ABSTRACT
In supposing a sovereign intelligence who governs the world; in supposing a Divinity who exacts from bis creatures that they should have a knowledge of him, that they should understand his attributes, his wisdom, his power; who is desirous they should render him homage; it must be allowed, that no man on earth in this respect completely fulfils the Views of providence. The vainest of all projects would be the expectation of curing, in an instant, those epidemical follies, those hereditary fallacies, rooted during so many ages; continually fed by ignorance; corroborated by custom; borne along by the passions; made inveterate by interest; grounded upon the fears, established upon the ever regenerating calamities of nations. The theologian will call his pusillanimity, " inward feeling " warning from heaven;" "secret inspiration;" but he who knoweth man, will say that this is nothing more than a mechanical motion, produced by a physical or natural cause.
