education of us, we can ascertain who is responsible for
the law, and for public sentiment. Who takes the infant from its
cradle and baptizes it "in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost;" and when that infant comes to childhood, who takes it
into Sabbath-schools; who on every Sabbath day, while its mind is
"like clay in the hands of the potter," moulds and fashions it as
he will; and when that child comes to be a youth, where is he
found, one-seventh part of the time; and when he comes to maturer
age, does he not leave his plow in the furrow, and his tools in
the shop, and one-seventh part of the time go to the place where
prayer is wont to be made? On that day no sound is heard but the
roll of the carriage wheels to church; all are gathered there,
everything worldly is laid aside, all thoughts are given entirely
to the Creator; for we are taught that we must not think our own
thoughts, but must lay our own wills aside, and come to be
moulded and fashioned by the priest. It is "holy time," and we
are to give ourselves to be wholly and entirely fashioned and
formed by another. That place is a holy place, and when we enter,
our eye rests on the "holy of holies;" he within it is a
"divine." The "divines" of the thirteenth century, the "divines"
of the fifteenth century, and the "divines" of the nineteenth
century, are no less "divines." What I say to-day is taken for
what it is worth, or perhaps for less than it is worth, because
of the prejudice against me; but when he who educates the people
speaks, "he speaks as one having authority," and is not to be
questioned. He claims, and has his claim allowed, to be specially
ordained and specially anointed from God. He stands mid-way
between Deity and man, and therefore his word has power.
Aye, not only in middle age does the man come, leaving everything
behind him; but, in old age, "leaning on the top of his staff,"
he finds himself gathered in the place of worship, and though his
ear may be dull and heavy, he leans far forward to catch the last
words of duty--of duty to God and duty to man. Duty is the
professed object of the pulpit, and if it does not teach that,
what in Heaven's name does it teach? This anointed man of God
speaks of moral duty to God and man. He teaches man from the
cradle
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