it is now clear, that the Parfon, as I thought at first, never infulted St. Paul' in the least ;nor has there been, brother, the least difference between them :-A great matter, if they had differed, replied my uncle Toby,the best friends in the world may differ fometimes.-True, brother Toby, quoth my father, shaking hands with him, we'll fill our pipes, brother, and then Trim fhall go on.

He read on as follows.]

To have the fear of God before our eyes, ❝and, in our mutual dealings with each other, "to govern our actions by the eternal mea"fures of right and wrong:-The first of these "will comprehend the duties of religion;-the ❝ fecond, those of morality, which are so infe

perably connected together, that you cannot "divide thefe two tables, even in imagination, (though the attempt is often made in practice) without breaking and mutually destroy❝ing them both.

แ

"I faid the attempt is often made; and fo it is; there being nothing more common

" than to fee a man who has no fenfe at all of ❝ religion

G

"religion, and indeed has fo much honefty as "to pretend to none, who would take it as the "bitterest affront, fhould you but hint at a

fufpicion of his moral character, or imagine "he was not confcientiously juft and fcrupulous "to the uttermoft mite.

"When there is fome appearance that it is "fo,tho' one is unwilling even to fufpect the "appearance of fo amiable a virtue as moral "honesty, yet were we to look into the "grounds of it, in the present cafe, I am per"fuaded we should find little reason to envy reafon ❝ fuch a one the honour of his motive.

Let him declaim as pompously as he choofes upon the fubject, it will be found to rest upon 66 no better foundation than either his intereft, "his pride, his eafe, or fome fuch little and "changeable paffion as will give us but small "dependance upon his actions in matters of great diftrefs.

66

"I will illuftrate this by an example.

"I know the banker I deal with, or the phyfician I ufually call in,"

[There

[There is no need, cried Dr. Slop, (waking) to call in any physician in this cafe]

“

To be neither of them men of much te ❝ligion: I hear them make a jest of it every ❝day, and treat all its fanctions with fo much "fcorn, as to put the matter paft doubt. Well;-notwithstanding this, I put my for❝ tune into the hands of the one-and what "is dearer ftill to me, I trust my life to the "honeft kill of the other.

แ Now let me examine what is

s my reafon ❝ for this great confidence. Why, in the first "place, I believe there is no probability that ❝either of them will employ the power I put ❝into their hands to my difadvantage ;-I con"fider that honefty ferves the purposes of this

แ

life:-I know their fuccefs in the world de

pends upon the fairness of their characters. "In a word, I'm perfuaded that they cannot "hurt me without hurting themselves more.

"But put it otherwife, namely, that intereft lay, "for once, on the other fide; that a cafe fhould "happen wherein the one, without stain to "his reputation, could fecrete my fortune, and "leave

G 2

"leave me naked in the world; or that the "other could fend me out of it, and enjoy an "eftate by my death, without difhonour to "himself or his art: In this cafe, what hold *have I of either of them--Religion, the "strongest of all motives, is out of the ques❝tion;-Intereft, the next moft powerful mo"tive in the world, is ftrongly against me "What have I left to caft into the oppofite "fcale to balance this temptation?-Alas! I "have nothing,-nothing but what is lighter "than a bubble-I muft lye at the mercy of "HONOUR, or fome fuch capricious principle "Strait fecurity for two of the most valuable "bleffings!--my property and myself.

"As, therefore, we can have no dependence "upon morality without religion;-fo, on the "other hand, there is nothing better to be ex"pected from religion without morality; ne"vertheless, 'tis no prodigy to fee a man' "whofe real moral character ftands very low, "who yet entertains the highest notion of him"felf, in the light of a religious man.

He fhall not only be covetous, revengeful, "implacable, but even wanting in points of 66 common

common honesty; yet inasmuch as he talks "aloud against the infidelity of the age,-is

n

zealous for fome points of religion,-goes "twice a day to church, attends the facra"ments, and amufes himfelf with a few in"ftrumental parts of religion,-shall cheat

his confcience into a judgment, that, for "this, he is a religious man, and has difcharged "truly his duty to God: And you will find "that fuch a man, through force of this delu"fion, generally looks down with fpiritual "pride upon every other man who has lefs "affectation of piety, though, perhaps, ten "times more real honesty than himself.

"This likewife is a fore evil under the fun " and, I believe, there is no one mistaken 46 principle, which, for its time, has wrought more ferious mifchiefs.

For a general proof of this,-exa"mine the hiftory of the Romish church;"

[Well what can you make of that? cried Dr. Slop. fee what scenes of cruelty, murder, 66 rapine, bloodshed,"-[They may thank their own obftinacy, cried Dr. Slop" have all "been

G 3