No faction's tool, but proud to plead the cause Of Freedom while she venerates the laws, necessariis, liberalitas, in omnibus, Charitas." Therefore I shall use the common privilege of every rational creature, to "conjecture with freedom, to propose with diffidence, to dissent with civility." I have in a former note attempted to clear the Presbyterians from a false aspersion. Many will be ready to infer from this that I am an enemy to the Establishment. No such thing. To say that the Members of the Establishment, or that those who compose Dissenting Congregations are perfect, would be to say that they are not men. A little of their zeal and activity, would not hurt us; a little of our liberality would not hurt them. Were the power and patronage of the Establishment removed into other hands, I am far from thinking the new possessors would evince a greater degree of moderation in the enjoyment of them. While any Church is connected with a Government, that Church will always have something to give; and it will ever be matter of contention, who are the most fit to receive it. But in this struggle for temporalities the great advantages christianity is capable of bestowing even on the present state of Society, (for it is a social Religion,) are annihilated. "There hath not been discovered," says Lord Bacon, "in any age, any Philosophy, Opinion, Religion, Law, or Discipline, which so greatly exalts the common, and lessens the individual Interest, as the Christian Religion doth." My partiality for the Establishment, has not made me blind to its faults. In many things, but most of all in its Articles, I humbly conceive there is room, and shortly may be opportunity, for improvement. When we reflect who and what those men are, who have seceded from us, because they could not, in their present state, conscientiously subscribe to the Articles; we must acknowledge, we can ill afford to lose I look on earth for no Utopian plan such talents, enhanced hy such integrity. Some years since a very large proportion of the Clergy gave manifest and public proof of their wishes, on this occasion. I am inclined to think that this proportion hath of late increased. When Paley was asked for his vote on this occasion, his reply was, "I sincerely wish well to the cause, but cannot at present afford to keep a conscience." A foolish and thoughtless joke, which on such an occasion had been better spared. But some may say, "Has the Church Power to revise, alter, or annul any of her Articles? Read her own language in these very Articles; General Councils are assemblies of men, all of whom may not be governed by the Spirit and Word of Ged: they may err, and sometimes have erred; and all things ordained by them as neces◄ sary to salvation, have neither strength, nor authority, unless it may be declared that they are taken out of the holy scriptures. Every particular, or national church, hath authority to ordain, change, or abolish ceremonies or rites of the church, ordained only by men's authority. Much learned labour hath of late been bestowed, to prove that these Articles are not Calviinistic; and that they are Apostolic. I must conceive it is of infinitely more consequence to make out the latter proposition, than the former. As far as Calvin, or any other Reformer, or Teacher, can be reconciled to the Gospel, so far he is entitled to our attention, and no farther. In defence of Calvin's persecuting Spirit it has been usual to say it was the error of the Times in which he lived; and the necessary fault of his Education. But surely one, who after tearing himself from the pale of the Church of Rome, became, a kind of Protestant Pope at Geneva; who after escaping from the very laboratory of Persecution, was ever after blinded by the smoke, "Ardentis The faults that in myself I tolerate, Massa fuligine lippus ;" who, in the case of Servetus, gave woeful proofs that with all his wisdom, he was not above the damning error of the age in which he lived; surely, such an one is not exactly the Oracle that is to guide the faith, and regulate the opinions of Posterity. But supposing Calvin had given us, what he certainly has not, the best proof that he was indeed entitled to the highest veneration and authority amongst Posterity; namely, that he himself was above the errors of his own day; yet even that, in the present case, would hardly justify us in pinning our faith upon his sleeve. Because the superadded experience of so many centuries, and the glorious light of the Reformation, of which he was only one of the Morning Stars, have enabled us to be much better judges in these matters now for ourselves, than Calvin could at that time have possibly been for us. On this subject Lord Bacon has expressed himself with his usual pregnant brevity. “De antiquitate autem, opinio quam homines de ipsa fovent, negligens omnino est, et vix verbo ipsi congrua. Mundi enim Senium, et Grandævitas pro antiquitate vere habenda sunt; quæ temporibus nostris tribui debent, non juniori ætati mundi, qualis apud antiquos fuit. Illa enim ætas respectu nostræ antiqua et major; respectu mundi ipsius nova et minor fuit." "But that opinion which men entertain concerning antiquity,is altogether vague, and hardly to be reconciled to the very term itself. For the old and advanced age of the world, may indeed be considered to be true antiquity; and this antiquity belongs to modern times; not to that younger age of the World, such as it was amongst the Antients. For that age of the Antients, with respect to our age, is certainly the older of the two; but with respect to the world, it is as certainly the younger." Taught by plain Truth alone, and Common Sense, I make to inspiration no pretence, Rare Gift!-to prove it, mark the Grecian's page, But, if the Honest, Wise, and Good can find Worm next the fatal secret† from their breast; * An Indian Coin. "Scire volunt secreta Domas atque inde timeri." D d + Dear is his wealth to Clive, † but dearer still "Carus erit Verri, qui Verrem tempore, quo vult, Omnis arena Tagi, quodque in mare volvitur aurum, The epithet of an heaven-born General was invented by Lord Chatham, and by him applied to this extraordinary man. In the year 1773, a motion was made in the House of Commons, to resolve, that in the acquisition of his wealth, Lord Clive had abused the powers with which he had been entrusted. This motion was rejected, and it was voted that he who may be considered the Founder of the British Empire in India, had rendered great and meritorious services to his Country. He had been previously presented by the Court of Directors with a superb and costly Sword, set with Diamonds. But the horrid fears and remorseful agitations which overcame this Hero on his couch, and rendered solitude a scene more dreadful than the ensanguined field, or the fire of artillery, together with the shocking circumstance of his putting a period to his own existence, do not tend to weaken our doubts of the purity of the means by which his vast wealth was accumulated. The avarice which clouded the character of another Hero, Marlborough, ended at last in the second childhood of dotage and debility. This Passion "grew with his growth," but it does not appear, (as in the case of Elwes and most other misers) that it "strengthened with his weakness." At a dinner, where many Ambassadors were present, Marlborough, when called upon for a toast, gave "My Queen," meaning Queen Anne. One of the guests, who sat next to prince Eugene, enquired of him what Queen the Duke alluded to? "I have never heard of |