whose happiness in this world would have been greatly increased by that discovery, and who, at all events, would have escaped much misery had they been able to attest it, even on grounds of probability sufficient to acquit themselves before their own conscience, have been compelled by truth to confess that they cannot see it. Yet Orthodoxy declares this very system identical with Christianity-with that Gospel which was "preached to the poor" and "revealed unto babes :" such a system, we are told, is that Faith which " except every one keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly."

By the influence of this Orthodoxy the world has been placed in a worse condition, for peace and mutual love, than it was before the Gospel. Neighbouring tribes might, in ancient times, make their gods the pretext for indulging mutual jealousy. But the comprehensive religion of the Romans, though inexorable when a foreign system threatened to loosen the bonds of their political body (which, as experience proved, was the decided tendency of Christianity organized by Bishops into a political body, foreign to that under whose laws they lived), constantly bestowed protection on the religions of the conquered countries, and prevented, by this means, all attacks on each other. But observe the effects of Christianity identified with Orthodoxy. The earth reeks still from the torrents of blood which have

it ;

been shed in the name of the Gospel. And the error is plausible. It is true that the SPIRIT of the Gospel itself opposes but it is of the very nature of Orthodoxy to direct the attention, not to the SPIRIT but to the letter; and the LETTER of the New Testament contains no express declaration against preventing heterodoxy by the infliction of punishment. That Jesus

did not allow the two disciples to command fire from heaven against the Samaritans who would not receive him, is an example that might protect the unconverted heathen from Christian zealots; that he would not pray for twelve legions of angels to save him out of the hands of his enemies, only proves that "the cup he had to drink could not pass away from him." Yet, if the bond of his kingdom is Orthodoxy; if the eternal life of the subjects of that kingdom depends on the purity of their creed, and heresy murders their souls, there is nothing in the New Testament that opposes the use of effectual measures to counteract evils of that magnitude. The argument, that, if death is the fit punishment for the murderer of the body, much more must it be deserved by him who murders the soul, has the force of demonstration for every orthodox people on the face of the earth. So it has acted among the orthodox of the most opposite parties; and so it would act at this moment, even among Protestants, if a stanch orthodox clergy were supported by a stanch orthodox people. The horrors of the Inquisition do not belong to Rome by any necessary connexion between their Catholic tenets and their cruelty. If Roman Catholics have been prominent in the vast field of religious persecution, it is because they are in the same degree prominent in the belief of their exclusive Orthodoxy.

Nor could it be otherwise; for that mistaken Christianity which proclaims abstract creeds as the only sure pledges of eternal happiness in heaven, has the power of combining sincerity and tranquillity of conscience. with the indulgence of the two most powerful passions -fear and angry pride. An ancient idolater, who saw the object of his worship despised, would feel the insult as personal; but the mere act of neglecting his favou

rite altar for another, would not give him the slightest offence. He believed that certain practices and oblations were preferable to others in regard to his individual happiness, just as in Roman Catholic countries, different persons choose the patronage of different saints, without a shadow of uneasiness arising from the various views and tastes of the devotees. But the Orthodox, of whatever denomination or creed he may be, cannot endure varieties of creed: and, indeed, it is not in the nature of things that he should. Every man's salvation, according to his view of the subject, depends upon unhesitating assent to certain propositions, of such a very abstract nature, so inconsistent with the most certain principles of human Reason, that even when they have been most assiduously forced upon the infant mind, they very frequently drop off, in spite of the most sincere efforts of the same mind in its maturity. Fear and sympathy are generally the guardians to whom the orthodox creed is entrusted. Its preservation depends, therefore, much more upon external impressions than upon conviction.. Now, a man who should believe that his salvation was connected with his assent to a series of geometrical theorems, which he had once demonstrated, would not be irritated by the disbelief of his neighbours. But the disbelief of others has an irresistible effect on the mind, when Reason is uneasy. The wILL, in the cases to which I allude, is invariably found to have encroached on the province of the UNDERSTANDING, and forced it to be silent. This powerful faculty, however, has submitted reluctantly; and will struggle for mastery at the approach of another intellect which enjoys its freedom, or, at least, does not drag chains so oppressive and galling. But since, according to the Orthodox, every doubt thus raised by sympathy, en

D

dangers his own salvation, how can his fears allow him to be tolerant? How shall he be able to endure the presence of the tempter? He must regard him with feelings similar to those which a direct emissary of Satan would raise.

I must, however, hasten to conclude this letter, leaving you to enlarge and unfold the hints already given, as well as those with which I shall close it.

You have only to cast a wide and comprehensive glance over the New Testament, to be convinced that the spiritual (i. e. mental) stamp of the gospel is LIBERTY. Christ is not only a SAVIOUR from SIN, but from SUPERSTITION-a word that properly embraces all religions which make ceremonies and a priesthood essential to spiritual safety. I do not exclude the Jewish religion. As far as it was established and sanctioned by God, it was intended for a people who, "owing to the hardness of their heart," required a moral system of education, strongly mixed with the very faults to which they were nationally inclined—a most delicate process for the final attainment of good, which man has not knowledge enough to conduct, and which the infinite wisdom of God alone can conduct without the danger of fortifying and increasing the evil, which, by a partial and temporary sanction, is to be finally extirpated. Christ came to deliver the world from that evil; "to deliver us from the yoke of the law," and from every yoke of a similar nature. But observe the earliest attempt to corrupt, and, indeed, according to St. Paul, to nullify the gospel.* Hear the voice of the

"Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." Gal. v. 2.-The Gospel, the glad tidings of deliverance, would, of course, be contradicted by the resumption of ceremonies as necessary to salvation.

1

" And

first inventors of DAMNATORY ORTHODOXY.* certain men who came down from Judea, taught the brethren (and said), Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, YE CANNOT BE SAVED."† These men understood the method of keeping up the religious dependence of the laity on the priesthood. FEAR is the very essence of superstition, ‡ and superstition the chain by which the priest secures the people to himself. Hence, in all ages, the constant re-echoing of the words, ye cannot be saved: except ye be under the Pope, ye cannot be saved: except ye believe the Athanasian creed, ye cannot be saved: except ye believe that the first sin of the first man utterly corrupted human nature,

* The declaration in Mark xvi. 16 (if the passage from ver. 9 to the end be genuine, which there is good reason to doubt), has been supposed to contain the principle of damnatory Orthodoxy; but, certainly, without foundation. The safety or salvation which the Gospel promises is, as I have shewn before, attached to REPENTANCE (expressed by baptism or immersion, which signifies a moral death to past sinful courses, and a resurrection, or new life, to virtue), and the acceptance of the Christ as our moral guide. Condemnation, i. e. CENSURE, (with the extent of its effects I am not, at present, concerned) is declared to be incurred by those who, having had a sufficient attestation of the truth of the Gospel, neverthless reject it, and remain unrepentant. This is very different from the metaphysical Orthodoxy which dooms to eternal punishment such as will maintain their mental liberty against it. Matt. x. 14, 15, condemns the bigotted and disingenuous spirit which refuses so much as to entertain, to give a hearing to persons who by fair and reasonable means wish to call our attention to views of religious subjects differing from our own. It is, in fact, a pointed declaration against the intolerant Jewish Orthodoxy. Let it be observed, besides, that the apostles had no complicated metaphysical creed to propose. Their message was, The kingdom of heaven,” i. e. the moral reign of God, through the Messiah, “is at hand."

+ Acts xv.

Anoidaiμovía; or, as literally as it can be rendered, fear of the invisible powers.