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with terror, was deftitute of enjoyment, because he was deftitute of hope, and was perpetually tormented by the dread of lofing that which yet he did not enjoy. The fong of the birds had been repeated till it was not heard, and the flowers had fo often recurred, that their beauty was not feen; the river glided by unnoticed, and he feared to lift his eye to the prospect, left he fhould behold the wafte that circumfcribed it. But he that toiled through the valley was happy, because he looked forward with hope. Thus, to the fojourner upon earth, it is of little moment whether the path he treads be ftrewed with flowers or with thorns, if he perceives himself to approach thofe regions, in comparifon of which the thorns and the flowers of this wilderness lofe their diftinction, and are both alike impotent to give pleasure or pain.

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"What then has eternal Wisdom unequally diftributed? That which can make every station happy, and without which every station must be wretched, is acquired by vir tue; and virtue is poffible to all. Remember, Almet, the vifion which thou haft feen; and let my words be written on the tablet of thy heart, that thou mayeft direct the wanderer to happiness, and juftify God to man."

While the voice of Azoran was yet founding in my ear, the profpect vanished from before me, and I found myself again fitting at the porch of the temple. The fun was gone down, the multitude was retired to reft, and the folemn quiet of midnight concurred with the refolution of my doubts, to complete the tranquillity of my mind.

Such, my fon, was the vifion which the prophet vouchfafed me, not for my fake only, but for thine. Thou haft fought felicity in temporal things; and therefore thou art disappointed. Let not inftruction be loft upon thee; but go thy way, let thy flock clothe the naked, and thy table feed the hungry; deliver the poor from oppreffion, and let thy converfation be above. Thus fhalt thou"rejoice in hope," and look forward to the end of life as the confummation of thy felicity.

Almet, in whofe breast devotion kindled as he spoke, returned into the temple, and the ftranger departed in peace.

HAWKESWORTH.

SECTION VI.

Religion and Superftition contrafted.

A VISION.

I HAD lately a very remarkable dream, which made fo ftrong an impreffion on me, that I remember every word of it; and if you are not better employed, you may read the relation of it as follows:

I thought I was in the midst of a very entertaining fet of company, and extremely delighted in attending to a lively converfation, when, on a fudden, I perceived one of the most shocking figures that imagination can frame, advancing towards me. She was dreffed in black, her skin was contracted into a thousand wrinkles, her eyes deep funk in her head, and her complexion pale and livid as the countenance of death. Her looks were filled with terror and unrelenting feverity, and her hands armed with whips. and fcorpions. As foon as he came near, with a horrid frown, and a voice that chilled my very blood, the bade me follow her. I obeyed, and she led me through rugged paths, befet with briers and thorns, into a deep folitary val ley. Wherever the paffed, the fading verdure withered beneath her steps; her peftilential breath infected the air with malignant vapours, obfcured the luftre of the fun, and involved the fair face of heaven in universal gloom. Dismal howlings refounded through the foreft; from every baleful tree, the night raven uttered his dreadful note; and the prospect was filled with defolation and horror. In the midst of this tremendous fcene, my execrable guide addressed me in the following manner :

"Retire with me, O rash, unthinking mortal! from the vain allurements of a deceitful world; and learn, that pleasure was not defigned the portion of human life. Man was born to mourn and to be wretched. This is the condition of all below the stars; and whoever endeavours to oppofe it acts in contradiction to the will of Heaven. Fly then from the fatal enchantments of youth and focial delight, and here confecrate the folitary hours to lamenta tion and wo. Mifery is the duty of all fublunary beings; and every enjoyment is an offence to the Deity, who is to be worshipped only by the mortification of every sense of pleasure, and the everlafting exercife of fighs and tears." This melancholy picture of life quite funk my fpirits, and feemed to annihilate every principle of joy within me.

I

threw myself beneath a blasted yew, where the winds blew cold and difmal round my head, and dreadful apprehenfions chilled my heart. Here I refolved to lie till the hand of death, which I impatiently invoked, fhould put an end to the miseries of a life fo deplorably wretched. In this fad fituation I efpied on one hand of me a deep muddy river, whofe heavy waves rolled on in flow, fullen murmurs. Here I determined to plunge; and was just upon the brink, when I found myfelf fuddenly drawn back. I turned about, and was furprised by the fight of the lovelieft object I had ever beheld. The moft engaging charms of youth and beauty appeared in all her form; effulgent glories fparkled in her eyes, and their awful fplendours were foftened by the gentleft looks of compaffion and peace. At her approach, the frightful fpectre, who had before tormented me, vanished away, and with her all the horrors fhe had caufed. The gloomy clouds brightened into cheerful funshine, the groves recovered their verdure, and the whole region looked gay and blooming as the garden of Eden. I was quite tranfported at this unexpected change, and reviving pleasure began to gladden my thoughts when with a look of inexpreffible fweetnefs, my beauteous deliverer thus uttered her divine instructions.

"My name is RELIGION. I am the offspring of TRUTH and Love, and the parent of BENEVOLENCE, HOPE, and Joy. That monster, from whose power I have freed you, is called SUPERSTITION the is the child of DISCONTENT, and her followers are FEAR and SORROW. Thus different as we are, fhe has often the infolence to affume my name and character; and feduces unhappy mortals to think us the fame, till fhe, at length, drives them to the borders of DESPAIR, that dreadful abyfs into which you were just going to fink.

“Look round, and furvey the various beauties of the globe, which Heaven has destined for the feat of the human race; and confider whether a world thus exquifitely framed could be meant for the abode of mifery and pain. For what end has the lavish hand of Providence diffufed innumerable objects of delight, but that all might rejoice in the privilége of existence, and be filled with gratitude to the beneficent Author of it? Thus to enjoy the bleffings he has fent, is virtue and obedience; and to reject them merely as means of pleasure, is pitiable ignorance, or abfurd perverfenefs. Infinite goodness is the fource of created exist.

ence.

The proper tendency of every rational being, from the highest order of raptured feraphs, to the meanest rank of men, is, to rife inceffantly from lower degrees of happinefs, to higher. They have faculties affigned them for

various orders of delights."

"What!" cried I, "is this the language of Religion? Does the lead her votaries through flowery paths, and bid them pass an unlaborious life? Where are the painful toils of virtue, the mortifications of penitents, and the felfdenying exercises of faints and heroes?"

"The true enjoyments of a reasonable being," answered fhe mildly, "do not confift in unbounded indulgence, or luxurious eafe, in the tumult of paffions, the languor of indolence, or the flutter of light amufements. Yielding to immortal pleasure corrupts the mind; living to animal and trifling ones debafes it: both in their degree difqualify it for its genuine good, and confign it over to wretchedness. Whoever would be really happy, muft make the diligent and regular exercise of his fuperior powers his chief attention; adoring the perfections of his Maker, expreffing good-will to his fellow-creatures, and cultivating inward rectitude. To his lower faculties he must allow fuch gratifications as will, by refreshing, invigorate his nobler purfuits. In the regions inhabited by angelic natures, unmingled felicity forever blooms; joy flows there with a perpetual and abundant stream, nor needs any mound to check its courfe. Beings confcious of a frame of mind originally difeafed, as all the human race has cause to be, mult ufe the regimen of a stricter felf-government. Whoever has been guilty of voluntary exceffes must patiently fubmit both to the painful workings of nature, and needful feverities of medicine, in order to his cure. Still he is entitled to a moderate share of whatever alleviating accommodations this fair mansion of his merciful Parent affords, confiftent with his recovery. And, in proportion as this recovery advances, the livelieft joy will fpring from his fecret fenfe of an amended and improving heart. So far from the horrors of defpair is the condition even of the guilty. Shudder, poor mortal, at the thought of the gulf into which thou waft just now going to plunge.

"While the most faulty have every encouragement to amend, the more innocent foul will be fupported with fillfweeter confolations under all its experience of human infirmities, fupported by the gladdening affurances, that every fin

cere endeavour to outgrow them, fhall be affilled, accepted, and rewarded. To fuch a one, the lowlieft self-abasement is but a deep laid foundation for the most elevated hopes; fince they who faithfully examine and acknowledge what they are, fhall be enabled, under my conduct, to become what they defire. The chriftian and the hero are infeparable; and to the afpirings of unaffuming truft and filial confidence, are fet no bounds. To him who is animated with a view of obtaining approbation from the Sovereign of the universe, no difficulty is infurmountable. Secure in this purfuit of every needful aid, his conflict with the feverest pains and trials, is little more than the vigorous exercises of a mind in health. His patient dependence on that Providence which looks through all eternity, his filent refignation, his ready accommodation of his thoughts and behaviour to its infcrutable ways, are at once the most excellent fort of self-denial, and a fource of the most exalted tranfports. Society is the true fphere of human virtue. In focial, active life, difficulties will perpetually be met with; reftraints of many kinds will be neceffary; and ftudying to behave right in refpect of these, is a discipline of the human heart, ufeful to others, and improving to it felf. Suffering is no duty, but where it is neceffary to avoid guilt, or to do good; nor pleasure a crime, but where it ftrengthens the influence of bad inclinations, or leffens the generous activity of virtue. The happiness allotted to man in his prefent ftate is indeed faint and low, compared with his immortal profpects, and noble capacities but yet whatever portion of it the diftributing hand of Heaven offers to each individual, is a needful fupport and refreshment for the prefent moment, fo far as it may not hinder the attaining of his final deftination.

:

"Return then with me from continual mifery, to moderate enjoyment, and grateful alacrity: return from the contracted views of folitude, to the proper duties of a relative and dependent being. RELIGION is not confined to cells and clofets, nor reftrained to fullen retirement These are the gloomy doctrines of SUPERSTITION, by which the endeavours to break thofe chains of benevolence and focial affection, that link the welfare of every particular with that of the whole. Remember, that the greatest honour you can pay the Author of your being, is a behaviour fo cheerful as difcovers a mind fatisfied with its own difpenfations."

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