heathen, and we should have no reason to be surprised at them: But supposing them the words of Mr. Addison, put into Cato's mouth, and the christian philosopher was indeed nobly employed in framing such a speech for the heathen one! But look at the morality of this speech; the meanness of it; the want of all dignity, patriotism and benevolence in it. Because Cæsar held the power of Rome, Cato had nothing more to do in the world! Could he not have lived in retirement, out of the vortex of power and politics? And could he not have labored as well for his country, or at least as faithfully, in retirement, as in power-out of office as well as in? Could he not have lent his aid to the promotion of literature and science? Could he not have engaged in the improvement of agriculture? Could he not have found time and opportunity to do a thousand acts of humanity and benevolence, in relieving the poor and distressed, by the diffusion of his wealth, and aiding all classes by the wisdom of his advice? Could he not, in short, have done something towards improving the barbarous condition of his country; for, although she was finally overrun and her government and power subverted by barbarians, still she was as barbarous as they were. The worshippers of Odin, were as elevated, intellectually and morally, as the C*

worshippers of Jupiter and Juno, Mars and Venus. But instead of all this, to cry out like a spoiled child, or silly dotard, that there was nothing more for him to do but to die; all this we say, if really Cato's, disgraces his memory, even as a heathen; and if Mr. Addison's sole invention, disgraces him as a christian philosopher, for making the heathen philosopher worse or more of a fool than was necessary.

What scenes might we not have witnessed in this country, were Cato's heathen philosophy fashionable. Every candidate who lost an election, or found himself jostled off the political stage by his more talented or more villainous rival, must needs go and hang himself! so that we might have seen such illustrious men as John Jay, De Witt Clinton and Timothy Pickering, with hundreds of others, at least, hanging upon some tree on their premises, instead of living to enjoy the consolations of religionthe pleasures of literature and science-the sweets of domestic happiness-the fruits of their good husbandry; and diffusing around them by the force of their example, a benign moral influence. Suppose John Q. Adams had gone and stuck a sword through himself when Andrew Jackson disrobed him of the Presidency, we should not have had in the last Congress, scarcely one able and independent de

fender of the constitutional freedom of his

country.

We admit that there may be times and circumstances, in which that self-respect, that just and laudable pride, which he who does not possess it deserves not the name of man, may justify an individual in withdrawing from all parties în the state. A man, for example, cannot be asked to violate his conscience, nor to do any act which would degrade him in his own estimation. Plato felt the full force of this sentiment when he refused the proffered government of Greece. Moral and political degeneracy prevailed to that extent, that no individual, however great his intellectual powers, could stem the torrent; whoever attempted it would only be in danger of losing his own virtue, without the least hope of recalling or reviving that of the people. From such a state of moral and political degeneracy, the patriot and the sage could only turn with sorrow, disgust and indignation: But it did not quench his love of country or of mankind; and whilst he felt himself compelled to leave the corrupt and unprincipled factions to devour each other, he contented himself with doing all the good that he could do, by teaching his philosophy to those who were willing to be benefitted by his instructions. He did not kill himself, because he

believed that the life which NATURE-the heathen philosopher's God-had given him, Nature only had the right to take away. With the education of a heathen, indeed, Plato had the instinct of a christian, if nothing more; and had he lived in the days of Paul, would no doubt have been the zealous coadjutor of the great Apostle.

But we have not done with this tragedy; for as the soliloquy of Cato, when about to commit self-murder has been so long admired among us, and so often recited in our academic or school exercises; we will quote it entire and show its unfitness for a christian audience to listen to, much less to commend.

ACT V.-Scene I.

Cato solus, sitting in a thoughtful posture: in his hand Plato's Book on the Immortality of the Soul. A drawn sword on the table by him.

It must be so-Plato, thou reasonest well!-
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality?

Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror,
Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us ;.
'Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.

Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!
Through what variety of untry'd being,

Through what new scenes and changes must we pass !
The wide, th' unbounded prospect lies before me ;
But shadows, clouds, and darkness, rest upon it.
Here will I hold. If there's a power above us,
(And that there is all nature cries aloud
'Through all her works) he must delight in virtue;
And that which he delights in must be happy.

But when! or where !-this world was made for Cæsar.
-This must end them.

I'm weary of conjectures

[Laying his hand on his sword.

Thus am I doubly arm'd: my death and life,
My bane and antidote are both before me :
This in a moment brings me to an end;
But this informs me I shall never die.
The soul, secure in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years.
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.

What means this heaviness that hangs upon me?
This lethargy that creeps through all my senses ?
Nature, oppress'd and harass'd out with care,
Sinks down to rest. This once I'll favor her,
That my awaken'd soul may take her flight,
Renew'd in all her strength, and fresh with life,
An offering fit for heaven. Let guilt or fear
Disturb man's rest: Cato knows neither of them,
Indifferent in his choice to sleep or die.

Christians believe, that Christ, their blessed Saviour, brought life and immortality to light; and they believe not only in the immortality of the soul, but in the salvation of it through faith in Christ; and connected with this principle, necessarily, is the belief of a future state of rewards and punishments. Now, on these points, there is no doubt in the mind of a christian. Among the christian virtues, therefore, which will be rewarded in Heaven, are faith and the good works which flow from it: and among the sins or crimes, which will be punished in all who die in an impenitent and graceless state, is that of murder; though we are strongly inclined to