their singularity; but the charm is soon over; and the succeeding age will be astonished to hear, that their forefathers were deluded, or amused with such fooleries."

not.

You, sir, have read the preceding paragraph before: but this letter may come into the hands of many who have It is the alarum bell to the admirers of Mr. Hume; and should be wrung in their ears, till succeeded by the last trumpet.

*"

And now, sir, will you give me leave to ask you a few questions? Why all this hurry and bustle, this eagerness to gratify the pretended "impatience of the public *,' and satisfy it, that our philosopher lived and died perfectly composed and easy? Was there, then, any suspicion in Scotland, that he might not, at times, be quite so composed and easy as he should have been? Was there any particular book ever written against him, that shook his system to pieces about his ears, and reduced it to a heap of ruins, the success and eclat of which might be supposed to have hurt his mind, and to have affected his health? Was there any author, whose name his friends never dared to mention before him, and warned all strangers that were introduced to him, against doing it, because he never failed, when by any accident it was done, to fly out into a transport of passion and swearing +? Was it deemed necessary, or expedient, on this account, that he should represent himself, and that you should represent him, to have been perfectly secure of the growth and increase of his philosophic reputation, as if no book had been written, which had impaired it; it having been judged much easier to dissemble the fall of Dagon, than to set him upon his stumps again? I am a South Briton, and, consequently, not acquainted with what passes so far in the opposite quarter.

* Preface to Life, &c.

† “I was a man of mild disposition, of command of temper, little susceptible of enmity, and of great moderation in all my passions. Even my love of literary fame, my ruling passion, never soured my temper." Life, p. 32. Yet even by what is said of the reverends and right reverends-Bishop Warburton, Bishop Hurd, the Zealots (that is, the Christians), and of the resolution once taken to " change his name and to settle in France," because his writings did not meet with sufficient encouragement-by these circumstances, I say, there seems to have been something of the irritable in his constitution. But these are trifles. My quarry lies not this way, at present. I fly at nobler game. The atrocious wickedness of diffusing atheism through the land, is a subject which concerns every body.

You, sir, can inform us how these things are; and likewise, when the great work of benevolence and charity, of wisdom and virtue, shall be crowned by the publication of a treatise designed to prove the soul's mortality, and another, to justify and recommend self-murder; for which, without doubt, the present and every future age will bless the name of the gentle and amiable author.

Upon the whole, Doctor, your meaning is good; but I think you will not succeed this time. You would persuade us, by the example of David Hume, esq. that atheism is the only cordial for low spirits, and the proper antidote against the fear of death. But surely, he who can reflect, with complacency, on a friend thus misemploying his talents in his life, and then amusing himself with Lucian, whist, and Charon, at his death, may smile over Babylon in ruins; esteem the earthquake which destroyed Lisbon, an agreeable occurrence; and congratulate the hardened Pharaoh, on his overthrow in the Red sea. Drollery, in such circumstance, is neither more nor less than

Moody madness, laughing wild
Amid severest woe.

Would we know the baneful and pestilential influences of false philosophy on the human heart? We need only contemplate them in this most deplorable instance of Mr. Hume.

These sayings, sir, may appear harsh; but they are salutary. And if departed spirits have any knowledge of what is passing upon earth, that person will be regarded by your friend as rendering him the truest services, who, by energy of expression, and warmth of exhortation, shall most contribute to prevent his writings from producing those effects upon mankind, which he no longer wishes they should produce. Let no man deceive himself, or be deceived by others. It is the voice of eternal truth, which crieth aloud, and saith to you, sir, and to me, and to all the world" He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him *."

By way of contrast to the behaviour of Mr. Hume, at

* John iii. 36.

the close of a life, passed "without God in the world," permit me, sir, to lay before yourself, and the public, the last sentiments of the truly learned, judicious, and admirable Hooker, who had spent his days in the service of his Maker and Redeemer.

After this manner, therefore, spake the author of the Ecclesiastical Polity, immediately before he expired:

"I have lived to see, that this world is made up of perturbations; and I have been long preparing to leave it, and gathering comfort for the dreadful hour of making my account with God, which I now apprehend to be near. And though I have, by his grace, loved him in my youth, and feared him in my age, and laboured to have a conscience void of offence, towards him, and towards all men; yet, if thou, Lord, shouldst be extreme to mark what I have done amiss, who can abide it? And therefore, where I have failed, Lord, show mercy to me; for I plead not my righteousness, but the forgiveness of my unrighteousness, through His merits, who died to purchase pardon for penitent sinners. And since I owe thee a death, Lord, let it not be terrible, and then take thine own time; I submit to it. Let not mine, O Lord, but thy will be done!—God hath heard my daily petitions; for I am at peace with all men, and he is at peace with me. From such blessed assurance I feel that inward joy, which this world can neither give, nor take from me. My conscience beareth me this witness; and this witness makes the thoughts of death joyful. I could wish to live, to do the Church more service; but cannot hope it: for my days are past, as a shadow that returns not."

His worthy biographer adds: "More he would have spoken, but his spirits failed him; and, after a short conflict between nature and death, a quiet sigh put a period to his last breath, and so, he fell asleep-And now he seems to rest like Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. Let me here draw his curtain, till, with the most glorious company of the Patriarchs and Apostles, and the most noble army of Martyrs and Confessors, this most learned, most humble, most holy man, shall also awake to receive an eternal tranquillity, and with it a greater degree of glory, than common Christians shall be made partakers of."

Doctor Smith, when the hour of his departure hence

shall arrive, will copy the example of the believer, or the infidel, as it liketh him best. I must freely own, I have no opinion of that reader's head or heart, who will not exclaim, as I find myself obliged to do

"Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his !"

I am, Sir,

Your very sincere well-wisher, and humble servant,
One of the People called CHRISTIANS.

POSTSCRIPT.

As it is possible, sir, nay, probable, that this little tract, because it is a little one, may be perused by many who have not leisure or inclination to go through large volumes, and yet wish to know what Mr. Hume's philosophical system is; I shall here subjoin a short but comprehensive summary of the doctrines which compose it, drawn up some few years ago, by a learned gentleman, for his amusement, with proper references to those parts of our philosopher's works, where such doctrines were to be found. And though I never heard the compiler had the thanks of Mr. Hume for so doing, yet neither could I ever find, that he or his friends disputed the fidelity and accuracy with which it was done *.

See Dr. Beattie's Essay on Truth, Part II. chap. i. sect. 1. and Part III. chap. ii.

A Summary of Mr. Hume's Doctrines, Metaphysical and

Moral,

OF THE SOUL.

That the soul of man is not the same this moment, that it was the last; that we know not what it is; that it is not one, but many things, and that it is nothing at all.

That in this soul is the agency of all the causes that operate throughout the sensible creation; and yet that in this soul there is neither power nor agency, nor any idea of either.

That matter and motion may often be regarded as the cause of thought.

OF THE UNIVERSE.

That the external world does not exist, or at least, that its existence may reasonably be doubted.

That the universe exists in the mind, and that the mind does not exist.

That the universe is nothing but a heap of perceptions, without a substance.

That though a man could bring himself to believe, yea, and have reason to believe, that every thing in the universe proceeds from some cause; yet it would be unreasonable for him to believe, that the universe itself proceeds from

a cause.

OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE.

That the perfection of human knowledge is to doubt. That we ought to doubt of every thing, yea, of our doubts themselves, and therefore, the utmost that philosophy can do, is to give us a doubtful solution of doubtful doubts *.

The fourth section of Mr. Hume's Essays on the Human Understanding, is called Sceptical doubts concerning the operations of the human understanding; and the fifth section bears this title, Sceptical solution of those doubts.