The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

39- LDTTERS, TRACTS, bT/of heart, and are able to fee the diftrefles of tke miferablewith an undifturbed tranquillity. Confiderhow they act in life, how they are acting jull now,and you need no other proof of the ancient remark,that fuper-celeftiahopinions, and fubterraneous practices,are commonly found to be of fmgular accord.-Did you ever know a (kilful mctaphyfician, or acutetlieorill, who was exempt from covetoufnefs, nay,who was not move covetous than ordinary? Theyput me in mind of ravenous birds which, foar high inthe clouds, but are obferved to keep their c)^ downward,fixed direCTtly on their prey. Unhappy Wasthe flate of this country, in fome former periods,when almoil every m:^n was a metaphyiician ; and offuch a wild and wretched fcene we may eanly form,fome notion, from the avarice, the faction, the brawling,and contention, that prevail in this very college. -Shall I ever fee the happy day, when thefe fpecuiativefophifts fhall be held ii> a ftill more univerfalcontempt4:han at prefent ! fhall be avoided as ravenouswolves, or totally hunted out of the country !"Chap. 21. By this time the gentleman was almofloutof breath ; but after he had paufed a little, andwalked three or four times acrofs the room, he took,his feat, and proceeded v/ith a lliti more ferious andfolerrui air than before: Gentlemen, he faid, it runiflrongly in my head, that this perfecutcd ftudentrnuft be a real believer of the gofpcl , and I wilh hebe not perfecuted on that very account. His difiikeof metaphyfics is to me a proof tliat he is a feriousand fkm believer ;young as he is, he hath difcoveredthe dangerous tendency of metaphyseal fcience,^ and is I fear, fcr that reafon, unwelcome at this col-*lege. Metaphyfics, you may depend, is always accompaniedwith feme degree of fcepticifm or infidelity.Your metaphyfrcal gentlemen deal in thin andfubtiie arguments, till they reafon themitives out ofall religion, and doubt of that which of allthings is