That The Sun Will Not Rise Tomorrow

In All Ages Of The World, Priests Have Been Enemies To Liberty; And It Is Certain, That This Steady Conduct Of Theirs Must Have Been Founded On Fixed Reasons Of Interest And Ambition. Liberty Of Thinking, And Of Expressing Our Thoughts, Is Always Fatal To Priestly Power, And To Those Pious Frauds, On Which It Is Commonly Founded; And, By An Infallible Connexion, Which Prevails Among All Kinds Of Liberty, This Privilege Can Never Be Enjoyed, At Least Has Never Yet Been Enjoyed, But In A Free Government.

A Wise Man's Kingdom Is His Own Breast: Or, If He Ever Looks Farther, It Will Only Be To The Judgment Of A Select Few, Who Are Free From Prejudices, And Capable Of Examining His Work. Nothing Indeed Can Be A Stronger Presumption Of Falsehood Than The Approbation Of The Multitude; And Phocion, You Know, Always Suspected Himself Of Some Blunder When He Was Attended With The Applauses Of The Populace.

Eloquence, When At Its Highest Pitch, Leaves Little Room For Reason Or Reflection; But Addressing Itself Entirely To The Fancy Or The Affections, Captivates The Willing Hearers, And Subdues Their Understanding. Happily, This Pitch It Seldom Attains. But What A Tully Or A Demosthenes Could Scarcely Effect Over A Roman Or Athenian Audience, Every Capuchin, Every Itinerant Or Stationary Teacher Can Perform Over The Generality Of Mankind, And In A Higher Degree, By Touching Such Gross And Vulgar Passions.

The Heroes In Paganism Correspond Exactly To The Saints In Popery, And Holy Dervises In Mahometanism. The Place Of, Hercules, Theseus, Hector, Romulus, Is Now Supplied By Dominic, Francis, Anthony, And Benedict. Instead Of The Destruction Of Monsters, The Subduing Of Tyrants, The Defence Of Our Native Country; Whippings And Fastings, Cowardice And Humility, Abject Submission And Slavish Obedience, Are Become The Means Of Obtaining Celestial Honours Among Mankind.

The Difference Between A Man Who Is Led By Opinion Or Emotion And One Who Is Led By Reason. The Former, Whether He Will Or Not, Performs Things Of Which He Is Entirely Ignorant; The Latter Is Subordinate To No One, And Only Does Those Things Which He Knows To Be Of Primary Importance In His Life, And Which On That Account He Desires The Most; And Therefore I Call The Former A Slave, But The Latter Free.