XXVlll. PROLKGOMENA. 



unless we could hope, by sanctifying their use 

 and emj)loyment, to enjoy, at their close, an 

 endless reward, where the recoiled serpent, emblem 

 of eternity, should have swallowed up the aims; 

 of death in his tail. For what would be the 

 advantage of joys on the wing ? Every thing 

 would seem going on to death. Like wrinkles 

 on the face of a worldling, which worry the mind 

 that cannot bear to confront a looking glass ; so 

 every autumnal tinge, to a sceptic, would sting 

 him with remorse : he would hate to view the 

 Circle of the Seasons, measured by the hour 

 glass of life; or the waning movements of things, 

 in the great speculum of nature. Every bird in 

 spring would seem to sing in unison with those 

 hypochrondriacal strains that constitute the lyric 

 poetry of heathen and even of protestant nations, 

 so contrasted with the animated hymns composed 

 by the Catholic Saints.* Parents are dead, and 

 to the doubter perhaps extinct for ever. Friends 

 are lost to be found no more : the whole world 

 about to be lost, and every tie and every bond of 

 affection severed ; all the rustling leaves that 

 fall bidding everlasting farewells; the earth looking 

 only like a grave, and the canopy of Heaven 

 like a pall ; while in reality Hell would be in 

 waiting ! ! ! These thoughts are the fruits of the 



* See numerous examples in course of this work. 



