Spiritual Pleasures, and persists in a Course
of a voluptuous Life for many Years, without Repentance: A Man, I say,
who does this, cannot be a more real Christian, tho' he conform'd to
all the Rites and Ceremonies, and bore a great Sway in the Vestry, than
a Linnen-Draper could be a real Blacksmith, tho' he was free of the
Blacksmiths Company, and was a Livery-Man amongst them.

That weak silly People may form such wrong Judgments, as I have hinted
at, from no worse Cause, than Want of Capacity, and mere Folly, I am
willing to believe. But when I see Men of very good Sense, and
considerable Knowledge, guilty of it, I can't help thinking, that they
do it with Design, and because they find their Interest in it. This is
certain, that when once it is taken for granted, that to be a
Christian, it is sufficient to acquiesce in being call'd so, and attend
the outward Worship of some Sect or other, it saves the Clergy a vast
Deal of Trouble, from Friends as well as Foes. For to quiet and satisfy
all scrupulous Consciences, is as great a Drudgery as it is to write in
Defence of Miracles.

The Reason, Sir, why I have said so much on this Head, is, that among
those who outwardly shew the greatest Zeal for Religion and the Gospel,
I see hardly Any who teach us, either by Precept or Example, the
Severity of Manners which Christianity requires. They seem to be much
more sollicitous about the Name, than they are about the Thing it self;
as if, when Men would but own themselves to be Christians, it was no
great Matter for the Qualifications which must make them so. When of
late I have cast my Eyes upon the Behaviour of some People, who shall
be nameless, it has put me in Mind of the _Free-Masons_. These, you
know, are divided in several Companies; each Company have a Lodge of
their own; every Lodge has a Master; over all these Masters again,
there is a Grand Master. Some of them meet once a Month; others not so
often; they pretend to Mysteries, and eat and drink together; they make
use of several Ceremonies, which are peculiar to themselves, with great
Gravity; and with all this Bustle they make, I could never learn yet,
that they had any Thing to do, but to be _Free-Masons_, speak well of
the Honour of their Society, and either pity or despise all those who
are not Members of it: Out of their Assemblies, they live and converse
like other Men: And tho' I have been in Company with several of them, I
profess, unless I am told it, I can