"Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you Free." From the late London Edition. Complete. D. M. BENNETT: LIBERAL AND SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING HOUSE. AMERICAN PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. THE appearance, a few months ago, of THE ANALYSIS OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF caused not a little excitement in England, and its introduction into our country had much the same effect here. While many were more or less shocked by the Viscount's boldness of language in examining the sources of the religious creeds of the world, and at the freedom with which he removed the sacred mask from many antique myths and superstitions, the thoughtful and the enquiring were furnished with a fund of material for new thought, and largely-increased facilities for investigating and comparing the creeds and dogmas which have made up the ruling religious faiths of mankind. When the Viscount's high birth is remembered; that he was the son of Lord John Russell, one of the first and oldest Peers of England; that he was thus closely connected with the aristocracy of that country; that he had been carefully nurtured within the fold of the Christian Church; that he had received the instruction of a pious Christian mother, from the days of his early childhood, that the influence of his parents and his early companions was to draw him under the control of the popular system of religion which rules in his country, it is not a little remarkable that he had the independence and moral bravery to come out in opposition to all his near friends, and to avow his unbelief in a code of ethics and opinions unlike those taught him in his childhood and youth, an unusual interest attaches to the work which he produced. When it is borne in mind that his amiable and sympathetic wife toiled with him and rendered him essential service in collecting and arranging the matter for his two volumes; that she was taken from him by the hand of death before his work was completed; that he also sank under the hand of disease and passed away while his work was still in the hands of the printer, it is indeed invested with peculiar interest. When it is remembered that after his death urgent efforts were made-and from high sources too-to suppress his work; that the powerful Duke of Bedford, backed by Lord John Russell himself, tried to buy up the entire edition issued; it is enough to make every sympathetic and enquiring person anxious to read the results of his labor of years. If some of the advanced thinkers of the day find that Viscount Amberly-as evinced in some of the later chapters of this volume- had not in all respects evolved in the line of Freethought so far as they have done they should remember that he had at least made rapid progress for the time he had devoted to the pursuit of truth. He was still a young man at the time of his death, and had it been his lot to have scored a greater number of years, with the advantage of the experience which they give, it is very possible his views might have undergone other modifications. The London edition was issued in two volumes, 8vo and was necessarily sold at a large price. This American edition contains the entire work in one volume and is presented to the public at about one-fifth the price at which the English edition was sold. It is hoped this feature will be duly appreciated by the American public. NEW YORK, March 20th, 1877. D. M. B. |