DIALOGUES ON NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. PAMPHILUS TO HERMIPPUs. THE Conversation, my Hermippus, which I transmitted to you a good many years ago on the subject of Natural Religion, interested you, I remember, not a little. The free opinions of Philo, and the rational piety of Cleanthes, seemed to you the only diversities of sentiment which a reasonable person could admit upon that subject, and they were each supported by so much force of argument, that you were left in doubt to which side you should incline. The impression upon my mind was very similar, and I soon gave up reflecting on an inquiry in which so little certainty, as it seemed, could be attained. The course of my life soon carried me from my country, and from the calm speculations of philosophy; and D the profession of arms, which I followed in a foreign land, estranged me for a time from my original friends, and involved me in all the ardour of active pursuits. In a life of this kind we can sometimes learn more certainly than in the retirement of study the relative importance of the different principles of our nature; and although, in the character of a soldier, there is generally an affectation of carelessness and unconcern respecting religious sentiments, yet I could not but remark, that the men of most experience and respectability among us, if they were little versant in reasonings on such subjects, yet entertained feelings of seriousness and reverence whenever they were suggested to their minds. I found, in a word, that à disposition to scepticism was never prevalent with steady and sober-minded men, and that Cleanthes bid much fairer to obtain consideration among such characters than the versatile and ingenious Philo. It was my fortune, too, during my residence abroad, occasionally to meet with men who had gained the reputation of being philosophers; and I heard many of them push the principles of irreligion much farther than had been ventured upon by that acute disputant. Into such views my mind never 5 could enter, and there seemed to me something so disgusting in the aspect of open Atheism, that I was even less prepared than formerly to tolerate opinions which seemed at all to point at such a conclusion. Such were the prevailing sentiments which the mere course of events had produced in my mind, without any regular train of reflection: and it was in this temper that I returned some months ago to my native country, and once more had the happiness to find myself under the hospitable roof of my paternal friend. He was pleased to express his satisfaction with the character I had maintained in my profession : and it gave me infinite pleasure to find that the increase of years had not at all impaired the philosophical serenity of Cleanthes. In conversing about our old friends, you may be sure I did not forget Philo, and was curious to know whether he still remained as loose upon religious opinions as at the period of my acquaintance with him. To tell you the truth, says Cleanthes, I have not seen him for some years, as he is now gone to live upon an estate in a distant part of the country; but, from what I can learn, I understand his opinions have been changed to a degree which you would scarcely expect. Do you remember his con |