THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 4 1 



single molecule composing the body at five years of age, left at the 

 age of fifty ■ yet the individual can, from his own consciousness, 

 confidently assert that he is the same person. Just how much of 

 all this is applicable to the lower animals is mere matter of con- 

 jecture, as information on the subject is not obtainable from them 

 by articulate speech. 



Again, science finds man to be a religious being. Professor 

 Tyndall says, " The religious principle in man is as much a verity 

 as any part of human consciousness, and against it the waves of 

 science break in vain." Could anything be more truly or beauti- 

 fully expressed ? Nothing else will account for its universality and 

 permanence. It is coeval with the human race, and co-extensive. 

 Observe man in any time, place or condition, and we find that this 

 inherent principle persists in manifesting itself in one way or an- 

 other. Another says, " Systems and forms of religious expression are 

 perishable, but the religious principle itself is eternal." But many 

 confound the two, looking only at the external expression, forgetting 

 the principle from which it springs. Hence the oft-repeated state- 

 ment that religion is merely a matter of education ; which may be 

 quite true of the form, but wholly erroneous as to the principle. That 

 this principle can be strengthened and expanded by cultivation, or 

 weakened and dwarfed from want of exercise, is a fact in perfect 

 accord with every other principle in man's nature ; but the one did 

 not originate it, nor can the other utterly extinguish it. 



Others again contend that religion in the world is the result of a 

 conspiracy on the part of the priestly or ecclesiastical class, to keep 

 men in bondage for their own personal advantage. That is like a 

 reversing of the order of nature ; the ecclesiastical class is rather the 

 natural result of the religious principle in man. That some men have 

 adopted the ecclesiastical profession as a means of obtaining power, 

 preferment and wealth, is a matter of history, but they were quite 

 innocent of originating the principle ; they merely took advantage of 

 its existence, and used it to advance their own selfish ends. Let us 

 examine this matter a little more closely. Man, in an untutored 

 state, is almost wholly controlled by his feelings. Now it is one of 

 the most permanent impressions in the consciousness of the race, 

 that man has not entire control of his own destiny, but that there 

 is a power above and beyond himself that is capable of affecting his 

 destiny for good or for evil; and he has a strong suspicion that he is 



