the history of humanity's progress, there still exists a higher law which precludes the possibility of isolation, and renders every age the legitimate offspring of its predecessor.

As a further illustration of the subject, and more especially so as exemplifying the indestructible character of influence when applied to the emotional side of our nature, we have only to bear in mind the enormous influence which medievalism still exercises over a very large portion of the civilized world; and which, although not so directly applicable to us as Protestants, still possesses a considerable charm, in spite of its errors, for every thoughtful and earnest mind.

From the days of Albertus Magnus, and his efforts to distinguish between the vegetable, the sensual, and the intellectual life, we certainly have made the most wonderful progress; but, wide as the distance between us may appear, there still exists a bond of connection. which makes it beautifully true, as said by Rogers in his "Pleasures of Memory":

"Lull'd in the countless chambers of the brain,

Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain;
Awake but one, and lo, what myriads rise,

Each stamps its image as the other flies."

For instance, let us let us take Albertus Magnus as an example, and is there not a fascination about the old schoolman, as we think of him in his monastery, prosecuting his studies and investigations with a spirit of earnestness and devotion, and at the same time cherishing the fond hope that he was gradually realizing the golden chain that connects the lowest form of insect life with the highest angelic intelligence? Certainly the answer of every candid mind can only be one at least

of partial appreciation. A sentiment, too, which will enable us to enter more fully into the spirit of Matthew Arnold's remark when, in speaking of Oxford as his alma-mater, he says: "Beautiful city! so venerable, so lovely, so unravaged by the fierce intellectual life of our country, so serene!

There are our young barbarians, all at play!

And yet, steeped in sentiment as she lies, spreading her gardens to the moonlight, and whispering from her towers the last enchantments of the Middle Ages, who will deny that Oxford, by her ineffable charm, keeps ever calling us nearer to the true goal of all of us—to the ideal, to perfection, to beauty, in a word—which is only truth seen from another side."|| A beautiful tribute certainly. What shall we say of it, however? Is it for us but a dream, wherein we invest the past with a beauty and a power which it did not possess? No; certainly not. For although mediævalism, as we all know, was marvelously productive of many forms of error, there still lingers a spirit of beauty about it which we cannot consistently ignore, and which, as measured through the dim vista of the past, still fascinates and allures us with the power of an irresistible charm; a charm, indeed, which, if we carefully consider the present condition of the religious world, is scarcely less influential than the spirit of Greece is in an intellectual sense. Examining, therefore, our position in its true light, it will be seen at once that the only philosophical condition of thought consists in fully recognizing the principle of continuity as an indispensable condition of progress; and, also, by fairly estimating the services

"Essays in Criticism," by Matthew Arnold.

rendered us by the past, to so far apply the many valuable lessons they have afforded us as to insure more fully our own advancement, and the consequences we necessarily entail on the age succeeding us. Here, however, the allegiance ends; here the paths diverge; and modern culture, much as it may respect its antecedent conditions, finds, also, that there is to every age an especial function assigned, a peculiar form of thought and sentiment, without which it could possess no leading characteristic destinguishing it from its predecessor, no individuality determining its position in the history of the world and the great problem of human progress. And thus we arrive at a more definite understanding respecting the relationship between ancient faith and modern culture; a position which, in proportion as it is realized and appreciated, so far will it remove many idle fears and unfounded anticipations. Ages change, minds oscillate, the past is looked on as a dream, and though the future, in the language of Milton,

"Is all abyss,

Eternity, whose end no eye can reach,"

yet there still exists an indestructible chain of causes and effects, a gradual process of advancement, which encourages and supports us under the most trying emergencies, and which induced so high an authority as Gibbon to remark: "We may, therefore, acquiesce in the pleasing conclusion that, every age of the world has increased, and still increases, the real wealth, the happiness, the knowledge, and perhaps the virtue, of the human race." ||

“Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," Chap. xxxviii,

But, it may be said, the culture of the present age seeks to accomplish that which has always been regarded as doubtful, and which Pascal even went so far as to declare was impossible, that is, to make moral truth geometrically convincing; and, having done so, to make it harmonize with faith, the essence of which consists in denying, to a great extent, the utility of rational bases. Is this, however, really the case, or is it a misconception, growing out of what we are so apt to consider the natural estrangement and antagonism between religion and culture? Is it not possible for culture and religion to so far blend into a harmonious and beautiful system of truth; and, in so doing, to transmute those dry and merely dogmatical forms of faith, to which we are so largely accustomed, into sentiments that are higher, purer, and better; a revivified faith, in fact, more comprehensive, more glorious, more beautiful than that which is, more deeply expressive of that strange, mysterious sense that binds us to the Infinite. Or, to put the same sense in other words:

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Science was faith once; faith were science now,

Would she but lay her bow and arrow by,

And arm her with the weapons of the time."

Elements which at first sight seemed antagonistic are gradually made to assimilate. Indeed, in a manner somewhat analogous to the fabled properties of the philosopher's stone, a process of gradual transmutation is induced, caused by the thoughts of one age becoming blended with those of another, and thus producing the result which we call progress. Old ideas and formulas pass away, new ones are formed, and man, the two-sided being, the creature of reason as well as sentiment, is again and again made to feel that he is a

progressive animal. For, it must be remembered, that whatever explanation we may offer as to the cause of it, our world has been from the beginning an arena of contest, an alternation between light and darkness; first, of angry and discordant elements, according to the theory of Laplace; then, a prolonged and severe struggle for the revival of the fittest, according to Darwin; and, to the present day, a constant warfare between the higher and lower nature in man. To aid us in this, religion takes poor human human nature in her arms, and, like an affectionate mother, wipes away all tears, pours healing balm into our wounds, and tells us of that brighter world, to which we are all tending fast. To assist us also in the same direction, and to determine more fully the triumph of virtue over vice, culture places us under a process of perpetual purification, elevates and ennobles our moral and esthetical judgments, while it also teaches us more and more to realize and appreciate all forms of moral beauty, all forms of intellectual grandeur; in short, encourages everything which exalts our conception of human nature and ennobles our views of life. In the words of Mr. Shairp: "Culture proposes as its end the carrying of man's nature to its highest perfection, the developing to the full all the capacities of our humanity. If, then, in this view, humanity be contemplated in its totality, and not in some partial side of it, culture must aim at developing our humanity in its Godward aspect, as well as its mundane aspect. And it must not only recognize the religious side of humanity, but if it tries to assign the due place to each capacity, and assign to all the capacities their mutual relations, it must concede to the Godward capacities that paramount