Where fame and empire wait upon the fword?
See fields in blood; hear naval thunders rife ;
Brittania's voice! that awes the world to peace.
How yon enormous mole projecting breaks
The mid-fea, furious waves! their roar amidst,
Out speaks the Deity, and fays, "O main!
"Thus far, nor farther; NEW reftraints obey."
Earth's difembowl'd! measur'd are the skies!
Stars are detected in their deep receís !
Creation widens vanquish'd Nature yields!
Her fecrets are extorted ! ART prevails!
What monument of genius, fpirit, pow'r !

And now, Loren zo! raptur'd at this fcene,
Whofe glories render heav'n fuperflous! fay,
Whofe footsteps thefe ?--Immortals have been here,
Could LESS than fouls immortal this have done?
Earth's cover'd o'er with proofs of fouls immortal?
And proofs of immortality Forgot.

To flatter thy grand foible, I confefs,

Thefe are Ambition's works; and thefe are great:
But THIS, the least immortal fouls can do ;

Tranfcend them all-But what can thefe tranfcend?

Doft afk me, what? one fight for the Distrest.

What then for Infidels? a Deeper figh.

'Tis Moral Grandeur makes the mighty man: How Little they, who think aught Great below? All our ambitions death defeats, but one;

And that it crowns.Here ceafe we; but, ere long, More pow'rful Proof fhall take the field against thee, Stronger than death, and fmiling at the tomb.

PRE

A

FAC
C E.

To the Seventh Night.

S we are at war with the power, it were well if we

were at war with the manners of France. A land of Levity is a land of Guilt. A Serious mind is the native foil of every virtue; and the fingle character that does true honour to mankind. The Soul's Immortality has been the favourite theme with the Serious of all

ages. Nor is it ftrange; it is a subject by far the most interefting and important, that can enter the mind of man, Of higheft moment this fubje& always was and always Will be. Yet this its higheft moment seems to admit of Increafe, at this day; a fot of Occafional imorta ce is fuperadded to the Natural weight of it; if that opinion which is a vanced in the preface to the preceding Night, bejuft. It is there fuppofed, that all our Infidels, whatever scheme, for argument: fake, and to keep themselves in countenance, they patronife, are betray'd into their deplorable error, by fome doubt of their Immortality, at the bottom. And the more I confider this point, the more I am perfuaded of the truth of that opinion. Tho' the diftruft of a Futurity is a strange error; yet is it an error into which bad men may Naturally be diftreffed. For it is impoffible to bid defiance to final ruin, without fome refuge in imagination, fome prefumption of efcape. And what prefumption is there? there are but two in nature; but two, within the compafs of human thought. And thefe are,-That either GOD WILL not, or CAN not punith. Confidering the divine attributes, the Firit is too grofs to be digested by our strongest withes And fince Omnipotence is as much a divine attribute as Holiness, that GOD Cannot punish, is as abfurd a fuppofition, as the former. GOD certainly dan punish, as long as the wicked man exifts- In nonexistence, therefore, is their only refuge; and, confequently, non exiftence is their ftrongest wish. And ftrong wishes have a strange i, fluence on our opinions; they bias the judgment in a manner, almoft, incredible. And fince on THIS member of their Alternative, there are fome very fmall Appearances in their favour, and none at all on the Other, they catch at this reed, they lay hold on this chimera, to fave themfelves from the fhock, and horror of an Immediate. and Abfolute, defpair.

On reviewing my subject, by the light which THIS argument, and others of like tendency, threw upon it, I was more inclin'd, than ever to purfue it, as it appear'd to me to ftrike directly at the main root of ALL our infidelity. In the following pages, it is, accordingly, purfued at large; and fome arguments

*

for immortality, new (at least to me) are ventured on in them, There alfo the writer has made an attempt to fet the grofs abfurdities and horrors of Annihilation in a fuller and more affecting view, than is (I think) to be met with elsewhere.

The gentlemen, for whofe fake this attempt was chiefly made, profess great admiration for the wisdom of heathen antiquity: what pity 'tis they are not fincere! if they were fincere, how would it mortify them to confider, with what contempt, and abhorrence, their noti ens would have been received, by Those whom they fo much admire? what degree of contempt, and abhorrence, would fall to their share, may be conjectured by the following matter of fact (in my opinion) extremely memorable. Of all their heathen worthies, Socrates ('tis well known) was the most guarded, difpaffionate, and composed: yet this great mafter of temper was angry; and angry at his laft hour; and angry with his friend; and angry for what deserved acknowledgment; angry, for a right and ter der instance of true friendship towards him. Is not this furprifing? what could be the cause ? the caufe was for his honour? 'twas a truly noble, though perhaps, a too punctilious regard for Immortality: For his friend afking him with fuch an affectionate Concern as became a friend, "Where he should depofit his remains? (it was refented by Socrates, as implying a difhor ourable fuppofition, that he could be fo mean, as to have regard for any thing, even in himself, that was not IMMORTAL.

This fact well confidered, would make our infidels withdraw their admiration from Socrates; or make them endeavour, by their imitation of this illuftrious example, to fhare his glory; and confequently, it would incline them to perufe the following pages with candor and impartiality: Which is all I defire; and that for THEIR fakes: For Fam perfu❜ded, that an unprejudiced infidel muft, neceffarily, receive feme advantageous impreffions from them.

July 7th 1744.

NIGHT the SEVENTH. Being the SECOND PART of the INFIDEL RECLAIM'D. Containing the NATURE, PROOF, and IMPORTANCE of IMMORTALITY.

H

EA V'N gives the needful, but neglected, call. What day, what hour, but knocks at human hearts, To wake the foul to fenfe of future fcenes?

Deaths ftand, like Mercury's, in ev'ry way;
And kindly point us to our journey's end.
Pope, who could'st make immortals! art thou dead?
give thee joy: nor will I take my leave;
So foon to follow. Man but dives in death;
Dive's from the fun, in fairer day to rise;
The grave, his fubterranean road to blifs.
Yes, infinite indulgence plann'd it fo 5
Thro' various parts our glorious story runs ;
Time gives the preface, Endless age unrolls
The volume (ne'er unroll'd) of human fate.
This Earth and Skies Already have proclaim'd.
The world's a prophecy of worlds to come;
And who, what GOD foretels (who fpeaks in Things,
Still louder than in Words) fhall dare deny ?
If Nature's arguments appear too weak,
Turn a new leaf, and ftronger read in MAN.
If man fleeps on, untaught by what he SEES,
Can he prove infidel to what he FEEL?
He, whofe blind thought futurity denies,
Unconscious bears, Bellerophon! like thee,
His own indictment; he condemns; himself:
Who reads his bofom reads immortal life;
Or, Nature, there, impofing on her fons,
Has written fables; man was made a LIE.

*Night the Sixth,

Why Difcontent for ever harbour'd there?
Incurable confumption of our peace!
Refolve me, why, the Cottager, and King,
He whom fea-fever'd realms obey, and he
Who fteals his whole dominion from the wafte,
Repelling winter blafts with mud and ftraw.
Difquieted alike, draw figh for figh,

In fate fo diftant, in complaint fo near;

Is it, that things Terreftrial can't content?
Deep in rich pafture. will thy flocks complain?
Not fo; but to their mafter is deny'd

To share their fweet Serene. Man, ill at eafe,
In this, not His own place, this foreign field,
Where nature fodders him with other food,
Than was ordain'd his cravings to fuffice,
Poor in abundance, famish'd at a feaft,

Sighs on for fomething More, when MOST enjoy'd.
Is heav'n then kinder to thy flocks, than thee?
Not fo; thy pafture richer, but remote :
In part, remote; for that remoter part

Man bleats from Inftinct, tho' perhaps, debauch'd
By Senfe his Reafon fleeps, nor dreams the cause.
The caufe how obvious, when his reason wakes!
His grief is but is grandeur in disguise;
And difcontent is Immortality.

Shall fons of ether, fhall the blood of heav'n,
Set up their hopes on earth, and stable HERE,
With brutal acquiefcence in the mire?
Lorenzo! no; they shall be nobly pain'd;
The glorious Foreigners, diftreft, shall figh
On thrones; and thou Congratulate the figh:
Man's mifery declares him born for blifs ;
His Anxious heart afferts the truth I fing,
And gives the Sceptic in his head the lie.

Our heads, our hearts, our Paffions, and our Pow'rs,
Speak the fame language, call us to the skies;
Unripen'd THESE in this inclement clime,
Scarce rife above conjecture, and mistake;
And for this land of trifles THOSE too ftrong
Tumultuous rife, and tempeft human life;
What prize on earth can pay us for the ftorm;
Meet objects for our Paffions heav'n ordain'd,