The one was nothing more than what it
would be, in popish countries, to add a saint to the calendar; the other
was to abolish and tread under foot the calendar itself.
Secondly, it ought also to be considered, that this was not the case of
philosophers propounding in their books, or in their schools, doubts
concerning the truth of the popular creed, or even avowing their
disbelief of it. These philosophers did not go about from place to place
to collect proselytes from amongst the common people; to form in the
heart of the country societies professing their tenets; to provide for
the order, instruction and permanency of these societies; nor did they
enjoin their followers to withdraw themselves from the public worship of
the temples, or refuse a compliance with rites instituted by the laws.*
These things are what the Christians did, and what the philosophers did
not; and in these consisted the activity and danger of the enterprise.
_________
* The best of the ancient philosophers, Plato, Cicero, and Epictetus,
allowed, or rather enjoined, men to worship the gods of the country, and
in the established form.
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