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pists) the young in populous places seem to have no remains of the old leaven; and by consequence, the reason for abolishing nominal Christianity, on that pretext, has wholly ceased. For the rest it may, per. haps, admit a controversy, whether the banishing of all the restraints of trials, imprisonments, and convic tions, would be convenient for the community in its present situation. For it is to be remembered that these restraints have some effect upon the higher orders as well as the lower; and that the exactions of the rich might increase to an alarming height, if club law was once sanctioned by an annual parliament. I would also just observe, that in spite of the severity of the statute-book, those men who are superior to vulgar prejudices and fears, contrive to live pretty much as they please; and while the laws are broken with impunity, all practical purposes of repealing them are answered, without a shock to public feeling. I conceive, also, some slight apprehensions of the judge and the gallows to be of a singular use in the education of our children, furnishing excellent materials to keep them quiet when they grow peevish; and being a substitute for those corporal punishments which are on the point of being discontinued by this enlightened age.

Lastly, it is proposed as a peculiar advantage, that the abolishing of Christianity will very much contribute to the uniting of Protestants, by enlarging the terms of commumon, so as to take in all sorts of dissenters, who are now shut out upon account of a few ceremonies; that this alone will effectually answer the great ends of a scheme for comprehension, by opening a large noble gate at which all bodies may enter; whereas the chaffering with dissenters, and dodging about this or the other ceremony, is but like opening a few wickets and leaving them a jar, by which no more than one can get in at a time, and that not with

out stooping, and sideling, squeezing his body.

and

To all this, I answer, that there is one darling inclination of mankind which usually affects to be a retainer to religion, though she be neither its parent, its godmother, or its friend; I mean the spirit of opposition that lived long before Christianity, and can easily subsist without it. Let us, for instance, examine wherein the opposition of sectaries, among us, consists; we shall find Christianity to have no share in it at all. Does the Gospel any where prescribe a starched squeezed countenance, a stiff formal gait, a singularity of manners and habit, or any affected modes of speech different from the reasonable part of mankind? Yet if Christianity did not lend its name to stand in the gap, and to employ or divert these humours, they must of necessity be spent in disobedience to the laws of the land and disturbance of the public peace. There is a portion of enthusiasm assigned to every nation, which if it has not proper objects to work on, will burst out, and set all in a flame. If the quiet of a country can be bought by only flinging men a few ceremonies to devour, it is a purchase no wise man will refuse. Let the mastiffs amuse themselves about a sheep's skin stuffed with hay, provided it will keep them from worrying the flock. It was formerly thought that the institution of convents was admirably calculated to answer this purpose; but at present I should say that the United States of America possess greater facilities for the management of their natural turbulence than any other nation. An immense proportion of their soil is still unappropriated; and it is sold at a nominal price to every one who wishes to leave the haunts of civilized men, and take up their abode with the beasts of the field. The speculators, the melancholy, the proud, the silent, and the morose, are thus furnished with re

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Nothing can be more notorious than that the Socinians, Independents, and Methodists, are persons of little zeal for the present establishment; whose ministers they continually reproach with want of activity, energy, and warmth. It is possi ble, therefore, that the only result, of the proposed abolition would be to establish one sect of believers instead of another; and it may be doubted whether the great cause of civil and religious liberty would be a gainer or a looser by the change. Therefore, before we finally take our leave of the Church, let us ascertain the probable character and disposition of its successor.

In the last place I think that nothing can be more plain, than that by this expedient we shall run into the evil which our ancestors laboured so zealously to shun; and that the abolition of the Christian religion will be the readiest course we can take to introduce popery. And I am the more inclined to this opinion on account of the recent restoration of the Jesuits, whose antient well-known practice it was to send over emissaries with instructions to personate themselves members of the several prevailing sects. So it is recorded that they have, at sundry times, appeared in the disguise of Presbyterians, Anabaptists, and Quakers, according as either of these were most in credit. And though I should not feel quite justified in pointing out any of our living infidels, as spies in the service and pay of the Jesuits, yet suspicion does certainly attach to more than one among their number; and time, the great discoverer, may bring strange things to light. At all events we know, that the Pope has set up some extraordinary claims respecting the Grand Duchy of Baden; and I understand he has just erected the Canadas into an archbishoprick, to which are attached no less than six suffragan bishops. The new bishop of the Mauritius is likewise Authorised to extend his episcopal su

perintendance to the catholie church of Botany Bay; and I know not why those who are so alert in the extre mities of the empire should be sus pected of inactivity in the parent state. The reasoning which would induce them to support the 1easures which I oppose is plain and conclusive: for supposing Christianity to be extinguished, the people will ne ver be at ease till they find out some other method of worship, which will as infallibly produce superstition, as superstition will end in popery.

And, therefore, if notwithstanding all I have said, it still be thought necessary to have a bill brought in for repealing Christianity, I would humbly offer an amendment, that instead of the word Christianity, may be put religion in general; which, I conceive, will much better answer all the good ends proposed by the projectors of it. For as long as we have in being a God and his providence with all the necessary consequences which men draw from such premises, we do not strike at the root of the evil, though we should ever so effectually annihilate the present scheme of the Gospel. For of what use is freedom of thought if it will not produce freedom of action, which is the sole end, how remote soever in appearance of all objections against Christianity. And, therefore, the irreligious properly enough consider it as an edifice, whereof all the parts have such a mutual dependance on each other, that if you happen to pull out one single nail, the whole fabrick must fall to the ground. This was happily expressed by one who was made acquainted with a new argument against the trinity; he thereupon suddenly took the hint, and by a rapid and silent process of reason ing, most logically concluded, “why, if it be as you say, I may live on in debauchery and drunkenness, and defy the parson." From which, and many the like instances easy to be. produced, I think nothing can be more manifest than that the quarrel

manners.

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Perhaps therefore the caution was altogether unnecessary; and I have inserted it only to prevent all possibility of cavilling: my discourse is merely intended in defence of nominal Christianity, the other having been for some time wholly laid aside by the persons to whom I address myself, as inconsistent with their present schemes of improvement and reform.

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But why we should therefore cast off the name and title of Christians, although the enlightened majority be so violent for it, I confess, I cannot (with submission) apprehend; nor is the consequence necessary. However, since the Reformers propose such wonderful advantages to the nation by this project, and advance many plausible objections against the system of Christianity, I shall briefly consider the strength of both; fairly allow them their greatest weight, and offer such an swer as I think most reasonable After which I will beg leave to shew what inconveniences may possibly happen by such an innovation in the present posture of our affairs.

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First one great advantage pro posed by the abolition of Christianity is, that it would very much enlarge and establish liberty of conscience, that great bulwark of our

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nation, and of the Protestant Religion; which is still too much limited by priestcraft, notwithstanding the liberality of the age, as we have lately found by a severe instanceA young man of wit and judgment, who by the mere force of natural abilities, without the least tincture of learning, having discovered that the Holy Scriptures teach men to be vicious, generously communicated the discovery to his countrymen ; has been sentenced to two years imprisonment, and fined a thousand pounds. And as it has been wisely observed, if persecution once begins, no man alive knows how far it may reach, or where it may end.

and

In answer to all which, with deference to wiser judgments, I think this rather shews the necessity of a nominal religion among us. Authors are often obliged in the exercise of an honest calling to be free with the highest objects: and if they cannot be allowed a God to revile and blaspheme, they will be forced to employ their whole venom upon the king and the parliament. As to the particular fact related, I think it hardly fair to argue from one instance, when it is notorious that a second cannot be produced when (to the comfort of all those who may be apprehensive of persecution) blasphemy is freely spoken a thousand times a day, at the corner of every street, and in the tap-room of every gin-shop, It must be allowed indeed, that to imprison a free-born English writer for blasphemy, was, to speak, in gentle ferms, a very tyrannical action. If the prosecutors argued upon the principle, that a traitor to Christianity might some time or other proceed so far as to become a traitor to the State, the consequence is by no means to be admitted; for surely a government is likely to be but ill-obeyed, whose subjects fear and reverence it as little as the blasphemers do their Gode co

It is farther objected against the system of the Gospel, that it obliges

men to the belief of things too difficult for free-thinkers. To which I answer that men should be cautious how they raise objections which reflect upon the wisdom of the nation. Is not every body freely allowed to believe whatever he pleases Would any indifferent foreigner who should read the periodical trumpery of Cobbett and Hunt, imagine the Gospel to be our rule of faith, and confirmed by Parliaments? Do the infidels either believe orsay they believe, or desire to have it thought that they say they believe one syllable of the matter? What if there be an old dormant statute or two against them, they are now obsolete to a degree which renders the execution of them impossible.

It is likewise urged, that there are in this kingdom above ten thousand parsons, whose revenues added to those of the bishops, and other ecclesiastical persons would suffice to maintain a large proportion of our manufacturers; and thus not only relieve the whole of our present distress, but exonerate a large class of the community from the necessity of manual labour for the future, and leave them at leisure to train their troops, and to cultivate their understandings, and thus to pave the way for a genuine Age of Reason. This indeed appears to be a consideration of some weight. But then on the other side several things deserve to be considered likewise. As first, whether it may not be thought necessary, that in certain tracts of country, like what we call parishes, there shall be a person appointed to register births, marriages, and burials, and whether it may not be expedient that such person should be duly qualified, and moderately paid? Then it seems a wrong computation that the revepues of the Church throughout this island would be large enough to maintain any considerable proportion of our manufacturers in the manner to which they are accustomed and entitled. We must reREMEMBRANCER, No. 13.

member also that ten thousand able bodied parsons might furnish a formidable reinforcement to the Borough-mongers army. And to some such means of support the Clergy would probably have recourse; being unfit for labour, either on the farm or in the work-shop; the former requiring more toil than they will be willing to undergo, and the latter more skill than they can be expected to possess. But still there is in this project a greater evil behind: and we ought to beware of the woman's fully who killed the hen that every morning laid her a golden egg. For pray what would become of the race of infidels in the next age, if the present generation were all snugly provided for out of the revenues of the Church. Your fat contented radical would not be of the slightest service. The ejected and half.starved parsons would be the only recruits to the cause of Deism; and whether they could be trusted on any critical emergency, or would not desert their colours on a favourable opportunity, is what I would submit to the consideration of those who are acquainted with their characters.

Another advantage proposed by the abolition of Christianity, is the clear gain of one day in seven, which is now entirely lost; beside the loss to the public of many convenient buildings which might be converted into club-rooms, debating houses, and other public edifices.

I hope I shall be forgiven a hard word if I call this a perfect cavil. I readily own there has been an old custom, time out of mind, for people to assemble in the Churches every sunday; and that shops are still frequently shut, in order as it is conceived, to preserve the memory of that antient practice. But how this can prove a hindrance to the growth of infidelity, it is hard to imagine. The trades which contribute most directly to enlighten the people are carried on with peculiar success on the day of rest.

E