We cannot, indeed,
give them credit for either great sagacity or goodness, else they
would have chosen more noble instruments, when they wished to shew
themselves the benevolent friends of man.
It is, however, little short of blasphemy to pretend to such powers!
From the whole tenour of the dispensations of Providence, it appears
evident to sober reason, that certain vices produce certain effects;
and can any one so grossly insult the wisdom of God, as to suppose
that a miracle will be allowed to disturb his general laws, to restore
to health the intemperate and vicious, merely to enable them to pursue
the same course with impunity? Be whole, and sin no more, said
Jesus. And, are greater miracles to be performed by those who do not
follow his footsteps, who healed the body to reach the mind?
The mentioning of the name of Christ, after such vile impostors, may
displease some of my readers- I respect their warmth; but let them not
forget that the followers of these delusions bear his name, and
profess to be the disciples of him, who said, by their works we should
know who were the children of God or the servants of sin. I allow that
it is easier to touch the body of a saint, or to be magnetised, than
to restrain our appetites or govern our passions; but health of body
or mind can only be recovered by these means, or we make the Supreme
Judge partial and revengeful.
Is he a man that he should change, or punish out of resentment?
He- the common father, wounds but to heal, says reason, and our
irregularities producing certain consequences, we are forcibly shewn
the nature of vice; that thus learning to know good from evil, by
experience, we may hate one and love the other, in proportion to the
wisdom which we attain.
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