than as they are connected with the moral duties of life, and are framed with a reference to our prefent existence. All beyond this is the object of mere fpeculative curiofity; and we have no reasonable right to complain that the indulgence of this curiofity is poftponed till that life fhall come to which the objects of this curiofity fhall bear an actual relation. No man can say that fufficient is not explained to him, to furnish out a plain rule of life; that enough is not level to his comprehenfion, to bar the pretence of ignorance, to direct his course, and to ftimulate his activity, through the trials and temptations of this mortal fcene. The whole course of this world is one grand answer to fuch objections as are built on apparent impoffibility. From infancy to manhood the individual is daily expanding his comprehenfion to new poffibilities of things; and from barbarity to refinement, philofophy is daily enriching fociety with new treasures of knowledge, with new powers and capacities of nature, with new refults of new combinations. "Who can define the outgoings of the divine fecundity, or number the rounds of the intellectual fcale ?"

It is worth while alfo to remark, that there is nothing proposed to us by our religion, of which we have not clear ideas of the parts feparately, although we cannot take in their various attributes and relations. We may understand the terms of the propofition, although we are unable to comprehend its truth. We know very accurately what is meant by a circle and a square, but we are unable to determine their proportions, for want of fome related idea on which this discovery depends: fo no man is without a clear general idea of what is meant by spirit; but, for want of being poffeffed of fome other ideas which bear relation to spirit, he is perfectly unqualified to comprehend its properties and attributes.

In ftrictness of speech, we can be faid to know nothing thoroughly, unless we could trace it back through all its causes, in one uninterrupted feries, up to its original mover: nor is it at all poffible to acquaint ourselves with the various relations between any exiftent things, unless we could afcend from proximate caufe to proximate cause, up to the beginning of all things. Impreffed with this fense of my own infufficiency, I would not preP 2 fume

fume to affert that the potatoe that grows in my garden, and the oyfter that lies upon the rock, are not neceflary to each other's existence, or that, if Alexander had not conquered Afia, Milton could have compofed his Paradife Loft. Ex. hibit to a native of New Holland an English clock, will he readily furmise that the minute and the hour hand, as well as the striker, all owe their feveral motions to one original mover? Shew him the internal works, will he readily comprehend that complicated operation of wheel within wheel, which produces that proportion and dependence between parts fo different in their conftructions, fo oppofite in their motions, and so apparently unconnected in their functions? Will he not make the fame conclufion as the story tells us was made by one of his condition, that the whole is an animal?

But little more than this Indian could know of the clock, did Sir Ifaac Newton know of the great fyftem of the univerfe. More of its dependencies, connexions, and relations, he certainly did difcover than had been till then conceded to human penetration; yet was he forced to bottom

all

all his reafonings on the hypothesis of gravitation, of which he could give no other account than that it was neceffary to the conclusions he rested upon it. I think I cannot finish my Paper better than by laying before the reader the fentiments of Job on this fubject, which feem in one place to have anticipated this barrier to our natural refearches.

"He ftretcheth out the north over the empty "place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

"He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, "and the cloud is not rent under them.

"He holdeth back the face of his throne, and

fpreadeth his cloud upon it.

"He hath compaffed the waters with bounds, "until the day and night come to an end.

"The pillars of Heaven tremble, and are "astonished at his reproof.

"He divideth the fea with his power; and by "his under anding he fmiteth through the "proud.

66

By his fpirit he hath garnished the Heavens; "his hand hath formed the crooked ferpent..

"La! these are parts of his ways;

P3

"Tet

"Yet how little a portion is heard of him!

"But the thunder of his power, who can underftand?"

N° 70.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7.

"I blefs God heartily that I had the advantage of a religious "education, which is an invaluable bleffing; for even when "I minded it leaft, it ftill hung about me, and gave me "checks."

LORD RUSSEL's Paper, given io. the Sheriff at the

POLEMO

Place of his Execution.

was the most abandoned of the Athenian youth. He feemed not only to have loft all the fcruples of confcience, but the dread of infamy; and no one suspected that any portion of either principle or feeling remained in his mind. One day after fun-rife, as he returned from a feast, he faw the gate of Xenocrates the philofopher open. He was full of wine, and anointed with a variety of effences; his head was crowned with a garland, and his limbs were clothed with a thin transparent garment. In this condition he reeled into the fchool, in which were affembled the moft grave and learned men in the city. Unawed