The mentioning of the name of Chriſt, after ſuch vile impoſtors, may diſpleaſe ſome of my readers—I reſpect their warmth; but let them not forget that the followers of theſe deluſions bear his name, and profeſs to be the diſciples of him, who ſaid, by their works we ſhould know who were the children of God or the ſervants of ſin. I allow that it is eaſier to touch the body of a ſaint, or to be magnetiſed, than to reſtrain our appetites or govern our paſſions; but health of body or mind can only be recovered by theſe means, or we make the Supreme Judge partial and revengeful.
Is he a man that he ſhould change, or puniſh out of reſentment? He—the common father, wounds but to heal, ſays reaſon, and our irregularities producing certain conſequences, we are forcibly ſhewn the nature of vice; that thus learning to know good from evil, by experience, we may hate one and love the other, in proportion to the wiſdom which we attain. The poiſon contains the antidote; and we either reform our evil habits and ceaſe to ſin againſt our own bodies, to uſe the forcible language of ſcripture, or a premature death, the puniſhment of ſin, ſnaps the thread of life.
Here an awful ſtop is put to our enquiries.—But, why ſhould I conceal my ſentiments? Conſidering the attributes of God, I believe that whatever puniſhment may follow, will tend, like the anguiſh of diſeaſe, to ſhew the malignity of vice, for the purpoſe of reformation. Poſitive puniſhment appears ſo contrary to the nature of God, diſcoverable in all his works, and in our
