WHEN man feels himself possessed of new ideas, or embraces sentiments on celestial or ter­restial objects, uncommon among the great mass of vulgar, he also feels, by natural instinct a pro­pensity to lay them before the public, for the inspection of a regenerated people, recently e­merged from the shackles imposed on them by knaves and impostors. Under this impression, I embark in the ardous task of being the public opposer of popular errors; trusting at the same time, that in exposing those religious foibles, to which deluded mankind are too fondly addicted, I shall not insult the good understanding of the well informed, nor abuse that scope of reason which kind nature has conferred upon me.

Could we but glance at futurity with equal fa­cility as we view the actions of past generations, how would our souls be exalted on contemplating posterity, at so great a remove from rude barbarity, advancing by gradual steps to a more natural [Page 10] image of that perfection, which brightens the features of humanity, and exalts man to those high stations in human life, allotted him by his divine Creator.

Situated as we are in the middle passage be­tween the future and the past, we cannot but look forward with consoling avidity on the rapid progress of human perfection, for, however re­tarded in its progress, by a combination of kings and priests, it has nevertheless succeeded in ar­resting sceptres from the one, and mitres from the other.

The almighty host of reason and of truth strikes deep at the root of evil, while ambiguous priests and their armies of spiritual slaves, grope in the obscure cells of fable and of mistery.

When we take a prospect of the past ages of the world, and recount the numberless enormities committed under the high-sounding sanction of a revealed religion, human nature recoils, and our souls revolt against so unnatural a system.

A liberal education, aided by rational liberty, and the light of reason, emboldens men to ha­zard opinions, at the present day, for which, in times of yore, the inquisitorial decrees of a vicious priesthood would consign him to the dungeon, [Page 11] and his works to the flames. But as these ob­stacles to human improvements are surmounted, and the superstitious worship paid to crowns and mitres, nearly abolished; let us, while we reflect on past folly, endeavour to improve on modern wisdom.

It would be the work of a voluminous history to deliniate the errors of former ages, the wars and massacrees, fomented by one faction of priest­hood against another, each professing divine theological inspiration; the stretch of princely power, the cruelties exercised to establish reli­gious tenets, the shifts and stratagems resorted to, in order to establish and seal with a [...]vine impression, the doctrine of the victorious party; and the unnatural edicts of kings and national governors, to bind men down to these tenets, under pain of confiscation and excommunication, &c. All these being foreign to my present plan, I shall proceed briefly to state some ge­neral objections to prevailing error, and leave this age of philosophy to draw its own conclu­sion.

Our deluded ancestors were, for the most part, incapable of discriminating between sound reason and ambiguous sophistry, nor was holy [Page 12] writ more revered by them, than doubtful tra­dition, or human invention. Stories the most idle, and doctrines the most repugnant to na­ture and reason, never wanted legions of advo­cates; and cold steel, or flaming faggots, were applied as the cure of unbelief; hence sprung fa­natism and phrensy, the offspring of a systema­tic ignorance established duplicity, art and im­posture.

The infatuated men of old, who idolized and adored the prophetic history, firmly believed it to be the hand writing of an unerring God, and yielding an implicit obedience to the inter­pretation of their Priests, conceived it too bold and presumptuous to reason for themselves, till at length they insensibly sunk into a blind tho' tyrannic system of orthodoxy; which kept the world in chains of ignorance for many centuries. No sooner did a bold adventurer rouse from the bed of theology and start objections to the cor­rupt doctrines of the times, but he was silenced by an imperious, self interrested, and monopo­lizing clergy, who had no bounds to their usur­pations, and scorned to live under any rational controul.—All reforming efforts prove abortive, while the clergy rule the roast.

[Page 13]At length some disappointed Monks, or out­voted Cardinals, fired with revenge against the seer of Rome, publickly exposed the absurdities of current orthodoxy. They set up a new traf­fic for themselves: and as the success of one imposture proves a stimulus to various others, we find the christian religion divided, and sub­divided, into a variety of branches. Perseve­rance and artifice established every sect into a kind of licensed Order. All are possessed of divine grace; none are exempt from the pro­mises of the gospel.

Kings chuse some favourite system, as the religion of the land; not for their own good, but for that of their loving subjects. The pious clergy reforming with the times, found it their interest to crouch to the foot of monarchy; royal letters patent, by the Lord's annointed, sealed their dogma's with a divine mission. Se­parate establishments ensued; one church vied with another, sect accused sect of false doctrine, heresy, and schism: the Bible was resorted to as the rallying point of all controversies: divines of all descriptions treasuring it up, as the grand ma­gazine, which heaven reserves for their mutual purposes. Like a free port for all nations, the Bible harbours all, and supplies the contending [Page 14] parties with the implements of war and contro­versy. This Bible will confute in one passage the doctrine it approves in another. Tenets however doubtful can be proved by scripture, and fancy. From hence orginated theological broils, and national calamities: with a variety of evils heaped on man, by the blind leaders in religious ceremonies, which we hope modern wisdom has finally put an end to.

We have now no further need of holy wars to fight the Lord's battle, nor religious persecutions to establish the word of God; fagots need not be lighted, nor racks, nor gibbets erected, to propa­gate a divine theology, which has nothing for its object, but slavery to the laity, and revenue to the clergy.

Can a rational being suppose for a moment, that a religion descended from heaven, should spread such terror and desolation wherever it makes its appearance: or that a gracious God, would speak to his peculiar people, in a language not to be understood: or transmit to posterity, a history so obscure and unintelligible, as to leave us in eternal doubts and uncertainties: a history no less difficult to reconcile in all its parts, than to bring the two polar stars into one point: no­thing can be a more glaring contrast, than the different constructions each sect puts upon the [Page 15] words of the Bible. To believe what they all say, is impossible, and how to discriminate we know not. Shall we then renounce the fabric, with all its fiction, rapsodies and concomitant absurdi­ties: or shall we still keep growling in the dark and never find our way, shall we nod approba­tion to a system of blind mysteries, and refuse to embrace those truths conveyed to us by the light of nature and of reason? we see the chris­tian world convulsed and agitated, and it only requires the virtuous exertions of enlightened men to restore those captive slaves, under the bondage of Priests, to the family of freemen.

The few remaining fanatics will not fail to brand us with their usual epithets of changlings, shifted about by every wind of doctrine, a natural man, carnally minded, with other cant phrases. But may we not with equal justice retort, and accuse them of shifting their ground, changing from primitive institutions, and borrowing their maxims from the most notorious errors. What are the whole chain of reformers, but the off­spring of popery, the illegitimates of superstition and idolatry? If fortunately for the good of man, we could dissipate the clouds that cover so many mysteries, and remove the errors of human in­vention, we should be better able to confute the proud presumption of those who threaten with [Page 16] the vengeance of heaven, all who attempt to al­ter one tittle of their ritual. ‘Liberty of thought says the philosopher, is the first of rights, and the most respectable domain, is that of conscience: these being the gifts of nature conferred on man," who shall say we have not the right to examine.’

May we not then under the hopes of impunity examine the precepts of the christian system, and see whether its boasted morality excess those of other nations, so much reprobated by Chris­tians. We shall

First, with submission to the clergy of all na­tions, examine the holy order of those missiona­ries sent by christian kings, and Roman Pontiffs, to convert infidel nations to christianity:

Secondly, we shall notice the exemplary vir­tues of those patriots who graced the golden age: these we shall do by a reference to their respective histories, after which we shall pro­ceed,

Thirdly, to analize the venerable system of christianity.

These three things being promised, we pro­ceed, first, to examine the conduct of these chris­tian missionaries who have travelled into foreign countries to spread the light of the gospel. These, instead of convincing the natives, that they [Page 17] excelled in the practice of moral virtues, have given the loose to every kind of vice, and out done in every species of plunder and debauchery, those who have lived without religion, and without laws. They had committed every enor­mity that could make human nature appear mon­strous. Few can be ignorant of the cruelties committed by the Spanish missionaries at Mexico and Peru, where they built churches at the ex­pence of the inhabitants, and endeavouring to explain the mysteries of their religion to the natives, in a language of which they were totally ignorant, and afterwards piously slaughtered them as heretics, for not believing what had been so clearly demonstrated to them. When these missionaries had conquered the Island of Hispa­niola, they made peace with the natives upon conditions that they would cultivate all their lands for the use of the servants of Jesus, and also to furnish them with a certain quantity of Gold every month. The poor wretches finding the task unsupportable, as well as impossible, took shelter in the mountains to screen them­selves from their cruel oppressors, but the Spa­niards in justice (as they said) to the injuries offered by the natives to God's people, trained their dogs to hunt them, and fired with super­stition, [Page 18] made a vow that each of them would destroy twelve Indians every day, in honour of the twelve apostles; to this might be added a brilliant history of the plunders and ravages committed by our much respected mother coun­try, upon the plains of Hindostan, but, humanity recoils at the dismal recital.

From a view of such scenes of cruelties com­mitted under the banner of a meek and suffer­ing God, and by the real professors of his holy religion, what inference can we draw, but that they look upon their religion to be a mere farce, and the Bible upon which it is founded, to be all a lie. ^*

We now proceed to notice in the second place the exemplary virtues of our primitive patriots. Men are so infatuated even to this day, that they affect to look back with a reverential awe, and devoutly honour the past periods of the world, with the splended title of the golden age, admiring what is past, and despising what is present, with the hardened epithet of the age of iron. They indeed affirm, without much authority, that in the patriarchial ages, the earth brought forth her abundance spontaneously, that [Page 19] the Lion, and the Tyger were harmless as the Lamb, and that mankind free from tumultuous passions, lived in the utmost simplicity and se­curity: but if the Bible did not confute such accounts, I should not be able to do it, under the authority of that confused and barbarous history, of which the following is a brief abridg­ment. Instead of all virtue then existing upon earth, the fate of the abandoned cities which were consumed wirh fire, said to be from hea­ven, is a proof to the contrary, and gives us an example of the total corruption of ancient times. The diffidence that every man entertained of his neighbour, is no weak argument in fa­vour of their dishonesty. Abraham and Isaac both apprehended that they would be slain for the sake of their wives, and it was no uncom­mon thing for a man to require an oath of his neighbour that he would do him no harm.

The stories of Judah and Tamer, his daugh­ter in law, and the rape of Dinah, gives us a just idea of the debauchery and injustice of God's chosen people—Judah condemned Ta­mer for the crime he had committed with her; —The perfidious sons of Jacob slew the Sheche­mites after they had ratified a treaty of peace with them, in the most solemn manner;— Jacob bargained with his uncle to serve seven [Page 20] years for his daughter Rachel: when the time expired, Laban shamefully imposed upon him Leah, and had the effrontery to justify what he had done, and exacted another seven years for Rachel;—Jacob deceived his brother Esau;— the sons of Jacob sold their brother Joseph as a slave to the Egyptians;—Moses committed murder; David contrived to have Uriah slain, that he might enjoy his wife Rebecca;—Solomon committed boundless fornications;—and Abso­lon in the most shameless manner, cohabited with a multitude of women, before a numerous people.

Such, pious Christians, are the accounts of the peculiar favourites of the Deity, recorded in the divine volume, so much admired by ig­norance and credulity. But, when Christianity took effect, were crimes less usual? Does his­tory paint mankind as meliorated at so great an event? alas! the reverse is the fact. Gloomy superstition started up accompanied with per­secution, which drenched the world in blood. Rome erected a spiritual authority, and indis­criminately trampled on the rights of God and Man; Christian Saints succeeded heathen Gods: witchcraft and miracles were opposed to the e­ternal unerring laws of nature. On looking over a vast desert of eighteen centuries, we find [Page 21] that Christianity has been the parent of ignor­ance, and the hand-maid of oppression, cru­elty and superstition. Blind mysteries and fa­bulous tales, are the spiritual food dressed up for the faithful in Jesus Christ.

When Rome, the proud mistress of supersti­tion, assumed a spiritual and temporal authority over all Europe, she not only fettered men's minds to slavish doctrines, but presumptuously laid an embargo on heaven. No more angels shall descend from thence to minister unto men; no more prophets shall predict the will of God; no more miracle to confound the obstinate, but such as are wrought by her own members; and those, like the miracles of Jesus, are done in secret, and seen only by the credulous ignorant. Yet these imaginary phenomenons have been trumpeted a far off by the oracles of deceit, and were the grand instruments in duping the Chris­tian world into a servile submission to supersti­tious formalities and idle ceremonies. When a few Christian States reformed from the errors of popery, and shook off the pope's supremacy, the clergy piously preserved to themselves the means of power and monopoly. They changed indeed the name of their religion, but they firmly maintain the aggrandizing benefices. They are continually disclaiming against the damnable doc­trine [Page 22] of the Roman church, who in her turn accuses them of heresy. Thus an irreconciliable difference pervades the whole mass of Christian professors. The Christian saints are considered as the tutular deities, who preside over the churches dedicated to them. The Catholicks have a day which they consecrate to the memory of seven thousand holy virgins, who slept three years and thought it but one night. The En­glish have their St. George; the Scotch their St. Andrew; the Welch their St. Taffy; the Irish their St. Patrick, &c. Churches are dedi­cated to these imaginary saints, and days reli­giously observed to commemorate their virtues.

In this country we smell too strong of the old leaven, our churches are dedicated to we know not who, and though we profess to be the most liberal in our religious principles, we have not one church in this great continent dedicated to the supreme Being. Reason dictates, that when we enter a temple, consecrated to religious wor­ship, it ought to be dedicated to the being there­in worshipped. The God of nature being the grand object of all rational adoration, every house of worship should be dedicated to him alone. But the great trait in the Christian system is its pre-eminence in the science of contradiction; [Page 23] Christians contemn a deist for unbelief, but they cannot accuse him of idolatry.

A deist believes in a supreme being without an equal, or a troop of infernal deities, called devils or damned spirits. A deist contemplates the glory of omnipotence, in the minutest of his works, and worships God in every particle of his crea­tion; a deist presumes not to dictate to the al­mighty, what blessings he shall give, or what evils to withhold; a deist is convinced by reason and experience that human petitions will never alter the will of providence; a deist endeavours to make himself happy in his present state, con­temns no man for opinions; is liberal, candid, and communicative to all men. But a Christian worships three Gods in the person of one God: and in defiance to the science of numbers con­tends that, three times one is one, and that, once one is three; he petitions the deity in the most absolute and dictatorial manner; he is dissatisfied with what he has, and is continually coveting more; contemns those who differ from him in opinion, and is ready to persecute his brother to do his God a service. In short, a Christian, is illiberal, narrow minded, and uncharitable in the extreme. They tell us that their God is his own son; that this son is his own father, and that he was born unbegotten, being four thou­sand [Page 24] years older than his mother. Three Gods are but one God; three eternals are but one eternal, three Almighties are but one Almighty; in short, almost every tenet in the Christian system, is a complete negative to itself.

We shall now contrast a few passages of the sublime medley, called the Bible, by comparing its former with its latter parts, and shewing the difference between the old and new word of God. In the former part we are informed that Elijah never tasted death, but that he was hoist­ed off alive to heaven in a chariot of fire; in the latter part we are informed that it is appoint­ed to all men once to die: and that flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Whether Elijah was a man or a composition of flesh and blood, I leave the Christian doctors to determine. Mo­ses tells us to resist evil and seek restitution for injuries done unto us, even to so nice a fraction, as an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth &c. But Christ in direct opposition to him, tells us to resist not evil, and if any one shall smite us on the one cheek, turn unto him the other also. As these two divine legislators differ so materially in their preceptorial functions, it is absolutely impossible to adhere to them both: and those pious Christians who believe all the Bible to be the revealed will of God, must [Page 25] plainly see that in these opposite precepts, God contradicts himself: which totally destroys the idea of his being an unchangeable God, the same to day, to morrow, and for ever.

How chimerical are those notions which sup­pose that an infinite God, in the person of man, or angel, should in his flight thro' immensity, perch upon this earth, and relate those con­temptible stories, about Sampson and his foxes: Balaam and his ass: Jonah and his whale: Bell and his dragons, or Tobit and his dog. Two is better than one, that which is crooked cannot be made straight; that which is wanted can never be numbered: with a variety of such frivolities, as are too insignificant to amuse the feeble ge­nius of a child. Such never can be the lan­guage of a God infinite in wisdom.

Fellow citizens, insult not the deity by at­tributing to him a work so barbarously written, as that book called the Bible. Let the follow­ing passages serve as a sample of the base pro­duction. " Now go and smite Amelak and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not: but slay both man and woman, infant and suck­ling, ox and sheep, camel and ass, &c. Again — Let his children be fatherless and his wife a wi­dow, let his children be continually vagabonds and [Page 26] beg, let them seek their bread in desolate places, let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let the stranger spoil his labour, let there be none to extend mercy on him, neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children, let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following, let their names be blotted out." The first of these passages carries with it all the marks of cruelty and in­justice, and urges the execution of an act shock­ing to humanity: while the second passage seems rather the language of an infernal demon, than that of a just and merciful God. The only apology, for this last passage, is, that it is the composition of a royal prophet. As for the Psalms of David, the Songs of Solomon, of De­borah and Baruk, they were sung in the camps of the Israelites and in the cities of Judea and Jerusalem, as Homer's works were sung in the cities of Greece and Athens. Our Bible makers, however, took infinite pains to collect together those scattered remnants of oriental poetry, cal­ling them the word of God: and metamorphosed David into a pious Christian.

On closely examining this holy Bible I find it to be the dregs of ancient folly and presump­tion. Some parts of it pretend to give an history of the antediluvian and the first ages of the past diluvian world: other parts describe God's deal­ings [Page 27] with man, under the Jewish oeconomy, where all nature is said to be inverted to con­vince those blind people of their errors: yet it appears that God's government over them was ineffectual, and void of energy. The up­holder of worlds could not keep these people in proper subjection; he was therefore, accord­ing to this Bible, obliged to resign his command, and suffer a people, for whom he had so paren­tal an affection, to become the common vagrants of the earth. Other parts of this holy book predicts what God will do in time to come: but as no specific time is affixed to any particular event, our zealous partizans are making daily discoveries of the fulfilments of the prophecies.

There is I think one passage of the Bible which bids fair never to be accomplished, while a Christian king is in existence, and which might be truly verified, if those devouring monsters were finally extirpated, viz. "they shall turn their swords into plough shares, and their spears into pruning hooks." When Saul was a peasant, he enquired of a prophet con­cerning his fathers asses, but when he mounted a throne, his majesty consulted a witch on the success of a battle; such is the universal piety of kings.

A wretch more infernal than either witch or [Page 28] Devil, would be consulted by a king with avidi­ty, while in pursuit of conquest, fame, and ambition.

I now proceed to examine those events called miracles, recorded in the sacred history.

The famous miracle of the red sea dividing, and affording a dry passage to Moses and his fol­lowers claims the first rank. If the history of Egypt deceives me not, I find the same sea afforded a similar passage to Alexander the Great and his whole army, when they were pursuing victory, to the destruction of the Persian em­pire. We are as well assured that the red sea divides once a year in that particular spot, as we are of the hurricanes in the West Indies, or the monsoon in the East Indies. The second grand miracle, is that of the sun's standing still at the command of Joshua. As this mighty miracle is fully confuted by the Newtonian sys­tem of astronomy, I shall pass it by without a single comment. If then, the two greatest mi­racles upon record are either accounted for, or confuted by the laws of nature, what credit ought to be given to those little tricks played off in the dark by magicians and soothsayers. That Moses was a crafty and arbitrary legislator appears evident from his own account. He took the advantage of thick hazy weather to go up [Page 29] to the mountain, where he affected to consult the deity, and then returned with his head full of proclamations, saying, "thus saith the Lord." The deluded people, being duped, paid the most religious regard to all his precepts which for the most part were exceedingly stupid. ^* His successors pursued the same maxims. Nothing could pass into a law, until it was sanctioned by divine approbation: this once obtained, it was proclaimed with another, "Thus saith the Lord." Who can justify the bauld-headed prophet, in calling from the woods two she bears to devour forty and two little children: or can we suppose that the wisest man that ever lived should be the chief of adulterers and fornicators: though at a period when incapable of further excesses, [Page 30] he made a fortunate discovery, "that all was vanity." But, passing over those wise men, murderers and miracle makers, I shall proceed to make some observations on the New Testa­ment: and here I trust that every rational Christian, who seriously considers this subject, will look back with horror upon his former folly, and reflect upon himself, for being so long the dupe of faction, the sport of impos­tures and the victim of deceit.

The Christian system is prefaced with one of the most extravagant fables ever recorded, a fable so much dwelt upon as the source of all human miseries, as renders it impossible for me to pass it over without some animadversions. I allude to the wars in heaven, which, by the by, are only a prelude to the fall of man.

I know not the time, in which this rebellion is said to have happened, but the history of this memorable event is as follows: Satan, once the highest angel in heaven, and next in power to the Deity, stimulated by ambition, aspired to the throne, and with a vast number of his confederates conspired against the supreme power. The deity apprised of the evil imagi­nations of the insurgents, whose intentions were to dethrone him, immediately summoned a nu­merous army, at the head of which he placed [Page 31] Jesus Christ, then angel Gabriel, and conferred upon him the high office of commander in chief of the heavenly host. The progress of the proud conspirator was impeded, after a most desperate battle, in which the superior ge­neralship of Jesus Christ, and the valiant pow­ers of his royal army, proved victorious. Satan's troop of infernals, being so completely routed, as rendered it impossible for him to rally his forces, or take the field a second time. Genearl Jesus pursued his victory, and kept close to the rear of Satan's retreating army, until he had finally driven the rebels beyond the boun­daries of heaven. ^*

So wonderful was this war conducted that not one soldier was killed, wounded, or taken prisoner on either side, during the whole cam­paign.

We must further observe that the conduct of the Deity was widely different from that of the present rulers of the world: who immediately [Page 32] execute those that resist their government. The Deity pursued a different plan; he added ano­ther limb to creation by forming a place called Hell; he put a crown upon the head of Satan, and gave him the sovereign dominion over that vast empire, with full power and authority, to commit all manner of depredations upon the inhabitants of this earth, as if we had been a party concerned in the rebellion. The first shock we sustained, by this infernal Monster, was at a time when he had taking a country airing in the garden of Eden, where he assumed the form of a serpent, and by the charms of his eloquence, and the ratling of his tail, he prevailed on mother Eve to eat an apple, by which all mankind would have been eternally damned if the Deity had not ratified a treaty of amity and commerce between Satan and the clergy about 1796 years ago.

The conditions of this treaty, for inhumanity cruelty, and injustice, surpasses all rational be­lief. The preamble is briefly this: a virgin was overshadowed by the holy Ghost: this ho­ly Ghost was God: the virgin conceived, and brought forth a son: this son was God also. There is something very puzzling to make it appear, that Christ is the second person in the trinity. If the holy Ghost overshadowed the [Page 33] virgin Mary and that she conceived by him; then the fruits of that conception must be the son of the holy Ghost: of course he is the grandson of God, the third person in the trinity, and not the second. But my business is not to prove doctrinal points, I shall therefore leave the doctors of mysteries to manage this part of the subject.

After this God, or, son of God, had lived for thirty years in the most perfect poverty and wretchedness, he commenced the profession of an itinerant preacher; and, in consequence of his seditious tenets, he was accused before the chief judge, who sentenced him to death, which he accordingly suffered. It is said that Christ predicted all this himself, and that it was ne­cessary he should die for the sins of the world. Yet it is remarkable, that the people who ex­ecuted so necessary a work, should of all others be so much reprobated by Christians.

When Christ was expiring upon the cross he said to one of his fellow sufferers, ‘this day shalt thou be with me in paradise.’ This was the last speech of a poor unfortunate God. But the creed makers assert that he descended into hell. Whether then to beleive Christ, or creed mongers, is at the option of the reader, for my part, I believe neither. After Christ was [Page 34] taken down from the cross, he was packed up in a stone sepulchre, and a centinel placed at the mouth of the cave to prevent the corps from being stolen away. Christ however, found means, without breaking the seal, or alarming the sentinel, to creep out of the sepulchre, and take a journey all the way to hell: and was so expeditious, as to return in less than three days, and took his position as before. Fortu­nately for the Christians, but quite the reverse for the Jews, the sentinal fell fast asleep, and afforded a most special opportunity for an angel to descend from heaven, ^* who rolled the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre, and let out Jesus, alive and well, safe and sound. After this, Jesus appeared to a few of his former disciples and gave them some directions concern­ing their future ministry, when, lo! he took wings and flew up to heaven.

Thus ends the whimsical history of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection: on which I shall make a few remarks, by way of illustration. I have not knowledge enough in mysteries to know what Christ's business could be in hell, [Page 35] unless it was to pay his court to the royal fami­ly, and, by his personal appearance, convince Prince Satan that the treaty was ratified on his part, by which we were purchased of the Devil, whose property we were previous to the cru­cifiction. A papist will inform us, the better to establish the doctrine of purgatory, that Christ did not descend into the hell of the damned, having no sin to answer for. A pro­testant will retort, that he did not descend into purgatory, because, having no sin, he need not go there for purification: but most Christians agree, that he descended into hell to preach the gospel to the damned, and this clenches the argument at once. I must give it as my opinion that Christ's stay was too short in hell to deliver many sermons, and that if he was accustomed to preach from notes, as most of our modern divines are, they were in danger of being scorched by the flames; or, perhaps the climate was too hot to agree with his constitution, and this obliged him to make so speedy a return to the more temperate regions of Asia. The vulgar are led to believe that hell is somewhat below us, or in the bowels of the earth, which notion is chimerical, nor is it possible to know what part of the creation this tremendous abyss occupies. If we may judge from the gestures [Page 36] of divines, in their pulpit harangues, heaven appears to be above us and hell below us, for when they mention heaven they look up, and when they mention hell they look down, it is like looking up for the sun, and down for the moon.

If Christ did really leave the sepulchre, and descend into hell, could he not with equal fa­cility, have risen from the dead, without the assistance of an angel: and made a public ap­pearance before that tribunal which condemned him to death. If he predicted that he would rise the third day after his crucifixion, would not those who pronounced his sentence have anxiously awaited the fulfilment of such pre­dictions, or, if he actually did rise from the dead, should he not have made his resurrection of equal publicity, as his crucifixion; this he should have done unless he was afraid of being crucified a second time.

If darkness obscured the air,—if the earth shook with a convulsive pang,—if the vale of the temple was rent at Christ's crucifiction, he should, at his resurrection, have dashed to atoms the sepulchre wherein he was laid,—the proud temple should have been shattered into dust.— The palace of Caiphus,—and the hall of Pilot, should vanish like smoak, — and a thousand [Page 37] phenomenons should have taken place, to con­vince the Jews, that the great Being, whom they crucified, was now risen from the dead, agreeable to his own prediction. But alas! Nothing like this had happened, every thing was silent.

In the name of common sense, what great and mighty works did Christ perform, what godlike acts, or monuments of fame did he leave behind to establish his divinity? His greatest miracles are equalled, if not exceeded in the Old Testament. We grant that he destroyed a whole herd of swine, and a troop of devils, at one stroke,—he cursed the barren fig-tree, —and made a triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem, mounted upon an ass said to be sto­len; with a variety of other feats, which taken in the aggregate, make rather against than for his divinity.

Had Christ left any thing wonderful, for the world to behold, we would suspend all doubts respecting his mission. But doing so little we have just cause to suspect the whole system to be a fraud piously contrived by a few early impostors. Had he caused a fountain to spring from the dry land and raised its summit to the utmost ken of human sight; had he caused the [Page 38] cross whereon he was crucified to take root, and grow to the size of Babel's tower, remaining an everlasting monument of his attoning merits; —these might be irresistable proofs of his divi­nity. But the tale is related without authority, and credited without evidence.

Having shown the feeble principles upon which the Christian system is founded, I pro­ceed to other observations.

Christ says, "Lo I am with you even unto the end of the world." ^* If so, why such distraction among Christians; or why not make another visible appearance, and set matters right; and not give the poor clergy so much room to com­plain for want of faith; nor exclaim that Chris­tianity is losing ground, and that Deism is gain­ing hard upon them. Do they insinuate that Satan has violated the treaty, or that he is more [Page 39] powerful than the Almighty; surely not. That there is a want of faith among Christians is evident, else mountains would be rolled about like pebble stones.

In short, under the most favourable circumstance in which we can view the Christian sys­tem, it has all the marks of fraud and imposition; its sole basis is founded upon fable, and its rubric more irrational than the heathen wor­ship.

After these bold declarations, me thinks, I hear some Christian exclaim, what, are we to have but one God; Are we to have no Jesus Christ to redeem us; Are we to have no holy Ghost to sanctify us; Are we to have no in­fernal Demons to inflict torments? Why this would be to unhinge the whole order of our system, and place at once the righteous and the ungodly upon an equal footing. Surely Sirs, little need be said to prove that one true God, is better than a thousand false ones: as for Jesus Christ, he never redeemed you; neither has the holy Ghost sanctified you; these are but the catch words of priest-craft. Men are as independent of these step ladders, by which to climb up to heaven, as they were ten thousand years ago. If Jesus Christ has redeemed you, why terrify the vulgar with the fears of hell? [Page 40] (as for the learned of all nations they have no fear about it.) If the holy Ghost has sanctified you, in what manner does the sanctification ap­pear? Are Christians more honourable or ho­nest in their way of dealing? are they freer from debauchery and vices of every kind than other men? With sorrow I repeat it, the reverse is the melancholy truth. A little Turk­ish morality, annexed to the purest precepts of the Christian gospel, would constitute a better religion than any now in vogue.

It requires a round faith indeed to credit the existence of a monstrous devil, or that there is such a place as hell, I disbelieve both: yet I am far from the opinion that the righteous and the ungodly will be upon an equal footing; for the same God who reserves to himself the power to reward virtue, will also punish vice, independent to agents, demy gods, or infernal demons. As for unhinging the whole order of the Christian system, that can never be effected while the duplicity of the clergy, and the blind credulity of the laity are proof against reason and common sense, for, truly, such is the system of piety preserved by Christians, that if a man, conscious of the duty he owes his maker, undertakes to vindicate the moral cha­racter of the deity, in opposition to the corrupt [Page 41] passages of current orthodoxy, he is sure to be stigmatised with the most opprobrous epithets, and none more contemptible than that of a Deist. It is a truth that I am a Deist, I wish to live a Deist, and hope to die a Deist, yet I shall reproach no man for being a Christian.

The Bible on which the Christian system is founded, exhibits doctrines repugnant to each other, and inculcates principles highly injurious to the moral happiness of man, it delivers pre­cepts of doubtful meanings, and are therefore liable to be disputed, neither do the trumpet­ors of the Bible's praise, think proper to be governed by it, but follow their own course of life as heedless as if they had no such thing as a Bible to be governed by. This book is written in such figurative and ambiguous lan­guage, hyperboles, and metaphorical phrases, that it appears only calculated to puzzle creed-makers, miracle men, and soul-saviours.

When the church of Rome had the Bible un­der lock and key closely concealed from the peo­ple, mankind were anxious to know the contents of the sacred deposit, but the moment it were divulged its frivolty appeared, and the more this book is read, the less it is regarded. I firm­ly believe that if this Bible could be generally [Page 42] read without prejudice, there would not be a Christian in existence fifty years hence; it lays down no system of religion whatever, but is equally calculated to establish Atheism as Chris­tianity, and is but a wanton burlesque upon God and his providence. It has done less real good, and more real mischief, than any other book that ever was printed. ^*

If Christianity was instituted for the purpose of making men better than they would otherwise be, to curb their unwiedly passions, and prevent those murders, massacres, and inhuman butcheries, so frequently committed by Christian against Chris­tian, we find it has entirely missed its aim, and woeful experience proves how prevalent such cruelties are at this day in almost every corner of the Christian world. Not less than two millions of Christians including the slaves of despots, have been murdered, massacred, and slain in battle, in the space of four years. Is not this in due conformity to Christ's words, [Page 43] ‘Think not that I am come to bring peace upon earth,’ no, but to set families and friends at variance: the true character of a Christian then, is to live in a continual state of warfare. And behold one of the most gracious kings in Europe, in justice to his profession, proclaims to the world that he is called upon by his religion, to prosecute with vigour the most infamous war, that ever degraded the page of history. If then the Christian religion is of a celestial origin, as its professors proudly boast it to be, would it, or could it, possibly admit of so many enormities. In short, view it in every direction and it ap­pears a monster in full perfection.

Christ is represented to us as the Prince of peace, though he says himself, that he is not come to bring peace upon earth. O sublime contradic­tion, peace in one hand, and war in the other, welcome most noble prince to this world below.

It is not, I am persuaded the sublimity of the Christian system that invites so many to its com­munion, when children, our parents lead us to their respective churches, and train us up to their different ceremonies; but when we begin to think for ourselves, discovering errors not easily digested, we renounce our first rituals, and embrace another doctrine, in order, if pos­sible to arrive at some rational certainty; instead, [Page 44] however, of improving here, we find other tenets equally disgusting, from this we change perhaps to a third, where similar errors still exist, at length, fatigued by making fruitless researches after rational and comprehensive doc­trines, we abjure our reason, and join the com­mon cry that "all is mystery." This was absolutely the case with me for near forty years, till finding with all my endeavours to sift out some consistent mode of worship, I was only changing from one absurdity to another, at length I solemnly renounced them all. Is it not the same with the people of this continent, as it is with those of other countries, who take their religion by chance, not by choice.

If the grand Turk of Constantinople had esta­blished a colony in America, instead of the king of Britain, we should be all Mahometans, we should then say of Christians, as the Chris­tians now say of the Mahometans. The reason why a child is brought to the synagogue to be circumcised is because his father was a Jew, and he becomes a Jew himself for the same reason that his father was a Jew before him.

Suppose we were in a mere state of nature, destitute of any religion whatsoever; and that all the religious extant were laid before us to chose from among them one; it is a query which [Page 45] we should prefer; probably that which appear­ed the most rational. In this case, I see no­thing in the Christian religion that would give it the preference to the Pythagorian system; and it is probable Mahomet's coran would take the lead of the Mosaic Bible.

As for the Christian religion I know not what it is; Christ never instituted any, he only taught a few scraps of moral philosophy; the whole history of his life, and doctrines might be comprised in a six penny pamphlet, who taught us then that this man was God? Did he ever say so himself? No. Did any of his disciples say so? certainly not. Christ has not left a single paragraph on record by which we may know his real sentiments; he had no learning in consequence of his poverty, of which he made great merit, and wished none to follow him, but those who are equally poor as himself. But we discover a striking contrast in the pro­fessors of his doctrines. He was illeterate, they are learned; he was poor, they are rich; he was humble, they are arrogant. In short, he was destitute, but they have abundance.

Having stretched this second proposition to some length I now proceed in the third place to analize the venerable system of Christianity, [Page 46] and here I shall endeavour to demonstrate three propositions:

First, that the Christian religion is impracti­cable.

Second, that it is inconsistent with reason, and

Thirdly, that it is unnatural.

First then; that the Christian religion is im­practicable, appears from the following precepts, which enjoins us to pray without ceasing, to sell all and follow Christ, to cut off our hands and pull out our eyes, in case they should offend us, to love our enemies; bless them that curse us, and pray for them that persecute and despitefully use us, &c. Great stress is laid upon the first of these pre­cepts, but we are assured from long experience, that our prayers are ineffectual, and perhaps the reason is best assigned by the apostle, who tells us, that we receive not, because we ask in vain: What then is the use of asking? have we not innumerable instances that human petitions never altered the divine will? David was three days and nights in prayer for the recovery of his child; the answer was, thy child shall die. Are not all the kings of Europe, assisted by their clergy, almost incessantly supplicating the deity in the name of Jesus, for the success of their respective armies. But the God of battle hears them not; neither is it possible to pray without [Page 47] ceasing, because the time required to procure the necessaries of life, is about two thirds, and the remaining time is scarce sufficient for rest and refreshment; therefore to suppose a man can be in prayer continually, is to suppose an impossibility.

"To sell all and follow Christ, is a precept delivered to the laity only, it does not effect the clergy, as appears by their love of riches, and in general this doctrine has had a contrary tendency, for the more pious and religious the Christian, the more greedy after gain; point out to me a devout Christian, and I will point out to you in the same person, a miserable world­ly muck-worm.

"To cut off our hands, or pull out our eyes," may be a kind of hyperbole, or figurative speech, it is therefore the province of some learned doc­tor of divinity to explain how far these precepts can be compiled with.

‘To love our enemies, bless them that curse us and pray for them that persecute and des­pitefully use us,’ are precepts that look well on paper, though it is not the weakest part of Christian philosophy that can strengthen our resolution, or restrain our resentment of inju­ries done unto us; nor is it common among Christians to kneel down and pray for the being [Page 48] who is at the same moment cursing them. "To love our enemies," is a precept strongly urged by the pleaders of the pulpit, but the pleaders of the bar preach a different doctrine; and if the greater number of adherants amounts to a proof in favour of any precept, we must evi­dently declare for the latter; consequently the preachers of the bar not those of the pulpit, are inspired by the holy Ghost.

Secondly, that the Christian religion is in­consistent to reason, will appear by the follow­ing. "If a man smite you on one cheek turn unto him the other: he who steals your coat, give him your cloak also: take no thought of to-morrow, neither seek what ye shall eat, drink, or wherewith ye shall be cloathed." All these precepts are truly Christian, and how far they can be com­piled with, common experience plainly demon­strates. That they are inconsistent with moral happiness, is beyond all doubt. As for encou­raging a thief, or tamely submitting to assault and battery, as applied by the two first articles, it is contrary to the principles of moral justice, or public order. The law of retaliation, as thought by Moses, is far more rational, and, I need not say, more universal. He who takes no "thought for to-morrow, nor seeks what he shall eat, drink, or wherewith he shall be cloth­ed," [Page 49] would be considered as an idle vagabond; he would be destitute of credit or respect; he would be covered with rags and poverty, and discarded from all society. Nay, where is the Christian, be he ever so pious, that is not anx­ious to day, for the bread he hopes to consume to-morrow. Even the clergy, the most righte­ous of all men, are particularly nice in their table furniture; resembling the rich man talked of in the gospel, "They are cloathed in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day."

I shall now proceed thirdly, to shew that the Christian religion is unnatural. " When thou makest a feast, call not thy friends, nor thy bre­thren, nor thy kinsman, nor thy rich neighbours &c. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the halt, and the blind. Except ye eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Except ye are born again, and become as little children, ye can never enter the kingdom of heaven &c. These are the express words of Christ, conse­quently they are positive rules, proper to be obeyed by every professor.

The first of these precepts denies a Christian the social enjoyment, which naturally results from friendly visits, and rational entertainments; [Page 50] it confines a Christian to the company of poor, lame, and blind beggars. This precept is so unnatural, that those who have voluntarily cho­sen Christ for their head, never obey it. Even those who pretend to have obtained patents from heaven, for being ushers in Christ's school, pay no regard to it, but run through life with as little remorse, or shame at a breach of it, as the most obstinate unbelievers. Can we suppose that a right reverend father in God, by divine provi­dence, a true disciple of Jesus Christ, should pro­vide a sumptuous entertainment, and sit down to glut and gormandize with his rich neighbours, to the total exclusion of the poor, the lame, the maim­ed, the halt, and the blind, when conscious that he is thereby violating an express command of his lord and master. Or shall we suppose that these right reverends are concealed infidels who believe nothing of the matter? The words of Christ are plain and express, they are not in a lofty stile of language, neither are they hyperboles, or figurative speeches, that mean more than is expressed; they are plain words that do not admit of double deal­ing. If then these rules of life, laid down by Christ himself, are improper, as well as unnatural, and professors indulge themselves in a total neglect of them, is it not the duty then of our first rate divines to unfold this riddle?

[Page 51]"Except ye eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." It is impossible to enumerate the volumes of contraver­sy this text has given rise to, the contentions it has created, or the tuns of human blood it has shed. To suppose that Christ offered his disciples real human flesh to eat, and natural human blood to drink, is in itself so barbarous and inhuman as to shock our grossest feelings. This is one of the christian mysteries never to be understood, and because of its sublimity it is construed into a sacra­ment, wherein bread is, by the conjuration of a priest, transubstantiated into flesh, and wine eu­crastised into blood, and this bread and wine is taken and received by the faithful "as the real body and blood of Christ." Thus a system of ca­nabalism spiritualized, is the most fundamental tenet in the Christian religion.

"Except ye are born again, and become as little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." If by being born again, signifies changing from one rule of faith to another, there are few Chris­tians who have not been born and reborn over and over again. Whether Christ means this kind of re-generation, I know not, it is however unna­tural in the extreme, to suppose we can grow downwards, shrink into children, become as lit­tle infants, re-enter our mother's womb, and put [Page 52] her to the painful operation of giving us a second birth. This is so repugnant to the course of na­ture, and so great an insult to reason, that I should think it a waste of time and paper to say more up­on the subject.

There are a variety of other passages equally im­practicable, inconsistent, and unnatural as those already quoted, but it would require a book as large as the Bible, to do them justice. I shall there­fore wave all further animadversion, and proceed to some cursary observations.

There are a sect of Christians, commonly called Quakers, who profess the strictest observance to the christian precepts, particularly these; resist not evil, swear not at all, let your charity be in secret, place no dependance in long prayer, &c." but surely he who prescribed these rules also said, "lay not up for yourselves treasure upon earth." The friends probably think they may safely indulge themselves in the breach of this latter precept, upon condition that they attend to the former rules. Christ, if I mistake not, cautions his disciples, against making an outward show of their profession, by any ex­ternal form, or dress, yet the moment we behold a man in a drab coloured coat, or an horizontal hat, we immediately think of a Quaker. ^* The [Page 53] enlightened and well informed Methodists, are gradually declining into the same maxims, signify­ing their profession by outward apparel: but I will not say of them, as Christ said to the Pha­rasees in a parallel case, "Woe be unto you hypo­crites for ye have your reward!"

After the monstrous heap of absurdities, thus briefly stated, it is to be hoped that, in future, Christians will not take the liberty to contemn Deists, in the manner they have usually done.

Were I disposed to dispute doctrinal points, my essay would be extended to an enormous size in­deed, yet I would wish to know what benefit arises from the frivolous ceremony of infant bap­tism, or saying a few prayers over a dead person? For my part, I know of none, except good eating and drinking, in the former, and the parson's fees in the latter, be considered as such. If sprinkling a little water upon the face of an infant, or say­ing a few prayers over a corps, could operate by way of a charm, these ceremonies would be of [Page 54] infinite utility; but as they appear to be founded in priest-craft, no good can be expected to result from them.

The clergy 'tis true are civil enough to conduct us to the grave, and wish us a good journey to the other world, being confident that when they have deposited our remains in the silent vault, their deceptions have thus far escaped detection, and this accounts for their successful duplicity. But we will develope the dark designs of sanctifi­ed impostors and decry the cunning artifices of fictitious theologists.—In short

There appear to be so many absurd and whim­sical ceremonies in the christian institution, that I am now stimulated to ask the candid reader, (even supposing him to be a Christian,) what apology he can make for the many contradictions and incon­sistencies, of which the christian system consists? Will he answer, that he principally depends upon the faith and virtue of the good clergy, who would not preach a doctrine, knowing it to be false, and as they are a very learned body they are the best judges. That this is the plea of millions of chris­tian professors I verily believe, and I am no less certain, that the clergy are a very learned body, who will do any thing that serves their present interest, and this is the plain reason why religion, and the Bible, are what they are. For instance, [Page 55] if you apply to a doctor of divinity concerning some doubtful tenet, you should first recollect that he is bound by oath of office, and interest, to sup­port, at all events, true or false, the doctrine of that church to which he belongs, and from which he receives his revenues. A popish priest will defend the doctrines of transubstantiation, purga­tory, and the works of superorogation, &c. A Presbyterian priest ^* will support the doctrines of election and reprobation. An Episcopalian priest will maintain the doctrines of free grace and re­demption by the blood of Christ. Each of these priests will take his oath that his doctrines are true and that all the rest are false, so that, lay piety aside, and the clergy are a very learned body in­deed.

I am informed that in England when a gentle­man takes up holy orders, he is qualified to keep a pack of hounds, and the business of a clergy­man being but an idle calling, most of their time is occupied in hunting, shooting, or gambling, so that it is a mystery to know whether those men live to play, or play to live. The clergy of France swore by the four Evangelists that they were in­spired by the Holy Gost, and endowed with the [Page 56] gift of continency; but since the revolution of that country, they have discovered a propensity to women equal to other men. Thus much for the oath and veracity of the holy order of clergymen.

I find in history that the clergy of England changed from popish to protestant in one reign, from protestant to popish in the next, and from popish to protestant in the third. Who will say that all this shifting and changing was in search of purer doctrine, and not in search of loaves and fishes? It would be a disgrace to my profession if these men were called Deists.

These people seem wonderfully affected, while deploring the sufferings of a poor unfortunate God. But can a rational being suppose for a mo­ment, that the creator of the world should reside for three and thirty years upon this earth, in the contemptible manner ascribed to him, one part of the time necessiated to work with his father at the business of a carpenter, at another time so destitute as not to have whereon to lay his head, and at last to be put to a shameful death by a few of his own creatures? Is it not a fact, that God is as far above the power of human cruelties, as the heavens are above the earth? Can the crea­ture have power over the Creator? Certainly not: if then it should be said in the cant way, the better to get over these difficulties, that there [Page 57] is nothing impossible to God: I answer in the negative, not but I acknowledge the divine will, and admit the power and attributes of the Deity in the fullest latitude, yet I am of opinion that there are many things absolutely im­possible to God. He cannot create another God as old as himself—he cannot act inconsis­tent with himself—he cannot divide his own essence,—he cannot put a period to his own ex­istence, nor suffer it to be done by others.— These plain truths, without any comments, will, I presume, convince the candid, that there are many things impossibe to God.

Is it not time to abolish for ever the ignomini­ous remembrance of ancient frenzy, and renounce the dreadful custom of commemorating a tortur­ing God. Our thinking faculties enable us to en­large our circle, and we discover few truths but what a beneficent Deity has permitted us to see. It is therefore by communicating our sentiments through the medium of the press, that we benefit society in a thousand different forms. To exalt the mind to a true sense or omnipotent wisdom, to represent the Deity in the high plenitude of power and of goodness, and show his wondrous works in the rapid movement of blind matter, has been the work of philosophers for many ages, far from the narrow and contracted notions of [Page 58] crucifying to death a God who was from all eter­nity,—far from the magic tricks of putting him in a hollow stone,—sending him down to hell,— bringing him back again,—and then sending him to heaven in a whirl-wind. A Deist laughs at these contemptible tales, and pities those who are dupes to fables and to mysteries, to priests and impostors.

If there is any thing which can astonish the contemplative philosopher, it is the length of time which these magic deceptions are permitted to impose upon the credulity of man, and it is no less surprising that any being of ordinary ca­pacities should abjure his reason, his liberty, and his finest faculties, to embrace ideas incompatible with nature, reason, and all human comprehen­sion.

The word Gospel signifies truth, but why the new testament should be considered as such, is difficult to determine, since it is all fable, myste­ry, and metaphor. The parables said to be utter­ed by Christ himself are allowed by all the Chris­tian clergy to be only figurative speeches, which represent things in a foreign sense, after the eas­tern stile. No such person ever existed as the prodigal son, though it is the most striking fable in the whole Bible, and fully expressive of the natural consequences of prodigality, wantoness, [Page 59] and dissipation. As for the fable of Dives and Lazarus, it is a most extravagant thought. I have often amused myself in the idea, what a roaring and tremendous voice Dives must have had, to be heard from the lowermost pit of hell by father Abraham, who was at the same time in heaven, dandling Lazarus in his arms, as a nurse would a child. In short, this parable is too romantic, and all the rest are too insignificant to admit of serious animadversion. If Aesop's fables were bound up in the Bible, and called the book of parables, ^* they would convey more moral instruction to man, than any thing we read of in that vast volume. I shall pass by those let­ter written by the Saints, which we call Epis­tles, because they are no more to be considered holy writ than the letters written by one clergy­man to another. As for Jacob's ladder,—the miraculous pillar,—Peter's vision,—St. John's dreams,—his white horse,—the sheet full of wild beasts,—and the seven golden candlesticks,—I throw them as lumber into the bargain.

Thus, the Bible running through a tedious [Page 60] and uninteresting narration of contradictory cir­cumstances, empties itself in a round assertion, "Were all the works that Christ had done written in a book, the world could not contain it." What a pitiful notion of the world the people of those days must have had, to suppose it might be cover­ed over with a manuscript.

Citizens, rouse from your lethargy, be no lon­ger amused with the remnants of fusty tales, or the genealogical tree of Eden, disregard at once all antiquated folly, and become the cotemporary of future ages. Contemplate that revelation, which the God of nature and reason has given us, in the bounties of his creation; there you will read a language that requires not the interpreta­tion of theological drones, nor the comments of divine Simonites; you see that religion which has poisoned the world is founded upon a rotten basis, and it appears high time to give to morality a much better support.

‘Let us all seek truth as if none of us were possessed of it, the opinions which to this day have governed the earth, produced by chance, disseminated in obscurity, admitted without discussion, credited from a love of novelty and imitation, have in a manner usurped their em­pire. It is time if they are founded in reality [Page 61] to give them the solemn stamp of certainty, and to legitimate their existence. ^*’

Oh ye clergy! ye learned men! instigated by some untoward destiny to deceive the world, per­mit me to address these my last lines to you. What say you to those gospel precepts, do you really believe them to be either practicable, ration­al, or consistent with nature or with reason? Do you patronize after the model of him whose disciples ye profess to be? Are you like him, free from passion, anger, or despair? Have you disgraced the reformed pulpit, or profaned the Roman al­tar, when an unitarian lecturer exposed the folly of your dogmas? Oh ye clergy, are you the dis­ciples of that unreasonable man who laid down rules of life impossible to obey? Do you take thought for to-morrow, what ye shall eat, drink, or wherewith ye shall be cloathed? Do you pray without ceasing? Do you do good for evil, bless them that curse you, and pray for them that per­secute and despitefully use you? Do you invite the poor, the lame, the maimed, the halt, and the blind to your sumptuous tables, to the utter exclusion of your rich friends and neighbours? Do you swear not at all, and resist not evil? In [Page 62] a word, Do you do unto all men as you wish they should do unto you? If Sirs, you do not attend to all these precepts, which are truly Christian, what pretensions have you to be the obedient servants of him, who, as your master, allotted you these several tasks and duties to perform, without exception.

He who told you to sell all and follow him, do you not rather acquire all and forsake him? did he not forewarn you against covetousness? And are you not as covetous as if you were to live a never ending life? You who should lay no store on the good things of this world, are you not as particularly nice in your eatables and wearables, as if your bodies were formed of purer clay than those of other mortals? Do you not in direct contradiction to the precepts of your Lord, enter­tain your rich friends and neighbours to the total exclusion of the poor and blind, nay, have you not under the sanction of a reformation, even robbed the poor to enrich your own revenues. If then, what you tell us be really true, that we shall all appear before your divine master at the last day, to receive judgment according to our works, what account can you give of yourselves, seeing that you deviate from those commandments which he set before you; must you not say that they were [Page 63] impracticable, inconsistent, and unnatural, or else that you did not approve of them.

Remember then the language of my fellow creature whom you stile your God: "If ye con­tinue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed." Divines, we see you eternally conspiring against reason, against liberty, and against the freedom of conscience, we listen to your declamations against us Deists, whom you inviduously stile the sons of infidelity, you prevail upon your flock, to believe that we wish to destroy all vir­tue and morality, but the reverse is the fact, we inculcate virtue and sound morality, founded upon reason and the being of a God. We Deists are not ashamed to own our profession; we will convince our Christian adversaries, by our com­merce with the world, by our lives, conduct, and conversation, that we are virtuous, mild, gentle, and humane.

Clergy, we listen to your description of a ter­rible heterogeneous monster whom you set up as the terror of man. At one time he is fomenting sedition in heaven,—at another time he is in open rebellion against the Deity,—at another time he is hurled into a pit, and chained for a thousand years,—at another time he is at large going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may de­vour,—in short, he is but every where: can a [Page 64] reflective mind suppose for a moment that such a monster does exist, or that he has the power which divines attribute to him. It was to destroy the power of this fiend that the mighty Jesus came into the world, yet he never was more om­nipotent than since the commencement of the Christian aera, and divines render him more al­mighty than the Deity himself. ^*

As it is with Satan, so it is with man, at one time he is the high and mighty Lord of God's creation,—the noblest of God's creatures,—the image of God himself,—but one degree below the angels in heaven,—having dominion over all things, &c. at another time he is but dust and ashes,—a crawling worm,—a filthy animal,—a helpless wretch unworthy of God's favours &c. Thus divines, do you figure to us with profound sublimity, those glaring contradictions, nay, you transmography the Deity himself in as many, [Page 65] and various attributes, as man and Satan. You Deify a man and call him very good, who tells you, "There is none good but one," evidently meaning God.

To conclude. Charity will not permit a suppo­sition that a well informed people can yield im­plicit credit to a book which exhibits in almost every leaf some strange and unaccountable para­dox, a book crouded with indelicate and obscene matter, unworthy a serious reading, it leads the credulous into numberless errors, and involves them in a multiplicity of incoherent doctrines. To attribute such a production to an all-wise De­ity is offering the grossest insult to his omnipotent wisdom, it being a mass of iniquity, the fountain of inviduous controversies which usually termi­nate in the effusion of human blood, whose over­flowing torrents have deluged the world, as well under the Mosaic theocracy, as under the Chris­tian dispensation: it is a volume of knavery, purposely contrived to answer the sinister views of priests and princes, who alone fatten on its impracticable precepts.

Would it not then, be a felicity to future ge­nerations, were this book and the blind tenets deduced from it, scouted from the earth, and bloated for ever from the memory of man, will [Page 66] not an unborn posterity, at the perusal of this volume, blush at the folly and blind credulity of their ancestors. But alas we fear, while the a­postles of duplicity feel an interest in supporting the pious fraud, and live in sumptuous indolence upon the bounties of a credulous laity, the world will be too long infected with a nuisance so dis­gusting to every enlightened mind. Christians, we Deists are not possessed of vain ostentation, and, though we act upon a different principle, and found our hopes upon a different prospect, we acknowledge you to be our brethren, we pity error, we defy envy, but we never perse­cute opinion.

DURING the imbecility of childhood I had not the capacity to judge, and in the juvenal days of immatured manhood I thought it a crime to doubt the divinity of those preceptorial doc­trines, the knowledge of which you wish to pro­mote, but now, finding my chin graced with a grizly beard, my head ornamented with grey locks—my mind free from the shackles of ecclesiastical ty­ranny,—and my heart panting for the good of man,—I became moved by an indiscribable im­pulse to compare the principles of your religion with the practice of its professors. I soon disco­vered a contrast, which gave me a stimulous to further enquiries, the result of which proves the utter impracticability of the christian system.

My duty as a citizen of the world, leads me to publish a few strictures on a chain of dogmas, and whimsical mysteries, so much at variance against nature,—incompatible with rational consistency,— irreconcileable to common sense,—and dishonoura­ble to an all-wise Deity. Motives of pity might [Page 68] be the basis of your institution, but your zealous efforts to promote the cause of God, and the good of man, would be less in vain, were you to abandon folly, and institute a society for the promotion of useful knowledge and science, instead of encourag­ing the breed of saints and fanatics.

Is it now after a religion has been in fashion near 1800 years that we are to acquire a know­ledge of its ceremonious punctilios, and extract from it a little piety, what it really produces? is it now, we are to open our eyes, and gaze with astonishment on the beautiful fabric of blind mys­teries, or look with a pious admiration on the divine sublimity of a system which has confounded the inquisitors of all ages.—A system founded upon fable, and established upon fanaticism, and persecution:—a system that never consults reason, but always opposes it:—a system that approves poverty, yet commits symony and rapine to main­tain its pomp:—in short,—a system inconsistent with every thing but contradiction. How are our thinking faculties confounded at the contem­plation of such a system,—strange that a society should be instituted to promote the knowledge of a religion, to the bottom of which no Christian dare venture; it is criminal for a christian to en­quire into the origin of his religion, and to doubt the truth of the Bible, is an exclusion from hea­ven. [Page 69] Does your society in the circulation of its knowledge, inform the faithful, that the book of Job, is fabulous? That the acts of the apostles are anonymous? That the gospel of St. John is spurious? That the Epistles are miscellaneous? And the Revelations an unintelligeble jargon of metaphysics. ^*

These facts are well know to the christian cler­gy of all nations, but instead of giving their flock such information, they fondly conceal the fraud, under the mask of piety: how then are we to obtain a knowledge of the christian religion, ask one sect of christians, "how many sacraments hath Christ ordained in his church?" You will receive for answer, seven: ask another sect, the same ques­tion, and you will be informed, two: ask a third sect, and you will be told, none at all: what shall we say to such glaring contradictions. Each of these profess to be of found orthodox principles, yet they differ from each other, as much as a sub­stantive differs from a nonentity. It appears to me then, that instead of promoting christian know­ledge, your society is instituted for the promotion [Page 70] of christian ignorance, by which reason is degraded; and those who are dupes to a pretended revelation, are completely hag-ridden by the magic charms of priest-craft. Thus we may discover, that while the deluded Mahometans are coranized the infatua­ted Christians, are bibleized to a miracle, and the pious ministers of a poor unfortunate God fail not to pronounce an eternal anathema on those who do not abjure reason, and embrace dogmas repugnant to sense and nature.

Divines? You who assume such powerful do­minion over the souls of men; you who can transport us either to heaven or to hell at your pleasure, why not work some mighty miracle, after the manner of your lord and master, from whom you received your divine mission, to convince us of your authority over us, but, why talk of miracles, when pious duplicity informs us that miracles have ceased; all we have to do then, is to believe, and this belief leads us to imagine, that we are dead when alive, and that we are alive when actually dead. This belief reverses the whole order of creation; this belief will save us to eternity, with all our imperfec­tions, without which the most righteous must endure, a bitter portion of never ending mise­ries. Oh! horrible doctrine! established by the [Page 71] sword, and maintained to this day by military go­vernments, hostile to reason and to liberty. ^*

Will you, Sirs, deem it criminal to expose the foibles of a system which has filled the world with blood and terror for eighteen centuries, during which period, scarce a moment's interval of peace can be traced out by the most zealous partizan;—hostile wars,—carnage,—desolation,— famine,—and infidelity, mark the gloomy pages of the Christian history,—thus the divine pre­cepts [Page 72] of a celestially begotten man, has trans­formed Christians into devouring monsters, who make the earth groan under the weight of su­perstition, bigotry, fanaticism, and persecution.

Divines, you call these enormities, only an abuse of power, flowing from the corruption of Christianity; but it is not your bountiful stock of divine grace, nor all your rhetoric, nor pulpit admonitions, that can prevent the evils, nor wipe away the odium: know you not, that you are the time servers of every nation: the engines of despotism: the tools of statesmen, and of so­vereigns: even to assassinate where occasion requires, whatever is the will of your prince, you chearfully obey, and thus you piously serve God and Mammon. You profess a dependance upon the mercies of your God, a reliance upon his providence, and a chearful resignation to his will; but the moment an epidemic appears you abandon all your professions, desert your church, and mistrust the goodness of your God, whose mercy and providence is no longer to be depended upon. I had an opportunity of making these observations in the case of the Philadelphi­ans in the year 1793, and of the New-Yorkers in 1795, when the most religious were the most apprehensive of danger, and the first who fled from the contagion. Family attachment had no [Page 73] check upon their fears, humanity yielded to self­ish brutality, they no longer trusted to the mer­cies of a divine providence, and the God of Christians was no longer the God of hope, at that awful crisis. Christian piety discovered that the rural Gods were more propitious than the great ruler of populous cities.

Let us now listen to the language of your di­vine master, "whatsoever ye ask the father in my name, he will give it." Needs there any more to confute this vague assertion, than a reference to long experience, and well known disappointments. It is fresh in the recollection of every man, that all churches and chapels of every sect through the British dominions, were for seven successive years importuning the Almighty, to turn the hearts of the rebellious subjects in America. Why where not their prayers immediately answered, after heaven and earth were so piously moved to that effect, or why are not all Christian petitions complied with, after being echoed from one nation to another, especially since they are fer­vently offered up in the name, and for the sake of Jesus Christ their Lord and Saviour.

He again tells us that, "his yoke is easy, and his burthen is light," and invites "those who are weary and heavy laden to come unto him, and he [Page 74] will give them rest." Now, though it is the lan­guage of an humble God, to his poor distressed disciples, I challenge the assertions. His yoke, if such may be considered the obligation of per­forming his precepts, is slavish beyond compa­rison, impossible to be complied with, being repugnant to human nature, and his burthen, if such may be considered the expence of sup­porting his religion, is arbitrary, oppressive and tyrannical, especially in countries, where esta­blished churches, have the exclusive right to expound the word of God, and where every individual is obliged to contribute to the religion which is most fashionable at court; in such coun­tries, the clergy resemble the imps of infernal deities, rather than the meek disciples of an humble, penitent, and suffering Saviour. What rest can the weary and heavy laden find, by subscribing to a religion, bearing no proportion to itself, —a religion that confounds both sense and nature, and petrifies all human understanding,—a religion that humbles a God to a man, and proudly exalts man to a God,—a religion that makes the crea­ture a creator, and the creator a mere creature.

Is it to promote the knowledge of such a sys­tem that societies are formed. Yes, you will say, it is necessary to keep up a system of religion. Granted; but is it necessary to keep up a system [Page 75] of fraud, would not a more rational system be equally effectual, both in its moral and political tendency. What benefit arises to man by con­founding divinity with humanity, or worshipping a feeble man, who disclaimed the title of a God. Are you afraid to offend the deity; by discontinu­ing to honour him. You will answer perhaps, that it is no wise criminal to worship a being who had, "all power given him, in heaven, and upon earth:" but how has Christ made it appear that ever such power was delegated to him? upon what authority do you believe he possessed such power? upon the authority of a blind assertion; one man relates the story to another, and he re­lates it again as an ipso facto. Would such autho­rity establish a fact now a days? certainly not. Were I to say I was born unbegotten, or begot­ten not made, or that I was older than the man who was at my christning, would any one be­lieve me.

Strange indeed that a man who had all power in heaven and upon earth, the saviour of a whole world, could not save himself, and prolong a ter­restrial existence, to the more solid satisfaction of future generations. Was eighteen months the on­ly time allotted this ambassador plenipotentiary extraordinary, to ratify a treaty between the priests of this earth, and the high court of hea­ven. [Page 76] That the all powerful God of nature could perform more in eighteen seconds, than Christ had done during his earthly residence, all reason­able men will allow, yet this man is represented to us as a God of worship and adoration, and though he was miserably wretched, we are taught to believe he possessed all power in heaven and upon earth.

Were not his distresses insupportable; did he not labour for a miserable existence like many others; was he not as destitute as the itinerant mendicant:—and did he not suffer a degrading and ignominious death: but, you will say, all this was to set an example to the world, and his death was to ransom sinners from the wrath to come. Yes, he set an example which his most pious and zealous admirers studiously avoid, and his death was evidently, because he could not help it.—He preached up sedition, and opposed the law of Moses, he insulted the Jewish Rabies, and obstructed their tranquility, for which they accused him, and by legal prosecution sentenced him to death agreeable to the customs of their country. Would to God the Christian religion were exempt from crimes of equal abhorrence. Murder and felony were alike committed under the mask of piety; racks, gibbets, and lighted faggots were the arguments opposed to those, [Page 77] who attempted to obstruct the early progress of the Christian system. Even now, in the states of Italy, or in the empires of Spain and Portugal, any person attempting to reform popery, would infallibly suffer death,—not as a redeemeer, but as an heretic,—not as a saviour, but as a sinner.

Upon a clear examination, I find this saviour of the world is but a partial redeemer, his atoning merits extending but to a few of the human race. The number of people inhabiting Christian na­tions, does not exceed 136 millions; one fourth of them are Deists, consequently they disclaim all participation in the meritorious sufferings of a saviour. The remaining number will not exceed 102 millions. The whole globe has about 400 millions of inhabitants, subtract 102 millions of Chris­tians, and there remains 366 millions of people; who know not Christ, nor chuse him for their head; must all these perish eternally, must they linger in never ending torments, and wallow for­ever in fire,—brimstone,—melted lead,—brandy and gun-powder,—with all the combustibles a vicious priesthood can invent, because they do not believe what is not true. Who but men blindly infatuated would subscribe to such a preposterous religion. ^*

[Page 78]The capricious temper of the Deity, as record­ed in scripture, is somewhat singular. At one time, to save the world and mankind, he destroyed it and them together by a mighty deluge: This not perfecting his intention to save lost man, he de­stroyed himself upon a gibbet. His third experi­ment will be to consume the whole globe and all things in it with fire from heaven; such romances pass as current among Christians. If sin is to be destroyed by barbarous and inhuman cruelties, this latter experiment will undoubtedly prove most effectual. This will be a grand burnt-offering to the Lord of Hosts. Here the gratifying flames of all things, animate and inanimate, will ascend to heaven, and the Deity will console himself with the odoriferous effluvia, this, not like the partial offerings of the ancient priests, who sacra­ficed bulls, and goats, and kids, and lambs &c. upon the holy alter, piously offering the fat and blood to God, but eat the flesh themselves. In [Page 79] this last exhibition the whole earth with all its inhabitants, both priests and laity, both savage and civil, will be consumed by celestial fire, while the almighty will delight in our torments, and like a Roman tyrant dance to the music of our shrieks and groans; well may the God of Chris­tians be called a devouring God, a God of ven­geance, who creates men only to destroy them: but, the scene is not yet closed: after the con­summation of the earth, the moon shall be turned into blood, the clouds shall fall, and the stars drop from heaven. Here will be ratling works indeed; much better be a spectator than an actor in this pantomime. Perhaps this is the time, when those who have died in the faith shall rise trium­phant, and ‘play marbles with those little stars, kick about the morn, and quench the blazing sun; then shall the celestial gods, and goddesses meet, and fumble in the dark.’ Unruly man, be cautious on that great day, how you come across the virgin Mary.

Pardon me Sirs, I am more at a loss to apolo­gize for this irony, than to expose the folly of your favourite system—but to return

The most potent evidence in favour of the Christian scheme, are those of Mary and Thomas, though it is a little remarkable that Thomas said [Page 80] nothing about the matter himself; other people tell the story for him. As for Mary, she gains greater credit, than would be given to a lady of more honour and veracity in those days: it is rather strange, that Mary and Thomas never fa­voured the world with either an epistle or a gos­pel upon the subject. They, it seems, told the story to others; others told it again to others, till at length the tradition, like that which Mo­ses gives us of the creation, becomes the prevail­ing belief. Were an old Methodist woman to assert that she saw John Westly, a certain time after his burial, that he was seen by many others of his most intimate friends, that he wrought many miracles before them, and then went up to heaven, would any one believe her; if she had gone before a magistrate and taken her oath that it was a fact; would she gain the more credit, cer­tainly not: neither do I chose to believe Mary, nor Thomas, nor . . . . .

The primitive councils, who first founded the Christian system, took infinite pains to blend the virgin Mary with the God-head, and so make it consist of four persons instead of three; she was however, rejected by a small majority. Notwith­standing she lost her election, there are a nume­rous sect of Christians, who, to this day honour [Page 81] her with divine worship and adoration. ^* If then the motion for her union with the God-head had passed in the affirmative, would not our modern Christians worship her among the catalogue of their Gods. All this proves to a demonstration, that the world is governed by fraud, and not in­fluenced by reason. The four following remarks will bring us to a conclusion.

1st. The Lords prayer is confessed by all Chris­tians to be of divine sublimity, surpassing any thing of human composition, but this is far below the test of criticism. In the former part you direct the Deity to do his own will, the next sentence demands bread for the day, what most people are already possessed of. Then proceeds a request, that your trespasses might be forgiven, as you for­give those who trespass against you: But I say unto all Christians, woe be unto them, if heaven shews no more benignity on them, than they shew mercy on their offenders.

2d. If Moses and Jesus Christ spoke by divine authority, it is blowing hot and cold with the same breath, every proposition of one being palpably contradicted by the other; however, the laws of Moses, take the lead of Jesus Christ's whose pre­cepts [Page 82] have no influence upon the passions, form no part of our municipal laws, nor are they atten­ded to by any Christian sect whatever. Whether then, your Christian religion is of divine revela­tion or a trick played off in the dark ages of igno­rance, it is an untoward system, and deserves to be admired only for its deformity.

3d. The Christian religion was first establish­ed by the terror of authority: the insinuating arts of missionaries, persecution and proscription, &c. All these conspired to establish Christianity up­on the ruins of the Mosaic system. Did you ever consult these truths,—did you ever inform your­selves of the stratagems first adopted to propagate your holy religion, even in its reformed state, or,—did you believe the histories which transmit to posterity these impartial facts, as implicitly as you believe the bible. It is probable your zeal would slacken,—your exertions to promote Chris­tian knowledge would be less vigorous, and—your contribution would be appropriated to a more laud­able purpose.

4th. Were I to say that blind men were very keen sighted, and that deaf men are very quick of hearing, you would naturally think me a lunatic, yet such sentiments are as compatible with reason and commom sense, as many precepts of the chris­tian system. Can you reconcile those ideas of a [Page 83] God in three parts?—a virgin in wedlock? a God in gibbets?—serpents and asses speaking most eloquently in human language,—and those heroic flights from earth up to heaven, in whirl-winds and fiery chariots;—yes, you believe all these, and a thousand other like stories, but deny an equal fact that blind men can see, or that deaf men can hear. You bow down with reverence to the fables of antiquity, and consider a modern farce as the effects of sin and levity.—You re­ject the adoration of an indivisible God, and worship with enthusiasm, a mixture of deities, composed of many parts;—You confound finity with infinity, and divinity with humanity,—you humble the God of creation to a level with man, and proudly exalt man to the magnificence of a God. Believe me, sirs, that Deism is yet trium­phant, where despotic laws are not enforced, to maintain that whimsical, and metaphorical sys­tem, the knowledge of which you wish to pro­mote.

Now, [...], urging the subject no further, I have only to observe, that if I have corrupted any passage, or misquoted any text, it is your duty to instruct the ignorant, to reclaim the ob­stinate, and direct the stranger, in the path that leads to our destined heritage.