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to shew their skill in criticism, may find ample scope for employing their

pens.

All I shall say by way of recommendation of it to my Readers is, I hope they will find nothing in it contrary to sound principles, but may find some little entertainment to pass a vacant hour, and some passages which, through the Divine blessing, to them may prove useful. And that this last may be the case, hath been, during the time of composing it, and still is, the sincere wish of its

AUTHOR,

vii

A few Lines Spoken at EDNAM, the birthplace of the celebrated THOMSON, when in the Room where it is supposed he was born.

AND is this the place where he who sung in strains sublime the sweets of spring, with all the beauties of the flushing year, was born! the honour of his nation, and the delight of the Muses,---whose works, chiefly those of his Seasons, stand unrivalled even by the Georgics themselves; nor could Virgil, that Prince of Latin Poets, boast of more harmonious numbers than thou, O THOMSON! whose lofty verses, fam'd through the world, supply the place of a stately monument, which, if ever due to the memory of a Poet, thine well deserved. Up that majestic ladder, the rounds of which thou hast so elegantly described, may all ascend to contemplate, not only the God of Nature, but also the God of Grace, the God and Father of our Lord Je»sus Christ, by whom the worlds were made. If this be not the use which is made of thy lofty strains of poetry, and my low themes of prose, I'm afraid all will prove but a trifling

amusement.

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THE works of God are a great book, consisting of three incomprehensible volumes, namely, Nature, Providence, and Grace; which continually lie open for the perusal of all in heaven and all on earth. It was . on the former of these man first opened his eyes in paradise.

Beholding the magnificence of the ample page, how astonished would he be at finding himself, and observing creation around! Incomparably more so than man now, who is born of a woman, and gradually comes from an unthinking to a thinking state; from infancy to childhood, and from child

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hood to man. Soon as the stupendous wonders permitted his mental powers to act in regularity, would not such, or similar, be the reflections of his then perfectly pure and rational soul? What am I! Where am I ! Of what am I, and all around me, made! Who made us! and for what end was I, and all creation, formed! A divine ray shining through his soul, doubtless, resolved the all-important questions, making known the Creator and the end of creation.

Struck, with amazement at the infinite greatness, glory, and transcendent goodness, of the Lord God his Maker, the Creator of heaven and earth, and the bounties of creation, would not he, for some considerable time, be lost in gratefully wondering, especially at the infinite kindness of the Lord God, in condescending so low, as graciously to enter into covenant with him, his creature, and that in name of all his posterity! Those who are of opinion that man 'did not. stand more than one day, allow him but little time indeed, either for admiring the works of creation, or celebrating the praises of the Creator.

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