PROLEGOMENA. CXXKV. 



this mode of disorganizini^ society, has shown in 

 a remarkable degree all over the world that Quern 

 Deus vult perdere prius dementat. 



If, at length, a more extensive enquiry than 

 has been hitlierto made should show that the 

 principle of education has been mistaken, let us 

 retrace our steps before it is too late ; and instead 

 of filling the heads of the poor with such know- 

 ledge as engenders new wants and makes them 

 restless and unhappy ; let us fill their stomachs 

 with good food and their hearts with true devo- 

 tion, as our ancestors did, and we may then hope to 

 see England again the most united, happy, and 

 affluent of countries. 



I here close these remarks with observing, 

 that 1 have long ago been convinced that a 

 reasoning mind had only a choice between Catho- 

 licism and Infidelity; and that Christianity could 

 not be believed by halves. If we examine the 

 opinions of what are called the protestant writers, 

 we shall be convinced at once, by their mutual 

 discordancy, of the utter confusion of doctrines to 

 which the assumed right of private interpretation 

 leads : so that in point of fact there is no such 

 thing as well defined doctrines in any but the 

 Catholic church, each heretical writer of any 

 eminence being dissentient from every other. Nor 

 are the protestants a bit better provided for, with 

 a consistent creed, by certain great geniuses. 



