And the manners of the people in other respects are horrible in the extreme. Yet, strange to say, _they profess Christianity, and have numerous churches_. Their saints are almost innumerable, and surpass in miraculous power those of the Romish Church. The clergy do not attempt to prevent divorces, nor even polygamy. In confirmation of the above graphic picture, we will quote also from an English geography by Guthrie and Ferguson, F.R.S. (p. 923): "The inhabitants of Abyssinia _consist of Christians_. Some ecclesiastical writers would persuade us that the conversion of Abyssinia to Christianity happened in the time of the apostles; but others state that this was after,--: in the year 333. There is no such thing as marriage in Abyssinia, and no distinction made between legitimate and illegitimate children, from the king to the beggar." _Here, then, is "Christian" morality, and here is a specimen of Christian "free-lovism" too, in a country where the Christian Bible has been circulated by the thousand, and read and adored for at least fifteen hundred years_. Such facts furnish a complete refutation of the popular Christian assumption that "true and pure morality is inseparable from Christianity and the Bible." The truth is, the Bible alone has _never done any thing_ to advance the cause of _either morality or civilization in any country_, because it is interdicted from improvement. It may be asked here, Why is it, then, that both religion and morality prosper in most countries where the Bible has been introduced? The answer to this question is found in the _important fact, overlooked by the Christian world_, that the _arts and sciences_ generally accompany, or soon follow, the introduction of the Bible; but, where this has not been the case, and the Bible has been circulated alone, as in the case of Abyssinia, no progress whatever has been made towards the establishment of true morality or a rational religion, or any of the adjuncts of civilization, thus proving that the causes for the moral growth and improvement of society are outside of, and independent of, the Bible, and, we will add (in view of the many immoral lessons taught in the book), in spite of the Bible. A little rational reflection must convince any unbiased person that Bibles, in the very nature of things, must retard the moral and intellectual advancement and prosperity of society in every respect, notwithstanding they contain many good and beautiful precepts, for representing, as they do, the imperfect state of morals in the age and country in which they were written; while their teachings are assumed to be a finality in moral and religious progress, and hence are not allowed to be transcended in precept or practice. The consequence is, society would be pinned down immovably and perpetually to the same barbarous religion and morals of that age, if it were not pushed forward by the irresistible influences of the arts and sciences. Hence we owe our advancement and