alities and link tlieiu in indissoluble bonds, despite all the lapses of time. In this manner, therefore, we are taught that the Hebrew polity, so wise, so just, and so sacred, was not local in its bearings and intents; but that, in its ultimate ends and aims, it was our polity, and the polity of all Christendom, ay, and of all the world. For us, moreover, Greece was raised up with her unrivalled eloquence, matchless wisdom, and fine ideas and forms of beauty. And Rome—imperial Home—stands before us, immortal! in practical wisdom, in stirring energy, and in her matchless capability of rule!
Indeed it is no exaggeration to say that our life, our culture, and our civilization are but the result of the ceaseless energy of mind and body of all past nations. And of all these nations, if we are grateful men, we are bound to turn to Palestine, Greece, and Italy, with beaming eyes; and, to use the words of Arnold, "draw near with reverence" to them, "as those higher causes which, proceeding directly from the inscrutable will of our Maker, seemed designed to humble the presumption of fancying ourselves the arbiters of our own destiny;"[1] "and, if I may add my own words to his profundity and insight,—seemed designed also to teach us, as a nation, that we are not to live merely for ourselves, but to bless the present generation of nations, and to send down the beneficence of our regards, of our activities, and our virtues to other peoples, and to future times!
I go on to show the obligation of nations to contribute to the well-being and civilization of man,<refernces/>
- ↑ Dr. Arnold. See Miscellanies.
