I am defam'd by him I thought my friend, His anguish, and difpel what caus'd his drooping state. 4. Tho' foul detractions fully your white name, And by a friend, malevolent, traduc'd; Yet innocence affords divine relief By giving fweet reflections to the mind, Is joy above defcription, pleafing dreams Shall footh your nights repofe, and gild your wak ing hours, What tho' miftaken in the fatal choice, Whofe fteddy principles with friendship joyn'd, Q. Was the world created with God's omnipotence? was writ by me in Latin thus, Utrum Deus mundum creaverit cum omnipotentia, nec ne? the true fenfe of the question being, Utrum Deus mundum creaverit cum tota ejus omnipotentia, nec ne? the particle tota being omitted, it might render it less intelligible to those who did not confider, that tota and omois were fynonymous terms. A friend of mine tranflated the queftion for me in my abfence, but he not being either a divine or an Englishman, I hope I shall not be answerable for his bad fenfe. Ff5 A. The 4. The omiffion you was guilty of, makes a fignal difference in the nature of the queftion; for as God does every thing (how fmall foever) with his omnipotence, fo in no action (how great foever) does he exert his whole omnipotence. To fay that omnipotence is put upon its utmoft ftretch, is a palpable contradiction; for if ever it be put upon its utmost ftretch, it follows that it can proceed no further. And fure a bounded omnipotence is no omnipotence. Q. I John iv. 12. Exod. xxxiii. 20. 1 Tim. vi. 16. No man bath, or can fee God; and yet in Gen. viii. 1. God appeared unto Abraham; and in Deut. v. 24. He Shewed himself to the Ifraelites. I defire to know how thefe texts can be reconciled? 4. When the Scriptures fay that God appear'd to Abraham, we are not to fuppofe, that he discover'd to him his very effence, which is an immaterial fubftance, and therefore invifible to a mortal eye. No, we are to understand no more, than that God dif play'd fome vifible tokens of an invitible prefence, which the fews call the divine Shekinah; and therefore, tho' he exhibited his glory to the trembling Ifraelites in a magnificent, a ftupendious manner, yet it was. but a material glory, but a faint refemblance of his real glory, and therefore fhort, infinitely fhort of that Glory which hall hereafter be revealed: for tho', while in this veil of flesh, we can difcover no more of God, than what the Scriptures reprefent as his hinder parts, yet when mortality shall be swallow'd up of life, we fhall then fee him face to face, fee him as he is. Q. Can a clergyman demand tythes in any number un der ten? 4. Of corn, hay, &c. he can make no demand under the number fpecified: but of living creatures, though there be but seven, yet one becomes his due. Q. The charmingeft creature With lovelieft features, That e'er any mortal did fee, Lives juft cross the way, So that every day I am taken up in viewing her beauty. She's She's as bright as the day, As charming as May, And amifs nought in her I find; By night and by day In my closet, at play, She is never out of my mind. With an humble fuit to accoft her; Love's nice fhield to wield, Whofe parts are not shallow, Sigh, ogle, and dress, And play all the tricks of a lover. Still keep to this rule, You'll find your account in't hereafter; Since fhow has oft hit, When good fenfe and wit Have fallen more wide of the matter. Then with courage advance Like beau in romance, And dazzle her eyes with that glory: Will quickly appear, And then there's an end of the story. Ti 'Tis where content and friendship may be found? Or if not fo, ye fages, tell me where They dwell; I'd leave the world and foon be there. But friendship by ftrict fearch will ne'er be found, They'll both exert their faculties and greet; Leap to imbrace and fuddenly unite Q. To you, O learn'd Phoebeans, I dare own Sweet was her voice, and charming was her fmile. Yet when I enter'd on a stricter view, } } 1 All ways I tried the conflicts to maintain, } To follow you I with impatience wait, Cold as Lucretia fhould the charmer prove, And flatt'ry well apply'd the hardest heart will move: Ufe |