The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Vol. III. | Page 6

mutiny,
the consequence is by no means to be admitted; for, surely the
commander of an English army is likely to be but ill obeyed, whose
soldiers fear and reverence him as little as they do a Deity.
[Footnote 6: Tacitus, "Annals," bk. i., c. lxxiii. [T.S.]]
It is further objected against the Gospel System, that it obliges men to
the belief of things too difficult for free-thinkers, and such who have
shaken off the prejudices that usually cling to a confined education. To
which I answer, that men should be cautious how they raise objections
which reflect upon the wisdom of the nation. Is not every body freely
allowed to believe whatever he pleases, and to publish his belief to the
world whenever he thinks fit, especially if it serves to strengthen the
party which is in the right? Would any indifferent foreigner, who
should read the trumpery lately written by Asgil, Tindal, Toland,
Coward,[7] and forty more, imagine the Gospel to be our rule of faith,
and confirmed by parliaments? Does any man either believe, or say he
believes, or desire to have it thought that he says he believes one
syllable of the matter? And is any man worse received upon that score,
or does he find his want of nominal faith a disadvantage to him in the
pursuit of any civil or military employment? What if there be an old
dormant statute or two against him, are they not now obsolete, to a
degree, that Empsom and Dudley[8] themselves if they were now alive,
would find it impossible to put them in execution?
[Footnote 7: John Asgill (1659-1738), became a member of Lincoln's
Inn, and went over to Ireland in 1697, where he practised as a barrister,
amassed a large fortune, and was elected to the Irish parliament. For
writing "An Argument, proving that Man may be translated from hence
without passing through Death," he was, in 1700, expelled the House,
and the book ordered to be burnt. On returning to England he was
elected to parliament for Bramber, but suffered a second expulsion in
1712, also on account of this book. He was imprisoned for debt, and
remained under the rules of the Fleet and King's Bench for thirty years,
during which time he wrote and published various political tracts. His

"Argument" attempted to "interpret the relations between God and man
by the technical rules of English law," and Coleridge thought no little
of its power and style.
Matthew Tindal (1657-1733) was born at Beer Ferrers, in Devonshire.
He studied at Oxford, and obtained a fellowship in All Souls. He was
made LL.D. in 1685, and, although he professed himself a Roman
Catholic in James II.'s reign, he managed to keep his fellowship after
that monarch's flight by becoming Protestant again. His most important
work was "The Rights of the Christian Church Asserted," which the
House of Commons in 1710 adjudged fit for burning by the hangman.
In 1730 he published anonymously, the first part of "Christianity as Old
as Creation," a work which attacked strongly the authority of the
Scriptures; a second volume was never published.
John Toland (1669-1722), born near Londonderry, and educated in a
Catholic school. He professed himself a Protestant, and was sent to
Glasgow and Edinburgh. In the latter university he graduated in his
master's degree. While studying at Leyden he became a sceptic, and in
1695 published his "Christianity not Mysterious," a work which
aroused a wide controversy. In his "Life of Milton" (1698) he denied
that King Charles was the author of "Eikon Basilikae," and also
attacked the Gospels. This also brought upon him rejoinders from Dr.
Blackall and Dr. Samuel Clarke. He died at Putney, in easy
circumstances, due to the presents made him while visiting German
courts. He wrote other works, chief among which may be mentioned,
"Socinianism truly Stated" (1705), "Nazarenas" (1718), and
"Tetradymus." His "Posthumous Works" were issued in two volumes in
1726, with a life by Des Maizeaux. Craik calls him "a man of utterly
worthless character," and refers to his being "mixed up in some
discreditable episodes as a political spy."
William Coward (1656?--1724?) was born at Winchester. He studied
medicine and became a fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. His
"Second Thoughts concerning Human Souls," published in 1702,
occasioned fierce disputes, on account of its materialism. The House of
Commons ordered the work to be burnt by the hangman.
Asgill, Toland, Tindal, Collins, and Coward are classed as the Deistical
writers of the eighteenth century. In his "History of English Thought in
the Eighteenth Century" Mr. Leslie Stephen gives an admirable

exposition of their views, and their special interpretation of Locke's
theories. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 8: Of Henry VII. notoriety, who aided the king, by illegal
exactions, to amass his large fortune. They were executed