_Upon your_ Lordship'_s Advancement to a Bishoprick_, Difficultys and Discouragements _not withstanding, I wish'd, without prescribing to the Wisdom of the Government in the choice of a learned Prelate, that the great Mr._ Grounds, _for the good of the Church too, might be soon consecrated: And I should not have despair'd of it, but that he is a_ Gentleman _of real Probity and Conscience, and might possibly boggle at Subscriptions, unless you and Bishop_ Hoadly _could help him to some of your_ Reserves _and_ Distinctions, _wherewith you must be both well Stock'd, to overcome that_ Difficulty. _And why should not_ Dean Swift _for his Writings, as well as some others, be made a Bishop? I should like to see him one; if the_ then _Right Reverend Bishop_ Grounds _would not think him, for his_ Tale of a Tub, _too loose in the Faith, for his Company_. _Don't, imagine,_ My Lord, _that I am forming of Schemes for my self to be a Bishop. Tho' these my_ Discourses _on_ Miracles _are of very great Merit, as well as your Lordship's_ Difficulties, _&c. yet you may be assured, I have no such View, when I tell you, that the Honour, the Fathers have exalted me to, of a_ Moderator _in this Controversy, sets me above all Ecclesiastical Preferment, excepting the_ Arch-Bishoprick _of_ Canterbury, _which I'm afraid will be void, before the King is apprised of my singular Worth and Qualifications for it_. _But however, if such excellent_ Prelates, _as_ Grounds, Hoadly, Swift, Hare _and_ my self _were at the Head of Ecclesiastical Affairs, what would we do? What should we not do? What would not this free-thinking Age expect from us? Nothing less, than that, according to our Principles, we should endeavour to set Mankind at perfect Liberty, and to lay open the dirty Fences of the Church, call'd Subscriptions, which are not only the Stain of a good Conscience, but the_ Discouragements, _your_ Lordship _hints at, in the Study of the Scriptures: And if we made a Push for an Act of P----t to turn the_ Clergy _to Grass, after King_ Henry VIIIth's _Monks and Fryars; where would be the Harm of it? Nay, the Advantage to the Publick, as well as to Religion, would be great, if their Revenues were apply'd to the Payment of National Debts; with a Reserve to our selves_ (_remember_, My Lord) _of large Emoluments out of them, according to our great Merits; otherwise worldly-wise Men will repute us impolitick Fools, which you and Bishop_ Hoadly, _I humbly presume, will never endure the Reproach of_. _So, hoping your Lordship will accept of this Dedication to your Praise, in as much Sincerity as it is written, I subscribe myself_, [Sidenote: London, _May_ 14. 1728.] My LORD, The Admirer of your Difficultys and Discouragements, _Thomas Woolston._ [Illustration]