PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

Of Rt1.Jermcing tbe Dcit),.
Christ and his Apostles, fer the purpose of subverting
the whole svstem, by the abs·.lrdities, whtch it is
I 1 h·
thus represented to contain. By Ilnainer, t . e IgnOrance
and vices of the sacerdotal order, theIr mutual
dissensions and persecutions, their usurpations and
enchroachments upon the inteHectualliberty and civil
rights of mankind, have been di~played with no
small triumph and invective, not so much to guard the
Christian laity against a repetition of the same injuries,
which is the on1y proper use to be made (.f the most
flagrant examples of the past, as to prepare the way
for an in~inuation, that the religion itself i~ ~othing
but a profitable fable, imposed upon the fears and
rredulity of tl:e multitude, and upheld by- the frauds
and influence of an interested and crafty priesthood.
And yet how remotely is the character of the clergy
connected ,vith the truth of Christianitv? 'Vhat, af-
.I
ter all, do the most disgraceful pages of ecclesiastical
history prove, !iut that the passions of O!lr common
nature are not altered or exduded by distinctions
of name, and that the characteis of men are
formed much more by the temptations than the duties
of their profession? A third finds delight in coi.
leeting and repeating accounts of wars and massacres,
of tumults and insurrections, excited in almost
every age of the (:hristian era by religious zeal; as
though the \~ices of Christians \vere parts of Christic!nity;
intolerance and extirpation precepts of the
gospel; or as if its spirit could be judged of, fronl
the councils of princes, the intrigues of ~tatesmen,
the pretences of malice arId ambition, or the tInau ...
thorized cruelties of some g100my and virulent sulwrstition.
By a fourth, the succession and variety
of ropular reJigion~; the vicisitudes with which
sects and tenets have flourished and decayed; the
~cal with ~'hich . they were once supported, the negligence
wIth whIch they are now remembered; the
little share. w~ich. reastm and argument appear to
ha~c. had 111 frammg the creed, or rrgulating thr
rclJgJOus conduct of the multitude; the indift'er ,nCt~
;and submission with which the religion Qt thf' st:!' ..