EXTRACTS No. VII.

[In this number the objector gives the whole ground of his objections, and the reasons for his doubts: _which he states as follows_, viz.

"1. Mankind, in all ages of the world, have been, and still are prone to superstition.

"2. It cannot be denied, but that a part of mankind at least, have believed, and still are believing in miracles and revelation, which are spurious.

"3. The facts on which religion is predicated are unlike every thing of which we have any positive knowledge."

Under the first article, the objector appealed to the known superstitions of the world: not only of the Pagan; but of the Jewish, Mahometan, and Christian world. He took a view of the present state of Asia, spake of the "voluntary sacrifices of human life to the great image at Hugernaught!" and of women "voluntarily climbing the funeral pile to be burned with their deceased husbands!" He took a view of the _Inquisition_ in Old Spain; and finally of the various superstitious notions and practices among the different sects of christians in our own country.

Under the second article, he discanted largely on the pretension of Mahomet, and of their great influence and extent; and also of the particular tone given to the Christian religion by Constantine, who, holding the reigns of government, had superior means in extending his influence over the Christian world. Having made these remarks, the objector proceeds:]

"If therefore, he had happened only to have favoured the opinions of the Gnostics, we might have expected, and probably it would have been the fact, that the learned clergy of the present day would have held that Jesus was not a man in reality, but only a man in appearance; that he assumed a body that he could put on or throw off at pleasure; and that he died and was raised again _in appearance only_. Or otherwise, if he had been disposed to come down to the simplicity and understanding of the common people, then indeed Christ might still have been considered as the Jews' expected Messiah; yet we should have considered him a man, and nothing more than a man; though 'a man approved of God;'--'a man who hath told us the truth;'--even 'Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph;' as it seems was the opinion of Peter, John and Philip. But the former opinion had been too long treated as heresy by all the bishops to be imbibed by Constantine, while the bishops themselves, on the other hand, had been too long contaminated with the Platonic philosophy to descend to the simplicity of the latter; therefore we have a religion, compounded, partly of the simplicity of the truth, and partly of Platonism. Constantine, however, being supported by a great majority of all the bishops, in a great measure effected his purpose; though not fully to his expectation: for it seems he did not expect that any one would presume to oppose the decisions of this grand council, which he had summoned and convened at his own expense, or at the expense of the empire, but in this he was mistaken; for many, even after this, would take the liberty not only to think for themselves, but also to speak their own thoughts.

"One circumstance more I cannot avoid mentioning in this place, viz, the conversion of Constantine from heathenism to the Christian faith. Great men, if turned about at all, must be turned about by great means! But whatever might have been thought of Constantine's conversion by the people of that day, the account given of it does not argue any thing very forcibly in my mind, in favour of the truth of divine revelation. Great men, however, are not always free from superstition; and they are just as likely to be deceived respecting things which are above their comprehension as others. This is the most charitable way in which I can reconcile the following account which, as Eusebius, the contemporary and historian of Constantine, says, was stated under the solemnity of an oath. For a full account of this extraordinary story. See the 2d vol. of Dr. Priestley's Church History, per. 7, sec. 9. I shall not attempt to quote it in full, nor is it necessary, and what I do quote is from memory only, as I write abroad, my books not being with me.

"Reflecting on the ill success of his predecessors in the numerous wars in which they had been engaged, when their priests and oracles had ever promised them success, and also considering the better success of his father, Constantine concluded from these circumstances that his father prayed to, and was assisted by a different god! When he prayed, therefore, he always prayed to the God of his father. And being thus praying one evening, towards the going down of the sun, with his face toward the same, he saw the appearance of a _cross_ in the sun, with these words over it in Greek, [Greek: tetw nika] _by this conquer_. Not knowing, (or else pretending not to know) what this sign should mean, he called together some of the christian priests for an explanation; who explained it as might naturally have been supposed they would, that it was a representation of the cross, on which Christ was crucified, and that there could be no doubt but that he had now interposed as God, in behalf of the christians, to deliver them from their enemies, and of course from further persecution! I do not pretend to be any thing more than _substantially_ correct in the above account (by which you will further see how I use the word _substantially_, about which we have had some dispute) i. e. I may, yea undoubtedly, have differed, as to words, yet I know I am correct in the most material part, and of the use which Constantine made of this supposed miraculous, or supernatural appearance. He said also, the soldiers saw it as well as himself! Now, if we give full credit to this account, what must we think of Christianity? The meek and lowly Jesus, who was led 'like a lamb to the slaughter,' without the least resistance, and who had suffered thousands to follow him in the same way, now, by a miraculous interposition, arms a man with carnal weapons, and, Mahometan like, authorizes him to vindicate his cause, and avenge his wrongs, by shedding the blood of his enemies! Or, if we do not credit this account, what must we think of Constantine? and also of Christianity so far as it can be traced to, and made to depend on his influence? That candor and charity, however, which I ever wish to maintain, will oblige me in this, as in all other cases of a similar nature, to take the middle course. I shall therefore suppose that there was some natural appearance, perhaps a parhelion, the cause of which Constantine did not fully understand, and, from the appearance in the sky around it, his fancy, aided by superstition, painted to his imagination the supposed cross, as also the Greek words, which being pointed out to the soldiers they might easily imagine the same, or, if they did not, would not like to oppose the opinion of their general. Thus circumstanced, whether he really believed it to be any thing supernatural or not, Constantine was disposed to make the most of it he could, by turning it to the best possible account.[2]"

[Footnote 2: "Upon the whole," says Dr. Priestly, (vol. 2, p. 96) "it appears to me most probable, that Constantine and his friends saw a natural parhelion, and that all the other circumstances were either imagined, or invented; and that the story has lost nothing in passing through the hands of Eusebius." Constantine also states (which I forgot to mention above) that "Christ appeared to him in a dream, the night following, with the very same sign which he had seen in the heavens, ordering him to make a military standard like it, and assuring him that it would be his security in battles." "By this note it will be perceived that I have compared what I have written with the part of the history from whence it was taken, and that I find nothing in it materially erroneous."]

"It appears, however, after all, that Constantine was a man of great moderation, and on the whole, a very good man: yet, that he was not wholly clear from superstition is very evident from the following circumstance. Notwithstanding his extraordinary, and what was supposed by all, miraculous conversion, together with his great pretensions; and all that he had done for christianity, yet he neglected his own _baptism_ till he found he was very nigh his end; when he dressed himself in white, and the bed on which he lay, also all in white, in which dress he was baptised and partook of the _sacrament_! and thus he continued in _white_ till he died. This was undoubtedly from a mistaken notion, that there was something really purifying in those outward ceremonies, and also from the doctrine of the Navatians, a certain sect, whose opinions it was supposed he favoured, though not very openly, i.e. if a person committed sin after having been thus purified he could not die in union with the church.

"You may perhaps object here and say, all this is to no purpose, as christianity was well established before; and had existed for nearly three centuries, and increased too, notwithstanding the many most bitter and cruel persecutions. Therefore what you say respecting Constantine only proves that christianity has been corrupted, but it is no objection against its truth. Very good. If the facts above stated are admitted, let them prove what they will, I am not the author of those facts, nor accountable for what is proved by them. The conversion of Constantine, however, if correct, bears some analogy to the conversion of St. Paul: hence, the supposition that one is not correct, brings a little doubt over the mind respecting the truth of the other: for both being by means which were supernatural; if both are supported on equal testimony, why should they not both share the same fate in our minds? Both were equally possible; it is the want of probability, therefore, arising from the want of equal evidence in its favour, which leads us to reject the truth of the circumstances attending the conversion of Constantine, rather than those attending the conversion of St. Paul. The conversion of Constantine also, if genuine, seems to have been designed for a very different object, and was attended with a very different effect. This would incline me to believe in the validity of that of the apostle's, rather than that of the emperor. Nevertheless, as it respects the facts; he who caused a light at mid-day, above the brightness of the sun, might as easily have painted the sign of the cross on his disk; and he who spake to Saul from Heaven, with an audible voice, in the Hebrew tongue, might as easily have painted letters and words in Greek, so that they might be distinctly read in the firmament!

"Leaving all ancient miracles and revelation, I will come down to those of our own times, and in our own country.--Strange to tell, there is a sect of people now among us, who sprang up less than half a century ago, whose religion is professedly founded on miracles and revelation. On miracles wrought by the first founders of the sect, as by Christ and his apostles, and on a revelation also made directly to them, and through them to the believers, as by the inspired writers of the new testament. They appear to be something similar in sentiment, as it respects the person of Christ, to the ancient Arians; with this difference only, they conceived that as Christ made his first appearance in Jesus, the son of a _carpenter_, so he has made his second appearance in Ann, the daughter of a _blacksmith_, whom they call _mother_; and they consider their church the _New Jerusalem_, that holy city which was to come down from God out of Heaven.

In the year 1808, about the same time after their first rise as it was after the days of Jesus to the writing of the new testament, they published a history of their sect, in a work entitled '_Christ's second appearance,' or the New Jerusalem Church_, setting forth their rise, progress and present state; together with their principles, customs and mode of worship. This work contains an account of their mother _Ann_, and the first elders; and particularly an account of the miracles said to have been wrought by them. If my memory serves me, (as the book is not by me) there is an account of about _forty_ miracles, all of which are well attested, and though they acknowledge that most of them are inferior to those wrought by Jesus and his apostles, yet they contend that they are no more inferior to those than those are to the miracles wrought by Moses. They contend that for the plagues in Egypt, the dividing the red sea, bringing water out of the rock, feeding Israel forty years in the wilderness with bread from heaven, and that there should always fall a double portion on the sixth day, but none on the seventh, that that which fell on the sixth day, should keep two days, but on all other days it would keep but one, and that afterward, some of the same bread or manna was laid up in the ark of the covenant which kept for ages, as a memorial; also the dividing the waters of the river Jordan, and the fall of the walls of Jericho; yea most or all of these, according to reason or human appearance, are as much greater than the miracles wrought by Jesus and his apostles, as those are greater than those wrought by Ann and her elders! It is true, they did not pretend to raise the dead, but either these accounts are all fabrications and lies, or else they had among them the gift of healing, and that too miraculously. A woman who had fell with her horse, by the falling of a bridge, and had broken several of her ribs, besides being otherwise very much bruised, was cured in one evening, so that she joined in the dance! A boy who had cut his foot so that a person might have laid his finger into the wound, which bled very profusely, was cured in a few hours so that nothing was to be seen of the wound excepting a white streak, about the bigness of a common thread! and many others of a like kind, too numerous to be mentioned in this place.

"You will readily perceive that I allude to the _Shakers_; a people who are enjoying privileges among us which no other people enjoy, except the Friends, called also _Quakers_: and who are debarred from no privileges excepting those from which they either religiously or _superstitiously_ debar themselves. Thus people, in consequence of their religion, have entirely changed their manners, customs, and modes of worship. They have also endured considerable persecution; and that they have not suffered martyrdom in defence of their religion, is no fault of theirs. There can be no doubt but that there has been fanaticism enough on their part to have done it, if there had been only bigotry and cruelty enough in the people, at that time, to have put it in execution. Let the same spirit reign among the people for a short time, which reigned in Boston when the _Quakers_ were put to death for their religion, and the _Shakers_ also would be able to boast of their martyrs in defence of the truth of their particular sect, and of course of the miracles and revelation on which it is said to have been founded.

"And here I wish to remark a little on _martyrdom_, seeing it is often brought in defence of the truth of divine revelation. I am aware that great stress has been laid upon this, and it will still be considered as one of its main pillars. I apprehend, however, that more stress has been laid upon martyrdom than what it will justly bear. If this is a test of the truth of religion, there is scarcely any religion but what may be proved true. Only make death honourable, of any kind whatever, in the eyes of the people, and there are always enough who are ready and willing to die for the sake of the honour which will be in consequence attached to their names. But only let any particular kind of death be considered, in the eyes of the people, _meritorious_, and the sure and certain road to _endless bliss_, and there will not only be enough found willing to undergo this death, if they can find any to inflict it upon them, but they will absolutely court it! Instead therefore of having my faith strengthened by reading the book of martyrs, as I thought I had some reason to expect, it has produced a quite contrary effect. Notwithstanding these accounts were taken down by the friends of the martyrs, and by them have been handed down to us, who, as we may well suppose, were rather prejudiced in their favour, yet nevertheless, it is impossible to disguise the spirit and motives with which many of those infatuated people eagerly sought and met death.

"In all those accounts it is but too clearly discovered, what has been too often the fact, that the most bitterly persecuted would have become the most violent persecutors, if there had been only a chance for them so to have done, and if there had been, in their view, an equal occasion. The persecutors of people for their religion have always considered the persecuted, either heretics or infidels; who if persecuted by heathens, unless they could be brought to sacrifice to their heathen gods, or if by christians, unless they could be brought to acknowledge the particular faith embraced by the _orthodoxy_ of the day, were considered as mere nuisances or pests to society; and therefore for the public good, it was thought necessary to take them out of the world! While on the other hand, the persecuted have always considered that, if they suffered death in defence of their religion, they were certain of being raised to great honour and dignity in another world; a privilege which they undoubtedly believed their persecutors would never enjoy! And, whatever was the opinion of Christ and his apostles on this subject, it cannot be denied but that the idea very soon become prevalent among their followers that the distinction between them and a wicked world, particularly their persecutors, would be eternal! Under these circumstances, I do not wonder at all that men have been found willing to die for their religion; yea, and even to court death by all the means of which their own consciences would approve!

"But, you may say, all this does not account for the death of the first martyrs. Very true. I admit that it does not. But it shews that, only let the work be begun, from any cause whatever, there is no difficulty in its being continued.

"Suppose then, if you please, that the first martyrs were killed by a _mob_, a mere _rabble_, without any legal process, or even form of _trial_; as, from which appears by the account, was the case with the death of _Stephen_, the first christian martyr; and, according to tradition, most of the other apostles: (and it may be remarked here, it is only by tradition that we have any account of the death of the apostles; as all authentic documents on the subject, if there ever were any, are lost:) I say, let such a circumstance as the death of Stephen take place in any country, and in any age of the world; but more especially in that age and country in which he lived; and then let the same honour, and the same supposed consequences be attached to such a death, as undoubtedly were attached to the death of Stephen; and there can be no doubt but that others would be willing to follow the example.

"Only let the blood once begin to flow, no matter how, and then only attach eternal consequences to it, and hold out inducements of an eternal nature, and persuade men to believe them (which is not so difficult a thing as some may imagine) and you will never want for victims, so long as you can find a zeal sufficiently blind and _mad_; as to continue the slaughter. In this way, I conceive martyrdom, of every species and kind, may be rationally accounted for.

"But it may be said all this does not disprove the miracles and revelation on which the christian religion is founded.

"I acknowledge it does not; neither do I expect to disprove them. I admit that revelation, and of course the christian religion may possibly be founded in truth, notwithstanding the truth of all that I have as yet urged, or shall urge against it. But I call on you, sir, to disprove the miracles and revelation which I have mentioned, of a more modern date, or else acknowledge their truth. If you acknowledge the truth of those miracles, I shall expect you will conform to the religion predicated upon them; and of course forsake your bosom companion (which I presume would be a much greater cross than ever you have yet taken up,) and also your darling offspring (or else take them with you) and go and live with the _Shakers_!!! But if you prove them false, it will only be that people may become so infatuated as to believe in miracles which are spurious.