The same necessity exists in man's relations to his God. If he would have peace with God, two things are indispensable, viz., penitence and reformation on the part of man, and an act of forgiveness on the part of God. To call man to repentance, and assure him of God's willingness to forgive, was the central purpose of Christ's mission. The atonement was to be effected, not by appeasing God's anger, or by making Him merciful, but by revealing His mercy, and so reconciling man to God. Christ would give us such a conception of the all-abounding grace of our Heavenly Father, as to make us ashamed of our sins, not because of the penalty alone, but because sin separates us from our never-changing Friend, our ever faithful Father.

This doctrine of atonement is greatly emphasized by Universalism. It will not hear, as Channing says, "of a vindictive wrath in God that must be quenched with blood, nor of a justice that binds his mercy with an iron chain." His mercy and justice are perfectly at one. It will not believe that God needs any foreign influence to awaken his mercy. It teaches that the tenderest yearnings of a human parent toward an erring child, are but a faint suggestion of God's mercy toward humanity.

6. And it teaches that the same love that made us, and watches over us, will save us at last. He made us for Himself. He appointed the means for our salvation. There can be no failure in His plan. "Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things." Beginning, process, consummation, all in God. Along the flowery path of obedience, or through the dark valley of retribution, man must find purity at last. pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell; and having made peace through the blood of His Cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven." "And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand; He shall see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied." This is a significant promise. Christ came to be the Saviour of the world. His yearning desire for sinners, even for the last wanderer, is shown in the parable of the lost sheep. He would not give

up the search until "He found it." "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied." The prophet does not say he shall be gratified. He might be gratified with the salvation of one soul. He can only be satisfied with the salvation of every soul. A ship is stranded on our shore in a winter storm. A boat from a life-saving station pushes out to the rescue. Through superhuman exertions, they reach and save some of the crew, and bring them to the shore. But are they satisfied? No; there are men still clinging to the wreck. There is no time to lose. They launch the life-boat again. Away they go at peril of their lives. Again they return, bringing all but one of the unfortunate mariners. Men raise a mighty cheer as they reach the land. But the cheer is quickly hushed, for a feeble voice sounds over the wave. These wreckers are only hard, rough men, with little of the grace of Christian culture. But are they satisfied? Are the people satisfied, who have gathered on the shore? Is this old man satisfied, who presses far down into the surf, and can hardly be restrained from leaping into the waves? Oh, no; the missing one is his own son. Is this stalwart youth satisfied, who drags his boat into the breakers, and calls for volunteers? Oh, no; the unsaved man is his brother. They will not be satisfied until that man is saved. If their strength of arm is equal to their strength of heart, he will be saved.

Christ commands the saving stations along the shore of this sea of life. If there is power enough in earth and heaven, to reach, and save, no shipwrecked soul shall ever be lost. He shall bring the last wanderer safely home, for "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied." Surely this is the desire of every Christian heart. And why did He plant it, if it is never to be satisfied? Will He tantalize our affections forever? Oh, no; when He planted this high desire, it was that it might be satisfied. All are not saved in this world, but the saving power of Christ is not limited to this little day of life. He is our Saviour in the spirit world. The work begun here will be completed there. "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Will Christ fail in

the fulfilment of this promise? Not if He is an all-sufficient Saviour. If He should fail in the case of a single soul, could He ever say, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do?" Could He ever be satisfied. Could God, the Eternal Father, ever be satisfied? No; for it is His will that sin should cease, and righteousness and peace should reign. Could the angels be satisfied? No; for they watch with solicitude over men, and there is joy among their shining ranks when a lost soul is found. Could the redeemed be satisfied? You are in heaven, and your child in hell: are you satisfied? You are in heaven, and your wife or your husband, your brother, your sister, your lover, is in hell: are you satisfied? You are in heaven, with a Christian's love and sympathy in your heart, and your worst enemy is without the gate: are you satisfied? Can you ever be satisfied? Can heaven ever be heaven to you? Oh, no; sin must be conquered, and every soul redeemed, or heaven can never be complete to any soul.

Do not say "we will not retain our human sympathies there. We will be so changed as to look with complacency upon the woes of the damned." That were to empty heaven of the primal virtue. A company of souls without sympathy, or love, or pity, rejoicing in their own environment, and without care for others, would have greater need of regenerating grace than ever mortals know on earth. But such are not the ransomed company of heaven. "The heart shall live forever." The affections are immortal. Faith may be lost in sight; hope may be swallowed up of blessed fruition; but love the greatest of the three, shall endure

"When the stars are old,

And the sun is cold,

And the Scroll of Eternity is unrolled."

For "Love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. And he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love." The sentiment of the poet finds an answering chord in every Christian heart.

"I trust Heaven will not be shut forevermore,
Without a knocker left upon the door ;

Lest some belated wanderer should come
Heart-broken, asking just to die at home;
So that the Father will at last forgive,
And looking in His face, that soul shall live.

"I trust there will be watchers through the night,

Lest any far off turn them to the light;

That He who loved us into life, must be

A Father, infinitely fatherly;

And turning to Him, each shall find his way,
From outer dark, through twilight, into day."

ARTICLE XXVI.

The Relation of Myths to Science and Religion.

The relation of myths to science or religion would hardly have been recognized by scientists or theologians until within a comparatively short time. Myths were regarded simply as the products of the imagination; and imagination was treated as a creative faculty in the strictest sense of that term.

It is true, psychology had recognized the fact that it is simply the power of combination,- denying it the essential characteristics of creative energy, yet the popular idea invested it with all the attributes of such a power. "Among the opinions," says Tylor, which are produced by a little knowledge, to be dispelled by a little more is a belief in an almost boundless creative power of the human imagination.”

It is but recently that myths have been studied except in the light of "a little knowledge." Archæology and ethnology have, however, added so much to our knowledge of the myths of all nations, and especially to those of the great Aryan race, and shown such a relation between them at different stages of civilization, that they have assumed an importance in the history of the world's advancement not formerly dreamed of. What seemed mere wild and lawless fancy, that

'Naught resembles else our eyes have seen," with no pattern in the material world, was set down as the

NEW SERIES. VOL. XVJI

29

product of the imagination of the poet or seer; i. e., the creation of the imagination, having no relation to any real exist

ence.

But as we trace back from our own times the intellectual history of the human race, these "airy nothings" are found to furnish clues leading back to the actual experience of primitive man. Already ethnology and philology have done much to classify and arrange the myths and legends which have found a place in all our literature, and been closely interwoven with history itself. For evidence of this, we can, in this paper, but refer to such works as "Tylor's Primitive Culture," and "Fiske's Myths and Myth Makers," to which we are indebted for most of the facts on which the theory of the formation of myths is founded. A careful perusal of these works will, we think, leave little doubt that the original myth was a statement of what was regarded as literal fact. It was the science of the primitive man,- his explanation of the phenomena of nature. He, of course, knew nothing of physical forces except that of which he was directly conscious,― the force of volition or will; and, by a natural law craving to to know the causes of events witnessed,- the personification or animation of nature became a necessity. In every event and detail of his experienee the primitive man saw only the operation of personal life and will. As Tylor says "spirits are personified causes." This being so, and no other causes being known, "animism" follows as a psychological necessity. Thus the origin of myths must be regarded as the first attempt of the human intellect, in the infancy of the world to account for the facts of daily experience. But how, it may be asked, are we to push our investigations back to the primitive condition of mankind? It is true we have no beaten track of history over which to retrace the successive stages of human culture. But philology, ethnology, and comparative mytbology go hand in hand in the development of civilization; so each, in turn, as we retrace the successive steps in the world's progress, throws light on the dark path, till we are able to get trustworthy glimpses of what has hitherto lain in darkness.