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whole mind, that the smallest distraction or heedlessness constrains us to renew our trouble, and re-begin the operation." This had the desired effect. gave also a permanent direction to his talents, and was the commencement of that series of philosophical investigations and discoveries which have ren dered his name immortal.

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He quitted Geneva in 1641, and spent the next winter in Florence. Dur ing his stay in this city, the famous astronomer Galileo died at a village in the vicinity. He thence visited Rome, Leghorn, and Genoa, and in 1644 he returned with his brother to England. He found that his father, who had removed from Ireland to Stalbridge, in Dorsetshire, had recently died, and that he himself had come into the possession of the manor at Stalbridge, with other property. From this time to the end of his life, he appears to have been engaged in study. He was one of the first members of the "Invisible College," as he calls it, which, after the Restoration, became the Royal Society. In 1654 he took up his residence at Oxford, on account of the favorableness of the place to retirement, study, and philosophical intercourse. During his residence here he made great improvements in the air-pump, though he did not invent it, as some have stated.

But Boyle did not devote all his time to Natural Philosophy: he gave a portion of it to the study of the original languages of the Scriptures, and of the Scriptures themselves. He also took an interest in every plan for the circulation of the Word of Truth, and as a member of the East India Company, in 1676, pressed upon that body the duty of promoting Christianity in the East. He continued up to the close of his life to devote himself to the study of philosophy, and like Newton he will ever be known as a

"Sagacious reader of the works of God,

And in his word sagacious."

He died on the 30th of December, (Old Style,) 1691.

The writings of Boyle are very voluminous, the greater part being on subJects of mechanical philosophy; though he wrote not a few on moral subjects.1 Of the latter are "Considerations on the Style of the Holy Scriptures;" "Occasional Reflections on several Subjects;" "Considerations about the Reconcilableness of Reason and Religion;" The Christian Virtuoso," showing that "by being addicted to experimental philosophy, a man is rather assisted than indisposed to be a good Christian," &c. As a man, it is said of him by a biographer, that "his benevolence, both in action and sentiment, distinguished him from others as much as his acquirements and experiments; and that, in an age when toleration was unknown." He has been styled the author of the "New or Experimental Philosophy," but it should always be recollected that Bacon pointed out the way. "The excellent Mr. Boyle," says Mr. Hughes, was the person who seems to have been designed by nature to succeed to the labors and inquiries of that extraordinary genius, Lord Bacon. By innumerable experiments, he in a great measure filled up those plans and outlines of science which his predecessor had sketched out. His life was spent in the pursuit of nature, through a great variety of forms and changes, and in the most rational as well as devout adoration of its divine Author." Bishop Burnet sums up a brilliant eulogium of his character in the following strain:-"I will not amuse you with a list of his astonishing knowledge, or of his great performances in this way. They are highly valued all the world

1 His complete works were published in 1744, by Dr. Birch, in 5 vols. folio
2 Spectator, No. 554.

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over, and his name is everywhere mentioned with particular characters of respect. Few men, if any, have been known to have made so great a com pass, and to have been so exact in all parts of it, as Boyle."

THE STUDY OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY FAVORABLE TO RELIGION.

The first advantage that our experimental philosopher, as such, hath towards being a Christian, is, that his course of studies conduceth much to settle in his mind a firm belief of the existence, and divers of the chief attributes, of God; which belief is, in the order of things, the first principle of that natural religion which itself is pre-required to revealed religion in general, and conse quently to that in particular which is embraced by Christians.

That the consideration of the vastness, beauty, and regular motions of the heavenly bodies, the excellent structure of animals and plants, besides a multitude of other phenomena of nature, and the subserviency of most of these to man, may justly induce him, as a rational creature, to conclude that this vast, beautiful, orderly, and (in a word) many ways admirable system of things, that we call the world, was framed by an author supremely powerful, wise, and good, can scarce be denied by an intelligent and unprejudiced considerer. And this is strongly confirmed by experience, which witnesseth, that in almost all ages and countries the generality of philosophers and contemplative men were persuaded of the exist ence of a Deity, by the consideration of the phenomena of the universe, whose fabric and conduct, they rationally concluded, could not be deservedly ascribed either to blind chance, or to any other cause than a divine Being.

The works of God are so worthy of their author, that, besides the impresses of his wisdom and goodness that are left, as it were, upon their surfaces, there are a great many more curious and ex cellent tokens and effects of divine artifice in the hidden and in nermost recesses of them; and these are not to be discovered by the perfunctory looks of oscitant and unskilful beholders; but re quire, as well as deserve, the most attentive and prying inspection of inquisitive and well-instructed considerers. And sometimes in one creature there may be I know not how many admirable things, that escape a vulgar eye, and yet may be clearly discerned by that of a true naturalist, who brings with him, besides a more than common curiosity and attention, a competent knowledge of ana tomy, optics, cosmography, mechanics, and chemistry. But treat ing elsewhere purposely of this subject, it may here suffice to say, that God has couched so many things in his visible works, that the clearer light a man has, the more he may discover of their unobvious exquisiteness, and the more clearly and distinctly he may discern those qualities that lie more obvious. And the more wonderful things he discovers in the works of nature, the more auxiliary proofs he meets with to establish and enforce the argu

ment, drawn from the universe and its parts, to evince that there is a God; which is a proposition of that vast weight and importance, that it ought to endear every thing to us that is able to confirm it, and afford us new motives to acknowledge and adore the divine Author of things.

To be told that an eye is the organ of sight, and that this is performed by that faculty of the mind which, from its function, is called visive, will give a man but a sorry account of the instru ments and manner of vision itself, or of the knowledge of that Opificer who, as the Scripture speaks, "formed the eye." And he that can take up with this easy theory of vision, will not think it necessary to take the pains to dissect the eyes of animals, nor study the books of mathematicians, to understand vision; and, accordingly, will have but mean thoughts of the contrivance of the organ, and the skill of the artificer, in comparison of the ideas that will be suggested of both of them to him that, being profoundly skilled in anatomy and optics, by their help takes asunder the several coats, humors, and muscles, of which that exquisite diop trical instrument consists; and having separately considered the figure, size, consistence, texture, diaphaneity or opacity, situation, and connection of each of them, and their coaptation in the whole eye, shall discover, by the help of the laws of optics, how admirably this little organ is fitted to receive the incident beams of light, and dispose them in the best manner possible for completing the lively representation of the almost infinitely various objects of sight.

It is not by a slight survey, but by a diligent and skilful scrutiny of the works of God, that a man must be, by a rational and affective conviction, engaged to acknowledge with the prophet, that the Author of nature is "wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working."

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DISCRIMINATION NECESSARY IN READING THE SCRIPTURES.

We should carefully distinguish betwixt what the Scripture says, and what is only said in the Scripture. For we must not look upon the Bible as an oration of God to men, or as a body of laws, like our English statute-book, wherein it is the legislator that all the way speaks to the people; but as a collection of composures of very differing sorts, and written at very distant times; and of such composures, that though the holy men of God (as St. Peter calls them) were acted by the Holy Spirit, who both excited and assisted them in penning the Scripture, yet there are many others, besides the Author and the penmen, introduced speaking there. For besides the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, the four Evangelists, the Acts of the Apostles, and

other parts of Scripture that are evidently historical, and wont to be so called, there are, in the other books, many passages that deserve the same name, and many others wherein, though they be not mere narratives of things done, many sayings and expressions are recorded that either belong not to the Author of the Scripture, or must be looked upon as such wherein his secretaries personate others. So that, in a considerable part of the Scripture, not only prophets, and kings, and priests being introduced speaking, but soldiers, shepherds, and women, and such other sorts of persons, from whom witty or eloquent things are not (especially when they speak ex tempore) to be expected, it would be very injurious to impute to the Scripture any want of eloquence, that may be noted in the expressions of others than its Author. For though, not only in romances, but in many of those that pass for true histories, the supposed speakers may be observed to talk as well as the historian, yet that is but either because the men so introduced were ambassadors, orators, generals, or other eminent men for parts as well as employments; or because the historian does, as it often happens, give himself the liberty to make speeches for them, and does not set down indeed what they said, but what he thought fit that such persons on such occasions should have said. Whereas the penmen of the Scripture, as one of them truly professes, having not followed cunningly devised fables in what they have writ ten, have faithfully set down the sayings, as well as actions, they record, without making them rather congruous to the conditions of the speakers than to the laws of truth.

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FEW writers in the English language have obtained a wider fame than the celebrated non-conformist' divine, Richard Baxter. He was born at Rowdon, a small village in Shropshire, on the 12th of November, 1615. Being seri ously impressed at an early age, it was his great desire to enter one of the universities, and study for the ministry. But want of means prevented the former, though he was enabled to reach the ultimate object of his wishes, by studying with a clergyman, Mr. Francis Garbett, who conducted him through a course of theology, and gave him much valuable assistance in his general reading. In 1638 he received ordination in the Church of England, having at that time no scruples on the score of subscription. In 1640 he was invited to preach to a congregation at Kidderminster, which invitation he accepted, and there labored many years with signal success. When the civil war broke, out, he sided with the parliament, and of course after the Restoration he had

1 In the year 1662, two years after the Restoration of Charles II., a law was passed, called the Act of Uniformity, which enjoined upon every benediced person, not only to use the Prayer-book, but to declare his assent and consent to every part of it, with many other very severe restrictions. It had the effect of banishing at once two thousand divines from the pale of the English church, who are called "Non-conformists :" of this number was Baxter.

lis share of the sufferings that attended all the non-conformist divines. On the accession of James II., 1685, he was arrested by a warrant from that most infamous of men, lord chief justice Jeffries, for some passages in his "Commentary on the New Testament," supposed hostile to Episcopacy, and was tried for sedition. The brutal insolence and tyranny of Jeffries on this trial have signalized it as one of the most disgraceful proceedings on legal record. He acted the part of prosecutor as well as judge, insulting his counsel in the coarsest manner, refusing to hear his witnesses, and saying he was "sorry that the Act of Indemnity disabled him from hanging him." He was fined five hundred marks, and sentenced to prison till it was paid. He was confined in prison nearly eighteen months, when he was pardoned and the fine remitted. The solitude of his prison was enlivened on this, as on former occasions, by the affectionate attentions of his wife; for it was his good fortune to marry one who cheerfully submitted to, and shared all his sufferings on the score of conscience. He lived to see that favorable change in reference to religious toleration which commenced at the Revolution of 1688, and died on the 8th of December, 1691.

Baxter was a most voluminous writer, above one hundred and forty-five treatises of his being enumerated. Two of them, the "Saint's Everlasting Rest," and the Call to the Unconverted," have been extremely popular, and met with a circulation which few other books have attained. The learned and unlearned have alike united to extol them, for they are admirably adapted to persons of every class and rank in life. The reason is, they are addressed to the heart and to the conscience, which are common to all; that they appertain to that purity of heart and life which are indispensable to the happiness of all; and that they treat of those eternal things in which the king and the peasant, the rich and the poor, have an equal interest.1

Baxter left behind him a "Narrative of the most Memorable Passages of his Life and Times," which was published in a folio volume after his death. It is here we find that review of his religious opinions, written in the latter part of his life, which Coleridge2 speaks of as one of the most remarkablo pieces of writing that have come down to us. It was one of Dr. Johnson's favorite books. The following are some extracts from it :

EXPERIENCE OF HUMAN CHARACTER.

I now see more good and more evil in all men than heretofore I did. I see that good men are not so good as I once thought they were, but have more imperfections; and that nearer approach and fuller trial doth make the best appear more weak and faulty than their admirers at a distance think. And I find that few are so bad as either malicious enemies or censorious separating professors do imagine. In some, indeed, I find that human nature is corrupted into a greater likeness to devils than I once thought any on earth had been. But even in the wicked, usually there is more for grace to make advantage of, and more to testify for God and holiness, than I once believed there had been.

I less admire gifts of utterance, and bare profession of religion,

1 Dr. Isaac Barrow has said, that "his practical writings were never mended, and his controversial
ones seldom confuted."
2 Biographia Literaria.

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