29>. : “Dp Fighting for Religion. . [OSober ty 
; % be 
faid, led his thoughts back to that world a long feries of wars upon both thefe 
which he wifhed to forget. I was‘nota grounds; and it isnot beyond memory, 
little furprifed, when, on my takingleave that oppofing the tyrannical fpirit of po- 
of this gentleman, who fo earne(ly afpired pery in thefe points, was'a favorite argu- . 
after afeparation from the world, I was ment to roufe the martial zealof this 
kefitating ig French a fhort acknowlede- country againft an exiled family and their 
ment of his polite attention, he calt his’ foreign abettors. But popery. new, it 
eyes onthe ground, with a modeft Humili- feems, is ‘near and dear” to the church= 
ty) half extended his dirty paw, andutter- of England, and its dangers proceed from a 
ed, in a tone of the gentleft complaifance, _a totally oppofite quarter. The French 
Tant qu'il vous plaira, Monfieur. A few atheifts are the crufaders of the times, 
fhillings was the toll levied on our exit. who aim at the deftruction of all religions 
from this gloomy abode of ignorance and alike. There is no doubtr that one of the 
naftinefs, which I quitted with a figh, earlieft projeéts of the reyolutionifts in 
breathed in compaffion’ of the lot of thofe France was to overturn their own church 
whom vice or folly drive for the expiation eftab.ifhment, as incompatible with the 
of real or fancied iniquities into the ooh {pirit of freedom and reform ; “nor can it 
unity of La Trappe. P. F, be'denied that many of their leading men 
: ; have ee bee 5 —_ of fae 
: in generals But, not to fay any thing of: 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. the. change of Enidiitne in 4 ren 
SIR, . ~ crulers, to what particular dangers is the 
HE good people of this country have church of England expofed? “How can 
i long been teld that they are fight- fhe poflibly be injured except through the 
ing >for their religions and, with a conqueft of the country by a foreign ‘foe, 
Chriftian charity that ‘believeth all: or its reception of French principles’ bys 
things,’ they feem to credit it. Religion means of a domeftic revolution?’ And” 
and fighting, however, are things appa- will any man in his fober fenfes pretend 
rently fo diferent, that it isnot unreafon- that either of thefe events is in the leaft’ 
able to enquire a little how they are made. degree probable? Would. it not be con-" 
te coincide; and I fhail requeft to be in- fidered as almott treafonable in an Oppo/fiti-* 
dulged with’ one or two of your columns owi/?-now to hold out to the public fuch ap- 
for the purpofe of confidering this point. | prehenfions? Would it not be thought 
The religion of the heart, which con- the grofle& affront to the valour of our 
fits in entertaining worthy fentiments of army and navy, and the loyalty of the na- 
‘the Supreme Being, and obeying his will, tion? How then are we fighting for our’ 
can f{earcely be the fubje&t of war, ince religion? If our political exiftence is at 
human power can neither create norde- ftakefevery thing, certainly, which is in- 
firoy it. External religion alone can there- cluded within that exiftence is alfo put te 
/ 
~ 
ae 
fore give occafion to drawing the fword; the hazard. But who believes that to be 
and this may be either for its propagation the cafe in the prefent fiate of affairs? 
or for its defence. It has been the doc- Whodoubts that miniters could make a 
trine of various pericds and parts of the peace to-morrow which would leave us: 
worid, that to promote an uniformity of in perfect fecurity,» though perhaps it 
religious faith and rites was the moft me- might not be fo advantageous and honor- 
ritorious employment of the public force. able as could be wifhed? The pretext 
On this plea, Mahomet carried fire and of fighting for_religion, then, is a mere 
fword through Afia; Charlemagne bap-. cant, employed by thofe who well know it 
tized the Saxons in their own blood ; and_ to be fuch, in order to work upon the hafty 
the Spaniards made a defart of Mexico. and credulous. temper of the nation, and 
and Peru, But military expeditions on to keep up an alarm. . It 1s indeed re- 
this account haye,’ within a century or markable that the. people of England, 
two, become rather difcreditable ; and the thoughy far from deficient in animal cou- 
prefent alliance of Papifts, Greeks, and rage,are more than anyother, fubject to take 
Proteftants, Chriftians, and Mufulmans, alarm. Every thing with us is alarm. | 
is: hot favourable to the revival of the fpi- We have alarm of invafion, alarm of fcar- 
rit of profelytifm by the fword. city, alarm of credit, alarm of the plague, : 
A defenfive religious war may plaufibly alarm of mad dogs ; and under the preva- 
be fupported either again&t thofe who with lence of alarm any meatures, howeverab- 
to force their own modes of worfhip upon furd and impolitic, are readily adopted. 
us, or who reftraiaus from the free exer- Perhaps alarm on account of religion is 
cife of-ours... The Reformation produced not that which might be tuppofed to makes 
1 the 
a 
