looketh to the ends of the earth, and 'feeth under the whole heaven. The 'Lord beholdeth all the children of men from the place of his habitation, and 'confidereth all their works. He know'eth our down-fitting and up-rifing. He 'compaffeth our path, and counteth our 'fteps. He is acquainted with all our 6 ways; and when we enter our closet, and fhut our door, he feeth us. He 'knoweth the things that come into our 'mind, every one of them; and no 6 thought can be withholden from him. "The Lord is good to all, and his tender 'mercies are over all his works. He is a father of the fatherlefs, and a judge of the widow. He is the God of peace, the Father of mercies, and the God of all • comfort and confolation. The Lord is great, and we know him not: his great• nefs is unfearchable. Who but he hath • measured the waters in the hollow of his 6 hand, and meted out the heavens with a fpan? Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the 'victory, and the majesty. Thou art very P3 'great, 6 'great, thou art clothed with honour. Heaven is thy throne, and earth is thy 'footstool.' Can the mind of a philosopher rise to a more juft and magnificent, and, at the same time, a more amiable idea of the Deity, than is here set forth in the strongest images and most emphatical language? And yet this is the language of thepherds and fishermen. The illiterate Jews and poor perfecuted Christians retained these noble sentiments, while the polite and powerful nations of the earth were given up to that fottifh fort of worship, of which the following elegant description is extracted from one of the inspired writers. 'Who hath formed a God or molten an image that is profitable for nothing? The fmith with the tongs both worketh 6 in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength ' of his arms: yea, he is hungry and his 'ftrength faileth. He drinketh no water, and is faint. A man planteth an afh, and 'the rain doth nourish it. He burneth 'part thereof in the fire. He roafteth roast. 'He He warmeth himself. And the refidue thereof he maketh a God. He falleth 'down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and faith, Deliver me, 'for thou art my God. None confidereth in his heart, I have burnt part of it in 'the fire; yea, also, I have baked bread 6 upon the coals thereof; I have roasted ' flesh, and eaten it; and shall I make the ' refidue thereof an abomination? fhall I 'fall down to the stock of a tree?' In fuch circumftances as these, for a man to declare for Freethinking, and difengage himself from the yoke of Idolatry, were doing honour to human nature, and a work well becoming the great afferters of reason. But in a church, where our adoration is directed to the Supreme Being, and (to say the leaft) where is nothing, either in the object or manner of worship, that contradicts the light of nature, there, under the pretence of Freethinking, to rail at the religious inftitutions of their country, fheweth an undistinguishing genius, that mistakes oppofition for freedom of thought. And, indeed, P 4 deed, notwithstanding the pretences of some few among our Freethinkers, I can hardly think there are men so stupid and inconfiftent with themselves, as to have a ferious regard for natural religion, and at the fame time use their utmost endeavours to destroy the credit of those facred writings, which as they have been the means of bringing these parts of the world to the knowledge of natural religion, fo, in case they lose their authority over the minds. of men, we should of courfe fink into the fame idolatry which we fee practised by other unenlightened nations. If a perfon, who exerts himself in the modern way of Freethinking, be not a ftupid idolater, it is undeniable that he contributes all he can to the making other men fo, either by ignorance or defign; which lays him under the dilemma, I will not fay of being a fool or a knave, but of incurring the contempt or deteftation of mankind. SECTION SECTION VI. EXCELLENCY OF THE CHRISTIAN INSTI- APTISSIMA QUÆQUE DABUNT DII, Juv. It is owing to pride, and a secret affectation of a certain felf-existence, that the nobleft motive for action that ever was proposed to man is not acknowledged the glory and happiness of their being. The heart is treacherous to itself, and we do not let our reflections go deep enough to receive religion as the most honourable incentive to good and worthy actions. It is our natural weakness to flatter ourselves into a belief, that, if we fearch into our inmoft thoughts, we find ourselves wholly difinterested, and divefted of any views arifing from felf-love and vain-glory. But however spirits of fuperficial greatness may disdain, at first fight, to do any thing, but from a noble impulse in themselves, without any |