as was done in the dark ages. In all
advancing time, as corruption is surmounted, there are more and more who
vividly feel that life does not consist in the abundance that a man
possesses, but in energy of spirit, and in a power and habit of
self-sacrifice: there are perpetually more and more who discern and live
by the persuasion that the pursuit of worldly power and ease is a matter
totally apart from the function of Christianity; and this persuasion has
not been wrought into activity by declarations of doctrine in any form,
but by the spectacle, vivid before the eye of the mind, of the Holy One
who declined the sword and the crown, lived without property, and
devoted himself to die by violence, in an unparalleled simplicity of
duty. The being himself is the mover here; and every great man is, in a
similar manner, however inferior may be the degree, a spring by which
spirits are moved. By the study of them may much of the consequent
movement be understood. The observer of British morals should gather up
the names of their idols; he will hear of Hampden, Bacon, Shakspeare,
Newton, Howard, and Wesley. In Scotland, he will hear of Bruce and
Knox. What a flood of light do these names shed on our _morale_! It is
the same with the Englishman abroad when his attention is referred in
France to Henri IV, Richelieu, Turenne, and Napoleon, to Bossuet and
Fenelon, to Voltaire, and their glorious list of natural philosophers:
in Italy, to Lorenzo de' Medici, Galileo, and their constellations of
poets and artists: in Germany, to Charles V, Luther, Schwartz, Goethe,
Copernicus, Handel, and Mozart. There is in every nation a succession of
throned gods, each of whom is the creator of some region of the national
mind, and has formed men into more or less of his own likeness.

The other kind of idols are those who are still living, and whose
influence upon morals and manners is strong, but may or may not be
distinguishably permanent. These afford a less faithful evidence,--but
yet an evidence which is not to be neglected. The spirit of the times is
seen in the character of the idols of the day, however the nation may be
divided in its choice of idols, and however many sects there may be in
the man-worship of the generation. In our own day, for instance, how
plainly is the movement of society discerned, from the fact of the
eminence of philanthropists in many countries! Whether they presently
sink, or continue to rise, they testify to a