very unreaſonable for them to cry Turn-coat firſt, and charge their own fickleneſs upon thoſe, who chuſe to abide by their former principles, and will not join with them in their new counſels and Tergiverſations.—But it is ſtill more ridiculous for any man to exclaim againſt Trimming, even ſuppoſing the charge to be true, who has been notoriouſly guilty of that practice himſelf, whenever his Reſentments or Ambition have made it convenient.
For my part, I freely confeſs (and let my Enemies take it for an handle of triumph) that I have been, for a long time, entirely miſtaken in my general opinion of mankind, and the common tranſactions of the world. I once thought there was a real difference in Parties, and that there was ſomething more in thoſe diſtinctions, which have ſo long divided up, than a mere ſtruggle for Power, and a tryal of skill, between a few great men, to determine which of them ſhall be Greatest.
I am now convinced of the contrary: I have ſeen it; I have felt it; and find, by fatal experience, that there is nothing in outward names and profeſſions; but I begin to conſider moſt of the great diſputes in Politicks and Controverſies about Religion only as ingenious devices to aggrandize a few diſigning Knaves, at the expence of a vaſt number of honeſt, undeſigning zealots, who join with them in the ſame cauſe. When this point is once gained, the mask is thrown off,
