Abstract:
Are we venturing beyond prescribed limits, upon forbidden ground ? Do our readers stand aghast that we head this article with the name, feared where not respected, of that mighty brotherhood beneath whose influence thrones have
fallen and proudest monarchs have trembled* on whose dominion, in the days of their power, truly the sun never set, whose learning, and energy, and piety, from their earliest institution, have scarce been equaled, and yet at the mention of whose name many of the most pious of Christians have shrunk, and yet shrink, as they would from contact with the vilest and and most detested reptile. Let us venture to investigate this apparent contradiction,—not in the harsh spirit of fanatical hatred, not with that contemptuous scorn which ever redounds on the scorner, but with the calm moderation of those who seek in honesty a faithful knowledge of their fellow-men, their fellow-workers in the great work of civilization.
