 | The triumph of infidelity |  |
To Mons. de Voltaire.
SIR,
Your Creator endued you with shining
talents, and cast your lot in a field of action,
where they might be most happily employed: In the
progress of a long and industrious life, you devoted
them to a single purpose, the elevation of your character
above his. For the accomplishment of this
purpose, with a diligence and uniformity which
would have adorned the most virtuous pursuits, you
opposed truth, religion, and their authors, with
sophistry, contempt, and obloquy; and taught, as
far as your example or sentiments extended their
influence, that the chief end of man was, to slander
his God, and abuse him forever. To whom could
such an effort as the following be dedicated, with
more propriety, than to you. The subject it celebrates
is the most pointed attack upon your old
enemies; an attack more happily devised, at least,
than any of yours; as yours were more advantageously
concerted than the efforts of any of your predecessors.
Reasoning is an unhappy engine to be
employed against christianity; as, like elephants in
ancient war, it usually, in this case, turns upon
those who employ it. Ridicule is a more convenient
weapon, as you have successfully evinced; but ingenious
Writer of this Poem.
Audies, & veniet manes hæc fama sub imos.
| The triumph of infidelity | |