ceived, if we enquire, why as great a proportion of the inhabitants of Turkey are not Christians, as of the inhabitants of England and France. Every one knows that this difference is occasioned by the persecutions which Christians are obliged to endure in the former country, and by those which are inflicted on their enemies in the others. But this effect could not be produced, if persecution and intolerance availed nothing. Why are the inhabitants of Spain all Catholics, while but few of them are found in England and Germany? Because their enemies are punished in the former nation, but supported by the laws of the others. Why have the people of the same country, been in one age all orthodox-in the other all heretics? Because in the one age the heretics were condemned, and proscribed by the laws, while in the next the saints were most unrighteously persecuted. Who then can say, that religious persecutions tend only to make hypocrites and martyrs; or that they are not competent to change the faith of a people? It being manifest, that persecutions will prevent changes, in the religious sentiments of the people, religious governments will not fail to adopt them in regulating the opinions of their subjects, and in bringing them to one common standard; to the great advantage of the spiritual, but to the great detriment of the temporal interest of the nation. It will be said in vain, that the government may be wrong as well as individuals, and that while it is attempting to exterminate heresy, it may be persecuting the true

faith. This might be a good argument with a superior power, uninterested in the contest, for leaving each party to enjoy its own opinion, but when the rulers of a nation are composed of sectarians, they must believe that their own opinions are correct, and will, therefore; persecute those who differ from them. It will be impossible to convince them, that the interest of their country requires moderation. The spiritual interest of the people will, at least, afford them a pretence, and sectarian rage a motive, for inflicting the severest and most ignominious punishments, on those whom they may brand with the name of the enemies of God. Emboldened by despair, the persecuted will arise against their oppressors, the country will be distracted by civil wars, and the victims of the victorious party will be daily led to the stake.

Nor can it be said with truth that these evils arise only from the abuse of Christianity. They arise from the spirit of that religion. They arise from the maxim, that the good of this life must be sacrificed to that of the life to come; from the hatred which a Christian always feels for those who differ with him in opinion; from the strength, which a sect may gain, by the persecution of its enemies; and from the belief of the Christians, that the course most agreeable to virtue and to God, is to persecute with fire and sword, those whose faith is disapproved by him. These causes of persecution are inseparable from Christianity, and the evils which they produce, must always exist where

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that religion prevails. While any one sect has strength sufficient to persecute the others, and there are others for it to persecute. When a people are not looking for happiness in this world, we are not to wonder if they do not find it here, and when a government attempts to deceive and oppress the people by religious maxims, their condition is miserable indeed.

But the persecution of their own subjects is not sufficient for Christian governments. They must have crusades against heretical and unbelieving nations. In these wars too, in which thousands will be destroyed, and whole provinces desolated, the welfare of the souls of men will alone be regarded. Slavery or death will be the usual fate of the captives, at least, the necessary horrors of war will be increased. But I hear some one say, that these effects do not naturally arise from the religion of Christ, but only from its abuse. I answer, that as the cause of any religion may be benefitted by religious wars, and as the partizans of all religions, think it their duty to promulgate their doctrines, as far as in them lies, whether it be by fire and sword, by eloquence, by arguments, or by pious frauds, such wars will always arise from the existence of hostile creeds, when any one religion can hope to gain ground by the contest. Admitting a religion to be true, and to be known to be true, (and this the votaries of any will admit,) the purpose of extending it throughout the earth, will justify the perpetration of many atrocious acts, and the production of many evils. If we admit

that the Christian religion is true, beyond a doubt, and
that the Mahometan is as certainly false, the crusades
of the Christians, against the partizans of the latter,
can be easily justified. The crusaders had a high
prospect of conquering a part, if not the whole, of the
empire of the Saracens, and of reducing it to the wor-
ship of Christ. It will be said, that as the worship of
the conquered, would be but a forced acquiescence in
the truth of Christianity, it would not be acceptable to
God. This would be true of those persons who ex-
isted at the time of the conquest, but it would not be
true of their descendants; or if they would have in-
culcated their doctrines on their children, their whole
race might have been exterminated, and their country
re-peopled with Christians. Had this been done, fifty
millions of sinners would have been destroyed, but as
many
had been added to the number of the saints, for
every generation, in succeeding ages, till the end of the
world should arrive. The Christians actually possess-
ed themselves of territory sufficient, as is estimated,
to support twenty millions of inhabitants. The re-con-
quest of this territory, was an event which they could
not have anticipated. If it had remained in the hands
of the Christians, twenty millions had been gathered,
from that region in every age, which, allowing twenty-
five ages to the present time, had now amounted to
five hundred millions of souls. No one, who believes
the truth of our religion, can believe, that the salva-
tion of these, would not have repaid, ten thousand

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times, the evils of the wars which made them Christians. None can, in fact, reject our conclusion, except those who believe that the Christian and Mahometan religions have an equal chance of truth, and to such, the Christian can address no argument. We must conclude, therefore, that the injury which Christianity does to our temporal interest, by placing virtue on a false foundation, and by inducing a man to prefer the spiritual to the temporal interest of his neighbor, and governments to prefer the spiritual to the temporal interest of their people, is greater than the benefits which it confers on mankind, by giving them additional motives for being virtuous. But there are still other evils which it produces. It enables impostors, who will abuse their power, to deceive the people, and to advance themselves to the highest grandeur. It assists tyrants to sit securely on their thrones, and to oppress their people with impunity, by denouncing those who may rise up against them, as the enemies of God. The factious make it the instrument of destruction, to the best of governments, by accusing their rulers of impiety, and by asserting that religion is in danger.— By confering power on the clergy, it raises in the midst of the state, a class of men whose interest is in direct opposition to that of the people, by the deception of whom their authority is maintained, and at whose expense their luxury is supplied. These evils will not be remedied by providing that the church and state shall never be united; for the clergy will ever