HIS RELIGION. 



were no God, it would be necessary 

 to invent one, to assist in keeping 

 mankind in order, for thus he de- 

 scribes a work of Comte : 



" The only value it seems to me to 

 possess consists in putting an end [?] to 

 the notion that no effectual moral au- 

 thority can be maintained over society 

 without the aid of religious belief" (p. 

 213). 



Mill advises those " who, being 

 qualified in point of knowledge, 

 have on mature consideration satis- 

 fied themselves that the current 

 opinions are not only false but hurt- 

 ful, to make their dissent known " 

 on the subject of religion. It would 

 be interesting to have their religion 

 (if they have any) explained to man- 

 kind, with the authority they have to 

 support it; and greatly so to have 

 been told what Mill wished to be 

 done to improve the state of things 

 he found existing around him. 

 Even with the better kinds of 

 sceptics, we generally, if not almost 

 invariably, find that they have never 

 investigated the origin or nature of 

 the religion they object to. Thus in 

 the case of Benjamin Franklin, who, 

 when asked by Dr. Ezra Stiles for his 

 opinion concerning Jesus of Naza- 

 reth, replied, when in his 85th 

 year : 



" I think his system of morals and his 

 religion, as he left them to us, the best 

 the world ever saw or is like to see ; but 

 I apprehend it has received various cor- 

 rupting changes [he does not say what 

 these are], and I have, with most of the 

 present Dissenters in England [?], some 

 doubts as to his Divinity ; though it is a 

 question I do not dogmatize upon, hav- 

 ing never studied it, and think it need- 

 less to busy myself with it now, when I 

 expect soon an opportunity of knowing 

 the truth with less trouble. I see no 

 harm, however, in its being believed, if 

 that belief has the good consequence, as 

 probably it has, of making his doctrines 

 more respected and more observed ; es- 

 pecially as I do not perceive that the 

 Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguish- 

 ing the unbelievers in his government 



of the world with any peculiar marks of 

 his displeasure." (Par -ton, //., 615.*) 

 [Ben. would have a theory of his own, 

 Scripture or no Scripture.] 



What Mill wrote of Comte in re- 

 gard to political, social and physical 

 things, is somewhat applicable to the 

 Christian religion, in the case of 

 sceptics who have "never studied 

 it:" 



" I had fully agreed with him when he 

 maintained that the mass of mankind, 

 including even the rulers in all the prac- 

 tical departments of life, must, from the 

 necessity of the case, accept most of 

 their opinions on political and social 

 matters, as they do on physical, from the 

 authority of those who have bestowed 

 more study on those subjects than they 

 generally have it in their power to do " 

 (p. 212). 



* The creed given by Franklin on 

 this occasion is interesting, but it must 

 be remembered it was inhaled from the 

 Christian religious and moral atmos- 

 phere in which he was born and reared ; 

 and it may, on that account, be called a 

 pretty piece of Christian Paganism. He 

 says : 



" Here is my creed. I believe in one 

 God, the Creator of the universe. That 

 he governs it by his providence. That he 

 ought to be worshipped. That the most 

 acceptable service we render to him is 

 doing good to his other children. That 

 the soul of man is immortal and will be 

 treated with justice in another life, re- 

 specting its conduct in this. These I take 

 to be the fundamental points in all sound 

 religion, and I regard them as you do, in 

 whatever sect I meet with them." 



As he approached the very close of his 

 life, he thus reasoned with a friend : 



" Death is as necessary to the constitu- 

 tion as sleep ; we shall rise refreshed in 

 the morning. The course of nature must 

 soon put a period to my present mode of 

 existence. This I shall submit to with the 

 less regret,as having seen during a long life 

 a good deal of this world, I feel a grow- 

 ing curiosity to become acquainted with 

 some other ; and can cheerfully, with filial 

 confidence, resign my spirit to the conduct 

 of that great and good Parent of mankind 

 who created it, and who has so graciously 

 protected and preserved me from my 

 birth to the present hour." 



There is a good deal of the "Red 

 Indian" in Franklin's ideas about relig- 

 ion. He speaks of the soul of man being 

 "treated with justice," which.it is pre- 

 sumed, would include punishment. 



