"Our ancestors in Europe, before the revival of letters, believed
as we do at present, that there was one supreme God, the author of
nature, whose power, though in itself uncontrollable, was yet often
exerted by the interposition of his angels and subordinate
ministers, who executed his sacred purposes. But they also
believed, that all nature was full of other invisible powers:
fairies, goblins, elves, sprights; beings stronger and mightier
than men, but much inferior to the celestial natures who surround
the throne of God. Now, suppose that any one, in these ages, had
denied the existence of God and of his angels, would not his
impiety justly have deserved the appellation of atheism, even
though he had still allowed, by some odd capricious reasoning, that
the popular stories of elves and fairies were just and well
grounded? The difference, on the one hand, between such a person
and a genuine theist, is infinitely greater than that, on the
other, between him and one that absolutely excludes all invisible
intelligent power. And it is a fallacy, merely from the casual
resemblance of names, without any conformity of meaning, to rank
such opposite opinions under the same denomination.
"To any one who considers justly of the matter, it will appear that
the gods of the polytheists are no better than the elves and
fairies of our ancestors, and merit as little as any pious worship
and veneration.
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