126 
David, and the miracles of -Christ. 
Religion is less heloved, and the stage 
less moral, in consequenee of the dis- 
solution of their original alliance. Let 
it not be feared that religion would be 
degraded by thus mingling with our 
pleasures; this depends on the skilland 
excellence of the poet. Who that has 
seen Racine’s Athalie performed at 
the opera-house in Paris, but must 
allow that one evening spent at such 
an exhibition impresses more indelibly 
the finest passages of scripture, (Read 
the chorus Tout Punivers est plein de 
sa magnificence) and enlivens more 
powerfully a feeling for the beauties of 
p.ety, than a month’s attention to the 
fessons at church? Another valuable 
end is attained. By the learned and 
appropriate character of the decora- 
tions, a curious knowledge cf Jewish 
habits and ceremonies is widely scat- 
tered among tlie people, and distinctly 
engraved on the memory. ‘The pulpit 
often labours to communicate such in- 
formation: but how slowly, how im- 
perfectly it succeeds! A theatric 
chorus of Levites in procession, a 
scenic inside view of the temple, 
teaches more at a glance concerning 
Jewish costume and ritual than a 
week's poring over Gedwin’s Moses and 
Aaron. In Oxford and Cambridge, at 
least, and as a mean of instructing 
theologic students, who in England are 
lamentably ignorant, such biblical 
dramas should be regularly exhibited 
before the young clergy. The minu- 
tiz of the vestments, and utensils, and 
architectural decorations, illustrative 
of the ceremonial and fashion of the 
temple of Jerusalem, the mitres and 
plylacteries, the cherubic andirons, 
the candelabras of seven lamps, the 
pomegranates straining through a net 
sculptured on the capitals of the pilas- 
ters, should all, by the personal at- 
tendance aud criticism of the profes- 
sors of Hebrew antiquities, be brought 
to the utmost perfection of which such 
imitations are susceptible. From the 
seats of learning, a correct style of ha- 
biliment and decoration would thus ae- 
company sacred dramas into the other 
provinces of the empire, and render 
them worthy to employ and amuse the 
Sunday evening leisure of pious and 
intelligent families. 
But in England such, and indeed 
any amusements are ignorantly held to 
be irreligious. The theatres are shut, 
concerts are deemed a_profanation, 
ecards are forbidden, a woman may not 
The German Student.—Neimcyer's Travels. 
[March ], 
be seeu to knit or sew, nora man heard 
to sing or Jaugh; all must wear the 
face of gloom, and bear the ennui_ of 
idleness; many put on mourning. No 
books but of a spiritual cast may be 
opened; no parties of pleasure made 
for jaunts or festivity. Much neatness 
of dress is however observed; and the 
women of the inferior classes usually 
pass the whole Saturday night in wash- 
ing the linen of the family, that their 
husbands and children may appear 
cleanly at church; they also wash the 
floors and stairs, but this is dune in 
concealment. No one rises early on 
the Sunday. Only milk is suffered to 
be sold. The bakers supply no fresh 
bread; pious persons, however, bake 
their dinners at public ovens, or dine 
on cold meat, in order to spare their 
servants the sin of cookery. About 
nine in the morning, the bells of the 
churches begin a funeral toll, which 
every quarter of an hour increases 
in rapidity, until the hour of wor- 
ship. Then are first seen persons 
in the street, marching slowly with a 
face of awe, as if following a corpse. 
They are soon hidden in the temples, 
where priests pronounce absolution in a 
white robe, and exhortation in a black 
one; there is no other ceremony, the 
congregation kneels to pray, stands to 
sing, and sits to hear. No pictures, 
no statues adorn tle churches, only 
monuments of the dead: organs are 
rare. About twelve, the worshippers 
disperse, and mostly wander to the 
park, or to some public walk, where 
the neatness of their dress will be ob- 
served. Having dined they return to 
the churches, and again walk abroad. 
No person should frequent the streets 
during the hour of divine service, and 
many a one is imprisoned for so doing. 
After the hour of tea, there ave even- 
ing services; and, after the hour of 
supper, many fathers of families com- 
pel their children to read aloud a chap- 
ter of the Bible, and a sermon, and 
then close the day with a prayer. 
All this dull and superstitious for- 
mality, disavowed alike by christianity 
and by reason, has more the appearance 
of a fast instituted to deprecate the an- 
ger of some malignant being, who 
views with hostile eye the happiness of 
man, than of a festiva) intended to 
honour a benevolent deity. A good God 
must delight in the felicity, not in the 
mortification of his creatures, and 
feel that heaven is paid when man re- 
ceives >‘* to enjoy is to obey.” 
Westminster 
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