Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-11-28
THANhSGIVING.
MI. Towers SERMON AT THE UNION SERVICE
YEsTERpAY MoENING.

MI. TOWERS SERMON AT THE UNION SERVICE
YESTERDAY MORNING.
Mr. Towers text was from Matthew VI
30 Seek ye first the kingdom of God and
his Righteousness, aud all these things shall
be added unto you"
The text teaches that temporal vell-being
shall be the reward of piety. There is
sense, and real sense, in which religion may
be said to be the source Of all prosperity.
Secular prosperity may bs said to rest on two
main pillars a. Art; including under that
term the lower forms OF art as seen in use
full inventions. G. Science involving the
educational agencies which have done so
much for modern society. But both art and
science, as history tesiides, grow directly cut
OF the religious sentiment and without the
inspirations flowing from the idea Of God
would never have had an existence.
That this was the case with respect to art
is manifest from the fact that the higher
forms Of art preceded the lower, and these
higher forms we're first of all employed in
giving exposition TO religious sentiment The
earliest specimens of high art were symbols
OF worship, such rs columns, shafts. statues,
temples, erected in honor of the Deity. The
greatest masterpieces of painting stored in the
galleries of Rome have for their subjects such
themes as The Holy Family, 1.-The Miracles,
The Last Supper, The Cruci6Xion, The
Judgment, etc. The first use Of music was
in worship and the distonic scale was dis
covered by the Monk Guido while chanting
in the monastery choir. Poetry follows the
same law. The relations of man TO God
we're its original themes, and the greatest
works have dealt with such subjects, as for
example the Divine Comedies Of Dante, "
and Millions Paradise Lost" Thus it ap-
pears that the art faculty in man was quick
ApaA aativitv 1,valnnaA and fr.f
under the impulse of the religious sentim ent.
1t was the great thought of God and our re-
lations to Him that furnished the needed in
spiration without which the faculty itself
would have remained dormant aud inactive,
and all the wonderful inventions which have
followed from its awakening, aud which have
been an indispensable factor in modern prog
ress would have been as impossible as streams
without fountain.
The same principle holds in regard to sci
ence aud all it involves. The first books
written were books of religion. The Bible is
the oldest, and in pagan nations their sacred
books are the most ancient aud tribes too
degraded to have any sacred books have siul-
ply had none at all. The first schools were
the Schools of the Prophets" The college
was before the common school, and the orig
inal college was a theological seminary. 1t
is acknowledged that the church is the mother
of the European educational system. In the
middle ages the mOnasieries were the only
seats of learning The University of Paris
is supposed to be the oldest, and was called
the First School of the Church" The
great universities of K0nigsburg, Jena, Halle,
GOttingen and Berlin grew directly out Of the
quickened religious feelings of the reforma-
ton. Luther aud Melancthon planned and
established the school system of Germany,
which has served for a model for the rest of
Christendom.
Harvard College is the oldest in America.
Iu its charter We are told that its object is
The glory Of God and the good of all His
elect people the world throughout, in vindi-
eating the truth of Christ and promoting his
glorious kingdom" Yale comes next in or
der of time, and its charter states the motive
of its founder to have been "a sincere re.
gard to and zeal for upholding and propagat-
ing the Christian Protestant religion" The
common school system was inaugurated in
the Connecticut colony the order declared
the purpose to be ito defeat SatAn's project
of keeping men, by ignorance, from the
knowledge of the Scriptures"
Thus the whole series of educational agen-
cies which have so blessed modern times
came into existence under the inspiration of
the religious sentiment. Originally art is the
religious sentiment seeking TO express itself
ana science Is the religious sentiment see king
to understand itself and without the high in
spirations of these sentiments man would
never have emerged from the savage state.
And even where people has become pos
sessed Of good degree of secular prosperity,
they cannot keep it without the help of re.
ligion. Spain is an example. The oorrup-
ton of her faith has been attended by the
steady decline OF her power France ia an-
other well-known example. The traveller in
Europe knows when he crosses the line from
a Catholic to a Protestant country by instant
betlerment Of the social condition. The peo-