lesh, and drinking his blood"
were necessary to secure eternal life? Who should say, that "he
and God were one?" and should affirm (as Jesus does in the last
chapters of John) that "God was inside of him, and dwelt in him;
and that "he who had seen him, had seen God?" What should we
think of this? Should we consider such a man an object of wrath, or
of pity? Should we not directly, and without hesitation, attribute
such extravagancies to hallucination of mind? Yes, certainly! and
therefore the Jews were to blame for crucifying Jesus. If Christians
had put to death every unfortunate, who after being frenzied by
religious fasting and contemplation, became wild enough to assert,
that he was Christ, or God the Father, or the Virgin Mary, or even
the Holy Trinity, they would have been guilty of more than fifty
murders; for I have read of at least as many instances of this
nature; and believe that more than two hundred such might be
reckoned up from the hospital records of Europe alone. And that
the founder of the Christian religion was not always in one
coherent consistent mind, I think will appear plain to every
intelligent physician who reads his discourses; especially those in
the gospel of John. They are a mixture of something that looks like
sublimity, strangely disfigured by wild, and incoherent words. So
unintelligible indeed, that even the profoundest of Christian
divines have never been able to fathom all their mysteries. To
prove that I do not say these things rashly, wickedly, or out of any
malignity towards the character of Jesus, which I really respect and
venerate, I will establish my assertions by examples. For
instance--

--Many instances might be adduced of conduct directly
subversive of the very design, to promote which, he said that he
was sent into the world. For example, he said that he came to
preach glad tidings to the poor, and uninformed; and yet he
declares to his disciples, that ho spake to this very multitude of
poor and ignorant people in parables, lest they might understand
him, and be converted from their sins, and God should heal, or
pardon them. In the 26th chapter of Matthew, Jesus says to his
disciples, in the garden at Gethsemane, these strange words, "
Sleep on now, and take your rest--Arise! let us be going," The
commentators endeavour to get rid of the strange contradictoriness
of these words, by turning the command into the future; and
rendering the Greek word translated "now" thus-