second by the spirit of a cow's tail, he would be regarded as a fool. Not much wiser would he be, who, when he heard a knock of some kind or other, asserted or believed that it came from the angel of night-the well-known Nox. The untutored savage, when first he sees a watch, cannot tell how it goes-if he says that he is ignorant, we may respect him; but if he declares that a spirit moves it, we despise his credulity. The polite circles of civilized cities who attribute the absurd capers of tambourines, concertinas, tables, and the like to the vivacity of the ghosts of defunct philosophers, and who think that it requires the shade of Venus to tell us, that feminine women are more graceful than masculine hoydens, are not much superior to the natural savage.

These remarks may be supplemented by the experiences imparted to me by several personal friends; for, as it seems to me, each one has his own way in looking at things, and has, so to speak, an idiosyncrasy in belief and scepticism. One man, for example, inquires "How is it that if I propound to a spiritualist, to an artist with 'planchette,' or any other person who professes clairvoyance-a question, through a friend who does not know the answer, I never get a correct reply; but if I propound the same question the response is always right?" In this case it is clear that the inquirer answers himself—not wittingly, it is true; but, by means of a slight hesitation under certain circumstances, he gives to the adroit professor the needful clue. How far this is true has been repeatedly proved by those who have made the spirits say anything—" Where is my sister?" such an one asks, and by the alphabet and raps he hears that she is in Munich; but as the inquirer never had a sister, the spirits have clearly been duped.

One of my friends, ordinarily a thorough sceptic, was converted to the belief that one of his hands was positively and the other negatively magnetic, and he showed me how he turned,

by their means, a book suspended between us upon a door key firmly tied within the leaves. But when I showed him that this was done by a movement of the body, and could not be done if both hands employed were fixed upon anything—he was convinced that what seemed due to one thing depended, in reality, upon another. Yet that man was an acute and able chemical analyst. How the late Dr Faraday convinced "table turners" that they did, unconsciously, that which they wished, but determined not to do, will long be remembered as a marvel of philosophical induction. We all have not the faculty of analyzing evidence, and it would be well if those who are deficient in that power would be less bigoted than they are. We can scarcely expect it, however, for ignorance and arrogance usually walk together; and no man is more convinced of his knowledge than the one who takes it at second hand, and believes what he is told. The faithful swallow "squid," and become a mass of blubber; the sceptics feed on solid flesh, and are thin as tigers.

Reconstructive.

CHAPTER XI.

Faith and reason. Result of previous investigations. Value of morality. Morality and Romanism. Vice encouraged by priests-end in view. Submission to priests more valuable than virtue. Vice better than scepticism. Theological false witness. Compulsory faith. Supply without demand-in theology. Correctness of doctrine proved by the sword. Church and state in modern times. "Nerve" required to change a belief. Moral courage. What is faith? Absurd definition given by Paul. Faith must be uncompromising. Why faith signifies blind confidence. Faith and folly go hand in hand. Faith makes fools. Jesuits and faith. Popery and faith. Faith persecutes reason. All religious teachers uphold faith-the reason why. Quiet after activity. The one who partly abjures faith resembles a mariner at sea. Faith and reason incompatible. The author's personal belief: Negative—positive. Opinions on various received dogmas. Laws of Nature. Providence. The Book of God in the universe. Sin-the ideas connected with children and whelps. Human and animal instincts. Religious laws against God's. Pious murder. When crimes are praiseworthy. Human laws and ecclesi. astical. Effect on common law of priestly legislation. Ecclesiastical laws generally bad ones. The Church makes sins; so does society. A case supposed. Society contravenes the laws of Nature. The proper basis of legislation. Personal impressions. Duty the guide of conduct. Conclusions. Importance of them. Reason gives peace of mind. Fears of the orthodox. Reason may regenerate the world; Faith does not. Another way of treating the subject. Mr Gladstone upon education. Opposes "dread of results" to "desire of learning." Gladstone and Strauss. Various oracles. Oxford graduates rarely philosophic. Lord Bacon's aphorisms. Science obstructed by human weaknesses. Progress of science barred by ecclesiastics. Religion and despotism. The man who scouts induction is a bigot. Revelation requires exposition. Three sets of expounders-all differ. Which must the faithful follow? Popish miracles claim credence from the faithful. He who argues must be logical. Can a bigot be a liberal? If learning is valuable, it must have free scope. Choice proposed-faith or reason? Men of mark who shun religious inquiry. Faraday and Gladstone. Influence of faith, or reason, on the clergy. Examples. An objection noticed. Reason useless in matters of faith -its absurdity demonstrated.

Ir is now time to enter upon what has, throughout the composition of the preceding essays, been constantly present to

my mind, viz., "reconstruction." In the two larger volumes, and in this small one, it has been my aim to clear away the foul rags which have, for many thousand years, been heaped upon the lovely figure of truth-to endeavour to remove the meretricious, or rubbishy, constructions that designing men have builded round the magnificent structure of God's universe. I have, in my own opinion, demonstrated that the Jews have no real claim to be regarded as Jehovah's chosen people, and that their writings present no marks of having been inspired or revealed-that, on the contrary, there are proofs to show that a large portion of their Scriptures are worthless fabrications, contrived by imperfectly educated men, for a political purpose, or to foster vanity.

In our examination into the character of the Hebrew God, and of those individuals said to be his special friends and messengers, as given in the Bible, we found evidence to show that the historians were a semi-civilized, sensual, and malignant race, whose ignorance was only surpassed by their arrogance. It has been further shown, that every portion of the Jewish Scriptures which modern Christians have adopted into their own religion, came to the so-called "chosen people" from those whom they, and many amongst ourselves, designate "heathen." We have, still further, shown the almost absolute identity between the current Christian faith and that originated by Sakya Muni, which still reigns in Thibet, Tartary, China, Ceylon, Japan, and elsewhere. We have demonstrated that a high grade of civilization, and a form of government more paternal and provident than any which the old world knew, existed in Peru, without the smallest evidence of Christianity or Mosaism having ever existed there.

We have, in addition, shown that the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary is not, by any means, as great a marvel as it is generally supposed to be, such an occurrence

being as common to-day as as it probably ever will be. readily have proved that the ascension of Jesus was not at all unique, inasmuch as great men of old were in the habit of rising after their decease, and making their dwelling in the heaven above-e.g., Romulus.

it was from the beginning, and By a similar inquiry we could

We have, still further, demonstrated that the modern belief in an angelic host has nothing in it peculiar to Bible Christians and modern Jews, and that our notion of a resurrection of the body is not exclusively a portion of the Christian's creed, but that it was held, in one form or another, more or less distinct, by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the distant Japanese. In fine, we have done much to sweep away the major part of the religious doctrines and dogmas which are prevalent in the Christian world.. Our writing hitherto has been essentially iconoclastic.

But, amongst all the idols which we have attempted to throw down, we have not, in any instance, threatened morality. We take no credit for forbearance, but we point to the fact, inasmuch as whenever opposite religionists contend about their tenets, they never lay violent hands upon morality. They may abuse the practice of their opponents, and hold up the imaginary vices of their enemy to execration, but real goodness in the work of life is ever respected.*

* I am, however, somewhat in doubt whether the Roman Church deserves the eulogy here given to other bodies. In my reading of history, especially in what are called the “Dark Ages" of Christianity, the Papal authorities winked at crimes against morality, so long as the sinners paid due deference to ecclesiastical authority, and bled freely, by pouring lands, treasures, and wealth of all kinds into the priestly treasury. The history of the Popes is written almost everywhere in blood. Murder, assassination, and spoliation were common weapons in their hands, and rape and robbery were condoned easily to those who were powerful and active slaves of the Church.

As soon as the Popes of Rome were free from persecution and danger, they, in their turn, used the arts of the tyrants of old, and sought for political supremacy by pandering to all the passions of kings and great men-if, by that means, they could make them friendly. Up to within a very short