Superstition Unveiled | Page 8

have experience of, or even to imagine, a
Being with attributes so strange, anomalous, and contradictory? It is
plain that Bishop Watson was convinced 'no man by searching can find
out God.' The case is, that he, in the hope of converting Deists,
ventured to insinuate arguments highly favourable to Atheism, whose
professors consider an admission of utter ignorance of God, tantamount
to a denial of His existence. Many Christians, with more candour,
perhaps, than prudence, have avowed the same opinion. Minutius Felix,
for example, said to the Heathen, 'Not one of you reflects that you
ought to know your Gods before you worship them.' [15:2] As if he felt

the absurdity of pretending to love and honour an unknown 'Perhaps.'
That he did himself what he ridiculed in them proves nothing but his
own inconsistency.
The Christian, equally with the Heathen, is open to the reproach of
worshipping HE KNOWS NOT WHAT. Yes, to idol-hating
'enlightened Christians,' may be fairly applied the severe sarcasm
Minutius Felix so triumphantly levelled against idol-loving 'benighted
Heathens.' Will any one say the Christian absolutely knows more about
Jehovah than the Heathen did about Jupiter? I believe that few, if any,
who have attentively considered Bishop Watson's queries, will say the
'dim Unknown,' they so darkly shadow forth, is conceivable by any
effort either of sense or imagination.
Under cover, then, of what reason can Christians escape the imputation
of pretending to adore what they have no conception of? The very
'book of books,' to which they so boldly appeal, is conclusive against
them. In its pages they stand convicted of idolatry. Without doubt a
God is revealed by Revelation; but not their God, not a supernatural
Being, infinite in power, in wisdom, and in goodness. The Bible Deity
is superhuman in nothing; all that His adorers have ascribed to Him
being mere amplification of human powers, human ideas, and human
passions. The Bible Deity 'has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and
whom he will he hardeneth;' is 'jealous,' especially of other Gods;
changeful, vindictive, partial, cruel, unjust, 'angry with the wicked
every day;' and altogether a Being far from respectable, or worthy to be
considered infinite in wisdom, power, and goodness. Is it credible that a
Being supernaturally wise and good, proclaimed the murderous
adulterer David, a man after his own heart, and commanded the
wholesale butchery of Canaanites? Or that a God of boundless power,
'whose tender mercies are over all his works,' decreed the extermination
of entire nations for being what he made them? Jehovah did all three.
Confessedly a God of Armies and Lord of Hosts; confessedly, too, a
hardener of men's, hearts that he might destroy them, he authorised acts
at which human nature shudders, and of which it is ashamed: yet to
reverence Him we are commanded by the self-styled 'stewards of his
mysteries,' on peril of our 'immortal souls.' Verily, these pious

anathematisers task our credulity a little too much. In their zeal for the
God of Israel, they are apt to forget that only Himself can compass
impossibilities, and altogether lose sight of the fact that where, who, or
what Jehovah is, no man knoweth. Revelation (so-called) reveals
nothing about 'the creator of heaven and earth,' on which a cultivated
intellect can repose with satisfaction. Men naturally desire positive
information concerning the superhuman Deity, belief in whom is the
sine qua non of all superstition. But the Bible furnishes no such
information concerning Jehovah. On the contrary, He is there
pronounced 'past finding out,' incomprehensible, and the like. 'Canst
thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to
perfection?' are questions put by an 'inspired writer,' who felt the
cloudy and unsatisfactory nature of all human conceit concerning
Deity.
Now, a Revelation from God might reasonably be expected to make the
mode and nature of His existence manifest. But the Christian Bible falls
infinitely short in this particular. It teaches there is a God; but throws
no light on the dark question What is God? Numerous and various as
are Scripture texts, none can be cited in explanation of a Deity no older
to-day than he was yesterday, nor younger to-day than he will be
to-morrow; of a Deity who has no relation to space, not being a part
here and a part there, or a whole any where: in short, of that Deity
written about by Bishop Watson, who, like every other sincere
Christian, made the mistake of resting his religious faith on 'words
without knowledge.'
It is to this description of faith Universalists object. They think it the
root of superstition, that greatest of all the plagues by which poor
humanity is afflicted. Are they to blame for thus thinking? The
Christian has no mercy on the superstition of the