Had I fabricated this language for infidelity with the purpose of ftamping greater deteftation upon its audacity, I had rather bear the blame of having overcharged the character, than to be able (as I now am) to point out a recent publication, which openly avows this fhameless doctrine: But as I do not wish to help any anonymous blafphemer into notice, let the toleration of the times be his fhelter, and their contempt his anfwer! In the mean time I will take leave to oppofe to it a fhort paffage from a tract, lately tranflated into English, intitled Philofophical and Critical Enquiries concerning Chriflianity, by Mr. Bonnet of Geneva; a work well deferving an attentive perufal.

Here I invite that reader, who can elevate his mind to the contemplation of the ways of Providence, to meditate with me on the admirable methods of divine wisdom in the establishment of Christianity; a religion, the univerfality of which was to comprehend all ages, all places, nations, ranks, and fituations in life; a religion, which made no diftinction between the crowned head and that of the lowest fubject; formed to difengage the heart from terref

trial things, to ennoble, to refine, to fublime the thoughts and affections of man; to render him confcious of the dignity of his nature, the importance of his end, to carry his hopes even to eternity, and thus afsociate him with fuperior intelligences; a religion, which gave every thing to the fpirit and nothing to the flesh; which called its difciples to the greatest facrifices, because men who are taught to fear God alone, can undergo the fevereft trials; a religion in Short (to conclude my weak conceptions on fo fublime a fubject) which was the perfection or completion of natural law, the science of the truly wife, the refuge of the humble, the confolation of the wretched; fo majestic in its fimplicity, fo fublime in its doctrine, fo great in its object, fo aftonishing in its effects.-I have endeavoured (fays this excellent author in his conclufions) to explore the inmoft recesses of my heart, and having difcovered no fecret motive there, which should induce me to reject a religion fo well calculated to fupply the defects of my reason, to comfort me under affliction and to advance the perfection of my nature, I receive this religion as the greatest bleffing Heaven in its goodness could confer upon mankind; and I Should fill receive it with gratitude, were I to

confider

confider it only as the very best and most perfect fyftem of practical philofophy.

(BONNET.)

That man, hurried away by the impetuofity of his paffions, is capable of strange and monftrous irregularities I am not to learn; even vanity and the mean ambition of being eccentric may draw out very wild expreffions from him in his unguarded hours; but that any creature should be deliberately blafphemous, and reason himself (if I may fo express it) into irrationality, furpaffes my conception, and is a species of desperation for which I have no name.

If the voice of univerfal nature, the experience of all ages, the light of reason and the immediate evidence of my senses cannot awaken me to a dependence upon my God, a reverence for his religion and an humble opinion of myself, what a loft creature am I!

Where can we meet a more touching defcription of God's omniprefence and providence than in the 139th pfalm? and how can I better conclude this paper than by the following humble attempt at a translation of

that

that most beautiful addrefs to the Creator of

mankind.

PSALM CXXXIX.

FO Lord, who by thy mighty power
Haft fearch'd me out in every part,
Thou know'ft each thought at every hour,
Or e'er it rifes to my heart.

2 In whatsoever path I ftray,
Where'er I make my bed at night,
No maze can fo conceal my way,
But I ftand open to thy fight.

3 Nor can my tongue pronounce a word,
How fecretly foe'er 'twere faid,

But in thine ear it fhall be heard,
And by thy judgment fhall be weigh'd.

4. In every particle I fee

The fashion of thy plaftic hand:
5 Knowledge too excellent for me,
Me, wretched man, to understand.

6 Whither, ah! whither then can I From thine all-present spirit go?

7 To Heav'n? 'tis there thou'rt thron'd on high: To Hell? 'tis there thou rul'ft below.

8 Lend me, O Morning, lend me wings!
On the first beam of op'ning day
To the last wave, that ocean flings
On the world's fore, I'll flit away.

9 Ah fool! if there I meant to hide,

For thou, my God, fhalt reach me there;
Ev'n there thy hand fhall be my guide,
Thy right hand hold me in its care.

10 Again, if calling out for night,

I bid it shroud me from thine eyes,
Thy prefence makes a burst of light,
And darkness to the centre hies.

11 Nay, darkness cannot intervene
Betwixt the universe and Thee;
Light or no light, there's nought I ween,
God felf-illumin'd cannot fee.

12 Thine is each atom of my frame;
Thy fingers ftrung my inmost reins,
E'en in the womb, or e'er I came
To life and caus'd a mother's pains.

13 Oh! what a fearful work is man!
A wonder of creative art!

My God, how marvellous thy plan!
'Tis character'd upon my heart.

14 My very bones, tho' deep conceal'd
And buried in this living clay,
Are to thy searching fight reveal'd
As clear as in the face of day.

15 That eye, which thro' creation darts,
My fubftance, yet imperfect, fcan'd,
And in thy books my embryo parts
Were written and their uses plan'd.