reformation.—In expressing this expectation, which I am far from having the vanity to propose with oracular confidence, I may possibly incur the censure of some, who think that protestantism, as established in Germany, in Switzerland, in Scotland, in England, is, in all these, and in other countries, so perfect a system of christianity, that it is incapable of any amendment in any of them. If this should be the case, I must console myself with reflecting, that the greatest men could not, in their day, escape unmerited calumny. Every age has had it's Sacheverells, it's Hickes's, and it's Chenells; who, with the bitterness of theological odium, sharpened by party rancour, have not scrupled to break the bonds of christian charity. Hoadley was called a dissenter, Chillingworth a Socinian, and Tillotson both Socinian and atheist; and all of them experienced this obloquy, from contemporary zealots, on account of the liberality of their sentiments, on account of their endeavouring to render Christianity more rational than it was in

certain

certain points generally esteemed to be. I had certainly rather submit to imputations, which even these great men could not avoid, than be celebrated as the mightiest champion of the church on the system of intolerance, or the most orthodox contender for the faith on the system of those who maintain, that our first reformers have left us no room for improvement in scriptural learning. With whatever assurance other men may be persuaded, that they have attained certain knowledge of the truth of all christian doctrines; with whatever zeal, in consequence of that persuasion, they may foster the seeds of persecution I confess that there are many points in theology on which I feel myself disposed to adopt an expression of Saint Austin, when he is stating the different ways, in which he conjectures that original sin may have been propagated from parents to children-qaid autem horum sit verum libentius disco, quam dico, ne audeam docere quod nescio.

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Herodotus tells us, that Darius asked

VOL. I.

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some

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some of the Greeks, what sum of money he should give them to eat the bodies of their deceased parents, after the manner of the Indians. Upon their refusal to comply on any consideration, he asked some of the Indians, who were accustomed to eat the bodies of their parents, what sum they would take to burn the bodies of their parents after the Grecian manner: but they, setting up a general outcry, desired the king to have better thoughts of them. Thus it is in religion; every man is attached to the mode of worship, and the system of doctrines, to which he has been accustomed, and he looks upon other modes, and other doctrines, as bordering on impiety. This disposition is so general, that it may be considered as natural; yet, like many other natural propensities, it may be corrected; it is an evil which may be overcome by good sense. I call it an evil, because it misleads the judgment, and subjects men to the tyranny of prejudice. It was a prejudice of this sort which made St. Paul a persecutor

persecutor of Jesus; which made the Jews persecutors of the Christians; which made the heathens persecutors of both Jews and Christians; and which has, at times, rendered the different denominations of Christians in this country, and in all other parts of Christendom, persecutors of each other. There can be no question that it is the duty of all men to oppose reason to prejudice. But, unluckily, every man thinks that he does so; he mistakes his own conclusions for truths, which ought not to be disputed, and which cannot be illustrated; and every argument tending to subvert them is rejected without examination. This perversion of the understanding is a great reproach to men of education and learning. We may lament it and excuse it in the bulk of mankind, who, letting their reason lie without exercise, go, on most occasions, in matters of opinion, not in the way in which they ought to go, but in that which they have gone before. But in men habituated to the cultivation of their faculties,

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faculties, and to impartial investigation in other branches of knowledge, this prepossession in religion, the most important of all branches, is wholly reprehensible.

The great disputes, which at present agitate Europe, respect the first principle of natural religion, and the truth of all revealed religion. The first principle of natural religion is the existence of a God, the maker, the preserver, and the moral governor, of the universe. No created Being can comprehend the essence of the divine nature, much less is it in the power of Man to do it; but to deny the existence of a God, is such a degree of insanity, as few men in any age have fallen into; and those who have fallen into it, have been deservedly looked upon as dangerous prodigies in nature.

Protagoras, a philosopher of antiquity, we are told by Cicero, began a work with saying "Whether there are Gods, or whether there are none, I have nothing certain to deliver on the subject." The Athenians, fired with indignation at this