227 



FORD ABBEY. 



When the origin of religious institutions is inapar- 

 tially examined, they appear, in general, to arise from 

 motives of reverence, and good will ; reverence for 

 the Deity, and good v^ill towards men. Yet if the 

 different views of their founders be compared and il- 

 lustrated, they will present a variety of aspects, and 

 claim approbation or censure, in proportion to their 

 respective deserts. To borrow the words of the re- 

 nowned Bentham, — " First, in order to obtain the 

 favour of the Supreme Being, a man assassinates his 

 lawful sovereign. In this case the motive is now 

 almost universally looked upon as abominable and is 

 termed fanaticism : formerly it was by great numbers 

 accounted laudable, and by them was called pious 

 zeal." Acts of pious fraud and homicide committed 

 for the emolument of the church, were encouraged 

 of old by the order of the Jesuits. On this account, 

 the celebrated Pascal interposed a train of arguments 

 to confute their fallacies, with the artillery of resist- 

 less eloquence. Second!}^, in the same view, a man 

 lashes himself with thongs ; wears a vest of thorns ; 

 and stretches himself on a gridiron. In yonder house 

 the motive of penance is extolled, and is called pious 

 zeal : in the next house, it is deemed contemptible, 

 and called superstition. Thirdly, with a view to pro- 

 pitiate the Supreme, a man holds a cow by the tail, 

 while he is dying. On the Thames the motive would 

 in this case be deemed contemptible, and called su- 

 perstition. On the Ganges, it is deemed meritori- 

 ous and called piety. Fourthly, for the same end, 

 a man bestows a large sum in works of charity, or 

 public utility. He endows hospitals, and monaste- 

 ries. Then the motive is styled praiseworthy, by 

 those at least to whom the works in question appear 

 to come under this description ; and by these at least 

 it would be termed devotion. The motive is obvi- 

 ously not a bad one, though such acts are vulgarly 

 resolved into evil intentions. A man is liable to err 



