he cannot be compared with the least of a multitude of modern expounders of Christianity. His temper towards his adversaries was hard, severe and overbearing; it would be hard to find a line in his writings of tenderness or strong emotion; few of his arguments are such as any one now would care to answer. But he was eminently the man of his time. He was well acquainted with the way of impressing men's imagination and sense of reverence-a man of marvellous executive skill and energy. It is force of will, not force of thought, that one finds prominent in his writings, as in his life. And that force of will it was, which seemed to be required then, to put in shape the vaguer thought of other men, and to stamp on the great Christian movement, the character which there and then it was essential that it should bear. At this distance we may see and acknowledge thus much in the result effected by so noble and dauntless a champion of what to him was truth.

And secondly, the ruling influence in giving shape and energy to Christianity was forever vindicated for the West. The triumph of Athanasius was the triumph of Europe and of Rome. The church at Rome was the only one very prominent in the West-the only one that claimed. equal honors with Alexandria, Antioch and Constantinople. Those in the East were crippled by their ceaseless feuds. The one metropolitan church in the West would henceforth be regarded as the stronghold of the dominant. faith. It had stood firm for Athanasius against the threats of power; it was the refuge of his successor, Peter, when his chair was disputed by an Arian rival; it claimed its position now as the preeminent seat of right opinion. The moral interest of the Christian history is henceforth transferred inalienably to the Western Church. Its eminent men will henceforth almost exclusively claim our attention. And we shall see, through revolution and change, through the rise and decline of hierarchies, through scenes of violence, intolerance and crime, through the perpetual struggle of right against wrong, and truth against error, how God so strengthened and equipped that church, that it should bear, through the long journey, the ark of the covenant of his love.

A.

ART. IV.

Man Made to be Good.

We would endeavor in this article to enforce the truth and deepen the conviction, according to the vitality and constancy of which will be men's wise treatment of themselves and their generous treatment of their fellow men, that man was made to be good, and that this is the final cause of his creation, so far as we can now ascertain it. We may seem to be arguing a truism, which all believe and understand. An admission almost unanimous might be obtained, that to get the purest character, to reach the highest moral excellence, is the work assigned to human beings, which transcends all other work. Yet who cannot see that if this primary doctrine, which few or none openly doubt, were a living principle, deep-seated, always operative, shaping individual exertion, and directing all the aims of society, there would be wrought on earth a change amounting to a new creation. Is it not the trouble, daily and hourly experienced, that, although goodness, is venerated, even held to be of unspeakable importance, in theory, and to some extent, in practice, also; still goodness is not made the principal thing to be first consulted for, as the great result of existence, the thing to which all other things should be made secondary and subservient? Is not this the trouble, and do not all feel it and see it to be so, on sober reflection? Who does not perceive that the great force, needed to reform, regenerate humanity, is, first of all, the ever-mastering, all-ruling persuasion that every soul was made to be filled with righteousness, and that with righteousness alone can it be filled and satisfied? Who does not perceive that to the removal of any evil, or distress, which debases and disturbs the individual or society, the unwavering faith is essential that goodness is the end to be sought? It matters not that other agencies, besides this faith, are requisite; it matters not by what various instrumentalities such faith is to accomplish its work, whether by operating directly and

exclusively upon the heart and conscience, or by changing the condition and circumstances of humanity, making them more favorable to virtue; the faith must exist, be hearty and sincere, first and last, and always. Let us have this conviction, distinct and vigorous, as a central principle, and exactly in proportion to its magnitude and earnestness, it will act, and act beneficently. Undertake to search out and state definitely to your own mind, what in the last analysis is the central and comprehensive want of human nature, and you will soon be compelled to say that it is the want of a clear idea of the final cause for which human nature was created; the want of a sovereign and transcendent belief that in the way of righteousness, and in no other way, is life.

Now to strengthen that belief, we propose to call attention to the facts in regard to man, which cannot, I think, be accounted for, unless man was made for the attainment of goodness, sooner or later, as the END of his being. We would put this in the strongest terms; we would say that the facts we shall name are, to our view, utterly inexplicable on any other supposition, than that which admits that the human soul was sent into existence to find its peace and satisfaction in progress, in virtue.

We find the first of these facts, where we should be least expected to go for it, namely, in all the dark descriptions given of man's depravity, in all the horror experienced at man's iniquity, in all that is said, and truly said, to show that man is a poor sinner; for all this proves that man was made to abhor that which is evil, and to cleave to that which is good. And however strange the quarter from which this proof of our position is drawn, it is nevertheless a proof too conclusive to be easily set aside. For who is it that draws those dark descriptions, expresses that horror, perceives that man is a sinner? Is it not man himself? Is it not man who paints the hideousness of vice? is it not man who sets forth the danger and miseries of moral evil, even where and whilst they beset and torment himself? If he is the criminal, is he not also the judge? If there are base and sordid qualities in him which need to be condemned, are there not also higher qualities in him which do the work of condemnation? If he has the consciousness that he is erring, has he not with it also the

consciousness that his errors are wrong and perilous ? Here is an intensely significant truth. Grant that man is weak, easily tempted and led astray; but then ask Who sits in judgement upon man? As another has said, "It is he himself; humanity judges humanity. We are at once the accused and the accuser; admit the one we must admit the other. If humanity is sinful, low, frivolous, it is also a contemner of the frivolous, a despiser of the low, an abhorrer of the sinful." Now, why is this so, for so undoubtedly it is? Why does our nature recognize its aberrations, from right, or if the phrase is preferred, why does our nature recognize its depravity? How happened any human being to conceive of sin, as bad; something against which we should desire to be shielded, something from which we would desire to be delivered? There can be but one answer. It is because men were made to learn to dread it, and hate sin, or rather to seek its opposite. There may be mystery in that design of God, by which all must pass through, and be tainted by, some experience of evil; but that mystery, however unsearchable, does not affect the conclusiveness of the argument now urged, that in the apprehension human nature has of the degradation and danger connected with vice, there is certain evidence that human nature was designed for goodness, the antagonist of vice.

The second fact, to which we would refer, as proving that men were made to be good, is the universal admiration bestowed on generous and heroic deeds, and that, too, by those who, by reason of the force of habit, perverted tastes, or corrupted characters, never imitate such deeds. This is a singular but well known fact. You shall often hear crowds applaud brave and distinterested actions which they are morally incapable of performing. Great virtue, self-sacrifice, persecution endured for righteousness sake, death preferred to dishonor, loss incurred for conscience sake, risk run, even to the peril of life, in behalf of suffering humanity, get a world-wide reputation and fame. Luxurious ease, on its perfumed couch, and in its gorgeous saloons, reads with reverential sympathy the story of hardships endured and perils encountered voluntarily by the the missionaries in some Christian cause. Shrewd cunning, in its secret soul, cannot help esteeming stern integri

ty when it prefers poverty to commit the smallest fraud. We might speak of the lives of humble men and exalted men, of those in obscurity and those widely known. We might advert to brave characters and delineations of lofty principles in works of fiction even, which none can read without emotion, without having the sentiment of admiration excited. Oberlin and Fenelon, Howard, Grace Darling and John Pounds,-the bare mention of these and others like them, who have been canonized, not by popes and councils, but by every human heart made acquainted with the history of their words and works, tells us that virtue obtains from the worldly and the wicked the tribute of respect. There is then a disposition in human nature to do homage to goodness, a disposition which is so strong as to warrant the old remark that hypocrisy is the tribute which vice pays to virtue. Now seek an explanation for the existence of this disposition; inquire why it is that no selfishness or debasement can quite kill out the heart's worship of any grand manifestation of excellence, and are you not again brought irresistibly to the conclusion, that the testimony of the soul itself declares, in regard to the soul, that in the way of goodness it must find life.

The third fact to be noticed requires only a bare statement to have its force seen. It is simply this; that it is utterly impossible for one human being to hate another until he has really discovered in him, or falsely attributed to him, some bad and hateful quality. All know how it is with misanthropy. All know that those who despise or condemn their race, pretend to do it because they find so much that is weak and wicked in their race; they are continually quoting all they have discovered which is vicious in human nature and human actions, to justify their antipathies and their contempts. So, too, all know how it has been with the hermit and the recluse. They never forgot the world, never ceased to think of the world they had left, but continually endeavored to strengthen and excuse their purpose of seclusion by dwelling upon the world's depravity, its rebellions against God and truth. And when from those cases we come to instances of enmity between individuals, the same fact holds good. Always the dislike is based upon real or imagined