What treafon to the majefty of man!
Of man immortal! Here the lofty style :

"If fo decreed, th' Almighty Will be done.
"Let earth diffolve,, yon ponderous orbs defcend, 745
"And grind us into duft. The foul is fafe ;,
"The man emerges; mounts above the wreck,
"As towering flame from nature's funeral pyre;
"O'er devastation, as a gainer, fmiles;
"His charter, his inviolable rights,

750

"Well pleas'd to learn from thunder's impotence, "Death's pointlefs darts, and hell's defeated ftorms."

But these chimeras touch not thee, Lorenzo ! The glories of the world thy sevenfold shield. Other ambition than of crowns in air,

And fuperlunary felicities,.

Thy bofom warm. I'll cool it, if I can ;.

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

If wife, the cause that wounds thee is thy cure.

Come, my ambitious! let us mount together.

(To mount, Lorenzo never can refuse);

755

760

And from the clouds, where pride deiights to dwell, Look down on earth.-What feeft thou? Wondrous

things!

Terrestrial wonders, that eclipfe the skies.

765

What lengths of labour'd lands! what loaded feas!
Loaded by man for pleasure, wealth, or war!
Seas, winds, and planets, into service brought,
His art acknowledge, and promote his ends.
Nor can th' eternal rocks his will withstand;

770

What

775

What level'd mountains! and what lifted vales!
O'er vales and mountains fumptuous cities fwell,
And gild our landscape with their glittering fpires.
Some mid the wondering waves majestic rife;
And Neptune holds a mirror to their charms..
Far greater ftill! (what cannot mortal might?)
See, wide dominions ravish'd from the deep!
The narrow'd deep with indignation foams.
Or fouthward turn; to delicate and grand,
The finer arts there ripen in the fun.
How the tall temples, as to meet their gods,
Afcend the skies! the proud triumphal arch
Shews us half heaven beneath its ample bend.
High through mid air, here, streams are taught to flow;
Whole rivers, there, laid by in bafons, fleep.

780

785

790

Here, plains turn oceans; there, vast oceans join
Through kingdoms channel'd deep from shore to fhore;
And chang'd creation takes its face from man.
Beats thy brave breast for formidable fcenes,
Where fame and empire wait upon the fword?
See fields in blood; hear naval thunder's rife ;
Britannia's voice! that awes the world to peace.
How yon enormous mole projecting breaks
The mid-fea, furious waves! Their roar amidst,
Out-speaks the Deity, and fays, "O main!
"Thus far, nor farther; new restraints obey."
Earth's difembowel'd! measur'd are the skies!
Stars are detected in their deep recefs!
Creation widens ! vanquish'd nature yields !

795

Her

Her fecrets are extorted! art prevails!
What monument of genius, fpirit, power!

800

And now, Lorenzo! raptur'd at this scene, Whofe glories render heaven fuperfluous! fay, Whose footsteps these?-Immortals have been here. Could less than fouls immortal this have done ? 805

Earth's cover'd o'er with proofs of fouls immortal; And proofs of immortality forgot.

To flatter thy grand foible, I confefs,

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

810

Tranfcend them all-But what can thefe tranfcend?
Doft ask me what?-One figh for the diftreft.
What then for infidels? A deeper figh.

'Tis moral grandeur makes the mighty man : How little they, who think ought great below! All our ambitions death defeats, but one;

And that it crowns.

815

Here ceafe we: but, ere long, More powerful proof fhall take the field against thee, Stronger than death, and smiling at the tomb.

NIGHT

NIGHT THE SEVENTH.

BEING

THE SECOND PART

O F

THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED.

CONTAINING

THE NATURE, PROOF, AND IMPORTANCE, OF IMMORTALITY.

PRE FAC E.

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 ferious mind is the native foil of every virtue; and the fingle character that does true honour to mankind. The four's immortality has been the favourite theme with the serious of all ages. Nor is it ftrange; it is a fubject by far the most interefting, and important, that can enter the mind of man. Of highest moment this fubject always was and always will be. Yet this its highest moment seems to admit of increase, at this day; a fort of occafional importance is fuperadded to the natural weight of it; if

that

that opinion which is advanced in the preface to the preceding Night, be juft. It is there fuppofed, that all our infidels, whatever scheme, for argument's fake, and to keep themselves in countenance, they patronize, are betrayed into their deplorable error, by fome doubts of their immortality, at the bottom. And the more I confider this point, the more I am persuaded of the truth of that opinion. Though the distrust of a futurity is a ftrange error; yet it is an error into which bad men may naturally be distressed. For it is impoffible to bid defiance to final ruin, without fome refuge in imagination, fome prefumption 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 can not punish. Confidering the divine attributes, the firft is too grofs to be digested by our strongest wishes. And fince omnipotence is as much a divine attribute as holiness, that God cannot punish, is as abfurd a fuppofition, as the former. God certainly can punish as long as wicked men exist. In non-existence, therefore, is their only refuge; and, confequently, non-existence is their strongest wish. And ftrong wishes have a ftrange influence on our opinions; they bias the judgment in a manner, almoft, incredible. And fince on this mem

ber of their alternative, there are some very fmall appearances in their favour, and none at all on the other, they catch at this reed, they lay hold on this chimæra, to fave themselves from the shock and horror of an immediate and abfolute despair.

On