And when we have to do with a
man, who makes a great profession of religion and devotion, has
this any other effect upon several, who pass for prudent, than to
put them on their guard, lest they be cheated and deceived by
him?
We must further consider, that philosophers, who cultivate
reason and reflection, stand less in need of such motives to keep
them under the restraint of morals; and that the vulgar, who
alone may need them, are utterly incapable of so pure a religion
as represents the Deity to be pleased with nothing but virtue in
human behaviour. The recommendations to the Divinity are
generally supposed to be either frivolous observances, or
rapturous ecstasies, or a bigoted credulity. We need not run back
into antiquity, or wander into remote regions, to find instances
of this degeneracy. Amongst ourselves, some have been guilty of
that atrociousness, unknown to the Egyptian and Grecian
superstitions, of declaiming in express terms, against morality;
and representing it as a sure forfeiture of the Divine favour, if
the least trust or reliance be laid upon it.
But even though superstition or enthusiasm should not put
itself in direct opposition to morality; the very diverting of
the attention, the raising up a new and frivolous species of
merit, the preposterous distribution which it makes of praise and
blame, must have the most pernicious consequences, and weaken
extremely men's attachment to the natural motives of justice and
humanity.
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