decade, or week of ten days, and ordained the worship of the goddess of Liberty, in the person of a vile woman. But, the consequences were too terrible to be endured: it converted the most polished nation of Europe into a nation of fiends and furies, and the theatre of voluptuous refinement into a stall of blood." "What is it to kill a man ?" said one of these atheistic philosophers, while the work of death was going on, and the blood was flowing from the guillotine as from an inexhaustible fountain. "Only to change the direction of a few ounces of blood; and so in the progress of the revolution which they contrived and let out upon the world, they changed in about five millions of instances, a few ounces of + blood."* "Atheism," says another, "has no bond of union for its professors; no basis of mutual confidence. It breeds suspicion, and consequently hatred, in every breast; and it is actuated by a selfishness which utterly disregards all the bonds of nature, of gratitude, and of friendship. To an atheist, fear becomes the ruling passion. Conscious of his own want of virtue, honor, and humanity, he naturally views his fellows in the same light, and is ready to put them out of the way as soon as they appear, in any degree, to become obstacles to the accomplishment of his plans. Hence, the bloody actors in this tragedy, after glutting their revenge by shedding the blood of innocent Christians, turned their murderous weapons against each other." "Between atheism and superstition there is this great difference, that * Dr. Beecher's Lectures on Skepticism, pp. 80, 83. # + while the latter sanctions some crimes, the former opens the flood-gates to all. The one restrains partiality, the other removes all restraint from vice.Every kind of religion presents some terrors to evil doers; atheism promises complete impunity, and stamps virtue itself with the character of folly."* During the reign of terror in France, when no one was secure of his head for a single hour, it is said that a company of the nobility were sitting together in trembling and breathless anxiety, not knowing the moment when they might be summoned to the guillo. tine; an accomplished lady, who had been drawn into the prevailing atheism by a gentleman present, approached him, and broke the sombre silence that pervaded the assembly, with these emphatic words, Monsieur,-GIVE ME BACK MY GOD!" All the various forms of religion existing now, or that have existed in the world, are comprised under four denominations, namely, Paganism, Mohamme danism, Deism, and Christianity. I do not reckon Judaism among these, because in its original form it is a part of the true religion, and identified with christianity. And so, if we enter into a minute examination of all minor sects, we shall see that they will all find their place, in classification among these four. We will now enter upon a brief examination of these systems, in order to see how far they severally furnish what is required by the necessities of man's moral nature. And, I. As to Paganism. It may seem strange that a * Alexander's Evidences, pp. 24, 26. moment should be spent upon the inquiry, whether this is such a religion as we need; yet, there are those among us, who maintain that it is good enough for the heathen, and that there is no need of sending them the gospel; but, if it is good enough for them, it is good enough for us. Paganism comprises all the forms of idolatry which prevail, or which have prevailed among the heathen. It would be impossible, in this place, to enter into an extended description of what is included under this term. Perhaps, however, we cannot form a better idea of Paganism, than by considering its objects of worship. These are innumerable, including good and evil spirits; the sun, moon, and stars; the earth, the air, the ocean; thunder and lightning; meteors; minerals; stones; iron; silver; gold; plants; leeks; onions; trees and forests; wheat and corn; fishes; insects; reptiles; birds; four-footed beasts, as the bull-dog, cat, wolf, baboon, lion, crocodile, hog, rats, mice, porcupine; departed heroes; as well as all the faculties and passions of men; and universal nature. In the modern Paganism of the East, the number of gods adored amounts to many millions. It will be seen at once that the religious principle, of which we have spoken as being inherent in the soul of man, can find no scope for its exercise, when such are the objects of adoration. There is nothing in them worthy of love or devout admiration—nothing to excite pious feeling-nothing to inspire confidence. On the contrary, many of them are objects of contempt; and where any moral character has been attri buted to their gods, it has been of the most hateful and disgusting description. There is, therefore, in Paganism no one supreme object on which the soul of man can fix, as an object of delightful contemplation, complacent desire, and devout affection. Another grand defect of heathenism is, that it furnishes no pure code of morals. It cannot be expected that their code of morals will be any better than that of their gods; and hence we find that the practical fruits of Paganism have always corresponded to the description given in the first chapter of Romans. Still another defect, and which shows most conclusively, its failure to meet the moral necessities of man, is, that it gives no rational account of the origin of his being, or his future destiny. The great majority of Pagan nations believe in the transmigration of souls; or the passage of souls at death from one body to another. Hence, all is dark concerning the past, and a painful uncertainty hangs over the future. The Pagan has no idea of his origin immediately from the hand of a beneficent Creator; and for aught he knows, his soul may have inhabited the body of a swine or a reptile; and then, as to the rewards of the righteous, and the hopes of heaven, in comparison with the prospects of the wicked, it is only the privilege, perhaps, of entering the body of a horse or some other noble animal, in preference to a mouse or a reptile. Others are left by their religion entirely in doubt as to the immortality of the soul; and others still, have no prospect set before them, but that of annihilation, or of absorption into the essence of the Deity; an idea, however, which seems to be reviv ing among us, under the form of transcendentalism; though I do not presume to speak with confidence on this subject, for I confess that I am unable to understand the views of this school. They are too subtile, ærial, and mystical for my apprehension, and therefore it would not be strange if I should misapprehend them. But if, as I understand them to say, the soul of man is essentially a part of God, when it leaves the body it must return again to the divine essence, lose its separate existence, and be precisely what it was before it existed in the human body; so that we are likely, for aught I see, to have a sect of Hindoos among ourselves. But, another defect in Pagan systems of religion is, that they make no such certain provision for the pardon of sin, as to give relief to the conscience burdened with guilt. For the knowledge of human depravity, and a sense of sin, are almost universal with the heathen. They also feel the necessity of some sort of satisfaction being rendered to their gods for sin. But, their views of the kind of expiation that will be acceptable to the Deity are very vague and indefinite. They have some notion, however, that the victim sacrificed must bear some proportion in value to the person sinning; and hence the origin of human sacrifices, which have prevailed, to a greater or less extent, perhaps, among all heathen nations. Self-inflicted tortures, also of every variety and form, are resorted to for the same purpose; and yet there remains a painful uncertainty whether any of these will procure the pardon of their sins. An affecting illustration of the failure of all the expedients and rites of |