look on the promised Messiah as the most consummate blessing God could bestow, or man receive. God having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning every one of you from your iniquities. And would men but hear and obey this life-giving Redeemer, his gospel would restore reason and religion to their rightful authority over mankind; and make all virtue, and true goodness, flourish in the earth. But I must observe that, by the religion of the New Testament, I do not mean any of those modern schemes of religion, which discover the evident marks and signatures of superstition and enthusiasm, or of knavery and imposture; those systems which even miracles cannot prove to be true, because the pieties are absurd, inconsistent, and contradictory. The notions that are not characterised by the reason of things, and the moral fitness of actions, I considered as repugnant to the veracity, wisdom and goodness of the Almighty, and concluded, that that only could be christian religion, which bore the visible marks and signatures of benevolence, social happiness, and moral fitness, and was brought down from heaven to instruct mankind in the worship of one eternal mind, and bring them to repentance, and amendment of life. This was the religion I found in my Bible. I saw with pleasure, as I thoughtfully went through the divine pages, that natural religion is the foundation and support of revelation: supplies the defects of nature, but never attempts to overthrow the established principles of it, and casts new light upon the dictates of reason, but never overthrows them. Pure theism, and Christ the appointed Mediator, Advocate, and Judge, by a commission from God the Father, to me appeared to be the gospel; and the directions of the Holy Spirit, to believe in one supreme independent first cause, and worship in spirit and truth this one God and Father of all, in the name of Christ Jesus; as the disciples of the Messiah; to copy after the life of our blessed Saviour, and to the utmost of our abilities, obey all his commands. This was the religion I found in the writings of the apostles, and I then determined to regard only this gospel doctrine. The manner of my studying cosmography and mathematics is not worth setting down, as there was nothing uncommon in it. In the one I only learned to distinguish climates, latitudes, and the four divisions of the world; the provinces, nations, kingdoms and republics comprised therein, and to be able to discourse upon them. And in the other, I went no further than to make myself a master of vulgar and decimal arithmetic, the doctrine of infi nite series, and the application of algebra, to the higher geometry of curves. Algebra 1 was charmed with, and found so much pleasure in resolving its questions, that I have often sat till morning at the engaging work, without a notion of its being day till I opened the shutters of my closet. I reconmend this study in particular to young gentlemen, and am satisfied, if they would but take some pains at first to understand it, they would have so great a relish for its operations, as to prefer them many an evening to clamorous pleasures; or, at least, not be uneasy for being alone now and then, since their algebra was with them. In reading history, my last year's principal employment, during my residence in college, I began with the best writers of antient history and ended with modern times, epochs, centuries, ages; the extent of empires, kingdoms, commonwealths; their progress, revolutions, changes and declensions; the number, order, and qualities of the princes that have reigned over those states and kingdoms, their actions military and civil; the characters and actions of the great men that flourished under them; and the laws, the arts, learning and manners, I carefully marked down, and observed not only how the first governments were formed, but what the progress was of industry and property, which may be called the generative principle of empire. When I had done with antient history, I sat down to the best modern stories I could get, and read of distant nations before I began to study my country's constitution, history and laws. When I had finished the histories of France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, and many more, then I turned to Great Britain, and in the first place took a view of the English constitution and government, in the antient books of the common law, and some more modern writers, who out of them have given an account of this government. From thence I proceeded to our history, and with it joined in every king's reign the laws then made. This gave me an insight into the reason of our statutes, and shewed me the true ground upon which they came to be made, and what weight they ought to have. By this means I read the history of my country with intelligence, and was able to examine into the excellence or defects of its government, and to judge of the fitness or unfitness of its orders and laws. By this method I likewise knew enough of the law for an English gentleman, though quite ignorant of the chicane, or wrangling and captious part, and was well acquainted with the true measure of right and wrong. The arts how to avoid doing right, and to secure one's-self in doing wrong, I never looked into. Thus did I read history, and many noble lessons I learned from it; just notions of true worth, true greatness, and solid happiness. It taught me to place merit where it only lies, not in birth, not in beauty, not in riches, not in external shew and magnificence, not in voluptuousness; but, in a firm adherence to truth and rectitude; in an untainted heart, that would not pollute or prostitute its integrity in any degree, to gain the highest worldly honours, or to ward off the greatest worldly misery. This is true magnanimity: and he alone can be truly happy, as well as truly great, who can look down with generous contempt upon every thing that would tempt him to recede in the smallest degree from the paths of rigid honesty, candour and veracity. Es modicus voti, presso lare, dulcis amicis; |