STUDY VIII. 199 



record of his atchievements on the bark of trees ; 

 he celebrates his funeral obfequies, and puts reve- 

 rence on the aflies of his forefathers, from whom 

 he has received an inheritance fo fatal. 



He is inceffantly agitated by the rage of love or 

 of vengeance. When he is not the vidim of his 

 fellow-men, he is their tyrant : and he alone knows 

 that Jufhice and Goodnefs govern the World, and 

 that Virtue exalts Man to Heaven. He receives, 

 from his cradle, none of the prefents of Nature, no 

 foft fleece, no plumage, no defenfive armour, no 

 tool, for a life (o painful and fo laborious ; and 

 he is the only being who invites the Gods to his 

 birth, to his nuptials, and to his funeral obfequies. 



However far he may have been mifled by ex- 

 travagant opinions, whenever he is (truck by un- 

 expeded burfts of joy or grief, his foul, by an in- 

 voluntary movement, takes refuge in the bofom of 

 Deity. He cries out : Ah, my GOD ! He raifes 

 to Heaven fuppliant hands, and eyes bathed with 

 tears, in hope of there finding a Father. Ah ! the 

 wants of Man bear witnefs to the providence of a 

 Supreme Being. He has made Man feeble and 

 ignorant, only that he may ftay himfelf on his 

 flrength, and illuminate himfelf by his light ; and 

 fo far is it from being true, that chance, or malig- 

 nant fpirits, domineer over a World, where every 



4 thinor 



