having them believed of Him? On
the contrary, can they, together with the doctrine of the Trinity, I
would respectfully ask, be possibly looked upon by Him (if they
are not true), otherwise, than as so many--what I forbear to
mention. But this is not all. The reader is requested to consider,
that the Christian system is built upon the prostrate necks of the
whole Hebrew nation. It is a tree which flourished in a soil watered
by their tears; its leaves grew green in an atmosphere filled with
their cries and groans; and its roots have been moistened and
fattened with their blood. The ruin, reproach, and sufferings of that
people, are considered, by its advocates, as the most striking proof
of the Divine authority of the New Testament; and for almost
eighteen hundred years the system contained in that book has been
the cause of miseries and afflictions to that nation, the most
horrible and unparalleled in the history of man.

Now, if that system be indeed Divine, all this may be very well,
and as it should be. But if, perchance, it should turn out to be a
mistake if it be, in truth, not from God; will not, then, that system
be justly chargeable with all those shocking cruelties which, on
account of it, have been inflicted on that people?

If that system be verily and indeed founded on a mistake, no
language, no indignation, can do justice to its guilt in this respect.
All its good moral effects are a mere drop of pure water in that
ocean of Jewish and Gentile blood it has caused to be shed by
embittering men's minds with groundless prejudices. And if it be
not divine; if it be plainly and demonstrably proved to have
originated in error; who is the man, that, after considering what has
been suggested, will have the heart to come forward, and coolly
say, "that it is better that a whole nation of men should continue, as
heretofore, to be unjustly hated, reproached, cursed, and plundered,
and massacred, on account of it, rather than that the received
religious system should be demonstrated to be founded on
mistake?" No! If it be, in fact, founded on mistake, every man of
honour, honesty, and humanity, will say, without hesitation, "Let
the delusion (if it is one) be done away, which must be supported
at the expense of truth, of justice, and the happiness and
respectability of a whole nation, who are men like ourselves, and
more unfortunate than any others, in having already suffered but
too much affliction and misery on ac