Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/469

Rh by them, cared for and provided for as long as they lived. The ministers of religion constitute one portion of the aristocracy of America, and I have met with the most intelligent and interesting individuals amongst them.

The consequence of this liberty, which is extended to sects, exhibits itself still farther by a large development of the religious mind. Each considerable sect has its own religious publication, in which its doctrines are developed by discussion with others, and the church relationship is contemplated in a many-sided manner. The public mind is thus very much turned to these subjects, and a general comprehension of them is the result. Hence it may be said of the American people, as Swedenborg, in his day, said of the English, in his “Vision of the Last Judgment:”

“The better portion of this nation are at the central point before all Christians, and the cause of their being at the centre is, that they have developed the intellectual light. This light proceeds from the freedom which they have enjoyed in thought, and consequently in speaking and writing. Among the people of other nations this intellectual light is concealed, because it has had no outlet.”

You are of a certainty acquainted with a number of the more important religious sects in the United States. I will here, therefore, merely speak of that which distinguishes them in general, and is indicative of their inner congregational life. Some address themselves more immediately to the feelings, others to the intellect; all, however, lay the greatest importance on works of love. The Catholic and the Quaker on this broad ground extend to each other their hands. No sect, however, it seems to me, has attained to an universal church consciousness, proportioned to the political consciousness of the United States, excepting in some of their highest representatives.