that character, who, if they were asked, could not tell what the five Arminian articles are, fo little do they regard. Arminianism. I myself, the reader will perceive, know the number of them; but whether I know any more about them or not, I fhall preserve as a fecret in my own mind. It will perhaps be objected against this maxim, That the moderate party commonly fet

up on a pretence of being more learned than their adverfaries; and are, in fact, thought to be very learned in their fermons by the vulgar, who, for that reafon hate them. Now, as to their pretending to be more learned than their adverfaries, it is most just; for they have, as has been fhewn, got hold of the fum-total of learning, although they did not calculate it themfelves. And as to their being thought learned in their fermons by the vulgar, it is fufficient for that purpose that they be unintelligible. Scattering a few phrases in their fermons, as harmony, order, proportion, tafte, fenfe of beauty, balance of the affections, &c. will eafily perfuade the people that they are learned: and this perfuafion is, to all intents and purposes, the fame thing as if it were true. It is one of those deceitful feelings which Mr. H—, in his Effays, has shewn to be fo beautiful and ufeful. These phrases they may eafily get in books not above the fize of an octavo; and if they incline to be very deep,

they

they may get abundance of citations from the ancient Heathen authors in Cudworth's Intellectual System, and moftly tranflated to their hand.

I fhall now fubjoin a fhort catalogue of the most necessary and useful books, the thorough understanding of which will make a truly learned moderate man: Leibnitz's Theodicee, and his Letters, Shaftsbury's Characteristics, Collins's Enquiry into Human Liberty, all Mr. H――n's pieces, Chriftianity as old as the Creation, D-n's Best Scheme, and H-'s Moral Essays *. The two laft are Scots authors and it is with pleasure I can affure my countrymen, they are

It hath been fuggefted to me, that another author of our own country ought to have been added to the above catalogue; but I judged it improper, for two reafons. One is, that I do not find that author in fo high efleem among the moderate, as to deserve a place in fo very nice and chofen a collection. But the other, and principal reafon, is, that the author here intended, profeffeth himself a fceptic; the meaning of which, if I understand it right, is, either that he does not believe there is any fuch thing as truth, or that he himself is but seeking after truth, and has not yet found it. Now this is by no means the cafe with the moderate, who are already in possesfion of the ne plus ultra" of human knowledge. For tho' fome of their doctrines are changeable, by reafon of the effential difference of perfons, things, and times; yet, during the period of any doctrine, I have no where known ftronger, or feverer dogmatifts; as appears from their neglect of farther enquiry, and fovereign contempt of all oppofers. In a certain univerfity, about feven years ago (how it is now, I cannot fo certainly tell) if a man had fpoken honourably of Dr. Samuel Clarke, it cannot be conceived with what derifion he was treated by every boy of fixteen, who was wiser than to pay any regard to fuch a numfcul, an enemy to the doctrine of neceffity, and wholly ignorant of the moral fenfe.

by

by far the most perfect of them all, carrying the consequence of the scheme to the most ravishing height. As to poetry, it will be fufficient to read "the "Pleasures of the Imagination," and " the Tra"gedy of Agis," if it be published; because in it dramatic poetry is carried to the fummit of per→ fection and it is believed, by the author's friends, that there never will be a tragedy published after it, unless by fomebody that is delirious. But whether the knowledge of this ef fect, and the compaffion thence arifing to future authors, may not, in a perfon of fo much hu mility and felf-denial, and of fo confummate and difinterested benevolence, as that theatrical divine, wholly prevent the publication, I cannot tell; and therefore muft leave it to be brought forth by the midwife Occafion, from the womb of Time*.

But to give a ftill higher proof of my deep concern for the improvement and edification of ingenuous youth, I have taken the pains to extract very faithfully the fum and substance of the above library, and do here prefent it to the world, under a name which is not without a meaning, though not intelligible to all, viz. Ea

The ATHENIAN CREED.

I believe in the beauty and comely proportions of Dame Nature, and in almighty Fate, Agis, a tragedy, was published in the year 1758. I

VOL. II

her

her only parent and guardian; for it hath been moft graciously obliged (bleffed be its name) to make us all very good.

I believe that the univerfe is a huge machine, wound up from everlafting by neceffity, and confifting of an infinite number of links and chains, each in a progreffive motion towards the zenith of perfection, and meridian of glory; that I myfelf am a little glorious piece of clock-work, a wheel within a wheel, or rather a pendulum in this grand machine, fwinging hither and thither by the different impulfes of fate and destiny; that my foul (if I have any) is an imperceptible bundle of exceeding minute corpuscles, much smaller than the finest Holland fand; and that certain perfons, in a very eminent station, are nothing else but a huge collection of neeeffary agents, who can do nothing at all.

I' believe that there is no ill in the universe, nor any fuch thing as virtue abfolutely confidered; that those things vulgarly called fins, are only errors in the judgment, and foils to fet off the beauty of Nature, or patches to adorn her face; that the whole race of intelligent beings, even the devils themselves, (if there are any) fhall finally be happy; fo that Judas Iscariot is by this time a glorified faint, and it is good for him that he hath been born.

In

In fine, I believe in the divinity of L. S—, the faintship of Marcus Antoninus, the perfpicuity and fublimity of Ae, and the perpetual duration of Mr. H-n's works, notwithstanding their prefent tendency to oblivion. Amen.

A moderate man muft endeavour, as much as he handfomely can, to put off any appearances of devotion, and avoid all unneceffary exercises of religious worship, whether public or private.

I fully intended, upon this part of my subject, to have been at fome pains in fhewing the great indecency of a grave and apparently serious carriage, or of introducing any religious subject of conversation into promifcuous company: but when I confider how fuccefsfully all visible religion was attacked, both by wits and preachers, immediately after the restoration of King Charles II. how constantly any difpofition of this fort hath been borne down by all men of taste ever since that time, which is now near a whole century; as alfa how feldom any religious discourse is to be met with at this day, either among clergy or laity, I fhall only rejoice in myself, and congratulate my reader, upon the purity of the times, and proceed to the other part of the maxim. I 2

Now?