Gold glitters moft, where Virtue fhines no more; As ftars from abfent funs have leave to fhine. O what a precious pack of votaries, Unkennel'd from the prifons and the ftews. "Pour in, all op'ning in their idol's praife! All, ardent, eye each wafture of her hand, And, wide-expanding their voracious jaws, Morfel on morfel fwallow down unchew'd, Untafted, through mad appetite for more; Gorg'd to the throat, yet lean and rav'nous still. Sagacious all, to trace the fmalleft game, And bold to feize the greateft. If (bleft chance!) Court-zephers fweetly breathe, they launch, they Åy, O'er juft, o'er facred, all-forbidden ground, Drunk with the burning fcent of place or pow'r, Staunch to the foot of lucre, till they die. Or if for men you take them, as I mark Their manners, thou their various fates furvey. With aim mismeasur'd, and impetuous speed, Some darting ftrike their ardent with far off, Through fury to poffefs it: Some fucceed, But stumble, and let fall the taken prize. From Jome, by fudden blasts, 'tis whirl'd away, And lodg'd in bofoms that ne'er dream'd of gain : To fome it hicks fo clofe, that when torn off, Torn is the man, and mortal is the wound. Some, o'er-enamour d of their bags, run mad, Groan under gold, yet weep for want of bread. Together fome (unhappy rivals!) feize, And rend abundance into poverty; Loud croaks the raven of the law, and fmiles: Who perifh at their own requeft, and, whelm'd All read their riches backward into lofs, To guide the gay through life's tempeftuous wave; 1 In youth, form, fortune, fame,' they both were bleff'd : All who knew, envy'd; yet in envy lov'd. Can fancy form more finish'd happiness ? Fix'd was the nuptial hour. Her ftately dome To re-embrace in ecftafies, at eve. The rifing ftorm forbids. The news arrives: She felt it feen; (her heart was apt to feel) And the rough failor, paffing, drops a tear. Or ne'er to meet, or ne'er to part, is peace- K FEW PREFACE. EW ages have been deeper in difpute about religion than this. The difpute about religion, and the practice of it, feldom go together. The fhorter, therefore, the difpute, the better. I think it may be reduced to this fingle queftion, Is man immortal or is he not? If he is not, all our difputes are mere amusements, or trials of fill. In this cafe, Truth, Reason, Religion, which give our difcourfes fuch pomp and fo lemnity, are (as will be shown) mere empty founds, without any meaning in them. But, if man is immortal, it will behove him to be very ferious about eternal confequences; or, in other words, to be truly religious. And this great fundamental truth, uneftablished, or unawakened, in the mind of man, is, I conceive, the real fource and support of all our infidelity; how remote foever the particular objections advanced may seem to be from it. Senfible appearances affect most men, much more than abftra& reafonings; and we daily fee bodies drop around us, but the foul is invifible. The power which inclination has over the judgment, is greater than can be well conceived by those who have not had an experience of it; and of what numbers is it the fad inte- . reft, that fouls fhould not furvive! The heathen world confeffed, that they rather hoped than firmly believed immortality; and how many heathens have we ftill amongst us! The facred page affures us, that life and immortality are brought to light by the gofpel; But by how many is the gospel rejected or overlooked! From thefe confiderations, and from my being, accidentally, privy to the fentiments of fome particular perfons, I have been long perfuaded, that most, if not all, our Infidels (whatever name, they take, and whatever scheme, for argument's fake, and to keep themfelves in countenance, they patronize) are fupported in their deplorable error by fome doubt of their immortality, at the bottom. And I am fatisfied, that men, once thoroughly convinced of their immortality, are not far from being Chriftians. For it is hard to conceive, that a man, fully confcious eternal pain or happiness will certainly be his lot, fhould not earnestly, and impartially, inquire after the fureft means of efcaping the one, and fecuring the other. And of fuch an earneft and impartial inquiry, I well know the confequence. Here, therefore, in proof of this most fundamen tal truth, fome plain arguments are offered; argu |