A
VINDICATION
OF PAINE'S "AGE OF REASON."
Price
2
s.
6
d.
A VINDICATION OF THE AGE OF REASON, BY THOMAS PAINE: BEING
An Answer to the Strictures
OF MR. GILBERT WAKEFIELD AND DR. PRIESTLEY, ON THIS CELEBRATED PERFORMANCE.
BY THOMAS DUTTON.
AMICUS SOCRATES; AMICUS PLATO; SED MAGIS AMICA VERITAS.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR GRIFFITHS AND CO. NO. 169, STRAND.
1795.
A VINDICATION OF THE AGE OF REASON, &c.
MANY and virulent are the Replies which have appeared to Mr. Paine's
Age of Reason.
It was not, indeed, to be expected that a work of this description, which struck immediately at the very root of priest-craft, should remain long unanswered. No sooner was the challenge given, than a "whole host of witnesses" started up in defence of that system, from whence (as Demetrius in a similar case observed to his colleagues at Ephesus) they derive their wealth. Men who had long been in the habit of fattening in luxurious ease upon the spoils and contributions of credulity, bigotry, and superstition, were justly apprehensive, lest the investigation of truth should at length open the eyes of the community at large, and discover in all its nakedness the fallacy of that system, by virtue of which they domineered over the souls and consciences of mankind, and which "brought no small gain unto the craftsmen."
Hence the Age of Reason no sooner made its appearance, than the
toosin
of alarm was sounded throughout the whole Hierarchy. Religion was now declared to be threatened with as great, and even greater dangers than those which were supposed at a former period to menace the state, in consequence of the publication of the
Rights of Man.
Every disgraceful epithet of abuse was conferred with liberal hand upon the author: the titles of Deist, Atheist, Infidel, the Apostle of Beelzebub, the Agent of Lucifer, with an infinite variety of the like opprobrious terms, now succeeded to the appellations of Jacobin, Leveller, Anarchist, Revolutionist, Rebel, &c. which had formerly been given to Mr. Paine on the score of his politics. Not only the clergy of the established church, but the leading men of every religious sect, had equal interest at stake, and were equally concerned in providing an antidote against the baneful influence of this deleterious poison: for the moment the way to God was laid open to every man alike; the moment neither
masters of the ceremonies,
nor
court etiquette
—neither priests, nor religious forms—were necessary to introduce man to his Maker; that moment, they readily foresaw, must inevitably put an end to their lucrative traffic, and totally annihilate the vast revenues they received for acting as ambassadors of Christ, and instilling into the minds of the people spiritual knowledge and heavenly comfort. Replies, Answers, and Refutations of the Age of Reason, and its
diabolical
doctrines, were therefore published in abundance; many of which, however, by their futility, and total want of argument, have produced the very reverse of that effect, which their respective writers hoped to bring about; inasmuch as their incapacity to refute the doctrines they attacked, served at once to show their own imbecility, and the impregnable strength of the fortress against which their puny efforts were directed.
It cannot be expected, nor indeed will the limits I have prescribed to the present work permit it, that I should enter into a minute, elaborate, examination of every petty Reply to which the Age of Reason has given birth. Their name may truly be denominated
Legion,
"for they are many;" and a serious refutation of some of them is, perhaps, a moral impossibility. The wild, incomprehensible ravings of a Huntington, and other mystical writers, are beneath the dignity of Criticism; and to cope with such men with the weapons of sound argument and plain reason, would be, to adopt the language of their favourite Apostle, "fighting like one that beateth the air."
For these reasons I shall confine my strictures chiefly to what I conceive the two most respectable publications that have appeared in our language on this interesting subject. These are—1. AN EXAMINATION OF THE AGE OF REASON, by Gilbert Wakefield; and, 2. AN ANSWER TO MR. PAINE'S AGE OF REASON, by the celebrated Dr. Priestley.
Both these gentlemen appear to agree nearly in their religious as well as in their political sentiments; and yet the manner in which they conduct their attack upon the Age of Reason furnishes a striking contrast. Mr. Wakefield but too often indulges himself in a spirit of acrimony, which, if not downright illiberality, borders, I am sorry to say, immediately upon it. He acknowledges, in the very outset of his career, that
the Work which he has undertaken to examine (see page 2) is entitled to particular respect, not only from the genius of the Author, but also from the singular circumstances of its composition:
but he soon loses sight of this respect, and descends to invective and abuse
See pages 45, 51, 60, 61, 66. But I shall have occasion to remark more largely upon this topic in the course of the work.
, which are quite unworthy of the high literary reputation Mr. Wakefield deservedly enjoys. The field of literary dispute, we apprehend, lies open to every man; but let him wield none but lawful weapons, even truth and sound argument, and not turn the sacred
Academic Grove
into the sanguine
Field of Mars!
Another objection I have to the general character of Mr. Wakefield's Work, is the strong vein of
egotism
which pervades many parts of it. Mr. Wakefield, contemplating himself as
a delicate bird, delighting in strawberries and the choicest fruits,
(see page 66) may bridle his neck, and survey with fond self-complacency his gay plumage—may hold in sovereign contempt Thomas Paine, and every other author, who, by differing from him in opinion, manifests himself to be
a crow, who prefers carrion and putrescence, and finds a feast in a rotten carcase;
but surely he might have modestly left his readers an opportunity of drawing this flattering comparison in his favour.
"Ad populum phaleras"
—to imitate Mr. Wakefield's constant practice of introducing quotations from Latin and Greek authors on the most trifling occasions
In justification of this remark, the reader is referred to the following pages of Mr. Wakefield's work, where he will find quotations heaped upon quotations, with all the pomposity and affectation of a school-boy. See pages 2, 10, 13, 21, 22, 34, 42, 50, 51, 54, 59, 64, 66. In many of these passages Greek and Latin authorities are brought forward in support of the most palpable, the most plain, trite, and (if I may be allowed the expression) the most every-day observations imaginable. I am far from objecting to classical quotations, introduced with judgment and with a sparing hand; but, when dealt out with extravagant profusion, when they stare you in the face at every turn, where neither the subject nor the pointedness of the allusion, justify their insertion, they certainly betray a pedantic disposition, unworthy any gentleman of established character in the republic of letters. And this remark I make the rather, as the general outcry raised against Mr. Paine, on the score of his being unversed in what are generally styled the learned languages, seems to have led several of his opponents into this error; and I am convinced, that many an author has thereby acquired credit with uninformed minds, for a greater portion of learning than he was justly entitled to.
; a practice which, though it may serve to impress the common class of readers with a stupendous idea of the Author's learning, has, in the eyes of men of sense, an air of pedantry, that more than any thing else has contributed to bring the name of scholar into disrepute.
Quite the reverse is Dr. Priestley's mode of proceeding in this literary warfare. He conducts himself with becoming dignity; argues in a fair, candid, and manly manner; never descends to personalities, but confines himself strictly to the subject of dispute, which he treats with great ingenuity, and at the same time with a plainness, which forms, as I before observed, a striking contrast to the ostentatious display of learning exhibited by Mr. Wakefield.
One observation more I must beg leave to premise before I enter upon my intended
Vindication of the Age of Reason
in the aggregate; to wit, that I do not set out (and I hope I shall not fall into this error in the course of my disquisitions) with a predetermination to defend my author at all events, whether right or wrong; or to vindicate indiscriminately every position laid down by Mr. Paine, because I have once been induced to take up the cudgels in his defence; or as though I deemed every assertion advanced by Mr. Paine infallible. On the contrary, I propose to treat the subject with due candour; and, much as I admire the general purport of the work under consideration, shall readily subscribe to the justice and validity of any censure bestowed upon particular passages, (and such passages I am well aware there are,) where hardy assertion and specious sophistry supply the place of sound argument and knowledge. It is not the personal cause of Mr. Paine, but the cause of what I conceive to be the Truth, that I wish to espouse: from the free discussion and investigation of which no consideration upon earth ought to deter a rational being. To investigate, and boldly avow, the Truth, as far as the measure of reason wherewith we are endowed by the all-wise Author of Nature enables us to ascertain it, is a duty which man owes both to himself, and to society at large; and whoever shrinks back from the task, whoever neglects to discharge this part of his moral obligations, is either a
traitor
or a
coward.
I proceed now to an examination of the work I have undertaken to defend.
After briefly stating the reason which induced him to anticipate the time he had originally proposed to himself for the publication of his religious sentiments, Mr. Paine proceeds to a summary recapitulation, or confession of his creed. This may be said to consist of two parts—the one positive; the other negative. To the former part the staunchest advocate of Christianity, I apprehend, cannot have the smallest objection to make: it accords with th
enets of every religious denomination in the
sent Christian world that has come within my knowledge: it professes a belief in one God; a hope of happiness beyond this life; inculcates the natural equality of man, which, in the sense
re implied, the proudest upstart of aristocra
will not, I flatter myself, take upon him to deny; and concludes with a definition of religious duties, which may be considered as a concise, but energetic comment upon the golden rule,
Do unto others as ye would that others should do unto you.
With the second or negative part, the case is widely different. Here Mr. Paine attacks, with one bold decisive blow, the whole order of Priesthood, of every religious system, from the times of Moses to the present day; and not only the Priesthood, but the followers and disciples of every religion and sect, that does, or ever did exist in the whole world. His words are these:
I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any other church that I know of—My own mind is my own church.
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
This may be considered as a general challenge to the zealous sticklers of every church establishment. From such, therefore, we must not look for a ready assent to this part of our Author's creed. The doctrines of faith, whatever the religion may be in which we are educated, whether the Jewish, Christian, Turkish, or Pagan systems, forming, generally speaking, the first lesson instilled into the infant mind, at a time when the reasoning faculties may be almost said to lie dormant, naturally make a deep impression; and, being familiarised to us by constant repetition, we adopt them without examination; we receive them upon trust; subscribe to them as a matter of course; and if, afterwards, as we advance in years, and our reason attains to its proper growth, we are led to weigh, to prove, and examine, the religion we profess, which, by the bye, is not done, upon a very moderate calculation, by one in ten thousand, we have unfortunately, exclusive of the task, the arduous task, of separating Truth from Error, a powerful host of prejudices and assumptions to combat with. For my own part, I am free to confess, that this blind acquiescence in the opinions of others, this easy indifference with which mankind in general sit down contented with the religion of their ancestors, whether Jews, Christians, Turks, or Pagans, furnishes, in my mind, no mean argument against the truth of any of them; or, in other words, against their divine origin. A religion, professing to be derived immediately from the Almighty, and written by divine inspiration, ought to flash conviction in the face of every one who hears or reads it. But this we do not find to be the case with any known religion in the world. Add to this, that I do not see, that peace, morals, social order, and the rights of humanity, are better respected and maintained under governments professing the Christian faith, than where the blindest Idolatry prevails. Nay, I am bold to assert, that the remote and Pagan empire of Japan, might, in this respect, furnish a pattern for the most enlightened and religious state (if a
religious
state there be) in Christendom
See some excellent remarks upon this subject, in the fourth Volume of the Chevalier Thunberg's Travels, published this year by Messrs. Rivingtons, of St. Paul's Churchyard.
. But this is a topic which I propose to discuss more fully when I come to treat of the intimate connexion between religion and morals; on which occasion I shall not omit to say a few words on the stale, but just maxim, as Mr. Wakefield very properly terms it, and which he accuses Mr. Paine of having most egregiously violated—
ab abusu ad usum non valet consequentia.
Meanwhile, I cannot but remark upon the ready acquiescence with which Mr. Wakefield subscribes to every part of our Author's creed, that makes in favour, and I might emphatically add,
as far
too as it makes in favour, of his own political creed.
"All national institutions of churches," writes Mr. Paine,—
whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
How eagerly does Mr. Wakefield, who probably, in consequence of his unfortunate schism from the doctrines of the established Church of England, sees no prospect of obtaining the
mitre,
subscribe his
Yea
and
Amen,
to this just remark
concisely and pregnantly expressed!
He immediately becomes more violent in his reprobation than our Author himself; and launches out into a general invective against
national churches,
without the smallest discrimination or exception.
National Churches
(see page 10) are that
hay
and
stubble,
which might be removed without any difficulty or even danger of confusion (this
ipse dixit
assertion of Mr. Wakefield, by the bye, will, I fear, by the venerable bench of bishops be pronounced equally
hardy
with any with which he taxes Mr. Paine
See page 37 of Mr. Wakefield's Work.
)
from the fabric of religion by the gentle hand of Reformation, but which the infatuation of
ecclesiastics
will leave to be destroyed
by fire. National Churches
are that impure incrustation, which has envelloped, by gradual concretion, the diamond of
Christianity;
nor can, I fear, for the reason just now stated, the genuine lustre be recovered, but by such violent effort of restitution, as the separation of substances, so long and closely connected, must inevitably require.
The happy simile of
hay
and
stubble
in this beautiful conglomeration of metaphors we find is taken from the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, where the apostle speaks of a building to be raised; and from his boast of having himself wrought, as a wise
master-builder,
upon the foundation, it should seem that the erection of this building was a work of use and necessity. Now, if the words of the apostle have any reference at all to
national establishments,
we apprehend, that the
hay
and
stubble
must apply to corrupt establishments that will not stand the test; such, for instance, as the Church of Rome, in the eyes of the Protestant clergy, and which therefore are threatened with destruction by
fire;
whilst the
gold,
the
silver,
and the
precious stones,
(as for the
wood,
I do not insist upon that, but will give it to Mr. Wakefield, to share the fate of his
hay
and
stubble
) by a parallel chain of reasoning may be supposed to designate and point out a pure, uncorrupted establishment, cleared from the errors and superstitions of the Church of Rome, such as our divines pronounce the present national Church of England to be. And as by the
fire,
which, the apostle tells us, is doomed to try every man's work, the awful phaenomena and awards of the day of judgment are generally understood to be meant, in which day the
elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, (of course the
hay
and the
stubble
) shall be burnt up
2 Pet. iii. v. 10.
,
we are very sorry to think that Mr. Wakefield has no nearer prospect of getting rid of this self-same worthless
hay
and
stubble,
and substituting his
gold
and
silver
and
precious stones
in their stead, than at the very moment when the end of all things shall take place.
Were I as ready to lay hold of every opportunity of finding fault with Mr. Wakefield's expressions, as this gentleman appears to be in the case of Mr. Paine, I might possibly discover a
flaw
in his
Diamond of Christianity,
which, to quote his own words,
the impure incrustation of
National Churches
has, by gradual concretion, enveloped to that degree, that the genuine lustre cannot (he fears) be recovered, but by such violent effort of restitution, as the separation of substances, so long and closely connected, must inevitably require.
Now, if we compare the religion founded by Christ to a Diamond (and I take it for granted that every sincere believer and professor of it must regard it in this light as a jewel of the first water, as
the pearl of great price, more precious than the golden wedge of Ophir
) it seems no more than fair to conclude, that this Diamond was not put into our hands by the Almighty in its rough incrusted state, for man to cut and hack at pleasure (such an idea would indeed fall little short of blasphemy), but rather in a state of the utmost purity, polished to the highest degree of perfection, and, like the God from whom it professes to originate, without spot or blemish. A diamond in this state, once separated from its incrustation, and properly polished, might, we apprehend, venture to defy all the impurities in nature, and could, perhaps, never be incrusted over again, either by sudden or gradual concretion; inasmuch as the hardness of its substance, added to the finished polish of its superficies, would resist the impression of every foreign body that had a tendency to sully and debase it. And therefore, as Mr. Wakefield's
Diamond of Christianity
has, according to his own confession, lost its purity and polish by the impure incrustation of
National Churches,
we cannot class it among the genuine productions of Golconda's mine, but rather conceive it to be a kind of
factitious
or
mock diamond;
a kind of composition-work, like the
faux brillants,
or
Temple Diamonds,
which crafty and interested jewellers so well know how to palm upon their credulous customers for the genuine produce of Golconda or Peru.
Again, let me put the question to Mr. Wakefield, how he can, consistently with this general and furious invective against
all national establishments,
speak so highly of the
Jewish Dispensation
See page 16, where Mr. Wakefield says:
Though we concede to Mr. Paine, that
the way to God was open to every man alike,
we affirm of the
Jewish
and
Christian
dispensations, that
they
only were
this way
to any man desirous of entertaining rational notions of God and human duty.
, which, we apprehend, was to all intents and purposes a
national church
in the strictest sense of the word;—a church dressed out with far more "
trumpery
Let any unprejudiced reader peruse the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; let him peruse the description of the Jewish Festivals—the feast of trumpets; the feast of tabernacles; the feast of the new moon; the feast of passover; the feast of the Sabbatical year; the feast of jubilee; the feast of atonement, &c. &c. &c. with all their concomitant pomp and pageantry: let him read the description of the ark of covenant; the altar of incense; the table of shew-bread; the golden candlestick; the dresses of the priests; the ceremonies and formalities to be observed in the various offerings, rites, &c. ordained by the Levitical law; together with the severe penalties annexed to neglect or disobedience:—and if, after a candid perusal of all this, he does not find as much
trumpery
in the Jewish worship, as in that of the established church of England, or of Rome, or of the Greek church, or of any other church I know of, I will acknowledge myself guilty of the most unpardonable error and injustice, in the character I have just given of the Jewish dispensation.—
," to make use of Mr. Wakefield's own expression in allusion to the church of England; and a hundred times more oppressive and despotic, than any national Church we know of in the Christian world? If Mr. Wakefield thinks it a sore and grievous hardship, that a difference in certain points of doctrine, termed
Articles of Faith,
from the tenets of the established church of England, should debar a man from the
privileges
of preaching in the pale of that particular church; must it not appear much more arbitrary and unjust, that a man, assenting in every respect to the religious tenets of the Church, should be incapacitated from exercising the sacred functions of the priesthood, on no other score than some personal deformity, or casual defect, under which he unhappily labours: such, for instance, as a
Leviticus xxi. 18—22.
flat nose; an unfortunate lameness in the hands or feet
Admitting that the
Gout,
under the Mosaic dispensation, would have furnished sufficient ground for disqualifying a man from the discharge of the priestly function; and supposing these inhibitions to be in force under the present system of things; it is lamentable to think what an irreparable loss the poor sheep of Christ's flock must inevitably sustain, through the disqualification of such numbers of their most valuable and eminent pastors, whose faithful care and tending the wretched sheep would of course be deprived of, by the persevering spite of a disorder which seems to take a kind of cruel pleasure in attacking the votaries of luxury and sloth; insomuch, that it is now generally considered as the certain appendage of indolence and high living; and to which, therefore, the higher orders of the clergy, that is to say, the chief shepherds and pastors of the flock, the bishops, deans, &c. are, in consequence of their large revenues, the most exposed!
; a crooked or hump back; a diminutive stature; a squint, or cast in the eye; an impure habit of the blood; or a scrophulous eruption; or, lastly, a certain misfortune to which the priests of the present day are, perhaps, ten times more exposed, in consequence of the prevalence of a certain fashionable disorder, than they seem to have been in the times of Moses? Must not, I say, misfortunes and calamities like these furnish, in the eye of every sensible and dispassionate enquirer, a far weaker argument for excluding a man from the sacred function, than an avowed schism from the religious tenets of the church, whose minister he desires to be? Unless, indeed, as probably may be the case, Mr. Wakefield has an eye to the
loaves and fishes,
and provided he is indulged the privilege of
eating
of the
shew-bread
Levit. xxi. 22.
, and
partaking
of the
Holy
and
Most Holy,
will readily consent to turn the sacred office into a
sinecure!
But lest the above remarks, which have only in view to point out the inconsistency of Mr. Wakefield's arguments, and the readiness with which he attempts to throw the blame of all the corruptions, which, according to his own confession, have crept into religion, upon the shoulders of the established church, instead of tracing them back to their true source, the very principles of Christianity itself, as we shall in the sequel endeavour to show; lest, I say, the above remarks should lead to misconception, and render me suspected of being the secret or avowed advocate of any one particular church-establishment whatever; I take this opportunity of testifying my full and hearty execration of them all, in the concluding words of Mr. Paine's creed:
All national institutions of churches appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
In proof of which assertion, if a self-evident axiom like this, plain as the sun in its meridian splendour, can require any proof, I need only refer my reader to the uniform practice of priests through all ages and in all countries; from the sons of Eli, who could not keep their
three-pronged flesh-books out of the seething-pot, while the meat was boiling,
to the good shepherds of the present day, who, if the unfortunate sheep are already so closely shorn, that they cannot yield wool sufficient to discharge the fees of office, make no scruple (for their
mouth is always open, and their heart enlarged
2 Cor. vi. 11.
) of excommunicating them at once from the pale of the church, and the benefits of salvation! I need only refer them to the page of history for the vast estates taken from the church under our pious Defender of the Faith, Henry VIII. of England; to the more recent events of the French Revolution, and the immense treasures which the church has been made to refund in a neighbouring nation; I need only refer them, lastly, to the eagerness with which people of all descriptions strive to get into sacred orders, an eagerness which in some countries, and especially in Spain, is carried to such an incredible excess, that the number of pastors and shepherds seems to be in a fair way of rising to par with the sheep of the flock over whom they are, by divine grace, and the express calling of God, appointed to preside.
Leaving, however, the clergy for the present at least, in the full exercise and enjoyment of their
sacerdotal privileges,
that we may not "muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn:"
1 Cor. ix. 9. and sqq.
(and certainly, as long as we contemplate ourselves as
Christ's Vineyard,
it is no more than just, that these
Husbandmen
should " have power to eat and to drink," for "
pruning
and
lopping
us: or, viewing ourselves in the light of
God's husbandry
(1. Cor. iii. 9.) we must allow the
labourer
that
ploweth
and
thresheth us
in hope (1. Cor. ix. 10) to be worthy of his hire)
—leaving, I say, the "Clergy, and those that
wait
at the altar, to be
partakers
of the altar; to
reap
of our
carnal
things, in return for the
spiritual
things which they have
sown
unto us; and to
fatten
on the things of the temple,
I recur to the text of my author.
Every national Church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their Apostles, and Saints; and the Turks their Mahomet; as if the way to God was not open to every man alike.
It is at this passage, that Mr. Wakefield may be said to commence his attack upon our author. Hitherto we have beheld him subscribing with the readiest acquiescence to every position advanced by Mr. Paine: but he now takes up the cudgels with a vengeance, and boldly declares Mr. Paine's statement to be
not only vague and frivolous, but nonsensical and erroneous in the extreme.
In support of this assertion, Mr. Wakefield presents us with a species of argument, which I have not the smallest hesitation to pronounce infinitely more
vague, and frivolous, and erroneous,
than one half of the statements in Mr. Paine's book, which his antagonist, without any show of reason, declares to be
not only the
essence
but the very
quintessence
of all weakness and absurdity.
The system of Jesus Christ, (Mr. Wakefield writes, page 14) proceeds upon the very supposition, here instituted as in direct contradiction to it, that the way to God
is
open to every man alike; which
might
be proved, as every body knows, by many passages of most explicit purport in the
Christian
scriptures.
Nothing can well be more vague and inconclusive than this mode of reasoning. Mr. Paine says, and says truly, (for all historical evidence is decidedly on his side) that every national religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals; and this palpable assertion Mr. Paine supports by instancing the examples of the founders of the Jewish, Christian and Turkish religions, who certainly
did,
for we have their own words for it, (if any faith may be placed in the written biographies of these heavenly messengers) lay claim to
divine delegation.
Surely Mr. Wakefield cannot mean to call facts of such historical notoriety in question, when he pronounces our author's statement to be "frivolous, nosensical, and erroneous?" Hi
censure, therefore, if it have any weight at all, must apply to the inference our author draws from this statement, that the very act of granting a divine mission to any favoured individual, or admitting such a mission to be granted, is in itself a plain, though tacit acknowledgment, that the way to God is
not
open to every man alike," but that we stand in need of
mediators, plenipotentiaries, advocates,
and
ambassadors,
to transact our business, and arrange preliminaries for us; and that God is really a consuming fire, (Deut. iv. 24. Heb. xii. 29.) dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto, (1 Tim. vi. 16,) but only through the
medium
"And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak
thou
with us, and we will hear; but let not
God
speak with us, lest
we die.
" Exod. xx. 18, 19. So likewise in Deut. v. 25. et sqq. The Israelites are represented addressing themselves to Moses to act as their
agent
and
plenipotentiary
with God: "Now, therefore, why should we
die?
for this
great fire
will
consume
us. If
we
hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then shall we
die.
Go
thou
near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say; and speak
thou
unto us
all
that the Lord our God shall speak unto
thee,
and
we
will
hear
it and
do
it."
of these privileged agents or proxies, who are empowered to treat and act for us on all occasions by
procuration.
To the divine mission of
Moses
and
Jesus Christ
Mr. Wakefield himself bears testimony in the most unequivocal terms:
Our inference from these indubitable positions (see page 17) is clearly
some
degree of supernatural communication, which we style
Revelation,
to the founders of
Judaism
and
Christianity, Moses
and
Jesus.
Moses, we are assured (and it is allowed by the Jews themselves) was but a man, as we are, however highly favoured and distinguished by the Almighty, according to scriptural account. So was
Jesus Christ
likewise, according to Mr. Wakefield's creed
That
Creed
of
Christian churches
(writes Mr. Wakefield, page 5,) which acknowledges
Jesus Christ
to be
God,
(one, by his own confession, like ourselves, and subject to all the constitutional weaknesses of mortality, to pain and death) that creed, I say, is a fundamental violation of all theology, a most gross and hideous doctrine, alike unknown to the
Heathens
(here Mr. Wakefield is guilty of a most gross and palpable error, as any one in the least degree conversant with the Heathen mythology will immediately perceive)
and the
Jews,
and contemplated with abhorrence by the followers of
Moses
from its first propagation to this very day; a doctrine inconsistent with the plainest repeated declarations of Christ himself and his apostles; a doctrine which no
human
testimony whatever could render credible for a moment, because a contradiction to
divine;
a doctrine which must ever shock and disgust unprejudiced and disinterested examination; and which therefore will happily prove a mill-stone on the neck of all
political
establishments of
Christianity,
and whelm them in perdition.
And this denial of the divinity of Christ Mr. Wakefield further enforces by one of the most
pointed
and
elegant
quotations we ever remember to have seen brought forward; the insertion of which bears unquestionable evidence to the
delicacy
of Mr. Wakefield's taste; though our "delicate bird" seems in the present instance, it must be owned, to have lost sight of his "strawberries and choicest fruits," and to be roving near the sink of
rottenness and putrescence!
; and yet he boldly charges Mr. Paine with error and absurdity, and asserts that the
Christian system
presupposes that
the way to God
is
open to every man alike;
whereas the very reverse may easily be proved
by many passages of most explicit purport in the Christian scriptures,
and by the express declarations of Christ himself. If the way to God
be
actually, and of a truth, open to every man alike, (which it no doubt is, though priests would fain persuade us to the contrary) why does Christ (who himself, according to Mr. Wakefield's doctrine was but a mere
man
) arrogate to himself the exclusive right and power of granting
passports
to mankind to
walk
in this way?
No man cometh unto the Father but by
me.
(John xiv. 6.) Why does he, in the same chapter and verse, declare
himself
to be
this way?
Why does he roundly assert, that man can have
no
knowledge of the
Deity,
but through
his
revelation?
No man knoweth the
Father
save the
Son,
and he to whomsoever the
Son
will
reveal
him.
(Matt. xi. 27.) Wherefore are we directed by his apostles, to look up to Christ as the
mediator
of the
new covenant,
(Heb. xii. 24.) through whose blood a
new
and
living way
has been opened unto us into the holiest of all? (Heb. x. 19, 20.)
Through whom we have
access
unto the Father.
(Eph. ii. 18, and iii. 12. Rom. v. 2.) who is our
"advocate"
with God, (1 John, ii. 1.) and
who ever liveth to make
intercession
for us?
(Heb. vii. 25.) To what purpose can all these admonitions, all these exhortations tend, if the system of Jesus Christ proceeds (as Mr. Wakefield assures us it positively does proceed) upon the supposition that
the way to God
is
open to every man alike?
Why are we then directed to look up to Christ, or to any other man, as our only hope of eternal life and happiness, with the denouncement of a terrible curse, an everlasting
Anathema Maranatha
against us if we do not believe in this author and finisher of our faith, as Christ is emphatically styled? (Heb. xii. 2.) Can this, let me put the question to every candid and impartial enquirer, can this be reconciled with Mr. Wakefield's hardy assertion, that the way to God, by the Christian system,
is
thrown open to every man alike? Certainly it cannot; and therefore the charge of error, inconsistency, and absurdity recoils, in the present instance, from Mr. Paine upon his antagonist.
Mr. Wakefield next attacks our author's definition of the word
Revelation,
in its
scriptural
or
religious sense;
but his attack is so impotent, and, at the same time, so ill-conducted, that I cannot possibly characterize it more aptly, than by asking, in Mr. Wakefield's own words,
Can any thing in reality be more feeble and inefficient, than this objection?
It would amply justify the insertion of the Latin quotation, which Mr. Wakefield has so successfully introduced on this occasion, were I ambitious of enriching my page with classical allusions. Mr. Paine observes:
As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I proceed further into the subject, offer some observations on the word
Revelation.
Revelation, when applied to religion,
(and it is in
this
sense solely that Mr. Paine considers it; and therefore Mr. Wakefield's attempt at sarcasm, in his case of the
Village Dame
and her
horn-book
(see page 51), is totally irrevalent, and at best but a conceited quibble) "means something communicated
immediately
from God to man."
"No one will deny or dispute" (can any thing be more candid than this concession?)
the power of the Almighty to make such a communication, if he pleases. But, admiting, for the sake of a case, that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed to any other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and
hearsay
to every other, and consequently they are not obliged to believe it.
"This statement also," exclaims Mr. Wakefield, with all the self-sufficiency of a Pedagogue,—
is inaccurate, fallacious, and inconclusive.
That I deny; and till Mr. Wakefield can produce me some more satisfactory proof than mere assertion, I shall not abide by his
ipse dixit.
Indeed, in all what Mr. Wakefield has advanced upon
this
subject, I cannot trace so much as the shadow of an argument. He jumbles together a few crude, superficial observations on the
mission of Moses,
and his
credentials,
which, however, unhappily make directly against his own cause. The miracles said to have been wrought by Moses in proof of his mission, supposing them to be
authentic,
(a circumstance, by the bye, which Mr. Wakefield does not take upon himself to warrant
Mr. Wakefield's language on this occasion is so very extraordinary, that I cannot refrain from quoting it:
Whether such display of supernatural agency
(he writes page 19)
were in
reality
made in the case before us by
Moses
to the
Israelites,
is not now the question. I am only attempting to exhibit the proposition in its proper form, and stating the fact as it exists, whether
authentically
or otherwise, in the
Mosaic
history.
) cannot be looked upon as competent and satisfactory evidence; inasmuch, as many of them were performed with equal success by the Egyptian Sorcerers of Pharaoh's court: whence it should seem, that if any inference is to be drawn from this display of supernatural agency, it amounts to no more than this, that Moses, who is expressly said to have been
learned in all the
wisdom
of the Egyptians,
This quotation I purposely introduce, notwithstanding the "palpable untruth" implied in it, according to Mr. Wakefield's assertion. I shall, however, decline vindicating it in the present instance, as I reserve my remarks upon this subject, till I come to Mr. Paine's Strictures on the
Mosaic account of the Creation.
(Acts vii. 22) had excelled his masters, and was become a greater adept in
magic
than themselves. As to those mischievous miracles which Moses was empowered to perform, and which the magicians of Pharaoh's court in vain essayed to imitate; such, for instance, as the
plague of lice;
the
murrain of beasts;
the sore and grievous plague of
blains and blisters;
the plague of
hail;
of
locusts;
of
palpable darkness;
but more particularly the
destruction of all the first-born in Egypt, both of man and beast;
I reserve my remarks upon this plaguy subject to a future opportunity; only observing in this place, that it appears very extraordinary, that Moses should be commissioned to preface his first introduction to Pharaoh with a palpable falsehood.
The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us; and now let us go, we beseech thee,
three days' journey
into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord, our God;
(Exod. iii. 18) when it is evident from the 8th verse of the same chapter,
I am come down to deliver my people out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites;
(which places were certainly more than
"three day's journey"
distant from the abode of the Israelites); when it is evident, I say, that it was never intended they should stop in the wilderness; much less return back to the land of
Goshen.
Hence it should seem, that
falsehood
and
prevarication
are to be reckoned among the
credentials
of the mission of Moses! But to proceed.
"It is a contradiction in terms and ideas," (continues Mr. Paine)
to call any thing a
revelation,
that comes to us at
second hand,
either verbally or in writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the
first
communication. After this, it is only an account of something which that person says was a revelation made to
him:
and though
he
may find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on
me
to believe it in the same manner; for it was no revelation made to
me;
and I have only
his word
for it that it was made to
him.
These, together with Mr. Paine's former remarks on the subject of
Revelation,
in the
religious
acceptation of the
word,
appear to me to contain such a clear, just, and masterly definition of the term, that, had I not positive evidence to the contrary before my eyes, I should hardly believe it possible for any man to dissent from him. And yet we find, that this, as little as other passages of Mr. Paine's book, can escape censure, and even misrepresentation.
Dr. Priestly, after pronouncing his arguments to be
truly curious,
and as he believes
quite original,
(see page 44.) gives us a very unfair and partial statement of the case.
On this principle, it is not incumbent on Mr. Paine to believe what any person may tell him, and he may give credit to nothing but what he sees himself; in which case his faith will be reduced to a very small compass indeed. His pretence to a
contradiction in terms
is a mere quibble. We do not say, that the revelation made immediately to Moses or to Christ is strictly speaking a revelation to
us;
but if we see sufficient reason to believe that the revelation
was
made to
them,
are, properly speaking, believers in revelation; and if the revelation, whatever it be, relate to the whole human race, as well as to the person to whom it was immediately made, all mankind, Mr. Paine himself included, will find themselves under an equal
obligation
to respect it.
In this exemplification the Doctor allows himself a greater latitude of construction than we conceive ourselves bound to concede to him. Had Mr. Paine, in stating his own individual rejection of revelation, attached any degree of blame to those of an opposite opinion, he would have been guilty of uncharitableness and injustice, by usurping that controul over the opinion of others, which he very properly refuses to submit to himself. But this is far from being the case; Mr. Paine does not betray the remotest disposition or desire to aim at such despotic sway over the souls and consciences of men
I do not mean (writes our author, page 2) to condemn those who believe otherwise. They have the same right to
their
belief, as I have to
mine.
. He contents himself with assigning his reasons for not believing certain recorded facts and tenets, without insinuating the slightest degree of censure against those who, viewing things in a different light, deem themselves bound to place implicit faith and confidence therein. He very modestly says:
I did not
see
the angel, and therefore I have a
right
not to believe his appearance. The revelation was not made to
me,
and therefore it cannot be
incumbent
upon
me
to believe it.
And, speaking of mankind in general, he does not say,
they
act wrong
in believing it,
but merely,
they are not
obliged
to believe it.
As the liberty of thought is not, and indeed,
cannot be,
obnoxious to that restraint which arbitrary power frequently imposes upon our words and actions, every man, we apprehend, has a right to the most unlimited freedom of opinion in his own individual capacity. It is, indeed, his birth-right, and perhaps of all his just and numerous rights, the only one which the lawless hand of despotism cannot invade. On this principle, therefore, instead of deeming Dr. Priestley's statement of the case any argument against the justice of Mr. Paine's remarks, we are clearly of opinion,
that it is
not
incumbent on Mr. Paine, nor upon any other man, to believe what any person may tell him,
if he has, or conceives himself to have, good and grounded reason for withholding his faith. And, though by refusing to credit any transaction which he does not see with his own eyes (here the Doctor, by the bye, carries his proposition to a much greater length than Mr. Paine's
The very reverse of this insinuation is abundantly apparent in many passages of Mr. Paine's book. Speaking of Jesus Christ, he says:
That such a person as Jesus Christ existed, and that he was crucified, which was the mode of execution at that day, are historical relations strictly within the limits of probability.
So neither does he call in question the existence of Moses or of David, nor the historical transactions of the kings of Judah and Israel; all he combats is the absurdity of bestowing the title of
God's word
upon a miscellaneous collection of
Chronicles, Registers, Genealogies, Anecdotes, Ethics, Poetry, Rhapsody, Epistles, &c. &c.
statements will warrant; as our author only refuses his faith to
supernatural
and
miraculous
events, which militate directly against the ordinary and established course of nature) though by refusing to credit any transaction which he does not see with his own eyes, a man no doubt will reduce his faith and knowledge to a very small compass indeed; still we cannot conceive such a refusal, however unreasonable, to be culpable, immoral, and criminal to that degree as to merit the punishment of
eternal perdition,
which however, by the Christian system, is flatly denounced against every one who disbelieves a single word, or even an
iota
of the scriptures
Matthew, v. 18. xxiv. 35. Mark, xvi. 16. Luke, xvi. 17. 2 Thess. ii. 10. Rev. xxii. 18, 19.
.
Mr. Paine is further accused of
quibbling,
because he styles it a
contradiction in terms
to call any thing a
revelation
that comes to us at
second-hand;
but I apprehend that the charge of quibbling will be found in the present instance to fall with greater weight and justice upon the party who brings this crimination against him. "We do not (argues Dr. Priestley)
say, that the revelation made immediately to Moses or to Christ is, strictly speaking, a revelation to
us;
and yet he immediately subjoins—
If we see sufficient reason to believe, that the revelation was made to them, we are, properly speaking,
believers
in revelation: and if the revelation, whatever it be, relate to the whole human race, as well as to the person to whom it was immediately made,
all
mankind, Mr. Paine himself included, will find themselves under an
equal obligation
to respect it.
Can any thing, let me appeal to the reader's candour, favour more strongly of quibble and subterfuge than this? By a parallel argument, I might prove the obligation the whole English nation, and let me add, the whole human race at large, is under to respect and believe in the wonderful
revelations
lately made to that enlightened Prince of modern prophets, Mr. Richard Brothers!
Mr. Wakefield has been at some pains, with the superaddition of a formidable
trio
of Latin quotations, to show us the justice of the Mosaic doctrine of
visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children
Exclusive of the glaring impiety of this doctrine, which Mr. Paine justly observes
is contrary to every principle of moral justice,
it stands in direct, irreconcileable contradiction to the most explicit declarations in several other parts of the Bible Thus it is expressly commanded in Deut. xxiv. 16.
The father shall not be put to death for the children; neither shall the children be put to death for the father: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
So likewise Amaziah's conduct is highly applauded, (2 Kings, xiv. 5, 6. 2 Chron. xxv. 4.) because, in avenging the death of his father,
he flew not the children of the murderers, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, &c.
Here likewise may be referred the following passage in Jeremiah, xxxi. 29.
In those days they shall say no more— The fathers have eaten a four grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
And Ezekiel, xviii. 2, 3, 4.
What say ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten four grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, faith the Lord God, ye shall no more use this proverb in Israel. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
And again in the 20th verse of the same chapter—
The soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father; neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Can any thing be more decisive and explicit? and yet Mr. Wakefield is such a staunch, determined advocate and admirer of the
visiting system,
unto the
third
and
fourth
generation, that he overlooks these and innumerable other passages in scripture of similar import, and enters into a serious defence of the diabolical doctrine of punishing the innocent with the guilty, though he has both
Moses
and the
prophets
decidedly against him!
, even unto the
third
and
fourth
generation, (and it is a mercy the vengeance stops
there!
) which forms such a prominent feature in the two tables of the commandments, written, we are told, by the express singer of God. Now we cannot but lament, when we peruse Mr. Wakefield's arguments on this subject, that any capacity, not
constitutionally defective,
should be capable of forming such derogatory ideas of that great Almighty Being, who is emphatically styled the
Fountain of all Goodness,
and the
Father of Mercies;
whom John, by the happinest personification, calls
Love
itself; we cannot but lament, that any capacity, not "constitutionally defective," should entertain such unworthy, I had almost said blasphemous, notions of the benevolent Author of Nature, as to ascribe to the Deity attributes and propensities which the most lawless tyrant would blush to own to. The God whose omnipotence is competent to punish sin in its
remotest ramifications,
has mercy to
nip the growing evil in the bud;
or shall we boast the wisdom and humanity of modern civilized legislature, which professes to aim rather at the
prevention
than
punishment
of crimes, and impiously suppose, that
Eternal Justice
and
Unerring Wisdom
should act upon a plan diametrically opposite; upon a principle which
fiends
must contemplate with execration? Reason revolts at the horrid diabolical idea!
I have before had occasion to remark upon the illiberality of Mr. Wakefield's attack, which displays itself in a very conspicuous manner in various passages of his work; and I cannot dismiss the present subject without observing, that his application of the
visiting system
to the late rigorous and unmerited sufferings of Mr. Paine, (see page 22) seems to carry with it, notwithstanding his boasted sympathy and regret, an air of triumph and exultation, that calls to my mind in lively colours the treatment which Job received in his affliction from his three pretended friends and comforters:
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
(Job, iv. 7.)
Mr. Paine's strictures on the
miraculous
The writer of a certain virulent attack upon our author, entitled,
Christianity the only true Theology,
who very properly styles himself a
Churchman,
for he is evidently the
tool of party,
accuses Mr. Paine of the most
dissolute
and
impudent buffoonery;
and with that
charitableness
which characterizes most of Mr. Paine's antagonists, compares him to
"the sow at its vomit."
(page 58) Now I appeal to every candid examiner, whether Mr. Paine has not treated the subject of the
immaculate conception
of Jesus Christ (a subject which, had he really merited the character so
charitably
bestowed upon him, might have afforded ample scope for the display of his talents) with a degree of delicacy and forbearance which gives the
lie direct
to such impudent, unsupported aspersions?
and
immaculate conception
of Christ, as they have an obvious tendency to promote the cause of
Unitarianism,
meet with little or no animadversion from our two Unitarian divines. Mr. Wakefield expressly acknowledges, that
the immaculate conception of Jesus Christ by the
Holy Spirit
constitutes no
essential
article of
his
creed, and therefore he leaves the vindication of it to the orthodox sons of the establishment.
Doctor Priestley follows him nearly on the same ground; and as it is their common interest to reason the
divinity of Christ
fairly out of the Bible, they both of them have recourse to supposed
errata,
and
spurious interpolations
to invalidate the plain and positive testimonies which we find on record in the scriptures in favour of the
Godhead
of Jesus Christ. The two first chapters of the Gospel of St. Matthew are peremptorily rejected, because there is no possibility of
softening down
their evidence, which makes immediately against the Unitarian system: The same fate, for the same reason, is awarded against the two first chapters of the Gospel of St. Luke, and thus they hope at once to get over a difficulty which must otherwise prove an insurmountable stumbling-block and rock of offence in their way. But their hopes are far too sanguine; and they have no alternative, but either totally to reject
all
faith in the revelation, or concede this point. The miraculous birth of Christ does not depend upon the single testimony of St. Matthew, or St. Luke, as its only vouchers; it stands plainly predicted (I am arguing on the principle of a belief in revelation) in the prophecies of Isaiah, where it is expressly said, and mentioned emphatically as a
sign
or
miracle,
a
sign
which the Lord himself should give after it had been submitted to Ahab, to ask a
sign
of the Lord God, either in the depth beneath, or in the height above:
Behold, a
Virgin
shall
conceive,
and
bear
a Son, and shall call his name
Immanuel.
(Isaih, viii. 14.) So likewise in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we find
Christ
declared to be a
High Priest,
after the
Order of Melchisedec;
as being
without father, without mother,
(in as far as he was not engendered after the ordinary course of nature)
without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life.
It would be endless to animadvert upon all the absurdities and inconsistencies to which a
partial
belief in the word of God, as the Scriptures are styled, must necessarily and invariably lead. The man who subscribes to the adulteration or interpolation of a
part,
by that very concession invalidates my faith in the
whole.
The same right by which he presumes to reject any obnoxious passages that militate against the system which
he
has been led to adopt, authorizes
me
to do the same by any part which does not accord with
my
ideas; and this right of rejection and discrimination being once admitted and established, it becomes a very easy task,
such and so various are the tastes and opinions of men,
to argue and fritter away the
whole.
And although "one defect of demonstration" (as Mr. Wakefield observes)
has not impaired the general truth of the Newtonian philosophy,
the application of this proposition to
Religion
and the
word of God
will not hold good. Newton, and every other philosopher, however enlightened and intelligent, as men, are liable to error; and therefore claim, as such, our indulgence: but the writings which we emphatically honour with the name of
God's Word;
and which we profess to believe in, as given by divine inspiration,
All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the Man of God may be
perfect.
2 Tim. iii. 16, 17.
, for our rule of faith and conduct: these, we apprehend, ought to bear the stamp of divinity in every page, in every line, in every word; ought by their purity and perfection to distinguish themselves from the
works of man,
of which
imperfection
ever remains the
prominent characteristic.
And therefore, wherever this infallible
criterion of perfection
is wanting, I am certainly justified in not receiving such a mass of
incongruity and imperfection
as the transcript of the omniscient mind. Or, shall charges of interpolation and perversion, which, in judicial proceedings, in the case of a will or covenant for instance, would, if proved, totally abrogate and disannul the validity of the instrument;—shall, I say, charges such as these, in a case of far greater magnitude and moment, in a case which concerns at once the honour of the Deity, and the happiness of the whole human race, be disregarded as nugatory, futile, and irrevalent?
Viewing things in this light, it will perhaps be asked, why I should make choice of two Unitarian publications for the subject of my disquisitions, in preference to so many Treatises written on the same topic, by the zealous and avowed partizans of the Established Church? To this demand I make answer, that as the Unitarian Creed appears to admit of much greater latitude of construction, together with an almost unlimited freedom of rejection, with respect to whatever militates against its own system in the Scriptures, I conceived that any conviction brought home against the professors and advocates of
this faith,
must infallibly carry with it double weight and authority, and ultimately conduce more to the
Cause of Truth,
and the
Triumph of Reason,
than my labours would have done, had I attacked the followers and disciples of the
good old way,
who, from their implicit assent to
that monstrous farrago of absurdities and contradictions, concentrated with most ingenious and comprehensive brevity in the
Creeds
denominated the
Athanasian
and
Nicene,
—(I quote Mr. Wakefield's own emphatic words) are infinitely more
vulnerable.
Besides, as we are expressly told by Mr. Wakefield, in the Introduction to his Work,
that
Christianity cannot
be vindicated adequately and consistently against
Deism,
by any votary of
systems
and
establishments,
it should seem unmanly to direct our assault against that quarter from which the least resistance is to be expected. I enter now upon the most serious part of my Defence.
As the
Resurrection
of Jesus Christ is made by the Apostles themselves the
grand test
and
criterion
of his
divine mission,
and of the
truth of the Christian religion;
for,
if Christ be not
risen,
then is our
preaching
vain, and your
Faith
is vain also;
(1 Cor. xv. 14.) it will naturally be expected, that our
Champions of the Faith
should reserve their most
formidable batteries
for the bold aggressor who dares to lift his impious hand against this
strong hold
of their hope. Hence I was led to apprehend a redoubtable display of
heavy artillery
and
weighty arguments
in answer to Mr. Paine's bold attack upon the
authenticity
of this important and fundamental article of the Christian creed; but not a little was I disappointed!
"I shall confine myself (writes Mr. Wakefield, page 26)
to one only argument, which appears to my mind incapable of confutation upon any principles of philosophy or experience; and will indeed, admit of no dispute, but upon positions subversive of all historical testimony whatsoever, and introductory of universal scepticism.
The numerous circumstances interspersed through the
Gospel narratives
and in the
Acts
of the
Apostles,
appertaining to the geography of countries, the positions of rivers, towns, and cities; public transactions of much notoriety and account in those days; the dress, customs, manners, languages of nations and individuals; political characters of eminence, and their conduct, in connection with a most potent and enlightened empire, with a vast multiplicity of detached occurrences and facts not necessary to be specified at large; all these circumstances, I say, probable in themselves, and of fidelity unimpeached, challenge (to speak with moderation) as large a portion of credibility to these books, considered in the simple character of
historical
This position, we apprehend, was never called, nor intended to be called in question by Mr. Paine, whose animadversions upon the scriptures, if we conceive aright, do not attach to them in their
historical
capacity, as chronicles, and records of human transactions and events, (in which light they certainly claim an equal portion of credibility, as long as they steer clear of the
marvellous
and
supernatural,
with the writings of any other historian of received veracity) but are solely directed against their claim to
revelation,
and the
unwarrantable requisition
they make upon our faith, to tales of most
monstrous prodigy,
which militate directly against the established order of nature, and which the reader therefore has an equal right to reject in the
Chranicles of the Jews,
and in the
Gospel Narratives,
as he has in the Greek or Roman historians, Few, it is presumed, who have read
Plutarch's Lives,
entertain any doubts as to the general authenticity of the transactions recorded in that valuable work, and yet many, perhaps, might be found who cannot reconcile their notions of probabilities to a belief in the apparition of the phantom, supposed to be Coesar's ghost, to his murderer, Brutus, at Abydos. The inference is obvious, and renders all comments upon the case unnecessary.
testimonials, as can be claimed for any writings whatever, received as genuine, and equally ancient and multifarious. Now, no mean presumption arises in favour of the most
extraordinary
transactions also, blended in the same texture of narrative, by historians of so credible a character with respect to the rest of their relations; but when those
extraordinary facts
are found to have so intimate an incorporation with the
common
and
unsuspicious
occurrences of these histories, as to admit of no detachment, but to stand or fall with the main body of the compositions, so that one part depends upon another for consistency and support, I cannot see how any historical probability of the authenticity of these
extraordinary
events can rise higher than in such an instance.
When I find such lame subterfuge and sophistry usurp the place of sound argument, I cannot but congratulate Mr. Paine on his triumph. If the
resurrection of Christ
stands upon no better basis than this, rotten is its support, and it must inevitably fall to the ground. Mr. Wakefield, we apprehend, will not refuse to the books of
Livy,
the same internal symptoms of genuineness and authenticity which he ascribes to the
Gospel narratives
as far as appertains to the
geography of countries, the positions of rivers, towns, and cities; public transactions of much notoriety and account; the dress, customs, manners, languages of nations, individuals, &c.
which he expatiates upon so ably, as
challenging as large a portion of credibility to the
Gospel narratives
as can be claimed for any writings whatever, received as genuine, and equally ancient and multifarious,
and yet were I to argue upon the principle laid down in this proposition by Mr. Wakefield himself, and from the
credibility of the
common
and
unsuspicious
occurrences of this history to infer no mean presumption in favour of the most
extraordinary
transactions also, recorded by the historian,
I might undertake to prove the authenticity of all the
prodigies
and
marvellous
events related by Livy; such, for instance, as the prophetic denunciation of the ox
See Livy, book xxxv. chap. 21.
belonging to the Consul Cn. Domitius, "ROMA CAVE TIBI," which furnishes indeed no unworthy counterpart to the story of
Balaam's Ass,
or the
tears
shed by the image of the goddess
Juno Sospita
Ibidem, book xl. chap. 19.
at Lanuvium, which not improbably may have furnished many a serviceable hint to the
wonder-workers
The ingenious compiler of the
Characteristic Anecdotes of the Russian Emperor, Peter the Great,
published by royal authority at Petersburgh, gives a very remarkable instance of this monarch's sagacity, and at the same time of the villainy of the crafty sons of Loyola. Peter, having given offence to the clergy by some of his innovations, the priesthood, among other attempts to baffle his designs, had recourse to a
miracle.
Suddenly it was reported, that the image of the Virgin Mary, in one of their churches, had been observed to
weep;
nor was the cause of these
heavenly tears
pointed out in very ambiguous terms. Multitudes flocked to the
sacred shrine
to convince themselves by
ocular demonstration
of the truth of this
portentous prodigy,
for such the priests unanimously pronounced it to be, and returned back, like the apostles of old, fully satisfied of the fact, having
heard,
and
seen,
and
handled,
and for aught I know,
tasted
of these tears, which many, from a principle of devotion, had caught in handkerchiefs, and even vials, as they fell. At length the monarch, who easily penetrated into the true motives of this miracle, was induced to pay the
weeping saint
a visit. Several of the superior clergy accompanied him by his order, in whose presence he proceeded to examine into the mystery. A ladder being procured, Peter ascended the steps, and pulling off the golden crown that encompassed the Virgin's head, made a complete discovery of the whole plot. The blessed Mother of Christ, it seems, had undergone the trepan; which having laid her scull open, a silver vessel, containing about a pint and a half of water, was introduced, which by means of small punctures, was very dexterously made to distil through the eyes in the form of tears!
of the Greek and Romish churches; or lastly, the
foaling of a mule
Livy, book xxxvii. chap. 4.
, at Reate, which, perhaps, is not more repugnant to the ordinary course of nature, than the
immaculate conception and delivery of a virgin
in Bethlehem!
As little can Mr. Wakefield hope to establish the truth of the Resurrection of Christ by instancing the unconquered perseverance with which the apostles persisted in professing and preaching this doctrine, in spite of
ridicule, contempt, persecution, poverty; bodily chastisements, imprisonment, and death
—Mr. Wakefield is not aware how strongly and directly this argument makes against himself. Reasoning upon the very same principle, I will easily prove
that monstrous farrago of absurdities and contradictions, concentrated, with most ingenious and comprehensive brevity in the
creeds
denominated the
Athanasian
and
Nicene,
and which is so tough of digestion to Mr. Wakefield's stomach; all this I will easily prove to be the
Truth as it is in Christ Jesus,
(Ephes. iv. 21) inasmuch as many thousands of sincere professors, and among these
bishops
themselves, have suffered the most cruel and ignominious death, rather than renounce their faith in these creeds. Indeed, I am fearful, that in matters of religion there cannot possibly be a more fallacious criterion to ascertain the truth, than the stubborn pertinacity with which men adhere to their opinion.
But by far the weakest place in Mr. Wakefield's defence of the resurrection is the following passage, in which he attempts to invalidate the force of the objections raised by Mr. Paine, on the plea of this miracle not being accompanied with that degree of publicity, which the nature of the case so well admitted of, and which the magnitude of the fact, if true, demanded.
The resurrection of a dead person from the grave, (writes Mr. Paine) and his ascension through the air, is a thing very different, as to the evidence it admits of, from the invisible conception of a child in the womb. The resurrection and ascension, supposing them to have taken place, admitted of public and ocular demonstration, like that of the ascension of a balloon, or the sun at noon-day to all Jerusalem at least. A thing, which every body is required to believe, requires that the proof and evidence of it should be equal to all, and universal: and as the public visibility of this last related act was the only evidence that could give sanction to the former part, the whole of it falls to the ground, because that evidence never was given. Instead of this, a small number of persons, not more than
Here Mr. Paine, as his antagonist justly observes, has fallen into an error, with respect to the number of persons said to have been witnesses of Christ's resurrection and ascension. The strength of the argument, however, sustains no detriment by it; and furthermore it must be remembered, that our author is refuted only by the single evidence of Paul, (1 Cor. xv. 6.) and that only in one solitary instance; and who knows but this passage, only that it makes against the
Author of the Age of Reason,
might have been one of Mr. Wakefield's
occasional interpolations?
(see page 23.)
eight or nine, are introduced, as proxies for the whole world, to say, they
saw
it, and all the rest of the world are called upon to believe it. But it appears that Thomas did not believe the resurrection; and, as they say, would not believe, without having ocular and manual demonstration himself.
So neither will I:
and the reason holds equally good for me, and every other person, as for Thomas.
In this statement of our author, whatever Mr. Wakefield may affect to think or say to the contrary, I discern nothing but just and manly argument. It is an established rule in the moral as well as physical world, that the
means should be adequate to the end,
and it is upon this principle that Mr. Paine reasons in the present instance. The resurrection of Christ, as I before observed, forming the grand test of the truth of Christianity: to substantiate and blazon abroad the fact beyond the power of controversy, becomes an object of the first magnitude. As the belief required in it extends to all, Mr. Paine stands justified in requiring that the evidence of it should be accompanied with a competent degree of publicity. The nature of the fact admitted of such public demonstration; the magnitude of the object demanded it; and yet—this public demonstration is withheld:—the only evidence, which would at once have rendered all the eternal wranglings since maintained upon the subject unnecessary; which would have completely baffled all the alledged machinations of the enemies of Christ to suppress the truth and invalidate its force; and which would have procured Christianity a decisive triumph over scepticism and infidelity; this only full, satisfactory, incontrovertible, irrefragable evidence is not granted. And why not granted? Because, forsooth, its place in the eyes of Mr. Wakefield, is better supplied by
corroborating coincidencies, collateral circumstances, by probabilities of the highest kind, by indissoluble connexions,
et hoc genus omne;
all of which, by the bye, notwithstanding the inconceivable magnitude of the object; notwithstanding the incalculable interest at stake, do not amount to the same degree of positive conviction, which impresses on the mind of the
geometer
the
equality of the
three angles
of a
triangle
to
two right angles.
See page 35 of Mr. Wakefield's work.
We concede, indeed, to Mr. Wakefield, that in occurrences of common life the concurring testimony of credible and disinterested witness may be considered as competent evidence in matters of
plain fact,
which do not militate against the established order of things. Thus, for instance, to pursue Mr. Wakefield's own argument, when I first heard of the ascension of
Lunardi
from the Artillery ground, in a balloon, I felt myself no more disposed to call in question the truth of the report, (notwithstanding, from the circumstance of my being abroad at the time, I did not enjoy the advantage of being an eye-witness of the fact,) than Mr. Wakefield could possibly do, who, we find, was present on that memorable occasion. But, had I been ignorant of the principle on which balloons are constructed; had I never heard or read of the properties of air; had the experiment been made in some remote, far distant part of the globe, before only a few select friends, and in only one or two solitary instances, and never afterwards repeated or attempted; had this, I say, been the case, and any one had told me, under such circumstances, that a man had been seen to ascend to a prodigious height in the air, and to pursue his
aerial
excursion for a considerable number of miles with incredible velocity; in that case, the faith of the relator of this marvellous account, supposing him to have been at the same time an eye-witness of the fact, would, I fancy, exceed mine by many an
"evanescent infinitesimal
of efficacy."
See page 32 or Mr. Wakefield's work
—And, though no lapse of time will probably, with respect to the
former
case, (the actual ascension of Lunardi, in a balloon, from the Artillery ground) destroy a credibility so well founded and established, with reasonable men; nothing, I apprehend, short of
actual inspection
and
ocular demonstration,
would attach faith with thinking minds to the
latter.
Neither would, I presume, any man's refusal to credit such an ascension, under the above circumstances, without positive and ocular proof, draw down upon him the stigma of
universal scepticism,
though Mr. Wakefield is pleased to insinuate this charge against Mr. Paine, when he talks of the man,
who is resolved to believe no transaction, but upon
ocular and manual demonstration,
and who, therefore, is compelled to bely his own theory in every movement of his life.
Before I dismiss the subject of the
resurrection,
as far as concerns Mr. Wakefield's strictures in favor of it, I must slightly remark upon a most
curious
and
extraordinary
argument, indeed, (see page 33) which he brings forward, to justify our being left, in this, confessedly highly momentous and interesting, affair, to
trust to degrees of
probability
infinitely diversified
(or, in other words, being left in the
dark!
),
instead of having positive
certainty
for our guide.
I might advance also, in aid of these remarks,
(to give the whole of Mr. Wakefield's arguments)
that mankind are most evidently placed here in a state of
probationary imperfection:
that, instead of
certainty
for our guide, we are compelled to trust, on most occasions, to a degree of
probability
infinitely diversified; and that some of our noblest and most refined excellencies both moral and intellectual, spring from a forbearance and candour, from a diffidence, and docility, and lowliness of understanding, which
disputable evidence
is best calculated to generate and foster. Besides, that exercise and agitation of our mental powers, which is invariably produced by the delays and difficulties intervening propositions of this nature, and the attainment of moral certainty, in a painful disquisition of evidence and a long deduction of particulars, contribute essentially to the quickness, the clearness, the vigour and general salubrity of our understandings; just as the water of a river is meliorated and refined by a winding obstructed passage over sand and gravel.
Of all the wretched sophistry I ever remember to have met with, on this, or, I might add, on any other subject, the present furnishes the most conspicuous, and I think, the most contemptible instance! Are there not matters enough of
"disputable evidence"
to generate and foster our candour and forbearance, our diffidence and docility, in the
Book of Nature,
without borrowing from the
sacred pages of Revelation?
Or, if we stand in need of
exercise and agitation of our mental powers, to contribute to the quickness, the clearness, the vigour, and general salubrity of our understandings;
might not the time and talents which have been spent in the
painful disquisition of evidence and a long deduction of particulars,
to ascertain the truth of the
resurrection,
have been far more profitably employed, upon researches which have a more immediate reference to the happiness and improvement of man in his present state? We verily think they might; and
maugre
the
profound knowledge
and
deep metaphysical reasoning
contained in Mr. Wakefield's remarks, they appear to us in reality designed for little more, than to serve as a
vehicle
to the author to display his
extensive reading
and
ready acquaintance
with the Poets of the Augustan age.
The
remarks
(for I cannot call them
arguments
) advanced by Doctor Priestley, concerning the evidence of the resurrection, carry with them still less weight and conviction than Mr. Wakefield's strictures. He notices the error into which Mr. Paine has fallen with respect to the
number
of persons who are said to have been witnesses of Christ's ascension, and which error I have already had occasion to remark upon. But we do not find any thing new or striking in his observations. A general challenge, indeed, is thrown out to all, who entertain any doubts upon the subject,
to propose any
other circumstances
that would have made the Resurrection more credible than it now is at this distance of time;
but, as this challenge has been
anticipated
by Mr. Paine himself, and the
proposal
or
requisition
made, which would have rendered its evidence incontrovertible, and of course have established its credibility beyond the reach of suspicion or doubt, we deem it unnecessary to tread over again the beaten track.
As my design is, not so much to write a panegyric upon Mr. Paine's work, as to examine, and, if I can, refute the objections which have been made to it, I pass over most of his propositions which I do not find attacked by his opponents. Hence I shall not dwell upon the masterly picture he has drawn of his
Satanic Majesty,
who, I am happy to perceive, from the readiness with which Mr. Wakefield gives him up, (and I congratulate my readers upon the pleasing prospect) seems to be in a fair way of bidding us
Adieu,
and returning once more to the
bottomless pit,
where I sincerely hope the
Angel with the key and the great chain in his hand
(Rev. xx. 1. sqq.) will take good care of him, and bind and fasten him
up
or
down,
it matters little which, at least a
thousand years
In case, that is to say, our good
Churchmen,
our old
Dames
and
Nurses,
for whose behoof, it seems (see Mr. Wakefield, p. 44) these "monstrous doctrines" have been tagged to the
word of God,
can any wise do without him.
.
The account given us by Mr. Paine of the
Origin of Christianity
has been severely censured and attacked by Dr. Priestley, who pronounces it to be
the most
curious romance
he ever met with.
With all deference to superior abilities, I cannot but conceive Doctor Priestley to be too hasty in this judgment; and though he particularly prides himself on his
dates,
in opposition to Mr. Paine's practice, who, he tells us,
does not
deal in dates,
any more than in
quotations,
writing wholly from
memory,
(see page 63) it should seem that Mr. Paine, without the help of a
book,
has even with respect to his
dates,
not erred so widely from the truth, as Dr. Priestley's strictures would at first sight tempt us to imagine.
The writings ascribed to the men called Apostles,
(Mr. Paine observes)
are chiefly controversial; and the gloominess of the subject they dwell upon, that of a man dying in agony on the cross, is better suited to the gloomy genius of a
monk
in his
cell,
by whom it is not
impossible
they were written, than to any man breathing the open air of the creation.
This latter remark of Mr. Paine furnishes his formidable antagonist with a most desirable opportunity of triumph, as he apprehends; but, unfortunately, his triumph is
premature,
as I shall endeavour to prove from his own statement of the case.
"As these books, written by
Apostles,
or
Apostolical
men," (does Dr. Priestley, by this distinction, mean to signify his assent to the doubt started by our
How much, or what part of the Books, called the New Testament, were written by the persons whose name they bear, is what we know nothing of.
Thus writes Mr. Paine; and Mr. Wakefield does not appear to class this among the
hardy
assertions he complains of in our Author; for he does not
contravene
the opinion.
If the books (see page 37 of Mr. Wakefield's work)
should
not
be written in reality by those identical persons whose names are affixed, which is no
essential
circumstance,
&c.
Author, relative to the certainty of the books of the New Testament being written by the persons whose names are prefixed to them?)
were appealed to in decision of controversies, it was thought proper to have a
standard
collection; and the Bishops met in council at Laodicea, Anno Domini 373, did as well as they
could,
but by no means to the satisfaction of
all.
Doctor Priestley allows therefore, that it was nearly four hundred years after the birth of Christ, and at least three hundred years after the writing of the major part of the books called the
New Testament,
according to the common received chronology, before a
standard collection
of these books was made.
That
interpolations
and
spurious readings,
(allowing the Books themselves to have been actually written at the early date I have just specified, and by the writers whose names they bear,)
might,
in such a long course of time, have crept into the text; especially when we consider that the art of printing was not known in those days, but that every copy required to be individually transcribed by an
amanuensis;
is a
possibility,
and, let me add, a
probability,
which I think will be readily conceded by every candid examiner. That some of them might have undergone material alterations, or have been new-modelled, or even fresh vamped up, to suit particular purposes, between the time of their
original composition,
and their subsequent
incorporation
in the
standard collection,
is likewise no
impossibility;
and on this supposition Mr. Paine stands amply justified in the inference he draws from the
dismal complexion
of many of those writings (the controversial parts especially), that it is not impossible (and he mentions the circumstance merely as a
possibility,
and by no means as a matter of
positive fact
), but they may have been written by some gloomy
Ascetic
or
Monk;
a conjecture which receives additional weight and plausibility, when we reflect that
The celebrated
August Ludwig Schloezer,
Professor of
Statistics
at the University of Goettingen, informs us in his
Welt Geschichte,
or
Universal History,
that the number of
Monks
and
Nuns
in the
principal
convents of Egypt alone, amounted, towards the end of the fourth century, to upwards of 96,000 persons! The first regular
Convent
of
Christian Monks
was founded at Tabenna,
Anno Domini
325, by
Pachomius,
a disbanded soldier.
See Schloezer's Universal History, Part I. p. 173.
Monks
and
Convents
had established themselves nearly half a century before the Bishops met in council at Laodicea, to determine by vote
which
of the books out of the collection they had made,
should
be the
Word of God.
I see therefore no ground for supposing Mr. Paine to have written his
Age of Reason
without the least knowledge of the
Scriptures,
or indeed of
history.
"
Such is the express charge brought against him by Dr. Priestley, (see page 66) who from thence argues, that his Work is only calculated to
make an impression on those who are as
ignorant
as himself.
Conceding this "point to the Doctor (though I see no
argument
to extort this concession from us, but rather the very
reverse,
yet conceding the point for the sake of a case), I apprehend, that Mr. Paine's Work, allowing it to make impression upon only
one third,
instead of
all
his readers, who are not more intelligent than himself, bids fair to make ten times the number of proselytes that Mr. Priestley has any reason to expect.
Mr. Priestley further, in the exultation of his triumph, throws out a challenge to Mr. Paine, and of course to all those that join with him in opinion,
to point out any
one
passage in the New Testament, that, in the most
distant manner,
intimates that God is pleased by the
mortifications
men inflict upon themselves; or that it is their duty, or at all acceptable to God, that they should shut themselves up from the world, and decline the active duties of life.
Instead of being at a loss to discover
one,
I could instantly refer to a
host
of passages, a
"whole cloud of witnesses,"
and those of the New Testament dispensation, to answer this challenge; which as it seems to have originated from Mr. Paine's
allusion to monks,
where he says, that
the gloominess of the subject on which the writers of the New Testament expatiate is better suited to the gloomy senses of a
monk in his cell,
(by whom it is not
impossible
those books were written) than to any man breathing the
open air of creation.
I shall begin my reply with the grand leading characteristic of the monkish system,
celibacy.
I have already remarked upon the rise and rapid increase of these
gloomy fanatics
in the early ages of the Christian church. That such characters actually existed, and were not unknown to the
New Testament writers,
and among the rest to the author of the
Epistles to Timothy,
is evident from the fourth chapter of the first of these epistles—
The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the
latter
From the frequent recurrence of the term,
latter times, last days, last time, evil days,
&c. (
, 1 Tim. iv. 1.
, 2 Tim. iii. 1.
, 2 Pet. iii. 3.
, Jude, v. 18.
, Eph. v. 16.
1 Cor. x. 11,) in the New Testament, which expressions bear an obvious allusion not only to an alarming degeneracy, both doctrinal and practical, in the church, but likewise to a
considerable interstice
between the first foundation of Christianity, and the times in which the writers of these Epistles lived, it should seem that no mean argument might be inferred against the chronological order in which the books of the New Testament are generally supposed to have been written, unless, indeed, we are willing to argue away the force of this objection, on the presumption of these disputable passages being
interpolations.
St. John, in his first Epistle, ii. 18. even goes a step farther, and affirms it to be "the
last time,
" or as it ought to be rendered,
the
last hour!
times
some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their consciences seared with a hot iron;
forbidding to marry,
and
commanding to abstain from meats,
&c.
which words, I apprehend, allude, in most unequivocal terms to the
monkish
doctrines of
celibacy
and
fasting.
Now bearing this in remembrance, let us recur to Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians, and take up our parable at the seventh chapter:
It is good for a
man
not to
touch
a
woman.
(
ver.
1)
I would that
all
men were even as
I myself.
(
ver.
7) How soon would a general compliance with this
unnatural,
and let me add,
irreligious requisition,
(for it militates directly against the first grand commandment given to man by the Almighty,
Increase and multiply,
and therefore would be a case of
positive disobedience;
or (to quote Dr. Priestley's own words) would be
declining the
active duties
of life
) terminate in the total extinction of the human race! it would be
shutting ourselves not only
up
from the world,
but would soon lead to shutting the whole species
out
of the world!
The Apostle continues:
I say therefore to the
unmarried
and
widows,
it is
good
for them if they abide even as
I.
What reason doth he assign for this strange, preposterous doctrine? Why, forsooth, because
he
that is
unmarried,
and
she
that is
unmarried,
(the
monks
and the
nuns
) care for the
things
that belong to the
Lord,
how they may
please
the
Lord:
whereas
he
that
is married,
and
she
that
is married,
care for the
things
that are of the
world,
how they may
please each other,
in the relative stations of
husband
and
wife.
Does not this, let me put the question to Mr. Priestley's own candid reflection, does not this incongruous doctrine savour strongly of the
ascetic
and the
monk?
Does it not, as I before observed,
militate, point blank,
against one of the most active duties, if not the most active of
all
the duties of life? Does it not? but I shall drop the subject, only observing, that the apostle had better have counselled us at once, as the surest way to put and end to the
war in our members,
to
make
eunuchs
Matthew, xix. 12.
of ourselves for the kingdom of heaven's sake!
which we find some of the primitive Christians actually
did,
and among others, the celebrated
Origen,
having, it is said, this very saying of Christ, with Paul's enlightened commentary upon it in view!
And here let no man object, in extenuation of the absurdity of these doctrines and tenets, that the apostle
is not speaking by
commandment,
but by
permission.
(1 Cor. vii. 6.) The greater is his
presumption,
in daring to broach such vile and dangerous principles, which I am sure threaten more immediately the welfare of a state, than any principle,
however pregnant and full fraught with danger
—in the
Rights of Man,
and which aim with one decisive blow, at the very extinction of the human species; the greater, I say, is Paul's presumption, the greater his
guilt
in daring to palm such infamous nonsense upon us, under the sanction and authority of an apostle, without even the smallest pretence to
divine commandment,
in apology for his detestable conduct!
In the second place, to say a few words upon the
monkish system
of
mortification, penance
and
abstemiousness
(in commendation of which Mr. Priestley challenges our author to produce a
single
instance,) I again recur, with full confidence of success, to the
fruitful
writings of Paul.
If ye live after the
flesh,
ye shall
die: (spiritually
speaking, I suppose) but if ye through the
spirit
do
mortify
the deeds of the
body,
ye
shall live.
(Rom. viii. 13.) They that are Christ's, have
crucified
Does the apostle mean, after the
example of Origen?
the
flesh,
with the
affections
and
lusts,
(Galat. v. 24)
I keep under
my
body,
and bring it into
subjection.
(1 Cor. ix. 27. the apostle speaks, as the context shews, of
corporal abstemiousness,
see verse 25.)
Mortify
your
members,
which are upon the
earth
(Col. iii. 5. and from what immediately follows
fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
&c. &c. it is abundantly evident what particular members the apostle alludes to)
I am
crucified
unto the
world,
and the
world
unto
me.
(Gal. vi. 14.) Make not
provision
for the
flesh
(Rom. xiii. 14.) Give yourselves to
fasting
and
prayer,
that satan
tempt
you not for your
incontinency.
I am well aware, that this quotation begins abruptly in the
middle of a comma;
but the reader's own good sense will satisfy him with respect to the suppression of the former part of the sentence, without any comment being necessary on my side.
(1 Cor. vii. 5.)
Can any thing be more explicit? Or, will Mr. Priestley, with these plain and positive declarations before his eyes, (which, however, are only brought forward as a
specimen
of the "vast cloud of witnesses" that are kept in reserve) still persist in maintaining, that there is not
one single
passage in the whole of the New Testament, which, in the
most distant manner,
intimates, that God is pleased by
self-denial
and
mortification?
The man, who, at the very time, that he charges his antagonist with
ignorance
and
error,
which he
charitably
pretends to account for on the plea of his having written from
memory
and
without book,
(page 63) can commit still
greater errors
and
blunders
himself,
with book,
may not unaptly be compared to the proud
pharisee
in the gospel, who was
lynxeyed
enough to discern a
moat
in his brother's eye, though not conscious of the
beam
that lodged in his own.
That Mr. Paine may have carried his proposition too far, when he ascribes the great change that took place in the whole system of learning, after the introduction of Christianity, to a
deep, preconcerted scheme
on the part of the setters-up and advocates of that religion, I shall not affect to dissemble nor deny. But that the
Christian religion was virtually and in reality the cause of that change,
I am clearly convinced; and Mr. Priestley may boast of the preservation of literature, by the
Christian monks
of the western and eastern Roman empire, as much as he pleases, it remains an incontrovertible fact, that the
eternal wranglings about points of faith,
and the
nonsensical jargon of priests,
gave a new turn to the state of learning, which was now made to centre almost entirely in
polemical divinity,
and of course rendered the acquisition of those languages, in which the books of the Bible were originally written, the most important, if not the only, branch of education.
Without the smallest design to depreciate the value of
The most valuable
philology
is beyond dispute, a general and extensive acquaintance with the most useful of the
modern living languages.
philology,
in its application to the
learned languages,
(and experience has too well taught me their proper value and estimation, to hold their acquirement in contempt,) I cannot but subscribe, with the fullest energy of conviction, to the justice of Mr. Paine's remark, that it would be advantageous to the general state of learning to lay less stress in the system of education upon the
dead languages
than is generally done.
Learning
and
knowledge,
though commonly reputed
synonimous terms
are far from being so in reality. The one constitutes the
shell,
the other the
kernel,
and certainly it must be acknowledged the height of folly and absurdity to set greater store upon the
husk
than upon the
fruit
it envelops. However, to return from this digression.
As we happen to be discussing the subject of
dead languages,
it may not be amiss to notice in this place a very just and sagacious argument (urged with great propriety by our author, but rejected and condemned with wonted superciliousness and injustice by his opponents) respecting the insufficiency of
human language
to be the vehicle of the
word of God.
Mr. Paine observes,
If we permit ourselves to conceive right ideas of things, we must necessarily affix the idea, not only of
unchangeableness,
but of the utter
impossibility of any change taking place,
by any means or accident whatever, in that which we would honour with the name of the
word of God:
and therefore the
word of God
cannot exist in
any written or human language.
The continually progressive change to which the meaning of words is subject; the want of a universal language, which renders translations necessary; the errors to which translations are again subject; the mistakes of copyists and printers; together with the possibility of wilful alteration; are of themselves evidences, that human language, whether in speech or in print,
cannot be the vehicle of the word of God.
"Trite! and little to the purpose!" exclaims Dr. Priestley, in reply to these truly ingenious remarks.
Frivolous! and unworthy of a man of sense!
cries Mr. Wakefield: and both our learned
Polemics
immediately launch out into a long string of declamation, which has hardly the shadow of an argument to countenance it. Instead of bearing in mind, that the Bible, as far as it professes to be a
lanthorn
to our feet; a
light
unto our path; our
law, counsellor,
and
guide,
relates chiefly to
matters of opinion,
and to
matters of faith,
and that it therefore is the more liable to suffer from the
defects of translations,
the
mistakes
of copyists, and
wilful or accidental alterations,
they are continually harping upon its
historical credibility
(which our Author does not attempt to invalidate), and comparing it in this point of view to
Livy's Roman History,
or
Caesar's Commentaries.
"The truths of Revelation," (writes Mr. Priestley, page 45)
do not depend upon
niceties
of ideas.
A few
mistakes
of copyists and printers make no alteration in the
general
effect,
says Mr. Wakefield. As a proof, however, how sadly both these learned gentlemen are deceived and mistaken in the position they so obstinately maintain, I shall just adduce
one
instance, amongst a number that might be urged; which said instance, as it adds a fresh laurel to their triumph over
Trinitarianism,
entitles me, I think, to some claim on their acknowledgments.
Few texts in the Bible, perhaps, are more frequently referred to by the
orthodox Sons of the Church,
to prove the
divinity of Christ,
than the following passage from St. Paul's first Epistle to Timothy:
And, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness;
GOD
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
(1 Tim. iii. 16.) Now would it be believed, and yet the fact is well ascertained, that the word
God,
in which the whole stress of the sentence centres, is not to be met with in the original? Would it be believed, that the singular circumstance of the middle stroke of the E, in
, having sunk through the parchment, so as to appear on the opposite side, should exactly occupy the centre of the
omicron
in the
relative
OC, which by that means being taken for a
, caused the word to pass for
, which is the abreviation of
? Would it be believed, that the
Divinity of Christ
should rest upon such a slender foundation as this? And yet such is the actual state of the case, as the
See
Wetstenii Proleg. in N. T.
page 54 et sqq. Edit. Halens.
Alexandrine Codex
plainly proves. Mr. Priestley, I hope, will no longer take upon him to deny, that the truths of Revelation may depend upon very
great niceties!
Another instance of gross error and mistake occurs in Mr. Wakefield's reply to our Author's strictures on the history of the creation.
Why it has been called the
Mosaic Account of the creation,
(writes Mr. Paine)
I am at a loss to conceive. Moses, I believe, was too good a judge of such subjects, to put his name to that account. He had been educated among the
Egyptians,
who were a people as well skilled in science, and particularly in astronomy, as any people in their day.
To this
true
and
modest
statement, Mr. Wakefield replies, with all the haughty selfsufficiency of a
Dictator
in the Republic of Letters:
All this may be literally true (see page 54) but a palpable untruth is implied in it, that the
Egyptians
were really a learned and scientific people, whereas their science and their astronomy was just
nothing at all
The learned and justly celebrated professor
Schloezer
whose authority (and the testimony of
such
a man I deem sufficient authority,) I have already, in a former instance, had occasion to refer to, bears evidence to the
wisdom
and
science
of the
Egyptians,
in the most honorable and unequivocal terms. As
German Literature
is not known
adequately to its merits,
in this country, I subjoin a translation of one or two extracts from this valuable work. "
Egypt,
he writes, (see his
Universal History,
first part, page 151) was probably the most ancient
post-diluvian
state in the world. Moses, who was a
pupil of the Egyptians,
was himself unacquainted with its origin; otherwise he would, no doubt, have informed us of it, as he has done of the origin of Babylon. As early as the times of Abraham, we find a
regular court,
with
court-sycophants
in abundance, who neglect not to give his majesty timely notice the moment a beautiful lady, from foreign parts, sets foot in his dominions. (Gen. xii. 15.) At Joseph's time we find this
court greatly increased in splendor,
with
suitable appendages
of
grandeur and officers of state:
and furthermore a
numerous priesthood,
invested with
hereditary revenues;
and a
standing army
at the time of Moses. And all this in
Lower-Egypt
only: though it is highly probable that
Upper Egypt was cultivated much earlier.
"
And in page 168 he writes.
"That the
Egyptians
were the most ancient of
all
cultivated nations, is established beyond a doubt: they were the
wisest
nation upon earth, even according to the testimony of the
Oracle at Delphi:
they were the
instructors
of the
Hebrews
and the
Greeks:
and powerful and highly-cultivated even at the time when Greece and all Europe was overrun with forests, in whose shades individual groups of savages fed upon acorns. The young Greeks were not acquainted with them till in the
wane
of their glory. Herodotus found
Thebes
a heap of ruins, and could procure no certain intelligence concerning the
age of the Pyramids.
He saw
statues,
which had tumbled down with
age,
notwithstanding they were, probably, like the unperishable cases of their
mummies,
made of sycamore wood. To the
Egyptians
the
Greeks
stand indebted (page 172) for the
whole
of their
wisdom
and
cultivation,
as do the
Hebrews
likewise for the
greatest part
of theirs. Their architectural ruins, surpass all the relics we have of Grecian, Persian, and Roman architecture, and will endure longer in their present condition, than the most modern of our palaces, for neither earthquakes nor rain (casualties to which they are not exposed) cause them to decay. To
their astronomers
the world stands indebted for the
true Solar year.
(within eleven minutes, five seconds, at least)—This
learned
people (page 178) wrote both in
hieroglyphics
and with
letters,
upon
stones, hermetical columns
(
) and
obelisks,
and afterwards upon the
Papyrus,
or
Egyptian bullrush,
which is of
greater antiquity
than
Numa.
"
.
It requires no great portion of penetration to discover Mr. Wakefield's true motives for refusing to allow the
Egyptians
their
just tribute of scientific praise.
He is well aware, that the concession of this point would detract from the
high encomiums
he has passed upon the
Jews,
(see page 15) as the
first founders and cultivators
(it should seem) of
science;
and which he obliquely urges as a proof of the
revelations
and
supernatural communications
(page 17) said to have been vouchsafed to Moses. But Mr. Wakefield may
romance
upon this subject as long as he pleases, he cannot invalidate those incontrovertible evidences to
Egyptian science and cultivation,
which the writings of Moses himself afford, and of which I might easily produce convincing specimens in abundance, did I see any further
need of witnesses,
after the
respectable voucher
I have already brought forward in support of the
claims of the Egyptians.
Indeed the
whole of the Mosaic account of the creation
appears to have been borrowed from documents of still greater
This is not merely my own individual opinion: it is entertained, and most ably vindicated likewise, by commentators of the first erudition and celebrity.
Eichhorn's Einleitung in das Alte Testament.
(
Eichhorn
's Introduction to the Study of the Old Testament.) Part II. p. 294.
antiquity, which he found ready prepared to his hand, and of which it is certainly more reasonable to suppose that Moses availed himself, than to pretend that he received his knowledge of the subject immediately from
divine communication.
His famous history of the
Fall of Man
carries with it unquestionable evidence of the
obligation
he lies under to the
decried, depreciated learning of the Egyptians.
It is obviously a
transcript
of a
hieroglyphical
representation of some
traditional
account respecting the
deterioration
of human nature, which Moses, if it was not previously done by some other writer, seems to have translated from the language of
emblem,
into that of
words
See
Rosemmüller's Erklaerung der Geschichte vom Sünden Fall,
(
Rosemmüllers
Illustration of the Mosaic History of the Fall of Man) in the
Repertory of Biblical and Oriental Literature,
part v. page 158-185.
.
Endless would be the task (and, indeed, what I have already advanced considerably exceeds the limits I had originally prescribed to the present undertaking) were I to attempt a reply to every
impertinent cavil
raised by these two redoubtable
Champions of Revelation,
against the
Age of Reason.
I shall therefore curtail my strictures as much as propriety will admit,
and, heartily tired with examining into the inconsistencies
of Mr. Wakefield and his learned coadjutor, through which I have already fought my way, hasten to the conclusion of my disquisitions, without stopping to answer objections which are beneath the notice of criticism; such, for instance, as Mr. Wakefield's silly triumph over Mr. Paine, (see page 59) because our author, forsooth, has interpreted the term
Testament
in its common acceptation, as implying a
will,
(and I will not take upon me to affirm, when the
context
is properly attended to, that Mr. Paine is not perfectly justified in giving the name of
will
to a
covenant,
of which the apostle expressly declares, that it is of no force during the life-time of the
testator.
(Heb. ix. 10, 11.) Be that, however, as it may, the objection started by Mr. Wakefield is perfectly puerile, irrevalent, and absurd, as the force of Mr. Paine's argument is not in the slightest degree affected, much less invalidated by it. The presumption and blasphemy of the charge, which ascribes
fickleness of mind
to the Creator, and makes him
abrogate
the covenant into which he had formerly entered with his creatures, remains the same; remains equally impious and daring, whether we distinguish this compact by the appellation of a
covenant,
or by that of
will.
To change or amend this covenant, implies a defect or incongruity in his former compact, which
Omniscience
was not competent to foresee, till experience pointed out the error;
for if that
first covenant
Heb. viii. 7.
had been
fau
tless,
then should no place have been found for the
second;
but now he
taketh away
the first, that he may establish the
second.
Heb. x. 9.
With respect to our author's excellent animadversions on
prophets
and
prophecy,
it is a matter of very little consequence, in my apprehension, whether the term, taken in its
scriptural
use and acceptation, signify a
poet,
as Mr. Paine explains it, or a
teacher,
as Mr. Wakefield maintains. I am satisfied that Mr. Paine's strictures contain abundance of truth
Justice, however, requires that I should notice in this place two very palpable errors into which Mr. Paine has fallen, and which are very properly animadverted upon by Dr. Priestley, though they seem to have escaped the
lynx-eyed
criticism of Mr. Wakefield. The first of these errors refers to Mr. Paine's attempt to prove that the
prophetical writings
were written in
poetical measure,
by quoting passages from the
English version.
The truth of the proposition itself, at least with respect to a part, is not designed to be called in question; but the argument upon which Mr. Paine grounds his proof is altogether nugatory and fallacious.
In the second instance, Mr. Paine lays himself still more open to animadversion. His hypothesis, that there must be
degrees
in prophesying, because the prophets are distinguished by the appellations of the
greater
and the
minor,
is really calculated to raise a smile, as Mr. Priestley very justly observes; the term having no reference whatever to the
quality,
but only to the
quantity
of what these prophets wrote. In both cases Mr. Paine is
vulnerable,
and I cannot defend him.
, and perhaps too much to go down
palatably
in this
age of prophecy and revelation.
The axe (to quote our author's own energetic language) strikes immediately at the root;
it attacks the very
fundamentals
of Christianity, the
testimony of Jesus being the spirit of prophecy.
—(Rev. xix. 10.)
Such being the state of the case, it should seem well worth our while to bestow a little attention and enquiry upon the subject.
"The supposed prophet (writes our author)
was the supposed historian of times to come; and if he happened, in shooting with a
long bow
of a thousand years, to strike within a thousand miles of the mark, the ingenuity of posterity could make it point-blank; and if he happened to be directly
wrong,
it was only to suppose, as in the case of Jonah and Nineveh, that God had repented himself, and changed his mind.
Let us next examine Dr. Priestley's statement.
Some parts of the book of
Daniel,
and also of the
Revelation,
are written in
such a manner,
that it is probable we shall not understand them completely, till we can compare them with the events to which they correspond.
Here then let me put the question to Dr. Priestley—Of what service can these prophecies be, allowing them even to merit the title, if they are so
obscure
that they are not to be
understood,
till explained and elucidated by
fulfilment?
And as by the term
prophecy,
a prediction, we apprehend, is meant, of certain specified events to be verified or accomplished at some future period; how are we to know that the writings in question have
any claim to the title,
if they be so
darkly worded
that we cannot even ascertain
what
transactions or events they are predictive of? We may on this plea wait till the
end of days,
and still honour them with the
title of prophecies,
in daily hopes of some event or other turning up, to which our ingenuity can make these
luminous
and
universal
predictions refer; for it seems they are
prophetical of the first plausible event that shall befal!
But it seems, the moment this
fortunate and long expected chance
turns up,
it is very
possible
we may
then
be satisfied, that only
He
who can see the end from the beginning, could have described them,
even in that obscure manner,
so long before.
Good bye, then, to prophecy, if even the original Revealer of it can scarcely see his way through the
dark
himself!
Yet still is our determined
champion of the faith,
(and it requires
great faith,
indeed, almost enough to remove mountains, to believe on such weak, unsatisfactory grounds) still is he not a whit cast down, nor discomfited! He continues:
The
reason
of the obscurity of
those particular prophecies, concerning events which are yet to come,
is pretty obvious
Obvious,
indeed! for as the
fortunate chance
of an
antitype
to these
mystical allusions
has not yet turned up, the believers in them are still
groping about in the dark,
and, like the
priests of Baal,
calling upon their God to know whether he be
sleeping;
or
busily engaged in granting audience to some of his newly-commissioned delegates and prophets;
or whether, peradventure, he is on a
journey in quest of fortunate chances, to verify his predictions, and render them intelligible,
that he heareth not, nor yet sendeth
one spark of fire, one ray of light,
to enable them to
see their way
through the
prophetical fog
in which
their senses are lost and bewildered!
. For as these prophecies are now in the hands of those who respect them, it might have been said, that they contributed to their own fulfilment by the friends of revelation endeavouring so bring about the events predicted.
A curious mode of reasoning, indeed! What a pity these prophecies were not written in
hieroglyphics,
in which case they might, possibly, have been
more obscure
and
darker
still than they are in their present state! However, as it is, I believe there is very little danger of the believers in them destroying the credit of the prophecies
after
fulfilment, by incurring the suspicion of having, from their clear apprehension of them, contributed to their verification.
But not yet, even, is our doughty champion to be dispirited. He has followed the advice given by the spirit to the
angel of the church of Laodicea,
(Rev. iii. 18.) and has wisely provided himself with
eye salve,
that
he may see,
where others are fain to
shut their eyes,
and give up all hopes of extricating themselves.
"Though
some
intermediate steps" (by the bye I am sadly apprehensive that
all
the steps in the
prophetical ladder
are broken down, since none of the admirers and advocates of the system are able to get to the
top
of it, in order, from the elevated station it would afford them, to take a nearer
peep into futurity,
and tell us when we may reasonably expect to see the fulfilment of some one or other of these glorious predictions, Mr.
Halhed's Millenium,
for instance!)
though some intermediate steps in the great train of events be thus obscure, both the great outline of the whole, and the catastrophe are most clearly expressed.
Obscure,
as is,
(I wonder Mr. Priestley should be perpetually harping upon this string; he should, methinks, have rather imitated the dutiful example of the sons of Noah, and have thrown a
mantle over the nakedness of his prophets,
unless, indeed, as not improbably may be the case, this charitable action is already performed by the prophets themselves in consequence of the
thick mantle of obscurity,
and "darkness palpable," in which they have wisely taken care to wrap themselves up)
Obscure as is the language of these prophecies, they plainly enough indicate a
long period of great corruption
in Christianity,
(methinks there is no need of either
priest
or
prophet, apostle
nor
commentator,
to tell us
that.
Unless, indeed, it be for our
comfort,
that we are foretold this
happy system of things,
which has already continued in force a considerable length of time, is likely to continue so a
great deal longer:
the prophets, in this respect, seem to have taken pattern from the comforters of poor, afflicted Job!)
A
long
period of great corruption in Christianity is indicated; especially by the rise of a
My advice to the unhappy victims of this
persecuting power
may be seen in Matth. xxiv. 16. And positively, if things do not shortly appear to mend, which, from the favorable circumstance of their being nearly, if not quite so, at the
worst
already, is reasonably to be expected, I believe I shall even find expedient, to put this advice in practice myself, as the doctor has done before me.
persecuting power within itself; but that this power, together with all the
Here I cannot but congratulate the author of the
Rights of Man,
that there is a
chance,
(provided he does but live
long enough
for the fulfilment of the prophecy, twice the age of
Methuselah,
or thereabouts) of his being no longer the object of
ministerial persecution, obloquy and revenge.
I cannot help congratulating him that there
is a chance
(let us all pray fervently to God, and Mr. Paine, I make no doubt, notwithstanding his general objection to prayer, will readily join us on this votive occasion, let us pray for the speedy
realization of this chance,
lest, haply, we, both ourselves and our little ones, should all be mouldering in our graves, "ages of hopeless years," before the accomplishment of this prophecy) there is a
chance,
however, and I glory in the pleasing, however
distant
prospect, that the long
proscribed Rights of Man
shall at length
triumph over every adversary;
when
thrones,
and
dominions, principalities,
and
powers,
shall
bow their proud necks under the footstool of Reason
and
Philosophy;
when they shall be
led captive and a show made of them openly
(I am talking
scripture
on this occasion, and not
treason,
be it known to the
Accusing Spirit,
to the
Dragon and his Angels,
Mr.
REEVES
and Co. for whose further information, and to save them the trouble of consulting the
bishops
I herewith subjoin chapter and verse Col. ii. 15.) and
man no longer be the slave of man!
but
all
unite, under the
happy banners
of
LIBERTY, EQUALITY,
and
FRATERNITY,
(I hope I may be allowed to repeat the words of
Christ,
Matth. xxiii. 8, 10.) in one
grand social compact of confederation, as the offspring of one God, and children of one common parent.
Amen! so be it; yea let the time come quickly!
temporal powers of this world in league with it, is to be overthrown; and that this will be a season of
great calamity.
As far as respects the latter part of the prediction, I readily grant, that the prophecy is, and has
long been,
(perhaps from the time of its first delivery, if not before) and I fear will continue so to be
a long, long time still to come,
in a
state of actual fulfilment.
But neither was the
Vision of the Four Beasts,
nor yet of the
Ram and He-Goat,
nor yet the
Vision of the Four great Monarchies
(see Daniel), nor yet the
Visions
granted to the
visionary
writer of the
Apocalypse,
(which, according to Mr. Wakefield's statement bears
such strong, incontrovertible,
internal
symptoms of genuineness,
and strong, and incontrovertible, and genuine
those symptoms are
of the
highest pitch of enthusiasm
wound up almost to
madness);
neither, I say, were
Daniel's Visions,
nor
St. John's Visions;
neither the
Vision of the Seven Stars and Seven golden Candlesticks;
of
the Man in the midst of these Candlesticks
with feet like brass, and a sharp, two-edged sword in his mouth, clothed with a garment down to the feet,
and girt about the paps with a
golden girdle; nor the
second edition
of the
Vision of the Four Beasts, with its glorious apendages;
nor the
Vision of the Seven Angels with the Seven Trumpets;
nor the
Vision of the Woman in the Sun
(who was
then
and
there delivered of a male child,
from whence, I suppose, our
modern Jerusalem Sols!);
nor yet the
Vision of the Beast with Seven Heads
(which, allowing each head to have had
two eyes,
or even only
one
eye to each head, would have made a most excellent
spy;
and as the Beast had moreover
ten horns,
he might have acted in the double capacity of
Informer
and
Alarmist!)
nor yet the
Vision of the Beast with two horns, coming up out of the earth
(or from the
dunghill of corruption,
as some interpreters render it, and which is therefore, by many learned commentators, supposed to be
typical
and illustrative of our incomparable
PRIME MINISTER,
for as much as
this Beast,
as well as the one that preceded him, is said to have had a
mouth vaunting great things;
for though he had but
two horns,
and those, it is presumed, of no great significancy or native power, being
like unto the
horns of a lamb,
and therefore not calculated for
warlike enterprizes,
yet he
spake as a dragon,
and deceived them that dwell on the earth
I have in most serious contemplation, and indeed I have already arranged the plan of my work, to give a comprehensive
Commentary
on the
true and mystical
meaning of this part of
St. John's Vision;
its
tropes, similies, types, allusions, references,
&c. in which I shall not fail to expatiate largely, and I hope satisfactorily, on all and several the
characteristics
of this
marvellous Beast.
I shall treat of the
fire which he maketh to come down from heaven,—of the miracles which he has power to do in the sight (but no longer than in the sight) of the other Beast;
to whom he seems to look up as to his master; and who is said to have
received a deadly wound;
which
deadly wound,
however, was notwithstanding, to the great admiration of all who knew him,
healed.
I shall moreover comment upon the
image
set up by order of
my
Beast to the
other
Beast, after his recovery from the
deadly wound;
of the power he has to
give life to the image
of this Beast, which
image
he causes to serve his own purposes as effectually as the
Beast
itself; of his
arbitrary stretch of prerogative, in causing all men, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their forcheads,
whence some would infer the true origin of
Whig
and
Tory, Jacobin
and
Alarmist;
though others, from what immediately follows,
that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast or the number of his name,
suppose it to allude to the
system of taxation, Excise-laws, licenses, &c.
but the beauty of
my commentary
is, that it proves it to be
typical
and
demonstrative
of
all and every one
of these opinions. Lastly, (and here it is I propose to display my wisdom) I shall give the
only
true, full, genuine and satisfactory comment, elucidation, interpretation, mystical meaning, and real explication, that ever
was,
or ever
will be
given of the
number of this beast.
As this work promises to prove a very expensive undertaking, I propose to
publish it by subscription,
and hope to get it ready for delivery against the
First of April
next!
); nor yet the
Vision of the GREAT WHORE
(which is the
most beautiful and sublime
of all the Visions, and on which thefore I mean to publish a small Treatise, dedicated to the
Maids of Honour,
to appear on the
Festival of the Blessed Virgin);
nor the
Vision of the Seven last Plagues
(which I devoutly pray the Almighty to ward off from us, as we have had plagues enough already); nor yet the
Vision of Satan's capture and incarceration
(who seems to have given his
keeper the slip, and to have got among the herd of swine again
); nor yet the
Vision of the battle of GOG and MAGOG,
which has been a long while determining, and in the contest has cost us millions of lives and treasure); nor yet the
Vision of the new Heaven and new Earth
(which Mr.
Halhed
and Mr.
Brothers
are in daily expectation of); nor yet the
Vision of the Water and Tree of Life
(both of which I wish to my heart I could transplant and distribute among our troops in the West Indies); nor yet the
Vision of Visions
(which has made
Visionaries
of us all; but which I forbear to expatiate upon; and indeed after having successfully run through such an almost unprecedented length of sentence, it is proper I should be indulged a little respite to fetch breath): neither, I say, was
this
Vision, nor
all these Visions,
nor
any of them,
necessary to prove and point out to us the
alarming state of things,
and the
general depravity of the age;
which consideration leads me to treat of the last subject I propose to discuss in the present work—the
radical Defects of our Religion;
from whence all the
numberless abuses
which both Mr. Priestley and Mr. Wakefield complain of, flow, and
must
flow, whilst we continue to believe
such monstrous doctrines,
and impiously honour them with the title of
God's Word.
However, before I finally dismiss the topic of
Prophecy,
I must remark, that there are in the Bible
Prophecies of a peculiar stamp,
which seem to refer to no
particular event,
but depend for accomplishment solely upon the
heated state of the imagination.
To this class belong the major part of those
pretty, melting, love-sick allegories,
which commentators generally refer to the
mystical union between Christ and his Church.
Nothing can, indeed, be more completely ridiculous, or serve to impress us with a more contemptible idea of the
Word of God,
as the Bible professes to be, than when we contemplate the vast pains which have been taken
to hammer
out of these
prophetic writings,
always in a "
train of fulfilment,
This has ever been the
cant-phrase
with the
pious advocates
of these
pious frauds;
who, by their happy dexterity in refering every notable event or revolution, whether in the moral or political world, to some
favourite prophecy,
till they
fulfil
it and
unfulfil
it again a hundred times over, make
Prophecy
the
scarlet-coloured Beast with seven heads and ten horns,
which John saw in the wilderness, that
"was, and is not, and yet is."
Doctor Priestley seems to have got astride on this Beast, when he discants on the
Prophecies of Moses now in a state of fulfilment
(see p. 94); together with the predictions of
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel,
and others. It is amazing what
striking analogies
what
strong relations,
and
palpable references
these
secondsighted
sons of the prophets can discover between
types,
and
prototypes,
and
antitypes,
and
archetypes,
where plain simple reason can discover no manner of resemblance whatever. It was with great truth, though from a different conviction, that
Werenfels
wrote on the cover of his Bible:
"Hic liber est, in quo quaerit sua dogmata quisque;
"Invenit et pariter dogmata quisque sua."
" but never
accomplished,
any kind of sense or meaning whatever! What numberless folios of learned commentaries have been written to trace out
Christ
under the various
types
of
Angel, Man, Bird, Beast, Fish, Insect;
nay, even under the type of a
stumbling stone
and
shin-breaker
Behold, I lay in Sion a
stumbling-stone
and
rock of offence.
(Rom. ix. 33)
Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be
broken;
but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to pieces.
(Math. xxi. 44.)
. And have not equal pains been taken to discover his
Bride,
the
Church,
under the
mask
of a
Harlot,
a
Strumpet,
a
Prostitute,
a
Whore,
and
Adultress;
one moment
reclaimed,
and the next as
arrant a jilt
as ever! And then again, by happy metamorphosis, she is a
sweet little innocent,
a
true and perfect maid,
without spot or blemish; a
little sister with no breasts,
or a
Prince's daughter with two breasts, like two young roes that are twins, and with a navel like a round goblet!
In short, the
Bridegroom
and the
Bride
are much of a piece—are
any thing
and
every thing,
as suits the convenience of the
Prophet
and his
commentator.
To call such a
farrago
of nonsense and absurdity the
Word of God,
is a downright profanation of the
sacred name
Let it not be imagined that I indulge in this ludicrous strain from a wantonness of disposition. The
revival of the claim to prophetic inspiration,
renders it necessary to oppose a
barrier
to the rapid progress of delusion. These
pious frauds
are in their consequences productive of very
unholy mischiefs,
and of greater evil than many would at first sight imagine. Argument and remonstrance have been in vain applied to expose the
Cheat in all its nakedness;
let us try what the lighter shafts of ridicule may be able to effect.
.
Where then, it will be demanded, are we to look for God's word? Or, hath he left himself wholly without witness? Mr. Paine's reply to this interesting question is truly admirable.
It is only in the
creation
that all our ideas and conceptions of a
word of God
can unite. The creation speaketh a universal language, independently of human speech or human language, multiplied and various as they are. It is an ever-existing original, which
The truth of this position is in fact admitted by Paul himself.
The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.
And in the preceding verse he says,
That which may be known of God is manifest in them: for God hath shown it unto them; so that they are without excuse: because, that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God,
Rom. i. 19, 20, 21. And I might add, that the happy change which has taken place, to speak in general terms, in our
pulpit-harangues,
is of itself no mean corroboration of the truth of the principles contained in the
Age of Reason,
in as much as our
pious orators of the church,
except it be on a day of particular celebrity, such as a
holiday,
a day of
fast
or
thanksgiving,
or a day appropriated for the discussion of certain crabbed knotty points of the Christian faith, such, for instance, as
Trinity Sunday,
chiefly confine their weekly lectures to the principles of morality, which certainly must edify their congregations infinitely more than
nonsensical wranglings upon incomprehensibilities, which have not the smallest tendency to reform and meliorate the heart.
every man can read. It cannot be forged; it cannot be counterfeited; it cannot be lost; it cannot be altered; it cannot be suppressed. It does not depend upon the will of man whether it shall be published or not; it publishes itself from one end of the earth to the other. It preaches to all nations and to all worlds: and this
word of God
reveals to man
all
that is necessary for man to know of God?
Were it my design to turn
panegyrist
to Mr. Paine, I might find ample scope for my talents in this one single beautiful and comprehensive sentence. It contains every thing that can be said either in
savor of the real word of God,
or in
detraction of the counterfeit.
The comparatively small part of the terraqueous globe, which, even at this day, after a lapse of more than three thousand years, has any knowledge of the
written word of God,
as professed to be contained either in the
Jewish
or
Christian scriptures
must, in the eye of reason, furnish a strong and insurmountable objection to the
divinity of these books,
in as much as a revelation of the Creator's will undoubtedly ought to extend to
all
his creatures, and not depend upon chance and circumstances for promulagtion. An earthly sovereign who issues an edict, or makes known his pleasure, to his subjects, is particularly careful that his proclamation shall be promulgated as universally as possible, in order that disobedience may have no shadow of excuse. If he be a king over many nations, and people of different tongues and languages bow down before him, he gives orders to have his proclamation translated into all those languages, that every one may read it in his
vernacular
tongue. These are measures of precaution and expediency which justice demands; and the application of this proposition to
revelation, or the word of God
holds strictly good.
How shall they believe in him of whom they have not
heard?
and how shall they
hear
without a
preaches?
and how shall parsons
preach
except they be
sent?
(Rom. x. 14, 15.)
Universality,
therefore, as the laws of God extend equally to the
whole human race,
becomes an indispensible requisite in whatever lays claim to the title of
God's word,
and as the scriptures cannot boast this indispensible requisite, they must relinquish their pretensions.
The
oldest
religion (I proceed now to the last object of my discussions, as specified above) of which we have any authentic and credible accounts, is
Judaism.
Not that I suppose mankind were entirely devoid of all religious notions (the reverse is evident from scripture itself) till Moses received a
divine commission
to be the
Founder of Judaism:
but whatever their religion was, considered in the light of a
system,
it is now impossible for us to ascertain. They worshipped idols, and probably the heavenly bodies, particularly the
sun
and
moon,
as from these they derived the blessings of heat and light.
Moses, whose views appear to have been no less than the establishment of
Universal Hierarchy,
formed a system most admirably adapted to promote his ambitious views. He was originally the son of an obscure Israelite, saved by stealth, as the book of Exodus informs us, from being put to death in his infancy, in pursuance of the edict of the king of Egypt, to which country the ancestors of Moses had emigrated to escape
Such was the amazing fertility of Egypt, that it was styled by way of eminence the
Granary of the Romans.
Agriculture did not require more than
one ninth
of the labour, which it calls for in England: nothing more was necessary than to sow and water: the land yielded in incredible abundance, insomuch that it supplied Italy, under Justinian, with nearly forty millions of quarterns annually!
starvation at a time of general scarcity and famine. At the age of three months, his mother being no longer able to conceal him at home with safety, he is put into an ark of bullrushes, and set adrift in the Nile. In this deplorable situation he is discovered by Pharaoh's daughter, whose compassion induces her to take care of him, and Moses is educated at Pharaoh's court, where he is
initiated into all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
When advanced to manhood, he discovers a
turbulent
disposition
Here I hold myself prepared and ready for attack. The man Moses we are told, and told by
himself
into the bargain, (and surely he ought to have been the best judge of his own feelings)
was a
very meek man,
above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.
(Numbers, xii. 3) Greatly am I led to doubt the justice of the character which Moses here gives us of himself, and strong and cogent are my reasons for doubting it. They may however, be expressed in very few words. I call in doubt his
written character of himself,
because it is flatly contradicted by his
actions.
He seeth an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, and straitway his spirit waxeth hot, and he falleth upon, and stayeth the Egyptian.
Heroic
as this action might otherwise appear, were it not for two untoward circumstances, the
odds
against the Egyptian, and the
looking of Moses
this way
and
that way,
(Exod. ii. 12.) to assure himself that he was safe; I greatly doubt whether it can be construed, by any polemical ambidexterity whatever, into a proof of
extraordinary meekness.
Again, when the seven daughters of the priest of Midian are rudely driven away from the watering troughs by the shepherds, (men seem to have entertained very strange notions of
gallantry
in those days) Moses, as every gentlemen ought to have done in such a case, feels his blood begin to boil; he standeth up, takes the part of the distressed damsels, and delivereth them out of the hands of the shepherds. (Exod. ii. 16, 19.) I am not finding fault with this action, on the contrary, I greatly admire it; it evinces much more true heroism (for here we see
one
engaged against
many
) than the former instance. All I contend for is, that it does not satisfy me as to the
meekness
of the man. Neither can his
meekness,
I apprehend, be argued from the circumstance of his dashing in pieces, in the intemperance of his zeal, the two tables of the commandments, which God himself, according to his account, had been at the trouble of engraving for him: nor yet from the history of
Korah's rebellion,
when Moses is said to have been very
wroth,
(Numbers, xvi. 15.) and indeed he had reason
to be wroth,
for Korah seems to have aimed at nothing less than
supplanting him;
wherefore Moses
very charitably
prays the Lord to have
no respect unto their offerings;
and puts an end to the rebellion by
undermining
those who were plotting to
undermine him.
(Numbers xvi. 31, 33) Nor yet can we prove his meekness from his
smiting
the rock in a passion, instead of
intreating it kindly
(Numbers xx. 11, 12), for which
extraordinary proof of meekness
he was doomed to perish in the wilderness, without entering the land of Promise; nor yet from the order he gave unto the Judges "to slay every man his neighbour;" (Numbers xxv. 5) nor yet from his being
wroth
with the officers of the host, because they had saved the
women
and
children
alive, whom Moses, very
humanely
commands them to
butcher,
reserving, however, the
females who had not parted with their virginity for themselves
(Numbers xxxi. 13, 18), Moses being
greatly incensed
against the
Midianites,
because they had seat a deputation to
Balaam,
the man with the
wonderful ass,
under the supposition of his being a
greater prophet
than Moses himself. (Numbers xxii) Neither, I say, can this last instance, nor any of the former instances I have enumerated, satisfy me of the
meekness
of Moses. The fact is, Moses (supposing the writings in question to be actually his own) was no more a novice in the art of writing
Commentaries
than
Julius Caesar,
or the most enlightened writer of his own memoirs among the moderns: but I am ever apt to distrust the praises which people bestow upon themselves.
; interferes in the quarrels between his countrymen and the Egyptians; kills one of the latter in a fray; and to avoid the punishment of his crime, (for the laws of the Egyptians relative to murder were exceedingly
severe
So severe indeed, that not only the
actual perpetration
of murder, but the
non-prevention
likewise of the crime, were punishable with death.
) he escapes into the land of Midian.
Here, after marrying the daughter of the shepherd whose flocks he tended, he grows dissatisfied with his humble condition, and plans schemes of future aggrandizement. Being born to no dominions, he must either acquire them by conquest, or be content to continue shepherd. Conquests are not made without armies, and as Moses has no troops, he must study the means of raising them. He had observed the hatred which the Israelites entertained against the Egyptians, to whom they were vassals; he forms the plan of inciting them to revolt, and making them the instruments of his ambition.
For this purpose he pretends a
divine mission
from God, accompanied with a
grant of certain lands,
the situation of which he deemed eligible. With
these credentials
he returns to Egypt; encourages his countrymen to emancipate themselves; and having prepared them for his purpose, endeavours to circumvent Pharaoh, by preferring an insidious request for leave of absence for the Israelites, that they may go
three days journey
into the wilderness, and
Thus we see the practice of making religion the
tool of politics
is not of modern invention.
sacrifice to their God. Pharaoh, however, had, it seems, reason to mistrust the sincerity of his zeal, having perhaps received secret intimation of his real design; and therefore not only flatly refuses to grant his request, but gives orders moreover to keep a stricter hand over the Israelites than before. The consequence is, the Israelites, finding themselves treated with aggravated rigour, remonstrate with Moses, and seem willing to relinquish the design of recovering their liberty. Moses, however, succeeds in dissuading them, and having sufficiently confirmed their wavering resolution, repeats his crafty request to Pharaoh, but with no better success than before.
A long series of plots and insidious machinations
The length to which this publieation has already swelled, prevents me from entering into the merits of the reputed miracles wrought by Moses. It is not, however, improbable but I may be induced to give a criticism of the
history of the emigration of the Jews,
in some future publication, of which I have already collected the chief materials,
now ensues, with
some feats
of
legerdemain,
which Moses being more expert at than the magicians of Pharaoh's court, he at length imposes upon the king, who grants the Israelites permission to decamp. No sooner, however, are the latter upon the march, (which they took care not to enter upon till they had
very genteelly
picked the pockets of their late acquaintance—Exod. xii. 35, 36.) than Pharaoh, receiving positive information, that Moses, and the Israelites under his command, had no intention of returning back to vassallage, but that their pretended pilgrimage to serve the Lord their God in the wilderness was a mere stratagem to effect their escape, determines to pursue the fugitives, and coming up with them towards
evening
This seems to be the true
pillar of the Cloud
which stood between the Israelites and the Egyptians (Exod. xiv. 19, 20.)
, is either
drowned
in attempting to
ford
the Red Sea at the place where the Israelites passed through it, but which was now no longer fordable, (the waters having returned) or else he sounds a retreat, and orders his troops home again, leaving the Israelites to pursue their route unmolested.
Our adventurer has now got a considerable number of subjects, for whom he has nothing to do but provide a place to settle in. As it was necessary to violate all the laws of of justice and humanity, in seizing upon the territories of other states, (for none were willing to resign their lands up to him) he pretends that the grant he had received from God of certain pleasant lands which suited his purpose, not only authorized the invasion of those lands, but moreover enjoined him to butcher and totally extirpate the original inhabitants, sparing neither men, women, nor children. Thus, by an alledged commandment from the Almighty, are the hearts of the Israelites steeled to all the cruelties and enormities which they afterwards perpetrated.
Seeing himself at the head of a numerous, and of course powerful nation, Moses turns his thoughts to secure the continuance of that power which he had so successfully and artfully usurped. For this purpose he gives a
code of laws
to the Israelites, which, like those of
Draco,
may be said to be
written in blood!
throws all the power into the hands of
the priesthood,
which he makes
hereditary
in his
own
tribe of Levi, because their progenitor was a blood-thirsty ruffian and cut-throat! (Gen. xxiv. 25, 30.) consecrates his brother Aaron
high-priest!
and confirms the despotism of his
hierarchy
by making the priests
keepers of the oracles
and
interpreters of the law
to the people. As for himself, he fills no one particular office, but is the
all in all
of the system.
That a religion founded upon such principles as these must inevitably tend to brutalize the heart, and lead to the most diabolical actions is self-apparent. Nothing can be closer than the intimate connection between religion and morals. The Jewish history furnishes a striking proof of the justice of this maxim. It exhibits little else to our view than a black catalogue of the most atrocious crimes that ever disgraced human nanature. Murders, rapes, enormities of every kind, at the bare mention of which humanity recoils with horror, appear on every page. A captive king is cut in pieces in cool blood
before the Lord
in Gilgal, by the reputed prophet of the Almighty, and the Conqueror whose humanity induced him to spare the life of his unhappy prisoner, is declared to have forfeited his crown, and to be rejected of the Lord, because he obeyed not the word of his prophet, who commanded him to
smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they had, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass!
(1 Sam. xv. 3.) Such was the blessed spirit of the Jewish dispensation, so highly valued in Mr. Wakefield's eyes, under which the simple act of gathering sticks to light a fire on the Sabbath-day, was punished with a torturing death. (Numbers, xv. 32—36.)
Let us now turn our eye to the
Christian System:
The leading feature of
this
scheme is
Redemption.
The
Christian Scriptures
concur with the
Jewish Chronicles
in informing us, that man, deviating from the line of rectitude, by listening to the seductions of wayward appetite
I state the proposition in Mr. Wakefield's own words (see page 62) to give it in its most unexceptionable form.
, entailed
death
and
misery
upon all his numerous posterity, not
one
of whom
(Enoch
and
Elijah
excepted, and why
they
should be excepted we see no reason) escape the punishment due to Adam's disobedience, though not one of them accessary to his crime.
Nearly four thousand years elapse, man continuing all that time to suffer the punishment of a guilt he had not incurred, when a Saviour is born in Bethlehem; whether by
divine conception
or not, is nothing to the present question. This illustrious personage is held up as the
scape goat
of the whole human race, who is to expiate the guilt incurred by the original transgressor.
Both these doctrines therefore proceed upon one and the same principle. The one damns all mankind for a
guilt
in which (one only pair excepted) they had no
participation;
and the other professes to save these wretched victims for the
merit
of another, in which they were equally
neuter.
Thus injustice forms the grand characteristic of them both.
The glaring absurdity, and, as I said before, injustice, of this scheme, are so ably pointed out by Mr. Paine (whose
notion of Redemption
I conceive to be a very just one, though possibly derived from his
father
's
See Mr. Wakefield, p. 61.
instruction), that I forbear to go over the ground he has already so successfully trodden However, to state one argument which I do not find urged by our Author, I object to Redemption, exclusive of every other consideration, on the plea that
justice
is not done by it to man.
Adam transgresses, and his whole posterity is doomed to
die.
This doom is carried into most rigorous execution, for not one (our two Old Testament worthies excepted) escape its force. As
Here I am well aware of a whole host of quibblers, that will not fail to fall foul upon me with their ridiculous distinction between
natural
death and
spiritual
death; but, to give them their fullest swing, they must allow that
natural death,
if it did not constitute the
whole
of Adam's punishment, forms however, a
part;
and this concession granted (and grant it they
must
) my argument holds equally good.
death
therefore was the punishment denounced against sin, it was impossible for
any
Redemption to take place, after the punishment had once been actually inflicted. Unless, indeed, as soon as the proxy-expiation was effected, those who had already paid the forfeit, that is to say, all the persons who have died from Adam to Christ, had been restored to life; for, if I am arrested for a debt, and a friend is generous enough to discharge it for me, I am no longer detained in prison.
Again, allowing even the
possibility
of Redemption; nay I will go a step further, and suppose it to have
actually taken place;
still I maintain, that
justice
is not done to man by it. Adam's transgression damns me,
ipso facto,
without any act of mine. I have a right, therefore, when Redemption is held out to my view, to expect that I shall benefit by it upon the
same terms.
I have a right to stand
neuter
in the business; and as I am damned by
Adam's Fall,
whether I profess to believe in it or not, I have a right to benefit by
Christ's Redemption,
whether I make it my creed of faith or not. Upon any other terms this Redemption becomes partial and unjust.
Having thus stated the inconsistency of the scheme in
theory,
I proceed to try its merits by the touchstone of
practice.
It is by the
fruit
that we judge of the
tree;
and even the Christian scheme allows the justice of this principle. I have already shown the intimate connexion between Morals and Religion in the case of
Judaism;
I shall now discuss the same topic with reference to
Christianity.
Deeds
constituted the merit of the
Jewish system; Faith
constitutes the merit of the
Christian.
The
b
st Jew
was the man that conformed most scrupulously to the outward ceremonies of the Levitical law; the
best Christian
is the man who has the strongest faith. The sinner, who transgressed against any ordinance of the Mosaic dispensation, not punishable with death was made to
smart
for his crime, by the
forfeit
he had to pay under the name of an
offering.
Under the Christian dispensation the most damnable sins (provided they do not offend against the statute) may be committed one moment, and repented of the next, and pardoned to boot, without costing the sinner one farthing, unless he has the misfortune (for such I must consider it in this light) to belong to the Romish church; in which case he will have to pay (but I believe the terms are pretty moderate) for absolution.
Whether he pays, however, or not; whether he be a disciple of the Church of Rome, or a disciple of the church of England, it makes no difference as to his conduct. In the former case, he can buy a licence to sin on with impunity, for three, or four, or a dozen years together, according as his purse holds out; in the latter he may sin and pay nothing: but then the Protestant who does not pay, must be at the trouble of repenting, which the Catholic, who pays, has no need to do. Thus they stand both nearly upon a level. Now let us see what good effects this blessed Religion produces in their practice.
The Christians, long persecuted by the Jews and Pagans, no sooner get out of the fire themselves, than they begin to thrust others into it. They retaliate upon the Jews, they retaliate upon the Pagans, and when they have no common enemies to persecute, they fall out among themselves, and begin to worry each other. Their religion at length branches out into two distinct ramisications; which is not to be wondered at, as I have already demonstrated Christianity to be
theoretical;
whereas Judaism was
practical.
These two
branches,
though originating from the
same stem,
harbour greater hatred to each other, than if they were
rival trees.
Persecution rages hotter now than ever; the elder branch, being the most powerful, as matured and invigorated by age, carries it awhile with a high and daring hand. At length the younger branch attains to sufficient growth and vigour to dispute the day, and retaliates in its turn upon the elder branch. Thus they continue worrying each other, till their mutual interests compel them to live more neighbourly together: but neither should a single leaf on the Protestant branch enjoy one visit from the genial beams of the sun, if the Catholics could prevent it; nor the same blessing be allowed to the leaves of the Catholic branch, if the Protestants had it in their power to cast a shade upon them.
The disqualification of the Catholics and Dissenters to hold places under our government; sit in cur senate; pass their degrees in our Universities; with various other illiberal restrictions, bear ample evidence to the truth of my assertion.
Religion being thus made to consist in faith, or in other words, in opinion; and opinions being as various as there are heads to harbour those opinions, the most absurd and monstrous doctrines are engrafted upon it. Hence we hear talk of
standing up for our religion;
(which is, or ought to be, well able to stand up for itself) of
I am grieved to think, that we are at the very moment that I write these pages
sighting
for
religion
in our
crusade
against the French.
fighting for our religion;
(though the founder of it would not permit the sword to be drawn in his own defence) of
dying for our religion;
(which is nearly as absurd as fighting for it, religion being intended for the happiness of man, and not for an
ignis fatuus
to lead him into destruction) of
making Proselytes to our religion;
(which, if possible, is more absurd still, as religion should be left to beat up recruits for itself) of
reforming our religion;
(which, if it stands in need of reform, is better totally rejected) of
establishing our religion;
(which God has taken care to do himself when he first laid down the immutable laws of nature) of
proving our religion;
(which if it be not the religion of nature will be found not worth the proof) of
bringing our religion to the test;
(which none but natural religion can ever stand) of
supporting our religion
(which if it wants support from man should be left to fall to the ground). Hence likewise in
practice
we are guilty of the most ridiculous absurdities, and whilst we style our God the
Prince of peace,
at whose birth the angels rent the air with loud acclaims of
Tidings of great joy; peace upon earth, and good will to men:
—we call upon him to bless our slaughtering arms, and hang up the shattered standards and blooddistained trophies of our enemies in his consecrated temples!
But here steps in Mr. Wakefield with his famous plea,
Ab abusu ad usum non valet consequentia.
—I admit the proposition in its fullest extent. But first, let him demonstrate to me the
use
of the thing for which we are contending. I defy him to do it. But should he even succeed in discovering and substantiating
some degree of use;
it still remains to be ascertained, whether the
use
atones for the
abuse;
whether it preponderates in the scale. When I see nothing but
abuse
from first to last; nothing but
corruption
throughout; when I see nothing but
fraud
and
deception;
I fear that his
"Abusus non tollit usum,"
will stand him in little stead. Let him prove to me that we have less uncharitableness, less unmercifulness, less vindictiveness in the world (I am speaking in general terms of mankind at large, and not arguing from individuals) since the introduction of the Christian system: let him prove that we have fewer animosities, fewer wars, less blood-shed, less butchering of our fellow-creatures, and that often under the mask of religion;
How many millions of lives have been saorificed at the shrine of Christianity in the
holy
wars against the
Saracens!
in the
crusades
against the
Hussites, Hugonots,
&c.
let him prove and establish these important points, and I shall readily acknowledge myself his convert. Till then, however, I must make bold to believe with Mr. Paine, that the CREATION IS THE ONLY TRUE AND REAL WORD OF GOD, that ever did or will exist, and that every thing else called the
Word of God,
is fable and imposition.
London,
October 10, 1795.