to its moral constitution. The duties and relations of life correspond with each other; both are eternal and universal-both are infinitely varied and important, and the relation is always the measure of the duty. It is upon this most simple and equitable principle that the claims of society are so nicely balanced, that its most remote and ultimate necessities are neither overlooked nor neglected. It is this principle also which cherishes that expansive benevolence which passes the limits of its own social sphere, and finds its barrier only where there is no human bosom to become its recipient. It is the individual alone who is deeply impressed with the relations of life in all their vast and boundless variety who is the true philanthropist, and who can practically as well as theoretically embrace the sentiment of the poet, and say I am a man, and nothing human is foreign to my affections.' Every one, however, who has consulted the pages of faithful history, observed the manners of mankind, or scrutinized the feelings of his own heart, must be conscious that numerous impediments retard the progress of mental and moral improvement, and cramp the operation of this diffusive and deified benevolence. Scepticism and infidelity not unfrequently depress the mind, till their demoralizing effects render its degeneracy no longer problematical. The tyranny of custom, too, destroys independence of thought; a species of moral turpitude seizes the soul; an aversion to intellectual labour is stamped upon every act, and an implicit obedience to the opinions of others becomes the goddess to which the mind pays the willing homage of its blind devotions. Superstition, bigotry, and vice, are as multifarious as the divinities of the ancient mythology, and equally efficacious in paralizing the moral sensibility of the soul. The passions, originally designed by the Deity to exalt our felicity, have, by the depravity of nature, been perverted to work our ruin. Anger de stroys the loveliness of friendship, and breaks in a moment through all the ties of social life. Revenge, too, has prevailed in all ages and climates, from the savage to the sage; has been dignified with most of the epithets that belong to a purer feeling, and has stimulated to exertions which would have done honour to a nobler motive. Numerous as the instances of this description are, which the history of every period presents, none occurs to the mind of the writer in which this passion was so sublimated into refinement, as that of the Carthaginian, who led his son to the altar to engraft, this base passion upon the venerable stock of religious theory, and stamp it with the rites of devotion, by inducing him to swear eternal hatred to the Roman name. What a contrast to the doctrine of true morality, as announced by HIM to whom error was impossible! 'Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.' Avarice contracts all the finer feelings of the soul, and dries up the springs of benevolence-the most deified evidences of moral sensibility which the human character can present. Nor is ambition less inimical than avarice, as objects seen through this distorting medium assume a magnitude and dazzling radiance which is not their own, and lead the mind from the pursuit of moral dignity, to grasp at the deluding phantom of human glory. Man has ever been conscious of his responsibility to a superior power, convinced that his conduct did not correspond with his knowledge, and desirous of obtaining a reconciliation with an offended Deity. Hence, the multiplied victims that have bled; the self-tortures inflicted; and the penances imposed, from the primeval ages of the world to the present period: yet all was vain. Conscience still remonstrated, still reproved; while experience partially, evinced, that holiness gives energy to its dictates, severity to its reproofs, and delight to its approbation; and thus demonstrated, even to the mind of the wisest of the heathens, the necessity of a more perfect standard, and a more definite law of morals. The moralists of antiquity vainly sought, in the darkness by which they were surrounded, for this heavenly knowledge; but, when the subject is touched by Him who spake as never man spake, every difficulty vanishes, and every duty is concentrated in the command, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself. Thus, what Greece could never accomplish, even when the arts adorned her temples, and wisdom walked hand in hand with eloquence in her academic groves, or reclined in her magnificent porticos; what Rome, the mistress of the world, could never realize, even while she poured forth her legions alike over the tents of the savage and the cities of the civilized, is embodied in one precept, as simple as it is grand! When, therefore, expediency has been proved insufficient and dangerous; when relation, however just, is not sufficiently definite; when conscience, however forcible, is liable to be seduced; when the reasons for morals, however cogent, are too weak to contend with the passions; when every natural system is found to be defective theoretically, and still more so practically; when the philosopher sits down in despair, and the moralist is bewildered in his mighty subject; then the Christian may rise, and, laying his hand upon the open pages of the sacred volume, say-Yet I show unto you a more excellent way.' It is, 'Thus saith the Lord,' which alone can supply an adequate sanction to morals; for he, who would effectually assail the human heart, by reasoning on 'righteousness and temperance,' must, like St. Paul, be able to sustain his argument by a direct and unequivocal appeal to Judgment to come.' Present sanctions are all too feeble to be binding. Human laws may be evaded; the conscience may be laid asleep; reason subordinated to the passions; the understanding seduced; talents abused; judgment perverted; and there remains nothing to check the course of vice, and give sanction to morals, but that grand tribunal which raises its awful head at the termination of man's mortal career, to which all are amenable; at which the irrevocable sentence will be pronounced that involves eternity in its consequences, and from which there can be no appeal. The sacred volume does not, indeed, lay down. specific rules for all the various questions connected with the moral perceptions of man; but, as Dr. Paley has remarked, it establishes such general principles as are universally applicable, and extend practically to all possible moral subjects. But when it does describe particular duties, the delineation is so accurate, the principles so just, the motives so sublime, the arguments so convincing, that he who reads without prejudice rises from the illuminating page, and says, The finger of GOD is here.' If it be important to learn the crude elements out of which mighty elements have been composed-if it be interesting to trace grand political results to their secret source, a source sometimes as obscure as the effects are tremendous and astonishing-if nothing is indifferent which associates itself with the faculties of man, and points at the march of intellect—if we cannot contemplate the sublime operations of human skill and industry without being anxious to ascertain by what mind they were conceived, and by what hand they were executed, that the immortality of the artist may be co-extended with that of his worka nobler principle than curiosity impels us to learn the history of morals. When the pyramids of Egypt shall be covered with the sand of the desert which drift upon them, or, yielding at last to the influence of time which they have so long resisted, even when these stupendous monuments of ancient science shall sink under the weight of accumulated ages; -the structure of morals, whose foundations are laid in eternity, shall rear its awful head in the heavens; and, standing unmoved amidst the shock of elements, surviving the dissolution of nature, remain alone majestic and uninjured, surrounded by the wrecks of the natural universe'.' When first on Man The Deity his sacred image breathed, Impart, and scent them with the breath of heav'n. The Almighty's arm, to fall with heavier crash. CONCLUSION. THE phenomena of Nature, as well as the knowledge and circumstances of the world, derive all their value and importance from their relation to man. Could human nature be suddenly reversed, their influence and utility would vanish-order would be changed to confusion, and ornament to deformity. Philosophy, which marshals human attainments, and renders them subservient to the welfare of humanity, rests upon this basis, and derives its dignity from this source alone. Nor is it solely from the perfection of his mental and moral constitution that man derives his pre-eminence over the other parts of the lower creation; his elevated posture, his commanding attitude, and the noble expression of his countenance, all harmonize with his other qualities in demanding for him the right of universal sovereignty. Of all objects ' DR. COLLYER's Lectures, previously referred to. |