Page:Characteristicks of men, manners, opinions, times Vol 2.djvu/51

RV 47 (Rh) ridly unnatural and inhuman, come to be receiv'd as excellent, good, and laudable in themselves.

is this a wonder. For where-ever any-thing, in its nature odious and abominable, is by Religion advanc'd, as the suppos'd Will or Pleasure of a supreme Deity; if in the eye of the Believer it appears not indeed in any respect the less ill or odious on this account; then must the Deity of necessity bear the blame, and be consider'd as a Being naturally ill and odious, however courted, and solicited, thro' Mistrust and Fear. But this is what Religion, in the main, forbids us to imagine. It every-where prescribes Esteem and Honour in company with Worship and Adoration. Whensoever therefore it teaches the Love and Admiration of a, who has any apparent Character of Ill; it teaches at the same time a Love and Admiration of that Ill, and causes that to be taken for good and amiable, which is in it-self horrid and detestable.

instance: if be He who is ador'd and reverenc'd; and if his History represents him amorously inclin'd, and permitting his Desires of this kind to wander in the loosest manner; 'tis certain that his Worshippers, believing this History to be literally and Rh