Xliv. PROLEGOMENA. 



exert it ; I reply, that it is only in respect to 



obedience to the laws of God that volition is 



surrendered, and that the measure, in which each 



individual may exert his will, is to be reticulated 



by circumstances, and by the advice of a prudent 



director ; but that in matters above reason, or in 



faith, it must be submitted unreservedly to 



authority. Such a state of society as would 



result from the prevalence of the evangelical 



councils is not chimerical, though it has never 



been perfect. It existed in the middle ages in 



Europe ; and the poor have every reason to pray 



for its return. Luxury is put to shame, even by 



heathens, because polytheism derived some of the 



spirit of penance from the law of Closes, though 



it got mixed up with human passions : and I 



own I see more religion in Horace than in a 



modern fine gentleman : for he extols the 



austerity of his forefathers, who neglected their 



j)rivate villas to enrich the common townships of 



the public, and to decorate the temple of the Gods, 



Nee fortuitum spernere cespitem leges sinebant, 



(jppida publico siimptu jubentes et Deorum 



templa novo decorare saxo. 



As I review what I have written above, I 

 feel as if I had profaned holy ground, and sought 

 the truths of the bible in the lexicon, I shall, 

 perhaps, be asked what these abstruse and 

 difficult enquiries have to do with Christian 



