Hor. I have often admired at the great Force this senseless Piece of
Superstition is of; for I have seen great Reprobates and very loose
Fellows among the _Roman_ Catholicks, who stuck at no Manner of
Debauchery, and would often talk prophanely, that yet refused to eat
Flesh on a _Friday_, and could not be laugh'd out of their Folly; tho'
at the same Time I could see, that they were actually ashamed of it.
Cleo. No Set of People have so artfully play'd upon Mankind as the
Church of _Rome_. In the Use they have made of Scripture, they have
consulted all our Frailties; and in their own Interpretations of it,
most dextrously adapted themselves to the common Notions of all
Multitudes. They knew perfectly well, not only, that all Men are born
with the Fear of an invisible Cause, but likewise that it is more
natural, or, at least, that the rude and ignorant of our Species are
always more apt to suspect, that this invisible Cause is their Enemy,
than they are to think it to be their Friend, and will sooner believe
it to be an evil and malicious, than a good beneficent Being. To turn
this to their Advantage, they made Use of all their Skill and Cunning
to magnify the Devil, and cry up his Force and Subtlety, his
supernatural Art, his implacable Hatred to Mankind, and great
Influence over Human Affairs. All the strange Stories they have
spread, the monstrous Fables they have invented, and the gross Lies
they have maintain'd, of Spirits, of Witchcraft, and Apparitions,
never had any other Tendency than to manifest the Works of Satan, and
make Every body afraid of his Power and Stratagems at all Times, and
in all Places; which has been a prodigious Gain to them.
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