In Oedipus Coloneus, the other tragedy mentioned, a very different propofition is maintained. A defence is made for that unlucky man, agreeable to found moral principles, that having had no bad intention, he was entirely innocent; and that his misfortunes ought to be afcribed to the wrath of the gods.

Thou who upbraid'ft me thus for all my woes,
Murder and inceft, which against my will
I had committed; fo it pleas'd the gods,
Offended at my race for former crimes.
But I am guiltlefs; can't thou name a fault
Deferving this? For, tell me, was it mine,
When to my father, Phœbus did declare,
That he should one day perif by the hand
Of his own child; was Oedipus to blame,
Who had no being then? If, born at length
To wretchednefs, he met his fire unknown,
And flew him, that involuntary deed

Can't thou condemn? And for my fatal marriage,
Doft thou not blush to name it? was not the
Thy fifter, fhe who bore me, ignorant

And guiltless woman! afterwards my wife,

And mother to my children? What fhe did, fhe did. unknowing.

But, not for that, nor for my murder'd father,
Have I deferv'd thy bitter taunts: for, tell me,
Thy life attack'd, would't thou have staid to ask
Th' affaffia, if he were thy father? No;
Self-love would urge thee to revenge the infult.
Thus was I drove to ill by th' angry gods;
This, fhou'd my father's foul revifit earth,
Itimfelf would own and pity Oedipus.

Again, in the fourth act, the following prayer is put up for Oedipus by the chorus:

O grant,

That not apprefs'd by tort'ring pain
Beneath the firoke of death he linger long;

But fwift with eafy fteps, defcend to Styx's drear

abode;

For he hath led a life of toil and pain;

May the juft gods repay his undeferved woe.

The audience was the fame in both plays. Did they think Oedipus to be guilty in the one play, and innocent in the other? If they did not, how could both plays be relifhed? if they did, they must have been grofsly ftupid.

The ftatues of a Roman Emperor, were held fo facred, that to treat them with any contempt was high treason. This ridiculous opinion was carried fo far out of common fenfe, that a man was held guilty of high treafon, if a stone thrown by him happened accidentally to touch one of thefe ftatues. And the law continued in force till abrogated by a refcript of Severus Antonius (a).

In England, fo little was intention regarded, that cafual homicide, and even homicide in felf-defence, were capitally punished. It requires ftrong evidence to vouch fo abfurd a law; and I have the strongest, viz. the act of 52° Henry III. cap. 26. converting the capital pu nishment into a forfeiture of moveables. The fame grofs blunder continued much longer to be law in Scotland. By act 19. parl. 1649, renewed act 22. parl. 1661, the capital punishment is converted to imprisonment, or a fine to the wife and children. In a period fo late as the Reftoration, ftrange blindnefs it was, not to perceive, that homicide in felf-defence, being a lawful act, juftified by the ftricteft rules of morality, fubjects not a man to punishment, more than the defending his property against a robber; and that cafual homicide, meaning homicide committed innocently without ill intention, may fubject him to reparation, but never to any punishment, mild or fevere.

The Jefuits in their doctrines feem to reft on the external act, difregarding intention. It is with them a matter of perfect indifference, from what motive men obey the laws of God; and that the fervice of those whe

(a) 1. 5. ad. leg. Jul. Majeft,

Fobey from fear of punishment, is no lefs acceptable to the Deity, than those who obey from a principle of love*

The other error mentioned above, is, That the end juftifies the means. In defence of that propofition, it is urged, that the character of the means is derived from the end; that every action must be right which contributes to a good end, and that every action must be wrong which contributes to an ill end. But thofe who reason thus, ought first to confider, whether reasoning be at all applicable to the present subject. Reafon is the true touchstone of truth and falfehood; but the moral fenfe is the only touchstone of right and wrong; and to maintain, that reafon is our guide in judging of right and wrong, is no less abfurd than to maintain, that the moral fenfe is our guide in judging of truth and falsehood. The moral fenfe dictates, that on no pretext whatever is it lawful to do an act of injuftice, or any wrong (a): and men, confcious that the moral fenfe governs in matters of right and wrong, fubmit implicit ly to its dictates. Influenced however by the reafoning mentioned, during the nonage of the moral fenfe, men did wrong currently in order to bring about a good end'; witnefs pretended miracles and forged writings, urged without referve by every fect of Chriftians against their antagonists. And I am forry to obferve, that the error is not totally eradicated: miffionaries employed in converting infidels to the true faith, are little fcrupulous about the means: they make no difficulty to feign pro digies in order to convert those who are not moved by argument. Such pious frauds tend to fap the very foun dations of morality.

* External flow made a great figure, when nothing was regarded but what is vifible. By acutenefs of judgment, and refinement of tafte, the pleafures of fociety prevail, and forms and ceremonies are difregarded. External fhow, however, continues to ftand its ground in several inftances. It occafions, in particular, Any an ill-forted match: a young man is apt to be captivated with beauty or drefs; a young woman with equipage, or a title (a) See the first part of this fketch, fect. 2, at the end.

SKETCH III.

PRINCIPLES AND PROGRESS OF
THEOLOGY.

AS no branch of knowledge, can vie with theology, either in dignity or importance, it juftly claims to be the favourite study with every perfon endued with true taste and folid judgment. From the time that writing was invented, natural religion has employed pens withont number; and yet in no language is there found a complete history of it. That task is far above my abilities: I propose only a flight sketch; which I fhall glory in, however imperfect, if it excite any one of fuperior talents to undertake a task fo arduous.

CHAP. I.

EXISTENCE OF A DEITY.

THAT there are beings, one or many, powerful above men, has been generally believed among the various tribes of men: I may fay universally believed, notwithstanding what is reported of fome grofs favages; for reports repugnant to the common nature of man, require more able vouchers than a few illiterate voyagers. Among many favage tribes, there are no words but for objects of external fenfe is it furprising, that such people are incapable to exprefs their religious perceptions, or any percep tion of internal fenfe? and from their filence can it be fairly prefumed, that they have no fuch perception †? The belief of fuperior powers, in every country where there are words to exprefs it, is fo well vouched, that in Fair reafoning it ought to be taken for granted among the few tribes where language is deficient. Even the groffeft idolatry affords to me evidence of that belief. No In the language even of Peru, there is not a word for expref fing an abstract idea, fuch as time, endurance, pace, exiflence, fubfance matter, body. It is no lefs defective in expreffing mora deas, fuch as virtue, juftice, gratitude, liberty. The Yameos, a tribe on the river Oroonoko, defcribed by Condamine, ufe the word poettarraroincouroas to exprefs the number three, and have no word for a great number., The Brafilian language is nearly as barren,

4.

nation can be fo brutish as to worship a flock or a ftone, merely as fuch. The visible object is always imagined to be connected with fome invifible power; and the worship paid to the former, is as reprefenting the latter, or as in fome manner connected with it. Every family among the antient Lithuanians, entertained a real ferpent as a household god; and the fame practice is at prefent univerfal, among the negroes in the kingdom of Whidah: It is not the ferpent that is worshipped, but fome deity imagined to refide in it. The ancient Egyptians were not idiots, to pay divine honours to a bull or a cat, as fuch: the divine honours were paid to a deity, as refiding in these animals. The fun is to man a familiar object: as it is frequently obfcured by clouds, and totally eclipfed during night, a favage readily conceives it to be a great fire fometimes flaming bright, fometimes obfcured, and fometimes extinguifhed. Whence then fun-worship, once univerfal among favages? Plainly from the fame caufe: it is not properly the fun that is worthipped, but a deity who is fuppofed to dwell in that luminary.

Taking it then for granted, that our belief of fuperior powers has been long univerfal, the important queftion is, From what cause it proceeds. A belief fo univerfal, and fo permanent, cannot proceed from chance, but must have a caufe operating conftantly and invariably upon all men in all ages. Philofophers, who believe the world to be eternal and felf-exiftent, and imagine it to be the only deity, though without intelligence, endeavour to account for our belief of fuperior powers, from the terror that thunder and other elementary convulfions raise in favages; and thence conclude that fuch belief is no evidence of a deity, Thus Lucretius,

Præterea, cui non animas formidine divum

Contrahitur? chi non conripont membra pavore,
Fulminis horribili cum plaga torrida tellus

Contremit, et magnum percurrtint marmira cœlum (a) +?

(a) Lat. 5.

+ Was man can boast, that firm undaunted foul,
That hears, unmov'd, when thunder thakes the pole;
Nor fhrinks with fear of an offended pow'r,

When lightnings flaíh, and forms and tempeft roar?