Note 1 — SECTION II. ENTHUSIASM IN DEVOTION.

The metaphysico-devotional "Confessions" of the good Bishop of Hippo may perhaps not unfairly be placed at the head of this very peculiar species of literature. The author is reluctant to name some modern works which he might deem liable to objection, on the ground of their giving encouragement to religious sentimentalism, lest he should put into the mouth of the irreligious a style of criticism which they would not fail to abuse. He is aware that he runs a hazard of this sort in advancing what he has above advanced. He can only say that he thinks the subject much too important in itself, and too intimately connected with the theme of this Essay, to be passed in silence. And he cautions the irreligious reader, if the book should fall into the hand of any such unhappy person, not to suppose that the author would either disparage the important duty of self-examination; or speak slightingly of those mental struggles which will ever attend the conflict between good and evil in the heart that has admitted the purifying influence of the Holy Spirit. What he pleads for, is, that self-examination should always have reference to tho Christian standard of temper and conduct; and that spiritual conflicts should consist of a resistance against evil dispositions or immoral practices. What he fears on the part of religious folks is, a forgetfulness of meekness, temperance, integrity, amid the illusions—now gloomy, now gaudy—of a diseased brain.

[2] Strictly speaking, the religion of Greece was not eminently a religion of ritual splendor: on the contrary, there reigned in the public services of the most intellectual of all nations, much of the simplicity of devout fervor, much of the chasteness of fine taste, and much of the archaic and unadorned solemnity that had descended to the Greeks from the patriarchal ages. Even in their theatres, and on their race-courses, there was far less of pomp and finery than is demanded on similar occasions by a modern European populace. The Romans carried the sublime in decoration to a further point; and in the same degree exchanged reason and taste for colors, gildings, and draperies. Upon the Roman barbaric magnificence the corrupt church of the fifth and following centuries engrafted, in a confused medley, the gorgeous conceptions of the eastern nations—the terrible ideas of the northern hordes—the jugglings of Italian priests, and the sheer puerilities of monks and children. Such is the Christian worship of Rome! Nevertheless, its elements comprise so much that is beautiful, or imposing, that its puerilities catch not the eye; and a man must be very rational who altogether repels the impression of its services.