206 UNIVERSAL ERUDITION. 



not, to apply themfelves to ratiocination , the 

 ftate has too much need of their hands, to admit 

 them to apply their heads to abftradt fpecula- 

 tions. It is therefore abfolutely neceflary for 

 every founder of a religion, to prefcribe a uni- 

 form, fixed and immutable ftandard, as well for 

 the dogmas that the people are to believe, as for 

 the morals they are to practife, and the ceremo- 

 nies they are to obferve in their worfhip of the 

 Divinity : and this is the more neceflary, as the 

 principles of natural religion, if they were alone 

 fufficient to operate the temporal and eternal 

 happinefs of mankind, cannot be fo fixed, that 

 men of a fubtle and philofophic fpirit may not, 

 fooner or later, fet them in new lights, invent 

 new fedls, and throw the whole ftate into confu- 

 fion. Let us remember, laftly, that the com- 

 mon people conftantly require fomething mar- 

 vellous in their religion, and that the marvellous 

 is more difficult to invent than is commonly 

 imagined. 



CHAP. 



