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rious anarchy, would reign every where, blotting out the last vestiges of civil order, and destroying the last remnants of political prosperity.

There is perhaps no class of men more exposed to temptations to forsake the path of duty than those who hold high official stations. In fact nothing but the powerful influence of an enlightened, active conscience is sufficient to enable rulers to pursue that path with unwavering, unhesitating step, amidst all the adverse influences by which they are surrounded,-influences resulting from ambition, from party spirit, from self-sufficiency, from local interests, and from various other causes, unseen by many, but felt, deeply and often ruinously felt, by those who hold or aspire to hold the high places of authority. Who can doubt that a person thus situated needs to have a monitor ever present with him, that, when ambition tempts him to scale her dangerous heights, shall utter in his ear a warning voice, and when selfishness urges him to sacrifice his country and her interests to his own personal aggrandizement, shall speak in tones of thunder against such a profanation; and when party-spirit would lead him to prefer the interests of his party to those of his country, shall pour forth its tones of stern denunciation at the very thought of such baseness; and tell him, in language not to be misunderstood, that his duty is to serve not his party, but his country? Without such restraint, where is the security that laws known to be unequal, injurious and unjust will not be enacted, and that even just laws will not be so badly administered as to produce the most deplorable results? Just so far then as religious institutions tend to give increased power to conscience, to lead to more accurate discrimination between right and wrong, to create a deeper sense of moral obligation, so far must their influence be productive of political advantage.

But this is not all. The character of legislators, as such, is materially influenced by that of their constituents. Every elevation in the moral character of a community tends to produce a corresponding elevation in those who represent that community in the halls of legislation. Singular indeed would it be should a community distinguished for a high standard of moral excellence, and for clear views of moral truth, suffer itself to be disgraced by employing a man devoid of moral principle to aid in making

the laws by which that community is to be governed. Such instances, if indeed they ever occur, are "few and far between."

But even should a man, regardless of moral principle, be chosen to act as a legislator in behalf of a class of constituents whose moral standing is far superior to his own, the influence of their character on legislation would not be wholly lost. Such a man would deem it a matter of policy to make his public acts correspond, in some degree, to the moral views of his constituents; and thus, though governed by their conscience rather than his own, he would make those acts approach nearer to the true standard of moral rectitude than his principles, as an individual, would prompt him to do. True, this would indicate no moral elevation in him; but still its political results would not be without importance; and a man thus situated might, in many instances, exert a far better influence on legislation than he would if the moral position of his constituents were no more elevated than his own. We find then that those institutions which tend to elevate and purify moral principle, exert a favorable influence on legislation in three different ways; first, by elevating the moral character of legislators in common with that of the rest of the community; secondly, by leading those who exercise the right of suffrage to elect men of correct moral principle to act as legislators; and thirdly, by leading legislators, who are not themselves actuated by high moral principle, to make their public acts correspond, in some measure, with the higher moral principle of their

constituents.

But correct legislation is not the only political advantage resulting from that improved state of moral feeling which religious institutions tend to create. Such a state of feeling is commonly attended by an increase of public spirit. Nor is it difficult to see why it should be so. Purity of moral principle is closely connected with benevolence; and benevolence is the direct antagonist of that unmitigated selfishness which, wherever it prevails, is the death of public spirit. And even where religious institutions do not exert their legitimate influence to such an extent as to produce genuine benevolence, they not unfrequently enlighten conscience or refine taste, so as to make the mind revolt from those low and sordid views and aims

VOL. XIII.NO. L.

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which characterize selfishness in its most degrading forms. A man not actuated by high moral principle may have enough of refinement or of magnanimity about him to make him despise that ineffable meanness, which opposes every project for the promotion of the public good, through fear that it may involve an expense of a few dollars or cents. He may also regard the love of popularity as more respectable than the love of money, and so be willing to make some sacrifice of the latter for the sake of gratifying the former. It is true that this would be only substituting the action of one form of selfishness for that of another, and that perhaps nothing would be gained by it in a moral point of view. Still the substitution may be of advantage to the public. The man who from wrong motives seeks to promote the public good, may perhaps be as really selfish as he who seeks only to add to the stores of wealth in his own coffers; but surely it does not follow that the public derive no more benefit from the former than from the lat

All the influence, then, which religious institutions exert in strengthening that feeling which makes us abhor meanness, which raises us above low and grovelling views, tends directly to increase public spirit in one or another of its modifications, and thus to promote the public good.

Another favorable infiuence exerted by religions institutions on the political prosperity of a country, is found in their tendency to allay that excitement of feeling which is so often connected with political controversies. Too often do the feelings of politicians become so strongly enlisted in favor of some particular course of action, as to render it morally certain that they will not take a fair view of the arguments opposed to that course. The result is a rash and headlong plunging forward, without any clear or extended views of the ultimate consequences of the course pursued, or any wise and cautious provisions to guard against causes of failure and unforeseen contingencies. An influence, then, which will calm this excitement, which will lead to greater coolness, more deliberation, and greater freedom from partial or distorted views, must be beneficial in a political point of view. And such is the influence flowing from that increased activity of conscience, that quickened sensibility to moral relations, and that better adjustment of the intellectual and moral

powers which a regular attendance upon the institutions. of religion is adapted to produce.

It should also be observed here that in earnest political controversies the severity of language in which each party is but too apt to indulge towards the other, is a serious hindrance to their cherishing correct views of each other's principles and designs. The feelings of the opposing parties become embittered, and they are led to cherish a spirit, and to use language towards each other, which mere love of truth would never prompt, and which often makes them forget the interests of their country in their hostility to each other. Such a state of things at once interferes with national prosperity at home, and sinks national reputation abroad. It tends directly, when carried to so great a length as is sometimes the case, to impair confidence in the honor, integrity, and uprightness of a nation pursuing such a course, and consequently to make other nations less disposed to pursue a course of elevated, generous diplomacy towards her. The influence which religious institutions tend to exert, and do, in some degree, exert on national character, is the opposite of all this. So far as that influence goes, its tendency is to promote candor, to cultivate benevolence, and thus to diminish that bitterness of spirit which party strife too often engenders. By awakening a spirit of self-examination, and by presenting vividly before the mind the superior importance of moral relations over all others, these institutions rebuke the spirit of fierce denunciation, and tend to produce such a course of national policy as will secure the respect and confidence of all who know how to appreciate justice, honor and magnanimity. And such a course of conduct will have an influence on international relations. However selfish those who manage the affairs of nations may be, however prone they may be to disregard the interests of all nations but their own, they share, in common with other men, in that feeling which makes us honor nobleness of soul and despise its opposite. The world has never witnessed a fair trial of the extent to which international intercourse conducted on Christian principles would go in rendering the nations a band of brothers. Would that such a trial might speedily be made. But even in the very limited degree to which Christian principle is allowed to affect international intercourse, it is not without in

fluence. It has done something, it is still doing something, to infuse into that intercourse a principle of general benevolence. To make this obvious we need only to compare the relations and the intercourse existing between those nations which enjoy the institutions of Christianity with the corresponding relations and intercourse among other nations. But it is vain to expect religious feeling and principle to live and flourish, if religious institutions. are not sustained. To our nation then, to all nations these institutions are of no trifling importance. And if ever the time comes when nations shall be prepared to manifest towards each other implicit confidence in their mutual generosity, uprightness and fidelity, these institutions will be seen to have exerted a decided influence in hastening forward that time.

Let no one, then, indulge the idea that religious institutions do not amply repay, even in temporal benefits, all the expense of sustaining them. Let it not be felt that God, in calling upon us to sustain religious institutions, has required us to sacrifice any temporal advantages for the sake of obtaining spiritual ones: but rather that he has directed us to a course which tends to promote both our spiritual and our temporal interests. And let him. who refuses to aid in supporting the institutions of religion, bear it in mind that he is setting an example which, if universally followed, would put out of existence a class of agencies more efficient than any other in promoting the temporal good of man, while it would, at the same time, cloud, with the blackness of darkness, the path to the eternal world.

R. A. C.

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