and that the Bishop of has raised his Fine in the laft Renewal of his great Leafe. Hinc illa lachryma! And when a Man's Paffions have been raised by Self-intereft and Vanity, no Wonder they are not to be composed by Reason and Juftice. For my own part, though I am not fo ftaunch a Believer, nor fo good a Chriftian, as perhaps I ought to be; yet I believe in God, and endeavour to serve him to the best of my Knowledge: I have an intire and cordial Benevolence for all my Fellow-creatures, especially my own Species, which obliges me to perform all the Duties of a good Citizen, a good Neighbour, and a good Friend. I confider all Mankind as my Brethren; I would never neglect or forsake a Friend, nor injure or oppress an Enemy. Homo fum, & nihil humani a me alienum puto. And have always made it the inviolable Rule of my Conduct, to do to every Man as I could wish they should do unto me: And, therefore, though a Lay-man and a Freethinker, I have no more Aversion to a black Coat, than I have to a red one, and think a Rofe Hatband as inoffensive to a Man of Senfe as a Cockade.-And to deal plainly with you, I did not think the accused Party had fair Play among us; they were accufed without legal Evidence, and condemned without legal Proof. Not a Man in the Company dared to speak in their Behalf, much less to appear as an Advocate for them, to traverse the Indictment, to cross-examine the Witnesses, to put the most candid and equitable Conftruction upon fufpicious Appearances. A Privilege which the Law allows to the vileft Criminals. So that we were, in short, more like a Court of Inquifition, than an impartial Court of Juftice; we were Parties

and Judges at the fame time. I could not help thinking this a very unreasonable way of proceeding, and therefore refolved, at my Leifure, to give the Cause a Rehearing in my own Court of Confcience, and communicate my Thoughts to you, whom I know to be, as well as myself, a Friend to Truth and Justice, and a Lover of Mankind.

I smile to myself to think what a hearty Laugh you and your merry Neighbour will have, upon perufing this Epiftle, and how many fcurvy Jokes will be cracked over this poor Head of mine, that I of all Men living fhould at this time of Day turn Advocate for the Clergy, whofe Degeneracy and Corruptions you have so often heard me condemn. But pray, Gentlemen, compofe your Muscles, and be ferious for half an Hour. Remember I take no Fee. We proceed in formâ pauperis; I undertake the Cause with the fame Difintereft as fome of our Brethren did poor Woolfton's Cafe, who was perfecuted almoft to Death for nothing at all but a little Blafphemy, as the Believers call it. I pretend to no more than to open the Caufe as a Puifne Council, which perhaps may be feconded and fupported by fome Perfon of greater Abilities.

In managing this Debate, I shall confider the Church of England only as a human legal Establishment, and the Clergy as a Society or Body incorporate by a Royal Charter, endowed with certain Privileges and Immunities, as the South-Sea and India Companies, or the Bank of England. Their Pretenfions to a more ancient Establishment, founded on a Charter from Heaven, is an Article that does not come fo properly before us; I fhall therefore leave it to be defended by H 3 them

themselves, before more competent Judges. Confider them only as a Society incorporate by Charter, they have certainly a legal Right to all the Privileges conveyed by that Charter, till it be recalled by a competent Authority, which in Equity and good Policy ought not to be, till it either appear to be inconfiftent with the public Good, or that, by Male-practice, they have forfeited their Title to those Privileges, the Favour of their Prince, and the Protection of the Law.

The Being of a God, and the Neceffity of Religion and religious Worship under fome Form or other, has been the univerfal Believe of all Ages and all Nations, which neceffarily implies a Separation of certain Times, Places, Things, and Perfons from common Ufe, to be devoted and appropriated to that Service. On which Account, in the most early Records, we meet with Temples, Sacrifices, Altars, Feftivals, Priefts, &c. dedicated to the Service of their respective Deities. To offer at a particular and diftinct Proof of this evident Truth, would be an Affront to a Perfon of your Learning and good Senfe, and to the Credit of univerfal History and Tradition. The abfurd Cavils that have been made against it are too trifling to deserve a serious Answer. Whether this univerfal Agreement of Mankind were owing to a general or particular Revelation from Heaven, or from the apparent Usefulness of Religion to promote the Welfare of Mankind, and the Ends of civil Government, has been difputed. But to me there feems to be a strong Prefumption that it was owing to both, and that the one was the Confequence of the other. Now if the Inftitution of Religion be owing to fo divine an Original, and if Reason and Experience fhew it to 3

be

be of fuch real Advantage to Mankind, no Wonder it has ever been regarded by wife and good Governors, as the great Bleffing and Support of Government, and been defended and protected accordingly. And this could never be done but by making it a national Esta blishment, and guarding it by proper Laws and Sanctions from the Invafions and Contempt of the Profligate and Profane: And that this was the Cafe in fact, we affirm, and humbly presume cannot easily be difproved.

We come now, in the firft Place, to a diftinct Examination of the general Charge brought against the Clergy, and the particular Allegations brought to fupport it.

Secondly, to confider what may and ought to be fairly produced, to remove or extenuate the Guilt with which they are charged, and to fix it with all its infamous Confequences where it ought to reft.

The gloomy Mr. W whom you know to be a great Dealer in Sufpicions, fecret Hiftory, and fly Inuendo's, begun with feveral unlucky Quotations from Tacitus and Salluft, which he imagined every body knew how to apply to Parallels among ourselves. He grumbled much about Sacerdotia Venalia, and told us how often the High-Priesthood among the Jews had been bought and fold to the beft Bidder. He might have added too, that the Roman Empire itself had been fet to fale, as other States and Kingdoms have been fince. But what is all this to the Purpose? This proves nothing; this is only fuppofing and in

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finuating

finuating Crimes too gross to be believed, too danger ous to be directly charged without Proof, and impof→ fible to be proved. Nor, indeed, was there any Occafion for Sufpicions and Inuendo's; there were too. many Articles directly charged, and fome of them too plainly proved to be defended or excufed, but not enough to fupport fo general an Accufation as is brought against the whole Order. Some of thefe Articles more immediately concerned the fuperior Orders, the Prelates, and Dignitaries. Others, the parochial Clergy, Rectors, Vicars, and Curates. Those against the Superior, were,

I. Ambition and Avarice.

II. Their fervile Application and Attachment to Men in Power.

III. The corrupt Use they make of their Revenues, their mifapplying the Patrimony of the Church, which was defigned for the Support of Charity and Hofpitality, to Luxury and Vanity; and filling the most valuable Preferments with their own. Children, Relations, and Sycophants, without any Respect fo much as to a Cæteris Paribus.

IV. Their Non-Refidence, Pluralities, and Commendams.

Those against the Inferior were general, indefinite, random Accufations, fuch as Pride, Pedantry, Illmanners, Hypocrify, Neglect of their Cures, and a long-long-&c.

Sir