others, do not, most commonly, neglect the Teaching them That which is
the Ground and Support of all the Good Precepts they give them;
because that Principles of Religion are by them believed to be
unnecessary; or are not in their Thoughts; but because they presume,
as has been said, that those now under their Care are already
sufficiently instructed herein; viz. When their Nurses, or Maids,
Taught them their Catechisms; that is to say, Certain Answers to a
Train of Questions adapted to some approv'd System of Divinity.

That this is sufficient Instruction in Religion, is apparently a
Belief pretty general: And not only such Young Ladies as have newly
put off their Bibs and Aprons, but even the greatest Number of their
Parents, and Teachers themselves, would, yet less than They, be
pleas'd if one should tell them that those who know so much as this,
may nevertheless be very Ignorant concerning the Christian Religion;
these Old People no more than the Young Ones, being able to give any
farther Account thereof than they have thus been taught. It is yet
true that many who have Learn'd, and who well remember long
Catechisms, with all their pretended Proofs, are so far from having
that Knowledge which Rational Creatures ought to have of a Religion
they profess to Believe they can only be Sav'd by, as that they are
not able to say, either what this Religion does Consist in, or why it
is they Believe it; and are so little instructed by their Catechisms,
as that, oftentimes, they understand not so much as the very Terms
they have Learn'd in them: And more often find the Proportions therein
contain'd, so short in the Information of their Ignorance; or so
unintelligible, to their Apprehensions; or so plainly contradictory of
the most obvious Dictates of common Sense; that Religion (for the
which they never think of looking beyond these Systems) appears to
them indeed a thing not Built upon, or defensible by Reason: In