SECTION VIII. AGAINST ATHEISM AND INFIDELITY. AFTER having treated of false zealots in religion, I cannot forbear mentioning a monstrous species of men, who one would not think had any existence in nature, were they not to be met with in ordinary conversation; I mean the zealots in atheism. One would fancy that these men, though they fall short, in every other respect, of those who make a profession of religion, would at least outshine them in this particular, and be exempt from that single fault, which seems to grow out of the imprudent fervours of religion: but so it is, that infidelity is propagated with as much fierceness and contention, wrath and indignation, as if the safety of mankind depended upon it. There is something so ridiculous and perverse in this kind of zealots, that one does not know how to set them out in their proper colours. They are a sort of gamesters, who are eternally upon. the fret, though they play for nothing. They are perpetually teasing their friends to come over to them, though at the same time they allow that neither of them shall get any thing by the bargain. In short, the zeal of spreading atheism is, if possible, more absurd than atheism itself. Since I have mentioned this unaccountable zeal, which appears in atheists and infidels, I must further observe, that they are likewise, in a most particular manner, possessed with the spirit of bigotry. They are wedded to opinions full of contradiction and impossibility, and at the same time look upon the smallest difficulty in an article of faith as a sufficient reason for rejecting it. Notions that fall in with the common reason of mankind, that are conformable to the sense of all ages and all nations, not to mention their tendency for promoting the happiness of societies or of particular persons, are exploded as errors and prejudices; and schemes erected in their stead, that are altogether monstrous and irrational, and require the most extravagant credulity to embrace them. I would fain ask one of these bigoted infidels, supposing all the great points of atheism, as the casual or eternal formation of the world, the materiality of a thinking substance, the mortality of the soul, the fortuitous organization of the body, the motions and gravitation of matter, with the like particulars, were laid together and formed into a kind of creed, according to the opinions of the most celebrated atheists; I say, supposing such a creed as this were formed, and imposed upon any one people in the world, whether it would not require an infinitely greater measure of faith, than any set of articles which they so violently oppose. Let me therefore advise this generation of wranglers, for their own and for the public good, to act at least so consistently with themselves, as not to burn with zeal for irreligion, and with bigotry for nonsense. 0. CELUM IPSUM PETIMUS STULTITIA HOR. UPON my return to my lodgings last night, I found a letter from my worthy friend the clergyman, whom I have given some ac R papers. He tells me count of in my former in it, that he was particularly pleased with the latter part of my yesterday's speculation; and at the same time enclosed the following essay, which he desires me to publish as the sequel of that discourse. It consists partly of uncommon reflections, and partly of such as have been already used, but now set in a stronger light. "A believer may be excused by the "most hardened atheist for endeavouring "to make him a convert, because he does "it with an eye to both their interests. The "atheist is inexcusable, who tries to gain 66 66 over a believer, because he does not pro pose the doing himself or believer any "good by such a conversion. "The prospect of a future state is the "secret comfort and refreshment of my "soul; it is that which makes nature look 66 gay about me; it doubles all my plea"sures, and supports me under all my af"flictions. I can look at disappointments "and misfortunes, pain and sickness, death "itself, and, what is worse than death, the "loss of those who are dearest to me, with 66 "indifference, so long as I keep in view "the pleasures of eternity, and the state of "being, in which there will be no fears nor apprehensions, pains nor sorrows, sick"ness nor separation. Why will any man "be so impertinently officious, as to tell me all this is only fancy and delusion? "Is there any merit in being the messen66 ger of ill news? If it is a dream, let me enjoy it, since it makes me both the happier and the better man. 66 66 66 "I must confess I do not know how to "trust a man who believes neither heaven 66 nor hell, or, in other words, a future state "of rewards and punishments. Not only "natural self-love, but reason directs us to 66 promote our own interest above all things. "It can never be for the interest of a be"liever to do me a mischief, because he is 66 sure, upon the balance of accompts, to "find himself a loser by it. On the con66 trary, if he considers his own welfare in "his behaviour towards me, it will lead "him to do me all the good he can, and, “at the same time, restrain him from doing "me an injury. An unbeliever does not |