strange country, among men who use a new language; and he will see around him much, of which he cannot at once comprehend the reason, the origin, or the relations. The philosophy of every age has had a powerful influence upon the contemporary forms of religion professed among Christians. But it is of essential importance to be acquainted with that philosophy which prevailed when Christianity was first taught; because this, as I have said, was the parent of many of those errors which still exist, and which now, made hoary by time, are regarded with a veneration to which they are wholly without title.

In the study of ecclesiastical history, in order to estimate justly the facts and characters which it brings before us, a thorough knowledge of human nature is required. And this study, in its turn, may teach us more of the human character than perhaps any other. It will show us the best and the worst passions operated upon by the strongest motives. It will teach us to think at once more highly and more humbly of man, and discover to us all his strength, all his weakness, and all his inconsistency. It will show us the strange forms in which his virtues may appear, and the infamous disguises which his vices may assume. It will show us the

most remarkable and apparently the most heterogeneous combinations of moral and intellectual qualities. It will present to us, in every variety, those complex characters which it is so difficult to estimate; because they exhibit the worldly and selfish passions in alliance with religion, and it is hard to determine to what point the latter is debased, or how far the former may be modified by the connection; to what degree self-deception may exist, and how far it is to be admitted as an excuse; or how far the errors and vices of the age may be pleaded in apology for those of the individual. It will teach us, that even powerful minds may be paralyzed by the touch of superstition; that there is no depth of debasement to which the human understanding may not be reduced; and that there is nothing so unmeaning, so false, so shocking, or so self-contradictory, that it may not be received for divine truth.

But one of the most grateful studies of the theologian is to trace the real influence of the true principles of Christianity. He will rejoice to observe how much they have done to raise the character of man, and to improve the condition of society. Going back into past ages, and becoming, as it were, a citizen of Athens or of Rome, making himself familiar with all

that can be known of their manners, morals; religion, and political institutions, entering their schools to listen to the teaching of their philosophers, and mingling on their festival days with the crowd celebrating their rites of worship, he will perceive how much the imagination has disguised their moral depravity, their ignorance, and their miseries; and will return to offer up thanks to God, that he was born among Christians.

The proper office of religious belief is the formation of character. Our faith teaches us, that we shall be happy or miserable in a future life, as we have done good, or done evil, in the present. But what is good? What is virtue? These are inquiries which the theologian has to answer. It may be said, that, as far as regards practice, they are easily settled. When the question is merely, whether some particular action be lawful or not, it is easily settled, in a majority of cases of common occurrence, by one who will not let the inferior part of his nature triumph over his judgment. But different nations, different sects of Christians, and different individuals have held opposite opinions upon many subjects of morals of the greatest practical importance. You think religious persecution a profanation of the name of Christianity,

and an outrage upon the first principles of natural justice. But a little more than a century ago, it was regarded as one of the first duties of a Christian community, and there were very few Christian communities which did not act in conformity to this error. Most Christians now have, or profess to have, a decided opinion and strong feeling against it; but, if any one be in the habit of ascribing a high value to the authority of the Church, it may startle him to recollect, that he has the authority of Christendom against him from the fifth century to the end of the seventeenth.

There have been other gross and disastrous mistakes concerning morals in the Christian world. Very erroneous, and consequently very mischievous, opinions have prevailed concerning the fundamental questions, What constitutes the Christian character? and How must it be formed? These mistakes imply a radical misconception of what constitutes moral excellence; for it is in the attainment of moral excellence that the Christian character consists. They have shown themselves in all those imaginary substitutes for personal goodness, the efficacy of which has been so eagerly believed. The superstitions of Heathenism in India have hardly produced devotees more wanting in the

qualities that entitle men to respect or love, or with more characteristics that excite disgust or pity, than some of those who have been venerated as models of Christian excellence in different ages and among different sects of the Christian world.

Christianity has been represented as lending the authority of its sanctions to errors the most alien from it, by requiring men to submit their consciences and their reason to ecclesiastical rule, to the decisions of a church. It has been represented as in alliance with arbitrary power, and as enjoining as a duty passive obedience to all rulers, especially hereditary rulers, whatever may be their character and acts. The latter doctrine was insisted upon but a century ago by men of more than common ability. The former doctrine survives in its original vigor. There are at the present day other questions agitated, of great practical importance. Some Christians, entitled to much respect for their virtues, deny the right of defensive war. There are, to give a very different example, Christians who allow a license that appears to others in a high degree criminal, maintaining the lawfulness of professing to believe articles of faith which they do not believe. It may seem strange to mention this as an unsettled point