tion,--for there is no more harm in the Greek word eidolon
than in the Latin word imago. He wants a visible image to fix his
thought, a scarabee or a crux ansata, or the modern symbols which are
to our own time what these were to the ancient Egyptians. He wants a
vicegerent of the Almighty to take his dying hand and bid him godspeed
on his last journey. Who but such an immediate representative of the
Divinity would have dared to say to the monarch just laying his head on
the block, "Fils de Saint Louis, monte au ciel"?

It has been a long and gradual process to thoroughly republicanize the
American Protestant descendant of the ancient priesthood. The history of
the Congregationalists in New England would show us how this change has
gone on, until we have seen the church become a hall open to all sorts
of purposes, the pulpit come down to the level of the rostrum, and the
clergyman take on the character of a popular lecturer who deals with
every kind of subject, including religion.

Whatever fault we may find with many of their beliefs, we have a right
to be proud of our Pilgrim and Puritan fathers among the clergy. They
were ready to do and to suffer anything for their faith, and a faith
which breeds heroes is better than an unbelief which leaves nothing
worth being a hero for. Only let us be fair, and not defend the creed
of Mohammed because it nurtured brave men and enlightened scholars, or
refrain from condemning polygamy in our admiration of the indomitable
spirit and perseverance of the Pilgrim Fathers of Mormonism, or justify
an inhuman belief, or a cruel or foolish superstition, because it
was once held or acquiesced in by men whose nobility of character we
heartily recognize. The New England clergy can look back to a noble
record, but the pulpit has sometimes required a homily from the pew, and
may sometimes find it worth its while to listen to one even in our own
days.

From the settlement of the country to the present time, the ministers
have furnished the highest type of character to the people among whom
they have lived. They have lost to a considerable extent the position
of leaders, but if they are in our times rather to be looked upon as
representatives of their congregations, they represent what is best
among those of whom they are the speaking organs. We have a right to
expect them to be models as well as teachers of all that makes the best
citizens for this world and the next, and they have not been,