The New York herald., 1869-02-28

that have never been surpassed in any period
OF the worlds history.
The next period of great mental activity in
history is that presented by the elimination of
Roman conquest and empire, which has given
form to thought in the scheme Of Western civil
lization until the present day. Religion, litera-
ture and law all acknowledge the heading Of
their streams in this era, and Cicero, Tacitus
and Paul represent its progressive schools.
Looking only to the religious development of
that period, we find the purest and highest
among the Hebrews. 1t was time when uni
versal conquest had brought universal trade
and intercourse, and the schools of religion
and philosophy were stimulated to their highest
effort by mutual contact and irritation.
Among the Hebrews the period of highest
culture was during the time immediately pre-
ceding and coeval with the Christian era. 1t
brought forth the entire scheme of angelology
and demonology which characterize the New
Testament and the Talmud, and Gamaliel, at
whose feet Paul claims to have sat, was but
one of o long list Of eminent Hebrew teachers.
of Joshua, son of Perachia, and the same
record claims Paul. or Acher, as he is there
called, as an eminent scholar and disputant of
the school of the Pharisees. At no period of
the worlds history, unless we except that of
our day, do we find time Of greater mental
represented in the sublime teachings of Jesus
on the Mount and His succinct recapitulation
of the Law and the Prophets-love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul,
and thy neighbor as thyself.
Following the parallel we pass through the
age of mental inactivity and decay which sue
ceeded the breaking up Of the Roman empire
The activity of the Carlomagnian period gave
the Church new strength, but the age was
not equal to the requirements of religious de-
velopment. 1t possessed none of the ancient
or modern agents of civilization, and religion
fell back into the darkness of the middle ages.
A period of unusual mental activity appeared
in Europe when Charles V. of Germany,
Francis /. of France and Henry VIII. of Eng
land aspired to universal rule on that Conti-
nent. The influ ence of the New World and of
the printing press was felt coincidently with
the schemes of these great rulers, and the pro-
duct of the age was Martin Luther and his fol-
lowers As Moses had sloughed off the accre-
tions Of Egyptian priestcraft, as Christ had
rejected the accumulated dogmas of the
Hebrew schools, as Paul had broken alike the
limited teachings of Hebrew Christianity and
Greek mythology, SO the reformers of the six
teenth century cast aside the accumulations
which fifteen hundred years had gathered
around the pure dogmas of revealed religion.
That great work is not yet finished. The
age has but gathered material and impulse for
its accomplishment, and the mental activity
which results from steam as the common car
rier of matter, and electricity as that of the
products Of the mind, points conclusively to q
higher development Of religious teaching and
belief In this development Of the future the
sublime moralities Of revealed religion will pot
suffer. These have shone forth with brighter
lustre after those mental attritions which led
Noses Paul and Luther to reject the accumu-
lated errors Of their times; and so it will be
after the age of unparalleled mental excite
ment upon which we are now entering shall
have swept away the accumulated follies Of
our modern Church and schools.