A Beautiful Thing

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EDITOR'S TABLE. 547

For all unfit I feel my powers to be To guide their torrent in the allowed line 0, aid me with thy help, Omnipotence Divine!

It is this weakness in man, this consciousness of his inability by his own power to arrive at the goal of moral excellence that he has proposed to himself, that gives birth to the religious sentiment. Man constantly feels the need of more than human aid, something more than the encouragement of friends, the counsel of the wise, the example and approbation of his fellows or the fear of censure. In seeking for that aid the soul goes beyond the visible world; it

turns to God. "And such is the nature of man," says a noted writer, "that when he sincerely asks this support he obtains it. That is, seeking it is almost sufficient to secure it." These facts the fact that man needs more than human aid to enable him to perform what he conceives his duty to be; and the fact that seeking that aid through prayer to God he obtains it — confirm the reality of religion, make it a power in human affairs, enables it to survive the attack of the infidel and the scoffing of the atheist; and he who would wantonly destroy this true prop of humanity may be properly regarded as the enemy of his race.

A BEAUTIFUL THING.

Science is a beautiful thing, undoubtedly, and of itself well worth all the labor man may bestow upon it; but it becomes a thousand times grander and more beautiful when it becomes a power; when it becomes the parent of virtue.

We have often thought that this remark of Guizot's would be equally true if said of religion as it is of science. Indeed we think it would be more appropriate to say it of religion than of science, since the former more indirectly affects virtue than the latter.

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548 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

Religion is indeed a beautiful thing! That is, the religious thought, the religious idea — theory, if you will, is beautiful —grand! The thought that behind all the physical universe and all the phenomena experienced in it, stands a great Master Mind, an Intelligence that guides and controls all forces, and holds the destiny of all things in his owti hands, is a grander, a more elevating thought

than that naught but blind force operating by a sort of necessity is all that works in the universe and directs its course. The latter thought to us is as contrary to the reason as it is repugnant to the soul of man; and fortunately for our race, but few minds are capable of being bent to the acceptance of such an idea. We say fortunately, for the reason that when the mind can be induced to receive such a conception as that, the foundation for a desperate character is laid; a character in which moral restraint is likely to be an unknown quality; a character that is likely to indulge every passion of the heart; and yield to every prompting of his appetites, howsoever debasing be their nature. But if the idea that a Mighty Intelligence — a Master Mind— is

guiding the forces of the universe, is a grander thought than that blind forces only are operating in it, and that we are at their mercy — if that be beautiful, how much more beautiful and sublime

the thought becomes if added to it is the idea that the Intelligence is personified and bears a relationship to us —a personal relationship in fact, the relationship One who sees in man his of Father to us! own image and loves him and would have him become like himself, worthy to dwell in his presence and share in his glory. Such is the idea that revelation teaches concerning God, such is the Bible idea. Otherwise its phrases, its plain declarations are a jargon of words signifying nothing; the prayer begining, "Our Father who art in heaven," is a mockery; the statement of Paul, that "we also are his offspring," together with the emphatic announcement in the morning of revelation that "man was made in the image of God,'' is an impious falsehood. But we accept the teachings of revelation, the Bible idea God our father, the Father of our spirits; and with the idea of the existence of that relationship crowd in other ideas. Such relationship suggests that God is interested in his offspring; that he loves them, and that he will do all that is in his great power to do for