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NO. II.

To a young gentleman of his acquaintance, who was then studying physic at Edinburgh.

"DID my dear friend Pknow with what sincere affection, and serious concern, I almost daily think of him, he would need no other evidence of the effect which his last visit, and his subsequent letters have produced. Indeed there is not a young man in the world, in earlier life than myself, for whose universal prosperity I am so deeply interested. Many circumstances I can trace, on a review of the past fourteen years, which have contributed to beget and auginent affection and esteem: and I can assure you that every interview, and every letter, still tend to consolidate my regard.

"Happy should I be, if my ability to serve you. at this important crisis of human life were equal to your wishes, or my own. Your situation demands all the aid, which the wisdom and prudence of your friends can afford, that you may be directed not only to the most worthy objects of pursuit, but also to the most effectual means for obtaining them. In your professional character it is impossible for me to give you any assistance. If any general observations I can make should prove at all useful, I shall be richly rewarded for the time I employ in their communi

cation.

"I thank you sincerely for the freedom wherewith you have disclosed the peculiarities of your situation, and the views and resolutions wherewith they have inspired you. I can recommend nothing better, my dear friend, than a determined adherence to the purposes you have already formed, respecting the intimacies you contract and the associates you choose. In such a place as

Edinburgh, it may be supposed, be supposed, no description of persons will be wanting. Some so notoriousły vicious, that their atrocity of character will have no small tendency to confirm your morals, from the odious contrast which their practices present to your view. Against these, therefore, I need not caution you. You will flee them as so many serpents, in whose breath is venom and destruc tion. More danger may be apprehended from those mixed characters, who blend the profession of philosophical refinement with the secret indulgence of those sensual gratifications, which at ence exhaust the pocket, destroy the health, and debase the character.

"That morality is friendly to individual happiness, and to social order, no man, who respects his own conscience, or character, will have the effrontery to deny. Its avenues cannot therefore, be too sacredly guarded, nor those principles which support a virtuous practice be too seriously maintained. But morality derives, it is true, its best, its only support, from the principles of religion. The fear of the Lord (said the wise man) is to hate evil.' He, therefore, who endeavours to weaken the sanctions of religion, to induce a skeptical habit, to detach my thoughts from an ever present God, and my hopes from a futurity of holy enjoyment, HE is a worse enemy than the man that meets me with the pistol and the dagger. Should my dear friend, then, fall into the company of those, whose friendship cannot be purchased by the sacrifice of revelation I hope he will ever think such a price too great for the good opinion of men who blaspheme piety, and dishonour God. Deism is indeed the fashion of the day; and to be in the mode, you must quit the good old path of devotion as too antiquated for any but monks and hermits; so as you laugh at religion, that is enough to secure

to you the company, and the applause, of the sons of politeness. Oh that God may be a buckler and a shield to defend you from their assaults! Let but their private morals be inquired into, and if they may have a hearing, I dare engage they will not bear a favourable testimony to the good tendency of skepticism; and it may be regarded as an indisputable axiom. That what is friendly to virtue is unfriendly to man.

"Were I to argue a posteriori in favour of truth, I should contend that those principies must be true, which (first) corresponded with general observation (secondly) tended to general happiness-(thirdly) preserved a uniform connexion between cause and effect, evil and remedy, in all situations.

"I would then apply these data to the principles held on the one side, by the deists; and on the other, by the believers in revelation. In the application of the first, I would refer to the state of human nature. The deist contends for its purity, and powers. Revelation declares its depravity, and weakness. I compare these opposite declarations with the facts that fall under constant observation. Do I not see that there is a larger portion of vice in the world, than of virtue; that no man needs solicitation to evil, but every man a guard against it; and that thousands bewail their subjection to lusts, which they have not power to subdue, whilst they live in moral slavery, and cannot burst the chain? Which principle then shall I admit? Will observation countenance the deistical? I am convinced to the contrary, and must say, I cannot be a deist without becoming a fool; and to exalt my reason, I must deny my senses.

"I take the second datum, and inquire, which tends most to general happiness? To secure happiness, three things are necessary :-object,

means, and motives. The question is,-Which points out the true source of happiness; which directs to the best means for attaining it; and which furnishes me with the most powerful motives to induce my pursuit of it? If I take a deist for my tutor, he tells me that fame is the object; universal accommodation of manners to interest, the means; and self-love the spring of action. Sordid teacher ! From him I turn to Jesus. His better voice informs me, that the source of felicity is the friendship of my God; that love to my maker, and love to man, expressed in all the noble and amiable effusions of devotion and benevolence, are the means; and that the glory of God, and the happiness of the universe, must be my motives. Blessed instructor, thy dictates approve themselves to every illuminated conscience, to every pious heart! Do they not, my dear P, approve themselves to yours!

Oh that

"But I will not tire your patience by pursuing these remarks. Little did I think of such amplification when I first took up my pen. I may have the joy of finding that these (at least well meant) endeavours to establish your piety have not been ungraciously received, nor wholly unprofitable to your mind! I am encouraged to these effusions of friendship by that amiable selfdistrust which your letter expresses; a temper not only becoming the earlier stages of life, but graceful in all its advancing periods.

"Unspeakable satisfaction does it afford me to find that you are conscious of the necessity of 'first' seeking assistance from heaven. Retain, my dear friend, this honourable, this equitable senument. In all thy ways acknowledge God, and he shall direct thy paths.'

"I hope you will still be cautions in your intimacies. You will gain more by a half-hour's intercourse with God, than the friendship ofthe whole college can impart. Too much acquaint

ance would be followed with a waste of that precious time, on the present improvement of which your future usefulness and respectability in your profession depend. Like the bee, you may do best by sipping the sweets of every flower; but remember, the sweetest blossom is not the hive. Yours very affectionately,

S. P." "P. S. So many books have been published on the same subject as the manuscript you helped me to copy, that I have not sent it to the press.

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NO. III.

To a young Lady at school, Miss A. H. a daughter of one of the members of his Church.

"I CANNOT deny myself the pleasure, which this opportunity affords me, of expressing the concern I feel for your happiness, arising from the sincerest friendship; a friendship, which the many amiable qualities you possess, together with the innumerable opportunities I have had of seeing them displayed, have taught me to form and perpetuate.

"It affords me inexpressible pleasure to hear, that you are so happy in your present situation: a situation in which I rejoice to see you placed, because it is not merely calculated to enibellish the manners, but to profit the soul. I hope that my dear Ann, amidst the various pursuits of an

*

The compiler believes this was an answer to Mr. Peter Edward's Candid reasons, &c. He knows Mr.

Pearce did write an answer to that performance. By the effrontery of the writer he has acknowledged he was at first a little stunned; but upon examining his arguments, found it no very difficult undertaking to point out their fallacy.

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