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Part 2 of 2
60. The course of our inquiry leads us next to the Gospel according to St. Luke, chap. iv. vers. 43. where Jesus being pressed by the people not to depart from them, says unto them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities, for therefore was I sent." Chap. x. vers. 16. Jesus tells his apostles, "He that despiseth you, despiseth me, and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me." Vers. 21. Christ, after gently rebuking the seventh disciples for having expressed, with too much joy and exultation, their success in casting out devils or evil spirits in his name, breaks forth in the following pathetic strain of submissive devotion, the poetic and inspired evangelis, opening the verse with this short exordium, "In that hour Jesus rejoined in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them to babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." He then proceeds, vers. 22. to declare to them his delegated powers from his God. "All things are delivered to me of my Father; and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." Chap. xi. vers. 2. when one of his disciples besought him to teach them to pray, he said unto them, "When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth, &c." Here it is worthy remark, that in so very essential and interesting a matter as a proper address in prayer, Christ directs the followers of his Gospel to point their supplications and praises to God alone. Chap. xviii. vers. 19. records the same rebuke that we have already quoted from St. Matthew, with a small variation of expression -- "Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, GOD." Chap. xxii. vers. 42. when Christ had separated himself from his disciples on the mount of Olives, he kneeled down and prayed, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."
61. We come now to the Gospel of our divine Mediator and Savior, according to St. John, which exhibits more numerous and striking declarations of Christ, in support of the unity and supremacy of God, and his own subordination to his will, than all the other three put together. Chap. iv. vers. 34. Jesus, in answer to his disciples, touching his eating, says, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." Chap. v. vers. 19. Jesus, in answer to the Jews, who accused him of breaking the Sabbath by healing the man at the pool of Bethesda, says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these things doth the Son likewise." Vers. 20. "For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth, and he will show him greater wonders than those, that ye may marvel." Vers. 22. "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son." Vers. 23. "That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father, for he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him." Vers. 26 to the same Jews Jesus saith, "For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." Again, vers. 30. I can of myself do nothing: as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father, who sent me.} Chap. vii. vers. 16. when Christ preached in the temple, the Jews marveled, saying, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learnt?" Jesus answered them, and said, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." Chap. viii. vers. 28. "Then said Jesus unto them, When you have lift up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father has taught me:" and vers. 42. Jesus said unto them, "If God were your Father, ye would love me, for I proceed forth, and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me." Chap. x. vers. 17. Christ, speaking of the sacrifice of his life, says, "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. This commandment I have received of my Father." Chap. xi. vers. 41. Jesus, after the act of restoring Lazarus, addresses God in these words, "Father, I thank thee, that thou hast heard me." Chap. xii. vers. 27. Christ, after having declared to his disciples the hour was come in which the Son of man should be glorified, breaks out into this doubtful interrogation with himself, "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour! -- but for this cause, came I unto this hour." Christ, after declaring to the Jews he came not to judge the world, but to save it, subjoins, vers. 49. "For I have not spoke of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me commandment what I should say." Vers. 50. "And I know that his commandment is life everlasting; whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." Chap. xiv. vers. 28. Christ, speaking to his disciples, "Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you; if you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said unto you, I go to the Father, FOR MY FATHER IS GREATER THAN I." Chap. xvii. vers. 3. Christ, in the most solemn invocation to the Deity, says, "And this is life eternal, that they may know THEE, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." He proceeds, vers. 5. "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee, before the world was." Chap. xx vers. 17. in his short discourse with Mary Magdalen, after his resurrection, Christ said unto her, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my Father, and your Father, to my God, and your God." The divine scribe closes this chapter with these words, "But these things were written, that ye might believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life everlasting." And God of his mercy and spiritual grace forbid, that any of us should believe otherwise.
62. We are not ignorant of the reveries of St. Paul, nor of the few texts in the first chapter of St. John's Gospel, which seem to countenance the unintelligible and Pagan rhapsodies of the Athanasian Creed; but we think ourselves well justified in deeming them of little estimation, when contrasted with the numerous ipse dixits of Christ, recorded in all the four Gospels, and more particularly by the same Evangelist, all of which are expressly repugnant to such a doctrine; and if those texts are to be understood in the sense usually applied to them, then this Evangelist witnesseth against himself, in the many texts quoted from him in our last paragraph; and he must either stand self-condemned of recording contrary doctrines, or we must conclude his sense of "THE WORD" has been misunderstood and misapplied; the last is the most favorable sentence that can be passed upon his inspired writer, and is worth examining below.
63. We purposely avoid a recital of the many philosophical arguments, and logical discussions, that have been urged both in the early days of Christianity, and more modern times, by a multitude of learned pens, in refutation of the doctrine of a Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity, as being not suited to every common understanding; and therefore have strictly confined ourselves to the lights that every one may receive from the plain dictates of Christ, who powerfully and expressly enforces to his followers the belief of ONE GOD, the belief of his own mission, and divine, although inferior, origin, as proceeding from God; and the belief of the Holy Ghost, as the divine attribute, Spirit, or Essence of God, operating upon all things, and on all beings, in the proportion he is pleased to infuse or shed upon them, and by which Christ himself, in proof of his divine mission, wrought his stupendous miracles, always directing the objects of them, "To give the glory to God alone" by the puissance of whose Holy Spirit he was enabled to accomplish them. These doctrines are sublime, yet plain, simple, and intelligible; they bear not the semblance of mystery, but are open to a ready faith: Christ neither deifies himself, nor the Holy Ghost; the making an attribute of the Deity a God, bears a glaring stamp of Heathenism: no rational being would say, in an absolute and literal sense, that the fortitude, or chastity, or any other virtue of a King, was the King himself, although it is, in a relative sense, a part or quality of him; nor would any man in his senses aver, that the son is the father, and the father the son, as one individual, when he knows the son must have proceeded from the father, and that the father must have preceded the son, and that therefore they cannot be ONE; the contrary belief would be a confounding of all ideas and things, as well as causes and effects, and must necessarily shock all rational faith. Therefore, when Christ says, "I am in the Father, and the Father in me; -- I and my Father are one," *c. he can be only understood in a relative sense, to be consistent with himself; for he ever appears particularly anxious in marking his character, as a distinct being from God, in the relation of a son to a father; and, at a most interesting period, he declares to those who were soon after to be entrusted with the propagation of his gospel, "My Father is greater than I."
64. Therefore, since God has told us, "I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have none other gods but me," and as Christ has also told us, there is only one God, and one Son, which is Christ, and one Holy Ghost; let us abide by, and entrench ourselves under this strong evidence, and for the sake of God, let us, with one accord, strike out, not only the Athanasian Creed, but every other part of our Liturgy, which so palpably gives the lie both to God and Christ. We are aware we shall be told that we utterly mistake the thing, for that the same Creed teaches, that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, those three Gods, and no three Gods, those three Substances under one Essence, those three Incomprehensibles, Co-almighties, Co-equals, and Co-eternals, are but one Incomprehensible, &c.; and to be worshipped as ONE GOD. If, after all, this is the case, to what end those incomprehensible, contradictory jumble of words and ideas, that have only served for so many centuries to confound, perplex, and puzzle, every common as well as uncommon understanding, and stagger the faith of every well-disposed Christian? not adverting, that this sense of that Creed flatly contradicts the solemn declaration of Christ, recited at the close of our last paragraph; for if God the Father be (as he assures us) greater than God the Son, then God the Son cannot be co-equal, nor have been co-eternal with him: the Holy Ghost may with propriety be said to have been co-eternal with God, as being the essence of the Deity, inseparable from him, but not co-equal, because every attribute of God is subordinate to, and dependent on his will.
65. "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;" to this we say, Amen: but let us not, like the misguided church of Rome, forget God, by transferring that worship and adoration t Christ, and the chosen vessel of his incarnation, which are only due to him, and to his Holy Spirit, his first and great attribute, to which Christ eminently gives pre-eminence over himself, Matth. xii. 31, 32. "Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come." And in this place we cannot do better, than to endeavor to clear the Evangelist St. John from the charge of contradiction, by urging, with all humble deference, the conception which leads us to imagine his term or phrase "THE WORD" has been misunderstood, and consequently misapplied; and that his record, to be consistent with itself, must allude to the Holy Ghost: and we submit it to the candor of every Christian, who, with unprejudiced heart and attention, peruses the first chapter of St. John's Gospel, whether or not every text of that chapter, which has been usually applied to Christ, may not be more justly applied to signify the Holy Ghost. And thus the Gospel of this inspired writer will stand unimpeached, which otherwise remains a witness against itself, as shown in our 62nd paragraph.
66. The other various contradictions and evil tendency of the Creed now under consideration (first established by persecution, fire, and sword), are so obvious they call for no further comment; its origin only wants to be accounted for, which is no very difficult task. SATAN, finding his kingdom on earth must fall, and come to an end, if the pure doctrines of the gospel obtained universally, had no means left to guard against, and prevent a catastrophe so fatal to his power, but exerting his influence to vitiate its pure stream at the fountain head: in order to this he most effectually attached himself and his emissaries to the primitive Christian disputants, and the reverent saints and fathers of the church, as they are called: these he well knew had not thoroughly shook off from their hearts the impressions of the Grecian and Roman mythology and Polytheism; on this knowledge he founded his hopes, and by the event showed he was no bad politician, for his success was answerable to the most sanguine wishes of his bad soul, and he soon had the malicious joy of beholding three gods start up in the Christian system, in violation of the doctrine of their divine Leader, who had so often preached to his followers there was but ONE. It is well known the advantages Stan and Mahomet, and his successors, took of the Polytheism introduced into the Christian faith, not only to the downfall and destruction of the seven churches of Asia, and the empire of the Romans, but also to the obstructing the universal progress of Christianity; and we may, with just boldness say, that had it not been for that opening given to that enterprising enemy of our faith, neither Mahommed as a prophet, nor the Koran as a religion, would ever have had existence, but the pure doctrines of Christ would have overshadowed the face of the earth, and its inhabitants probably, at this day, have been of one only universal church, unmixed with schisms, sects, or separations, to the saving of millions of souls, and deluges of blood. The groundwork of Mahommed's scriptures was the pure unity of the Godhead. (Koran, chap. iv.) "Surely God will not pardon the giving him an equal; but will pardon any other sin, except that, to whom he pleaseth: and whoso giveth a companion unto God, hath devised a great wickedness." Again, "Say not there are three gods; forbear this, it will be better for you; God is but ONE GOD." And upon the efficacy of this divine principle we may conceive, that God permitted the so amazing and rapid, as well as extensive progress, of Mahommed's Koran.
67. Another stumbling-block to the universal propagation of Christ's gospel, is the supposed supernatural mode of his conception and incarnation; which supposition has afforded a handle to the enemies of Christianity, to stamp it with the imputation of priestcraft, the fact being only recorded by two of the evangelists, Mark and John being entirely silent on the subject; and Christ himself, in all that stands recorded of him, gives not the smallest intimation of his miraculous or supernatural conception. Herein our free-thinkers outdo Mahommed; for, in the xixth chapter of his Koran, he accedes to the fact, and condemns the Jews for their disbelief; but we imagine the objectors might, somehow or other, have arrived at the knowledge, that the miraculous conception of a virgin was a very ancient piece of Pagan priestcraft; it was first introduced by the adulterers of Bramahs Shastah, and afterwards adopted by the compilers of the Veda, in the person of their Vistnoo; and from this origin might possibly descend to later times. Be this as it may, it is most certain, that the stupendous example, life, miracles, and doctrines of Christ stood in no need of a mystery of this nature to prop and give it weight and evidence; and therefore, by adding an incumbrance it did not want, rather weakened, than strengthened the whole fabric of Christianity. Had this mystery been a necessary article of faith to salvation, most assuredly Christ himself would have given some intimation of it to his followers: we do not find the mission of Elijah (who was invested by God with powers on earth near equal with Christ), nor any other of the inspired prophets stand impeached, because his or their conceptions were according to the natural course of generation, then why should that of Christ? So that the objectors gain nothing in the contest, supposing we should give up the argument to them: although the conception and birth of Christ may in one indisputable sense be truly termed miraculous! when we see such an abundant portion of the spiritual essence of God in Christ, was thereby subjected by his permission to the flesh, for the salvation of mankind; but we trust we shall not offend, when we say, the event would not have been less miraculous, nor efficacious, had it happened according to the usual course of nature.
68. God forbid it should be thought, from the tenor of these our disquisitions, that, with Hobbes, Tindal, Bolingbroke, and others, our intent is to sap the foundation, or injure the root of Christianity, Candor and benevolence avert from us so uncharitable and ill-grounded an imputation! On the contrary, our sole aim is to restore its purity and vigor, by having those luxuriant injurious branches and shoots lopped off and pruned, which have so obviously obstructed, stinted, and prevented its natural, universal growth and progress; and as we have assumed to ourselves the title of the reformed church, by judiciously and piously abjuring some of the impious, idolatrous extravagancies and tenets of the church of Rome, let us boldly, in the cause of God and his supremacy, uniformly deserve the character we have assumed.
69. From all that has hitherto been advanced (supported with what will occasionally follow), three most important truths may be clearly gathered. Imprimis, that the FIRST and LAST revelation of God's will, that is to say, the Hindoo and the Christian dispensation, are the most perfect that have been promulged to offending man; secondly, that the FIRST was to a moral certainty the original doctrines, and terms of restoration, delivered from God himself by the mouth of his first created BIRMAH to mankind at his first creation in the form of man; and that, after many successive ages in sin, and every kind of wickedness, GOD, in his tender mercy, reminded mankind of their true state and nature, of their original sin; and by the descent of BRAMAH, gave to the Hindoos the first written manifestation of his will, which (by the common fate of all oral traditions), had most probably, from various causes, been effaced from their minds and memories: Thirdly, that every intermediate system of religion in the world between that of BRAMAH and CHRIST are corruptly branched from the former, as is to demonstration evident, from their being founded on, and partaking of, with more or less purity those primitive truths. Vide 3d and 4th paragraphs.
70. Let us next see how far the similitude of doctrines, preached first by Bramah, and afterwards by Christ, at the distinct period of above three thousand years, corroborate our conclusions; if they mutually support each other, it amounts to proof of the authenticity and divine origin of both. Bramah preached the existence of ONE ONLY, ETERNAL GOD, his first created angelic being, BIRMAH, Bistnoo, Sieb, and Moisasoor; the pure gospel-dispensation teaches ONE ONLY, ETERNAL GOD, his first begotten of the Father, CHRIST; the angelic beings, Gabriel, Michael, and Satan, all these corresponding under different names, minutely with each other, in their respective dignities, functions, and characters: Birmah is made prince and governor of all the angelic bands, and the occasional vicegerent of the Eternal One; Christ is invested with all power by the Father; Birmah is destined to works of power and glory, so is Christ; Bistnoo to acts of benevolence, so is Gabriel; Sieb to acts of terror and destruction, so is Michael; the Holy Ghost is expressly signified in Brum, the Spirit or Essence of GOD, abundantly displayed in all the operations and behests of the Eternal ONE. The Shastah of Bramah records the rebellion of a portion of the angelic host, and their expulsion from heaven; the fact is also inculcated by the gospel; Moisasoor is represented as a prime angel, and the instigator and leader of the revolt in heaven, so is the Satan of the gospel; ministering angels, or the interposition of the heavenly beings in human affairs, is a principle of Bramah's Shastah, so it is of the gospel-dispensation; the necessary duties of repentance, good works, universal love, and charity, are indispensably enjoined in the Shastah, so they are in the gospel institutes; but in a more forcible, elaborate, and eminent degree, as being the last and most perfect mission that God in his mercy delivered to man. The immortality of the soul, and its future state of rewards and punishments, are fundamentals of the Shastah, so they are of the gospel; that man is here in a state of purgation, punishment, and trial, is also a fundamental of the Shastah, so it is of the gospel, supported by the opinions of the most learned divines and philosophers. That man is doomed to this state, for an unhappy LAPSE in a PRE-EXISTENT ONE, is another fundamental of the Shastah, and is evidently implied in the gospel. See the Rev. Mr. Berrow's Treatise on that subject before alluded to in our 40th paragraph. The necessity of mediators between God and man, and voluntary sacrifices for the transgressions of the latter in the persons of Birmah, Bistnoo, and Sieb, and others of the faithful angelic host, are doctrines of the Shastah; and are all fully comprised in the gospel, by the sole voluntary sacrifice of CHRIST, our constant Mediator. That there is an intermediate state of punishment and purification between death and the perfect restoration of the human soul, is a positive tenet of the Shastah, and is countenanced by the gospel, notwithstanding the church of Rome makes so bad a use of the first, in their system of purgatory. God's general providence over his whole creation, is an express doctrine of the Shastah; and his particular providence over individuals is obviously implied, from its doctrine of the visible, or invisible ministration and interposition of the angelic beings in human affairs; these are also fundamental dogmas of the Christian system.
71. The comparison might be extended to a much greater length, but the above, we think, will suffice to prove, that the mission of Christ is the strongest confirmation of the authenticity and divine origin of the Chartah Bhade Shastah of Bramah; and that they both contain all the great primitive truths in their original purity that constituted the first and universal religion; and that the very ancient scriptures now under our consideration, exhibit also the strongest conviction of the truth of the celestial origin of Christ's mission. Yet the former is the system of divinity and ethics which the Critical Reviewers have indiscriminately (as a specimen of their candor, erudition, and penetration) stigmatised with the opprobrious epithets of "nonsense, rhapsodies, and absurdities;" and in proof of their profound judgment, they unfaithfully took the liberty of reprinting our second part, without the errata prefixed to the 1st page, by which designed omission, they indeed circulate nonsense enough of their own making; but, requesting our readers pardon for bestowing so many lines upon a matter so little worth our notice we will pursue our subject.
72. In two points of doctrine the Hindoo and the Christian system differ (but the one in mode only), 1st, The punishment of the damned, or those souls that shall remain reprobate at the dissolution of the universe, or expiration of their term of probation. 2ndly, The resurrection of the same body. Touching the first, the Shastah teaches, that those reprobate spirits shall be cast out, and languish for ever in intense darkness, in a particular region prepared for them; the Gospel, that they shall perish everlastingly in actual fire. Without discussing the point how, or by what mode of action fire will operate on spiritual beings; we will only say, that possibly the latter sentence may act more in terrorem, than in the other; not that we think there is a pin to choose between them, nor that the matter of difference is of much importance, whilst they both agree in the fundamental point, that those unhappy delinquents will be given over to everlasting punishment.
73. Touching the second, which is a matter of deeper concernment to be clear in, the Hindoo system teaches, that the corporeal part, or prison of the soul or spirit, being composed of the four elements, each again receives its part at the dissolution of the body, or death; and that the spirit, according to its merits or demerits, is either conveyed to the first region of purification, or punished for a space, and doomed to enter and animate another corporeal form, body, or prison, that shall be prepared for its reception. The Christian system, without giving us any lights touching the state or existence of the soul or spirit, during the long intermediate space between death and the day of judgment, says, that at that day the graves shall give up their dead, and that there shall be a resurrection of the same body, to which its soul shall be reunited, and both receive judgment. By both these systems the doctrines of future judgment, rewards and punishments, are clearly revealed to us, but with this difference, that the Hindoo dogma pronounces, as we may say, a daily judgment of the soul (for multitudes are subject to death each revolving sun), as well as a final one, and the Christian postpones it to the day of resurrection, leaving the soul during the intermediate state to exist -- the Lord knows where. The resurrection of the same body is a doctrine obviously repugnant to the Hindoo system.
74. The resurrection of Christ, or the reunion of his spirit to the body on the third day, is a stupendous proof of his divine mission, for he had before declared, "He had power to lay down his life, and had power to take it up again; for that commandment (or power) he had received from the Father." But his single instance, peculiar to Christ, does not, we conceive, countenance the general doctrine, as stated above, which is far from being universally believed or received; many learned pens have been drawn against it, and many texts of scripture urged in opposition, besides unsurmountable arguments and difficulties that we have to encounter, which stagger the strongest faith; such as the state and existence of the soul during the space above hinted at; the consideration that matter, of which the body is composed, being in its nature passive and inactive, cannot be the object of either rewards or punishment. But the spirit alone, which is the active, deserving, or offending part, can be the only object of judgment; the non-identity of the body (if we may be allowed the expression), which continues not the same body one hour together, will have its full force on every rational mind, notwithstanding the specious casuistry of a Liebnitz and Locke to invalidate the objection. How far the Metempsychosis of Bramah will solve these problems, and how far that doctrine will be supported by the gospel dispensation, will appear when we come closer to that main spring of all our movements.
75. From what has been advanced in our 70th, and part of our 71st paragraph, we find that Christianity is, bona fide, as old as the creation, although in a very different sense from that of the libertine freethinker, who published, some years since, a labored treatise to undermine the gospel-dispensation, under that title: yet, let us not, although it springs from a truly learned and pious zeal, pretend to prove, that "the want of universality is no objection to the Christian religion," by bringing a chain of events, taken upon trust, from a spurious eastern scripture, as applicable to the conception, birth, miracles, and death of Christ, that are utterly destitute of true chronology to support it, lest it should give a handle to freethinkers of the complexion just mentioned to say, that the Christian system is only a copy of an eastern fable, as one of the Popes of the church of Rome is recorded to have said, or something like it. That the circumstances attending the walk of Christ on earth have been transmitted to the East we do not dispute, but that they could stand recorded in an eastern scripture, which was compiled some thousands of years before Christ's appearance in Judea, is not possible: the facts could not be before they had existence. But the misfortune is, that in disquisitions of this nature we are generally too apt to prove too much, and thereby hurt the cause we are laboring to defend. Had the learned and revered supporter of Christianity whom we allude to above, extended his view, and been acquainted with, the original Chartah Bhade of Bramah, he would have found that it is a fundamental doctrine of that scripture, that the angelic beings, prior to the Kolee Jogue or age of corruption, frequently descended to the earth, and voluntarily subjected themselves to undergo the eighty-eight transmigrations to animate the form of man, thereby to guard him from a second seduction of Moisasoor or Satan; that even Birmah, Bistnoo, and Sieb, did not exempt themselves from those voluntary sacrifices.
76. This being premised, it is no violence to faith, if we believe that Birmah and Christ is one and the same individual celestial being, the first begotten of the Father, who has most probably appeared at different periods of time, in distant parts of the earth, under various mortal forms of humanity, and denominations: thus we may very rationally conceive, that it was by the mouth of Christ (styled Birmah by the easterns), that God delivered the great primitive truths to man at his creation, as infallible guides for his conduct and restoration: but the purity of these truths being effaced by time, and the industrious influence of Satan assisted by the natural unhappy bent of the human soul to evil, it became necessary that they should be given on record to a nation that was most probably at that period much more extensive than we can at present form any idea of; and it appears as near to demonstration as a circumstance of this nature can admit of, that it was owing to this divine revelation delivered to them, that this people acquired so justly that early reputation for wisdom and theology, which the whole learned world has ascribed to them: but this by the bye.
77. The same causes subsisting, the above truths soon lost again, their original purity and simplicity, and a multitude of different religious systems were propagated through the world, having more or less (as intimated paragraph 3rd) of these truths for a basis, according to the bent and genius of men, and talents of the first impostors that broached them, excited and furthered possibly, also, by the adventitious circumstances of air, soil, climate, situation, regimen, &c. By this deviation, wickedness continued to gather increase through every region of the earth, but still the mercy and forbearance of GOD was not exhausted; for in the fulness of time, as his last grace, he once more delegated his first begotten son, under the mortal form of JESUS, to restore these truths to their full primitive lustre, and pitched upon Judea as a proper center from whence the beams of the Sun of righteousness should be scattered, and spread over the face of the whole world. How the universality of this intended stupendous blessing was prevented, we have already shown in part, and shall more fully hereafter; observing that the genuine scriptures of Bramah and Christ have shared the same fate, mutilated and betrayed by those who were appointed the guardians and supporters of them. We shall close this paragraph with a suggestion that appears to us most probable and rational, viz. that every individual of the angelic beings who have occasionally visited the earth, under the mortal form of humanity, either by special voluntary license, or special appointment of God, for the example, defense, admonition, comfort, and correction of mankind, have each assumed different forms and names, at different succeeding times, in different regions; in such wise as Elijah and St. John the Baptist is supposed by some to have been one and the same spirit, from the intimation of the prophet Malachi. (Vide part the second, pages 71 and 72.)
78. In our last paragraph we promised to show more fully how the blessings of the gospel were converted into a curse, as the prophetic spirit of Christ foretold it would be, from his observation of the general corruption and incorrigibility of the human soul; for otherwise it would not have been possible that his plain dictates could have been mistaken, or perverted to any other purposes than he benevolently designed them: but he had hardly left his followers to themselves, than religious dissensions took place, that blasted all his hopes, and rendered his mission of none effect; so that, within the space of a very few centuries, and almost as soon as they had assumed to themselves the general name of Christians, he saw, with heartfelt grief, his plain, simple, and divine doctrine split into more jarring sects and schisms than any religious system had suffered since the creation.
79. Christ had preached, as essential preliminaries to the salvation of his followers in a future life, peace, charity, and mutual love in this. But the differing sects of Christians thought it more available to whirl damnation at each other's head; and in place of those godlike virtues, to substitute hatred, revenge, and persecution; some construed particular texts of scripture literally, others allegorically, others symbolically, and some broached, as Christian doctrines, diabolical systems, which rashly favored of that Paganism from which they had been so lately reclaimed and converted; and each thought themselves warranted by those very scriptures of peace, to cut the throat, for God's sake, of every one who did not subscribe to their opinions: witness the ever memorable and bloody contests between the early bishops of the church about the establishment of the Athanasian Creed, and the contention for supremacy between the Greek and Latin churches, which came to a drawn battle at last, as also in later times, the unchristian and inhuman disputes between the Romanists and Protestants, each exerting their infernal spirit of persecution as power afforded them the means; a contest in which deluges of blood have been spilt, and are spilling to this hour, insomuch that we may justly aver, lamentable as the truth is, that there exists not upon the face of the Christian world, more than ONE SECT of mankind, who preserve any appearance of having a true claim to the title of Christians. Here our readers cannot be at a loss to know, that we mean that respectable body of people, commonly, although ludicrously, styled QUAKERS, a people that in their principles and practice do honor to primitive Christianity and humanity. But, to resume the thread of our subject, and analyze in few words (as necessary to our main view) the causes, nature, and progress of the last-mentioned contest between Christians (nominally so) originally of the same church, although an idolatrous and superstitious one:
80. After the separation of the Greek and Latin churches, the last supported her supremacy in the West for some ages; at length avarice and tyrannic exactions (and partial favor shown to one set of monks in the collection of those exactions), in the Pope; spiritual pride, resentment, revenge, and an affectation of singularity in the breasts of Luther and Calvin; and lust and wrath against the Pope in the heart of our Harry VIII. brought about a partial Reformation of the Christian church. Thus God sometimes works out his purposes of good, by most evil tools. This desertion gave a "perilous gash to the body of the church of Rome, and many a profitable limb was lopped off," and lost, never to be recovered. But Luther and Calvin, not according to the principles and modes of Reformation, became the leaders of two opposite religious Protestant factions, with about an equal number of proselytes, who soon began to harbor as mutual and cordial a hatred, and unchristian-like animosity against each other, as they both bore to their mother church of Rome: then bishops and no bishops proved the source of fresh, bloody, and cruel contests. Spiritual pride, joined to temporal political maxims, have kept alive an unceasing rancor in the hearts of those two Protestant sects, that must ever keep them asunder, although nothing is easier to be effected than a union, were it possible to bring them back to Christianity, from which they have both swerved in principle and practice; whilst Rome is not without her hopes from these divisions, and waits a favorable conjuncture to reunite them to the bosom of her church, either by force, or fraud, or both; an alarming event! which possibly may not be so far distant as some fondly imagine. But the feuds and differences between the Lutherans and Calvinists hurt the cause of Christ still more deeply; for many of each persuasion, observing the early success of those leaders, and how glorious and profitable it was to become the head, the primum mobile of a sect, deserted again their colors, and setting up for themselves, formed innumerable subdivisions of faith, under various independent denominations; and each leader had his followers. Thus old heresies were revived, and new ones instituted, and fanaticism of every absurd and extravagant species had a quick and dangerous growth; each sect audaciously affirming, from the same scriptures, that theirs, and theirs only, was the true orthodox faith, and the right road to salvation: yet, with such doctrines, they brought the head of a good, moral, and pious, but misguided Prince, to the block, and overturned the constitution of a kingdom.
81. Such is the whole present state of Christ's church militant here on this western earth; and the above, added to some before noted, are the reproachful fatal causes that have obstructed and utterly choked the universal growth and progress of the gospel; and hence we are urged, by a spirit of true benevolence to mankind, to promulge the following reflections:
82. During our non-age, we naturally receive and adopt the notions and principles instilled by our parents and teachers; but when man arrives at maturity, he will as naturally assert his great privilege of reason, and think for himself. But what must be the confusion and perplexity of his reflections and ideas, when he begins the necessary inquiry after TRUTH, in so essential a matter as the worship of his GOD? when he finds, we say (in what is vainly and fallaciously called a Christian country), every Christian church divided against itself, and the professors of Christianity pursuing each other with concealed or open execrations, malice, and all uncharitableness, that misguided zeal, temporal interested views, or enthusiastic rage can possibly dictate. Thus circumstances, a thinking being has no resource, but either totally to abjure Christianity, or to endeavor to work out his own salvation, according to the lights which pure scripture, and his own unbiased reason affords him, without adhering to any one Christian church or system whatsoever as now professed in any part of the world, as they have one and all proved defective, and inefficacious to cement the bands of mutual love, charity, forbearance, and peace amongst men; which relative duties are the quintessence, the sine qua non of the gospel dispensation. But -- as the different interpretations of the same scriptures have been the great, the mischievous cause of the numerous jarring sects of Christians (the leaders of each drawing a missive weapon from the same text); and as the fatal effects of these sects and schisms in Christianity have been truly diabolical in every inch of Europe (insomuch that a stander-by might be well excused if he was induced to think the Devil himself had been the author of it, in place of GOD), we must go farther, and utterly reject all that has been written by the apostles and disciples, and every paraphrase, exposition, and visionary doctrine that has been tortured from them, except the express declarations and doctrines which fell from the mouth of Christ himself, as they stand recorded in the four Gospels: by these let us abide, be these the standard of our faith, and sheet anchor of our hope, and these only. His language is plain, his words cannot be misinterpreted, nor perverted to different meanings; he speaks to the level of every understanding, as well as to the heart, and cannot be misunderstood. To this it may be objected by freethinkers, that herein we are still at no certainty that these gospels were penned after Christ's ascension; that possibly those his declarations and doctrines may not have been faithfully recorded; that we still take them upon trust, &c. To this we answer, and lay our appeal to the doctrines themselves; then let every one who doubts knock at his breast, and say, if he can, from the conviction of his own heart, that such doctrines, considered as a system of theology and ethics, are not of divine origin. Let this be the text, and sceptics will no longer have existence.
83. Oh Man! Oh Christian! Emperors, Kings, Princes, Potentates, and Powers; Rulers and Leaders, under whatsoever denomination of Christians you have continued to disgrace those originally respectable names, whether Papist or Protestant, Lutheran or Calvinist, &c. &c. no longer suffer to be severally applied to you that prediction which Christ applied to the hardened Jews, respecting his persecuted apostles, "Yeah, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think he doeth God service;" -- no longer, we say, adopt such an impious doctrine and supposition (for herein you are worse than the Jews, for you pretend to believe in Christ and his doctrines, which they did not) but mutually labor to reestablish peace on earth, and harmony in heaven, by restoring once more the true spirit of those primitive truths, which were, as the first and last grace of GOD, delivered to you at your creation originally by BIRMAH, and subsequently by CHRIST, the one and the same individual, first begotten of the Father, as before suggested. Our candid reader will no see the necessity we were under of analyzing the modern Christian tenets and practice, and of exposing the fatal innovations that brought it first into disrepute, and that still continue to obstruct its universality: we are sensible that we hereby lay ourselves open to the censure of superficial thinkers, who will be ready enough, although unjustly, to accuse us of Deism, according to the common acceptation of the phrase; but as we think we have as indisputable a right as Dr. Clarke or others, to extend or give a new signification to the word Deist, so we pronounce, that a man may, with strict propriety, be an orthodox Christian Deist; that is, that he may, consistently, have a firm faith in the unity of the Godhead, and in the pure and original doctrines of Christ. In this sense alone we glory in avowing ourself -- A CHRISTIAN DEIST.
84. Having thus submitted to our intelligent readers all that we thought necessary to the elucidation of our First General Head, to wit, the existence, the rebellion, the expulsion and punishment of the apostate angels, according to the minute history of that great and fatal event, given in the Chartah Bhade of Bramah, from which all antiquity borrowed their conceptions of this essential piece of knowledge, and which also stands confirmed by the gospel-dispensation; and having likewise, occasionally, as we purposed, drawn some (we hope) useful and most necessary conclusions and doctrines, from the comparison between those two divine scriptures, the course of our pursuit leads us to the investigation of our Second General Head, "The creation of the universe, for the reception and residence of the expelled angels, after their emerging from the Onderah, or place of intense darkness, into which they had been precipitated, upon their expulsion from heaven."