Berkeley on Priests

In Berkeley, the freethinkers had an opponent at least as smart and witty. In an essay in the Guardian , Berkeley’s character, Ulysses Cosmopolita sees a vision: “I saw a great castle with a fortification cast round it, and a tower adjoining to it that through the windows appeared to be fitted with racks and halters. Beneath the castle I could discern vast dungeons, and all about it lay scattered the bones of men. It seemed to be garrisoned by certain men in black, of gigantick size, and most terrifick forms. But,a s I drew near, the terror of the appearance vanished, and the castle I found to be only a church, whose steeple with its clock and bellropes was mistaken for a tower filled with racks and halters. The terrible Giants in black shrunk into a few innocent clergymen.”