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    of truths which great men of old either altogether rejected , w could < oiriy dimly discern through a cloud of job * scurity and doulgt . The articles above *

    stated ,. us > the discoveries of natural religion , are the great truths of Chris ? - tianity ; and they who contend for ( hem , as inculcated by nature , have derived their conviction of them from

    Christianity , and from Christianity alone . , They contemplate the phenor mena of the universe by the light of revelation , and then rashly imagine that ? these phenomena v ^ ould present the same aspect were this light

    withdrawn . They mistake opinions , impressed by education , for the clear and certain deductions of reason , and think that they believe upon independent evidence , truths which experience seems to have shewn that revelation

    alone is competent to teach . Hence the grand problem , whether man be destined for immortality is solved in a moment , and that on which philosophers ; of old employed so much

    thought to so little purpose , is pxoved by arguments which , whatever force they have , adapt themselves to the feeblest understanding . That some of the ancients endeavoured to establish

    this dpctrine is true ; but if they really believed it , there is sufficient reason to think that their faith did not grow out of their reasonings , but that their reasonings were laboriously sought for to uphold a preconceived opinion . And were Christianity proved to be a

    delusion , though a future life might be regarded as a consummation devoutly to be wished , I feel fully persuaded that the hope of it would in general rather be encouraged as a pleasing dream than as the presage of a glorious reality .

    Bat having now inquired how far it appears probable that a revolution similar to that which was caused by the promulgation of Christianity could have been brought about by the researches of philosophy , and the gradual diffusion of knowledge , I proceed to say a word on the means by which this revolution was in fact effected .

    But I shall first consider the hypothesis of the unbeliever , I mean the hypothesis which the unbeliever must admit . According to this hypothesis , then , a few unlettered Jews , believing or pretending to believe in the resurrection of a crucified Master , while no

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    such event had taken p lace , and in a series af miracles' which were iiever wrought , conceived the extraordinary design of converting the Heathen . world to a religion which stood diametrically opposed ; to the prevailing

    superstitions , and which could flourish only by their total abolition . And these impostors or fanatics ( call them which you please ) ted the temerity to rest their whole cause upon an appeal to facts which they maintained to be notorious ,- which facts they either themselves invented or bettered

    without the shadow of a proof . Had we lived at the time when this extravagant project was devised , and had we , like modern Unbelievers , rejected all notion of miraculous interposition ^ and consequently not admitted the truth

    of the facts which were brougkt forward in behalf of the new religion , what should we have thought of these men , and what expectations should we have formed as to the success of their

    undertaking ? Should we Hot have confidently predicted , had we taken the trouble to predict any thing , that a few short years would bury the mad scheme , together with its mad

    projectors , in everlasting oblivion ? Would a momentary suspicion have darted into our minds , that it might so happen that these spiritual Quixotes would change the religion of . the world , and that the final event of their wild

    enterprise would be the overthrow of a worship which had stood for ages , supported by the civil power , and dignified by all the pomp and splendour which could captivate the imaginations and blind the understandings of its votaries ? But in the exact proportion

    in which such a result appears improbable , does the credibility of a divine interposition rise in the judgment of impartial reason . But mankind , it will be said , have always been credulous , and have in all ages shewn themselves the willing dupes of knaves and

    enthusiasts . Be it so . But did ever any portion of a community submit , for the gratification of credulity , to part with early prejudices and tp undergo a total revolution of religious opinion ? The followers of Joanna Southcott seem to have been

    ambitious of shewing" how far , credulity can go . But if Joanna had commenced with endeavouring to overthrow the Christian faith , I have not credulity

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    12 4 ff & > g # n on the Nemssity a # d Evictenee qf Mepefatfofi *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1824, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2520/page/12/