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delity, impiety, and atheism, should not be lavishly "trusted from the lip." Such a sentence (by the way) should not have been lavishly trusted from the pen. "We should not presume

"To deal damnation round the land

"On each we deem our foe."

Sir, your very humble servant. I most heartily wish you a good night. Here was the jugulum causa, the precise point to be argued, over which I hoped to have had the honour of his good company for the evening; when, in the twinkling of an eye, he slips through my hands, like an eel, and is out of sight in the mud.

We are not about to deal damnation on any man. But are there not such things as infidelity, impiety, and atheism? And are not the writings of Mr. Hume justly chargeable with them? These are the question.

The apologist knows, as well as I do, that Mr. Hume's Essays contain arguments downright Epicurean against the being of a God. Some of them are mentioned in the Summary, at the end of the Letter to Dr. Smith, and no notice is taken of the matter. In the Natural History of Religion, Dr. Hurd thought our philosopher was approaching towards the borders of theism. But I never could find that he penetrated far into the country. These same arguments stand to this hour unretracted; the Essays, which contain them, are published and republished with the rest; whether, at the hour of

death, he thought there was a God, or thought there was none, we have not a single hint given us; and concerning his posthumous papers, the apologist informs us, in his Dedication, in his Dedication, "there is every reason "to believe they turn upon similar researches with "such as have been already printed; or, as it is

more likely, they may carry his philosophy still "nearer to THAT POINT, which he might not think "it DISCREET to push too vigorously in his life-time." New discoveries in irreligion then, it seems, still remain to be made. They, who have duly considered the vigour displayed by Mr. Hume in his life-time, are rather at a loss to conceive, what THAT POINT may be, to which, by posthumous efforts, his philosophy is to be carried. It must lie somewhere

Beyond the realms of Chaos and old Night!

Discretion is, undoubtedly, as Sir John Falstaff says, the better part of valour; but really, in these days of freedom, there is scarce a possibility of its ever being called for. Something, however, is to come, which the apologist supposes will occasion more CHRISTIAN clamour. When we are so severely pinched, he imagines we shall cry out. Certainly, it cannot be thought we are lavish of the terms infidelity, impiety, and atheism, when we apply them to such proceedings as these. What other terms can we apply, or would he himself wish us to apply? And he gravely apologizes for their au

These have since been published.

thor, by telling us, he was consistent, he was in earnest, he died as he lived, and left blasphemies to be published after his death, which he dared not to publish while he was yet alive. Whom shall we most admire, the philosopher or his apologist?

LETTER II.

OUR Apologist observes, dear sir, p. 11, "What"ever might be the force of Mr. Hume's faith, no one, it is conjectured, will charge him with having neglected good works. I do not pretend," adds he, "to say how far those are, or are not suf"ficient."

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Indeed, I believe there will be no absolute necessity, upon this occasion, of going deep into the controversy concerning faith and works. The character in which Mr. Hume principally appeared, and on which he chiefly valued himself, was that of an author. He passed his life in writing; the effects of his writings are visible in his worthy apologist, and many others; they are likely to go down to posterity. An unwearied endeavour to propagate the principles contained in those writings, is what we can never consent to dignify with the appellation of a good work. To worship, to love, and to serve God, oneself, is the first of good works; to teach and incite others to do the same, is the second. To renounce every thing of this kind, oneself, is the first of evil works; and the second is like unto it, to tempt and seduce others, that they may fall after the same example of unbelief. This is the employment of that person, whom the apologist mentions, as having joined with

the dancing-master, and the perfumer, in compounding a system of manners, recommended by the late Earl of Chesterfield. He might possibly divert himself in that way, at his leisure hours; but when he set to business in good earnest, the issue was, AN IN

QUIRY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING.

The apologist is fond of citing two lines, which have been often cited by others with a similar view.

"For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, "His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right.” The Christian faith, at its first appearance, endured the trial of ten persecutions, and triumphed over the wit, wisdom, and power of the whole Roman empire. Offered openly to the inspection and examination of the world, it has now stood its ground above seventeen hundred years. The apologist hardly expects it should at length fall before a couplet of Mr. Pope. Poets, he knows, are not upon oath; and one for sense, and one for rhyme, is often a fair composition. The verses rhyme well; but as to sense, that is another question. Their author somewhere tells us, that in reading religious controversy, he still found himself to agree with the last author he perused. One cannot therefore well take him for a guide in these matters. The bright sun of the morning fell from his exalted station in the heavens; and he, who penned MESSIAH, was afterwards unfortunately duped by the sophistry of Bolingbroke. "Evil

"communications corrupt good manners."

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Page 112. "A system which seems to have been pillaged

"from the dancing-master, the perfumer, and the devil.”

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