AND SUBORDINATION. 75 



of the human race expired. At last it was conceded that the 

 people had rights and liberties which must be respected : that 

 government exists for the benefit of the people, and not the 

 people for the benefit of the government. That nations are the 

 masters of their own destinies. And now on this continent we 

 have the glorious spectacle of a people governed by one of their 

 own choice, and yet progressing in science and civilization. 



Political and religious liberty has been obtained ; but human 

 nature has not changed, and there still exist among us the same 

 tendencies to the despotism of by-gone ages. It is well known 

 that there is a class of men in our midst, who want to do our 

 religious thinking for us as in former times ; and it is also well 

 known that there are those who would abridge popular liberty; 

 who are ever seeking to recover lost political influence. These 

 powers are extending themselves secretly in all directions, 

 struggling fiercely for pre-eminence. Man has broken his 

 chains, he has escaped from his dungeon, and every effort is now 

 made to effect his recapture. He will not let us think for him 

 now. He considers that he is quite capable of thinking for 

 himself. He considers that he is at perfect liberty to have an 

 opinion or belief of his own, uncontrolled by any other man or 

 set of men. Such is the language of the foe, as treacherous, 

 despotic, cruel, and unyielding as ever, whose power originated 

 solely in the ignorance and darkness of former ages. Man is 

 no longer a poor, degraded captive, devoid of greatness of soul, 

 of reason, and of virtue. He is free now ! He loves science, 

 and nature, and truth ! Is he going to surrender the precious 

 rights of religious and political liberty, purchased by the blood 

 of so many patriots and martyrs ? Who are these men who 

 wish to do our religious thinking for us ? They (and their 

 ancestors before them, about whom they talk so much) are mortal 

 men who sicken and die like ourselves, and the probabilities 

 are that they are, one and all, just as liable to form erroneous 

 opinions as any other men. Eeligious infallibility on the one 

 hand, and blind submission of the understanding on the other 

 there has been already too much of it. Surely, the very 

 remembrance of the follies of their fathers, in this respect, has 

 made the present generation wiser. Before the light of science 



