832 On National Character. 
in my apprehension, these assigned causes are 
only consequences. Let us examine the sub- 
ject. Religion, they say, forms a prominent 
feature in the character of every people: 
granted, But religion, having the same 
object of worship, assimilates its followers ; it 
by no means diversifies their character, how- 
ever remote their residence; its tendency is 
to make of one family all nations of the earth; — 
it creates no new principle, nor calls into 
exercise any new passion; the spirit of devo- 
tion is the spirit of filial affection; that act of 
the mind towards the supreme Being is worship, 
which exercised towards a parent, is honour 
and reverence. 
But it may be said, that religious prin- 
ciples are acted on only as they are under- 
stood, and that persons of different capa- 
cities can only understand in proportion to 
their capacities. This is placing the 
difference of character not in religion but in 
the capacities of individuals, which is shifting 
the ground ; but admitting the objection, what 
does it prove ? It proves that the resemblance 
is incomplete; not that the bent of character . 
produced by religious principles is diversified. 
If the pure worship of God be the same in its 
principle and tendency wherever the worship- 
per may live, so is its counterpart, superstition. 
The negroes of Africa, the philosophers of 
