being singular, but being singular for something that argues either extraordinary endowments of nature, or benevolent intentions to mankind, which draws the admiration and esteem of the world. A mistake in this point naturally arises from that confusion of thought, which I do not remember to have seen so great instances of in any writers, as in certain modern Freethinkers.

The other point is, that there are innumerable objects within the reach of a human mind, and each of these objects may be viewed in innumerable lights and positions, and the relations arising between them are innumerable. There is, therefore, an infinity of things, whereon to employ their thoughts, if not with advantage to the world, at least with amusement to themselves, and without offence or prejudice to other people. If they proceed to exert their talent of freethinking in this way, they may be innocently dull, and no one take any notice of it. But to see men without either wit or argument pretend to run down divine and human laws, and treat their fellow-subjects with contempt

for professing a belief of those points, on which the present as well as future interest of mankind depends, is not to be endured. For my own part, I shall omit no endeavours to render their persons as despicable, and their practices as odious, in the eye of the world, as they deserve.

THE following letter comes to me from that excellent man in holy orders, whom I have mentioned more than once, as one of that society who assist me in my speculations. It is a thought in sickness, and of a very serious nature, for which reason I give it a place in the paper of this day.

"SIR,

"THE indisposition, which has long "hung upon me, is at last grown to such a “head, that it must quickly make an end "of me, or of itself. You may imagine, "that whilst I am in this bad state of "health, there are none of your works "which I read with greater pleasure than your Saturday's papers. I should be very glad if I could furnish you with any

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"hints for that day's entertainment. Were "I able to dress up several thoughts of a "serious nature, which have made great "impressions on my mind during a long "fit of sickness, they might not be an im66 proper entertainment for that occasion. "Among all the reflections, which usually "rise in the mind of a weak man, who has "time and inclination to consider his ap

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proaching end, there is none more na"tural than that of his going to appear "naked and unbodied before him who "made him. When a man considers, that 66 as soon as the vital union is dissolved, "he shall see that Supreme Being whom "he now contemplates at a distance, and

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only in his works; or, to speak more "philosophically, when by some faculty in "the soul he shall apprehend the Divine "Being, and be more sensible of his pre66 sence than we are now of the presence of "any object which the eye beholds; a man "must be lost in carelessness and stupidity, "who is not alarmed at such a thought. "Dr. Sherlock, in his excellent treatise upon Death, has represented in very

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strong and lively colours the state of the "soul in its first separation from the body, "with regard to that invisible world which every where surrounds us, though we are not able to discover it through this 66 grosser world of matter, which is accom❝modated to our senses in this life. "words are as follow:

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His

"That death, which is our leaving this "world, is nothing else but our putting "off these bodies, teaches us, that it is

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only our union to these bodies, which "intercepts the sight of the other world. "The other world is not at such a distance "from us as we may imagine: the throne "of God indeed is at a great remove "from this earth, above the third heavens, "where he displays his glory to those "blessed spirits which encompass his "throne: but as soon as we step out of "these bodies, we step into the other "world, which is not so properly another "world (for there is the same heaven and "earth still) as a new state of life. To "live in these bodies is to live in this "world; to live out of them is to remove