COLLECTION O F TESTIMONIES IK FAVOR OF RELIGIOUS LIBERT^ IN THE CASE OF THE DISSENTERS^ CATHOLICS, and JEWS. 8 Y A CHRISTIAN. POLITICIAN. Rixatur de lana fcepc caprina. Hor. L 0 N D 0 N: PRINTED IN THE YEAR I79O. StfdbyC. DILLY, Poultry $ J. JOHNSON, St. Paul's Church- Yard; and J- jPE BRETT, Piccadilly. PREFACE. IN this age it is ftill neceflary to prove, that the wrath of man workerfi not the righteoufnefs of God. Streams of blood, defert countries, unanfwered arguments, flowly teach men who are in pofleffion of power, that Providence takes better methods for the Propagation of the true religion, than can be expected from the interference of its creatures. — But we mall ceafe to be furprifedat this obftinacy, if we recollect: that the partifans of power, when they fay that they are taking care of the concerns of God, think they are at the fame moment taking care of their own. In pleading for the Catholics I mail offend many DifTenters ; and in pleading for the Jews, I fhall offend many DifTenters and Catholics. But fhall I in this offend the Deity, to whom DifTenters, Catholics, and Jews equally belong? I truft not. Men who are left without any other guide than their opinions, had need be tender, left in the perfon of another they fhould perfecute truth itfelf. — Befidcs is not charity an appendage of truth ? It is however chiefly in a political view that I have collected a fewtefti- monies in favour of general religious liberty. Articles 2, 3, 9, and 21 are my own : Article 20 is an original by a friend : The reft fpeak for them- felves. — As I conceived and executed the delign of this collection within a few days, I fhall be forgiven for its defects. I have omitted in compli- ment to prejudice, every thing written by the DifTenting Clergy or by profane perfons, — But I truft there is enough produced to confound the religious Bigot ; and to convince the Politician that to check religious difcuiTion is favourable to the welfare of men neither here under his own government, nor hereafter under that of God. February I790. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/collectionoftestOOchri_0 TABLE O F CONTENTS. Art. Page I. 'Hp* HE Freeholder N" 21 and 47, written by Mr. X Addifon — — — — — — I II. Remarks on the Debate in the Houfe of Commons in 1787, on the Subject of the Sacramental Tell Laws ; with Hints concerning; the Catholics, Jews, Marriage Service, &'c. in a Letter to a Friend; including fome Paflagcs from M. Turgot — — — — 7 III. Preface to the Engiifh Tranflation of Baron Horn's Natural Hifcory of Monks, after the Linnxan Syftem 28 IV. Scheme by the Bilhop of Clonfert for reforming the Irifh Catholics — — — — — — — — — 39 V. Letter of Lord Mountgarret on the State of Church Affairs in Ireland — — — — — — 40 VI. Arguments extracted from Bilhop Hoadly's reply to Bilhop Sherlock on the Sacramental Tell: Laws — 46 VII. Tefti'mohieg on the fame Subject from Bilhop Sher- lock's Life, Dr. Sykes, Archdeacon i'ayley, and the late Earl of Chatham — — — — — — — 5a VIII. Arguments from Mr Locke's Letters on Toleration 56 IX. Teltimonics on the HfYne Subject by Sir Joiiah Child, Mr. Richard Jackfon, M. P. deceafed, Dr. Davenant, Archbifhop Sharp, and the Author of Eflliys on Population — — — — — — — — — 59/ X. The fame, from Sir William Temple's Obfervations on the Netherlands — — — — — — 62 XL Arguments from a Work intitk-d, " ECrg&ts of the Diflenters to a comp'eat Toleration afferted including Hints by Dr. Franklin and others — — 64 XII. Earj Mansfield's Opinion on the Religious Liberty of the Diflenters, wi;h Extra its from Preudent de Thou referred to by him — — . — — — — — 75 Kill. Two CONTENTS. Art. Page XIIL Two Perfian Letters by Prefidcnt Montefquieu, refpsfting religious Liberty and the Jews — — 7g XIV. Mr. Nccker's Opinion on religicus Liberty — — 8a XV. M. Rabaud de St. Eticnne's Speech on the fame Subject 83 XVI. Mcafures of the National Afibmbly of France refpect- ing Non-Catholics — — — - - — — 85 XVII. Act of the Aflcmbly of Virginia in 1786, for efta- b'ifhing religious Freedom — — — — — 87 XVIII. Parable againlr PerSecution, imitated from a Jewifh Tradition, by Dr. Franklin, with an Extract from the fame Author — — — — — — — 88 XIX. AddreSfes from the Quaker; and Episcopalians of the Middle American States to General Wafhington, with his Anfwers — — — — — — — 90 XX. Facts and Observations respecting the Situation $f the Jews in England — — — — — — — 92 XXI. Two Letters by a ChrifUan Politician, which firft appeared in the Public Advertiser, in February J 790 103 A P P E N D I X, I. The Cafe of the Protefhmt DiiTentcrs, in 1 790 — — [ II. Hiftory of the Tefr and Corporation Acts, extracted from " the Rights of the Diffenters, &c." — — vi III. Protefts in the HeuSe of Lords in Favor of the Diffenters xiii IV. Alio Refolutions in the Houfc of Commons — — — xi V. Alfo Petition by the Livery of London to the fame Effect xv VI. Teftimonies of our Kings in Favor of the Diffenters for more than a Century — — — — — L — — xvi VII. Refolutions of the Committee cf London Diffenters in 1790 — — — — ■ — — — — — — xvii E R R A 'V A. Page 6 Line 10 from the bottom, read " feme part of the town or an* ether." 75 Second line, Art. xii. after ^ after office" read " of Sheriff"."- 79 At the end of the note, add " from the fathers of the church." #6 Put inverted commas to the numbered paragraphs, and dele the numbers. xviii Appendix, in the title read " 1790" for «' 1780." ( * ) ARTICLE T. THE FREEHOLDE R.f Written by Mr. Addifon N° 21, March 5, 1716. FO R the honour of his Majefty and the fafety of his government we cannot but obferve, that thofe who have appeared the greateft enemies to both, are of that rank of men, who are commonly dif- tinguifhed by the title of Fox-hunters. As feveral of thefe have had no part of their education in cities, camps, or ccurts, it is doubtful whether they are of greater ornament or ufe to the nation in which they live. It would be an everlafting reproach to politics, fhould fuch men be able to overturn an cftabliihment, which has been formed by the wifeft laws, and is fupported by the ableft heads. The wrong notions and prejudices which cleave to many of thefe country gentle- men, who have always lived out of the way of being better informed, are not eafy to be conceived by a perfon who has never converfed with them. That 1 may give my readers an image of thefe rural ftatefmen, I fhall, without farther preface, fet down an account of a difecurfe I chanced to have with one of them fome time ago. — I was travelling towards one of the remote parts of England, when about three o'clock in the afternoon, feeing a country gentleman trotting before me with a fpaniel by his horfe's fide, I made up to him. Our converfatiort opened, as ufual, upon the weather ; in which we were unanimous ; having both agreed that it was too dry for the feafon of the year.— My fellow-traveller, upon this, obferved to me, that there had been no good weather finee the Revolution. I was a Utile flartled at fo extraordinary a remark, but would not interrupt him, till he proceeded to tell me or the fine weather they ufed to have in king Charles the Second's reign. I only anfwered, that I did not fee how the badnefs of the weather could be the king's fault : —and without waiting 'for his reply, afked him whofe houfe it was we law upon a riling ground at a little diftance from us. He told me it belonged to an old fanatical f ' The Freeholder (fays Dr. Johnfon) was undertaken in defence of the e"n- * blilhed government.--- Bigotry itleif mud be delighted with the Tory rox. * hunter.'---N. B. Mr. Addifor., who afterwards brcame Secretary of State, d.i n\ f ihews that he confideix the Dilfenters to have been highly friendly to thcRevolutic i\, and the high-church paity to have been its great oppoiers. A cur ( 2 ) cur, Mr. Such-a-one ; you muft have heard of him, fays he ; he's one of the Rump. I knew the gentleman's character upon hearing his name, hut afiured him that to my knowledge he was a good church- man. Ah ! fays he with a kind of furprize ; wc were told in the country that he fpoke twice, in the queen's time, againft taking off the duties upon French claret. — This naturally led us into the proceed- ings of the late parliaments, upon which occafion he affirmed roundly, that there had not been one good law pafTed fince king William's acceflion to the throne, except the a£t for preferving the game. —I had a mind to fee him out, and therefore did not care for contradicting him. Is it not hard, fays he, that honeft gentlemen, mould be taken into cuftody of meflengers to prevent them from acting according to their confciences ? But, fays he, what can we expect when a parcel of factious fons of whores — He was going on in a great pafficn, but chanced to mil's his dog, who was amufing himfelf about a bufh, that grew at feme dillance behind us. He ftood ftill till he had whiftled him up; when he fell into a long panegyrick upon his fpaniel, who feemed indeed excellent in his kind: but I found the moft remarkable adventure of his life was, that he had once like to have worried a diffenting teacher. The mafter could hardly fit on his horfe for laughing, all the while he was giving me the particulars of this ftory ; which I found had mightily endeared his dog to him, and as he himfelf told me, had made him a great favourite among all the honeft gentlemen of the country. — We were at length diverted from this piece of mirth by a poft-boy, who winding his horn at us, my companion gave him too or three curfes and left the way clear for him. I fancy, faid I, that port brings news from Scotland : I fliall long to fee the next printed Gazette. Sir, fays he, I make it a rule never to believe any of your printed news. We never fee, Sir, how things go, except now and then in Dyer's letter, and I read that more for the flyle than the news. The man has a clever pen it muft be owned : But is it not ftrange that we fhould be making war upon Church of England men, with Dutch and Swifs foldiers, men of anti- monarchical principles? thefe foreigners will never be loved in Eng- land, Sir; they have not that wit and good breeding that we have. — • I muft confers I did not expe£t to hear my new acquaintance value himfelf upon thefe qualifications, but finding him fuch a critic upon foreigner?, I afked him if he had ever travelled; he told me, he did not know what travelling was good for, but to teach a man to ride the great horfe, to jabber French, and to talk againft paffive obe*- dience : to which he added, that he fcarce ever knew a traveller in his life who had not forfook his principles, and loft his hunting-feat. For my part, fays he, I and my father before me have always been for paliive obedience, and fliall be always for oppofing a prince who nmk'es ufe of miuilters that arc of another opinion.— But where do you intend ( 3 ) intend to inn to night? (for we were come in fight of the next town:) I can help you to a very good landlord, if you will go along with me. He is a lufty jolly fellow, that lives well, at leaft three yards in the girt, and the beit church of England man upon the road. I had a curiohty to fee this high-church inn-keeper, as well as to enjoy more of the converfation of my fellow-traveller ; and therefore readily contented to fet our horfes together for that night. — As we rode fide by fide through the town, I was let into the characters of all the prin- cipal inhabitants whom we met in our way. One was a dog, another a whelp, another a cur, and another the fon of a bitch ; under which feveral denominations were comprehended all that voted on the Whig fide in the laft election of burgefies. As for thofe of his own party, he diftinguilhed them by a nod of his head, andafking them how they did by their chriftian names. — Upon our arrival at the inn, my com- panion fetched out the jolly landlord, who knew him by his whiftle. Many endearments and private whifpers paffed between them : though it was eafy to fee, by the landlord's fcratching his head,, that things did not go to their wifhes. — The landlord had fvvelled his body to a prodigious tree, and worked up his complexion to a {landing crimfon, by his zeai for the profperity of the church ; which he exprefTed every hour of the day, as his cuftomers dropt in, by repeated bumpers. He had not time to go to church himfelf, but, as my friend told me in my ear, had headed the mob at the pulling down of two or three meeting-houfes. While fupper was preparing, he enlarged upon the happinefs of the neighbouring fhire ; for, fays he, there is fcarce a Prelbyterian in the whole county, except the bifhop. — In fhort, I found by his difcou.rfe that he had learned a great deal of poIiticSy but not one word of religion y from the parfon of his parifh ; and indeed,, that he had fcarce any other notion of religion, but that it confided in hating Prejbyterians._ I had a remarkable inftance of his notions in this particular. Upon feeing a poor decrepid old woman pafs under the window where we fat, he dehred me to take notice of her; and afterwards informed me, that fhe was generally reputed a witch by the country people; but that for his part, he was apt to believe that fhe was a Prefbyterian.. Suppes was np fooner ferved in, than he took occafion, from a fhoulder of mutton thr.t lay before us, to cry up the plenty of England; which would be the happiefl country in the world, provided we would live within ourfelves.. Upon this he expatiated on the inconveniences of trade, that carried from us the commodities of our country, and, made a parcel of upftarts as rich as men of the molt ancient families of England. He then declared frankly, that he had always been againft all treaties and alliances with foreigners ; our wooden walls, fays he, are our fecurity, and we may bid defiance to the whole world; cfpecially if they would attack US when the militia is out.— I ventured to (4 ) to reply, that I had as great an opinion of the Englifh fleet as he had ; but I could not fee how they could be paid, and manned, and fitted out, unlefs we encouraged trade and navigation. He replied, with fome vehemence, that he would undertake to prove, trade would be the ruin of the Englifh nation. I would fain have put him upon it ; but he contented himfelf with affirming it more eagerly ; to which he added two or three curfes upon the London merchants, not forgetting the directors of the Bank. — After fupper he afked me if I was an admirer of punch ; and immediately called for a fnealcer. I took this occafion to infinuate the advantages of trade, by obferving to him, that water was the only native of England that could be made ufe of on this occafion : but that the lemons, the brandy, the fugar, and the nutmeg, were all foreigners. This put him into fome confufion ; but the landlord, who overheard me, brought him ofF, by affirming that for conftant ufe, there was no liquor like a cup of Englifh water, provided it had malt enough in it. My fquire laughed heartily at the conceit, and made the landlord fit down with us. — We fate pretty late over our punch; and amidft a great deal of improving difcourfe, drank the health of feveral perfons in the country whom 1 had never heard of, that, they both allured me, were the ableir. ftatefmen in the nation : and of fome Londoners, whom they extolled to the Ikies for their wit, and who I knew pafled in town for filly fellows. — It being now midnight, and my friend "perceiving by his almanack that the moon was up, he called for his horfes, and took a fudden refolution to go to his houfe, which was at three miles diftance from the town, after having bethought himfelf that he never flept well out of his own bed. He lhook me very heartily by the hand at parting, and dif- covered a great air of fatisfaction in his looks, that he had met with an opportunity of fhowing his parts, and left me a much wifer man than he found me. The Freeholder N° 47, June 1, 1716. IQueftion not but moft of my readers will be very well pleafed to hear, that my friend the Fox-hunter, of whofe arrival in town I gave notice in my forty-fourth paper, is become a convert to the prefent eftablifhment, and a good fubjetr. of king George. The motives to his converfion fhall be the fubjecl of this paper ; as they may be of ufe to other perfons who labour under thofe prejudices and prepofTelfions, which hung fo long upon the mind of my worthy friend, Thefe I had an opportunity of learning the other day, when, at his requeftj we took a rambie together to fee the curiuilties of this great town. The ( 5 ) The firft circumftance, as he ingemroufly confcfled to me (while we were in the coach together) which helped to difabufe him, was feeing king Charles the Jt* irlt on horfeback at Charing-crofs ; for he was lure that prince could never have kept his feat there, had the ltories been true he had heard in the country, that forty-one was come about again. He owned to me, that he looked with horror on the new church that is half built in the Strand, as taking it at firft to be half demo- lifhed : But upon enquiry of the workmen, was agreeably furprized to find that inttcad of pulling it down, they were building it up ; and that fifty more were railing in other parts of the town. To thefe I mull add a third circumftance which I find had no fmall {hare in my friend's converfion. Since his coming to town, he chanced to look into the church of St. Paul about the middle of Ser- mon-time ; where, having firft examined the dome to fee if it flood fafe, (for the fcrew-plot ltill run in his head,) he obferved, that the Lord-Mayor, Aldermen and City-fword, were a part of the congre- gation. This fight had the more weight with him, as by good luck not above two of that venerable body were fallen afleep. This difcourfe held us till we came to the Tower ; for our firft vifit was to the lions. My friend, who had a great deal of talk with their keeper, enquired very much after their health ; and whether none of them had fallen lick upon the taking of Perth, and the flight of the Pretender? and hearing they were never better in their fives, I found he was extremely ftartled : for he had learned from his cradle, that the lions in the Tower were the judges of the title of our Britifh kings, and always fympathifed with our fovereigns. After having here fatisfied our curiolity, we repaired to the menu - ment, where my fellow-traveller being a well-breathed man, mounted the afcent with much fpeed and activity. I was forced to haltfo often, in this perpendicular march, that upon my joining him on the top of the pillar, I found he had counted all the fleeples and towers which were difcernible from this advantageous fituation, and was endeavour- ing to compute the numbers of acres they ftood upon. We were both of us very well pleafed with this part of the profpect. ; but I found he caft an evil eye upon feveral ware-houfes and other buildings that looked like barns, and feemed capable of receiving great multitudes of people. His heart mifgave him that thefe were fo many meeting- houfes ; but, upon communicating his fufpicions to me, I foon made him eafy in this particular. We then turned our eyes upon the river, which gave me an occa- sion to infpire him with fome favourable thoughts of trade and mer- chandize, that had filled the Thames with fuch crowds of lhips, and covered the fliore with fufh fwarms of people. We ( 6 ) We defcended very leifurely, my friend being careful to count the fteps, which he regiftered in a blank leaf of his new almanack. Upon our coming to the bottom, obferving an Englifh infcription upon the baiis, he read it over feveral times i and told me he could fcarcely believe his own eyes ; for that he had often heard from an old attorney who lived near him in the country, that it was the Prefbyterians who burned down the city ; whereas, fays he,, this pillar pofitively afferts in fo many words, that the burning of this ancient city was begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the Popifh faction, in order to their carrying on their horrid plot for extirpating the Proteftant religion and old Englifh liberty, and introducing Popery and flavery. This account, which he looked upon as more authentic than if it had been in print, I found, made a very great impreflion upon him. We now took coach again, and made the beft of our way to the Royal-Exchange, though I found he did not much care to venture himfelf into the throng of that place ; for he told me he had heard thev were, generally fpeaking, republicans, and was afraid of having his pocket picked among them. But he foon conceived a better opinion of them, when he fpied the ftatue of king Charles the Second ftanding up in the middle of the crowd, and moft of the kings in Baker's Chronicle, ranged in order over their heads ; from whence he very juftly concluded, that an anti-monarchical afiembly could never chufe luch a place to meet in once a day. To continue this good difpofition in my friend, after a fhort ftay at Stock's-market, we drove away for the Mews, where he was not a little edified with the fight of thofe fine fets of horfes which have beea brought over from Hanover, and with the care that is taken of them. He made many good remarks upon this occafion, and was fo pleafed with his company, that I had much ado to get him out of the ftable. In our progrefs to St. James's-Park (for that was the end of our journey,) he took notice, with great fatisfa£tion, that contrary to his intelligence in the country, the fhops were all open and full of bufiV nefs; that the foldiers walked civilly in the ftreets ; that clergymen, inftead of being affronted, had generally the wall given them,, and that he had heard, the bells ring to prayers from morning to night in every part of the town or other. As he was full of thefe hpneft reflections, it happened very luckily for us, that one of the king's coaches paffed by with the three young princefles in it, whom by an accidental flop we had an opportunity of furveying for fome time : my friend was ravifhed with the beauty, in-, nocency and fweetnefs, that appeared in all their faces. He declared feveral times, that they were the fineft children he had ever feen in all his life; and auured me that, before this fight, if any one had told him it had been poffible for three fuch pretty children to have been, born out of England, he fhould never have believed them. ( 7 ) We were now walking together in the Park ; and as it is ufual foe men who are naturally warm and heady, to be tranfported with the greateft fluih of good-nature, when they are once fweetened j he owned to me very frankly, he had been much iinpofed upon by thole falfe accounts of things he had heard in the country ; and that he would make it his bufinefs upon his return thither to fet his neigh- bours right, and give them a more juft notion of the prefent ft~te of affairs. What confirmed my friend in this excellent temper of mind and gave him an inexpreihble fatisfattion, was a mefiage he received as we were walking together, from the prifoner, for whom he had given his teftimony in his late trial. This perfon having been condemned for his part in the late rebellion, fent him word, that his Majefty had been graciouily plealcd to reprieve him with feveral of his friends, in order as it was thought to give them their live* ; and that he hoped before he went out of town they mould have a cheerful meeting, and drink health and profperity to king George. ARTICLE II. To the Editor of the Repofitory, containing various political, philofo- phical, literary and mifcellaneous articles^ Vol. II. Page 2. Printed in London.) ^January 1789. S 1 R, TH E papers accompanying this were written, and in part printed, with a view to appear in another place, but certain confedera- tions have intervened to prevent the fulfilment of that intention. You will evidently fee that they are too large for a newfpaper and too fmall for a pamphlet. The long and very mafterly letter you republifhed refpecling the clergy in Ireland under the fignature of u A Son of the Clergy," (See Rep. Vol. I. page 459.) contains matter fo analogous to that under difcuffion here, that you probably will not refufe to give place to the papers now fent you, merely becaufe they bring a part of the fame topics home to ourfelves. Befides, I am encouraged to offer them to you from finding your work favour- able to univerfal toleration and philanthropy. Under this impreflion, I remain, Sir, Your well wiiher. A LET- ( 8 ) LETTER to a FRIEND, re/peeling the Debate in the Houfe of Commons on Mr. Beaufoy's Motion in 1787, on the Subjecl of the Teji Laws, as affifiing the Disinters : with Hints concerning the ejla- blijhed Clergy, the Roman Catholics, the Jcivs, the Marriage Service, and other Topics touching the Church EjtabliJ/ment, and the State of religious Liberty in England*. My dear Sir, YO U are pleafed to afk my opinion of the arguments ufed, and of the vote parted in the Houfe of Commons, on the 28th of March, 1787, when Mr. Beaufoy moved for a committee to con- fider of the teft laws refpedting the protectant diflenters. You will forgive me, if, in replying to you, I venture upon other topics. The repulfe experienced by the diflenters, from the vote of that day, ought not, I think, to difcourage them from renewing their application. More apology is neceffary from the diffenters, when they acquiefce in the reltraints impofed upon them, than when they apply for their removal. They owe their beft exertions, not only to themfelves, but to the caufe of liberty ; they have to aflert a right, and not to afk a favour; they have already loft much time, and they ought to lofe no more. After the experience of a century, they may be convinced that they have nothing to expect from humility, and muft owe their freedom to their importunity. By conftant appli- cations to the legiflature, they are more likely to meet a conjuncture of circumfiances favourable to their fuccefs, than by remaining inac- tive. I am apprehcnfive befules, that the eafe which politicians have found in temporifing with the diflenters, has induced a perfuafion, that it is the only policy neceffary to be employed with them; and therefore it is indifpcniable to prove, not only that the diflenters can no longer be duped, but that, being determined to perfevere without eeafmg, the fhorteft mode is to do them juftice at once. With refpeel to minifters of ftate, various circumftances mav occa- fion a fluctuation, not only in their power, but in their opinions. If they are favourable to the diflenters, no arguments are neceflary to invite their concurrence : if unfavourable, there is no reafon for being deterred by their oppofition. If it be true, that the diflenters are embarked in a right caufe, thefe feem proper obfervations. — Let us examine, then, whether any thing has occurred in this debate, upon Mr. Beaufoy's motion, to fhew the diflenters in the wrong. — Not having been prefent at that debate, I muft ufe the printed accounts of it, though without depending upon them fo far as to refer any argument to any particular fpeaker, the difcuflion not being perfonal. * A few of the con li derations which appear in this letter have been made public before ; but they have fince been l'upprefied, to give place to the letter here publifhed. —The author will net be acculed of plagiajii'm by the party molt concerned. Thg ( 9 ) The adveriVries of the'diflenters, I think I may affirm, have been challenged in debate ; and though the hiftory, and ftill more the prefent principles of the difTenters, lay fully open to their fcrutiny, no arguments appeared drawn from either, whether upon the foot- ing of right or of expediency, to invalidate their claims. On the question of right, it was ftated hypothetical ly, that cafes might occur where the ftate might juftly exclude perfons from po- litical power j but it was not proved that the proteftant difTenterij| were perfons of a defcription fo to be excluded. It was next con^ tended, negatively, that the exclufion of difTenters from offices, violated no right, becaufe it inflicted no punifhment, and did to them only what was done in other cafes to other clafTes of men ; which was faying, in different words, that the terrible incapacitations and penalties which attach upon difTenters when affuming their political rights, amounted to no punifhment ; and th at a wron^ might ceaie to be a wrong, when the inftances of it were mul- tiplied. No perfon can deliberately juftify a third pofition which was advanced, namely, that becaufe the church had feme oppo- nents, a bulwark fhould be railed againft every fectary ; confe- quently nothing will be offered here to refute a pofition fo litde guarded. The adverfaries of the difTenters feem to have obtained as little advantage in the debate on the topic of expediency, as on that of right. They maintained it to be inexpedient to deprive the legiflature of a difcretionary power over the difTenters, as if a legijlature (ex vi termini) was not always competent to reaffume this power when the occahon really called for it. They ftated it likewife to be inexpedient by any conceffions to alarm the churchy which was allied by the tie of expediency to the ftate : — but they did not notice how much more reafon there was to be dhTatisfied with a clergv, capable of entertaining fuch puerile and uncharitable alarms : they did not advert to the impropriety of allowing the clergv to le- giflate for the ftate, which this doctrine implied, but which hiftory has always fhewn to be the fource of fatal evil : nor did they recol- lect how eahly the clergy in this country have had their alarms on this fubject foftened by time or conviction, or the fear of dif- fering with the ftate on which it has fo much depending. The general arguments ufed by the opponents of the difTenters, feem not to have been better founded than thofe reflecting the doctrines of right and expediency. To refer to the declining numbers and zeal of the difTenters, as a pledge for their innocent conduct, was called (peculation ; yet fpeculative reprefentations were ufed in various inftances again]} the difTenters ; particularly when it was ftated as neceflary to guard, by exclufive laws, an ancient eftablilhment, fupported by a prodigious majority of the B nation, C i° ) nation, againft innovations from a few dinenters, capable only of acting through the medium of the legiflature itfelf. The fuppofition that, if the teft laws were repealed, the dif- fenters might draw into their hands the feveral city and borough corporations, and thence taint our legiflature, ffeems, in every vjew, overftrained. The third legiflative branch is not in any cx- tenfive degree neccflarily dependent upon corporations ; and fhould danger ever threaten from that quarter, there are wholefome remedies applicable to the evil. But the diflenters have neither power, nOr concert, nor zeal enough, nor fufHcient motives to in- duce them, to entertain a project fo fufpicious in its appearance, and fo difficult and extenfive in its execution, as that of obtaining a fpecihe afcendancy in each corporation through the kingdom. To prove this, we have only to remark, that the diflenters, where they have moft power, have feldom procured the return of dif- fenters to parliament ; and that their candidates generally act as peaceable a part when chofen, as thofe returned by other defcrip- tions of electors ; and it is the ufe, rather than the extent of power, it is fact, rather than fear, which fhould govern the con- duel: of ftatefmen in the controul of rights. But, certainly, it was viewing a large queftion very partially, when the act refpecting corporation offices was treated as the great grievance of the dif- fenters, who are equally debarred accefs to every public office whatever. It was, farther, held as matter of neceffity, for the ftate to look forwards, to guard the provinon of the church. The diflenters, however, have not chofen to object to this provifion. The landed intereft, indeed, (in which the diflenters fcarcely appear) has con- tended againft the pavment of tvthes. But I prcfume the clergy will not urge the nece/f.tv of a teft law, applicable to this queftion, being impofed upon the landed intereft ; though it would be more fitting for them, than for the diflenters, who rather make part of the monieci intereft. That the diflenters have prayed for a rcleafe from the facra- mental teft, without propoiing any iubftitute to it, was a remark true indeed, but without coni'equence. The diflenters do not op - pole civil iefts and civil qualifications, which embrace fubjects of all religions and dalles indiscriminately, and which are therefore Unlikely to be burthenfome to any ; but they object to a reli- gioui teft meant to exact a proof of conformity to an eftablifhed church, and to fecure objects which are by no means of political and temporal concern. A tefljj even of a civil nature, applied to fectaries purely on account of their religious tenets, without a pretence of their being objects for civil fufpicion, would deferve raprobation, were it only from its :ixjn|r an unprovoked aftd unau- thorised fttgrnaupon their fidelity, In ( II ) In favour of the quieting effect of the prohibitory laws, the expe- rience of a century was more than once appealed to. But the proof was certainly negative, and might juft as well ferve to Ihew thele laws to have been ufelefs, as ufcful. If experience is to be referred to, let the conduit of the dillenters out of office during the pall century be well confidered ; let it be remembered, that, though the very laws in queftion made them outcafts from the political departments of fociety, they knew no waverings, either in times of rebellion or revolution, when many of the children of the church, within the pale of political liberty, had proved apoftate ; that they chofe their part always, to a man ; and that their exertions in favour of the conltitution and Hanover fucceffion, might always be relied upon, with the utmoft certainty, whenever called for. Merit was ftill more unjuftly aflumed in favour of the teft laws, from the part harmony of the church. What reafon is there, in the nature of things, for the clergy to run into dilcord, bccauie- dillenters are admitted into civil offices ? Why muft- the clergy behave ill becaufe the ftate does jultice to others ? But is not the harmony of the ftate much more important than the harmony of the clergy one among another ? and is it not better that many fhould be in the right in the church, as to the doctrine of toleration, than that the whole church fhouldbe in the wrong ? In fhort, ex- perience fhews that it is not difference in religious opinions which occafions Jifcord, but rather the pretenfions of one re- ligious party to be paramount over another. It was fingular to hear the diflenters on one fid<" contending, that the clergy ought to be enabled to obey with fafety the rules of the church, by having it in their option to withhold the Sacra- ment from an unworthy communicant ; and, on the other fide, to find, that the clergy had diiclaimed this indulgence, though it was ftated to be criminal for them to refufe the Sacrament when called for as a civil qualification. Both our clergy, and their poli- tical friends, upon this occafion, muft be prefumed to treat v«ry lightly thofe rules of the church, which, in other cafes, they aftecl: fo ftrenuoufly to maintain. — But I mention the circurn- ftance for the fake of a much more important obfervation. If it would be criminal to withhold the Sacrament from one defiring it as a qualification to fcrvc his country, is it not criminal to place difficulties in the way of the confeiences of other fubjeils, which oblige them of tbcmfclv-es to forego their means of' fcrving their country r If Mr. i J itt, and his illuftrious father,, had been bred ftricl: difienters, would not their bofoms have busned widiin them, to think that this innocent circumftance, which might ferve to prove their worth, muft have doomed their public talents to languifti in- active and unknown . ? What would France have done without a B 2 Coade ( 12 ) Conde or a Turenne, without a Saxe or a Necker, if their public fervices had been ftifled by a Teft ? Were not Newton and Locke {eclaries in every thing but the name ? There was ftrefs laid on one argument, which merits particular attention : It was faid, that the king fubmitted to a Teft. It be- longs to others to fhew, whether this Teft is rightly or wrongly impofed ; it is only neceffary for the diffenters to prove, that the cafe of the king is different from theirs. The king, then, is not only a civil, but an ecclefiaftical perfonage, and takes a Teft as head of the church. He arrives at his civil and ecclefiaftical offices, not by election or appointment, but by hereditary fucceffion, and confequently without undergoing any previous enquiry. A de- viation in his perfon from the principles of the majority of the nation, might occafion civil wars and commotions, and many in- conveniences : fince, by his appointment, all the great offices of the country are filled, whether ecclefiaftical, judicial, military, or civil ; and in him refts the power of peace and war, of forming alliances and treaties, of giving a negative to the proceedings of the two other branches of the legiflature, and of modelling one of thofe branches. — Can the cafe of the king, then, be refembled to that of a diffenter applying to ferve as a tide T waiter, an alder- man, or even a fecretary of ftate ? But a parallel of a different kind was attempted in the debate, the Sacramental Teft being put upon a footing with an oath. — Let us compare the cafes minutely. — An oath has civil objects in view ; the Sacramental Teft, ecclefiaftical ones. The ftate has a right to fearch after evidence, and to obtain a promife of dis- charge of duties, which are undertaken towards it ; but not to know the creeds of men. The oath being founded on a truth fundamental in all religions, is d'ftinclive of none ; while a religious Teft fuppofes the profeffion of a fpecific faith. There is fome toleration ufed as to the modes of adminiftering the for- mer ; but the Sacramental Teft, muft only be taken in one mode. The oath only calls for that frame of mir.d which perfons of good intentions may always poffefs ; but it is held otherwife by many as to the communion at the Lord's table. The oath is effective, for its calls upon Gcd to be a witnefs and avenger ; the other is declarative only, and irrelative to the occafion for demanding it. The one is underftood to be countenanced by revealed religion ; the other, as a Teft, has no precedent in the Bible or among men, being peculiar to this nation. The oath has even additional'fandtions, namely, the public concurrence and opinion, and a perfonal fenfe of the pro- priety of the occafion for demanding it : while the Sacrament, as a civil teft, derives efficacy upon the mind of the fe&ary from no ex- ternal ( '3 ) ternal confideration whatever. — Under all thefe circumftances,* many good men have doubted the propriety of adminiftering oaths in the manner ufually practifed j and mail the cafe of an oath, then, be paralelled to that of a religious Teft ? The Teft laws, it is faid, however, do not oblige lectaries to take the Sacrament.- — No, but they invite them to receive it criminally, and to " eat and drink damnation to themfelves."^ — They rain fnares upon men, and deliver them (contrary to our Saviour's prayer) into temptation. They corrupt the cha- racter of the fectary, for which no newly-adopted creed or cere- mony can compensate, either to the individual or the ftate. And they do all this in a cafe where men have no right to impofe any conditions of a religious nature. It was indeed, maintained in debate, that Legiflatures are im- powered to propofe Tefts ; but it fhould have been added, that thefe muft be civil Tefts.— Governments being commonly founded in force or ignorance, their firft principles have been fo little undeiftood, that it is proper to give a reafon for this limitation. — Men being by nature equal, an enlightened compact ought to be the bafis of all government ; and to fay that there is actually no fuch compact, is only proving that governments have not yet been fairly conftituled ; and that upon a fufficient grievance or emergency, a compact may be reverted to. — Are religious rights, then, ;.inong thofe which men would give up in cafe of a compact ? Are they fuch as they could give up ? Are they fuch as they ought to give up ? If thefe queftions are anfwered in the negative, it is clear that government cannot exercife a right, which their confti- tuents had neither inclination, power, nor obligation to invtft in them. - It would be eafy to dilate here; but I rather haften to a conclufion of thefe comments. A diftinction in the debate was next attempted between legifla- tive and executive offices, in order to do away the folecifm, of diflenters being allowed to make, but not to execute laws ; for it was faid or implied, that the people eltcted perfons to legifla- tive, but not to executive fituations. But this diftinction is not founded. The lords (lay and fpiritual) derive none of their legiflative rights from popular election ; and many corporate and other executive fituations (as in hofpitals, where the teft laws apply in cafe of public endowment) are derived from popular election only. The folecifm then exifts : a diflenter may con- tribute to change every law in the land, even the teft laws and thofe upholding the eftabliftiment, and yet cannot be made a fub- * See more circumftances of this fort ftatcd by Biftiop Hoadly in his reply- to £imop Sherlock. altern ( H ) altern in a corporation : And he may plead as a ccunfellor in all courts of juftice, as to the interpretation of Jaws, and yet cannot become a tipftaff in their menial execution. Such were the argumentative objections to the claims of the diflenters, brought forwards by Mr. Beaufoy's motion. The proteftant dilFenters therefore, are under obligation to the abili- ties and information of the fpeakers on both fides • —to their friends, for fhewing what may be faid in their favour ; and to their oppo- nents, for proving how little fome of the firft talents in the country are capable of refuting their aflertions. There is one paftage more (for I am particularly informed as to the fact) in the debate of 1788, refpedting the proteftant dif- ienters, which calls fox pointed remark, and leads to fome general difcufiion. — Mr. Pitt avowed to the legiflature, that the bifhops had thrown a powerful obftacle in the way of the diftenters, by declaring themfelves alarmed upon the fubjecl of their applica- tion. The bench of bifhops has many refpeclable perl'ons feated upon it, and fome of them are even liberal towards fectaries ; but their efprit de corps makes them afraid of differing from one another ; and, having hitherto profpered fo well, they are apprehenfive of changes. It is neverthelefs fingular that the clergy lhould think to remain the fame, when cireumfrances are no longer the fame ; Idem manebat) neque idem decebat. Perhaps they doubt of this fact, of a change of circumftances. They muft however allow, that theirs is an empire of opinion only ; and it can be no fecret, that many able laymen having recovered from their blindnefs refpedlii.g the Englifh clergy, are new lending the ufe of their eyes to many more. Thefe then conceive the eftablifhed clergy to be cooled jn zeal and relaxed in manners ; that their benefices are too frequently confidered as finecures ; that their neglected fchook .and univerfitL's, far from fupporting their anrient reputation abroad, have driven our gentry at home into fyftems of private or of foreign education ; that inftead of ufeful or religious- works, the clergy chiefly excel in works of tafte, and that even of thefe the inftances are few, compared with their numbers ; that there is ma:ter for ce.ifure both in the collection and in the partition of their revenues ; that their boafted alliance with the State is commonly an interested alliance with the minijler ; with various other circumftances, which whether true or othenvife, make the impreiTkm of truth ; and as they infenfibly accumulate wait but for an occafion to break forth. — In fuch a fituation, the clergy one fhould conceive, ought to conciliate thofe with whom they have any differences, inftead of irritating them. They ihould wifely keep pace with the operations of time, inftead of confirming ( >5 ) confirming oppr,*flion.s becaufe of their antiquity*. They (hould even embrace any particular moment of power, as the fitteft moment for conceflion ; not only to obtain the credit of modera- tion and generofitv, but to be able to prefcribe the meafuie of the conceffion, and prevent its being productive of confequences not intended. Their fceptre is fo vifibly departing from them, and they are under fuch dependence on the crown and gentry for their benefices, that (whatever miniftcrial attentions they may have lately experienced) a prudent and powerful adminiftra- tion, and ftill more the public itfelf, may controul them in many important refpects. The very indifference fhewn by the public to the late claim of the proteftant diffenters for liberty of con- fidence, however fatisfactorily viewed by the clergy, is in reality one of their word prognoftics, indifference being the prelude to change. — The clergy confequently appear father to depend upon the ftate, than the ftate upon the good will of the clergy. —Since the clergy then have loft fo much in opinion, it is natural to afk, whether they act wifely in feeking a remedy for this lofs in the force of our habits, rather than in their own popularity ; whether they ftiould not truft to general eftecm, rather than to national prejudices ; whether their conduct will not be better guided upon principles of prefent wifdom, than of paft power. But it is proper for both parties to fee precifely what agitated the biftiops, when they preffed their alarms upon Mr. Pitt? — Simply, the propofition of reftoring to their remaining executive political rights a handful of fectaries, who have proved their attachment to their country, its conftitution, and the reigning family ; and who for a century have chearfully paid their contributions, not only to fupport civil but ecclefiaftical departments, though fharing in the emoluments of neither. — 1 his certainly was a ftate and not a clerical queftion ; a queftion of juftice, and not of religion: and yet the clergy, who are told by their great but modeft teacher, that their religion is not of this world, avowedly interfered in the things thus belonging to Csefar. — It is fingular that the laity did not take umbrag"e at this interpolition of the prelacy, which favoured of proud ca- tholic or narrow puritanical times. The clergy, having them- felves acquired an eftablifhment, were unreafonable not to per- • ' Surely every Medicine is an innovation ; and he that will not apply new ' remedies, mult expeft new evils ; for time is the greateft innovator. And if • time of couife alter things to the worfe, and wildom and counfel fliall not alter « them to the better ; what mall be the end ?' « Time ftandeth not ftill, but con- • trarywiie movtth lo round, that a froward retention of cultom is as turbulent ■ a thing as an innovation, and they that reverence too much old times, are but • a feern to tbe new.'- Lord Baton t tj/ajs. mit ( 16 ) mit others to receive an unequivocal and unqualified toleration j being themfelves proteftants, with refpect to the church of Rome, it was natural to expect they would allow of dijpnters from them- felves ; and profeffing as they do, to be a fpirkual and catholic church, they acted inconfiftently in purfuing a temporal and narrow conduct.— The French clergy lately in a fimilar fituation, conducted themfelves with much more policy as well as charity, than the Englifh bifhops : They approved of the liberty allowed by the edict of their king to the non-catholics of France ; and their only contention was whether they had not the merit of firft fuggeft- ing the meafure to the civil power. The fmgle point in which the Englifh clergy can at any time be affected, is their temporal provifion-, which is the material ob- ject of every church eftablifhment ; for whether men are eminent for their wifdom or their want of it, they fhould equally renounce' the folly of (eeking to eftablifh opinions, which by nature ought to have leave to fluctuate. — A temporal provifion for the clergy is fure to fubfift from age to age f, being fanctioned as well by the common fenfe, as by the common feelings of mankind j the clofe " alliance " of religion with morals and education, and the obligation of paying liberally for their united fupport, being ac- knowledged by all men. The clergy may reft allured that the epifcopalian laity are not likely to exonerate the diflenters of this country from a compliance with this obligation, in the manner now fixed by the Englifh laws. — But were the diflenters, who now fupport the double burthen of contributing to their own and the eftablifhed clergy, difpofed to revolt at it, nothing would afford them a ftronger motive, than feeing the clergy exact a maintenance for their religion from thofe, to whom they would deny the unconditional exercife of their own. — If the eftablifhed clergy however incline to mix in ffate affairs, it fhould at leaft be in a manner conformable to worldly wifdom ; and it cannot be concealed that at prefent both in this country and in Ireland, they have material temporal queftions at flake ; as well as that the diflenters have able pens at command to permit their mix- ing the difcuffion. Can it efcape the notice of that fagacity for which the clergy are eminent in their perfonal concerns, that the diflenters, animated as they now are, will renew their * The encroachments of foreign fovereigns on ecclefiaftical property, affect the regular and not the fecular clergy ; for thoughjthey are difl'olving the monaf- teriei iubject to them very rapidly, they appear to leave the property of the fecular clergy untouched. — This is what Henry VIII. did in England, without daring to proceed farther ; he took away monks, but left clergymen. In truth, the clergy in England have not afuperabundant provifion : It is indeed levied in. ah improvide.-.t manner, and portioned out unequally ; but this concerns the nation and the clergy themfelves, mere than the diffcnteis, application ( 17 ) application as ©fieri repulfed, and at every renewal of it will, feel more and more inclined to fcrutinize the conduct of the bifhops, whom Mr. Pitt has publicly confejjed to be their princi- pal enemies? Will the clergy then, when they have neither inte-. terefr, reputation, nor duty to incite them, perfift in a fullen and wanton oppolitior. to innocent and equitable claims ? But are fedtaries the only objects of terror to the church ? Do they think nothing of profejjed infidels, who fap the rock of faith on which the church is built ? The conduit of thefe, however, is eafily explained. As long as the clergy preach " peace and *' good will among men," and allow that their " kingdom is not *' of this world," their conduit will filence thefe infidels ; while a haughty, pcrfecuting, and monopolizing fpirit, rauft render them implacable to the clergy, as well as multiply their numbers. Let the clergy be diligent among their flocks and attentive to educate then youth, without calling fectaries to account for what refpects only the Deity ; and they will ceafe to have any ene- mies. Let them perfuade ftatefmen of the utility of religion to fociety, hot only by arguments, but by practical proofs ; and they will find ftatefmen capable enough of diftinguifhing between faith and convenience, and of giving firm fupport to many things in practice which they do not fully credit. A few wranglers and fophifts may occur' and cannot be prevented ; thefe appear in politics, in fcience, and in every department ; but as they will meet with no public fupport, they may be viewed with a ge- nerous pity or a tranquil contempt. Since the church then can no longer controul the civil powers, or fupprefs controverfy, their policy muff take a new ground : they muft a£t according to what they are, inftead of what they have been. It is an unneceflary generofity in the church to feel alarmed for the fate of thcitate or of the true religion, in cafe of pro- teftant diflenters being reftored to their utmoft rights. The fe£taries in queftion, confidered as a body, have long ceafed to be ambitious in politics ; they are refpectful and accommodating as fubjecls; and the frequent voluntary fufpenfion of their claims for admiflion to civil offices, is a prefumptive proof of their difintereftedneft, and of their principles being public rather than perfonal*. In fhort, humble as may be their temper and fitua- * See for proofs of this, two elaborate and able works, written In the manner of good old times, the firft of which ii intitled, A Vindication of the Principles an! Character of the Prrjbyterians of Ireland addrejjed to the Bifhop of Chyne, in An- fiver to his Book intitled the prejent State of the Church in Ireland, by Dr. William Campbell, of Armagh, ]d Edition; printed in London, for Evans, 1787. The iccond work, is intitled, The Rights of Proteflant Dijjentert toaccmplftc Toleration a fated; by a Layman, 2d Edition, Londcn, 1789. C tion, ( '8 ) ts6n, they dre not afraid of comparing fheir political conduct tried by any conltitutional te/i, with that of the body of bifliops. ^-Whatever be the complexion of their religious character, their religion, I muft fay when fpeaking to religious perfons, refpe£b another and a fuperior being ; a being, who has ample means to fulfill his own wifhes refpecling the weak and erring creatures of his power. No ferious believer, in fhort, fhould countenance perfecution, till there is a criterion to point out who (hall exer- cife it. The very dcfire to perfecute, teems of itfelf a fufficient objection to the validity of the right ; for it implies a temper in the claimant, fo oppolite to that of chriftianity, that it never can be chriftian*. The feeble arm of force only ftifles opinions • The following extracts are from Mr. Turgot.— ' Jefus Chrift reproved * his apoftles for wifhing fire to defcend from heaven upon the Samaritans : * every inftance of his life is diftinguifhed by a trait of this fpirit. He did not "* tell his difciples to implore the tiiccour of princes in order to compel infidels, * and to make ufe of human authority to bring fouls to him; but he told ' them to let the tares grow among the wheat till the time of harveft, when * the mailer himfelf will make the feparation. He performed miracles to con- * vince the mind and not enflave the body. When the apoftles propofed to> * repel the foldiers who came to feize him, he anfwered, that a legion of angels 4 would be ready at his command to exterminate his perfecutors ; but that his * kingdom was not of this world. He wrought a miracle to teach them not 1 to confound the rights of God and thofe of Ca;far, things of heaven with * things of the earth. — When he bids them invite all men to the marriage ' fupper of the king, ftrong as the expreffion may be, it merely implied the * degree of zeal with which his minifters ought to be infpired. Compel them 4 to come in, faid he, and as a proof that he did not mean to fay conftrain them, 4 the guefts at all times had the power of refuting, and others were invited in " their ttead. When his apoftles themfelves were about to forfake him, he * merely addreflcs to them thefe affectionate words, And will ye alfo go a had no difficult}- in feconding the wifhes of the clergy. Thus the catholic reigns were fpent in torturing the protectants, and the proteftants reigns in oppreffing ether lecfaries, who again in a moment of power found their means of retaliation ; for periecution being a general principle in which all parties then joined iffue, fuccefs alone decided who ihould be the victims of it. — Happily the foreisn princes, who for the laft century have fwaved the fcreptre ot this empire, having judged it prudent to cultivate the chTenters, the doctrine of no bijhop no king % r.o crojier no crown, which had amufed the Stuarts, long ceafed to have countenance at court. The clergy therefore, appealing to the nation 2t large, which W2S ftill in the habit of intolerance, pro- claimed the church in danger, pretending that if feclaries were legaliv tolerated, it mutt lead to the return of popery, of which everv one flood in fear. But by degrees the dread of popery fub- liding, liberal fentiments diffeminating, religious zeal declining, and the reigning family becoming more fecure, and thertfore lefs in need of the aid of thofe revolution principles which had feated it upon the throne ; the church Solicited the aid of the civil power, under the new pretence of being its temporal end political clly. — For the honour of this country, however, many of the prefent epifcopial clergv and laity not only confider religious motives for perfe cution as altogether obfolete ; but treating the whole quef- tion as political, they are now beginning to afk, whv religious topics fhculd at all be held as matter of -public cognizance, either by church or by ftate : they try the queftion upon political principles alone, and thence naturally find th.2t neither church nor ftate has any right to interpofe*. — I mean toconvey no reflection on the prefent clergy from this hijfcrj, ftnee it is certain that the clergy of the prefent day are greatly foftened in their fentiments : But it is right to endeavour to accelerate their complete reform, and to lead them to ad upon fentiments which they cannot but begin to ap- prove, if their profeiHons are fincere. Before I proceed to. other matters, there are two or three arguments, which as they are difinterefted in their origin, and have ftrll an influence over many worthy minds, require to be obviated, as Supporting the laft dying fparks of persecuting zeal. The firft is, that the perfecutor contributes to God's glory, by increafing the number of the orthodox and diminifh- ing that of heretics. It is needlefs to re-argue the impropriety of men inter-meddiing in what folely refpects the deitv, as well as the miftaken tendency of periecution : We can anfwer the argument much more fhortly. Suppofe an hundred forms of religion to prevail in the world, of which one only is the true j is it not • See fcr-examcls, Arihskiccn Pa>ley's vrorks t evident ( *> ) evident that the do&rine of perfecution, if generally eftabliihed, would lead to the commiffion of ninety nine mifchiefs, for one ac~f. of fervice that it performed : for how fhall we limit the exer- cife of perfecution, when every one will afiert himfelf to be the fupporter of truth ? It is clear then, that we ought to propa- gate religion, as Chrift did, by inftruclion and example : that we fhould perfuade and not persecute ; for the " wrath of man " worketh not the righteoufnefs of God." — There is a fecond argument very much allied to this ; namely, that none but the orthodox can be fafe from punifhment in another world : Thus charity to other men, becomes a pretext for perfecuting them. Nothing however can be more hoftile to the preceding confidera- tion of God's glory, than the idea that one feci: in this widely extended world can alone be faved. Many nations have never heard the glad tidings of the gofpel : many individuals cannot read or enter into controverfy ; and yet many of thefe unin- ltrudted perfons are more virtuous than their perfecutors. This doctrine then, by making the deity into a hard tafk-mafter, re- duces us to the dilemma, either of denying the divinity of our religion, or the goodnrfi of its author. Happily however this difficulty is altogether founded upon miftake : for God requires nothing from man beyond his beft endeavours : He looks to in- tentions rather than to knowledge, to virtue rather than to fpe- culation : He will not plunge men into mifery for a few unde- fined miftakes about the divine perfon, or attributes, or even com- mands : nor does he found his glory upon the mifery of the ma- jority of the human race. Another argument that has milled honert men refpecting perfecution, regards not only the zealot, but the fceptic : it is, that all difcuffions refpedting religious opi- nions, as leading to doubt and infidelity, muft be carefully fup- prefTed. The zealot has certainly little faith in his religion, who thinks that it can be fhaken by controverfy ; or in providence, if he fuppofes that when fo fhaken, the deity if needful, cannot reveal to the human race frelh and convincing tokens of his will. I might as eafily anfwer the fceptic, but I find I have been anticipated on this fubject by the author of a late political work, whofe words I have only to tranferibe below*, What • ' Theri is a fpecles of bigotry, peculiar in its naturr, but frequent in prafHce ' belonring to certain fceptics, who are convinced of the ufe of religion to fociety, ' but feat that religious controverfy may produce that want of faith in others f which prevails in themfclves. This pofition, being political, requires a political * refutation which 1 think is to be found in the following obfervations. ' Firft, old eitabhfhed clergies (like other corporate bodies) ufually fall into prefumption « and ignorance, and, when richly endowed, into idlenefs and vice, in proportion as they t want opponents or rivals. • Secondly, from clerical negledts and bad examples not only infidelity fpontaneoufly f ari(ts in many, but is induftnoufly propagated in others by infidel publications and 4 difcourfes, intolerance itfelf beiaj a fufficieht motive with many for decrying a religion. • Thirdly, ( 22 ) What above all, however, to be deprecated, is, the plan of regulating religion by political rules for political ends. I do not mean to argue reflecting the impiety of this plan ; for piety is feldom thought of in politics; — though I might obferve (fuppofing jeligious arguments out of the queftion) that it is demonftrable, from civil and focial confiderations, that religious reftraints are at leaft contrary to natural and /octal rights. — But it is neceftary, as a man of the wor * to their theory, oftener ftek to filence the difputes of Chrifiians among each other, * than to fupprefs the arguments of atheifts and dtifts againft religion in general ; though ' it may he lafely affirmed, in favour of European fects in general, that they have not 4 only (their numbers and advantages considered) abounded in able defenders of religion, * but havebsen particularly favourable to trade, manufactures, and fciences. • Laftly, There is more aptitude to faith in the generality of mankind, than the timid ' rheorifi s in queftion ( arguing from their c wn example) may at firft apprehend. — When * we confider, therefore, that differences in opinion feem natural where men are allowed ' totliink at all, and that ptrfecuticn tends to produce either ftrife or lethargy ; and when ' we add that toleration not only often affords an antidote to the decline of clerical ' manners, but admits the public ftrength to be augmented by the acceffion of numbers * firom every party : it will appear thac we have, in tirae refpetts at leaft, a political * coropenfatkm for any inconvenience arifing from the mere extenfion of a tacit and ' imperfect, to an acknowledged and entire religious freedom (the difference between « which is the whole matter here in contention in countries at all refpectable for their * civilization ) ' If Italy, Spain, and Portogal are compared with Creat Britain, and with parts of •Germany, Switzerland, and the United Provinces, we fhal. difcover, that, wherever •moft b.gotry and perfecutien prevail, religion is there worit vindicated, and, in * many inllances, is leaft refpectcd ; and political profperity is there ufually at its * loweft ebb. On the other hand, in France wc have had a proof of the poffibility of * ftate/meri manifeflng more to.eracion even toward", atheifm, than towards proteftam < herefy. •Toconclud", the p-eiudice here combated doec nor, in nny event, appear to require •more than the fuppiLfTrn of public religious deputations, beyond whici, therefore, * its zeal c ugh t not to he extended (foppoling it proper to be indulged at all.) • Let if be added, as a justification for the above r<_mark r ., that the practice of perfc- * cution !ias be q fo gener*!, and its effects fo terrible, that there is fcircc-ly any country ' in Europe where it is not neeeflary to combat its remains,' Old and new I'rincipics of Trade compared, p. «t, Xi, f ( *3 > It, if they leave others to their fpontaneous exertions. But it is clearly the duty of politicians to ftreng'then the ftate, by the confi- dence, at leaft, of all parties ; inftead of confining it to the attachment of one party, whofc confidence it obtains by paying for it, and whofe advice is always to be fufpe£ted with regard to the reft, from its having erroneoufly taken up a perfuafion ihar a ftate of hoftility towards them is both meritorious, and for its own intereft. No party, however large it may be, ought to be culti- vated fo excluiively, as to prevent a due comprehenfion and com- bination of the whole *. But it is time to quit this general difcuffion, though, before I lofe entire fight of the debate in 1787, I think it neceffary to fay fome words refpecting Mr. Pitt. — This minifter, I am happy to find, did not (and how is it poffible, educated as he has been, that he fhould) argue againft the proteftant difienters on the ground of general principles. He took the ground of expediency only ; and, as expediency changes from day to day, his conduct may eafiiy change. This may afford fome confolation to the difienters for his late oppofition. — But no talents, however intuitive, can fupply the want of experience ; which, confidering the ("paring manner in which inftrucYion arifes out of different fcenes at different times, muft, by the laws of nature, neceffarily be the reward of age, and of extenfive converfe with men in different countries. To an experience of this fort, accompanied with parts and celebrity in nothing inferior to thofe Mr. Pitt, we owe the following obler- vationjefpecfing fectaries, which I recommend to that gentleman's confideration. < Remember me affectionately,' fays the venerable perfon to whom I allude, in one of his familiar letters, 4 to the * honeft heritic ***. I do not call him honejl by way of diftinc- * tion ; for I think all the heretics I have known have been ' virtuous men j they have the virtue of fortitude, or they would ' not venture to own their herefy ; and they cannot afford to be ■ deficient in any of the other virtues, as they would give advan- * tage to their many enemies, and they have not, like orthodox * finners, fuch a number of friends to excule or juftify them. — Dt» ' not, however, miftake me. It is not to my good friend's herefy * that I impute his honefty : on the contrary, it is his honefty * that has brought upon him the charadter of heretic *.' — Perhaps this • Imtan, inafeparate letter, to confider at length Pifhp Warburton's work on the alHauc* ot the (eftablithed) church and ftate, on account of the deference prefumed to be Hill paid toit by churchmen and ftatefmen, and to attempt to fhew, chiefly by means of a plain anal; fis ot it, that it is a tiHue of lophiftry, and unworthy of being treated as a book of any authority. * 'lam inclined to attribute two pofitive advantages to our modern European fe£b :— < * Firft, there is a prefumption (as morals happily bear a connection with almoli every ' fchtrne of religion exifting in modern times in Europe) that, whenever the fenfe of « religion is a&jfe enough, to aflame the form, of a fe&, a certain decency of manners will acsompany ( ?4 ) this anonymous authority will not be convincing to Mr. Pitt, 1 M him then yield to authority and argument united in the words of his illuftrious father, when replying in a debate in the Houfe of Lords, to Archbifhop Drummond, who had charged the difienting Clergv with a clofe ambition. " After luch proofs of honefty, (faid ** Lord Chatham) to fufpect men of clofe ambition j is to jud^e " uncharitably ; and whoever brings this charge againft them * c without proof, defames." — Here he made a fhort paufe, and the eyes of all were turned on the Archbifhop, who made no reply ; Lord Chatham then repeated his words, and added : " ! he Dif- " fenting Mil ifters are reprefented as men of clofe ambition ; mv " Lords, their ambition is to keep clofe to the college of fifher- ** men, not of cardinals ; and to the doctrine of infpired apoftles, " not to the decrees of intercfted afpiring Bifhops. They contend " for a fpiritual creed, and fcriptural worfhip ; we, my Lords, ** have a Calviniftical creed, a Popifh liturgy, and an Arminian *' clergy. The Reformation has laid the icriptures open to all ; " let not the Bifhops fhut them again. Laws in fupport of ** ecclefiaftical power are pleaded for, which it would fhock hu- *' manity to execute. It is faid that religious fects have done great " mifchief where they are not kept under ftrict reftraint : My " Lord?, hiftory affords no proof that fectaries have ever been *' mifchievous, when they were not opprehed and perlecuted bv *' the ruling church." — Thefe remarkable words, dictated by an enlarged and reflecting mind, are extracted from the printed relations of the time : but they need no voucher ; they mark their great author, and enoble him to all pofteritv, I hope we fhall net be left to fay, with the exception of his own. 1 am not enough acquainted with the proteftant diflenters. to know their prefent fentiments on two topic?, which mav poffiblv foon come before us all for difcuffion. The firfi is tha: of the Riman Catholics. Proteftant diflenters have been in habits of dreading the Ro- man catholics, both on a civil and religious account. It is pro- per, however, for them to review this queftion, and to fee whe^ ther the times have not changed, and men in them j an d whether forgetting the paft, it is not both juft and prudent rather to aid^ * accompany it in the maf5 of feflaries ; and this expe&ation i\ rendered the more prd- * bable, by the watchful eye ufuallv kept by every party over the conduct of feftaries.— ■ Secondly, when the fccta'ry finds that he cannot himfelf become eftablifhed, he natu- * rally looks to felf defence, and hence he commonly (at leaft in modem times, and when * he is in danger of beiw: oppreffed by the efubiifhment or the civil government) ends in * being more or lifs an advocate for religious, and thence, probably, for a certain mca- ' fure cf civil liberty; both cf which are connected and beneficial political principles, « and have a confiderable effefl in enlarging and giving vigour to the human character. * If thefe rules, in favour of the exiftence of modern European feels, have their excep- * ticn?, thefe exceptions feem likely to be but fr.i&il and tranfitory,' Old and new Prin- cip.es of Trade compared, p. 51, ( *s ) than to obftruft, the applications which the Roman catholies are laid to be meditating to the legislature for their own relief. I know that the Roman catholic creed is reputed to contain one or two doctrines repugnant to civil authority ; but I know, at the fame time, that the practice of men is often better than their creeds. Neither the catholics, nor diflenters, nor epifco- palians of England, are to be judged of from our books of hijiory ; and the abominable fpirit of a Gardiner and of a puritan, as well as of a Laud, have happily become obfolete : It is the Britifli catho- lic (as well as proteftant di (Tenter) of the prefent day, whofe cafe is under examination. And here, we muff confefs that the erroneous prejudices of the Britifh catholics are viiibly abated; that the rapid decline or extermination of the Pope's authority in the moll bigoted catholic countries, and the lefTened influence of their clergy, are folid confirmations of the fact; that the Stuart race no longer affords even the fhadow of a Popifh pretender to the throne ; that the catholics are ready to give every teft that honour can offer, I will not fay for checking their religion, but to prove their religion altered ; and laftly, that their num- bers are too inconfiderable to excite the fmalleft apprehenfion, efpecially when combined with their change of temper. — There is now in various countries happily grown up with time, a mafs of evidence, proving that the Chriftian religion, in all its forms, is by its own nature peaceable ; that its profeffbrs alone, by mixing it with civil concerns, have rendered it otherwife * ; and that the wideft charity of temper in nations, is attended not only /with mod peace, but with moft knowledge, wealth, popu- lation, and power. If the civil doctrines, however, of the ca- tholics, are Itill to be guarded againft, it fhould certainly be by generous, civil, and not by narrow religious tefts : And if the profeflions of attachment of a papift towards a fuppofed hereti- cal government are held in their nature felo cle fe and nugatorv, and if a catholic in no courfe of ages is fuppofed able of purging himfelf from the imputation of his anceftor's errors ; let a pe- cuniary fecurity be fubftituted for, or accompany, wherever • *I am confeious how many wars ht.refies have occafioned : but wis it not becaufe • we were defirous of perfecuting fuch 1 The man who believes with fincerity, believes 1 alfo with more .firmnefs, when you would oblige him to change his treed, without at « the fame time convincing him, and becomes obflinate; his obiVinacy kindles his zeal, ' his zeal inflames him. You wifhed to make a conveit, you have m.ide a fanatic and a * madman. Men afk nothing more for their opinions than freedom : if you would take ' it from them, you put arms into their hands, grant it them, they will remain tranquil, * as do the Lutherans at Strafbourgh. — Itis then the unity of religion to which we would 1 compel men, and not the multiplicity of opinions which we tolerate, that occfions « commotions and civil wars. The Pagans tolerated every opinion, the Chinefe do the • fame: Pruffia excludes no Holland includes all, and thefe nations have never ' experienced a religious war. England and France havt wifhed to have but one religion, < and London and Paris have feen the blood of their inhabitants flowing in Ureams."— Expreffions of M. Turgot, fee Rcpofitory No. 4. p. n 9 . D requifite ( 26 ) rcquifttc, the civil teft. — As to a facramenfal teft impofed upon the catholics, efpccially taken upon the fpur of a momentary occafioned, and not required retrofpe£tively as an evidence of paft conduct, it is ftill more nugatory than an oath can be fuppofed to be, and ought, on all accounts, to be given up. In the prefent ftruggle for religious liberty, it would give me concern, not to find the jews included ; and this is the fecond topic to which I Lift referred. — Their religion is the mother of all the religions of Europe T of European America, and of a principal part of Afia and Africa •, and fhould naturally experi- ence lcindnefs from all her children. Jealoufy in the fubjecf y rapacity in the fovereign, and bigotry in the priefthood, have rendered the Jews the objects of former perfecurions ; but {hall we boaft in the prefent day of civilization, and be wanting in humanity ; or of tafte and the fine arts, and be wanting in feel- ing ; fhall we know in fhort every thing but the rights of men ? We have improved ourfelves in words and in {peculations only y if our temper is ftill uncharitable ; we have dropped the favage without, and not the favage within, if we cannot live in peace With perfons of all communions. — If there are any fair objec- tions to the Jews, they are of a civil nature, and refpecl: their manners ; yet where their manners are cenfurable, it is chiefly v to be attributed to their perfecutors- A fuller participation in rights of fociety, muft communicate to the Jews a fuller portion of its ufual fentimenls and manners : Sectaries are by nature given to zeal ; and nothing operates upon men more than a kind government. Befides, the wealth and trading con- nections of the Jews are very confiderable, while our merchants and other fubjects are too firmly eftabliftied to fufter by their rivalfhip. — What obftacle then is there to our offering without referve, to this widely Icattered nation, which has ftill a place in God's particular providence, an afylum from the feverities they experience in foreign parts ? Nothing lefs than actual mif- demeanour in the Jews fhould bring them again into bondage ; and an experiment only can enable us to pronounce upon this : for fufpicion is here an infufficient ground for riejor, the innocence of men in religious cafes being to be prefumed upon, and by no means their guilt. — The proteftant diflenters in particular ought not to be difpleafed with this language. They can find nothing in fcripture which puts the Jews under any other tutelage or difcipline, than that of providence : and in the rights of men, I am fure they cannot read their pro- fcription. If I miftake not, one of the moft valuable of the difienting clergy (Dr. Price) has reprobated the term of tolera- tion when applied to religious liberty - } for it fimply means fuf- ferance. ( 27 ) ferance, and as the me of it is unknown with refpect to civil li- berty, it falfely implies that the claim t6 each has not an equal foundation. — When the protectant diflenters ceafe to he the friends of univerfal religious liberty^ they forteit one oi their bell diftiniStions ; for thofe who care for themfelves only, are but one degree removed from perfecuting their neighbour. I lhall end with another fhoit obfervation. — I have often wondered that a part of the Englifh church fervice, impofed upon and iubmitted to by the whole Enghlh nation, the, Quakers excepted, has never been objected to, till very lately* ; I mean the marriage fervice. It has many abfurdities in it univerfally acknowledged, and is certainly one of the many uh- juft impofitions made by human authority. Some formalities of a civil nature are rcquifrte, on the occahon of marriage, for the purpofes of civil fociety ; and there can be no fufficient objection to the performance of them in a place fo public, refpeclable, and convenient, as a church ; or to the payment of the attendant fees to the clergy, as the perfons who officiate in it conhdeied as a civil occurrence. But if religion is intermixed in this trans- action, the fcr\ ice ought at lejft to be made rational, and fuch .as fhall not offend feiStaries, or confeientious men ; or at leaft the fubmiffion to the religious part of .the ceremony mould be left optional to the parties.— I prefume that the reafon why the fervice, as it now ftands, has been fo long and generally received, not only by the protectant diffenters, (who at firft were with little exception, occalional conforinifts to the church,) but by the nation at large ; is, that no motive can be imputed to the perfons complying vvith it that is of an improper nature ; the object of man lage being as ufeful to the public, as deh-rable to individuals. — I point out the cafe however as an injuftice, by the modification of which the clergy may obtain fome credit, with- out any hazard either to themfelves or to the remaining parts of the liturgy, I am comforted for your fake and my own, my dear fir, at having thus concluded a letter which long as it i% might have been fvvclled with other matter. I have touched upon two new topics (refpect- ing the Roman Catholics and Jews) concerning which the body of proteftant diffenters have not of late i believe declared them- felves ; buz I think at the fame time, that the topics fo ftarted ought as C on ae poflible, to come before them and the public for ferious confideration and difcuflion. — If the proteftant diflcnters * See Dr. Prieftly's letter to Mr. Pitton Toleration, ice. zd Ed. 7S7. Thiscelehr.ited controverfialift and p'.ijcfcpher, v. Iiofe opinions are generally as novel in theology as in philofophy. ftysgcod humourcdly in behulf of his brethren, on this fubjeft. » U we " were not taken, as it were, at an advantage, when we are di!pol'ed to make " light of fmall oMtacit>, we fliculd certainly makekud remonltrancesonthe lubjert " are ( 28 ) are felfifh enough to feel adverfe or indifferent upon them, they will lofe much of the wifhes of good p rfon^ in their f vor. Men have frequently religion enough to induce them to hate each other ; but :t is clear th^t the Christian religion was revealed for a very different purpofe, namely, that of making us live even cur enemies. If 1 have ufed any improper language in thefc pages, it is by miftake, and I will readily correct it when pointed out. I wifh only that ltrong arguments and ftrong facts which I have a right to employ, may not be miftaken for ltrong expreffion , to the ufe of which I have no right, and which would only cifgrace my fubject and diftioior their author. I am, my dear Sir, Your's, kc. ARTICLE III. PREFACE, by an ENGLISH PROTFSTANT, to JOHN PhYSIOPHlLUS's Jpecimen of the Natural Hijion of the various Orders of AJonks, after the manner of the Linnaan Syjlem ; ( writ- ten by BrtRON BORN, ) tranflated from the Lutin^ printed at Augfbw gh. London : printed for Johnfon. THE effay to which this is prefixed is confidered as the pro- duction of Baron Born of Vienna, who has himielf been fignalizeo as one of thofe naturalifts alluded to in the author's prefac, and who is fufiiciently known in England by the fine collection in natural hiftory which he difpofed of to the earl of Bute. The reader may be gratified to learn another circumftance, - which is, that this fatirical performance is thought to be pa- tronized by the emperor of Germany ; this fatire in return faci- litating, the enterpnzes of that prir.ce againft the orders of monks. In tranflatir.g this book, no defign is entertained of encouraging the perfecution of papijh, either in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, or America God forbid that proteftants (hould take up one of the n.oit odious practices of papifts ; namely, that of interfering in their neighbour's private concerns with God Al- mighty .'—And indeed the true religion would have a poor chance C *9 ) for an extenfive increaSe, if force were the only medium of it*, propagation j as fo many bad religions, and bad Shapes of a good religion, have been beforehand with it in the four quarters of the world, of which Europe is by far the leaft. The true policy therefore for any religion capable of propagating itfelf^ and deftined for that end, is to engage the temporal powers always to Stand riiitter in religious contefts. This would leave the paffage for circulating a prevailing religion always open. 7 he beft way of making converts ot the papifts in this country, is to induce them personally to regard us and fo to mix with us, that the influence of fociety may fhame them out of their tenets aiid practices, or at leaft out of the more abfurd parts of them ; which being done, we may fafely leave them in pofleffion of the other parts. — It is not popery that fo particularly merits our averfion, as the Species of papifts that popery has ufually pro- duced ; who. having been generally either abetted or opprefled by the temporal power, have been placed in the two fituations which are of all others the moft apt to engender pafllons destruc- tive to thofe about them, and to their own character. — indeed it is obfervable in thofe countries where the magiftrate takes no party in religion, that proteftants and papifts are capable of liv- ing together in Sufficient harmony. Ridicule being a far more powerful engine for their genuine eonverfion than perfecution (which by recent experience in the cafe of the emperor's proteftant Subjects in Hungary, is found rather to hide, than to change the minds of men ;) this publica- tion againft monks and nuns may have its ufe at this Singular pe- riod of revolutions. — And it is to be hoped that no pious perfon will be Shocked with the gaiety of it. Monafteries and nunne- ries by no means form a part of the religion of Chrift himfelf, or that of his early followers. They are not necefTanly a part even of popery, any more than the inquifition is ; Since there are catholic countries, or at leaft parts of them, that are absolutely without either ; and they are found among other Sects whom pa- pifts would be afhamed to imitate. — They are alSo of no ufe in propagating the catholic religion ; for Senfible travellers know thole countries to be often the leaft attached to their religion, that have the moft proviSions tor being So ; and iS heretics were to be admitted among ihem oS Sufficient zeal and talents, they would immediately have many converts ; the reaSons for which will Soon appear confpicuous. Monks and nuns are often compared to drones among bees. The companion is forcible, becaufe it reminds us not only of all the articles in which they agree, but in which they differ. Drones agree with thefe animals in being idle; they agree in be- ing buzzing, and having a difpofition to thruft themfelves into every ( 3° ) every one's concerns, notwilhftanding their idlenefs ; they agre« in being ftupid ; they agree in being fond of rifling the faireft growths of nature, and yet in being found in the moll fetid places of retirement, covered with duft and cobwebs ; they agree in producing no fweets for fociety, and yet in devouring the chief fweets of it ; and they agree alfo (at leaft the more fcrupu- lous religious agree,) in having their proper ufes of fex extin- guifhed. — In other points the comparifon fails. Drones have no flings, while the religious are armed with the perfecuting flings of hornets ; and drones do not obftruct though they fteal from the induftry of their neighbours, while the religious act, in this refpect, as opiates to fociety, in cafes even where fuch induftry might contribute to their own perfonal ufe, There are many ftrong reafons to be urged, why the regular * Religious fhould be extirpated, even by papifts themfelves. A few only of thefe reafons fhall be named. The firft is, that they leffen the labourers of fociety. In Spain, and other principal catholic countries, a few fubjects only exert themfelves, and charity (as it is called) makes it iuperfluous for the reft to do any thing befides humiliating themfelves be .'ore the religious orders Of courfe, fuch countries abound in idle beg- gars, want all manner of conveniencies, and have a defpotic clergy. — Perhaps a worfe objection to thefe orders, is, that they furnifh too alluring a means to ftifle a nation's activity, by pro- viding for the younger branches of families ; parents by this means lofing a fpur to induftry in the providing for fuch, and the younger children themfelves wanting their fphere for being m- duftrious. It is chiefly to thofe very ranks, that are there coop- ed upin walls, ceremonies, and ftupidity,thatflourifhingftates owe their great movement and profperity. In catholic countries, how- ever, (where, by means of their connections, capitals of money, and capacity, they might lead the inferior people to labour, and induce the higher to protect them) they, in fact, tend to fupprefs all induftry, and to introduce univerfally thofe oppofite ideas, but confident qualities, of pride and contented beggary ; whence exertion not only becomes diftafteful to the poor, to whom the contagion extends, but unfuccefsful alfo with them, through their ignorance and heJplefs condition. The reftoration, in fuch nations, of an intermediate order between the rich 3nd poor, might be attended with the moil brilliant and fudden good effects. — It is Angular to obferve another objection to thefe orders, which is, that almoft all the bigotted catholic countries in which they are numerous, are full of libertinifm ; to fay nothing of * So called from following a " rule," th« rule of their order. more ( 3« ) more obfcure or obfcene vices, which one is not permitted to name, but which neverthelefs immoderately abound. And how fhall women be chafte, when their religious guides and cenfors (who have clofe and frequent accefs to them) become theic very feducers? In thefe countries it is, that the younger clergy, upon principles of luxury, might object to a permiffion to marry ; and if fingle young women are here often remarkably correct and re- ferved in their carriage, it muft be noticed, that they are kept, during their youth, in the moft unfufpe£ting ignorance, and are ftudioufly watched by attendant friends. — When thefe mechani- cal reftraints terminate, how often do we difcover, in marriage, the intriguing matron, the varieties of whole favours, at leaft in the larger cities, generally prevent her progeny exceeding two Or three children ? This, however, is not the whole evil. No countries are more deficient in knowledge and arts, than thofe that are full of monks, unlefs powerful incidental caufes inter- vene. Men, without rivals, and without liberality, grow indo- lent and opiniated, and, of courfe, make bitter enemies to thofe that aim at knowledge ; the introduction of which, in others, would quickly extinguifh that deference to themfelves, whence fpring their prodigious power and revenues. Thoufands are the monafteries throughout Europe ; yet Europe hardly knows one man of extenfive reputation to be computed in each order, in each ftate, where they prevail. — Being unhappy and felfiih, n« wonder that thefe orders are ill-natured. We chain up brutes, by way of making them furly ; and the experiment fucceeds equally with man. The fame being that is acknowledged frail without the monaf- tery, continues frail when fhut up within it. Undertakings that are beyond the tone of human nature, muft produce difguft or artifice ; and, as religious novices are not always voluntary, or de- termined to the ac~t by religious motives, or apprized of the whole facrifice they are making, fomething of human nature muft break forth again. A cell is a cell, and not a place of magic; and there it is that the fettered mind, at its moment of folitude, is re- minded of paffions in the flefh that remain unappeafed, of the li- berty and variety of action and of fociety from which it is cut off", and ufually experiences its incapacity or fcruples to ferve heaven in the way it finds prefcribed. With many of the reli- gious, the chief of their worldly paffions find their fulj indul- gence under different forms ; ambition being ambition though in a cloyfter, and there being the fame identity in their other paf- fions and habits ; fuch as pride and revenge, indolence or ac- tivity, jollity or luxury, attention to the arts or frivolous read- ing, or whatever may be the medium or object. — In fhort, there is too much that is human in man for it ever- to be divine; and ftill ( 3* ) ftill more fo, where the institution for changing it is ill planned, and fcreened from public view. — As the greaur part of thofe that adhere to the rules of their order mtc/i feel .pprelTed by its rules 5 (and thofe who do not adhere to them, ought not to be held as belonging to the order) thefe infi'tutions are not to oe confidered as calculated (or earthly happinefs ; and as little are they for mo- ral virtues. Even chaftity, which is the virtue cniefly affected, is fo little attained, that loofe manners and unnatural vices are the frequent fubftitutes for matiimonial happ nefs ; which is not only not illicit in the eye of heaven, but (a* we daily fee) is connected with the moft ufeful virtues, which parents have op- portunities of inculcating through whole families of children.— Let that impiety, then, be filenced, whch fays, that public in- ftitutions fo oppreffive, delufive and deftructive, can be at all ne- ceffary to heaven. If an aftronomer could draw an inhabitant out of the moon, and make him defcend to be a near fpectator of this world of ours, round which he has fo of:en travelled, how fingular muft his profpect be in this particular ! — A race of beings would difcover itfelf, whom nature had divided into two parts or clafles, purpofely that they might have a progeny. A feci among them would be found, who deny this to be nature's plan, and affirm her to be beft pleafed with their feparation, as the proper means of mortifying their carnal, and exalting their mental part. If the lunar vifitant fhould afk for examples of this, he might be {hewn the fat monk, ruddy with the meats and drinks and fpoils of life, eluding, by a thoufand ftratagems, the deftination of his founders ; and, in the place of mental improvements, he mi^ht fee large ooffeflions and eftates collected, fine buildings and gardens, political intrigues, and religious feuds, no arts en- couraged that were not of the ornamental kind, no knowledge of God's works, but perpetual recourfe to man's fophiftry, and, in fhort, no benefits from thefe eftablifhments not attainable in a thoufand ways far mere elegible and innocent. If the aftronomer fhould mount his gueft a little higher, he might difplay to him thofe European countries moft abounding in religious orders, as countries the moft impoverifned and deL potic ; and if he found a few exceptions, they would be owing to certain relics of trade, or to former wife eftablifhments, or other incidents, of which the number of thefe inftitutions was rather the coniequence than the caufe. But what muft be the horror of a good tempered ftranger, upon viewing fmoke arifing from the burning of a human victim at the altar of thefe Religious ! " Why is it, cruel inquiiitor, " that you torture thus one of God's fubje&s r" — " I am per- « fuaded (he will anfwer) I am a£ting right."— His victim could v " reply, ( 33 ) reply, I am pcrfuaded of being right, alike with yourfelf." *' 1 will prove it by rea Tons, " fays the inquifitor. — " And could " I not prove it by renfons alfo," might the roafting vidtim rc- ** ply, think you that you would find me here your prey ? Mind *' your own affairs with your creator, and becaufe I have mind- " ed mine with h'm, do not deftroy the creator's works: 1 am " bis being not your's. The God that furlers plants of two " kinds to grow upon the earth, the God thaf (titets 'animals ** to be various, has made the mind of man various, and let us ** each take Our courfe. The beft teft that we can each urge for ** ourfelves is our felf pcrfuafion. The power of burning me ** is accidental : in another country! might burn you. But " remember that under a merciful God, that fyftem which is " cruel, muft alio be fjfe." — Lxpoftulations of this fort have force with every body but an inquifitor or a monk. But it is time to return to the beft object of thefe remarks, which is, to fhow what are really thofe prcfent adjun£ts of poper\ y which popery may do without. — 't can we fee do without the regular clergy, fuch as monks and nuns. We mult not ufe falfe arguments. Monafteries do not hurt population merely by keep- ing half a million of people from marrving, while fo many millions are fo ready to marry if they could find fubfiftance : They hurt population principally, by checking that activity which multiplies food. They hurt fociety by giving away the products of it to thofe who furmfh no equivalents to ferve for its farther accommodation ; and they hurt it alfo by fpreading bad manner-, leaguing themfei ves with bad governments, and {rifling the lieceUary rivalfhi'p and freedom in the fciences and arts. The fame religious perfon who perhaps would almoft wodhip a deceafed heathen poet or comedian, will not permit a fkilful countryman of his own to bake his bread, or mend his fhoes, if a heretic; and yet would give away his wine and oil and com to foreign heretics to gladen their hearts, and receive and ufe any of their commodities in return. — it would be impertinent however to fuppofe the regular clergy deftitute of v/orthv members. But let it be remembered, that e^ual numbers of the fame rank would naturally produce a proportion of valuable perfons, if left to walk the world at largi j ; and that whatever may be the merit of individuals, the leading features of their focieties, are pride, ig- norance and envy, luxury and rapacity, with a perfecuting, turbulent, defpotic fpirit : their charity confuting chiefly in diftributing about the fruits of the earth, which in proteftant countries is equally well done by the means of faie and purchafe j that is, by eftablifhing a fupply of conveniencies as the proper return for food, to the bentfit of the whole. — Monkhood there- fore is one of the articles which popery mi^ht fiifely diicard. E ~ It ( 34 ) Tt might difcard alfo a part of the doctrine of the pope's infalll- bility. The Gallic church, the Venetians, and the chief of the powers of Europe, have fairly fet this political weapon at d fiance ; and if the po:u' abfolves any perfons from fin among them, he no longer abfolves them from temporal allegiance. It is incum- bent therefore on all catholics \vh" afk toleration of proteftants, explicitly to banifh from among themfelves any remnant of this doctrine ; for as allegiance to a foreign prince is repugnant to the ideas of all focieties, it will always fumifh a pretext for their own perfection. It h diabolical to fay, that faith is not to be kept with here- tics ; becaufe even heretics are men, and moral truth is n^ceflary for the peace and fafety of men. Such pofi ions are ufeful only in a moment of power: When the icene alters, injuftice is found to be as much a reciprocal law, as juftice jtfelf. — In truth there are few pr.pifts who believe this infeinal doctrine in its full extent, where any advantages for education < u b f 1 ft ; whi^h fhould induce tiie papift to difclaim a doctrine to which he probably does not give ear, and the proteftant to allow education to every papifl fubmittcd to his power. Celibacy in the fecular clergy is another practice, that is not fundamental. Many papifts have themfelves thought this cir- cumftance open to change, and it greatly imports the reputation of their clergy that a change lhould take place. Sons are rela- tion quite as reputable as " nephews" and virtuous wives of their own, more decent than profeiytes made of the wives of others. In this country we find rhat matrimony has not half the evil effect upon bifhops that perferment has, to which no catholic bifliop has ever yei objected — In fhort, the great rule in human affairs is, to leave a vent to mortal pafnons, and not to afk too much from man. The inquifition even by the confeffion of parifts themfelves, is not an indiipenfible ingredient in catholic practice. Let thole who think fo, fuppofe Chrift living; and after picturing the parable of the good Samaritan of the houle with many manfions^ let them fuppofe him turning round and beholding a fet of in- quifuors marching towards a lighted pile. One cannot fpeak in the place of one infpired, but thefe would be the feelings of a difciple : The fcene would remind him of Chrift's own crofs ; the inquifitors would feem high priefts and pharifees, and he •would incline to throw the inquifitors upon the pile inftead of the victims. Even Chrift himfelf might fay, " Inquifitors, I 44 know you not." — How happy had man never known thefe wretches, who have introduced the fires of hell upon earth, and who though perhaps themfelves among the worft of men, yet pretend to judge thofe whom God and Chrift would pardon! In ( 35 ) In fhort, when one contemplates the political, as well as the religious mifchief that they introduce in a nation, one is inclined to think that they are as great a fcourge to their own people, as to hercl'y itfclf. — The faggot however is only perlecution in excefs. Every oppreffion under pretence of religion is an a£t of inquifition, injurious to politics, and execrable before CJod and man. Can the Deity approve of persecution, when it fills the perfecutor with crimes and paffions, more odious than herefy itfelf? There are various other particulars in the Romifh religion like the foregoing-, which it might furrender without injury to its effence. Papifts themfelves have in fome cafes been wife enough to difcourage holidays ; which, ferving for nothing fo little as devotion, and efpecially towards the prime divinity,, fhould no longer be loft to profitable labour. An unknown tongue neceffarily implies an unknown religion, and this again an interpreting defpotic piieft ; who is more fatal to human profperity than a thoufand heretics, by whom the peace of the laity is rarely difturbed, unlefs in confequence of their perfecution. It were therefore to be wifhed that every if ate ufed its own tranflation of the bible. — The fame remark ap- plies to the language of the prayers of papifts. At prefent the clergy conduct the whole dialogue in this religion : They, inter- pret for the Divinity, and they interpret for man, and faithfully for neither. Can any thing however be more afiuming ? — Why did not Jehovah and Jefus fpeak heretofore in Latin, and why was there ever a gift of tongues, but for the plain reafon, that revelation (by the very term of it) implies that it was meant to be underjlood ? It feems that hieroglyphics and myflery firft made their appearance among ./Egyptian forcerers ; How natural then from this difguife of the Romifh clergy, to fufpect them, if not of forcery, yet of a ftupidity that fears the light. Perhaps this fingular ftratagem in the catholic religion of ufing an unknown tongue, is of all others the fitteft for proving, that men may too eafily be made back again into brutes, by the machinations of men. — " But beware, fhort-fighted prieffs, left you become a " prey to your own inventions. You underftand nothing your- " felves, merely in confequence of not fuffering others to un- " derftand. Remember, however, that your difciples arc now " walking by the rays of other lights, than yours. In your pre- *' fent ftate, you are expenfive machines in fociety ; and with- " out you reform and become ufeful, laymen will learn one ** of two things, either to make you do with lefs mummery *' and expence, or employ others to ferve them." There is another particular which feems unnecefTary to po- pery, becaufe it is unnecefTary to any religion ; which is, that of Juppofjvg ( 36 ) fuppofing itfelf the only mode of falvaiim. From this doctrine how- ever originates that modeft, tender care for one's neighbours, which leads a monk to cut the throats of thofe who feek any other line of falvation. But the Deity does not thus lay a trap for men : Fie did not make fo many myriads of them, only to punifh and deftroy them : And the inhabitants of China, India, Turkey, and nineteen twentieths of the globe, may dill b: faved through virtues adapted to their ftate of knowledge, not- withftanding the papift is vain and cruel enough to think, that he'alonecan procure notice from the Almighty. From thedark- nefs of many fpeculativ'e doctrines, it is evident that the Deity wants pious practifers, rather than minute believers ; and that he withes us to have religion for our fake?, rather than his own. But at all events, the religion that teaches what is de- teftable, never can be divine > and even Chriftianity could not be divine, if it taught us to opprefs mankind, in cafes where the Deity did not dictate the inltance for doing fo in perfon. And leaft of all fhould that Cbriftian venture to perfecute his neigh- bour, who has not permiffion to read his own bible to learn what is taught in it. But it feems that thofe who underftand their own concerns the leaft, are ufually the mod: ready to in- vade the concerns of others. Confejlors are fo immediately interwoven in the practice of po- pery, that a tone of caution muft be obferved with refpedt to them. It is not however to confeffion, and fpirital reproof, and the like, that we can form objections ; the only doubt is with re- fpect to prieltly flattery, and the power of pronouncing ab- folution by frail or ignorant men. Any fundamental reform in the Catholic religion will certainly include the dodtrines of difpenfatira, human mediation, and works of fupererogation; fmce nothing can be more injurious to the purpofes of morals, than that Turners fhould be excufed from their bafeft vices and covered with foreign merits, by means of a paltry piece of money or legerdemain. Unfortunately the pre- sent Catholic religion, in order to fecure to itfelf followers, ac- cepts of rites and amulets inftead of virtues: Wiih a view to re- venue, it makes compenfation for fin pecuniary : From its prefent abfurdities alfo, it is induced to encourage Jlupidity in its own vo- taries, and perfecution towards other perfons : And as temporal power alone can uphold fuch a fyftem, it is generally a lure friend to defpotifm, with which on various accounts it makes a common cauie. This fituation of this celebrated religion gives great encou- ragement for fome fectary to arife, that fleering a middle and fuccefsful courfe, fhall ftrip it of its unneceffary and adventiti- ous errors; and confine it chiefly to its creeds, its principal fa- craments, its fymbols, and its fecular clergy. — A wife Catholic prince ( 37 ) prince would fupport fuch an advantageous attempt with his ut- moft influence ; for, if really wife, he would fee that defpotifm was not neceflary to his h^ppinefs, fcarcely fo to his paffions, and clearly not to his permanent grandeur, fince it contaminates his fubjects, who, in thefe times, are to be the only means of his Grandeur. But, if the prince is really fmitten with this igno- ble vice, there are fovereigns who will teach him, that even a proteftant may be defpotic. To aflift the views of a wife prince, a fcheme follows for an- nihilating the orders of monks and nuns in countries of the fieicett bigotry, with fcarce a murmur, and which, from its emcacv and fimplicity, may fit the grandeft legiflator. — It is to dijlribute among the feparate individuals of the religious hofes, that wealth of winch they have now only a joint ufe for life. The prince who does this, rauft add to it the power of difpofing of this (hare by tefta- ment, to relatives, friends, and pious perfons fpecified by namei but not to any general, corporate, or entailed ufes whatever.-— Ought the prince to retain for himfelf any part ? This is a loca! queftion, which, at the moment of the event, will probably he imprudently decided. Certainly, without retaining any thing, the prince will be no lofer by the arrangement ; certainly, ins difintereftednefs will acquire him confidence, fuccefs, and per- fonal fafety ; and certainly princes of every defcription, will find that the wealth of their people will ultimately become their cwn> — There are other purpofes, however, for which a prince ou^ht to make a referve. He ought to referve fomething for thofe dt- fignedto belong to thefe orders, but the amount (hould be moderate, becaufe the candidates will probably have youth on their fu: ; and the wealth of the regular clergy, upon being put into cir- culation, will not return to the great people who gave it, but to thofe ranks chiefly that now enjoy it; and confequcntly younger children, and middling people, will have the fame chances for provifion as in other countries. The prince fhould make a fe- cond referve for the mendicant regular clergy, becaufe reforms are generally tranquil, when the whole body of thofe that are incum- bents and interefted are immediately fatisfied. And, lauMy, fome temporary referve fhould be made tor the poor, who, by the fo- vereign's operations, will lofe their daily gratuitous fupplies ; in addition to which afliftance, they muft immediately be pro- vided with fimple objecls of employment, and foreigners be in- troduced (who, befides paying taxes, will in an age or two be- come natives) to teach the whole country that induftry and inge- nuity, of which probably it has hitherto had none or few ex- amples. This done, the prince, in lefs than twenty years, may fiad his dominions in a ftate of eonfiderable improvement — Other fch ernes ( 38 ) fchemes to get rid of this incubus, (the regular clergy) will proba- bly be dreamt over for twenty years, and the country at laft be found as far from relief as ever. May God then fpeed this holy work ! This preface will now conclude with a remark upon itfelf.— • The book which it precedes will naturally be read before it, by the wit, the traveller, the pi£ture-lover, theantiquarian, the eccle- fiaftic, and even the ferious politician. But gaiety alone on thefc fubje&s might be thought deficient without argument, as argu- ment would probably be inefficacious without gaiety ; and, though both methods may not fucceed at the fame moment, and in the fame inftance, yet perhaps, on the whole, the one may not impede the influence of the other. — At all events, the writer of this preface had thefe objects in view : To prevent, as far as his influence can prevent, a tendency to perfecution in thefe countries, upon reading the prefent ftigma* onthepopifh orders of regular clergy ; to fpread ideas alfo that may be ufeful in pro- moting the reform or abolition of thefe orders in old catholic countries; and to warn againft the introduction" of thefe infti- tutions in new countries, fuch as America and Ireland, where the catholic religion may foon meet with a new exiftence or indul- gence. — Inftead of thefe abfurdities, valuable places of education fhould be eftablifhed in each ; which may prevent their papift citizens from going into foreign parts, to renew in themfelves all the follies of their anceftors, and take up attachments toother countries, to the weakening of that which they ought to feel for ther own. And let no Englilhman be alarmed at this doctrine of innova- tion. Some of our bifhops are at this inftant faid to be adting upon a fimilar plan \. They are recommending, as we are told, to the clergy in their diocefes, to prepare the people of England for an alteration in the form of the common prayer; being probably wifely perluaded that an eftablifhed form does not mean a form that is immutable, but fimply, that there fhall always be fame form eftablifhed by lav/; that form to be regulated, as hereto- fore, by the heads of the Church, according to the lights of the times. [This appears to have been written in the year 1783.] * That is, the ftigma contained in Baron Born's book. f The writer appears to have been under lome conhderable miftake here. ARTICLE ( 39 ) ARTICLE IV. COPY of a Utter from the Lord Bijhop of CLONFERT, to the . Rev. Mr. MOORE, of Bougb-on-BIean, near Canterbury. THOUGH I had not the pleafure of receiving your very in- forming dicour(e on Sunday fchools at the time you intend- ed, I having (ince got it, and read it with the greateft fatisfadtion. It is an admirable defence and recommendation of this new infti- tution, which I hope will daily become more general, and produce the beft mora! effects, by imprtlling the children of the poor with a fenfe of duty and religion, at the only time and age when they are capable of impreffions. A poor man's creed need not be long, but it mould be ftruck in early, and a true and right one. If he be- lieves, as the common proverb fays, that he is to die like a dog, he will undoubtedly live like one. — The communication of educa- tion is certainly a very great blefting to the poor ; and had Man- deville, and they who, to ferve political purpcfes, are for deny- ing all inftruction to thelower claffes, only pufhed their argument far enough, they might have proved, that they had a right to maim or put out the eyes of the common people, in order to make them more manageable, and more in the power of their fuperiors. Having never feen the paragraph in the Englifti papers concern- ing me, to which you allude in your appendix, I can fay nothing to it; but what I have endeavoured to do in my diocefc, ever fince my appointment, is this: — There are twenty catholics to one protel- tant in it. To attempt their converfion, or to think of making them read proteftant books, would be in vain ; I have therefore circulated amongft them fome of the beft of their own authors, particularly one Gother, whofe writing contain much pure chrifti- anity, ufeful knowledge, and benevolent fentiments. He wrote eighteen volumes of rc ligious exiradts,and died about the year 1696. Unable to make the p ealants about me good proteftants, I wifli to make them good catholics, good citizens, 3nd good any thing. —I have eftabliftied too a funday fchool, open to both proteftants and catholics, at my refidence in the country ; have recommended the fcheme to my clergy, and hope to have leveral on foot in the fummer. Paftoral works, however, of this nature, go on very hea- vily in a kingdom fo unfettled, and fo intoxicated with politics as this ts.j 1 return you my beft thanks for your very obliging prefent. ARTICLE ( 40 ) ARTICLE V. A Letter taken from the Irish Volunteers Journal, March 1786. To Lord Vifcount MOUNTG.ARRET. My Lord, THOUGH I live at a diftance from the capital, and am no actor in public affairs, I am an attentive obferver of what pafies, and from a long habit of reading the public papers, I find that 1 can diitinguifti, with tolerable accuracy, the drift of moft fpeakers. I confider the trade of oppofition (for I cannot call it by another name) as the moft fervile and illiberal which any gentleman can adopt ; but a real independent man, who ftands forth occafionally in the public lervice, and has the fagacity and firmnefs to choofe folid and manly ground, appears to me in the light of an honora- ry minifter ; and as long as he is not paid by the king, he is en- titled to a proportionable fhare of public confiderat on and con- fidence, as well as to the a£tive fupport of every independent man without doors. It is upon this account I prefume to addrefs your Lordlhip without the leaft perfonal knowledge of you, in confequence of what is faid to have patted in the houfe of lords on Friday the 28th of January laft. It gave me a particular fatisf action to find, wnile fo many other members of both houfes feemed to beat every bufh to ftart i'ome political game, that y< ur lordlhip, with deep wiidom, laid your finger upon what I cannot help thinking with you, " the true caufe of all thofe rifings w hich, in luch a courfc *? of years, could not be brought to fuppeffion." That it lies with the clergy to remove it, which muft be done" effectually before any folid foundation can be laid for our profperity ; and till it is done, every fuperftructure will prove frivolous and unftable. I do not pretend to doubt the fadts aflcrted by the right reve- rend and learned lords who fpoke in aniwer to your lordfhip, nor do I conceive that it could be your meaning that all the diftur- baixes which have at any time happened in the circuit of this Lr^e kingdom, were immediately occafioned by the fevere and in- confiLierate mode of collecting tithes, which yet ver\ generally prevails ; but neither do 1 conceive that your lordfhip, fpeaking as a legiilator, could think yourfelf confined, as if you had been called on as a witnefs in a particular caufe in a court of juftice, to atteft the immediate cafe of any individual's delinquency : your ( 41 ) your lordfhip looked further, and meant doubtlefs to point out the leal common caufe of the general fpirit of outrage, which is acknowledged on all hands to gain ground throughout this king- dom ; and on that account you naturally were led to recur to the two fundamentals of all political fociety, agriculture and moral , as well as the particular grievance dwelt upon in that debate ; and I own that I am aftonifticd that your Lordfhip could, for a lingle moment, he confidered upon fuch ground as an enemy to the clergy. I confider you, on the contrary, as their beft friend, in forewarning the church of its unfeen danger, and the clergy of an impending attack. For my own part 1 diflemble not that I was bred up in abhor- rence of popery, and I rejoice to fee the day arrive which muft convince the moft bigotted and unobferving, of the fallacy and de- cay of that idolatrous mode of worfliip. Without appealing to the philofophical writings which abound through Europe, it fuffices to obferve the manner in which the order of St. Ignatius has been fuppreffed, by courts hitherto diftinguifhed for their bigotry, and at length utterly extinguished by the pope, though in all times confidered as the body guards of St. Peter's chair ; and thofe fame courts, it is well known, are proceeding to fhake off every remains of papal tyranny, as faft as fo great a change can well be fuppofed to take place, without an immediate miffion, from above. Animated at once, and fhamed by fuch examples from fuch quarters, I rejoice in the correfponding liberal fpirit which daily more and more prevails throughout the Britifh empire ; and has induced the legiflatures of Great Britain and Ireland to relax a mode, which as much diflionoured them both, as the height of iuperftition could do. Thefe are texts calculated to awaken and to imprefs the moft unlettered and the moft barbarous ; but who is there to let thern forth, and to do them juftice ? Is it our eftablifhed miniftry ? I am attached to the church both by birth and inclination, and after what your lordfhip fo truly ftated, it hurts me, even generally, to allude to the non-refidence of fo many among the clergy — their numberlefs finecures — pluralities unbounded — the general habits of luxury — and the fpiritual lukewarmnef* even of the beft, who content themfelves with repeating, now and then, fomecold effay ; or once in their lives perhaps (God knows how rare the inftances) publifh fome literary work, which has a little to do with the main duties of a parochial cler- gyman, fuch as we fee it practiied, even in the moft catholic countries, as fo much mathematics or natural philofophy would. Do thofe learned gentlemen fuppofe that the newspapers will quite fupply their places, and inculcate leflbns calculated to make their flocks happy here and hereafter ? ( 42 ) But, put confcicnce and all fenfe of duty out of the queftion ; let the matter be examined with a view to the fimple queftion of inteteft. Does any reflecting clergyman, or any friend of the church fuppofe, that nearly two millions of catholics, open as they are to the practices of foreign powers, who know well enough how good a cloak religion ilill affords ; how powerful an inlrrumciu it fiill remains — and two hundred and fiftv tbou- fand proteftant diflenters, with the example of America, free be- fore their eyes — they too — capable of enthufiafm, well inftrudted, and from every circumftjnee of character, fituation, and con- nection, able both ro concert and act, will long continue pa- tit nt'y to pay tythes to fuch immenfe amount, to idle, non- refident clergymen of the {"mall number which remains ? Since the emancipation of this "country, the minds of men have been occupied with the novelty of the revolution which has ta- ken place. They naturally have been jealous of their title to lb much unhoped for freedom ; and their youthful eagernefs has been directed to the bauble, as for fome time it mult be,- of a free trade ; but this has now nearly fpent itfelf. What then is there next more likely to ffrike the m:«ds of an awakened, active people, whofe national character is full of ima- gination and cnterprize — who, frefh from fo much political ac- tion and triumph, cannot all be expected to fettle at Profperous, 2nd become half women under the direction of good Captain Brooke — What more, than the ftate of the clergy, and of the tythes at prefent collected ? Js it not much better that they fhould occupy themfelves fo, than cabal with France, or Spain, or Auftria ; or than that the catholics and diflenters fhould fet to cutting each others throats, which fome cunning men, perhaps, might confider as the fafeft means of prolonging to the eftabhih- ed ciergy their piefent overflow of wealth? What other firing is there more promifing to the touch of brilliant orators, brazen lawyers, and intriguing, politicians ; more likely to unite what is called the public, and to gam them that degree of confidence which they well know how to carry af-» terwards to market? In fhort, w hat other queftion fo fafe and fure? Government is obliged of itfelf to come to Parliament for a new fyftem of police: does it then require any great degree of forefight to be allured that the truth muft foon bolt itfelf out, and the real fources of all the acknowledged outrages point out themfelyes, where there is nothing fufEcient to impede them ? However uninlightened we may be thought, we have certainly got the length of knowing with your lordfhip, that agriculture and morals are the only true foundations of either free trade or police : — eftablifh thefe better than any other country in Europe — your fituation will make you mafters of every thing elfe. Every blefling will naturally follow, independent of treaties or negoci- ations, whether at home or abroad. Ludlow, ( +3 ) Ludlow, fomewhere in his memoirs relates, that Cromwell (alluding to Ireland) fpeaks of it as, in many particulars, clean paper; " where fuch laws might be enacted, and julrice fo im- " partially adminiftered, as to be a good precedent, even to England " itfelf. Where, when they once obfervc property prcferved and " improved at fa eafy and cheap a rate, they w.ll never fuffer '* themfelves to be fo cheated and aba fed " Yet it was not Cromwell's object to difunite England and Ireland. Now, will any rational, impartial friend of the church pre- tend that the clergy, in their prefent ftate advance -the one, one- hund^Uth part as much as they impede the other ? I earneftly wifh that my lords, the biihops, and other wife men -among the clergy, would reflect before it be too late : that they would fur- vey for a moment the condition of the feveral works they have to defend — and then look at the nature, number, and circuni- ftances of the army which they have to defend them. I put all philofophy out of the queftion ; but it might be ex- pedient in them to look back a little, and think how all our pre- fent reformation is: under what a variety of difad vantages it took place: how imperfectly it extended itfelf to this country. — How batbarous the whole jurifdiction of the bihhop's courts ; how inconlonant with the common law of the land, and how much more fowith the temper of our times r What the conviction of all Europe is, upon the fubject of ecclehaftical rights ; and what the proceedings which are now depending in different countries j but above all, where the citadel is to which they can retire in cafe of attack. — If the fubject is once ftarted, it will run like wildfire. What body of men will ftand out in their defence ? Out of doors it is pretty plain, they have no manner of chance. Will thi houfe of commons rifque their tottering weight with tftte public in their behalf ? I am afraid, that in this article tlu-y partake too much of the opinion of their conftituents, for us to expect much partiality from them. If things once pals the houle of commons, can the lords ftop them, and my lords the bilhops make a ltand in their own perfons, and in their own caufe ? L fhould be afraid of what happened to the Scotch bilhops : and earneitly hope that their example would deter ours from fo def- perate a refolution. If the houfe of lords gave way to the tem- per of the times, I am afraid there is now no privy council with- in this kingdom able to fi.cm the torrent ; the only chance which would remain would be with the crown, and the privy council of England. And can any friend to the church fuppofe that the crown, after giving up Poyning's act, the point juft alluded to regarding the privy council — the great point of legiflative inde- pendency, and the Englifh nation, after giving up her mono- poly of our export and import trade, will draw their fwords, and rifque a general war in Europe (the probable confluence) on account ( 44 ) account of a body of men, to whom they have fo diftant a rela- tion ? Befides, is the church popular enough in our fifter king- dom ? Or is adminiftration there ftrong enough to force fuch a meafure ? Or is there any probability of any adminiftration's taking place, which would be ftrong or willing enough to ha- zard fuch an undertaking ! We fhould only deceive ourfelves, if we fuffered our minds to rely for a fingle moment on fuch a vain expectation. Every man muft be fenfible, that I do not addrefs your lord- fhip with a view to inflame : fo far from colouring or exaggerat- ing any thing, I forbear to ftate even facts, or to enter into any detail whatever. The archbifhop of Cafhel calls upon your lordfhip, to lay your finger upon one fingle clergyman: Does his grace then ferioufly defy your lordfhip to produce an inftance of one profligate clergyman ? I commend your lordfhip's referve in that particular. — 1 augur well from it of your future conduct. If your lordfhip has def- cended to perfonality, I fhould never have thought of addrefling you. 1 do not mean any more, than I hope your lordfhip does, to have recourfe to ftrong facts or particular details, (though near at hand, and in every body's power) till things come to the laft extremity : but to turn the eyes of the public another way, I read with pleafure, what his grace fays in the fame fpeech, " that " if your lordfhip would at any time bring forward anv propofiti- *' ons, &c. that you fhould have every help in his power to car- '* ry it into effect." As a friend to the clergv, I only wifh that his grace would go one ftep further, and that he, with the primate, and other good men in church and ftate, would themfelves take the lead in this great matter, and by fome timely facrifices prevent inevitable danger. The lea is yet calm, the bifhops and the government have as yet the helm in their own hands; but when the wind be- gins to blow, and a ftorm rifes, who can tell the confequence \ ■ — Let fome fteps be taken this very feflion ; there are fome things fo perfectly obvious, that I do not fee the narroweft and moft jealous churchman can fear their confequences ; on the contrary, muft readily difcern the good effects which may be expected from them. Let an end be immediately put to all difpenfations ; let every poffibility of pluralities be for ever prevented ; let refidence be ftrictly enforced through the kingdom ; let an act of parliament be paffed to prevent any finecures from being filled up, and to appropriate the revenues arifing from each to a convenient houfe ; and then, and not till then, let the clergy be nominated to them. It is to be hoped that churches will be built every where, in confequence of the encouragement already held out ; if it is not fufficient, let it be increafed : but fuppofing there be no church, it is no excufe for want of refidence j a clergyman may ( 45 ) may and ought to do a great deal of good out of his church. Let every church preferment remain vacant for a complcat year after it falls, and the income be applied, in the firft inftance, to fuch improvements as may be indifpenfably neceflary to enable refidence ; and afterwards, to the incieafe of finall livings with- in the refpe£tive dioccfe, or within the kingdom at large, as may be judged mod expedient. Let a commiffion be appointed, com- pofed of bifhops and judges, with the lord lieutenant to prefide, in order to regulate the extent of all pariflies ; fo that each pari In may come within the immediate fuperintendance of one clergy- man. Let a committee be appointed, of both houfes of parlia- ment, to confider of a general commutation throughout the king- dom for tythes *. Other regulations may ftill fuggeft themfelves : but if this much were done, I am fatisfied it would avert the ftorm, and give the clergy a new, and, 1 hope, a perpetual leafe of their fili- ations ; they would gain power, and would deferve it : inftead of looking to government for fupport, they would be the fupport of it. I earneftly hope that your lordfhip, as a friend to the church, will invite the fpiritual lords in your houfe to ftand forth in time, and take the honour and merit to themfelves, of a new and timely reform, with the public. If they (till feek to put off the evil day, it is to be hoped that your lordfhip will let the coun- try know who among them are for, and who againft a reform ; and that fome wife and moderate men will begin this neceffary work, before thofe without doors {hall think themfelves obliged to take it in hand. The hiftory of Great Britain affords fufficient examples of the mifchiefs which haverefulted from delaying a redrefs of acknow- ledged grievances too long. There was no wife man in the long parliament of the laft cen- tury, who would not have wiflied to ftop half w;iy ; but things were got into other hands, which did not know where to ftop. That this may never be the cafe of the church of Ireland, is the ftneere wifh, but ftrong apprehenfion, of A SON OF THE CLERGY. • See what archdeacon Paley fays upon the fubjeft of tythes, in his book upon the principles of moral and political philofopliy ; a book lately publilhed in England, admired and quoted by different deficiptions of men. Soeakinr of tythes, he (ays, " The burthen of the tax falls with its chief, if not its " whole weight, upon tillage; that is to fay, upon that precil'e mode ofcul- " tivation which, as has been fliewn above, it is the bulinels of the Hate to *« relieve and remunerate in preference to every other. No meafure of fuch «« extenfive concern appears to me fo practicable, nor any fingle alteration fo " beneficial, as the converlion of tythes into coin-rents. This commutation " I am convinced might befo adjufted, as to fecure to the tyihe-holder a com- '* pleat and perpetual equivalent for his intereft, and to leave to induftry its «' full operation, and entire reward." If this is the cafe in England, how much ftronger does the neceffity apply to Ireland; and how much more is the inteieft of the clergy of Ireland to accommodate for the reafons I have ftated ? ARTICLE ( 46 ) ARTICLE VI. Arguments fdecled from Bifhop Hoadley's Refutation of Bifhop Sherlock's Arguments concerning the Teft and Corporation A6ts. I. Dr. Sherlock fays, 1 that the Proteftant Church of England has c enjoyed but little peace from its firft eftablifhment p ;' and he attributes this want of peaee, in part, to thofe who fled from England in the reign of queen Mary, ' and brought back thofe notions which 'have given this church and nation fa much trouble ever fince. — * Thefe,' he fays, * were one great occafion of the difturbance in 1 Queen Elizabeth's reign. — Under the management of James I. the ' difafFection to the eftablifhed church grew ftrong ; and in the days 4 of his unfortunate fon, a prince who deferved a better fate, it pre- 4 vailed as well againft the crown as the mitre.' Thefe obfervations are intended by the Dean to fhew the neceffity of fuch acts as the Teft and Corporation Acts, in order to exclude all who diflent from the eftablifhed church from offices of power and truft in the nation. — Now, let any man let himfelf down to the reading of the rife, progrefs, and ilTue of all this unhappy part of our hiftory, and let him weigh all circumftances impartially within his own breaft j and then let him judge whether this very hiitory, from the days of queen Elizabeth, will not itfelf furnifh a ftrong argument for the very contrary to what the Dean is going to infer from it. For, if he finds that it is an hiftory of the effects of the paflions of men, fet on fire by hardfhips and exclufions, made outrageous merely for want of an univerfal mutual forbearance, carried to their height by opprelfions and difficulties for the fake of differences in religion, he will judge between the Dean's argument drawn from hence, and what / would infer. — His argument is this : 4 There has been long a difafFection to * the church ; and this difafFection has heretofore broke out into * violences, and at laft prevailed againft both the crown and the 4 mitre. Therefore, it is juft and wife now to exclude all from civil * offices who diffent from the church.' — My argument is this: ' Alt 4 this difafFection was continually heightened by the hardfhips and * prefTures put upon thofe who at all difapproved of any thing in the * eftablifhed church, even though conftant ccaformifts to it. Their * fuffering in their civil rights upon religious accounts, was the 4 inflaming confederation, and what gave fire to their paflions, which * at laft produced fuch effects. The contrary, therefore, would have 4 the contrary effect. Let all hardfhips, and all opprelfions, little and 1 great, ceafe : let there be no civil puniftiment, or civil fuffering, « or ( 47 ) 5 or civil inconvenience (call it, as the Dean pleafe?,) on the account ' of what is the dictate of men's private consciences, unlefs it imme- ■ diately affect the civil government ; and 1 cannot but think there: * would be an end of the keennefs of the disaffection itfelf, and of all * the paflionate effects of it.' Atleaft, there is this probability for it 3 the former method has been tried, and has been fo far from diminishing it, that it has been feen to blow it up into violence and force ; and even to excufe this violence by the fame pretence of felf-defencc agamft thole who had practiSed feverities againft their fellow Subjects upon that fame foundation. The latter has never yet been tried wholly and effectually. The degree in which it has been tried has been feen to have mollified, and not fharpened that difaffection throughout the nation : and the greater the degree is, the greater in proportion will the effect be. 2. When Dr. Sherlock flares the abolition of monarchy and cpifcopa- cy, during the civil war, and reafons upon it, his argument amounts to this That in King Charles's days, thofe who then diffented from the Church of England, having got power and opportunitiy, prevailed againft the crown ; overturned the civil conftitution ; eftablifhed their own church ; and as much as in them lay, abolifhed the government, discipline, and worShip of the church which was, before this, the eftablifhed church the ecclefiaftical conftitution of the realm; which is always fuppofed to be part of the government. Therefore, it was j lift and wife, after the Reftoration, to exclude all by law, from places of power and truft, who differed at that time from the eftab.ihed Church of England. And, therefore, likewife (which I beg of the reader particularly to obferve, as it is the whole defign of the Dean's book, though very much neglected and very little laboured by him,) ir is jult and right y?/ II to continue to exclude all Nonconformists at prefent, about Jixty years r after that time, from all capacity of holding offices : to which capacity they have an undoubted right, were it not for Such a law of exclufion ; or were it net for their nonconformity. The remonftrances againft the crown and che mitre both, and the civil w ir itfelf, were begun and carried on by churchmen ; by conftant church- men ; by a parliament full of churchmen. This was the grand original and occafion of thofe evils which come afterwards; though unex- pect.d and undefigned by thofe who firft began. — But what I a-g'ue is this : that, iS it be good reaSoning to inSer Srom paft proceedings- that the followers of fuch and fuch perfons, in Some of their main principles, may juftly be excluded from offices of power and truft ; it will follow from hence, that it had been juft in King Charles II. and r Upwards of fixty years more mud now be added to the calculation, a3 that time i» elapled fince the publication of Bifliop Hoadly's book. ; or conliderably more than a century in th; whole, his ( 4* ) his adminiltratrorij to have excluded from offices of power and truft, all perfons who would not iblemnly renounce and dcteft thofe firft proceedings in defence of liberty and property, and the principles of thole firft patriots who actually began a war with the crown, which was the inlett to all the calamities and evils which the Dean mentions-. To exclude Nonconformifts from all offices of power and truft now, becaufe fome who did not like the Church of England, in former tiays, were guilty of great iniquity, and abolifhed the eftablilhment ot that church when they had power in their hands ; is a remedy, of no relation to the difeafe ; becaufe all thofe evils were not the effects of any fuch former law, by which Nonconformifts were capable of offices : and, therefore, the making any fuch exclufive law, fince that time, cannot be juftified by thofe evils. The power which any Nonconformifts then arrived at, was not the effect of any law in being, or the confequence of their being capable of holding offices under King Charles I. — But the ftate of that matter Was thus; that multitudes of the churchmen themfelves were alarmed not only at the crown but at the mitre. They had great jealoufies and fufpi- cions of evil defigns : they demanded a redrefs of many grievances : and, at length made open war with the crown. The nature of human affairs is always fuch, in all quarrels of fo public a nature, that evils follow thick upon one another. This rupture increafing and growing wider by degrees, made way for any, who could, to feize the power : and they have the civil power, in fuch cafes, who can get and maintain the ftrongeft and molt fuccefsful army- Now this being the ftate of the cafe, that not fo much as the beginning or the leaft degree of thefe evils proceeded from any legal capacity of Nonconformifts for offices under King Charles I. but rather from the hardftiips put upon thefe, as well as upon many churchmen themfelves, in their religious rights as well as civil ; it cannot poffibly be made an argument, that Nonconformifts ought now to be excluded from all offices of power and truft. The Dean conftantly hides from his readers what the iuftice of an hiftorian (for fuch he here is) cannot deny even to thofe whom he exceedingly diflikes and difapproves, viz. that Kins: Charles IL was actually reftored to his kingdom by the help at leaft of one greas party of Diflenters from our church. Several minifters of one per- lualion waited on him, with whom he declared himfelf entirely latisfied as to their peaceable difpofitions. The army, without which he could not have been reftored, was of the fame perfuafion. Itwa^, well known and thoroughly perceived, that epilcopacy and the publit: worfhip of the Church of England, were of neceffity to be (as to the main branches of them) reftored with him. Nor was any reluctance to this in general expreffed ; but a great deal of joy and fatisfaction in the whole affair. — This, I fay, ftiould have been remembered, by one ( 49 ) bne who profeffes to enter with fo much reluctance upon the bad fide of thofe affairs : and it fhouid have been remembered as fome frriall amends, at leafh, fome mark of diflike of what had puffed, fome token of no difaffe&ion to the King or his government. — Thefe particulars were fo remarkable whilft. the impreilion was frefh, that the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, in a fpeech to the parliament, Sept. 1 3, 1660, in the King's prefence, defcribed the army then to be difoanded bo be little lefs than invincible, arid ' an army whofc order and difcipline, * whofc fobriety and manners, whofe courage and fuccefs had made it ' famous and terrible over the world,' in order to {hew the King's fenfe of his obligation to it. And as to others alio, the fame noble Lord, at the meeting of the following parliament, in his fpeecii to the Houfe of Lords, called upon them to ' confider how much they owed 1 to thofe who, with all the faculties of their fouls, contributed to ' and contrived the bleffed change ; and then how much they owed to * thofe who gave no oppoiition to the virtuous activity of others ; and * .God knows (fays he) a little oppofition might have done much * harm, &c.' — In this ftrain were matters lpokcn of (till new views produced new language), even opehly and by authority. And there- fore the Dean, amidft all his hiiforical notices, need not have been alhamed or afraid to have done juftice, common juftice, to thofe upon whom he was now going to put hardlhip ehoiigh, aiid to bind it upon them with all the ftrength of that noble topic of ielf-defence; When all this, together with the promifes folcmnly made at that time, fhall be confidered, every one will fee that, if forhething elfe befides felf-prefervation had not been meant, fuch acts could not fo foon have been thought of. Nor was it long in that reign, before the moft ferious churchmen as well as others, faw very plainly that the difuniting of Proteftants from one another and the ftrcngthciling the contrary intereft, and the bringing in hew meafures (or rather the madnefs) of loyalty, by extravagant addreffes from the corporations of England, were ends more certainly in the view of fome at that time, than the preservation of the gentlemen of the Church of England (as the Dean puts it), who were then in no danger, as I know of, but from themfelves. This account of the fact, from whatever root thefe proceedings fpriing, fhould not have been omitted — and then an argument of another fort would' have offered itfelf, to this cffecT::. Since it is certain that one fort of Nonconformists bore a great part in reftoring the King, and multitude of Diffenters expreffed an entire acquiefcence in it ; and fince the King himi'elf openly profeffed great fatiifaction in them, and made promifes not to forget this : it follows from hence, either that the evil fpirits mentioned in the preamble of the Corporation Act were not the Nonconformifts, as fuch, or elfe that this preamble (as it is with many others) docs not give us the true reafons of the bill, and therefore cannot be alleged as any certain proof of the neceffity of it ; though it is urged for this purpofe by Dr. Sher- lock. G The ( 5° ) 3. As the Dean's whole argument is founded upon this particular Church being the ecclefiaftical conftitution of the realm; upon the force ofthofe principles which belong to civil governments and communities \ upon declarations of acts of parliament ; and upon the remembrance of paft tranfactions ; it will be evident, that all the like proceedings are juft, wife, fitting, reafonable, and necelTary in Scotland againjl the Church of England ; which are declared by him to be fitting, wife, rea- fonable, and neceflary in England for the fake of the Church of England. Eor the two kingdoms being now effectually united, it un- luckily happens, that we havetwo ecclefiaftical conftitutions of the fame realm. Both of thefe are e qually, in the fame ftrong words, declared by the laws of men in this realm, to be efTential and fundamental to that union ; the one in the fouth, the other in the north. In the fouth, the members of the Kirk of Scotland, as well as all who differ from our Church, are DifTenters. In the north, the members of the Church of England, and all who differ from that Kirk. The whole of Dr. Sherlock's book is, indeed, of an admirable and almoft unequalled comprehenfion. It fheds its kind influences upon all churches equally ; by making it wife and juft, for every one of them to be defended againft the others, by oppreflion upon the members of others. It is particularly of two differing complexions, and has two different tendencies, in this fame realm, in which we happen to have two very differing ecclefiaftical conftitutions. — As it is printed at London, it is a defence of the Church of England, as by law eftablifhed, againft all Nonconformifts ; by fhewing the reafonablenefs of excluding them from all offices of power and truft. Let it be printed at Edinburgh, with the change of a few names and words ; and the hiftory of the de- ftruction of the Kirk put inftead of that of the deftru&ion of the Church of England ; and I will anfwer for it, it is, with equal juftice and truth, a defence of the Kirk of Scotland, as by law eftablifhed ; fhew- ing the juftice, reafonablenefs, and necefhty of excluding from all offices and pofts of any power and truft all Nonconformifts, and par- ticularly all epifcopal men ; all who do not enter into the fcheme of the confefiion' of faith there eftablifhed •, all who are fond of any other fcheme, as of the religion delivered by Chrift. The ar- gument will be the fame there as it is here. That way of reafoning which by neceflary confequence leads to opt n and., cruel perfecution of DiiTenters in all countries, which juflihes the inqaifition itfelf againft all Proteftants, which juftifies the greateft violences of the late King of Erance againft the Protef- tants. there ; which not only permits all this, but directs and guides Chnftians to mutual opprefhons, and mutual injuries, without number and without end ; and which will ever continue to do fo : Such a way of reafoniiig, I fay, cannot be juft. — But the Dean's - way of reafoning is of th>s fort: and, therefore, cannot be juft in the • ' - account ( 5> ) account oTany Chriftian or Proteftant, who will but carefully exa- mine into its foundation, and trace out the natural and unavoidable confequenees of ic« 4, Dr. Sherlock endeavours to prove, that it is as juftifiablefor the government or the magiftrate, to require the facramental teft, as it is to require the fecurity of an oath. 4 When the magiftrate (fays he) * requires an oath, he lays hold on the natural fenfe and obligation ' we are under to believe in, and to fear God ; and grounds the teft « on them. When he requires the facramental teft, he lays hold of * the obligation we are under to communicate with that Church, * which we efteem to be a true part of the Church of Chrift ; and * grounds the teft on it. This is manifeftly a very partial and a very miftaken parallel, as to any iuftification it affords the magiftrates, in the cafe before us. £nd I will beg leave to put it as follows ; When the magiftrate requires an oath fox the purpofes of civil intereft, or in order to poilefs a civil office, he requires a thing which was never appointed by God, or by Chrift, to any other purpofe; a thing which is in its own nature peculiarly fitted for purpofes of this world upon this very account, becaufe it fuppofes, in the generality of men, a fear of fome Superior Being, the avenger of falfchood and injuftice ; a thing which is the only proper inftrument of what it is applied to, and in the application of which no partiality, iu any degree, is im- plied or detigned ; and a thing which, though it may be abufed by the wickednefs of men, yet is the neceflary, and perhaps the only means of the end propofed : which renders the law requiring it, juft and not chargeable with thofe abufes. Now, in the other cafe, when the magiftrate (that is, the law- maker) requires the facramental teft, in order to the poffeftion of civil offices, he requires an action to be done for this worldly purpofe, which our Lord himfelf has appropriated to another and a fpiritual purpofe ; and by fuch appointment has in effect, confecrated and dedicated to one fole ufe of quite another nature, and to quite another end; an' action which has nothing in its inftitution, nothing in its. nature, that bears any relation to the purpofes of civil life, and there- fore is not a proper inftrument of what it is applied to : an action to be performed after fuel; a peculiar manner, as implies in it a diftinc- tion to be put by it between fome civil fubjedts and others equally good civil fnhjecl^, and makes that an inftrument of partiality and. animofity, which was ordained by Chrift as an inftrument of the ftricteft union and affection between all his followers: an action, made neceflary to the promotion of Infidels, who have no part in it, and yet muft perform it, for that end : an act ion which they, who ordain and continue it for this purpofe, know muft lead to thofe abufes which the Dean fays he fees and laments ; an action, neither the only nor ( 52 ) the proper fecurity againft any evils, and, confequently, not necefTary for that purpofe : which confidjration makes it impoffible to juftify 3 law, which unnecefTarily enacts what naturally and unavoidably leads; to fuch evils. And now, let any one judge of the exact parallel between the facra- mental teft, which is the ufe of the holy facrament for purpofes very different from what it was ordained for ; and the ufe of oaths, which is the ufe of what are fit and proper for the purpofes they are appointed for. And if thefe confiderations are not enough to fatisfy Chriftians^ I confefs, I fhall defpair of their being made fenfible of any thing. ARTICLE VII. Tejlimonies taken from the Appendix to the neiv Edition of Bijhop Hoadt'y % s- Reply to Bijhop Sherlock. 1 T? Xcepting three fermons, preached on public occafions. Dr. Sher- * X_y lock's firft appearance as an author, was in the famous Bangorian 1 Controverfy ; and he was, by far, the moil powerful antagonift ' Bifhop Hoadly had. He publifhed a great number of pamphlets upon * this pccafion ; the principal of which is intituled, " A vindication of *' the Corporation and Teft acls, in anfwer toAe Bifhop of Bangor's "reafons for the repeal of them 1718." To this Bifhop Hoadly ' replied ; yet, while he oppofed ftrenuoufly the principles of his ad- * verfary, he gave the ftrongeft tcftimony to his abilities, calling his ' book, w the moil: plaufiblc and ingenious defence that he thinks had *' ever been publifhed, of excluding men from their acknowledged civil " rights on account of differences in religion, or in the circumftances 44 of religion." — It has been faid, Bijhop Sherlock afterwards dif- I * approved the part he took in this dijpute, and would never Juffer hit * pamphlets to be re-printed.' — See Dr. Sherlock's Life prefixed to his Difcourfes, 6th Edit. 1772. TO the preceding Treatife of Bifhop Hoadly's, it may not be im- proper here to fubjoin the teftimonies of two other eminent and learned Divines of the Church of England, in fupport of the propriety of a Repeal of the Teft and Corporation Acts. Dr. Arthur Ashley Sykes, a clergyman of diftin2;uifhed abilities and worth, publifhed, in 1736, a piece, en. i tied, ' The Reafonablenefs * of applying for the Repeal or Explanation of the Corporation and Teft * Aces impartially confidered t'.' In this tracl: Dr. Sykes fays, ' The ' f See the Rev. Dr. Disney's accurate and valuable^life ofDr. Sykes, P'-iblifhed in 1785. « Protcftant ( 53 ) f Proteftant DifTenters are known to be as hearty, and as fincere fubiecls; i to the King as any other fubjects in his Majefty's dominions s and lie therefore contends, that nt> other teft ought to be required of them, on their being admitted to places of truft and power, but the oaths of allegiance and fupremacy, and the declaration againft Popery. The fame year Dr. Sykes alfo publifhed a pamphlet, entitled, * The * Corporation and Teft Acts fhewn to be of no Importance to the * Church of England.' In this piece Dr. Sykes fays, * The govern^ * ment of the Church by bifhops is the fame, and fo it was long before * the Teft Act was made. The repeal of it does not deftroy their ( feats in parliament, nor take away their baronies, nor deprive them of « their jurifdiction; nor aryy ways affedt them in their powers, or pro- * pcrties, or perfons. They are left exactly in the fame ftate as they were * both before this act was pafTed, and which they have been in ever fince * this act has exifted. The inferior clergy are exactly the fame ; no * ways touched in theijr perfons, privileges, or properties. The church * laity are the fame, excepting that they will not be obliged to ' turn the facrament of the Lord's Supper into any political tool, * or make it an inftrument applicable to ufes, for which our Lord * and Saviour never intended it. Diffenters, indeed, will be helped; * an incapacity to them will be removed: but is this a change of con- * Jlitittion in either church or ftate, more than the repeal of any preterit * act of parliament makes, which gives an eafe or help to any particular ' perfons whatever ? The conftitution of the church is the fame * now, that is was before the Teft A£t pafTed ; and fo it would be ftill * were the Teft repealed, unlels it be laid to be altered by every act of * parliament that pafTes in relation to the church And if this may * be admitted, then the conftitution of the church has been altered * threelcorc times within thefe threefcore years ; and ftill the church 1 fubfifts, and flourifhes, and has received no damage by fuch changes. At the clofe of this piece, he fays, 'And now I leave the- reader to ' judge, whether the facramental teft be of any importance either to ' church or ftate ; whether it be not a real prejudice to Chriftianity it- ' felf ; and whether that which is prejudicial to Chriftianity can be of 'importance to the Church of England. 1 — Or if one conhders the ftate * diitindt Irom the church, it is an injury to take away men's rights, ' which they have never forfeited ; it is weakening the ftate itfelf, it is a * hardfhip put upon the government, and no one lingle good can pof- * fibly be obtained to the ftate by it. The continuance, therefore, of g The Reafonablenefs of applying for the Repeal, &c. p. 19. i The Corporation and Telt Acts fuewn to be of no importance to the Church of England, p. 34, 35^ 'fuch ( 54 y < fuch a tseft has much evil, and no good. It is a real damage toi * Chriftianity, and a grief to all its molt ferious profellors K' The reverend and learned Mr. Paley, Archdeacon of Carlifle, in his " Principles of Moral and Political Philofophy," makes the following observations : t Toleration is of two kinds : the allowing * to Dillenters the unmolefted profeiTion and exercile of their re- * Jigion, but with an exclufion from offices of truft and emolument * in the ftate, which is a partial toleration ; and the admitting them, 4 without diftindtion, to all the civil privileges and capacities of other * citizens, which is a comphte toleration. — The expediency of tele-? * ration, and consequently the right of every citizen, to demand it, * as far as relates to liberty of conference, and the claim of being 4 protected in the free and fafe profeflion of his religion, is dcducibla- * from the fecond of thole proportions, which we have deli vered, as the. * grounds of our conclufions upon the fubject. That proportion 4 aflerts truth, and truth in the abftracf, to be the fupreme perfection of « every religion. The advancement, consequently, and difcovery of * truth, is that end to which ajl regulations concerning religion 1 ought principally to be adapted. Now, every fpecies of intolerance * which enjoins luppreiiion and hlence, and every fpecies of pei fecution ! which enforces fuch injunctions, is adverfe to the piogrefs of- truth ; * forafmuch as it caufes that to be fixed by one fet of men, at one time, * which is much better and with much more probability of fuccefs, left * to the independant and progreilive enquiries of Separate individuals, ' Truth refults from difcuflion and from ccntroverfv : is investigated * by the labours and refearches of private perfons. Whatever therefore * prohibits thefe, opftructs that induitry and that liberty which * it is the common intereft of mankind to promote 1%. — The confining ' of the fubject to the religion of the Slate, is a needlefs violation ' of natural liberty, and in an inftance in which constraint is alv/a}S * grievous. PerSecution produces no Sincere conviction, nor any real 4 change of opinion- On the contrary, it vitiates the public morals * by driving men to prevarication, and commonly ends in a genera!. 4 though fecret, infidelity, by impoSing under the name of revealed * religion, fyfiems of doctrine which men cannot believe and dare * not examine m .' When we examine the Sects of Chriftianity, * which actually prevail, in the world, we mu,ft confefs, that with * the Single exception of- refufing to bear arms, we find no. tenet in 4 any of them, which incapacitates men for the Service of the State., * It has, indeed, been afferted, that diScordancy of religions, even k The Corporation and Tell Afts (hewn to. be of no Importance to the Church of England, p. 71,72. 1 Principles of Moral and Political Philofophy, p. 578, 579. Second edit. Principles of Moral and Political Philofophy, p. 580. fuppofmg ( 55 ) * fuppofing each religion to be free from any errors that affect thc\ * fafefy or the conduct of government, is enough to render men unfit 1 to act together in public ftati»ns. But upon what argument, or Upon 1 what experience, is this aflertion founded t I perceive no reafon * why men of different religious perfuafions may not fit upon the 1 fame bench, deliberate in the fame council, or fight in the fame * ranks, as we]l as men of various or oppofite opinions upon any * controverted topic of natural philofophy, hiftory, or ethics In 1769 and 1772, the minifters among the Diffenters applied to Parliament for relief from the obligation thev Were then under to fubferibe the doctrinal articles of the Church of England in order to be entitled to a toleration, and both times- lucceeded in the Houfe of 1 Commons, in confequence of Lord North's neutrality, but were defeated in the Houfe ot Lords, in confequence of an oppohtion from the Epifcopal Bench. They perievered, however ; the Bifhops re- pented; and a third application proved fuccefsful in both Houfes. — ■ In the debate occafioned in the Houfe of Lords by the fecund appli- cation, Dr. Drummond, the Archbifhop of York, having called the Diffenting Minifters t: men of clofe ambition," Lord Chatham faid, that this was judging uncharitably ; and that whoever brought fuch a charge againit them, without proof, defamed. Here he paufed ; and then went on — " The Diffenting Minifters are repre- " fented as men of clofe ambition. They are fo, my Lords ; and u their ambition is to keep clofe to the college of fifhermen, not of " cardinals, and to the doctrine of infpired apoftles, not to the decree w of interefted and afpiring bifhops. They contend for a fpiritual " creed, and fcriptural worfhip: We have a Calviniftic creed, a " Pop ifh liturgy, -and an Armenian clergy. The Reformation has ** laid open the fcriptures to all: Let not the Bifhops {hut them t£ again. Laws in fupport of ecclefiaftical power are pleaded for " which it would fhock humanity to execute. It is faid, that reli- u gious feels have done great mifchief, when they were not kept n Ibid, p. 582. The fajne author, reafoning from premiers like Bifhop Warbuiton's, nevertthelefs ends with the following declaration.— * A comprehenfive national religion, guarded by a few articles of peace and" * confsrmity, together with a legal permiflion tor the clergy of that religion, * and a complete toleration of all difienters from the eltabliihed church, witbour « any other limitation or exception, than what arifes from the conjunction of ' dangerous political diipclitions wiih certain religious tenets; appears to be ' not oniy the molt juft and liberal, but the •ivifejt and fafefi fyftem which a ftate ' can adopt ; inafmuch as it unites the feveral perfections which a religious con- * ttitution ought to aim at ; — liberty of confciencc, with means of inltruftiott ji ' rhe progrefs of truth, with the peace of fociety; the right of private j.udg- « mem, with the-caie of the public fafety." «' under ( 5« ) a under reftraint : but hiftory affords no proof that feels ha-ve ever " been mifchievous, when they were not oppreffed and perfecuted " by the ruling church." See the'Parliamentary Debates for 1772. In one of his letters to a friend, not long after this debate^ dated Burton-Pynfent, January 16,1773, he expreiles himfelf in the fol- lowing words : u In writing to you, it is impofhble the mind mould ** not go of itfelf to that molt interefting of all objects to fallible ** man — Toleration. Be allured, that on this facred and un- w alienable right of nature, and bulwark: of truth, my warm wifhes *' will always keep pace with your own. Happy, if the times had * allowed us to add hopes to our wifhes." \ ARTICLE VIIL Extrafts from Mr. Locke's firji letter concerning "Toleration. THE commonwealth feems to me to be a fociety of men, confti- tuted only for the procuiing/preferving, and advancing their own civil interefts. Civil interefts, I fhall call life, liberty, health, and indolency of body; and the pofleffion of outward things, fuch as money, lands, houfes, furniture, and the like. It is the duty of the civil magiftrate, by the impartial execution of equal laws, to fecure unto all the people irt general, and to every one of his fubje&s in particular, the juft pofiemori of thefe things belonging to this life. If any prefume to violate the laws of public juftice and equity eftablifhed for the" prefervation of thofe things, his pre- emption is to be checked by the fear of punifhment, conkfting of the deprivation or diminution of thofe civil interefts or goods which otherwife he might and ought to enjoy. But feeing no man docs wiliingly fuffer himfelf to be puniihed by the deprivation of any part of his goods, and much lefs his liberty or life, therefore is the magiftrate armed with the force and ftrength of all his fubje&s, in Order to the punifhment of all thofe that violate any other man's right.. Now that the whole jurifdiction of the magiftrate reaches only to thefe civil concernments ; and that all civil power, right, and dominion, is founded and confined to the only care of promoting thefe things; and that it neither can, nor ought in any manner, to be extended to the falvation of fouls, thefe following confiderations feem unto me abundantly to demonftrate. • Firft, becaufe the care of fouls is not committed to the civil magiftrate any more than to other men. It is not committed. unto- him ( 57 ) Mni, I fay, by God; becaufe it appears not that God has ever given any fuch authority to one man over another, as to compel any one to his religion. Nor can any fuch power be vefted in the magiftrate, by the conient of the people,; becaufe no man can ib far abandon the care of his own falvation, as blindly to leave if to the choice of any other whether prince or fubject, to prefcribe to him what faith or worfhip he fhall embrace : for no man can, if he would, conform his faith to the dictates of another. All the life and power of true religion confdt in the inward and full perfuafion of the mind ; and faith is not faith without believing. Whatever profeffion we make, to whatever outward worfhip we conform, if we are not fully fatished in our own mind that the one is true, and the other well pleating to God, fuch profeliion and fuch practice far from being any furtherance, are indeed great obftacles to our falvation. For in this manner inftcad of expiating our fins by the exercife of religion, I fay, in offering thus unto God Almighty fuch a worfhip as we efteem to be diipleafing unto him, we add unto the number of our other fins, thofe alio of hypocrify and contempt of his divine majefty. In the fecond place. The care of fouls cannot belong to the civil magiftrate, becaufe his power confifts billy In outward force; but true and faving religion confifts in the inward perfuafion of the mind, without which nothing can be acceptable to God. It may indeed be alledged that the magiftrate may make ufe of arguments, and thereby draw the heterodox into the way of truth, and procure their falvation. — I grant it; but this is common £o him with other men. In teaching, inftru£ting, and redreffing the erroneous by reafon, he may certainly do what becomes any good man to do, Magiftracy does not oblige him to put off either humanity or chrif- tianity. .But it is one thing to perfuade, and another thing to com- mand ; one thing to prefs with arguments, another With penalties. This the civil power alone has a right to do ; to the other, good- will is authority enough. Every man has a commi/Iion to admo- n/fh, exhort, and convince another of error, and by reafoning to draw him into truth: but to give laws, receive obedience, and compel with the fword, belongs to none but the magiftrate. — . And upon this ground I affirm, that the magiftrate's power extends net to the eftablifhing or any articles of faith, cr forms of worfhip, by the force of his laws : for laws are of no force at all v/ithout penalties, and penalties in this cafe are abfolutely impertinent, be- caufe they are not proper to convince the mind. Neither th? profeliion of any articles of faith nor the conformity to any outward form of worfhip (as has been already fi.id) C2n be available to the falvation of fouls, unlefs the truth of the one, and the acceptable- nefs of the other unto God be thoroughly believed by thofe who fo H profefs ( S« ) profvfs and practice : but penalties are no ways capable to pfoduce luch a belief. — It is only light and evidence, that can work a change in men's opinions, which light can in no manner proceed from corporal lufferings or any other outward penalties. In the third place. The care of the falvation of men's fouls cannot belong to the magiftrate ; becaufe though the rigour of the laws and the force of penalties were capable to convince and change men's minds, yet would not that help at all to the fal- vation of their fouls. For there being fuppofed to be but one truth, one way to heaven ; what hope is there that more men would be led into it, if they had no rule but the religion of the court, and were put under a neceffity to quit the light of their own reafoi and oppofe the dictates of their own confcienccs, and blindly to refign up themfelves to the will of their governors, and to the religion which either ignorance, ambition or fuperftition had chanced to eftablifh in the countries where they were born : — In the variety aud contradiction of opinions in religion (wherein the princes of the world are as much divided, as in their fecular inte- refts) the cc narrow way " would be much ftraitened ; one country alone would be in the right ; and all the reft of the world put under an obligation of following their princes, in the ways that lead to deftruction ; and that, which heightens the abfurdity and very ill fuits the notion of a deity, men would owe their eternal happinefs or mifery to the places of their nativity. Thefe confiderations, to omit many others that might have been urged to the fame purpofe, feem unto me fufficient to con- clude, that all the power of civil government relates only to men's civil interefts ; is confined to the care of the things of this world ; and has nothing to do with the world to come. But after all, the principal confideration, and which abfolutely determines this controverly is this. Although the magistrates' opinion in religion be found, and the way that he appoints be truly evangelical ; yet if I be not thoroughlv perfuaded thereof, in my own mind, there will be no fafety for me, in following it. Noway whatsoever that I fhall walk in, againit the dictates of my con- lcience, will ever bring me to the manfions of the blefl'ed. I may grow rich by an art that I take no delight in ; I may be cured ot fume difeafe by remedies that I have no faith in ; but I cannot be laved bv a religion that I diltruft, and a worfhip that I abhor. It is in vain for an unbeliever to take up the outward fhew of another man's profelTion ; faith onlv and inward fincerity, are the things that procure acceptance with God. The moft likely and mod approved remedy can have no effect upon the patient, if his ftomach reject it a.-, foon as taken. And you will in vain cram a medicine down a rick man's tiiroat, which his particular conftitution will be fure ( J9 ) Cure to turn into poifon.— In a word ; whatfoever may be doubtful in religion, yet this is at leaft certain, that no religion, which I believe not to be true, can be either true or profitable unto me. In vain therefore do princes compel their fubje&s to come into their church communion, under pretence of faving their fouls. If they believe, they will come of their own accord : if they believe not, their coming will nothing avail them. — How great lbcver, in fine, may be the pretence of good will and charity, and concern for the falvation of men's fouls, men cannot be forced to be faved whether they will or no. And therefore, when all is done, they muft be left to their own confeienqes.. ARTICLE IX. Extras from the Effays on POPULATION, printed in « the ^ " Repofitory, containing various political, philofophical, literary 44 and mifcellaneous articles, for 1788." 4 T N my opinion,' fays Sir Jonah. Child, as quoted by this writer, A < contending fcr uniformity in religion has contributed ten * times more to the depopulation of Spain, than all the American 1 plantations. What was it but that, which caufed the expulfion 4 of fo many thoufand Moors, who had built and inhabited moft of * the chief towns in Andalufia, and other parts ? What was it but 4 that^ and the inquifition, that has and does expel fuch vaft num- 4 bers of rich Jews, with their families and eftates, into Germany, 4 Italy, Turkey, Holland and England? What was it but that, 4 which caufed thofe vaft and long wars between that king and the 4 Low Countries, and the effufion of fo much blood and treafure, 4 and the lofs of the Seven Provinces, which we now fee fo pro- 4 digioufly rich and full of people, while Spain is empty and poor, 4 and Flanders thin and weak, in continual fear of being made a 4 prey to their neighbours. — Holland now fends as many, and 4 more people, yearly, to refide in their plantations, fortrefles 4 and fhips in the Eaft-Indies (befides many into the Indies) 4 than Spain, and yet are fo far from declining in the number of ' their people at home, that it is evident they do monftroufly 4 increafe ; and fo I hope to prove, that England has conftantly 4 incrcafed in people at home,, fince our fettlement upon plantations 4 in America.' In another place the author of the above effays writes as follows. Much might be faiuon the lubje.it of the mode of planting colonies, of ( 60 ) ©f their proper feats, their proper objects, and the proper fyffems for their government ; but this would not only open a wide field, but would produce divided opinions. I fhall therefore conclude with the notice only of two circumftances refpeiting colonies. The firft regards morals. The late Mr. Richard Jackfon excel- lently remarks on this fubject, as follows : ' When we would form * a people, foil and climate may be found at leafl: fafficiently good;, * inhabitants may be encouraged to fettle, and even fupported for a ' while ; a good government and laws may be framed, and even arts 1 may be eftablifhed, or their produce imported. But many neceffary ' moral habits are hardly ever found among thofe, who voluntarily * offer themfelves intimes of quiet at home, to people new colonies ; * befides that, the moral as well as mechanical habits, adapted to 1 the mother country, are frequently not fo to the new-fettled one,, * and to external events, many of which are always unforefeen. ' Hence it is we have feen fuch fruitlefs attempts to fettle colinies, * at an immenfe public and private expence, by feveral of the powers 6 of Europe ; and it is particularly obfervable, that none of the * Englijh colonies became any way confiderable, till the neceffary * manners were born and grew up in the country, excepting thofe * to which fmgular circumftances at home forced manners fit for * the forming of a new ftate *.' — We may add to this paffage, that good morals have a tendency to fupprefs the vices which wafte the human race, and at the fame time to introduce grave and important purfuits. They offer, under the reftraint of marriage, a fyftem which is the moft produclive pofhble refpecling the birth of children; aud which, by giving to each parent confidence in the fidelity of the other, unites them both in the care of rearing their offspring, and inclines them both to form a fettled home, and to eftablifh a fund of permanent property. — Dr. Davenant had S very imperfecl idea of our general theory, but he very well elucidates this part of it, in, fpeaking of the particular inftance of Englifh North America, 4 To the fobriety and temperate manner of living, praitifed by the , 1 dtjfinters in America,' he fays,' ? we may juftiy attribute the in- * creafe they have made there of inhabitants, which is beyond the * ufual proportion to be any where elfe obferved. The fupplies * from Europe by no means anfwer their prefent numbers ; it muft * therefore follow, that their thrift, and regular manner of living, * incline them more to marry, and make them more healthful for * generation, and afford them better means of having the neceffaries * to fuftain life, as whokfome food and cleanly dwelling and apparel ; * the want of which, in other countries, is a high article in the * burials of the common people. We do not pretend here to excufe * See R. J's remarks on Dr. Franklin's Thoughts on the Peopling of Coun- t/je*. &c. p;ir,ted with Dr. Franklin's works, ' the ( 6i ) 1 the heterodox opinions thefe diffenters from our church may have 1 conceived about religious matters, nor to juftify their fchifm; * but it muft be owned, that the fobriety, which at leaft they pof- * fefs outwardly, is beneficial, both in practice and example : Fcr * wlrerc riot and luxuries are not discountenanced, the inferior rank 1 of men become prefently infected, and grow lazy, effeminate-, * impatient of labour, and expenlive, and confequently cannot * thrive by trade and tillage. So that when we contemplate the J great increafe and improvement, which have been made in New * England, Carolina, and Pennfylvania, we cannot but think it ' injuftice not to fay, that a large fhare of this general good to * thofe parts, is owing to the education of their planters ; which, * if not entirely virtuous, has a fhadow of virtue ; and if this only * were an appearance, it is yet better for a people that are to fub- * fift in a new country by traffic and induftry, than the open pro- * feffion of lewdnefs, which is always attended with national decay ' and poverty.' — To this fame effect we find Sir Jofiah Child and archbifhop Sharp fpeaking. Sir Jofiah fays, v/ith refpe£f, to New England. • I am now to write of a people, whofe frugality, in- ' duffry and temperance, and the happinefs of whofe laws and in- * ftitutions, prcmile to them a wonderful increafe of people, riches, * and power ; and, although no men ought to envy that virtue and * wifdom in other?, which themfelves either can, or will not 4 praclife, but yet rather to commend and admire it ; yet,' &c. &c. — • Name,' writes archbifhop Sharp, ' any nation that was * ever remarkable for juftice, for temperance, and feverity of * manners ; for pi^ty and religion, though it was in a wrong way y * that did not always thrive, and grow great in the world ; and 1 that did not always enjoy a plentiful portion of all thofe things, 4 which are accounted to make a nation happy and flourifhing. 4 And, on the other fide, when that nation has declined from its * former virtue, and grown impious and diffolate in manners, we * appeal to experience, whether it has not always proportionally funk 1 in its fuccefs and good fortune.' The paflages juft recited, naturally fuggeft the other topic to which I allude, which is that of toleration ; a few words concerning which will terminate the prefent or fecond general divifion of my fubjech — It has been faid, that " one feet of Chriftians has killed " more Chriftians, than all the Pagan perfecutions put together." The deftruclion or exejufion of fubjecls implies a fyftem which is the very reverfe of colozination, by which it is propofed, that men lhould be multiplied. Thofe are not likely to have thought much, who do not think varioufly; as thofe who are faid to think in com- plete unifon, will often be found not to think at all ; and if the Peity does not afk of us to think alike, which feeins plain from his not ( 6 2 ) not taking effectual meafures for that purpofe, men have no right to enforce an uniformity towards him, in points which do not concern civil fociety. I am fenfible that this difcumon will be thought delicate. But thofe who are afraid of entering upon it, muft not expect great fuccefs in colonization ; for fome of the moft proper perfons to be found in numbers fufficient to begin a colony, are generally fectaries, natives or foreigners. Happily the time appears to approach faft, when the ftarefman's toleration will be marked in this ftiort catechifrn : c * Does your religion permit. *' you to plough and manufacture r" " Yes." K Do you acknow- " ledge my authority?" n Yes." — Be allured then of my pro- ¥ tection. I (hall punifh loofe morals and civil crimes, and keep w you from quarrelling with your neighbours : for the reft, it " belongs to God and your confeience. Shall I, who am a finner y w judge you !" ARTICLE X. Extra£i from Sir William Temples Obfervatlons on the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Chap. 5 and. 6. I Intend not here to fpeak of religion at all as a divine, but as a mere fecular man. — Whofoever defigns the change of religion in a country or government, by any other means than that of a general converfion of the people, or the greateft part of them, defigns. all the mifchiefs to a nation that ufe to ufher in or attend the two greateft diftempers of a ftate, civil war or tyranny ; which are violence, oppremon, cruelty, rapine, intemperance, injuftice ; and in ftiort, the miserable efFuiion of human blood, and the con- fufion of all laws, orders, and virtues among men. Such confe- rences as thefe, I doubt, are fomething more than the difputei opinions of any man, or any partic ular aftembly of men, can be worth ; fince the great and general end of all religion, next ti> men's happinefs hereafter, is their happinefs here ; as appears by the commandments of God, being the belt and greateft, moral and civil as well as divine, precepts, that have been given to a nation ; and by the rewards propofed to the piety of the Jews, throughout the Old Tcftament, which were the bleffings of this life, as health, length of age, number of children, plenty, peace, or victory. Now our way to future happinefs has been perpetually difputed throughout the world, and muft be left at laft to the imprcffion> made upon every man's belief and confeience, either by natural or ( 63 ) or fupernatural arguments and means ; which impreffions, men mav difguife or diflemble, but no man can refift. For belief is no more in a man's power, than his ftature, or his feature ; and he that tells me, I muft change my opinion for his, becaufe 'tis the truer and the better, without other arguments that have to me the force of conviction, may as well tell me I muft change my grey eves for others like his that are black, becaufe thefe are lovelier or more in his efteem. He that tells me, I muft inform myfelf, has reafon, if I do it not: but if I endeavour it all that lean and perhaps more than he ever did, and yet ftill differ from him; and he, that it may be is idle, will have me ftudy on and inform myfelf better, and fo to the end of my life ; then I eafily under- Hand what he means by informing, which is in fhort, that I muft do it till I come to be of his opinion. If he, that perhaps purfues his pleaiures or interefts, as much or more than I do ; and allows me to have as much good fenfe as he has in all other matters, tells me I fhould be of his opinion, but that paflion or intereft blinds me ; unlefs he can convince me how or where this lies, he is but wiiere he was, only pretends to know me better than I do myfelf, who cannot imagine, why I fhould not have as much care of my foul, as he has of his. A man that tells me my opinions are abfurd or ridiculous, impertinent or unreaibnable, becaufe they differ from his, feems to intend a quarrel, inftead of a difpute ; and calls me fool or madman with a little more circumftance ; though perhaps I pafs for one as well in my fenfes as he, as pertinent in talk, and as prudent in life : yet thefe are the common civilities in religious ar- gument, of fufficient and conceited men, who talk much of right reafon and mean always their own ; and make their private imagi- nation the meafure of general truth. But fuch language deter- mines all between us, and the difpute comes to end in three words at laft, which it might as well have ended in at firft : That he is in the right and I am in the wrong. The other great end of religion, which is our happinefs here, has been generally agreed on by all mankind, as appears in the records of all their laws, as well as all their religions which come to be eftabliftied by the concurrence of men's cuftoms and opinions *j tho' in (he latter they may have been produced by divine imprcftions or infpirations. For all agree in teaching and com- manding, in planting and improving, not only thofe moral virtues, which conduce to the felicity and tranquility of every private mans life, but alfo thofe manners and difpofitions that tend to the peace, order and fafety of all civil lbcieties and governments among men. Nor could I ever underftand, how thofe who call, themfelves, and Fiunt diverfa? refpublicae ex civium moribus j qui, quocunque fluxen'nr, cstera fecura rapiunt. Plat, dc Rep. the the world ufually calls religious men^ come to put fo great weighf upon thole points of belief which men never have agreed in, and fo little upon thole of virtue and morality in which they have hardly ever difagreed. Nor, why a ftate fhould venture the fubverfion of their peace and their order, which are certain goods and fo univer- fally efteemed, for their propogation of uncertain or contefted opinions. One of the great caufes of the hrft revolt in the low countries appeared to be the oppreflion of men's confciences, or perfecution in their liberties, their eftates and their lives, upon pretence of religion. And this at a time,' when there feemed to be a con- spiring difpoftion in moji countries of Chrijhndonu, to feek the refor- mation of feme abufes, grown in the doctrine and difcipline of the church, either by the ruft of time, by negligence, or by human in- ventions, pailions and interefts. Another circumftance was the general liberty and eafe, not only in point of confeience, but all others that ferve to the com- modioufnefs and quiet of life ; every man following his own wav, minding his own bufinefs, and little enquiring into other mens 5 which, I fuppofe, happened by fo great concourfe of people of feveral nations, different religion and cuftoms, as left nothing ftrange or new ; and by the general humour, bent all upon induf- try, whereas curiofity is only proper to idle men. Befides it has ever been the great principle cf their ftate, running through all their provinces and cities, even with emulation, to make their country the common refuge of all miferable men ; from whole protection, hardly any alliances, treaties, or interefts, have evef been able to divert or remove them. So as during the great depend- ence this ftate had upon France, in the time of Henry IV. all ths perfons difgraced at that court, or banifhed that country, made it their common retreat ; nor could the ftate ever be prevailed with, by any inftances cf the French ambafladors, to refufe them the ufe and liberty of common life and air, under the protection of their government. This firmnefs in the ftate has been one of the cir- cumftances, that has invited fo many unhappy men cut of all their neighbourhood, and indeed from moft parts of Europe, to fuehrer themfeives from the blows of juftice, or of fortune. ARTICLE XI. Arguments extracted from the Pamphlet intituled " the Rights of the " Dijfenters to a compleat Toleration afferted." 2d Edit. 1789. TH E Diffenters of the prefent day do not contend for eftab- lifhment, nor is difaffedtion to the fubfifting government, in the leaft connected with any of the religious diftinctions among them ( (S ) them. Whether the T*ft is defended as a fecurity to church or Hate, they may aflert their right to be reftored to. the rank c< citizens, for they hold opinions hoflile to neither. -—With ref- pect to their fentiments on civil government, tiiey .are pre- cilely the fame as the members of the church of England are underftcod to profefs. Th~y are the friends of civil li- berty; they aflert the principles on which the glorious Revo- lution was founded, and which placed the Houfe of Hanovter on the throne. The charge of difafFection to the prefent government is inconfiitent with thefe principles, and uafupported by any part of their conduct. They have run great rifks, and with greater una- nimity, to eftablifh and preferve it, than any other fet of men whatever. During the reign of Charles the Second, the frnafl remains of liberty in England were chiefly preferved and cherifhed by them. They refilled, with effect, the arbitrary defigns of Charles, and his unfortunate brother, when their own immediate intereft would have led them to unconditional fubmhTion ; they joined cordially in the Revolution ; and expofed themfelves to the refentment of a bigctted princefs, and an infatuated people, to Fecure the acceffion of the Houfe of Hanover. This, and more they generoufly did, without making any terms for themfelves. The unkind returns they met with never diminiihed their attach- ment to that family, nor damped their ardour in the caufc of li- herty. In two rebellions, the Diffenters, without the exception cf a fingle individual, fhewed a fteady attachment to the prefent government ; while within the pale of the church were found the j-.ealous champions of paflive obedience and the Stuart race. — Againft facts fo notorious, the Diffenters cannot be accufeu of difaftecTton to the prefent government. - The experience of more than one hundred and twenty years has fufneiently Fhewn, that in the opinions of the Diffenters there is nothing dangerous to the eftablifhed church. Their exertions preferved that church in the reign of Charles the Se- cond, and they were inftrumcntal in bringing about the Revolu- tion, when its deftruftion was nearly accomplifhed. And let it not be forgotten, that at the conclufion of the reign of Queen Anne, they flrenuoufly oppofed the intrigues of the coure, to give its fupremacy to a popifh prince, in cxclufion of the Houfe of Brunfwick — Are the perfons who gave up their own intereft to fecure the national church, to be fufpecied of defigns to deftroy it ? and can that church need a weapon of defence againft fucri Diffenters ? againft Diffenters, who for upwards of a century have rendered it every affiftance in their power, and preferved it more than once Iroxri ruin ? K The ( 66 ) The entire extinction of the feet of Prefbyterians in Eng* land, who are now become independents as to church govern- ment, and the ftrictnefs with which multitudes of the Diflenn ters adhere to the doctrines of the church, as {rated in the Thirty-nine Articles, (a ftrictnefs far exceeding that with which they are accepted in general by the clergy) thefe two circumftances, I fay, may ferve to compofe the apprchenfions of the clergy as to any danger from acceding to the prcfent claims of the Diflenting laity. But there is another ftyle of argument on this fubject, even vet more convincing than the foregoing, drawn from the con- duct of the proteftant diflenters fettled in the different parts of north America. After the power of England ceafed in that country^ they have fhewn in the northern and middle Colonies, that they have been falfely accufed of objections to the introduction of bifhops. Thofe {rates which moftly wanted bifhops, from having the efpifcopalian fyftem prevalent among them, namely, the more fouthern Colonies, are precifely thofe which have been moft backward in procuring the eftablifhment of bifhops. — The ftates moft filled with diflenters are the ftates alfo among them which have been moft liberal refpecting Teft laws, which, it muft be obferved, are confined in general (where they cxift) to perfons feated in the legiflature, and do not extend to inferior offices, one or two ftates excepted. — The declaration of the ftate of Virginia refpecting religious liberty is a mafter- piece, deferving record in letters of gold. And the 6th article of the plan of the new conftitution for the United States in Ame- rica, made in 1787, provides, ' that no religious Teft fhall ever 1 be required as a qualification to any office or public truft under « the United States.' It is true, that fome of the diflenters in North America were formerly intolerant ; but Dr. Franklin, in a letter writ- ten in 1772, exprefsly to favour the application of the diflent- ing mimfiers for relief from fubfeription to religious articles, has given the explanation, which it is lmpoffrble to avoid recit- ing here. f if we look back' (lays he) 1 into hiftory for * the character of the prefent iects in chriftianity, we {hall < find few that have not, in their turns, been perfecutors * and complainers of perfecution. The primitive chriftians * thought perfecution extremely wrong in the pagans, but prac- 4 tifed it one on another. The firft proteftants of the church of * England blamed perfecution in the Romifh church, but prac- '* tifed it againlt the puritans : thefe found it wrong in the bifhops, * but fell into the lame practice both in Old and New England. — * To account for this we fliould remember, that the doctrine of * toleration ( 67 ) * toleration was not then known, or had not prevailed in the world. ' Perfecution was therefore not fo much the fault of the fc£t, as of 4 the times. It was not in thofe days deemed wrong in hfelf\ 4 the general opinion was only, that thofe who are in error ought 1 not to perfecute the truth ; but the poffeflors of truth were in * the right to perfecute error, in order to deftroy it. 1 hus every 4 feet believing itfelf poflefLd of all truth, and that every tenet dif- * fering from theirs was error, conceived that when the power was in ' their hand?, perfecution was a duty required of them by th;:tGod * whom they fuppofed to be offended with herefy. — By degrees, * mrre moderate and more modeji fentiments have taken place in * the chriftian world ; and among proteftants particularly, all dif- 1 claim perfecution, none vindicate, and few practife it. We 4 fhould then ceafe to reproach each other with what was done by * our anceftors, but judge of the prefent character of f-cts and ' churches bv their prefent conducl only. 4 Now to determine on the juftice of this charge againft the c freftht diilenters, particularly thofe in America, let us confider * the following facts. Thev went from England to eflablifh a new 4 country for themfelves at their own expence, where they might * enjoy the free exercife of their religion in their own way. When * they had purchafed the territory of the natives, they granted 4 the lands out in tovvnfnips, requiring for it neither purchafe- ' money nor quit-rent, but this condition only to be complied 4 with ; that the freeholders fhould fupport a gofpel-minifter * (meaning probably one of the then governing fects) and a free- 4 fchool within the townfhip. * * * But in procefs of time * * * * fome turning to the church of England, * * * objections were 4 made to the payment of a tax appropriated to the fupport of a- 4 church they difapproved of and had forfaken. The civil magif- 4 trates, however, continued for a time to collect and apply the 4 tax, according to the original laws which remained in force ; and ' they did it the more freely, as thinking it juft and equitable that 4 the holders of lands fhould pay what was contracted to be paid 4 when they were granted, as the only confideration for the grant. 4 * * * But the practice being clamoured againft by the Epifco- 4 palians as perfecution, the Legiflature of Maffachufets Bay, near 4 thirty years fincc, palled an Ad! for their relief i requiring indeed * the tax to be paid as ufual, but direc~tin°; that the feveral fums 4 levied from members of the church of England, fhould be paid 4 over to the minifter of that church with whom fuch members * ufually attended divine worfhip ; which minifter had power given 4 him to receive, and on occafion to recover the fame by law. * * * 4 And now let us fee how this perfecution account ftands be- 4 tween the parties. 44 In ( 68 ) W. u In Mr-w T.ngland, where the !e- " triflatiw boJiesare almott to a man " difTenters from the church of Eng- " land, " i. There is no teft to prevent their influence and exertion?, whether or not they will accede to the ieqiiefl of the DifTenting Laity upon the preient occafion. By acceding, they lee how little rifque they run. By not acceding, tjiey will have one difficulty more to contend with, in the fituation tfito which they are brought, by their own decline in ltriit manners and official diligence on the one lide, and by the change of opinion and of difpofition in the laity of all defcriptions and feels on the other. The DifTenters are not perhaps an important body in them- fel /es ; but as furnifhing a mcafure, by which to judge of the Chrif- tian ipiri: of the clergy, their cafe may in the event produce an .vorciiion upor/ the minds of others^ who are not DifTenters. — 'Pnere are two ways of treating difficulties of this fort : the one is, »>i refilling every change, which is in other words, a trial of Jlrength\ C 69 ) jlrength ; the other is, of giving way and compounding upon fome points, that the call for ftrength being thus made lefs, there may be fuificicnt for fupporting the remaining points. The public opinion is changing fail on many fubjec'ts; and fhall the clergy wait till things accumulate, or redrefs fo much, as to make people contented under what remains ; fhall they open fluices to carry eff a part of the approaching tide, or oppofe the dam of ancient preju- dices to item the whole ? —The queltion refpects themfelves, more than the diftenters 01 the public ; for who have moil at flake ?— • This is not the language of iniblence, but of friendihip, good order, tranquillity, and religion. The diminution in number of the diftenters, fince they have been relieved from the penal laws, prevents a poffibility of mifchief to the eftablifhed church from repealing the teil acts. Their body would not be increafed, and the churchmen would ftill form a molt prodigious majority; they would ftill far out-number all the feels of nonconformiits put together. That majority, which gave the church of bngiand her exiftence as an eflablifhed church, and ftill fupports her, is not likely to be diminifhed by her fhewing regard to the rights of others ; efpecially as it will remove one principal ob- jection of the diffenter?, namely, that fhe is not enough tolerant. — But fhould the eflablifhment become the minority, compared with the -whole body of diftenters, (which becomes daily lefs likely to happen,) they could never unite their difcordant interefts in an attack upon it; but would prefer- the enjoyment of their preient portion of liberty, to the chance of being more at eafe under each other. The repeal of the Teft laws would not exclude a fingle church- man, or put the diftenters in pofteffion of any one public office, but would only render them eligible to fuch as might be offered. If quelrions of late have been agitated concerning tythes, has it not been by the landed intereft? or if concerning ecclefiaftical courts or powers, has it not been in the legiflature only ? Have not the diftenters been filent as a body, except when attacked, or as mere controverhal writers on poir.ts of doctrine, and not of power or pofteftions? — And on the other hand, have they not fought the general caufe of religion againft deifts and atheifts, and, by the con- feffion of many dignitaries in the church, (who have made the- circumftance matter of reproach to their own inferior clergy) have they have not done it with great zeal and effect, and has not this ultimately ftrengthened the eftablifhment' 1 — In fhort, they have founded their chief comfort in tranquillity ; and manifefted every mark of fatisfaction in the civil and religious conftitution of their Country, their own hardfhips excepted \ —Their minifters have made no ill ufe of the enlarged toleration lately granted ; nor will their ( 7° ) their laymen of that now fought for. The church may therefore rv-'ft affured, that the diffenters are never likely to attack their rights, unlefs it fhould be indifpenfable for the reftoration of their own ; and that the moft effectual way of difarming them as foes is by making them friends. That nation is the moft ftrong (ceteris paribus) where the people are moft united; and that is the moft weak where inteftine- divifions rage with greateft violence* Of courfe the relative ftrength of this ifland is infinitely greater than before the union ; for by that great event eVery caufe of difpute between the two fifter kingdoms was removed, and both were united in one common intereft, inftead of weakening each other by perpetual jealoufies and broils. For the fame reafon the executive power has of late acquired a vaft acceffion of ftrength. The two firft princes of the houfe of Hanover were called upon, almoft without refpite, to punifh plots, to quiet rebellions, and to repel open attacks upon, the crown. But how widely different the prefent reign ! His Majefty has for thirty years fwayed the Britifh . fceptre in per- fect peace at home, at leaft from the factions which before were wont to agitate the empire ; the claims of a foreign Pretender to the throne are worn out and forgotten j the nonconformists have been daily diminifhing in numbers, and thofe that are left have, by lenity and kindnefs, been much conciliated to the national church.. So that his Majefty prefides over a people more powerful and united than any of his predeceffors ; and the kingdom enjoys a tranquil- lity which has not been known for centuries in Britain ; for the parties of politicians now fubfifting make but a fmall figure in a national view, and fecure, rather than ftiake, both throne and conftitution. If the minifters of the church, therefore, fancy thern- felves to be allied to the ftate, they muft feel that their eftabliftiment grows more firm, as the throne becomes more ftable; and art attention to their own intereft, as well as the precepts of chriftianity, fhould induce them to ftrengthen this union, and to render this tranquillity as permanent as poffible. To accomplifh thefe object.?, no means can be devifed fo effectual and fo certain as the removal of every caufe of uneahnefs on account of religious matters, more efpecially vhen it will be followed with no danger to the ftate or their own religion. It will be a little fingular, that when deifm increafes, when taxes grow buithenfome, when the prefs is open, when a liberal fpirit is riling by a fort of common confent in the public, and in the govern- ment of every nation in Europe, that the clergy of this country, who have fuch large civil -privileges at ftake, befides their eccle- fiaftical ones, together with immenle revenues, (not collected in a mode to give perfect content, nor yet diftr.ibuted among their ow n members ( 7< ) tnembers in a way to give a due fubfiftence or fatisfaclion to all ; j it will be Angular, it, under fuch peculiar circumftances, the dig- nitaries of the church fhould oppofe the courfe of policy and juftice in favour of the diflenters, who have fo many pleas in their favour; fo little terror to infpirc, when duly treated ; and whofe caule will plead eloquently for them in the prefent age, were they themfelvcs to remain filent, which yet cannot be expected. Thofe are wife who have preventive wifdom ; and, taking into confideration the circumftanccs juft dated on the one hand, and the little to be gained by an o'bftinate r.efiftance to reform in favour of fo fmall z body of perlbns, vvhofe cafe can be drawn into no precedent if relieved, there can be no doubt on whiib fide preventive Wifdom lies. — It is not a fele&ion of a few characters^ and a few writer?, from among the whole body of diflenters, that can juftify any harfh conclufion as to the whole of them, and much lefs any harfh mea- fure. They are to be judged of generally, for a courfe of time, and with the eyes of a ftatefman ; and the more efpeciallv, as a refufal of their requefts will produce no change in the individuals complained of, who, if thev offend at all, muff be acknowledged to offend even under the prefent fyftem of feverity and ill-will. With one obfervation more, addreffed to thole who retain the notion that the bare exiftence of nonconformity is an evil to a ftate, I (hall conclude this part of the argument.— I will not pay thele perfons fo ill a compliment, as to fuppofe, that a little reflection would not cure them of this prepofieflion. The religious, as well as political fyftem, benefits by a little variety of opinion, and by an oppofition of characters ; and the many able defences of natural and revealed religion, and the many excellent moral writings pro- ceeding from the diflenters, are a proof that they have offered a pofitive advantage to the church, by confirming that grand hafts on which it is ultimately built. Their writings alfo have, in the opinion of many of the clergy, helped to liberalize the church itfelf ; which, it there had been no feefs exifting, would probably have retained many of thofe abfurd tenets which prevailed a century ago. The greater ftriefnefs of education among the more rigid fedtaries, is another advantage arifing from Nonconformity, and hence chiefly manufactures and commerce have been found to profper fo much in the hands of fedtaries, where they have not been too feverely treated; and hence likewife their riche«, and, as a confequence of their riches and foftened manners, their frequent reunion, in.a few generations, with theeftablifhment of the country where they are found. But fuch is the propenfity of mankind to variety of opinions, that were there no feds now among us, they would foon ftart up out of the church itfelf, of which certain, refpe Stable favourers, of Socinianifm have ( 7* ) have furnilhed a fignal example ; and perfecution is not onlv a bad! meafure in itfelf for preventing it, but it is too late in the day to ufe it*. It has been found in all countries, and been felt by none more forcibly than England, that lenient meafures are beft cal-> culated to diminifh the number of Nonconforming. It is an approved maxim in religious poli:ics, that bv taking away thtf diftinctions which feparate them from the eftablimment, they are molt likely to be joined to it. They are united as a body^ only under perfecution ; and the inftant they are fuffercd to form one mafs indifcriminately with the reft of the People, they ceafe to be formidable. Deprive them of that zeal which leads martyrs to the ftake, and they lofe the power to refift tempta- tion. The proud and haughty fpirit which bears undaunted the infliction of corporal punifhment, or of death itfelf, fubmits quietly to the fuggeftions of intereft, and the allurements of the world. One of the moft grievous oppreillons under which the Diflenters now labour, is their exclufion from x>ffices ; and , this mark of reproach is the chief circumftance, which diftin- guifhes them from their fellow citizens. Rapid as we know the decreafe of numbers among them to have been fince the Revolution, fome even of their own body have been of opinion, that if they had been reftored at that period to all their civil rights, it muft have been much greater ; and fuch have dreaded *< Religious freedom (which is an eficntial affiftant to trade) appears daily gaining ' ftrength and popularity ; its chief obftacles lying in the bigotry ot habitual bad poii- * tics ot eltablifhed clergymen, and in the complaifance of timid or fubtle flatefmen in * their favour. In return for the contributions made hymen of other religious perfua- ■ lions to their permanent fupport, the eltablifhed clergy in general, throughout tu- * rope, have net only encouraged the exclufion of fuch perfons from civil offke», « (though thefe perfons contribute to the fupport of civil offices alfo) but they have ufu- « ally in thefirft inflance pleaded even againft indulging them in the privilege of culti- * vating their religion in private. — The clergy beyond all men, one might fuppofe, ought * to knowj that religion is a beaef and not a form, a perfonal and not a Hate concern } 'and that though the llate may derive benefits from its prevalence, it ought never to « prefcribe the particular modes of it. But fince experience has (hewn that none have * been more ready than the clergy to interfere in the private concerns of other men with « their Creator, and that no affociated body of men is fo flow in reforming its errors as * their own: it is time that the civil power fhould interfere and decifively abolilh every * thing favoring of religious perfecution ; confining the power of the clergy to the clifci- ' pline of their own followers fubjeft to their own confent — As to the fedfaries of modem * Europe, 1 conceive that faffs and authorities prove it to b« very beneficial to a country, 4 that apart of its inhabitants fhculd be of this defcription ; or at leafl if feclaries have no * poficive advantage to recommend them it is certainly impolitic where fedaries occur, ' either to expel or to oppref;, them ; and not lefs impolitic to deny them fhelter, when * they feek admittance Iroin foreign parts in numbers too fmall to create danger ; efpe- « cially where th-y pofll-fs wealth, fkill, cr extenfive commercial connections. 1 he re- « ligious forbearance that daily and mutually increafes among men of all perfuafiens, « conftantly leffens the probability of ferious difputes anfing from different religions being * profeffed in the fame neighbourhood ; efpecially where "the ftate applies a due autho- ' rity in fupport oi the general peace, ( 73 ) the removal of the Sacramental Ten 1 , as the moft fatal circum« ftance that could happen to their intereft. — If this argument is not fufficient to prove, that the DifTenters will be gradually extinguifhcd by the grant of their wifhes (an event which a ftatefman, and the wifer clergy, would have to view with fome regret) ; ftiil it will be fufficient to prove, that no new dangers to the Irate, or church, are to be expect. d to refill t in confe- quence of its increafing their numbers, their want of traftabi- lity, or the ; r power, The experience of ancient and modern times has taught us that the prelates of the church have a commanding in- fluence ; and it is unfortunately true that upon feveral occa- fions, and in different regns, they have prevented the fa- vourable difpofitions of thofe in power from operating to the relief of Proteftant DifTenters. The maxims of perfecution formerly taught by the church of England, have been difa- vowed by moft of its prefent teachers, as individuals They would be nfbamed to have it believed, that every modern archbifhop is a Laud, and every Homily full of ftandard truth. But the tenets of the church itfelf remain the fame, and would authorize rhe perfecution of Nonconforming to the utmoft extremity. Reftore the power of burning heretics (which was not taken away till the end of Charles the Second's reign) and in perfect confiftency with the principals of this Protef- tant church, its Courts may even now confer the crown of martyrdom *. The ftate has retracted in open day many of fhe errors of its conduit towards fe&aries ; but the church has not in a body difivowed a fingle one. ThuS modern prelates, as fuch, appear in fupport of tenets which, as individuals, they utterly difclaim. — But why do they fub- mit to this degradation of the epifcopal character ? — becaufe of the danger of innovation. A prey to imaginary fear?, they dare not give up the peifecuting dcdrines of their church, even though they openly difapprove them. The bi- Ihops therefoie, thus interefted in fupporting clerical ufurpa- * In the provincial fynod of the province of Canterbury, William Sawtre was con- victed of being a rdapfed heretic, in the fccond year of the reign ot Htnry the£"ourth, and the king in parliament illued a writ to commit him to the flames. 1 his pi-asa rounda'out way of doing the bufmefs, and therefore, in the fame vear, the Prelates and Clergy petitioned parliament, that wherever the diocefjn or his conim-flaries fliould convift 1 perfon of herefy, and he mould rcfufe to abiure, or having abjured mould af- terwards relapfe, the fecular power might be called in, without the interference of pro- vincial fynod-, parliament, or king. Their requtft was granted, and their power to dye tne earth with blood wasj exercifed in the reign of Elizabeth ; and under James trie k ^Wigntnian and Legate perifhed attheltake. Since that time, the doci lines of the church have not undergone the fmalleft alteration. The power of burn n? hcreticks was taken away in the year 1676, but the fpintual courts may ftill punim them " by excom- miHiicationi deprivation, degradation, and other ecclefiaftical ccnferci not extending I* tions, ( 74 ) tions, are the laft perfons by whom a minifter fhould be ad- vifed in a queftion concerning toleration. If the change be in itfelf good, it is his duty to remove their apprehenfions, to affure their minds, and to puifue his meafures. — The bifhops oppafed the application for relief of the Difienting minifters. Twice that bill pafled the Houfe of Commons, and twice it was thrown out in the Houfe of Lords ; and at both times, all the bijhops who were prefent, or fent their proxies, voted againft it : but hnppilv the minifter of the day was not infected by their unmanly fears ; his Majefty gave his, hearty concur- rence to the application ; and at length the bifhops, afhamed of terrors which were confined to their own bench, and con- vinced by the arguments ufed in the debates, cealed their op- pofition. Under the adminiftrations of Cardinals Richlieu and Mazarin, (fays the fame author) Proteltants in France held offices both civil and military ; and the latter intruded Turenne, who was a Pro- teftant, with an army againft the Prince of Conde, not only a Proteftant, but his relation. Schomberg, Ruvigni, and many others, were placed in offices of high truft and confequence, under Lewis the Fourteenth, till the revocation of the edict of Nantz. But to come down to later times, Marfhal Saxe was employed by Lewis the XVth to oppofe a Proteftant army ; and the court of France has, within thefe few years, raifed Mr. Necker, a Proteftant alfo, (originally a private citizen of Geneva) to the head of the finances. His zeal and public fpirit, as well as the example of ^ther Proteltants, have deeply imprefled this truth upon the minds of his fellow lubjects, that a Dijfenter from the ejlablijhed religion of a country may be a true friend to its interejh. The wifdom and ability with which he has difcharged the truft repofed in him, have reflected infinite honour upon himfelf ; and the principles he has foftered may, at fome future period, make Great-Britain regret, that a Popifh country fhould difdain to be fhacklcd bv maxims of religion intolerant as her own. — The popularity attending moft of the above promotions^ is a clear proof that the kingdom of France was influenced by fome liberality, as well as its Princes. In the Imperial armies, and in fome of the Imperial dominions Proteftants have often been raifed to hch offices and commands, and many are at this day in their hands. The attention lately paid by the Emperor to the interefts of his Proteftant lubjects, leaves no room to doubt that the remaining diftinctions between them and the Catholics are dying away. The Emprefs of Ruffia too has not fcrupled to employ in the higheft offices, perfons difienting from the eftablifhed religion of her ( 7S ) her dominions. The naval power of Ruflia will be a lafting memorial of the ferviccs of Admiral Greig. On the other hand, the practice of the countries in Europe, profeffing the Proteftant religion, proves, that a Sacramental Teft is. not neceJJ'ary for the fecurity of an eftablifhed church, for it is unknown to them all. And there is no example in hiftory, of any of their churches being in danger, merely from the admiffion of feclaries into office. ARTICLE XII. Lord Manifold's Opinion on Toleration, with a Tranjlation of the Pajfagcs which his Lordfliip referred to in Prefident Dc Thou. WHEN the cafe of Mr. Evans, a diflenter, fined by the city of London for refufing to ferve the office, which required the taking of the facramental teft as its qualification, was heard before the Houfe of Lords, Lord Mansfield exprefled himfclf in the following ftrain of eloquence: — "What bloodfhed and confufion " have been occafioned from the reign of Henry IV. when the firft " penal ftatutes were enacted, down to the Revolution,, in this king- " dom, by laws made to force confeience ! There is nothing cer- " tainly more unreasonable, more inconfiftent with the rights of " human nature, more contrary to the fpirit and precepts of the u Chriltian religion, more iniquitous and unjuft, more impolitic ; M than perfecution. It is againft natural religion, revealed religion, M and found policy." " Sad experience, and a large mind, taught that great man, the " Prefident de Thou, this doctrine: — Let any man read the many " admirable things, which, though a papift, he hath dared to ad- " vance upon the fubjccl, in the dedication of his hiftory to Henry " IV. of France, (which I never read without rapture) and he will *' be fully convinced, not' only how cruel, but how impolitic it is " to perfecute for religious opinions. I am forry that of late his w countrymen have begun to open their eyes, fee their error, and " adopt his fenti ments : I fhould not have broke my heait, (I " hope I may fay fo without breach of Chriftian charity) if Fiance " had continued to eherifli the Jefuits, and to perfecute the Hu- " guenots *. There was no occafion for this end to revoke the • Lord Mansfield then f"oke of France as an arbitrary monarchy, which in proportion to its power threatened the libci ties of Europe. L Z « cdiit ( 7« ) " edict of Nantes ; the Jefliits needed only to have advifcd apian " Similar to what is contended for in the prefent cafe : Ma - ke a law " to render them incapable of offices ; make another to punifh " them (for it is admitted on all hands, that the defendant in the M oaufe before your Lordfhips is profecuteable for taking the office " upon him): if they accept, punifh, if they refufe, punifh: if " they fay yes, punifh, if they fay no, punifh. My Lords, this is *' a moSt exquifite dilemma, from which there is no efcaping ; it is u a trap a man cannot get out of ; it is as bad perfecution as that " of ProcruStes : if they are too Short ftretch them ; if they are their patience transforms itielt into rage ; from fuppliants they become importunate and confident claimants, and if at firft they fled from punifhment, they no longer hefitate to have recourfe to arms. This has happened during forty years in France, and fince in the Low Countries. Every thing there is at length reduced to fuch extremities, that the hope would be futile of flopping the progrefs of the evil by the focrifice of a few victims, which in the commencement might have fucceeded. Now that it is diffufed through whole nations and people, compofing the greater part of Europe, the fword of the magistrate can no longer be employed ; the fword of the word of God ought to be the fole weapon j and thofe who are no longer to be compelled, fhould be gently at- tracted by moderate conversations and amicable difcuflions. Thus it is that in Germany, in England, and in France, it is not poflible to fay which has fuffered molt, public tranquillity or reli- gion. Schifm arofe and obtained ftrength from the indolence and negligence of thofe, who might and ought to have found a remedy for it. I would pot be understood by this, as wifhing to revive a ques- tion which has been fo often difcuffed : whether heretics ought to be punifhed with death ? This would neither be fuited to the times nor to my profeffion. My defign is to fhow that thofe princes have acted with prudence and agreeably to the maxims of the primitive church, who have terminated religious wars by mildnefs rather than by force of arms, though upon diladvantageous conditions. The proteftants who diminifhed both in number and credit irt times of peace, haye always ijicreafed when we were divided and at ( 7« ) nt war. Thofe who govern the ftate therefore have committed a fatal error, whenever inftigated by ambition, by an indifcreet zeal or the defire of rendering themfelvcs neceflary during a ftate of troubles, they have lighted up a cruel war ; a war that has fo fre- quently been terminated and revived again under aufpices ruinous to the country, and highly detrimental to religion. But why fhould we reafon upon the fubject ? the thing fpeaks for itfelf. The proteftants, in confequence of the troubles in which wc were involved, having taken many of our towns, which were given back by a peace in 1563, was it to be wondered at that tranquility fhould fuddenly be reftored ? How fweet was this calm, which lafted four years, to the virtuous mind, and how falutary at the fame time to religion which was fecured from danger by the laws ' But by a proceeding inimical to our happinefs, we became tired of the pub- lic fafety which the law had eftablifhed, and fpurning at the coun-. cils of peace, we engaged in a new war, equally fatal both to its authors and the people. .Francois Baudouin d'Arras wrote a treatife in French, which proved by folid argument that religious differences might more eafily be appeafed by amicable difcuflion and leaving to each party the enjoyment of its right, than by violence and force of arms j that if compulfory means were continued, he forefaw that the proteftants whofe ftrength at prefent was inconfiderable, and who were belides divided among themfelves, would reunite, and that at laft difputes about words, would lead to arms and a revolt. You have revoked all the edicts which your royal predeceiTorj contrary to his inclinations, publifhed againft the proteftants and. againft yourfelf. After a glorious peace, both with your own fub- je£ts and with foreign nations, you have by a third edict, confirmed the edicts already eftablifhed in favour of proteftants ; you have fecured to them their habitations, their property, and their honour; you have even advanced fome of them to the firft dignities of the ftate, wi.h the hope that, hatred and animofity fubfiding, the una- nimity prefcribed by your edicts would more fpeedily take place, that the minds of the public would regain their former ferenity, and that the cloud of their paffions being difpelled, they would be more capable of chufing what was beft in religion ; I mean, what would be found moft conformable to antiquity. As thefe confideration c , Sire, as well as my own experience and your Majefty's example, have convinced me that I ought to con- tribute every thing in my power to the peace of the church, I have endeavoured not to fpeak ill of any perfon. 1 have mentioned the Prote:tants with efteem, particularly fuch as have diftirigujflied. themfelves by their learnings On the other hand, I have not dif- fembled the defe&s of thole of our own party, perfuaded, as many (' 79 ) very virtuous men are, that we deceive ourfJves if we imagine that our own vices and fcandals do not contribute more than the malice and artifice of fedtaries, to the extending and ftrengthening the many and various herefies which at prefent difturb tho world. I cenceive that the true way of remedying both the immoralities of the oppofite party, as well as our cwn vices, is to banifh from the ftate every fpecies of bafe traffic ; to lecomptnce merit ; to chufe for the guides of the church, men of learning and piety, of an exemplary life, and a prudence snd moderation that has been put to the proof ; to raife to the firft honours of the irate, not WOfthlefs perfons who have no other claim than favour or wealth, but thefe who have rendered ihemfelves refpeclable by an eftablifhed integrity, by a foiid piety, by a true difintereftednefs, in a word, by the fole recommendation of their virtue. Upon no other plan can peace be rendered durable. Nations muff, unavoidably fall to ruin, if in the diftribution of offices the fovereigns cannot diffinguifh the hone If from the depraved ; and if, according to the ancient proverb, " they let the hornets devour what belongs to the bees." Vices obferve no meafure and keep within no bounds. Their progrefs is like that of bodies which roll down a precipice ; nothing can flop them but their own deftrucfion. , But virtue (as bimonides exprefies it) refembles a cube ; it refifts, by the firmnefs of its bafe, all the revolutions of the world and of fortune. As it accom- modates itfelf to different ftates of life, it keeps the mind of man in a ftate of liberty that nothing can deftroy ; it is fatisfied with itfelf, and felf'fufficient to every thing. Since then it is of fo great utility, the ftate that properly efteems it, and beftows upon it the honours to which it is entitled, will be able, without increafing the public treafury, and even by relieving the burthens of the people, to confer liberalities on its meritorious citizens *, ARTICLE XIII. ExtraEis from the. Sixtieth and Sixty-fifth of the Perfian Letters of Mont e f qui eu. THOU afkeft me if there are any jews in France ? Know, that throughout the world wherever there is money, there are jews. Thcu inquireft what they do here? The very fame they do in Perfia : nothing more refembles a jew in Afia, than a jew in Europe. They fhow among the chriftians, as among us, an invincible obftinacy for their religion, which they carry to th c • Both Prefident de Thou and Mr. Turgst have been yery fuccefsful in exhibiting paflagej in favour of religious liberty, height ( 8° ) height of folly. The religion of the jews is an old trunk which hath produced two branches, which have covered all the earth, I mean chriftianity and mahometanifm : or rather, it is a mother who hath brought forth two daughters, who have covered her with a thoufand wounds ; for, with refpecr. to religion, its neareft friends are its greateft enemies. But as ill as fhe has been treated by thefe, fhe doth not ceafe to glory in having produced them ; fhe ferves herfelf of both to encompafs the whole world ; whilft on her own part, her venerable age embraces all ages. The jews confi- der themfelves as the fource of all holineG, and the origin of all religion : they, on the other hand, look upon us as hereticks who have changed the law, or rather as rebellious jews. If the change had been gradually effected, they think they might have been ea- iily feduced ; but as it was fuddenly changed and in a violent manner, as they can point out the day and the hour of the birth of the one and the other, thev are offended at finding us reckoning our religion by ages, and therefore adhere firmly to a religion, not preceded in antiquity by even the world itfelf. They never en- joyed in Europe a calm equal to the prefent. Chriftians begin to lay afide that intolerating lpirit which formerly influenced them. Spain hath experienced the bad confeouence of having expelled the jews, and France of having worried the chriftians, whofe faith dif- fered a little from that of the prince. They are nowfenfible that a zeal for the prog refs of religion is different from that attachment which ought to be preferved towards her. It is to be wifhed that our muffulmans would think as rationally upon this fubject as the Chriftians, that we might, in good earneft, make peace between Hali and Abubeker, and leave to God the care of deciding the pretenfions of thefe holy prophets. Thou knoweft Mirza, that fome of the minifters of Cha Soli- man, had formed a defign to oblige all the Armenians in Perfia to quit the kingdom, or to embrace Mahometanifm, from a conceit that our empire would be always defiled as long as fhe protected thefe infidels in her bofom. This had finifhed the Perfian greatnefs, if, on this cccafion blind devotion had been liftened to. It is unknown how this affair failed. Neither thofe who made the propofal, nor thofe who rejected it were fenfible of the confequences : chance did the office of reaf&n and policy, and faved the empire from a greater danger than it would have gone through from the lofs of a battle, and of two cities. By banifhing the Armenians, it is fuppofed, they would have rooted out, at once, all the traders, and very near all the artificers in the kingdom. I am certain that the great Cha Abbas, would rather have cut off both his arms, than have figned fuch an order ; and he would have been of opi- nion ( 8t ) hion, that by thus fending to the Mogul, and the other kings of the Indies, the moll induftrious of his fubjects, he had given them half hiS dominions. 1 he perfecution which our Mahometan zealots exercifed agairtfl: the Guebies, obliged them to remove in multitudes into the Indies ; and deprived Perfia of that people fo much given to tillage* and who alone by their induftry, were in a way to get the better of the fterility of our lands. there remained but one thing more for bigotry to do, that was to deftroy indufify ; and then the empire had fallen of itfelf, and with it, as a ncceflkry confe- quence, that very religion it wanted to render fo flourifhin c-— If we could realon without prejudice, I know not, Mirza, but it may bdfe good for a itate, that there fhould be feveral religions in it. It is obfervable, that the members of the tolerated re igions commonly make themfelves more ufeful to thei-- country than thofe of the eftablilhed religion; becaufe, being excluded from all honours, they can only render themfelves confiderable by their opulence ; they are led to acquire this by their iuduftry, and to embrace the molt toil- fome employments in the fociety. Befides, as all religions contain precepts uleful to fociety, it is good that they mould ha obferved with zeal. Now what is there more capable of animating this zeal than a multiplicity of religions ? Thc;y are rivals who never forgive any thing. This jealoufy defcends to individuals j each keeps upon his guard, and is cautious of doing; any thing that may difhonour his party, and expofe it to the contempt and unforgiving eenfures of the oppolite party. Acco-oingly it ha3 always been obfervedj that a new feel introduced into a Irate, hath been the moll certain means of reforming all the abufes of the old one. It lignifies nothing to fay, that it is not the prince's intereft to permit feveral religions in his kingdom. Though all the feels in the wurld were to get together in it, it would not be any preju- dice to it ; for there is not one that doth not enjoin obedience, and that doih not preach up fubmiffion. — I acknowledge that hiftory is full of religious wars : but we mufv. take care to oolerve, it was not the multiplicity of religions that produced thele wars, it was the intolerating fpirit which animated that which thought fhe had the power of governing. It was the fpirit of profelyrifm, which the Jews contracted from the Egyptians, and which from them hath palled, like an epidemic and popular dill-af.-, to Mahometans and Chriftians. It is in fhort, the fpirit of enthuliafm ; the pro- grefs of which can b: confidered only as a total eclipfe of humaifc. reafon. For indeed if there was nothing of inhumanity in forcing the confeience of another, though there did not arife from it any of thofe bad effects which fpring from it by thoufands, it would be folly to advile it He who would have me change my religion, no doubt, defires me to do fo, becaufe he would not change his own if he was forced to it : he yet thinks it ft range, that 1 will not do a thing which he hnnfelf would not do, perhaasj for the empire of the world. M ARTICLE ( 82 ) ARTICLE XIV. SubJIance of Mr. Keeker's Opinion rcfpccling religious Liberty^ taken f rom his Work on the Importance of Religious Opinions. REligion is not the natural origin of wars and troubles ; for it inculcates charitv, which gets the better of intolerance. In any event it has never been the fol? agent of mifchief ■ and if we are to object to it on account of its wars, what /hull we fav to commerce, which has been the fource of like evils ? Befides, thefe •ifchiefs are now brought to an end ; and (hall wc throw down the building the moment it becomes to be fettled on its bafe r — After Come remarks of this fort, M. Necker proceeds to the fubject of intolerance. He computes that the furface of the earth equals enly the two hundred and fortieth part of the fuptrficies of the various globes moving about the fun, and that if every part of the heavens contained onlv as many funs in proportion, as Dr. Herfchell has actually difcovered in one part, that our globe would only make the 1 7,COO,cco,CCO part of the probable planetary furface. ' Shall * the inhabitants then (fays he) of this grain of fand ; (hall a few ' of our number pretend that they alone know the manner in which ' we ought to worfhip the fupreme mafter of the world ? Their * habitation is a point in the infinity of fpace ; their life only one of 1 thofe innumerable moments that compofe eternity ; their time ■ but the twinkling of an eye in that fucceflion of ages, in which ' generation after generation is loft, and new generations difappear. ' And will they dare announce to prefent and to future times, 1 that divine vengeance cannot be elcaped, if we varv in the leaf! 4 from the ufe and practice of their worfhip ? What idea have they ' of the relation eftablifhed between one God of the univerfe, and 1 the atoms difperfed in the vaft empire of nature ? Let them raifc, ' if thev can, with their feeble hand'-, one of the ends of that veil ' which covers fo man")' myfteries ; let them confider a moment, ' the prodigies that roll over their heads j 1st them attempt to pafs ' that awful immenfitv which their view cannot penetrate, nor their * imagination furround ; and let them determine whether it is by ' their outward appearance, the noiie of their inftruments, the into- * nation of their chants, or the pomp of" their ceremonies, that this * all-powerful God is to know them, r.nd diftinguifh their homa- * £cs. Is it by the pride of our opinions, that we fha.Il think to * reach the fupreme being ? Is it not more temperate and reafonable, ' to think that all the people of the earth have accefV to his throne - f ' and that the fovereign mafter of the univerfe has permitted us to * raife ourfehes to him by a profound fentimcnt of love and grati- * tude, the furelt tie between man and his creator? — It mult be to fuppofe the mind material, fays M. Necker, to (ay that it can be acled upon by force. ARTICLE ( «3 ) ARTICLE XV. the Speech of Man/. ' Rabaud de Saint Etienne, A PROTESTANT MINISTER, % In the National Afiembly of France, on Thurfday, the fcwenty- feventh of Auguft, 1789. The Qtiefticn was,—-" Whether anyperfon ought either to be mo/efrd on recount of " bis religious- opinions, or Marred from his adherence ta that form of wjbip W ofuchich he mqfl approves?" I RISE as the delegate of a numerous and refpecfable body of It conftituents. The bailiwick which I have the honour to re- prefent contains five hundred thoufand inhabitants, amongfl whom one hundred and twentv thoufand are proteftants ; and in this mul- titude I have the pleaiure to be included. They have mlrrufted me to aP<<. for an impartial code ; and, upon this ocqafion, I am confident that I can unaniwerably eftablifh the juftice and the propriety of their, requefh The rights which I claim, and. in the Support of which I am now ready to contend, belong equally to you and to ourfelves. They are not merely the rights of the French : They are the rights of all mankind ! He who attacks the freedom of his fellow-creatures is only fit to live in flavery ! Freedom is a privilege, at once facred and inviolable, which men brin°- with them into the world, and which is defigned to influence rhe whole of their opinions. The freedom of thought is para- mount to all power whatfoever ; and its fanftuary is the heart ! — To fetter the confeience is injuftice ! to enfnare or to reb.-l againft it is an aft of facrilege : but, to torture it by the attempt to force its feelings from their propriety, is horrible intolerance ; it is the molt abandoned violation of all the maxims of morality and i*Ueion! Error, far from being guilt, is truth in the idea of the perfon by whom it has been embraced. Wheie is the man who can either prcfume to aflert that bis reafoning and cenfequent pro- cedures are unexceptionable, or venture pofitively to decide againft the fuppoied miftaken fentiments and conduct of his neighbour ? A form of wotihip is a tenet :. a tenet depends upon opinion : and opinion and liberality are infeparable. To endeavour to compel one perfon to receive a tenet different from that which may have bi-en entertained by another, is a direcl attack againft liberty ! It is intolerant ; and, of courle, unjuft : it is that kind of perfecutidr, which ( s 4 ) which, whilft- it infults a manly and independent ftyle of thinking, abets and cherifbes hypocrify ! The laft edict which profefles to be in favour of thofe who are not within the pale of the catholic church, grants to them only fiich, indulgences as it was i?r}pojfible to have refufed. This i<;, word for word, the language of the king, who, in his edict, ufes thefe terms : / fpeak cf the right of legalifmg their marriages and their baptifms, and of the per/mjfion to bury their dead." O humiliating concef- fions ! O degraded Frenchmen! And, is it in this enlightened country, and during the eighteenth century, that the nation remains divided into two claffe?, one of which has lon^; groaned under pro- fcriptions fhocking in the extreme? I will fpeak out at once, and tell this aflembly, that the pretended gift of the laft year was received with fhame and concern. We fcorn to prove guilty of hypocrify : at leaft, we will not degrade ourfelves into the objects of your difdain ; but, if it be our hard fate flill to experience your jealoufy and your perfecution, we will maintain uniullied the true principle of French honour, one great criterion of which is a contempt for that diflimulation which would debate the intention of the legif- lature. We do not folicit favours : we afk only for ja/lice; and, doubtlef?, that impartial liberty which reigns in this allcmblv will, never fuffer juftice to be difpenfed by partial diftributions. The proteftants are, all, for their country ; and, yet, this -country has not granted to them any benefits : thai/ have no motive t nor Ihould any one be compelled to that which the law does not re- quire. V. The law is an expreffion of the wilt of the community. All citizens have a right to concur, either perfonallv, or by their reprefentatives, in its formation. It Ihould be the fame to all, whether it protedls or punifhes ; and ail being equal in its fight, are equally eligible to all honours, places, and employments, ac- cording to their different abilities, without any other dillinction than that created by their virtues and talents. VI. No man ought to be molefted on account of his opinions, not even on account of his religious opinions, provided his avov/a! of them does not diiturb the public order eftablinhed by the law. VII. The unreftrained communication of thoughts and opi- nions being one of the moft precious rights of man, every citizen may fpeak, write, and publiih freely, provided he is refponfible for the abufe of this liberty in cafes determined by the law. VIII. A public force being nece/Tary to give fecurity to the rights of men and of citizens, that force is inftituted for the be- nefit of the community, and not for the particular benefit of the perfons with whom it is entruftcd. Dec. 24, 1789, in pursuance of thefe generous fentiments, the National Afiembiy decreed, lit. That non-catholics who fhall in other r^fpccls have fulfilled the conditions prefcribed in its pre- ceding decrees, whether as electors, or as perfons eligible, may. be chofen without exception into any of the fituations of" ad- miniftration. 2d. That non-catholics are capable of all employ- ments civil and military, equal with other citizens ; nothing being hereby decided, neverthelefs, reflecting the jews, upon whofe con- dition the National Affembly referves to itfelf hereafter to pro- nounce. — Moreover, no motive of exclufion can be op'pofed to the. eligibility of any citizen, excepting fuch as fliall refult from the decrees made concerning the conftitution. N. B. ( «7 ) N. B. A fair profpeet has fmce opened in favor of the whole body of the jew;, in France. ARTICLE XVII. An Atl for cftablijhing Religious Freedom, pajfed in the Ajjlmbh ?f Virginia, in the beginning of the Year 1786. WELL aware, that Almighty God, has created the mind free: that all attempts to influence it by temporal ptinifhments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrify, and are a departure from the plan or the Holy Author of our religion, who being lord of body and mind, yet chofe not to propagate it by coercions on either ; — that the impious prefumption of legiflators and riders, civil and ecclefiaflical (who being them- felves but fallible and uninfpired men, have afTumed dominion over the faith of others, letting up their own opinion and modes of * thinking as alone true and infallible, and as fuch endeavouring to impofe them on others), hath eftabliihed and maintained falle reli- gions over the greateft part of the world, and through all time; — that to compel a man to furnifb contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he difbelieves, is finful and tyran- ' nical ; — that even the forcing a man to fupport this or that teacher of his own religious perfuafion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular paftor, vvhofe morals he would make his pattern and whofe powers he feels mod perfuafivc t» righteoufnefs ; and withdrawing from the miniirry, thofe temporal rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their perfonal conduit, are an additional incitement to earned and unremitted labours for the iniiruction of mankind; — that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, more than on our opinions in phyfic or geometry; — that, therefore, the prescrib- ing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence, by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trult and emolument, unlcfs he profefs or renounce this or that religious opinion, is de- priving him injuriouily of tiiofe privileges and advantages to which in common with his fellow-citizens, he has a natural right ; and tends alfo to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honors and emoluments, thole who will externally conform to it ; — that though indeed thofe arc criirunal wao dp not withftand fuch temptations, yet ( 88 ) Vet neither are thofe innocent who lay them in their way ; — that to l'uffer the civil magiftrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to reftrain the profeflion or propagation of principles on a fuppofition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once deftroys all religious liberty j becaufe he, being of courle judge of that tendency, will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the ientiments of others, only as they £hall agree with or differ from his own ; that it is time enough for the rightful purpofes of civil government, for its orncers to inter- pofe, when principles break out in overt acts againft peace and good order ; — and finally, that truth is great, and will prevail if left to herfeif ; is the proper and fufficient antagonift to error; and can have nothing to fear from the conflict, unlels (by human interpofition) difarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate ; errors ceafing to be dangerous, when it is permitted freely to contradict, them : " Be it therefore enacted by the general affembly, that no man fliall be compelled to fupport any religious worfhip, place, or miniftry whatsoever ; nor fhall be forced, reftrained, molefted or burthened in his body or goods, nor fhall otherwife fuffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief : but all men be free to profefs, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion ; and that the fame mail in no wife diminifh, enlarge, or affe£t their civil capacities. " And though we well know that this affembly, elected by the people for the ordinary purpofes of legiflation only, have no power to reftrain the acts of iucceeding affemblies, conftituted with powers equal to our own ; and that therefore, to declare this act irre- vocable, would be of no effect in law ; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rishts hereby afferted, are natural rights of mankind ; and that if anv act fhall be hereafter paffed to repeal the prefent, or to narrow its operation, fuch act will be no infringe- ment of natural-rights." ARTICLE XVIII. A Parable againjl Perftctdkn, by Dr. Franklin, in bnitation of- Scripture Language ; founded up;n a fewijh Tradition *. AND it came to pais after thefe things, that Abraham fat in the door of his tent, about the going down of the fun. And behold a man bent with age, coming from the way of the wildernefs leaning' • « The following mtaMc a^aint perfecution was communicated ro me,' fays Lord 'Kairo?, ' by Duftsr FrankHn, of Philadelphia, a man who makes a great ne>ireinths f s 9 ] leaning on a ft»fi\ And Abraham arofe and met hi'm, and faid Unto him, turn .in I pray thee and walh thy feet, and tarry all night; and thou fhalt arife early in the morning, and "go on thy way. -And the man faid, nay; for I will abide under this tree. But Abraham prefled him greatly : fo he turned and they went into the tent : and Abraham baked unleavened bread, and they did eat. And when Abraham faw that the man bleffed nor God, he faid unto him, wherefore doft thou not worfhip the molt high God, creator of heaven and earth ? And the man anfwered and faid, I do not worfhip thy God, neither do I call upon his name; for I have made to mvfeif a God, which abideth always in my houfe, and provideft me with all things. And Abraham's zeal was kindled againlt the man, and he arofe, arid fell upon him, and drove him forth with blows into the wildernefs. And Gcd called unto Abraham, faying, Abraham, where is the flranger ? And Abraham anfwered and faid, Lord, he would not worfhip thee, neither would he cail upon thy name ; therefore have I driven him out from before my face into the wiidernefs. And God faid, have I borne with him thefe hundred and ninety and eight years, and nourifhed him and clothed him, notwithstanding his rebellion againft mc ; and could'fl: not thou who art thyfelf a finntr, bear with him one night ? Extracts from 0lfervatidns_6ri the Peopling of Countries^ ?Sc. By the fame* THE great increafe of offspring in particular families is not always owing to greater fecundity of nature, but fometimes to examples of induftry in the heads, and induftf ious education ; by which the children ate enabled to provide better for themfclve v , and their marrying early is encouraged from the profpedt of good rubfiftence. If there be a feci: therefore, in our nation, that regard frugality and induftry as religious duties, and educate their children therein, more than others commonlv do ; fuch feet muft confe- quently increafe more by natural generation, than any other fe£t in Britain *. ' learned world ; and who would ftill make a greater figure fcr benevolence and can- '^dour, were virtue as much regarded in this declining; age as knowledge. ' 1 he hiitor.cal flylg o: the Old eliamcnt is here finely imitated ; and the moral rauft * ftrike every one who is not funk in ftupidity and fupefltitioft. Were it really a chapter of Generis, one is apt to think, that ptifecutioa could never have fhown a bate face ' amone the lews or Chriftians. Eut, alas ! that is a yaLfl thought. Such a pafTage in " the Old Tcdament, would avail as little a?,:in(r. the rancorous psffions of men, as * the lo'l. wing paffages in th« New Teftamcnt, though perfecutbn cannot be con- ' clemned in terms more explicit. " He that i; weak in the faith lecoive you, but not 'to doubtful cii'fputafions. For, &c." * See another lei^r by Dr, Franklin on the fuhjeft of religious liberty, in this collection, paje 6a. N ARTICLE I 90 ) ARTICLE XIX. Qxtratl from the Ad.irejs of the Religious Society called ^hiakers, from their yearly Meeting for Penfylvania, Neiv-Jerfey, Delaware, and the IVeftern Parts of Mary- land and Virginia, to the Prefident of the United State, Oil. 1789. The free toleration which the citizens of thefe dates enjoy in the public worfliip of the Almighty, agreeable to the dictates of their confeiences, we efleem among the choiceft of bleilings ; — and as we defire to be filled with fervent charity for thofe who differ from us in faith and practice, believing that the general affembly of faints is compofed of the fincere and upright hearted of all nations, king- doms, and people, fo we truft we may jufdy claim it from others : and in a full perfuafion, that the divine principles we profefs, leads unto harmony and concord, we can take no part in carrying on war, on any occafion of under any power, but are bound in confeience to lead quiet and peaceable lives, in goJlinefs andhonefty, amongft- men, contributing freely our proportion to the indigencies of the poor, and to the neceflary fupport of civil government, acknowledging thole who rule well to be worthy of double honour ; and if any, profefhng with us, are or have. been of a contrary diipofition or conduct, we own them not therein •> having never been chargeable, from our rirft ellablifhmcnt as a religious fc.cicty, with fomenting or countenancing tumults or confpiracies, or difrefpect to thofe who are put in autho- rity over us. Tbe AnfvJtr of the Prefident of the United States, to the Addrefs of the Religious Society called ^uaken, GENTLEMEN 7 , I received with . plcafure your affectionate Addrefs, and thank you for the friendly fentiments and good vvifhes which you txprefs for the fuccefs of my adminiftratiofl, and for my prefent hap- pinefs. We have reafon to rejoice in the profpect, that the prefent national government, which bv the favour of Divine Providence, was formed by die common counfels, and peaceably eftablilhed with the common confent of the people, will prove a Welling to every denomination of them. — To render it fuch, my belt endeavours mall not be want- ing- . ; . Government being among other purpofes inftituted to protect the pp rfons and confeiences of men from oppi emon, it certainly is the only ( 9' ) only duty of rulers not only to abftain from it themfelves, but accord- ing to their {rations to prevent it in others. The liberty enjoyei by the people of thefe States of worfliipping Almighty (Jod agreeably to their consciences, is not only among the choiceftof their blefftngs^ but alio of their rights. While men per- form their focia! duties faithfully, they do all that fociety or tne State can with propriety demand or expect, and remain refponiible only to their Maker for the religion or modes of faith which they may pre- fer or profefs. Your principles and conduct are well known to me, and it is doing the people called Quakers no more than juftice to fay, that (except their declining to (hr.re with others the burthen of the common defence) there is no denomination among us who are more exemplary and ufeful citizens. I allure you. very explicitly, that,, in my opinion, the confeientious fcruples of all men mould be treated with great delicacy and tender- nefs ; and it is my wifli and defire, that the laws may always be as extenfively accommodated to them, as a due regard to the pro- tection and ellentiai interefts of the nation, may juffify and per- mit. GEORGE WASHINGTON. Extract from an Addrefs of the Convention of the Proteflant Epifco- pal Church, in the States of Nezu York, Neiv ferfey, Penjylva- niciy Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina, at Philadelphia, jth Augujl, 1789, to General Walhington, Pre- fident of the United States of America. PERMIT us to add, that as the reprefentatives of a numerous and extended church, we moft thankfully rejoice in the election f of a civil ruler defervedly beloved, and eminently diilinguifhed among the friends of genuine religion — who has happily united a tender regard for other churches with an inviolable attachment to his own. Extract from General Wafhington'j Ahfwen THE confideration that human happinefs and" moral duty are infeparably connected, will always continue to prompt me to pro- mote the progrefs of the former, by inculcating the practice of the latter. — On this occafion it will ill become me to conceal the joy I have felt in perceiving the fraternal affection which appears to en- t They fay it is the firft inflance known of a governor appointed by unanimous, con- fern —General WaJhingron' it is to be obLrved is a member of the Epilcppai Church, and a great obferver of attendance upon public worfbip of Sunday s. creaie 92 ) creafe every day among the friends of genuine religion, It af- fords edifying proipects "indeed, to fee chriitians of different de- nominations dwell together in more charity and conduit them- felves in relpect to each other with a more chriftiaii like fpirit, than ever they have done in any former age, or in any other na- tion. ARTICLE XX. Fafis and Observations refpeEling the fituatipn cf the Jetvs in England. IT is difficult to afcertain at what time the Jews fir ft fettled in England, but there feem to have been confiderable numbers of them eliablifhed here before the conqueft.* — Thofe numbers were much encreafed by William the Conqueror, who, for aftipulated fum of money, brought hither a pretty large colony of Jews from Rouen, in Normandy. — Under his luccell'ors, down to the time of Edward the I ft, there were fo many of that religion relident in England, that particular ordinances weie made for their government, a pe- culiar court of juftice was appropriated, and a judge appointed for the determination of their luits ; and thev were allowed to have a Jury de ?nedietate :f But neither their numbers, nor their riches (which appear to luve been very confiderable) gained them any re- fpeir. On the contrary, they were treated with the utmolt con- tempt and cruelty, by all orders of men. They were diftinguifhed by a peculiar drefs,§ looked on as the meaneft vaflals, as the Alb- lute properly of the crown, and as an order of beings fo much in- ferior to the human fpecies, that to contract marriage with them was clafied among the moft infamous crimes, and pujihhed with death. || The monarchs of thofe times, whofe tyranny over their other fubjedls often met with very formidable oppofition iiom the great Barons • Seethe Archceologia, vol. 8. p. 389. f Prymie's Dem. pt. 1. p. 105. $ Stat, de Judaijmo, feet. 4. 2. Spelm. Concil. 18S, 387. Piynr.e's Dem. 2 pt. p. 18. 101. || Conirahenies eu-n Juda'u vel Judaabus, pecora-jies, & So.hmtce in terra •vivi canj'oMzntur — F leta, Lib. i.e. 37. — By a council held at Wojtefer, in 114.0", it was forbidden all Christian women to give i'uclc to any Jewifh child. Prokibemus etiean fub ir.ttrminatione anatbemaiis, te tnulicres Cryrifilana fucros nitnani Judaorum. By the council of Exeter, held in 1187, Ch;iitian« were forbidden to at with Jews, or even to accept medicines from them when fick. z S&elm. Canal, sc5, 386. \Vhit ( ,93 - s) Barons, and from haughty churchmen, found in the Jews a people over whom they might exercife their pride, their rapacioufneis, and their cruelty, without rehftance or control. It is true, that thefe crimes of the Norman Kings were difguifed under the name of puniihments for very great enormities imputed to the Jews ; fuch as the frequent crucifying of children at Ealter, in derifion of Jefus Chrift ; but thefe enormities, it has been well oblerved, were never heard of but at times when the king's coffers required to be ic- plenifned % The tyranny indeed of the crown, when exercifed over this un- happy race, far from being refifted, items even to have been popular • and, upon fome occafions, the people who were nearly in a irate of flavery themlelves, took upon them to play the tyrants, and to perfecute the jewsf with unrelenting barbarity. A very memorable inftance of this kind happened at the coronation of Richard ift, when the populace of London and of feveral other cities, plundered and mafiacred, in cold blood, every Jew who fell into their hands ; and that for no other crime, than becaufe fome few of that religion iyd, dared, with their profane eyes, to fully fo holy a fpe&acle. All the other outrages which were offered to this devoted race pre, as well as this, to be imputed, in a great degree, to the fuper- ftition of thofe times, predominant aliice over the princes and the What is mentioned by Fleta fcems to have been the law in moll of the countries in Europe. Even fo late as in the reign of Philip id, we find in the Woilcof a celebrated Flemifli lawyer, JofTe de Damhoudere, which is entitled fraclique '] udiciare es caufes cr 'wi'inelles and was printed at Antwerp in i 564, the following paflage : It is in the chapter Du ullain et enorme peche conlre Nature. II y a encores line autre efpece, laquelle femble avoir participation & affinite avec les fuldiftes efpeces : Car elle n'elt denatuielle, mais toutefois a. la con- fideration $c regard tie notre foy, eft pour telle tenue & reputce, & les malfaic- teurs punis coitirae fodomites ; aiTc,avoir ceux, cjui ont a faire avtc Turcs, Sarrafms, ou Juifz : Car iceux les droicls & notre faincle foy ne les tienncnt pour autres quebeftes ; non pas par nature, mais pourleur ties dure malice. X Another crime of which the Jews were acuil'ed, was the circumcifing of Chritlian children. — Mr. Seldcn has cited a record of one of thefe convictions, which was made upon the teitimony of a great number of witnefies, as well laymen as priefts, that the part, fuppofed to have been circumcifcd, was fwoln. Afterwards, upon the requifition of the Jews, the child was infpe£led, when he appealed to be uncircumcifcd : but this, fays Mr. Selden, was not repugnant to the former teftimony, feeing, by fuigery, the fkin may be drawn forth to an uncircumcilion ; and for this he cites fome authorities, — Selden's Works, vol. 3. p 1 46 1. f Several towns procured it to be granted to them in their charters, that no Jew fliould from theccforth refide or remain within their walls. — Molloy de jure marit- p. 471. Prynne's Pein. ut. z, p. 23. 25. people ( 94 } people, whofeem to have confidercd the perfection ant! opprrflioa of the Jews as a kind of religious crufade,^ and a lervice molt acceptable to God.<] — It is only bv fuch motives as thefe, that it is poflible to account for the conduct of Edward the ift, who in the year i 290 put the lalt hand to the perlbcution of this people,' and banifhed them all out of his dominions, on pain of death if they re- turned§ j becaufe it was a meafure which a much weaker priivce than Edward mult have feen was mantfeit-ly contrary to his intereit ; fince this people, to lay nothing of the increafe of population and of opulence, which they brought into the country, had at all times af- forded a conftant fupply of treafure to the avarice, and of victims to ^the cruelty of himfelf and his predeceifors.* In this ftate of exile the jews continued for thr^e centuries and a halt, without any attempt being- made to recall them. But when the Englifh government was changed to a republic, Holland became in many refpects an object of emulation to England, and the advan- tages which had refulted to that countrv, from a toleration of the Jews, did not efcape obfervation. The deteftation too of papifm, which at that time prevailed or rather raged in England, had infpi- red many perfons with favorable difpoiitions towards the Jews. Several motions were made in parliament in their favor,** and though none of them met with fuccefs, yet they afforded encouragement to the Jews of Amfterdam, to make fome overtures for an eftablim- ment in England. A negociatton for that purpofe was determined* X In the year 1185, a great number of jews were murdered, and their boofes pillagej by the pilgrims ami other peifons who had taken the crofs, anJ were about to fet out for Jerufalem. — Prynne's Dcm. pt. i. p. it. One of the men •who had thusgrearly enriched himfelf by the plunder of the Jews >\vas afterwards himfelf robbed and murdered bv his holt, who was likewise a Chriltian : The populace however confidered him as a faint and a martyr. :b. 13. f[ It is not a centurv ago fince the council of Jamaica petitioned King William to banifh the Jews from that iftand, becaufe they were " the de- fendants of the cruciliers of the bleflfed Jefus." Hiit. of Jamaica, vol. a. P- 4 93- § The number of Jews thus binilhed was, according to Sir Edward Coke, (» [lift. 508.) 15,060; according to Mat. Welim. (Flores hilt, an. 1290) * This expulfion of the Jews was fo acceptable to the nation, that the par- liament, by way of recompence, immediately voted the king a 1 5th.' — Prynne indeed, infills in his Demurrtr, that the baniihmentof the Je*s was not an act of the kind's, but a legislative acf, done with the confent of parliament. The Englim^nation i'eems to have the difgrace of having firft fet tlie example of this, cruel treatment of the Jews ; an example which was afterwards followed in jnoft countries in Europe : for the Jews were all banifhed out of France by Philip the Fair, in the year 1307 ; out of Caflilleby John 1, in 1430; out o5 the reft of Spain by Ferdinand, in 1492; out of Portugal, by Emanuel, in 14.07 j out of Germany, in 1385; and out of Sicily and Naples in 1539, bj tharles 5th. *• Thuiioe's State Papers, vol. I. p. 387. on ( 95 ) on, and Menafleh Ben Ifrael was chofen to condu£t it. That venerable Rabbi § accordingly came into England; and prevailed jfo far with Cromwell, that the Protector took the Propofals which he made on behalf of his brethren into ferious confideration. — That he might prooceed with more caution, Cromwell fummoned to his council two of thejudges, (even citizens, and fourteen clergy- men for their advice ; and the quelfions lie propofed to them were, whethei it were lawful to re-admit the Jews into England ; and if it were, upo.i what terms they fhould be admitted. But after four days had b.-en fpent in difputation among the minifters, Cromwell difmified them without coming to any determination, and afiured them that they had left him much more uncertain than they found him The proieel: of recalling the Jews feems at this period to have been very unpopular with the lower ranks of the people, % and even with fome perform of education and learning. Among thefe, die perfon moft active in his oppofuion to the Jews, was William Prynne ; a hirrifter, then already diiiinguiihed for the learning and ftiil more for the boldnets of his publications in the reign of Charles I. and during the common- wealth, and for the extraordinary fevre- rities which he had fuftered, under both thofe governments. In order to prevent the fuccefs of the application made by the Jews, or to ufe his own words, that he might raife " a perpetual bar to " the anti-chriiHan Jews' re-admifiion into England, both in that " new-fangled age and all future generation-," jj he publilhed a work in two p2rts, which he entitled " a fliort demurrer to the "Jews long difcontinued barred remitter into England." This work, which feems to have been intended not only to difpofe the nation to refufe admittance to the Jews, but likewiie to terrify the Jews themfelves and difguil them with the project, contains a very faithful narrative of the pretended crimes and real fuft'erings of the Jews under the Norman Kings, till the time of their banimment. That banishment the Author infills was by act of parliament, and therefore he contends that it was by parliament alone that they could be recalled. * That the recall of the Jews would be impious, he feeks to prove by many texts of fcripture ; by the following among $ See Di£V tie Morei i. art. MemfTeh Ben Ifrael. f See a narrative of this tranfa&ion printed at the time, and referred to in Tovey's Anglia Judaica, p. 268. See 100 Tluuloe's State Papers, vol. IV. I Prynne tells us, that as he walked along the ftreet<, he heard the beg- gars and poor people complaining that they muft all turn Jews, and that there would he nothing If ft for the poor. Dem. pt. 1. Addrel's to the reader, p. 4., 6ee too Dem. pt. 1, p. 72, ioi. !| Dem.pt, 2. Addrefsto the reader, andpt. 1 p, 116, * Dem, pt, j, p, 65, 74, ethers ( 9« ) Others u Salt is good, but if the fait have loft its favor, wherewifh ■ fhall it be feafoned r"§ " it is neither fit for the land nor yet for * the dunghill, but to be cart: out and trodden under foot of men " f " This" he adds % " is the condition of the Jews, who have loft st both their Saviour and their favor too : Therefore not fit for our • land, nor yet for our dunghills, but to be caft out from among us, "and trodden underfoot of all chriftian men, while unbelievers." That it would be impolitic^ he contends ; becaufe the nation was ■ already overborn/ with native Englifhmen,"|| and beca'jfe the Jews were aliens and foreigners, and foreigners ousbt not to be re- ceived in England from whence thev had been frequently banifhed tf by our anceftors as the greateft pefts, inconveniences, and " grievances to the natives. * Nature he favs will not that fheep • mould be afTociated with wolves, neither will prudence, that *' natives mould be coupled with foreigners ; as locufts are to the tt corn, fo are foreigners to the republic ; they devour the fruit ■ of the commonwealth." § He infifts, that in fuch an apoftatizing age, it was to be feared the Jews would make many converts ; f and that Jefuits and popifh priefts would probably come into Eng- land under the difguife of Jews. § To the argument, that admit ting the Jews into England would be the means of their converfion to chriftianity, he anfwers, that " God can convert them in any ■ other country as well as in England,''** and that fuch individuals of that religion as really wanted to be converted to chriftianity, might be fafely admitted, but the reft ought to be excluded.* The argu- ment that they would bring wealth to the ftate, he defpifes as worldly, carnal and fcnfual ; and he afks whether the Englifh ought, like Judas, to betray and fell their Saviour Chrift to the Jews for thirty pieces of filver ; and he denies that the Jews would enrich any but themfelves. He fays, that the Jews " have little reafon * to deiire to replant themfelves in England, where their anceftors, u in times paft fuftained fo many miferies, maflacres, affronts, op- *' preffions and fleccings upon all occafions, and themfelves can 44 expeft little better ufage for the future f and, after having men- tioned the arbitrary and exorbitant taxes which were formerly im- $ Matt. V. i j. f Luke XIV. 34, 35. J Dem. pt. 1, p. 7S. f Dcm. pt 1, 82, 93. * Ibid, 97, 98. $ Thefe are not Prynne's own words, but he citea thera with apparent ^probation from the Sph:era Civitatis of Dr. J. Cafe. IjDcm. pt. j, p. 89. § Ibid. i ** Dem. pt. 1, p. no. * Ibid, 114.. § Ibid, iao. | Ibid, 66. pofei ( 97 ) pofed on them, he afks, c< are not their taxes, in cafe they will noW " return, likely to be more high, frequent, and oppreffive f " | What was the effect of this publication, and what the final refult of Cromwell's deliberations, does not appear. Some writers mdeed pofitively alTert, that he did give the Jews pcrmifilon to fettle here ; || but others * contend, that this permiffion was not given till after the reftoration of Charles II. in the year i 66.}. or 1665. From the time when the Jews under this permiffion re-efiablifhed themfelves in England, they have always been as to all civil rights, exactly in the fame fituation as chriftian protectants. Thofc who were aliens, fuhject to no more reftricfions or difabilities than were impofed on other aliens, and thofe born in England entitled to all the rights of natural born fubje&s. It may feem perhaps preiumptubus, to ftate fo pofitively what the law is, upon a fubjeft, on which Mr. Jufticc Black.it one § has ftudiouily avoided giving any opinion ; but the time when that learn- ed Judge Wrote, and much more the ejaculation with which he clofes his account of the naturalization act f, give rcafon to fuppcfe, that his referve upon this occafion proceeded from timidity, and an unwillingnefs to revive a controvcrfy which had been carried on with great intemperance ; father than from any doubt which he entertained upon the fubjecE It has been pretended indeed; that Jews are incapable of holding lands ; and in filpport of that affartion has been cited an acl of parliament, faid to have pnffed in the 54th year of the reign of Henry III. and printed by Dr. Tovey in his Anglia Judaica from an ancient manufciipt in the Bodleian library, but this act does not exift among the parliament rolls, has never been printed among the ftatutes, is not mentioned by any of our law Miters cither 2nclent or modern,and does not appear to have been ever recognized by any of our courts of juftice *. With refpedt to their reiigious rights, there may be more doubt, for though they do in fact enjoy perfeft toleration, yet it is a toleration for which the law feems to afford them no fecurity, the benefits of the Toleration Act f being exprefsly confined to fuch only as da X Dem. pt, 2, p. 131 ; and in another place (pt. 2, p. 76) befay e ; " if the wealthy Jews in foreign parts have a dttire to be impovenihed and fleeced " of all their wealth, by inceflant arbitrary annual taxes impoied on them « 4 at the air-lfor's pleafure, let them now come i- to England." j| Among others, Burnet in the hiftory cf his own times. * Particularly Tovey in his Ar.glii Judaica. § I BJ. Com. 375. f " Peace be now to its manes." ,* The Jews did in fa£l before their banimment pofl'efs real eftates. This appears by Edw. I. inimedietely after their baniftiment, fazing upon all their houl'es and lands, as if efcheated to him, and granting them out to different tubjefl:. Prynne* Dem. part, ii, p. 117. t 1 W.andM. flat. i. c. 18, O not ( 9S ) not deny "the Trinity; and in the year 174.3, Lord Hardwicke, the then Lord Chancellor, decided that a legacy of a fum of mo- ney to found an inflitution for reading the Jewifh law, was illegal and void, as heing for the propagation of a religious belief con- trary to chriftianity, which is part of the law and conftitution of the kingdom %. Foreign Jews too labour under this difadvantagc, that though the flat, of the 13 Geo. c. 7, has enabled them to become natural fubje<5ts by a refidence of feven years in the American colonies, yet they cannot be naturalized by any other means, becaufe the flat, of 7 Jac. I. c. 2, enadts, that no perfon fhall be naturalized, who has not received the Sacrament within a month previous to his natu- ralization. To remove this teft in favour of the jews, towards whom it operated as an abfolute difability, and to enable them to prefer bills to parliament for their naturalization in common with other foreigners, an a£t of parliament was pafTed in the year 1 753. The circumftances which gave rife to it were thefe. A bill had been brought into parliament in the year 1 75 1, to declare, that all foreign proteftants mould become naturalized by refidence for a certain time in the Britifh dominions. It had been at firft propofed, that this bill mould extend to jews, as well as proteftants ; but as it was found that the bill was likely to meet with great oppofition, that part of it was abandoned, and it was confined to proteftants. The ver) circurnftance, however, by which it had been (ought to render the bill more palatable to fome perfons, made it much lefs fo to others ; and it was laid, that the only ufetul part of the mcafure was that which had been given up, for the only proteftants who would come here would be the poor and idle ; whereas wc might expect many rich jews to eftablifh themfelves amongft u;, if we gave them protection and encourage- ment. The bill was finally rejected, but this ground of oppofition to it was not forgotten. That fuch topics had been advanced without contradiction, feemed to indicate the public opinion upon the fubjefr; and thofe, who for claw the great national advantages which rnuit attend the natu- ralization of foreign jews, would notfufFer this, which feemed to be Jfo favourable an oppo"rtunitv of effecting it, topafs unimproved. The meafure however was not haftily puriucJ, for the bill to carry it into execution was not brought into parliament till March 1753. The caution with which the bill was framed, was remarkable; it was confined to the mere purpofe of enabling jews to be naturalized by parliament, and every poffible and even every imaginary danger which the rnolt timid mind could fuggeft, was guarded againft with care. t t Vciey'i Rep. 174.. That ( 99 ) That no unknown or improper perfons might be candidates for thefc advantages, it was provided that no jew ftiould be naturalized, who had not been previoufly refident three years in Great-Britain or Ireland. That they might have no influence on the eftablifhed religion, it was declared that they fhould be incapable of holding any ecclefiaftical patronage, or the right of prefentation to any church : and that roman catholics might not become natural fubjects under the difguife of jews, none were to be naturalized, who could not bring proof of their having profefled the jewiih religion during the three laft preceeding years. Yet even all thefe anxious pre- cautions did not fecure the bill an unanimous approbation, for though it paffed without debate through the Houfe of Lords where it originated, yet in the Houfe of Commons it met with very violent oppolition, in which (fuch is the fallibility of human nature) the wife and yirtuous Sir John Barnard took the lead. An opposition frill more formidable (bon difcovered itfelf out of the houfe*, and many petitions againft the bill were prcfented to the Commons. Amongft thefe, the moft remarkable was a petition from the City of London, in its corporate capacity, which in terms the moil vague, but the moil emphatic, complained that the " bill tended " greatly to the difhonor of the chriftian religion, endangered our u excellent conftitution, and was highly prejudicial to the intereft " and trade of the kingdom in general, and of the City of London *' in particular." But notwithstanding thefe fenfelefs complaints and thefe marks of public difapprobation, the bill pafi'ed the Houfe of Commons by a very large majority, and received the royal aflent.. The enemies however to the meafure, far. from being difcouraged by the defeat which they had fuffered, only became more violent in their oppofition. The queftion was now difciuTed in pamphlets in which not only the errecls but even the operation of the aft, be- came a fubject of difpute and almoft every topic of trade, of policy, and of religion that; could be introduced into the controverfy was exhauftcd, on one fide or other. The oppofers of 'jhe a£t contended, that it would efFect a mod alarming change in the condition of the jews ; becaufe it would enable them to purchafc lands, which the policv of the law had never .till then permitted. That it niuft prove highly inj urious to the trading part of the nation, becaufe many of the jews whom it would feduce to fettle in this country, would engage in commerce, * It was pb'fcrveij at the time that much of this oppofitioa might have been prevented, i f actiffei cut title had been "iven to the bill ; and if initcad of being called " An act to permit perfons profeffnig" the Jewiih religion to be natura- " lized," it had been entitled, " An act to prevent jev/a from, profaning the V Sacrament of the Lord's Supper*" ( ISO ) in which they could not fucceed but by the ruin of other merchant!:, of thole who had long ago embarked their fortunes in trade, and who had at great rifque and with infinite pains opened new fources of richfs to the nation; Services, which an ungrateful public was now preening to recompense by Sacrificing them to a troop of foreigners and infidels : that it muft likewiSc occafion a cpnfiderable lefs to the ltatc by a diminution of the alien's duty. That it might, it was true, allure fome perfons of opulence to fettle in England, but when it was confidered what a poor and miferable people the jews in general were, there could be no doubt that it would at the fame time deluge the kingdom with an innumerable fwarm of vagrants and pauper 1 -, who would become an infupportable evil to the country already over-burthened with its poor, That the jews were a frau- dulent, an avaricious, and a corrupted nation, ever intent upon their own immediate profit, and Grangers to all patriotifm and public fpirit. That to incorporate fuch a people amongft us, would be to corrupt our national chara&er for ever, and to engraft upon it vices which could never be reprefied. And why, it was afked, are all thefe evils to be brought upon the nation? is it to Satisfy any moral or any religious duty? Nay, on the contrary, it is to violate all duties of religion, to encourage its moft inveterate enemies, and to Softer the bittereft revilers of Jefus Chrift; it is impioufly to refift the will of God, and to attempt to lighten the heavinefs of his judgments, hncehe has declared by the mouths of his prophets, that the jews Should be a wretched and a wandering people. Why then in contempt of thefe prophecies, in contempt of their completion which has already taken place, is this officious and unprofitable zeal difcovtred in favor cf the jews, unlefs it be with a defign of in- volving this nation in the calamities which yet await that devoted people ? On the other hand it was faid, that it was affonifhing fo much clamor Should be excited by an act, which had made fo v^ry flight an alteration in our law. That the acl eltabiilhed no new prin- ciple and effected no innovation, and that it only extended the optraticn of laws which expeiience had proved to be highly bene- ficial to the country. That this was true in whatever character the objects of the bill were confidered, whether as Jews or as foreigners ; if as Jews, the people of that religion has long been Suffered to refide amongft us ; if as foreigners, foreigners might be naturalized in England ever Since the Statute cf king James the Firft. T hat Jews born in England were capable of holding lands before the pnffing of the act ; or if they were nor, the acl gave them no Such capacity. That it was true, ihe iit would as had been ri'preSented, biing many Soreigners into the kingdom, and oS thoSe toreinners many would engage in commerce j but it was Surely the ■ firft ( ioi ) Htft time that ever it had been pretended, that it was a misfortune to a country to have its inhabitants, its trade, its tnduftiy and itSj riches increafed. That it was abfurd to fuppofe, that no new ad- venturers in commerce could profper, but at the expence or the old ; as if the trade of the country had reached the utmoft limit to, which it could poiiibly be carried. That to permit Jews to be naturalized, could only bring into the country the opulent, fincc it conferred advantages on none but thofe who had wealth to lay out in land, or to improve in commerce. That if the poor and the indigent of that people were difpoled to come amongff us, there was nothing in the law as it before flood, to prevent them. That the fact however was, that none of the jewifh poor were or could be a burthen to the nation, becaufe they were always fup- poned by the rich of their own religion. That as to the character of the Jews, their religious doctrines inculcated no immoralities, fo that if they had all the vices which were laid to their chaige, it could be imputed to nothing but the reftraints, the feverities and the perfecution to which they had been expofed ; and, that caufe being removed, the effect would ceafe with it. That as to their pretended want of patriotiim and public fpirit, recent facts had clearly dif- proved it, fmce in the late rebellion fome of the Jewifll religion were the moft forward to exert themfelves in the defence of the eftablifhed government, at the rifque both of their property and their lives. I hat in the laft place, the meafure was reprefented as impious, as hoffile to religion, deftructive of the judgments of God and repugnant to his prophecies ; as if there could be any impiety in opening an afylum to thofe who were diftreffed, as if perfecution were a duty of religion, as if the judgments of God could be coun- teracted by man, or his prophecies required the aid of human concurrence to be fulfilled. That the calamities which awaited this country if they protected the jew?, were thofe only which had befallen Venice, Leghorn, Amfferdam, and every other country which had afforded them protection ; an increafe of trade, popula- tion, riches, and every kind of profperity. Such were the arguments which were ufed on either fide of this controverfy ; but arguments were not to decide it. A clamor was raifed throughout the kingdom : a general election was approaching : and the minifter, Mr. Pelham, had not courage enough to en— counter the popular odium at fuch a juncture. It was determined therefore, that the act fhould be repealed. At the enfuing feflions, there appeared in the parliament an eagernefs for the repeal, which could hardly have been furpafled, if the fate of the empire had depended on it. All parties were im- patient to fhew their zeal in fo good a caufe, and the zeal of fome $nembers was quickened by instructions and addrefTes from their coiifti. ( ) .conftituents. Among the foremoft in voting thefe addreiTes, were the freeholders of JVarwickJhire. On the very firft day of the feffions, and in both houfes of par- liament, at the fame time, a motion was made for leave to bring in a bill to repeal this obnoxious act. In the houfe of Lords, the Duke of Newcaftle himfelf made the motion - t and in the Houfe of Commons, it was made by Sir J.imes Dafhwood,. one of the leaders of oppofition ; and teconded by Lord Parker who was attached to the miniftry. The bill for the repeal met indeed with fome oppofiiion in both HouLs, particularly from Lord ) emple in the Houfe of Peers ; but all oppofition was ineffectual - y the bill for the repeal was carried through bo;h Houfes by very large ma- jorities, and was the very firft act palled in the feffi .on ; and that the difgrace of the nation might be perpetuated, the act recites as the caufe of the repeal, " that occafion had been taken from the 4i faid a£t to raife difcontents, and to difquiet the; rrund.s of his. 7 ) Tkat it is the duty of the civil power to weigh thefe pofitions, fince if the right of private judgment is once eftablifhed, the fevtary has fimply to plead the exiitence of that right, while the civil power is bound to prove the neceffity of every infringement it makes 'in it J in fhort, it is the flate which mult explain its conduct upon thefe occafions, and not the fectary. That the repeal of the prefent teft laws in nothing concerns the clergy. It refpects only the diftribution of civil employments, for civil objects, by perfons acting in civil capacities ; and neither the religious opinions nor practice, and ftill lefs the powers, privileges, and revenues of the church can be in the leait affected by a con- ceiHon, in which if the clergy concur, they mav render themfelves popular in an age in which they are liable to a variety of attacks. That the Difienters in general have propofed to favour, at the next general election, the candidates who mail actually have proved themfelves their friends, or whom they believe to be l'uch j but fay nothing of exprefs promifes as to the future ; though, fince election implies a choice on the part of the conftituent, and fince a general unalienable right, like that of liberty of ccnfcience, is to be judged of, independent of any circumftances, the Diffentcrs might fairly alk for a promife ; which the candidate on his fide however, is net lefs at liberty to accede to or reject » , Such are the facts and pofitions which occn; to me upon this important fubject. The detail of them may be ufeful, as it will provoke many perfons to think for themfelves, or may occafioii other perfons to think for them. This lalt fervice, the perufal of a part of them only has actually performed, in the cafe of a perfon whofe mafterly pen will fecure to itfelf more attention than is in the power of my warmeft commendations to produce. I fhall conclude my prefent letter with inferting the remarks I allude to, which wili eafily point out their own reference to what has preceded.. DETACHED REMARKS. c Excluding any defcription of men from fcrving their country,. 4 is no trivial injury, but the ftvereft punifhment, as well" as the * molt mortifying fiigma which the legiflattire cap. inflict. — The 4 manners of the times have happily put an end. to the corpora! 1 ' puuilhments impofed in cmfequence of religious opinions, by 4 the Inquifition. But civilization and improvement of manners 4 have made an opening for punilhments which influence more * deeply, in proportion as the mind is more fenfiblc than the bodw ' Corporal purmhment., fines, and imprifonmcnt affect individuals ; * they are the immediate acts of power j they carry an odium which 4 is ( ioB ) * is itfelf a check upon them. But a general incapacitation is at * once fundamental and comprehenfive : its operation is Client, e being applied to things, and not to perfons : it gives room to no * difcullion, which the repeated trials of individuals would occafion, c and muft produce one of two confequences ; it mull: make Haves ' of the diftenters, and muft difcourage them from taking any in- ' tereft in public tranfactions ; or elfe muft render the-n turbulent, * difcontented, and confequently difaffefted, and ready on all occa- 4 ficns to join any other defcriptions of difcontented men, to feek 4 redrefs in common with them by their joint efforts. * < Every free government muft be coniidered as inftituted to pre- * ferve to every man the full right of exercihng every faculty of 4 mind and body, in any manner which does not prevent his fellow * fubjects from exercifing equally their faculties ; and their powers * are in their nature limited to this end. Their inftitution is to pre- * vent perfecution, civil and religious, not to enforce either. It is 4 therefore of the utmoft confequence that government fhould fhew 4 the iiecejfity of fuch an exertion of its power, in fo great a viola- * tion of right. — And if opinions make tefts neceffary, civil opinions * fhould come under confideration before religious opinions, as they * affect the conduct of men more immediately. Compare the opi- 4 nions now prevailing in a neighbouring nation and the religious * opinions profefted for ages by the diilenters : which tend moft c to action r — But it is a mockery to fuppofe any neceffity in the cafe, * where the diffenters are fuffered to make laws, which it is pre- * tended that it is tinfafe to let them affift in executing ; notwith- 1 ftanding it is well known that the greateft grievance unde r which ' our municipal government labours ir, that the laws are not fuf- * ficierrtly enforced, but are ill executed for want of a proper choice * of jefident IVJagiftrates. And if no necejjlty can be made apparent, «' it eftablifhes a power totally void of principle, and alarming * both to civil and religious liberty ; and which may be carried to * the moft dangerous lengths. ' Though the corruption of the times has made feveral employ- * ments in the State more lucrative than they ought to be, it is a * moft degrading principle to fuppofe that men have no higher * motive than an undue luft of power or defire of profit, when they * are ambitious only of a capacity of ferving the public ; and that * the party in pofieffion are therefore ri'iht in fecuring fuch emo- 4 laments among themfelves. It is to be hoped that in due time * the emolument of places will be reduced to their proper level. * Neceffity may carry this point, if public virtue does not ; and * the pubhc fhould in rhe mean time be infpired with higher as well * as truer motives to pviblic action. Whatever motives may fecretly * govern the conduct of individuals, emoluments can nev er be fuf* 4 fered ( J°9 ) * fered to come into queftion with honour and right: The tame ' furrcnder of either is incompatible with the fpirit of freedom ; * and let a man be ever fo indifferent about emolument, he ftamps 1 himlelf with the character of a Have, as long as he fits down con- * tented under the deprivation of his moil: effential rights, and < from a pretence (that of religion) calculated to excite his fpirit, * and never to deprefs it. ' Inftcad of checking reforms a denial mult aid them, as it leaves 1 a powerful ftandard, to which all reformers will neceflarily reforr, * and will promote every tendency of the kind, unlefs the door is * to be ever after fhut to all reafon and difcullion, which, con- * fidering the character of the times, can only be coniidered as folly ' in the extreme. * If the DilTenters are made eafy, they are too few to do mif- * chief ; if their claims are rejected, they may prove to be too * many.' Here the remarks conclude, to the equal regret of the public and myfelf. Here then I mall reft this part of my fubject, which I confider as containing the foundation of the claims of the Dif- enters. — In a fubiequent letter I fhall confider the foundation of the oppofite claims of the clergy. A CHRISTIAN POLITICIAN. II. Letter cf a Chriflian Politician. HAVING confidered the claims of the DilTenters to a repeal of Teft Laws, 1 fhall now review the claims which the body of the clerey urge for their continuance ; I fay the body of the clergy ; for they fpare me the pain of conceiving this allufion to the majority of them to be inviduous. That lead which they have always taken in this unhappy controverfy, they are now refuming j and Mr. Pitt has avowed that his own fears on the fubject, were originally and exprefsly fuggefted by the bifhops. Beiides, to neglect to affign them this poft of honour, would imply a fear of queftioning the validity of the pretenfions of thofe, who ought to be molt acquainted with the nature of religious difputes. But where fhall any fet of men find a juftification of their pre- tenfions to examine into the religion of others ? — To poftpone for a moment the political part of our difcuffion, let us afk whether the clergy find any precept to this effect in natural religion ; which, by its very eflence, is defective as to pofitive precepts, and to prefume to fupply the want of which is in fact pretending to a revelation ? J^o glaring a wrong therefore as the control of the religion of others, never can arife out of a right fo imperfect- ly conftituted, nor can the religion of nature ever fpeak con- trary to the dictates pf nature itfelf.— If natural religion is filenr. ( we ) filent, !ec u* next- tak? a rapid zni Aimmary view of the -words, th« ejects, and the exaauj'e.of Ckri/1* He who faid that his kingdom is not of this world ; that we- fhould call no man matter; that the prieftly Jew was inferior to Samaritans and fmners ; that peace- makers and the perfecuted for righteoufnefs. fake, are alike blelTed ; that after obeying God, nothing i» more important than loving our neighbour ; that we cannot a: cnce ferve God and Mammon ; that the tares are not yet to be feparated frcm tiie wheat, but that the fun rifes alike on the evil and on the good ; he who declared this, and that we fhould net iudge left we be judged, but forgive as we expect to be for- given ; has left nothing upon record by which any one fhall fay to another, ' I am worthier than thou -,' or * that the things that are * C;efar's belons to thcfe alone, who beft know the doctrine of * Chrift, who vet dei.ied that the things of Cxfar appertained to- ' his followers.' — If poilible, ftill more fpeaking are the objects of Chrift and his example, than even his words. He found a confined and an exclufive religion, and he opened it to receive into it the fulnefs of the Gentiles ; he attacked the Sanhedrim, lawyers, fcribes and pharifees of his native ccun.ry, [that is, its eflablifbed clergy) and rejecting?, hierarchy, he maoe u e of nfriermen for his. owa difciples ; he fixed no creed- ar.-.l .r. liturgy, but in lieu of them, gave a fhorr prayer and general iefTons of charity, accommodated to every good government ; he had no alliance with the civil power, but finally fell a martyr to its i:nerpo:;tion ; inftead of calling for 'egions of angels to vindicate his caufr, he faid, let the will of God be done; and knowing that his own religion could not be univerfaJ, while the doctrine of intolerance fecured- every where a local pro- tection to each faife iGagU n, and a local exclullon to the true one, he bid ail men be content with humbly inquiring into tbemfelves^ and to love even their e: emies; inftead of teaching them to inquire into the religion of their rei^bbours.— To inquire into the religion of our neighbour? did I fay ? Is the Romifh inquijhicn irfelf, mo:e than a court of religious inquiry : It inquires in order actively to pu- nifh, and our Englifh Tejt inquiiitors inquire negatively in order to deprefs. If the degrees of the thing differ, let it be faid in favour or Spain and Portugal, that fo unhappily does their knowledge differ and form a proportionable excufe in their favour. — Such are rhe conclufior.s to be drawn from religion as it is taught by nature and bv Chrift, and which its proudeft minifters cann it refute. ifjuittg difcovered the large fcope left by religion, for variety in doctrine and in practice, let us next very briefly examine whether any boundaries to religious liberty are to be found in the primary rights of vur. ; for that fuch rights exift, it is happily ufelefs in this age to dernonftr ate. Among indi viduals what pretence has any man to ( m ) to be a judge of my religious fvftem, other than his fancy; for if mere opinion gives him authority to controul my opinion, it gives me a like title to controul his ; which is making power the ilandard of truth, and rendering truth every where variable? — ■ > What then is to bring a queftion which private men cannot ori- ginally notice, before a civil tribunal, compofed only of hmitar men, fubject to fimilar difficulties ? Was any aim at a general religious conformity, or any pious curiofity, to be reckoned amongit the ereat motives which firft lcd_ us into civil fociety ; or did not the fear rather operate of having our liberty with refpect to religion invaded : for the full murder upon record was com- mitted by the fecond man of cur race upon his brother, while in the performance of a religious rite. To keep the mind free from the influence of force in concerns deemed to affect its temporal and eternal welfare, was an object: no lefs important, than to keep the body free ; for all know in how great a degree our happinds is feated in the mind : — And lhall the civil magistrate then be fuppofed fo destitute of fagacity and refources, as not to know how to accom- pli fh this great object of protecting religious fects from the injuries of one another, without giving to perfons of one fedt a power to deprefs every other? Does he not give a fufficient preponderance, when he makes every other feet tributary to the fupport of the particular ministers and churches of that feet, which he principally favours ? If the magistrate's acceffion to power defended upon his invention in keeping men in mutual religious peace, without mow- ing undue preferences or averfions to any, we fhould foon find him matter of this fimple fecret; which confifts merely in doing nothing ; in noticing religion no othcrwife than bv protecting it ; and in cealing himfelf, in his public capacity, to be one of the difputants. — Speculative legal writers fay, that the rights of property are the creature of civil laws, and yet all men appear greatlv to respect thefe rights, though only artificial: but how much more is the ' right of confidence to be respected, which is perfonal and interna', and therefore natural; which may be enjoyed without injurv to any; and which is never checked without doing mutual mifchief to the opproflbr and the opprtficd. — Unhappy man ! a being inca- pable of independence without civil government, and yet piof- tituting civil government fo as to deprive himfelf of that better independence which it was meant to procure him. But men, it is faid, when, quitting a ftate of nature for civil fociety, enter upon new relations fpringing out of the new bearings and alpects incident to a (bcial fituation. — To this doctrine, in the hands of men honeftly fecking the interests of civil fociety as taught by a dirccl contemplation of its nature, I would readily afient ; but tins fyitem muft be qualified when aflumcd by others, who conceive t '»* ) civil government to be a property, and men to be deftitute of every privilege not imparted to them at the caprice of their rulers. — Let us therefore infill, firft that civil fociety muft at leaft aim at the fame •bjecl: that led men to its original adoption, namely, the happinefs cf the concerned. Secondly, that civil fociety mult violate no pri- vate right, and leaft of all our more important private rights, unlefs for the general good. Laftly, that this general good muft be evident and even tranfeendent, to compenfate for any deviation from fo clear a guide to juji government^ as is afforded by a retrofpect to the primary rights of men. — By thefe rules let us try the cafe of excluding harm- lefs fedtaries from their mere eligibility to a fhare in the executive departments of fociety, folely on account of their opinion refpecting a being who is placed in another world. The beft argument cer- tainly for fuch exclufion is the hope of preventing religious troubles : but to refute this argument, let us repeat our former remark, that ftatefmen would foon ceale to be at a lofs for more pacific me- thods of producing peace, if the difcovery of fuch were once made a condition and teit of their own eligibility to civil ftations. Let us now enquire whether the clergy have any proofs on the fubjecl: under debate, that remain as yet to be noticed. I fhall dwell little upon Dean Swift's defence of the facramental teft. Even the bigotted Dr. Johnfon, when fpeaking of this work fays, * The reafonablenefs of a teft is not hard to be proved, 4 but perhaps it muft be allowed that the proper teft has not been * cholen.' — But happilv an experimental confutation of thefe writers is afforded in Ireland, where the teft law has been fome time re- pealed without a (ingle bad effect : on the contrary, it has appa- rently tended to prevent the Irifh diffenters from catching the Jlame of reform fo wideiy fpread in other parts, and joining their own to the other difcontents rankling in that kingdom. So pro- found a quiet has followed it, that the great body of Irifh diffenters who had long acquiefced in their fituation as it ftood before the repeal, were almoft as ignorant of the repeal having occurred, as they were before little attentive to the original reftraint having exifted. — Chance has thus fpared our government the tafk of fupporting in Ireland, as well as here, a very dangerous mifcon- ception of the clergy ; for as the clergy will not diftinguifh that the diffenters here have in view their rights infinitely more than their intereft, and are feeking a capacity of ferving in offices rather than the offices themfelves ; fo in Ireland, the fame clergy might have efteemed themfelves equally fagacious in preferring that conclufion refpecting the view? of the dilTcnters, which made leaft in favour of them. Still f i*3 3 Still lefs notice (hall I take of the performances of Bifhop Sber* lock refpecling the Tell Aclj who it is infinuated, from fome caufe or other, did not continue to the laft perfectly fatisfied with what he had written f. The forcible logic with which he was anfwered by bifhop Hoadly and others^ muft neceffarily convince rational chriftians, that his religious arguments are fitter for Spain than for England ; and his political arguments will be found to admit of eafy refutation. — The high church writings of that age (in confequence of the change which has fince taken place in the liability of the executive power, as well as in the temper and number of the diflenters, and in the opinions of mankind) having become in a good meafure obsolete, it is matter of furprize with what profufion they are now re-publifhed and diiperfed ; as if the church was beft to be defended by the dead ; its living dignitaries, during a coii- troverfy of three years, unlefs incidentally or perhaps anonymoufly, having publifhed but little ; and the modern principles urged by the difTenters being rather afperfed and vilified, than contefted and' debated. Is not this feature of the times fymptomatic of an im- portant change of opinion in many of the abler clergy ? I muft treat bifhop Warburton with fomewhat more detail than either dean Swift or bifhop Sherlock ; his opinions being fingular, little read though often referred to, and hitherto I believe never anfwered. The title of his work on the alliance of church and jiate has ferved to circulate a political tenet (namely that there is fuch an alliance) which his followers have conceived to be too lifeful, to fuffer the fate of it to depend upon proofs ; and very prudently fo, for the biihop's fyftem can only be fuppofed proved by thofe to whom it is difficult to underftand it. The abfurdity and indecency of it is fuch, that when it is rendered intelligible in words, the reader will be doubtful of their fignification, and rather fufpect his own underftanding for a moment than the fair meaning of the bifhop : but I pledge my character for the juftice of the following account of Bifhop Warburton's Syftem. ~Vy Eligious impreffions (fays this author) being found infufficient of themfelves to reftrain mankind, civil iniHtutions are called to their aid, and by means of the two together, good order among men is eftabliihed. Thus fociety exifts under the influence of two * 'Bifhop Sherlock did not approve of his own writings againft Bifhop Hoadly ' Con the iubject of the reft and corporation acts ;) and in his latter years, told a 1 friend that he was a young man when he wrote them j and he would never ' have them collected into a volume.' Seethe filft Edition of the Biographia Bri* tannica, vol. 6, part 2, 1776, article Sherlock, Appendix to the Supplement,— See alfo the Life of Bifhop Sherlock prefixed to the 6th edition of his Difcourfe3 3 f. 7a. Q_ prinV ( "4 ) principl es, namely the one religious ahd the other political, each being originally and completely independent of the other, yet each profiting by a certain intermixture. The national church therefore, which is compofed of the majority of the nation, avails itfelf both of its independence and of its fervices, to enter into a free alliance with the very fame majority which compofes the body politic ; (that is, it enters into an alliance with itfelf.) By the terms of this alliance, it is faid, the church obtains an endowment to render it independent of its flock, with a feat in parliament for its bifhops (in order that the laws may not operate upon any who are not confulted) and lilcewife fpiritual courts for inforcing ftridtnefs of manners : and the ftate obtains, a fupremacy over the church, with a power of regulating the meetings of its fynods and of preventing the excommunication of the members of the church, unlefs by its afTent. — This compound eftablifhment of church and ftate (he maintains) requires a fecurity to be given by all public officers for their good behaviour to each refpeclively ; in default of which, they muft be excluded frpm their pofts ; fince it would be deplorable for a church containing the majority, to find its enemies partaking in that magiftrature, to which it has furrendered its own fuprejnacy. As every feci (concludes our author) aims at fuperiority, peace requires an exclufive eftablifhment for the largeft feci: ; ana * toleration at the fame time ought'to follow for other fects ; fince the cognizance of the civil power over religion, refpects it only fo far as religion is ufeful, and by no means as it is true. Commentary and Conclup.on. Such is the fcheme of BifLup Warburton, the fundamental prin- ciple of which has refounded in pulpits, been difTeminated in pam- phlets, and referred to in parliament ; a fcheme, which afiumes liberal data, in order to arrive at delpotic conclufions, and which is too particular in its application to be founded upon general principles. But it is not in luch cobwebs, however infidioufly woven, that the rights of men are to remain entangled, as I truft will appear fiom the following remarks. — And firft, it is curious to obferve that, although the bifhop cites Gulliver, Hobbes, and his c-a.8 J pofes of fociety, under one fingle form of it in each country where it is introduced. And inftead of agreeing with bifhop Warburton, that the ftate is interefted in no religious dogma, except the being and providence of God, and the difference between good and evil, they enter into a thoufand peculiarities, and feek to change a f radical civil government into a controverfial religious one. If I were to name however the circumftance which has done the clergy leaft credit in the prefent conteft, it is their want of judgment and information * which has proceeded fo far, that they have ufuaDy refted the claim to civil employments upon the law of the ftrongeft ; that is, they have made it the lion's fhare. — Their irritability lefpecting the political hiftory of Sectaries is peculiarly unfortunate, if we confider. the conduct of the major part of the Englifh eftab- lifhed clergy fince the Norman conqueft. Did not this clergy for example play the tyrant both over Subjects and kings, acknow- ledge a foreign Supremacy, grafpat all property till the laky checked poffelfions in mortmain, invade the province of lawyers, op- pofe the reformation with fire and gibbets, fupport the Stuarts, ©bftrucl: the revolution, countenance feveral rebellions againft the reigning family, and fhew fuch a temper in their convocations that the crown has never of late permitted their fittings ? — If the eftablifhed clergy perfift in appealing to hijhry againft fectaries, it is thus they will lay themfelves open to retorts : But this criterion is too falfe and invidious f^ r either party to refort to, fince (little as the clergy feem to take merit in it) mankind have certainly changed- for the better in modern times, and are folely to be judged of bv their individual overt-acts, according to general political rules, without reference either to their religion or anceftors.— I fhall not dwell upon the dijjimilarity of the church constitution from our happy civil constitution : this and other dormant queftions will gradually wake to public notice, if the diffenters are refifted ; fince acting like a little leaven upon the minds cf others, oppreffed men gradually raife an extenfive ferment ; for plaufible principles,, actively urged and properly directed, have never failed to make a contagious impremon upon inftitutions which are vulnerable in themfelves, and whofe reformation has promifed liberty and plunder to many. — I (hall only obferve that thofe who conceive tha^ every feci: aims at pre-eminence as a body, net only contradict facts obferved in other nations, where many fects are known to be perfectly indifferent to it ; but they feem too probably to judge of the ambition of others from what they find in themselves. But I have now done with the clergy, I mean that- part of the clergy which is at prefent fo active ; for happy am I to know, that there are many amiable and fplendid characters in the church, who view with a filent anxiety the prefent proceedings of its majority, and to whofe moderation and Superior fenfc the reft will probably ( '19 ) be indebted hereafter for a fhelter from the florm, which as yet is only approaching. To thefe enlightened perfons, to the laity and to the legiflature, I addrefs the hints which follow. Firft, If numbers in favor of an eftablilhment are beneficial to the church or ftate, then in propor- tion as the tenets of it are few, fimple, and general in their na- ture, the more perfons will it comprehend and the fewer will it ex- clude. Secondly, The few perfons fo excluded, inftead or being forced to become enemies by being treated as fuch, will be con- ciliated by a due proportion of places, honors, and confidence, being conferred upon them ; and it fhould be remembered that the influence of fe&aries does not reft fo much upon their numbers, as upon their arguments, unanimity, and zeal. Laftly, no punish- ments or legal difabilities mould be inflicted upon any for religious doctrines or practices, unlefs fuch have likewife a political ope- ration ; and in order to diflinguifh in what degree their nature is political, it will in general be found an infallible criterion, to confider in what light they would appear in a ftate in which all religion whatever lhould be unknown or at leaft unnoticed. — If this be not the language of plain, practical fenfe, I will renounce the character of A CHRISTIAN POLITICIAN. ( i ) APPENDIX No. I. I'be Cafe of the Protefiant Dijfentsrs, in Relation to thi Laws by which the Sacramental Tefi is impofed, 1790. Corporation 2 N the year 1661 a ftatute was made, intituled, An A£l 11 S ^f' f or we M governing and regulating of Corporations, fj. 2. "j-jjjg ft atutej a f ier empowering the king to appoint com- miffioners for removing and difpbeing any perfons who, upon the 24-th day of December, 1661, fhould be mayors, aldermen, recorders, bailiffs, town-clerks, common-councilmen, and other perfons then bearing any office of magiftracy, or places or trufts or other employments relating f o the government of cities, corpora- tions, and boroughs, and cinque-ports, and their members, and other port-towns ; — provides and enadts, " I hat from and after the ex- *' piration of the faid commiffions*, no perfon (hall for ever here- u after be placed, elected, or chofen in or to any the offices or places *' aforefaid that fhall not have, within one year next before fuch elec- K tion or choice, taken the iacrament of the Lord's Supper, accord- " ing to the rites of the church of England ; — an'l in default hereof, « every fuch placing, election, and choice, is hereby enacted and " declared to be void." By ftatute 5 Geo* I. c. 6. § 3 an officer offending againft the corporation a£t is rendered irremovable, unlefs a profecution be commenced againft him, within fix months after his election. Tefl At7. In the year 1672, a ftatute was made, intituled, An Aft 25 Car. \\. f or preventing Dangers which may happen from Popijh c. 2. 32. 5. R ecu f an f S ^ by which it is, among other things, enafted, * ( That every perfon that fhall be admitted, entered, placed, or taken €t into any office, civil or military; or fhall receive any pay, falary, K fee, or wages, by reafon of any patent of grant of his Majefty ; or " fhall have command or place of truft from or under his Majefty, u his heirs or fucceffors, or by his or their authority, or by autho- *' rity derived from him or them within this realm of England, " domi- * Thefe commiffions expired 011 the 25th of March, 1663 j and more extra- ordinary commiffions, it is probable, were never iftued. The powers given to the commiflioners were ' new, and unknown to the confKtntion, which nothing * but the irioft urgent neceffity, real or imaginary, could have juftified i for they * were empowered, among other things, at their will and plrafure, to remove ell ' corporation officers, if they fliould dee?n it expedient for the puhiic fafcty, andat their * witl and pleafure to Jill up all vacancies occafoned by fuch remvuaL or cther-uifife.'' See Sir Michael Fofter's argument in the Court of the Judges Delegates, in the cafe of Allen Evans, Efquire, againft the Chamberlain of London, in the Appendix to Dr. Furneaux't Letters to Sir William Elackftone, No. t. a ii APPENDIX. tc dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick upon Tweed ; or in his u Majefty's navy; or in the feveral Iflands of Jerfey and Guernfey ; u or that (hall be admitted into any fer\ ice or employment in his " Majefty's hou!hoid or family ; {hall receive the facrament of the * Lord's Supper, according to the ufage of the church cf England, * l within three months after his admittance in, or receiving his did " authority and employment, in fome public church, upon fome K Lord's day immediately after divine fervice and fermon : — And p . " that every perfon that fliall neglect or refuie to take the - ) * " facrament as aforefaid, and yet, after fuch neglect or refufal, 11 fhr-'l execute any of the faid offices or emplovments, and being u thereupon lawfully convicted, Jhall be difablei to fue or ufe any , contained the following paragraph, explanatory of this article. " Permit us to ohferve, that it has been induftrioufly afferted, that we feek to impofe, at the enfuing general election, a teft in our own favour, upon the candidates for a feat in the Houfe of Commons, at the fame moment that we defire a religious teft to be re« moved from ourfelves. 1 hefe cafes are by no means parallel $ and *'e conceive, that, in point of fact, the Diffenters have enly refolved to pay a marked attention at that pe. riod to thofe candidates, who mall already have voted in their favour, or who fhall at that time profefs their principles and intentions to be friendly to the great caufe in quef- tion. Should the Diffeniers indeed have proceeded farther in fupport of an unalienable right, fuch conduft would have been peifeiftly juftifiable on the part of the conftituent towards his representative. But fmce the point at jflue is ftill confidered by many well- meaning peifons as open to a difcuiTion, which we ourfelves wifh (o promote for the fake of the general good, it may be advifeable to exprefs ourfelves fo clearly on this fuh- jtft, as not be mifunderftcod."