Sherlock is said to have replied, that he had always heard the Church would be in danger when his Grace should be at the head of it, and now he found the suspicion verified. In the late excellent Dr. Secker, the Church of England had a sincere friend, who endeavoured both in word and deed to promote episcopacy in America: and if the measure had then succeeded, it would have given a seasonable check to the growth of the rebellion, which has since broke out, by raising the spirits of the episcopal party, and adding influence to those good principles of obedience and loyalty, which never fail to thrive under episcopal government; but with what scorn and violence were his pious attempts treated by Dr. Mayhew, a dissenting orator in the Colonies, and the furious author of the Confessional at home! And now we understand the views, with which the Dissenters have kept up a clamour against American episcopacy: the Colonies were to throw off their dependence on the mothercountry, and form themselves into a Republic of United Provinces, under the arbitrary power of the Hancocks, the Adams's, and the other sovereigns of the Congress; while the poor, loyal, episcopal party, the Issachar the new, as they have long been of the old world, were to be dragooned into submission under Presbyterian taxers and task-masters. This is the end to be accomplished in America, if they can support themselves in what they have undertaken; and when we are wasted and weakened with emigrations, additional taxes, and all the consequences of a civil war, our domestic Republicans, who have been their managers here in the whole business from the beginning, will have a strong party there to assist them, when matters shall be ripe for overturning the constitution at home. Then will our religion be new modelled,

till the experiments of reforming-chemistry shall reduce it to a caput mortuum; and all the power and wealth of the state shall fall into the merciless hands of Republican usurpation; till the constitution of this country, fermenting with heterogeneous mixtures, shall undergo a total dissolution, and furnish the materials for a new form of existence at the arbitration of some foreign power. When Cassandra said what would come of it, the people were infatuated, and understood her not; but now the Greeks are descended from the Trojan horse in broad day-light, he must be worse than an idiot who cannot read their intentions in their actions, and will not provide for his own security. Lest we should forget the share the Presbyterians have had in the present troubles, our memories have very lately been refreshed by the production of Dr. Price. Whence do all these seditious pieces originate but from the Dissenters? Is not Dr. Price a Dissenter? And what is the design of his pamphlet? Is it not plainly calculated to make the government odious; to dispirit all Englishmen by representing to them the desperate state of their affairs; and to justify the Americans in their rebellion, by shifting the cause from the principles of positive law, and the common rights of possession, by which only it must be tried, to those other visionary principles of Republican enthusiasts, who confound the freedom of human action with the authority of civil government, and make every man his own king, pope, and chancellor, by the great charter of human nature, to be found among the archives of the moon, and interpreted by the Earl of S -e, and his Presbyterian sectaries? Such is the plan of our Dissenters at home, who go on to insult the government without molestation, and have a noisy multitude always ready to magnify the wisdom of every

Dissenting orator; while the loyal Church of England party are under oppression and persecution from the Dissenters abroad, and are obliged to fly over hither to the seat of government, for a little present peace and protection. But the worst part of our story is yet to come; and a story it is which hath been taken up by Whigs and Dissenters as a ground for clamour, while but little hath been said by those who have most reason to complain: for that same government, which for so many years hath adopted the tender policy of obliging the Dissenters at the expence of its own friends in the Church of England, has made no scruple of extending its favour to popish episcopacy in the American colonies. In July 1766, a popish Bishop went over from London to Quebec, by permission of this government; and popery is now licensed by the crown of England in that part of the world, where a protestant Bishop of the Church of England has never been tolerated! Hear, O Heavens, and give ear, O Earth! for neither the one nor the other was ever witness to such an instance of injustice and absurdity. Papists are licensed; Presbyterians are obliged; where the religion of the crown and government is not tolerated! Never let us wonder if strange effects arise from such unprecedented œconomy. It is therefore hoped by the best friends of both countries, that the charm which hath bound us will now at last be dissolved; that the grievance under which the Church hath so long groaned, and for which the State is now suffering in common with it, may be redressed at a proper, that is, at the first opportunity! and then we shall have reason to expect some quietness and loyalty in the British colonies. God is not mocked; what a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Be wise now therefore, O ye Kings, be learned ye that are judges of the

Earth: oppress not your friends out of favour to your enemies; for your friends may be lost by your neglect, but your enemies will never be gained by your indulgence. All wise men have been long acquainted with this maxim: and it is now written in letters of blood, for all true Englishmen to read and consider. We who are of the people can consider it only to lament it: they who are in power and authority may consider it to a better purpose: and may the Author of all good give them grace and wisdom to do it effectually!

The above thoughts are written in the true spirit of Dr. South; if not in part in his very words; and every true Member of the Church of England will readily concur with them.

THOUGHTS

ON THE

RESOLUTIONS

OF THE

PROTESTANT DISSENTERS,

AT THEIR LATE MEETING

AT STOWMARKET, IN SUFFOLK.

THE Protestant Dissenters having entered into a confederacy, in opposition to the present municipal laws, or laws by which persons hold offices of trust in this kingdom; with such declarations as tend to abridge the freedom of voting in parliament, and disturb the public peace; we beg leave to offer a few observations on the principles they profess, and the measures they have adopted, as they have opened them to the public in their late Resolutions at Stowmarket.

In the beginning of this century, when parties ran high, under the reigns of Queen Anne and George the First, they were distinguished by the names of high Church and low Church; but the times are changed; and the Dissenters now come forward on the new ground of Scepticism and Infidelity; the former of which is