dife.

There is, however, this difference between

them, that as the first naturally produces that strength and greatness of mind I have been all along describing as so effential to render a man happy, the latter is ruffled and discomposed by every accident, and loft under the common misfortune.

It is this strength of mind that is not to be overcome by the changes of fortune, but arifes at the fight of dangers, and could make Alexander (in that passage of his life so much admired by the prince of Conde) when his army mutinied, bid his foldiers return to Macedon, and tell their countrymen that they had. left their king conquering the world; fince for his part he could not doubt of raising an army wherever he appeared. It is this chiefly exerts itself when a man is most oppressed, and gives him always in proportion to whatever malice or injustice would deprive him of. It is this, in short, that makes the virtuous man infenfibly set a value upon himself, and throws a varnish over his words and actions, that will at last command esteem, and give him a greater afcendant over others, than all the advantages of birth and. førtune. GUARDIAN, Vol. II. No. 32.

There is a restless endeavour in the mind of man after happiness. This appetite is wrought into the or-iginal frame of our nature, and exerts itself in all parts of the creation that are endued with any degree of thought or sense. But as the human mind is dig-. nified by a more comprehenfive faculty than can be found in the inferior animals, it is natural for men. not only to have an eye, each to his own happiness,. hut also to endeavour to promote that of others in the same rank of being: And in proportion to the generofity that is an ingredient in the temper of the soul, the object of its benevolence is of a larger or nar-. rower extent. There is hardly a spirit upon earth fo mean and contracted as to centre all regards on its own interest, exclusive of the rest of mankind. Even the felsish man hath some share of love, which he bestows on his family and friends. A nobler mind hath at heart

the common interest of the society or country of which he makes a part. And there is still a more diffufive spirit, whose being or intentions reach the whole mass of mankind, and are continued beyond the present age to a fucceffion of future generations.

The advantage arifing to him who hath the tincture of this generofity on his foul, is, that he is affected with a fublimer joy than can be comprehended by one who is destitute of that noble relish. The happiness of the rest of mankind hath a natural connection with that of a reasonable mind. And in proportion as the actions of each individual contribute to this end, he must be thought to deserve well or ill both of the world and of himself. I have in a late paper obferved, that men who have no reach of thought, do oft misplace their affections on the means without refpect to the end, and by a preposterous defire of things in themselves indifferent, forego the enjoyment of that happiness which those things are inftrumental to

obtain. This observation has been confidered with regard to critics and mifers; I shall now apply it to free-thinkers.

Liberty and truth are the main points which these gentlemen pretend to have in view; to proceed therefore methodically, I will endeavour to shew in the first place that liberty and truth are not in themselves defirable, but only as they relate to a farther end. And secondly, that the fort of liberty and truth (allowing them those names) which our free-thinkers ufe all their industry to promote, is destructive of that end, viz. human happiness; and confequently that fpecies, as fuch, instead of being encouraged or efteemed, merit the detestation and abhorrence of all honest men. And in the last place I design to shew, that under the pretence of advancing liberty and truth, they do in reality promote the two contrary evils.

As to the first point, it has been observed that it is the duty of each particular person to aim at the happiness of his fellow-creatures; and that as this view is of a wider or narrower extent, it argues a mind more

or less virtuous. Hence it follows that a liberty of doing good actions which conduce to the felicity of mankind, and a knowledge of such truths as might either give us pleasure in the contemplation of them, or direct our conduct to the great ends of life, are valuable perfections. But shall a good man, therefcre, prefer a liberty to commit murder or adultery, before the wholesome restraint of divine and human laws? Or shall a wife man prefer the knowledge of a troublesome and afflicting truth, before a pleasant error that would cheer his foul with joy and comfort, and be attended with no ill confequences? Surely no man of common sense would thank him, who had put it in his power to execute the fudden suggestions of a fit of paffion or madness, or imagine himself obliged to a perfon, who by forwardly informing him of ill news, had caused his foul to anticipate that forrow which the would have never felt so long as the ungrateful truth lay concealed.

Let us then respect the happiness of our fpecies, and in this light examine the proceedings of the free.. thinkers. From what giants and monsters would these knight-errants undertake to free the world? From the ties that religion impofeth on our minds, from the expectation of future judgment, and from the terrors of a troubled confcience, not by reforming men's lives, but by giving encouragement to their vices. What are these important truths of which they would convince mankind? That there is no such thing as a wife and just Providence: That the mind of man is corporeal: That religion is a State-trick, contrived to make men honest and virtuous, and to procure a subsistence to others for teaching and exhorting them to be fo: That the good tidings of life and immortality brought to light by the Gofpel, are fables and impostures : From believing that we are made in the image of God, they would degrade us to an opinion that we are on a level with the beasts that perish. What pleasure or what advantage do these notions bring to mankind ? Is it of any use to the public that good men should lose the comfortable profpect of a reward to their vir

tue, or the wicked be encouraged to perfist in their impiety, from an affuranoe that they shall not be punished for it hereafter ?

But

Allowing, therefore, these men to be patrons of liberty and truth, yet it is of fuch truths and that fort of liberty which makes them justly be looked upon as enemies to the peace and happiness of the world. upon a thorough and impartial view it will be found that their endeavours, instead of advancing the cause of liberty and truth, tend only to introduce flavery and error among men. There are two parts in our nature, the baser, which consists of our senses and paffions, and the more noble and rational, which is properly the human part, the other being common to us with brutes. The inferior part is generally much stronger, and has always the start of reason, which if, in the perpetual struggle between them, it were not aided from Heaven by religion, would almost univerfally be vanquished, and man become a flave to his paflions, which as it is the most grievous and abject flavery, so it is the genuine refult of that liberty which is proposed by overturning religion. Nor is the other part of their design better executed. Look into their pretended truths: Are they not fo many wretched abfurdities, maintained in opposition to the light of nature and divine revelation, by fly inuendoes and cold jefts, by such pitiful fophifms, and fuch confused and indigested notions, that one would vehemently suspect those men ufurped the name of free-thinkers, with the fame view that hypocrites do that of godliness, that it may ferve for a cloak to cover the contrary defect ?

I shall close this discourse with a parrallel reflection on these three fpecies, who feem to be allied by a certain agreement in mediocrity of understanding. A critic is entirely given up to the pursuit of learning; when he has got it, is his judgment clearer, his imagination livelier, or his manners more polite than those of other man? Is it observed that a miser, when he has acquired his superfluous eftate, eats, drinks, or fleeps with more fatisfaction; that he has a cheerful

ler mind, or relifhes any of the enjoyments of life better than his neighbours? The free-thinkers plead hard for a licence to think freely; they have it; but what ufe do they make of it? Are they eminent for any fublime discoveries in any of the arts and sciences ? Have they been authors of any inventions that conduce to the well-being of mankind? Do their writings shew a greater depth of design, a clearer method, or more just and correct reasoning, than those of other

men ?

There is a great resemblance in their genius; but the critic and miser are only ridiculous and contemptible creatures, while the free-thinker is alfo a pernicious one.

SIR,

GUARDIAN, Vol. I. No. 83.

HEAVEN.

CONSIDERED in my two last letters that awful and tremendous subject, the ubiquity or omniprefence of the Divine Being. I have shewn that he is equally present in all places throughout the whole extent of infinite space. This doctrine is so agreeable to reason, that we meet with it in the writings of the enlightened heathens, as I might shew at large, were it not already done by other hands. But though the deity be thus effentially present through all the immenfity of space, there is one part of it in which he discovers himself in a most transcendent and visible glory. This is that place which is marked out in scripture under the different appellations of Paradise, the third Heaven, the throne of God, and the habitation of his glory. It is here where the glorified body of our Saviour refides, and where all the celestial hierarchies, and the innumerable hosts of angels, are represented as perpetually furrounding the feat of God with hallelujahs, and hymns of praise. This is that prefence of God which some of the divines call his Glories; and others, his Majestic Prefence. He is indeed as essentially present in all