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zeal which he had fhown in that perfecution. As to credit or reputation, could the fcholar of Gamaliel hope to gain either, by becoming a teacher in the college of fishermen ? Could he flatter himself, that the doctrines which he taught would, either in or out of Judea, do him honour, when he knew that "they were to the Jews a ftumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishnefs ?" Was it then the love of power, that induced him to make this great change? Power! over whom? over a flock of fheep, whom he himself had endeavoured to deftroy, and whofe very fhepherd had lately been murdered! Perhaps it was with the view of gratifying fome licentious paffion, under the authority of the new religion, that he commenced a teacher of that religion! This cannot be alleged for his writings breathe nothing but the ftricteft morality; obedience to magiflrates, order, and government; with the utmost abhorrence of all licentioufnefs, idleness, or loofe behaviour, under the cloak of religion. We no where read in his works, that faints are above moral ordinances; that dominion is founded in grace; that monarchy is defpotifm which ought to be abolished; that the fortunes of the rich ought to be divided among the poor; that there is no difference in moral actions; that any impulfes of the mind are to direc us against the light of revealed religion and the laws of nature; or any of thofe wicked tenets, by which the peace of fociety has been often difturbed, and the rules of morality have been often violated, by men pretending to act under the fanction of divine revelation. He makes no diftinctions, like the impoftor of Arabia, in favour of himfelf; nor does any part of his life, either before or after his converfion to Chriftianity, bear any mark of a libertine difpofition. As among the Jews, fo among the Christians, his conversation and manners were blameless.

As St. Paul was not an impoftor, fo it is plain he was not an enthusiast. Heat of temper, melancholy, ignorance, credulity, and vanity, are the ingredients of which enthusiasm is compofed: but from all thefe, except the firft, the apostle appears to have been wholly free. That he had great fervour of zeal, both when a Jew and when a Christian, in maintaining what he thought to be right, cannot be denied: but he was at all times fo much master of his temper, as, in matters of indifference, to "become, all things to all men ;" with the most pliant condefcenfion bending his notions and manners to theirs, as far as his

duty to God would permit ; a conduct compatible neither with the stiffness of a bigot, nor with the violent impulfes of fanatical delufion. That he was not melancholy, is plain from his conduct in embracing every method, which prudence could fuggeft, to escape danger and fhun perfecu. tion, when he could do it without betraying the duty of his office, or the honour of his God. A melancholy enthufiaft courts perfecution; and when he cannot obtain it, afflicts himself with abfurd penances: but the holiness of St. Paul confifted in the fimplicity of a pious life, and in the unwearied performance of his apoftolical duties. That he was ignorant, no man will allege who is not grossly ignorant himself; for he appears to have been mafter, not only of the Jewish learning, but also of the Greek philof ophy, and to have been very converfant even with the Greek poets. That he was not credulous, is plain from his having refifted the evidence of all the miracles performed on earth by Chrift, as well as thofe that were afterwards worked by the apoftles; to the fame of which, as he lived in Jerufalem, he could not have been a ftranger. And that he was as free from vanity as any man that ever lived, may be gathered from all that we fee in his writings, or know of his life. He reprefents himself as the leaft of the apostles, and not meet to be called an apoftle. He fays that he is the chief of finners; and he prefers, in the frongest terms, univerfal benevolence to faith, and prophecy, and miracles, and all the gifts and graces with which he could be endowed. Is this the language of vanity or enthusiasm ?

Having thus fhown that St. Paul was neither an impoftor nor an enthufiaft, it remains only to be inquired, whether he was deceived by the fraud of others: but this inquiry needs not be long; for who was to deceive him? A few illiterate fishermen of Galilee? It was morally impoffible for fuch men to conceive the thought of turning the most enlightened of their opponents, and the cruelelt of their perfecutors, into an apoftle; and to do this by a fraud, in the very inftant of his greatest fury against them and their Lord. But could they have been fo extravagant as to conceive fuch a thought, it was phyfically impoffible for them to execute it in the manner in which we find his converfion was effected. Could they produce a light in the air, which at mid-day was brighter than the fun? Could they make Saul hear words from that light,

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which were not heard by the rest of the company? Could they make him blind for three days after that vifion, and then make fcales fall from his eyes, and restore him to fight by a word? Or, could they make him, and those who travelled with him, believe that all these things had happened, if they had not happened? Moft unquestionably no fraud was equal to all this.

Since then St. Paul was not an impoftor, an enthusiast, or a perfon deceived by the fraud of others, it follows, that his converfion was miraculous, and that the christian religion is a divine revelation.

CHAP. IV.

DESCRIPTIVE PIECES.

SECTION I.

The heavens and the earth fhow the glory and the wisdom of their Creator.-The earth happily adapted to the nature of

man.

THE univerfe may be confidered as the palace in which the Deity refides; and the earth, as one of its apartments. In this, all the meaner races of animated nature mechanically obey him; and stand ready to execute his commands without hefitation. Man alone is found refractory: he is the only being endued with a power of contradicting these mandates The Deity was pleased to exert fuperior power in creating him a fuperior being; a being endued with a choice of good and evil; and capable, in fome measure, of co-operating with his own intentions. Man, therefore, may be confidered as a limited creature, endued with pow ers imitative of those residing in the Deity. He is thrown into a world that ftands in need of his help; and he has been granted a power of producing harmony from partial

confufion.

If, therefore, we confider the earth as allotted for our habitation, we shall find, that much has been given us to enjoy, and much to amend; that we have ample reasons for our gratitude, and many for our industry. In thofe great outlines of nature, to which art cannot reach, and where our greateft efforts must have been ineffectual, God

himself has finifhed every thing with amazing grandeur and beauty. Our beneficent Father has confidered these parts of nature as peculiarly his own; as parts which no creature could have skill or ftrength to amend and he has, therefore, made them incapable of alteration, or of more perfect regularity. The heavens and the firmament how the wisdom and the glory of the Workman. Aftron omers, who are beft fkilled in the fymmetry of fyftems, can find nothing there that they can alter for the better. God made thefe perfect, becaufe no fubordinate being could corre& their defects.

When, therefore, we furvey nature on this fide, nothing can be more fplendid, more correct, or amazing. We there behold a Deity refiding in the midst of a universe, infinitely extended every way, animating all, and cheering the vacuity with his prefence. We behold an immenfe and shapeless mafs of matter, formed into worlds by his power, and dispersed at intervals, to which even the imagination cannot travel. In this great theatre of his glory, a thousand funs, like our own, animate their respective fyftems, appearing and vanifhing at divine command. We behold our own bright luminary, fixed in the centre of its fyftem, wheeling its planets in times proportioned to their distances, and at once difpenfing light, heat, and action. The earth alfo is feen with its twofold motion; producing, by the one, the change of feafons; and by the other, the grateful viciffitudes of day and night. With what filent magnificence is all this performed with what feeming eafe! The works of art are exerted with interrupted force, and their noify progrefs difcovers the obftructions they receive; but the earth, with a filent, fteady rotation, fuceeffively prefents every part of its bofom to the fun; at once imbibing nourishment and light from that parent of vegetation and fertility.

But not only provifions of heat and light are thus fup plied; the whole furface of the earth is covered with a transparent atmosphere, that turns with its motion, and guards it from external injury. The rays of the fun are thus broken into a genial warmth; and, while the furface is affifted, a gentle heat is produced in the bowels of the earth, which contributes to cover it with verdure. Waters alfo are fupplied in healthful abundance, to fupport life, and affil vegetation.

Mountains rife, to diverfify the profpect, and give a current to the fiream. Seas extend from one continent to the other, replenifhed with animals, that may be turned to human fupport; and alfo ferving to enrich the earth with a fufficiency of vapour. Breezes fly along the furface of the fields, to promote health and vegetation The coolness of the evening invites to reft ; and the freshness of the morning renews for labour.

Such are the delights of the habitation that has been affigned to man: without any one of thefe, he must have been wretched; and none of thefe could his own industry have fupplied. But while, on the one hand, many of his wants are thus kindly furnished, there are, on the other, numberless inconveniences to excite his industry. This habitation, though provided with all the conveniences of air, pafturage, and water, is but a defert place, without human cultivation. The loweft animal finds more conveniences in the wilds of nature, than he who boasts himself their lord. The whirlwind, the inundation, and all the afperities of the air, are peculiarly terrible to man, who knows their confequences, and, at a diftance, dreads their approach. The earth itfelf, where human art has not per vaded, puts on a frightful, gloomy appearance. The forefts are dark and tangled; the meadows are overgrown with rank weeds; and the brooks ftray without a determined channel. Nature, that has been kind to every lower order of beings, feems to have been negle&ful with regard to him: to the favage uncontriving man, the earth is an abode of defolation, where his fhelter is infufficient and his food precarious.

A world thus furnished with advantages on one fide, and inconveniences on the other, is the proper abode of reason, and the fittest to exercise the industry of a free and a thinking creature. Thefe evils which art can remedy, and prefcience guard againft, are a proper call for the exertion. of his faculties; and they tend ftill more to affimilate him to his Creator. God beholds with pleafure, that being which he has made, converting the wretchednefs of his natural fituation into a theatre of triumph; bringing all the headlong tribes of nature into fubjection to his will; and producing that order and uniformity upon earth, of which his own heavenly fabric is fo bright an example.

GOLDSMITH

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