This man gives a very curious account how the elders treated " their babes,” in their spiritual nursery; but I shall notice only one or two examples, which illustrate what I have advanced concerning the natural hostility of the spirit of the New Testament towards science.  “I know of several, who, soon after they joined the Church, have been counselled by the Elders to dispose of their books; and have accordingly done it.  Elder Ebenezer being at my house one day, on seeing a number of books, he said—­’Ah!  Thomas must put away his books if he intends to become a good believer.’

As an instance of its effects upon the human understanding, take the following:—­“A short time after, being at a believer’s house, at eleven o’clock at night, they all having retired to rest, and I laying awake in a dry well finished room, in which was a stove and fire, there fell a large drop of water on my temples; on examination, I could not discover where the water came from.  I told the believers of it in the morning.”

“One said, ’ Ah! it is a warning to you respecting your unbelief.’

“I then assigned some inconclusive reason, how the drop might have become formed in the room, and its falling.”

“One replied, ’Ah! that is the way you render a natural reason for the cause of every thing, and so reason away your faith and yourself out of the gospel.’”

As another proof, that genuine Christianity discourages marriage, and considers celibacy as the only state of perfection, the Shakers allow of no marriages at all.

Thus you see that, among these people, to become a “good believer,” you must insult your parents, revile your brother, depise learning, and never render a “natural reason” for any thing, lest you should “reason away your faith, and yourself out of the gospel.”

CHAPTER XVIII.

On the peculiar morality of the new testament,
as it affects nations and political societies.

After having seen the uselessness, and even the danger, to individuals, of the perfections, the virtues, and the duties, which Christianity peculiarly commands; let us now see whether it has a more happy influence upon politics; or whether it produces real happiness among the nations with whom this religion is established, and the spirit of it faithfully observed.  Let us do so, and we shall find, that wherever Christianity is established and obeyed, it establishes a set of laws directly opposed to those of a well ordered national society; and it soon makes this disagreement and incompatibility distinctly to be felt.