edly, by those whom the New Teftament fets forth as examples of faith and holiness (Heb. vi. 12. Heb. xi. throughout, with Heb. xii. 1.) yet never in any one fingle inftance condemned. Laws are made for its regulation, to establish the inheritableness of the iffue, to prevent partiality in the difpofal of the polygamist's effects among the children which he might have by two wives, and to forbid his forfaking or even flighting a firft wife, if he took a fecond to her. The New Teftament never mentions it at all, either as good or bad, with refpect to itself: therefore our laws against it, or opinions about it, can no more make it finful, than the filly notions of the primitive Chriftians and fathers, could make it "little bet ter than adultery" for a man to marry a fecond wife after the death of his first, or than the laws of Rome can make it finful to deny five of Peter Lombard's feven facraments, or in a priest to marry at all. It is not in the power of men to invent fins, and then charge them upon the confciences of their fellow-mortals to their condemnation before GoDthe affuming this, is a part of that fpiritual wickedness in heavenly things, (Eph. vi. 12.) which has long distinguished the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. Rev. xvii. 5: It may be looked upon as one striking evidence of the Pope's being the man of fin, described 2 Theff. ii. 3, 4. for it is oppofing and exalting himfelf above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; it is, as GOD, GOD, fitting in the temple of GOD, fhewing himself that he is GOD.- How fhall I curje whom GOD hath not curfed? Or how shall I defy whom the LORD hath not defied ?—was the faying of a man that had his eyes open. Numb. xxii. 31. xxiii. 8. xxiv. 4; but those whofe eyes are blinded by fuperftition, or faft clofed by prejudice, will take upon themfelves to do what Balaam, daring and wicked as he was, would not prefume to do. The anfwer which he gave to Balak's meffengers, when they importuned him to come and curfe Ifrael, was a good precedent for us to follow, whenfoever we deliver our opinion on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of any actions of men, where confcience towards GOD is immediately concerned; and indeed it ought to be the language of all our laws, both of church and ftate-" If Balak would give me his houfe full of filver and gold, "I cannot go beyond the commandment of the "LORD, to do either good or bad of my own "mind; but what the LORD faith, that will "I Speak." Compare Numb. xxii. 5, 6. with xxiv. 13. However, we are affured that the curfe caufeless, shall not come. Prov, xxvi. 22. Therefore though a man should be burnt at a ftake for denying five of the Popish facraments, and by us be reckoned a martyr * I must confess that I hardly ever read over those words of the Te Deum without an heart-felt fatisfaction "We believe that thou shalt come to be our judge." How ftrangely contradictory are the judgments of men on one another! how much under the power of error, caprice, pre judice, a martyr and a faint; or another be hanged for having two wives at a time, and be ac counted judice, and refentment! The fame man fhall be canonized as a faint by fome, and curfed as an heretic and apostate' by others. 1 The canon of St. Victor calls Luther a falfe teacher and an apoftate, and him and his fellow-reformershæretical antichrifts. The writings of the Proteftants extol them as reformers of the Chriftian church, and revivers of the great truths of the gospel. The Romanifts fay, that Luther died fuddenly in a drunken fit, and went to hell-fome of them, that he was flown away with by the devil-a cacodamone fublatum fuiffe afferunt. Quirinus Cnoglerus has obferved, in his Lutheran Creed, that he had feen a little German book written in praise of SAINT Martin Luther, which contained at large the legend of this new Saint, canonized by the Proteftant minifters in Germany, wherein were these words IN VITA ÆTERNA, CHRISTUS habet primas, habeas tibi PAULE fecundas, At loca poft illos tertia, LUTHER habet. IN LIFE ETERNAL, CHRIST has the firft, and PAUL the fecond place, The third is justly by our LUTHER claim'd. See Gen. Dict. Hift. and Crit. vol. vii. p. 247, 259. The Turkish Spy, vol. i. p. 31, reprefents a Jefuit, as declaring," that the wickedeft wretches, and moft deteftable that ever were, were Judas, Mahomet, and Lu"ther; that these two laft, as the moft impious, are "the more tormented in hell. About ten years before Luther's death, he was taken very ill, infomuch that his life was defpaired of. The Papifts not only gave out that he was dead, but actually published the following curious account of his death counted a very great finner; yet the curse of the Papists could not injure the first, nor the bad which, for the entertainment of the reader, and as a fample of Romish veracity, I will here transcribe. "A horrible and unheard-of miracle, which God, "evermore to be praifed, hath, in the filthy death "of Martin Luther, damned body and foul, been "pleased to shew for the glory of JESUS CHRIST, "and towards the amendment and comfort of the "godly. "When Martin Luther was taken fick, he defired the "body of our LORD to be communicated unto him; which having received, he foon after died. When he found the end of his life drawing on, he defired that they would lay his corpfe upon an altar, and "that paying thereto divine honours, they fhould wor"fhip it. But Gop at laft, to put a period to his hor"rible errors, admonished the people by a mighty mi"racle to abstain from that impiety, which the faid "Luther had brought in: for his body being laid into "the grave, there arofe fuch a fudden tumult, horror, "and earthquake, as if the foundations of the world " had been fhook, so that all that were at the funeral 66 were ftruck with amazement. But lifting up their eyes, they faw the holy hoft hanging in the air" [this you must fuppofe to be the hoft he received lately, which would not vouchsafe to remain in fuch a vile heretic's body.] "Therefore, with great devotion of mind, they took "the moft holy hoft, and laid it up in a facred place; "which being done, the hellish clatter ceased to be heard, but the night following, there was a more frightful noife about Luther's tomb than before, "which raised the whole city, astonished and half dead "with fear therefore in the morning they opened the grave, in which the deteftable body of Luther was laid, but found therein neither body nor bones, nor ་ any of the cloaths, but a hellifh ftench of brimstone "coming out of the grave, that almost choaked all that came near it. With which miracle very many being affrighted bad opinion of Papifts and Proteftants united, in the least affect the fecond. Both would fall by the hand of fuperftition- both testify the horrors of its afcendency over the minds of men-both stand or fall to his own master. Rom. xiv. 4. On the contrary, let us remember, that there is a curfe which is not caufeless, and therefore will come-no canons either of the ancient or modern Chriftians-no human laws, "affrighted, have amended their lives, to the honour "of the Chriftian faith, and glory of Jefus Christ." This curious writing, with Luther's answer to it, is to be found in Lonicerus's Theatrum Hiftoricum, fol. 246. and in Hift of Popery, vol. ii. p. 316. After confidering thefe, and many other inftances which might be given, who, that values the peace of his own mind, would trouble himself, where truth is concerned, a fingle instant about the fuffrages of ignorant mortals, either one way or the other?-Well faid PaulWith me it is a very small thing (dxisov the fmalleft-leaft-either in itself, or in my concern about it) to be judged of you or of man's judgment-but he that judgeth me is the LORD. 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4. That same LORD will judge us-therefore, to know his will, and to do it, fhould fuperfede all other concerns whatsoever. Then I believe it will trouble us, as little as it now troubles honest Luther and his fellow-labourers, whether our fellow mortals curfe or canonize us.—. As to the fuffrages of men All your Philofophers agree, be PRIOR'S Alma, Canto II. Making human opinion the ftandard of truth, is like making the cameleon a standard of colour. inventions, |