Another of Jonathan Swift's merciless satires.
It's not always easy to care about the things Swift got himself
worked up about, but if only there were more like him today: I
fear satire is a dying art.
The entire (lengthy) text follows below, arbitrarily sprinkled with hard links.
I found this text at
gopher://dept.english.upenn.edu/00/E-Text/PEAL/Swift/abolish
Unfortunately, I don't know who to acknowledge for putting the text online in the
first place.
An Argument to Prove That the
Abolishing of Christianity in England,
May as Things Now Stand,
Be Attended with Some Inconveniencies, and Perhaps
Not Produce Those Many Good Effects Proposed Thereby
I AM very sensible what Weakness and Presumption it is, to reason
against the general Humour and Disposition of the World. I
remember it was with great Justice, and a due regard to the
Freedom both of the Publick and the Press, forbidden upon severe
Penalties to Write, or Discourse, or lay Wagers against the
Union, even before it was confirmed by Parliament, because
that was look'd upon as a Design, to oppose the Current of the
People, which besides the Folly of it, is a manifest Breach of
the Fundamental Law that makes this Majority of Opinion the Voice
of God. In like manner, and for the very same Reasons, it may
perhaps be neither safe nor prudent to argue against the
abolishing of Christianity: at a Juncture when all Parties seem
so unanimously determined upon the Point, as we cannot but allow
from their Actions, their Discourses, and their Writings.
However, I know not how, whether from the Affectation of
Singularity, or the Perverseness of Human Nature, but so it
unhappily falls out, that I cannot be entirely of this Opinion.
Nay, although I were sure, an Order were issued out for my
immediate Prosecution by the Attorney General, I should still
confess that in the present Posture of our Affairs at home or
abroad, I do not yet see the absolute Necessity of extirpating
the Christian Religion from among us.
THIS perhaps may appear too great a Paradox even for our wise
and paradoxical Age to endure; therefore I shall handle it with
all Tenderness, and with the utmost Deference to that great and
profound Majority which is of another Sentiment.
AND yet the Curious may please to observe, how much the
Genius of a Nation is liable to alter in half an Age. I have
heard it affirmed for certain by some very old People, that the
contrary Opinion was even in their Memories as much in Vogue as
the other is now; And, that a Project for the abolishing
Christianity would then have appeared as singular, and been
thought as absurd, as it would be at this time to write or
discourse in it's Defence.
THEREFORE I freely own that all Appearances are against me.
The System of the Gospel after the Fate of other Systems is
generally antiquated and exploded; and the Mass or Body of the
common People, among whom it seems to have had it's latest
Credit, are now grown as much ashamed of it as their Betters:
Opinions like Fashions always descending from those of Quality to
the middle sort, and thence to the Vulgar, where at length they
are dropp'd and vanish.
BUT here I would not be mistaken, and must therefore be so
bold as to borrow a Distinction from the Writers on the other
side, when they make a Difference between Nominal and Real
Trinitarians. I hope no Reader imagines me so weak to
stand up in the Defence of real Christianity, such as used
in primitive Times (if we may believe the Authors of those Ages)
to have an Influence upon Mens Belief and Actions: To offer at
the restoring of That would indeed be a wild Project; It would be
to dig up Foundations, to destroy at one Blow all the Wit,
and half the Learning of the Kingdom; to break the entire
Frame and Constitution of Things, to ruin Trade, extinguish Arts
and Sciences with the Professors of them; In short, to turn our
Courts, Exchanges, and shops into Deserts; and would be full as
absurd as the Proposal of Horace, where he advises the
Romans, all in a Body to leave their City, and seek a new
Seat in some remote Part of the World, by way of a Cure for the
Corruption of their Manners.
THEREFORE I think this Caution was in it self altogether
unnecessary (which I have inserted only to prevent all
Possibility of Caviling) since every candid Reader will easily
understand my Discourse to be intended only in Defence of
nominal Christianity, the other having been for some time
wholly laid aside by general Consent, as utterly inconsistent
with all our present Schemes of Wealth and Power.
BUT why we should therefore cast off the Name and Title of
Christians, although the general Opinion and Resolution be so
violent for it, I confess I cannot (with Submission) apprehend
the Consequence necessary. However, since the Undertakers
propose such wonderful Advantages to the Nation by this Project,
and advance many plausible Objections against the System of
Christianity, I shall briefly consider the Strength of both,
fairly allow them their greatest Weight, and offer such Answers
as I think most reasonable. After which I will beg leave to shew
what Inconveniencies may possibly happen by such an Innovation,
in the present Posture of our Affairs.
First, ONE great Advantage proposed by the abolishing
of Christianity is, That it would very much enlarge and establish
Liberty of Conscience, that great Bulwark of our Nation, and of
the Protestant Religion, which is still too much limited
by Priest-craft, notwithstanding all the good Intentions
of the Legislature, as we have lately found by a severe Instance.
For it is confidently reported, that two Young Gentlemen of great
Hopes, bright Wit, and profound Judgment, who upon a thorough
Examination of Causes and Effects, and by the meer Force of
natural Abilities, without the least Tincture of Learning, having
made a Discovery, that there was no God, and generously
communicating their Thoughts for the good of the Publick; were
some time ago by an unparalleled Severity, and upon I know not
what obsolete Law, broke only for Blasphemy. And
as it hath been wisely observed, if Persecution once begins no
Man alive knows how far it may reach, or where it will end.
IN answer to all which, with deference to wiser Judgments, I
think this rather shews the Necessity of a nominal
Religion among us. Great Wits love to be free with the highest
Objects, and if they cannot be allowed a God to revile or
renounce; they will speak Evil of Dignities, abuse the
Government, and reflect upon the Ministry, which I am sure few
will deny to be of much more pernicious Consequence, according to
the saying of Tiberius, Deorum Offensa Diis curae.
As to the particular Fact related, I think it is not fair to
argue from one Instance, perhaps another cannot be produced, yet
(to the Comfort of all those who may be apprehensive of
Persecution) Blasphemy we know is freely spoke a Million of times
in every Coffee-House and Tavern, or wherever else good
Company meet. It must be allowed indeed that to break an
English Free-born Officer only for Blasphemy, was, to
speak the gentlest of such an Action, a very high strain of
absolute Power. Little can be said in Excuse for the General;
Perhaps he was afraid it might give Offence to the Allies, among
whom, for ought I know, it may be the Custom of the Country to
believe a God. But if he argued, as some have done, upon a
mistaken Principle, that an Officer who is guilty of speaking
Blasphemy, may sometime or other proceed so far as to raise a
Mutiny, the Consequence is by no means to be admitted; For,
surely the Commander of an English Army is like to be but
ill obey'd, whose Soldiers fear and reverence him as little as
they do a Deity.
IT is further objected against the Gospel System, that it
obliges men to the Belief of Things too difficult for free
Thinkers, and such who have shook off the Prejudices that usually
cling to a confin'd Education. To which I answer, that Men
should be cautious how they raise Objections which reflect upon
the Wisdom of the Nation. Is not every body freely allowed to
believe whatever he pleaseth, and to publish his Belief to the
World whenever he thinks fit, especially if it serve to
strengthen the Party which is in the Right. Would any
indifferent Foreigner, who should read the Trumpery lately
written by Asgil, Tindall, Toland,
Coward, and Forty more, imagine the Gospel to be our Rule
of Faith, and to be confirmed by Parliaments. Does any Man
either Believe, or say he believes, or desire to have it thought
that he says he Believes one Syllable of the Matter, and is any
Man worse received upon that Score, or does he find his want of
Nominal Faith a disadvantage to him in the Pursuit of any
Civil or Military Employment? What if there be an old dormant
Statute or two against him, are they not now obsolete, to a
degree, that Empson and Dudley themselves if they
were now alive, would find it impossible to put them in
Execution?
IT is likewise urged, that there are by Computation in this
Kingdom, above Ten Thousand Parsons, whose Revenues added to
those of my Lords the Bishops, would suffice to maintain at least
Two Hundred Young Gentlemen of Wit and Pleasure, and Free-
thinking Enemies to Priest-Craft, narrow Principles, Pedantry,
and Prejudices, who might be an Ornament to the Court and Town:
And then, again, so great a Number of able (bodied) Divines might
be a Recruit to our Fleet and Armies. This indeed appears to be
a Consideration of some Weight: But then, on the other side,
several Things deserve to be considered likewise: As, First,
Whether it may not be thought necessary that in certain Tracts of
Country, like what we call Parishes, there should be one
Man at least, of Abilities to Read and Write. Then it seems a
wrong Computation, that the Revenues of the Church throughout
this Island would be large enough to maintain Two Hundred Young
Gentlemen, or even half that Number, after the present refined
Way of Living, that is, to allow each of them such a Rent, as in
the modern Form of Speech, would make them easy. But
still there is in this Project a greater Mischief behind; And we
ought to beware of the Woman's Folly, who killed the Hen that
every Morning laid her a Golden Egg. For, pray what would become
of the Race of Men in the next Age, if we had nothing to trust to
besides the Scrophulous consumptive Production furnished by our
Men of Wit and Pleasure, when having squandered away their
Vigour, Health, and Estates, they are forced by some disagreeable
Marriage to piece up their broken Fortunes, and entail Rottenness
and Politeness on their Posterity. Now, here are ten thousand
Persons reduced by the wise Regulations of Henry the
Eighth, to the Necessity of a low Dyet, and moderate Exercise,
who are the only great Restorers of our Breed, without which the
Nation would in an Age or two become but one great Hospital.
ANOTHER Advantage proposed by the Abolishing of Christianity,
is the clear Gain of one Day in Seven, which is now entirely
lost, and consequently the Kingdom one Seventh less considerable
in Trade, Business, and Pleasure; beside the Loss to the Publick
of so many Stately Structures now in the Hands of the Clergy,
which might be converted into Theatres, Exchanges, Market-houses,
common Dormitories, and other Publick Edifices.
I hope I shall be forgiven a hard Word if I call this a
perfect Cavil. I readily own there hath been an old Custom time
out of mind, for People to assemble in the Churches every
Sunday, and that shops are still frequently shut, in order
as it is conceived, to preserve the Memory of that antient
Practice, but how this can prove a hindrance to Business or
Pleasure, is hard to imagine. What if the Men of Pleasure are
forced one Day in the Week to game at Home instead of the
Chocolate-House. Are not the Taverns and
Coffee-Houses open? Can there be a more convenient Season
for taking a Dose of Physick? Are fewer Claps got upon
Sundays than other Days? Is not that the chief Day for
Traders to Sum up the Accounts of the Week, and for Lawyers to
prepare their Briefs? But I would fain know how it can be
pretended that the Churches are misapplied. Where are more
Appointments and Rendezvouzes of Gallantry? Where more Care to
appear in the foremost Box with greater Advantage of Dress?
Where more Meetings for Business? Where more Bargains driven of
all Sorts? And where so many Conveniences or Incitements to
Sleep?
THERE is one Advantage greater than any of the foregoing,
proposed by the Abolishing of Christianity, that it will utterly
extinguish Parties among us, by removing those Factious
Distinctions of High and Low Church, of Whig and
Tory, Presbyterian and Church of England,
which are now so many grievous Clogs upon Publick Proceedings,
and dispose Men to prefer the gratifying themselves or depressing
their Adversaries, before the most important Interest of the
State.
I confess, if it were certain that so great an Advantage
would redound to the Nation by this Expedient, I would submit,
and be silent: But, will any man say that if the Words,
Whoring, Drinking, Cheating, Lying,
Stealing, were by Act of Parliament ejected out of the
English Tongue and Dictionaries; We should all Awake next
Morning Chast and Temperate, Honest and Just, and Lovers of
Truth. Is this a fair Consequence? Or if the Physicians would
forbid us to pronounce the Words Pox, Gout,
Rheumatism and Stone, would that Expedient serve
like so many Talismans to destroy the Diseases themselves.
Are Party and Faction rooted in Mens Hearts no deeper than
Phrases borrowed from Religion, or founded upon no firmer
Principles? And is our Language so poor that we cannot find
other Terms to express them? Are Envy, Pride, Avarice and
Ambition such ill Nomenclators, that they cannot furnish
Appellations for their Owners? Will not Heydukes and
Mamalukes, Mandarins and Patshaws, or any
other Words formed at Pleasure, serve to distinguish those who
are in the Ministry from others who would be in it if
they could? What, for instance, is easier than to vary the
Form of Speech, and instead of the Word, Church, make it a
Question in Politicks, Whether the Monument be in Danger?
Because Religion was nearest at hand to furnish a few convenient
Phrases, is our Invention so barren, we can find no other?
Suppose for Argument sake, that the Tories favoured
Margarita, the Whigs Mrs. Tofts, and the
Trimmers Valentini, would not Margaritians,
Toftians and Valentinians be very tolerable Marks
of Distinction? The Prasini and Veneti, two most
virulent Factions in Italy, began (if I remember right) by
a Distinction of Colours in Ribbans, which we might do with as
Good a Grace about the Dignity of the Blew and the
Green, and would serve as properly to divide the Court,
the Parliament, and the Kingdom between them, as any Terms of Art
whatsoever, borrowed from Religion. Therefore I think there is
little Force in this Objection against Christianity, or Prospect
of so great an Advantage as is proposed in the abolishing of it.
IT is again objected as a very absurd ridiculous Custom, that
a Set of Men should be suffered, much less employed and hired, to
bawl one Day in Seven against the Lawfulness of those Methods
most in use towards the Pursuit of Greatness, Riches and
Pleasure, which are the constant Practice of all Men alive on the
other Six. But this Objection is I think, a little unworthy so
refined an Age as ours. Let us argue this Matter calmly; I
appeal to the Breast of any polite Free Thinker, whether in the
Pursuit of gratifying a predominant Passion, he hath not always
felt a wonderful Incitement, by reflecting it was a Thing
forbidden; And therefore we see, in order to cultivate this
Taste, the Wisdom of the Nation hath taken special Care, that the
Ladies should be furnished with Prohibited Silks, and the Men
with Prohibited Wine; And indeed it were to be wisht, that some
other Prohibitions were promoted, in order to improve the
Pleasures of the Town, which for want of such Expedients begin
already, as I am told, to flag and grow languid, giving way daily
to cruel Inroads from the Spleen.
IT is likewise proposed as a great Advantage to the Publick,
that if we once discard the System of the Gospel, all Religion
will of course be banished for ever, and consequently along with
it, those grievous Prejudices of Education, which under the Names
of Virtue, Conscience, Honour, Justice, and the like, are so apt
to disturb the Peace of human Minds, and the Notions whereof are
so hard to be eradicated by Right Reason or Free Thinking,
sometimes during the whole Course of our Lives.
HERE first I observe how difficult it is to get rid of a
Phrase which the World is once grown fond of, although the
Occasion that first produced it, be entirely taken away. For
several Years past, if a Man had but an ill-favoured Nose, the
deep Thinkers of the Age would some way or other contrive to
impute the Cause to the Prejudice of his Education. From this
Fountain are said to be derived all our foolish Notions of
Justice, Piety, Love of our Country, all our Opinions of God or a
Future State, Heaven, Hell and the like: And there might formerly
perhaps have been some Pretence for this Charge. But so
effectual Care hath been since taken to remove those Prejudices,
by an entire Change in the Methods of Education, that (with
Honour I mention it to our Polite Innovators) the Young
Gentlemen, who are now on the Scene, seem to have not the least
Tincture left of those Infusions, or String of those Weeds, and
by consequence the Reason for abolishing Nominal Christianity
upon that Pretext, is wholly ceast.
FOR the rest, it may perhaps admit a Controversy, whether the
banishing all Notions of Religion whatsoever, would be convenient
for the Vulgar. Not that I am in the least of Opinion with those
who hold Religion to have been the Invention of Politicians, to
keep the lower Part of the World in Awe by the fear of Invisible
Powers; unless Mankind were then very different from what it is
now: For I look upon the Mass or Body of our People here in
England, to be as Free Thinkers, that is to say, as Stanch
Unbelievers, as any of the highest Rank. But I conceive some
scattered Notions about a Superior Power to be of singular Use
for the Common People, as furnishing excellent Materials to keep
Children quiet when they grow peevish, and providing Topicks of
Amusement in a tedious Winter Night.
LASTLY, it is proposed as a singular Advantage, that the
abolishing of Christianity will very much contribute to the
uniting of Protestants, by enlarging the Terms of
Communion so as to take in all sorts of Dissenters, who
are now shut out of the Pale upon Account of a few Ceremonies
which all Sides confess to be Things indifferent: That this alone
will effectually answer the great Ends of a Scheme for
Comprehension, by opening a large noble Gate, at which all Bodies
may enter; whereas the chaffering with Dissenters, and
dodging about this or the other Ceremony, is but like opening a
few Wickets, and leaving them at jar, by which no more than one
can get in at a time, and that, not without stooping, and
sideling, and squeezing his Body.
TO all this I answer; that there is one darling Inclination
of Mankind, which usually affects to be a Retainer to Religion,
though she be neither it's Parent, it's Godmother, or it's
Friend; I mean the Spirit of Opposition, that lived long before
Christianity, and can easily subsist without it. Let us for
instance, examine wherein the Opposition of Sectaries among us
consists. we shall find Christianity to have no share in it at
all. Does the Gospel any where prescribe a starcht squeezed
Countenance, a Stiff formal Gate, a singularity of Manners and
Habit, or any affected Modes of Speech different from the
reasonable Part of Mankind. Yet, if Christianity did not lend
it's name, to stand in the Gap, and to employ or divert these
Humors, they must of necessity be spent in Contraventions to the
Laws of the Land, and Disturbance of the Publick Peace. There is
a Portion of Enthusiasm assigned to every Nation, which if it
hath not proper Objects to work on, will burst out and set all in
a Flame. If the Quiet of a State can be bought by only flinging
Men a few Ceremonies to devour, it is a Purchase no Wise Man
would refuse. Let the Mastiffs amuse themselves about a
Sheepskin stufft with Hay, provided it will keep them from
Worrying the Flock. The Institution of Convents abroad, seems in
one Point a strain of great Wisdom, there being few
Irregularities in human Passions, that may not have recourse to
vent themselves in some of those Orders, which are so many
Retreats for the Speculative, the Melancholy, the Proud, the
Silent, the Politick and the Morose, to spend themselves, and
evaporate the Noxious Particles; for each of whom we in this
Island are forced to provide a several Sect of Religion, to keep
them Quiet; and whenever Christianity shall be abolished, the
Legislature must find some other Expedient to employ and
entertain them. For what imports it how large a Gate you open,
if there will be always left a Number who place a Pride and a
Merit in refusing to enter?
HAVING thus consider'd the most important Objections against
Christianity, and the chief Advantages proposed by the Abolishing
thereof; I shall now with equal Deference and Submission to wiser
Judgments as before, proceed to mention a few Inconveniencies
that may happen, if the Gospel should be repealed; which perhaps
the Projectors may not have sufficiently considered.
AND first, I am very sensible how much the Gentlemen of Wit
and Pleasure are apt to murmur, and be choqued at the sight of so
many daggled-tail Parsons, who happen to fall in their way, and
offend their Eyes; but at the same Time these wise Reformers do
not consider what an Advantage and Felicity it is, for great Wits
to be always provided with Objects of Scorn and Contempt, in
order to exercise and improve their Talents, and divert their
Spleen from falling on each other or on themselves, especially
when all this may be done without the least imaginable Danger
to their Persons.
AND to urge another Argument of a parallel Nature. If
Christianity were once abolished, how could the Free Thinkers,
the Strong Reasoners, and the Men of profound Learning, be able
to find another Subject so calculated in all Points whereon to
display their Abilities. What wonderful Productions of Wit
should we be deprived of, from those whose Genius by continual
Practice hath been wholly turn'd upon Railery and Invectives
against Religion, and would therefore never be able to shine or
distinguish themselves upon any other Subject. We are daily
complaining of the great decline of Wit among us, and would we
take away the greatest, perhaps the only Topick we have left?
Who would ever have suspected Asgil for a Wit, or
Toland for a Philosopher, if the inexhaustible Stock of
Christianity had not been at hand to provide them with Materials.
What other Subject through all Art or Nature could have produced
Tindall for a profound Author, or furnished him with
Readers. It is the wise Choice of the Subject that alone adorns
and distinguishes the Writer. For, had a Hundred such Pens as
these been employed on the side of Religion, they would have
immediately sunk into Silence and Oblivion.
NOR do I think it wholly groundless, or my Fears altogether
imaginary, that the Abolishing of Christianity may perhaps bring
the Church in Danger, or at least put the Senate to the Trouble
of another Securing Vote. I desire I may not be mistaken; I am
far from presuming to affirm or think that the Church is in
Danger at present, or as Things now stand, but we know not how
soon it may be so when the Christian Religion is repealed. As
plausible as this Project seems, there may a dangerous Design
lurk under it; Nothing can be more notorious, than that the
Atheists, Deists, Socinians, Anti-
Trinitarians, and other Subdivisions of Free Thinkers, are
Persons of little Zeal for the present Ecclesiastical
Establishment: Their declared Opinion is for repealing the
Sacramental Test, they are very indifferent with regard to
Ceremonies, nor do they hold the Jus Divinum of
Episcopacy. Therefore this may be intended as one Politick step
towards altering the Constitution of the Church Established, and
setting up Presbytery in the stead, which I leave to be
further considered by those at the Helm.
IN the last Place I think nothing can be more plain, than
that by this Expedient, we shall run into the Evil we chiefly
pretend to avoid; and that the Abolishment of the
Christian Religion, will be the readiest Course we can
take to introduce Popery. And I am the more inclined to this
Opinion, because we know it has been the constant Practice of the
Jesuits to send over Emissaries, with Instructions to
personate themselves Members of the several prevailing Sects
amongst us. So it is recorded, that they have at sundry Times
appeared in the Guise of Presbyterians, Anabaptists,
Independents, and Quakers, according as any of these were
most in Credit; So, since the Fashion hath been taken up of
exploding Religion, the Popish Missionaries have not been
wanting to mix with the Free-Thinkers; among whom Toland
the great Oracle of the Anti-Christians is an Irish
Priest, the Son of an Irish Priest; and the most learned
and ingenious Author of a Book called the Rights of the
Christian Church, was in a proper Juncture reconciled to the
Romish Faith, whose true Son, as appears by a hundred
Passages in his Treatise he still continues. Perhaps I could add
some others to the Number; but the Fact is beyond Dispute, and
the Reasoning they proceed by is right: For supposing
Christianity to be extinguished, the People will never be at Ease
till they find out some other Method of Worship; which will as
infallibly produce Superstition, as this will end in
Popery.
AND therefore, if notwithstanding all I have said, it still
be thought necessary to have a Bill brought in for repealing
Christianity; I would humbly offer an Amendment; That instead of
the Word, Christianity, may be put Religion in general, which I
conceive will much better answer all the good Ends proposed by
the Projectors of it. For, as long as we leave in being, a God
and his Providence, with all the necessary Consequences which
curious and inquisitive Men will be apt to draw from such
Premises, we do not strike at the Root of the Evil, though we
should ever so effectually annihilate the present Scheme of the
Gospel; For, of what Use is Freedom of Thought, if it will not
produce Freedom of Action, which is the sole End, how remote
soever in Appearance, of all Objections against Christianity; And
therefore, the Free-Thinkers consider it as a Sort of Edifice,
wherein all the Parts have such a mutual Dependence on each
other, that if you happen to pull out one single Nail, the whole
Fabrick must fall to the Ground. This was happily exprest by him
who had heard of a Text brought for proof of the Trinity, which
in an ancient Manuscript was differently read; He thereupon
immediately took the Hint, and by a sudden Deduction of a long
Sorites, most Logically concluded: Why, if it be as you
say, I may safely Whore and Drink on, and defy the Parson. From
which, and many the like Instances easy to be produced, I think
nothing can be more manifest, than that the Quarrel is not
against any particular Points of hard digestion in the Christian
System, but against Religion in general, which, by laying
Restraints on human Nature, is supposed the great Enemy to the
Freedom of Thought and Action.
UPON the whole, if it shall still be thought for the Benefit
of Church and State, that Christianity be abolished; I conceive
however, it may be more convenient to defer the Execution to a
Time of Peace, and not venture in this Conjuncture to disoblige
our Allies, who as it falls out, are all Christians, and many of
them, by the Prejudices of their Education, so bigotted, as to
place a sort of Pride in the Appellation. If upon being rejected
by them, we are to trust to an Alliance with the Turk, we
shall find our selves much deceived: For, as he is too remote,
and generally engaged in War with the Persian Emperor, so
his People would be more Scandalized at our Infidelity, than our
Christian Neighbours. Because the Turks are not only
strict Observers of religious Worship; but what is worse, believe
a God, which is more than is required of us, even while we
preserve the Name of Christians.
TO conclude, Whatever some may think of the great Advantages
to Trade by this favourite Scheme, I do very much apprehend, that
in Six Months time after the Act is past for the Extirpation of
the Gospel, the Bank, and East-India Stock, may fall at
least One per Cent. And since that is Fifty times more
than ever the Wisdom of our Age thought fit to venture for the
Preservation of Christianity, there is no Reason we should
be at so great a Loss meerly for the sake of destroying
it.