CONTENTS OF NO. III. VOL. I. THIRD SERIES I. INFLUENCE OF FAITH UPON INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER, By Rev. C. B. BOYNTON, Troy, N. Y. 3. Barnes' Notes on Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. 4. Cormenin's History of the Popes. 9. Mayer's Expository Lectures. 1. Subscribers who do not give express notice to the contrary, are considered as wishing to continue their subscription. 2. If subscribers order the discontinuance of their periodicals, the publisher may continue to send them till all arrearages are paid, and subscribers are responsible for the numbers sent. 3. If subscribers neglect or refuse to take their periodicals from the office to which they are directed, they are held responsible till they have settled their bills, and ordered them discontinued. 4. If subscribers remove to other places without informing the publishers, and their periodicals are sent to their former direction, they are held responsible. 5. 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We hope all will now send what they owe in this way or in a letter. We are grateful to the Postmaster General for this accommodation, as it will enable us to receive our pay in a very convenient way. THE BIBLICAL REPOSITORY AND CLASSICAL REVIEW. THIRD SERIES, NO. III.-WHOLE NUMBER LIX. ARTICLE I. THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH UPON INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER. By Rev. C. B. BOYNTON, Troy, N. Y. In this age, so far removed from the influence of ancient opinions, and among a people so eminently practical as we are, any allusion to a faith which controlled the nations twenty or thirty centuries ago, may appear like the pedantry of a school-boy, or at least, be considered an unwise attempt to draw off the mind from its active duties in the real world, to wander among the visions of one purely ideal. A belief in the invisible has very little direct 'influence upon our nation. Indeed, Protestant Christendom yields but slightly to any impressions from the spiritual world. This is a matter of fact era, and facts, with us, are such truths as can be tested by the senses. Whatever can be touched and seen and used moreover, for some profitable purpose, is allowed to have a real being. A railroad, or a steamboat, or a cotton-factory, or a bond and mortgage, or bank notes at par, or coin, they are veritable things. A man may THIRD SERIES, VOL. I. NO. III. 26 believe in them and not be called a dreamer, or a fanatic; but whosoever will not shout, "these are thy gods, O Israel," is stared at as a relic of the stupid past. If we were called upon to name the one great fact of modern times, the truth most interesting to all classes, we should mention "available funds" as decidedly, and without a rival, holding the first place in the human mind, the "zo xalov" of these latter days. Mammon and Philosophy have preached a crusade against all spiritual things, and they have well nigh hunted them from the earth. There are no fairies now to make their homes in the flower cups, to sleep under the shadow of a leaf, or to revel by moonlight on the green sward. The good genii have been banished, the witches have all been exorcised, and the land has rest. It was said of Cervantes, that he "smiled Spain's chivalry away." Thus Mammon and Philosophy have sneered out of existence that unseen world, which once presented so many wonders and beauties to the imagination of man. Even the nurses have been compelled to invent new stories wherewith to frighten the young. The infant philosopher will smile in contempt at wizards and fairies, and speak of a ghost as an optical illusion. It will be said, perhaps, this is well: the spirits which flitted in the twilight of paganism must of course be banished by the beams of true religion. It is well; blessed be our Redeemer for disenchanting the world. But though we grant this, there still remains a question of deep importance to the present age. Are we not in danger of forgetting that the presence and power of that false system which once ruled the nations, demonstrate the existence of a spiritual world, which is not a falsehood, but a solemn and enduring reality? The counterfeit is the representative of the genuine coin. In the eager and praiseworthy attempt to release the mind from the thraldom of the ancient superstition, have we not, in a measure, banished the false and the true together? |