A

PROJECT

FOR THE

Advancement of Religion,

AND THE

Reformation of Manners.

Written in the Year 1709.

TO THE

Countess of BERKLEY.

MADAM,

M

Y Intention in prefixing your Ladyfhip's Name, is not after the common Form, to defire your Protection of the following Papers; which I take to be a very unreasonable Requeft; fince by being infcribed to your Ladyfhip, although without your Knowledge, and from a concealed

VOL. I.

L

Hand,

Hand, you cannot recommend them without fome Sufpicion of Partiality. My real Defign is, I confefs, the very fame I have often detested in moft Dedications; That of publishing your Praises to the World. Not upon the Subject of your noble Birth, for I know others as noble; or of the Greatnefs of your Fortune, for I know others far greater; or of that beautiful Race (the Images of their Parents) which calls you Mother: For even this may, perhaps, have been equalled in fome other Age, or Country. Befides, none of thefe Advantages do derive any Accomplishments to the Owners; but serve at beft, only to adorn what they really poffefs. What I intend, is your Piety, Truth, good Senfe, and good Nature, Affability and Charity; wherein I wish your Ladyfhip had many Equals, or any Superiors; and I wish I could fay, I knew them too; for then your Ladyfhip might have had a Chance to escape this Addrefs. In the mean Time, I think it highly neceffary for the Intereft of Virtue and Religion, that the whole Kingdom should be informed in fome Parts of your Character: For Instance: That the easiest and politeft Conversation, joined with the trueft Piety, may be observed in your Ladyfhip, in as great Perfection, as they were ever feen apart in any other Perfons. That by your Prudence and Management under feveral Difadvantages, you have preferved the Luftre of that most noble Family, into which you are grafted, and which the unmeasureable Profufion of Ancestors, for many Generations,, had too much eclipfed. Then, how happily you perform every Office of Life, to which Providence hath called you: In the Education of thofe two incomparable Daughters, whose Conduct is fo univerfally admired; in every Duty of a prudent, complying, affectionate Wife;

in

Advancement of RELIGION, &c.

147

in that Care which defcends to the meanest of your Domesticks; and lastly, in that endless Bounty to the Poor, and Difcretion where to distribute it. I infift on my Opinion, that it is of Importance for the Publick to know this, and a great deal more of your Ladyship; yet whoever goes about to inform them, fhall, inftead of finding Credit, perhaps be cenfured for a Flatterer. To avoid fo ufual a Reproach, I declare this to be no Dedication; but merely an Introduction to a Propofal for the Advancement of Religion and Morals; by tracing, however imperfectly, fome few Lineaments in the Character of a Lady, who hath spent all her Life in the Practice and Promotion of both.

A

MONG all the Schemes offered to the Publick in this projecting Age, I have observed, with fome Displeasure, that there have never been any for the Improvement of Religion and Morals: Which, befides the Piety of the Design from the Confequences of fuch a Reformation in a future Life, would be the best natural Means for advancing the Publick Felicity of the State, as well as the prefent Happiness of every Individual. For, as much as Faith and Morality are declined among us, I am altogether confident, they might, in a short Time, and with no very great Trouble, be raised to as high a Perfection, as Numbers are capable of receiving. Indeed, the Method is fo eafy and obvious, and fome prefent Opportunities fo good; that, in order to have this Project reduced to Practice, there seems to want nothing more than to put those in Mind, who by their Honour, Duty, and Intereft are chiefly concerned.

BUT, because it is idle to propofe Remedies before we are affured of the Disease, or to be in Fear

until we are convinced of the Danger; I fhall fi fhew in general, that the Nation is extremely c rupted in Religion and Morals; and then, I w offer a fhort Scheme for the Reformation of bo

As to the Firft; I know it is reckoned but Form of Speech, when Divines complain of Wickedness of the Age: However, I believe, on a fair Comparison with other Times and Co tries, it would be found an undoubted Truth.

FOR first, to deliver nothing but plain Matte Fact, without Exaggeration or Satyr, I fuppof will be granted, that hardly one in a hundred mong our People of Quality, or Gentry, app to act by any Principle of Religion. That g Numbers of them do entirely discard it, and ready to own their Difbelief of all Revelation in dinary Difcourfe. Nor is the Cafe much be among the Vulgar, efpecially in great Tow where the Prophaneness and Ignorance of Ha craftsmen, small Traders, Servants, and the 1 are to a Degree very hard to be imagined grea Then, it is obferved abroad, that no Race of M tals hath fo little Senfe of Religion as the En Soldiers: To confirm which, I have been often by great Officers in the Army, that in the w Compafs of their Acquaintance, they could no collect three of their Profeffion, who feemed to gard, or believe one Syllable of the Gofpel: the fame, at leaft, may be affirmed of the F The Confequences of all which, upon the A& of Men, are equally manifeft. They never g bout, as in former Times, to hide or palliate Vices; but expose them freely to view, like other common Occurrences of Life, without least Reproach from the World, or themselves. Inftance, any Man will tell you, he intends t

d

little Ceremony or Scruple, as he would tell you the Time of the Day. He will let you know he is going to a Wench, or that he hath got a Clap, with as much Indifferency as he would a Piece of publick News. He will fwear, curfe, or blafpheme, without the least Paffion or Provocation. And, although all Regard for Reputation be not quite laid afide in the other Sex; it is, however, at fo low an Ebb, that very few among them, feem to think Virtue and Conduct of any Neceffity for preserving it. If this be not fo, how comes it to pafs that Women of tainted Reputations find the fame Countenance, and Reception in all publick Places, with thofe of the niceft Virtue, who pay, and receive Vifits from them, without any Manner of Scruple? Which Proceeding, as it is not very old among us, fo I take it to be of most pernicious Confequence. It looks like a Sort of compounding between Virtue and Vice; as if a Woman were allowed to be vicious, provided fhe be not profligate: As if there were a certain Point where Gallantry ends, and Infamy begins; or that an hundred criminal Amours were not as pardonable as half a Score.

BESIDE thofe Corruptions already mentioned, it would be endless to enumerate fuch as arise from the Excess of Play, or Gaming: The Cheats, the Quarrels, the Oaths and Blafphemies among the Men: Among the Women, the Neglect of Household Affairs, the unlimited Freedoms, the undecent Paffion; and, lastly, the known Inlet to all Lewdness, when after an ill Run, the Perfon must answer the Defects of the Purse: The Rule on fuch Occafions, holding true in Play, as it doth in Law; Quod non habet in Crumena, luat in Corpore.

BUT