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 Robinson, Robert, 1735-1790 
 Miscellaneous works of 
 Robert Robinson, late 
 
MISCELLANEOUS WOKKS. 
 
 V 
 
 ROBERT ROBINSON, 
 
 LATE PASTOR OF THE 
 
 BAPTIST CHURCH AND CONGREGATION 
 
 OF 
 
 PROTE ST A NT D ISSE NTE R S, 
 
 AT 
 
 CAMBRIDGE; 
 
 IN FOUR VOLUMES: 
 
 TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED 
 BRIEF MEMOIRS OF HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS, 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 HARLOW: 
 
 printed by b. ilower, 
 
 rorvernob, hood and siiaitpe, poultry j t. cosder, buck- 
 
 iersbuPvY; m. jokes, paternoster-row; m. gurhet, 
 
 HOiBORN, LOJfDON : AND J. DEICilTON, CAIIBRIDGS. 
 1807. 
 
COJVTEJVTS 
 
 CF THE 
 
 SECOND VOLUME. 
 
 «-^ ~ " ' . ^ *" 
 
 Page 
 Arcana, or the Principles of the late 
 Petitioners to Parliament for Re- 
 lief IN THE matter OF SUBSCRIPTION, 
 IN EIGHT LETTERS TO A FRIEND. 
 
 Preface- ---------- 5 
 
 Letter I. 
 On Candour in Controversy. ----- 19 
 
 Letter 11. 
 On Uniformity in Religion ----- gc) 
 
 Letter IlL 
 On the Right of Private Judgment r - 41 
 
 Letter IV. 
 On Civil Magistracy ------ S7 
 
 Letter V. 
 On Imiovation -----.-_ ji 
 
 Letter VL 
 On Orthodoxy -- 91- 
 
 Letter VIL 
 On Persecution ---105 
 
 Letter VIIL 
 On Sophistry ---------^21 
 
 A 2 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 The history and the mystery of Good 
 Friday ---- - 141 . 
 
 A Plan of Lectures on the principles 
 OF Nonconformity, for the instruc- 
 tion OF Catechumens • - - - - 187 
 
 A Political Catechism, intended to 
 convey in a familiar manner just 
 ideas of good civil Government and 
 THE British Constitution - - - - 256 
 
ARCANA: 
 
 OR THE 
 
 FRIJVCIPI^ES 
 
 Of the late 
 
 PETITIONERS TO PARLIAMENT, FOR RELIEF IN 
 THE MATTER OF SUBSCRIPTION. 
 
 IN EIGHT LETTERS TO A FRIEND. 
 
 What shall de honest man do in my closet ? 
 Dere is no honest man dat shall come in my closet. 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 [first printed, 1774-.] 
 
F R E F ^ € E. 
 
 A HE present state of religion in Britain pretty 
 much resembles its state-policy when the Romans 
 invaded and enslaved it. This island was then di- 
 vided into several petty-states, and all the strength 
 of those states was employed in securing each 
 against its neighbour ; so that when the Romans, 
 the common enemy came, they were too feeble to 
 resist long, and bowed to the imperial yoke. To 
 this divided state of the country, Tacitus, an al- 
 most cotemporary historian, ascribes the Roman 
 success. Nee aliud adversus validissimas gentes 
 pro nobis utilius, quam quod in commune non con- 
 sulunt. Rams duabus tribusve civitatibus ad pro- 
 pulsandum commune periculum conventus : ita 
 
 DUM SIxVGULI PUGNANT, UNIVERSl VINCUNTUR. 
 
 (In Vit. Agric. cap. xii.)* Christianity is indeed 
 
 * Nothing contributes more to the success of our arms 
 against the most warlike nations, than their want of unani- 
 mity. They do do not consult together- Very rarely do two 
 or three cities confer together on resisting the common enemy. 
 So that xcliile eackjights, all are conquered. 
 
 A. A* 
 
4 Preface. 
 
 the religion of the British empire; but Christianity 
 divided into parties, and each party employs its 
 learning, eloquence, fortune, and influence, to pre- 
 vent the incroachment of another party, to ener- 
 vate its neighbour, and invigorate itself. While 
 this is doing, ignorance and immorality, stupidity 
 and luxury, overflow all bounds; and, to the grief 
 of every good man, overwhelm all orders and de- 
 grees of men. A general coalition may see in a ro- 
 mantic notion, and the attempt would be found 
 extravagant in the hands of inferior people ; but 
 would legislators condescend to make the trial, the 
 case Avould widely differ, and there would be more 
 than a probability of success. Mankind have a few 
 first principles in them, the dictates of nature, and 
 the bases of all exterior works ; in these, ps in 
 their features, they agree much more than some are 
 aware of; and hence a common consent about a 
 , thousand things never regulated by law. Christian- 
 ity is an address to these principles, and not a 
 dispute about words and modes subversive of re- 
 ligion and morality. 
 
 Let any impartial inquirer take up the holy scrip- 
 tures, and ask, whither do all the contents of these 
 ancient writings tend ? History, prophecy, mii-a- 
 cles, the ceremonies of the old, and the reason- 
 ings of the new testament ; the legislation of Mo- 
 ses, and the mission of Jesus Christ; to what do 
 thev all tend ? What is their aim ? The proper 
 answer would be, their professed end is to give 
 glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
 and benevolence among men. Grand design ! Foun- 
 
Preface. 5 
 
 ckd on the surest principles, the perfections of 
 God; painted in all the tinely-coloured imagery 
 of the prophets ; sometimes reigning in all the so- 
 lidity of reason ; sometimes rolling in all the ma- 
 jesty of song : here, glimmering in a type ; there, 
 blazing in a promise ; yonder, set to music by an- 
 gelic spirits themselves. Now, to be a christian, is 
 neither more nor less than to concur with this de- 
 sign : so much of this, so much true religion, the 
 rest is vo.v prceteraque nihil. * False religions are 
 selfish, this is social; and its sociableness is at once 
 its proof and its praise 
 
 The end, to make men beat their swords into 
 plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, 
 to make everi/ man sit under his vine, ami his Jig- 
 tree, and none make them afraid ;— this end is so 
 desirable that all wish to obtain it; the only ques- 
 tion is, what are the proper means of obtaining 
 this end? One sect of Christians proposes oaths, 
 subscriptions to creeds, lines, and imi)risonments : 
 another proceeds to execrations, corporeal punish- 
 ments, and death, in various frightful shapes, it- 
 self. The present petitioners, supposing these 
 means contrary to the nature of things, contrary 
 also to the means prescribed by the founder of re- 
 ligion, and, perceiving that the prophets ascribe 
 these happy days to the xvord of the Lord, which 
 was to go forth from Jerusalem, propose the 
 abolition of the present penal means, and the in- 
 troduction of the original, mild, and placid mode 
 
 * Nothing but a noise. 
 
6 Preface. 
 
 of tuition. The reasonableaess of the pretensions 
 of each side is under examination. 
 
 Several excellent pieces have been published on 
 this subject; to them these letters do not pretend 
 to add any thing : their only aim is to expose to 
 public view the grounds and principles of those 
 publications. By a strange oversight in readers, 
 the real principles of this controversy are mista- 
 ken. A statesman suspects civil faction ; a tri- 
 nitarian complains of arianism ; a calvinist urges 
 the looseness of arminianism ; an arminian the in- 
 tolerance of Calvinism. Surprising ! Was the dis- 
 pute about a doctrine, the divinity of Christ, 
 and predestination might be canvassed, but the 
 dispute is about church discipline. For shame 
 gentlemen, don't mistake the question ; the ques- 
 tion is not WHAT, but why the church believes ? 
 M'hether by compulsion or choice ? People thought 
 you had studied a body of divinity, and were well 
 versed in logic, and do you confound the agenda 
 with the credenda f * Church-govermment with 
 church-doctrine ? Differ as much or as long as you 
 will about doctrine, you are obliged to be of the 
 same principles in discipline and govemment; uni- 
 tarian and trinitarian have nothing to do here. 
 
 If the principles of the petitioners, contained in 
 these letters, be reduced to one single axiom, it 
 may be expressed in Aristotle's to kata <t>YZiN hat. 
 — That only can please which accords ivith Clo- 
 ture. The application of this principle to church 
 
 * Rales oi practice with articles of belief. 
 
Preface. f 
 
 government is attempted in these letters; for why 
 NATURE should bc allowed the supreme censor in 
 all other cases, and not in legislation, cannot be 
 easily accounted for. Injustice to the subject, the 
 reader will be so kind as to distinguish nature as 
 createcL from nature as corrupted: the latter is 
 the luxuriance, the former the perfection and ex- 
 cellence of whatever exists. 
 
 As every sensible object relates to some sense 
 of the body, and is regulated by that sense, so 
 every intellectual object relates to some operation 
 of the mind, and that operation is its sole and 
 sufficient judge. Should a master of sound read 
 or sing to an illiterate countryman the last part of 
 the xivth, and the first of the xvth. book of Ho- 
 mer's Iliad, very likely the music of the language 
 w^ould as much exhilerate Hodge as an Italian 
 opera does some of his superiors, who understand 
 as much Italian as he does Greek. But now tell 
 him the poet's meaning: inform him that Homer 
 is speaking about God Almighty and his wife; that, 
 two armies being at war upon earth, God, whom 
 the poet calls Jupiter, favoured one, and his wife, 
 named Juno, the other; that the subde wife, not 
 being able to succeed by force, tried stratagem, 
 and, by the help of a magic girdle, and a little 
 under-god of all work, first inspired her husband 
 with lust, and then laid him fast asleep ; that while 
 he slept she did a world of mischief to her hus- 
 band's favourite army ; that on his awaking a vio- 
 lent quarrel ensued ; on his part high words and 
 threatning blows, on her's a fund of treachery and 
 
8 Preface. 
 
 a heap of lies. What says Clumsy to this? He 
 pities its ignorance, or blames its profaneness : he 
 is more moved with horror at the sense, than he 
 had been with pleasure at the sound. He is, as 
 he ought to be, delighted with the one and disgus- 
 ted with the other. But how so? He neither 
 understands a gamut nor a creed: of mvtholog}'' 
 he never heard, and to the truth of theology he ne- 
 ver sw^ore. True, but nature iudo;es. He has 
 ears accessible to the power of harmony ; and he 
 has the art of associating or separating ideas in his 
 mind, without knowing any thing about anatomy 
 or ontology. Certain combinations of sound form 
 a harmony which delights his sense of hearing; he 
 calls it music : certain combinations of intellectual 
 objects, which nature does not, cannot associate, 
 such as God and sleep, shock that operation of his 
 mind called reason, he instantly perceives its incon- 
 gruity, is disgusted with it, and calls it wickedness. 
 It might be easily proved that not only arts and 
 sciences, metaphysical and mathematical produc- 
 tions, as they originate in the supreme spirit, so 
 they address themselves to the image of that su- 
 preme spirit, man ; but even theology in all its 
 branches might thus be pursued from the per- 
 fections of the iafiuite to the operations of a finite 
 being : and that operation to which each address- 
 ed itself would be found the best and only judge. 
 Nothing proves the divinity of Christianity moi^ 
 than such a comparison ; it is the only religion 
 in the world that will bear such a trial. There is 
 not one natura.1 operation of the mind but has its 
 
Preface. 9 
 
 object in this religion ; nor one object but assorts 
 with its operation. This is not the place to pursue 
 such asubject. Let it suffice to add, jurisprudence 
 is perfect in proportion as it fits the nature of man, 
 and universal toleration in matters of conscience 
 is a tendency towards that perfection : Subjudice 
 lis est.* 
 
 If these letters be intitled the principles of the 
 petitioners, it is not because they are published by 
 the knowledge or consent of the petitioners, but 
 because they contain what the writer takes to be 
 the real sentiments of those gentlemen. If their 
 principles be called secret, it is not because the 
 gentlemen concerned in petitioning have kept them 
 so, but because people seem not to have taken sutfi 
 cient care to understand what they have published ; 
 and therefore plead for and against they know 
 not what. These letters were first written for the 
 private use of an intimate friend, and are now, 
 with a few alterations, made public only for the 
 sake of diffusing right notions of religious liberty 
 among plain people; for whose sakes also the 
 outlandish phrases are translated : for these rea- 
 sons little or no notice, except in the last letter is 
 taken about the controversies among the peti- 
 tioners themselves. It may not be improper how- 
 ever to add a word or two on that subject here. 
 One set of ministers believe that the maiiistate 
 hath an authority to require a religious test, and 
 they also approve of the test, which he does re- 
 
 * The i'dusc is before the judge. 
 
"JO Preface. 
 
 quire. — ^These gentlemen subscribe the articles 
 conscientiously, and have no other concern in pe- 
 titioning than to obtain for their brethren the same 
 liberty which themselves enjoy, that is, a freedom 
 from penal laws, 
 
 A second class own the magistate's authority to 
 require a test, but dislike, because they disbe- 
 lieve, the present test ; and ask to be freed from 
 subscribing any thing but the holy scriptures. 
 Though this be the substance of both the petitions 
 presented by the established and dissenting clergy, 
 yet whoever would understand the merits of the 
 cause must observe that the same request by dif- 
 ferent men produces two very differetit questions. 
 With the ministers of the established church the 
 question is, has a christian church a right to re- 
 quire any religious test of her own ministers ? But 
 with the dissenting clergy the question is, has one 
 christian church a right to force her creed on the 
 ministers oi another christian church? Ought the 
 Greek chnrch to impose her creed on the church 
 of Rome ? Ought the church of England to force 
 her's on the church of Scotland ? and mce versa, 
 
 A third class, without inquiring into the nature 
 of the test, wholly deny the magistrates authority 
 to require any religious test at all. The far greater 
 part of those that have petitioned for a change of 
 the test from human articles to the holy scriptures, 
 are said to be of this number. Some indeed (as it 
 is reported) have taxed them with inconsistency, 
 and even with dishonesty, for asking a right of a 
 power which they disown. But these charges are 
 
Preface. 11 
 
 cruel and ungenerous, and they might just as well 
 undertake to prove that Brutus or Cicero betrayed 
 the cause of civil liberty because they chose dif- 
 ferent means of procuring it. Cicero makes this 
 just distinction. My general view, Brutus^ says 
 this great man, with regard to public affairs, has 
 alzvays been the same with yours; though my 
 BiEASURES in some particular cases have been per- 
 haps a little more vehement. Epist. V. I take it, 
 says he in another letter to Brutus, to he the part 
 of him, who ucts as one of the leaders in state af- 
 fairs., to insure even the prudence of his mea- 
 sures to the public : and for my part, since I have 
 assumed so much to myself as to take the steerage 
 of the republic into my hands, I should not 
 think myself less culpable, if I should draw the 
 senate into any thing impertinently, than if I 
 had drawn them into it treacherously. Epist. 
 VIII. It is a good remark of Dr. IMiddlcton's, 
 that, though Cicero had blamed, in a letter to At- 
 ticus, an action of Brutus, and applauded in the 
 senate that same action, yet there was nothing in- 
 consistent in his conduct. But, says the Dr. with 
 a proper allowance for different circumstances, 
 this will be found i7itirely consistent ; and both 
 the one and the other perfectly agreeable to Ci- 
 cero's character : first, to give the best advice to 
 Brutus that he was able ; and f tliat was reject- 
 ed, then to make the best construction, and the 
 best use of the measures, which Brutus chose to 
 pursue. Why have not christians as much chanty 
 for their brethren, as Cicero a heathen had for his? 
 
12 Preface. 
 
 Various are the lights in which this controversy 
 may be considered, and each has its peculiar ad- 
 vantage, though his measures will be noblest who 
 considers it in every point oi view^ To those that 
 love to trace things to their principles it may be 
 considered pJiilosopJiically ;'\i a philosophical datum 
 be hurt it falls. To others a tlieological discus- 
 sion would be most eligible ; if any doctrine of 
 Christianity be injured it would destroy itself. Some 
 view it in a civil light, and as in a free state 
 every individual has a proportional interest in laws 
 that affect his conscience, as a proprietor of lands 
 has in acts for the inclosure of a field, or the drain- 
 age of a fen, it would be happy if men valued their 
 consciences as they value their wastes or their bogs. 
 To others, again, a historical deduciion would elu- 
 cidate best. And, (by the bye) it is pity but some 
 gentleman of learning and leisure, who also has a 
 free access to registers, records, and manuscripts, 
 would give the public a faithful and candid history 
 of the British church from the remotest to the pre- 
 sent times. Such a history, composed on some such 
 plan as Vellys History of France, would be a most 
 acrreeable jjresent to his country. A thousand in- 
 teresting events would appear, a thousand lively 
 anecdotes would occur, a thousand rational re- 
 flections would be interspersed : truth would narrate 
 her travels in the grave and the gay, and readers 
 would be driven either to place religion less in 
 words and disputes, modes and forms, and more 
 in its scripture essence, love toGod and man ; or 
 
Preface. ' 1 3 
 
 to " slaunder their auncestors by deliuering them 
 " over to tJte cleiiil of heir 
 
 But let the subject be viewed in what light soever 
 it will, the reformation will be allowed a good and 
 laudable work; and the reformation allowed, the 
 principles of the petitioners cannot be denied. The 
 most that can be doubted is their prudence ; and 
 could any imprudencies of individuals be proved, 
 the goodness of their designs would be a sufficient 
 apology. Yet where is the imprudence of wish- 
 ing felicity to the crown by contenting the state, 
 piety to the church by gradually meliorating the 
 spirits of her members? Who would hesitate a 
 moment about which he should accept, had he the 
 offer of governing a college or keeping a jail? In- 
 tolerance makes churches and states resemble the 
 last. 
 
 Others hare laboured, and zve have entered into 
 their labours, is the thankful acknowledgment of 
 thousands in Britain. M'ith a mixture of horror 
 and pleasure, as men on the beach view a tempest 
 at sea, they ken the gloomy papal storm, at first 
 vapouring in the brain of a proud priest, then lour- 
 ing in the features of a surly synod, anon commu- 
 nicating itself to the state, then bellowing at the 
 bar, thundering in the church, lightning at the 
 stake, dreadfully and unmercifully overwhelming 
 their pious predecessors in every imaginable dis- 
 tress. Yet with the highest satisfaction they be- 
 hold their grandsires weather the point, outlive the 
 storm, and bring the vessel, though all shattered 
 and torn, into the harbour : IJarry the eiglith liim- 
 
14 Preface. 
 
 self declaring, as rce haue abrogated all olde popish 
 traditions in this our realmc, io, if the grace oj 
 God forsake us not, we will well foresee, that no 
 
 NEWE NAUGHTIE TRADITIONS BE MADE WITH 
 OUR CONSENT, TO BLINDE US OR OUR REALME. 
 
 This was in 1538, but his majesty had forgotten 
 this when he hoisted the six articles, and in 1540 
 put to sea again. 
 
 While a work so interesting to the properties, 
 the morals, the religion and lives of mankind was 
 in agitation; amidst so many touching scenes of ex- 
 quisite distress; would that man have been well 
 employed, who, instead of promoting so noble a 
 work, had faddled away his time in exposing the 
 supposed weaknesses of his brethren? He might 
 have written a dissertation on buffoonery against 
 Mr. Wishart, for saying, in his zeal against pope- 
 ly, that a priest at mass resembled a fox wagging 
 his tail in July. Or an essay on impatience, ex- 
 emplified in a peevish sick brother, who, having 
 repeated 20 pater- nosters before a rood at Madge 
 Pattens for the recovery of his health, and finding 
 himself no better, exclaimed afoule euil take you 
 and all other images ! Or he might have exercised 
 his talent on the illustrious John Fox for profane- 
 ness, because, when the priests affirmed that the 
 mass obtained the remission of sins, he replied, 
 what the Masse ! In the deuil's name for what 
 intent then diedChriste? He might have affected 
 a hundred common-place sober see-saws : he might 
 have said, " venerable father Fox, you are con- 
 fessedly a great man, but you are betraying the 
 
Preface. 15 
 
 cause back again to the papists; the reformation 
 hath hitherto been carried on in Gods name, and 
 do you call in the devils ? Beside father, you are 
 inconsistent with yourself, you chafe and redden, 
 contrary to your usual humorous jocularity, parti- 
 cularly that with which you pleaded bishop Hoop- 
 er's cause, when you complained that he was for^ 
 cecl to rveare a mathematically geometriall, that is 
 a four e squared cap, the four e angles deuiding the 
 worlde into foure partes, albeit that his head was 
 roujide : there is no uniformity in your conduct 
 father, you are a traitor to the cause." Mr. Fox 
 perhaps would have answered, brother, it is an ill 
 bird that bewrays its own nest : there is a reasofz 
 to everi/ purpose under heaven : you camiot com- 
 prehend my views unless your capacity was equal 
 to mine: in weakening our hands you strengthen 
 our opponents : this is, to go over to the aduersa- 
 rye and to turne the eat in the panne : but heere, 
 in your conduct he would add, a man may seewhat 
 man is of himself e, when God's good hurnble spirit 
 lacketk to be his guide." 
 
 In fine: different men according to their differ- 
 ent capacities, prejudices, or interests, will see tlie 
 subject in diiferent lights, and, without tainting 
 their integrity, will adopt different measures of 
 action. If a zealot be alarmed for his creed, it is 
 because he thinks his creed essential to the hap- 
 piness of his country. If one patiently and pru- 
 dently endeavors to get rid of a grievance by de- 
 grees, and another resolutely refuses to ask any re- 
 lief till he can obtain all, tliey difter only as two 
 
1 6 Preface. 
 
 creditors differ, when one will have all the debt or 
 none, the other will take it by parts as the debtor 
 can pay. Would it become an assignee, in a case 
 of bankruptcy, when one creditor signs the bank- 
 rupt's certificate, and another refuses, to tax the 
 first with destroying the nature of honesty, or the 
 last with being void of humanity? both may aim 
 at their country's good. It is not for this obscure 
 though disinterested pen to determine whose is the 
 greatest merit, yet if it be not presumptuous, it 
 will venture to scribble, that such as consider bad 
 but old maxims of government, as they consider 
 bad habits of body, and apply in both cases a si- 
 milar, that is, a slow relief, seem to have had the 
 most comprehensive view of the matter. The body 
 politic like the natural body is subject to diseases, 
 whose disagreeable circumstances will call for a 
 prescription; not the violent recipe of a quack, nor 
 even of some great physician, by him cautiously 
 prescribed to one, by others indiscriminately ven- 
 ded to all ; not though it be sanctified by patent, 
 and graced with the names of a thousand recovered 
 invalids ; but, on the contrary, that relief which 
 the cool and cautious penetration of the prudent 
 practitioner directs. — Happy for the good people 
 of England that medicines are mostly distasteful,or 
 else in defiance of reason they would have been 
 poisoned by patent before now ! Happy also for 
 their morals that violent tempers provoke, that gen- 
 tle measures conciliate, otherwise they might have 
 exchanged, but they would not have repented their 
 crimes ! 
 
Preface. 1 7 
 
 A large and comprehensive view of men and 
 things best interprets the wise man's saying, there 
 is a time for every purpose, and for every xvork ! 
 Separations in ethicks, perhaps, hi^e dissections in 
 anatomy, may produce queer effects, particularly 
 in the various means used by good men to please 
 God and to profit mankind, as in this matter of 
 petitioning; but all that labour in the good cause 
 of truth, viewed in their whole, each throwing 
 some light on the subject, and all together produ- 
 cing at last a solid system of religious liberty, will 
 discover a lovely symmetry. Such a view an ex- 
 cellent Gerlnan historian had, when he praised 
 Luther for making homely rhymes for the country 
 people ; Erasmus for the facetiousness of his col- 
 loquies; Sainte Aldegonde for the comical tales 
 in his romish hive; and old }3eza for composing a 
 song for the people of Geneva : these men had 
 studied human nature ; they thought that a halt 
 which caught aJisJt, or in better stile, that he who 
 winneth souls is zvise; and by tliese they conducted 
 their brethren to the serious and sober folios of 
 Calvin and others; all conspiring to dethrone the 
 barbarity and tyranny of the bishop of Rome. 
 Should any pretend to quibble at the Httle escapes 
 of such men, the bulk of the world would know 
 no more of it than of the anatomists interscapula- 
 ria^ and the rest would consider it as a north- 
 country Lilly-Low, that is, a mere straw-fire. 
 Heaven prosper all that love religious liberty! 
 May they live in peace ! May the God of love and 
 peace be xvith them ! 
 
 Ji 
 
JL E T T E K I, 
 
 ON 
 
 CANDOUR IN CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Us nunquam ; toga vara; inens quieta. Martial. 
 
JL ETT B R 1. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 He ready always to give an ansxcer to every 
 man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is 
 in you with meekness and fear, is an excellent ex- 
 hortation of St. Peter's to the primitive church. 
 Christianity is elegantly styled the hope that is in 
 you : this hope, the apostle says, is rationally to 
 be accounted for to every man that asketh. l>ut 
 what an essential in edifying controversy are ilien 
 directed to ! meekness and fear ! The question 
 and the answer, the accusation and the defence, 
 the inquiry and the apology are mutually concern- 
 ed in it. Happy for the christian world had she 
 obeyed this admirable direction ! 
 
 Suffer it to be said Sir, that if your letter abounds 
 with fine reasonings; if those reasonings be made 
 to serve a mistaken zeal ; that generous and pa- 
 tient docility with which it closes is its highest 
 praise, and throws a kind of sunshine over all. 
 Man's whole interest is truth, and the pursuit of 
 it his noblest effort. You blame the late petition- 
 ers ; you maintain the necessity of subscrip- 
 tion ; you involve magistrates, ministers and peo- 
 ple, in an obligation to support the present system, 
 as if all would suffer in its demolition. Yet after 
 
22 On candour in controversy. 
 
 all, you desire to hear what can be said against your 
 arguments ; your mind, like a nicely poised pair 
 of scales, being ready to preponderate either way^ 
 on which side soever evidence shall fall. Is not 
 this to atone for all your mistakes ? Is not this 
 to possess the finest state of mind in the world ? 
 Your friend may without flattery, say that your 
 behaviour is a comment on St. Peter's advice. 
 Should the answer l)c given in the same spirit in 
 which tlie inquiry is made, friendship will cement 
 though sentiments differ. 
 
 A friend of yours, a man of infinite complai-- 
 sance to the ladies, sat down one day to study the 
 opinions of the primitive fathers on baptism ; after 
 others, he began Tertullian's book on that subject. 
 That book, you know, is intitled Qidnctus Sep- 
 timius Florens TertuUian^Presbyter of Carthage, 
 on Baptism, against Quintilla. Imagining that 
 the African father was as great an admirer of the 
 ladies as himself, he did not doubt but he should 
 be much edified by Tertullians addressing Quin- 
 tilla on baptism. Wisdom, gravity and politen 
 ness, said he to himself, are united here to be sure. 
 But how would you have smiled had you seen his 
 panic, when he discovered in the fifth line of the 
 first chapter that Tertullian falls to abusing her, 
 calling her a heretic, a viper, a serpent, an asp, a 
 most monstrous creature whose doctrinei was of 
 the most poisonous kind. Hah ! cried he, is this 
 an African tete a iete ! Is this your spirit Tertul- 
 lian ! If you're a gendeman, where's your breeds 
 ing? If a christian, vv here's your meekness? If a 
 
On candour in controversy. 23 
 
 philosopher, where's your good sense? Well, 
 well, said he, (closing the huge book) perhaps 
 Quintilla and you may be well met. E'en scold it 
 out. ni go seek a gentler tutor. 
 
 The question here is not whether your friend's 
 conclusion from the premises was quite logical ; 
 whether asperity and argument may not be some- 
 times united ; but whether passionate writers do 
 not generally produce similar etTects on their rea- 
 ders. People are naturally prepossessed in fa- 
 vour of a sufferer; they naturally become preju- 
 diced against such a violent pleader; they can't help 
 saying, What's the matter? If your accounts be 
 right why s>o prodigiously agitated ? You surely 
 design to impose on us, and would deter us from 
 detecting you. You are certainly conscious of 
 having maintained a defenceless cause, and you 
 are making eftrontery supply the place of argu- 
 gument; thus giving us brass instead of gold. 
 
 People are never safe with antagonists of this 
 fierce temper ; they are formidable beyond expres- 
 sion in some places. Hence that smart reply of 
 Dr. De Launoi at Paris. The Dr. had made free 
 to censure that angel of the schools Thomas Aqui- 
 nas. The Dominicans were exasperated at this, 
 and apologized for their angelical doctor. One 
 day a friend said to Dc Launoi, " You have dis- 
 gusted all the Dominicans, they will all draw their 
 pens against you." Said he, with a malicious air, '• / 
 dread their pen-knives more than I do their pens." 
 Your candid and disinterested pursuit of truth 
 Sir, naturally contrasts itself wiih the absurd con- 
 
24 On candour in controversy. 
 
 duct of otiiers, and llieir folly is a shade to your 
 glory. Ttie indolent prefer an easy faith to a pain- 
 ful search, and their reason bleeds on an altar 
 erected to the love of ease. The impatient, like 
 Pilate, ask, TVJiat is truth ? But never wait for 
 an answer. The proud, though not infallible, are 
 always in the right ! The sons of luxury or avarice, 
 like Esau, prefer a meal to a birth-right. What a 
 waste of goodness would it be to propose truth to 
 these ? Their minds are preoccupied, and till their 
 vices are dispossessed, it is morally impossible to 
 alter them. A writ of ejectment is the first part of 
 a process with them. 
 
 A thousand apologies may be made for studious 
 and serious men, when they miss their way in an 
 argument. The prejudices of education, the want 
 of information, the influence of company and ex- 
 ample, gratitude for a past favour, hope in a future 
 one, these, and more such topics will always afford 
 pleas for honest mistaken nicn, pleas which may di- 
 minish the guilt of an error, though they cannot 
 assign to it the merit of truth. 
 
 To whicii of these causes your mistakes about 
 subscription are owing is not the question now. It 
 is enough that you are open to conviction. Friend- 
 ship cannot refuse your request; you will therefore 
 receive a letter on each subject in dispute as a mul- 
 titude of avocations will allow ; and should you in 
 the Issue see cause to change sides, you would but 
 follow the greatest men in tlieir greatest actions. 
 Did not Cicero, the glory of Home, condemn in 
 his riper years some of his juvenile pieces } Has 
 
On candour in controversy. 25 
 
 not Hippocrates, the prince of antient physicians, 
 owned himself deceived in hisjudgment of the su- 
 tures in the skull ? Is not half St. Paul's conver- 
 sion a public renunciationof his former sentiments? 
 And pray did ever any body imagine that this les- 
 sened their glory ? It increases it, you'll say, as 
 more skill and resolution are needful to correct a 
 bad habit, than to avoid contracting one. 
 
 Indeed, the man who undertakes to correct one's 
 mistakes does one a great honour. He remonstrates 
 in hope of reclaiming, but before he can hope to 
 reclaim, he must presuppose all those amiable dis- 
 positions which enable a man to say, i am mis- 
 TAKEisr. Yet why should any man be ashamed of 
 saying so? All men make mistakes; there is but 
 one article in which wise men and fools differ ; a 
 wise man reforms his mistakes, a fool perseveres. 
 ^Ir. Bayle's sensible letter to his friend Professor 
 Du Rondel is not foreign from the purpose. " I 
 " take notice (says he) of some errors committed 
 " by persons, for whom I have an extraordinary 
 " esteem, and who honour me with their love. Such 
 " as I shall spare will have some reason to com- 
 " plain of me, as it will be an indication that I 
 " imagined they are incai)able of hearing reason, 
 " or able to sustain the least loss. The former 
 " have so ample a reputation, and such vast trca- 
 " sures of glory, that an hundred shipwrecks could 
 " not do them any prejudice. If there are any 
 " whose errors ought to be passed over, it ischieHy 
 *' the poorer sort, who on such an occasion would 
 
26 On candour in controversy. 
 
 *' be plundered to their very shirts, was any one 
 " to ftill upon their frippery." 
 
 Bayle's comparison of men of genius and learn- 
 ing to men of fortune is pretty, but it must be said, 
 that they who can best afford a loss do not always 
 suffer one with a good grace. It is not the ability 
 but the temper that reigns here. ]\Ien of learning 
 like men of fortune can often better afford a loss 
 than they can bear one ; and this perhaps is the rea- 
 son why persons of inferior abilities often discover 
 truths which their superiors cannot : a supreme, 
 disinterested love to truth presides in their inquiries. 
 
 You lament, (and indeed who can help lament- 
 ing ?) the bad spirit of too many religious contro- 
 versies. Religion is a sacred thing, and meekness 
 is a part of it: whence then is it, that prejudice 
 and passion in some, fire and flame in others, ap- 
 pear in these disputes ? The gospel is nothing of all 
 this ; the gospel needs nothing of all this ; all this 
 disgraces the gospel : for which reason, perhaps, 
 our Saviour forbad the devils to publish his mis- 
 sion. 
 
 The fierce disputes of Christians have always 
 scandalized the good cause, and will always con- 
 tinue to do so, till mildness and moderation suc- 
 ceed violence : and then Christianity will reassume 
 her primitive habit, and with that her native pre- 
 valence. Errors like prostitutes may paint them- 
 selves and pay their bullies, but let truth, espe- 
 cially religious truth, disdain such aid, and show 
 the world a more excellent way. 
 
 There is in the life of Archbishop Tillotson a 
 
On candour in controx^ersy, ^7 
 
 fine example of the deportment here pleaded for. 
 While Dr. Tillotson was Dean of Canterbury, he 
 preached at Whitehall, before his Majesty Charles 
 the Second, a Sermon in which were these words : 
 *' I cannot think, till I be better informed (which 
 '' I am always ready to be) that any pretence 
 " of conscience warrants any man, that is not 
 *' extraordinarily commissioned, as the apostles 
 " and first publishers of the gospel were, and 
 " cannot justify that commission by miracles, as 
 " they did, to affront the established religion of a 
 " nation, although it be false, and openly draw 
 " men off from the profession of it, in contempt 
 '' of the magistrate and the laws. All that persons 
 " of a different religion can in such case reason- 
 *' ably pretend to, is to enjoy the private liberty 
 " and exercise of their own consciences and re- 
 " ligion, for which they ought to be very thank- 
 " ful." — &c. &c. When the Dean had ended his 
 sermon, said a certain nobleman to the King, 
 who had been asleep most part of the time, 'lis 
 pity your Majesty slept, for we have had the 
 rarest piece of Hobbisni, thai ever you heard in 
 your life. Ods fish, replied the king, he shall 
 print it then. The Dean was accordingly order- 
 ed to print it. He did so, and as soon as it came 
 from the press, sent one, (as he usually did) to 
 his friend, the Rev. Mr. John Howe. Mr. Howe 
 (you know) had been ejected for nonconformity, 
 and was at that time pastor of a congregation in 
 London. On reading the Dean s sermon he was 
 exceedingly troubled at tlie above cited passage, 
 
28 On candour in controversy. 
 
 and drew up a long expostulatory letter on the 
 subject. He signified " how much he was grieved, 
 " that in a sermon against popery he should plead 
 " the popish cause against all the reformers. He 
 " insisted upon it, that we had incontestible evi- 
 " dences of the miracles wrought by the apostles, 
 " and that we are bound to believe them, and take 
 " religion to be established by them, without any 
 " farther expectations. What (said he) must the 
 " christian religion be repealed, every time a wick- 
 " ed governor thinks fit to establish a new reli- 
 " gion ? Must no one stand up for the true reli- 
 " cion till he can work a miracle ?" &c. Mr. 
 Howe carried the letter himself, and delivered it 
 into the Dean's own hand, who, thinking they 
 should be less interrupted in the country, propo- 
 sed Mr. Howe's dining with him at Sutton-court, 
 the seat of the Lady Falconbridge. The invitation. 
 was accepted, and Mr. Howe read over the letter 
 to the Dean, and enlarged on its contents, as they 
 were travelling along together in his chariot. The 
 Dean, at length convinced of his mistake, fell a 
 weeping freely, and said that this was the most 
 unhappy thing that had of a long time befallen 
 him. I SEE (says he) what i have offered is 
 NOT TO BE MAINTAINED. Let bigots ccusurc the 
 good Archbishop Tillotson's friendship and ten- 
 derness to dissenters ; let them exclaim at his want 
 of zeal ; exclusive of the rest of his conduct, the 
 single example above recited, will make you cry 
 with Bishop Burnet, Im conduct needs no apology^ 
 for it is above it. Farewell. 
 
JL E T T E m II. 
 
 ON 
 
 UNIFORMITY IN RELIGION 
 
 Jura. Sed Jupiter anflicL EJieii 
 Baro ! regustatum digito terebrare salinum 
 Qontentusperages, si vivcre ciwi Jove ttndis. Persius. 
 
L, E TT E m M. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I LEGISLATION h doubtless a sacred thincr: 
 it is a divine imitation of the government of man- 
 kind, and is deservedly assigned to the first in birth, 
 property, and skill: but, the history of all nations 
 will prove, that in parliaments, as in paradise, the 
 serpent has found a way to corrupt and deprave. 
 Ignorance or interest, negligence or pride, have 
 too often prevailed over the generous principles 
 which ought to influence these gods of mankind ; 
 and one age has been driven to repeal the laws of 
 a former: so that perhaps legislation would fur- 
 nish a large history of the extravagancies of the 
 human mind, among which an act of uniformi- 
 ty would appear one of the greatest. Britona 
 boast of their laws, and in general with great rea- 
 son; but some of them blush for their country 
 when they read alawintitled an act of uniformity. 
 It would be foreign from the present purpose tu 
 enquire the origin of this law, 
 
 To whom related, or by whom begot, 
 it may be more proper to show that religious uni- 
 formity is an impossibihty, and that a law of this 
 kind can neither be argued from the light of iia- 
 
3S 
 
 On Uniformity in Religion. 
 
 ture, nor from the holy scriptures. The idea of 
 uniformity is neither the idea of a philosopher, 
 nor of a christian. The fabricature of this law 
 therefore by men who had a just right to both tliese 
 titles implies a moment's absence, 
 
 Sound policy requires alef]!;islature to preserve its 
 dignity; but the dignity of a legislature is nevermore 
 prostituted than when impracticable edicts are 
 issued. The dignity of legislation depends more 
 on inforcincr than on inventing a law : the latter 
 may be done by a pedant in his study, but the first 
 must have power, property, magistracy, penalty, in 
 a word, authority to support it; and this energy is 
 its dignity. Where a tax is levied which the peo- 
 ple cannot pay; where a kind of obedience is re- 
 quired which the people cannot yield; the legisla- 
 tors are forced to dispense with the obedience re- 
 quired. And what follows? the people despise a 
 folly which could not foresee, a narrowness of ca- 
 pacity which could ^lot comprehend, a timidity 
 which dare not, or a weakness which cannot inforce 
 its decrees. Did not all Euro|)e deride the absur- 
 dity of those magistrates, who, in the reign of Ma- 
 ry, cited by their commissioners, Fagius and Bucer, 
 who were both dead and buried, to appear and give 
 an account of their faith ? and, as if that was not 
 quite ridiculous enough, caused their bones to be 
 dug up out of their graves and burnt for non-ap- 
 pearance ! 
 
 Aut nunqumn tejites, out perfice, * is an excel- 
 
 * Either never attempt any thiiig,or go through tcith it. The 
 motto of his grace the Duke of Dorset ; and nobly exempli- 
 fied in that ancient and illustrious fanuty- 
 
On uniformity in religion, 33 
 
 lent motto, and no where more rationally applied 
 than in the matter of law-making. Had this been 
 attended to, (but who that attends to the transac- 
 tions of the year 1559, can wonder that it was not ?) 
 an act of uniformity could never have been pass- 
 ed. The impossibility of inforcing it might have 
 been foreseen; nor ought it to be wondered at if 
 five years after, "her Majesty was informed, that 
 ** some received the communion kneeling, others 
 " standing, others sitting. Some baptized in a 
 " font, some in a bason : some signed with the sign 
 " of the cross, others not." In vain the queen at- 
 tempted to inforce the act by penalties; in vain 
 have succeeding princes endeavoured to inforce it; 
 in vain were the formidable forces of oaths, sub- 
 scriptions, fines, and prisons brought into the field ; 
 cruelty and lenity, madness and moderation, the 
 gentleness of the eighteenth, and the rage of the 
 seventeenth century have been employed in vain; 
 the act stands disobeyed and unrepealed to this day. 
 
 Make religion what you will ; let it be specula- 
 tion, let it be practice ; make it faith, make it fan- 
 cy; let it be reason, let it be passion; let it be what 
 you will ; uniformity in it is not to be expected. 
 Philosophy is a stranger to it, and Christianity dis- 
 owns it. 
 
 A philosopher holds that the system of the uni- 
 verse is perfect; that the duty and glory of man is 
 to follow, not force nature ; that moral philosophy 
 is nothing but a harmony of the world of spirit 
 with the world of matter ; that al[ the fine descrip- 
 c 
 
34 On uniformiti/ in religion. 
 
 tions of virtue are nothing but essays on this con- 
 formity; thus he proves that moral evil is the pro- 
 duction of natural evil, moral good the production 
 of natural good. A philosopher would say to a 
 legislator as the poet to a man of taste : 
 
 To build, to plant, whatever you intend, ' 
 
 To rear the column, or the arch to bend. 
 To swell the terrace, or to sink the grot, 
 tn all, let NATURE never be forgot, 
 (live a philosopher a farm, and injoin him to 
 cultivate it en philosophe, * he will study the soil, 
 the situation, the seasons, and so on ; and, having 
 comprehended what his farm is capable of, he will 
 improve it accordingly. In the same manner he 
 directs his garden, and every plant in it, never ex- 
 pecting to gather grapes of thorns^ nor Jigs of 
 thistles. Wliat would he? Yea what would the 
 unphilosophized farmers say of an act for the uni- 
 formity of husbandry ? An act of uniformity, 
 say the honest rustics, what's that ? What's that ! 
 Why you must grow nothing but wheat. How ! 
 sav they, some of our lands are too light, they will 
 produce none : we can grow rye there indeed : we 
 have some even not worth ploughing for rye ; how- 
 ever they will serve for a sheep-walk, or at worst 
 for a rabbit-warren. Thus nature teaches men 
 to reason, and thus they reason right. 
 
 Go a step farther. Make this philosopher a 
 tutor, and commit to his tuition a company of 
 youths; he will no more think oiunifortning these 
 young gentlemen, than of teaching his horse to fly, 
 
 * As a philosopher, 
 if 
 
On uniformity in religion, 35 
 
 or his parrot to sxviin. Their geniusses clifFcr, says 
 lie, and I must diversify their educations: nature 
 has formed this for elocution, and that for action. 
 And, should the blind fondness of parents complain, 
 his answer is ready, what was I that I could xvith- 
 stand God? In short, place such a man in what 
 disinterested sphere you will, and his principles 
 guide his practice ; except indeed he should be cho- 
 sen to represent a county ; then probably, not ha- 
 ving the fear of philosophy before liis eyes, he 
 might vote for an act of uniformity. 
 
 A law that requires uniformity, either requires 
 men to be of the same sentiments, or to practise the 
 same ceremonies. Now if it should appear that 
 the first is impossible, the last will fall of itself. 
 For then the question will be, ought two men who 
 confessedly differ in sentiment, to profess that they 
 agi^ee ? Ought an honest man to be one thing, and 
 appear another? Heaven forbid that any should 
 maintain so dangerous a thesis ! 
 
 You are a man of extensive knowledge; you 
 know the ancient and modern creeds; you remem- 
 ber that Harry the eighth injoined " all preachers 
 " to instruct the people to believe j^Ae whole bibUy 
 " THE THREE CREEDS, the Apostles\ the Nicene, 
 *' and the Athanasian, and to interpret all things 
 " according to them.'' You know that in Edward 
 the sixth's reign, two and forty articles, drawn 
 up by Cranmer and Ridley, were thought neces- 
 sary to be published, for the avoiding diversity of 
 opinions, and establishing consent touching true 
 C2 
 
56 On uniformity in rdigion. 
 
 religion. In the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, 
 you know, eleven articles were "<ye^ out by order 
 " of both ajxhbishops, metropolitans, a7id the rest 
 " of the bishops, for the unity of doctrine to be 
 " taught and holden of all parsons, ficai^s and 
 " curates; aszcell in testijication of their common 
 " CONSENT in the said doctrine, to the stopping of 
 " the mouths of them that go about to slander the 
 " ministers of the church for diversity ofjudg- 
 " ment, &c."' Two years after all the former were 
 reviewed, and the whole bible, theTHREEcreeds, 
 the two AND FORTY articles, and the eleven arti- 
 cles, were collected into one aggregate sum, and 
 made thirty nine. Subscription to these has 
 been essential ever since, which subscription is ati 
 argument (as his Majesty's declaration says) that 
 all clergymen agree in the true, usual, literal 
 meaning of the said articles. 
 
 Whatever be the true meaning of these articles, 
 it is not only certain that clergymen explain, and 
 consequently believe them in ditFerent and even 
 contrary senses; but it is also credible that no 
 thirty nine articles can be invented by the wit of 
 man, which thirty nine men can exactly agree in. 
 It is not obstinacy, it is necessity. 
 
 Suppose the thirty nine articles to contain a gi- 
 ven number of ideas, and, for argument's-sake, 
 suppose that number to be fifty : suppose the capa- 
 cities of men to differ, as they undoubtedly do, and 
 one mans intelligence to be able to comprehend 
 fifty, a second's five hundred, and a thirds but five 
 and twenty. The first may subscribe these fifty 
 
On uniformitij in religion. 37 
 
 points of doctrine, but who can confine the ge- 
 nius of the second ? Or who can expand the ca- 
 pacity of the last ? In minds capable of different 
 operations, no number of points of doctrine can 
 possibly be fixed on as a standard for all; for fix 
 on what number soever you will, there will always 
 be too many for the capacities of some, and for 
 others too few. If this be the case who can estab- 
 lish an uniformity of sentiment? What earthly 
 power can say *" we will not endure any ya- 
 " rying or departing in the least degree?" 
 
 JSIoreover, it may be asked whether all these 
 points of doctrine be capable of an equal degree 
 of evidence ; and if not, whether it be possible to 
 inforce an uniform degree of belief. Take for 
 example two propositions. " The Bishop of Rome 
 " hath ?w Jurisdiction in this realm of England."' 
 — " Athanasius^s creed — may he proved by most 
 '' certain zvarrants of holy scripture'' 
 
 The first of these propositions is capable of de- 
 monstration, but the last is very doubtful ; and if 
 the degree of assent ought to be exactly proporti- 
 onal to the degree of evidence, a magistrate, who 
 would establish uniformitv, must either sive fals- 
 hood the evidence of truth, or oblige men to be- 
 lieve a probable as fully as a certain proposition. 
 But if neither of these can be done, what becomes 
 of uniformity? An uniform assent to fifty propo- 
 sitions, some of which are probable, others certain, 
 and others, (pace tantis talibusque viris*) false ! 
 
 * Begging pardon of so vianj illustrious men. 
 
3S On uniformity in religion. 
 
 It is the easiest thing in the world to retire, sit 
 down, invent and publish a system on any subject 
 Imagination, always prolific, contributes largely ; 
 and it is not difficult to erect an ideal world with) 
 Berkeley; an ideal republic with Plato; or in short 
 a philosophical romance of any kind. All sorts of 
 men, poets, philosophers, orators, divines, some 
 of each class have erred on this head ; the most 
 ingenious wandering the farthest: but when these 
 romantic machines are api)lied to real life, to the 
 tillage of a field, the government of a state, the 
 forming of a church, they appear only elaborate 
 trifles; amusive, but not useful. If such ingeni- 
 ous inventors are great men, there is another class 
 greater still, a class whose motto is duce; natura 
 
 SEQUAMUR.* 
 
 After all, what is uniformity good for ? Is it 
 essential to salvation? Is it essential to real piety 
 in this life? Does it make a subject more loyal to 
 his prince ? A husband more faithful, or a parent 
 more tender ? Cannot a man be honest and just in 
 his dealings without knowing any thing about St, 
 Athanasius? Nay, has not this act produced more 
 sophistry and cruelty than any other act of parlia- 
 ment from the reformation to this day ? Not secu- 
 lar but spiritual severity ; not the sophistry of the 
 bar but the sophistry of the church. 
 
 Did the great Supreme govern his empire by an 
 act of uniformity, men might be damned for believ- 
 ing too little, seraphs degraded for believing too 
 
 * Let vs folhrjt xcherc 7mture leads. 
 
On uniformity in religion. 39 
 
 much. The creed of the inliabitants of Saturn 
 might be established, and theirs that dwelt in the 
 moon only tolerated : in such a case, what a line 
 field of controversial glory would open to the di- 
 vines of these two provinces of the kingdom de ori- 
 gine mall ? * Almighty father, can a blind belief 
 please thee? Can thy creatures believe what they 
 cannot perceive the evidence of? Can all under- 
 stand the evidence of the same number of truths ? 
 Formed with different organs, educated in different 
 prejudices, dost thou require the same services ? 
 Art thou indeed the hard master who reapest 
 where thou hast not soxvcd? Far from all thv sub- 
 jects be such a thought! 
 
 Conclude then, worthy Sir, that if God be a 
 rock, and his xvork perfect, if variety be the cha- 
 racteristic of all his works, an attempt to establish 
 uxiFORMiTY is reversing and destroying all the 
 creator's glory. To attempt an uniformity of co- 
 lour, sound, taste, smell, would be a fine underta- 
 king; but what, pray, will you call an attempt to 
 establish an uniformity of thougfit? 
 
 You will say, Christianity is not the religion of 
 nature, but the religion of revelation ; wliat there- 
 fore may seem absurd to philosophy may be ex- 
 plained by Christianity. Perhaps the founder of 
 our holy religion may have established uniformity. 
 If he has, uniformity may be a christian though 
 not a philosophical idea. Well, this shall l)c en- 
 quired in the next letter. Moan time farewell. 
 
 * On the origin of ciil. 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 RIGHT OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT 
 
 •9000a(P^ff(^aaaaaac 
 
 Nee imperiale est libertatem dicendi negare, nee 
 sacerdotakj quodsentiatj non d'lcere. 
 
 St. Ambrose. 
 
L. E TT E R III. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 X OU have often admired that dedication to the 
 Pope which is prefixed to apiece of Sir Richard 
 Steele's, intitled, An account of tJie state of the 
 Roman cathoUck religion throughout the world. 
 Sec. — " Your holiness, says the writer, is notper- 
 *' haps aware, how near the churches of us pro- 
 " testants have at length come to those privileges 
 " and perfections, which you boast of as peculiar 
 " to your own. — The most sagacious persons have 
 " not been able to discover any other difference 
 " between us, as to the main principle of all 
 " doctrine, government, worship, and discipline, 
 " but this one, that you cannot err in any thing 
 " you determine, and we never do. That is, in 
 " other words, that you are infallible, and 
 
 " we ALAVAYS IN THE RIGHT. We CaUUOt but CS- 
 
 " teem the advantage to be exceedingly on our 
 " side, in this case, because we have all the bene- 
 ^^ Jits of infallibility, without the absurdity of 
 " pretending to it, and without the uneasy task of 
 " maintaining a point so shocking to the under- 
 ''■ standing of mankind." This is not a libel ; this 
 is a satire ; the worst is, this satvrical stroke is 
 
44 On the right 6f private judgmeni . 
 
 true. The church of Rome refuses the scriptures 
 to the people ; some protestant churches grant the 
 sight of the book, but retain the meaning. Can 
 you see any difference } Search or not search, 
 read or not read, the sense is fixed, it is at the pe- 
 ril of your preferment to vary. 
 
 Whence church governors pretend to derive this 
 right does not signify. It can neither be derived 
 from the nature of Christianity, the doctrine or 
 practice of Christ or his apostles, the condition of 
 man in a state of nature, his condition as a mem- 
 ber of society subject to magistracy, nor indeed in 
 England from any thing but the act of supremacy ; 
 an act which transferred a power over mens' con- 
 sciences from the pope to the king. His Majesty 
 Henry the Vnith. by a master stroke in politics, 
 preferred an indictment against the whole body of 
 the cleigy in Westminster Hall, and obtained 
 judgment upon the statute of praemunire, whereby 
 they were all declared to be out of the king's pro- 
 tection, and to have forfeited all their goods and 
 chattels; and then pardoned them on two condi- 
 tions ; first that they should pay into the exchequer 
 1188401. Secondly that they should yield his ma- 
 jesty the title of sole and supreme head of tlie 
 church of England ; a title which by subsequent 
 declarations was so explained as to annihilate the 
 right of private judgment, and yet private judg- 
 ment gave birth to this very act. 
 
 Suppose his majesty Harry the VHIth. exerci- 
 sing the authority allowed by the act of supremacy ; 
 and among other things forming a creed for his 
 
On tJte right of private judgment. 45 
 
 subjects ; suppose him a man of shallow capacity; 
 would not his creed have been too lean and poor 
 for many of his subjects ? And on the contrary, 
 suppose him a man of an exalted genius, of a pro- 
 digious stretch of thought ; would not his creed 
 have been too rich and full for many more ? But 
 the impossibility of exercising such a power was 
 discussed in the last letter; this is to canvass the 
 legality of it. 
 
 No mean can be lawful in itself which destroys 
 the end for which it is appointed. Now the end 
 to be obtained is the establishment of Christianity*. 
 But how can the depriving men of the right of private 
 judgment be a lawful mean of obtaining that end, 
 seeing Christianity is a personal obedience to the 
 laws of Christ arising from a conviction of their 
 excellency, and their connection with certam facts 
 of whose certainty evidence is given, which evi- 
 dence to be received must be examined ? Chris- 
 tianity proposes truths of speculation and truths of 
 practice: if men can examine and ascertain the 
 first by proxy, why not obey the last in the same 
 manner? But who can love or fear, believe or 
 hope by substitution ? 
 
 If to deny the right of private judgment be de- 
 structive of the nature of Christianity in general, 
 it is more remarkably so of the Christianity of the 
 reformed churches. Tiie right of private judgment 
 is the very foundation of the reformation, and 
 without establishing the former in the fullest sense, 
 the latter can be nothing but a faction in the state, 
 a schism in the church. The laufniasfe of the refor- 
 
 CD O 
 
46 On the right of prh at t judgment. 
 
 «iers must be something like this when they propo- 
 sed subscription. "Gentlemen, the right of private 
 judgment allowed of God, and supported by all 
 icinds of argument, hath been challenged and exer- 
 cised by men for upwards of five thousand five 
 hundred years ; we ourselves have recovered it 
 from the pope, who had unlawfully usurped this 
 right, idiWdi as God, sat in the temple of God. In 
 virtue of this right, "we have examined the holy 
 scriptures, fixed their meaning, and engaged the 
 king to support a creed which by delegation we 
 have composed for his majesty, and for all his 
 subjects. In us the right of private judgment 
 ceases, and should England continue five thou- 
 sand five hundred years longer, no man shall ex- 
 ercise this right without suffering all the penalties 
 we can inflict. Indeed all Europe is but just 
 emerging from barbarity, learning is but in its in- 
 fancy, and England is torn and rent with civil 
 dissentions. In all probability, peace may suc- 
 ceed war, learning may diffuse itself, and invigo- 
 rate to maturity; and a hundred years hence men 
 may arise infinitely more capable than we are : 
 but let succeeding ages improve as they will, all 
 men shall leave the minster where they find it.'' 
 How say you Sir ? Cranmer stained his archiepis- 
 copal hands with blood ; but could even Cranmer 
 have opened the convocation with such a speech 
 as this ? Yet speak it or no, it is all fact. 
 
 The reformers were not to blame for exercising 
 the right of private judgment themselves ; their 
 fault was a denial of the same right to others.They 
 
On the riglit of private judgment. 47 
 
 had the highest authority for what they did, de- 
 riving it from the doctrine and example of Christ 
 and his apostles. 
 
 Take one, two, or more of our Saviour's doc- 
 trines, and ask, what magic can there be in sub- 
 scribing them without examination ? Himself never 
 proposed such a thing, but on the contrary, ex- 
 horted his hearers to search the scriptures ; a 
 Strange impertinence unless the right of private 
 judgment be allowed ! Nor did he only exhort the 
 people to judge for themselves, but he also warn- 
 ed his disciples not to usurp that right. Call 
 no man your father upon the earth, neither be ye 
 CALLED masters. Neither impose your opinions 
 upon others, nor suffer them to impose theirs upon 
 you. 
 
 Had Jesus Christ considered the right of pri- 
 vate judgment in an unlawful light, he would first 
 have instructed Herod, or Caiaphas, or some of 
 the principal rabbles, and by them he would have 
 converted the nation. But instead of that, he con- 
 demns the doctrines of the church governors, ad- 
 dresses his sermons rtflf populumf^ gives it as a proof 
 of his mission that the gospel was preached to the 
 poor, and constantly protects his followers in the 
 exercise of the right of private judgment. When 
 the disciples plucked and ate the ears of corn, they 
 broke two canons of the established church. It 
 was on a sabbath-day; and probably before mor- 
 ning service was over; and the church had deter- 
 
 * To the common people. 
 
48 On the right of private judgment. 
 
 mined the illegality of what they did. Used to 
 judge for themselves, they thought the church mis- 
 taken in this case, ventured to think for themselves, 
 and acted accordingly. Did not Jesus Christ pro- 
 tect them in their claim ? 
 
 The apostles, worthy followers of such a master, 
 went into all nations preaching a doctrine which 
 no church governors upon earth believed. Did 
 they deny the right of private judgment? If they 
 had, their expeditions would have been in the 
 Quixotic style. Did St. Paul write to Corinth? / 
 spealc as to wisemen : judge ye what I say. Did 
 he write to Rome? Let every man be fully per- 
 suaded in his OWN mind. Every body understood 
 this. The populace at Berea, men and women, 
 searched the scriptures daily whether these things 
 were so. The students at Athens desired to knozv 
 what the neiv doctrine was, of which the apostle 
 spake; for the purpose of search no doubt. The 
 magistrates, as Gallio, declared themselves no 
 judges in such matters. And hence the ama- 
 zing success of his preaching : for what himself calls 
 preaching zvith demonstration of the spirit, and 
 poxver, St. Luke calls reasoning in the synagogue 
 every sabbath-day. Compare Acts xviii. 4. with 
 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5. Who can account for all this 
 without the right of private judgment? 
 
 Consider the condition of man in a state of na- 
 ture; and you will readily grant either that a right 
 of determining for himself is no man's, or every 
 man's right. Vindicate the right to one, and you 
 do it to two, to two hundred, to two thousand, to 
 
On the right of private judgment. 49 
 
 the whole world ; for all in a state of nature are 
 on a level. There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond 
 nor free, prince nor subject: the right of one ar- 
 gued from his nature is the right of all. Whether 
 men forfeit this right in a state of society is another 
 question. 
 
 A christian not only cannot, but if he could he 
 ought not to dispose of this right, because not only 
 he cannot be a christian without its exercise, but 
 all the purposes of civil government may be an- 
 swered without it. The power of the magistrate is 
 an article of importance enough to demand a par- 
 ticular discussion, that therefore shall be the sub- 
 ject of a future letter; let the remaining space of 
 this be filled up with enquiring, whether, if this ad- 
 vantage of private judging had been denied to 
 other classes of men, the world would not have 
 sustained infinite damage ? 
 
 Choose of the mechanical arts, or of the sciences, 
 which you please, place it in the state in which it 
 was seven hundred, live hundred, or two hundred 
 years ago; let its then present state be defined, its 
 ne plus ultra * determined ; let all future search be 
 prohibited, and what an innumerable multitude of 
 useful discoveries are men deprived of? 
 
 AVhen Columbus first imparted his designs rela- 
 tive to the discovery of America to Ferdinand king 
 of Spain, his majesty thought proper to advise with 
 his ecclesiastical counsellors about it. All were 
 against the project, and quoted St. Austin, who, in 
 
 "^ Its utmost bounds. 
 
50 Oji the right of private judgment 
 
 his bopk de civitate 7)e?, had declared it impossible 
 to pass out of one hemisphere into another ; and 
 had denied that there could be any antipodes. 
 Seneca, Seneca the heathen, had declared long be- 
 fore, that future ages would discover new Morlds, 
 and that Thule would not be the farthest region 
 upon earth. In this case it must be owned that 
 St. Austin was an heretic, and Seneca a sound be- 
 liever. The king and Columbus ventured to dis- 
 sent, judged for themselves, and found ample re- 
 ward for so doing, notwithstanding clerical decisi- 
 ons. Indeed St. Austin was not the only person 
 who denied the possibihty of Antipodes; the church 
 denied it, that is, the head pope Zachary denied 
 it for all the members. And this is the order that be 
 sent to his legate Boniface Archbishop of ]\lentz, 
 who had accused Virgil bishop of Saltzburg of hol- 
 ding the dangerous error of the Antipodes. " If 
 says the head of the church, " he should be con- 
 " victed of maintaining that perverse doctrine, 
 " which he hath uttered against the Lord, and 
 " against his own soul, that is, that there is another 
 " world, other men under the earth, another sun 
 *' and another moon, call a consistory, degrade 
 " him from the honour of the priesthood, et ab tc- 
 " clesla pelUr^' A tine story for a man to be ex- 
 communicated for ! 
 
 ' Has not all Europe pitied the fate of Coperni- 
 cus and Galileo, the fathers of modern astronomy ? 
 The first kept his work near forty years before he 
 %lared to publish it, and died inmiediately after it 
 
 ■* And exconimunicatc him. 
 
On the right of private judgment. 51 
 
 was presented to him ; the persecution he dreaded 
 being the supposed cause. As to Galileo, he was 
 charged vvitii heresy, tirst for affirming that the sun 
 was in the centre; secondh^ that the earth was not 
 in the centre, but had a diurnal motion. His works 
 were burnt, himself imprisoned, and being released 
 was injoined a penance of repeating once a week 
 for three years the seven penitential psalms. As 
 if the penitential psalms said any thing about Ga- 
 lileo's crime ! but these are some of the fruits of 
 denying the right of private judgment. The pope, 
 the sole judge, was pleased to think that these dis- 
 coveries in geography and astronomy clashed with 
 certain doctrines established in the church. 
 
 What a condition would all Christendom have 
 been in by this time, had not this extravagant claim 
 been denied, and the right of private judgment 
 established in arts and sciences ? All the received 
 systems of music, astronomy, physic, and of all 
 other arts and sciences, were originally private opi- 
 nions; probably they would have been so still, had 
 the inventors been prohibited publishing, or the 
 public examining and receiving them. But now, 
 mankind form into societies, impart their own dis- 
 coveries, offer rewards to other inventors or im- 
 provers of arts and sciences; and what follows? 
 What might be expected; the perfection of sci- 
 ence. Thus Cicero accounts for that literary 
 pre-eminence which Greece had over Rome: and 
 thus in all nations and in all ages will the same 
 
 D 2 
 
52 On the right of private judgment. 
 
 effects follow the same causes : in England as in 
 Rome the maxim is true, honos aiit artes* 
 
 Numerous are the objections made to this doc- 
 trine; there are however but two that are worth an- 
 swering. The first is, that Christianity is perfect 
 and entire in the holy scriptures, that herein it dif- 
 fers from human arts and sciences, that therefore 
 the inquisitiveness necessary for the latter would 
 be highly injurious to the former. To which it 
 may be justly answered that many people doubt 
 this, as the church of Rome, whose notion is too 
 fully expressed by Cardinal Hosius, who said that 
 the scriptures were of no more authority than Esop's 
 fables, were it not for the authority of the church: 
 as the people called Quakers, who consider the 
 holy scri])tures as a secondary rule subordinate 
 to the spirit; and many others wholly deny their 
 divinity. Now ought not all these people to be al- 
 lowed the liberty of examining the proofs of the 
 divinity and perfection of the bible } For private 
 judgment which is their malady is also their only 
 medicine. But let the perfection of the holy ca- 
 non be granted. It will amount to no more than 
 granting the perfection of the woiks of nature. In 
 both, invisible things, even the eternal pozver and 
 Godhead are to be seen and uxderstood by the 
 things tJiat are made. The word of revelation, 
 like the works of nature, present objects to view, 
 but objects to be examined and understood: and 
 liow can this be without the right of private judg- 
 
 * Honours encourajie arts. 
 
On tlie right of private judgment. 63 
 
 ment? You say the scriptures give a perfect ac- 
 count of the nature of God, the nature of man, 
 the vanity of the hfe that now is, the certainty of 
 the life that is to come ; but how is another man 
 to know this unless you allow him to examine and 
 determine for himself? It may be a perfect rule, 
 it may be a subordinate rule, it may be a false 
 rule, it may be no rule at all, for any thing he 
 knows who must not examine, or if he examines 
 must not determine ; for to retain the meaning is 
 to retain the book ; and there is no real difference 
 between denying the examination and denying the 
 conclusion. You know the story of father Fulgentio : 
 preaching at Venice on Pilate's question fVliat is 
 truth ? He told his hearers that at last after many 
 searches he iiad found it out, and held out a New- 
 testament, and said that there it was in his hand ; 
 but then he put it in his pocket, and coldly said ; 
 but the book is prohibited Now what great dif- 
 ference would there have been if he had said, You 
 may read the book, but its true meaning is pro- 
 hibited? Yet this is what all the Arminian clergy 
 in England must say, if they speak consistently 
 with themselves ; for in the opinion of all impar- 
 tial judges the established religion is Calvinism. 
 
 The other objection is, that this will open a door 
 to all sorts of heresies, and the truth will be op- 
 pressed and disappear. Indeed ! And is truth such 
 a timorous, cowardly thing ? What idle fears are 
 these ! Should an honest man be taxed with disso- 
 luteness and impiety, and should any propose to 
 him a fair trial before impartial judges, would he 
 
S.4i On the right of private judgment. 
 
 be frightened at it think you ? Christianity is not to 
 be loaded with calumnies, she is so already, her. 
 only hope is a fair trial. 
 
 But to abridge the matter. Do not facts con- 
 tradict this ? Is not the church of Rome full of he- 
 resy ? Has not the gospel and the right of private 
 judgment gone hand in iiand in the reformation ? 
 Is the power and promise of God nothing? Has 
 he not engaged to support his church? Does not 
 every thing proposed to men relate to some opera- 
 tion of their minds ? Does not a rational fancy 
 protect tlie truth of imagery in poetry, and an ho- 
 nest conscience religion ? Strange errors have 
 been proposed which the penetration of church-go- 
 vernors could neither foresee, nor provide against ; 
 and it has happened to them as to monstrous ima- 
 ges in poems ; they are dead, and buried, and ex- 
 ploded, and the public taste not injured thereby. 
 Take one example ; your sagacity will apply it. 
 Here lays now on the desk a folio poem, in xxiv 
 Cantos, intitled Psyche, or love's mystery. This 
 is a second edition, from the universitv press. 
 1702. The author is Dr. Beaumont, late Regius 
 professor of divinity, and master of St. Peters 
 College in Cambridge. The preface tells you that 
 '• the true genius of poetry is little regarded, or 
 " rather not subject at all to common capacities." 
 Here follows a verse of that kind from the first 
 canto. It is the devil in council he is speaking of. 
 Three times he shak'dhis horns; three tines his mace 
 He brandish'd towards heaven; three times he spew'd 
 Fell sulphur upward ; which when on his face 
 
On the rigid of private judgment. 55 
 
 It soused back, foul blasphemy ensued 
 So big, so loud, that his huge mouth was split 
 To make full passage to his rage and it. 
 The devil spewing and swearing till he split his 
 inouth ! Is not this above common capacities ? Is 
 not this in the true genius of poetry ? Is the ge- 
 nius of poetry in danger from such poetical here- 
 sy as this ? Farewell 
 
JL E T T E K IT. 
 
 ON 
 
 CIVIL MAG 1ST RACY 
 
 Majores nostri, Patres conscripti, neque condlii, nequt 
 midacia unquam eguere : neque mperbia ohstabat, quo 
 minus aliena instituta, si modo proba, imitarcntur. 
 
 C^SAR AruD Sallust. 
 
— E— BaMiFr^K.EvsaaBMH 
 
 ]L ETT E R IF 
 
 Sir, 
 
 J.F mankind be considered physically, their uni- 
 formity seems an impossibihty. If they be con- 
 sidered morally as members of a christian church, 
 they still retain a right to judge for themselves; 
 none of their church-governors can deprive them 
 of that right by arguments drawn from the religion 
 they profess. It remains now to enquire whether 
 the civil magistrate has such a right. Has he any 
 thing to do with the consciences of his subjects 
 while the peace of society is safe? A short detail 
 of the origin, the nature, and the end of civil go- 
 vernment will probably incline you to answer no. 
 Let magistracy originate where it will, let it 
 proceed from nature, from God immediately, 
 from the people, or from power, it is immaterial : 
 from none of these sources can there flow a riiJ-lit 
 
 o 
 
 over the consciences of the subjects. 
 
 A natural magistracy is such a government as 
 Adam had over his descendants during his natural 
 life; and such a one any man would have, who, 
 transported with his wife into a desolate island, 
 should people that island with his own children 
 and grand-children. Such a magistrate, so far 
 
60 On civil magistracy/. 
 
 from denying his children the right in question, 
 would naturally become both prince and priest to 
 them, and would himself propose, as soon as he 
 found them capable, wliat he had discovered of 
 the Deity to their examination. Happy in the en- 
 joyment of religious science himself, he would long 
 to impart, nor would his happiness be complete 
 till his auditors by their own powers had examined, 
 relished, and received the truth. Should there be 
 a fool in his little empire who could not, or an 
 obstinate subject who would not use the right of 
 judging for himself, it would give him the most ex- 
 quisite pain; and should any protest that after 
 their best search they could not perceive the evi- 
 dence of some things asserted by their princely pa- 
 rent, he would naturally conclude that youth, in- 
 experience, want of capacity, were imperfections 
 of nature in them, but no crimes ; that for his own 
 part he was not infallible ; that possibly himself 
 might be mistaken : in short he would have no no- 
 tion of a crime, and therefore would inflict no pe- 
 nalty. Is it credible that when Enoch prophesied 
 in the first religious assemblies, he enforced his pro- 
 phecies with penal laws? Would the father of his 
 people act so ? To parents the argument appeals. 
 JNIagistracy is sometimes obtained by power, that 
 is, by conquest. But, whatever claims such con- 
 querors may make, nothing can be argued for their 
 legality ; the conquest itself, on which the claim 
 is founded, being an act of injustice. Perhaps po- 
 licy, more than superstition, made the Romans 
 when they besieged a place not only invite the tu- 
 
On civil magistracy. 6\ 
 
 telary sod of the place to come out and leave the 
 besieged, but also promised that the same, or a 
 7nore solemn worship should be paid to him by the 
 Romans: eundem aut ampliorem apud ro- 
 MANOS cuLTUM. The policy of conquerors pleads 
 for the right of die people, though their equity 
 should be silent. 
 
 If magistracy be immediately derived from God, 
 it is not supposeable that God should require a 
 magistrate to exercise a power which himself does 
 not exercise. How injurious to the supreme be- 
 ing to suppose him creating men with capacities 
 and dispositions for judging for themselves, and 
 instituting an order of men to suppress those qua- 
 lifications ? How injurious to his goodness and 
 equity to suppose him requiring a duty of the ma- 
 gistrate, which he has given him no ability to per- 
 form ! God thus requires impossibilities! When 
 the Jews were under a Theocracy, and there was 
 no king in Israel, every man did xvliat was right 
 in his ozvn eyes : and when Aloses was immediate- 
 ly appointed of God to govern them, not only in 
 their morals was divorcement tolerated, but in 
 their religion they were suffered to carry tJie ta- 
 bernacle of J\Ioluch, and the star of their God 
 Ilemphan^ figures zvhich they made to worship. 
 The planet Saturn, whose persian and syriac name 
 is said to be Chiun, and whose egyptian name 
 is Rejnphan, is the supposed object of that idola- 
 trous Avorship. It must be owned that ]\Ioses pub- 
 lished very severe laws against idolatry ; but whe- 
 ther it was that he found severity not answer the 
 
62 On civil magisiracj/. 
 
 end, or whatever was the cause, there was an oniis- 
 sion of circumcision, and the passover, all the 
 time of his government, (he practised the former 
 indeed in his own f<imily) and there are traces of 
 extreme toleration all through the history of that 
 people do\A n to the death of Jesus Christ, when 
 Sadducees are found in the high priesthood. That 
 Moses allowed such a toleration is argued from 
 I)uet. xii. 8. If it be asked, how can his laws be 
 reconciled with a toleration? Probably, by con- 
 fining the last to private judging, and the first to 
 overt acts disturbing the peace of society. Let it 
 however be observed, that a not being able to re- 
 concile seeming contradictions in this case does 
 not alfect the argument. The omission of circum- 
 cision, the allowing of divorces, and the practi- 
 sing of idolatr3^ during the forty years pilgrimage 
 of the Jews are historical facts too well attested 
 to be denied. 
 
 After all the reasonings about the immediate de- 
 rivation of magistratical authority from God, it 
 must be granted, that it is impossible the magis- 
 trate should be t/ie minis fer of God in any thing 
 disagreeable to his w ill. Now that it is his will the 
 magistrate should exercise authority over the cor^- 
 sciences of his subjects, may be abundantly dis- 
 proved from the light of nature, and from the 
 holy scriptures. St. Paul wrote his epistle to the 
 Romans about the third year of Nero's reign : is 
 it credible that the subjection he insists on, Chap, 
 xiii. is a subjection of conscience to Nero's creed } 
 The primitive christians were not of the magis- 
 
On civil magistracy. 63 
 
 trate's religion for the space of three hundred 
 years ; yet all that time they thought the magistrate 
 the 77iimstcr of God for good. All that time, ei- 
 ther the magistrate did not claim, or the church 
 did not allow his claim of the right in question. 
 
 If the power of the magistrate be derived from 
 the people, it is impossible he should have a just 
 claim over their consciences : for though the peo- 
 ple, coming out of a state of nature into a state 
 of society, give up many private rights in order to 
 obtain other and greater rights ; yet this is a right 
 which cannot be supposed to be given up ; for two 
 reasons. First, the right itself in its nature is in- 
 alienable. No man can any more divest himself 
 of private judging than of thinking. JMake what 
 contracts he will, a little attention will convince 
 him that no man ever gave up this riglit, nor ever 
 can. It is con-natural, deprive hhn of this and 
 you deprive him of his existence. But secondly, 
 suppose he could resign the right of private judg- 
 ment to the magistrate, he would not do it but to 
 obtain sonje greater advantage in its stead. But 
 what advantage can compensate for the loss of li- 
 berty of conscience ? If any should say the j)cace 
 of society is obtained by it — whose peace ? Not 
 the magistrates; for malcontents are a trouble to 
 him ; not his that loses his liberty. But the j)ro- 
 per answer is, that where the peace of society 
 hath been once disturbed through an abuse of to- 
 leration, it has been a thousand times disturbed by 
 the opposite spirit of intolerance. Let magistracy 
 originate then where it will, in. nature, in conquest. 
 
64i On civil magistracy. 
 
 in an immediate appointment of God, or in a mu- 
 tual contract among men, nothing can be deduced 
 from its oricfin in favour of a claim over con- 
 
 o 
 
 science. 
 
 This will appear yet plainer if you advert a little 
 to the nature of civil government. Civil society 
 consists in a moral not a sentimental union, 
 the preservation of which union is the business of 
 the magistrate. Where a moral union prevails 
 society is safe ; where it does not no other unani- 
 mity (suppose attainable) contributes any thing. 
 What would it contribute to the peace of society, 
 if an uniformity of sentiment could be established 
 in music, statuary, architecture, or painting, un- 
 less at the same time an unanimity in moral obli- 
 gations j)revailed also ? On the contrary, how 
 would it injure the peace of society if every one 
 had a different creed on these articles, supposing 
 at the same time a moral unanimity prevailed } 
 
 But does not the preservation of this moral 
 union depend on the magistrates authority over 
 the conscieace of the subject ? Let an answer to 
 this be deferred for a moment ; and let it be asked, 
 whether, suppose the magistrate could preserve the 
 peace as well without exercising this authority 
 as with it, whether in such a case, he would not 
 choose to let conscience alone ? Certainly a wise 
 magistracy would. A wise magistrate is a politi- 
 cian. A politician is a master of human nature. 
 A master of human nature knows that mankind are 
 better governed with than without their consent. 
 Consequently, where he Jias the choice of two 
 
On civil magistracy. 65 
 
 means to obtain the same end,he would choose that 
 which involves the consent of the subject; and that 
 is, to let him maintain a moral union to society on 
 his own principles. But to return to the question. 
 The preservation of a moral union does not depend 
 on the crovernors' exercising a right over the con- 
 sciences of the governed. On the contrary, the 
 history of all Christendom will prove, that this very 
 claim has destroyed more moral union than all 
 other pretences whatever. It was a just saying of 
 the Emperor Maximilian II. to Henry III. of 
 France. Such princes as tyi^annize over the con- 
 sciences of men, attack the Supreme Being in his 
 strongest part; and frequently lose the earth by 
 concernitig themselves too much ivith heaven. 
 
 " The direct end of the English constitution is 
 " political liberty. Now the liberty of the subject 
 " principally depends on the goodness of criminal 
 " laws, and this liberty is in its highest perfection 
 " when criminal laws derive each punishment from 
 " the particular nature of the crime. In things 
 " that prejudice the tranquillity or security of the 
 " stale, secret actions are subject to human juris- 
 " diction ; but in those that offend the Deity, and 
 " where there is not any public action, [injurious 
 " to the peace of society,] there cannot be any 
 '' point in question, as to a criminal matter : 
 " the whole passes between God and man, who 
 " knows the measure and time of his vengeance." 
 These are the just sentiments of those that best un- 
 derstand the end of civil government, and these 
 
 E 
 
66 On civil magistracy. 
 
 sentiments plead for the right here claimed by the 
 subject. Liberty is the end of magistracy. Whose 
 liberty ? The magistrates' ? Not his only, but the 
 subject's also. 
 
 Indeed when a magistrate claims and exercises 
 a right over conscience, he not only deprives his 
 subjects of liberty, but deprives the state also of 
 the services of some of the worthiest of men. Con- 
 sequently his claim is an injury to the state. Was 
 it possible to raise from the dead the greatest men 
 in their several professions that ever lived, were 
 they all to be assembled in England, the state 
 would be deprived of their fine abilities, unless 
 (which no man can be sure of) they would sub- 
 scribe the established faith. 
 
 Diversity of opinions, if judiciously managed, 
 rather tend to discover than to destroy the truth ; 
 hence that |)roper advice at opening a general as- 
 sembly of old, consider the fact, take advice, and 
 speak your minds : the same notion is conveyed 
 in the verv name of the British representation ; it 
 is a parliament, that is, an assembly convened to 
 give advice by speaking their minds. If this be 
 a proper method of finding out truth in the state, 
 why not in the church? 
 
 To give the magistrate a power over the con- 
 sciences of the subjects is to annihilate conscience. 
 For example : a gentleman resides in England, ac- 
 knowledges the power in question, and professes 
 with an oath, faith in the thirty-nine articles. He 
 passes from Dover to Calais, andlo ! another magis- 
 trate requires another faith ; he must renounce cal- 
 
On civil magistracy. 67 
 
 vinism, and embrace the faith of the g illlcan church. 
 He crosses the Alps and appears at Rome ; another 
 faith again. Should he pursue his route and retain 
 his notion of magistracy, he must beheve as the Czar 
 beheves at Petersburg, as the grand Seignior believes 
 in Turkey : if he goes round the world he must be 
 of all religions; or, to speak more properly, if 
 he goes round the world thus, of no religion at all. 
 The people called quakers seem to have under- 
 stood the principles of civil government as well as 
 any people upon earth, and to have practised them 
 more than most sects in Christendom. The first 
 of twenty-four articles, called fundamental consti- 
 tutions of Pensylvania, drawn up by the sensible 
 Mr. Penn, deserves to be written in letters of gold, 
 for its benevolence. " In reverence to God, the 
 " father of lights and spirits, the author as well as 
 " object of all divine knowledge, faith and wor- 
 *' ship, I do for me and mine declare and estab- 
 " lish, for the first fundamental of the government 
 " of this country, that every person, that doth or 
 " shall reside therein, shall have and enjoy the 
 " free possession of his or her faith, and exercise 
 " of worship toward God, in such May and man- 
 *' ner as every such person shall in conscience bc- 
 " lieve is most acceptable to God. And so long 
 " as every such person useth not tliis christian li- 
 " berty to licentiousness, or the destruction of 
 ** others, that is to say, to speak loosely or pro- 
 " fanely, or contemptuously of God, Christ, the 
 " holy scriptures, or religion, or commit any mo- 
 
 fj .44 
 
^8 On civil magistracy. 
 
 " ral evil or injury against others in their conver- 
 " sation; he or she shall be protected in the en- 
 "^ joyment of the aforesaid christian liberty by the 
 •' civil magistrate." Here is an example worthy 
 the imitation of all Europe, beautiful in itself, but 
 placed to infinite advantage when contrasted with 
 the unnatural persecutions of many other law- 
 givers ; the Coesars that murdered of old, the 
 Stuarts that butchered of late. From the the ty- 
 ranny of the last the colonists fied, and of this 
 colony you will say with Horace on another occa- 
 sion, 
 
 O matre pulchra filia pulchrior !* 
 
 What avails creeping after metaphysical subtle- 
 ties in the schools? Try experiments, as sound 
 philosophers have done, and on them raise a legis- 
 lative system. Suppose a modern clergyman, ani- 
 mated with the spirit of a Paul, should go on a 
 mission to the savages of Canada ; M'hat methods 
 would he use to establish the faith? Whether he 
 went to the Algonquins, whose kingdom is elec- 
 tive, or to the Hiirons, whose kingdom is here- 
 ditary, it would be immaterial ; in both he would 
 find a chief magistrate, who has nothing to do to 
 cure a refractory subject, but to say to one of his 
 guards, Go and rid me of that dog. Considering 
 what influence the tyrant's rank naturally gives 
 him, he would endeavour to conciliate himself to 
 him first, and to obtain (if possible) his good 
 graces. He would for the present content 
 
 * TIte daue^Jdcr is I/andiomrr limn her haiuhome mother. 
 
On civil magistraci/, 69 
 
 himself with secretly abhorring a savage despo- 
 tism, which he could not controul, and probably 
 would avail himself of Hobbes's maxim. He 
 used to say, that, if/ie was in a deep pit, and the 
 devil should put down his cloven foot, he would 
 take hold of it to he draxvn out hij it. Suppose his 
 majesty should indulge him with an audience, 
 would he dare to say to him, Sire, I am an am- 
 bassador of the great spirit, who made, who pre- 
 serves, and who, after death, will judge, and re- 
 ward ox punish, all mankind. The obedience 
 which he requires, is partly dictated by mens' con- 
 sciences, and fully explained in this book in my 
 hand ; a book which the great spirit commanded 
 to be written for our instruction, and received un- 
 der pain of his displeasure. Your majesty how- 
 ever has the same authority in this nation, as other 
 kings have in their dominions, and it remains with 
 you to determine whether these things be true or 
 false. Not only have none of your subjects a 
 right of examining and determining for himself, 
 but 1 myself, consistent with my notion of your 
 majesty's supremacy, am ready to renounce all but 
 what your majesty believes as long as 1 am in your 
 dominions ? 
 
 O say you, all this is nothing to the purpose, a 
 king has no right over conscience quatenus*- king, 
 but as a christian king; without this just distinc- 
 tion, you will be able to prove that if a Canadian 
 king be wrong, his subjects however are right; for 
 
 * Considered mcrchj as a hii^. 
 
70 On civil magistracy. 
 
 they do what God requires, that is, they suhmit 
 their faith and consciences to the hing as supreme. 
 Very well. See now what all your fine theory 
 comes to. Suppose a Jesuit should convert the 
 king; has he a right to establish Christianity as 
 the papists profess it ? No, say all the reformed 
 churches. The right belongs to him quatemis pro- 
 testant christian king. Quatemis episcopalian, 
 says one ; quatemis prcsbyterian sa3^s another; not 
 at all says a third, whose voice ought to silence 
 all : — Render unto Ccesar, the things that are 
 Casars, and unto God, the things that are God's. 
 Farewell 
 
]L E T T E K V. 
 
 ON 
 
 INNOVATION. 
 
 Laudamus veteres, std nosiris iitimur annis. Ovid. 
 
LETTER f 
 
 ^r 
 
 Sir, 
 
 JLlON'T you recollect before the petitions for re- 
 lief in the matter of subscription were presented 
 to parliament, that a gentleman in company fore- 
 told their fate, and grounded his prophecy on a 
 very singular opinion ? An opinion, which then 
 the company made light of, but which since has 
 appeared too well founded. The company expa- 
 tiated on the equity, the reasonableness, the mo- 
 desty, of the petition; they urged the good sense, 
 the generous and candid spirit of the government 
 in religious matters ; they said there was not an into- 
 lerant member of the British senate ; they passed 
 the highest and justest encomiums on the known be- 
 nevolent spirit of the royal family ; they put all toge- 
 ther and concluded that the bill would pass. I beg 
 leave to differ from you gentlemen,said the good man 
 in question, and to assure you that it will not pass. 
 Not that I doubt any thing you have advan- 
 ced, but it is 'd^w innovation^ and statesmen always 
 fear, and often justly, innovations. It is not enough 
 added he, that the whole legislature approves, the 
 people must also be disposed to an act of this kind, 
 and the people you know love the old pad. The 
 
74 On innovation. 
 
 fate of the petitions you know ; the true motives of 
 their rejection are perhaps only known to God : 
 but will there be any evil in examining for five mi- 
 nutes this same innovation ? It may amuse 
 a leisure moment, if it does not conduct a single 
 step in life. 
 
 It is readily granted that antiquity is sacred, es- 
 pecially in religion ; that innovations are some- 
 times dangerous, above all religious ones ; yet the 
 advantage arising to the petitioners from an exami- 
 nation of this article is not at all precarious. To 
 urge novelty against their petition is owning, at 
 least not denying, the equity of it, and altering 
 the state of the question prodigiously. The ques- 
 tion here is not whether a freedom from subscrip- 
 tion be a just, a reasonable right; not whether it 
 be analogous to nature and scripture ; not whether 
 a hritish subject may prudently ask such a right to 
 be established by a hritish senate ; but merely whe- 
 ther the right be not a nezv claim. To this the pe- 
 titioners would ans\\ er, No. The practice ot'judg- 
 inj? for themselves is coeval with mankind, to be 
 traced up to the most remote antiquity. If sub- 
 jects have not made the claim in form it is because 
 governors have not denied their right. Subscrip- 
 tion indeed, they would say, is a novelty, against 
 whicii numbers have remonstrated ever since its 
 introduction. But allowing ourselves to be inno- 
 vators, they would add, does not hurt our plea, 
 for wc are aL>le to prove that innovation is some- 
 times the duty and glory of legislators : and we 
 
On innovation. 75 
 
 can show that no evil, but much good will follow 
 the allowance of this innovation. 
 
 As to the antiquity of subscribing creeds upon 
 oath, nobody surely will be so rash as to affirm 
 this to have been the practice of the first three 
 hundred years after Christ. You will allow Mons. 
 Du. Pin to be a capable and unsuspected judge. 
 His remarks on the three first centuries, with which 
 he concludes the first volume of his Bibliotheque 
 des auteurs eccUsiastiqucs, are extremely judi- 
 cious. " All theology, says he, relates to doc- 
 " trine, discipline, or morality." He gives an abridg- 
 ment first of the doctrine oii\\Q primitive churches, 
 and justly remarks that it was essentially the same 
 in all. He abridges also their morality, and ob- 
 serves that their morals were as immutable as their 
 doctrine. "■ But as to their discipline, says he, it 
 " was difi^erent in different churches, and frequeni- 
 " ly undergoing a change. — They were extreme- 
 " ly careful to choose ministers whose morals 
 " were irreproachable. When those that were or- 
 " dained by the apostles died, ti]e people chose 
 " their successors. — The churches of the three 
 " principal cities in the world were considered as 
 " the first and chief. — The bishop of the church of 
 " Rome was looked on as the chief bishop ; how- 
 " ever, they did not think him infallible, and 
 " though he was consulted and his opinion of great 
 " weight, yet it was not altogether blindly follow- 
 
 *' ed; EVERY BISHOP BELIEVING THAT HE HAD A 
 " RIGHT OF JUDGIXG IN ECCLESIASTICAL jMAT- 
 
 " TERS. It was in the fourth ccnturv, when chris- 
 
76 On i7inovation. 
 
 " tianity was publicly professed by the Emperor, 
 " that the bishops assembled, aidez de l'auto- 
 " RITE DES princes;* and framed canons to go- 
 " vern the church, the rights of bishops, and an 
 *' infinite number of other matters." All this is 
 strictly true ; and if the writings of the fathers,and 
 the history of the primitive churches be closely ex- 
 amined, it will appear that the venerable antiquity 
 of the three first ages after Christ, pleads for the 
 right in question. 
 
 Nobody knows when, or by whom, the creed 
 called the Apostles' creed was composed ; and 
 should any plead for its authenticity, it must not 
 be a member of the established church, for people 
 would naturally say; if the Apostles thought pro- 
 per to compose a creed, no doubt but it was a per- 
 fect one; by what authority then have you added 
 thirty-nine articles, two more creeds, and the 
 whole book of homilies to the creed of a sub- 
 scriber ? Should it even be allowed that the Apos- 
 tles, or any of their immediate successors, com- 
 piled it, can any proof be brought of their requi- 
 ring subscription to it on oath } Call noxv if there 
 he any Apostle that will answer thee, and to zohich 
 of the Saints wilt thou turn ! 
 
 Let it be allowed that popery, that farrago of 
 civil and sacred, sj)iritual and secular tilings, has 
 tyrannized over the consciences of ma^lkind : can 
 it be denied that some of the most venerable of 
 the English reformers refused all emoluments, and 
 
 * Assisted bj the aiii/ioriti/ of princes. 
 
On innovation. 77 
 
 submitted to the severest trials, rather than clog 
 their consciences with subscriptions and oaths ? 
 Fox and Coverdale are but two of a venerable 
 number, whose reverend grey hairs the act of uni- 
 formity brought down xvith sorroxo to the grave. 
 
 But waving all the aro-uments which mig;ht be 
 drawn from the primitive times, you cannot but 
 allow, that innovators are sometimes important 
 men, of as great importance as the conservators 
 of a navigable river ; for the mechanical, the com- 
 mercial, the literary, the theological world would 
 all stagnate, and become useless and offensive but 
 for them. — -There are enthusiasts of all kinds, but 
 no greater surely than some immoderate admirers 
 of antiquity. The bawdy and blasphemy of an 
 old Greek or Roman poet shall be distilled in the 
 brain of some ingenious brother, till aiXiaguamira- 
 bilis * be extracted, spirituous enough to make 
 some readers merry and others mad. All his blun- 
 ders shall be referred to certain tropes, figures, or 
 fine turns in rhetoric ; his impudence is an irony, 
 his ignorance an hyperbole, and when a common 
 reader is shocked at his extravagance, a grave an- 
 tiquarian cries, what ails you ? You do not under- 
 stand rhetoric, the poet makes use of a noble 
 figure called a catachresis: — When one of these 
 literary enthusiasts presides in a university, he 
 casts the die, stamps the currency, vitiates the 
 taste of the learned populace, whose superiors 
 think for them, and an innovator is necessary to 
 
 * A xvonderful wafer, 
 
7B 0)2 innovatmi. 
 
 reform and bring back poetry to nature. Let rhe- 
 toricians say what they will, every work of art is so 
 far perfect as it approaches nature ; nature is the 
 standard, nature is the critic, nature is the com- 
 ment after all. To call to the order of nature is 
 innovation. 
 
 Indeed innovations, however needful, have 
 been sometimes attended with all but insurmount- 
 able difficulties : yet, these difficulties surmounted, 
 the triumphant heroes are aggrandized for ever : 
 such is the sense mankind have of innovation ! 
 Time was when an Archbishop of Canterbury might 
 say to one of his flock, " God hath called me for 
 " to destroie thee, and all the false sect that thou 
 " art of ; by Jesu I shall set upon thy shinnes a 
 ^* paireof pearles, that thou shalt he glad to change 
 " thy voice ; with many moc xvonderous and con- 
 " uicious wordes'' But even then the spirit of in- 
 novating was growing, and in 1 360 complained — 
 *' Lord thy law is turned upsedoivn. Lord xvhat 
 " dome is it to curse a lexvd man, if lie smite a 
 ^''priest, and not curse a priest that smiteth a 
 *' lewde man, and leeseth his charitie ? Christ or- 
 " dained that one brother should not desire xvracke 
 " of another ; not that lie would that sinne should 
 *' ben unpunished, for thereto hath he ordained 
 " kings and dukes, and other lerrd officers under 
 " them. Lord gif any man smite thy vicar, other 
 " any of hisclerkcs, he ne takeih it not in pacience, 
 " but anon he smiteth 'ccith his sword of cursing, 
 " and afterward xtith his bodilich sword he doth 
 " them to death. O Lord me thinketh ihat^ this 
 
On innovation. 79 
 
 "ij €1 Jighfing against kind, and much against 
 " thy teaching. O Lord whether axsedest thou 
 " after szverdes in time of thy passion to again e 
 " stond thine enenies ? Nay forsooth thou Lord. 
 " For Peter that smote for great hue of thee, had 
 "no great thanke of thee, for his smiting. — O 
 *' szveet Lord, hozv may he for shame clepen hhn- 
 " self thy vicar and head of the church I'' Thus 
 innovation lisped in its childhood, but at its ma- 
 jority, how gloriously did it speak out in the re- 
 formation ! 
 
 What a miserable, deplorable state was learn- 
 ing in before the reformation ! Latin was murder- 
 ed, Greek v;as miscalled, and almost every word 
 in the lexicon nicknamed. When Smith and 
 Cheke, perceiving the absurdity of sounding all 
 the greek vowels and dipthongs like the iota, en- 
 deavoured to reform that abuse, and to restore the 
 greek tongue to its primitive pronunciation ; in 
 vain did bishop (lardiner, the chancellor, make a 
 solemn decree against the innovation ; the Canta- 
 brigians had caught asmattcring of the right sound, 
 and, to their honour, persisted obstinately in tlie 
 novel but true method of pronouncing Greek. 
 There is a time when die recti pervica.v is every 
 man's praise.* 
 
 So necessary was innovation then, that the lowest 
 of the people saw it, and while they pitied their 
 
 * ObstlnaU'lu right. 1 1 is a part of tlio character which Ta- 
 citus gives Ilclvidiusi Pribcus : the whole is extremely bi-atti- 
 ful. Hist. iv,-5. 
 
80 On innovation. 
 
 ancestors, ^vho had been imposed on, were deter- 
 mined to ^«r^^ their own bonds and go upright. 
 In vain did tlie monks exclaim against tlie newe 
 learninge, (as they called the gospel,) the poor 
 people were exasperated at their old task masters, 
 and in open court called the priests Chuffeheads. 
 They soon found that free examination was the 
 highway to truth, and they sat about investigating 
 all they believed. Hoio can these things be had 
 been heresy for ages ; but their innovations made 
 it orthodoxy, and they inquired into every thing; 
 for^ as the grave father of english history well rea- 
 soned at that time, zvho would liaue judged, but 
 that themayd of Kent had been an holy xvoman and 
 a prophet esse inspired, had not Cromwell and Cran- 
 mertriedheratPaules crosse to be a stro?igzvhore! 
 If innovations in the state and in the schools 
 were necessary, they were more so still in the 
 church, for the ignorance of the clergy was insuf- 
 ferable. — A priest, who served a cure in the city 
 of London, and had the charge of instructing 7?io)^e 
 tha)i three thousand of God^s sheep, wrote to the 
 beloved in the Lord Jesus Mr. Persie, his arch- 
 bishop's (Parker's) chaplain, to know of his mas- 
 tersiiip, whether the wordjunction did not mean 
 utilitie. This letter was scriptus te viginti quin- 
 que die mencis Junius. Anno 1563. Alas bro- 
 ther ! you might have spared saying by way of 
 apology that you was pauperes spirit us ;* all the 
 parish knew it, and wished for an innovation. 
 
 * The poor of the spirit. lie meant poor in fijHrit, an4 
 lliuu^t that phrase signified a mean capacity. 
 
0?i innovation. 
 
 81 
 
 By a survey of the established church in 1585, 
 and 158G, it appeared, tlvdt a f/er 2S i/ea?^s estab- 
 lislwicnt of the church of England, there zcere 
 hut '-2000 preachers to serve 10,000 churches ; so 
 that there were about 8000 parishes tmthout 
 preaching ministers. Many of those incumbents 
 were ignorant and scandalous men, while hundreds 
 of good scholars and pious livers zvere shut out of 
 the church for nonconformity, and starving with 
 their families for want of employment. This sur- 
 vey is a curious piece, and an example from it 
 will be an argument for innovation. 
 
 County of Cornavall. 
 
 Benefice. 
 
 V. Lanle- 
 verie. 
 
 V. Tret- 
 wordreth 
 
 V. Esey. 
 
 Yearly 
 value. 
 
 X umber 
 of souls. 
 
 col. 
 
 Marks 
 100 
 
 301. 
 
 200 
 
 300 
 60 
 
 Name of theHiscon- 
 incUmbent, vcrsati- 
 and whether on. 
 a preacher. | 
 
 Wlio or- 
 dained 
 him. 
 
 Mr. Batten 
 iio preacher 
 
 Mr. Kendal, 
 no preacher 
 J. Bernard 
 no preacher, 
 
 Bp 
 
 AUeyl 
 
 W. 
 Kendall. 
 
 Bp Brad- 
 bridge 
 
 BpBrad- 
 
 bridire. 
 
 L. Chan- 
 llor. 
 
 Canons of 
 Exon. 
 
 He liv. 
 eth as a 
 pot com 
 panion. 
 A simple 
 man. 
 \ com 
 mnn di- 
 cer,burnt 
 in tlir 
 hand for 
 lehfiiy, dfc 
 full of ai 
 iniquiiy. 
 
 If it were imaginable, that you could divert 
 these remarks from their designed channel, whicli 
 is to prove the necessity of reforming abuses at all 
 times, and in all places, where they are found, 
 without being frightened at the din of novelty ! no- 
 velty ! If it were imaginable that you could forget 
 
 V 
 
 Patron. 
 
82 On innovation. 
 
 this, and reproach the modern church of England 
 with the weakness of licr ancestors, you should be 
 told that one propliet of your own printed szveet 
 sips of soul-savin gness ; another published rt! Iiigh- 
 heeled sJioe for a ckvarf in Clirist ; and a third, an 
 effectual shove for a heavy arsed chrisiian. 
 
 It is not a senseless interrogation of St. iVustin's; 
 if the imsdom oftliis icorld be foolishness with God, 
 what xvill you call its ignorance and folly ? (Serm. 
 240. vol, V. Jesuit's Edit.) What indeed ! Every 
 body will own the need of inovations then, if no 
 intei est be at stake. No member of the church 
 of Rome but Avould blush now to preach what the 
 infallible Innocent the third was not ashamed to 
 publish. A male child, says that pontiff, as soon 
 as it is horn cries A : a female E. that is by trans- 
 position, Eva, thus acknorvledging their descent 
 from Eve, and their title to sin and misery. What 
 friar would say now-a-days that children are born 
 with a creed in their mouths, which they express 
 in latin and hebrew? How would the present ho- 
 nourable house of commons stare if their preachers 
 bade them cry to Heaven for a midivife lest their 
 designs should mis£ary ? Yet this has been done. 
 Who that preaches before a modern university, 
 would imitate the pious Latimer, whose eloquence 
 once edilied that godlye impe king Edward the 
 vi? The good bishop, preaching once at Cam- 
 bridge in Christmas time, di\ ided his discourse by 
 a pack of cards; the gentry were diamonds, the 
 poor people spades, hearts were triumphs, and 
 won the game out of the hands of the pope, the 
 
On innovation. 83 
 
 king of clubs. Has not your country done well 
 to innovate sir? 
 
 Innovate ! England, to her praise be it spoken, 
 has done nothing but innovate ever since the reign 
 of Henry the seventh, till whose time, they say, 
 the king had not a currant bush in his dominions. 
 She has imported the inventions and productions 
 of the wiiole earth, and has improved and enrich- 
 ed herself by so doing. New arts, new manufac- 
 tories, new laws, new diversions, all things are 
 become nezv, and does she boggle at an innovati- 
 on ! The truth is, human knowledge is progres- 
 sive, and there has been a gradual improvement 
 in every thing; this age knows many things the 
 last was ignorant of, the next will know many un- 
 known to this, and hence the necessity of frequent 
 innovations. 
 
 The love of noveltv is so far from being dan- 
 gerous, that it is one of the noblest endowments of 
 nature. It is the soul of science, and the life of 
 a thousand arts; it fixes one to his books, another 
 to his instruments, a third to his experiments; it 
 sets one to calculate at home, another to navigate 
 abroad ; it is seen every where ; the caps of the la- 
 dies and the cabinets of the curious, are alike the 
 productions of this disposition. If it be said, this 
 passion defeats itself, and, having explored the 
 whole creation, is as restless as ever; true, it is 
 so, and this proves its sublime original; it will at 
 last terminate on God, and God is an object every 
 way fit to satiate this desire ; the incomprehcnsi- 
 F 2 
 
84 0?i innovation. 
 
 ble grandeurs of his nature for ever and ever af- 
 fording new delights to the contemplative mind. 
 Perhaps the sacred historian might not so much 
 blame the Athenians for telling and hearing some 
 next) thing, as for spending their time in nothing 
 else. 
 
 But what has all this to do with petitioning? A 
 great deal. You say the petitioners are innova- 
 tors. They deny this, and say they are antiqua- 
 rians, only not superstitious enough to prefer the 
 rust to the medal. But without availing themselves 
 of this, they prove that the love of novelty is 
 natural, that it puts men on inventing some things, 
 and improving others; that new discoveries by the 
 people call for new limitations, protections, laws 
 from the state: that the yearly assembling of the 
 states is an allowance of the necessity of abroga- 
 ting some laws, reforming others, and making new 
 ones. That therefore innovation is neither for- 
 eign from the nature of things in general, nor 
 from the British constitution in particular; and 
 they might add that almost all the great men that 
 have appeared in the world have owed their reputa- 
 tion to their skill in innovating. Their names, their 
 busts, their books, their elogiums, diffused through 
 all countries, are a just reward of their innovati- 
 ons. When idolatry had overspread the world, 
 Moses was the minister of a grand and noble in- 
 novation. AV'hen time had corrupted the institu- 
 tions of Moses, Hezekiah innovated again, de- 
 stroying what even Moses had set up; and when 
 the reformations of others were inadequate, Jesus 
 
On innovation. 8.5 
 
 Christ, ascending his throne, created all things 
 nczv : twelve innovators went one way, seventy 
 another, their sound zvent into all the earth, and 
 their words to the end of the world, reforming, 
 and renovatmg the whole face of the earth. Wlien 
 wealth had produced power, power subjection, sub- 
 jection indolence, indolence ignorance, and the 
 pure religion of Jesus was debased, here rises an 
 Alfred, there a Charles; Turin produces a Claude, 
 Lyons a Waldo, England a Wicklift'; the courage 
 of Luther, the zeal of Calvin, the eloquence of 
 Beza, the patience of Cramner, all conspire to in- 
 novate again. Illustrious innovators ! You plead- 
 ed for conscience against custom ; your names will 
 be transmitted to all posterity with deserved 
 renown. 
 
 Still it will be said, legislators ought not to in- 
 novate without cause, nay they ought not to risk 
 an innovation without a moral cerlainty of great 
 advantages. Be it so. And suppose a senator 
 should ask the repeal of any law, and should urge 
 that all statute law was expository only of the law 
 of nature; that when the former did not square 
 with the latter, it ought to be new cast, and should 
 prove that the law, whose repeal he solicited, was 
 of that kind; would any body say to that senator, 
 Sir, your reasoning is just, but we must not inno- 
 vate without cause? 
 
 As to the advantages arising from an universal 
 toleration, it is higlily probable they would be very 
 great. Lenity in governors naturally produces the 
 surest and noblest etFects in the governed. Solo- 
 
 Or 
 
^6 On innovation. 
 
 mon's counsellors, who were able politicians, re- 
 marked this to Rehoboam: Serve the people, said 
 they, ans'cver them, and speak good zcords to them, 
 then xtill they be thy servants for ever. It would 
 remove a mark of infani}^ from many of his majes- 
 ty's loyal subjects, whose ambition is only to pass 
 for what they really are, the hearty, not the hired 
 friends of the constitution. It would destroy the 
 endless strifes about words to no profit, which 
 have too lon2 armed brother against brother. It 
 would disarm popery of its most formidable wea-^ 
 pon against protestantism, that is, the endless di- 
 visions of protestant communities. Schisms in 
 churches, like factions in states, are more about 
 words than things, and if to extinguish whig and 
 and tory be a chef d'ouvre^' in the state, why is 
 not the extinction of party names a good work in 
 the church ? It will be replied, all this would al- 
 ter nothing, wise men do not judge now of names 
 but things : and they would continue to do so then. 
 Very true. Statute law does not rule wise men ; 
 wise men know a law superior to it, and live by 
 that law. But do the bulk of mankind know any 
 thing more than names ? Do they penetrate beyond 
 appearances ? Are they not ready with Hospi- 
 nian's landlord to believe, if a friar tells them, that 
 Adam was a monk and that Eve was a nun ? 
 
 People of this class are the proper people (if 
 any are) to subscribe upon oath, for to the num- 
 ber they swear every day one more can be no very 
 
 * A 711 aster stroke 
 
On innoxiation. 87 
 
 considerable addition; nor woidd tlicy puzzle 
 themselves with enfiuiring why they were fined for. 
 swearing at home, and rewarded for it abroad. Had 
 they learning, did they study the nature and obli- 
 gations of man, di(.l they deal in matters of con- 
 science, did they use all their learning and in- 
 fluence to diffuse loyalty to the crown, benevo- 
 lence to men, and piety towards God ; did they 
 offer to give every possible security to the civil 
 magistrate, except subscribing another man's creed 
 upon oath, which, in their opinion was no secu- 
 rity at all; was this the case with the lower orders 
 of men, they ought to be indulged in this article : 
 and since the contrary is evident, they ought not 
 to be dupes to names, and parties, about which they 
 know nothing but the names. There is scarcely one 
 in a thousand that frees himself from the preju- 
 dices excited by party tales. One instance indeed 
 •occurs in the life of Junius, the famous professor 
 of divinity at Leyden. A great number of people 
 were met to hear a dispute between Junius and a 
 Franciscan. The people had been made to be- 
 lieve many idle stories about the heretical Junius. 
 An old man bustling in the croud expressed a pro- 
 digious desire of seeing this heretic, which, when 
 Junius was informed of, he desired might be grant- 
 ed. The croudmadc way, the old man marched for- 
 ward, and diligently surveying him from head to foot, 
 cried, now I know the falshootl of what I have 
 l)een told. What have you been told, said Junius. 
 / was told, replied he, tltai you had cloven feet ! 
 
88 On innovation. 
 
 For tlie sake of these men the innovation (if it 
 must be so called) in question is pleaded for. A 
 fine ))lea truly ! Let them wallow in their brutal 
 prejudices, why should you destroy the felicity of 
 their ignorance ? 
 
 Softly good Sir : do you hear St. James ? Ye 
 have dsspised the poor. And what then ? Why 
 you are very irrational in so doing. All your pro- 
 perty is in their hands; they manufacture all you 
 use ; they cultivate your lands, manage your cat- 
 tle, transact almost all your affairs, export your 
 surplus, import your superfluities: the wealth of 
 a j)eerage is intrusted with them. The dearest part 
 of your comforts are committed to them ; they 
 nurse your children in their tenderest and most 
 ductile days, and too often instil into noble blood 
 what time can never exhale. Yea more, your own 
 safety depends on them ; they build and man your 
 fleets, they form your armies, they guard you by 
 day, they stand centinel for you at night. You 
 may despise the poor. You may even undertake 
 to prove that universal benevolence, the spirit and 
 the splendour of Christianity, ought to be denied 
 them. You may maintain that their stupid cre- 
 dulity ought to be imposed on by names, and 
 their savage zeal kept in its old channel. But pru- 
 dent people will think otherwise, and wish for an 
 innovation. True, they are the dirty feet of the 
 body politic ; but their union to the head makes 
 them respectable. For your part, you shall submit 
 to the punishment of hearing an old tale, and a 
 further penalty shall be inflicted on you if youwill 
 
On innovation. 89 
 
 not apply it. A skilful organist had both his hand 
 and his foot bruised l>y the tall of a gallery. When- 
 ever the surgeon attended, the musician plied him 
 vvith, doctor never mind my foot ; direct all your 
 skill to the cure of my hand. The son of Galen, 
 wearied out with this iaipei tinence in his repeated 
 visits, at length lost all christian forbearance, 
 flew in his patient's face and bawled out, — You 
 blockhead ! If your foot should mortfy what would 
 become of your hand ! Farewell. 
 
t E T T JE K VI, 
 
 ON 
 
 ORTHODOXY. 
 
 Profecto eos ipsos, qui se aUqiiid certi habere arhitrantur, 
 addubitare coget doctissimoriim liominum de maxima 
 re (i. e. de naturadeorum) tanta dissentio. Cicero. 
 
]L E TT E R ri. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 (3^^ of the most odious reflections that was 
 ever cast on the gospel is that of father Thomassin. 
 He says, that tJie whole earth would have been 
 overrun zvith heresy, had not the emperors main- 
 ta'uied the faith. Can there be a more cruel as- 
 persion on the truth than this ? And pray reverend 
 father, what alliance is there between the faith 
 and the sword ? But stop; his reverence is right 
 J^y faith he means the romish religion, and by heresy 
 he means whatever is not in the pope's creed ; and 
 he is right in affirming, that popery would have 
 been annihilated had it not been in league with 
 the state, and upheld by the sword. But should 
 any man affirm this of the true belief of the gospel 
 of Jesus Christ, he would asperse the gospel in the 
 most shameful and indefensible manner. Affirm 
 this, venerable father, of a particular modification 
 of Christianity and welcome; nobody will contradict 
 you; but affirm this of Christianity, of truth itself, 
 of the doctrine and morality of the blessed Imma- 
 nuel, and thousands will oj^pose you. Thousands 
 would say ; Sir, we reject error, not because you 
 call it heres}^, but because we perceive its absur- 
 .dity. We believe tlie truth, not because his im- 
 
^4 On orthodoxy. 
 
 perial majesty perceives its evidence, but because 
 we have examined it ourselves, and cannot help 
 admitting conclusions, having allowed the argu- 
 ments from which they tiow. No, Sir; our reli- 
 gion is founded not on the fear of the emperor, but 
 on the love of God ; and was there neither an em- 
 peror, nor a penal law, nor a sword upon earth, 
 we should be obliged, if we reasoned justly, to 
 worship God in spirit and in truth. Take back 
 then your ungenerous reflection, beseech your im- 
 perial coadjutor to put up his sword in its sheath, 
 and only, (as his ofiice requires) to stand by and 
 keep the peace, while you learn that orthodoxy 
 has nothing in the world to fear, for she is inde- 
 structible ; she may be attacked, she can never be 
 destroyed. 
 
 Orthodoxii, (like almost all the martial terms 
 of controvertists) is a very vague, equivocal word. 
 — ^In its original and true import, it signifies a 
 right belief : but, such is the fate of language, in 
 one latitude it means a belief of one thing, in ano- 
 ther the belief of another thing, quite contrary. 
 In this lettter, let it stand for what St. Paul calls 
 the belief of the truth, not the belief of the truth 
 as it is in this creed, or in that, or in any other, 
 but as it is in Jesus ; and, without enquiring who 
 is in possession of this truth (which is foreign from 
 the purpose) let it only be examined, whether the 
 truth, or faith in it, be exposed to danger by an 
 universal toleration ? 
 
 Evidence is the characteristic of truth ; and, if 
 father Thomassin means any thing by his assertion, 
 
On orthochvi/. 9-5 
 
 lie means, that penal laws have the power of con • 
 ferring the characteristic of truth upon falshood. 
 — But what power can give falshood the C/idence 
 of truth ? If evidence be the support of a true pro- 
 position, the truth stands independent of the ma- 
 gistrate's power, and, supported by evidence, there 
 is nothing left for the magistrate to do. If he 
 means that the bulk of mankind, from the base 
 principles of avarice or fear, will profess to be of 
 the magistrate's sentiments, and without examin- 
 ing, will maintain his creed, all this is granted ; 
 but that such slaves to interest are orthodox be- 
 lievers, or believers at all, is denied. If it be said 
 that the profession of the truth by such respectable 
 personages, will always influence people to ex- 
 amine what they believe, it is readily granted ; 
 but this very examination proves that neither 
 pomp nor penalties characterise truth : it is evi- 
 dence. Is it credible that such numbers of people 
 in all Europe would have suffered martyrdom for 
 their own sentiments, if punishments could have 
 made that true which was false before, or could 
 have prevailed on the martyrs to believe what they 
 could not perceive the evidence of? 
 
 Propositions in books are pictures of objects in 
 nature, and their truth lays in the exact confor- 
 mity of the picture to its original : but what, in 
 the name of logic, has the truth, of this confor- 
 mity, or the perception of tliis truth to do with im- 
 perial penalties? Suppose a skilful artist should 
 present to public judgment an exact representa- 
 tion of the emperor on canvass. It is a line 
 
^(5 On orthodoxy. 
 
 painting says one ; it is a striking resemblance says 
 a second ; I am surprized at your infatuation, says 
 a third, it is not at all like his majesty. A dis- 
 pute originates, the emperor interests himself in 
 it. Did his majesty condescend to allow the dis- 
 putants the honour of comparing the picture with 
 the original, probably the difference might be ad- 
 justed : yet perhaps not, for, after all, their dif- 
 ferent judgments might originate in a difference of 
 their organs ; or in a hundred things more. But, 
 oriorinate vA-here it would, should his majesty say, 
 " Gentlemen, this picture is a true, representation 
 of my person ; and this proposition is a true re- 
 presentation of the picture : and if you do not be- 
 believe both these, I shall refuse you my protec- 
 tion, I shall expose you to a fine, to an imprison- 
 ment, to death itself f — Does any body imagine 
 that the emperor would maintain orthodoxy ? Si- 
 lence might be imposed, but belief would not be 
 produced. 
 
 To the belief of a truth three things are essen- 
 tial; an object, a proposition representative of 
 that object, and an operation of an intelligent be- 
 ing assenting to that representation ; which assent 
 can be obtained no other way than by the mind's 
 perceiving the agreement of the proposition with 
 its object. Belief or assent is an after operation 
 of the mind, fixed by the God of nature as immu- 
 tably as the parts of the body are, and as nature 
 never produced eyes in the hands, nor cars in the 
 heels, so neither did that man ever exist, who 
 could disconcert the order of the operations of his 
 
On orthodoxy. 97 
 
 niind. It is not in his power to believe, it is not 
 in the power of any body else to make him believe 
 truth without evidence. Take the Jirst of these es- 
 sentials ; an object : God, Moses, Christ, Paul, 
 heaven, hell, death, judgment. All these objects 
 are what they are, independent of emperors, es- 
 tablishments, penalties, oaths, or any thing else 
 of the kind. Take the second, a proposition ex- 
 actly representing the object. That proposition is 
 the truth. Now what have emperors, or estab- 
 lishments, or oaths, or penalties to do with the 
 truth of the proposition } Every proposition is ei- 
 ther true or false independent of imperial conduct. 
 Moses was a faithful historian, is either tnae or 
 false, government can vary nothing. Should go- 
 vernment enact, Moses was a faithful historian; 
 or on the contrary, Moses was an impostor, it 
 would not at all affect the truth of the proposition. 
 If he was a faithful historian, no act of govern- 
 ment can make him an impostor ; if he was an im- 
 postor, no government can establish his fidelity. 
 So that the object, and the truth of tlie object, de- 
 scribed in a proposition, are as independent on 
 magistracy as the being and motions of the pla- 
 nets. Every proposition in scripture was the 
 same when Juvenal ridiculed it, as when Milton 
 revered it : the same when Nero persecuted as 
 when Elizabeth established it : and had poets and 
 princes never existed, what the bible says of Moses 
 would have been either true or false. Poetrvand 
 
9S On orthodoxy. 
 
 principality, a canon and a ballad are of equal ef- 
 ficacy here, that is, they effect nothing at all. 
 
 If neither an object of thought, nor a proposi- 
 tion descriptive of that object, at all depend on 
 the will of the emperor, the only question that re- 
 mains is, whether the assent of the mind to the 
 truth of the description depends on his establish- 
 ing the proposition by law ? His majesty requires 
 all his subjects to beheve a proposition under pain 
 of his displeasure ; but no imperial edict can al- 
 ter that order of the operations of the mind, which 
 the king of kings, and lord of lords hath establish- 
 ed in nature. The subject cannot believe or as- 
 sent to a truth without evidence; he cannot re- 
 ceive that evidence without examination. In or- 
 der to perceive the conformity of a proposition with 
 the object it describes, his mind must compare the 
 two together; and if, through a defect in his in- 
 tellects, he should think the proposition affirms too 
 nuich of the object, or if, through an abundance 
 of intelligence, he should think the proposition af- 
 firms too little, in both cases he would deny the 
 tmith of the proposition, or the exactness of the 
 descrij)tion. What must he do in such a case ? 
 Can he assent to what he cannot perceive the evi- 
 dence of? It is impossible. Shall he incur his 
 majesty's displeasure by declaring he cannot re- 
 ceive the proposition for a true one "^ Shall he, 
 to retain his majesty's favour, make oath against 
 his conscience that he does believe the truth of the 
 proposition ? O cruel dilemma ! That offends my 
 prince ; this atironts my God ! 
 
On orthodo.vy. 99 
 
 Heu quantiHii f'ati parvatabelia vehit !* 
 AH this would follow the establishment of truth 
 by law, but a great deal worse would follow the 
 establishment of error. For imperial edicts not 
 only cannot produce faith, but they, by prohibi- 
 ting the means, destroy the end, and generate in- 
 fidelity. An error established by law, and pro- 
 tected by the sword, gains authority, antiquity, 
 universality, and many more marks, which pass 
 with numbers of honest, but interested, or super- 
 ficial reasoners, for the characteristics of truth. 
 In all probability therefore, father Thomassin's ta- 
 bles must be turned; and instead of saying, the 
 whole earth would have been overrun with heresy, 
 had not the emperors maintained the faith, it 
 might rathei^ be said, the zvhole earth zvould have 
 been overspread with orthodoTy, hud ndt their 
 majesties affected to establish the faith. 
 
 The orthodoxy of the world depends on exami- 
 nation; but establishments destroy examination 
 the mean, and thereby orthodoxy the end. The 
 hope of reward and the fear of punishment in- 
 fluence the bulk of mankind, and when a man risks 
 all by reasoning justly, when the conclusion of 
 his arguments is a fine, an imprisonment, or death^ 
 how strong is the temptation not to reason at all 
 or to reason superficially! Should a test of this 
 man's orthodoxy be required as soon as he arrives 
 at manhood, when his abilities are green, his pros- 
 
 * Alas. ! What great events oft little trifles hung! 
 
100 On orthodoxy. 
 
 pects confined, his passions vigorous, his reason 
 immature, his examples numerous, ten thousand 
 to one but he gives the test ; and then the die is 
 cast. He must know little of human nature who 
 does not perceive that all future studies will rather 
 be apologies than examinations ; the man will not 
 study to describe but to defend his post. What 
 youn^ gentleman of birth and learning, who that 
 piques himself on /jo/i^e^^e, and scaDoir vivre* hav- 
 ing declared upon oath his faith in thirty or forty 
 points, but with Pamphilus would say ? 
 
 Adeon' me ignavum putasi* 
 Adeon ? porro ingratum^ aut inhumanum, aut ferum ? 
 Ut neque me consueludo^ necjue amor, neque pudor? 
 Comnioveat, neque commoneat, ut seuvem fidem.'' 
 Accepi. Acceptara seivabo. f 
 
 An emperor embracing the faith is a glorious 
 sight. An emperor, determining his own creed, 
 choosing his chaplains, following his conscience, 
 and honouring the deity as he thinks most agree- 
 able to the word of God, deserves the highest en- 
 comiums, merits immortal praise : but should his 
 majesty deny the same privilege to the meanest oF 
 his subjects; should he affect to derive a splendor 
 to his piety from injoinmg an impossibility on his 
 subjects; should an Eusebius flatter, Sozomen dis- 
 guise; should all his coteinporaries subscribe to his 
 creed, and make oath that he was right, impartial 
 
 * Politeness and good breeding. 
 f Do you think inc such a stupid, ungrateful, ill bred brute, 
 that neither custom, nor love, nor shame, ean induce me to 
 fulfil my proinisc ? I have given my word, and I'll stand to it. 
 
On orthodoxy. 101 
 
 posterity would think he was wrong. Impartial 
 posterity would say, as was said of a Roman em- 
 peror, had he nexer reigned, every body would have 
 thought him xoorthy oj reigning I 
 
 If these reflections have any weight in the case 
 of vague general orthodoxy, that is, in the belief 
 of any truth, they have infinitely more in the be- 
 lief of gospel truth : the truths delivered to men in 
 the bible are above all others subject to such a 
 train of reasoning. 
 
 One, who well understood, declared that in St. 
 PauVs epistles there were some things hard to be 
 understood, which however he thought no blemish 
 to his writings, but, on the contrary a proof of his 
 exalted wisdom : they are written, says he, accord- 
 ing to the WISDOM given unto him. Agreeable 
 to this, St. Paul considered himself as a debtor 
 both to the wise greeks, and to the unxvise barba- 
 rians. He was intrusted with the dispensation of 
 a gospel, whose truths were some of them so plain 
 that an unlettered barbarian might understand 
 them, and which also revealed other truths sub- 
 lime enough to fill the capacities of the wisest of 
 mankind. Glorious analogy of scripture and na- 
 ture ; Both present objects evident to all, but ful- 
 ly comprehensible by none. 
 
 Allow this notion of revelation, and scripture- 
 truths must be classed in ditlerent degress of evi- 
 dence, and importance. Some truths are so plain 
 that they need but be read to be understood, and 
 as soon as understood are believed. Others are 
 so sublime, that through thoir grandeur, or their 
 
102 On orthodo.vy. 
 
 distance, they are indeterminable to the greatest 
 natural and acquired abilities ; yea an inspired 
 apostle himself cried, O the depth ! 
 
 Now which of thjese truths would you establish 
 the orthodoTij, or right belief of? The first ? The 
 plain, simple, easy truths of religion? What ! 
 Would you call a council of three or four hundred 
 bishops, would you also place an emperor with 
 all his attendants in canonical form ? For what? 
 To make all men swear that water is liquid, that 
 gold is malleable, that a collier is black, and a 
 drunkard mad ! Will you take the second class, 
 the indeterminable sublimities of the faith? Truly 
 friend, if the first be needless, the last is dange- 
 rous. The church is the land of conscience, and 
 conscience will complain, as a judge would, if 
 you made him pass sentence on what he knevv^ no- 
 thing, or next to notliing, about. Go lay hold of 
 yon sly tatter-tailed astronomer, who neither at- 
 tends the levees of the great, nor places of public 
 show and diversion ; who seldom reads the gazette, 
 nor scarcely knows the right end of a pack of cards ; 
 go take from him that mischievous instrument the 
 telescope ; or still better, let him look, but swear 
 him to his discoveries : let him make oath that the 
 iniiabitants of Saturn are eighteen feet, two inches, 
 and three quarters high. That tiie ladies are preg- 
 nant with one child for thirty years, four months, 
 six days, two hours and nine minutes. Alas ! The 
 good man had some such conjectures in his head, 
 and besan to calculate, and thought the Creator's 
 glory expanding to his view; but, as none of his 
 
On orthodoxij^ 103 
 
 speculations were practicable in this world, the 
 hooest man would have disturbed nobody: it is pity 
 any body should disturb him. Most excellent 
 Constantine ! When your imperial majesty sum- 
 moned 3 1 8 bishops to the council of Nice, when 
 you condescended to grace that council with your 
 august presence, it was from the noblest principle 
 in the world, a desire of establishing peace in the 
 church : but was not your majesty imposed upon 
 by the absurdity of of your bishops, when you ex- 
 communicated and persecuted all that would not 
 sign a creed, some articles of which were as plain 
 as that water is lic^uid, and others as indetermin- 
 able as any thing that passes in the planetary 
 worlds ? 
 
 If the plainness of some truths renders subscrip- 
 tion unnecessary, if the sublimity of others ren- 
 ders it dangerous, is there not another class to be 
 established by law for peace sake ? To be sure there 
 are endless classes of truths and truths, and errors 
 and errors, and you may establish according to 
 your fancy. You may, with the Nicene council, 
 after the creed is safe, proceed to discipline, and 
 enact, that whereas it is the custom of some 
 churches to pray kneeling on Sundays, hereafter 
 it shall be lawful to pray standing only on that day f 
 and whereas, some of the good old women who 
 served as deaconesses had usually been reckoned 
 clergywomen, hereafter they should be esteemed 
 as of the laity. You may decree, with one coun- 
 cil, to depose every clergyman convicted of act- 
 ing contrary to the interest of the church : or, with 
 
104 On orthodoxy. 
 
 another, that the laity should express their respect 
 for the clergy nhenever they met them, by bowing 
 if they met them afoot, by alighting if they met 
 them on horseback : or with a third, that no dea- 
 con should be so rude as to sit down in the pre- 
 sence of a priest. All this you may, what may 
 you not injoin ? but whether these are the things 
 that wake for peace^ the next letter shall enquire. 
 'Till then farewell. 
 
3^ E T T E R VII. 
 
 ON 
 
 PERSECUTION. 
 
 Si magmis vir cecidit, magnus jacuit : non magis ilium 
 putes contemni, quam cum tedium sacrarum ruiucc cal- 
 cantur : quas religiosi ceque ac stantes adorant. 
 
 Seneca. 
 
IL'ETT E M FIE 
 
 Sir, 
 
 JL lETY and plunder, religion and murder, the 
 service of God and the slaughter of his image, are 
 so diametrically opposite, that had you. been an 
 inhabitant of the moon, and only heard of an at- 
 tempt to unite such opposites, you would have 
 been more than a sceptic, a very infidel : but you 
 are an inhabitant of another orb, and you will be- 
 lieve, without being threatened with a penalty, that 
 such an attempt has been made, applauded, re- 
 warded, and, O shame to humanity ! the author 
 of a crusade canonized for a saint ! As if the high- 
 est seats in paradise were purchasable only with 
 human blood. 
 
 Astonishment increases on looking into that re- 
 ligion whence such sanguinary proceedings pre- 
 tend to flow. Its origin is the love of God ; its end 
 is peace and good xoill amongst men ; its laws, its 
 gifts, its motives, its all is love; its author the 
 prince of peace^ and all its spirit, like its author, 
 PEACE, PEACE, to him that is nigh, and to him 
 that is far off : and yet this very religion has been 
 so explained as to patronize the bloodiest cruelties 
 
108 On persecution. 
 
 that the world ever saw. Well might St. John, 
 when he saw such a tyranny arise under the chris- 
 tian name, cry, Iivonderedwitli gi'cat admiration I 
 
 Whatever idolatry and superstition may have 
 produced, they seem to have been out-sinned here; 
 even idolaters seem to have had less intolerance 
 than some christian states. In Egypt a Joseph; 
 in Persia a Nehemiah, a Mordecai; in Babylon a 
 Daniel hold the chief offices at court, without a test, 
 it is credible ; but false Christianity forbids men to 
 buy or sell, unless they have the mark of a slave 
 in the forehead or in the hand. 
 
 Let not these evils be charged too hastily on 
 any one set of christians ; all have stained, though 
 some have dyed their hands M'ith blood. Nor least 
 of all let Christianity itself be blamed, any more 
 than the religion of nature for the mal-practices of 
 paQ;ans : corruption has mixed with and debased 
 ]>oth, and you will 'dAmiX.corruptio optimi pessima.'^' 
 
 Wlien Constantino came to the imperial crown, 
 he found the christian world at war with each 
 other; himself professed Christianity, and though 
 it be very doubtful whetlier he was a christian at 
 all, to his praise it must be said, he was ashamed 
 of their quarrels, and proposed to establish univer- 
 sal peace. At tirst his majesty granted liberty of 
 conscience, and had he stopped there, the remedy 
 would have operated slowly but surely : but whe- 
 tiicr it was politically, to answer any state ends ; 
 
 * Tlie corruption of tlie best things is the worse kind o£ 
 CnrriiptiDD. 
 
On persecution. 109 
 
 or whether ignorantly, hoping to produce peace ; 
 or whether complaisantly, to please his court chap- 
 lains; or whatever was the cause, in the second 
 year of his reign he called a council of about three 
 hundred bishops to draw up a creed, to constitute 
 canons for discipline, to require subscription, to 
 punish with excomnrjunication ; in a word, to esta- 
 blish uniformity in religion by laAV. This unhappy 
 procedure inflamed the established party with zeal, 
 the excommunicated with revenge ; it agitated the 
 passions of mankind, and perpetuated war to this 
 day. 
 
 Had his majesty studied nature to have known 
 the fitness of such a law ; or scripture to have found 
 an authority from Christ; or his own honour, how 
 he should inforceit; had he examined the matters 
 in dispute, in which the best of his subjects might 
 innocendy err; had he meditated and mastered the 
 iiubject in any point of view, he might have easily 
 foreseen the consequences : but alas ! his majesty 
 did not understand his own rehgion; and while he 
 meant, innocently perhaps, to serve it, fabricated 
 an instrument to stab it under its fifth rib. 
 
 Calling of councils, framing of canons to catch 
 and to kill, shedding of blood under the name 
 and sanction of religion, were the common 
 tricks of succeeding emperors; a complaint is 
 brought against one that he spat on the altar; a 
 process is carried on against the ashes of another, 
 (Origen) for holding that glorified bodies were 
 round ; yea, if a man died in the faidi, and it ap- 
 peared in his will that he had left any thing to an 
 
110 Ou persecution. 
 
 heretic, he should be excommunicated. Take 
 care you that are in the church upon earth, for 
 your governors can excommunicate even the blessed 
 in heaven. They were excellent precautions to 
 banish or murder the ejected heretic, to burn his 
 books, and to cut off the hands of such copyists as 
 dared to transcribe his works : if they had not used 
 these precautions they might possibly have been 
 answered, but arguments of this kind are unan- 
 swerable. This made old Latimer quaintly com- 
 plain, if zee say V/E vobis, we are called coram 
 
 XOBIS.* 
 
 It would be very easy to shew that violence in 
 religious disputes naturally generates persecution ; 
 nor would it be a difficult, though a very onplea- 
 sing work to prove, that plots, assassinations, mas- 
 sacres, cruelties of every name, have constantly 
 been produced by denying a liberty of conscience ; 
 and more, that such dismal scenes will always fol- 
 low the same practice, in the same proportion as 
 liberty of conscience is refused. No pretence of 
 prophesying is assumed, but let the cause be tried 
 at the tribunals of reason, history, scripture, and 
 experience. 
 
 Whether all men have understanding and con- 
 science or no is not necessary now to enquire; it is 
 certain all men pretend to one, most men to both, 
 and a great many to both in a high degree. It is 
 not said that all men formally claim the right of 
 
 * If we say ay be to yon Scribes and Pharisees, we are di- 
 rectly prosecuted for heresy. 
 
On persecution. 111 
 
 private judgment, nor that many men use it to 
 good purpose ; but certainly all men act as if they 
 thought they had that right. Even those that have 
 written most for persecution for conscience-sake, 
 pretend to write, not from interest, ignorance, or 
 bias of any kind, but, O strange ! from convicti- 
 on : thus granting their opponents all they claims 
 Indeed, let men think and act as they will, the pos- 
 session of intelligence, and the free use of that in- 
 telligence, are what all men naturally claim ; not 
 aware perhaps that the same arguments which jus- 
 tify that claim for themselves, do it also for others: 
 A man of your sense will allow, that the most vul- 
 gar sayings of the common people as fully express 
 their sentiments, and therefore ought to be allowed 
 the same weight in settling the common sense of 
 mankind on any subject, as the politer dialect of 
 the well-bred man. A groom condemns the prin- 
 ciples and conduct of a peer. Hold your tongue, 
 cries the house-steward, you saucy dog, my Lord 
 will send you about your business if he knows what 
 you say: well, well, replies the jockey, yoii cannot 
 hang me for thinking. Co down to Billingsgate, 
 bid Bess open you some oysters, and, when she 
 begins to swear, reprove her, ask her whether she 
 cannot take sixpence without cursing and swear- 
 ing? JVhafs that to you ? says she, pay for your 
 oysters, and take yourself off, every tub must stand 
 upon its own bottom. See now, these arc the 
 claims of mankind. Impose silence on one, and 
 he tells you ])la!nly that you can do nothing more, 
 he has another riglit beside that of speech, and 
 
1 12 ' On persecution. 
 
 that he will exercise in spite of your teeth. Re- 
 quire the other to act as you do, and she tells you 
 no, I am accountable for my conduct, not you. 
 You will pardon this, and as a judge, trying a cause 
 in which both the above were concerned, would 
 hear both in their own language, so will you ga- 
 ther the common notion of the right in question 
 from the untaught evidences now introduced. 
 
 Perhaps you will say, this is depraved reason. 
 Well Sir. Will you go to the tribunal of refined 
 reason? Shall Locke be judge? Shall my lord 
 Mansfield ? whose fine speech you sent with Dr. 
 Furneaux's excellent book. Comparisons may be 
 odious ; but to what fine reasoner will you go, and 
 not get a spirit of persecution condemned to goto 
 the place from whence it came, from thence to the 
 place of execution, and there to be hanged till it 
 is dead, dead, dead ? The Lord in mercy anni- 
 hilate the name and the thing ! 
 
 You will add, some great men have pleaded for 
 it. Ah ! This is too true : 
 
 And as they are disposed can prove it. 
 Below the moon, or else above it. 
 
 If learned men in the church of Rome argue for 
 Christianity against heathens and Jews, then the 
 right of private judgment, the detestable charac- 
 ter of a persecutor, tlie merit of those that suffer 
 for conscience sake, are the topics; yea the catho- 
 hc church of Rome has attributed a glory to exer- 
 cises of these kinds which protestants never have. 
 In their public masses they celebrate the merit of 
 those martyrs that suffered for resisting the roman 
 
On persecution. 1 1 3 
 
 heathen emperors, and plead that very merit, the 
 merit of resistance, for the forgiveness of their 
 own sins. A whole choir of monks will chant on 
 the festivals of St. Laurence, and St. Vincent, and 
 Saint nobody knows whom, the following elegant 
 composition. 
 
 Ante REG EM accersitur, 
 Et de REBUS convenitur. 
 occuLTis ecclesiae. 
 
 Sed NON cEDiT blandiraentis : 
 Emollitur aut tormentis 
 ejus avariciae. 
 
 Illuditur Decianus 
 Dum sustinet martyr sanus 
 paenarum angustias 
 
 Dat minister caritatis 
 Hostibus exuperatis 
 
 gratiarum copias. 
 
 Furit igitur PREFECTts 
 ■^Et paratur ardens lectus: 
 Insultantis viscera crates urit aspera 
 
 Sudat martyr in agone 
 Spe mercedis et corona 
 Qu£e datur fidelibus pro christo certantibus.* 
 
 * To preserve in a translation the sense and air, or rathei-, 
 the nonsense and rimaille, or doggrcl of these monkish rhymes 
 is not a little difficult. The following humble imitation may 
 serve instead of a better to convey their meaning. 
 
 Before the king St. Laurence stands, 
 To answer all his high demands 
 
 about the church's secrets. 
 U 
 
114 On persecution. 
 
 These are the saints, these the meritorious works 
 on which the cathoHc votaries ti'ust. But now turn 
 the tables, let proiestants take the liberty of doing 
 what St. Laurence did, and lo ! all the cathedral 
 shifts about like the weathercock on the top : Self- 
 interest is the pivot on which all turns. Old songs 
 
 But flattery could not make him show. 
 Nor punishment prevail to know 
 
 Who kept the church's pockets. 
 
 The martyr safe and sound sustains 
 The most excruciating pains : 
 
 And thus befools the emperor. 
 
 This deacon who supplied the poor 
 Gave his tormentors thanks moreo'er, 
 
 And came off more than conqueror. 
 
 The Governor then with rage ran mad, 
 And clapped him on a gridiron bed, 
 
 To roast him for his errors. 
 
 The martyr in an agony groans, 
 In hopes of those rewards and crovms 
 
 Promised io faithful soldiers, 
 
 St. Laurence (if tales be true) was deacon of the church at 
 Rome in the reign of Decius, under the prefecture of Corne- 
 lius Secularis, and was put to death for refusing to give the 
 emperor an account of the money intrusted with him by the 
 church for the use of the poor. If every thing else was cre- 
 dible in this story ; the first magistrate in Rome roasting a man 
 on a gridiron (a kind of punishment unknown to the romans) 
 passes all belief. Blessed be God, subscription to this, either 
 as an article ot truth, or as an article oi peace, is not requir- 
 ed now in England. Time was when it would have been 
 heresy to have doubted it. The reason of some, and the 
 rhvnie of others, have luiii^ ajio banished these absurdities. 
 
Oti persecution. 115 
 
 are suspended or forgotten, new ones composed, 
 and all the burly monks swell their cheeks to the 
 tune of 
 
 Sublimi in cathedra 
 
 Apostlolorura sede, 
 
 Fulgida lampada 
 
 Tribus et linguas judicantia.* 
 
 Even protestants take the same method. And 
 (without diving now into these mysteries of sophis- 
 try,) it may be truly said that all mankind plead 
 rationally for an exemption from persecution them- 
 selves, and that the same reasons conclude with 
 equal strength for other people. 
 
 As to the holy scriptures, the man who pretends 
 to derive persecution from them offers such an in- 
 sult on the nature of religion in general, on the 
 doctrines and examples of Christ and his apostles 
 
 To expose these legendary lies all hands were aloft at the re- 
 formation : nor was even the gravity of the venerable John 
 Fox the martyrologist ashamed to expose the dreams of the 
 monks thus, 
 
 St. Dunstan's harp hard by a wall, 
 Fast on a pin did hang-a ; 
 Without man's help, with lies and all, 
 And of itself did twang-a. 
 
 Even the great Mr. Addison proposed to help forward the ex- 
 tirpation of popery, by putting upon tlie country girls fans, a 
 concourse of people paying their respects to a rusty tenpenny 
 nail. 
 
 * The meaning is, that tliose. illustnous persons, who succeed 
 the apostles in the government of the church, hnva the punier of 
 of judging all nations, languages and people. 
 H 2 
 
] l6 On persecution. 
 
 in particular, on the common sense of the reader, 
 and on the inspiration of the writers, that he de- 
 serves no repl3^ Indeed could it be proved that 
 compel them to come in means any compulsion but 
 that of evidence, it would be no hard matter to 
 disprove the divinity, and destroy the authority of 
 all the christian religion. It must be owned that 
 many called deists are men of great learning and 
 sense, but really nothing makes it so doubtful as 
 the paltry way in which they attack the gospel. 
 What signifies nibbling off the edges of a text with 
 your criticisms Gentlemen ? Take one, and the 
 same truth is in an hundred more. What avails 
 cavilling at the jagged edges of one poor period, 
 which ought, you say, to be smooth and round } 
 What good can you do by rumbling with rules of 
 syntax? You may talk for ever about elucidation, 
 and interpolation, and canons of interpretation. 
 Alas ! The people arc prejudiced in favor of this 
 religion, they think it a good one, and they are not 
 frightened by all your learned labour. True, they 
 no more examine this religion tlian they do your 
 lucubrations; but however, now and then on a 
 Sunday, when their cousins visit them, they hear 
 their cliildren read a scripture-lesson : Let alt bit- 
 terness^ and ivratli, and clamour, and evil-speak- 
 ing be put axLKiy from you, zvith all ??ialice. And 
 be ye kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiv- 
 ing one another, even as God for Chrisfs-sake 
 hath forgivenyou. They do not practise this them- 
 selves indeed, but they wish the squire, and the 
 parson, and the overseers would mind St. Paul: 
 
On persecution. 1 ] 7 
 
 They are sure times would be better if they did. 
 Would you then lay the (lv gentlemen to the root 
 of the tree ? Take a new method, prove that this 
 leligion teaches men to kill one another for con- 
 science sake. Come, distil the redeemers doctrine, 
 extract from his sermons faction, and passion, and 
 rigour, and murder; expunge benevolence from his 
 book, and persuasion from his lips; make Paul an 
 inqiiisitor, and his master a pope, and then you will 
 catch infidels by shoals. You won't angle, pa- 
 tiently angle as you do now, for now and then one 
 disappointed scholar, your arguments will be po- 
 pular, and will easily entangle all that have not 
 eradicated the tender feelings of humanity. But 
 if this cannot be done, if every boy that can read 
 can discover that Christianity establisheth liberty 
 and love, one will chase a thousand of you, and 
 tivo put ten thousand to flight. Persecuting chris- 
 tians caress religion as Delilah Samson, without 
 knowing where its great strength lays. 
 
 If reason and scripture are against you, what says 
 history? You may abridge the matter, and hav- 
 ing surveyed the rise, the reign, and the ruin of 
 persecution, you may briefly conclude that it is the 
 greatest absurdity, the most egregious folly, the 
 most preposterous crime that man ever inserted 
 in his list of extravagancies. Did it ever answer 
 the persecutor s end ? Has it diminished the num- 
 ber of dis})utable points ? Does it embellish the 
 writings of its amanuensis? Are there not many er- 
 rors that owe their being now wholly to their san 
 
1 18 On persecution. 
 
 guinary prohibitions ? If there be a piece of salu- 
 tary advice deducible from history it is Let them 
 alone, for if the device be human it will come to 
 nought. Yes, heresy may address you in the lan- 
 guage of Job, Are not my days few? Cease then 
 and let me alone. I shall be carried from the womb 
 to the grave, 1 shall go whence I shall not re- 
 turn, even to the land of darkness, and the sha- 
 doiv of death. 
 
 It may seem ungenerous to urge experience at 
 this time of day, M'hen nobody is hurt for con- 
 science-sake. But let not so unkind an imputa- 
 tion be cast on hearts filled with unspotted loyalty, 
 and profoundly devoted to the spirit of the pre- 
 sent government. The truth is, the laws do not 
 comport with the spirit of the legislators, and all 
 that the late petitioners plead for, is to have the for- 
 mer harmonize with the latter. 
 
 An extensive acquaintance with the men autho- 
 rizes the assertion, they are most conscientiously 
 and intirely attached to the government. They are 
 e ithusiasts in praising his late majesty for declar- 
 ing in Dr. Doddridge's case that he would not suf- 
 fer the shadow of persecution in his reign. They 
 applaud in the highest strains the lenity of his pre- 
 sent majesty, and all they want is the total extinc- 
 tion of those penal laws which the government ne- 
 ver use, and declare they never will. Is he an 
 enemy to the house who would exchange some old 
 fashioned lumber, some rusty swords, and clum- 
 sey blunderbusses, for furniture in the modern 
 taste? Government, like a house, is fabricated ^^^' 
 
On persecution. 1 1 9 
 
 its inhabitants, the gout* of the master should 
 reform this, and LEsprif\ of the governors re- 
 gulate that. 
 
 Three things are infinitely valuable to all men. 
 Their children, their reputation, and their in- 
 fluence. You are a dissenter Sir, which of these 
 are you not baffled in? You have initiated your 
 son in the principles of religion and morality, you 
 think it time now to give him tuition in a public 
 seminary, you highly value the literati of the two 
 universities, you could intrust them with introduc- 
 ing your son to a future course in the world, but 
 alas ! the lad must be deprived of all this, except 
 he submits to the hardship ofsL^natriculation oath, 
 except he deserts a form of worship which he has 
 hitherto been taught to approve, and conforms to 
 a service (in your opinion) too superstitious. Not 
 that college-oaths would hurt him, because Mr. 
 Vice chancellor closes term with a general absolu- 
 tion. Let your own pastor found an academy. 
 But who pray can lawfully endow an unlawful 
 house ? Send him abroad. But he is your only son, 
 and you would be nigh to inspect him. What must 
 a man do? Educate him himself; or else prefer 
 conscience to latin and greek, and let him com- 
 fort himself with remembering that there were men 
 of sense in the world before the foundation of 
 Athens or Rome. 
 
 Is your reputation dear ? However, dear as it 
 is you shall be reputed ignorant, disatfectcd to go- 
 vernment, a setter forth of strange gods, nobody 
 
 * Taste. f The genius, temper, or spirit. 
 
120 0?i per seen tion. 
 
 shall trouble himself to examine you, yet all shall 
 point at and reproach you; with good reason 
 you are proscribed by law. 
 
 Does a good man wish to extend his influence for 
 moral purj)oscs? A very lawful desire. But he 
 who could fill an office with credit to himself and 
 honour to his country shall be excluded from every 
 office. AVhv ? He wears a long-skirted drab-co- 
 loured coat, says thou instead of i/oii, and to com- 
 plete his wickedness, cocks up his hat with hooks 
 and eyes instead of loops. These sir are disqualifi- 
 cations for office. 
 
 All tliese, it is said, are small inconveniences, 
 these ought not to be called persecution. That is, 
 this is not the worst stage of the disease, this there- 
 fore is no disease at all. T/ie putting fo7Hh of the 
 jinger and the wagging of the head difler from 
 burning a man, only as the whelp that snaps your 
 fingers differs from the dog that worries you to 
 death. Christian ministers, renounce these hid- 
 den things of dishonesty : full of a behef of the 
 goodness of your cause, boldly rest it on its truth ; 
 you have nothing to fear, sooner or later truth and 
 benevolence must reign triumphant. Take Cal- 
 derwood for your example. When James I. had 
 read his book called Altar Damascenum he was 
 very uneasy : let not this disturb your majesty, 
 said one of the bishops, we will answer the book. 
 Tush mon, said the monarch, what wid ye auii' 
 szver, 'tis notliing but scraptur and razon. 
 
 Farewell. 
 
LETTER VIII. 
 
 ON 
 
 SOPHISTRY. 
 
 Dedamatores verb in primis sunt admonendi, ne con- 
 tradictiones eas ponant, quibus facillime responderi 
 possit : ncu sibi stultum advcrsariumjingant, 
 
 OUINTILLIAN. 
 
L, ETT E R nil. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 J^T is a just remark of the wise man, that he who 
 applies his heart to know, to search, arid to seek 
 out wisdom, when he has counted mankind one hy 
 one, will scarcely meet with one among a thousand 
 among men, and fewer still among women, who 
 attend to the reaso^t of things, that is, who are 
 capable of avoiding sophistr}^ and of admitting a 
 close argumentation. Sometimes force, and some- 
 times fun supply the place of reason, and sanctify 
 an argument by proxy. It is not long since a cer- 
 tain person, who could no otherways account for 
 his ill-luck, ascribed his misfortunes to witchcraft, 
 and swam the supposed witch to prove her guilt. 
 An old gentleman who saw this tragi-coinedy, 
 though he detested the trial, yet believed die wo- 
 man's witch-craft. Some of the neishbourins 
 clergy endeavoured to convince the old gentleman 
 both of the inhumanity of the trial, and of the ab- 
 surdity of the notion. Pray, said he, gentlemen, 
 do you believe that there were witches in the time 
 of Moses ? Undoubtedly we do. J^ery well, re- 
 plied the good old man, as it was in the begimiing, 
 is now, and ever shall be world without end. Amen 
 
1 24 On sopliislry. 
 
 Innumerable are the things that usurp the throne 
 of reason, from the ferula in a country school to 
 the finesse of a declaimer in a public assembly. To 
 be sure every one knows best what pleases himself, 
 and where nothing is at stake let men divert them- 
 selves with sophistry. But where men's dearest in- 
 terests are in hand sophistry must be banished, and 
 a close just reasoning pursued. How seldom is 
 this the case ! 
 
 Some mistake the question : as a late anonymous 
 writer among the people called Baptists. The au- 
 thor addresses some of his brethren on the article 
 of mixt communion, and endeavours to dissuade 
 them from admitting to the Lord's supper any that 
 had not been baptized by immersion : and thus to 
 establish what he calls a strict communion. In 
 order to prove the necessity of this, the writer un- 
 dertakes to prove that baptism was administered 
 by immersion to all the members of the primitive 
 churches. He examines the nature, the subject,'the 
 mode, and the end of baptism ; and by a too com- 
 mon inadvertence finishes the book without coming 
 to the question. The question M^as not whether 
 baptism ^\'as originally administered to adults on a 
 profession offaith by immersion : In this it seems 
 both agreed ; but whether any indulgence ought to 
 be granted to erring consciences ? and if any, how 
 much ? But these w ere articles the good man never 
 thought of. 
 
 Some suppose in arguing^ what their opponents 
 do not grant. Gregory the great was guilty of this 
 sophism, where he enjoined the bishop of Cagliari 
 
On sophistry. 125 
 
 to force Heretics and Jews to be baptized into the 
 catholic faith '.for, says his lioHness, if these con- 
 verts be hypocrites, yet much will be gained by if, 
 because at least, their children will become good 
 catholics. Really your holiness s iiifalllb-lityhas 
 for once played you a slippery trick. Jews and he- 
 retics will not grant, and his Lordship of Cagliari 
 must doubt whether, hypocrisy in a parent will ge- 
 nerate sincerity in a son. 
 
 It is not worth while to class the various so- 
 phisms which have (inadvertently let it be hoped) 
 dropped from the pens of some who have pleaded 
 for intolerance against the petitioners. The pro- 
 foundest respect is due to every man who contri- 
 butes to the elucidation of a question of this kind, 
 and though a freedom may be taken with the little 
 excrescences and luxuriances of such writers, yet 
 no disrespect is intended to their persons, nor any 
 contempt cast on their doctrines, ministry, learn- 
 ing or benevolence. — The qualities of their argu- 
 ments, not of the men that use them, are in dis- 
 pute. 
 
 " Petitioning, say some, originated in princi- 
 ple. Some of the petitioners are arians. To them 
 indeed a freedom from subscription may be desir- 
 able ; but what have we to do with it, who sub- 
 scribe nothing but what we believe ? Beside, join- 
 ing such men in such a request, would be doing 
 all in our power to give them an opportunity of 
 spreading false doctrine. It would be going back 
 to popery by renouncing the doctrines of the re- 
 formation. It would reflect dishonour on his ma 
 
126 On sophistry, 
 
 jesty, and offend the clergy. "^ — Loyalty to the king; 
 respect to the clergy : faith in the thirty-nine arti- 
 cles : the piety of the reformers : the patronage of 
 arianism : what a bundle of sophisms are here ! 
 I. Who can prove that petitioning originated in 
 principle ? The contrary indeed might be proved. 
 It would be easy to show that an entire liberty of 
 search is an idea prior to all that is meant by prin-, 
 ciple here. 2. Suppose it did originate in an 
 arian, what then ? unless it was a part of his arian- 
 ism what signifies its originating in the man? Now 
 this is no part of arianism. Arianism belongs to 
 speculation and doctrine, this to practice and 
 DISCIPLINE. Suppose a man should say, Sir, I 
 beg you would not meddle with music, optics, sur- 
 veying, or gauging, all these are the inventions of 
 geometers, and geometry originated in Egypt, and 
 if you do not take care they will make a mummy 
 of you, and send you somewhere to be shown when 
 you are dead. — That is, you would reply, the 
 Egyptians, who first dealt in geometry, practised 
 embalming also ; cannot I receive one of their in- 
 ventions without embracing both ? 3. It is very 
 questionable whether you do believe all you have 
 subscribed upon oath. You make oath to the 
 truth of so many articles, now their truth to you 
 depends on tiieir containing neither less nor more 
 than you believe of the objects in question : but if 
 the articles do really express your sentiments so 
 exactly, how is it, when your ministers are receiv- 
 ed to ordination, that they read, and frequently 
 print other creeds extremely different from what 
 
0)1 soplnstry. 127 
 
 they have subscribed ? Allow you do believe all 
 the articles, what is all that to the purpose ? The 
 petitioners do not enquire zvhat you believe, but 
 why you believe ; not faith, but the power that 
 produces it is the question. You do believe the 
 established doctrines ; the petitioners ask whether 
 you believe them because they are established, and 
 you answer, you do believe the doctrines. This 
 is ingenious, but is it logical ? 4. You say the 
 arians need exemption from penal statutes, but 
 you do not. Still this is questionable. Most cer- 
 tainly the doctrine preached in most places of wor- 
 ship does need toleration, and by the law is ac- 
 tually exposed to rigour. Pray does your church 
 read Bel and the Dragon for example of life and 
 instruction of manners ? Ah ! if Harry the Vlllth. 
 should come again and want money, he would catch 
 you all in a prcemunire, all to a m n without ex- 
 cepting one. Let it be granted that you are safe, 
 is selfishness a part of your religion? and is it ge- 
 nerous to forget your brethren now you are at 
 court, as Pharaoh's butler forgat his friend Jo- 
 seph? and after all, do you not know in your own 
 consciences that liberty to be an arian, and liberty 
 to be a calvinist, are cyons that grow out of the 
 same stock ? That is, they both proceed from a 
 liberty of private judgment, which private judg- 
 ment subjected to the magistrate deprives Calvin 
 and Arminius, Arius and Socinus alike. At this 
 rate, you have a right to be a calvinist only as long 
 as the magistrate pleases ; and should the ma- 
 gistrate think proper to refoiin the church again, 
 
128 On sophist ly. 
 
 should he discard the thirty-nine articles, and es- 
 tablish the racovian catechism, how can you con- 
 sistently with your own declarations complain? 
 5. Joining the petitioners, you add, is helping to 
 spread false doctrine. No surely ! Is arianisni so 
 self-evident that to propose is to propagate it ? Is 
 the divinity of Christ so badly supported by evi- 
 dence that it must call in the sword ? A fair oppo- 
 nent is not against granting his adversary every 
 reasonable advantage, his conquest is the more 
 glorious. Let the arians come forth boldly, let 
 them propose all their objections, if the divinity 
 of Christ be true, it will gloriously answer all : if 
 not true, what interest have you in it ? Spread 
 false doctrine ? As if the arians had reserved in 
 petto some things not yet said ? Why the subject 
 has been exhausted, what can be added ? Even 
 say of all sorts of heretics, as one on another occa- 
 sion, they have said ; they do say ; theyxvill say ; 
 and let them say. 
 
 Nothing need be said to prove that truth has 
 nothing to fear from examination in every point of 
 light. If all parties would agree to a general 
 search, perhaps all parties might lose something, 
 but they would gain more than they lost, the truth 
 would come out. A mind properly disposed to 
 truth would not only not forbid any examination, 
 but like some famous painters and printers, would 
 reward such as could discover defects. But here 
 lays the core of the misery, holdfast without xva- 
 'vering is the alpha and omega of every man's 
 creed, be his creed composed when, where, by 
 
On sophistry. 129 
 
 whom, or of what it will. It is not worth while 
 therefore to pursue these sophisms any farther. All 
 that would say any thing to purpose, should show 
 a just reason why a liberty claimed by one man, 
 and allowed to him, should be denied to another 
 man. 
 
 Let it not appear strange, if it be affirmed, that 
 there is not a man in England, if he professeth to 
 be of any religious party, but must of necessity be 
 guilty of sophistry, if he denies the right of pri- 
 vate judgment to the petitioners. All religions in 
 the world consist of principles and practices, and 
 the last are founded on the first. There is a God, 
 is a principle of natural religion. That God is to 
 be worshipped, is a practice arising from, and sup- 
 ported by that principle. Now is it not plain to a 
 demonstration, that if a man of any religion in the 
 world was to offer these two propositions to be 
 received by another, he would profess to have ex- 
 amined them himself, appeal to the reason of the 
 other, and offer to give evidence ? That this is 
 the only just and natural ratio of mankind is clear, 
 and it is equally clear, that when they depart from 
 this they plunge into sophistry. 
 
 Consider four facts. 1. All men claim reason 
 for their own sentiments ; their oxvn reason ; not 
 a magistrate's, nor a priests, nor any body's else. 
 If any man can make good this claim for himself, 
 is It not sophistry to deny it to another ? 2. No 
 man ever tried by the power of magistracy, to 
 make a believer of an infant, an ideot, or a mad- 
 I 
 
130 On sophistry. 
 
 man. Why not ? They have carcases and you 
 have creeds ! Yes, but reason is absent. Well, 
 butwhere'sthe difference between an ideotin whom 
 reason is absent, and a man of sense in whom 
 reason is present, if the right of private judgment 
 be denied to both ? All the difference is, one can- 
 not reason, the other must not. As well then make 
 a believer without it. Lay by the sword to both, 
 else you play the sophister. 3. The most bloody 
 persecutors have pretended to reason heretics into 
 truth,andhave affected only to draw the sword when 
 reason could not prevail. Hence the english refor- 
 mers were first disputed at Oxford in public and 
 afterward burnt. Hence all the parade of priests 
 and friars, and bishops to confute and convert the 
 martyrs in their cells, before they were brought out 
 to execution.If religion be not received by examin- 
 ing, judging, and self-determining, why dispute ? 
 and if it be, why burn and destroy ? Is not this 
 cruelty and sophistry both ? 4. It sometimes hap- 
 pens that the chief magistrate, the king, who 
 should preserve the creed of his subjects, does not 
 believe it himself In such a case, who but a 
 madman would dare to insult royalty with the 
 thought of any corporal punishment ? Whether a 
 tyrant who tramples on the people's privileges 
 may be resisted, is one question : but whether an 
 heretic, w ho deprives no subject of a right, only 
 does not believe as his subjects believe, may be 
 resisted, is another. Now if mere heresy ought 
 not to dethrone a king, how, without the help of 
 sophism, can it be proved, that it ought to dis- 
 
On sophistry. 131 
 
 franchise a subject ? An hereditary right to seven 
 acres is as inalienable as an hereditary right to 
 seven provinces, or to seven kingdoms; and in 
 many respects more so ; seeing the latter was ori- 
 ginally granted to a reigning family for services 
 to be rendered to the state ; and the former de- 
 scended from father to son free from such obliga- 
 tions. When that detestable monster James Cle- 
 ment assassinated Henry III. of France ; whenRa- 
 villac, that execrable regicide murdered Henry IV. 
 when several pretended to justify those wretched 
 criminals by urging the heresy of these unfortunate 
 princes; did not all Europe shudder at the thought? 
 
 To trace all these facts would be too tedious, let 
 the first only be recalled, and for five minutes re- 
 examined ; all men claim the right of private judg- 
 ing, and are sophistical in denying it to their fel- 
 low creatures. 
 
 Paganism presents to view none greater than So- 
 crates. He studied and taught philosophy in both 
 its branches, natural and moral. The first is ex- 
 pressed in "latO S Zatoiv tx ie vito ynv x«t t« tTrovpavta ; 
 
 and the last in Xenophon's SxoTrwv t* Evo-eg'sf, t* aaE^Eg 
 . . . . T* ^»x««ov, T» a^ixov, &c. In settling his 
 own notions he paid no regard to magistracy but 
 to his dcemon, which, in all probability was that 
 philosopher's term for right reason. In communi- 
 cating it to others, he paid no regard to tiie so- 
 phists of the age, nor much, if any, to his own 
 persuasion ; all his aim was to seta young gentle- 
 man a thinking for himself, and to give a right 
 turn to a habit of reasoning ; 
 I 2 
 
133 On sophistry. 
 
 to rear the tender thought. 
 To teach the young idea how to shoot. 
 
 In all this he followed nature, and so he did 
 when he praised Homer for calling Agamemnon thk 
 SHEPHERD of his people toi/xev* x«wv. For he sum- 
 med up all the regal virtues in one, that was, the 
 rendering their subjects happy. Cicero's good 
 sense was so delighted with his method of esta- 
 blishing truth, that he says he chose the dialogue 
 way for this very reason ; here, says he, every 
 doubt may be proposed, and answered. This, adds 
 he, is vetus et Socratica ratio contra alteriiis opi- 
 ?iionem disserendi* Now all this is incompatible 
 with force, and no pagan can can receive these 
 ])rinciples and employ force without falling into so- 
 phistry. Plato however is guilty of this in his tenth 
 book de legibus. 
 
 Pass from Paganism to Judaism. The first of 
 that nation is undoubtedly Jesus Christ : To him 
 the Sadducees once proposed a question relative to 
 the doctrine of the resurrection, a doctrine which 
 Jesus believed and taught, but which they denied. 
 Remark how the Saviour dealt with Heretics. He 
 derives their error from their ignorance of two 
 things, the scriptures and the power of God. Had 
 they examined the evidences of Gods power, they 
 would have known he could, and had they attended 
 to the me3.n'm^r of scripture, they mighthave known 
 he would raise the dead. If ignorance produccth 
 
 * Tbis is the ancient method which Socrates used to dis* 
 jBiDve au opposite opinion. 
 
On sophistry. 133 
 
 error, heresy can be removed by knowledge only. 
 Jesus Christ therefore asks have ye not read? 
 urges a text, and goes to reasoning about it. It is 
 nothing to say the Jewish church tolerated sucli 
 people, Jesus Christ himself only reasoned with 
 them. When Saul, that glory of the Jewish na- 
 tion, proposed to cast down reasonings, and every 
 high thing that e.valted itself against the know- 
 ledge of Gody and to bring into captivity every 
 thought to the obedience of Christ, what weapons 
 did he use? / Paul myself beseech you, by 
 
 THE MEEKNESS AND GENTLENESS OF ChRIST. 
 
 This, you will say, is proof to christians, but not 
 to Jews. Be it so. Hear that famous Rabbi 
 Abarbanel, on the end of sacrificing. He says 
 that there are three sorts of sacrifices established 
 in the book of Leviticus, and he assigns to each a 
 different end. The end of the burnt-offering was 
 that man might fix his attention on die divine na- 
 ture, and might perceive the immortality of his own 
 soul ; that the action of the fire, seperating the parts 
 of the animal, and causing them to ascend, proper- 
 ly represented the ascent of the sacrificer s soul to 
 God after its desolution; that it was burnt wliole 
 on altars dedicated to God, to express the return 
 of the whole soul to God from whom it was derived; 
 that for this reason, their wise men said that burnt- 
 offerings related only to the thougltts of the mind ; 
 that Rabbi Levi had proved this from Job i. .5. 
 Job offered burnt -offerings according to the num- 
 ber of his children, for he said, It may he that my 
 sons have sinned, and cursed God in their 
 
134 On sophistry. 
 
 HEARTS : Whence we gather, adds he, that he who 
 offered a burnt-offering meant to purge away the 
 stains of his mind, a wicked opinion, or a 
 WRONG THOUGHT, and to say to himself, return 
 unto thy rest my soul. That the burnt-offering 
 referred chiefly to the rational soul, which is the 
 chief part of the man, he farther proves by Lev. i. 3. 
 he shall offer it of his voluntary will before the 
 Lord., and, says he, hethatoffers the sacrifice con- 
 fesses that all the powers of his body, and all the 
 operations of his mind, ought to be devoted to ve- 
 nerate and worship his creator, that this only he 
 should desire, this only study, to unite himself to 
 God ; and, like the victim, to ascend on his altar. 
 The sum is, that the burnt-offering was designed to 
 attract and accustom men to love and study divine 
 things, and to expiate their guilt when they had 
 not done it. If the Jews believe the divine lega- 
 tion of Moses ; if they receive the doctrine of 
 burnt-offerings as their Rabbles teach, they throw 
 a lustre over their ceremonial law by harmonizing 
 it with the law of nature, they claim a right of pri- 
 vate judging from the magistrate, and with chris- 
 tians reserve conscience only for God: Nor can 
 a Jew allowing all this, force conscience without 
 manifest sophistry. 
 
 Are not theroman catholics in the same predica- 
 ment with the rest of mankind on this article } 
 Do not they also reason well till their own turn is 
 served, and then turn sophisters.^ That famous 
 Jesuit Eourdaloue, in the xvi vol. of his works, on 
 the faith that conquers the world speaks thus. 
 
On sopliistry. 135 
 
 " To support persecution is one of the most dif- 
 " ficult things in the world. A man groans under 
 " his bondage, and a fund of equity, rectitude, 
 " and conscience in his soul, makes him a hundred 
 " times desire to shake oft" the yoke, and to free 
 " himself from such a tyranny, but his courage 
 *' fails, and when he would execute his design, all 
 " his resolutions are fled. Now what can deter- 
 " mine, confirm, and render him superior to every 
 " trial? Religion. With the arms of the faith, 
 " he wards oft' every blow, he resists all attacks, 
 " he is invincible. There is not a friendship but 
 " he breaks, nor a society but he flies, norathrca- 
 " tening but he contemns ; neither hopes, nor in- 
 '' terest, nor advantage but he sacrificeth to God 
 " and his duty. Such are the dispositions of a 
 " man animated with the spirit of Christianity, 
 " and supported by the faith which he professes. 
 " Thus he thinks, and thus he acts. The reason 
 
 *' is, BEING A CHRISTIAN, HE ACKNOWIEDGETH, 
 
 " properly speaking, no other master but God : 
 " or, acknowledging other powers, he considers 
 " them only as subordinate to the Almighty, riglit- 
 " ly elevating him above all without exception. 
 " .... How many inferior people and domestics 
 " have there been whom no authority could 
 " corrupt, nor divert from the path of exact pro- 
 " bity ? What torments have millions of martyrs 
 " endured ? Nothing has alarmed them, ni les ar - 
 " rets des magistrats,* nor the fury of tyrants, 
 " nor the rage of executioners, nor the obscurity 
 * Neither the decrees of magistrates. 
 
1S6 On sophistry, 
 
 " of prisons, neither racks, nor wheels, nor fire, 
 *' nor sword. Now whence did these pflorious sol- 
 " diers of Jesus Christ derive this immoveable con- 
 " stancy, but from that religion which was so 
 " deeply imprinted in their hearts?" Plow, is Saul 
 " also among the prophets ; 
 
 It is not father Bourdaloue alone that talks thus, 
 topics of this kind make half the panegyrics of all 
 the martyrs in the church of Rome. Bossuet and 
 Flechier, JVIassillon the Cicero, and Fenelon the 
 Longinus of France, all agree here. Is it not ten 
 thousand pities that such men should change sides, 
 and deny all they have advanced when protestants 
 make the same claim ? How easy would it be in 
 such a case to entangle the whole rornan catholic 
 and apostolic church in a sophism ! 
 
 Does the established church of England claim 
 authority over men's consciences, or not ? If she 
 does not, why require subscription ? If she does, 
 why disown the spirit of persecution ? Do the se- 
 veral sects of dissenters require this authority, or 
 do they not ? They cannot claim it by law, nor do 
 they pretend to derive it from scripture. Why 
 then are they not unanimous in humbly peti- 
 tioning for an abolition of what themselves call 
 an unjust claim ? Do the people called methodists 
 claim this authority ? Whatever some clergymen 
 so called may have pleaded for, most certainly tlieir 
 founder did not claim it for himself or for others. 
 The reverend compiler of the late IVIr. Whitefield s 
 life relates an attempt of the two Erskines, and 
 the associate presbytery, to make Mr. Whitefield 
 
On sophistry. 137 
 
 isubscribe the solemn league and covenant. Among 
 other proposals they offered to send two of their 
 brethren with him to England, and two more into 
 America to settle presbytery in each. Suppose, 
 said Mr. Whitefield, a number of independents 
 should come, and declare, that after the greatest 
 search, they wei'e convinced that independency 
 was the right church government, and would dis- 
 turb nobody if tolerated, should they be tolerated? 
 No, replied these compassionate christians. And 
 here very properly ended a conference, which Mr. 
 Whitefield considered as an insult on the rights of 
 mankind. — When Mr. Ralph Erskine, to engage 
 Mr. Whitefield to preach only for them, urged, 
 weave the Lord's people. If others, replied Mr. 
 Whitefield be the devil's people, they have 7nore 
 need to be preached to. For my part, added he, 
 all places are alike to me, and ij the Pope himself 
 would lend me his pulpit, I would gladly proclaim 
 171 it the righteousness of the. Lord Jesus Christ* 
 This is the professed, original spirit of genuine 
 methodism, and if the people denominated metho- 
 dists now, embrace other spirits, they have for- 
 gotten their founder's original plan, they have de- 
 serted the grand principle of Catholicism taught 
 them by the reverend JNIessieurs Whitefield, Wes- 
 leys, and others of their first ministers, they de- 
 prive their cause of its glory, and all their zeal for 
 universal benevolence, professed for forty yeais, 
 unmasks at last, or, to speak more favourably, 
 at last degenerates into zeal for a party. Such 
 gentlemen, as plead for intolerance, of this name, 
 
138 On sophistry. 
 
 are humbly requested to remember a just and sen- 
 sible remark of the late Mr. Whitefield's on a ser- 
 mon preached by a minister of the associate pres- 
 bytery at the close of the conference above mention- 
 ed. " The good man so spent himself in the for- 
 mer part of his sermon, in talking against pre- 
 lacy, the common prayer hook, the surplice, the 
 rose in the hat, and such like externals ; that 
 when he came to the latter part of his ie.vt, to in- 
 vite poor sinners to Jesus Christ, his breath was 
 so gone, that he could scarce be hear d^ And this 
 will always be the case ; that learning, eloquence, 
 strength, and zeal, which should be spent on en- 
 forcing the weightier matters of the law, judg- 
 ment, faith and mercy, will be unprofitably wast- 
 ed on the tithing of mint, anise, and cummin, on 
 discarding or defending a bow to the east, or a 
 rose in the hat. But let who will trifle thus, the 
 bare idea of such a mission, and such a doctrine, 
 as the people called methodists profess, is totally 
 unintelligible, and intirely indefensible without the 
 prior notion of universal toleration. In what city ? 
 In what village? In what church ? In what barn 
 have not the methodists cried examine your- 
 selves whether ye be in the faith ? 
 
 In short, whoever looks attentively will find 
 that the leading principles of the petitioners, as far 
 as they relate to the subject in question, are the 
 allowed or professed principles of all mankind, 
 and it will be easy from hence to infer that univer- 
 sal toleration, when thoroughly understood, will 
 meet with less opposition than may at first seem 
 
On sophistry. 1 39 
 
 from all ranks of men ; all men, statesmen, mer- 
 chants, churchmen, and princes above all, viill 
 find their account in it. 
 
 Happy the man whose mind does not float on 
 the surface of Christianity ! whose soul, not con- 
 tent with the mere ceremonial, rises into the be- 
 nign system of the gospel ; who, neither benumbed 
 by indolence, enslaved by prejudice, nor frighten- 
 ed by nominal bugbears, nobly dares to think and 
 act for himself : a lover of truth, a friend of be- 
 nevolence, an imitator of Christ, and of that God 
 who causeth his sun to rise on the just and u?ijust 
 his rain to descend on the evil and the good. 
 
 Whatever be the issue, worthy Sir, of this con- 
 troversy, you will not refuse joining in that prayer 
 which the established church directs her members 
 to use on St. Simon and St.Jude's day ;0 Almighty 
 God, who hast built thy church upox the 
 roundation of the apostles and prophets, 
 Jesus Christ himself being the head corner 
 stone ; grant us so to be joined together in 
 
 unity of spirit by their DOCTRINE, THAT WE 
 MAY BE MADE AN HOLY TEMPLE ACCEPTABLE 
 UNTO THEE THROUGH JeSUS ChRIST OUR LoRD. 
 
 Amen. 
 
 ,s. 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 AND THE 
 
 M Y S T E K Y 
 
 OF 
 
 GOOD-FRIDAY. 
 
 [the eighth edition, printed ^799-^ 
 
THE HISTORY, &c 
 
 It has always been accounted good policy in the 
 church of Rome to withhold the holy scriptures 
 from the laity, and to perform the public worship 
 of Almighty God in latin, a language unknown to 
 the people. A religion founded on the infalhble 
 judgment of one man, and requiring of all the rest 
 of mankind an absolute submission to his dictates, 
 ought not to be examined ; for, should the people 
 emerge from credulity, arid rise into reason and 
 taith, the bold pretender toinfalhbility would tum- 
 ble from the pinnacle of pontifical dignity, into a 
 gulf of universal contempt. 
 
 That wise and vigorous set of men, the protes- 
 tant reformers, broke open the papal cabinet, ex- 
 posed the pretended titles of the pope to public 
 view, and did all in their power to simplify religi- 
 on, and to reduce it to its original plainness and 
 purity. They laid open the inspired writings, they 
 taught the right of private judgment, and they 
 summoned all mankind to enter into that liberty 
 with which Jesus Christ had made them free. 
 
 If these men had a fault, it lay in the breadth 
 of their scale ; they aimed to convert whole nati- 
 ons at once, and to chang-e their customs in a day. 
 iVIany religious customs were incorporated with 
 
144 The history and the mystery 
 
 civil rights ; it was irrelicrion in ecclesiastics to ex- 
 ercise civil government, and it became therefore 
 essential to the accomplishment of their plan to 
 call in the aid of secular powers. Secular pow- 
 ers readily assisted them ; but at the same time 
 obliged them to keep measures with royal prero- 
 gatives, court factions, the intrigues of the old 
 clergy, and the prejudices of the common people. 
 Tliey therefore left the reformation unfinished, and 
 died in hopes that their successors would complete 
 in happier periods what they had begun. Far 
 from entering into this just and liberal design, we 
 seem to have lost sight of it, and to have adopted 
 principles subversive of the whole. We seem to 
 have discarded piety, incorporated luxury, and 
 the few, who have not given up all sense of shame, 
 endeavour to conceal the scandal under a cover of 
 superstition. Thus we affect modesty, and dance 
 naked in a net to hide our shame ! 
 
 Superstition is to religion, says one, what astro- 
 logy is to astronomy; the foolish daughter of a 
 wise mother. These two have long subjugated 
 mankind. We have no objection in general against 
 days of fasting and prayer ; they have always the 
 advantage of retaining a scriptural form of godli- 
 ness; they are often edifying, and some times ne- 
 cessary. Nor do we find fault with those chris- 
 tians who make conscience of observing all the 
 festivals of their own churches. They have a right 
 to judge for themselves, and their sincerity will be 
 rewarded. Neither will we suppose the English 
 clergy to have been deficient in teaching their peo- 
 
Of Good-Friday. 145 
 
 pie, that all practical religion divides into the two 
 parts of moral obligations, and positive institutes ; 
 that the first are universal, unalterable, and eter- 
 nal ; and that the last were appointed by the legis- 
 lature to serve the purposes of the first: but as 
 the cause of moral rectitude can never be pleaded 
 too often, nor the nature of it explained too clear- 
 ly ; as superstition is very apt to invade the rights 
 of religion, and as numbers who have great inte- 
 rest in these articles have not leisure to trace them 
 through folios, it may not be unseasonable, and we 
 trust it will not be deemed impertinent, to expose 
 to public view in brief, the history — the authority 
 — the piety — and tlie polity of church holidays. 
 To discuss one is to examine all, and we select for 
 this purpose that day, on which, it is reputed, the 
 founder of our holy religion was crucified, com- 
 monly called GOOD-FRIDAY. 
 
 The HISTORY o/" GOOD-FRIDAY. 
 
 Let no one blame an historian who does not begin 
 before his records; it is not his fault, it is his virtue. 
 Strictly speaking, all documents in protestant 
 churches should be found in the holy canon; for 
 the people of each church refer an inquisitive man 
 to their clergy, their clergy refer him to their prin- 
 ted confessions of faith, and all their confessions 
 refer him to scripture. There are many ceremo- 
 nies in some protestant churches which do not pre- 
 
 K 
 
145 77^6 history and the mystery 
 
 tend to derive themselves from scripture immedi- 
 ately, but they were appointed, they say, by those 
 who were appointed by scripture to ordain them. 
 The examination of this appointment does not fall 
 under this article, and we defer it to the next. At 
 present we only observe, Good-Friday is a cere- 
 moriy of this kind, and the original records of pure 
 Christianity say nothing about it. 
 
 Neither any one evangelist, nor all the four to- 
 gether, narrate the xvholc history of Jesus Christ, 
 nor yet all the circumstances of those parts on 
 which they enlarge most. St. John, the last of 
 these historians, closes his history with a declara- 
 tion, that many things relative to Jesus Christ 
 were not written. The times of the birth and 
 crucifixion of our Saviour are so written in these 
 authentic records, that nothing certain can be de- 
 termined concerning them. All who have preten- 
 ded to settle these periods, are conjecturers, and 
 not historians, as their variety proves. There is 
 only one opinion in the whole christian world con- 
 cerning the countiy of Jesus Christ, and the place 
 of his nativity; all allow he was a Jew, and born 
 at Bethlehem. We should be equally uniform in 
 our belief of the times of his birth and crucifixionj 
 had scripture as clearly determined the last as it 
 had related the first. There are more dian one 
 hundred and thirty opinions concerning the year 
 of his nativity, and the day of it has been placed 
 by men of equal learning in every month of the 
 year. There is a like variety of opinions concer- 
 ning the time of his crucifixion. Let us respect 
 
Of Good Friday. 147 
 
 the silence of the oracles of God. No argument 
 can be drawn from it to endanger Christianity. A 
 point of chronology is not an object of saving 
 faith, nor is zeal for an undecided question any 
 part of that holiness, without which none' shall see 
 the Lord. The inspired writers did not design to 
 make laws about feasts, but to enforce the prac- 
 tice of piety and virtue. 
 
 The first congregations of christians consisted of 
 native Jews, Jewish proselytes, and Pagans of dif- 
 ferent countries, and of divers sects. Each class 
 brought into the christian church some of their old 
 education prejudices, and endeavoured to incor- 
 porate them with the doctrine and worship of 
 Christianity. The apostles guarded against this 
 unnatural union, and, during their lives, prevented 
 the profession of it; but after their decease they 
 were made to coalesce ; and from this coalition 
 came Good-Friday, and other church holidays. 
 Christianity affirmed the facts — proselyte mathe- 
 maticians guessed at the times — pretended scho- 
 lars accommodated prophecy and history to the 
 favourite periods — and devotional men, whose 
 whole knowledge consisted in an art of turning po- 
 pular notions to pious purposes, began to observe 
 the days themselves : by the austerity of their ex- 
 amples they gave them a sanctimonious air to 
 others, and so recommended them to the observa- 
 tion of all who chose to be accounted pious as well 
 as wise. 
 
 K 2 
 
148 The historij and the mystery 
 
 We hear nothing of Easter till the second cen- 
 tury; and then we find Polycarp, Auicetus, and 
 others conferring on the time of keeping it, cele- 
 brating it at ditFerent times, and exercising a mu- 
 tual toleration notwithstanding their differences. 
 Jesus Christ was crucified at the time of the 
 Jewish passover. The christians of Asia celebra- 
 ted Easter on the fourteenth day of the moon, ac- 
 cording to the law of IMoses, on whatever day of 
 the week it fell, so that if they kept some years a 
 Good Friday, they also kept in other years Good 
 Monday, Good Saturday, or Good any day; for 
 the day of Christ's crucifixion must be at its due 
 distance from the day of his resurrection. These 
 eastern christians pretended St. John kept Easter 
 so. The western churches used to observe the 
 Sunday diher the fourteenth day of the March moon, 
 and they said St. Peter and St. Paul always did so. 
 If these christians could not convince one another 
 in times so near those of the apostles, it is not 
 likely we should be able to determine the time of 
 Easter now. We have then nothing more to add 
 here, except that they debate(J and differed like 
 christians; they tolerated one another, they com- 
 municated together, and the liberal temper of such 
 disputants is always edifying, however idle we may 
 think the dispute. 
 
 About the year I90, Victor I. then bishop of the 
 church at Rome, had the audacity to excommuni- 
 cate those christians who kept Easter on the four- 
 teenth day of the moon. The excommunicated 
 pitied his pride, and persevered in their practice. 
 
Of Good-Friday. 149 
 
 The roman bishops intrigued, caballed, got coun- 
 cils called, and at length the council of Aries, held 
 in the year 314, having no doul)t the fear of (Jod 
 before their eyes, and being endued with more wis- 
 dom, more power, or more presumption than their 
 predecessors, decreed that all churches should 
 celebrate Easter on i\\e Sunday after the fourteenth 
 of the moon of March, when that moon should 
 happen after the vernal equinox. Eleven years 
 after, the council of Nice confirmed this decree, 
 and the Emperor Constantino enforced it by or- 
 ders sent into all the provinces of the empire. 
 The council did not think to provide for one diffi- 
 culty which might arise; which might produce a 
 new dissention, and throw down that idol, unifor- 
 mity^ which these christian Nebuchadnezzars had 
 committed so many crimes to set up. The four- 
 teenth day of the full moon in March might fall 
 on a Sunday. It did so. A difficulty started, and 
 different opinions followed. The eastern churches 
 celebrated Easter on the day of the full moon, when 
 it fell on a Sunday in March. The western chris- 
 tians deferred it to the Sunday following. How 
 xould a synod of 318 bisliops, they were but men, 
 foresee this difficulty ! 
 
 In the seventh century, one of our petty kings, 
 Oswy, having been instructed in the christian re- 
 ligion by Scotch monks, kept Easter after the 
 Asian fashion; while his queen, who had been 
 taught by a roman priest, observed it in the wes- 
 tern way ; and it sometimes happened, that his ma- 
 jesty was joyfully celebrating our Saviour's resur- 
 
1^0 The historij and the mystery 
 
 rection, while the queen was fasting on account of 
 his crucifixion To get rid of this inconvenience, 
 the king summoned a council to meet at Whitby to 
 determine the original time of Easter. The clergy 
 on the one side rested their cause on tradition de- 
 rived from St. John, while the clergy on the other 
 urged that which came from St. Peter. The king 
 was judge, the balance inclined neither way, and 
 long was he perplexed vvith authorities quite equal; 
 at length being informed, that, however great St. 
 John might be, St. Peter kept the keys of the king- 
 dom of heaven, the king very prudently took care 
 of the main chance, declared for St. Peter, and 
 Easter has fallen on a Sunday in England ever 
 since. 
 
 Good Friday had the fate of all other holidays; 
 it had a solemn service composed for it; and, be- 
 ing established by civil power, the people were 
 obliged to fast — and to pray — and to say — and to 
 sing— and so on to the end of the chapter. 
 
 When king Henry VIII. reformed the British 
 church, although he discarded many festivals, yet 
 he thought proper to retain Easter, and Lent its 
 appendage. The old service was afterwards new 
 vamped, and during the succeeding reigns of Eli- 
 zabeth and the Stuarts many were persecuted for 
 refusing to comply with it. That inestimable prince, 
 William III. procured a toleration, the present 
 august family protect it, and the inhabitants of 
 this country now enjoy the liberty of keeping fes- 
 tivals or of renouncing them. 
 
Of Good Friday. 151 
 
 The history then in brief is this. Neither Good- 
 Friday, nor any other fasts or feasts were appoint- 
 ed to be observed by the Lord Jesus Christ or his 
 apostles. Tlie time of Christ's birth cannot be 
 made out, and that of liis crucifixion is uncertain. 
 Could we assure ourselves of the year, we could 
 not prove that the Jews observed the regressions 
 of the equinox, nor that they made use of accu- 
 rate astronomical tables. No traces of Easter are 
 to be found in the first century, nor for a great 
 part of the second. When the first observers of it 
 appeared, they could not make evidence of their 
 coming honestly by it. Councils decreed tliat it 
 should not be kept before the 21st of March, nor 
 after the 20th of April. Some, however, kept it 
 on the 22d of April, while others celebrated it on 
 the 25th of March ; others at times ditferent from 
 both, and others kept no day at all. Our ances- 
 tors murdered one another for variety of opinion 
 on this subject; but we are fallen under wiser and 
 better civil governors, who allow us to think and 
 act as we please, provided the state receives no 
 detriment; so t'latthe language of scripture is spo- 
 ken by the law of our country. He ivho regard- 
 eth a day, let him regard it to the Lord; and he, 
 who regardeth not a day, to the Lord let him not 
 regard it. What good christian can refuse to add 
 9 hearty Amen ? 
 
1S2 The history and the mystery 
 
 The AUTHORITY of GOOD-FRIDAY. 
 
 Dull and uninteresting as this poor subject may 
 be as an article of history, it becomes extremely 
 important, when it is foisted into the religion of Je- 
 sus Christ, enjoined on all christian people under 
 pain of his displeasure, and considered as the li- 
 very of loyalty and piety. In such a case, the dis- 
 ciples of the Son of God are compelled to enquire> 
 whose are we, and whom do we serv^e? His we 
 are whom we obey. 
 
 Should a man form an idea of the christian 
 church from reading the New Testament, in which 
 Jewish ceremonies are said to be a yoke, which 
 neither the Jews of Christ's time, nor their ances- 
 tors were able to bear — in which those rites are 
 called weak and beggarly elements — rudiinents of 
 the Avorld— shadows of good things to come, of 
 which Jesus Christ was the substance — and should 
 he then behold a christian church loaded with ce- 
 remonies of pagan and Jewish extraction, there 
 would naturally arise a violent prejudice in his 
 mind against this modern church, and he would 
 be obliged to enquire what Joab had a hand in 
 this alteration. 
 
 It must be allowed, consummate wisdom — cool 
 and unbiassed iuda;ment — rectitude the most rigid 
 — and benevolence and power the most extensive, 
 are absolutely and indispensibly necessary quali- 
 fications in religious legislation. The nature of 
 Cod and man — the relation of each to the other 
 • — and of both to all die countless conditions and 
 
Of Good-Friday. 153 
 
 circumstances of all the rest of mankind — the kind 
 of worship — and the manner of performing it — 
 the necessar)' requisitions of justice — and the pro- 
 per effusions of goodness — with a thousand other 
 articles, form one grand complex whole, which 
 M^ould baffle all, except infinite penetration, in 
 forming a system of real religion. 
 
 As an assumption of legislative power in religion 
 is an ascent to the most elevated degree of honour, 
 and as it requires a kind of submission to which 
 human dignity is loth to bow, so, it must be sup- 
 posed, the clearest evidence of a right to exercise 
 it is naturally expected. No blind submission — 
 no precarious titles — no spurious records— no po- 
 pular clamour — nothing but clear revelation, ex- 
 pounded by accurate reasoning, can be taken in 
 evidence here. An immortal intelligence is the 
 noblest production of infinite power and skill ; when 
 it pays its homage to the Deity it is in its noblest 
 exercise, and no mean guide must conduct such a 
 being then. 
 
 On these just principles I take up Good-Friday 
 where I find it, as part of the established religion 
 of my country, and I modestly enquire the autho 
 rity that made it so. A few old women refer me 
 to the fourth verse of the twelfth of Acts for the 
 word Easter, and I return the compliment by re- 
 ferring them to their grandsons at school, who say 
 St. Luke wrote passover. I could, were I incli- 
 ned to revenge, be even with these old ladies by 
 telling the tale of Lady Easter, Ashtar or Ashta- 
 roth, a Sidonian toast : but 1 am too busy and too 
 
154 The Jnsiory and the mystery 
 
 placid now, and I take my leave of this goddess, 
 and also of the godly translator, who profaned a 
 Jewish fast by nick naming it after a pagan prosti- 
 tute, and laid the blame on innocent St. Luke. 
 
 The established clergy do not pretend to sup- 
 port their festivals by authority of scripture ; but 
 they say their legal authority arises from that act 
 of parliament which ratified the thirty nine articles 
 of their faith, one of which affirms, the church 
 hath power to decree rites and ceremonies, and 
 authority in controversies of faith. This clause 
 is said by them to mean, that the " governors of 
 the church have povver to determine what shall be 
 received and professed for truth among the mem- 
 bers of the church, and to bind them to submis- 
 sion to their sentence, though they err in their sen- 
 tence." These are their own words. 
 
 These thirty-nine articles were first produced 
 in a convocation of the clergy in the year 1562 — 
 they were reviewed by another convocation in 
 1571 — and were afterwards ratified by parliament. 
 It is an unquestionable fact, that the religion of all 
 the good people of the church of England was, in 
 1562, put to the vote of one hundred and seven- 
 teen priests, many of whom could hardly write 
 their names, and several of whom were not pre- 
 sent, and voted by proxy, and that ceremonies and 
 holidays were carried by a majority of one single 
 vote, and that given by proxy. Whether the ab- 
 sent member, who had the casting vote, were talk- 
 ing, or journeying, or hunting, or sleeping, is im- 
 material, he was the God Almighty of this article 
 
Of Good-Friday^ 155 
 
 of English religion, and his power decreed rites 
 and ceremonies, and matters of high btJiest. 
 
 The insertion of the above clause of the church's 
 power in the twentieth article was an infamous 
 piece of priestcraft. It is not in king Edward's 
 articles. It is not in the original manuscripts sub- 
 scribed by the convocation, and still preserved in 
 Bene't college, Cambridge, among the papers of 
 bishop Parker, who was president of the assembly. 
 - — It was not in the printed book ratified by par- 
 liament — It was not in the latin translations of 
 those times — nor did it dare to shew itself till 
 twenty-two years after, as Heylin, and other high 
 churchmen allow. 
 
 Subscription to this clause is mere mummery; 
 for what does it mean ! The church power to de- 
 cree rites and ceremonies ! An absolute falshood. 
 One person in this church, and one person only 
 hath power to decree rites and ceremonies : the 
 common people pretend to none. The clergy have 
 introduced organs — pictures — candles on the com- 
 munion table — bowing towards the east — and 
 placing the communion table altar-wise: but they 
 had no right to do so : for as the Common Prayer 
 book no where enjoins them, they are expressly 
 prohibited by the act of uniformity, which says no 
 rites or ceremonies shall be used in any church — 
 other than what is prescribed and appointed to 
 be used in and by the Common Prayer book. By 
 what effrontery does a priest allow organs in pub- 
 lic worship, after he has subscribed to the truth of 
 an homily, which declares them superstitious ! Or 
 
156 The history and the mystery 
 
 with what presumption does he dare, in direct op- 
 position to act of parliament, to invade a prero- 
 gative that belongs to the crown ! Neither a con- 
 vocation, nor an house of commons, nor an house 
 of lords, nor all together have a power to decree 
 rites, ceremonies, and articles of faith in the es- 
 tablished church of England ; the constitution has 
 confirmed it as a royal prerogative, and annex- 
 ed it to the imperial crown of this realm. 
 
 In former times our kings ceded this preroga- 
 tive to the pope ; at the reformation they reclaimed 
 it; and long after the reformation they refused to 
 sutfer the other branches of the legislature to ex- 
 amine, or to meddle with it; hut in later times 
 this prerogative was bounded, and now it is re- 
 strained to the national established church. By 
 the act of toleration the crown agreed to resign, 
 and in effect it did actually resign this prerogative 
 in regard to the nonconformists, and this cession 
 is become a part of the constitution by the autho- 
 rity of the whole legislative power of the British em- 
 pire. The mode of restraint,indeed, is not so explicit 
 as it might have been; but the fact is undeniable. 
 
 The English nonconformists think civil govern- 
 ment^ natural, necessar}', and of divine appointment 
 — they suppose theyb?v;z of it arbitrary, and left to 
 the free choice of all nations under heaven : they be- 
 lieve the form o^mixt monarchy to be the best ; but 
 were tliey in Venice they would yield dr// obedience 
 to aristocracy ; in Holland to a republic, or m Spain 
 to an absolute monarchy ; the best mode of civil go- 
 vernment making no part of their religion.-— They 
 
OfGoochFruky. 157 
 
 think in all states impliedly, and in the British most 
 expressly, there subsists an original contract be- 
 tween the prince and the people — they believe the 
 limitation of regal prerogative by bounds so cer- 
 tain, that it is impossible a i)nnce should ever ex- 
 ceed them without the consent of the people, one 
 of the principal bulwarks of civil liberty : — they 
 think there are ordinary courses of law clearly es- 
 tablished, and not to be disobeyed, and they 
 believe there are extraordinary recourses to first 
 principles, necessary when the contracts of society 
 are in danger of dissolution — they think these prin- 
 ciples alone are the basis of prerogative and liberty, 
 of the kings title to the crown, and of that free- 
 dom which they enjoy under his auspicious reign ; 
 and these, their sentiments, are those of the wisest 
 philosophers — the ablest lawyers — and the most 
 accomplished statesmen that Britain ever produced. 
 The English nonconformists absolutely deny all 
 human authority in matters of religion — they deny 
 it to all civil governments of every form — they 
 think Jesus Christ the sole head of the christian 
 church — they say the Scriptures are his only 
 code of conscience law — all the articles of their 
 belief are contained in his doctrine — all their 
 hopes of obtaining immortal felicity in his media- 
 tion — all their moral duties in the <>:reatlaw of na- 
 ture explained by revelation — and all their reli- 
 gious rites, and ecclesiastical law, in Jiis positive 
 institutes unexplained, or rather unperplexed by 
 human creeds. — They say Jesus Christ himsdfdoes 
 not require obedience ivithout ccidencc — that they 
 
158 The history and the mystery 
 
 submit to him, as God gave him, as a prophet, a 
 priest, and a king, on the fullest proof: — they say 
 their religion has nothing hostile to civil govern- 
 ment, but is highly beneficial to it — that although 
 it is no part of it to determine the best form, yet it is 
 a part of it to submit in civil matters to the powers 
 that be. On these principles they justify the apos- 
 les for embracing Christianity, when religious go- 
 vernors rejected it — the first missionaries, who sub- 
 verted established religions by propagating it — the 
 reformation from popery — and the revolution, that 
 dethroned high church tyranny. For their civil 
 principles they are ready to die as Britons, and 
 for their religious ones as Christians. 
 
 But we have lost Friday ! — No wonder. Good- 
 Friday is a libel against tlie king of kings, und al- 
 ways when loyal subjects approach him the traitor 
 Jurks behind, skulks among popes and priests,and 
 hides his guilty head in a cowl, muttering— ///e 
 church hath power to decree rites and ceremonies. 
 Ah Sirrah ! 
 
 The article of authority, then, amounts to this. 
 In that system of religion, which goes on the princi- 
 ples of the perfection and sufficiency of scripture, 
 and the sole legislation of Jesus Christ, church ho- 
 lidays are non-entities. In those systems which 
 allow human authority, they rest on the power 
 that appoints them. In this happy country, the 
 power that appoints them is constitutionally bound- 
 ed, and has agreed to spend its force on as many 
 as choose to submit to it, and to exert itself 
 against all who dare to impede others, who choose 
 
Of Good-Friday. 159 
 
 to reoounce it. So that the authority, which 
 appoints a Good-Friday ceremonial, has just as 
 much influence over a British subject, as he 
 himself chooses to give it If he choose to be a 
 member of the national church, to which cer- 
 tainly there are many worldly inducem.ents, he al- 
 lows human authority over conscience, and he 
 ought in conscience (if it be possible for conscience 
 to agree to its own dissolution) to keep the fast ; 
 but if he think proper to dissent, to which cer- 
 tainly there are strong religious inducements, he 
 is protected in disowning the authority, and the 
 obligation is void. When human wisdom affects 
 to adorn a religion of divine revelation, it pre- 
 sumes to paint a diamond, or to lace and embroi- 
 der the seamless coat of one, whose simplicity 
 is his evidence and his churches glory. When 
 such as Austin and Gregory, primitive manufac- 
 turers of trumpery, imported their bales, and of- 
 fered their wares to the British church, they were 
 objects of pity or contempt ; but when they pre- 
 sumed to use coercive measures to make the deni- 
 zens of heaven purchase their trash : when a pope 
 like Judas came in the night with halberds, and 
 swords, and staves ; when, worse than he, the traitor 
 did not bring even a lanthornto enable men to read 
 his commission — Merciful God ! couldest thou 
 be angry with our ancestors for hand-cuffmg the 
 felon, and whipping him out of their isle ! Tlie 
 punishment was too little for the crime. They 
 should have burnt even his rags with fire 1 
 The fury fiend with many a felon-deed. 
 Had stirred ujp mickle mischievatis despight-. 
 
160 TJie Iiistory and the mystery 
 
 The PIETY O/" GOOD-FRIDAY. 
 
 If piety be the discharge of duty towards God, 
 there are only two short questions to answer.First, 
 is the observation of an annual fast in commemo- 
 ration of the death of Christ, a duty required by 
 Almighty God ? Next, how is this duty dischai^- 
 ged by those, who think it a duty. 
 
 All duties, which God requires of all mankind, 
 are contained in the moral law. IMoral obliga- 
 tions are founded in the nature and fitness of 
 things. There is a fitness between the care of a 
 parent, and the obedience of a child. Filial obe- 
 dience is therefore a moral duty. There is a fit- 
 ness between civil government and taxes. Gover- 
 nors protect subjects, and subjects ought there- 
 fore to support governors. Taxes for the necessary 
 support of government are therefore dues, and the 
 payment of them moral obligation : but nobody 
 ever yet pretended to make the celebration of 
 Easter; a part of the moral law. 
 
 The other class of duties required of all chris- 
 tians is contained in positive institutes. Baptism 
 is a positive institute ; the celebration of the Lord's 
 supper is a positive institute. They would not 
 have been obligatory, they would not have been 
 known, had not the christian legislator instituted 
 them ; and they are obeyed now they are appoint- 
 ed in proper submission to his authority. But 
 has he appointed this fast ? Does it not wander 
 about a mere beggar actually destitute of every 
 token of a legitimate divine institute ? 
 
Of Good-Friday. l6l 
 
 Since, then, the observation of this day is no 
 part of piety, we are driven, for want of mate- 
 rials to fill up this article in decent guise, to the 
 sad necessity of turning the tables, and of consi- 
 dering the impiety of this black, this bloody Fri- 
 day. Were we to collect into one aggregate sum 
 the impious actions that belong to the introduc- 
 tion, the establishment, the support of ceremo- 
 nies, one of which is this day ; were we to 
 balance accounts between moral law, and human 
 institute, we should be obliged to charge to the 
 latter a most enormous and ruinous sum. We 
 should set down the unwarrantable implication of 
 the imperfection of Christianity as Jesus Christ ap- 
 pointed it — the incorrigible obstinacy of judaizing 
 bunglers, who united a provincial ritual with an 
 universal religion — the rash cnterprizes of minute 
 philosophers, who associated the mummeries of 
 Belial with the miracles of Christ — the paltry bab- 
 bling of traditionists, whose impertinence put them 
 on pretending to give evidence to wise and grave 
 men by their senseless repetitions of, I heard say, 
 that he heard say, that she heard say, that they 
 heard say — the self-employed and uncommission- 
 ed racket of councils — the daring atchievements 
 of those knights errant the popes of Rome — the 
 base concessions and self contradictions of their 
 hierarchical squires — their flattering,betraying, be- 
 fooling, deserting, and assassinating emperors and 
 kings — the subverting of all sound maxims of civil 
 polity, every dictate of right reason, the sacred 
 
 L 
 
1^2 The history and the mystery 
 
 bonds of society and the natural rights of man- 
 kind — the degrading of magistracy, the banish* 
 
 nient of thousands, the blood shedding (O 
 
 where shall we end r) • • • -AH these under a mask 
 of hypocrisy, — a pious pretenceof uniformity— the 
 erection of a godlyeordcr in christen states amonge 
 the holyejlock that Jesii boughte xinth hys oicne 
 bloode ! I know I shall be reputed a silly enthu- 
 siast for what I am going to say ; but what care I ? 
 When the bells chime to call people to celebrate 
 Good-Friday, methinks they say to me, count the 
 cost- • • 'thinking christian, count the cost — 1 do 
 so, and I w eep • • • • Am I not a fool ?••••! can't 
 help it- • • • I pour out tioods of tears to tbink what 
 human ceremonies have cost all mankind, and 
 particularly what a dreadful price my native coun- 
 ti'y has paid for them ; and I wish with Luther, 
 that there were no feast-days among christians, 
 except the Lord's day. 
 
 All christians are not of our opinion. Some 
 tliink the observation of this day a duty of religion. 
 Very well. I wish to be instructed. Permit me 
 to see how the duty is discharged. 
 
 The far greater part of the members of the estab* 
 lished church pay no regard at all to Good-Fri- 
 day, nor do some of them know why it is appoin- 
 ted. There is no piety surely in professing a reli* 
 2;ion, vvhich is neither understood nor obeyed. The 
 greater part of opulent members of this commu- 
 nity pay no other attention to the day than dining 
 on fish in preference to flesh. This is not piety. 
 Numbers of the clergy read the ritual, and deliver 
 
Of Good-Friday. ]6S 
 
 a sermon composed by others, and this is their 
 whole performance. Most artificers, and people 
 of the lower class, imitate their superiors. Some 
 of them do not observe the day at all, and others, 
 who hate work worse than witchcraft, go in the 
 morning to church, and in the evening to the ale- 
 house, and there deposit piety till Easter Sunday, 
 and then travel the same round again. Should a 
 man lay aside secular affairs, abstain from food, 
 dress in black, go to church, say after the parson, 
 hear the sermon, and close the day without com- 
 pany and cards, who but a method ist would pre- 
 tend to arraign the conduct of this man? And 
 yet, most certain it is, he may do all these without 
 performing one act of genuine piety. 
 
 In short, there are two general parents of reli- 
 gious action, custom and conscience. The first 
 germinates, and produces a blind, sordid, sorry, 
 crawling lusus, denominated religion, but really 
 superstition. The latter, conscience, may be en- 
 ervated by ignorance, sloth, scrupulosity and se- 
 cular interest; and in this ill state of health may 
 produce a weak family of genuine moral virtues, 
 and of silly deformed superstitions; but, being right 
 in the main, she will always pay her first and chief 
 attention to her moral offspring. Positive insti- 
 tutes, and even human inventions, may be obe\^ed 
 by people of this kind ; but they will never en- 
 croach on the rights of natural, necessary, moral 
 law. If the ceremonial of religion supply the place 
 of religion itself — if the former derogate from the 
 
164 The history and the mystery 
 
 latter — if the former divert the attention from the 
 latter — it becomes a reprehensible superstition. 
 
 What then shall we say of those, whose whole 
 piety lies in the observation of days, and times, and 
 years? We know what an inspired apostle said 
 to such people; I am afraid I have b est ore ed upon 
 you labour in vain. Father of universal nature ! 
 in vain hast thou given us capacity, learning, rea- 
 son, and religion — in vain does the knowledge of 
 all antiquity shine around us — in vain has the law 
 of nature been explained to us by the writers of re- 
 velation — in vain hast thou bestowed thy best and 
 richest gift the gospel on us, and a government that 
 allov/s us to judge of it — we live in the open vio- 
 lation of all thy laws — we curse, and sw^ear, and 
 blaspheme — we prophane thy holy sabbaths — we 
 are guilty of drunkenness, debauchery, perjury, 
 simony, bribery, impiety, andirreligion of all kinds 
 — our children are uneducated in religious princi- 
 ples — our property is wasted in gaming and amuse- 
 ments—our priests and our prophets exemplify 
 luxury — and we expect to avert ail our deserved 
 miseries, and to atone for all our impieties, by 
 saying, have we not fasted on Good-Friday, and 
 feasted on Easter-Sunday ? The Jewish priests, at 
 the worst of times, prophesied for hire; but some 
 christian priests take the hire and prophesy not. 
 They vote indeed ! but say, ye plundered Nabobs ! 
 ye French Canadian papists ! ye widows and or^ 
 phans! ye depopulated cities, and ruined com-, 
 merce of rebellious colonists! say, for what do 
 British ministers of the prince ot [)eace vote ? . • • « 
 
Of Good-Friday. l65 
 
 They vote that yon wheelwright's children must 
 fast on Good-Friday! This leads us to the last 
 article. 
 
 The POLITY o/cOOD-rRIDAY. 
 
 Before Christianity was understood in the world, 
 the first apologists for it thought themselves happy, 
 as St. Paul expresses it, when they were called to 
 defend it before equitable civil magistrates in courts 
 of legal judicature. They had great reason to re- 
 joice in these opportunities, for they taught a reli- 
 gion, which recommended itself to all just go- 
 vernments by its perfect agreement with civil po- 
 lity. Primitive Christianity wanted only to be 
 known, it was sure to gain ground by being under- 
 stood. These divine men were able to say — Is 
 the origin of civil government sacred ? We teach, 
 that civil government is ordained by God. — Is the 
 well-being of the whole, the supreme law in civil 
 polity? So it is in Christianity. — Do states flourish, 
 when the people yield a ready obedience to civil 
 government, and venerate the dignity of magistra- 
 cy? Christianity inculcates this. — Do temperance, 
 industry, piety, and virtue render states happy? 
 Christianity forcibly inculcates these. — Are states 
 happy when discords do not prevail, when kind 
 offices abound among citizens, when benevolence 
 and philanthropy pervade the whole? Ciiristi- 
 anity abolishes party factions and odious distinc-' 
 tions, and curbs the passions that produce them; 
 and as to universal love it is the religion of Jesus 
 
l66 The history and the mystery 
 
 itself. — Do states enjoy tranquillity when learning 
 and liberty, conscience and virtue are nourished, 
 and when impartial equity rewards merit, and re- 
 strains and punishes vice? Christianity does all 
 these. — Are states safe, when they retain a consti- 
 tutional power of redressing grievances, of insu- 
 ring life, liberty, and property from foreign and do- 
 mestic invasion, and of reducing all cases to one 
 invariable standard of impartial and universal jus^ 
 tice? Christianity inculcates principles produc-^ 
 tive of all this. No instance therefore can be pro- 
 duced of our attempting to subvert civil govern- 
 ment; on the contrary, we are entrusted with a 
 conciliating plan of universal peace between se- 
 cular and sacred things by Jesus Christ. 
 
 The corruptois of Christianity deprived it of 
 this noble plea; they bartered purity for power, 
 exchanged argument for authority, and made a 
 scandalous tinick of all the truths and virtues of 
 religion for the seals of a prince, and the keys of a 
 jail. They invented words of inexplicable mys- 
 tery, and inflicted penalties on those, who could 
 not interpret their dreams — they cast innumerable 
 canons, and with them destroyed the lives, and li- 
 befties, and properties of their peaceable brethren 
 ■ — they armed priests with secular power, and co- 
 vered their barbarous use of it with infinite pomp 
 — they excited princes to hate, persecute, banish, 
 and burn their subjects for matters of conscience— 
 they thought lay subjects beneath notice, kings 
 above law, and themselves above kings. To their 
 
Of Good-Friday. IG7 
 
 conduct it is owing, that most great men consider 
 religion as nothing more than an engine of state. 
 
 We hope Christianity in time will recover from 
 these deadly wounds: but healing and healtli must 
 never be expected from such prescriptions as are 
 made up of the false principles that produced the 
 hurt. The great, the only object of such books as 
 Hookers church polity, and Gibson's Codex, is 
 the support of the hierarchy. God knows, no 
 positions can be less true, no principles more dan- 
 gerous than those laid down in these compilations. 
 Civilians, sufficiently feed, could build the whole 
 fabric of po{)ery on them; for the evident drift of 
 them is not only to render the church independent 
 of the state; but to place the state in a condition 
 of dependence on the church. Their system is 
 false in itself — inconsistent with scripture — iacom- 
 patibleM'ith the British constitution — and destruc- 
 tive of Christ's spiritual design. These writers 
 have lodged their sentiments in the dark caverns 
 of metaphorical style, and there they lurk in seem- 
 ing asylum. There is an imaginary being called 
 the church governing, distinct from the church go- 
 verned — this animal has se.i\ in violation of the 
 english language, and the laws of precise argumen- 
 tation — she is either married or a prostitute, for 
 she is a ??20if//er, itseems, and has children. All 
 this may be rhetorick; but nothing of this is rea» 
 son, less still can it be called religion, and least of 
 all is it that religion which Jesus taught, and whi(^h 
 never diminishes the glory of civil polity. 
 
168 The History and the mystery 
 
 The religion of Jesus is the most simple thing 
 in the world. His church was not formed on the 
 plan of the Jewish government, either of the slate, 
 temple, sanhedrim, or synagogue — nor on that of 
 any other state, either that of Rome, or that of 
 Athens. — The decree of the christian church at 
 Jerusalem, called by mistake the Jirst council, was 
 advice; but not law. — Canons in the primitive 
 church were opinions devoid of coercion; the em- 
 peror Justinian adopted them, and metamorphosed 
 them into civil law — there were in the primitive 
 church no coercive powers — particular churches 
 were united only b}' faith and love— in all civil af- 
 fairs they were governed by civil magistrates, and 
 in sacred matters they were ruled by the advice, 
 reasons, and exhortations of their freely elected 
 officers — their censures were only honest reproofs, 
 and their excommunications were nothing more 
 than declarations that the offenders were incorri- 
 gible, and were no longer accounted members of 
 their societies — the term hierarchy was unknown, 
 and hierodidia would have been the proper de- 
 scription then. — It was a spiritual kingdom not of 
 tliis world ; it did not injure, it could not possibly 
 injure sound civil polity. The primitive christians 
 were taxed withholding seditious principles; and 
 this calumny they merited for not getting drunk 
 on Caesar's birth day — for holding their religious 
 assemblies in the night, when secular business was 
 over — for refusing to swear by the genius of Ctesar 
 — for scrupling to give him the titles that belonged 
 to Cod — for talking of a kingdom of saints upoa 
 
Of Good-Friday. m 
 
 earth. However, these sons of sedition prayed for 
 Caesar — taught all due obedience to liim — paid his 
 tribute — fought in his wars — treated all inferior 
 magistrates with profound respect; and these things 
 they did not for prudential reasons of worldly po- 
 licy, but from examined and adopted principles of 
 genuine Christianity. 
 
 The whole farrago of a secular religion is a 
 burden, an expence, a distress to government, and 
 every corrupt part and parcel of it is some way or 
 other injurious to civil poljty. Consider a king- 
 dom as one large family, sum up the priesthood 
 into one domestic chaplain, compare what he costs 
 with the good he does, and judge whether the fa- 
 mily gains as it ought, or loses as it ought not by 
 his chaplainshij). 
 
 To come to the point. We apply these general 
 strictures to one article, consisting of fasts, feasts, 
 and holidays. We divide these into five classes, 
 and discharge four of them. In the first we place 
 all those obsolete holidays, which were in vogue 
 "before the Reformation, such as the Assumption — 
 the Conception- — Silvester — Britius — and such 
 like, which were very properly retained in the ca- 
 lendar at the Reformation for law uses, for the as- 
 certaining of the times of tenures, and of the pay- 
 ment of dues — or of charitable donations, that 
 were dated by these days. In a second class we 
 put all the Sundays in the year ; for although some 
 divines hold the morality of the Sabbath, and others 
 place it among positive institutes, yet all agree in 
 the necessity of keeping a day, and a pious clergy 
 
170 The history and the mystery. 
 
 know how to improve it to the noblest uses ot 
 church and state. In a third we put all red-letter 
 days, as coronation days, birth days, and others. 
 The suspending of business on those days is a very 
 proper compliment to our civil governors, and the 
 health and spirits of gentlemen confined in public 
 offices require relaxation and exercise. Nobody 
 pretends to make religion of these, and they are 
 on many accounts quite necessary. In a fourth 
 class, we put all those Saints' days, and other holi- 
 days, which the clergy are obliged by their supe- 
 riors to observe. They ought not to complain, if 
 they are required to fast on the 30tb of January 
 for the expiation of a crime, which no man alive 
 committed ; for they are amply rewarded by many 
 a festival, from which none but themselves ever de- 
 rived the least benefit. All these we dismiss, and 
 retain only a fifth sort of holidays, which constitu- 
 tion and custom en2;a2;e the whole national church 
 to observe; the smallest number of these is ten. 
 A very little attention will convince us, that the ob- 
 servation of these ten holidays is productive of no 
 real advantage ; but, on the contrary, of much da- 
 mage to the nation at large. 
 
 As these festivals are generally observed, they 
 hurt the health, the morals, and the litde property 
 of the poor — they depress virtue, encourage vice, 
 and generate superstition — tliey clog business, bur- 
 den the clergy, increase the rates of parishes, en- 
 danger the peace of society at large, perplex ma- 
 gistrates — in a word, they impoverish the king- 
 dom in proportion to the extent of their influence. 
 
Of Good-Friday. 17I 
 
 To examine only one of these articles : Suppose 
 a day labourer employed all the year at seven shil- 
 lings a week, that is, at fourteen pence a day : ten 
 days of his time are worth to iiis family el e veil 
 shillings and eight pence. Not to earn is to pay, 
 and this poor fellow is actually at the annual charge 
 of eleven and eight pence for the support of an- 
 nual festivals. Let us suppose further, that his 
 wife earns six pence a day, and his four children 
 four-pence each, at spinning, stone gathering, or 
 any other work ; ten days of the woman's time are 
 worth five shillings ; ten days of each child are 
 worth three and four-pence. So that this man's 
 wife and children pay for festivals eighteen shil- 
 lings and four- pence a year. We are further to 
 add the extraordinary expences of this family ou 
 these days; for it is all a farce to talk of their fast- 
 ing, they have no fasts in their calendar, all are 
 festivals with them, and they never fast when they 
 can get victuals. We allow the poor man, then, 
 one shilling on each day to spend at the alehouse, 
 and his family one more for tea, beer, nuts, ginger- 
 bread and so on. We are to add then twenty shil- 
 lings more to his account, and his reckoning stands 
 tiius : 
 
 £. s. d. 
 To 10 days work at Is. 2cl. each — 118 
 
 To 10 days ditto of wife, at 6'tl. — 5 
 
 To 10 days do. of 4 children, 4(1. each per day 13 4 
 To 10 days extra expences for self and family, 
 
 at 2s. per day — • — — 10 
 
 I'otal 2 10 
 
172 The history and the mystery 
 
 Is not the sum of fifty shillings enormous for 
 this family; a heavy tax paid for a cargo of idleness ! 
 Let us suppose this poor man to enter thoroughly 
 into the pretended design of the day, to abstain from 
 food as well as work, to fast and pray, and spend 
 nothing, still the fast costs him all the money that 
 he avoids earning, and this simple devotee would 
 pay twenty or thirty shillings a year for the privi- 
 lege of emaciating himself. 
 
 But the people derive great advantages from 
 festivals ! • • • • Good God ! is religion magick ! 
 What people derive advantages from festivals? 
 They, who never attend them ? It is notorious the 
 poor are not to be found at church on Easter and 
 Whitsun holidays. Inquire for the London popu- 
 lace at Greenwich, and for the country poor at the 
 sign of the Cross Keys. To say they might reap 
 benefits, and they ought to pay for the liberty, is 
 equal to sayiiig, the sober populace might getdrunk 
 at the Dog and Duck, and they ought to pay the 
 reckoninfj of those who do. 
 
 Whatever advantages they derive from church- 
 holidays, many of their neighbours derive great dis- 
 advantages from their sinking fifty shillings an- 
 nually to support them. This poor fellow should 
 pay thirty shillings a year rent for his cottage; but 
 the landlord never gets it, yet he would thank him 
 to pay his rent by ten days work for him. He can 
 pay no rates to tiie parish, nor any taxes to go- 
 vernment; yet were he allowed to earn fifty shil- 
 lings a year more than he does, he could pay both, 
 and save money to buy a pig, or a bullock, or firing 
 
Of Good-Friday. 173 
 
 too. He owes something to the doctor for physic, 
 and something to the shop for food, debts contrac- 
 ted in lyings in and iUness ; he can pay none of 
 these driblets; yet he could pay all^, were he al- 
 lowed to earn fifty shillings a year more, and to 
 deposit it for payment of debts in his masters 
 hands. Moreover, he got drunk on the feast of 
 the Epiphany, which he, a heathen, called Twelfth 
 night — set up a score at the alehouse — rolled in 
 the dirt — spoiled his clothes — lost his hat — fought 
 with Sam Stride, who sent him a lawyers letter, for 
 which he paid six and eight-pence, beside a guinea 
 to Stride to i§|^ke it up — and on the same night he 
 gave Blue Bridget nineteen pence for the liberty of 
 leaving a bastard to the parish — magistrates were 
 tormented with warrants, and oaths, and deposi- 
 tions — peaceable subjects with the interruptions of 
 riot and debauchery — ^the whole business of the 
 parish stood still — and the industrious were obliged 
 to pay out of their honest gains the whole expence 
 at last. 
 
 What ! it will be said, would you keep these 
 people in eternal employment, and allow them no 
 holidays? I would keep them in perpetual em- 
 ploy. Six days they should labour, and do all they 
 have to do; the seventh, being the sabbath of the 
 Lord their God, the clergy should so perform di- 
 vine service as to engage them voluntarily to choose 
 to fill a religious assembly ; their children should 
 be catechised, and rational and agreeable pains 
 should be taken to instill the great principles oi" re- 
 ligion into them ; they should be taught a practice 
 
1 74 The history and the mystery 
 
 of piety, and a course of virtue ; religion should be 
 uniDJisked and exposed in its own beauty to their 
 view : at present it appears to them an unmeaning 
 encumbrance of expensive forms. Their infants 
 are questioned, and sprinkled — their wives pay a 
 shilling and are churched — they are generally 
 funny at a wedding, and feel no expence but the 
 ling — they eat cross buns on Good- Friday — they 
 are merry at Easter — and mad at Christmas — 
 they pay small tithes through life — and are buried 
 in form when they die — and they call this the 
 Christian Religion in the best constituted church 
 in the world, and abuse all who thii^ otherwise as 
 knaves and fools, ignorant of Go4,and disloyal to 
 the king ! As to holidays, let t|fe poor take as 
 many as they can afford, and their masters can 
 spare. Far be it from us to wish to abridge their 
 liberty, or diminish their little enjoyment of life : 
 but let us not make religion of their gambols, nor 
 enroll their pastimes among the laws of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 There w^re in the ritual of our ancestors above 
 two hundred festal days,many of them in seed-time, 
 hay-time, and harvest. Great complaints were 
 made to parhament: the church, it was said, would 
 ruin the state. While the people were telling beads, 
 and the priests chaunting and spouting away, the 
 corn lay rotting in the fields, catde were neglected, 
 commerce was at a stand, and the nation was star- 
 ving. The legislature struck off, first, harvest- 
 holidays, and then others, and what remain were 
 left for a decoy to papists, to the great grief of 
 
Of Good-Friday, 175 
 
 numbers, who submitted to them, and who wislied 
 to get rid of superstition, t}ie root and the rind of 
 popery. 
 
 If any imagine these festivals necessary for the 
 sake of informing people of the events that are 
 commemorated on them, and of preserving and 
 perpetuating the remembrance of them, we only v 
 beg leave to ask — Where was Christianity so well 
 understood as in the primitive churches, which ce- ^ 
 lebrated none of them ? Where is the Christian 
 religion less understood than in the Roman com- 
 munity, where they are celebrated without end ? ( 
 Who understood Christianity best, our Saxon an- 
 cestors, who had many festivals, or our immediate 
 parents, who had few ? Is religion better under- ' 
 stood in those reformed churches where they are 
 celebrated, than in those where they are omitted ? , 
 Does religion consist in the bare remembrance of a 
 few events in the life of Jesus Christ? May not f 
 all the ends proposed by the observation of church- 
 holidays be better answered without it? Do we' 
 not sacrifice many great advantages, and put 
 ourselves to unnecessary inconveniences and ex- ' 
 pences for mere shadows, which can never be sub- 
 stantiated without civil coercion ? Is not the like- 
 liest method to make the clergy loath the necessary 
 parts of their ofHce, the obliging of them to drudge 
 alone in unnecessary exercises? — Many articles are 
 omitted — under-rated — and half reasoned — but 
 we have said enough — perhaps too much — on the 
 ill polity of Good-Friday^ 
 
I 76 The historij and the mystery 
 
 Should any parish priest of genuine and gene- 
 rous piety (for to sycophants and bigots we have 
 nothing to say) who loves God, reveres his king, 
 wishes well to his country and to all mankind — 
 should such a man say, 1 mourn for the vices and 
 calamities of my country, and I dread those chas- 
 tisements of providence, which national sins de- 
 serve : I wish to contribute my mite to the public 
 good ; but I know no better way of promoting it 
 than by inculcating the observation of fasts and 
 feasts, and approved rituals. I would venture to 
 say to him — 
 
 Reverend Sir ! I give you credit for being a man 
 too wise to quibble about style, where matters of 
 the highest importance are in hand; and too good 
 to be offended with the honest bluntness of one, 
 whose reigning passion is to wish felicity to all man- 
 kind. Pardon me, then, if I take the liberty to 
 say — The cool, disinterested part of mankind con- 
 sider a hierarchy as they consider a standing mili- 
 tary force. In absolute monarchies, where the 
 main principle of the constitution is that of gover- 
 ning by fear, an hierarchy is essentially necessary 
 to the despotism of the prince; but in free states 
 an hierarchy will always justly be an object of 
 jealousy. Hierarchical powers have found many a 
 state free, and reduced each to slavery : but there 
 is no instance of their having brought an enslaved 
 state into christian liberty. Your country, Sir, is 
 almost the only one in the universe, in which civil 
 liberty is the very end and scope of the constitu- 
 tion. You should therefore acquaint youself well 
 
Of Go6d-Fri(lay. 
 
 / ( 
 
 with all the singular polity of this countiy, which 
 is governed l)y a system of laws all tending to the 
 one great design, civil liberty, and you should not 
 put off the man, the citizen, and the christian, when 
 you put on the clerical character. 
 
 You profess a religion, Sir, which agrees with 
 civil polity ; you know how some of your order 
 have deprived it of this glory by resisting or du- 
 ping their civil governors in order to aggrandize 
 themselves. Recover that character to christianit}^, 
 which those crimson tools of a desperate cause, 
 Austin and Lanfrank, Dunstan and Anselm, Thur- 
 stan and Becket, Longchamp and Peckham, Arun- 
 del and Chichley, Woolsey and Bonner, Parker 
 and Whitgift, Bancroft and Laud, have vilely 
 squandered away. Leave secular affairs to secu- 
 lar men. Have no more to do with commissions of 
 the peace, county elections, commission for roads, 
 the civil affairs of hospitals, corporations, and so 
 on, than what you cannot possibly avoid. You 
 may have rights as a gentleman; but it is not ne- 
 cessary you should lay aside the character of a gen- 
 tleman for the sake of asserting them. Civil so- 
 vernment administered by clerical men always in- 
 spires the lay gentry with jealousy, and the poor 
 with contempt. In your office, be no aspiring states- 
 man's tool for filthy lucre s sake. Do not dare to 
 lift your unhallowed hand against the sovereign's 
 title to the crown, and the people's right to liberty, 
 by brandishing the obsolete and execrable doctrines 
 of passive obedience, non-resistance, the divine 
 
 M 
 
178 The history and the mystery 
 
 rights of kings, and all the unconstitutional posi- 
 tions, Avhich the supreiiie legislature consigned to 
 eternal oblivion at the glorious revolution. Your 
 superior may put you on uttering Mhat he dare not 
 utter himself, in order to feel the popular pulse, and 
 he may procure interested hirelings to applaud 
 you, and promise that preferment to you, which he 
 intends for himself. If you perish in the attempt, 
 what cares he ? But do not deceive yourself. The 
 present royal family will never prefer men of arbi- 
 trary and unconstitutional principles. His majesty 
 perfectly comprehends the British constitution, 
 ant! as he magnanimously aspires at the glory of 
 reigning over a free people, who have confidence 
 in his wisdom and goodness, it is impossible he 
 should smile on those, who lay the ax to the root, 
 oi the constitution, and would by one fatal blow fell 
 those admired bi-anches, his title and his people's 
 liberties. Stir up no strife in your public preach- 
 ing, nor teach your parish to abhor an inhabitant 
 of it for praying in a barn. Never persecute for 
 religion's sake. Never oppress conscience. Never 
 discountenance piety in other communities, lest men 
 should think you not a minister of religion, but a 
 tool of a party. Never condemn denominations, in 
 the gross, nor impute principles and practices to 
 them, which they abhor. Sow no jealousies and 
 discords in families. Cultivate the general princi- 
 ples of Christianity more than the peculiarities of 
 your own party, and the rights of all mankind ra- 
 ther than the ritual of a very inconsiderable part of 
 them. 
 
Of Good-Friday. 179 
 
 You are the minister of a religion famous for 
 its morality. Do notbino; to weaken this evidence 
 of its divinity. 
 
 Avoid all gross vices, drunkenness, adultery, 
 lying, blasphemy, sabbath breaking. It is not enough 
 for you to abstain from swearing and lying, you 
 must not take the Lord's name in vain, nor allow 
 yourself to prevaricate. Abstain from what Scrip- 
 ture calls Ji I thiness of spirit^ pride, levity, hypo- 
 crisy, avarice, discontent, distrust, mental immo- 
 ralities. Practise all the moral duties of both tables, 
 and let your flock see as well as hear your doc- 
 trine. Have no fellowship with those unfruitful 
 works of darkness, gaming, horse-racing, frequen- 
 ting taverns and ale-houses, play-houses, opera- 
 houses, balls, assemblies, masquerades ; avoid also 
 hunting, shooting, dangling at the heels of Sir Ro- 
 bert, cringing at the levee of my lord, and fetching 
 and carrying for my lady, of all which, whatever 
 may be said for secular men, not one can be pro- 
 per for you. The minister of Christ must at least 
 appear to be a man of delicate and refined moral 
 virtue. 
 
 You are a minister of a revealed religion. Study 
 the Holy »Scriptures, distinguish the doctrines of 
 revelation from the discoveries of philosophers ; 
 the precepts of Christ from the prudential Jaws of 
 Epictetus ; the doctrines and laws of his kingdom 
 from human creeds and worldly maxims ; and do 
 not imagine that classics and mathematics, novels 
 and plays, contain a body of christian divinity. 
 M 2 
 
1 80 llie Jnstory cuid the mystery 
 
 Never turn the sacred truths of rev^elation into ri- 
 dicule, nor call be'iug born again, fearing the 
 Lord, praying by tlie spirit, the cant of a party. 
 The phraseology of scripture may have been mis- 
 understood ; butyou should notdiscard both com- 
 ment and text; you have adopted the book, and 
 you ought to explain its meaning. Avail yourself 
 of all opportunities of disseminating Scripture know- 
 ledge. Catechize the children, and the poor in 
 your parish. Cany religion home to their bosoms. 
 Lay aside the self-important haughtiness of a priest, 
 and put on the meek and humble temper of your 
 master. Go into the cottages of the poor. En- 
 courage their meeting together to pray and to read 
 the Holy Scriptures. Teach them to set up family 
 worship, to perform a course of domestic devotion, 
 and, above all things, never countenance the pro- 
 fanation of the Lord's day, but teach them to re- 
 verence and improve it. 
 
 You are, Sir,- a minister in a rich communit3\ 
 Your country gives you good wages, and they ex- 
 pect at least some work. Employ your emolu- 
 ments to better purposes than those of dress and 
 equijjage, Sunday visits, midnight revels, assem- 
 blies, simoniacal contracts, and such like. Detest 
 the miserable disposition of hoarding wealth, 
 and dread being possessed with the rage of rising 
 to preferment. Remember, all church emolu- 
 ments are fiduciary, and they lapse into the pub- 
 lic hand, when the services tor which they were 
 granted, are not performed. Flatter the vices of 
 'Mojpatron; but with a modest boldness reprove 
 
O/Good-Fridai/. 181 
 
 tiiem. Dare to be upright. Despise the shame 
 of singularity. Touch no sinecures. Renounce 
 needless pluralities. Do not plead for non-resi- 
 dence, and, if you must have a curate, let him share 
 both work and wages. — It would be tedious to you, 
 were I to go through the duties that are annexed 
 to all offices from the curate up to the metropolitan 
 of all England, and 1 will only beg your patience, 
 while I add, in general, avoid the six vices, that 
 disgrace too many of your order. Destroy the 
 prejudices of deists and infidels — allow, at least, 
 the probability of some defection — and adopt the 
 course prescribed by the oracles of God. 
 
 The principal vices that disgrace the priesthood 
 are : 1 . Ignorance of a body of christian divinity. 
 2. Perjury, if they subscribe upon oath their be- 
 lief of propositions, which they have either not ex- 
 amined, or do not believe. 3. Ambition, ex- 
 pressed in a haughty reserve in private life, a vain 
 and pompous parade in public, a pedantic affec- 
 tation of wisdom of w ords in their public preach- 
 ing, by which they sacrifice the edification of a 
 whole congregation to the silly vanity of shining 
 as men of genius. 4. Insatiable at^^nVe, ten thou- 
 sand times more tenacious of a four-penny Easter 
 offering than of all the ten commandments. 5. Time- 
 serving, always pursuing those measures which 
 serve their own interest, surrendering to it philo- 
 sophy and divinity, the interest of their country, 
 and the honour of their Cod. 6. Ilypocrisi/, 
 acting a part, recommending Christianity by office, 
 and establishing paganism by inclination, at 
 
1 82 The history and the mystery 
 
 church in masquerade, and at a play in their na- 
 tive character. Such priests as these turn the 
 heavenly manna into poison. They give the ene- 
 mies of religion cause to blaspheme, tliey are the 
 ridicule of Atheists, and the reasons of Deism! 
 Be it your holy ambition, Sir, to wipe off the 
 foul prejudices that defile the face of a weeping 
 reformed church. Your community is suspect- 
 ed of symbolizing with popery, for Parpalio the 
 pope's nuncio offered in the pope's name to con- 
 firm yonr service book. All reformed divines 
 own, the distinguishing characters of that apostate 
 church are three, superstition, tyranny, and im- 
 morality. Are there no evidences of your posess- 
 ing these gloomy marks of antichristianism ? Are 
 your morals uncorrupt? Do you place no religi- 
 on in habits, places, words, and forms ? Have 
 you resigned the unrighteous dominion over con- 
 science, that in less inquisitive times your order 
 unjustly acquired ? Have you like other penitents 
 joined restitution to repentance.^ Have you ex- 
 pelled no students for praying and reading the 
 scriptures ? denied ordination to no candidates on 
 account of their holding the doctrines of your 
 own articles ? suspended and persecuted no clergy- 
 men for preaching more zealously than yourselves? 
 Have you awed none into silence, who would speak 
 if they d^ire } What said you to your petitioning 
 colleagues? and what to the dissenting clergy, 
 whom you flatter, and soothe, and call brethren 
 in Christ? Are they freed from oaths, and sub- 
 scriptions, and penal laws? Christian liberty! 
 
Of Good-Friday, 185 
 
 thou favourite offspring of heaven ! thou first born 
 of Christianity ! I saw the wise and pious servants 
 of God nourish thee in their houses, and cherish 
 thee in their bosoms ! 1 saw them lead thee into 
 public view ; all good men hailed thee ! the generous 
 British Commons caressed and praised thee, and 
 led thee into an upper house, and there- • • -there 
 didst thou expire in the holy laps of spiritual 
 Lords!- • • -Allow, it is not impossible, it is not 
 improbable, it is very likely, that may have hap- 
 pened in Christianity, which has happened in law ; 
 multifarious statutes have obscured plain common 
 law. Changing the term law for divinity, I will 
 recite the words of one of the chief ornaments 
 of that profession. The christian religion has fa- 
 red like all other venerable edifices of antiquity, 
 which rash and unexperienced workmen have ven- 
 tured to new dress and refine with all the ragfe 
 of modern improvement: hence frequently its sym- 
 metry has been desti;oyed, its proportions distorted, 
 and its majestic simplicity exchanged for spe- 
 cious embellishments, and fantastic novelties. For, 
 to say the truth, all niceties and intricac'ies owe 
 their original not to Scripture divinity, but to ad- 
 ditions and innovations, often on a sudden penned 
 by men, who had none, or very little judgment in 
 divinity- •• -In fine, Sir, feed the flock of God, 
 which he hath purchased with his own blood — co- 
 vet no mans silver, or gold, or apparel — vvarn 
 every one night and day with tears — serve the Lord 
 with all humility of mind — keep back nothing that 
 is profitable to 14s — teach us publicly, and from 
 
1 84 The history and the mystery 
 
 house to bouse — testify to Jews and Greeks nei- 
 ther Avorldly politics, nor human inventions, but 
 repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ — watch in all thincrs — do the work of 
 an evangelist — make full proof of your ministry — 
 give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doc- 
 trine—meditate upon these things — give thy- 
 self WHOLfY TO TiiF,3i. Do thesc things, and 
 then, when you are become venerably hoary in the 
 best of services, hnish your course with joy — take 
 Britain and her colonies, protestantism and pope- 
 ry, Canada and China, your own church and other 
 reformed churches, heaven and earth, to record 
 that you ai'e pui'e from the blood of all men — • 
 Quit the world like your divine master, and as- 
 cend to heaven, you blessing us, and we admi- 
 ring you. 
 
 JBut if on the contrary, neglecting all the duties 
 of your ofilice, and practising all the vices that ever 
 piovoked the patience of God and man — If you 
 enter the church by that door, by whicli Ananias 
 was turned out, professing to be moved by the 
 spirit of God, while you are actuated only by am- 
 bition or avarice — If so far from coming up to the 
 spirit of those qualihcations, which are required to 
 ordination, you fall short of the very letter, either 
 in learning, morality, or kno^\ledge of theology — 
 If you subscribe thirty nine articles, three creeds, 
 the genuine and the apocryphal Scriptures, the 
 books of prayer, ordination, and homilies, and 
 swear can(.nicai obedience to one hundred and for- 
 ty one canons, without having read, examined, and 
 
Of Good-Fridaij, 185 
 
 believed the v.hole — If you take the oath of supre- 
 macy, and hoUl, that the church hath legislative 
 power — If you abjure popery upon oath, and yet 
 hold the principal articles that support it — If you 
 swear allegiance to his Majesty, and teach anti-re- 
 volutional principles — If you obtain preferment 
 by simony direct or indirect— If you take charge 
 of 2000 souls, and never speak to 1900 of them 
 — If you hold contradictory doctrines while you 
 profess uniformity — If you have a catecliism, and 
 never teach it — If you neglect your duty to hunt 
 after prefennent — If you enjoy the emoluments of 
 a spiritual office in person, and do the service of 
 it by proxy^ — If you hate reformation, and depre- 
 ciate and persecute those who would reform you — 
 If you misrepresent peaceable subjects, taxing 
 them with heresy, schism, and republicanism, and 
 strive to render their loyalty to the crown, and 
 their love to the constitution doubtful — If you pro- 
 phane Sabbaths, and ordinances of divine appoint- 
 ment — If all your study is to make a fair shew in 
 the flesh— If you mind only earthly things, your 
 god being your belly, and glorying in 3-our shame 
 - -and vainly imagine to cover all these crimes by 
 observing a Good-Friday, and so to gull mankind 
 into a persuasion of your sapience and sanctity — 
 Know of a truth— the time may coine, when your 
 civil governors may see it as necessary to reform 
 your reformation as their ancestors did to reform 
 the religion of your predecessors — till then, al- 
 though the religion of pious spectators will not suf- 
 fer them to hurt a hair of vour head, vet the same 
 
186 The history and the mystery S^c. 
 
 religion will oblige them to say of you — This evil 
 man talks of light, while his feet are stumbling on 
 dark mountains-^his country and the small re- 
 mains of his own conscience, the canons of his 
 church and the laws of the state, the liberalities 
 of his prince and the tears of his brethren — the 
 ashes of Burnets and Hoadlys and Lardners, the 
 best judgments of heaven on degenerate priests and 
 incorrigible nations, all call him to his duty, and 
 warn him of the danger of falling into the hand? 
 of an angry God — if he will not hear, our souls 
 shall weep in secret places for his ignorance and 
 pride \ 
 
 N 
 
FLAN 
 
 OF 
 
 I.BCTURBS 
 
 PRINCIPLES 
 
 OF 
 
 NONCONFORMITY; 
 
 FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF 
 
 CATECHUMENS. 
 
 Whatever moderation or charity we may owe to mens,* 
 persons, we owe none at all to their errors, and to that 
 frame which is built on, and supported by them. 
 
 Bishop Burnet. 
 
 [the sixth edition PBINTED 1797.] 
 
EA STERN ASSOCIA TION. 
 
 Harlow, Essex, June 18th, 1778, 
 This Syllabus, entitled, A Plan of lectures 
 
 ON' THE PRINCIPLES OF NONCONFORMITY, 
 
 drawn up by our brother Robinson, has been 
 read and approved by us at this association, 
 and tee hereby recomynend it to our sister 
 churches. 
 
 Signed by order of all, by 
 
 ISIORGAN JONES, Moderator, 
 
¥ M E F ^A € E. 
 
 J^ HERE are three sorts of persons, who absent 
 themselves from the episcopal places of worship 
 established by public authority in England ; com- 
 monly, though improperly denominated the 
 Church OF Etigland. The first sort consists of 
 irreligious persons, who renounce all public wor- 
 ship. The second is composed of such as approve 
 of what they suppose the doctrine, discipline, and 
 constitution of the episcopal church ; but disap- 
 prove of the men, Mho officiate in it : either on ac- 
 count of their doctrine or practice, or both, which 
 they think are incompatible with the constitution 
 of it. We are not addressing ourselves to either of 
 these classes ; to their own master they stand or 
 fall. The third sort do not dissent from the of- 
 ficers and members of the established church merely, 
 (to them they wish every felicity,) but they disap- 
 prove of the CONSTITUTION ITSELF, and object 
 against all the principles that support it. These 
 are, strictly speaking, the only Nonconformists or 
 protestant dissenters in this kingdom ; they con- 
 sist of the various denominations of Baptists — In- 
 dependents — Presbyterians — and the people called 
 
1 90 Preface. 
 
 Quakers ; and all their congregations together in 
 England and Wales amount to near two thousand; 
 so that they bear about the proportion of a fifth to 
 the episcopal church. 
 
 Whatever may be the worth of those arguments, 
 by which the religion of these dissenters is governed, 
 whether they be sophistical, probable, or demon- 
 strative, it is beyond a doubt, they have operated, 
 and they continue to operate, a firm, resolute at- 
 tachment to nonconformity; and it must needs be 
 worth while to propose them in all their fair extent 
 to the inquisitive 3^outh in our communities, for 
 whom our first wish is Christianity, our second non- 
 conformity. We have no secrets in our religion ; 
 and although the rigour of times hath formerly ob- 
 liged us to teach it in corners, yet the truths taught 
 merit the attention of all mani-:ind. JMany of our 
 brethren have lamented the inattention of our youth 
 to dissenting principles, and they attribute it to one 
 or other of the three following causes. 1 . It is 
 usual to impute the virtuous moderation of the state 
 to the episcopal church, and to account a dissent 
 from such a mild church less necessary now than 
 formerly. The truth is, what the church was at 
 first that it still continues. It retains the same ar- 
 ticles, the same ceremonies, the same courts, officers, 
 principles, and canons, that it had all the time of 
 its persecuting, and it refuses to repeal any of them. 
 Tlie state has restrained the operation of the ec- 
 clesiastical system on dissenters; but the system 
 itself is the same. The state tolerates ; but the 
 church does not. Our youth should distinguish this. 
 
Preface. ] 9 1 
 
 2. Nonconformity is unfashionable, and in some 
 places ihroLigh various causes, contemptible; and 
 fashion is law to too many young people. 3. Many 
 pious ministers, all intent on inculcating the neces- 
 sity of being saved from sin and punishment through 
 faith in Christ, omit these peculiar principles of 
 dissent. We highly commend their zeal ; but, as 
 all their labours proceed on supposition of the 
 truth of these principles, we presume, they ought 
 diligently to examine and inculcate them. If our 
 ministers neglect to teach these true grounds of 
 christian action, they have no right to expect of their 
 people any other than blind obedience or open 
 apostacy. 
 
 There are many ministers among us, who love 
 work, and are indifferent about wages ; who are 
 industrious to disseminate religious principles in 
 season and out of season; whose highest happiness 
 is in the increase of the kintj^dom of our redeemer. 
 These worthy disinterested servants of Christ are 
 too often confined in regard to books, time, circum- 
 stances, and so on : to will is present with them, 
 but how to perform that which diey wish, they find 
 not. To them we humbly present the following 
 analysis, hoping it may faciUlate their dissemination 
 of their own principles among the youth in their 
 assemblies. 
 
 We shall have supposed the good minister to 
 have divided his congregation into three general 
 parts. The first is the church, properly so called. 
 The second little children to be catechized ; and the 
 third, for whose instruction this analysis is inten- 
 
!92 Preface. 
 
 ded, CATECHUMENS, Consisting of persons waiting 
 to be admitted to church-fellowship, or of any 
 others, who may chuseto be informed. 
 
 The primitive church was composed of persons 
 professing faith and repentance. Where this pro- 
 fession Avas sincere it was the issue of cool delibe-^ 
 rate examination, Avhich necessarily preceded it. 
 AVhile tlie extraordinary influences of the holy spirit 
 continued during the first age of the church, con- 
 version was usually quick, and people in very short 
 spaces were delivered from the power of darkness, 
 and translated into the kingdom of God's dear son. 
 After the cessation of extraordinary gifts, primitive 
 christian ministers used an ordinary method of in- 
 struction. Such ignorant people as desired to join 
 christian churches were formed into societies, re- 
 gularly instructed by the ministeis ; and, at a proper 
 state, brought forward to church fellowship. These 
 were called Catechumens ; and the revival of this 
 state is previously necessary to the use of the fol- 
 lowing lectures. These are a kind of church- 
 schools, more solemn than private conversation, 
 and not subject to the laws of public worship. Here 
 the pastor may simplify and familiarize a thousand 
 topicks inadmissible to the pulpit, which yet all 
 belong to his office ; for he is the professor of di- 
 vinity in his own congregation, and the giving of 
 lectures on nonconforniity is one branch of his 
 office. 
 
 I shall suppose the pastor, then, to give pub- 
 lic notice some time in each September that h6 
 shall give a course of lectures on nonconformity ia 
 
Preface. 19S 
 
 the ensuing winter — that the first lecture will begin 
 at six in the evening of the second Wednesday in 
 October — that the second will be that day fort- 
 night; and so on, once a fortnight; and, conse- 
 quently, that the whole course, consisting of twelve 
 lectures, will be hnished about the middle of March. 
 — That all who choose to attend shall be admit- 
 ted on ofivino; in their names to the minister — and 
 that timely notice shall be given of such a lecture- 
 room as will contain the company. What small ex- 
 pences occur, for firing, candles, servants, and so 
 on, may be easily discharged by a proportionable 
 subscription. 
 
 It would be impertinent to pretend to expatiate 
 on the utihty of such a service ; and more so to of- 
 fer the following sketch as a perfect invariable mo- 
 del of it. W^e only mean to convey a clear notion 
 of what we aim at in these lectures. JNIost of our 
 pastors are far superior to the want of such helps; 
 and, if no junior have any occasion for them, we 
 flatter ourselves they may not be unacceptable to 
 such of our private youth as wish to trace the sub- 
 ject, and have no tutor to guide them. Each of 
 these Analyses of lectures consist of a given num- 
 ber of notes. Each note contains one or more dis- 
 tinct ideas, and each idea is sufficient to form a 
 period ; the whole constituting a lecture. We 
 have made half history, and half doctrine. They 
 elucidate each other, ar^d nonconformity includes 
 both. We shall subjoin an example, at the end, of 
 •the manner of turning these notes into discourses, 
 
 N ' 
 
TO THE 
 
 FIFTH EDITION. 
 
 I His little piece was written, without any ma- 
 levolent design, about three years ago, merely for 
 the use of a few associated churches, and, by their 
 desire, to avoid the trouble of transcribing, it was 
 printed ; but it was not then published, nor Avas it 
 intended to be published afterwards, because it 
 was known to contain some disagreeable truths, 
 which are at all times a censure, and therefore al- 
 ways an offence to some people, and it was thought 
 needless to offend where there was no hope to re- 
 form. 
 
 By some means, unknown to me, the book fell 
 into the hands of a certain noble peer, who thought 
 proper to mention it in a debate in the house of 
 lords, and, the dissenters bill being just then de- 
 pending in parliament, much was said about it 
 also in the house of commons. These accidents, 
 and not any inclination of mine, published this 
 book to the world. 
 
 Durins the sale of four editions I took no no- 
 tice of any thing that was said about it, and my si- 
 
Preface to the fifth edition^ 195 
 
 lence proceeded from a consciousness that nothing 
 was further from my natural disposition, nothing 
 more opposite to my rehgious principles, nothing 
 more contrary to my whole conduct through life 
 than rancorous bigotry in matters of religion, and 
 I thought I had been so careful in writing the book 
 to distinguish between 7nen and things, that no- 
 thing but wilful ignorance could impute such a 
 disposition to me. 
 
 At length I judge it necessary to say a few words 
 to such as think this little insignificant pamphlet 
 of consequence enough to deserve their censure, 
 and I divide these gentlemen into two classes. 
 
 The first consists of those, Vtho ha\ e incorpo- 
 rated their own passions into the christian religion, 
 who call ignorance solidity, indifference candour, 
 censoriousness and ill temper zeal for truth, pride 
 of priesthood, propriety of character, or, to use 
 !the language of a prophet, who are wise enough in 
 their oxvn eyes, and prudent enough in their own 
 sight to call evil good, and good evil. 
 
 To C andidus, 2ii\d Veritas, and Niger, and Men- 
 da.r, and all the rest of this order, I owe no service, 
 write no anwers, and have nothing to say, except 
 that as I never intended to offend them, so I ne- 
 ver meant to please them, and as I never printed 
 a line for their use, so I never intend to review 
 one. 
 
 To the other class I turn with the most profound 
 esteem, and, as they have somehow mistaken my 
 meaning, I beg leave with all possible deference to 
 
JC/(5 Preface to the fifth edition. 
 
 say a few words concerning the subject, of which 
 this book treats, and the manner, in which it is 
 here treated. 
 
 The subject of the book is the constitution of a 
 christian chuixh. It is affirmed, that Christ istlie 
 head, believers the members, scripture bishops and 
 deacons the only officers, scripture the law, and 
 pure and undefiled religion the sole object of this 
 community. How can this subject be offensive to 
 any disinterested christian? 
 
 The manner of treating it is by a statement of 
 historical facts, which never were, nor ever can 
 be denied. Indeed these facts might have been 
 narrated with an accompanyment of soft words, 
 that would have rendered them less glaring ; but 
 then this would have been a history, and not what 
 it is now, an analysis, an index of history, or a kind 
 of chapter of contents. The translators of the bi- 
 ble have thought fit to put at the head of each 
 chapter a brief sketch of its contents, and were 
 these contents published alone they would appear 
 -full as uncourtly as this syllabus. The truth is, 
 some of us aie ugly fellows, and no style of pain- 
 ting can reconcile us to our own faces. 
 
 Where the truth of facts cannot be denied, and 
 where the manner of stating them is a matter of 
 comparative indifference, there will remain only 
 one method of getting rid of them, that is, by pre- 
 tending to know the motives of the narrator, and 
 by attributing to him the worst that can be ima- 
 gined. This is an expeditious method, and fitted 
 to all men, even to such as have neither abilities 
 
Preface to the fifth edition. 197 
 
 nor virtue to qualify them for any other service. 
 This may be done without reading and without 
 reasoning; it may be done while we make good 
 cheer, smoke our pipes, or job in the stocks; though 
 it cannot be done without extreme folly by those, 
 ■whose cause is pleaded by the books they censure. 
 
 Although the truth of a history does not at all 
 depend on the motive of an hibtorian, nor the 
 strength of an argument on the spirit of him who 
 urges it, and although my motives in writing this 
 piece are too insignificant to merit the attention of 
 any man, yet 1 will strain a point, and honestly 
 declare, as far as I know my heart, and in the 
 sight of him who searcheth it, what induced me to 
 compile this little piece. j\ly tale shall be j>lain 
 and artless, suffice it at present, that it is true. 
 
 I have long observed, and much enjoyed, the 
 felicity of being a Briton. Great Britain is the 
 first country in the world, and the God of nature 
 hath stored it with every thing that can make its 
 inhabitants happy. Its insular situation, the ex- 
 tent and figure of its coasts, the islands that sur- 
 round it, its springs, waters, and navigable rivers, 
 its timbers, fruits, herbs, corn, and all other pro- 
 ductions ofits luxuriant soil, its immense treasures 
 of earths, salts, fossils, minerals, stone, marble, and 
 fuel; its animals, wild and tame, liocks, herds, hives^ 
 daries, poultry, hsheries, decoys, the stately horse, 
 and the hardy ass, all ministering to tiie subsistence 
 and pleasure ofits inhabitants, the stature, genius, 
 fecundity and longevity of its natives, the tempera- 
 ture of its climate, in one word, the natural advan* 
 
198 Preface to tlie fifth edition. 
 
 tages of Great Britain render it, upon the whole, 
 the most beautiful and desirable country in the 
 world. The whole is a rich present, which the 
 bounty of providence has bestowed upon us. 
 
 I have observed, with the utmost pleasure, the 
 art and industry of my countrymen assistinii nature. 
 Agriculture, architecture, navigation, commerce, 
 literature, arts, sciences, in endless varieties, give 
 grace and elegance to this lovely island. Who can 
 behold cities full of inhabitants, artists and manu- 
 facturers employed in thousands, shops thronged 
 with customers, warehouses full of stores and goods, 
 markets and fairs exposing plenty at our doors, 
 roads, rivers, fields, villages, mines, and sea-ports 
 all alive ; I ask, who can behold all these in his 
 own native spot, and not exclaim, may my country 
 flourish to the end of time ! 
 
 I have received an addition to my pleasure, by 
 understanding, that all the natural and artificial 
 advantages of Great Britain are capable of great 
 improvement, and I have l)een happy to see e very- 
 year new advances towards national perfection. 
 The forming new societies for improvement, the 
 invention of new machines for facilitating labour, 
 the inclosing of wastes, the making of roads, scour- 
 ing rivers, cutting canals, draining fens, planting 
 timber, importing foreign arts, books, grains, 
 grasses, animals, all these, and a thousand other 
 amendments and inventions, convince us that we 
 are not yet arrived at our zenith, and open a fu' 
 ture prospect of rational pleasure and joy. 
 
Preface to the fifth edition- 199 
 
 My pleasure has been increased, by observing 
 the happy constitution of our government. Our 
 Pflixed monarchy contains all the excellencies, and 
 provides against the evils of the three sorts of go- 
 vernment, of which it is compounded. It is, in- 
 deed, a human composition, and therefore, hkq 
 ^veryj otl:ier humaa production, imperfect, and 
 liable to degenerate. Its ex:;eiience does not lie 
 in any one of its component parts, but in a nice 
 union of the three, v. hich union is then perfect, 
 when it prevents aqy one from preponderating, 
 and rendering the other tv/o subservient to itself. 
 Whatever may be my private opinion concerning 
 the preser.t indication of the balance, I have said 
 nothing on ths subject in this book. 
 
 My pleasure has risen higher still, by pbserving 
 what in nimerable berel^Its flow from both the jus- 
 tice and the generosily of this happy kingdom. 
 We have a sys:eri of la\/ universally administered, 
 that holds the life, liberty, and property of every 
 individual sacred, and a long train of well-con- 
 trived and efibctive charities, consisting of schools, 
 hospitals, public provisions for all the wants ancl 
 the maladies, io which mankind in the several 
 stages of life are exposed. To crown all, the re- 
 ligion of our country is Christianity, the last best 
 gift of God to man. Al' these advantages put to- 
 gether, afford an abundance of felicity, sufli- 
 cient to satiate tlie most benevolent soul; ancj, 
 whether it be ignorance or knowledge, virtue or 
 vice, religion or enthusiasm, certain I am, ob- 
 serving these advantages of the land of my nativity 
 
200 Preface to the fifth edition. 
 
 has given me inexpressible pleasure, and has made 
 Britain appear a paradise to me. Who that loves 
 his species can help forming the most ardent wishes 
 for the prosperity of this country ? Who can help 
 saying, Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed 
 is lie that curseth thee! 
 
 Whoever indulges a pleasure arising from these 
 considerations, will find it interrupted by a univer- 
 sal complaint of the general infidehty and profli- 
 gacy of the inhabitants of this happy clime. It is 
 not a murmur issuing from the cell of a rigid monk, 
 or an explosion of the fierce rage of an enthusiast; 
 it is the sad and sober remonstrance of all the 
 wisest and best men in the kingdom, and it is sup- 
 ported by proofs, alas ! too glaring and notorious. 
 
 After we have made as many concessions to the 
 frailty of human nature as the tenderest parent 
 would make to ihe follies of his children, and after 
 we have given all the merit, that an excess of can- 
 dour can desire, to the virtues of our countrymen, 
 we are obliged to confess, that we abound with 
 impiety and immorality. Atheism, deism, infi- 
 delity in a thousand forms, drunkenness, debau- 
 chery, swearing, profanation of the Lords day, 
 variegated frauds, and boundless luxury in ten 
 thousand shapes, disgrace this country; and these 
 are not confined to the low and illiterate, but they 
 profane all ranks and degrees among us. Examine 
 a county election, observe a city feast, or a coun- 
 try wake, walk through public places of business 
 or pleasure, attend the courts of justice and listen 
 to the causes trying there, peep into hospitals and 
 
Preface to the fifth editioru 261 
 
 jails, see the navy, and the army, in a word, be- 
 hold the whole body politick, and behold, in the 
 language of a prophet, a sinful nation, a people 
 lademvith iniquity, a seed of evil doers ; forsaking 
 the Lord, and provoking the holy one of Israel to 
 anger. 
 
 Two things have here made forcible impressions 
 on my mind : first, it is certain, that Christianity is 
 a religion so good in itself, so admirably adapted 
 to the wants and just wishes of mankind, so plain 
 to the meanest capacity, and so clear and irresis- 
 tible in its evidences of divinity, that it is not ca- 
 pable of any improvement; it is, like all theother 
 works of God, perfect and entire, and xvanting 
 nothing, commending itself to every man's con- 
 scietice in the sight of God. Yet, secondly, it is 
 equally clear, that the precepts of this religion are 
 not practised by the bulk of us, that its beauty is 
 not seen, and that its evidences make few or no 
 impressions on our minds. A question, then, na- 
 turally arises : what is the cause of this universal 
 darkness amidst such a profusion of light ? 
 
 It does not proceed from a scarcity of teachers. 
 Our schools have masters, our universities tutors, 
 our nobility domestic chaplains, our parishes priests, 
 our inns of court, our regiments, ships, hospitals, 
 and jails, have preachers, chaplains, or ordinaries, 
 all devoted from their earliest youth to the service 
 of religion ; all educated with a view to diffuse the 
 knowledge of Christianity ; all freed from secular 
 employments, and professing to teach and exemplify 
 the principles and practices of Jesus Christ. 
 
202 Preface to the fifth edition. 
 
 It does not proceed from a scarcity of provision 
 for our instructors ; for beside the immense sala- 
 ries paid to some, and the abundance of smaU 
 dues to all, the whole produce of the ground, ex- 
 cept in a few cases, is every tenth year allotted 
 them. Jews and christians, papists and protes- 
 tants, conformists and nonconformists pay their 
 share. 
 
 It is impossible, on the one hand, to deny the 
 wickedness of this nation ; for, we are daily told, 
 that the present calamitous war, the ruin of trade, 
 the increase of taxes, the many, very many ills, 
 under which we groan, are all punishments of 
 our sins ; hence general fasts, and fast sermons, 
 and in every pulpit catalogues of crimes to be re-: 
 pented of, and forborn. On the olher hand, it is 
 impossii)le to deny, that national wickedness is the 
 eftect of a cause, and that there is a great fault 
 somevthcie. 
 
 I ventured to suppose, that this faullt Igy, not 
 in the clergy, but in the constitution of that church, 
 which they are retained to support. I examinecl 
 the doctrines taught by Jesas Clirist on the mount, 
 and compared them with tlie thirty-nine articles 
 of faith ; I read the discourses delivered by Jesus 
 Christ at the ordination of his twelve apostles and 
 seventy disciples, and, having done justice to the 
 subject by leaving out the extraordinary, and ne- 
 taining only the ordinary parts, I conipared this 
 remainder with the book of consecration, and or- 
 dering of priests and deacons ; and so very scr.U' 
 pulous wus I in waking ;this contrast, that 1 pro« 
 
Preface to thejifth edition. 203 
 
 cured of a particular friend that very edition of 
 the book to wiiich the clergy subscribe, and which 
 is so extremely scarce, that few in the kingdom 
 have seen it* I compared the other discourses of 
 Christ and his Apostles with the two books of ho- 
 milies. I collected the Lord's prayer, and the 
 odier pra3'crs of scripture together, and compared 
 them with the liturgy. I compared the rules of 
 ecclesiastical action laid down in the new testa- 
 ment with the canons of the church, the temper 
 and disposition of Christ with the temper and spi- 
 rit of these laws. In one word, I compared the 
 gospel according to the four evangelists, with the 
 gospel according to the episcopal reformers, and 
 I found, or thought I found, an admirable titness 
 in the first to answer the ends of Christ's coming 
 into the world, that is, to make men wise and good, 
 and consequently an unfitness in the last. 
 
 My conviction increased, by comparing the his' 
 tory of the gospel, according to the four evangC' 
 lists, as recorded in the acts of the apostles, with 
 the history of the gospel according to Cranmer, 
 as recorded in all our historians ; and, from the 
 whole, I could not help concluding, that were 
 Christianity proposed now to Britons as it was then 
 to Greeks and Romans, it would produce as good 
 effects, because we have as much good sense as 
 they, and it would produce no commotions and 
 aliowed persecutions, because we have better no- 
 
 * See the thirty-sixth article of religion, intitled, Of cofi" 
 se*:ration of hisliopn and minisicrif. 
 
204 Preface to the fifth edition. 
 
 tions of civil and religious liberty than they had. 
 I verily believe it is not real, but disguised Chris- 
 tianity, tliat is the object of the suspicion, doubt, 
 and ridicule of infidels. 
 
 Whenever we talk of reformation, though we de- 
 test a spirit of persecution, and propose no means 
 but reason, argument, and example, yet some 
 men's heads instantly swarm with notions of anar- 
 chy, confusions, convulsions of church and state, 
 skirmishes and battles, and wounds and prisons, and 
 fire and blood. They take fright, talk wildly, and, 
 with artifice truly sophistical, set up a cry, trea- 
 son, sedition, republicanism, error, heresy, schism, 
 all gushing out, and threatening to overflow, and 
 carry away monarchy, universities, literature, can- 
 dour, indulgence, toleration, and religion, and yet 
 God knows there is not one word of truth in all 
 this. 
 
 Let us suppose a case. I imagine some idl« re- 
 tired man, when the parish officers call for a rate, 
 to cast his eyes on their accounts, and to per- 
 ceive 20 shillings charged for washing the priest's 
 surplice four times in the year. Suppose him 
 to say to them, gentlemen, there are ten thou- 
 sand parishes in England ; at this rate we pay ten 
 thousand pounds annually for washing surplices, 
 and there are many collegiate churches and cha- 
 pels, many cathedrals and other chapels belong- 
 ing to hospitals, schools, and so on, whicli must 
 be laid at least at a third part of the above sum. 
 Surplice-washing, then, costs the nation above 
 thirteen thousand a year. I say nothing of three 
 
Preface to theffth edition. 205 
 
 |i6unds for a new one every seven years : but I do 
 think tlie whole money might be better employed, 
 and the religion of Jesus Christ suffer no damage. 
 Suppose this calculator a bigot or a madman, it 
 IS shocking to suppose him on this account an ene- 
 my to candour or learning, religion or government. 
 
 A certain dignitary of the episcopal church, for 
 whom I shall always entertain the highest regard, 
 once did me the honour to ask me, on supposition 
 he and I had been appointed by conformists and 
 nonconformists to reconcile differences, and to 
 form a bond of union to incorporate the two bodies 
 into one, what alterations in the present constitu- 
 tion I would wish, and what terms I would pro- 
 pose. I replied, 1 would beg leave, before I en- 
 tered on any particulars, to settle one preliminary 
 article with him, that was the ^ociYw^e oi impositi- 
 on. To this he instantly acceded, as indeed every 
 man of sense must, for, if any thing in nature be 
 clear, this is, one christian ought not to impose his 
 religious principles and modes of worship on an- 
 other. Each ought to leave another in possession 
 of the same liberty of thinking and acting, which 
 he himself enjoys. This preliminary settled, I 
 took the liberty to say, I have nothing more to 
 add, for by this one article, the whole is eiicctcd, 
 and effected, O marvellous ! in an alcove in a gar- 
 den, without blood, or blo^rs, or angry words. 
 
 This just principle would operate to enfranchise 
 every parish in Britain, for each congregation 
 would choose its own minister, instead of suppor- 
 ting one imposed by a patron. Each minister 
 
5206 Vrefmc to the fifth edition. 
 
 would form and ndopt principles of his own, in- 
 stead of subscribing a creed imposed on him by 
 others. If people thouijht priests and prayer-books, 
 and surplices and ceremonies necessary to religion, 
 they would support them by their own methods, 
 instead of obliging otlters to maintain a ritual, from 
 which they derive no benefit. In a word, the 
 whole nation would be put in possession of religi- 
 ous libert}^ and instead of leaving religion to the 
 care of a few, we should, probably, each examine 
 the matter, and take care of himself, and this I 
 should call virtue, if not christian piety. 
 
 The reverend prebendary of Winchester, who 
 thought fit to animadvert on this book in a series 
 of letters addressed to his lord })ishop of Lon- 
 don, acknowledges the want of some revision, and 
 reformation, and in this he speaks the language of 
 a;ll considerate members of his community : but the 
 subjects to be revised are the articles, and the li- 
 turgy, not the point, the great point, religious 
 LIBERTY, on which all the controversy turns. We 
 object against a constitution, and we are answered 
 by encomiums on the officers, who administer it ; 
 a dignified clergyman could not say less, and a 
 prudent bishop would not wish for more. 
 
 When I wrote this book, I had no other design 
 than that of convincing the young people in our 
 nonconformist churches of the nature, worth and 
 importance of primitive Christianity; being fully 
 persuaded that revealed religion can never be pro- 
 posed more wisely, or with more probability of 
 success, than in the unadorned, simple manner, in 
 
Preface to the fifth edition. 207 
 
 which it was proposed at first, and by which it 
 su'bdued so ma-ny understandings to the obedience 
 of faith. The objects of my contemplation were 
 ti'uth aind error, Christianity in the hand of Christ, 
 ailcl Christianity in the hands of modern teachers ; 
 but as for rancour against the persons of any men, 
 or any order of men, I always was, and am yet a 
 happy stranger to the feeling. Captivity of con- 
 science is the only object of my complaint, the 
 liberation of it the sole object of my attention. 
 
 If I supposed some prelates would be punished 
 at the last day, 1 supposed these prelates bloody 
 persecutors ; and do we not all affirm, that a per- 
 secutor is a criminal, and will be punished, whe- 
 ther it be a tradesman, a justice of peace, or a pre- 
 late ? 
 
 It would be endless to answer quibbles upon 
 words. It is a fact, that the preface, the close of 
 the sixth lecture, and, hi brief, the whole book dis- 
 tinguishes PERSONS from THINGS, agreeably to the 
 quotation from bishop Burnet in the title page; 
 and, it is equally true, that if I had the whole epis- 
 copal church, yea the whole papal community as 
 much at my disposal as the most absolute tyrant 
 ever had his slaves, I would not deprive them by 
 force of one article of faith, or one ceremony of 
 worship; I would only oblige them to separate re- 
 hgion from civil and secular affairs, in order to 
 make all mankind as free as Christ intended they 
 should be. I would not model a church to serve 
 a state; but I would establish a state on wise and 
 virtuous principles, and leave a supernatural reli- 
 
UOS Preface to theffth edition. 
 
 gion to support itself. If prophecies and miracles, 
 if the goodness of the doctrine and the lives of the 
 founders of Christianity cannot maintain the cre- 
 dit of revelation, alas! what can pomp and power 
 do ? If men believe not Moses and the prophetSy 
 neither would they be persuaded if one rose from 
 the dead. 
 
L, E € TUR E 1. 
 
 The doctrine of free religious inquiry stated^ 
 explained, and vindicated. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 JJxWID entertained a just and beautiful idea of 
 religion, when he called it inquiring in Jehovah's 
 temple — the phrase implies two things — 1. Aright 
 of inquiry in the people — 2. a sufficiency in reve- 
 lation to answer inquiries. 
 
 STATED. 
 
 Inquiry is interrogation — examination — search 
 — disquisition — investigation. 
 
 Religious inquiry is examination of all sub- 
 jects that belong to religion — as — nature and 
 worsliip of God — moral obligations of men — 
 TRUTH of revelation in general — and the mean- 
 ing of each part of it. 
 
 Free religious inquiry is examination uncon- 
 troulled by human authority — by our own passions 
 and prejudices — by popular customs — fashions 
 
 MAXIMS. 
 
 o 
 
210 A plan of lectures 
 
 EXPLAINED. 
 
 The most free religious inquiry is necessarily 
 liffiited by the nature of things — nature and re- 
 velation exhibit subjects to be examined — some 
 subjects are beyond our capacities, and a search 
 into them is vain — others are comprehensible 
 without revelation- -OR with it — and others again 
 are revealed in their truth ; but not in their mode 
 of existence. — Inquiry, therefore, is then free, 
 when it possesses a liberty of proceeding as far as 
 the reason and fitness of things allow. 
 
 VINDICATED. 
 
 1. Every intelligent creature is capacitated for 
 it — GOOD men are peculiarly fitted for it — the 
 highest inspiration does not exclude it — heaven 
 exhibits the noblest exercise of it. 
 
 2. It is essential to religion. — Consider the 
 nature of God — man — vice — virtue — revela- 
 tion written or preached — graces of a christian, 
 
 as FA I TH repentance — 11 U M I L I T Y - — ZEAL. 
 
 3. It is expressly commanded by Jesus Christ-— 
 HIS prophets — AND apostle::^. 
 
 4. It injures no civil rights. — Observe the 
 three grand articles implied in it — the sole domi- 
 nion of Christ — THE right of private judgment — 
 entire libertyof conscience allowed by an univer- 
 sal toleration. — Neither of these interferes with 
 secular things— all ennoble society — and enrich 
 and aggrandize a nation. 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 2 1 1 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 Contrast the countries where it is suppressed 
 with those where it is cherished — the times in 
 our own country when it has been depressed with 
 those in which it has been encouraged — the mean- 
 ness and misery of those, who do not claim it, with 
 the dignity and felicity of those wlio do — in pros- 
 perity — adversity — affliction — persecu- 
 tion — death — judgment. 
 
 Einish — by applauding the worship of our 
 churches, consisting of free prayer — free and 
 frequent preaching — free debate — free psalmody 
 — free joining a church — free dismission. — all 
 tending to nourish free inquiry — which human 
 establishments — cumbersome rituals-^-AND penal 
 sanctions drop and depress. — Praise the liberal 
 men of all denominations, who have claimed and 
 exercised it in states — schools — and churches — 
 and have lost civil liberty — ^property— and life 
 for doing so. 
 
 o 2 
 
212 A plan of lectures 
 
 JLECTUME II, 
 
 The Historij of the Refonnation. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 MOSES in the viii. of Deuteronomy furnisheth 
 us with two general notions. — 1. The doctrine of 
 providence. — 2. The benefits of investigating it. 
 • — These were properly addressed to a peoplejust 
 freed from despotism — xVnd they are so to us, 
 M horn tiie reformation hath placed in similar cir- 
 cumstances — M'E are come out of Egypt — but 
 not yet arrived at the promised land. 
 
 The state of religion at the accession of Henry 
 YIII. natuially excited prejudices in our ancestors 
 against it — as the claims and condition of the iiead 
 of the church, the pope^ — the doctrines preached 
 — THE laws of church government — the ceremo- 
 nies of worship — the pomp — power — tyraxxy 
 — AND temper of prelates — the lives of the clergy 
 — IMMORALITIES of religiousordcrs — igxorance 
 and misery of the populace, &c. 
 
 The history of the corruption of natural religion 
 — AXD of that of the Je\is — aloxg with prophe- 
 cies of the new testament — strexgthexed those 
 prejudices against the papal community. 
 
 Several events coincided — literature revi- 
 ved — prixtixg was invented. — Fraxcis I. Henry 
 Vm. and Charles V. pursued measures, which 
 emboldened in(|uirers— IIexry quarrelled with 
 the Pope — uxiversities favoured him. 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 2 1 3 
 
 Henry's reformation altered the form of popery 
 — BUT did not remove the grand principle of it, 
 human authority in matters of religion — the act of 
 supremacy lodged the same power in the crown, 
 that had been vested in the pope. — In virtue of 
 this power the king exercised ecclesiastical ledsla- 
 tion and jurisdiction — appointed by commission 
 articles of religious doctrine — and practice for the 
 nation — and supported them by penal sanctions 
 - — reformation went backward in the close of 
 his reiy;n. 
 
 The reformers in the reign of Edward VI. re- 
 tained the doctrine of royal supremacy — they 
 availed themselves of his minority — -and youth — ■ 
 PUT out two service books — intended a third — 
 and might have put out a thousand on the same 
 principles — they sacrificed the rights of all the 
 nation to a fancied prerogative of a boy. 
 
 At Queen Mary's accession popery was resto- 
 red — FOUR iiuNDiiED protcstauts burnt — or mur- 
 dered — MULTITUDES fled — THE greatest number 
 settled at Francfort — and worshipped God with- 
 out the English service-book. — Dr. Cox disturbed 
 their worship — caballed with the magistrates — 
 GOT those banished, who had purified religion 
 from popish ceremonies— introduced the English 
 liturgy and government — and M'as the cause of 
 the separation. — Calvin and others were applied 
 to — THEY censured the book — and the violence 
 of those who imposed it. 
 
 Queen Elizabeths reigning passion was love of 
 despotism— HER meani of obtaining it were full 
 
214 A plan of lectures 
 
 of duplicity — treachery — and cruelty — she 
 made religion an engine of government — and 
 framed the English episcopal corporation so as to 
 serve her arbitrary plan of governing — she ob- 
 tained an absolute supremacy — her bishops acted 
 under it — she imposed articles — ceremonies — 
 oaths — PENALTIES, &c. — AND laid the founda- 
 tion of episcopal uniformity in the blood of tbe pu- 
 ritans with unpardonable cruelty. 
 
 Finish — by contrastincr the characters of her 
 bishops with those of fox — coverdale— knox 
 - — cartwright — AND Other puritans — and com- 
 pare the manner of framing the episcopal church 
 with that of constituting primitive churches by the 
 apostles. 
 
Oil the principles of nonconformity, 21^ 
 
 JLECTUME III, 
 
 A general viezv oj' Queen EUzaheilis church, 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 REVEALED religion always gloried in a pub- 
 lic exposure. — Moses published his mission in the 
 most learned — and inquisitive — court then in the 
 world. — The prophets did not preach in dark 
 places of the earth — they reproached pagan priests 
 for peeping and muttering in obscurity. — Jesus 
 Christ taught no secrets— -he commanded his apos- 
 tles to publish his gospel on the house-tops — and 
 they obeyed him strictly. — Truth gains by expo- 
 sure — AND if silent acquiescence were essential to 
 prelatical safety it would be a violent prejudice 
 against it. — One knows not what to make of the 
 inconsistency of this church — it publishes laws — 
 BOOKS — &c. — AND secms' to challenge examina- 
 tion — AND yet it publishes other laws — and other 
 books — TO prohibit examination. — We shall go by 
 the former — and place it in several points of light 
 to obtain a just notion of it. 
 
 I. VIEW. 
 
 The system acquires no reputation from the' 
 times in which it was formed — nor from the per- 
 sons — WHO formed it. — Neither Harry — nor 
 Elizabeth — had any piety — nor one sound no- 
 tion of civil government. — They were only neceS" 
 
216 A plan of lectures 
 
 sary to the reformation as they were less tvrants 
 than the pope. — Statesmen sacrificed reliiiion to 
 save the nation. — Prelates were chosen for se- 
 cular purposes— AND all persons — and events — 
 were directed to crown uses. There was very 
 little learnino; — less deliberate moderation — and 
 no philanthropy — in any of them all. 
 
 II. VIEW. 
 
 Prelatical hierarchy is not religion — it is 
 no part of moral philosophy, which is natural re- 
 ligion — NOR of the plan of redemption, which is 
 revealed religion — it is a direct violation of both. 
 — People in the community may think themselves 
 relimous — as the deformed think themselves hand- 
 some — OR they may be religious — as trees may be 
 accidentally fruitful in an unfriendly soil — but the 
 constitution itself is not religion — nor calculated 
 to promote it— not faith — nor repentance, &c. 
 
 III. VIEW. 
 
 The hierarchy considered as a corporation is 
 unconstitutional — its creeds — vvnd canons — and 
 rules of government — are a kind of bye laws — 
 which are unconstitutional Avhen they violate the 
 first allowed principles of government. — Char- 
 ters — patents — and monopolies — flowing from 
 regal prerogative — are so far illegal — as they in' 
 jure society at large. 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 2 1 7 
 IV. VIEW. 
 
 Prelacy as a system of governing is unsound 
 at heart. — In all good governments — the people 
 are the origin of power — but the people have no 
 authority here. — The parliament that authenti- 
 cated the hierarchical system exceeded their powers 
 — THE people could not commit — nor (Hd they 
 commit the choice of a religion to them — and 
 had they elected them for that purpose — they 
 could not constitutionally bind their successors — 
 AND they might as well have stated our taxes to 
 the end of the world — as our religion. — Prelacy 
 has always thriven most under arbitrary princes — 
 and discovered one uniform invariable attachment 
 to dominion over conscience. 
 
 V. VIEW. 
 
 An established hierarchy is baneful to learning 
 — ESPECIALLY sound Critical religious literature. 
 — Agiven sense of scripture — imposed by oath — 
 ON juniors — precludes free inquir}-, the soul of 
 learning — and poisons education at the spring- 
 head — accordingly, the scriptures sink into dis- 
 repute. — Divinity is nescience at universities. — 
 Classicks — AND matliematicks — are ail in all. — 
 There is nothing to lind out in religion — thirty 
 nine articles tell all. — There is nothing to improve 
 — FOR to swear not to endeavour to alter — is to 
 give up the idea of improvement. — There is no- 
 thing to defend — the sword does that — no use of 
 
218 A plan of lectures 
 
 reason — argument — persuasion — for the peo- 
 ple were all made christians at baptism. 
 
 VI. V I E W. 
 
 The episcopal establishment may be viewed as 
 falling in — or rather out — ^with the generous plan 
 of redemption — to be communicated by preachi?ig. 
 — The plan was laid to make all men see the ma- 
 nifold wisdom of God — by preaching the unsear- 
 chable riches of Christ — but this system drives 
 some away from publick worship — fatigues others 
 with tedious — unmeaning — ceremonies — leaves 
 but a few minutes for preaching — employs them 
 but seldom — and then devotes them to a rapid de- 
 clamation — IN favour of a dry morality — a dream 
 to amuse — or a drug to stupify. 
 
 VII. VIE W. 
 
 Consider episcopacy as it affects property.-^ 
 Calculate the charge of introducing — suppor- 
 ting — ADORNING — employing it. — It is an en- 
 ormous tax — IMPOSED on industry — to empower a 
 few individuals — to create others like themselves 
 — to sign a few useless papers — to loll in indolence 
 — to riot in luxury — and to defeat among lords 
 — what liberal acts for reUgious liberty are sup- 
 ported by commons. 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 2 1 9 
 VIII. VIEW. 
 
 Prelacy hurts morality. — Morality is either 
 supported by personal principles — but this system 
 is formed for the destruction of principles — or by 
 imitation of bright examples — but alas ! how few 
 such have we ever heard of— and how are preva- 
 rication HYPOCRISY FORMALITY BIGOTRY, 
 
 &c. propagated by it. 
 
 Finish — BY placing prelates — and people — be- 
 fore the judge of the whole earth at the last day. 
 Represent the glorious redeemer exhibiting his 
 faithful servants — whom prelacy ruined for claim- 
 ing their natural — and religious rights — and say- 
 ing to these holy tyrants — these had meat — drink 
 — and habitations — but ye reduced them to hun- 
 ger — thirst — and banishment. — I gave them cloath- 
 ing — BUT ye stripped them naked. — They had 
 health — and hberty from me — sickness — and 
 imprisonment from you. — Depart ! 
 
220 A plan of lectures 
 
 LECTUME IT. 
 
 The History oj Puritanism during the reign of 
 James I. 
 
 JAjMES I. was weak in his intellects — profaxe 
 in his life — despotic a l in his goveinment. — He 
 pretended to learning — and religion— bl t was des- 
 titute of both — AXD was an ignorant — contemp- 
 tible tyrant. — He came bad out of Scotland— axd 
 English bishops made him worse. — He was the au- 
 thor of all the calamities of his son's reign — and 
 has been the scorn of every impartial writer since. 
 
 James's bishops were tit tools for such a tyrant. 
 — WiiiTGiFT was bad — Baxcroft worse — Laud 
 the worst of all. — The less despotical were equally 
 contemptible for countenancing their inhuman 
 church-polity. — Prelacy naturally friendly to 
 popery and tyranny. 
 
 Puritans were of four sorts. — 1. Doctrinal 
 —zealously attached to Calvinism. — 2. Practi- 
 cal — of severe morals. — 3. Disciplinarian — 
 aiming to make scripture the rule of reformation. 
 — 4. Political — endeavouring to abridge prero- 
 gative, and extend popular liberty. 
 
 The third sort of Puritans were divided into 
 Presbyterians — Broavnists — Independents — 
 Baptists, &c. — Some had formed churches of their 
 own — others hoped for a comprehension in the 
 episcopal church — and employed all peaceable — ■ 
 and constitutional means of Obtaining it. — All 
 were persecuted for one — and that the unpardon- 
 
On the jmnciples of nonconformity. 22 1 
 
 able sin in the eyes of a despot, denying that the 
 king's xvill was a nation's laxv. 
 
 The Hampton-court conference was a ridicu- 
 lous farce — a compound of king-craft and priest- 
 craft. The actors in it forgot nothing but 
 
 their masks. The puritans would not be gulled 
 
 by it — BUT continued to dissent — and they were 
 right. 
 
 Things were in a state favourable to the in- 
 crease of arbitrary church power, when the convo- 
 cation that made the present body of canons, met. 
 — Courtiers and prelates of the most despotical 
 principles were the king's favourites.— The parlia- 
 ment had just sutfered him to pack a house of com- 
 mons — THE see of Canterbury was vacant — the 
 way to it was by conducting court measures in con- 
 vocation. — The prelates played their parts so well 
 that they made a code of episcopal church-law — 
 CONSISTING of 141 canons — all tending to estab- 
 lish absolute dominion over conscience — and to 
 ruin all, who could not swear to a falshood — that 
 is, that the episcopal corporation is a tiuly aposto- 
 lical church — so perfect as to need no future re- 
 vision. — This senseless cruel code of law was rati- 
 fied by regal j)atent — not by parliament — and has 
 been adjudged therefore to be binding on the epis- 
 copal clergy — but not on the rest of the nation > 
 
 The king and the prelates more violent in post- 
 ing to absolute monarcliy than before — for this 
 purpose they tried Calvinism at Dort— and then 
 introduced Arminianism — and depraved the 
 morals of the people by the book of sports — ^in- 
 
222 Apian of lectures 
 
 VENTED plots — AND then imposed oaths — of alle- 
 giance SUPREMACY SUBSCRIPTIOX, &C. IN- 
 CREASED ecclesiastical commissions — and exerci- 
 sed inquisitorial cruelty under them. 
 
 The persecuted puritans fled to Holland — Ire- 
 land — AND America. — The parliament petitioned 
 James against prelatical tyranny — and for the pu- 
 ritans. — They saw popery — and despotism — - 
 striding apace over all the land. — James is in- 
 flexible — HIS prelates worse than himself — the pu- 
 ritans increase. — The tyrant was supposed to be 
 poisoned — expires. 
 
 Finish — by observing what episcopacy can do, 
 when it has a head to its heart — an d by distiuiiuish- 
 ing between the interest of a church — and of tlie 
 church — AND the personal interests of ambitious 
 men, who govern it. — -A time-serving prelate is an 
 object of pity — as well as blame — he bu\,shisho- 
 nours too dear. 
 
On the principles of nonconformifij. 223 
 
 LECTURE V« 
 
 The Constitution — officers — worship — ard cere- 
 ?nonies of the Episcopal church. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A Religious society formed on principles of re- 
 velation — HAS no other rule of action than the ex- 
 press word of God — natural worship resembles 
 philosophical experiments — cut revealed worship 
 requires positive institute. — It is not enough that 
 a thing is not forbidden — it must be commanded. 
 —Christian faith is belief of a divine — revea- 
 ed — truth — and christian Avorship is obedience to 
 a divine — written command. — St. Paul went oil 
 this ground, when he argued from the silence of 
 scripture. Heb. vii. 14. — And when he affirmed the 
 perfection of revelation. 2 Tim. iii. \6, ]/• 
 
 Revelation gives Christ an exclusive right of 
 legislation — good men entire liberty of conscience 
 — AND all men the right of private judgment. — ■ 
 The episcopal church transferred all these rights to 
 Harry and mizabeth. — It put them in the place 
 of God — AND all their successors in the condition 
 of irrationals. — It admitted that dangerous first 
 principle — human authority in religion — and 
 erected Anglican episcopacy — on what had alone 
 .supported popery — and paganism. 
 
 This church is constituted of the whole nation 
 — OF all ages— of both sexes — of all principles — 
 OF no principles — of all practices — and profcs- 
 
224 A plan of lectures 
 
 sions--tooD- -BAD — -AND indifferent. — Its laws 
 are caions — some confirmed by parliament— 
 OTHERS not — ALL enforced by penal sanctions. — 
 Its support is worldly riches — saved out of the 
 shipwreck of that pi;i'ate — the pope. — Its supreme 
 head if a king — or a queen — lutherax — pres- 
 
 BYTERAN PRELATICAL OR pOpish. It haS CX- 
 
 isted under all — and served the views of each. 
 
 THEofificers of this church are all unknown to 
 scriptu'e.— The same head is both the legislative 
 — and executive power. — Under him by com- 
 mission are archbishops — who superintend dio- 
 cesan bishops — who have under them deans — 
 VHO are over canons — and prebendaries — rec- 
 tors — VICARS — curates. — The first create the 
 list — and the last swear obedience to the first. — 
 Prelates are lords of parliament — they have 
 a sole power of ordination — confirmation — 
 consecration — A secular power to issue out writs 
 in their own names— to hold courts of judicature 
 — to sentence without a jury — to transact busi- 
 ness relative tomarriages— wills — administra- 
 tions — and for these purposes — they have 
 courts — AND officers — chancellors — arch- 
 deacons— commissaries — VICARS general — of- 
 ficials — surrogates proctors REGISTERS 
 
 — APPARITORS, (Scc. — To dcscribc their names — 
 POWER — employmentSj&c. would have puzzled 
 the twelve inspired apostles. 
 
 The public worship of the episcopal church is 
 by a slated liturgy — a defective book in every 
 point of view.— Its authority entirely human — it 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 225 
 
 is conducted partly by a priest — who reajds — and 
 partly by the people — who make responses — 
 PARTLY in a desk — partly at the communion ta- 
 ble, &c. — In cathedrals it is chaunted. — It is com- 
 posed of genuine — and apocryphal scriptures — 
 CREEDS opposite to each other — prayers of scrip- 
 ture- — fathers MASS-BOOK POLITICAL maX- 
 
 ims — AND state-designs. Infants are ques- 
 tioned — BOYS are taught falshoods — and after- 
 ward confirmed — bread and wine are consecrated 
 — the sick are absolved — services are said for 
 
 the Stuarts — hereticks are execrated &c. 
 
 There are errors of every kind init — ^literary 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL PHILOLOGICAL THEO- 
 LOGICAL — THE very scriptures are burlesqued by 
 
 being turned into question and answer. The 
 
 whole is unnecessary — and unwarrantable — and 
 the imposition of it despotical. 
 
 The episcopal church claims a right of ordain 
 ing ceremonies — and practices many — conse- 
 crating places — BOWING to the east — and at 
 the name of Jesus — sprinkling infants — sign- 
 ing with the sign of the cross — ^requiring spon- 
 sors — ^AFFECTiNG great pomp — and mystery at 
 what they call the sacrament — kneeling to re- 
 ceive it. — The actors all venerate certain habits 
 — AS lawn sleeves — -surplices — gowns — cas- 
 socks — hoods — &c. — observing — beside 
 Lord's days — one hundred and fifty hob. lays each 
 year — christening at the west end of their build- 
 ings — taking their sacrament at the east — read- 
 ing in one place — preaching in another — de- 
 p 
 
226 A plan of led arcs 
 
 CORATING with pictures— ORGANS BELLS — • 
 
 PUTTING on a ring in marriage — &c. The 
 
 whole ritual is unordained by God — unprofi- 
 table in divine Avorship — expensive — -hete- 
 rogeneous — AND hurtful to popular piety — by 
 employing the little time — and capacities of the 
 common people about trifles — CtENErally ren- 
 dered hateful to them by the slovenly manner in 
 which they are performed. — Were the ceremo- 
 nies got decently through — they would be silly 
 enough to take them for piety — which now they 
 hate for the sake of its pretended garb. 
 
 Finish — by accounting for the quiet acquies- 
 cence of the bulk of the people in this kind of 
 
 worship. Observe — that many never go — 
 
 that numbers, who do, are totally ignorant — 
 THAT many are interested, being paid for attend- 
 ing — IN various methods— that many people — 
 YEA priests — complain — groan — and go on. — 
 That people, who never once thought of religi- 
 ous liberty, make very good conformists — that 
 they who aspire at it are driven away. — That di- 
 vine worship is a sort of system — made up of 
 mental excellencies — aimd expressed by cautious 
 
 — commanded — obedience that it requires 
 
 industry — labour — examination — to ac- 
 quire these. — That most men love ease — and 
 prefer a quiet submission to what is — before a di- 
 ligent search of what oudit to be. — That, how- 
 ever, to hold communion on condition of putting 
 out an eye- — is a reproach — to him \i\\o propo- 
 ses — and to him who yields to it. noncon- 
 formity then is justifiable. See 1 Samuel xi. i &c. 
 
On the principles of 7ionconf or mity. 227 
 
 JLECTUKE VI, 
 
 History of the times of Charles 7. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ONE capital artifice of high- churchmen is to 
 impute their own vices to others — axd to impute 
 other people's excellencies to themselves. — Epis- 
 copacy has not varied from the day kings created 
 it. — It has always been a hireling state of servitude. 
 — When it serves prerogative it pit)duces nati- 
 onal calamities — and then transfers the guilt to 
 others. — When the people force it not to disserve 
 the cause of civil liberty — it complains at first — 
 AND at last boldly attributes beneficial consequen- 
 ces to itself. — It generates infidelity and immora- 
 lity — AND when learned and laborious writers res- 
 cue religion from both — it publishes sixpenny 
 annual sermons — and a few trite essays — and 
 runs away with the whole applause. 
 
 Charles came to the crown under great disad- 
 vantages — his education had been perverted — his 
 capacity was none of the best — his temper gloomy 
 • — his notions of government despotical — uxori- 
 ousNESS — AND favouritism — led him to fill up his 
 measure. — His father left him weak statesmen— 
 AND wicked churchmen — a council table — a star 
 chamber — and a high-commission-court — a dis- 
 contented parliament — and an oppressed peoples 
 all divided into endless factions — work for a wise 
 
* 2 8 A plan of lectures 
 
 prince in the hands of a weak one. — This was 
 what James's kincf-craft came to ! 
 
 Laud — neile — moxtague^manwarhstg— 
 siBTHORPE — AND Other such slavish tools of des- 
 potism — endeavoured by all means to render the 
 king absolute — they persecuted the puritans — 
 RESTRAINED the liberty of the press — advised 
 the king to reign without law — palliated po- 
 pery — ELEVATED armiuianism — and drove the 
 nation to side with the puritans — in order to stem 
 a torrent of civil despotism. 
 
 Charles and Laud revived the book of sports 
 — suppressed lecturers — and encouraged igno- 
 rance — aimed to unite the episcopal and papal 
 churches — imposed a liturgy on the Scots. — Pu- 
 ritans fled to New England. — The English were 
 oppressed with proclamations instead of laws. — 
 The Scotch were dragooned— the Irish massa- 
 cred. — The prelates — and the court clergy were 
 the only persons not harrassed — they fattened on 
 the vitals of their country. — They defeated the 
 reformation — ruined commerce — dissolved 
 the constitution — and obliged the parliament to 
 suppress prelacy for the nation's safety — and to 
 take up arms against Charles the patron of prela- 
 cy and tyranny — to secure the lives — liberties 
 — and properties — of the whole British empire. 
 
 Charles had three favourite schemes — and 
 all his administration was directed towards the 
 establishment of them. — 1. Raising the power of 
 the crown above law. — 2. Extending episcopacy 
 overall his dominions — as that system of religion 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 225 
 
 which best served arbitrary power. — 3. The to- 
 tal suppression of puritanism — as a system tending 
 to excite free inquiry — high notions of popular 
 rights — HUMAN dignity — and general freedom — 
 AND so to produce what he called sedition. 
 
 Review of episcopacy. — It is a shrewd preju- 
 dice against it, that the most arbitrary of our prin- 
 ces have discovered the greatest fondness for it — 
 AS if it served their designs better than any other 
 system called religion.- — While it was a creature 
 of the pope it promoted papal tyranny — when the 
 British crown adopted it, it increased despotism 
 and tyranny. — It must of necessity serve its crea- 
 tor, for it is only for the sake of service. — From 
 its rise to its suppression it possessed but little 
 learning — less moderation — no notion of civil 
 liberty — and piety is out of the question. — It 
 has stood in its utmost splendor without any of 
 them all — consequentia' learning, liberty, hu- 
 manity and piety are not essential component parts 
 of it. — The same principle, implicit obedience to 
 superiors, that makes it do any thing right, will 
 oblige it to do every thing wrong. — Their cant 
 of no bishop no king is a bold — impudent falshood 
 — FOR our monarch is independent on the being 
 of episcopacy — indeed, no king no bishop is 
 true — FOR episcopacy is not upheld by argument — 
 
 REASON SCRIPTURE FREE clectiou of people 
 
 — BUT it is supported by audiority at a vast ex- 
 pence. — It is neither of divine — nor human right 
 — BUT it is a human wrong suppressive of divinp 
 — AND human rights. 
 
230 A plan of lectures 
 
 Finish — by distinguishing persons from things 
 — BISHOPS from episcopacy — and shew that 
 strictly speaking prelates are objects distinguish- 
 able from prelacy — some prelates like some chris- 
 tians have never entered into the spirit of ti»eir 
 profession — and as Christianity is laudable — but 
 some christians are execrable — so some prelates 
 may be laudable — but all prelacy is execrable — 
 FOR it is composed of secular pomp — and civil 
 power — IN matters of religion — which belongs to 
 neither. — Commend the ingenuousness of those 
 prelates — who have execrated intolerance — ap- 
 plaud those — WHO have acknowledged the de- 
 fects of their constitution — and blame their pu- 
 sillanimity — FOR not daring to act on the very 
 principles — which they propagated. Hence de- 
 rive an argument against the constitution itself — 
 IT cripples some — and shackles all. 
 
On the principles of nonconformity, 231 
 
 LECTUME VII. 
 
 The terms of comynunion — nomination of officers 
 — and discipline of the episcopal church, 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE preface to the episcopal liturgy calls it di- 
 vine service — and quaintly adds — the first orio;i- 
 nal was ordained by the ancient Father's. — Eveki'^ 
 thing in this community has been blasphemously 
 put to God's account. — There was the divine 
 right of kings — the divine right of bishops — the 
 divine right of tithes — and now here is a book of 
 divine right. — However, like other divine things 
 — IT may be examined — reason — and religion 
 require it. 
 
 The terms of admission to membership — and 
 the ministry — are calculated .so as to render ex- 
 amination useless — or dangerous. — Infants are 
 admitted — in publick — or private — by dipping 
 — OR sprinkling — answering interrogatories by 
 proxy. — Proxies are even required for adults — 
 who are admitted on their own profession of faith 
 — Ministers are admitted by subscribing thirty- 
 nine heterogeneous — abstruse — human articles 
 — BY declaring that the books of ordination — and 
 common-prayer — are agreeable to the word of 
 God — THAT the two books of homilies contain a 
 godly — AND wholesome doctrine — aNd by swear- 
 ing such obeedience to a lord bishop as 141 ca- 
 
232 A plan of lectures 
 
 nons require. — Some of their divines say the 
 articles are arminian — others say they are cal- 
 vinistic.^ — Some say they subscribe to the words 
 — OTHERS say to the sense— some say to their 
 own— AND others to that of the compilers — others 
 again in no sense — they subscribe them as arti- 
 cles of peace — not of truth. — The whole af- 
 fair of subscription is a miserable scene of preva- 
 rication. 
 
 The episcopal church imposes ministers on pa- 
 rishes without the people's consent — hence no 
 emulation in the priests — nor the least as})iration. 
 after freedom in the people — yet they call them- 
 selves clergy — that is— ministers chosen by lot. 
 — The king — or queen — for the time being — 
 chooses all the bishops — all the deans in Eng- 
 land — all the prebendaries — and many rectors. 
 — The Lord Chancellor chooses many — the Bi- 
 shops choose the Welch deans — the Archdeacons 
 — MANY rectors— VICARS, &c. — Nobility— 
 and gentry — have right of patronage — and all 
 present without the consent of the people. — All 
 this arrangement is for purposes of civil govern- 
 ment — OR rather for purposes of the regal pre- 
 rogative — and it despoils jniests — and people 
 alike of religious liberty. 
 
 The discipline of this corporation is the most 
 irregular — and tyrannical — that can well be in 
 this country. — Numbers of ministers — ANDmem- 
 bers — WHO disbelieve the doctrines of the creeds 
 — AND practise all immoralities — live quietly — 
 tea obtain the highest preferment in it. — Some 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 233 
 
 of the most wicked are obliged to receive their sa- 
 crament as a quahlication for office. — Tins cor- 
 poration punishes in spiritual courts — true inqui- 
 fiitions — WHERE lay chancellors are judges — 
 FROM whose decrees there lies no appeal. — The 
 punishments are fines — imprisonments— de- 
 privations — penances — -commutations of 
 penance — excommunications — even of those 
 who were never of the community. — The excom- 
 municated are excluded from the public worship 
 — cut off from givini*; evidence — recovering 
 property by law — christian burial, &c. — All 
 this cruel polity is varnished over with spirituality 
 AND divinity. — In the name of God — Amen — a 
 
 spiritual Lord — by divine providence in a 
 
 spiritual court — plays the devil— and calls the 
 bloody farce a divine service — exactly as Christ 
 foretold. John xvi. 2. 
 
 There have been seven attempts to reform this 
 church— the first was the Hampton-court con- 
 ference in the reign of James I. — the second in 
 Charles I. time — by Usher s reduction of episco- 
 pacy — the third at the return of Charles II. in the 
 Savoy conference — the fourth in the same reign — 
 under lord keeper Bridgman — the fifth in the same 
 reign — and a sixth — a seventh under William III. 
 — All these attempts j^roved abortive by the same 
 means. — The afiair exactly resembled the council of 
 Trent — prelates — who were parties— were 
 judges in both. — Whitgift — Laud — Sheldon 
 — Morley — Ward — Sprat — and others hke 
 them — always did — and always will — sacrifice 
 
g34 A plan of lectures 
 
 Christianity to save episcopacy — and create ten 
 thousand infidels — rather than give up one use- 
 less ceremony. 
 
 Finish — by enlarging on Baron Montesquieu's 
 concession — " That the protestant religion is more 
 "favourable to a spiritof liberty than the catho- 
 *' lick." — Observe — that despotism is the deside- 
 ratum of most princes. — That popery is highly fit- 
 ted to serve their views. -That they have protect- 
 ed popery for this — and not for religious reasons. 
 — That they have persecuted nonconformists for 
 their religious sentiments, merely because they 
 supposed them to include something injurious to 
 arbitrary power. —That an army of hireling priests 
 is a very convenient machine of government. — » 
 That our own history too well shews what they 
 can do — by shewing what they have done — un- 
 der the Stuarts. — That — so much episcopacy in 
 a state — so much despotism — is a certain truth. 
 • — That universal — equal — liberty is incompa- 
 tible with prelacy. — That the nonconformists' 
 principles of government are those of the best 
 statesmen. — That to inculcate them in the church 
 is the best preservative of the state — and that at- 
 tempts to reform is allowing on the episcopalian 
 side a great part of what we affirm. 
 
On the principles of iionconfoi^mity. 235 
 
 JLECTUKE YIII. 
 
 The State of Religion during the Civil JVars, and 
 the Protectorate. 
 
 CHARLES, chagrined at the unpHableness of 
 his parliament, fled — and resolved in council to 
 pass no more bills — to pawn the crown jewels for 
 read}?^ money — to purchase arms and ammunition 
 — TO employ the pope's nuncio to hire foreign 
 troops to enslave his own subjects. — This obliged 
 the parliament to secure magazines — to provide 
 for the national safety — ^to get command of the 
 navy — and the militia — and to form alliance with 
 the Scotch. 
 
 The nation petitioned parliament for redress 
 of grievances — the parliament the king — but he 
 full of duplicity — and inflexibility — denied — or 
 deceived them — in all — raised forces — provided 
 arms — and began a war. — The parliament abo- 
 lished episcopacy — RAISED an army — and defen- 
 ded their rights. 
 
 The parliament thought the civil magistracy 
 might set up what religion they thought most con- 
 ducive to the good of the state. — They, therefore, 
 reformed universities — and cathedrals — enfor- 
 ced the Sabbath — suppressi;d public k diversions 
 — ordained fasts — and relijyious exercises — and 
 a great reformation of manners followed. — The 
 king's army remarkably profane— that of the par- 
 liament very sober. — Charles published 'procla- 
 
236 A plan of lectures 
 
 mations — the puritan clergy refused to read them 
 — AND the kings soldiers plundered them for their 
 refusal. — The episcopal clergy refused to obey 
 parliament orders — and they also were plundered 
 in their turn — good and bad were involved in the 
 publick calamity.^ — This produced committees for 
 scandalous ministers — plundered ministers— &c. 
 — RESTRAINTS of the prcss, &c. 
 
 The parliament called the assembly of divines — 
 r — TO reform the church — and invited the Scots to 
 assist them— -THE Scots agreed on condition of 
 their establishing presbyterian church government 
 ■ — and for that purpose swearing to the solemn 
 league and covenant — which was accordingly sub- 
 scribed by both houses — the clergy — and laity — 
 AND imposed on most episcopalians — but not on 
 some, who were supposed free from arbitrary prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 The assembly addressed — and were approved 
 by foreign churches — they ordained ministers — 
 the parliament nominated to livings — and ejected 
 their enemies from livings— and universities. — 
 The assembly published a directory instead of the 
 old liturgy— and the parliament put down Christ- 
 mas— and other festivals — tried and executed 
 Laud— AND tried various measures for accommo- 
 dation with the king. 
 
 The king was in arms for arbitrary power — 
 THE (iavaliers for the episcopal church — the Scots 
 for covenant uniformity — but Cromwell poss^ed 
 the art of overpowering all by becoming the pa- 
 
Oh the principles of 72onconformity. 237 
 
 tron of all, who wished for civil and religious liberty 
 - — AND managed all with indefatigable address. 
 
 The unhappy Charles was an incorrigible ty- 
 rant— -and deserved to die — but they, who put 
 him to death, had no constitutional right to do so. 
 — NO religious party was the cause of his death — 
 ALL remonstrated against it — and he fell a sacri- 
 fice to military power — by the hands of a few des- 
 perate officers — AND their dependents — who were 
 of various religious denominations. 
 
 Cromwell was an astonishing man — his ca- 
 pacity was uncommon — his address infinite — his 
 courage undaunted — His principles of government 
 just and liberal — his religion doubtful. — He pos- 
 sessed all the qualifications of a chief magistrate 
 — EXCEPT that of free popular election to govern. 
 — he was an uniform patron of religious liberty 
 
 necessity — NOT equity governed some of 
 
 his actions against his principles.— Some pecuhar 
 maxims rendered his conduct inconsistent. 
 
 Cromwell and his army petition for tolera- 
 tion-^QUARREL with the parliament — forcibly 
 dissolve it — assume the government — call the 
 little parliament — a council ol officers make him 
 protector — he calls another parliament — dis- 
 solves them — tolerates all except papists and 
 royalists — keeps them under for civil reasons — 
 models parliaments — universities — ^army — 
 NAVY — foreign treaties — and all branches of 
 government so as to render himself necessary to 
 all. — Projects an union of all the reformed. — 
 Intends to restore monarchy — and unite it with 
 
238 A plan of lectures 
 
 universal liberty — to wear a crown — and trans- 
 mit it to his family — but death prevented the ex- 
 ecution of his plan. 
 
 Finish — by distinguishing first principles of go- 
 vernment — FROM social contracts for the preserva- 
 tion of them — ORDINARY obedience to established 
 courses of law — from extraordinary recourses to 
 first principles, whei> social contracts are in dan- 
 ger of dissolution. 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 239 
 
 JLECTUHE IX. 
 
 A viezv of Preshyierlcm church- government. 
 
 RELIGIOUS tyranny subsists in various de- 
 grees — AS all civil tyrannies do.-^-PoPERY is the 
 consummation of it — and preshyterianism a weak 
 dem-ee of it — but the latter has in it the essence 
 of the former — and differs from it only as a kept 
 mistress differs from a street-walking prostitute — • 
 OR as a musquet differs from a cannon. 
 
 The reformed church at Geneva was the pa- 
 rent of the other reformed churches — and this 
 rendered preshyterianism odious to monarchs — ■ 
 IT was supposed to be formed on republican 
 principles — and for the same reason it was al- 
 ways offensive to the people — as it was supposed 
 to be — AND really is — a kind of ecclesiastical 
 aristocracy — excluding both the monarch — and 
 the people — and placing church-government in 
 the hands of a select few. 
 
 All church affairs in presbyterian governments 
 are managed— in some places by two— and in 
 others by three — assemblies — the first is a con- 
 sistory — OR presbytery -within each congregation 
 — the second a synod — or a provincial assembly 
 — consisting of deputies from the several con- 
 sistories. — The third is a general — or national as- 
 sembly — made up of deputies from the synods. — 
 Appeals lie from the consistory to the synod— 
 and from the synod to the general assembly-— 
 
240 A plan of lectures 
 
 WHOSE sentence is final. — John Knox established 
 this in Scotland — the Scots brought it into Eng- 
 land — AND the long parliament established it here 
 — IN lieu of episcopacy. — It is equally intolerant 
 with episcopacy — and cannot stand without civil 
 power. — It is somewhat remarkable that popery 
 in Canada — episcopacy in England — and pres- 
 byterianism in Scotland — are all three established 
 religions in the dominions of the kins of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Various reformed churches have adopted va- 
 rious forms of church-government — but all are re- 
 ducible to three — similar to civil governments. 
 Popery — and episcopacy — are absolute monar- 
 chies — presbyterianism is aristocracy — and 
 some independent churches are democratical — but 
 all adopt one grand error — productive of two 
 great evils — which generate ten thousand more 
 — ALL nefarious. 
 
 The great and fountain error is the considering 
 ot conscience as a subject of Iniman government. — 
 Thls notion produces two great evils. — 1. Legis- 
 lation — NOW all human legislation is oppressive 
 to conscience — and it is immaterial where this 
 power is lodged — it is tyranny anywhere. — S.En- 
 FORCiNG laws made by Jesus Christ — 's.y penal 
 sanctions. — In popery — and episcopacy — both 
 tlie legislative and executive power are lodged in 
 the same person. — Presbyterianism is exactly 
 like them — and only swears the civil magistrate to 
 do the worst part of the work. — From these two 
 evils — making laws for conscience — and then 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 24 1 
 
 executing them — or — executing laws made by 
 Jesus Christ by coercive measures — proceed con- 
 fusion — AND every evil work. 
 
 To spread the faith — and to extirpate hereticks 
 — AND schismaticks — are only pretences — in the 
 mouths of popes — and princes — they have se- 
 cular views — AND have given innumerable eviden- 
 ces — THAT they know no heresy but patriotism — 
 AND no orthodoxy but despotism — but it was not- 
 thus with Calvin — Knox — Cranmer — and other 
 reformers — they were sincerely mad with intoler- 
 ance — AND seriously possessed with the rage of 
 converting by force — It was pity they had not 
 paused — and thought oftener ! 
 
 Finish — by a retrospect. — Observe — that ec- 
 clesiastical history in the days of Christ — and his 
 apostles — IS an exhibition of every humane — and 
 generous sentiment. — That it has been since a 
 scene of infinite woe. — That the papal apostacy 
 lost the spirit of Christianity — -and imbibed that of 
 the devil. — That the reformers came smarting — 
 — AND feeling their way out of that bad school. — • 
 That secular powers associated with them to re- 
 nounce popery — AND to form an opposition against 
 it. — That the word toleration was not then known 
 — NOR any idea of it — adopted by those reformers. 
 — ^That — in a word — they were commendable for 
 going so far — and that we should be unpardon- 
 able for going no further. — That one word of St. 
 Paul is a better body of what they call churcli- 
 polity — than all the ship-loads of laws — and 
 canons-^THAT have been since made — that word 
 is — Study to be quiet. 
 Q 
 
242 A plan of lectures 
 
 JLECTUME X. 
 
 State of Religion from the Restoration to the 
 Revolution. 
 
 CHARLES II. was a polite — dissipated — 
 gentleman — of humane principles — but of no re- 
 ligion. — When the nation restored him, they aimed 
 to realize Oliver's plan of monarchy and liberty in 
 Charles — whose inclination M^as good — and his 
 tide unexceptionable. — Accordingly civil liberty 
 Avas very much advanced in this reign — and so 
 would religious liberty — had not the revival of 
 episcopacy defeated the design — but those old 
 sinners, episcopalians, not become wise by affliction 
 — FELL to their former practices again. — They 
 soothed the king — and first deceived — and then 
 destroyed the puritans. 
 
 Chaules published a declaration for liberty of 
 consciences^— WHICH the parliament would have en- 
 acted— BUT the prelates acted the farce of a con- 
 ference at the Savoy — taxed the puritans with 
 sham plots — rendered them suspected by govern- 
 ment-^AND by the basest arts got the act of uni- 
 formity passed — which ejected above 2000 mini- 
 sters. — ^Then followed the conventicle act — the 
 Oxford act^^— UNDER all which Clarendon — 
 Sheldon — Ward — and other bishops — impri- 
 soned and murdered 8000 — impoverished and 
 ruined thousands of families — drove multitudes 
 into Holland — and America — and robbed them 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 243 
 
 of 12 — or 14 millions of property. — The king — 
 AND tlie parliament — often endeavoured to give 
 them liberty — but their designs, were frustrated by 
 the prelates and the clergy — who preached the 
 divine right of kinij;s — bishops — and tithes — 
 PASSIVE obedience and non-resistance — and in- 
 vented new church holidays for the purpose of pro- 
 pagating their seditious doctrines- — while they 
 overwhelmed the nation with impiety — and im 
 morality. — The few scholars — and good men of 
 the party — had received their education from pu- 
 ritans in the time of the civil wars. 
 
 James II. was an arbitrary governor — a deter- 
 mined papist — he assumed a dispensing power — 
 and aimed to bring in popery — for which purpose 
 he published two declarations of indulgence — in 
 order to engage the nonconformists on his side. — 
 Many of them refused an unconstitutional liberty 
 — WHICH the parliament durst not enact for fear 
 of popery — which the king — and the prelates 
 had prej)ared too many to receive. — Many pre- 
 lates shewed more inclination to popery — than to 
 nonconformity — and continued their bloody mea- 
 sures of church-polity. 
 
 James and his bloody counsellor Jefi^eries 
 brought the episcopal clergy into the most terrible 
 dilemma — they had ever asserted absolute royal 
 supremacy over conscience — and now the supreme 
 head of their protestant church was a furious papist 
 — WHO erected an ecclesiastical commission — and 
 appointed some popish commissioners to reform 
 Q 2 
 
244 A plan of lectures 
 
 their church. — ■ The prelates had indefatigably 
 taught for the last twenty years passive obedience 
 — AND non-resistance — and now, according to 
 their own doctrine, neither parliament — clergy 
 — NOR laity might resist the measures of this des- 
 perate tyrant. — At length he persecuted some pre- 
 lates — AND both the universities — violated cor- 
 poration-charters — AND dissolved the contracts of 
 society — and many prelates justified him — only 
 seven ventured to address him — and courted the 
 nonconformists — affecting to relent — and pro- 
 testing like mariners in a storm how good they 
 would be when they got out of their distress. 
 
 The nonconformists were courted by both the 
 king — AND the people — they were powerful 
 enough to turn the scale either way. — They sacri- 
 ficed their just indignation against the cruel pre- 
 lates to national safety — threw their weight into 
 the scale of liberty — and went most heartily into 
 the project of a revolution. — The prince of Orange 
 came by invitation — the cowardly despot fled — 
 the house voted the throne vacant — but when it 
 was debated whether to fill the throne with a regent 
 or a king— THE latter was carried by only two 
 votes — TWELVE or thirteen prelates voted for the 
 former — and only two for the latter — they pre- 
 tended to abide firmly bound by oath to an abdica- 
 ted tyrant — who had broken all his oaths to them. 
 — They had preached him into these terrible cir- 
 cumstances — HAD taught that resistance was damn- 
 able — THE kins's character indelible — their lives 
 and fortunes at his disposal — and had considered 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 245 
 
 the whole nation as the property of a tyrant — in- 
 alienable in his family — to be transmitted from 
 father to son — like a herd of cattle to be fed — 
 WORKED — OR butchered — as their master pleased. 
 — They called this the doctrine of the episcopal 
 church — AND of Jesus Christ — and kept up a 
 faction on account of it through the two next reigns. 
 
 A 
 
246 A plan of lectures 
 
 JLECTUJRE XI. 
 
 A mew of modern Nonconformlfy. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is a peculiar excellence of truth and virtue to 
 become more lucid and demonstrative by exercise 
 — HENCE the wisest of men said, The path of the 
 just is as the shining light that shine th more and 
 more unto the perfect day. — Nonconformity 
 to human appointments in religion — is a course of 
 this kind.-— There are stronger arguments for it 
 now than ever. — It is grounded now on new — 
 AND enlarged principles. — It is supported by new 
 additional arguments — adorned by many new 
 examples — divested of its superfluities. — It has 
 been tried — and found practicable — and praise- 
 Avorthy. — Its enemies remain inflexible — and 
 episcopalians are incurable — so that time has pro- 
 ved the fault lies in the constitution itself Its 
 
 principles have been realized in civil government 
 — AND accredited by the benefits produced. — Its 
 evidence dawned at the reformation — and has 
 gradually brightened to demonstration — to meri- 
 dian day. 
 
 NUMBER. 
 
 The number of partizans in many cases prove 
 nothing — as in communities where the people can- 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 247 
 
 not — OR may not — think for themselves — but in 
 our communities — where no secular interest 
 warps — AND where strong temptations attack — 
 WHERE inquiry is free — and men actually exa- 
 mine — NUMBERS are considerable. — The present 
 body consists of Baptists — general — and parti- 
 cular. — Independents — Presbyterians — 
 MORE strictly independents, who occupy such meet- 
 ing-houses as were presbylerian formerly — the 
 people called Quakers. — There are in England 
 and Wales about 1400 congregations of the three 
 first denominations — the largest third of which is 
 baptist — the quakers are numerous —the whole 
 is at least one fifth of the nation. 
 
 LEARNING. 
 
 The modern dissenters possess men of eminent 
 literature — in every branch of science. — Stu- 
 dents have the advantages of schools — acade- 
 mies TUTORS LIBRARIES INSTRUMENTS.— 
 
 They have strong inducements to study — learn- 
 ing is rej)utable to all — and necessary to some 
 — FOR the ministry — and for support. — The con- 
 stitution of our churches is friendly to learning — 
 FOR it has no secular interests and ecclesiastical 
 honours to decoy students from books into the 
 world — nor any unnatural establishments to sup- 
 port — BY restraints — wrong biasses — and pci- 
 versc reasons. — We can go without danger — 
 WHEREVER investigation can carry us. 
 
248 A plan of lectures 
 
 POLITICAL SENTIMENTS. 
 
 Modern nonconformity naturally leads us to 
 study government — Sidney — Locke — Mon- 
 tesquieu — Beccaria — teach the notions — 
 WHICH we hold — of government. — All think the 
 people the origin of power — administrators 
 responsible trustees — and the enjoyment of life — 
 LIBERTY — and propcrt}^ — THE right of all man- 
 kind— except of those, whose crimes are allowed 
 by the constitution to have disfranchised them. — • 
 Equity requires them to giveupasmuch of their 
 own as they have deprived others of. — We differ 
 — AS others do — concerning the best mode of go- 
 vernment — BUT no one has ever attempted to sub- 
 vert that which is established — or even wishes to 
 do so — AND all contribute cheerfully to support 
 it. — Our brethren the quakers seem to consider 
 established priests as privateers — and their church 
 as a kind of letter of marque vessel — allowed by 
 authority indeed to plunder a supposed enemy — 
 AND to make reprisals — but having no equitable 
 • — constitutional claim — on their property. 
 The notion is certainly just — perhaps not pru- 
 dent to act upon it — however it is no way hostile 
 to civil government — for they submit when civil 
 governors interpose. 
 
 PROPERTY. 
 
 The property of the dissenters is very consider- 
 able. — Public property consists of funds — 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 249 
 
 ESTATES — ENDOWMENTS— SUBSCRIPTIONS — FOR 
 
 the use of schools — universiti^-s — ministers 
 
 ABLE — AND disable — poor, &c. — Private 
 
 property large — for their religion keeps them 
 from many expensive vices. — Nonconformity 
 keeps them from many heavy episcopal exactions 
 — CLERICAL feasts — subscriptions — missions 
 — &c. — Religion also makes them frugal — in- 
 dustrious — AND commercial — so that their 
 property is more than equal to their wants. 
 
 CHURCH POLITY. 
 
 The wisest in the world for six reasons. — 1. It 
 is unconnected with every thing except religion. — 
 2. It is unsupported by irreligious motives — and 
 left wholly to conscience — so that it is by princi- 
 ple — OR it is not at all. — 3. Scripture is sole 
 law. — 4. Conscience is its own judge of the 
 sense of scripture — and thus the source of virtue 
 is kept clean. — 5. Coercion ofall kinds is inadmis- 
 sible. — 6. It despises the cant of heresy — schism 
 — CLERGY -—the church — ease to doubting 
 consciences — conventicles — spiritual lords — 
 courts — LAWS — &c. — BY all which their ances- 
 tors were spiritualized out of their lives by faggots 
 and fires. — The nonconformists are -with all 
 their infirmities — the excellent of the earth, 
 in whom is all our delight — peace is within their 
 walls — PROSPERITY in their palaces ! 
 
250 A plan of lectio^es 
 
 JLECTUmE XII. 
 
 From the Revolution to the accession of 
 George III, 
 
 WILLIAM III. was a serious — grave pres- 
 b3'terian — a friend to religious liberty. — he passed 
 the act of toleration — and proposed, a compre- 
 hension of his protestant subjects — but all his good 
 designs were frustrated by prelates — priests — • 
 AND tories — who were all enemies to the revolu- 
 tion — SOME of them non-jurors — and who de- 
 feated every design of liberty by the old artifice — 
 PROPOSED byTillotson — of ecclesiastical commis- 
 sions — AND convocations. — Their attachment to 
 arbitrary principles was dangerous to church — 
 AND state — AND their conduct to a presbyterian 
 deliverer — ^and to nonconformist coadjutors — 
 COLOURED with the blackest villany — and ingra- 
 titude. 
 
 Queen Anne went as she was led. — In her 
 first years she pursued the late king's measures — • 
 IN her last those of the tories — and intolerant pre- 
 lates. — During both these reigns the ruling clergy 
 pursued intolerant measures — under specious 
 pretences of moderation — they veered about to 
 all points of tlie compass — said and unsaid — did 
 and undid — but never departed from their own 
 worldly interest. 
 
 Reflect on the characters of the prelates of 
 those times — Tillotson- — Tennison — Stil- 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 25 1 
 
 LiNGFLEET — Sherlock — &c. — Remark the 
 cant of — THE church — the clergy — dissenting 
 teachers — conventicles — schism — reason — 
 SCRUPULOUS consciences — &c. — Distinguish 
 between constitutional and accidental deformity, 
 — Dissenters may be accidentally intolerant — 
 but episcopacy is constitutional dominion over 
 conscience — hence Burncts — and Hoadlys — ■ 
 AND other tolerant prelates — preach ri,^hlly — 
 BUT in vain — nobodv is relieved by their decla- 
 mations — THEY live down their own doctrine — 
 FIND apologies — and salvos — and subtil distinc- 
 tions necessary — and do much damage to religion 
 by inventing and publishing them. 
 
 The accession of the present royal family was 
 favourable to liberty. — Their majesties have al- 
 ways protected the toleration — befriended the 
 dissenters — and execrated intolerance— but pre- 
 lacy has hitherto defeated all liberal attempts to- 
 wards religious liberty. — Characters of Arch- 
 bishops Wake — Potter — Herring — Secker — 
 ALL of whom have risqued Christianity to preserve 
 the establishment — have striven to lose rather 
 than to ansxver arguments for religious liberty — • 
 AND have uniformly aimed to discountenance free 
 inquiry — and to disguise — and perpetuate church- 
 tyranny — AND this under the auspices of the best 
 of princes — who have placed their glory in the 
 felicity of their subjects. 
 
 Present state of the dissenters is servile to 
 episcopalians — laws that concern them divided 
 into three classes — the first disqualify owx gentry 
 
S52 A plan of lectures 
 
 — RICH merchants — manufacturers — • and 
 tradesmen — and deprive them of civil rights. — • 
 The second oppress our ministers with oaths — 
 FINES — SUBSCRIPTIONS — AND penalties of seve- 
 ral cruel kinds. — The third obHge our school- 
 tnastersio conform against conviction — and con- 
 science — and spend their malevolent force on our 
 innocent children — by dooming them to igno- 
 rance — OR error and vice. — Thus by tithes actu- 
 ally paid — AND by gains denied — dissenters — 
 WHO are spoiled by episcopal tyranny — contri- 
 bute more in proportion to the support of it than 
 they do — who profit by it. 
 
 Sum up the whole by observing— that popery 
 is despotism in the highest degree — that prelacy 
 is popery restrained by civil power — that non- 
 conformity is reason and religion — friendly to 
 civil polity — and hostile only to a constitution of 
 tyranny — and not to those, who support it. — 
 That monarchy would stand safer without the 
 incumbrance of episcopacy — than with it. — That 
 the entire abolition of prelacy is to be effected with- 
 out any civil inconvenience — and with great ad- 
 vantages to the nation — and to religion. — That 
 the claim of dominion over conscience is an usur- 
 pation of Christ's prerogative— that his gospel 
 is calculated for the destruction of it — that in 
 God"s due time it will effect it, according to the 
 sure word of prophecy. — That till then the ser- 
 vants of Christ must prophesy in sackcloth — and 
 that they who do so merit the highest esteem here 
 — ^AND will shine with peculiar glory hereafter. 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. 253 
 
 THE MANNER OF USING THESE NOTES. 
 
 WE will suppose a number of young persons, 
 more or less, assembled and seated in the meeting 
 vestry, the minister's house or some convenient 
 room borrowed or hired for the purpose, at six 
 o'clock. We will suppose each to have in his 
 pocket this lecture-book interleaved with blank- 
 paper; a pencil for the purpose of adding on 
 the blank leaves additional thoughts, arguments, 
 and references, to be made by the minister ; and 
 Mr. Palmer's Catechism for the sake of ampler 
 enlargements on topics only just touched in these 
 notes. 
 
 We will suppose — that the minister enters pre- 
 cisely at the appointed time — that he silently pay 
 his respects to the company and they to him— that 
 he then goes to a small desk at the upper end of 
 the room — kneel down with the company and beg 
 in a short prayer the blessing of God on his en- 
 deavours — and then stand up and deliver his lec- 
 ture' — his auditors standing or sitting ^.s they think 
 proper. 
 
 Far be it from me to presume to dictate, or 
 even to imagine that these rules are important, or 
 the book itself necessary to our ministers. 1 have 
 only put down their own thoughts to spare them 
 the trouble of doing so, and to direct and assist 
 our young people, who may be desirous of infor- 
 mation on the most minute articles of form as well 
 as power of acquiring religious knowledge. I trust 
 these young catechumens will forgive my freedom. 
 
254 A plan of lectures 
 
 I only consider myself as an inconsiderable errand 
 goer in the church of God. 
 
 To convey my meaning less obscurely, I have 
 written the first word of each new period in capi- 
 tal letters; and, I suppose, the following example 
 from the beginning of the first Lecture may serve 
 to shew how a minister would form the skeleton 
 into a body, or how a young man may do so at 
 home in his closet for his own private edification. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 The doctrine of free religious inquiry , S^c. 
 
 Brethren, 
 
 It was a just and beautiful idea, which the royal 
 Psalmist entertained of religion, when he called it 
 inquiring in JehovaJis temple. Thus he speaks in 
 the twenty-seventh psalm, a psalm written in trou- 
 ble, and strongly expressive of that felicity, which 
 revealed religion affords to good men under the 
 heaviestof all afflictions, those I mean, which con- 
 cern the soul. Ignorance of God ; frailty of na- 
 ture; limits of condition ; variety and speciousness 
 of error ; probability of annihilation or destruc- 
 tion; all these excite troubles in the minds of 
 thoughtful men, and if they be miserable who can 
 only conjecture concerning them, what must others 
 be, who do not even aspire at tlie small consola- 
 tion of conjecturing? 
 
 David implies two things in the expression just 
 now mentioned. First, a right of inquiry in the 
 
On the principles of nonconformity. *iSS 
 
 people. The people of God, the Jewish church, 
 and before them the patriarchal church, always 
 enjoyed this privilege. Their religion consisted of 
 articles to be believed, and injunctions to be per- 
 formed. These were preached by Enoch, Noah, 
 Moses, and the prophets ; that is to say, they 
 were proposed to the people first with evidence 
 for examination, and last upon conviction for ob- 
 servation ; for religion, which God required of 
 them, is a reasonable service, an exercise of judg- 
 ment and conscience, and not a course of mere 
 animal motion. I said, the Jews enjoyed this pri- 
 vilege : but strictly speaking it is a native human 
 right, that belongs to all mankind. Barbarian, 
 Scythian, bond and free are all alike formed ca- 
 pable of making inquisition, and all possess strong 
 natural emotions, and powerful exterior induce- 
 ments, impelling them to make it : but as this right 
 was not claimed by some pagans, and^ disallowed 
 by some religions ; and as it w-as both claimed, al- 
 lowed and gratified by people under revealed sys- 
 tems, so I ventured to call it a privilege. Indeed 
 to inquire where none can answer, although it 
 be a human right, is yet nothing more than aright 
 to pain. Where satisfaction is attainable by in- 
 quiry, the exercise of it is privilege and pleasure. 
 Revealed religion, (and this is the second thing 
 implied,) revealed religion is sufricient to answer 
 all reasonable inquiry. The temple contained the 
 law, and the law contained answers even to inquisi- 
 tive" children : — When your children say unto you, 
 'what mean you by this service ? that ye shall 
 
$,56 A plan of lectures, <§'c. 
 
 say J It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who 
 passed over the houses of the childre?i of Israel in 
 Egypt, zvhen he smote the Egyptians and deliver- 
 ed our houses. Exod. xii, 9,6. 
 
 What fit question can be proposed concerning 
 religious truth, which revelation does not answer ? 
 Do we inquire, is there a God ? &c. &c. 
 
 This is sufficient to convey our meaning. The 
 subjects may be varied, enlarged, abbreviated, 
 illustrated, proved, a thousand different ways. It 
 is one chief advantage of such analysis as these, that 
 each idea may be clothed elegantly, plainly, or 
 coarsely, according to the genius of the lecturer, 
 and the conditions of the auditors. If the ideas 
 be conveyed, the end is answered, be the st3'le 
 whatever it may. 
 
 A list oj Books on these subjects, 
 
 Neal's History of the Puritans. 
 
 Robertson's History of Charles V. 
 
 Delaune's Plea. 
 
 Towgood's Dissent fully justified.' 
 
 Calamy's Abridgment by Palmer. 
 
 Palmer's Catechism. 
 
 Oldmixon's Histories. 
 
 Writers on the Dissenters late application to parliament, 
 
 such as Drs. Stennet, Kippis, Wilton, Messrs. Toulmin, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 Confessional, and the several pieces occasioned by it. 
 Locke on government, and others of the same class. 
 Beccaria, Herport, Moshiem, Crosby, ike. &c. 
 Sermons of Gale, Bradbury, Watts, Foster, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
POLITICAL 
 
 CATECHISM: 
 
 INTENDED TO CONVEY, 
 
 IN A F J MILIAR MANNER, 
 
 JUST IDEAS OF 
 
 GOOD CIVIL GOVERNMENT, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 
 
 [the third edition, printed 1784.1 
 
^JDFERTISEMEJVT. 
 
 UXJRING the administration that prosecuted 
 the unhappy war with America, all who had the 
 virtue and courage to avow sound principles of ci- 
 vil government, were reproached with want of loy- 
 alty to the crown, and respect for government, 
 and the struggles of liberty were called by many 
 an ignoble soul, inflammatory, repubhcan, and 
 seditious. The nation was oppressed by principals, 
 and insulted by their tools. The virtue of adversi- 
 ty is resolute firmness ; the friends of freedom knew 
 it, and gloriously persevered till they obtained the 
 prize. To support the present excellent adminis- 
 tration, * to prevent the return of such distracted 
 times, to disseminate safe political principles, to 
 place publick happiness on its true base, public 
 POLITICAL VIRTUE, are dutics of all good citi 
 zens ; and we humbly hope it will not be accounted 
 presumption to endeavour to attract the attention 
 of youth to this subject. This is the whole design 
 
 * Written at the time the late greatly lamented JMarquis of 
 Rockingham was at the head of publick aft'airs. 
 R 2 
 
260 Advertisement. 
 
 of the following essay : it is not a system of go- 
 vernment, it is intended only to engage the Bri- 
 tish youth to study the subject in books professed- 
 ly written for the purpose. 
 
 May the present happy revolution be the ever- 
 lasting death of toryism, and the joyful resurrec- 
 tion of honest men 1 
 
 The reader will suppose a youth just returned 
 from school at the holiday vacation, and going to 
 salute his father witli his written piece in his hand. 
 
 March J, 1784-- 
 
SATFKBAY. 
 
 George. ^IR, 1 do myself the honour to present 
 my piece to you. 
 
 Parent. I am always happy, George, to see 
 you improve. — You have a list of long words here. 
 
 Mysteriousness. 
 
 Constitution. 
 
 Administration. 
 
 Representation. 
 
 Taxation. 
 
 Responsibility. 
 
 Generalissimo. 
 
 Aggrandizement. 
 
 Emigration. 
 
 I hope your tutor has enabled you to understand 
 the subjects intended by these words. 
 
 G. He has, sir, I wrote them myself, I can 
 spell them, and I believe, I can turn each into 
 latin. 
 
 P. Softly, my good boy, you say you can wTite, 
 and spell, and translate — What? the woj^ds — but 
 I inquired whether you understood the jw^'ec^* in- 
 tended to be expressed by these words. This is 
 quite another thing. Words are pictures of ideas, 
 and each word in your piece is a representation 
 
262 A political catechism. 
 
 of a great number of ideas. You will forgive me, 
 if I suspect you want a little tuition on these arti- 
 cles, especially when I add, I shall be proud to 
 instruct you. 
 
 G. Thank you, sir. When shall I have the 
 honour to wait on you ? 
 
 P. Breakfast with me as many mornings as you 
 have words in your piece. We will investigate 
 one word, or rather one subject every morning, 
 and by the end of the holidays you will be a poli- 
 tician. 
 
 G. Pardon me, sir, you have too much partif 
 ality for me. You were pleased to say a politician. 
 Do these nine words contain a system of polity? 
 How is it possible I should understand a system 
 of government in ten days ? 
 
 P. indeed I do not speak the mere language of 
 affection. I protest it is the cool voice of my rea- 
 son. Government, as well as every other science, 
 beheld in the gross, resernbles a loaded fruit tree 
 in autumn: but as all the fruits, and foliage, and 
 ramifications of the one, so all the departments of 
 the other may be reduced to a few first principles, 
 and these comprehended the whole is understood. 
 
 G. Then Sir, in ten days I should be able to 
 govern a kingdom 
 
 P. No such thing. You must distinguish be- 
 tween theory and practice. These subjects are 
 general principles, absolutely necessary to prac- 
 tice; but cases and circumstances occur in prac- 
 tice, which require present, personal genius and 
 
A political catechism. 2G3 
 
 dexterity in the use and application of these prin- 
 ciples. Cannot you make this distinction? 
 
 G. I am trying, Sir. 
 
 P. Your brother James yesterday had a fit of 
 the ague, and a fever followed. 
 
 G. He had, Sir. 
 
 P. Dr. Hvde was sent for. 
 
 G. He was, sir. 
 
 P. You were with him. What did the Doctor 
 do } 
 
 G. He staid half an hour, and spent all the time 
 in obtaining a clear notion of my brother's then 
 present condition, 
 
 P. And when he came down stairs he sat down, 
 and wrote a prescription, which the servant car- 
 ried to the apothecary. 
 
 G. He did 
 
 P. Now do you not see in all this exactly what 
 I mean by principle and practice in a science; as 
 for instance by principles of physick, and the prac- 
 tice of these principles in actual healing? 
 
 G. I think I do, sir. Before Dr. Hyde came 
 he perfectly understood anatomy, or the structure 
 of the human body. Is anatomy what you call a 
 medical principle, sir? 
 
 P. Certainly. 
 
 G. And is not the knowlcd2;e of dru2:s another 
 principle, sir? 
 
 P. It is. Drugs and whatever else can be ap- 
 plied in the art of healing, physicians call the ma- 
 teria medica. Knowledge of solids and fluids, in 
 short, the construction of the human body — know- 
 
2()4 A political catechisin. 
 
 ledge of minerals, vegetables, and so on in the 
 materia mcdica ; these in physick are general prin- 
 ciples. Would you trust a physician, who was 
 ignorant of these medical principles ? 
 
 G. I believe if I were weak enough to do so 
 once, he would put it out of my power to oifend 
 a second time against the first law of nature, self- 
 preservation. 
 
 P. His general principles, however, you see 
 must be directed by a wise attention to little cir- 
 cumstances of air, diet, exercise, and so on, which 
 must determine the time, and the place, and the 
 quantity of his applications. Dr. Hyde visited 
 James to collect these circumstances, and then 
 by prescribing reduced his principles to practice. 
 
 G. I see it clearly. 
 
 P. Now transfer these remarks to polity. Con- 
 sider the constitution of a kingdom as you consider 
 anatomy — and administration, taxation, and so on 
 as you consider the materia medica, and you easily 
 see a man ought not to be trusted to govern who is 
 ignorant of sound principles of studied and appro- 
 ved polity. 
 
 G. I allow it, and I admit also that government, 
 or the actual application of these principles of 
 polity require personal qualifications, and attention 
 to circumstances. 
 
 p. Supposeyour physician a drunkard? 
 
 G. 1 should expect to be poisoned. 
 
 P. Suppose him a spendthrift or a miser? 
 
 G. I sliould suspect he would derange my aftairs 
 to arrange his own. 
 
J political catechism. 265 
 
 p. Suppose him a profligate, unprincipled in- 
 fidel? 
 
 G. I would rather let my disease take its course, 
 and say God's will be done, than hire a wretch to 
 bully me into the grave. 
 
 P. Do you say the same of a political governor? 
 
 G. I must think a httle. 
 
 P. O ! fine fellow ! persist in that, and you will 
 make a man. Think! why the whole world might 
 be wise, if they would but think — But half man- 
 kind don't think. The human soul is a fine vessel, 
 Georse, but it rots in harbour for want of frei^jht. 
 — Well, sir, have you thought? 
 
 G. I think till I blush, and yet I have a difficul- 
 ty which I cannot get over. I blush to think how 
 defective my benevolence is. I do not know whe- 
 ther I have any. I would not trust my own life in 
 the hand of one vicious or unprincipled physician ; 
 yet I seem inclined to commit the lives of an army 
 and a navy, and a whole nation to an ignorant li- 
 bertine. I am induced to do so by recollecting that 
 some wicked men have been good governors. 
 
 P. So it is frequently said ; but I doubt this. 
 However, I think the question quite needless. If 
 indeed there were no good men in a kingdom, we 
 might be driven to the sad necessity of comforting 
 ourselves with thinking that vicious characters 
 might do ; but all kincfdoms have men of political 
 virtue, and there is no need to employ the worth- 
 less while the worthy lie idle. 
 
 G. Pray, sir, what do you call political virtue ? 
 
266 A political catechism. 
 
 P. You know every man is naturally obliged to 
 perform some services to God — others to himself 
 -—and a third class to his neighbours. 
 
 G. I know it — and I tliink I know some, wlio 
 are so intent on discharging one class of these ob- 
 ligations as to forget the other two. 
 
 P. Suppose a political governor to neglect di- 
 vine worship, and to injure his own health by in- 
 temperance ? 
 
 G. I should say he left two parts of three of his 
 duty undone. 
 
 P. But suppose him to have just notions of go- 
 vernment, and to discharge well a publick trust, 
 would you say he left the other third part of duty 
 undone ? 
 
 G- By no means. 
 
 P. Would not you call this political virtue ? 
 
 G, I know not what else to call it. 
 
 P. Would not you feel more esteem for him, 
 and place more confidence in him, if he were an 
 uniform character, discharging all other duties as 
 well as this ? 
 
 G. I should. 
 
 P. Is not confidence in political governors one 
 branch of the peoples political virtue? 
 
 G. I think it is. 
 
 P. What ! Is it a virtue to confide in men known 
 to betray their trust? 
 
 G. No, certainly. 
 
 P. You say people ought to confide in their go- 
 vernors ? 
 
A political catecJdsm. S67 
 
 G. I said so unwarily. I mean, or ought to 
 mean the political wisdom and virtue of their go- 
 vernors. 
 
 P. It is not the person of the governor then that 
 is the object of the people s trust : but his quali- 
 fications. 
 
 G. I mean so. 
 
 P. There is then an object of confidence, a 
 ground of reliance, a reason in a man why I should 
 trust him, is there ? 
 
 G. Undoubtedly. 
 
 P. What is it? skill? or integrity? or both? 
 
 G. If I know a man to be wise I can trust his 
 judgment, but I cannot trust his conduct, unless 
 I know him to be upright. 
 
 P. So you make integrity essentially necessaay 
 to a good political ruler ! 
 
 G. I do. How else can the people trust him ? 
 
 P. Yet you said just now a wicked man might 
 be a good governor ? How is this ? 
 
 G. I see how it is. A man wicked in some re- 
 spects may not be wicked in every case, and where 
 he is virtuous he may be trusted : as for instance, 
 if he understand government, and faithfully dis- 
 charge publick trusts, then 1 may trust him po- 
 iitically ; if he understand physick, and have the 
 integrity necessary to his profession, I may trust 
 him medically : but in other cases, which he does 
 not understand or practise, there he ceases to be 
 an object of confidence. Am I right, sir ? 
 
 P. Entirely. I shall expect you on Monday 
 Farewell. 
 
268 A political cafechism. 
 
 MONIDAY 
 
 MYSTE R 10 USNE SS. 
 
 Parent. WELL, George, what says Dr. Johnson 
 about mysteriousness? 
 
 George. I confess, sir, I have been looking,and 
 he tells ine, it sometimes signifies holy obscurity, 
 and sometimes artful perplexity. 
 
 P. I wish authors have not made a distinction 
 without a difference. 
 
 G. You think, sir, if holiness be obscure, it is 
 because art has perplexed it? 
 
 P. Lideed I do. 
 
 G. Is not mysteriousness spun out of mystery, 
 sir? 
 
 P. It is. Mystery is a fine material for manu- 
 facture. But, to come to the point, what is the 
 plain English of mystery ? 
 
 G. A mystery is a secret, I think. I can make 
 no more of it. 
 
 P. Is not every thing, that you do not under- 
 stand, a secret to you ? 
 
 G. Certainly. 
 
 P. Are there not some secrets, which you do not 
 choose to understand ? 
 
A political catechism. 269 
 
 G. A great many, I suppose. 
 
 P. For example, you would not choose to un- 
 derstand by experience the horror of a guilty con- 
 science after the commission of a great crime ! 
 
 G. God forbid ! 
 
 P. You would not stoop to understand how to 
 cut out a piece of check for sailors shirts so as to 
 make ityieldthe greatest profit to the slopseller ! 
 
 G. I would not, unless I were a slopseller. 
 
 P. Observe, at this window, a dispute now agi- 
 tating in the shrubbery between the gardener and 
 his boy. You would not choose to investigate the 
 cause of his shaking the hoe at the boy ? 
 
 G. It's not worth my attention. 
 
 P. There are, then, some mysteries so painful, 
 and others so insignificant, that you beg leave to ^ 
 have no acquaintance with them ? 
 
 G. Certainly. 
 
 P. And you do not think the worse of yourself 
 for your ignorance ? 
 
 G. Quite the contrary. I prize my condition 
 the more, because it does not expose me to the ne- 
 cessity of acquiring such low information at a price 
 so dear. 
 
 P. Are there no secrets worth knoM'ing ? 
 
 G. A great many no doubt. Why else are young 
 gentlemen educated, why are some put apprentices 
 or articled clerks? 
 
 P. Is there any one of these a mystery in its 
 own nature,or are they all mysterious by accident? 
 G. Pardon me, sir, I am not master of the ques- 
 tion. 
 
sVo A' political catechism, 
 
 P. Let us take it to pieces. Is there not a mys- 
 tel'y in ship-building ? 
 
 G. To me there is. 
 
 P. And in navigating a vessel to the East or West 
 Indies ? 
 
 G. To me undoubtedly, for I have neither re- 
 ceived tuition, nor employed my time about these' 
 subjects. I have neither served a ship-wright, nor 
 been a voyage. 
 
 P. This is what I mean. If these subjects be 
 unknown to you, it is not because they are in them- 
 selves inexplicable and unattainable, for this would 
 be a mystery in the nature of the subjects, and then 
 nobody could understand them ; but it is because 
 you have not turned your attention to them, and this 
 r call mystery by accident. 
 
 G. Am I then to suppose myself capable of un- 
 derstanding every thing ? 
 
 P. Is your eye capable of seeing every thing ? 
 
 G. Every visible thing. 
 
 p. Is every sense of your body capable of re-^ 
 ceiving all sorts of impressions belonging to each 
 sense ? 
 
 G. It is with each sense as it is with my hearing. 
 The same ear, that hears you speak, can hear all 
 sorts of sounds fi'om the roar of thunder down to 
 the softest breeze. 
 
 P. Apply this to our subject. Every branch of 
 knowledge is referable to some power of the mind, 
 poetry to fancy, languages to memory, and so on : 
 now if you have the mental power proper to one 
 subject, you have the power, or ability, or capacity. 
 
A political catechism. 27 1 
 
 call it what you please to attain all subjects be- 
 longing to that power. 
 
 G. Do I understand you, sir? The same me- 
 mory, that retains greek, would retain hebrew, 
 arabick, welch, and all other languages, had 1 in^ 
 clination, time and tuition to pursue them ? 
 
 P. Just so. 
 
 G. I perceive then, there are many secrets wortli 
 knowing ; but which I have no inclination to know, 
 because my life is short; and I have no immediate 
 business with them. 
 
 P. In your choice of knowledge, then, you would 
 select important articles, would you ? 
 
 G. What opinion would you form of my pru- 
 dence. Sir, if I did not ? 
 
 P. An opinion not much to your honour,George. 
 But give me leave to put your skill to proof, by 
 requiring you to inform me what art you think the 
 most deserving of a young gentleman's attention? 
 
 G. I have heard my uncle say, the art of go* 
 verning. Sir. 
 
 P. And do you think so ? 
 
 G. I should think so, if people at my humble 
 distance might presume to smatter a little about a 
 science so profound. 
 
 P. Good George, where did you learn this un- 
 manly style ? I fear you keep bad company. You 
 talk the language of broken spirited slaves living 
 under arbitrary governors, wdiere the people are 
 nursled to think themselves beasts, and their tyrants 
 almighty gods. This is smuggled, this is not Bri- 
 tish, George. 
 
272 A political catechism. 
 
 G. Pardon me, Sir, I speak as I think. 
 
 P. Pray what humble distance is that you talk 
 of? The distance between the governors and the 
 governed in a free nation is exactly the same as 
 that between lessee and lessor. 
 
 G. ,1 own I have understood, Sir, that there is, 
 in all kingdoms impliedly, and in our kingdom ex- 
 pressly, a mutual compact between prince and 
 people. 
 
 P. Very well. Where is the immense distance 
 then ? 
 
 G. Is not government a profound mystery, Sir .^ 
 
 P. You said there was a compact between prince 
 and people ? 
 
 G. I did. 
 
 P. What is a compact ? 
 
 G. An agreement, a contract. 
 
 P. When two or more persons make an agree- 
 ment, do not both parties thoroughly understand 
 the terms? 
 
 G. If either did not it would be accounted frau- 
 dulent. 
 
 P. Suppose a company, the East-India company 
 for example, to contract for so many ton of ship- 
 ping, ought not both the company and the contrac- 
 tor to bargain in clear explicit, terms, inteUigible to 
 both parties ? 
 
 G. Undoubtedly. 
 
 P. Suppose it does not suit all the company to 
 take a personal concern in making the contract? 
 
 G. They would employ some few of themselves 
 a committee to transact the business. 
 
A political catechism. S73 
 
 1^. Whence do this committee derive ability to 
 make this contract? 
 
 G. From their own personal qualifications. They 
 are to be supposed men conversant in this sort of 
 business. 
 
 P. Who is to judge of their ability ? 
 
 G. The company that employ them. 
 
 P. And whence do they derive power to exeN 
 cise this ability in the name, and for the benefit of 
 the whole company ? 
 
 G. From the appointment of the whole com- 
 pany. 
 
 P. Is the company then at a humble distance 
 from the contracting parties ? 
 
 G. The company are their employers, I per- 
 ceive. 
 
 P. Do not the company retain a right of judg- 
 ing whether these parties discharge their trust ? 
 
 G. Assuredly, 
 
 P. Is there any mystery in all this ? 
 
 G. If I choose not to concern myself about it 
 there is. Not otherwise. 
 
 P. You think you could obtain the knowledge 
 of ship-timber, naval stores, prices of workman- 
 ship, and so on, if you applied yourself to these 
 subjects ? 
 
 G. I am sure I could, because the men, who 
 do understand them, have no more bodily senses, 
 no more mental faculties than I have, and the on- 
 ly advantage they have over me is application. 
 s 
 
S74 A political catechism. 
 
 P. Now you talk English again, and you will 
 speak good English if you apply these observations 
 to that profound science, 1 say that profound science 
 George, of government. Dare you, good hum- 
 ble soul, at your humble distance, presume to 
 smatter in this subject ? 
 
 G. If it be presumption. Sir, you inspire me to 
 presume to answer any question you think proper 
 to ask. 
 
 P. What is it to govern ? 
 
 G. To rule, to regulate. 
 
 P. What is the government of a kingdom? 
 
 G. The regulation of it. 
 
 P. Ought any man to regulate my affairs with- 
 out my consent ? 
 
 G. Certainly not. 
 
 P. You think, no man ought to regulate my 
 time, my diet, my dress, my money, my trade, or 
 any thing else of mine without my consent? 
 
 G. No man ought to attempt it. 
 
 P. If I have not time to attend to all my affairs, 
 would it not be wise in me to employ somebody to 
 transact them for me ? ^ 
 
 G. It would. 
 
 P. Shoidd I be wise to commit my aft'airs to a 
 novice or a knave? 
 
 G. That no man would willingly do. 
 
 P. But how am I to know whether a man be 
 wise and upright? 
 
 G. Nothing seems easier, Sir. There is no 
 mystery in this, I am sure. 
 
A political catechism. 27i 
 
 P. You think, I suppose, that a good tree brings 
 forth good fruit? 
 
 G. All the world think so. 
 
 P. Suppose, for I am not infallible, and many 
 men walk in masquerade, suppose I should find 
 on trial that I am deceived in my man ? 
 
 G. Discharge him, and employ another. 
 
 P-, Thus far, then, there is no mystery. But 
 may I apply these observations to the government 
 of the affairs of a kingdom ? 
 
 G. It should seem so. 
 
 P. You say to govern a kingdom is to regulate 
 the affairs of it ? 
 
 G. I do. 
 
 P. You say, the affairs of this kingdom are re- 
 gulated according to compact? 
 
 G. Expressly so — a contract confirmed by oath. 
 
 P. You say, this compact ought to be, and ac- 
 tually is perfectly understood by both the contract- 
 ing parties? 
 
 G. I do. 
 
 P. Do you see any mystery in all this? 
 
 G. There is none, and yet somehow or other I 
 cannot get rid of the idea of arcana imperiiy im- 
 penetrable depth in governors, which it is presump- 
 tion in the governed to censure, to fear, or to 
 suspect. 
 
 P. You should have lived in the reign of Q. 
 Elizabeth, or in that of James I. But the idea is 
 an excresence. Are you willing to get rid of it? 
 
 G. Do me the honour to try, Sir. 
 s 2 
 
276 A political catechism. 
 
 P. Courage then ! What is the usual cause of 
 perplexity of ideas? 
 
 G. I am not jDrepared to answer. 
 
 P. Is a perplexed idea one idea only, or is it 
 many ideas crowded into one? For example, have 
 you a clear idea of a single tree, an oak, suppose? 
 
 G. I have. 
 
 P. Have you an idea as clear of one wilderness 
 of trees, made up of oaks, elms, chesnuts, dwarfs, 
 evergreens and so on? 
 
 G. My idea of a wilderness is complex, and 
 composed of ideas of many different trees, and 
 consequently in some degree perplexed, and it 
 would be in a great degree perplexed if there were 
 many trees in the wilderness, with which I was 
 not acquainted. 
 
 P. If I were then to describe this wilderness by 
 affirming it consisted of trees always green, and 
 tall, should not I perplex the subject more ? 
 
 G. Certainly. Oaks are not evergreens, nor 
 are dwarfs tall. 
 
 P. How must I make the description plain ? 
 
 G. By separating my general idea of a wilder- 
 ness into many ideas of single trees growing toge- 
 ther, and ascribing to each tree its own properties. 
 
 P. A general tree then is a creature of art? 
 
 G. It is, and I suspect no creature in nature 
 can define it. 
 
 P. Apply this to our subject, and you will in- 
 stantly perceive how your notion of a ruler became 
 perplexed. 
 
A political catechism. 277 
 
 G. I see it plainly. You were speaking of a 
 British government, and a British king, and I have 
 been thinking of king in general. Mine was an 
 abstract idea, or rather, a name without any pre- 
 cise idea at all. 
 
 P. This was the cause of your perplexity. A 
 tyrant, who has subdued a nation into slavery, 
 and silence, and horror, is deep and impenetra- 
 ble, and he is so for the same reason a murderer 
 is so; a declaration of the use he intended to make 
 of his ability and power would defeat his design : 
 but all this has nothing to do with the case of a 
 prince, who accepts a crown on conditions, open- 
 ly avowed, publickly investigated, and thorough- 
 ly understood by the whole world. 
 
 G. I perceive it, and 1 recollect, too, that you 
 distinguished principles of polity, clearly and ful- 
 ly known, from application of these in actual go- 
 vernment, which may require secrecy and dispatch. 
 
 P. By the way, George, I cannot help lament- 
 ing the course of education, and the choice of 
 books in fashion in the schools. What do you 
 think of Caesar and Alexander and such heroes of 
 antiquity ? 
 
 G. I think they were butchers of mankind. 
 
 P. What can you think of men, who ascribe to 
 such detestable tyrants the qualifications of good 
 governors. 
 
 G. I think they are grossly ignorant, or ex- 
 tremely wicked. Their politicks are not fit for us. 
 
 P. These are the magni, the great, you 
 know ! 
 
iS^S A political catechism. 
 
 G. A tiger is greater than a cat, and my fear 
 t)f each bears a just proportion to its size. 
 
 P. Under the tyranny of such rulers mystery 
 is inculcated. The peoples spirits must be tamed. 
 They must be trained up in implicit faith. The 
 infinite ability necessary to regulate affairs — the 
 utter incapacity of the people to judge of a science 
 so profound as government — These are topics I 
 would have you leave the hirelings of a despot to 
 varnish. If the emperor of China had understood 
 popery he would not have banished the Jesuit 
 Missionaries. 
 
 G. Perhaps he had a mind to play Jupiter 
 solus ? 
 
 P. Perhaps so. 
 
 G. I think I love my country the better, Sir, 
 for your conversation. I feel a little more self- 
 importance, and 1 look up to my prince with more 
 reverence, for this sort of government considers 
 us as two open, ingenuous, sensible, honest men. 
 The other dark system supposes fraud and fear, it 
 makes a prince a knave, and a nation a fool ; con- 
 sequently it is disgraceful to both, yea, worse, it- 
 is dangerous to both, it generates suspicion and 
 cruelty, by destroying mutual confidence, the 
 onlv worthy bond of political union. 
 
 p. True. — Did I not prophesy you would be a 
 politician? Remember to-morrow — and take one 
 short lesson for this day — dare to think for your- 
 self — If you must perish, ruin yourself, and don't 
 let other men ruin you by inculcating credulity 
 and diffidence. — The physician will tell you he 
 
A political catechism. 279 
 
 knows your constitution better than you do — the 
 lawyer will pretend you do not understand law, 
 and he must manage your property — the priest 
 will setde your accounts with God — the draper 
 will choose your cloth — and the taylor your fashion 
 — and if you can but find money and imphcit 
 faith, back and legs to bear the burden, you may 
 have the honour of ambling through the world, 
 and carrying out of the dirt single, double, or tre- 
 ble, as many cunning men as choose to ride you. 
 When a Jewish prince of this character died, he 
 was buried with the burial of an ass. 
 
280 A political catechism, 
 
 TUESBAY. 
 
 CONSTITUTION. 
 
 George. (JUR subject to day, Sir, is Constitu- 
 tion, the British constitution I suppose. 
 
 Parent. You have profited by yesterday's con- 
 versation, and are going to set out right by defi- 
 ning your terms, and by precisely settling what we 
 are to talk about ? 
 
 G. If I were going to travel eastward, and were 
 to set the first step westward, every succeeding step 
 in the same line would place me at a greater dis- 
 tance from my journeys end. 
 
 P. True. — You have been thinking about the 
 British constitution I perceive ? 
 
 G. I have, but thinking seems dangerous to 
 self-sufficiency, for I always find I know less of a 
 subject when I aim at precision, than I fancied 
 I did. 
 
 P. What difficulty have you met with? 
 
 G. 1 have dipped into Judge Blackstones com- 
 mentaries, and I find in one place he calls king, 
 lords, and commons the British constitution, and 
 in another he says members of parliament are 
 ouardluns of the constitution. 
 
A political catechism. 28 1 
 
 P. Distinguish between goyeniment and govern- 
 ors, and you will perceive both his expression^ 
 are right. 
 
 G. How Sir ! 
 
 P. Do not you perceive a difference between a 
 rule of action, and a ruler who enforces the rule ; 
 between regulation and regulator, government 
 and governor? 
 
 G. I do. But I do not immediately comprehend 
 the application. 
 
 P. Patience ! What is it to constitute ? 
 
 G. To make any thing what it is. 
 
 P. And what is constitution? 
 
 G. It is the act of making any thing what it is. 
 
 P. And what is the British constitution ? 
 
 G. I fear I am aground. — Why, British consti- 
 tution is that in Britain, which is what it is. 
 
 P. Is it not necessary to determine what thing 
 you are inquiring into the constitution, or makeof? 
 
 G. Pardon me. Sir, it may be necessary for 
 you : but nobody can necessitate me to perform 
 an impossibility. I protest I do not know what I 
 am talking of. 
 
 P. You are talking of the British constitution ; 
 you say, constitution is the act of making some- 
 thing what it is, and I ask what this something is. 
 
 G. And I declare I do not know. 
 
 P. Suppose we try tiie word law, understanding 
 by it rule of action, regulation of riglits, or civil 
 government? And suppose I Mere to affirm, that 
 the municipal law of Great Britain is constituted, 
 or made up of just and virtuous political j)rinci- 
 
282 A political catechism, 
 
 pies; principles conformable to those of the eter- 
 nal immutable and infallible law of nature ? Would 
 that elucidate the subject ? 
 
 G. I should then perfectly comprehend how 
 king, lords, and commons were guardians of the 
 contititution, for it would mean, that they were 
 the expositors, superintendants, protectors, and 
 administrators of the law of nature, that is, the 
 just rights of mankind. 
 
 P. The question, then, is, what are the na- 
 tural RIGHTS of mankind, for the preservation 
 of which British law is constituted, or made up ? 
 
 G. Certainly mankind have natural rights. 
 
 P. When an infant is born, has any man a right 
 to kill him? 
 
 G. It would be murder. He has a right to life. 
 
 P. As the child grows up has he a right to the 
 free use of his eyes, hands, and legs, all the senses 
 of his body, and all the powers of his mind ? 
 
 G. He has a right to liberty, and it would be 
 wrong either to imprison his body, or to shackle 
 his mind. 
 
 P. If he apply himself to labour, or to traffick, 
 has he a right to enjoy and dispose of the profits 
 of his own industry? 
 
 G. His property is truly his own. It is right he 
 should enjoy it without fear. 
 
 P. If any man should deprive him of any of his 
 rights by fraud or force, ought not justice to be 
 done in his behalf? 
 
 G. Surely. 
 
A political catechism, 283 
 
 P. Man, then you allow, has a right to exer- 
 cise and enjoy his own life, limbs, health, reputa- 
 tion, liberty, proi)erty, and conscience, and it is 
 just to protect him in the enjoyment of his rights : 
 or, to be more concise, every man has a natural 
 right to personal security, personal liberty, and 
 private property. 
 
 G. I allow the whole. 
 
 P. When you speak of the English constitution, 
 then, you mean, that the law or the rule of civil 
 conduct prescribed by the sujjreme power to all 
 the inhabitants of this kingdom, is made up of 
 these just first principles } 
 
 G. I do. 
 
 P. And you look upon this to be civil govern- 
 fnent. 
 
 G. Yes. 
 
 P. And you consider governor,?, or the supreme 
 power in this kingdom as guardians of this consti- 
 tution, or body of right? 
 
 G. I do. 
 
 P. What does a member of parliament call his 
 electors ? 
 
 G. His constituents. 
 
 P. What is a constituent ? 
 
 G. One who constitutes, or appoints another to 
 be his deputy. 
 
 P. Do the electors of Great Britain appoint, or 
 constitute the rights of mankind ? 
 
 G. No surely. The rights of mankind are na- 
 tural, and prior to all appointments. 
 
 P. Why then do you pretend to l>c constituents? 
 
g84 A political catechism. 
 
 G. We are constituents, because we constitute 
 or appoint deputies to administer our rights. 
 
 p. You see then there is a constitution of right 
 independent of your appointment, and there is a 
 constitution of persons to administer that right. 
 
 G. This last, I suppose, is what is usually inten- 
 ded, when we say the British constitution consists 
 of king, lords and commons, 
 
 P. I suppose so. 
 
 G. I have understood, that the laws of society 
 require us to give up some of our natural rights to 
 public convenience. 
 
 P. It must be so. You said, man had a natu- 
 ral right to use his limbs, and senses, and nieqtal 
 powers. 
 
 G. Yes. 
 
 P. But man living in company can have no right 
 to abuse his genius to defraud another man, or his 
 hands to strike him, 
 
 G. Certainly. Pie would be guilty of a wrong 
 by depriving another of a right. 
 
 P. What then are the private rights of men in 
 society ? 
 
 G. 1 have understood, they are either that resi- 
 duum of natural liberty, which is not required to 
 be given u]), or they are civil privileges, which so- 
 ciety engages to provide in lieu of the natural liber- 
 ties g;iveuu|) by individuals, 
 
 P. So the British civil constitution is nothing but 
 a declaration of the natural rights of mankind ? 
 
 G. So I think. Pray, Sir, how old is this de- 
 <;laratioii of riglits ? 
 
A political catechism. ^S^ 
 
 P. It is of the most remote antiquity, and at least 
 coeval with our form of government.Even in the time 
 of Alfred, above nine hundred years aj^o, the maxims 
 of common law were called J'olcrighte, folkright, 
 or rights of the people. 
 
 G. Have these rights been perpetually allowed? 
 
 P. Far from it ; they have often been invaded. 
 Sometimes one order of men, and sometimes ano- 
 ther have violated these rights ; but the violation 
 being unnatural and repugnant to the constitution, 
 has always produced convulsions in the state, and 
 when the convulsion has been over the constitution 
 has revived again. 
 
 G. These rights then are prior toMagna Charta? 
 
 P. Magna Charta is a declaration of ancient 
 rights, and you will find at different periods of our 
 history, near forty declarations of rights, as the/>e- 
 titioji of right in the reign of Charles I. The haheas 
 corpus act in the reign of Charles II. The bill of 
 rights at the accession of William and IMary, and 
 the act of settlement^ limiting the crown to the 
 present royal family. All these are declaratory of 
 the true,ancient, and indubitable rights of the people 
 of this kingdom, the last statute expressly declaring 
 
 that LIBERTY BYLAW IS THE BIRTHRIGHT OF THE 
 
 PEOPLE OF England. 
 
 G. According to this doctrine, the people of 
 England constitute, as Avas said before, a form of 
 government for the preservation of these rights } 
 
 P. You said they were constituents, and the 
 form of government, which they have constituted is 
 
286 A political catechism. 
 
 that, which they judge the best, a mixt monarchy. 
 Do you think it the best? 
 
 G. It should seem so. 
 
 P. How many forms of government are there in 
 the world ? 
 
 G. Political writers say, only three. 
 
 P. What is a democracy, one of the three ? 
 
 G. A democracy is that form of government, 
 which lodges sovereign power in an aggregate as- 
 sembly, consisting of all the members of a com- 
 munity. 
 
 P. What is an aristocracy ? 
 
 G. An aristocracy lodges sovereign power in a 
 council composed of select members. 
 
 P. And what is a monarchy? 
 
 G. In a monarchy sovereign power is lodged in a 
 single person. 
 
 P. What requisites ought to be found in a well 
 constituted form of government? 
 
 G. Political writers say three — ivisdom, to dis- 
 cern the real interest of the community — goodness 
 to endeavour always to pursue that real interest — 
 and poxver, to carry this knowledge and intention 
 into action. 
 
 P. And are these three requisites found in your 
 constitution, which is mixt or made up of the three 
 forms ? 
 
 G. They are not only found there, but they are 
 found there in union, which union is the excellence 
 of our constitution, and gives it its singular beauty 
 and superiority over the three. 
 
A political catechism. 287 
 
 f*. What are the properties of the three forms of 
 government you mentioned ? 
 
 G. They say a democracy excels in virtue — an 
 aristocracy in wisdom — and a monarchy in power. 
 
 P. What are the imperfections of the three ?" 
 
 G. Monarchs are more remarkable for extend- 
 ing and abusing power than for either wisdom or 
 virtue. It is not the imperfection of the man ; but of 
 the condition he is in. 
 
 P. You may depend upon monarchy, then, for 
 power. 
 
 G. Yes, but not for the use of it. 
 
 P. W^hat is the imperfection of aristocracy ? 
 
 G. You may depend upon a select council for 
 wisdom : but not for virtue and power. 
 
 p. And what is the imperfection of a democracy? 
 
 G. You may depend on a democracy for politi- 
 cal virtue, for they keep a jealous eye on the rights 
 and liberties of mankind at large : but for wisdom 
 to invent means, and for power to carry their good 
 designs into execution, they must not be depended 
 on. It is not the fault of individuals, it is the im- 
 perfection of the condition they are in. 
 
 p. So, by uniting the three you correct the imper- 
 fections of each, and produce a perfect form of go- 
 vernment, a perfect constitution. 
 
 G. Pardon me. Sir, I do not say so. 
 
 P. Why what can disconcert your constitution? 
 
 G. Perhaps it is not so perfect in its kind as it 
 might be : but, if it were, it is human, and therefore 
 liable to wear away : if you will pardon the expi es- 
 
288 • A political catechism. 
 
 sion, I can conceive a thousand events, that might 
 damnify this mostexcellent frame of government* 
 
 P. Name one. 
 
 G. Suppose the splendour and power of the mo- 
 narch should blind the wisdom, and bribe away 
 the virtue of the other two branches of the legisla- 
 ture ? 
 
 p. The two would then become subservient to 
 one, and in effect your constitution would be des- 
 troyed, 
 
 G. The effect would be destroyed I allow; but 
 the name might remain. 
 
 P. So much the worse; the damage would not be 
 so soon perceived. Suppose such an event to hap- 
 pen, what ought you to do ? 
 
 G. I should think it my duty as a good citizen, 
 to try to rouse the attention of my fellow citizens 
 to the danger, and in my little sphere I would en- 
 deavour to abate the malignant influence. 
 
 P. It would seem then you only value the form 
 of your government for the sake of government 
 itself } 
 
 G. It ought to be so. 
 
 P. Recapitulate the sul)ject. 
 
 G. British civil constitution is a phrase, strictly 
 speaking, expressive first of a natural constitution 
 ofrights,native and inherent in all the inhabitants of 
 this kingdom and in all mankind — next of a body of 
 laws, peculiar to thiskindgom, declaratory of these 
 natural rights — and lastly, of a form of making and 
 executing these laws by king, lords, and commons, 
 
A political catechism. 289 
 
 the safety and excellence of which consists in each 
 constituent part retaining its own nature, and place. 
 P. Have you not observed two or three vulgar 
 errors in general conversation concerning the Bri- 
 tish constitution? 
 
 G. I am not aware of them at present* 
 P. You have heard people talk in the highest 
 strains of our excellent constitution, our perfect 
 constitution; 
 G. I have; 
 
 P. Ought we not to distinguish between abso- 
 lute and comparative perfection. The British con- 
 stitution has a comparative perfection, for com- 
 pared with other governments it is the best : but 
 as some things are incorporated in it, which are 
 not congenial to its nature, it has not absolute per- 
 fection, for it is capable of improvement. I could 
 mention a few instances; 
 G. I believe so. 
 
 P. Have you not also heard people talk at large 
 about framing our excellent constitution, as if all 
 our ancestors met in one large plain at one time, 
 and all cool, deliberate and disinterested, formed 
 the present system of government ? Others again 
 talk as if all our immunities proceeded from the 
 condescension and benevolence of our princes. 
 Both sorts discover gross ignorance. Our con- 
 stitution, hke our language, is a fineness produc- 
 ed by the friction of contending interests, and we 
 ought to ascribe the delicacy and elegance of it to 
 providence working by time, and a course of events. 
 
 T 
 
290 A political catechism. 
 
 G. So I think indeed, 
 
 P. Have not you s&en enthusiasts to the wis^* 
 dom of our ancestors? The wisdom of our an- 
 cestors renounced paganism : but it was their fol- 
 ly, that established popery. The wisdom of our 
 ancestors built houses : but it was the folly of the 
 lords of castles, that made dens and dungeons in 
 theifl. The wisdom of our ancestors induced them 
 to travel : but it was the wisdom of the moderns, 
 that made good roads. 
 
 G. We are then to suppose that our ancestors, 
 like other peoples ancestors, had some wisdom, and 
 some folly, or some weakness, that could not give 
 their wisdom effect. 
 
 P, You say right. It would not be fair in our 
 successors to judge of our political wisdom by our 
 actions, for we know many good things which we 
 have no- power to bring to pass : but which future 
 and happier ages will congratulate themselves for 
 discovering, only because they can reduce their 
 knowledge to practice. 
 
 G. I heard a gentleman say, one day, that he 
 considered the whole duration of the world as se- 
 venty, the usual duration of the life of man. 
 
 P. And what age did he say the world had now 
 attained ? 
 
 G. About sixteen. 
 
 P. I hardly think so much, for, like little boys, 
 we have not left off fighting yet. However, it will 
 soon be over with us, let us live happy while we 
 are in it. 
 
A political catechism, 291 
 
 WEBNESBAY. 
 
 ADMINISTRA T I O N. 
 
 P- Hitherto, George, we have endea- 
 voured to select our words, and to affix precise 
 ideas to them, that we might know what we were 
 talking about. Will you not smile when I tell you 
 to day we are going to speak of one thing under a 
 term that stands for another ? We are going to 
 examine the king's prerogative, and we examine 
 it under the word Administration, which means 
 the substitutes of the king, or, more strictly, the 
 under servants of the people. 
 
 G. I shall suspend my observation, Sir, till you 
 explain yourself. 
 
 P. I think it necessary, even in a rude sketch 
 of our government, to examine the prerogatives of 
 that one royal person, with whom the wisdom and 
 virtue of our constitution have lodged that im- 
 mense trust, the sole executive power. And I 
 think it constitutional to examine these in the light 
 of Administration, because, by a supposition of 
 law, for the prudent prevention of many inconve- 
 niences, and for the actual production of many 
 T 2 
 
292 A political catechism. 
 
 noble effects, the king, in his political capacity, is 
 always supposed a perfect being who can do no 
 wrong, and his ministers are supposed to advise 
 and he answerable for every act of royalty, subject 
 to remonstrance and complaint. 
 
 G. I see the reason of all this ; and I suppose 
 you will enlarge on this under the article of Re- 
 sponsihdity. 
 
 P. I intend to do so. At present let us confine 
 ourselves to prerogative. 
 
 G. What is prerogative in general, Sir? 
 
 P. Pre-eminence, and regal prerogative in par- 
 ticular, is the pre-eminence of the king over and 
 above all other persons. 
 
 G. Wherein does it consist? 
 
 P. Constitutionally in three articles, digiiitijy 
 power, and re'ventie ; to which I add a fourth, 
 greater than all the three, which comes to pass 
 eventually, and that is influence. 
 
 G. What is royal digniti/y Sir, which you call 
 the first prerogative ? 
 
 P. It is the possession of certain attributes or 
 perfections, essential to that respect, which ought 
 to be paid to the supreme executive power. More 
 explicitly, the law ascribes to the king sovereign- 
 ty^ perfection of action and thought — immortality 
 and ubiquity. 
 
 G. It is impossible the most exalted of human 
 beings should possess these attributes. 
 
 P. All the world allow this : but these are sup- 
 positions of law, and are incorporated into our 
 
A political catechism, 293 
 
 constitution for several noble purposes, all bene- 
 ficial to society. 
 
 G. This is then the dignity, or the majesty of 
 our kings. What is the second prerogative, pozver ? 
 P. This, strictly speaking, is the executive part 
 of our constitution, and it consists in a great va- 
 riety of exertions, of which a slight arrangeuient 
 will enable you to form some idea. You know 
 this kingdom hath some connections with otlier 
 states, 
 
 G. And I suppose the king has the power of re- 
 ceiving and sending ambassadors, residents, and 
 consuls ? 
 P. He has. 
 
 G. Has his majesty also the power of making 
 treaties, leagues, and alliances ? 
 
 P. He has, both with princes and states. 
 G. May he also make war and peace? 
 P. Both; and in these are included the power 
 of granting letters of marque to individuals to dis- 
 tress the enemy, and of safe-conducts and pass- 
 ports. 
 
 G. This is a great trust. 
 
 P. A greater than it may at first appear; but it 
 is executed by ministers of state. Let us go on 
 to domestic affairs. 
 
 G. That is to exertions of power at home. 
 What are they. Sir ? 
 
 p. The king, you know, is one constituent part 
 of legislative power. 
 G. Yes. 
 
S94 J political catechism. 
 
 P He has the prerogative of convoking, ad- 
 journing, proroguing, and dissolving parliament; 
 and if the two houses sit and make provisions, he 
 may reject them, and refuse passing them into 
 laws. 
 
 G. Is not the king also the power that moves 
 the national military arms ? 
 
 P. His majesty is generalissimo, he has the sole 
 power of raising and regulating fleets and armies, 
 of officering the militia, of erecting, manning, and 
 governing forts, of appointing ports and havens, 
 wharfs and quays, of building beacons, light-hou- 
 ses, and sea-marks, and of prohibiting the exporta- 
 tion of arms and ammunition. 
 
 G. An immense multitude of people must be 
 employed to administer this branch of the royal 
 prerogative. 
 
 P. An immense multitude is employed, and the 
 whole business is an amazing system of boards, 
 courts, officers, clerks and arrangements, under 
 the direction of a few principal persons appointed 
 by the crown for the purpose, as secretaries, ad- 
 mirals, generals, governors, paymasters, and so 
 on. 
 
 G. To this power must be added, I suppose, 
 another, that is, the power of administering jus- 
 tice ? 
 
 p. Yes ; the king is entrusted by the constitu- 
 tion with the conservation of the peace of tlie 
 kingdom, and his majesty does this by erecting 
 courts of judicature, and by appointing both su- 
 preme and subordinate officers and magistrates, as 
 
A political catechism. Q9S 
 
 the Lord Chancellor, the Judges, the Sheriffs, the 
 Justices of the Peace, under each of which are in- 
 nuaierablc officers of inferior Jurisdiction, from the 
 Court of Chancery down to the bailiff, the jailor 
 and the publick executioner. 
 
 G. The prerogative of royal proclamation be- 
 longs to this article, does it not. Sir ? 
 
 P. It does ; the constitution gives tlie king poWei* 
 to issue proclamations, on conditioii they b(i ac- 
 cording to law. 
 
 G. Very well. 
 
 P. The next article of prerogative, is that of 
 conferring honour, office and privilege. 
 
 G. His majesty confers all degrees of nobility 
 and knighthood, I know-. 
 
 P. He also erects and disposes of offices,' for 
 they are honours; and he can create new offices 
 and new titles, though he cannot annex any fees 
 to them. He can confer privileges on individu- 
 als, and erect corporations. 
 
 G. This trust supposes, to the honour of the 
 prince, that he is the best, yea, the sole judge of 
 merit. 
 
 P. Another royal prerogative is, the direction 
 of commerce, and to this belongs the regulation of 
 markets and fairs, with their tolls, weights, mea- 
 sures, rnonies, coinage, and so forth. 
 
 G. An ample trust, this ! 
 
 P. Nothing to the next, which is the royal pre- 
 rogative of being the only supreme head on eartii 
 of the church of England. 
 
clero;v. 
 
 ^9^ A political catechism, 
 
 G. The king administers this prerogative by the 
 
 •'■gy- 
 
 p. By this prerogative the king convenes, pro- 
 rogues, and dissolves all ecclesiastical synods and 
 convocations ; nominates archbishops, bishops, 
 deans, and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, under 
 ivhom are innumerable courts, officers, and admi- 
 nistrators, for the purpose of christening, marry- 
 ing, burying, performing publick worship, ordain- 
 ing candidates for the ministry, proving wills, col- 
 lecting tithes, and so on. A mixture of civil and 
 sacred things. 
 
 G. From some one or other of these preroga- 
 tives, I should suppose his majesty the head of all 
 literary bodies, as royal schools, colleges, and uni- 
 versities; of most publick charities, as many are 
 royal foundations, and many more are incorpo- 
 rated; of all trading companies, and even of races, 
 theatres, and publick amusements. 
 P. Directly or indirectly it is so. 
 G, The next prerogative you said was rerome, 
 P. The king's revenue is usually divided into 
 ordinary and extraordinary. The ordinary reve- 
 nue of the crown is small and inadequate to the 
 support of the royal dignity. Formerly it consis- 
 ted of the custody of the temporalities of bishops 
 during the vacancy of the see, and some other ec- 
 clesiastical claims, which are now disused ; demesne 
 lands, forest rights, fines, wrecks, profits of mines, 
 treasure-trove, waifs, estrays, confiscated estates, 
 forfeitures, escheats of lands, custody of idiots, 
 and many more of the same antique cast, formerly 
 
A political catechism. 297 
 
 of great value, and consequently occasions of in- 
 tolerable and vexatious oppressions. Almost all 
 these have been alienated from the crown, the re- 
 mainder yield very little, and the deficiency is now 
 amply supplied by what is called the extraordi- 
 nary revenue. 
 
 G. The modern revenue, then, is in lieu of an- 
 cient prerogatives ? 
 
 P. It is intended to be so. The first branch is 
 the annual land-tax. Upon an average, this is 
 said to be about three shillings and three-pence 
 in the pound a year. This is assessed and raised 
 by commissioners and their officers. 
 
 Next is an annual malt-tax, properly an annu- 
 al excise on malt, cyder, and perry. 
 
 Customs or duties, payable upon merchandize 
 exported and imported, make a third branch of 
 prodigious magnitude, and create a great multi- 
 tude of officers, as commissioners, collectors, re- 
 ceivers, surveyors, inspectors, examiners, clerks, 
 tidesmen, and so on. 
 
 Next is an inland levenue, called excise duty, 
 a tax imposed on commodities of daily home con- 
 sumption and use, malt, beer, spirits, candles, 
 soap, coaches, plate, hides, glass, coffee, tea, pa- 
 per, pasteboard, vinegar, and an endless number 
 of other articles. The excise is managed by a 
 great number of commissioners, collectors, secre- 
 taries, accomptants, surveyors, auditors, clerks, 
 supervisors, and officers. 
 
 The fifth branch of revenue is the post office, or 
 duty for the carriage of letters. This also employs 
 
298 A political catechism. 
 
 a great number of officers from the post-masters 
 general down to the bell-men, who collect, the 
 post-men, who deliver letters, and the boys, who 
 carry the mails. 
 
 A sixth branch is salt-duties, a sort of excise, 
 but managed by different commissioners, w^ho have 
 a number of officers under them. 
 
 A seventh branch of revenue is stamp-duties. 
 This is a tax upon almost all parchments and pa- 
 pers, on which any legal proceedings are written, 
 upon licenses for retailing wines, upon almanacks, 
 news-papers, advertisements, cards and dice, &c. 
 This is a branch of amazing magnitude, and em- 
 ploys commissioners, receivers, inspectors, stam- 
 pers, engravers, clerks, and so forth. 
 
 The eighth branch is a duty upon houses and 
 windows, and employs, as all the other duties do, 
 a great train of officers. 
 
 The ninth branch of revenue is a duty upon //- 
 censes to hackney coaches and chairs in and about 
 London. This also is managed by commissioners 
 and other officers. 
 
 The tenth is a duty of one shilling in the pound 
 upon offices and pensions, salaries, fees and per* 
 quisites payable to the crovvn. Have I not tired 
 your attention? 
 
 G. That would ill become me. Give me leave 
 to say. Sir, enormous as this list appears, I recol- 
 lect several articles you have thought proper to 
 omit. There is a revenue arising from a tax upon 
 servantSy another from a tax upon post-horses. 
 
A political catechism. Q99 
 
 P. I have purposely omitted several, for, re- 
 collect, I am speaking to you not of taxation but 
 of royal prerogative, and administration of execu- 
 tive power; and 1 only mean to give you a brief 
 sketch of a boundless subject, the particulars of 
 which actually fill thousands of folios. 
 
 G. I am then to understand, that all this reve- 
 nue is received and expended by the king. 
 
 P. Not in his own person, but by substitutes or 
 deputies, to whom the administration of the execu- 
 tive power is entrusted by the crown. 
 
 G. How is the money disposed of? 
 
 P. A part of it is appropriated to the payment 
 of the interest of the national debt, and a part to 
 the payment of the civil list. 
 
 G. What is the civil list, Sir? 
 
 P. It is the list, roll, or catalogue of all ex- 
 pences of civil government, as those of his maje- 
 sty's houshold, of the houshold of the queen and 
 royal family, of salaries to the great officers of 
 state, to the judges, ambassadors, private expen- 
 ces of the king, secret service money, pensions, 
 bounties; in a word, of every of the king's ser- 
 vants. 
 
 G. The civil list then, is properly the king's re- 
 venue, and what goes to pay the interest of the 
 national debt is the revenue of the publick. 
 
 P. ]More strictly speaking, the latter is t'le re- 
 venue of the creditors of the publick ; however, all 
 is collected and distributed by officers of the crown. 
 
 G. So, if I receive a half years' dividend at 
 
300 A political catechism. 
 
 the bank, it is the king who pays me by the hands 
 of one of his clerks in administration. 
 
 P. Yes. Need I enter upon the article of iti- 
 Jluence f 
 
 G. It would be no compliment to my under- 
 standino;. 
 
 P. Allow me, however, to say, that the influ- 
 ence of the crown is an effect, which may have 
 risen from two causes. It may have proceeded 
 from a plan of arbitrary government, which, if so, 
 must have been concerted long before the present 
 generation existed; or it may have proceeded, 
 without any such design, from a mere course of 
 events, a set of accidents. 
 
 G. Some call this influence enormous and ex- 
 cessive. 
 
 P. This enormity of crown influence depends 
 on something else. If the other two branches of 
 legislature have equal influence, it is not enor- 
 mous, for the state is safe when the component 
 powers are in equilibrium : but if the influence of 
 the crown preponderates so as to give irregular 
 direction to the other two powers, then indeed it 
 has acquired enormity. 
 
 G. What is your opinion. Sir ? 
 
 P. Rather say, what is the resolution of the 
 house of Commons. 
 
 G. All the boys at school have that by heart, 
 that is, that the influence of the crown hath in- 
 creased, is increasing, and ought to be dimi- 
 nished. 
 
A political catechism. 30 1 
 
 THUKSBAY. 
 REPRESENTATION. 
 
 P. W HEN we speak of administration, George, 
 we speak of what is ; but when we speak of repre- 
 sentation, we speak of what ought to be 
 
 G. Why so, Sir? 
 
 P. Because administration, you see, is in effect 
 the kings prerogative, and we would not seem to 
 want respect for that branch of government, the 
 executive power. 
 
 G. But representation being the people's bh'th- 
 right, is more immediately our own province. Is 
 that your meaning, Sir ? 
 
 P. Exactly. 
 
 G. Are you represented in parUament, Sir ? 
 
 P. No. 
 
 G. Then your family, consisting of more than 
 twenty of us, is not represented. 
 
 P. No; our parliamentary representation is not 
 a representation of persons, but of property. 
 
 G. Is your property represented, Sir? 
 
 P. No. My estates are copyhold, and lease- 
 hold, and personal estate. I have no freehold. 
 
 G. It is not all property, then, that is repre- 
 . sented. 
 
302 A political catechism. 
 
 P. No; it is property of that peculiar tenure, 
 which we call freehold. 
 
 G. How many freeholders are there in this pa- 
 rish ? 
 
 P. Ahout four. 
 
 G. Yet this parish consists of some hundreds. 
 
 P. Yes; and I, who am not represented, was 
 ohli*yed to give old Sam the taylor, who botches 
 for the labourers, who is represented, some pieces 
 of wood to prop up his crazy freehold cottage, 
 or else Sam's cottage would not have been repre- 
 sented. 
 
 G. You said you were speaking of what ought 
 to be. 
 
 P. Excuse me for speaking first of what ought 
 7Wt to be. 
 
 G. You think representation then, Sir, imper- 
 fect? 
 
 P. Extremely so; and I think I see four imper- 
 fections in what we call parliamentary representa- 
 tion, in the nature, the subject, the mode, and 
 the end. These are not constitutional imperfec- 
 tions, but accidental ones; the being of which 
 probably originated not in design and depravity, 
 but in a train of events. I will explain myself. 
 
 G. What do you mean, Sir, by the nature of 
 representation ? 
 
 p. The properties of it. 
 G. What ought these to be ? 
 P. Representation is a human creation, and was 
 intended to be, and therefore ought to be an ex- 
 act balance to the prerogatives of the other branches 
 
A political catechism. 203 
 
 of the legislature, for by this balance the liberties 
 of the people are pi"eservecl from encroachment. 
 
 G. It ouffht then to have dignity, power, reve- 
 nue, and influence, that so, having the same pre- 
 rogatives as the crown, and in the same degree, 
 it may be a counterpoise. 
 
 • P. Exactly so. Accordingly the dignity of par- 
 liament, as an aggregate body, is preserved by an 
 ascription of properties and perfections, as inde- 
 pendence, incorruption, fidelity, magnanimity, 
 and so on. The poxver of parliament is that of 
 making laws. In regard to revenue^ all supplies 
 are raised by them ; and in respect to injiuence, it 
 will always be proportional to the benefits which 
 the people derive from their representatives. 
 
 G. You allowed yesterday, that the properties 
 ascribed to the executive power, could not be 
 found in any mortal. Are not the properties as- 
 cribed to the legislative power of the same kind, 
 mere suppositions of law ? 
 
 P. By no means. The properties ascribed to 
 the person are, strictly speaking, found in the ex- 
 ecutive power. Executive power has ubiquity, for 
 it is every where acting at the same time; besieg- 
 ing a town in the army, destroying an enemy's fleet 
 at sea in the navy, guarding the trade in a con- 
 voy, or the coasts in a militia, distributing justice 
 in courts of law, collecting customs in the ports, 
 excise in warehouses, receiving and paying, re- 
 warding and punishing at the same moment, Now 
 as all this is the king s business, and as he executes 
 
304 A political catechism. 
 
 it by deputation, we say he hath ubiquity, and sd 
 of the rest 
 
 G. His majesty then has this property in proxy? 
 
 P. Yes; but as our representatives are them- 
 selves proxies for us, they cannot vote by proxy, 
 and herein they differ from lords of parliament, 
 who sit there in their own right, and who there-^ 
 fore can vote by proxy. And further, as they can- 
 not delegate any to act in their stead, so it is im- 
 possible they should possess any perfections, ex- 
 cept such as are personal. These are in some 
 degree in each individual, and in a high degree in 
 the collective body, and these I call the nature of 
 representation. 
 
 G. You said independence was one property of 
 parliament. 
 
 P. It is an essential property interwoven in the 
 constitution, and it implies the absence of all un- 
 due influence of every kind. Neither the crown, 
 by means of the arnw, or the officers of some 
 branches of the revenue, nor the peers, by means 
 of lords of parliament, or lords lieutenants of coun- 
 ties, may interfere. No, nor may the candidates 
 themselves use any bribery or corrupt influence 
 under heavy penalties. 
 
 G. You said incorriiption was another pro- 
 perty. 
 
 P. Yes, for a man may go uninfluenced into 
 the house, and become corruptible by strong temp- 
 tations there : in such a case, he would cease to 
 he faithful to the trust reposed in him by the peo- 
 ple, and of course would lay aside all that eleva- 
 
A political cateddsm. 30a 
 
 tion of soul, which we call magnanimity, and 
 would sink from the noblest of all creatures, an 
 object of public confidence, to the despicable state 
 of a minister s tool. 
 
 G. Have not our legislators claimed these ex- 
 cellent properties, and passed many laws to secure 
 them ? 
 
 P. They have: but it is confessed, all means 
 have been found inadequate. 
 
 G. Who can help it ? 
 
 P. Not they who are so infatuated as not to see 
 it, nor they who are so interested as to deny it, 
 nor they who spend life in declaiming against hu- 
 man depravity. 
 
 G. Who then ? 
 
 P. Such as understand the Lord's prayer, lead 
 its not into temptation. 
 
 G. How do you mean. Sir ? 
 
 P. Why I mean, that if human f'railty is so 
 great, it ought not to be put to such severe trials 
 as endanger the virtue. and felicity of a person, a 
 family, a county, a kingdom, a world; for a British 
 parliament may affect all these. 
 
 G. So you would keep men virtuous, by putting 
 it out of their power to be vicious. 
 
 P. What can you do with them ? 
 
 G. But is this possible ? 
 
 P. Every thing that ought to be is possible. 
 How much money do you think was spent at our 
 last election? 
 u 
 
306 A poiitical catechism. 
 
 G. It was reported above a hundred thousand 
 pounds. 
 
 P. Well, let us suppose only a hundred thou- 
 sand pounds. Upon whom was this spent? 
 
 G. Upon freehold electors. Old Sam was drunk 
 for a week. 
 
 P. Suppose the electors had been ten times as 
 many ? 
 
 G. Why then ten times as much must have been 
 spent. It would have cost a million. 
 
 P. And suppose instead of electing representa- 
 tives for seven years, we had elected them only 
 for one r 
 
 G. Then our seat in parliament would cost a 
 million a year. 
 
 P. Would not annual parliaments and equal re- 
 presentation, put it absolutely out of the power of 
 the whole world to destroy the independence of 
 parliament ? 
 
 G. It should seem so; at least it is worth try- 
 ing. But have we a right to these? 
 
 p. We have both a natural and constitutional 
 right to these. Septennial parliaments are of late 
 date, triennial are not much older, and it was no 
 longer ago than the reign of Henry VI. that the 
 people at large were deprived of this right, and 
 the qualiftcation of electors for knights of the shire 
 determined, to be the owning of a freehold of the 
 value of forty shillings a year, which by the way 
 was then equivalent to twenty pounds of present 
 value. As to boroughs, we say nothing of them 
 under this article ; they do not deserve it. 
 
A political catechism. 30 7 
 
 G. You spoke of the subject of representation, 
 Sir? 
 
 P. Yes, I ask what is represented. What ought 
 to be represented? 
 
 G. The people undoubtedly. 
 
 P. Not dead houses and lands ? 
 
 G. No. Bona fide, the people themselves. 
 
 P. What ! all the people ? 
 
 G. If all the people have lives, liberties, and 
 properties, all the people have a natural right to 
 choose the guardians of them. 
 
 P. They have also a constitutional one. 
 
 G. Would not this endanger property, by put* 
 ting the poor on a level with the rich ? 
 
 P. Neither property nor person ought to be en- 
 dangered ; but if one must suffer, better damage 
 property than person : however, this is no ques- 
 tion here, for the danger of both lies elsewhere, I 
 mean in undue influence, not in the numbers of 
 electors or elected. Keep representation pure and 
 uninfluenced, and all things are safe 
 
 G. But is such an election practicable ? 
 
 P. As easy as the election of a coronei', or a 
 sheriff" in the city. 
 
 G. What fault do you find, Sir, with the mode 
 of representation ? 
 
 P. The establishment of the forementioned qua- 
 lification having changed the subject of represen- 
 tation from person to property, you would sup- 
 pose property was equally represented, 
 ■ u 2 
 
308 
 
 A political catechism. 
 
 G. Certainly I should ; whatever is represented 
 ought to be equally represented. 
 P. Look at this scheme. 
 
 " A scheme of the proportions of the se- 
 veral counties in England paid to the land- 
 tax in 1693, and to the subsidies in 1697, 
 compared with the number of members they 
 send to parliament." 
 " In this scheme the proportions are thus con- 
 sidered, viz. That as the whole kingdom sends 5 1 3 
 members to parliament, so the whole of each tax 
 is divided into 5\'3 equal parts; and the first co- 
 lumn shewing the name of the county, the second 
 shews how many of the 513 parts each county 
 paid to the land-tax in I693, the third how many 
 of the 513 parts each county paid to the subsidies 
 in 1697, and the fourth, how many of the 513 
 members each county sends to parliament." 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Parts of the 
 
 Parts of the 
 
 Parliament 
 
 
 land tax. 
 
 subsidy. 
 
 members. 
 
 Bedford 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 Berks 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 Bucks 
 
 12 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 
 Cambridge 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 6' 
 
 Chester 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 Cornwall* 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 44 
 
 Cumberland* 
 
 J 
 
 1 
 
 G 
 
 Derby 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 Devon* 
 
 21 
 
 19 
 
 26' 
 
 Dorset* 
 
 9 
 
 6' 
 
 20 
 
 Durham* 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
A political catecJiism. 
 
 309 
 
 Counties." 
 
 Essex 
 
 Gloucester 
 
 Hereford 
 
 Hertford 
 
 Huntingdon 
 
 Kent 
 
 Lancaster* 
 
 Leicester 
 
 Lincoln 
 
 Middlesex 
 
 Monmouth 
 
 Norfolk 
 
 Northampton 
 
 Northumberland* 
 
 Nottingham 
 
 Oxon 
 
 Rutland 
 
 Salop 
 
 Somerset 
 
 Southampton* 
 
 Stafford 
 
 Suffolk 
 
 Surrey 
 
 Sussex 
 
 Warwick 
 
 Westmoreland* 
 
 W^ilts* 
 
 Worcester 
 
 York* 
 
 Wales 
 
 AUEngland and } 
 Wales S 
 
 Parts of the 
 
 l^arts of the 
 
 Parliament 
 
 land ti X. 
 
 subsidy. 
 
 members. 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 8 
 
 VI 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 1.5 
 
 18 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 19 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 80 
 
 185 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 19 
 
 15 
 
 18 
 
 14 
 
 11 
 
 2(5 
 
 7 
 
 (5 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 \6 
 
 14 
 
 ]6 
 
 10 
 
 28 
 
 20 
 
 8 
 
 6 . 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 8 
 
 34 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 24 
 
 23 
 
 30 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 24 
 
 513 
 
 513 
 
 513 
 
310 
 
 A political catechism. 
 
 Note, That the 
 proportions of 
 the 6 northern 
 and 5 western 
 counties marked 
 thus * are 
 
 And that Mid -1 
 dlesexandEssex > 
 
 are 
 
 i 
 
 Laud. 
 
 103 
 
 104 
 
 Subs. 
 
 19S 
 
 Memb, 
 
 216 
 
 16 
 
 Cities are included in their respective counties. 
 
 You see Middlesex, which paid 80 parts of the 
 tax, and 1 85 of the subsidy, sent only 8 members 
 to Parliament ; and Cornwall, which paid only 8 
 parts of the tax, and 5 of the subsidy sent 44. Is 
 this proportional ? 
 
 G. No, surely. 
 
 P. There is a worse article than this in the pre- 
 sent management. Canvassing, carousing, intoxi- 
 cation, bribery, perjury, and all the usual atten- 
 dants on a modern election, disgrace candidates 
 and destroy all confidence in them, and at the 
 same time deprave and debauch the morals of the 
 whole community. In the democratical part of 
 our constitution, there is an exercise of sovereignty 
 by suffrage ; but never ^^ as the majesty of demo- 
 cracy so debased as it is in some elections. Can- 
 didates lose all reverence for the people, their 
 constituents, and the people lose all that respect 
 and reverence for representatives, which men in 
 such high trust should always retain. 
 
A political catechism. 3 1 1 
 
 G. The means being thus ineffectual, the end 
 of representation is not answered. Is that your 
 meaning, Sir ? 
 
 P. Yes, verily. Why is democracy interwoven in 
 our constitution with aristocracy and monarchy r Is 
 it not for tlie sake of its poUtical virtue ? And if it 
 ceases to be virtuous, will it not yield to the frictions of 
 wisdom and power essential to the other two parts ? 
 In such a case is not the very existence of our con- 
 stitution in danger, and ought not all possible re- 
 medies to be applied ? It would be as absurd to 
 deprive the crown of power, and the nobles of coi> 
 sultation, as it would be to defraud the people of 
 virtue. I mean all along political virtue; the 
 peoples' thorough knowledge, just estimation, and 
 actual disposal by unbiassed suffrage of their lives, 
 liberties and properties, and all their natural rights. 
 
 1 forgot you are a scholar, George, take a 
 
 crust of Ovid with you — 
 
 Magna fuit censuquc virisque 
 
 Perque decern potuit tantum dare sanguinis annos, 
 Nunc humilis v^teres tantummodo troja ruinas 
 Et pro divitiis tumulos osteridit avortim. 
 
312 A poUt ical catechism, 
 
 F ]R I ID) A Y« 
 T A X A T 10 N. 
 
 ^. X THINK we agree that every man has Q.na- 
 tiiral right to his property, be it little or much. 
 
 G. We allow further, that his passing out of a 
 natural state of solitude, into a m'i/ state of society, 
 does not alienate this right. 
 
 P. Individuals uniting together in society, have 
 a joint interest in securing to each other the enjoy- 
 ment of this right, and it is one principal excellence 
 of our constitution, that though the giving up a part 
 in trust to one of the community to be employed 
 for the protection and benefit of the whole, be ab- 
 solutely necessary to the private enjoyment of the 
 rest, yet not the least atom is to be given without 
 their free consent. 
 
 G. A great excellence it is, but no more than a 
 right. 
 
 P. True. Taxation strikes me in eight points 
 of light. A sort of arrangement may serve for a 
 clue to guide us. The first is the origin of taxes. 
 
 G. Do you mean to enter on a history of taxa- 
 tion, Sir? 
 
 P. No, no. A, history of oppression would not 
 
A political catechism. 313 
 
 convince you, that you ought to be oppressed. I 
 mean what makes taxes necessary ? 
 
 G. The expences of government, I presume? 
 
 P. Yes ; and the expences of government include 
 a great many articles, as the expences of a family 
 do. Some are necessary for safety and defence, 
 some for convenience, some for pleasure, some for 
 justice, some for generosity, all for the pubhck good ; 
 but none for vicious or needless purposes. 
 
 G. Of all this I have understood, it is the ancient 
 indisputable right of the house of commons in the 
 first instance to judge. 
 
 P. Tiiey have the sole right of raising and mo- 
 delling the supi)ly. 
 
 G. Whence have the representative^ this right 
 but from their constituents ? 
 
 p. They derive it from their principals, the 
 people; and in this instance, in spite of Voltaire, 
 the MAJESTY of the people is avowed by our con- 
 stitution, for the Commons tax the Peers as well as 
 themselves; but they never suffer the Peers to tax 
 them, nor even to amend or alter their money bills ; 
 a rejection is all the power they allow them, as 
 jealous in this article of the upper house as of the 
 crown. 
 
 G. Taxes, then, ought not be raised without 
 just and necessary causes, of which the people by 
 their representatives are sole and competent judges. 
 
 P. Certainly. The next article that strikes me 
 is the quantity of taxation. 
 
 G. How would you rate this ? 
 
 p. As I do my own expences. 
 
314 A poUlical catechism. 
 
 G. You would ascertain your income; then pro- 
 vide for your family, and then apply the surplus 
 to what you thought most expedient. 
 
 P. Yes; and 1 would judge of this expedience, 
 by estimating the object of my pursuit, and by com- 
 paring my own means to obtain it. Can I spare 
 so much, and is the purchase worth what I can 
 spare ? These questions, simple and easy as they 
 are in little matters, become extremely difficult in 
 large, complex, political cases ; and hence the ab- 
 solute necessity of a minister's attention to all and 
 every source of information, and particularly to 
 popular parliamentary investigation, for the people 
 are most likely to know what they can afford to 
 part with. What millions of publick money have 
 been spent to purchase nothing, or worse than no- 
 thing, guilt and infamy. 
 
 G. You mean in war, I suppose. How morti- 
 fying is the thought ! The most bloody and ex- 
 pensive wars in the world have been about things 
 of no importance. 
 
 P. Ah ! there lies the ruinous mischief, war ! 
 Bella, horrida bella ! 
 
 G. So they said two thousand years ago, yet we 
 go on 1 
 
 P. Who go on? It is not the people — ^the crime 
 lies elsewhere. As there are very few just wars, 
 and very few disputes worth the blood and trea- 
 sure spent to decide them, so there are very few 
 nations that can afford long to support them, be- 
 cause there are very few governors of nations that 
 place the felicity of the executive power in the com- 
 
yj political catechism. 315 
 
 merce and wealth, the freedom and happiness of 
 the people. 
 
 G. Is there no way of simplifying taxation so as 
 to ascertain what a nation can afford to spend in 
 wars and disputes ? 
 
 P. I have thought it not impossible, especially 
 if we advert to the nature of our taxes ; this is a 
 third pointof light in which they maybe considered. 
 
 G. Of what nature are they? 
 
 P. I mean to distinguish between principal and 
 interest. The principal is borrowed and spent, 
 and the taxes are mortgaged to pay the creditors; 
 or to familiarize the matter, what can our neigh- 
 bour Sir Richard afford to spend in law suits? 
 You know his condition ; he has a good estate, a 
 part is his lady's jointure, the rest is mortgaged to 
 pay the interest of money which he has borrowed 
 and spent. Suppose his lady's jointure to support 
 his family, and if you please resemble this to our 
 civil list. Suppose his rents to yield more than 
 will pay the interest of the mortgage, and resem*- 
 ble this to the surplus remaining after the creditors 
 of the public are paid: this surplus is the whole in 
 cither case, that can be spared for litigation, and 
 this ought not to be applied to such a purpose till 
 the mortgage is lessened, if not paid off. 
 
 G. Suppose the nation at peace, and wholly or 
 nearly out of debt? 
 
 P. I doubt whether, if it could be, it would be 
 prudent now wholly to discharge the national debt : 
 but even in such a case, I should imagine, that so 
 much as the balance of foreign trade was in our 
 
316" A political catechism. 
 
 favour, and no more, could we, strictly speaking, 
 afford to expend in foreign disputes and wars. 
 Happy, too happy, if we could accumulate wealth, 
 till we could afford to lend other nations on pro- 
 per security, and so attach them to our interest ! 
 
 G. If this point of light be not just, it is at least 
 pleasing. 
 
 p. There is a pretty sure criterion of judging of 
 the balance of foreign trade, that is, by the course 
 of exchange, and it is very certain the annual ex- 
 pence ought not to exceed the annual revenue. 
 
 G. Have we exceeded this ? 
 
 P. We have exceeded it beyond belief The 
 national supplies, which have been raised within 
 the last hundred years, that is, from the accession 
 of William and Mary, 1()S8, to the present time, 
 exceed the sum of five hundred millions, and of 
 this enormous sum, almost two hundred millions 
 are funded, * and we are loaded with perpetual 
 taxes to pay the interest; and this in several capi- 
 tal articles not for the dignity or safety of the na- 
 tion, but for purposes ignorant or atrocious. 
 
 G. How are the people brought to consent to 
 such ruinous measures ? 
 
 P. This is the fourth light I view taxation in, 
 the method of obtaining the peoples' money. We 
 mentioned just now our neighbour. Sir Richard. 
 
 G. We did. 
 
 P. Sir Richard had once a thrifty steward, a 
 man of real business and integrity, who so ma- 
 naged the estate as to supply all his masters real 
 wants, and to maintain his rank with dignity. Old 
 
 * The funded debt ib now (1805) *?> huiidied nullions ! 
 
A political catechism. 317 
 
 Solomon, the Jew, who had accumulated a great 
 sum of money in trade, and wanted to make an 
 exorbitant interest of it with good security, con- 
 trived to insinuate himself into the favour of Sir 
 Richard, and in short induced him to part with 
 his steward, and to place in his office a man of 
 great dissipation and of no management. Whac 
 Solomon expected came to pass. The estate neg- 
 lected did not yield, and the family all dissipated 
 and extravagant, required more as the revenue 
 became less, and presently all were in want of 
 money. Solomon's eldest son gravely offered to 
 befriend his neigiibour in distress, and lent large 
 sums to supply present exigencies, requiring no- 
 thing, good honest man, except proper security in 
 case of death; and some discounts because he must 
 put himself to great inconveniencies to advance 
 large sums at short notice, especially upon secu- 
 rities that would not yield for some time. In brief, 
 Solomon became the friend of the family; favours, 
 privileges, and douceurs were heaped upon him, 
 and his friendship has nearly completed the ruin, 
 of all the family. 
 
 G. Who was most to blame, Solomon or the. 
 steward ? 
 
 P. Solomon and steward were satan and sinner : 
 but Sir Richard himself was most to blame for 
 not looking into his affairs. He should either 
 have done tliis himself, or frequently have exa- 
 mined and audited his steward. 
 
 G. Suffer me not to misunderstand you. Sir. 
 You think Great Britain an estate that belongs to 
 the people? 
 
318 A political catechism. 
 
 P. Certainly I do. I have so many acres of 
 land, and you have a street of houses, one of your 
 uncles has merchandize, and another corn, cattle, 
 wool, money, and so on. 
 
 G. And you think there are many Solomons in 
 Great Britain, who have no notions of right and 
 wrong, and whose whole science is gain and loss ? 
 
 P. Undoubtedly I do. Multitudes of such men 
 live upon the publick spoil. Solomon's Rabbi 
 flatters him, his solicitor glosses for him, his attor- 
 ney puzzles, and his porter and Sir Richard's game- 
 keeper bully for him, his tradesmen and servants 
 all contrive to please him for the same glorious rea- 
 son, for which he humours Sir Richard, that is, be- 
 cause they gain by doing so. 
 
 G. The evil lies then in our public stewards, 
 our representatives, for they need not ruin us to 
 enrich this class of men. 
 
 P. No, the evil lies in yourselves ; you should 
 look into your own affairs, audit your steward's 
 accounts once a year, and change hands 'till you 
 get good and capable men. 
 
 G. Suppose we have not virtue to do so? 
 
 P. There wants no virtue ; sense of shame is 
 enough. The fear of bankruptcy generally makes 
 the indolent industrious, and the drunken sober; 
 when it does not their condition is desperate. 
 
 G. In what other light do you view taxation, 
 Sir? 
 
 P. I consider the manner of laying and collect- 
 ing them. 
 
 G. Taxes ought to be laid and collected in thq 
 
A political catechism. 319 
 
 manner most agreeable to the people that pay 
 them. 
 
 P. The thing speaks for itself. Suppose I agree 
 to allow you, some time hence as soon as I can 
 spare it, twenty pounds to dispose of as you please; 
 would it be proper for you to go immediately, put 
 yourself into a present condition of want by your 
 extravagance, and borrow seven pounds of the car- 
 penter, seven of the gardener, seven of the miller, 
 and seven of the brewer, in all twenty-eight, and 
 to oblige me to let the fiist fell timber to pay 
 himself, the second pillage my garden, the third 
 cut and carry my wheat, and the fourth my bar- 
 ley, in consideration of the debt and the interest, 
 and the favour of advancing the money, and so on ? 
 
 G. It would be a cruel conspiracy, and our 
 having power to effect it would not change its na- 
 ture. 
 
 P. The most odious tax in this country is the ex- 
 cise, the most expensive in collecting, the most 
 injurious to trade and home consumption, and the 
 least consistent with our free constitution. The 
 most safe and proper tax is the land-tax, and the 
 most agreeable is the postage of letters. 
 
 G. We always pay this tax with pleasure at 
 school when we receive letters from home. 
 
 P. The carriage of letters is really a business in 
 the hands of government, and the profits are the 
 tax. The people pay it cheerfully, because they 
 have something for their money. 
 
 G. Would it be difficult to exchange some of 
 Qur most offensive taxes which hurt trade by trans- 
 
520 A political catechism. 
 
 ferring the property of the industrious into the 
 hands of the idle, into other taxes similar to that 
 of postage? 
 
 P. I think not. There are modes which would 
 be more productive to government, and really ad- 
 vantageous to the people. 
 
 G. Is not the influence of taxation a considera- 
 ble object? 
 
 P. Unquestionably. Taxes have an influence 
 on government, elections, trade, industry, learn- 
 ing, genius, men and manners, and every thing 
 else in a country ; even the poultry have less food 
 for the dearness of corn. 
 
 G. Is it not very much in our power to dimin- 
 ish the influence of taxation in regard to our- 
 selves ? 
 
 P. It is. You have an instance in this family. 
 When you were a little boy, you remember wine 
 brought to table after dinner? 
 
 G. 1 do; but I see none now, and I think the 
 family full as well and as happy without it. 
 
 P. I believe it is. I hated the war; set the 
 task-master, who taxed us to support it, at de- 
 fiance, and got money and virtue by the taxes. 
 The minister laid an additional duty on wine : we 
 left ofl" wine. He taxed spirits: your mother or- 
 dered rum and brandy to be put among the medi- 
 cines. He taxed servants, we dismissed two. 
 Thus as he laid on a tax, we lopped ofl" a luxury, 
 and though the family has increased from five 
 children to twelve, and our income has stood as 
 it was, yet we have not gone, as without these 
 
A political catechism. 3^ I 
 
 precautions we must have gone, either into debt 
 or ruin. 
 
 G. The minister did not acquire your esteem 
 by taxation. 
 
 P. He filled me with pity and horror. The 
 state of the su2:ar trade alone was sufficient to ex- 
 cite emotions of this kind. To see brown mus- 
 covado sugars from 26 shillings a hundred, the 
 price in J 775, rise to 70 shillings a hundred, the 
 price in 1779- To see only 106 sugar houses, and 
 some of them to be let in the city of London, 
 where a few years before 159 were at work : to see 
 coppersmiths, blacksmiths, plumbers, iron-foun- 
 ders, back-makers, potters, coopers, carters, buil- 
 ders of every description, all supported by these 
 houses, unemployed : to see the immense con- 
 sumption of coals and candles, scarcely to be equal- 
 led in any other trade, all stopped : to see the im- 
 port decay no less than 45, 000 hogsheads a year; 
 to see ruin in a thousand ways attendant on all 
 this, was enough to make a harder heart than mine 
 bleed. 
 
 G. These were influences you could not pre- 
 vent, and they are justly chargeable on taxation, 
 for no money for the minister, no war for the na- 
 tion. 
 
 P. If we were to proceed to the actual applica- 
 tion, and the end of taxation, I should detain you 
 too long. Consider these at your leisure, and now 
 only recollect the substance of what we have said. 
 
 X 
 
322 ^ political catechism. 
 
 The mine], like the hand, in grasping at too much 
 would lose all. 
 
 G. People in civil society, you say, have d, 
 7ight to their own property : but they ought to 
 give up a part for the preservation of the rest. 
 This part ought to be freely given iox just andiie" 
 cessary causes both domestic and foreign, of which 
 the givers or their deputies are competent judges. 
 The quantity given ought to bear a proportion to 
 the ability of the proprietors, and to the impor- 
 tance of the end to be obtained. British taxes are 
 in great part interest of money already expended. 
 The method of obtaining them has neither been 
 honourable nor just ; but the people have the re- 
 medy in their own hands. The mode of laying 
 and collecting some of them has not been the most 
 eligible: but even this is remediable. The iji- 
 Jluence will be as extensive as the sums; and if 
 the sums be enormous they will have an enormous 
 influence on trade, government, and every thing 
 else. The application is not always to the purposes 
 for which they were raised, and the original end 
 and design for which taxation is allowed in a free 
 state is totally defeated. Is not this the substance, 
 Sir? 
 
 P. It is. 
 
 G. Is there no caUins a wasteful steward to 
 account ? 
 
 P. Hah ! have you found that out ? Well, Re- 
 sponsibility to-morrow. 
 
A political catechism. 523 
 
 SATFKBAY. 
 RESPONSIBILITY. 
 
 P- I^O you think people in public trusts are ac- 
 countable to their constituents? 
 
 G. Can any man assign a good reason why they 
 should not? 
 
 P. What can a poor scholar do, who has no- 
 thing but his own lips to live on? He must learn 
 to find reasons for every thing, even reasons for 
 not reasoning at all. 
 
 G. I do not think much reasoning necessary on 
 this subject. 
 
 P. Nor I, if the subject be properly stated, 
 llesponsibility, or responsibleness, if you will, is a 
 state of obligation to answer, or account. I should 
 choose to distribute this subject into parts by dis- 
 tinguishing objects, and to simplify each part by a 
 familiar question. 
 
 G. Be it so. 
 
 P. First, then, let us consider a private trust, 
 
 natural and civil. I look upon you, and the rest 
 
 of my children, as committed to my trust by the 
 
 God of nature ; and I consider myself as accoun- 
 
 x21 
 
324 A political catecJiism. 
 
 table, or responsible, for my discharge of this 
 trust, beth tcTGod and you. It is a motive of my 
 care. When you became a man, what would you 
 think of me if I had neglected or abandoned you? 
 G. I should not be able to reverence you in 
 such a case. In a desert I should despise you; 
 perhaps, left to native ferocity, I should avenge 
 myself 
 
 P. But as you were not born in a desert, but in 
 Britain, my natural obligation is confirmed by a 
 civil tie. Suppose I had abandoned you in in- 
 fancy, or disease, or impotence? 
 
 G. The law would have provided for me, and 
 would have punished you. 
 
 P. Is this an excellence in our law, or a defect ? 
 G. An excellence undoubtedly; for though the 
 civil motive is no motive to you, yet there are too 
 many who have no motive but that. 
 
 P. Responsibility is a motive both to me and 
 them; responsibility to man moves them; to God 
 me. What is sipublick trust 9 
 
 G. It consists of that, which men give up for 
 living in society. 
 
 P. You mean, men retain some of their natural 
 rights in civil society, and they put the rest in 
 trust. 
 
 G. So I understand it. The honour and dignity 
 of being chief, is given up in trust to one, who is 
 so much the more sovereign, as the sovereign 
 rights of many are lodged in him. 
 P. Then honour is in publick tiTist. 
 
A political catechism. 325 
 
 G. Yes, and so is wealth and power ; and so it 
 should seem, are all the other rights of mankind 
 in a free state. 
 
 P. They are not annihilated, then ; you do not 
 mean by giving up, giving up the ghost? 
 
 G. No certainly. You have not given up the 
 right of killing a man, have you, Sir? 
 
 P. No ; I have only put that right of self-defence 
 into the hands of the legislature, and they shoot the 
 French, and drown the Spaniards, if they attempt 
 to invade my estate on the coast; and they seize, 
 imprison, try, and hang my neighbour for me if he 
 attempts my life. 
 
 G. Suppose the persons in trust should abuse 
 their trust, and should seize you or your property, 
 instead of the French and the highwayman ? 
 
 P. 1 should think I ought to resume my right, 
 and put it into honest hands. You do not think 
 men give up their senses to their governors in 
 trust. 
 
 G. No, certainly; and what they do give up are 
 entrusted, not alienated. 
 
 P. Publick trusts, then, are in their nature, and 
 ought to be in every form of civil government, in a 
 state of responsibility. 
 
 G. As far as publick trusts are greater and more 
 important than private trusts, so much more rea- 
 son is there that the holders of them should be re- 
 sponsible. 
 
 P. I ask then a third question. Can there be a 
 safe good government without responsibility ? 
 
 G. What is a good civil government? 
 
32& A political catechism, 
 
 P. That, of every form, in which the end of ci- 
 vil government is obtained — that is, civil and re- 
 ligious libert}^ 
 
 G. If it were formed ever so well, it would soon 
 degenerate into tyranny, without responsibility. 
 
 P. How so ? 
 
 G, Because, constitute a civil government of 
 what you will, and that part which is left without 
 controul, will, on that very account, rise above, 
 and domineer over the rest. 
 
 P. It would, and you see there would be no re- 
 medy. The end, liberty, would be defeated by 
 the means, government. I am always, theiefore, 
 astonished, when I hear men talk of absolute and 
 uncontroulable sovereignty in a prince, omnipotence 
 in a parliament, despotism somewhere in a state; 
 they convince me of nothing except that they un- 
 derstand the way up stairs. 
 
 G. Has the British constitution responsibility 
 in it? 
 
 P. I intended to come to this as a fourth ques- 
 tion. It has the reputation of it; for evei^ writer 
 who praises our government, praises it because 
 one component part is a check on another, and if 
 this be not the check, I know not where to find it. 
 
 G. But have we not many examples in our his- 
 tory of the peoples' calling their administrators ta 
 account, and punishing them for breach of trust.'' 
 
 P. Suppose we had not one, what then? 
 
 G. Then we should want precedent. 
 
 P. But should we be left without law ? There 
 must h'dvc been a first time, in the history of the 
 
A political catechism. 327 
 
 world, of calling culprits of every kind to account. 
 
 G. True; but I recollect several instances of it 
 in our history. 
 
 P. Every body knows a great many cases, in 
 which the executive power has been called to ac- 
 count, by means of indictments and parliamentary 
 impeachments. 
 
 G. The executive power? 
 
 P. Yes; not the king in his own person; but his 
 counsellors and wicked ministers, without whose 
 instrumentality the king cannot misuse his power; 
 and in this stands the wisdom of our maxim of as- 
 cribing perfection to the supreme governor. Could 
 the person of the supreme governor be culpable in 
 the eye of the law, he might be arrested, imprison- 
 ed, tried and condemned, and then the remedy 
 would be worse than the disease, the bonds of go- 
 vernment would be dissolved, and civil war would 
 ensue : but as he executes his high office by ad- 
 ministration, and as all his servants are obliged to 
 act according to law, the punishment of the ser- 
 vants answers every end of safety to society, for 
 they know it is at their peril to take the prince's 
 will instead of law for a rule of action. Beside, 
 if the person of the supreme governor in such a 
 state as ours were capable of culpability, the dan- 
 ger of calling him to account would be so great, 
 by reason of the powerful opposition he would be 
 always able to make, that no person would dare 
 to attempt it, for fear of consequences to himself, 
 and the law would defeat itself; it would be go- 
 verning too much: but in the present state, the 
 
328 A political catechism. 
 
 calling of an administator to account is compara- 
 tively easy, and answers all the ends necessary to 
 the happiness of society. 
 
 G. I believe it is allowed by all, that the three 
 parts of our governing powers are mutually ac- 
 countable to each other, and there are many in- 
 stances ot each calling the other to account, so 
 that some of our kings have been dethroned, one 
 fled from the fury of the people, and abdicated 
 the throne, and one was actually put to death. 
 
 P. None of them understood the true principles 
 of our constitution. The last took an active per- 
 sonal part in oppressive and illegal measures, as 
 going to the house to seize the members, and though 
 there was an informality in his trial, yet that as 
 Avell as many other parts of our history shew, that 
 there is a line beyond which the people cannot 
 bear opj)ression, and that right to call rulers to 
 account was always understood to belong to the 
 people. 
 
 G. Allowing right, is there law for the exercise 
 of the right? 
 
 P. Never was right of resistance more clearly 
 ascertained, and passive obedience and non-resis- 
 tance more fully exploded in any nation than in 
 ours at the revolution; the whole went on the prin- 
 ciple of responsibility, and the same act of settle- 
 ment, that vested succession to the crown in the 
 present illustrious family, was in effect an act of 
 rejection, not of an administration, but of a per- 
 son and a family, who had, by presuming to set 
 themselves above controul, dissolved that social 
 
A political catechism. 329 
 
 bond, by which they and their constituents were 
 connected. 
 
 G. Did the legislative power in our constitution 
 call the executive to account in their own right, or 
 in that of the people ? 
 
 P. In that of the people, certainly. 
 
 G. Then tlie people have a right to call them 
 to account ? 
 
 P. Who can doubt it? But there is one ques- 
 tion more concerning ei-peditnce. 
 
 G. I understand you, Sir. Granting that re- 
 sponsibility is a natural state of right, and that it 
 is allowed and incorporated in our government, 
 and that we have both law and precedent to con- 
 firm it, yet it would still remain a question, when 
 is it expedient to make use of this right? 
 
 P. I mean exactly so. The expedience of such 
 a measure is a conclusion which ought to be drawn 
 from a great many cool, dehberate, well-weighed 
 premises. Do you think this the time ? 
 
 G. By no means. 
 
 P. Why. 
 
 G. Because under such an administration as 
 the present, (1 only take the liberty to repeat what 
 you said last night at supper to my uncle) com- 
 posed of as great and good statesmen as ever 
 adorned this, or any other country, we may expect 
 the radical evils, that have accidentally crept into 
 our government, to be thoroughly cleared away. 
 You said, their wisdom, application and fidelity, 
 were equal to the government of half a world. 
 
 P. 1 spoke as I thought, and I own I expect 
 
330 A political catechism. 
 
 from their beneficent hands not a temporary quie- 
 tus, but substantial and lasting improvements, 
 founding in our liberty the happiness of posterity, 
 and an immortality of reputation to themselves. 
 
 G. Suppose you should be deceived ? 
 
 p. It is not to be supposed. 
 
 G. May we not for argument sake imagine the 
 worst ? 
 
 P. Imagine the worst. Suppose only a few 
 popular acts done to ingratiate administration 
 with the people, and no attempts made to restore 
 to the people at large that equal and universal re- 
 presentation, that purity of the democratical part 
 of our constitution, to which we have an indubita- 
 ble right, and which is a certain and effectual relief 
 for many of the ills of which we so openly com- 
 plain. Suppose all this, what then? 
 
 G. Why then where is your power to enforce 
 responsibility? 
 
 P. Where it always was, in the people them- 
 selves. 
 
 G. But by what exertions? 
 
 P. By a general, calm, peaceable, but firm and 
 resolute declaration of right. Governors know 
 the people must be heard, when they are unani- 
 mous and lirm. You have supposed a case or 
 two, give me leave in my turn to suppose one 
 founded on a fact. There was once a parliament 
 in England, which expressly gave to royal pro- 
 clamations the force of law. Suppose u modern 
 parliament should do so? 
 
A political catechism. 33 \ 
 
 G. I should say they were guilty of breach of 
 trust, and had subverted the constitution. 
 
 P. You would say, with the great Locke, that 
 there remains at all times inherent in the people, 
 A SUPREME POWER to alter or remove the legis- 
 lative, for when they find the legislative act con- 
 trary to the trust reposed in thern, the trust is 
 abused and forfeited, and devolves to those who 
 gave it. 
 
332 A political catechism. 
 
 MONjDAY. 
 
 G E NERALISSIMO. 
 
 G- A. Oeneralissimo is a supreme commander. 
 
 P. Of what? 
 
 G. I thought of the mihtary : but my uncle has 
 puzzled me. I went to his room this morning as 
 usual to pay my respects to him, and to enquire 
 after his health; and, among other things, he said, 
 George, ask your father w-ho is general of the ex- 
 cise army, and who is I^ord of hosts, or general of 
 the church army, and desire him to inform you 
 who raises, and officers, and animates, and pays 
 these troops, who keep garrison, who take the field, 
 to whom they swear, and for whom they fight? 
 
 P. 1 understand him. He loves a little mirth. 
 
 G. The generalissimo of our contemplation is 
 the supreme commander of the military and mari- 
 time force? 
 
 P. Yes ; and it is this force, chiefly the military, 
 and particularly in the state of a standing army, 
 that we intend to examine. Let us go to the bot- 
 tom of the subject : on what principle is force ne- 
 cessary to a free state ? 
 
 G. On the great leading principle the happi- 
 ness of the state. 
 
A political catechisnu 333 
 
 P. Of the whole state ? 
 
 G. Certainly, not of a part of it. 
 
 P. How does force contribute to this happiness? 
 
 G. By placing the state in a condition of safety 
 from foreign attempts to injure it. < 
 
 P. Then armies are not intended in a free state 
 to operate on the people who employ them ? 
 
 G. No; it is impossible to suppose a people 
 capable of choosing to be dragooned. 
 
 P. Then you are no friend to a standing army? 
 
 G. Pardon me, Sir, the question is complex, and 
 I am not yet master of all the ideas that compose 
 it. Army stands for ten thousand, and army stands 
 for a hundred thousand men. If a country be so 
 extended as to require a hundred thousand men to 
 defend it, then I am a friend to a standing force of 
 a hundred thousand men : but if a country requires 
 only ten thousand men to defend it, then I should 
 think the other ninety thousand might be better cm- 
 ployed. 
 
 P. I see you have a rule of proportion in your 
 mind. You first think, what is the use, the end 
 and design of an army; you next determine the 
 just and proper quantum necessary to answer the 
 end, M'hich is the guard of the inhabitants of a dis- 
 trict of a given size, and subject to such and such 
 injuries ; and having determined how many men 
 are necessary to this purpose, you think the rest 
 superfluous. 
 
 G. Yes; and I think a superfluity of armed 
 men is asuperfluity of fire, active in its nature, and 
 therefore dangerous. 
 
334f A political catechism. 
 
 P. Where is the danger of twenty or thirty thou- 
 sand superfluous men in arms? 
 
 G. They must all be fed and clothed, and paid, 
 they must have arms and ammunition, and all this 
 ;expence falls on the people. Is not this an in- 
 jury to property ? 
 
 P. Do you see any other inconvenience? 
 
 G. Men unemployed contract habits of idleness 
 or profligacy, and bodi are injurious to the morals 
 of a state. 
 
 P. Do you think morality of consequence to a 
 state ? 
 
 G. There is a set of just and proper actions es- 
 sential to its prosperity, yea, to its existence. 
 There is a set of domestick virtues essential to the 
 peace of a family ; a set of trade virtues essential 
 to the prosperity of commerce; there is a set of po- 
 litical virtues essential to the glory of a kingdom; 
 and there is a set of religious virtues essential to 
 the worship of Almighty God. I have been taught 
 so. 
 
 P. Is an unemployed army remarkable for these 
 virtues ? 
 
 G. I am sorry to say quite the reverse. 
 
 P. To omit the rest, is a standing army friendly 
 to political virtue ? 
 
 G. How can a standing army befriend political 
 virtue, when a standing army is under the absolute 
 command of one single general, and when submis- 
 sion to orders is the indispensable law of every in- 
 dividual ? 
 
J political catechism. 3^5 
 
 p. The connections that make a slave make a 
 tyrant ! 
 
 G. Forgive me a moment. Old nurse Piper 
 came yesterday to see her child as she calls me. 
 
 P. Well. 
 
 G. I inquired how her son did, and she fell d, 
 crying. O ! exclaimed she, he is ruined, and we 
 are all undone ! He was the kindest creature in 
 the parish before he went into the militia; but now 
 he has lost every good quality, and has brought 
 home nothing but an order, an oath, and a blow. 
 
 P. Had the old woman read history, she might 
 have illustrated the doctrine of orders, and oaths, 
 and blows, by the ruin of many a kingdom, if that 
 would have comforted her. However, you dis- 
 tinguish between a militia raised for temporary de - 
 fence, or a few troops kept in lieu of them for the 
 same purpose, and a standing army. 
 
 G. I do ; I allow the necessity of the first on a 
 principle of self preservation ; I dislike the last for 
 tnany reasons, and one is because it makes arms a 
 profession. 
 
 P. You think it an unlawful profession ? 
 
 G. I do ; for a man to give himself up to learn 
 the art of destroying his fellow creatures, and to 
 let himself out for hire to destroy whomsoever his 
 commander shall doom to destruction, and this 
 without retaining a right to judge of the justice or 
 injustice of the order, and to make a merit of im- 
 plicit obedience in such a bloody business, argues 
 the soul of a slave, and is never found general, 
 
536 A political catechism. 
 
 till a nation has sunk into the lowest degree of po- 
 litical depravity. 
 
 P. So much for principles ; let us come to facts. 
 " Our constitution knows no such state as that of 
 a perpetual standing soldier, bred up to no other 
 profession than that of war, and it was not till the 
 reign of Henry VII. that the kings of England had 
 so much as a guard about their persons." These 
 are the M'ords of Judge Blackstone. 
 
 G. What is the present constitutional force for 
 the safety and defence of the kingdom ? 
 
 P. The militia, consistini][ of a certain number 
 of the inhabitants of every county chosen by lot 
 for three years, and officered by the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant of the county, the deputy lieutenants, and 
 the principal landholders, under a commission from 
 the crown. 
 
 G. But we have a standing army in time of 
 peace. 
 
 P. We have : but so jealous have our legisla- 
 tors been, that they are actually disbanded at the 
 expiration of every year, unless continued by par- 
 liament. 
 
 G. Are all these forces entrusted with the crown? 
 
 P. All ; and a great and important trust it is. 
 
 G. How are they regulated ? 
 
 P. By an annual act of parliament, called the 
 Mutiny Bill, an act as inconsistent with the free 
 constitution of this country as can be conceived. 
 
 G. How so. 
 
 P. By this act, a soldier disobeying the lawful 
 commands of his superior officer is doomed to suf- 
 
A political catechism, 337 
 
 fer such punishment as a court martial shall in- 
 flict, though it extend to death itself. 
 
 G. Who appoints this court martial ? 
 
 P. The crown. 
 
 G. And by what law do that court judge. 
 
 P. By articles of war formed by his majesty. 
 
 G. In this case the crown is entrusted with both 
 legislative and executive power absolute ? 
 
 P. Exactly so. 
 
 G. Is not the military then in a state of servi- 
 tude, and is not their slavery dangerous to our 
 liberty ? 
 
 P. I think so. 
 
 G. What reconciles our nobility and gentry to 
 this state of subjection to arbitrary power ? 
 
 P. Perhaps dissipation, which renders the pay 
 necessary. Perhaps ambition, which always runs 
 the road of honour. Perhaps fashion, which sel- 
 dom consults reason. Perhaps their opinion of the 
 mild character of the king^ who, they trust, will 
 not make an unkind use of his power. 
 
 G. How could armies be governed without se- 
 vere laws? Were soldiers allowed to examine 
 the orders of their superiors before they exe- 
 cuted them, the delay might occasion great da- 
 mage? 
 
 P. Sometime ago your uncle, who loves horses, 
 complained to your mother,that though he kept three 
 fine hunters, yet he could not ride with any plea- 
 sure to himself, or with safety to his life and limbs. 
 She did not inquire what made the horses unma- 
 y 
 
33^ A political catechism, 
 
 nageable, for she knew it was owing to little exer- 
 cise and high keeping; but she asked him why he 
 kept three for his own riding when he rode but 
 little, and never more than one at a time. He 
 took the hint, disposed of two, and now rides safe 
 and easy. 
 
 G. Suppose a nation long habituated to keep a 
 standing army, many families interested in the con- 
 tinuance of one, and laws to perpetuate it? 
 
 P. I reply in the language of one of the greatest 
 ornaments of this ase. " All the nations now in 
 the world, who, in consequence of the tameness 
 and folly of their predecessors, are subject to arbi- 
 trary power, have a right to emancipate them- 
 selves as soon as they can" 
 
A political catechism. 339 
 
 T U E S B A Y. 
 AGGRANDISEMENT, 
 
 P. VV HAT is the support of grandeur, George ? 
 
 G. Riches, Sir. 
 
 P. And what of riches ^ 
 
 G. Trade. 
 
 P. And what of trade ? 
 
 G. A good market. 
 
 P. If then old farmer Davis have a good mar- 
 ket for his wool, and corn, and cattle, and butter 
 and cheese, he can afford to pay his landlord more 
 rent, and to lay out more money with tradesmen, 
 than if he had no way to dispose of his produce ? 
 
 G. Certainly. 
 
 P. And the tradesmen can afford to pay a higher 
 rent for their shops and houses with Davis's custom 
 than without it ? 
 
 G. No doubt. 
 
 P. The landlord will have a larger income, and 
 can afford to contribute more to his own and the 
 national grandeur } 
 
 G. Clearly. 
 
 P. Does it not seem, then, that the grandeur of 
 y 2 
 
S40 A political catechism. ' 
 
 a state rises naturally out of its wealth, its wealth 
 out of commerce, and its commerce out of con- 
 sumption. 
 
 G. It should seem so. 
 
 P. Three articles, then, present themselves to 
 our view as worthy of national attention ; the pro- 
 duction, the preparation, and the consumption of 
 marketable commodities. 
 
 G. Each, I perceive already, an article of con- 
 siderable ma2;nitude. 
 
 P. And therefore the more worthy of our inves- 
 tigation. By the subject of our conversation, mar- 
 ketable commodities, I mean any thing that will 
 fetch money ; gold and clay, timber and trinkets, 
 animals and vegetables, materials raw and manu- 
 factured ; the list would fill a volume. 
 
 G. I suppose Great Britain of the staple articles 
 of universal traffic is the most productive country 
 in the world. 
 
 P. Is, did you say ? Have you forgotten your 
 tour with me last summer into Scotland and Wales ? 
 
 G. I beg pardon : I ought to have said, might 
 be. 
 
 P. What I inquire is this, do the lands and the 
 quarries, the forests and the mines, the rivers and 
 the coasts, produce what they might be made to 
 produce w ith proper management ? 
 
 G. By no means ? 
 
 P. What is the chief cause ? 
 
 G. I imaffine there are several causes : l)ut the 
 principal, probably, is poverty. 
 
A political catechism, 34 1 
 
 P. In few and partial cases an estate may be 
 unproductive from inattention, ignorance, negli- 
 gence, dissipation, indolence, and so on : but in 
 cases of this magnitude, private fortunes are not 
 equal to the undertakings with any probability of 
 success. Great objects like these require national 
 efforts, parliamentary aitls, noble exertions. Had 
 a few of the millions wasted in war, been employ- 
 ed in these beneficial purposes, Britain might 
 have been by this time a garden of pleasure, a 
 storehouse of plenty ! 
 
 G. So, we have spent millions to conquer dc 
 sarts at the end of the globe, and left a fruitful 
 country to become a desart at home. 
 
 P. Of thirty nine millions of acres in England, 
 near ten millions, or a fourth part of the whole 
 consists of heaths, moors, mountains, and barren 
 lands, and this exclusive of woods, forests, parks, 
 commons and roads. Were these recovered to 
 the growth of grain, hemp, tlax, hops, rape, saf- 
 fron, potatoes, and so on, or to the support of 
 animals of any kind in the greatest quantities they 
 could bear, 1 should call all this product iou. 
 : G. Ten millions of acres is a colony, and the 
 cultivation of it attainable without blood, with 
 half the number of men employed to shed it, and 
 at a small expence all returnable to the commu- 
 nity, and vested ultimately in the state. 
 
 P. In spite of neglect, and in spite of all the 
 obstacles to improvements, which remnants of the 
 the old feudal system oppose against them, our 
 country is rich in the production of marketable 
 
342 A political catechism. 
 
 commodities, and these several of them, such as 
 we now fetch from foreign markets. 
 
 G. I suppose, you think. Sir, we might turn 
 the scale, and carry our productions to their mar- 
 kets. 
 
 P. This implies what I call preparation. If 
 you could open a lead mine, or set up a pottery, 
 you would soon see a town rise round it. Grow 
 hemp or flax, and spinners and weavers will sur- 
 round you, and prepare it for market, and the 
 same may be said of almost all raw materials. In- 
 dustrious manufacturers enrich a state both by their 
 labour and consumption ; but these arts flourish 
 only under mild and serene governments, where 
 labourers and artists are secured and set at ease in 
 their liberties and properties, and where their ho- 
 nest endeavours are not blasted by burdensome 
 taxes. 
 
 G. What you call preparations include not on- 
 ly manufactures, but all things necessary to be 
 done in order to bring productions to market? 
 
 P. Exactly so. Our manufactures, both of do- 
 mestick and foreign materials, as wool, leather, 
 metals, linens, cotton, glass, paper, and so on, 
 may all be extended much further than. they are, 
 and with infinite advantage to the state. 
 
 G. And the increase of them would increase 
 land and water carriage, and all the workmen 
 and materials necessary to both ; and, above all, 
 seamen and shipping, the defence and glory of 
 Britain. 
 
A political catechism. 543 
 
 P. Undoubtedly : but there is one fatal mistake 
 which hes at the bottom of all our ill policy in 
 these articles, and that is, that necessity is the prin- 
 ciple which sets the poor a working. 
 
 G. What is the true principle of the industry 
 of the poor ? 
 
 P. Encouragement. Restraints of trade should 
 be removed — duties taken off — prices of raw ma- 
 terials reduced — bounties judiciously distributed 
 — exportation promoted — immunities from some 
 public offices or services granted — and so on. All 
 these require great and national aids. 
 
 G. Perhaps the state cannot afford these great 
 aids ? 
 
 P. Suppose I kept a nominal gardener, whose 
 place was a sinecure, with a salary of three hun- 
 dred a year, could not I dismiss him, and af- 
 ford to employ two hundred a year to set the poor 
 to work till they could support themselves, and 
 save a hundred a year myself too ? 
 
 G. You think, then, that it is not the poverty 
 of the state, but the misapplication of public mo- 
 ney, that keeps this poor country in its present 
 dejected state ? 
 
 P. What signifies what I think ? All wise men 
 in England who are not interested in living upon 
 public money, and, to their immortal glory, some 
 who are, think so. 
 
 G. I have heard say, that the destruction of 
 the youth of this country proceeds from their fix- 
 ing their eye on public money. 
 
 P. I believe it. How much money, think you, 
 
544 A political catechism. 
 
 do the inhabitants of this kingdom pay annually in 
 taxes ? 
 
 G. I cannot tell. 
 
 ,P. I question whether any body can, but the 
 most probable calculation is about twelve millions. 
 
 G. Twelve millions !*' 
 
 P. Patience ! 1 have not done. More than 
 twelve millions are paid directly, and indirectly at 
 least a fourth more, in all fifteen millions a year, 
 a sum equal to the whole specie of the kingdom. 
 
 G. By indirect payments you mean such addi- 
 tions to the prices of commodities as are made by 
 what dealers lay on, and other incidents occasion- 
 ed by taxes? 
 
 P. I do, beside the loss to the public of the la- 
 bour of all such as are employed in taxation, and 
 other such articles. 
 
 G. Do you include in this estimate poor rates, 
 county rates and tithes? 
 
 P. No, I do not, all these are to be added. 
 
 G. At this rate the nation ought to have up- 
 wards of sixty millions of specie to carry on trade : 
 but if it has not twenty, how does it support itself? 
 
 P. As a merchant supports himself when he has 
 not property equal to his commerce ; by credit and 
 paper currency. 
 
 G. Happy for him that his creditors do not all 
 run upon iiim at once ; till they do, he can bor- 
 row of you to pay me. 
 
 P. His wisdom is, to preserve his credit by fru- 
 
 *Upwards of //^/rfj/ ?w?7/iy?2s are now(]S05) annually paid in 
 direct ta^es ; exchisive of some heavy war taxes. 
 
A political cafechis77i. 345 
 
 gality, industry, and improvement. Give a man 
 of these qualities time and means, and he will sur- 
 mount all suspicion, and realize a properly that 
 originally was nominal. 
 
 G. My uncle is so eager for oeconomy as a 
 ground of plenty, that he says, when a bishop goes 
 to heaven he would not appoint a successor, but 
 would put the profits of the bishoprick into the 
 hands of a committee, under the inspection of pro- 
 per officers, to be employed for the encouragement 
 of trade and manufactures, and so he would go on 
 to the last of the bench. He calls this reduction 
 of crown influence, and improvement in trade. 
 
 P. Ay, he says, that though the church con- 
 stitution is the best in the world, yet that mankind 
 would rather live well and get money without it, 
 than starve to death for want of employment un- 
 der it. He would find employment for every liv- 
 ing thing, and turn even a bench of bishops into 
 a board of trade. 
 
 G. How many inhabitants may I suppose there 
 are in Great Britain ? 
 
 P. About seven millions. 
 
 G. And how many employed in directing, in- 
 specting, collecting, spending, and living on the 
 publick revenues obtained by the industry of the 
 rest? 
 
 P. A greater multitude than 3'ou would at first 
 glance suppoie, the far greater part of which ought 
 to be employed in contributing some way or other 
 to the productions of the state: but these people 
 call themselves the grandeur of the state, and say, 
 
S46 A political catechism, 
 
 they produce the pubHck good by consuming our 
 property, and making us look great. 
 
 G. Is there not a reciprocal dependency be- 
 tween the interest of land and trade? 
 
 p. Take the pen, and write as I dictate, and 
 you will soon see what advantages arise from a 
 hundred broad cloths sent to Turkey, and the re- 
 turns made in raw silk unmanufactured for our 
 own home consumption. 
 
 /. s. d. 
 Suppose a clothier buys at market 
 5d packs of Avool, picked and 
 sorted, at 101. per pack 500 
 
 With which wool he makes 100 
 broad cloths; and the manu- 
 facture thereof in cording, spin- 
 ing, weaving, milling, dressing, 
 &c. as they are usually brought 
 to, and sold white at Blackwell 
 . Hall, will amount to about the 
 
 first cost of the wool 500 
 
 So that these 100 cloths are sold 
 by the clothier 'to the merchant 
 at 101. per cloth 1000 
 
 And the merchant pays for dye- 
 ing of the said 100 cloths 1 -third 
 part in grain colours, at 7l- and 
 two thirds in ordinary colours at 
 30s. per cloth ' 333 6 8 
 
 Also for setting, drawing, pres- 
 sing, packing, &c. 1.5s. per cloth 75 
 
A political catechism. 347 
 
 The said 100 cloths will cost the 
 merchant 141. Is. 8d. per cloth 
 on board, which amounts to 1408 G S 
 
 And, to repay him their cost and 
 charges here, and their charges 
 abroad, with a bare allowance 
 for insurance, and the interest 
 of his money, they cannot pur- 
 chase less, I shoidd tliink, than 
 22 great pounds of sherbafFee, or 
 Persia fine raw silk, for every 
 cloth. 
 
 Thus he probably receives, for the 
 said 100 cloths, 2200 pounds 
 weight of the said raw silk 
 
 Now, if the half part of this silk 
 is wrought up into plain co- 
 loured tabbies, the manufac- 
 turers will receive 13s. 7d. per 
 pound 747 1 8 
 
 And, if the other half part is 
 wrought up into rich flowered 
 silks brocaded, the manufactur- 
 ers will receive 11. 1 9s. 9d. per 
 pound 2186 5 
 
 And the additional charge of dye- 
 ing, suppose but of 1 -eighth part 
 of the silk, into grain colours, 
 at 9s. per pound 123 15 
 
 Then the cost and charges of 100 
 woollen cloths, shipped from 
 London to Turkey, and the ma- 
 
248 A political catechism. 
 
 nufacture of the raw silk brought 
 
 from thence in return thereof, 
 
 must amount to 4465 8 4? 
 
 The freight of the said 100 cloths, 
 
 and of the said 2200 pounds of 
 
 raw silk, is computed at 40126 
 
 Customs on the said 2200 pound 
 
 of raw silk at 156 15 
 
 English factor's commission abroad 
 
 on the sale of the cloth, and on 
 
 investing the returns in silk as 
 
 aforesaid, computed at 100 
 
 It is here clearly represented to 
 the view of the reader, that 
 every 2200 pound weight of raw 
 silk imported from Turkey, and 
 manufactured here for our con- 
 sumption, without paying any 
 thina: to the merchant's or uier- 
 cer'sgain, pays to the landhold- 
 ers, the labourers, and the 
 crown, the sum of 4762 15 10 
 
 If. any thing is to be added for the merchant's 
 and the mercer's gain, and we may depend upoa 
 it they will not be at the trouble of driving their 
 trades for nothing, we may very well affirm, that 
 the whole cost of this manufacture for consump- 
 tion, cannot be less than 50001. so that 2200 
 pounds weight of Turkey raw silk, manufactured 
 
A political catechism. 349 
 
 here, pays the sum of 50001. to the subsistence of 
 our own people. 
 
 This account takes the return upon 100 cloths 
 exported to Turkey, and makes them pay 50001. 
 to the subsistence of our people; but we have 
 heretofore exported annually two hundred times 
 as many cloths for Turkey, and received for about 
 half that quantity of cloth, the same kind of re- 
 turns in raw silk for our own consumption ; and 
 consequently, our own consumption of Turkey 
 silk paid for the subsistence of our people the sum 
 of 500,0001. pe)^ amium, besides what is paid by 
 the other half of that trade. 
 
 But if the consumption of 5000/. value of Tur- 
 key silk manufactured pays 500/. to the landed in- 
 terest, for the -wool that is exported to Turkey in 
 manufacture, then the annual consumption of 
 500,000/. value of that silk must pay 50,000/. per 
 annum to the landed interest. 
 
 And yet this is not all that the landed interest 
 might receive annually by means of this half-part 
 of the Turkey trade ; the crown and the subjects, 
 who receive nine times as much for customs and 
 labour, pay, perhaps, a ninth part of what they re- 
 ceive to the landed interest for cloaths and ])rovi- 
 sions, by which means the consumption of Turkey 
 silk manufactured in England, either directly or in- 
 directly, pays a fifth part of its whole value to the 
 landed interest ; that is, it pays directly one tenth 
 part of the value of the silk by the woollen manu- 
 facture exported, and as much more by enabling 
 the people to purchase necessary cloaths and pro- 
 
S50 A political catechism. 
 
 visions, of which as much more is paid to the Ian" 
 decl interest. 
 
 Now what a condition would the lands be in if 
 it were not for this trade? The poor must come 
 to the parish and the lands for a maintenance.The 
 heavier the rates, the less the tenants can afford 
 to pay the landlord, consequently his land is not 
 worth so much. 
 
 G. You mentioned consumption, Sir? 
 
 P. Consumption is an article of most amazing 
 magnitude, and it is greatest in things of least 
 value, because they lie within every body's reach. 
 It renders the most inconsiderable articles of great 
 consequence first to private oeconomy, then to 
 commerce, and last to policy. The materials of 
 one ox set a thousand people to work. The butcher, 
 the tanner, the horner, the tallow-chandler are only 
 heads of several classes of tradesmen and artists, 
 who manufacture the different materials in ten 
 thousand different fashions, and all productive, be- 
 cause cheapness tempts consumption. Of beeves, 
 London consumes at least one hundred thousand a 
 year, and of calves double the number: of butter 
 sixteen millions of pounds, of cheese twenty one 
 millions, of milk forty millions of pints, and four 
 hundred thousand a year, it is said, the metropolis 
 pays for eggs. 
 
 G. The more a nation consumes of these articles 
 the more can the owners of them afford to expend 
 in articles of convenience and elegance. 
 
 p. Hence circulation of money, which is that to 
 
A political catechism, 351 
 
 the prosperity of a nation, which the motion of the 
 blood is to the health of the human body. 
 
 G. May not too great rapidity of motion de- 
 stroy the machine, which motion in some degree is 
 necessary to preserve ? Ought not trade to have 
 its natural course ? 
 
 P. Certainly ; and hence the necessity of that 
 encouragement of trade in the governing power in 
 a state on which its prosperity depends. It should 
 neither be neglected, obstructed, or clogged, nor 
 should it be attenuated and diverted, and forced : 
 but it should be eyed, its natural motions and di- 
 rections humoured and eased, audit should be more 
 cherished for its indirect but real profusion of ge- 
 neral profit, than for any immediate farthing ad- 
 vantages to a few individuals, for the sake of a 
 few taxes, to carry on a few measures, of no con- 
 sequence to the worldj and of general loss to the 
 state. 
 
 G. What may one suppose the God of nature 
 to have formed Britain for, dominion, or trade ? 
 
 P. Trade. The whole island is a fine field that 
 wants nothing but cultivating, and if cultivated, 
 would overflow with plenty. Holland is a litde 
 shop ; Britain is a large warehouse, and might ma- 
 nufacture for half the world : but they are indus- 
 trious while we are idle, and their children make 
 playthings for ours to break. We say the religion 
 of the Dutch is to get money. Do you know what 
 the Dutch say our religion is ? 
 
 G. No. 
 
352 A political catechism, 
 
 P. Bragging and fighting. 
 
 G. My uncle says, the twenty-seventh chapter 
 of Ezekiel was written by a Dutchman, or by a 
 man under Dutch prejudices, wailing and lamen- 
 ting as if all was lost, when nothing was gone ex- 
 cept TRADE. 
 
A political catechism. 35 3 
 
 WEBNESjDAYa 
 
 EMIGRATION^ 
 
 P. George ! 
 
 G. Sir! 
 
 P. Suppose you were to toss puss into the fir^ ! 
 
 G. Why then she would spring out again. 
 
 P. Suppose you should try a less degree of heat, 
 and only scald her with a spoonful out of the spout 
 of the tea-pot? 
 
 G. She would scamper away. 
 
 P. I'll tell you the reason; she is a brute beast, 
 and neither understands greek nor latin, nor the 
 admirable frame of our excellent constitution, the 
 best constitution in the world, George ! 
 
 G. The cat, all cat as she is, understands self- 
 preservation, and though she has taken no degree, 
 she has the philosophy of feeling, and knows fire 
 will dissolve the frame of her own constitution. 
 
 P. Learnedly spoken ! Now turn it into latin. 
 
 G. I comprehend you, Sir. To shift quarters is 
 io emigrate ; and -the natives of one country never 
 emigrate to another freely till they feel themselves 
 hurt. 
 
 P. Indeed there is a strong attachment to one s 
 native spot, as if one grew out of the soil. 
 z 
 
3J4 A political catechism. 
 
 G. That attachment, like all other natural feel- 
 ings, is a source of virtue, for it impels men to 
 render their own country happy. 
 
 P. Suppose one man, or one class of men, 
 should endeavour to render themselves happy by 
 making others miserable, would it not be more na- 
 tural for the oppressed to flee than to stay ? 
 
 G. Undoubtedly. The first attachment is to 
 happiness; attachment to a native spot is a secon- 
 dary bias for the sake of the first. 
 • P. What if men placed their happiness in wealth? 
 
 G. They would flee from a country impoverish- 
 ed by taxation. 
 
 P. What if they placed it in honour. 
 
 G. They would emigrate to governments where 
 they were admissible to publick oflices. 
 
 P. So, if they placed it in morality, they would 
 flee from states become sinks of profligacy; and if 
 they placed it in the enjoyment of civil and reli- 
 gious liberty, they would emigrate from civil and 
 ecclesiastical tyranny. 
 
 G. And who could blame them? 
 
 P. Not the cat, if she could speak; but neither 
 the Pope nor Plato has ever had the curing of the 
 cat's raw soul ! 
 
 G. Who could blame the old puritans for fleeing 
 to America from the tyranny of the bishops and 
 the Stuarts? 
 
 P. They were to blame, however, when they 
 got setded there, for persecuting one another. 
 Much has been said of this, and a little of it in 
 some governments was true. Their governing sys- 
 
A political catechism. ^55 
 
 terns are now formed on a far more liberal plan, 
 and it will be entirely their own faults if they do 
 not frame the largest and the most free empire in 
 the world. Let trade, and not dominion be their 
 object, and they have duration and glory before 
 them. 
 
 G. It is said, numbers will emigrate from Eu- 
 rope after the conclusion of the war. 
 
 P. The inducements to do so are very many, 
 and very great ; but it will be the fault of the go- 
 vernments they quit, if the natives emigrate. 
 
 G. what can prevent emigrations, force?. 
 
 P. Perhaps not : but it would not be prudent to 
 try force. 
 
 G. By what means then ? 
 
 P. By placing the suspected emigrants in a con- 
 dition of ease. Are they poor? Employ them. Are 
 they deprived of their birthrights ? Restore them. 
 Are they afraid? Give them security. Place them at 
 ease, and they will not emigrate. Suppose it were 
 put to your choice : " You are not happy in your 
 situation; you are excluded you say from schools 
 and offices, and subjected to support a class of 
 men, from whom you derive no benefit; you in- 
 tend to emigrate with your children and property, 
 to enjoy these advantages in a distant clime : you 
 need not do so, we will bestow on you a waste 
 district here at home, take your children, and cat- 
 tle, and money, and go settle there and cultivate, 
 and build and order yourselves, only give govern- 
 ment security for your quiet, and agree to contri- 
 z 2 
 
556 A political catechism. 
 
 bute to support the power that protects you. It 
 will never be in your power to injure us, nor will 
 it ever be our interest to injure you/' I say sup- 
 pose such an offer made you, would you choose 
 to accept it? 
 
 G. Who can doubt it ? 
 
 P. This would be only realizing a scheme patro- 
 nized by the late Lord Godolphin for repeopling 
 the New Forest in Hampshire with the poor refu- 
 gees from the Palatinate : the spot was near Lind- 
 hurst, in the road from Romsey to Lymington. 
 These people were to be put into possession of 
 4000 acres, distributed into 20 lots, and were to 
 be exempt from rent and taxes for 20 years, taking 
 care, however, of their own sick and poor, and re- 
 pairing their own roads. 200/. ready money was to 
 be advanced to each lot, with allowances of tim- 
 ber, and some other privileges, and at the end of 
 20 years each lot was to' pay 50/. yearly to the 
 crown. 
 
 P. No damage could have come to the state 
 from this people's ignorance of priesthood and 
 tithes, but great advantages would have arisen 
 from their industry, and a rich repayment of the 
 loan. 
 
 p. I have only aimed, George, in all these conver- 
 sations to give you a few outlines. It remains with 
 you to fill them up : I can have no motives but such 
 as become a man and a christian to have. If you 
 relish these first principles, crude, indigested, and 
 off-hand as they may be, you may meet with am- 
 ple gratification in many authors from whom I 
 
A political catechism^ S57 
 
 have borrowed. There are however, a few re- 
 flections, which, before we part, I wo^.d most 
 earnestly recommend to your attention. I cannot 
 express them so well as these authors have expres- 
 sed them for us. Here are the books. Oblige 
 me, by reading the marked passages. I am going 
 out, I shall leave you to read to yourself, and to 
 make your own remarks. 
 
 " When our reason first begins to open, we are 
 talked to for six years together about the future in 
 rus, and the supine in u?Ji, without hearing one 
 word of the perfection and usefulness of the 
 arts, or the industry of people that follow employ- 
 ments by which our lives are supported. When 
 our reason begins to acquire more strength, it is 
 put under the direction of masters, who, after a 
 vast deal of preparation, demonstrate that we have 
 a body, and that there are other bodies round us ; 
 or spend whole hours, nay, even days, in proving, 
 that of two propositions contradictorily laid down 
 concerning a possible future which may never hap- 
 pen, the one is determinately true, and the other 
 determinately false, and the like metaphysical jar- 
 gon." 
 
 " The learning to distinguish rightly the produc- 
 tions of the globe which we inhabit, the ties where- 
 by all the people living on it are united, and the va- 
 rious labours they are employed in, are things the 
 most neglected. Every one of us has seen the 
 sail of a windmill, and the wheel of a water-mill 
 in action : we know also, that these machines grind 
 corn, and reduce the bark of trees to powder : but 
 
35 S A political catechism. 
 
 we know nothing of the structure of them, and can 
 hardly help confoundhig a carpenter with an hewer 
 of wood." 
 
 " We all carry watches in our pockets, but do 
 we know the mechanism of the fusee round which 
 the chain is wound ? Do we understand the use of 
 the spiral line which accompanies the balance? It 
 is just the same as to the most common trades : we 
 know the names of them, and no more. Instead 
 of endeavouring to gain a reasonable knowledge 
 of commerce,manufactures, and mechanics, which 
 are the delight and ornament of that society where- 
 in we are to spend our lives ; we pique ourselves 
 on attaining all the niceties of quadrille, or bury 
 ourselves in solitude, upon speculations that have 
 no foundation but in our whimsical imaginations. 
 And, if little judgment is shewn in the choice of 
 our pleasures, a still greater want of it will proba- 
 bly appear in our studies. We run after whatever 
 makes the most noise, and the most sensible peo- 
 ple are at last obliged to confess, that they repent 
 more the loss of the time they have employed in 
 studying the subtleties and fooleries of the schools, 
 the arts of pedantry, and the crack-brained alter- 
 cations of enthusiastic zealots, than of what they 
 have spent in the learning of music, which is some- 
 times an amusement to them." 
 
 " The father or mother of a family, the head of 
 a community, a merchant, a lawyer, a justice of 
 peace, or any of those who have the government 
 either of the actions or consciences of others, may 
 
A political catechism. 359 
 
 be never the worse for not understanding the mo- 
 nades of Leibnitz, or the disputative bombast of 
 the dogmatists ; but there is no one who Avould 
 not acquit himself better in his employment, were 
 he to acquire a true knowledge of the arts and 
 trades wherein the common people are busied. 
 This kind of philosophy is a thousand times more 
 to be esteemed, than those S3^stems whose inutility 
 is their least fault/' Postlethwayt s Dictiojiary of 
 Trade and Coynmerce. Article, Manufacturers. 
 " The principal end of a political survey of any 
 country, is, to point out its capacity, under the 
 regulation of a wise policy, to render the inhabi- 
 tants thereof independent, potent, and happy. la 
 regard to a matter of this importance, more es- 
 pecially in an age so enlightened as this, asser- 
 tions are not regarded as arguments , and even ar- 
 guments, however specious or plausible, if unsup- 
 ported by facts, are not looked upon as conclu- 
 sive. As far as rhetoric, panegyric, and all the 
 powers of eloquence could reach, Britain, as we 
 have more than once had occasion to shew, has 
 been as highly celebrated as any country could be. 
 But how much soever such pieces may please, 
 they seldom carry in them any great degree of in- 
 formation, and will by no means furnish any satis- 
 factory answers to objections. In order to accom- 
 plish this, it is requisite to pursue another method, 
 to go to the bottom of things, to enter, and even 
 to enter minutely into particulars, and by thus 
 proceeding step by step, to render whatever is af- 
 firmed as clear and as certain as possible. It must 
 
S60 A political catechism. 
 
 be allowed, that this, as well as other countries, 
 hath been subject to very great vicissitudes, and 
 to frequent revolutions, in consequence of which, 
 not only the condition of the inhabitants, but the 
 very face and appearance of the country itself, 
 hath been in different periods greatly altered, 
 which in such a survey ought to be remarked and 
 explained. Many of its natural advantages were 
 at all times too obvious not to be discerned ; and 
 yet some of these have never been improved, while 
 others again, passing wholly unnoticed, have been 
 of course totally neglected. But within these two 
 last centuries, since the reformation produced the 
 revival of useful science, the eyes of men have been 
 in a great measure opened; and in consequence 
 of this, much more has been done Avithin that pe- 
 riod than in many ages before. These improve- 
 ments, how great soever, ought only to be con- 
 sidered as so many laudable models, calculated to 
 excite a still stronger principle of public spirit and 
 emulation ; as there still remain various of our na- 
 tive prerogatives unexerted, several great resour- 
 ces unexplored, and not a few means yet untried, 
 by which even greater things than have been yet 
 done, might be still effected in agriculture, manu- 
 factures, and commerce, by prosecuting the ap- 
 titude this country has for almost every possible 
 species of improvement, and thereby rendering it 
 the noble and respectable center of as extensive, 
 flourishing, and well governed an empire, as any 
 on which, since launched from the hand of the 
 Creator, the sun has ever shone." 
 
A political catechisTth 35 1 
 
 As a basis for such a superstructure, we hazard- 
 ed some j3olitical sketches of the great empires in 
 antiquity, and shewed from facts that such stu- 
 pendous edifices might be elected; and descend- 
 ing from these to countries, which both in time 
 and situation were less remote, we made it equal- 
 ly evident, that tiiese powers of construction were 
 not confined to any quarter of the globe, or at all 
 restrained to the particular circumstances of soil 
 or climate. But that wisdom and industry, pru- 
 dence and perseverance, were engines capable of 
 overcoming almost any obstacle, and removing 
 every defect, and even in some cases of converting 
 apparent defects into real advantages. We also 
 ventured to draw the veil a little, and to render it 
 manifest, that these amazing effects were 
 
 NOT PERFORMED BY THOSE MYSTERIOUS AND 
 REFINED ARTS WHICH HAVE USURPED THE 
 NAME OE POLICY IN MODERN AGES ; BUT BY SIM- 
 PLE AND SOLID MAXIMS, INSPIRED BY GENIUS, 
 APPROVED BY REASON, AND CONFIRMED ^Y 
 
 EXPERIENCE. Fiom thcsc sprung a system of rule, 
 founded on a few well-weighed principles, suited 
 to the genius and circumstance of the people, and 
 invariably tending to the public good. Institu- 
 tions, plain, succinct, and agreeable to the natu- 
 ral notions that all men have of justice; by which 
 a sense of shame was made as much as possible to 
 serve instead of punishment. Idleness was pro- 
 scribed as the infamous mother of vices; benevo- 
 lence considered as the visible image of virtue; 
 Aa 
 
3^2 A political cat echtsm. 
 
 and industry respected as the parent of indepen 
 dency : which, by affording a comfortable support 
 to private famihes, maintained order, vigour, har- 
 mony, and of course the welfare and stability of 
 the state. In a word, the constitution prescribing 
 their duty to magistrates, the laws controuling the 
 actions of individuals, and the manners diffused 
 from those, either honoured with titles, or trust- 
 ed with power, conveyed a spirit of obedience 
 through all ranks, from a consciousness that, in 
 pursuing the public weal, they took the best and 
 surest method of pursuing their private interests. 
 By the operations of these systems, vast coun 
 tries became full of people, lodged in cities, towns, 
 and villages; while to furnish those with subsis- 
 tence, their lands of every kind grew by continual 
 cultivation to look like gardens ; but when these 
 were overborne by violence, or undermined by cor- 
 ruption, those lands followed the fate of their in- 
 habitants ; and as they relapsed into a state of 
 nature, or which is little better, into a state of 
 servitude, those likewise became, in comparison 
 of what they were, so many wildernesses deform- 
 ed with ruins." Dr. CampbeWs Political survey 
 of Great Britain. Vol. I. Sect. IX. page 705. 
 
 FINIS, 
 [end ofxjis second volume.] 
 
 Printed hi/ B. Tlowerj^ 
 Hnrlow,