6 to him, as to the God who invented and presided over eloquence. This one account of our apostle fets his character, confidered as an orator only, above all the celebrated relations of the fkill and influence of Demofthenes and his contemporaries. Their power in fpeaking was admired, but ftil it was thought human: 'their eloquence warmed and ravifhed the hear ers, but ftill it was thought the voice of man, not the voice of God. What advantage then had St. Paul above thofe of Greece or Rome? I confefs I can afcribe this excellence to nothing but the power of the doctrines he delivered, which may have ftill the fame influence on the hearers; which have ftill the power, 'when preached by a fkilful orator, to make us break out in the fame expreffions, as the dif are as much inferior as the creature is lefs excellent than its Creator. The wifest and most knowing among the heathens had very poor and imperfect notions of a future ftate. They had indeed fome uncertain hopes, either received by tradition, or gathered by reason, that the existence of virtuous men would not be determined by the feparation of foul and body: but they either disbelieved a furture ftate of punishment and mifery; or, upon the fame account that Apelles painted Antigonus with one fide only towards the fpectator, that the lofs of his eye might not caft a blemish upon the whole piece; fo thefe reprefented the condition of man in its faireft view, and endeavoured to conceal what they thought was a deformity to human nature. I have often obferved, that whenever the above-mentioned orator in hisciples, who met our Saviour in their way to philofophical difcourfes is led by his argument to the mention of immortality, he feems like one awaked out of fleep; roufed and alarmed with the dignity of the fubject, he ftretches his imagination to conceive fomething uncommon, and, with the greatnefs of his thoughts, cafts, as it were, a glory round the fentence. Uncertain and unfettled as he was, he feems fired with the contemplation of it. And nothing but fuch a glorious profpect could have forced fo great a lover of truth as he was, to declare his refolution never to part with his perfuafion of immortality, tho' it fhould be proved to be But had he lived to fee all that Christianity has brought to light, how would he have lavished out all the force of elo-, quence in thofe nobleft contemplations which human nature is capable of, the refurrection, and the judgment that follows it? How had his breaft glowed with pleafare, when the whole compafs of futurity lay open and expofed to his view? How would his imagination have hurried him on in the purfuit of the mysteries, of the incarnation? How would he have entered, with the force of lightning, into the affections of his hearers, and fixed their atten.,fection they may arrive at, than to St. Paul's an erroneous one. tion, in spite of all the oppofition of corrupt nature, upon thofe glorious themes which his eloquence hath painted in fuch lively and laft⚫ing colours? This advantage Chriftians have; and it was with no finall pleafure I lately met with a fragment of Longinus, which is preferved, as a teftimony of that critic's judgment, at the beginning of a manufcript of the New Teftament in the Vatican library. After that author has numbered up the most celebrated brators among the Grecians, he fays, "add to thefe Paul of Tarfus, the patron of an opinion not yet fully. proved." As a heathen, he condemns the Chriftian Religion; and, as an impartial critic,. e he judges in favour of the promoter and preach'cr cf it. To me it feems, that the latter part of his judgment adds great weight to his opinion of St. Paul's abilities, fince, under all the prejudice of opinions directly oppofite, he is conftrained to acknowledge the merit of that apoftie. And no doubt, fuch as Longinus defcribes St. Paul, fuch he appeared to the inhabitants of thofe countries which he vifited and bleffed with thofe doctrines he was divinely ⚫ commiffioned to preach. Sacred ftory gives us, in one circumftance, a convincing proof of his eloquence, when the men of Lyftra called, him Mercury, because he was the chief speaker," and would have paid divine worship Emmaús, made ufe of; "did not our hearts burn within us, when he talked to us by the "way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" I may be thought bold in my judgment by fome; but I must affirm, that no one orator has left us fo vifible marks and footsteps of his eloquence as our apoftle. It may perhaps be wondered at, that in his reafonings upon idolatry at Athens, where eloquence was born and flourished, he confines himself to strict argument only; but my reader may remember what many authors of the beft credit have affured us, that all attempts upon the affections and strokes of oratory were exprefly forbidden by the laws. of that country, in courts of judicature. His want of eloquence therefore here, was the ef fect of his exact conformity to the laws: but his difcourfe on the refurrection to the Corine. thians, his harangue before Agrippa upon his own converfion, and the neceffity of that of others, are truly great, and may ferve as full examples to thofe excellent rules for the fublime, which the best of critics has left us. The fum of all this difcourfe is, that our clergy have no farther to look for an example of the per harangues; that when he, under the want of feveral advantages of nature, as he himself tells us, was heard, admired, and made a standard to fucceeding ages by the beft judges of a different perfuafion in religion, I fay, our clergy' may learn, that, however instructive their fermons are, they are capable of receiving a great addition; which St. Pauf has given them a noble example of, and the Chriftian Religion has furnished them with certain means of at raining to.' N". 635. THE SPECTATOR. rational mind. Longinus excufes Homer very handsomely; when he says he made his gods like men, that he might make his men appear like the gods. But it must be allowed that feveral of the ancient philofophers acted, as Cicero wishes Homer had done: they endeavoured rather to make men like gods, than gods like men. According to this grand general maxim in philofophy, fome of them have endeavoured to place men in fuch a state of pleasure, or indolence at leaft, as they vainly imagined the happiness of the Supreme Being to confift in. On the other hand, the most virtuous sect of philofophers have treated a chimerical wife man, whom they made exempt from paffion and pain, and thought enough to pronounce him all-fufficient. 397 fets forth a proper object for Imitation, in that people in the heathen world. Revealed religion Being who is the pattern, as well as the fource, of all fpiritual perfection. While we remain in this life, we are subject to innumerable temptations, which if liftened to will make us deviate from reafon and goodness the only things wherein we can imitate the Supreme Being. In the next life we meet with Che thing to excite our inclinations that doth nog deferve them. I fhall therefore difmifs my reader with this maxim, viz. "Our happiness in this world proceeds from the fuppreffion of our "defires, but in the next world from the gratiitfication of them.' This last character, when divested of the glare of human philofophy that furrounds it, fignifies no more, than that a good wife man should fo arm himself with patience, as not to yield tamely to the violence of paffion or pain; that he fhould learn so to suppress and contract his defires as to have but few wants; and that he fhould cherish fo many virtues in his foul, as to have a perpetual pleasure in himself. The chriftian religion requires, that after having framed the best idea, we are able, of the divine nature, it fhould be our next care to conform ourfelves to it, as far as our imperfections will permit. I might mention feveral paffages in the facred writings on this head, to which I might add many maxims and wife fayings of moral au thors among the Greeks and Romans. I fhail only instance a remarkable paffage, to this purpofe; out of Julian's Cæfars. That emperor having reprefented all the Roman emperors, with Alexander the Great, as paffing in review before the gods, and ftriving for the fuperiority, lets them all drop, excepting Alexander, Julius Cæfar, Auguftus Cæsar, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, and Conftantine. Each of thefe great héroes of antiquity lays in his claim for the upper place, and, in order to it, fets forth his actions after the most advantageous manner. But the gods, inftead of being dazzled with the luftre of their actions, enquire by Mercury, into the proper motive and governing principle that influenced them throughout the whole feries of their lives and exploits. lexancer tells them, that his aim was to conquer Julius Cæfar, that his was to gain the highest poft in his country; Auguftus, to govern well; Trajan, that his was the fame as that of Alex ander, namely, to conquer. The question, at Fength was put to Marcus Aurelius, who replied, with great modefty, that "it had been always his "care to imitate the gods." This conduct feems to have gained him the most votes and best place in the whole aflembly. Marcus Aurelius being afterwards asked to explain himself, declares, that by imitating the gods, he endeavoured to imitate them in the use of his understanding, and of all other faculties; and, in particular, that it was always his study to have as few wants as poffible in him felf, and to do all the good he could to others. Among the many methods by which revealed religion has advanced morality, this is one, that it has given us a more just and perfect idea of that Being whom every reafonable creature ought to imitate. The young man, in a heathen comedy, might justify his lewdness by the example of Tupiter; as, indeed, there was fcarce any crime that might not be countenanced by thofe notions, sehe deity which prevailed among the common " No 635. MONDAY, DECEMBER 20. I THE HE following effay comes from the ingenious author of the letter upon novelty, printed in a late Spectator the notions are drawn from the platonic way of thinking; but as they contribute to raffe the mind, and may infpire noble featiments of our own future grandeur and happiness, I think it well deferves to be prefented to the public. FF the univerfe be the creature of an intelligent I mind, this mind could have no immediate regard to himself in producing it. He needed formed what effects were within its reach: the not to make trial of his omnipotence, to be inworld as exifting i his eternal idea was then as and in the immenfe abyfs of his effence are conbeautiful as now it is drawn forth into being; tained far brighter scenes than will be ever fet forth to view; it being impoffible that the great author of nature fhould bound his own power by giving existence to a fyftem of creatures, fo perfect that he cannot improve upon it by any other exertions of his almighty wilt. Betweent finite and infinite there is an unmeasured interval; not to be filled up in endlefs ages; for which reafon, the most excellent of all God's works mu be equally fhort of what his power is able to prowith the fame ease. duce as the most imperfect, and may be exceeded it must be confefled, is not impoffible) that the This thought hath made fome imagine, (what unfathomed fpace is ever teeming with new births, the younger ftill inheriting a greater perfection than the elder. But as this doth not fall within my prefent view, I fhall content myfelf with taking notice, that the confideration now menfioned proves undeniably, that the ideal worlds in the divine understanding yield a profpect inthan any created world can do: and that therefore comparably more ample, various, and delightful, merely of inanimate matter, however diverfified, as it is not fuppofed that God should make a world order than brutes; fo the end for which he deor inhabited only by creatures of no higher an figned his reasonable offspring is the contempla and in both to be happy; having, to this purtion of his works, the enjoyment of himself, and Pofe endowed them with correfpondent faculties and defires. He can have no greater pleasure from bare review of his works, than from the furvey of his own ideas; but we may be affured that he is well pleafed in the fatisfaction derived to beings capable of it, and for whofe entertainment he hath erected this immenfe theatre. Is not this more than an intima tion of our immortality? Man, who when con fidered as on his probation for a happy existence hereafter, is the most remarkable inftance of divine wisdom, if we cut him off from all relation to eternity, is the most wonderful and unaccountable compofition in the whole creation. He hath capacities to lodge a much greater variety of knowledge than he will be ever master of, and an unfatisfied curiofity to tread the fecret paths of nature and providence: but, with this, his organs, in their prefent structure, are rather fitted to ferve the neceffities of a vile body, than to minifter to his understanding; and from the little spot to which he is chained, he can frame but wandering gueffes concerning the innumerable worlds of light that encompass him, which, though in them felves of a prodigious Bignefs; do but juft glimmer in the remote spaces of the Heavens; and, when with a great deal of time and pains he hath laboured a little way up the fteep afcent of truth, and be holds with pity the groveling multitude beneath, in a moment his foot flides, and he tumbles down headlong into the grave. Thinking on this, I am obliged to believe, in juftice to the Creator of the world, that there is another ftate when man fhall be better fituated for contemplation, or rather have it in his power to remove from object to object, and from world to world; and be accommodated with fenfes, and other helps, for making the quickest and most amazing difcoveries. How does fuch a genius as Sir Ifaac Newton, from amidst the darkness that involves human understanding, break forth, and appear like one of another fpecies! the vast machine, we inhabit, lies open to him; he feems not unacquainted with the general laws that go vern it; and while with the tranfport of a philofopher he beholds and admires the glorious work, he is capable of paying at once a more devout and more rational homage to his Maker. But alas! how narrow is the profpect even of fuch a mind? and how obfcure to the compafs that is taken in by the ken of an angel, or of a foul but newly efcaped from its imprisonment of the body! For my part I freely indulge my foul in the confidence of its future grandeur; it pleases me to think that I who know fo fmall a portion of the works of the Creator, and with flow and painful fteps creep up and down on the furface of this globe, fhall ere long fhoot away with the fwiftnefs of imagination, trace out the hidden fprings of nature's operations; be able to keep pace with the heavenly bodies in the rapidity of their career, be a fpectator of the long chain of events in the natural and moral worlds, vifit the feveral apartments of the creation, know how they are furnished and how inhabited, comprehend the order, and measure the magnitudes and diftances of thofe orbs, which to us feem difpofed without any regular defign, and fet all in the fame circle; obferve the dependance of the parts of each fyftem, and (if our minds are big enough to graip the the ory) of the feveral fyftems upon one another, from whence refults the harmony of the univerfe. In eternity a great deal may be done of this kind. I find it of ufe to cherish this generous ambition for béfides the fecret refreshment it diffufes through my foul, it engages me in an endeavour to improve my faculties, as well as to exercife them conformably to the rank I now hold among rea fonable beings, and the hope I have of being once advanced to a more exalted station. The other, and that the ultimate end of man, is the enjoyment of God, beyond which he cannot form a wifh. Dim at beft are the conceptions we have of the Supreme Being, who, as it were, keeps his creatures in fufpence, neither discovering, nor hiding himself, by which means, the libertine hath a handle to difpute his existence, while the moft are content to fpeak him fair, but in their heart prefer every trifling fatisfaction to the favour of their Maker, and ridicule the good man for the fingularity of his choice! Will there not a time come, when the free-thinker fhall fee his impious fchemes overturned, and be made convert to the truth he hates; when deiuded mortals fhall be convinced of the folly of their purfuits, and the few wife who followed the guidance of Heaven, and feorning the blandishments of fenfe and the fordid bribery of the world, afpired to a celestial abode, shall fand poffeffed of their utmoft with the vifion of the Creator? Here the mind heaves a thought now and then towards him, and hath fome tranfient glances of his prefence: when, in the inftant it thinks itfelf to have the fafteft hold, the object eludes his expectations, and it falls back tired and baffled to the ground: Doubtless there is fome more perfect way Are not of converfing with heavenly beings. fpirits capable of mutual intelligence, unless immerfed in bodies, or by their intervention? mult fuperior natures depend on inferior for the main privilege of fociable beings, that of converfing with and knowing each other? what would they have done had mattet never been created? I fuppofe, not have lived in eternal folitude. As incorporeal fubftances are of a nobler order, fo be fure, their manner of intercourfe is anfwerably more expedite and intimate. This method of communication, we call intellectual vifion, as fomething analogous to the fenfe of feeing, which is the medium of our acquaintance with this vifible world. And in fome fuch way can God make himfelf the object of immediate intuition to the bleffed; and as he can, it is not improbable that he will, always condefcending, in the circumstances of doing it, to the weakness and proportion of finite minds. His works but faintly reflect the image of his perfections; it is a fecond hand knowledge to have a juft idea of him, it may be neceflary that we fee him as he is. But what is that? it is fomething that never entered into the heart of man to conceive; yet, what we can easily conceive, will be a fountain of unfpeakable, and everlasting rapture. All created glories will fade and die away in his prefence. Perhaps it will be my happiness to compare the world with the fair exemplar of it in the divine mind; perhaps, to view the original plan of thote wife defigns that have been executing in a long fuc ceffion of ages. Thus employed in finding out his works, and contemplating their author, how fhall I fall proftrate and adoring, my body fwallowed up in the immenfity of matter, my mind in the infinitude of his perfections! S. N : A Bigail's (male) in fathion among the Ladies, Bacon, (Sir Francis), his, this privation brok Number 55. Abience in converfation, a remarkable inftance of Act of deformity, for the ufe of the ugly club, Advertisements, of an Italian chirurgeon, N. 22. Affectation, a greater enemy to a fine face than the Age, rendered ridiculous, N. 6. how contemned by Alexander the great, wry-necked, 32. Ample (Lady) her uneafiness, and the reafon of it, No. 32. Anagram, what, and when first produced, No. 60. April (the first of) the merrieft day in the year, No. 47. Aretine made all the Princes of Europe his tributa- Arietta, her character, N. 11. her fable of the lion No. 18. Avarice, the original of it, N. 55. Operates with Audiences at prefent void of common fenfe, N. 13. Author, the neceffity of his readers being acquaint- well written, N. 10. upon Bags of money, a fudden transformation of them Baptift Lully, his prudent management, N. 29. Beaver, the haberdasher, a great politician, N. 49. Bouts-Rimnez, what, N. 60. 39. Breeding, fine breeding diftinguished from good, British Ladies diftinguished from the Pics, N. 41. Bullock and Norris, differently habited, prove great Butts defcribed, N. 47. the qualification of a butt, Efar (Julius) his behaviour to Catullus, who Camilla, a true woman in one particular, N. 15. No. 16. Charles I. a famous picture of that prince, 74. Chronogram, a piece of false wit, N. 60. Cleanthe, her ftory, N. 15. Clergyman, one of the Spectator's club, N. 2. fighing club, 30. The fringe-glove club, ibid. that club. ibid. Commerce, the extent and advantage of it, N. 69. N. 68. Coquettes, the prefent numerous race, to what ow- Coverly, (Sir Roger de) a member of the Spectator's Fine Gentlemen, a character frequently mifapplied Flutter, (Sir Fopling) a comedy; fome remarks up- Fools, great plenty of them the first day of April, Freeport, (Sir Andrew) a member of the Spectator's French poets, wherein to be imitated by the English, Friendship, the great benefit of it, N. 68. The me Courtiers habit, on what occafions hieroglyphical Gallantry; wherein true gallantry ought to N. 64. Cooley, abounds in mixt wit, N. 62. Crab, of King's College, in Cambridge, Chaplain to Cred t, a beautiful virgin, her fituation and equi- D. Dancing, a difcourfe on it, defended, N. 67. Death, the time and manner of our death not known to us, N. 7. Deformity, no caufe of thame, N. 17. confift, N. 7. Gaper; the fign of the gaper frequent in Amfter- Ghosts warned out of the playhoufe, N. 36. the ap- Gospel goffips described, N. 46. H. Hard words ought not to be pronounced right by Delight and furprize, properties effential to wit, Heroes in an English tragedy generally lovers, N. 62. Dignitaries of the law, who, N. 21. Divorce, what esteemed to be a just pretenfion to one, Donne, (Dr.) his defcription of his mistress, Dryden, his definition of wit cenfured, N. 62. E E. NVY: The ill ftate of an envious man, N. 19. Ephefian matron, the ftory of her, N. 11. N. 53. Equipages, the fplendor of them in France, N. 15. F. Idols, who of the Fair Sex fo called, N. 73. Indian Kings, fome of their obfervations during Indiferetion, more hurtful than ill-nature, N. 23. Johnson (Ben) an epitaph written by him on a La- |