old were led to think of His divine mercy, who created mankind, to be placed in this short world as in a state of trial, in which they were to choose good or evil. They were fully informed of the happiness of virtue, and the misery of vice; they were to understand by the Holy Scriptures, the will of God. He created them with power to resist sin and wickedness, and to correct all bad passions. From the beginning of the world God made man after his own image," and said "all was good." The ignorant mind cannot understand the great goodness of God: many have narrow and unjust ideas of Divine Providence. Through ignorance and self-conceit, the infidel refuses to believe the Scriptures, by which the will of God is made manifest to mankind. Whoever has read and known much of the world must see that mankind, when left to their own judgment only, are weak, blind, and sinful, and devoted to the worshipping of idols. The evil spirit has access to the imagination, and fills it with pride of understanding. The Unitarians do not see that they require any revealed religion; they think that the unaided wisdom of mankind is able to understand the principles of piety towards God. Full of their own wisdom, they have not felt nor understood the weakness and sinful propensities of human nature. The most wise and learned men have examined the truth of the Scriptures; they have found that the will of God has been revealed to mankind by the Bible. They are fully assured that no per manent piety, virtue, or integrity of heart, can exist, if the Christian principles are shaken or denied ; they are the only true foundation for virtue and happiness in this world, or in the world to come. Such were the sentiments of the eminent judge, Sir Matthew Hale, Sir Isaac Newton, Mr. Locke, Mr. Boyle, Mr. Addison, and many other great and good men. By revealed religion mankind have attained every advantage of moral excellence, by the practice of which they can proceed with good faith, hope, and patience, through the most severe adversities of this life of probation. By the Gospel of Christ they will learn "the wisdom which is from above," they will not fall into sin and folly by their passions and propensities; they will daily gain more and more mental strength and solid virtue to enable them to bear the various disappointments of this world with firm belief of eternal happiness. Of such men we may say with the Psalmist, "Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." Such was the death of Sir Isaac Newton, full of years and honor; he died March 18th, 1726, in his eighty-fifth year. He had read the Bible daily, and also conversed upon different subjects with his physician, who was the famous Dr. Mead. He was calm and tranquil, yet suffered by a complaint in his bladder five years before his death, and sometimes had severe paroxysms of pain, during which large drops of perspiration ran down his face yet by regimen and other means, he pro cured many intervals of ease. As soon as he had a moment of ease, he would smile and talk with his usual cheerfulness. The business of his office, as Master of the Mint, was managed latterly by Mr. Conduitt, who had married the very beautiful niece of Sir Isaac; she had first married Colonel Barton, and, when a widow with her uncle, she married Mr. Conduitt, who was appointed by Government to succeed Sir Isaac as Master of the Mint. Sir Isaac was prudent yet generous and beneficent, and when his public situation required liberal entertainments, he was liberal and magnificent: he left about 32,000l. He never married; and all the early part of his life was wholly engaged by astronomy and science, and philosophic pursuits; but afterwards he went into Parliament, and was President of the Royal Academy, and Master of the Mint to his death he lived not in retirement; his distinguished merits caused him to be courted by all the first society in London. His person was of middle size; his countenance was pleasing and venerable, he never used spectacles, and lost only one tooth in his long life; his eyes were quick and penetrating, and had never been injured by his many years of intense study. He was a most sincere member of the Church of England, but not opposing any dissenters; he accused himself of being by nature quick, ardent, and irritable, but by firm self-government he had wholly conquered that warmth of temper. It has been justly observed, that a temper originally quick and unstable, which has been subdued by good sense and good principles, will always be more placid and perfectly serene than that temper which was by nature very cool and sedate. The exertion of the mind will always be superior to mere physical circumstances. Newton's various works on Astronomy, Philosophy, Mathematics, Geometry, Divinity, and Chronology, have all been collected in five quarto volumes by Dr. Horsley *. His body lay in state at the Mint, and in the Jerusalem chamber, where many came to view the corpse of the great and much respected Astronomer. On the 28th of March his body was conveyed to Westminster Abbey, attended by the Lord Chancellor, the Dukes of Montrose and Roxburgh, and the Earls of Pembroke, Macclesfield, and Sussex, holding the pall. He was interred near the entrance into the choir on the left hand, where a fine monument is erected to his memory, with a Latin inscription of the most consummate elegance. H. S. E. Isaacus Newton, Eques Auratus, Sua Mathesi facem præferente, Primus demonstravit. * He wrote an Octavo volume of Letters "On the Wisdom of Divine Providence," addressed to Dr. Bentley. He wrote various works on Divinity, particularly on the Book of Daniel, and the Revelation of St. John, besides many books in quarto, on Geometry and Mathematics, &c. &c. Radiorum lucis dissimilitudines, Quas nemo antea vel suspicatus erat, Naturæ antiquitatis, S. Scripturæ, Sedulus, sagax, fidus interpres, Dei Opt. Max. majestatem philosophia Asseruit. Evangelii simplicitatem moribus Sibi gratulentur mortales, tale tantum- Humani generis decus. Natus 24 Decembris, 1642. Obiit 20 Martii, 1726. |