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to make the Christian pure in heart, and compassionate, gentle, and beneficent in life. And you diminish, you all but destroy your power for good, when, by parting with the influence of the religion of Jesus, you descend to the beggarly elements' of mere earthly wisdom and philosophical speculations.

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Christianity-as it exists-may be corrupt; aim to purify it: you may think it fails of the good you benevolently desire; apply it to the great purposes for which it was designed: men may hold it unrighteousness, or keep its light under a bushel; urge and lead them to be faithful to their trust:—but do not go about to destroy that which, of all influences, is surpassingly fitted to bless yourselves, and make you a blessing to your families and the world.

The great idea, then, of the religion of Jesus is, the education of man in such a manner, and to such results, as shall secure his highest possible happiness in all the faculties he possesses, in all the relations he bears, and in all the stages of existence through which he may have to pass.

And the means which Jesus employs for the attainment of this divine end, are his own most wise and benevolent example, and the great doctrines that God his Father, is our Father, and that all we are brethren;-that the whole world is as nothing compared with the worth and happiness of the spirit; that the love of God is our first duty and our highest pleasure; that its best fruits and only certain evidence is in our love of the brotherhood; and that as all God's measures are remedial, and not punitive, salutary and educational, not wrathful and vindictive, so the realization of his will in the heart of each is the highest style of excellence, and the attainment of perfect peace and never-ending felicity; and so also the day must come, when sin, sorrow, and suffering shall be no more, but God, in that goodness which is the essence of his nature, shall be all in all.

LECTURE III.

So important do I feel it to be that man should possess the free and untrammelled use of his mental powers, so precious a right is mental freedom, so high the results of its unimpaired exercise, so many and so serious are the evils which have ensued from invasions of that right, that no consideration could induce me to offer a word of defence for any system, which, in my mind, encroached in the slightest degree upon it. And much as I value the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I could neither embrace it myself, nor recommend it to others, did I consider it anything but favourable to the freest and fullest employment of the higher faculties of our nature. Whatever appearances it might wear, and however prevailing might be its appeal to the human heart, I, for one, should not have a doubt that it was hostile to the real well-being of man, did I find in it any encouragement to bigotry and intolerance, or any sanction to the usurpations which Priestcraft has wickedly assumed over the human mind; and in such a case, severe as the struggle might be, I should undoubtedly consider it my duty to tear the pleasing delusion from my breast, and vindicate, even against my feelings, the inalienable rights of intellectual manhood. Nor do I hesitate to lay it down as a first principle, in relation to morals and religion, that nothing can be of God, not only that trenches on the liberty of the mind, but also, that does not guarantee and encourage the utmost latitude of enquiry. And while, for myself, I am resolved to maintain, as the dearest privilege of my nature, the unfettered exercise both of thought and speech, so would I advise you, not

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only to think freely, and to speak honestly what you think, but to suspect evil in any system, however fair its exterior, which would throw the lightest trammel on the freedom of your mind. Had not the great Source of light intended you to employ your powers, without restriction, fear or penalty, apart from all dictation from man, or coercion from higher authority, He would never have given you the faculty of thought, nor planted in your breast the inextinguishable love of liberty. Nor is it possible, that any doctrine whatever should come recommended to man by a higher or more imperative sanction than attends on the simple circumstance, that the Great First Intelligence has made man in His own image, and imparted to him powers for his own enlightenment, impulse, and guidance. Deny man's intellectual freedom, and though you claim the gift of inspiration, you destroy and forfeit all ground to authority, and in seeking to enslave the minds of others, you array yourself against the primary and fundamental truths, on which only natural or revealed religion can be built. If man is not to be free to think, judge, and determine, that is, if each individual is not to follow his own light, then is there no ground whatever on which the Deity can make an appeal to the human mind; religion is an impossibility, and morality resolves itself into a cunningly devised fable-the invention of the few, for the subjugation of the many: or, at the best, the creature of imagination, prejudice, and custom. Mental freedom lies at the basis of all the truths which concern our duties and our expectations, in such a manner, that if the one be denied, the other can have no existence. And if the mental freedom of the race is thus guaranteed, so by implication is the mental freedom of each of the individuals of which it consists. Nor can there be any limitation in degree. The gift of thought is entire, unshackled, uncurtailed. The least trammel is the supercession of the faculty.

Fetter one thought, fence up

one field of knowledge, you deny my right to freedom of mind; and if you claim the authority of Deity for so doing, you, in effect, declare that what God has given with one hand, he takes away with another, and may well be required to show what substantial warrant you can have for your claim of a divine sanction, which can in no case exist, except on the recognition of the freedom of the human mind. Then

"Let us ponder boldly-'tis a base
Abandonment of reason to resign

Our right of thought,- -our last and only place
Of refuge; this, at least, shall still be mine:
Though from our birth the faculty divine

Is chained and tortured-cabined, cribbed, confined,
And bred in darkness, lest the truth should shine

Too brightly on the unprepared mind,

The beams pour in, for time and skill will couch the blind."
Childe Harolde, Canto iv. 127.

With these sentiments, I am not likely to offer defence or apology for any system, or any influence which interferes with the exercise of man's birthright of freedom of thought, and freedom of speech. On the contrary, I hold those to be amongst the best benefactors of humanity, who vindicate its intellectual privileges. Yet, let our condemnation fall not on the innocent, but the guilty. I ask not for generosity; for though in all cases I pity, rather than reprobate, the persecutor; yet towards the principles by which he is actuated, there is place for no other feeling than that of stern disapproval. But I ask for justice, I ask that your verdict should be against the real, and not the supposed criminal. And this evening, I appear before you to show, that the religion of Christ itself is not amenable to the charge of bigotry and intolerance. And my general position is, that these evils are the offspring of human passions, acting, not in accordance, but in direct hostility to the spirit and fundamental principles of genuine Christianity.

Before, however, I enter on the illustration of this position, I deem it desirable to determine, so far as my limits admit, the precise nature and amount of the evil for whose existence I have to account. It has been alleged, that Christianity introduced persecution into the world, as well as that it has proved its most effectual foster-parent. This I deny, and I deny also that persecution is peculiar to religion. And I assert, that except you admit my main position, namely, that bigotry and intolerance are the offspring of human passions, you make philosophy, as well as religion, obnoxious to the charge.

What is persecution? In general terms, persecution is the infliction of evil on account of diversity of opinion. If so, it is not limited to bodily pains and penalties. The dungeon, the cross, the rack, the burning pile, are the only forms of terror which the term persecution calls up in the minds of the majority of men. But there are tortures which are not less excruciating than those of the body, and these, persecutors, in all ages, have been but too skilful in the employment of. If you injure my reputation, because I differ from you in opinion: if you bar me out from any honourable pursuit in life; if you excite against me the finger of scorn, or set in action the lip of ridicule; if you interfere with my freedom of speech by wilful misrepresentation, and endeavour to frustrate my efforts for the furtherance of my sentiments, by ascribing to me opinions which I disclaim, and fastening on me a name odious in the eyes of the world, and repudiated by myself,-you, in each case, act the part of a persecutor; and would, it may be presumed, proceed to bodily severities, should circumstances give you the opportunity. It is the motive and the spirit which make the persecutor, rather than the act; and whoever is so intolerant of other men's opinions, as to be led to the employment of any other weapons of offence but those of fair argument, has in his breast the spirit of persecution, and yields to its in

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