have few wants; and that he should cherish | son and goodness, the only things wherein

so many virtues in his soul as to have a per- we can imitate the Supreme Being. In the petual source of pleasure in himself. next life we meet with nothing to excite The Christian religion requires that, after our inclinations that doth not deserve them. having framed the best idea we are able of I shall therefore dismiss my reader with the divine nature, it should be our next care this maxim, viz. Our happiness in this to conform ourselves to it as far as our im-world proceeds from the suppression of cur perfections will permit. I might mention desires, but in the next world from the several passages in the sacred writings on gratification of them.' this head, to which I might add many maxims and wise sayings of moral authors among the Greeks and Romans.

I shall only instance a remarkable passage, to this purpose, out of Julian's Cæsars.* That emperor having represented all the Roman emperors, with Alexander the Great, as passing in review before the gods, and striving for the superiority, lets them all drop, excepting Alexander, Julius Cæsar, Augustus Cæsar, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, and Constantine. Each of these great heroes of antiquity lays in his claim for the upper place; and, in order to it, sets forth his actions after the most advantageous manner. But the gods, instead of being dazzled with the lustre of their actions, inquire by Mercury into the proper motive and governing principle that influenced them throughout the whole series of their lives and exploits. Alexander tells them, that his aim was to conquer; Julius Cæsar, that his was to gain the highest post in his country; Augustus, to govern well; Trajan, that his was the same as that of Alexander, namely, to conquer. The question, at length, was put to Marcus Aurelius, who replied, with great modesty, that it had always been his care to imitate the gods. This conduct seems to have gained him the most votes and best place in the whole assembly. 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 possible in himself, 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 reasonable creature ought to imitate. The young man, in a heathen comedy, might. justify his lewdness by the example of Jupiter; as, indeed, there was scarce any crime that might not be countenanced by those notions of the deity which prevailed among the common people in the heathen world. Revealed religion sets forth a proper object for imitation, in that Being who is the pattern, as well as the source, of all spiritual perfection.

While we remain in this life, we are subject to innumerable temptations, which, if listened to, will make us deviate from rea

No. 635.] Monday, December 20, 1714.

Sentio te sedem hominum ac domum contemplari; quæ si tibi parva (ut est) ita videtur, hæc cœlestia semper spectato; illa humana contemnito. Cicero Somn. Scip.

I perceive you contemplate the seat and habitation of men; which if it appears as little to you as it really is, fix your eyes perpetually upon heavenly objects, and despise earthly.

THE following essay 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 raise the mind, and may inspire noble sentiments of our own future grandeur and happiness, I think it well deserves to be presented to the public.

If the universe be the creature of an intelligent mind, this mind could have no immediate regard to himself in producing it. He needed not to make trial of his omnipotence to be informed what effects were within its reach; the world, as existing in his eternal idea, was then as beautiful as now it is drawn forth into being; and in the immense abyss of his essence are contained far brighter scenes than will be ever set forth to view; it being impossible that the great Author of nature should bound his own power by giving existence to a system of creatures so perfect that he cannot improve upon it by any other exertions of his almighty will. Between finite and infinite there is an unmeasured interval, not to be filled up in endless ages; for which reason, the most excellent of all God's works must be equally short of what his power is able to produce as the most imperfect, and may be exceeded with the same ease.

This thought hath made some imagine (what it must be confessed is not impossible,) that the unfathomed space is ever teeming with new births, the younger still inheriting greater perfection than the elder. But as this doth not fall within my present view, I shall content myself with taking notice, that the consideration now mentioned proves undeniably, that the ideal worlds in the divine understanding yield a prospect incomparably more ample, various, and delightful, than any created world can do: and that, therefore, as it is not to be supposed that God should make a world merely of inanimate matter, however diversified, or inhabited only by creatures of no

† No. 626.

higher an order than brutes, so the end globe, shall ere long shoot away with the for which he designed his reasonable off-swiftness of imagination, trace out the spring in the contemplation of his works, hidden springs of nature's operations, be the enjoyment of himself, and in both to be able to keep pace with the heavenly bodies happy; having, to this purpose, endowed in the rapidity of their career, be a spectathem with correspondent faculties and de- tor of the long chain of events in the natural sires. He can have no greater pleasure from and moral worlds, visit the several aparta bare review of his works than from a sur-ments of the creation, know how they are vey of his own ideas; but we may be as- furnished and how inhabited, comprehend sured that he is well pleased in the satis- the order, and measure the magnitudes and faction derived to beings capable of it, and distances of those orbs, which to us seem for whose entertainment he hath erected disposed without any regular design, and this immense theatre. Is not this more than set all in the same circle; observe the dean intimation of our immortality? Man, who, pendence of the parts of each system, and when considered as on his probation for a (if our minds are big enough to grasp the happy existence hereafter, is the most re- theory) of the several systems upon one markable instance of divine wisdom, if we another, from whence results the harmony cut him off from all relation to eternity, is the of the universe. In eternity, a great deal most wonderful and unaccountable composi- may be done of this kind. I find it of use tion in the whole creation. He hath capaci- to cherish this generous ambition; for, beties to lodge a much greater variety of know- sides the secret refreshment it diffuses ledge than he will be ever master of, and an through my soul, it engages me in an enunsatisfied curiosity to tread the secret paths deavour to improve my faculties, as well of nature and providence: but, with this, as to exercise them conformably to the his organs, in their present structure, are rank I now hold among reasonable beings, rather fitted to serve the necessities of a and the hope I have of being once advanced vile body, than to minister to his under- to a more exalted station. standing; and, from the little spot to which he is chained, he can frame but wandering guesses concerning the innumerable worlds of light that encompass him; which, though in themselves of a prodigious bigness, do but just 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 steep ascent of truth, and beholds with pity the grovelling multitude beneath, in a moment his foot slides, and he tumbles down headlong into the grave.

The other, and that the ultimate end of man, is the enjoyment of God, beyond which he cannot form a wish. Dim at best are the conceptions we have of the Supreme Being, who, as it were, keeps his creatures in suspense, neither discovering nor hiding himself; by which means, the libertine hath a handle to dispute his existence, while the most are content to speak him fair, but in their hearts prefer every trifling satisfaction to the favour of their Maker, and ridicule the good man for the singularity of his Thinking on this, I am obliged to believe, choice. Will there not a time come, when in justice to the Creator of the world, that the free-thinker shall see his impious there is another state when man shall be schemes overturned, and be made a conbetter situated for contemplation, or rather vert to the truths he hates? when deluded have it in his power to remove from object mortals shall be convinced of the folly of to object, and from world to world; and be their pursuits; and the few wise who folaccommodated with senses, and other helps, lowed the guidance of Heaven, and, scornfor making the quickest and most amazing ing the blandishments of sense, and the discoveries. How does such a genius as sordid bribery of the world, aspired to a Sir Isaac Newton, from amidst the dark-celestial abode, shall stand possessed of ness that involves human understanding, their utmost wish in the vision of the Creabreak forth, and appear like one of an- tor? Here the mind heaves a thought now other species! The vast machine we in- and then towards him, and hath some tranhabit lies open to him; he seems not sient glances of his presence: when in the unacquainted with the general laws that instant it thinks itself to have the fastest govern it, and while with the transport of a hold, the object eludes its expectations, and philosopher he beholds and admires the it falls back tired and baffled to the ground. glorious work, he is capable of paying at Doubtless there is some more perfect way once a more devout and more rational ho- of conversing with heavenly beings. Are not mage to his Maker. But, alas! how nar- spirits capable of mutual intelligence, unless row is the prospect even of such a mind! immersed in bodies, or by their intervention? And how obscure to the compass that is Must superior natures depend on inferior taken in by the ken of an angel, or of a soul for the main privilege of social beings, that but newly escaped from its imprisonment of conversing with and knowing each other? in the body! For my part, I freely indulge What would they have done had matter my soul in the confidence of its future gran- never been created? I suppose, not have deur; it pleases me to think that I, who lived in eternal solitude. As incorporeal know so small a portion of the works of the substances are of a nobler order, so, be Creator, and with slow and painful steps sure, their manner of intercourse is ancreep up and down on the surface of this swerably more expedite and intimate. This

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method of communication we call intellec- | heart of man to conceive; yet, what we can tual vision, as something analogous to the sense of seeing, which is the medium of our acquaintance with this visible world. And in some such way can God make himself the object of immediate intuition to the blessed; and as he can, it is not improbable that he will, always condescending, 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 second-hand knowledge: to have a just idea of him, it may be necessary to see him as he is. But what is that? It is something that never entered into the

easily conceive, will be a fountain of unspeakable and everlasting rapture. All created glories will fade and die away in his presence. 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 those wise designs that have been executing in a long succession of ages. Thus employed in finding out his works, and contemplating their Author, how shall I fall prostrate and adoring, my body swallowed up in the immensity of matter, my mind in the infinitude of his perfections!

THE END.