are the immediate ends to which astronomical knowledge is applied, and to which the Deity unquestionably intended that it should be applied, ends of any moral excellence. Its chief use is in navigation. And the Creator undoubtedly intended that when the several nations of the earth increased in numbers and civilization, the various fruits of the earth or of human industry should be mutually interchanged; that so the comforts of the human family should be increased, and community of interests should secure political tranquillity, and true knowledge should be widely spread among men who had ability and opportunity of receiving it. But the merchant by whom this commerce is carried on, may be of a character mean, sordid, contemptible, iniquitous; and the sailors who work the vessels may be brutal and cruel, detained from the commission of the most atrocious crimes, as every master of a merchant ship well knows is too often the case, only by want of opportunity or by fear; and the mathematician whose ingenuity has facilitated their navigation may have been induced to exert it only by the desire of worldly distinction, or by finding in that exercise a gratification of intellect highly analogous to and closely resembling that which can be afforded by a game of chess.

"But if God love the progress of mankind, he loves the progress of the different individuals of mankind; for mankind is but another name for the multitudes of individuals." This would be true, if the progress of the individuals and that

of the race were properly the same; but they who really benefit by the general progress, making those advances in true wisdom which alone can be pleasing to the moral Governor of the world, form but a few among the multitude.

The general history of the world, as well the common as the sacred history, attests numerous facts which enable us to carry this observation even further: and shows that the human instruments by whom those Divine purposes are executed, which ultimately tend to the promotion of virtue, are often not only worthless, as being mere instruments, but must be, in the view of the righteous Deity, absolutely vile and hateful. Thus, to choose one instance, it was the criminal ambition of Rome, the desire to possess new countries from which to extort wealth, or to carry off men as slaves, that led to the re-introduction of Christianity into this island. It is not improbable that some even of the present generation may be reaping the fruits of that early communication of the truth, and making those advances in virtue which may be favourably regarded by the Deity. But though God love the progress of these individuals, we cannot suppose that He will therefore by any means overlook the guilt of the perpetrators of the acts of rapine and tyranny, who were among the first instruments by whom this progress was originated.

Christianity teaches us to form a far different estimate of the mental achievements of mankind. It bids us regard the whole history of the heathen

world, and the whole profane history of the Christian world, as subordinate to the progress of Divine truths; either by outwardly facilitating their dissemination and growth in the hearts of men, or by trying and strengthening faith through opposition; just as plants exposed to the action of powerful winds are either laid prostrate under the continued action, or acquire new tenacity and stubbornness of root and stem. Every invention and desire, every work of taste or imagination, of ingenuity or industry that does not spring from a religious source, and is not formed under the guidance of that Mighty Spirit which invisibly influences human hearts, is worthless and temporary, deserving no perpetuity either in respect to the excellence of the natural capacity in which it took its rise, or to the end for which it was calculated. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like the lilies of the field, yet after lasting for a short season, they are suffered to wither and die. And so the generations of men spring up successively, and one after another go down into the dust, and their knowledge is buried with them.

Or if their knowledge survives, it is but in the same manner as they themselves survive, not residing still in the minds of the original possessors, but being received from them by a younger generation, even as the life of the parents is continued in that of their children.

And it seems that this sort of perpetuity is sufficient for the Divine purposes. If the fairest

and loveliest of God's works in the inanimate or the brute creation are all mortal, the death of the individuals being of no moment whatever, so long as the species remains extant, we may well believe that all the energies of the human mind, wonderful as they are, and important as may be the ulterior purposes to be effected by those means, are subject to the same law, being continually reproduced in the species, but, as regards the several creatures in whom they flourished, UTTERLY

PERISHING.

CHAPTER V.

ON THE ARGUMENT FROM THE PERFECTIBILITY

THOU

OF THE SPECIES.

HOUGH the human family passes away, generation by generation, its numbers continue on the increase; as the waves of a flowing tide roll towards the shore, and on reaching it appear to be destroyed, while yet the volume of waters is not diminished, but gradually gains upon the land. And so of the knowledge possessed by each generation but little is dissipated and lost; the greater portion is re-appropriated, and serves to promote the general advance. To such as are willing to indulge their imagination upon this topic, it cannot be otherwise than delightful to look forward to a period when moral and natural philosophy shall have completed

P

their discoveries, and shall be sufficiently understood by all men ;—when in every country there shall exist a more perfect and stable form of government than any yet known; when intellectual refinement and liberal learning shall be every where diffused; when the languages, or the language, of mankind shall become a more complete instrument, uniting the excellences of all preceding tongues; when intercourse of every kind, commercial, or epistolary, or personal, between the remotest territories, shall be rapid and easy; when there shall be scarcely any sickness or disease prior to senile decay; and when a full command over all natural resources, and a universal willingness to share every burden upon the community and to supply the wants of others, shall have banished all poverty and severity of labour from the world of humanity. There is something alluring in such a view, which has often exercised a powerful fascination over ardent minds, and has led to efforts generous indeed, but for the most part as vain as they are generous. We can discern but imperfectly the future terrestrial destinies of man, even after having been instructed by the Scriptures, and having witnessed on a large scale, and through many centuries, their gradually ameliorating influence. But yet we may perhaps venture to hope that civilization and Christian education will extend their peaceful conquests, and triumph in the end, and lay their light yoke upon all nations.*

Yet, as has been before observed, while the present con