*
It is almost like making men over again.
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* Hartley's Essays on Man, p. 190.
_________
Left then to myself, and without any more information than a knowledge
of the existence of the religion, of the general story upon which it is
founded, and that no act of power, force, and authority was concerned in
its first success, I should conclude, from the very nature and exigency
of the case, that the Author of the religion, during his life, and his
immediate disciples after his death, exerted themselves in spreading and
publishing the institution throughout the country in which it began, and
into which it was first carried; that, in the prosecution of this
purpose, they underwent the labours and troubles which we observe the
propagators of new sects to undergo; that the attempt must necessarily
have also been in a high degree dangerous; that, from the subject of the
mission, compared with the fixed opinions and prejudices of those to
whom the missionaries were to address themselves, they could hardly fail
of encountering strong and frequent opposition; that, by the hand of
government, as well as from the sudden fury and unbridled licence of the
people, they would oftentimes experience injurious and cruel treatment;
that, at any rate, they must have always had so much to fear for their
personal safety, as to have passed their lives in a state of constant
peril and anxiety; and lastly, that their mode of life and conduct,
visibly at least, corresponded with the institution which they
delivered, and, so far, was both new, and required continual
self-denial.
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