Let. 23. Lord BoLINGBROKE. 19

than this author could conſiſtently do. They maintain a pro- vidence which extends even co the individuals of the human race: That good men may conſider themſelves as continually under God's wiſe and fatherly care and inſpection: That they may regard the good things they enjoy as the effects of his goodneſs, and are provided with the propereſt conſolations and ſupports under all the evils of this preſent life, being perſuaded that God, who knoweth their circumſtances, will over-rule all theſe things for their benefit; and that they are part of the diſcipline appointed to prepare them for a better ſtate; the proſpects of which diffuſe joy and comfort through all the gloomy ſcenes of adverſity they may here meet with. But in his ſcheme there is no ſoſid foundation for that tran- quillity of mind, of which he ſpeaks in ſuch high terms as the inſeparable companion of virtue, and for that hope, which, he ſays, gives a reliſh to all the comforts, and takes off the bitter reliſm from all the misfortunes of life. If providence doth not concern itſelf about individuals, the good man hath no effectual ſupport under his calamities. And it is worthy of our obſervation, that our author himſelf, in vindicating the juſtice and goodneſs of providence in this preſent ſtate, is ſome- times obliged to have recourſe to the hypotheſis of a particular providence. Some of the anfwers he puts into the mouth of Balbus, as what he might have oppoſed to Cotta's harangue againſt providence, proceed upon the ſuppoſition of a provi- dence which hath a regard to the caſes and circumſtances of individuals c. And with regard to public calamities, one of the ways he takes of accounting for them is this, that“ they ¹cmay be conſidered as chaſtiſements, when there are any to be amended by partak ing in them, or being ſpectators of them.— And that they ſhould teach mankind to adore and fear that providence, whic ich governs the world by Harticular ¹« as well as general di A chird reflection i t th

1 that in the preſent conſtiwn ion of things virtue hath a manifeſt tendenc ote our h: Ppinele, and vice to pro- duce miſery, yet i lenied, that it often happeneth in particular caſes, that as to the outw ard diſpenſations of pro- vidence, tl 3 n d remarkable difference made between 1 here on earth: That y been overwhelmed and have periſhed

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h it be very true in ge-

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airh awile and alam: tie Ith éevlls and Calamitie

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