Page:Essay on the First Principles of Government 2nd Ed.djvu/232

 not so much as hinted at, that the one may be fairly weighed against the other. In this I shall not content myself with mere theory, as Dr. Balguy does, since there are known facts to refer to, as examples in both cases.

Among the Dissenters, if a minister introduce principles and practices which the people condemn, they dismiss him from their service, and chuse another more agreeable to them. If his difference of sentiment occasion any debate, the subject of the debate is thereby more thoroughly understood; and the worst that can happen is, that some of them separate, and form themselves into a new society, or join another in their neighbourhood, that is more to their liking. In this, as in all other contests, some ill blood is produced, the effects of which may remain for some time; but the minds of the people in general are not so much confounded, nor the impressions of religion, as a principle of moral conduct, so much weakened as this writer imagines.