is unwilling
even to suspect the appearance of so amiable a virtue as moral honesty,
yet were we to look into the grounds of it, in the present case, I am
persuaded we should find little reason to envy such a one the honour of
his motive.

'Let him declaim as pompously as he chooses upon the subject, it will
be found to rest upon no better foundation than either his interest, his
pride, his ease, or some such little and changeable passion as will give
us but small dependence upon his actions in matters of great distress.

'I will illustrate this by an example.

'I know the banker I deal with, or the physician I usually call
in,'--(There is no need, cried Dr. Slop, (waking) to call in any
physician in this case)--'to be neither of them men of much religion: I
hear them make a jest of it every day, and treat all its sanctions with
so much scorn, as to put the matter past doubt. Well;--notwithstanding
this, I put my fortune into the hands of the one:--and what is dearer
still to me, I trust my life to the honest skill of the other.

'Now let me examine what is my reason for this great confidence. Why, in
the first place, I believe there is no probability that either of them
will employ the power I put into their hands to my disadvantage;--I
consider that honesty serves the purposes of this life:--I know their
success in the world depends upon the fairness of their characters.--In
a word, I'm persuaded that they cannot hurt me without hurting
themselves more.

'But put it otherwise, namely, that interest lay, for once, on the other
side; that a case should happen, wherein the one, without stain to
his reputation, could secrete my fortune, and leave me naked in the
world;--or that the other could send me out of it, and enjoy an estate
by my death, without dishonour to himself or his art:--In this case,
what hold have I of either of them?--Religion, the strongest of all
motives, is out of the question;--Interest, the next most powerful
motive in the world, is strongly against me:--What have I left to
cast into the opposite scale to balance this temptation?--Alas! I have
nothing,--nothing but what is lighter than a bubble--I must lie at the
mercy of Honour, or some such capricious principle--Strait security for
two of the most valuable blessings!--my property and myself.

'As, therefore, we can have no dependence upon morality without
religion;--so, on the other hand, there is nothing better to be expected
from religion