Prophecies, Miracles, and the Miffion of the Son of God.

Philip de Comines,

a wife Statefman, and honeft Writer, who had great Experience in Affairs, declares it to be his Opinion, That Want of religious Faith, is the only Foundation of all • Mischiefs.'

And that able Minifter the famous Monfieur Colbert, makes it his Obfervation, That if once the Ecclefiaftical Character, as fuch, is vilified, the civil Magiftrate, even the Crown ⚫ itself, will in Confequence thereof lofe all Authority.

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It would be no hard Matter to produce a Cloud of Teftimonies in behalf of a national Religion, from the most eminent of our own Writers; but I fhall content myself with adding one only, and that from a very unfufpected Writer, Mr. Harrington, Author of the Oceana, who fhews that to be juft and fair, which others have fhewed to be expedient. § A Man (faith he) that pleading for Liberty of Confcience, refufeth Liberty to the nati⚫onal Confcience, must be moft abfurd. And

again: If the Conviction of a Man's private • Confcience, produce his private Religion; the • Conviction of the national Confcience, must pro• duce a national Religion. +'

All these Authorities are taken from thinking Men, and able Politicians, none of which can be fuppofed to say what he did not really think; and it had been very eafy to have increafed the Number. But, I am forry, I was obliged to mention any at all, in proof of fo plain and fundamental a Point as that of a national Religion. It is indeed, a

fhameful Neceffity we lie under, of proving at this Time of Day the first Elements, I will not fay of Christianity, but even of natural Light, from Reafons and from Authorities. The Spirit of the Times hath rendered this unavoidable.

If it should be asked after all, how comes it then to pass, that the fafhionable and prevailing Maxims among our Betters, in a neighbouring Nation, should run directly counter to all fuch Reafons and Authorities? I will answer this Queftion, by asking when were our Neighbours known to abound to that Degree in Highwaymen, Murderers, Houfe-breakers, Incendiaries? When did fuch Numbers lay violent Hands on themselves? When was there fuch a general and indecent Contempt of whatever is esteemed facred, in the State as well as the Church? When were there known among them fuch public Frauds, fuch open Confederacies in Villany, as the prefent Age hath produced? When were they lower in Efteem of Mankind, more divided at home, or more infulted abroad?

We of this Land have a fatal Tendency to overlook the good Qualities, and imitate whatever is amiss in those whom we refpect. This leads me to make some Remarks on the modern Spirit of Reformation, that works fo ftrongly in both thefe Kingdoms.

Freedom of Thought is the general Plea and Cry of the Age; and we all grant, that thinking is the Way to know; and the more real Knowledge there is in the Land, the more likely it will be to thrive. We are not therefore against Freedom of Thought, but we are against thofe unthinking, overbearing People, who, in these odd Times, under that Pre

e

tence,

• It is not Reafon candidly propofed that offends, but the Reviling, Infulting, Ridiculing of the national Laws and Re

ligion,

tence, fet up for Reformers, and new Molders of the Conftitution. We declare against thofe, who would feduce ignorant and unexperinced Perfons from the Reverence they owe to the Laws and Religion of their Country; and under the Notion of extirpating Prejudices, would erafe from their Minds all Impreffions of Piety and Virtue, in order to introduce Prejudices of another Kind, deftructive of Society.

We esteem it a horrible Thing, to laugh at the Apprehenfions of a future State, with the Author of the Charafteritics*; or with him who wrote the Fable of the Bees, to maintain that moral Virtues are the political Offspring which Flattery begot upon Pride; that in Morals there is no greater Certainty, than in Fashions of Dress || ; that, indeed, the Doctrine of good Manners teacheth Men to speak well of all Virtues; but requires no more of them in any Age or Country, than the outward Appearance of thofe in Fabion. § Two Authors of Infidel Systems these, who fetting out upon oppofite Principles, are calculated to draw all Mankind, by flattering either their Vanity or their Paffions, into one or other Syftem. And yet, the People among whom fuch Books are publifhed, wonder how it comes to pafs, that the civil Magiftrate daily lofeth his Authority, that the Laws are trampled upon, and the Subject in conftant Fear of being robbed, or murdered, or having his House burnt over his Head?

Figion, all this profiteth for Free-thinking, and must needs be offenfive to all reasonable Men.

Inquiry into the Origin The Author's Re§ Remarks,

* Vol. III. Mifcel. III. C. 2. of moral Virtue. Ed. 6. p. 37. marks on his Fable of the Bees, p. 379. Part II. p. 155.

It may be prefumed, that the Science of finding Fault, which above all others is eafieft to learn, fuits beft with a modern Education. Too many there are of better Fortunes than Understandings, who have made the Inquiry after Truth, a very small Part of their Care: These fee fomewhat, but not enough. It were to be wifhed, they knew either less or more. One Thing it is evident they do not know; to wit, that while they rail at Prejudice, they are undoing themselves: They do not comprehend, (what hath been before hinted) that their whole Figure, their political Existence, is owing to certain vulgar Prejudices, in Favour of Birth, Title, or Fortune, which add nothing of real Worth either to Mind or Body; and yet, caufe the most worthlefs Perfon to be refpected.

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Feedom of Thought is the Prerogative of human Kind; it is a Quality inherent in the very Nature of a thinking Being. Nothing is more evident, than that every one can think his own Way, in fpite of any outward Force or Power whatsoever. It is therefore ridiculous for any Man to declaim in Defence of a Privilege, which cannot be denied or taken from him. But this will not infer a boundless Freedom of Speech, f an open Contempt of Laws, and a prefcribing from private Judgment & against public Authority, Things never borne in any well-ordered State; and which make the crying Distemper of our Times.

The Conftitution of thefe Kingdoms, hath been one while over-heated by the indifcreet Zeal of one Set of Men: Again, it hath been cold and lifeless,

f Is there no Difference between indulging fcrupulous Consciences, and tolerating public Deriders of all Confcience and Religion?

& A Man who is himself permitted to follow his own private Judgment, cannot well complain, although he may not fet it up as a public Rule.

through

through the Indifference of another. We have alternately felt the furious Effects of Superftition and Fanaticism; and our present impending Danger, is from the fetting up of private Judgment, or an inward Light, in Oppofition to human and divine Laws. Such an inward conceited Principle always at work, and proceeding gradually and steadily, may be fufficient to diffolve any human Fabric of Polity or civil Government. To pretend to be wifer than the Laws, hath never been fuffered in any wife State, faith Aristotle. And indeed, what wife State would encourage or endure a Spirit of Oppofition, i publicly to operate against its own Decrees? who can fay to fuch a Spirit, Thus far fhalt thou come, and no farther?

The Magiftrate, perhaps, may not be fufficiently aware, that thofe pretended Advocates for private Light and free Thought, are in reality feditious Men, who fet up themselves againft national Laws and Conftitutions. And yet, one would think, all Mankind might fee, that the Spirit which prevails against the Church and Religion, proceeds from an Oppofition rather to the Laws of the Land, than to the Gofpel. Men quarrel not so vehemently against Articles of Faith themselves, as against the establishing of fuch Matters; which is the fole Effect of Law and the fupreme Power. It clearly follows, the Freedom pleaded for is not fo much Freedom of Thought against the Doctrines of the Gofpel, as Freedom of Speech and Action against

h There is a Medium in Things, which wife Men find out, while the unwife are always blundering in Extremes.

* Rhet. Lib. I. Cap. 15.

iReafon modeftly pleading from a confcientious Principle, hath nothing cruel to apprehend from our Laws, and I hope it never will. At the fame time, it must be allowed, that every Plea against Law, ought to be very meek and modeft.

the