Tempers, that they are afhamed of a Caufe fo weakly conducted, and fo ridiculously supported; infomuch that even among the Gentlemen of the Army, where our great Strength was once fuppofed to lie, I know feveral, who are universally acknowledged to be Men of Genius, Worth, and Honour, who were never known to want either Courage or Prefence of Mind in an Article of Danger, yet are now become fo-fo, what fhall I call it! fo fuperftitious, as to be afraid of doing or faying what the Believers call a profane or irreligious Thing; they even make a Scruple of breaking one of the Ten Commandments; they are not ashamed to go to Church, to read the Bible, to fay their Prayers, to give Alms, and even to converfe with a Parfon without affronting his Character; nay, fome of them carry the Matter fo far, as to appear zealous for the Interest and Honour of Religion; nay, much more fo than many who are obliged by their Intereft, as well as their Duty and Profeffion, to adorn and defend it. This is a mortifying Confideration.-If Things go on at this rate, we know not how they will end, for these Gentlemen can fight as well as talk for Religion; and if they should once take it in their Heads that Religion was a Cause worth fighting for, it might go a great Way towards hindering free Debate upon religious Subjects, and do irreparable Mifchief to our Caufe; of which I myself have seen two or three very fatal Instances. I was once at a Coffee-houfe, where a very sprightly young Fellow was entertaining the Company with a great many unlucky Jokes and Flings upon Religion in general. An Officer who fat near him, at length interrupted him ; Sir, faid he, that God, whofe Name you have dishonoured, whose whofe Worship you defpife, whofe Religion you treat with Irreverence and Contempt, is my Creator, my Father, and my best Friend; and though I cannot difpute for him, yet I can fight for him, and in his Name I demand Satisfaction. This unexpected Rebuff made fo violent an Impreffion upon the Spirits of the young Orator, that it immediately threw him into a Colliquative Diarrhoea, which carried him off in lefs than four and twenty Hours, and has ever fince given me an incurable Averfion to these bloody-minded Crufado Christians, who are for running a Man through the Body, in order to fave his Soul. What then must be done! Why the Malady points out the Remedy, the Disease directs us to the Cure; there is no other Way of recovering our Reputation but by acting a more difcreet Part for the future, and laying this undisciplined Rabble under proper Reftraints and Regulations. Among the many Projects that have been started in the Course of my Lucubrations upon this Subject, I had once a Thought of trying our Intereft with the Legislature, to procure a Charter of Incorporation for all Free-thinkers in general; the Governor, or Governors, of which should be invested with full Powers and Privileges to examine, admit, and restrain, by wholesome Laws of Difcipline and Order, all fuch as should, at any time, offer themfelves as Candidates to be gremial or honourary Members of our Society: But the late ill Succefs of our Brethren, the Quakers and other Proteftant Diffenters, who have been Petitioners upon much the fame Pretenfions, has convinced me, that there is too great a Majority of Believers in both Houses to expect any Good at prefent from that Quarter. However we may ray, under the Protection of the Toleration-Act, form ourselves into a voluntary Society for promoting the fame Caufe, obtaining the fame Ends, and anfwering all the real Purposes of a legal Incorporation: A fhort Scheme of which I fhall endeavour to lay before you, which I fhall fubmit to be examined and amended by fuch of our Friends as you shall think best qualified to advise in fo important an Affair.-My accidental Mention of the Quakers fuggests to me a lucky Hint, which your good Sense cannot fail to improve. Every body knows that they are the most politic thriving Body of Men that ever fubfifted in this or any other Nation without-without, did I fay!— nay, in direct Defiance to a legal and national Establishment; and therefore, as there is a very great Refemblance betwixt our Principles and theirs, particularly in the great Articles of Priesthood, Confecrated Places, Ecclefiaftical Order, Sacraments, Articles of Faith, and Payment of Tythes; so I cannot but think it would be good Policy to copy after their Plan of Affociation, and build upon their Model, I mean only as to the political Interefts of the Society. The Quakers, (if I am not mifinformed) befides their weekly Meetings, have their quarterly Meetings of Deputies from their several Congregations, within fuch particular Diftricts, and a general Meeting of,. Deputies from the whole Body, who affemble regularly at London, every Feast of Pentecoft, (as they call it) by which the Intercourse and Communication betwixt the several Members and Congregations of the whole Society is maintained. This Scheme, with: feme proper Alterations fuited to our different Circum→ ftances, I cannot but think would be extremely con venient venient for us. Suppofe therefore that there were in every County of Great-Britain, feveral Societies, Meetings, or Lodges in Proportion to the Extent of the County, and Numbers of Brethren, who fhould meet on any Day of the Week (Sunday only excepted) and at any Hour of the Day, or rather of the Night, if the Majority fhall think it more convenient: That in each of thefe Societies, or Lodges, there fhould be appointed an annual Officer to admit and register the Names, Age, Places of Refidence, Profeffions, &c. of all Candidates that fhall appear worthy to be admitted; and that, out of each of thefe, two Deputies should be sent to a quarterly Meeting at the CountyTown the Monday following the respective QuarterSeffions holden at each Town; where all Matters and Caufes relating to the particular Intereft of each feparate Lodge, or Society, and the general Interest of the whole might be examined and fettled. And that a general Meeting of two Deputies from each Congregation should affemble every Year on the first Day of April, at a proper Place to be hereafter fettled and agreed upon by a Majority of Votes. London I can by no means think a proper Place, though Custom has made it the very Center of Bufinefs and Correfpondence; yet forafmuch as we are in a particular Way of Thinking, and owe no Reverence to the Fashions and Opinions of others, but only confult our own Eafe and Convenience, it appears more agreeable to us to pitch upon fome Place near the Center of the` Kingdom, for the greater Ease of the Deputies who are to affemble there. And here my good Genius directs ine to make use of this Opportunity, to pay my unfeigned Reverence and Refpect to a once renowned, though though long neglected Seminary of Wit and Learning, famous in the Annals of former Ages, whose wife Inhabitants were no less celebrated in the Songs and Proverbs of ancient Times, than the venerable Sages of ancient Greece and Rome. You will eafily imagine I can mean no other than the famous Town of Goatham in Nottinghamshire, whofe Ruins I have long bewailed with a more than filial Piety, and hope to fee it once more restored by the united Zeal and Labour of our Friends to its priftine Fame and Splendor, fo as to equal, at least, if not eclipfe, all our established Seminaries of blind Zeal, Bigottry, and Superftition. Here I hope to see begun, at least, if not completed, a noble and ample Foundation, richly endowed by fome of our opulent Friends, to be a Nursery for future: Champions of Liberty and Free-thinking, till it be come the Establishment of these Kingdoms. Nor can this be thought an improbable or unreasonable Profpect, by any that confiders the unwearied Zeal and unbounded Benevolence that diftinguifh our Leaders from the Friends of Slavery and Superftition, whofe Heads and Hearts are cramped by narrow Notions of Orthodoxy, Difcipline, and Order. But till this can be accomplished, it were a defirable Thing, that private Seminaries or Academies were erected in convenient Places, for the Reception and Education of proper Perfons, to be fent out from time to time upon the Miffion, with proper Inftructions how to act agreeably to their feveral Talents and Capacities, as the different Exigencies of the Public may require. I would therefore humbly propofe, that no Perfon of what Age, Rank, or Quality foever should be permitted to act or talk in public as a Free-thinker, who had |