"the point in question, and is, I think, more "demonftrative than even thought, invention, "reflection, or any of those powers which are " generally mentioned to diftinguish the immortal " from the animal foul. "THERE is a something in us which neither " nurse nor priest could be able to inspire us with; "-a fomething which we have not at command, " either to serve us when we most stand in need " of it, or to chide from us, though we should " never so much attempt to do it; - it flashes " upon us when we are not aware of it; " with us, and it is gone, in the fame instant; like "lightning, fudden, strong, and no fooner found " than loft. it is "WHAT I mean are those starts of prescience " which I never met any one yet that denied " he had experienced in a more or less degree."At the time when we are most relaxed from " thought and busy cares, perhaps laughing with " our friends over a chearful bowl, a ray of this " divine attribute shall shoot upon us, and tell us " that fuch or fuch a thing will happen; but then " it is fleeting, tranfient, and vanishes in the fame " instant that it came, and we know not that we " ever had it till the event it had fore-shewn ar" rives; then it returns to memory, and seems to " reproach the little regard paid to it. "IT would be in vain to affert that all this is " no more than the result of former thoughts, " which, when uncalled, recoil upon us; because " these flashes of fore-knowledge are frequently on " affairs we never thought upon, nor had the leaft " concern in ; yet some time after, when we hear " of " of them, we shall remember that we had warning " of them.. "As such sudden emanations therefore are pre" vented from being of any manner of service to " us in the conduct of our worldly affairs, by their "not obtaining a place in the retentive faculty, and " it would be the most daring impiety to imagine, "that the Great Author of nature does any thing " in vain, ought we not to believe them sent to " convince us we have within us a part of his own * Divine Essence, to raise in us a high idea of the "true dignity of our fouls, to bless incessantly, " and praise with humblest gratitude, the Be"stower of privileges so immenfe, and to be care" ful not to commit any action to render us un"worthy of them, "As among the many arguments made use of " in favour of the immortality of the foul, I never " found this had a place; I should not expect it " would have much weight, if I were not con"vinced every reader will find the truth of it in " his own breaft: -for my part, I look on it as "a proof beyond all evasion, and that it seems " intended for an universal one; because it stands " in no need of learning to support it, and may " be received by the meanest capacity, as well as " by the most extensive. " In an age such as this, when the belief of an" nihilation is the creed in vogue, all attempts to " prevent a doctrine so absurd, and of fo manifestly * wicked a tendency from taking too deep a " root, ought to be encouraged; for which reason " I flatter myself you will infert this in the next " lucubrations you oblige us with; and if you are " so good to subjoin your own opinion of the mat"ter, “ ter, I dare answer it will be perfectly agreeable " to the greatest part of your readers, and parti"cularly to him who is, : With the utmost respect, MADAM, Richmond, Jan. 21, 1744-5 Your most obedient, P. S. "As those intellectual warnings above" mentioned are more frequent with some people " than others, I imagine a hint how they might be " improved would be of service; but that as you " and your fair associates shall judge convenient." THIS new, and I believe, indeed, before unthought of notion very much charmed us all ;we fell immediately into a little resverie, and after a short retrospect into ourselves concurred in owning we had each of us felt that flash of prescience which Platonides so emphatically describes; we cannot therefore avoid giving it as our joint opinion, that it must proceed from fomething more than chance; that such a ray of knowledge, or of inspiration rather, should all at once, and without any endeavour, or even defire of it, strike upon the mind; and that it is one of those many marks we carry about us, of being formed according to the image of our all-wife Creator. YET such is the stupidity and blindness of the greatest part of mankind, that we value ourselves on trifles, and take a pleasure in degrading the only thing worthy of regard, -the immortal foul !--that which alone gives us the title of lords of the creation, creation, and a right to dispose of other beings as we find necessary for our fupport or pastime. I BELIEVE it is agreed to by all, I mean of those who agree to any thing beyond what the sensual eye can penetrate into, that there are innumerable orders of beings between us and the Great Author of all; and if fo, how must these superior fpirits commiferate, for by the excellence of their nature they have it not in their power to contemn our foibles; how must it grieve them when they look down, and see us priding ourselves on a fet of well-turned features, a delicate skin, fine hair, or teeth, which a thousand accidents may deprive us of in a moment, and old age infallibly decays, yet not only neglect, but deny we are in poffeffion of that which no cross events, no fickness, no length of days, nor death itself can hurt; that which will last when time shall be no more, and tread in glory the sacred rounds of eternity! An adequate fatisfaction must it also afford to the great enemy of mankind, when he flatters himfelf that by fo readily renouncing all pretenfions to immortality, we shall be, indeed, cut off from the inheritance promised to the children of God. But I hope, and am perfuaded, that this doctrine of annihilation is but from the lip; --- that the heart at least, in most people, disavows so low and groveling a principle; and that they are only tempted to profess it in complaisance to some, who, to prevail on them to act as they would have them in this world, endeavour to make them think there is nothing either to be wished, or dreaded, in the If there be any weak enough to adopt in reality so absurd a principle, it can be only those who, who, indulging themselves in a continual series of voluptuousness, affign no other employment for the mind than the study of new pleasures :---these are too impatient, or if you will, too indolent, to aim at any thing that is not in their immediate grafp; and they would not deny themselves the least enjoyment of the present now, even for the assurance of a Mahometan paradise in futuro. next. THERE is certainly a possibility for the foul to be so abforbed in the gratification of the senses, as to lose for a time all its power of operating, and become as it were dead within us. NAY, I have heard of people fo far gone in this wretched lethargy, as to repine at nature for making them of human kind, and giving the preference to the brute creation, merely because many of them are endued with higher and more poignant sensations. These may indeed well put themselves on a level with the beasts they imitate; and being by their debaucheries rendered incapable of any ideas of spiritual felicities, take a pleasure in believing they shall be no more, when they can no more act as at present. I THINK some virtuosoes of the Royal Society some time ago had the curiosity to try the experiment whether, by transferring the blood of one animal into another, the nature of the creature would be transmigrated also: how far they were satisfied in this point, I either never heard, or have forgot; but what occafioned my making mention of the whim was, that reaching the ears of a young furgeon, who had a great ambition of being talked of, put it into his head to make the fame essay between a man and a cat :---the project so much pleased |