[we Should] Suspend Our Belief

The Chaste Severity Of The Fathers In Whatever Related To The Commerce Of The Two Sexes Flowed From The Same Principle -- Their Abhorrence Of Every Enjoyment Which Might Gratify The Sensual And Degrade The Spiritual Nature Of Man. It Was Their Favourite Opinion, That If Adam Had Preserved His Obedience To The Creator, He Would Have Lived For Ever In A State Of Virgin Purity, And That Some Harmless Mode Of Vegetation Might Have Peopled Paradise With A Race Of Innocent And Immortal Beings.

The Principles Of A Free Constitution Are Irrecoverably Lost, When The Legislative Power Is Nominated By The Executive.

[it] Is The Interest As Well As Duty Of A Sovereign To Maintain The Authority Of The Laws.

The Science Of The Church Is Neglected For The Study Of Geometry, And They Lose Sight Of Heaven While They Are Employed In Measuring The Earth. Euclid Is Perpetually In Their Hands. Aristotle And Theophrastus Are The Objects Of Their Admiration; And They Express An Uncommon Reverence For The Works Of Galen. Their Errors Are Derived From The Abuse Of The Arts And Sciences Of The Infidels, And They Corrupt The Simplicity Of The Gospel By The Refinements Of Human Reason.

Yet The Experience Of Four Thousand Years Should Enlarge Our Hopes, And Diminish Our Apprehensions: We Cannot Determine To What Height The Human Species May Aspire In Their Advances Towards Perfection; But It May Safely Be Presumed, That No People, Unless The Face Of Nature Is Changed, Will Relapse Into Their Original Barbarism.