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    and simple doctrines of revelation . We admit , then * ? tt ^ t \ ybaleve ? t ^^^ hwaan feney conceives and proposes as points of faith , hutnat *| iQw $ r is * ofte ^ * invited aad found ready to support . But the alliance between an unscriptural , scholastic creed , and the employment of external force in tfs beHalf , arises not 50 much from the quality pi the Diced as from the possession cin $ the love of power on the part of its framers and adherents .

    fi Ancient Gentilism , " adds Lardner , f < could nqt stand before the light of the gospel . It was absurd , and could not be maintained by reason anaargpi- ' meat . The Christians , therefore , were continlially gaining ground They drew men off from the temples , from sacrifices , from the religious solemnities , from public sports and entertainments . This was a provocation to Heathen people , wlrich they could not endure ; they had recourse , therefore , to violence , and tried every possible way to discourage the progress of the Christian religion /*

    It is true , they had recourse to violence , " because they felt extreme mortification at being so opposed , and because they had the power of the state on their side , and could with ease direct it against the Christians . That the Pagans were really vanquished in argument , and by reason , is unquestionable ; but it does not follow that they were conscious of being so vanquished ; and it is probable that they looked upon even this sort of victory as their own . *

    In Dr . Lardner ' s opinion , " if Gentilism had been revived , Heathen persecutions would have been repeated , and the cruelties of former times Would have been practised over again with equal or if possible with redoubled rage and violence . " Nor can we dissent from this opinion . The revival of Gentilism must have been effected by means of arms and power in the hands of Gentile commanders and magistrates ; and , as a matter of course , the same power would have been exercised in repeated and aggravated persecutions of the dissidents .

    " The Emperor Julian , * ' we are told , " could not help being a persecutor , like his admired Marcus Antoninus , " &c . Such examples are , ia truth , very much to our purpose . Of all men Marcus Antoninus and Julian were among the most unlikely to be sensible of the weakness of their several reasonings on theology and morals . If it be inquired , what made them persecutors ; we must answer , their pride and vanity , combined with that imperial power which so intoxicates the votaries of refined self-interest , and can be wielded , at will , against the objects of their contempt and hatred .

    " So , " concludes Lardner , " it will be always . An absurd religion cannot maintain itself by reason and argument ; it needs , and wiji have , recourse to force and viojencp for its su . ppprt . " We repeat that we cannot fully acquiesce in his conclusion . Some individuals , when pressed by arguments which they cannot repel , are observed to be peevish , fretful , angry ; and Lucian , if bur memory is correct , has a pretty story of Jupiter and Mercuryf to that effect . But , as to bodies of wen , and the proximate cause of persecution , the fact , we presume , must be

    * Charles the Second , in persecuting the Scottish Covenanters , and Louis thp Fourteenth , in dragooning the Hugonots , are illustrations of the argument in thnj paragraph . t Jupiter takes up his thunderbolts ; and Mercury thence infers , that " the sire ° f gods and men / ' has the worst of the argument .

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    Chtfroh-of-Engfond Men arid Catholte Clahm . 4 ? I \

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 471, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/23/