that we have to do is to be on our guard against selfishness, and to decide against our tendencies in case of doubt. Error, under such moral determination, cannot do any substantial harm.

I am glad that you begin to perceive the high moral worth of Socrates. In estimating his intellectual qualities, you must not forget that he wanted most of the external advantages of positive knowledge derived from accumulated observation, which even a well-educated child enjoys among

us.

Believe me ever sincerely yours,

J. BLANCO WHITE.

Dec. 18, 1836.

Religion is an habitual aspiration to the eternal source of, what we call, the intellectual and moral part of our being. That aspiring implies, of course, love and reverence, and, consequently, cultivation of that best part of ourselves. In this respect individuals are extremely different; but in their ignorance of the object which the religious man wishes to find and approach, they are all equal. No man can possibly know any thing of God except what he finds in himself.

I have been reading the remarkable work of Strauss, Leben Jesu. My last printed works, as well as my manuscript Notes, show that I have long been convinced that Christianity does not depend on the authority of Books. I had lately advanced farther: I was persuaded that the account which we have of Jesus of Nazareth was made up of the real events of

his life, and of the Messianish expectations of a numerous Jewish religious party, which seems to have existed since the time of the Maccabees. When this party (which seems, indeed, to have been the most moral portion of a horribly perverted nation) became convinced that Jesus had the marks (the signs) of the Messiah, especially when their feelings became highly engaged in his support, in consequence of the barbarous and most unjust death to which he was doomed by the bigotry of the Priests and Pharisees, the believers in the Messiahship of Jesus must have been extremely disposed to find in him, what they had expected in consequence of their misinterpretation of the Old Testament. Whoever believes in Prophecy is under a religious duty of finding it realized as history, at some time or other. Reports about Jesus would circulate, and if they agreed with the supposed prophecies, no Messianite would hesitate a moment to receive them as facts. In this manner were the Gospels compiled. They contain an original moral and intellectual sketch of the individual Jesus, which the right moral feeling of every man may recognize, and fill up. This is the only historical element of Christianity.

CHAPTER VII.

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

1837.-Etat. 62.

Liverpool, Jan. 18th, 1837. I AM just returned from seeing the Rev. Mr. Perrya Unitarian Minister, who, living near me, had called three or four times upon me— -laid in his grave. This is the only funeral which I have attended, on purpose, during my long residence in England. But, I knew there would be very few at the funeral, and wished to show this mark of respect to the deceased, as well as to my new religious connection. The more I know of that small body of people, the greater is my regard for them. There were but three members of our society present; Mr. Martineau, who officiated; Mr. Thom and Mr. Archer, as mourners; to these I made a fourth, in the character of a sympathising friend. Sunt lachrymæ rerum,—and I could not prevent one from rolling down when the coffin was let down. There is, indeed, much of my sensibility which is nervous; yet a mind so stored with baffled affections and regrets, as mine, may be excused for its weakness. My efforts to suppress external marks of feeling are indeed very great, but not equal to the in

tended object. My tear, however, was not for Mr. Perry personally, with whom I was not at all intimate; it was for humanity—suffering, struggling, aspiring, and daily perishing and renewed, humanity. As to the grave, and the descent of the coffin, and the strange noise of the sliding ropes-those things raise no melancholy feelings within me. I know not how soon I shall be laid in that same ground-for I have desired in my Will to be buried in Renshaw Street Chapel-and the thought of my last home came vividly before me. No: it is not death that moves me; but the contemplation of the rough path, and the darkened mental atmosphere, which the human passions, and interests, disguised as Religion, oblige us to tread and cross, on our way to the grave. What uncharitable, nay, what barbarous feelings, under the name of Religious fears, would the view of the good and, I believe, long-tried man whom we committed to the ground, have raised in the bosom of many otherwise kind-hearted persons I know! How they would have shrunk from the excellent men-and I am not acquainted with three more worthy souls-who, having for a long period administered consolation to the deceased, now paid him the last offices of humanity! What a shock would my presence have given to a multitude of Orthodox persons who, but for my secession from the Church, would proclaim themselves my attached friends!

Is there no hope that the notion of Orthodoxy