Cleo. No Set of People have so artfully play'd upon Mankind as the Church of _Rome_. In the Use they have made of Scripture, they have consulted all our Frailties; and in their own Interpretations of it, most dextrously adapted themselves to the common Notions of all Multitudes. They knew perfectly well, not only, that all Men are born with the Fear of an invisible Cause, but likewise that it is more natural, or, at least, that the rude and ignorant of our Species are always more apt to suspect, that this invisible Cause is their Enemy, than they are to think it to be their Friend, and will sooner believe it to be an evil and malicious, than a good beneficent Being. To turn this to their Advantage, they made Use of all their Skill and Cunning to magnify the Devil, and cry up his Force and Subtlety, his supernatural Art, his implacable Hatred to Mankind, and great Influence over Human Affairs. All the strange Stories they have spread, the monstrous Fables they have invented, and the gross Lies they have maintain'd, of Spirits, of Witchcraft, and Apparitions, never had any other Tendency than to manifest the Works of Satan, and make Every body afraid of his Power and Stratagems at all Times, and in all Places; which has been a prodigious Gain to them. They never taught any Thing that contradicted Vulgar Opinions, and never gave Men any Ideas of Heaven, that were not borrow'd from Something on Earth. That Courts of Princes are not deem'd to be compleat without Women, has advanced the _Virgin Mary_ to be Queen of Heaven. From the Influence of Mothers, and the Authority they are known to exercise of their Infants, they have drawn the most childish Conclusions to raise Superstition; for to that Notion, and the great Honour which is every where allow'd to be due to Parents, it has been owing, that the Mother of God in the _Roman_ Communion has been all along more address'd and pray'd to, than her Son; and of the Two She seems to be the more venerable Person. All Patrons in ancient _Rome_ had their Clients, whom the protected; and all Favourites of Princes have their Creatures, whose Interests they espouse upon Occasion: This has produced the Invocation of Saints and Angels; and that no Advocates might be wanting in the Celestial Court on any Emergency, the Church has provided, that there is no Town or Country, no Handicraft or Profession, no Pain or Disease, Danger or Distress, but there is a kind Saint for that particular Affair, whose peculiar Province is to preside over and take Care of every Thing that relates to it; which has made the Number of them equal with, if not superiour to that of the Pagan Deities. She knew, that the Incredibility of Things is no Obstacle to Faith among Multitudes; and that in believing of Mysteries, Propositions will not be the less swallow'd for being contradictory to Reason. Hor. But I thought you was not for keeping Men in Ignorance.