End of a Chancel, or for pronouncing his Faith towards the Eaft? Our Churchmen may find good Caufe to injoin thefe neceffary Things, which the Scripture had forgot, and enjoy great Benefit and Obedience from the Practice of them; but in, temporal Matters, I am not fully convinced, that they make a Man's Head wifer, or his Heart honefter.

A good Proteftant is fuch, not because he was born fo, according to the canting Abfurdity in Vogue, or bred fo, fince in Infancy Religion is acquired like a Leffon in Grammar, purely by the Help of Memory; and therefore Children learn it, whether it be good or bad, as they do Language, from their Nurfe, or their Parents: But he is a Proteftant, because his Judgment and his Eyes inform him, that the Principles of that Faith are warranted by the Bible, and confiftent with our civil Liberties; and he thinks every Syftem which is not fo, to be Forgery and Imposture, however dignified or diftinguished.

I cannot here omit taking Notice of an old Fallacious Cry, which has long rung in our Ears, namely, that of No Bishop, no King. This folid Argument was used, with Royal Success, by King James the First, for the Clergy, and difputed with the Puritans,

when he fat Deputy

at

at the Conference at Hampton-Court, as became the Dignity of a great Prince. It was, indeed, the beft which he could ufe; however he ftrengthened and embellished it with feveral Imperial Oaths, which he fwore on that Occafion, to the utter Confufion of his Antagonists, and the great Triumph of the genuine Clergy, and the Archbishop; who bestowed the Holy Ghoft upon his Majefty, for his Zeal, and Swearing on the Church's Side.

THIS ftupid Saying has formerly filled our Prisons with Diffenters, and chafed many of them to America; and by this means weakened the Kingdom, and the Proteftant Religion, to keep up good Neighbourhood between the Bishops and the Prince. But they were neither the Biflops, nor their Creatures, that restored King Charles the Second, but a Set of true-blue Presbyterians, who were rewarded for it with Gaols, Fines, and Silent Sabbaths.

LOYALTY is not confined to the Mitre. Bishops have given more Disturbance, and occafioned more Diftreffes, to Prince and People, than any other Sort of Men upon Earth. This I can prove. Our own Bishops, for near an hundred Years before the Revolution, were in every Scheme for promoting Tyranny and Bondage. On the other hand, our Diffenters

were

were very eminent Oppofers of Arbitrary Power, and always lived peaceably under thofe Princes who used them like Subjects. If they took up Arms when they were oppreffed, Churchmen have done the fame, and often without that Caufe.

HAD it not been for Diffenters, I question whether we fhould now have had either this Conftitution, this King, or this Religion. It is well known, that a great Majority of our Churchmen affert Claims and Principles utterly irreconcileable to either. The most mifchievous Tenets of Popery are adopted and maintained, and the Ground upon which our Security and Succeffion ftand, is boldly undermined. It is dreadful and incredible, what a reprobate Spirit reigns amongst the High Clergy.

THE Convocation have fallen fiercely upon those who have fallen upon Popery and Jacobitifm. And what a Popish, impious, and rebellious Spirit reigns at Oxford, they themselves fave me the Trouble of declaring. Difaffection is promoted; open and black Perjury is juftified; and it is held lawful to defy Almighty Vengeance for a Morfel of Bread. A Man's Conscience is tried by an Oath, and he that can fwallow any, has none.

BUT

BUT it is not enough to fhipwreck their Souls for their Livings, nor to keep this hellish Corruption at Home. As they practise, so they teach; and the fpreading of their own Guilt, and the making others as bad as themfelves, (if Laymen can be fo) is made the Duty of their Functions, and the Business of their Lives. Can Antichrift do worfe? And are these Men, who walk in the Paths of Atheism and Perdition, fit to lead others to Holiness and eternal Life?

*ONE of the greatest Men of the last Age told King WILLIAM, That the Univerfities, if they continued upon the present Foot, would deftroy him, or the Nation, or fome of His Succeffors. And they have ever fince been endeavouring to make good his Words. That Prince was fo thoroughly apprised of the dangerous Genius and Principles of these two Bodies of Men, that he intended a Regulation, but, as it is faid, was prevented by the pernicious Advice of the late Duke of S, who had at that Time gained the King's Confidence, and was at the Head of the Whigs, but was deferting both, and making a Party with the Tories, as afterwards plainly enough appeared.

* Mr. LoCK E.

How

How far, and how faft, thefe Seminaries have fince then corrupted and inflamed the People, every body knows, and the Nation feels. Had it not been for them, we should have lighter Taxes, and fewer Soldiers.

G.

NUMBER XLII.

Wednesday, November 2. 1720.

Of High-Church ATHEISM.

HAT Religion, or the Worship of a Deity, is natural to Man, is confeffed by Mr. Hobbes himself in his Leviathan, wherein he endeavours to affign the natural Caufes thereof: And no History or Voyages give us an Account of any Country, in any manner civilized, without Religion, as well as Priefts or Minifters, and Temples or Places of Worship. Men have been in all Ages fo prone to Religion, that rather than not have one, they have

been