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  MODEST REMARKS
  UPON THE
  BISHOP OF _LONDON'S_
  LETTER CONCERNING
  THE LATE EARTHQUAKES.

  [Price Six pence.]




  MODEST REMARKS
  UPON THE
  BISHOP OF _LONDON'S_
  LETTER CONCERNING
  THE LATE EARTHQUAKES.


  _By One of the People called_ QUAKERS.


    _And now, O ye Priests, this Commandment is
    for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will
    not lay it to Heart, to give Glory unto my
    Name, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will even
    send a Curse upon you, and I will curse your
    Blessings: Yea, I have cursed them already
    because ye do not lay it to Heart_.----
    _Therefore I also made you contemptible and
    base before all the People, as ye have not_
    kept _my Way, but have been_ PARTIAL _in the
    Law_.

        Malachi, ii. 1_st_. 2_d._ and 3_d._ _Verses_.


  _LONDON:_

  Printed for T. HOWARD, at the Pamphlet Shop in the
  _Temple-Exchange_ Coffee House, _Fleet-street_. 1750.




TO THE BISHOP OF LONDON.

_Friend_ THOMAS,

Verily I have perused thy Letter Addressed to the _Clergy_ and
_Inhabitants_ of the Cities of _London_ and _Westminster_ with great
Attention, and must acknowledge to thee with Concern, that I am
exceedingly disappointed in the Expectation I had raised to myself from
that Work. The Solemnity, Friend, of the Occasion, the Seriousness and
Consequence of the Subject treated of, and the Relation thou pretendest to
stand in to the Inhabitants of these Cities, made me believe, that Nothing
would be omitted, that was Necessary to awaken the Conscience, and inform
the Understandings of all Degrees of People, within thy Charge. But how
vain is human Wisdom, and how infinitely short-sighted are its Researches,
when it relies upon itself, and is unassisted by that Spirit, to whom all
Events are known, who searcheth the Hearts and tryeth the Reins of the
Children of Men!

THY Letter, Friend, instead of awakening the Conscience of the hardened
Sinner, or confirming the Faith of the staggering Believer, has confounded
their Understandings, and led them into a Labyrinth, out of which it is
impossible they should ever extricate themselves by the Strength of the
mere natural Man.

THOU hast without any Authority, (for thou disclaimest all Inspiration
from the _Holy Spirit_) represented the two Shocks of an Earthquake,
lately felt, as a supernatural Event; and magisterially pronounced them
the Effects of a special Providence, threatning Vengeance upon a wicked
and profligate Generation. Who knoweth the Councils of the Almighty?
Strange and wonderful are all his Works, and his Ways past finding out.
What is Man, that he should dive into the Secrets of his Providence, or
the Son of Man, that he should deal out his Judgments according to his
vain Imaginations? Verily, Friend, Thou wast under no Temptation to make
such an use of that Dispensation of his Providence; and thou mightest have
found sufficient Matter from a natural Effect (as those, for aught we know
to the contrary, certainly were) to have excited thy Readers to a sincere
Repentance, without arrogating to thyself a Knowledge to which thou hast
not the smallest Claim, or furnishing the Ungodly, in the first Line of
thy Work, with Matter of Prejudice against all that thou couldst say;
since they could plainly discover by their natural Understanding, that
without the Gift of the Holy Spirit, thou couldst not, and oughtest not to
have ascribed to a special Providence, what may be rationally explained by
the general Laws that govern Matter and Motion. These Laws are, no doubt,
in the Hands of the Almighty: and the sovereign Disposer of all Things
may, for the wise Purposes of his Providence, stop, alter, or controul
them at his Pleasure. But, because we believe and are assured, that he
hath reserved the Power to himself, must we, weak-sighted Mortals, have
the Arrogance to conclude, that, on every Occurrence, which appears in
the least singular and unusual, this special Power is exerted; and that
the Order of Nature is inverted, as often as our gloomy Imagination is
pleased to think that it ought to be so?

We are taught from Holy Writ, that Cities and whole Nations have been
destroyed by the especial Vengeance of God for their heinous
Transgressions. But except we had been so told by an infallible Spirit,
and who could not deceive us by false Conjectures, we had no Right, nay,
it would be impious in us so much as to suspect that such Cities suffered
for their Sins by the Hands of a special Providence. _Judge not, lest ye
be judged_, is a Precept of universal Extent, and strongly inculcated by
the Founder of our Holy Religion, who in a particular Manner checked the
_Jews_, who of all Nations were the aptest to explain every Occurrence
into a special and revengeful Providence. "There were present at that
Season some, that told him of the _Galileans_, whose Blood _Pilate_ had
mingled with the Sacrifices; and _Jesus_ answering said unto them, suppose
ye, that these _Galileans_ were Sinners above all the _Galileans_, because
they suffered such things? I tell you Nay, but except you repent ye shall
all likewise perish. Or those Eighteen, upon whom the Tower in _Siloe_
fell, and slew them, think ye that they were Sinners above all Men that
dwelt in _Jerusalem_? I tell you Nay, but except you repent, ye shall
likewise perish." _Luke_ Ch. xiii, ver. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

This, Friend, is the Sense of the Son of God upon a Case almost similar to
what your Subject led you to treat of; and how different is it from the
Sense you would put upon a very natural Occurrence? How much more amiable
is the Picture he gives us of the Father in that Parable that immediately
followeth the above Verses. Verse 6, He speaks also this Parable. "A
certain Man had a Fig-tree planted in his Vineyard, and he came and sought
Fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the Dresser of his
Vineyard, behold these three Years I come seeking Fruit on this Fig-tree,
and find none; cut it down, why cumbereth it the Ground? and he answering
said unto him, Lord, let it alone this Year also, till I shall dig about
it, and dung it: And if it bear Fruit, well; and if not, then after thou
shalt cut it down." How much more amiable, I say, is the Doctrine our
Blessed Redeemer would inculcate by this short Parable, than the Idea we
conceive from explaining every natural Accident as the Manifestation of
the Wrath of an angry, incensed, and avenging God! The _Jewish_ Doctors,
like you, Friend, were willing to explain the Sufferings of the
_Galileans_ into a special Act of Divine Vengeance for their Sins; which
they certainly believed very heinous, as these People differed with them
in some religious Points; and, no doubt, might from thence take some
Occasion to preach up Repentance to the rest of the _Jewish_ Nation. But
he, who could not err, whose Knowledge was infinite, checked their
uncharitable Presumption, teaches them, that they are not to judge of the
Sins of a People by the natural Calamities that fall upon them; nor to
paint the Deity as ready on every Occasion to execute Vengeance against
Sinners. "As I live, saith the Lord, I take no Pleasure in the Death of a
Sinner, but rather that they should repent and turn from their Evil Ways."

Now, Friend, without supposing the Shocks we felt any other than the
Result of Natural Causes, thou mightst from thence have found sufficient
Matter to have roused the most hardened Sinner from the Lethargy of Sin
and Death, by observing, that, besides the many infinite Casualties to
which Life is exposed, there are yet more terrible Accidents that may
sweep them off without a moments Warning, and plunge them into Eternity,
loaded with the Weight of their Iniquities. By supposing such Events never
to happen, but as particular instances of God's Vengeance against Sinners,
the atrocious Sinner is rather led into Despair, than Repentance. Whereas,
when we believe them the Result of a natural Cause, that may take Effect
every moment of our Lives, of which we can have no Foreknowledge, nor the
least possible Means of Prevention, a rational Creature, whose
Understanding is not intirely blinded, or whose Conscience is not
judicially seared, must be awakened to Repentance, and prepare himself for
the great Change, by _his forsaking evil Ways, and turning to the Lord his
God with all his Heart and Strength_. Thou mightest from thence have
availed thyself of all the Instances, that History, sacred and prophane,
furnishes thee with, of Cities and whole Nations, being destroyed by
dreadful Calamities, without teaching thy Flock that uncharitable
Doctrine, that such natural Disasters were the Effect of the peculiar Sins
of these unhappy People. A very dreadful Earthquake happened in _Jamaica_,
in the Year 92, that destroyed a great part of that Colony, and almost
totally ruined the City of _Port-Royal_. Another within these few years
swallowed up the greatest Part of the Capital of _Peru_; and scarce a Year
passes, but we hear of the dreadful Effects of Earthquakes in _Italy_.
Dost thou, like the Jewish Doctors above-mentioned, think, that these
People were _Sinners above all others_ that escaped that dreadful
Visitation? And yet, by supposing the two slight Shocks we have lately
felt the Effects of a special Providence, that uncharitable Doctrine is
fairly inferred; a Doctrine diametrically opposite to the Spirit of our
Holy Religion. But I have said enough to convince thee, that, in thus
explaining that Event, thou hast followed too much the Devices of worldly
Wisdom; and that thou thyself hast fallen into a greater Error than those
Philosophers, whose little Knowledge thou takest upon thee to despise.

But thou hast not only, Friend, mistaken the proper Use of thy Text, but
in the Improvement of it thou hast left unsaid many things that ought
naturally to have occurred to thee, whether thou supposedst the Shocks to
be the Effect of a special or a general Providence. Verily, Friend, on
such an awful Occasion, I expected, that thou wouldest have enumerated,
without any palliation or disguise, the many heinous Sins, that in this
wicked Age are even a Disgrace to Human Nature, and, after such an
Enumeration, thou wouldest candidly, and without Respect of Persons, have
pointed out the real Source of all these Iniquities that overwhelm the
Land, and have directed thy Flock to the natural Means of freeing
themselves from the Thraldom of Sin and Death. But in all this verily thou
hast fallen short: For in the List of the Crimes, with which thou hast
charged the People, thou hast forgot the most atrocious, and taken notice
of the most trivial of our Transgressions, and hast missed intirely of the
true Source of our growing Impiety, and left us altogether in the dark as
to the Practical Method of _amending our ways, and turning again unto the
God of our Fore fathers_.

The First Sin thou takest Notice of, and what, by the Order in which thou
hast placed it, and the Conclusion thou hast drawn from it, would appear
in thy Sense the Source of all our publick and private Transgressions, is
the Number of bad Books with which the Town swarms. This indeed is a
crying Sin, and much to be lamented: but, great as it is, it does not
deserve to lead the Van in a List of National Sins, capable of drawing
down the special Vengeance of the Almighty upon a whole People. Nor is its
Influence so great, as to corrupt the Morals of the Generality of the
Nation. Nine Parts in Ten never read Books of any Sort; and those, that
do, would make but a small Proficiency in Vice, if they had no other
School to learn it in, but Books and unclean Pictures. It is true, Friend,
there are a great many impious Books, and indecent Prints, publickly sold
in our Streets; and they may have their Share in debauching the Morals of
the People: but I would have thee to reflect, that there have been Periods
of Time, when that Evil was more to be complained of than at present. I
verily believe, that there are not the Hundredth Part of irreligious Books
now printed, as were in the Reign of _Charles_ II. There is so little of
the Spirit of Religion now prevailing, that the Subject, even when spoken
of in ridicule, is disagreeable to the Polite of the present Age. But when
thou wast speaking of bad Books, there is one thing thou mightest have
mentioned with as much Propriety as Part of the Sins of the Times; that
is, the Want of good Books, the only proper Antidote against the Venom of
those thou so bitterly complainest against: The Age has not only produced
fewer bad Books, than some former; but it has been likewise remarkably
deficient in producing any thing fit to improve the Morals or
Understanding of the People. And this is not owing to the want of
Encouragement for such Labours: For, bad and wicked as the Age is, I never
heard of a good Book, either of Science, Religion, or Morality, but what
met with proper Encouragement from the Publick: but a Spirit of
Lukewarmness, in Matter of Religion and Devotion, in those, who are well
paid for being its Guardians, prevails so much, that they cannot be
induced to enter the Lists with Error and Infidelity; but satisfy
themselves with exclaiming, in general Terms, against the immoral Writings
of others, without giving themselves the Trouble to impugn their Errors,
or to furnish the People with Preservatives against their mischievous
Effects. And if, at any Time, they are tempted to take up the Pen in
Defence of some favourite Doctrine, the Controversy is handled with so
little Charity or Decency, that an honest, well-meaning, Christian, throws
aside the Book, disgusted at a Spirit so unbecoming the Followers of
_Christ Jesus_. In a Word, Friend _Thomas_, I think this Laziness in
those, endued with all the Advantages of Light and Knowledge, and whose
Time ought to be chiefly employed in such Labours, to be a much greater
Grievance, and a more infallible Sign of the total Decay of the true
Spirit of Christianity, and a greater Reason for the Increase of
Infidelity and Prophaneness, than all the bad Books, obscene Prints, and
Histories of Prostitutes, that have been published for this Century past.
And to shew thee, that if good Books are compiled, there is no fear of
Encouragement even from this profligate Generation, Thou needst only
recollect, that thy _little_ Letter has brought more Money to thy
Bookseller, than all the Impressions of prophane Books, of any Kind, have
brought to the whole Trade for this Twelvemonth past.

After that thou hast finished thy melancholy Declamation against prophane
Books and Prints, the Excess of our publick Diversions takes the next
Place in the List of deadly Sins. This is exaggerated by an Instance of
fifteen or sixteen Advertisements, even in the Holy Season of Lent; and
thou goest piously on to mention Idleness, Gaming, _&c._ These are
terrible Crimes indeed, Friend. But does not thee think, that there are
many others of a deeper Dye, and of which these are only trivial
Consequences? Yes, thou knowest there are; thou couldst not forget them,
being too glaring to have escaped thy Penetration. Yet, thou hast skipped
them over, or taken but very slight Notice of them. For thou hookest in
but one Crime more, before thou seemest to finish thy grand Charge, and to
begin thy Application. Verily, I could have wished in Charity, that thou
hadst left that one Crime out of thy List on this Occasion. The Crime, I
mean, is the Mention thou makest of the Increase of Popery. Thou art to
remember, Friend, that thou hast supposed the Almighty justy offended at
the Number and Heinousness of our National Transgressions, and that thou
art giving a List of the Transgressions, that thou thinkest capable of
drawing down upon us the special Judgments of the Divine Being. Now, canst
thou in Charity, as a Christian, think, that Popery could be numbered
amongst these deadly Sins? The Errors of that superstitious Church are
many; but God forbid, that we should imagine, that their Errors, in Point
of Faith, are such, as to merit these special Marks of the Divine Wrath.
Had that been the Case, this Island, and all Europe, must many Centuries
ago, have felt the most dreadful Effects of these Calamities. If thou
meanest in that Paragraph those, who continue obstinate in Error, in spite
of Conviction, and the Dictates of their own Conscience, thou sayest
right, and mightst have mentioned all such of every Persuasion in this
Island. But, if thou meanest the gross Body of the Catholicks, whom we are
bound in Charity to believe to act from Principle and Conviction, (and,
indeed, they must be strangely infatuated if they do not;) thou hast
verily been exceedingly to blame, to mention them on this Occasion. For
remember, that from a Principle common to all Protestants, if they act
from rational Conviction, or what appears to them as such, they are as
much entitled to the gracious Mercies of a good God, as thee, or I, is;
and, consequently, the Increase of their Tenets, however erroneous they
may appear to us, cannot, with any Colour of Justice, be reckoned amongst
the List of Sins, capable of drawing down special Judgements upon this
Land.

The Divisions, that are amongst the Followers of _Christ Jesus_, is indeed
Part of the enormous Wickedness of this Age. These we ought to lament in
general; but its being greatly wanting to that Charity, which is the
distinguishing Badge of Christianity, to mark out any one of the several
Sects, that profess the same essential Doctrines, with such a dreadful
Distinction. But thou hast not only placed the Catholicks as the immediate
Objects of God's avenging Judgments, but thou hast represented some of
their Doctrines in a Light which they do not deserve. Thou wouldst
insinuate, that the Cordial, as thou callest it, of Absolution, is
believed by the Catholicks, to be of Effect, without a thorough and
sincere Repentance. We ought, thou knowest, Friend, ever to speak Truth:
which Truth never stands in need of the Aids of Falshood. Now, the
Catholicks, in all their Writings, lay it down, and teach it as a Tenet of
their Church, that Absolution, however solemn, or by whomsoever
pronounced, is so far from being of any Effect without Repentance,
Amendment, and Retribution, if in their Power, that the thus accepting it
is adding the heinous Sin of Sacrilege to all their other Sins. Now, by
what Means canst thou suppose, that this Cordial of Absolution, however
ineffectual thou and I may think it, could be greedily swallowed by
Persons averse to the wholesom food of Repentance, by which their
spiritual Condition might be gradually mended? If they swallow it, they
must already have digested the Food of Repentance; if they have not, they
know, as well as thee, that they have swallowed a Poison instead of a
Cordial. If thou must needs, at a Time when thou oughtest, instead of
awakening Christian Divisions, to have done all in thy Power to Unite all
its Followers in one Bond of Peace and charitable Union; if thou must
needs, I say, at such a Time, employ thy Rhetoric against the Errors of
that Church, sure thou mightst have pitched upon some one founded in
Truth, and not have mentioned as Fact a Thing so easily red-argued. At
other Times Zeal for the Cause of Truth may, tho' preposterously enough,
prompt a Man to blacken his Adversary with imaginary Crimes, in order, by
a kind of pious Fraud, to prepossess the People against the Errors in his
Doctrine and Practice.

But on such an Occasion as this, and from so distinguished a Hand, we had
Reason to expect, Friend, that every Fact advanced should have been
literally and manifestly true. I remember an Instance known all over
_Europe_, that might have set thee right, if thou wert really ignorant of
the Nature of _Romish_ Absolution. That is, that, notwithstanding the
great Powers of that despotic King, _Lewis_ the XIVth, all his Authority
could not prevail over any one Priest in his Dominions to give him
Absolution, or administer to him the Sacrament whilst he lived in a state
of Uncleanness with Madam _Maintenon_. He was so far from resenting their
supporting an Authority, he thought them legally possessed of, that for
the faithful Discharge of their Duty, he loaded his Confessors with
Bishopricks; and at last at their Instances privately married his
Mistress; and then, and not till then, received Absolution. I, for my
part, Friend, think the Absolution pronounced by thy Church, and that by
the Church of _Rome_, or by any human Creature alive, to be vain and
useless, and the Product of spiritual Pride and Vanity. But the Spirit of
Truth, that is within me, would not permit me to pass over so gross a
Misrepresentation of Fact, without a proper Reprehension.

This, with a very gentle Touch upon the want of a due Execution of the
Laws, (for which thou dost not forget to ask Pardon) finishes the
Bead-toll of National Sins, that are to draw down the immediate Vengeance
of the most High. Thou then proceedest to hint that a due Execution of the
Laws already in Being, and the particular Care of Masters of Families, may
bring about a Reformation, and avert those Judgments thou supposest to be
threatened by the two very terrible Shocks of an Earthquake. Strange
Chimæra, to think that Wickedness, grown to such a height as to merit the
special Notice of the Divine Being, and interwoven as it were with our
very Nature, should be rooted out by such weak Means! How amazing is it,
that a Physician should pretend to cure a complicated Malady, without once
touching at the Source of the Disorder, by slightly tickling the outwards
Parts, and leaving the Vitals to perish under a mortal Gangrene.

Every Man's Knowledge, yea, verily, every old Woman's Knowledge, in this
Kingdom, might have picked out a Multitude of Instances, and those much
more flagrant than any thou hast mentioned, of the general Wickedness and
Depravity of the Age we live in. That was no Secret; and we needed neither
Bishop, Prophet, nor Earthquake, to remind us, that the Cup of our
Iniquity is near full, and that nothing but the superabundant Mercy and
long-suffering Patience of the Almighty, could hinder us from falling a
sacrifice to his offended Justice. For it is one of the Sins peculiar to
this Age, that we have been industrious in finding out new Species of
Wickedness, and that we never commit an old Fault, but for want of
Invention to diversify the Crime, and heighten the Relish of Iniquity by
the horrid Novelty of it; and that we are so far from pretending to act
thro' Ignorance or want of Knowledge of our Duty, that the greatest
Pleasure of our Iniquities consists in our Knowledge of their being
prohibited by God, and destructive of our future and eternal Happiness. An
universal Depravation of Manners reigns thro' all Sorts of People in this
sinful Land; and an utter Abhorrence and Detestation of every Thing, that
bears but the smallest Resemblance of Virtue and Piety, have possessed
the Hearts and Minds of this profligate Generation. The Kingdom of God is
not among the wicked Inhabitants of this Island. The Kingdom of Satan
prevails and reigns triumphant in our debauched Streets. Our Nobles
frequent anti-christian Diversions, and forget the Lord their God, and
walk every Man according to the Devices of his own Heart: While a venal
Contagion has seized the whole Body of the People, who worship Money as
their God, and have said unto Silver and Gold, ye are our Deliverers, and
our sure Help in Time of Need. There is nothing so sacred, but what they
willingly barter for filthy Lucre. Justice, Honesty, Right and Wrong, are
no longer understood in this sinful Land; but every thing is weighed in
the Scales of Gain. Their very Souls they bring to the Account of Profit
and Loss, making light of Futurity, and laughing at Hell Torments, as the
Invention of Priests and Statesmen. Whoredom, Adulteries, Fornications,
and all manner of beastly Uncleanness, are openly avowed; and he who does
not plunge himself into all the Debaucheries of the Stews, with a high and
open Hand, is looked upon as a poor narrow-spirited Creature unworthy of
the Company of Men of a noble and exalted Genius. Luxury, Drunkenness, and
Gluttony, have overspread the Tables and Dwellings of all Degrees of
People. We seek the Bowels of the Earth for Jewels to adorn us, and travel
to the most distant Quarters of the World in Quest of whatever may gratify
our vicious Appetites, and yet never think of the God, that furnishes our
unnatural Wants. Our Women are ashamed of Modesty. They deck themselves in
gorgeous Apparel, and expose half their Persons naked to allure the Eyes
of the Wicked. Murder, Robberies, and the most barefaced Perjuries, are
every Day to be met with in our Streets; even Crimes that would shock
Modesty but to mention are as common as Petty Larceny. Yet we are spared,
and the sinful Land stands a Monument of the long-suffering Patience of
the Almighty.

This, Friend, is a Supplement to the List of thy deadly Sins; and dost not
thee think, that it makes a most dreadful Appearance, and that some of
them merited to be mentioned in a more serious Manner than thou hast done?
And yet there is one Evil under the Sun, which I have not hitherto
descanted on; and that Evil is as great, perhaps, as all the rest put
together: And the Spirit moveth me to think, and deliver unto thee, that
this Evil, I am now going to expose, is the Spring, Source, and Fountain
Head, of all the black Crimes I have rehearsed, and of many more, that
could not come within the Compass of my Knowledge.

I would willingly, if I durst, prevaricate, and conceal this fatal Evil;
but as the Eyes of the People are upon us, as their Fears are awakened,
and they seem in some Measure willing to find out a Way to rid them of
this Load of Sin, that stands as a Wall of Brass between them and the
Mercy of their God, it is necessary, since we have pointed out the Malady,
that we should display the Source, in order to direct them to a Cure.

Thou wouldst have a Reformation begin in Private Families: but alas! thou
art fatally mistaken. The Thing is impossible. It is building downwards. A
great many People in this Island are so unhappily situated, that they must
continue to be wicked, and to administer to Vice, or cease to eat. In
short, their Circumstances are so connected with the prevailing Vices,
that they have no other Choice left, but either to starve here, or submit
to be damned hereafter. This is a dreadful Case, Friend, and hardly
credible: yet a little Knowledge of the World, and Acquaintance with the
present Times, will furnish innumerable Instances of Wretches in this
unhappy Dilemma. What must such People do? Dost think a Sermon, or a
Pastoral Letter, can persuade them to starve here for the sake or an happy
Hereafter? No! Appetites are strong; and as this Class of Men have many
great Examples to follow, they are no ways intimidated by what either Thou
hast, or I could utter unto them on this tremendous Occasion. Before then
the Body of the People can be reformed without a Miracle, it is necessary,
that these Publick Vices should be plucked up by the Roots; and that the
Reformation should begin amongst those of higher Rank, amongst our Rulers,
and the Grandees of the Land: but more especially, amongst that Order of
Men, the worldly and dissolute Example of some of whom have most
contributed to taint the Morals, and pervert the Judgment of the
Community. I mean, Friend, thy Brethren, the Clergy. Start not, my
Brother! I am not going to bring a railing Accusation against thee in
Person, or to Accuse thy Fraternity in a Lump. I verily believe there may
be a great Number of thy Profession, who make a Conscience of their Duty;
and as much as lyeth in their Power, both by Precept and Example,
endeavour to stem the Torrent of Vice and Immorality. But thou knowest as
well as I, that there are many in the World, who are Wolves in Sheeps
Cloathing, who destroy the Flock they should feed, and poison by their
Example the pure Streams of the Gospel, with which they ought to water the
Vineyard of the Lord. Its not to be concealed, nor palliated, that there
is no Vice, however odious, practised by the blind Laity, but what is
likewise committed by some of their more enlightened Teachers: This,
Friend, is the great Evil I hinted at above. This is the Source of all our
Woes, and here, and no where else, the Reformation must begin.

How is it possible for thee to think, that though the Clergy were to
preach as with the Voice of Angels, that their Discourses should have any
Effect upon the Minds or Morals of the People, as long as they see these
very Clergy, or a great Number of them, acting diametrically opposite to
the Doctrines they teach; and living in such a Manner, as if they
themselves did not believe one Word of the sacred Truths they are
inculcating.

An inordinate Love of Money is a reigning Sin of the Age. Now, let all the
Clergy of this Island join with one Voice in the Pulpit to preach it down,
dost thee think the Playing of their Lungs would be of any Significancy,
as long as the People see, that these Men set as great a Value upon the
ungodly Mammon, as the meanest of them can possibly do? When they see
these pretended pious Preachers, like _Simon Magus_, purchasing and
selling the Holy Ghost for Money; swallowing Oaths for the Sake of
Preferments, that for Years they had declared to be against their
Consciences; hunting eargerly after fat Livings, Tithes, and Pigs, and
heaping up Pluralities, and Commendams, to gratify their Pride and
Avarice: When at the same Time they grudge the least Indulgence to the
Drudges, to whose Care they commit the Souls of the People. With what Face
can they preach against Luxury, and Sensuality, when they themselves
wallow in the Fat of the Land, and loll about in their Leathern
Conveniencies, in sadly unedifying Pomp, Pride, and Vanity? Chastity,
Sobriety, and Temperance, are Virtues, perhaps as much Strangers in the
Tents of _Levi_, as in the Tabernacles of the Tribe of _Nepthali_. But
Pride, Spiritual Pride, the worst of Pride, and the Itch of Domination
have taken full Possession of the Cassock, and left the Laity but a faint
Mimickry of that ugly Habit of the Soul; And as for Charity, and Christian
Benevolence, those seem to be no Part of the Creed of a modern Priest.
Instead of healing the Divisions amongst Christians, bearing with the
Weakness and Infirmities of their Brethren, and, like the Apostle,
_becoming all Things to all Men, that by all Means some may be saved_;
instead of yielding in Matters of Indifference, and endeavouring to bring
about a Christian Coalition, they are obstinate in Trifles, tenacious of
the Rags, Fringes, and Patches of Religion, and damn all that won't go to
Heaven by the direct Path that they have marked out for them, but which
they themselves seem resolved by their daily Practice never to travel.

When the People, Friend, observe, (and their Eyes are quicker than their
Understanding) that the Parson of the Parish winks at the Immorality of
his Patron, because he has great Livings in his Gift; when they see him
join in his sensual Excesses, and administer to him the most Holy Rites of
their Religion, tho' he knows him to live in open Uncleaness, perhaps in
Adultery, and to betray, sell, and ruin his Country, I say, Friend, when a
Flock sees this Shepherd thus prostituting his Profession, and casting
holy Things before Swine, and this only for the Hopes of a Plurality, or
Commendam, or Dignity to feed his spiritual Pride with, is it possible for
them to conclude those Sins so heinous? Does not his Example influence
those of his Family, and the Examples of these those of the Village, till
the dreadful, black, Contagion spreads, like a Pest, over a whole County?
Who then are to blame for this? Why, verily, none but the profligate venal
Clergyman. For if he exerted his Ecclesiastical Power, with as much Zeal
against Vice and Prophaneness, as he does in the Recovery of his Tythes,
the Great would be obliged to quit their open Sins, and the little ones
would not be led astray by his scandalous Example.

But, it is time, my Friend _Thomas_, to draw towards a Conclusion. A
Reformation is certainly necessary. For whether we are punished by an
Earthquake or not, the natural Tendency of Vice is such, that a few Years
longer Continuance of it must bring along with it Plagues enow to punish
us grievously here, as we shall certainly meet a dreadful Reward
hereafter. Let me advise thy Brethren, the Clergy, in all Charity and
Meekness, to begin the great Work themselves. Purge and make clean the
House of the Lord, and drive all Pollution from his Sanctuary. Let the
Priesthood that are proud become humble, meek, and lowly, even as was
_Jesus_, whose Servants they are. Let them put away the false Gods from
amongst them, and destroy the Idol they have set up in their Hearts; that
is, let them banish the Love of Money, the Itch of Power and Dominion,
either over the Minds or Temporalities of the People. Let him, that has
two Livings, give one to his poor Brother; let him, that performeth the
Labour of the Vineyard, receive also the Wages; and let not the Drone eat
up the Meat of the Industrious Servant. Let them exert their Power without
respect of Persons, yet with all Humility and Meekness, not out of Malice,
or to gratify their Spleen, but for the Love of Truth and Purity. In a
Word, Friend, when they believe what they have sworn at their Ordination
to believe, and maintain; when they teach only what they believe, and act
as they teach, then without the Gift of Prophecy I can foretell, that this
Land will return to the Lord, and his Wrath will be turned from this
Generation, and his Blessings multiplied upon our Childrens' Children,
even unto the latest Ages of the World. But, Friend, till either thy
Brethren do this of themselves, or are compelled to it by their
Superiours, nothing less than a divine Miracle can redeem this Land from
the Slavery of Sin. May Somebody begin a thorough Reformation somewhere,
that we may have Peace in our Days. The God of Peace be with thee, Friend!
_Amen._


_FINIS_.




Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.

Long "s" has been modernized.