those who think, that unless skepticism be ranked among the worst crimes, and the Infidel be marked out for abhorrence and dread, the multitude of men will lose their hold on the gospel. An opinion more discreditable to Christianity cannot easily be advanced by its friends. It virtually admits, that the proofs of our religion, unless examined under the influence of terror, cannot work conviction; that the gospel cannot be left, like other subjects, to the calm and unbiassed judgment of mankind. It discovers a distrust of Christianity, with which I have no sympathy. And here I would remark, that the worst abuses of our religion have sprung from this cowardly want of confidence in its power. Its friends have feared, that it could not stand without a variety of artificial buttresses. They have imagined, that men must now be bribed into faith by annexing to it temporal privileges, now driven into it by menaces and inquisitions, now attracted by gorgeous forms, now awed by mysteries and superstitions; in a word, that the multitude must be imposed upon, or the religion will fall. I have no such distrust of Christianity; I believe in its invincible powers. It is founded in our nature. It meets our deepest wants. Its proofs as well as principles are adapted to the common understandings of men, and need not to be aided by appeals to fear or any other passion, which would discourage inquiry or disturb the judgment. I fear nothing for Christianity, if left tospeak in its own tones, to approach men with its unveiled, benignant countenance. I do fear much from the weapons of policy and intimidation, which are framed to uphold the imagined weakness of Christian truth." FATHER of light and life, thou Good Supreme ! With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure; ORTHODOX DECEPTION. CHAPTER IV. “Evil men understand not judgment.” In the preceding chapter, I have advanced many facts to prove the Idolatry of Orthodoxy, and quoted from trinitarian books, some of their superstitious notions, which they, themselves, cannot define, explain or understand; and yet these are the men who pretend to teach ALL the truth. I hope the reader will decide for himself, how far the orthodox are entitled to their self-righteousness. In this chapter, I have extracted an appropriate article from the Universalist Expositor, which every candid man will pronounce orthodox. I take liberty to add this text: "Ilear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge, for the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat. Let us choose to us judgment; let us know among ourselves what is good."—Joв xxxiv. 2-4. 64 Orthodoxy inimical to the Scriptures. "THERE is nothing which so powerfully tends to bring the sacred writings into discredit, as the imputing of manifest absurdities to them, by their professed and zealous friends. It may be considered a weighty question, whether all that has been written or spoken against the authenticity of the bible, by its open opposers, who have endeavored to arm reason, philosophy, science, and wit against it, has done it so much harm as it has sustained from the orthodox clergy; who, after prostituting those divine writings to the support of the most unreasonable, and even wicked dogmas, have hurled their ungodly anathemas on all around them, who have had too much sense to believe their doctrines, and too much honesty to profess to believe what they did not. We are willing, in this, as well as in other cases, to call to our aid that charity which covereth a multitude of sins. We are willing to allow that the clergy deal in this sort of poison, believing it to be a wholesome drug. Happy would it be for the cause of true religion, were it in the power of that ignorance and fanaticism, thus preposterously employed, to neutralize this poison, as well as to demand our charity. But this they cannot do. There are two classes of community, in which the baneful effects of the evil of which we here speak, are evidently visible. Men of science and philosophy,whose professsions so entirely engage their studies and engross their time, that they have no leisure hours to devote to a critical reading of the scriptures, being in the habit of believing that they teach the doctrines of the orthodox, are not unfrequently compelled to doubt, and even to disbelieve them. To this incredulity they are very naturally led, as they find nothing in any science they are acquainted with, that corresponds with the doctrines, which from childhood they have been instructed to believe are taught in the scriptures. Hence it is that many scientific minds have yielded to doubt and infidelity, respecting the scriptures; and are deprived of the consolations of that blessed hope which triumphs over not only the affections of life, but death itself. As a compensation for this vast loss, which can so easily and readily be traced to the unreasonable doctrines of orthodoxy, they receive from the clergy nothing but threatenings and menaces of divine vengeance, which they are told they must suffer, and that without remedy. Another, and perhaps a more numerous class, consists of the unlearned, industrious part of society, who find that all their means and exertions are but scarcely adequate to the wants which have claims on them; who have neither leisure nor learning to examine the scriptures, so as to detect those errors which they have been compelled to support. Many of this class, by hearing a few words dropped from the lips of some -professional man, or by reading in some deistical author, whose wit and sarcasm are successfully aimed at some clerical superstition, are at once led to spurn, not only the superstitious folly, but with it the bible, which they erroneously suppose teaches it. They are not aware that they cast away an invaluable treasure with the offensive nuisance. But the evil soon fol lows; the deleterious poison reaches the very vitals; the hope of the gospel disappears; its mild and wholesome virtues depart, and these lost sheep wander in a barren desert, pursued with the horrid anathemas of everlasting woe! To a heart susceptible of kind and tender sympathies, the infelicities here presented are deplorable calamities. And however inclined we may feel to vindicate the innocence of the misguided fanatics, who are evidently the cause of so much anhappiness, we feel it a duty urged upon us by the claims of humanity and the dearest interests of society, to do all in our one power to remove the deceptions which lead to such evils, and › to counteract their unhappy influence. Another subject which seems not less momentous than the one just considered, is embraced in the query, whether, in reality, the orthodox themselves enjoy any more rest or consolation, in the belief of their doctrines, than do those whom they have driven from the scriptures, and from the mental refreshments which they abundantly afford? If we allow that they are honest, that they really believe what they profess, for which charity most ardently pleads, we must decide this question in the negative. That we may clearly view this subject, let us suppose that we are to choose between the gloomy prospect of annihilation, which is the worst that infidelity presents us, and the lively horrors of never ending woe, as presented us in the doctrines of orthodoxy; which should we choose? If it. be said that we have wronged the orthodox doctrine, in this comparison, by leaving out the everlasting enjoyments of heaven, we will do it, if possible, more than justice, by taking the heaven which it holds up, and supposing ourselves secure from its hell, ask which we should choose, this heaven, or annihila- › tion? The question as it now stands requires a moment's reflection. Let us, then, make a careful calculation of the most material circumstances, which, when duly considered, cannot fail to have an influence in our decision. If we choose heaven, we must exist to all eternity, and be employed in praising our Creator for saving us from the flames of eternal burnings, where some of us must see our fathers and mothers, our wives, sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, writhe with everlasting pain, and hear their groans forever. On the other hand, if we choose annihilation, the eternal repose of nonentity is just before us; and though the thought is full of gloom, that we shall cease to be and to enjoy, there is a balm to expiring existence in the belief that those we love will cease to suffer, which the choice of heaven denies us! Standing in the light of this subject, as it now appears, though we most sin cerely pity our dear brethren, who are deprived of the conso ling anticipation of a blessed hereafter, we no less commise rate our equally dear brethren, whose prospects are, if possi ble, more revolting. If our charity should be overcome by the innumerable indications of insincerity and dissimulation, which verily appear in the measures employed by the orthodox; and should we be driven to the conclusion that they do not believe in the heart, withering horrors and fears which they hold up to the people; we should find, on due reflection, that they, for this, are no less entitled to our compassion. What condition, to which human nature is incident, is more to be deprecated, than that of the hypocrite? While he fearfully, and with hesitancy, endeavors to feed on the confidence of such as he thinks he has deceived, he carries the viper of self-reproach in his own heart. Our duty is not to judge, but if possible, to enlighten; not to condemn, but to pity. What we see, we know we behold the vast community of believers in the unmerciful, unreasonable doctrines of endless wrath, like the troubled ocean when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. To them there is no peace-they have no rest day nor night. Like their ancestors, they compass sea and land to make proselytes; they go from city to city, from town to town, and from house to house. They have concerted measures to extend their influence, by disseminating their errors under the most specious pretensions. Tracts are sent to every house gratis, and urged upon us by runners, whose servile appearance and humble address shield them from the rebuke and indignation which the wickedness of their sentiments justly merit. To treat these messengers of evil with the severity which the business they are in would justify, would be punishing the servant for the crimes of the At this moment we have a tract before us, No. 71, entitled THE BIBLE ABOVE ALL PRICE. By Rev. Edward Payson, D. D. This was recommended, by the messenger who brought it, to be a very good thing, and one that nobody could dislike. The Bible above all Price. What title could be more plausible? Who would refuse to read sixteen pages designed to recommend that book which we have always held in the highest possible estimation? We have read it--but we shall not attempt to describe, with what feelings, when we found that, according to the author's description, the bible, in place of being above all price, is absolutely below all price, just like the tract itself! # On page 8, the reader is informed, that unless the Bible guides men to the mansions of eternal day,they can never arrive there. Now it is certain that if the Bible teach this doctrine, it must contradict itself, as well as violate every moral principle which is contained in its pages. Does the Bible teach us that none of the human family will arrive at the mansions of eter- * nal day, only such as are guided there by itself? What then, we ask has become of the millions of the human race, who liv ed and died during the space of between two and three thousand years, before the bible was written! even before the first.. |