136 SALMONIA. 



even with a perseverance that goes beyond 

 the bounds of good manners and courtesy. 

 They may quote the example of our Saviour, 

 who expelled the traders from the temple 

 even by violence. 



Phys. — I envy no quality of the mind or 

 intellect in others; not genius, power, wit, 

 or fancy : but if I could choose what would 

 be most delightful, and I believe most useful 

 to me, I should prefer a firm religious belief 

 to every other blessing; for it makes life a 

 discipline of goodness — creates new hopes, 

 when all earthly hopes vanish; and throws 

 over the decay, the destruction of existence, 

 the most gorgeous of all lights ; awakens life 

 even in death, and from corruption and de- 

 cay calls up beauty and divinity: makes an 

 instrument of torture and of shame the lad- 

 der of ascent to paradise ; and far above all 

 combinations of earthly hopes, calls up the 

 most delightful visions of palms and ama- 

 ranths, the gardens of the blest, the security 

 of everlasting joys, where the sensualist and 

 the sceptic view only gloom, decay, annihila- 

 tion, and despair! 



