Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 10.djvu/181



UR party having failed, by all their political arguments, to reestablish their power; the wise leaders have determined that the last and principal remedy should be made use of, for opening the eyes of this blinded nation; and that a short, but perfect system of their divinity should be published, to which we are all of us ready to subscribe, and which we lay down as a model, bearing a close analogy to our schemes in religion. Crafty designing men, that they might keep the world in awe, have, in their several forms of government, placed a supreme power on earth, to keep humankind in fear of being hanged; and a Supreme Power in Heaven, for fear of being damned. In order to cure men's apprehensions of the former, several of our learned members have written many profound treatises on Anarchy; but a brief complete body of Atheology seemed yet wanting, till this irrefragable Discourse appeared. However, it so happens, that our ablest brethren, in their elaborate disquisitions upon this subject, have written with so much caution, that ignorant unbelievers have edified very little by them. I grant that those daring spirits, who first adventured to write against the direct rules of the Gospel, the current of antiquity, the religion of the