e mere thought of committing, and
distressed during the act of committing any untruth, or any
uncharitable act, or of neglecting what we feel to be right, in
order to indulge in laziness or gratify some passing desire. So long
as experience shows the religion to be competent to produce this
effect, it seems reasonable to believe that the particular dogma is
comparatively of little importance. But as the dogma or sentiments,
whatever they be, if they are not naturally instinctive, must be
ingrained in the character to produce their full effect, they should
be instilled early in life and allowed to grow unshaken until their
roots are firmly fixed. The consciousness of this fact makes the
form of religious teaching in every church and creed identical in
one important particular though its substance may vary in every
respect. In subjects unconnected with sentiment, the freest inquiry
and the fullest deliberation are required before it is thought
decorous to form a final opinion; but wherever sentiment is involved,
and especially in questions of religious dogma, about which there is
more sentiment and more difference of opinion among wise, virtuous,
and truth-seeking men than about any other subject whatever,
free inquiry is peremptorily discouraged. The religious instructor
in every creed is one who makes it his profession to saturate his
pupils with prejudice. A vast and perpetual clamour arises from the
pulpits of endless proselytising sects throughout this great empire,
the priests of all of them crying with one consent, "This is the way,
shut your ears to the words of those who teach differently; don't
look at their books, do not even mention their names except to scoff
at them; they are damnable. Have faith in what I tell you, and save
your souls!" In which of these conflicting doctrines are we to place
our faith if we are not to hear all sides, and to rely upon our own
judgment in the end? Are we to understand that it is the duty of man
to be credulous in accepting whatever the priest in whose
neighbourhood he happens to reside may say? Is it to believe
whatever his parents may have lovingly taught him? There are a vast
number of foolish men and women in the world who marry and have
children, and because they deal lovingly with their children it does
not at all follow that they can instruct them wisely. Or is it to
have faith in what the wisest men of all ages have found peace in
believing? The Catholic phra