It is true, the reading of the sacred books is per mitted, and even recommended to the Protestants, who are also enjoined to examine their religion. But faith must always precede that reading, and follow that examination; so that before reading, a Protestant is bound to believe the Gospel to be divine; and the examination which he makes of it, is allowable only, while he finds there what the ministers of his sect have resolved that he shall find; beyond this, he is regarded as an ungodly man, and often punished for the weakness of his intellects.

We must then conclude, that the salvation of Christians depends neither on the reading nor understanding of the sacred books, but in the firm belief that these books are divine. If, unfortunately, the reading or examination of any person, does not coincide with the decisions, interpretations, and commentaries of the church, he is in danger of being ruined, and of incurring eternal damnation. To read the gospel, he must commence with being disposed blindly to believe all which that book contains; to examine the gospel, he must be previously resolved to find nothing there but the holy and the adorable; in fine, to understand the gospel, he must entertain a fixed persuasion, that our priests can never either be themselves deceived, or wish to deceive others, in the manner they explain it. "Believe, (say they), believe on our words, that this book is the work of God himself; if you dare to doubt it, you shall be damned. Are you unable to comprehend any of what God reveals to you there? Believe evermore :-God has revealed himself that he may not

the faith of Christians is founded only on one single article, amely, the infallible authority of the church."

be understood. The glory of God is to conceal his word; or rather, by speaking in an unintelligible manner, does not God intimate that he wants every one to refer it to us, to whom he has confided his important secrets?—A truth, of which you must not doubt, seeing that we persecute in this world, and damn in the other, whoever dares to question the testimony which we bear to ourselves."

However erroneous this reasoning may appear to the profane, it is sufficient for the greater part of believers. Where, therefore, they do not read the gospel, or where they do read it, they do not examine it; where they examine, it is with prejudiced eyes, and with a fixed determination to find there only what shall be conformable to their own prejudices, and the interests of their guides. In consistency with his fears and prepossessions, a Christian believes himself lost, should he find in the sacred books reason to doubt the veracity of his priests.

With such dispositions, it is not surprising to see men persisting in their ignorance, and making a merit of rejecting the lights which reason offers them. It is thus that error is perpetuated, and that nations, in concert with those who deceive them, bestow on interest

• Proverbs of Solomon, xxv. 2. It is on this odious maxim, so dishonourable to the divinity, that all mysteries are founded. What right had St. Justin to reproach the Pagans with the im piety of one of their poets, who had said that the gods, during the greater part of their time, "amused themselves with deceiving men?"-Is not the whole Bible a continual snare laid for the human understanding? Is not the whole conduct of Christ, according to the gospel itself, a snare laid for the Jews; so that hearing they might not understand, and seeing they might not believe in the Messiah?"

ed cheats an unbounded confidence in what they regard as of the greatest importance to their own felici ty. But the darkness, which for so many ages has enveloped the human mind, begins to dissipate. In spite of the tyrannic cares of their jealous guides, mankind seem desirous to burst from the pupilage, wherein so many causes combine in attempting to retain them. The ignorance in which the priesthood fostered the credulous, has vanished from amongst many nations; the despotism of priests is enfeebled in several flourishing states; science has rendered the mind more liberal; and mankind begin to blush at the ignominious fetters, under which the clergy have so long made both kings and people groan. The human mind indeed seems struggling in every country to break in pieces its chains.

Having premised this, we proceed to examine, without any prejudice, the life of Jesus Christ. We shall deduce our facts from the gospel only; memorials reverenced and acknowledged by the doctors of the Christian religion. To illustrate these facts, we shall employ the aid of criticism. We shall exhibit, in the simplest manner, the conduct, maxims, and policy of an obscure legislator, who, after his death, acquired a celebrity to which there is no reason for presuming that he pretended while alive. We shall contemplate in its cradle a religion which, at first destined solely for the vilest populace of a nation, the most abject, the most credulous, and the most stupid on earth, became, by little and little, mistress of the Romans; the firebrand of nations, the absolute sovereign of European monarchs; arbiter of the destiny of kingdoms; the cause of their friendship, and of their hate; the cement which serves to strengthen their alliance or their discord; and the leaven always ready to put

minds in fermentation. In fine, we shall behold an artisan, a melancholy enthusiast and unskilful jug. gler, bursting out of a carpenter's shop, in order to deceive men of his own cast; miscarrying in all his pro jects; himself punished as a public incendiary; dying on a cross; and yet after his death becoming the legislator and the god of many nations, and an object of adoration to beings who pretend to common

sense!

There is every reason to believe, if the Holy Ghost had foreseen the transcendant fortune which the religion of Jesus was one day to attain; if he had fore> seen that this religion would, in the course of time, be received by kings, civilized nations, scholars, and persons in the higher circles of life; if he had suspected that this religion would be examined, analysed, dis cussed and criticised by logicians; there is, we say, reason to believe that the Holy Ghost would have left us memoirs less shapeless, facts more circumstantial, proofs more authentic, and materials better digested than those we possess on the life and doctrine of its founder. He would have chosen writers better qualified than those he has inspired, to transmit to nations the speeches and actions of the Saviour of the World; he would have made him to act and speak, on the most trifling point, in a manner more worthy of a god; he would have put in his mouth a language more noble, more perspicuous, and more persuasive; and he would have employed means more certain to convince rebellious reason, and abash incredulity.

Nothing of all this has occurred: the gospel is merely an eastern romance, disgusting to every man of common sense, and apparently addressed to the ignorant, the stupid, and the vulgar, the only persons whom

it can mislead.* Criticism finds there no connection of facts, no agreement of circumstances, no train of principles, and no uniformity of relation. Four men, unpolished and devoid of letters, pass for the faithful authors of memoirs containing the life of Jesus Christ; and it is on their testimony, that Christians believe themselves bound to receive the religion they profess, and adopt, without examination, the most contradictory facts, the most incredible actions, the most amazing prodigies, the most unconnected system, the ́most unintelligible doctrine, and the most revolting mysteries!

Supposing, however, that the gospels in our hands belong to the authors to whom they are attributed; that they were in reality written by apostles or disciples of apostles, should it not follow from this alone, that their testimony ought to be suspected? Could not men, who are described as ignorant, and destitute of parts, be themselves deceived? Could not enthusiasts and very credulous fanatics imagine, that they

* Victor of Tunis informs us, that, in the sixth century, the Emperor Anastasius caused the gospels to be corrected as works composed by fools.

The Elements of Euclid are intelligible to all who endeavour to understand them; they excite no dispute among geometricians. Is it so with the Bible? and do its revealed truths occasion no disputes among divines? By what fatality have writings revealed by God himself still need of commentaries; and why do they demand additional lights from on high, before they can be believed or understood? Is it not astonishing, that what was intended as a guide to mankind, should be wholly above their compre hension? Is it not cruel, that what is of most importance to them, should be least known? All is mystery, darkness, uncertainty, and matter of dispute, in a religion intended by the Most High to enlighten the human race.

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