bits or Badges, to be worn by the Gentlemen of this Order. A Paralogician fhall wear a fhort Mantle of red Silk, with a Border and Fringe of yellow, and a Cap of the fame Colours empannelled, of a Pyramidical Form, like our Grenadiers Caps, from the Top of which, bending backwards, fall hang behind, upon a Twift or Braid of red and yellow Silk, a small Silver Bell; and, on the Front, fhall be curiously embroidered, an ingenious Hieroglyphic, commonly called, in the Towns of Holland, the Sign of the MISFOORSTONDT (the Mifunderstanding) which is two Draymen turned Back to Back, with a Barrel hanging between them. And, methinks, when I calmly confider the great and useful Ends we propofe, and the natural and rational Methods we pursue to obtain them, it is no unreasonable Prefumption to hope for the Protection and Encouragement of our Superiors, in Profecution of a Cause, in which we are all equally concerned.— The End, we propose, is the most useful and benevolent that can be imagined, being nothing lefs than promoting and securing the Peace and Happiness of Mankind, by delivering them from the gloomy Fancies of a frighted Imagination, and all the ridiculous Terrors of Pricftcraft and Superstition if this can be effected, no matter by what means. If an effectual Cure can be provided, no Man ought to envy us the Glory, nor Mankind the Benefit, of fuch ufeful and glorious Difcoveries. Now this can only be done by fhewing, that all the Pretenfions to Religion, grounded on a Revelation from Heaven, are nothing but a direct Cheat and Impofition upon Mankind. There is fomething fo incomprehenfible, fo terrible, in the Notion of a SUPREME BEING, who made and governs the World, World, who obferves all our Actions, who has given us a Set of Doctrines, Precepts, and Rules of Obe dience, by which he will judge and reward, or punish us hereafter, that it must strike a Damp upon the Minds of reasonable Creatures, muft imbitter all their Pleasures, and abate their Attention to the civil Interefts and Affairs of Mankind, in which we are neceffarily engaged, and make them fcrupulous and diffident in the Exercife of thofe Arts, by which they are most usually and fuccessfully managed. We therefore hope and conclude there is no fuch BEING, and by Confequence no REVELATION. They object to this, That the visible World and Frame of Nature, are a manifeft and fufficient Proof of an omnipotent and all-wife Creator. To which we reply, That this is no Proof at all. The World, for aught we know, might make itself, or it might exist from Eternity, or it might be made by Chance; each of which Opinions have been maintained by many ingenious Writers, both antient and modern. Befides, the Notion of Creation implies the making fomething out of nothing, which is a direct Contradiction to a felf-evident Principle, ex nihilo nihil fit. The Notion of a Providence is a Contradiction to our daily Experience; for we fee all Things happen alike to all Men. The Good (as they are called) are neither constantly rewarded, nor the Wicked conftantly punished; so far from it, that the Sun fhines, and the Rain falls, on both alike; Wars: and Bloodshed, Fires and Earthquakes, Storms and Tempefts, make no Distinction betwixt those who worship God, and those who worship him not. Nay, more than this, the apparent Advantage is on our Side of the Question. Pray, tell me, what is there to be got got in this World purely by being good? but Infamy, Reproach, Contempt, and Poverty? Shew me the Man that ever was preferred (I mean, in the ordinary and natural Course of Things) purely on account of being a religious Man, and I will undertake to fhew you ten, who owe their Promotion entirely to their having no Religion at all? Then as to the Story of Miracles and Prophecies, upon which they lay fo great a Strefs, as to build their Systems of Religion upon them, as both Jews and Chriftians are known to do, they are so far from being certain, that the whole have been fufpected, by fome very fagacious Enquirers, to be owing to the Cunning of Knaves, and the Credulity of Fools. Those who talk of them, and build fo much upon them, do not pretend that they have ever seen the one, or have undeniable Evidence for the other; I mean such sort of Evidence as we reckon fufficient in the ordinary Occurrences of Life, fo plain, as that no body in their Senfes can entertain any reasonable Doubt. If they had, every body would see and believe, as affuredly and universally as they do the daily Objects of their Senfes, fuch as the Viciffitudes. of Day and Night, the Succeffion of Seasons, the Generation and Corruption of Bodies. These Things are obvious and plain; every body fees, and believes, and reasons, and concludes, and acts agreeably; but these other fupernatural Crotchets, fetched from an invifible World, are a fort of fairy Stories, contrived by Priefts, propagated by Grandmothers and Nurses, and believed by Children and Fools. Nay further, fuppofe fuch extraordinary Appearances could be proved by concurrent Hiftories and Traditions of all Ages, nay, that we ourselves had feen and heard them, yet could they not thence be concluded to be fupernatural and VOL. I. Ꭰ miraculous, miraculous, but might only appear so to the Ignorant, the Injudicious, and Credulous, who, not knowing the Extent of natural Powers and fecond Caufes, might impute the furprising Operations, even of mechanical Powers, to fome invifible and omnipotent Agent. It is well known, that, in the firft European Expeditions to America, the ignorant Indians imagined the Ships to be living Creatures, and that the Discharge. of their Artillery was either the Voice of those monftrous floating Animals, or fomething fupernatural and miraculous. Every body knows that Columbus, by foretelling an Eclipfe, frightened the mutinous Natives. into Submiffion and Slavery; they imagined the heavenly Bodies were at his Command, and under his Direction, and that therefore it would be vain and prefumptuous in them to oppofe a Man, who had the Powers of Heaven and Earth at Command. And fome very cunning People have had a Sufpicion that it coft Mofes a good many Barrels of Gun-powder to procure fuch a Quantity of Thunder and Lightning, as might be fufficient to frighten that thick-fculled Generation into a Submiffion to that infupportable Yoke of Laws and Ordinances that he had been preparing for them; and several Attempts had been made to prove the pretended Miracles of the Chriftian Lawgiver to be nothing more than Slight of Hand, or Leger-de-main. Poor Woolfton! he ftruck a bold Stroke, but the Laws and the Judges were against him; and, till we fee an Alteration in both, we can expect but little Good from our united moft vigorous Oppofition to Prieftcraft and Superftition: But Courage, my Friend, let us hope the beft. Nil defperandum is our Motto. But to proceed. As this whole Syftem of Religion, whether Jewish or Christian, is apparently and confessedly mysterious and incomprehenfible; we cannot fairly and confiftently be supposed to have much Concern or Intereft in it: For (pardon a little more Latin, and it is all I have left) it is a Maxim among us, and a very reasonable one too, Quæ fupra nos, nihil ad nos. And therefore, fince we are neceffarily chained down to this little Spot of Earth, and a very pretty convenient Spot it is, plentifully provided with all the Neceffaries and Conveniencies of Life, without which we cannot fubfift; Nature, which (we all agree) does nothing in vain, points out to us the proper Use we ought to make of it. All agree she has given us warm and invincible Appetites for the Support of our Persons, and Propagation of our Species, which is apparently the whole Business, Employment, and Happiness of the reft of our Brother Animals, who have nothing else to do but to live, eat, drink, propagate, and die, and to imagine that we were intended for any thing above or beyond this, is at moft mere Matter of Conjecture, and nothing elfe. This is a fhort, but imperfect, View of our Scheme, which being evidently calculated for the Eafe and Benefit of Mankind, may reasonably be defended and fupported by fuch Ways and Means as we shall think proper. It is true, the prefent Senfe of the Legislature feems to be against us, fo that we have little Reafon to expect they will take any extraordinary Meafures for the Support and Improvement of our Society, or the Defence of those Principles on which it is founded. But we live in an Age of Difcoveries and Improvements. We have feen wonderful Events D 2 |