observed the presence of two main influences, which I have called the ideas of the Infinite and Perfect Finite. This is only one way of looking at the subject. The great truths of the matter might have been presented by calling your attention to the fact that man is a Free Will, working mysteriously under and within an eternal necessity, as a Heathen would call it, or an Over-ruling God, as Christians think; and that in the various forms of Civilization, we see first the sense of the necessity governing, and then the feeling of man's own power; the first producing Spiritualism, Faith, Obedience; the second Materialism, Doubt and Questioning, leading to countless systems of Philosophy, and sects in Religion, and in private and public to Disobedience and Self-Will. Or 1 might have shown how in the East and Feudal Europe, the higher reason and feelings governed so exclusively as to cause mysticism, and prevent progress; while in Greece and Modern Europe the understanding and lower feelings govern, producing individual opinions, and destroying Reverence. Or by external emblems, I might illustrate my meaning; as by comparing the vast piles of Eastern sacred architecture, with the beautiful proportions of the Corinthian temple, the fantastic, mystical, gloomy, and yet lovely cathedral, and the plain, utilitarian mecting-house of our own day, where each man has his pew. Or by referring to the men and systems of the various times, the theocracy of Moses, the man-making code of Lycurgus, the feudal system, and our own written Constitutions and Benthamitish statute-books;-to the Greek Hercules, the Spanish Cid, the modern Washington or Howard.

These and many other modes might have been taken to bring the leading ideas before you; I have chosen that which I thought most intelligible. But, allow me to say, that no one without effort can fully receive into his mind what I would communicate; I can but direct his eye to the point, he must look for himself.

Supposing, however, that my hearers have gained to some extent an insight into the great principles of Civilization, heretofore and now prevalent in the world, as those principles present themselves to my mind, it will be readily seen that the great difficulty in the way of mankind, as it is in that of every individual, is to reconcile the Free Will with the Ruling Providence, to perfect the Finite under a sense of the Infinite; to make the reason and the understanding act in harmony and unison. This is the great problem of every man's life, and, as it seems, of national life. Keeping this in view, I would ask you, my friends, whether we, in this country, are to go on in the present civilization of Europe, or to aim at a higher? For, although the great Ruling power in national affairs, as in those of private life, shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will, yet are we bound constantly to use our own powers to ensure our own improvement. All of us may do more or less, as I said in the outset of my remarks, to affect the character of our republic, and by so doing to affect more or less the character of our civilization. For great civilizing principles do not spring up at once; they come in through centuries of change, and our day is probably among those centuries. In this land, if we mistake not, another and completer form of civilization is hereafter to be seen than has yet been witnessed; a form that shall unite the great truths of the previous systems; and, at length, after thousands of years perhaps, reach its utmost perfectness and pass away again. We are too fond of hurry to realize how slowly the great events of human history come about; living within sight of the first settlement of this vast valley, we already dream of its being more than a mere infant, and expect it to have a character, a literature, and institutions of its own. We live, my friends, in the first dawn of those great ideas which are to rule this continent; ignorant of their power; scarce recognizing their existence. The world saw two thousand five hundred years before Moses came; Greece had been struggling up for more than seven hundred years before Socrates, Plato, Demosthenes and Apelles lived; through a thousand years Europe travailed, before the civilization of Chivalry became mistress, and for nearly another thousand has Individualism been "progressing," as we say, and her progress has, as yet, by no means, reached its culminating point. We may, therefore, look forward over centuries to the day when the principles which I would now advocate shall rule, and yet in advocating them now, I am not doing a dreamer's work; we must plant the acorn, or our followers will not hew the oak; every mind now embued with, and acting upon, the principles of that higher civilization which may one day come, hastens its coming, and I should think life well-spent, could I lead one young man to bind himself, heart and soul, to these principles; so to bind himself as to live a Prophecy of the great day that is to come; could I do that, I should feel that I had planted my acorn.

The principles to which I refer, and from which I hope so much, are not new or peculiar, my friends, they are merely the principles of Christianity. You may tell me these have been active in the two last forms of civilization of which I have spoken; and so they have been, and have exerted an influence upon Europe and our own land; but nowhere, not even in one town, has the great central principle yet been Christian. The chief features of the Chivalric spirit we may see in the German nations before they heard the name of Jesus; and many of these features, and those which remained to the last, were utterly opposed to Christianity; such as the spirit of war, revenge, and honor. And in that idea which now prevails, though true and noble, is not Christianity most feebly seen? Christianity teaches Individualism, but it teaches the duties as well as the rights of individuals, and proposes a very different and far more spiritual civilization than that under which we live.

But it may be said that even if Christianity is not seen in life, its powers are fully recognized, and no more need be said about them. I cannot, however, think they are fully recognized. Too many still deem Christianity little more than an easy mode of securing future happiness. Others, seeing further, think it out of the question to act up to the requirements of their faith; as, for instance, they will hold the truth of the Peace principle, but think defensive war inevitable. While very few, I fear, even recognize the power of Christianity to secure national ends, to develope national character, to perfect our institutions, and secure them from change for the worse.

Now, the idea which I would present to you, my friends, is thisthat all which was good in former civilizations, and all that is so in our own, is included in Christian civilization; that Christianity covers all man's needs, and must enter all his doings; and that we may supply our present wants only through the spread of a living, practicable, heart-stirring Christian faith.

To ascertain those wants, let us look at the former central truths already given. How is it as to the first, Subordination based upon a sense of God's greatness and man's impotence-do we not lack this? I fear we do. It appears to me that from the cradle to the council-chamber, insubordination and a want of humility are too evident. Nor can it well be otherwise with the predominance of Individualism, which is the antagonist of Subordination. The boy, just from the nursery, learns his "rights," has "free opinions," is conscious of his equality with any, and will not submit to be "imposed upon." This leads to rebellion against parents, employers, teachers, and by and by the laws of the land. Little, oh! very little do we see of that deep awe, that elevating submission to the Divine will, that unfeigned humiliation, that spirit of obedience to Right, which filled the Pilgrims of New England, and enabled them among her barren hills to found an empire. They walked, not in the blindness of Eastern submission, but with an enlightened sense of the Infinite, such as Christianity alone has given man.

There is one form of insubordination so prevalent in our day, and so fatal to truth, that I cannot but glance at it. It is insubordination to authority in matters of opinion. To have opinions of our own, to think for ourselves, to reject all authority in matters of faith, these are among our axioms in life. But they lead, my friends, to this result-that we reject a large portion of the evidence which offers the only sufficient ground on which to rest opinions. Our opinions are based upon knowledge; to have an opinion on a subject of which we know nothing is evidently absurd. But our knowledge is derived as much, nay, more from the evidence of others, than from our own observations. We have not seen the whole earth, and sailed round it: we have not measured the Heavens, and traced the paths of the planets. All these things have been done by others, whose testimony we receive; and how absurd should we think the man who should, from his partial observations, have a "free opinion" respecting the law of gravity, in opposition to the views of Newton and Laplace. We take their views as authority, because to us they are not opinions, but testimony as to facts. But it is not in natural science only that the conclusions of those who have studied the matter become evidence to us; it is equally the case in politics, morals and religion. If, for instance, the first statesmen of our country represent a certain course of policy as most judicious, it is surely absurd in me to have an oppo

site opinion, and to reject their authority, because their authority is the very best evidence on which I can base an opinion; it is the surest knowledge I have on the subject.

And should some one who has lived much longer, and seen far more of the world than I have, assure me that any moral views presented to me are unwise or injurious, good sense would oblige me to receive his opinions as one item of evidence on which to rest my own conclusions. If other opinions, from equally wise men, opposed his, there would then be no sufficient ground to come to a conclusion; and I should have no opinion on the subject.

Thus I have no opinion respecting the inhabitants of the moon, because I have no knowledge on which to rest one. Neither have I any opinion as to the nature of light, because I find that Newton held one opinion, while Sir John Herschell and others incline to a different one. Had Newton's theory remained unquestioned, my opinion would have been with his; but new evidence prevents that result.

In like manner, upon many points of legislation, moral action, and religious truth, I have at present no opinion, because the best knowledge I have on these points is not consistent with any one view, and, as a follower of Bacon, I feel bound to wait for further light.

But, my friends, the tendency which we all have, in our love of Free Thought, is to form opinions upon every topic, unswayed by the opinions of others. This I deem one great source of scepticism and trouble in our day; and would therefore ask you to consider maturely the proposition that the best knowledge a young man can have respecting most political, moral, and religious points, consists in the opinions of his elders.

But I have not time to press this subject, nor to say more respecting the first great principle of Civilization, than merely to assert that we lack a deep sense of the Infinite, and a submissive, humble, and obedient spirit.

But should we lack these if Christianity were our ruling power? Did not Jesus refer at every moment to his Eternal Father? Is not submission taught in his every act and word? Can humility be learned elsewhere so well as of him? Oh no! my friends: all that the sages of India, the priests of Egypt, or the prophets of Pales