ce, in the field of political action, and in every work where self-reliance and personal force are called for, as would he impossible under the opposite system. In the period immediately following the Reformation Bignal proofs wen- afforded of this truth. The littlestates of Holland, for example, proved their ability to cope with Me- Spanish empire, to gniu their independence, and to acquire an opulence and a culture which recalled the besl days of the Grecian republics. They beal back their in- ■ m their soil, and sent forth their victorious na- vies hi. very sea, while ai home they were educating
tint common people, fostering science and learning, ami building up nnivci si lies famous tliroiiLrhoui Europe. Eug-
i on I. in i he a: f Elizabeth, proved thai the native \ Igor
of her people was reinforced in a rema kable i
the stimulus derived from the peculiar genius of the Prot-
ligion. It was I he period « hen she u
ft a I ascendency ; the period, likewise, of Sh tke- B i' on, ami Raleigh. \\ ho can doubt thai the
United States of America are. not indeed wholly, hut in
ebted tor their position, a- contrasted « ith Mi xico and the political communities of South
■ \iaiiisi f the pott er oi the indit idual,
which i- the uniform and legitimate fruit of Protestant
"(-'.) Th. a Protestantism favors universal edu-
cation. The laj Christian, who is to read and interpret
the Scriptures, ami to lake part in the administration of government in the < hurch, musl not he an illiterate per- son. Knowledge, mental enlightenment, under the Prot- ?tem, are indispensable. The weight of personal responsibility foi the i nlture ol his intellectual and spir- itual nature which rests on every individual make- edu- cation a matter of universal concern. Far more ha- been
done in Protestant than in Roman Catholic countries for the instruction of the whole people. It is enough to refer to the Common-school system of Holland and of .N'-w England, and to Protestant Germany, to show how natu- ral it is for the disciples of the Reformation to provide for this great interest of society.
■1 la- I ee circulation of the Bible in Protestant lands has disseminated an instrument of intellectual as well as of religions improvement, I he good effect of which is im- measurable. As a repository of history, biography, poe- try, ethics, as well as a monitor to the conscience and a guide to heaven, the Bible has exerted an inflneuce on the common mind, in all Protestant nation-, which it would he difficult to exaggerate. The practice of interpreting ■ ml of exploring its page- for fie-h truth affords
a mental discipline of a very high order. How often have the Scripture- carried into the cottage ol ant a breadth and refinement of intellect which otherwise would never have existed, and which no agency employed by the Roman Catholic Bystem, in relation to the same social class, has e\ er hi-en ,,,-:,, engender !
"(3.) That Protestantism should be more friendly to civil and religions liherty than the Roman Catholic sys- tem would seem to follow unavoidably from the nature of the two forms of faith. Protestantism involves, as u vital element, an assertion of pcrsoual rights with respeel to religion, the highest concern of man. ' Moreover, Prot- estantism casts off the yoke of priestly rule, ami puts ec- clesiastical government, in due measure, into the hands of the laity. As we have already said, it is a revolt of the laity against a usurped ecclesiastical onthoiity. The Church of Koine teaches men that their first and most binding duty is to how with unquestioning docil tj ami obedience t<"> their heaven-appointed superiors. How is it possible that Protestantism should uol foster a habit of mind which is incompatible with a patient endurance of tyranny at the hands of the civil power:' How can Protestantism, inspiring a livelj sense of personal rights, fail to bring with it. eventually ai least, a corresponding respect for the rights of others, and a disposition to secure their tights in tonus of goverment and in legislation? How can men who are accustomed to judge for them- selves and at independently in Church affairs manifest a slavish spirit in the political sphere? On the contrary, the habit of mind which the Roman Catholic nurture tends to beget leads to servility ill the -nhje I towards
the ruler as long as an alliance is kept up between sover- eign and priest. It is true that the Church of Koine can
accommodate itself to any ofthe various types of political society. Her doctors have at time- preached an extreme theory of popular tights and ofthe sovereignly ofthe people. While the state is subordinate to th< any form of government may he tolerated; and there may he an interest on the part of the priesthood in incul- cating political theories which operate, in their judgment, to weaken the obligations of loyalty towards the civil magistrate, and to exalt by contrast the divine authority of the Church. When the civil magistracy pre-i ■- to
i sere se prerogatives, or to ordain measures, which are deemed hurtful to the ecclesiastical interest, a radical doctrine of revolution, even a doctrine of tyrannicide, has been beard from the pulpits ofthe most conservative of
religion- bodies. Generally speaking, however, the Church of Koine is the naiural all] and supporter of arbitrary pi inciples Of government. The prevailing sentiment, the instinctive feeling, in that Church is that the body ofthe