the physical senses, so none have been met with who are destitute of all traces of mental endowments. The variety of circumstances in which men are placed has a manifest influence upon their mental as well as their physical characters; but still the same means of improvement which have been found beneficial in one instance will prove so in another.What has contributed to the intellectual grandeur of Britain, would also succeed in the deserts of Africa, or the wilds of Siberia: in both instances the same faculties are engaged, and by the same means might be developed, and mankind thus proved to have descended from the same parent stock, as much by the qualities of their mental, as of their physical structure-while the blessings of knowledge and the advantages of civilization might be enjoyed and appreciated by the whole human race.

We must, however, be careful to guard against the conclusion, that all mankind are endowed with mental faculties capable of acting with equal energy; for scarcely is there a greater disproportion between mere animal and intellectual life; scarcely can we conceive a more immeasurable distance between the human mind, encumbered with the flesh, and the intelligences of heaven, than we know and feel to subsist between the grovelling sentiments of a capacity originally contracted and wholly uncultivated, and the luminous and enlarged sphere of a soul all fire, disdaining the fetters of mortality, almost refining the elements which imprisons it into spirituality, and comprehending at once the character of its duty, and the glory of its destination. To the one, Nature is a blank. He sees not the wonders that are accomplishing around him-he is insensible to the beautiful forms of existence, and their various adaptation to the end of their being. He scarcely lifts his eyes to the heavens, when the night kindles their blaze of glory, and, if they attract his notice, it is 'a brute inconscious gaze,' which excites no emotion, conveys

no sentiments, communicates no pleasure. We must not attribute this apathy merely to the absence of instruction. There are minds, under similar disadvantages, which soar above their circumstances, and present, in the most humble stations of life, a modest but striking example of all that is noble in principle, dignified in sentiment, firm in purpose, benevolent in heart, and enlarged in capacity. There are others upon whom rank reflects no glory, to whom cultivation can impart no generous sentiments, who are incapable of appreciating or employing their advantages. The mind, in the first instance, like a few favoured tracts of earth, spontaneously produces the most luxurious vegetation, the richest fruits, and the fairest flowers: in the other, it resembles the arid sands of the desert, upon which the showers of Spring descend, and the Summer's sun shines, in vain; for as the one produces no blossoms, the other can mature no fruits.

This variety in the mental attainments of man, which is the subject of daily observation, necessarily supposes a diversity of application, as well as of original ability. It were absurd to condemn a man as destitute of capacity, because its exercise takes a different direction to that of his neighbour. All are not actuated by the ambition of the statesman; all are not animated with the courage of the hero; all do not feel the inspiration of the poet; all are not fitted for the laborious researches or the patient investigations of the philosopher. If it were so, the beautiful variety of nature would be destroyed, and the harmony of society broken. Every man would be the rival, not the associatethe enemy, not the helper of his neighbour. Diversity would become sameness-beauty would be changed into deformity-and order converted into chaos'.'

Essay on the Right Use of Talents.-Investigator, No. ix.

Section FXF.

ON THE MORAL PERCEPTIONS OF MAN.

Nor this' the Deity's sole aim in Man's
Supreme endowment. That impress divine
The new created being marked, no less
The MORAL than the mental image bore
Of Him whose love the gracious boon bestowed.
These formed the double link that human with
Angelic nature joined, and both in close
Alliance with the GODHEAD bound.

IN delineating the physical structure and intellectual faculties of man, he has been considered merely as placed in circumstances calculated to call his powers into exercise, to augment their energy, and to excite the pleasures and pains of the present state of existence.

But it now becomes our duty to treat of the moral constitution of our nature; and those principles must be pursued that were adopted in the former part of the plan. The faculties of man are not creative; their right direction is to explore, to arrange, and to combine. We have merely to examine particular phenomena, and establish general laws. We must bear in mind that we are not to legislate for ourselves, but to ascertain what those laws are which have been established, and which it is our imperative duty to obey. It is our province to investigate and to interpret, and our duty to submit. 'We must look for the basis of morals, not in the speculative theories of moralists, however illustrious their talents, however eminent their names: we must not be seduced or dazzled by the glory irradiating the head of genius in ancient or in modern times, but we must seek this basis in the circumstances and the nature of man; in those facts which are disclosed to us by observation on the

'Referring to his intellectual faculties. See the motto to Section ii.

These

one hand, and consciousness on the other. seem to be the most natural arrangements of our thoughts, because all our knowledge of the external world we derive from observation, and all our acquaintance with our own moral nature is suggested to us by consciousness.'

By observation we perceive the RELATION of one being to another to be the only foundation of morals, conscience the only natural law of morals, and responsibility their only sanction. In contemplating man as related to all intelligent beings, that connexion which subsists between him and the Deity is the most distinguished. It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves. The spring of moral obligation rises here. Supposing all other relations but this to have ceased, and their correspondent duties and obligations to have perished with them, man's relation to Deity remains. In every thing must he be regulated by this absolute and indissoluble tie. Upon this relation to the God who made us, we depend for all our present supplies and future happiness; upon this all connexions with mankind at large are dependent, and by it they are sanctioned. If this be disputed, the common sense and the common creed of man must be obliterated: the testimony of conscience, the voice of reason, and the language of nature, must be silenced; for all the emotions of the heart-all the consent of antiquity-all the hopes of mankind—and all the promises of religion, conspire to fix upon the Author and End of our Being, the endearing name of Father.

This relation to the Supreme Being was pointed out by St. Paul, when surrounded by the philosophers of Athens. Standing on the hill consecrated to Mars, under the covering of heaven, and encompassed with all the bright evidences of Deity, the images of superstition and idolatry caught not his attention, except for a little moment, which he dedicated to pity: he pointed to the heavens above, and the earth beneath him; he pleaded the relation of

these philosophers to God who made the world, as the basis of their moral obligation. As he confirmed the testimony of these natural witnesses by the language of their poets, it was an argument which their philosophy could neither impugn nor resist. It was the voice of reason as well as of nature, which had been heard by all nations. It was the testimony which the sun had borne in his restless career, and carried round the circle of the earth; while the night repeated the evidence when his beams were withdrawn.

It is not possible to admit the being of a God, without granting at the same moment his claims upon our unbounded love and obedience. We cannot pay homage to the Creator without conceding the obligations of the creature: we cannot, therefore, admit the existence of a Deity, without making our relation to him, as our rightful sovereign, the basis of our moral constitution. This principle is as simple as it is important. God is the creator, and we are his creatures: He has a right to command, and we are compelled to obey. The obligation is not merely expedient, but just; not contingent, but absolute. It is the voice of Nature around us the voice of God within us. It is this broad foundation alone upon which we can establish the principle, that right must be done, at whatever hazard, irrespective of any apparent consequences which may result to the individual or to society. When God has issued the command, our duty becomes imperative, and we must press forward in the path of obedience, though the conclusion of duty be the crisis of danger. It will also be perceived that this position is directly opposed to the fashionable doctrine of expediency, in every form, under every modification, and in every degree-a doctrine most false in itself, most pernicious in its results, and most ruinous in its application-out of which have arisen the most terrible calamities that have ever afflicted mankind.

This basis being once established, the utility and extent of its application will be readily seen.