Ther. With regard to the philosophers, the prejudices of a wrong education might pervert their judg ment; or, in compliance with the prevailing mode, they might adopt customs and assent to notions which they did not thoroughly approve.

Asp. A poor compliment this to their integrity! Had I been their advocate, methinks, I would have given up the sagacity of my clients, rather than their fidelity to the cause of God and truth.

With reference to the supreme Good they were. equally at a loss. There is not one among all the inferior creatures, not even the crawling worm or the buzzing fly, but perceives what is beneficial and pur. sues it, discerns what is pernicious and avoids it. Yonder caterpillar, whose nourishment is from one particular species of vegetables, never makes a wrong application to another; never is allured by the fras grance of the auricula, or dazzled by the splendour of the tulip, but constantly distinguishes and as constantly adheres to the leaf which affords her the proper food. So sagacious are the meanest animals with relation to their respective happiness, while the most celebrated of the heathen sages were, on a subject of the very same import, mere dotards. Varro reckons up no less than two hundred and eighty-eight different opinions concerning the true good, and not one of them derives it

steadily adhere to the unity of the Godhead. Nay, in his last solemn apology before his judges, he publicly renounces the truth; declares that he worshipped those gods, which were acknowledged by his countrymen; worshipped them and no other, on the same festivals, at the same altars, in the same (idolatrous) manner. No other these are his words, Oure yap eɣwye avτι Διος, και Ηρας, και των συν τούτοις θεων, ούτε θνων τισι καινοις Δαίμοσιν, ούτε όμνυς, ούτε ονομάζων αλλους →eoug avanenva.-Socrat. Memor. lib. 1. c. i. sect. 11. 24.

Let none conclude from this or any other passage, that we would consign over all the heathens to damnation. This is as far from our intention, as it is foreign to our argument; we are only like witnesses, summoned to give in our evidence. From which it appears, that the very best among the Gentiles were ignorant of the true God; or if they knew him' in any degree, they glorified him not as God; but became vain in their imagi nation, and vile in their worship. Whether they shall obtain mercy, or which of them shall be objects of divine clemency, is left solely to the determination of their supreme, unerring, righteous judge.

-Non nostrum est tantas componere lites.

from the true source; I mean a conformity to the ever-blessed God, and an enjoyment of his infinite perfections.

If on these leading points they were so erroneous, no wonder that they were bewildered in their other researches,

Ther. We are not inquiring into the circumstances of this or that particular nation, but into the state of mankind in general.

Asp. Cast your eye, Theron, upon those swallows; they shoot themselves with surprising rapidity through the air. I should take them for so many living arrows, were it not for their shifting, winding, wanton motions. Are not these what you call birds of passage?

Ther. These and some other of the feathered race are our constant visitants in summer, but leave us at the approach of winter. As soon as the weather becomes cold, they assemble themselves in a body, and concert measures for their departure. Who convenes the assembly, what debates arise, or how they communicate the resolution taken, I do not presume to say this is certain, that not one of them dislodges till the affair is settled, and the proclamation has been published; not a single loiterer is to be seen when the troops are preparing for their decampment, nor a single straggler to be found when they have once begun their march. Having finished their journey through the land, their wings become a sort of sails,* and they launch, not into, but over the ocean. Without any compass to regulate their course, or any chart. to make observations in their voyage, they arrive safely at the desired shore; and what is still more extraordinary, they always find the readiest way and the shortest cut.

Asp. The stork in the heavens knoweth her ap. pointed times: and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming: but my people know not the judgment of their God.' The young ones of those birds perceive how necessary it is to forsake the land of their nativity, and travel in quest of milder climes; but our offspring, even when + Jer. viii. 7.

* Remigio alarum.-Virg.

their minds begin to open, are brutish in their know. ledge. Born they are, and too long continue, 'like the wild ass's colt.'t Not only quite destitute of heavenly wisdom, but stupid to apprehend it, and averse to receive it: As soon as they are born they go astray,' and

Ther. Go astray; to what is this owing but to the bad examples they behold? They catch the wayward habit from the irregular conversation of others.

Asp. Is not this a confirmation of my point? Why are they yielding clay to each bad impression-casehardened steel to every edifying application? From imitating unworthy examples, you can hardly withhold them by the tightest rein; but if you would affect them with a sense of divine things, or bring them ac. quainted with God their maker, line must be upon line, line upon line: Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; here a little and there a little.' What farther corroborates my sentiment is, that all these tender toils of erudition are generally unwelcome, are too often unsuccessful, nay, will always be ineffectual without the concurrence of almighty grace.

Besides, Theron, if this propensity to evil be observable in all children, it seems more than probable that the unhappy bias is derived from their parents

Jer. x. 14.

+ Job. xi. 12. How keenly is this comparison pointed. Like the ass's, an animal remarkable for its stupidity even to a proverb like the ass's colt,' which must be still more egregiously stupid than the dam; like the wild ass's colt,' which is not only blockish, but stubborn and refractory; neither possesses valuable qualities by nature, nor will easily receive them by discipline. The image in the original is yet more strongly touched. The comparative particle like' is not in the Hebrew; born a wild ass's colt,' or, as we should say in English, a mere wild, &c. I A great critic has laid down the followiug rule to be observed in fine writing:

"Tis not enough no harshness gives offence,
The sound must be an echo to the sense.

Pope's Essay on Criticism.

Never was this delicate maxim more nicely exemplified than in the above-cited passage of Isaiah, xxviii. 13. Another instance of the same kind occurs in the seventh verse; where the language seems to mimic the reeling, straggling, giddy motions of a drunkard: while it iterates and reiterates the idea, expresses the same thing in a different and still different manner, with an apparent, and, in this case, a significant circumrotation of words.

rather than caught from their neighbours; and owing, not to the influence of external examples, but to a principle of internal corruption. Neglect the education of children, and you are sure to have their manners. evil, their lives unprofitable. Nay, only remit your endeavours, and they lose what has been gained: they start aside like a broken bow. And wherefore this? Why do they not, without the rules of discipline or lessons of instruction, spontaneously addict themselves to the exercise of every virtue; just as the cygnets in yonder canal spontaneously take to the element of water and the act of swimming?

That bed in the garden before us will suggest the reason. It has been digged and dressed this very day; it now lies smooth and clean; not a single weed appears on its surface; yet how certainly will it in a very little time produce a plenteous growth of those vegetable nuisances. Whence can this proceed? No hand will sow them, no wish will invite them; but the seeds, though unperceived by any eye, are already there. Disseminated by the winds, they have mixed themselves with the mould, and are sunk into the soil. So, just so, it is with our children: the seeds of iniquity are within+ them; and unless proper diligence be exerted by us, unless gracious assistance be vouchsafed from above, they will assuredly spring up, overrun their souls, and dishonour their lives.

Ther. Let us leave the children, and make men the subject of our inquiry.

Asp. In this respect, Theron,

Men are but children of a larger growth.

St. Paul confesses that he and his fellow-saints were in their unconverted state depraved; and this not dia τηv ev by custom or habit, but pudes, by nature. Eph. ii. 3.

+ Whoever chooses to examine the seeds, the poisonous seeds, which are lodged in this nursery of all evil, may see a sample of them in our Lord's description, Mark vii. 20-23; where he characterizes the heart, not barely of the hypocritical pharisee, or the abandoned publican, but of mankind in general. After such an authority, shall I mention the testimony of SeDeca! We are allowed to glean the grapes when the vintage is gathered. In such a view I would introduce the philosopher after the Saviour. Omnia in omnibus vitia sunt; sed non omnia in singulis extant. De Benef. lib. iv.

We may leave the vest or hanging sleeve coat, but we shall still find the follies of the child. In youth, what low ambition and fondness for despicable pleasures: in manhood, what a keen pursuit of transitory wealth; yet what a cold inattention to God and holiness! Men, and men too of the greatest abilities, whose penetration on other subjects is piercing as the eagle's sight, are, on the most important points, blind as the incaverned mole.

Ther. What, is the understanding like the most dim-sighted animal, when lodged in her darkest retirement? That sublime faculty of the soul, which lends her eye to all the rest, sits at the helm, and directs their motions.

Asp. You remember, I presume, that beautiful pas sage in Milton, which Mr. Addison so highly admires and so judiciously illustrates: the passage I mean, where the archangel Michael comes down to advertise Adam of future events, and to execute the sentence of divine justice.

Ther. I remember it perfectly well. In the east, the great light of day lies under an eclipse: in the west a bright cloud descends, filled with a host of angels, and more luminous than the sun itself. The whole theatre of nature is darkened, that this glorious machine may appear in all its magnificence and beauty. From this radiant chariot the potentate of heaven alights, and advances with a majestic stateliness to meet Adam.

Asp. Should you see such an august personage, alighting from such a splendid chariot, and walking amidst the thronged streets of a city?-should you be hold every one intent upon his business or diversions, struck with no awe, paying no reverential regard to this celestial visitant, what would you think?

Ther. I should certainly suspect that some superior power had drawn a veil over their sight, and hid this wonderful spectacle from their view.

Asp. Such is really the case with all mankind by nature, and with the generality of people, during their whole life. God, the infinitely great God, is in every place; yet how few advert to his presence?-All naBook xi. 203, &c.