to make use of eloquence, which is the first of the fine arts, ought to make his audience tremble by the picture of the frightful position in which every man is placed, who has merited public reprobation. He ought to reveal the arm of divinity, raised in vengeance against him, whose entire sentiments are not directed by that of general philanthropy.
Or, on the contrary, he ought to infuse into the souls of his audience the most generous and powerful feelings, by convincing them of the superiority of those enjoyments which are followed by public esteem.
The poets ought to second the efforts of the preachers. They ought to provide, for public service, poetry adapted to recitation in churches, so as to render all the congregation preachers one to the other.
The musicians ought to enrich, with their melodies, the inspirations of the poet, and impress upon them a musical character, deeply penetrating the soul of the faithful.
Painters and sculptors ought to fix, in the temples, the attention of Christians upon actions pre-eminently Christian.
Architects ought to construct their temples in such a manner that preachers, poets, and musicians, painters, and sculptors, can generate at their pleasure sentiments of fear, joy, or hope.
Such evidently are the fundamental bases of worship, and the means which should be employed to render it useful to society.
What has Luther done in this respect? He has reduced the worship of the reformed church to simple preaching. He has, as much as he possibly could, rendered all the Christian sentiments prosaical. He has banished from his temples all the ornaments of painting and sculpture; he has suppressed music, and given the preference to religious edifices whose forms are the most trivial, and consequently the least proper to dispose the hearts of the faithful to become empassioned for the public good.
The Protestants will not fail to object to me, that,
