Canft thou believe the vaft Eternal Mind, Was e'er to Syrts and Lybian Sands confin'd? That he would chufe this waste, this barren Ground, To teach the thin Inhabitants around, And leave his Truth in Wilds and Defarts drown'd? Is there a place that God would chufe to love Beyond this Earth, the Seas, yon Heaven above, And virtuous Minds, the noblest Throne of JOVE? Why feek we farther then? Behold around, To juggling Priests for Oracles repair; The Coward and the Brave are doom'd to fall; But Quicquid fcire licet: fteriles nec legit arenas, Serva But left the Croud at freedom to believe, Foremost on foot he treads the burning Sand, The panting Soldier to his Toil fucceeds, Stays till the last and meanest Drudg be past, Wha Servatâque fide templi difcedit ab aris, Quis Who e'er with Battels fortunately fought? Who e'er with Roman Blood fuch Honours bought? This Triumph, this on Lybia's utmost Bound, His Country's Father here, O Rome, behold, Gold: If e'er thou break thy lordly Mafter's Chain, Him thou shalt place in thy Divine Abodes, Swear by his holy Name, and rank him with thy Gods. (10.) SENECA, whofe excellent Morals are in moft Englishmens hands, and whofe Virtue and Learning are fo celebrated, has many Paffages in his Works which show that he was a great Free-Thinker, and particularly had a noble Notion of the Worship of the Gods for which fome of the modern Quis tantum meruit populorum fanguine nomen! Priesthood would not only call a Man who you render LIKEWISE he fays, † Superftition is a mad Error. It fears those who are to be lov'd, and it injures thofe it worships. AGAIN, This Religious Man, like his Religious Brethren the Stoicks, deny'd the * Accendere aliquem lucernam fabbatis prohibeamus, quoniam nec dii lumine egent, & ne homines quidem fuligine delectantur. Vetemus falutationibus matutinis fungi & foribus affidere templorum. Deum colit, qui novit. Vetemus lintea & ftrigiles Jovi ferre, & fpeculum tenere Junoni. Non quærit miniftros Deus. Quid ni? Ipfe humano generi miniftrat: ubique & omnibus præfto eft. Vis deos propitiare? Bonus efto. Satis illos coluit, quifquis imitatus eft. Epift. 95. + Superftitio infanus eft error. colit violat. Epift. 123. Amandos timet, quos 1 Immor Immortality of the Soul. * You ought, fays he to MARCIA, in comforting her for the death of her Son, to think that he who is dead Suffers no Evil. All that is feign'd to be fo terrible in Hell, is but a Fable. We know well that the Dead are not fubject to Darkness, nor Prifons, nor burning Rivers, nor to Waters of Forgetfulness, nor to any Tribunals. The Poets have pleas'd themselves in feigning them, and have disturb'd us with vain Fears. Death puts an end to all our Mifery. Beyond that, our Misfortunes go not. That places us in the fame Tranquillity in which we were before we were born. If any one would grieve for those who are dead, he ought to grieve for thofe who are not yet born. THIS Freedom of SENECA was fo far from leffening the juft Efteem which the primitive Chriftians had of his Learning and Virtue, that they thought to do confiderable Service to Chriftianity, by forging a Correspondence of † Letters between St. PAUL 1 * Cogita nullis defunctum malis affici. Illa quæ nobis inferos faciunt terribiles fabulam effe. Nullas imminere mortuis tenebras, nec carcerem, nec flumina flagrantia igne, nec oblivionis amnem, nec tribunalia. Luferunt ifta Poetæ & vanis nos agitavere terroribus. Mors omnium dolorum & folutio eft & finis: ultra quam mala nostra non exeunt, quæ nos in illam tranquillitatem in quâ antequam nafceremur jacuimus, reponit. Si mortuorum aliquis miferetur, & non natorum mifereatur. Conf. ad Marciam, c. 19. Tet extant, and are printed in feveral of the old Editions of Seneca's Works, and very lately in Fabricius's Codex Apocryphus Novi Teft. p. 892. K 3 and |