Nature's seers, running their eye
along the line of the moral law, catch vistas in the future brighter
than those that now are fading from the Old Testament page; and Nature's
prophets, putting their ear to the ground, hear the murmur of nobler
revelations than were ever given to the old oracles now moving their
stiffened lips in death. Humanity's heresiarchs are lordlier than
inhumanity's priests. The soul's image-breaking is diviner than the
prelate's worship. Knowledge distances faith. Human solidity more than
makes good the Catholic's Communion. The revelation of universal law
makes the belief in miracle seem atheistical; and the irresistible
grace of the spirit that lives, and moves, and discloses its being in
humanity, sweeps past the dispensations of Catholic and Protestant
Christendom, as the eagle distances the dove."[281]

We would not utter a syllable of needless alarm; but is it not time that
the American Church take note of the efforts by which the Rationalists
of every grade are striving to take away the cardinal truths of the
Christian revelation? Their predecessors in Europe sought to make
children ashamed of the old truths by casting sarcasm on the strong
faith and evangelical piety of the forefathers. They then aimed to show
that the Church and theology are altogether behind the age, and that
science and art are advancing with a rapidity which must leave all
dogmatism and authority far behind. They afterward examined the
Scriptures by the light of Reason alone, and, by this idea, deluded
multitudes of the young and inexperienced into the darkness and doubt
which were never removed.

This last effort may be the next one to which American Rationalism will
address itself. The Church in this country has partaken of the pride
awakened by our unexampled national prosperity; and many of her noblest
sons had well-nigh come to the conclusion, before the outbreak of the
late civil war, that she must inevitably prosper, simply because of the
remarkable temporal blessings which God had lavishly given. But without
faith nothing can be accomplished, and three decades may be sufficient
to so change the whole aspect of our religious life that the Church may
become thoroughly Rationalistic; her sanctuaries frequented, and her
posts of honor occupied, by the worshipers of Reason. The fidelity of
the past will not be able to meet the emergency of the present. The
Church in the wilderness was not permitted to lay up man