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Page 81
There is not a more palpable instance of the facility with which good
natured and voracious piety is made to swallow the most flimsy
arguments, if only agreeable to its wishes and wants, than the case
under consideration. This Psalm, containing these passages, �they
parted my raiment among them;� and �they pierced my hands and my feet,�
is read, and for ages has been read, in the name of God, to the good
people of the Church of England, on every Good Friday, as undoubtedly a
prophesy of the Crucifixion; when yet the learned divines of the Church
of England (and of these it can boast a noble Catalogue indeed)
certainly know, and are conscious that the Psalm, which contains these
passages, has no more relation to Jesus, than it has to Nebuchadnezzar.
A reference ought to have been subjoined at the end of the 10th chapter
to the dialogue, called �Philopatris� in Lucian�s Works, for an account
of the customs, habits, and personal appearance of the early Christians,
corroborative of what is said in the 17th and 18th chapters of this
work. Lest, however, Lucian�s testimony in this matter should be
objected to, because he was a satirist, and, of course, may have been
guilty of giving an overcharged picture of the subjects of his ridicule,
I request the reader to peruse, if he can obtain it, �Lami�s Account of
the domestic habits and personal appearance and practices of the
primitive Christians.� Lami was a very learned and sincere Christian,
and of course his testimony cannot be objected to, and the reader will
find, on a perusal of his work, that what I have asserted in the 17th
and 18th chapters is altogether true, and not the whole truth neither.
Indeed, that the statements in those chapters, as to the effects of the
peculiar maxims of the New Testament upon the heart and understanding,
are substantially correct, will, I believe, be discovered by asking any
honest individual among the Methodists, who is an enthusiast, i. e
sincere, and thorough-going in his religion. I have no doubt that he or
she will avow, without hesitation, to the enquirer, and glory in it,
that chastity is more honourable than marriage; that faith is every
thing; that doubt is damnable, and a proof of �an unregenerated mind;�
that all the goods and pleasures of this world are �trash;� that human
institutions are mere �carnal ordinances;� and that human science and
learning is a snare to faith and an abomination to a true disciple of
the cross.
Published 1785.
* In the present day, various-attempts, insidious and powerful, have
been made, even here, to coerce in matters of conscience, and to
overthrow those wise barriers to the destructive effects of sectarian
fanaticism and intolerance, which the great founders of the Republic, to
their everlasting glory, erected.--D.
* Do you know (says Rousseau) of many Christians who have taken the
pains to examine, with care, what the Jews have to say against them? If
some persons have seen any thing of the kind, it is in the books of
Christians, A fine way, truly, to get instructed in the arguments of
their adversaries! But what can they do? If any one should dare to
publish among us, books, in which be openly favours their opinions, we
punish the author, the editor, the bookseller. This policy is
convenient, and sure always to be in the right. There is a pleasure in
refuting people who dare not open their lips"--(Emilius.) In the same
work he says that �he will never be convinced that the Jews have not
something strong to say, till they shall be permitted to speak for
themselves without fear, and without restraint." It was this hint of
Rousseau which first excited the author's curiosity with regard to the
subject of this book.--E.
* There are a great many persons who conceive that Christianity is
sufficiently proved to be true, if the miracles of Jesus are true, even
without any regard to the prophecies, so often appealed to by him. But
supposing the miracles to be true; yet no miracles can prove that which
is false in itself to be true. If therefore Jesus be not foretold as the
Messiah in the Old Testament, no miracles can prove Jesus to be the
Messiah foretold. Nay, it would be a stronger argument to prove Jesus to
be a false pretender, that he appealed to prophecies as relating to him,
when in fact they had no relation whatever to him; and by that means
imposed upon the ignorant people; than it would be that he came from
God, merely because he worked miracles; for �False Christs and false
prophets may arise, and may show such great signs and wonders as to
deceive, if it were possible, the very elect.� Matt. xxiv. 24. Yet no
Christian would allow it to be argued from thence, that those false
Christs were true ones: nor would any one conclude; that a man came from
God, (notwithstanding any miracle he might do) if he appealed to
Scripture for that which is no where in it. In fine, if miracles would
prove the Messiahship of Jesus, so also they would prove the Messiahship
of the false Christs, and false prophets spoken of above. Nay more, they
would demonstrate the Divine mission of Antichrist himself; who,
according to the epistle to the Thessalonians, (2 Thes. ch. ii. 8, 9,10)
and the Revelations, ch. xiii. 13, 14, was to perform "great signs and
wonders," equal to any wrought by Jesus, for the same Greek words are
used to express the wonderful works or �great signs and wonders� of
Antichrist, which are elsewhere used to express the miracles, or �great
signs and wonders� of Jesus himself.
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