bient air; of no form, dwelling in
no place. But how can that without effrontery be called a being, which
is without body and form; which is everywhere and yet nowhere; which,
from the beginning of the world has never been heard of, till by these
Nazarenes he is now first brought to light, or, if older, exists in the
dreams of the dreaming Jews, whose religion, as they term it, is so
stuffed with fable, that one might not expect, after the most exact and
laborious search, to meet with so much as a grain of truth. Yet,
whatever these Galileans may assert, their speech is hardly to be
received as worthy of belief, when, in their very sacred records, such
things are to be found as contradict themselves. For in one place--not
to mention a thousand cases of the like kind--it is said that Jesus, the
head of this religion, on a certain occasion walked upon the sea; when,
upon sifting the narrative, it is found that it was but upon a paltry
lake, the lake of Galilee, upon which he performed that great feat!--a
thing to which the magic of which he is accused--and doubtless with
justice--was plainly equal; while to walk upon the sea might well have
been beyond that science. How much of what we have heard is to be
distrusted also, concerning the love which these Nazarenes bear to
Rome. We may well pray to be delivered from the affection of those,
whose love manifests itself in the singular manner of seeking our
destruction. He who loves me so well as to poison me that I may have the
higher enjoyment of Elysium, I could hardly esteem as a well-wisher or
friend. These Jewish fanatics love us after somewhat the same fashion.
In the zeal of their affection they would make us heirs of what they
call their heavenly kingdom, but in the meanwhile destroy our religion,
deprive us of our ancient gods, and sap the foundations of the state.

'Romans, in spite of all you have heard of another sort, I hope you will
still believe that experience is one of your most valuable teachers, and
that therefore you will be slow to forsake opinions which have the
sanction of venerable age, under which you have flourished so happily,
and your country grown to so amazing a height of glory and renown. I
think you would deserve the fate which this new-made religion would
bring you to, if you abandoned the worship of a thousand years, for the
presumptuous novelty of yesterday. Not a name of greatness or honor can
be quoted of those who have adorned this foreign