and honour, were conftantly made the rewards of virtue and piety, fuch an administration must needs have a mighty influence on the faith and morals of the whole kingdom: and men of great abilities would then endeavour to excel in the duties of a religious life, in order to qualify themselves for publick service. I may poffibly be wrong in fome of the means I prefcribe towards this end: but that is no material objection against the defign itfelf. Let thofe, who are at the helm, contrive it better, which perhaps they may eafily do. Every body will agree, that the disease is manifeft, as well as dangerous; that fome remedy is neceffary, and that none yet applied hath been effectual; which is a fufficient excufe for any man, who wishes well to his country, to offer his thoughts, when he can have no other end in view but the publick good. The prefent queen is a princess of as many and great virtues as ever filled a throne: how would it brighten her character to the present and after ages, if fhe would exert her utmost authority to inftil some share of those virtues into her people, which

they

they are too degenerate to learn only from her example; and, be it fpoke with all the veneration poffible for fo excellent a fovereign, her beft endeavours in this weighty affair are a most important part of her duty, as well as of her intereft, and her honour.

But it must be confeffed, that as things are now, every man thinks he has laid in a fufficient ftock of merit, and may pretend to any employment, provided he hath been loud and frequent in declaring himself hearty for the government. It is true, he is a man of pleasure, and a freethinker, that is, in other words, he is profligate in his morals, and a despiser of religion; but in point of party, he is one to be confided in; he is an affertor of liberty and property; he rattles it out againft popery and arbitrary power, and prieftcraft and high-church. It is enough: he is a perfon fully qualified for any employment in the court or the navy, the law or the revenue; where he will be fure to leave no arts untried of bribery, fraud, injuftice, oppreffion, that he can practise with any hope of impunity. No wonder

fuch

fuch men are true to a government, where liberty runs high, where property, however attained, is fo well fecured, and where the adminiftration is at least fo gentle it is impoffible they could chuse any other constitution, without changing to their lofs..

:

Fidelity to a prefent establishment is indeed the principal means to defend it from a foreign enemy, but without other qualifications will not prevent corruptions from within, and ftates are more often ruined by thefe than the other.

To conclude: whether the proposals I have offered towards a reformation, be such as are most prudent and convenient, may probably be a question; but it is none at all, whether fome reformation be abfolutely neceffary; because the nature of things is fuch, that if abuses be not remedied, they will certainly increase, nor ever ftop till they end in the fubverfion of a commonwealth. As there must always of neceffity be fome corruptions, fo in a well-inftituted ftate the executive. power will be always contending against them, by reducing things (as Machiavel fpeaks)

fpeaks) to their firft principles, never letting abufes grow inveterate, or multiply fo far that it will be hard to find remedies, and perhaps impoffible to apply them. As he, that would keep his houfe in repair, must attend every little breach or Alaw, and supply it immediately, elfe time alone will bring all to ruin; how much more the common accidents of ftorms and rain? he must live in perpetual danger of his houfe falling about his ears; and will find it cheaper to throw it quite down, and build it again from the ground, perhaps upon a new foundation, or at least in a new form, which may neither be fo fafe nor fo convenient as the old.

A LET

FROM A

MEMBER of the House of COMMONS in Ireland,

TO A

MEMBER of the House of COMMONS in England,

CONCERNING THE

SACRAMENTAL TEST.

I

SIR,

Written in the Year 1708

Received your letter, wherein you tell me of the strange reprefentations made of us on your fide of the water. The instance you are pleased to mention is that of the prefbyterian miffionary, who, according to your phrafe, hath been lately perfecuted at Drogheda for his religion:

* This tract was reprinted in Ireland in 1735, when the attempt to repeal the facramental teft was revived. There was an explanatory advertifement prefixed, which is faid by lord Orrery to have been dictated, or strictly revised, by the Dean himself: but there are inaccuracies in it, which may well be thought fufficient

to deftroy its authenticity: that which in the firft paragraph is called the following treatife, is afterwards faid to be an extract of a difcourfe, and it is immediately added, that this extract is the whole, except fome paffages of no confequence: thefe are included in a parenthesis.

but