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falling into the hands of their enemies. The citizens fud-denly gathering themselves into a body, fought with a refolution equal to the neceffity of their affairs; yet no one fo remarkably diftinguished himself on this occafion, to the amazement of both armies, as Ifadas the fon of Phebidas, who was at that time in the bloom of his youth, and very remarkable for the comeliness of his perfon. He was coming out of the bath when the alarm was given, fo that he had not time to put on his cloaths, much lefs his armour; however, tranfported with a defire to ferve his country in fo great an exigency, fnatching up a spear in one hand, and a sword in the other, he flung himfelf into › the thickest ranks of his enemies. Nothing could withstand his fury in what part foever he fought he put the enemies to flight without receiving a fingle wound. Whether, fays Plutarch, he was the particular care of fome god, who rewarded his valour that day with an extraordinary protection, or that his enemies, ftruck with the, unufualnefs of his drefs, and beauty of his fhape, fuppofed him fomething more than man, I fhall not determine.

THE gallantry of this action was judged fo great by the Spartans, that the Ephori, or chief magiftrates, decreed he fhould be prefented with a garland; but as foon as they had done fo, fined him a thousand drachmas, for going out to the battle unarmed.

N° 565.

I

Friday, July 9.

-Deum namque ire per omnes

Terrafque, tractufque maris, cælumque profundum.

Virg. Georg. 4. v. 2212.

For God the whole created mass inspires;

Thro' heaven, and earth, and ocean's depths he throws His influence round, and kindles as he goes.

Dryden.

WAS yesterday about fun-fet walking in the open fields, till the night infenfibly fell upon me. I at firft amufed myself with all the richness and variety of colours,

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which appeared in the western parts of heaven: in proportion as they faded away and went out, feveral Itars and planets appeared one after another, till the whole firmament was in a glow. The blueness of the æther was exceedingly heightened and enlivened by the feafon of the year, and by the rays of all thofe luminaries that paffed through it. The Galaxy appeared in its moft beautiful white. To complete the scene, the full moon rofe at length in that clouded majefty, which Milton takes notice of, and opened to the eye a new picture of nature which was more finely fhaded, and difpofed among fofter lights, than that which the fun had before difcovered to us.

As I was furveying the moon walking in her brightnefs, and taking her progrefs among the conftellations, a thought rofe in me which I believe very often perplexes and difturbs men of ferious and contemplative natures. David himself fell into it in that reflection, When I confider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the ftars which thou haft ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the fon of man, that thou regardeft him? In the fame manner when I confidered that infinite host of stars, or, to speak more philofophically, of funs, which were then fhining upon me, with those innumerable fets of planets or worlds, which were moving round their respective funs; when I ftill enlarged the idea, and fuppofed another heaven of funs and worlds rising still above this which we discovered, and these still enlightened by a fuperior firmament of luminaries, which are planted at fo great a distance, that they may appear to the inhabitants of the former as the stars do to us; in short, whilst I purfued this thought, I could not but reflect on that little infignificant figure which I myself bore amidst the immenfity of God's works.

WERE the fun, which enlightens this part of the creation, with all the hoft of planetary worlds that move about him, utterly extinguished and annihilated, they would not be missed, more than a grain of fand upon the fea-fhore. The space they poffefs is fo exceedingly little in comparison of the whole, that it would scarce make a blank in the creation. The chafm would be imperceptible to an eye, that could take in the whole compafs of nature, and pafs from one end of the creation to the other;

as

as it is poffible there may be fuch a fenfe in ourselves hereafter, or in creatures which are at present more exalted than ourselves. We fee many ftars by the help of glaffes, which we do not discover with our naked eyes; and the finer our telescopes are, the more ftill are our discoveries. Huygenius carries this thought fo far, that he does not think it impoffible there may be stars whose light is not yet travelled down to us, fince their first creation. There is no queftion but the universe has certain bounds fet to it; but when we consider that it is the work of infinite power, prompted by infinite goodness, with an infinite space to exert itself in, how can our imagination fet any bounds to it?

To return therefore to my first thought, I could not but look upon myself with fecret horror, as a being that was not worth the fmalleft regard of one who had fo great a work under his care and fuperintendency, I was afraid of being overlooked amidst the immenfity of nature, and loft among that infinite variety of creatures, which in all probability fwarm through all the immeafurable regions of matter..

In order to recover myfelf from this mortifying thought, I confidered that it took its rife from thofe narrow conceptions, which we are apt to entertain of the divine nature. We ourselves cannot attend to many different objects at the fame time. If we are careful to infpect fome things, we must of course,neglect others. This imperfection which we obferve in ourfelves, is an imperfection. that cleaves in fome degree to creatures of the highest capacities, as they are creatures, that is, beings of finite and limited natures. The prefence of every created being is confined to a certain measure of fpace, and confequently his obfervation is ftinted to a certain number of objects. The fphere in which we move, and act, and underfland, is of a wider circumference to one creature than another, according as we rife one above another in the fcale of existence. But the wideft of thefe our spheres has its circumference. When therefore we reflect on the divine nature, we are so used and accustomed to this imperfection in ourselves, that we cannot forbear in fome measure afcribing it to him in whom there is no fhadow of imperfection. Our reafon indeed affures us that his atributes are infinite, but the poornefs of our conceptions.

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is fuch that it cannot forbear fetting bounds to every thing it contemplates, till our reafon comes again to our fuccour, and throws down all those little prejudices which rife in us unawares, and are natural to the mind of man.

WE fhall therefore utterly extinguish this melancholy thought of our being overlooked by our Maker in the multiplicity of his works, and the infinity of thofe objects among which he feems to be inceffantly employed, if we confider, in the first place, that he is omniprefent; and, in the fecond, that he is omniscient.

ture.

If we confider him in his omnipresence: his being paffes through, actuates, and fupports the whole frame of naHis creation, and every part of it, is full of him. There is nothing he has made, that is either fo distant, fo little, or fo inconfiderable, which he does not effentially inhabit. His fubstance is within the substance of every being, whether material or immaterial, and as intimately prefent to it, as that being is to itself. It would be an imperfection in him, were he able to remove out of one place into another, or to withdraw himself from any thing he has. created, or from any part of that space which is diffused and spread abroad to infinity. In short, to speak of him in the language of the old philofophy, he is a being whofe centre is every where, and his circumference no where.

IN the fecond place, he is omniscient as well as omniprefent. His omnifcience indeed neceffarily and naturally flows from his omniprefence. He cannot but be conscious of every motion that arifes in the whole material world, which he thus effentially pervades; and of every thought that is ftirring in the intellectual world, to every part of which he is thus intimately united. Several moralifts have confidered the creation as the temple of God, which he has built with his own hands, and which is filled with his prefence. Others have confidered infinite fpace as the receptacle, or rather the habitation of the Almighty: but the noblest and most exalted way of confidering this infinite space is that of Sir Ifaac Newton, who calls it the fenforium of the Godhead. Brutes and men have their fenforiola, or little fenforiums, by which they apprehend the prefence, and perceive the actions of a few objects, that lie contiguous to them. Their knowledge and obfervation turns within a very narrow circle. But as God Almighty

Almighty cannot but perceive and know every thing in which he refides, infinite fpace gives room to infinite knowledge, and is, as it were, an organ to omniscience.

WERE the foul feparate from the body, and with one glance of thought should start beyond the bounds of the creation, fhould it, for millions of years, continue its progrefs through infinite fpace with the fame activity, it would ftill find itself within the embrace of its Creator, and encompaffed round with the immenfity of the Godhead. Whilft we are in the body he is not lefs present with us, because he is concealed from us. O that I knew where I might find him! fays Job. Behold, I go fora ward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: : on the left hand where he does work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot fee him. In fhort, reafon as well as revelation affures us, that he cannot be abfent from us, notwithstanding he is undifcovered by us.

In this confideration of God Almighty's omniprefence and omniscience every uncomfortable thought vanishes. He cannot but regard every thing that has being, efpecially fuch of his creatures who fear they are not regarded by him. He is privy to all their thoughts, and to that anxiety of heart in particular, which is apt to trou ble them on this occafion: for as it is impoffible he should overlook any of his creatures, fo we may be confident that he regards, with an eye of mercy, thofe who endeavour to recommend themselves to his notice, and in an unfeigned humility of heart think themfelves unworthy that he should be mindful of them.

Monday, July 12.

-No 566.

Militia fpecies amor eft-----

Ovid. Ars am. L 2. Y. 233.

Love is a kind of warfare.

A

S my correfpondents begin to grow pretty numerous,
I think myself obliged to take fome notice of them,

and

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