第33章 LETTER 5(6)

In our journey through it,we are beset on every side.We are besieged,sometimes even in our strongest holds.Terrors and temptations,conducted by the passions of other men,assault us:and our own passions,that correspond with these,betray us.History is a collection of the journals of those who have travelled through the same country,and been exposed to the same accidents:and their good and their ill success are equally instructive.In this pursuit of knowledge an immense field is opened to us:general histories,sacred and profane;the histories of particular countries,particular events,particular orders,particular men;memorials,anecdotes,travels.But we must not ramble in this field without discernment or choice,nor even with these must we ramble too long.

As to the choice of authors,who have written on all these various subjects,so much has been said by learned men concerning all those that deserve attention,and their several characters are so well established,that it would be a sort of pedantic affectation to lead your lordship through so voluminous,and at the same time so easy,a detail.I pass it over therefore in order to observe,that as soon as we have taken this general view of mankind,and of the course of human affairs in different ages and different parts of the world,we ought to apply,and,the shortness of human life considered,to confine ourselves almost entirely in our study of history,to such histories as have an immediate relation to our professions,or to our rank and situation in the society to which we belong.Let me instance in the profession of divinity,as the noblest and the most important.

(1)I have said so much concerning the share which divines of all religions have taken in the corruption of history,that I should have anathemas pronounced against me,no doubt,in the east and the west,by the dairo,the mufti,and the pope,if these letters were submitted to ecclesiastical censure;for surely,my lord,the clergy have a better title,than the sons of Apollo,to be called "genus irritabile vatum."What would it be,if I went about to show,how many of the Christian clergy abuse,by misrepresentation and false quotation,the history they can no longer corrupt?And yet this task would not be,even to me,an hard one.But as I mean to speak in this place of Christian divines alone,so I mean to speak of such of them particularly as may be called divines without any sneer;of such of them,for some such I think there are,as believe themselves,and would have mankind believe;not for temporal but spiritual interest,not for the sake of the clergy,but for the sake of mankind.Now it has been long matter of astonishment to me,how such persons as these could take so much silly pains to establish mystery on metaphysics,revelation on philosophy,and matters of fact on abstract reasoning?A religion founded on the authority of a divine mission,confirmed by prophecies and miracles,appeals to facts:and the facts must be proved as all other facts that pass for authentic are proved;for faith so reasonable after this proof,is absurd before it.If they are thus proved,the religion will prevail without the assistance of so much profound reasoning:

if they are not thus proved,the authority of it will sink in the world even with this assistance.The divines object in their disputes with atheists,and they object very justly,that these men require improper proofs;proofs that are not suited to the nature of the subject,and then cavil that such proofs are not furnished.But what then do they mean,to fall into the same absurdity themselves in their disputes with theists,and to din improper proofs in ears that are open to proper proofs?The matter is of great moment,my lord,and I make no excuse for the zeal which obliges me to dwell a little on it.A serious and honest application to the study of ecclesiastical history,and every part of profane history and chronology relative to it,is incumbent on such reverend persons as are here spoken of,on a double account:because history alone can furnish the proper proofs,that the religion they teach is of God;and because the unfair manner,in which these proofs have been and are called furnished,creates prejudices,and gives advantages against Christianity that require to be removed.No scholar will dare to deny,that false history,as well as sham miracles,has been employed to propagate Christianity formerly:and whoever examines the writers of our own age,will find the same abuse of history continued.Many and many instances of this abuse might be produced.It is grown into custom,writers copy one another,and the mistake that was committed,or the falsehood that was invented by one,is adopted by hundreds.