When We Reflect On The Shortness And

The Senses Alone Are Not Implicitly To Be Depended On. We Must Correct Their Evidence By Reason, And By Considerations, Derived From The Nature Of The Medium, The Distance Of The Object, And The Disposition Of The Organ, In Order To Render Them, Within Their Sphere, The Proper Criteria Of Truth And Falsehood.

I Shall Venture To Affirm, That There Never Was A Popular Religion, Which Represented The State Of Departed Souls In Such A Light,as Would Render It Eligible For Human Kind, That There Should Be Such A State. These Fine Models Of Religion Are The Mere Product Of Philosophy. For As Death Lies Between The Eye And The Prospect Of Futurity, That Event Is So Shocking To Nature, That It Must Throw A Gloom On All The Regions Which Lie Beyond It; And Suggest To The Generality Of Mankind The Idea Of Cerberus And Furies; Devils, And Torrents Of Fire And Brimstone.

One Would Appear Ridiculous Who Would Say, That It Is Only Probable The Sun Will Rise To-morrow, Or That All Men Must Die; Thoughit Is Plain We Have No Further Assurance Of These Facts Than What Experience Affords Us.

The Whole [of Religion] Is A Riddle, An ænigma, An Inexplicable Mystery. Doubt, Uncertainty, Suspence Of Judgment Appear The Onlyresult Of Our Most Accurate Scrutiny, Concerning This Subject.

If Nature Has Been Frugal In Her Gifts And Endowments, There Is The More Need Of Art To Supply Her Defects. If She Has Been Generous And Liberal, Know That She Still Expects Industry And Application On Our Part, And Revenges Herself In Proportion To Our Negligent Ingratitude. The Richest Genius, Like The Most Fertile Soil, When Uncultivated, Shoots Up Into The Rankest Weeds; And Instead Of Vines And Olives For The Pleasure And Use Of Man, Produces, To Its Slothful Owner, The Most Abundant Crop Of Poisons.