MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 165 



equally wicked governments, they have been guided 

 and commanded to deluge the earth with blood. 

 It is strange to think that this should have been 

 the case, when it is considered that the whole of 

 the authorities are derived from one and the same 

 pure source ; bewildered, indeed, by the twisted 

 imaginations of ignorance, bigotry, and super- 

 stition. 



The inspired and benevolent Author of Christi- 

 anity taught neither intolerance nor persecution. 

 The doctrines he laid down are plain, pure, and 

 simple. They hold out mercy to the contrite, aid 

 to the humble, and eternal happiness to the good. 

 For my own part, it is long since I left off bewil- 

 dering myself with dogmas and creeds, and I have 

 felt pity for those that did so. I am quite clear 

 and willing to believe and to allow, that, whatever 

 modes of faith honest and well-meaning people 

 think best to adopt, they may in sincerity of heart, 

 and to the best of their judgments, be doing what 

 is called serving God. They surely ought not to 

 interfere with the creeds of others, who are equally 

 as sincere as themselves in the means they pursue 

 for the same end. However various these modes 

 of faith may be, there is one rule that ought to 

 guide the whole, and it appears to me to be simple 

 and easy to comprehend, and that one is, that 

 all men, to the utmost of their power, should 

 endeavour through life to steer clear of everything 

 that may degrade their own souls ; that the myste- 

 rious, incorporated compound may not, when 

 summoned to leave this world, have to appear 

 before Omnipotence polluted and debased. The 

 man who attends to this will fear nothing, but 

 that of erring and doing wrong. He will fear the 



