fooliſh women! which throws an odium on your ſex! And theſe reflexions ſhould make you ſhudder at your thoughtleſſneſs, and irrational devotion.—For I do not ſuppoſe that all of you laid aſide your religion, ſuch as it is, when you entered thoſe myſterious dwellings. Yet, as I have throughout ſuppoſed myſelf talking to ignorant women, for ignorant ye are in the moſt emphatical ſenſe of the word, it would be abſurd to reaſon with you on the egregious folly of deſiring to know what the Supreme Wiſdom has concealed.
Probably you would not underſtand me, were I to attempt to ſhew you that it would be abſolutely inconſiſtent with the grand purpoſe of life, that of rendering human creatures wiſe and virtuous: and that, were it ſanctioned by God, it would diſturb the order eſtabliſhed in creation; and if it be not ſanctioned by God, do you expect to hear truth? Can events be foretold, events which have not yet aſſumed a body to become ſubject to mortal inſpection, can they be foreſeen by a vicious worldling, who pampers his appetites by preying on the fooliſh ones?
Perhaps, however, you devoutly believe in the devil, and imagine, to ſhift the queſtion, that he may aſſiſt his votaries; but, if really reſpecting the power of ſuch a being, an enemy to goodneſs and to God, can you go to church after having been under ſuch an obligation to him?
From theſe deluſions to thoſe ſtill more faſhionable deceptions, practiſed by the whole tribe of magnetiſers, the tranſition is very natural. With reſpect to them, it is equally proper to aſk women a few queſtions.
