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fore they must be permitted to outrage religion and morality with impunity. It is true, Sir, the Dissenters, of which the Missionary Society is chiefly composed, have a strange old-fashioned way of drawing conclusions a priori, and of looking through the medium of second causes up to the great First Cause; thus, for instance, when Admiral Nelson gained his late glorious victory, they did not content themselves with ascribing such an event merely to his prowess of abilities, but joined the gallant but modest Commander himself in acknowledging that Almighty God had blessed his Majesty's arms with success.'

In the same manner, if the French sweep all opposition before them with irresistible fury, however those religionists may shrink with horror at their depravity, yet they cannot help thinking that there is an Omnipotent arm that sets bounds to their impieties: they cannot be brought to suppose that any people, however excessive their power, or crimsoned their guilt, can yet be independent of Deity, but that though they may apparently reign uncontrouled, yet they are but the Ministers of holy vengeance,' or that God means to produce some very important events through their agency. Nor, Sir, is this a doctrine to be found only in a Moorfields conventicle; we shall find it has been very prevalent in all ages, and among people of every denomination. The Holy Scriptures, for the honour of which the Laputian has so fastidious a regard, tend to prove, in almost innumerable instances, the truth of this position: those irresistible conquerors, those illustrious madmen, who considered themselves as raised above the level of mortal existence, and who claimed kindred with the gods, are here represented as mere passive instruments in the hands of the Almighty, and are degraded by the comparison of an earthen vessel in the hands of the potter. But, Sir, lest, among readers of a certain description, a quotation from the Bible should seem an old-fashioned way of supporting an opinion, permit me to quote a writer who has the sanction of fashion, and who consequently has infinitely greater credit with them: Pope upon this subject elegantly observes:

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If plagues or earthquakes break not Heaven's design,
Why then a Borgia or a Catiline?

Who knows but he whose hand the lightnings form,
Who heaves old Ocean, and who wings the storm,
Pour'd fierce ambition in a Cæsar's mind,

Or let young Ammon loose to scourge mankind,

T

Parnell has also, in his tale of the Hermit, shewn in a beautiful manner how the mysterious events that sometimes occur in social and domestic life may be reconcileable with the idea of a superintending Providence. But Infidels may object that these writers were Christians, and that they were consequently tinctured with the su perstitions of their religion; but then it must be recollected that Bolingbroke, the leading deist of his day, gave Pope the outlines of the plan of the Essay on Man; therefore the passage I have just quoted is to be considered as his own sentiment; and that Voltaire has likewise illustrated the same doctrine in his Zadig, or the Book of Fate. In short it was a principle readily admitted by ancient Heathens, modern Infidels, and Christians; and is so consistent with every rational idea of Divine Providence, and of the attributes of Deity, that scarce any would have thought of disputing it, had not the Laputian, by his wonderful sagacity, discovered that it contained sedition of a very dangerous tendency.

There is, indeed, a difficulty attendant on discussions of this nature, and that is why, in the system of nature and providence, in the government of the natural and moral world, evil should be permitted? Why the tempest should be commissioned to sweep a land, overturn buildings, and render those spots, which were late the seats of cheerfulness and plenty, one wide extended scene of horror and devastation? Why earthquakes should be permitted to convulse the earth, and destroy whole cities by an instantaneous stroke of Fate? Why, in fact, any of those commotions, to which nature is continually subject, should ever have been admitted in its œconomy, is indeed a difficulty which may be beyond the ingenuity of the Laputian to solve. And the mystery will be farther increased when he comes to enquire, why so many are groaning under moral evils? Why a Cæsar or an Alexander, impelled by an ambitious mania, should be permitted to ravage the greater part of the known world, to ensanguine the plains, and spread devastation wherever they come? Why superstition, with worse than Ciminerian glooms, continually overshadows so great a portion of the earth, damps the energy of the human soul, confines its views, and cramps its exertion? Why the demons of Anarchy are in other places let loose to rage uncontrouled, and destroy every vestige of social order, are, indeed, awful mysteries which may well puzzle the mind of man, since its conceptions are so limited, There are indeed but two conclusions we can form upon such a subject. If we view a piece of machinery, which is apparently incom plete, we must either conclude that its supposed defects are the effect

of design, and that some important purpose is answered thereby; or that the mechanist was incapable of bringing his work to perfection; so, by a parity of reasoning, we must either conclude that the various evils that prevail were intended by the Deity to answer some important purpose; or that Omniscience was short-sighted, and Omnipotence impotent in constituting a system of things, of which misery composes so large a share,-in forming a chain of causes and effects, in which evil forms so many of its links. I shall leave it to the Laputian to determine, whether it be most rational and pious to conclude that the Almighty acts perfectly right, though our limited conceptions be not able to comprehend his vast designs, or whether we should, on that account, presumptuously attempt to strip him of the attributes of Deity, and circumscribe him within the bounds of a finite and limited existence.

I have, Sir, been rather copious in my explanation and defence of the position, that evil agents are controuled and over-ruled for good, because your correspondent has apparently formed erroneous notions of Divine Providence. He asserts that innumerable sermons and pamphlets, relative to the Missionary Society, uniformly represent the French as the inspired agents of the Supreme Being, and that, therefore, it is unlawful to resist them; but, Sir, will he presume to say that this sentiment is literally expressed in any of those sermons and pamphlets? Such an opinion is at once degrading to a just and benevolent God, and so evidently tends to enervate the energies of public virtue, and infringe upon the free agency of man, that every person of common sense must reject it with contempt; and I will venture to assert, not only from having perused the sermons and pamphlets of the Missionary Society, but from an intimate knowledge of their transactions, and an intimate acquaintance with many of their members, that there is scarce an individual amongst them who would not recoil with horror from such a principle. What then could induce the Laputian thus unjustly to stigmatize them? The true state of the case appears to be this-the gentleman has been informed that these religionists are fond of inculcating the sentiment, that the French are under the controul of Providence, and that, notwithstanding their shocking depravity, they are permitted for a winle to be successful, to punish the crimes of other nations, or to answer some other important design formed by Divine Wisdom; and he having but very confused and incorrect ideas of such subjects, prematurely concludes that such a mode of expression implies that the Deity has inspired them to do evil, and to resist them is to resist God himself; but I

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trust that by this time he perceives the difference between the two assertions. Should he, however, still persist in the truth of his accusation, there is one act of justice that the Missionary Society have a right to expect, which is, that those innumerable sermons and pamphlets should be pointed out, which contain the assertion, that the French are the inspired agents of the Supreme Being, and that it is unlawful to oppose them.' If he fail in such an attempt (as I trust he will) he will be taught not to write upon metaphysical subjects he does not comprehend, or to censure the principles of others, when he is really unacquainted with them. Had he regarded these rules in the present instance, he would not, by the confusion of his ideas, have transformed an innocent opinion into an horrid blasphemy, and then, like the Knight of the rueful countenance, have attacked the phantom of his own creation,

ORLANDO.

SINCE

A CRITICAL ACCOUNT

OF THAT CELEBRATED PIECE OF GRECIAN SCULPTURE,

THE LAOCOON.

INCE the removal of the ancient monuments of the Fine Arts from Italy to Paris, no subject has so much engaged the attention of Amateurs as the Laocoon, executed in marble by the three celebrated artists of, Rhodes, Polydorus, Athenadorus, and Agesander.

Among the immense number of statues carried from the different cities of Greece to Rome, that of the Laocoon is of the highest estimation. Considered as the most perfect production of art by antiquity itself, it no less merits the attention and admiration of posterity, as it has never been excelled. The philosopher finds in it abundant matter for reflection, and the artist an inexhaustible subject of study. Laocoon, the priest of Apollo and Neptune, is here re presented with his two sons, with two serpents clinging round their bodies, gnawing that of the father, and injecting their poison, The sufferings of the body and elevation of the soul are expressed in every member with equal energy, and from the most sublime contrast imaginable. Laocoon appears to suffer with such fortitude, that, whilst his lamentable situation pierces the heart, the whole figure fills us with an ambitious desire of imitating his constancy and magnanimity in the pains and sufferings that may fall to our lot.

LAOCOON.

From

a

drawing

taken at Paris.

London. Published June 1.1799, yr & Cawthorn, British -Library N° 132, Strand.

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