If exemption from the
checks of religion be, as infidels themselves allow,[81] a state of
freedom from responsibility dangerous at all times, it must be
peculiarly so in that season of temptation, youth, when the passions
are sufficiently disposed to usurp a latitude for themselves, without
taking a licence also from infidelity to enlarge their range. It is,
therefore, fortunate that, for the causes just stated, the inroads of
scepticism and disbelief should be seldom felt in the mind till a
period of life when the character, already formed, is out of the reach
of their disturbing influence,--when, being the result, however
erroneous, of thought and reasoning, they are likely to partake of the
sobriety of the process by which they were acquired, and, being
considered but as matters of pure speculation, to have as little share
in determining the mind towards evil as, too often, the most orthodox
creed has, at the same age, in influencing it towards good.
While, in this manner, the moral qualities of the unbeliever himself
are guarded from some of the mischiefs that might, at an earlier age,
attend such doctrines, the danger also of his communicating the
infection to others is, for reasons of a similar nature, considerably
diminished. The same vanity or daring which may have prompted the
youthful sceptic's opinions, will lead him likewise, it is probable,
rashly and irreverently to avow them, without regard either to the
effect of his example on those around him, or to the odium which, by
such an avowal, he entails irreparably on himself.
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