rm and
administration of truth they dwell; no system could injure them--none
would greatly benefit. They are of the family of God, by birth, and are
never disinherited.'

'Yes, Portia,' said Julia, 'natural and divine instincts make you what
others can become only through the powerful operation of some principle
out of, and superior to, anything they find within. For me, I know not
what I should have been, without the help which Christianity has
afforded. I might have been virtuous, but I could not have been happy.
You surely rejoice, when the weak find that in any religion or
philosophy which gives them strength. Look, Portia, at that serene and
benignant countenance, and can you believe that any truth ever came
from its lips, but such as must be most comforting and exalting to those
who receive it?'

'It would seem so indeed, my child,' replied Portia, musingly, 'and I
would not deprive any of the comforts or strength which any principle
may impart. But I cannot cease to think it dangerous to the state, when
the faith of the founders of Rome is abandoned by those who fill its
highest places. You who abound in leisure and learning, may satisfy
yourselves with a new philosophy; but what shall these nice refinements
profit the common herd? How shall they see them to be true, or
comprehend them? The Romans have ever been a religious people; and
although under the empire the purity of ancient manners is lost, let it
not be said that the Pisos were among those who struck the last and
hardest blows at the still stout root of the tree that bore them.'

'Nothing can be more plain or intelligible,' I replied, 'than the
principles of the Christian religion; and wherever it has been preached
with simplicity and power, even the common people have readily and
gratefully adopted it. I certainly cannot but desire that it may
prevail. If any thing is to do it, I believe this is the power that is
to restore, and in a still nobler form, the ancient manners of which you
speak. It is from Christianity that in my heart I believe the youthful
blood is to come, that being poured into the veins of this dying state,
shall reproduce the very vigor and freshness of its early age. Rome, my
mother, is now but a lifeless trunk--a dead and loathsome corpse--a new
and warmer current must be infused, or it will soon crumble into dust.'

'I grieve, Lucius, to see you lost to the good cause of your country,
and to the altars of her gods; for who can