All reluctance to obey the divine decree is but a snare to ourselves, and a load to our spirits, and is either an entire cause, or a great aggravation, of the calamity.'

It is not a sin to be afraid of death, but it is a great felicity to be without fear.2

There is something in us that can be without us, and will be after us; though it is strange that it hath no history what it was before us, nor cannot tell how it entered in us.3

Now for these walls of flesh wherein the soul doth seem to be immured before the resurrection, it is nothing but an elemental composition, and a fabric that must fall to ashes. All flesh is grass, is not only metaphorically, but literally, true; for all those creatures we behold are but the herbs of the field digested into flesh in them, or more remotely carnified in ourselves.. I believe that the souls

of men know neither contrary nor corruption; that they subsist beyond the body, and outlive death by the privilege of their proper natures, and without a miracle.1

I am much taken with two verses of Lucan:

"Victurosque Dei celant, ut vivere durent,

Felix esse mori."

We're all deluded, vainly searching ways
To make us happy by the length of days;
For cunningly to make 's protract this breath,
The gods conceal the happiness of death.

. Suicide is not to fear death, but yet to be afraid of life. It is a brave act of valour to con

1 Jer. Taylor, iv. 435.

3 Sir Thomas Browne, Rel. Medici, p. 72.

2 Ibid. 434.

4 Ibid. and 73.

temn death: but, where life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valour to dare to live; and herein religion hath taught us a noble example; for all the valiant acts of Curtius, Scævola, or Codrus, do not parallel or match that one of Job.'

Infinite hopes lie before us, from the existence of a being infinitely good and powerful, and our own soul's immortality; and nothing can hinder or obstruct these hopes but our own wickedness of life. To believe a God, and do well, are two, the most hopeful, cheerful, and comfortable things that possibly can be.2

Let us pray for one another that the time, whether long or short, that shall yet be granted to us, may be well spent; and that, when this life, which, at the longest, is very short, shall come to an end, a better may begin, which shall never end.3

1 Sir Thomas Browne, Rel. Medici, p. 84.

2 Cudworth, Intell. Syst. 889.

3 Johnson, Letters.

CHAP. IV.

THE SCRIPTURES AND RELIGION IN GENERAL.

LET but any man show me any book in the world— the rules whereof, if they were practised, would make men more pious and devout, more holy and sober, better friends and better neighbours, better magistrates, and better subjects, and better in all relations; and which offers to the understanding of men more powerful arguments to persuade them to be all this-let any man, I say, show me such a book, and I will lay aside the Scriptures.1

I have regularly and attentively read these Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion that this volume, independent of its divine origin, contains more sublimity and beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever age or language they may have been composed.2

Laying his hand on the Bible3, he would say, "There is true philosophy: this is the wisdom that speaks to the heart. A bad life is the only grand objection to this book." 4

1 Tillotson.

3 Earl of Rochester.

2 Sir William Jones.

4 Motto to "The Gospel its own Witness," by Andrew Fuller.

The acknowledgments of Rousseau' will serve to confront the assertions of Mr. Paine: he says, "I will confess to you farther, that the majesty of the Scripture strikes me with admiration, as the purity of the Gospel hath its influence on my heart. Is it possible that a book at once so simple and sublime should be merely the work of man? Is it possible that the sacred personage whose history it contains should be himself a mere man? Do we find that he assumed the air of an enthusiast, or ambitious sectary? What sweetness, what purity in his manners! What an affecting gracefulness in his delivery! What sublimity in his maxims! What profound wisdom in his discourses! What presence of mind! What subtilty! What truth in his replies! How great the command over his passions! Where is the man, where the philosopher, who could so live and so die without weakness, and without ostentation? Shall we suppose the evangelical history a mere fiction? Indeed, my friend, it bears not the mark of fiction. On the contrary, the history of Socrates, which nobody presumes to doubt, is not so well attested as that of Jesus Christ. The Jewish authors were incapable of this diction, and strangers to the morality contained in the Gospel; the marks of whose truth are so striking and invincible, that the inventor would be a more astonishing character than the hero." 2

1 Works, v. 215-218.

2 See "The Gospel its own Witness," by Andrew Fuller, 166.

In the Scriptures every thing sustains itself; whether we consider the historical, the legal, or the practical part of it, the proper character appears in all.1

The principles of Diderot were, professedly, atheistical, yet he seems to have been compelled by the force of truth to pay homage to the New Testament. An acquaintance found him one day explaining a chapter of it to his daughter, with all the apparent seriousness and energy of a believer. On expressing his surprise, Diderot replied, "I understand your meaning; but, after all, where is it possible to find better lessons for her instruction?" 2

The Scriptures being an eternal foundation of truth, as immediately coming from the fountain of truth, whatever doth help us to understand their true sense doth well deserve our pains and study.3

"I would recommend to every man whose faith is yet unsettled, Grotius, Dr. Pearson, and Dr. Clarke." To this should be added the most careful study of Butler's Analogy, and Lardner's Works.

"To be sure, Sir, I would have you read the Bible with a commentary; and I would recommend Lowth and Patrick on the Old Testament, and Hammond on the New.""

Origen has, with singular sagacity, observed,

1 Butler's Life of Fenelon, 177.

2 See a note, p. 317., of Lord Teignmouth's Life of Sir W. Jones. 3 Locke's Life by Lord King, 94. 4 Johnson. (Boswell, i. 38.)

5 C.

6 Johnson.