truth, and the
"spiritual" weapons by which its "champion" is to make it victorious
over mankind; he has also recorded his hatred of slavery and despotism,
where such magnanimity is perfectly safe, and perfectly superfluous.
Let me now suppose you, not only partly, but wholly of his mind, and
animated (if "spiritualism" will ever prompt men to do any thing,
except, as Harrington says, to write books against book-revelation),
--let me suppose you animated to go as missionary to the East to
preach this spiritual system: would you, in addition to all the rest,
publicly denounce the social and political evils under which the
nations groan? If so, your spiritual projects would soon be perfectly
understood, and summarily dealt with. It is in vain to say that, if
commissioned by Heaven, and endowed with power of working miracles,
you would do so; for you cannot tell under what limitations your
commission would be given; it is pretty certain that it would leave you
to work a moral and spiritual system by moral and spiritual means, and
not allow you to turn the world upside down, nor mendaciously tell it
that you came only to "preach peace," while every syllable you uttered
would be an incentive to sedition.

III. The last point on which you ask a few remarks is in relation to
the early spread of Christianity. Mr. Newman makes easy work of this
great problem. He says, "Before Constantine, Christians were but a
small fraction of the empire ..... In fact, it was the Christian
soldiers in Constanline's army who conquered the empire for
Christianity." (Phases, p. 162.)

In the first place, supposing the facts just as stated.--namely, that
it was the Christian soldiers of Constantine who conquered the empire
for Christianity,--who was it that conquered the army for Christianity?
When I find Mahometanism the prevalent religion through the English
regiments, I shall shrewdly suspect that the conquest of England for
Mahometanism will have been made an easy task, by its having already
made equal progress amongst the people generally!

I suppose it will not be denied that the soldiers, by whose aid
Constantine achieved this great victory, were themselves professedly
converts to Christianity; and Christianity as it had existed in the
times of the recent persecutions was not likely to allure men to the
profession of arms. I think, therefore, we may fairly assume, that,
if the imperial armies were to any considerable extent--and it must