called upon, which is not unlikely to be the cafe, this may certify, that no answer, reply, or rejoinder, is to be expected from me. For as I am in the decline of life, and perhaps not far from the conclufion of it; so, under these circumstances, before my difcerning faculty is impaired, I take my leave of the world as a writer; hoping that what I have offered to publick confideration has bad, and may have, fome good effect upon the minds and lives of my readers. And as, on the one hand, I am not fo vain as to think myself fo well, much lefs better qualilified to affift the understandings of others, than those who may be appointed by the government, or otherwife, to that work, or who may have affumed fuch a character, (amongst whom, furely, there are many, much my fuperiors in that refpect;) so, on the other hand, I durft not put on fuch an affectation of humility, as to depreciate those abilities which God, in the course of his general providence, has endowed me with, and which, I truft, in the main, have been ufed by me to answer the purposes the author of nature has directed them to and did intend them for. What we are, with respect to our make and conftitution, is the

gift of God, whether our abilities are greater or lefs: So that we are no farther valuable,

nor have a right to refpect,on their account, any otherwise than as we make a right and proper ufe of them. I am fenfible that, in the course of my writings, I have gained the displeasure of many; and tho' they have not wherewith to accufe me, whilft living, yet attempts may be made to blacken my character, and thereby trample upon my afbes, when I am dead. I therefore will remind my readers that whatever I am, or may be reprefented to be, with respect to my personal character and behaviour, whether virtuous or vicious, my arguments and reasonings are the fame, are equally strong and conclufive, or the contrary, whether I am one or the other of these, and this is all my readers are interested in. I am alfo fenfible, that I have too often deviated from that rule which, as an intelligent being, my affections and behaviour ought to have been directed by; which miscarriages I do by no means excufe or juftify; as knowing that, according to their kind and degree, they are justly blameable; but then, in the general courfe of my life, my actions, I hope, have been conformable to that rule,

and

and I had much rather they had been wholly fo, as acting otherwife has yielded me no folid fatisfaction, but the contrary. Howr ever, with fincerity and truth, I can fay, that I have had a real concern and regard for the prefent well being of my fellow creatures, as well as for their future happiness; it being, in my opinion, mere affectation of charity and benevolence to pretend we have a great regard for the future and eternal fale vation of mankind, whilst we shew little or no concern for the prefent happiness of our neighbours, tho' their difficult and ftreightened circumstances and our abilities call upon and invite us to it, and render it reasonable that we should. Alas! how prepofterous is it, for a man to put on a fhew of great zeal for the good of his neighbour's foul in another world, whilft he suffers him to pass in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, through this; and to groan under the burthen of every other affliction, without ftretching forth his hand to his relief?and yet is not this too often the cafe? The fate of our neighbours fouls in another world is what we are not very well qualified to judge of; whereas their prefent happiness or mifery fall more directly in our view, and thereBb 4

by

by become the more immediate objects of our present regard. And, as I am fully fatisfied that the paying a proper regard to the present happiness of my neighbours would have been my duty; so, I verily believe, I fhould have acted the very fame part, whether I had an expectation of a future retribution, or not. I mention this, in oppofition to that false and unworthy principle, maintained by fome, viz. that mankind are so entirely governed by felf-love, that they cannot perform any kind office to each other without a bribe, without a profpect of good to themselves, either in this world or the world to come. This, I am perfuaded, is fo far from being the truth of the cafe, that, I prefume, all good men frequently experience the contrary, and that they kindly interpose to serve their neighbours purely from love and goodwill towards them, without the least view of ferving themfelves thereby, either now or hereafter, and which furely is generally the cafe. For tho' the affection of felf-love may have been more or less viciated in all our fpecies, which is the principal and perhaps the general ground of our miscarriages; yet, it may fairly be prefumed, it is not the only fpring of action even

to

to the worst, or most selfish of men; there being, I dare fay, few, or none, so bad, so degenerated, but what perform fome good actions without any view of ferving themfelves, either directly or remotely, thereby.

I WOULD also observe, that whilst I am now writing, I think, I have the full exercise of my natural intellectual faculties, (my memory only excepted) and do not apprehend they are in the leaft clouded or impaired, fo as to render me less capable of judging properly upon any question,than at any time past; and therefore I think myself now a much better judge, on any question to which my attention is called in, than I can be on a fick and dying bed, when my paffions may be alarm'd, my reflecting power greatly weakened, my attention broken and disturbed, and fuch other circumstances may attend my case, as may render me a much less proper judge than now of what I may give my opinion upon, when in the circumstances before mentioned. This being the cafe, I defire my readers to receive as my real fentiments what I myself now offer to them, and not what may be offered to them as fuch by others when I am dead, even tho'grounded, or pretended to be grounded, on what I may be represented to have faid on a fick bed, and may be confidered as

my