to it, and makes a considerable part of it in practice. The effect of this philanthropic spirit is, that the vices which are still ge nerally harboured are sins of indulgence and refinement rather than of cruelty and barbarism crimes of thoughtless gayety rather than of direct premeditated malice.

To instance in particulars. We are not destitute, as the heathen were, of natural affection. No man in a Christian country would avoid the burden of a family by the exposure of his infant children: No man would think of settling the point with his intended wife, before marriage, according to the ancient practice, that the females she might bear should be all exposed, and the boys only reared,-however inadequate his fortune might be to the allotment of large marriage-portions to a numerous family of daughters: Nor would the unnatural monster (for so we now should call him) who in a single instance should attempt to revive the practice of this exploded system of economy escape public infamy and the vengeance of the laws.

The frequency of divorce was another striking symptom, in the heathen world, of a want of natural affection, which is not found in modern manners. The crime indeed which justifies divorce is too frequent; but the husband is not at liberty, as in ancient times, to repudiate the wife of his youth for any lighter cause than an offence on her part against the fundamental principle of the nuptial contract. Upon this point the laws of all Christian countries are framed in strict conformity to the rules of the gospel, and the spirit of the primeval institution.

We are not, as the apostle says the heathen were, "full of murder." The robber, it is true, to facilitate the acquisition of his booty, or to secure himself from immediate apprehension and punishment, sometimes imbrues his hand in blood; but scenes of blood and murder make no part, as of old, of the public diversions of the people. Miserable slaves, upon occasions of general rejoicing and festivity, are not exposed to the fury of wild beasts for a show of amusement and recreation to the

populace, nor engaged in mortal combat with each other upon a public stage. Such bloody sports, were they exhibited, would not draw crowds of spectators to our theatres, of every rank, and sex, and age. Our women of condition would have no relish for the sight: They would not be able to behold it with so much composure as to observe and admire the skill and agility of the champions, and interest themselves in the issue of the combat: They would shriek and faint; they would not exclaim, like Roman ladies, in a rapture of delight, when the favourite gladiator struck his antagonist the fatal blow; nor with cool indifference give him the signal to despatch the prostrate suppliant *. Nor would the pit applaud and shout when the blood of the dying man gushing from the ghastly wound flowed upon the stage.

We are not, in the degree in which the

Consurgit ad ictus,

Et quoties victor ferrum jugulo inserit, illa
Delicias ait esse suas, pectusque jacentis
Virgo modesta jubet, converso police, rumpi."

Prudentius.

heathen were,

"unmerciful."

With an

exception in a single instance, we are milder in the use of power and authority of every sort; and the abuse of authority is now restrained by law in cases in which the laws of ancient times allowed it. Capital punishment is not inflicted for slight offences; nor, in the most arbitrary Christian governments, is it suddenly inflicted, upon the bare order of the sovereign, without a formal accusation, trial, conviction, sentence, and warrant of execution. The lives of children and servants are no longer at the disposal of the father of the family; nor is domestic authority maintained, as formerly, by severities which the mild spirit of modern laws rarely inflicts on the worst public malefactors. Even war has lost much of its natural cruelty; and, compared with itself in ancient times, wears a mild and gentle aspect. The first symptom of the mitigation of its horrors appeared early in the fifth century, when Rome was stormed and plundered by the Goths under Alaric. Those bands of barbarians, as they were called, were Christian; and their conduct in the hour of

conquest exhibited a new and wonderful example of the power of Christianity over the fierce passions of man. Alaric no sooner found himself master of the town, than he gave out orders that all of the unarmed inhabitants who had fled to the churches or the sepulchres of the martyrs should be spared; and with such cheerfulness were the orders obeyed, that many who were found running about the streets in a phrensy of consternation and despair were conducted by the common soldiers to the appointed places of retreat: Nor was a single article touched of the rich furniture and costly ornaments of the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul. This, you will observe, was a thing very different from the boasted examples of Pagan manners, the generosity of Camillus and Scipio's contiIn either of those examples, we see nothing more than the extraordinary virtue of the individual, because it was extraordinary, equally reflecting disgrace on his times and credit on himself: This was an instance of mercy and moderation in a whole army-in common soldiers, flushed with victory, and smarting under

nence.