Page:Letters of Junius, volume 2 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/254

244 Junius is charged with equal vanity and impiety, in comparing his writings to the Holy Scriptures.—The formal protest he makes against any such comparison avails him nothing. It becomes necessary then to show that the charge destroys itself.—If he be vain, he cannot be impious. A vain man does not usually compare himself to an object which it is his design to undervalue. On the other hand, if he be impious, he cannot be vain; for his impiety, if any, must consist in his endeavouring to degrade the Holy Scriptures, by a comparison with his own contemptible writings. This would be folly, indeed, of the grossest nature, but where lies the vanity?—I shall now be told, "Sir, what you say is plausible enough; but still you must allow, that it is shamefully impudent in Junius to tell us that his works will live as long as the Bible." My answer is, Agreed: but first prove that he has said so. Look at his words, and you will find that the utmost he expects is, that the Bible and Junius will survive the commentaries of the Jesuits; which may prove true in a fortnight. The most malignant sagacity cannot show that his works are, in his opinion, to live as long as the Bible.