great offices in public life, yet he is a brother, a son, a friend; he is to be a husband, and a father of children; some must trust him, and some must love him. Call it bigotry, and cover these notions with mockery and derision; but I say it would be better for this young man, that the work of death were going on within him, that the strength, and the roses of his youth were fading away, and that he were wasting down to the tombs of his ancestors, wept by his friends, and pitied by the world.

If I am right in considering these effects to be so pernicious, let us examine on what foundation such high-minded pretensions rest, and whether there be any set of men who have a right to consider themselves as so far advanced beyond their fellow-creatures in the spirit of wisdom, and to look down upon the rest of mankind with anger, and contempt.

In speaking of those who disbelieve in Christianity, I am very far from including, in my observations, every person of this description.

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The truth of Christianity rests upon its own internal evidence, and the evidence of history: It is impossible to account for the aberrations of human reason; evidence of the strongest kind is daily excepted to by men of unquestionable talents, and sincerity; to us the proofs of the truth of our religion appear manifest, and strong; that they shall not appear so to others is certainly possible, because every irrational conclusion is possible; Whoever has examined the question with that candid, and investigating spirit which its extreme importance demands; whoever respects, with an amiable, and principled modesty, the common belief of mankind on this topic, however it may differ from his own particular persuasion; whoever would rather conceal what he considers to be an exemption from prejudice, and a proof of superior talent in himself, than weaken any religious restraint, or impair any virtuous principle in the bosom of any one human being; whoever believes it possible for a Christian to be thoroughly impressed with the truth of his religion,

without forfeiting all pretensions to sincerity, to talent, and to learning; against such a man I am not now lifting up my y voice; may God enlighten his darkness, and convert his heart! But it is that sect of men I am endeavouring to single out, who, in all the common intercourse of life, obtrude upon you their blasphemy, and their scepticism; who pant to tell you they have no God; and are restless till they have convinced you they have trampled under foot every pleasant hope, and every decent restriction in life; who think that a few silly pleasantries, and slender arguments, are a sufficient preparation to decide on these proofs of a future life; men who (while they think they have monopolised all liberal sentiment, and all acute inquiry) are presecuting in their toleration, bigoted in their liberality, and furious in their moderation. These are the men who have made the very name of philosophy a term of reproach; who have been the cause, that the plea of liberality cannot now be heard without a sneer of suspicion; these are they who have destroyed, in the mass of mankind, all veneration for the labours of speculative wisdom; who have

really put back the world, diminished every rational hope of improvement; and by bringing the whole healing art into disrepute, have made men cleave to their ulcers, and their pains, and shudder at the hand which is held out to offer them relief.

In their depreciation of religion, and the religious, persons of sceptical opinions are accustomed to make a very copious use of history; they can from thence show, that there was a period when men were utterly debarred from all freedom of opinion upon religious subjects, when this intolerance was manifested in the most cruel persecutions, by an artful, and ambitious priesthood, who governed, and who pillaged, the world.

These facts may be true; but they do not justify the inferences which are drawn from them. If every thing is to be considered as bad in itself, which is capable of being abused; liberty, wealth, learning, and power, ought rather to be the objects of our aversion than our choice; every good principle has been at times perverted; every

good, institution has been gradually elaborated from the sufferings, and afflictions of the world: man, doubly wretched, slowly toils on to perfection, earning his bread by the sweat of his brow, and his wisdom by the sorrows of his heart.

But what, it may be asked, have these historical imputations, these invectives of rolls, and records, to do with the principles, and practice of the present day; a day in which the pretensions of every class of men are kept in due bounds by the enlightened condition of all, and in which every one is left to worship God according to his own ideas of truth? The object is not to show what establishments have been, and what Christianity has been, in dark ages, but to show the natural spirit, and tendency of both.: If it can be shown, that there is any thing in the Christian religion necessarily connected with bigotry, and intolerance, this objection would be pertinent, and powerful; but to suppose that a Christian is a bigot now, because there were very few Christians who were not so three hundred years ago, is to suppose the existence of principles, and