418 GOVERNMENT, LAWS, [PART II. 



things ? Had it pleased God to do this ? What 

 impunity, what blasphemy, then, to ascribe to 

 Providence the manifold sufferings occasioned 

 by the Borougbmongers' taxes and Parson's 

 tithes ! 



431. But, ray Botley neighbours, you will 

 exclaim, " No tithes! Why, then, there can 

 " be no Churches and no Parsons! The people 

 " must know nothing of God or Devil ; and 

 * must all go to hell!' 7 By no means, my 

 friends* Here are plenty of Churches. No less 

 than three Episcopal (or English) Churches ; 

 three Presbyterian Churches ; three Lutheran 

 Churches; one or two Quaker Meeting-houses; 

 and two Methodist Places ; all within six miles 

 of the spot where I am sitting. And, these, 

 mind, not poor shabby Churches ; but each of 

 them larger and better built and far handsomer 

 than Botley Church, with the Church-yards 

 all kept in the neatest order, with a head-stone 

 to almost every grave. As to the Quaker 

 Meeting-house, it would take Botley Church 

 into its belly, if you were first to knock off the 

 steeple. 



432. Oh, no! Tithes are not necessary to 

 promote religion. When our Parsons, such 

 as Baker, talk about religion, or the church, 

 being in danger ; they mean, that the tithes are 

 iu danger. They mean, that they are in dan- 



