174 



has stood still. Art ana science, iiieraxure ana 

 ptilosophy, ethics and rehgion, have all alike par- 

 taken of this onward and upward development : shall 

 we cease to have faith in their future ascension ? As 

 stone gave way to hronze, and bronze to iron, so have 

 simple hand-implements given place to self-regulating 

 machinery ; and, as in matters" of mere mechanical 

 handicraft, so in the matters of the intellect and 

 reason — in science, literature, philosophy, and social 

 polity. Look at the old monosyllabic languages of 

 Eastern Asia, and compare them with the facile and 

 inflectional tongues of Greece, Eome, and Western 

 Europe; at the cumbrous system of symbol and 

 hieroglyph, as compared with the lettered hterature 

 of modem times ; or at the slow, uncertain, and 

 restricted literature of manuscript as compared with 

 that of the printing-press, — and the argument should 

 require no further illustration. Even in that which 

 is regarded as the highest distinguishing feature in 

 man — his religious sentiments — there has been a 

 similar and upward development. From Feticism to 

 Pantheism, from Pantheism to Judaism, and from 

 Judaism to Christianity, we can trace the ascent; 

 and even now, under the various phases of its pro- 

 fession, Christianity itself is gradually obtaining a 

 purer practice and wider recognition. Nothing 

 stands still; and not to believe that the existing 



