The American herald of liberty — Exeter, N.H., 1794-04-15 00:00:00, page 1

Sifcrib cd to bis Excellency William
Livingston, Esq. Governourof
Newjerfey^
Read and revere the sacred page—a page
Where triumphs immortality 5 a page
Which not the whole creation could produce,
Which not the Conflagration {hall destroy ;
*Tis printed in the minds of Gods forever;
In nature's ruins not one letter loft.
Dr. Young.
DID you ever fee a man, cour
teous reader, arrogating to
himlelf thetitleof philosopher and
©f a profound thinker, who could
not even give a definition of phi
lofophy, nor ever had a serious
thought in his life ? a man, who,
with little wit, and much felf con
ceit, was conftantlv retailing scraps
and (hreds from Toland and Tin
dai, and glorying in the wretched
sophistry of those fuperficial rea
soners, against the authenticity of
the sacred scriptures, but who had
never so much as looked into Le
. land, a celebrated and philosophic
al divine, who had solidly confut
ed them both ?
Have you ever seen a man, who
ridiculed all faith and all myfterv,
and expeded to obtain eternal fe
licity by pradifing the morality
didated by the light of nature, ac
knowledging at the fame time his
belief of the greatest absurdities in
the world ; and pradifing no more
morality than a horse ? a man pre
tending to the acutest penetration
and judgment—and ytt not know
ing how to doubt where he ought
—to rest adored where be ought
—and to submit where he ought ?
Did yon ever fee a man who in
sisted that the bare light of nature
was fuffictent (and Revelation con
fequendy unnecessary) to condud
us at present in the path of duty,
and evedaftiog happipefs hereaf
ter; and in the fame breath confef
ling that notwithstanding this light
, (Juminousand brilliant as he made
it) a very great part of the world*
that has no ether guide, is this mo J
ment involved in Pagan fuperfti
lion, and the grofleft idolatry ?
Did you ever fee a man who de
nied the miracles wrought by Jesus
Christ, though proved by a cloud
©f witpefles, who sealed their tefti-J
mohy with their blood; and yet;
affeding to believe the fab^lqps
wonders of Apollonius of Ty^na,
upon the cred it of Philoftratus, who
has written a filly romance about
that afrrologet, which was never
believed by any, save by those who
believe every thing but what is
true ?
Did you ever fee a man who re- j
solved all the moral attributes ofi
the Deity into that of mercy; and j
this merev into connivance at fin,
and the yirtual abolition of all his
Jaws ? A mao who flattered him
felf that the precepts, the morali
aty, and the hiftory of our holy re*
ligion---the wonderful and unpar-
(Volume Vin.
THOUGHTS on DEISM.
EXETER (New-Hampjhire) Printed and Publi/hed by Sterns and Winslow, in Main-Streep^ per annum^
American Herald of Liberty.
Did you ever fee a man who
had the aflurance to tell you, that
our belief in the divine origin of
the scriptures is wholly to be ascri
bed to the force of education,and
the early infufions of the priest and
the nurfc; but that all men of
unsettled, uninfluenced sentiments,
all philofophersand reasoners, have
ever esteemed Revelation as im
posture; and this man at the fame
time confefling that Sir Isaac
Newton, and Mr. Locke, and lord
Bacon, and Sir Robert Boyle, and
Grotius, and Boerhaave, and Lit
tleton, and Weft, and Pascal, and
Penn, and Barclay, and Phipps,
were all chriftians, after the most
impartial scrutiny, and most afli
duous investigation of the evi
dences by which Revelation is
supported ?
Did you ever fee a man who
denied the possibility of miracles,
and yet demanded a constant se
ries and uninterrupted fucceflion
of them, to)jrove a divine mifli
on ? A man who reproached re-1
ligion with all the horrors of;
persecution, and the fanaticism of \
the most sanguinary zealots, and
at the fame time acknowledging |
that these excefles were the evident •
abpfesof chriftianity, and diredly •
repugnant to the peaceable spirit
of the gofpeh and the notbrfeps
inhibitions of its illustrious found
er?
Did you ever fee a man una- ■
ble by the light of teafon to re- *
concite the blemishes in the natu-1
ral, and thediforders in the moral,
world, with the idea of an all wife ■
and all good Govfrnourof the u
niverse—some regions, for instance
almost deprived of the heat of the
fun—others scorched by its insup
portable splendor—winds, tem
pests and earthquakes, volcanoes
and innundations threatening u
niversal deftru^ion—the ocean 0-
verflowiog the jgreateft part of
alleled life and death of its au
thor—the wisdom and fanftity of
its injunctions— the authority and
sublimity of the sacred writings—
the reftimony of occylar witness
es—the blood of so many mat’
tyrs—the accomplilhments of so
many prophecies—the attestation
of so many miracles—the tradition
of so many ages—the conversion
of so great a part of the world to
a religion renouncing the avorld,
and propagated not only without,
but against external force—the
perpetuity of the faith through a
perpetuity of the most bloody per
secutions—the impregnable foun
dation of the church—and all oth
er proofs in support of Christian
ity, are answered and confuted, or
rather totally annihilated, by the
unphilofophical philofbphy of a
Boftngbroke, or the wretched pun
or threadbare jest of a Voltaire,
or a Roufleau ?
TUESDAY, April 15, 1794.
the globe-*- and an immense quan
tity of its ttrra with
rocks and mountains and deserts
of sand, incapable of cultivation
.—nor apparently formed for the
sustenance of man or beast—and
this fame man able, by Revelation,
to reconcile all this ; and yet (corn
ing by Revelation to do it.
Refpefting the moral odd—-
have you ever seen a man unable
to account, by the light of reason,
how a being infinitely good and
infinitely powerful, Ihould permit
fin (which, from the purity of his
nature he mull abhor, and by his
own omnipotence can certainly
prevent) not only to enter info
the world, but to be more preva
lent in it than virtue—-why he
Ihould fuffer injustice and tyranny
to reign uncontroled \ oppreflion
and violence to be fucc|fsful and
triumph over prostrate virtue and
innocence; humility to be con
founded ; and piety to wander in
penury and rags—and able by
Revelation, to acconnt for all this
and yet scorning by Revelation
to solve those, otherwise inexplr
cable difficulties ?
Did you ever fee a man, who,
unable by the light of reason to
account for the composition of
his own species, as at the fame
time material and thinking beings,
while it is confefledly of the essence
of matter to be incompatible with
thought,equally unable to account
for the double nature in man; his
general propensity to vice, and
his inseparable veneration for vir
tue—his viau melioraproboque, and
his deteriorafequor—ti\s unconquer
able moral depravity, and the re
maining splendid fragments of his
primeval luftre; and able by Re
velation to account for all this ;
and yet scorning by Revelation to
do it ?
Have you ever leen a man, who,
unable to prove, by the light of
reason, the’ immortality of the foul;
or that, from the intimate union
between the operations of the foul
and those of the body, the latter
ceasing, the former will not ter
minate j and able, by Revelation,
which hath brought immortality
to light, to prove his eternal du
ration ; and yet scorning by Re
velation to prove it ?
Did you ever feea man, who,
unable by the light of reason to
account for his own hopes of im
mortal happiness, from the abso
lute impoifi^ility of reconciling, by
the help of^hat light, immutable
just ice of Ae Supreme Legislator,
with the impunity of the tranL
greflbrs of his laws, for as to the
idea of the attribute of mercy, it
is indubitably borrowed from
Revelation; and in the hands of
those reasoners, most miserably
perverted, and who by Revelation
could account for it> and yet
scorning thus to solve this, other
wise infcrutal^le enigma ?
Have you ever seen a man,
Sir ? why then you have leen a—
blockhead.
Let all ike heathen writers join
To form one perfect book.
Great God, if once compar’d with thine,'
How mean their writings look ?
Not the molt perfect rules they gave
Could (hew ene fin forgiv’n;
Nor lead a step beyond the gtave,
But thine Conduct to Heav’n.
It is hardly necefTary to add*
th aft he hospitals of ent mies should
be unmolested—they ought to be
aflifted. It is for the interest of
humanity in general, that the oc
casions of war, and the induce
ments to it, should be diminished.'
If rapine be abolished, one of the
encouragements to war is taken
away j and peace therefore more
likely to continue and be lasting.
The practice of robbing merch
ants on the high seas । a remnant
of ancient piracy ; tho* it may be
accidentally beneficial to particu
lar persons, is far from being pro
fitable to all engaged in it, orro
the nation that authorifes it. In
the beginning of a war some rich
Ships are furprized and taken;
This encouragesthe firft adventur
ers to fit out more armed vessels ;
and many others to do the fame.
But the enemy at the fame time
become more careful; arm their
BY the original law of nations,
war and extirpation were the
punishment of injury* Human
izing by degrees, it admitted fla*
very instead of death : a farther
step was, the exchange of prison
ers instead of slavery; another, to
refpeft more the property of pri
vate perlons under conquest, and
be content with acquired domin
ion. Why should not this law of
nations go on improving ? Ages
have intervened between its sever
al steps : but as knowledge of late
increases rapidly, wfyy should not
those steps be quickened ? Why
fon*
4. Artists and mechanics, ini
habiting and working in open
towns.
fhquld it not be agreed to, as the
future law of nations, that in any
war hereafter the fol lowing defcrip*
tion of men Ihould be unuifturb
ed, have the protection of both
sides, and be permitted to follow
their employments in security ?
Viz.
Merchants and traders in
Unarmed (hips, who accommodate
different nations by communicat
ing and exchanging the neceflaries
and conveniences of life.
I. Cultivators of the earthy be
cause they labour for the subsist
ence of mankind.
2.
OBSERVATIONS CN WAR.
Fishermen, for the fame rea-
[Number 41*
Dr. Wat Ts.
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