all these advantages, but in any degree too that I choose to possess them. I have somewhere met with two lines. which express what I mean in stronger terms than I can myself. The author, indeed, applies them to madness in general, but I shall take the liberty of making use of them for my present purpose. "There is a pleasure sure in being mad, Which none but madmen know." I have the honour to be acquainted with a gentleman of this happy turn of mind, and it has carried him with great serenity and comfort through a life of extreme poverty and contempt. The first of these evils, which proves so insupportable to vulgar minds, he despises with the temper of a philosopher; and when (as alas! is frequently the case) he does not know where to get a dinner, he can make a hearty meal on the contemplation of his own merit! He has just learning enough to know that this has been the fate of great men in all ages, and therefore esteems it a necessary tax paid for the superiority of his understanding to those favourites of fortune who enjoy the luxury of a hot dinner every day in the week. The benevolence of his mind has led him to several attempts in his younger years for the reformation and improvement of the world, as (to make use of a phrase of his own, in one of his most boasted performances) “he esteems himself sent into it to teach men the use of their reason." It is true he has hitherto failed in his expectations of service either to others or himself: most of his productions being reserved, as he himself says, for the instruction of future ages, when he expects a race of men will arise, wise enough to understand and value what the present race, for want of these qualities, despise. Supported by such generous principles as these, and the posthumous glory that awaits him, he bears up under the pressure of old age and infirmities. Undismayed at the treatment he meets with from an ungrateful world, his breast still glows with plans of future labours, for which he expects his reward in some unknown æra of light and learning sufficient to do justice to his memory. And, if after all, as sometimes it will happen for want of taking a sufficient dose of my medicine, he seems to entertain any doubt that such a period may never happen, he has still one resource which can never fail him, and which I will express in the words of the most elegant writer of our age. ""Tis not in virtue to secure success, But we'll do more, my Portius, we'll deserve it.” I should now, Sir, come to the proper business of the present letter, the acknowledgment of our obligations to you, your lady, and the whole family, but as these are not of a nature to be dispatched in a few lines, and my time will allow me no more, I am obliged, though very much against my will, rather to say nothing till I have the pleasure of writing again, than omit what I am sure will make the best part of my next letter. I thank God a good night's rest has pretty well recovered my wife's spirits, which, I hope, a day or two more will confirm, if she do not spend them too freely in telling all the company that come how agreeably she has passed the last three weeks. You will pardon me, Sir, that I conclude this, which I could not possibly delay to another post, with our most sincere respects to every branch of your amiable family; and to assure Dr. Stonehouse, Mr. Harvey, and all whom I have had the pleasure of knowing whilst with you, of my esteem and affection, and in particular to accept yourself the largest share of both, from, Dear Sir, Your most obliged, most obedient Servant, R. CRUTTENDEN. FROM THE REV. W. WARBURTON, D. D. DEAR SIR, Bedford Row, June 10, 1749. MR. ALLEN has just sent me your kind letter; and tells me I am obliged to you for your Sermon,* which he commends extremely. Your Essay on Inspiration is a well reasoned and judicious performance. I think you do not set a just value on yourself, when you lend your name or countenance to such weak, but well meaning rhapsodies as Harvey's Meditations. This may do well enough with the people; but it is the learned that claim you. And though the intermixing with works of this cast, sober books of devotion of your own composing, becomes your character, and is indeed your duty, yet your charity and love of goodness suffer you to let yourself down in the opinion of those you most value, and whose high opinion you have fairly gained by works of learning and reasoning inferior to none. Forgive me this freedom. I am proceeding with the Divine Legation in good earnest. I have been a little diverted upon an important subject; viz. in writing a Discourse to prove the miraculous Interposition of Providence in defeating Julian's attempt to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. It is in three parts. The first to establish the truth by human testimony, and the nature of the fact. 2. An answer to objections. 3. An inquiry into the nature of that evidence which is sufficient to claim a rational assent to the miraculous fact;—it is in the press, but will not be published till winter. I imagined I had communicated my grief to you for the greatest loss I ever had, in that of the best parent and woman that ever was.† It yet hangs heavy upon me, and *That on the Peace then concluded with France and Spain. "I have lived some time in the world; and, blessed be God, without giving or taking offence. This time has been spent in my parish will do so while I live. God preserve you in the possession and enjoyment of all the blessings most dear to you, which brings me to remember, with my best compliments, good Mrs. Doddridge, and to assure you that I am, with the highest esteem, Dear Sir, Your very faithful, and affectionate, humble Servant, W. WARBURTON. FROM W. OLIVER M. D. Bath, June 10, 1749. My good friend Dr. Doddridge's letter gave me great pleasure, for it showed me that I held that place in his regard, which nothing but a grateful return for the just esteem I have for him could have placed me in. Most gladly should I have pressed you to have spent a summer month amongst your friends in this country, could I have enjoyed your company; but though I cannot have it here, I am in great hopes that I shall not return, from a tour I am setting out upon, without seeing you. I do not wonder that the great variety in Dr. H.—'s book should affect you very variously. He is so far from apprehending that the scheme of universal restitution will harden sinners in their iniquity, that he fears that the opinion of eternal misery has made more infidels and church, for I am a country clergyman, and reside constantly on my cure, in the service of my neighbour, in my study, and in the offices of filial piety," "With lenient arts t' extend a mother's breath, Bishop Warburton's Works, vol. vi. p. 12, 13. hardened more sinners than any other tenet broached by heretics. He thinks it highly destructive of the moral character of God to imagine that he would have brought any thing into being without its knowledge or consent, whose fate he then foreknew, and was certain that, by its own mismanagement of the faculties he was then about to endow it with, it would be rendered exquisitely miserable to all eternity. Place before your eyes a creating God, speaking forth myriads of beings under these deplorable circumstances, and try if you can imagine him reviewing his works, and declaring them all to be good! Can he knowingly have brought these beings into existence so illfated? (For to a being, who knows the final misery they will be plunged in, it is the same, whether it be by their own misconduct or another's tyranny.) Can he have put an instrument into their hands, which they did not ask for, which he knows they will abuse to such horrible purposes? But the same Creator has put eternal happiness, likewise, within their reach. Should you give a knife into the hands of a madman, and tell him it was to cut his bread and butter, when you were sure that the moment it was in his possession he would cut his throat with it, you would hardly escape being charged with the blood of that man, as much as if you had stabbed him. Does not (the Doctor may say) the influence of every doctrine depend upon its credibility? and has any rational creature, using its faculties, ever failed of being shocked at a doctrine which implies the highest injustice in the most just, inflicting punishments as disproportional to the crimes committed as finite is to infinite, and without proposing any end by it, but exquisite misery to the creature punished, by which the very idea of punishment is changed into useless revenge and implacable malice? God forbid that we should entertain opinions full of such horrid blasphemy, which would make the soul shrink with trembling and astonishment, |