culous opinion which may be started, or to answer every idle question which can be put. There is a description of reasoners, triflers, I would rather say, who place it out of the power of an opponent to treat them with any thing but ridicule; and then cry out against what they themselves occasion. J. C. H. is, doubtless, the friend, or disciple of J. D.; and far be it from me to detract from the merits of his master. He may be the doughty disputant-he may be the man of reflection, described by J. C. H; if he is, I have no doubt but he will profit by my late letter, and be sufficiently master of himself to smile, even at his own absurdities. Good talents will, sometimes, have a certain alloy of weakness, and there are men who are very sound on some subjects, and very foolish on others. At any rate, the feet-washing communication was no very favourable display of judgment or penetration, although in the estimation of J. C. H. the thoughts of his master may have been equally lucid, bold, and profound, on that as on every occasion!! I pass over, Mr. Editor, the charge of speaking irreverently concerning "religious men and religious concerns, being conscious that it will be esteemed groundless by all sensible readers; in which description I do not, certainly, include J. C. H. One or two paragraphs deserve particular attention. Could an apostle have foreseen the allusion which is made of his bodily infirmity, and the ludicrous ideas with which it is associated, would not his mind have felt an impulse of mingled pity and indignation?" Permit me, Sir, just to say, that I should value the good opinion of Paul, as much as I slight the censure of J. C. H.; and whatever pitiful notions may be formed of the character of that great apostle, I have no doubt, but the allusion referred to would excite nothing but a smile or a sigh for the occasion which produced it. 66 The writer asks, Is the salvation of the soul, which se rious believers of every denomination deem of supreme importance, a matter of so little moment to this writer, that he feels himself justified in mentioning it with an air of levity, which becomes the hardened infidel infinitely better than the professed Christian?" Be assured, my good friend J. C. H., I believe as much as yourself in the important doctrine of a future state of existence; but I do not suppose my condition in the next life will be at all benefited by any attention to idle forms, useless ceremonies, and puerile observances in this; I do not expect to be condemned for never having kept the feast of the ass, or for not having sucked the blessed saeramental wine through a quill, or for not having my feet washed by any body but myself-or, in short, for neglecting any such contemptible things, which ignorant men have thought essential to salvation, or beneficial to the human character. In the name of common sense, let it not be said, Mr. Editor, that in the nineteenth century, and in the Freethinking Christians' Magazine, the abettor of the feet washing ceremony met with a serious opponent. Tell all such Correspondents that they may wash the feet or wash the brains of their brethren if they please, or clean each other's shoes, or have a shaving and dressing ceremony; but for the honour of the religion of Jesus, let not such practices be called Christian, or be esteemed beneficial to the Christian character!! And I do hope that time, which, as Mr. Robinson says, teaches the dull, will even teach J. C. H. that the communication of his friend was deservedly treated by A HUMBLE ENQUIRER AFTER TRUTH, ROUSSEAU'S SENTIMENTS ON CHRISTIANITY. To the Editor of the Freethinking Christians' Magazine. THE SIR, HE following letter was written by Jean Jacques Rous seau, in vindication of his Emilus, to the Archbishop of Paris (Christopher de Beaumont), being stigmatized by him a Deist, Freethinker, &c. for his liberality of reli gious sentiments in his Emilus; and by many folks, who are prejudiced to this day, and who never read for themselves, he stil; bears the same epithets. But I think to the rational reader and Christian, and to you, he will appear, on perus. ing the letter, neither more or less than a rational Freethinking Christian. As such I think, by inserting it in your Magazine, it would let many of your readers know the idea he had of genuine Christianity. Islington, Jan. 5, 1813. GEORGE BAKER. Rousseau's Sentiments on Religion, as sent to Christopher de Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris, Nov. 18, 1762. "My Lord-I am a Christian, a sincere Christian, ac cording to the doctrine of the gospel. I am a Christian, not as a disciple of priests, but as a disciple of Jesus Christ. My great master refined but little on doctrinal tenets, but insisted strongly on moral obligations. He prescribed fewer articles of faith than good works; he commanded us to believe only so much as is necessary to make us good. When he superseded the law and the prophets, it was more by acts of virtue than articles of belief; and he hath told me, as well in his own words, as by those of his apostles, 'that whoso loveth his brother hath fulfilled the law." "With regard to myself, being firmly convinced of the essential truths of Christianity, which are the foundation of all good morality, I endeavour to nourish my heart with the spirit of the gospel, without perplexing my head about what appears in it dark and obscure; and being as fully persuaded, that whosoever loveth God above all things, and his neighbour as himself, is a true Christian, I strive to prove mysef such, laying aside all those doctrinal subtilties, those important trifles, with which the pharisees so perplex our duty and confound our belief, placing, with St. Paul, even faith itself below charity.. 66 Happy in having been educated in a religion the most rational and pure upon earth, I remain inviolably attached to the worship of my fathers; like them, I take scripture and reason for the only rule of faith; like them I pay no implicit regard to human authority, nor subscribe to their formulas till I perceive the truth of them; like them I heartily join with the true servants of Jesus Christ, and the real worshippers of God, to pay him homage, with the communion of the faithful, in his church. It is pleasing and consolatory to be numbered among its members, to assist in this public worship of the Deity, and to reflect, while I am in the midst of them, here am I with my brethren! "Penetrated with due respect for a worthy pastor, who, resisting the torrent of example, and judging in the truth, hath not excluded from his church a defender of God's cause, I shall preserve to the latest hour of my life a grateful remembrance of charity so truly christian. I shall ever think it an honour to be numbered among his flock, and hope never to bring a scandal on its members, either by my sentiments or conduct. But when injurious priests arro-, gate to themselves a power to which they have no just pretensions; when they take upon them to dictate what I shall believe, and insolently bid me explain this, disown that, retract my words, or disguise my meaning, their arrogance hath no effect on my sincerity; they cannot make me be guilty of falsehood in order to be orthodox, or to say what I do not think merely to please them. And though my veracity may give them so much offence as to make them eager to cut me off from the church, I am little terrified by a measure which it is not in their power to put in execution. They cannot prevent my heart from being united to the faithful; they cannot blot out my name from among the elect, ifit be written in that number, They may deprive me indeed of many of the comforts of this life, but they cannot deprive me of my hope in that which is to come; where it is my most sincere and ardent wish to have Jesus Christ himself the umpire and judge between them and me. "Such, my Lord, are my real sentiments; which, however, I do not lay down as a rule for others, but only declare them to be mine, and that such they will remain as long as it pleases not men but God, who alone is capable of changing my heart and mind; for so long as I may be what I am, and think as I now do, I shall speak as I now speak. I am, my Lord, with profound respect, &c. A Motiers, Nov. 18, 1762. "J. J. ROUSSEAU.” www T EXTRACTS FROM A PORT-FOLIO. PRAYER. HE favour conferred by heaven, in granting the freedom of peti tions to its throne, can never be conceived with proper force, by those whose most tedious moments, during their infancy, were passed in prayer. Unthinking governors of childhood! to insult the Deity with a form of worship, in which the mind has no share; này, worse, to which it has a repugnance; and by the thoughtless habits of youth, prevent, even in age, devotion. Mrs. Inchbald, DOUBT. MEDE, a celebrated divine, and professor of philosophy, in the sixteenth century, was accustomed to address his pupils, on their meeting together, with these words--" Well! what doubts have occurred to you during your studies to-day?" For he was of opinion, that to doubt nothing, was the same as understanding nothing. ST. GEORGE. St. George, the patron of England, both in church and state, and, as he is styled in the book of Common Prayer, the Martyr, was (though called the Cappadocian, on account either of his parents or his edu cation) born at Epiphania in Cilicia, in a fuller's shop. From this obscure and servile origin he raised himself, by the talents of a parasite, first to a lucrative commission, or contract, to supply the army with bacon, and afterwards by his profession of Arianism, to the primacy of Egypt, vacant by the expulsion of Athanasius, with whom, as being a staunch Trinitarian, he was continually at variance. His entrance was that of a barbarian conqueror; and he oppressed, with an impartial hand, the various inhabitants of his extensive diocese. Expelled by the hatred of the people, he had scarcely been re-instated by the force of authority, when the fury of a superstitious multitude seized upon, and tore him, together with two of his obsequious ministers, to pieces. The meritorious death of the archbishop (observes the historian Gibbon) obliterated the memory of his life. The rival of Athanasius was dear and sacred to the Arians; and the seeming conversion of those sectaries introduced his worship into the bosom of the Catholic church. The odious, stranger, disguising every circums stance of time and place, assumed the mask of a martyr, a saint, and Christian hero; and the infamous George, of Cappadocia, has been transformed into the renowned St. George of England, the patron of arms, of chivalry, and the garter! It may be added, to render the absurdity yet more compleat, that the champion of Arianism has become one of the principal saints in a Trinitarian code of faith, and the sworn and inveterate foe of Athanasius, has consented that their several legends should be mixed together, for the benefit and edification of the enlightened votaries of the Church of England, as by law established! PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY. No one doubts but that before Christianity appeared in the world, the Pagans performed some good actions, and that some among them practised some moral virtues; but it was not as Pagans, it was as men that they practised them. In that they only followed the impressions of the law and religion of nature, It was because the corruption of the heart, the strange idea which the idolators, at least the people, formed of the deity, and that monstrous collection of senseless opin ions, of scandalous traditions, and of ridiculous superstitions, in which Paganism consisted, had not absolutely extinguished the light which shineth in darkness. Let us judge of the necessity of Christianity, by the horrid crimes which were committed, and are still committed in the best governed Pagan nations, and let us also ask, whether the finger of God can be mistaken in a religion which renders all virtues common? which, founded also on all the proofs of which a fact is susceptible, brings into the world a system of morality the most perfect that can possibly be imagined, supports it by the most powerful motives and examples, regulates even the most secret motions of our souls; in a word, which re-establishes, unfolds, and perfects the principles of the law of nature, almost effaced in the minds of men, and still more in their hearts,-La Bleterie, THE CORRUPTIONS OF SOCIETY. The late Mr. Wyndham, during a debate in the House of Commons, observed, "that the corruption of which the higher orders are accused, existed equally in the lower, for the tree had struck its roots as deep into the earth, as it had elevated its branches in the air.""The drippings (replied Mr. Sheridan) from the top of the tree, it is, that have caused the blighting of the branches, and the corruption of the root. REASON. Whatever there is in religion agreeable to eternal reason, every reasonable man will embrace and defend. Whatever is against reason it is pardonable to doubt, it is reasonable to examine, Every Man will readily consent to what is obviously his interest. There is no merit, but rather blindness and folly and infinite danger, in resting our faith upou names and authority. Im plicit belief is credulity, which subverts religion, and establishes priestly ty ranny. BIGOTRY. It would make a curious, useful, and an easy enquiry, what little good, and what mighty mischief has been in all ages done by bigotry, compared with what little harm, and what great good, are necessarily done by free enquiry. By the witchcraft of bigotry we see Christian set against Christian: nation against nation; countries enslaved; persecution reigning; communities exhausted, slaughtered or starving; learning and liberty banished; their champions martyred; and a few gloomy tyrants, grinding and terrifying all men, without mercy. |