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CHAPTER IV.

THIRD OBJECTION-THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION MAY HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED, AND THE MIRACLES BY

WHICH IT IS SUPPORTED, PERFORMED

BY SATAN, OR HIS AGENTS.

I NOW Come to the third objection, to the divine origin of the scriptures, which (though the infidels have made little use of it) might be urged against the christians with great plausibility. It is the supposition that Jesus was satan, or the agent of satan, and that his disciples were inspired by the infernal powers, for the purpose of deluding man from the doctrines of truth.*

This objection was first brought forward by the Jews, who said of our saviour, This man doth not

*The christians, in the earlier ages of their religion, asserted that the Gods of the heathen were devils, or ministers of the devil. The heathens might have retorted this charge, if they had had any being in their mythology, of a character similar to that of satan; but unfortunately for their religion, this was not the case. They had no demon, whom they might suppose Christ to be. They could not pretend that he was Pluto, for Pluto being no more than death personified, could not be supposed to have taken upon him, the character of Jesus. His office was to receive the dead, whom other powers had sent to his regions. had no part or delight in their punishment, he never went abroad in search of victims. Of course he was not a personage, who becoming incarnate, might, under pretence of being sent from heaven, to establish a new religion, delude men from the worship of the true Gods.

He

cast out devils, but by Belzebub the prince of devils. Jesus said, in answer to this, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to destruction, and every house, or city, divided against itself, shall not stand. And if satan cast out satan, he is divided against himself, how then shall his kingdom stand.

It must be acknowledged that this answer is insufficient. The man who enters the enemy's camp, pretending to be a friend, but with the intention of betraying him, might, the better to effect his object, strike a few blows against his own country men. When Zopyrus pretended to join the Babylonians, that he might betray their city to his master, Darius, he first warned that monarch, that the better to deceive the enemy, he should at times war with effect against the Persians, his friends. And if satan, that artful serpent, should find it necessary, in order to deceive mankind, that he should cast out a few devils, can we believe that he would hesitate. The Jews accuse Jesus, who says he is the son of God, of being Belzebub, or the agent of Belzebub. They assert, that he pretends to be the son of God, that he may gain a great number of worshippers, whose souls he will have power to torment, in their future life, that he intends to make his worship the prevalent religion, throughout a great part of the earth, for many, if not for all succeeding ages; and that thus he hopes to obtain the souls of the milIlions whom he shall delude. Jesus replies that this cannot be the case, that he cannot be Belzebub, nor hold his power of Belzebub, because he had cast out a few devils, and delivered a few wretches of Judea from their influence; that he would not have done this, had he been of the kingdom of satan, lest that kingdom should fall, though satan gained millions of victims by the act. This answer no one can consider satisfactory. It was better calculated to confirm, than to refute the opinion of the Jews, and it may be one reason why they repented not. Like most of the rea

soning of our saviour, it possesses a weakness which can be accounted for only in one way, and in that way I shall account for it, in my answer to this objection.

Among the writings of some christians, I have met with arguments against this supposition, which, though different from that of Christ, bear some resemblance to it, and may be answered with equal ease, because they are equally weak.

These arguments are drawn from the moral precepts which Christ gave, and the good deeds which he did. It is said that satan, who is the enemy of man, would not have healed the sick, raised the dead, and employed his time in deeds of charity; that he would not have given us those precepts of morality, which contribute so much to our happiness. He was a liar from the beginning, and the father of lies, he could not therefore have given those exhortations to virtue and piety, which are so contrary to his nature, and those denunciations against vice, in which he so much delights. His endeavors would have been to create a contempt of virtue, and a hatred of God.

To this the infidel may answer, if it was the intention of satan to deceive mankind, by passing for the son of God, it would be necessary that his conduct should accord with the character of the being whom he alledged himself to be. He would not recommend impiety, and contempt of God. Such conduct would at once show his infernal nature. His policy would be, to represent that he was a God, or the son of God, and that men of course ought to believe and worship him. By this he would make them the worshippers of satan, while they believed that they were adoring the true God; and would induce them to travel towards the regions of darkness, while they hoped that they were in the road to heaven. Nor let it be said, that if they believed they were adoring God, they were excusable, though they paid their homage to the devil

in fact; and that he could not, in consequence of this mistake in their worship, be entitled to their souls.Every one knows that the heathens are to be damned, though they believe that they are worshiping the true Gods. The quo animo has nothing to do here. Every man who worships wrong must be damned, whether he do it ignorantly or willingly. Satan might, therefore, hope to gain the souls of those who desired to worship God, by misdirecting their worship, not by recommending impiety. The christians formerly asserted that the Gods of the ancients were devils, yet neither these devils, if they were such, nor their priests, recommended impiety and blasphemy. They told men to be pious, but they misdirected the piety which they recommended. They said worship, and be grateful to the Gods; but they added falsely, we are the Gods whom you should adore. They recommended virtue, but it was only to deceive.

The policy of Jesus, if he belonged to the infernal powers, was the same, and with that policy his conduct well agreed. He declared that he was the son of God, that those who did not believe on him, should be damned, while he perhaps knew, that to believe in him was damnation. He advised men to go to heaven, but in directing the way, he showed them the road to his own regions. If Jesus was satan, all the christians must be damned, and he has gained their souls, by his deception; success certainly justifies his policy, though all the arguments that the christians have advanced against the supposition, that he was the grand enemy of man, amounts to this, that if he was such, his conduct was impolitic.

We are told, that as satan is the enemy of man, he would not have conferred favors upon him; he would not have healed the sick, raised the dead, and have given excellent moral precepts. But satan, the better to deceive man, and lead him to destruction, might con

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fer upon him a few slight benefits, while he clandes tinely did him much greater injuries. He would not tempt man with open and apparent evil. As soon might we expect that the fisher would use bait odious to the fish. His policy would be to perform acts, and lead men in courses, which appear at a superficial view beneficial, but which on a closer examination, or in their accidental effects, are found highly injurious. Such an act was the establishment of the christian religion. The founders of this religion, as it is said, (and I will not now enquire how truly,) were persons of unexceptionable morality. In the sacred writings, are many moral precepts, which inculcate a regard for virtue, and a hatred of vice, and which represent morality as essential to happiness after death. We might therefore suppose, at first view, that the belief of these would be beneficial to morals, and consequently to the happiness of man. But a more profound examination, will convince us that christianity injures morals, by placing them upon a false foundation, and that while it holds out motives to men, for being virtuous, it caus es them to mistake vice for virtue, and virtue for vice.

But when we look at the effects of christianity, we find that nothing can agree better with the character of satan, than the establishment of a religion, which could produce so many and so great evils. That religion, which is said to be so holy, mild, and virtuous, that it could be established by none but God, has actually produced the most bloody wars, and the most odious tyranny, that the world has ever witnessed: it has drank the blood of millions, and held Europe in slave-, ry for more than a thousand years. Its votaries, bold, ing the creed that those who believed not must be damned. have believed that the extermination of infidelity, how much blood soever it might cost, would be a deed of the greatest virtue, and that those who should perform it, would be worthy of the highest place in heaven. In consequence of this belief, they have.

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