form, which was accustomed to walk with man while yet in the garden of primæval innocence*.

* These observations were suggested to me by the following profound and eloquent passage in Mr. Stewart's "Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind," for the length of which I need make no apology. After quoting some passages from Mr. Hume, Mr. Stewart proceeds as follows: "What is the inference to which we are led by these observations? Is it (to use the words of this ingenious writer) that the whole is a riddle, an enigma, an inexplicable mystery, and that doubt, uncertainty, and suspense, appear the only result of our most accurate scrutiny concerning this subject? Or should not rather the melancholy histories which he has exhibited of the follies and caprices of superstition, direct our attention to those sacred and indelible characters on the human mind, which all these perversions of reason are unable to obliterate; like that image of himself, which Phidias wished to perpetuate, by stamping it so deeply on the buckler of his Minerva," ut nemo delere possit aut divellere qui totam statuam non imminueret." In truth, the more striking the contradictions, and the more ludicrous the ceremonies to which the pride of human reason has thus been reconciled, the stronger is our evidence that religion has a foundation in the nature of man. When the greatest of modern philosophers declares, that " he would rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without mind;" he has expressed the same feeling which in all ages and nations has led good men, unaccustomed to reasoning, to an implicit faith in the creed of their infancy; a feeling which affords an evidence of the existence of the Deity, incompara bly more striking than if, unmixed with error, and undebased with superstition, this most important of all principles had commanded the universal assent of mankind. Where are the other truths, in the whole circle of the sciences, which are so essential to human happiness as to procure an easy access, not only for themselves, but

* Lord Bacon, in his Essays.

K

Upon this subject I will only remark farther, that, as a religious being, man assumes a character of importance to which no bounds can be placed. When his thoughts rise to the contemplation of God, he is likewise led to anticipate that continuance of existence in himself which he necessarily ascribes to the Deity. Reason might be doomed to perish; virtue itself might be lost for ever in the dust; but faith looks beyond mortality, and beholds scenes of grandeur and glory opening before its eye, which have no termination, and are darkened by no cloud. I am sensible, my brethren, that I cannot do justice to this lofty feature in man, this part of his nature which indeed "covers him with glory and honour." I leave it, therefore, to your own medi

for whatever opinions may happen to be blended with them? Where are the truths so venerable and commanding, as to impart their own sublimity to every trifling memorial which recals them to our remembrance; to bestow solemnity and elevation on every mode of expression by which they are conveyed; and which, in whatever scene they have habitually occupied the thoughts, consecrate every object which it presents to our senses, and the very ground we have been accustomed to tread? To attempt to weaken the authority of such impressions, by a detail of the endless variety of forms which they derive from casual associations, is surely an employment unsuitable to the dignity of philosophy. To the vulgar it may be amusing in this, as in other instances, to indulge their wonder at what is new or uncommon; but to the philosopher it belongs to perceive, under all these various disguises, the workings of the same common nature; and in the superstitions of Egypt, no less than in the lofty visions of Plato, to recognise the existence of those morál ties which unite the heart of man to the Author of his being."Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind.-Second Ed. p. 368-370.

tations, and shall close the whole subject of discourse with some reflections of a practical tendency.

First, then, I address myself to the young, to those who, in this seat of liberal education, have perhaps been lately engaged with inquiries and studies which have enlarged the capacity of their minds, and opened an unlimited range to the natural freedom of their thoughts. To their ardent eyes have been unveiled the secret laws of an orderly universe; and they have beheld, with equal admiration, the magnificent fabric of the human mind. From such studies, conducted as they hitherto have been, they must have arisen with no mean impressions of the dignity of that intellectual nature which could thus be employed; and their own experience must have told them, that there are speculations which the human understanding can reach, and which yet seem adapted to a being but "a little lower than the angels." Let them, therefore, retain these exalted feelings, and conduct all their future inquiries with a becoming reverence for the nature to which they belong. The advice is not unseasonable; for I believe it will be discovered, that all those monstrous perversions of opinion with which the present times abound, may be traced to the vanity of individuals, who, forgetting their real dignity as men, have sought for a despicable celebrity, by starting out from their species, and affecting some sort of private and incommunicable perfection of intelligence. From this source, especially, has flowed that torrent of declamation and folly which has been poured out on the subject of religious belief, a subject with respect to which it is certainly the duty of those who have oppor tunity to "prove all things;" but it is still more their

duty, to "hold fast that which is good." In such in. quiries the young naturally attach themselves to those in whose wisdom they can confide; and it has unfortunately happened, that the champions of infidelity in our age have had something specious and liberal in their

manner:

But all is false and hollow, tho' their tongues
Drop manna, and can make the worse appear
The better reason -for their thoughts are low.

In the second place, the contemplation of the high rank which man holds in the scale of beings, ought to make us all more deeply sensible of the value and importance of Christianity, which has brought immortality to light, and has made all the future prospects of the human race correspond with whatever is great in their their present condition.

There is a voice in every breast which assures us, that we are formed after no mean model; that man does not occupy a common place in the theatre of nature; and that there is a spirit in him superior to that of the beasts which perish. Corresponding to this natural impression, the revelation of Christ informs us of lofty things. It tells us that the only Son of God took upon him the nature, not of angels, but of man; and that, after having lived and died for the good of his brethren of mankind, he opened up to them the gates of immortality. These, my brethren, are great discoveries; yet they are discoveries which we are prepared by nature to receive. They are discoveries of boundless beneficence in God; yet of a beneficence which man has at all times experienced, and which, in these revelations, has only

completed a work which would otherwise have appeared imperfect. Be it our part, therefore, to embrace, with thankful and believing hearts, those glad tidings of salvation; and, fixing our eyes on "the author and finisher of our faith," to behold exemplified in him the real greatness and dignity of man.

Finally, let us remember, that although man is made "but a little lower than the angels," he may yet fall into the lowest degradation; and whether we look around us, or into our own hearts, let us be aware that we shall too often see and feel corruptions which are unworthy of the nature which we have received. One thing, and one alone, can reduce, and has reduced this lofty nature to the basest condition :-Not poverty, not disease, not death,but sin. If, then, we would in any degree secure the honours of our being, there is one exertion in which we ought strenuously to labour,-the exertion of virtue. This is our true occupation, that which of all others is suited to a being whose spirit is the inspiration of the Almighty. "Whatsoever things, therefore, are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things-those things which ye have both learned and received, and heard and seen, do, and the God of peace shall be with you."