The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1852-08-14
For The Cecil Wing.
THE CAUSE AND CURE
Of Prevalent Religious ERRORS.

and of faith. is an observation as trite as
ii is true. There is decided progress
in the physical sciences, in the develop
ment of human resources and in the ia
cIities of commercial and social inter-
course. The extension of Rail Roads
and Telegraphs, the multiplication of
free presses, the development OF systems
for educating and amelioratlng the mass
es, are a few among the many evidences
of this fact.
This spirit of progress belongs to mans
religious nature, and is found predomi-
nant.onlv when man is under the lntlu-
encs of the great principles of christi
anty. The aborIgines of this country,
in the absence Of the christian religion,
made no advances towards civilization.
On the contrary, the exploration Of In
dian mounds, and the discovery of relics,
which throw some light upon their early
history, convince us that even at the
time of the discovery of America by the
Spaniards, they had sadly degenerated.
This is true of man everywhere. The
ruins ard relics Of the old world, the
faded gIories Of Saracenic power, of the
African cities, in short, the annals of all
times attest it.
There are, however, some fields Of
thought in which we have made and can
make no progress, and in which it were
folly TO at,eMpt it. Little or nothing
has been contributed by modern times
to Mental Philosophy. The old ele-
mcnts have been wrought into new
forms and systems, but nothing new has
been DEVELOPED. In Law, the Advocate
still pleads the presidents of olden time.
Grcrce-''lving Greece no more" is to
this day the school where our Architects
and Sculptors are taught. The Critic
and the Poet strll appeal to Homer and
Horace, and the Fainter yet klndles into
liyrlirt ecSiasieS over the tresCoes and
cartoons of antiquity. Here we confess
eddy have no Improvement upon our
fathers.
And there is another subjec: which
we would place in this catalogue-the
Christian religion. Here, so taliaS pro-
gresS IMPLIES improvement, It's preclud-
ed by the pcrltc tion of the subject. All
attempts to improve christianity have
led into dangerous errors. 1t is both in
doctrine and morals the exhibition Of the
character and will of God, and the rela-
tons man sustains TO him, and these can
never change. We may improve in our
knowledge of what christianity is, but
We caA never improve it. The engratt
ing Of Grecian philosophy failed to do
this, and all attempts to improve it by
ENGRAVING modern philosophy upon il
will likewise fail. And, indeed, to i'm
prove in our religious knowledge, we
must come down to the source OF such
knowledge fountain of chGistiani-
tv, the Bible. If We would better un-
ders,and the nature and obligations OF
this religion, it must be from the only
revelation oft made to man. The study
of no science, no system of philosophy
will bring US nearer to God, or open to
our minds a better view Of the interests
which hang upon the issue OF our obedl-
ance to His will.
There are branches of knowledge
with respect TO which the law Of the
human mind is progress; there is a con-
slant addition to the stock of truth, each
day furnishes new facts, and thus brings
the theory nearer and nearer to perfec-
tom But, with the christian religion
it is not so; it is not even so with natu-
raj religion, for in their knowledge of
this, as distinct from revealed religion,
e ,,,,,arp hnro him. 10
boast over the ancients. Thaes and
Simomdes had before them the same
sources of natural religion that they
have. Birds, and bees, and stones, and
stars, and everything reflected back the
power and wisdom OF God then as now.
Xenophon's story of Socrates sllencing
Aristodemus, the atheist, by reasoning
from from the p, ctures of PolycletuS and
the statues of ZeuXis, presents us with
the same course of argument that Pale Y
pursues with the watch. And with all
our boosted discoveries in the physical
sciences, so far as concerns the mysteries
of death and the secrets of futurity, we
really know, aside from the Bible, moth
ing more than the humblest Athenian
!. who stood in the porch Of the .4kademia
land listened to the sublime discourses
; of Plato. "Natural theology then, is not
a progressive science. Neither is re-
vealed religion. All Divine truth is
recorded in certain books. 1t is equally
open to all, who in any age can read
those books; nor can all the discoveries
of all the philosophers in the world add
single verse to those books. 1t is plain,
therefore, that in Divinity there can be no
progress analogous to that which is con-
stantly taking place in pharmacy, geol-
ogy and navigation. A christian of the
fifth with Bible is on a par with a
christian of the nineteenth century with