iance is upon their ritual worship, and who enter upon a monastic
life, so there are Mahomedans and pagans whose high religious aim is
self-perfection, sought through the free but disciplined exercise of
their whole nature.

The dependence of morals upon the character of the religion is clear. It
is clear that among a people whose gods are supposed to be licentious,
whose priests are licentious, and where worship is associated with the
indulgence of the passions, political and domestic morals must be very
low. What purity can be expected of a people whose women are demanded
in turn for the obscene service of the Buddhist temple; and what
humanity from the inhabitants of districts whose dwellings are
necessarily closed against the multitudes flocking to the festivals of
Juggernaut,--multitudes from amidst which thousands annually drop down
dead, so that their skeletons strew the road to the abominable
temple?--Where asceticism is the character of the religion, the natural
and irrepressible exercise of human affections becomes licentiousness,
so called; and, of consequence, it soon becomes licentiousness in fact,
according to the general rule that a bad name changes that to which it
is affixed into a bad quality.--Hannah and Philip grew up in a Moravian
settlement; and, Moravians as they were, they loved. The days came when
the destiny of each was decided by lot. It was scarcely possible that
they should draw a lot to marry each other; yet both secretly hoped to
the last. Philip drew a missionary lot, and Hannah another husband. They
were allowed to shake hands once before parting. "Good-bye, Hannah!"
"Good-bye, Philip!" was all that was said. If Hannah had gone off with
Philip, it would have been called a profligate act; and, if they were
sound Moravians, it would in fact have been so: whereas, in a community
of really high morals, the profligacy would have been seen to lie in
Hannah's marrying a man she did not love.

To proceed with the dependence of the morals on the character of the
religion,--it is clear that in proportion as any religion encourages
licentiousness, either positively or negatively,--encourages, that is to
say, the excess of the passions, might will have the victory over
right; the weak will succumb to the strong; and thus the condition of
the poorer classes depends on the character of the religion of their
country. In proportion as the religion tends to licentiousness, will the
poorer classes be lia