groveling Multitude beneath, in a Moment his Foot flides, and he tumbles down headlong into the Grave. THINKING on this, I am obliged to believe, in Juftice to the Creator of the World, that there is another State when Man fhall be better fituated for Contemplation, or rather have it in his Power to remove from Object to Object, and from World to World; and be accommodated with Senfes, and other Helps, for making the quickest and most amazing Difcoveries. How doth fuch a Genius as Sir Ifaac Newton, from amidst the Darknefs that involves human Understanding, break forth, and appear like one of another Species! The vaft Machine, we inhabit, lyes open to him, he feems not unacquainted with the general Laws that govern it, and while with the Transport of a Philofopher he beholds and admires the glorious Work, he is capable of paying at once a more devout and more rational Homage to his Maker. But alas! how narrow is the Profpect even of fuch a Mind? and how obfcure to the Compass that is taken in by the Ken of an Angel; or of a Soul but newly efcaped from its Imprisonment in the Body! For my part, I freely indulge my Soul in the Confidence of its future Grandeur; it pleases me to think that I who know fo fmall a portion of the Works of the Creator, and with flow and painful Steps creep up and down on the Surface of this Globe, fhall e'er long fhoot away with the Swiftness of Imagination, trace out the hidden Springs of Nature's Operations, be able to keep pace with the heavenly Bodies in the Rapidity of their Carreer, be a Spectator of the long Chain of Events in the natural and moral Worlds, vifit the feveral Apartments of the Creation, know how they are furnified and how inhabited, comprehend the Order and measure the Magnitudes, and Distances of thofe Orbs, which to us feem difpofed without any regular Defign, and fet all in the fame Circle, obferve the Dependance of the Parts of each Syftem, and (if our Minds are big enough to grasp the Theory) of the feveral Systems upon one another, from whence re fults fults the Harmony of the Universe. In Eternity a great deal may de done of this kind. I find it of use to cherish this generous Ambition; for befides the fecret Refreshment it diffuses through my Soul, it engages me in an Endeavour to improve my Faculties, as well as to exercise them conformably to the Rank I now hold among reasonable Beings, and the hope I have of being once advanced to a more exalted Station. THE other, and that the Ultimate End of Man, is the Enjoyment of God, beyond which he cannot form a Wifh. Dim at beft are the Conceptions we have of the Supreme Being, who, as it were, keeps his Creatures in Sufpence, neither difcovering, nor hiding himfelf; by which means, the Libertine hath a Handle to difpute his Existence, while the most are content to fpeak him fair, but in their Hearts prefer every trifling Satisfaction to the Favour of their Maker, and ridicule the good Man for the Singularity of his Choice. Will there not a time come, when the Freethinker fhall fee his impious Schemes overturned, and be made a Convert to the Truths he hates; when deluded Mortals fhall be convinced of the Folly of their Pursuits, and the few Wife who followed the Guidance of Heaven, and, fcorning the Blandifhments of Senfe and the fordid Bribery of the World, afpired to a celeftial Abode, fhall ftand poffeffed of their utmoft Wifh in the Vision of the Creator? Here the Mind heaves a Thought now and then towards him, and hath fome tranfient Glances of his Prefence: When, in the Instant it thinks it felf to have the fastest hold, the Object eludes its Expectations, and it falls back tir'd and baffled to the Ground. Doubtless there is fome more perfect way of converfing with heavenly Beings. Are not Spirits capable of mutual Intelligence unless immersed in Bodies, or by their Intervention ? muft fuperior Natures depend on inferior for the main Privilege of fociable Beings, that of converfing with, and knowing each other? What would they have done, had Matter never been created? I fuppofe, not have have lived in eternal Solitude. As incorporeal Subftances are of a nobler Order, fo, be fure, their manner of Intercourfe is anfwerably more expedite and intimate. This method of Communication, we call Intellectual Vision, as fomewhat Analogous to the Senfe of Seeing, which is the Medium of our Acquaintance with this vifible World. And in fome fuch way can God make himself the Object of immediate Intuition to the Bleffed; and as he can, 'tis not improbable that he will, always condescending, in the Circumstances of doing it, to the Weaknels and Proportion of finite Minds. His Works but faintly reflect the Image of his Perfections, 'tis a Secondhand Knowledge: To have a juft Idea of him, it may be neceffary that we see him as he is. But what is that? "Tis fomething that never entered into the Heart of Man to conceive; yet, what we can easily conceive will be a Fountain of Unfpeakable, of everlafting Rapture. All created Glories will fade and die away in his Prefence. Perhaps it will be my Happinefs to compare the World with the fair Exemplar of it in the Divine Mind; perhaps, to view the original Plan of those wife Designs that have been executing in a long Succeffion of Ages. Thus employed in finding out his Works, and contemplating their Author! how fhall I fall proftrate and adoring, my Body fwallowed up in the Immenfity of Matter, my Mind in the Infinitude of his Perfections! INDEX THE INDEX TO THE EIGHTH VOLUME. A. CTIONS, Principles of, two in Man, N. A four ques of by the Primitive Adulterers, how punish'd by the Primitive Chriftians, N. 579: Aglaus, his Story told by Cowley, N. 610. Ambition, various kinds of it, N. 570. Laudable, Anacharfis, the Corinthian Drunkard, a Saying of his, N. Ancestry, how far Honour is to be pay'd to it, N. Answers to feveral Letters at once, N. 581, and 619. Anxieties unneceffary, the Evil of them, and the Va- Applause and Censure shou'd not mif-lead us, N. 610. Ari |