himself, and in both to be happy; having, to this purpose, endowed them with correspondent faculties and defires. He can have no greater pleafure from a bare review of his works than from the furvey of his own ideas; but we may be affured that he is well pleafed in the fatisfaction derived to beings capable of it, and for whofe entertainment he hath erected this immenfe theatre. Is not this more than an intimation of our immortality? Man, who, when confidered as on his probation for a happy existence hereafter, is the most remarkable inftance of divine wifdom, if we cut him off from all relation to eternity, is the most unaccountable compofition in the whole creation. He hath capacities to lodge a much greater variety of knowledge than he will be ever mafter of, and an unfatisfied curiofity to tread the secret paths of nature and providence: but with this, his organs, in their prefent ftructure, are rather fitted to ferve the neceflities of a vile body, than to minister to his underftanding; and, from the little fpot to which he is chained, he can frame but wandering gueffes concerning the innumerable worlds of light that encompass him, which, though in themfelves of a prodigious bignefs, do but juft glimmer in the remote fpaces of the heavens; and when, with a great deal of time and pains, he hath laboured a little way up fteep afcent of truth, and beholds with pity the groveling multitude beneath, in a moment his foot flides, and he tumbles down headlong into the grave.

the

Thinking

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 fenfes, and other helps, for making the quickest and moft amazing difcoveries. How doth fuch a genius as Sir Ifaac Newton*, from amidst the darkness that involves human understanding, break forth, and appear like one of another fpecies! The vaft machine we inhabit lies open to him; he seems 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 foul but newly efcaped from its imprifonment in the body! For my part, I freely indulge my foul 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 fteps creep up and down on the furface of this globe, fhall ere long shoot away with the swiftnefs of imagination, trace out the hidden fprings of nature's operations, be able to

*Sir Ifaac was at this time in the full vigour of his intellectual faculties, and remarkable for his modefty, affailed as it was by the publication of the highest poffible commendations of him every where.

keep pace with the heavenly bodies in the rapi, dity of their career, 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 furnished and how inhabited, comprehend the order, and measure the magnitudes and diftances 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 system, and (if our minds are big enough to grafp the theory) of the feveral fyftems upon one another, from whence refults the harmony of the univerfe. In eternity a great deal may be done of this kind, I find it of ufe to cherish this generous ambition; for, besides the fecret refreshment it diffufes through my foul, 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 ftation.

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 the creatures in fufpence, neither difcovering, nor hiding himfelf; by which means, the libertine hath a handle to dispute his exiftence, while the most are content to fpeak him fair, but in their hearts prefer every trifling fatisfaction to the favour of their Maker, and ridicule the good man for the fingularity of his choice.

choice. Will there not a time come when the Free-thinker fhall fee his impious fchemes overturned, and be made a convert to the truths he hates? When deluded mortals fhall be convinced of the folly of their purfuits; and the few wife, who followed the guidance of Heaven, and, fcorning the blandifhments of fenfe, and the fordid bribery of the world, afpired to a celestial abode, fhall stand poffeffed of their utmost wish in the vifion of the Creator? Here the mind heaves a thought now and then towards him, and hath some tranfient glances of his prefence: when in the inftant it thinks itself to have the fafteft hold the object eludes its expectations, and it falls back tired and baffled to the ground. Doubtless there is fome more perfect way of converfing with heavenly beings. Are not fpirits capable of mutual intelligence, unless immerfed in bodies, or by their intervention? Muft fuperior natures depend on inferior for the main privilege of fociable being, that of converfing with, and knowing each other? What would they have done had matter never been created? I fuppofe not have lived in eternal folitude, As incorporeal fubftances 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 vifion, as fomething analogous to the fense of seeing, which is the medium of our acquaintance with this visible world. And in fome fuch way can God make himfelf the object of immediate intuition to the bleffed; and as he can, it is not improbable

Dd 4

improbable that he will, always condefcending,
in the circumstances of doing it, to the weak-
nefs and proportion of finite minds. His works
but faintly reflect the image of his perfections;
it is a fecond-hand knowledge: to have a juft
idea of him it may be neceflary to see him as
he is. But what is that? It is fomething that
never entered into the heart of man to conceive;
yet what we can easily conceive, will be a foun-
tain of unfpeakable and everlasting rapture. All
created glories will fade and die away in his pre-
fence. Perhaps it will be my happiness to com-
pare the world with the fair exemplar of it in
the Divine Mind; perhaps, to view the original
plan of those wife defigns that have been execut,
ing in a long fucceffion of ages. Thus em-
ployed in finding out HIS works, and contem,
plating their author, how fhall I fall proftrate
and adoring, my body fwallowed up in the im-
mensity of matter, my mind in the infinitude of
HIS perfections!*

By the Rev. Mr. HENRY GROVE. See SPECT. N° 588,
No 601, and No 626; and BIOG. BRITAN. art. GROVE
HENRY.

*

*Next Saturday will be publifhed, in a neat pocket
volume, the fame with the SPECTATOR, GUARDIAN, and
ENGLISHMAN, The LOVER, to which is added the READER.
N. B. There are a fmall number printed in 8vo. upon royal
and demi paper, to complete fets of the Author's Works.
SPECT. in folio, No 663, Dec. 15, 1714. See STEELE'S
"Epift. Correfpondence," vol. II. p. 445; and the edition in
8vc. of The LOVER and The READER 1789, with notes;
printed for and by the Editor, Mr. Deputy NICHOLS.