man to conceive the things which God bath prepared for thofe that love him. The abovementioned schemes are narrow

tranfcripts of our prefent ftate: But in this indefinite defcription there is fomething ineffably great and noble. The mind of man must be raised to a higher pitch, not only to partake the enjoyments of the Chriftian Paradise, but even to be able to frame any notion of them.

Nevertheless, in order to gratify our imagination, and by way of condefcenfion to our low way of thinking, the Ideas of Light, Glory, a Crown, &c. are made ufe of to adumbrate that which we cannot directly understand. The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and fall lead them into living fountains of waters; and God fhall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there Shall be no more death, neither forrow, nor crying, neither fhall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away, and bebold all things are net. There shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the fun for the Lord God giveth them light; and fhall make them

drink®

drink of the river of his pleasures: and they shall reign for ever and ever. They Shall receive a crown of glory which fadeth

not away.

Thefe are chearing reflexions: And I have often wondered that men could be found fo dull and phlegmatic, as to prefer the thought of annihilation before them; or fo ill-natur'd, as to endeavour to perfuade mankind to the disbelief of what is fo pleafing and profitable even in the profpect; or fo blind, as not to fee that there is a Deity, and if there be, that this fcheme of things flows from his attributes, and evidently correfponds with the other parts of his cre

ation.

I know not how to account for this abfurd turn of thought, except it proceed from a want of other employment joined with an affectation of fingularity. I fhall, therefore, inform our modern Free thinkers of two points, whereof they seem to be ignorant. The first is, that it is not the being fingular, but being fingular for fomething that argues either extraordinary endowments of nature, or benevolent intentions to manP 3 kind,

kind, which draws the admiration and esteem of the world. A mistake in this point naturally arifes from that con fufion of thought which I do not remember to have feen fo great inftances of in any writers, as in certain modern Free-thinkers.

The other point is, that there are innumerable objects within the reach of a human mind, and each of thefe objects may be viewed in innumerable lights and pofitions, and the relations. arifing between them are innumerable. There is, therefore, an infinity of things whereon to employ their thoughts, if not with advantage to the world, at leaft with amufement to themselves, and without offence or prejudice to other people. If they proceed to exert their talent of Free-thinking in this way; they may be innocently dull, and no one take any notice of it. But to fee men without either Wit or Argument pretend to run down Divine and Human Laws, and treat their fellow-fubjects with contempt for profeffing a belief of thofe points on which the prefent as well as future intereft of Mankind depends, is

not

I

not to be endured. For my own part, fhall omit no endeavours to render their perfons as despicable, and their practices as odious in the eye of the world, as they deserve.

SECT. XI.

DEATH and JUDGMENT.

Aflata eft numine quando

Jam propiore Dei.-

T

Virg.

HE following Letter comes to me from that excellent man in Holy Orders, whom I have mentioned more than once as one of that fociety who affift me in my fpeculations. It is a thought in fickness, and of a very serious nature, for which reafon I give it a place in the paper of this day.

siR,

TH

HE indifpofition which has long hung upon me, is at laft grown to fuch a head, that it muft quickly

make