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for everlasting happiness.But thanks be to Divine love, the virtuous and happy part of our fpecies, when they fhall here-. after be feparated from the reft of mankind, will appear to be a great multitude, which no one can number, gathered out of all natians, and kindred, and people, and tongues. Nay, we cannot tell how much greater a proportion they will, on the whole, bear to the rest of mankind, than the state of things hitherto in this world has given us reafon to hope. For it is not impoffible but that, before the end of the prefent ftate, a general reformation may take place, and knowledge, peace, and virtue prevail much more than they have ever yet done. This many have thought a reasonable object of expectation, and it seems to be very plainly foretold in the fcriptures.But be this as it will; while all may, a great number, we cannot doubt, will efcape the fatal effects of vice, and be brought through the dangers of this world to endless blifs.-It may be enquired here, why the circumstances of the world have not been fo ordered, as that this number fhould be greater; and fome of the prin cipal objections against Providence are reducible to this enquiry: But it is one of that fort of enquiries which has been before fhewn to be unreafonable. It is an enquiry which might have been made, though this number had been greater, or though it had been fo great as to include every individual of mankind. For, on this laft fuppofition, the fame general principle would have led an objector to ask ; Why are not more of mankind brought on the stage, fince more may? Why is the earth fo thinly ftocked with them, fince it might have been always full ?" Or, though always full, "Why was it not inade larger, or created fooner ?”– -In fhort; had this

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earth been fo little as to be capable of holding only a number of men, equal to those who will be formed in it, as it is now, for future happiness, and had all these been fo advan tageously circumstanced as that not one of them should miscarry:. Had this, I fay, been the cafe, it could fcarcely have beenthought that there was room for complaint, or the least reason for queftioning the goodness of the Deity. But to the views of benevolence there can be no difference between fuch an earth and the prefent, the quantity of happiness refulting from both being, by fuppofition, the fame. This is true of two fuch ftates, abstracting from all connections. What they may be when viewed in the relations they may have to other ftates, or when confidered as parts of a fyftem, it is not poffible for us to discover. There may in this cafe be a preference due to the. latter; or it may be the unavoidable refult of a general plan. of government productive, on the whole, of the greatest abfoJute good.

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There is one obfervation more of a particular nature on the prefent fubject, which is so important that it would be inexcufable to omit it. What I have in view is the conformity obferved by Dr. Butler, between that lofs of human creatures which I have been confidering, and the course of nature in other inftances. Almoft all kinds of vegetables and trees have a vaft profusion of feeds prepared for them, far the greatest part of which is loft; and, in some instances, not one of them in many myriads grow up to any thing. The like is very obfervable in the animal world; and were one to enter minutely into this part of natural hiftory, it would be surprising to obferve what a fuperfluity of eggs is provided for fome infects, what an inconceivable multitude of creatures are loft in embryo, or born only to be destroyed; and what great numbers of even thofe that proceed fome way towards a ftate of maturity perish before they arrive at it.

Should it be faid here that, as this world is conftituted, a great waste of this fort could not but happen, which rendered it neceffary that a confiderable overplus fhould be provided; and that the greatness of the numbers loft cannot be regarded by a Being in whose eye nothing is great, to whom the production of any one number of any objects is as easy as the production of any other; and who, therefore, can with no more reafon be cenfured for any fuch lofs, than for the non-existence of the Beings he has not created: Should this, I fay, be objeced, it would be obvious to answer, that what is in fome degree equivalent to it, may, with equal reason, be applied to the particular cafe under confideration.

• In thinking of the analogy of nature in this inftance, we should by no means forget the untimely deaths that happen among our own fpecies. Many perish in the womb; and the greater part of those that see the light, and are put in the way to the enjoyments and happiness of grown men in the present life, fall fhort of them, and are nipped in their bloom. Such facts as these have a tendency to make the deepest impreffion on every confiderate perfon. They fhew us that what we are taught to believe with respect to the future lot of mankind is entirely agreeable to all that we fee of the world. Nor have we any reason for suspecting that this part of its constitution is faulty, as, I hope, the preceding obfervations will prove. It is obvious that the main objections to it lead us equally to object, in all cafes, to the creation of a fmaller rather than a greater number of Beings. There is nothing like injuftice, or even ankindnefs, implied in it to any Being. It is confiftent with an infinite overbalance of good; and, for these reasons, the mere circumftance of its unaccountablenefs as occafioning a waste of

being (which is the most that is puzzling in it) cannot be of any great confequence. The feeming wafte may, for aught we know, answer important ends, and appear at last to be the greatest frugality. How hard is it that we fhould be willing to truft the wisdom of nature no further than it keeps within fight? How inconceivable is it that, in this or any other inftance, a creature of yesterday and a reptile of the dust fhould be able to see further, or to contrive better, than that original intelligence from whence all things fprung ?-I feel particular fatisfaction whenever I make fuch reflexions, and therefore I hope Ishall be excufed if I am too often recurring to them.'

In the last section the author reprefents the proper improvement of this subject, and confiders the influence which it ought to have on our tempers and lives.

In the fecond differtation be 1. explains the nature, reafonableness, and efficacy of prayer, and answers the objec tions which have been raifed against it; 2. represents the importance of prayer as an inftrumental duty, the happiness of a devout temper, and the particular obligation to public worship; and laftly, the manner in which this duty ought to be performed, in order to render it an acceptable and profitable service. This differtation is in a great measure practical.

His defign in the third is to ftate the reasons which we have to expect that virtuous men fhall meet after death in a state of happiness.

We have great reafon, he fays, to believe, that all the fcenes of this life will, in a future ftate, be presented to our memories; and that we shall then recover the greatest part, if not the whole, of our prefent confcioufnefs. The fcriptures teach us this in a very ftriking manner. It is not therefore to be doubted, but that we fhall hereafter have a diftin&t remembrance of our virtuous friends and kindred; and this remembrance, one would think, must be attended with fome revival of particular regard, and have a tendency to draw us to one another, as far as it will be poffible or proper.

But what, he fuppofes, affords the plaineft evidence on this fubject, is the following confideration: There is great reason to believe that virtuous men, as beings of the fame fpecies, who have begun existence in the fame circumstances, and been trained up to virtue in the fame ftate of trial and discipline, will be hereafter placed in the fame common mansions of felicity. It is groundless and unnatural to imagine, that after paffing through this life, they will be removed to different worlds, or fcattered into different regions of the universe. The language of the fcriptures feems plainly and expressly to determine the contrary. They acquaint us, that mankind are to be raised

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from the dead together, and to be judged together; and that the righteous, after the general refurrection and judgment, are to be taken together to the heavenly ftate, there to live and reign with Chrift, and to fhare in his dignity and happiness. When we are faid, in confequence of the clear discoveries made by the Gofpel of a future ftate, to be, as it were, already come to the city of the living God, it is plainly implied, that we are to join the general affembly of juft men, and of angels in the realms of light, and to be fixed in the fame manfions with them.-Now, is it poffible, that we fhould be happy hereafter in the fame feats of joy, under the fame perfect government, and as members of the fame heavenly fociety, and yet remain ftrangers to one another? Shall we be together with Chrift, and yet not with one another? Or fhall we lofe one another in that multitude which cannot be numbered ? Being in the same happy state with our prefent virtuous friends and relatives, will they not be acceffible to us? And if acceffible, fhall we not fly to' them, and mingle hearts and fouls again?

The author corroborates thefe arguments by feveral paffages from St. Paul's epiftles, in which the apoftle afferts, that he expected to fee and know again his Theffalonian and Corinthian converts. He then proceeds to reprefent the happiness with which the reunion of virtuous men will hereafter be attended; and the pleasures arifing from friendship, under this glorious and enchanting view.

The last differtation is defigned chiefly to anfwer an objection against Christianity, urged by Mr. Hume in his Effay on Miracles.

The principles on which this objection is built are chiefly. that the credit we give to teftimony, is derived folely from experience; that a miracle is a fact contrary to experience; that the previous incredibility of a fact is a proof against it, diminishing, in proportion to the degree of it, the proof from teftimony for it; and that no teftimony fhould ever gain credit to an event, unless it is more extraordinary that it fhould be false, than that the event fhould have happened. Every one of thefe affertions, as this writer endeavours to evince, are either false, or need fuch explanation to render them true, as will render them of no ufe to the purpose which they are intended to ferve.

The reader who is defirous of farther fatisfaction, with refpect to the folution of this objection, will find a pleasure in the perufal of this differtation.

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IH. A Series of Letters, discovering the Scheme projected by France, In M DCC LIX. for an Intended invafion upon England with flat-bottom'd Boats; and various Conferences and Original Papers touching that formidable Defign. Pointing at the fecret and true Motives, which precipitated the Negociations, and Conclufion of the laf Peace. To which are prefixed, the Secret Adventures of the Young Pretender; and the Conduct of the French Court refpe&ting him during his Stay in Great Britain, and after bis Return to Paris. Alfo the chief Caufe that brought on the late Banishment of the Jefuits from the French Dominions; a Secret as yet concealed from the Jefuits themselves: with the real Examination of Father Hamilton, taken at Fontainbleau, October, 1756, who was employed to affaffinate the Young Pretender. Together with the particular Cafe of the Author, in a Memorial to his late Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, By Oliver Mac Allefter, Esq. In 2 Vols. 410. Pr. 11. 5.

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O do this author juftice, we acknowledge that his publication is almoft of as much fervice to the interests and concern of this nation, as the adventures of a certain merry wag who calls himself Gil Blas de Santillane. After this declaration, the reader will be the lefs furprised at our author's modefty in telling Sir Jofeph Yorke, the British embasfador at the Hague, that he doubted not from his majesty's bounty and generofity but to receive twenty thousand pounds, and a pension of two thousand pounds a year for his fervices.'

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That we may not misrepresent or depreciate the merit of Mr. Mac Allefter's fervices, we shall place them, as they appear to us from this publication, in the following divifions: First, a dull, trite, tedious recapitulation of the rebellion in the year 1745 Secondly, ditto of the perjury of James I. in the affair of Overbury, together with the birth, parentage, behaviour, life, character, and confeflion, of the malefactors of the houfe of Stuart, who were executed feventy-eight years ago at Whitehall, for the abominable crimes of popery and tyranny: Thirdly, fuch paffages as employ above three-fourths of the book, and, fuppofing them to be authentic, can be of no confequence to his majefty, his miniftry, or his fubjects: Fourthly, thofe which have all the appearances of fable, and feem to be coined in the wantonnefs of imagination, without the leaft tendency to any public purpofe: And,. laftly, that fervice for which our author modeftly claimed the abovementioned reward, and which we shall lay before our readers in his own words, as we find them in his petition to his late royal bighnefs William duke of Cumberland.

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