Christian country, who come to feel little respect for a subject which has never been fairly presented to their minds, which has always been connected with associations that are offensive or degrading, and about which those have often written and talked the most, who have said nothing but what tended to misrepresent it and expose it to contempt? We see everywhere the manifest effects of the state of things to which I have adverted. It is not necessary to consider the condition of Catholic countries, where the monstrous corruptions which have been connected with Christianity have left it scarcely any disciples, except among the lower and more ignorant classes of society. We may see enough of the disastrous consequences of error in Protestant countries, in our own neighborhood, among those whom we meet in the common intercourse of life. By the causes which have been mentioned, we may account in a great measure for the phenomenon, that, of the most eminent literary men of Scotland for the last sixty or seventy years, so many have been open enemies, or very doubtful friends, of Christianity. Turn over the pages of the most popular and able literary journal of our times, which has exercised so much influence upon the minds of thousands of readers, and than

which few publications have tended more to mark and distinguish the present age; - you cannot but be struck, I do not say with the infidelity which has occasionally appeared in a few articles, but with a characteristic far more deserving of notice, and suggesting thoughts more serious; it is the general exclusion of every religious topic, and of nearly all direct reference to Christianity. You would produce scarcely a perceptible change in the character of the work by striking out every thing which implies that such a religion as Christianity exists in the world. Whatever relates to the highest interests and noblest speculations of man is excluded; as if these subjects lay out of the sphere of all true and useful knowledge ; nay, as if there would be something of impertinence and folly in introducing topics, borrowed from religion, into writings really intended to influence the sentiments and conduct of the more intelligent classes of society. Whether a man believe the truths of religion or not, he must have an intellect singularly constituted, if he affect to despise them. But the doctrines of false theology have long outlived the time when they could command any respect, except from those whose minds have been disciplined to their reception; and, if we will insist on mis

taking the latter for the former, it is not strange that such effects should be produced as we see existing.

But the subject presents itself under å still more gloomy aspect. What must be the effect

of any of those systems of faith which have assumed the name of orthodoxy, when urged upon the reception of the young? What must be the effect, when such a system, with its hideous features, and squalid with all the barbarism of a rude and ignorant age, is obtruded upon a mind of warm affections, of unperverted and undisciplined feelings, of quick sensibility, and impatient, hasty, and petulant in its judgments? Take such a young man, and persuade him, if you can, to read through the standards. of doctrine which your church has sanctioned; no matter whether that church be episcopal or presbyterian, and no matter whether your standard be the Westminster Catechisms and Confession, or the Thirty-nine Articles. Tell him that this is your religion, and must be his. Lay before him your aggregate of unintelligible doctrines concerning God, and of doctrines which are but too intelligible concerning the condition and prospects of man; and tell him that the creed which you put into his hands contains a full exposition of all that is consola

tory and delightful and lovely and glorious in religion. If you can bring him to contemplate and understand what you have laid before him, have you any doubt with what aversion he will regard your religion?

The different systems of religious error which have prevailed among Christians have usually been employed as very efficacious instruments in effecting the worldly and criminal purposes of those by whom they have been most zealously supported. They have been made to pander to the ambition and vices of unholy men, pretending to be ministers of God and Christ. They have been brought into intimate union with corrupt civil institutions; and, when guarded by the sword of the law, they have liberally repaid the support which they have received, by employing in their turn the terrors and artifices of superstition to humble the minds of men. True religion can be the minister of nothing but good. But false religion may be made an agent in the production of almost any sort of evil. It is of its very essence to misdirect and misemploy the sanctions which it holds forth.

In proof of this, it is not necessary to look back to the period, when a despotism the most odious and degrading was established over Eu

rope under the name of the Church of Christ; and when the pretended authority of our religion was made a shelter for rank and foul iniquity. It is better to regard the more moderate evils of our own time, and to take examples, which, if not quite so impressive, have a more practical bearing. In every country of Europe, there are without doubt many, who regard religion merely as a part of the political machinery of the state, and a powerful instrument in preserving and strengthening the exist ing distinctions of society; who, on the one side, view its establishments as a means of exerting power and patronage, and, on the other, as a source from which rank and wealth may be derived. The style and temper in which the national religion is defended often borrow their character from the kind of estimation in which it is held. There is a worldly, political, interested zeal shown in its defence, betraying an origin very different from the spirit of Christianity. It is a zeal for their own profit, and not for the happiness of their fellow-creatures, which engages men in its support. Its corruptions are strenuously defended. All examination and all improvement are angrily repelled. The work of reformation must not be begun ; for, if it be suffered to begin, who can tell where