TO THE
Right Reverend Father in God
FRANCIS,
Lord Bishop of St. Asaph.
My Lord,
f the Convocation had been sitting, I would have made this Dedication to them, and humbly implored of them, what, for their Love to the Fathers, they would readily have granted, a Recommendation of these my Discourses on Miracles to the Clergy: But being unhappily disappointed of a Session of that Reverend and Learned Body, for whose wise Debates and orthodox Votes I have such a Veneration, as is not to be express'd in a few Words, I presently turn'd my Thoughts on your Lordship, to whom a Dedication is due, because of your Respect, often declared, for the Authority of the Fathers, which induces me to think, you now approve of the Use I have made of them.
But what I am here to applaud your Lordship for, is, your Discourse call'd Difficulties and Discouragements, &c. That admirable Satire against modern Orthodoxy and Persecution! How was I tickled in the Perusal of it! It is plainly the Sense of your Soul, or you had set your Name to it: And if the Temptation of Praise for it, had not been too great to be resisted, I could have wish'd you had always conceal'd your self; and then you had not written against the Grain, an aukward Piece on Church Power, like a Retraction, to reingratiate your self with some Ecclesiastical Noodles, whom you no more, than, I need to care for.
I have sometimes wondered, My Lord, where and when the Great Mr. Grounds imbibed his notable Notions about Religion and Liberty; for he suck'd them not in with his Mothers Milk, who, I suppose, train'd him up in the Belief of Christianity: But when I consider'd, that he was once the Pupil of Mr. Hare at Cambridge, my wonder ceas'd. Under your Lordship's Tuition, it seems he laid the Foundation of his distinguish'd Learning and Opinions! His Pupillage will be your immortal Honour! I wonder, none of the Writers against him have as yet celebrated your Praise for it! How does he imitate and resemble his Tutor in Principles! I can't say, he surpasses you, since there is such a Freedom of Thought and Expression in your Difficulties, &c. so strongly savouring of Infid—ty, that he has not as yet equall'd.
Upon your Lordship's Advancement to a Bishoprick, Difficultys and Discouragements of the Government in the choice of not withstanding, I wish'd, without prescribing to the Wisdom a learned Prelate, that the great Mr. Grounds, for the good of the Church too, might be soon consecrated: And I should not have despair'd of it, but that he is a Gentleman of real Probity and Conscience, and might possibly boggle at Subscriptions, unless you and Bishop Hoadly could help him to some of your Reserves and Distinctions, wherewith you must be both well Stock'd, to overcome that Difficulty. And why should not Dean Swift for his Writings, as well as some others, be made a Bishop? I should like to see him one; if the then Right Reverend Bishop Grounds would not think him, for his Tale of a Tub, too loose in the Faith, for his Company.
Don't, imagine, My Lord, that I am forming of Schemes for my self to be a Bishop. Tho' these my Discourses on Miracles are of very great Merit, as well as your Lordship's Difficulties, &c. yet you may be assured, I have no such View, when I tell you, that the Honour, the Fathers have exalted me to, of a Moderator in this Controversy, sets me above all Ecclesiastical Preferment, excepting the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury, which I'm afraid will be void, before the King is apprised of my singular Worth and Qualifications for it.
But however, if such excellent Prelates, as Grounds, Hoadly, Swift, Hare and my self were at the Head of Ecclesiastical Affairs, what would we do? What should we not do? What would not this free-thinking Age expect from us? Nothing less, than that, according to our Principles, we should endeavour to set Mankind at perfect Liberty, and to lay open the dirty Fences of the Church, call'd Subscriptions, which are not only the Stain of a good Conscience, but the Discouragements, your Lordship hints at, in the Study of the Scriptures: And if we made a Push for an Act of P——t to turn the Clergy to Grass, after King Henry VIIIth's Monks and Fryars; where would be the Harm of it? Nay, the Advantage to the Publick, as well as to Religion, would be great, if their Revenues were apply'd to the Payment of National Debts; with a Reserve to our selves (remember, My Lord) of large Emoluments out of them, according to our great Merits; otherwise worldly-wise Men will repute us impolitick Fools, which you and Bishop Hoadly, I humbly presume, will never endure the Reproach of.
So, hoping your Lordship will accept of this Dedication to your Praise, in as much Sincerity as it is written, I subscribe myself,
London, May
14. 1728.
My LORD,
The Admirer of your
Difficultys and
Discouragements,
Thomas Woolston.
