and benevolence; and, on the contrary, nothing can be a severer reproach to any man, in the judgment of all worthy people, than to be stigmatized with being a hard-hearted unfeeling character.

The reader of this Treatise is probably as well or better acquainted with the Scriptures than the writer of it; and therefore it is unnecessary to make quotations of those numerous texts which must occur to his recollection, in which philanthropy, benevolence, and charity, are recommended and commanded to be observed by man to man : such an extract would make this a much larger volume than it is intended to be, for in almost every page of Scripture these duties are enjoined. God himself, in the strongest manner, enjoins them by Moses, and every one of his Prophets. Our Saviour makes the salvation of man chiefly to depend on their observance; and so do his Apostles. Therefore the strongest motives that can possibly actuate the conduct of a free agent are inculcated on the human heart, to relieve, as much as possible, that unavoidable misery and distress which an inequality of fortune must more or less occasion in the world: and more than this God could not

do, without eternal miracles, or constantly overruling the free agency of man.

Now after this fair and candid consideration of the conduct of God in this instance to the human species, will any man censure his goodness, because all men are not equally rich, or have an equal portion of the good things of this life? It is impossible any person possessing reason or candour can with any justice do so. Without the least imputation, therefore, on the goodness of God, every man may freely admit that an inequality of rank, station, and fortune, should exist in human life; and that with respect to these things there is, and ought to be, one event to all free agents, whether good or bad; and more especially if it is allowed, and which it should be, that, if the virtuous and pious will be equally industrious and œconomical, they have the same, in reality a preferable, chance for the acquisition of these things over the vicious and impious. But does it follow, because there is one event to the good and bad with respect to riches and honours, that there is one event decreed to both in all other respects? God forbid that such a conclusion should prevail in the heart of man; for it is impossible, I think, for any man

who entertains this opinion to have the least faith in either the goodness, providence, or justice of God.

It has been before observed, that one lot in life embraces, perhaps, as much genuine happiness as another; and therefore, since, in the universal judgment of mankind, man's happiness is not essentially determined by his station in life, or by riches or honours, the essence of his happiness must be elsewhere sought for: and as the God we worship is a rewarder of such as diligently seek him, in this world as well as the next, (godliness having the promise of the life that now is, as well as that which is to come,) God accordingly gives to those who love, honour, and obey him, a reward in this life worthy of himself; for he has decreed as specific a difference to exist in the intellectual feeling of the mind of a good and a bad man, as he has constituted to be displayed in the natural world, when illumined by the all-cheering rays of the sun riding in his meridian splendor, and in that sad darkness which surrounds the gloomy throne of night. He has everlastingly decreed, that the feelings of a good man shall be habitually cheerful and happy, though that happiness may occasionally be

interrupted; and that the feelings in the mind of a bad man shall be habitually sad and miserable, though that sadness and misery may be occasionally suspended. He has decreed, that the mind of the good shall be filled with hope and joy, and the mind of the bad with fear and sorrow. This distinction, which it has pleased God to decree shall always exist between those who serve him, and those who serve him not, is a distinction worthy of God to make; a reward great enough for the best man to receive; a punishment sufficiently severe for the worst man to suffer. In the arbitrament and distinction of human happiness, the true criterion is not whether a man is rich or poor, learned or ignorant, for these at best are only the means of happiness; but whether he possesses a happy, cheerful heart, this being its end and essence. Therefore the man who enjoys a heart beaming with duty, resignation, and thankfulness to God, and good-will to man; with content, and that peace which the world cannot give; alone enjoys true and genuine happiness in this life; a happiness which God has declared by his prophet Isaiah the wicked shall not, cannot enjoy: "There is no peace, saith my

H

"God, to the wicked: but the wicked are "like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, "whose waters cast up mire and dirt."

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The Scriptures indeed are full of denunciations against the wicked: "The wicked man travelleth with pain all his days; "trouble and anguish shall prevail against "him; terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and he is in great fear where 66 no fear is. He shall find no ease or rest; for "the Lord shall give him a trembling heart, "and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind; " and his life shall hang in doubt before him ; "and he shall fear day and night, and shall "have none assurance of his life. In the

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morning he shall say, Would God it were "even; and at even he shall say, Would "God it were morning: for fear of his "heart wherewith he shall fear. His life "shall be grievous unto him. The wicked 66 are reserved to the day of destruction.

They shall be brought forth to the day of "wrath. They shall be turned into hell, "where their worm dieth not, and the fire "is not quenched but the wrath of God. “abideth on them," &c. &c. &c...

The Heathens likewise describe the miserable and forlorn condition of the wicked,