In my first Discourse on Miracles, I happen'd to treat on that of Jesus's driving the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple; which, upon the Authority of the Fathers, I shew'd to be a Figure of his future Ejection of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons out of his Church, for making Merchandise of the Gospel. The Bishop has taken me and that Miracle to task; and if ever any Man smiled at another's Impertinence, I then heartily laugh'd when I read him. I begg'd of the Bishop before-hand[344] not to meddle with that Miracle, because it was a hot one, and would burn his Fingers. But for all my Caution; he has been so Fool-hardy, as to venture upon it; but has really touch'd and handled it, as if it was a burning Coal. He takes it up, and as soon drops it again to blow his Fingers; then endeavours to throw a little Water on this and that Part of it to cool it, but all would not do. The most fiery Part of it, viz. that of its being a Type of Jesus's future Ejection of mercenary Preachers out of the Church, he has not, I may say it, at all touch'd, except by calling it[345] my allegorical Invective against the Maintenance of the Clergy; which is such a Piece of Corinthian Effrontery in the Bishop, that was he not resolv'd to lye and defame at all Rates, for the Support of their Interests, he could never have had the Face to have utter'd. If the Bishop had proved that that Miracle (which litterally was such a——, as I dare not now call it) neither was nor could be a Shadow and Resemblance of Jesus's Ejection of hired Priests out of the Church at his second Advent, and that the Fathers were not of this Opinion, he had knock'd me down at once. As he has done nothing of this, so he might have spared his Pains in Support of the Letter of this Story. But I shall have a great deal of Diversion with the Bishop, when I come, in a proper Place, to defend my Exposition of that Miracle. In the mean Time, as the Bishop has publish'd one of the Articles of my Christian Faith, thinking to render me odious for it; so here I will insert another, viz.[346] "I believe upon the Authority of the Fathers, that the Spirit and Power of Jesus will soon enter the Church, and expel Hireling Priests, who make Merchandise of the Gospel, out of her, after the manner he is supposed to have driven the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple."
Now upon all this, whether the Bishop, modestly speaking, has not been unjust, uncharitable, and insincere, to represent me as an Infidel, I appeal to all learned and ingenuous Gentlemen. I am a Christian, though not upon the litteral Scheme, which I nauseate, yet upon the allegorical one. And by the following easy and short Argument it may be proved that I am most certainly a Christian. I heartily and zealously contend for the allegorical Interpretation of the Scriptures, which the Bishop allows to be true of me; consequently I must, and do believe the Scriptures to be of divine Inspiration, or I could not think there were such Mysteries and Prophecy latent under the Letter of them. Whether then a Believer of the divine Inspiration of the Scriptures can be an Infidel (O most monstrous Paradox!) or any other than a Christian, judge Readers. Nay, if Origen's and St. Augustin's Testimony on my Behalf may be admitted, I am more truly a Christian and Disciple of the Holy Jesus, than any litteral Schemist can be. Origen says,[347] That the Perfection of Christianity consists in a mystical Interpretation of the Old and New Testament, of the Historical, as well as other Parts of it. And St. Augustin says,[348] That they who attain to the Understanding of the spiritual Signification of Jesus's Miracles, are the best Doctors in his School. The Bishop understands this Argument as well as any Man, and therefore I charge it home upon him, as a wilful and malicious Slander, to call and account me an Infidel in his Dedication, on purpose to incense the Government against me at this Juncture.
But the Bishop moreover calls me, as above, an Apostate Clergyman; And why so? Because I have deserted the Ministry of the Letter, and betaken my self to the Ministry of the Spirit of the Scriptures. That's like the Wit and Reasoning of his Pate! The Bishop is old enough, and has read enough to know that Apostacy, in the Sense of the Fathers, is a Desertion of the Ministry of the Spirit, and a Falling into the Ministry of the Letter of the Scriptures; whereupon I make bold to retort upon the Bishop, and say of him, and his Episcopal Brethren, that they are Apostate Bishops.
But to humour the Bishop in his fond Dedication, I will suppose my self to be, what I am the farthest of any Man living from being, an Infidel and Apostate; yet
II. The Bishop is a wilful Calumniator, or, at best, an unhappy Misrepresenter of me, and of other Infidels, saying in his Dedication, that our Design is To sap the Foundation of all Government, and——That we were pursuing such Methods, as have a natural Tendency to introduce Confusion. If this was true of us Infidels (for now I speak of my self as one of them) it behoves Civil Governors to look about them, and to punish and suppress us with all speed; and we should be the most unreasonable Men alive, if we complain'd of Persecution, or call'd it hard Usage. And the Bishop of London, and other Divines (like this Bishop) do commonly declaim on the Danger of Infidelity to Civil Society, but this is all Ecclesiastical Cant and Jargon. I thought I had given[349] the Bishop of London so much on this Head of Complaint against Infidelity, as I could not suppose the Bishop of St. David's would ever have repeated it. It is true, what the Bishop says, that Religion is the firmest Support of Government, and Christianity especially lays the greatest Obligations, on Men's Consciences, of Obedience to the Civil Powers. I believe all this, and that the better Christians Men are, the more quiet, peaceable, and useful Subjects, and the greater Friends would they be to the Civil Authority. But does it follow from hence, that we Infidels, because we have rejected the Belief of some systematical Divinity, as the Clergy are fond of, should consequently be Enemies to the Civil Government, and Foes to the Peace, Order, and Welfare of Society? O fie upon the Drawers of such Consequences! We are, I believe, a numerous and growing Sect in these Nations, though I am acquainted with none, no, not so much as with the Great Mr. Grounds: But I could never perceive that any of us, in Principle, were against Civil Government, and the Welfare of the Community; or were for Confusion, for setting the People together by the Ears, to the Disturbance of the publick Peace and Tranquillity. No, no, our Interests in the World, as well as other Men's, oblige us to consult the publick Welfare; and our Consciences, from the Religion of Nature, bind us to Obedience to Government; and, was it not agreeable to our Inclination, the Necessity of Affairs would force us to be as quiet and obedient as are any Christians: And I thank God, we have hitherto behaved our selves very peaceably, clear of all Suspicion of Treason and Rebellion to any Prince or State. The Bishop hints at Experience to the contrary, but it will puzzle him to give an Instance. One would think, by this common Harangue, of Ecclesiasticks against us Infidels, that Christians, especially the Priesthood, being, as the Bishop says, both under the Penalties of human Laws, and the stronger Impressions of a future State, were of a Lamb-like Nature, and never given to disturb the Civil Authority: And I will own the Christian Laity might be acquitted here, but for the Clergy, who have been repeatedly the Pest and Bane of human Society, the Trumpeters of Sedition and Rebellion, and mere Make-bates in Cities and Families. And I dare say, that if the Civil Powers don't curb, and keep our Priesthood in awe, they will upon this present Occasion be the Disturbers of the publick Peace. So little Sense and Truth is there in the Bishop's present Invective against us Infidels! If he had not been infatuated to a Forgetfulness of the Rogueries of Priests, in all Ages, against the Civil Powers, he could never have insinuated such a groundless and senseless Charge against us, to the Provocation of the Civil Magistrate to fall on us. But
III. The Bishop calumniates us Infidels (for against his Conscience, whether I will or not, he will have me to be one of them) not only for being Enemies to Government in general, which he will have us to advance Principles destructive of; but insinuates and asserts that we are disaffected to the particular and present Government of these Kingdoms, saying, that as "we are active in propagating Infidelity, we do in the last Resort, not only insult the Title of Defender of the Faith, but undermine the undoubted Right of his Majesty and his Royal Family to the Crown of these Realms, as it is founded on the Profession of Christianity, reform'd, and now legally settled among us; and therefore Persons of that Character may well be consider'd, as equally false to the Author of our Faith, and to the present Government.——Therefore in a just Sense of that Allegiance which is due to the King, and for the Security of your Majesties, and the Royal Family, and thereby of the Publick it self, as well as out of a deep Concern for the Honour and Preservation of our most holy Faith, the ensuing Treatise is now offer'd, under your Majesty's Protection, to the View of the Publick." This is all such foolish and manifest Slander, that I can't but think the Bishop mad with Rage and Indignation at me, when he writ it. I dare say the Queen, who is firmly attach'd to the Interests of the Christian and Protestant Religion, did, when she read all this, almost grieve for the Bishop, and pity him for his Weakness and Ignorance. It is a Maxim among all Parties, that Infidels are heartily affected to the present Establishment of the State; yea, so far a Maxim, that Jacobites and High-Church-men are apt to accuse all the well-affected to the Government, of Infidelity. From none of the Writings or Practice of Infidels, much less of my self, could the Bishop gather any of these his childish Surmises. The Government, since the Succession of the Illustrious House of Hanover, has been twice attempted to be disturb'd, and both times by profess'd Christians. The Rebellion at Preston consisted of Papists and High-Church-men, and tho' there were but few Clergy-men in Arms, yet they were join'd with the Prayers and Wishes of many Thousands of the Clergy, and even, as it was suspected, of some Oxonian Bishops. Bishop Atterbury's Plot too consisted of Rebellious Christians, without the least intermixture of us Infidels, who are the more zealously affected to the Government, because of the Danger it is sometimes in from the High-Church Clergy. Away then with the Bishop's Slander, which, for all we may be Unbelievers of Christianity, our Civil Magistrates will laugh at and deride him for. But,
IV. Another Misrepresentation, more foolish and absurd than the former, that the Bishop has made of us Infidels, is, that we are making Way for Popery and Slavery: For thus he says of us, "Nothing is more demonstrable, than that those Adversaries (meaning us Infidels) of the Christian Religion, who are now so busily employ'd in infusing Doubts into some weak Minds, in giving an Indifference and Coldness to other well-meaning Persons, and in making others, that are viciously inclin'd, actual Proselites to Infidelity, are pursuing such Methods as have a natural Tendency to introduce Confusion, and thereby betray us into Popery." And again he says of Infidels, "That in Consequence of their own Infidelity, and their wicked Diligence in spreading that Infection, are bringing in upon us the real Persecutions of the Church of Rome; who likewise, whilst they rail so plentifully at the most rational Religion in the World as Superstition, give great Advantages towards restoring the insupportable Superstitions of that Communion. These are the Persons indeed that appear in favour of an unbounded Liberty, but God grant it may not terminate in an absolute Slavery." Risum quis tenerat? Who in his Wits could write such Stuff? And who without Impatience can read it? I was going about a particular Dissection of these two Paragraphs, and to lay open the Wit, Sense, and Oratory of the Bishop, to the Contemplation of his Admirers; but I find it unnecessary, as well as tedious to do it: The very transcribing of them, and exposing them to View, is enough to render him ridiculous. If there be no more danger of Popery, Slavery, Superstition, Tyranny, and real Persecution from our Clergy, than from us Infidels, the Nation is safe. Infidels find too much Inconvenience in the Power, Craft, and Follies of a Protestant Clergy, to make Way for Popery; which, as the Bishop rightly says, is a Complication of Errors. There are, what the Bishop should have thought of, many Protestant Priests for an Accommodation with the Church of Rome; and, if I mistake not, upon such easy Terms as this, viz. If she'll but part with some of her Superstitions that are of no Use to her; our Clergy will admit of others as will be of Advantage to them. But Infidels are irreconcilable Enemies to the Church of Rome, and so far from Wishes and Endeavours to restore Popery, that it is mere Nonsense to charge them with either direct or consequential Designs so to enslave Mankind. But
V. The Bishop says, that we Infidels (for I am one it seems) labour industriously to root out all Sense of Virtue and Religion among us. This is sad indeed, if true; and very bad Men should we be, and deserving of the worst Punishment. But this wants Proof. How does he know that we are for rooting out all Sense of Virtue and Religion amongst Men? Does it appear so by our Writings or our Practices? Does he find in our Books any Exhortations to Looseness and Immorality? Nothing of this I am sure. Is he then so well acquainted with Infidels, as to know them to be of more depraved and debauch'd Lives than profess'd Christians? Nor this neither. I have not as yet heard that any of my Disciples have been hang'd, lamenting his Misfortune of reading my Discourses, as what encouraged him to Sin, and brought him to the Gallows. No, those unhappy People, hitherto, die in the Faith and Communion of the Church, either of England or of Rome, and hope to be saved through the Merits of their Saviour, Neither do, I hear of any Gentleman, old or young, who has given a greater Loose to his Lusts and Passions, since he read my Books. Such News would trouble me.
But because of this Out-cry of the Bishop, and of other Preachers against us, that we labour industriously to root out all Sense of Virtue and Religion amongst Men, I wish (for Proof) that Infidels were distinguishable from Christians, that a Comparison might be made, and the Difference discern'd between them, as to true Religion and Virtue. Tho' I am one of little Acquaintance with Infidels, yet it is my Opinion that, on this Score, they may vie with, and, all things consider'd, do surpass Christians. One would think, by the Bishop's Insinuation above, that none but good People were of his Christian Faith; and that all Infidels were profligate Sinners; but he knows better, and what's more, he should have been more ingenuous than to charge Infidels with Labours to root out all Sense of Virtue and Religion amongst Men, if it was but in Regard to that learned Gentleman who is supposed to be at the Head of Infidelity, and who, they say, is as exemplary for all social Virtues, as any Bishop; and dislikes Vice and Immorality as much as any Saint can do.
Whatever be the Virtue and Religion of Infidels, it is all genuine, natural, and sincere; and consequently more Praise-worthy than that of hired Priests, who may be suspected of Hypocrisy, because of their Interests. I heard a wild Spark say, that he could be as grave as the Bishop of London, if he was but as well paid for it. Whether he believ'd the Bishop would have been as loose as himself, but for his Hire, I can't tell. But this is certain that, what can't be said of Infidels, there are Priests who put on the Face and Form of Godliness, and want the Life and Power of it; who lift up their Hands and Eyes unto God, when their Hearts are far from him; and were not their Interests more than their Faith, a Restraint to their Lusts, it is commonly believ'd they would be a Company of loose Blades.