We have need, more than ever, to be directed to religion by wise and moderate discourses, by a happy mixture of reason and sensibility, the true characteristic of evangelical morality. It is only by these means that the authority of salutary truths can be strengthened: we are easily hurried beyond the just line, when the human mind is not in a state to mark any limits; but the daily progress of knowledge obliges us to use more exactness: it is necessary then to rein in the imagination, and to allow reason to take place of it: yet it is still allowed us to animate reason, and even useful to do so, but we must absolutely avoid disguising it. False notions only have need of the assistance of exaggeration; it seems that some are very fond of extremes, that common sense may not investigate them. I will make another observation. Those who, to free us from superstition, endeavour to relax religious restrictions; and those who, to strengthen them, have recourse to intolerance, equally miss their aim. The hatred so naturally excited by every kind of violence and constraint, in matters of opinion, creates a repugnance in those persons to religion who are insensibly led to consider this excellent system as the motive or excuse for a blind spirit of persecution. And the direct attacks against religious opinions engage well-disposed minds to adhere more strenuously to every custom which appears a form of respect or adoration; as we redouble our zeal for a friend in the midst of those who neglect or slight him. Let us unite, and it is certainly time, to render to the Supreme Being sincere worship; and let that worship always be worthy of the dignity of our Creator: let us banish severity and superstition; but let us equally dread that culpable indifference, the cause of so many misfortunes; and when we shall have strengthened the influence of sound reason, let us adhere more closely to the useful opinions which have been refined from errors, and with all our force repulse those who wish us to bury our hopes to free ourselves from the wanderings of the imagination. Yes, a religion, disengaged from the passions of men, in its native beauty, ought to dwell with us; public order and private happiness equally claim it, and all our reflections lead us to elevate our hearts towards an Omnipotent Being, of whose existence all nature reminds us: religion well understood, far from being the necessary principle of rigour or violence, should be the foundation of every social virtue, and of every mild and indulgent sentiment. We are not called to tyrannize over the opinions of others, or to give despotic laws to the mind; we must observe, that a moderate and rational religion only will guide us to the path of happiness and virtue, by addressing equally our hearts and minds. CHAP. XVII. _Reflections on the Morality of the Christian Religion._