affirmed of all art. In spite of
ourselves, even the best of us find it difficult to make art a serious
business; and unless taken seriously, it is vain, loses its soul, and
falls into the hands of pretenders and sentimentalists. Once painting,
sculpture, architecture, and song were the expression of thoughts and
moods which irresistibly appealed for utterance; but with us they are a
fashion, like cosmetics and laces. Poetry, the highest of arts, has lost
its original character of song, and the poet now deals, in an
imaginative way, with problems which puzzle metaphysicians and
theologians. The causes that have robbed art of so much of its charm and
power have necessarily diminished the influence of ceremonial worship,
which is the artistic expression of the soul's faith and love, of its
hopes and yearnings. We are, indeed, still subdued by the majesty of
dimly lighted cathedrals, by solemn music, and the various symbolism of
the ritual, but we feel not the deep awe of our fathers whose knees
furrowed the pavement stones, and whose burning lips kissed them smooth;
and to blame ourselves for this would serve no purpose. To those who
find no pleasure in sweet sounds, we pipe in vain, and argument to show
that one ought to be moved by what leaves him cold, is meaningless.
Emotion is spontaneous, and adorers, like lovers, neither ask nor care
for reasons. There is in fact an element of illusion in feeling; passion
is non-rational; and when the spirit of the time is intellectual, men
are seldom devout, however religious they may be. The scientific habit
of mind is not favorable to childlike and unreasoning faith; and the new
views of the physical universe which the modern mind is forced to take,
bring us face to face with new problems in religion and morals, in
politics and society.

Whatever we may think of the past, whatever we may fear or hope for the
future, if we would make an impression on the world around us, we must
understand the thoughts, the purposes, and the methods of those with
whom we live; and we must at the same time recognize that though the
truth of religion be unchangeable, the mind of man is not so, and that
the point of view varies not only from people to people, and from age to
age, but from year to year in the growing thought of the individual and
of the world. As in travelling round the earth, time changes, and when
it is morning here, it is evening there, so with difference of latitude
and longitude