ignorant, no more in religion and morality than in arts and sciences. It seems evident that priesthood should not be permitted to check religious and moral improvement any more than academies have the right to impede the advancement of arts and scientific inquiries in general. The cold, obscure and technical theology of the times of slavery, ignorance and superstition is to give place to intelligible doctrines which harmonize with human nature. I respect every one's manner of thinking provided it agrees with the general welfare of mankind, but history shows that the religious notions of man, however slow their variations and improvements have been or may be, do not remain unchanged. Progress is the supreme law of the human mind. An irresistible proof of my proposition may be drawn from the revealed law itself. God manifested his will at different times and always with improved additions. He made a covenant with Noah, his seed, and with every living creature; he made another with Abraham; he again instructed Moses and revealed the whole Mosaic law. But Jeremiah foretold that this covenant should not last, but be succeeded by a new one. In fact, neither the Jewish dispensation nor Paganism was adapted to the civilisation when Jesus Christ appeared; and St. Paul in the most positive way, speaks || of the mediator of a better covenant, established upon better promises,' adding that if that first covenant had been faultless then would no place have been sought for the second. The gospel, particularly the sermon on the mount, contains rules of conduct very different from those of the Mosaic law. The interpretations of Christianity are numerous. which seemed adapted and necessary to former generations, will no longer attract enlightened minds. Religious ideas cannot be stationary any more than civil legislation. Jesus frequently spoke in parables, complained of his disciples not understanding their meaning; ¶ distinguished between the things as they were from the beginning of the creation, or had been modified in time ; ** and positively stated, that he had to say many things which they could

* Gen. ix. 12. || Heb. viii. 6.

† Ibid. xvii. 4.

Matth. xv. 16.

+ Exodus.
** Mark x. 6.

Those

§ xxxi. 31.

not yet bear.* I firmly believe that in many points of Christianity the letter which kills must be replaced by the spirit which vivifies; and that wherever reason is allowed to reflect on religious matters, the uniformity of doctrine is impossible. It is a common tendency of the sacerdocy to keep religious notions stationary and to monopolize certain advantages connected with their office. It is therefore natural that they decry every improvement which may be proposed. Accordingly the Roman, English, Scotch or any other dominant church will contend for the necessity of some uniform discipline. But then even in admitting the soundness of the principle the great difficulty remains concerning its application and decision about the nature of the discipline, that is, whether it shall be childish or reasonable, useful to a few or profitable to mankind at large. It has happened that priesthood in feeling it necessary to yield to the march of intellect did it secretly and without mentioning it openly. Sometimes they altered the language, but continued to act with the former spirit. This their proceeding must change. Religious opinions as they have been established in dark ages to the advantage of a few, require a reasonable reform in the actual state of civilisation. To that end it is desirable that in every country the clergy keep pace with the public in the acquirements of natural sciences. In that case alone they will be ready to admit every improvement which reason and justice demand not only in language but also in work.

Sublimity of Christianity.

It is not my intention to examine the various systems of religion which have governed mankind at different times and in different countries. I shall, however, say a few words on Christianity, which deserves the most serious and continued attention of every reflective mind on account of its influence on mankind. The lawgiver and the law surpass all other codes in excellence. portion as men's moral sentiments have been refined,

In pro

Christ's

* John xvi. 12.

moral character has been found praiseworthy. Since the introduction of Christianity all private and public economy and all institutions have been changed, and mankind have made great progress; but in every advanced condition of the world, Christianity unfolds nobler views and keeps in advance of every improved stage of society. Whoever applies Christian morality in his daily transactions is conscious of its adaptation to his noblest faculties. In short this moral code seems to me the most pure, the most noble, and the most salutary, of all which are mentioned in history. Its laws alone are universal and invariable. It alone appeals to reasoning and to the consequences of its knowledge as the best proofs of its excellency; alone it is forbearing; alone it invites examination, and asks the inquirer to hold by that which is true; it alone is founded on the faculties proper to man, alone places general happiness above partial love and personal interest, and alone agrees with the natural law of morality. I do not hesitate to say that, in my opinion, true Christianity is little understood. Many, many changes must take place before it can be reestablished in its primitive. purity. I say with Benjamin Franklin,*I do not desire faith. diminished, nor would I endeavor to lessen it in any man. But I wish it were more productive of good works than I have generally seen it; I mean real good works, works of kindness, charity, mercy, and public spirit; not holyday-keeping, sermon-reading, or hearing; performing church ceremonies or making long prayers, filled with flatteries and compliments, despised even by wise men and much less being capable of pleasing the Deity. The worship of God is a duty; the reading and hearing of sermons may be useful, but if men rest in hearing and praying, as too many do, it is as if a tree should value itself on being watered and putting forth leaves, though it never produced any fruit. The great Master, thought much less of these outward appearances and professions than many of his modern disciples. He preferred the doers of the word, not the mere hearers; the son that seemingly refused to obey his father, and yet performed his commands, to him that pro

* Dr. Franklin's Memoirs and private correspondence, vol. iii.

fessed his readiness but neglected the work; the heretical but charitable Samaritan to the uncharitable though orthodox priest, and sanctified Levite; and those who gave food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, raiment to the naked, entertainment to the stranger, and relief to the sick; though they never heard of his name, he declares shall in the last day be accepted, when those who cry Lord! Lord! who value themselves upon their faith, though great enough to perform miracles, but have neglected good works, shall be rejected. He professed that he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; which implies his modest opinion, that there was some in his time who thought themselves so good that they need not hear even him for improvement; but nowadays we have scarce a little parson that does not think it the duty of every man within his reach to sit under his petty ministrations, and that whoever omits them offends God.'

Materialism and Spiritualism.

I lament with all philanthropists, that man is so much inclined to run into extremes. Idealogists have commonly too much confidence in their reasoning powers; they neglect observation, consider religion and morality as mere means of leading mankind, and assume their own manner of thinking and of feeling as a type of the human race; while moralists demand blind and unbounded confidence in their assertions as emanating from a superior authority, and discountenance or interdict reasoning. In this way, idealogists and moralists wage continual warfare, mutually disparage their subjects, and retard the knowledge of the nature of man: they are more attached to the love of dominion than to the love of truth. Abuses and prejudices are kept up for the sake of selfish views, and dialectic subtleties are called reasoning. If they love truth, let both parties examine, without prejudice. Philosophers will find that man is naturally inclined to religious considerations; and the interpreters of the will of God, if they do not act from selfish motives, will not reject the light of reason; they will soon be con

vinced that the feelings are blind, and must be guided by reflection, which can alone establish harmony among the fundamental powers and their functions.

It is certain that there is a much more exact correspondence between the natural and moral world than we are apt to take notice of;'* and that truth and the knowledge of nature are neither dangerous nor in opposition to morality and true religion. It is proved by incontestable facts, that the affective and intellectual faculties are inherent in the nature of man, that their manifestations depend on the cerebral organization, and that the physical world is subservient to the moral; but ignorance, hypocrisy, and envy, have taken part in the discussion. The basis of Phrenology was first attacked, viz. its reality was denied. To others it seemed more convenient to blame its consequences, and without knowing why or explaining how, to cry out that it is dangerous. This, in all ages, has been the reception of every discovery. The disciples of the various philosophical schools of Greece inveighed against each other, and made reciprocal accusations of impiety and perjury. The people, in their turn, detested the philosophers, and accused hose who investigated the causes of things of presumptuously invading the rights of the Divinity. Pythagoras and Anaxagoras were driven from their native countries, on account of their novel opinions; Democritus was treated as insane by the Abderites, for his attempts to find out the cause of madness by dissections; and Socrates, for having demonstrated the unity of God, was forced to drink the juice of hemlock. Several of those who excelled in physics in the fourteenth century were punished with death as sorcerers or magicians. Galileo, when seventy years of age, was cast into prison for having proved the motion of the earth. Vesalius, Varolius, and Harvey, were persecuted on account of their discoveries. Those who first maintained the influence of climate upon the intellectual faculties of man were suspected of materialism. The pious philosophers Bonnet, Linnæus, Buffon, the virtuous Lavater, and many others, have been treated as materialists and fatalists.