ourt, and his numerous Palaces." About this time
appeared "The Art of Governing by Parties;" this was always a favorite
subject of the old Freethinkers, and is still further elucidated by
Bolingbroke.

In 1707 he published a large treatise in English and Latin, as "A
Philippic Oration, to incite the English against the French," a work I
have never seen. We now return to an earlier date, and shall trace the
use of his theological works. The first of note (1696) was "Christianity
not Mysterious"--showing that there is nothing in the gospel contrary
to reason, nor above it; and that no Christian doctrine can be properly
called a mystery. As soon as this book was issued from the press, it
was attacked with unmanly virulence. One man (Peter Brown) who was more
disgustingly opposed to Toland than the rest, was made a bishop; and by
far the greatest majority amongst the Anglican clergy, who attacked him,
were all rewarded by honors and preferment. The author was accused of
making himself a new Heresiarch; that there was a tradition amongst
the Irish that he was to be a second Cromwell, and that Toland himself
boasted that before he was forty years old, he would be governor over a
greater country than Cromwell; and that he would be the head over a new
religion before he was thirty. One of his opponents publicly stigmatises
him as saying that he (Toland) himself designed to be as great an
impostor as Mahomet, and more powerful than the Pope; while the Puritans
denounced him as a disguised Jesuit, and the Papists as a rancorous
Nonconformist. To complete the comedy, the Irish Parliament condemned
his book to be publicly burnt, some ecclesiastics loudly murmuring that,
the author should be burned with it; others, more moderate, were anxious
that Toland should burn it himself, while at last they came to an
unanimous resolution to burn it in front of the threshold of his door,
so that when the author appeared, he would be obliged to step oyer the
ashes of his own book, which was accordingly done amid the brutal cheers
of an ignorant and infuriated populace.

As a proof of the high esteem in which Toland was held by the _few_ able
and liberal men of the day, we extract the following account from the
correspondence of John Locke and Mr. Molyneux. * The latter gentleman,
writing to the former, says:--"I am told the author of 'Christianity not
Mysterious' is of this country, and that his name is Toland, but he is
a stranger in these pa