464, 
ways been the tolerant maxim of this em- 
pipes 
Socimi. IT have not found it fo among 
thofe of our empyreum, or of our earth. 
A fpirit of proielytifm marks our fects, 
— of exclufion, our eftabiifhments 
F. Refulting, naturally, from she dif- 
ferent genius of the two religious {y{tems. 
N. And, therefore, remedilefs to thefe 
new doétors. 
5S. How fo? 
WN. Our’s was a religion of rites, and 
your’s of creeds. With us, the merit of 
the prieft confifted in the exaét perform- 
ance of traditional Ceremonies, and of the 
devotees, in clinging to an hereditary 
worfnip. They oe afraid of fwerving, 
not from one code of opinicns, written in 
Sybil'ine books, for all nations, but: from 
a ritual, revealed apart to their feveral 
forefathers. Uniformity, therefore, where 
there were no ties of confanguinity, would, 
to them, have appeared fufpicious ; and 
change, a fymptom of incredulity. 
A. Shall I complete the antithefis, au- 
gut Numa? (Taras to Socini.) But vith 
ou, opinions, not Eerenonies, forming the 
dink of union, and the fuppofed condition 
of divine favour, the merit of the prieft 
was to gonfift in his talents for fophiftry ; 
and of the devotees, in perceiving the va- 
lidity of his arguments. Now, to be per- 
fuaded by Benes difficult: to eftimate, 
and avowedly fhort of demonftration, in a 
word, to have faith, is {carcely pofiible to 
the human mind, without the corroborat- 
ing fuffrage of high authorities, of conti- 
guous fympathy, or of great numbers. 
Profelytifm, therefore, or the purfuit of 
public alent, mutt accompany. 
5. Methinks, I have pointed out a mean 
to conjure away this perturbing fpirit. 
F. Lelio! Lelio! 
S. Hf, as I have taught, not opinions, 
but moral habits are the pledges of re- 
exiftence—if my creed is fo fimple, as to 
admit of no fubdivifion, no pruning, fo 
elegant as to fatisfy a mind on the higheft 
ftage of improvement, toward which, 
therefore, every enquirer will tend, and 
beyond which the virtuous man will hefi- 
tate to proceed, furely, the induftry of 
miilionaries, or the patronage of power, 
are aids it may difdain. 
F. Hermes thall rake thee, fome years 
hence, to Poland. 
5S. My nephew, Faufto, has often writ- 
ten tomethence. Our opinions draw the 
attention of the well-educated claffes only 
of the merchants and nobles. Thefe do 
not feck to propagate them among the 
Imitation of Wreland’s Dialogues. 
[July 
multitude, but leave the people to grow 
up to the opinions. A few public wrang- 
lings in academic halls, or fuch controver- 
fial volumes as a differtation upon the in- 
{cription of one of thy breken altars, might 
IRE e rife to, ought not to. be cesiede 
F. Ten years hence— 
S. Not unlefs the diet fhould have the 
imprudence to become intolerant, and, by 
throwing-his adherents upon fome political 
malcontents for protection, fhould render 
monotheifm the badge of a party; then, 
indeed, a fpirit of propagating the doc~ 
trince— 
a Thou haft, fT own, much of the fore- 
fight of a philofopher. 
S. I could alfo conceive a patriot band, 
the remnant, fuppofe, of Soderini’s adhe- 
rents, converling, in the gardens of Ruc- 
ellai, on the means of detaching the peo- 
ple from the Houfe of Medici, whofe in- 
fluence, fo hoftile to the liberty of Florence, 
is {upported by vaft private wealth, by an 
immenfe patronage, ecclefiaftical and civil, 
by popular manners, and by the encou- 
ragement of trifling literature and adula~ 
tory artifts. 
F. Well, Socini ! 
S. Such friends of freedom, defirous of 
drying up thefe fources of corruption, 
might refleét, that the merchants would 
not fuffer them to interfere with the 
wealth derived from oriental traffic, that 
the common weal required the preferva- 
tion of the civil patronage. and, therefore, 
might prefer the fuppreffion of the re- 
ligious Peon: ‘Bor, confidering that 
the atheifm propagated at Naples, in order 
to leffen the power of the clergy, intre- 
duced, among the populace, a libertinifm, 
which re(peéted not property, which fhud- 
dered not at affaffination ; and that, inftead 
of ferving the caufe of liberty, this philofo- 
phy only broke down a barrier againft 
mob-rule, and prepared the defpotifm of 
Aniello, they would undoubtedly look out 
for a religion tending to looefen whatever 
hold theclergy derive from opinion, without. 
fhaking any of the motives to morality. 
Finding the outline ef fucha fyftem ia 
my writings, they. might encourage for 
this their ufeful purpofe, an offenfive fpirit 
of profelytifm among my followers. Here, 
again, it would refult from the peculiar 
external circumftance, whieh made it the 
exoteric doctrine of a political party, and 
not at all from the nature of the hotions 
taught. 
N. Tobe rid of the dogmas of exclufive 
falvation, is, no doubt, depriving perfecu- 
tion of her faireft pretext. 
A, One 
3 
