was the motte de guerre-and Confufion, it seems, stood for Popery, Presbyterianifm, Methodifm, Arianifm, Socinianifm, and what not.

I cannot recollect that the Petitioners have taken any extraordinary pains to filence thefe clamours. They are the clamours of an uninformed multitude, by which none will be influenced, but fuch as idolize the mere word Establishment, and, in complaifance to Dean Tucker, will look at nothing but through his fpectacles. It is well known to all men with their eyes open, that Popery, Presbyterianifm, Methodifm, Arianifm, Socinianifm, Deifm, &c. flourish fufficiently, fome of them in the very bofom of the Establishment, others in fpite of it. The powers in being could not want the means of dealing with them in time and place, if there were not confiderations that over-rule their inclinations to fupprefs them, if any fuch they have; and hence I conclude, that however thefe popular clamours may accommodate the Establishment in view of this Petition, the Confufion, as it is ftated by the Dean of Glocefter, is not the thing which difpofed my Lords the Bifhops to oppofe it.

Time, which brings most things to light, has at length given us a peep at the true fecret. The world, till very lately, had heard but of Thirty-nine Articles of the church of England. We are now told of a Fortieth, confifting, indeed, only of two words, but those of more worth than any two thousand, if fo many are to be found in the remaining Thirty-nine.

Thefe two words are, PUBLIC PEACE, which, for the prefent, we will fuppofe to mean, the peace of church and ftate in Alliance.

There are many good things in the Thirty-nine Articles, among others that are fufficiently exceptionable. We are

told

told that the Establishment cannot fubfift without fubfcription to all and every of them. I don't, however, recollect any Law by which the prefiding officers in the church are obliged to fubfcribe them, and yet the nature of the cafe would feem to fuggeft, that the more important the charge, the more neceffary to take ample fecurity for the due execution of it. Shall we fay, that a full Assent and Confent to this Fortieth Article, either expressed or understood, is a sufficient pledge for their adherence to the established faith? Be it fo; I cannot think, however, that our R. R. Paftors would abandon the whole Thirty-nine for the fake of the Fortieth.

When we confider the tranfitory nature of the fashion of the world, and even of those things in it which are called Eftablishments, we can depend upon no human provisions for the perpetuity of them. The time was, when a British Parliament had their objections to the Thirty-fixth of our prefent Articles, and thought the public peace required a pretty remarkable contravention to its contents. Should fuch an exigence happen again, I cannot but believe my Lords the Bishops would think the fupport of their calling worth a little contention, more particularly, if a mode of confecration, which would let mere Prefbyters into all the privileges of a prelacy, fhould be the Noftrum in vogue. am convinced too, that their Lordships would rifque fomething to keep out the fond things of Popery, particularly that very fond thing, the waiting for their Bulls and their Pall from the Bishop of Rome.

I

Upon this view of things, I may, perhaps, be allowed to venture a fhort comment on this Fortieth Article of the politician's religion.

"This Petition, if admitted," it is faid, "would break "the public peace. The Bishops are against it, not particu

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larly

"larly on account of its intrinfic demerit, but of its tendency to disturb the peace of the public, which the terms of a "certain pactum conventum requires them to preserve at all "adventures."

This circumftance leads us to confider, in what refpects the public peace would be affected by granting the prayer of this petition. And first of the Public Peace of the State; how the public peace of the Church would be hazarded by it, fhall be confidered in its place.

I have heard fo much of the good fenfe of Lord North, and particularly of his dexterity in extricating himself from the difficulties incident to his high station, that I must prefume he is particularly attentive to the prudential measures of his Predeceffors in the fame department, and confequently to the conduct of the late Lord Orford on an occafion fimilar to this on the carpet.

When his Lordship, then Sir Robert Walpole, was folicited by the Protestant Diffenters to promote the repeal of the Test Act, so far as related to them, he faw the righteousnefs and found policy of the measure, with full conviction, and would have been led to it by his own difpofition, could he have confidered himfelf as unconnected with his particular fervice to Government. He faw the expedience of strengthening the hands of the King and his real friends, by providing a balance against the malignity of Papists and Jacobites. But there was then a Mongrel faction on foot, in no fmall credit with the populace, the leaders of which profeffed themselves to be whigs in state matters, and tories in the concerns of the church. Among these was a large majority of the clergy. What their tenets were, may be learned from the pamphlets of thofe times, particularly from the treatife of the late Bishop Ellis, upon

the

the subject of the Teft. In contemplation of what he had to expect from that quarter, the Minister thus bespoke the Petitioners of that day.

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"Gentlemen, you are too fast friends to his Majefty and "his Government, not to wish his minifters may be as lit"tle incommoded as poffible by the feditious clamours and practices of those who hate both you and us. The prefent "difpofition of the clergy, particularly those of this city, is fufficiently open to your obfervation. It is as much as we can do to get them to hold their tongues, by foothing, humouring, and occafionally preferring them, now that no umbrage is given them. What do you think would "be the cafe, if by the repeal you folicit, we should open "fifty mouths in fifty pulpits every Sunday, against the King and his minifters, upon the pretence of their endeavouring to ruin the church?"

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I doubt not but Sir Robert had a copious lift of reverend declaimers on this topic to exhibit, not more copious, however, than Lord North might procure at this period in a very few hours, from gentlemen well informed of the fenfe of the leading churchmen of the times. His Lordship, indeed, feems, by an expreffion hereafter to be noted, to be in poffeffion of a more numerous catalogue than even Sir Robert himself. The Rutherfordians, the Balguifts, the Ibbetfonians, the Powellites, the Tuckerians, the Madanites, the Topladians, &c. &c. &c. make up no defpicable combination, not to mention my Lord of L's Phalanx, who occupy the city pulpits as body guards in ordinary to the ruling system.

I do not believe that, if the prayer of the Petition had been granted, above half a dozen of these would have joined Mr. Romaine in his refolution, never mare to mount a pulpit; and

it

1

it may be easily conceived, what the weekly declamations of men fo heated and irritated by disappointment, might have effected towards the downfal of thofe in power, who thus prefumed to provoke, what Swift calls, the Sacred Order. It is well known what impreffions the fuperftitious grimace of external forms, and the enthusiasm of inward light make upon the vulgar, in their feparate operations; what then must be their effect when their forces are combined, and pointed with vengeance at the devoted head of a Minifter?

Add to all this, that the queftion had been argued upon the foot of civil utility, not indeed originally by the Petitioners, who only followed whither their adverfaries chofe to lead them. The Rotherams, the Balguys, the Forfiers, and the Tuckers, were the men, who, under the conduct of an eminent leader, brought crude politics into the dispute, and from their attachment to this topic, it might be concluded a priori, that it was too precious to be parted with, if Statesmen and Magistrates should disoblige them.

The ingenious Gentleman, therefore, who brought to light this Fortieth Article, fhould have fet the faddle on the right horfe, and have told the company who they were, who would have the first fcruple to fubfcribe it. Not, furely, the Petitioners who obtained the relief, and whose principle view in feeking it, was to becalm this boisterous fpirit of contention in their high-church brethren, and whose succefs could not poffibly have worfe confequences, with respect to diverfities of opinion, than are already produced by the different judgments exhibited in the writings and preachings of thofe, who fubfcribe the thirty-nine Articles without any fcruple whatever.

For my own part, I have that opinion of the good fenfe and enlightened minds of many of our prefent Prelates, that I am obliged to believe, if there could have been any fecu