No theological absurdities so glaring as have not, sometimes, been embraced by men of the greatest and most cultivated understanding. No religious precepts so rigorous as have not been adopted by the most voluptuous and most abandoned of men.
Ignorance is the mother of Devotion: A maxim, that is proverbial, and confirmed by general experience. Look out for a people, entirely devoid of religion: If you find them at all, be assured, that they are but few degrees removed from brutes.
What so pure as some of the morals, included in some theological systems? What so corrupt[errata 1] as some of the practices, to which these systems give rise?
The comfortable views, exhibited by the belief of futurity, are ravishing and delightful. But how quickly vanish, on the appearance of its terrors, which keep a more firm and durable possession of the human mind?
The whole is a riddle, an ænigma, an inexplicable mystery. Doubt, uncertainty, suspenceof Errata
