Secondly, his Power. 



The Sire of Gods his awful silence broke, 

 The heav'ns attentive trembled as he spoke 

 " Celestial states, immortal Gods! give ear, 

 Hear our decree, and rev'rence what ye hear, 

 The fix'd decree which not all heav'n can move, 

 Thou fate! fulfil it; and ye pow'rs approve! 

 Let him who doubts me, dread the dire abodes; 

 And know th' Almighty is the God of Gods. 

 League all your forces then, ye pow'rs above, 

 Join all, and try the omnipotence of Jove: 

 Let down a golden everlasting chain, 

 Whose strong embrace holds heav'n, and earth, and main: 

 Strive all, of mortal and immortal birth, 

 To drag, by this, the Thund'rer down to earth: 

 Ye strive in vain! If I but stretch this hand, 

 I heave the Gods, the Ocean, and the Land; 

 I fix the chain to great Olympus' height, 

 And the vast world hangs trembling in my sight! 

 For such I reign, unbounded and above; 

 And such are men, and Gods, compar'd to Jove." 



Th* Almighty spoke, nor durst the Pow'rs reply, 

 A rev' rend horror silenc'd all the sky; 

 Trembling they stood before the sovereign's look; 

 At length his best-belov'd, the pow'r of Wisdom spoke. 



" Oh first and greatest! God by Gods ador'd! 

 We own thy might, our father and our Lord!" 



11. Book VIII. 1. 5. 



From the Greeks let us go to the Romans. 



« O " savs Horace " pursuant to the custom of our ancestors, let us celebrate first the great Jove, who rules over Gods and men, 



u muse, y ^ ^^ universe . there i s nothing greater than him, nothing that is like, nothing that is equal to him!"* 

 tJmm «L from the voets to the philosophers, and begin with Th ales the Milesian, chief of the Ionic school.f who lived above six 

 A A b f the birth of Christ We have none of his works now left: but we have some of his sayings, which have been trans- 



mitted do^to e us r by the most venerable writers of antiquity. « God is the most ancient of all beings: he is the author of the universe, 

 V h ', f ,11 of wonders-* he is the Mind which brought the chaos out of confusion into order ;§ he is without beginning and without ending, 

 anTnothing is hid from him;,, nothing can resist the force of Fate; but this Fate is nothing but the immutable reason and eternal power of 



Pr °PTTH C A e ^RAS is the second great philosopher, and chief of the Italic school. These are the notions of the Deity which he entertained, 

 ■"rod Tnot the obiect of any of our senses, but invisible, purely intelligible, and supremely mtelligent. His spirit is truth, his 

 • t 1 U 4 1 He is the universal Spirit that pervades and diffuseth itself over all nature. All beings receive their life from him. 

 +1 There'is but on7 only God. He is the sole Principle, the Light of heaven, the Father of all; he produces every thing, he orders and 

 disposes every thing; he is the reason, the life, and the motion of all beings.§§ 



disposes every ming, ^ ^^ for disbelieving in t he Gods. He was, however, no atheist, for Zenophon has given us an excellent 



Socrates was con emn ^ ^ ^ ^ we haye of antiquity It contains the conversat i on 



abridgment of the Theology of tha * J™^ 6 the existence of a God. Socrates makes him at first take notice of all the characters of 



of Socrates w ,t J A ZZirZt^To" ^\^ and particularly in the mechanism of the human body. , Do you believe,",,,, 



g he IZitfjovtZ's canyon believe, that you are the only intelligent being? You know that you possess but a little particle of 

 says he then to Aristodemus can y y ^.^ ^ q{ ^ ^ which ^.^ . { fc under _ 



that matter which composes the worid, .* small port on _ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 



t:^: sseSS s-t .«*- wh at y 0U ,Lr a t « d ^. m. ^ . ^ he ^ « ^^ 



work every tmng ^ ^ ^^ him . „ Neither do you see the soul which governs your own body, and regulates all its motions. 



Architect or me • yourself with design and reason, as maintain that every thing is done by blind chance in the 



e- " "^"^^^-owlejji a supreme Bei is still in doubt as to Providence; - not being able to comprehend how 

 universe. Aristodemus g > * „ J( fae ^ that re9idcs in ur bod moves and disposes it at lts pleasure, why 



tbe Wty««emy tlu^^^Soc^^P . P to regula te and order every thing as it pleases? If your 



should not that sovereign ^W om ^fj ^ &hoM „ ot the eye of God be abIe to see every thing at once! If your soul can 



eye can see objects at the distance ot se * ' . g.^ wh should not the divine Mind be able to take care of every thing, 



think at the same time upon what is at Athens, ,*L gy£. ^ ^j ^ y^ ^ ^ ^^^ m ^ ^ sQ much from ^ 



2S^tTCSS5 SSU concludes with these words: - O Ar:stodemus! apply yourself sincerely to cultivate knowledge, 



your mind will be enlarged, ^^^J^^^Tt lived about the hundredth Olympiad, at a time when the doctrine of 

 Plato, a disciple o ocrat ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Theo)ogy . g tQ giye us „ oble sentiments of tbe Deity, to shew us 



Democritus had made i great ? J, ^ order to .^ fauUs they bad committed in a pre -existent state; and, in fine,. to 



that souls were condemned to animate «« ^ ^ ^ ^ glory and perfection . He despises aU the tenets of the Athenian superstition, and 

 teach that social love is the only _way ^ philosopher is man in his immortal capacity; he speaks of him in his politic 



endeavours to purge : religion of them 1« > : } ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^ ^^ and ^.^ ^ from ^ pure ^ rf ^^ 



one, only to shew that the ; shorter , y ' the Bei which u eternal> and bei which bave been made ^ % And in 



JZZ'Z Xirile'define: Z Uhe effiS cause which makes men exist that had no being before:' a definition which shews that he 



* B. 1. Ode 12. 



|| S.Clem. Alex. Strom, v. 

 ^+ Lact. Inst. lib. 5. 



tDiog. Laert. vita Thai. lib. 1. § Cicer. de Nat. Deor. lib. 1. p. 1113. Edit. Amst. lG6l. 



t Hot. viymp. ^ ^ ^ g ## p]ut Vjta Num and D . og ^^ Hb 12 ++ Vit pyth Porphvrt 



U S Just. Cohort. 1. ad. Grae. p. 18. 1111 Xen. Mem. Soe. Ed. Basil. 1579. lib 1. p. 573. 



H T/ to' iv \Uv aiei, yevew Si ovKsyw xa ' rt ro ' 7 liV ^ 6 '' oy f" v » 9" y Jg ouJ^ore. 



