Modest Remarks Upon the Bishop of London's Letter Concerning the Late Earthquakes

When the earth shook London in 1750, the Bishop of London declared it divine punishment for the nation's sins. Someone disagreed, and violently so. This sharp, anonymous pamphlet rebuts the Bishop's letter with Enlightenment fury, arguing that earthquakes are natural phenomena, not God's angry missives. But the author saves their real contempt for the clergy themselves, those moral authorities who preach repentance while drowning in luxury and propagating garbage literature. What truly damns society, the pamphlet suggests, is not earthquakes but the hypocrisy of men who invoke God's name while neglecting the harder work of genuine virtue. Written with acid wit and rationalist conviction, it captures a pivotal moment when Enlightenment reason began challenging religious authority on its own spiritual turf. The author demands real reform: not fear of lightning, but honest moral accounting from those who presume to lead.