him, by greater degrees of resemblance. Methinks this single consideration, of the progress of a finite spirit to perfection, will be sufficient to extinguish all envy in inferior natures, and all contempt in superior. That cherub which now appears as a god to a human soul knows very well that the period will come about in eternity, when the human soul shall be as perfect as he himself now is; nay, when she shall look down upon that degree of perfection, as much as she now falls short of it. It is true the higher Nature still advances, and by that means preserves his distance and superiority in the scale of being; but he knows that, how high soever the station is of which he stands posses sed at present, the inferior nature will at length mount up to it, and shine forth in the same degree of glory. With what astonishment and veneration may we look into our souls, where there are such hidden stores of virtue and knowledge! such inexhausted sources of perfection! We know not yet what we shall be, nor will it ever enter into the heart of man to conceive the glory that will be always in reserve for him. The soul, considered in relation to its Creator, is like one of those mathematical lines that may draw nearer to another for all eternity without a possibility of touching it: and can there be a thought so transporting, as to consider ourselves in these perpetual approaches to Him, who is not only the standard of perfection, but of happiness? SPECTATOR Fa CHA P. V. On the Being of a God. RETIRE ;--The world shut out;--Thy thoughts call home ; Imagination's airy wing repress; Lock up thy senses-Let no passion stir; race But that I am; and since I am, conclude too! Grant matter was eternal; still these orbs That can't be from themselves-or man; that art To dance, would form an universe of dust: And boundless flights, from shapeless and repos'd? but to guess, a Newton made immortal?- FS YOUNG. BOOK V. ORATIONS AND HARANGUES. CHA P. I. Junius Brutus over the Dead Body of Lucretia. YES, noble lady!I swear by this blood, which was once so pure, and which nothing but royal villany could have polluted, that I will pursue Lucius Tarquinius the proud, his wicked wife, and their children, with fire and sword; nor will I ever suffer any of that family, or of any other whatsoever, to be king in Rome. Ye gods! I call you to witness this my oath! There, Romans, turn your eyes to that sad spectacle-the daughter of Lucretius, Collatinus's wifeshe died by her own hand. See there a noble lady, whom the lust of a Tarquin reduced to the necessity of being her own executioner, to attest her innocence. Hospitably entertained by her, as a kinsman of her husband's, Sextus, the perfidious guest became her brutal ravisher. The chaste, the generous Lucretia could not survive the insult. Glorious woman! but once only treat ed as a slave, she thought life no longer to be endured. Lucretia, a woman, disdained a life that depended on a tyrant's will: and shall we, shall men, with such an example before our eyes, and after five-and-twenty years of ignominious servitude, shall we, through a fear of dying, defer one single instant to assert our liberty? No, Romans; now is the time; the fayourable moment, we have so long waited for, ody: 1.WE but re edu Ford; ir of a ome. ! Ther ectacl 's wif a n duced tioner tained extus, sher. T of surv Only trea ned a shall re Defore e s of igne a fear ert our the fr aited for is come. Tarquin is not at Rome. The Patricians are at the head of the enterprise. The city is abundantly provided with men, arms, and all things necessary. There is nothing wanting to secure the success, if our own courage does not fail us. Can all these warriors, who have ever been so brave when foreign enemies were to be subdued, or when conquests were to be made to gratify the ambition and avarice of Tarquin, be then only cowards when they are to deliver themselves from slavery? Some of you are, perhaps, intimidated by the army which Tarquin now commands. The soldiers you imagine, will take the part of their general. Banish so groundless a fear. The love of liberty is natural to all men. Your fellow cit izens in the camp feel the weight of oppression with as quick a sense as you that are in Rome: they will as eagerly seize the occasion of throwing off the yoke. But let us grant there may be some among them, who, through baseness of spirit, or a bad education, will be disposed to favour the tyrant. The number of these can be but small, and we have means sufficient in our hands to reduce them to reason. They have left us hostages more dear to them than life. Their wives, their children, their fathers, their mothers, are here in the city. Courage, Romans! the gods are for us; those gods whose temples and altars the impious Tarquin has profaned by sacrifices and libations made with polluted hands, polluted with blood, and with numberless unexpiated crimes committed against his subjects. Ye Gods, who protected our forefathers! ye Genii, who watch for the preservation and glory of Rome! do you inspire us with courage and unanimity in this |