page_0029

to take to rise into respectability is to disa=
=vow as often and as publicly as he can all
regard for the leading doctrines of the scrip=
=tures. They are bugbears very well fitted to
scare the mass of the ignorant
and the weak into order and obedience to
the laws; but for men of letters and cultiva-
=ted reason, the laws of morality and honor
/strikethrough ought to/ ^should and will ^ be sufficient for the regulation of
their conduct. How unhappy is it for
these men and how instructive to the
rest of mankind that the whole tenor of
their lives and the wretched state of their
society combine to exhibit their doctrines
in all their haggardness and shocking de=
=formity-- One very principal reason why
religion is so slighted and almost scouted from
the most influential and informed part of
society is that it is taught only by metho=
=dists and ranters with whom it seems to
consist only in the powers of their throats, or
the wildness and madness of their gesticulations
and distortions. If it could be taken out of
the hands of these men who are often guilty
of flagrant vices, and regularly taught and
supported by men of prudence, real piety &
improved talents, it would claim