and made a Scare-crow; what is called Herefy, andoes Men in their Trades and Callings, fubjects them to Ecclefiaftical and Civil Profecu tions, and deprives them of all Preferments in the Church or State: Whereas a Perfon who understands the Bible, as he is led by the Nofe to understand it, which is for the most part falfly, has not only fair Quarter and Reputation, and all manner of Preferments in Church and State attending him; but may be as lewd as he pleases, provided he have a fufficient Portion of Zeal for his Orthodoxy, or rather for the Or thodox Priest.

Is it not therefore a mere Mock-fhew, to recommend to Men the Reading of the Scriptures, if, when they read them, they must understand them just as their Master, the Priest, tells them, under the Penalties of all the foregoing Inconveniencies, and the foregoing Rewards, which the Prieft, by his Power and Influence, bestows? Bishop Bramhall tells us plainly, (and too many of our modern Divines agree with him) That the promiscuous Li

cence which Proteftants give to all Sorts to read and interpret the Scripture, is more « prejudicial, nay, pernicious, than the overrigorous Restraint of the Romanifts." This

is Proteftant Prieftcraft with a witnefs! For, as

Mr. Chillingworth moft judicioufly obferves "He that would ufurp an abfolute Lordship "and Tyranny over any People, need not put << himself to the Trouble and Difficulty of "abrogating and difannulling the Laws made "to maintain the common Liberty, or of « locking them up in an unknown Tongue from "the People; for he may compass his own "Defign as well, if he can get the Power and "Authority to interpret them as he pleases ;. "if he can rule his People by his Laws, and "his Laws by his Lawyers. Nay, the more "expedite, and therefore the more likely way <to be fuccefsful, is to gain the Opinion and "Efteem of the public and authorized Inર terpreter of them." of them." For by this Means he preffes the Laws into his Service, to advance. his Defigns; and can, in Accommodation to the Opinion which Men have of the Excellency of the Laws contained in the Scriptures, with a fort of Grace, put a Crown on their Head, and a Reed in their Hands, and bow before them, and cry, Hail, King of the Jews! and pretend a great deal of Esteem, Respect, and Reverence to them, while he is in a more effectual manner misleading the People about their Meaning, than if he destroyed the Scriptures them

felves,

felves, or lock'd them up in an unknown Tongue from the People.

C.

NUMBER XXXVIII.

Wednesday October 5. 1720.

Of Penance and Religious
Revellings.

HAVE, in two former Papers, confider'd the Nature, Ufe, and Confequences of Religious Faftings. I fhall, in this, inquire a little into the Merits of Penance, and the Devotion of Festivals; a Couple of potent Engines in the Hands of Churchmen.

Joy and Sorrow proceeding, as they do, from certain Caufes, which neceffarily produce them; the one troubles the Imagination, and the other delights it, whether we will or no. They are different Names given to different Operations of the Animal Spirits, which bring

C-3

to

to God Almighty no voluntary Worship, and confequently no Worship at all. The fame Disorder in the Blood or Nerves, which difcovers itself in Sighs and Groans, would in a greater Degree, bring forth Rage and Convulfions, which are not the Symptoms of a Gofpel-Spirit, but rather the Marks of Spirits difpoffeffed in the Gofpel. People under Trou-ble, or in the Spleen, are too apt to mistake their bodily or mental Disorders for the Workings of Divine Grace; as if the wife and mild Spirit of God delighted to play childish and mischievous Pranks with weak and unhappy Men, by filling them with wild Freaks, or cruel Agonies. I doubt there are few of these Sort of People, who can give a Reason why the great God fhould be better pleased with a forrowful Heart, than an aching Head.

IF God Almighty be pleased with our afflicting ourfelves, he must be pleased beft when we afflict ourselves moft; and a greater Degree of Suffering must beget a greater Portion of his Favour: And confequently, the cutting ourfelves with Knives, as did the Priefts of BAAL, must be more acceptable to him, than the bare whipping ourselves with Rods, as do the Priests. of ROME, &c. By the fame Rule, if the endangering of one's Life be well-pleafing to him,

the

the destroying of one's Life must be more pleas ing to him; and Despair and Self-Murder are more grateful Inftances of Duty and Devotion to the God of Mercy, than barely being afraid of him, and barely making our Lives miferable. The pious Confequence of all which must be, that the Bleffed and Beneficent God, who is the Giver of all Good, is the Author of all Evil, and all Mifery; and the Maker and Preferver of Mankind, who is the Father of Mercies, is alfo the Destroyer of Mankind, and the Father of Cru.lties.

NOR is this Reasoning so strange, or these Conclufions fo unnatural, as fome may ignorantly imagine; fince the Priests, who, for the godly Ends of Dominion and Gain, were the firft Inventors of Sacrifices and Penances, have frequently proceeded fo far in their inhuman and diabolical Craft, as to butcher Men to appease their Deity. And indeed, when once you had taken their Word for the divine Will, you renounced all Right and Pretence to judge for yourself, or to difpute any Measure of Devotion which they had thought fit to prescribe. Thus, for Example, if the Priests told you, that their God graciously longed for a Bonfire, and had, in his divine Goodness, appointed you to be the principal Faggot; as averfe as your carnal

C 4