destructive. Regarding the lofty pretensions advanced by all of them, there is something ludicrous in the rapidity with which they succeed each other."

"It is not enough that the skepticism of Hume and the sensualism of Condillac are laid to the charge of Locke; but he must be made accountable also, by implication at least, for the extravagances of a set of German infidels in our own day; though it would be difficult to find a stronger contrast, in point of thought, expression, and doctrine, than that which exists between their speculations and the writings of the father of English philosophy."

Thus far my brief extracts, which will serve as hints to the writer's opinions. It is not my business either to confirm or contradict them; yet I may be allowed to subjoin some incidental remarks. Jacobi's theistic philosophy of faith, and the Catholic church philosophy of Frederic Schlegel, appear to be little known in America; and of the new position of Schelling and the Hegelians, nothing as yet is said.

Mr. Bowen every where contends against à priori elements of knowledge, or against the originating activity of thought; in which connection I am sorry to miss a juxta-position of Locke and Leibnitz. Because Kant refers to Hume, he is not therefore like him a skeptic; and still further from being one is the dogmatic Hegel, who regards all systems as the constituents and gradual developments of a positive philosophy. Mr. Bowen's opposition to all metaphysical proofs, likewise proceeds from skepticism; and the inductive and analytical method which alone he recognises, finds its tacit and necessary complement in syllogism and synthesis. It should not be forgotten that man's perceptive powers are intimately blended, and are as it were contained the one within the other.

When too Mr. Bowen finds a proof of the truth of Christianity in its conformity to the laws of nature; and when he says, that a literal fulfilment of the command, "Do all for the glory of God," leads to the wildest outbreaks of fanaticism;-he may be told that he will also find these views common in that Germany which he so freely censures. Equally just is his doctrine (in which he agrees with Aristotle), that man is essentially and eminently a social being; and so too is his opposition to the shallow and negative doctrines of the state of nature. But on the other hand, that law and compact are salutary and indispensable constituents in the formation and maintenance of states, the United States furnish the most striking proofs on fully authenticated historical grounds. These American compacts stand in no degree opposed to the natural and eternal principles and laws of all society; on the contrary, they exhibit the latter in the clearest light, and show the wide distinction between them and the one-sided, arbi

trary, and tyrannical principle, which in our day is called by some the "historical" par excellence, and is regarded by them as sacred and inviolable.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

RELIGION AND THE CHURCH.

Intolerance- Church Establishments - Religious Liberty Sects - Catholics, School Money-Episcopalians-Methodists, Divisions among them-Presbyterians - Congregationalists—Baptists-Quakers-Shakers-Rappists— Mormons -Universalists-Unitarians-Philosophers--Clergymen and Churches-Church Property-The Voluntary System--Societies-Bible Societies-Missions--Public Worship-Camp Meetings-Revivals-Dangers and Prospects-Intolerance.

THE whole history of the Christian church shows, that the spirit of intolerance towards those who differ in opinion, has never entirely disappeared, and very often has not hesitated at the most abominable and unchristian means of attaining its ends. Thus, in particular, it has been required of the state, that it should employ all its power for the advancement of church objects; or it has been thought both useful and necessary that church and state should be fused into one inseparable whole; or else the church has been set up in opposition to the state, and unlimited power demanded for her. Finally, the theory and practice of the Catholics, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians, have come to the same thing: namely, that their party alone possess the whole truth and the entire right; of which (for the honor of God) they would not surrender the smallest particle.

Intolerance of this sort drove the Catholics to Maryland, the Episcopalians to Virginia, the Puritans to New England, and the Quakers to Pennsylvania. The old principle, or rather the old prejudice, that each church stood higher and purer, in proportion as it kept aloof from and proscribed all others, was transplanted with most of the colonists to America; still the recollection of the persecutions mutually endured at different times must have somewhat softened their rugged points, and indicated the necessity of mutual toleration. Zealots however were kept in check less by a sense of the blessings of toleration, than by the sheer impossibility of working their will. Jefferson and those who shared his views were the first to entertain the full conviction,

that a dominant church, whichever it might be, was always an evil, and on no account to be endured. After an earnest and eloquent exposition of the reasons therefor, Virginia resolved, in the year 1785: "That no man shall be compelled to attend or support any form of worship, church, or priesthood whatever; and that none on that account shall suffer disquiet, compulsion, or molestation in person or estate, or be subject to injury for any religious opinions and belief. On the contrary, all men are free to profess and defend their views on religion; and this shall not in any way alter, improve, or deteriorate their standing as citizens."

On the adoption of this resolution, there arose a violent outcry about heartless indifference, unchristian dispositions, infidelity, and atheism; and each party would gladly have elevated its own church to the rank of a state establishment. Fortunately no one of them was powerful enough to carry through any such plan; and since America has universally adopted these principles, and accustomed itself to the new state of things, nothing is heard against this important step in human progress except now and then the querulous complaints of some European traveller.

It is entirely false to maintain that there is no religion, where none is preferred and privileged by the state. The establishment of a single creed, having the exclusive power to save, could have been effected only by the axe and the faggot, by a civil and religious war, and by the entire destruction of the great American confederation; or rather the attempt would have totally failed, in spite of all such criminal proceedings. It is no less erroneous to maintain that a church cannot render the state any service, unless it be favored more than others: on the contrary, all denominations are of service to the state; and it remains an essentially Christian state, though it does not make its Christianity consist in violently obstructing the course of natural development. "Every religious denomination," says Henry Clay, "which is connected with the government, is more or less inimical to liberty; separated from the government, all are compatible with liberty."*

There are certainly schools which resolve all politics into theology, and all theology into politics; but American politics give free course to theology, and neither rules it nor is ruled by it;though this does not exclude mutual improvement and purification.

The genuine democracy of Christianity has been hitherto repressed and kept back by the priesthood; and political democracy has also confined itself to the defective systems and experiences of antiquity. Hence arose absolutism in church and state, tyranny in matters of religious belief, police surveillance, and

*Clay's Speeches, i. 90.

military despotism. It is the fixed principle of the United States to produce no conversions either by fire and sword, or by money and livings; and their ecclesiastical is as new, as grand, and as important as their political law.

"Church establishments," says an American writer, connected as they commonly are, with exclusive creeds, have been the most effectual engines ever contrived to fetter the human mind. They shut up religion from the influence of new lights and increasing knowledge, give an unnatural stability to error, impose the dogmas and prejudices of rude and ignorant times upon ages of knowledge and refinement, and check the genuine influence of religion by associating it with absurd practices and impudent impostures. By connecting the church with the state, they degrade religion into an instrument of civil tyranny; by pampering the pride of a particular sect, and putting the sword into its hands, they render it indolent, intolerant, cruel, and spread jealousy and irritation through all the others. By violating the right of private judgment in their endeavors to enforce unity of belief, they multiply hypocrites."* "Secular laws in religious matters," said President Jackson, "may make hypocrites, but not true Christians."+

It is worthy of remark, that the American clergy, though they have nothing to do with the state and nothing to expect from it, are decidedly in favor of the above mentioned free principles, and are more zealous and active than where secular and ecclesiastical motives intervene. They assert, that support of the church by the state produces envy and ambition, that unequal and apparently equal distributions have a like injurious effect, that every gift leads to supervision and authoritative interference, and that in the multiplicity of sects and churches lies security for the freedom of all.

Errors which are connected with free inquiry or spring from it, are attended with vastly less injurious effects than the alleged infallible truths of compulsory systems. The most strenuous improvement of systems is consistent with kindly indulgence for the views of others, and an endeavor to gain followers by the power of truth, and not by the edge of the sword or by the influence of money. Nor can it be too emphatically remarked, that unanimity respecting all the leading doctrines of Christian ethics, might and would correct and soften the dogmatic systems whence the weapons of spiritual warfare are so often drawn. Almost all the sects of America are found in Europe:-only there men express their sentiments without regard to consequences; while here, for many reasons, they are disinclined to found new sects, and many of different opinions are embraced under one denomi↑ Cox, p. 22.

* Encycl. Americana, art. United States, p. 451.

nation and one church. If Europe has more theological knowledge and learning, America has more independence and activity.

This is not the place to exhibit the doctrines and regulations of more than forty-three American sects;* yet the following notices of some of the more important may be admitted.

CATHOLICS.

According to a recent estimate, the Catholics had in the year 1843 one archbishop, 17 bishoprics, 611 churches and chapels, 634 clergymen, 19 seminaries, numerous establishments of dif ferent kinds for women, 60 charitable institutions, and 15 periodicals devoted to the Catholic cause.† It is asserted that their number, now about 1,300,000, is increasing in a still greater ratio than that of the population. This is in part the conse quence of immigration, especially of Catholic Irishmen; and in part of their activity and address. In addition to this, while the Protestants, in consequence of their freedom, are dividing themselves in every direction; the Catholics, in consequence of their obedience, join together and remain united. Both parties in their controversies, spoken as well as written, have unfortunately too often deserted moderation and Christian forbearance; and if the Catholics sometimes proceed rather on the defensive than on the offensive, this is owing to their being the weaker party, and to their unwillingness to give violent offence by an unreserved annunciation of their principles. If the Protestants call America a Protestant country on account of their numerical majority, they are arithmetically, but not politically right; for majority and minority determine nothing in this respect, and the smallest church minority has in the United States as much religious freedom as the largest majority. It is not however to be denied, that the system of Catholic church government is far more unrepublican than the institutions of any of the Protestant sects. At present, American Catholicism prudently conforms itself to circumstances, and by no means carries things to such extremes as in Rome and Madrid; but the

*See Rupp's Original History of the Religious Denominations in the United States; where each sect is described by a clergyman of the same denomination. According to a late enumeration (Grund's Handbuch, p. 56), the different sects number as follows:

† Caswall, p. 316. Amer. Almanac, 1844, p. 196; 1845, p. 193.

.450,000

.220,000

•180,000

30,000

18,000

6,000

6,000

5,000