56 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



and bruises would be presented to the view in 

 every city, and village, and rural scene. When 

 one had finished a house to shelter him from the 

 storm, a number of desperadoes, in horrid com 

 bination, would overturn the mansion, and crush 

 him among the ruins. When one had planted 

 vines and fruit-frees, others would seize the op 

 portunity, when they were beginning to bud and 

 blossom, to tear them up by the roots; persons 

 who sowed the seed in spring could have no con 

 fidence that they would ever reap the fruits in 

 autumn ; and no one could have the least secu 

 rity that the wealih and property he possessed 

 to-day would be his to-morrow. No one could 

 feel secure for a single hour, that his life was 

 not in danger from the sword of the murderer or 

 the assassin ; every man would live in continual 

 fear and alarm ; no pleasing prospects nor hopes 

 of future enjoyment would ever calm the tumul 

 tuous passions, or cheer the distracted mind ; all 

 confidence between man and man would be com 

 pletely destroyed ; falsehood in every shape 

 would walk triumphant; the rnirid would be dis 

 tracted amidst its ignorance of the scenes and 

 events that were happening around it ; for no in 

 telligence could be believed, and no one could 

 certainly know the reality of any object or event, 

 unless he beheld it with his own eyes. Schools, 

 seminaries of learning, universities, and acade 

 mies would have no existence, and no one could 

 gain an acquaintance with any principle or fact 

 in the universe around him, except in so far as 

 he had made the investigation by means of his 

 own senses arid powers. Tormented by tumul 

 tuous passions raging within, in continual alarm 

 from desperadoes, plunderers, and assassins rag 

 ing around, looking back on the past with horri 

 ble recollections, and contemplating the future 

 with terror and dismay, the mind would feel it 

 self fixed in a scene of misery and wretchedness, 

 which no words could describe nor pencil deli 

 neate. 



If we could suppose a number of such beings 

 leagued together for the purpose of carrying the 

 schemes of malevolence more completely into 

 effect, one of their employments would be to set 

 fire to houses and villages, in order that they 

 might enjoy the infernal pleasure of seeing their 

 fellow-creatures deprived of every shelter, and 

 of beholding men, women, and children roasting 

 in the flames. Another employment would be 

 to poison the springs of water, that they might 

 behold one after another, from the sucking child 

 to the hoary head, seized with excruciating pains, 

 and sinking into the agonies of death. Another 

 gratification of malevolence would be to dam up 

 the rivers in their rapid course, that they might 

 overflow the circumjacent plains, in order that 

 they might feast their eyes on the scenes of de- 

 vas tation and ruin that would ihus be created, 

 and on thp terror and destruction of the wretched 

 The conflagration of a city, with 



all its accompaniments, the crash of falling 

 houses, and of palaces tumbling into ruin; the 

 terror and confusion of its inhabitants, the wail- 

 ings of women and children, arid the groans of 

 the burning victims, would be a feast to the eyea 

 and music to the ears of such malignant beings, 

 as they once were to Nero, when, from the top 

 of a high tower, he beheld Rome wrapt in the 

 flames which he himself had kindled, and sung 

 on his lyre the destruction of Troy. Even in 

 the midst of the ocean such revolting scenes 

 would be frequently realized. When t\vo ships 

 descried each other, a diabolical onset would 

 ensue. To set on flames the respective vessels, 

 to sink them in the deep, or to cause them to 

 burst with a horrid explosion, would be the ob 

 ject of both the crews ; that they might feast 

 their malevolence on the spectacle of wounds 

 and carnage, of drowning wretches covered with 

 blood and scars, fighting with the billows, and 

 scrambling for safety among the shattered frag 

 ments of the wreck. 



Were it possible that discoveries in art and 

 science could be made by intelligences actuated 

 by such malignant passions, they would be all 

 applied to subserve the purposes of malevolence. 

 The force of gunpowder would be employed to 

 blow ships and houses to atoms, to shake popu 

 lous cities to their foundations, and to create 

 among their inhabitants universal horror and 

 alarm ; the force of steam would be employed in 

 producing destructive explosions, and in propel 

 ling the instruments of death and devastation 

 among a surrounding populace. Air balloons 

 would be employed for enabling them to carry 

 their malignant schemes, in relation to distant 

 tribes, more speedily into effect ; for hurli ig 

 down upon towns and villages stones, and bullets, 

 and darts; and for enabling them to escape in 

 safety when they had finished the work of de 

 struction. The discovery of the nature of light 

 ning, and its identity to the electrical fluid, in 

 stead of being applied for the protection of per 

 sons and of buildings from the stroke of that ter 

 rific meteor, would be destined to the purpose of 

 devastation and destruction. The electricity of 

 the atmosphere and the lightnings from the 

 clouds would be conducted and directed so as to 

 set on fire stacks of corn, to shatter lofty build 

 ings, and lay groups of men and cattle prostrate 

 with the dust. Every mechanical power, and 

 all the combinations of physical forces which art 

 can produce, would be applied to the framing of 

 engines for torture, devastation, and ma&sacre ; 

 and on the front of every new invention would 

 be displayed, as if engraved in legible characters 



TERROR, MISERY, AND DESTRUCTION. 



Could we suppose for a moment such beings 

 occasionally combining together on a large sc&le, 

 for the purpose of more extensively glutting their 

 malevolence, their conduct towards each other ru 

 nations, and the contests in which they would be 



