life-time this power has been perfected? Is it not probable that the improvements which will take place during the next hundred years would make our hair stand on end with amazement, could we by some second-sight now behold them? Two years since I rode up from Stonington to Boston, about eighty miles, one morning before breakfast, upon the railroad. It was Sunday morning; and somewhere between Providence and Boston, we stopped for a moment in the midst of an old grave-yard, through the centre of which the road passed. It was an ancient cemetery in which had been laid the bones of our old Puritan forefathers, and I could not but fancy their wonder and horror could they rise from their graves, and look upon the fire-monster, whirling with the speed of a bird, through the seclusion of a church-yard, and upon a Sabbath morning. What the habits of our days would be to them, the habits of our children would be to us. In some things there will be regress, in others progress, but in all change.

art.

And this is as true of politics, morals and religion as of practical Even in religion I believe there must be constant change, and may be constant progress. Some will think such a view most heretical; but let me ask you, if from the third century after Christ corruptions did not creep into the church? and whether, from the time of Luther, and even earlier, those corruptions have not been, one by one, laid aside? Have not men, during the last three hundred years, learned to understand the Bible better and better, and to comprehend more and more the spirit of Jesus? If there has been progress thus far, will Christian humility lead us to think that it stops with us? that after all the struggles of the mightiest minds and noblest hearts, the advance is accomplished, and that we wholly comprehend what our fathers understood but in part? And if there has not been progress, as there surely has been change, there must have been regress: and then, of course, if we have fallen behind our fathers, we must go forward to regain their position.

And in morals and political science constant change, and, if we are wise, constant advancement, lies before us. Have you ever grouped the facts in History so as to simplify its study, and comprehend its lessons? If you have, you have seen how certainly the Almighty Ruler has directed the seemingly chaotic movements of man; and can realize the grand truth that all social action is as

much governed by laws of Divine harmony as is the vital action of man's living frame; in history, as in each individual, you will see the mysterious but perfect combination of free-will with an overruling Providence. In the history of England, for instance, all the events of those reigns which came between the Conqueror and Henry 7th, looked at from one point of view, fall into a group representing the struggle of the nobles with the throne, terminating in the establishment of a Limited Monarchy of great power; all those which followed, from Henry 7th to George 3d, come together, and show to us the contest of the Commons, which embodied the new power of Wealth, with the Throne, terminating in the establishment of a Limited Monarchy of inconsiderable power; while from the accession of George 3d to this day we may see in every thing the great battle of the People against the old Commons, of Man against Wealth—a battle which has brought forward in succession Reformers, Radicals, and Chartists, and is at this moment raging with undiminished vehemence.

Even in our own country, short as our history has been, we may trace similar changes. When our Constitution was framed the dominant party was parallel with the old Commons of England; but Mr. Jefferson stood at the head of a new party, the People, and in the spirit of the English Radicals of our day, led the charge against the Conservatives or Federalists, who fell never to rise again in this this land. Thus, already under our young Constitution changes have taken place which wholly alter in practice the effect of that Constitution, and looking to the future, my friends, is there any reason to doubt that, with us, as with other nations, change will follow change, ending we know not where? Should we not be prepared to make those changes, if possible, progressive, not retrograde? And, while we reject the idea that if we fail man cannot be free, as unworthy of ourselves and our Maker, let us reject equally the belief that we cannot improve, and let us strive to bring about improvement by asking wherein it is needed.

Russia, before the time of Peter the Great, thought she had attained the perfection of Civilization, even as China does at this moment; and Peter was enabled to improve her as he did, only by studying her faults and wants.

In order to learn the defects of our Civilization, we may either compare it with an Ideal Standard, or with that of another age or nation. My purpose this evening is to sketch the characteristics of the various forms of Civilization which have prevailed in the world, and to show in each that feature which it seems to me we should try to profit by. In doing this, my wish, let me say once more, is not to convey knowledge so much as to rouse thought; the views to which I have been led may be very mistaken, and yet by the statement of them I may cause your minds to enter upon a course of inquiry which will bring you to the truth.

There have been in the world, as it appears to me, only four forms or distinct types of Civilization.

The first was that which prevailed in Egypt and the East. It was marked througohut by this feature, Subordination. The central principle of this Civilization appears to have been a vivid conception of the Infinite and Spiritual. This appears in everything; in the Cosmogonies, where all is vast, dim, and mysterious: in the Religions-at first, we have cause to think, almost pure Deism, and then the worship of the Sun and Stars: in the Philosophy, where man was nothing, free-will nothing, and an Eternal Necessity all-in-all: in Art, which was vast, permanent, and always symbolical: in Science, which disdained earth and man, and dealt with the Heavens, with Magic, and the Spiritual world. This idea of the Infinite led to the Subordination of which I have spoken.— Before the Eternal Powers man was so impotent and worthless, that his progress and perfection were lost sight of. The Finite was nothing; the Individual nothing, and all those results which flow from individual development were wanting, while every institution tended to restrain enterprise, and give up progress in securing order.

In Government, accordingly, we find perfect Despotism, unqualified submission, a spirit of subordination which owns no kindred with the soul of European man. We call the Roman Emperors despotic, but their power was from the army whose creatures they were, not from that unquestioning surrender. of personal rights which has made the East a world of despotisms from the dawn of History to our day-a world in which Dynasties have changed, but the principle of Government yet remains unaltered.

In Religion, the same spirit prevails. Nowhere but in Egypt and the East has the Priesthood been perfectly organized. There, and there only, have men given the keeping of their spiritual welfare into the hands of a class for generation after generation. In truth, the Infinite being the central principle of this Civilization, the tendency was to make Government a mere Theocracy; and accordingly we find everywhere the Priesthood leading and ruling, the Monarchs leaning on the will of Heaven declared through its ministers. The Hebrew system, which may be regarded as the purified form of Eastern Civilization, was little else than a Theocracy; their judges and kings were not the true rulers of that wonderful race, but Moses and the Prophets; for with the Hebrews the Infinite "I Am" was not, as among their brethren, a tradition, but a present God; so that while others had only Priests, they had Prophets, while others worshipped symbols of the Eternal One, they bowed to the Spiritual Jehovah, himself.

But

And when we look at society as it existed in the East, we still see Subordination in everything. Rank stands above rank; caste above caste; wealth abounds; manufactures are carried far toward perfectness; and commerce, if not extended, is not unknown. through all, determining the character of all, runs the characteristic of which we speak. There is no enterprise, no Yankee progressiveness in anything. Wealth does not serve to make the million comfortable, but to build pyramids, and hew out temples of Elora. Knowledge does not raise the mass one atom; it enables the Priest to rear his vast temples, or to play the juggler; the monarch to pamper his appetites, his vanity, or to destroy with quick poison his son or brother.

Such, briefly and feebly sketched, was the first civilizing principle with which History acquaints us. Its truth and its importance we all see at once. If man be an immortal creature, and have relations with the Infinite, a full conception of the Infinite must be essential to his perfect growth. But when this conception alone ruled, what was its results? At first, national progress, but ultimately national death; for the nations of the East are now embalmed rather than alive. Without subordination growth cannot be, but with nothing else it will never go far: it is essential in childhood, but too hardly enforced, it makes childhood perpetual.

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The second form of Civilization was that which prevailed in Greece. As the great feature of the East was Subordination, that of Greece was Progress; and as the former sprang from the idea of the Infinite, so the latter sprang from the idea of the Perfect Finite. These two conceptions have been present in all ages and nations, and have everywhere given rise to those Conservative and Progressive parties, which we still find in every European land.

In Greece, the power of the principle referred to appeared in many ways. In Government it stood opposed to the submission of State to State, prevented the close union of the cities, and placed each in an independent position, with the opportunity of becoming foremost. How different all this from the vast Empires, including Province within Province, and Satrap under Satrap which have succeeded one another in India and Persia. And if we look to the relation which the citizen bore to the State, we find, in the Democracy of Greece, which allowed, within certain limits, any to become first, and urged on all in the career of individual progress, a still stronger instance of the spirit of her Civilization, and of its vast difference from that of which we first spoke. Neither, let it be observed, was the Democratic character of Greece the same with that which now prevails, as I shall attempt to show when I speak of ourselves.

And in Religion, how wholly different the spirit of Athens from that of Egypt, of Palestine, or Hindostan. In the Mythology of Greece Infinitude was lost sight of; her Gods were perfected mortals; not perfected immortals or moral beings, not angels, nor spirits, nor creatures of true divinity,—but only mortal men and women, with the feelings, passions, weaknesses, and follies of men and women, increased and strengthened indefinitely, and made imperishable. The perfection of man aimed at in Greece was not a full development of his infinite and immortal part, but only of his finite and earthly powers; his body, his intellect, his energy, his impulses, his tastes; and so in the Deities of Greece we find the perfectness of only these things.

In the want of a settled Priesthood we find another feature of Grecian Civilization, springing from the cause already named, and giving another point of marked distinction between her spirit and that of her elder sisters.

But this distinction, and the true character of Greece, are most