the exercise; sincerity of soul towards God, in its conduct. Some of these things he can do if he is not a proficient in the art of music; and all of them he can do, if he is. Let his choir have evidence of his interest in this part of worship, and in all their studies, practice, improvement and manner of public performance. A choir should feel on every Sabbath, and in the performance of every psalm or hymn, that there is a deep and steady sympathy between themselves and the minister in the pulpit; and that they, in the songs of the sanctuary, are laborers with him for the edification of the solemn assembly. And, with piety, and talents, and soundness in the faith, and devoutness in the pulpit for the work of prayer and preaching; and with piety, united with taste and skill in the orchestra; and all these devoted, from Sabbath to Sabbath, to the high object of glorifying God and seeking the good of immortal souls; we know not why these earthly temples may not be rendered scene of much happy foretaste of heaven, and of rapid preparation of goodly multitudes to rejoice in praising God our Redeemer, in the anthems of eternity.

ART. VI. THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF ON MoRALITY, GOVERnment, and Literature.

By Rev. WM. W. ANDREWS, Kent, Conn.

"THE special, sole, and deepest theme of the world's and man's history," says an eminent German poet and philosopher, "whereto all other themes are subordinated, remains the conflict of unbelief and belief." This is one of the master truths which help to unravel the riddle of the world, by determining the causes of national grandeur and declension. No subject so absorbs the attention of all classes in our times, as the sources and conditions of national prosperity; and not without reason; for innumerable states have never arisen into moral or intellectual greatness; and of the few that have, the

glory of most has been meteor-like, followed by a long and starless night. And it is, perhaps, a hopeful sign that the wisest men of our country are coming to realize this truth with all its momentous consequences, and are inquiring whether they cannot flank our decaying institutions with new bulwarks of strength. The interest which the subject of education has recently awakened in the minds of our most intelligent and patriotic citizens, and the sound doctrines which have been taught concerning it, by many of our guides in religion and literature, show that if we must perish, we shall not perish unwarned, nor without a struggle for truth and righteousness. And I trust it will not be thought unseasonable in respect to the awakening feelings of the people to these great truths, nor inappropriate to the objects of this work, if I bring my humble contribution towards the resolution of the question, What are the essential elements and indispensable conditions of the true greatness and blessedness of a nation? having especial reference to the circumstances and dangers of our own country.

We must at the outset determine wherein the well-being of a nation consists, for our views of the causes of its prosperity, will depend upon our ideal of a state. What then should the patriot desire for his country? Not wealth or power chiefly, nor at all as ends, but as means; for they have often existed with the greatest corruption of morals, and decay of all true greatness. The ultimate end of a state is the education of the People, meaning thereby the development and cultivation of their physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual being, not only in reference to the life that now is, but also that which is to come. Or I should have rather said, this is the ultimate end of the entire constitution under which we are placed, of which the state is one and but one of the essential parts. The cultivation of the moral and spiritual faculties of man, is assigned immediately to the church, and the two institutions having separate but not conflicting ends to answer, are to move in distinct, yet harmonious spheres.

The great problem for the statesman is, to awaken the energies of the people into the most intense and vigorous life, and at the same time to give harmony and the right direction to all their movements. The institutions of the state must be stable, or they cannot give that security to private rights and privileges which is essential to domestic

happiness. And they must derive that stability, not from the overwhelming crushing power of the government, but from the reverence and cheerful obedience of the people, or there will be no freedom, and therefore no sphere for the workings of individual energy. We seek then for a principle which shall at once arouse into activity the mind of the nation, and impel it securely along its prescribed path; and the fruits of which shall be wise and stable political institutions, a healthful state of public morals, and a rich and vigorous literature. Such a principle we shall find in Faith, using the word in its widest import, to express all those feelings and acts which have reference to the invisible. The sharp-sighted German, whom I just quoted, never uttered a more profound and comprehensive truth; for the philosophic study of history, will show us that the political, intellectual, and social character of nations, have to a great extent been determined by the degree of predominance which the one or the other of the conflicting principles of belief and skepticism have attained, during their unceasing struggle. Faith, which has its origin in the moral being of man, and presupposes a responsible will, leads him to look upon the visible world as a symbol of the invisible. It is a deep and heartfelt conviction of the incommensurateness of the present life and the world of the senses, to his necessities and capabilities, and a firm belief in something higher, nobler, and more enduring. An existence which is terminated by the few and evil days of our earthly pilgrimage, is not enough for him whose thoughts range through eternity. It is too narrow to give scope to his energies, and satisfaction to his desires. He longs for immortality. He feels himself capable of it, and that it would be a grievous wrong to his own being. to cast away such glorious hopes, and sink himself to the level of the beasts that perish. To faith, therefore, the temporal is a foreshadowing of the eternal. Skepticism shuts man up within himself, and within the limits of the things that are seen, and makes the objects of the senses the sum total of all that has existence; while faith reveals to him forms of being that have a power, a majesty, and a permanence, that are not of earth. She connects him with a higher spiritual sphere, which encompasses this present life, even as the infinite firmament doth the world of our habitation. She seeks for a firmer than any terrestrial ground, on which she may stand as her Rock of refuge. While skepticism

hems man in within the narrowest bounds and severs all the bonds which unite him to an invisible world of truth and power, she seeks enlargement for him from such a bondage to sense, and clasps him in the strongest, holiest union, with that awful One who is the life and strength of the universe. The life of man, brief and perishable as it is, thus becomes interlinked with the everlasting. Though of the dust, and a child of sorrows and tears, he is brought into communion with him who inhabits eternity, and who can impart divine strength, and pour healing balm into the wounded spirit. In a word, faith recognises an invisible and divine power, whose agency is perpetually manifest, to whose law all are responsible, and in whom are the archtetypes and realities of all the beauty and grandeur of this lower sphere. She finds in all things symbols of spiritual truths, and values the objects of the senses, not so much for their practical uses, as for their symbolical and representative character. The proper objects of faith are those great truths which, in their fulness and without admixture of error, are set forth alone in the sacred books of our religion; but some of which are found more or less distorted and corrupted, in all religious writings and traditions. The truths which gleam through the superstitions of antiquity, were derived from the pure fount of patriarchal times; and amongst many nations, they retained so much of their original and uncorrupted strength, as to have a salutary influence upon the national character. But whenever they became so poisoned by intermixtures of falsehood, as to lose the power of truth, faith degenerated into superstition. The difference between these principles may be thus expressed. Faith finds in the visible world symbols of the invisible, but she passes beyond them, to lay hold of the truth and power which they represent. Superstition, on the other hand, worships the symbols; while skepticism shatters them altogether, and denies that there is any higher spiritual world to be represented by the things that are seen. Thus the mind, in which dwells the idea of God as a pure Spirit, the Maker and Controller of all, sees with delight the impress of his power and wisdom in the vast variety and wonderful glories of his works, but soars beyond them all to worship Him whom no eye hath seen nor can see. The heaven is his throne, and the earth is his footstool, but neither contains any symbol of the Divine Majesty to which we may pay homage. But superstition, believing in

a power mightier than the merely human, and yet unable to rise to the idea of one purely spiritual, self-affirming Being, either worships it in sun, moon, or stars; or makes old heroes and legislators loom up through the darkness of antiquity in superhuman majesty. But it must be remembered that fragments of great truths have been incorporated into many superstitious systems, and given them a healthful power over the popular mind. Great as was the difference between the Jehovah of the Hebrews and the gods of the early Romans, it was not enough to destroy utterly the purifying and elevating influences of faith on the minds of this simple and fervent people. Lord Bacon is too unqualified and absolute when he says, "It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion as is unworthy of him;" for much error may be mingled with truth without converting it into poison.

The effects of faith on the morality of a people, result from the feeling of responsibility which it creates by revealing the fact of a law-giver and a law; from the idea of moral excellence which it unfolds; and from the motives which lie in its disclosures of the glories and terrors of the world to come. Where there is no faith, there is no sense of obligation; and where this is wanting, the moral life of a people is dead. There must be a law originating out of ourselves, and fastening responsibility upon us with ada. mantine bonds, or there will be no effectual curb upon our evil passions. But skepticism destroys the very idea of law, and leaves man to the whirlwind of his own undisciplined and impetuous appetites. It also shuts him out from the contemplation of all those purifying and ennobling truths, which pertain to the spiritual world, and thus destroys an other check to the workings of his rebellious will. Its fruits have always been selfishness, hard-heartedness, and sensual pollution. But where there is belief in the heart of man, there is the feeling of duty issuing in cheerful submission and unconstrained obedience to law. He regards himself as subordinated to a higher Power, and that sense of respon sibility induces habits of self-control, without which morality cannot exist. The lower, baser passions of our nature are thus subjugated to principles and laws which have a nobler origin and purer essence than belongs to the world of the senses. But this is not all. Faith does more than throw the bonds of law around a people; it also quickens their