ligious Party, nor averfe to any, for the Church of England, but not against the Diffenters; for the Diffenters, but not againit the Church: t I am for you all, as A long as you all act like Chriftians and Proteftants. This qualifies me to fee the Truth, and I will peak it too; for 'tis now abfolutely neceflary, in this general Clamour and Difcontent. C Clamours and Difcontents ever were, and will be, as long as Liberty lafts: Not B the Days of Q. Elizabeth, nor the more happy Days of our glorious Deliverer K. William were without them. There are, at Hatfield, a Clofet full of Pamphlets and Papers, wrote against that great Statesman Burleigh, which, under his own Hand, he calls Libels against me while I was a Minifter of State, and in the State Tracts are more cruel Satyres and Invectives against K. William and his Ministry, than againit his present Majefty and Ministry. But it doth not follow that the Measures of the Court were then against the Intereft of the Country. We know how Libels are produc'd in Eng- D land, and the trueCause of all theVirulence retailed in the Craftsman and Fog; The Caufes are not in the Court or Miniftry, but in their Enemies, who are defied to prove one Action they have done against our Conftitution or Liberties. Thefe Clamours and Difcontents must therefore a- E rife from another Quarter, and first from fome Differences among the Whigs in Power. All could not be pleas'd: Thofe who were not, fell a Railing, and set up a Weekly Journal, which, with the Help of another Jacobite Journal, hath poyfon'd the Nation; and 'tis impoffible the beft Miniftry could preferve popular Affection and Esteem against Papers conftantTy misrepresenting all their Actions. The Jacobites and Tories lay very quiet from the Rebellion in the late Reign, till a long Time after the Craftsman ap pear'd, and fo wifely let him do the Work; which, while the Whigs were united, they had neither Power nor Credit to do. But now the Work is done, thefe Facobites appear under all Shapes, of Whigs, Freethinkers, and Republicans. A Writer in the Grubtreet, who figns WITCH OF ENDOR, Sept. 20, in a bantering Strain, fays, it was the Intent of the facetious old Lady (Ofborne) to make us laugh by giving us an Imitation of an Anabaptifts Sermon. Indifference about Religion, qualifies a Perfon to fee the Truth, 0! Lepidum caput! Grub. ibid. F G H You, Gentlemen! are fome of the fafteft of the real and original Friends to the Revolution and Hanover Succeffion. Confider, therefore, what Part it becomes you to act, to preserve those invaluable Privileges you enjoy, as Englishmen and Proteftant Diffenters. As Proteftant Diffenters, indeed, you have not all you wifh, nor all I wish; there's one Thing wanting, and but one; for you have feen the Occafional and Schifm A&s repeal'd but the Test Act remains unrepeal'd, which obliges you that have Places in the Government to go once to Church, and take the Sacrament. *This Act, I think ought to be repeal'd: But the Miniftry thought it not proper, when you ask'd for it; || for they don't confider Things in a Philofo phical or religious, but in a Political View only; and fay in their Juftification, "That they must, as Servants of their King and Country, do what appears beft for the Peace and Happiness of the Kingdom, at every Juncture; that tho' Things may be reasonable in themselves, yet all Seafons are not equally proper to do them in; that all Parties and Bodies of Men are to be confider'd, just as they relate to the Good of the Whole; that tho' the Dillenters merit every Thing from the Royal Family, and from the Kingdom, which Reafon can demand, yet fome Regard is to be had to the Principles, or, if you please, the Prejudices of the Church of England; that there are at leaft Six Millions of Church People, to One Million of Dillenters, that great Numbers of the Laity, and a Majority of the Clergy, are yet a gainst the Repeal, and fay, that the Teft is a very fmall Evil to you, because you are grown into generous Sentiments of Religion, and fearce one in a thousand counts Communion with the Church of England finful, and therefore 'tis not worth while to remove fo fmall an Evil, and In the Mifcellany, Sept. 15. Mr Hooker tells Mr Ofborne, he has in this Letter advanced fome Things which affect the Honour of his Majefty, the Safety of our Establish'd Religion and Government, and even the Reputation of the Diffenters, and calls upon him to anfwer Crito's State of the Teft Affair, as laid down in fome of the first Mifcellanies (fee p. 7.) or publickly retract his Charge, That the Eftablishment of the Teft is unjuft, and ought to be repealed. That is, Minifters have no Religion, natural or reveal'd. O! fy, good Woman, what could provoke you to be fo severe upon your Friends? Grub. and which fhortly may be none at all, at the Hazard of a much greater, to be fear'd from a vaftly more numerous Body of Men; that both Clergy and Laity are A growing into the fame Sentiments of Liberty with yourselves, fo that you will foon meet in the fame general Opinions of Religion and Government; and then, they will be willing to grant your Defire; or, you will be too wife, to have occafion for it; you may obtain that in a lit- B tle Time without Difficulty, which, when you defired it, was attended with great Difficulties; that they are entirely in your Interests, and will do what you request, in this Point, as foon as it's confiftent, with the general Intereft; that Prudence, and your high Regard to the publick Peace bid that D ples, Views and Designs they used to have. This plainly appears from a Pamphlet, published at the Clofe of the laft Seffion of Parliament, entitled, The Loyal or Revolution Tory; the Defign of which is to fhew, That tho' the Whigs were the favour'd People; yet, from their late ungrateful Conduct, they ought to be cait off, and themselves taken into their Places. We never find, fays that Writer, any National Calamities or Enormities committed in the State, but at fuch Junctures as the Jacobites and Diffenters had the Power of turning the Scale in Counfels of State. Again: We can never fuppofe the Diffenters, who have fo long defir'd the Deltruction of the Eftablifhment of the Church, to be deftitute of Schemes for that purpose, or want Inclinations to put them in Execution. If the Revolution Tory is thus fevere upon you, what will the Anti-revolution Tories be? of which you are, probably, convinced there are Two to One. Is it not Time to look about you, when these your mortal Enemies are lifting up their Heads, and afferting their exclufive Right to Royal Truft and Confidence? Don't you tremble at the Confequences of letting Tories and Jacobites into the Adminiftration? Were thefe Men ever in PowEer, without doing Things deftructive to Our Civil and Religious Rights, with a View to fubvert the Conftitution, as fettled fince the Revolution? you wait the proper Seafon and then Whoever has made impartial Obfer- * The Writers both in the Grubstreet and Mifcellany are at a loss what Ofborne means by this terrible Word. H Yet bad as they are, they must come into Power, upon the Breaking of the Whig Intereft, and which must be broke, if you oppofe the Court Whigs at the next Election: For you know, that the Church Whigs and Diffenters together, when the moft firmly united, are not equal in Number to the Jacobites and Tories, and have been always forced to fupply the Defect of natural Strength, with great Art. But upon your Revolt, there must be a Majority of Tories. The Confequence of a Tory Parliament, must be a Tory Miniftry, who will do you all poffible Mischief. Some Malecontent Whigs are so fenfible of this, viz. Mr S. R. &c, that they be gin bravely to oppose them. Besides, can you be fure, whether a Court may not think it as reasonable to be ferved by Tories, as you think it reasonable to vote with Tories? Can you tell how far they will refent your oppofing them? Whether they will not reprefent you as a turbulent, antimonarchichal, feditious, gloomy, murmuring Race of Men, never satisfied with your prefent Condition; ever for infringing upon the Prerogative, and Undermining the Church? Whether the Miniftry are right or wrong, in refusing the Repeal of the Teft A&t, at this Time, is hardly worth confidering; nor Whether ANY SINGLE MINISTER hath erred in his Conduct towards you, which, I think, he has: But it's certainly worth confidering, above all Things, Whether we fhould preferve our Civil and Religious Liberties, or wantonly throw them all away, because we want one? which one the Tories would not give you; and the Craftsman who is the Mouth of all the Independent Whigs, hath declared, they are for keeping a NEUTRALITY between, the Church and Diffenters. F. OSBOrne. Weekly Miscellany, Sept. 15. No. 40. of Infidelity. Mr HOOKER, ONE A B Near a kin to this, is the wicked Behaviour of fuch modern Arians, as have subfcribed thofe Articles which they believe the Reverse of; fuch Articles as the Church expected to be fecured by the moft ferious Teft. The Church and State may be fairly defended for impofing proper Tefts, because no Society can fubfift without fuch Securities, provided they do not multiply needless Temptations. Not only the Conduct of the Arian Subfcribers, but Arianifm itself, or the Revival of it, has been another Means of drawing Men off from the Belief of Chriftianity. I do not charge it upon the Nature of Arianifm as fuch, nor can I fee why the Difputes about the Divinity of Chrift's Perfon fhould alter the Evidence for the Divinity of his Commiffion. However, feveral even of the Arian Writers C have begun in Herefy, and ended in Infidelity. Dr Clarke, it must be acknowledg'd, always made a Diftinction between Things above Reason, and Things contrary to Reason. But the generality of the Party have notoriously run greaterLengths. NE of the favourite Topicks of the Infidels, in private Converfation, is the Number of their Profelytes. Most Men of Senfe, they fay, are of their Party; this they cannot account for, but from the general Knowledge and Learning now D fpread among the People, which other Ages formerly wanted. But this is falle in Fact, for from the Revival of Learning at the Reformation, down to the Death of Sir Ifaac Newton, the most eminent Men in all Arts and Sciences, have almost universally been ftrict Adherers to the Chriftian Faith. Tho' they differ in fome Points, yet they were united in their Belief that our Religion came from God. This has unexceptionably been made appear by the prefent Bp of Lon-their Faults fhould not be magnified or don, who collected the Sentiments of Mr Addifor, Mr Locke, &c. into one Volume. To put the Matter beyond all Doubt, it may be proper more minutely to trace out the Origin of that Spirit of Unbelief, which fo vifibly reigns among us. have already attempted fomething of this Kind; (fee p. 230.) to which the following Branches may be added. Laftly, Their strong Prejudices against the Clergy, on Account of their many Defeats and Disappointments, may have difinclin❜d many from the Belief of that Religion from which the Clergy must derive all their Efteem and Support. Had the Clergy, in all Times and Places, been the general Pefts of Society, as their EEnemies represent them, I fhould think their Inftitution could not proceed from a wife and good Law-giver; but no Hiftory informs us that they have been fuch. They are Men, and have their Faults, but You multiplied, or their Virtues be concealed. F der'd fufpected, the common Enemy is Yet fo it is; and the Clergy being renpermitted to infufe his Poyfon, while no Remedy must be receiv'd from the Hand of the Phyfician. G The Craftsman, Sept. 15. N° 376. Mr D'anvers, Hefs is, perhaps, the only Game that First, the impious Violation of the most folemn Oaths, whether form'd as a Teit playdat for nothing, and yet warms for the Security of the Prince's Perfon, or the Blood and the Brain as much as if the deepest Stakes were laid. No Person ever fitters at this Game by underplaying himfelf. I remember but one Inftance of fuch an Adulation. An excellent Player at the Gime at Chefs, got a good Employment by fuffering himself to be beat by a Firit Minifter, in the late Reign, at There's a Story of two Perfons of Diftination, the one lived at Madrid, the other at Rome, who plaid a Game at Chefs at that Distance. They began when young, and tho' they both lived to a A very old Age, yet the Game was not finished. One of them dying, appointed his Executor to go on with the Game. Their Method was, Each Don kept a Chefs Board, with the Pieces ranged in exact Order, in their respective Clofets at Madrid and Rome; having agreed who fhould move first, the Don informs his Playfellow at Rome, by Letter, that he had moved his King's Pawn two Moves; the Courier speedily returns, and advises his Antagonist, that the Minute after he had the Honour. to receive his, he likewife moved his King's Pawn two Paces; and fo they went on. This Play is a Contention who can lay the deepest Designs; and the feveral Motions and Powers of the Picces are as follow. The Names of the Pieces are King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook, and Pawn. The chief Perfonage, except the King, is the Queen. But he has infinitely more Power than her royal Confort; and has all the Motions of every Piece, except the Knight, his Motion being continually indirect or oblique. He, indeed, is the only Character, that always profeffes to act by Stratagem, or Fraud; but his Motion being particular, he must be a bad Player that does not guard against him. as it were lock'd up, and difabled from moving, without being taken Prisoner by fome other Piece. But fuch is the Regard to Majefty, that, when this happens, the Game is quite over; and the Conqueror only fays this Word, Mate; the Inventors of this Diversion imagining, that a King incapable of acting, was as no King. The Perfon next the Knight, is the Rook, but in old Boards he is called a Caftle, or Tower of Defence; and acts always upon the Square. When the King is in Danger of being Check-mated, he refcues him; and fuch is their Power, that two Rooks are equal to a Queen, In the Front of King, Queen, and Nobles, is placed the whole Body of the Pawns, or Commonalty, as their best and natural Guard. Their Motions are upon C the Square; and if well conducted, are fure of Success. If properly fupported they will break into the Ranks of the ·Enemies Infantry; puth thro' the Nobles, and take a vacant Seat in the Upper House. Then they are called Noblemen, Some of thefe Pawns, or Commoners, Ꭰ even in that Capacity, fhew uncom mon Forefight, and defeat the Designs of a Knight, or a Bibop, with great Address I have known fome of them march with great Difcipline and Order, even till they had almoft inclofed the Enemy, and then they have obliged them to break their E own Ranks, and submit with great Lofs and Difgrace to the Force of a Scheme formed long before, to reduce them; but then they must be led by experienc'd Generals; for a falfe Step in fuch an Enterprize may prove of bad Confequence. The next in Quality to the Queen is the Bishop, who always takes Poft on the Side of her Majefty or the King, is of very little Ufe in the Beginning of a Game, and is by Profeffion never obliged to move upon the Square, as even the Rooks and Pawns do,and therefore marches F crofs the Board from Angle to Angle. At the Clofe of a Game, he is of fome little Ufe, tho' he feldom gives Check to the King, and rarely acts without the Afiftance of the Queen or Knight. often fupports indeed, by his Prefence, any Defign they undertake. The Bifops G are of fo indifferent Account, that in old Chefs-Boards they are defcrib'd as Fools, and diftinguish'd with long Ears and Bells. He Next to the Bishop is the Knight, who does great Execution by Surprize. You often fee him jump over the Heads of the Nobles, and thin the Ranks of the Plebei. H ans, whofe profeffed Enemy he is. When he is guarded by the Queen, he makes dreadful Havock, and often Check-mates the King. This is done, by forcing his Majefly into fuch a Situation, that he is M The Free Briton, Sept. 20. No. 200. On the Rife and Repeal of the Schifm Bill ̧ R Walfingham answers that Affertion of the Craftsman, That a certain Hon. Gentleman opposed the Repeal of the Schifm Bill (fee p. 426. B) and clears up that Affair by giving a short Account of the Proceedings thereon from the Journals of both Houses. May 12, 1714. Sir Wm Wyndham moved that the Statute of the 13th and 14th of K. Charles II. entitled an Act for the Unifor mity of publick Prayers, &c. might be read, and a Bill was order'd to be prepar'd by Sir Wm Wyndham, Mr Cholmondeley of Chefbire, Ld Down, Mr Campion, Mr Dixie Windfor, &c. May 21. Sir Wm Wyndham prefented the Bill to prevent the Growth of Schifm. May 26. Sir Wm Wyndham was made Chairman 1. I Chairman of the Committee on the Bill, June 1. The Schifm Bill paffed, and Sir Wm was order'd to carry it to the Lords; which being return'd with Amendments, Sir Wm was order'd to carry it back, and acquaint the Lords that the Houfe had agreed to their Amendments. B Mr Walfingham having thus fhewn, that Sir Wm Wyndham was the Father of this Bill, he then names the Peers who enter'd their DISSENT on the Journals when the Lords paffed the Bill. Those who stand in ROMAN Letters being now C living, thofe in Italicks dead, viz. (Herbert E. of) Torrington, Dorchefter, (late D. of Kingston,) SOMERSET, Bolton, DORSET and Middlesex, GRAFTON, Devon ire, TOWNSHEND, CARLISLE, Scarborough, Sunderland, DERBY, Cornwallis, Lincoln, Orford, Nottingham, Sommers, Radnor, Rockingham, Haversham, Foley, W. Lincoln, (WAKE) 7. Ely, (Moore) Jo. Bangor, (Evans) W. St Afaph, (Fleetwood) fo. Landaff, (Tyler) Schonberg, LEICESTER, MONTAGU, De Longueville, (late E. of Suffex) Hallifax, Cowper, GREENWICH, D. of ARGYLL. D E Next he gives fome Account of it from a Tract, entitled, the Secret Hiftory of the White Staff, to justify the E. of Oxford from the wicked Proceedings of the late Ld B-ke, written under the View, and from the Informations of that Noble Earl, and affirming, that the Schifm Bill was caftrated by his Lordship, that be took out the moft malicious and perfe cuting Part, which the Wild-fire Men had formed to ruin Families, and oppress the People; and that thefe Wildfire Men were Bp A-TT-RB-RY, who follicited this Bill, Ld B-L-NG BR-KE, who clofed with it; and Sir W- W-ND- G H-M, who negotiated it. In 1718, a Bill had its Rife with the Lords, which was entitled, An Act for Strengthening the Proteftant Intereft. This repealed the Schifm Act, and likewife another Act of the 10th of 2. Anne for preferving the Proteftant Religion, by better fecuring the Church of England: And in this complicated Condition it was oppofed in both Houses, as being clogged with more than it ought to contain, namely, with another Repeal, befides THAT of the Shifm Act. It was there H fore held unparliamentary, and being a Matter of religious Difpute, near kin to that which occafion'd the Rebellion, it was judg'd unfeasonable. Many eminent Whigs in both Houses voted against the Bill as thus circumftanced: But none of them voted against it as repealing the Act, FOR PREVENTING THE GROWTH OF SCHISM. As the late D. of D—v—ns—re and` E. C-wp-r, both of unexceptionable Characters, acted and reasoned in this Manner, no Whig can imagine, that they oppofed the Complication of two Repeals in one Bill, from any View of voting against the Repeal of the SCHISM BILL. Now will any Whig or Diffenter imagine, that the Honourable Perfon, now accufed, who govern'd himself in Con cert with two fuch excellent Men, either meant or voted on that Occafion from Oppofition to the Repeal of the SchifmBill, confider'd fingly of itfelf. When it is further confider'd that Mr P-Y him felf, fpoke and voted in the fame Manner, is it poffible, that Mr P-Y, who knows he never had any fuch Meaning, as to vote against repealing the SchifmBill, can honeftly do otherwife, than acquit fuch Whigs, as were then his Confe derates, of this defaming Charge? Whoever reviews the Conduct of the Great Name fo unjustly afperfed, will find, that in all Parts of his Life, he hath been the warmest Friend, and kindest Benefactor of the Froteftant Diffenters. Who more heartily and formidably oppofed those perfecuting Laws against the Dissenters propofed in the Beginning of Q. Anne's Reign, than He? If then he differ'd from others, concerning the Conjunction of two Repeals in one Act, and the Season of attempting it, is this to be weighed a gainst the whole Courfe of his Life? However the Whig Lords might objec to fuch a complicated Bill, yet none of them left his Name on Record, as a thorough Enemy to the passing of the Bill; nor did the oppofing Whigs in the House of Commons, vote against it on the third Reading there. The TORY Lords, who PROTESTED against paffing this Bill for trengthening the Proteffaut Intereft, and who oppofed it, as well for that it Repealed the Schifm Act, as the Act of the 10th of 2 Anne, there are now living, Sc-rsd-le, Angl-f-y, W-ft-n E of Arr-n, M-p-m, N-th-mpt-n, Ux br-dge, Str-ff -rd, B —th—rft, Br—ce, |