Confucius declared that the foundation of all religion was reverence and obedience.* The Religious sentiment is the intentional reverence of God. The Christian is ever persuaded that there is only one way of doing this, and he arrogantly assumes that he has that way. Whereas the ways are as diverse as human genius. Let those who deny that Secular Truth meets the emotional part of their nature, settle what is the nature of the emotions they desiderate. The miser wants money--the sensualist wants the cook--the scholar wants knowledge--and the mother desires the life, growth, and happiness of her child. But what can man want in a rational sense which Nature and humanity may not supply? Do we not meet the demand of the many when we show that Secularism is sufficient for progress; that it is moral, and therefore sufficient for trust; that it builds only upon the known, and is therefore reliable? It is the highest and most unpresumptuous form of unconscious worship. It is practical reverence without the arrogance of theoretical homage. We at least feel confident of this, that the future, if it come, will not be miserable. There _may_ be a future--this remains to awaken interest and perennial curiosity. If Nature be conscious, it will still design the happiness of man, which it now permits--this assurance remains, stilling fear and teaching trust. * Sir John Bowring. XIX. In surveying the position of Christianism in Great Britain there is found to exist a large outlying class, daily increasing, who for conscientious reasons reject its cardinal tenets. Hence arises the question:--Are good citizenship and virtuous life on Secular principles, possible to these persons? Secularism answers, Yes. To these, excluded by the letter of scripture, by the narrowness of churches, by the intrinsic error and moral repulsiveness of doctrine, Secularism addresses itself; to these it is the word of Recognition, of Concert and Morality. It points them to an educated conscience as a security of morals, to the study of Nature as a source of help, and seeks to win the indifferent by appeals to the inherent goodness of human Nature and the authority of reason, which Christianism cannot use and dare not trust. If, however, the Secularist elects to walk by the light of Nature, will he be able to see? Is the light of Nature a fitful lamp, or a brief torch, which accident may upset, or a gust extinguish? On the contrary, the light of Nature may burn steady, clear, and full, over the entire field of human life. On this point we have the testimony of an adversary, who was understood to address us, a testimony as remarkable for its quality as for its felicity of expression:--"There is the ethical mind, calm, level, and clear; chiefly intent on the good ordering of this life; judging all things by their tendency to this end, and impatient of every oscillation of our nature that swings beyond it. There is nothing low or unworthy in the attachment which keeps this