This being the truth, it is time that morality should be dissevered from all religious creeds, and stand on its own intrinsic merits. Religion has taught man that he is poor and helpless; that he has no power to act; that he has no desire to perform virtuous actions, and that he himself and his fellow beings are, by some (to him unaccountable) destiny, thrown at so vast a distance from his Creator, that he can approach him only by the means of kneeling and prostration, and that he is so far indebted to his Maker, who will have full payment to the last cent. Being ignorant of his real situation in the universe, and also of the resources of his mind, he overlooks or undervalues the strength he possesses, and neglects the means which God or nature puts within his reach to be both virtuous and happy. In this state of mind, he seeks for happiness in a religion the author of which is depicted as a being like himself. It is, then, the vast importance which has been attached to faith in the Redeemer, which has made the path to heaven so smooth, and easy for the Christian traveller, that moral rectitude has been thought of but little consideration in his road to glory. Let me, says the Christian, make sure of my interest in Christ, and my salvation is sure. Hence, we often find, that even Gospel ministers are men of the basest description; at the same time their hearers are consoled, with believing that their immoral pastor is sound in the faith, resting firmly on the “_rock of ages_.” The importance of faith is not the abuse of Christianity; it is the thing itself. Jesus taught it to his disciples, and blames them for having so little. But when Peter, his trusty servant, in a passion, cut off a man’s ear, his divine Master only gave him a gentle rebuke, telling him to be careful how he used the sword, for he might have to go in mourning for his own ears. The consistent Infidel, who renounces all religious creeds, and who views the whole human family as beings possessing the same faculties, subject to the same wants, and liable to the same misfortunes as himself, can, by the use of his reason, without the aid of revelation, discover the duties which he owes to himself, and also the true relation in which he stands to his fellow mortals. He, by what he observes around him, and by what he feels within himself, can see clearly the correct line of duty, and can, at any time, draw a just conclusion as to his moral standing in society. But it is far otherwise with the Christian, whose whole dependence is on what his Saviour has done for him. He is alternately disturbed with doubts and fears as to the ground on which he stands; and being taught, that his best efforts to attain a moral elevation by a steady course of virtuous actions, is considered by his Maker worse than nothing, he loses sight of the high responsibility he stands in, in relation to his fellow man.