what the "curse of Ham," and the "letter to Onesimus," taken as divine authority for human action, lead to. This nation, unlike every other, has a sound principle for its basis, and has just learned its value at bitter cost. It has marked well the attitude which European institutions, religious and political, assumed during its struggle for life. It has seen them fellowship slavery for no other reason than the hope that it might destroy the Republic. It is beginning to see that, were the nation, vitally, either Roman Catholic or Episcopalian, the Republic could not be.

The logic of events, therefore, has forced the conflict upon us. It will not be bloody like the one through which we have passed, but it will be earnest, sharp, and protracted. It is America against the world Civilization based upon the assumption of " divine right" and "Apostolic succession," against civilization resting upon the natural right of equality before God and the law-the right of the nineteenth century to all the Divine love, all the revelation, all the spiritual insight enjoyed by any other preceding century.

On this one truth of natural right, we may plant our feet for the mental conflict, and demand with irrefutable logic that no theological .dogma shall insult that. We have seen enough of the broad sweep of the principle of unity to affirm that it is the key-note of the universe, and, of consequence, that any and every doctrine that makes discord with it is false. In the face of history, however sacred, and of men however reverend, the ever-living truth erects her standard, and on it is inscribed-"Unity." She demands that "your statement to be true, shall agree with all else that is true. You shall impose it upon mankind from no lower authority than that, and you need no higher."

The battle and the victory are for us, because of our one truth. That lies cradled in the bosom of every other. It derives no support from either king-craft or priest-craft. In the mongrel system made up of "divine right" and semi-popular suffrage existing on the other side of the water, we know that the divine right gentlemen, together with the "apostolic succession" dignitaries were its deadliest foes. They can be no other while they hold to that and its cognate dogmas. Yes, the battle is with us — and the victory. But the blessing is for all mankind.

"For, He that worketh high and wise

Nor pauseth in his plan,

Will take the sun out of the skies,

Ere freedom out of man!"

T

BY O. B. FROTHINGHAM.

HERE are differences of administration, for the very reason

that it is the same God who worketh all in all. It is the identity

of the Spirit which demands the diversity of form, for the form shows how the spirit adapts itself to the age. God is permanent, men are transient. God is always the same, men change from generation to generation. Nothing can modify the Creator, but the creature is modified by his circumstances, and his circumstances are never constantly the same. Even God seems a different being to men at different epochs of history. Even the Spirit seems to be so many different things, as the human mind at different periods apprehends it. The Spirit in man will not express its faith, its hope, its love, its worship, in precisely the same way in all countries, in all ages, among all people. It will express itself in a hundred different ways. All men do not speak Syriac or Greek. The Spirit in man will not be effectually touched by the same means in all countries, in all ages, among all people. If the Spirit is to flow it must be left free to follow the channels that are open. If the Spirit is to be touched, it must be touched by such means as are offered. In other words, there must be a correspondence between the Spirit and its forms, otherwise neither the Spirit nor its forms will live. The Spirit finds no expression; the forms give none. We speak of permanent forms. There are no such things as permanent forms. No forms are everlasting. No forms of society, no forms of government, especially no forms of religion. They must change the attempts to prevent their changing results in the deadening and defeating of the Spirit. chance of getting the Spirit at work, is to provide such an adminisOur only tration of it as shall assist and not embarrass its movement. Every where our suffering comes from the attempt to confine the new Spirit to the old form. Society attests this, the State attests it, the Church attests it, which refused to adopt an administration of affairs that was suited to the new Spirit which was animating the people. It was the unwillingness to accommodate institutions to ideas, it was the determination to retain the forms of the fifteenth century along with the soul of the nineteenth, that occasioned that tremendous convulsion from which we have by no means recovered yet. The murder of the President, of which yesterday was the anniversary, was but another terrible sign of the fatal effects that must ensue from putting new wine into old bottles.

Let us consider how in the administration of Religion the forms.

have adjusted themselves, and must go on adjusting themselves to the Spirit.

The old Spirit, or the Spirit as it was apprehended in the old times, underrated, humiliated, almost poured contempt upon man: it did pour contempt upon him in his natural state as a mortal creature. It felt that it could not exaggerate his weakness, his poverty, his perishableness, his mental imbecility, his spiritual decrepitude, his worthlessness in the regard of Deity. It was forever dwelling on the shortness of his existence, the feebleness of his hold on the world, his powerlessness against the elements, his peril from a host of enemies, the violence of his passions, the fickleness of his purposes, the inconstancy of his will, his short-sightedness, and his misery, his need of restraint and subjection. It called him by the vilest names, called him slave, and worm, heaped all manner of opprobrium upon him. This was the old Spirit everywhere. It was in conforming with this spirit that despotic governments asserted the divine right of their existence, that standing armies guarded the throne, that legions of politicians repressed every movement of the popular mind, that savage laws and barbarous institutions did the work of keeping the spirit of liberty down. Man was a wild beast to be caged and chained.

Religion did its part to encourage and perpetuate this spirit. Religion called man by the hardest names, held him in the sternest sub. jection, and overwhelmed him with the most appalling terrors. Her chief administration was aimed at impressing man with a sense of his own insignificance and beggary. Its forms were all constructed on the idea of his worthlessness, and framed with a view to making him feel small. In the temple he was made to feel himself a pigmy, an ant crawling over the vast stone floor. The immense spaces, above and around, the height, the depth, the gloom, the glory, the tall pillars, losing themselves in the twilight, the ponderous arches, the dizzying spires and spreading dome, the mysterious light, the crypts, the cells, the chapels, all conspired to dwarf man-to oppress him with space and silence, to beat down his pride, humble his reason, and overawe his imagination. They shut him out from the sunshine and the air. They were worlds in themselves, worlds in which he lost himself in nothingness.

Everything else was arranged to produce the same effect. The sacraments were perpetually reminding him that in himself he had no spiritual life. To get spiritual life he must go down on his knees, and eat this bread, which was not bread, but the very body of God — drink this wine, which was not wine, but the very blood of God, confessing as he did it, that there was no life in him.

Its

The creed made a point of baffling and insulting his reason. merit was that it could not be understood. He was to believe it because it was incredible. The altar fenced in from vulgar approach, with the strange emblems all about it, reminded him that he was a profane person whose feet must not touch holy places.

The consecrated priest, dressing as no other men dressed, living as no other men lived, insulting human affections by having neither wife nor child, neither home nor kindred, neither pleasure nor business, neither passion nor interest, stood above humanity, and flung it the crust of bread that was to support its soul, mocking all the while its miserable estate.

The pulpit was set up high above the multitude that the words might drop down on them like manna from heaven. The sermon had nothing to do with politics or business, or any worldly affairs whatever, but dealt with the great mysteries of faith and made a point of affronting, staggering and crushing the human reason.

The Bible-the holy book-the book of enigmas - the book written by the finger of God himself, and which God only through his priests could interpret the book which no created mind conceived, and no created mind could understand: the venerable, the awful book of enchantment, miracle and power-sole fountain of truth — sole source of wisdom - sole spring of influence was spread out on its sacred cushion, and read with tone of authority which seemed to say: "All other books save this are worthless. Your books of science, history, poetry, literature - you may burn them all, they are miserable products of the benighted intelligence of man. Good for nothing; only misleading him to his ruin." The human mind was deliberately insulted every time the Bible was opened, for the Bible, it was intimated, was the only book worth reading, and the human mind had no hand in making it.

The very music of religion was composed in the same spirit of depreciation of man. It helped to deepen his sadness, to embitter his sorrow, to weaken his heart. It drowned him in its great surges of sound. It carried him away on the torrent of its harmonies, it plunged him into gulfs of despair, it troubled him, disturbed him, shook him with fearful emotion, overstrained his feelings till they sank exhausted to the earth, dissolved him in a tumult of sensations which took away his self-command. It did not express his own wishes; it gave voice to the Church's commands. It was the chanted creed. On every side man was reminded of his want and littleness. On every side the sense of want and littleness was aggravated and intensified by what he saw and heard. He was encompassed about by humiliations.

Not a rite, not a ceremony, not a usage, not an emblem but bade him bear in mind that he was a clod, or a reed having its root in a clod. He could not open a hymn book, or hear a prayer without having his abjectness and his ignominy thrust into his face.

Is this spirit of contempt for man the prevailing spirit now? Everything bears witness that it is not. The new spirit, or the spirit as at present apprehended, is precisely the opposite of this. It is respect for man, honor for man, confidence in man, belief in man, we may almost say it is veneration for man. It takes man for granted, worships him, exalts him, glorifies him, discovers in him all the hidden powers which are to regenerate the world. Everything, I say, attests this. Our whole modern life attests this, personal and social, private and public, civil and political. Our republican institutions rest upon it, our republican idea in its purest form is instinct with it. Our theories of popular liberty, of universal rights, universal suffrage, universal education, all betray it. Our protests against des potic rule, unequal legislation, aristocratic institutions, caste privileges, arbitrary distinctions of orders and classes, are all eloquent with it. It inspires every popular movement. Commerce is full of of it, trade is organized in accordance with it; mechanical industry claims to be regarded and honored in the light of it. It is this that demands equal civil and political rights for black men and for white. It is this that claims for woman the benefit of the principle “No taxation without representation." It is this that calls for the recognition of the human even in the weak, the vicious, the criminal and the guilty. All our achievements glorify man. Our industries demonstrate his power over the elements. Our sciences prove his ability to master the secret of the universe. Our useful arts display his skill in adapting nature to his needs. Our literatures exhibit his capacity of giv ing voice to every noble emotion, and every fine thought. Our dis coveries evince his power to draw out the hidden wisdom which God has stored away in his creation. Our inventions disclose his marvellous tact in combining the elements of utility and beauty, and mak ing the forces above and below minister to him. Wherever we turn we come upon the traces of this new spirit. It is the most real element in every modern thing. It gives the characteristic sign that a thing belongs to the modern world. It has not possessed everything yet; it has not possessed government-witness the perversity of the politicians who kneel with pregnant hinges before the President. It has not possessed criminal legislation - witness the barbarous execu tion of Edward Green, ten days ago, in Massachusetts. It has not possessed education witness the perverse unwillingness to educate