CHAPTER XXVIII. 



I HAVE, with all the consideration I have been 

 able coolly to bestow upon the subject, become 

 clearly of opinion, that the highest character a 

 man can hope to attain to in this life is that of 

 being a religious philosopher ; and he cannot be 

 the latter without religion being deeply impressed 

 upon his mind; and, without the aid of religion and 

 philosophy conjointly, he need not hope to feel all 

 the happiness in this world attendant upon his 

 approach towards perfection. The happiness de- 

 rived from ignorance is like that of unreasoning 

 animals ; and, in carrying this a little further, or 

 to the extreme, it is, comparatively, like the happi- 

 ness enjoyed by a gate-post. 



It is from amongst men of this enlightened 

 character only that all and every clergyman ought 

 to be selected, without permitting the least inter- 

 ference of private patronage ; for that has been, 

 and will continue to be, an evil of the most be- 

 numbing magnitude, which will if not stopped 

 upset the best laid plans, and render such nuga- 

 tory, or null and void. Could such a stride as this 

 towards purity ever be accomplished, then every 

 village ought to have its church, and would thus 

 become a religious, a moral, and a patriotic little 

 community, in which its preceptors ought to teach 

 youth the usual routine of their education five days 

 in the week and those of all ages on the Sunday. 

 This clergy ought not to be sworn to any belief, nor 



