Oaths are requisite in all courts of judicature; but it is a question whether their authority arises from any popular religion.  It is the solemnity and importance of the occasion, the regard to reputation, and the reflecting on the general interests of society, which are the chief restraints upon mankind.  Custom-house oaths and political oaths are but little regarded even by some who pretend to principles of honesty and religion; and a Quaker’s asseveration is with us justly put upon the same footing with the oath of any other person.  I know, that polybius [Lib. vi. cap. 54.] ascribes the infamy of Greek faith to the prevalency of the epicurean philosophy:  but I know also, that Punic faith had as bad a reputation in ancient times as Irish evidence has in modern; though we cannot account for these vulgar observations by the same reason.  Not to mention that Greek faith was infamous before the rise of the Epicurean philosophy; and Euripides [Iphigenia in Tauride], in a passage which I shall point out to you, has glanced a remarkable stroke of satire against his nation, with regard to this circumstance.

Take care, Philo, replied cleanthes, take care:  push not matters too far:  allow not your zeal against false religion to undermine your veneration for the true.  Forfeit not this principle, the chief, the only great comfort in life; and our principal support amidst all the attacks of adverse fortune.  The most agreeable reflection, which it is possible for human imagination to suggest, is that of genuine Theism, which represents us as the workmanship of a Being perfectly good, wise, and powerful; who created us for happiness; and who, having implanted in us immeasurable desires of good, will prolong our existence to all eternity, and will transfer us into an infinite variety of scenes, in order to satisfy those desires, and render our felicity complete and durable.  Next to such a Being himself (if the comparison be allowed), the happiest lot which we can imagine, is that of being under his guardianship and protection.

These appearances, said Philo, are most engaging and alluring; and with regard to the true philosopher, they are more than appearances.  But it happens here, as in the former case, that, with regard to the greater part of mankind, the appearances are deceitful, and that the terrors of religion commonly prevail above its comforts.

It is allowed, that men never have recourse to devotion so readily as when dejected with grief or depressed with sickness.  Is not this a proof, that the religious spirit is not so nearly allied to joy as to sorrow?

But men, when afflicted, find consolation in religion, replied cleanthes.  Sometimes, said Philo:  but it is natural to imagine, that they will form a notion of those unknown beings, suitably to the present gloom and melancholy of their temper, when they betake themselves to the contemplation of them.  Accordingly, we find the tremendous images to predominate in all religions; and we ourselves, after having employed the most exalted expression in our descriptions of the Deity, fall into the flattest contradiction in affirming that the damned are infinitely superior in number to the elect.