licitor, the fon, was out of the question, and no fuch one had been declared by the king, yet as we petition earthly princes by fuch as enjoy their prefence, because they cannot give audience to all their fubjects, nor do they know the worthy; but God is omniprefent, his ears always open, and his head bowed down to the prayers of his of his people; is no respecter of perfons, but gives a like access to the beggar as to the prince, and promises to caft out none that make their application to him; it follows of con= fequence, that we ought to address ourfelves immediately to God, and afk from him. If an earthly prince fhould thus invite his fubjects to petition him for the supply of their wants, I fhould account the man no better than a fool or a madman, who would apply himself to any of the king's favour

ites.

The conclufion is; O thou that heareft prayer, unto thee fhall all flesh come. (Pf. xv. 2.) Since God, who is infinite in mercy, omnipresent, and omnipotent in wisdom and action, admits every man to the throne of grace, bids him afk in the name of Jefus Chrift, and promises, whatever we afk in his Son's name, he will do it.--Since the practice of praying to faints is injurious to Chrift, and doth manifeftly rob him of his. F 5 royal

royal prerogative, which is to be the one, and only mediator betwixt God and man;" for in this office, he hath no fbarers or partners, according to the fcripture account: As God is but one, and there is no other; fo the mediator (by the appointment of God) is but one, and there is, there can be no other (4)---And fince, exclufive of these unalterable things, the Roman doctors cannot be certain, that faints in heaven hear the requests of fuppliants on carth, or know whether our prayers are fit to be accepted of God (5); let us reject that unlawful practice,

the

(4) Quid tam proprium Chrifti quam advocatum apud deum patrem adftare populorum. (Ambrof. in Pfal. xxxix) Pro quo nullus interpellat, fed ipfe pro omnibus, hic unus verufque mediator eft. (Aug. Cont. Parmen 1. 2. c. 8.)

(5) The Roman doctors fay, the faints know the tranfactions that are done here below, by revelation or intuition.-- -To this I anfwer, if it is by revelation that they know our requests and prayers to them, then it must be either from God or from angels; of which there is not the leaft affurance or certainty to be any where found; but if we could be fure of it, then, in my opinion, we ought to pray to God or angels to make known our prayers to faints; which would be ftrange religion.-If it be by intuition, as the greatest part of the doctors fay, and that the faints fee the requests in the divine effence, as men fee things in a corporeal glafs; then, (exclufive of answering that the fcriptures fay no fuch thing) the Jaints must fee all things in the divine effence, or only fuch things as God

I

the invocation of faints, and pray for pardon and grace (as the gospel directs) to God the judge of all, through Jefus Chrift the mediator of the new covenant. This do, and thou fhalt live.

N. B. Who was the author of thefe good remarks, these friars could not tell me; as they were in the book when they bought it. If I miftake not, they are an abstract from a letter of Bishop Barlow to Mr. Evelyn, with feveral additions. I have not Bishop Barlow's works by me; but I think I have seen something to this purpose, written by this prelate about one hundred years ago.

is pleased to permit them to fee: if all things, they would be omniscient: if only the things permitted to be seen, how is it poffible for us to know whether God is pleased to permit them to fee therein our prayers, or to know the requests we make to them, unless he had told us fo. Let it be revelation or intuition, it is fad stuff.

SECTION III.

Say, why was man fo eminently rais'd "Amid the vast creation; why ordain'd

Through life and death to dart his piercing eye, "With thoughts beyond the limits of his frame; "But that the Omnipotent might fend him forth "In fight of mortal and immortal powers, "As on a boundless theatre, to run "The great career of justice; to exalt "His generous aim to all diviner deeds ;

To thake each partial purpose from his breast; "And thro' the mifts of paffion and of fenfe, "And thro' the toffing tide of chance and pain, "To hold his courfe unfault'ring, while the voice "Of truth and virtue, up the steep afcent "Of nature, calls him to his high reward,. "Th' applauding fmile of heav'n? Elfe wherefore

" burns

"In mortal bofoms this unquenched hope, "That breathes from day to day fublimer things, "And mocks poffeffion? Wherefore darts the mind. "With fuch refistless ardor to embrace "Majestic forms; impatient to be free, "Spurning the grofs controul of wilful might; "Proud of the strong contention of her toils; "Proud to be daring?"

April 8.. 1729, we

S.. I.

Leave the re

ligious, and proceed in the journey

THE

HE eighth of April 1729, I bid the I

vonites adieu, and by their directions walked up a very steep and ftony mountain, which

took me two hours, and then arrived at

what

what I had often feen before in this part of the world, a great lake, the water of which was black as ink to look at as it stood, though very bright in a cup, and must be owing, as I fuppofe, to its defcending to the abyss. By the fide of this water, under the fhade of oak-trees, many hundred years old, we rid for an hour, on even ground, and then came to a defcent fo very dangerous and dark, through a wood on the mountain's fide, that we could hardly creep it down on our feet, nor our horfes keep their legs as we led them to the bottom. This declivity was more than a mile, and ended in a narrow lane between a range of precipices that almoft met at top. This pafs was knee-deep in water, from a spring in the bottom of the mountain we had come down, which ran through it, and fo very ftony, that it took us three hours to walk the horfes to the end of it, though it was not more than two miles: but at laft we came to a fine plain, over which we rid for an hour and a half, and arrived at a wood, which feemed very large, and stood between two very high unpaffable hills. In this foreft was our way, and the road fo dark, and obftructed by the branches of trees, that it was difmal and uneafy to go. On however we went for a long time, and about the middle of it came to a circular opening

of