12 AN ESSAY ON CHARITY-SCHOOLS. God and man ? Why should the world be deprived of all the benefit that might be drawn from such ingenious minds, under the care of a happy education ? Let them at least be taught to know their letters, and have a way made for their brighter talents to discover themselves. Diamonds of a noble lustre are taken from common earth, and every diamond is rough or cloudy, till it is cut and polished. Ifthere should happen to be a vein of silver mixed with the leaden ore, why should it be denied the favour of the refining-pot, since nature seems to bave made it on purpose to shine and glitter ? 3..A confinement of all the poor to such shameful degrees of profound ignorance, is the ready way to bring in confusion and slavery upon a whole nation. When the common people have no knowledge of any thing, they are the fittest tools for am- bition and tyranny, for treason and public mischief. Men of crafty and aspiring minds,know how to make use of persons bred up in such gross ignorance, to carry on their seditious purposes, and raise dangerous tumults in a peaceful state. Or if subtle and imperious men should ever obtain power among us, these poor, thoughtless creatures are soon turned into fatal instruments to enslave a rich and free people. Or finally, if a rude and un- taught multitude set up for themselves, and rise into tumult, or rebellion against our present sovereign King George, contrary to all right and justice, it would be found very hard to suppress them : They would never be convinced of their present folly, or of their true interest, because they were never taught to practise reasoning, nor to understand common sense. A silly noisyword or a foolish rhyme tost about through such a brutal multitude, has raised and fired a whole country into sedition and treason : Our British annals are the frequent witnesses of this madness, in those ancient days, whenour forefatherscouldneither read nor write. Let it be remembered, that knowledge is the truest spring of liberty among mankind. Had many of the foreign nations in Europe, Asia, or Africa, ever enjoyed such means of knowledge as Great Britain enjoys, they had never been immersed in such deeps of bondage and slavery. It is knowledge that pre- serves and secures a sense of true freedom in the minds of men. Sampson was not put to grind in the mill, till he had lost his eyes. And if we are agreed to prevent light from striking into the souls of the multitude, it is possible that, in some fewgenerations, it may come to our turn to grind in the mill too. 4. Such stupid ignorance will fit and prepare the minds of the poor for all the superstitions and iniquitiesof the popish church. Ignorance is the true and fruitful mother of such devo- tion. When persons are not taught the better principles of reli- gion they will become ready believersof all the lying tales and miracles of the Romig). clergy : they will quickly be induced to
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