57 



Tiged to Jlrike^for toothers the h»*.h.,MggeJi 



From the time of our leaving the Foun- 

 tain inn I have lodged at the houfe of a wi- 

 dow, who proves to be a very ftrid difciple of 

 the zealous and bigotted Whufield. This poor 

 woman has feveral children, who are brought 

 up in all the fcrupulous tenets of their fedl ; 

 and, it being a part of the fyftem to feek pro- 

 felytes, I am, fometimes, in my occafionar 

 conferences, betrayed into theological difcuC- 

 fions with my puritanical hoftefs. Moil: 

 commonly they turn upon the hallowed doc- 

 trine of predeftinatlon ; when the fcriptures 

 are turned, and twifted, and tortured, and 

 conftrued, and mifconftrued, in a variety of 

 ways, and in all the trite language, and ready 

 quotation of the fed, to exemplify the certi- 

 tude of this great and univerfal principle ; 

 v/hich, to minds lefs biafled, would only feem 

 to plead an excufe for all the bad paffions of 

 man, while it impeached the juliice of a be- 

 nevolent, all-wife, and all-merciful ruler. 



But, as I, always, hold religion facred, and 



