is observed that men, the dreams of a shadow, believe they may suffer immortal punishment, who can refrain pronouncing with Pliny," that man is at once the most vain, and miserable of all animals."

To have faith in a system which preaches torments infinite in excess and duration, is to stand on a precipice with closed eyes, that yon may fling yourself into immeasurable destruction.

The last and consummate effort of the soul, is the religion of philosophy: whose only dogma is, that one God superintends the universe; whose mysteries are the means most conducive to human happiness; whose ceremonials are acts of charity, benevolence, generosity, and public spirit; whose discipline and designs are to refine the sympathies, direct the passions, strengthen and enlarge the mind, and facilitate the communication of wisdom and science."

Our feeble talents shall be exerted to establish these holy principles, so natural, and so consoling to the human mind; and from which nothing but the most villainous imposture could have deluded it.

We shall avail ourselves of the works of those luminaries of thought, whose lives have been devoted to humanity, and whose writings are little known by the public in general; and we solicit the co-operation of all who may be disposed to volunteer in this cause.

Biographical sketches, and critical reviews of modern litterary productions, will form a part of this publication.

Improvements in agriculture; the advancement of American manufactures; useful discoveries; and new invented machinery for lessening labour, will be duly noticed.

Occurrences, important to the future historian; political essays upon general, and liberal principles; and articles of mere amusement, will occasionally find admittance in this work.

Communications on any of the above subjects will be grate, fully received.

The Theophilanthropist will be published monthly, on fine paper, and handsome type, in numbers, consisting of 40 pages, at 2s. each, payable on delivery.

Subscriptions taken by H. Hart, No. 117 Chatham-street.

IT is highly proper, at the threshold of this work, to develope the views and motives of the publishers more particularly than has been done in the Prospectus. This we shall do with that candid frankness, which is at all times the companion of truth, and the handmaid of reason. Although the principles indicated by the title of the work, are as ancient as philosophy, and, in fact, co-existent with man, the term Theophilanthropist has but lately been introduced into our language. It may, therefore, be pertinent accurately to define its meaning, in order to silence ignorant fanaticism, and interested priestcraft; whose clamorous declarations we expect to encounter, for our exposition of the frauds, which have been, and still are practised on the great majority of mankind. Unappalled, however, by these clamours, we shall march straight forward in the path, to which truth and reason point.

Theophilanthropist is of Greek origin, and is compounded of three of the strongest words in that refined and sonorous language, viz. Theos, God; philos, a lover, and anthropos, man. It therefore means a lover of God and man; or one who not only entertains a profound respect for his Creator, but unites therewith, kind and benevolent affections towards his fellow creatures, not merely on account of human sympathies, but from a conviction of the relative situation they stand in, along with himself, to "the great first cause of all."

From this definition it is easy to comprehend the creed of the Theophilanthropist. His dogmas are contained in the name he bears. He believes in one supreme and incomprehensible Deity, and with pious reverence acknowledges his power and perfections. He adores and venerates him as the Creator and con servator of the universe. Hence his devotion partakes not of that debasing servility which characterizes Christian and Mahometan worshippers, but is merely the spontaneous and genial effusion of the soul.

From his relative situation in the scale of being in which he is placed, he readily learns the duties he owes to his fellow men. He at once perceives that the nature of these are simple, and are in unison with the best affections of the human heart, and may be comprehended under the general titles of justice and benevolence. From his very nature, he with equal ease perceives that the duties he owes to himself, consist in the due regulation of his passions. His, therefore, may emphatically be styled the religion of nature. His creed and his duties are imprinted on every leaf of its vast volume. When he contemplates the planets as they roll; the variety, the order, the economy and the harmony of the little globe he inhabits: he is fired with devotion, and penetrated with astonishment at the sublimity, and grandeur of the scene, and his mind is naturally elevated to contemplate the all perfect Deity, by whose wisdom the wonderful system of nature is preserved, and by whose power it was originally created.

In reviewing the beautiful perspective, he painfully perceives that man has not. profited as he ought by the superior reason with which he has been endowed. Tracing him through every state of society, he observes that the greatest portion of the species have been the ready dupes of the crafty, or the willing slaves of superstition; that the image of the incorruptible God has been defaced, the empire of reason overturned, and the horrors of Cimmerian darkness permitted to brood over the human mind. He perceives that though civil tyranny carries along with it the elements of its own destruction, that, which is founded on religion, is strengthened by age, and entailed on its unfortunate victims from generation to generation. From this picture of debased reason he turns with disgust, and truly and sincerely pities the condition of the votaries of superstition. With these impressions we shall not hesitate to expose the cheats practised on degraded man, under the pretended sanction of religion; and shall endeavour to uproot from the social garden, those prejudices, which like noxious weeds are destructive to the soil, and pestiferous to the atmosphere. We are aware of the extent of the task, which we have voluntarily imposed on ourselves; but we shall not shrink from the irksome duty, for if we did, we should be unworthy the name of Theophilanthropists.

It is time that man return to reason, which he has so ungratefully abandoned; that he relinquish his chimerical fears; that he at length place confidence in the justness and goodness of that God, who is not the patron of any particular sect or nation, whether Jew or Gentile, but the Creator and preserver of all nature and of all worlds; " of whose existence no mind can doubt, without being involved in the most inextricable absurdities; but in search of whom, o'erstretched idea bursts, and thought rolls back on darkness." This God, to whom the speculative opinions of mankind must be sovereignly indifferent, punishes naught but crimes, and those in proportion to their magnitude. What a consoling reflection to the moral man! He sees the path of salvation and happiness open before him, which he cannot mistake without doing violence to that best gift of God to man, his reason: to which all Bibles, Korans and Vedams, must eventually make their final appeal.

We shall urgently press upon our readers the importance of this subject; the necessity of discharging those puerile prejudices, which they imbibed with their mother's milk, which their nurses have copiously infused, and which their spiritual guides still continuei through interested motives, to rivet upon them. We by no means wish to wound the feelings of theological teachers, they do exactly the same as other men would do in their situation. The people oblige them to preach the stupid doctrine, which they have inherited from their forefathers. Let the people change, and their teachers will soon follow. Let the people buikl temples of reason, and they will soon find priests to officiate at their altars. This fact has been proved in France, where formerly monkish priestcraft reigned triumphant. The sun of reason arose; it was permitted to shine; its rays spread like lightning throughout the nation; priests and people became illumined, and chanted together the funeral dirge of superstition. But in that country, unfortunately, the monster despotism, which cannot flourish in the meridian sun of reason, is again nursing and invigorating the decrepid hag, superstition. So much light, however, had been shed abroad in France, that its tyrant dare not attempt to stifle it wholly at once. He has therefore only declared that the government is Catholic; intending thereby to render that religion fashionable, knowing that the greatest portion of mankind are governed by fashion.

In fine, America is the only country in which "reason is left free to combat error." If we do not profit by this privilege, the fault

will lie at our own door. Let us then think freely, and express our thoughts like freemen. We shall on our part endeavour to demonstrate the genial influence of true religion upon the morals and social happiness of man; and, at the same time, shall warn our readers against the baneful effects of fostering ignorance and superstition, those deadly enemies to all the joys of life; which, having broken down all the barriers established by Deity, between virtue and vice, right and wrong, and not content with robbing man of the little happiness which this world might afford, insultingly threaten him with an eternity of misery in the world to

come.