These great ethnic authorities, which might easily be multiplied, have here been placed before the eye of the materialist, because every one who thinks with him, generally professes a high veneration for what are called "the unsophisticated deductions of reason." As an avowed disciple of reason, therefore, after he has duly reflected on these authorities, can he consistently prefer, to the strong convictions of such mighty minds, the crude, absurd, and atheistic reveries of an EPICURUS, or a LUCRETIUS? If he do, it is certain that, with them and their herd of sensual followers, he may find very suitable companions in the bible. The Saducëan sect, "who say, there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit," have already been noticed: and, if he turn to the book of Wisdom, he will see a class of mortals there described, wonderfully resembling them, and the admirers and followers of the systems promulgated by the above mentioned visionary theorists. "The ungodly said (reasoning with themselves, but not aright) our life is short and tedious; and

in the death of a man there is no remedy; neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave. For we are born at all adventure; and we shall be hereafter, as though we had never been for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of our heart; which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit vanish as the soft air; and our names shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance, and our life shall pass away, as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist that is driven away with the beams of the sun, and overcome with the heat thereof. our time is a very shadow, that passeth away; and, after our end, there is no returning; for it is fast sealed, so that no man cometh again. Come on, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present! Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments; and let no flower of the spring pass by us! Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they be withered! Let none of us go without his

For

part of voluptuousness; for this is our portion, and our lot is this."

Such was, and such is the creed of impiety and licentiousness, of those who are lovers of worldly pleasure more than lovers of God. Did the picture end here, not only its resemblance to the votaries of the system just alluded to, but the pernicious effects of materialism, which it also exposes, would be hideously evident. But it does not end here: Behold, in continuation, the practical results of that creed, -the baneful fruits of principles thus atheistic. Hear these supposed soul-less disciples of sin thus daringly declare their purposed misdoings: "Let us oppress the poor righteous man: let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient grey hairs of the aged."-How, alas! have these infidel declarations been realized in this our day! but, thanks to a gracious Providence! not realized in this our land.. In a neighbouring country, when the theory of materialism was reduced to practice, when order was subverted, and anarchy, like a whirlwind, raged without con

trol; when law was derided, and crime stalked fearlessly abroad; when religion was abolished, and atheism established by a national decree; when the moral actions of men were deemed of no moment, and death declared to be an eternal sleep,then was the horrible picture before us exemplified in many living likenesses! Likenesses, true in every discriminating feature to the very end of the chapter. In that chapter, every one who refers to it will find both the injurers and the injured depicted in so forcible a manner, as almost to make him regard this sacred composition in the light of a prophesy,* pointing to fulfilment in these latter days; which (whatever may be the improvement with which they are distinguished in the department of human science) have not, we are sorry to say; been marked with any peculiar admiration of religious truth. For, without indulging a querulous propensity concerning the present times, who

Read from verse 10, of the 2nd chapter, to verse 6 of the 3rd chapter.

will deny that they are perilous, not merely on account of violent changes and revolutions occurring in the kingdoms of men, but also with respect to that disregard of the kingdom of God and his righteousness, which so extensively prevails, and which, nevertheless, must cease to prevail, before any people can become either truly happy, or intrinsically great.

May not a considerable portion of that baneful disregard be attributed to a persuasion of the unimportance of the soul; some imagining that no such principle of vitality is inherent in them; and others supposing that, if it be, it will, on their dissolution, share the fate of their body, through an indefinite, perhaps an 'eternal period of duration?

I will close this division of my subject, by short quotations from two writers, one of nearly our own times, the other who flourished almost two centuries ago. The benevolent Jonas Hanway says, "You see that I have a body; and you are well assured that I have a mind.