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As towering flame from Nature's funeral pyre:
O'er devastation, as a gainer, smiles;
His charter his inviolable rights,

Well pleased to learn from Thunder's impotence,
Death's pointless darts, and Hell's defeated storms.'
But these chimeras touch not thee, Lorenzo!
The glories of the world thy sevenfold shield.
Other ambition than of crowns in air,

And superlunary felicities,

Thy bosom warms. I'll cool it, if I can ;

And turn those glories that enchant, against thee.
What ties thee to this life proclaims the next.

If wise, the cause that wounds thee is thy cure.
Come, my Ambitious! let us mount together,
(To mount Lorenzo never can refuse!)

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755

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And from the clouds, where Pride delights to dwell, Look down on earth.-What seest thou? wondrous

things!

Terrestrial wonders, that eclipse the skies.

What lengths of labour'd lands; what loaded seas!
Loaded by man for pleasure, wealth, or war!
Seas, winds, and planets, into service brought,
His art acknowledge, and promote his ends.
Nor can the' eternal rocks his will withstand:
What level'd mountains! and what lifted vales!
O'er vales and mountains sumptuous cities swell,
And gild our landscape with their glittering spires.
Some mid the wondering waves majestic rise,
And Neptune holds a mirror to their charms.
Far greater still! (what cannot mortal might ?)
See, wide dominions ravish'd from the deep!
The narrow'd deep with indignation foams.
Or southward turn, to delicate and grand,
The finer arts there ripen in the Sun.
How the tall temples, as to meet their gods,
Ascend the skies! the proud triumphal arch
Shows us half heaven beneath its ample bend.

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High through mid air, here streams are taught to flow,

Whole rivers there, laid by in basons, sleep.

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Here plains turn oceans; there vast oceans join,
Through kingdoms channel'd deep from shore to shore,
And changed Creation takes its face from man.
Beats thy brave breast for formidable scenes,
Where fame and empire wait upon the sword?
See fields in blood; hear naval thunders rise;
Britannia's voice! that awes the world to peace.
How yon enormous mole projecting breaks
The mid-sea, furious waves! their roar amidst
Outspeaks the Deity, and says, ' O Main!
Thus far, nor farther; new restraints obey.'
Earth's disembowel'd! measured are the skies!
Stars are detected in their deep recess !
Creation widens! vanquish'd Nature yields!
Her secrets are extorted! Art prevails!
What monument of genius, spirit, power!

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And now, Lorenzo! raptured at this scene, Whose glories render heaven superfluous! say, Whose footsteps these ?-Immortals have been here Could less than souls immortal this have done? Earth's cover'd o'er with proofs of souls immortal, And proofs of Immortality forgot.

To fiatter thy grand foible, I confess

805

These are Ambition's works; and these are great:
But this, the least immortal souls can do,

810

Transcends them all.--But what can these transcend?

Dost ask me what?-one sigh for the distress'd.

What then for Infidels? a decper sigh.

'Tis moral grandeur makes the mighty man!

815

How little they, who think aught great below!
All our ambitions Death defeats but one,
And that it crowns.-Here cease we; but ere long,
More powerful proof shall take the field against thee,
Stronger than death, and smiling at the tomb.

PART II.

THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED.

CONTAINING THE

NATURE, PROOF, AND IMPORTANCE OF IMMORTALITY

PREFACE.

As we are at war with the power, it were well if we were at war with the manners of France. A land of levity is a land of guilt. A serious mind is the native soil of every virtue, and the single character that does true honour to mankind. The soul's immortality has been the favourite theme with the serious of all ages. Nor is it strange : it is a subject by far the most interesting and important that can enter the mind of man. Of highest moment this subject always was, and always will be yet this its highest moment seems to admit of increase at this day; a sort of occasional importance is superadded to the natural weight of it, if that opinion which is advanced in the Preface to the preceding Night be just. It is there supposed that all our Infidels (whatever scheme, for argument's sake, and to keep themselves in countenance, they patronize) are betrayed into their deplorable crror by some doubt of their immortality at the bottom: and the more I consider this point, the more I am persuaded of the truth of that opinion. Though the distrust of a futurity is a strange error, yet it is an error into which bad men may naturally be distressed; for it is impossible to bid defiance to final ruin, with out some refuge in imagination, some presumption of escape, And what presumption is there? there are but two in Nature; but two within the compass of human thought; and these are,

That either God will not or cannot punish. Considering the divine attributes, the first is too gross to be digested by our strongest wishes; and, since Omnipotence is as much a divine attribute as Holiness, that God cannot punish is as absurd a supposition as the former. God certainly can punish, as long as wicked men exist. In nonexistence, therefore, is their only refuge; and, consequently, nonexistence is their strongest wish; and strong wishes have a strange influence on our opinions; they bias the judgment in a manner almost incredi'ble. And since, on this member of their alternative there are some very small appearances in their favour, and none at all

on the other, they catch at this reed, they lay hold on this chimera, to save themselves from the shock and horror of an immediate and absolute despair.

On reviewing my subject, by the light which this argument, and others of like tendency, threw upon it, I was more inclined than ever to pursue it, as it appeared to me to strike directly at the main root of all our infidelity. In the following pages it is, accordingly, pursued at large, and some arguments for immortality, new at least to me, are ventured on in them. There, also, the writer has made an attempt to set the gross absurdities and horrors of annihilation in a fuller and more affecting view than is (I think) to be met with elsewhere.

The gentlemen for whose sake this attempt was chiefly made, profess great admiration for the wisdom of heathen antiquity: what pity it is they are not sincere! If they were sincere, how would it mortify them to consider with what contempt and abhorrence their notions would have been received by those whom they so much admire. What degree of contempt and abhorrence would fall to their share, may be conjectured by the following matter of fact (in my opinion,) extremely memorable. Of all their heathen worthies, Socrates (it is well known) was the most guarded, dispassionate, and composed; yet this great master of temper was angry, and angry at his last hour; and angry with his friend; and angry for what deserved acknowledgment; angry for a right and tender instance of true friendship towards him. Is not this surprising? what could be the cause ?-The cause was for his honour: It was a truly noble, though, perhaps, a too punctilious regard for Immortality: for his friend asking him, with such an affectionate concern as became a friend, 'Where he should deposit his remains?' it was resented by Socrates, as implying a dishonourable supposition, that he could be so mean as to have regard for any thing, even in himself, that was not immortal.

This fact, well considered, would make our infidels withdraw their admiration from Socrates, or make them endeavour, by their imitation of his illustrious example, to share his glory; and consequently, it would incline them to peruse the following with candour and impartiality: which is all I desire. and that, for their sakes: for I am persuaded that an unprejuticed infidel must, necessarily, receive some advantageous impressions from them.

CONTENTS

OF THE SEVENTH NIGHT.

In the

Night, arguments were drawn from Nature in proof
of Iminality: here, others are drawn from Man; from his dis-
content, mom his passions and powers; from the gradual growth
of reasur,
from his fear of death; from the nature of hope, and
of virtue; from knowledge and love, as being the most essential
properties of the soul; from the order of creation; from the na-
ture of ambition, avarice, pleasure.-A digression on the gran-
deur of the passions.-Immortality alone renders our present
state intelligible.-An objection from the Stoics' disbelief of Im-
mortality answered.-Endless questions unresolvable, but on
supposition of our immortality.-The natural, most melancholy,
and pathetic complaint of a worthy man, under the persuasion
of no futurity.-The gross absurdities and horrors of annihilation
urged home on Lorenzo.-The soul's vast importance; from
whence it arises, &c.-The difficulty of being an Infidel; the in-
famy; the cause; and the character of an infidel state. What
true free-thinking is; the necessary punishment of the false.-
Man's ruin is from himself.-An Infidel accuses himself of guilt
and hypocrisy, and that of the worst sort; his obligations to
Christians: what danger he incurs by virtue; vice recommended
to him; his high pretences to virtue and benevolence exploded
---The conclusion, on the nature of faith, reason, and hope; with
an apology for this attempt.

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