between a hundred and a hundred thousand; for as ten millions of circles can never make a square, so the united voice of myriads cannot lend the smallest foundation to falsehood. It is thus that reason speaks, and untutored nature says the same thing. Savages, that are directed by natural law alone, are tender of the lives of each other; they seldom shed blood but to retaliate former cruelty. ****** It were to be wished, then, that power instead of contriving new laws to punish vice; instead of drawing hard the cords of society, till a convulsion come to burst them; instead of cutting away wretches as useless, before we have tried their utility; instead of converting correction into vengeance; it were to be wished, that we tried the restrictive arts of government, and made law the protector, but not the tyrant, of the people. We should then find, that creatures, whose souls are held as dross, only wanted the hand of a refiner; we should then find, that wretches, now stuck up for long tortures, lest luxury should feel a momentary pang, might, if properly treated, serve to sinew the state in times of danger; that, as their faces are like ours, their hearts are so too; that few minds are so base as that perseverance cannot amend; that a man may see his last crime without dying for it; and that very little blood will serve to cement our security. LESSON LXXIV. Address to Liberty.-CowPER. O, COULD I worship aught beneath the skies. With fragrant turf, and flowers as wild and fair The peep of morning shed a dawning light; My soul should yield thee willing thanks and praise But that were sacrilege: praise is not thine, LESSON LXXV. The Hermit.-BEATTLE. Ar the close of the day, when the hamlet is still,-- While his harp rung symphonious, a hermit began ;— No more with himself or with nature at war, He thought as a sage, while he felt as a man ;- "Ah, why, thus abandoned to darkness and wo, But, if pity inspire thee, renew thy sad lay; Mourn, sweetest complainer, man calls thee to mourn : O soothe him, whose pleasures, like thine, pass away— Full quickly they pass-but they never return. "Now, gliding remote, on the verge of the sky, She shone, and the planets were lost in her blaze. ""Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more; Kind nature the embryo blossom will save: 'Twas thus, by the glare of false science betrayed, "O pity, great Father of light," then I cried, 66 Thy creature, who fain would not wander from thee! Lo, humbled in dust, I relinquish my pride; From doubt and from darkness thou only canst free." And darkness and doubt are now flying away: On the cold cheek of Death smiles and roses are blending, LESSON LXXVI. Hymn to the Stars.-MONTHLY REPOSITORY. Ay, there ye shine, and there have shone, Through boundless space and countless time. Ay, there ye shine, the golden dews That pave the realms by seraphs trod; There, through yon echoing vault, diffuse The song of choral worlds to God. Ye visible spirits! bright as erst Young Eden's birthnight saw ye shine Gold frets to dust,-yet there ye are ; Enshrined an everlasting soul! And does it not-since your bright throngs Could man but see what ye have seen, The glance how rich! the range how vast! The birth of time, the rise, the fall Of empires, myriads, ages flown, Ye saw rapt Zoroaster send His soul into your mystic reign; Ye saw the adoring Sabian bendThe living hills his mighty fane! Beneath his blue and beaming sky, And there ye shine, as if to mock The storm, the bolt, the earthquake's shock, Drought, famine, plague, and blood, and flame, Ay, there ye roll-emblems sublime Of Him, whose spirit o'er us moves, That more divides the soul and sod, LESSON LXXVII. Religion the only Basis of Society.-CHANNING. RELIGION is a social concern; for it operates powerfully on society, contributing, in various ways, to its stability and prosperity. Religion is not merely a private affair; the community is deeply interested in its diffusion; for it is the best support of the virtues and principles, on which the social order rests. Pure and undefiled religion is, to do good; and it follows, very plainly, that, if God be the Author and Friend of society, then, the recognition of him must enforce all social duty, and enlightened piety must give its whole strength to public order. Few men suspect, perhaps no man comprehends, the extent of the support given by religion to every virtue. No man, perhaps, is aware, how much our moral and social sentiments are fed from this fountain; how powerless conscience would become, without the belief of a God; how |