'
Beausobre, too, in his learned, account of Manicheism reads a severe
lesson to the 'sensible _dummies_, who, under the influence of such
passions as _fear_ and _avarice_, will do nothing to check the march of
superstition, or relieve their less 'sensible,' but more honest,
fellow-creatures from the weight of its fetters. After alluding to an
epistle written by that 'demi-philosopher,' Synesius, when offered by
the Patriarch the Bishopric of Ptolemais, [91:1] Beausobre says, 'We see
in the history that I have related a kind of hypocrisy, which, perhaps,
has been far too common in all times. It is that of ecclesiastics, who
not only do not say what they think, but the reverse of what they think.
Philosophers in their closet, when out of them they are content with
fables, though they know well they are fables. They do more; they
deliver to the executioner the excellent men who have said it. How many
Atheists and profane persons have brought holy men to the stake under
the pretext of heresy? Every day, hypocrites consecrate the host and
cause it to be adored, although firmly convinced as I am that it is
nothing more than a piece of bread.
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