The rise and dissolution of the infidel societies in this metropolis : including, the origin of modern deism and atheism; the genius and conduct of those associations; their lecture-rooms, field-meetings, and deputations; from the publication of Paine's Age of reason till the present period / [William Hamilton Reid].

  • William Hamilton Reid
Date:
1800
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The rise and dissolution of the infidel societies in this metropolis : including, the origin of modern deism and atheism; the genius and conduct of those associations; their lecture-rooms, field-meetings, and deputations; from the publication of Paine's Age of reason till the present period / [William Hamilton Reid]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    . [ 1*0 ] •■candid mind will acquit me of any charge of par¬ tiality or mifreprefentation. An obfervation of Mr. Neckar’s may probably confirm the pro¬ priety of the prefent application, by exhibiting a finking limilarity between the modern Free¬ thinkers in France and thofe in England: cc We “ now reckon, fays he, among thofe who oppofe u a contemptuous fmile to religious opinions, a multitude of young people, often incapable of “ fupporting the mod trivial arguments; and who, fc perhaps, could not connect two or three abflradl “ propofitions: thefe pretended philofophers art- “ fully, and almofl perfidioufly, take advantage “ of the firft flight of felf-love, to perfuade be- £‘ ginners, that they are able to judge, at a glance, ££ of the ferious queflions which have eluded the ££ penetration of the moll exercifed thinkers/’ Inflead then of reckoning, as many perfons have done, upon the total abolition of Chriftianity, and fondly anticipating the acquirements of the next generation, as wholly Infidel, it fhould have been made a queftion. Whether the prefent generation of the French will retain its Infidel principles after its judgment is matured, and the hey-day of revolutions has fubfided ? But, to return: at the fame time that all thefe energies were called forth in the clubs, it became another' branch of the duty of the members, and their partisans, to attend, perplex, and harrafs, by all poflible means, the itinerant preachers, in the vicinity of town. For inftance, during the fum- ■mer, of 1797, a very formidable party were or¬ ganized, and aflembled, every Sunday morning, at feven o’clock, near the City-road: here, in con- fequence of the debates, forced upon the preachers or the hearers, feveral groupes of people would remain upon the ground till noon, giving an op- D portunity