less-educated classes; and that whatever truth there may be in the pretensions of any religion to a divine origin, he cannot have any thing to fear in consequence of his want of faith in it, since he will have reached, though by another road, the same point towards which any true religion must tend.” must tend." And let him

conclude by citing some lines from the "Essay on Man," or the "Universal Prayer," of Pope, whose rhymes often supply admirably the defects of his reasons; as, for instance,

"For modes of faith let senseless bigots fight;

His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right."

Let such sentiments, I say, be promulgated in such company as one may often meet with, and I am much mistaken if several of the hearers will not readily acquiesce in them. And yet, in every one of the points in respect of which all religions will have been thus indiscriminately thrown together, Christianity does, in fact, stand eminently distinguished from all the rest, by strikingly peculiar features. It bears only that superficial and general resemblance to them which a genuine coin bears

to its various counterfeits. To establish and illustrate this conclusion, is the object of the present work.

Bishop Warburton's "Divine Legation" is a work too well known to require that a distinct reference should be made to it in every place in which I have availed myself of his learning and ingenuity. I can hardly be suspected of wishing to impose on the public as my own, what I have borrowed from an author who has so long been before them. To have exhibited clearly in a small space, separated from extraneous matter, and from topics of temporary controversy, some of the most important parts of an inestimably valuable, but voluminous, digressive, and incomplete work, may prove advantageous not only to such as have not studied the work, but, in some degree, to many also even of those who are familiar with it.

So general, however, is the tendency in men to enlist themselves under the banner of some leader, and to take for granted that every one does so, in respect of any author he professes to admire, that it may not be unnecessary for

me to protest against being regarded as a "follower" of Warburton, in the sense either of adopting any conclusion on his authority, or of acquiescing throughout in every thing he may have advanced.

ESSAY I.

REVELATION OF A FUTURE STATE.

§ 1. THE doctrine of man's immortality, when once the mind can be brought to dwell intently on the subject, is certainly the most interesting and the most important that can be presented to him. Other objects may, and often do, occupy more of our attention, and take a stronger hold of our feelings; but that, in real importance, all those objects are comparatively trifles, no one can doubt. Other matters of contemplation, again, may be, in themselves, not less awful, stupendous, and wonderful; but none of these can so intimately concern ourselves. Admirable as is the whole of God's creation, no other of his works can be so interesting to Man, as Man himself; sublime as is the idea of the eternal Creator himself, our own eternal existence after death is an idea calculated to strike us with still more overpowering emotions. That