lity which can restrain and ennoble its votaries, provided it be
inculcated and received in a befitting spirit. Our critic, in the
plenitude of his familiarity with such matters, confidently asks:--

[214] "Who is now made wretched by the fear of hell?"

Possibly the belief in the material hell, the decadence of which he
here triumphantly assumes to be so general, may have considerably
diminished; but experience has shown that, with the advance of
refinement, there is a concurrent growth in the intensity of moral
sensibility, whereby the waning terrors of a future material hell are
more than replaced by the agonies of a conscience self-convicted of
wilful violation of the right. The same simple faith has, in its
practical results, been rich in the records of the humble whom it has
exalted; of the poor to whom it has been better than wealth; of the
rich whose stewardship of worldly prosperity it has sanctified; of the
timid whom it has rendered bold; and of the valiant whom it has raised
to a divine heroism--in fine, of miracles of transformation that have
impelled to higher and nobler tendencies and uses the powers and gifts
inherited or acquired by man in his natural state. They who possess
this faith, and cherish it as a priceless possession, may calmly oppose
to the philosophic reasoning against the existence of [215] a Deity and
the rationalness of entreating Him in prayer, the simple and sufficient
declaration, "I believe." Normal-minded men, sensible of the
limitations of human faculties, never aspire to be wise beyond what is
revealed. Whatever might exist beyond the grave is, so far as man and
man in their mutual relations are concerned, not a subject that
discussion can affect or speculation unravel. To believers it cannot
matter whether the Sermon on the Mount embodies or does not embody the
quality of ethics that the esoteric votaries of Mr. Froude's "new
creed" do accept or even can tolerate. Under the old creed man's sense
of duty kindled in sympathy towards his brother, urging him to achieve
by self-sacrifice every possibility of beneficence; hence the old creed
insured an inward joy as well as "the peace which passeth all
understanding." There can be no room for desiring left, when
receptiveness of blessings overflows; and it is the worthiest direction
of human energy to secure for others that fulness of fruition. Is not
Duty the first, the highest item of moral consciousness; and is not
promoting