a degrading view, as unworthy of Thee, unfathomable fountain of goodness, as it is narrowing and oppressive to feeble and timid man. It is a great mistake, to endeavour to fill the imagination with horrible images of physical evil, in order to raise the mind to spiritual perfection. Never were the moral views of man more obscured, disturbed and perverted, than when our present life was represented as a most imperfect and dangerous state of existence—a grievous disease which threatened eternal misery, and had no other antidote or remedy, than the most deliberate opposition to what the laws of nature demand for our comfort, and for the relief of evils which seem inseparable from this our progress through time and space. To take such a view as the guide of moral conduct, is to invite enthusiasm to be the regulator of human virtue. The whole history of Christianity attests the truth of this observation. For many centuries all ardent Christians acted exactly as if the foundation of the Gospel was a firm belief in the Dualism of the Deity, and the necessity of an incessant war between the Good and the Evil God, wherein it behoved the true Christian to oppose the material world as the work and dominion of the Devil. The system of mortification, and of ascetic practices which is still deliberately professed more or less by Catholics and Protestants, clearly proves that the original error still remains undispelled. Among a vast proportion of Christians, self-inflicted pain of all kinds is believed to be by itself pleasing to Thee.

But to

Thou, oh God, who art the free-giver of all good, who hast covered the earth with blessings, whose regulating laws of growth and life make a state of habitual comfort a necessary attendant on a healthy organization,-Thou art supposed to be pleased by the wilful application of means which debilitate our health, and diminish not only our bodily, but our mental powers! It is true that the laws of our organization lead us to moderation in the use of strong and exhausting pleasures; but this, instead of teaching us penance and mortification, instructs us to avoid pain, and to economise pleasure. This most important lesson is proclaimed by the voice of Nature-the Nature of which Thou art the sole author. tell us that pain and misery are the only price which can purchase future happiness at thy hands, is a monstrous misrepresentation of thy character: it is a refined calumny against Thee. If, indeed, Thou hast a most powerful rival and opponent in the Devil; if he delights in our misery, and Thou in our true happiness, it must be concluded that Satan is the author of whatever is productive of pleasure, of health, vigour and cheerfulness to Man, and Thou the source of every thing that can make life odious, and which converts the grave into man's refuge. Yet people who believe this monstrous position think themselves pious.

Nor is this all the mischief which false religious principles cause in the system of morals. Virtue is not only made gloomy and anti-social from connect

ing it with pain as its necessary condition; but being deprived of its natural reward, peace and heartfelt joy, its view is turned towards a future crown of glory, which, when connected with active enthusiasm, renders the expectant a dangerous madman, and when left to a wavering belief, becomes a source of anxiety, under the most trying circumstances of life. Distracted by the uncertainties and contradictions of an existence into which every one is called by an irresistible power, the reflecting man who conceives a hope of relief and support from the popular religion is fearfully deceived. There is no comfort, no support in the Christianity of Churches or parties, but for those who cease to think, and give themselves up to a heated imagination and morbid feeling. The Catholic who firmly believes in the absolving power of his Church, and never indulges in thought, easily allays all fears connected with the invisible world. Is there a priest at hand to bestow absolution at the last moment of life, he is sure of a place in Heaven, however sharp the burnings may be which are appointed for him in Purgatory. But alas! for the sensitive, the consistent, the delicate mind, that takes the infallible Church for its refuge! That Church offers indeed certainty in everything that concerns our souls: but Thou, God, who hast witnessed my misery and that of my nearest relations—my mother and my two sisters, knowest that the promised certainty is a bitter mockery. The Catholic pledges of spiritual safety are the most agonizing sources of doubt. Be

fore the progress of thy divine Light, which we call Reason, had forced the Catholic Clergy to remove from their dogmas the most offensive stains of gross ignorance which those dogmas contracted in ages of total darkness-before the keepers of those dogmas employed their ingenuity in giving them some appearance of reasonableness, few among a laity half barbarous would allow their reason to disturb them in the use of the charms offered to them for their comfort. The Sacraments intended for pardon of sins could not (according to the common notions) fail in producing the desired effect. For, if, as was subsequently given out, all those divinely-instituted Rites demanded such a spiritual state in the recipient, as without any external addition would produce the desired effect, what advantage would be offered to the believer? If absolution demanded true repentance to deliver from sin, this was leaving the sinner exactly in the same condition as he was in before even the name of the pretended Sacrament of Penance was heard of in the world. But, if these conditions alone can give security, no thinking person, and especially no anxious timid person, can find certainty in the use of the Sacraments. And none but the naturally bold and confident do find it. To these the Sacraments, instead of being means of virtue, are encouragements of vice and iniquity. Oh God! if Thou couldst hate anything thou hast made, what weight of indignation would have fallen upon a Constantine, and an Alva! And yet the former having

put off baptism till the last opportunity of sinning should be on the point of vanishing with the last breath of life, declares the heavenly happiness which filled his soul from the moment he came out of the baptismal water: the latter, that cold-blooded butcher of thousands, declares that he dies without the least remorse. On the other hand, have I not seen the most innocent among Thy worshippers live and die in a maddening fear of Hell! They trembled at the Sacraments themselves, lest, from want of a fit preparation, they should increase their spiritual danger.-Away, away with the Priestly deceits! "Away," repeats the Protestant enthusiast, "Faith alone can save: Faith alone can give peace to the soul."