tiousness may assume the mask of freedom; hypocrisy may put on the garb of religion; and the vilest designs that faction, discord, or ambition ever planned, may veil themselves in the cloak of patriotism and public spirit! How, then, gentlemen, must an honest writer, 4uninfluenced by party rage or any other motive but a genuine love of truth and liberty, develope the cheat and shew it in its proper colours to the world? I who employ my thoughts on far other subjects than the mysteries of state, or the subtleties of the human heart, am very unfit for such a task. Buried in this humble, silent, and sequestered hut, I have industriously explored, and resolutely extinguished every spark of ambition in my own soul. Like one that has happily gained some port of safety, after being long tossed on the stormy ocean, I here ruminate on the past and look forward to the future, without busying myself in the affairs of men; being little more than a spectator in this world I hear the tumult of the distant throng, I see the circling hunt of noisy men. Burst Law's enclosure, leap the bounds of Right, As wolves for rapine, as the fox for wiles. But, gentlemen, though this be the present frame of my mind, and though my whole care be to hush each boisterous passion into repose, and maintain an intercourse with Him whose eyes are too pure to behold iniquity; yet there was a time when my bo som, like yours, glowed with the concerns of this world. And ambition hath had its turn with me as well as with others. My pen and my tongue have heretofore been embarked in the cause of liberty and truth; and while I breathe, my heart shall own no subject preferable to these, excepting my great Creator's praise. In this view, then, I presume to point out to you the conduct you should pursue, for the detection of masked Tyranny and sanctified Imposture. 1. Consider the religion of your country as that of the blessed Jesus, flowing uncorrupted from his sacred oracles; a religion whose essence is charity and its fruit good works and assurance forever! 2. Consider the government of your country as a government of laws, founded on reciprocal obligations between the governors and governed; where your liberty and your life depend not on the arbitrary will of one man, nor of a set of men, but on the known and established rules of justice; even your peers being your judges. Possessed of this idea of British religion and British government, let no motive on earth ever induce you tamely to suffer them to be infringed. Cry aloud and spare not on every approach of danger, that may threaten their subversion. Arguments will scarcely be wanting if you are truly inflamed in such a cause, and whatever you may suffer in the prosecution of it, will redound to your glory either in this world or the next. It has indeed been the constant endeavour of all wicked men to stop the avenues of knowledge and tie up the mouths of those whom they judged capable of unmasking their iniquitous designs. For where truth can once be extinguished, slavery will soon prevail. But the man who considers liberty as his birth-right, will never be a silent spectator of the approaching misery. He will think it his duty to shew a manly and intrepid spirit on the occasion; and should bonds or imprisonment be his fate, yet even from the dark mansions of a dungeon his tongue will sound forth lessons of wisdom, and his bosom beat for his country's good. He will feel the force of the five following great maxims of English Liberty, founded on Magna Charta, and taken from our history; which should be laid before your readers in the most conspicuous characters, viz. 1. No freeman of England can be imprisoned, or otherwise restrained, without cause shewn, for which, by the law, he ought to be so imprisoned. 2. To him that is imprisoned, may not be denied a writ of Habeas Corpus, if it be desired; which brings him speedily to a trial. 3. If no cause of imprisonment be alleged, and the same be returned upon an Habeas Corpus, the prisoner must be set at liberty. 4. No freeman can be tried but by his peers, nor condemned, but by the laws of the land, or by an act of parliament. 5. Whatever power is above law, is burdensome and tyrannical, and should be reduced by every prudent and possible method." THE HERMIT, No. IV. MARCH, 1758. ON THE PERFECTION AND EFFICACY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. Arg. 1. Drawn from the comforts it brings to our last hours. Whatever farce the boastful hero plays, Virtue alone has majesty in death. YOUNG'S NIGHT THOUGHTS. IN my former letters, I have given some account of my life and temper of heart, and of those motives that induced my retreat from the vain and busy world. I have likewise delivered my thoughts concerning the duty of those who undertake to write for others, and hinted some considerations that should animate and actuate their conduct, in so benevolent a work. These topics have not proved unacceptable to the public; but still they were only preliminary to the more solemn and interesting subjects, which I had always in view. It was, from the beginning, my purpose to communicate, by way of monthly sermon, for the benefit of my fellow-sojourners on earth, the sum of those reflections and conclusions, which, after long and close meditation upon the state of our mortality and suffering here, I have found most efficacious to quiet my own soul now, and fix its hopes forever. It would be needless to add, that the chief of these have been drawn from the blessed Gospel, that inexhaustible source of joy and consolation! For when we have tried every other expedient, it will be found at last that our only comfort is to be derived from the promises of the Gospel, an intimate conviction of its saving efficacy, and a sublime trust in the adorable goodness of its lovely Author. It shall, therefore, be my first endeavour to press home those points, in the most striking light in my power; in doing which, it is not my design to give a regular system of divinity, nor yet to bewilder the reader in those abstract discussions that tend more to puzzle the understanding, than to better the heart. The great truths of Christianity stand in no need of any arguments I can bring, to defend or establish them. This is sufficiently done in many unanswerable volumes, by abler pens. Points of theory and dispute neither answer my purpose, nor do they suit my temper of mind. I would humbly offer something for practice, that may influence the life and manners. Nor, in this, shall I confine myself to any certain or express method. What I shall say will be chiefly occasional, containing such arguments for the superior excellence of our holy Christianity, or any of its detached parts, as may arise from particular incidents and occurren ces. And the first that I would offer is drawn from the power and efficacy of the Christian faith, to support its humble votaries in the hour of death. Nor is this, without reason, made the first. For what wise man could possibly live in quiet, till he had first satisfied ୧ 4 VOL. I. |