a voice from heaven, when the folemnity has proceeded, and after a long paufe, I have heard the fervant of God ntter, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he 'fhall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though worms destroy this body, yet in my fleth fhall I fee God; whom I fhall fee for myself, and my eyes fhall behold, and not another.' How have I been raised above this world, and all its regards, and how well prepared to receive the next fentence which the holy man has spoken, We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out; the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, bleffed be the name of "the Lord! There are, I know, men of heavy temper, without genius, who can read thefe expreffions of Scripture with as much indifference as they do the reft of these loofe papers; however, I will not defpair, but to bring men of wit into a love and admiration of Sacred Writings; and, as old as I am, I promife myself to fee the day when it fhall be as much the fashion amongft men of politenefs to admire a rapture of St. Paul, as any fine expreffion in Virgil or Horace; and to fee a well-dreffed young man produce an Evangelift out of his pocket, and be no more out of countenance than if it were a Claffic printed by Elzever. It is a gratitude that ought to be paid to Providence, by men of diftinguished faculties, to praise and adore the Author of their Being with a spirit fuitable to those faculties, and rouse flower men by their words, actions, and writings, to a participation of their transports and thanksgivings. SECTION VIII. Against Atheism and Infidelity. AFTER having treated of falfe Zealots in Religion, I cannot forbear mentioning a monftrous fpecies of men, who one would not think had any existence in nature, were they not to be met with in ordinary converfation, I mean the Zealots in Atheism. One would fancy that these men, though they fall fhort, in every other refpect, of those who make a profeffion of religion, would at least outfhine them in this particular, and be exempt from that fingle fault which feems to grow out of the imprudent fervours of religion: but fo it is, that Infidelity is propagated with as much fierceness and contention, wrath and indignation, as if the fafety of mankind depended upon it. There is fomething fo ridiculous and perverfe in this kind of zealots, that one does not know how to fet them out in their proper colours. They are a fort of gamefters, who are eternally upon the fret, though they play for nothing. They are perpetu ally teazing their friends to come over to them, though at the fame time they allow that neither of them fhall get any thing by the bargain. In fhort the zeal of spreading Atheifin is, if poflible, more abfurd than Atheism itfelf. Since I have mentioned this unaccountable zeal which appears in Atheifts and Infidels, I muft farther obferve that they are likewife, in a moft particular manner, poifeffed with the fpirit of bigotry. They are wedded to opinions full of contradiction and impoffibility, and at the fame time look upon the finaileft difficulty in an ar ticle of faith as a fufficient reafon for rejecting it. Notions that fall in with the common reafon of mankind, that are conformable to the fenfe of all ages and all nations, not to mention their tendency for promoting the happiness of focieties or of particular perfons, are exploded as errors and prejudices; an! fchemes erected in their ftead that are altogether monftrous and irrational, and require the most extravagant credulity to embrace them. I would fain afk one of thefe bigotted Infidels, fuppofing all the great points of Atheism, as the cafual or eternal formation of the world, the materiality of a thinking fubftance, the morality of the foul, the fortuitous organization of the body, the motions and gravitation of matter, with the like particulars, were laid together and formed into a kind of creed, according to the opinions of the most celebrated Atheifts; I fay, fuppofing fuch a creed as this were formed, and impofed upon any any one people in the world, whether it would not require an infinitely greater measure of faith, than any fet of articles which they fo violently oppofe. Let me therefore advife this generation of wranglers, for their own and for the public good, to act at lealt fo confiftently with themfelves, as not to burn with Zeal for Irreligion, and with Bigotry for Nonfenfe. "Calum ipfum perimus ftultitia-- 0. HOR. UPON my return to my lodgings laft night, I found a letter from my worthy friend the clergyman, whom I have given fome account of in my former papers. He tells me in it, that he was particularly pleafed with the latter part of my yefterday's fpeculation; and at the fame time inclofed the following Effay, which he defires me to publifh as the fequel of that difcourfe. It confifts partly of uncommon reflections, and partly of fuch as have been already used, but now fet in a stronger light. A believer may be excufed by the most hardened atheift for endeavouring to make him a convert, becaufe he does it with an eye to both their interefts. The atheift is inexcufable who tries to gain over a believer, ⚫ because he does not propofe the doing himself or believer any good by fuch a conversion. The profpect of a future ftate is the fecret comfort and refreshment of my foul, it is that which makes na⚫ture look gay about me; it doubles all my pleatures, and fupports me under all my afflictions. I can look at difappointments and misfortunes, pain and fick nefs, death itself, and, what is worfe than death, the lofs of thofe who are dearest to me, with indifference, fo long as I keep in view the pleasures of eternity, and the state of being in which there will be no fears nor apprehenfins, pains nor forrows, fickness nor feparation. Why will any man be fo impertinently officious, as to tell ne all this is only fancy and delufion? Is there any inerit in being the meffenger of ill news? If it is a eam, let me enjoy it, fince it makes me both the happier and the better man, "I muit • I must confess I do not know how to truft a man who believes neither heaven nor hell, or in other words, a future ftate of rewards and punishments. Not only natural felf-love, but reafon, directs us to promote our ⚫ own intereft above all things. It can never be for the intereft of a believer to do me a mischief, because he is fure, upon the balance of accompts, to find himself a lofer by it. On the contrary, if he confiders his own ⚫ welfare in his behaviour towards me, it will lead him to do me all the good he can, and, at the fame time, • restrain him from doing me an injury. An unbeliever does not act like a reasonable creature, if he favours me contrary to his prefent intereft, or does not distress me when it turns to his prefent advantage. Honour and good-nature may, indeed, tie up his hands; but as these would be very much strengthened by reafon and principle, fo without them they are only inftincts, or wavering unfettled notions, which reft on no foundation. Infidelity has been attacked with fo good fuccefs of late years, that it is driven out of all its out-works. The atheift has not found his poft tenable, and is therefore retired into deiím, and a disbelief of revealed religion only. But the truth of it is, the greatest number of this fet of men, are thofe who, for want of a virtuous education, or examining the grounds of religion, know fo very little of the matter in queftion, • that their infidelity is but another term for their ig norance. As folly and inconfiderateness are the foundations of infidelity, the great pillars and fupport of it are either a vanity of appearing wifer than the rest of mankind, or an oftentation of courage in despifing the terrors of another world, which have fo great an influence on what they call weaker minds; or an averfion to a belief that muft cut them off from many of thofe pleasures they propofe to themselves, and fill them with remorse for many of those they have already tasted. The great received articles of the christian religion § have been so clearly proved, from the authority of that • Divine • Divine Revelation in which they are delivered, that it is impoffible for thofe who have ears to hear and eyes to fee, not to be convinced of them. But were it poffible for any thing in the chriftian faith to be erroneous, I can find no ill confequences in adhering to it. The great points of the incarnation and fufferings of our Saviour, produce naturally fuch habits of virtue in the mind of man, that, I fay, fuppofing it were poffible for us to be mistaken in them, the infidel himself must, at leaft, allow that no other fyftem of religion could fo effectually contribute to the heightening of morality. They give us great ideas of the dignity of human na• ture, and of the love which the Supreme Being bears to his creatures, and confequently engage us in the higheft acts of our duty towards our Creator, our neighbour, and ourselves. How many noble arguments has Saint Paul raised from the chief articles of our religion, for the advancing of morality in its three great branches? To give a fingle example in each kind: What can be a ftronger motive to a firm truft and reliance on the mercies of our Maker, than the giving us his Son to fuffer for us? What can make us love and esteem even the most inconfiderable of mankind, more than the thought that Chrift died for him? Or what difpofe us to fet a ftricter guard upon the purity of our own hearts, than our being members of Chrift, and a part of the fociety of which that immaculate Perfon is the Head? But thefe are only a fpecimen of thofe admira• ble enforcements of morality, which the apoftle has drawn from the hiftory of our Bleffed Saviour. If our modern infidels confidered thefe matters with that candour and ferioufhefs which they deferve, we fhould not fee them act with fuch a fpirit of bitterness, arrogance, and malice; they would not be raifing fuch infignificant cavils, doubts, and fcruples, as may be • started against every thing that is not capable of mathematical demonftration; in order to unfettle the minds of the ignorant, disturb the public peace, fub• vert morality, and throw all things into confufion and • diforders |