Transcribed from the 1823 R. Weston edition ,
THE
FOUNDLING;
OR, THE
CHILD OF PROVIDENCE.
In Two Parts.
WRITTEN BYHIMSELF.
“He found him in a desert land, and in thewaste howling
wilderness: he led him about; he instructed him; he kept
him as the apple of his eye.”Deuteronomy xxxii. v. 10.
London:
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, AND SOLD AT THESURREY TABERNACLE.
1823.
p. iiR. WESTON,PRINTER, CROSBY ROW, BOROUGH.
p.iiiINTRODUCTORY DIALOGUE.
Investigator andFriendly.
Investigator.—Good morning,sir.
Friendly.—Good morning.
Investigator.—How is yourhealth, and your mind?
Friendly.—Why, sir, much asusual; God has blessed me with tolerable health and spirits,which I consider great mercies, amidst so many exercises of bodyand mind: I am, at times, weak in my nerves, but most wonderfullyupheld, and sometimes dejected in mind, through the variety ofinward and outward conflicts which God has given to me, to beexercised with beneath the sun: both body and mind are affectedwith the fretting leprosy, and though often healed by a look fromthe Great High Priest, and by the application of hisall-cleansing sacrifice, and the oil of his comforting andsanctifying spirit; yet the plague frequently breaks out again,and it will be the case, I suppose, till this leprous house ispulled down, p.ivthe stone, the timber and the mortar, and carried to thegrave.—Leviticus, xiv. But may I be permittedto ask the reason of your calling this morning?
Investigator.—Why, sir, Ihope I am not intruding on your time, but I have long desired aninterview with you; for having occasion to travel much, for manyyears, I have frequently heard your name mentioned, both inpublic and private, sometimes with credit, honour, and pleasurewith pity and commiseration. I have also met with somepersons who are, I believe, very spiritual and consistent,God-fearing persons, who have heard you preach, both in town andcountry, and read your publications with profit and pleasure;but, alas! I have also heard your name treated with the utmostscorn and contempt, stigmatized as the vilest miscreant, the mostabominable wretch, advancing the most dreadful antinomianism,living the most dissolute life, and as industriously circulatingthe most licentious doctrines, totally subversive of allmorality and common honesty.
Friendly.—Well, sir, reallythese are awful charges, and as they have been so many yearspropagating, I almost wonder these calumniators are not tired oftalking about one so unworthy of their notice; but I gues