The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Vol. III. | Page 9

public, that if we
once discard the system of the Gospel, all religion will of course be
banished for ever; and consequently, along with it, those grievous
prejudices of education, which under the names of _virtue, conscience,

honour, justice,_ and the like, are so apt to disturb the peace of human
minds, and the notions whereof are so hard to be eradicated by right
reason or freethinking, sometimes during the whole course of our lives.
Here first, I observe how difficult it is to get rid of a phrase, which the
world is once grown fond of, though the occasion that first produced it,
be entirely taken away. For several years past, if a man had but an
ill-favoured nose, the deep-thinkers of the age would some way or
other contrive to impute the cause to the prejudice of his education.
From this fountain were said to be derived all our foolish notions of
justice, piety, love of our country, all our opinions of God, or a future
state, Heaven, Hell, and the like: And there might formerly perhaps
have been some pretence for this charge. But so effectual care has been
taken to remove those prejudices, by an entire change in the methods of
education, that (with honour I mention it to our polite innovators) the
young gentlemen who are now on the scene, seem to have not the least
tincture of those infusions, or string of those weeds; and, by
consequence, the reason for abolishing nominal Christianity upon that
pretext, is wholly ceased.
For the rest, it may perhaps admit a controversy, whether the banishing
of all notions of religion whatsoever, would be convenient for the
vulgar. Not that I am in the least of opinion with those who hold
religion to have been the invention of politicians, to keep the lower part
of the world in awe by the fear of invisible powers; unless mankind
were then very different to what it is now: For I look upon the mass or
body of our people here in England, to be as freethinkers, that is to say,
as staunch unbelievers, as any of the highest rank. But I conceive some
scattered notions about a superior power to be of singular use for the
common people, as furnishing excellent materials to keep children
quiet when they grow peevish, and providing topics of amusement in a
tedious winter-night.
Lastly, 'tis proposed as a singular advantage, that the abolishing of
Christianity will very much contribute to the uniting of Protestants, by
enlarging the terms of communion so as to take in all sorts of dissenters,
who are now shut out of the pale upon account of a few ceremonies
which all sides confess to be things indifferent: That this alone will
effectually answer the great ends of a scheme for comprehension, by
opening a large noble gate, at which all bodies may enter; whereas the

chaffering with dissenters, and dodging about this or t'other ceremony,
is but like opening a few wickets, and leaving them at jar, by which no
more than one can get in at a time, and that, not without stooping, and
sideling, and squeezing his body.[16]
[Footnote 16: "In this passage," says Scott, "the author's High Church
principles, and jealousy of the Dissenters, plainly shew themselves; and
it is, perhaps, in special reference to what is here said, that he ranks it
among the pamphlets he wrote in opposition to the party then in
power." [T. S.]]
To all this I answer: that there is one darling inclination of mankind,
which usually affects to be a retainer to religion, though she be neither
its parent, its godmother, or its friend; I mean the spirit of opposition,
that lived long before Christianity, and can easily subsist without it. Let
us, for instance, examine wherein the opposition of sectaries among us
consists, we shall find Christianity to have no share in it at all Does the
Gospel any where prescribe a starched, squeezed countenance, a stiff,
formal gait, a singularity of manners and habit, or any affected modes
of speech different from the reasonable part of mankind? Yet, if
Christianity did not lend its name to stand in the gap, and to employ or
divert these humours, they must of necessity be spent in contraventions
to the laws of the land, and disturbance of the public peace. There is a
portion of enthusiasm assigned to every nation, which, if it hath not
proper objects to work on, will burst out, and set all into a flame. If the
quiet of a state can be bought by only flinging men a few ceremonies to
devour, it is a purchase no wise man would refuse Let the mastiffs
amuse themselves about a sheep's skin stuffed with hay, provided it
will keep them from