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"Now, if both are to be united, either the first one must be assumed as an immediate service, or one of the two must be regarded simply as a means for the other, for the true service of God, for the true manner in which to please Him. It is self-evident that the moral service of God (offierum liberum) must please Him immediately. But it cannot be considered as the chief condition of all God's satisfaction with man, if the other service, which may be called a service of wages (offierum mercenarium), can be regarded as being also alone and of itself pleasant to God; since in such a case no one would know what service would be preferable to God in a specific case, and would consequently be unable to direct his duties accordingly. Hence we must consider acts which have no moral value in themselves, as being acceptable to God only in so far as they serve to promote that which is of itself good in our acts, that is, morality; or, in other words, only in so far as they serve the moral service of God.

"Now, the man who nevertheless practices acts, which in themselves contain nothing pleasant to God (nothing moral), as a means to obtain the Divine, immediate satisfaction, and thereby the fulfilment of his wishes, is reputed to be in the possession of an art whereby he can produce a supernatural effect by altogether natural means. This art is usually called witchcraft; but since this word has also the meaning of a communion with the evil principle, whereas the art of which we speak may be practised, after all, with good intentions, we shall rather call it Fetish-worship. But if a man claims that he can produce a supernatural effect, he claims that he has a power over God, and uses God as a means whereby to produce an effect in the world which his own power cannot produce; nay, which his own insight cannot even show him whether that effect will be acceptable to God or not. The mere conception of this presumption involves an ab

surdity.

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Priestcraft, therefore, is the organization of a Church, in so far as a Fetish-worship is established in it, which is always the case where it is not morality, but statutory or canonical commandments, rules of faith, and ceremonial observances that form its basis and essence. Now, it is true, that there are many Church forms wherein the Fetishworship is so manifold and mechanical, that it seems as if it were intended to take the place almost altogether of morality, and hence also of religion, and thus approach very closely to the forms of

Paganism; but the more or less is of no consequence here, where the worth or unworth of acts depends upon the quality of the highest uniting principle which prompts them. If this principle demands obedient submission to a rule, as a slave-service, and not a free acknowledgment, which is due to the moral law before everything else, — then, let the imposed observances be ever so few, it is always a Fetish-worship which governs the masses, and by their submission to a Church deprives them of their moral freedom. Whether the government of such a Church be its hierarchy, be monarchical, or aristocratic, or representative, this concerns only its organization; but its operative results will, under all these forms, remain the same, despotic. Where the statutes of faith are counted in as belonging to the constitution, or creed, or canonical law, there a priesthood (clerus) governs, which believes that it can get along quite well without reason, - nay, after awhile, perhaps, even without sacred writings, — since itself, as the only authorized custodian and interpreter of the will of God, the invisible Law-giver, has alone the authority to administer the prescriptions of faith; and, armed with this power, has no need to convince, but needs simply to command.

"Now, since, with the exception of this priesthood, all other men are laymen, even the head of the political Commonwealth, - the Church in the end rules the State, if not exactly through force, at any rate through its influence on the minds of men, and through its magnification of the advantages to be derived from an implicit obedience, to which obedience a spiritual discipline has even habituated thinking. But, in all this, the practice of hypocrisy imperceptibly roots out honesty and fidelity in the people, causing them to perform their services as citizens of a State also in the same hypocritical manner, and thus, like all false principles, results in the very reverse of what it was intended to effect."

Here, then, we have it clearly stated how and why a collision between Church and State is always possible, namely, because the love of power, alluded to before, is apt to induce the clergy to pervert the minds of the people in regard to their proper relation to the State government and the exercise of their individual freedom. The first kind of perversion, no government, whatever its form or nature may be, can tolerate; since it leads virtually to a submission of the legally constituted government to the control of an ecclesiastical

body, claiming supernatural, infallible authority. The darkest pages of history have been filled by the wars and persecutions that have resulted from this conflict between ecclesiastical and civil governmental organizations, wherever the former have laid arrogant claim to a direct inspiration from the Deity, denied to the laymen. The second kind of perversion no republican government can tolerate, because it undermines and finally eradicates that freedom of the individual which is the only support of republics, and which is the essence of morality, without which republican mode of thinking and action is impossible. To the people of the United States of America it is, therefore, of the utmost importance that this second kind of perversion of the public mind should be made impossible. There are two ways in which this can be accomplished. The first is afforded by our form of government itself, which, in its circular movement, provides for its own defence against its most dangerous enemy, more dangerous always in proportion as it is a sneaking, insidiously working enemy. A republican form of government, based as it is upon individual freedom, and protecting that freedom to the utmost possible extent, necessarily brings up its citizens in the habit of liberty, and any attempt to infringe upon that liberty is immediately encountered by instinctive resistance. Whereas in other countries the priesthood is looked upon as a distinctive, superior body of men, the average citizen of our republic looks upon a clergyman as simply a human being like himself, the only difference arising from his chosen voca

He has no inborn or acquired privileges as a clergyman, no special prerogative to assume authority over those who have chosen another vocation, and consequently no more or less authority to fix his particular views upon the State government than is enjoyed by the lowest citizen, each according to his gifts. So long as this spirit of individual freedom is cherished by the American people, there is no need to apprehend danger from the encroachment of the Church; but it is essentially necessary for the future enjoyment of this security, that this spirit of individual freedom should be fostered with the utmost care and vigilance.

The second mode is, to awaken the moral freedom within the individuals themselves, since morality abhors external authority and blind submission to the teachings of others, be they priests or so-called scientific authorities. To attain this purpose was the object of my

proposed elaboration of our public-school education, so as to make it embrace all the faculties and possibilities of the human physical, mental, and moral organization; to which I may, fittingly enough, allude here again, at the end of this book, as the basis and cornerstone of our civilization, liberties, and gradual approach to a full and free communion with the Deity. For this, after all, and this only, is the rational end of the history of our race.

THE END.