(1) THIS elaborate eulogium on philosophy points obliquely at
religion, which we christians consider as the only sovereign
antidote to every disease incident to the mind of man. It is indeed
hard to say what reason might do were it freed from all restraints,
especially if a succession of philosophers were incessantly
improving on one another as they went on, avoiding and correcting
the mistakes of those who preceded them in the same pursuit, till at
last one complete and rational system was effected. Great things
might probably be accomplished in this manner. But no such plan in
fact ever was or is likely to be finished. Neither priestcraft, nor
magisterial powers, however, cramped the progress of improving
reason, or baffled the genius of enquiring man. The principles of
religion and virtue were freely canvassed by the boldest spirits of
antiquity. In truth, the superior advantage and necessity of the
christian religion seems manifest from this particular circumstance,
{40} that it has taken away every possible restraint from natural
religion, allowing it to exert itself to the utmost in finding out
the fundamental truths of virtue, and in acquiescing in them, in
openly avowing and acknowledging them when revealed, in extending
the views and expectations of men, in giving them more just and
liberal sentiments, and in publickly and uniformly disclaiming any
intention of establishing a kingdom for its votaries or believers in
this world.

     THE doctrines of the gospel are not intended to instruct us
in the knowledge of every thing which may be really useful in the
present life, far less of every thing, which, from curiosity alone,
we may have a mighty desire to know. Revelation considers mankind in
their highest capacity, as the rational and accountable subjects of
God, and as capable both of present and future happiness or misery,
according to their behaviour. Its chief, if not its sole design, is
to give us those views and impressions of our nature, of our state,
of the perfections, the counsels, the laws, and the government of
God, which, under the influence of providence, are the immediate and
infallible means of the purity, of the comfort, and of the moral
order, rectitude, and excellence of our immortal souls. As corrupted
and disordered, we are incapable of true happiness, till purified
and restored to order. As guilty and {41} mortal creatures, we can
have no true consolation without the hopes of pardon in a future and
seperate state of existence. As surrounded with dangers, and
obnoxious to every dismal apprehension, we can possess no solid, or
permanent content, but in the sincere and well grounded convictions
of that gracious and righteous administration so minutely and
explicitly delineated in the scriptures. It is evident, therefore,
that the principal excellence and utility of revealed truths upon
the sanctification and consolation of our hearts. They tally exactly
with the present circumstances of mankind, and are admirably adapted
to cure every disease, every disorder of the human mind, to beget,
to cherish, and confirm every pure, every virtuous, every pious
disposition.

     MANKIND are certainly at present in a state of the deepest
corruption and depravity, and at the same time apt to continue
strangely insensible of the misery and danger to which, under the
government of infinite wisdom, it necessarily renders them. Nothing
can be conceived more fit to rouse them from their lethargy, and to
awaken them to a just sense of their condition, than a messenger
from Heaven, clothed with divine authority, setting before them the
intrinsic {42} baseness, malignity, and wretchedness of vice,
together with the certain, the dreadful, the eternal consequences of
continuing in it.

     COULD we enter upon a particular view of all those maladies
and disorders which infest and destroy the souls of men, it were
easy to shew, that a steadfast belief of religion is, in truth, the
most natural and the best antidote or remedy for each of them. It is
obvious, or least, that the clear and full manifestation, which the
gospel has given of the character of God, and the laws of his moral
government, and of the terms of salvation through faith in the
religion of his son, are all finely calculated to root out the
principles of superstition, and all false notions, destructive to
the virtue and happiness of mankind, and to plant in their room
whatever has a natural and direct tendency to promote our virtue,
our perfection, our felicity.

     (2) CLEOMENES, king of Sparta, when suffering under
misfortune, was advised to kill himself by Tharyceon. "Thinkest
thou, wicked man, (said he) to shew thy fortitude by rushing upon
death, an expedient always at hand, the dastardly resource of the
{43} basest minds? Better than we, by the fortune of arms, or
overpowered by numbers, have left the field of battle to their
enemies; but he who, to avoid pain, or calamity, or censures of men,
gives up the contest, we are to seek death, that death ought to be
in action. It is base to live or die only for ourselves. All we gain
by suicide is to get our own reputation, or doing the least service
to our country. In hopes, then, we may yet be of some use to others,
both methinks are bound to preserve life as long as we can. Whenever
these hopes shall have altogether abandoned us, death, if sought
for, will readily be found.

     (3) OF all the refines cobwebs, to which sophistry has given
birth, this seems at once the most elaborate and the most flimsy. It
seems one of the first and most indisputable maxims in all found
reasoning, that no ideas whatever should have a place in the
premises, which do not communicate a sensible energy to the
conclusion. But where is the connection between the beginning and
end of this wire-drawn argument. What have the various beautiful
facts, thus elegantly stated, to do with a man's taking away his own