Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1811-05-16

THE
PHtAANTHROPIsT.
(No. viz
Non GenteA mberio, sed religione tene.
A' ! Van. p. r. Lib. XIV.
Nor Laws, nor men allow despotic sway,
But thee, Fair Virise, thee all ranks obey!
II. Murphy.
1 ROSE yesterday before the Sun,
and was allured by the hneness of the
morning to solitary ramble, on horse
back, intothe adjacent country. 1 have
always found resistless charm in the
sublime moment when the enchanting
and majestic scenery of nature gra-
dualfy emerges from the darkness and
chaos of night. l then imagine my
self witness to the great fat, to the
evolution of the universe out of the
divine mind. My senses, refreshed
and invigorated by repose, receive
from theR objects around me, impress
sions no ,lfss.vivid, no less rapturous
than if they were exercised for the first
time. With the balmy suavlty of a
fragrant atmosphere, inhale health
and pleasure the melody of the groves
and the fields falls and plays on my
ear in joyous and dulcet modulations /;
the magnificent glow of the impurpled
east, the various and rich accidents of
light pm the woods, the hills, and the
plains attract and rivet, by turns, my
delighted eye in short, all nature
then conveys to my soul an ecstacy
OF feeling which would alone suffice
to convince me that 1 am not being
purely material, entirely passive a ma
chine delicately organized, indeed, but
circumscribed within the narrow cir
Gle OF chemical combinations, and
physical influences a mere compound
of matter modified in extension and in
thought. o No! the accumulated So
Phlstry, of EPicurus, Spinosa, and their
SUCCESSORS could not, at such moment
chain me down to the Earth On the
wings of Intellect. l soar beyond the
fammaqtM mania niuldi, beyond the
sphere pf sensible objects. 1 seek
that God who so magni6cently dis.
plays, before my view, his creative
power, his boundless wisdom, his inf
mite goodness, aud towards whom an
invisible hand then draws me. IF I
cannot demonstrate, can feel. him.
To believe in his existence and in his
attributes, | want not the induction OF
Clarke, Malebranche, Newton, and
Descartes. Though, in themselves.
potent and irrefragable, their proofs
are too subtle, too frigid for the &C Phil.
anthropist Atheism is, am inform
ed, an exotic of rare growth among us.
Heaven be thanked for it | do not
know how its sapless and sickly shoots
may thrive in the hot beds of LUXURY,
corruption, and vice, but am sure that
they never will flourish in the soil
which and nv neighbours cultivate.
Here salutary and more vigorous
vegetation, that of unsophisticated
sensGaepuine feeling, and prlmeval
mahXfs will always choak, in their
BIRTH hkspoxiqpxSee1s of impiety.
MY kltsditory b. brought M
Within view OF tHe Fable Henry
Sanford simple, ut, villa. /
saw it peeping third % an avenue CT
lofty trees, whose reading foliage,
gently wared by TN morning gales,
seemed to invite the steps of friend
ship, and to chide her lingering APP
proach. l fastened towards the hos
Pitabie mansion, and was welcomed,
with usual cordiality, by my kind
neighbour, whom found employed in
experimenting some favourite agri-
cultural, Improvements. Soon after
my AnRal, the breakfast-bell sum
H1esed Ato the house. As | rose
from frugal repast, 1 unceremoni-
ously took up small volume, which
perceived lying on bureau, and o.
pened the {" Letters of the British
Spy"
This interesting work, observed my
friend, in tone OF undesirable be-
nightly, I read yesterday with fresh
delight, though, / believe, for the
| fourth time. I am assured thar II is