AN

ESSAY

FOR THE

Better REGULATION and IMPROVEMENT

O F

FREE-THINKING.

DEAR SIR,

HE Pleasure I received from your laft obliging Letter, demands a better Acknowledgment than at prefent I am able to make. The Succefs of your Labours in the glorious Cause of Truth and Liberty, which you modeftly call furprizing, is by no means fo to your Friends, who know and admire the shining Talents, the indefatigable Application, the engaging Address, and extenfive Benevolence, by which you stand eminently distinguished among all true Lovers of Mankind. Who can wonder that Wit and Learning should triumph over the glaring Abfurdities of Prieftcraft and Superftition, when we fee them daily VOL. I. become

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become the Scorn and Contempt of the fillieft Part of the People? The vifible Superiority of our Numbers, and Zeal for the Caufe, the Indolence, or rather Diffidence, of our Adverfaries, and the impartial Neutrality of fome, who might, if they pleased, eafily turn the Scale againft us, are a comfortable Prefage, that the Days of reverend Dulness and Superstition are growing to a Period, and that we (or our Pofterity, however) fhall live to fee this happy Island, in every Sense of the Word, a Land of Liberty, a Nation of Philofophers, and fine Gentlemen, delivered from the Tyranny of Priests and Priest-ridden Politicians, and directed folely by the infallible Light of Nature, the Rules of Right Reafon, and the Laws of Honour, and fuffered to think, and speak, and act with that unlimited Freedom, which is the diftinguishing Privilege and Honour of rational Creatures and free Agents; for which, I trust, neither your Endeavours nor mine fhall ever be wanting.

Though we cannot boaft of the fame Success in our Neighbourhood, yet we may venture to fay, in the main, that we are in a very hopeful Way, and improve as faft as the Nature of our Situation, and the Genius of the Country will admit. The lower Part of the People, with which, you know, we mostly abound, are of flender Talents and flow Capacities, bred up from their Infancy to Superftition and Labour, and are not eafily cured of their early Prejudices; they cannot enter into abstracted Notions. and fine Reafonings; and therefore, ftill perfift in having a fort of Reverence for the Parfon (except when he comes to talk upon the Article of Tythes); they think it very convenient to have a Holiday once a Week;

a Week; and that the Church is a very convenient
Place to meet in, and fhew their beft Cloaths, ef-
pecially in rainy Weather, when they cannot fo
conveniently walk about the Fields, or travel about
the Neighbourhood; and therefore are ftartled at
any thing that looks like an Attempt to unfettle the
Religion of their Grandmothers. And though many
of them, by converfing with their Betters, have made
great Improvements, have attempted to break their
Chains, and give into the Liberties of the polite World,
yet can they not entirely conquer the inveterate Pre-
judices of Education and Cuftom; infomuch that, after
they have been regaling all their Senfes in the beft
Company and the most exquifite Enjoyments; yet,
when they come to Retirement and cool Reflections
(as they call them) they grow fplenetic and low-fpi-
rited, are terrified with difmal Apprehenfions of a fu-
ture Judgment, eternal Punifhments, and I know not
what, and fall to fnivelling, repenting, and praying,
after breaking a Commandment, as if they had been guilty
of breaking a Hedge, or the Peace, and were in danger
of being fent to the House of Correction. But however,
there is great Hope that frequent Practice, and the In-
fluence and Example of their Superiors, will, by de-
grees, fo far enlighten their Underftandings, as to
convince them, that it is neither Policy nor good
Manners, for any Tenant to pretend to be wifer or
better than his Landlord, especially than the Lord of
the Manor; and that it is impoffible for a poor Rascal
that rents 20 or 30l. per annum, to think and judge as
properly of fuch intricate Subjects as the 'Squire, who
is, perhaps, in the Commiffion of the Peace, or the Mi-

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litia,

litia, rides in his Coach, and laughs at the Parfon and his Preachments every Day of his Life.

And this has produced another lucky Confequence, which cannot fail, one time or other, of turning out greatly to our Advantage. Several of the younger and more polite Clergy, who are Candidates for Fame or Promotion, or both, and find that very, little of either is to be obtained by a stiff, fullen Adherence to the old-fashioned Schemes of Orthodoxy and Morality, think it their Interest to be more complaifant to those who have it in their Power to distinguish and prefer them; they find there is more to be got by being good Companions, than good Chriftians, and confider it as a Point of Policy, as well as good Breeding, not to interrupt Converfation when they are in Company with their Superiors; and whatever Subject happens to be started, or Liberties of Speech taken, by those who may have it in their Power to mend or marr their Fortunes, they think it their best Way to eat their Pudding, and hold their Tongues, without pretending to be wiser than the reft of the Company. This has already had a good Effect, and has convinced Numbers of People, that either thofe Gentlemen do not really believe, or are not able to defend, the Doctrines they pretend to teach, and therefore are already, or at least, in a fair Way to be of our Side of the Question. Our Friend, the 'Squire, made a Party the other Night to meet at Parfon G's, who, you know, has long had an Eye to his great Living at B--re. After the first Bottle, we naturally fell upon Politics, with an eafy Transition to Religion; we quickly grew warm, roasted Athanafius, and the whole Company of Creedmakers, with all the Patrons and Defenders of Reve

lation,

dation, Miracles, Myfteries, &c. The well-bred Doctor gave us no Interruption, offered at no Reply, but put about the Glass, which he never baulked when it came to his Turn. When the Company broke up, he made us a handfome Compliment, by affuring us, that his Silence was purely the Effect of his good Breeding. Gentlemen, (faid he) you may poffibly be furprized that I have given no Interruption to this Conversation; you had not escaped fo, had it happened in any other Place; but I hold it to be an essential Point of good Breeding not to contradict any Gentleman in my own Houfe.

But notwithstanding all this, I cannot say that our Success has hitherto been fuch as we might reasonably expect from the apparent Goodness of our Cause, the Number, Weight, and Zeal of its Advocates, and the feeble Opposition of our Adverfaries. And it has coft me many an anxious Thought to discover, if poffible, to what evil Fate or Misconduct we may charge our ill Succefs, that we may be better able to guard against it for the future, and lay a folid and lafting Foundation for the Peace and Liberty of the next, if not of the prefent, Generation.-And the first great Reason that occurs to me, is, our irregular, immethodical Way of Proceeding. Method and Order are known and confeffed to be the Life and Spirit of all regular Societies and great Defigns, without which they can neither prosper nor fubfift; their Profperity, nay, their very Being, depends upon certain regular Difpofitions of Perfons, Times, and Places, for the better Execution of their Designs, and answering the Ends of their Inftitution; fome are to command, others to obey; fome to direct, others to submit to Direction. And it is the great Duty and Business of Directors, to judge of

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the