law, where all things are moving calmly and orderly forward, obedient to one central principle of providence, which will yet vindicate the ways of God to men, and ultimate in a final harmony worthy of being celebrated in the choral song of a redeemed and glorified humanity.

It is one of the moral inferences, drawn by exact thought and induction, in a scientific study and estimate of nature, that He who wheels forever forward, in perfect order, vast astral systems, composed of majestic suns, through their inconceivable orbits, on a ceaseless journey through the trackless bounds of the celestial ether, will certainly overrule the forces and issues of our moral being to final results worthy of Him who in wisdom endowed us with the high behests of immortality. There are no atheistic spaces in nature from which God has retreated; no natural forces that are to operate in lawless disorder, over whose action no providence broods; no blind and fatalistic energies let loose in the world of physical being to play their pranks, regardless of some high end tending to conserve the final perfection and harmony of things. This is one of the positive, moral inductions of modern science.

We conclude with the remark that science does not stop with the mere exernal facts of nature and natural phenomena, but goes deeper to the central principles that underlie these appearances, and distinguishes profound relations and inner harmonies flowing out of laws, universal in their sweep, that operate beneath the surface of things. "Nature becomes," says Professor Dana, "a living expression, as full as is possible in finite language, of the perfections of the Supreme Architect, with whom to create has ever been to evolve beauty amid displays of wisdom and beneficence." And rising from the sphere of dead matter and blind, natural forces, by that necessary gradation of thought which sees in all of nature only an expression of the thought and wisdom of God, to the consideration of higher spiritual forces with their laws, we discover in the moral economy the same central principle; and thus are led to believe that all the seeming confusion and disorder of the moral world will yet be resolved, under the same benignant Providence that presides over the realm of physical nature, into a final harmony and ultimate good which will be a realization of

that dream of Tennyson, when he sings this latest thought of modern science into beautiful verse,

"So was my dream

One God, one Law, one Element;

And one, far-off Divine event

Toward which the whole creation moves."

G. W. S.

ART. XIX.

Idolatry Better than Practical Atheism.

WHENEVER professed Christians take occasion to speak of the condition of the pagans, it is customary to give expression to no small degree of pity. In this we assume, as a matter of course, that idolatry is the lowest stage of degradation to which a human soul can sink. A whole. nation humbling itself before idols of wood and stone, we look upon as a very humiliating spectacle. It seems to us a most deplorable destiny, that so many millions of the human race are doomed to the ignorance and the grovelling superstitions of heathenism.

Of course, we all contrast this unhappy fate with what we assume to be our own much more fortunate condition. We affect to be glad that whatever other misfortune we may suffer, we, at all events, are spared the misfortune of being pagans. We make ourselves happy with the assumption, that we have secured a purer faith and a nobler wisdom; and we can never sufficiently congratulate ourselves that we do not worship stocks and stones, four-footed beasts and creeping things. Such is the general way in which we talk about pagans and paganism,-such is the general tone in which we exult over our escape from the doom of paganism.

In what is to follow we expect to show, that in such assumptions in regard to paganism, there is more of conceit than humility-more of presumption than Christian philos

ophy. Paganism is not by any means the worst thing in the world. A man may do something worse than worship a brazen image. He may be in a more deplorable state of mind and heart, than thinking it right to worship brazen images. On the contrary, the worship of idols, so far as it is sincere, so far as it is the best thing the worshipper can do, is, in fact, quite commendable. It is commendable for the reason that it is worship. It may be poor religion, but, so far as it is honest, it is religion. And the saying is just, that the poorest religion is a great deal better than no religion.

The fact of the superiority of the Christian over all forms of pagan worship, does not at all militate with the other fact, that sincere worship of any kind, is still worship -is essentially religion. No one will dispute that a broadcloth garment is preferable to such skins of wild animals as our barbarous ancestors are said to have worn. Nevertheless, the skin of a wild beast, worn as a garment, is better than no garment at all. Stone palaces are better to live in than the rude wigwam such as the savages rear; still, the meanest hut, as a shelter, is much better than no shelter. The soul that can lift to its God that worship "in spirit and in truth," which the New Testament requires, does vastly wiser and better than to go through the grosser forms of heathen adoration; but, for the same reason that a poor dwelling is better than entire exposure-that even a ragged garment is better than nakedness, the grossest form of heathen worship is better than a total indifference to every species of worship. The point is here, idolatry is not a bad thing. The worst that can be said of it is, that it is a poor quality of what, in itself, is really a good thing. It is merely a crude and imperfect attempt to do what every soul should do- worship God.

The monuments of the country show that the ancient Egyptian saw even in a snake, a symbol of the Divine Being; and he certainly paid religious homage to four-footed beasts and creeping things. The enlightened Christian beholds the image of God in the face of Jesus, and, in the light of that countenance, he can worship God as his heavenly Father, and worship Him in the beauty of holiness. Now, it is not in words to describe how much greater is the Christian thought and worship than the Egyptian. Never

theless, the man, living it may be in a Christian land, who does not see God in anything, and who does not feel impelled to offer to God any worship at all, is as much below the Egyptian as the genuine Christian is higher.

What, let us here inquire, is the merit, the essential merit, of worship? Why is it a good thing to worship God? The true answer is this: In the act of worship the worshipper makes an acknowledgement of his weakness and dependence. It is an attitude of humility. It is a reverential sense of a power greater, wiser, and purer than himself. It is a confession, in the sincerest way, that of himself alone he is not sufficient. It is a willingness to ask aid from a greater source of strength. And we have the verdict of the world, the testimony of the general heart, that this supplicating attitude of the soul, is a virtue. We see at once, that it is a virtue which the conceited, self-sufficient, arrogant spirit will never practice. We can but feel and know that it is the humble, supplicating soul which comes nearest the true excellence, which is approved of God.

Now in the attempt to worship, it will be nothing strange if a great many and very serious mistakes are made. We may go to God with very unworthy views of his nature. We may fail to see his real greatness. We may imagine him to possess a disposition which is revolting to pure minds. And we may not have very distinct notions of the reasons why men should worship God. It is on such points as these that the world is divided. All the sects in the Christian, not to add the heathen world, are founded on different views of the nature of the Supreme Being, and of the reasons why men should worship him. And if on these points they err, they are guilty simply of mistake. And need we ask, is there anything sinful in a mistake? If a man is sincere, if he has done the best he can do under all the circumstances, if he has been true to the light that is in him, if all this can be said of him, then is he to be justified rather than censured, whatever may be his errors of judgment. And such precisely is the case with the honest idolater. He has made a mistake in supposing that a reptile can be a true symbol of the Divinity. He has committed a serious error of judgment in supposing that by bowing before idols of wood and stone, he is rendering to God the highest and most acceptable worship. But not

withstanding these and kindred errors of judgment, give the idolater due credit. Concede to him this virtue at least -he does really worship. The light in his soul is indeed dim; his conceptions of the Being of beings is indeed crude, and it may be, to more cultivated tastes, revolting; still, he has attained one great virtue-he worships something. He has made the discovery that some thing ought to be worshipped. He has taken at least one important step in the road which leads upward to the true and living God. He has reached the knowledge which lies at the basis of all religious truth, that man shall not live by bread alone-he has learned thus much, though he may not know, that he lives "by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God." The divine life is at least born in his soul,-a life which, if properly educated, and enabled to reach full maturity and strength, shall become that life-eternal which consists in knowing God, and Jesus Christ, who is the brightness of his glory.

Now there can be no question that here in enlightened America, the number is innumerable, who, so far as religious life is concerned, are much below the most ignorant idolater. Provided the act is honest, it is, as we have said, a virtue to worship anything-no matter what is worshipped, the mere act of worship, if sincere, is religion. But are there not people in our midst who do not worship anything? Are we not surrounded by practical atheists, persons who are striving to live without any recognition of an object of worship? Who, let us ask, is the actual atheist? We are not to take it for granted that all persons who profess to doubt the existence of a Supreme Being are therefore prac tical atheists; nor are we to assume that no person can be a practical atheist who does profess to believe in the existence of a Supreme Being. We know many persons who give utterance to speculative doubts as to the existence of a God, who are nevertheless at heart and in life, really devout men. Their intellects have got bewildered on the subject, but still they have genuine religious feeling; they are conscious of deep spiritual wants; they derive comfort and strength from devotional exercises; their sympathies are all on the side of religion; they do really feel that they could not live upon material comforts alone. In view of their speculative doubts, such persons might properly enough be called theo