Deism is separated into nearly as many climates and districts as nominal Christianity; so that, if Calvinism be placed in the torrid zone, and Socinianism in the polar regions of Christianity; you may with equal

descriptive of their conduct and contradictions, is highly worthy of attention :-"I have consulted our philosophers, I have perused their books, I have examined their several opinions, I have found them all proud, positive, and dogmatizing, even in their pretended scepticism, knowing every thing, proving nothing, and ridiculing one another; and this is the only point in which they concur, and in which they are right. Daring when they attack, they defend themselves without vigour. If you consider their arguments, they have none but for destruction; if you count their number, each one is reduced to himself; they never unite but to dispute; to listen to them was not the way to relieve myself from my doubts. I conceived that the insufficiency of the human understanding was the first cause of this prodigious diversity of sentiment, and that pride was the second. If our philosophers were able to discover truth, which of them would interest himself about it? Each of them knows that his system is not better established than the others; but he supports it, because it is his own there is not one amongst them who, coming to distinguish truth from falsehood, would not prefer his own error to the truth that is discovered by another. Where is the philosopher, who, for his own glory, would not willingly deceive the whole human race? Where is he, who, in the secret of his heart, proposes any other object than his own distinction? Provided he can but raise himself above the commonalty, provided he can eclipse his competitors, he has reached the summit of his ambition. The great thing for him is to think differently from other people. Among believers, he is an Atheist, among Atheists, a believer. Shun, shun then, those who, under pretence of explaining nature, sow in the hearts of men the most dispiriting doctrines, whose scepticism is far more affirmative and dogmatical than the decided tone of their adversaries. Under pretence of being themselves the only people enlightened, they imperiously subject us to their magisterial decisions, and would fain palm upon us, for the true causes of things, the unintelligible systems they have erected in their own heads. Whilst they overturn, destroy, and trample under foot, all that mankind reveres, snatch from the afflicted the only comfort left them in their misery, from the rich and great the only curb that can restrain their passions; tear from the heart all remorse of vice, all hopes of virtue, and still boast themselves the benefactors of mankind. Truth,' they say, 'is never hurtful to man.' I believe that as well as they; and the same, in my opinion, is a proof that what they teach is not the truth."-Rousseau, as quoted by M. Gandolphy, in his Defence of the Ancient Faith.

propriety imagine the sentiments of Herbert to occupy the equatorial regions, and those of Hume, Holcroft, and Godwin, the frigid zone of infidelity. Moderate Deists, however, and to such a candid reasoner would direct his arguments, profess to believe in one God, possessing natural and moral attributes, the former of which may be comprehended under power and knowledge, the latter under justice and benevolence; they believe, I presume, that virtue is that which is consistent with the will of God in act and motive; and yet that God has never made any revelation of his will to men ; but that the collection of books which we receive as such, and consequently by way of distinction denominate THE SCRIPTURES, are in fact no such thing, but are the oldest, the most artful, and most successful collection of forgeries that ever was palmed upon the world.

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And are they the apostles and disseminators of this heart-chilling system who wish to laugh you out of your religion? or rather, who are ridiculing you for the scrupulous attention with which you are investigating the evidences of Christianity, and for the solicitude you express that you may "be established in Faith and Holiness?" Let them enjoy the comforts of their supposed intellectual superiority, while you pursue your inquiry; and then you will in due time enjoy the fruits of the spirit," while they may haply retain all that fine flow of soul which so naturally results from the consciousness, of being lost in a labyrinth of uncertainty. Do not suppose that the exultation so commonly manifested by these men, and which seems so much to have impressed your mind, is always natural. Confident as they often profess themselves to be, that unless you are a mere child in intellect you will soon think as they do; be assured, that in general their sarcasms and affected contempt originate in the appre hension that your sentiments will soon be diametrically opposite to theirs, and in their consequent eagerness to deter you from inquiry. Do not imagine that when

these your lively, and laughing, and witty companions leave you, their mirth and hilarity support them equally in solitude. Could you follow them into their retirements without being witnessed, or could you conceive the language of their souls to be formed into audible words, you might, without any breach of candour, fancy them soliloquizing in the following language of Pascal.

"I hardly know who has sent me into the world. Nor know I what the world is, or what I am myself. I am shockingly ignorant of all things. I know not what my body is, what my senses are, or what my soul is. This very part of me, which thinks what I speak, which reflects upon itself and upon every thing round me, is yet as ignorant of itself, as it is of every thing else. I behold these frightful spaces of the universe with which I am encompassed, and feel myself confined to one little portion of the vast extent, without understanding why I am placed in this part of it rather than in any other; or why the short period of time that was allotted me to live was assigned to me at this particular point, rather than at any other, of the whole eternity which was before me, or of that which is to come after me. I see nothing but infinities on all sides, which swallow me up like an atom, or transform me to a shadow which endures but a single instant, and is never to return. All that I know is, that I must shortly die; but this very death, from which I cannot escape, is the thing of which I am the most ignorant.

"As I know not whence I came, so I know not whither I am going; only this I know, that, at my departure out of the world, I must either be for ever annihilated, or fall into the hands of an incensed GOD, without being able to decide which of these two conditions will be my everlasting portion.

"Such is my state, so full of weakness, darkness, and wretchedness. And from all this I conclude, that I ought to pass all the days of my life without ever considering what is hereafter to befall me: and that I

have nothing to do but to follow my inclinations without reflection or disquiet, doing all that which, if what is said of a miserable eternity, be true, will infallibly plunge me into it. It is possible I might find some light to dispel my doubts; but I will not take the trouble to stir one foot in search of it; rather, despising all those who do take pains in this inquiry, I am resolved to go on, without fear or foresight, and brave the grand event; I will pass as easily as I can out of life, and die utterly uncertain about the eternal state of my future existence."

If this be a fair representation of the strange process of thought often pursued by the generality of modern Deists, as I apprehend it is, you will agree with me, that it is an honour to religion to have such unreasonable men for its professed enemies, and to Christians, that such, or such principally, are their revilers.

Yet, as idolizers of reason, we cannot suppose that these gentlemen reject the Christian religion, and adopt the notions of Deism, without thinking they have found sufficient reasons for the preference. Let us, my friend, by instituting a short comparison, see if we can discover them. Can a Deist arrive at his convictions by any thing like the following gradation?

Christianity reveals a God, glorious in holiness; Deism, though it acknowledges a God, yet in great measure overlooks his moral character: therefore I prefer Deism. Christianity contains a professed revelation of the will of God; Deism leaves me in perfect darkness as to his will: therefore I prefer Deism. Christianity exhibits palpable, obvious, and simple criteria of the nature of virtue and vice; Deism envelopes the nature of virtue and vice in the greatest doubt and perplexity: therefore I prefer Deism. Christianity furnishes the strongest possible motives for virtuous conduct, and the most cogent reasons for abstaining from vicious conduct; Deism appeals only to some vague notions relative to the fitness of things, or to moral beauty, or to expediency, which makes a

man's own sentiments and feelings, however fluctuating, his ultimate guide: therefore I prefer Deism. Christianity often reforms profligate and vicious men ; Deism never: therefore I prefer Deism. Christianity frequently prompts men to schemes of the most extensive philanthropy, and compels them to execute those schemes; Deism scarcely ever devises any such schemes: therefore I prefer Deism. Christianity imparts principles that support men under all the trials and vicissitudes of life; Deism can have recourse to no such principles: therefore I prefer Deism. Christianity assures me of eternal existence beyond the grave; and that, if it is not to me an eternal portion of felicity, it will be my own fault: Deism leaves me perfectly ignorant, let my conduct here be what it may, whether I shall live beyond the grave or not; whether such existence, if there be any, will be limited or infinite, happy or miserable: therefore I prefer Deism. Christianity will support me under the languishments of a sick bed, and in the prospect of death, with_the sure and certain hope," that death is only a short though sometimes dark passage into an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and which fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for God's people:" Deism will then leave me, sinking in an ocean of gloomy apprehension, without one support-in trembling expectation, that the icy hand of the king of terrors is about to seize me; but whether to convey me to Heaven, to Hell, or to a state of annihilation, I know not; therefore I prefer no, my friend, it is impossible that any man capable of correct reflection can, after tracing this contrast, say, deliberately and sincerely,therefore I prefer Deism.

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The reasons, then, which weigh with a Deist must be different from the above. Perhaps you may be told, that the difficulties attending the belief of Christianity are very numerous and great, while the mere reception of the principles of Deism is in a considerable degree free from difficulty, or at least presents no difficulties