Essay upon Wit | Page 6

and reserv'd Behaviour into Ridicule, to keep in Countenance
Vice and Irreligion, and with a petulant and unrestrain'd Liberty, to
deride the Principles and Practices of the wisest and best of Men. The
Conversation of ingenious Libertines generally turns upon Reveal'd
Religion and the venerable Teachers of it; or on those of the Laity, who
seem most sincere in the Belief of Christianity, and express the greatest
Conformity in their Actions to the Precepts of it. Nothing gives so high
a Seasoning to their Raillery, and more improves the Taste of their
Jests, than some sharp and pointed Ingredients, that wound Religion
and the Professors of it; whereof some are made the Entertainment of
the Company by these facetious Scoffers, and expos'd as Persons
fetter'd with Prepossessions, and biass'd by Notions of Vertue, deriv'd
from Education and the early Instructions of canting Parents. Others are
represented as indebted for their Piety to the Prevalency of the Spleen,
and an immoderate mixture of Melancholy in their Complexion, which,
say they, give to the Mind a superstitious Turn, and fill the Head with
religious Chimeras, frightful Phantomes of Guilt, and idle Fears of
imaginary Punishments; while others are ridicul'd as Men of a cold and
phlegmatick Complexion, without Spirit and native Fire; who derive,
say they, their Vertue, not from Choice or Restraint of Appetite, but
from their deadness and indisposition to Pleasure; not from the Power
of their Reason, but the Weakness of their Passions. It would be endless
to enumerate the various Ways which the atheistical Wit and merry
Libertine employ, to take off all Veneration of Religion, and expose its

Adherents to publick Derision. This is certainly the greatest Abuse of
Wit imaginable. In all the Errors and monstrous Productions of Nature,
can any appear more deform'd than a Man of Parts, who employs his
admirable Qualities in bringing Piety into Contempt, putting Vertue to
the Blush, and making Sobriety of Manners the common Subject of his
Mirth; while with Zeal and Industry, he propagates the malignant
Contagion of Vice and Irreligion, poisons his Friends and Admirers,
and promotes the Destruction of his native Country? And if these
foolish Wits and ingenious Madmen could reflect, they would soon be
convinc'd, that while they are engag'd against Religion they hurt
themselves; and that Wit and Humour thus misapply'd, will prove but a
wretched Compensation for their want of Vertue.
In this Place I crave leave to transcribe some Passages relating to this
Subject, from the Writings of a good Judge of Wit, and as great a
Master of it as perhaps any Nation ever bred, I mean Archbishop
_Tillotson_; "I know not how it comes to pass, says he, that some Men
have the Fortune to be esteem'd Wits, only for jesting out of the
common Road, and for making bold to scoff at those things, which the
greatest Part of Mankind reverence--. If Men did truly consult the
Interest, either of their Safety or Reputation, they would never exercise
their Wit in such dangerous Matters. Wit is a very commendable
Quality, but then a wise Man should have the keeping of it. It is a sharp
Weapon, as apt for Mischief as for good Purposes, if it be not well
manag'd: The proper use of it is to season Conversation, to represent
what is Praise-worthy to the greatest Advantage, and to expose the
Vices and Follies of Men, such things as are in themselves truly
ridiculous: But if it be apply'd to the Abuse of the gravest and most
serious Matters, it then loses its Commendation. If any Man thinks he
abounds in this Quality, and hath Wit to spare, there is scope enough
for it within the Bounds of Religion and Decency; and when it
transgresseth these, it degenerates into Insolence and Impiety--And
afterwards: A sharp Wit may find something in the wisest Man,
whereby to expose him to the Contempt of injudicious People. The
gravest Book that ever was written, may be made ridiculous, by
applying the Sayings of it to a foolish purpose, for a Jest may be
obtruded upon any thing; and therefore no Man ought to have the less
Reverence for the Principles of Religion, or for the Holy Scriptures,

because idle and profane Wits can break Jests upon them. Nothing is so
easy, as to take particular Phrases and Expressions out of the best Book
in the World, and to abuse them, by forcing an odd and ridiculous
Sense upon them." And in another place, having mention'd the most
proper Objects of Wit, he thus expresses himself,--"This I say on
purpose to recommend to Men a nobler Exercise for their Wits, and if it
be possible, to put them out of Conceit with that scoffing Humour,
which is so easy and so ill-natur'd, and is