{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40984/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40984","id":"gutenberg_40984","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40984","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Novels","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity -- Controversial literature"],"text":"Produced by David Widger\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHRISTIAN MYSTERY\n\nA CHINESE TALE, FOUND IN THE PORTFOLIO OF A PORTUGUESE FRIAR.\n\n\n     Hear, O prodigy! O Tenderness! O Mystery!--He has just\n     drowned the Fathers;--and now he will die for the Children!\n\n     Voltaire.\n\n\nLONDON:\n\nPRINTED & PUBLISHED BY R. CARLILE, 55, FLEET STREET.\n\n1819.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHRISTIAN MYSTERY\n\n\nCommercial affaire had engaged me to make a sea voyage. I had got far\nfrom the shores of my native country, when a dreadful tempest threw me\non an unknown coast; however, I fell into the hands of a very humane\npeople, and soon found they had brought the arts to great perfection,\nthat they practised many virtues, and appeared to me in a state as\nenlightened as humanity could attain.\n\nMy admiration of them equalled my gratitude, but, alas! it is but too\ntrue, that man always discovers by some failing the weakness of his\nbeing.\n\nThese people shewed as much friendship towards me as I could possibly do\nto them; their mildness and civility entirely gained my affection. They\nsaid to me one day, \"Of what religion are you?\" The question surprised\nme; I asked them if there were two religions, at which they smiled, and\nI saw they were astonished at my ignorance. \"My friend,\" said one of\nthem, \"give thanks to God for having conducted you amongst us to be\ninstructed in our holy religion. You do not know then that God has made\nhimself a man?\" I assured them it was the first time I had heard of it,\nand asked them why he had become a man? Know, continued they, that the\nfirst man eat an apple which God had forbidden him, in consequence of\nwhich all his posterity were condemned to eternal punishment. At another\ntime men became so criminal that the Almighty repented of having created\nthem, and drowned them all with the exception of eight persons. The\nposterity of these became no better, God continued to be displeased, and\nas it was necessary to reconcile him to mankind, God the Son became a\nman to appease God the Father.\n\nThis divine family astonished me a little. And the daughter of God, said\nI, what is become of her? They answered gravely, God has no daughter.\n\nOh! he has but a Son: but how do you know the sex of this Son? They\nanswered, God is incorporeal, he has no sex. I insisted--how could God\nthe Father produce God the Son? He begot him. God has a sex then,--he\nmust also have a wife. They smiled at me again. But when did the Father\nbeget this Son? From all eternity. My friends, there is an apparent\ncontradiction, it is not possible for the Son who was begotten to be as\nold as the Father. Has the Father then any other children? No; but there\nis a third person who proceeds from the Father and the Son. I suppose\nhe was begotten also? No; certainly not: pray take care what you say, or\nyou will be guilty of heresy. I replied, I did not understand them.\n\nO, Sir, these are mysteries which God himself has revealed to men, to\nthe end that they might understand nothing. Wonderful, said I. They\ncontinued: God wished to humble men's reason, that is, to give them a\ndisregard for the most precious gift they hold of his bounty. And you\nmake no use of your reason then? O yes; we are allowed to use it in\nall other actions of our lives, but in matters of religion it would be\nimpious. Better and better, said I. So then I find you have three Gods?\nNo, no, replied they, we have indeed three persons, of whom the first\nis the Father, the second is the Son, or word, the third is the Holy\nSpirit; but all these three make only one God. How, Gentlemen? these\nthree make but one, and one makes three! Yes; it is so, replied they,\nthough contrary to all the rules of arithmetic; you must know that our\ntheology is far superior to this petty science; however we will explain\nthe whole to you.\n\nWhat do you call the third person? said I. The Holy Ghost. Has the Holy\nGhost been a man also? No; but he became a pigeon; we do not know indeed\nthat it was his natural form, but when he appeared to the apostles he\nwas pleased to borrow that shape.\n\nAnd the Son of God has been a man from all eternity? O no, only\nseventeen hundred years.\n\nOf whom, and now was he born? He was born of a virgin. She would\ncertainly be much surprised know-ing herself to be a virgin? O yes;\nyou are right; but an angel came to prepare her that she might not be\nalarmed in being brought to bed. Yet I suppose you will be still\nmore surprised when we tell you she was married? O no; pardon me, I\nunderstand this mystery better than all the others. Nay, do not jest,\nSir, her husband had not slept with her; we have it so revealed to us.\nAnd pray how did she conceive? By the operation of the Holy Ghost. But\nyou say that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son; how then could he\nproduce the Son? Yes, Sir, it is so, by the infallible decision of the\nholy church. And who was his mother? The wife of a carpenter. What kind\nof a life did he lead? He served thirty years in his father's shop, and\nwas very serviceable to him. Indeed, gentlemen, very well! I perceive\nyou have sublime notions of the divinity. At the age of thirty he began\nto preach to the people in the country, which lasted some time; at\nlength the magistrates became displeased, because in his sermons he\nsaid a great deal about rich men, and the officers of the government. He\nforesaw that he would be punished, and perspired both water and blood.\nIndeed! that is another fine trait in his character.\n\nAt length he was arrested by the magistrates, and crucified between two\nrobbers. And he died? Yes. And was buried? Yes. Well then I suppose that\nis the end of his history? Hold, Sir, you go too fast; he died, it is\ntrue, but it was in consideration that God would pardon mankind. Oh, I\nunderstand you. God would pardon the sins of mankind because they had\nkilled his Son. Truly, nothing could be better imagined. But know for\ntestimony of his divinity, he rose again the third day. And what proof\nhave you of this? The writings of his disciples. But what said the\npeople? They contradicted it.\n\nOh, gentlemen! I find you are as well provided with proofs as with\nreasonings; but did he perform any other miracles? Yes; he cured those\npossessed of evil spirits; dried a fig tree; sent devils into a herd of\nswine; filled the nets of his disciples with fishes, and changed water\ninto wine; but he loved so to humble himself, that never in his life did\nhe own that he was God. And why do you believe it? His sectaries have\ndisputed a long time on this important article, as well as of the Holy\nGhost, because three persons were not spoken of in the Old Testament.\nThe Holy Ghost was found out to be God after twelve hundred years had\npassed over, and as for the divinity of Jesus, three hundred years of\ndisputes, troubles, and massacres sufficed to decide the matter in his\nfavour.\n\nAs you love this God so much, I suppose he was born in your country? No;\nhe was born in another quarter of the globe. Indeed! You go very far to\nseek your gods! He must then have left a book of doctrines of religion,\nwhich you thought proper to adopt? No? he did not teach a new religion,\nneither did he write any thing; but some of his disciples have\nwritten his history and discourses. And your religion is there exactly\nprescribed? Oh, no! We have only a few particulars of his life,\naccompanied by some moral precepts; he has there declared that he\ncame to fulfil the ancient law and not to change it. Then there was a\nparticular religion in the country where he was born, before his time?\nYes. And it is that same religion that you still observe? No; ours is\nin direct opposition to it. But whence then is this new religion, for\nyou own that it was never announced by your God? We have explained,\ncommented, interpreted without ceasing these seventeen hundred years on\nthe discourses of Christ; and have drawn from them a long succession\nof dogmas and mysteries quite new. And do you all agree in these\ninterpretations? No: far from it. We have always been disputing,\nfighting, and killing one another on account of them. Well, I am very\nsorry to tell you that I do not think your religion very attracting.\nWhat do you say? You do not agree in your explanations, and you quarrel\nand kill each other about them? Your religion does not at all please\nme; yet I suppose it had been adopted by the people of the country where\nyour God dwelt? You are again deceived; Christ had but a very small\nnumber of disciples, and these were from the lowest class of the people.\nHave we not already told you that he was put to death by order of the\nmagistrates? What do you say, gentlemen? Was not his doctrine believed\nby the people he attempted to instruct? No. His miracles, have they not\npersuaded those who were witnesses? No. And why should you believe\nthem; you who came seventeen hundred years after him? O, Sir, all things\nrequire an explanation. Know then that God sent his Son among this\npeople whose hearts he had hardened, purposely that they might not\nbelieve in him.\n\nWell explained! I am quite delighted with your mode of reasoning; but\npray what name do you give this people? Jews.--Jews? Jews! I never heard\nof them? No, I believe you. They occupied such a small territory that\ntheir reputation did not extend far; nevertheless they were formerly\nGod's favourite people. God chose them from among all the nations of the\nearth; he governed them himself, and often conversed with their chiefs.\nSometimes through tenderness for his people he ordered them to massacre\neach other; and at one time twenty three thousand were put to death by\ntheir own citizens at the express command of God.\n\nGod ordered one of their kings to murder every man of a nation they had\nvanquished; the king had the audacity to spare some who were not in a\nstate to defend themselves and was punished for it. A son of this king\nwas condemned to die for eating honey on the day of battle, and God, who\nwas justly irritated at the father as well as son, proscribed them both,\nand made choice of a new king.\n\nThis king (whom God had expressly chosen) committed adultery with the\nwife of one of his generals, and massacred her husband. By the adultress\nhe had a son who kept seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines\nin his seraglio; but you must know these two kings were cherished by our\nGod; both had heavenly benedictions heaped on their heads. The father\nwas the man after God's own heart, and the son was the wisest of men.\nThe Son of God, who became a man, descended in a direct line from this\n_wisest of men_, and from the adultress of whom we have just spoken.\n\nO, gentlemen, exclaimed I, you make me shudder at your impious ideas.\nThey resumed. Have we not told you that the conduct of this God was\nalways mysterious, purposely to humble our weak reason? The first\nlegislator whom God gave to his favourite people was an assassin; but\nhe had nevertheless the gift of performing a number of miracles. He\ncomposed a body of civil and religious rites and laws which we still\nrevere as having been inspired by the Deity. And yet, you do not observe\nthem? No; truly. We hold those people in horror who do so. It is true,\nthat this was formerly the favourite people of God, and all other\nnations were rejected; afterwards the other nations were chosen, and\nthis favourite people rejected. Do you not admire, Sir, the wisdom of\nthe God we adore?\n\nAt this discourse, I stole away from them, and could scarcely persuade\nmyself it was more than a dream. Having before seen to what great\nperfection this people had attained in every human science, I began to\nfear the weakness of my nature, and determined to return to my country;\nlest those abominable European prejudices should make me forget my duty\nto my fellow creatures, and reverence for the God of all worlds.\n\n\nTHE END.","title":"Christian Mystery: A Chinese Tale, Found in the Portfolio of a Portuguese Friar","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":2168}