I cannot say thank you enough Baker!
o7
"Truth comes to us from the past, as gold is washed down from the mountains of Sierra Nevada, in minute but precious particles, and intermixed with infinite alloy, the debris of centuries." ~ Bovee.
CHAPTER II
THE RISE AND SWAY OF MONASTIC ORDERS
"When the devil was sick
The devil a monk would be;
When the devil was well,
The devil a monk was he."
Priests, my Æthalides, invent these Fables, to support their Dignity, and augment their Gains.
What God, thinkest (sic) Thou, must he be, who our Priests tell us is out of humour, (sic) and discontented without a Multitude of Offerings and Sacrifices? a (sic) Man of such a Temper would be accounted covetous, and greedy, and unreasonable. What Idea canst thou have of a God who loves to regale his Nose with roasted Bullocks, and carbonaded (sic) Sheep and Goats, and Libations of rich Wine? a (sic) Man with an Appetite so continually dispos’d (sic) would be accounted a Glutton. Bur what is the God that these Offerings are serv’d (sic) up to? Why perhaps a Piece of Wood, or Stone, or Brass, or some such Material; carv’d (sic) sometimes in a very ridiculous Shape, like a Man, or a Woman, or Monster with three Heads, as Diana is represented: They have Faces and Mouths, but can neither see nor eat; they have Hands and Feet, and yet sometimes fall down, and are broken in pieces.
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Who therefore eats the roasted Beef, and the broil’d (sic) Cutlets of Mutton; but the hungry voracious Priest? Who empties the smiling Goblet of its sparkling Wine, but the thirsty tippling Priest? Who says the Gods are yet displea’d, (sic) and require more Offerings” the (sic) artful Priest: raising Contributions to inhance (sic) (enhance) his own Dignity, from the idle Superstitions and groundless Fears of the giddy Multitude. (sic) (?)
These, my Æthalides, consider as Men exercising a Trade, to which they are educated, and by which they must live. Take care that thou affront not their Persons, nor openly ridicule their Imployment; (sic) (Employment) for in so doing though mayest offend and provoke the State, which for politic (sic) (political) Ends did first institute, and for the fame will continue to proteƈt the Men of this Profession. Thou mayst laugh in private at all the Absurdities which they make the People swallow, and at the ‘vain Alarms by which they govern their Hopes and Fears: But beware how thou disturb or meddle with them in pub-
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lic; for they will echo their Resentments against thee from Temple to Temple, like a Nest of Hornets provok’d (sic) in the hollow Rock, and would thy good Name with the Stings of poisonous Language.
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Who therefore eats the roasted Beef, and the broil’d (sic) Cutlets of Mutton; but the hungry voracious Priest? Who empties the smiling Goblet of its sparkling Wine, but the thirsty tippling Priest? Who says the Gods are yet displea’d, (sic) and require more Offerings” the (sic) artful Priest: raising Contributions to inhance (sic) (enhance) his own Dignity, from the idle Superstitions and groundless Fears of the giddy Multitude. (sic) (?)
These, my Æthalides, consider as Men exercising a Trade, to which they are educated, and by which they must live. Take care that thou affront not their Persons, nor openly ridicule their Imployment; (sic) (Employment) for in so doing though mayest offend and provoke the State, which for politic (sic) (political) Ends did first institute, and for the fame will continue to proteƈt the Men of this Profession. Thou mayst laugh in private at all the Absurdities which they make the People swallow, and at the ‘vain Alarms by which they govern their Hopes and Fears: But beware how thou disturb or meddle with them in pub-
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lic; for they will echo their Resentments against thee from Temple to Temple, like a Nest of Hornets provok’d (sic) in the hollow Rock, and would thy good Name with the Stings of poisonous Language.
Yet let that Virtue, by which Thou art bound to serve thy Country, exhort thee to use the Power of thy Station, whatever it be, to check their Pride and controul (sic) (control) their Ambition. Tho’ (sic) they were originally design’d (sic) for Servants and Instruments of the Government, yet are they very inclinable to usurp an Authority and Dominion of their own, and to tyrannize over the very Magistrate, who constitutes and appoints them. Therefore, be assur’d, (sic) it is the Interest of all honest Men, and Lovers of their Country, to keep down the aspiring haughty Aims of these Cooks of State, these venerable Butchers; and never trust them with any Power, but what they will readily acknowledge to be confer’d (sic) upon them by the Magistrate, in a limited Sense, for the good of the Public.
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With this View were the different Rituals and Modes of Worship first establish’d (sic) in all the Nations and Cities round about us; each following that way which was most suitable to their Genius, and most conveniently adapted to correspond with their Form of Government. Thus Crete thinking itself holy above all Lands for the Story of Jupiter’s being born, educated, and buried there, worships him chiefly; and looks down with Scorn and Contempt upon other Nations, as People destitute of equal Privileges, if not quite excluded from the divine Favour. (sic) But Æthalides, canst thou help smiling as their Superstition, or dost thou pity their Stupidity and Credulity? who (sic) can be made to believe that Jove was born as we Men are; and that he was brought thither to be educated privately, left his Father Saturn should find him and eat him? Nay, they say too, that after he had liv’d (sic) his Term of Life out, he died and was buried there; and they think all those very profane and wicked People, who will not believe this Nonsense, these Impossibilities.
5,000 Years Ago
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It is probable, my Æthalides, there might have been such a Man as Jupiter, who by some extraordinary Occurrences in his Life, since improv’d (sic) by fabulous Traditions, may appear a very extraordinary Person, and even and Objeƈt of Worship to a superstitious bigoted World; whose natural Fears are easily wrought upon by the Stratagems of Priests, especially when they are countenanc’d (sic) and authoriz’d (sic) by the Magistrate. But to esteem such a one the Great Creator and Arbiter of the Universe, (who must have existed, in the highest Perfection of every thing that is good, from all Eternity) is the Effect of Ignorance, Superstition, and a blind Reliance upon old Wives Stories, and the cunning Management and Policy of Priests.
Who, but a most besotted silly People, could suppose a Being of so exalted and refin’d (sic) a Nature, as the high God must be, capable of having carnal Copulation with mortal Women; and filling Heaven with
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His natural Offspring? One of these is the principal Objeƈt of religious Worship in the Island of Delos; another in the City of Ephesus. Bacchus is honour’d (sic) in Carousels of Wine of his own Institution at Thebes; and Venus the Goddess of Love and Beauty is ador’d (sic) here in Cyprus.
If I could enumerate all the Religions of the Earth with the Superstitions that attend them, it would only be giving you a Detail of the several Follies of credulous Mankind, and the politick Contrivances of State and Governments. The bare mentioning of these may suffice to give you a Taste of their Impostures; tho’ (sic) however monstrous and absurd they appear, remember to speak of them in public with a seeming Deference and Regard; and where it is expeƈted you should be particular in declaring for that sort of Worship which you most approve, you should, in Honour, (sic) distinguish and prefer that of your own Country.
>>12071561
Where did the Phrase "Limited Hangout" come from….
"I DIDN'T APPROVE THE CREATION OF AN INBRED & MONGREL RACE…" ~ Jesus