vince, and can be afcrib'd to nothing better than a meddling Humour, or a peevish Temper, or an uncharitable Pleafure in other Peoples Faults. To throw out Reflections at Random, is a very unjust and mischievous Practice. Το fpread difadvantageous Stories upon uncertain Reports without Examination; to condemn an Author without enquiring into his true Meaning; to caft an Odium upon a Government, or blast a Reputation, upon Suppofition of what may be, inftead of Evidence of Fact; to give one felf Liberty to fay any thing likely to make a bad Impreffion, without regarding the Confequences, or confidering the irreparable Damage which may enfue. This, is, to ufe a facred Expreffion, cafting Firebrands, Arrows and Death, and faying, Am I not in Sport? But fuppofe there is a real Foundation for Diflike and Cenfure, fhould it be carried farther than there is Reafon to fupport it? 'Tis an extravagant Folly to condemn Perfons or Things in the grofs. If a Man commits: a Fault, he fhall hear that aggravated and perpetually remembred, while a thousand laudable Actions are entirely forgot. A few Miftakes of a Government fhall be toffed about by every infolent Tongue; and the greateft Services to a Community pafs for nothing: An excellent Author be run down for the fake of fome fmall Miftake, or inconfiderate Paffage! and a Man be rallied out of a Capacity of of Service, who is eminently furnished for it, because of one wrong Step. The Dignity of a Character, and the moft confpicuous Integrity of Life; diftinguishing Abilities, and an ob vious Tendency and Defign for the greateft Service, fhall not fecure from the poisonous Breath of Cenfure. Whereas we ought to judge of any private Man by the main Tenour of his Converfation; and of an Adminiftration, by its general Tendency to the publick Good. A Man in any Profeffion or Station fhould be efteem'd according to his Fitness and Application to his proper Bufinefs; and any Performance deferves Regard, when fome valuable End is defigned in it, and that Design is promoted by it. To fingle out fome little Exceptions to fully the Luftre of an Excellent Perfon, or blemish a wife Conftitution, or a good Performance; is well faid by a Great Man to be, as if, in a Body admirably handsome, we fhould overlook the curious Harmony, delicate Complexion, and good Features, which make the whole a lovely Spectacle, and fingle out an Eye or a Nofe, which are not fo exactly regular, to carp at. 7 Others are equally injurious, who involve in their Cenfure the Innocent with the Guilty, They arraign a whole Adminiftration as corrupt, for the fake of an ill Man here and there in it, which is unavoidable in any Government. A whole Party of Men, and whole religious Profeffion, muft fuffer in the Odium. for the Crime of a False Brother. The Folly and Knavery of a Divine or Lawyer fhall be C 2 im ། imputed to the whole Order; and the moft useful Profeffions be infolently treated for the Madness of a few that belong to them. When a Man discovers himself to be a Villain, his innocent Friends and Acquaintance, who deteft his Crimes, fhall be reflected on as Accomplices. To be more fevere in cenfuring of particular Faults, than the Nature of the thing requires, can anfwer no good Purpose. An honeft Man is fometimes loaded with Invectives for fuch Things as cannot juftly be called criminal; it may be for that which is really his Commendation: because the Cenfurer is of another Mind. An innocent Liberty fhall be clamoured at, as if it were an Inroad upon all Vertue: A blacker Mark be fixed on People, who happen to differ from their Neighbours, in fome little Things; than upon those who break thro' all the Bonds of Nature and Chriftianity. These difproportionate Cenfures are the Result of intolerable Bigotry, or Devilish Malice. Charity would teach us not to defpife an honeft Man for that which is a needlefs Scruple, nor to condemn others with Severity, for things we may fcruple our felves, but cannot pofitively prove to be Faults. We should not be partial in our Cenfures, and make that pafs for a Crime in one, which is made light of in another. Thus that fhall be made a Fault in one Miniftry and Admini ftration, which was approved and applauded in a former: Or fome extraordinary Methods, which plainly proceed from the Neceffity of the Cafe, and are intended to ferve the Publick Good, fhall invidiously be made parallel with unjustifiable Attempts, without a like Neceffity, and with a manifeft ill Defign. When we condemn a thing in others, while we practice the like our felves; or palliate and excufe our own greater Faults, while we judge with Rigour of others leffer ones, and are quick to fpy a Mote in another's Eye, when we cannot fee a Beam in our own. When our Cenfures are not from a Love of Truth or Virtue, but from Pike or Prejudice, from Envy or Revenge; when they proceed not from real Apprehenfions of any thing amifs, but are made to ferve our own Intereft; when Men declaim against a Government to rail themselves into Places, and use bold Liberties only to be taken off; this (however fafhionable and prevailing) is highly vicious and criminal. But we have Reafon to hope the Wisdom of our prefent Governours will in time break the Force of a pernicious Practice, countenanced and ftrengthned by the Eafe and Fear of the former. When a Prince at the Head of Affairs fhall propofe wife Ends, and purfue fteady Measures; whofe Soul knows no Fear, as it defigns no Wrong; confcious of upright Designs, and unfhaken in right Purposes; unmoved by the Infolence of leffer Perfons, or Presumption of the Greateft; will quite difcountenance the little Arts of Slander and Infinuation; be ferved by wife and faithful Minifters, and with Decency and Re Spect: |