Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1831-01-26

mems minds about to religion"
II What, then, if Paine, who is both illit-
crate and immoral, insolent and satirical
III qualifications for the discovery ofmor-
al and religious truth, which consists in
purity, modesty, humility, sobriety, and
goodness, though otherwise a man Of
good natural understanding, is an unbe-
lever in the divine mission Of the Son Of
God? 1t may be some consolation to
remember, that the first characters, who
ever adorned our world, in every depart
ment of human life, have not been a
shamed of the gospel of Christ. Every
man would do well to consider, in these
days Of abounding icentiousness, by way
of supporting the mind against the ridi-
cule of professed deists, that the divines,
Butler, and Bentley, and Barrow, and
Berkeley, and Cudworth, and Clarke,
and Sherlock, and Doddridge, and Lard
ner, and Pearson, and Taylor, and Ush-
er, and Watts, and a thousand more,
were believers: that the poets, Spencer,
and Waller, and CowIey, and Prior, and
Thomson, and Gray, and Young, and
Milton, and Cowper, were believers:
that the statesmen, Hyde, and Somers,
and Cullen, and Pulteney, and Howard,
and Harrington, and King, and Bar
rington, and Lyttleton, with numberless
more, were believers: that the moralists,
Steel, and Addison, and Hawkesworth,
and Johnson, were believers: that the
physicians, Arbuthnot, and Cheyne, and
Browne, and Bocrhave, and Pringle, ,and
Hartley, and Haller, and Mead, and
Fothergill, were believers: that the law
yers, Hale, and Melmoth, and Forbes,
and Hailes, and Pratt, and Blackstone,
and Jones, were believers; that the phi
losophers, Pascal, and Grotius, and Ray,
and Cotes, and Ferguson, and Adams,
and Locke, and Euler, and Newton,
were believers Where is the great
misfortune, then, to the interests of reli-
gion, if lukewarm Christians, of every
persuasion, betray the cause they pre-
tend to espouse; and if unbelievers Of
every description imagine vain thing
against the Redeemer Of mankind, and
the book which he hath caused to be
written for our instruction. Nothing less
than demonstration on the side of iniidcl-
ity, should induce any man to resist the
momentum that these venerable names
give III favor of the gospel. Many of
them were the ornaments of human ma
ture, whether we consider the wide range
of their abilities, the great extent of their
learning and knowledge, or the piety,
integrity; and benefcence Of their lives.
These eminent characters, Bacon, New
ton, Locke, Boyle, Ditton, Addison,
Hartley, Littleton, Woodward, Pringle,
Haller, Jones, Boerhave, Milton, Gro
thus, Darlington, and Euler, in particu-
lar, firmly adhered to the belief Of Chris
tianity, after the most diligent and strict
researches into the life of its founder, the
authenticity of its records, the completion
of the prophecies, the sublimity Of its
doctrines, the purity of its precepts, and
the arguments Of its adversaries, Here
was no priest-craf. These were all men
of Independent principles, and the most
liberal and enlarged minds. They in
vestigated the pretensions of the gospel
to the bottom; they were not only salts
fled with the justice its claims, but they
gloried in it as a most benevolent and
godlike scheme; and they all endeavor-
ed, if not by their oral discourses, yet by
their immortal writings, to recommend it
to the general reception Of mankind. 1t
was their study in life, their solace in
death
Why then are so many Of our fellow
creatures found to oppose, with such ma
lignant virulence, what these great men
have so successfully labored to establish
The reason, in most cases, i. obvious.
They will not have this man to reign
over them, because he Is not to their
taste They oppose the Bible because
it condemns their practice For if Jesus
be indeed the only Savior of mankind,
and if the declarations of Scripture be
at all to be regarded, their situation is