Nay, in the written communications of religious feeling,
everything needs a double and triple representation; for that which
originally represented, must be represented in its turn; and yet
the effect on the whole man, in its complete unity, can only be
imperfectly set forth by continued and varied reflections. It is only
when religion is driven out from the society of the living, that it
must conceal its manifold life under the dead letter.
Neither can this intercourse of heart with heart, on the deepest
feelings of humanity, be carried on in common conversation. Many
persons, who are filled with zeal for the interests of religion, have
brought it as a reproach against the manners of our age that,
while all other important subjects are so freely discussed in the
intercourse of society, so little should be said concerning God
and divine things. I would defend ourselves against this charge
by maintaining that this circumstance, at least, does not indicate
contempt or indifference toward religion, but a happy and very correct
instinct. In the presence of joy and merriment, where earnestness
itself must yield to raillery and wit, there can be no place for
that which should be always surrounded with holy veneration and awe.
Religious views, pious emotions, and serious considerations with
regard to them--these we cannot throw out to one another in such small
crumbs as the topics of a light conversation; and when the discourse
turns upon sacred subjects, it would rather be a crime than a virtue
to have an answer ready for every question, and a rejoinder for every
remark.
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