Page:Letters of John Huss Written During His Exile and Imprisonment.djvu/32

xxii back Christianity to its primitive character, viz., that of being the religion of the heart, and to restore its real spirit—a spirit of life, of progress, and of liberty. If Religion be not this; if it be the monopoly of a college of priests, or the privilege of a sect, it becomes immediately exclusive, intolerant, and oppressive. The history of antiquity, as well as of modern times, teaches us that men who constitute themselves as infallible interpreters of the Divinity, make their gods after their own likeness. The Creator of the world would soon be no longer in their mouths a compassionate Father, who gives to all his children on earth an equal right of approaching him in adoration and prayer, and who presents his word to all minds, like his Son, to the regards of every creature; but a jealous master, ever ready to punish and strike at the will of his interpreters, at the cry of those who call themselves the representatives of his power. Religion would no longer be that celestial and internal bond which attracts the soul to God by