PRA

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T is a common notion in Christe

in the world with a clear knowle perfect worship of the one true Goof a fluent communication with the faculties. But man transgressed the life degenerated into crime and sava depreciated to the most abject sup as a brilliant meteor that came nea The world commenced too well t did n't prove equal to the advertise very good, and was afterwards disap a wreck and a failure.

It is enough for the present purp doctrine concerning the origin of m itive worship, which is contradicted the general order of growth and de

There is no good foundation for perfect worship and a rational inte The primitive worship must have b It probably resembled the worshilowest savages. Man begins by and phenomena of nature that surr fetiches to secure the favor of the the most indistinct and childish co erations of these natural powers. and operations external to himself, capable of either helping or opposi operation by such rites and incanta capable of suggesting. Such is fet worship, with no conception of C from natural objects and forces; an was no doubt the most primitive wo

From this fetichism which emplo tions in the worship of trees, and objects, the progress would be direc more grand and imposing phenome as sun and moon, storms and flo growth of the mind through obse

slow development of the religious sentiment, would gradually lead to hero-worship and various other forms of polytheistic idolatry.

Idolatry and hero-worship instead of being originally the result of a fall and degradation from pure God-worship, was no doubt a growth and elevation from the primitive fetichism or childish nature-worship. Human history, language, and the whole natural order of development support this theory of the origin and growth of worship.

It is probable that idolatry distinct and proper, began in hero-worship, and that still later the more imposing objects and forces of nature were worshipped as malign or beneficent deities. The earliest conception of gods as individual or personal beings would be associated with the persons of the chiefs of tribes and families. These through their manifest superiority of ability and position, would, in the course of time, come to be honored as superhuman beings while living, and worshipped as gods after, if not before, their death. Then from this hero-worship, which was the original foundation of polytheism, there was, and still is, a definable progress to monotheism or proper God-worship. And all advanced forms of polytheism, or the worship of many gods, have led the most forward minds to the conception and worship of the Supreme Deity. In all the maturer systems of polytheism, whether Egyptian, Hindoo, Persian, Greek, or Roman, there is no doubt that the superior minds were believers in the one Infinite Creator and Ruler of the Universe.

Thus all worship, if fully developed in its proper tendency, would lead to spiritual God-worship. But it is the fashion of religions to decay before coming to full maturity.

It would be interesting if we could trace the whole line of progress from the primitive fetichism to the pure and simple worship of Jesus; but for the present aim it will be sufficient to keep in mind the fact, that, man began his career in the world with hardly the faintest notion of rational worship; and we may then perceive that the ignorance and superstition which still abound, are not the effects of a crushing fall from a height of spiritual perfection, but the remains of the original poverty and immaturity.

The majority of Christians have not outgrown fetichism and heroworship. Trinity and Satan represent the polytheistic idea, which still has an unconscious supremacy in the average Christian mind. The savage employs his charms and fetiches to win the favor and mollify the antagonism of nature; and the Christian attributes a vague influence of a similar sort to his Bible, and Sabbath, and Sacraments: the savage, a little more advanced, makes a god of the chief of his tribe or nation; and the Christian exalts a Galilean saint and reformer

to the throne of the universe. The difference between the two is only a difference of degrees. The average Christian religion is only an improved heathenism; and the improvement is often of a very doubtful character. The savage heathen prays as if the name and nature of his god were Whim: he has no conception of immutable law, and no notion of the eternal order of the world to which his prayers should conform, and to which all the gods must adhere. And in most Christian Churches the worship proceeds in ignorant or wilful disregard of the fundamental law and order of the Universe. If there is any truth distinctly enunciated in science, it is the truth that there is an immutable law and order of development to which the whole creation conforms:

"Over space the clear banner of mind is unfurled,
And the habits of God are the laws of the world."

To this oriental couplet science adds the explanation that the habits of God, or the laws of the world, are as fixed and reliable as the eternal character of God himself. But most of the public prayers of Christendom would imply that God is a mutable being who governs the world by arbitrary caprice. The barbarian tries to bribe his god by specific sacrifices and offerings: and Christians combine in premeditated efforts of prayer to engage God in special performances, which is like trying to influence Congress to particular courses of action by signing and sending in petitions.

In the fable, Hercules is represented as saying to the man who sat praying him to lift his cart out of the mud, Put your own shoulder to the wheel, then start your team, and see if it does n't move. The man tried it, and succeeded without help from Hercules. We may read the moral thus: Don't pray for help unless you are at the same time trying to help yourself; and don't pray for truth unless you are willing to receive and obey a larger and freer truth than you have already got.

Not to speak of praying for rain, or against pestilence instead of paying a right observance to the sanitary laws, there are some other examples of vain and inconsequent praying waiting to be mentioned. A special day is set apart as a day of prayer for colleges. But is that the way to get good and efficient colleges? Was there ever a sectarian institution of learning that has been brought to the proper standard of the times by this combination method of prayer? The case is clear that if good and efficient colleges are wanted, there must be able and cultivated faculties and boards of management. But if the institutions are managed by bigots and sectaries, and the people who support them are devoted to bigotry and sectarianism, then it is not

in the least likely that the special days of prayer will contribute anything towards furnishing the country with the proper sort of colleges and other institutions of learning.

Take for another example the custom of praying for rulers and men in authority. The people have, perchance, elected dishonest and incompetent demagogues to high office, and ministers and people pray God to endow them with honesty, wisdom, and statesmanship. But if that is the proper way to do the business, then the people had better elect to permanent office wooden governors and castiron presidents, and get them endowed with all the essential moral and intellectual attributes by this easy method.

I have mentioned these familiar examples of common methods and notions of prayer not simply for the pleasure of trying to make them appear unreasonable and ridiculous, but in the hope of making somewhat more clear the necessity which all should feel of aspiring toward higher and saner methods and ideas of worship. The number of similar examples and illustrations might be indefinitely multiplied. But if an ordinary revival meeting is not enough to convince one of the pusillanimity and insanity of a very considerable proportion of the popular worship of the times, then there is no present hope of convincing by any amount of argument or illustration.

"We, ignorant of ourselves,

Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit

By losing of our prayers."

Doubtless the world is vastly better off just because so many prayers fail of their sincere object and desire. I suspect that it would be a worse calamity than a general earthquake if all the honest and devout prayers of any Sunday in the year, offered in Christian Churches, should meet with a literal and exact fulfilment.

Those who are wise in their worship will recognize the supremacy of law and order throughout the Universe. God never in a single instance governs by mere whim or caprice, and no prayer can meet with a favorable answer unless it is advanced by the reason and law of the world. I do not mean to announce any specific rule of devotion to which every one must conform or fail in the proper objects and ends of devotion. Prayer is properly a spiritual exercise, and the spiritual results of devout prayer must be favorable to the one who prays, and to others who devoutly pray with him, however foolish it may appear when viewed simply by the understanding. But it is still true that it is vain to pray against the law of gravitation, or against

any other law of nature. A foolish or unreasonable prayer can never succeed in virtue of its folly and unreasonableness: it only succeeds to the extent that it is in conformity with reason and right tendencies. Devoutness and sincerity do of themselves confer a high advantage upon the possessor of these qualities, even when conjoined with gross ignorance and superstition, but never because they are so conjoined. We pray with the spirit when we are devout and sincere; we pray with the understanding when we make our devotions conform with a reasonable comprehension of the laws and facts of life.

Prayer should never be adopted as an economic or acquisitive agency. Praying for special material commodities is a degradation of the religious sentiment. It is trying to possess oneself of emoluments and advantages without paying a proper equivalent.

Very simple and heroic in comparison with the average of Christian prayers is this prayer of the ancient Spartans: "May the gods grant whatever is honorable and good for us, and enable us to endure misfortune." This is a heathen prayer, the only prayer of a very brave and heroic people, and its modesty, simplicity, and heroism would still furnish a very good model even for Christian praying.

A great deal of what is called praying is only an impertinent and presumptuous kind of begging, or else a formal asking for what no one particularly desires. There is profane praying as well as profane swearing, and of the two the profane swearing is probably the least profane. There are some of the best and most religious people who are not helped or improved by any formal acts of devotion. Wor shipping God, the Supreme Good, in spirit and in truth, that is, in the sincerity and devotedness of their whole lives, they may be so profoundly religious that all formal and specific prayer shall seem only a superficial effort to utter the unutterable, or as a sort of dictation to the Supreme One in whom they wholly confide. The Koran says, "One hour of equity is better than seventy years of devotion." Of course the meaning is, that equity is infinitely better than any amount of such imperfect devotion as is possible without equity. But right devotion will be directed to truth, and justice, and kindness, and all the divine accomplishments of manhood or womanhood; and such devotion can well enough afford to dispense with all forms of premeditated worship. True life and aspiration constitute the only true and essential worship. Man is the temple, and the life that any one is living is the worship which he supports, and the only worship that he can support.

"Devoutly look, and naught

But wonders shall pass by thee;