of the globe shall we find a spot to compare with thee, thou once happy plain? Thy pasturage which nourished innumerable flocks, are changed to calcareous matter, which not yielding the least nourishment, fright away even the locusts. Thy luxuriant fruit trees are become stunted tufts of thorny plants, just sufficient to denote that vegetation was once here, and instead of fruit they only bear salt and sand. The grain that thou wast wont to yield, is now nothing more than bitumenous stones. Instead of songs from the shepherds, the howling of the wind is only now heard, which bearing sand and noxious vapours in its passage, makes it the more dreadful. Thy cities engulphed in the lake, nothing is now to be seen there but the putrid waters which cover them, and the monotony in the mountains which encompass it. Thy numerous inhabitants, are no more, and thou art visited only now and then by an inquisitive stranger, [H] who comes from afar to witness thy desolation, who with uplifted hands in wonder, exclaims, Is this that once happy country? that, the famed river the Jordan, whose waters were so esteemed, that now creeps so slowly onward to the lake, discoloured and scarcely perceptible, as if ashamed of its connexion, nothing remaining to indicate existence, but the reeds and willows on its borders, which appear to mourn its lost splendour and miserable end, as it passes on in a funeral pace, to be swallowed in the abyss of the pestilential sea? The fragrance of thy breath is now changed to fumes of sulphur and arsenic, which being vomited from thy Asphaltites, carries horror and desolation in its winged course. The description of these changes are but faintly given, requiring the aid of those more fertile in words and of poetic fancy; however here is sufficient to rouse the enquiry of the sceptic, Why is this? But is this to continue so for ever? According to the prophet Isaiah 51, 3, it is not:

For the Lord shall comfort Zion, he will comfort

"all her waste places; and he will make her wil"derness like Eden, and her desert like the garden "of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found "therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” And again, "Instead of the thorn shall come up the "fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the "myrtle tree."

These promises should not be overlooked; here it appears that the country which was once as the garden of the Lord, and is now wilderness, shall again become delightful as it was at first; which is very plainly pointed out by the self same language being used; and besides, there not being any place which can so properly be meant as this (at present accursed) spot.

It appears then, mankind are the agents by which God's promises are to be accomplished, therefore by their associating for the means of obtaining this promised blessing, they will be acceptable in the sight of the Creator, render themselves truly benevolent, and be entitled to the gratitude of following generations.

NOTES.

NOTE A, PAGE 30.

DE ES CARTES was of opinion, that the world "is directed by some subordinate and me"chanical causes In which, he seems to have been right only by accident; for as to the kind and quality of these causes, he searched no further "than his own brain, and neglected those undeni"able phenomena, with which his causes are not to "be reconciled.

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"Sir Isaac Newton, on the other hand, was very "diligent in studying those phenomena, which belong chiefly to the class of natural effects; in the adjusting of which he makes a great figure; but "unhappily solves the whole government of the "created world by a nostrum, which hath never yet "been understood; and in the application of which, "he was not very consistent with himself, as we "shall find hereafter.

"The followers of Newton and Des Cartes, having thus admitted something which is arbitrary in "the very foundation of their schemes; we can "never expect to see their disputes brought to any "issue, so long as there are men equally learned and " ingenious on both sides to perpetuate them.

"While these able philosophers are contending "with each other, some in the pursuit of fame, and "others in the pursuit of truth, without being able "to agree where and with whom it is to be found, "I should not dare to interpose in such a subject, "unless I suspected natural philosophy to be a "much easier thing than they have made of it; and "such as a plain man, who only consults the proper evidence, and pretends to no more wisdom than

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the rest of mankind, may be able to strike some light upon. This, however, cannot be done in "such a manner as to be attended with any good "effect, till it is first determined, whether the "operations of nature are immediately owing to "mechanical causes; or whether they are con"ducted after a manner unknown to us in empty spaces. Those who assert the latter are supposed "to do it with demonstration on their side. It "would be vain therefore to describe the mechanism "of the world, and descend to the consideration of

any particular effects, so long as even the general "method of solving effects by the operation of "mechanical agents, is thought to be an absurdity. "This method of philosophising is the very thing,

against which, some of the demonstrations, that "have gained most credit with the learned, are "directly levelled and the writings of our modern "reasouers, whether metaphysicians or mathemati66 cians, are stored with objections, not only against "the reality, but even the possibility of a mechanical agency. To these their objections, I shall now "address myself particularly, and endeavour to "shew, that not one amongst them all is of any "force. As to their prejudices, I do not undertake "to remove them: but leave it to time, and a far"ther knowledge of things, to wear off all such "impressions as will not bear to be reasoned with. -Jones's Philosophy, p. 9.

"If the notion of a vacuum be unsupported, and "and false in itself, nothing that is advanced in the "mathematical philosophy, relating to physical

causes, can possibly be right. Where that philo"sophy has mistaken or misrepresented the nature "of these causes, it will be found inconsistent either "with itself or with nature, and most probably with "both so that to detect the falsehood of it, we "shall have nothing to do, but to compare it with itself, and with those notions of the natural world,

"with which our senses and experience will furnish us. In this disquisition, we shall have in review "before us, a great variety of useful and curions "experiments, which cannot fail of giving some entertainment, to a mind that hath bestowed any of "its attention upon such subjects."-Ibid, p. 56.

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NOTE B, PAGE 53.

FASTEN One end of a string to a point, that the string may pass round it freely; put the other end through a ball, fastening it by a knot that the ball may not fly off; propel the ball with sufficient force, (being left to itself) whereby it may go all round the central point. It will be seen that the knot invariably will point outwards round the whole circle ; and that it requires another force of some kind tơ make it deviate therefrom.

NOTE C, PAGE 77.

"VESSELS are sometimes retarded, and sometimes "forwarded in their voyages by currents at sea, "which are often not perceived. About the year "1769 or 1770, there was an application made by "the Board of Customs at Boston, to the Lords of "the Treasury in London, complaining that the "packets between Falmouth and New York were "generally a fortnight longer in their passages, than "the merchant ships from London to Rhode Island, " and proposing that for the future, they should be "ordered to Rhode Island instead of New York.

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Being then concerned in the management of the "American post-office, I happened to be consulted "on the occasion; and it appearing strange to me "that there should be such a difference between "two places, scarce a day's run asunder, especially "when the merchant ships are generally deeper "laden, and more weakly manned than the packets,' "and had from London the whole length of the "river and channel to run, before they left the land