CONCLUSION.*

I HAVE NOW completed the series of Discourses which I proposed to deliver on the Evidences of Revealed Religion, and, at the request of many of my hearers, they will very soon be published. In the two first of the Discourses, and the present, I have endeavoured to shew what is the real use and genuine spirit of this religion, and, therefore, why it is of so much importance as to be worth contending for. But it will be said by unbelievers, that Christians are much divided among themselves. To what sect must we be converted? I answer, that all the sects of Christians, numerous as they are, are agreed with respect to every thing that is really fundamental, and that has any great influence on the tempers and conduct of men. They all agree in the belief of the being, the providence, and the righteous moral government of God; in the divine mission of Moses and the prophets, of Christ and the apostles, and also in the authority of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; and, what is of more consequence than these, and to which these articles of faith are themselves subservient, they all believe in a state of righteous retribution after death. To whatever denomination of Christians, therefore, those who are, or have been unbelievers, may choose to join themselves, or whether they think proper to join no existing sect at all, but form a new division of themselves, I receive them as brethren. They are possessed of the great means and motives of virtue here, and, if these have their due influence upon their dispositions and conduct, they will be happy hereafter.

But many Christians, who ought to know better, are much alarmed at the idea of great danger from the spread of certain opinions, especially those of the Unitarians, with whom it is known that I class myself. I therefore think it may not be improper (and I know it to be the wish of many persons) if I give you one Discourse on that subject. And I am willing to hope that, if it be heard with candour, without which no true judgment can be formed of any thing, the consequence will be, that, whatever may be thought of the truth or erroneousness of the doctrine, what I shall observe

With this "Address to the Congregation" the Author concluded these Discourses in 1796, though, for an obvious reason, it was not then printed with them, but in the Preface to“ Unitarianism explained and defended.”

may be the means of lessening the horror that some worthy persons have conceived of it, and of promoting that mutual candour among Christians of different denominations, the want of which is one of the principal objections to the whole scheme, which many unbelievers, who, without considering what Christianity itself is, judge of it by the effect that it has on those who profess it, and who are more particularly shocked at the animosity which some Christians entertain for others. This Discourse, therefore, will not be without some relation to the defence of Christianity, in recommending it to the acceptance of unbelievers; and if it produce, in any measure, this most desirable effect, it will be the most proper close to all the Discourses that I have delivered, though it will not be printed with them.

*The following representation by Mr. William Bakewell, who arrived at Philadelphia, from England, in November, 1794, will serve to shew on very good authority, how this horror had been excited in that city against Dr. Priestley, for his undisguised profession of the Unitarian doctrine:

"I went several times to the Baptist Chapel in Second-street, under the care of Dr. Rogers, a man possessing considerable ability in declamation. This man, in the second discourse I heard him preach, burst out and bade the people beware, for a Priestley had entered the land, and then, crouching down in a worshipping attitude, exclaimed, Oh, Lamb of God! how would they pluck thee from thy throne! My feelings were excited at this public attack upon Dr. Priestley, and, though differing in my religious sentiments from those he professed, I could not refrain from ejaculating to myself, Oh, Priestley! even were thy doctrine true, miracles could scarcely save thee from bonds and imprisonment in every city!' For this indecorous and unmanly conduct, Dr. Rogers was reprimanded in the public prints, and given to understand that such contumelious usage ill became a member of the Philosophical Society. He seemed to feel the impropriety he had been guilty of, and made an acknowledgment of his error." Mon. Repos. I. pp. 395, 394.

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND VOLUME.

THIS Volume of Discourses may be considered as a continuation of those which I delivered and published the last year, as those were of the set that I delivered in England, since they all relate, directly, or indirectly, to the Evidences of Revealed Religion; and I flatter myself that they will not be thought less original or useful. All great truths, and systems of truth, have numerous relations to other truths, and it cannot be expected that they should all be discovered by the same person, and still less at the same time. We may, therefore, expect that, if revealed religion be true, various proofs and illustrations of its truth will still be discovered by those who give their attention to the subject; and, in the present state of things, a more important one cannot be imagined. It is to be hoped, therefore, that many learned and studious persons, the friends of Christianity and of truth, will turn their thoughts, and give their time to it. The world will be tired of what any one person, or a few persons only, can do in any way; there will necessarily be so much of similarity in the views, and, consequently, in the writings of the same persons.

Some of the same passages in the evangelists will be found to be quoted in different Discourses in this Volume; but it is with different views, and, therefore, it requires no apology. The events in the history of the Papal power, quoted in the last of these Discourses, are such as are well known, and, therefore, do not require a reference to any original authorities. Many of them were copied from a French work, intitled Harmonie des Prophéties, by M. C. de Loys, printed at Lausanne, 1774, which I wish were more generally known.

A very valuable illustration of the divinity of the Mosaic institutions might be brought from a comparison of them with those of the Hindoos, which appear to have been of equal antiquity. This people was famed, in all ages, for their superior wisdom and civilization, and the mythology of the Egyptians and the Greeks appears to have been borrowed from theirs, or to have been derived from the same source. That of the Hindoos is, however, the more systematic and complex. But the institutions of Moses need

not to shrink from a comparison with theirs. What absurd notions concerning the origin and constitution of the universe, and what a complicated Polytheism are the foundation of it! How horrid were some of the rites of the Hindoo religion, and how abominable and disgusting were others of them! It is much more irrational, and no less unfavourable to morals, than the ancient religions of the western part of the world, of which some account was given in the former set of Discourses.*

When men of sense shall coolly reflect on these things, and consider how destitute the Hebrew nation was of every advantage for forming to themselves so excellent a system of religion, and of civil policy too, as we find in the books of Moses, the great difference between his system and his writings, and those of the Hindoos, which are happily now become known to us, cannot but be thought a most extraordinary phenomenon; and the result of a comparison. of them must be highly favourable to the supposition of Moses having been divinely inspired, and of the authors of the opposite system, whoever they were, having been left to the wanderings of a disordered imagination; they will appear to have been misled by the grossest ignorance into the most absurd superstitions. A detail of the particulars would strike the mind much more forcibly than this general account; and I intend, if I should have leisure and opportunity, to enter into it as far as may be necessary for this purpose.† At present I shall content myself with introducing an extract from the Voyages of M. Sonnerat, which throws great light on the phrase passing through the fire, so often mentioned in the Old Testament, and noticed, p. 57, of the former Discourses.

"The only public festival in honour of Darma-Raja and Drobédé is that of Nerpou-Tirounal, or the feast of fire, because they walk on that element. It continues eighteen days, during which they who make a vow to observe it must fast, abstain from women, lie on the ground without any mat, and walk over burning coals. On the eighteenth day they repair to the place, to the sound of musical instruments, their heads crowned with flowers, their bodies daubed over with saffron, and follow in cadence the images of DarmaRaja and Drobédé his wife, which are carried in procession. When they approach the hot coals, they stir them, to make them burn more fiercely. They then rub their foreheads

See supra, pp. 40-56.

+ See the Author's Comparison, 1799.

with some of the cinders; and when the deities have made the circuit of the fire three times, they walk faster or slower, according to the ardour of their devotion, on the burning coals, which cover a space of about forty feet in length. Some carry their children in their arms, and others lances, sabres, and standards. The most devout walk over the fire

several times."*

From the present set of Discourses it will appear that the deviation from the system of revelation, by Mahomet, possessed as he was of many natural advantages, was far from being any improvement upon it. On the contrary, it leads the mind from its excellent moral maxims, and favours an acquiescence in mere superstitious observances, though not so very absurd and debasing as those of the Heathens. The same is the effect of the corruptions of Christianity by the Catholics. It will therefore appear, that the wisest men cannot do better than revert to the original maxims and precepts of pure revelation, either with respect to good sense and true philosophy, or useful morality. Whatever men have done in this business, has been ill done, and all that is fundamentally good, has been immediately from God.

No unbeliever has as yet entered into any discussion of this kind, though so evidently to the purpose. What the principal of them have done may be seen in the third edition of my Observations on the Increase of Infidelity, which has just been published in this city. This work also contains some remarks on the writings of several of the more distinguished of the modern unbelievers, shewing the spirit with which they generally write; that, for the most part, their works consist of sarcastic wit, popular declamation, and vague, intemperate railing at priests and priestcraft, without any regard to historical truth. This is a very different thing

* "La seule fête publique en l'honneur de Darma-Raja et de Drobédé, est celle de Nerpou-Tirounal, ou Fête du Feu, parce qu'on marche sur cet élément. Elle dure dix-huit jours, pendant lesquels ceux qui font vœu de l'observer, doivent jeûner, se priver des femmes, coucher sur la terre, sans natte, et marcher sur un brasier. Le dix-huitième ils s'y rendent au son des instrumens, la tête couronnée de fleurs, le corps barbouille de safran, et suivent en cadence les figures de DarmaRaja et de Drobédé son épouse, qu'on y conduit processionnellement lorsqu'ils sont auprès du brasier, on le remue pour ranimer son activité; ils prennent un peu de cendres dont ils se frottent le front, et quand les Dieux en ont fait trois fois le tour, ils marchent plus ou moins vite, selon leur dévotion, sur une braise trèsardente, étendue sur une espace d'environ quarante pieds de longueur. Les uns portent leurs enfans sous le bras, les autres des lances, des sabres et des étendards. Les plus fervens traversent ce brasier plusieurs fois." Voyage aux Indes Orientales et à La Chine, 1774-1781. Par M. Sonnerat, 1782, (à Paris,) I. pp. 247, 248. See Plate lxvii.