their king and country; will be sufficient to quiet those groundless jealousies and suspicions, which have been industriously propagated by the ill-wishers to our constitution.

The undertaking, which I am now laying down, was entered upon in the very crisis of the late rebellion, when it was the duty of every Briton to contribute his utmost assistance to the government, in a manner suitable to his station and abilities. All services, which had a tendency to this end, had a degree of merit in them, in proportion as the event of that cause which they espoused was then doubtful. But at present they might be regarded, not as duties of private men to their endangered country, but as insults of the successful over their defeated enemies.

Our nation indeed continues to be agitated with confusions and tumults; but, God be thanked, these are only the impotent remains of an unnatural rebellion, and are no more than the after-tossings of a sea when the storm is laid. The enemies of his present Majesty, instead of seeing him driven from his throne, as they vainly hoped, find him in a condition to visit his dominions in Germany, without any danger to himself, or to the public; whilst his dutiful subjects would be in no ordinary concern upon this occasion, had they not the consolation to find themselves left under the protection of a prince, who makes it his ambition to copy out his royal father's example; and who, by his duty to his Majesty, and affection to his people, is so well qualified to be the guardian of the realm.

It would not be difficult to continue a paper of this kind, if one were disposed to resume the same subjects, and weary out the reader with the same thoughts in a different phrase, or to ramble through the cause of Whig and Tory, without any certain aim or method, in every particular discourse. Such a practice in political writers is like that of some preachers taken notice of by Dr. South, who being prepared only upon two or three points of doctrine, run the same round with their audience from one end of the year to the other, and are always forced to tell them, by way of preface, These are particulars of so great importance, that they cannot be sufficiently inculcated. To avoid this method of tautology, I have endeavoured to make every paper a distinct essay upon some particular subject, without deviating into points foreign to the tenor of each discourse. They are, in

deed, most of them essays upon government, but with a view to the present situation of affairs in Great Britain: so that if they have the good fortune' to live longer than works of this nature generally do, future readers may see in them the complexion of the times in which they were written. However, as there is no employment so irksome, as that of transcribing out of one's self, next to that of transcribing out of others, I shall let drop the work, since there do not occur to me any material points, rising from our present situation, which I have not already touched upon.

As to the reasonings in these several papers, I must leave them to the judgment of others. I have taken particular care that they should be conformable to our constitution, and free from that mixture of violence and passion, which so often creeps into the works of political writers. A good cause doth not want any bitterness to support it, as a bad one cannot subsist without it. It is indeed observable, that an author is scurrilous in proportion as he is dull; and seems rather to be in a passion, because he cannot find out what to say for his own opinion, than because he has discovered any pernicious absurdities in that of his antagonists. A man satirized by writers of this class, is like one burnt in the hand with a cold iron: there may be ignominious terms and words of infamy in the stamp, but they leave no impression behind them.

It would indeed have been an unpardonable insolence for a fellow-subject to treat in a vindictive and cruel style those persons whom his Majesty has endeavoured to reduce to obedience by gentle methods, which he has declared from the throne to be most agreeable to his inclinations. May we not hope that all of this kind, who have the least sentiments of honour or gratitude, will be won over to their duty by so many instances of royal clemency, in the midst of so many repeated provocations? May we not expect that Cicero's words to Cæsar, in which he speaks of those who were Cæsar's enemies, and of his conduct towards them, may be applied to his Majesty: Omnes enim qui fuerunt, aut suâ pertinacia vitam amiserunt, aut tuâ misericordiâ retinuerunt ;

1 They have had, and will continue to have, this good fortune; not so much for their own intrinsic merit, (though it be considerable,) as for the high reputation which the author of them had so justly acquired to himself, by his other works. It follows, that if a writer would live, he should only, or chiefly, treat subjects of a general concern.

ut aut nulli supersint de inimicis, aut qui superfuerunt, amicissimi sint. Quare gaude tuo isto tam excellenti bono, et fruere cum fortunâ, et gloriâ, tum etiam naturâ, et moribus tuis. Ex quo quidem maximus est fructus, jucunditasque sapienti-Nihil habet nec fortuna tua majus, quam ut possis, nec natura tua melius, quam ut velis, quamplurimos conservare- ?

As for those papers of a gayer turn, which may be met with in this collection, my reader will of himself consider, how requisite they are to gain and keep up an audience to matters of this nature; and will perhaps be the more indulgent to them, if he observes, that they are none of them without a moral, nor contain anything but what is consistent with decency and good manners.

It is obvious, that the design of the whole work has been, to free the people's minds from those prejudices conveyed into them, by the enemies to the present establishment, against the king and royal family, by opening and explaining their real characters; to set forth his Majesty's proceedings, which have been very grossly misrepresented, in a fair and impartial light; to show the reasonableness and necessity of our opposing the Pretender to his dominions, if we have any regard to our religion and liberties; and, in a word, to incline the minds of the people to the desire and enjoyment of their own happiness. There is no question, humanly speaking, but these great ends will be brought about insensibly, as men will grow weary of a fruitless opposition; and be convinced, by experience, of a necessity to acquiesce under a government which daily gathers strength, and is able to disappoint the utmost efforts of its enemies. In the mean while, I would recommend to our malecontents, the advice given by a great moralist to his friend upon another occasion; that he would show it was in the power of wisdom to compose his passion; and let that be the work of reason which would certainly be the effect of time.

I shall only add, that if any writer shall do this paper so much honour, as to inscribe the title of it to others, which may be published upon the laying down of this work; the whole praise or dispraise of such a performance will belong to some other author; this fifty-fifth being the last paper that will come from the hand of the Freeholder.

Inscribe to.] We say—ascribe to—but, inscribe on.

OF THE

CHRISTIAN RELIGION.'

SECTION I.

I. General division of the following discourse, with regard to Pagan and Jewish authors, who mention particulars relating to our Saviour.

II. Not probable that any such should be mentioned by Pagan writers who lived at the same time, from the nature of such transactions.

III. Especially when related by the Jews.

IV. And heard at a distance by those who pretended to as great miracles as their own.

V. Besides, that no Pagan writers of that age lived in Judea or its confmes.

VI. And because many books of that age are lost.

VII. An instance of one record proved to be authentic.

VIII. A second record of probable, though not undoubted, authority.

THAT I may lay before you a full state of the subject under our consideration, and methodize the several particulars that I touched upon in discourse with you; I shall first take notice of such Pagan authors, as have given their testimony

The following work on the Christian Religion has great merit; but, from the nature of it, required a greater detail in the execution. For, as as an ancient writer' has well observed,—fit totum et minus plenum, cum tanta rerum multitudo in angustum coarctanda sit; et brevitate ipsâ minùs clarum, maximè cùm et argumenta plurima et exempla, in quibus lumen est probationum, necesse sit præteriri. However, the plan was ably conceived; and would, without doubt, if the author had lived, have been drawn out to a just extent. For we are told, he had taken great pains in collecting materials for it, and was more assiduous in digesting them than his health would well allow.2

Thus our Addison, like the admirable Pascal, closed his valuable life in meditating a defence of the Christian Religion. One is not surprised to find this agreement in the views of two such men; the one the sublimest genius, and the other the most cultivated, of modern times. But there was this lamented difference in their story. The spirit of Jansenism,

Lactantius. Ep. D. J. præf.

2 Life by Mr. Tickell.

to the history of our Saviour; reduce these authors under their respective classes, and show what authority their testimonies carry with them. Secondly, I shall take notice of Jewish authors in the same light.

II. There are many reasons, why you should not expect that matters of such a wonderful nature should be taken notice of by those eminent Pagan writers who were contemporaries with Jesus Christ; or by those who lived before his disciples had personally appeared among them, and ascertained the report which had gone abroad concerning a life so full of miracles.

Supposing such things had happened at this day in Switzerland, or among the Grisons, who make a greater figure in Europe than Judea did in the Roman empire, would they be immediately believed by those who live at a great distance from them? or would any certain account of them be transmitted into foreign countries, within so short a space of time as that of our Saviour's public ministry? Such kinds of news, though never so true, seldom gain credit, till some time after they are transacted, and exposed to the examination of the curious, who, by laying together circumstances, attestations, and characters of those who are concerned in them, either receive, or reject, what at first none but eye-witnesses could absolutely believe or disbelieve. In a case of this sort, it was natural for men of sense and learning to treat the whole account as fabulous, or, at furthest, to suspend their belief of it, until all things stood together in their full light.

III. Besides, the Jews were branded not only for superstitions different from all the religions of the Pagan world, but in a particular manner ridiculed for being a credulous people; so that whatever reports of such a nature came out of that country, were looked upon by the heathen world as false, frivolous, and improbable.

IV. We may further observe, that the ordinary practice of magic in those times, with the many pretended prodigies, divinations, apparitions, and local miracles among the heathens, made them less attentive to such news from Judea,

falling on a temper naturally scrupulous, and a constitution always infirm, threw a sombrous fanatic air on Pascal's religious speculations, as it did on his life while our happier countryman, by the benefit of better health and juster principles, maintained a constant sobriety in the conduct of each.