which he feems to be inceffantly employed, if we confider, in the first place, that he is omniprefent; and in the fecond, that he is omnifcient.

If we confider him in his omniprefence, his being paffes through, actuates, and fupports, the whole frame of nature, His creation, and every part of it, is full of him. There is

nothing he has made, that is either fo diftant, fo little, or fo inconfiderable, which he does not effentially inhabit. His fubftance is within the fubftance of every being, whether material or immaterial, and as intimately prefent to it, as that being is to itfelf. It would be an imperfection in him, were he able to move out of one place into another; or to withdraw himfelf from any thing he has created, or from any part of that space which he diffufed and fpread abroad to infinity. In fhort, to speak of him in the language of the old philofophers, he is a being whofe centre is every where, and his circumference no where.

In the fecond place, he is omniscient as well as omniprefent. His omnifcience, indeed, neceffarily and naturally flows from his omniprefence. He cannot but be conscious of every motion that arifes in the whole material world, which he thus effentially pervades; and of every thought that is ftiring in the intellectual world, to every part of which he is thus intimately united. Were the foul feparate from the body, and with one glance of thought should start beyond the bounds of the creation; fhould it, for millions of years, continue its progrefs through infinite fpace, with the fame activity, it would ftill find itfelf within the embrace of its Creator, and encompaffed by the immenfity of the Godhead. In this confideration of the Almighty's omniprefence and omnifcience, every uncomfortable thought vanishes. cannot but regard every thing that has being, efpecially fuch of his creatures who fear they are not regarded by him. He is privy to all their thoughts, and to that anxiety of heart in particular, which is apt to trouble them on this occafion; for, as it is impoffible he fhould overlook any of his creatures, fo we may be confident that he regards, with an eye of mercy, thofe who endeavour to recommend themfel ves to his notice; and, in unfeigned humility of heart, think thenfelves unwor thy that he should be mindful of them.

ADDISON.

He

CHAP. IV.

ARGUMENTATIVE PIECES.

SECTION I..

Happiness is founded in Rectitude of Conduct. ALL men purfue good, and would be happy, if they knew how not happy for minutes, and miferable for hours; but happy, if poflible, through every part of their exiftence. Either, therefore, there is a good of this steady, durable kind, or there is not. If not, then all good must be tranfient and uncertain; and if fo, an object of the lowest value, which can little deferve our attention or inquiry. But if there be a better good, fuch a good as we are feeking; like every other thing, it must be derived from fome caufe; and that caufe muft either be external, internal, or mixed; in as much as, except these three, there is no other poffible. Now a steady durable good, cannot be derived from an external caufe; fince all derived from externals must fluctuate as they fluctuate. By the fame rule, it cannot be derived from a mixture of the two; because the part which is external, will proportionably deftroy its effence. What then remains but the caufe internal ? the very cause which we have fuppofed when we place the fovereign good in mind,-in rectitude of conduct.

SECTION II.

Virtue Man's highest Intereft.

HARRIS.

I FIND myself exifting upon a little spot, furrounded every way by an immenfe unknown expanfion. Where am I? What fort of a place do I inhabit? Is it exactly accommodated in every inftance to my convenience? Is there no excefs of cold, none of heat, to offend me? Am I never annoyed by animals, either of my own, or a different kind? Is every thing fubfervient to me, as though I had ordered all myfelf? No; nothing like it; the fartheft from it poffible. The world appears not, then, originally made for the private convenience of me alone? It does not. But is it not poffible to to accommodate it, by my own particular induftry? If to accommodate man and beaft; heaven and earth, if this

be beyond me, it is not poffible. What confequence then follows; or can there be any other than this: If I feek an intereft of my own detached from that of others, I feek an intereft which is chimerical, and which can never have existence. How then must I determine? Have I no interest at all? If I have not, I am ftationed here to no purpofe. But why no interest? Can I be contented with none but one separaté and detached? Is a focial intereft, joined with others, fuch an abfurdity as not to be admitted? The bee, the beaver, and the tribes of herding animals, are fufficient to convince me, that the thing is fomewhere at least poffible. How, then, am I affured that it is not equally true of man? Admit it; and what follows; If fo, then honour and juftice are my intereft; then the whole train of moral virtues are my interest ; without fome portion of which, not even thieves can maintain fociety.

But, farther still; I ftop not here; I purfue this focial in terest as far as I can trace my feveral relations. I pafs from my own stock, my own neighbourhood, my own nation, to the whole race of mankind, as difperfed throughout the earth. Am I not related to them all, by the mutual aids of commerce, by the general intercourfe of arts and letters, by that common nature of which we all participate!

Again, I must have food and clothing. Without a proper genial warmth, I inftantly perish. Am I not related, in this view, to the very earth itfelf? to the diftant fun, from whofe beams I derive vigour ? to that ftupendous courfe and order of the infinite hoft of heaven, by which the times and feafons ever uniformly pafs on? Were this order once confounded, I could not poffibly furvive a moment; fo abfolutely do I depend on this common general welfare. What, then, have I to do, but to enlarge virtue into piety? Not only honour and juftice, and what I owe to man, is my intereft; but gratitude alfo, acquiefcence, refignation, adoration, and all I owe to this great polity, and its great Governor our common Parent.

SECTION II.

The Injuftice of an uncharitable Spirit.

HARRIS.

A SUSPICIOUS, uncharitable spirit is not only inconfiftent with all focial virtue and happiness, but it is also, in itself, un

reasonable and unjust. In order to form found opinions, concerning characters and actions, two things are especially requifite, information and impartiality. But fuch as are moft forward to decide unfavourably, are commonly deftitute of both. Inftead of poffeffing, or even requiring, full information, the grounds on which they proceed are frequently the moft flight and frivolous. A tale, perhaps, which the idle have invented, the inquifitive have liftened to, and the credulous have propagated; or a real incident which rumour, in carrying it along, has exaggerated and disguised, supplies them with materials of confident affertion, and decifive judgment. From an action they presently look into the heart, and infer the motive. This fuppofed motive they conclude to be the ruling principle; and pronounce at once concerning the whole character.

Nothing can be more contrary both to equity and to found reafon, than fuch precipitate judgments. Any man who attends to what paffes within himself, may easily discern what a complicated fyftem the human character is; and what a vatiety of circumftances must be taken into the account, in order to eftimate it truly. No fingle inftance of conduct whatever, is fufficient to determine it. As from one worthy action, it were credulity, not charity, to conclude a perfon to be free from all vice; fo from one which is cenfurable, it is perfectly unjust to infer that the author of it is without confcience, and without merit. If we knew all the attending circumstances, it might appear in an excufable light; nay, perhaps under a commendable form. The motives of the actor may have been entirely different from thofe which we afcribe to him; and where we fuppofe him impelled by bad defign, he may have been prompted by confcience and miftaken principle, Admitting the action to have been in every view criminal, he may have been hurried into it through inadvertency and furprife. He may have fincerely repented; and the virtuous principle may have now regained its full vigour. Perhaps this was the corner of frailty; the quarter on which he lay open to the incurfions of temptation; while the other avenues of his heart were firmly guarded by conscience.

It is therefore evident, that no part of the government of temper deserves attention more, than to keep our minds pure

from uncharitable prejudices, and open to candour and humanity in judging of others. The worft confequences, both to our felves and to fociety, follow from the oppofit fpirit. BLAIR.

SECTION IV.

Misfortunes of Men moftly chargeable on themselves. We find man placed in a world, where he has by no means the difpofal of the events that happen. Calamities fometimes befall the worthieft and the beft, which it is not in their power to prevent, and where nothing is left them, but to acknowledge, and to fubmit to the high hand of Heaven. For fuch vifitations of trial, many good and wife reasons can be affigned, which the prefent fubject leads me not to difcufs. But though thofe unavoidable calamities make a part, yet they make not the chief part, of the vexations and forrows that diftrefs human life. A multitude of evils befet us, for the fource of which we must look to another quarter. No fooner has any thing in the health, or in the circumstances of men, gone cross to their wifh, than they begin to talk of the unequal diftribution of the good things of this life; they envy the condition of others; they repine at their own lot, and fret against the Ruler of the world.

Full of thefe fentiments, one man pines under a broken conftitution. But let us afk him whether he can, fairly and honestly, affign no cause for this but the unknown decree of heaven? Has he duly valued the bleffing of health and always obferved the rules of virtue and fobriety? Has he been moderate in his life, and temperate in all his pleafures? If now he is only paying the price of his former, perhaps his forgotten indulgences, has he any title to complain, as if he were fuffering unjustly? Were we to furvey the chambers of ficknefs and diftrefs, we fhould often find them peopled with the victims of intemperance and fenfuality, and with the children of vicious indolence and floth. Among the thousands who languish there, we fhould find the proportion of innocent fufferers to be small. We fhould fee faded youth, premature old age, and the profpect of an untimely grave, to be the portion of multitudes, who in one way or other, have brought thofe evils on themfelves; while yet thefe martyrs of vice and folly have the affurance to arraign the hard fate of man, and to "fret against the Lord."