112 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL 



which gives up so much to benefit the savage, is almost 

 always accompanied and often strengthened by strong 

 religious convictions. Yet there are not wanting facts to 

 show that much may be done without the influence of 

 religion. It cannot be doubted, for example, that the 

 Roman occupation laid the foundation of civilization in 

 Britain, and produced a considerable amelioration in the 

 condition and habits of the people, which was not in any 

 way due to religious teaching. The Turkish and Egyptian 

 Governments have been, in modern times, much im- 

 proved, and the condition of their people ameliorated, by 

 the influence of Western civilization, unaccompanied by 

 any change in the national religion. In Java, where the 

 natives are Mohammedans, and scarcely a Christian con- 

 vert exists, the good order established by the Dutch 

 Government and their pure administration of justice, to- 

 gether with the example of civilized Europeans widely 

 scattered over the country, have greatly improved the 

 physical and moral condition of the people. In all these 

 cases, however, the personal influence of kindly, moral, 

 and intelligent men, devoted wholly to the work of 

 civilization, has been wanting ; and this form of influence, 

 in the case of missionaries, is very great. A missionary 

 who is really earnest, and has the art (and the heart) to 

 gain the affections of his flock, may do much in eradicating 

 barbarous customs, and in raising the standard of morality 

 and happiness. But he may do all this quite independently 

 of any form of sectarian theological teaching, and it is a 

 mistake too often made to impute all to the particular 

 doctrines inculcated, and little or nothing to the other 

 influences we have mentioned. We believe that the 

 purest morality, the most perfect justice, the highest 

 civilization, and the qualities that tend to render men 

 good, and wise, and happy, may be inculcated quite inde- 

 pendently of fixed forms or dogmas, and perhaps even 

 better for the want of them. The savage may be certainly 

 made amenable to the influence of the affections, and will 

 probably submit the more readily to the teaching of one 

 who does not, at the very outset, attack his rude super- 

 stitions. These will assuredly die out of themselves, when 



