come and no further, and here fhall thy proud waves be ftaid. The Lord is an invifible Spirit, in whom we live, and move, and have our Being. He is the fountain of life. He preferveth ⚫ man and beast. He giveth food to all flesh. In his hand is the foul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. The Lord maketh poor and ma'keth rich. He bringeth low and lift

eth up. He killeth and maketh alive. 'He woundeth and he healeth. By him Kings reign, and Princes decree juftice, and not a fparrow falleth to the ground without him. All Angels, Authorities, and Powers are fubject to him. He appointeth the Moon for feafons, and the Sun knoweth his going down. He thundereth with his voice, and directeth it under the whole Heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth. Fire and hail, fnow and vapour, wind and ftorm, fulfil his word. The Lord' is King for ever and ever, and his do'minion is an everlasting dominion. The earth and the heavens fhall perifh, but thou, O Lord, remaineft. They all fhall wax old, as doth a garment, and as a vefture shalt thou fold them up, and K 4

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they fhall be changed; but thou art the fame, and thy years fhall have no end. God is perfect in knowledge; his understanding is infinite. He is the Father of lights. He looketh to the ends of the earth, and feeth under the whole heaven. The Lord beholdeth all the children of men from the place of his habitation, and confidereth all their works. He knoweth our down-fitting and uprising. He compaffeth our path, ⚫ and counteth our steps. He is acquainted with all our ways; and when we enter our closet, and fhut our door, he feeth us. He knoweth the things that come into our mind, every one of them and no thought can be withholden from him. The Lord is good C to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. He is a father of the fa'therless, and a judge of the widow. "He is the God of peace, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort and confolation. The Lord is great, and we know him not: His greatness is unfearchable. Who but he hath 'measured the waters in the hollow of

his hand, and meted out the heavens with a fpan? Thine, O Lord, is the

'Great

Greatness, and the Power, and the Glory, and the Victory, and the Majefty. Thou art very great, thou art clothed with honour. Heaven is thy throne, and earth is thy footstool.

Can the mind of a Philofopher rife to a more just and magnificent, and at the fame time, a more amiable idea of the Deity, than is here fet forth in the ftrongest images and moft emphatical language? And yet this is the language of Shepherds and Fishermen. The illite-rate Jews and poor perfecuted Chriftians. retained these noble fentiments, while the polite and powerful nations of the earth were given up to that fottish fort of wor-fhip of which the following elegant de-fcription is extracted from one of the in-fpired Writers.

"Who hath formed a God' or molten an image that is profitable for nothing? The Smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals and fashioneth it with hammers and worketh it with the ftrength of his arms: Yea he is hungry and his strength faileth. He drinketh C no water and is faint. A man planteth an afh, and the rain doth nourish it. He burneth part thereof in the fire.

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"He roafteth Roaft. He warmeth himfelf. And the refidue thereof he maketh C a God. He falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it and 'faith, Deliver me, for thou art my God. None confidereth in his heart, I have burnt part of it in the fire, yea also, I have baked bread upon the coals thereof: I have roafted flesh and eaten it; and fhall I make the refidue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the Stock of a Tree?

In fuch circumstances as thefe, for a man to declare for Free-thinking, and difengage himself from the yoke of Idolatry, were doing honour to human nature, and a work well becoming the great afferters of reafon. But in a Church, where our adoration is directed to the Supreme Being, and (to say the leaft) where is nothing either in the object or manner of worship that contradicts the light of Nature, there, under the pretence of Freethinking, to rail at the religious inftitutions of their Country, fheweth an undiftinguishing Genius that mistakes Oppofition for Freedom of thought. And, indeed, notwithftanding the pretences of fome few among our Free-thinkers, I can hardly

hardly think there are men fo ftupid and inconfiftent with themselves, as to have a ferious regard for natural Religion, and at the fame time use their utmost endeavours to destroy the credit of thofe facred Writings, which as they have been the means of bringing thefe parts of the world to the knowledge of natural Religion, fo in cafe they lofe their authority over the minds of men, we should of course fink into the fame idolatry which we see practised by other unenlightened

nations.

If a person who exerts himself in the modern way of Free-thinking be not a ftupid Idolater, it is undeniable that he contributes all he can to the making other men fo, either by ignorance or defign; which lays him under the dilemma, I will not fay of being a Fool or Knave, but of incurring the contempt or detestation of mankind.

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