HKB
They both considered it true that there is a wide difference between piety and morality. Paine himself says (and it is the noblest sentiment ever uttered by man): "MY COUNTRY IS THE WORLD, AND MY RELIGION IS TO DO GOOD." Junius frequently puts piety and morality in antithesis, as the following examples will show: "They care not what injustice is practiced upon a man whose moral character they piously think themselves obliged to condemn."--Let. 39. "The unfeigned piety, the sanctified religion of George the Third have taught him to new-model the civil forces of the State. Corruption glitters in the van," etc. Then, speaking of some of his predecessors, he says: "They were kings or gentlemen, not hypocrites or priests. They were at the head of the Church, but did not know the value of their office. They said their prayers without ceremony, and had too little of priestcraft in their understanding to reconcile the sanctimonious forms of religion with the utter destruction of the morality of the people."--Let. 55.
But Mr. Paine was the inveterate enemy to priestcraft as well as kingcraft. His whole life was spent in waging war against the two. Let us now see what Junius thought of the former. I have shown him to run parallel with Mr. Paine in the latter.
Junius says: "The resentment of a priest is implacable: no sufferings can soften; no penitence can appease."--Let. 53. In speaking of the Rev. Mr. Horne, he says: "No, my lord; it was the solitary, vindictive malice of a monk, brooding over the infirmities of his friends, until he thought they quickened into public life, and feasting with a rancorous rapture upon the sordid catalogue of his distresses. Now let him go back to his cloister. The Church is a proper retreat for him; in his principles he is already a bishop. The mention of this man has moved me from my natural moderation."--Let. 49. Again:
"The priesthood are accused of misinterpreting the scriptures. Mr. Horne has improved on his profession. He alters the text, and creates a refutable doctrine of his own."--Let. 53.
The above passages can not be mistaken for Mr. Paine's spirit, style, and language. These tell us they are his with much more truth than a name attached to any writing tells us its author.
It seems they both had the same opinion of a Methodist:
Paine.
"But when he [man] multiplies his creed with imaginary things, he forces his mind, and pretends to believe what he does not believe. This is, in general, the case with the Methodists--their religion is all creed and no morals."--Let. to Mr. Dean.
Junius.
"You meanly evaded the question, and, instead of the explicit firmness and decision of a king, gave us nothing but the misery of a ruined grazier, and the whining piety of a Methodist."--Let. 36.
Now the reader will recall the parallel I gave in regard to never dishonoring religion by saying any thing against particular forms or denominations. With the exception of the Catholic Church, this is the only instance which has fallen under my eye; and it seems they had such a disliking to Methodism, a sarcasm must be let loose upon it. Trifling as this instance may seem, there is great force in its being solitary, and apparently contradictory to what they both before affirmed in general. Such an instance has, in fact, more weight than a score of parallels on common characteristics, for it shows a peculiar and strong bias in a particular direction.