a pure intellect, a religion of simple contem-
plation might be suitable to him. But he has a heart as
well as a head; and the heart is the spring, both of his
enjoyment and his suffering. Any religion that does not
purify and sweeten this fountain, must leave him a cor-
rupt and miserable being. The Scriptures teach that,
" from within, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders," etc. Hence the declaration, " Except a man
be born again," etc.

Experience teaches, that avarice, ambition, pride,
or some similar emotion produces constant disquiet in
the unregenerated heart. An influence is needed to
chain and expel these passions. Can this be done with-
out conflict?

Religion consists of two things — feeling and action ;
the latter is the result of the former — feeling is the
basis of all true piety. The great requisition of the
Gospel is, repent and believe. Can a man repent with-
out emotion? and what is evangelical faith but feeling?

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 233

It is not mere assent; it implies confidence and reliance.
What are the beatitudes? Poverty of spirit, holy mourn-
ing, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, mercy,
purity of heart. And what are these but feelings?
The apostle Paul describes the fruits of the Spirit thus :
" Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance," or moderation. If these
are not to be found in the heart, where shall we look for
them ? The Psalms, which embody the devotions of all
ages, abound in such expressions as these : " Whom have
I in heaven but thee?" etc.; "0, Lord, I will praise
thee," etc.; u As the hart panteth," etc.

Religion is summed up in one great command — " Love
to G-od and love to man." Love is stronger than death.
And why should there not be feeling in religion ? there
is feeling in every thing else. Politicians are allowed
feeling. They kindle the whole land into a furnace
at the eve of an election. Philosophers are allowed
feeling. When Archimedes found out a method of de-
termining the value of Hiero's crown he rushed naked
from the bath, and cried through the streets of the city,
"I have found it, I have found it P' And when a man
finds out the means of procuring an eternal crown in
heaven, must he be still ? When Newton was about to
reveal the laws of the heavens, he was so overcome that
he was obliged to call upon a friend to complete the
demonstration. And shall we who look into the laws
of the upper sky be contemned if we faint at the over-
powering contemplation ? The warrior who gains a bat-
tle is allowed to shout; but what are the triumphs of
the warrior to the conversion of a sinner? Standing in
the sunlight of Divine favor, the Christian occupies an
eminence from which he can look down on all the
glories of earth. Show him Hannibal surmounting the
Alps, or Alexander conquering the world; he feels that

20

234 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

he lias accomplished that in reference to himself, which
is incomparably superior to all the victories of earth's
battle-fields. The victor of earth and the conqueror of
hell, he stands in waiting for the laurels of heaven.
If the mother snatches her babe from the flames she
rejoices like a maniac, and no one checks the expression
of her joy. When she receives her son from the verge
of hell, must she be hushed or stigmatized if she should
cry aloud ? There is nothing which is so well calculated
as the Bible to animate a sluggish sinner. It opens a
new region of truth ; it bears the soul into the heavens ,
brings it to the meditations of angels and the counsels
of the eternal Mind. It stands amid human productions
as Mt. Sinai in the desert, grand, amazing, charged with
terrific truth. We have seen the man of sleepy intel-
lect, whom nothing could awake to a sense of his powers,
rouse himself suddenly, as St. Peter when struck by
the angel, and start upon an ascending path of truth
with a swiftness and nerve worthy a new-made child of
light.

Go to the darkest abodes of barbarism, where an all-
penetrating, all-pervading curse seems to have alighted
on living men, and human heads are as a forest of life-
less, rotten timber; where philosophy turns pale, and
sickens, and retires. Let but the Bible be planted in
the midst and the fatness of heaven descends, and the
wilderness of mind buds and blossoms as the rose.
How can an instrument of such power operate without
affecting the heart? As well expect consuming fire to
produce no feeling on the body, as the revelation of a
holy God to produce no feeling in the soul of the worker
of iniquity. As well say that the gushing fountain of
the desert can give no pleasure to the thirsty traveler,
as that the water of life can not revive the Christian's
fainting spirit.

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 235

There are many utterances against an excitement of
the animal passions. I do not know exactly what is
meant by these fervent declamations. I presume we are
to understand by the animal passions those which man
has in common with the brute. It may be asked
whether these feeliugs in man and in the brute are the
same or similar, or merely analogous? Do they not,
when placed in the human breast, undergo important
modifications from their combination with the other ele-
ments of humanity'/ Is the attachment of the horse
for his fellows of the flock the same feeling as the love
of man for his father and mother, wife and children ?
Is not the former midway between the affinities of in-
animate matter and the fellowship of man ; while the
latter is midway between the fellowship of man and the
communion of angels? Are not all our feelings more
or less connected, and subject to influences from each
other? We may classify emotions; but we should re-
member that one heart elaborates them all.

So we may speak of social feelings, and animal feel-
ings, and religious emotions, yet that which pulsates in
the bosom is a heart — a human heart. I know not but
as one bodily organ may affect others, so the excitement
of one feeling may be propagated to kindred ones. I
dare not say that the love of God may not influence the
love of father, mother, wife, or child, or that holiness
to the Lord may not increase our proneness u to rejoice
•with them that do rejoice and weep with them that
weep." If it be said that the preacher should chiefly
address the higher and religious emotions, and not the
lower and social feeling, I admit the justice of the ob-
servation, but am at a loss to perceive its necessity.
While, however, I concede that animal feeling should
not be directly addressed in the pulpit, I do not wish to
be understood that there is no warmth in the religious

236 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

affections. There are some who talk as though the de-
votional feelings were a kind of moss, that grows only on
the north side of the heart, but is never found adhering
to its sunnier roots. We would not insinuate that these
persons have less religion than their neighbors, but we
regret that in avoiding the language of the equator they
have caught that of the poles.

It is affirmed that there are passions which ought never
to be excited, such as envy, jealousy, etc. The assertion
is admitted. But it would be difficult to show that be-
cause one feeling ought not to be excited others must
forever lie dormant. But is there any danger of ex-
citing such emotions in the worshiping assembly? If
you would find them in an excited state, you must leave
the temple and enter the busy world; there, whether
you go into the street, the market, the hall of mirth, the
bar, or the senate, you shall meet them stimulated to
the highest pitch. Would you find them crucified, you
must return to the holy place — where, from intensely-
excited hearts, the songs and prayers of Zion ascend the
mercy-seat.

There are some who insinuate that reason is discarded
when passion is invoked. Though friendly to the latter,
we are no enemies to the former; we would have them
indissolubly wedded. We have already said that persua-
sion is not to be accomplished without both. Indeed,
we know not how to awaken religious feeling without
reflection. Would you excite repentance, you must call
up violated vows, perverted privileges, abused mercies,
disregarded opportunities. Would you excite gratitude,
you must spread before the soul the goodness, and for-
bearance, and long-suffering of God. Would you excite
faith, you must lead the sinner through the Gospel,
through its doctrines, its promises, to its bleeding cross.
Is there no reflection in all this, no comparison, no

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 237

tracing of causes to effects? He who should excite
repentance, faith, and holiness without reflection would
work a miracle. The Holy Ghost itself, we have reason
to believe, persuades by exciting the sinner's reflection.
Frequent and grave cautions are given lest the pas-
sions should warp the judgment. The feelings may
indeed mislead the judgment; yet is not their influ-
ence upon the reason vastly overrated? There is a
disposition to ascribe to the strength of the passions
what ought to be assigned to the weakness of the mind.
Men value themselves more upon mental than moral
excellences. This, however, is the result of delusion;
for, since intellectual endowments are the gifts of nature,
and moral goodness springs, under grace, from prayer
and personal effort, if men deserve any credit for either,
it must be for the latter. The delusion is readily ex-
plained. As depravity is a universal fault of our nature,
an unfortified heart does not sink a man below the
common level of the race; but, as the intellect is gen-
erally sound, folly is a rare infirmity, and hence a term
of reproach. Therefore, pride inclines us to load the
heart with errors not its own; and the mere fool at-
tributes to his feelings a thousand faults which all
around him ascribe to the weakness of his head. The
errors into which our passions lead us appear compara-
tively numerous, because they are all discovered. A
man in times of political excitement attends with the
eager crowd a political cabal; he hears appeals to his
pride and his prejudices; and, in a kind of frenzy, he
forms resolutions and performs actions which are evi-
dently wrong. He returns home and resigns himself
to sleep. When morning lifts his eyelids, he finds his
passions have measurably subsided. He now sits down
calmly to review the acts and resolutions of the previous
night. His deliberate reason at once perceives and

238 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

condemns his errors. But let him go the next evening
to the lecture of the infidel. The sophists weave a net
around his head and takes his reason captive. He re-
tires to rest; and, when light returns, he finds himself
in the same situation thab he was the preceding day.
Conscious that the conclusions to which he has been
led are monstrous, he sits down to re-examine them; but,
as his heart can render him no assistance, and as his
head has undergone no change, there is a strong pre-
sumption that the sophistry which took him captive will
hold him prisoner. True, he may call in a stronger
mind to lead him out, but if he can not detect the soph-
istry he will not be conscious of the bondage. More-
over, pride does not allow us to resort to such an ex-
pedient even where there is a strong presumption of
error, especially when the error is pleasing to the soul.

Where one is misled by his heart in religious matters
there are thousands who are deluded by the head. The
poor fanatic that riots in a paroxysm of the wildest
frenzy is in a much more hopeful case than the proud,
deluded infidel multitude that gaze with scorn upon his
transports. The next morning may find him a reason-
able being, and looking down on them kissing the chains
of the wildest delusions. If there is any thing to be
feared from the influence of the passions, why is there
not some fear from avarice, and ambition, and pride,
and the thousand forms of wicked feeling that hover
around the circles of business, and pleasures, and all the
haunts and amusements of busy men ? If in a wicked
world there is danger that religious feeling may exert too
much influence upon the reason, is there no danger
from irreligious feeling? If affections that are rare,
that require continual prayer and effort to be sustained,
may warp the judgment, should not the passions that
are natural, that ane ever active, that run wild and ram-

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 239

pant over the human heart, and the sinful world, give
some alarm ? But, granting that religious feeling may
sometimes mislead, is that any reason why it should not
be excited ? By parity of reasoning we might show
that it is right to pluck out the eye.

It is averred that religious excitement often leads to
conduct that offends the taste of the world, violates the
decorum of worship, treats the Almighty with irreverence,
and grieves away the Holy Spirit. In regard to the first
of these results, I do not know that Christians, in regu-
lating their worship, are bound to consult the taste of a
world that lieth in the wicked one. So far as this taste
is molded on unsophisticated reason enlightened by
Divine truth, it ought not to be disregarded; but there
is reason to fear that, in seasons of religious awakening,
the world's refined taste is molded on a philosophy which
tends to quiet men in sin, rather than on a Gospel
which demands repentance and reformation. I am not
sure that if we consult the taste of the world, we should
not hush all our songs, and stifle all our rejoicings, and
even dispense with prayer and preaching.

In reference to offenses against the decorum of worship,
we are thankful to the world for their concern for the
ark ; but we shall be still more so if they will not un-
dertake to stay it. It is true that religious assemblies
may offend against decorum, and when they do, the
most discreet and pious Christians will be the first to
give the alarm; but when the complaint comes from
one unused to Zion's songs and Zion's raptures, we feel
no disquietude. I know that Jehovah is a God of order;
but may it not happen that what is order in the eyes of
God maybe confusion to his enemies? The shouts of
the victor's camp are confused noises to the vanquished.

And now for the charge of irreverence; I fear it may
sometimes be made with justice. Although we may

240 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

come to the throne of grace with boldness, and address
our Father in heaven as children, and lay hold on the
promises with resistless faith, yet we should always
stand in awe in the presence of the King of kings, and
teach the praises which issue from adoring hearts to
tremble on polluted lips. But who are they that are
shocked? Are they those that stand upon the verge
of heaven and watch with joy the coming of the Lord ?
Then let us check our songs and bid our words be few.
Or are they those who violate God's laws, or blaspheme
his name, or trample under foot the blood of Christ, and
set at naught a Saviors intercession, and do despite to*
the Spirit's grace? Then let us pray on. The broken
prayers, and sobs, and sighs, and shouts to which such
object may be music in the ears of God.

And is it true that religious excitement may give rise
to scenes which may grieve away the Holy Spirit? It
may be ; but while the soul is blessed we need not fear
that we are in such scenes. Look at that altar; there
bows the sinner, there sighs the mourner, there sings
the saint, there prays the aged pilgrim; sobs, and
groans, and shouts are heard, and intense excitement
spreads from heart to heart. Presently the sinner that
had wept and groaned rises and wipes his eyes, and
bears delightful testimony that he beholds the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sins of the world. He re-
turns to his home, and gathers his family to tell with
bounding heart the good tidings. He confesses with
melting tenderness his unkindness and unfaithfulness;
he mourns over lost opportunities and evil examples,
and the neglected souls of wife and children, and with
tears of penitence prays to be forgiven. He takes down
the family Bible, opens to some beautiful psalm, sings a
sweet song of Zion, bows with his weeping family at
the mercv-seat, and, with strong cries and tears, com-

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 241

mends them for the first time to the Father of mercies.
The next day he seeks those whom he has offended, and
his proud heart bows, and his haughty tongue confesses,
and with weeping he is reconciled. He finds out whom
he has injured, and gladly makes restitution. He enjoys
the fruits of the Spirit, he breathes the temper of Jesus,
he adorns the Christian profession, he glorifies God from
day to day; and, after a long life of piety, he dies
shouting hosannas to God and the Lamb. This is no
unusual case. Now, one of two things must be admitted :
either that souls are converted without Divine agency,
or that the Holy Spirit, so far from being grieved away
by what the world stigmatizes as excitement offensive
to God, absolutely sanctions it. If you adopt the first,
what are you but an infidel? if you persist that what the
Holy Spirit sanctions is not the better plan, in what a
fearful position do you stand ! The devil is the accuser
of the brethren ; but whom do you accuse ? It will not
answer to say that some earnest prayer may be put up
in the midst of confusion, and that God is bound to
answer genuine prayer, though it ascend in the midst
of what he disapproves ; for it were easy to suspend
the answer till a future moment, so that the blessing
might not be associated with conduct which is unaccept-
able. Will God be found in scenes which he abhors?
To say that revivals of religion are sometimes at-
tended with improprieties and errors is simply to say
that man is human. It is the judicious remark of Dr.
Baxter that "the work of God is divine, but our mode
of dispensing it is human; and there is scarce any thing
which we have the handling of but we leave on it the
print of our fingers." But shall we do nothing because
we can not stamp every thing we touch with perfection ?
It is evident that when the adversary sees the Church
in action he rouses himself for effort; and it may be

21

242 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

that lie often succeeds in time of revival by pushing
men onward rather than by holding them back. But is
this a reason why we should fear to offend him ?

No revival of religion ever occurred which was not
attended with some disorders. The glorious Reformation,
which liberated and illuminated Europe, was attended
with a variety of absurdities, and errors, and improprie-
ties. The present age, however, which glories in the
liberty and light that it inherits from the reformers, and
which has almost forgotten the frantic disorders of those
times, never even thinks of comparing the evils which
accompanied the Reformation with the blessings of re-
ligious freedom and illumination.

Even the revivals of primitive Christianity, under the
management of the apostles, were attended with their
evils and improprieties, and were succeeded by a season
of religious declension and apostasy. In attestation of
this we may refer to the 14th chapter of 1st Corinthians.
But who will lay any thing to the charge of God's apos-
tles in relation to their plans of extending the Gospel?

But it is said there is much spurious excitement
That is true; but it forms no objection to what is gen
uine. Nor is it difficult to distinguish between the true
and the false. If an excitement is false it must be pro-
duced without Divine agency, and the world can rouse
it just as well as the Church. Let the world come
forth ) we will give them all our appliances, we will per-
mit them to see all our plans of operation ; and, if they
can produce a similar result, we will pronounce our ex-
citement false, and pray for pardon. But if it be of such
a nature that the boldest rebel would not attempt the
fearful experiment, we have strong reason to believe that
it is genuine.

If a further test be required, let this question be
asked, Does the excitement lead its subjects to faith and

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 243

obedience ? If so, then here may our inquiries cease,
insinuations have sometimes been made that some Chris-
tians substitute shouting and falling for repentance and
faith. If there be such Christians I have yet to meet
with them. The ministry of every Church with which I
am acquainted, far from substituting excitement for obe-
dience, earnestly deplore it when it is not connected with
that result. Shouting and falling are but accidental ef-
fects of a fervent worship. Suppose them to be unneces-
sary inconveniences; are there no results equally deplor-
able, to say the least, flowing from a frigid manner? And
how exceedingly ungenerous and unjust should we be if
we should insinuate that some Churches substitute gap-
ing and sleeping for hope and charity !

But it is said that religious excitement often causes
mental derangement. This is a mistake. Although ex-
citement of a religious kind may sometimes result in this
dreadful consequence, it does not often — such is not the
tendency; not the tendency of the means by which it is
produced. Religion consists of conviction, conversion,
and holiness. What is the chief instrument of convic-
tion ? The law of God. Is there any thing in this, more
than in any other law, to produce mental alienation?
Strange, indeed, if mortals can not look into the laws by
which they are governed without danger of insanity.
Did this law, when first issued from the hand of God,
produce madness in the multitudes that stood trembling
beneath the mount when the lightnings flashed, and the
thunders pealed, and the summit smoked, and the earth
shook? What is the nature of conviction? An awaken-
ing of the conscience. But does the. conscience of the
world never wake up? In the circles of amusement the
conscience often speaks. Go to prisons, chain gangs, or
the gallows, if you would be sure to find remorse. But
there you will rarely meet with insanitv. What is it but

244 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

remorse that heats the furnaces of hell ? Yet, the pit is
no madhouse. When the three thousand, on the day of
Pentecost, were pricked in their hearts — -an expression in-
dicative of excruciating anguish — did all become derang-
ed? or have we any intimation that even one ran mad?

And how is conversion effected? By the Gospel of
peace, the cross of Christ. What philosophy can show
that this has a tendency to produce insanity? The tend-
ency is the very reverse. What is the nature of con-
version? It consists in a change of relation on the part
of the sinner to God ; and is followed by a sense of par-
don, peace, and joy. It tends to soothe and tranquilize
the mind, to spread oil over the troubled waters of the
heart. It is the voice of Jesus in the storm, saying,
" Peace, be still."

Holiness consists in a transferrence of affection from
the world and sin, to God our Maker. Placing an animal
in his native element will not throw him into disturbance;
the removal of an unnatural stimulus, and the applica-
tion of a natural excitant, will not cause disease. Can
we imagine, therefore, that the placing of a soul in its
proper sphere will occasion its derangement? So far as
my experience goes, it is not so much religious excite-
ment as the want of it — it is somber contemplation,
rather than religious feeling; it is error, leading to false
views, rather than truth exciting to obedience, that
causes derangement of the mind. When religion brings
gloom over the mind, it is often the treatment which the
world prescribes for it that pushes it into insanity.
Many cases of religious mania are traceable to other
causes than religion. As when the harmony of health is
disturbed, the organ most frequently excited first mani-
fests disease; so, when the harmony of the mind is bro-
ken, the string most frequently struck may be expected
to break first. If an individual inclined to religious

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 245

musing become insane, whatever may be the cause of de-
rangement, his hallucination will probably^assume the
form of religious monomania. The disease is often mis-
taken for its cause. On this point Dr. Abercrombie says,
"In regard to what have been called the moral causes of
insanity, I suspect there has been a good deal of fallacy,
arising from considering as a moral cause what was really
a part of the disease. Thus, we find so many cases of
insanity referred to religion, so many to love, so many to
ambition, etc. But perhaps it may be doubted whether
that which was in these cases considered as the cause
was not rather, in many instances, a part of the halluci-
nation. This, I think, applies, in a peculiar manner, to
the subject of religion, which, by a common, but very
loose way of speaking, is often mentioned as a cause of
insanity. When there is a constitutional tendency to in-
sanity or to melancholy — one of its leading modifica-
tions— every subject is distorted to which the mind can
be directed; and none more frequently or remarkably
than the great question of religious belief. But this is
the effect, not the cause ; and the frequency of this hal-
lucination, and the various forms which it assumes, may
be ascribed to the subject being one to which the minds
~of all men are so naturally directed in one degree or
another, and of which no man living can entirely divest
himself. Even when the mind does give way under the
influence of a great moral cause — such as overwhelming
misfortune — we often find that the hallucination does not
refer to it, but to something entirely different. Striking
examples of this are mentioned by Pinel." (Inquiries
concerning the Intellectual Powers, and the investigation
of Truth, pages 238 and 239.)

Why is it that a case of mania produced by religious
excitement is matter of universal remark? Because
religion, in the opinion of mankind, has no tendency to

246 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

produce derangement, or to produce any thing bordering
on derangen*ent even.

A lawyer or a poet may derange himself by intense
study, and rushing from his closet in a fit of insanity,
may slaughter wife and children j yet the fact is barely
announced. He is carried to the asylum, and his case
rarely referred to again. A man goes to a political meet-
ing, mixes with the giddy throng, breathes its enthusi-
asm, and mingles his loud hurras with the deafening
shouts of the multitude; but in the midst of his trans-
port his reason fails, and he returns a maniac, rages a
few weeks, and, dying, leaves a helpless wife and family
to the charity of the world; and there is nothing said.
Another departs to the west, wanders through the wilder-
ness, and purchases a tract of land in hopes of making
his fortune ; he sees villages and cities rise amid his
swamps, as by the magic of Aladin's lamp; he fancies
himself a prince, and returns a madman; and who won-
ders? Another suffers a sudden reverse of fortune, re-
signs himself to melancholy, and cuts his throat ; his
friends pity and bury him, and that is all. But if, in a
religious meeting, a man should lose his reason, the event
is blazoned forth to the ends of the earth. Now, what is
the inference? Simply this, that the love of the world,
the excitement of politics, the reverses of fortune, etc.,
have a natural tendency to produce excitement, but that
religion has no such influence.

What feeling is so wide-spread, so intense, so perpet-
ual, as the religious? it extends every-where, pervading
alike every age, sex, and rank; and yet how few are the
cases of religious mania ! Do the multiplication of re-
vivals increase the number of the insane ?

But suppose it be admitted that religious meetings
have a tendency to produce insanity; are we authorized
for that reason to suspend them? Let us for a moment

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 247

compare the evil with the good. Grant that in a country
where three thousand are hopefully converted, in the
midst of a revival one becomes insane 5 who would have
the hardihood to say that the loss or damage would, for
one moment, bear comparison with the gain or the bless-
edness? Does not insanity occur in persons constitution-
ally predisposed to it? Who can say that the maniac
would have remained sane had he never entered a relig-
ious assembly? Who shall determine whether it was the
truth, or resistance to it which produced the mischief?
Who can say that the condition of the maniac is not bet-
tered, even though he should never recover? Who shall
estimate the joys of earth or heaven upon the conver-
sion of his fellows, and the happiness to human hearts,
the honor to Jesus, the glory to God, which will issue
from the revival ?

Because an excitement occasionally produces mental
derangement, should we cease to pray for it ? Then let
the throng abandon at once and forever the subject of
politics; let the student retire from the closet, and the
philosopher from the temple of nature ; let the merchant
cease to buy and sell; finally, let busy men leave all their
worldly pursuits, for there is not one which does not oc-
casionally produce its maniacs. If God evidently favor
an excitement, who shall bid it cease ? 'Tis enough if
Heaven approve; we may safely leave results to Him who
controls the moral, no less than the natural world.

Let it be understood all along, that the excitement of
which we speak is natural, not the result of artificial
means; that it occurs unexpectedly, and under the ordi-
nary administration of the Divine word) and is preceded
and attended by the spirit of agonizing prayer and entire
dependence on God.

Some object to excitement, because in many cases it
tends to deception. In proof of this they allege that

248 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

many persons who embrace religion in a revival, fail to
bring forth the fruits of righteousness; while others,
though they run well for a season, soon fall by the way.
This melancholy fact must be admitted. But among
those who embrace religion gradually, under the regular
preaching of the word, in seasons of no extraordinary
excitement, is there not as great a proportion of false
conversions and instances of apostasy, as can be found in
any equal number who profess conversion in a revival?
We believe that extensive, and careful, and prayerful ob-
servation warrants an affirmative answer to this question.
In making up an opinion on this point, a superficial ob-
server is liable to be misled. In the one case there are a
few conversions scattered over a long period, in the other
there are many compressed into a short space of time.
Suppose the relative proportion of false and true conver-
sions to be the same in each, and let this be as one to
ten. Now, suppose in a Church which enjoys no revivals
there are ten conversions in the course of a year; and in
a society favored with a refreshing season there are one
hundred in a week : the one false conversion during the
year in the former case will scarce be noticed, while the
ten in the latter instance will strongly attract the atten-
tion.* It is said that self-deception resulting from excite-

* Fruits of Revivals.— The subject of the results of revivals has been
examined with much care in New England. In 1829 a letter was ad-
dressed to the Congregational ministers of Connecticut, proposing, among
others, the following inquiries: First. What was the whole number of
professors of religion in your Church at the commencement of the year
1820? Second. What number were added to your Church by profession
during the years 1820, 1, 2, 3, and 4? Third. Of those who are now
members of your Church, what proportion may be considered as the fruits
of a revival, and what is their comparative standing for piety, and active
benevolent enterprise? Dr. Hawes, of Hartford, writing under date
March 12, 1832, says, "I am able to state that the answers were in a high
degree satisfactory." It appeared that a very large proportion of all who

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 249

ment is calculated to lead men into infidelity, and pro-
voke opposition to the truth. Deceived sinners, says the
objector, reason thus : we have been through the process

are now members of the Congregational Churches in this state, became
such in consequence of revivals; that the relative proportion of such, as
revivals have been multiplying, has been continually increasing; that the
most active and devoted Christians are among those who came into the
Church as fruits of revivals; that those Churches in which revivals have
been most frequent and powerful, are the most numerous and flourishing ;
and that in all the Churches thus visited with Divine influence, there has
been a great increase of Christian enterprise and benevolent action.
Bishop M'llvaine, under date April 6, 1832, writes, "I owe too much of
what I hope for as a Christian, and what I have been blessed with as a
minister of the Gospel, not to think most highly of the eminent import-
ance of promoting this spirit, and consequently guarding it against all
abuses. Whatever I possess of religion began in a revival. The most
precious, steadfast, and vigorous fruits of my ministry, have been fruits of
revivals. I believe that the spirit of revivals, in the true sense, was the
simple spirit of the religion of apostolic times; and will be more and more
the characteristic of those as the day of the Lord draws near.

Bodily Excitement. — Dr. M'Dowell, pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church, of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, March 5, 1832, writes, "Fre-
quently sobbing aloud was heard in our meetings, and in some instances
there was a universal trembling; and in others a privation of bodily
strength, so that the subjects were not able to get home without help. In
this respect this revival was different from any other which I have wit-
nessed. I never dared to-speak against this bodily agitation, lest I should
be found speaking against the Holy Ghost ; but I never did any thing to
encourage it. It may be proper here to relate the case of a young man,
who was then a graduate of one of our colleges, and is now a very respect-
able and useful minister of Christ. Near the commencement of the re-
vival he was led for the first time, and out of complaisance to his sisters,
to a meeting in a private house. I was present, and spoke two or three
times between prayers, in which some of my people led. The audience
was solemn, but perfectly still. I commenced leading in the concluding
prayer. A suppressed sob reached my ears ; it continued and increased ;
I brought the prayer speedily to a close ; I cast my eyes over the audience,
when, behold ! it was the careless, proud young man, who was standing
near me ; leaning on his chair, sobbing, and trembling in every part, like
the Philippian jailer. He raised his eyes toward me; and then tottered
forward, threw his arms round my shoulders, and cried out, ' What shall
I do to be saved?' " See Sprague on Revivals.

250 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

of conversion; we know all about religion; and yet we
are as bad as we ever were. There can be no reality in
it. Now, I venture to say that nothing but base deprav-
ity or obstinate stupidity can induce such illogical rea-
soning. Suppose a case for illustration : On a certain
mountain is a spring, reputed throughout the country to
possess extraordinary medicinal virtues. It is necessary,
however, to the efficacy of the water, that the system be
brought into a certain preparatory condition before it is
used. In judging of this condition men are liable to be
deceived. One hundred persons on a certain day walk to
this spring and drink its healing waters; they all depart,
supposing themselves cured; ten of them, on their return,
discover that their disease remains. Now, what is. the in-
ference which they draw? Is it that the general opinion
in regard to the virtues of the spring is without founda-
tion ; or do they not at once suppose that they were not
properly prepared before they partook its cooling waters ?
And surely this opinion would be confirmed if they ascer-
tained that the ninety who accompanied them were per-
fectly cured. I think that the individual who, although
he professed Christianity under a gradual influence from
the means of grace, finds himself deceived, will be much
more likely to become a skeptic than he who, embracing
religion in a period of excitement, soon awakes to the
conviction that he is yet a sinner. But are we to aban-
don a means of grace because, in its use, some sinners
may imagine themselves saints ? Beware lest we adopt a
principle that may lead us to lay aside the word of God
itself. How does our Savior represent its effects? as pro-
ducing a similar crop, whether sown in the fertile field, or
on stony ground, or by the wayside; or as producing va-
rious results in different cases ?

Some imagine that any excitement of the passions
is injurious. By observing a tendency to preternatural

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 251

excitement in many of the feelings, they conclude that
any unusual stimulus applied to the heart must produce
over-excitement. They do not consider that all passions
are not in the same condition; that while some are nat-
urally excitable, others are morbidly languid. What
physician would hesitate to stimulate the liver if he
found it torpid, merely because some other organ was in
an irritable condition ? Moreover, it ought to be remem-
bered that in conversion the whole moral state is changed.
Although a physician would withdraw all stimuli from a
patient whose pulse was madly throbbing with a fever, yet
if that fever should subside and leave the patient in an
exhausted condition, he would think it flagrant malprac-
tice not to use incitants. While the sinner burns with
the feverish passions of a wicked heart, the less he is ex-
cited the better; but when the delusion of sin departs,
and his feelings are transferred to their appropriate ob-
jects, we need not fear the influences of genial stimulus.
The feelings which it is the object of the pulpit to
arouse are such as can not be too much excited. What
are they? The filial fear of God, the love of God, trust
and confidence in God, and kindred emotions. Who on
all the earth finds these feelings too much excited within
his breast? Bring forward the holiest Christian that
lives; ask him if he fears God with too deep a rev-
erence ? whether he loves God with an affection too fer-
vent? whether he trusts in God with a heart too confid-
ing, with a faith too firm? Ask him if he ever did, if he
thinks there is any danger that he ever will — if there is
any truth in revelation, any scene in nature, any sights,
or sounds, or sympathies on earth, that can fan these
feelings to too intense a flame? He'll tell you, nay; he'll
testify that in the moments of his warmest feelings his
devotion falls below the standard which his own reason
approves. And is he right ? Go search creation for its

252 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

basest rebel; bring hither the pirate that whistles in
the winds, as he hurls his shrieking victims into the
waves; or the hardened wretch that marches to the gal-
lows, with arms stained up to the shoulders with blood ;
or the lawless Bedouin, that tracks the traveler through
Arabian sands, to shoot him for his gold; then lay the
evidences of that holy man's devotion before him, and I'll
trust even to his reason to say whether that devotion is
above the proper standard.

Sound the inquiry over every field, and in every man-
sion, and through all the chapels, where angels sing, or
saints perfected worship, whether there was ever found
one happy spirit within the circle of celestial light that
loved, or feared, or trusted God beyond appointed limits.
I'd ask whether all the scenes of glory, and all the armies
of the blest, and all the legions of the throne, cherubic
or seraphic, and all the harps of heaven, and all the ho-
sannas of the skies could wake within one holy breast a
devotion too intense. Open heaven, and bring down the
holiest angel that ever dipt his wing in the light of
glory, and place him in this altar; ask him if he ever
felt the fire of holy love rising too high within his
breast. His glowing lips would tell you, that when the
highest flames burned upon his heart, and the loudest
halleluiahs lingered on his tongue, his devotion rose not
above the ever-ascending point which angel reason aims
at. Strike up for him the loudest anthem that ever
trembled on the lips or harps of Zion; and louder,
stronger, deeper, let the music of blest voices break upon
his ear, till hosannas peal like thunder through the
earthly temple, and see if this son of glory will complain.
No, no! He will lift his eyes, and move his wings, and
draw his harp, and raise his voice, till the echoes of his
praise shall wake the nations. Now bid him hush !
Think you he'd spare the ears of the listening hills?

RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 253

Louder would hosannas roll ! Now bid him change his
theme; he'll tell you this is the theme of heaven; this
the song of all the choirs above; he knows no other
theme. Ask him to smother these rising feelings; he'll
spurn the rebel world, and soar to his native hills of
light, where the angels and the redeemed sing, "Worthy
is the Lamb," in notes like many waters, and mighty
thunderings, that will finally break over all bounds, till
every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that
are in them, send back the shout, saying, "Blessing, and
honor, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb forever !"

254 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

\t fttljjH Kitfc Junius.

" Render unto Csesar the things that are Caesar's," etc. Matt, xxn, 21.

"/"IjSDSAR" here stands for civil government. This is
^ an ordinance of God. It is necessary to society;
society is necessary to our improvement — happiness —
even existence; the human race would soon become ex-
tinct without it. These propositions have been often
demonstrated. What is that civil government which is so
important ? The answer may be given in the words of
an apostle : " For rulers are not a terror to good works,
but to the evil." . . . " Revengers to execute wrath
upon him that doeth evil." The evil to be punished by
the civil rulers, is that evil which interferes with the
rights of others; government was instituted not for the
reformation or salvation, but protection of society — and
its permanency and prosperity may be measured by
the degree in which it accomplishes this end. This is
not only what the government ought to do, but all it
ought to do. It should assume no more power than is
necessary to the preservation of society; and to protect
every man in the enjoyment of his rights by the punish-
ment of those who infringe them is all that is necessary.
Government may conveniently do many things to pro-
mote the public education, welfare, and improvement,
but as these are not essential, they ought not to be per-
formed without the express consent of the people. Gov-
ernment, which protects rights by punishing wrongs, is,
then, both in the constitution of nature and the charter

THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 255

of revelation, ordained by God; and no other govern-
ment is. To say that government, no matter how un-
righteous, is of God, is to make him responsible for the
enormities of Caligula and the crimes of Nero; to in-
dorse the theory of despots that "the king can do no
wrong ;" to reverse the theory of republicans, " resist-
ance to tyrants is obedience to God;" to repudiate the
magna charta libertatum ; condemn the Reformation of
the sixteenth century, the British Revolution of 1688,
the American Revolution of 1776, and, indeed, every
improvement in government and enlargement of human
rights since the days of Nimrod — for what advance has
been made without resistance to the government? Be
it observed that nothing is said in Scripture about the
form of government; it is of little matter what the
form is, if it perfectly protects all rights ; for this will
insure perfect liberty, whether under a monarchy or a
democracy. If, on the other hand, government fail to
protect men's rights or redress their wrongs, it is a
tyranny, whether it consist of one ruler or a hundred
millions. The multitude may be a tyrant as well as the
king. Some superficial minds confound liberty with a
particular form of government, as though a majority
could do no wrong. But are not men depraved ? Have
not the masses filled cities with slain, and fields with
desolation, and gutters with innocent blood ? Have they
not made such havoc that men have fled to despotism as
a refuge from democracy? Have not republican consti-
tutions been drafted for no other purpose than to pro-
tect minorities from the tyranny of majorities? Who
would be willing, no matter how democratic his feelings,
to have the question whether he should live or be a
member of society determined by vote? God made you,
and you have a right to life, if you do not injure
others — you can not live without society; you have a

256 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

right, therefore, to society. If one society may expel
you without fault, then may every other, and thus drive
you into the ocean. Neither the right to live nor the
right to society is so dear as liberty. "Would you submit
that to be decided by maj ority or plurality of voices? This
were to go back far beyond the days of Luther.

Suppose a government protects our rights, what do we
owe it?

1. Obedience. This we should render cheerfully, con-
stantly, conscientiously; it is due to ourselves — to our
fellow-men — to God. We must not demand perfection
before we render obedience ; perfection is not to be ex-
pected in human institutions — sufficient, if government
in a good degree accomplish its end, advance in the
right direction, and maintain an elevation consistent
with the civilization and the spirit of the people and
the age. We should cherish a conservative feeling to-
ward it, hesitate to oppose its measures, and construe
charitably its acts and utterances. In this country we
have special need to cultivate the spirit of obedience, to
breathe it into our children, and to exhibit it to our
neighbors.

2. We owe it honor. We should respect all its au-
thorities, and, so far as we can, consistently with truth
and duty, speak well of them, and teach our children to
reverence them. He who does not respect the maker
of the law, its judge and its minister, will not be likely
to respect the law itself. As by the government of the
family men are trained for the government of the state,
so by the government of the state they are trained for
the higher government of heaven. Reverence for rulers
has therefore an important religious bearing. "Love the
brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."

He who depreciates his ruler depreciates himself. We
would not suffer a stranger to insult the governor; why?

THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 257

Because we should feel it an insult to ourselves. The
manner in which we are accustomed to denounce our
public men lowers us in the estimation of foreign na-
tions. He who depreciates rulers depreciates that law,
'•whose seat is in the bosom of God, whose voice is the
harmony of the world." God has said, " Thou shalt
not speak evil of the ruler of thy people/'

3. We owe it support. Righteous rulers well deserve
compensation. Whether this be raised directly or indi-
rectly, it should be paid cheerfully. " For this cause
pay ye tribute also." . . . " Render to all their dues,
tribute to whom tribute, custom to whom custom." It is
intensely wicked to defraud the revenue. So far was
our Savior from it, that when the officers came to collect
of him a tax of doubtful legality, he said, "Notwith-
standing, lest we should offend, take that and give unto
them for me and thee." He teaches the same lesson in
the text. Three rival parties join to insnare him. The
Herodians — politicians — who maintained that it was right
to support the Roman government; the Pharisees —
bigots — rwho denied this ; and the Sadducees — infidels —
who were indifferent upon the subject. If the Savior
answered the questions propounded to him affirmatively,
the Pharisees were to arouse both the religious bigotry
of their party and the national prejudices of the com-
mon people against him ; for the Jews were looking and
hoping for a Messiah who should assume temporal au-
thority, and lead them forth to universal conquest. If
he answered negatively, the Herodians were to combine
their party against him and charge him before the civil
authority with treason. If he did not answer, all par-
ties were to charge him with cowardice. He makes
them answer themselves — " Show me a denarius ; whose
image and superscription is this?" they say, Caesar's.
u Render, therefore, to Caesar the things that are

22

258 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Caesar's," etc. The fact that Caesar coined the money-
one of the highest acts of state sovereignty — was proof
that he exercised civil authority. When they acknowl-
edged this, they implied an obligation to pay tribute.
The regulation of the currency is one of the legitimate
acts of government, and brings under obligation those
who use it to pay for coining.

We should pay tax, not merely as a matter of policy or
of duty to man, but also as a matter of duty to God.
" Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the
Lord's sake."

4. We owe to civil government our prayers. " I ex-
hort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men :
for kings, and for all that are in authority" etc. 1
Timothy ii, 1.

We have proceeded upon the supposition that govern-
ment is confined within its proper sphere, and is faith-
ful within that sphere. But suppose, owing to the
weakness of human reason and the strength of human
depravity, that government is perverted. The question
may arise, when is government perverted ? The answer
is, I think, simple. 1. When it fails to protect its sub-
jects in the enjoyment of their rights; or, 2. When it
requires its subjects to do wrong. But who are the
subjects of government? Human beings, of course —
and who are human beings? They who possess the
essential attributes of humanity. What are these?
They are not to be found in color, or feature, or flesh,
or blood — they are reason, affection, conscience. These
confer the capacities, of comprehending, loving, and
serving God, and lift the being possessing them aloft
above the mere animal creation. He who is capable of
obeying God is accountable to God, and he who is ac-
countable to God has the rights of man. What are the

THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 259

rights of man? We hold these truths to be revealed,
that all men are sprung from the same father, plunged
in the same ruin, and redeemed by the same Savior. A
natural inference is that all have equal rights. Our
Revolutionary fathers held this to be self-evident, that
among these rights — natural and inalienable — are " life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Inferiority does
not extinguish rights. If you claim control over another
because of your superiority, another may claim you by
the same title. Such a claim is indeed rarely set up.
It is not the inferiority* of the slave, but his status, on
which the master rests ; the more the slave improves —
the whiter becomes his skin — the greater the infusion
of Anglo-Saxon blood that floats in his veins, the tighter
does the master hold him. Oppression does not cancel
rights. If a man buys property of a thief, he gets a
thief's title; if he sells it, he conveys a thief s title;
if he bequeaths it, he bequeaths a thief's title. Ill-
gotten property may, in time, be rightfully acquired by
possession, provided the original owner can not be found ;
but in man there is always a soul — an original owner;
so that, however many ancestors of the slave may have
been sold, the present master has no better title than
the original man-stealer. Law can not destroy human
rights; it is the province of law to confirm rights, not
to annihilate them. The alleged incapacity of certain
men for liberty, does not destroy their inalienable rights.
How did such incapacity originate ? Do you say it is
natural ? It were a paradox to say that God would per-
petuate a race of human beings incapable of liberty.
W hat rank would they hold in the scale of beings ?

"There are some who deny that the negro belongs to the human race —
they would put the naturalist at fault, the southern sensualist in prison
or on the gallows, and the mulatto—I know not where.

260 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

What would be their position at the last day and beyond
it? It were a libel both upon man and God. If the
alleged incapacity is produced by our oppression, can
this give us a title to the subjects of that oppression?
Such a claim could be set up in favor of any tyrant. It
goes to this point — that a man's rights over another are
in proportion to the wrongs he commits upon him, and
hence, that the longer a man suffers wrong, the less
is he entitled to relief, till at length protracted op-
pression utterly extinguishes all his rights. Some rivet
the chains upon the slave because he is content with
his condition. If it be true that a man is satisfied with
the condition of a slave, why is it true? Because
slavery has imbruted him. If a surgeon, by pressure
upon your brain, were so to impair your reasoning pow-
ers as to make you satisfied to be his slave, would that
insure him a valid title to what was left of you ?

But can not God subject one man to another as a
slave; and has he not sanctioned slavery in his word?
The same rule of interpretation by which you can make
the Bible sanction slavery, you may make it approve of
tyranny and polygamy. A government may not only
deprive its subjects of rights, but require them to do
wrong. Who is to judge when a government does so?
for what may appear wrong to one man may appear right
to another.* To a certain extent this is true. But
there is a region within which all is clear. To love
God, to love man, for example, are duties which all
must acknowledge. Cruelty, adultery, fraud, and theft,
are condemned by every sane mind. If the Legislature
of Ohio should pass a law requiring us to chase down
every man not more than five feet six inches high who

0 Liberty of conscience may be allowed up to the point, at which a man
eupposes himself at liberty to infract the rights of others.

THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 261

should be trying to get his wheat to the Canada market,
and enjoining us to distribute that wheat among his neigh-
bors, and all this because he was not any taller, we
should all agree that it was wrong.

The text gives no doubtful index to the mode by which
we may determine when a government transcends its
powers. That over which a government has power, it
may regulate. It can stamp its image on weights, and
scales, and landmarks, and flags; it may therefore issue
its decrees to mark boundaries, and regulate commerce,
and measures, and fortifications; but when it comes to
the human soul, it finds another image there, and hears
another voice. Render unto God the things that are
God's. Lift up your eye to the heavens; try to efface
God's image on the sky and stamp your own there, before
you attempt to turn the human soul into gold, and run it
in your die. Stop the revolving earth with a stamp of
your foot, or stay the sun in his course with your curse,
before you prescribe the course of human thought, and
feeling, and will. Bring on your chains, kindle up your
fires around a man. "He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh."

Suppose a government be perverted, what shall we do ?
Some would say, overthrow it. Let us beware how we do
this; especially in a land of free speech, where errors
may be exploded and public opinion molded according
to truth. Civil war is the most horrible of all war. The
issue of battle is not always determined by the right.
An unsuccessful attempt at revolution puts back the day
of deliverance, by depriving the oppressed of their lead-
ers, impressing their cause with shame, strengthening
their oppressors, and emboldening and provoking their
enemies to still further oppression. A successful revolu-
tion is effected at the cost of much blood, and treasure,
and life ; overthrows existing institutions, many of which

262 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS,

are always good, and sometimes invaluable; excites a
spirit of anarchy; injures the public morals, and fre-
quently leads to a despotism more dreadful than that
which it overthrows.

There are some who talk lightly of a dissolution of our
Union. They have not properly considered either its
value or the consequence of dissolving it. The Union is
precious. It diminishes the hazards of foreign wars, and
the dangers of domestic violence. It secures to us uni-
formity in the administration of justice, respectability in
the eyes of the nations, and the perpetuity of our free
institutions. It harmonizes the conflicting interests, and
weakens the sectional prejudices of a people bound by
the ties of a common origin, a common conflict, a com-
mon language, a common literature, a common religion,
and inhabiting states broken by no natural boundary. It
exhibits the only example of democratic government on
an extensive scale that the world has ever seen ; it holds
out the hand of welcome to the oppressed of all lands
but one, and animates the friends of liberty throughout
the earth. It could not be dissolved without the shed-
ding of blood, perhaps in torrents more fearful than the
world has ever seen. If the dissolution were effected, it
would be followed by a succession of annoyances leading
to a succession of wars, which would end, God only knows
when. If, therefore, we find our government imperfect —
if we find that it not only fails to protect a class of citi-
zens in their rights, but protects some of the states in
oppression, let us be patient; let us, when we think of dis-
union, balance the probable evil against the probable good
of such a step, and consider whether there is not a better
way to compass our end. I have never failed to pray,
"God save the United States," or to believe that their
union would be permanent, or to hope that emancipation
can be achieved in constitutional modes.

THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 263

What, then, is our duty first, if government fail to pro-
tect its subjects in the exercise of their rights? Some
feel no concern, provided their own rights are secured.
This is gross injustice. By the social compact, society is
bound to protect its members, and government is its
agent. Every man is responsible to the extent of his
power and influence in the state, for the wrongs of gov-
ernment.

Under the old dispensation, it was written, "If thou
forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and
those that are ready to be slain : if thou sayest, behold,
we knew it not, doth not he that pondereth the heart
consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he
know it? and shall he not render to every man according
to his work V Under the new dispensation, the sum of
morality is that truth, "Do unto others as ye would they
should do unto you;" a perfect "two-inch gague," by
which any man, in any situation, may measure his obliga-
tions to his fellow-man. Put yourself in the situation of
the oppressed, and you can learn your duty to him.
Were you a slave, what would you have me do? Never
say one word for you, lest I offend some wily politician, or
call forth the denunciations of some faithless editor?
No, no!

But, second, suppose government require the subject
to do wrong. Shall I obey ? Not while there is a God
in heaven. "Render unto God the things that are
God's."

There were higher and lower-law divines in ancient
times. In the valley of the Nile, Pharoah said: "Slay
the children '" but the mid wives saved, them alive. On
the plain of Dura, the office-seekers said: "0, king, live
forever ; thou hast made a decree that every man that
shall hear the sound of the cornet, harp, flute, sackbut,
psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall

264 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

down and worship the golden image; but there are cer-
tain Jews that have not regarded thee." Higher-law
men said : aBe it known unto thee, 0 king, that we will
not serve other gods, nor worship the golden image which
thou hast set up." In the palace of Darius, on a certain
occasion, the presidents, governors, etc., said to the king:
" Hast thou not signed a decree that every man that shall
ask a petition of any god or man within thirty days, save
of thee, 0 king, shall be cast into the den of lions ? .
Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Ju-
dah, regardeth not thee, 0 king, nor the decree that thou
hast signed : but maketh his petition three times a day."
Once in the Sanhedrim, the high-priest said to certain
apostles: "Did not we straitly command you that ye
should not teach in this name, and behold ye have filled
Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this
man's blood upon us." Then Peter and the other apos-
tles answered and sard, "We ought to obey God, rather
than men."

But can we not do something more than refuse obedi-
ence to unrighteous decrees, and sympathize with the
subjects of oppression? Yea, verily! Men have intel-
lect— heart — conscience. We can petition — remonstrate.
This is a privilege granted by usage, under the most
despotic governments, and secured by the Constitution
under our own. The crudest tyrants have generally suf-
fered the worst rebels to pray to them. The Emperor
of Morocco, the most perfect despot in the world, gives
audience four times a week to even the meanest of his
subjects; though sometimes the most boastful democrats
have refused to hear the prayers of their constituents.
Well may we say, "Let us not fall into the hands of man.
Let us fall into the hands of God, for very great are his
mercies." He invites sinners to pray, to supplicate and
deprecate, and facilitates their approaches by a Mediator.

THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 265

I suppose the laity of this free country will not be
denied the right of petition so long as the name of
Adams is remembered, though it is not so clear that their
pastors will fare so well, unless — in relation to the matter
or form of their memorials — they happen to think with
the majority of the senate, for which the claim of infal-
libility is set up. But why not be heard? Have they
not sense enough to know right from wrong? or do they
not give sufficient heed to the doings of their rulers?* or
have they so much interest in the public treasury as not
to be able to escape an improper bias ? or have they not
sufficient moral purity to express opinions side by side
with men that handle types, or who sit in privileged
seats, for which I believe no certificate of moral charac-
ter is required? Why not, then ? One answers, "They
should have nothing to do with politics." There is a
sense in which I admit this proposition. T hope never to
see the Church connected with the state. f True, there
are arguments for such connection. It secures the pulpit
the best talents, clothes it with influence, and gives it in-
dependence of popular support. I deem no religious lit-
erature equal to that of the English Church, and it could
hardly have been produced without the patronage of the
state. But therex are' evils in that patronage; it weakens
the faith, and multiplies the temptations, and strength-
ens the pride of the clergy; instead of emboldening min-
isters to declaim against public vices and religious errors,
it has enticed them to cover up private vices and

°It is said that the clergy are ignorant on political subjects. Perhaps
it would hardly be kind to inquire if politicians are not ignorant on moral
subjects.

fl have no fears that way just now; more fear of an establishment of

atheism, than of an establishment of religion among us. Strange that

wme politicians should be conservative of slavery, which is not essential

to government, and destructive of religion, which is.

90

266 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

political corruption. Thank God, the pulpit of this land
owes nothing to the state, and fears nothing from it ; it
is competent to judge without bias and speak without
trepidation.

The great argument for the connection of Church and
state, namely, that the patronage of the latter is nec-
essary to religion, has been swept away by overwhelming
facts. The dissenters of England have been steadily
encroaching upon the "Establishment." The Churches
of America outgrow and outshine all the other Churches
of the world. No longer let Zion be found in league
with the state against the liberties of mankind, upon
the plea that she can not live without royal favor.
From the first, Jesus said, " My kingdom is not of this
world." His birth, his life, his death, was a comment
on these words. He would have his ministers free from
political designs. The man who enters the pulpit to
plead for political purposes, to aggrandize himself, or
punish his political enemies, or please his political friends,
or to endow his Church, or benefit his ministry by po-
litical agencies or influences, prostitutes the sacred place.
Christ would also have his ministers free from a polit-
ical spirit; and as it is difficult to escape such a spirit
while connected with political parties, it is well that the
minister, as much as may be, avoid them, and stand in
politics, not neutral — this were unworthy of a man — but
independent ; so as to be able to judge without difficulty,
and speak without reserve or hesitancy, when men "frame
mischief by law."

Ministers are strongly exposed to the contagion of a
political spirit, and tempted to indulge it; for when they
do they summon to their aid a powerful party, particularly
if it be the dominant one, and they are sure to receive
the reward of their deeds, either in flattery or influence,
pr more tangible good things. It is when, like their

THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 267

Master, they are independent, that they are liable to be
derided and denounced. Cost what it may, however,
ministers should avoid party spirit; it is inconsistent
with that kindness and forbearance which the Gospel
breathes. The beloved John felt it when he said,
u Master, we saw one casting out devils, and we forbade
him, because he followeth not us." The apostles mani-
fested it when they said in reference to the Samaritans,
who refused the Savior permission to pass through their
streets, "Wilt thou that we command fire to come down
from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did?" It
is not surprising that they who steadily contemplate a
wicked system, should burn with indignation, and de-
nounce those who uphold it, without discrimination and
without mercy. But let us judge charitably of motives,
while we judge severely of principles. Had we — for ex-
ample— been reared in the south we might have been
holders of slaves, and had we received them by inherit-
ance, and treated them with kindness, we might, with
Bible in hand — especially if it were expounded by a
slaveholding ministry — have thought ourselves innocent.
The tendency of education to warp our opinions, has
not always been overlooked by even the most forward
champions of emancipation. Indeed, so strongly have
they made the distinction between slavery and slave-
holders— shielding the latter while they denounced the
former — that they have been tauntingly called abstraction-
ists. The epithet, however, is likely to be transferred
to another party, who, while they assert that slavery can
not enter our new territory, are ready to move heaven
and earth to declare the principle that it ought to be
permitted to do so. And this is one of the encouraging
signs of the times, that this great question is to be dis-
cussed abstractly. This will strip the controversy of
much of its bitterness, and bring the parties at once to

268 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

issue, if not to agreement. Another favorable sign is,
that the " powers that be/' instead of discouraging
free discussion on great moral questions, lead the way
in it.

Christ would have his ministers free from the charge
of interfering with the administration of civil law. On
this subject he gave impressive lessons. The people
receiving him as Messiah, did not hesitate to regard his
authority as supreme. Yet he refused to make civil law,
or abrogate it, or enforce it. On one occasion, being
called on to settle a disputed inheritance, he said :
"Man, who made me a judge, or a divider over you?"
When men brought a guilty woman into his presence,
he declined to pronounce the sentence of the law upon
her. He laid down moral law for the guidance of all
men, and referred to a tribunal where he would sit as
judge of all, but he left the laws of the state in the
hands of civil rulers. The great error of his Church
has been in assuming civil as well as ecclesiastical au-
thority. This it is which, for so long, made her either
a usurper, or an insurgent, or a dependent of the state,
which secularized her views, corrupted her motives, and
crippled her energies. But for this, we might, ere this,
have reached the millennium. In the United States we
have been careful to avoid this error of politicians. It
is profoundly to be regretted that, being treated cav-
alierly by politicians when they become petitioners on
great moral subjects, they should be challenged to enter
the political arena.

Thus far ministers should avoid politics, but there
remains to them a large residuum of duty to the state j
they should render to God the things that are his. We
owe it to him to preach truth both to rich and poor, to
reprove sin in high places as well as low ones. How-
ever exalted rulers be, they are not above moral obli-

THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 269

gation ; they are liable to sin, and therefore subject to
admonition. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy
heart; thou shalt in anywise reprove thy brother and
not suffer sin upon him." There was in former days a
kiriLr that oppressed a certain people, and there was a
minister that said to him, "Let the people go." True,
he proved his commission by miracles and his authority
by Divine judgments. The age of miracles is past, but
the principles which those miracles established remain.
Saul, in violation of law, offered a burnt-offering. And
Samuel said to him, "Thou hast done foolishly: thou
hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God:
thy kingdom shall not continue." King David on a
certain occasion sinned. Nathan then spoke to him of a
rich man that had exceeding many flocks and herds,
and a poor man that had nothing, save one little ewe
lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it
grew up together with him and his children; it did eat
of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in
his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there
came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take
of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the
wayfaring man that was come to him. (The prophet
does not say whether it was a white lamb or a black one,
but I suppose the color of the wool would not have
altered the nature of the case.) And David's anger
kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, "'As
the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall
surely die. And he shall restore four-fold, because he
did this thing, and because he had no pity." And
the prophet said, "Thou art the man." It was the
theory of the Jews that the king was the viceroy of
God; he was, therefore, high and lifted up, and yet not
bo high as to be above reproof from human lips. It is
our theory of government that the highest power is the

270 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

people, and that the rulers are their servants, though
this may not be the theory of thirty-eight degrees fifty,
three minutes — it is of this latitude. If those servants
take thousands of ewe lambs from the bosoms of the
poor to slay and dress them for the stranger, shall not
the Nathans be allowed to put parables to them? I
should like to put one.

In ancient times there was one Ahab, and there was
one Jezebel, and there was one Elijah, too, and when
the king stole the vineyard and killed the owner, the
prophet meddled with politics. And, doubtless, pol-
iticians complained of agitation, and said, "Art thou he
that troubleth Israel?" But the prophet confronted the
king right in the vineyard, and said, "Thus saith the
Lord, hast thou killed and also taken possession?" The
conscience-smitten Ahab said to Elijah, "Hast thou found
me, 0 mine enemy! And he answered, I have found
thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the
sight of the Lord." There were prophets after Elijah,
and thus ran their commission, "Son of man, cause
Jerusalem" — that is, the capital — "to know her abom-
inations" Ezekiel xvi, 1. (Some say that ministers
should avoid politics, because it is a muddy stream,
others because it is a pure one. The logic of neither
is good. If the latter be correct, then we ought to
insist on enjoying the transparent waters; and surely
these persons will be the last to insist that we do not
need their purifying power. If the former are right —
and I suppose they are — we ought to bear in mind that
all sin is muddy, and that no sinner would be saved if
ministers of mercy did not trouble muddy pools.) "Cry
aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and
show my people their transgressions, and the house of
Jacob their sins." Isaiah lviii, 1. "And I will make
thee unto this people a fenced brazen wall; and they

THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 271

shall fight against thee, but shall not prevail against
thee; for I am with thee to save thee, and to deliver
thee, saith the Lord." Jeremiah xv^ 20. And how did
the prophets fulfill such commissions? Nehemiah, for
example, finding the capital polluted, says, "Then con-
tended I with the rulers." . > . "Then contended I
with the nobles" — the senators — -"of Judah, and said un-
to them, What evil thing is this that ye do?" Nehemiah
xiii, 13. Sometimes the prophets were dumb dogs, and
then did their master send terrible messages to them.

But you will say all this was under the old dispensa-
tion. Under this we have nothing to do but "to preach
Christ." Granted. And what is it to preach Christ,
but to proclaim his mission, in his spirit, and according
to his example? What is his mission? Hear him as he
stands in the synagogue with the parchment roll in his
hand: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; be-
cause the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-
hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the
opening of the prison -doors to them that are bound;
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the
day of vengeance of our God." Alas! the Church has
been, to too great an extent, splitting theological hairs,
and rattling dry skeletons raked from the ashes of the
dark ages, instead of following out the scheme of her
leader, and thus has often brought contempt upon her-
self, raised up infidel ranks around her, and left noble
enterprises either to toe achieved without her aid, or to
fail for want of her moderation, her wisdom, and her
prayers. And what is the spirit of our Lord? Meek,
lowly, gentle, forgiving, yet firm as a rock, and con-
suming— to iniquity — as the electric stream. Hark !
the prophet in vision describes the Son of man: "And
shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of

272 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his
eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears : but
with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove
with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall
smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with
the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." Isaiah
xi, 3. Again: "Who may abide the day of his coming,
and who shall stand when he appeareth ?" Not them
that bought and sold in the temple — not -the lawyers who
took away the key of knowledge — not the rulers who
garnished the sepulchers of the prophets while their
own souls were as sepulchers — not the murderer of in-
fants, nor that other Herod, to whom he sent that
message, "Go ye and tell that fox," etc. Though he
came to save sinners, he did not come to spare sin, even
in politics. He undermined the foundations of both
the Jewish and the Roman state. His forerunner went
to court and withstood the adulterous king to his face,
and sealed his testimony against wickedness in high
places with his blood. John struck the first spark of
that divine flame, in reference to which Christ said, "I
have come to send fire on the earth, and what will I
if it be already kindled ?" His followers scattered that
fire around them. Paul made Felix tremble on the
judgment-seat, and Agrippa on his throne; he shook
the pillars of state alike at Mars' Hill and at Csesar's
household. There was not a state on the earth, in
apostolic times, that did not rest on the pillars of a
false religion, and there was not a false religion which
the apostles did not openly, stoutly, and perpetually
assail ; there was then no political system against which
they did not wage an unintermitting and everlasting
war. Of this politicians accused them ; often torturing
their words and charging them with designs which they
did not entertain. It was on a false charge of treason

THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 273

that Christ was crucified, and it was for political inter-
ference that the apostles, one by one, suffered the mar-
tyr's death. It was for the same cause that Jerome and
Huss, and a long line of worthy predecessors and suc-
cessors walked to the stake singing hymns. Have rulers
nothing to do with Christ? Does his jurisdiction cease
at the threshold of the capitol? Does sin cease to be
sin because preceded by the magic words, "Be it en-
acted?" It would be well enough for us to ponder the
2d Psalm : "Why do the heathen rage and the people
imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set
themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against
the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us
break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords
from us.' ' . . . But what of all this ? " Yet have I
set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare
the decree : the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my
son ; this day have I begotten thee." "Be wise, now,
therefore, 0 ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the
earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trem-
bling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish
from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." It
would be well for certain religious editors to ponder
this. They cry out, Do not meddle with politics.
Christ meddles with them. Opposition to slavery, how-
ever, might be justified on religious grounds — adultery,
polygamy, cruelty, are all hinderances to the spread of
the Gospel. What -should be said of a system which
favors all these? The conscience must be reached
through the intellect, but slavery palsies the intellect.
Would a proposition to pluck out eyes and fill up ears
be political? Better lose eyes and ears than mind.
The final triumphs of the Savior can never be achieved
while slavery lasts, or civil governments ordain or sustain

274 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

oppression. The time must come when "all kings shall
fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Hini."

In view of these things many clergymen have spoken
out against a certain pending public measure. For this
they have been denounced in very high places and very
low ones. For myself I have no apology. The question
of slavery in the states is a difficult one — it is not simple,
but complex— not abstract, but concrete; it relates not
to a new evil, but an old one; one which has come down
by the sin of both the British and American govern-
ments from the ages of darkness; it is inwoven with the
institutions of the south, social, political, and religious.
It has polluted her literature; it has shaped her manners,
and fixed her prejudices, and bound itself up with her
interests. We have been accustomed to pity and exten-
uate; and though we might still bear with the slave-
holder, and wait for the truth to dissolve the chains of
the slave, as the south wind does the snow, yet we can
think of no apology for the Nebraska bill. The question
it presents is simple, abstract, novel. It proposes to ren-
der virgin soil liable to pollution ; to render a surface of
the map, already white, by law of peculiar force and so-
lemnity, likely to be blackened; to open the way to in-
dorse and imitate the iniquity of the past. It proposes,
so far as a certain oppressed people are concerned, to
submit the question of liberty — the fundamental purpose
of government — the protection of society — to popular
mercy, excluding from the polls, however, the oppressed
people, and admitting to them those whose interests or
prejudices may incline them to vote against their rights.
And yet men tell us we don't understand it. Strange
bill, that, after being discussed for months, can not be
understood! It has, however, a bright side; for, how-
ever enigmatical to the north, it is clear to the south.
It would be clear to all, if Germans or Catholics were

THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 275

substituted for an oppressed race. I believe in popular
sovereignty. Do you believe in liberty? Let us never,
then, put it in jeopardy in regard to either black or
white, Protestant or Catholic.

276 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

S&sgirstxftfl at i\t §Mt,

AUTHENTICITY refers to the writer of a book, cred-
ibility to its matter, genuineness to its preservation,
authority to its sanction, inspiration to its origin. The
last applies only to the Bible. There are various opin-
ions in regard to its extent. Some think the Bible in-
spired merely as poetry is; some hold it to be inspired
simply so far as they deem it God-worthy; a third class
holds that a portion only of the Bible is inspired, as the
Pentateuch and Isaiah; a fourth, that all Scripture is
inspired, but not equally — distinguishing between super-
intendence, direction, and suggestion as distinct and
progressive steps; a fifth class, professing a belief in
plenary inspiration of all holy Scripture, practically de-
nies it by giving to human writing, or an instinctive
sentiment, or an inner light an equal authority.

The first is open infidelity; the second masked infi-
delity; against the third we maintain that all Scriptures
are inspired: against the fourth that all are equally so;
against the fifth that all are peculiarly so.

The doctrine we teach is, that as the word of man
is by the breath of his mouth, so the word of God is by
the breath of the Almighty. Primarily, the text refers
to the Old Testament; but, as the apostles ranked the
New Testament with the Scriptures, we may embrace in
the proposition the whole Bible. But what is the Bible?
We answer, the canonical Scriptures in the original
tongues. That these are fully inspired we argue,

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 277

1. From the necessity of the case. "We are doomed to
endless disquiet, unless we have an infallible standard
of truth. There are only three things in which we can
look for such a standard — reason, the Church, and rev-
elation. With all Christians the first is out of the ques-
tion, and with all Protestants the second is also. We
have no standard if not in the written word.

If the icords of Scripture are not approved by God,
there is no written revelation. No being is responsible
for a document which he has not dictated, or at least
inspected and approved; and if God has dictated, in-
spected, and approved the Bible, it is verbally inspired;
if not, then, though the prophets were inspired, we have
no revelation — we have nothing but the book.

2. That the book is verbally inspired in part is clear
from the following circumstances : In some instances the
writers predicted coming events which they did not com-
prehend; in others they searched to know what or what
manner of time the spirit that was in them did signify.
This seems to have been an inspiration similar to what oc-
curred at Pentecost, where each auditor heard the word
in his own language, the speakers being ignorant of
the import of the words they spoke ; and again in the
Corinthian Church, where brethren spoke in the words
which they themselves did not understand.

3. We may argue from the prophetic nature of Scrip-
ture. Not a book of the Old Testament or New that is
not prophetic in part. Prophecy refers to what is beyond
the range of human mind. Here man must rely ver-
bally upon the divine Mind for guidance — an error in
mood or tense would be an error in fact, and a leak for
the faith which might sink the Church.

4. From the manner in which sacred writings are
introduced, and closed, and quoted by sacred writers.
David says, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me,

278 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

and his word was in my tongue." Jeremiah xxx,
4: "And these are the words that the Lord spake."
Isaiah vii : "For the Lord spake thus to me." Amos iii:
"Hear the word that the Lord, hath spoken against
you." Ezekiel iii, 4, 11 : "Speak my words unto them."
Thus opening , they close in such words as these : " The
mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken." How are
they quoted by the apostles? "But those things which
God before had showed by the mouth of all his proph-
ets." God the speaker and man the instrument, not
man the speaker and God the assistant. The New Test-
ament writers divide the Old Testament into the law
and the prophets, but quote both as of equal authority —
both as prophetic. The law, indeed, was prophetic in
all its parts ; the history of the Jews was typical ; the
Psalms were full of predictions; the authors of all
the books were invested with the dignity of the proph-
ets. "The Scripture must needs have been fulfilled
which the Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of David."
The New Testament Scriptures are full of predictions,
and their authors are said to speak by the Spirit.

5. From the perfection of Scripture. " The law of
the Lord is perfect, converting the soul ; the testimony
of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the stat-
utes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the
eyes; the fear of the Lord is clear, enduring forever;
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous alto-
gether." Psalm xix.

"Not one jot or tittle of the law shall pass away till
all be fulfilled." Christ always quotes literally. If any
part of Scripture is inspired, why not all? If not all,
indeed, then, we have, virtually, none; for we have no
means of distinguishing the inspired from the uninspired,
except reason, which is fallible. The most minute words

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 279

sometimes convey important truths. St. Paul argues
the humanity of Christ from the term " brethren/' in
the 22d Psalm, and the duty of submission to Provi-
dence from the term "son" in the Proverbs. Our Sav-
ior proves the existence of the dead from the tense of
the verb to be. "I am the God of Abraham/' and,
" Before Abraham was I am."

6. From the aid afforded the writers in less important
circumstances. Moses was the organ which God em-
ployed to communicate the law — the civil, for the nation
under the theocracy; the ceremonial, to separate Israel
from the rest of the world, and foreshadow the coming
dispensation; and the moral, for all mankind. He spoke
to God, u face to face." The prophets were sent as
messengers of Heaven to revolted nations to announce
direction, threaten punishment, promise reward, and pre-
dict the future. They held most intimate converse with
God.

The apostles were embassadors from Christ to the
world. "Now, then, we are embassadors for Christ: as
though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in
Christ's steads Such was their official character, that
whosoever rejected them rejected Christ. And mark
what aid is given these several characters. Moses is
going to Pharaoh, a mortal man, and lo, the promise of
God: " Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet — shall be
to thee instead of a mouth." Look again; one apostle
is going to meet his adversaries in the Sanhedrim, and
another is in the hands of the Roman soldiers on his
way to the court of Felix, and another is in custody,
awaiting the determination of the Roman emperor.
Hear the words of Jesus to them all: "And when they
bring you unto the synagogues and unto magistrates and
powers, take ye no thought how or what ye shall answer
or what ye shall say; for the Holy Ghost shall teach you

280 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

in the same hour what ye ought to say." <{ Whatsoever
shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye ; for it is
not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost." Now the
apostle sits down to write a message of salvation from
God to man, which shall also be a revelation of mys-
teries for the hierarchies of heaven. The painter may
mismanage his canvas, the statuary his marble, the
architect his building, the author his poem, the lawyer
his case, and the physician his patient; but, alas! shall
the apostle put a stain upon his parchment? An error
in the word of God would be a fiery missile propelled by
almighty force into the souls of men, and for all the
ages to come. If, when the apostles were in danger
merely of personal inconvenience or suffering, when ar-
raigned before a tribunal, which is able to kill the body
but is not able to harm the soul, they are promised
aid — verbal aid — such aid that they are forbidden to
premeditate what they shall say; a fortiori, may we not
suppose that when they write words which concern the
eternal interests of all ages they will possess a plenary
inspiration? This doctrine is not new; it has been the
doctrine of the Church in all ages. Not till the seven-
teenth century did it encounter any serious opposition
from any, except heretics and infidels. And it seems
that most of those who, since the Reformation, have
opposed it, have generally grown more and more erratic.
We notice a few objections:

1. But what text shall we adopt? are there not va-
rious readings? Yes, many; but the same thoughts
are there, the same words are there — only variations in
their collocations — and none of these affect in the least
a single fact or doctrine; so that a Bible with all of
them would be a Bible that all denominations would cir-
culate.

2. What translation is to be received? We have a

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 281

very good one in general use — called into being before
the fires of sectarianism were kindled — at a time when
one sovereign governed and one Church embraced all
who spoke the English tongue — executed by men of
the greatest capacity, piety, and learning; with all the
aids that the crown of England could afford them ;
adopted in two hemispheres; received by all sects; lisped
by infancy and chanted by age; engraved on seals and
cut upon tombs; proclaimed in pulpits and read in
closets; followed by the living, and quoted by the dying,
and woven into all English literature, without question,
for two centuries and a half. But it is asked, How can
any translation be regarded as inspired? Does anyone
doubt that Homer, Virgil, Cicero— that Kant, Tasso,
Voltaire may be rendered fully and accurately into Eng-
lish ? Does any one suppose that the documents re-
ceived in foreign languages at the office of Secretary of
State can not be safely translated, although the question
of peace or war may depend upon the correctness of the
rendering? It is alleged that a translation is but a con-
densed commentary; but so is the lexicon — -the trans-
lator does but set down the words that he finds in the
lexicon. He is as dependent upon his Gesenius as the
English reader is upon him. If he is competent to
apply these words properly for himself he is for another.
Let no man attempt to disturb the English reader; for
whatever differences occur among translators, all of them
give the same view of the main facts and doctrines of
our religion. We hear much in certain quarters about
a new translation ; it is alleged that the sense of our
Bible is, in some cases, broken by the divisions into
chapter and verse "We think not so as to mislead;
but without chapter and verse how could we make refer-
ences or use concordances? Let that division which

makes the Bible unlike all other books, and which

24

282 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

enables all other books to point to it, stand; let us not be
told that the division into paragraphs and parallelisms
is preferable. Such a division has no settled principle
to guide it, and if it were adopted it would require the
whole of our literature to be rewritten. It is said that
many passages of our English Bible are obscure because
of orientalisms, literalisms, and obsoleteisms. We an-
swer, as to the first, that the figurative language of
Scripture is more easily understood and more perma-
nent than any literal language; and as to the obsolete-
isms, very few would ever be misled by them, as the
context fixes their sense. Moreover, there is a reason
why the Bible should remain unchanged from age to
age — it is an anchor to the language. What is it but
the Bible that prevents the English tongue from being
broken up into as many dialects as the Greek? Suppose
a translation made, what is to give it authority with the
people? It might have authority with a sect, and if so,
then, so far as that sect extends, it would break the
common bond of the religion of the Anglo-Saxon race
and its common medium of religious communication.
But we have no fears on that score. We have many
improved translations; but which has ever found its
way into the pulpit?

3. Again it is objected: "It is impossible to consider
every thing in the Bible as the offspring of the Spirit of
God, because it contains the sayings of the bad, disputa-
tions of the ignorant, colloquies even with the devil. "
This is founded upon a mistaken view of the doctrine,
which is that the whole Bible is compiled under the direc-
tion of the Holy Spirit, and is infallibly correct. Because
the clerk of the court records the declarations and repli-
cations of the attorney, is he to be charged with their
authorship ? Whatever the Bible says Satan uttered,
Satan did utter ; whatever the Bible asserts man utters,

INSTIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 283

man did utter; whatever it avers God says; God did say.
This is our doctrine.

But why did the Holy Spirit insert in the holy oracles
any other sayings than its own? Doubtless, because
these sayings were profitable in some form for doctrine,
reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

4. "If the Scriptures were dictated by the Holy
Spirit, they would be of uniform style, of unvarying ele-
vation of thought, and of systematic arrangement." Is
not the wind of God, and does it blow with uniform
force and direction ? Is not the earth of God, and is it
of unvarying elevation? no mountains, no valleys? Are
not all beauties arranged by an Almighty hand? and yet
what want of system in forest and plain, in seas and
skies! But the objector adds, "Each of the sacred
writers has impressed his production with his own gen-
ius, education, temperament, and tone of feeling; hence,
the writing can not be verbally of God. We admit the
statement, but resist the inference.

God employs second causes in all his operations so far
as we can trace them. In employing these second causes
he conforms to the laws to which he himself has subjected
them. God waters the earth, but how? Here, by gentle
and oft-repeated showers; there, by the silent and refresh-
ing dews; and yonder, by the overflowing river. God
destroys the wicked nation: in this instance by turning
the waters of the river and sending an invading army
through the channel ; in that by the crow and the bat-
tering-ram; in another, by the bomb-shell and the bay-
onet. God, in condescension to human infirmities, uses
human language; is it any more wonderful that he
should avail himself of human peculiarities? that, in
conveying truth to the prophet's lips, he should take
the route of the prophet's imagination, emotions, and
mental habits? Truly, there is nothing incredible in

284 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS*

this to hiin who knows that the hearts and minds of
men are in the hands of God; as well as all the modifi-
cations of external nature.

5. The Bible contains self-evident and obvious propo-
sitions, and rude and often offensive exhibitions, and in-
significant, not to say contemptible, details. The objec-
tion is three-fold; let the answer be so. In a revelation
on the most important subjects, and involving the high-
est interests to man- — a revelation designed as well for the
savage as the sage, the child as the parent, the peasant as
the prince — -is it not reasonable to expect some self-
evident, obvious propositions? Mr. Davies has compiled
a series of text-books for academies and colleges, designed
to lead the student from the simplest elements of arith-
metic to the sublimest truths of astronomy? Do they
not contain some simple truths, some self-evident propo-
sitions ? And that they do proves nothing derogatory to
the mathematical genius of this author. It was the
glory of Socrates to bring down philosophy from the
skies; it is the higher glory of the Bible to teach it
even to babes.

Admit, too, that the book of God contains rude and
offensive expressions, will you, therefore, conclude that
it can not be all of God ? Can nothing proceed from
the divine Hand of which you can not see the wisdom ?
Do you see the necessity of flies and serpents, of small-
pox and pestilence? the wisdom of earthquakes and
tornadoes, of simooms and siroccos? And beware how
you set down any detail of facts in God's word as insig-
nificant Such as are alleged to be so, can, generally,
by a little investigation, be proved important. We have
time only to take a single example. Paul writing to
Timothy says, " The cloak that I left at Troas with Car-
pus, when thou comest bring with thee, and the books,
but especially the parchments." "What/' it may be

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 285

asked, "has this to do with the salvation of mankind?"
Suppose we can not see "what," would that prove that
it has no such use as would authorize its insertion in a
revelation from God ? But can we not discern important
uses which it may subserve ?

1. It tends to prove the genuineness of the letter in
which it stands. Nothing can be more natural, unde-
signed, evincive of a man writing at his ease than the
passage in question. The apostle is addressing his last
epistle to a favorite son in the Gospel ; before subscrib-
ing it, however, he mentions some disconnected facts,
which occur to his mind, and gives some commissions to
his friend. This comes in without any apparent connec
tion with what immediately follows or precedes it, as if
suggested by some associations in the apostle's mind,
which we can not trace. It is full of particulars ; the
articles are named, so is the city and the person. It is
the art of the forger to avoid details ; every specification
he makes increases the probability of his detection. If
this letter be genuine, the other letters of Paul in the
book must be so likewise; for they bear indubitable
marks of a common origin ; and if the letters be genuine,
we may argue thence the reality of the events which
they relate or to which they advert. Prove these events
to be real, and you prove the book in which they stand
to be divine. And by this narrow, rarely-trodden by-path
of evidence many a curious, intelligent mind has, doubt-
less, arrived at faith in the Bible. Is there no use in
such details? (See Paley's Horae Paulinae.) Mark, too,
how beautifully this passage shows the honesty of the
writers I About five years prior to writing this epistle
he was at Corinth, about to return to Jerusalem after a
short sojourn there. Having the contributions of the
Asiatic and Greek Churches for the sufferers in Judea, he
determined to take the shortest route; but, learning that

286 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

the Jews intended to waylay and murder him, he
changed his plan; proceeding to Macedonia, he took ship-
ping at Philippi, and called at Troas, on his way down
the iEgean, to spend a few days. He put up at the
house of Marcus, having in his company Sopater, Aris-
tarchus, Secundus, Graius, Timothy, Tychicus, and Tro-
phimus. Here, having visited his friends, preached for
them, and performed a notable miracle, he resumed his
journey, but he did not embark here; wishing to go to
Assos, a little below on the coast, he directed his associ-
ates to enter a vessel while he himself set off on foot,
intending to get on board at the latter place. Probably
it was at this period that, finding his cloak and portfolio
would be burdensome to him in his walk, he directed
some of his companions to bring them to him by ship.
If so, is it surprising — there being so many in com-
pany— that one should rely upon another, and that the
things should be left? Nor is it remarkable that Paul,
when he found that they had been left, should, neverthe-
less, prosecute his journey and await an opportunity of
sending for them, or meditate a third visit to this city.
At Jerusalem immediately after his arrival he was ar-
rested, and was not released till after he had been con-
veyed to Rome. After his release he visited Spain, and,
perhaps, some other places, and on his return to the capital
of the empire was imprisoned again, not to be released
but by martyrdom. And now he is expecting his exe-
cution; he remembers that his papers are at Troas, and,
as these constituted in all probability his all in the
world, he was anxious to have them, that he might dis-
pose of them to the best advantage of the Church. Is
this the course of an impostor? That bundle of books
doubtless contained important documents, probably notes
of his journeys, accounts of his controversies with Bar-
nabas about Mark, and with Peter concerning the part

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 287

he took in the perilous controversy at Antioch, perhaps
the commission which was given to him by Barnabas to
go up to the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, about the
vexed question and the original draft of the letters sent
by the council to the brethren in Antioch, and Syria,
and Cilicia, and very likely the original letters which
he addressed to the Corinthian and Roman Churches,
together with his correspondence with the apostles.

Imagine that Joe Smith had arrived with a few dis-
ciples at Cincinnati, on his way to Missouri. He puts
up with a friend who has embraced the Mormon faith.
Having some business some miles down the river, he
determines to go on foot to North Bend, and directs his
disciples who are in company to take the Ben Franklin
steamboat the next day and see that she touches at the
Bend for him. But he has with him the books, and the
parchments, the original golden plates, his correspond-
ence with Rigdon, the agreement entered into between
them concerning the government of the community, and
the disposition of the spoils, and the whole plan of ac-
tion, so far as concerted ; these make a heavy bundle, and
he can not well carry them. Will he leave them in
charge of his young disciples, directing them to bring
them when they come? They may forget them, and if
they should, what might be the consequences? The
city is full of his enemies; the neighbors, the friends,
the visitors, the relatives of the disciple who has hos-
pitably entertained him, are his bitterest foes; they re-
gard him as the hateful impostor, and would do any
thing in their power to undeceive the deluded family
who have embraced his false faith, and thereby brought
poverty and disgrace upon themselves and shame upon
their connections. Moreover, the youthful converts may
feel disposed to examine these curious documents, and
their scrutinizing eyes may see too much for their faith,

288 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

and, burning with indignation, make an exposition of
the whole plot. Would the archimpostor leave his bun-
dle under such circumstances? Nay, sooner would
he leave his right arm. Suppose he had committed
such a mistake, when he got on board at North Bend
and found that the disciples had forgotten the papers,
would he have calmly pursued his voyage, and suffered
them to remain at Cincinnati month after month, year
after year, till, expecting to die, he requests, in a post-
script to a letter written to a friend in Louisville, whom
he expects to visit him, that he will go up to Cincinnati
before he starts and get them and bring them to him?
Suppose he had done so, soon would the report of the
mysterious bundle have spread among the disciples of
Mormonism in the city, and one and another would have
gone to see them to satisfy their minds, wsuld have re-
quested a sight, and soon would all the secrets have
come to light. In less than a year there would not have
been a Mormon on the face of the earth.

Is there no use in such a natural, undesigned proof of
apostolic integrity? But view the passage in another
light. Look into this Homan prison ; you see in this
damp, gloomy dungeon an old man with a rude fixture
before him writing; his form is slender, his hair gray,
his cheeks pallid, and his broad brow plowed with pre-
mature wrinkles; his eye is keen and penetrating, and
his whole countenance indicates deep thought, unshaken
firmness, undisturbed serenity, and boundless benevo-
lence. Thirty years ago he was one of the leading
minds of Jerusalem — gifted, talented, educated in all
the learning of his age, ardent in temperament, ada-
mantine in will, unblemished in reputation, fortunate in
his connections, and ambitious of renown, he bade fair
for honor, wealth, and power. In a happy hour he saw
in light that blinded him and loveliness that subdued

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 289

hiui that Jesus whom he persecuted; instantly he be-
came crucified to this world and this world unto him.

The youth will lie down on the pallet of straw in
the hope that his hoary head shall repose on a pillow
of down. But the apostle has now reached the end of
his mortal career. After his life of sacrifice and toil he
finds his aged body reposing upon the floor of a dun-
geon. The winter is approaching, and he has no cloak;
no money to purchase one; no friend to lend him one;
many chilly and rainy days may occur before he is led
out to execution. The robbers and murderers that are
with him perhaps have friends who supply them with
comfortable garments ; perhaps each may have a father
or a brother to attend him, and wrap the cloak around
him when he is led out to die ; but, alas ! who will do
this office for the great apostle of the Gentiles, who is
doomed to die for preaching Jesus and him crucified
with such power as to convert the wickedest of Nero's
household? " Go, Timothy, and bring my cloak/' Ah!
who can tell what power are in these words ! Yonder is
an itinerant, who has left all to look up the lost sheep in
the wilderness: he has lost his road, and has been trav-
eling all day without food. Night has overtaken him,
the storm is howling around; before him is a swollen
creek, behind a perilous and pathless wilderness; on
this side an unexplored swamp, and on that a broad
river; fatigue, and anxiety, and abstinence have over-
powered him; and, tying his horse to a sapling, he
wraps his cloak around him and lies down upon the
beach, perhaps to be taken up in the morning a frozen
corpse. And now his throbbing heart begins to rebel;
he wonders why he who has given up all for Christ,
and knows no motive but God's glory, should be thus
abandoned by the divine Providence; but he checks him-
self, and his tears flow when he sees an apostle awaiting

25

290 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

the crown of martyrdom, lying down upon the dungeon
floor cloakless; and he would no more spare this sen-
tence than that other pathetic one, "The foxes have
holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son
of man hath not where to lay his head." Say not that
there are insignificant details in the book of God.

2. It is said there are errors in the word of God —
errors in chronology, and in its- references to collateral
history. Christianity has had its enemies for eighteen
hundred years; they have been looking for its errors
during all that period. If talent, education, and re-
search, animated by malice, could have found them in
more than seventeen centuries of toil, they would not be
now unknown. Often has infidelity thought its search
successful, but as often as it has alleged an error it has
met an answer. And at this day I venture to say that
no intelligent infidel will stake his reputation upon a
single one of the innumerable chronological or histor-
ical errors, which it has been stated at different times
have been found in the Bible. They have all been
traced to ignorance in the reader or mistake in the
translator. You ask, Does the Bible contain no errors
in science ? Every other book of early ages does. We say
not merely every scientific book, but we challenge the world
to produce a book of early ages — we might say any
age — which does not assert or imply scientific principles
which the present age condemns. Who is the author
that has escaped? Not Virgil, not Homer, not Plato,
not Seneca, not Xenophon, not Anaxagoras, not Cicero,
not Socrates. All proceed, for instance, upon the sup-
position of four elements. Where is the cosmogony of
India, of Greece, of every land without the Bible ? In
the thick darkness. One system teaches that the earth
stands upon a tortoise, and the tortoise upon an elephant;
one teaches that the earth is seven stories high; and

INSPIRATION OP THE BIBLE. 291

another that it is a plain, in shape of a triangle; and
another avers that it is supported by mountains and held
fast by anchors. And now we point to the Bible, a book
of fifty authors, some of whom were the earliest of all
writers, writing while the earth was filled with darkness
all around, and we dare the world to prove an error upon
it, Will one say it speaks of the earth as fixed and the
heavenly bodies as revolving around it? How else should
it speak? Had it spoken otherwise, would it have been
understood ? Would God, suppose ye, make a revelation
to France in the language of China; but as well have
addressed the Hebrews in modern German, as to have
spoken of earth's nadir, and the plane of Jupiter's orbit.
Would you, in conversing with children, use the language
of Newton's Principia? Suppose that to-morrow evening
Prof. If. were to request his class to meet him on the
campus, to spend as much time as possible during the
coming night in surveying the moon. In what language
would he announce his desire? I venture to say, in just
such as the Bible uses. "Young gentlemen, meet me at
the rising of the moon, prepared to continue on the field
till its setting." And would any of you infer from this
that he was ignorant of the Copernican system? Nay.
But had he employed terms indicative of his knowledge
of that system, you would have regarded him as a pedant.
If a philosopher, speaking to collegians in the nineteenth
century, would not use scientific terms on ordinary occa-
sions, why should the Bible, in speaking to semi-barba-
rians, who never heard of a telescope? But you ask,
why did not the Almighty reveal the unknown and glori-
ous truths of astronomy? Had he done so, I might ask,
why he did not reveal the whole encyclopedia ?

If this is a charge against the Bible, it holds equally
against providence, which suffers truth, algebraic, mathe-
matical, and philosophical, to remain concealed age after

292 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

age, till the unaided human mind, urged by the stimulus
of curiosity, and rewarded by the success of its labors,
gradually discovers it.

Another error has been alleged; namely, that the Bi-
ble dates the origin of creation no more than six thou-
sand years back, while geology shows conclusively that it
must have been millions of years in process of formation.
I have no quarrel with geology — in the name of Christi-
anity I thank her; she has done good service. Once de-
ism said, the present order of things has existed from
eternity. It can say so no longer. Once atheism said,
the world came by chance. Now geology, pointing to the
hand-marks of God, coming out in destructive and crea-
tive energy, and retiring again and again, puts chance at
a sightless distance. Once paganism said, the race of
man is thousands of years older than revelation asserts.
Geology dates its origin when Moses does. Once deism
doubted the fact of the Deluge; now its doubts are re-
solved. But is not geology at war with Genesis in regard
to the date of creation? Not at all. Is not the creation
more than six thousand years old? Does the Bible say it
is not? When does it say God created the heavens and
the earth? "In the beginning." Geology may travel
over as many millions of centuries as it pleases — it can
not get behind the beginning. It has been discovered
that two chapters have been run into on£ The first term-
inated at the second verse. The account which follows
the announcement that God made the heavens and the
earth, is a description of the manner in which the Creator
fitted up the globe for the residence of man, and supplied
it with forms of vegetation and animated nature, adapted
to its last great epoch. I have noticed the only import-
ant objections of a scientific nature, which I have heard
brought against the Bible. I see no force in them. It
were sufficient here to stop, but we may advance another

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 293

step, and having vindicated the Bible from the charge of
philosophical mistake, may aver that it gleams all through
with the true philosophy, evidently teaching as one who
knows more than he reveals. Look yonder at Toricelli,
the pupil of Galileo, astonishing the world with the dis-
covery that the air we breathe has weight. A century
and more revolves, and lo! a new discovery, that the air
is compounded of three gases, mixed with such surpris-
ing accuracy, and managed with such constant skill, that
they maintain the same relative proportion in the valley
and on the mountain-top, in the city and in the plain.
Behold ! another discovery : water, heretofore considered
an element, is found to be a combination of two airs,
united in certain definite proportions.

Look back, now, three thousand years, and you find a
pen in the Arabian desert writing these words: "For he
looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the
whole heaven: to make the weight for the winds; and
he weigheth the waters by measure."

The world was near six thousand years old when Har-
vey discovered the circulation of the blood; but Solomon,
when Jerusalem was in the zenith of her glory, wrote,
"Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl
be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or
the wheel broken at the cistern. " A most beautiful,
poetical description of the spinal marrow, the heart, the
aorta, and the vena cava. Comparatively recent the pe-
riod in which the doctrine of earth's sphericity was re-
ceived throughout the scientific world ; yet the evangel-
ical prophet, five hundred years before the birth of Christ,
in one of his sublime hymns to the praise of God, ex-
claims, "He sitteth upon the circle of the earth." Her-
schel teaches that light is a luminous atmosphere, sur-
rounding, but not emanating from the sun, which he sup-
poses to be opaque. Lo ! the first page of revelation

294 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

not only exhibits this very philosophy, but assigns the
reason.

It was the crowning triumph of modern philosophy to
demonstrate that the earth circulates in space, and pre-
serves its relations by impulse and attraction ; but could
he have been ignorant of this truth who, shortly after
the Deluge, dictated these lines: "He stretcheth out the
north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon
nothing ?" It has long been known that the universe re-
volves round some fixed point; that point is now ascer-
tained to be in or near one of the pleiades. Read then
this verse: "Canst thou bind the sweet influences V etc.

I close this part of the subject with two reflections:

1. Science is perpetually changing. Often the discov-
ery of one day is exploded the next. Great as have been
the achievements of philosophy, she is yet in her infancy;
and the day may come when posterity shall regard our
science with the contempt wherewith we regard that of
Anaxagoras or Paracelsus; but philosophy, with all her
advances, can never arrive at a point where she shall look
with a scornful eye upon the incidental glances of science
which the Scriptures contain. Never, as we conceive,
can the day come when true science shall say, God never
made the heavens and the earth; never shall she say,
they were not created in the beginning; never shall she
affirm that the blood does not circulate, or that the air is
not mixed by weight, or the waters by measure, or that
the earth is not circular, or that the north is not over
the empty place, or that the globe hangs not upon
nothing.

2. While science is steadily sailing farther and farther
from all the philosophy, and all the theology, and all the
mythology of past ages, she is constantly advancing to-
ward the Bible. Little philosophers may sneer at the
Scripture- — Newton, the father of them all, worships;

INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 295

little metaphysicians may trifle — Locke, looking down
upon them; pities them, and looking up to Jesus, believes
and adores. The early geologists thought they had dis-
covered a contradiction between Moses and the handwrit-
ing of God upon the globe — Cuvier, sublime above them
all, pronounces that there is a divine harmony between
those revelations.

As science has, in her advance, converted passages of
God's word which, in the darkness of past ages, were
opaque, into transparent windows, through which we can
look in upon the divine Hand, is it unreasonable to sup-
pose that in her further progress she may prove that
every line of holy writ glows as intensely with scientific
as with religious light?

Reader, venerate the Bible as the test of truth, the
fountain of peace, the source of blessedness. Approach
its laws as you would the Mediator descending from the
mountain, with a face bright with the glories of opening
heaven j approach its prophets as you would the chariot
of ascending Elijah, with its cavalcade of heavenly horse-
men ; approach its evangelists as you would a college of
translated apostles, speaking with tongues of celestial
fire; listen to its Psalms as you would to an orchestra of
angels; draw near to it, as to Him whose very garment
was healing; touch its words only in view of the closing
curse of the sacred canon : "If any man shall add unto
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that
are written in this book; and if any man take away from
the words of the prophecy of this book, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life."

Distribute the Bible. If it is inspired of God, it must
be adapted to man. The omniscient One knew, before he
breathed upon his prophets, what man is, and what is in
hini, and what he requires. He foresaw the ignorance,
the dullness, and the perversity of men; and if he had

296 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

not intended the word for all ages, all grades of civiliza-
tion, all degrees of knowledge, and all shades, both of
depravity and holiness, he would have explained the ex-
ceptions. All experience shows that the Bible is as well
adapted for one class and one age as another; that it
may safely be given to all the people, to even the lowest
of the people; to all tribes, and kindred, and tongues
alike. Mother Church alleges otherwise; but with what
reason ? She says the people can not understand.

Three hundred years have passed, since the Bible was
put into the hands of the people — all the people — young,
old, grave, gay, wise, simple; some enthusiasts, some su-
perstitious, some insane; it has been read in France,
Germany, Switzerland, Norway; indeed, in two hundred
and fifty living languages. Now, where is there a farmer
whose plow it has stopped ; a baker whose bread it has
spoiled; a man, woman, child, idiot, or maniac, whose
eye it has put out, or whose hand it has cut off?

Men tell us now, that the book is unsuitable for
schools, unsuitable for common people, because it has fig-
ures of speech and obsolete words ; yet where is the peo-
ple who use figures, and understand figures, and relish
figures like the common people, even the lowest of the
common people? Where is the people who use obsolete
terms more than they, or understand them better?
Which of them was ever prevented from seeking Christ
by the phrase, " preventing grace/' or hindered in his
way to heaven by reading "letteth" for "hindereth,"
or rendered loose in his graces by reading "taches" in-
stead of "buttons," in the description of the tabernacle?

We grant that the doctrines of the Bible demand
awakened intellect; but the Bible awakens mind, it
quickens and strengthens all its energies. Men accus-
tomed to think with Moses, to. meditate with David, to
soar with Isaiah, to narrate with Matthew, to reason with

INSPIRATION OP THE BIBLE. 297

Paul, and rise heavenward on the wing of ascended John,
will have powers fitted to comprehend the scheme of re-
deeming love. They who withhold the Bible till the
mind is fitted to understand, are like them who will not
bring the tenants of the dark, noxious cave into the light
and air, till they have recovered their color, and strength,
and vivacity. No preparation is necessary for the Bible;
it is well fitted for the whole moral globe, as the atmos-
phere is for the terraqueous one. To give this book to a
people, is to give — as a general result — intelligence, in-
dustry, thrift, law, liberty, salvation.

In this land it is the only conservator, the only reliable
policy of insurance on property, the only powerful police
for the protection of character and person, the only secu-
rity for the perpetuity of freedom.

298 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

S-mif itj[ 0f tip §t&h,

MOST men believe that the world in which we live is
so governed that ultimately wrong is punished and
right rewarded. But what is right and wrong? Shall
we rely upon human reason to ascertain ? Alas ! in its
best estate it is but an imperfect instrument; its com-
pass and reach is short; nor is it consistent with itself
even within its own bounds. I never can be happy while
I am uncertain whether my conduct will ultimate in mis-
ery or joy. Nor would my case be better could I per-
suade myself there is no God; for something rules the
world, and rules it upon fixed principles, and so rules it
as to punish one course of action, and reward another.
No matter whether I call this something Chance, or God;
the facts are the same.

But most, may I not say all of us, believe in God.
Whether the idea of the supreme Being could be discov-
ered by human mind I inquire not now; but once let the
idea be given, and it can not be rejected by a sane mind;
as well expect the intellect to disbelieve the axioms of
geometry, or doubt the truth of the Copernican system,
after comprehending the demonstrations of Kepler and
Newton. Who that has led his soul up to the glorious
idea of the divine Being, does not wish to know more of
him? You send me to his works! I know we must go
to them to be impressed with his natural attributes, his
power and wisdom; but I would fain be introduced to his
presence chamber; hide me in some cleft of the rock,

NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 299

that I may see him pass by. I would fain commune with
him; he is my father; he gave me my body and my soul;
he has endowed me with means of happiness and facul-
ties for an immortal life; he gave me my parents, and
gave them their love and tenderness for me; he has
raised me from the bed of sickness, and daily loaded me
with benefits; he knows my thoughts and my feelings
better than all my friends do. I would feel after him,
and find him; I would order my cause before him; I
would thank him for his mercies to me, and to all men; I
would call him father, I would have him call me son, and
pity me, and bless me, and impress his Spirit upon me,
and tell me how I may please him. My strongest aspira-
tions are after the living God. I speak the language of
the human heart when once brought to sincere thought.
Could an angel form a man from the rock, no sooner
would he breathe into him the breath of life, and inform
him of his origin, than that being would fall down at the
feet of its maker to adore and praise. And who art thou,
0 man, that dost not uncover thy head and bow thy knee,
in this deep universe, to adore the universal Father?
Yonder is a lone child in the wilderness, but he has a
home ; at night he finds a downy pillow, at morn a
blazing fire; at dawn, at noon, at dewy eve, a table sup-
plied with bounties; an unseen hand spreads carpets
under his feet, hangs damask over his head, suspends
brilliant lamps in his hall, and brings beauteous birds to
sing beneath his windows. Wherever he goes he sees
the traces of some one who attends him in mercy and
love; and when he slumbers he dreams of some warm
and soft hand upon his breast, feeling the pulsations of
his heart, and some lovely countenance watching with
anxious eyes his sleeping head. How long would that
child be before it looked for a father? how would it
search in this corner and in that ! and if, perchance, it

300 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

found a footstep or a hand-trace, methinks it would weep
for joy; and if it were baffled in the search, it would
sigh and cry, "0, my father, where art thou? hide not
from me, speak to me; I long to put my arms around thy
neck, and kiss thee, and tell thee how I love thee."
And what art thou, 0 child of man? not an orphan in a
fatherless world; thou walkest a green earth, beneath a
golden sky; thou gatherest mercies all the day, and sleep-
est beneath the wings of love. Thy heart wants God;
and though men in the scenes of business, or pleasure,
or excitement, may forget their Maker, ever and anon the
heart will look up and say,

" Earth has engrossed my love too long ;
'Tis time I lift mine eyes
Upward, dear Father, to thy throne,
And to my native skies."

Even the poor outcast feels that he has a God; and it is
the dreadful thought that he has wandered from him,
more than the frowns and punishments of society that
makes the world a desert before his footsteps. The
throned monarch in the midst of his flatterers, feels his
heart sink like lead within him, under the deep con-
sciousness that he has not found God. Acquaintance with
God is a universal want; but where shall we find him, or
who may introduce us? The depth saith, he is not in me,
and the sea saith, he is not with me; the earth is silent,
and the heavens utter no voice. And yet we have seen
men whose faces did shine, though they wist it not.
There is some sacred mount where men, like Moses, can
converse with God. The blessed volume alone unfolds
the gates to it.

The heart wants a perfect object for its affections.
We are capable of unmingled love; but unmingled love
implies unmingled purity; and where shall we find this?
We look around upon father, mother, wife, child, friend,

NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 301

and we love them all, but find in every one what they find
in us, the marks of imperfection, and the traces of sin.
We are capable of loving without intermission; but all
the objects around us are subject to change, in character,
in position, and in relation to ourselves. We are capable
of loving intensely, but not without intense emotions of
admiration and delight; nor can we have them without
the perception of an object infinitely lovely. We must
always be sensible of a void while our heart's best affec-
tions are unexercised. To make us fully happy they
must be fully developed. They can never be fully devel-
oped till we behold Plim in whom all possible perfection
centers, and who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for-
ever. How shall we behold him in all his loveliness ? It
is not necessary to see him with mortal eye; we can love
our father who lies in the grave, even though we may
never have seen him, if we but trace his character in the
history of his life. We can love our Father in heaven,
though he dwells in light inaccessible, if we but have a
record of his words of love, or of the agonies of his Son
upon the cross.

We find ourselves in a world of disappointment, afflic-
tion, and bereavement; we want something to buoy us up
when sorrows come down upon our souls. Yonder is a
youth, who for many years labored hard to acquire for-
tune. He was so far successful as to lay up a considera-
ble sum; but in an unlucky hour he suddenly lost it all.
He turns his eyes upon an institution of learning, and,
panting after less perishable riches, enters its gates.
See! He labors with ardor and with hope; he endures
privation, mortifies his pride, keeps his body under, and
night after night, breaking off his slumbers in the midst,
and rising to turn his beaming eyes upon the page, he
cries after knowledge, and lifts up his voice for under-
standing. Already he has passed the threshold of

302 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Fame's temple, whose golden summit looms upon his vis-
ion. But look again; enter this dormitory; there he is,
half dressed, seated on his bed, leaning his drooping
head upon the bosom of his kind and sympathizing room-
mate; he speaks in whispers, and ever and anon an omi-
nous cough arouses him; and as he coughs, blood rushes
from his mouth and nostrils, and pours in a stream into
the red basin at his feet. As you turn to the anxious
countenance of the physician, and read upon it, there is
no help in man, none in means, do you not cry, invol-
untarily, " 0 God, bless the dear youth ?" You know he
needs God's blessing. Come again to his bedside, when
the bustle of alarm has ceased; and as you see him lying
pale and emaciated upon his couch — a couch unattended
by a mother's footsteps, unsoftened by a sister's hand,
uncheered by a father's prayers — feel his heart; maybe
he had forgotten God ; perchance blasphemed his name,
and despised his people; but now he prays. 0, his soul
is desolate in the earth ! it has deep wants, and turns to
religion, as the needle to the pole. You take the Bible
and read to him, "Like as a father pitieth his children,
so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." " Whom the
Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth." "These light afflictions, which are but for
a season," etc. "All things work together for good to
them that love God." You may read to him from Euclid
or from Plato, from Shakspeare or from Milton, and he
will turn away with disgust; but these sentences are mu-
sic to his troubled soul, and balm to his suffering body.
Take another case : While the youth on yonder campus
are sending up the shouts of gladness as they toss the
ball, a messenger arrives to tell them that a fellow-student
is drowning. Instantly they rush, pale and trembling,
to the bank of the stream. Two men in the midst of the
river have just raised the body from the surface. As the

NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 303

water drips from the motionless head, an impression comes
over us that all is gone ; we receive him upon the shore,
gather the physicians about us, and try every expedient
to restore animation, but in vain. Hope being extin-
guished, we wrap the corpse in the winding-sheet, place
it upon a plank, and committing it to tender hands, fol-
low it in procession to the boarding-house. We weep and
mourn, but the worst is to come. Two strangers have
been traveling for three days past, in the most happy
mood, occasioned by joyous expectations. Scarcely have
we laid out the corpse when their carriage comes up to the
door. They are the mother and father of the deceased,
and he was their only son. How shall we tell them ?
How take them to the chamber of the dead ? How look
upon the mother as she kisses her departed child? 0,
God, hide me from the sight ! But lo ! she kneels as she
kisses the lips, and calmly says as she weeps, " The Lord
gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the
name of the Lord." She has found a balm in Gilead,
and she drinks a mingled cup. 0, who would rob the
child of sorrow of the physician in her heart !

The sense of guilt pervades human hearts. With the
idea of God springs up a conviction of obligation to him;
universal, perpetual, and more profound than can be ex-
pressed. This is followed at no great distance with a
painful suspicion that this obligation has been violated,
and an apprehension of punishment proportionate to its
magnitude. The holiest man is the last to plead exemp-
tion from sin. Happy he who does not accuse himself
of numerous habits of transgression against God; and
where is the accountable son of Adam who does not con-
fess unnumbered acts? Tffe man who acquits himself of
having sinned, by that very admission either increases
his iniquity or proves himself to have committed the
worst of crimes — the searing of his conscience, or the

304 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

stupefaction of his intellect — a searing and a stupefac-
tion which must cease as the king of terrors advances.
The world lieth in guilt. The Jew, with his anticipa-
ted Messiah; the Christian, with his crucified Savior;
the pagan, with his bleeding victim; the whole world
confesses guilt. The question, the distressing question
of the soul is, What will become of me; will God par-
don, or will he curse ? Nature has no answer, Providence
has none. Earth's plagues and pestilences, her burning
and her dislocated mountains; man's doom to toil, and sub-
jection to care, the precariousness of his subsistence, and
the disappointment of his hopes, afford grounds for the
sinner's most dreadful apprehensions. From this what
shall relieve him? 0, tell him not of sweet sounds,
and green and goodly sights ; of marshaled hosts, and
battle scenes, and laurel wreaths, and dreams of bliss;
he will go through them all, pressing down in the deep
of his heart the dread inquiry,

" Canst thou pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow ;
Raze out the written trouble of the brain ;
And, with some sweet, oblivous antidote, cleanse
The stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff
That weighs upon the heart ?"

True, there may be moments of care and of amuse-
ment, when he may forget himself; but then again, in
unexpected hours, the ghost of his buried conscience will
rise from the sepulcher of his soul, and refuse to down at
his bidding. Merciful God, must we thus spend life in
bondage to fear? No! There must be a voice which
speaks from heaven.

Could we be assured of pardon, there would be some-
thing more necessary, as is obvious from the following
admitted principles :

Man is endowed with mental and moral faculties capa-
ble of progressive improvement. For this improvement

NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 305

he is responsible. The rule by which he is at any given
moment to be judged is obtained by multiplying his in-
tellectual and moral capacities into his means of improve-
ment, and both into the period during which he has
been accountable. Hence, this rule requires more at any
given moment of his existence, than at any moment
which has preceded it. Suppose a man who has sinned
for twenty years, to obtain, by repentance and faith, a full
pardon, and to become, relatively, as holy as the angels in
heaven; the next moment he would fall into condemna-
tion, for the sins of twenty years would so have impaired
his intellectual and moral powers, that he would be una-
ble to meet the progressive demands of the law, even
should he do every thing which his present reason and
conscience dictate ; nor would he be able, by the most
perfect future obedience which he could render, ever to
fulfill his obligations.

Let me illustrate. It is a law of motion that bodies
moving under the influence of any constant force, pass
over spaces increasing each instant as the odd numbers 1,
3, 5, 7, etc., and the whole space is directly as the square
of the time. Suppose a body within the sphere of the
sun's attraction let fall toward the bosom of that orb;
and suppose that, twenty minutes after, another body be
started from the same point, and with the same impulse;
would the latter ever overtake the former, even though
the sun should perpetually retreat from before them, so
as to give them eternity for the race?

God gives us power of progressive approach to him,
under the influence of a constant moral force, and for
this power he holds us accountable. If we delay a mo-
ment— much less rush the other way for twenty years — we
must forever fall behind his demands, unless some new
impulse be vouchsafed. But where is this impulse to
come from? To this question there is no answer in

26

306 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

nature or the progress of events; the soul can never
discover it by reflection ; it has no data upon which to
proceed; it is doomed to eternal despair of ever being
able to meet the requirements of its Maker, unless a
voice from heaven speak.

But we have not yet reached the limits of the case.
Few among those on whom the light of the Gospel
shines — perhaps none; maybe, none upon the earth, who
have ever seriously pondered their ways, without being
convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come,
and solemnly, earnestly, resolving to obey henceforth
every conviction of duty. And what has been the result ?
Is it not — I speak now of the unconverted — described in
the following words: "For I know that in me — that is,
in my flesh — dwelleth no good thing; for to will is pres-
ent with me, but how to perform that which is good I
find not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the
evil that I would not, that I do. . . . I find then a
law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I see another law in my members warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captiv-
ity to the law of sin which is in my members. 0,
wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death V Heart-rending condition ! Unalle-
viated by any sense of diminished accountability; for it is
attended with the conviction that it is the result of our
own deliberate acts, and no more to be pleaded in exten-
uation, than the murderous madness of the drunkard.

And must awakened mind lie with this dreadful incu-
bus upon it? Yes; unless we can thank God for our
Lord Jesus Christ.

But suppose that we could put off all consideration of
the character and claims of God, and the relations and
obligations of man ; there would still be need of a com-
munication from God.

NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 307

Discontent is general among mankind Who — I speak
of the unregenerate — is satisfied either with his condition,
his pursuits; or his prospects. In youth we sigh for man-
hood; in manhood, for old age; in old age we cry, "0,
that I were young V Spring satisfies us not, nor sum-
mer, nor autumn, nor winter. At day we desire the
night; and at night — if not wrapt in slumber — wish for
the morning. In the hight of our prosperity there is a
Mordecai at the gate ; in the triumphs of our ambition
there is a Hushai among the counselors ; in the midst of
our festivities there is a handwriting on the wall; and
even in the garland there is usually a crawling worm con-
cealed. We hope for happiness, we pursue it, but we
chase a shadow; we run after the horizon. True, there
are many who say they are happy; but are they honest?
Perchance some are; they think all is well; but they are
like the maniac, who, while he hugs his chains, thinks
himself a king, and who is all the while the subject of
an undefined feeling which leads him to suspect there is
something wrong with himself. There was one who said,
"And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them.
I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart re-
joiced in all my labor; and this was my portion of all
my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands
had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do ;
and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and
there was no profit under the sun. . . . Therefore
I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the
sun is grievous unto me; for all is vanity and vexation of
spirit." And who has become wiser than Solomon ?
who has discovered any thing but vanity and vexation of
spirit under the sun? Melancholy condition of human-
ity! The brute feeds and lies down in pastures, satisfied;
while his owner, in the image of God, with a hundred
provinces — a prey to care — is weary of his life. And is

308 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

there no remedy? Philosophy has one; it consists in
imbruting man, in destroying his sensibilities; but who
would not rather suffer than accept the cure ? Child of
sorrow, Eeligion has a remedy which leaves your sensibil-
ities— which even refines and strengthens them. She
points to a world of light and love, of purity and blessed-
ness, unmixed and eternal. Embracing her thou canst,
when afflicted, say,

" 0, what are all my sufferings here,
If, Lord, thou count me meet,

With that enraptured host to appear,
And worship at thy feet?"

while in periods of prosperity thou canst say,

" I would not live always, I ask not to stay
Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way."

"We admit that every man has immense moral. power,
and of himself he knows not how safely to use it. Sup-
pose a man be furnished with a match in the immediate
vicinity of a circle of straw, stretching round the globe,
and connected at different points with mines of gunpow-
der; would he not be careful how he used that match?
would he dare apply it to the combustible without an as-
surance from Him who knows all things, that all is
right? Is not mankind social — irresistibly so ? do they
not link hands with each other so as to form a chain all
round the globe? Apply then an influence at one part
of this chain, and it will travel — may be — round the
earth. Suppose a man had an assurance, that by firing a
certain mass of straw he would not only girdle the earth
with fire, but with self-perpetuating flames; would he not
tremble to hold a match near it? But art not thou that
very man ? Is not one generation connected with an-
other, so that the evil or the good that men do will be
felt to the end of time? The blood of Abel will cry to

NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 309

the last man that stands upon the ground. Once more;
let a man stand where he may not only gird the earth
with flame that shall perpetuate itself till it mingles with
the fires of the last day, but may burn on forever, and
send its sparks from world to world, till it encircles the
universe with eternal blaze; would he dare use it without
a directing voice from on high? And have we no reason
to suppose that the soul is immortal, and that character
is immutable beyond the grave? And as all physical
worlds are connected, may not all moral worlds be so?
that as sin spread from angels to men, it may spread from
men to angels? as holiness descended from heaven to
earth, so it may mount from earth to heaven ? The sul-
phurous fire kindled by the torch of Byron, still burns
in a livid circle around earth, and — may be — in another
around hell ; and it may burn world without end; and
who knows but in eternity to come it may spread its in-
fernal heat all round the zodiac ?

How little do we know of the soul, or of the world to
come; of the body, even, or of the world that now is!
"0, God, teach us how we are to speak and act/' is the
prayer of every serious mind that has been brought to re-
flection upon the power over spirits which, in the prov-
idence of God, has been committed to its keeping.

Hence, we, like all men, in all ages, unconsciously feel
for a God. Pagan nations have their oracles, their conju-
rers, their divinations, their altars, their divinities; we
have our religion of the Lord Jesus, or, if we reject this,
our superstitions, our inward illuminations, our spirit
manifestations. Every one has his revelation, if not his
psalm. Deists — if any — we should suppose, would be ex-
ceptions, but they are not. Take an example — Lord Her-
bert, the prince of modern infidels: he says, " I took
my book, De Veritate, and kneeling devoutly on my knees,
said these words — <0, thou eternal God, author of the

310 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

light which now shines upon me, and giver of all inward
illuminations, I beseech thee of thy infinite goodness to
pardon a greater request than a sinner ought to make. I
am not satisfied enough whether I ought to publish this
book, De Veritate. If it be for thy glory, give me some
sign from heaven; if not, I shall suppress it/ I had no
sooner spoken these words, but a loud, though yet gentle
noise came from the heavens, for it was like nothing on
earth; which did so comfort and cheer me, that I took
my petition as granted, and that I had the sign de-
manded." Here is a brave and strong-minded, but
wicked man, who has written a book against revealed re-
ligion, founding his chief argument on the improbability
that God would communicate his will to a part of the
world only, yet introducing that very book with a state-
ment that he believes God made a revelation to one man
only — himself — thus oversetting his whole argument, by
yielding to an instinct of his nature. I care not how you
account for this universal looking for a revelation. Say
that it is tradition ; you must trace it to the parent family
of the earth, which is as the voice of God. Say that it
is a conscious sense of ignorance, and felt need of super-
natural light, or an original propensity of our nature;
there to is in your breast; it cannot be satisfied without a
Divine revelation.

Finally : we believe that we must die. We find, one by
one, as we approach the borders of the other world, the
need of light from heaven. There is an instinctive
dread of death, common to us and inferior animals, and
implanted in us for our protection in sudden emergen-
cies ; but in addition to this, there are considerations
which clothe death in terrors even to the most serious
mind. 'Tis painful to look for the last time upon that
glorious sun and this green earth ; to part without hope
of recovery from the honors and riches which have cost

NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 311

us years of toil, of solicitude, and privation; and to see
the curtain drop upon the goodly prospects which we have
long surveyed with so much elation; to close our eyes for-
ever upon our friends, and to bid a final farewell to the
wife of our youth, and the sweet babes that have played
at our feet, and learned to call us father. I fancy I see
the dying man receiving the last kiss; he slowly raises
his cold and pulseless arms, and places them softly around
the neck of his beloved, and whispers in her ear, "My
wife, I love you more than I can now tell you; you have
loved me more than I deserved; your kindness rises all
before me, and particularly the pity and care with which
you have watched, with that sleepless eye, my dying
couch, and the tenderness and warmth of this your last
embrace. Forgive, 0, forgive every unkind word I have
ever uttered, and every unkind thought I have ever, even
for a moment, harbored, and all the indifference I have
ever manifested to your welfare or your sufferings. Fain
would I live to show you that my repentance is sincere,
and to make the evening of your days the sweetest of
your life; but I am dying, and these are my last words. "

His children are placed in his arms, and he whispers
to them, saying, "Sweet children, precious lambs, you
can not know how I love you; God only knows. I must
leave you to the world that loves you not, but I can not
bear the thought ; one kiss more ere I go hence, and be
no more/' We need, in this sad hour of parting, that
which earth can not afford; which will enable us to say,
"Weep not for me; I ascend to my Father and to your
Father; to my God and to your God." "A little while
and ye shall see me again in my Father's house, where
there are many mansions."

But there is something in death more dreadful than
parting with beloved objects. Who can look into the
grave without a shudder? We recoil instinctively against

312 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

the thought of annihilation; and even though we recollect
arguments in favor of it, and recollect crimes which
make it desirable, yet the heart will not let us rest here.
We believe there is a world beyond; we believe we must
appear before God; we know from the administration of
this world, that God is holy and just; we have reason to
think that this life is a probationary existence, and as we
reach its limits, violated laws, hypocritical masks, ungov-
erned passions, unbridled appetites, forgotten blasphe-
mies, and broken vows, are called up by a quickened
memory, and set in gloomy panorama before the inflamed
eyeball of an awakened conscience, as we stand ready to
leap into the dark and fathomless abyss of eternity.
Well may the sinner exclaim, under such circumstances,
as one whose dying exclamation seems still to ring in my
ears, a 0, what a fool, 0, what a fool was 1 1" or, as he
looks up to God, cry, as the expiring Altamont, "Hell
itself is a refuge, if it hide me from thy frowns !" 0, at
such an hour, how welcome is the good news of the Gos-
pel, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
that whosoever believeth should not perish, but have
everlasting life I" How precious the sight of the blood
of Jesus, as a Lamb slain ! Nor is it merely in the ar-
ticle of death that we need this great sight, for the living
know that they must die; and there are many circumstan-
ces transpiring before their eyes to force them to reflect
upon their end.

Such, then, are the wants of the soul ; namely, an in-
fallible guide to virtue ; knowledge of the moral charac-
ter of God; a perfect object for the affections; removal
of the sense of guilt; remedy for an impaired moral na-
ture; removal of discontent, arising under the present
constitution of things; a safe direction in the exercise
of moral power; an object of adoration; and a sure sup-
port in death.

NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 313

'Tis vain to talk of atheism. Could it be demonstrated
as clearly as a problem in Euclid, it would make no dif-
ference. Atheism does not forbid the gratification of
physical appetite; why, then, of amoral one? If fate, or a
fortuitous concourse of atoms, brought us into this world,
it may take us into another; if it has given such deep
wants in this state of existence, what may it not give us
in the next? if it punish us for neglecting to supply our
moral wants here, may it not give us a much sorer pun-
ishment for the same faults hereafter ? if it has made
this state an apparent probation, may it not make the
next a real retribution ?

Granting that revelation is necessary, where shall we
find it? Some point us to the Koran, and some to the
Shaster, and some to the Zendavesta, But what is that
to thee? You know that a revelation from God is not to
be found in any of these things; you know that if there
be a revelation on earth, it is found in the Old and New
Testaments. Come, then, examine it seriously, patiently,
prayerfully.

The facts before us afford a very strong presumption
that a revelation is given; the most enlightened portion
of the world presents you with what they allege and be-
lieve to be one. To refuse to examine, and say you know
that it is not from God, prior to inquiry, is to imitate the
folly of the peasant who closes his ears to the astrono-
mer, and says he knows the world can't turn round. Nay,
more, considering the importance of the subject, and its
relations to yourself, it is madness!

27

314 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

%\t Gtnt €»r* fat itoib.

fTlHE Bible is admirably adapted to remove all the evils
-*- of mortal life. Among these stands poverty. Of
this we see but little in our own happy country, though
throughout Europe and Asia it is a great cause of suf-
fering. Nor are we to be long exempt from it; even
now, in our eastern cities, there are multitudes dying of
want. What are the causes of indigence? Chiefly — in
this country at least — idleness and improvidence; both
of which are forbidden in the word of God. Look at
that law which was given on Sinai, while the mount trem-
bled,, and smoked, and grew terrific with the symbols of
the divine Majesty; that law graven on stone, to denote
its perpetuity, and by the finger of God, to signify its au-
thority; that law requires industry. Not more clearly
does it denounce the vengeance of Heaven against him
who violates the Sabbath, than it does against him who
refuses to labor on the six days that precede it. The
Gospel is not less exacting than the law. It is an apos-
tle who says, u If any will not work, neither should he
eat." The same affirms that "he that provides not for
his own household, hath denied the faith, and is worse
than an infidel." The Savior went about doing good,
and his great embassador to the Gentiles, with the
care of all the Churches upon his heart, often made
his own hands minister to his necessities. One of the
advantages of the Gospel is, its tendency to promote
our temporal interests : " Seek first the kingdom," etc.;
" Godliness hath the promise," etc.; "No man hath

THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 315

forsaken/' etc. I know we may have industry without
the Bible; inferior motives, selfish, even vicious ones,
may impel to unremitting toil; but these motives often fail
under even a slight change of circumstances. So strong
is the natural tendencv to indolence, that a divine sane-

ml '

tion seems requisite in order to secure general and unfail-
ing diligence. Look at facts. Did you ever see a lazy
Christian? As well look for a holy devil. You have
seen the poor, contemptible, profane idler, converted, by
the power of the Gospel, into the contented, cheerful,
faithful laborer; the pest of society turned into its bene-
factor. In a small village on the Western Reserve, there
lived an influential, strong-minded infidel; he was a tiller
of the earth, and an officer of the state; he was moral
and thrifty, sober and diligent, his habits having been
acquired in a Christian family, before his change of
views on religious subjects. His excellences seemed to
give him great power; and it was not surprising that
they should secure for him an extensive influence among
the youth. In a short time he had the satisfaction of
finding himself surrounded by fellow-infidels. As his
hope of salvation rested chiefly upon his moral conduct,
he was very kind and benevolent to the poor. Finding,
however, that the drafts upon his resources were becom-
ing more and more numerous, he started the inquiry how
it happened, that while all around was prosperity, his
neighborhood should be getting more and more thriftless.
In prosecuting this investigation he visited all his neigh-
bors, and was^ startled to learn that in every house where
the Bible was found, there was no want; and in every
abode where the Bible was absent, there was present or
approaching poverty. Not long after, there came into
his village an itinerant preacher, who proposed to hold a
protracted meeting. His place of preaching was an
old school-house. Here he addressed the people who

316 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

assembled night after night. He was an able, eloquent,
and faithful minister of the new covenant ; he presented
the truth with such power, that it reached the hearts,
and troubled the consciences of his hearers. Those who
were skeptical became demon-like, and began to produce
disturbances among the auditors, and to offer insults to
the speaker, who, having appealed in vain to their sense
of justice, character, and propriety, at length dismissed
them by saying that he felt that he had done his duty to
them; and seeing that they put the Gospel from them, he
would turn to those who would receive it with more
respect. The next morning, while preparing to start
away, he was visited by the infidel Esq., and urged in the
most cordial manner to remain, and continue his meet-
ing. To this solicitation he yielded. In the evening he
went to his accustomed place of worship, and found his
usual congregation, whom he addressed as faithfully as
before; but when he had concluded his discourse, he
found the disturbance about to be renewed, when his infi-
del friend, who this evening had been seated just below
him, rose and addressed the assembly, saying in sub-
stance, "This man must be treated with respect; the law
can, and shall protect him. Infidel as I am, I believe he
is doing a good work. I have been abroad among you,
and I find that you who revere the Bible, live in prosper-
ity; you who despise it, are approaching pauperism, if
not actually in distress. I am alarmed at what I have
done; I have made you infidels; but in doing so, have I
not ruined you? Many of you are young men of good
minds; I have a family of daughters, but I had rather
follow them all to the grave than to see them united in
marriage to you. Henceforth I will be the friend of the
Bible; it is the instrument of good."

The Bible is as plainly opposed to improvidence as to
idleness. True, it forbids us to hoard wealth, but it

THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 317

requires us to lay it by; to do this regularly, not for our-
selves, however, but for our fellow-man and for God. By
closing the avenue to vain and sinful pleasures, regulating
the passions, moderating the desires, and sobering the
judgment, it dries up the fountains of extravagance;
nor is this all, but it sanctifies wealth, just as it does the
body and the soul, making it as sacred as the victim upon
the Jewish altar, or the wine upon the Christian's com-
munion-table. It shows us that giving is happiness, be-
neficence prosperity; and it leads its votary to economize,
that he may be able by his liberality to secure additional
blessings. There are many plans in operation for the re-
lief of the poor, but you may dispense with them all if
you will but distribute the Bible, which, inspiring a feel-
ing that winds up body and soul to the highest pitch of
energy; infusing a spirit of manly independence that dis-
dains unnecessary aid; limiting human desires to reason-
able wants; satisfying these with reasonable expendi-
tures ; and creating a panting after surplus resources to
swell the channels of beneficence that flow through the
world, puts pauperism to a distance.

Poor, degraded, starving Ireland ! How we pity her !
In vain does America send her liberal gifts; in vain does
England drain her treasury for the green and beautiful
island; Erin will continue to be poor so long as the
priesthood withholds from her the Bible. Do but put this
blessed volume in the hands of her peasantry, and instead
of thorns will come up the myrtle-tree.

Another great evil is intemperance. I need not in-
form you to what extent it prevails, nor how desolating
are its results ; withering every thing it touches — body,
soul, character, and estate. I need not say that efforts
have been made to remove it from the land, the earth —
efforts great as human intellect can devise, or patient la-
bor can achieve. These, I am aware, have not been

318 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

fruitless; they have staid, in some measure, the march
of the destroyer; but, alas! I fear that statistics would
show that he is far from being extinct. We have seen
the Washingtonians arise; we have seen Dr. Chambers
advance with his substitute, and retire after working ap-
parent wonders; we have seen the Sons of Temperance
organize, and labor with a zeal worthy their cause, and de-
serving better fruit than the barren reward they have
reaped; we have seen the Templars come forth in earnest
battle. While we bid all such organizations Godspeed,
we would have them remember that within, not without,
are " murders, drunkenness, fornication, adulteries;" in
fine, all vices; that to reform the life thoroughly and per-
manently, you must reach the heart. Line Lake Erie
with willing laborers, and they might perchance reduce
its waters with buckets ; but, alas ! their labors would
amount to little, so long as the streams that empty into it
were undried. Would you seal the fountains of intem-
perance, take the Bible; and with prayer, apply' it to the
heart. Show me the drunkard who has been permanently
reformed without feeling its power, and you show me a
rare bird. Perchance such a one may be found as often
as a white raven ; but when you find him, you will find
one, perhaps, little better than before; he has but shifted
his burden from one shoulder to another; developed his
depravity in a new form. The Bible, brothers, is his only
salvation. What we say of intemperance, we may say of
any other form of immorality.

Another evil is dishonesty; either in the form of
stealing, robbery, or fraud. The latter is the more com-
mon form in which it exhibits itself; and this may be
seen every day, not only on the stock-exchange, and at
the real-estate auction, but in the ordinary transactions
of domestic commerce. The power of law, the wisdom
of magistracy, the vigilance of police, are incapable of

THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 319

coping with the ingenuity of human cupidity. But there
is one power which can do this work. Lay the ten com-
mandments on the heart with the authority of an infinite
God, and man will not trespass on the rights of his
neighbors. Teach him to love his neighbor as himself,
and he can not harm that neighbor; bid him regard his
fellow-men as the children of his heavenly Father, and he
will not injure them; engage him in an endeavor to bring
them to the cross of Jesus, and the home of heaven, and
he can not covet their goods; bring his mind into com-
munion with God, and fill his heart with the hope of
heaven; and he can not be greedy of perishable riches.
Nay, rather, when he looks on the things of others, it
will be with a desire to increase them.

Oppression is another cause of misery. The tyrant
abuses his power, and deprives his subjects of their
rights ; the powerful crush the feeble ; the rich prey upon
the poor; and the strong nation robs, and then crushes
the weak. How few enjoy a full measure of rational lib-
erty; how many groan under the lash of the slave-owner,
being treated as beasts of burden! And what is the
remedy? Reason, philosophy, politics, long since did
their utmost. Let in the light of the Bible. Where-
ever this is felt, oppression, sooner or later, ceases. The
whole spirit of the Gospel is at war with every form of
oppression; it breathes equality, liberty, justice; it pro-
claims deliverance to the captive, and the opening of
prison doors to them that are bound; it brings on earth
peace, good will to man. Its cardinal principle in ethics
is, " Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto
you, do ye even so to them." How can a man, with this
moral balance in his hand, weigh slavery, and not find it
wanting? The Gospel ordains the marriage relation, and
sanctifies the domestic circle. It binds upon every hu-
man being an obligation to diffuse its own blessed

320 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

message. There is not a command in the decalogue, nor
a precept of the Savior, nor an attribute in the Almighty,
nor an impulse of regenerated humanity, that is not ar-
rayed against slavery; not a commandment in the second
table of the law, which, if fully obeyed, would not bring
it to an end. True, it has existed in the presence of the
Bible, and so has every other form of depravity; it has
existed among professed Christians — so, too, has theft; it
has found advocates in the Gospel ministry, and so has
licentiousness. There are slaveholders even in the sa-
cred vocation. The Bible must be received and believed,
to produce its results. In the dark ages little was known
of it. It was bolted up in dungeons. It must be prac-
ticed as well as professed, before its legitimate results can be
expected. Nor may any man judge of its fruits, when it
is proclaimed by ministers who neither enjoy its spirit nor
obey its dictates. It has, however, done much to unman
slavery; it has made the slave traffic piracy, in every
maritime code in Christendom; it has abolished slavery
in nearly all the kingdoms of Europe, and throughout a
large portion of this continent; it has very much amel-
iorated the evil where it still exists, and has provoked,
throughout the world, a loud, a firm, an authoritative de-
mand for universal emancipation ; a demand which can
no more be resisted than the cataract of Niagara. The
slave power bears all the marks of age and inanity; its
perpetual peevishness makes the grasshopper a burden;
its watchful jealousy indicates its rising fears. It sac-
rifices dearest friendships, to escape unwelcome truth;
advocates the most hellish doctrines, that it may assuage
the agonies of a guilty conscience, and rends the body of
Christ, that it may drink the emblem of his blood with-
out relaxing the chains it has riveted upon his children.
All this proves that its day of dissolution is at hand ; its
silver cord is loosed, and its golden bowl broken. Many

THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 321

complain of the Bible, because it does not at once de-
nounce damnation against the master, and put a sword in
the hands of the slave. But they have not considered,
that in so doing it would erect barriers against its own
progress round the earth; violate its own blessed spirit,
which seeks to save, not to destroy; and attempt to re-
move by local and temporary means, a constitutional dis-
ease of the body-politic. Let it go and spread sweetly,
gently, silently, its harmonizing, humanizing, liberalizing,
sanctifying spirit, through and through the whole system
of society, readjusting all its elements in the order of
nature and righteousness. And surely it will do this if
received. Whether it take the slaveholder backward to
the garden of Eden, and show him how God made of one
blood all men to dwell on the face of the earth; or, lead-
ing him forward to the millennial age, display the beauti-
ful vision of the Jion and the lamb, the sword and the
plowshare, the African stretching out his hand to God,
and islands of the sea new-born; or take him to Bethle-
hem, to hear the songs of the angels ; or to Galilee, to
hear the beatitudes of the Man of sorrows; or to Cal-
vary, to see the Savior of sinners die; or to Olivet, to
hear the Prince of life give his last charge to his disci-
ples to "go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to
every creature;" or onward to the great assize, to hear,
from the lips of the final Judge, the last dread sentence,
" Inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of these;" or
upward to the chapels where the angels worship, and
the saints perfected sing — it can look him in the eye and
say, "Now, making all allowances for your education,
circumstances, associations, etc., you know slavery is
wrong."

The Bible is as much opposed to war as it is to slavery.
It is the voice of peace and forgiveness; it teaches sub-
mission, even to wrong, rather than resentment; it utters

822 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

benedictions on the peace-maker, and maledictions on
the peace-breaker; its spirit, its millennium, and its
heaven is peace; its Sabbath, its ministers, and its mis-
sion, require peace.

Another evil is ignorance. Man is naturally more
averse to intellectual than to physical labor. To engage
him in the cultivation of his mind, you must bring him
under the influence of some powerful motive. And what
motives like those of the Bible ? The Bible smites man
as the angel did Peter, and leads him from the dungeon
of earth to the light of heaven ; makes him feel that he
is a child of immortality, a son of God, an heir of a
kingdom, preparing for the society of angels, and destined
to eternal progress. No man can think meanly of his
soul, who sees it in this light. The Bible shows a man
that his talents are not his own; that he is responsible to
his Maker, not merely for their keeping, but their culti-
vation, and that his everlasting destiny depends, in a
great measure, upon their culture and improvement.
One star differs from another star in glory, not by an ar-
bitrary arrangement, but according to the deeds done in
the body. I would not say that a man's capacity of use-
fulness in this life is simply in proportion to his intellect-
ual culture, but sufficiently so to engage the Christian in
the anxious effort to improve his mind. The Bible not
only furnishes the most powerful motives to intellectual
improvement, but removes the hindefances which impede
it in a soul aroused to its importance ; such as sensuality
in youth, ambition in manhood, and avarice in old age.
Inferior motives, I know, may sometimes bear up an indi-
vidual gifted by nature, or favored by fortune, to the high-
est eminence in scholarship; they have even made idol-
atrous nations famous for learning; but where have they
thus lifted up the mass to light ? With one exception —
China — they have not even conceived the glorious idea of

THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 323

universal education.* So long as man is viewed as a cre-
ture of the dust, a mere accidental mixture of elements
in a great chance-laboratory, and destined, after display-
ing a certain set of affinities, to evaporate, there can be
no great reason why the general illumination of men
should be a matter of public concernment. So long as
man is viewed as a being uninstructed of God, and left
to grope his way to the grave, I am at a loss to conceive
why we should provide for general education. But the
moment you bring me a Bible, I understand the reason
for universal education. Here is light from heaven, and
it is the duty of the state to see that every blind eye is
opened to receive it. There is a message from God, and
the Church comes bound with an obligation she can not
neglect, but at the peril of her salvation, to give it, just
as it is, to every creature. Hence, wherever she comes,
she says, "Educate, educate I" But she need not; only
let her hold up her Bible, and she awakens an appetite
for knowledge. The poor man who has no estate, and ex-
pects none; who looks forward to nothing but to labor, as

0 When, in the dark ages, the Bible was confined to monkish cells, liter-
ature was shut up there too. "When the Bible was brought into light, the
public mind awoke, and when it was translated into living tongues, the
work of popular education commenced. Soon after the Reformation, the
Continental Churches adopted a rule which forced men to learn ; it re-
quired that no man should be admitted to his first communion who could
not read the Scriptures ; and it debarred whoever partook not of this com-
munion, from marriage and civil employment. The same feeling also led
to the common schools of this country, and is spreading them over Europe.

The common school system of China is instructive ; it is, after an
experiment of two thousand years, an utter failure. During all that pe-
riod the government has pressed the nation's youth to school, but instead
of developing, it has repressed their faculties; and for a good reason: it
had no motive in the arrangement but to stereotype its political instruc-
tions. Hence, though it taught the rising generation ancient literature,
it excluded science, checked the spirit of inquiry, and sent the public
mind down the narrow, dismal channel of ancient, but unaided thought.

324 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

a beast of burden, till he dies, may consent to remain ig-
norant of letters; but show him a will, giving him title to
immense estates; show him that the will is conditional, and
somewhat complicated, and that, by a little mismanage-
ment or misinterpretation, he may lose all it confers, and at
once you inspire him with an intense desire to learn. His
willing soul says, " Who will show me how to read, that I
may study and interpret for myself V Here is the will
of Jesus to estates in heaven ! The inquirer, not satisfied
with the interpretations and readings of scribes and priests,
of lawyers and doctors, cries, "Let me have the book it-
self! let me handle it, read it, understand it, for myself."
Nor does it merely lead to general education ; it bears us
up to the stores of ancient learning. Men whose opportu-
nities permit, desire to trace up the Bible to its origin, to
read it in the language in which it was first written, to get
the precise meaning of its every word, and trace each of
its verbal compounds to its roots. In accomplishing this
work they pass through the enchanting grounds of an-
cient literature and science, develop their understanding,
improve their taste, and stimulate their love of knowledge
to the highest pitch. Hence, the Bible, when it comes
to moral spheres, like God, when he comes to chaos,
says, "Let there be light!" Then light is over every
physical, mental, and moral field. Is this unmeaning
declamation? Look at facts. Wherever you find the
Bible really received, do you not see awakened, inquiring
mind? It is so on a large and on a small scale; whether
it exerts its power on the individual or on the nation.
Who poured floods of light over all the fields of philoso-
phy? A Christian. Who made himself a path to the
skies, and numbered and weighed the stars, ascertaining
their laws, and predicting their positions for distant
years, and to the accuracy of a moment? A Christian.
Who sent the lightning on messages of commerce and

THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 325

errands of love? A Christian. "Who put a window in
the breast, and looked through and through the inner
man, mapping the sea of human emotion as its billows rise
and fall, and eliminating the most ethereal of all fields —
those of human thought? Who stands at the fountains
of science the world over, and bids its waters flow? The
Church.

The Bible subdues the evil passions of men. These
constitute the great fountain of the world's woe. The
heart is an empire over which external things have but
little power. A man may sit in torture upon the throne
of the world; he may die in raptures at the stake. The
causes of happiness or misery are "inter precordial
Get the history of any human heart, and you will find
that the great fountains of its sorrows are selfishness and
resentment; the one flowing over it in the channels of
pride, vanity, sensuality, avarice, ambition; the other
in the streams of peevishness, envy, jealousy, revenge.
"Write the history of the world, and you show that the
former of these fountains desolates the globe with blood;
the latter poisons its social intercourse with bitterness.
What shall seal up these fountains? Not philosophy, not
refinement, but the Bible. This alone can lift the soul
out of the petty orbit of self, and sphere it around the
throne of God; this alone can reconcile man to all his
fellow-men. Bring him to the cross of Christ and he
cries,

" But drops of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe ;
Here, Lord, I give myself away ;
'Tis all that I can do."

His body and soul now being no longer his own, his self-
ish interests are extinct. Bring a man to the throne of
grace, and farewell to every form of resentment. The
child of God, the heir of heaven, how can he be peevish?

326 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Shall the pardoned culprit, on his road from the scaffold
to the crown, complain of bad roads ? shall the suppliant
for mercy be revengeful ? the patron of the world be en-
vious? Praying that mercies may descend upon- every
human heart — mercies such as Jesus died to purchase,
and heaven opens to complete, how can he feel unhappy
at the sight of the superiority of his fellows over him in
reference to the goods of fortune ? Shall he who has pro-
cured for another a crown, feel envious because he has a
superior carpet? You may sneer at this as fancy, but I
assure you it is fact. There are hearts, there are abodes,
in which the golden age of fiction has been more than
realized; and when the Bible shall have been universally
received, the golden age of Scripture shall fill earth with
bliss, with worship, and with song.

I infer, first, that he is no true friend to humanity
who will not distribute the Bible. The work commends
itself to every patriot, to every philanthropist. He is
without excuse who rejects the Bible. It works its own
demonstration of its divinity. The great secret of hu-
man ingenuity is complexity of causes, producing variety
of effects; the great secret of the Creator is simplicity of
causes, reconciled with multiplicity of effects. The same
law that molds the dew-drop, whirls the planets in their
courses; impulse and attraction govern the physical uni-
verse. The same wonderful simplicity is seen in the Bi-
ble. By three great facts it turns man into an angel, and
will turn earth into a paradise; namely, that Jesus died,
that he rose from the grave, that he sitteth at the
right hand of the Father.

Fill the world with books, and with them all — if they
borrow not from the Bible — how can you convert a single
sinner to God? Empty the world of books, and fill it
with sinners, and with these three facts brought to bear
upon their hearts, by divine grace, we may convert them

THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 327

all. Go trace the wonderful results of this blessed book,
and see in it the hand of God.

May it go round the earth; turn all its people into the
Church, and the whole Church into an orchestra; of
which the ministry shall be the harp, the divine Spirit
the chorister, the people the choir, and Jesus the burden
of the harmonious hymn !

328 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

%\t fitoitu §l0rg.

NO phrase more common in Christendom than, " Glory
of God." No wonder; for it is understood to ex-
press the great Center toward which all rightly-directed
Christian action, and thought, and affection, should tend.
"To glorify God, and enjoy him forever/' is the chief
end of man.

Glory signifies brightness, splendor, renown. Any
thing which strongly strikes the mind, and awakens ad-
miration and astonishment, is glorious; thus, the sun,
the expanse of ocean, the arch of heaven, are glorious
objects. Glory may be predicated of rational, as well as
irrational objects. As the glory of an irrational being
depends upon its sensible magnificence, so the glory of
a rational being depends upon its rational or moral mag-
nificence. This may be either original or derived. Orig-
inal glory depends upon essential attributes; derived
glory, upon acts or associations. The former may be re-
solved into wisdom and goodness. The possession of
either of these, in an eminent degree, must render a be-
ing illustrious. The human mind is fitted to admire
God, and, hence, must admire that which resembles him,
and in proportion as it resembles him. This is essential
glory. Glory may result from acts. If a man, though
undistinguished by mental or moral excellence, perform
an act, or make a discovery, fitted to increase the intelli-
gence or the virtue of the world, his name is associated
with such act or discovery, and derives from it a lasting
renown. When a great mind appears, it is admired as

THE DIVINE GLORY. 329

far as it is known; neither envy, nor malice, nor jeal-
ousy, nor hatred, can prevent it from receiving the admi-
ration which is its due. That admiration flows from the
common mind, and rolls onward to posterity, as naturally
as water issues from its springs, and flows onward to the
sea. Are not the distinguished among the living able to
command not only the homage of the multitude, but the
admiration and respect of their rivals ? are not the
names of the mighty dead imperishable? Do not all na-
tions point with pride to their brilliant eras — such as the
age of Elizabeth, in England; of Louis XIV, in France;
of Augustus, in Rome; and of Pericles, in Greece? Do
not all ages, and sects, and parties unite in a tribute of
praise to the Homers in poetry, the Ciceros in oratory,
the Newtons in philosophy? How strange that men can
render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and yet
forget to render unto God the things that are God's! If
we praise the mind of a frail, dependent, fellow-mortal,
shall we not adore the great Original, in whom all possi-
ble perfection centers; who is from everlasting to ever-
lasting; and of whose wisdom and goodness all forms of
human genius and excellence are reflections, as all colors
are reflections of the light? Strange infatuation that,
while it allows man to wonder at the human soul, blinds
his eyes to the surpassing glory of Him who made it!
Curious delusion, that can mark with delight every indi-
cation of intelligence in the whole animal creation, and
even hang with rapture over the indications of instinct
in the meanest insect that crawls beneath our feet; and
yet, never lift the eye of adoring wonder to Him at
whose word the universe, with its countless ornaments
and inhabitants, came forth !

Commanding abilities are frequently perverted. Many
of the greatest minds of earth have been the most
wicked; they have burned but to dazzle and delude;

28

330 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

their might has served but to depress their spirits; their
exquisite sensibility, but to refine their misery; and their
splendid exertions, but to deepen their damnation. They
have refined their minds, only to sweeten the food of the
undying worm; and brightened their powers, only to add
splendor to the fires of hell. Melancholy spectacle ! A
man, with giant powers and strong passions, ranging
through all the works of God, forgetful of their Author;
overlooking nothing within the notice of his eye, the reach
of his telescope, or the compass of his microscope, but
God, in whom he lives, and moves, and has his being;
eagerly grasping at every other truth, yet resolutely shut-
ting out that which is the comprehension of all other
truth; plunged in the infinite fullness of God, yet float-
ing in a diving-bell of depravity, from which God is shut
out ! Satan, perhaps, has no more signal triumph, than
when he plants his foot on such a soul; and the angel of
mercy, in his errand to earth, can not meet with an object
on which he can gaze with more pity and sorrow. Many
such there are —

" Weary, worn, and wretched things ;
Scorched, and desolate, and blasted soulsj
Gloomy wildernesses of dying thought !"

Yet, such is the power of talents to charm, that, even
though perverted, they command the admiration of man-
kind. What, then, must be their glory when, walking in
the light of God's countenance, and in obedience to his
law, they are employed to purify, enlighten, and elevate
mankind? How enviable the immortality of such men
as Paul, Newton, Wesley, Luther! And shall mankind
bestow on these their meed of praise, and withhold
thanksgiving and adoration from Him who, with infinite
wisdom, combines boundless and eternal beneficence;
around whom the seraphim, with vailed faces, continually

THE DIVINE GLORY. 331

cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole
earth is full of his glory ?"

Wisdom or goodness makes one glorious. They are,
however, generally excited when they are possessed; and
among beings of our own order, we can have no evidence
of their existence, except as they are revealed in action.
But, could we be certified that a certain being of our race
was of unequaled wisdom or goodness, we should accord
him our homage, even though he should not exert his
powers, or exert them in modes that we did not under-
stand. Beyond all that we can see or hear, conceive or
comprehend, are the demonstrations of the Divine attri-
butes; and beyond these demonstrations lie infinite
depths of unexerted power and love.

The noblest human beings are imperfect; and the
more wise and holy they become, the more they feel their
imperfections. As we extend our diameter of light, we
enlarge our horizon of darkness. There is One in whom
no darkness dwells, from whom all light emanates — "the
King eternal, immortal, invisible; who dwelleth in light
inaccessible. "

But there is derived glory. If the naturalist discover
some animal hitherto unknown, or some habitude of a
known animal which had hitherto escaped notice; if the
philosopher point out some new law in the heavens or the
earth; if the psychologist unfold new principles in the
mind, he obtains unfading renown. Shall we give praise
to Audubon for painting the songsters of the breeze, and
not adore Him who created and decorated the originals,
and taught them to warble their melodious notes? Shall
we honor Newton for discovering the law of gravitation,
and not glorify God for stretching that law over the uni-
verse ? Shall we honor Locke for analyzing the human
mind; and shall we not honor Him who made that mind
in the image of his own intelligence ?

332 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Sometimes the mere application of known laws to new
purposes will give glory. Thus, the application of steam
as a motive power, has given imperishable honor to "Watt.
As we see the steamship freighted with an army, plung-
ing through the deep, against the storm, like an avenging
god, at the rate of forty miles an hour, true as the needle
to its path, it is natural that we should give glory to Ful-
ton. Think now of this great globe, with its deserts, its
oceans; its mountains, five miles high; its radius of four
thousand miles; its surface of one hundred and ninety-
eight millions of miles; and remember that it turns on
its axis with so great precision, that the interval it occu-
pies for this purpose has not varied three times the thou-
sandth part of a second since astronomical observations
began ; that it wheels through space at the rate of thou-
sands of miles an hour, with an accuracy that brings it to
all its appointed stations at the precise moment, and with
a steadiness so great that not an insect's wing is broken
by the jar! Consider that the earth is but a speck, com-
pared with the planetary system ; that the planetary sys-
tem is an atom, compared with the system of fixed stars,
each the center of a system ; and remember that all the
worlds in this great planetarium of God's are whirling,
without collision, with a velocity inconceivable, and with
a regularity so wonderful, that we can predict their arriv-
als and departures at their destined depots, for distant
ages, and to the accuracy of a moment! Who counts the
strokes; who regulates the steam; who feeds the fires;
who supplies the boilers; who opens and shuts the
valves; who oils the joints, and rings the bells of the in-
visible locomotives that wheel the unnumbered worlds
through space — locomotives that no age can wear out, no
climate impair, no darkness slacken, no snows arrest, no
revolutions derange ? Wonderful depravity, that can glo-
rify Watt, and not glorify God !

THE DIVINE GLORY. 333

When men make wise laws, we give them glory. The
code of Justinian has done more for the glory of Rome,
than the strains of her Virgil, the eloquence of her Cic-
ero, or the triumphs of her Caesars. The code of Napo-
leon has done more for the honor of France, than all the
gory plains over which the imperial eagles have perched.
Notwithstanding all that men have done, the best human
laws are liable to numerous objections.

They are not easily understood. This is evident from
the fact that they constitute the study of a lifetime;
that their practice requires a class of most acute, discrim-
inating, and learned minds; and that the best intellects
of this most acute and intelligent profession are required
to expound and disentangle them. Say not that the Bible
requires no less; for the study of the divine word is not
to understand and eliminate the law, so much as to educe
motives to persuade men to obey it.

They are not easily published — a necessary result of
their voluminousness and complexity.

They are not of universal adaptation. The laws of one
age are not applicable to another; the laws of one nation,
one locality, one grade of civilization, do not equally suit
another.

They are not uniformly benevolent, or even just, in
their working. Hence, in every government, the execu-
tive is invested with a power to arrest their operation.

Indeed, it is doubted whether it is possible to make a
perfect system of law, such are the varying wants of so-
ciety, the complicated relations of men, and the imper-
fections of human language.

Let us now turn to the law of G.od — aThou shalt
love," etc. Is it not simple? "Who can fail to under-
stand it? What need of interpreters? What child that
has ever been pressed to a mother's bosom, does not
know what love is ? What wayfaring man, though a fool,

334 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

does not know what this law requires ? You may go
through all worlds, and all ages, measuring off, with this
divine law, the obligations which spring from your rela-
tions, as easily as you may measure, with a two-foot rule,
the garments with which you clothe yourself. We need
no argument to expound or apply it, though we need elo-
quence to persuade the depraved heart to adopt it.

It is easily published. It would require but a few
days to proclaim it in all nations, if men were prepared
to receive it.

It is equally applicable to all countries, climates, and
states of civilization; to all worlds; for it is that by
which the obedient, rational universe is bound into one
harmonious whole, and wheeled around the throne of
God.

Its tendency is uniformly benevolent. It tends to re-
move all causes of social evil. Go round the world, and
take an inventory of moral ills. What would you have ?
Envy, jealousy, malice, rivalship! These imbitter the
fountains of private and social peace. Let every man
love his neighbor as himself, and all of them would dis-
appear. What is it that causes all forms of human
wrong and oppression? that desolates the globe with war?
that puts the chain upon the captive and the slave, and
the rod into the tyrant's hand? What but selfishness?
Let a man love his neighbor as himself, and the chain
will fall from the foot of the slave, and the rod from the
hand of the oppressor; armies will disband, and navies
sail home; all nations will become a choir of joyful sis*
ters, and man every-where behold in his fellow-man a
brother and a friend. You may see something of the
tendency of this law, by comparing the Church with the
world. Though the Church is very imperfect, still,
moral excellence is, for the most part, with her. It has
been so in all ages. Though obscured by clouds, she is

THE DIVINE GLORY. 335

still a sun ; and all the rays of moral light may be traced
to her bosom. She has given an earnest of a better day,
when "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the lion
shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young
lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall
lead them. And the sucking child shall play on the
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand
on the cocatrice's den " — "when truth shall spring out
of the earth, and righteousness look down from heaven;
joy shall be heard therein; thanksgiving, and the voice
of melody/'

This law not only removes causes of misery, but con-
tains the element of positive happiness. Love is happi-
ness, whatever may be the object that excites it. You,
my brethren, may wonder that the pleasures of sense, the
laurels of the warrior, the accumulations of the miser, or
the acquisitions of mere human learning, should give
joy to an immortal mind; but you must bear in mind
that they who worship the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eye, and the pride of life, have not passed through
the regeneration; and although you who have been per-
mitted to see with anointed vision, to lay up eternal
treasures, and claim a mansion in the invisible world,
may not find happiness below, yet he who knows no
higher objects than the sensible and the temporal may.

The happiness which we derive from the objects that
we love, is in proportion to their magnitude and purity.
If men are rendered happy by loving wealth, or fame, or
pleasure, what must be the joy of him who, turning his
eyes away from all created good, fixes his heart upon
God? What fullness in his joy! Let property fail, let
friends die, let the world dissolve, let the universe per-
ish, and leave not even a distant cloud behind; he has
enough, an infinite fullness left — God ! All finite objects
are inadequate to an immortal soul ; for a fountain,

336 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

however copious, must, sooner or later, be drained by a
soul that draws forever; but when unnumbered ages of
rapture shall have passed, the soul that loves God will
only be just waking up to the fullness and freshness of
immortal life.

This law secures not merely enjoyment, but a progress-
ive elevation of character. Whatever a man loves, has
a transforming power over him. If a man fall in love
with that which is debased, he soon becomes low and
brutal. Witness the drunkard ! If he fall in love with
that which is cold, narrow, hard; if he become, for ex-
ample, a miser, his soul grows colder and colder, harder
and harder, narrower and narrower, till it gets into the
coldest possible state, and the narrowest possible compass
of a man. If he fall in love with that which is en-
nobling and elevating — with science or literature, for in-
stance— he becomes ennobled and exalted. As his spirit
wings its way through the fields by which it has been en-
chanted, it will expand, and the objects on which it
gazes will enstamp their own images upon it, in return for
its affection. And what does this law require us to love ?
God. As the Christian gazes upon his throne, how ele-
vated does he become ! A strong, and not insensible at-
traction lifts his enraptured soul from the earth, and
draws him higher and higher, nearer and nearer to the
object of his wondering attention. He looks at the im-
age of God, and as he rises is transformed. Beholding,
he is changed into the same image, from glory into glory,
from glory into glory, world without end!

What is the glory due to God for his law?

In what sense can we promote the divine glory?
God's essential glory, depending upon his attributes, is
infinite. Nevertheless, there is a sense in which we can
promote it; for illustration — we can not add anything
to the character of General Washington; but we can add

THE DIVINE GLORY. 837

to its glory by extending the knowledge of it. Go into
the valleys of the Niger or the Gambia, the Indus or the
Hoang Ho, and, collecting its rude and idolatrous inhab-
itants, turn them from dumb idols to the living and true
God, and you will promote his glory. Nor need we go to
distant islands or continents to extend the knowledge of
the Creator. It is a melancholy truth that there is, even
under the shadow of our Christian temples, masses of
paganized mind — mind that has never beheld the glory
of God in the heavens or the earth, in the word of his
grace or the voice of his providence.

The derived glory of God may be promoted in two
modes — by declaring it, and by co-operating with God
in producing it. The economy of grace connects human
instrumentality with human salvation. God only can
convert a soul; but for the grace which converts he will
be inquired of by his people. Could we be the means of
leading God to create another world, we should do less for
his glory than if we should induce him to send convert-
ing power into a human soul. Weighed with an immor-
tal spirit, the moon and stars are but the dust of the bal-
ance. He was a philosopher as well as a poet, who
said,

" Behold this midnight wonder !
Worlds on worlds ! Redouble this amaze —
Ten thousand add; then, twice ten thousand more;
Then weigh the whole — one soul outweighs them all ;
Mocks at the magnificence of an intelligent creation,
And calls it poor !"

Behold, Christians, the dignity of your calling ! An-
gelic hosts desire to look into the mysteries which you
explain, but they are not able; archangels niight leave
the courts of glory to take your places in the earth, but
to them it is not given ; they are but ministering spirits,
sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation; or indices

29

338 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

to the Peters, whose function it is to tell the words
whereby men may be saved.

In our high calling we may employ both body and
spirit. When a man consecrates his powers to God, he
promotes God's glory, even in his humblest acts; whether
he eats or drinks, lives or dies, goes abroad or returns
home, he does it all to God; when he provides for his
children, and the children of the poor, he is providing
for wants for which God has made no other provision
than his labors; and his acts of kindness and charity
promote God's glory as much as when, by proxy, he pro-
claims Christ in distant lands.

We may glorify God in spirit — by discourse. "Sweet
speech" is given us; and never is it sweeter than when
it is used to convey just thoughts of God, and the feel-
ings which they inspire. Opportunities for religious con-
verse are frequently occurring; and, however obscure,
however feeble, however unlearned the Christian may be,
he can communicate his ideas of the Almighty, and the
raptures which they awaken within his breast. While he
muses, the fire burns; and when the fire burns, the
tongue must glow. What the beasts teach thee, and
what the fowls of the air tell thee, and what the fishes of
the sea speak unto thee, and what the earth proclaims to
thee, and the heavens declare unto thee, and each re-
volving day and returning night whisper in thine ear of
the Divine glory, canst thou not tell to those around thee ?
And what the fathers have told thee as thou didst search
them, shalt thou not utter out of thy heart? "Keep
thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which
thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart
all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and
thy sons' sons; specially the day thou stoodest before the
Lord thy God in Horeb." Deut, iv. "And thou shalt
love the Lord thy God/' etc. "And these words which

THE DIVINE GLORY. 339

I command thee this day, shalt be in thine heart; and
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and
thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house,
and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up." Deut. vi. Nor should
we confine our teachings to our households. " Declare
his glory among the heathen, his marvelous works among
all nations. Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the peo-
ple, give unto the Lord glory and strength, give unto the
Lord the glory due unto his name." Nor this alone; let
us bid our children tell it to the generations following;
that we may show forth God's praise to all coming ages;
yea, let us do it ourselves !

And marvelous are our facilities for so doing; for we
have the press, by which we may reach the minds of
those with whom it is impossible to hold personal inter-
course. It is the gift of tongues — cloven tongues, living
tongues, fire-tongues — by which a man, in one language,
may ultimately speak in all languages; it is the world's
whispering gallery, by which a voice in the closet, at the
silent hour of night, may travel round to the opposite
side of the globe, and become audible there; it is a pil-
lar more enduring than the monuments of Egypt. Job
said, "0, that my words were written; 0, that they
were printed in a book!" but this does not satisfy him:
"0, that they were cut into the lead with an iron stilet!"
but the impression might wear away: "0, that they were
driven into the rock !" Had Job lived to this time, he
would have reversed the series of sentences. Had his
words been merely cut into the lead .or the rock, we
might never have seen them; but because they were
printed, they have come down to our times, and will go
onward forever.

While infidels, and politicians, and merchants, are
using the press, shall not Christians, also? Shall the

340 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

types be types of evil, and not of good ? 0, what would
Paul have done had he possessed the steam press ?

Suppose, however, that we can neither speak nor write,
even then we can pray! Though the keepers of the
house tremble, and the strong men bow themselves, and
those that look out at the windows be darkened, yet may
the infirm and speechless saint glorify God ! He can
pray, and his prayers may be more effectual than ever, as
he draws near to the eternal world; so that, like Samson,
he may slay more in his death than in his life. The ef-
fectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much;
ten righteous men would have saved Sodom; ten right-
eous men may now be saving New York ! Prayer has
stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence
of fire. As the lightning-rod conveys the electric stream
harmless to the earth, so prayer may empty the charged
cloud of divine vengeance, and conduct the wrath of God
harmless to the bosom of the Redeemer. It is the the-
ory of Mr. Espy, that in the season of drouth, nothing
more is necessary to refresh the earth with rain, than to
kindle fires upon the mountain-tops. Whether this be so
or not, we know that spiritual refreshment — rains of
righteousness, are produced by the fires of Christian
prayer that are kept burning upon the mountains of Zion.

But why glorify God ? He is our Creator. What a
being creates he has a right to control. When you take
a piece of matter, and, by incorporating your industry
with it, greatly increase its value, men, overlooking the
fact that the matter was created to your hand, say it is
yours. Suppose, for example, you take a piece of iron
worth a cent, and make it into watch springs worth six
hundred dollars; who does not acknowledge that you have
a perfect right to the increased value ? God made you,
not out of iron, but out of nothing; not into springs of
watches, but immortal springs of thought, and feeling,

THE DIVINE GLORY. 341

and action. An ancient father has an illustration like
this: Suppose a statuary go to the quarry and hew a
block of marble into a human shape, and clothe it with
skin, and give it organs of sense, and organs of motion,
and organs of life; and then breathe into it the breath
of life, and give it a rational, moral, and immortal spirit;
what would be the first act of that being? Would it not
be to prostrate itself at the feet of its author in adora-
tion and thankfulness? God hath made you, and placed
you on an inclined plane leading to his throne.

Our preservation lays us under additional obligations.
As it requires as much power to keep a weight suspended
as it does to raise it, so it requires as much energy to
keep a being in life, as to call it into life; if, therefore,
we were self-created, provided we were dependent on God
for the perpetuation of our lives, we should be under ob-
ligation to unintermitting obedience. As we owe both
creation and preservation to God, we must multiply the
obligation we are under from our creation, into the num-
ber of moments during which we have existed, in order
to reach any thing like our aggregate obligations.

God has made an abundant provision for our wants; for
it is his table that feeds us, his wardrobe that clothes us,
his lamp that lights our pathway, and his bosom upon
which we repose. We are accustomed to overlook this,
and to ascribe our blessings to our own agency; but of
what avail were all our toil and care, if God did not fill
the stream of bounty from which we draw supplies? The
city on the banks of the stream raises her reservoir, and
sinks her pipes, and inserts her hydrants at every door,
and works her engine to raise the water into the basin,
that it may flow through all the streets, and refresh every
living thing within them; but does she ever dream that
her pipes and engines quench the thirst of her inhab-
itants? Well does she know that if the rains of heaven

342 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

did not fall, and the springs of the mountains did not
gush with living waters, her apparatus were of no value.

God has made abundant supplies for our comfort and
enjoyment. He might have caused all our motions to be
painful, he has made them all easy, if not pleasurable;
he might have made the senses sources of disgust, he
has made them avenues of enjoyment; he might have
made all our nerves means of punishment, he has made
them means of satisfaction and delight; with millions of
nervous fibers in the body, each capable of making a hell
within us, we pass days, and nights, and months, and
years, not only without agony, but with sensations of
comfort. When we do suffer pain, it is evidently.a per-
version of the Creator's design, and may be traced, gen-
erally, to our own fault, or overruled for our good. God
might have made all our social ties afflictions, he has
made them all delightful. How unspeakable the joys of
the relation between parent and child, husband and wife,
brother and sister, friend and friend !

Thus far we can go side by side with the infidel. If
I address one, I should like to go with him some
morning to one of these green eminences, and as the sun
unbars the gates of the east, and floods the world with
his golden beams, I know we could exclaim, tongue to
tongue, " Glorious orb! Grand universe!" I should
like to ask him what sort of a world we should have if
there were no light? and how men would feel if, hereto-
fore never having known any thing above them but a cope
of darkness, unpierced even by a star, the sun should, all
at once, burst upon the world? 0, how all its inhab-
itants would fall down in wonder and thankfulness !
How they could exclaim,

" Hail ! holy light; offspring of heaven first-born;
Or of the eternal, co-eternal beam."

Well, having had it day by day, what should be our

THE DIVINE GLORY. 343

gratitude? We could agree that he who made us, and
gave us eyesight, and hearing, and reason, and speech,
and heart, and hope, who, "not content with every food
of life to nourish man, maketh all nature beauty to the
eye, and music to the ear," is worthy to be loved, worthy
to be glorified. I should like, also, to go forth at even-
ing with the skeptic, arm in arm up some goodly mount-
ain, in the mellow light of sunset, whether in spring, or
summer, or autumn, and as the landscape stretches out
before us, I should like to ask, "Is not this a beautiful
world? and is not its Author to be praised ?" I should
like to lead my friend, as we return, through the grave-
yard, and as we move aside the tall grass from the head-
stones, and read the names of some of his early play-
mates, and the companions of his riper years — James,
and Joseph, and Mary — I would ask why he is not here?
and as he replies, "The mercy of God/' I would ask
again, "Is he not worthy to be glorified?" If he be a
father, I would look at some of those little graves, and, as
I read the names of Martha, and Jane, and Maria — 0,
what a world full of meaning in these names for a moth-
er's heart! — I would ask him why his children are not
here? and as he says, "The goodness of God," I would
put my arm around his neck and say, "Is he not worthy
to be glorified?" As we descend the slope and enter his
home, I should like to catch up one of his children in
my arms, and ask him what he or its mother would take
for it? Who knows not the love of a parent? Well,
God has not called on you to bury yours. Were it in
danger, what would you not give for its ransom? How
inestimable then your obligation to Him who bestowed
it ! But here in the valley I leave the infidel, for I have
another mountain to climb — it is the mountain of grace !
and it is arched by a rainbow, written all over on both
limbs with precious promises. As we rise, let us read :

344 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." When we
walk in solitude or sorrow, or in the valley of the shadow
of death, what will that be worth? "All things shall
work together for good to them that love God." Then
we may stand and look onward to eternity, and boldly
challenge the moments as they come, for every one must
bear for us a blessing on its wings. But these promises,
you say, do not save us from sorrow, and afflictions, and
bereavement. True, but let us read again : "These light
afflictions, which are but for a season, shall work out for
us" — 0, most perfect and glorious climax — "a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look
not at the things that are seen and temporal." All we
can lose or suffer, is more than covered by this broad pol-
icy of heavenly insurance.

But mark the center of that arch! Behold a cross!
Lo a victim ! as a lamb slain ! Hear his last prayer !
mark his dying agony !

" Bound to the accursed tree.
Faint and trembling, who is he?
By the eyes so pale and dim,
Streaming blood and writhing limb;
By the flesh with scourges torn ;
By the crown of twisted thorn;
By the side so deeply pierced ;
By the baffled, burning thirst ;
By the drooping, death-dew'd brow ;
Son of man, 'tis thou ! 'tis thou !

Bound to the accursed tree,

Dread and awful, who is he?

By the sun at noonday pale,

Shivering rocks and rending vale ;

By earth, that trembles at his doom ;

By yonder saints that leave their tomb;

By Eden promised, ere he died,

To the felon at his side ;

Lord, our suppliant knees we bow —

Son of God, 'tis thou ! 'tis thou I"

PREACHING CHRIST. 345

fmtlung Christ.

THE Gospel reveals to us the plan of God for redeem-
ing men. This plan was not discoverable by finite
reason. Though intimated in the ceremonial law, and
foreshadowed in the prophecies, it was not distinctly un-
derstood till the publication of the Gospel. Even the
prophets themselves seemed not to comprehend the pur-
port of their predictions of the Messiah, although they
studied them with intense desire to sound their depths.
It is intimated that the angels themselves, though they
would fain understand the cross, are not able — for this
is the crowning mystery of the Gospel ; as explained in
the apostle's letter to the Colossians, in which he uses
this language : " Whereof [that is, the Church] I am made
a minister, according to the dispensation of God which
is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God : even
the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from
generations, but now is made manifest to his saints; to
whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. " Hence, the preaching of
Christ is the sum and substance of the message of the
minister of the Gospel. Paul, in his letter to the Ko-
mans, says, "I determined to know [that is, to make
known] nothing among you but Jesus Christ, and him
crucified. M Hence, ministers of the Gospel are called
ministers of Christ; the Church to which they minister
is called the Church of Christ ; and the message which

346 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

they deliver, the truth of Christ. Seeing, therefore, that
the sum of pulpit labors is preaching Christ, it is import-
ant to determine precisely what this signifies. It means:
Preaching the doctrine of Christ. If I ask whether
you teach Euclid, you would understand my inquiry to be
whether you teach his geometry. So, to teach Aristotle,
or Bacon, or Locke, is to teach the philosophy which
they respectively published to the world. There is a
central idea in each of these philosophies, around which
the others revolve, and on which they may, in a certain
sense, be said to depend; so that, by a common figure of
speech, we may put forth that central idea as the repre-
sentative of the system to which it belongs. Thus, we
may describe the philosophy of Aristotle by the syllo-
gism ; that of Bacon, by induction; and that of Locke,
by the repudiation of innate ideas. So the cross, or the
offering of Christ as a propitiation for the sin of the
world, stands for the teaching — the religion — of the
Savior as the great center and sun of his system of re-
vealed truth. If so, there is a very common error into
which many good people, and some pious ministers have
naturally and innocently fallen; namely, that a preacher
departs from the great purpose which he should have in
view when he introduces into his discourse any thing but
the doctrine of atonement by Christ; that his theme
should be the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever; that
though he may vary his illustrations and arguments, he
must not vary his topic. Some go so far as to suppose
that if he do not say enough in each discourse to explain
the whole scheme of salvation so that a sinner should be
able to go from earth to heaven by its guidance, although
he never may have heard a sermon before, and never may
again, that he either does not understand his calling, or
does not fulfill it. Now, while I may profoundly respect
the persons who take this view, and the feeling upon

PREACHING CHRIST. 347

which their prejudice is based, I would enter my humble
and gentle caveat against it. It is evident upon the
slightest reflection, that if it were unanimously adopted, .
it would make the pulpit very monotonous. The music
of salvation would be unlike that of nature; the sky of
revelation, unlike the arch of heaven, would have neither
moon nor stars; the world of religious truth would have
no caves nor mountains, but present only one unbroken
plain. It is clear that they who insist upon it do not
adopt it; like other men, they introduce other topics,
such as may be suggested by the errors, or the sins, or
the wants of the people, by the course of events, the
change of the seasons, or the signs of the times. Their
practice is right, though their theory is wrong. Under
the old dispensation men preached Moses. St. James
says, Acts xv, 21, " Moses of old time hath in every city
them that preach him, being read in the synagogue every
Sabbath day." Well, what did the preaching of Moses
consist in? Simply recounting his life, dwelling upon
his character, depicting his offices. What did the reading
of Moses consist in? Simply the Ten Commandments?
No ! the whole Old Testament, from the beginning of
Genesis to the close of Malachi — after the days of Mal-
achi — was read in order in the synagogue. In its service
there were three things read: the shema, the law, and
the prophets. The shema consisted of three select por-
tions of Scriptures; the law consisted of the five books
of Moses. " These were divided into fifty-four sections,
because in their intercalated years — when a month was
added to the year— there were fifty- four Sabbaths, and so a
section being read every Sabbath day, completed the whole
space in a year; but when the year was not thus intercal-
ated, those who had the direction of the synagogue wor-
ship reduced the sections to the number of Sabbaths, by
joining two short ones several times into one, because

348 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

they held themselves obliged to have the whole, from the
beginning of Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy, read
over in this manner every year. In the persecution of
Antiochus Epiphanes, when the reading of the law was
prohibited, in the room of it the Jews substituted fifty-
four sections of the prophets, which were ever after con-
tinued"— two lessons, one out of the law the other out
of the prophets, being used after the restoration of the
law by the Maccabees. The law and the prophets having
been read, they were expounded and applied; and after-
ward it was customary to call for general exhortations.
Thus was Moses preached. It must be evident that in
many of these lessons his name, his character, his life,
were not glanced at. But, to be more specific,

To preach Christ is to preach his doctrines in opposition
to all other religion. We may do this from Sinai as well
as from Galilee; from the ark on the billows of the Flood,
as well as from the fisherman's boat on the waves of the
Sea of Tiberias; from the life of Abraham, as well as
the life of Peter; from the lips of Isaiah, as well as
those of Paul; from the reeking altar of the temple, as
well as the crimsoned cross of Calvary. So, on the other
hand, a man may take a text from the prophets or evan-
gelists, and discourse like a pagan, or Mohammedan, or
infidel, because he does not make it point to Christ. He
is the center of his religion ; all things in the Bible flow
from him, and are traceable to him as rays of light to the
sun. He is the Alpha and Omega of Scripture; all
things therein are in him. In discoursing from Scrip-
ture it is not necessary to name Christ that you may
preach him. It is not necessary to name the letters of
the Greek alphabet in order to show their connection
with alpha and omega; only use those letters as Greek
letters, give them the place and power of Greek letters
in your combinations, and you show that connection.

PREACHING CHRIST. 349

To preach Christ is to preach his doctrines in opposi-
tion to all philosophy. There is much philosophy in
the Scripture — natural philosophy, mental and moral
too. A philosopher might take a text from the sermon
on the mount, and deliver a philosophical lecture; in-
deed, he might perhaps proclaim from it a series of such
lectures; he might perhaps obtain from that discourse a
perfect system of mental and moral philosophy, and illus-
trate it without preaching Christ, while deriving from him
the foundation of that system and naming him at every
step. The philosophy of Christ was incidental, not es-
sential to his mission. You might as well describe a
king by his robes, as to preach Christ simply by the beau-
tiful philosophy in which his religion was arrayed.

To preach Christ is to preach his doctrines as he
taught them. The being of God is a doctrine common
to all religions; the fall of man has been believed in all
ages, by some schools, and has been generally received
by the masses of mankind; the duty of repentance, the
advantages of faith, the future life, the necessity of a
renewed soul, the rewards and punishments beyond the
grave, are doctrines traceable through the mythology and
religious teaching, of ancient and modern pagan nations,
and doctrines which are generally received and taught by
those among us who reject Christ. Such doctrines may,
therefore, be preached without preaching Christ. They
must be proclaimed in the clearness and fullness which
he gave them, and in their relation to him as the Savior
of the world. Christ crucified for the sins of the world,
is the center of those doctrines, which gives to each of
them its proper place, and harmonizes them all together.
Though these doctrines may be preached without preach-
ing Christ, Christ can not be preached without preaching
them. Without the doctrine of God — the righteous, just,
holy Ruler of the universe — there were no necessity for

350 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

a propitiation for sin. If men were not depraved by na-
ture, they would need no regeneration by the Spirit. If
there were no future life, we might eat and drink with-
out concern, for to-morrow we die; to an atheist the
cross might be held up forever without producing the
least impression. Let that stupid man once be brought
to see God in the Scriptural light, and he becomes to him
a consuming fire from whom he would flee, and as a
refuge from whose all-seeing eye and righteous wrath he
would scream in agony for a Mediator. To him who
thinks he is righteous, the scenes of Calvary are unmean-
ing; let his blindness be taken away; let the chambers
of his heart be exposed to his eye; let the light of obli-
gation shine upon his life; let his relations to the uni-
verse be seen, and he will find nothing but the Crucified
capable of affording him relief. He who preaches the
doctrine of total depravity to such a sinner is most effect-
ually preaching Christ. The law is the schoolmaster to
bring us to Christ. As without the schoolmaster we
should never read, so without the law we should never
exercise evangelical faith.

Christ, in short, can not be preached without all the
doctrines of his word; but these must be so preached as
to exhibit him crucified as the central idea. They should
also be presented in their due proportion. Nothing is
plainer than that a man may preach the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth, and yet make a false
impression, yet fail to disclose the mysteries of the Gos-
pel, because he does not give to each its proper place and
proportion. Though you have all the parts of a watch,
if some be too large or too small, or if one be put in the
wrong place, it will not keep time. The want of this
beautiful proportion of Christian doctrine has given rise
to most of the troubles of the Church. Even in the days
of the apostles, some of the expressions of St. Paul,

PREACHING CHRIST. 351

probably those which relate to justification by faith, were,
according to St. Peter, wrested by the unlearned and un-
stable to their own destruction. Luther came very near
following their example when, at a certain period of his
life, he was led to undervalue, and, indeed, altogether re-
ject the Epistle of St. James. On the other hand, the
Roman Catholic Church has generally evinced too strong
an inclination to postpone the great truth of justification
by faith to that other of judgment according to works.
These opposite bearings are still seen respectively in the
Calvinistic and Arminian Churches. They are the con-
sequences of the imperfection of our nature. Perhaps
no Church presents the circle of Christian truth in all its
beauty and symmetry; if so, no one perfectly presents
Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, judge each other char-
itably. It is a pleasing reflection, that amidst the dis-
cord of contending sects the impartial hearer perceives
the harmony of Christian truth; that the disproportion-
ate exhibition of Gospel doctrines by rival teachers may
unfold the perfect proportion of the Gospel itself to
every intelligent and comprehensive mind.

It is another beautiful reflection that God " tempers
the wind to the shorn lamb;" that as he enables us to
sustain our life in this world with an imperfect philos-
ophy, so he enables us to find our way to another with an
imperfect theology. This consideration, however, should
not prevent us from striving to perfect both our philos-
ophy and our religion. How little do they make progress
in Gospel truth, who think that all theology is compre-
hended in one statement — that of the atonement ! We
could not describe the universe by describing the sun, al-
though he is the most magnificent object, the center of
attraction, the fountain of illumination. Indeed, we
could not fully know him if we knew nothing else, for we
could not comprehend the ends which he accomplishes.

352 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

As in nature God has a general plan, so in revelation ;
as in nature this plan is uniform, so in the Gospel. As
the lawyer and the physician guide themselves by well-
settled principles, the mathematician by axioms, and the
general by maxims, so the minister must guide himself in
his more obscure researches, by the clear light of great
general Scripture principles.

To preach Christ is to preach his truth upon his author-
ity. Thomas Paine proclaimed some of the truths of
the Gospel, such as, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."
He doubtless believed them, and desired that all men
should receive them ; he illustrated them, perhaps, in the
same way that any Christian minister would; in the same
way that he did himself when he was a Quaker; but yet
he did not preach Christ; he did not present his precepts
as of Divine authority. So the politician on the stump,
or in the hall of legislation, may proclaim the great pre-
cepts of temperance, peace, righteousness, and judgment
to come, and yet may deny Christ in his heart and before
his fellow-men. He may believe the doctrines of Christ
to be divine too, jus£ as he believes the doctrine of grav-
itation to be so, and would demonstrate them in the same
way; and while he would be free to admit Christ to be
an eminent philosopher, or reformer, or politician, would
sneer at his claims to the Godhead, denounce his cross as
foolishness, and his Church as a stumbling-block. The
same truth, may be presented in the same way, at the
same time, in the senate and the pulpit, by different men,
who, while employing the same language, may respect-
ively oppose and defend Jesus Christ; the one resting
upon his own argument, the other upon the authority of
his Savior; the one robbing him, the other crowning
him ! It is not necessary that a minister should be con-
stantly informing his audience that he preaches on
Christ's authority; the very place where he stands, the

PREACHING CHRIST. 353

occasion on which he speaks, the position which he occu-
pies in society, are enough to show on what he grounds
himself in his public teaching. But it is necessary for
one who stands unconnected with the Christian Church,
even when he proclaims Christian truth, distinctly to
avow that he does it as a Christian, for many whose
minds have been irradiated, whose hearts have been re-
strained, whose lives have been directed, and whose hon-
ors have been shaped by the teachings of the blessed Je-
sus, have turned their back upon him, or betrayed him
with a kiss, or have been ashamed of his cross.

To preach Christ is to apply his teachings to all the
purposes to which they are intended to be applied. The
Gospel is sufficient for the reformation of the world.
There is no moral corruption which it can not purify,
there is no sorrow which it can not heal, there is no moral
darkness which it can not dissipate, there is no sinner
which it can not save, there is no government which it
can not reform. The Church, I fear, has greatly failed
in the direct and practical application of Christianity.
To some extent she has shut herself up from the world,
as if to avoid contact with it, or to enjoy a devotional
feeling undisturbed, or to acquire an influence which
she fears she could not obtain or sustain while mingling
with the crowd. However pure the motive may be, the
principle on which this conduct is founded is false. Our
Savior was practical; he walked with men, he stood
among the multitude, he opened the closed eyes, he
healed the broken heart, he reproved the guilty soul, he
even ate with publicans and sinners; he threw light upon
personal comfort and domestic repose, upon worldly obli-
gations and secular duties; nothing too low to receive his
notice; nothing too high to receive his rebuke. He bade
us follow his example. His ministers, alas! have de-
parted too much from it; they preach, perhaps as a general

30

354 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

rule, the great doctrines of the Scriptures, but they omit
the little ones, or if they utter them, omit the application
of them to the details of life. In the mother Church
the functions of the ministry are separated, one set of
men being appointed to preach, another to pray, and an-
other to practice. Thus have arisen the various eleemos-
ynary institutions of Catholics, such as brothers of pity,
sisters of charity. My brethren, ought we not all to be
brothers of pity, or sisters of charity? In the Protest-
ant Church matters are still worse. The Church confines
herself too much to discussion and song, and allows irre-
ligious men to reform the world : hence temperance so-
cieties, abolition societies, charitable institutions, etc.
Now, whatever reform or relief is necessary to men, the
Gospel can achieve, and that too without any other
agency than the Church — the one that God has ordained.
I have no complaint against these societies; my complaint
is against the Church, that she has rendered them neces-
sary. By this neglect she has been shorn, in a measure,
of her beauty and her majesty, and has been deprived of
some of the ablest auxiliaries and mightiest forces; has
stripped off her most secure armor, and called forth her
bitterest foes. Nor is this all; the various associations
for human reformation and amelioration have, to a very
great extent, been impeded by the violence and faithless-
ness of their leaders. All organizations need the moder-
ating and sustaining motives of religion; they need also
the guidance and the blessing of God. I suppose that
if the Church perfectly followed her Master, no associa-
tions for specific objects of benevolence would be re-
quired; but if otherwise, she should lead in them, and
call upon all men every-where to follow her. How much
more permanent, progressive, and beneficent, are moral
organizations when in than when out of the bosom of the
Church? Take the missionary, the Bible, and the

PREACHING CHRIST. 355

Sabbath school societies, for example. Moreover, when
good is done by institutions which, however imbued by
Christ's spirit and suggested by his example, do not ac-
credit him with their good deeds, is he not robbed; and
is not mankind defrauded of a proof and illustration of
the Christian faith? Pardon me! I would rob no one,
but I am covetous of my Savior's honor, and would have
every chain on the limbs of innocence broken, and every
cup of cold water to the thirsty sufferer given in his
name. Be not ashamed of humble duties, Jesus was
not; be not ashamed of staining your garments, Jesus
walked in white through the world; he passed through
poverty, and wretchedness, and vileness, without pollu-
tion. There are many who affect a fear for the ministry
which they do not feel; they are admonishing us to keep
aloof from the turmoil of men, the scenes of vice, and
particularly the turbid waters of politics, lest we compro-
mise our dignity or defile our robes. They should re-
member that men talked thus to the Savior; they did not
happen to be his friends, however, but his enemies; they
should bear in mind, too, that all sin is turbid, and that
sinners could never be saved if mercy did not pursue
them into filthy haunts.

To preach Christ is to urge men to duty and salvation
by the motives which Christ presents, and in the mode
in which he presents them. The cross is the great mo-
tive, the center and sun of the motive system; but it has
its satellites — right, reward, punishment, the conscience
void of offense, the worm that never dies, the man-
sions of the Father's house and the fire that is never
quenched, the welcome plaudit and the everlasting ban-
ishment. Many of these motives have been used; they
were used in speeches in the porch, the lyceum, and the
academy; they were used in speeches in the Roman Sen-
ate, but they had little force there, because they had

356 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

little evidence-Jesus brought life and immortality to
light.

That the view that I have taken is correct, is manifest,
,1. From the example of Christ. We have anticipated
much that might be said on this head. In his life and
preaching as it is contained in the evangelists, what
beautiful symmetry ! what proportion of faith ! what har-
mony of doctrine ! what balance of principle and prac-
tice ! what appropriateness of illustration and instruc-
tion ! In his conversation with Nicodemus he gives us
the doctrine of regeneration; the nature, necessity, and
mysteriousness of the new birth; the doctrine of the
Spirit; the nature and extent of the atonement; and
justification by faith in the Son of God. To the woman
of Samaria he explained the spirituality of the kingdom
of God. To the Pharisees he explained his own divinity,
and the universality of his dominion and triumphs on
earth. To the Sadducees he proclaimed the doctrine of
the resurrection from the dead. To the Herodians — pol-
iticians— he explained the subordination of civil govern-
ment to God. To the Jews, who trusted in outward cer-
emony, he explained the necessity of inward purity; to
the Gentiles, the vanity of dumb idols; to his disciples
he gave special instruction in regard to perfect trust in
God, subjection to his will, and obedience to his truth;
while to all he distinctly said, "I am the way, the truth,
and the life." His Sermon on the Mount is a summary
of morals in which no private, social, domestic, or polit-
ical duty is omitted. General principles are given, by
which we may at all times determine what God would
have us do. His form of prayer how grand ! how com-
prehensive! how flexible ! His parables how varied, ap-
propriate, and pregnant of instruction !

2. From the example of the apostles. Take Paul, for
instance. He adapts himself to men. At Jerusalem he

PREACHING CHRIST. 357

disputes with the Grecians. At Paphos he not only
preaches the word to the inquiring Sergius Paulus, but
administers a terrible rebuke to Elymas the sorcerer. In
the synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia, he recites the whole
history of the Jews before he describes the Messiah, and
afterward quotes the prophets and the psalms. At Ico-
nium — to a mixed assembly — he so spoke that a multi-
tude, both of the Greeks and Jews, believed. At Lystra,
among idolaters, worshipers of Jupiter and Mercury, he
plants himself upon the great principles of natural re-
ligion, exhorting men that they should turn from these
vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and
earth, the sea and all t things that are therein, and points
to his witnesses in the falling rain and fruitful seasons,
and hearts overflowing "with food and gladness. " At
Thessalonica, in a synagogue of the Jews, he reasons out
of the Scriptures, "opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead."
When encountering the Epicureans and Stoics at Athens,
or preaching to the multitude on Mars' Hill, he takes for
his text the inscription of an idol altar, and argues the
folly of idolatry from the attributes of the Creator; the
unity of the human, race from the relations of all men to
the common Father; and the necessity of repentance
from the future judgment; proceeding thus through the
porticos of nature and providence to the temple of grace,
wherein he exhibits Jesus and the resurrection.

He adapts himself to occasions. At Corinth, where
he finds men captious, he disputes as well as persuades,
both in the synagogues and in the school of Tyrannus.
At Miletus he consoles, and counsels, and warns his
weeping elders, from whom he is departing for the last
time, and calls them to witness that he had kept back
"nothing that was profitable to them." At Jerusalem, to
accommodate innocent prejudices, he stands, undergoing

358 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

the ceremony of purification in the temple. When ad-
dressing an infuriated mob from the steps of the castle,
he softens their hearts with a recital of his own life and
experience. Brought before a bigoted, usurping high-
priest, he administers to him a withering rebuke. In
the midst of an excited council, composed of heteroge-
neous elements, he throws the apple of discord by men-
tioning the doctrine of the resurrection. When before
Felix, sitting as a judge, he confronted his accusers, and
asserted his innocence; when before him as a man who
had received bribes, committed excesses, and lived in
adultery, he preached righteousness, temperance, and
judgment to come. And how? Not out of the Scrip-
tures, which Felix did not believe ; he reasoned and rea-
soned, till his auditor trembled. When brought before
Agrippa — who was a Jew — he argued Jesus and the res-
urrection from the promise made unto the twelve tribes,
and so argued, that when he said, "King Agrippa, be-
lievest thou the prophets ? I know that thou believest,"
the King responded, "Almost thou persuadest me to be
a Christian." When he is a shipwrecked voyager, he is
not ashamed to act the part of a man as well as a minis-
ter; giving directions concerning the company, and the
soldiers, and the ship.

Nor does he confine himself to preaching. He is the
bearer of alms from the Churches at Antioch, and the
bearer of dispatches from the council of Jerusalem. In
his ordinary ministrations he visits from house to house ;
he heals the sick, comforts the mourner, and encourages
the fainting. Here he establishes believers, there he
corrects heretics; here he disputes with infidels, there he
rebukes bigots; sometimes ordaining elders, sometimes
confirming disciples; sometimes exhorting the wavering
to continuance in the faith, sometimes confronting rulers
for violations of law and privilege. He was far from

PREACHING CHRIST. 359

being a man of one idea, or of one unvarying round of
duty. His preaching did not slumber in his soul, nor set
his hearers to sleep; it was living, inspiring, active, prac-
tical, agitating. Like fire it spread over Asia Minor,
Macedonia, Greece, and the islands of the iEgean. It
disrobed priests, and shook idols, and alarmed nations;
it excited envy, contradiction, and blasphemy; it stirred
up devout and honorable women, and chief men not a
few; it roused Gentiles, and provoked Jews, and divided
multitudes; it evoked mobs, and filled their hands with
stones, and their mouths with curses; it woke up the stu-
pid Gallio, and put the prudent town clerk of Ephesus to
his wits' ends; it shook the prison of Philippi, and
alarmed the jailer, and perplexed and humbled the mag-
istrates; it vexed the philosophers of the academy, and
the sectaries of the temple; it set in motion the sol-
diers, the doctors, and the lawyers, and troubled courts,
and governors, and crowns — to use the language of his
enemies, "It turned the world upside down." Amidst
all this it enlightened minds, converted souls, comforted
mourners, and saved men in the demonstration of the
spirit and of power.

The apostle not only preached, but wrote; and his epis-
tles, like his preaching, illustrate my position. The
evangelical doctrines pervade them; and there is an appli-
cation of those doctrines to life, inner and outer, public
and private. They abound in variety, they illustrate,
apply, enlarge, and enforce the whole circle of truth con-
tained in our Savior's discourses, conversations, para-
bles, and life. Sp far from being exclusively of one idea,
they surround the central truth of Christ crucified with
a perfect and harmonious system of doctrines, precepts,
and motives. They rebuke, and encourage, and guide,
as well as instruct and correct. The Epistle to the Ro-
mans proves that the whole system of Jewish rites is

360 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

done away by Christ, and that man, whether Jew or
Gentile, is justified by faith. The first Epistle to the
Corinthians vindicates the apostle's character against the
aspersions of a false teacher, furnishes instructions
adapted to the peculiar circumstances and temptations of
the Corinthians, and triumphantly argues the doctrine of
the resurrection of the dead; the second gives topics
of comfort, encouragement to steadfastness, and exhorta-
tions to purity. The Epistle to the Galatians was penned
to correct errors concerning the scope and intent of the
Gospel, to elucidate its simplicity and perfection, and re-
cord the proofs of the writer's apostleship. The Epistle
to the Ephesians is an elevating and animating call to
unity and diligence, to the correction of certain errors,
and the illustration of various duties. The Colossians
instructs and admonishes concerning certain false opin-
ions which had been taught. The letter to the Philippi-
ans is a grateful acknowledgment of bounty forwarded to
him while a prisoner at Rome, by Epaphroditus, and a
sublime exhibition of Gospel consolations. The Epistles
to the Thessalonians discloses the depth of experience in
the divine life which a Christian should feel; predicts
the rise and fate of antichrist, and the order of the gen-
eral resurrection. The first Epistle to Timothy contains
specific directions relative to the qualifications and duties
of various ecclesiastical offices, and exhortations to perse-
verance in duty; the second gives Paul's paternal coun-
sel to his son in the Gospel, when he was in daily expect-
ation of martyrdom. The Epistle to Titus is a charge
and instruction as to the peculiar duties of the pastorate
of the island of Crete. The letter to Philemon is an ab-
olition letter to a slaveholder of Colosse, sent by the
hand of his slave,* who, having run away, happened to

* If Ouesimus was a slave, which is doubtful.

PREACHING CHRIST. 361

hear the apostle preach at Rome, and to embrace the
Christian faith, and whom the apostle sends back with a
message to the master, beseeching him to receive him
not as a slave, but as a brother beloved, as the apostle's
own son, as Paul himself. The last letter in order — to
the Hebrews — discusses the divinity of Christ, the supe-
riority of the law to the Gospel, the true import of the
Mosaic institution, and the purity and grandeur of the
Christian calling. It was addressed to Jewish converts,
and was calculated to reconcile them to the destruction
of their temple, the loss of their priesthood, the aboli-
tion of their sacrifices, their expulsion from Palestine,
the extinction of their name among the nations, and the
calling of the Gentiles.

These epistles embrace an ample range of instruction,
covering all human duties and obligations; all relations
in Church and state ; all interests, spiritual and eternal.

I close with one more argument — the inspired descrip-
tion of ministers. Their titles are various — apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, embassadors,
watchmen, shepherds, deacons, elders, bishops. So, also,
are their functions — the perfecting of saints, the work of
the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ, feeding
the flock with knowledge and understanding, turning
sinners from darkness and from Satan, governing the
Church, preserving the unity of the faith and the knowl-
edge of the Son of God, and bringing converts to the
stature of the fullness of Christ. Their gifts are vari-
ous, differing according to the grace given — sons of thun-
der and sons of consolation, arguing Pauls, declaiming
Peters, musical Apollos; some to lay foundations, others
to rear superstructures, others to polish columns; some
adapted to address the skeptic, others the blasphemer,
others the heretic; some for war, others for peace; some
for defense, others for aggression, others for cultivation;

31

362 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

but all yours, all Christ's. Their qualifications are to be
various. Though a minister might preach like Gabriel,
this were not enough; he must be blameless, vigilant,
sober, hospitable, of good behavior, good report, good
family government, and patient, and humble, and liberal
spirit; apt to teach; able, by sound doctrine, both to ex-
hort and convince the gainsayers; diligent to preach the
word; instant in season and out of season to reprove, re-
buke, exhort, with all long-suffering, and doctrine, and
authority, and to watch against men that speak perverse
things; to give attendance to reading, and exhortation,
and doctrine, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and
oppositions of science falsely so called; willing to en-
dure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, and
make full proof of the ministry, studying rightly to di-
vide the word of truth. This word was not, therefore,
simple.

But what further need have we of argument? You
see that the work of the ministry is not simple, but com-
plex; not narrow, but comprehensive. We have too long
depreciated it; time now we magnified it. It is the light
of the world, the salt of the earth ; designed, like the sun,
silently to guide the whole earth, and, like the salt un-
seen, to purify its waters; to sanctify states and sciences,
as well as souls; to write holiness to God on the bells of
the horses, as well as the gates of the temples; to
spread over all, peace on earth, good will to men, and
glory to God in the highest.

music. 363

MUSIC is the art of producing sounds agreeable to a
well-tuned ear. It is probably coeval with man.

In some of the first pages of the earliest history extant
we find a notice of instruments of music. In Genesis iv,
21, we read that Jubal, sixth in descent from Cain, was the
" father of all such as handle the harp and organ. " After
the passage of the Israelites across the Red Sea, we find
that Moses and the children of Israel sang a triumphant
ode to God, commencing, "I will sing unto the Lord;" and
Miriam took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women
went out after her with timbrels and danced, and Miriam
answered them, or sang the chorus, "Sing ye to the
Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and
his rider hath he thrown into the sea." 0, what a song!
issuing from the lips of a choir about three million
strong, and swelling on the breeze to commemorate their
deliverance both from bondage and death !

Before we leave the Pentateuch we meet with allusions
to three classes of musical instruments; namely, stringed,
as the harp; wind, as the trumpet; and pulsatile, as the
tabret. As we advance in Jewish history we find the al-
lusions to music more frequent, and the instruments more
various; as harps, psalteries, timbrels, cymbals, cornets,
and trumpets. The harp was of different kinds, some-
times having three, sometimes eight, and sometimes ten
strings. When it had but eight, it was called sheminith.
It was at first swept with the fingers, but afterward with

364 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

a bow. The psaltery differed from the harp in having
twelve strings, which were swept by the hand. From
these the sweet singer of Israel sent forth his sounding
numbers, raising his melodious voice in unison with his
notes as he sang the high praises of God. The tabret or
timbrel was like our taniborine, a hoop of wood or brass,
over which was drawn a piece of skin, and around which
were hung a number of little bells; it was held with the
left hand, and beaten with the right. The cymbals con-
sisted of two flat pieces of brass, one held in each hand,
and brought together with a ringing noise. They may
be seen in many military bands at the present day. The
trumpet or horn was made out of ox or ram's horns, and
chiefly used in war. The pipe was like a flute ; and the
organ was a combination of pipes, usually seven, each
having a different sound; it was blown as it was passed
backward and forward under the mouth.

Egypt has been called the cradle of the arts, and many
have supposed that she taught the Hebrews music in
their house of bondage. She is also supposed to have
sent her science of sweet strains to her colonies in
Greece. Certain it is that Pythagoras learned his mu-
sical science of her priests, Plato praises her songs, and
Strabo informs us that they were matters of her legisla-
tive regulation; while her monuments attest the antiq-
uity of her musical taste, the guitar and harp being
drawn upon the oldest obelisks and tombs.

In Egypt music was hereditary, as it seems to have
been among the Hebrews, who consecrated it to the tribe
of Levi.

She claims, without dispute, the invention of the
single flute, which was among the most ancient of instru-
ments.

Greece was distinguished for her music as well as her
poetry. We know but little of the state of the art prior

music. 365

to the time of Homer, save that the flute, the syrinx, and
the lyre were favorite instruments, and Amphion, Chiron,
Orpheus, and Linus, distinguished performers.

Homer unites music and poetry, and speaks of them as
inseparable. He celebrates Thamyras, who lost his ey&B
and voice for contending with the Muses ; Demodocus,
whom he paints blind, but, nevertheless, the glory of his
race ; and Phemius, who is said to have been his own
master. These musicians wandered about, singing their
works in the cities and assemblies of their country. In
later times Thaletes, Archilochus, Terpander, and Tyr-
taius, are named among eminent poets and musicians.
The first is said to have been next after Hesiod and
Homer, the second the inventor of lyric poetry, and the
last of military airs.

After the establishment of the Grecian games, music
became a much-coveted and cultivated accomplishment,
for it was employed to animate all the combats, and was
admitted to a share of the prizes. Under Pericles it
arose to such importance, that ignorance of its science,
or inexpertness in its practice, was deemed disgraceful.
This great man, among other acts which he performed to
patronize and encourage music, built the Odeon for re-
hearsal— prior to performance in the theater — indeed,
to such excess was devotion to music carried, that poetry
took a rank secondary to it. In vain did Plato, Aristotle,
and Plutarch exclaim against this extravagance, and
plead the higher claims of severer studies and more ra-
tional accomplishments. What they could not do, how-
ever, the Roman sword did; for after the subjugation of
Greece, her music gradually degenerated, till it became
barbarous.

The Romans learned music of the Etruscans, and first
employed it at their sacrifices. Their earliest instru-
ments were horns and flutes. In later periods music was

366 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

combined with dramatic representations ; it did not, how-
ever, receive much patronage from Roman rulers, except
in the later years of the empire, when two of the greatest
monsters of iniquity and cruelty, by an unaccountable
incongruity, appear as its passionate admirers — Nero and
Commodus. The fall of the western empire was the fall
of music.

The rise of the Christian Church was the restoration
of the fine arts; and Italy, her distinguished seat, has
ever since been their chosen nursery. The chant of the
Catholic Church, which is said to be the noblest mon-
ument of the musical art, and incapable of improvement,
is ascribed to that holy and eminent father, St. Ambrose.
From the Church, music proceeded in all directions, till
it charmed the streets, the solitudes, and the courts of
Europe. It was not till 1022, however, that Guido — a
monk — designated, by points distributed upon lines and
spaces, the different sounds of the octave, whose notes
he is said to have named ut, re, me, fa, sol, la, from the
first syllables of the hymn of St. John Baptist :

Ut queant laxis resonare fibris,
Mira gestorum famuli tuorum,
Solvi pollute labii reatum.

The syllable si was subsequently added by Le Maire.

The science continued to advance among the Italians.
In 1330 John De Musis contrived the grand musical
scale now in use. In the middle of the fifteenth century
the laws of harmony became fully understood, and the
broad basis was laid for the refined combinations of mod-
ern music.

Not only in Italy, but wherever the Christian religion
has been received, music has been cultivated; and Flan-
ders, Germany, France, and England have produced some
of the most celebrated performers the world has ever seen.

music. 367

The tomb of Orlando d'Lasso bears the following ep-
itaph :

" Hie ille Orlandus Lassum, qui recreat orbem."

The names of Handel, Haydn, Mozart, are familiar as
household words. The musical talent of Handel mani-
fested itself before he was eight years old. At that early
period he was accustomed to steal into a remote apart-
ment when the rest of the family were wrapped in slum-
ber, to practice upon the harpsichord, and at nine he
composed motets for the service of the Churches.
Haydn, the son of a poor wheelwright, accidentally at-
tracted, in his eighth year, the attention of a chapel
master of Vienna, by his wonderful voice. Mozart seems
little less than a miracle. He put forth his invention in
grand, original compositions at five years of age, and at-
tempted notation which could hardly be deciphered; and
being carried abroad at that infantile age, he entranced
audiences in Bavaria, Munich, Vienna, Paris, London,
and charmed alike emperors, kings, courts, and crowds.
All these musicians continued to enjoy an enlargement
of their powers and their skill to the last hour of life.
From the history, let us pass to the power of music :
1. No mean proof of this is found in the fact that in
all lands it has been traced to celestial origin. In the
Bible we learn that when the earth was finished the morn-
ing stars sang together for joy. Then must there have
been music in heaven. This accounts for the fact that
mythology ascribes its origin to the gods; thus, the
Greeks attributed^ the lyre to Hermes. According to Di-
odorus, at the marriage of Cadmus with Harmonia, there
was a grand concert of the gods; Mercury brought his
lyre, Apollo a similar instrument, and Minerva and the
Muses their flutes. Bacchus is represented as the founder
of schools of music.

368 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

2. The greatest men, both of ancient and modern
times, have been among the advocates and patrons of mu-
sic. We need but mention Pericles and Socrates, amono-
the ancients; and Luther and Wesley, among the mod-
erns. It has been patronized by kings, and regulated by
legislatures; as in Greece in the days of Pericles, when
music was deemed essential to education; and in the
times of Servius Tullius, who, in his division of the peo-
ple into classes, directed that two entire centuries should
consist of trumpeters, hornblowers, and those who sounded
the charge; and as in the days of David and Solomon,
when the musicians were regularly trained and supported
by government. It received special attention from rulers
under the Ptolemies, the Antonines, and the Popes.

8. Another strong proof of music's power is the fact
that it usually makes its celebrated performers and
composers rich. Money is the best index to the value
which men put upon things. One of the myths concern-
ing Apollo shows how lucrative the profession of music
was in the fabulous ages. It is said that he stripped
Marsyas of his hide, not that he flayed him alive; but
that he threw the flute — the instrument which brought
Marsyas his riches — into discredit by introducing the
lyre, and thus prevented him from getting any more
hides — for the money of those times was made out of
leather. It seems, however, that flute stock afterward re-
vived, for we read that Ismenias, a Theban musician,
paid about three thousand dollars for a flute; a pretty
good proof that such instruments either found men rich,
or made them so. And this is strengthened by the state-
ments concerning the walls of this same Thebes, which
Amphion is said to have erected with his lyre.

Modern musicians have generally fared well in this
world's goods. Handel, though his fortune was broken
late in life, nevertheless left one hundred thousand

MUSIC.

dollars at his death. And the society which he founded
derived about thirty thousand dollars for one musical en-
tertainment, in commemoration of his honor. Haydn
was raised by his voice, from poverty to ease and com-
fort. Mozart, though reckless and imprudent in the
management of his finances, lived in style, and might
have commanded palaces. Jenny Lind is, or may be,
even in her blooming youth, a millionaire.

So much for performers. And if a distinguished com-
poser be not rich, it is his own fault; for an indifferent
ballad often brings fifty dollars, and the music for a
drama from one to six thousand dollars. Even in Ger-
many, where such services command the least remuner-
ation, Mozart obtained two hundred and fifty dollars for
the Magic Flute, ten times as much as Milton received
for his Paradise Lost.

The musician is rewarded with honor. Under the god
and demigod, the distinguished performers were deified;
in later ages they were the companions and tutors of he-
roes, kings, and philosophers. Thus, Chiron was the in-
structor of Achilles, and Linus of Hercules. The highest
honors at the Grecian games were often assigned to mu-
sicians. Thus, Terpander carried off successively four of
the prizes of the Pythean games. It is true, this musi-
cian suffered a little reverse of fortune; for, having added
three strings to the lyre, the Ephori — those rude magis-
trates of the ruder Spartans — fined him. At a later pe-
riod they banished Timotheus for adding two strings
more. Poor men ! they were afraid of innovation — afraid
lest the improvement might corrupt the ears of the youth
with too great a variety of notes.

Though these men have always had representatives on
earth, the march of the musician round the world is like
the march of a conqueror. How much more golden and
glorious was the progress of the sweet songstress of

370 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

Sweden, than was that of the exiled and eloquent patriot
of Hungary !

In many nations and ages musicians have not only been
admitted to palaces, but considered inspired. Orpheus is
said to have moved even stones and trees; and the pretty
fable of his descent, after his lost wife Euridyce, to the
infernal regions, where he charmed Cerberus, and even
Pluto, is but a significant representation of the feeling of
mankind in all ages. What shall we say, however, of the
story of the Thracian women, who, out of jealousy, mur-
dered him, even while his lyre, falling into the Hebrus,
sent forth its plantive sounds without its master's fingers,
as it floated down toward Lesbos? If this be true to na-
ture, let the performer beware !

Let us now pass to the applications of music. After
the decline of music among the stern Romans, we find
the orators using it to pitch their voices; each one
having a flute player behind him. We learn that the
Emperor Augustus, when he was advanced in life, em-
ployed a musician to regulate his intonations in ordinary
conversation. This reminds us of the story of Sir Isaac
Newton using the finger of a lady to whom he was
making love, for the purpose of pressing down the to-
bacco in his pipe; but this is an exception to the general
rule. Usually, music was employed for honorable uses.
It has been employed in all ages to contribute to the
amusement of private and public circles of pleasure ; to
beguile the shepherd as he watches his flocks; to enliven
birthdays, marriages, and other seasons of festivity, and
to give utterance to the gratitude of the agriculturist,
when he shouts the harvest home. It has also been used
as a medicina mentis, to relieve the tedium of irksome
duty, to dissolve oppressive cares, to allay the agitation
of a troubled mind, and revive the spirits of the languid.
Thus, in mythology, Bacchus is represented as never

music. 371

happy unless within the sound of Pan's sweet flute. In
the Bible we learn that Saul was cured of melancholy by
the harp of David. In Homer we find Achilles consol-
ing himself under insult by playing on the lyre, and
Paris trying his skill upon the strings, to obliviate the
disgrace of having fled before his foes. Luther was de-
votedly fond of music, and in all his troubles sought re-
lief in song, as well as prayer. Aristotle well denomin-
ated music the medicine of heaviness; and a song of
ancient Lacedaemon says, "that a good player on a flute
would make a man brave every danger, and even face iron
itself." Hence, we need not wonder that it has been em-
ployed in -war. From earliest times arms have clashed
on arms at the sound of the pean. Tyrteus was at once
celebrated as soldier and musician, and inventor of mil-
itary airs. He achieved a victory for the Lacedaemonians
by leading them against their enemies, to the sound of
his martial flute. Timotheus was a special favorite of
Alexander, and led that great general to arms by the an-
imating notes of his favorite instrument. In the middle
ages Prince Conrad led out his forces against Charles I
of Sicily, with a female choir, singing, accompanied by
cymbals, drums, flutes, violins, and other instruments.

But the chief application of music in all ages has
been to religion. A few remarks on the music of the
Christian Church.

Church music, anterior to the days of Gregory, was
strictly a sacred exercise, but subsequently it seems to
have been cultivated merely as a fine art, and employed
in the chants of the cathedral, as the pencil and the
chisel were on its walls. After the Reformation it was
restored to its place as a spiritual exercise; but latterly,
and especially in this country, it appears to be in a tran-
sition state in the Churches; a subject of contention be-
tween two parties, each of which occupies extreme

372 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

ground. One party is_ jealous of all science ; and if they
could have their way, they would make a sort of music
which men could hear as easily as any other noise.
They seem perfectly satisfied if only they can fit the
world to the tune, even though the one be short measure
and the other long. Should one side of the audience
sing in quick time, and the other in slow, it gives them
no particular uneasiness; for the quick singers can wait
at the end of a strain for the others to catch up. As to
choir or chorister they give themselves no trouble j for, as
in the street there will always be found some idle boy to
pitch a copper, so in the church there will always be
found some willing soul to pitch the tune. The views of
these brethren, if carried out, would lead the Church to
dispense, not only with note-books, but hymn-books, and
every other kind. This is one extreme; but I am bound
to say there is another. This regards singing merely as
an accomplishment. A few questions will enable us to
draw a just medium on this subject.

By whom should the music be led? — and this is a
far more important question than that of choirs, instru-
ments, etc. I answer, saints ! Would you ask sinners to
preach, or lead the prayers of the Church? What a
sorry reason for doing so would it be to say that they un-
derstand the science of elocution, or that they have
voices of extraordinary compass and sweetness ! What a
poor excuse, too, would it be to say that holy men com-
posed the matter which they utter! There is no more
reason for asking sinners to lead the singing, than to lead
the prayers of the Church; both are divine ordinances.

The impropriety must be seen, further, when we con-
sider that singing is the utterance of admonition, and
Christian emotion. What an awful farce for trifling sin-
ners to utter such solemn words as these :

"Lo, glad I come, and thou blest Lamb;"

music. 373

or for unrenewed hearts to cry out in hypocritical false-
ness,

" 0, would he more of heaven bestow,
And let the vessels break !"

The feeling which leads Churches to put wicked men
in the choir because of their superior musical skill,
would, if carried out, lead them to dramatize the Gospel,
and turn the Church into a theater. Let the singing be
as much a matter for godly judgment as any other part
of divine worship, and let Church judicatories select the
leaders of their music with as much care as they do their
ministers.

How shall the singing be performed? In such a way
that it may accomplish its end, which is not musical sen-
timentality, but the utterance of religious truth, and de-
votional feeling. There is a style of music which de-
stroys the matter in the sound. What would you think
of an orator whose attention was altogether taken up
with the harmony of his sentences, or the melody of his
voice ? There may be occasions on which it is proper —
as in concerts — that music shall be the primary object,
but such occasions are not found in the worship of God.

Luther and the reformers generally composed such sa-
cred strains as uninstructed people might soon be taught
to sing, and cautioned against a relapse into the compli-
cated music of the mother Church. John Wesley's cau-
tion against fugue tunes is still on record in the Disci-
pline.

Do not misunderstand me. I would not discourage the
cultivation of music as a fine art, or the study of the
performances adapted to the oratorio, as well as those
adapted to the Church; but I would have the two classes
of music kept distinct, and each confined to its proper
sphere.

374 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS.

This appears the more important when we consider
that singing is not only a divine ordinance, but a Chris-
tian privilege. We have no more right to introduce
such music as can not be easily learned by our religious
assemblies, than to pray in an unknown tongue, however
beautiful, or to use language in the pulpit, which, though
charming to ourselves, the greater body of our hearers
can not understand.

The more elevated music can scarce be expected to
have many cultivators in our country. Music, like stat-
uary and painting, can hardly flourish under a republic,
especially where wealth is so equally divided as it is here.
Where could you find performers capable of executing
some of the productions of the best masters, which, I
have been told, require five or six hundred skillful musi-
cians? or where find the wealth to compensate them for
their performances ?

No land on earth is better adapted to Church music;
the people are generally religious, education is widely
diffused, and the circumstances of the masses are such
as to allow them sufficient leisure for such a degree of
musical skill as will qualify them to join in praising God
in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.

Let us cultivate music; not merely as an elegant ac-
complishment or a delightful amusement, but a privilege
of the Christian; an ordinance of God; a means of spir-
itual edification and comfort; and a preparation for
heaven.

"Let your hearts [as well as instruments] in tune be found,
Like David's harp of 'solemn sound."

Brethren of the Church generally, inquire what is
your duty. Have you learned how to sing ? Have you
instructed your children ? Do you feel a religious obli-
gation to promote the science of music ?

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