have done for them. However, as on the whole it was more comfortable and more creditable to believe that there might be a God and a future state, the graver sort of sceptics first made their own Creator (so much like themselves that each might have been his own God,) and then roundly affirmed that He had made them, and left them to be as happy or as miserable as they pleased, or as they could not help, — for there were both free-willers and fatalists among them. With regard to the next world, they provided a future state equally according to their own mind, in which their imaginary deity would not hurt any body, except (as a few contended, though the majority protested against such inhumanity) with a little salutary discipline, which would fit the subjects of it for everlasting felicity. To establish this, it was shrewdly argued, that as virtue is its own reward, so vice is its own corrective; and that most people punish themselves sufficiently here for their errors, follies, and sins, —if indeed there be such things as the latter, of which, by the way, no body could convince either himself or his neighbour. The existence of sin, therefore, was held to be the most doubtful point of moral speculation, and, like the materiality or immateriality of matter, capable of every proof on either side, except demonstration. These were the more refined and erudite of unbelievers; but the vulgar very naturally concluded, that, since the age of reason was come at last, every body had a right to make as great a fool of himself as he pleased, at his own expence, and as great a knave as might be convenient,at the expence of his neighbour. These then preferred to "lead an atheist life" as the least trouble, being freest from restraint, and compatible with the greatest liberty of speech and action, both with respect to private character, private property, and a meditated reformation of the state on agrarian principles. Nor was it long before the former class were sagacious enough to discover, that some inconvenience might arise from the abandonment of old superstitions; scepticism being a religion fit only for gentlemen and scholars, who know how to be such "Gods" as the serpent told Eve that she and her husband should become, if they ate of the forbidden- fruit, — distinguishing good and evil, and practising the one or the other with a moderation, not only to suit their passions and interests, but consistent also with such a degree of order and decorum in society as might enable them to talk about virtue, honour, and the dignity of human nature, while they domineered over the multitude with the most tyrannous hypocrisy. , On the other hand, they perceived, that if the herd were thus to "know good and evil," yet, for lack of learning, rank, or even wealth, (all of which wonderfully "open the eyes," in the subtlest sense of the serpent's words,) they would be incapable of distinguishing them properly, and preserving a due equilibrium in the discreet exercise of both, as their betters did; consequently they would choose evil as more promising of immediate advantage, and would follow it with an avidity which no human laws could restrain, to the peril and destruction of life or property, wherever these lay, either as snares or obstacles, in their path towards the indulgence of their brute appetites. So alarmingly impressed with the danger that might ensue-to the commonwealth, from the rejectionaf all creeds whatever by the rabble, were several of these sages, who had all their lives been labouring to pull down the edifice of Christianity, and to " crush the wretch," as they contemptuously designated the Redeemer of the world,— that they actually entered into a conspiracy to re-enthrone Him as the object of worship for the common people. A few, more hardy or more fearful of" radical reform" than the rest, went s»far as to begin in market-places, town-halls, and (on Oratorio evenings) at the theatres, to preach the faith which formerly they persecuted; but never having known much of the matter, and in the late confusion of minds on the subject of religion having forgotten the little they once knew, they drivelled so exquisitely as to provoke at once the scorn and wrath of the multitude, who presently silenced them with such missiles as were wont to be thrown away on better men, in the days of Whitfield and Wesley. These false prophets, however, not being so devoted to a ruined cause, (which in their hearts they abhorred,) as to aspire to martyrdom for it, prudently determined to leave the nation to its fate, under the judgment which had fallen upon it, and most probably had been brought down by their own impiety. Section V. Meteorological Observations. For twelvemonths while this interregnum of religion continued, the prince of the power of the air exercised his capricious dominion, not only in the hearts of the children of disobedience, but over the elements themselves. It was forgotten to be remarked, that, glorious as had been the morning of the Sabbath whence this era began, when the temples were closed and the Scriptures were bound fast as with bars of iron, — no sooner had those portentous phenomena taken place, than the atmosphere became obscured with a lethargic fog, which oppressed the spirits, while it confounded the sight of the inhabitants of the land, so that thenceforward to the end of the term there never was another perfectly clear day. A beamless watery orb at brightest appeared the sun, and sometimes his image was tripled in the wilderness of haze, through which he daily journeyed; the moon, through all her phases, was turned into blood; the constellations, blasted and wan, looked sickly from their spheres, while the stars were so intermingled with meteors, which night after night held their places among them, and then flashing suddenly away were succeeded by others,— that the configurations of the celestial bodies were no longer distinguishable, the calculations of astronomers were disturbed, (but if astronomy failed, astrology revived,) and the earth seemed so far removed from its propriety as to present a new face of the heavens, such as one might imagine would be seen from a planet revolving round the Dog-star. Nor is it quite certain that the latter was not really the case; the frenzy of the times being certainly in favour of such a derangement as the temporary transportation of this world into another system; but no copy of "Vox Stellarum, by Francis Moore, Physician" for the year 18**—18**, having been preserved, the fact must remain in nearly as much mystery as if we had had his explanation of it. V Section VI. Proceed we now to report some of the special effects of this new dispensation of evil. The officers of religion, whether churchmen or dissenters, all holding sinecures, from the inaccessible state of their respective places of worship, found it difficult to obtain the means of subsistence. Actions and distresses for the recovery of tithes and dues, were all that were left of the functions of the beneficed clergy; and these were more than they could perform with satisfaction to themselves or their parishioners. The stipendiary curates, being wholly without employment, were reduced to the neVot. II.—I |
