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CHAP. VIII.

GOVERNING MOTIVES-VENERATION.

ADVANCING still higher in the contemplation of the elements of character, up to that which may be compared to the key-stone of the arch,-touching even upon sentiments and emotions whose highest exercise is in the very act of worship, it is impossible not to feel the delicate ground upon which we tread, and the danger there is of misconstruction, even while exercising the utmost care, lest any inadvertent expression should seem to trespass, with things temporal, upon those which are purely spiritual in their nature.

I shall feel best satisfied, therefore, again to place my meaning under a form which has already been used— again to beg the reader distinctly to bear in mind, that I am not speaking of these high moral sentiments in reference to a life beyond the grave, but to the life we are living in this present world; and I still maintain, that truth, justice, benevolence, or any other high moral sentiment, is as valuable to mankind as knowledge; or, in other words, that the right exercise of these sentiments has as important an influence upon human happiness as high attainment in any branch of art or science.

But the great difficulty arises out of the old question, -How teach any of these good things,-especially con

Its highest use, of

scientiousness, without religion? course, we cannot teach, any more than the highest use of reason; but as regards its healthy exercise, its simultaneous growth with that of the bodily frame, and its general cultivation and encouragement under an improved system of education, I reply, that conscientiousness may be taught, and expected, in the same way that we teach, and expect to find, order, method, civility, or cleanliness. We expect all these from our poor uneducated servants. We expect them to be honest, moreover, whether they are religious characters or not. If they steal our property, we make little allowance for the absence of religious principle on the guilty side; nor, in fact, is it considered, generally speaking, an essential point in those persons with whom we transact business, that they should be religious, though all the while we are requiring of them the strictest honesty and truth. Beyond this, we are continually warned from the pulpit against depending upon that pure and elevated morality which unbelievers sometimes exhibit. So that it would seem evident that there is such a thing generally recognised amongst mankind as a high moral condition, independently of religion.

Nor do I think we injure, but rather serve, the cause for which our blessed Saviour suffered and died, by frankly admitting this to be the case, and as frankly admitting, too, that morality is many-many degrees better than immorality, even though it cannot save the soul. In fact, it seems to me, that, by this candid admission, we keep in reserve, with greater force and clearness, the one great motive which the Gospel sets before us-the hope of acceptance with God upon grounds entirely different from any merit of our own; seeing

that if we possessed every merit of which we are capable of forming an idea, and even if our characters exhibited all that beautiful harmony which it is the legitimate object of education to produce,-if we had so cultivated to the best advantage all our intellectual powers, and crowned them with the noble superstructure of the highest moral sentiments-we should be still unredeemed -unsaved-without the slightest claim to be called the adopted sons and daughters of God, unless we had accepted, on his own terms, the offers of pardon, and the means of salvation, which the Gospel sets before us. After these are accepted, after that change has passed over the whole being which we recognise in the word Conversion, it will not be the moral sentiments alone that will receive the Divine impress, but the whole being, with all its powers and faculties, will become renewed in spirit and in life, and thus dedicated to the service of God.

I feel under the necessity of presenting this view of the case again and again, because, the higher we rise in the contemplation of character, the more the want of this dedication is felt; and consequently the more dangerous it seems to speak of such sentiments as are now under consideration, without strict reference to their highest exercise, and noblest use. But the truth is still the same, that these sentiments, faculties, or whatever we may choose to call them, may be lawfully cultivated and beneficially applied to social and moral purposes, even when the religious motive is not present. If, with the educator, the religious motive should be in full force, there will be, in the direction given to these sentiments, the highest aim to which any human power can be devoted. And there will always be this great advantage

in a rightly conducted moral education, that the Christian will be the better for it, after he has devoted himself to the service of his heavenly Master. He cannot be the worse. Habit is strong with all. Often-repeated impressions deepen and strengthen in their influence, and character retains its bias even amongst converted people -some, how wayward, inconsistent, and defective! Who will dare to say, that any Christian, however exalted his career, however entire his devotedness, can suffer from having been early accustomed, in all his actions, to a strict and impartial reference to right and wrong?

That particular element of character which it is necessary now to consider, may be called respect, or reverence for superiority, under any form. In its most striking manifestation it may be recognised as a sense of awe, amounting, under certain circumstances, to veneration. That almost all human beings have this sense by nature, in a greater or a less degree, is shown by the habits of heathen nations, where the tendency to worship finds no happier exercise than in senseless idols. In almost all these cases, the feeling in itself, and in its mode of exercise, is closely allied to fear: in the Christian religion it is especially distinguished as being allied to love.

This natural feeling-in consequence, no doubt, of its not having been properly directed in early youth-is manifesting itself in a peculiar manner in our country at the present time, by exciting a taste for the revival of ancient forms and ceremonies connected with religion, and even by a return to the profession of a faith which would seem more appropriately to belong to a darker and less civilized condition of society: and this manifestation of the sentiment of veneration is the more

remarkable, as it bears no corresponding relation to the rapid advance of the English people generally in almost every branch of intellectual attainment.

To those individuals who have naturally a large endowment of this sentiment, or tendency, with small reasoning powers, and especially if they have by nature small conscientiousness, there is no great enjoyment in doing what is simply right for its own sake; but it is a positive relief to such persons, sometimes even a luxury, to become occupied in those observances of a religious nature which are supposed to derive sacredness from antiquity, or importance from the authority of high dignities or venerable institutions. Such persons cannot find God in a conventicle, nor reach the throne of mercy by an unauthorised prayer. Their sense of reverence has been so active, and so little under any kind of reasonable direction, that it has laid hold of all the trappings and accompaniments which it has met with, in the most accredited way of holiness; and so has learned to worship them, and call them holy. It would have been within the legitimate province of education, in the early exercise of this faculty, to direct such characters onwards to the holiest of all.

But there are other persons who still exercise this faculty, and yet never reach religious things at all; for the feeling may be entirely expended upon objects which belong exclusively to the present life. The artist, for instance, may reverence beauty as his supreme good; the man of business may reverence wealth; the lady of fashion may reverence the world. Indeed, the whole character depends so much upon the exercise of this faculty-in other words, upon what we most reverence within our heart of hearts,-that, for this reason, I have