e i " per to degrade man, to debase him in his own " eyes, to stifle all defire of rendering himself useful to "society, &c." In another place he tells us, that it is evident that in Christianity "marriage is regarded " as a state of imperfection." Prayer, -Rest on fabbaths, and festivals, fall under his severest ridicule. Such is the pictureth is writer has drawn of Chriftian morality. We are able to trace in it fome ideas which may have been suggested by the celibacy of the papal clergy, the folitude and rigour of monaftic life, and the extravagance of some fects of fanatics, at fome few places, and for short periods; but how wonderfully distorted and overcharged is the portraiture even of those, and what have they to do with the morality of the gospel?-Yet in other places the picture is drawn in colours still more hideous. But I have quoted enough to give my readers a specimen of the turn of thought of writers such as this, fuffici ent, I should hope, to induce them to weigh their opinions and their proofs with great care, before they adopt them as just and conclufive, and to com pare their representations accurately with the origi nals which they pretend to describe, before they suppose a refemblance. After this view of Christian morality we are not to wonder that the fame writer speaks in the same stile of the first teachers of Chrif tianity. Of the Jews, he says, that "the Jew was d Boulanger, tome 7, p. 240 "always "always the victim, and the dupe of his inspired " teachers, and that in his greatest miseries his pre" sumptuous fanaticism, his senseless hopes, his cre" dulity, which could not be tired out, sustained " him against the strokes of fortune; in fine, con" quered with the rest of the world, Judæa submit"ted to the Roman yoke. Then, chagrined by " misfortune, the Jew became more feditious, more " fanatical, and more blind; proud of the promises " of his God, and full of confidence in those ora“cles which announced to him a state of happiness " he never has enjoyed, encouraged by enthusiasts or impostors, who incessantly sported with its cre"dulity, the Jewish nation always looked for a " Meffiah, a monarch, a deliverer, who should dif engage it from the yoke under which it groaned, " and exalt it to reign over all the nations of the " universe." Speaking of the disciples of our Lord, he says, " & these men, either impostors or dupes, gave the " most striking teftimony of his power, and pretend "ed that his mission was proved by miracles without " number." And afterwards, " Paul, the most am f This is certainly true; how then happened it that Chrift should be the only person who, claiming the character of the the Meffiah, renounced all temporal views, and the only one whose claim has been fuccefsful. 8 Boul. ib. p. 61 and 64. Vid. in answer the 1st, 2d, and 3d chapters. h Vid. Boul. tome 7, p. 118, and in answer, the 1st and 2d chapters of the following work. "bitious, "bitious, and the most enthusiastic of the disciples of " Jesus, carried this doctrine (viz. that of Plato " combined with Christianity) seasoned with the " fublime and the marvellous, to the people of " Greece and Asia, and even to the inhabitants of " Rome; he had followers, because every man who " addresses himself to the imagination of the vulgar, " will engage them in his interests." And again, "The pretended miracles which Christianity1 relates, " like those of all other religions, have no other " foundations but the credulity, the enthusiasm, and " the ignorance of the populace, and the address of " impoftors." Speaking of the martyrs, * he says, "all strong passions have their martyrs, Pride, "Vanity, Prejudices, Love, Enthusiasm for the pub " lic good: Even Guilt itself produces martyrs 66 every day, or at least makes those, whom such ob jects intoxicate, close their eyes against dangers" is it then wonderful that enthusiasm and fanati"ticism, two passions the strongest amongst men, " should have fo often made those who are intoxicat" ed with the hopes which they inspire, encounter " death." And again-" the firmness of the first "Christians must, by a natural effect, have formed 66 profelytes, and the martyrs prove nothing but the " force of enthusiasm, of blindness, of obstinacy, i Vid. Boul. tom. 7, p. 118, and in answer 1st and 2d chapters of the following work. * Ib. p. 132, 133 " which superstition can produce, and the senselefs ८८ cruelty of all those who perfecute their fellow" creatures for religious opinions." Speaking of the scriptures, he tells us" in the " Old Testament every thing breathes enthusiafm, " fanaticism, and madness, often dreffed up in pom" pous language." - Of the New, he fays, " that if " we cast our eyes over the New Testament, we " shall in the fame manner fee in it nothing which " announces that "fpirit of truth which it is supposed " has dictated that work." Of St. Paul, he fays, 66 we find the fame errors in that pompous nonfenfe, "attributed to St. Paul; this man, filled with the " divine spirit, exhibits nothing in his difcourses " and his epistles but the enthusiasm of a madman. "The most studied commentaries cannot enable us " to understand or reconcile those incoherent contra" dictions with which his works are filled, or the un" steadiness of his conduct, sometimes favourable, " and sometimes opposed to Judaifm." In one word he tells us, "Paul became the foul of his fect, " his enthusiasm communicated itself; he braved " dangers, while bufied in encreasing the number " of his partizans." Such are the opinions and language of this writer. Vid. Boulanger, tome 7, p. 179 and 180. m Vid. in answer, chap. iii. iv. v. and vi. of the following work. * Vid. Infra, chap. iii. fect. 4, in anfwer to this charge. If If they were peculiar to himself, they would perhaps merit little attention; but * unhappily such opinions and fuch language are too generally adopted, particularly by this author's countrymen. In that general revolution of opinion which has taken place in that great nation, we have feen it pass, from an apparently blind acquiefcence, in all the corruptions and abuses which had been engrafted on the gofpel during the dark ages of Gothic ignorance, and papal ufurpation, to as blind and indifcriminate a condemnation of the entire Christian scheme. The abuses and corruptions of the gospel have been mistaken for the gofpel itself, and both have too frequently been rejected together: hence we find, that in the pamphlets and journals of the day, in the language of the populace, and sometimes in more grave writings, and more dignified afsemblies, fanaticism and Chriftianity have passed for fynonymous terms. "That fanatical priests wish to delude the " people, by preaching fanatical doctrines, and re"viving a fanatical worship," is the frequent fubject of complaint and alarm. I am far from accusing or fufpecting the majority of the nation, or its rulers, of entertaining errors such as these; but they have extended fo widely, as should rouse every friend to truth and piety to prevent their further spread. If * Mr. Paine in his Age of Reafon, part 2d, revives the charge of fanaticism against St. Paul; he however dwells on it only in a fingle sentence, and confefses that he only copies Boulanger. |