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cendiariest When did such numbers lay violent handg on them selves tWhen was there sucii a generat and indecent contempt of whate ver is esteemed sacred, in the state as weli as the church t When were there linown among them sucti public se avds, lach open consederacies in villainy, as the present age hath produced y When were they lower in the est lemos manliind, more divided at home, or more insulted abroad tWe of this land have a fatal tendency to overtook the good qualities,
and imitate whateuer is amisi in those whom we respect. This leads meto malle me rema rhs On the modern spirit os reformation, that worksso strongly in both these hingdom s. Freedom of thought is the generat plea and cry of the age; and we aligrant, that thin hing is the way to know and the more real knowledgethere is in the land , the more likely it xv ill be to thrive. We a re notthere re against Deedom of thought, but we a re against those uni hin king, overbearing people, ' who, in these odd times, Under that prete iace, set up for resor mers, and new molders of the constitution. We dcclare against those, who would seduce ignorant anil unexperieraced persons s romthe reverence they owe to the laws and religion of their country; and under the notion os extirpating prejudices, would erase Dom their minit sali impressions os piet y and virtve, in order to introduce prejudices of another kind, destructive os societ y. We est eem it a horribie thing, to laugh at the apprehensions os a su- ture state, with the aut hor of the Characterisios t; or with him who wrotethe Fabis of the Bees, to maintain that morat virlues are the political off
It is not rcason candidi y proposed that omen is, but the reviling, insulting, ridiculingos the national laws and religion, ait this profiteth for Dee-thinhing, and must needs beoffensive to ali rea nable men.
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nens seacheth men to speat coeli in ali Cirtues ; but requires no more of rheman GIT age or CouatU, than the oti Nard appearance V those in fas ion. STiso authors of infidet systems these, Who set ting oui Upon oppossit e principies, are calculated to draw ali man kind, by stat tering et ther their vani ty or their passons, into one or other system. Arad yet, the peopleamong whona such books a re publi ed, wonder how it comes to pasi, that the civit magistrate dat ly loseth his author ity, that the laws are trample dupon, and the subject in constant star of being robbed, or mur tered, ortia ving his hori se burni over his he adtIt may be presumed, that the science of sin ling sauit, whicli a bove allothers is ea si est to learn, sutis best with a modern education. Too manythere are of better fortunes than understandings, who have made the inquiry after truth, a Very fmali part of their care : these seu sonae fiat, butnot enough. It were to be wimed they linew ei ther tessi or more. Onething it is evident they do not know; to wit, that while they rail at prc-judice, they a re undoing them selves : they do not comprehend, what hathbeen bes ore hinted) that their whole figure, their political exisse iace, isowing to certain vulgar prejudices, in favour Of birili, titte, or fortune, whicli adit nothing of reat worth et ther to minit or body; and yet, cause the mosi Worthielis person to he respecte d. Freedom of thought is the prerogative of human kin d; it is a quali tyinherent in the very nature os a thin hing being. Nothing is more evident, than that e very one can thin k his own way, in spite of any out-ward force or Power What ever. It is there re ridiculo us for any man
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to declaim in defence os a privilege, whicli cannot be dented or taken Dom
contempt of laws, and a prescribing from private judgment i against Public authori ty things never borne in any well-ordered state; and Whichmahe the crying distem per of our time S. I am sensibie, that whate ver looks like a restra in t on Deedom os inqui-ry, must be very di segreeable to ali rea soning and inquisitive men. Butagainst this, I have fa id nothing. 9 On the contrary, I Will freely o n,
a judiciolas and impartiat starch aster truth, is the most valia able employment of the mind. Those who have the talenis, and will be at the patias, cannot do bet ter than engage in that nobi e pursuit. But those who arenot quali fied by age or education; those who have ne i ther disposition nor leisure, nor faculties to dig in the mine os truth them solves, must talieit as retalled out by others. I see no rem Ody. GOD Who knows the opportunities of every man, requires impossibilities Dom no man. Andwhere there is a sincere love of truth and virtve, the grace of Go D canea si ly supply the defect of human meanS.It hath been be re observed, and shewed at large, that the bulli ofmankind must have their minds betimes imbued with good and whole me notions or principies, by their parent 8, pastors, and tu tors, or et se had notions, huriful to them selves and others, Will undo ubi edly take possession thereos Such bad notions have, sor severat years past, been propagated with uncommon industry in these hiragdonas: they now bring
Is there no difference belween indulging scrupulo us consciences, and tolerat ing publicderiders of ali conscience and religion ti A man who is himself permitted to sollois his own private judgment, cannot wellcomplain, although he may not set it up as a public rule. 9 The prosane and lawless scorner is one thing, and the modest inquirer aster truth
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sortii s ruit e very day more and more abundant. It is to be se a red, that What hath been long ripening, is now near ripe. Many are the signs and tollens. He that runs, may read. But there cannot be a higher, or more flagrant symptom of the mad- ne sis of our times, than that execrabie fraterni ty of blasphemers, latet yset up with in this city of Dublin. Blasphem y against Go D, is a great crime against the state. But that a set of men should, in open contemptos the laws, malae this very crime their prosection, distinguisti them selves by a peculiar name, ' and forna a distinct societ y, whereos the proper anda vowed businesse mali be, to mock ali serious christians by the most implous and horrid blasphemi es, ut tered in the most public manner: thissurely must alarm ali thin king meri. It is a ne G thing under the sun reserved sor our worthy times and country. It is no common blasphem y I spe ali os: it is not simple cursing and Mearing : it is not the effect ei ther of habit or surpri se; but a tra in offlud ted deliberate indignities against the divine Majest y and those, of soblach and hellim a Lind, as the longues alone whicli ut tered them, candu ly characterige and express. This is no speculative here*, no remoteor doubilat inserence Dom an author's tenets. It is a direct and open attach on GOD himself. It is such a caim premeditated insuli upon religion, law, and the very light of nature, that there is no sect or nation ofmen, whether Christians, Jews, Maho metans, or even civili Zed heathens, that would not be struch with horror and ama gement at the thought of it, and that would not animadvert ' on iis authors with the ut most severi ty.. BlasterS.i They sis there be any such) who thin k to serve the Resormation, by joining withblasters and devit-wors hippers in a plea for licence, are in truth a scandal and reproachio the Protestant cause.
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Deliberate, atheistical blasphemy, is os ali crimes most dangerous to the public, inasmuch as it opens the door to ali other crimes, and virtualli contains them all. A religious awe and sear of GOD, being as we haveaiready observed) the centre that unites, and the cement that connects allhuman society. He, who mahes it his bufiness, to testen or root out Dom the minds of men this principie, doth in essedi, en dea uour to fili his country with highwaymen, hou se-breakers, murdere rS, fraudulent dealers, pessured witnesses, and e very other pest os society. Theresere, it would be the greatest crueity to our Children, neighbours, and COUΠ- try, to connive at suci, a crime; a crimet which hath no natural passionor temptation to plead for it, but is the pure esse et os an abandone d impuden ce in Wichednesi; and, perhaps, of a mista ken hope, that the laws
The question is not no , whether religion mali be estabit med by law: the thing is at ready done, sand done With good reason, as appeareth Domthe premisses but Whether a reverence ' sor the laws mali be preserve d. Religion, considered as a system os saving trullis, hath iis sanction frona heaven; iis re ards and penalties a re divine. But religion, as useful and necessary to society, hath been wisely estabit med by law; and so est abii ed, and wrought in to the very frame and principies of our govern
ment, is beco me a main part of the civit constitution. Our laws, are thelaws of a christian country: our govertament hath been constitu ted and
modet ted by christians; and is si ill administered and maintained by meni rosesiing belles in Cia Ris T. Cati it then be supposed, that implous men mali Gilli impunity, invent anil l publicly ut ter the most horrid
d hey who plead a right to contradi Et the laws, can preten d notae sor doing it with. insoletice or disrespeet.' I o mahe the cause of such men the cause of liberty or toleration, Would be monstro us. A man is not suffered publicly to blaspheme, there fore he may not thin k Deely : a profane misereant is not indulged in the public wors hip of the devit, the refore a conscientious perlon may not serve God his oWn way: is not this absurd t
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blasphemi es, and at the fame time, the whole constitution not be endan-geredi Or can it be supposed that magistrates, or men invested withpower, mould look on, and see the most sacred part of our constitutiontram pled under ot, and yet imagine their own digni ty and authori ty tobe secure, whicli rest inti rely thereupon t I Will venture to say, that whoe ver is a Wise man, and a lover of his country, will not only be solicitousto preserve the honour of GOD sacred and intire; he will even discourage that prevalling prejudice against the dispensers of GOD's word, the teach-ers of those salutary doctrines, without whicli the public cannot thrive orsubsist. He will be no contemner, not even of those rites and ordinances enjoined by law, as necessary to imprint anil retain a sense of religion in the minds of men. He will extend his care to the out orks, as kno ingillat when these are gone, it may be dissiculi to preserve the rest. Notwith standing the vain assertion of those men, who would justist the present, by saying ad times are aliae, it is most evident, that the magistrates, the laws, the Very constitution of these realitas, have lost nosmali sitare of their authori ty and revere iace, si tace this great gro th and sprea ling of implous principies. Whate ver be the cause, the effect is
apparent. Whether me ascribe it to the naturat course of things, or to a just judgment upon those, who, having been caretesse to preserve a due sense of the divine aut hori ty, have seen and mali see their own despi d. Darius, a heathen prince, made a decree, that in every dominion ofhis kingdom, men mould trem bie and fear besere Go D. ' Nebuchadnezzar likewise, a nother hea then, made a decree, that eVery people, nation, and
langu age whicli spolie any thing amisi against Go D mould be cui in pieces, and their houses made a dunghili. ' And is these things were done in Persa and Bablon, furely it may be expected, that implous blasphemersagainst Go D, and his wormip, mouid, at least, be discouraged and put o ut
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of countenance in these christian countries. Now, a constant course of disiavour stom men in authority, Would prove a most cflectual chech to
It is not so much the execution of the laws, as the countenance ostliose in authori ty, that is wanting to the maintenance of religion. Ismen os rank and power, who have a mare in distributing justice, and a voice in the public counciis, mali be observed to neglect divine wormi pthemselves, it must needs be a great temptation sor others to do the fame. But is they, and their families, mould set a good example, it may be pre sumed, that men os test figure would be disposed to solio is it. Famionsare alWays observed to descend, and peopte are generalty fond of being
may preten d, is in fact a bad patriot, a bad citigen, and a bad subject, asweli as a bad christian. Our prospect is very terribie, and the symptoms grow stronger everyday. The morais os a peopte are in this, like their sortunes; when they
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seel a national shoch, the worst doth not shew itself immediately. Things malae a misi to subsist sor a time, on the credit os old notions and dying opinions. But the youth born and brought up in Wiched times, Without any bias io good Dom early principie, or instilled opinion,
When they grow ripe must be monsters indeed. And it is to be seared that age of monsters is not far offWheiace this impiety springs, by what means it gains ground among Us, and how it may be remedied, a re matters that deserve the attentionos ali those who have the power and the will to serve their country. Andalthough many things look like a prelude to generat ruin ; although it is much to be apprehended, we smali he worse bc re we are better ; yet who knows what may enlae, is ali persons in power, Dom the supremeeSecutor of the law, down to a petiy constabie, would, in their severat stations, bellave themselves like men, truly conscious and mindlat, that the authority they are clothed with, is but a ray derived Dom the supremeauthori ty of heaven t This may not a litile contribute to stem that torrent, which from smali heginnings, and under specious pretences, hathgrown to such a head, and datly gathers force more and more to that de-gree, as threatenS a generat inundation and destruction of these realms.