\ ^ THE COMPLETE WORKS OF THOMAS DICK, LL.D. CONTAINING AN ESSAY ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF SOCIETY, THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE, THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER, MENTAL ILLUMINATION AND MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND, AN ESSAY ON COVETOUS- NESS, CELESTIAL SCENERY, SIDEREAL HEAVENS, AND THE PRACTICAL ASTRONOMER. FIRST COMPLETE AMERICAN EDITION. NINE VOLUMES IN THREE, S'/j V ^ ** P VOL. II. HARTFORD: PUBLISHED BY SUMNER & GOODMAN. 1849. THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER, OR. THE CONNEXION OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY WITH RELIGION. BY THOMAS DICK, AJTTHOR OF A VARIETY OF LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATlOVB IN NICHOLSON'S PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL, THE ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY, ETC. ETC. HARTFORD : PUBLISHED BY SUMNER & GOODMAN. 1849. PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. THE following pages were written under the impression that the visible manifestations of the attributes of the Deity are too frequently overlooked by Christians in their views of the great objects of Religion, and" in the worship they offer to the Father of their spirits; and are intended to show, that the Teachers of Religion, in imparting; instruction either to the old or to the yo'-fig, ought to embrace a wider range of illustration, in reference to Divine subjects, than that to which they are usually confined. Throughout the whole of the discussions contained in this work, the Author has pursued his own train of thought ; and, in so doing, he trusts that he has been enabled to render some of his illustrations more interesting to the young and untutored mind than if he had adhered rigidly to the sentiments of others, and to the technical language of science. The sketches of the different sciences are not mere extracts, or compilations, but are, for the most part, original com- position in which it has been his main object to imbody as many facts as his limits would permit in order to excite the inquiring mind to farther investiga- tions into the different departments of physical science. It is presumed, that no Christian reader will for once imagine, that the views illustrated in this work are intended to be substituted in place of the peculiar revelations of the Bible. The object of the volume is to illustrate the harmony which subsists between the system of Nature and the system of Revelation ; and to show, that the manifestations of God in the material universe ought to be blended with our views of the facts and doctrines recorded in the volume ol Inspiration. It is taken for granted, throughout the whole rano-e of the following illustra- tions, that the Scriptures contain a Revelation from Heaven ; and, under a firm belief of this important truth, the Author has embellished his work with frequent quotations from the energetic and sublime language of this Sacred Book. It wouid, therefore, be unfair in any critic, who entertains doubts on this point, to find fault with such quotations, or with the allusions to Bible phraseology which occur, unless they can be shown to be introduced without judgment or dis- crimination. The Author has carefully revised every portion of the present editif n, and introduced a variety of corrections and modifications. He has likewise intro- duced additional matter, to the extent of between 20 and 30 pages, and also 1V PREFACE. several illustrative engravings. In its present form, the Author trusts, ftiai independently of the moral reflections it contains, it will be (bund to comprise popular descriptions of a greater number of scientific facts than is to be found in any other volume of the same size. Various topics, originally intended to be illustrated, have been unavoidably omitted. Some of these are stated in the last paragraph of Chapter IV- the illustration of which, in combination with other kindred topics, would fill a volume of nearly the same size as the present. This subject (for which the author has abundance of materials) will be prosecuted in another volume, under the title of THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION; and will comprise, among many other objects of discussion, illustrations of the moral relation of intelligent beings to their Creator, and to one another the physical and rational grounds of those moral laws which the Deity has promulgated the views which science affords of the incessant energies of Creating Power, and of the grand and multifarious objects over which Divine Providence presides the relation of science to a future state, and of the aids which the discoveries of science afford,' for enabling us to form a conception of the perpetual improvement of the celestial inhabitant! in knowledge and felicity. These subjects will be illustrated by a variety of interesting details of facts, in relation to the system of nature, the history of nations, and the moral state of Christian and general society CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION ... ........ -17 Necessity of Revelation. Folly of discarding the Science of Nature from Religion. Beneficial Effects which flow from the study of the Works of God. CHAPTER I. OF THE NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF THE DEITY. SECTION I. 9H THE RELATION OF THE NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF THE DEITY TO RELI- GION - - - - - - " - - ~ ~ ' -W The Christian Religion founded on the Natural Attributes of God. His Power as interesting a subject as his Mercy Illustrated in two instances. Evils which arise fiom imperfect conceptions of Divine Power. Defects in Religious Instruction on tins subject. Sources of Illustration. SECTION II. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE OMNIPOTENCE OF THE DEITY - -32 The material world exhibits a more striking display of this Perfection than the super- natural facts recorded in Scripture. Immense quantity of Mutter in the universe. Mode of acquiring the most comprehensive conception of the bulk of the Earth its variety of scenery its mass of solid ma'ter. Magnitude of the bodies which compose ihe Solar System. Magnitude and number of the Stars. Procedure of the mind in acquiring the most impressive conceptions of such august objects. Re- flections. Rapid Motions of the Celestial Bodies. How we acquire the ideas of relative velocities weight of the Earih immense physical forces Grandeur of the motion of Saiurn immense number of bodies impelled through the hea v "~~ Reflertions. Immense Spaces which surround the Heavenly Bodies- r ^..ons. Popular illustration of the Motions of the Earth and Htavens. Extrad from Dr. Ridgeley, with remarks. Universe intended to adumbrate the Attributes of God, and to make a sublime impression on created beings. Similar trains of thought sug- gested in the Scriptures. Moral Effects of such contemplations. Humility. Folly of prid is at rest. No. II. Experimental illustrations of the pressure of the atmosphere. No. III. On the means by which it may probably be ascertained whether the Moon be a hit.i-jv- ble world. No. IV. Remarks on the late pretended discovery of a Lunar Fortification. No. V. On the ideas of Magnitude, Motion, and Duration, as expressed by numbers. No. VI. On a Plurality of Worlds. No. VII. On the first inventor of Printing. No. VIII. On Telescopes ; with a brief notice of a New Reflecting Telescope constructed by iht Author. No. IX. On Steam Navigation. No. X. Strictures on a certain sentiment respecting Human Redemption. No. XI. Extract from Dr. Dwight. No. XII. List of PopuUr Works on the different sciences treated of in this volume, with w> casiona! remarks. THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. INTRODUCTION. OK fft subject of RELIGION, mankind have, in all ages, been prone to run into extremes. While some have been disposed to attach too much importance to the mere exertions of the num. -it i intellect, and to imagine that man, by the light of unassisted reason, is able to explore ihe path to true wisdom and happiness, the greater part ofreligionists, on the other hand, have been disposed to treat scientific knowledge, in its relation to religion, with a degree of indiffer- ence bordering upon contempt. Qoth these dis- positions are equally foolish and preposterous. For he who exalts human reason, as the only sure guide to wisdom and felicity, forgets, that man, in his present state, is a depraved intelli- gence, and, consequently, liable to err; and that all those who have been left solely to its dictates, have uniformly .ailed in attaining these desira- ble objects. Juring a period of more than 5,800 years, the greater part of the human race have been left solely to the guidance of their (rational powers, in order to grope their way to the Tempe of Knowledge, and the Portals of Immortality ; but what has been the result of all their anxious researches ? Instead of acquir- ing correct notions of the Great Author of their existence, and of the nature of that homage which is due to his perfections, " they have becomo vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts have been darkened Professing themselves to be wise, they have become fools ; and have changed the glo-y of the Incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to four-footed beasts, and creeping things." Instead of acquiring correct views of the princi- ples of moral action, and conducting themselves according to the eternal rules of rectitude, they have displayed the operation of the most diabo- lical passions, indulged in continual warfare, and desolated the earth with rapine and horrid car- nage ; so that the history of the world presents io our view little more than a series of revolt- ing details of the depravity of our species, and of the wrongs which one tribe of human beings has wilfully inflicted upon another. This has been the case, not only among a few uncultivated hordes on the coas's of Africa, in the plains of Tartary. and the wilds of America, but even among those nations which stood highest in the ranks of civilization, and of science. The ancient Greeks and Romans, who boasted of their attainments in philosopny, and their pro- gress in the arts, entertained the most foolish, contradictory, and unworthy notions of the Ob- ject of Divine worship, of the requirements of religion, and of the eternal destiny of man. They adored a host of divinities characterized by impiety, fraud, injustice, falsehood, lewdness, treachery, revenge, murder, and every other vice which can debase the human mind, instead of offering a tribute of rational homage to that Su- preme Intelligence who made and who governs the universe. Even their priests and philoso- phers indulged in the most degrading and abomi- nable praciices.and entertained the most irrational notions in regard to the originof the universe, and the moral government of the world. Most of them denied a future state of retribution, and all of them had their doubts respecting the reality of an im- mortal existence : and astothe doctrine of a resur- rection from the dead, they never dreamed of such an event, and scouted the idea, when proposed to them, as the climax of absurdity. The glory to which their princes and generals aspired, was, to spread death and destruction among their fel- low-men to carry fire and sword, terror and dismay, and all the engines of destruction, through surrounding nations tofill their fields with heaps of slain to plunder the survivors of every earthly comfort, and to drag captive kings at their cha- riot wheels that they might enjoy the splendour and the honours of a triumph. What has been now stated, with regard to the most enlightened nations of antiquity, will equally apply to the present inhabitants of China, of Hindostan, of the Japanese Islands, of the Birman Empire, and of every other civilized nation on which the light of revelation has never shone with this additional consideration, That they have enjoyed an additional period of 1800 years for making further investigations ; and are, at this moment, as far from the object of their pursuit as when they first commenced their researches ; and no* only so, but some of these nations, in modern times, have mingled with their abominable su- perstitions and idolatries many absurdities and horrid cruelties, which were altogether unknown among the Greek and Roman population. Such are the melancholy results to which men have been led, when left to the guidanct 10 INTRODUCTION. of unassisted reason, in the most interesting and important of all investigations. They have wandered iu the mazes of error and delusion , and their researches, instead of directing and expanding our religious views, have tended only to bewilder the human mind, and to throw a deeper shade of intellectual gloom over our apostate world. After a period of six thousand years has been spent in anxious inquiries after the path to true knowledge and happiness Igno- rance, Superstition, Idolatry, Vice, and Misery still continue to sway their sceptre over the great majority of the human race ; and, if we be allow- ed to reason from the past to the future, we may rest assured, that while mankind are destitute of a Guide superior to the glimmerings of deprav- ed reason, they would be no nearer the object of their pursuit, after the lapse of sixty thousand years, than at the present moment. It is only in connection with the discoveries of Revelation, that we can expect that the efforts of human reason and activity will be successful in abolishing the reign of Ignorance and degrading Supersti- tion in illuminating the benighted tribes of the Pagan World and in causing" Righteousness, and Order, and Peace, to spring forth before all the nations." Though the Christian Religion has never yet been fully understood and recognis- ed in all its aspects and bearings, nor its require- ments been cordially complied with, by the great body of those who profess to believe in its Divine origin, yet it is only in those nations who have acknowledged its authority, and in some mea- sure submitted to its dictates, that any thing approximating to just conceptions of the Supreme Intelligence, and of his moral government, is found to prevail. But, on the other hand, though the lighl of Nature is of itself a feeble and insufficient guide, to direct us in our views of the Supreme Intel- ligence, and of our eternal destination, yet it is a most dangerous and delusive error to imagine, that Reason, and the sludy of the material world, ought to be discarded from the science of religion. The man who would discard the efforts of the human intellect and the science of Nature from Religion, forgets that He who is the Author of human redemption, is also the Creator and Go- vernor of the whole system of the material uni- verse that it is one end of that moral renovation which the Gospel effects, to qualify us for con- templating aright the displays of Divine Perfec- tion which the works of creation exhibit lhat the visible works ofGod are the principal medium by which he displays the attributes of his nature to intelligent beings that the study and con- temnlation of these works employ the faculties of intelligences of a superior order* that man, had he remained in primeval innocence, would have been chiefly employed in such contemplations * Rev. iv. II TV 3, &c. that it is one main design of Divine Revelation to illustrate the operations of Providence, and the agency of God in the formation and preserva- tion of all things and that the Sciiptures are full of sublime descriptions of the visible creation, and of interesting references to the various objects which adorn the scenery of Nature. Without the cultivation of our reasoning powers, and an investigation of the laws and economy of Nature, we could not appreciate many of the excellent characters, the interesting aspects, and the sublime references of revealed religion: we should lose the full evidence of those arguments by which the existence of God and his attributes of Wisdom and Omnipotence are mot power- fully demonstrated : we should remain destitute of those sublime conceptions of the perfections and agency of Jehovah which the grandeur and immensity of his works are calculated to inspire . we should never perceive, in its full force, the evidence of those proofs on which the Divine authority of Revelation is founded : we could not give a rational interpretation of the spirit and meaning of many parts of Use Sacred Oracles : nor could we comply with < cose positive com- mands of God which enjoin us to contemplate the wonder of his power, to" meditate on all his works, and to talk of all his doings." Notwithstanding these and many other consi- derations, which show the folly of overlooking the visible manifestations of Deity in the exer- cises of Religion, it has long been the practice of certain theologians to deprecia'e the wonderful works of Jehovah, and to attempt to throw them into the shade, as if they were unworthy of our serious contemplation. In their view, to be a bad philosopher is the surest way to become a good Christian, and to expand the views of the human mind, is to endanger Christianity, and to render the design of religion abortive. They seem to consider it as a most noble triumph to the Christian cause, to degrade the material world, and to trample under foot, not only the earth, but the visible heavens, as an old, shattered, and cor- rupted fabric, which nolonger demands our study or admiration. Their expressions, in a variety of instances, would lead us almost to conclude, that they considered the economy of Nature as set in opposition to the economy of Redemption, and that it is not the same God that contrived the system of Nature, who is also he "Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him." It is, unquestionably, both foolish and impious to overlook or to undervalue any of the modes by which the Divine Being has been pleased to make known his nature and perfections to mankind. Since he has giv?n a display of his " Eternal Power and Godhead" in the grand theatre of nature, which forms the subject o/ scientific investigation, it was surely never in- tended, and would ill comport with reveience for its adorable Author, that such magnificent dis- INTRODUCTION. oWys of his Power, Wisdom, and Beneficence, as the material universe exhibits, should be treat- ed, hv liis intelligent offspring, wi h indifference or neglect. It becomes us to contemplate, with ddorir.g gratitude, every ray of our Creator's glory, whether as emanating from the light of Revelation, or as reflected from the scenery of nauu-e around us, or as descending from those regions where stars unnumbered shine, and planets and comets run their solemn rounds. Instead of contrasting the one department of knowledge with the other, with a view of depre- ciating the science of nature, our duty is, to derive from both as much information and in- struction as they are calculated to afford ; to mark the harmony of the revelations they re- spectively unfold ; and to use the revelations of nature for the purpose of confirming and am- plifying, and carrying forward our views of the revelation contained in the Sacred Scriptures. With regard to the revelation derived from the Sacred Records, it has been imagined by some, that it has little or no reference to the operations of the material system, and that, therefore, the study of the visible works of God can bs of 1 idle importance in promoting religious knowledge and holy affections. In the sequel of this vo- lume, I shall endeavour to show, that this senti- ment is extremely fallacious, and destitute of a foundation. But, in the mean time, although it were taken for granted, it would form no argu- ment against the combination of science with re- ligion. For it ought to be carefully remarked, that Divine Revelation is chiefly intended to in- truct us in the knowledge of those truths which interest us as subjects of the moral administra- tion of the Governor of the world, or, in other words, as apostate creatures, and as moral agents. Its grand object is to develop the open- ings and beatings of the plan of Divine Mercy ; to counteract those evil propensities and pas- sions which sin has introduced; to inculcate those holy principles and moral laws which tend to unite mankind in harmony and love ; and to pro- duce those amiable tempers and dispositions of mind, which alone ran fit us for enjoying happi- ness either in this world, or in the world to come. For this reason, doubtless, it is, that the moral at- tributes of Deity are brought more prominently into view in the Sacred Volume, than his natural perfections ; and that those special arrangements of his Providence, which regard the moral reno- vation of our species, are particularly detailed ; while the immense extent of his universal king- dom, the existence of other worlds, and their moral economy, are but slightly hinted at, or veiled in obscurity. Of such a Revelation we Btod in need ; and had it chiefly embraced sub- jects ot" a very different nature, it would have failed in supplying the remedies requisite for correcting the disorders which sin has introduced imong mankind But, surely, it was never intended, even in a religious point of "lew, that the powers of the human mind, in their contem- plations and researches, should be bounded by ' the range of subjects comprised in that revelation, which is purely, or chiefly, of a moral nature, since the Almighty has exibited so magnificent a spectacle in the universe around us, and en- dowed us wjih faculties adequate to the survey of a considerable portion of its structure, and ca- pable of deducing from it the most noble and sublime results. To walk in the midst of this " wide extended theatre," and to overlook, or to gaze with indifference on those striking marks of Divine omnipotence and skill, which every where appear, is to overlook the Creator him- self, and to contemn the most illustrious displays he has given of his eternal power and glory. That man's religious devotions are. much to be suspect- ed, whatever show of piety he may affect, who derives no assistance, in attempting to form some adequate conceptions of the object of his worship, from the sublime discoveries of astronomical science ; from those myriads of suns and systems which form but a small portion of the Creator's immense empire!* The professing Christian, whose devotional exercises are not invigorated, and whose conceptions of Deity are not extended, by a contemplation of the magnitude and variety of his works, may be considered as equally a stranger to the more elevated strains of piety, and to the noble emotions excited by a perception of the beautiful and the sublime. " The works of the Lord," says an inspired writer, " are great, and are sought out by all those who have pleasure therein." They all bear the stamp of Infinite Perfection, and serve as so many sensible mediums to exalt and ex- pand our conceptions of him, whose invisible glories they represent and adumbrate. When contemplated in connection with the prospects opened by Divine Revelation, they tend to ex- cite the most ardent desires after that state of enlarged vision, where the plans and operations of Deity will be more clearly unfolded and to prepare us for bearing a part in the immortal hymn of the church triumphant: " Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways,thou King of Saints." The most illustrious characters that have adorn- ed our race in all ages, have been struck with the beauty and magnificence of the visible crea- tion, and have devoted a certain portion of their * As some readers seem to have mistaken the Author's meaning, in this and similar passages, it may be proper to state, that his meaning is not that a knowledge of natural science is essential to genuine piety; but, that the person who has an op- portunity of making himself acquainted with the science of nature, and of contemplating the wonders of the heavens in their true light, and who does not find his views of the Creator expanded, ar I his roli gious emotions elevated, by such studies, has reason to call in question the nature and the sincerity of his devotional feelings. INTRODUCTION. 12 time and attention in investigating its admirable economy and arrangement : and 'here can be no question, that a portion of our thoughts devoted to the study of the wondrous works of the Most High, must ultimately be conducive to the im- provement of our intellectual powers, to our advancement in the Christian life, and to our preparation for the exalted employments of the eternal world. In fine, since the researches of modern times have greatly enlarged our views of the System of Universal Nature, and of the vast extent to which the operations of the Creator are carried on in the distant regions of space, since the late discoveries of Naturalists and Experimental Philosophers, with respect to the constitution of the atmosphere, water, light, heat, the gases, the electric, galvanic and magnetic fluids, and the economy and instincts of animated beings, have opened to our view a bright display of Divine Wisdom, in the contrivance and ar- rangement of the different parts of our terrestrial habitation, since improvements in the useful arts have kept pace with the progress of science, and have been app'ied to many beneficial pur- poses, which have ultimately a bearing on the interests and the process of religion since a general desire to propagate the truths of Chris- tianity in Heathen lands now animates the mass of the religious world since the nations of both Continents are now aroused to burst asunder the shackles of despotism, and to inquire after rational liberty and mental improvement, and since all these discoveries, inventions, and movements, and the energies of the human mind, from which thev spring, are under the direction and control of that Omnipotent Being who made and who governs the world they ought to be considered as parts of those Providential arrange- ments, in the progress of which He will ultimately accomplish the illumination of our benighted race, and make the cause of righteousness and truth to triumph among all nations. And, there- fore, the enlightened Christian ought thankfully to appreciate every exhibition, and every dis- covery, by which his conceptions of the attributes of God, and of the grandeur of his works, may be directed and enlarged, in order that he may be qualified to " speak of the honour of his ma- jesty, and talk of his power ; to make known tf the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorioi* majesty of hss kingdom." CHAPTER I. OF THE NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OP THE DEITY, "WITH PARTICULAR ILLUSTRATIONS OF HIS OMNIPOTENCE AND WISDOM. SECTION I. On tin Relation of the Natural Attributes of DEITV to RELIGION. A FIRM conviction of the existence of God, and a competent knowledge of his natural perfec- tions, lie at, the foundation of all religion, both na- tural and revealed. In proportion as our views of the perfections of Deity are limited and ob- scure, in a similar proportion will be our con- ceptions of all the relations in which he stands to his creatures, of every part of his providential procedure, and of all the doctrines and require- ments of revealed religion. By the natural or essential attributes of God, we understand such perfections as the follow- ing : His Eternity, Omnipresence, Infinite Knowledge, Infinite Wisdom, Omnipotence, and Boundless Beneficence. These are the charac- ters and attributes of Deity, which, we must suppose, form the chief subjects of contemplation to angels, and to all other pure intelligences and in investigating the displays of which, the sons of Adam would h?ve been chiefly employed, had they continued in primeval innocence. These attributes form the ground-work of all those gra- cious relations in which the God of salvation stands to his redeemed people in the economy of redemption they lie at the foundation of the whole Christian superstructure and were they not recognized as the corner-stones of that sa- cred edifice, the whole system of .he Scripture Revelation would remain a baseless fabric. The full display of these perfections will be exhibit- ed in the future world the contemplation of this display will form one of the sublime employ- ments " of the saints in light" and to prepare us for engaging in such noble exercises, is one of the chief designs of the salvation proclaimed in the Gospel. The Christian Revelation ought not to be con- sidered as superseding the Religion of Nature, but as carrying it forward to perfection. -It in- troduces the Deity to us under new relations, corresponding to the degraded state into which we have fallen. It is superadded to our natural relations to God, and takes it for granted, that these natural relations must for ever subsist. It is true, indeed, that the essential attributes of God, and the principles of Natural Religion, cannot be fully discovered without the light of Revelation, as appears from the past experience of mankind in every generation ; but it is equally true, that, when discovered by the aid of this celestial light, they are of the utmost importance in the Christian system, and are as essentially connected with it, as the foundation of a build- ing is with the superstructure. Many professed Christians, however, seem to think, and to act, as if the Christian Revelation had annulled the natural relations which subsist between man and the Deity ; and hence the zealous outcry against every discussion from the pulpit, that has not a direct relation to what are termed the doctrines of grace. But nothing, surely, can be more ab- surd lhan to carry out such a principle to all its legitimate consequences. Can God ever cease to be Omnipotent, or can man ever cease to be dependent for existence on his infinite power ? Can the Divine Being ever cease to be Omnipre- sent and Omniscient, or can man ever cease to be the object of his knowledge and superintend- ence 1 Can Infinite Widdom ever be detach- ed from the Almighty, or can man ever be in a situation where he will not experience the effects of his wise arrangements 1 Can Goodness ever fail of being an attribute of Jehovah, or can any sentient or intelligent beings exist that do not experience the effects of his bounty ? In short, can the relation of Creature and of Crea- tor ever cease between the human race, in what- ever moral or physical situation they may be placed, and that almighty Being, " who giveth to all, life and breath, and all things ?" If none 01 these things can possibly happen, then the relations to which we refer must be eternal and unchangeable, and must form the basis of all the other relations in which we can possibly stand to the Divine Being, either as apostate or as redeemed creatures ; and, therefore, they ought to be exhibited as subjects for our frequent and serious contemplation, as religious and moral agents. But, unless we make such topics a dis- tinct subject of attention, and endeavour to ac- quire a clear and comprehensive conception ol our natural relations to God, we can never form 14 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. clear conception of those new and interesting relations into which we have been brought by the mediation of Jesus Christ. If man had continued in his primitive state of integrity, he would have, been for ever exercised in tracing the Power, the Beneficence, and other attributes of Deity, in the visible creation alone. Now that his fallen state has rendered additional revelations necessary, in order to secure his hap- piness is he completely to throw aside those con- templations and exercises which constituted his chief employment, while he remained a pure moral intelligence? Surely not. One great end of his moral renovation, by means of the Gospel, must be, to enable him to resume his primitive exercises, and to qualify him for more enlarged views and contemplations of a similar nature, in that future world, where the physical and moral impedi- ments which now obstruct his progress will be completely removed. It appears highly unreasonable, and indicates a selfish disposition of mind, to magnify one class of the Divine attributes at the expense of another, to extol, for example, the Mercy of God, and ne- glect to celebrate his Power and Wisdom those glorious perfections, the display of which, at the formation of our globe, excited the rapture and admiration of angels, and of innocent man. All the attributes of God are equal, because all of them are infinite; and, therefore, to talk of 'darling attributes in the Divine Nature, as some have done, is inconsistent with reason, unwarranted by Scripture, and tends to exhibit a distorted view of the Divine character. The Divine mercy ought to be celebrated with rapture by every indi- vidual of our fallen race ; but with no less rapture should we extol the Divine Omnipotence ; for the designs of mercy cannot be accomplished with- out the intervention of Infinite Power. All that we hope for, in consequence of the promises of God, and of the redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ, must be founded on the conception we form of the operations of Omnipotence. An ex- ample or two may not be unnecessary for illus- trating this position. We are warranted, by the sacred oracles, to entertain the hope, that these mortal bodies of ours, after they have mouldered in the dust, been dissolved into their primary elementary parts, and become the prey of devouring reptiles, during a lapse of generations or of centuries, shall spring forth from the tomb to new life and beautv, and be arrayed in more glorious forms than they now wear ; yea, that all the inhabitants of our globe, from Adam to the end of time, though the bodies of thousands of them have been devoured by can- nibals, have become the food of fishes and of beasts of prey, and have been burnt to cinders, and their ashes scattered by the winds, over the different regipns of c and land, shall be reani- mated by the voice of the Son of God , and shall appear, each in his proper person and identical body, before God, the Judge of all. Now, th firmness of our hope of so astonishing an event, which seems to contradict all experience, and appears involved in such a mass of difficulties and apparent contradictions, must be in propor- tion to the sentiments we entertain of the Divine Intelligence, Wisdom, and Omnipotence. And where are we to find the most striking visible displays of these perfections, except in the actual operations of the Creator, within the range of our view in the material world 1 Again, we are informed, in the same Divine records, that, at some future period, the earth on which we now dwell shall be wrapt up in devour- ing flames, and its present form and constitution for ever destroyed ; and its redeemed inhabitants, after being released from the grave, shall be trans- ported to a more glorious region ; and that " new heavens and a new earth shall appear, wherein dwelleth righteousness." The Divine mercy hav- ing given to the faithful the promise of these astonishing revolutions, and most magnificent events, our hopes of their being fully realized must rest on the infinite wisdom and omnipotence of Jehovah ; and, consequently, if "our views of these perfections be limited and obscure, our hope in relation to our future destiny will be propor- tionably feeble and languid ; and will scarcely perform its office " as an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast." It is not merely by telling a person that God is All-wise, and All-powerful, that a full conviction of the accomplishment of such grand events will be produced. He must be made to see with his own eyes what the Almighty has already done, and what he is now doing in all the regions of universal nature which lie open to our inspection ; and this cannot be effected without directing his contemplations to those displays of intelligence and power which are exhibited in the structure, the economy, and the revolutions of the material world. If the propriety of these sentiments be admit- ted, it will follow that the more we are njccustom- ed to contemplate the wonders of Divine intelli- gence and power, in the objects with which we are surrounded, the more deeply shall we be im- pressed with a conviction, and a confident hope, that all the purposes of divine mercy will ulti- mately be accomplished in our eternal felicity. It will also follow, that, in proportion as thetrind acquires a clear, an extensive, and a reverential view of the essential attributes of the D*Mly, and of those truths in connection with them, which are objects of contemplation common to all holy beings, in a similar proportion will it be impress- ed, and its attention arrested, by every other divine subject connected with them. And it is, doubtless, owing to the want of such c'ear and impressive conceptions of the essentin' charade* of Jehovah, and of the first truths of religion, tnai the bulk of mankind are so little impressed and influenced by the 'eading doctrines and duties NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF THE DEITY. connected with the plan of the Gospel salvation, and that ihey entertain so many vague and unte- nable notions respecting the character and the ob- jects of a superintending Providence. How ofien, for example, have we witnessed expressions of the foolish and limited notions which are frequently entertained respecting the operations of Omni- potence ? When it has been asserted that the earth with all its load of continents and oceans, is in rapid motion through the voids of space that the sun is ten hundred thousand times larger than the terraqueous globe and that millions of such globes are dispersed throughout the immen- sity of nature some who have viewed them- selves as enlightened Christians, have exclaimed at the impossibility of such facts, as if they were beyond the limits ofDivine Power, and as if such representations were intended to turn away the mind from God and religion ; while, at the same time, they have yielded a firm assent to all the vulgar notions respecting omens, apparitions, and hobgoblins, and to the supposed extraordinary powers of the professors of divination and witch- craft. How can such persons assent, with intel- ligence and rational conviction, to the dictates of Revelation respecting the energies of Omnipo- tence which will be exerted at " the consummation of all things," and in those arrangements which are to sticcewd the dissolution of our sublunary system ? A firm belief in the Almighty Power and unsearchable wisdom of God, as displayed in the constitution and movements of the material world, is of the utmost importance, to confirm our faith, and enliven our hopes, of such grand and interesting events. Notsvithstanding the considerations now stat- ed, which plainly evince the connection of the natural perfections of God with the objects of the Christian Revelation, it appears somewhat strange, that, when certain religious instructors happen to come in contact with this topic, they seem as if they were beginning to tread upon forbidden ground ; and, as if it were unsuitable to their office as Christian teachers, to bring for- ward the stupendous works of the Almighty to illustrate his nature and attributes. Instead of expatiating on the numerous sources of illus- tration, of which the subject admits, till the minds of their hearers are thoroughly affected with a view of the essential glory of Jehovah they despatch the subject with two or three vag'ie propositions, which, though logically true, make n-> impression upon the heart; as if they believed that such contemplations were suited only to carnal men, and mere philosophers ; and as if they were afraid, lest the sanctity of the pulpit should be polluted by particular descrip- tions of those operations of the Deity which are perceived through the medium of the corporeal senses. We do not mean to insinuate, that the essential attributes of God, and the illustrations jf them derived from the material world, should form the sole, or the chief topics of discussion, in the business of religious instruction but, if the Scriptures frequently direct our attention to these subjects if they lie at the foundation of all accurate and extensive views of the Christian Revelation if they be the chief subjects ot'coa- templation to angels, and all other pure intelli- gences, in every region of the uni"erse and if they have a tendency to expand the minds of pro- fessed Christians, to correct their vague and er- roneous conceptions, and to promote their con- formity to the moral character of God we can- not find out the shadow of a reason, why such topics should be almost, if not altogether, over- looked, in the writings and the discourses of those who profess to instruct mankind in the knowledge of God, and the duties of his worship. We are informed by our Saviour himself, that " this is life eternal, to know thee the living and true God," as well as " Jesus Christ whom he hath sent." The knowledge of God, in the sense here intended, must include in it the know- ledge of the natural and essential attributes of the Deity, or those properties of his nature by which he is distinguished from all " the idols of the nations." Such are, his Self-existence, his All-perfect knowledge, his Omnipresence, his Infinite Wisdom, his Boundless Goodness, and Almighty Power attributes, which, as we hava just now seen, lie at the foundation of all the other characters and relations of Deity revealed in the Scriptures. The acquisition of just and comprehensive conceptions of these perfections, must, therefore, lie at the foundation of all pro- found veneration of the Divine Being, and of all that is valuable in religion. Destitute of such conceptions, we can neither feel that habi- tual humility, and that reverence of the majesty of Jehovah, which his essential glory is calculat- ed to inspire, nor pay him that tribute of adora- tion and gratitude which is due to his name. Devoid of such views, we cannot exercise that cordial acquiescence in the plan of his redemption, in the arrangements of his providence, and in the requirements of his law, which the Scriptures enjoin. Yet, how often do we find persons who pretend to speculate about the mysteries of the Gospel, displaying by their flippancy of speech respecting the eternal counsels of the Majesty of Heaven by their dogmatical assertions respect- ing the Divine character, and the dispensations of providence and by their pertinacious opi- nions respecting the laws by which God must regulate his own actions that they have never felt impressive emotions of the grandeur of that Being, whose" operations are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out ?" Though they do not call in question his immensity and power, his wisdom and goodness, as so many abstract pro* perties of his nature, yet the unbecoming fanii* liarity with which they approach this august Be- ing, and talk about him, shows that thev hove THE CHRIST! AN PHILOSOPHER. never associated in their minds, the stupendous displays which have been given of these perfec- tions, in the works of his hands ; and that their religion (if it may be so called) consists merely in a farrago of abstract opinions, or in an empty name. If, then, it be admitted, that it is essentially requisite, as the foundation of religion, to have the mind deeply impressed with a clear and com- prehensive view of the natural perfections of the Deity, it will follow, that the ministers of reli- gion, and all others whose province it is lo com- municate religious instruction, ought frequently to dwell, wilh particularity, on those proofs and illustrations with tend to convey the most defi- nite and impressive conceptions of the glory of that Being whom we profess to adore. But from what sources are such illustrations to be deriv- ed? Is it from abstract reasonings and metaphy- sical distinctions and definitions, or from a survey of those objects and movements which lie open to the inspection of every observer? There can be no difficulty in coming to a decision on this point. We might affirm, with the school- men, that " God is a Being whose centre is every where, and his circumference no where ;" that " he comprehends infinite duration in every mo- ment ;" and that " infinite space may be consi- dered as the sensorium of the Godhead ;" but such fanciful illustrations, when strictly analyzed, will be found to consist merely of words without ideas. We might also affirm with truth, that God is a Being of infinite perfection, glory, and blessedness that he is without all bounds or limits either actual or possible that he is possess- ed of power sufficient to perform all things which do not imply a contradiction that he is independ- ent and self-sufficient that his wisdom is un- erring, and that he infinitely exceeds all other beings. But these, and other expressions of a similar kind, are mere technical terms, which convey no adequate, nor even tolerable, notion of what they import. Beings, constituted like man, whose rational spirits are connected with an organical structure, and who derive all their knowledge through the medium of corporeal organs, can derive their clearest and most affect- ing notions of the Divinity, chiefly through the same medium, namely, by contemplating the ejfects of his perfections, as displayed through the ample range of the visible creation. And to this source of illustration, the inspired writers uniformly direct our views " Lift up your eyes on high, and behold ! who hath created these orbs? who bringeth forth their host by number, and calleth them all by their names? The ever- lasting God, the Lord, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power." " le hath mada,- the earth by his power ; he hath established the world by his wisdom ; he hath stretched out the heavens by his understanding." These writers do sot perplex our minds by a mul- titude of technical terms and subtle reasonings but lead us directly to the source whence our most ample conceptions of Deity are to be deriv- ed, that, from a steady and enlightened contem- plation of the effects, we may learn the great- ness of the Cause ; and their example, in this respect, ought, doubtless, to be a pattern for evey religious instructer. SECTION II. Illustrations of the Omnipotence of the DEITT. IN order to elucidate more distinctly what hu been now stated, I shall select a few illustration! of some of the natural attributes of the Deity. And, in the first place, I shall offer a few consi- derations which have a tendency to direct and to amplify our conceptions of Divine Power. Omnipotence is that attribute of the Divine Being, by which he can accomplish every thing that does not imply a contradiction however far it may transcend the comprehension of finite minds. By his power the vast system of universal nature was called from nothing into existence, and is continually supported, in all its movements, from age to age. In elucidating this perfection of God, we might derive some striking illustrations from the records of his dispensations towards man, in the early ages of the world when he overwhelmed the earth with the deluge, which covered the tops of the highest mountains, ani swept the crowded population of the ancient world into a watery grave when he demolished Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, with fire from heaven when he slew all the first-born of Egypt, and turned their rivers into blood when he divided the Red Sea and the waters of Jordan before the tribes of Israel when he made the earth to open its jaws and swallow up Korah and all his company and when he caused Mount Sinai to smoke and trem- ble at his presence. But these and similar events, however awful, astonishing, and worthy of re- membrance, were only transitory exertions of Divine Power, and are not calculated, and were never intended, to impress the mind in so power- ful a manner as those displays of Omnipotence which are exhibited in HB ordinary movements of the material universe. We have no hesita- tion in asserting, that, with regard to this attri- bute of the Divinity, there is a more grand and impressive display in the works of Nature, than in all the events recorded in the Sacred History. Nor ought this remark to be considered as throw- ing the least reflection on the fulness and suf- ficiency of the Scripture revelation ; for that re- velation, as having a special reference lo a moral economy, has for its object to give a more parti- cular display of the moral than of the natural per OMNIPOTENCE OF THE DEITY. factions of God. The miracles to which we have now referred, and every other supernatural fact recorded in the Bible, were not intended so much to display the plenitude of the power of Deity, as to bear testimony to the Divine mission of particular messengers, and to confirm the truths they declared. It WAS not, for example, merely to display the energies of Almighty power, that the waters of the Red Sea were dried up before the thousands of Israel, but to give a solemn and triking attestation to all concerned, that the Most High God had taken this people under his peculiar protection that he had appointed Moses as their leader and legislator and that they were bound to receive and obey the statutes he delivered. The most appropriate and impressive illustra- tions uf Omnipotence, are those which are taken from the permanent operations of Deity, which are visible every moment in the universe around us ; or, in other words, those which are derived from a detail of the facts which have been observ- ed in the material world, respecting magnitude and motion. In the first place the immense quantity of mat- ter contained in the universe, presents a most striking display of Almighty power. In endeavouring to form a definite notion on this subject, the mind is bewildered in its con- ceptions, and is at a loss where to begin or to end its excursions. In order to form something approximating to a well-defined idea, we must pursue a train of thought commencing with those magnitudes which the mind can easily grasp, pro- ceeding through all the intermediate gradations of magnitude, and fixing the attention on every portion of the chain, till we arrive at the object or magnitude of which we wish to form a con- ception. We must endeavour, in the first place, to form a conception of the bulk of the world in which we dwell, which, though only a point in comparison of the whole material universe, is in reality a most astonishing magnitude, which the mind cannot grasp, without a laborious effort. We can form some definite idea of those protu- berate masses we denominate hills, which arise above the surface of our plains ; but were we transported to the mountainous scenery of Swit- zerland, to the stupendous range of the Andes in South America, or to the Himmalayan moun- tains in India, where masses of earth and rocks, in every variety of shape, extend several hun- dreds of miles in different directions, and rear their projecting summits beyond the region of the clouds we should find some difficulty in forming an adequate conception of the objects of our contemplation. For, (to use the words of one who had been a spectator of such scenes,) il Amidst those trackless regions of intense si- ence and solitude, we cannot contemplate, but with feelings of awe and admiration, the enor- mous masses of variegated matter which lie around, beneath, and above us. The mind la- bours, as it were, to form a definite idea of those objects of oppressive grandeur, and feels unable to grasp the august objects which compose ihe sur- rounding scene." But what are all these moun- tainous masses, however variegated and sublime, when compared with the bulk of the whole earth ? Were they hurled from their bases, and precipitated into the vast Pacific Ocean, they would all disappear in a moment, except perhaps a few projecting tops, which, like a number of small islands, might be seen rising a few fathoms above the surface of the waters. The earth is a globe whose diameter is nearly 8,000 miles, and its circumference about 25,000, and, consequently, its surface contains nearly two hundred millions of square miles a magnitude too great for the mind to take in at one concep- tion. In order to fc.rrn a tolerable conception of the whole, we must endeavour to take a leisurely survey of its different parts. Were we to take our station on the top of a mountain, of a mode- rate size, and survey the surrounding landscape, we, should perceive un extent of view stretch- ing 40 miles in every direction, forming a circle 80 miles in diameter, and 250 in circumference and comprehending an area of 5,000 square miles. In such a situation the terrestrial scene around and beneath us consisting of hills and plains, towns and villages, rivers and lakes would form one of the largest objects which the eye, and even the imagination, can steadily grasp at one time. But such an object, grand and extensive as it is, forms no more than the forty- thousandth part of the terraqueous globe ; so that before we can acquire an adequate conception of the magnitude of our own world, we must con- ceive 40,000 landscapes of a similar extent, to pass in review before us : and were a scene, of the magnitude now stated, to pass before us every hour, till all the diversified scenery of the earth wero brought under our view, and were 12 hours a day allotted for the observation, it would re- quire 9 years and 48 days before the whole sur- face of the globe could be contemplated, even in this general and rapid manner. But, such a variety of successive landscapes passing before the eye, even although it were possible to be real- ized, would convey only a very vague and im- perfect conception of the scenery of our world ; for objects at the distance of 40 miles cannot be distinctly perceived ; the only view which would be satisfactory would be, that which is compre- hended within the range of 3 or 4 miles from the spectator. Again, I have already stated, that the surface of the earth contains nearly 200,000,000 of square miles. Now, were a person to setout on a minute survey of the terraqueous globe, and to travel till he passed along every square mile on its surface, and to continue his route without intermission, at the rate of 30 miles every day, it would require 18,264 years before he could finish his tour, and 18 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. complete tho survey of" this huge rotundity on which we tread :" so that, had he commenced his excursion on the day in which Adam was creat- ed, and continued it to the present hour, he would not have accomplished one third part of this vast tour. In estimating the size and extent of the earth, we ought also to take into consideration the vast variety of objects with which it is diversified, and the numerous animated beings with which it is stored ; the great divisions of land and water, the continents, seas, and islands into which it is distributed ; the lofty ranges of moun- tains which rear their heads to the clouds ; the unfathomed abysses of the ocean ; its vast subter- raneous caverns and burning mountains; and the lakes, rivers, and stately forests with which it is so magnificently adorned ; the many millions of animals, of every size and form, from the ele- phant to the mite, which traverse its surface ; the numerous tribes of fishes, from the enormous whale to the diminutive shrimp, which " play" in the mighty ocean ; the aerial tribes which sport in the regions above us, and the vast mass of the surrounding atmosphere, which encloses the earth and all its inhabitants as " with a swaddling band." The immense variety of beings with which our terrestrial habitation is furnished, con- spires with every other consideration, to exalt our conceptions to that power by which our globe, and all that it contains, were brought into existence. The preceding illustrations, however, exhibit the vast extent of the earth, considered only as a mere superficies. But we know that the earth is a solid globe, whose specific gravity is nearly five times denser than water, or about twice as dense as the mass of earth and rocks which compose its surface. Though we cannot dig into its bowels beyoml a mile in perpendicular depth, to explore its hidden wonders, yet we may easily conceive what a vast and indescribable mass of matter must be contained between the two opposite por- tions of its external circumference, reaching 8000 miles in every direction. The solid contents of this ponderous ball is no less than 263,858,149,- 120 cubical miles amass of material substance of which we can form but a very faint and im- perfect conception in proportion to which all the lofty mountains which rise above its surface are less than a few grains of sand, when compared with the largest artificial globe. Were the earth a hollow sphere surrounded merely with an ex- ternal shell of earth and water, 10 miles thick, its internal cavity would be sufficient to contain a quantity of materials one hundred and thirty-three times greater than the whole mass of continents, Wands and oceans, on its surface, and the foun- dations on which they are supported. We have the strongest reasons, however, to conclude, that the earth, in its general structure, is one solid mass, from the smfaceto the centre, ex- cepting, perhaps, a few caverns scattered here and there amidst its subterraneous recesses : ana that its density gradually increases from its sur- face to its central regions. What an enormous mass of materials, then, is comprehended within the limits of the globe on which we tread ! The mind labours, as it were, to comprehend the mighty idea, and after all its exertion, feels it- self unable to take in such an astonishing mag- nitude at one comprehensive grasp. Ho v great must be the power of that Being who com- manded it to spring from nothing into existence, who " measureth the ocean in the hollow of hit hand, who weigheth the mountains in scales, and hangeth the earth upon nothing 1" It is essentially requisite, before proceeding to the survey of objects and magnitudes of a supe- rior order, that we should endeavour, by such a train of thought as the preceding, to form some tolerable and clear conception of the bulk of the globe we inhabit ; for it is the only body we can use as a standard of comparison to guide the mind in its conceptions, when it roams abroad to other regions of material existence. And, from what has been now stated, it appears, that we have no adequate conception of a magnitude of so vast an extent ; or, at least, that the mind cannot, in any one instant, form to itself a dis- tinct and comprehensive idea of it, in any measure corresponding to the reality. Hitherto, then, we have fixed only on a de- terminate magnitude on a scale of a few inches, as it were, in order to assist us in our measure- ment and conception of magnitudes still more august and astonishing. When we contem- plate, by the light of science, those magnificent globes which float around us, in the concave of the sky, the earth wilh all its sublime scenery, stupendous as it is, dwindles into an inconsi- derable ball. If we pass from our globe to some of the other bodies of the planetary system, we shall find that one of these stupendous orbs is more than 900 times the size of our world, and encircled with a ring 200,000 miles in diame- ter, which would jiearly reach from the earth to the moon, and would enclose within its vast circumference several hundreds of worlds as large as ours. Another of these planetary bodies, which appears to the vulgar eye only as a bril- liant speck on the vault of heaven, is found '.o be of such a size, that it would require 1,400 globes of the bulk of the earth to form one equal to it in dimensions. The whole of the bodies which compose the solar system, (without tak- ing the sun and the comets into account,) con- tain a mass of matter 2,500 times greater than that of the earth. The sun himself is 520 times larger than all the planetary globes taken to- gether; and one million three hundred thousand times larger than the terraqueous globe. This is one of the most glorious and magnificent visible objects, which either the eye or the ima- gination can contemplate ; especially when we OMNIPOTENCE OF THE DEITY. . onsider, what perpetual and incomprehensible and powerful influence he exerts, what warmth and beauty and activity he diffuses, not only on the globe we inhabit, but over the more ex- tensive regions of surrounding worlds. His energy extends to the utmost limits of the pla- netary sytem to the planet Herschel, which revclves at the distance of J,800 millions of miles from his surface, and there he dispenses light, and colour, and comfort, to all the beings connected with that far-distant orb, and to all the moons wh'ch roll around it. Here the imagination begins to be overpower- ed and bewildered in its conceptions of magni- tude, when it has advanced scarcely a single step in its excursions through the material world : For it is highly probable that all the matter contained whhin the limits of the solar system, incomprehensible as its magnitude appears, bears a smaller proportion to the whole mass of the material universe, than a single grain of sand to all the particles of matter contained in the body of the sun and his attending planets. If we extend our views from the solar system to the starry heavens, we have to penetrate, in our imagination, a space which the swiftest ball that was ever projected, though in perpetual mo- tion, would not traverse in ten hundred thousand years. In those trackless regions of immensity, we behold an assemblage of resplendent globes, similar to the sun in size and in glory, and, doubtless, accompanied with a retinue of worlds, revolving, like our own, around their attractive influence. The immense distance at which the nearest stars are known to be placed, proves that they are bodies of a prodigious size, not inferior to our sun, and that they shine, not by reflected rays, but by their own native light. But bodies encircled with such refulgent splendour would be of little use in the economy of Jeho- vah's empire, unless surrounding worlds were cheered by their benign influence, and enlight- ened by their beams. Every star is, therefore, with good reason, concluded to be a sun, no less spacious than ours, surrounded by a host of planetary globes, which revolve around it as a centre, and derive from it light, and heat, and comfort. Nearly a thousand of these lumina- ries may be seen in a clear winter nigh , by the naked eye; so that a miss of matter equal to a thousand solar systems, or to thirteen hun- dred and twenty millions of globes of the size of the earth, may be perceived, by every com- mon observer, in the canopy of heaven. But all the celestial orbs which are perceived by the unassisted sight, do not form the eighty- thousan'lth part of those which may be descried by the help of optical instruments. The tele- scope has enabled us to descry, in certain spaces of the heavens, thousands of stars where the naked aye could scarcely discern twenty. The late astronomer, Dr. Herschel, has in- formed us, that, in the most crowded ptwts of (ha Milky-way, when exploring that region with his best glasses, he has had fields of view which contained no less than 588 stars, and these were continued for many minutes: so that" in one quarter of an hour's time there passed no lesa than one hundred and sixteen thousand start through the field of view of his telescope." It. has been computed, that nearly one hundred millions of stars might be perceived by the mos perfect instruments, were all the regions of tha sky thoroughly explored. And yet, all this vasl assemblage of suns and worlds, when compared with what lies beyond the utmost boundaries of human vision, in the immeasurable spaces of creation, may be no more than as the smallest particle of vapour to the immense ocean. Immea- surable regions of space lie beyond the utmost limits of mortal view, into which even imagina- tion itself can scarcely penetrate, and which are, doubtless, replenished with the operations of Di- vine Wisdom and Omnipotence. For, it cannot be supposed, that a being so diminutive as man, whose stature scarcely exceeds six feet who vanishes from the sight at the distance of a league whose whole habitation is invisible from, the nearest star whose powers of vision ar so- imperfect, and whose mental faculties are solimit- ted it cannot be supposed that man, who " dwells in tabernacles of clay, who is crushed bef re the moth," and chained down, by the force of gra- vitation, to the surface of a small planet, should be able to descry the utmost boundaries of the empire of Him who fills immensity, and dwells in " light unapproachable." That portion of his dominions, however which lies within the range of our view, presents such a scene of magni- ficence and grandeur, as must fill the mind of every reflecting person with astonishment and reverence, and constrain him to exclaim, " T-Jreat is our Lord, and of great power, his under- standing is infinite." " When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the slars which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindful of him!" " I have heard of thee by hearing of the ear ;" I have listened to subtle disquisitions on thy character and perfections, and have beer, but little affect- ed, " but now \>ie eye seeth thee ; wherefore I humble myseh, and repent in dust and ashes." In order to feel the full force of the impression made by such contemplations, the mind must pause at every step, in its excursions through the boundless regions of material existence : for it is not. by a mere attention to the figmcs and numbers by which the magnitudes of tht great bodies of the universe are expressed, th it we arrive at the most distinct and ample concep- tions of objects so grand and overwhelming. The mind, in its intellectual range, must dwell on every individual scene it contemplates, and on the various objects of which it is composed, 80 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. It must add scene to scene, magnitude to magnitude, and compare smaller objects with greater a range of mountains with the whole earth, the earth with the planet Jupiter, Jupiter with the sun, the sun with a thousand stars, a thousand stars with 80 millions, and 80 millions with all the boundless extent which lies beyond the limits of mortal vision ; and, at every step of this mental process, sufficient time must be allowed for the imagination to expatiate on the objects before it, till the ideas approximate, as near as possible, to the reality. In order to form a comprehensive conception of the extent of the terraqueous globe, the mind must dwell on an extensive landscape, and the. objects with which it is adorned ; it must endeavour to sur- vey the many thousands of diversified land- scapes which the earth exhibits the hills and plains, the lakes and rivers and mountains, which stretch in endless variety over its surface it must dive into the vast caverns of the ocean penetrate into the subterraneous regions of the globe, and wing its way amidst clouds and tempests, through the surrounding atmos- phere. It must next extend its flight through the most expansive regions of the solar system, realizing, in imagination, those magnificent scenes which can be described neither by the naked eye nor by the telescope, and comparing the extent of our sublunary world with the more magnificent globes that roll around us. Leav- ing the sun and all his attendant planets behind, till they have diminished to the size of a small twinkling star, it must next wing its way to the starry regions, and pass from one system of worlds to another, from one Nebulae* to another, from one region of Nebulae to another, till it ar- rive at the utmost boundaries of creation which human genius has explored. It must also en- deavovr to extend its flight beyond all that is visible by the best telescopes, and expatiate at large in that boundless expanse into which no human eye has yet penetrated, and which is, doubtless, replenished with other worlds, and systems, and firmaments, where the operations of infinite power and beneficence are displayed in endless variety, throughout the illimitable regions of space. Here, then, with reverence, let us pause, and wonder ! Over all this vast assemblage of material existence, God presides. Amidst the diversified objects and intelligences it contains, he is eter- nally and essentially present. By his unerring wisdom, all its complicated movements are di- rected. By his Almighty fiat, it emerged from nothing into existence, and is continually sup- x>rted from age to age. " HE SPAKE AHD IT WAS DONE ; HE COMMANDED AND IT STOOD . n " By the word of the Lord were the * For an account of the Nebula, see Ch. II. Art. iUronomy. heavens made, and all the host of them by the spirif of his mouth." What an astonishing display of Divine power is here exhibited to our view ! How far transcending all finite comprehension must bo the energies of Him who only " spake and it was done ;" who only gave the command, and this mighty system of the universe, with all its magnificence, started into being ! The infinite ease with which this vast fabric was reared, loads us irresistibly to conclude, that there are powers and energies in the Divine mind which have never yet been exerted, and which may unfold themselves to intelligent beings, in the production of still more astonishing and magnificent effects, during an endless succession of existence. That man who is not impressed with a venerable and overwhelming sense of the power and majesty of Jehovah, by such contemplations, must have a mind incapable of ardent religious emotions, and unqualified for appreciating the grandeur of that Being " whose kingdom ruleth over all." And shall such ennobling views be completely withheld from a Christian audience ? Shall it be considered as a matter of mere indifference, whether their views of the Creator's works be limited to the sphere of a few miles around them. or extended to ten thousand worlds '! whether they shall be left to view the operations of the Almighty throughout eternity past and to cornf space? whether they shall be left to entertain no higher idea of the Divine majesty than what may be due to one of the superior orders of the seraphim or cherubim, or whether they shall be directed to form the mest august concep- tions of the King eternal, immortal,and invisible, corresponding to the displays he has given of his glory in his visible works ? If it be not, both reason arid piety require, that such illustrations of the Divine perfections should occasionally be exhibited to their view. In the next place, the rapid motions of the great bodies of the universe, no less than their mag- nitudes, display the Infinite Power of the Creator. We can acquire accurate ideas of the relative velocities of moving bodies, only by comparing the motions with which we are familiar, with one another, and with those which lie beyond the general range of our minute inspection. We can acquire a pretty accurate conception of the velocity of a ship impelled by the wind of a steamboat of a race-hoi se of a bird darting through the air of an arrow flying from a bow and of the clouds when impelled by a stormy wind. The velocity of a ship is from 8 to 12 miles an hour of a race-horse, from 20 to 80 miles of a bird, say from 50 to 60 miles, and of the clouds, in a violent hurricane, from 80 to 100 miles an hour. The motion of a ball from OMNIPOTENCE OF THE DEITY. l iuaHed cannon is incomparably swifter then any of th motions now stated ; but of the velocity of such a body we have a less accurate idea ; be- cause, its rapidity being so great, we cannot trace it distinctly by the eye thtough its whole range, from the mouth of the cannon to the object against which it is impelled. By experiments, it has been found, that its rate of motion is from 480 to 800 miles in an hour, but it is retarded every moment, by the resistance of the air and the attraction of the earth. This velocity, however, great as it is, bears no sensible propor- tion to the rate of motion which is found among the celestial orbs. That such enormous masses of matter should move at all, is wonderful ; but when we consider the amazing velocity with which they are impelled, we are lost in astonish- ment. The planet Jupiter, in describing his circuit round the sun, moves at the rate of 29 .000 miles an hour. The planet Venus, one of the nearest and most brilliant of the celestial bodies, and about the same size as the earth, is found to move through the spaces of thetfirmament at the rate of 76,000 miles an hour, and the planet Mercury with a velocity of no less than 150,000 miles an hour, or 1750 miles in a minute a motion two hundred times swifter than that of a cannon ball. These velocities will appear still more asto- nishing, if we consider the magnitude of the bodies which are thus impelled, and the immense forces which are requisite to carry them along in their courses. However rapidly a ball flies from the mouth of a cannon, it is the flight of a body only a few inches in diameter ; but one of the bodies, whose motion has been just now stated, is eighty-nine thousand miles in dia- meter, and would comprehend, within its vast circumference, more than a thousand globes as large as the earth. Could we contemplate such motions, from a fixed point, at the distance of only a few hundreds of miles from the bodies thus impelled it would raise our admiration to its highest pitch, it would overwhelm all our faculties, and, in our present state, would pro- duce an impression of awe, and even of terror, beyond the power of language to express. The earth contains a mass of matter equal in weight to at least 2,200,000,000,000,000,000 ,000 tons, supposing its mean density to be only about 2 times greater than water. To move this pon- derous mass a single inch beyond its position, were it fixed in a quiescent state, would require a mechanical force almost beyond the power of numbers to express. The physical force of all the myriads of intelligences within the bounds of tha planetary system, though their powers were far superior to those of men, would bo altogether inadequate to the producti-n of such a motion. How much more must be the force requisite 1o impel it with a velocity one hundred and forty time* swifter than a cannon ball, or 68,000 miles an hour, the actual rate of its motion, in its course round the sun ! But what- ever degree of mechanical power would be re- quisite to produce such a stupendous effect, it would require a force one hundred and fifty times greater to impel the planet Jupiter, in his actual course through the heavens ! Even the planet Saturn, one of the slowest, moving bodies of our system, a globe 900 times larger than the earth, is impelled through the regions of space at the rate of 22,000 miles an hour, carrying along with him two stupendous rings, and seven moons larger than ours, through his whole course round the central luminary. Were we placed within a thousand miles of this stupendous globe, (a station which superior beings may occasionally occupy,) where its hemisphere, encompassed by its magnificent rings, would fill the whole extent of our vision the view of such a ponderous and glorious object, flying with such amazing velocity before us, would infinitely exceed every idea of grandeur we can derive from terrestrial scenes, and overwhelm our powers with asto- nishment and awe. Under such an emotion, we could only exclaim,"GREAT AND MARVELLOUS ARE THY WORKS, LORD GoD ALMIGHTY !" The ideas of strength and power implied in the impulsion of such enormous masses of matter through the illimitable tracts of space, are forced upon the mind with irresistible energy, far surpassing what any abstract propositions or reasonings can convey ; and constrain us to exclaim, " Who is a strong Lord like unto thee ! Thy right hand is become glorious in power ! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth !" If we consider the immense number of bodies thus impelled through the vast spaces of the uni- verse the rapidity with which the comets, when near the sun, are carried through the regions they traverse, if we consider the high probability, if not absolute certainty, that the sun, with all his attendant planets and comets, is impelled with a still greater degree of velocity towards some dis- tant region of space, or around some wide cir- cumference that all the thousands of systems of that nebulae to which the sun belongs, are mov- ing in a similar manner that all the nebulas in the heavens are moving around some magnificent central body in short, that all the suns and worlds in the universe are in rapid and perpetual motion, as constituent portions of one grand and boundless empire, of which Jehovah is the bv>- vereign and, if we consider still further, that aH these mighty movements have been going on, without intermission, during the course of many centuries, and some of them, perhaps, for my- riads of ages before the foundations of our world were laid it is impossible for the human mind to form any adequate idea of the stupendous forces which are in incessant operation thoughout the unlimited empire of the Almighty. To estimate such mechanical force even in a single instance, THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. Completely baffles the mathematician's skill, and sets the power of numbers at defiance. " Lan- guage," and figures, and comparisons, are " lost in wonders so sublime," and the mind, over- powered with such reflections, isirresisiibly led upwards, to search for the cause in that OMNI- POTENT BEING who upholds the pillars of the universe the thunder of whose power none can comprehend. While contemplating such august objects, how emphatic and impressive appears the language of the sacred oracles, " Canst thou by searching find out God ? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection ? Great things doth he, which we cannot comprehend. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the glory, and the majesty ; for all that is in heaven and earth is thine. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord, neither are there any works like unto thy works. Thou art great, and dost won- drous things ; thou art God alone. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the ever- lasting God, the Lord, the Creator of all things, fainteth not, neither is weary ? there is no search- ing of his understanding. Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him ; for, he spake, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast." Again, the immense spaces which surround the heavenly bodies, and in which they perform their revolutions, tend to expand our conceptions on this subject, and to illustrate the magnificence of the Divine operations. In whatever point of view we contemplate the scenery of the heavens, an idea of grandeur irresistibly bursts upon the mind ; and, if empty space can, in any sense, be considered as an object of sublimity, nothing can fill the mind with a grander idea of magni- tude and extension, than the amplitude of the scale on which planetary systems are construct- ed. Around the body of the sun there is allot- ted a cubical space, 3,600 millions of miles in diameter, in which eleven planetary globes re- rolve every one being separated from another, by intervals of many millions of miles. The space which surrounds the utmost limits of our system, extending in every direction, to the nearest fixed stars, is, at least, 40,000,000 000,000 miles in diameter ; and, it is highly probable, that every star is surrounded by a space of equal, or even of greater extent. A body impelled with the grea'est velocity which art can produce, a can- ncn ball, for instance would require twenty years to pass through the space that intervenes between the earth and the sun, and four millions, seven hundred thousand years, ere it could reach the nearest star. Though the stars seem to be crowded together in clusters, and some of them almost to touch one another, yet the distance be- *wcen any two stars which seem to make the nearest approach, is such as neither words can express, nor imagination fathom. These im- spaces are as unfathomable on the one hand, as the magnitude of the bodies which move in them, and their prodigious velocities, ar incomprehensible on the other ; and they form a part of those magnificent proportions according to which the fabric of universal nature was ar- ranged all corresponding to the majesty of that infinite and incomprehensible Being, " who measures the ocean in the hollow of his hand, and meteth out the heavens with a span." How wonderful that bodies at such prodigious distances should exert a mutual influence on one another ! that the moon at the distance of 240,GCO miles should raise tides in the ocean, and currents in the atmosphere ! that the sun, at. the distance of ninety-five millions of miles, should raise the va- pours, move the ocean, direct the course of the winds, fructify the earth, and distribute light, and heat, and colour, through every region ofthe globe ; yea, lhat.his attractive influence, and fructifying energy, should extend even to the planet Her- schel, at the distance of eighteen hundred millions of miles ! So that, in every point of view in which the universe is contemplated, we perceive the same grand scale of operation by which the Almighty has arranged the provinces of his uni- versal kingdom. We would now ask, in the name of all that is sacred, whether such magnificent manifestations of Deity ought to be considered as irrelevant in the business of religion, and whether they ought to be thrown completely into the shade, in the discussions which take place in religious topics, in " the assemblies of the saints ?" If religion consists in the intellectual apprehension of the perfections of God, and in the moral effects pro- duced by such an apprehension if all the rays of glory emitted by the luminaries of heaven, ai< only so many reflections of the grandeur of Him who dwells in light unapproachable if they have a tendency to assist, the mind informing its con- ceptions of that inerTable Being, whose uncreat- ed glory cannot be directly contemplated and if they are calculated to produce a sublime and awful impression on al 1 created intelligences. shall we rest contented with a less glorious idea of God than his works are calculated to afford ? Shall we disregard the works of the Lord, and contemn " the operations of his hands," and that, too, in the face of all the invitations on this subject, addressed to us from heaven ? For thus saith Jehovah : " Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who hath created these things, who brinseth forth their host by number. I. the Lord, who maketh all things, who stretcheth fonh the heavens alone, and spread abroad the earth by him* self; all their host have I commanded." And, if, at the command of God, we lift up our eyes to the " firmament of his power," surely we ought to do it, not with a brute, unconscious ga?.e," not with the vacant stare of a savage, not as if w were still enveloped with the mists and prejudices of the dark ages but as surrounded by that blaiv OMNIPOTENCE OF THE DEITY. f iight which modern science has thrown upon the scenery of the sky, in order that we may con- template, with fixed attention, all that enlighten- ed reason, aided by the nicest observations, has ascertained respecting the magnificence of the celestial orbs. To overlook the sublime disco- veries of moJern times, to despise them, or to call in question their reality, as some religionists have done, because they bring to our ears such astonishing reports of the " eternal power" and majesty of Jehovah is to act as if we were afraid lest the Deity should be represented as more grand and magnificent than he really is, and as if we would be better pleased to pay him a less share of homage and adoration than is due to his name. Perhaps some may be disposed to insinuate, that the views now stated are above the level of ordinary comprehension, and founded too much on scientific considerations, to be stated in detail to a common audience. To any in- sinuations of this kind, it may be replied, that such illustrations as those to which we have re- ferred, are more easily comprehended than many of those abstract discussions to which they are frequently accustomed ; since they are definite and tangible, being derived from those objects which strike the senses and the imagination. Any perso i of common understanding may be made to comprehend the leading ideas of exiend- ed space, magnitude, and motion, which have been stated above, provided the descriptions be sufficiently simple, clear, and well-defined ; and should they be at a loss to comprehend the prin- ciples on which the conclusions rest, or the mode by which the magnificence of the works of God has been ascertained, an occasional reference to such topics would excite them to inquiry and investigation, and to the exercise of their powers of observation and reasoning on such subjects which are too frequently directed to far less impor- tant objects. Thefollowing illustration, however, stands clear of every objection of this kind, and is level to ihe comprehension of every man of common sense : Either the earth moves round its axis once in twenty-four hours or, the sun, moon, planets, comets, stars, and the whole frame of the universe move -round the earth, in the same time. There is 10 alternative, or third opinion, that can be firmed on this point, tf the enrth revolve on its axis every 24 hours, to produce the alternate succession of day and night, the portions of its surface about the equator must move at a rale of more than a thousand miles an hour, since the earth is more than twenty-four thousand miles in circumference. This view of the fact, when attentively considered, fur- nishes & most sublime an! astonishing idea. That a globe of so vast dimensions, with all its load of mountains, continents, and oceans, com- prising within its circumference a mass of two hundred and sixty-four thousand million of cubi- cal miles, should whirl around with so amazing velocity, gives us a most august and impressive conception of the greatness of that Power which first set it in motion, and continues the rapid whirl from age to age ! Though the huge masses of the Alpine mountains were in a moment detached from their foundations, carried aloft through the regions of the air, and tossed into the Mediterranean sea, it would comey no idea of a force equal to that which is every moment ex- erted, if the earth revolve on its axis. But should the motion of our earth be called in ques- tion, or denied, the idea of force, or power, wil. be indefinitely increased. For, in this case, it must necessarily be admitted, that the heavens, with all the innumerable host of stars, have a diurnal motion around the globe ; which motion must be inconceivably more rapid than that of the earth, on the supposition of its motion. For, in proportion a- the celestial bodies are distant from the earth, in the same proportion would be the rapidity of their movements. The sun, 09 this supposition, would move at the rate of 414 000 miles in a minute ; the nearest stars, at the rate of fourteen hundred millions of miles in a second : and the most distant luminaries, with a degree of swiftness which no numbers could express.* Such velocities, too, would be the rate of motion, not merely of a single globe like the earth, but of all the ten thousand times ten thousand spacious globes that exist within the boundaries of creation. This view conveys an idea of power still more august and over- whelming than any of the views already stated, and we dare not presume to assert, that such a degree of physical force is beyond the limits of infinite perfection ; but on the supposition it existed, it would confound all our ideas of the wisdom and intelligence of the Divine mind, and would appear altoge her inconsistent with the character which the scripture gives us of the Deity as " the only wise God." For, it would exhibit a stupendou , system of means altogether disproportioned to Me end intended namely, to produce the alternate succession of day and night to the inhabitants of our globe, which is more beautifully and harmoniously effected by a simple rotation on its axis, as is the case with the other globes which compose the planetary system. Such considerations, however, show us, that, on whatever hypothesis, whether on the vulgar or the scientific, or in whatever other point of view, the frame of nature may be contemplated, the mind is irresistibly impressed with ideas of power, grandeur, and magnificence. And, there- fore, when an inquiring mind is directed to con- templa'e tht works of God, on any hypothesis it may choose, it has a tendency to rouse reflec- tion, and to stimulate the exercise of the moral and intellectual faculties, on objects which are worthy of the dignity of immortal minds. * See Appendix, No. l. THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. We may now be, in some measure, prepared to decide, whether i'lustraiions of the omnipo- tence of the Dei'y, derived from the system of the material world, or those vague arid metaphy- sical disquisitions which are generally given in theological systems, be most calculated to im- press the mind, and to inspire it with reverence and adoration. The following is a description, given of this attribute of God, by a well-known systematic writt r, who has generally been consi- dered as a judicious and orthodox divine : " God is almighty, Rev. i. 18, chap. iv. 8. This will evidently appear, in that, if he be infi- nite in all his other pt- rfections, he must be so in power: thus, if he be omniscient, he knows what is possible or expedient to be done ; and if he he an infinite sovereign, he wills whatever shall come to pass. Now this knowledge would be insigni- ficant, and his power inefficacious, were he not infinite in power, or almighty. Again, this might be argued from his justice, either in rewarding or punishing : for if he were not infinite in ^>ower, he could do neither of these, at least so far as to render him the object of that desire or fear, which is agreeable to the nature of these perfec- tions ; neither could infinite faithfulness accom- plish all the promises which he hath made, so as to excite that trust and dependence which is a part of religious worship ; nor could he say with- out limitation, as he does, / have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass ; 1 have purposed it, I will also do it ; Isa. xlvi. 11. But since power is visible in, and demonstrated by its effect, and infinite power by those effects which cannot be produced by a creature, we may observe the almighty power of God in all his works, both of nature and grace : thus his eternal power is un- derstood, as the apostle says, By the things that are made, Rom. i.20, not th.it there was an eter- nal production of things, bu the exerting this power in time proves it to I e infinite and truly divine ; for no creature can pi >duce the smallest particle of matter out of noth ng, much less fur- nish the various species of creatures with those endowments in which they excel one another, and set forth their Creator's glory. And the glory of his power is no less visible in the works ^of providence, whereby he upholds all things, disposes of them according to his pleasure, and brings about events which only he who has an almighty arm can effect." Ridgley's Body of Divinity, p. 39. This is the whole that Dr. Ridgley judges it necessary to state, in illustration of ihe attribute of Omnipotence, except what he says in relation toils operation " in the work of grace," in " the propagation and* success of the Gospel," &c. subjects, to which the idea of power, or physical energy, does not properly apply. Such, however, are the meager and abstract disquisitions gene- rally given bv most systematic writers. There is a continual play on the term " infinite," which to most minds conveys no idea at all, unless i 4 be associated wiih ample conceptions of motion, magnitude, and extension ; and it is constantly applied to subjects to which it was never intended to apply, such as ;< infinite faithfulness, infinite justice, infinite truth," &c. an application of the term which is never sanctioned by Scripture, and which has a tendency to introduce confusion into our conceptions of the perfections of God. Grant- ing that the statements and reasonings in such an extract as the above were unquestionable, yet what impression can they make upon the mind ? Would an ignorant person feel his conceptions of the Divinity much enlarged, or nis moral powers aroused, by such vague and general statements ? And, if not, it appears somewhat unaccountable, that those sources of illustration, which would convey the most ample and definite views of the " eternal power" and glory of God, should be studiously concealed from the view. Vague de- scriptions and general views of any object will never be effectual in awakening the attention, and arresting the faculties of the mind. The heart will always remain unimpressed; and the understanding will never be thoroughly excited in its exercise, unless the intellect have presented before it a well-defined and interesting object, and be enabled to survey it in its various aspects and this object must always have a relation to the material world, whether it be viewed in con- nexion with religion, or with any other subject. Thus I have endeavoured, in the preceding sketches, to present a few detached illustrations of the omnipotence and grandeur of the Deity, as displayed in the vast magnitude of ihe material universe the stupendous velocities of the celes- tial bodies and in the immeasurable regions of space which surround them, and in which their motions are performed. Such a magnificent spec- tacle as the fabric of the universe presents so majestic, God-like, and overwhelming, to beings who dwell " in tabernacles of clay" was surely never intended to be overlooked, or to be gazed at with indifference, by creatures endowed with reason and intelligence, and destined to an im- mortal existence. In forming a universe com- posed of so many immense systems and worlds, and replenished with such a variety of sensitive and intelligent existences, the" Creator doubtless intended that it should make a sublime and re- verential impression on the minds of all the intel- lectual beings to whom it might be displayed, and that it should convey some palpable idea of the infinite glories of his nature, in so far as material objects can be supposed to adumbrate the perfec- tionsofaspiritualand uncreated Essence. Dwell- ing in " light inaccessible" to mortals, ad fr.. ever veiled from the highest created being, b the pure spirituality and immensity of his natui OMNIPOTENCE OF THE DEITY. jjuwfft g no conceivable mode by which the in- fiwtut yrra^.deur of Deity cuuld be exhibited to finiu. .ntelligences, but through the medium of those magnificent operations which are inces- santly ffoing forward throughout the boundless regions of space. Concealed from the gaze of all he " principalities and powers" in heaven, in the unfaihomable depths of his Essence, he dis- plays his presence in the universe he has created, and the glory of his power, by launching magni- ficent worlds into existence, by adorning them with diversified splendours,by peopling them with Various ranks of intelligent existence, and by im- pelling them in their movements through the illi- mitable tracts of creation. It will readily be admitted by every enligh'en- ed Christian, that it must be a highly desirable attainment, to acquire the most glorious idea of the Divine Being which the limited capacity of our minds is capable of receiving. This is oneof the grand difficulties in religion. The idea of a Being purely IMMATERIAL, yet pervading in- finite space, and possessed of nosensible qualities, confounds and bewilders the human intellect, so that its conceptions, on the one hand, are apt to verge towards extravagancy, while, on the other, they are apt to degenerate into something ap- proaching to inanity. Mere abstract ideas and reasonings respecting infinity, eternity, and abso- lute perfection, however sublime we may con- ceive them to be, completely fail in arresting the understanding, and affecting the heart; our con- ceptions become vague, empty, and confused, for want of a material vehicle to give them order, sta- bility, and expansion. Something of the natu/e of vast extension, of splendid and variegated objects, and of mighty movements, is absolutely necessary, in order to convey to spirits dwelling in bodies of clay, a definite conception of the invisible glories of the Eternal Mind ; and, therefore, in the im- mense variety of material existence with which the universe is adorned, we find every requisite assistance of this kind to dir st prominent and obvious to the vulgar eye. Wisdom is that perfection of an intelligent agent, by which he is enabled to select and employ the most proper means in order to accomplish a good and important end. It includes the idea of knowledge or intelligence, but may be distinguish- ed from it. Knowledge is opposed to ignorance, wisdom is opposed to folly or error in conduct. As applied to God, it may be considered as com- prehending the operations of his Omniscience and benevolence, or, in other words, his know- ledge to discern, and his disposition to choose those means and ends which are calculatvd to pro- mote the order and the happiness of the universe. The Wisdom of God is, doubtless, displayed in every arrangement he has made throughout all the provinces of his immense and eternal king- dom, however far they may be removed from the sphere of human observation. But it is only in those parts of the system of nature which lie open to our particular investigation, that the traces of this perfection can be distinctly perceived. The Heavens declare the glory of God's Wisdom, as well as of his Power. The planetary system that portion of the heavens with which we are best acquainted displays both the magnificence and the skill of its Divine Author, in the magnitudes, distances, revolutions, proportions, and uses of the various globes of which it is composed, and if so THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. the diversified apparatus by which light and dark- ness are alternately distributed. The sun, an immense luminous world, by far the largest body in the system, is placed in the centre. No other position would have suited for an equable distri- bution of illumination and heat through the dif- ferent parts of the system. Around him, at dif- ferent distances, eleven primary planets revolve, accompanied wiih eighteen secondaries, or moons, all in majestic order and harmony, no one inter- rupting the movements of another, but invariably keeping the paths prescribed them, and perform- ing their revolutions in their appointed times. To all these revolving globes, the sun dispenses motion, light, heat, fertility, and other unceasing energies, far the comfort and happiness of their respective inhabitants without which, perpe- tual sterility, eternal winter, and eternal night, would reign over every region of our globe, and throughout surrounding worlds. The distance at which the heavenly bodies, particularly the sun, are placed from the earth, is a manifest evidence of Divine Wisdom. If the sun were much nearer us than he is at present, the earth, as now constituted, would be wasted and parched with excessive heat; the waters would be turned into vapour, and the rivers, seas, and oceans, would soon disappear, leaving no- thing behind them but frightful barren dells and gloomy caverns; vegetation would completely cease, and the tribes of animated nature languish and die. On the other hand, were the sun much farther distant than he now is, or were his bulk, or the influence of his rays, diminished one half of what they now are, the land and the ocean would soon become one frozen mass, and univer- sal desolation and sterility would overspread the fair face of nature, and, instead of a pleasant and comfortable abode, our globe would become a frightful desert, a state of misery and peipelual punishment.* But herein is the wisdom of God displayed, that he has formed the sun of such a de- terminate size, and placed it at such a convenient distance, as not to annoy, but to refresh and cheer us, and to enliven the soil with its genial influence ; so that we plainly perceive, to use the language of the prophet, that " He hath esta- blished the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding." It farms no objection to these remarks, that calo- ic< or the matter of hs.at, does not altogether depend upon the direct influence of the solar rays. The substance of caloric may be chiefly connected with the constitution of the globe we inhabit. But still, it is quite certain that the earth, as presently consti- tuted, would suffer effects most disastrous to sentient beings, were it removed much nearer to, or much fo-'her from the central luminary. Those planets winch are removed several hundreds of millions of miles farther from the sun than our globe, may pos- Bibly experience a degree of heat much greater then ours ; but, in this case, the constitution of the solid parts of these globes, and of their surrounding at- mospheres, must be very different from what ob- tains 111 the physical arrangements of our globe. The rotation of the several planetary glrbei around their axis, to produce the alternate . uc- cession of day arid night, strikingly demonstr >.ti the wisdom and benevolence of their great Au- thor. Were the earth and the other planetary worlds destitute of a diurnal motion, only one half of their surfaces could be inhabited, and the other half would remain a dark and cheerless desert. The sun woud be the only heavenly orb which would be recognized by the inhabitants of each respective world ,as existing in the un. verse; and that scene of grandeur which night unfolds in the boundless expanse of the sky, would be for ever veiled from iheir view. For, it appears to be one grand design of the Creator, in giving these bodies a diurnal motion, not only to cheer their inhabitants with light and warmth, arid the gay colouring produced by the solar rays, but also to open to them a prospect of other portions of his vast dominions, which are dispersed in end- less variety throughout the illimitable regions of space ; in order that they may acquire a more sublime impression of the glory of his kingdom, and of his eiernal Power and Godhead. But, were perpetual day to irradiate the planets, it would throw an eternal and impenetrable veil over the glories of the sky, behind which, the magnificent operations of Jehovah's power would be, in a great measure, concealed. It is this circumstance which we should consider as the principal reason why a rotatory motion has been impressed on the planetary globes; and not merely that a curtain of darkness might be thrown around their inhabitants, during the re- pose of sleep, as in the world in which we dwell. For in some of the other planetary worlds be- longing to our system, the intelligent beings with which they are peopled may stand in no need of that nocturnal repose which is necessary for man ; their physical poweis may be incapable of being impaired, arid their mental energies may be in perpetual exercise. And in some of those bodies which are surrounded with an assemblage of rings and moons, as the planet Saturn, the di- versified grandeur of their celestial phenomena, in the absence of the sun, may present a scene of contempation and enjoyment, far more interest- ing than all the splendours of their noon-day. Besides, had the planets no motion round their axis, and were both their hemispheres supposed to be peopled with inhabitants, their physical state and enjoyments would be as opposite to each other, as if they lived under the government of two distinct independent beings. While the one class was basking under the splendours of perpe- tual day, the other would be involved in all the horrors of an everlasting night. While the one hemisphere would be parched with excessive heat, the other would be bound in the fetters of eternal ice ; and, in such a globe as ours, the root ion of the tides, the ascent of the vapours, the current* of the atmcsphere, the course of the winds, Ui# WISDOM OF THE DEITY. benign influences of the rains and dews, and a thousand other movements which produce so .nany salutary and beneficial effects, \vtnikl be completely deranged. Hence we find that in all the planetary bodies on which observations can conveniently be made, a rotatory motion actually exists, in the secondary, as well as in the pri- mary planets, and even in the sun himself, the centre, and the mover of the whole : in which ar- rangement of the Almighty Creator, the evidences of wisdom and design are strikingly apparent. This amazing scene of Divine workmanship and skill, which the planetary system exhibits, we nave reason to believe, is multiplied, and diversi- fied, to an indefinite extent, throughout all the olher systems of creation, displaying to ihe intelligences of every region, " the manifold wisdom of God." For there can be no question, that every star we now behold, either by the naked eye, or by the help of a telescope, is the centre of a system of planetary worlds, where the agency of God, and his unsearchable wisdom, may be endlessly varied, and, perhaps, more strikingly displayed than even in the system to which we belong. These vast globes of light could never have been designed merely to shed a few glimmering rays on our far-distant world ; for the ten-thousandth part of them has never yet been seen by the in- habitants of the earth, since the Mosaic creation, except by a few astronomers of the past and the present age ; and the light of many of them, in all probability, has never yet reached us ; and perhaps never will, til! the period of " the con- summation of all terreslrial things." They were not made in vain ; for such a supposition would ne inconsistent with every idea we can form of ;.he attributes of a Being of infinite perfection. They were not. intended merely to diversify the voids of infinite space with a useless splendour, which has no relation to intellectual natures ; fot this would give us a most distorted and inconsist- ent idea of the character of Him who is " the only-wise God ;" and we are told,by an authority which cannot be questioned, that ' by his wis- dom he made the heavens, and stretched them out by his understanding." The only rational conclusion, therefore, which can be deduced, is that they are destined to distribute illumination and splendour, vivifying influence, and happiness, among incalculable numbers of intelligent beings, of various degrees of physical, moral, and intel- lectual excellence. And, wherever the Creator has exerted his Almighty energies in the produc- tion of sensitive and intellectual natures, we may rest assured, that there also his infinite wisdom und intelligence, in an endless variety of arrange- ments, contrivances, and adaptations, are unceas- ingly displayed. But a p ter all, wh itever evidences of contri- vance and design the celestial globes may ex- hibit, it is not in the heavens that the most striking displays of Divine wisdom can be traced by the inhabitants of our world. It is only a few general relations and adaptations that can be distinctly perceived amon^ the orbs of the firma- ment ; though, in so far as we are able to trace the purposes which they subserve, the marks of beauty, order, and design are uniformly ap- parent. But we are placed at too great a dis. tance from the orbs of heaven, to be able to investigate the particular arrangements which enter into the physical and moral economy of tho celestial worlds. Were we transported to the surface of the planet Jupiter, and had an opportunity of surveying, at leisure, the regions of that vast globe, and the tribes of sensitive and intellectual existence which compose its po- pulation of contemplating the relations of its moons to the pleasure and comfort of its inha- bitants the constitution of its atmosphere as to its reflective and refractive powers, in producing a degree of illumination to compensate for the great distance of that planet from ihe sun its adaptation to the functions of animal life the construction of the visual organs of its inha- bitants, and the degree of sensibility they pos- sess corresponding to the quantity of light re- ceived from the sun the temperature of the surface and atmosphere of this globe correspond- ing to its distance from the central source of heat, and to the physical constitution of sensitive beings in short, could we investigate ihe re- lations which inanimate nature, in all its va- rieties and sublimities, bears to the necessities and the happiness of the animated existences that traverse its different regions, we should, doubtless, behold a scene of Divine Wisdom and intelligence, far more admirable and astonishing that even that which is exhibited in our sublu- nary world. But since it is impossible for us to investigate the economy of other worlds, while we are chained down to this terrestrial sphere, we must direct our attention to those arrange- ments and contrivances in the constitution of out own globe, which lie open to our particular in- spection, in order to perceive more distinctly the benevolent designs of Him " in whom we live and move, and have our being." And here an attentive observer will find, in almost every object, when minutely examined, a display of goodness and intelligence, which will constrain him to exclaim, " Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God." Wisdom, considered as consisting in con- trivance, or the selection of the most proper means in order to accomplish an important end, may be exemplified and illustra'ed in a variety of familiar objects in the scene of nature. The earth on which we Ircad was evidently intended by the Creator to support man and other animals, along with their habitations, and to fur- nish those vegetable productions which a-e ne- cessary for their subsistence ; and, accordingly, he has given it that exact degree of con.sistencjr 82 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. which is requisite c cr these purposes. Were it much harder than it now is ; were it, for exam- ple, as dense as a rock, it would be incapable of cultivation, and vegetables could not be produced from its surface. Were it softer, it would be in- sufficient to support us, and we should sink at every step, like a person walking in a quagmire. Had this circumstance not been attended to in its formation, the earth would have been rendered useless as a habitable world, for all those animated beings which now traverse its > urface. The ex- act adjus'ment of the solid parts of our globe to the nature and necessities of the beings which inhabit it, is, therefore, an instance and an evi- dence of Wisdom. The diversity of surface which it every where presents, in the mountains and vales with which it is variegated, indicates the same benevolent contrivance and design. If the earth were di- vested of its mountains, aid its surface every where uniformly smooth, there would be no rivers, springs, or fountains ; for water can flow only from a higher to a lower place ; the vegetable tribes would droop and languish ; man and other animals would be deprived of what is necessary for their existence and comfort ; we should be destitute of many useful stones, minerals, plants, and trees, which are now produced on the sur- face, and in the interior of mountains ; the sea itself nould become a stagnant marsh, or overflow the 'and ; and the whole surface of nature in our ter- restrial sphere would present an unvaried scene of dull uniformity. Those picturesque and sub- iime scenes which fire the imagination of the poet, and which render mountainous districts so pleasing to the philosophic traveller, would be completely withdrawn ; and all around, when com- pared with such diversified landscapes, would ap- pear as fatiguing to the eye as the vast solitudes of the Arabian deserts, or the dull monotony of the ocean. But. in consequence of the admirable distribution of hills and mountains over the sur- face of our globe, a variety of useful and orna- mental effects is produced. Their lofty summits are destined by providence to arrest the vapours which float in the regions of the air ; their inter- nal cavities form so many spacious basins for the reception of waters distilled from the clouds ; they are the original sources of springs and rivers, which water and fertilize the earth ; they form immense magazines, in which are deposited stones, metals, and minerals, which are of so essential service in the arts that promote the com- fort of human life ; they serve for the production of a vast variety of herbs and trees ; they arrest the progress of storms and tempests ; they afford shelter and entertainment to various animals which minister to the wants of mankind : in a word, they adorn and embellish the face of na tore they form thousands of sublime and beau- iful landscapes, and afford from their summits ne most delightful prospects of the plains below. All these circumstances demonstrate the consuni- mate wisdom of the Great Architect (if nature, and lead us to conclude, that mountains, so tar from being rude excrescences of nature, as some have asserted, form an essential part in the con- stitution, net only of our globe, but of all habita- ble worlds. And this conclusion is confirmed, so far as our observation extends, with regard to lh moon, and several of the planetary bodies which belong to our system, whose surfaces are found to be diversified by sublime ramifications of mountain scenery ; which circumstance" forms one collateral proof, among many others. that they are the abodes of sentient and intellectual beings. ' Again, the colouring which is spread over the face of nature indicates the wisdom of the Deity. It is essential to the present mode of our exist- ence, and it was evidently intended by the Creator, that we should be enabled easily to recognize the forms and properties of the various objects with which we are surrounded. But were the objects of nature destitute of colour, or were the same unvaried hue spread over the face of creation, we should be destitute of all tht entertainments of vision, and be at a loss to dis- tinguish one object from another. We should be unable to distinguish rugged precipices from fruitful hills ; naked rocks from human habita- tions ; the trees from the hills that bear them, and the tilled from the untilled lands. " We should hesitate to pronounce whether an adja- cent enclosure contained a piece of pasturage, a plot of arable land, or a field of corn ; and it would require a little journey, and a minute in- vestigation, to determine such a point. We could not determine whether the first person we met were a solder in his regimentals, or a swain in his Sunday suit ; a bride in her ornaments, or a widow in her weeds." Such would have been the aspect of nature, and such the incon- veniences to which we should have been subject- ed, had God allowed us light, without the dis- tinction of colours. We could have distinguished objects only by intricate trains of reasoning, and by circumstances of time, place, and relative position. And, to what delays and perplexities should we have been reduced, had we been obliged every moment to distinguish one thing from another by reasoning ! Our whole life must then have been employed rather in study than in action ; and, after all, we must have re- mained in eternal uncertainty as to many things which are now quite obvious to every one as soon as he opens his eyes. We could neither have communicated our thoughts by writing, nor have derived instruction from others through the medium of books : so that we should now have been almost as ignorant of the transactions of past ages, as we are of the events which are passing in the planetary worlds ; and, conse- quently, we could never have enjoyed a written revelation from heaven, nor any other infallible WISDOM OF THE DEITY. guide to direct us in the path to happiness, is the Almighty had not distinguished the rays of light, and'painted the objects around us with a diversityof colours, so essentially connected are the mini-test, and the most magnificent works of Deity. Put now, in the present constitution of things, colour characterizes the class to which every individua 1 belongs, and indicates, upon the first inspection, its respective quality. Every object wears its peculiar livery, and has a dis- tinguishing mark by which it is characterized. The different hues which are spread over the scenery of the world, are also highly ornamental to the face of nature, and afford a variety of pleasures to the ej e and the imagination. It is this circumstance which adds a charm to the fields, the valleys, and the hills, the lofty moun- tain, the winding river, and the expansive lake ; and which gives a splendour and sublimity to the capacious vault of heaven. Colour is, therefore, an essential requisite to every world inhabited by sensitive beings ; and we know, that provision has been made for diffusing it throughout all the globes which may exist in the distant regions which our telescopes have penetrated ; for the light which radiates from the most distant stars is capable of being separated into the prismatic colours, similar to those which are produced by the solar rays; which furnishes a presumptive proof that thay are intended to accomplish de- signs in their respective spheres analogous to those which light subserves in our terrestrial habitation or, in other words, that they are des- tined to convey to the minds of sentient beings, impressions of light and colour, and consequent- ly, beings susceptible of such impressions must reside within the sphere, or more immediate influence of these far-distant orbs. The same benevolent design is apparent in the general colour which prevails throughout the scene of sublunary nature. Had the fields been clothed with hues of a deep red, or a brilliant white, the eye would have been dazzled with the splendour of their aspect. Had a dark-blue or a black colour generally prevailed, it would have cast a universal gloom over the face of nature. But an agreeable green holds the medium between these two extremes, equally remote from a dismal gloom and excessive splendour, and bears such a relation to the structure of the eye, that it refreshes, in- stead of tiring it, and supports, instead of dimi- nishing its force. At the same time, though one general colour prevails over the landscape of the earth, it is diversified by an admirable variety of shades, so that every individual object in the vegetable world can be accurately distinguished from another ; thi?s producing a beautiful and variegated appearance over the whole scenery of nature. ." Who sees not in all these things that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this 7" If from the earth we turn our attention to the waters, we shall perceive simitar traces (if the exquisite wisdom and skill of the Author of natiu e. Water is one of the most essential elementary parts in the constitution of our globe, without which the various tribes of beings which now people it could not exist. It supplies a necessary beverage to man, and to all the animals that peo- ple the earth and the air. It forms a solvent for a great variety of solid bodies ; it is the element in which an infinitude of organized beings pass their existence ; it acts an important part in con- veying life and nourishment to all the tribes of the vegetable kingdom, and gives salubrity to the atmospherical regions. Collected in immense masses in the basins of the sea, it serves as a vehicle for ships, and as a medium of communi cation between people of the most distant lanns. Carried along with a progressive motion over the beds of streams and of rivers, it gives a brisk im- pulse to the air, and prevents the unwholesome stagnation of vapours ; it receives the filth of po- pulous cities, and rids them of a thousand nui sances. By its impulsion it becomes the move! of a multitude of machines ; and, when rarefied into steam, it is transformed into one of the most powerful and useful agents under the dominion of man. All which beneficial effects entirely depend on the exact degree of density, or specific gravity, which the Creator has given to its constituent parts. Had it been much more rarified than it is, it would have been altogether unfit to answer the purposes now specified ; the whole face of the earth would have been a dry and barren waste; vegetable nature could not have been nourished our floating edifices could not have been support- ed ; the lightest bodies would have sunk, and all regular intercourse with distant nations would have been prevented. On the other hand, had its parts been much denser than they are ; for exam- ple, had they been of the consistency of a thin jelly, similar disastrous effects would have in- evitably followed ; no ships could have ploughed the ocean ; no refreshing beverage would have been supplied to the animal tribes ; the absorbent vessels of trees, herbs, and flowers would have been unable to imbibe, the moisture requisite for their nourishment ; and we should thus have been deprived of all the beneficial effects we now derive from the use of that liquid element, and of all the diversified scenery of the vegetable world. But the configuration and consistency of its parts are so nicely adjusted to the constitution of the other elements, and to the wants of the sensitive and vegetable tribes, as exactly to subserve the ends intended in the system of nature. Water has been ascertained to be a compound body formed by the union of two different kinds of air oxygen and hydrogen. It has the pro- perty of becoming, in certain cases, much lighter than air ; though, in its natural liquid state, it is 800 times heavier than that fluid : and has also THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. the properly of afterwards resuming its natural weight. Were it not for this property, evapora- tion could not be, produced ; and, consequently, no clouds, rain, nor dew, could be formed, to water and fertilize ihe different regions of the earth. But, in consequence of this wonderful property, the ocean becomes an inexhaustible cistern to our world. From iis expansive surface are exhaled those vapours which supply the rivers, and nourish the vegeiable productions of every land. " The air and the sun," says an elegant writer, " con- ititute* the mighty engine which works without intermission !o raise the liquid treasure ; while the clouds serve as so many aqueducts to convey them along (he atmosphere, and distribute them, at seasonable periods, and in regular proportions, through all the regions of the globe." Notwithstanding the properties now sta f ed, motion was still requisite, to ensure all the advan- tages we now derive from the liquid element. Had the whole mass of waters been in a stag- nant state, a thousand inconveniences and dis- astrous consequences would have inevitably en- sued. But the All-wise Creator has impressed upon its various masses a circulating motion, which preserves its purity, and widely extends its beneficial influence. The rills pour their liquid stores into the rivers; the rivers roll their watery treasures into the ocean ; the waters of the ocean, by alibratory motion, roll backwards and forwards every twelve hours, and, by means of currents, and thu force of winds, are kept in constant agitation. By the solar heat, a portion of these waters is carried up into the atmosphere, and, in the form of clouds, is conveyed by the winds over various regions ; till, at last, it de- scends in rain and dew, to supply the springs " which run among the hills." So that there is a constant motion and circulation of the watery element, that it may serve as an agent for carry- ing forward the various processes of nature, and for ministering to the wants of man and beast. In fine, were the waters in a state of perpe- tual stagnation, the filth of populous cities would be accumulated to a most unwholesome degree ; the air would be filled with putrid exhalations ; and the vegetable tribes would languish and die. Were they deprived of the property of being evaporated, (in which state they occupy a space 1400 times greater than in their liquid state,) rain and dew could never be produced, and the earth would be turned into " a dry and parched wilderness ;" neither grass nor corn could be sufficiently dried to lay tip for use ; our clothes, when washed, could never be dried ; and a variety of common operations, which now conduce to our convenience and comfort, could never be carried on. But the infinite wisdom of the Creator, foreseeing all the effects which can possibly arise from these principles of nature, has effectually provided against such disasters, by arranging all things, in number, weight ind measure, to subserve the beneficial ends for which they were ordained. " He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth, he sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field ; the wild asses quench theii thirst. By them the fowls of heaven are refreshed, which sing among the branches. He watereth the hills from his chambers, and the earth is sa- tisfied with the the fruit of his works." Let us now attend to the atmosphere, in the con- stitution t)f which the wisdom ofGod is no less con- spiruous than in the other departments of nature. The atmosphere is one of the most esseatial appendages to the globe we inhabit, and exhibits a most striking scene of Divine skill and omni- potence. The term atmosphere is applied to the whole mass of fluids, consisting of air, vapours, electric fluid, and other matters, which surround the earth to a certain height. This mass of fluid matter gravitates to the earth, revolves with it in its diurnal rotation, and is carried along with it in its course round the sun every year. It has been computed to extend about 45 miles above the earth's surface, and it "presses on the earth with a force proportioned to its height and density. From experiments made by the ba- rometer, it has been ascertained, that it presses with a weight of about 15 pounds on every square inch of the earth's surface ; and, therefore, its pressure on the body of a middle-sized man, is equal to about 32.000 fbs. or 14 tons avoirdupois, a pressure which would be insupportable, and even fatal, were it not equal in every part, and counterbalanced by the spring of the air within us. The pressure of the whole atmosphere up- on the earth, is computed to be equivalent to that of a globe of lead 60 miles in diameter, or a bout 5,000,000,000 ,000,000 tons; that is, fhe whole mass of air which surrounds the globe, compresses the earth with a force or power equal to that of five thousand millions of millions of tons. * This amazing pressure is however, essentially necessary for the preservation of the present constitution of our globe, and of the ani- mated beings which dwell on its surface. It prevents the hat of the sun from converting water, and all other fluids on the face of the earth, into vapour ; and preserves the vessels of all orga- nized beings in due tone and vigour. Were the atmospherical pressure entirely removed, the elastic fluids contained in the finer vessels of men and other animals, would inevitably burst them, and life would become extinct ;t and most See Appendix, No. II. t The necessity of the atmospherical pressure, for the comfort and preservation of animal life, might be illustrated by the effects experienced by those who have ascended to the summits of very high mountains, or who have been carrie'' to a great height above the surface of the cart* In ballooni WISDOM OP THE DEITY. of the substances on the face of the earth, par- ticularly liquids, would be dissipated into vapour. The atmosphere is now ascertained to be a compound substance, formed of two very differ- ent ingredients, termed pxy%en and nitrogen gas. Of 100 measures o/ atmospheric air, 21 are oxygen, and 79 nitrogen. The one, namely, oxygen, is the principle of combustion, and the vehicle of heat, and is absolutely necessc-y for the support of animal life, and is the most pow- erful and energetic agent in nature. The other is altogether incapable of supporting either flame or animal life. Were we to breathe oxygen air, without any mixture or alloy, our animal spirits would be raised, and the fluids in our bodies would circulate with greater rapidity ; but we should soon infallibly perish by the rapid and unnatural accumulation of heat in the animal frame. If the nitrogen were extracted from the air, and the whole atmosphere contained nothing but oxygen, or vital air, combustion would not proceed in that gradual manner which it now does, but with the most dreadful and irresistible rapidity: not only wood and coals, and other substances now used for fuel, but even stones, iron, and other metallic substances, would blaze with a rapidity which would carry destruction through the whole expanse, of nature. If even the proportions of the two airs were materially altered, a variety of pernicious effects would in- stantly be produced. If the oxygen were less in quantity then it now is, fire would lose its strength, candles would not diffuse a sufficient light, and animals would perform their vital func- tions with the utmost difficulty and pain. On the other hand, ware the nitrogen diminished, and the oxygen increased, the air taken in by re- spiration would be more stimulant, and the cir- culation of the animal fluids would become ac- celerated ; but the tone of the vessels thus sti- mulated to increased action would be destroyed by too great an excitement, and the body would inevitably waste and decay. Again, were the oxygen eomp'ete'.y extracted from the a'mosphere, anil nothing but. nitrogen remained, fire and flame would be extinguished, and instant destruction would be carried throughout all the departments of vegetable and animated nature. For a lighted taper will not burn for a single moment in nitro- Acosta, in his relation of a journey among the moun- tains of Peru, states, that " he and his companions were surprised with such extreme pangs of strain- in? and vomitine, not without casting up of blood too, and with so violent a distemper, 'hat they would undoubtedly have died had they remained two or three hours lonser in that elevated si',.iation." Count Zambeccari, and his companions, who ascended in a balloon, on the 7th of November, 1783, to a great heiaht, found their hands and feet so swelled, that it was necessary for a surgeon to make incisions In the skin. In both the cases now stated, the per- sons ascended to so great a height that the pressure of the atmosphere was not sufficient to counter- balance the pressure of the fluids of the body. 35 gen gas, and if an animal be plunged into it. it is instantly suffocated. Again, not only the extraction of any or.eof the component parts of the atmosphere, or th alteration of their respective proportions, but even the slightest increase or diminution of their ape- c \fic gravity, would be attended with the most disastrous effects. The nitrogen is found to be a little lighter than common air, which enables it to rise towards the higher regions of the atmo- sphere. In breathing, the air which is jvolved from the lungs, at every expiration, consists chiefly of nitrogen, which is entirely unfit to be breathed again, and therefore rises above our heads before the next inspiration. Now, had nitrogen, instead of being a little lighter, been a slight degree heavier than common air, or of the same specific gravity, it would have accumulated on the surface of the earth, and particularly in our apartments, to such a degree as to have pro- duced diseases, pestilence, and death, in rapid succession. But being a little lighter than the- surrounding air, it flies upwards, and we never breathe it again, till it enters inio new and salu- tary combinations. Such is the benevolent skill which the Author of Nature has displayed, for promoting the comfort and preservation of every thing that lives.* Farther, were the air coloured, or were its par- ticles much larger than they are, we could never obtain a distinct view of any other object. The exhalations which rise from the earth, being rendered visible, would disfigure the rich land- scape of the universe, and render life disagreeable. But the Almighty, by rendering the air invisible, has enabled us not only to take a delightful and distinct survey of the objects that surround us, but has veiled from our view the gross humours inces- santly perspired from animal bodies, the filih ex- haled from kitchens, streets, and sewers, and every other object that would excite disgust. Again, were the different portions of the atmosphere com- pletely stationary, and not susceptible of agitation, The necessity of atmospherical air for the sup- port of life, was strikingly exemplified in the fate of the unhappy men who died in the Black -hole of Calcutta. On the 20th of June, 1756, about 8 o'clock in the evening, HO men were forced, at the point of the bayonet, into a dungeon only 18 feet square. They had been but a few minutes confined in this infernal prison, before every one fell into a per- spiration so profuse, that no idea can be formed of it. This brought on a raging thirst, the most difficult respiration, and an outrageous delirium. Such was the horror of their situation, that every insult that could be devised against the guard without, and all the opprobrious names that the Viceroy and his officers could be loaded with, were repeated, to pro- voke the guard to tire upon them, and terminate their sufferings. Before II o'clock the same evening, one- third of the men were dead; and before 6 next morning, only 23 came out alive, but most of them in a high putrid fever. All these dreadful effects were occasioned by the want of atmospheric air, and by their breathing a superabundant quantity of the- nitrogen emitted from their lungs. 86 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. all nature would soon be thrown into confu- sion. The vapours which are exhaled from the sea by the heat of the sun would be suspended, and remain for ever fixed over those places from whence they arose. For want of this agitation of the air, which now scatters and disperses the clouds over every region, the sun would con- stantly scorch some districts, and be for ever hid from others ; the balance of nature would be de- stroyed ; navigation would be useless, and we could no longer enjoy the productions of different cli- mates. In fine, were the atmosphere capable of being frozen, or converted into a solid mass, as all other fluids are, (and we know no reason why it should not be subject to congelation, but the will ofthe Creator,) the lives of every animal in the air, the waters, and the earth, would, in a few moments, be completely extinguished. But the admirable adjustment of every circumstance, in relation to this useful element, produces all the beneficial effects which we now experience, and strikingly demonstrates, that the intelligent Con- triver of all things is " wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." From the instances now stated, we may plainly perceive, that if the Almighty had not a particular regard to the happiness of his intelligent offspring, and to the comfort of every animated existence ; or, if he wished to inflict summary punishment on a wicked world, he could easily effect, by a very slight change in the constitution of the at- mosphere, the entire destruction of the human race, and the entire conflagration of the great globe they inhabit, throughout all its elementary regions. He has only to extract one of its con- stituent parts, and the grand catastrophe is at once accomplished. With what a striking pro- priety and emphasis, then, do the inspired wri- ters declare, that, " In Him we live, and move, and have our being ;" and that " in His haTid is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind !" A great variety of other admirable properties is possessed by the atmosphere, of which I shall briefly notice only the following : It is the ve- hicle of smells, by which we become acquainted with the qualities of the food which is set before us, and learn to avoid those places which are damp, unwholesome, and dangerous. It is the medium of sounds, by means of which knowledge is conveyed to our minds. Its undulations, like so many couriers, run for ever backwards and forwards, to convey our thoughts to others, and theirs to us; and to bring news*of transactions which frequently occur at a considerable distance. A few strokes on a large bell, through the minis- tration ofthe air, will convey signals of distress, or of joy, in a quarter of a minute, to the popula- tion of a city containing a hundred thousand in- habitants. So that the air may be considered an the conveyer ofthe thoughts of mankind, which are the cement of society. It transmits to our ear all the harmonies of music, and expresses every passion of the soul: it swells the notes ofthe nightingale, and distributes alike to every car the pleasures which arise from the harmonious sounds of a concert. It produces the blue colour ofthe sky, and is the cause ofthe morning and evening twi- light, by its property of bending the ravs of light, and reflecting them in all directions. It forms an essential requisite for carrying on all the pro- cesses of the vegetable kingdom, and serves for the production of clouds, rain, and dew, which nourish and fertilize the earth. In short, it would be impossible to enumerate all the advantages we derive from this noble appendage to our world. Were the earlh divested of its atmosphere, or were only two or three of its properties changed or destroyed, it would be left altogether unfit for the habitation of sentient beings. Were it di- vested of its undulating quality, we should be de- prived of all the advantages of speech and con- versation of all the melody ofthe feathered song- sters, and of all the pleasures of music ; and, like the deaf and dumb, we could have no power oJ communicating our thoughts but by visible signs. Were it deprived of its reflective powers, the sun would appear in one part of the sky of a daz- zling brightness, while all around would appear as dark as midnight, and the stars would be visible at noon-day. Were it deprived of its refractive powers, instead of the gradual approach of the day and the night which we now experience, at sunrise, we should be transported all at once from midnight darkness to the splendour of noon-day and, at sunset, should make a sudden transitior. from the splendours of day to all the horrors of midnight, which would bewilder the traveller in his journey, and strike the creation with amaze- ment. In fine, were the oxygen of the atmos- phere completely extracted, destruction would seize on all the tribes ofthe living world, through- out every region of earth, air, and sea. Omitting at present the consideration of an in- definite variety of other particulars, which suggest themselves on this subject, I shall just notice one circumstance more, which has a relation both to the waters and to the atmosphere. It is a well- known law of nature, that all bodies are expanded by heat, and contracted by cold. There is only one exception to this law which exists in the economy of our globe, and that is, the expansion of water, in the act of freezing. While the parts of every other body are reduced in bulk, and their specific gravity increased by the appli- cation of cold ; water, on the contrary, when congealed into ice, is increased in bulk, and be- comes of a less specific gravity than the surround- ing water, and, therefore, swims upon its surface. Now, had the case been otherwise : had water, when deprived of a portion of its heat, followed the general law of nature, and, like all othet WISDOM OF THE DEITY. 37 bodies, become specifically heavier than it was before, the present constitution of nature would have been materially deranged, and many of our present comforts, and even our very existence, would have been endangered. At whatever time the temperature of the atmosphere became reduced to 32 of the common thermometer, or to what is called the freezing point, the water on the surface of our rivers and lakes would have been convert- ed into a layer of ice ; this layer would have sunk to the bottom as it froze ; another layer of ice would have been immediately produced, which would also have sunk to the former layer, and so on in succession, till, in the course of time, all our riiers from the surface to the bottom, and every other portion of water, capable of being frozen, would have been converted into solid masses of ice, which all the heat of summer could never have melted. We should have been deprived of most of the advantages we now derive from the liquid element, and, in a short time, the face of nature would have been transformed into a frozen chaos. But in the existing constitution of things, all such dismal effects are prevented, in con- sequence of the Creator having subjected the waters to a law contrary to that of other fluids, by means of which the frozen water swims upon the surface, and prevents the cold from pene- trating to any great depth in the subjacent fluid ; and when the heat of the atmosphere is increased, is exposed to its genial influence, and is quickly changed into its former liquid state. How ad- mirably, then, does this exception to the general law of nature display the infinite intelligence of the Great Contriver of all things, and his providential care for the comfort of his creatures, when he arranged and established the economy of nature! Variety of Nature. As a striking evidence of Divine Intelligence, we may next consider the immense variety which the Creator has introduced into every department of the material loorld. In every region on the surface of the globe, an endless multiplicity of objects, all differing from one another in shape, colour, and motion, present themselves to the view of the beholder Moun- tains covered with forests, hills clothed wiu. /er- dure, spacious plains adorned with vineyards, orchards, and waving grain : naked rocks, abrupt precipices, extended vales, deep dells, meandering rivers, roaring cataracts, brooks and rills ; lakes and gulfs, bays and promontories, seas and oceans, caverns and grottoes meet the eye of the student of Nature, in every country, with a variety which is at once beautiful and majestic. Nothing can exceed the variety of the vegetable kingdom, which pervades all climates, and almost every portion of the dry land, and of the bed of the ocean. The immense collections of Natural History which are to be seen in the Museum at Paris, show, that botanists are already acquainted witii nearly fifty-six thousand different species of plants.* And yet, it is probable, that these form but a very small portion of what actually exist, and that several hundreds of thousands of spe- cies remain to be explored by the industry of future ages. For, by far the greater part of the vegetable world still remains to be surveyed by the scientific botanist. Of the numerous tribes of vegetable nature which flourish in the inte- rior of Africa and America, in the immense islands of New Holland, New Guinea, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Ceylon, Madagascar, and Japan ; in the vast regions of Tartary, Thibet, Siberia, and the Burrnan empire ; in the Philip- pines, the Moluccas, the Ladronas, the Caroli- nas, the Marquesas, the Society, the Georgian, and in thousands of other islands which are scat- tered over the Indian and Pacific oceans little or nothing is known by the naturalists of Europe, and yet it is a fact which admits of no dispute, that every country hitherto explored produces a variety of species of plants peculiar to itself; and those districts in Europe which have been fre- quently surveyed, present to every succeeding explorer a new field of investigation, and reward his industry with new discoveries of the beauties and varieties of the vegetable kingdom. It has been conjectured by some naturalists, on the ground of a multitude of observations, that " there is not a square league of earth, but what presents some one plant peculiar to itself, or, at least, which thrives there better, or appears more beautiful than in any other part of the world." This would make the number of species of vege- tables to amount to as many millions as there are of square leagues on the surface of the earth. Now, every one of these species of plants differs from another, in its size, structure, form, flowers, leaves, fruits, mode of propagation, colour, medicinal virtues, nutritious qualities, internal vessels, and the odours it exhales. They are of all sizes, from the microscopic mushroom, invi- sible to the naked eye, to the sturdy oak, and the cedar of Lebanon, and from the slender willow to the banian tree, under whose shade 7000 persons may find ample room to repose. A thousand different shades of colour distinguish the different species. Everyone wears its pe- culiar livery, and is distinguished by its own na- tive hues ; and many of their inherent beauties can be distinguished only by the help of the mi- croscope. Some grow upright, others creep along in a serpentine form. Some flourish for ages, others wither and decay in a few months ; some spring up in moist, others in dry soils ; some turn towards the sun, others shrink and Edinburgh Philosophical Journal. July, 1822. p. 48. 38 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. contract when we approach to touch them. Not only are the different species of plants and flowers distinguished from each other, by their different forms, but even the different individuals of the same species. In a bed of tulips or car- nations. r or example, there is scarcely a flower in which some difference may not be observed in its structure, size, or assemblage of colours; nor can any two flowers be found in which the shape and shades are exactly similar. Of al! the nundred thousand millions of plants, trees, herbs, and flowers, with which our globe is variegated, there are not, perhaps, two individuals precisely alike, in every point of view in which they may be contemplated; yea, there is not, perhaps, a single leaf in the forest, when minutely examin- ed, that will not be found to differ, in certain aspects, from its fellows. Such is the wonderful and infinite diversity with which the Creator has adorned the vegetable kingdom. His wisdom is also evidently displayed in this vast profusion of vegetable nature in adapting each plant to the soil and situation in which it is destined to flourish in furnishing it with those vessels by which it absorbs the air and moisture on which it feeds and in adapting it to the na- ture and necessities of animated beings. As the earth teems with animated existence, and as the different tribes of animals depend chiefly on the productions of the vegetable kingdom for their subsistence, so there is an abundance and a va- riety of plants adapted to the peculiar constitutions of every individual species. This circumstance demonstrates, that there is a precontrived rela- tion and fitness between the internal constitution of the animal, and the nature of the plants which afford it nourishment ; and shows us, that the ani- mal and vegetable kingdoms are the workmanship of one and the same Almighty Being, arid that, in his arrangements with regard to the one, he had in view the necessities of the other. When we direct our attention to the tribes of animated nature, we behold a scene no less va- riegated and astonishing. Above fifty thousand species of animals have been detected and de- scribed by naturalists, besides several thousands of species which the naked eye cannot discern, and which people the invisible regions of the waters and the air. And, as the greater part of the globe has never yet been thoroughly explor- ed, several hundreds, if not thousands, of species unknown to the scientific world may exist in the depths of the ocean, and in the unexplored regions of the land. All these species differ from one another in colour, size, and shape ; in the inter- nal structure of their bodies, in the number of their sensitive organs, limbs, feet, joints, claws, wings, and fins ; in their dispositions, faculties, movements, and modes of subsistence. They are of all sizes, from the mite and the gnat, op to the elephant and the whale, and from the mite downwards to those invisible animalrulae, hun dred thousand of whicn would not e;ual a grain of sand. Some fly through the atmosphere, som* glide through the waters, others traverse the solid land. Some walk on two, some on 'four. som on twenty, and some on a hundred feet. Some have eyes furnished with two, some with eight, some with a hundred, and some with eight thousand distinct transparent globes, for the pur- pose of vision.* Our astonishment at the variety which appears in the animal kingdom is still farther increased when we consider not only the diversities which are apparent in their external aspect, but also in their internal structure and organization. When we reflect on the thousands of movements, adjust- ments, adaptations, and compensations, which are requisite in order to the construction of an animal system, for enabling it to perform its in- tended functions ; when we consider, that every species of animals has a system of organization peculiar to itself, consisting of bones, joints, blood- vessels, and muscular motions, differing in a variety of respects from those of any other spe- cies, and exactly adapted to its various necessi- ties and modes of existence ; and when we con- sider, still farther, the incomprehensibly delicate contrivances, and exquisite borings, polishings, claspings, and adaptations, which enter into the organization of an animated being ten thousand The eyes of beetles, silk-worms, flies, and se- veral other kinds of insects, are among the most curious and wonderful productions of the God of Nature. On the head of a fly are two large pro- tuberances, one on each side ; these constitute its organs of vision. The whole surface of these pro- tuberances is covered with a multitude of small hemispheres placed with the utmost regularity, in rows, crossing each other in a kind of lattice work. These little hemispheres have each of them a minute transparent convex lens in the middle, each of which has a distinct branch of the optic nerve ministering toil; so that the different lenses may be considered as so many distinct eyes. Mr. Leeu- wenhoek counted 6236 in the two eyes of a silk- worm, when in \\.sfly state ; 3180 in each eye of the beetle ; and 8000 in the two eyes of a cctnmon .fly. Mr. Hook reckoned 14,000 in the eyes of a drvne Jly ; and, in one of the eyes of a dragon fly there have been reckoned 13,500 of these lenses, and, con- sequently, in both eyes, 27, ooo, every one of which is capable of forming a distinct image of any object, in the samp -manner as a common convex glass ; so that the* 1 ^.ic 27,000 images formed on the retina of this little animal. Mr. Leeuwenhoek having prepared the eye of a fly for the purpose, placed it a little farther from his microscope than when he would examine an object, so as to leave a proper local distance between it and the lens of his micro- scope ; and then looked through both, in the manner of a telescope, at the steeple of the church, which was 299 feet high, and 750 feet distant, and could plainly see through every little lens, the whole steeple inverted, though not larger than the point of a fine needle : and then directing it to a neigh- bouring house, saw through many of these little hemispheres, not only the fron* of the house, but also the doors and windows, and could discern distinctly whether the windows were open or shut. Such an exquisite piece of Divine mechanism transcends al! human comprehension. WISDOM OF THE DEITY. tiroes less than a mite ; and that the different species of those animals are likewise all differ- ently organized from one another, we cannot but be struck with reverence and astonishment, at the Intelligence of that Incomprehensible Being who hrranged the organs of all the tribes of ani- mated nature, who " breathed into them the breath of life," and who continually upholds them in all their movements ! Could we descend into the subterraneous apart- ments of the globe, and penetrate into those un- known recesses which lie towards its centre, we should, doubtless, behold a variegated scene of wonders, even in those dark and impenetrable re- gions. But all the labour and industry of man have not hitherto enabled him to penetrate farther in- to the bowels of the earth than the six thousandth part of its diameter ; so lhat we must remain for ever ignorant of the immense caverns and masses of matter that may exist, and of the processes that may be going on, about its central regions. In those regions, however, near the surface, which lie within the sphere of human inspection, we perceive a variety analogous to that which is displayed in the other departments of nature. Here we find substances of various kinds formed into strata, or layers, of different depths earths, sand, gravel, marl, clay, sandstone, freestone, marble, limestone, fossils, coals, peat, and simi- lar materials. In these strata are found metals and minerals of various descriptions salt, nitrate of potash, ammonia, sulphur, bitumen, platina, gold, silver, mercury, iron, lead, tin, copper, zinc, nickel, manganese, cobalt, antimony, the dia- mond, rubies, sapphires, jaspers, emeralds, and a countless variety of other substances, of incalcu- lable benefit to mankind. Some of these sub- stances are so essentially requisite for the comfort of man, that, without them, he would soon dege- nerate into the savage state, and be deprived of all those arts which extend his knowledge, and which cheer and embeilish the abodes of civilized life. If we turn our eyes upward to the regions of the atmosphere, we may also behold a spectacle of variegated nrignificenoe. Sometimes the sky is covered with sable clouds, or obscured with mists ; at other times it is tinged with a variety of hues, by the rays of the rising or the setting sun. Sometimes it presents a pure azure, at other times it is diversified with strata of dappled clouds. At one time we behold the rainbow rearing its ma- jestic arch, adorned with all the colours of light ; at another, the Aurora Borealis illuminating the sky with its fantastic coruscations. At one time we behold the fiery meteor sweeping through the air ; at ano'her, we perceive the forked lightning darting from the clouds, and hear the thunders rolling through the sky. Sometimes the vault of heaven appears like a boundless desert, and a' other times adorned with an innumerable nost of stars, and with the moon " walking in orightness." In short, whether we direct our view to the vegetable or the animal tribes, to tho atmosphere, the ocean, the mountains, the plains, or the subterranean recesses of the globe, we be- hold a scene of beauty, order, and variety, which astonishes and enraptures the contemplative mind, and constrains us to join in the devout ex- clamations of the Psalmist, " How manifold are thy works, O Lord ! In wisdom hast thou made them all, the earth is full of thy riches ; so is the great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping, innumerable, both small and great beasts." This countless variety of objects which appears throughout every department of our sublunary system, not only displays the depths of Divine w is- dorn. but _also presents us with a faint idea of the infinity of the Creator, and of the immense mul- tiplicity of ideas and conceptions which must have existed in the Eternal Mind, when the fabric of our globe, and its numerous tribes of inhabitants, were arranged and brought into existence. And, if every other world which floats in the immen- sity of space be diversified with a similar varie- ty of existence, altogether different from ours, (as we have reason to believe, from the variety we already perceive, and from the boundless plans and conceptions of the Creator.) the human mind is lost and confounded, when it attempts to form an idea of those endlessly diversified plans, con- ceptions, and views, which must have existed during an eternity past, in the Divine mind. When we would attempt to enter into the con- ception of so vast and varied operations, we feel our own littleness, and the narrow limits of our feeble powers, and can only exclaim, with the Apostle Paul, "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how un- searchable are his counsels, and his ways of crea- tion and providence past finding out." This characteristic of variety, which is stamp- ed on all the works of Omnipotence, is doubtless intended to gratify the principle of curiosity and the love of novelty, which are implanted in the human breast ; and thus to excite rational beings to the study and investigation of the works of the Creator ; that therein they may behold the glory of the Divine character, and be stimulated to the exercise of love, aomiration, and reve- rence. For as the records of revelation, and the dispensations of providence, display to us the various aspects of the moral character of Deity, so, the diversified phenomena, and the multipli- city of objects and operations which the scenery of nature exhibits, present to us a specimen of the ideas, as it were, of the Eternal Mind, in so far as they can be adumbrated by material objects, and exhibited to mortals, through the medium of corporeal organs. To convey an adequate conception of the num- ber of these ideas, as exhibited on the globe in which we live, would baffle the arithmetician's skill, and set his numbers at defiance. We may, however, assist our conceptions a little, by 40 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. confining our attention to one department of na- ture , for example, the ANIM A L KINGDOM. The number of the different species of animals, taking into account those which are hitherto undisco- vered, and those which are invisible to the naked eye, cannot be estimated at less than 300,000. In a human body there are reckoned about 446 muscles, in each of which according to anatomists, there are at least 10 several intentions, or due qualifications to be observed its proper figure, its just magnitude, the right disposition of its sevetal ends, upper and lower, the position of the whole, the insertion of its proper nerves, veins, arteries, &c. so that in the muscular system alone there are 4,460 several ends or aims to be attend- ed to. The bones are reckoned to be in number about 245, and the distinct scopes or intentions of each of these are above 40 ; in all, about 9,800 ; so that the system of bones and muscles alone, without taking any other parts into consideration, amounts to about 14,000 different intentions or adaptations. If now, we suppose, that all the species of animals above stated are differently constructed, and, taken one with another, contain at an average a system of bones and muscles as numerous as in the human body the number of species must be multiplied by the number of dif- ferent aims or adaptations, and the product will amount to 4,200,000,000. If we were next to at- tend to the many thousands of blood vessels in an animal body, and the numerous ligaments, mem- branes, humours, and fluids of various descriptions the skin, with its millions of pores, and every other part of an organ ical system, with the aims and intentions of each, we should have another sum of many hundreds of millions to be multiplied by the former product, in order to express the diver- sified ideas which enter into the construction of the animal world. And, if we still farther con- sider, that of the hundreds of millions of indi- viduals belonging to each species, no two indi- viduals exactly resemble each other that all the myriads of vegetables with which the earth is covered, are distinguished from each other, by some one characteristic or another, and that every grain of sand contained in the mountains, and in the bed of the ocean, as shown by the microscope, discovers a different form and configuration from another we are here presented with an image of the infinity of the conceptions of Him in whose incomprehensible mind they all existed, during countless ages, before the universe was formed. To overlook this amazing scene of Divine In- telligence, or to consider it as beneath our notice as some have done if it be not the characteristic of impiety, is, at least, the mark of a weak and undiscriminating mind. The man who disre- gards the visible displays of Infinite Wisdom, or who neglects to investigate them, when op- portunity offers, acts as if he considered himself already possessed of a sufficient portion of in- telligence, and stood in no need of sensible assistances to direct his concept ions of the Cre- ator. Pride, and false conceptions of the nature and design of true religion, frequently lie at the foundation of all that indifference and neglect with which the visible works of God are treated, by those who make pretensions to a high de- gree of spiritual at ainments.' The truly pious man will trace, with wonder and delight, the foot- steps of his Father and his God, wherever they appear in the variegated scene of creation around him, and will be filled with sorrow, and contrition of heart, that, amidst his excursions and solitary walks, he has so often disregarded " the works of the Lord, and the operation of his hands/' In fine, the variety which appears on the face ofnature, not only enlarges our conceptions of In- finite Wisdom, but is also the foundation of all our discriminations and judgments as rational beings, and is of the most essential utility in the affairs of human society. Such is the variety of which the features of the hi. man countenance are susceptible, that it is probable that no two in- dividuals, of all the millions of the race of Adam that have existed since the beginning of time, would be found to resemble each other. We know no two human beings presently existing, however similar to each other, but may be dis- tinguished either by their stature, their forms, or the features of their faces ; and on the ground of this dissimilarity, the various wheels of the machine of society move onward, without clash- ing or confusion. Had it been otherwise had the faces of men and their organs of speech been cast exactly in the same mould, as would have been the case, had the world been framed accord- ing to the Epicurean system, by blind chance directing a concourse of atoms, it might have been as difficult to distinguish one human coun- tenance from another, as to distinguish the eggs laid by the same hen, or the drops of water which trickle from the same orifice ; and consequently, society would have been ihrown into a state of universal anarchy and confusion. Friends would not have been distinguished from enemies, villains from the good and honest, fathers from sons, the culprit from the innocent person, nor the branches of the same family from one another. And what a scene of perpetual confusion and disturbance would thus have been created! Frauds, thefts, robberies, murders, assassinations, forgeries, and injustice of all kinds, might have be^n daily corn- milted without the least possibility of detection. Nay, were even the variety of tones in the hu- man voice, peculiar to each person, to cease, and the handwriting of all men to become peiftctly uniform, a multitude of distressing decept ions and perplexities would be produced in the domestic, civil, and commercial transactions of mankir.d But the All-wise and Beneficent Creator has pre- vented all such evils and inconveniences, by the character of variety which he lias impressed on the human species ; and on all his works. By the WISDOM OF THE DEITY. 41 peculiar features of his countenance every man mav be distinguished in the light; by the tones of his voice he m;vy be recognized in the dark, or when h is separated from his fellows by an impenetrable partition ; and his handwriting can attest his existence and individuality, when con- tinents and oceans interpose between him and his relations, and be a witness of his sentiments and purposes to future generations. Thus, I have taken a very cursory view of Borne evidences of Divine Wisdom, which ap- pear in the general constilution of line earth, the waters, and the atmosphere, and in the charac- teristic of variety, which is impressed on all the objects of the visible creation. When these and other admirable arrangements, in our sublunary system, are seriously contemplated, every ratio- nal and pious mind will be disposed to exclaim with the Psalmist " There is none like unto thee, O Lord, neither are there any works like unto thy works." " Thou art great, and dost wondrous things, thou art God alone." " O that men would praise the Lord for his good- ness, and for his wonderful works towards the children of men I" When we consider not only the utility, but the beauty and grandeur of the wise arrangements of nature, what reason have we to admire and adore the goodness of the great Author of our existence! Were all the diversities of shape and colour, of mountains and va'es, of rivers and lakes, of light and shade, which now embellish the va- rious landscapes of the world, to disappear, and were one unvaried scene perpetually to present it- self to the eye, how dull and wearisome, and unin- teresting, would the aspect of the universe appear to an intelligent mind! Although the variegated beauties which adorn the surface of our globe, and thy vault of heaven, are not essential to our existence, as sensitive beings, yet, were they completely withdrawn, and nothing presented to the eye but a boundless expanse of barren sands, the mind would recoil upon itself, its activity would be destroyed, its powers would be confin- ed, as it were, to a prison, and it would roam in vain amidst the surrounding waste, in search of enjoyment. Even the luxuries of a palace, were it possible to procure them amidst such a scene of desolation, would become stale and insipid, and would leave the rational soul, almost destitute of ideas and of mental energy, to the tiresome round of a cheerless existence. But in the actual state of the world we live in, there is no landscape in nature, from the icebergs of Greenland to the verdant scent's of the torrid lone, in which objects, either cf sublimity or of beauty, in boundless variety, are not presented to the view; in order to stimulate thw rnind to activity, to gratify its desire of novelty, and to elevate its conceptions of the Beneficent Creator. And, if the present constitution of our world 6 displays so evident marJr? of beauty and benevo- lent design, now that it is inhabited by an assem- blage of depraved intelligences, and its physical aspect deformed, in consequence of " the wicked- ness of man" what transporting beauties and sublimities must it have presented, when it ap- peared fresh from the hand of its Almighty Ma- ker, and when all things were pronounced by him to be very good ? After a deluge of waters has swept away many of its primeval beauties, and has broken and deranged even its subterraneous strata] this terrestrial world still presents to the eye a striking scene of beauty, order, and beneficence. But we have the strongest reason to believe, that before sin had disfigured the aspect of this lower world, all was " beauty to the eye, and music to the ear" that " immortality breathed in the winds, flowed in the rivers," and exhaled from every plant and flower. No storms disturbed the tranquillity of nature, nor created the least alarm in the breasts of its holy inhabitants. No earth- quakes shook the ground, nor rent the foundations of nature. No volcanoes vomited their rivers of lava, nor overwhelmed the plains with deluges of fire. No barren deserts of heath and sand dis- figured the rich landscape of the world no tem- pests nor hurricanes tossed the ocean, nor scorch- ing heats, nor piercing colds, nor pestilence, nor disease, annoyed the human frame. In the pa- radisaical state of the world, we may reasonably suppose, that all the elements of nature contri- buted directly to the pleasure and enjoyment of man, and of the other tribes of animated nature ; and that they were not subjected, as they now are, to the operation of those natural agents which so frequently spread destruction and ruin among the abodes of men. To suppose the contrary to hi ve happened, would be inconsistent with the state of pure and happy intelligences, and with the benignity of the Creator ; and would imply, that God was either unwilling or unable to re- move such physical evils. But we cannot sup- pose it beyond the limits of Infinite Wisdom and Omnipotence, to create and arrange a world en- tirely free from those evils and inconveniences which now flow from the operation of certain phy- sical agents; without, at the same time, supposing that his power and intelligence are confined within certain bounds, .jeyond which they cannot pass. And, therefore, if, in the existing consti- tution of things, the harmony of nature is occa- sionally disturbed, and its beauty defaced, by earthquakes, storms, and tempests we must re- member, that the inhabitants of the earth are ROW a depraved race of mortals, no longer adorned with primeval purity and innocence ; and that tho physical economy of our globe has undergone a certain derangement, corresponding to the moral state of its present occupants. But since this earth, even in its present state of degradation and derangement, presents to the view of every be- holder so many objects ofbeauty and magnificence, THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. and 30 numerous traces of Divine Beneficence we may reasonably conclude, that scenes of Di- vine Wisdom and Goodness, far more glorious and transporting, must be displayed in those worlds where moral evil has never shed its ma- lign influence, and where the inhabitants supe- rior to disease and death bask for ever in the regions of immortality. And, therefore, however admirable the displays of Divine Wisdom may appear in the sublunary scene around us, they must he considered as inferior to those which are exhibited in many other provinces of Jehovah's empire, in so far as they are blended with those physical derangements which indicate his dis- pleasure against the sins of men. Were we now to direct our attention to the mechanism of animated beings, and to consider the numberless contrivances and adaptations in their organical structure and functions, a thou- sand instances of exquisite wisdom and design, still more striking and admirable, would crowd upon our view. For, although the general fabric of the world, and the immense variety of objects it contains, are evident proofs of a Wise and In- telligent Contriver, yet it is chiefly in the minute and delicate conlrivances of organical structures, their adaptation to the purposes of life, motion, and enjoyment, and their relation and correspon- dence to the surrounding elements, that the con- summate skill of the Great Architect of nature is most strikingly perceived. But as it forms no part of my present plan to enter on so extensive a field of illustration, on which volumes might be written, I shall content myself with merely sta- ting an example or two. My first example shall be taken from The Structure of the Human Eye. The eye is one of the nicest pieces of mecha- nism which the human understanding can contem- plate ; but as it requires a knowledge of its ana- tomical structure, and of the principles of optics, to enable us to appreciate its admirable functions, I shall confine myself to a few general descrip- tions and remarks. The eye is nearly of a globular form. It con- sists chiefly of three coats, and three humours. The first or outer coat, is termed sclcrotica ; it *s every where white and opaque, and is joined at its anterior s^ge to archer which ha? mo-e convexity than any other part of the globe of the ye. and, being exceedingly transparent, is call- ed the cornea. These two parts are perfectly different in their structure, arid are supposed, by *ome anatomists, to be as distinct from each other as the glass of a watch is from the case into which it is fix^d. Next within this coat is that called the choroides, on account of iis being fur- nished with a groat nun.^er of vessels. It serves, as it were, for a ining to lh< other, and is joined with that part of the eye termed int. The iri is an opaque membrane like the choroides, but ofdifferent colours in different eyes, as gray, black, or hazel. It is composed of two sets of muscular fibres, the one of a circular form, which contracts the hole in the middle, called the pupil, when the light is too strong for the eye; and the other, of radial fibres, tends every where from the circum- ference of the iris towards the middle of the pupil; which fibres, by their contractions, dilate and enlarge the pupil, when the light is weak, in or- der to let in more of its rays. The third coat is called the retina, upon which are painted the images of all visible objects, by the rays of light which flow from them. It spreads like net-work all over the inside of the choroides, and is no- thing more than a fine expansion of the optic nerve ; by which nerve the impressions of visi- ble objects are conveyed to the brain. The inside of the globe of the eye, within these tunics or coats, is filled with three humours, called the aqueous, the crystalline, and the vitreous. The aqueous humour lies at the fore part of the eye, and occupies all the space between the crys- talline and the prominent cornea. It has the same specific gravity and refractive power as water, and seems chiefly of use to prevent the crystalline from being easily bruised by rubbing, or by a blow and perhaps it serves for the crystalline humour to move forward in, while we view near objects, and backward for remoter objects; without which, or some other mechanism effecting the same purpose, we could not, according to the laws of optics, perceive objects distinctly, wnen placed at different distances. Behind the aque- ous lies the crystalline humour, which is shaped like a dguble convex glass, and is a little more convex on the back than on the fore part. This humour is transparent like crystal, is nearly of the consistence of hard jelly, and converges the rays which pass through it, from visible objects, to its focus at the bottom or back part of the eye. The vitreous humour lies behind the crystalline, and fills up the greatest part of the orb of the eye, giving it a globular shape. It is nearly of the con- sistence of the white of an egg, and very trans- parent ; its fore part is concave, for the crystal- line humour to lodge in, and its back part being convex, the retina is spread over it. It serves as a medium to keep the crystalline humour and the retina at due disiance. From what has now be*n s*ated ; it IF obvious , ?hat *he imiges of external objects are depicted in the retina, in an inverted position, in the same manner as the images formed by a common convex lens ; but how the mind, in tMs case, perceives objects erect, is a question, about which the learned have divided in their opinions.* An idea of the relative positions of the coat* and humours described above, may be obtained by a simple Inspection of the Plate, Fig. 6. Fig. f>, re- presents a front view of the human eye, as 't ap- WISDOM OF THE DEITY. 43 The ball of the eye, as now described, is situ- ated in a bony cavity, called its orbit, composed by the junction of seven different bones, hol- lowed out at their edges. This cavity le in all the vacant spaces filled with a loose fat, wh'ch serves as a proper medium for the eye to rest m, and as a socket in which it may move. It is sheltered by the eyebrows, which are provided with hair, to prevent the descending sweat of the forehead from running down into it. As a still farther protection to this delicate organ, it is furnished with the eyelid, which, like a cur- tain, is drawn over it with inconceivable swift- ness, for its security, on the approach of danger. It also serves to wipe it from superfluous m listure, and to cover it during sleep. In the upper part of its orbit, it is furnished with a gland , to supply it with water suificient to wash off dust, and to keep its outer surface moist, without which the cornea would be less trans- parent, and the rays of light would be disturbed in their passage ; and the superfluous water is conveyed to the nose through a perforation in the bone. For i he purpose of enabling the eye to move in its socket, six muscles are provided. These are admirably contrived to move it in every direction, upwards or downwards, to the right or to the left, or in whatever direction the occasion may re- quire ; and thus we are spared the trouble of turning our heads continually towards the objects we wish to inspect. If we want to look upward, one of these muscles lifts up the orb of the eye ; if we would cast our eves to the ground, another muscle pulls them down. A third muscle moves the globe outwards towards the temples, and a fourth draws it towards the nose. A fifth, which slides within a cartilaginous ring, like a cord over a pulley, and is fastened to the globe of the eye in two points, makes it roll about at pleasure. A sixth lies under ll\e eye, and is designed to temper and restrain, within proper bounds, the action of the rest, to keep it steadily fixed on the object it beholds, and to prevent those frightful contortions which otherwise might take place. By these, and a multitude of other mechanical contrivances, ull act ing in harmonious combina- tion, the eye, as a natural telescope and micro- scope, is made to advance, to recede, to move to the right and to the left,' and in every other direc- tion ; and to view near and distant objects with equal distinctness ; so that a single eye, by the variety of positions it may assume, performs the office of a thousand.* The utility of these several movements, and the pain and inconvenience which would be suf- fered, were any of them wanting, can scarcely be pears In its natural state, and exhibits the relative positions of the Cornea, Iris, and Pupil. Files aivl other insects, whose eyes are im- moveable, have several thousands of distinct globes In each eye. See note page 38. conceived, by any one whose eyes have always remained in a sound state. We are so much ac customed to the regular exercise of our visual or- gans, that we seldom reflect on the numerous delicate springs which must be set in action, be- fore the functions of vision can, with ease, bo performed. But were any one of the muscular organs, now described, to fail in its functions, we should soon experience so many inconveniences, as would throw a glooni on all the oilier comforts of life; and convince us, how much we are in- debted, every moment, to the provident care and goodness of our Beneficent Creator, for thousands of enjoyments which we seldom think of, and for which we are never sufficiently grateful. "With much compassion, as well as astonish- ment at the goodness of our loving Creator," says Dr. Nieuwenty t," have I considered the sad state of a certain gentleman, who, as to the rest, was in pretty good health, but only wanted the use of those two little muscles that serve to lift up the eyelid, and so had almost lost the use of his sight being forced, as long as this defect lasted, to shove up his eyelids every moment, with his own hands."! How admirable, then, is the formation of the eye, and how grateful ought we to feel at the con- sideration, that we are permitted to enjoy all the transporting pleasures of vision, without the least perplexity or effort on our part ! If the loss of action in a single muscle produces so many dis- tressing sensations and efforts, what would be the consequence if all the muscles of the eye were wanting or deranged ? And is it man that go- verns these nice and intricate movements ? or is it the eye itself, as a self-directing machine, that thus turns around, seasonably and significantly, towards every visible object? Man knows neither the organs of vision, nor the functions they ought to perform. The eye is only an un- conscious machine, in the hands of a Superior Intelligence, as a watch, or a steam engine, is in the hands of a mechanic. It is God alone who constantly performs its movements, according to certain laws, which he has submitted to our inclinations and desires ; "for in him we live and move" We are destroys to see certain objects around us: this is all the share we have in the operations of our eyes ; and without per- plexing our understanding, without the least care or management, in regard to any of the functions, we can, in a few moments, take a survey of the beauties and sublimities of an extensive land- scape, and of the glories of the vault of heaven. Thus, the Divine Being operates not only in this, but in a thousand different ways, in the various senses and contrivances which belong to our ani- ma. oysiem; and yet, thoughtless and ungrate- ful man often inquires, in the language of doubt t Nleuwentyt's Religious Philospher, vol. l, p. 238. THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. and hesitation, "Where is God my Maker?" He is in us, and around us, directing every movement in our animal frame to act in harmony with the surrounding elements, and to minister to our enjoyments; and it is only when his ex- quisite operations are deranged by external vio- lence, that we feel inconvenience or pain. Such are only a few general outlines of the structure of the eye: for no notice has been taken of the numerous minute veins, arteries, nerves, lymphatics, glands, and many other par- ticulars which are connected with this organ. But all this delicate and complicated apparatus, in the structure of the eye, would have been of no use whatever for the purpose of vision, had not a distinct substance been created to act upon it, exactly adapted to its nature and functions. In order that the eye might serve as the medium of our perceptions of visible objects, light was formed, and made to travel from its source at the rate of 195,000 miles in a second of time. This prodigious velocity of light is, doubtless, es- sential to the nature of vision ; since it actually exists, and since we find that it radiates with the same swifiness from the most distant visible star, as from the sun which enlightens our system. To abate the force of this amazing velocity, its particles have been formed almost infinitely small a circumstance which alone prevents this delightful visitant from becoming the most tre- mendous and destructive element in nature. Dr. Nieuwentyt has computed, that, in one second of time, there flows 418,660,000,000,000,000,000,- 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000* particles of light out of a burning candle, which number con- tainsat least 6,337,242,000,000 times the number of grains of sand in the whole earth, supposing every cubic inch of the earth to contain a million of grains. It has been justly remarked, by Mr. Ferguson and other authors, that " if ihe particles of light were so large, that a million of them were equal in bulk to an ordinary grain of sand, we durst no more open our eyes to the light, than suffer sand to be shot point blank against them, from the mouth of a cannon." It may also be remarked, that the property which all bodies possess, of reflecting light, is essen- tial to the purpose of vision, without which, the splendid and variegated scene of nature would be changed into a dreadful gloom ; and were the rays of light of one uniform colour, and not com- pounded of various hues, one object could not be distinguished from another, and the beauti- ful aspect of our globe would instantly disappear. Thus we see, that the eye is adapted to light, and light to the eye ; and in this admirable adaptation the wisdom of the Creator is?""Uint!y displayed. For light has no effect upon me ear, or upon any other organ of sensation ; so as to See Appendix, No. V produce a perception of visible objects ; as, on the other hand, the undulations of the air have n* effect upon the eye, so as to produce the sensa tion of sound. The eye did not produce the light, nor did the light form the eye ; they arti perfectly distinct from each other, yet so nioeU adapted in every particular, that had any one quality or circumstance been wanting in either, the functions of vision could not have been per- formed in the manner in which they now operate, which strikingly demonstrates, that one and the same Intelligent Being, possessed of a wisdom beyond our comprehension, formed the curious structure of the eyi, and endued the rays of light with those properties of colour, motion, and mi- nuteness, which are calculated, through the me- dium of this organ, to produce, in sentient beings, the ideas of visible objects. And. surely, he never intended that such exquisite skill and con- trivance should be altogether overlooked by ra- tional beings, for whose pleasure and enjoyment all this benevolent care is exercised. Manner in which vision is performed. Let us now attend a little to the manner in which vision is performed, by the medium of light acting on the organs of sight. If we take a common convex glass a reading glass for ex- ample and hold it at some distance from a candle or a window sash, placing a piece of white paper behind the glass, at the distance of its focus, the image of the candle or sash will be painted on the paper, in an inverted position. This experiment may be performed, with a better effect, by darkening a room, and placing the con- vex glass in a hole cut out of the window shutter, when the rays of light flowing from the objects without, and passing through lheglass,will forma picture of the objects opposite the window, on the white paper, adorned with the most beautiful co- lours. In a manner similar to this, are the images of external objects depicted on the back part of the inner coal or membrane of the eye. The rays of light, proceeding in all directions, from surrounding objects, and falling on the eye, are transmitted through the pupil ; and being refract- ed by the different humours, (particularly by the crystalline humour, which acts the part of a con- vex lens,) they converse to a focus on the retina, where the images of visible objec ts are painted in an inverted position ; and, by means of the optic nerve, these images are conveyed to the mind. The following figure will perhaps more dis- tinctly illustrate this point. Let a, b, c. or, y, represent the globe of the eye, and A, B, C, an object at a certain distance from it. Now, it is well known that every point of a visible object sends out rays of light in all directions ; and, therefore, a certain portion of the rays which flow from the object ABC, will fall upon lh cornea, between x and y, and, passing through the WISDOM OF TILS DEITY. nquvms humour, m, n, and the crystalline humour t, p, and the vitreous humour, D, E, will be con- verge i (o a focus on the retina, and paint a dis- tinct picture, a 6 c, of the object A B C, in an inverted position. The rays from the point. A of the object, after being refracted by the different humours, will be brought to a point at a; those from B will be converged at b ; and those from C at c; and, of course, the intermediate rays between A B, and B C, will be formed between a 6, and 6 c, and the object will become visible by means of us image or representation being painted on the retina, in all the colours and pro- portions which belong to it. If we take a bul- lock's eye, and cut off the three coats from the back part, and put a piece of thin white paper over that part, and hold the eye towards the win- dow or any bright object, we shall see the image of the object depicted upon the paper, and iaan inverted position, as stated above. Tn order that we may more distinctly perceive the wonders of vision, and the numerous circum- stances on which it depends, let us suppose our- selves placed on an eminence, which commands a view of a variegated and extensive landscape. Let us sup-pose ourselves stationed on Arthur's seat, or on the top of Salisbury Crags, in the vi- cinity of Edinburgh. Turning our face to the north-west, the city, with its castles, spires, and stately edifices, presents itself to our view. Be- yond it, on the north and west, a beautiful coun- try, adorned with villas, plantations, and fertile fields, stretches as far as the eye can reach, till the view is bounded by the castle of Stirling, at the distance of more than thirty miles. On the right hand, we behold the port of Leith, the ship- ping in the roads, the coast of Fife, the isles of Inchkeith and of May, and the Frith of Forth, gradually losing itself in the German ocean. If we suppose the length of this landscape to be forty miles, arid its breadth twenty-five, it will, pf course, comprehend an area of a thousand square miles. The first circumstance which strikes the mind, is the immense multitude of rays of reflected light which flow, in all directions, from the myriads of objects which compose the surrounding scene. In onler to form a rude idea of this infinity of radiations, I fix my attention on a singleobject [ direct my eye to Nelson's monument, o the Gallon hill. From the parapet at the top, a thou- sand different points send forth a thousand differ- ent cones of rays, which, entering my eye, ren- der the different parts of it distinctly visible, be- sides myriads of rays from the same points, which flow in every other direction through the open spaces of the atmosphere which surround them. How many thousands of millions, then, of different radiations, must be issuing forth every moment from the whole mass of the monu- ment ! And if one object pours forth such a flood of rays, how immense must be the number of ra- diations which are issuing from all the objects which compose this extensive landscape ! My- riads of rays, from myriads of objects, must be crossing each other in an infinity of directions, so that the mind is confounded at the apparent confusion which seems to exist in this immensity of radiations ; yet every ray passes forward in the crowd, in the most perfect order, and without being blended or confused with any other ray, pro- duces its specific effect on every eye that is open to receive it. But this is not all : these millions of rays which flow from the minutest points of the surrounding scene, before they can produce the sensation of vision, and form a picture of the landscape on the retina, must be compressed info a space little more than one-eighth of an inch in diameter, before they can enter the pupil of the eye ; yet they all pass through this small aperture without the least confusion, and paint the images of their respective objects in exactly4lhe same order in which these objects are arranged. An- other circumstance demands attention. The rays which proceed from the objects before me are not all directed to the spot where I stand, but are diffused throughout every point of the sur- rounding space, ready to produce the same effect, wherever sentient beings are present to receive them. Were the whole inhabitants of Edin- burgh placed on the sloping declivity of Arthur's seat, and along the top of Salisbury Crags, and were millions of other spectators suspended in the surrounding atmosphere, similar sensations would be produced, and a scene similar to that which I now behold, would be depicted in every eye. Amidst the infinity of cones of light, crossing each other in an infinity of directions, no confu- sion would ensue, but every spectator, whose eyes were in a sound state, would obtain a cor- rect view of the scene betore him ; and hence it happens, that, whenever I shift my position to the right hand or to the left, other streams of light enter my eye, and produce the same 4Tec \e THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. me now attend to another Circumstance, no less admirable than the preceding, and that is, the distinct impression which I have of the shape, colour, and motion, of the multiplicity of objects I am now contemplating, arid the small space within which their images are depicted at the bottom of my eye. Could a painter, after a long series of ingenious efforts, delineate the extensive landscape now before me, on a piece of paper not exceeding the size of a silver sixpence, so that every object might be distinctly seen, in its pro- per shape arid colour, as it now appears when I survey the scene around me, he would be incom- parably superior to all the masters of his art that ever went before him. This effect, which far transcends the utmost efforts of human genius, is accomplished in a moment, in millions of in- stances, by the hand of nature, or, in other words, by " the finger of God." AH the objects I am now surveying, comprehending an extent of a thousand square miles, are accurately delineated in the bot- tom of my eye, on a space less than half an inch in diameter. How delicate, then, must be the strokes of that Divine pencil, which has formed such a picture ! I turn my eyes to the castle of Edinburgh, which appears one of the most con- spicuous objects in mv field of view. Supposing that portion of it which strikes my eye to be 600 feet long, and 90 in height, I find, by calculation, that it occupies only the six hundred thousandth part of the whole landscape, and, consequently, fills in my eye no more than the twelve hundred thousandth part of an inch. I next direct my eye towards the Frith of Forth, and perceive a steamboat sailing between Queensferry and New- haven, I distinctly trace its motion for the space of 40 minutes, at the end of which it reaches the chain pier at Newhaven, having passed over a space of five miles in length, which is but the eighth part of the lineal extent of the landscape in that direction ; and, consequently, occupies, in the picture formed on my retina, a lineal space of only one-sixteenth of an inch in extent. And, if the boat be reckoned about 88 feet in length, its image is only the three hundredth part of this extent ; and of course, fills a space in the eye of only the four thousand eight hundredth part of a lineal inch. Yet, my perception of the motion of the vessel could be produced only by a corres- ponding motion of its image in my eye ; that is, by the gradual motion of a point one 4 800 h of an inch in diameter, over a space one-sixteenth of an inch in length. How inconceiveably fine and accura'e, then, must be the impression of those strokes which the rays of light, fiom visible objects, produce on the retina of the eye ! The mind is lost in wonder when it attempts to trace so exquisite and admirable an effect. I take a reflecting telescope, and, through it, view some of the distant parts of the landscape. My wonder is still increased, when I consider the new direction into which the rays of light are bent the crossings and recrossings, and refrac- tions, and reflections, that take place between the mirrors and the lenses of the instrument, and the successive images that are formed so that, instead of a scene of confusion, which, previous to experience, might have been expect- ed from the numerous additional bendings and in- tersections of the rays I now perceive hun- dreds of objects, with the most perfect distinct- ness, which were before invisible. Rays of light from distant and minute objects, which a moment before made no sensible impression on my eye, being collected and variously modified by tiie telescope, now paint a vivid representation of their objects, in their true figures, colours, and positions. From a consideration of the innumerable modifications of the rays of light, and of the immense variety of effects they produce in every region of the earth I am led to investigate what proportion of the solar light falls upon our globe, in order to produce so diversified a scene of sub- limity and beauty. Supposing the sun's rays to be chiefly confined, in their effects, within the limits of the planetary system, since they diverge in every direction, they must fill a cubical space of 3,600,000,000 miles in diameter ; which, con- sequently, will contain about 24,000,000,000,- 000,000,000,000,000 000 cubical miles; so that an eye, placed in any point of this vast space, would receive a distinct impression from the solar rays. The solidity of the earth is about 264,000,000,000 cubical miles, and, therefore, it receives only the ^(w^o.Uuoo.ood^ P art of the light which fills the sphere of the solar sys- tem. So that the light which cheers all the in- habitants of the world, and unveils such a variety of beautiful and magnificent objects, is nothing more than a single stream of celestial radiance out of ninety thousand billions of similar streams which the great source of light is every moment diffusing throughout the surrounding worlds. But the solar rays are not confined within the bounds of the planetary system ; their influence extends, in every direction, as far as the nearest stars, filling a cubical space at least 40 000,000,- 000 000 miles in diameter, arid which roniains 33 500 000 000,000 000,000,000 000 000 000,- OOO.OCO 000, or thirty-three thousand, five hun- dred sextillions of cubical miles. And, were we to institute comparisons and calculations, with respect to the possible variety of effects they might produce throughout this immens>o region, whole pages might be filled with figures, cyphers, and computations. We might compute how many globes similar to the earth, or any of the larger planets, might be contained within this vast space, allowing several hundreds of cubical miles of empty space around each g'obe how many mvriads of refractions and reflec- tions the rays of light would suffer, in regard to the peculiar objects connected with every one WISDOM OF THE DEITY. 47 of these globes h Is 50 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. .eqmred for the convenient use of particular mem- bers, and for the variety of evolutions which a sen- '.ient being may have occasion to make, the ball and socket articulation is combined with the former. For example, let any person, for a moment, consider the joints of his fingers, and compare them with the joint at h;s wrist, where the hand is connected with the fore arm. If he hold the back of his hand upwards, he will find that he can move his fingers upwards, or downwards ; *>ut he cannot turn them to the right hand, or to the left, so as to make them describe a circular motion. He will also find that his wrist is ca- pable of a similar movement, so that the hand may be bent in a vertical direction. But, in addition to this motion, it is also capable of being turned in a horizontal direction, or from one side to another. In the former case, we have an example of the hinge articulation ; in the latter, it is combined with an articulation which produces nearly the same effect as a pivot mov- ing in a socket. Now, had the joints of the fingers been capable of the same motions as the wrist, the hand would have lost its firmness, and been incapable of performing a variety of mecha- nical operations which require objects to be held with a steady grasp. On the other hand, if the joint of the wrist had been formed in the same manner as the joints of the fingers, and confined to a vertical motion, the hand would have been incapable of one out of a hundred varied move- ments, which it can now perform with the greatest ease. In this case, we could not have bored a hole with a gimblet, cut down corn with a sickle, digged the earth with a spade, sewed clothes with a needle, tossed up a ball, or turned up the palm of the hand, for any of the useful purposes for which that motion was ordained. In short, without the rotatory motion of the wrist, the greater part of the operations connected with gardening, agriculture, cookery, washing, spinning, weaving, painting, carving, engraving, building, and oiher mechanical arts, could not be performed ; and such of them as could be effected, would be accomplished only with the greatest inconvenience and labour. Any person may con- vince himself of this, by holding his hand in a horizontal position, and preventing his wrist joint from turning round, and then by trying what operations he can easily perform without the rotatory motion ; and hewill soon perceive with what exquisite skill the numerous movements of our animal frames have been contrived by the great Author of our existence. In each hand there are 27 bones, all of which are essential to the different motions we wish to perform. Every Inger is composed of three bones, connected together by articulations, muscles, and ligaments. If, instead of three, each finger were composed of only one bone, it would be quite impossible for us to grasp a single object. The same admirable contrivance may bo per ceived in the movements of which the head is susceptible. It was requisite, in order to our convenience and comfort, that we should be c n- bled to move our head backwards or forwards to look up towards the heavens, or downwards to the ground. It was also expedient, that if. should have a power of turning to the right, or to the left, so as to take in a considerable portion of a circle, wi hout being under the necessity of turning round the whole body. Accordingly we find, that both these motions are provided for, in the manner in which the head is connected with the vertebrae. The head rests upon the uppermost of these bones, to which it is connected by a hinge joint, similar to those in the fingers, which allows it to move backwards and forwards ; and, by means of a round, longish process, or projection, which moves in a socket, it is enabled to move horizon- tally, as upon an axis. Had the first motion been wanting, we could not have looked up to the zenith, without laying flat on our back ; nor could we have looked to the ground, without placing our bodies in a prone position, and, in such a case, we could never have seen oar own feet, un- less when they were bent considerably forward. Had the second motion been wanting, we could have looked to nothing except the objects directly before us, without the trouble of turning round the whole body, either to the right, or to the left. But in the construction of our corporeal system, every thing is so arranged and adapted to another, as at once to contribute to ease, and facility of motion, in all the varied operations and move- ments we have occasion to perform ; which circumstance forcibly demonstrates both the be- nevolent intentions, and the admirable wisdom of Him " whose hands have made and fashioned us," and who " breathed into our nostrils the breath of life." The above are only two or three out of a hundred of similar instances, which might be produced to show the benevolent care which has been exercised in arranging and articulating the system of bones, of which the prop-work of the human frame is composed. Were we to enter into an investigation of the actions and uses of the various muscles, the wonderful system of veins and arteries, the action of the heart, stomach, and bowels ; the process of respiration, and in- sensible perspiration, and the system of nerves, glands, lymphatics, and lacteals a thousand in- stances of Divine wisdom and beneficence would crowd upon our view, which could not fail to ex- cite the pious and contemplative mind to join in the devotions of the " sweet singer of Israel," " I will praise thee ; for I am fearfully and won- derfully made ; marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well." But as I intended to present only a few specimens of the Wisdom of God, as displayed in the construction of WISDOM OF THE DEITY. 51 the material world, I shall conclude this depart- ment of my subject with a sinole reflection.* How foolish and ungrateful is it for rational beings to overlook the wise and benevolent arrange- ments if the Creator, in the material universe ! How many thousands of human beings pass their existence without once reflecting on the numerous evidences of Divine Wisdom and Beneficence, which appear around them, or feeling the least spark of gratitude for their preservation and com- forts, to that Being " in whose hand their breath is, and whose are all their ways !" Yea, how many are there who consider themselves as stand- ing high in the ranks of the Christian profession, who affect to look down, with a certain degree of contempt, on the study of the material works of God, as if it were too gross a subject for their spiritual attainments ! They profess to trace the wisdom of God in the Scriptures, and to foel gra- titude for his pardoning mercy ; but they seldom feel that gratitude which they ought to do for those admirable arrangements in their own bodies, and the elements around them, by which their lives are preserved, and their happiness promoted ; and even seem to insinuate, that they have little or nothing to do with the contrivances of the God of Nature. They leave it to the genius of infidel philosophers to trace the articulations of the bones, the branchings of the veins and arteries, the properties of light, and the composition of the atmosphere, while they profess to feast their minds on more sublime and spiritual entertain- ments. But, surely, such astonishing displays of the wisdom and benignity of the Most High, as creation exhibits, were never intended to be treated by his intelligent offspring with apathy or indifference ; and to do so, must indicate a Certain degree of ingratitude towards Him whose incessant energy sustains the whole assemblage of sentient and intelligent beings, and who dis- plays himself, in their construction and preser- vation, to be " wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." Shall we imagine, that, because God stands in the gracious relation of our Re- deemer, he has ceased to stand in the relation of our Creator and Preserver ? Or shall we con- sider those subjects as unworthy of our attention, which are the theme of the praises of the hea- venly host? Rev. iv. 11. Can we suppose that the Almighty displayed his infinite wisdom in the curious organization of the human eye, that man the only being in this world who is endowed with faculties capable of appreciating Those who wish to prosecute this subject, par- ticularly that part of it which relates to the con- trivances of Divine Wisdom, wl-.ir.h appear in the animal system, will find ample gratification in Nieu- wentyt's " Religious Pl>iio-*orher," Vol. i, and Dr. Paley's " Natural Theology."' A variety of useful remarks on this subject will also he found in P.ay's " WisiUim of God in the Creation," Derham's " Phy- sico-Theology," and Bonnet's " Contemplation of Nature." 36 its structure, and for whos<' use and entertainment it was intended should overlook such a wonder- ful piece of Divine workmanship, and feel not gratitude for the bestowment of so admirable a gift ? Shall we extol the ingenuity displayed in a clock or a watch, in a chess-player, or a steam engine, and shall we feel no sentiment of admira- tion at the view of millions of instances of Divine mechanism which infinitely transcend the powers of the human understanding ? To act in this manner, as too many are disposed to do, is un- worthy of man, both as a Christian and as an intelligent agent. Such was not the conduct of the inspired writers ; their spirituality of views did not lead them to neglect the contemplation of any of the works of God. " I will meditate on all thy works," says the Psalmist, " and talk of all thy doings ; I will utter abundantly the me- mory of thy great goodness, and speak of thy wondrous works." Accordingly we find, that the wonders of the human frame, the economy of the animal and the vegetable tribes, the scenery of the " dry land," and of the " mighty deep," and the glories of the heavens, were the frequent subjects of their devout contemplation. They consider them in relation to ihe unceasing agency of God, by whom they were formed and arranged, and as declaring his Wisdom, Goodness, and Om- nipotence : and, with this view, ought all the scenes of the visible creation to be investigated by his intelligent creatures. >|^' We have reason to believe, that it is owing, in part, to want of attention to the Divine wisdom and beneficence, as exhibited in the construction of the visible world, that many professed Christians entertain so vague and confused ideas respect- ing the wisdom and goodness uf Deity, as dis- played in the economy of Redemption. The terms, Wisdom, Goodness, and Beneficence, in their mouths, become words almost without meaning, to which no precise or definite ideas are attached ; because they have never considered the instances and the evidence of these attributes, displayed in the material creation. And, if our minds have not been impressed with a sense of the wisdom and beneficence of God, in I hose ob- jects which are presented to the external sense, we cannot be supposed to havo luminous aud distinct ideas of those spiritual objects and ar- rangements which are removed beyond the sphere of our corporeal organs. For all our ideas, in rela- tion to Religion and its objects, are primarily derived from the intimations we receive of exter- nal objects, through the medium of our senses ; and, consequently, the more clearly we perceive the agency of God, in his visible operations, the more shall we be qualified to perceive the wisdom and harmony of his dispensations, as recorded in the volume of inspiration. We live in a world, all the arrangements ol which are the effects of infinite Wisdom. We THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. are surrounded with wonders on every hand ; and therefore we cease to admire, or to fix our atten- tion on any one of the wonders daily performed by God. We have never been accustomed to con- template or to inhabit a world where benevolence and wisdom are not displayed ; and, therefore, we are apt to imagine, that the circumstances of our terrestrial existence could not have been much otherwise than they actually are. We behold the sun in the morning, ascending from the east a thousand shining globes are seen in the ca- nopy of the sky, when he has disappeared in the west. We open our eyelids, and the myriad of objects which compose an extensive landscape are, in a moment, painted on our retina, we wish to move our bodies, and, in an instant, the joints and muscles of our hands and feet perform their several functions. We spread out our wet clothes to dry, and in a few hours the moisture is evaporated. We behold the fields drenched with rain, and in a few days it disappears, and is dispersed through the surrounding atmosphere, to be again imbodied into clouds. These are all common operations, and, therefore, thoughtless and ungrateful man seldom considers the obliga- tions he is under to the Author of his existence, for the numerous enjoyments which flow from these wise arrangements. But were the globe we inhabit, and all its appendages, to remain in their present state and were only the principle of evaporation and the refractive and reflective properties of the air to be destroyed we should soon feel, by the universal gloom which would en- sue, and by a thousand other inconveniences we should suffer, what a miserable world was allotted for our abode. We should most sensibly per- ceive the wisdom and goodness we had formerly overlooked, and would most ardently implore the restoration of those arrangements for which we were never sufficiently grateful. And why should we not now while we enjoy so many comforts flowing from the plans of infinite Wisdom have our attention directed to the benevolent con- trivances within us, and around us, in order that grateful emotions may be hourly arising in our hearts, to the Father of our spirits ? For the es- sence of true religion consists chiefly in gratitude to the God of our life, and the Author of salva- tion ; and every pleasing sensation we feel from the harmonies and the beauties of nature, ought to inspire us with this sacred emotion. " Hearken into this, O man ! stand still, and consider the wonderful works of God. Contemplate the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge." " He hath made the earth by his power, he hath esta- blished the world by his wisdom. When he uttereth his voice, there is a noise of waters in the heavens ; he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth, and bringeth the winds out of his 'treasures." While it is shameful for man to be inattentive to the wonders which sw round him, wha can be more pleasing and con genial to a rational and devout mind, than con- templations on the works of the Most Hijil " What can be more gratifying," says Sturm " than to contemplate, in the heavens, in the earth, in the water, in the night and day, and indeed, throughout all nature, the proofs which they afford of the wisdom, the purity, and the goodness of our great Creator and Preserver ! What can be more delightful than to recognize, in the whole creation, in all the' natural world, in every thing we see, traces of the ever-work- ing providence and tender mercy of the great Father of all!" SECTION IV. On the Goodness or Benevolence of the DEITY. THE Benevolence of God is that perfection of his nature, by which he communicates hap- piness to the various ranks of sensitive and in- telligent existence. The system of Nature, in all its parts, exhibits an unbounded display of this attribute of the Divine Mind, both in relation to man, and in relation to the subordinate tribes of animated existence. In relation to Man the magnificence and glory of the heavens the variegated colouring which is spread over the scene of nature the beautiful flowers, shrubs, and trees, with which the earth is adorned, which not only delight the eye, but perfume the air with their delicious odours the various kinds of agreeable sounds that charm the ear the music of the feathered songsters, which fill the groves with their me- lody the thousands of pleasant images which delight the eye, in the natural embellishments of creation the agreeable feelings produced by the contact of almost every thing we have occasion to touch the pleasure attached to eat ing, drink- ing, muscular motion, and activity the luxuriant profusion, and rich variety of aliments which the earth affords and the interchanges of thought and affection all proclaim the Benevolence of our Almighty Maker, and show that the commu- nication of happiness is one grand object of all his arrangements. For these circumstances are not essentially requisite to our existence We might have lived, and breathed, and walked though every thing we touched had produced pain ; though every thing we ate and drank had been bitter; though every movement of our handy and feet had been accompanied with uneasiness and fatigue ; though every sound had been as harsh as the saw of the carpenter ; though no birds had warbled in the groves ; though no flowers had docked the fields, or filled the air with their per- BENEVOLENCE OF THE DEITY. 53 fiimes; though on unvaried scene of dull uni- formity had prevailed, and beauty and sublimity had been swept from the face of nature ; though the earth had been covered with a mantle of black, and no radiant orbs had appeared in our nocturnal sky. But what a miserable world should we then have inhabited, compared with that which we now possess ! Life would have passed away without enjoyment : and pain would have over- balanced the pleasure of existence. Whereas, in the existing constitution of things, all the objects around us, and every sense of which we are pos- sessed, when preserved in its natural vigour, have a direct tendency to produce pleasing sensations, and to contribute to our enjoyment: and it is chiefly when we indulge in foolish and depraved passions, and commit immoral actions, that the benevolent intentions of the Deity are frustrated, and pain and misery produced. If we consider, further, that the inexhaustible bounty of the Creator, and the numerous pleasures we enjoy, are bestowed upon a guilty race of men, the benevolence of the Deity will appear in a still more striking point of view. Man has dared to rebel against his Maker ; he is a depraved and ungrateful creature. The great majority of our race have banished God from their thoughts, trampled upon his laws, neglected to contemplate his works, refused to pay him that tribute of reverence and adoration which his perfections demand, have been ungrateful for his favours, have blasphemed his name, and have transferred to " four-footed beasts, and creeping things," that nomage which is due to him alone. It has been the chief part of their employment, in all ages, to counteract the effects of his Beneficence, by inflicting injustice, oppression, and torture, upon each other; by maiming the human frame, burn- ing cities and villages, turning fruitful fields into a wilderness, and by every other act of violence, carrying death and destruction through the world. And if water, air, and the light of heaven, had been placed within the limits of their control, it is more than probable, that whole nations would have been occasionally deprived of these elements, so essential to human existence. Yet, notwith- standing the prevalence of such depraved dispo- sitions, the si reams of Divine benevolence to- wards our apostate race have never yet been interrupted. The earth has never stopped in its career, and thrown nature into a scene of confu- sion ; the light of heaven has never ceased to illume the world ; the springs of water have never been dried up, nor has the fertile soil ceased to enrich the plains with golden harvests. God " hath not left himself without a witness," to his beneficence, in any age, in that he hath unceas- inglv bestowed on the inhabitants of the world " rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness." This is one of the characters of Deity which forms the most perfect contrast to the selfish and revengeiiii dispositions of man, which as far transcends human benevolence, as the heavens in extent surpass the earth a character calculated to fix- cite our highest love and admiration, and which we are called upon, in the Sacred Oracles, to imitate and revere. " Be ye merciful, as your Father who is in heaven is merciful: for he inaketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." " O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men." From such considerations, we learn, even from the system of nature, that mercy is an attribute of the Deity ; for, if mercy consists in bestowing favours on those who are unworthy, or who merit punishment, the greatest sinners in all ages have shared in it, and every individual of the human race now existing enjoys a certain portion of those comforts which flow from the benevolent arrangements which the Creator has established. " He makeih the sun to rise on the evil and on the good." Though the nations in ancient times, as well as al present, " walked in their own way," indulging in impiety, falsehood, lewdness, war, devastations, revenge, abominable idolatries, and every other violation of his law, he still supported the functions of their animal frames, and caused the influence of the sun, the rains, and the dews, to descend upon their fields, that they might be refreshed with his bounty, and filled " with food and gladness." If mercy were not an essential attribute of the Deity, he would have cut them down in the midst of their first transgressions, shattered to pieces the globe on which they dwelt, and buried them in eternal oblivion. But whether Divine mercy will extend to the final forgiveness of sin, and the communication of eternal happi- ness to such beings, can be learned only from the discoveries of revelation. In relation to the inferior animals the im- mense multitude of living creatures with which the earth is replenished, is a striking evidence of the vast profusion of Divine Beneficence. More than a hundred thousand species of ani- mated beings are dispersed through* the differ- ent regions of the air, the water, and the earth, besides myriads which are invisible to the un- assisted eye. To estimate the number of in- dividuals belonging to any one species is beyond the power of man. What countless myriads of herrings, for example, are contained in a single shoal, which is frequently more than six miles long and three miles broad. To estimate the number of individuals in all the different species would, therefore, be as impossible as to count the grains of sand in the Arabian deserts. There is not a single spot, in any region of the globe, but what teems with animated beings. Yet, al? this vast assemblage of sensitive existence is THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. amply provided for by the bountiful Creator. 11 These all wait upon him, and he giveth them their meat in due season." They enjoy not only life, but also a happy existence. The sportive motions and gesticulations of all the animal tribes the birds skimming through the air, warbling in the groves, and perching on the trees the beasts of the field, bounding in the forests, and through the lawns the fishes sport- ing in the waters the reptiles wriggling in the dust, and the winged insects, by a thousand wanton mazes all declare that they are re- joicing in their existence, and in the exercise of those powers with which the Creator has fur- nished them. So that, wherever we turn our eyes, we evidently perceive, that " the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord;" and that " his tender mercies are over all his works." This subject is boundless but it would be inconsistent with the limited plan of this work, to enter into any particular details. And it is the less necessary, when we consider, that every instance of Divine Wisdom is, at the same time, an instance of benevolence; for it is the ultimate object of all the wise contrivances in the system of Nature, that happiness may be communicated to the va- rious ranks of sensitive and intelligent existence. Goodness chooses the end. and wisdom selects the most proper means, for its accomplishment; so that these two attributes must always be con- sidered in simultaneous operation. And, there- fore, the instances I have already specified, of the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Creator, may also be considered, as exemplifications of Divine Benevolence. I shall, therefore, conclude this topic with the following extract from Dr. Paley. " Contrivance proves design ; and the promi- nent tendency of the contrivance, indicates the disposition of the designer. The world abounds with contrivances ; and all the contrivances we are acquainted with, are directed to beneficial purposes. Evil, no doubt, exists ; but it is never that we can perceive, the object of contrivance. Teeth are contrived to eat, not to ache ; their aching now and then, is incidental to the con- trivance, perhaps inseparable from it; or even, if you will, let it be called a defect in the con- trivance, but it is not the object of it. This is a distinction which well deserves to be attended to. In describing implements of husbandry, you will hardly say of a sickle, that it is made to cut the reaper's fingers, though from the construction of the instrument, and the manner of using it, this mischief often happens. But if you had occasion to describe instruments of torture or ex- ecution, This, you would say, is to extend tire si- n*vs ; this to dislocate the joints ; this to break the bones; this to scorch the soles of the feet. Here pain and misery are the very objects of the contrivance. Now nothing of this sort is to be found in the works of nature. We never dis- cover a train of contrivance to bring about aa evil purpose. No anatomist ever discovered a system of organization calculated to produce pain and disease ; or in explaining the pans of the human body, ever said, This is to irritate ; (his to inflame ; this duct is to convey the gravel to the kidneys ; this gland to secrete th humour which forms the gout. If, by chance, he come at a part of which he knows not the use, the most he can say is, that it is uselses ; no one ever suspects that it is put there to incommode, to annoy, or torment. Since, then, God hath called forth hia consummate wisdom to contrive and provide for our happiness, and the world appears to have been constituted with this design at first, so long as this constitution is upheld by him, we must, in reason, suppose the same design to con- tinue." Paley's Moral Philosophy, Book II. Chap. 5. Thus, I have endeavoured, in this and the pre- ceding section, to exhibit a few specimens of the Wisdom and Goodness of God, in the system of nature. These might have been multiplied to an indefinite extent, but the instances adduced, I presume, are sufficient to show, that the economy of the material world is not altogether a barren subject, to a pious and contemplative" mind. Every intelligent believer in Revelation will readily admit, that it would be a highly desirable object, to induce upon the mass of Christians such a habit of devout attention to the visible works of creation, as would lead them, in their social and solitary walks, to recognize the agency of God, in every object they behold ; to raise their thoughts to Him as the Great First Cause, and to ex- pand their hearts with emotions of gratitude. How very different must be the sentiments and the piety of the man who looks on the scene of wisdom and magnificence around him, with a " brute unconscious gaze," as thousands of professed Christians do and the grateful and pious emotions of him who recognizes the be- nevolent agency of God, in the motions of his fingers, and his eyeballs ; in the pulsation of his heart; in the picture of external objects every moment funned on his retina ; in the re- flection of the rays of light, and the diversified colours they produce ; in the dry ing of his clothes; in the constitution of the atmosphere ; in the beauty and magnificence of the earth and the heavens ; and in every other object that meets his eye, in the expanse of nature ! The numberless astonishing instances of Divine agency, which every where present themselves to our view in the scene around us, seem evidently intended to arrest the mind to a consideration of an " ever-present Deity ;" and I envy not the sen* timents or the feelings of that man who ima- gines, that he stands in no need of such sensible mediums, to impress his mind with a srnse of the benevolent care and omnipresence of God. CHAPTER II. CONTAINING A CURSORY VIEW OF OME OF THE SCIENCES WHICH ARE RELATED TO RELIGION AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. THEOLOGY has generally been viewed as a study of a very limited range : and, hence, when it has been admitted iritu the circle of the sciences, a much smaller space has been allotted for its dis- cussion, than has been devoted to almost any other department of human knowledge. When considered, however, in Us most extensive sense, in its relations to the Divine Being to his past and present dispensations towards the human race to the present circumstances and the future destiny of ma and to the physical and moral condition of all the sen lent arid intelligent beings of which we have any intimation it ought to be viewed as the most varied and < ornprehcnsive of all the sciences ; as embracing, within its exten- sive grasp, all the other departments of useful knowledge, both human and divine. As it has God for its object, it must include a knowledge of the universe he has formed of ihe movements which are continually going on throughout the wide extent of his empire, in so far as they lie open to our inspection of the attributes which appear to be displayed in all his operations of the moral laws he has framed for the regulation of holy intelligences of the merciful arrange- ments he has made for the restoration of fallen man of the plans by which the knowledge of his will is to be circulated and extended in the world in which we live nf the means by which truth, and moral purity, and order, are to be promoted among our apostate race, in order to their resto- ration to the happiness they have lost together with all those diversified ramifications of know- ledge, which have either a more remote or a more immediate bearing on the grand object now specified. Like the lines which proceed from the circumference to the centre of an immense circle all the mured* arts and sciences which have been invented by men every department of human knowledge, however far it may, at first sight, appear to be removed from religion reay be considered as having a direct bearing on The- ology, as the grand central point. and as having a certain tendency to promote its important objects. It is much to be regretted, that Theology has so seldom been corrempla'ed in this point, of view and that the sciences have been considered The epithet moral is here used in its application jo arts, iwnuise there are cert-iin arts which must be consi ierex>th natural, civil, and sacred, may be termed tcience other objects seldom noticed, which would appea, no less interesting, and, in some instances, much more novel and gratifying to the general reader, and to the youthful mind. All ihe diversified forms of matter, whether existing on the sui&ce or in the bowels of the earth, in the ocean, the atmosphere, or in the heavens, form the legiti- mate objectrf of this department of the science of nature. Were we, therefore, to sketch a comprehen- sive outline of the subjects of Natural History, we might, in the first place, take a cursory sur- vey of the globe we inhabit, in reference to its magnitude, figure, motions, and general arrange- ments the form, relations, and extent of its con- tinents the numerous islands which diversify the surface of the ocean the magnitude, the direc- tion, and the extent of its rivers, and the quant ity of water they pour into the ocean the direc- tion, elevation, and extent of the different range* of mountains which rise from its surface the plains, morasses, lakes, forests, dells, and sandy deserts, which diversify its aspect the extent, the motions, the colour, and the different aspects of the ocean, and the facts which have been ascer- tained respecting its saltness, its depth,its botiom, and its different currents. We might next take a more particular view of some of the most re- markable objects on its surface, and give a detail of the facts which are known respecting the his- tory of volcanoes their number the countries in which they are situated the awful pheno- mena they exhibit and the devastations they have produced ; the history of earthquakes, their phenomena and effects, and the countries most subject to their ravages basaltic arid rocky wonders, natural bridges, precipices, cataracts, ice islands, icebergs, glaciers, whirlpools, mine- ral wells, reciprocating fountains, boiling springs, sulphuric mountains, bituminous lakes, volcanic islands the various aspects of nature in the different zones, and the contrasts presented be- tween the verdant scenes of tropical climes, and the icy cliffs of the polar regions. We would next take a survey of the subterraneous wonders which lie beneath the surface of the earth the immense chasms and caverns which wind in va- rious directions among the interior strata of our globe such as the great Kentucky cavern, and the grotto of Antiparos ihe mines of salt, coal, copper, lead, diamond, iron, quicksilver, tin,<:old, and silver the substances which compose the various strata, 'he fo.-sil bones, shells, ai.d petri- factions, which are imbedded in the different layers, and ihe bendings and disruptions -vhich appear to have taken place in the substances which compose the exterior crust of ihe earth. We might next survey the atmosphnre with which the earth is environed, and give a detail of the facts which have been ascertained respecting its specific gravity and pressure, the elementary prin- ciples of which it is compounded, its refractive NATURAL HISTORY. 57 and reflective powers, and the phenomena which result from its various properties and modifica- tions the meteors which appear in its different regions thunder and lightning, winds, hail, rain, clouds, rainbows, parhelias or mock-suns, mete- oric stones, the aurora borealis, luminous arches, ignes fatui, the mirage, the fata morgana, hur- ricanes, monsoons, whirlwinds and waterspouts, sounds and echoes. In prosecuting our survey of sublunary nature, we would next advert to the various orders of the vegetable tribes their anatomical structure the circulation of their juices the food by which they are nourished the influence of light and air on their growth arid motions their male and female organs their periods of longevity /heir modes of propagation their diseases and dissolution iheir orders, genera, and species their immense variety their influence on the salubrity of the atmosphere the relation which their roots, leaves, and fruits bear to the wants of man an I other animals, in supplying food, clothing, and materials for constructing habita- tions the gums and resinous substances they exude the odours they exhale the variety of colours they exhibit the vast diversity of forms in which they appear and the beauty and va- riety which they spread over the whole face of nature. ' The mineral kingdom would next require to be surveyed. We would inquire into the facts which have been ascertained respecting the earthy, sa- line, inflammable, and metallic substances which are found on the surface arid in the bowels of the earth their specific and distinguishing cha- racters the elementary principles, or simple substances, of which they are composed the regions of the earth where the respective mine- rals most frequently abound and the ends which they are designed to accomplish in the constitution of the globe. We would consider, more particularly, the various metals, such as iron, copper, leaes, can easily enter into all the views which are here described. I have selected this example, for ihe purpose of illustrating the un- bounded goodness of the Creator, in the vast profusion of enjoyment he has communicated, even to the lowest tribes of animal existence, and as a specimen of those invisible worlds which exist beyond the range of our natural vision. Fur it appears that there is a grada ion of worlds downward as well as upward. How- ever small our globe may appear when compared with the sun and wilh the immensity of starry systems which lie dispersed through the infinity of space, there are worlds filled with myriads of living beings, which, in point of size and ex- tent, bear as small a proportion to the earth, as the earth bears to the vast assemblage of the celestial worlds. A single flower, a leaf, or a drop of water, may appear as large ano as diver- sified in its structure, to some of the beings which inhabit it, as the whole earth appears to the view of man ; and a thousand scenes of mag- nificence and beauty may be presented to their sight, of which no distinct conception can be formed by the human mind. The many thousands of transparent globes, of which their eyes are composed, may magnify and multiply the objects around them without end, so that an object scarcely visible to the eye of man may appear to them as a vast extended universe. "Having examined," says Si. Pierre, "one day, by a microscope, the flowers of thyme, I dis- tinguished in (hem, with equal surprise and de- light, superb flagons with a long neck, of a sub- stance resembling ihe amethyst, from the gullets of which seemed to flow ingots of liquid gold. I have never made observations of the corolla, simply of the smallest flower, without finding it composed of an admirable substance, half trans- parent, studded with brilliants, and shining in the most lively colours. The beings which live under a reflex thus emiched, must have ideas very different from ours, of light, and of the othei phenomena of nature. A drop of dew, filtering in the capillary and transparent tubes of a plant, presents to them thousands of cascades ; the same drop fixed as a wave on the extremity of one of ils prickles, an ocean without a shore ; evaporat ed inio air, a vast aerial sea. It is credible, then, from analogy, that there are animals feeding on the leaves of plants like the cattle in our n eadowa and on our mountains, which repose under the shades of a down imperceptibe lothe naked eye, and which, from goblets formed like so many suns, quaff" nectar of the colour of gold and silver." Thus it appears, that the universe extends to infinity on either hand ; and that whenever mat- ter exists, from the ponderous globes of heaven down fo the invisible atom, there the Almighty Creator has prepared habiiations for countless orders of exislence, from the seraph to the ani- malcula, in order to demonstrate his boundless beneficence, and the infinite variety of modes by which he can diffuse happiness through the uni- versal system. " How sweet to muse upon His skill Jisplay'd Intii ite skill ! in all that he has made ; To trare in nature's most, minute design The sipnatuje and stamp of power divine; Contrivance exquisite, expressed with ease, Where ujiassistt-d sight no beauty sees ;, The shapely limb and lubricated joint, "Within the small dimensions of a point: Muscle and nerve miraculously spun, His mighty work who speaks and it is .lone Th' in visible in things scarce seen reveal'd; To whom an atom is an ample fieM !" Virwyer's KeliremMU. NATURAL HISTORY. 61 With regard to the religious tendency of the study of Natural History, it may be remarked that, as all ihe objects which it embraces are the workmanship of God the delineations and de- scriptions of the Natural Historian must be con- sidered as " The history of the operations of the Creator ;" or, in other words, so far as the science extends, " The histoi^ of the Creator himself:" for the marks of his incessant agency, his power, wisdom, and beneficence, are impressed on every object, however minute, throughout the three kingdoms of nature, and throughout every region of earth, air, and sky. As the Deity is invisi- ble to" mortal eyes, and cannot be directly con- templated by finite minds, without some material medium of communication there are but two me- diums ,\ ith which we are acquainted, by which we can attain a knowledge of his nature and per- fections. These are, either \\mjacts which have occurred in the course of his providential dispen- sations towards our race, since the commence- ment of time, and the moral truths connected with them or, the facts which are displayed in the economy of nature. The first ciass of facts is recorded in the Sacred Hisory, and in the Annals of Nations ; the second class is exhibited in the diversified objects and motions which appear throughout the system of the visible universe. The one may be termed the Moral History, and the other, the Natural History, of ihe operations of the Creator. It is obviously incumbent on every rational being, to contemplate the Creator through both these mediums ; for each of them conveys its distinct and peculiar revelations ; and consequently our perception of Deity through the one medium does not supersede the neces- sity of our contemplating him through the other. While, therefore, it is our duty to contemplate the perfections, the providence, and the agency of God, as displayed in the Scripture Revelation, it is also incumbent upon us, to trace his attri- butes in the System of Nature, in order that we may be enable to contemplate the eternal Jeho- vah, in every variety of aspect, in which he has been pleased to exhibit himself, in the universe he has formed. The visible creation may be considered as a permanent and sensible manifestation of Deity, intended every moment to present to our view the unceasing energies of Him " in whom we live arid move." And if the train of our thoughts were directed in its proper channel, we would perceive God in every object, and in every move- ment : w would behold him operating in the whirlwind, and in the storm ; in the subterra- neous cavern, and in the depths of the ocean ; in the gentle rain, and the refreshing breeze ; in the lainbow, the fiery meteor, and the lightning's 6ash , in the splendours of the sun, and the majes- tic movements of the heavens ; in the frisking of the lumbs, the songs of birds, and the buzz of in- tecta i in the circulation of our blood, the move- ments of our joints, the motion of our eyeballs and in the rays of light which are continually darting from surrounding objects, for the purpose^ of vision. For these, and ten thousand otrujr agencies in the system of nature, are nothing else but the voice of Deity, proclaiming to the sons of men, in silent but emphatic language, " Stand still, and consider the wonderful works of God." If, then, it be admitted, that the study of Nature is the study of the Creator to overlook the grand and beautiful scenery wiih which we are surrounded, or to undervalue any thing which Infinite Wisdom has formed, is to overlook ind contemn the Creator himself. Whatever God has thought proper to create, and to present to our view in the visible world, it becomes man to study and contemplate, that, from thence, he may derive motives to excite him to the exercise of reverence and adoration, of gratitude and praise. In so far as any individual is unac- quainted with the various facts of the history of nature, in so far does he remain ignorant of the manifestations ol Deity; for every object, on the theatre of the universe, exhibits his character and designs in a different point of view. He who sees God only as he displays himself in his operations on the earth, but has never contem- plated the firmament with the eye of reason, must be unacquainted with those amazing energies of eternal Power, which are displayed in the stu- pendous fabric and movements of the orbs of heaven. He who sees God only in the general appearances of nature, but neglects to penetrate into his minute operations, must remain igno- rant of those astonishing manifestations of divine wisdom and skill which appear in the contri- vances, adaptations, and functions of the animal and the vegetable kingdoms. For, the more we know of the work, the more accurate and com- prehensive will be our views of the Intelligence by whom it was designed ; and the farther we carry our investigations of the works of God, the more admirable and astonishing will his plans and perfections appear. In short, a devout contemplation of the works of nature tends to ennoble the human soul, and to dignify and exalt the affections. It inspires the mind with a relish of the beauty, the harmo- ny, and order which subsist in the universe around us it elevates the soul to the love and admira- tion of that Being who is the author of our com- forts, and of all that is sublime and beneficent in creation, and excites us to join with all holy beings in the chorus of praise to the God and Father of all. For they "Whom Nature's works can charm, with God himself Hold converse, grow familiar day by day With his conceptions, act upon his plan, And form to his the relish of their souls." The man who surveys the vast field of nature with the eye of reason and devotion, will not onl.f THE CHll AN PHILOSOPHER. gain n more comprehensive view of that illimit- able power which organized the universe, but will find his source? of enjoyment continually increased, and will tec! an ardent desire after that glorious world, where the veil which now hides from our sight some of ihe grandest mani- festations of Deity will be withdrawn, and the wonders of Omnipotence be displayed in all their splendour and perfection. In conformity with these sentiments, we find the inspired writers, in numerous instances, call- ing our attention to the wonders of creating power and wisdom. In one of the first speeches in which the Almighty is introduced as address- ing the sons of men, and the longest one in ihe Bible,* our attention is exclusively directed to the subjects of Natural History; the whole address having a reference to the economy of Divine Wisdom in the arrangement of the world at its first creation the wonders of the ocean, and of light and darkness the phenomena of .thunder and lightning, rain, hail, snow, frost, and other meteors in the atmosphere the intellectual faculties of man, and the economy and instincts of quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and other tribes of animated existence. Indeed, the greater part of the sublime descriptions contained in the book of Job has a direct reference to tlie agency of God in the material creation, and to the course of his providence in relation to the different characters of men ; and the reasonings of the different speakers in that sacred drama proceed on the sup- position that their auditors were intimately ac- quainted with the varied appearances of nature, and their tendency to exhibit the character and perfections of the Omnipotent Creator. We find the Psalmist, in the 104th Psalm, employed in a devout description of similar objects, from the contemplation of which his mind is raised to adoring views of their Almighty Author and, from the whole of his survey, he deduces the fol- lowing conclusions : " How manifold are thy works, O Lord ! In wisdom thou hast made them all! The earth is full of thy riches; so is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. The glory of the Lord shall enduie for ever; the Lord shall rejoice in all his works.']' I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live ; I will sing praises to rny God, while I have my being." Job, chap, xxxviii. xxxix. xl. xli. * The glury of the Lord, in this passage, denotes the display of his perfections in the ninU-rial universe: und the declaration of the inspired writer plainly intimates, that this display will continue for ever, and will remain as an object of unceasing contem- plation to ail intelligences, and as an eternal monu- ment of his power and wisdom. For, although the earth and the aerial heavens will be changed at the close cf that dispensation of Providence which re- spects our word, yet the general frame of the uni- verse, in its other parts, will remain substantially the same ; and not only so, but will in all probability be perpetually increasing in magnitude and gran- deur. And the change which will be ettected in respect But in order to enter into the spirit of eucn sublime reflections, we must not contenl/jurselves with a superficial and cursory VJPW of the objects and operations of nature, we must not think it sufficient to acquiesce in such vague proposi- tions as these " The glory of God is seen in every blade of grass, and every drop of water; all nature is full of wonders, from the dust of the earth to the stars of the firmament." We must study the works of creation with ardour, survey them with minute attention, and endeavour to acquire a specific and comprehensive knowledge of the Creator's designs. W^e must endeavour to acquire a knowledge of the particular modes, circumstances, contexture, configurations, adap- tations, structure, functions, arid relations of those objects in which benevolence and design conspicuously appear in the animal arid the vegetable world, in the ocean, the atmosphere, and the heavens ; that the mind may be enabled to draw the conclusion with full conviction and intelligence " In wisdom thou hast made them all." The pointed interrogatories which Jeho- vah addressed to Job, evidently imply, that Job ha previously acquired an intimate acquaintance with the works of nature. It seems to be taken for granted, as a matter of course, that he made himself acquainted with the general range of facts in the visible creation ; and the intention of the several questions presented to his consideration evidently was to impress him with a sense of his own impotency, and to lead him to the investiga- tion of the wonders of Creating Power which he had formerly overlooked. The conclusion which the Psalmist draws respecting the Wisdom dis- played throughout all the works of God, plainly intimates, that he had made the different parts of nature the subject of minute examination, and of deep reflection ; otherwise he could not have ra- tionally deduced his conclusion, or felt those emo- tions which filled his mind with the pious rapture so beautifully expressed in that hymn of praise to the Creator of the world. We have, therefore, reason to believe, from these and other instances, that pious men, u in the days of old," were much more accustomed than modern Christians to contemplate and ad- mire the visible works of the Lord and it is surely much to be regretted, that we who enjoy so many superior means of information, and who have access to the brilliant discoveries of later and more enlightened times, should manifest so much disregard to " the works of Jehovah and the operations of his hands." To enable the common mass of Christians to enter into the spirit of this delightful stt.dy and Christian duty, should, therefore, be one object of those period- ical and other religious works which are put into their hands ; so that they may be enabled, with to the terraqueous globe and its appendages wl/1 be such that Jehovah will have reason to " rejoice" il this as well as in all his other works. GEOGRAPHY. 63 goodness, and tell of thy wondrous works. study the order and economy of the visible GEOGRAPHY. "Of^ ^ ^^ . g ^^ ^ & ^^ figunj> The next department of knowledge J I . g proved by the following considerations:!, notice is the science of Geography. When we stand on the seashore, while the sea The object of this science is, to describe > . g rfecl | ca i m> we per ceive that the surface world we inhabit, in reference to the continents, ^ ^ ^^ . g nol ^.^ ^^ but convex or islands, mountains, oceans, seas, rivers, em- romided . and jf we are on one side of an arm pires, and kingdoms with which it is diversified, rf ^ ^ &g thg Frith of For , h> and> whh together with the manners, customs, and reli- ^ ^^ near the water !ook towards the oppo- gion of the different tribes which people ^ -^^ w& sha ,, p , ainly gee the water de . surface. . f vated between our eyes and the opposite shore, In order to form an accurate conception ot ^ ^ ^ preyent our seeing the i and near the ie relative positions of objects on the surface ^ ^ ^ w&ter> The same experiment may the relative positions ot oojecis oil u. - edue of the water> The same experiment may of the earth, and to enter with intelligence on be made Qn any tion of slill waler> of a mi i e the study of this subject, it is requisite, hrst ol ^ ^ ^ ^^ when hg convexity wi n be per . all, to have an accurate idea of its figure and ceiyed by the eye> A | iu i e boat> f or instance, magnitude. For a long series of ages it was be eived b a man who is any height supposed, by the bulk of mankind, that the sur- .*- ^ ^ ^ . f hg gtoops dowr)j and Uyg face of ths earth was nearly a plane, indefinitely ^ near ^ surface, he will find that the extended, and bounded on all sides by the sky. fluUJ appears {o ris6) and i nter ce P t the view of Lactantius, and several of the fathers ot i ^ e ^^ ^ ^ we ^^ our gtat j on on tne sea . Christian church, strenuously argued that > ^^ &nd ^^ jhe ghipg leaving t!ie coaslt j n earth was exiended infinitely downwards, ar L ^^ direction as they retire from our view, we established upon several foundations. The an- per ceive the masts arid rigging of the ves- cient philosopher Heraclitus is said to have be- "JJJ ^^ the huMg ^ Q ^ of s[ ^ ^ ^ u MVIM ^i '-- . .ff, SC1S WlICll IKt? I1ULIO 0.1 & UVIb \Jl Oi^nj t*i*v^j 1*0 - lieved that the earth was of the shape ot a skin ^^ ^^ ^ ^ ^^ Qa ^ othef hand> or canoe, very much hollowed ; and the plulo- ^^ & ^ ^ approaching the s h or e, the first sopher Leucippus supposed it to b > rf her lhat ig geen ig (he topmast . as s h e form of a cylinder or a drum. It is only within approacheg neare| . ( the sa ils become visible, and the period of the last three hundred years t t ^ of ^ ^ ^ comes gradually into view.f the true figure of the earth has been accurately ^^ reaso n of such appearances obviously is, ascertained. This figure is now found to be ^ ^^ f ^^ ^ convex 8Ur f ane O f ,h e water that of an oblate spheroid, nearly approach- iruerposeg between our eye and the body of the ing to the shape of a globe or sphere. > ^.^ whgn g|)e hag reacnec } a cer tain distance, have asserted this opinion several ages ago ^.^ ^ (he game time ^ lhe gai | 3 and topmastj would have been considered as a heresy in reli- f ^ m ^.^ tef e i eva ti on , may be still in gion, and would have subjected its abettors to ^^ TQ fhe game cauge u ig owmgj fhat the the anathemas of the church, and even to the h - her the j g p ] ace d, the more extensive is peril of their lives. Historians inform us that the prospect '. and hence i( is conimf)n fur sailors the learned Spigelius, Bishop of Upsal, in Swe- tQ ^^ {Q the (Qpg o f mastgj in or | er to discover den, suffered martyrdom at the stake, in i de- i and or sn i ps a t a distance. The con rary of ali fence of the doctrine of the Antipodes ; and we ^^ would (ake p , acej if the ear , h an(J , %aterg were know that, for asserting the motion of the earth, &n exlended plane> When a ship can , e w i tnm the celebrated philosopher Galileo was immured vjeWj thg hull wou)d firgt make its appearancej in a dungeon, and condemned by an assembly of bemo lhe ]&ra(ist ob j e ct, next the sails, and, last cardinals to all the horrors of perpetual imprison- of aU the , opmasu These considerations, ment. The doctrine he maintained, and which which noW tr(je - n &u par , s ()f - t j, e W0l](i) prove is now universally received by every one ac- tQ & cerlaintyi that the mass of the ocean is of quainted with the subject, was declared by those ft , obu , ar form . and if the ocean be a por ,i 011 arrogant ecclesiastics to be " a proposition of a sphere) it fol!ows t h at the land also is of absurd in its very nature, false in philosophy, ^ game general figure . for no por ,i (>n O f the heretical in religion, and contrary to the Holy ^^ sur f ace j s elevated above f.ur or five Scriptures/' Such are some of the horrible tlnorderto make such observaUonstoad vantage, the observer's eye should be as near as possible on A select list of popular works on Natural His- a level with the sea, and he should use a telescope tory, and the other sciences noticed in the following to enable him to perceive more distinctly the uppe* ketches, will be found in the appendix, part of the vessel. THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. nfiloa above the level of the ocean. 3. That the earth is round from norlh to south, appears frgm the following circumstance : When we travel a considerable distance from north to south, or from south to norlh, a number of new stars succes- sively appear in the heavens, in the quarter to which we are advancing, and many of those in the opposite quarter gradually disappear, which "jvould nol happen if the eanh were a plane in that direc- tion. 4. That the earth is .- ound from east to west, appears from actual experiment ; for many navi- gators, by sailing in a westerly direction, have gone quite round it, from east to west ; and were it not for the frozen seas within the polar regions, which interrupt navigation in those directions, it would, long ere now, have been circumnavi- gated from north to south. 5. All those proofs are confirmed and illustrated by eclipses of the moon, which present an ocular demonstration of the earth's rotundity. An eclipse of the moon is caused by the intervention of the body of the earth between the sun and moon ; in which case ihe shadow of the earth falls upon the moon. This shadow is found, in all cases, and in every position of the earth, to be of a circular figure ; which incontrovertibly proves, that the whole mass of land and water, of which the earth is composed, is nearly of a globular form. The mountains and vales which diversify its surface detract little or nothing from its globular shape ; for they bear no more proportion to its whole bulk than a few grains of sand to a common ter- restrial globe ; the highest mountains on its sur- face being little more than the two-thousandth part of its diameter. Some of the mountains on the surface of the moon are higher than those on the earth, and yet that body appears, both to the naked eye and through telescopes, of fc spherical figure. To some readers, the discovery of the true figure of the earth may appear as a matter of very trivial importance in religion. I hesitate not, however, to affirm that it constitutes a most important fact in the history of Divine Provi- dence. Had not this discovery been made, it is probable that the vast continent of America might yet have remained undiscovered ; for, Columbus, who first discovered that new world, had learned, contrary to the general opinion of the times, that the earth was of a spherical figure ; and, from the maps then existing, he began to conjecture, that the nearest way of sailing to the East Indies would be to sail westward. And although he missed the object of his research, he was the means of laying open to view a vast and unknown region of the earth, destined, in due time, to receive from the Eastern world the blessings of knowledge, civi- lization, and religion. On the knowledge of the spherical figure of the earth, the art of naviga- tion in a great measure depends ; and all the voyages of discovery, which have been made in later years, were undertaken in consequence of the knowledge of this fact. Had mankind remained unacquainted with this discovery, the circumnavigation of the glohe would never have been attempted vast portions of the liabituble world would have remained unknown and unex- plored no regular intercourse would have been maintained between the various tribes of the human race ; and, consequently, the blessings of Divine Revelation could never h-ive been communicated to the greater part of the Gentile world. Besides, the knowledge of the true figure and magnitude of our sublunary world forms the groundwork of all the sublime discoveries which have hitherto been made in the regions of the firmament. For its diameter forms the base line of those triangles by which the dis- tances and magnitudes of the celestial globes have been determined ; without a knowledge of the extent of which, the important results which have been deduced respecting the system of the universe could not have been ascertained, and, consequently, our views of the grandeur and omnipotence of the Deity, and of the magnifi- cence and extent of his dominions, must have been much more circumscribed than they now are. Such is the intimate connexion that sub- sists between every part of the chain of Divine dispensations, that if any one link had been either broken or dissolved, the state of things, in the moral and intellectual world, would have been veiy different from what it now is; and the plans of Providence, for accomplishing the renovation and improvement of mankind, would have been either partially or totally frustrated With regard to the magnitude of the earth I have already stated the mode by which we may acquire the most accurate and comprehen- sive conception of this particular, in the course of the illustrations which were given of the om- nipotence of Deity, (pp. 9 11.) It is ne- cessary here only to remark that, according to the latest computations, the diameter of the earth is about 7,930 miles, and its circumference 24,912 miles ; and consequently, the whole sur- face of the land and water it contains compre- hends an area of 197,552,160 miles. The pro- portion of land and water on its surface cannot be very accurately ascertained ; but it is quite evident, from an inspection of a map of the world, that the water occupies at least two-thirda of its surface, and, of course, the land cannot occupy more than one-third. Supposing it to be only one-fourth of the earth's surface, it will contain 49,387,040 square miles, which is con- siderably more than what is stated in most of our late systems of geography ; in some of which the extent of the land is rated at 39 millions, and in others so low as 30 millions of square miles the former of which statements being less than one-fifth, and the latter less than one- sixth of the surface of the globe. But it if GEOGRAPHY. quite obvious that the extent of the land cannot be less -than one-fourth of the area of the globe, and must, therefore, comprehend at least 50 millions of square miles. And if a large arc- tic continent, eleven hundred leagues in length, exist around the North Pole, as some French philosophers infer from Captain Parry's late discoveries* the quantity of land on the terra- queous globe will be much greater than what has been now staled. GENERAL DIVISIONS OF THE EARTH. The surface of the earth^is divided, from north to south, by two bands of earth, and two of water. The first band of earth is the ancient or East- ern Continent, comprehending Europe, Asia, and Africa; the greatest length of which is found to be in a line beginning on the east point of the northern part of Tartary, and ex- tending from thence to the Cape of Good Hope, which measures about 10,000 miles, in a direc- tion nearly from north-east to south-west ; but if measured according to the meridians, or from north to south, it extends only 7,500 miles, from the northernmost cape in Lapland to the Cape of Good Hope. This vast body of land contains about 36 millions of square miles, forming nearly one-fifth of the whole surface of the globe. The other band of earth is what is commonly called the New Continent, which comprehends North and South America. Its greatest length lies in a line beginning at the mouth of the river Plata, passing through the island of Jamaica, and ter- minating beyond Hudson's Bay ; and it measures about 8,000 miles. This body of land contains about 14 millions of square miles, or somewhat more than a third of the old continent. It may not be improper here to remark, that the two lines now mentioned, which measure the greatest lengths of the two continents, divide them into two equal parts, so that an equal por- tion of land lies on each side of these lines, and that each of these line* has an inclination of about 30 degrees to tKe equator, but in opposite directions ; that of the old continent extending from the north-east to the south-west, and that of the new continent from the north-west to the south-east; and that they both terminate at the same degree of northern and southern latitude. It may also be noticed, that the old and new continents are almost opposite to each other, and that the old is more extensive to the north of the equator, and the new more extensive to the south. The centre of the old continent is in the 17th degree of north latitude, and the centre of the new in the 17th degree of south latitude; so that they seem to be made to counterbalance each other, in order to preserve the equability of the diurnal rotation of the earth. There is also a singular connexion between the two con- tinents, namely, that., if they were divided into two parts, all four would be surrounded by tho sea, were it not for the two small necks of land called the isthmuses of Suez and Panama .f Between the two continents now mentioned, lie two immense bands of water, termed the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, whose greatest length \ likewise in a direction from north to south. Besides the two bands of earth to which I have adverted, many extensive portions of lard are dispersed through the ocean, which covers the remaining part of the earth's surface ; par- ticularly the extensive regions of New Holland, which occupy a space nearly as large as the whole of Europe, and the arctic continent, which probably exists within the northern polar regions, and which some French writers pro- pose to designate by the name of Boreasia, is in all probability, of equal extent. There are also the extensive islands of New Guinea, Borneo, Madagascar, Sumatra, Japan, Great Britain, New Zealand, Ceylon, Iceland, Cuba, Java, and thousands of others, of different dimensions, scattered through the Pacific, the Indian, and the Atlantic oceans, and which form a very considerable portion of the habitable regions of the globe. GENERAL FEATURES OF THE EARTH'* SURFACE. In taking a general survey of the external features of the earth, the most prominent objects that strike the eye are those huge eleva- tions which rise above the level of its general sur- face, termed HILLS AND MOUNTAINS. These are distributed, in various forms and sizes, through every portion of the continents and islands ; and, running into immense chains, form a sort of connecting band to the other portion of the earth's surface. The largest mountains are generally formed into immense chains, which extend, in nearly the same direction, for several hundreds, and even thousands of miles. It has been observed by some philosophers, that the most lofty mountains form two immense ridges, or belts, which, with some interruptions, extend around the whole glob**, in nearly the same direc- tion. One of these ridges lies between the 45th and 55th degree of north latitude. Beginning on the western shores of France and Spain, it extends eastward, including the Alps and the Pyrenees, in Europe, the Uralian and Altaic mountains, in Asia extending from thence to the shores of Kamschatka, and after a short in- terruption from the sea, they rise again on the western coast of America, and terminate at Canada, near the eastern shore. It is supposed that the chain is continued completely round the globe, through the space that is covered by the Atlantic ocean, and that the Azores, and other islands in that direction, are the only summits that are visible, till we come to the British isles, The other ridge runs along the Southern hemi- 8ee Monthly Magazine, April, 1823, p. 258. ee Button's Natural History, vol. L THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. jphere, between the 50th and 30th degrees of south latitude, of which detached portions are found in the mountains of Tucuman, and of Para- guay, in South America, of Monomotapa and Caffraria, in Africa; in New Holland, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, the Friendly, the Society, and other islands in the Pacific ocean. From these ridges flows a variety of ramifica- tions, in both hemispheres, towards the Equator, and the Poles, which altogether present a mag- nificent scenery, which diversifies and enlivens the surface of our globe. The highest mountains in the world, accord- ing to some, laie accounts published in the " Transactions of the Asiatic Society," are the Himalaya chain, north of Bengal, on the borders of Thibet. The highest mountain in this range is stated to be about 27,000 feet, or a little more than five miles, in perpendicular height, and is visible at the distance of 230 miles. Nineteen different mountains in this chain are stated to be above four miles in perpendicular elevation. Next to the Himalayas, are the Andes, in South America, which extend more than 4000 miles in length, from the province of Quito to the straits of Magellan. The highest summit of the Andes is Chimborazo, which is said to be 20,600 feet, or nearly four miles, above the level of the sea. The highest mountains in Europe, are the Alps, which run through Switzerland arid the north of Italy, the Pyrenees, which separate France from Spain, and the Dofrafeld, which divide Norway from Sweden. The most elevated ridges in Asia, are Mount Taurus, Imaus, Cau- casus, Ararat, the Uralian, Altaian, and the mountains of Japan in Africa, Mount Atlas, and the mountains of the Moon. Some of the mountains in these ranges are found to contain immense caverns or perforations, of more than two miles in circumference, reaching from their summits to an immeasurable depth into the bow- els of the earth. From these dreadful openings are frequently thrown up, to an immense height, torrents office and smoke, rivers of melted metals, clouds of ashes and cinders, and sometimes red-hot stones and enormous rocks, to the dis- tance of several miles, accompanied with thun- ders, lightnings, darkness, and horrid subterrane- ous sounds producing the most terrible devasta- tions through all the surrounding districts. The most noted mountains of this kind in Europe, aie mount Hecla, in Iceland; Etna, in Sicily; arid Vesuvius, near the city of Naples, in Italy. Numbers of volcanoes are also to be found in South America, in Africa, in the islands of the Indian ocean, and in the Empire of Japan.* We who live in Great Britain, where the highest mountain is little more than three-quar- ters of a mile in perpendicular elevation, can A more particular description of the phenome- na of these terrific objects will be found in Chap, iv. Sect. 2. form no adequate idea of the magnificence and awful sublimity of the mountain scenery in some of the countries now mentioned ; especially when the volcano is belching forth its flames with a raging noise, and spreading terror and desolation around its base. From the tops of the lofty ridges of the Andes, the most grand and novel scenes sometimes burst upon the eye of the as- tonished traveller. He beholds the upper sur- face of the clouds far below him, covering the subjacent plain, and surrounding, like avast sea, the foot of the mountain ; while the place on which he stands appears like an island in the midst of the ocean. He sees the lightnings issuing from the clouds, and hears the noise of the tempest, and the thunders rolling far beneath his feet, while all is serene around him, and the blue vault of heaven appears without a cloud. At other times, he contemplates the most sub- lime and extenshe prospects mountains ranged around him, covered with eternal snows, and sur- rounding, like avast amphitheatre, the plains be- low rivers winding from their sources towards the ocean cataracts dashing headlong over tre- mendous cl ifFs enormous rocks detached from their bases, and rolling down the declivity of the mountains with a noise louder than thunder frightful precipices impending over his head unfathomable caverns yawning from below and the distant volcano sending forth its bellowings, with its top enveloped in the fire and smoke. Those who have studied nature on a grand scale, have always been struck with admiration and astonishment at the sublime and awful exhibition of wonders which mountainous regions exhibit and, perhaps, there is no terrestrial scene which presents, at oi:e view, so many objects of over- powering magnitude and grandeur, and which inspires the mind with so impressive an idea of the power of that Almighty Being, who " weigh- eth the mountains in scales, and taketh up the isles as a very little thing." THE OCEAN. The ocean surrounds the earth on all sides, and penetrates into the inte- rior parts of different countries ; sometimes by large openings, and frequently by small straits. Could the eye take in this immense sheet of waters at one view, it would appear the most august object under the whole heavens. It oc- cupies a space on the surface of the globe at least three times greater than that which is oc- cupied by the land ; comprehending an extent of 148 millions of square miles. Though the ocean, strictly speaking, is but one immense body of waters extending in different directions, yet different names have been appropriated to different portions of its surface. That portion of its waters which rolls between the western cnast of America and the eastern of Asia, is called the Pacific ocean; and that portion which separates Europe and Africa from Ame- rica, the Atlantic ocean. Other portions are GEOGRAPHY. 67 vanned the Northern, Southern, and Indian t^reans. When its waters penetrate into the land, they form what are called gulfs, and medi- terranean seas. But without following it through all its windings and divisions, I shall state a few general facts. With regard, to the depth of this body of water, no certain conclusions have yet been formed. Beyond a certain depth, it has hitherto been found unfathomable. We know, in gene- ral, that the depth of the sea increases gradually as wp leave the shore ; but we have reason to believe, that this increase of depth continues only to a certain distance. The numerous islands scattered e\ery where through the ocean, demonstrate, that the bottom of the waters, so far from uniformly sinking, sometimes rises into lofty mountains. It is highly probable, that the depth of the sea is somewhat in proportion to the elevation of the land ; for there is some reason to conclude, that the present bed of the ocean formed the inhabited part of the ancient world, previous to the general deluge, and that we are now occupying the bed of the former ocean; and, if so, its greatest depth will not ex- ceed four or five miles ; for there is no moun- tain that rises higher above the level of the sea. But the sea has never been actually sounded to a greater depth than a mile and sixty-six feet. Along the coast its depth has always been found proportioned to the height of the shore ; where the coast is high and mountainous, the sea that washes it is deep ; but where the coast is low, the water is shallow. To calculate the quantity of water it contains, we must therefore suppose a medium depth. If we reckon its average depth at two miles, it will contain 296 millions of cubical miles of water. We shall have a more specific idea of this enormous mass of water, if we consider, that it is sufficient to cover the whole globe, to the height of more than eight thousand feet ; and if this water were reduced tc one spherical mass, it would form a globe of more than 800 miles in diameter. With regard to its bottom As the sea covers so great a part of the globe, we should, no doubt, by exploring its interior recesses, discover a vast number of interesting objects. So far as the bed of the ocean has been explored, it is found to bear a great resemblance to the surface of the dry land ; being, like it, full of plains, caverns, rocks, and mountains, some of which are abrupt and almost perpendicular, while others rise with a gentle acclivity, and sometimes tower above the water, and form islands. The materials, too, which compose the bottom of the sea, are the same which form the basis of the dry land. It also resembles the land in another remarkable particular ; many fresh springs, and even rivers, rise out of it ; an instance of which appears near Goa, on the western coast of Hindostan, and in the Mediterranean sea. not far from 37 Marseilles. The sea sometimes assumes dif- ferent colour*. The materials which compose its bottom causo it to reflect different hues in different places ; and its appearance is also affected by the winds and by the sun, while the clouds ihat pass over it communicate all their varied and fleeting colours. When the sun shines, it is green ; when he gleams through a fog, it 'is yellow ; near the poles, it is black , while, in the torrid zone, its colour is often brown; and, on certain occasions, it assumes a luminous appearance, as if sparkling with fire. The ocean has three kinds of motion. The first is that undulation which is produced by the wind, and which is entirely confined to its sur- face. It is now ascertained that this motion can be destroyed, and its surface rendered smooth, by throwing oil upon its waves. The second motion is, that continual tendency which the whole water in the sea Ijas towards the west, which is greater near the equator than towards the poles. It begins on the west side of America, where it is moderate ; but as the waters advance westward, their motion is accelerated ; and, after having traversed the globe, they return, and strike with great vio- lence on the eastern shore of America. Being stopped by that continent, they rush, with impe- tuosity, into the Gulf of Mexico, thence they proceed along the coast of North America, till they come to the south side of the great bank of Newfoundland, when they turn off and run down through the Western Isles. This motion is most probably owing to the diurnal revolu- tion of the earth on its axis, which is in a direc- tion contrary to the motion of the sea. The third motion of the sea is the tide, which is a regular swell of the ocean every 12j hours. The motion is now ascertained to be owing to the attractive influence of the moon, and also partly to that of the sun. There is always a flux and reflux at the same time, in two parts of the globe, and these are opposite to each other ; so that when our antipodes have high water we have the same. When the attractive powers of the sun and moon act in the same direction, which happens at the time of new and full moon, we have the highest, or spring tides; but when their attraction is opposed to each other, which happens at the quarters, we have the lowest, or neap tides. Such is the ocean, a most stupendous scene of Omnipotence, which forms the most magnifi- cent feature of the globe we inhabit. When we stand on the seashore, and cast our eyes over -the expanse of waters, till the sky and the waves seem to mingle, all that the eye can take in at one survey, is but an inconsiderable speck, less than the hundred-thousandth part of the whole of this vast abyss. If every drop of water can be divided into 26 millions of distinct 68 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. parts, as some philosophers have demonstrated, * What an immense assemblage of watery parti- cles must be contained in the unfathomable ca- verns of the ocean ! Here the powers of cal- culation are completely set at defiance ; and an image of infinity, immensity, and endless dura- tion is presented to the mind. This mighty ex- panse of waters is the grand reservoir of nature, and the source of evaporation, which enriches the earth with fertility and verdure. Every cloud which floats in the atmosphere, and every fountain, and rivulet, and flowing stream, are indebted to this inexhaustible sour, doubt- less, a part of those arrangements of Providence, by which the Creator will accomplish his de- signs, in peopling the desolate wastes of our globe, and promoting the progress of knowledge and of the true religion among the scattered tribes of mankind. With that branch of knowledge to whicn I have now adverted, every individual of the hu- man race ought to be, in some measure, ac- quainted. For it is unworthy of the dignity of a rational being, to stalk abroad on the surface of the earth, and enjoy the bounty of his Crea- tor, without considering the nature and extent of his sublunary habitation, the variety of au- gust objects it contains, the relation in which he stands to other tribes of intelligent agents, and the wonderful machinery which is in constant operation for supplying his wants, and for pro- ducing the revolutions of day and night, spring and autumn, summer and winter. In a reli- gious point of view, geography is a science of peculiar interest. For " the salvation of God," which Christianity unfolds, is destined to be proclaimed in every land, in order that men of all nations and kindreds and tongues may par- ticipate in its blessings. But, without exploring every region of the earth, and the numerous islands whichiare scattered over the surface of the ocean, and opening up a regular intercourse with the different tribes of human beings which dwell upon its surface, we can never carry into effect the purpose of God, by " making known his salvation to the ends of the earth.'' As God has ordained, that " all flesh sUall see the salvation" he has accomplished, and lhat human beings shall be the agents for carrying his de- signs into effect so we may r^st assured that he has ordained every mean requisite for accom- plishing this end ; and, consequently, that it is his will that men should study the figure and magnitude of the earth, aad all those arts by which they may be enabled to traverse and ex- plore the different regions of land and water, which compose the terraqueous globe and that it is also his will, that every one who feels an interest in the present and eternal happiness of his fellow men, should make himself acquaint- ed with the result of all the discoveries in this science that have been, or may yet be made, in order to stimulate his activity, in conveying to the wretched sons of Adam, wherever they may be found, " the unsearchable riches of Christ." 7i THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. To the missionary, and the directors of Bible and Missionary Societies, a minute and comprehensive knowledge of the science, and of all the facts connected with it, is essentially requisite ; without which they would often grope in the dark, and spend their money in vain, and '' their labour for that which doth not profit." They must be intimately acquainted with the extensive field of operation which lies before them, and with the physical, the moral, and the political state of the different tribes to which they intend to send the message of salvation ; otherwise their exertions will be made at ran- dom, and their schemes be conducted without judgment or discrimination. To attempt to direct the movements of Missionary Societies, without an intimate knowledge of this subject, is as foolish and absurd as it would be for a land surveyor to lay down plans for the improvement of a gentleman's estate, before he had surveyed the premises, and made himself acquainted with the objects upon them, in their various aspects, positions, and bearings. If all those who direct and support the operations of such societies, were familiarly acquainted with the different fields for missionary exertions, and with the peculiar state and character of the diversified tribes of the heathen world, so far as they are known, injudicious schemes might be frustrated before they are carried into effect, and the funds of such institutions preserved from being wasted to no purpose. In this view, it is the duty of every Christian, to mark the progress and re- sults of the various geographical expeditions which are now going forward in quest of disco- veries, in connexion with the moral and political movements which are presently agitating the nations: for every navigator who ploughs the ocean in search of new islands and continents, and every traveller who explores the interior of unknown countries, should be considered as so many pioneers, sent beforehand, by Divine Pro- vidence, to prepare the way for the labours of the missionary, and for the combined exertions of Christian benevolence.* On this subject the author feels great pleasure in referring his readers to a small volume, lately published, by James Douglas, Esq. of Cavers, enti- tled, " Hints on Missions," a work which deserves the attentive perusal, both of the philosopher, the politician, and the Christian, and particularly of the directors of Missionary Societies ; and which is characterized by a spirit of enlightened philanthro- py, and a condensation of thought, which has sel- dom been equalled in the discussion of such topics. It concentrates, as it were, into a focus, the light which has been reflected from hundreds of volumes ; and the original hints it suggests claim the serious consideration of the superintendents of missionary schemes ; without an attention to some of which, the beneficial effects resulting from such undertak- ings will be few and unimportant. Should this note happen to strike the eye of the worthy author, it is submitted, with all due deference, whether a more extensive circulation of the substance of this vo- lume, in a less expensive form, and with a few mo- difications, to bring it within the range of thought But even to every private Christian, geography is an interesting branch of study, without some knowledge of which nis prayers and his Christian sympathies cannot be judiciously and extensively directed. We occasionally hear the ministers'of religion, at the commencement of public worship, on the first day of the week, imploring the Di- vine blessing on their brethren throughout the Christian church, who are commencing the same exercises ; and at the close of worship ifi the afternoon, that the same blessing may seal the instructions which have been delivered in all the churches of the saints ; as if all the public reli- gious services of the universal church were, at that moment, drawing to a close. This is all very well, so far as it goes: the expression of such benevolent wishes is highly becoming, and congenial to the spirit of Christianity. But a very slight acquaintance with geographical science will teach us, that, when we in this country are commencing the religious services of the first day of the week, our Christian bre- thren in the East Indies, who live under a very different meridian, have finished theirs ; those in Russia, Poland, Greece, Palestine, and on the banks of the Caspian sea, have performed one-half of their public religious worship and instructions; and those in New Holland and Van Dieman's Land have retired to rest, at the close of their Sabbath. On the other hand, our friends in the West India islands and in Ame- rica, at the close of our worship, are only about to commence the public instructions of the Chris- tian Sabbath. If, then, it be submitted, that our prayers, in certain cases, ought to be specific, to have a reference to the particular cases and relations of certain classes of individuals, there can be no valid reason assigned, why they should not have a reference to the geographical positions of the different portions of the Chris- tian church, as well as to those who live on or near our own meridian : that, for example, in the beginning of our public devotions, we might implore that the blessing of God may accom- pany the instructions which have been delivered in the eastern parts of the world ; and at the close of worship, that the same agency may di- rect in the exercises of those in the western hemisphere, who are about to enter on the sa- cred services of that day. On the same princi- ple, we may perceive the absurdity of those " concerto"! for prayer in different places at the possessed by general readers, would not have a ten- dency to promote its benevolent objects. + The author does not seem to mean, that it is ab- surd for Christians in every part of the earth to assemble on the same day in their respective places of devotion, to pray for a universal extension of Christianity. This objection would lie with equal weight against the Sabbath. His only objection appears to be against the supposition, that Chris- tians, meeting in different parts of the earth at the same hour of the day, are praying in all places at the same moment. American Editor. GEOLOGY. I 73 rm* hour, which were lately proposed, and tUermpted by a certain portion of the religious world. Even within the limits of Europe, this could not be attempted, with the prospect of Christians joining in devotion at one and the same tima ; for, when it is six o'clock in one part of Europe, it is eight at another, and five o'clock at a third place; much less could such a concert take place throughout Europe, Asia, and America. So that science, and a calm vionsi- deration of the nature and relations of things, may teach us to preserve our devotional fervour and zeal within the bounds of reason and pro- priety ; and, at the same time, to direct our reflections, and our Christian sympathies, to take a wider range than that to which they are Usually confined. Besides the considerations now suggested, a serious contemplation of the physical objects and movements which this science exhibits, has a tendency to excite pious and reverential emo- tions. To contemplate this huge globe of land and water, flying with rapidity through the voids of space, conveying its vast population from one region to another at the rate of fifteen hundred thousand miles in a day, and whirling round its axis at the same time, to produce the constant succession of day and night, to contemplate the lofiy ridges of mountains that stretch around it in every direction ; the flaming volcanoes ; the roaring cataracts ; the numerous rivers, in- cessantly rolling their watery treasures into the seas ; the majestic ocean, and its unfathomable caverns ; the vapours rising from its surface, and replenishing the springs and rivers ; the ava- lanche hurling down the mountain's side with a noise like thunder; the luxuriant plains of the torrid zone ; the rugged cliffs and icebergs of the polar regions ; and thousands of other ob- jects of diversified beauty and sublimity, has an evident tendency to expand the conceptions of the human mind, to increase its sources of animal enjoyment, and to elevate the affections to that all-powerful Being who gave birth to all the sublimities of Nature, and who incessantly superintends all its movements. In fins, from the numerous moral facts, which geography unfolds, we learn the vast depth and extent of that moral degradation into which the human race has fallen the ferocious tempers, and immoral practices, which are displayed in the regions of pagan idolatry the horrid cru- elties, the vile abominations, that are daily per- petrated under the sanction of what is termed religion the wide extent of population, over which the prince of darkness sways his sceptre the difficulties which require to be surmount- ed before the " gospel of salvation" can extend its full influence throughout the pagan world and the vast energies which are requisite to ac- complish this glorious event. All these por- tions of information are calculated to confirm 10 and illustrate the scriptural doctrine of the uni- versal depravity of man to exercise the faith of the Christian, on the promises of Jehovah, in reference to the conversion of the benighted nations to rouse his sympathies towards his degraded brethren of mankind, to excite his in- tercession in their behalf, and to direct his be- nevolence and activity in devising and execut- ing schemes for enlightening the people who are sitting " in darkness, and in the shadow of death." Another subject intimately related to the for- mer, is the science ofGeology. This science has for its object, to investigate and describe the internal structure of the earth, the arrangement of the materials of which it is composed, the circumstances peculiar to its ori- ginal formation, the different states under which it has existed, and the various changes which it appears to have undergone, since the Almighty created the substance of which it is composed. From a consideration of the vast quantity of ma- terials contained in the internal structure of our globe, and of the limited extent to which men can carry their operations, when they attempt to pene- trate into its bowels, it is obvious, that our know- ledge of this subject must be very shallow and imperfect. The observations, however, which have been made on the structure of our globe during the last half century, and the conclusions deduced from them, are highly interesting, both to the philosopher and to the Christian. Before the facts, on which this branch of natural histo- ry is founded, were accurately ascertained, a variety of objections to the Mosaic history of the creation were started by certain skeptical philo- sophers, founded on partial and erroneous views of the real structure and economy of the earth. But it is now found, that the more accurately and minutely the system of nature is explored, the more distinctly do we perceive the harmony that subsists between the records of Revelation, and the operations of the Creator in the material world. If both be admitted as the effects of the agency of the same Almighty anJ Eternal Being, they must, in the nature of things, completely harmonize, and can never be repugnant to each other whether we be capable, in every instance, of perceiving their complete coincidence, or not. If any facts could be produced in the visible crea- tion which directly contradict the records of the Bible, it would form a proof, that the oracles which we hold as divine were not dictated by the Creator and Governor of the universe. But, although some garbled facts have been trium- phantly exhibited in this view, it is now ascer- tained, from the discoveries which have been lately made in relation to the structure and forma- tion of the earth, that the truth of the facts de- 74 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. tailed in sacred history rests on a, solid and immutable basis; and that the Supreme Intelli- gence who arranged the fabric of hea"en and earth, and he alone, communicated to the inspir- ed writers the doclrines and the facts they have recorded ; and we have reason to believe, that, as geologists proceed in their researches and inves- tigations, still more sensible proofs of the authen- ticity of Revelation will be brought to light. Geology has, of late, become an interesting object of inquiryto the student of general science, and is now prosecuted with ardour by many dis- tinguished philosophers. The observations which have been made in various parts of the world, by late navigators ; the facts which have been ascertained by Pallas, Saussure, De Luc, Hum- boldt, and other intelligent travellers ; and the discoveries which have been brought to light by modern chymists and mineralogists, have all conspired to facilitate geological inquiries, to render them more enlightened and satisfactory, and to prepare the way for future ages establish- ing a rational, scriptural, and substantial theory of the earth. The man who engages in such in- quiries has always at hand a source of rational investigation and enjoyment. The ground on which he treads the aspect of the surrounding country the mines, the caves, and the quarries which he explores every new country in which L* travels, every mountain he climbs, and every new surface of the earth that is laid open to his inspection, offer to him novel and interesting stores of information. On descending into mines, we are not only gratified by displays of human in- genuity, but we also acquire views of the strata of the earth, and of the revolutions it has undergone since the period of its formation. Our research- es on the surface of the earth, amidst abrupt pre- cipices and lofty mountains, introduce us to the grandest and most sublime works of the Creator, and present to our view the effects of stupendous forces, which have overturned mountains, and rent the foundations of nature. "In the midst of such scenes, the geologist feels his mind invigo- rated ; the magnitude of the appearances before him extinguishes all the little and contracted no- tions he may have formed in the closet ; and he learns, that it is only by visiting and studying those stupendous works, that he can form an adequate conception of the great relations of the crust of the globe, and of its mode of forma- tion."* The upper crust, or surface of the earth, is found to be composed of different strata, or beds placed one above another. These strata, or lay- ers, are very much mixed, and their direction, matter, thickness, and relative position, vary considerably in different places. These strata are divided into seven classes, as follows : oiack earth, clay, sandy earth, uarl, bog, chalk, Edinburgh Eacyclop Art. Mineralogy. and scabeous or stony earth. The surface o! the globe, considered in relation to its inequali- ties, is divided into highland, lowland, and the bottom of the sea. Highland comprises Alpine land, composed of mountain groups, or series of mountain chains : lowland comprises those extensive flat tracts which are almost entirely destitute of small mountain groups. To the bottom of the sea belong the flat, rocky bottom, shoals, reefs, and islands. At first sight, the solid mass of the earth appears to be a confused assemblage of rocky masses, piled on each other without regularity or order, where none of (hose admirable displays of skill and contrivance are to be observed, which so powerfully excite attention in the structure of animals and vegetables. But, on a nearer and more intimate view, a variety of beautiful ar- rangements has been traced by the industry of geologists, and the light of modern discoveries; by which they have been enabled to classify these apparent irregularities of nature. The materials of which the solid crust of the earth is composed, have been arranged into the four following class- es : 1. Those rocks which contain neither any animal nor vegetable remains themselves, nor are intermixed with rocks which do contain them, and are therefore termed primitive, or primary rocks; the period of whose formation is considered as antecedent to that of the crea- tion of organic beings. These are granite, gneiss, mica slate, and clay slate, which occur abundantly in all regions of the globe, with quartz rock, serpentine, granular limestone, &c. which occur more sparingly. 2. Rocks con- taining organic remains, or generally associated with other rocks in which such substances are found, and which, as having been formed pos- terior to the existence of organized beings, are termed secondary. ^These are greywacke, sandstone, limestone, and gypsum of various kinds, slate clay, with certain species of trap, and they are found lying above the primary or older rocks. 3. Above these secondary rocks, beds of gravel, sand, earth, and moss are found, which have been termed alluvial rocks or /or- motions. This class comprehends those rocky substances formed from previously existing rocks, of which the materials have been broken down by the agency of water and air; they are there- fore generally loose in their texlure, and are never covered with any real solid and rocky secondary strata. 4- Volcanic rocks ; under which class are comprehended all those rocks, beds of lava, scoriae, and other matter, thrown out at certain points of the earth's surface by the action of subterraneous fire. " The phenomena of geology show, that the original formation of the rocks has been accompa- nied, in nearly all its stages, by a process of waste, decay, and recomposition. The rocks as they were successively deposited, were actod GEOLOGY. upon by air and wa'er, heat, &c. broken into fragments, or worn down into grains, out of which new strata were farmed. TCven the newer secondary rocks, since their consolidation, have been subject to great changes, of which very dis- tinct monuments remain. Thus, we have single mountains which, from their structure, can be considered only as remnants of great formations, or of great continents no logger in existence. Mount Meisner, in Hesse, six miles long and three broad, rises about 1800 feet above its base, and 2100 above the sea, overtopping all the neighbouring hills from 40 to 50 miles round. The lowest part of the mountain consists of the same shell, limestone, and sandstone, which exist in the aJjacent country. Above these are, first, a bed of sand, then a bed of fossil wood, 100 feet thick at some points, and the whole is covered by a mass of basalt, 500 feet in height. On considering these facts, it is impos- sible to avoid concluding, that this mountain which now overtops the neighbouring country, occupied at one time, the bottom of a cavity in the midst of higher lands. The vast mass of fossil wood could not all have grown there, but must have been transported by water from a more elevated surface, and lodged in what was then a hollow. The basalt which covers the wood must also have flowed in a current from a higher site ; but the soil over which both the wood and the basalt passed, has been swept away leaving this mountain as a solitary memo- rial to attest its existence. Thus, also, on the side of Mount Jura next the Alps, where no other mountain interposes, there are found vast blocks of granite (some of 1000 cubic yards) at the height of more than 2000 feet above the lake of Geneva. These blocks are foreign to the rocks among which they lie, and have evidently come from the opposite chain of the Alps ; but the land which constituted the inclined plane over which they were rolled or transported, has been worn away, and the valley of lower Swit- zerland, with its lakes, now occupies its place. Transported masses of primitive rocks, of the same description, are found scattered over the north of Germany, which Van Buch ascertained by their characters to belong to the mountains of Scandinavia; and which, therefore, carry us back to a period when an elevated continent, occupying the basin of the Baltic, connected Saxony with Norway. Supp. to Ency. Brit. vol.6. The production of a bed for vegetation is ef- fected by the decomposition of rocks. This de- composition is effected by the expansion of water in the pores or fissures of rocks, by heat or con- gelation by the solvent power of moisture and y electricity, which is known to be a powerful Agent of decomposition. As soon as the rock begins to be softened, the seeds of lichens, which are constantly floating in the air, make it their resting place. Their generations occupy it till a finely divided earth is formed, which becomes capable of supporting mosses and heath; acted upon by light and heat, these plants imbibe the dew, and convert constituent parts of the air into nourishment. Their death and decay afford food for a more perfect species of vegetable , and, at length, a mould is formed, in which even the trees of ihe forest can fix their roots, and which is capable of rewarding the labours of the culti- vator. The decomposition of rocks tends to the renovation of soils, as well as their cultivation. Finely divided matter is carried by rivers from the higher districts to the low countries, and al- luvial lands are usually extremely fertile. By these operations, the quantity of habitable sur- face is constantly increased ; precipitous cliffs are generally made gentle slopes, lakes are filled up, and islands are formed at the mouths of great rivers; so that as the world grows older, its ca- pacity for containing an increased number of in- habitants is gradually enlarging. Of all the memorials of the past history of our globe, the most interesting are those myriads of remains of organized bodies which exist in the interior of its outer crusts. In these, we find traces of innumerable orders of beings existing under different circumstances, succeeding one another at distant epochs, and varying through multiplied changes of form. " If we examine the secondary rocks, beginning with the most ancient, the first organic remains which present themselves, are those of aquatic plants and large reeds, but of species different from ours. To these succeed madrepores, encrenities, and other aquatic zoophites, living beings of the simplest forms, which remain attached to one spot, and partake, in some degree, of the nature of vege- tables. Posterior to these, are ammonites, and other mollusci, still very simple in their forms, and entirely different from any animals now known. After these, some fishes appear ; and plants, consisting of bamboos and ferns, increase, but still different from those which exist. In the next period, along with an increasing number of extinct species of shells and fishes, we meet with amphibious and viviparous quadrupeds, such as crocodiles and tortoises, and some reptiles, as serpents, which show that dry land now existed. As we approach the newest of the solid rock formations, we find lamantins, phocae, and other cetaceous and mamrniferous sea animals, with some birds. And in the newest of these for- mations, we find the remains of herbiferous land animals of extinct species, the paleotherium, anaplotherium, &c. and of birds, with some fresh water shells. In the lowest beds of loose soil, and in peat bogs, are found the remains of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, elk, &c. of different species from those which now exist, but belonging to the same genera. Lastly, the bones of the species which are apparently the same THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. with tnose now existing alive, are never found except in the very latest alluvial depositions, or those which are either formed in the sides of rivers, the bottoms of ancient lakes and marshes now dried up, in peat beds, in the fissures and caverns of certain rocks, or at small depths be- low the present surface, in places where they may have been overwhelmed by debris, or even buried by man. Human bones are never found except among those of animal species now liv- ing, and in situations which show, that they have been, comparatively speaking, recently de- posited." Supp. to Ency. Brit. vol. 6. More than thirty different species of animals have been found imbedded in the secondary stra- ta no living examples of which are now to be found in any quarter of the globe. Among the most remarkable of these are the following. 1. The Mammoth, which bears a certain re- semblance to the Elephant, but is much larger, and differs considerably in the size and form of the tusks, jaws, and grinders. The fossil remains of this animal are more abundant in Siberia than in other countries ; there being scarcely a spot, from the river Don to Kamtschatka, in which they have not been found. Not only single bones and perfect skeletons of this animal are fre- quently to be met with ; but, in a late instance, the whole animal was found preserved in ice. This animal was discovered on the banks of the frozen ocean, near the mouth of the river Jena, in 1799 ; and in 1805, Mr. Adams got it conveyed over a space of 7000 miles to Peters- burgh, where it is deposited in the Museum. The flesh, skin, and hair were completely pre- served, and even the eyes were entire. It was provided with a long mane, and the body was covered with hair. This hair was of different qualities. There were stiff black bristles from 12 to 15 inches long, and these belonged to the tail, mane, and ears. Other bristles were from 9 to 10 inches long, and of a brown colour ; and besides these, there was a coarse wool, from 3 to 5 inches long, of a pale yellow colour. This mammoth was a male : it measured 9 feet 4 inches in height, and was 16 feet 4 inches long without including the tusks. The tusks, mea- suring alonjj the curve, are 9 feet 6 inches; and the two together weigh 360 Ibs. avoirdupois. The head alone without the tusks, weighs 414 Ibs. avoirdupois. The temains of this animal have been found likewise in Iceland, Norway, Scot- land, England, and in many places through the continent onwards to the Arctic ocean. 2. The Megatherium. A complete skeleton of this colossal species was found in diluvial soil, near Buenos Ayres, and sent to Madrid. The specimen is 14 feet long, and 7 Spanish feet in height. 3. The great Mastodon of the Ohio. This species appears to have been as tall as the ele- phant, but with longer aud thicker limbs. It had tusks like the elephant, and appears to have lir- ed on roots. Its remains abound in America, particularly on the banks of the Ohio. 4. The Tapir, which also abounds in Ame- rica. The one named Gigantic Topir, is about 18 feet long, and 12 feet high. 5. The Irish Elk, or Elk of the Isle of Man. This gigantic species, now apparently extinct, occurs in a fossil state, in Ireland, Isle of Man, England, Germany, and France. The most perfect specimen of this species, which was found in the Isle of Man, may be seen in the Museum of the University of Edinburgh. It is 6 feet high, 9 feet long, and in height to the tip of the right horn, 9 feet 7i inches. An engraving of this skeleton may be seen in vol. 6. of Supp. to Ency. Brit. From a consideration of the phenomena above described, geologists have been led to conclude, " that rocks now buried at a great depth, consti- tuted, at one time, the surface of continents, and the seat of organic life ; and that many orders of beings have been called into existence, and after- wards destroyed by great revolutions, which introduced new classes of mineral deposits, ac- companied with new tribes of organic beings,," It has also been concluded by some, that the ap- pearance of man upon the face of the globe, is, geologically speaking, a very recent event ; be- fore which the earth had been inhabited thousands of years by various families of plants and tribes of animals, which had been destroyed and re- newed in a long sefies of successions. Whether these conclusions be necessary inferences from the phenomena of organic remains and other geological facts, I shall not, at present, stop to inquire. It is sufficient for the Christian philoso- pher to show, that though they should be admit- ted in their full extent, they are not inconsistent with the records of sacred history, as some di- vines have been disposed to maintain. Though it could be proved to a demonstration, that the materials of which the present system of our globe is composed, have existed for millions of years, it would not, in the least, invalidate the Mosaic account of the arrangement of our world. For Moses no where affirms, that the materials or substance of the earth were created, or brought from nothing into existence, at the pe- riod when his history commences. His language, on the contrary, evidently implies, that the ma- terials which enter into the constitution of our globe did exist, at the epoch at which he com- mences his narration. " The earth was with- out form, and void ; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." This passage plainly implies the following things 1. That the original atoms, or materials, out of which the terraqueous globe in its present state, was formed, were then in existence, or had been previously created. How long they had been in existence is not stated. We may suppose them to have existed for a GEOLOGY. 77 yar, a thousand years, or a million of years, ust as geological phenomena seem to warrant, without in the least invalidating the authority of the sacred historian, who states nothing contra- ry to the truth of either supposition. 2. That the materials of our globe, as then existing, were in a chaotic state. Instead of that order and beauty which we perceive on the face of nature, the whole mass presented a scene of contusion and disorder such a scene, perhaps, as would be presented, were the earth stripped of its ver- dure, were its strata universally disrupted, its mountains hurled into the plains, and its rivers and seas, by some terrible convulsion, to forsake their ancient channels. 3. The passage seems to imply, that the whole, or the greater portion of the earth, as it then existed, was covered with a deluge of water : " Darkness covered the face of the deep, 1 ' or the abyss. Such was the state of the terrestrial system at the period when Moses commences his narra- tion ; no intimation being given of the period of its duration in this condition ; and, consequently, nothing asserted to militate against any geologi- cal system which is founded on the facts which have been discovered respecting the organic re- mains which are found in the strata of our globe. It is a mistake into which too many have been apt to fall, to suppose, that Moses begins his history at the period when the first portions of material existence were created out of nothing ; and that it was his design to mark the precise epoch when the whole assemblage of created be- ings throughout the universe was brought into existence. His primary, if not his sole inten- tion evidently was, to detail the progress of those arrangements by which the earth was gradually reduced to that form and order in which we now behold it, from the chaotic materials which pre- viously existed. And, as an emphatic and ap- propriate introduction to his narration, he states this important truth : " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." This pass- age, being of a general and comprehensive na- ture, decides nothing with regard to the period, or precise epoch, at which the different bodies in the universe were called into being ; but is evi- dently intended to convey the following import- ant truth, in opposition to all fanciful, chimeri- cal, and atheistical notions respecting the origin of the w irld ; namely, " That, at what period soever, in the lapse of duration, any object was brought into existence, it derived that existence from ihe God of Israel, the self-existent and eter- nal Jehovah." " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." As the language of the sacred historian, therefore, decides nothing with regard to time to limit the creation of every portion of the material system within the period of six thousand years, is to make an un- necessary concession to the infidel philosopher, which may afterwards be found inconsistent with certain facts which exist in the material world. But, whatever may be said with respect to the state and duration of the earlh prior to the pe- riod at which Moses commences nis narration, it is admitted by every geologist, that our globe, as to its present form and arrangement, has been, comparatively, of but short duration. Cuvier, one of the most enlightened geologists of the age, deduces, from certain progressive changes on the earth's surface, as well as from the con- current traditions of many nations, that the first appearance of man upon the face of ihe globe, or, at least, the renewal of the human race after some great catastrophe, cannot be referred to a period farther back than 5000 or 6000 years from the present time. Geologists, too, of every description, however different the systems or theories they have adopted, have all been con- strained, from the evidence of fact, to admit this conclusion, " That every part of the dry land was once covered by the ocean ;" thus confirming the scriptural account of that stupendous event, the universal de'.uge. This event, from its very nature, must have been accompanied with the most terrible convulsions, both on the exterior surface, and in the interior strata of the globe. Accordingly we find, that traces of this awful catastrophe exist in every region of the earth. Mr. Parkinson describes the whole island of Great Britain, as having, since its completion, " suffered considerable disturbance from some prodigious and mysterious power. By this power all the known strata, to the greatest depths that have been explored, have been more or less broken and displaced, and, in some places, have been so lifted, that some of the lowest of them have been raised to the surface ; while portions of others, to a very considerable depth and ex- tent, have been entirely carried away." The whole of the Alpine region in Switzerland, and the north of luiiy, considered as one mass, shows the most evident marks of dislocation. At the height of 3500 feet above the level of the sea, M. Saussure met with a chasm a hundred feet wide, and so deep that he saw no bottom. All travellers on the Alps have regarded them with horror. They mark the most evident convul- sions, but show no signs of having been occa- sioned by attrition. Mr. Townsend, speaking of the Pyrenees, which he personally inspected, says, ' What is most remarkable is, to see four enormous chasms, almost perpendicular, which divided both mountains and their valleys, and which appear as if they had just been rent asunder." Throughout the ranges of the Andes, and in every other mountainous region, similar chasms and disruptions, indicating the former operation of some tremendous power, are fre- quently observed by those who visit such scenes of grandeur. In some of the coal mines in our country, the coal is in some places lifted up or 78 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. thrown down several hundreds of feet from the places it .appears originally to have occupied. " Two miles north of Newcastle," says Mr. Townsend, "one great dyke or fault throws down the coal 540 feet at the distance of 3 miles it is cut off, and thrown down again 240 feet." An evidence of the effects which could be produced only by a general deluge, is also af- forded by those organic remains to which I have already adverted, and particularly by those im- mense quantities of marine shells, which have been discovered in situations so elevated, and in places so far removed from the sea, as to prove that they were left there by a flood ex- tending over the whole globe. At Touraine, in France, a hundred miles from the sea, is a bed of shells stretching 9 leagues in extent, and 20 feet in depth, and including shells not known to belong to the neighbouring sea. Humboldt found sea shells on the Andes at an elevation of 14,120 feet above the level of the sea. The slaty mountain of La Bolca, near Verona, is famous for petrifactions, among which are enumerated more than one hundred species of fish, natives of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, here as- sembled in one place. It appears, therefore, that the researches of geology confirm the fact of a universal deluge, and thus afford a sensible proof of the credibility of the sacred historian, and, consequently, of the truth of the doctrines of Divine Revelation. But, besides the testimony which this science bears to the authenticity of Scripture History, it exhibits some of the grandest objects in the his- tory of the physical operations of Divine Provi- dence. It presents to our view, in a most im- pressive form, the majestic agency of God, in convulsing and disarranging the structure of our globe, which at first sprung from his hand in perfect order and beauty. When we contem- plate the objects which this science embraces, we seem to be standing on the ruins of a former world. We behold " hills" which " have melt- ed like wax at the presence of the Lord," and " mountains" which " have been carried into the midst of the sea." We behold rocks of enormous size, which have been rent from their foundations, and rolled from one continent to an- other the most solid strata of the earth bent under the action of some tremendous power, and dispersed in fragments through the sur- rounding regions. We behold the summits of lofty mountains, over which the ocean had rolled its mighty billows confounding lands and seas in one universal devastation iransporiing plants and forests from one quarter of the world to an- other, and spreading universal destruction among tfie animated inhabitants of the water and the earth. When we enter the wild and romantic scene of a mountainous country, or descend into the subterraneous regions of the globe, we are ever) where struck with the vestiges of opera- tions carried on by the powers of nature, upon a scale of prodigious magnitude, and with the ex ertion of forces, the stupendous nature of which astonishes and overpowers the mind. Contem- plating such scenes of grandeur, we perceive tha force and sublimity of those descriptions of Deity contained in the volume of inspiration : " Tho Lord reignelh, he is clothed with majesty ; in his hand are the deep places of the earth, the strength of the hills is his also. He removeth tha mountains, and they know not : he overturneth them in his anger ; he shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. At his presence the earth shook and trembled : the foundations also of the hills moved, and were shaken, because he was wrath." " Thou cover- edst the earth with the deep, as with a gar- ment ; the waters stood above the mountains At thy rebuke they fled ; at the voice of thy thunder they hastened away." While retracing such terrific displays of omnipotence, we are na- turally led to inquire into the moral cause which induced the benevolent Creator to inflict upon the world such overwhelming desolations. For rea- son, as well as revelation, declares that a moral cause must have existed. Man must have vio- lated the commands of his Maker, and frustrated the end of his creation ; and to this conclusion the sacred historian bears ample testimony. " God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con- tinually : and Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air." ASTRONOMY. Another science which stands in an intimate relation to religion, is Astronomy. This sublime science teaches us the magni- tudes and distances of the heavenly bodies, their arrangement, their various motions and pheno- mena, and the laws by which their movements are regulated. It presents to our view objects the most wonderful and sublime ; whether we consider the vast magnitude of the bodies about which it is conversant their immense number the velocity of their motions the astonishing forces requisite to impel them in their rapid career through the regions of the sky the vast spaces which sur- round them, and in which they perform their re- volutions the magnificent circles they describe the splendour of their appearance or the impor- tant ends they are destined to serve in the grand system of the universe. Having adverted to this subject, when illustrating the omnipotence of the Deity, I shall here simply slate a few addi- tional facts with respect to the general appear- ance of the heavens, the bodies which com- pose the planetary system, and the discoveries which have been made in tne region of the stars. GEOLOGY. When we jft our eyes towards the sky, we perceive an apparent hollow hemisphere, placed at an indefinite distance, and surrounding the earth en every hand. In the day time, the prin- cipal object which appears in the hemisphere, is the sun. In the morning, we see him rise above the distant mountains, or from the extremity of the ocean; he gradually ascends the vault of heaven, and then decline?, and disappears in the opposite quarter of the sky. In the northern parts of the globe, where we reside, if about the 21st of March, we place ourselves on an open plain, with our face towards the south, the sun will appear to rise on our left, or due east, about six in the morning, and about the same hour in the evening, he will set due west. In the month of June he rises to our left, hut somewhat behind us, in a direction towards the north-east, ascends to a greater height at noon than in the month of March, and, after describing a large arc of the heavens, sets on our right, and still behind us, in the north-western quarter of the sky. Jn the month of December, if we stand in the same position, we may observe, without turning our- selves, both his rising and setting. He rises in the south-east, ascends to a small elevation at noon, and sets in the south-west, after having described a very small arc of the heavens. Every day he appears to move a little towards the east, or contrary to his apparent diurnal motion ; for the stars which are seen to the eastward of him, appear every succeeding day to make a nearer approach to the place in which he is seen. All the variety of these successive changes is accom- plished within the period of 365 days 6 hours, in which time he appears to have made a complete revolution round the heavens from west to east, The moon is the next object in the heavens which naturally attracts our attention ; and she is round to go through similar variations in the course of a month. When she first becomes visible at new moon, she appears in the western part of the heavens, in the form of a crescent, not far from the setting sun. Every night she increases in size, and removes to a greater distance from the sun, till at last, she appears in the east- ern part of the horizon, just as the sun disap- pears in the western ; at which time she presents a round full-enlightened face. After this, she gradually moves farther and farther eastward, and her enlightened part gradually decreases, till at last she seems to approach the sun as nearly in the east as she did in the west, and rises only a little before him in the morning, in the form of a crescent. All these different changes may be traced by attending to her apparent positions, from time to time, with respect to the fixed stars. A dark shadow is occasionally seen to move across the face of the moon, which obscures her light, and gives her the appearance of tar- nished copper. Sometimes this shadow covers only a small portion of her surface ; at other times it covers the whole of her disk for an nonr or two, and its margin always appears of th figure of a segment of a circle. This phenome- non, which happens, at an average, about twice every year, is termed an eclipse of the moon. It is produced by the shadow of the earth falling upon the moon, when the sun, the earth, and the ' moon, are nearly in a straight line ; and can happen only at the time of full moon. Some- times the moon appears to pass across the body of the sun, when her dark side is turned towards the earth, covering his disk either in whole or in part, and intercepting his rays from a certain portion of the earth. This is called an eclipse of the sun, and can happen only at the time of new moon. In a total eclipse of the sun, which seldom happens, the darkness is so striking, that the planets, and some of the larger stars, are dis- tinctly seen, and the inferior animals appear struck with terror. Again, if, on a winter's evening, about six o'clock, we direct our view to the eastern quar- ter of the sky, we shall perceive certain stars just risen above the horizon : if we view the same stars about midnight, we shall find them at a considerable elevation in the south, having apparently moved over a space equal to one half of the whole hemisphere. On the next morning, about six o'clock,the same stars will be seen set- ting in the western part of the sky. If we turn our eyes towards the north, we shall perceive a simi- lar motion in these twinkling orbs, but with this difference, that a very considerable number of them neither rise nor set, but seem to move round an immoveable point, called the north pole. Near this point is placed the polar star, which seems to have little or no apparent motion, and which, in our latitude, appears elevated a little more than half way between the northern part of our horizon and the zenith or point above our heads. A person who has directed his attention to the heavens for the first time, after having made such observations, will naturally in- quire Whence come those stars which begin to appear in the east 1 Whither have those gone, which have disappeared in the west 7 and, what becomes, during the day, of the stars which are seen in the night? It will soon occur to a ra- tional observer, who is convinced of the round- ness of the earth, that the stars which rise above the eastern horizon come from another hemis- phere, which we are apt to imagine below us, and when they set, return to that hemisphere again ; and, that the reason why the stars are not seen in the day-time, is, not because they are absent from our hemisphere, or have ceased to shine, but because their light is obscured by the more vivid splendour of the sun.* From uch * This is put beyond all doubt, by the invention o/ the telescope; by which instrument, adapted to an equatorial motion, we are enabled to see many of the stars even at noon-day. The Author of this THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. observations we are led to conclude, that the globe on which we tread is suspended in empty space is surrounded on all sides by the celes- tial vault and that the whole sphere of the heavens has an apparent motion round the earth every twenty-four hours. Whether this motion be real, or only apparent, must be determined by other considerations. Such general views of the nocturnal heavens, which every common observer may take, have a tendency to expand the mind, and to elevate it fo the contemplation of an invisible power, by which such mighty movements are conducted. Whether we consider the vast concave, with all its radiant orbs, moving in majestic grandeur around our globe, or the earth itself whirling round its inhabitants in an opposite direction an idea of sublimity, and of Almighty energy, irresistibly forces itself upon the mind, which throws completely into the shade the mightiest efforts of human power. The most powerful mechanical engines that were ever constructed work, about eleven years ago, made a number of observations, by means of an equatorial telescope, to determine the following particulars : What stars and planets may be conveniently seen in the day- time, when the sun is above the horizon ? What de- grees of magnifying power are requisite for distin- guishing them ? How near their conjunction with the sun they may be seen ; and, whether the dimi- nution of the aperture of the telescope, or the in- crease of magnifying power, conduces most to ren- der a star or planet visible in day-light. The results of several hundreds of observations on these points, accompanied with some original deductions and re- marks, are inserted in " Nicholson's Philosophical Journal)" for October, 1813, vol. 36, p. \09 128. The following are some of the results which were de- duced from the observations : That a star of the first magnitude maybe distinguished at ahy time of the day, with a,, magnifying power of 30 times, but thatc a higher magnifying power is preferable That most of the stars of the second magnitude may be seen with a power of 100 ; and with a power of 60 times, when the sun is not much more than two hours above the horizon That the planet Jupiter, when not within 30 or 40 degrees of the sun, may be seen with a power of 15 times ; and that Venus may, in most instances, be seen with a power of from 7 to too times, and upwards That Jupiter can scarcely he distinguished in the day-time, when within 26 degrees of the sun ; but that Venus may be distinctly perceived near her superior conjunc- tion, when only one degree and 27 minutes from the sun's margin ; and, consequently, may be visible at the time of that conjunction, when her geocen- tric latitude equals or exceeds l degree 43 minutes That she may be perceived, like a fine, slender crescent, within 35 hours after passing her inferior conjunction, .fee. &c. One practical purpose to which such observations on Venus, at the time of her superior conjunction, may be applied, is, to determine the difference (if any) between her polar and equatorial diameters. For, it is only at that conjunction that she presents to the earth a full en- lightened hemisphere ; and in no other position can the measure of both diameters be taken, except when she makes a transit across the sun's disk. As the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, are found to he spheroids, it is highly probable that Venus Is of a similar figure; but this po.m has never yet been ascertained by actunl observation. See also "The Edinburgh Philos. Journal," No. 5, for July 1820, p. 191 ; and No. 13, for July, 1822" The Scots Mag." for Feb. 1814, p. 84." Monthly Mag." Feb. 814, and August 1820, p. 62. by the agency of man, can scarcely afford us the least assistance in forming a conception of that incomprehensible power, which, wiih unceas- ing energy, communicates motion to revolving worlds. And yet such is the apathy with which the heavens are viewed by the greater part of mankind, that there are thousands who have oc- casionally gazed at the stars, for the space of fifty years, who are still ignorant of the facl, that they perform an apparent diurnal revolution round our globe. Again, if we contemplate the heavens with some attention, for a number of successive nights, we shall find, that by far the greater part of the stars never vary their positions with re- spect to each other. If we observe two stars at a certain apparent distance from each other, either north or south, or in any other direction, they will appear at the same distance, and in the same relative position to each other, the next evening, the next month, and the next year. The stars^for inslance, which form the sword and belt of Orion, present to our eye the same figure and relative aspect, during the whole period they are visible in winter, and frorrr one year to another : and the same is the case with all ihe fixed stars in the firmament. On examining the sky a little more minutely however, we perceive certain bodies which regularly shift their posi- tions. Sometimes they appear to move towards the east, sometimes towards the west, and at other times seem to remain in a stationary posi- tion. These bodies have otaained the name of planets, or wandering stars ; and, in our latitude, are most frequently seen, either in the eastern and western, or in the southern parts of the hea- vens. Ten of these planetary orbs have been discovered ; six of which are, for the most part, invisible to the naked eye. By a careful exami- nation of the motions of these bodies, and then different aspects, astronomers have determined, that (hey all move round the sun as the centre of their motions, and form, along with the earth and several smaller globes, one grand arid harmonious system. Th is assemblage of pla net ary bod ies is generally termed the solar system, of which I shall now endeavour to exhibit a brief outline. THE SOLAR SYSTEM. Of this system, the sun is the centre and the animating principle, and by far the largest body that exists within its limits. The first thing that strikes the mind when contemplating this glorious orb, is its astonishing magnitude. This vast globe is found to be about 880.000 miles in diameter, and, consequently, contains a mass of matter equal to thirteen hundred thousand globe* of the size of the earth. Were its central parts placed adjacent to the surface of the earth, its circumference would reach two hundred thou- sand miles beyond the moon's orbit, on every ASTRONOMY. 8 side, filling a cubical space of 681,472,000,000,- 000 ,.000 miles. If it would require 18.000 years to traverse every square mile on the earth's sur- face, at the rate of thirty miles a day, (see p. 9,) it would require more than two thousand millions of years to pass over every part of the sun's surface, at the same rate. Even at the rate of 90 miles a day it would require more than 80 years to go round its circumference. Of a body so vast in its dimensions, the human mind, with all its efforts, can form no adequate con- ception. It appears an extensive universe in it- self; and, although no other body existed within the range of infinite space, this globe alone would afford a powerful demonstration of the omnipotence of the Creator. Were the sun a hollow sphere, surrounded by an external shell, and a luminous atmosphere ; were this shell per- forated with several hundreds of openings into the internal part ; were a globe as large as the earth placed at its centre, and another globe as large as the moon, and at the same distance from tho centre as the moon is from us, to revolve round the central globe, it would present to the view a universe as splendid and glorious as that which now appears to lh vulgar eye, a uni- verse as large and extensive as the whole crea- tion was conceived to be, by our ancestors, in the infancy of astronomy. And who can tell, but that Almighty Being, who has not left a drop of water in a stagnant pool without its in- habitants, has arranged a number of worlds with- in the capacious circuit of the sun, and peopled them with intelligent beings in the first stages of their existence, to remain there for a certain period, till they be prepared for being transported to a more expansive sphere of existence ? It is easy to conceive, that enjoyments as exquisite, and a range of thoughts as ample as have ever yet been experienced by the majority of the in- habitants of our world, might be afforded to my- riads of beings thus placed at the centre of this magnificent luminary. This supposition is, at least, as probable as that of the celebrated Dr. Herschel, who supposed that the exterior surface of the sun was peopled with inhabitants. For, if this were the case, the range of view of these inhabitants would by confined within the limits f two or three hundred miles, and no celestial jody, but an immense blaze of light, would be visible in their hemisphere. Such is the variety which appears among the works of God, and such is the diversity of situations in which sen- sitive beings are placed, that we dare not pro- nounce it impossible that both these suppositions may be realized. Though the sun seems to perform a daily cir- cuit around our globe, he may be said, in this respect, to be fixed and immoveable. This motion is not real, hut only apparent, and is owing to the globe on which we&re placed moving round its axis from west to east ; just as the objects on 11 the bank of the river seem to move in a contrary direction, when we are sailing along its stream in a steamboat. The only motion which is found to exist in the sun is, a motion of rotation, like that of a globe or ball twirled round a pivot or axis, which is performed in the space of 25 days and 10 hours. This motion has been as- certained by means of a variety of dark spots which are discovered by the telescope on the sun's disk ; which first appear on his eastern limb, and, after a period of about thirteen days, disappear on his western, and, after a similar period, reappear on his eastern edge. These spots are various, both in number, in magnitude, and in shape : sometimes 40 or 50, and some- times only one or two are visible, and at other times the sun appears entirely without spots. Most of them have a very dark nucleus, or cen- tral part, surrounded by an umb a, or fainter shade. Some of the spots are as large as wouid cover the whole continent of Europe, Asia, and Africa, others have been observed of the size of the whole surface of the earth ; and one was seen, in the year 1779, which was computed to be more than fifty thousand miles in diameter. With regard to the nature of this globe it appears highly probable, from the observations of Dr. Herschel, that the sun is a solid and opaque body, surrounded with luminous clouds which float in the solar atmosphere, and that the dark nucleus of the spots is the opaque body of tho sun appearing through occasional openings in this atmosphere. The height of the atmosphere, he computes to be not less than 1843, nor more than 2765 miles, consisting of two regions ; that nearest the sun being opaque, and probably re- sembling the clouds of our earth ; the outermost emitting vast quantities of light, and forming the apparent luminous globe we behold. The sun is the grand source of light and heat, both to the earth and to all the other planetary bodies. The heat he diffuses^ animates every part of our sublunary system, and all that vari- ety of colouring which adorns the terrestrial land- scape is produced by his rays. It has been lately discovered, that the rays of light, and the rays of heat, or caloric, are distinct from each other ; for, it can be demonstrated, that some rays from the sun produce heat, which have no power of communicating light or colour. The greatest heat is found in the red rays, the least in the violet rays ; and in a space beyond the red rays, where there is no light, the tempera- lure is greatest. The rays of the sun have also been found to produce different chymical effects. The white muriate of silver is blackened in the violet ray, in the space of 15 seconds, though the red will not produce the same effect in less than 20 minutes. Phosphorus is kindled in the vici- nity of the red ray, and extinguished in the vici- nity of the violet. The solar light, therefore, consists of three different orders of rays, one THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. producing colour, a second producing heat, and a third chymical effects. Euler has computed that the light of the sun is equal to 6500 candles at a foot distance, while the moon would be as one candle at 1\ feet ; Venus at 421 feet; and Jupi- ter at 1320 feet. That this immense luminary appears so small to our eyes, is owing to its vast distance, which is no less than ninety-five mil- lions of miles. Some faint idea of this distance may be obtained, by considering, that a steam- boat, moving at the rate of 200 miles a day, would require thirteen hundred years before it could traverse the space which intervenes be- tween us and the sun. "Hail sacred source of inexhausted light! Prodigious instance of creating might ! His distance man's imagination foils ; Numbers will scarce avail to count the miles. As swift as thought he darts his radiance round To distant worlds, his system's utmost bound." Brown. The Planet Mercury . Mercury is the nearest planet to the sun that has yet been discovered. He is about 37 millions of miles distant from the sun, and revolves around him in 88 days. His diameter is about 3200 miles. Before the dis- covery of the four new planets, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta, in the beginning of the present century, this globe was considered as the smallest primary planet in the system. His surface, however, contains above 32 millions of square miles, which is not much less than- all the habi- table parts of our globe. On account of his near- ness to the sun, he is seldom seen by the naked eye ; being always near that quarter of the hea- vens where the sun appears ; and therefore, few discoveries have been made on his surface, by the telescope. M. Schroeter concludes, from certain observations, that this planet revolves round its axis in 24 hours and five minutes. The sun will appear to an inhabitant of Mercury seven times larger than to an inhabitant of the earth ; and, if the degree of heat be in propor- tion to a planet's nearness to the sun, the heat in this planet will be seven times greater than on the surface of our globe ; and, consequently, were the earth placed in the same position, all the water on its surface would boil, and soon be turned into vapour. But the All-wise Creator has, doubtless, attempered the surface of this globe, and the constitution of the beings that may occupy it, to the situation in which they are placed.* From a variety of facts which have been observ- ed in relation to the production of caloric, it does not appear probable, that the degree of heat on the sur- faces of the different planets is inversely propor- tional to the squares of their respective distance.? from the sun. It is more probable, that it depends chiefly on the distribution of the substance of caloric on the surfaces and throughout the atmospheres of these bodies in different quantities, according to the different situations thcv occupy in the solar system ; Venus, the next planet in order from the "suri; revolves around him in 224 days, at the distance of 68 millions of miles, and its diameter is about seven thousand seven hundred miles, or nearly the size of the earth ; and it turns round its axis in the space of 23 hours and 20 minutes. This planet is the most brilliant orb which appears in our nocturnal heavens, and is usually distinguish- ed by the name of the morning and evening star. When it approaches nearest to the earth, it is about 27 millions of miles distant ; and at its greatest distance, it is no less than 163 millions of miles from the earth. Were the whole of its enlightened surface turned towards the earth, when it is nearest, it would exhibit a light and brilliancy twenty-five times greater than it ge- nerally does, and appear like a small briinant moon ; but at that time, its dark hemisphere is turned towards our globe. Both Venus and Mercury, when viewed by a telescope, appear to pass successively through all the shapes and ap- pearances of the moon ; sometimes assuming a gibbous phase, and at other times the form of a half moon, or that of a crescent; which proves that they are dark bodies in themselves, and derive their light from the sun. The most distinct and beautiful views of Venus, especially when she appears as a crescent, are to be obtained m the day time, by means of an equatorial telescope. From a variety of observations which the author has made with this instrument, it has been found that Venus may be seen every clear day without interruption, during a period of 583 days, with the occasional exception of 13 days in one case, and only 3 days in another a circumstance which cannot be affirmed of any other celestial body, the sun only excepted.f M. Schroeter and that these different quantities of caloric are put into action by the influence of the solar rays, so as to produce that degree of sensible heat requisite for each respective planetary globe. On this hypothesis which is corroborated by a very great variety of facts and experiments there may be no more sen- sible heat felt on the surface of the planet Mercury, than on the surface of Herschel, although one o? these bodies is nearly 50 limes nearer the sun than the other. We have only to suppose that a small quantity of caloric exists in Mercury, and a larger quantity in Herschel, proportionate to his distance from the centre of the system. On this ground, we have no reason to believe, either that the planets nearest the sun are parched with excessive heat, or that those that are most distant are exposed to all the rigours of insufferable cold, or that the different de- grees of temperature which may be found in these bodies render them unfit for being the abodes of sensitive and intellectual beings. tsee Edin. Phil. Journ. No. V. July, 1820, and No. XIII July 1822. I have found from observation, that this planet may be seen in the day-time, when only i 43' from the sun's centre ; and consequently when its geocentric latitude at the time of the supe- rior conjunction exceeds that quantity, it may be distinctly seen during the whole period of 583 days, excepting about 35 hours before and after its inferior conjunction. It is well known to astronomers, that there has been a difference of opinion with respect to the period of the rotation of this planet. Cassini. from observations on a bright spot which advanced ASTRONOMY. , that he has discovered mountains on the surface of this globe, one of which is 10, another 11, and a third 22 miles high. It appears also to be encompassed with an atmosphere, the densest part of which is about 16,000 feet high. About twice in the course of a century, this pla- net appears to pass, like a dark spot, across the sun's disk. This is termed the transit ol Venus. The last transit happened June 3, 1769 ; the next will happen on December 8, 1874, which will be invisible in Europe. Another will hap- pen on the 6th of December, 1882, which will be parity visible in Gmii Britain. The Earth is the next planet in the system. L movos round the sun in 365 days, 5 hours, and 4 1 J minutes, at the distance of 95 millions of miles, and round its axis in 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds. The former is called its annual, and the latter, its diurnal motion. That the earth is, in reality, a moving body, is a fact which can no longer be called in question ; it is indeed sus- ceptible of the clearest demonstration. But my limits will not permit to enter into a detail of the arguments by which it is suppprted. I have al- ready adverted to one consideration, from which its diurnal rotation may be inferred. (See p. 23.) Either the earth moves round its axis every day, or the while universe moves round it in the same time. To suppose the latter case to be the fact, would involve a reflection on the wisdom of its almighty Author, and would form the only exception that we know to that beauti- ful proportion, harmony, and simplicity, which appear in all the works of nature. Were it pos- sible to construct a machine as large as the city of London, and to apply to it mechanical powers sufficient to make it revolve on an axis, so as to carry round a furnace for the purpose of roasting a joint of mutton, suspended in the centre of its motion while we might admire the ingenuity and the energies displayed in its construction- al! mankind would unite in condemning it as a display of consummate folly. But such an extra- vagant piece of machinery would not be half so 20 degrees, in 24 hours, 84 minutes, determined the time of its rotation to be 23 hours and 20 minutes. On the other hand, Bianchini, from similar observa- tions, concluded, that its diurnal period was 24 days and 8 hours. The difficulty of deciding between these two opinions, arises from the short time in which observations can be made on this planet, either before sun-rise or after sun-set, which prevents us from tracing, with accuracy, the progressive motion of its spots for a sufficient length of time. And al- though an observer should mark the position of the spots, at the same hour, on two succeeding evenings, and find they had moved forward about 20 degrees in 24 hours, he would still be at a los? to determine, whether they had moved 20 degrees in all, since the preceding observation, or had finished a revolution, and 20 degrees more. In "Nicholson's Philosophical Journal," vol. 30. I endeavoured to show how this point maybe determined by observations on Venus in the day-time, by which, in certain cases, the pro- gressive motion of her spots might be traced, without Interruption, for 12 hours or^more, which would completely settle the period of rotation. 38 preposterous as to suppose, that the v*st universe is daily revolving around our little globe, and thai all the planetary motions have an immediate re- spect to it. And shall we dare to ascribe to him who is " the only wise God," contrivances which we would pronounce to be the perfection of folly in mankind? It is recorded of the astro- nomer Alphonsus, king of Castile, who lived in the 13lh century, that, after having studied the Ptolemaic system, which supposes the earth at rest in the centre of the universe, he uttered the following impious sentence : " If I had been of God's privy council, when he made the world, I would have advised him better." So that false conceptions of the system of nature, lead to erro- neous notions of that adorable Being who is pos- sessed of infinite perfection. We find that bodies much larger than the earth have a similar rota- tion. The planet Jupiter, a globe 295,000 miles in circumference, moves round his axis in less than ten hours ; and all the other planetary bodies, on which spots have been discovered, are found to have a diurnal motion. Besides, it in found to be a universal law of nature that smaller globes revolve round larger ; but there is no ex- ample in the universe, of a larger body revolving around a smaller. The moon revolves around the earth, but she is much smaller than the earth; the moons which move around Jupiter, Saturn, and Herschel, are all less than their pri- maries, and the planets which perform their re- volutions around the sun are much less than that central luminary. With regard to the annual revolution of the earth, if such a motion did exist, the planetary system would present a scene of inextricable con- fusion. The planets would sometimes move backwards, sometimes forwards, and at other times remain stationary; and would describe looped curves, so anomalous and confused, thai no man in his senses could view the all-wise Creator as the author of so much confusion. But, by considering the earth as revolving in an orbit between Venus and Mars, (which all ce- lestial observations completely demonstrate,) all the apparent irregularities of the planetary mo- tions are completely solved and accounted for ; and the solar system presents a scene of beauty, harmony and grandeur, combined with a simplicity of design which characterizes all the works of Omnipotence. The Moon. Next to the sun, the moon is to us the most interesting of all the celestial orbs. She is the constant attendant of the earth, and revolves around it in 27 days, 8 hours ; but the period from one new or full moon to another is about 29 days, 12 hours. She is the nearest of all the heavenly bodies ; being only about two hundred and forty thousand miles distant from the earth. She is much smaller than the earth ; be- ing only 2,180 miles in diameter. Her surface, when viewed with a telescope, presents an into THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER resting and a variegated aspect ; being diversified with mountains, valleys, rocks, and plains, in every variety of form and position. Borne of these mountains form long and elevated ridges, resembling the chains of the Alps and the Andes ; while others, of a conical form, rise to a great height, from th middle of level plains, some- what resembling the Peak of Teneriffe. But the most singular feature of the moon, is, those* cir- cular ridges and cavities which diversify every portion of her surface. A range of mountains of a circular form, rising three or four miles above the level of ihe adjacent districts, surrounds, like a mighty rampart, an extensive plain ; and, in the middle of this plain or cavity, an insulated conical hill rises to a considerable elevation. Several hundreds of these circular plains, most of which are considerably below the level of the sur- rounding country, may be perceived, with a good telescope, on every region of the lunar surface. They are of all dimensions, from two or three miles to forty miles in diameter ; and, if they be adorned with verdure, they must present to the view of a spectator, placed among them, a more variegated, romantic, and sublime scenery than is to be found on the surface of our globe. An idea of some of these scenes may be acquired by conceiving a plain of about a hundred miles in circumference, encircled with a range of moun- tains, of various forms, three miles in perpendicu- lar height, and having a mountain near the cen- tre, whose top reaches a mile and a half above the level of the plain. From the top of this cen- tral mountain, the whole plain, with all its variety of objects, would be distinctly visible; and the view would appear to be bounded on all sides by a lofty amphitheatre of mountains, in every di- versity of shape, rearing their summits to the sky. From the summit of the circular ridge, the conical hill in the centre, the opposite circular range, the plain below, and some of the adjacent plains, which encompass the exterior ridge of the mountains, would form another variety of view ; and a third variety would be obtained from the various aspects of the central mountain, and the surrounding scenery, as viewed from the plains below. The lunar mountains are of all sizes, from a furlong to five miles in perpendicular elevation. Certain luminous spots, which have been occa- sionally seen on the dark side of the moon, seem to demonstrate that fire exists in this planet. Dr. Herschel and several other astronomers suppose, that they are volcanoes in a state of eruption. It would be a more pleasing idea, and perhaps as nearly corresponding to fact, to suppose, that these phenomena are owing to some occasional splendid illuminations, produced by the lunar in- habitants, during their long nights. Such a scene as the burning of Moscow, the conflagration of an extensive forest, or the splendid illumination of a large city with gas-lights, might present simi- lar appearances to a spectator in the moon. Tie bright spots of the moon are the mountainous regions ; the dark spots are the plains, or more level parts of her surface. There may probably be rivers or small lakes on this planet ; but there are no seas or large collection of water. It ap- pears highly probable, from the observations of Snhroeter, that the moon is encompassed with an atmosphere ; but no clouds, rain, nor snow seem to exist in it. The illuminating power o the light derived from the moon, according to the experiments made by Professor Leslie, is about the one hundred and fifty thousandth part of the illuminating power of the sun. According to the experiments of M. Boguer, it is only as 1 to 300,000. Tho Moon always presents the same face to us ; which proves, that she revolves round her axis in the same time that she revolves round the earth. As this orb derives its light from the sun, and reflects a portion of it upon the earth, so the earth performs the same office to the moon. A spectator on the lunar surface would behold the earth, like a luminous orb, suspended in the vault of heaven, presenting a surface about 13 times larger than the moon does to us, and ap- pearing sometimes gibbous, sometimes horned, and at other times with a round full face. The light which the earth reflects upon the dark side of the moon may be distinctly perceived by a common telescope, from three to six or eight days after the change. The lunar surface con- tains about 15 millions of square miles, and is, therefore, capable of containing a population equal to that of our globe, allowing only about 53 inhabitants to every square mile. That this planet is inhabited by sensitive and intelligent beings, there is every reason to conclude, from a consideration of the sublime scenery with which its surface is adorned, and of the general benefi- cence of the Creator, who appears to have left no large portion of his material creation without animated existences ; and it is highly probable, that direct proofs of the moon's being inhabited may hereafter be obtained, when all the varie- ties on her surface shall have been more minute- ly explored.* The planet Mars. Next to the earth and moon, the planet Mars performs his revolu- tion round the sun, in one year and ten months, to the distance of 145 millions of miles. His diameter is about 4,200 miles, and he is distin- guished from all the other planets, by his ruddy appearance, which is owing to a dense atmos- phere with which he is environed. With a good telescope, his surface appears diversified by a variety of spots ; by the motion of which it is found, that he turns round his axis in 24 hours and 40 minutes. The inclination of his axis to the plane of his orbit being about 28 42', tho See Appendix, No. m, ASTRONOMY. days and nights, and the different seasons in this planet, will bear a consi.lerable resemblance to those we experience in our terrestrial sphere.* At liis nearest approach to the earth, his dis- tancrffrorn us is about 50 millions of miles; and, at his greatest distance, he is about 240 millions of miles; so that in the former case he appears nearly 25 times larger than in the latter. To a spectator in this planet, our earth will appear, alternately, as a morning and evening star, and will exhibit all the phases of the moon, just as Venus does to us, but with a less degree of apparent magnitude and splendour. A lumi- nous zone has been observed about the poles of Mars, which is subject to successive changes. Dr. Herschel supposes that it is produced by the reflection of the sun's light from his frozen re- gions, and that the malting of these masses of polar ice is the cause of the variation in its mag- nitude and appearance. This planet moves, in its orbit, at the rate of fifty-five thousand miles an hour. The neto planets. Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, four planetary bodies have been lately discovered, accompanied with cir- cumstances somewhat different from those of the other bodies which compose our system. They are named Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta. The planet Ceres was discovered at Palermo, J n Sicily, by M. Piazzi, on the first day of the present century. It is of a ruddy colour, and appears abour the size of a star of the 8ih magni- tude, and is consequently invisible to the naked eye. tt performs its revolution in 4 years and 7 months, at the distance of 260 millions of miles from the sun, and is reckoned, by some astrono- mers, to be about 1624 miles in diameter, or about half the diameter of Mercury. It appears to be surrounded with a large dense atmosphere. Pallas was discovered the following year, namely, on the 28th of March, 1802, by Dr. Olbers of Bremen. It is supposed to be about 2000 miles in diameter, or nearly the size of the moon. It revolves about the sun in 4 years and 7 months, or nearly in the same time as Ceres, at the distance of 266 millions of miles; and is surrounded with a nebulosity or atmosphere, above 400 miles in height, similar to that of Ceres. The planet Juno was discovered on the 1st September, 1804, by Mr. Harding of Bre- men. Iis mi.'an distance from the sun is about 253 millions of miles; its revolution is comple- ted in 4 years and 130 days, and its diameter is computed to be about 1425 miles. It is free irom the nebulosity which surrounds Pallas, and is distinguished from all the other planets by the The inclination cf the earth's axis to the ecliptic, cr, in other words, to the plane of its annual orbit, is 23 degrees and 2S minutes, which is the cause of the diversity of seasons, and of the different length of days an.l nights. Were the axis of the earth per- pendicular to its orbit, as is the case with the pla- ne* Jupiter, there would be no diversity of seasons. great eccentricity of its orbit; being, at its least distance from the sun, only 189 millions cf miles, and at its greatest distance 316 millions. Vesta was discovered by Dr. Olbers on the 29th March, 1807. It appears like a star of the 5th or 6lh magnitude, and may sometimes be distin- guished by the naked eye. Its light is more in- tense and white than any of the oiher three, and it is not surrounded with any nebulosity. It is distant from the sun about 225 millions of miles, and completes its revolution in 3 years and 240 days. Its diameter has not yet been accurately ascertained; but from the intensity of its light, and other circumstances, it is concluded, that it exceeds in magnitude both Pallas and Juno. These planetary globes present to our view a variety of anomalies and singularities, which" appear incompatible with the regularity, pro- portion, and harmony which were formerly sup- posed to characterize the arrangements of the solar system. They are bodies much smaller in size than the other planets they revolve nearly at the same distances from the sun, and perform their revolutions in nearly the same periods their orbits are much more eccentric, and have a much greater degree of inclimition to the ecliptic, than those of the old planets and, what is alto- gether singular, (except in case of comets,) their orbits cross each other ; so that there is a. possibi- lity that two of these bodies might happen to in- terfere, and to strike each other, in the course of their revolutions. The orbit of Ceres crosseg the orbit of Pallas. Vesta may sometimes be at a greater distance from the sun than either CereJs, Pallas or Juno, although its mean distance is less than that of either of them, by several millions of miles ; so that the orbit of Vesta crosses the orbits of all the other three. From these and other circumstances, it has, with a high degree of probability, been concluded that these four planets are the fragments of a large celestial body which once revolved between Mars and Jupiter, and which had been burst asunder by some im- mense irruptive force. This idea seems to have occurred to Dr. Olbers after he had discovered the planet Pallas, and he imagined that other fragments might possibly exist. He concluded, that, if they all diverged from the same point, " they ought to have two common points of re- union, or two nodes in opposite regions of the heavens, through which all the planetary frag- ments must sooner or later pass." One of these nodes he found to be in the constellation Virgo, and the other in the Whale; and it is a rematk- abie oinoidence, that it was in the latter of these regions that the planet Juno was discover- ed by Mr. Harding. In order to detect the re- maining fragments (if any existed) Dr. Olbers examined, three times every year, all the small stars in Virgo and the Whale; and it was ac- tually in the consellation Virgo, that he dis- covered the planet Vesta. It is not wilikely THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER that other fragments of a similar description may be discovered. Dr. Brewster attributes the fall of meteoric stones* to the smaller fragments of these oodies happening lo come within the sphere of tne earth's attraction. His ingenious rea- sonings on this subject, and in support of Dr. Gibers' hypothesis above stated, may be seen in Edin. Ency. vol. ii. p. 641, and in his " Sup- plementary chapteis to Ferguson's Astronomy." The facts to which I have now adverted seem to unfold a new scene in the history of 'the dis- pensations of the Almighty, and to warrant the conclusion, that the earth is not the only globe in the universe which is subject to physical changes and moral revolutions. The Planet Jupiter. This planet is 490 millions of miles distant from the sun, and per- forms its annual revolution in nearly twelve of our years, moving at the rate of twenty-nine thousand miles an hour. It is the largest planet in the solar system ; being 89,000 miles in di- ameter, or about fourteen hundred times larger than the earth. Its motion round its axis is per- formed in nine hours and fifty-six minutes ; and, therefore, the portions of its surface about the equator move at the rate of 28,000 miles an hour, which is nearly twenty-seven times swifter than the earth's diurnal rotation. The figure of Ju- piter is that of an oblate spheroid, the axis, or diameter passing through the poles, being about 6000 miles shorter than that passing through the equator. The Earth, Saturn, and Mars are also spheroids ; and it is highly probable that Mercury, Venus, and Herschel are of a similar figure, though the fact has not yet been ascer- tained by actual observation. When viewed with a telescope, several spots have been occa- sionally discovered on the surface of this planet, by the motion of which, its rotation was deter- mined. But what chiefly distinguishes the surface of Jupiter is several streaky appearances, or dusky strips, which extend across his disk, in lines parallel to his equator. These are generally Meteoric stones, or, what are generally termed aerolites, are stones which sometimes fall from the upper regions of the atmosphere, upon the earth. The substance of which they are composed is, for the most part, metallic ; but the ore of which they con- sist is not to be found in the same constituent pro- portions in any terrestrial substances. Their fail is generally preceded by a luminous appearance, a hiss- ing noise, and a loud explosion ; and, when found immediately after their descent, are always hot. Their size differs, from small fragments, of inconsi- derable weignt, to the most ponderous masses. Some of the largest portions of these stones have been found to weigh from 300 Ibs. to several tons ; and they l\;u-e often descended to the earth with a force sufficient to bury them many feet under the soil. Some have supposed that these bodies are projected from volcanoes in the moon ; others, that they pro- ceed from volcanoes on the earth ; while others ima- gine that they are generated in the regions of the atmosphere ; but the true cause is, probably, not yet ascertained. In some instances, these stones have penetrated through the roofs of houses, and proved ive to the inhabitants. termed his belts. Three of these belts, or 7one nearly equi-distant from each other, are most fre- quently observed ; but they are not regular ot constant in their appearance. f Sometimes < olr one is to be seen, sometimes five, and somalii ie* seven or eight have been distinctly visible; and. in the latter case, two of them have been known to disappear during the time of observation. On the 28th May, 1780, Dr. Herschel perceived " the whole surface of Jupiter covered with small curved belts, or rather lines, that were not con- tinuous across his disk." Though these belts are generally parallel to each other, yet they are not. always so. Their breadth is likewise varia- ble ? one belt having been observed to grow nar- row, while another in its neighbourhood has in- creased in breadth, as if the one had flowed into the other. The time of their continuance is also uncertain; sometimes they remain unchanged for several months, at other times, new be.Us have been formed in an hour or two. What these belts or variable appearances are it is diffi- cult to determine. Some have regarded them as strata of clouds floating in the atmosphere of Ju- piter; while others imagine, that they are the marks of great physical revolutions which are perpetually changing the surface of that planet. The former opinion appears the most probable. But, whatever be the nature of these belts, the sudden changes to which they are occasionally subject, seem to indicate the rapid operation of some powerful physical agency ; for some of them are more than five thousand miles in breadth ; and since they have been known to dis- appear in the space of an hour or two, and even during the time of a casual observation agents more powerful than any with which we are ac- quainted must have produced so extensive on effect. Jupiter is attended by four satellites or moons, which present a very beautiful appearance when viewed through a telescope. The first moon, or that nearest the planet, is 230,000 miles distant from its centre, and goes round it in 42$ hours ; and will appear from its surface four times larger than our moon does to us. The second moon, being farther distant, will appear about the size of ours ; the third, somewhat less ; and the fourth, which is a million of mil^s distant from Jupiter, and takes sixteen days to go round him, will appear only about one-third the diame- ter of our moon. These moons suffer frequent eclipses from passing through Jupiter's shadow, in the same way as our moon is eclipsed by passing through the shadow of the earth. By t A representation of these belts, in the position! in which they most frequently appear, is exhibit- ed in the engraving. Fig. 2. Fig. l. represents ths double ring of Saturn, as it appears when viewed through a powerful telescope Figures 1,2, 3,4, and 5, represent Saturn, Jupiter, Herschei. the Earth and Moon, in their relative sizes and pro* portions. ASTRONOMY .ne eclipse of these moons, the motion of light was ascertained ; and they are found to be of es- sential use in determining the longitude of places on the surface of our globe. This planet, if seen from its nearest moon, will present a surface a thousand times as large as our moon does to us, and will appear in the form of a crescent, a half- moon, a gibbous phase, and a full-moon, in regu- lar succession, every 24 hours. Jupiter's axis being nearly perpendicular to his orbit, he has no sensible change of seasons, such as ve experi- ence on the earth. Were we placed on ^e sur- face of this planet, with the limited powers of vision we now possess, our earth and moon would entirely disappear, as if they were blotted out from the map of creation ; and the inhabitants of ihese regions must have much better eyes than ours, if they know that there is such a globe as the earth in the universe. The planet Saturn. This planet is 900 mil- lions of miles distant from the sun, being near/y double the distance of Jupiter. Its diameter is 79,000 miles, and, consequently, it is more than nine hundred times the bulk of the earth. It takes 29 5 years to complete its revolution about the sun; but its diurnal motion is completed in ten hours and sixteen minutes ; so that the year in this planet is nearly thirty times the length of ours, while the day is shorter, by more than one- half. The year, therefore, contains about twen- ty-five thousand one hundred and fifty days, or periods of its diurnal rotation, which is equal to 10,759 of our days. Saturn is of a spheroidal figure, or somewhat of the shape of an orange ; his equatorial being more than six thousand miles longer than his polar diameter. His surface, like that of Jupiter, is diversified with belts and dark spots. Dr. Herschel, at certain times, per- ceived five belts on his surface, three of which were dark, and two bright. The dark belts had a yellowish tinge, and generally covered a larger zone of the disk of Saturn, than the belts of Jupi- ter occupy upon his surface. On account of the great distance of this planet from the sun, the light it receives from that luminary is only the ninetieth part of what we enjoy ; but, by calcula- tion, it is found, that this quantity is a thousand times greater than the light which the full moon affords to us. Besid's, it is surrounded by no fewer than seven moon^, which supply it with light in the absence of the sun. Five of these moons were discovered during the seventeenth century, by Huygens and Cassini ; and the sixth and seventh were discovered by Dr. Herschel, in 1783, soon after his large forty feet reflecting lalescofte was constructed. These moons, and also those which accompany Jupiter, are esti- mated to be not less than the earth in magnitude, and are found, like our moon, to revolve round their axis in the same time in which they revolve about the.ir respective primaries. Rings, of Saturn. The most extraordinary circumstance connected with this planet, is, the phenomenon of a dfMe ring, which sur- rounds its body, but no where touches it, being thirty thousand miles distant from any part ot the planet, and is carried along with the planet in its circuit round the sun. This is the most singular and astonishing object in the whole rang* of the planetary system ; no other planet being found environed with so wonderful an appendage j and the planets which may belong to other sys- tems, being placed beyond the reach of our ob- servations, no idea can be formed of the peculiar apparatus with which any of them may be fur- nished. This double ring consists of two con- centric rings, detached from each other; the in- nermost of which is nearly three simes as broad as the outermost. The outside diameter of the exte- rior ring 191204)000 miles ; and, consequently, its circumference will measure six hundred and forty thousand miles, or eighty times the diame- ter of our globe. Its breadth is 7,200 miles, or nearly the diameter of the earth. Were four hundred and fifty globes, of the size of the earth, placed close to one another, on a plane, this immense ring would enclose the whole of them, together with all the interstices, or open spaces between the different globes. The outsiue dia- meter of the innermost ring is 184,000 miles, and its breadth twenty thousand miles, or about 2J times broader than the diameter of the earth. The dark space, or interval, between the two rings, is 2,800 miles. The breadth of both the rings, including the dark space between them, is thirty thousand miles, which ix equal to the distance of the innermost ring from the. body of Saturn. The following figure represents a view of Sa- turn and his rings, as they would appear, were our eye perpendicular to one of the planes of those rings ; but our eye is never so much elevated above either plane, as to have the visual ray standing at right angles to it ; it is never ele- vated more than 30 degrees above the planes of the rings. When we view Saturn through a telescope, we always see the ring at an oblique angle, so that it appears of an oval form, the outward circular rim being projected into an ellipsis more or less oblong, according to the different degrees of obliquity with which it is viewed, as will be seen in the figure of Saturn in the copperplate engraving. These rings cast a deep shadow upon the planet, which proves that they are not shining fluids, but composed of solid matter. They ap- pear to be possessed of a higher reflective power than the surface of Saturn ; as the light re- flected by them is more brilliant than that of the planet. One obvious use of this double ring is. to reflect light upon the planet, in the absence of the sun; what other purposes if may be in- tended to subserve, in the system of Saturn, is, at present, to us unknown. The sun illuminates 88 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. one side of it during fifteen years, or one-half of the period of the planet's revolution ; and during the next fifteen years, the other side is enlightened in its turn. Twice in the course of thirty years, there is a short period, during which nei'her side is enlightened, and when, of course, it ceases to be visible ; namely, at the time when the sun ceases to shine on one side, and is about to shine on the other. It revolves round its axis, and, consequently, around Saturn, in ten hours and a half, which is at the rate of a thousand miles in a minute, or fifty-eight times swifter than the earth's equator. When viewed rfrom the middle zone of the p'anet, in the absence of the sun, the rins will appear like vast lumi- nous arches, extending along the canopy of hea- ven, from the eastern to the western horizon ; having an apparent breadth equal to a hundred times the apparent diameter of our moon, and will be seen darkened about the middle, by the shadow of Saturn.* There is no other planet in the solar system, whose firmament will present such a variety of splendid and magnificent objects, as that of Sa- turn. The various aspects of his seven moons, f .niles from that luminary, which is nineteen Lmes farther than the earth is from the sun a distance so great, that a cannon ball, flying at the rate of 480 miles an hour, would not reach it in 400 years. Its diameter is about 35,000 miles ; and, of course, it is about eighty times larger than the earth. It appears like a star of the sixth magnitude ; but can seldom be distinguished by the naked eye. It takes about 83 years and a half to complete its revolution round the sun ; and, though it is the slowest moving body in the syste'm, it moves at the rate of 15,000 miles an hour. As the degree of sen- sible heat in any planet does not appear to de- pend altogether on its nearness to the sun, the temperature of this planet may be as mild as that which obtains in the most genial climate of our globe.* The diameter of the sun, as seen from Hctrschel, is little more than the apparent diameter of Venus, as seen by the naked eye ; and the light which it receives from that lumi- nary, is 360 times less than what we experience ; yet this proportion is found by calculation to be equal to the effect which would be produced by 248 of our full rnoons ; and, in the absence of the sun, there are sir moons which reflect light upon this distant planet, all of which were dis- covered likewise by Dr. Herschel. Small as the proportion of light is, which this planet receives from the sun, it is easy to conceive, that beings similar to man, placed on the surface of this globe, with a slight modification of their organs of vision, might be made to perceive objects with a clearness and distinctness even superior to what we can do. We have only to suppose, that the Creator has formed their eyes with pupils capable of a much larger expansion than ours ; and has endued their retina with a much greater degree of nervous sensibility. At all events, we may rest assured, that He who has placed sen- tient beings in any regi n, has, by laws with which we are partly unacquainted, adapted the constitution of the inhabitant to the nature of the habitation. M Strange and amazing must the difference be, 'Twixt this dull planet and bright Mercury; Yet reason says, nor can we doubt at all, Millions of beings dwell on either hall, "With constitutions fitted for that spot Where Providence, all-wise, has fixed their lot." Baker's Universe. The ce'estial globes which I have now de- scribed, are all the planets which are at present known to belong to the solar system. It is pro- bable that other planetary bodies may yet be dis- covered between (he orbits of Saturn and Her- schel, and even far beyond the orbit of the latter ; n<* it is also not improbable that planets may See Note, page 82. exist in the immense interval of 37 millions of miles between Mercury and the Sun.f These (if any exist) can be detected only by a series of day observations, made vviih equatorial telescopes ; as they could not be supposed to be seen, afier sunset, on account of their proximity to the sun. Five primary^ planets, and eight secondaries, have been discovered within the last 42 vears , and, therefore, we have no reason to conclude, that all the bodies belonging to our system have yet been detected, till every region of the heavens be more fully explored. Comets. Besides the planetary globes to which I have now adverted, there is a class of celesiial bodies which occasionally appear in the heavens, to which the name of comets has been given. They are distinguished from the other celestial bodies, by their ruddy appearance, and by a long train of light, called the tail, which sometimes extends over a considerable portion of the heavens, and which is so transparent, that the stars may be seen through it. The tail is always directed to that part of theneavens which is opposite to the sun, and increases in size as it approaches him, and is again gradually dimi- nished, as the comet flics off to the m( re distant regions of space. Their apparent magnitude is very different : sometimes they appear only of the bigness of the fixed stars ; at other times they equal the diameter of Venus ; and some- times they have appeared nearly as large as the moon. They traverse the heavens in all direc- tions, and cross the orbits of the planets. When examined through a telescope, they appear tc consist of a dark central nucleus, surrounded by a dense atmosphere, or mass of vapours. They have been ascertained to move in long narrow ellipse* or ovals, around the sun ; some of them, on iheir nearest approach to him, having been within a million of miles of his centre ; and then fly off to a region several thousands of millions of miles distant. When near the sun, they move with amazing velocity. The velocity of the comet which appeared in 1680, according to Sir Isaac Newton's calculation, was eight hundred and eighty thousand miles an hour. They ap- pear to be bodies of no great density, and their t The Author, some years ago, described a method by which the planets (if any) within the orbit of Mercury, may he discovered in the day-time, by means of a simple contrivance for intercepting the solar rays, and hy the frequent application, by a num- ber of observers, of powerful telescopes, to acertain portion of the sky, in the vicinity of the sun. The details of this plan have not yp.t been published ; but the reader will see them alluded to in No. V. of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, for July 1820, p. 191. I A primary planet is that which revolves roui.d the sun as a centre ; as Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. A secondary planet is one which revolves round a primary planet as its centre ; as the Moon, and the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn. The primary pla- nets are distinguished from the fixed stars by tlie steadiness of their light; not having a twinkling appearance, as the stars exhibit. THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. size seldom exceeds that of the moon. The length of the tails of some cornels has been esti- mated at fifty millions of miles. According to Dr. Herschel's computations, the solid nucleus or central part of the comet which appeared in 1811, was only 428 miles in diameter ; but the real diameter of the head, or nebulous portion of the comet, he computed to be about 127 thou- sand miles. The length of its tail he computed 'o be above one hundred millions of miles, and its breadth nearly fifteen millions. It was near- est to the earth on the llth of October, when its distance was 113 millions of miles. The num- ber of comets which have occasionally been seen within the limits of our system, since the com- mencement of the Christian era, is about 500, of which the paths or orbits of 98 have been cal- culated. As these bodies cross the paths of the planets in every direction, there is a possibility, that some of them might strike against the earth m their approach to the sun ; and, were this to happen, the consequences would be awful beyond description. But we may rest assured that that Almighty Being who at first launched them into existence, directs all (heir motions, however complicated ; and that the earth shall remain se- cure against all such concussions from celestial agents, till the purposes of his moral government in this world shall be fully accomplished. What regions these bodies visit, when they pass beyond the limits of our view ; upon what errands they are sent, when they again revisit the central parts of our system ; what is the difference in their physical constitution, from that of the sun and planets ; and what important ends they are destined to accomplish, in the economy of the universe, are inquiries which naturally arise in the mind, but which surpass the limited powers of the human understanding at present to deter- mine. Of this, however, we may rest assured, that they were not created in vain; that they subserve purposes worthy of the infinite Creator ; and that wherever he has exerted his power, there also he manifests his wisdom and bene- ficence.* Such is a general outline of the leading facts connected with that system of which we form a part. Though the energies of divine power had never been exerted beyond the limits of this sys- tem, it would remain an e'ernal monument of the wisdom and omnipotence of its Author. Inde- A comet has lately been discovered, whose peri- odical re volution is found to be only 3 years and 107 days. At its greatest distance from the sun, it is within the orbit of Jupiter, and it possesses this peculiar ad vantage for observation, that it will be- c^ne visible ten times in thirty -three years. It was last seen in June, 18*2, by the astronomers in the Observatory of Paramatta, New Holland, in positions very near to those which had been previously calcu- lated by Mr Enke. It is probable, that the observa- tions which may hereafter be made on this cornet, wUl lead to more definite and accurate views of the nature and destination of these singular bodies. pendent of the sun, which is like a vast universe in itself, and of the numerous comets which are continually traversing its distant regions, it con- tains a mass of material existence, arranged in the most beautiful order, t^o thousand h've hun- dred times larger than our globe. From late observations, there is the strongest reason to conclude, that the sun, along with all this vast assemblage of bodies, is carried through the re- gions of the universe, towards some distant point of space, or around some \\ide circumference, at the rate of more than sixty thousand miles an hour; and if so, it is highly probable, if not ab- solutely certain, that we shall never again occu- py that portion of absolute space, through which we are this moment passing, during all the suc- ceeding ages of eternity. Such a glorious system must have been brought into existence, to subserve purposes worthy of the infinite wisdom and benevolence of the Creator. To suppose that the distant globes, of which' it is composed, with their mag- nificent apparatus of rings and moons, were created merely for the purpose of affording a few astronomers, in these latter times, a peep at them through their glasses, would be inconsistent with every principle of reason; and would be charging Him, who is the source of wisdom, with conduct which we would pronounce to be folly in the sons of men. Since it appears, so far as our observation extends, that matter exists solely for the sake of sensitive and intelligent be- ings, and that the Creator made nothing in vain; it is a conclusion to which we are necessarily led, that the planetary globes are inhabited by various orders of intellectual beings, who parti- cipate in the bounty, and celebrate the glory o* their Creator. When this idea is taken into consideration, it gives a striking emphasis to such sublime decla- rations of the sacred volume as these: "All nations before him are as nothing He sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers The nations areas the drop of a bucket All the inhabitants of the world are reputed as nothing in his sight ; and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth Thou hast made heaven, and the heaven of heavens, with all their host. ; and thou preserves! tl.em all, and the host of heaven worshippeih thee When I consider thy heavens, what is man, that thou art mindful of him !" If the race of Adam were the principal intelligences in the universe of God, such passages would be stripped of all their sub- limity, would degenerate into mere hyperboles, and be almost without meaning. If man were the only rational being who inhabited the mate- rial world, as some arrogantly imagine, it would be no wonder at all, that God should be " mind- ful of him ;" nor could " all the inhabitants of this world," with any propriety, be compared to ASTRONOMY. 91 K a drop of a bucket," and be " reputed as nothing in his sight.'' Such declarations would be contrary to fact, if this supposition were ad- mitted ; for it assumes that man holds the princi- pal statim ir. the visible universe. The expres- sions " The heavens, the heaven of heavens," and " the host of heaven worshipping God," would also, on this supposition, degenerate into something approaching to mere inanity. These expressions, if they signify any thing that is wor- thy of an inspired teacher to communicate, evi- dently imply, that the universe is vast and exten- sive, beyond the range i f human comprehension that it is peopled with myriads of inhabitants that these inhabitants are possessed of intel- lectual natures, capable of appreciating the per- fec ions of their Creator and that they pay him a tribute of rational adoration. " The host of heaven vvorshippeth thee." So that the language of scripture is not only consistent with the doc- trine of a plurality of worlds, but evidently sup- poses their existence to all the extent to which modern science can carry us. However vast the universe now appears however numerous the worlds and systems of worlds, which may exist within its boundless range the language of scripture is sufficiently comprehensive and sub- lime, to express all the emotions which naturally arise in the mind, when contemplating its struc- ture a characteristic which will apply to no other book, or pretended revelation. And this consideration shows not only the harmony which subsists between the discoveries of revelation and the discoveries of science, but also forms by itself a strong presumptive evidence, that the records of the B ble are authentic and divine.* Vast as the solar system, we have now been contemplating, may appear, it is but a mere point in the map of creation. To a spectator placed in one of the stars of (he seventh magni- tude, not only the glories of this world, and the more resplendent scenes of the planet Saturn, but even the. sun himself would en'irely disap- pear, as if he were blotted out of existence. " Were the sun," says Mr. Addison, " which enlightens this part of the creation, with all the host of ihe planetary worlds that move about him, utterly extinguished and annihilated, they would not be missed by an eye that could take in the whole compass of rrature, more than a grain of sand upon the seashore. The space they pos- sess is so exceedingly little, in comparison of the whole, that it would scarce make a blank in cre- ation." The Fixed Stars. When we pass from the planetary system to other regions of creation, we have to traverse, in imagination, a space so immense, that it has hitherto baffled all the ef- forts of science to determine its extent. In these remote and immeasurable spaces, are placed See Appendix, No VI. those immense luminous bodies usually denomi- nated the fixed stars. The nearest stars are, on good grounds, concluded to be at least twenty 6i/- lions of miles distant from our globe a distance through which light (the swiftest body in nature) could not travel in the space of three years ; and which a ball, moving at the rate of 500 miles an hour, would not traverse in four millions fivo hundred thousand years, or 750 times the period which has elapsed since the Mosaic creation. But how far they may be placed beyond this dis- tance, no astronomer will pretend to determine. The following consideration will prove, to those unacquainted with the mathematical principles of astronomy, that the stars are placed at an im- measurable distance. When they are viewed through a telescope which magnifies objects a thousand times, they appear no larger than to the naked eye ; which circumstance shows, that though we were placed at the thousandih part of the distance from them at which we now are, they would still appear only as so many shining points; for we should still be distant from the nearest of them, twenty thousand millions of miles : or, in other words, were we transported several thousands of millions of miles from the spot we now occupy, though their numbers woulJ appear exceedingly increased, they would appear nr 'aiger than they do from our present station ; am. ve behooved to be carried forward thousand? of millions of miles further in a long succession, before their disks appeared to expand into large circles, Hke the moon. Dr. Herschel viewed the stars with telescopes, magnifying sic thou- sand times, yet they si ill appeared only as bril- liant points, without any sensible disks, or in- crease of diameter. This circumstance incon- testab'y proves the two following things : 1. That the stars are luminous bodies, which shine by their own native light; otherwise they could not be perceived at such vast distances. 2. That they are bodies of an immense size, not inferior to the sun ; and many of them, it is probable, far exceed that luminary in bulk and splendour. The stars, on account of the difference in their apparent magnitudes, have been distributed into several classes or orders. Those which appear largest are called stars of the first magnitude ; next to those in lustre, stars of the second mag- nitude, and so on to stars of the sixth magnitude, which are the smallest that can be distinguished by the naked eye. Stars of the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, &c. magnitudes, which cannot b seen by the naked eye, are distinguished bv the name of tele- scopic stars. Not more than a thousand stars can be distinguished by the naked eye, in the clearest winter's night ; but, by means of the telescope, millions have been discovered. (See p. 11.) And, as it is probable that by far the greater part lie beyond the reach of the best glasses which have been or ever will be constructed bv man- THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. the real number of th stars may be presumed to be beyond all human calculation or concep- tion, and perhaps beyond the grasp of an angelic comprehension. In consequence of recent discoveries, we have now the strongest reason to believe, that all the stars in the universe are arranged into clusters, or groups, which astronomers distinguish by the name of Nebula or Starry Systems, each ne- bula consisting of many thousands of stars. The nearest nebula is that whitish space or zotie, which is known by the name of the Milky fVay, to which our sun is supposed to belong. It con- sists of many hundreds of thousands of stars. When Dr. Herschel examined this region, with his powerful telescopes, he found a portion of it only 15 degrees long and 2 broad, which con- tained fifty thousand stars large enough to be distinctly counted ; and he suspected twice as many more, which, for want of sufficient light in his telescope, he saw only now and then. More than two thousand five hundred nebulae have al- ready been observed ; and, if each of them con- tain as many stars as the Milky Way, several hundreds of millions of stars must exist, even within that portion of the heavens which lies open to our observation. It appears, from numerous observations, that various changes are occasionally taking place in the regions of the stars. Several stars have ap- peared for a while in the heavens, and then vanished from the sight. Some stars which were known to the ancients, cannot now be dis- covered ; and stars are now distinctly visible, which were to them unknown. A" few stars have gradually increased in brilliancy, while others have been constantly diminishing in lustre. Certain stars, lo the number of 15, or upwards, are ascertained to have a periodical increase and decrease of their lustre, sometimes appearing like stars of the 1st or 2d magnitude, sometimes diminishing to the size of the 4th or 5th magni- tude, and sometimes altogether disappearing to the naked eye. It also appears, that changes are taking place among the nebulae that seve- ral nebulae are formed by the decomposition of larger nebulae, and that many nebulas of this kind are at present detaching themselves from the nebula of the milky way. These changes seem to indicate, that mighty movements and vast operations are continually going on in the distant regions of creation, under ihe superin- tendence of the Sovereign of the Universe, upon a scale of magnitude and grandeur which over- whelms the human understanding. To explore, more extensively, the region of the starry firmament ; to mark the changes that are taking place; to ascertain all the changea- ble stars ; to determine the periodical variations of thir lignt; the revolutions of double and tri- ole stars; and the motions, and other pheno- mena peculiar to these great bodies, will furnish employment for future enlightened genera! ioi/. and will, perhaps, form a part of the studies anc investigations of superior intelligences, in a higher sphere of existence, during an indefinite lapse of ages. If every one of these immense bodies be a Sun, equal or superior to ours, and encircled with a host of planetary worlds, as we have every reason to conclude, (see pp. 11, 31,) how vast must bs the extent of creation! how nume- rous ihe worlds and beings which exist within its boundless range! and, how great, beyond all hu- man or angelic conception, must be the power and intelligence of that glorious Being, who call- ed this system from nothing into existence, and continually superintends all its movements ! The mind is bewildered and confounded when it at- tempts to dwell on this subject ; it feels the nar- row limits of its present faculties; it longs for the powers of a seraph, to enable it to take a more expansive flight, into those regions which "eye hath not seen;" and, while destitute of these, and chained down to this obscure corner of creation, it can only exclaim, in the language of inspiration, " Who can by searching find out God ? Great is our Lord, and of great power ; his understanding is infinite ! Great and mar- vellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty ! Who can utter the mighty acts of Jehovah who can s^ow forth all his praise !" After what has been now stated in relation to the leading facts of astronomy, it would be need- less to spend time in endeavouring to show its connexion with religion. It will be at once ad- mitted, that all the huge globes of luminous and oqaque matter, to which we have adverted, are the workmanship of Him " >vho is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working ;" and form a part of the dominions of that august Sovereign, " whose kingdom ruleth over all." And shall if ever be insinuated, that this subject has no rela- tion to the great object of our adoration ? and that it is of no importance in our views of the Divinity, whether we conceive his dominions as circumscribed within the limits of little more than 25,000 miles, or as embracing an extent which comprehends innumerable worlds? The objects around us in this sublunary sphere stri- kinglv evince the superintendency, the wisdom, and benevolence of the Creator; but this sci- ence demonstrates, beyond all other departments of human knowledge, the grandeur and magni- Jicence of his operations : and raises the mind to sublimer views of his attributes than can be ac- quired by the contemplation of any other objects. A serious contemplation of the sublime objects which astronomy has explored, must, therefore, have a tendency to inspire us with profound veneration of the eternal Jehovah to humbie us in the dust before his august presence to excite admiration of his condt-scensior and grace in the work of redemption to show us the littleness o/ ASTRONOMY. 93 this world, and the insignificancy of those riches and honours to which ambitious men aspire witli so much labour and any^ty of mind to demon- strate the glory and magnificence of God's uni- versal kingdom to convince us of the infinite sources of varied felicity which he has in his power to communicate to holy intelli ences to enliven our hopes of the splendours of that " ex- ceeding great and eternal weight of glory" which will burst upon the spirits of good men, when they pass from this region of mortality and to induce us ta aspire with more lively ardour after that heavenly world, where the glories of the Deity and the magnificence of his works will be more clearly unfolded. If, then, such be the effects which the objects of astronomy have a tendency to produce on a de- vout and enlightened mind to call in question the propriety of exhibiting such views in religious publications, or in the course of religious instruc- tion, would be an approach to impiety, and an attempt to cover with a veil the most illustrious visible displays of divine glory. It forms a striking evidence of the depravity of man, as well as of his want of true taste, and of a discernment of what is excellent, that the grandeur of the noc- turnal heavens, and the perfections of Deity they proclaim, are beheld with so much apathy and indifference by the bulk of mankind. Though ** the heavens declare the glory of God," in the most solemn and impressive language, adapted to the comprehension of every kindred and every tribe, yet " a brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this." They can gaze upon these resplendent orbs with as little emo- tion as the ox that feeds on the grass, or as the horse that drags their carcasses along in their chariots. They have even attempted to ridicule the science of the heavens, to caricature those who have devoted themselves to such studies, and to treat with an indifference, mingled with con- tempt, the most august productions of Omnipo- tence. Such persons must be considered as ex- posing themselves to that divine denunciation " Because they regard not the works of Jehovah, neither consider the operations of his hands, he will destroy them and not build them up." If the structure of the heavens, and the immensity of worlds and beings they contain, were intended by the Creator to adumbrate, in some measure, his invisible perfections, and to produce a sub- lime and awful impression on all created intelli- gences, (see pp. 22, 26 28,) if must imply a high degree of disrespect to the Divinity wilfully to overlook these astonishing scenes of Power and Intelligence. It is not a matter of mere taste or caprice, whether or not we direct our thoughts to such subjects, but an imperative duty to which we are frequently directed in the word of God; the wilful neglect of which, where there is an opportunity of attending to it, must subject us to all that is included in the threatening now specified, if there be any meaning in lan- guage. That the great body of professed Christians are absolute strangers to the s'ublime sentiments which a serious contemplation of the heavens in- spires, must be owing, in part, to the minds of Christian parents and teachers not having been directed to such subject, or to the views they en- tertain respecting the relation of such contempla- tions to the objects of religion. In communi- cating religious instructions in reference to the attributes ofGod, the heavens are seldom referred to, except in such a vague and indefinite manner as can produce no deep nor vivid impression on the mind ; and many pious persons, whose views have been confined to a narrow range of objects, have been disposed to declaim against such stu- dies, as if they had a tendency to engender pride and self-conceit, and as if they were even dan- gerous to the interests of religion and piety. How very different were the feelings and the conduct of the sacred writers ! They call upon every one ofGod's intelligent offspring to " stand still, and consider the wondrous works of the Most High ;" and describe the profound emo- tions of piety which the contemplation of them produced on their own minds; " Lift up your eyes on high and behold ! Who hath created these things ! The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy-work. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mind- ful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him! Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, and the heaven of heavens, with all their host ; and thou preserves! them all ; and the hos s of heaven worship tii^e. All the gods of the nations are idols ; but the Lord made the heavens : Honour and Majesty are before him. Jehovah hath prepared his throne in the heavens: and his kingdom ruleth over all. Sing praises unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth, to him that rideth on the heaven of heavens. Ascribe ye power to our God ; for his strength is in the heavens. Praise him for his mighty acts, praise him according to his excellent greatness." If we would enter, with spirit, into such elevated strains of piety, we must not content, ourselves wiih a passing and vacant stare at the orbs of heaven, as if they were only so many brilliant studs fixed in (he canopy of the sky ; but must " consider" them, with fixed attention, in all the lights in which revelation and science have exhibited them to our view, if we wish to praise God for his mighty works, and " according to his excel- lent greatness." And, for this purpose, the con- clusions deduced by those who have devoted themselves to celestial investigations, ought tc be presented to the view of the intelligent Chris- tian, that he may be enabled to "speak of the glory of Jehovah's kingdom, and to talk of his power." 94 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. Having, in the preceding sketches, consider- ably exceeded the limits originally prescribed for this department of my subject, 1 am reluc- tantly compelled to despatch the remaining sci- ences with a few brief notices. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. The object of Natural Philosophy is, to ob- serve and describe the phenomena of the "mate- rial universe, wilh a view to discover their causes, and the laws by which the Almighty di- rects the movements of all bodies in heaven and on earth. It embraces an investigation of the laws of gravitation, by which the planets are di- rected in their motions the laws by which wa- ter, air, light, and heat are regulated, and ihe effects they produce in the various states in which they operate the nature of colours, sounds, elec- tricity, galvanism, and magnetism, and the laws of their operation the causes which operate in the production of thunder, lightning, luminous and fiery meteors, hail, rain, snow, dew, and other atmospherical phenomena. In short, it embraces all the objects of Natural History for- merly alluded to, with a view to ascertain the causes of their varied appearances, and the principles that operate in the changes to which they are subject ; or, in other words, the laws by which the diversified phenomena of universal na- ture are produced and regulated. One subordi- nate u?e of the knowledge derived from this science, is, to enable us to construct all those me- chanical engines which facilitate human labour, and increase the comforts of mankind, and all those instruments which tend to enlarge our views of the operations of nature. A still higher and nobler use to which philosophy is subservient, is, to demonstrate the wisdom and intelligence of the Great First Cause of all things, and to enlarge our conceptions of the admirable con- trivance and design which appear in the different departments of universal nature. In this view, it may be considered as forming a branch of Natural Theology, or, in other words, a branch of the reli- gion of angels, and of all other holy intelligences. This department of Natural Science has ge- nerally been divided into the following branches: I. Mechanics. This branch, considered in its most extensive range, includes an investiga- tion of the general properties of matter ; such as solidity, extension, divisibility, motion, attrac- tion, and repulsion the laws of gravitation, and of central forces, as they appear to operate in the motions of the celestial bodies,, and on the surface of our globe, in the phenomena of falling bodies, the motions of projectiles, the vibration of pendulums, &c. the theory of machines, the principles on which their energy depends ; the properties of the mechanical poweis the lever, the wheel and axle, {he pulley, the inclined plane, tile wedge, and the screw and the effects result- ai from their various combinations. From the investigations of philosophers on these subject*, we learn the laws by which the great bodies of the universe are directed in their motions ; the Jaws which bind together the different portions of matter on the surface of the earih, and which regulate the motions of animal, vegetable, and inanimate nature ; and the principles on which cranes, mills, wheel-carriages, pile-engines, threshing-machines, and other engines, are con- structed ; by means of which, man has been enabled to accomplish operations far beyond the limits of his own physical powers. Without a knowledge of the laws of motion, and assistance from the combined effects of the mechanical powers, man would be a very limited being, his enjoyments would be few, and his ac- tive energies confined within a very narrow range. In a savage state, ignorant of rnanufao- tures, agriculture, architecture, navigation, and the other arts which depend upon mechanical combinations, he is exposed, without shelter, to the inclemencies of the season ; he is unable to transport himself beyond seas and oceans, to visit other dimes and other tribes of his fellow men ; he exists in the desert, comfortless and unimproved ; the fertile soil, over which he roams, is covered with thorns, and briers, and thickets, for the haunt of beasts of prey ; his en- joyments are little superior to those of the lion, the hyiena, and the elephant, while he is much their inferior in point of agility and physical strength. But when philosophy has once de*- monstrated the principles of mechanics, and in- troduced the practice of the useful arts, " the wilderness and the solitary place are made glad, and the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose." Cities are founded, and gradually rise to opu- lence and splendour; palaces and temples are erected ; the damp cavern and the rush-built hut are exchanged for the warm and comfortable apartments of a substantial mansion ; ships are built, and navigated across the ocean ; the trea- sures of one country are conveyed to anothei , an intercourse is carried on between the most distant tribes of mankind ; commerce flourishes, and machinery of all kinds is erected, for facili- tating human labour, and promoting the enjoy- ments of man. And when the principles and the practice of "pure and undefiled religion" accompany these physical and mechanical ope- rations, love and affection diffuse their benign influence ; the prospect brightens as years roll on, and man advances with pleasure and im- provement to the scene of his high destination. II. Hydrostatics treats of the pressure andequi* librium of fluids. From the experiments which have been made in this branch of philosophy, the following important principles, among many others have been deduced : (1 .) That the surface of all waters which havt a co-mmunicalion, whilst they are at rent, will bt perfectly level. This principle will be more HYDROSTATICS. 5 clearly understood by an inspection of the follow- (Fig. 1.) it will run through the honzoma. tube ing figures. If water be poured into the tube A, E, and rise in the opposite tube B, to the same at which it stands at A. It is on this &inciple that water is now conveyed under ground, through conduit pipes, and made to rise to the level of the fountain whence it is drawn. The city of Edinburgh, a considerable part of which is elevated above the level of the surround- ing country, is supplied with water from a reser- voir on the Pentland hills, several miles distant. The water is conveyed in leaden pipes down the jectivity of the hill, along the interjacent plain, and up to the entrance of the castle, whence it is distributed to all parts of the city. If the point A represent the level of the reservoir, C D will represent the plain along which the water is con- veyed, and B the elevation to which it rises on th castle hill. On the same principle, and in a similar manner, the city of London is supplied with water from the water-works at London bridge. Had the ancients been acquainted with this simple but important principle, it would have saved them the labour and expense of rear- ing those stupendous works of art, the aqueducts, which consisted of numerous arches of a vast size, and sometimes piled one above another. Fig. 2. represents the syphon, the action of which depends upon the pressure of the atmos- phere. If this instrument be filled with water, or any other liquid, and the shorter leg, G, plunged to the bottom of a cask, or other vessel, containing the same liquid, the water will run out at the longer leg, F, till the vessel be emptied, in consequence of the atmospheric pressure upon the surface of the liquid. On this principle, water may be conveyed over a rising ground to any distance, provided the perpendicular height of the syphon above the surface of the water in the fountain does not exceed 32 or 33 feet. On the same principle are constructed the fountain at command, the cup of Tantalus, and other en- tertaining devices. The same principle, too, enables us to account for springs which are some- times found on the tops of mountains, and for the phenomena of intermitting springs, or those which flow and stop by regular a/ternations. (2.) Any quantity of fluid, however small, may be made to counterpoise any quantity, hmoever large. This is what has generally been termed the Hydrostatical Paradox ; and from this princi- ple it follows, that a given quantity of water may exert a force several hundred times greater or less, according to the manner in which it is em- ployed. This force depends on the height of the column of water, independent of its quantity; for its pressure depends on its perpendicular height. By means of water conveyed through a very small perpendicular tube, of great length, a very strong hogshead has been burst to pieces, and the water scattered about with incredible force. On this principle, the hy drottatic press, and other engines of immense power, have been con- structed. (3.) Every body which is heavier than water, or which sinks in it, displaces so much of the watei as is equal to the bulk of the body immersed in tlte water. On this principle, the specific gravities, or comparative weight, of all bodies are deter- mined. It appears to have been first ascertained by Archimedes, and, by means of it. he deter- mined that the golden crown of the king of Sy racuse had been adulterated by the workmen. From this principle we learn, among many other things, the specific gravity of the human body ; and that four pounds of cork will preserve a per- son weighing 135 pounds from sinking, so that he may temain with his head completely above water. THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. Hydraulics, which has sometimes been treated as a distinct department of mechanical philoso- phy, may be considered as a branch of hydrosta- tics. It leaches us what relates to the motion of fluids, and how to estimate their velocity and force. On the principles of this science, all ma- chines workeil by water are constructed as steam-engines, water-mills, common and for- cing pumps, syuhons, fountains, and fire-en- gines. III. Pneumatics. This branch of philosophy treats of the nature and properties of the atmos- phere, and of their effects on solid and fluid bo- dies. From this science we learn, that air has weight, and presses on all sides, like other fluids ; that the pressure of the atmosphere upon the lop of a mountain is less than on a plain beneath ; that it presses upon our bodies with a weight of several thousand pounds more at one time than at another ; that air can be compressed into forty thousand times less space than it naturally occu- pies ; that it is of an elastic or expansive nature, and that the force of its spring is equal to its weight ; that its elasticity is increased by heat ; that h is necessary to the production of sound, the support, of flame and animal life, and the ger- mination and growth of all kinds of vegetables. These positions are proved and illustrated by such experiments as the following : The gene- ral pressure of the atmosphere is proved by such experiments us those detailed in No. II. of the Appendix. The following experiment proves that air is compressible. If a glass tube, open at orie end, and closed at the other, be plunged, with the open end downwards, into a tumbler of water, the water will rise a little way in the tube ; which shows, that the air which filled the tube is compressed by the water into a smaller space. The elasticity of air is proved by tying up a bladder, with a very small quantity of air within it, and putting it under the receiver of an air- pump, when it will be seen gradually to inflate, till it becomes of its full size. A similar effect would take place, by carrying the bladder to the higher regions of the atmosphere. On the com- pression arid elasticity of the air, depends the construction of that dangerous and destructive in- strument, the air-gun. That it is capable of being rarified by heat, is proved by holding to the fire a half-blown bladder, tightly tied at the neck, when it will dilate to nearly its full size; and if eiiher & full-blown bladder, or a thin glass bubble filled with air is held to a strong fire, it will burst. The elasti- city of the air is such, that Mr. Boyle, by means of an air-pump, caused it to dilate till it occupied fourteen thousand times the space that it usually does. That air is necessary to sound, flame, animal and vegetable life, is proved by the fol- lowing experiments : When the receiver of an air-pump is exhausted of its air, a cat, a mouse, OT a bird, placed in it 3 expires in a few moments, in the greatest agonies. A bell rung in the same situation produces no sound ; and a lighted cundl* is instantly extinguished. Similar experiments prove that air is necessary for the flight of birdc the ascent of smoke and vapours, the explosion of gunpowder, and the growth of plants ; aiu' that all bodies descend equally swift in a place void of air ; a guinea and a feather being found to full to the bottom of an exhausted receiver at the same instant. On the principles which this science has es- tablished, have been constructed the air-piling the barometer, the thermometer, the diving-bell, the hygrometer, the condenser, and various other instruments, which have contributed to the com- fort of human life, arid to the enlargement of our knowledge of the constitution of nature. IV. Acoustics. This science treats of the nature, the phenomena, and the laws of suunu, and the theory of musical concord and harmony. From the experiments which have been made on this subject, we learn, that air is essential to the production of sound ; that it arises from vibration* in the air, communicated to it by vibrations of tho sounding body ; that these vibrations, or aerial pulses, are propagated all around in a spherical undulatory manner; that their density decreases, as the squares of the distances from the sounding body increase ; that they are pro- pagated together in great numbers from different bodies, without disturbance or confusion, as is evident from concerts of musical instruments; that water, timber, and flannel, are also good conductors of sound ; that sound travels at the rate of 1142 feet in a second, or about thirteen miles in a minute ; that the softest whisper flies as fast as the loudest thunder ; and that the ut- most limits, within which the loudest sounds produced by artificial means can be heard, is 180 or 200 miles;* that sound striking against an obstacle, as the wall of a house, may, like light, be reflected, and produce another sound, which is called an echo; and that, after it has been reflected from several places, it may bo collected into one point or focus, where it will be more audible than in any other place. On these principles, whispering galleries, speaking trumpets, and other acoustic instruments, are constructed. V. Optics. This branch of philosophy treats of vision, light, and colours, and of the various phenomena of visible objects produced by tl\e rays of light, reflected from mirrors, or trans- mitted through lenses. From this science vv? In the war between England and Holland, tn 167'2, the noise of the guns was hcanl in t.'iosc par'.* of Wales which were estimated to be two In i ml red miles distant from the scene of action. Hut the sounds produced by volcanoes have been heard at a much greater distance ; some instances of vhich are stated in Chap. IV. Sect. 2. Several ofciier facts in relation to sound arc detailed in Chap. l!I. Art Acoustic Tunnds. OPTICS ELECTRICITY. 97 learr, that light flies at the rate of nearly twelve millions of miles every minute that it moves in straight lines that its particles may be several thousands of miles distant from each other that every visible body emits particles of light from its surface, in all directions that the particles of light are exceedingly small ; for a lighted candle will fill a cubical space of two miles every way with its rays, before it has lost the least sensible part of its substance ; and millions of rays, from a thousand objects, wi'l pass through a hole not larger than the point of a needle, and convey to the mind an idea of the form, position, and colour of every individual object that the intensity or degree of light decreases, as the square of the distance from the luminous body increases ; that is, at two yards' distance from a candle, we shall have only the fourth part of the light we should have at the distance of one yard ; at three yards' distance, the ninth part ; at four yards, the six- teenth part, and so on that glass tenses may be ground into the following forms , plano-convex, plano-concave, double convex, double concave, and meniscus, that is, convex on one side, and con- cave on the other that specula, or mirrors, may be ground into either a spherical, parabolical, or cylindrical form that, by means of such mirrors and lenses, the rays of light may be so modified as to proceed either in a diverging, converging, or parallel direction, and the images of visible objects represented in a variety of new forms, positions, and magnitudes that every ray of white light may be separated into seven primary colours : red, orange , yellow , green, blue, indigo, and violet that the variegated colouring which appears on the face of nature is not in the objects themselves, but in the light which falls upon them that the rainbow is produced by the re- fraction and reflection of the solar rays in the drops of falling rain that the rays of light are refracted, or bent out of their course, when they fall upon g'ass, water, and other mediums that the light of the sun may be collected into a point or focus, and made to produce a heat more in- tense than that of a furnace* that the rays from visible objects, when reflected from a concave mirror, converge to a focus, and paint an image of the objects before it, and that when they pass through a convex glass, they depict an image be- hind it. * This is produced by means of lenses, or mirrors of a largo diameter, called burning-glasses. By these instruments the hardest metals, on which common fires, and even glass-house furnaces, could produce no effect, have been melted in a few seconds. M. Villette, a Frenchman, nearly a century ago, con- structed a mirror, three feet eleven inches in diame- ter, an 1 three feet two inches in focal distance, which melted copper ore in eight seconds, iron ore in twenty- four seconds, a fish's tooth in thirty-two seconds, cast iron in sixteen secon Is, a silver sixpence in seven seconds, and tin in three seconds. This mirror condensed the solar rays 17,257 times, a de- gree of hvMt which is about four hundred and ninety times greater than coaimon fire. Mr. Parker, of London, constructed a lens three feet in diameter, On these and other principles demonstrated by this science, the Camera Obscura, ihe Magic Lantern, the Phantasmagoria, the Kaleidoscope, the Heiiostata, the Micrometer Spectacles, Opera-Glasses, Prisms, single, compound, lu- cernal, and solar Microscopes, reflecting and ic- fracting Telescopes, and other optical instru ments, have been constructed by means of whir 1 the natural powers of human vision have tee-" wonderfully increased, and our prospects intn the works of God extended far beyond what for- mer ages could have conceived. VI. Electricity. This name has been given to a science which explains and illustrates the operations of a very subtile fluid called the elec- tric fluid, which appears to pervade every part of nature, and to be one of the chief agents em- ployed in producing many of the phenomena ol the material world. If a piece of amber, scal- ing wax, or sulphur, be rubbed with a piece of flannel, it will acquire the power of attracting small bits of paper, feathers, or other light sub- stances. If a tube of glass, two or three feet in length, and an inch or two in diameter, be rubbed pretty hard, in a dark room, with a piece of dry woollen cloth, besides attracting light substan- ces, it will emit flashes of fire, attended with a crackling noise. This luminous matter is called electricity, or the electric fluid. If a large globe or cylinder of glass be turned rapidly round, and made to rub against a cushion, streams and large sparks of bluish flame will be elicited, which will fly round the glass, attract light bo- dies, and produce a pungent sensation if the hand be held to it. This glass, with all its re- quisite apparatus, is called an electrical machine. It is found, that this fluid will pass along some bodies, antl not along others. The bodies ovei which it passes freely are, water, and most othet fluids, except oil and the aerial fluids ; iron, cop- per, lead, and in general all the metals, semi- metals, and metallic ores ; which are, therefore, called conductors of electricity. But it will not pass over glass, resin, wax, sulphur, silk, baked woods, or dry woollen substances ; nor through air. except by force, in sparks, to short distances. These bodies are, therefore, called non-conductors, The following facts among others, liave been ascertained respecting this wonderful agent : That all bodies with which we are acquainted possess a greater or less share of this fluid tha- the quantity usually belonging to any body pro- duces no sensible effects ; but when any surface and six feet eight inches focus, which weighed 212 pounds. It melted twenty grains of sold in four se- conds, and ten grains of platina in three seconds. The power of burning glasses is as the area of tha lens directly, and the square cfthe fecal distance in verselyOT, in other words, the broader the mirror or lens, and the shorter the focal distance, the more intense is the heat produced by such instruments. A globular decanter of water makes a powerful burning-glass ; and house furniture has been set on fire by incautiously exposing it to the rays of tto sim. THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. beooiriRs possessed of more or less than its natu- ral share, it exhibits certain appearances, in the form of light, sound, attraction, ot repulsion, which are ascribed to the power called electric that there are two different species of the electri- cal fluid, or, at least two different modifications of the same general principle, termed positive and negative electricity that positive and nega- tive electricity alwavs accompany each other ; for if a substance acquire the one, the body with which it is rubbed acquires the other that it moves with amazing rapidity ; having been trans- mitted through wires of several miles in length, without taking up any sensible space of time; and, therefore, it is not improbable, that were an insulated conducting substance extended from one continent to another, it might be made to fly to the remotest regions of the earth in a few seconds of time that it has a power of suddenly contracting ihe muscles of animals, or of giving a shock to the animal frame that this shock may be communicated, at the same instant, to a hun- dred persons, or to an indefinite number who form a circle, by joining their hands together that it may be accumulated to such a degree as to kill the largest animals that vivid sparks of this fluid, attended with a crackling noise, may be drawn from different parts of the human body, when the person is insulated, or stands upon a stool, supported by glass feet that electricity sets fire to gunpowder, spirits of wine, and other inflammable substances that it melts iron wire, and destroys the polarity of the magnetic needle that it augments the natural evaporation of fluids, promotes the vegetation of plants, and increases the insensible perspiration of animals, and can be drawn from the clouds by means of electrical kites, and other elevated conductors. By means of the electrical power, small models of machinery have been set in action : orreries to represent the movements of the planets, have been put in motion ; and small bells have been set a ringing for a length of time; and, in consequence of the knowledge we have acquired of the mode of its operation in the system of nature, the lightnings of heaven have been arrested in their course, and constrained 1o descend to the earth, without pro- ducing any injurious effects. From these, and a variety of other facts and experiments, it is now fully ascertained, that lightning and electricity are identical ; and that it is the prime agent in producing the awful phe- nomena of a thunder-storm ; the lightning being the rapid motion of vast masses of electric mat- ter, ami thunder the noise, with its echoes, pro- duced by the rapid motion of the lightning through the atmosphere. There can be little doubt that, in combination with steam, the gases, and other agents, it also produces many of the terrific phe- nomena of earthquakes, volcanoes, whirlwinds, water-spouts, and hurricanes, and the sublime coruscations of the aurora borealis. In the ope- rations of this powerful fluid we behold a s.t>~ king display of the sovereignty and rnaje.stic agency of frod. In directing its energies, " his way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust ofrhis feet ; (he heavens are covered with sackcloth, the mountains quake be- fore him, the hills melt, the earth is burned at his presence, and the rocks are thrown down by him :" Nah. i. 3 6. It is easy to conceive, that, by a few slight modifications produced by the hand of Omnipotence, this powerful fluid might become the agent of producing either the most awful and tremendous, or the most glorious and transport- ing scenes, over every region of our globe. As it now operates, it is calculated to inspire us rather with awe and terror than with admiration and joy : and to lead our thoughts to a consider- ation of the state of man as a depraved intelli- gence, and a rebel against his Maker. VII. Galvanism is intimately connected with electricity, though it is generally considered as a branch of chymistry. It is only another mode of exciting electrical action. In electricity the effects are produced chiefly by mechanical action ; but the effects of galvanism are produced by the ehymical action of bodies upon each other. If we take a piece of zinc, and place it under the tongue, and lay a piece of silver, as big as a half- crown, above it ; by bringing the outer edges of these pieces in contact, we shall immediately experience a peculiar and disagreeable tase, like that of copper. The same 1 hing may be noticed with a guinea and a piece of charcoal. If a per- son, in the dark, put a slip of tinfoil upon one of his eyes, and a piece of silver in his mouth, by causing these pieces to communicate, a faint flash will appear before his eyes. If a living frog or fish, having a slip of tinfoil pasted upon its back, be placed upon a piece of zinc, by for- ming a communication between the zinc and tin- foil, the spasms of the muscles are excited. These and similar effects are produced by that modification of electricity which has been termed galvanism. Three different conductors, or what is called a galvanic- circle, are requisite to pro- duce such effects. A piece of copper, a piece of flannel, moistened with water or acid, and a piece of zinc, laid upon one another, form a cir- cle ; and if this circle be repeated a number of times, a galvanic pile or battery may be formed capable of giving a powerful shock. The most common and convenient form, however, of a bat- tery, is found to be a trough of baked wood, three or four inches deep and as many wide. In the sides are grooves, opposite to each other, into each of which is placed a double metallic plate, of zinc and copper soldered together, and the cells are then filled either with salt and water, or with a solution of nitrous acid and water. By means of the galvanic agency, a variety of surprising effects have been produced. Gup- powder, cotton, and other inflammable su& GALVANISM MAGNETISM. 99 glances, have been inflamed charcoal has been made to burn with a most brilliant and beautiful white flame water has been decomposed into its elementary parts metals have been melted and st on fire fragments of diamond, charcoal, and plumbago, have been dispersed, as if they had been evaporated platina, the hardest and heaviest of the metals, has been melted as readily as wax in the flame of a candle the sapphire, quartz, magnesia, lime, and the firmest com- pounds in nature, have been made to enter into fusion. Its effects on the animal system are no less surprising. When applied to a fowl or a rabbit, immediately after life is extinct, it produ- ces the most strange and violent convulsions on the nervous and muscular system, as if the vital functions were again revived , and when applied to the human body after death, the stimulus has produced the most horrible contortions and gri- maces in the muscles of the head and face, and the most rapid movements in the hands and feet. The galvanic agency enables us to account for the following among other facts : Why porter has a different and more pleasant taste, when drunk out of a pewter vessel, than out of glass or earthenware, why a silver spoon is discoloured when used in eating eggs, why the limbs of people, under amputation, are sometimes con- vulsed by the application of the instruments, why pure mercury is oxydized when amalgama- ted with tin, why works of metal, which are soldered together, soon tarnish in the places where the metals are joined, and why the cop- per sheathing of ships, when fastened with iron nails, is soon corroded about the place of con- tact. In all these cases a galvanic circle is formed, which produces the effects. We have reason to believe, that, in combination with the discoveries which modern chymistry is daily un- folding, the agencies of this fluid will enable us to carry the arts forward towards perfection, and to trace the secret causes of some of the sublimest phenomena of nature. VIII. Magnetism. This department of phi- losophy describes the phenomena and the pro- perties of the loadstone, or natural magnet. The natural magnet is a hard dark-coloured mineral body, and is usually found in iron mines. The following are some of its characteristic proper- ties : 1. It attracts iron and steel, and all sub- stances which contain iron in its metallic state. 2. If a magnet be suspended by a thread, or nicely poised on a pivot, or placed on a piece of wood, and set to float in a basin of water, one end will constantly point nearly towards the north pole of the earth, and the other towards the south , and hence those parts of the magnet have been called the north and south poles? 3. When the north pole of one magnet is presented near to the south pole of another, they will at- tract each other ; but if the north pole of one be presented to the north pole of another, or a south pole to a south, they will repel each other. 4. A magnet placed in such a manner as to be en- tirely at liberty, inclines one of its poles to the horizon, and of course elevates the other above it. This property is called the dipping of the magnet. 5. Magnets do not point directly north and south ; but in different parts- of the world with a different declination eastward or westward of the north ; it is also different at the same place at different times. In London, and in most pla- ces of Great Britain, the magnetic needle, at present, points about 24 degrees to the west of north. For more than 160 years it has been gradually declining from the north to the west ; but seems of late to have begun its declination to the eastward. 6. Any magnet may be made to communicate the properties now mentioned to any piece of iron or steel. For example, by gently rubbing a penknife with a magnet, it will be immediately invested with the property of at- tracting needles, or small pieces of iron or steel. 7. Heat weakens the power of a magnet, and the gradual addition of weight increases the mag- netic power. 8. The properties of the magnet are not affected either by the presence or the ab- sence of air; and the magnetic attraction is not in the least diminished by the interposition of any bodies except iron. A magnet will equally affect the needle of a pocket compass when a thick board is placed between them as when it is removed. It has been lately discovered, that the violet rays of the solar spectrum, when condensed with a convex glass, and made to pass along a piece of steel, have the power of communicating to it the magnetic virtue. The cause which produces these singular properties of the magnet has hitherto remained a mystery ; but the knowledge of the polarity of the magnet has been applied to a most important practical purpose. By means of it, man has now acquired the dominion of the ocean, and has learned to trace his course through the pathless deep to every region of the globe. There can be little doubt that magnetism has an intimate connexion with electricity, galvanism, light, heat, and chymical action ; and the discoveries which have been lately made, and ths experiments which are now making by Morichini, Oersted, Abraham, Hansteen, Barlow, Beaufoy, and Scoresby, promise to throw some light on this mysterious agent, and on the phenomena of na- ture with which it is connected. Such is a faint outline of some of the inte- resting subjects which natural philosophy em- braces. Its relation to religion will appear from the following considerations : 1. Its researches have led to the invention of machines, engines, and instruments of various kinds, which augment the energies, increase the comforts, and promote the general improvement of mankind; and these objects are inseparably connected with the propagation of Christianity 100 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. through the world. If we admit, that, in future ages, the religion of the Bible will shed its benign influence over all nations that the external i condition of the human race will then be prosper- ous and greatly meliorated beyond what it has ever been and , that no miraculous interposition of Deity is to be expected to bring about such desi- rable events it will follow, that such objects can be accomplished only in the ordinary course of Providence, by rational investigations into the principles and powers of nature, and the appli- cation of the inventions of science to the great objects of religion and of human improvement, as I shall endeavour briefly to illustrate in the following chapter. As the destructive effects of many physical agents, in the present condition of our globe, are, doubtless, a consequence of the sin and depravity of man ; we have reason to be- lieve that, when the economy of nature shall be more extensively and minutely investigated, and the minds of men directed to apply their discove- ries to philanthropic and religious objects, they * will be enabled to counteract, in a great measure, those devastations and fatal effects which are now produced by several of the powers of nature. The general happiness of all ranks, which will be connected with the universal extension of Christianity, necessarily supposes that this ob- ject will be accomplished ; for, were a dread of destruction from the elements of nature frequent- ly to agitate the mind, as at present, no perma- nent tranquillity would be enjoyed ; nor would that ancient prediction, in reference to this era, receive its full accomplishment, that " there shall be notliing to hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." And since miraculous interpositions are not to be expected, to what quarter can we look for those subordinate agen- cies by which this object is to be effected, but to the discoveries and inventions of philosophical science? Science has already enabled us to remedy many of those evils which are the accidental ef- fects of the operation of physical agents. For example the discoveries of the philosopher, with respect to the nature of the electric fluid, have enabled us to construct conductors for preserving buildings from the stroke of lightning: and we have every reason to hope, that in the progress of electric, galvanic, and chymical science, more complete thunder-guards, applicable to all the situations in which a person may be exposed, will be invented. Nay, our increasing know- ledge of the electric fluid, and of the chymical agents which concur in its operation, njay ena- ble us to dissipate thunder-storms altogether, by disturbing the electricity of the clouds by means of a series of elevated artificial conductors. This is not only possible, but has already been in some degree effected. The celebrated Euler in- forms us, in his ; ' Letters to a Geiman Princess," that he corresponded with a Moravian priest named Divisch, who assured him " that he ha averted, during a whole summer, every thunder^ storm which threatened his own habitation nd the neighbourhood, by means of a machine con- structed on the principles of electricity that the machinery sensibly attracted the clouds, and con strained them to descend quietly in a distillation, without any but a very distant thunder-clap." Euler assures us that " the fact is undoubted, and confirmed by irresistible proof." Yea, not only may the destructive effects of lightning be averted by the inventions of philosophy, but its agency may be rendered subservient to human industry, and made to act as a mechanical power. This effect, too, has been partially accomplished. About the year 1811, in the village of Philips- thai, in Eastern Prussia, an attempt was made to split an immense stone into a multitude of pieces, by means of lightning. A bar of iron, in the form of a conductor, was previously fixed to the stone, and the experiment was attended with the most complete success ; for, during th very first thunder-storm, the lightning burst the stone without displacing it.* It is, therefore, probable, that in the future ages of the world, this terrific meteor, and other de- structive agents, which now produce so much alarm, and so many disastrous effects, may, by the aid of philosophy, be brought under the con- trol of man, and be made to minister to his enjoyment. The electric fluid has also been, in many in- stances, successfully applied in curing palsies, rheumatisms, spasms, obstructions, and inflam- mation ; and it is known to have a peculiar ef- fect on the nervous system. Lightning has been known to restore the blind to a temporary enjoy- ment of sighl. Mr. Campbell, of Succoth, in Dumbartonshire, who had been blind for several years, was led by his servant one evening through the streets of Glasgow, during a terrible thunder- storm. The lightning sometimes fluttered along the streets for a quarter of a minute without ceas- ing. While this fluttering lasted, Mr. C. saw the street distinctly, and the changes which had been made in that part by taking down one of the city gates. When the storm was over, his entire blindness returned. A still more rerhaik- able instance is stated, along with this, under the article Thunder, in Dr. Gleig's Supp. to Ency. Brit, which was written by the late Profess- or Robison. It is also possible that barren deserts might be enriched with fertility, and immense portions of the desolate wastes of our globe pre- pared for the support and accommodation of hu- man beings, by arresting the clouds, and draw- ing down their electrical virtue and their watery treasures by means of an extended series of ele- vated metallic conductors. What has been now See Monthly Magazine, vol. 32, p. 162 NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 101 Hated is only one instance, out. of many, which might be adduced, of the extensive and beneficial effects which may be produced, in future ages, by the application of the discoveries of natural science. 2. A knowledge of natural philosophy enables us to detect pretended miracles, and to discrimi- nate between those phenomena which are pro- duced by the powers of nature, and the supposed effects of diabolical influence. It has been chiefly owing to ignorance of the principles of natural science, that mankind, in all ages, have been so easily imposed upori_jdy of the Scriptures, they would not have Drought upon themselves that indelible disgrace which now attaches to their memories, on account of their having con- demned and burned at the stake hundreds of un- happy women, accused of crimes of which they could not possibly have been guilty. In New- England, towards the close of the 17th century, the witchcraft phrensy rose so high, that the ex- ecution of witches became a calamity more Mr. Douglas, in his " Hints on Missions," for- merly referred to, when speaking of the facilities which Christians now possess for extensive mis- sionary exertions, suggests, that natural philosophy might be an important auxiliary to Christian mis- sionaries. ' All the ancient ' war weapons of vic- tory,' excepting miracles, are at their disposal ; and new instruments of still greater potency, which the science of ti.e latter days has been accumulating for a universal revolution of the mind, are ready to be brought into action, upon a stale of overpowering magnitude. Even the single resource which is lost may yet he recompensed by equivalents, and a sub- stitute, in many respects, may be found for miracles. Tne first effect of a miracle is, to rouse the attention, and to overawe opposing prejudices: the second to afford a proof of the religion of which it is a sealing \ccompamnrtent. The first object misrht bf, pained by the. nntnr.'l magic of ecperi:mf.ntal pliil'is^plnj .- and 'is to the second, the difference in the proof from miracles lies rather in its being more circuitous, than in its being less conclusive at the present day than in the times of the apostles." dreadful than the sword or the pestilence. Not only old wonten, but children of ten years, were put to death; young girls were stripped naked, and the marks of witchcraft searched for upon their bodies with the most indecent curiosity; and those spots of the scurvy which age impress- es upon the bodies of old men, were taken for evident signs of infernal power. So- that igno- rance of the laws and phenomena of nature has led eyen Christians to commit acts of injustice and horrid cruelty. For, let it be remembered, that it was Christian magistrates and ministers, under a pretended zeal for the honour of God, who sanctioned such cruel and unrighteous de- crees. This consideration, viewed in connexion with many others, tends to show, that the Chris- tian revelation, considered abstractly by itself, without a reference to the vising system of the universe, is not sufficient for all the purposes for which it was intended ; as, on the other hand, the study of the works of nature is not sufficient of itself to lead the mind to the true knowledge of God, without the aid of the discoveries de- rived from the sacred oracles. For, although the Bible has been in the hands of Protestant Chris- tians ever since the reformation, yet it is only since the light of modern science began to diffuse its influence, that the superstitions of the dark ages, and the vulgar notions respecting witch- craft, necromancy, and other species of infernal agency, began to vanish, even from the minds of Christian teachers ; as is evident from the writ- ings of many eminent divines who flourished dur- ing the 16th and 17th centuries. As the two revelations which God has given us throw a mu- tual lustre on each other; the one must always be considered as incomplete without the other Both are necessary in order " to make the man of God perfect," and to enable him to prosecute, with intelligence and success, the great objects- of religion ; and the Christian minister who af- fects to despise the aids of science' in the cause of religion, has yet much to learn with respect to some of the grand bearings of the Christian system. 3. The investigations of natural philosophy un- fold to us the incessant agency of God) and the plans by which his wise and benevolent designs in the system of nature are accomplished. From the immeasurable globes of heaven, down to the minutest atoms, we perceive a regular chain of causes and effects, conspiring, ina thousand dif- ferent modes, to accomplish the purposes of in- finite wisdom and goodness. The operation of central forces and of the law of gravitation on the earth and in the heavens the hydrostatical laws which regulate the pressure and the motion of fluids the chymical properties of the atmos- phere, its undulatory, refractive, and reflective powers the motion of the rays of light, and the infinite variety of effects they produce the pro- eess of evaporation- -the agencies of "electricity and galvanism the properties of the magnet* 102 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. and the chymical action of acids and alkalies, ami of the minutest particles of matter upon each other ought to be viewed as so many modifica- tions of the agency of Deity, and as manifesta- tions of his wisdom, in carrying forward those plans which regard the interests of his universal kingdom ; just as we consider the rise and fall of empires, the revolutions of nations, and the cir- culation of the Scriptures in heathen lands, as so many acts of his moral administration as the Governor of mankind. For let it be carefully re- membered, that all these physical agencies have ultimately a moral and intellectual bearing; and are essentially connected with every other part of God's providential procedure. Though we may be apt to consider them as so many detach- ed and insulated pieces of machinery, with which we have Hub concern, or may even disdain to notice their mode of operation; yet, in the all- comprehensive mind of Him who takes in, at one glance, the whole chain of causes and effects, they are as essentially connected with his ultimate purposes, and the eternal destiny of man, as are the revelations of his word. Were a single principle or motion which now animates the system of nature to cease were the agencies of electricity, for example, or the principle of eva- poration, to be destroyed the physical constitu- tion of our globe would instantly be deranged ; nature would be thrown into confusion ; and the sentient and intellectual beings that now in- habit the earth would either be destroyed, or plunged into an abyss of misery. If, therefore, we admit that the moral agency of God is worthy of our contemplation, we ought to consider his physical operations also as no less worthy of our study and investigation ; since they form the groundwork of all his other manifestations. There is nothing, however, which so striking- ly characterizes the bulk of mankind, and even the great mass of the Christian world, as that apathy and indifference with which they view the wonders of creation which surround them. They can look on all that is grand, and beautiful, and beneficent in nature, without feeling the least sentiment of admiration, or of gratitude to that Being who is incessantly operating within them and around them ; and they are disposed to con- sider the experiments of philosophers, by which the wonderful agency of God is unveiled, as only so many toys and amusements for the entertain- ment of children. They would prefer the paltry entertainments of a card-table, of a ball-room, or of a gossipping party, to the inspection of the nicest pieces of divine mechanism, and to the contemplation of the most august scene in nature. However lightly some religionists may be dis- posed to treat this subject, that spirit of indif- ference with which the visible works of God are treated must be considered as flowing from the same depraved principle which leads multitudes U> r< ject the revelations of the Bible, and to trifle with their everlasting interests. "Man," say Rollin, " lives in the midst of a world of wnici.. he is the sovereign, as a stranger, who looks with indifference upon all that passes in it. and as if it was not his concern. The universe, in all its parts, declares and points out its Author ; but, for the most part, to the deaf and blind, who have neither ears to hear, nor eyes to see. One of the greatest services that philosophy can (to us, is to awaken us from this drowsiness, and rouse us from this lethargy, which is a dishonour to humanity, and in a manner reduces us below the beasts, whose stupidityis the consequence of their nature, and not the effect of neglect or in difference. It awakens our curiosity, it excites our attention, and leads us as it were by the hand, through all the parts of nature, to induce us to study and search out the wonderful works of it." Belles Lettres, vol. 4. Since, therefore, the science of natural philo- sophy is conversant about the works of the Al- mighty, and its investigations have a direct tendency to illustrate the perfections of his nature, to unveil the plan of his operations, to ' unfold the laws by which he governs the king- dom of universal nature, and to display the order, symmetry, and proportion, which reign through- out the whole it would be needless to enter into any further process of reasoning, to show that the study of it is connected with the great objects of religion. Whatever studies tend to raise our minds to the Supreme Ruler of all worlds to expand our views of his infinite knowledge and wisdom to excite our gratitude and our admira- tion of the beneficent designs which appear in all his arrangements to guard us against erro- neous conceptions of his providential procedure and to furnish us with important auxiliaries for extending the influence of his religion through the world ; must always be interesting to every Chris- tian who wishes to enlarge his intellectual views, and to make progress in the knowledge of God. CHYMISTRY. This science, which is intimately related tc the preceding, has for its object to ascertain the ingredients, or first principles, of which all matter is composed to examine the compounds formed by the combination of these ingredients to in- vestigate those changes in natural bodies, which are not accompanied with sensible motion, and the nature of the power which produces these combinations and changes. Within the limits of the last half century, the empire of chymistry has been wonderfully ex- tended. From an obscure and humble place among the objects of study, it has risen to a high and dignified station among those sciences which improve and adorn the human mind. No longer confined to the paltry and mercenary object of searching for the philosopher's stone, or of fur- nishing a little amusement, it now extends its CHYMISTRY. 10S sway overall the arts which minister to the com- fort and improvement ^f social life, and over every species of animate and inanimate matter, within the range of human investigation. " The forms and appearances," (says Sir Humphrey Davy,) " of the beings aud substances of the external world, are almost infinitely various, and they are in a state of continued alteration. Even the earth itself, throughout its whole surface, undergoes modifications. Acted on by moisture and air, it affords the food of plants ; an immense number of vegetable productions arise from ap- parently the same materials; these become the subsiance of animals; one species of animal matter is converted into another ; the most perfect and beautiful of the forms of organized life ulti- mately decay, and are resolved into inorganic agijregrates ; and the same elementary sub- stances, differently arranged, are contained in the inert soil, or bloom and emit fragrance in the flower, or become in animals the active organs of mind and intelligence. In artificial operations, changes of the same order occur; substances having the characters of earth, are converted into metals ^clavs and sands are united, so as to become porcelain; earths and alkalies are combined into glass; acrid and corrosive matters are formed from tasteless substances; colours are fixed upon stuff's, or changed, or made to disappear; and the productions of the vegeta- ble, mineral, and animal kingdoms are convert- ed into new forms, and made subservient to the purposes of civilized life. To trace, in detail, these diversified and complicated phenomena; to arrange them, and deduce general laws from their ana!o;ies, is the business of chymistry." Elements of Chymical Philosophy. Chymists have arranged the general forms of nifitter into the four following classes. Theirs/ class consists of S'olids, which f>rmthe principal parts of the globe, and which differ from each other in hardness, colour, opacity, transparency, densi- ty, and o her properties. The second class consists of Fluids, such as water, oils, spirits, &c., whose parts possess freedom of motion, and require great mechanical force to make them occupy a smaller space. The third class comprehend* Elastic Fluids, or Gases, which exist freely in the atmosphere; but may be confined by solids and fluids, and their properties examined. Their parts are highly moveable, compressible, and expansive ; they are all transparent ; they pre- sent two or three varieties of colour ; and they differ greatly in densi'v. The fourth class comprehends Ethereal Substances, which are kii')wn to us only in their states of motion, when acting upon our organs of sense, and which are not sus'-epiible ofbeing confined. Such are the rays of light, an I radiant heat, which are inces- santly in mo ion, throughout, the spaces that in- tervene between our globe and the sun and the tars. Chyrnists divide the substances in nature also into simple and compound. Simple Suh- stances are those which have never yet oeen do- composed, nor formed by art. Compound Suf*. stances are those which are formed by the union of two or more simple substances. The follow- ing are all the simple substances, with which we are at present acquainted: Caloric, Light, Oxy- gen, Nitrogen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Sulphur, Phosphorus, the Met'ds, and some of the Earths. All that I propose, under this article, is, simply to state some of the properties of two or three of these simple substances. Caloric, or elementary fire, is the name now given by chymisls to that element or property which, combined with various bodies, produces the sensation of heat, while it is passing from one body to another. This substance appears to pervade the whole system of nature. There are six different sources, from whence caloric may be procured. It may be produced by combus- tion, in which process the oxygen gas of the atmosphere is decomposed, and caloric, one of, its component paris, set at. liberty by friction^ or the rubbing of two substances against each other by percussion, as the striking of steel against a piece of flint by the mixture of two or more substances , as when sulphuric acid is poured upon water or magnesia by electricity and galvanism. The discharge of an electric or galvanic battery will produce a more intense degree of heat than any other means whatever. But the principal, and probably the original source of caloric, is the Sun, which furnishes the earth with a regular supply for the support and nourishment jf the animal and vegetable tribes. From this source it moves at the rate of 195,000 miles in a second of time ; for it has been already stated, that the sun sends forth rays of heat, which are distinct from those which pro- duce illumination, and which accompany them in their course through the ethereal regions. Caloric is the cause of fluidity, in all sub- stances which are capable of becoming fluid. A certain portion, or dose of it, reduces a vSolid body to the state of an incompressible fluid ; a larger portion brings if to the state of an aeiiform or gaseous fluid. Thus, a certain portion of caloric reduces ice to a state of water ; a larger portion converts it into steam or vapour. There is reason to believe that the hardest rocks, the densest metals, and every solid substance on the face of the earth, might be converted into a fluid, and even into a gas, were they submit- ted to the action of a very hih temperature. This substance is called sensihle caloric, when it produces the sensation of heat , and latent caloric, when it forms an insensible part of the substance of bodies. All bodies are, in a greater or less decree, conductors of caloric. Metals and liquids are good conductors of heat, but silk, cotton, wool, wood, &c. are bad conduc- tors of it. For example, if we put a short po- 104 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. ker into the fire at one end, it will soon become hot at the other ; but this will not happen with a piece of wood of the same length, and under the same circumstances. A person with a silken purse, containing metal coin, may stand so near the fire, as to make the metal almost too hot to touch, though the temperature of the purse will apparently be scarcely altered. Ifahand be put upon a hot body, part of the caloric leaves the hot body and enters the hand, producing the sen- sation of heat. On the contrary, if a hand be put on a cold body, as a piece of iron, or another cold hand, part of the. caloric contained in the hand leaves it to unite with the colder body, producing the sensation of cold. In short, ca- loric is diffused throughout all bodies, and enters into every operation in nature ; and were it not for the influence of this subtile fluid, there is reason to believe, tliat the whole matter of the nniverse would be condensed into a solid mass. Ox"ygen is a very pure, subtile, and elastic substance, generally diffused throughout nature ; but is never found unless in combination with other substances. It is one of the most impor- tant agents in nature ; there being scarcely a single process, whether natural or artificial, in which oxygen has not some important share. When combined with caloric, it is called oxygen gait, which forms one of the constituent parts of the atmosphere. In this state, it forms the principle of combustion ; producing the most rapid deflagration of all combustible substances. If a lighted taper be let down into ajar of oxy- gen gas, it burns wii'u such splendour, that the eye can scarcely bear thegla' e of light ; and at the same time produces a much greater heat than when burning in common air. If a steel wire, or a thin file, having a sharp point, armed with a bil of wood in inflammation, be introduced into a jar filled with this gas, the steel will take fire, and its combustion will continue, producing a most brilliant phenomenon. It has been proved, by numerous experiments, that this gas is so essential to combustion, that no substance will burn in common air, which has been pre- viously deprived of its oxygen. It is also es- sential to animal life ; so that man, and all the inferior ranks of animated nature, may be said to depend upon this fluid for their existence. Its basis gives the acid character to all mineral and vegetable salts : and the calcination of metals is altogether effected by their union with oxygen. It constitutes the basis both of the atmosphere which surrounds the earth, and of the water which forms its rivers, seas, and oceans. It pervades the substance of all the vegetable tribes, and enables them to perform their functions ; and, in combination with the different metals, serves the most important purposes in the use- ful arts. In the operation of this elementary principle, we perceive a striking display of the of the Creator, and of the admirable means which his wisdom has contrived for pre- serving, in due order, the system of nature. And, as this wonderful substance is so essentially ne- cessary to animal and vegetable existence, every thing is so arranged as to produce a regular sup- ply of it, notwithstanding its incessant changes, and the multifarious combinations into which it is continually entering. One of the most extraordinary effects of oxygen appears, when it is combined in a certain pro- portion with nitrogen, so as to form the gaseous oxide of nitrogen, or what is commonly called nitrous oxide. This gas consists of 63 parts ni- trogen, and 37 oxygen, by weight. When in- haled into the lungs, it produces an extraordinary elevation of the animal spirits, a propensity to leaping and running, involuntary fits of laughter, a rapid flow of vivid ideas, and a thousand de- lightful emotions ; without being accompanied with any subsequent feelings of debility. This circumstance shows what a variety of delightful or pernicious effects might flow from the slightest change in the constitution of the atmosphere, were the hand of the Almighty to interpose in altering the proportion of its constituent parts : for atmospheric air is composed of 79 parts of nitrogen, and 21 of oxygen, which is not a very different proportion from the above. Another gas called nitric oxide, composed of 56 parts oxygen, and 44 nitrogen, produces instant suffocation in all animals that attempt to breathe it. One of the most corrosive acids, the nitrous acid, or aquafortis, is, composed of 75 parts oxygen and 25 parts nitrogen ; so that we are every moment breathing a certain substance, which, in anothei combination, would produce the most dreadful pain, and cause our immediate destruction. What a striking proof does this afford of the in- finite comprehension of the divine mind, in fore- seeing all the consequences of the elements of nature, and in directing their numerous combi- nations in such a manner as to promote the hap- piness of animated beings ! Nitrogen, or azote, is a substance generally diffused throughout nature, and particulaily in animated bodies. It is not to be found in a solid or liquid state, but, combined with caloric, it forms nitrogen gas, which is one of the ingre- dients of the atmosphere. It is capable of svip- porting either flame or animal life. This is proved by introducing an animal, or a burning candle, inlo a vessel full of this gas : in which case, the animal is suddenly suffocated, and the candle instantly extinguished. It is this gas which is expelled from the lungs at every respi- ration, and, rising over our heads, soon enters into new combinations. Though it is destruc- tive to animal life, it appears to be favourable to plants, which vegetate freely when surrounded with nitrogen. Hydrogen is another elementary substance, abundant ip nature, and, when united to caloric CHYMISTRY. 105 Corns hylr^eM gas. It is one of the constitu- ent parts of looker , for it has been complete!}' demmr$:raterl by experiment, that water is com- posed of 85 parts by weight of oxygen, and 15 of hydrogen, in evory nurulred parts of the fluid. This ga* was formally known by the name of inflammable air. It. is Distinguished among mi- ners by the name of jire -damp ; it abounds in coal-mines, and sometimes produces the most tremendous explosions. It \s incapable, by it- self, of supporting combustion, and cannot be breathed without the most imminent danger. It is the chief constituent of oils, fats, spirits, ether, coals, and bitumen ; and is supposed to be one of the agents which produce the ignes fatui and the northern lights. It is the lightest of all pon- derable bodies; being/rom twelve to fifteen times lighter than common air. A hundred cubic in- ches of it weigh about 2 grains. On account of its great levity it is used for r illmg air-balloons. In contact with atmospheric air, it burns with a pale blue colour. When mixed with oxygen gas, it may be exploded like gunpowder, with a vio- lent report. Carburefted hydrogen gout, which Ls carbon dissolved in hydrogen, is that beautiful gas, which is now employed in lighting our streets shops, and manufactories. Carbon is another simple substance extensively diffused throughout nature. It is found pure and solid only in the diamond; but it may be pro- cured in the state of charcoal, by burning a piece of wool closely covered with sand, in a cruoi- ble. Carbon enters into the composition of bi- tumen and pit coal, and of most animal and some mineral suhstames ; and it firms nearly the whole of the solid basis of all vegetables, from the most, delicate flower to the stately oak. It is also a component part of sugar, and of all kinds of wax, oils, gums, and resins. It combines with iron in various proportions, and the results are cast iron and steel. Black lead is a com- position of nine parts of carbon to one of iron ; and is, theref >re, called ncarburet of iron. Carbon is indestructible by age, and preserves its iden- tity in all the combinations into which it enters.^ Carbonic acid gas is a combination of carbon and oxygen. It. is found in a state of combination with lime, forming limestone, marble, and chalk ; and mav be separated from them by heat, or by means of the mineral acids. This gas, which was for- merly culled fixed air, is f Mind in mines, caves, the bottoms of wells, wine cellars, brewers' vats, and in the neighbourhood of lime-kilns. It is Known to miners by the name of the choke-damp, and too frequently runs on deadly errands. It extinguishes fi;une and animal life. It is the heaviest of ail the gases ; being nearly twice the weight of common air, and twenty times the weight of hydrogen. Ft may, therefore, be poured from one vessel to another; and if a small quantity of it be poured upon a lighted taper, it will be instantly extinguished. It is a 14 powerful antiseptic, or preserver from putrefac- tion. Meat which has been sealed up in it (says Mr. Parkes) has been known to have preserved its texture and appearance for more than twenty years. There is no substance of more import- ance in civilized life than the different forms of Carbon. " In nature," says Sir. H. Davy, " this element is constantly active in an import- ant series of operations. It is evolved in fer- mentation and combustion, in carbonic acid ; it is separated from oxygen in the organs of plants \ it is a principal element in animal structures ; and is found in different forms in almost all the products of organized beings." Sulphur is a substance which has been known from the earliest ages. It was used by the an- cienis in medicine, and its fumes have, for more than 2000 years, been employed in bleaching wool. It is found combined with many mineral substances, as arsenic, antimony, copper, and most of the metallic ores. It exists in many mi- neral waters, and in combination with vegetable and animal matters, but is most abundant in vol- canic countries, particularly in the neighbour- hood of Vesuvius, Etna, and Hecla in Iceland. It is a solid, opaque, combustible substance, of a pale yellow colour, very brittle, and almost wkhout taste or smell. Its specific gravity is nearly twice that of water ; it is a con-conduct- or of electricity, and, of course, becomes elec- tric by friction. When heated to the tempera- ture of 170 of Fahrenheit's thermometer, it rises up in the form of a fine powder, which is easily collected in a proper vessel, and is named the Jtowers of sulphur. It is insoluble in water, but may be dissolved in oils, in spirit of wine, and in hydrogen gas. When sulphur is heated to the temperature of 302 in the open air, i takes fire spontaneously, and burns with a pale blue flame, and emits a great quantity of fumes of a strong suffocating odour. When heated to the temperature of 570, it burns with a bright while flame, and emits a vast quantity of fumes. When these fumes are collected, they are found to consist entirely of sulphuric acid; so that sul- phur, by combustion, is convened into an acid. It is the base of several compound substances. It unites with oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phos- phorus, the alkalies, the metals, and some of the earths. This substance is of great importance in medicine, as it is found to penetrate to the ex- tremities of the most minute vessels, and to im- pregnate all the secretions. It is also used in the arts, particularly in bleaching and dying ; it forms a very large proportion of gunpowder ; and one of its most common, but not least useful proper- ties, is that of its combustibility, by which, with the help of a tinder-box, light is almost instanta- neously produced. As this substance has not yet been decomposed, it is considered by chy- mists, in the mean time, as one of the simple substances. 106 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. Phosphorus is another simple combustible sub- stance, but is never found in a pure state in na- ture. It is commonly united to oxygen in a state of phosphoric acid, which is found in different animal, vegetable, and mineral substances. It was first discovered by Brandt, a chymist of Hamburgh, in the year 1667, and afterwards by the Honourable Mr. Boyle, in 1679. It was formerly obtained by a disgusting process ; but it is now extracted from the bones of animals, by burning them, and then reducing them to a fine powder, and afterwards pouring sulphuric acid upon them. This substance, when pure, resem- bles bees' wax, being of a clear, transparent, yellowish colour; it is insoluble in water; it may be cut with a knife, or twisted to pieces with the fingers ; and it is about double the specific gravity of water. Its most remarkable property is its very strong attraction for oxygen, from which circumstance, it burns spontaneously in tlie open air at the temperature of 43 : that is, ii attracts the oxygen gas from the atmosphere, and heat and flame are produced. It gradually consumes when exposed to the common tempe- rature of air, emits a whitish smoke, and is lu- minous in the dark ; for this reason it is kept in phials of water ; and as the heat of the hand is sufficient to inflame it, it should seldom be han- dled except under water. At the temperature of 99 it melts ; it evaporates at 219, and boils at 554. When heated to 148 it takes fire, and burns with a very bright flame, and gives out a very large quantity of white smoke, which is lu- minous in the dark ; at the same time it emits an odour, which has some resemblance to that of garlic ; and this smoke, when collected, is proved to be an acid. It burns with the greatest splen- dour in oxygen gas, and when taken internally, it is found to be poisonous. If any light sub- stance, capable of conducting heat, be placed upon the surface of boiling water, and a bit of phosphorus be laid upon it, the heat of the water will be sufficient to set the phosphorus on fire. If we write a few words on paper with a bit of phosphorus fixed in a quill, when the writing is carried into a dark room it will appear beauti- fully luminous If a piece of phosphorus, about the size of a pea, be dropped into a tumbler of hot water, and a stream of oxygen gas forced di- rectly upon it, it will display the most brilliant combustion under water that can b< imagined. All experiments with phosphorus, however, re- quire to be performed with great caution. This substance is used in making phosphorus match- bo ties, phosphoric oil, phosphoric tapers, and various phosphoric fireworks. Phosphorized hy- drogen gas is produced by bits of phosphorus remaining some hours in hydrogen gas. It is supposed to be this gas which is of en seen hovering on the surface of burial grounds and marshes, known in Scotland by the name ofspun- kie, and in England bji that of will-o -ike-wisp. Some animals, as the glow-worm and the.y?7> Jly, and fish in a putrescent state, exhibit phos- phorescent qualities. M. Peron describes a sin- gular instance of this kind in an animal which he calls the pyrosoma atlanticum, which he observed in his voyage from Europe to the Isle of France The darkness was intense when it was firM dis- covered ; and all at once there appeared at some distance, as it were, a vast sheet of phospnorus floating on the waves, which occupied a great space before the vessel. When the vessel had passed through this inflamed part of the sea, it was found that this prodigious light was occa- sioned by an immense number of small animals, which swam at different depths, and appeared to assume various forms. Those which were deep- est fooked like great red-hot cannon balls, while those on the surface resembled cylinders of red- hot iron. Some of them were caught, and were found to vary in size from three to seven inches. Al! the exterior surface of the animal was bristled with thick long tubercles, shining like so many diamonds ; and these seemed to be the principal seat of its wonderful phosphorescence. Such is a brief description of the principal elementary substances, which, in a thousand di- versified firms, pervade the system of nature, and produce all that variety which we behold in the atmosphere, the waters, the earth, and the various processes of the arts. It is probable that some of these substances are compounds, though they have not yet been decomposed. Yea, itia possible, and not at all improbable, that there are but two, or at most three, elementary substances in nature, the various modifications of which produce all the beauties and sublimities in the universe. Perhaps caloric, oxygen, and hydro- gen, may ultimately be found to constitute all the elementary principles of nature. Without prosecuting this subject farther. I shall conclude this article with a few cursory reflections, tend- ing to illustrate its connexion with religion. The remarks which I have already thrown out in reference to natural philosophy will equally apply to the science _of chymistry ; and, there- fore, do not require to be repeated. In addition to the-e, the following observations may be stated : 1. This science displays, in a striking point of view, the wisdom and goodness of God, in prtduf'^s:, by th? moat 'f means, the most astonishing and benevolent effects. All the va- ried phenomena we perceive, throughout the whole system of sublunary nature, are produced by a -combination of six on seven simple sub- stances. I formerly adverted to the infinite variety which exists in the vegetable kingdom, (see pp. 37, 38.) About fifty-six thousand dif- ferent species of plants have already bfen dis- covered by botanists. All these, from the hum- ble shrub to the cedar of Lebanon, which adorn the surface of the globe, in every clime, with CHYMISTRY. 107 5Ut.li a diversity of forms, shades, and colours, are ine result of the combinations of " four or five natural substances caloric, light, water, air, and carbon.*' " When we consider," says Mr. Parkes, " that the many thousand tribes of ve- getables are not only all formed from a few simple substances, but that they al! enjoy the same sun, vegetate in the same medium, and are supplied with the same nutriment, we cannot but be struck with the rich economy of Nature, and are al- most induced to doubt the evidence of those senses with which the God of nature has fur- nished us. That it should be possible so to modify and intermingle a few simple substances, and i hence produce all the variety of form, colour, odour, &c. which are observable in the different families uf vegetables, is a phenomenon too as- tonishing fur our comprehension. Nothing short of Omnipotence could have provided such a pa- radise f_>r man." Chymical Catec.tiism, chap. 9. Soft poll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers, In mingled clouds to Him, whose sun exalts, Whose "breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints." Tfiom&on. What an admirable view is here opened up of the economy of divine wisdom, and of the bene- ficent care which has been taken to secure the comfort arid happiness of every living creature : and how ungrateful a disposition must it indicate in rational beings to overlook such benevolent arrangements 1 . It is highly probable, that in all other worlds disposed throughout the universe an infinite diversity of scenery exists, and that no one globe or system exactly resembles an- other; and yet, it is probable,"that the primary elements of matter, or the few simple substances of which our world is composed, may be of the same nature as those which form the constituent parts of every other system ; and may give birth to all the variety which exists throughout the wide extent of creation, and to all the changes and revolutions through which the different sys- tems may pass, during every period of infinite duration. 2. From this science we have every reason to conclude, that matter is indestructible. In the various changes that take place in material sub- stances, the particles of matter are not destroyed, but only assume new forms, and enter into new combinations. When a piece of wood, for ex- ample, is burned to ashes, none of its principles are destroyed ; the elementary substances of which it was composed are only separated from one another, and formed into new compounds. Carbon, as already stated, appears to be inde- structible by age, and to preserve its essential properties in every mode of its existence. That Being, indeed, who created matter at first, may reduce it to nothing when he pleases : but it is highly improbable that his power will ever be \nterposed to produce this effect ; or that any particle of matter which now exists will ever be annihilated, into whatever new or varied com- binations it may enter. When any particular world, or assemblage of material existence, has remained in its original state for a certain period of duration, and accomplished all the ends it was intended to subserve in that slate, the materials of which it is composed will, in all probability, be employed for erecting a new system, arid es- tablishing a new series of events, in which new scenes, and new beauties and sublimities, will arise from new and varied combinations. For the Creator does nothing in vain. But to anni- hilate, and again to create, would be operating in vain; and we uniformly find, that in alL, the arrangements of Deity in the present state of things, Nature is frugal and economical in all her proceedings; so that there is no process, when thoroughly investigated, that appears un- necessary or superfluous. From the fact, that matter appears to be in- destructible, we may learn, that the Creator may, with the self-same materials which now exist around us, new-model and arrange the globe we inhabit, after the general conflagration, so as to make a more glorious world to arise out of its ashes ; purified from those physical evils which now exist ; and fitted for the ac- commodation either of renovated men, or of other pure intelligences. From the same fact, combined with the consideration of the infinite diversity of effects which the simple substances of nature are capable of producing, we may be enabled to form a conception of the ease with which the Creator may new-model our bodies, after they have been dissolved in the dust ; and how, from the same original atoms, he may con- struct and adorn them with more glorious forms and more delightful and exquisite senses than they now possess. In short, the rapid progress which chymical science is now making, promises, ere long, to introduce improvements among the human race, which will expand their views of the agency of God, counteract many physical evils, and pro- mote, to an extent which has never yet been experienced, their social and domestic enjoy- ment. The late discoveries of chymistry tend to convince us. that the properties and powers of natural subjects are only beginning to be disco- vered. Who could have imagined, a century ago, that an invisible substance is contained in a piece of coal, capable of producing the most beautiful and splendid illumination th^t this substance may be conveyed, in a few moments, through pipes of several miles in length and that a city, containing several hundred thousands of inhabitants, may be instantly lighted up by it, without the aid of either wax, oil, or tallow? Who could have imagined, that one of the in- gredients of the air we breathe is the principle of combustion that a rod of iron may be made to 108 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. burn with a brilliancy that dazzles the eyes that a piece of charcoal may be made to burn with a white and splendid light, which is infe- rior only to the solar rays and that the diamond is nothing more than carbon in a crystallized state, and differs only in a slight degree from a bit of common charcoal ? Who could have sur- mised, that a substance would be discovered, of such a degree of levity, as would have power sufficient to buoy up a number of men to the up- per parts of the atmosphere, and enable them to swim, in safcty, above the regions of the clouds ? These are only specimens of still more brilliant discoveries which will, doubtless, be brought to light by the researches of future generations. We have reason to believe, that the investiga- tions of this science will, in due time, enable us to counteract most of the diseases incident to the human frame ; and to prevent many of those fatal accidents to which mankind are now exposed. Davy's safety lamp has already preserved many individuals from destruction, when working in coal mines; and thousands, in after ages, will be indebted to this discovery, for security from the dreadful explosions of hydrogen gas. And, we trust, that the period is not far distant, when specific antidotes to the diseases peculiar to the different trades and occupations in which man- kind are employed will be discovered ; and the health and vigour of the mass of society be pre- served unimpaired, amidst all the processes in which they may be engaged. In fine, the rapid progress of chymical discovery carries forward our views to a period, when man, having tho- roughly explored the powers of nature, and sub- jected them, in some measure, to his control, will be enabled to ward off most of those physical evils with which he is now annoyed, and to raise himself, in some degree, to the dignity and happiness he enjoyed before moral evil had shed its baleful influence on our terrestrial system. Such a period corresponds to many of the de- scriptions contained in the Sacred Oracles of the millenial state of the church ; when social, do- mestic, moral, and intellectual improvement shall be carried to the utmost perfection which our sublunary station will permit; when wars shall cease; when tho knowledge of Jehovah shall cover the earth ; when every man shall sit under his vine and fig-tree, without being exposed to the least alarm ; and when there shall be nothing to hurt nor destroy throughout the church of the living God. And, therefore, we ought to con- sider the various discoveries and improvements now going forward in this and other departments of science, as preparing the way for the introduc- tion of this long-expected and auspicious era. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. The general object, of both these sciences is o investigate and describe the structure and economy of the animal frame. Anatomy di*- sects dead bodies, physiology investigates the functions of those that are living. The former examines the fluids, muscles, viscera, and all the other parts of the human body, in a state of rest , the latter considers them in a state of action. The parts of the human body have been dis- tinguished into two different kinds solids and fluids. The solid parts are bones, cartilages, ligaments, muscles, tendons, membranes, nerves, arteries, veins, hair, nails, and ducts, or fine tu- bular vessels of various kinds. Of these solid parts, the following compound organs consist ; the brain and cerebellum; the lungs; the heart, line stomach; the liver; the spleen; the pancreas; the glands ; the kidneys ; the intestines ; the me- sentery ; the larynx ; and the organs of sense the eyes, ears, nose, and tongue. The fluid parts are, the saliva, or spittle, phlegm, serum, th chyle, blood, bile, milk, lympha, urine, the pan- creatic juice, and the aqueous humour of the eyes, The human body is divided into three great car vities the head; the thorax, or breast ; and the abdomen, or belly. The head is formed of the bones of the cranium, and encloses the brain and cerebellum. The thorax is composed of the vertebrae of the back, the sternum, and true ribs ; and contains the heart, the pericardium, the breast, and the lungs. The abdomen is separated from the thorax by means of the diaphragm, which is a fleshy and membranous subsUnce, composed, for the most part, of muscular hbres. This cavity is formed by the lumbar vertebrae, the os sacrum, the ossa innominata, the false ribs, the peritonaeum, and a variety of muscles. It encloses the stomach, intestines, omentum, or caul, the liver, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, and urinary bladder. Without attempting any tech- nical description of these different pars, which could convev no accurate ideas to a general reader, I shall merely state two or three facts in relation to the system of bones, muscles, and blood-vessels, as specimens of the wonderful struc- ture of our bodily frame. The Bones may be regarded as the prop-work or basis on which the human body is constructed. They bear the same relation to the animal sys- tem, as the wood-work to a building. They give shape and firmness to the body ; they support its various parts, and prevent it from sinking by its own weight ; they serve as levers for the muscles to act upon, and to defend the brain, the heart, the lungs, and other vital parts, from external in- jury. Of the bones, some are hollow, and filled with marrow ; others are solid throughout ; some are very umall others very large; some are round, and others flat ; some are plane, and others convex or concave ; and all these several forms pro requisite for the situations they oc- cupy, and the respective functions they have to perform. The spine, or back-bone, consists of 24 vertebrae, or small bones connected together by ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. .09 cartilages, articulations, and ligaments ; of which seven belong to the neck, twelve to the back, and five to the !o:n.. In the centre of each vertebra there is a ho'.e r ~r the lodgment and continuation of the spinal marrow, which extends from the brain to the rump. From these vertebrae the arched bones called ribs proceed ; and seven of them join the breast-bone on each side, where they terminate in cartilages, and form the cavity qf the thorax or chest. The five lower ribs, with a number of muscles, form the cavity of the ab- domen, as above stated. The spine is one of the most admirable mechanical contrivances in the human frame. Had it consisted of only three or four bones, or had the holes in each bone not exactly corresponded and fitted into each other, the spinal marrow would have been bruised, and life endangered at every bending of the body. The skull is composed often bones, and about 51 are reckoned to belong to the face, the orbits of the eyes, and the jaws in which the teeth are fixed. There are seldom more than 16 teeth in each jaw, or 32 in all. The number of bones in a human body is generally estimated at about 245; of which there are reckoned, in the skull, head, and face, 61 ; in the trunk, 64 ; in the arms, and hands, 60 , in the legs, and feet, 60. The bones are provided with ligaments or hinges, which bind and fasten them together, and pre- vent them from being displaced by any violent motion ; and, that the ligaments may work smoothly into one another, the joints are sepa- rated by cartilages \>r gristles, arid provided with a gland for the secretion of oil or mucus, which is constantly exuding into the joints ; so that every requisite is provided by our benevolent Creator, to prevent pain, and to promote facility of motion. " In considering the joints," says Dr. Paley, " thoiB is nothing, perhaps, which ought to move wr gratitude more than the re- flection, how u.tll they wear. A limb shall swing upon its hinge or play in its socket many hun- dred times in an hour, for 60 years together, without dinvnii'.ion of agility; which is a long time for any thing to last for any thing so much worked a^ the joints are." The Muscular System. A muscle is a bundle of fleshy, and sometimes of tendinous fibres. The fleshy fibres compose the body of the muscle ; and the tendinous fibres the extremities. Some muscles are long an 1 round ; some plain and cir- cular ; some are spiral, and some have straight fibres. Some are double, having a tendon run- ning through the body from heal to tail ; some have two or more tendinous branches running through, with various rows and orders of fibres. All these, arid several other varieties, are essen- tially requisite for the respective offices they have to perform in the attimai system. The muscles constitu'e the fl.-shy part of the human body, vnd give it that varied and beautiful form we ob- serve over all its surface. But their principal design is to serve as the organs of motion. They are inserted, by strong tendinous extremities, into Ihe different bones of which the skeleton is composed ; and, by their contraction and disten- tion, give rise to all the movements nf the body. The muscles, therefore, may be consideted as so many cords attached to 'he bones , and the Author of nature has fixed them according to the most perfect principles of mechanism, so as to produce the fittest motions in the parts for the movement of which they are intended. Ope of the most wonderful properties of the muscles is, the extraordinary force they exert, although they are composed of such slender threads or fibres. The following facts, in rela- tion to this point, are demonstrated by the cele- brated Borelli. in his work, " De Motu Ani- maliurn." When a man lifts up with his teeth a weight of 200 pounds, with a rope fastened to the jaw-teeth, the muscles named temporalis and masseter, with which people chew, and which per- form this work, exert a force of above 15,0001bs. weight. If any one hanging his arm directly downwards lifts a weight of 20 pounds with the third or last joint of his thumb, the muscle which bends the thumb and bears that weight exerts a force of about three, thousand pounds. "When a man, standing upon his feet, leaps or springs up- wards to the heieht f of two feet, if 'he weight of such a man be 150 pounds, the muscles employed in that action will exert a fi jrce 2000 times great- er; that is to say, a force of about three hundred thousand pounds. The heart, at each pulse or contraction, by which it protrudes the blood out of ihe arteries into the veins, exerts a force of above a hundred thousand pounds. Who can contemplate this amazing strength of the mus- cular system, without admiration of the power and wisdom of the Creator, who has thus endued a bundle of threads, each of them smaller than a hair, with such an astonishing degree of me- chanical force ! There have been reckoned about 446 muscles in the human body, which have been dissected and distinctly described ; every one of which is essential to the performance of some one motion or other, which contributes to our ease and enjoyment ; and, in most instances, a great number of them is required to perf)rm their different functions at the same time. It has been calculated, that about a hundred muscles,a.re employed every time we breathe. " Breathing with ease," says Dr. Paley, " is a blessing of every moment ; yet, of all others, it is that which we possess with the least consciousness. A man in an asthma is the only man who knows how to estimate it." The Heart and Blood-vessels. The heart is a hollow muscular organ, of a conical shape, and consists of four distinct cavities. Tbe two larg- est are called ventricles, and the two smallest auricles. The ventricles send out ihe blood to the arteries ; the auricles receive it from the 110 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. veins. The heart is enclosed in the pericardium, ii membranous bag, which contains a quantity of water, or lyrnph. This water lubricates the heart, and facilitates all its motions. The heart is the general reservoir of the blood. When the heart contracts the blood is. propelled from the right ventricle into the lungs, through the pulmo- nary arteries, which, like all the other arteries, are furnished with valves that play easily for- ward, but admit not the blood to return toward the heart. The blood, after circulating through the lungs, and having there been revivified by coming in contact with the air, and imbibing a portion of its oxygen, returns into the left auricle of the heart, by the pulmonary vein. At the same instant, the left ventricle drives the blood into the aorta, a large artery which sends off branches to supply the head and arms. Another large branch of the aorta descends along the in- side of the back-bone, and detaches numerous ramifications to nourish the bowels and inferior extremities. After serving the most remote ex- tremities of the body, the arteries are converted into veins, which, in their return to the heart, gradually unite into larger branches, till the whole terminate in one great trunk, called the vena cava, which discharges itself into the right au- ricle of the heart, and completes the circulation. Each ventncie of the heart is reckoned to con- lain about one ounce, or two tabiespoonsfull of blood. The heart contracts 4000 limes every hour; and, consequently, there passes through it 250 pounds of blood in one hour. And if the mass of blood in a human body be reckoned at an average of twenty-five pounds, it will follow that the whole mass of blood passes through the heart, and consequently through the thousands of ramifications of the veins and arteries, four- teen times every hour, or about once every four minutes. We may acquire a rude idea of the force with which the blood is impelled from the heart, by considering the velocity with which water issues from a syringe, or from the pipe of a fire-engine. Could we behold these rapid mo- tions incessantly going on within us, it would overpower our minds with astonishment, and even with terror. We should be apt to feel alarmed on making the smallest exertion, lest the parts of this delicate machine should be broken or deranged, and its functions interrupted. The arteries, into which the blood is forced, branch in every direction through the body, like the roots and branches of a tree ; running through the substance of the bones, and every part of the animal frame, till they are lost in such fine tubes as to be wholly invisible. In the parts where the arteries are lost to the sight, the veins take their rise, and in their commencement are also imperceptible. Respiration. The organs of respiration are the lungs. They are divided into five lobes ; three )f which lie on the right, and two on the left side ot the thorax. The substance of the lungs is chiefly composed of infinite rarnifica tions of the trachea, or windpipe, which, after gradually becoming more and more minute, ter- minate in little cells, or vesicles, which have a free communication with one another. At each inspiration, these pipes and cells are filled with air, which is again discharged by expiration. In this manner, a circulation of air, which is ne- cessary to the existence of men and o her ani- mals, is constantly kept up as long as life re- mains. The air-cells of the lungs open into the windpipe, by which they communicate with the external atmosphere. The whole internal struc- ture of the lungs is lined by a transparent mem- brane, estimated at only the thousandth part of an inch in thickness ; but whose surface, from its various convolutions, measures fifteen square feet, which is equal to the external surface of the body. On this thin and extensive membrane innumerable veins and arteries are distributed, some of them finer than hairs ; and through these vessels all the blood of the system is successively propelled, by a most curious and admirable me- chanism. It has been computed, that the lungs, on an average, contain about 280 cubic inches, or about five English quarts of air. At each inspiration, about forty cubic inches of air are received into the lungs, and the same quantity dis- charged at each expiration. On the supposition that 20 respirations take place in a minute, it will follow, that, in one minute we inhale 800 cubic inches ; in an hour, 48,000 ; and in a day, one million, one hundred and fifty-two thousand cubic inches a quantity which would fill seventy- seven wine hogsheads, and would weigh fifty- three pounds troy. By means of this function, a vast body of air is daily brought into contact with the mass of blood, and communicates to it its vivifying influence; and, therefore, it is of the utmost importance to health, that the air, of which we breathe so considerable a quantity, should be pure, and uncontaminated with nox- ious effluvia. Digestion. This process is performed by the stomach, which is a membranous and muscular bag. furnished with two orifices. By the one, it has a communicaiion with the gullet, and by the other, with the bowels. The food, after being moistened by the saliva, is received into the sto- mach, where it is still farther diluted by the gastric juice , which has the power of dissolving every kind of animal and vegetable substance. Part of it is afterwards absorbed by the lymphatic and lacteal vessels, arid carried into the circulat- ing system, and converted into blood for supply- ing that nourishment which the perpetual waste of our bodies demands. Perspiration is the evacuation of the juices of tne body ihrouuh the pores of the skin. It has been calculated that there are above three hundred thousand millions of pores in the glands of th ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 11! skin which covers the body of a middle-sized man. Through these pores, more than one-half of what we eat and drink passes off by insensible perspiration. During a night of seven hours' sleep, we perspire about forty ounces, or two pounds and a half. At an average, we may es- timate the discharge from the surface of the body, by sensible and insensible perspiration, at from half an ounce to four ounces an hour. This is a most wonderful part of the animal economy, and is absolutely necessary to our health, and even to our very existence. When partially ob- structed, colds, rheumatisms, fevers, and other inflammatory disorders, are produced ; and were it completely obstructed, the vital functions would be clogged and impeded in their move- ments, and death would inevitably ensue. Sensation.. The nerves are generally consi- dered as the instruments of sensation. They are sofi white cords which proceed from the brain and spinal marrow. They come forth originally by pairs. Ten pair proceed from the medullary substance of the brain, which are distributed to all parts of the head and neck. Thirty pair pro- ceed from the spinal marrow, through the ver- tebra, to all the other parts of the body ; being forty in all. These nerves, the ramifications of which are infinitely various and minute, are dis- tributed upon the heart, lungs, blood-vessels, bowels, and muscles, till they terminate on the skin or external covering of the body. Impres- sions of external objects are received by the brain from the adjacent organs of sense, and the brain exercises its commands over the muscles and limbs by means of the nerves. Without prosecuting these imperfect descrip- tions farther, I shall conclude this very hasty sketch with the following summary of the parts of the body, in the words of Bonnet. " The bones, by their joints and solidity, form the foun- dation of this fine machine : the ligaments are strings which unite the parts together: the muscles are fleshy substances, which act as elas- tic springs to put them in motion: the nerves, which are dispersed over the whole body, con- nect all the parts together : the arteries and veins, like rivulets, convey life and health throughout : the heart, placed in the centre, is the focus where the blood collects, or the acting power by means of which it circulates and is preserved: the lungs, by means of another power, draw in the external air, and expel hurtful vapours: the sto- mach and intestines are the magazines where every thing that is required for the daily supply is prepared: the brain, that seat of the soul, is formed in a manner suitable to the dignity of its inhabitant : the senses, which are the soul's mi- nisters, warn it of all that is necessary either for its pleasure or use.* Adorable Creator! with what wonderful art hast thou formed us ! Contemplation of Nature, vol. i. p. 64. Though the heavens did not exist to prnctatm thy glory; though there were no created being on earth but myself, my own body might suffice to convince me that thou art a God of unlimited power and infinite goodness." This subject suggests a variety of moral and religious reflections, but the limits to which I am confined will permit me to state only the following : 1. The economy of the human frame, when seriously contemplated, has a tendency to excite admiration and astonishment, and to impress us with a sense of our continual depeiulencc on a su- perior power. What an immense multiplicity of machinery must be in action to enable us to breathe, to feel, and to walk ! Hundreds of bones, of diversified forms, connected together by various modes of articulation : hundreds of muscles to produce motion, each of them acting in at least ten different capacities, (see p. 40;) hundreds of tendons and ligaments to connect the bones and muscles; hundreds of arteries to con- vey the blood to the remotest part of the system ; hundreds of veins to bring it back to its reser- voir the heart; thousands of glands secreting humours of various kinds from the blood ; thousands of lacteal and lymphatic tubes, ab- sorbing and conveying nutriment to the circulat- ing fluid; millions of pores, through which the perspiration, is continually issuing ; an infinity of ramifications of nerves, diffusing sensation throughout all the parts of this exquisite ma- chine ; and the heart at every pulsation exerting a force of a hundred thousand pounds, in order to preserve all this complicated machinery in con- stant operation ! The whole of this vast system of mechanism must be in action before we can walk across our apartments ! We admire the operation of a steam-engine, and the force it ex- erts. But, though it is constructed of the hardest materials which the mines can supply, in a few months some of its essential parts are worn and deranged, even though its action should be fre- quently discontinued. But the animal machine, though constructed, for the most part, of the softest and most flabby substances, can go on without intermission in all its diversified meve- ments, by night and by day, for the space ol eighty or a hundred years ; the heart giving ninety-six thousand strokes every twenty-four hours, and the whole mass of blood rushing through a thousand pipes of all sizes every four minutes ! And is it man that governs these nice and complicated movements ? Did he set the heart in motion, or endue it with the muscu- lar force it exerts ? And when it has ceased to beat, can he command it again to resume its functions ? Man knows neither the secret springs of the machinery within him, nor the half of the purposes for which they serve, or of the movements they perform. Can any thing more strikingly demonstrate our dependence 112 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. every moment on a superior Agent, and that it is (> in God we live, and move, and have our being? Were a single pin of the machinery within us, and over which we have no control, either broken or deranged, a thousand move- ments might instantly be interrupted, and our bodies left to crumble into the dust. It was considerations of this kind that led the celebrated physician Galen, who was a skeptic in his youth, publicly to acknowledge that a Su- preme Intelligence must have operated in ordain- ing the laws by which living beings are con- structed. And he wrote his excellent treatise " On the uses of the parts of the human frame," as a solemn hymn to the Creator of the world. " I first endeavour from His works," he says, " to know him myself, and afterwards, by the same means, to show him to others ; to inform them, how great is his wisdom, his goodness, his power." The late Dr. Hunter has observed, that astronomy and anatomy are the studies which present us with the most striking view of the two most wonderful attributes of the Supreme Being. The first of these fills the mind with the idea of his immensity, in the largeness, dis- tances, and number of the heavenly bodies ; the last astonishes us with his intelligence and art, in the variety and delicacy of animal mechanism. 2. The study of the animal economy has a powerful tendency to excite emotions of gratitude. Man is naturally a thoughtless and ungrateful creature. These dispositions are partly owing tojgnorance of the wonders of the human frame, and of the admirable economy of the visible world ; and this ignorance is owing to the want of those specific instructions which ought to be communicated by parents and teachers, in con- nexion with religion. For, there is no rational being who is acquainted with the structure of his animal system, and reflects upon it with the leas' degree of attention, but must feel a senti- ment of admiration and gratitude. The science which unfolds to us the economy of our bodies, shows us on what an infinity of springs and motions, and adaptations, our life and comfort de- pend. And when we consider, that all these movements are performed without the least care or laborious effort on our part, if we be not alto- gether brutish, arid insensible of our dependence on a superior Power, we must be filled with emo- tions of gratitude towards Him " whose hands have made and fashioned us, and who giveth us life, and breath, and all things." Some of the motions to which I have adverted depend upon our will ; and with what celerity do they obey its commands ? Before we can rise from our chair, and walk across our apartment, a hundred muscles must be set in motion ; every one of these must be relaxed or constricted, just to a certain degree, and no more ; and all must act harmoniously at the ?ame instant of time ; and, t the command of the soul, all these movements are instantaneously performed. When I #ish to lift my hand to my head, every part of the body requisite to produce the effect is put in mo- tion : the nerves are braced, the n;uscles are stretched or relaxed, the bones play in their sock- ets, and the whole animal machine concurs in the action, as if every nerve and muscle had heard a sovereign and resistless call. When I wish the next moment to extend my hand to my foot, all these muscles are thrown into a different state, and a new set are brought along with them into action : and thus we may vary, every mo- ment, the movements of the muscular system, and the mechanical actions it produces, by a simple change in our volition. Were we not daily accustomed to such varied and voluntary movements, or could we contemplate them in any other machine, we should be lost in wonder and astonishment. Besides these voluntary motions, there are a thousand important functions which have no de- pendance upon our will. Whether we think of it or not, whether we are sleeping or waking, sitting or walking the heart is incessantly exert-. ing its muscular power at the cerfcre of the sys- tem, and sending off streams of blood through hundreds of pipes ; the lungs are continually ex- panding and contracting their thousand vesicles, and imbibing the vital principle of the air; the stomach is grinding the food ; the lacteals and lymphatics are Extracting nourishment for the blood ; the liver and kidneys drawing off their secretions ; and the perspiration issuing from millions of pores. These, and many other im- portant functions with which we are unacquaint- ed, and over which we have no control, ought to be regarded as the immediate agency of the Deity wiihin us, and should excite our incessant admiration and praise. There is one peculiarity in the constitution of our animal system, which we are apt to overlook, and for which we are never sufficiently grateful, and that is, the power it possesses of self-restora- tion. A wound heals up of itself; a broken bone is made firm again by a callus ; and a dead part is separated and thrown off. If all the wounds we have ever received were still open and bleed- ing afresh, to what a miserable condition should we be reduced ? But by a system of internal powers, beyond all human comprehension as to the mode of their operation, such dismal effects are effectually prevented. In short, when we consider that health depends upon such a mime rous assemblage of moving organs, and that a single spring out of action might derange the whole machine, and put a stop to all its compli- cated movements, can we refrain from joining with the psalmist, in his pious exclamation, and grateful resolution, " How precious are thy won- derful contrivances concerning me, O God ! how great is the sum of them ! I will praise thee < for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, Mai HISTORY. 113 rcllous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well." Omitting the consideration of several other departments of science, I shall in the mean time notice only another subject connected with reli- gion, and that is History. History embraces a record and description of past facts and events, in reference to all the na- tions and ager of* the world, in so far as they are known, and have been transmitted to our times. As natural history contains a record of the ope- rations of the Creator in the material world, so sacred and civil history embraces a record of his transactions in the moral and intellectual world, or, in other words, a detail of the plans and operations of his providence, in relation to the inhabitants of our globe. Through the medium of Sacred History, we learn the period and the manner of man's creation the reason of his fall from the primitive state of integrity in which he was created, and the dismal consequences which ensued : the various movements of Providence in order to his recovery, and the means by which human redemption was achieved ; the manner in which the gospel was at first promulgated, the countries into which it was carried, and the im- portant effects it produced. Through the me- dium of Civil History we learn the deep and universal depravity of mankind, as exhibited in the wars, dissensions, and ravages, which have desolated our fallen race, in every period, and in every land ; we learn the desperate wickedness of the human heart, in the more private acts of ferocity, cruelty, and injustice, which, in all ages, men have perpetrated upon each other ; we be- hold the righteousness of the Supreme Ruler of the world, and the equity of his administration, in the judgments which have been inflicted on wicked nations and the improbability, nay, the impossibility, of men being ever restored to moral order and happiness, without a more extensive diffusion of the blessings of the gospel of peace, and a more cordial acquiescence in the require- ments of the divine laws. Such being some of the benefits to be derived from history, it requires no additional arguments to show, that this branch of knowledge should occasionally form a subject of study to every in- telligent Christian. But in order to render the study of history subservient to the interests of religion, it is not enough merely to gratify our curiosity and imagination, by following out a succession of memorable events, by tracing the progress of armies and of battles, and listening to the groans of the vanquished, and the shouts of conquerors. This would be to study history merely as skeptics, as atheists, or as writers of novels. When we contemplate the facts which !he historian presents to our view, we ought to rake our eyes to Him who is the Governor among the nations, " who doth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the in- habitants of the earth," and who overrules the jarring interests of mortals, for promoting the prosperity of that kingdom \\hich shall never be moved. We should viesv the immoral propensi- ties and dispositions of mankind as portrayed in the page of history, as evidences of the depravity of our species, and as excitements to propagate, with unremitting energy, the knowledge of that religion, whose sublime doctrines ami pure pre- cepts alone can counteract the stream of human corruption, and unite all nations in one harmoni- ous society. We should view the contests of nations, and the results with which they are ac- companu'd, as guided by that invisible Hand, which " mustereth the armies to the battle ;" and should contemplate them either as the accom- plishment of divine predictions, as the inflictions of retributive justice, as paving the way for the introduction of rational liberty and social happi- ness among men, or as ushering in that glorious period, when " the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth," and the nations shall learn war no more. Thus I have taken a very cursory survey ol some of those sciences which stand in a near relation to the objects of religion ; and which may, indeed, be considered as forming so many of its subordinate branches. There are many other departments of knowledge, which, at first view, do not seem to have any relation to theo- logical science; and yet, on a closer inspection, will be found to be essentially connected with the several subjects of which! have been treating For example some may be apt to imagine that arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, and other branches of mathematics, can have no relation to the leading objects of religion. But if these sciences had never been cultivated, the mo.st im- portant discoveries of astronomy, geography, natural philosophy, and chymistry, would never have been made ; ships could not have been na- vigated across the ocean ; distant continents, and the numerous " isles of the sea," would have remained unexplored, and their inhabitants left to grope in the darkness of heathenism; and most of those instruments and engines by which the condition of the human race will be gradu- ally meliorated, and the influence of Christianity extended, would never have been invented. Such is the dependence of every branch of useful knowledge upon another, that were any one por- tion of science, which has a practical tendency, to be discarded, it would prevent, to a certain degree, the improvement of every other. And, consequently, if any one science can be shown to have a connexion with religion, all the rest must likewise stand in a certain relation to it. It must, therefore, have a pernicious effect on the 114 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. niinds of the mass of the Christian world, when preachers, in their sermons, endeavour to under- value scientific knowledge, by attempting to con- trast it with the doctrines of revelation. It would be just as reasonable to attempt to contrast the se- veral doctrines, duties, and facts recorded in the New Testament with each other, in order to de- termine their relative importance, and to show which of them might be altogether overlooked and discarded. The series of facts and ofdivine revelations comprised in the bible; the moral and political events which diversify the history of nations; and the physical operations that are going on among the rolling worlds on high, and in the chymical changes of the invisible atoms of matter, are all parts of one comprehensive sys- tem, under the direction of the Eternal Mind ; every portion of which must have a certain rela- tion to the whole. And, therefore, instead of attempting to de- grade one part of the divine fabric in order to enhance another, our duty is to take an expan- sive view of the whole, and to consider -the symmetry and proportion of its parts, and their mutual bearings and relations in so far as our opportunities, and the limited faculties of our minds, will permit. If the remarks which have been thrown out in this chapter, respecting the connexion of the sciences with religion, have any foundation, it will follow that sermons, lectures, systems of divinity, and religious periodical works, should embrace occasional illustrations of such subjects, for the purpose of expanding the conceptions of professed Christians, and of enabling them to taite large and comprehensive views of the per- fections of the providence of the Almighty, li is much to be regretted, that so many members of the Christian church are absolute strangers to such studies and contemplations ; while the time and attention that might have been devoted to such exercises, have, in many cases, been usurped by the most grovelling affections, by foolish pursuits, by gossiping chit-chat, and slanderous conversation. Shall the most trifling and absurd opinions of ancient and modern he- retics be judged worthy of attention, and occupy a place in religious journals, and even in discus- sions from the pulpit, and shall " the mighty acts of the Lord," and the visible wonders of his power and wisdom, be thrown completely into the shade ? To survey, with an eye of intelli- gence, the wide-extended theatre of the divine operations to mark the agency of the Eternal Mind in every object we behold, and in every movement within us and around us, are some of the noblest attainments of the rational soul ; and, in conjunction with every ether Christian study and acquirement, are calculated to make " the man of God perfect, and thoroughly furnished unto every good work." By such studies, we are. in some measure, assimilated to the angelic tribes, whose powers of intellect are for ever employed in such investigations and are gra- dually prepared for bearing a part in their im- mortal hymn "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Thou art wor- ihy to receive glory, and honour, and power ; for thou hast created all things, and tor thy pleasure they are and were created." CHAPTER III. THE RELATION WHICH THE INVENTIONS OF HUMAN ART BEAR TO THE OBJECTS OF RELIGION. IN this chapter, I shall briefly notice a few philosophical and mechanical inventions which nave an obvious bearing on religion, and on the general propagation of Christianity among the nations. The first, and perhaps the most important, of the inventions to which I allude, is the Art of Printing. This art appears to have been in- vented (at least in Europe) about the year 1430, by one Laurentius, or Lawrence Koster, a native of Haerlern, a town in Holland. As he was walking in a wood near the city, he began to cut some letters upon the rind of a beach tree, which, for the sake of gratifying his fancy, being im- pressed on paper, he printed one or two lines as a specimen for his grandchildren to follow. This having succeeded, he meditated greater things , and, first of all, invented a more glutinous writing ink ; because he found the common ink sunk and spread ; and thus formed whole pages of wood, with letters cut upon them.* By the gradual * I am aware, that the honour of this invention has been claimed by other cities besides Haerlem, particularly by Strasburg, and Mentz, a city of Ger- many ; and by other individuals besides Laurentius, chiefly by one Fwt, commonly called Dr. Faustus ; by Schoeffer, and by Gutenberg. It appears that the art, with many of its implements, was stolen from Laurentius by one of his servants, whom he had bound, by an oath, to secrecy, who fled to Mentz, and first commenced the process of printing in that city. Here the art was improved by Fust and Schoef- fer, by their invention of metallic, instead of wooden types, which were first used. When Fust was in Paris, disposing of some bibles he had printed, at PRINTING' MARINER'S COMPASS. U5 improvement of this art, and its application to thedilFusion of knowledge, a new era was formed in the annals of the human race, and in the pro- gress of science, religion, and morals. To it we are chiefly indebted for our deliverance from ig- norance and error, and for most of those scien- tific discoveries and improvements in the arts which distinguish the period in which we live. Without its aid, the Reformation from Popery could scarcely have been achieved ; for, had the books of Luther, one of ths first reformers, been multiplied by the slow process of handwriting and copying, they could never have been diffused to any extent ; and the influence of bribery and of px)wer might have been sufficient to have ar- restod their progress, or even to have erased their existence. But, being poured forth from the press in thousands at a time, they spread over the nations of Europe like an inundation, and with a rapidity which neither the authority of princes, nor the schemes of priests and cardinals, nor the bulls of popes, could counteract or suspend. To this noble invention it is owing that copies of the bible have been multiplied to the extent of many millions that ten thousands of them are to be found in every Protestant country and that the the low price (as was then thought) of sixty crowns, the number and the uniformity of the copies he pos- sessed created universal agitation and astonish- ment. Informations were given to the police against him as a magician, his lodgings were searched, and a great number of copies being found, they were seized ; the red ink with which they were embel- lished was said to be his blood; it was seriously adjudged, that he was in league with the devil ; and if he had not fled from the city, most probably he would have shared the fate of those whom ignorant And superstitious judges, at that time, condemned for witchcraft. From this circumstance, let us learn to beware how we view the inventions of genius, and how we treat those whose ingenious contri- vances may afterwards be the means of enlightening and meliorating mankind. See Appendix, No. VII. Various improvements have been made, of late years, in the art of printing. That which has lately been announced by Dr. Church of Boston, is the most remarkable ; and, if found successful, will carry this art to a high degree of perfection. A prin cijial object of this improvement is, to print con- stantly from new types, which is effected by simpli- fying the process for casting and composing. The type'is delivered perfect by machinery, and laid as it is cast, in separate compartments, with unerring order and exactness. The composition is then ef- fected by other apparatus, directed by keys like those of a piano-forte, and the type may then be ar- ranged in words and lines, as quickly as in the per- form ince of notes in music. No error can arise except from touching the wrong key: and hence an expert hand will leave little labour for the reader. It is then found less expensive under Dr. Church's economical system of re-casting, to re-melt the types, and re-cast them, than to perform the tedious opera- tion of distribution. The melting takes place with- out atmospheric, exposure, by which oxydation and waste of metal are abided. It s calculated that two men can produce 75,000 new types per hour, and in re-composing, one man will perform as much as three or four compositors. In the production of type.- 1 , the saving is ninety-nine parts in a hundred; and in the composition, distribution, and reading, is three parts in four. In regard to press-work, Dr. C. has invented a machine to work with plattens, in- stead of cylinders, from which he will be enabled to take 80 fine impressions per minute. 40 poorest individual who expresses i desiie lor it, may be furnished with the '* word of life" which will guide him to a blessed immortality. That divine light which is destined to illuminate every region of the globe, and to sanctify and reform men of all nations, and kindreds, and tongues, is accelerated in its movements, and directed in its course through the nations, by the invention of the art of printing ; and ere long it will distri- bute among the inhabitants of every land, the " law and the testimony of the Most High," to guide their steps to the regions of eternal bliss. In short, there is not a more powerful engine in the hands of Providence, for diffusing the know- ledge of the nature and the will of the Deity, and for accomplishing the grand objects of re- velation, than the art of multiplying books, and of conveying intelligence through the medium of the press. Were no such art in existence, we cannot conceive how an extensive and universal propagation of the doctrines of revelation could be effected, unless after the lapse of an indefinite number of ages. But, with the assistance of this invention, in its present improved state, the island of Great Britain alone, within less than a hundred years, could furnish a copy of the Scrip- tures to every inhabitant of the world, and would defray the expense of such an undertaking, with much more ease, and with a smaller sum, than were necessary to furnish the political warfare in wltich we were lately engaged. These considerations teach us, that, the in- genious inventions of the human mind are under the direction and control of the Governor of the world are intimately connected with the ac- complishment of the plan of his providence, and have a tendency, either directly or indirectly, to promote, over every region of the earth, the pro- gress and extension of the kingdom of the Re- deemer. They also show us. from what small beginnings the most magnificent operations of the divine economy may derive their origin. Who could have imagined that the simple cir- cumstance of a person amusing himself by cutting a few letters on the bark of a tree, and impress- ing them on paper, was intimately connected with the mental illumination of mankind ; and that the art which sprung from this casual pro- cess was destined to be the principal means of illuminating the nations, and of conveying to the ends of the earth, " the salvation of our God ?" But, " He who rules in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth," and who sees " the end from the beginning," overrules the most minute movement of all his creatures, in subservi- ency to his ultimate designs, and shows himself, in this respect, to he u wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." The Mariner 1 !! Compass. Another invention which has an intimate relation to religion, is, the art of Navigation, and the invention of the Mariner's Compass. Navigation is the art of 116 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. conducting a ship through the sea, from one port to another. This art was partly known and practised in the early ages of antiquity, by the Phenicians, the Carthaginians, the Egyptians, the Romans, and other nations of Europe and Asia. But they had no guide to direct them in their voyages, except the sun in the day-time, and the stars by night. When the sky was over- cast with clouds, they were thrown into alarms, and durst not venture to any great distance from the coast, lest they should be carried forward in a course opposite to that which they intended, or be driven against hidden rocks, or unknown shores. The danger and difficulty of the navi- gation of the ancients, on this account, may be learned from the deliberations, the great prepa- rations, and the alarms of Homer's heroes, when they were about to cross the Egean sea, an ex- tent of not more than 150 miles ; and the expe- dition of the Argonauts under Jason, across the sea of Marmora and the Euxine, to the island of Colchis, a distance of only four or five hun- dred miles, was viewed as a most wonderful ex- ploit, at which even the gods themselves were said to be amazed. The same thing appears from the narration we have in the Acts of the Apostles, of Paul's voyage from Cesarea to Rome. " When," says Luke, " neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempests lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away." Being deprived of these guides, they were tossed about in the Mediterranean, not knowing whether they were carried to the north, south, east, or west. So that the voyages of an- tiquitv consisted chiefly in creeping along the coast, and seldom venturing beyond sight of land : they could not, therefore, extend their ex- cursions by sea to distant continents and nations ; and hence, the greater portion of the terraqueous globe and its inhabitaats were to them altogether unknown. It was not before the invention of the mariner's compass, that distant voyages could be undertaken, that extensive oceans could' be traversed, and an intercourse carried on between remote continents and the islands of the ocean. It is somewhat uncertain at what precise pe- riod this noble discovery was made ; but it ap- pears pretty evident, that the mariner's compass was not commonly used in navigation before the year 1420, or only a few years before the inven- tion of printing.* The loadstone, in all ages, was known to have the property of attracting iron ; but its tendency to point towards the north and south seems to have been unnoticed till the beginning of the twelfth century. About that The Invention of the compass Is usually ascribed to Falvio Gioia, of Amalfi, in Campania, about the year 1302; and the Italians are stienuous in support- ing this claim. Others affirm, that Marcus Paulus, a Venetian, having made a journey to China, brought oack the invention with him in 1260. The French also lay claim to the honour of this invention, from Uie circumstance, that all nations distinguish the time some curious persons seem to have amused themselves by making to swim, in a basin of water, a loadstone suspended on a piece of cork ; and to have remarked, that, when left at liberty, one of its extremities pointed to the north. They had also remarked, that, when a piece of iron is rubbed against the loadstone, it acquires also the property of turning towards the north, and of attracting needles and filings of iron. From one experiment to another, they proceed- ed to lay a needle, touched with the magnet, on two small bits of straw floating on the water and to observe that the needle invariably turned its point towards the north. The first use they seem to have made of these experiments, was, to impose upon simple people by the appear- ance of magic. For example, a hollow swan, or the figure of a mermaid, was made to swim in a basin of water, and to follow a knife with a bit of bread upon its point, which had been pre- viously rubbed on the loadstone. The experi- menter convinced them of his power, by com- manding, in this way, a needle laid on the sur- face of the water to turn its point from the north to the east, or in any other direction. But some geniuses, of more sublime and reflective powers of mind, seizing upon these hints, at last applied these experiments to the wants of navigation, and constructed an instrument, by the help of which the mariner can now direct his course to distant lands, through the vast and pathless ocean. In consequence of the discovery of this in- strument, the coasts of almost every land on the surface of the globe have been explored, and a re- gular intercourse opened up between the remotest regions of the earth. Without the help of this noble invention, America, in all probability, would never have been discovered by the eastern nations the vast continent of New-Holland the numerous and interesting islands in the In- dian and Pacific oceans the isles of Japan, and other immense territories inhabited by human beings, would have remained as much unknown and unexplored as if they had never existed And as the nations of Europe and the western parts of Asia were the sole depositories of the records of revelation, they could never have conveyed the blessings of salvation to remote countries and to unknown tribes of mankind, of whose existence they were entirely ignorant. Even although the whole terraqueous globe had been sketched out before them, in all its aspects and bearings, and ramifications of islands, con- tinents, seas, and oceans, and the moral and po- litical state of every tr^be of its inhabitants north point of the card f>y a fleur-de-lis , and, with equal reason, the English have laid claim to the same honour, from the name compass, by which most na- tions have agreed to distinguish it. But whoever were the inventors, or it whatever period this in strument was first constructed, it does not appeal that it was brought into general use before the p riod mentioned in the text. MARINER'S COMPASS TELESCOPE. 117 displayed to view without a guide to direct iheir course through the billows of the ocean, they could have afforded no light and no relief to cheer the distant nations " who sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death." Though the art of printing had been invented ; though millions of bibles were now prepared, adequate to the supply of all the " kindreds of the heathen ;" though ships in abundance were equipped for the enterprise, and thousands of missionaries ready lo embark, and to devote their lives to the instruction of the pagan world all would be of no avail, and the " salvation of God" could never be proclaimed to the ends of the world, unless they had a mariner's compass to guide their course through the trackless ocean. In this invention, then, we behold a proof of the agency of Divine Providence, in directing the efforts of human genius to subserve the most important designs, and contemplate a striking specimen of the " manifold wisdom of God." When the pious and contemplative Israelite re- flected on the declaration of the prophets, that " the glory of Jehovah would be revealed, and that all flesh would see it together ;" from the state of the arts which then existed, he must have felt many difficulties in forming a concep- tion of the manner in which such predictions could be realized. " The great and wide sea," now termed the Mediterranean, formed the bound- ary of his view, beyond which he was unable to penetrate. Of the continents, and " the isles afar off," and of the far more spacious oceans that lay between, he had no knowledge ; and how " the ends of the earth" were to he reached, he could form no conception ; and, in the midst of his perplexing thoughts, he could find no satis- faction but in the firm belief, that " with God all things are possible." But now we are ena- bled not only to contemplate the grand designs of the divine economy, but the principal means bv which they shall all, in due lime, be accom- plished, in consequence of the progress of science and art, and of their consecration to the rearing and extension of the Christian church. The two inventions to which I have now ad- verted, may perhaps be considered as among the most striking instances of the connexion of hu- man art with the objects of religion. But there are many other inventions, which, at first view, do not appear to bear so near a relation to the progress of Christianity, and yet have an ulti- mate reference to some of its grand and interest- ing objects. The Telescope. We might he apt to think, on a slight view of the matter, that there can be no immediate relation between the grinding and polishing of an optic glass, and fitting two or more of them in a tube, and the enlargement of our views of the operation of the Eternal Mind. Yet the connexion between these two objects, and the dependence of the latter upon the former, can be fairly demonstrated. The son of a spectacle-maker of Middleburg inHoV- land, happening to amuse himself in his father's shop, by holding two glasses between his finger and his thumb, and varying their distance, per- ceived the weathercock of the church spire op- posite to him much larger than ordinary, and apparently much nearer, and turned upside down. This new wonder excited the amazement of the father ; he adjusted two glasses on a board, ren- dering them moveable at pleasure ; and thus formed the first rude imitation of a perspective glass, by which distant objects are brought near to view. Galileo, a philosopher of Tuscany, hearing of the invention, set his mind to work, in order to bring it to perfection. He fixed his glasses at the end of long organ-pipes, and con- structed a telescope, which he soon directed to different parts of the surrounding heavens. He discovered four moons revolving around the pla- net Jupiter spots on the surface of the sun, and the rotation of that globe around its axis moun- tains and valleys in the moon and numbers of fixed stars where scarcely one was visible to the naked eye. These discoveries were made about the year 1610, a short time after the first invention of the telescope. Since that period this instru- ment has passed through various degrees of im- provement, and, by means of it, celestial won- ders have been explored in the distant spaces of the universe, which, in former times, were alto- gether concealed from mortal view. By the help of telescopes, combined with the art of measur- ing the distances and magnitudes of the heavenly bodies, our views of the grandeur of the Almighty, of the plenitude of his power, and of the extent of his universal empire, are extended far beyond what could have been conceived in former ages. Our prospects of the range of the divine opera- ions are no longer confined within the limits of the world we inhabit ; we can now plainly per- ceive, that the kingdom of God is not only " an everlasting dominion," but that it extends through the unlimited regions of space, comprehending within its vast circumference thousands of suns, and tens of thousands of worlds, all ranged in majestic order, at immense distances from one another, and all supported and governed " by Him who rides on the Heaven of heavens," whose greatness is unsearchable, and whose un- derstanding is infinite. The telescope has also demonstrated to us the literal truth of those scriptural declarations which assert that the stars are " innumerable." Before the invention of this instrument, not more than about two thousand stars could be perceived by the unassisted eye in the clearest night. But this invention has unfolded to view not only thousands, but hundreds of thousands, and millions, uf those bright luminaries, which lie dispersed in every direction throughout th boundless dimensions of space. And the higher 113 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. the magnifying powers of the telescope are, the more numerous those celestial orbs appear ; 'caving us no room to doubt, that countless myriads more lie hid in the distant regions of creation, far beyond the reach of the finest glasses that can be constructed by human skill, and which are known only to Him " who counts the number of the stars, and calls them by their names." In short, the telescope may be considered as serving the purpose of a vehicle for conveying us to the distant regions of space. We would consider it as a wonderful achievement, could we transport ourselves two hundred thousand miles from the earth, in the direction of the moon, in order to take a nearer view of that celestial orb. But this instrument enables us to take a much nearer inspection of that planet, than if we had actually surmounted the force of gravitation, traversed the voids of space, and left the earth 230,000 miles behind us. For, supposing such a journey to be accomplished, we should still be ten thousand miles distant from that orb. But a telescope which magnifies objects 240 times, can carry our views within one thousand miles of the moon ; and a tele- scope, such as Dr. Herschel's 40 feet reflector, which magnifies 6000 times, would enable us to view the mountains and vales of the moon, as if we were transported to a point about 40 miles from her surface.* We can view the magnifi- cent system of the planet Saturn, by means of this instrument, as distinctly, as if we had per- formed a journey eight hundred millions of miles in the direction of that globe, which at the rate of 50 miles an hour, would require a period of more than eighteen hundred years to accomplish. By the telescope, we can contemplate the region of the fixed stars, their arrangement into sys- tems, and their immense numbers, with the same distinctness and amplitude of view, as if Though the highest magnifying power of Dr. Herschel's large telescope was estimated at six- thousand times, yet it does not appear that the doc- tor ever applied this power with success, when viewing the moon and the planets. The deficiency of light, when using so high a power, would ren- der the view of these objects less satisfactory than When viewed with a power of one or two thousand times. Still, it is quite certain, that if any portions of the moon's surface were viewed through an in- strument of such a power, they would appear as targe (but not nearly so bright and distinct) as if we were placed about 40 miles distant from that body. The enlargement of the angle of vision, in this case, or, the apparent distance at which the moon would be contemplated, is found by dividing Hie moon's distance 240,000 miles by 6000, the mag. Rifyhii.' power of the telescope, which produces a quotient of 40 the number of miles at which the moon would appear to be placed from the eye of the observer. Dr. Herschel appears to have used the highest power of his telescopes, only, or chiefly, when viewing some very minute objects in the re- gion of the stajs. The powers he generally used, and with which he made most of his discoveries were, 227, 460, 754, 932, and occasionally 2010, 3)68, and 6450, when inspecting double and triple stars, wad the more distant nebulae we had actually taken a flight of ten hundred thousand millions of miles into those unexplored and unexplorable regions, which could not be accomplished in several millions of years, though our motion were as rapid as a ball projecled from a loaded cannon. We would justly considej it as a noble endowment for enabling us to take an extensive survey of the works of God, if we had the faculty of transporting ourselves to su<:h irn mense distances from the sphere we now occupy but, by means of the telescopic tube, we may take nearly the same ample views of the domi- nions of the Creator, without stirring a fool from the limits of our terrestrial abode. This instru- ment may, therefore, be considered as a provi- dential gift, bestowed upon mankind, to serve, in the mean time, as a temporary substitute for those powers of rapid flight with which the seraphim are endowed, and for those superior faculties of motion with which man himself may be invested, when he arrives at the summit ol moral perfection.* The Microscope. Th* microscope is another instrument constructed on similar principles, which has greatly expanded our views of the " manifold wisdom of God." This instrument, which discovers to us small objects, invisible to the naked eye, was invented soon after the invention and improvement of the telescope. By means of this optical contrivance, we peceive a variety of wonders in almost every object in the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms. We perceive that every particle of matter, how- ever minute, has a determinate form that the very scales of the skin of a haddock are all beauti- fully interwoven and variegated, like pieces of net-work, which no art can imitate that the points of the prickles of vegetables, though mag- nified a thousand times, appear as sharp and well polished as to the naked eye that every particle of the dust on the butterfly's wing is a beautiful and regularly organized feather that every hair of our head is a hollow tube, with bulbs and roots^ furnished with a variety . of threads or filaments and that the pores in our skin, through which the sweat and perspiration flow, are so numerous and minute, that a grain of sand would cover a hundred and twenty-five thousand of them. We perceive animated beings in certain liquids, so small, that fifty thousand of them would not equal the size of a mite ; and yet each of these creatures is furnished with a mouth, eyes, stomach, blood-vessels, and other organs for the performance of animal functions. In a stagnant pool which is covered with a greenish scum during the summer months, every drop of the water is found to be a world teeming with thousands of inhabitants. The mouldy substance which usually adheres to damp bodies exhibits a forest of trees and plants, where the branches, leaves, and fruit, can be plainly dis- See Appendix, No. VIIL STEAM NAVIGATION. 119 Anguished. In a word, by this admirable instru- ment we beh>ld the same Almighty Hand which /ounded the soacious globe on which we live, and the huge masses of the planetary orbs, and directs them in their rapid motions through the sky, employed, at the same moment, in round- ing and polishing ten thousand minute transpa- rent globes in the eye of a fly ; and boring and arranging veins and arteries, and forming and clasping joints and claws, for the movements ofa mite ! We thus learn the admirable and asto- nishing effects of the wisdom of God, and that the divine care and benevolence are as much displayed in the construction of the smallest insect, as in the elephant or the whale, or in those pondeVous globes which roll around us in the sky. These, and thousands of other views which the microscope exhibits, would never have been displayed to the human mind, had they not been opened up by this admirable invention. In fine, by means of the two instruments to which I have now adverted, we behold Jeho- vah's empire extending to infinity on either hand. By the telescope we are presented with the most astonishing displays of his omnipotence, in the immense number, the rapid motions, and the inconceivable magnitudes of the celestial globes ; and, by the microscope, we behold, what is still more inconceivable, a display of his unsearchable wisdom in the divine mechanism by which a drop of water is peopled with myriads of inhabitants a fact which, were it not sub- ject to ocular demonstration, would far exceed the limits of human conception or belief. We have thus the most striking and sensible evi- aence, that, from the immeasurable luminaries ?f heaven, and from the loftiest seraph that stands before the throne o'f God, down to this lower world, and to the smallest microscopic anirnalcula that eludes the finest glass, He is every where present, and, by his power, intel- ligence, and agency, animates, supports, and directs the whole. Such views and contempla- tions naturally lead us to advert to the charac- ter of God as delineated by the sacred writers, that " He is of great power, and mighty in etrength ;" that lf His understanding is infinite ;' that " His works are wonderful ;" that " His operations are unsearchable and past finding out ;" and they must excite the devout mind to join with fervour in the language of adoration and praise. When thy amazing works, God ! My mental eye surveys, 14 Transported with the view, I'm lost In wonder, love, and praise." Steam Navigation. We might have been apt to suppose that the chymical experiments that were first made to demonstrate the force of tteam as a mechanical agent, could have little relation to the objects of religion, or even to the comfort of human life and society. Yet it has now been applied to the impelling of ships and large boats along rivers and seas, in opposition to both wind and tide, and with a velocity which, at an average, exceeds that of any other conveyance. We have no reason to believe that this invention has hitherto approximated to a state of perfection ; it is yet in its infancy, and may be susceptible of such improvements, both in point of expedition and of safety, as may render it the most comfortable and speedy con- veyance between distant lands, for transporting the volume of inspiration and the heralds of the gospel of peace to " the ends of the earth." By the help of his compass the mariner is enabled to steer his course in the midst of the ocean, in the most cloudy days, and in the darkest nights, and to transport his vessel from one end of the world to another. It now only remains, that navigation be rendered safe, uniform, and expeditious, arid not dependent on adverse winds, or the currents of the ocean ; and, per- haps the art of propelling vessels by the force of steam, when arrived at perfection, may effectu- ate those desirable purposes. Even at present, as the invention now stands, were a vessel to be fitted to encounter the waves of the Atlantic, constructed of a proper figure and curvature, having a proper disposition of her wheels, and having such a description of fuel, as could be easily stowed, and in sufficient quantity for the voyage at the rate of ten miles an hour, she could pass from the shores of Britain to the coast of America, in less than thirteen days ; and, even at eight miles an hour, the voyage could be completed in little more than fifteen days ; so that intelligence might pass and re- pass between the eastern and western conti- nents within the space of a single month a space of time very little more than was requi- site, sixty years ago, for conveying intelligence between Glasgow and London. The greatest distance at which any two places on the globe lie from each other, is about 12,5,00 miles ; and, therefore, if a direct portion of water intervene between them, this space could be traversed in fifty-four or sixty days. And, if the isthmus of Panama, which connects North and South America, and the isthmus of Suez, which sepa- rates the Mediterranean from the Red sea, were cut into wide and deep canals, (which we have no doubt will be accomplished as soon as civilized nations have access to perform opera- tions in those territories,) every country in the world could then be reached from Europe, in nearly a direct line, or at most by a gentle curve, instead of the long, and dangerous", and circuitous route which must now be taken, in sail- ing for the eastern parts of Asia, and the north- western shores of America. By this means, eight or nine thousand miles of sailing would be saved in a voyage from England to Nootka sound, or the peninsula of California; and 1*0 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. more than six thousand miles, in passing from London to Bombay in the East Indies ; and tew places on the earth would be farther distant from tach other by water than 15,000 miles ; which space might be traversed, at the rate mentioned above, in a period of from sixty-two to srventy-seven days.* But we have reason to believe, that when this invention, combined with other mechanical as- sistances, shall approximate nearer to perfection, a much more rapid rate of motion will be e Icted; and the advantages of this, in a religious as well as in a commercial point of view, may De easily appreciated, especially at the present period, when the Christian world, now aroused from their slumbers, have formed the grand de- sign of sending a bible to every inhabitant of the globe. When the empire of the prince of darkness shall be shaken throughout all its de- pendencies, and the nations aroused to inquire after light, and liberty, and divine knowledge intelligence would thus be rapidly communicated over every region, and between the most distant tribes. " Many would run to and fro, and knowledge would be increased." The ambassa- dors of the Redeemer, with the oracles of heaven in their hands, and the words of salvation in their mouths, would quickly be transported to every clime, " having the everlasting gospel to preach to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." Air Balloons. Similar remarks may be ap- plied to the invention of Air Balloons. We have heard of some pious people who have mourned over such inventions, and lamented the folly of mankind in studying their construction, and witnessing their exhibition. Such disposi- tions generally proceed from a narrow range of thought, and a contracted view of the divine eco- nomy and arrangements in the work of redemp- tion. Though the perversity of mankind has often applied useful inventions to foolish, and even to vicious purposes, yet this forms no rea- son why such inventions should be decried; otherwise the art of printing, and many other useful arts, might be regarded as inimical to the human race. We have reason to believe that air balloons may yet be brought to such perfec- tion, as to be applied to purposes highly benefi- cial to the progress of the human mind, and sub- servient, in some degree, for effecting the pur- poses of providence in the enlightening and renovation of mankind. For this purpose, it is only requisite that some contrivance, on chymi- cal or mechanical principles, be suggested, ana- logous to the sails or rudder of a ship, by which they may be moved in any direction, without being directed solely by the course of the wind ; and, there can be little doubt that such a contriv- ance is possible to be effected. It requires only suitable encouragement to be given to ingenious See Appendix, No IX. experimental philosophers, and a sufficient sum of money to enable them to prosecute their ex- periments on an extensive scale. To the want of such prerequisites, it is chiefly owing, that the hints on this subject, hitherto suggested, have either failed of success or have never been car- ried into execution. A more simple and expe- ditious process for filling balloons has lately been effected the use of the parachute, by which a person may detach himself from the balloon, and descend to the earth, has been successfully tried, the lightning of heaven has been diawn from the clouds, and forced to act as a mechanical power in splitting immense stones to pieces, the atmosphere has been analyzed into its component parts, and the wonderful properties of the ingredients of which it is composed exhibited in their separate state : and why, then, should we consider it as at all improbable that the means of producing a horizontal direction in aerial na- vigation may soon be discovered? Were this object once effected, balloons might be applied to the purpose of surveying and exploring coun- tries hitherto inaccessible, and of conveying the messengers of divine mercy to tribes of our fel- low men, whose existence is as yet unknown. We are certain that every portion of the in- habited world must be thoroughly explored, and its inhabitants visited, before the salvation of God can be carried fully into effect ; and, for the purpose of such explorations, we must, of course, resort to the inventions of human genius in art and science. Numerous tribes of the sons of Adam are, doubtless, residing in regions of the earth with which we have no acquaintance, and to which we have no access by any of the modes of conveyance presently in use. More than one-half of the interior parts of Africa ana Asia, and even of America, are wholly unknown to the inhabitants of the civilized world. The vast regions ofChinese Tartary, Thibet, Siberia, and the adjacent districts ; almost the whole interior of Africa, and the continent of New Holland the extensive isles of Borneo, Suma- tra, New Guinea, and Japan, the territory cl the Amazons, and the internal parts of North America, remain, for the most part, unknown and unexplored. The lofty and impassable ranges of mountains, and the deep and rapid rivers, which intervene between us and many of those regions, together with the savage and plundering hordes of men, and the tribes of ravenous beasts, through which the traveller must push his way, present to European adventurers barriers which they cannot expect to surmount by the ordinary modes of conveyance, for a lapse of ages. But by balloons constructed with an apparatus for directing their motions, all such obstructions would at once be surmounted. The most im- penetrable regions, now hemmed in by streams and marshes, and lofty mountains, and a barba- rous population, would be quickly laid open AIR BALLOONS. and cities and nations, lakes and rivers, and fertile plains, to which we are now entire stran- gers, would soon burst upon the view. And the very circumstance, that the messengers of peace and salvation descended upon such unknown tribes from the regions of the clouds, might arouse their minds, and excite their attention and regard to the message of divine mercy which they came thither to proclaim.* Such a scene (and it may probably be realized) would present a literal fulfilment of the prediction of " angels flying through the midst of" the aerial " heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth, and to every kindred and nation." That the attention of the philosophical world is presently directed to, this subject, and that we have some prospect of the views above suggested being soon realized, will appear from the follow- ing notice, -vhich lately made its appearance in the London scientific journals : " A prize being offered for the discovery of a horizontal direction in aerostation, M. Mingreli of Bologna, M. Pietripoii of Venice, and M. Lcmber of Nu- remberg, have each assumed the merit of resolv- ing this problem. It does not appear that any one of these has come forward to establish, by practical experiment, the validity of his claim; but a pamphlet has lately been reprinted at Paris (first printed at Vienna) on this subject, addressed to all the learned societies in Europe. The following passage appears in the work : " Professor Robertson proposes to construct an * In this point of view, we cannot but feel the most poignant regret at the conduct of the Spaniards, after the discovery of America, towards the natives of that country. When those untutored people be- held the ships which had conveyed Columbus and his associates from the eastern world, the dresses ind martial order of his troops, and heard their music, and the thunder of their cannon, they were filled with astonishment and wonder at the strange Objects presented to their view ; they fell prostrate at their feet, and viewed them as a superior race of men. When Cortes afterwards entered the territo- ries of Mexico, the same sentiments of reverence and admiration seemed to pervade its inhabitants. Had pure Christian motives actuated the minds of these adventurers, and had it been their ruling desire to communicate to those ignorant tribes the blessings of the gospel of peace, and to administer to their external comfort, the circumstances now stated would have been highly favourable to the success of missionary exertion, and would have led them to ^sten with attention to the message from heaven. But, unfortunately for the cause of religion, trea- chery, lust, cruelty, selfishness?, an 1 the cursed love of gold, predominated over every other feeling, affixed a stigma to the Christian name, and rendered them curses instead of blessings, to that newly -discover- ed race of men. It is most earnestly to be wished, that, in future expeditions in quest of unknown tribes, a few intelligent and philanthropic missiona- ries rmy be appointed to direct the adventurers in their moral conduct anil intercourse with the peo- ple they visit, in order that nothing inconsistent with Christian principle make its appearance. The uniform manifestation of Christian benevolence, purUf, and rectitude, by a superior race of men, would win the affections of a rude people far more Actually than all the pomp and ensigns of mili- tary parade. 16 aerostatic machine, 150 feet in diameter, to be capable of raising 72,954 kilograms, equivalent to 149,037 Ibs. weight, (French,) to be capa- ble of conveying all the necessaries for the sup- port of sixty individuals, scientific characters', to be selected by the academicians, and the aerial navigations to last for some months, exploring different heights and climates, &c. in all seasons. If, from accident, or wear, the ma- chine, elevated above the ocean, should fail in its functions, to be furnished with a ship that will ensure the return of the aeronauts." Should any one be disposed to insinuate, that the views now stated on this subject are chime- rical and fallacious, I beg leave to remind them, that, not more than twenty years ago, the idea of a large vessel, without oars and sails, to be navigated against the wind, with the rapidity of ten miles an hour, would have been considered as next to an impossibility, and a mere fanciful scheme, which could never be realized. Yet we now behold such vehicles transporting whole vil- lages to the places of their destination, with a degree of ease, comfort, and expedition, formerly unknown. And little more than forty years have elapsed, since it would have been viewed as still more chimerical to have broached the idea, that a machine might be constructed, by which hu- man beings might ascend more than two miles above the surface of the earth, and fly through the region of the clouds at the rate of seventy miles an hour, carrying along with them books, instruments, and provisions. Yet both these schemes have been fully realized, and, like many other inventions of the human intellect, are doubtless intended to subserve some important ends in the economy of divine providence.f + Balloons were first constructed in the year 1783, by Messrs. S. and J. Mongolfier, paper manufactu- rers at Annonay, in France. A sheep, a cock, and a duck, were the first animals ever carried up into the air by these vehicles. At the end of their jour- ney, they were found perfectly safe and unhurt, and the sheep was even feeding at perfect ease. The first human being who ascended into the atmosphere in one of these machines, svas M. Pilatrede Rozier. This adventurer ascended from amidst an astonished multitude assembled in a garden in Paris, on the 15th October, 1783, in a balloon, whose diameter was 48 feet, and its height about 74 : and remained sus- pended above the city about four hours. Mr. TJtt- nardi, an Italian, soon after, astonished the people of England and Scotland, by his aerial excursions. Dr. G. Gregory gives the following account of his ascent: "I was myself a spectator of the flight of Lunardi, and I never was present at a sight so inte- resting and sublime. The beauty of the gradual ascent, united witi.-. i sentiment of terror, on account of the danger of the man, and the novelty and gran- deur of the whole appearance, are more than words can express. A delicate woman was so overcome with the spectacle, that she died upon the spot, as the balloon ascended ; several fainted ; and the silent admiration of the anxious multitude was beyond any thing I had ever beheld." Balloons have been generally made of varnished silk, and of the shape-of a globe or a spheroid, from thirty to fifty feet in diameter. They are filled with hydrogen gas, which, as formerly stated, is from twelve to fifteen times lighter than common air THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. Acoustic Tunnels. By means of the inven- tions just now adverted to, when brought to per- fection, mankind may be enabled to transport themselves to every region of the globe, with a much greater degree of rapidity that has hitherto been attained. By the help of the microscope, we are enabled to contemplate the invisible worlds of life, and by the telescope we can pe- netrate into regions far beyond the range of the unassisted eye. By the arts of writing and printing, we can communicate our sentiments, after a certain lapse of time, to every quarter of the world. In the progress of human knowledge and improvement, it would obviously be of con- siderable importance, could we extend the range of the human voice, and communicate intelligence to the distance of a thousand miles, in the course of two or three hours ; or could we hold an occasional conversation with a friend at the dis- tance, of 20 or 30 miles. From the experiments which have been lately made, in reference to the conveyance of sound, we have some reason to believe, that such objects may not be altogether unattainable. It has been long known, that wood is a good conductor of sound. If a watch be laid on the end of a long beam of timber, its beating will be distinctly heard, on applying the ear to the other end, though it could not be heard at the sam? distance through the air. In " Ni- cholson's Philosophical Journal" for February, 1803, Mr. E. Walker describes a simple appa- ratus, connected with a speaking trumpet, by means of which, at the distance of 17| fuet, he held a conversation with another in whispers, too low to be heard through the air at that distance. When the ear was placed in a certain position, the words were heard as if they had been spoken by an invisible being within the trumpet. And what rendered the deception still more pleasing, the words were more distinct, softer, and more musical, than if they had been spoken through the air. About the year 1750, a merchant of Cleves, ^named Jorisen, who had become almost totally deaf, sitting one day near a harpsichord, while some one was playing, and having a tobacco- pipe in his mouth, the bowl of which rested acci- dentally against the body of the instrument, he was agreeably and unexpectedly surprised to h?ar all the notes jn the most distinct manner. By a little reflection and practice, he again ob- and they rise into the atmosphtre, on the same prin- ciple as a piece of cork ascends from the bottom of a pail of water. The aerial travellers are seateii in a basket below the balloon, which is attached to it by means of cords. The parachute is an invention, by which the voyager, in cases of alarm, niav be enabled to desert his balloon in mid-air, and descend, without injury, to the ground. They resemble an umbrella, but are of far greater extent. Walt one of these contrivances, twenty-three feet in diameter, M. Garnftrin, having detached himself from n.s i.. to the accomplishment of religious objects. He should contemplate the experiments of scientific men, not as a waste of time, or the mere gratification of an idle curi- osity, but as irnbodying the germs of those im- provements, by which civilization, domestic comfort, knowledge, and moral principle may be diffused a'nong the nations. To view such objects with apathy and indifference, as beneath the regard of a religious character, argues a weak and limited understanding, and a contract- ed vie-v of the grand operations of a superin- tending Providence. 136 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. CHAPTER IV. SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINES AND FACTS ILLUSTRATED FROM THE SYSTEM OF NATURE." WITHOUT spending time in any introductory observations on this subject, it may bo remarked in general, I. That scientific knowledge, or an acquaintance with the system of nature, may frequently serve as a guide to the true interpretation of Scripture, It may be laid down as a universal principle, that there can be no real discrepancy between a just interpretation of Scripture and the facts of physical science ; and on this principle, the following canon is founded, which may be con- sidered as an infallible rule for Scripture inter- pretation, namely, That no interpretation of Set ipture ought to be admitted which is inconsis- tent with any well-authenticated facts in the ma- terial world. By well-authenticated facts, I do not mean the theories of philosophers, or the deductions they may have drawn from them, nor the confident assertions or plausible reasonings of scientific men in support of any prevailing system of natural science ; but those facts which are universally admitted, and the reality of which every scientific inquirer has it in his power to ascertain : such as that the earth is not an ex- tended plane, but a round or globular body, and that the rays of the sun, when converged to a focus by a large convex glass, will set fire to combus- tible substances. Such facts, when ascertained, ought to be considered as a revelation from God, as well as the declarations of his word For they make known to us a portion of his charac- ter, of his plans and his operations This rule may be otherwise expressed as follows : Where a passage of Scripture is of doubtful meaning, or capable of different interpretations, that interpreta- tion ought to be preferred which will best agree with the established discoveries of science. For since the Author of revelation and the Author of universal nature is one and the same infinite being, there must exist a complete harmony be- tween the revelations of his word, and the facts or relations which are observed in the material uni- verse. To suppose the contrary, would be to t Under this head, it was originally intended to embrace an elucidation of a considerable variety of :he facts recorded in sacred history, and of the allusions of the inspired writers to the system of tature ; but as the volume has already swelled be- yond the limits proposed, 1 am reluctantly compelled to confine myself to the illustration of only two or three topics suppose the Almighty capable of inconsistency; a supposition which would go far to shake our confidence in the theology of nature, as well as of revelation. If, in any one instance, a record claiming to be a revelation from heaven were found to contradict a well-known fact in the material world ; if, for example, it asserted, in express terms, to be literally understood, that the earth is a quiescent body in the centre of the universe, or that the moon is no larger than a mountain ; it would be a fair conclusion, either that the revelation was not divine, or that the passages imbodying such assertions are interpo- lations, or that science, in reference to these points, has not yet arrived at the truth. The example, we are aware, is inapplicable to the the Christian revelation, which rests securely on its own basis, and to which science is gradu- ually approximating, as it advances in the ampli- tude of its views, and the correctness of its de ductions ; but it shows us how necessary it is, in interpreting the word of God, to keep our eye fixed upon his works; for we may rest assured, that truth in the one will always correspond with fact in the other. To illustrate the rule now laid down, an exam- ple or two may be stated. If it be a fact that geological research has ascertained that the materials of the strata of the earth are of a more ancient date than the Mosaic account of the com- mencement of the present race of men ; tire passages in the first chapter of Genesis, uiid other parts of Scripture, which refer to the origin of our world, must be explained as conveying the idea, that the earth was then merely arranged into its present form and order, out of the mate- rials which previously existed in a confused mass, and which had been created by the Al- mighty at a prior period in duration. For Moses no where asserts, that the materials of our globe were created, or brought into existence out of nothing, at the time to which his history refers; but insinuates the contrary. "For the earth" says he, prior to its present constitution, " was without form and void," &c. Again, if it be a fact that the universe is indefinitely extend" ed, ihat, of many millions of vast globes which diversify the voids of space, only two or three have any immediate connexion with the earth , then it will appear most reasonable to conclude, that those expressions in the Mosaic history of the creation, which refer to the creation of t!ne fixed stars, are not to be understood as referring SCRIPTURAL FACTS ILLUSTRATED. 127 to the time when they were brought into exist- ence, as if they had been created about the same time with our earth ; but, as simply de- claring the fact, that, at what period soever in duration they were created, they derived their ex- istence from God. That they did not all com- mence their existence at that period, is demon- strable from the fact, that, within th space of 2000 years past, and even within the space of the two last centuries, new stars have appeared in the heavens which previously did not exist in the concave of the firmament; which, conse- quently, have been created since the Mosaic period ; or, at least, have undergone a change analogous to that which took place in our globe, when it emerged from a chaotic state to the form and order in which we now behold it. Consequently, the phrase, " God rested from all his work.?,'' must be understood not absolutely, or in re't.ence to the whole system of nature, but meuJy in relation to our world ; and as im- porting, that the Creator then ceased to form any n*jv species of beings on the terraqueous globe. The same canon will direct us in the in- terpretation of those passages which refer to the last judgment, and the destruction of the present constitution of our globe. When, in reference to these events, it is said, " that, the stars shall fall from heaven," that " the powers of heaven shall be shaken," and that " the earth and the heaven shall flee away," our knowledge of the system of nature leads us to conclude, either that such expressions are merely metaphorical, or that they describe only the appearance, not the reality of things. For it is impossible that the stars can ever fall to the earth, since each of them is of a size vastly superior to our globe, and could never be attracted to its surface, with- out unhinging the laws and the fabric of univer- sal nature. The appearance, however, of the " heaven fleeing away," would be produced, should the earth's diurnal rotation at that pe- riod be suddenly stopped, as will most probably happen ; in which case, all nature, in this sublu- nary system, would be thrown into confusion, and the heavens, with all their host, would ap- pear to flee away. Now, the scientific student of Scripture alone can judiciously apply the canon to which I have adverted ; he alone can appreciate its utility in the interpretation of the sacred oracles ; for he knows the facts which the philosopher and the astronomer have ascertained to exist in the sys- tem of nature ; from the want of which informa- tion, many divines, whose comments on Scrip- ture have, in other respects, been judicious, have displayed their ignorance, and fallen into egregious blunders, when attempting to explain the first chapters of Genesis, and several parts of the b.x>k of Job, which have tended to bring discredit on the oracles of heaven. II. The system of nature confirms and illus- trates the scriptural doctrine of the DEPRAVITV OF MAN. In the preceding parts of this volume, I have stated several striking instances of divine be- nevolence, which appear in the construction of the organs of the animal system, in the con- stitution of the earth, the waters, and the atmos phere, and in the variety of beauties and sublimi ties which adorn the face of nature ; all which proclaim, in language which can scarcely be mistaken, that the Creator has a special regart to the happiness of his creatures. Yet the Scriptures uniformly declare, that man has fallen from his primeval state of innocence, and has violated the laws of his Maker; that "hi^heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked ;" and that " destruction and misery are in his ways." Observation and experience also demonstrate, that a moral disease pervades the whole human family, from the most savage to the most civilized tribes of mankind ; which has dis- played its virulence in those wars and devasta- tions which have, in all ages, convulsed the world ; and which daily displays itself in those acts of injustice, fraud, oppression, malice, ty- ranny, and cruelty, which are perpetrated in every country, and among all the ranks even of civilized life. That a world inhabited by moral agents of this description would display, in its physical constitution, certain indications of its Creator's displeasure, is what we should natu- rally expect, from a consideration of those attri- butes of his nature with which we are acquainted. Accordingly, we find, that, amidst all (he evi- dences of benevolence which our globe exhibits, there are not wanting certain displays of " the wrath of Heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," in order to arouse them to a sense of their guilt, and to inspire them with reverence and awe of that Being whom they have offended. The following facts, among many others, may be considered as cor- roborating this position. In the first place, the present state of the interi- or strata of the earth may be considered as a pre- sumptive evidence, that a moral revolution has taken place since man was placed upon the globe. When we penetrate into the interior recesses of the earth, we find its different strata bent into the most irregular forms ; sometimes Iving hori- zontally, sometimes projecting upwards, and sometimes downwards, and thrown Into confu- sion ; as if some dreadful concussion had spread its ravages through every part of the solid crust of our globe. This is visible in every region of the earth. Wherever the miner penetrates among its subterraneous recesses, wherever the fissures and caverns of the earth are explored, and wher- ever the mountains lay bare their rugged cliffs, 128 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. the marks of ruin, convulsion, and disorder meet the eje of the beholder. Evidences of these facts are to be found in the records of all intelligent travellers and geologists who have visited Alpine districts, or explored the subterraneous regions of the earth ; of which I have already staled a few instances, in the article of Geology, pp. 74, 75,77. These facts seem evidently to indicate that the earth is not now in the same state in which it originally proceeded from the hand of its Creator ; for such a scene of disruption and de- rangement appears incompatible with that or- der, harmony, and beauty which are apparent in the other departments of nature. We dare not assert, that such terrible convulsions took place by chance, or independent of the will of the Creator; nor dare we insinuate, that thfly were the effects of a random display of Al- mighty Power; and therefore, we are neces- sarily led to infer, that a moral cause, connected with the conduct of the rational inhabitants of the globe, must have existed, to warrant so awful an interposition of divine power ; for the fate of the animated beings which then peopled the earth was involved in the conse- quences which must have attended this terri- ble catastrophe. The volume of revelation, on this point, concurs with the deductions of reason, and assigns a cause adequate to war- rant the production of such an extraordinary effect. " The wickedness of man was great upon the earth ; the earth was Jilted with vio- lence; every purpose and desire of man's heart was only evil continually. Man had frustrated the end of his existence ; the earth was turned into a habitation of demons ; the long period to which his life was protracted only served to harden him in his wickedness, and to enable him to carry his diabolical schemes to their utmost extent, till the social state of the hu- man race became a scene of unmixed depra- vity and misery. And the physical effects of the punishment of this universal defection from God are presented to out view in every land, and will remain to all ages, as a visible me- morial that man las rebelled against the autho- rity of his Make , 2. The existence of Volcanoes, and the terri- ble ravages they produce, bear testimony to the state of man as a depraved intelligence. A rolcano is a mountain, generally of an immense size, from whose summit issue fire, smoke, sul- phur, and torrents of melted lava, (see p. 66.) Previous to an eruption, the smoke, which is continually ascending from the crater, or open- ing in the top, increases and shoots up to an im- mense height ; forked lightning issues from the ascending column ; showers of ashes are thrown out to the distance of forty or fifty miles ; volleys of red-hot stones are discharged to a great weight in the air ; the sky appears thick and dark ; he luminaries of heaven disappear ; and these terrible forebodings are accompanied with thuiv der, lightning, frequent concussions of the earth, and dreadful subterraneous bellowings. When these alarming appearances have continued sometimes four or five months, the lava begins to make its appearance, either boiling over the top, or forcing its way through the side of the moun- tain. This fiery deluge of melted minerals rolls down the declivity of the mountain, forming a dis- mal flaming stream, sometimes fourteen miles long, six miles broad, and 200 feet deep. In its course, it destroys orchards, vineyards, cornfields, and villages; and sometimes cities, containing twenty thousand inhabitants, have been swallow- ed up and consumed. Several other phenomena, of awful sublimity, sometimes accompany these eruptions. In the eruption of Vesuvius, in 1794, a shock of an earthquake was felt ; and, at the same instant, a fountain of bright fire, attended with the blackest smoke, and a loud report, was seen to issue, and to rise to a great height from the cone of the mountain ; and was soon suc- ceeded by fifteen other fiery fountains, all in a direct line extending for a mile and a half down- wards. This fiery scene was accompanied with the loudest thunder, the incessant reports of which, like those of a numerous heavy artillery, were attended by a continued hollow murmur, similar to that of the roaring of the ocean during a violent storm. The houses in Naples, at seven miles' distance, were for several hours in a con- stant tremor ; the bells ringing, and doors and windows incessantly rattling and shaking. The murmur of the prayers and lamentations of a numerous population added to the horrors of the scene. AH travellers, who have witnessed these eruptions, seem to be at a loss to find words sufficiently emphatic, to express the terrors of the scene. " One cannot form a juster idea," savs Bishop Berkley, " of the noise emitted by the mountain, than by imagining a mixed sound made up of the raging of a tempest, the mur- mur of a troubled sea, and the roaring of thun- der and artillery, confused altogether. Though we heard this at the distance of twelve miles, yet it was very terrible" In 1744, the flames of Cotopaxi, in South America, rose 3,000 feet above the brink of the crater, and its roarings were heard at the distance of six hundred miles. " At the port of Guayaquil, 150 miles distant from the crater," says Humboldt, " we heard, day and night, the noise of this volcano, like continued discharges of a battery, and we dis- tinguished these tremendous sounds even on the Pacific ocean." The ravages produced by volcanoes are in proportion to the terror they inspire. In the eruption of jEtna, in 1669, the stream of lava destroyed, in 40 days, the habitations of 27,000 persons ; and of 20,000 inhabitants of the city of Catania, only 3.000 escaped. In the year 79, the celebrated cities of Pompeii and Hercu- DEPRAVITY OF MAN. 129 fanenm were completely overwhelmed and buried under ground by an eruption of Vesuvius, and the spots on which they stood remained unknown for 1600 years. Since that period, about 40 eruptions have taken place, each of them pro- ducing the most dreadful ravages. But the volcanoes of Asia and America are still more terrible and destructive than those of Europe. The volcanic mountain Pichinca, near Quito, caused, on one occasion, the destruction of 55,000 inhabitants. In the year 1772, an erup- tion of a mountain in the island of Java destroyed 40 villages, and several thousands of the inhabit- ants ; and in October, 1822, eighty-eight ham- lets, and above 2000 persons, were destroyed in the same island, by a sudden eruption from a new volcano. The eruption of Tomboro, in the island of Sumbawa, in 1815, was so dreadful, that all the Moluccas, Java, Sumatra, and Bor- neo, to the distance of a thousand miles from the mountain, felt tremulous motions, and heard the report of explosions. In Java, at the dis- tance of 340 miles, the clouds of ashes from the volcano produced utter darkness. Volcanoes are more numerous than is gene- rally imagined. They are to be found in every quarter of the world, from the icy shores of Kamtschatka to the mountains of Patagonia. Humboldt enumerates 40 volcanoes constantly burning, between Cotopaxi and the Pacific ocean ; 20 have been observed in the chain of mountains that stretches along Kamtschatka; and many of them are to be seen in the Phillip- pines, the Moluccas, the Cape de Verd, the Sandwich, the Ladrone, and other islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is stated in vol. 6th of Sup. to Ency. Brit, lately published, that about 205 volcanoes are known, including only those which have been active within a period to which history or tradition reaches. Europe contains 14 ; and, of the whole number, it is computed, that 107 are in islands and 98 on the great continents. Can we then suppose, that so many engines of terror and destruction, dispersed over every quarter of the globe, are consistent with the con- duct of a benevolent Creator towards an innocent race of men ? If so, we must either admit that the Creator had it not in his power, when ar- ranging our terrestrial system, to prevent the oc- casional aclion of these dreadful ravagers, or that he is indifferent to the happiness of his innocent offspring. The former admission is inconsistent with the idea of his omnipotence, and the latter with the idea of his universal benevolence. It is not therefore, enthusiasm, but the fairest de- duction of reason to conclude, that they are in- dications of God's displeasure against a race of transgressors who have apostatized from his laws. 3. The same reasoning will apply to the ra- vages produced by earthquakes. Next to volca- noes, earthquakes are the most terrific phenome- na of nature, and are even far more destructive to man, and to the labours of his hands. An earthquake, which consists in a sudden motion of the earth, is generally preceded oy a rum- bling sound, sometimes like that of a number of carriages driving furiously along the. pavement of a street, sometimes like the rushing noise of a mighty wind, and sometimes like the explosions of artillery. Their effect on the surface of the earth is various. Sometimes it is instanta- neously heaved up in a perpendicular direction, and sometimes it assumes a kind of rolling mo- tion, from side to side. The ravages which earthquakes have produced, are terrible beyond description ; and are accomplished almost in a moment. In 1692, the city of Port-Royal, in Jamaica, was destroyed by an earthquake, in the space of two minutes, and the houses sunk into a gulf forty fathoms deep. In 1693, an earth- quake happened in Sicily, which either destroyed, or greatly damaged, fifty-four cities, and an in- credible number of villages. The city of Cata- nia was utterly overthrown : the sea all of a sud- den began to roar ; mount ^Etna to send forth immense spires of flame ; and immediately a shock ensued, as if all the artillery 'n the world had been discharged. The birds flew about as- tonished ; the sun was darkened ; the beasts ran howling from the hills ; a dark cloud of dust covered the air ; and, though the shock did not last three minutes, yet nineteen thousand of the inhabitants of the city perished in the ruins. This shock extended to a circumference of 7000 miles. Earthquakes have been producing their ra- vages in various parts of the world, and in every age. Pliny informs us, that 12 cities in Asia Minor were swallowed up in one night. In the year 115, the city of Antioch, and a great part of the adjacent country, were buried by an earthquake. About 300 years after, it was again destroyed, along with 40,000 inhabitants ; and, after an interval of only 60 years, it was a third time overturned, with the loss of not less than 60 ; 000 souls. In 1755, Lisbon was de- stroyed by an earthquake, and it buried under its ruins above 50,000 inhabitants. The effects of this terrible earthquake were felt over the greater part of Europe and Africa, and even in the midst of the Atlantic ocean ; and are calculated to have extended over a space of not less than four millions of square miles. In August, 1822, two-thirds of the city of Aleppo, which con- tained 40,000 houses, and 200.000 inhabitants, were destroyed by an earthquake, and nearly thirty thousand inhabitants were buried under the ruins. To suppose that the human beings who have been victims to the ravages of earth- quakes and volcanoes, " were sinners above a!, those who dwelt around them," would be t height of impiety and presumption. But, 130 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. %ct that thousands of rational beings have been wept from existence, in a manner so horrible ind tremendous, seems plainly to indicate, that hey 'belonged to a race of apostate intelligences, who had violated the commands of their Crea- tor. Such visitations are quite accordant to the idea of man being in the condition of a trans- gressor; but, if he were an innocent creature, they would be altogether unaccountable, as hap- pening under the government of a Being of un- bounded benevolence. 4. The phenomena of thunder-storms, tem- pests, and hurricanes, and the ravages they produce, are also presumptive proofs that man is a depraved intelligence. In that season of the year when Nature is arrayed in her most beau- tiful attire, and the whole terrestrial landscape tends to inspire the mind with cheerfulness suddenly a sable cloud emerges from the hori- zon the sky assumes a baleful aspect a dismal gloom envelopes the face of nature the light- nings flash from one end of the horizon to another the thunders roll.with awful majesty along the verge of heaven, till at length they burst over head in tremendous explosions. The sturdy oak is shattered and despoiled of its foliage ; rocks are rent into shivers ; and the grazing herds are struck into a lifeless group. Even man is not exempted from danger in the midst of this appalling scene. For hundreds in every age have fallen victims either to the direct stroke of the lightning, or to the concussions and con- flagrations with which it has been attended. In tropical countries, the phenomena of thunder- storms are more dreadful and appalling, than in our temperate climate. The thunder frequently continues for days and weeks in almost one in- cessant roar ; the rains are poured down in tor- rents ; and the flashes of lightning follow each other in so rapid a succession, that the whole atmosphere and the surrounding hills seem to be in a blaze. In some instances, the most dread- ful effects have been produced by the bursting of an electrical cloud. In 1772, a bright cloud was observed at midnight to cover a mountain in the island of Java ; it emitted globes of fire so luminous, that the night became as clear as day. Its effects were astonishing. Every thing was destroyed for 7 leagues round ; houses were demolished ; plantations buried in the earth ; and 2140 people lost their lives, besides 1500 head of cattle, and a vast number of horses and other animals. Ency. Brit. Art. Cloud. Is it not reasonable, then, to conclude, that such awful phenomena as storms, volcanoes, and earthquakes, are so many occasional indications of the frown of an offended Creator upon a race of transgressors, in order to arouse them to a sense of their aposlacy from the God of heaven ? We cannot conceive that such physical opera- tions, accompanied by so many terrific and iestructive effects, are at all compatible with the idea that ma/i is at present in a paradisaical state, and possessed of that moral purity in which he was created. Such appalling displays of almighty power are in complete unison with the idea, that man is a transgressor, and that the present dispensations of God are a mixture of mercy and of judgment ; but if he belong to an innocent race of moral intelligences, they appear quite anomalous, and are altogether inexplicable j on the supposition, that a Being of infinite be- nevolence and rectitude directs the operations of the physical and moral world ; more espe- cially when we consider the admirable care which is displayed in the construction of animal bodies, in order to prevent pain, and to produce plea- surable sensations. When man was first brought into existence, his thoughts and affections, we must suppose, were in unison with the will of his Creator; his mind was serene and unruf- fled; and, consequently, no foreboding appre- hensions of danger would, in such a state, take possession of his breast. But after he had swerved from the path of primeval rectitude, and especially after the deluge had swept away the inhabitants of the antediluvian world, the constitution of the earth and the atmosphere seems to have undergone a mighty change, cor- responding to the degraded state into which he had fallen ; so that those very elements which may have formerly ministered to his enjoyment by being formed into different combinations now conspire to produce terror and destruction. The same important conclusion might have been deduced, from a consideration of the im- mense deserts of marshes and barren sands which are dispersed over the globe the vast and fright- ful regions of ice around the poles the position of the mineral strata, and the vast disproportion which the extent of the dry land bears to the ex- panse of the ocean all which circumstances, and many others, in conjunction with the facts above stated, conspire to show, that man no longer stands in the rank of a pure intelligence ; and that his habitation corresponds, in some de- gree, to his state of moral degradation. By over- looking this consideration, St. Pierre and other naturalists have found themselves much at a loss, when attempting to vindicate the wisdom and equity of Providence, in the physical disorders which exist in the present constitution of our globe. The circumstance, that man is a fallen creature, appears the only clue to guide us in un- ravelling the mysteries of Providence, and to ^nable us to perceive the harmony and consistency of the divine operations in the system of nature ; and no other consideration will fully account for the disorders which exist in the present economy of our world. But it is a most consoling consideration, that, amidst all the physical evils which abound, the benevolence and mercy of God are admirably blended with the indications of his displeasure. THE RESURRECTION ILLUSTRATED. 131 Thunder-storms and tempests contribute to the purification of the atmosphere ; and volcanoes are converted into funnels for vomiting up those fiory materials which produce earthquakes, and which might otherwise swallow up whole pro- vinces in one mighty gulf. In the ordinary course of things, such phenomena are more ter- rific than destructive ; and are calculated rather to rouse an unthinking world to consideration, than to prove the instruments of human destruc- tion. Compared with the miseries which men have voluntarily inflicted on one another, the destructive effects of the elements of nature dwindle into mere temporary and trifling acci- dents. We have reason to believe, that a. much greater destruction of human beings has been produced by two or three of the late battles in modern Europe, such as those of Waterloo, Borodina, and Smolensko, than has been pro- duced by all the electrical storms, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, which have raged for the space of a hundred years. It has been calcu- lated, that during the Russian campaign of 1812, including men, women, and children, belonging to the French and Russians, there were not less than five hundred thousand human victims sacri- ficed to the demon of war. It is probable, that the destruction produced among the human race, by the convulsions of nature, since the com- mencement of time, (the deluge only excepled,) does not amount to above four or five millions of lives ; but were we take into account the de- struction of human life produced by ambition, tyranny, oppression, superstition, wars, devast- ations, murders, and horrid cruelties, in every period of the world, it would, doubtless, amount to several hundreds of millions. So that, amidst the most terrible displays of the displeasure of God against the sins of men, mercy is mingled with judgment ; and while man is the greatest enemy and destroyer of his own species, bene- volence is the prominent feature of all the ar- rangements of the Deity in the physical world. For " his tender mercies are over all his works."* III. The discoveries which have been made in the system of nature, illustrate the doctrine of the RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. The doctrine of a resurrection from the dead, at first view, appears to involve in it a variety of difficulties, and apparent contradictions. That a complex organical machine, as the human body is, consisting of thousands of diversified parts for the performance of its functions, after it has been reduced to atonr , and those atoms dispersed The facts stated in this section are expressed for the most part in the author's own words, for the sake of compression. His authorities are, Gold- smith's " Natural History," Humholdt's " Travels," Brydon's, "Tour," Sir W. Hamilton's "Observa- tions," Raffles' "History of Java," Ency. Brit. Art. Etna., Volcano, Earthquake, Antioch, Cloud; The Li- '.orary aad Scientific Journals for 1822, &c 41 to " the four winds of heaven" sho'ilrf be again reared up with the same materials, in a new and more glorious form is an idea which seems to baffle the human comprehension ; and, in all pro- bability, would never have entered the mind of man, had it not been communicated by divine revelation. Accordingly we find, that, the phi- losophers of antiquity, though many of them be- lieved in the doc-trine of a future state, never once dreamed, that the bodies of men, after they had been committed to the dust, would fver again be reanimated ; and hence, when the apos- tle Paul proposed this doctrine to the Athenian philosophers, they scouted the idea, as if it had been the reverie of a madman. And, indeed, without a strong conviction, and a lively impres- sion of the infinite power and intelligence of God, the mind cannot rely with unshaken confidence on the declaration of a future fact so widely dif- ferent from all the obvious phenomena of nature, and from every thing that lies within the range of human experience. " If a man die," says Job, " shall he live again ? There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth and wasteth away ; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" When the mind, however, is frequently exercised in contempla- tions on the stupendous works of the Almighty, it must feel an impressive conviction, that " no- thing can be too hard for Jehovah." When we endeavour to draw aside the veil which conceals many of the scenes of nature from the vulgar eye, we perceive a variety of operations and analogies, which tend to assist us in forming a conception, not only of the possibility of a resur- rection, but also of the manner in which it may probably be effected, when the power of Omni- potence is interposed. The transformations of insects afford us a beautiful illustration of this subject. All the butterflies which we see fluttering about in the summer months, were originally caterpillars. Before they arrive at that highest stage of their existence, they pass through four different trans- formations. The first state of a butterfly is that of an egg ; it next assumes the form of a loath- some crawling worm ; after remaining som time in this state, it throws off its caterpillai skin ; languishes ; refuses to eat ; ceases to move , and is shut up, as it were, in a tomb. In this state, the animal is termed a chrysalis ; it is co- vered with a thin crust or shell, and remains sometimes for six or eight months without mo- tion, and apparently without life. After remain- ing its allotted time in this torpid condition, it begins to acquire new life and vigour ; it bursts its imprisonment, and comes forth a butterfly with wings tinged with the most beautiful co- lours. It mounts the air ; it ranges from flower to flower, and seems to rejoice in its new and splendid existence. How very different does ft 132 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. appear in this state from what it did in the pre- ceding stages of its existence ! How unlikely did it seem thit a rougSi, hairy, crawling worm, which lay for such a length of time in a death- tike torpor, and enshrouded in a tomb, should be icanimated, as it were, and changed into so beautiful a form, and endowed with such powers of rapid motion ! Perhaps the change to be ef- fected on the bodies of men, at the general resur- rection, may not be greater, nor more wonderful in its nature, than are the changes which take place from the first to the last stage of a caterpillar's existence. In such transformations, then, we behold a lively representation of the death and resurrection of a righteous man. " A little while he shall lie in the ground, as the seed lies in the bosom of the earth ; but he shall be raised again, and shall never die any more." There is another illustration, taken from a consideration of the chymical changes of matter, which has a still more direct bearing on the doc- trine of a resurrection. We know, that sub- stances which are invisibly incorporated with air, water, and other fluids, and which seem to be destroyed, may be made to reappear in their original form by the application of certain chyrnical agents. For example; put a small piece of solid camphor into a phial half filled with alcohol or spirits of wine ; in a short time the camphor will be dissolved in the fluid, and the spirit will be as transparent as at first. If water be now added, it will unite with the ardent spirit, and the camphor will be separated and fall to the bottom of the phial. In this way the camphor may be nearly all recovered as at first ; and, by distillation, the alcohol may also be se- parated from the water, and exhibited in a sepa- rate state. I have already noticed, that carbon, which forms an essential part of all animal and vegetable substances, is found to be not only in- destructible by age, but in all its combinations, which are infinitely diversified, it still preserves its identity. In the state of carbonic acid it ex- ists in union with earths and stones in unbounded quantities ; and though buried for thousands of years beneath immense rocks, or in the centre of mountains, it is still carbonic acid ; for no sooner is it disengaged from its dormitory than it rises with all the life and vigour of recent formation, not in the least impaired by its torpid inactivity during a lapse of ages. The beams of the the- atre at Herculaneum were converted intocharcoal (which is one of the compounds of carbon) by the lava which overflowed that city, during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius ; and during the lapse of 1 700 years, the charcoal has remained as entire as if it had been formed but yesterday, and it will probably continue so to the end of the world. In addition to these facts it may be stated, that provision has been made for the re- storation of the fallen leaves of vegetables which ot upon the ground, and, to a careless observer, would appear to be lost for ever. It has bee* shown by experiment, that whenever the soil be comes charged with such matter, ihe oxygen of the atmosphere combines with it, and converts it into carbonic acid gas. The consequence of which is, that this very same carbon is, in process of time, absorbed by a new race of ve- getables, which it clothes with a new foliage, and which,is itself destined to undergo similar putre- faction and renovation to the end of lime."* These facts and others of a similar description which might have been stated, demonstrate, thai one of the constituent parts of animal bodies remains unalterably the same, amidst all the revo-^ lutions of time, and all the changes and decompo- sitions which take place in the system of nature', and, consequently, that though human bodies may remain in a state of putrefaction for ages< in the earth and in the waters, yet their compo- nent parts remain unchanged, and in readiness to enter into a new and more glorious combina- tion, at the command of that Intelligence to whom all the principles of nature and all their diversified changes are intimately known ; and whose Power is able to direct their combina- tions to the accomplishment of his purposes. Though such considerations as these may havo no weight on certain unreflecting minds, that never meet with any difficulties in the economy either of nature or of redemption ; yet, th man of deep reflection, who has frequently had his mind. distracted with the apparent improba- bility of the accomplishment of certain divine declarations, will joyfully embrace such facts in the economy of nature, as a sensible support to his faith in the promises of his God ; and will resign his body to dust and putrefaction, in the firm hope of emerging from the tomb to a future and more glorious transformation. IV. The discoveries of science tend to illustrate the doctrine of the GENERAL CONFLAGRATION. We are informed, in the Sacred Oracles, that a period is approaching, when " the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up." Science has ascertained certain facts in the con- stitution of nature, which lead us to form some conception of the manner in which this awful catastrophe may probably bp effected, and also of the ease with which it may be accomplished, when the destined period shall have arrived. It was formerly stated, (pp. 35, 104,) that the atmosphere, or the air we breathe, is a com- pound substance, composed of two very different and opposite principles, tern,-d oxygen and ni- trogen. The oxygen, which forms about a fifth part of the atmosphere, is now ascertained to be the principle of flame ; a lighted taper im- mersed in this gas, burns with a brilliancy too Parkes's " Chym. Catechism," p. 266, an* the ad ditivnat notes. GENERAL CONFLAGRATION. 133 great for the eyr, to bear ; and even a rod of iron or steel is made to blaze under its energy. The modern infidel, like the scoffers of old, scouts the idea of the dissolution of the world, and of the restitution of the universe, " because all things continue as they were from the begin- ning of the creation; not knowing the Scrip- tures, nor the power of God;" and not consi- dering the principles and facts in the system of nature, which indicate the possibility of such an event. But, from the fact now stated, we may learn how easily this effect may be accom- plished, even in conformity with those laws which now operate in the constitution of our globe. For should the Creator issue forth his almighty fiat " Let the nitrogen of the atmos- phere be completely separated from the oxygen, and let the oxvgen exert its native energies without control, wherever it extends ;" from what we know of its nature, we are warranted to conclude, that instantly a universal conflagra- tion would commence throughout all the king- doms of nature not only wood, coals, sulphur, bitumen, and other combustible substances, but even the hardest rocks and stones, and all the metals, fossils, and minerals, and water itself, which is a compound of two inflammable sub- stances, would blaze with a rapidity which would carry destruction through the whole expanse of the terraqueous globe, and change its present aspect into that of a new world : at the same time, all the other laws of nature might still operate as they have hitherto done since the creation of the world. I do not mean positively to assert, that this is the agent which the Almighty will certainly employ for accomplishing this terrible catas- trophe, (though we think it highly probable,) since Infinite Power is possessed of numerous resources for accomplishing its objects, which lie beyond the sphere of our knowledge and comprehension. But I have brought forward this fact, to show with what infinite ease this event may be accomplished, when Almighty Power is interposed. By means of the know- ledge we have acquired of the constitution of the atmosphere, and by the aid of chymical ap- paratus, we can perform experiments on a. small scale, similar in kind, though infinitely inferior in degree, to the awful event under considera- tion. And, therefore, we can easily conceive that He who formed the expansive atmosphere which surrounds us, and who knows the native energy of its constituent principles, may, by a simple volition, make that invisible fluid, in a few moments, the cause of the destruction of the present constitution of our world, and, at the same time, the means of its subsequent, renova- tion. For, as fire does not annihilate, but only chanties, the forms of matter, this globe on- which we now tread, and which bears the marks of ruin and disruption in several parts of its struo ture, may come forth from the flames of the general conflagration, purified from all its physi- cal evils, adorned with new beauties and subli- mities, and rendered a fit habitation fur pure in- telligences, either of our own species or of another order. For, though the " heavens," or the atmosphere, " shall be dissolved, and the elements melt with fervent heat ;" " yet," says the Apostle Peter, " we, according to his pro- mise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Whether, after being thus renovated it shall be allotted as the residence of the redeemed inhabitants of our world, is beyond our province at present to determine. But if not, it will, in all probability, be allotted as the abode of other rational beings, who may be transported from other regions, to contemplate a new province of the divine em- pire, or who may be immediately created for the purpose of taking possession of this renovated .vorld. For we have reason to believe, that the energies of creating power will be continually exerted, in replenishing the boundless universe, throughout all the ages of infinite duration, and that no substances or worlds which God has created, will ever be suffered to fall into annihi- lation at least, that the original atoms of matter will never be destroyed, whatever new forms they may assume, and however varied the com- binations into which they may enter. The above are only a few examples out of many which were intended to be specified, of the illustrations which the system of nature affords of the doctrines and facts of revela- tion, but the narrow limits of this volume pre- vent further enlargement. It was also intended to follow up the pre- ceding discussions with particular illustrations of the following topics: The views which sci- ence affords of the incessant energies of crea- ting power the changes and revolutions which appear to have happened, and which are still going on in the distant regions of the uni- verse, as tending to amplify our views of the grand and multifarious objects over which Di- vine Providence presides the fannexion of sci- ence with a future state the aids which the discoveries of science afford, in enabling us to form a conception of the scenes of future fe- licity of the employments of the heavenly inhabitants, and of their perpetual advances in knowledge and happiness, and in their views of the perfections of Deity the moriti rslation$ of intelligent beings to their Creator, and to each other ; and the physical ground* or reason of those moral laws which the Deity has pro- mulgated for regulating the conduct, and for promoting the harmony and order of intelligent agents illustrations of the allusions of the aa- cred writers to the system* of the material worUj 1S4 THE CHRJ3TIAN PHILOSOPHER. the simultaneous progress of science and reli- gion, considered as an evidence of the con- nexion of the one with the other the moral Affects of the study of science in connexion with religon replies to objections and insinuations which have been thrown out against the idea of combining the discoveries of science with the discoveries of revelation, &c. But, as il- lustrations of these, and various other topics connected with them, would occupy two or three hundred pages, they must, in the mean time, be postponed.* A work, embracing Illustrations of some of the topics here stated, is preparing for the press, under the title of " The Phitotopfiy of Religion; or, an illustration of the Moral Laws of the Universe, on the principles of Reason and Divine Revelation." In this work, an original, and, at the same time, a popu- lar train of thought will be prosecuted, and the dif- ferent topics will be enlivened with illustrative facts, borrowed from the scenery of nature and the moral history of mankind. CHAPTER V. BENEFICIAL EFFECTS WHICH MIGHT RESULT TO CHRISTIAN SOCIETY FROM CONNECTING THE DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE WITH THE OBJECTS OF RELIGION. I. THE VARIETY OF TOPICS which would be introduced into Christian instructions, by con- necting them with the manifestations of Deity in the system of nature, WOULD HAVE A TEN- DENCY TO ALLURE THE ATTENTION OF THE YOUNG TO RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS, and to af- ford mental entertainment and moral instruc- tion to intelligent minds of every description. NOVEJLTY and variety appear to be essentially requisite in order to rouse the attention, not only of the more ignorant, but even of the more intel- ligent class of mankind 1 , and to excite them to make progress in the path of intellectual and moral improvement. The principle of curiosity, which appears at a very early period of life, and which variegated scenery and novel objects tend to stimulate and to gratify so far from being checked and decried, in a religious point of view, as some have been disposed to do, ought to be encouraged and cultivated in the minds both of the old and of the young. As it is a prin- ciple which God himself has implanted in our natures, for v^e and important purposes, it requires only to be chastened, and directed in a proper channel, in order to become one of the most powerful auxiliaries in the cause of religion, and of intellectual improvement. To gratify this principle, and to increase its ac- tivity, the Creator has adorned our globe with a combination of beauties and sublimities, strew- ed in endless variety over all its different regions. The hills and dales, the mountains and plains ; the seas, the lakes, tho rivers, the islands of every form and size which diversify the surface of the ocean ; the bays, the gulfs, and penin- sulas; the forests, the groves, the deep dells, end towering cliffs ; the infinite variety of trees, plants, flowers, and vegetable* productions of every hue, so profusely scattered over the face of nature ; the diversified productions of the mineral kingdom ; the variegated colouring spread over the face of natare ; together with the many thou- sands of different species of animated beings which traverse the air, the waters, and the earth afford so many stimuli to rouse this principle into exercise, and to direct the mind to the con- templation of the Creator. And as the earth displays an endless diversity of objects, so the heavens, in so far as they have been explored, ex- hibit a scenery both grand and variegated. There is not a planet in the solar system but differs from another, in its magnitude, in its distance from the central luminary about which it re- volves, in the velocity of its motion, in the ex- tent of the circle it describes around the sun, in the period of time in which its revolution is completed, in its rotation round its axis, in the number of moons with which it is attended, in the inclination of its axis to the plane of its orbit, and the diversity of seasons which results from this circumstance ; in the density of its atmos- phere, and the various appearances which diver- sify its surface. And if we were favoured with a nearer view of these majestic orbs, we should, doubtless, behold a similar variety in every part of their internal arrangements. The surface of the moon presents a variegated prospect of mountains and vales, but so very different in their form, position, and arrangement, from what obtains on the surface of our globe, that it would exhibit a scenery altogether new and uncom- mon to an inhabitant of this world, were he placed on the surface of that planet. Every comet, too, is distinguished from another, by its magnitude, the extent of its atmosphere,* tno VARIETY OF TOPICS IN RELIGION. 135 length of Us blazing tail, the rapidity of its mo- tion, and the figure of the curve it describes around the sun. With regard to the fixed stars, which are distributed, of every size, and in every direction, through the immensity of space, our senses, as well as the declaration of an inspired writer, convince us, that, in point of brilliancy, colour, and magnitude, " one star differelh from another star in glory." And as the system of nature in all its parts presents a boundless variety of scenery , to arouse the attention, and to gratify the desire for novel- ty, so the revelation of God contained in the Sacred Records displays a diversified combina- tion of the most sublime and interesting subjects and events. Were we to form an opinion of the compass of divine revelation, from the range of subjects to which the minds of some professing Christians are confined, it might all be compre- hended within the limits of five or six chapters of the New Testament ; and all the rest might be thrown aside, as a dead- weight upon the Chris- tian system. But here, as in all the other dis- plays of the Almighty, divine perfection and providence are exhibited in the most diversified aspects. Here we have recorded a history of the creation and arrangement of our globe, of the formation of the first human pair, of their pri- meval innocence, temptation, and fall. of the arts which were cultivated in the first ages of the world, of the increase of human wickedness, of the building of the ark, of the drowning of the world by a universal deluge, of the burning of Sodom by fire from the clouds, of the ori- gin of languages, of the dividing of the Red sea, of the journeying of the tribes of Israel through the deserts of Arabia, of their conquest of the promised land, and their wars with the nations of Canaan, of the corporeal translation of Elijah from earth to heaven, of the manifea tation of the son of God in human flesh, the be- nevolent miracles he performed, and the tri- umphs he obtained over all the powers of hell and earth. We are here presented with the most interesting and affecting narratives, elegies, dra- matic poems, and triumphal songs, with views of society in the earliest ages of the world, when the lives of men were prolonged to nearly a thou- sand years, with splendid miracles performed in the land of Egypt, in the wilderness ofHoreb, and in the " field of Zoan," when "the sun and moon stood still in their habitation ;" when the Vfratprs of the great deep were divided, and mountains shook and trembled " at the presence of Jehovah," with the glorious marching of a whole nation through the Arabian deserts, under the guidance of a miraculous pillar of cloud and fire, with the visits of celestial messengers, and the visible symbols of " a present Deity," with prophetical delineations of the present and future condition of the race of Adam, with description of the power, wisdom, love, and majesty of the Almighty, and of his operations in heaven and earth, with the results and bear- ing of the economy of redemption, with divinn songs, odes, and hymns, composed by angels and inspired men, with maxims of moral wisdom, examples of sublime eloquence, of strength of reasoning, and of manly boldness of reproof, with proverbs, parables, allegories, exhortations, promises, threatenings, and consolatory address- es. In short, we have here detailed, in the greatest variety, history, antiquities, voyages, travels, philosophy, geography, natural and mo- ral science, biography, arts, epic poetry, epistles, memoirs, delineations of nature, sketches of hu- man character, moral precepts, prophecies, mira- cles, narrations, wonderful providences, marvel- lous deliverances, the phenomena of the air, the waters, and the earth; the past, the present, and the future scenes of the world all blended together in one harmonious system, without artificial order, but with a majesty and grandeur corresponding to the style of the other works of God, and all calculated to gratify the principle of curiosity to convey " reproof) correction, and instruction in righteousness," and " to make the man of God perfect, and thoroughly furnished to every good work." And, as the scenes of nature, and the scenes of revelation, are thus wonderfully diversified, in order to excite the attention of intelligent beings, and to gratify the desire for variety, so we have every reason to believe, that the scenes, objects, and dispensations, which will be dis- played in the heavenly world, will be incompa- rably more grand and diversified. When we consider the immensity of God's universal king- dom, and the numerous systems, and worlds, and beings comprehended within its vast circumfe- rence, and that the energies of creating power may be forever exerted in raising new worlds into existence -we may rest assured, that the desire of variety and of novelty, in holy intelli- gences, will be completely gratified throughout an endless succession of existence ; and that the most luxuriant imagination, in its boldest ex- cursions, can never go beyond the reality of those scenes of diversified grandeur which the heaven of heavens will display. Now, since the book of nature, and the book of revelation, since all the manifestations of the Creator in heuven and earth, are character- ized by their sublime and diversified aspect; we would ask, why should we not be imitators of God, in displaying the diversified grandeur of his kingdom of providence and of grace, before the minds of those whom we profess to instruct ? Why should we confine our views to a few points in the Christian system, to a few stones in the fabric of the diviue operations, when "a wide and unbounded prospect lies before us ?" Why should we not rather attempt to rouse the moral and intellectual energies of mankind, from the 136 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. press, in the school-room, and in the family cir- cle, by exhibiting the boundless variety of aspect which the revelations of heaven present, and the holy tendencies of devout contemplation on the works and the ways of God ? that they may learn, with intelligence, to "meditate on aU the works of the Lord, and to talk of all his doings." By enlarging and diversifying the to- pics of religious discussion, according to the views now stated, we have it in our power to spread out an intellectual feast to allure and to gratify every variety of taste, the young and the old, the learned and the unlearned ; yea, even the careless and the ignorant, the skeptical and the dissipated, might frequently be allured by the selection of a judicious variety of striking and impressive objects and descriptions, to par- take of those mental enjoyments which might ultimately issue in the happiest results. The man of an inquisitive turn of mind, who now throws aside every thing that has the appearance of religion, on account of its dulness, might nave his curiosity gratified amidst such a va- riety as that to which I allude ; and, from per- ceiving the bearing of every discussion on the great realities of religion and a future state, might be led to more serious inquiries after the path that leads to immortality. In a word, to associate and to amalgamate, as it were, the arts and sciences, and every department of use- ful knowledge, with divine subjects, is to conse- crate them to their original and legitimate ends, and to present religion to the eyes of men, in its most sublime, and comprehensive, and at- tractive form, corresponding to what appears to oe the design of the Creator, in all the mani- festations he has given of himself, in the system of nature, in the operations of Providence, and in the economy of redemption. II. By connecting science with religion, Chris- tians would be enabled to take AN EXTENSIVE SURVEY OF THE KINGDOM OF GoD. How very narrow and limited are the views of most professors of religion respecting the universal kingdom of Jehovah, and the range of his operations! The views of some indivi- duals are confined chiefly within the limits of their own parish, or at farthest, extend only to the blue mountains that skirt their horizon, and form the boundary of their sight. Within this narrow circle, all their ideas of God, of religion, and of the relations of intelligent beings to each other, are chiefly confined. There are others, who form an ex'ensive class of our population, whose ideas are confined nearly to the county in which they reside, and to the adjacent districts; and there are few, comparatively, whose views extend beyond the confines of the kingdom to which they belong though the whole island in which we reside is less than the two-thousandth part of the globe we inhabit. Of the vast extern of this earthly ball, of its figure and motions of its continents, seas, islands, and oceans , of its volcanoes and ranges of mountains, of iti numerous and diversified climates and land- scapes ; of the various nations and tribes of mankind that people its surface, and of the mo- ral government of God respecting them, they are almost as completely ignorant as the untu- tored Greenlander, or the roving savage. With regard to the objects which lie beyond the boun- dary of our world, they have no precise and definite conceptions. When the moon is " walk- ing in brightness'' through the heavens, they take the advantage of her light to prosecute their journeys; and, when the sky is overcast with clouds, and they are anxious to travel a few miles to their destined homes, they will lift up their eyes to the heavens to see if any of the stars are twinkling through the gloom, that their footsteps may be directed by their glimmering rays. Beyond this they seldom soar. What may be the nature of the vast assemblage of shining points which adorn the canopy of their habitation, and the ends they are destined to accomplish in {he plan of the Creator's opera- tions, they consider as no part of their province to inquire. "Their minds, fair science never taught to stray Far as the solar worlds, or milky way." How very different, in point of variety, of grandeur, and of extent, are the views of the man who connects all the different departments of knowledge, and the discoveries of science, with his prospects of God's universal dominion and government ? With his mental eye he can traverse the different regions of the earth, and penetrate into the most distant and retired re- cesses where human beings have their residence. He can contemplate and adore the conduct of divine sovereignty, in leaving so many nations to grope amidst the darkness of heathen ido- latry, he can trace the beams of the Sun of righteousness, as they gradually rise to illumine the benighted tribes of men, he can direct his prayers, with intelligence and fervour, in behalf of particular kindreds and people, he can de- vise, with judgment and discrimination, schemes for carrying the " Salvation of God" into effect, he can realize, in some measure, to his nienta sight, the glorious and happy scenes which wi.l be displayed in the future ages of time, vvheq " the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ," and when the " everlasting gospel" shall be pub- lished, and its blessings distributed among all who dwell upon the face of the earth. He can bound from this earth to the planetary worlds and survey far more spacious globes, peopled with a higher order of intelligences, arranged and superintended by the same Almighty Sove- reign, who " doth according to his will among AMPLITUDE OF THE DIVINE EMPIRE. 137 the inhabitants of the earth." He can wing his way beyond the visible region of the sky, till he find himself aurrounrled on every hand with suns and systems of worlds, rising to view in bound- less perspective, throughout the tracts of immen- sity diversified with scenes of magnificence, and with beings of every order all under the government and the wise direction of Him who " rules amonjr the armies of heaven," and who " preserveth them all," and whom the " host of neaven worship" and adore. He can soar be- yond them all to the throne of God, where angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, celebrate the praises of their Sovereign Lord, and stand ready to announce his will, by their rapid flight M) the most distant provinces of his empire. He can descend from that lofty eminence to tins ter- restrial world, allotted for his temporary abode, and survey another unbounded province of the empire of God, in those living worlds which lie hid from the unassisted sight, and which the microscope alone can descry. He can here perceive the same Hand and Intelligence which direct the rolling worlds above, and marshal all the angelic tribes organizing, arranging, and governing the countless myriads of animated existence which people the surface of a mudJy pool. He can speed his course from one of these departments of Jehovah's kingdom to another, till, astonished and overwhelmed with the order, the grandeur, and extent of the wondrous scene, he is constrained to exclaim, "Great and mar- vellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty !" " Thine understanding is infinite !" The limits of thy dominions are " past finding out !" By taking such extensive surveys of the em- pire of Jehovah, we are enabled to perceive the spirit aril references of those sublime passages in the sacred writings which proclaim the majesty of GoJ, and the glory of his kingdom Such passages are diffusely scattered through the in- spired volume, and have evidently an extent of reference far beyond what is generally conceived by the great mass of the Christian worfd. The following may suffice as a specimen : " Thine, O Lord ! is the greatness, anu the glory, and the majesty ; for all in heaven aid earth is thine ! Thine is the kingdom, O Lord ! Thou art exalted above all, thou reignest over all, and in thine hand is power and might. Behold, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, is the Lord's ; the earth also, with all that therein is. Ascribe ye greatness to our God ; for there is none like unto the God of Israel, who rideth upon the heavens in his strength, and in his excellency on the sky. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone ; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host; the earth, and all things that ate therein: the sea, and all that is therein; and thou preserves! them all, and the host of heaven worshipped thee. He divideth the sea by his power ; by his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens: Lo! these are only parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him, and the thunder of his power who can understand ? The Lord hath prepared his throne in the hea- vens, and his kingdom rulelh over all. O Lord our God ! how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained ; what is man, that thou art mindful of him ! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom ; honour and majesty are before him ; all the in- habitants of the earth are reputed as nothing in his sight, and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. He measures the waters in the hol- low of his hand ; he meteih out heaven with a span, and comprehendeth the dust of the earth in a measure. He sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grass- hoppers. I have made the earth, and created man upon it ; I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I com- manded. The Most High dwelleth not in tem- ples made with hands ; for the heaven is his throne, and the earth is his footstool. With God is awful majesty. Great things doth He, which we cannot comprehend ; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever. Praise ye the Lord in the heavens ; praise him in the heights ; praise him, all his angels ; praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise him, sun and moon ; praise hirn, all ye stars of light ; praise him, ye heaven of heavens. Praise him, ye kings of the earth, and all people, princes and judges of the earth ; both young men and maidens ; old men and children let them praise the name of the Lord ; for his name alone is excellent, his glory is above the earth and heaven." These sublime descriptions of the supremacy of God, and of the grandeur of his kingdom, must convince every reflecting mind, of the in- conceivable magnificence and extent of that do- minion " which ruleth over all." It is quite evident, that we can never enter, with intelli- gence, into the full import and the grand refer- ences of such exalted language employed by in- spired writers, unless we take into view all the discoveries which science has made,1x>th in the earth and in ihe heavens, respecting the variety and extent of the dominions of the Creator. It the " kingdom of the most High" ^re as limited in its range as most Christians seem to conceive, such descriptions might be considered as mere hyperboles, or bombast, or extravagant declama- tion, which far exceeds the bounds of" truth and soberness." But we are certain, that the con- ceptions and the language of mortals can never go beyond the reality of what actually exists within the boundless precincts of Jehovah's em- pire. For " who can utter the mighty acts ol the Lord?" or " who can show forth ail his 138 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. praise?" The language and descriptions to which we have now adverted, seem to have had a prospective reference to later and more en- lightened times, when more extensive prospects of God's dominions would be opened up by the exertions of human intellect. And were we to search the records of literature, in ancient or modern times, we should find no descriptions nor language of such dignified nature as to express the views and feelings of an enlightened Christian philosopher, when he contemplates the sublimity and extent of divine operations except those which are to be found in the inspired volume the strength, and majesty, and comprehension of which no human language can ever exceed. Again, by familiarizing our minds to such ex- tended prospects of God's universal kingdom, we shall be qualified and disposed to comply with the injunctions of Scripture, which represent it as an imperious duty, to communicate to the minds of others such elevated conceptions. This duty is enjoined in numerous passages of Sacred Scrip- ture, particularly in the book of Psalms : " De- clare his glory among the heathen, and his wonders among all people. I will extol thee, my God, O King. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts ; and shall declare thy greatness. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord ; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power ; to make known to the sons of men thy mighty acts, and the glo- rious majesty of thy kingdom."* When we look around us in the world, and in the visible church, and mark the conceptions and the conversation of the members of religious societies, we need scarcely say how little this ennobling duty is at- tended to by by the mass of those who bear the Christian name. We hear abundance of idle chat about the fashions and the politics of the day how Miss A. danced so gracefully at the ball, and how Miss B. sung so sweetly at the concert ; how Mr. C. acted his part so well in the character of Rob Roy, and how Mr. D. made such a flaming speech at the corporation dinner. We listen to slanderous conversation, and hear abundance of mean, and base, and uncharitable insinuations against our neighbours , which in- dicate the opefction of malice, hatred, envy, and other malevolent tempers. We spend whole hours in boisterous disputations about metaphy- sical subtleties in religion, and questions " which gender strife rather than godly edifying ;" but " to speak of the glory of God's kingdom, and to talk of his power," with the view of" making Known to the sons of men his mighty works," is a duty which remains yet to be learned by a ma- Psalm cxlv. and xcvi. 3, 4 jority of those who profess the religion of Jesus. And how can they be supposed to be qualified to enter into the spirit of this duty, arid to proclaim to others " the glorious majesty of God's king- dom," unless such subjects be illustrated in mi- nutedetail, and proclaimed with becoming energy, both from the pulpit and from the press ? These powerful engines, when conducted with judgment and discrimination, are capable of producing on the mass of mankind a tone of thinking, and an enlargement of conception, on such subjects, which no other means can easily effect ; and it is to be hoped, that more precise and luminous details, and more vigour and animation, will soon be displayed, in this respect, than in the ages that are past. There is a certain principle of selfishness which pervades the minds of many professed religion- ists, which leads them to conclude, that, if they can but secure their own personal salvation, they need give themselves no trouble about the glory and extent of the kingdom of the Most High. " What need we care," say they, " about nations in the far-distant parts of the world, and about the planets and the stars ; our business is to at- tend to the spiritual interests of our souls." Such persons seem neither to understand in what sal- vation really consists, and what is conducive to their spiritual interests, nor to appreciate those tempers and habits which will qualify them for the enjoyment of eternal life. It forms but a very slender evidence of their possessing any spark of Christianity at all, if they wish to rest satisfied with the most vague and grovelling con- ceptions, and if they do not ardently aspire after a more enlarged view of the attributes of God, of the glory of his empire, and of whatever may tend to expand their conceptions of "the inherit- ance of the saints in light." We have often been astonished at the opinions of some of those who move in a higher sphere of intelligence, who seem to consider it as a matter of pure in- difference, whether or not Christians should attain to the highest conception in their power of the God whom they wo'rship, and of his boundless dominions ; because they conceive that such views are not essentially connected with salva- tion ? Though they may not have been essen- tial to the salvation of men in the dark-ages that are past, or to obscure tribes of people at present, who hare no access to the proper sources of in- formation, yet, since God, in the course of his providence, which guides all human inventions and discoveries, has disclosed to us a far more expansive view of the " glory of his kingdom," than former ages could obtain, for the purpose of illustrating the revelations of his word who will dare to assert, that the man who has access, by his studious efforts, to contemplate this wondrous scene, and to display its grandeur to others, and yet wilfully shuts his eyes on the divine glory therein displayed, does not thereby hazard the AMPLITUDE OF THE DIVINE EMPIRE. 139 divine displeasure ? In this point of view, the following passage deserves a serious considera- tion : " Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operations of his hands, he shall destroy tnem, and not builJ them up." We have no hesitation in admitting, that persons may have obtained salvation who never saw more of the sacred writings than what is contained in the gospel of Mark, or in one of Paul's epistles ; but what would we say of the man who had ac- cess to all the revelations of heaven we now pos- sess, and y 140 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. perceptible to finite minds ; for he is " the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, dwelling in that Jight which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, or can see." From his nature, as a spiritual uncompounded substance, and from his immensity, as filling infinite space with his pre- sence, it appears impossible, in the very nature of things, that the glory of his perfections can be dis- played in any other way than through the medium of the visible operations ofhis hands, or in the dis- pensations of his providence towards particular worlds or classes of intelligences. And if, in the future world, the souls of good men will enjoy a more glorious display than at present, of the at- tributes of Deity, it will be owing chiefly to their being "placed in more favourable circumstances than they now are, for contemplating this display ; to their faculties being more invigorated : and every physical and moral impediment to their exercise being completely removed ; so as to enable them to perceive more clearly than they now do, the unbounded displays he has given of his power, wisdom, and benevolence. And, if we expect to be introduced to this state of en- larged vision, when we pass from the scenes of mortality, it cannot be a matter of mere indiffer- ence, even now, whether or not our minds are prepared for such exalted employments, by en- deavouring to form the most ample conceptions of the attributes of God which can be obtained through the medium of his word, and by a con- templation of the variety and magnificence ofhis works. In the prospect of that world where we hope to spend an interminable existence, it must also be interesting to ascertain, whether or not the dominions of the universal Sovereign pre- sent such an extent of empire, and such a variety of objects, that new scenes of wonder and glory may be expected to be displayed in continual succession, for the contemplation and entertain- ment of holy beings, while eternal ages are roll- ing on. And, on this point, the discoveries of science confirm and illustrate the notices of hea- venly glory and felicity recorded in the inspired volume, and lead us to rest with full assurance on the prophetic declaration, that " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." III. By connecting the discoveries of science with religion, the minds of Christians would be enabled to take a more minute and compre- hensive survey of the OPEBATIONS OF PRO- VIDENCE. Providence is that superintendence and care which God exercises over all creatures and events, in order to accomplish the eternal pur- poses of his will. In creation, God brought the universe out of nothing, and arranged all its provinces and inhabitants in due order. By iiis providence he supports and governs all the movements of the mat rial svstem, and the set- sitive and rational beings with which it is peopled. It is evident, that, in proportion as our views of the Creator's dominions are extended, our views of his providence will, to a certain ext< nt, be pro- portionably enlarged. For wherever worlds and beings exist, tliere will God be found, preserving, superintending, and governing the movements of all creatures and events. It is chiefly, however, in the world in which we reside, that the diver- sified dispensations of Providence can be dis- tinctly traced. Now an acquaintance wilh the prominent parts of the different branches of knowledge to which I have already adverted, would enable us to take a particular and com- prehensive view, not only of the ways of God to man, but also of his arrangements in reference to all subordinate creatures and events. From the inspired history of the Old Testa- ment, we can trace the prominent lines of the dispensations of God towards man, particularly in regard to the Israelites and the surrounding nations from the creation to a period about 400 years before the coming of Christ. But in order to perceive the farther progress and bearings of these lines till the commencement of the New Testament economy, we must have recourse to the most authentic records of profane history. From the era of the birth of Christ to near the close of the first century, we can acquire, from the evangelists and the history of the apostles, a particular account of the life of Christ, of the events which preceded and accompanied the finishing of the work of redemption, and of the progress of the gospel through Judeaand the ad- jacent countries. But after this period we have no inspired guide to direct us in tracing the di- vine dispensations towards the various nations of the earth ; and. therefore, we must have re- course to the annals, memoirs, chronicles, and other records of the history of nations, down to the period in which we live ; otherwise we could never contemplate the continued series of events in the divine economy towards the inhabitants of our world. Unless men of learning and of ob- servation had recorded the prominent facts which have occurred in the history of nations, for 1700 years past, we must have remained almost as ig- norant of the dispensations of God towards our race, during that period, as the inhabitants of the planet Saturn : and unless we study the events thus recorded in the writings of the historian, and contemplate their varied aspects and bearings in the light of divine revelation, we must still remain ignorant of the grand movements and tendencies of divine providence. This single circumstance shows, in the clearest light, that it is the intention of God, that we should learn the operations of his providence from the researches of science and history, as well as from the records of revelation ; and that the scriptures, though they contain every supernatural discovery requisite to RANGE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 141 our happiness, are not of themselves sufficient to present us with a connected view of the promi- nent dispensations of heaven, from the creation to the period in which we live. Prom the science of geography we acquire a knowledge of I he extent of the surface of the earth of the various tribes of human inhabit- ants with which it is peopled of the physical aspect of the different climates they inhabit of their arts, manners, customs, laws, religion, vices, wars, and political economy: and, conse- quently, we can, in these and similar respects, trace some of the aspects of Divine Providence towards them in relation to their present and fu- ture condition. From the same source, we learn the number of human beings which the Governor of the world has under his direction at one time, which is nearly a thousand millions, or five hundred times the number of the inhabitants of Scotland. From the data afforded by this science, we may also form an estimate of the number of disembodied spirits that have passed from this world since the creation, and are now under the superintendence of the Almighty in the invisible stale, which cannot be much less than 145,000 millions ; and on similar grounds we may also learn the number of rational beings that are coming forward into existence, and passing into the eternal world every day, which is at least 68,000, and, consequently, nearly 50 during each passing minute, every individual of which, the Supreme Disposer of events superintends at his entrance into life; and, at his departure from it, directs to his respective and eternal state of des- tination. All which circumstances, and many others of a similar kind, must be taken into ac- count, in order to our forming a comprehensive conception of the numerous bearings and the in- cessant agency of a Superintending Providence. From natural history we learn the immense number and variety of the subordinate tribes of animated beings which inhabit the different re- gions of earth, air, and sea their economy and instincts their modes of existence, and the man- ner in which the Creator provides for their various necessities. From an acquaintance with the history of the arts and mechanical inven- tions, we learn the gradual manner in which God directs the movements of the human mind, in making those improvements and discoveries which have a bearing upon the accomplishment of his eternal plans of mercy, and which tend to enlarge our views of the amplitude and the glories of his kingdom. From natural philosophy and chymixtry, we learn the secondary causes or subordinate laws by which the Almighty supports and directs the natural constitution of the world -the wonderful manner in which our lives are every moment supported and the agencies by which (ire, air, light, heat, and fertility are distnbu e< 4 through the globe, for promoting the comfort ana ^oiness "of every thing^that lives." From anatomy and physiology, we learn, how " fearfully and wonderfully we are made and presented" that our health and com- fort depend upon the regular action of a thousand organical parts and functions, over which we have no control and that our very existence every moment is dependent on the superintend- ence of a Superior Power, "in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways." By an occasional study, then, of the subjects to which we have now alluded, we would gra- dually expand our conceptions of the range and operations of Divine Providence. Every geo- graphical exploration of a new region of the globe every scientific improvement and disco- very every useful invention every eruption of a volcano every shock of an earthquake every hurricane, and storm, and tempest every battle of the warrior every revolution among the nations and every detail in the newspapers we daily read, would lead us to form some con- ceptions of the providential purposes of Him who is the Supreme Disposer of all events. Even the arrangements of Divine Wisdom, with regard to the economy of the lower ani- mals, ought not to be overlooked in such a sur- vey. When we consider the immense number and variety of animated beings that there are 500 species of quadrupeds, every species con- taining, perhaps, many millions of individuals; 4000 species of birds; 2500 species of fishes ; 700 species of reptiles; and 44,000 different kinds of insects, besides many thousands of species altogether invisible to the unassisted sight when we consider that the structure and organization of all these different species are different from each other, and exactly adapted to their various situations and modes of exist- ence, and that their multifarious wants, in regard to food and habitation, are all provided for, and amply supplied by Him, who, at the same time, arranges and governs the affairs of ten thou- sand worlds we must be lost in astonishment at the greatness of that Intelligence which formed them, and at the exuberance of that Bounty which spreads so full a table for so im- mense an assemblage of living beings ! And were we transported toother worlds, we should, doubtless, behold still more ample displays of Divine Beneficence. We are here presented with a striking com- mentary on such passages of the sacred volume as these : " The eyes of all look unto Thee, O Lord ! and ihou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thy hand liberally, and satisfiesl the desire of every living thing. The earth is full of thy riches, O Lord ! so is the great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innu- merable, boih great and small beasts These all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. That which thou givest them they gather : Thou openest thy hand, they are 142 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. filled with good."" O Lord, thou preserves! man and beast ! How excellent is thy loving- kindness ! Therefore the children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of thy wings : They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fat- ness of thy house,"* (of the table thou hast spread in thy world for all thine offspring,) "and thou shall make them drink of the river of thy pleasures." One excellent practical effect which might flow from such contemplations would be, to inspire us with feelings of humanity towards the inferior order of animals, and to prevent us from wantonly and unnecessarily torturing, or depriving them of existence. For since the Cre- ator and Preserver of all has so curiously orga- nized their bodies, and fitted them for the different regions in which they reside, and so carefully provided for all their wants, it must be His will that they should enjoy happiness according to the extent of their capacities ; and, therefore, they ought to be considered as necessary parts of our sublunary system. Another practical lesson we may derive from such surveys, is, to place an un- shaken dependence upon God for our temporal subsistence, while we, at the same time, exert all our faculties in the line of active duty. " Blessed is the man who trusteth in him ; for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions may suffer hunger, but they that fear the Lord shall not want any good thing." He who decks the lily of the vale, and spreads out a plentiful table to the fowls of heaven, to the beasts of the forests, to the creeping insects, and even to the microscopic animalcule, will never fail to supply the necessary wants of those who " do His will, and hearken to the voice of his commandments." And if, at any time, we be found destitute of daily food, and pining away in penury arid squalid disease, we have too much reason to conclude, that in one way or another, either our deviation from the path of rectitude, or our distrust of divine providence, or our want of prudence and economy, has procured for us these things. I have said, that it is chiefly in the world in which we dwell, that the dispensations of Pro- vidence can be distinctly traced. But we must nevertheless admit that the care and superin- tendence of God are as minutely exercised in the distant regions of the universe as in our terres- trial sphere ; though we are not permitted, at present, to inspect the particular details of His * This, and several other similar passages, may be considered as more especially applicable to the bounty of providence which God has provided for all his creatures. The practice of spiritualizing- such passages, as it is termed, has a tendency to caricature Scripture, and to twist it from its pre- cise and sublime references, to accord with the vague fancies of injudicious minds. The literal meaning of Scripture is always the most appropriate, em- phatic, and sublime ; but it may, in some cases, be used by way of accommodation, in illustrating divine subjects, when it is applied with judgment and dis- crimination. procedure in reference to other orders of intelli gnces. We are not, however, altogether igno- rant of some prominent features of the physical and moral economy of oiher worlds, in conse- quence of the discoveries of modern astronomical science. With respect to their physical economy, we behold a striking variety in the divine arrange- ments. We perceive one planetary world sur- rounded by two splendid and magnificent rings. one of them 204,000, and the other 184.000 miles in diamoler, stretching across its celestial cano- py from one end of the heavens to another mov- ing with majestic grandeur around its inhabitants every ten hours, and diffusing a light equal to several thousands of moons like ours which may be considered as a visible and permanent emblem of the majesty and glory of their Cre- ator. We perceive connected with the same globe, seven moons, all larger than ours, of dif- ferent magnitudes, and placed at different dis- tances, and revolving in different periods of time around that spacious world. The diversified as- pects of these rings, as viewed from the different regions of the planet at different limes, and the variety of appearances produced by the alternate rising and setting, culmination, and frequent eclipses, and other aspects of the moons, must present to the inhabitants a very grand and va- ried and magnificent scene of divine operation.* On the other hand, we behold another planetary globe, destitute both of rings and moons, but which has the starry heavens presented to view nearly in the same aspect in which we behold them. We perceive a third globe much larger than them both, capable of containing 200 times the number of the inhabitants of our world ac- companied in its course with four moons to dif- fuse light in the absence of the sun, and to di- versify the aspect of its sky. In some of these worlds, the succession of day and night is ac- complished within the space often hours; in others, this revolution is not completed till after the lapse of twenty-four hours, or of as many days. In some, the days and nights are nearly equal on every part of their surface, and they have little variety of seasons ; in others, the va- riety in the length of the days, and the vicissi- tudes of the seasons, are nearly the same as those we experience in our terrestrial world. Around some there appears a dense atmosphere, while others are environed with atmospheres more rare and transparent. Some move in the vicinity of the sun, and enjoy an abundant efflux of light and heat, while others are removed to the dis- tance of eighteen hundred millions of miies from that central luminary. Some finish the revolu- tion of their year in a few months ; while others requii e twelve, thirty, or even eighty of our years to complete their annual round. Some appear Seetre Jate, Fig. T KANGE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 143 ttiorned with majestic mountain scenery, and others seem to have great changes occasionally taking place in their atmosphere, or on their sur- faces. There are four planetary bodies lately discovered, which, there is every reason to be- lieve, once formed the component parts of a large globe , but by some mighty catastrophe in the dispensations of heaven, it appears to have been burst asunder into the fragments we now behold. [f the general proposition illustrated in section 2. of the preceding chapter be admitted, such a fact would seem to indicate that a moral revolu- tion has taken place among the intelligent beings who had originally been placed in those regions ; and that their fate was involved in the dreadful shock which burst asunder the globe they inha- bited ; just as the fate of the antediluvians was involved in the shock by which the solid crust of our globe was disrupted, at the period of the uni- versal deluge. These are some outlines in the economy of Providence which we can trace with regard to the arrangements of other worlds ; but beyond such general aspects we are not permitted to pe- netrate, so long as we sojourn in tabernacles of clay. But even such general views afford some scope to the contemplative mind, for forming en- larged conceptions of the grandeur and diversity of the dispensations of God, in the worlds which roll in the distant regions of space. With regard to their moral economy we may rest assured that the prominent outlines of it are materially the same as of that economy which re- lates to the inhabitants of our world. The fun- damental principles of the moral laws given to men, and which it is the great object of revela- tion to support and illustrate, are, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and un- derstanding," and, " Thou shalt love thy neigh- bour as thyself." On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Now, we must admit, from the nature of the Divine Being, and from the relations in which rational beings stand to Him and to one another, that the Cre- ator has enacted these laws, as the great govern- ing principles by which the actions of all intel- ligences in heaven, as well as upon earth, are to be directed. For the Governor of the world can never be supposed to issue a law to any order of rational creatures, which would permit them to hate their Creator, or to hate those whom he has formed after his own image. Such a supposition would be inconsistent with the eternal rules of rectitude, and with the perfections of Deity and the fact supposed, (if it could exist,) would in- troduce confusion and misery throughout the whole intelligent universe. And, therefore, we must necessarily admit, that the laws to which I uo.v advert, are binding upon all the rational in- habitants which exist throughout Jehovah's do- minions; and that it is by these that the moral older of all the principalities and powers of hea- ven is preserved and directed. Tn those worlrfe where there is no change in the succession of their inhabitants or, inothei words, where there is no death, or where they are not produced by any process analogous to generation, but have a fixed and permanent residence, there will be no need for moral precepts corresponding to the fifih and the seventh commandments of our moral law and in those worlds where property is common, and the bounties of the Creator are equally en- joyed by all, there will be no necessity for a law corresponding to the eighth commandment; but the general principles on which these laws nre founded, will be applicable to all the other cir- cumstances and relations which actually exist ; so that the principle, arid spirit, and essence of our religion must be common to ail the holy in- habitants of the universe. And, therefore, it will follow, that every intelligent being that is animated and directed by such principles and af- fections, will be qualified for holding delightful intercourse with all holy beings throughout the universe of God, in whatever province of the Creator's empire he may hereafter be placed ; and, to qualify us for such harmonious and af- fectionate intercourse, is one great end of the salvation exhibited in the gospel. So that, al- though we cannot, in our present state, acquire a minute and comprehensive knowledge of the moral history of other worlds, of the special in- terpositions or manifestations of Deity in rela- tion to them, or of the means by which they are carried forward in moral and intellectual improve- ment yet we can trace the gentral principles or laws which form the basis of their moral and re- ligious economy. For as the laws of optics, and the principle of gravitation, pervade the whole material system, as far as the universe is visible to our assisted vision, so the principle of su- preme love to God, and sincere affection to fel- low-intelligences, must pervade the intellectual universe, wherever it extends ; and, if any in- telligent agents besides men, have violated these laws, they must experience pain, and misery, and disorder, analogous to those which are felt by the inhabitants of our apostate world. Thus I have endeavoured to show, that the combination of science with religion would tend to expand our views of divine providence in the various arrangements of God, in rela- tion to the human race, and to the subordinate tribes of sensitive beings and in reference to some of the prominent features of his adminis- tration in distant worlds. And, therefore, though the Christian ought never to overlook the ways of Providence in relation to himself, and to his spiritual and domestic concerns, yet it would argue a selfishness and a sottishncss altogether inconsistent with the noble and expansive spirit of Christianity, to overlook all the other parts of the theatre of divine dispensations, when a very slight degree of labour and reeeaich 144 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. might be instrumental in unfolding them to his view. IV. The connexion of science with religion would have a tendency to induce upon Chris- tians A SPIRIT OF LIBERALITY, OF CANDOUR, and of ACCUHACV IN JUDGING OF THE OPI- NIONS AND ACTIONS OF MEN, and of THE DIVINE PROCEDURE AND OPERATIONS. Who is .the most candid and liberal Being in the Universe ? God. And why is God to be considered as the most liberal intelligence that exists? Because he embraces a minute, a full, and comprehensive view of all the circumstances, connexions, relations, habits, motives, tempta- tions, modes of thinking, educational biases, physical affections, and other causes, that may influence the sentiments or the conduct of any of his creatures. Who among created intelli- gences may be viewed as endowed with these qualities in the next degree ? The loftiest se- raph that Qod has created, who has winged his way to numerous worlds, and taken the most extensive survey of the dispensations of the Almighty, and of all creatures and events. Who, among the sons of men, is the. most illi- beral and inaccurate in judging of opinions, of persons, and of things? The man who has lived all his days within the smoke of his father's chimney, or within the confines of his native village who has never looked beyond the range of his own religious party whose thoughts have always run in one narrow track whose reading has been confined to two or three musty volumes, which have lain for ages on the same smoky shelf who cares for nothing either in the hea- vens or the earth, but in so far as it ministers to his convenience, his avarice, or his sensual en- joyment who will admit no sentiment to be true, but what he may have heard broached by his parson and whose conversation seldom rises beyond mere gossipping chit-chat, and the slan- derous remarks which are circulated among "his neighbours. Such characters are entirely un- qualified for forming a correct judgment, either of the sentiments and the actions of men, or of the works and the ways of God ; for they are completely destitute of the requisite data where- on to form a rational decision in relation to either of these subjects. It may be admitted as a kind of axiom, in our estimate of human character, that in proportion to the ignorance and the narrow range of view which characterize any individual, in a similar proportion will be his want of candour and his unfitness for passing a sound judgment on any subject that is laid before him. and that the man who has taken excursions through the widest range of thought, accompanied with a corres- ponding improvement of his moral powers, will always be the most liberal and candid in his de- cisions on the moral ano intellectual qualities of others. To these maxims few exceptions will generally be found. In forming an enlightened judgment in regard to any action or object, it is essentially requisite, that we contemplate it ir. all its different features and aspects, and in all its minute circumstances, bearings, and rela- tions. We would not hesitate for a moment to determine who is best qualified to give an accu- rate description of a city, he who has only viewed its spires from a distance, while in rapid motion in his chariot or he who has minutely surveyed all its streets, lanes, squares, public edifices, and surrounding scenery, in every va- riety of aspect ; or, who appears most likely to form the most accurate and enlightened judgment in relation to any particular kingdom he who has just skirted along a few miles on one of its coasts, or he who has traversed its length and breadth in all directions, and mingled with every class of its inhabitants. On the same principle, it must be admitted, that he who has viewed re- ligion in all its aspects and bearings, who has taken the most extensive survey of the manifes- tations of God, and of the habits and relations of men, is the best qualified to pronounce a can- did and accurate decision on all the intellectual and moral cases that may come before him. If the spirit of the above stated sentiments be founded on reason and on fact, it will follow, that the more we resemble God in the amplitude of our intellectual views and benevolent affections, the more candid, and liberal, and accurate wifl our judgments be in reference to all the actions, objects, and relations we contemplate. On the other hand, the man who is confined to a narrow range of thought and prospect is continually blundering in the estimates he forms, both in respect to physical facts, to general principles, and to moral actions. He forms a premature and uncharitable opinion on every slander and report against his neighbour. He condemns, without hesitation, and throws an unmerited odium on whole bodies of men, because one or two of their number may have displayed weak- ness or folly. He hates and despises men and their opinions, because they belong not to his political or religious party. He pronounces his decisions on the motives of men, with as mucn confidence as if he had surveyed their hearts with the eye of omniscience. He cannot hear an objection against his favourite opinions witn patience, nor an apology for any set of opinions but his own. He is arrogant and dogmatical in his assertions, and will make no concessions t& the superior wisdom of others. He sets him- self, with violence, against every proposal for reformation in the church, because his forefathers never thought of it, and because such " innova- tions" do not suit his humour and preconceived opinions. He decides, in the most confident tone, on what God can and cannot do, as if ha EXPANSION OF INTELLECTUAL VIEWS. 145 f&d taken the gauge of infinite perfection ; and he frets at the divine dispensations when they do not exactly quadrate with his own humours and selfish views. With regard to the operations of the Most High, he also forms the most foolish, and vague, and contradictory conceptions. Tell him of the vast dimensions of the planetary system, of the men and animals that live on the opposite side of the globe, of the annual and diurnal motion of the earth that this world and its inhabitants are moving through the regions of space many thousands of miles every hour that one of the planets is so large that it would contain 1400 worlds as spacious as ours that another is fly- ing through the tracts of immensity, at the rate of a hundred thousand miles in an hour and that light is darted from the sun with a velocity of 195,000 miles in a moment of time he will stare at you with astonishment at such extrava- gant assertions, and will sooner believe the sto- ries of giants 100 feet high, and of fairies that can enter in crowds through the key-hole of his door. Instead of frankly acknowledging that " He is ignorant of such subjects, and of the grounds of such conclusions, that those who have studied them with intelligence are best ca- pable of judging, that, if true, they must fill us with admiration of the glory of God, but that, as he has hitherto had no opportunity of examining such matters, he must suspend his assent till he inquire into the reasons which can be given for such amazing deductions ;" instead of such concessions, which are the dictates of modesty and of common sense he will tell you at once, without hesitation, and without a blush at his presumptuous decisions, that " it is all extravagance, and folly, and idle romance, con- trary to Scripture, and reason, and common sense ;" and will not hesitate to brand you as a heretic, for endeavouring to break loose his in- tellectual trammels ! thus tacitly declaring, that he is far better qualified to pronounce a decision on such topics, than all the philosophers and divines, and all the brightest geniuses who have appeared in the world for ages past ; though he will at the same time admit, that he never gave himself the trouble to examine into such mat- ters. His views of the providential dispensations of God are equally partial and distorted. If dis- ease, or poverty, or misfortune, happen to his neighbour, especially if he had withdrawn from the religious party to which he belongs, it is con- sidered as a penal judgment for his error and apostacy. If prosperous circumstances attend nis family or his religious party, it is viewed as a sign of divine approbation. He seldom views the hand of God, except in uncommon oc- currences ; and then, he imagines that a miracle is performed, and that the wheels of nature are stopped in order to accomplish the event. He 19 seldom looks beyond the precincts of his own church or nation, to observe the movements of the divine footsteps towards other tribes of his fallen race. He overlooks the traces of divine operation which are every moment to be seen above and around him and yet, in the midst of all such partial and contracted views, ho will sometimes decide on the wisdom and rectitude of the ways of God, with as much confidence, as if he had entered into the secret counsels of the Eternal, and surveyed the whole plan of his procedure. Such are a few prominent outlines of the cha- racter of thousands whose names are enrolled aa members of the visible church whose illiberal- ity and self-conceit are owing to the contracted notions they have formed of God and of religion. And, surely, it must appear desirable to every enlightened Christian, that all proper means should be used to prevent rational immortal be- ings from remaining enchained in such mental thraldom. On the other hand, the man who takes an en- lightened view of all the works and dispensations of God, and of all the circumstances and rela- tions of subordinate beings, necessarily acquires a nobleness and liberality of mind, and an accu- racy in judging of things human and divine, which no other person can possess. He does not hastily take up an evil report against hia neighbour ; for he considers how unfounded such reports often are, and how much they are owing to the insinuations of envy or of malice. And when he can no longer doubt of an evil action being substantiated against any one, he does not tri- umph over him in the language of execration ; for he considers all the circumstances, relations, feelings, and temptations with which he may have been surrounded ; he considers, that he himself is a frail sinful creature, and might pos- sibly have fallen in a similar way, had he been placed in the same situation. He does not trumpet forth the praises of a man who has per- formed one brilliant benevolent deed, as if he were a character to be admired and eulogized while the general course of his life is marked with vice, and an utter forgetfulness of God and religion ; nor does he fix a stigma of immorality upon the person who may have acted foolishly or sinfully, in one or two instances, while the gene- ral tenor of his conduct has been marked by purity and rectitude: for, in both cases, he con- siders, that it is not an insulated action, but gene- ral habits, which determine the cha-acter of any individual. He esteems the wise and the good, and holds friendly intercourse with them, to whatever political or religious party they belong. He can bear, with afTability and candour, to have his opinions contradicted, and can differ from his neighbour in many disputed points, while, at the same time, he values and esteems him. He will not brand a man as a heretic or a Deis, 146 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. because he takes a view of some dogmas in theology, in a different light from what he himself does ; for he considers the difference of habits, studies, pursuits, and educational prejudices which must have influenced his opinions ; and makes due allowance for the range of thought to which he may have been accustomed. He is always disposed to attribute the actions of others to good motives, when he has no proof of the contrary. He uses no threats nor physical force lo support his opinions, or to convince gainsay- ers; for he knows that no external coercion can illuminate the mind, and that the strength of ar- guments, and the force of truth, can alone pro- duce conviction. He is convinced how igno- rant he is, notwithstanding all his study, obser- vations, and researches; and presses forward, as long as he lives, to higher degrees of knowledge and of moral improvement. He is an active promoter of every scheme that tends to enlighten and meliorate mankind, and to extend the knowledge of salvation to the ends of the earth ; for he considers that it is not by miracles, but by the subordinate agency of in- telligent beings, that God will effectuate the illu- mination and the moral renovation of our apos- tate race. He views the special agency of God in all the movements of the scientific, the reli- gious, and the political world, and perceives Him accomplishing his purpose in the inventions of human genius, and in the economy of the minutest insect, as well as in the earthquake, the storm, and the convulsions of nations; for he considers the smallest atom, and the hosts of heaven, as equally directed by eternal wisdom, and equally necessary in the universal chain of creatures and events. He displays a 'becoming modesty in speaking of the ways and the works of God. When he meets with any dark and afflictive dis- pensation in the course of Providence, he does not fret and repine, but is calm and resigned, conscious that he perceives only a small portion of the chain of God's dispensations, and is, there- fore, unable to form a just comparison of the connexion of any one part with the whole. When he contemplates the depraved and wretch- ed condition of the greater part of the world, at present, and for thousands of years past, not- withstanding the salvation which has been, achieved for sinners of mankind, he is far from arraigning the divine goodness and rectitude, in leaving so many nations " to walk in their own ways;" for he knows not what relation this dis- mal scene may bear, what influence it may have, or what important impressions it may produce, on worlds and beings with which we are at pre- sent unacquainted. He is cautious in pronouncing decisively re- specting the dispensations of God, in regard to the universe at large. He does not, for example, assert, with the utmost confidence, as some have done, u that there never was, and never will be, to all the ages of eternity, such a bright display of the divine glory as in the cross of Christ." He admires and adores the condescension and the love of God, in the plan of salvation, which the gospel exhibits, and feels an interest m it far beyond that of any other special manifestation of Deity ; but he dares not set limits to the divine attributes and operations. He considers himself at present, with regard to the grand system of the universe, in a situation similar to that of a small insect on one of the stones of a magnificent edifice, which sees only a few hair-breadths around it, and is altogether incapable of survey- ing the symmetry, the order, and beauty of the structure, and of forming an adequate conception of the whole. He considers that he has never yet surveyed the millionth part of Jehovah's empire, and therefore, cannot tell what the eter- nal Sovereign has b,een pleased to exhibit in its numerous provinces ; and, least of all, can he ever presume to dive into the depths of intermi- nable ages, and boldly declare what the Almighty will, or will not do, through eternity to come. He, therefore views it as presumption, while he has no dictate of revelation for his warrant, to pronounce decisively, either on the one side or the other, of such a deep and important question, which seems above the reach of the loftiest se- raph to determine.* In short, he endeavours to take a view of all the manifestations of Deity within his reach, from every source of infor- mation which lies before him, and as fur as his limited faculties will permit. He does not call in question the discoveries of science, because they bring to his ears most astonishing reports of the wisdom and omnipotence, of Jehovah, and of the boundless extent of his kingdom ; but rejoices to learn, that the grandeur of his dominions is ac- tually found to correspond with the lofty descrip- tions of divine majesty and glory recorded in the volume of inspiration, and is thereby inspi- red with nobler hopes of the glory and felicity of that heavenly world where he expects to spend an endless existence. If, then, such be_some of the features in the character of the enlightened Christian ; if libe- rality and candour, and accurate investigation, mark the judgments he pronounces on the senti- ments and the actions of men, and on the works and the ways of God; and if such views and feelings ought to be considered as more conge- nial to the noble and benevolent spirit of our religion, than the narrow and distorted notions of a contracted mind, it must be an object much to be desired, that the mass of the Christian world be led into such strains of thought, as might im- bue their minds with a larger proportion of this spirit. And, if diversified and occasional dis- cussions on the topics to which we have adverted would have a tendency to produce this desirable See Appendix, No. X. PIETY AND HUMILITY. 147 effect, it is obvious, that such branches of knovv- .edge as are calculated to enlarge the capacity f the mind, and to throw a light over the reve- ations and the works of God, should no longer Oe overlooked in the range of our religious con- templations. V. The extensive range of thought which the diversified objects in nature present, WOULD HAVE A TENDENCY TO INSPIRE US WITH A SPIRIT OF PIETY, AND OF PROFOUND HUMILITY. It is owing, in many ins lances, to want of attention to the impressive displays of wisdom and omnipotence in the material world, that our pious feelings and devotional exercises are so cold and languid. We stalk about on the sur- face of the earth, and pass from one day to an- other, without reflecting on the grand and com- plicated machinery around us, which is carrying us along through the regions of space, and from one portion of duration to another, as if the mighty energies of the Eternal Mind, exerted in our behalf, were unworthy of our acknowledge- ment or regard. How few, for example, reflect, when they open their eyes in the morning, and perceive the first beams of the rising sun, that since they lay down to sleep, the divine power has been exerted in carrying them more than four thousand miles round to the eastward, in order that they might again be cheered with the morning light ; and that, during the same period, thej, along with the earth and its vast popula- ion, have been carried forward 476,000 miles from that portion of space which they occupied seven hours before ! Or. if they have no idea of the motion of the earth, and attach no belief to such an opinion, how is it they do not re- flect, that after night has thrown its shades around them, the sun, and ten thousand other vast globes, must move several hundreds of mil- lions of miles before their eyes can again behold the light of day ? Either the one or the other of these cases must be the fact ; and, in either case, there is presented to our view a display of the omnipotence and the superintendence of Him in whom we live and move, which demands our gratitude, our admiration, and praise. Andean it ever be supposed, that such reflections, com- bined with all the other excitements to reverence and gratitude, will not tend to elevate our con- templations, and to raise our pious feelings to a higher pitch of devotion ? Whether the psalmist entertained any views of this kind when he com- posed the ninety-second Psalm, we cannot cer- tainly determine ; but I presume, the pious and contemplative mind, when awaking from the slumbers of the night, under such impressions, might sing the first part of that song of praise with peculiar emphasis and delight "It is a good thing to give thanks to Jehovah, and to Bing praise to thy name, O thou Most High ! to 42 show forth thy loving kindness in the morning. For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work," (or thy powerful energy :) : ' I will tri- umph in the works of thy hands. O Lord 1 how great are thy works! and thy thoughts" (or contrivances) " are very deep! A brutish man knowelh not, neither doth a fool understand this." An extensive acquaintance with nature ar, J science, combined with Christian principle- would also induce profound humility. The maz who has made excursions through the most di- versified regions of thought, is deeply sensible of the little progress he has attained, and of tho vast and unbounded field of divine science which still remains to be explored. When he consi- ders the immense variety of sublime subjects which the volume of inspiration exhibits, and of which he has obtained but a very faint and im- perfect glimpse the comprehensive extent, and the intricate windings of the operations of Pro- vidence, and the infinite number of beings over which it extends the amplitude and magnifi- cence of that glorious universe over which Je- hovah presides, and how small a portion of it lies open to his minute inspection he is hum- bled in the dust at the view of his own insigni- ficance ; he sees himself to be a very babe in knowledge ; and, as it were, just emerging from the gloom of ignorance into the first dawning? of light and intelligence. He feels the full forc and spirit of the poet's sentiments " Much learning shows how little mortals know.' 1 When he considers the comprehensive extent of the divine law, and its numerous bearings on every part of his conduct, and on all the diver- sified relations in which he stands to hijT' God, and to his fellow men ; and when he reflects on his multiplied deviations from that eternal rule of rectitude, he is ashamed and confounded in the presence of the Holy One of Israel ; and, on a review of his former pride and self-conceit, is constrained to adopt the language of Agur and of Asaph " Surely I am more brutish than anj man, and have not the understanding of a man.* " So foolish was I, and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee." He views the meanest and the most ignorant of his species, as but a very few degrees below him in the scale of intelli- gence, and sees no reason why he should glory over his fellows. This sentiment might be illustrated from the example of some of the most eminent men, 111 whose minds science and religion were combined. The Honourable Mr. Boyle was the mqst un- wearied and successful explorer of the works o; God, in the age in which he lived, and all nu philosophical pursuits were consecrated to tne service of religion. Among other exceiiem traits in his character, humility was the most conspicuous. " He had about him/' says BiUhop 148 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. Burnet, * all that unaffected neglect of pomp in clothes, lodging, furniture, and equipage, which agreed with his grave and serious course of life," and was courteous and condescending to the meanest of his fellow men. " He had," says the same author, " the profoundest veneration for the great God of heaven and earth, that I ever ob- served in any person. The very name of God was never mentioned by him without a pause, and a visible stop in his discourse -," and the tenor of his philosophical and theological writings is in complete unison with these traits of cha- racter. Sir Isaac Newton, too, whose genius seemed to know no limits but those of the visible universe, was distinguished by his modesty, hu- mility, and meekness of temper. He had such an humble opinion of himself, that he had no re- lish of the applause which was so deservedly paid him. He would have let others run away with the glory of his inventions, if his friends and countrymen had not been more jealous of his ho- nour than he was himself. He said, a little be- fore his death, " I do not know what I may ap- pear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered be- fore me. 1 ' The same sentiment might have been illus- trated from the lives of Bacon, Locke, Dr. Boerhaave, Hervey, Nieuwenty t, Ray, Derham, the Abbe Pluche, Bonnet, and other eminent characters, who devoted their stores of know- ledge to the illustration of the Christian system. For an extensive knowledge of the operations of God has a natural tendency to produce humility and veneration ; and wherever it is combined with pride and arrogance, either among philosophers or divines, it indicates a lamentable deficiency, if not a complete destitution of Christian prin- ciple, and of all those tempers which form the bond of union among holy intelligences. After the attention of Job had been directed to the works of God, and when he had contemplated the inexplicable phenomena of the divine agency in the material world, he was.ftshamed and con- founded at his former presumption $ and, in deep humility, exclaimed, " I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth thee ; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." In accordance with what has been now stated, we find that the most exalted intelligences, who, of course, possess the most trnnnsive views of the works and providential arrangements of God. are "epresenteo is also the most hurnoie in Their ^sportmeni aud as displaying the most o-ofound -everence va their incessant adorations. Thev "f>ui aown before Him who sits upon the throne": and ca. their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art wor- thy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power ; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."' Their moral conduct evinces the same lowly temper of mind. They wait around the throne, in the at- titude of motion, with wings outspread ready to fly, on the first signal of their Sovereign's will ; they " do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word," and do not disdain to perform important services, in our wretched world, to the meanest human being who is numbered among " the heirs of salvation." In like man- ner, were we endued with the grasp of intellect, the capacious minds, the extensive knowledge, and the moral powers which they possess, we would also display the same humble and reve- rential spirit, and feel ashamed of those emotions of vanity and pride, which dispose so many of the human family to look down with contempt on their fellow mortals. If the leading train of sentiment which per- vades this volume be admitted, the following ge- neral conductions may be adduced: That, in conducting the religious instruction of the young, the works of God in the material world, and"*the most striking discoveries which have been made as to their magnitude, variety, and mechanism, should be frequently exhibited to their view in minute detail ; as illustrations of the attributes of the Deity, and of those descriptions of his nature and operations contained in the volume of inspiration ; that the books put into their hands should contain, among other subjects, po- pular and striking descriptions of the facts and appearances of nature ; that seminaries should be established for the occasional instruction of young persons, from the age of 15 to the age of 20 or 30, or upwards, in all those popular branches of natural and moral science which have a ten- dency to enlarge the capacity of their minds, and to expand their conceptions of the incessant agen- cy of God ; and that the ar.rasters cf religion, in their public instructions, snou.a frequently blend their discussions of divine vooic* r-ith illustra- tions derived from the scenes 01 creation and pro- vidence. APPENDIX, CONTAINING NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, No. I. p. 23 Illustration of the Rate of Motion in the Heavenly Sadies, on the supposition that the earth is at rest. THE distance of the sun is about 95 millions of miles; consequently, the diameter of the cir- cle he would describe around the earth would be 190 millions, and its circumference 597,142.837, which forms the extent of the circuit through which he would move in 24 hours, if the earth were at rest. This number divided by 24, gives 25,880,952, the number of miles he would move in an hour ; and this last number, divided by 60, gives 414,682, the number of miles he would move in a minute. The nearest star is reckon- ed to be at least 20,000,000,000,000, or twenty billions of miles distant from the earth ; conse- quently, its daily circuit round our globe would measure more than 125,000,000,000,000 miles. This sum divided by 86,400, the number of se- conds in a day, would give 1,454,861,111, or somewhat more than one thousand four hundred millions of miles, for its rale of motion in a second of time a motion which, were it actuallv existing, would, in all probability, shatter the universe to atoms. The unlearned reader may, perhaps, acquire a more distinct idea of this explanation from the following figure: Let the mall circle A, in the centre, represent .he earth, and the circle B G D E the orbit of the sun, on the supposition that he moves round the earth every 24 hours. The line A B will represent the distance of the sun from the earth, or 95 ndllions of miles; the line B D tha 150 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. diameter of the orbit he would describe : and the circle B C D E the circumference along which he would move every day, or 597 millions of miles, which is somewhat more than three times the diameter. If the line A F represent the dis- tance of the nearest star, the circle F G H I will represent the circuit through which it would move every 24 hours, if the earth wera at rest. It is obvious, from the figure, that since the stars are at a greater distance from the earth than the sun, the circle they would describe around the earth would be larger in proportion, and, conse- quently, their velocities would be proportionably more rapid ; since they would move through their larger circles in the same time in which the sun moved through his narrow sphere. But the supposition that the earth is the centre of all the celestial motions, and that the different stars are daily moving around it with different velocities, and the slowest of these motions is so inconceiva- bly rapid is so wild and extravagant, that it appears altogether inconsistent with the harmony of the universe, with the wisdom and intelli- gence of the Deity, and with all the other ar- rangements he has made in the system of nature. No. II. p. 34. Experimental illustrations of the Pressure of the Atmosphere. The pressure of the atmosphere is most strik- ingly illustrated by means of the air-pump. But as few persons, comparatively, possess this in- strument, the following experiments, which any person may perform at pleasure, are sufficiently convincing on this point. Take a common wine-glass, and fill it with water ; apply a piece of paper over the mouth of the glass ; press the paper to the rim of the glass with the palm of the hand ; turn the glass upside down ; with- draw the hand from the paper, and the water will be supported by the pressure of the atmos- phere. That it is the atmospherical pressure, and not the paper, which supports the water, is evident; for the paper, instead of being pressed down by the weight of the water, is pressed upward by the pressure of the atmosphere, and appears concave, or hollow in the middle. If the flame of a candle be applied to the paper, it may be held, for an indefinite length of time, close to the paper, without setting fire to it. The same fact is proved by the following expe- -iment : Take a glass tube, of any length, and of a narrow bore ; put one end of it in a basin of water ; apply the mouth to the other end, and draw out the air by suction ; the water will immediately rise toward the top of the tube ; and if the finger or thumb be applied to the top of the tube, to prevent the admission of air, and the tube removed from the basin of water, the water in the tube will be supported by the pres- sure of the atmosphere on the lower end. Again : Take a wine-glass, and burn a small bit of paper in it ; and when the paper is burning press the palm of the hand upon the mouth of the glass, and it will adhere to the hand with considerable force. In this case, the pressure of the atmosphere will be sensibly felt : for i: will sometimes require considerable force to de- tach the glass from the hand. The pressure of the atmosphere explains a variety of common phenomena. When we take a draught of Water out of a basin, or a running stream, we immerse our mouths in the water, and make a vacuum by drawing in the air : the pressure of the atmosphere upon the external surface of the water then forces it into the mouth. The same cause explains the process of a child sucking its mother's breasts the ac- tion of a boy's sucker, in lifting large stones the rise of water in pumps the effects produced by cements the firm adhesion of snails and periwinkles to rocks and stones the scarcity of water in the time of hard frosts and the fact that a cask will not run by the cock, unless a hole be opened in some other part of the cask. No. III. p. 118. On the means by which it may probably be ascertained whether the Moon be a Habitable World. About six years ago, the author published, in the Monthly Magazine, a few observations on the surface of the moon, in which a few remarks were offered on this subject. The following is an extract from that communication: " If we be ever to obtain an ocular demon- stration of the habitability of any of the celestial orbs, the moon is the only one, where we can expect to trace, by our telescopes, indications of the agency of sentient or intelligent beings ; and I am pretty much convinced, that a long continued series of observations on this planet, by a number of individuals in different places, might completely set at rest the question, ' Whe- ther the moon be a habitable world ?' Were a vast number of persons, in different parts of the world, to devote themselves to a particular sur- vey of the moon were different portions of her surface allotted to different individuals, as the object of their particular research were every mountain, hill, cavern, cliff, and plain accurately inspected and every change and modification in the appearance of particular spots carefully marked and represented in a series of delinea- tions, it might lead to some certain conclusions, both as to her physical constitution, and her ultimate destination. It can be demonstrated, that a telescope which magnifies 100 times, will show a spot on the moon's surface, whoso diameter is 1223 yards ; and one which magni- fies a thousand times, will, of course, enable us to perceive a portion of her surface, whose size is only 122 yards: and, consequently, an object, whether natural or artificial, of no greater extent APPENDIX. 15. than one of our large edifices, (for example, St. Paul's church, London,) may, by such an in- strument, be easily distinguished. Now, if every minute point on the lunar surface were accu- rately marked by numerous observers, it might be ascertained whether any changes are taking place, either from physical causes, or from the operations of intelligent agents. If a large forest were cutting down if a city wore building in an open plain, or extending its former bounda- ries if a barren waste were changing into a scene of vegetation or, if an immense con- course of animated beings were occasionally assembled on a particular spot, or shifting from one place to another such changes would be inn'i'"' rj by certain modifications of shade, co- loui, or motion ; and, consequently, would furnish a direct proof of the agency of intelligent beings analogous to man, and of the moon being a ha- bitable globe. For although we may never be able to distinguish the inhabitants of the moon, (if any exist,) yet if we can trace those Affects which can flow only from the operations of intel- ligent agents, it would form a complete demon- stration of their existence, on the same ground on which a navigator concludes an unknown island to be inhabited, when he perceives numan habitations, and cultivated fields. "That changes occasionally happen on the lunar hemisphere next the earth, appears from the observations of Horschel and Schrocier, par- ticularly from those of the latter. In the trans- actions of the ' Society of Natural Philosophy,' at Berlin, Schroeter relates, that on the 30th December, 1791 , at five o'clock, p. M.with a seven feet reflector, magnifying 161 times, he perceived the commencement of a small crater on the south-west declivity of the volcanic mountain in the Mare Crisium, having a shadow of at least 2" 5. On the llth January, at twenty minutes past five, on looking at this place again, he could see neither the new crater nor its sha- dow. Again, on the 4ih January, 1792, he perceived, in the eastern crater of Helicon, a central mountain, of a clear gray colour, 3 X ' in diameter, of which, during many years' obser- vations, he had perceived no trace. ' This ap- pearance,' he adds, ' is remarkable, as probably from the time of Hevelius, the western part of Helicon has been forming into its present shape, and nature seems, in that district, to be parti- cularly active.' In making such minute obser- vations as those to which I allude, it would be proper, alonj with an inspection of the moon's luminous disk, to mark the appearances of dif- ferent portions of her dark hemisphere, when it is partially enlightened by the reflected light from the earth, soon after the appearance of new moon. These researches woul I require a long- continued series of the most minute observa- tions, by numerous observers in different regions of the globe, which could be effected only by exciting, among the bulk of mankind, a general attention to such investigations. But were thi* object accomplished, and were numerous obser- vations made from the tops of mountains, and in the serene sky of southern climes, where the powers of the telescope are not counteracted by dense vapours, there can be little doubt that direct proofs would be obtained that the moon is a habitable world ; qr, at least, that the question in relation to this point would be completely set at rest." No. IV. Remarks on the late pretended dtoci> very of a Lunar Fortification. The British public was lately amused by the announcement of a discovery said to have been made by Professor Frauenhofer, of Munich. This genileman was said to have discovered a fortification in the moon, and to have distin- guished several lines of road, supposed to be the t work of the 'unar inhabitants. It is scarcely necessary to say, that such announcements are obviously premature. To perceive distinctly the shape of an object in the moon, which re- sembles a fortification, it is requisite, that that object be of a much larger size than our terres- trial ramparts. Besides, although an object resembling one of our fortifications were per- ceived on the surface of the moon, there would be no reason to conclude, that it served the same purpose as fortifications do among us. We are so much accustomed to war in our terrestrial system, and reflect so little on its diabolical na- ture, that we are apt to imagine that it must form a necessary employment even in other worlds. To be assured that a fortification exUted in the moon for the same purpose as with us, woufd indeed be dismal tidings from another world ; for it would be a necessary conclusion, from such intelligence, that the inhabitants of that globe are actuated by the same principles of depravity, ambition, and revenge, which have infected the moral atmosphere of our sublunary world. With regard to the pretended discovery of the lunar roads, it may not be improper to remark, that such roads behooved to be at least 400 feet broad, or ten times the breadth of ours, in order to be perceived as faint lines through a telescope which magnifies a thousand times ; which is a higher power, I presume, than Frauenhofer can apply with distinctness to any of his telescopes. It is not at all likely that the lunar inhabitants are of such a gigantic size, or employ carriages of such an enormous bulk, as to require roads of such dimensions, since the whole surface of the moon is only the thirteenth part of the area of our globe. Schroeler conjectures the existence of a great city to the north of Manus, (a spot in the moon,) and of an extensive canal towards Hygena, (an- other spot,) and he represents part of the spot 163 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. Mare Imbrium, to bo as fertile as the Cartjpama. S&e Edin. Phil. Jour. No. 21, for July, 1824. Similar remarks to those now stated will apply to these conjectures of Schroeter. We are too apt to imagine, that the objects we per- ceive in the moon must bear a certain resem- blance to those with which we are acquainted on the earth ; whereas, there is every reason to be- lieve, from the variety we perceive in nature, that no one world resembles another, except in some of its more prominent and general arrange- ments. The moon bears a general resemblance to the earth, in its being diversified with moun- tains and valleys ; but the positions and arrange- ment of these objects in the moon, and the scenery they exhibit, are materially different from what appears on the surface of the terraqueous globe. No. V. On the ideas of Magnitude, and Duration, as expressed by numbers. See pp. 44, 46. In the pages referred to, and other parts of this volume, some very large numbers are ex- pressed in figures. Some readers have insinu- ated, that it would have been better to have ex- pressed such numbers in utords. The author, however, is of a different opinion ; because to some readers, not much acquainted with nume- ration, a thousand trillions would convey nearly the same idea as a thousand nomlions, though the one number contains 58 places of figures, and the other only 22. It is chiefly the number of figures, or ciphers, in such large sums, that leads us to form a comparative estimate of their value or extent. Our ideas of magnitude and exten- sion, conveyed by such numbers, must, of course, be very vague and undefined. If we have been accustomed to travelling, we have a tolerable clear conception of a hundred, and even of a thousand miles ; but we have no clear nor ade- quate conception of a body, or a portion of space, ten hundred thousand, ten hundred millions, or ten hundred billions of miles in extent. The mind, however, may be assisted in its concep- tions, and in its comparative estimate of different numbers, by fixing on some particular number as a standard. If, according to the common reck- oning, we suppose, that 5828 years have elapsed since the commencement of time, the number of seconds, or moments, in this period, will amount to 183,913,782,212, or one hundred and eighty- three thousand nine hundred and thirteen mil- lions, seven hundred and eighty-two thousand, two hundred and twelve, which is less than the fifth part of a billion. If the distance of the nearest stars from the earth be at least 20 bil- lions of miles, then this distance may be other- wise expressed, by saying, that the number of miles which intervene between us and these bo- dies is more than a hundred times greater than the number of moments which have elapsed since the creation; and, by a similar comparison, it will be found that the number of cubical miles within the limits of the planetary system, i 130,000,000,000,000,000, or one hundred and thirty thousand billions of times greater than the number of moments in 5828 years. It has been computed, that the earth, suppos- ing it a solid globe, contains about 30,000,000,- 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, or thirty sep- tillions of grains of sand, supposing a hundred grains of sand to be equal in length to an inch, and, consequently, a million of such grains for every cubical inch. If we use this number as a standard for estimating the number of cubical miles contained within the space which inter- venes between us and the nearest stars, -hall find that the number of cubical miles compre- hended within this space, is more than ten thou- sand millions of times greater than the number of the grains of sand contained in the globe on which we dwell. Though the human mind can form no definite conceptions of such numbers and magnitudes, yet it may be useful, occasionally, to ruminate on such subjects ; as it is the only, or, at least, the principal mode by which limited minds like ours can approximate to an idea of the vtifinity of the Creator. And if an image of infinity is presented to the mind in the spaces comprehend- ed within the limits of our system, how over- powering the conception of innumerable systems, to which ours beais no more proportion than a drop of water to the. mighty ocean ! How in- effably glorious must be the attributes of that incomprehensible Being who pervades every part of this vast universe, and who continually super- intends all its minute and diversified movements ! No. VI. p. 91. -On a Plurality of Worlds. The doctrine of a plurality of worlds is now admitted as highly probable both by philosophers and by enlightened divines. But it has been admitted by many persons on grounds that are too general and vague, and consequently, a full conviction of its truth is seldom produced in the mind. In different parts of the preceding volume, I have all along taken it for granted, because I consider it as susceptible of a moral demonstra- tion. The following heads of argument, were they fully illustrated, would go far to carry de- monstration to the mind on this subject : namely, That there are numerous bodies in the universe of a bulk sufficient to contain myriads of intelli- gent beings, and to afford them enjoyment that there appears, in the constitution of many of these bodies, a variety of arrangements evi- dently adapted to this end that, in relation to the planets of our system, there are many cir- cumstances which bear a striking resemblance to the constitution of our globe and its appen- oages. they have annual and diurnal motions. APPENDIX. moons, atmospheres, mountains, and vales that light, and boat, and colour, appear to be dis- tributed throughout the regions of immensity ; and that these agents can have a relation only to the necessities and the happiness of orga- nized intelligences that every part of nature, so far as our observations on the surface of this globe extend, appears to exist solely for the sake of sentient beings that this doctrine is more worthy of the Infinite Creator, and gives a more glorious and magnificent idea of his na- ture, than to suppose his benevolent regards confined to the globe on which we dwell. When these and a variety of other arguments are con- sidered, in connexion with the ioi#lom and other attributes of the Deity, they amount not only to a high degree of probability, but to something approaching to a moral demonstration. But to illustrate these arguments in a minute detail, so as to make a convincing impi sssion on the mind, would require a volume of a considerable size. The author flatters himself he has some original thoughts on this subject, which may probably see the light should the present work meet with public accepta/ice. There is no work in our language which takes an extensive view of this subject, in connexion with the attributes of the Deity, and the intimations contained in divine revelation. Fontenelle's " Plurality of Worlds" contains a number 'of ingenious reasonings; but he treats the subject in too light and flippant a manner, and without the least reference to a Supreme Intelligence. The celebrated Huygens, in his " Cosmotheoros" instead of attempting to prove the doctrine of a plurality of worlds, takes it fur granted, and indulges chiefly in conjectures re- specting the original structure and faculties of their inhabitants. That the scriptures are silent on this head, has been assumed by some as a presumptive ar- gument that this doctrine is without a solid foun- dation. I have already endeavoured to show that this assumption is unfounded ; (see page 90.) A plurality of worlds is more than once asserted in scripture, and in numerous passages is evidently taken for granted. Celestial intel- ligences are represented as ascribing " glory, honour, wisdom, and power" to the king of hea- ven, " because he hath created all things," and because they perceive his works to be " great and marvellous." But if all the great globes in the firmament were only so many frightful de- serts, destitute of inhabitants, such a universe could never inspire superior intelligences with admiration of the wixdum of the Creator. For wisdom consists in proportioning means to ends; but, in the case supposed, there would be no pro- portion between the means and the end. The means are indeed great and astonishing ; but no and apji'tars to justify such a display of creating energy. The psalmist, when ne contemplated the heavens, was so affected with the idea of the immense population of the universe, that ne seems to have been almost afraid lest he should be overlooked amidst the immensity of beings that are under the superintendence of God. " When I consider thy heavens what is man that thou art mindful of him !" There would be no propriety nor emphasis in this exclamation, if the heavenly orbs were devoid of inhabitants; for if no intelligent beings exist beside man, and a colony o.' angels, it would not appear wonderful that the Creator should exercise a particular care over the one-half of his intelligent offspring. But, if we conceive the universe as composed of ten thousand times ten thousand worlds, peopled with myriads of intellectual beings of various orders, the sentiment of admi- ration implied in the passage is extremely natu- ral and emphatic, and conveys to us an im- pressive idea of the intelligence, the beneficence, and the condescension of the Founder and Go- vernor of all worlds. No. VII. pp. 114, 115. On the first Inventor of Printing. Mr. Ireland, in his " Picturesque Tour through Holland, Brabant, and part of France, in 1789," gives the following account of the inventor of printing, when describing the city of Haerlem. " Haerlem claims the invention of the art of printing. It is attributed to Lawrence Koster, an alderman of this city, in 1440 ; whose house is yet standing in the market-place opposite the church. Amusing himself one day in the neighbouring wood, with cutting the bark of trees into the let- ters that formed the initials of his name, he is said to have laid them on paper, and falling asleep, when he awoke, observed, that from the dew, their form was impressed on the paper. This accident induced him to make further ex- periments : he next cut his letters in wood, and, dipping them in a glutinous liquid, impressed them on paper, which he found an improvement ; and, soon after, substituting leaden and pewter letters, erected a press in his house ; thus laying the foundation of this noble art, which has thence gradually risen to its present excellence. The art, it is said, was stolen from him by his ser- vant, John Faustus, who conveyed it to Mentz, and, from the novelty of the discovery, soon ac- quired the title of doctor and conjuror. The original specimens are now shown at the library in the Town Hall. The first is on a leaf of parchment, and the second and third on paper, printed only on one side, and the corners left blank fcr capitals. At the top are wooden cutsj representing the creation, and, as it is called, Lucifer's Fall." Pp. 109111. J54 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. No. VIH. p. 118. On Telescopes ; with a brief notice of a NEW REFLECTING TELESCOPE, constructed by the author. It is doubtful to what particular individual we owe the invention of the telescope. Some have supposed that Roger Bacon and Baptista Porta invented this instrument. Borelli ascribes the invention to Zacharias Jansen, a native of Middleburgh. Perhaps the account given in the article to which this note refers, and which is stated by a variety of authors, may be as proba- ble as any other. It is certain that the telescope was not in general use until the beginning of the 17th century, and that no discoveries in the heavens were made with it, till the year 1609. There are two kinds of telescopes, refracting and reflecting. In refracting telescopes, the rays of light pass through convex or concave glasses or lenses. The object-glass is always convex, and forms an image or picture of the object in an inverted position in its focus ; which image is viewed by the eye-glass ; and the magnifying power is in the proportion of the focal distance of the object-glass to that of the eye-glass. The focal distance of a convex glass may be ascer- tained by holding it in the rays of the sun, op- posite to a piece of white paper, and measuring the distance between the glass and the white spot, or burning point, formed on the paper. An astronomical telescope for viewing celestial ob- jects may be constructed with only two glasses. If an object-glass, 30 inches focal distance, be fixed in the end of a tube, and an eye-glass of one inch focus be placed at the other end, at the distance of 31 inches from the object-glass, a telescope will be formed, which will magnify in the proportion of one to thirty, or30 times ; that is, objects seen through such a telescope will ap- pear thirty times larger in diameter, or thirty times nearer, than to the naked eye. By such an instrument, the inequalities on the moon's surface, and some of the satellites of Jupiter, may be perceived ; but when directed to land ob- jects they will appear inverted, or turned upside down. In order to reverse the appearance of the object, two other eye-glasses are required ; or, if a concave eye-glass of a similar focus be placed at 29 inches from the object-glass, the object will appear in its natural position, and the magnifying power will be the same ; but the field of view will be much smaller. Astro- nomical telescopes of this construction were for- merly made of 120, and even of 200 feet in length, and were used without a tube ; the ob- ject-glass being placed on the top of a long pole ; but these are now entirely superseded by achro- matic telescopes. In the achromatic telescope, the object-glass is compounded of two, and sometimes of three lenses, placed close to each other, one of which is a double concave of white flint glass, and the other a double convex of crown glass. By this means an image is formed without being blended with the prismatic colours ; and it will, therefore, bear a much greater magnifying power than a common refrac- tor. An achromatic telescope four feet long will magnify objects as much as a common re- fractor 100 feet long. In reflecting telescopes the images of objects are formed by speculums or mirrors, instead of lenses. They are of two kinds, the Gregorian and the Newtonian. The Gregorian reflector consists of a tube, in which a concave mirror, having a hole in its centre, is placed. The rays of light from distant objects falling upon this mirror, form an image before it, in its centre or focus. This image is intercepted by a smaller mirror, which reflects it back through the hole in the large mirror, to an eye-glass, through which the observer views the object. In the Newtonian reflector, a plane mirror, placed at an angle of 45 degrees, is substituted in place of the small mirror in the Gregorian- construction, and the observer looks down upon the object through the side of the tube. Dr. Brewster has suggested an interesting improvement in the construction of this instrument, which is described in the Edinburgh Ency. Art. Optics, p. 644. New Reflector. About three years ago, the author commenced a series of experiments on reflecting telescopes ; and has lately constructed several on a new plan and principle. In this construction, there is no small speculum, either plane, convex, or concave ; there is no tube, ex- cept a short one of two or three inches in length, for holding the speculum. The observer sits with his back to the object, and views thy image formed by the speculum through an eye-piece, which re- quires to be nicely directed and adjusted. Three or four instruments of this construct ion hpve been fitted up, with specula of 5, 8, 16, 28, 35, and 49 inches focal distance. One of them, having a speculum of eight inches focus, and two inches diameter, with a terrestrial eye-piece, magnify- ing about 25 times, -forms an excellent parlour telescope for viewing land objects, and exhibits them in a brilliant and novel aspect. When compared with a Gregorian of the same size and magnifying power, the quantity of li^lit upon the object appears nearly doubled, and the image is equally distinct. It represents objects in their natural colours, without that dingy and yellowish tinge which apnears when looking through a Gregorian. Another of these instruments, hav- ing a speculum of 28 inches focal distance, and an eye-piece producing a magnifying power of about 100 times, serves as an excellent astrono- mical telescope. By this instrument the belta and satellites of Jupiter, the ring of Saturn, and the mountains and cavities of the moon, may be contemplated with great ease and distinctness. By placing the pedestal on the flour of the apart* APPENDIX. 155 tr.ent, when the object is at a high elevation, we can view celestial phenomena with the same ease as if we were sitting at a writing desk reading a book. With a magnifying power of about 40 or M) times applied to this telescope, terrestrial ob- >ectd appear extremely oright an'' well defined. A speculum of 49 inches focal distance, and 6i inches diameter, has lately been fitted up on the same principle. With magnifying powers of from 100 to 160 times, it exhibits distinct and in- teresting views of the moon's surface, and of the ring of Saturn, and with a power of 56 times it affords a beautiful view of land objects. The specula used in these instruments are far from being good ; being of a yellowish colour, and scarcely half polished, and having large holes in the centre ; as they were originally intended for Gregorian reflectors ; yet the brightness of vision approaches nearly to that of achromatic tele- scopes. The experiments which have been made on this subject demonstrate, that a tube is not necessary for a reflecting telescope, when view- ing either celestial or terrestrial objects ; and, therefore, this construction of the instrument may be denominated, The Aerial Reflector. The simplicity of the construction, and the excellence of the performance of these instruments, have been much admired by several scientific gentle- men to whom they have been exhibited. A caveat has lately been lodged at the Patent Of- fice, in the view of taking out a patent for this construction'of reflecting telescopes ; and a more detailed account of it will probably soon appear in some of the scientific journals. In the system of Optics, lately published in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, (one of the most luminous and comprehensive treatises which has yet appeared on this subject,) the writer, in his introduction to the account of Dr. Brewster's improvement on the Newtonian telescope, re- marks : " If we could dispense wiih the use of the small specula in telescopes of moderate length, by inclining the great speculum, and using an oblique, and, consequently, a distorted reflection, as proposed first by La Maire, we should consider the Newtonian telescope as perfect; and on a large scale, or when the instrument exceeds 20 feet, it has undoubtedly this character, as nothing can be more simple than to magnify, by a single eyeglass, the image formed by a single speculum. As the front view is quite impracticable , and, indeed, has never been attempted in instruments of a small size, it becomes of great practical con- sequence to remove as much as possible the evils which arise from the use of a small speculum," &c. The instruments noticed above have ef- fectuated the desirable object alluded to by this respectable writer; and the principle of the con- struction is neither that of Dr. Herschel's/ron* view, nor does it coincide with that proposed by La Maire, which seems to have been a mere rtint, which was never put into execution. No. IX. p. 256. On Steam Navigation. The application of steam, as a mechanical power for impelling vessels along rivers and seas, is one of the most brilliant arid useful achieve- ments of art which distinguish the present age and seems destined to produce an important and interesting change in tho general intercourse of nations. From the " Report of a Commitiee of Parliament," published in 1822, it appears, that the first application of steam to the impelling of vessels was made by an Englishman, of the name of Hull, who, in 1736, obtained a patent for the invention of a steam-boat, to be moved with a crank and paddles. But it was only in 1807, that the invention was fairly brought into practical use, by Mr. Fulton, an American, who had the assistance and advice .of Mr. Bell, a Scots engineer. There are now, according to Mr. Perkins 1 statement, about 300 steam- boats on the rivers, bays, and coasts of the United States, varying in their size from 100 to 700 tons. In Britain, th first successful application of steam to vessels was made by the above-mentioned Mr. Bell,* who built the Comet of 25 tons, and four horses' power, to ply on the Clyde. There are now reckoned about 150 steam-boats, from 40 to 500 tons, plying on the rivers and coasts of the British isles. Glasgow, which had the honour of in- troducing steam navigation on this side of the Atlantic, is still the seat of its greatest activity. According to a statement given in the " Edin- burgh Philosophical Journal," published in July, 1822, there were then no less than 36 steam- boats, of various sizes, plying on the Clyde. Some of these, besides performing regular voy- ages to Inverary, Campbelton, Belfast, Liver- pool, and other places, are also performing tours, during the summer months, to the Giant's Causeway, StafFa, Skye, and other ports of the Western isles, and to Inverness by the Caledonian canal. Steam-boats are also plying between Aberdeen and Leith between New- haven and Aberdour, Brunlisland, Kinghorn, Kirkaldy, and Dysart; and to Queensferry, Alloa, Grangemouth, and Sterling between Leith and London Dover and Calais. One has been plying for several years on Loch- Lomond, which enables the traveller, at a small expense, to take an interesting view of the di- versified scenery of that beautiful lake. Five are just now plying on the Tay ; two of which, with engines of 30 and 40 horse powers, and fitted up with elegant accommodations ply daily between Perth and Dundee; each of them, dui ing * It is much to be regretted, and it is certainly not congenial to the liberal spirit of the age, that this gentleman, who was among the first inventors of steam navigation, and who has done so much io promote its success in the neighbourhood of Glas- gow, has never receiver! any public reward for his exertions, and has been left to sink into a state ap- proaching to poverty. 156 THE CHRiSTlAN PHILOSOPHER. most of the summer months, transporting nearly a hundred passengers at every trip. Steam navigation, though less understood on the Continent than with us, is now beginning to make considerable progress. There are 8 steam-boats on the Garonne, and several on the Seine. There are two on the Lake of Geneva, and two are about to be established on the Lake Constance, and there are, besides, one or two on the Danube. It is likely, that in the course of a few years such conveyances will be established on all our friths and rivers, and the period is, no doubt, hastening on, when excursions will be taken, in such vehicles, be- tween Europe and America. A steam-boat of 700 tons burden, and 100 horse power, has sailed regularly, summer and winter, for three or four years, between New-York and New-Orleans, a distance of 2000 miles, in an open sea. ex- posed to great storms ; and, by many, she is preferred, to the packets, not only for the cer- tainty of making shorter voyages, but on ac- count of greater safety. In America, steam vessels are fitted up with every accommodation and elegancy which art can devise ; so as to produce, if possible, as great a variety of en- joyment to passengers on sea as on land. Mr. Church, the American consul in France, has invented a paddle, which revolves on the pad- dle wheel, by very simple mechanism, which is found to save power. In the United States, a new mode of constructing cabins has been lately introduced, so as to place them beyond the reach of injury from explosions of the boiler. A steam vessel of a large size has lately been fitted up, which is intended to sail between London and Calcutta. " Steam vessels have been built in this coun- try of from 10 to 500 tons, and from 3 or 4 to 1 10 horse power. The length of the City of Edin- burgh, on the upper deck, is 143 feet ; and some have lately been constructed of still larger dimen- sions. The American steam-boats are larger than ours, and are much more used for the con- veyance of merchandise. The Frontinac, which plies on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario, is 170 feet long on deck, and 32 feet broad ; and the Chancellor Livingston, which plies on the Hudson, is of the same size. The velocity aimed at is generally 8 or 9 miles an hour. The pro- portion is, on an average, about one horse power for every four tons of burden, computed in the usual way. Tne velocity is found to be nearly as the square root of the power, so that an 80 horse power engine will produce only twice the velocity of one of 20 horse power. Something depends also on the make and size of the vessel. The " Sovereign," of 210 tons, and 80 horse power, goes 9$ miles an hour in still water ; and the " James Watt," of 448 tons, and 100 horse power, is stated to go 10 miles. For the paddle- Loards, the rule is, that 3-10ths of a square foot of surface should be immersed in the water for each horse power. The paddle wheels varv from 10 to 15 feet in diameter, dip from 12 to 20 inches in the water, and'liave about one foot in bread, h for each 10 horse power. Mr. Gladstone affirms, that so n^uch power is wasted in dis- placing the water by the stroke of the board, that the velocity of the ship is only about one-half of that of the outer surface of the paddle-wheel. " There are two sources of apprehension in steam-boats fire, and the bursting of the boiler. With regard to the latter, when the boiler is of low pressure, it is satisfactorily established that not the smallest danger exists. And in the bes* constructed vessels, the danger from fire is com- pletely obviated, by separating the furnace from the sides of the vessels by five inches of water." The power of steam is now rendered subser- vient to the breaking of stones for the construc- tion of roads. The stones are put into a kind of hopper above, and pushed down with a rake, and the machine is worked by a rotatory motion of one horse power ; and will break a ton of hard pebbles completely, in from six to eight minrtes. A steam machine has also been invented for the dressing of woollen cloth, which does as much work in 50 minutes as two men could do in two days. Mon. Mag. Aug. 1823, p. 71. A steam car- riage, for conveying goods and passengers on land, was lately constructing by Mr. Griffiths. Its rate of motion, on common roads, is estimated at five miles an hour, at an average ; about three miles when going up hill, and above seven when running down. But pecuniary embarrassments, or other impediments, have, hitherto, prevented the completion of his design. Mr. Perkins has lately made improvements on the steam engine, which promise to carry its powers to a high degree of perfection. The en- gine he has lately constructed is calculated to a ten horse power, though the cylinder is no more than two inches in diameter, and 18 inches long, with a stroke of only 12 inches. Although the space occupied by the engine is not more than six feet by eight, yet -Mr. P. considers the ap- paratus (with the exception of the working cy- linder and piston) as perfectly sufficient for a thirty horse engine. When the engine performs full work, it consumes only two bushels of coal in the day. Mr. Perkins has also announced a discovery still more extraordinary, viz. that he has been able " to arrest, the heat, after it has performed its mechanical functions, and actually pump it back to the. generator, to unite with a fresh portion of water, and renew its useful la- bours." A particular account of Perkins's engine, accompanied with an engraving, is given in the Edin. Philos. Journal, No. 17, for July 1823. The pretensions of Mr. Perkins, however, ri^ve not yet been so fully substantiated by experiment as to satisfy the anxious expectation of the APPENDIX. 157 An interesting report has lately been published of a series of experiments, made with a new gleam engine, invented by an American machi- nist, called the capillary steam engine. Three great objects are said to be accomplished by this invention, lightness, safety, and economy of fuel. In an engine calculated for a four horse power, tne generator is formed of a copper tube 3 inch in diameter, and 100 feet long, which weighs aoout 161bs. It is arranged in coils, one above another, in the form of a sugar loaf, 30 inches high ; the bottom coil being 18 inches in diame- ter, and the top one considerably less. The wood is prepared as is usual for a stove, and put within the coils. The steam cylinder is formed of sheet copper, three inches in diameter, 27 inches in stroke, and, with all its appendages, weighs about 25lbs. It has been ascertained, that the generator and main cylinder, with their contents and appendages, exclusive of fuel, need not weigh more than 20ibs. to the horse power. JVo harm can be done by the bursting of boilers even a safety-valve is considered as useless. In the course of the experiments, the experi- menters several times burst the tube ; but, so far from doing any injury, it could not always be perceived oy the spectators. To ascertain what may be done towards aerial navigation, by steam, experiments were made on the power of wings in the air, and on the power necessary to work them. The result is, that it requires a horse power to carry SOIbs. in the air ; so that a flying engine, to be worked by charcoal, would weigh about SOIbs. to the horse power, wings, conden- ser and fuel included. It was also ascertained by experiments and calculations, that a balloon could l>3 made to carry a man with an engine, which would push it at the rate of 15 miles an hour in the air. A more particular detail of these experiments may be seen in the " London Mechanics' Magazine," No. 60, for 16th Octo- ber, 1824. Wo. X. p. 146. Strictures on a certain sentiment respecting the work of Human Redemption. The sentiment referred to in this paragraph, " That there never was, nor ever will be, through all the ages of eternity, so wonderful a display of the divine glory, as in the cross of Christ," has been reiterated a thousand times, in sermons and in systems of divinity, and is still repeat- ed by certain preachers, as if it were an in- controvertible axiom, which ought never to be called in question ; and is, no doubt, intended to magnify the divine attributes, and the work of redemption.* But it is nothing more than a It is not important to determine how often the sentiment here expressed has been " reiterated in Sermon* anil systems rf divinity." We cannot, how- ever, believe that it has been repeated with the same frequency as the author's language seems to imply. That there ate instances, in which it was designed presumptuous assumption, which has a tendency to limit the perfections of Deity, and to present a partial and distorted view of the economy of human redemption. For, in the first place, it has no foundation in Scripture. There is not a single passage from which it can be legitimately deduced. The onus probandi, on this point, rests with those who make the assertion. A gentleman, when lately conversing on this sub- ject, brought forward the following interrogation, as a demonstrative argument in proof of the po- sition in question: " Is not. redemption declared in Scripture to be the chief of all the works oj God ?" but he was not a little surprised, when he was informed that the passage, which he had partly misquoted, is applied to the behemoth or the elephant, as stated in Job xl. 19. 2dly, the assertion is as presumptuous as it is unfounded. It takes for granted, that we know all the events which have already happened, and which are now taking place throughout the whole range of God's universal empire. This empire appears un- bounded ; and that portion of it which we can minutely explore, is but as a point in comparison to express all the meaning here attributed to it, can. not be denied. But why may it not have been some- times used to distinguish the work of mediation from all the. other favours which God has conferred on our race ? In his History of Redemption, p. 342, Pre- sident Edwards says, " From what has been said, one may argue, that the work of redemption is the great est of all God's works, of which we have an}' notice, and it is the end of all hi.? other works." This view of the subject accords with the scriptures. Though it cannot be asserted, that in a single instance thoy directly affirm the work of redemption to he the greatest of all the works of God, yet they give it such an importance and prominency, as are conced- ed to no other of His dispensations. In this light the apostles seem to have regarded it. Paul counted all the distinctions and honours and advantages which he had acquired among the Jews, as loss in com parison with the glory of the gospel. He went even farther. He declared that he counted all thing's but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. In this view of the subject there is no presumption and no limitation of the "divine perfections and operations." It has no tendency either to damp the hopes, or obscure the prospects of immortal beings. On the other Ivih'l, who, that is not presumptuous beyond endurance, will suppose, that he now under- stands the full extent of the love of Christ, and its bearings on all the other divine operations? Who will dare to assert, that this theme will not he suffi- cient for ever to employ the meditations and the songs of the redeemed? Has any one ascertained, that it is so limited, as to be soon exhausted ? On these topics the author is happily silent; or rather he "pronounces nothing decisively;" but affirms, that were he "to hazard a conjecture." he should say, that the converse of the proposition" undei consideration "is true." But for ourselves "we feel chained down to an obscure corner of God's domains," and possess no light except that which he has given us. In our present condition we dare not launch with the author into the ocean of con- jecture. Guided by the revelation which God has made, we are compelled to regard the work of re- demption as the greatest of all the divine works ot which we have any knowledge ; and we are satisfied, that the development of the relations and bearings and effects of this stupendous work will be suffu ienf to employ all our powers of oompreheision, and ever to minister to us new and constant delight.^ Am. Editor 153 THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. of the whole. But before we can, on good grounds, hazard such an assertion as that under consideration, we must Lave explored all the dis- pensations of God, through every portion of his vast dominions ; nd be able to form a compari- son between the different displays of divine glory, made to all the different classes of intellectual 6eings, under the government of the Creator. And who, among the sons of Adam, can lay claim to such high qualifications for pronouncing so sweeping a decision on this point ? 3dly, It sets limits to the divine perfections and operations. For although it could be proved, (which it cannot be,) that no such displays have hitherto been made to any other beings, yet who can take upon him to assert, that displays of divine perfection far more glorious and astonishing will not be exhibited during the countless ages of eternity which are yet to come ? To set limits to the operations of almighty power and boundless benevolence, dur- ing the lapse of infinite duration, is not the pro- vince of any created intelligence, and far less of man, who stands so low in the scale of uni- versal being. 4thly, It tends to damp the hopes and prospects of immortal beings, when looking forward to an interminable existence. For this sentiment leads them to conclude, that they are already acquainted with the greatest display of divine glory which can be made ; and that what- ever scenes of wonder may be exhibited in the future world, they must, of course, be all inferior to this, in point of extent and grandeur. The redemption of the human race, as dis- played in the Christian revelation, is a theme sufficiently grand, astonishing, and interesting, to command the attention of all who are con- vinced that they belong to an apostate race of intelligences, and to excite the admiration and gratitude of all who have experienced its bene- fits ; and it stands in no need of such unfounded and extravagant assertions, to display its riches and glory. " Will a man speak deceitfully for God ? Shall not his excellency make you afraid, and his dread fall upon you?" We pronounce nothing decisively on this subject. We feel our- selves chained down to an obscure corner of God's dominions, to be in the very infancy of our knowledge, and withal, to be connected with a race of beings whose "understandings a.e darkened by reason of sin ;" and are therefore unable to pronounce an infallible decision on what God will or will not do. Were we to ha- zard a conjecture on this subject, we would say, that the converse of the proposition under consi- deration is more probable than the proposition itself. We can conceive of worl.ls ten thousand times more populous than ours, and peopled with a higher order of intellectual beings, towards whom a similar display of benevolence and mercy, were it necessary, may be made ; and, therefore, in point of the extent of its objects, we can con- ceive the love of God more illustriously mani- fested than even to the inhabitants of ou* globe But whether such an event shall ever take place, it would be presumption in us to determine. For the thoughts and the ways of God as far transcend ours, " as the heavens are high above the earth." It demands our highest tribute of graceful adora- tion, that the Almighty condescended to " regard us in our low estate," and to deliver us from the moral degradation into which we had fulleg ; but, surely, it would be unreasonable to conclude, from this consideration,- that of all the rational tribes which people the universe, manis the only favourite of the Most High, " when thousand worlds are round." Though myriads of other intelligences were to share in similar favours, it would not lessen the happiness conferred on us, nor ought it in the least to detract from our ad/- miration of" the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." There are a great many other vague and un- tenable notions which are entertained and reite- rated by certain commentators and divines, as indisputable axioms, which it would be of im- portance to the cause of religion to discard such as that angels are pure immaterial sub- stances* that they were formed on the first day of the Mosaic creation that the wisdom of God is no where so illustriously displayed throughout the universe as in the scheme of re- demptionf that the chief employment of the future world will be to pry into the mysteries of salvationj that sin is an infinite. evil that th * In the Scriptures ansels are called spirits. And till some evidence is offered of their materiality, we shall see no reason to abandon the opinion, that the/ are pure spirits. Ed. * To show that it is important to discard this sen- timent, the author ouirht at least to have stated some good reason for belifving it to be without founda- tion. Until something more decisive of this point shall be made to appear, there cannot be the least occasion to abandon the sentiment in question. Ed. | Here substantially the same reply may lie made as in the preceding instance. Prove that this wifl not be the chief employment of heaven Show that any thing else will, for the most part, occupy the attention of the spirits of just men made perfect in glory, and the sentiment under consideration will be readily renounced. Till then we shall claim the ris:ht to belie":,, -,', in beholding, admiring, and adoring Him, who fiitth loved them and died for them. AW. Infinite is once used in the scriptures to qualify the term iniquity, Jobxxii.5. Isnotthyw^ickednest great and thine iniquities infinite? Hut not to in- sist on perhaps a too literal interpretation of the term, it will be sufficient to show what it is ordina- rily used to denote. 8ome authors, regarding only the very limited faculties and powers of human beings, deem it im- possible, that any of their deeds can be un infinite evil. Others, considering only the infinity of the Bein* against whom sin is committed, find no difficulty in convincing themselves, that // is an infinite evil. There is also a third class, who, taking the word of God for their guide, ami learning that sin exposes men to everlasting punishment, do not hesitate to denominate that an infinite, evil, which brings on its guilty victim sufferings infinite in duration." Under- stood in this last sense, we can feel no obligation ttf APPENDIX. 159 whole material universe was brought into exist- ence at the same time with our earth that the Creator ceased to create any new order of beings in the universe, after arranging the fabric of our globe that the whole system of material nature in heaven and earth will be destroyed at the period of the dissolution of our world that our thoughts and affections should be completely de- tached from all created things, &c. &c. Several vague notions of this description are founded on the false assumption, that the globe we inhabit, and the rational beings that have appeared on its surface from age to age, are the chief objects of God's superintendence and care and that the Scriptures are the only medium through which we can view the plans and operations of the Deity assumptions, which are contrary to rea- son, which are unwarranted in revelation, nay, which are directly contradicted in numerous passages of Scripture, some of which have al- ready been referred to in the course of this vo- lume. It would be of essential service to the cause of Christianity, tliat its doctrines, facts, and moral requisitions were uniformly exhibited in their native simplicity and grandeur, without being obscured and distorted by the vague and extravagant representations with which they are too frequently blended by injudicious minds. No. XI. As authority has a considerable degree of weight on some minds, 1 shall .conclude with an extract on the subject of this volume, from that respectable and enlightened divine, Dr. Dwight, late president of Yale college : ' ' The works of God were by him intended to be, and are, in fact, manifestations of himself; proofs of his character, presence, and agency. In this light he requires men continually to regard them : and to refuse this regard is considered by him as grossly wicked, and highly deserving of punish- ment, Psalm xxviii. 5. Isa. v. 12 14. I am apprehensive, that even good men are prone to pay less attention fo the works of creation and providence than piety demands, and the scrip- tures require. We say and hear so much con- cerning the insufficiency of these works to un- fold the character of God, and the nature of genuine religion, that we are prone to consider them as almost uninstructive in moral things, and, in a great measure, useless to the promo- tion of piety. This, however, is a palpable and dangerous error. The works alone, without the aid of the scriptures, would, I acknowledge, be far less instructive than they now are, and ut- terly insufficient to guide us in the way of right- reject it. It must, however, be admitted that it is not always used in this manner, ai..i that it is some- tones an occasion of ambiguity. Ed. eousness. The scriptures were designed to &o a comment on these works ; to explain their na- ture, and to show us the agency, purposes, wis- dom, and goodness of God in their formation. Thus explained, thus illuminated, they become means of knowledge, very extensive and emi- nently useful. He who does not find in the va- rious', beautiful, sublime, awful, and astonishing objects presented to us in creation and provi- dence, irresistible and glorious reasons for ad- miring, adoring, loving, and praising his Crea- tor, has not a claim to evangelical piety." Sys- tem of Theology, vol. iii. p. 477. No. XII. List of Popular Works on the differ- ent Sciences treated of in this volume, with occasional remarks. SELECT BOOKS ON NATURAL HISTORV. " Goldsmith's History of the Earth, and ani- mated nature," with notes by T. Brown, Esq. published at Manchester, 6 vols. 8vo. The co pious notes appended to this edition, contain an account of the latest discoveries, and form a valuable addition to the original work " The Gallery of Nature and Art," by Dr. Masor. Good, and others, 6 vols. 8vo. " Spectacle de la Nature" or Nature Displayed, 7 vols. 12mo. " Nature Displayed," by Dr. Simeon Shaw, 3 vols. 8vo. or in 6 vols. 12mo. This work, though chiefly a compilation, imbodies a great variety of interesting and popular descriptions of tho most remarkable facts in the system of nature, which are illustrated with numerous engravings, both plain and coloured. Clarke's " Hundred Wonders of the World," one vol. I2mo. and Plait's" Book of Curiosities," contain a num- ber of interesting selections on this subject. Smellie's " Philosophy of Natural History," 2 vols. 4to. and his translation of " Buffon's Na- tural History." Works entitled, " System" and " Elements" of " Natural History," are nu- merous ; but the greatest part of them is confi- ned to descriptions of the forms, habits, and in- stinct of animals. On this department of natu- ral science, a work is just now in course of pub- lication, by the celebrated Cuvier, entitled " The Animal Kingdom ,'' with engravings, chiefly from the living subjects in the Museum of Na- tural History at Paris. A popular and 1 compre- hensive history of the facts which have been ascertained respecting the earth, the atmosphere, the meteors, the heavens, &c. calculated for general readers, and interspersed with appropri- ate moral and religious reflections, is still a desi- deratum. The facts of natural history, next to the facts recorded in the sacred volume, are the first subjects to which the minds of the young should be directed in the course of a general education. 160 THE CHRISTIAN PHlloSOPHER. SF.1.EOT BOOKS ON GEOGRAPHY. Pinkerton's Modern Geography, 2 vols. 4to. and the Abridgment, one vol. 8vo. Guthrie's Geographical Grammar. The Glasgow Geo- graphy, ir. 5 vols. 8vo. This work comprehends an immense mass of information, on the histori- cal and descriptive parts of geography. It also contains comprehensive compends of astrono- my, geology, meteorology, &c. Malte Brun's " System of Geography," 8vo. The English translation of this work, when completed, will comprise the fullest and most comprehensive view of universal geography that has yet ap- peared in our language, including details of the most recent discoveries. Five volumes of the English translation have already appeared. The first volume contains a luminous and compre- hensive outline of the science of Geology, and Physical and Mathematical Geography. Myer's " System of Modern Geography," with maps, views, engravings representing costumes, &c. 2 large vols. 4to. Cooke's " System of Universal Geography," in 2 very large quarto vols. closely printed, contains a great variety of interesting sketches in relation to Descriptive Geography, extracted from the writings of mo- dern voyagers and travellers ; the details of incidents, &c. being related for the most part, in the words of the respective authors from whom the information is collected. Winterbotham's " Geographical and Historical view of the United Stales of America, &c." 4 vols. 8vo. Morse's American Geography," 8vo. Gold- smith's " Geography on a popular plan," con- tains an interesting account of the manners and customs of nations, for the entertainment and in- struction of the young, illustrated with above 60 engravings. Of smaller systems, there is a great abundance in the English language, but most of them are extremely deficient, particulary in what relates to General Geography. On Sa- cred Geography, Wells's Geography, modernized by the editor of Calmet'sDiciionary, is the most complete work of its kind. On Physical or Ge- nera/Geography Playfair's System of Geogra- phy, vol. I. and Varenius's General Geography. A Modern system of Geography, in a separate form, on the plan of Varenius, is a desideratum. Edin. Ency. Art. Geography. Sup. to Ency. Brit. Art. Physical Geography, &c. &c. Books of Voyages and Travels, generally contain the most circumstantial details of the physical as- pects. of the different countries, and of the dis- positions and customs of their inhabitants ; and present to the view of the Christian philanthro- pist, those facts and incidents, from which the moral state and character of the various tribes of human beings may be inferred. The following works contain comprehensive abridgments of the most celebrated voyages and travels. "Pin- terton's General Collection of Voyages and Travels in all parts of the World," 17 voli 4to " Mavor's Voyages," &c. 28 vols. I8mo. "The World Displayed," 18 vols. 18.no. "Philips's Collection of Voyages and Travels," fee. The following are among the most respectable modern publications on this subject, arranged according to the different quarters of the world. ASIA. " Valencia's Travels in India, Arabia," &c. " Porter's Travels in Georgia, Armenia," &c. " Golownin's Travels in Japan." ' Staun- ton's Account of Macartney's Embassy to China." "Raffle's Travels in Java." "Clarke's Travels in Asia Minor, and the Holy Land." " Chateaubriand's Travels in Palestine." " Ali Bey's Travels in Arabia." "Morier's Travels through Persia," &c. AFRICA. " Lyon's Tra- vels in Northern Africa." Burckhard's Travels in Nubia. Bruce's Travels in Abyssinia. Salt's Travels in Abyssinia. Bowdich, Button, and Dupuis's Account of Ashantee. Leigh's Jour, in Egypt. Belzoni's Travels in Egypt. Sonini's Travels in Egypt. Barrow's, Bur- chell's, and Campbell's Travels in Southern Africa, &c. &c. AMERICA. Howison's Sketch- es of Upper Canada. Fearon's Sketches of tha United States. Miss Wright's Views of So- ciety in the United States. Humboldi's Travels in South America. Duncan's Travels in the United States. Luccock's, Vidal's, Kosters's, and Hall's Travels in South America, &c. EUROPE. Henderson's and Mackenzie's Tra- vels in Iceland. Thompson's Travels in Swe- den. Carr's Travels in Russia, Denmark, &c Pallas's Travels in Russia. Wraxhall's. Neale's, Coxe's, and Lemaistre's Tours through France, Switzerland, Germany, &c. Bour- going's and Jacob's Travels in Spain. Brydon's Tour in Sicily, &c. Von Buch's Travels in Norway and Lapland. Cochrane's Travels in Siberia, &c. Cook's, Anson's, Byron's, Pe- rouse's, and Bougainville's Voyages round the World, &c. Prior's Universal Traveller, one thick vol. 12mo. closely printed, with one hun- dred engravings. SELECT BOOKS ON GEOLOGY. Kirwan's " Mineralogy," and his " Geological Essays." De Luc's " Geology," and his " Geo- logical Travels." Parkinson's " Organic Re- mains of a former World," 3 vols. 4to. ' The Fossils of the South Downs, or Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex, by G. Mantel, F. L. S." The preliminary essay to this splendid work contains several excellent remarks respecting the connexion of geology with religion, which are calculated to advance the interests of both. Cuvier's " Essay on the Theory of the Earth," with illustrations by Professor Jameson; 4lh edition. Playfair's illustrationsof the Huttonian Theory of the Earth. Transactions of th APPENDIX. 161 Geological and Wernerian Societies. Jame- son's Mineralogy. Buckland's Account of the Discovery of a Den of Hyenas in a cavern in Yorkshire. Pliilips's " Outlines of Mineralogy and Geology," 12mo. This last work forms a good introduction to the study of Geology, for those who are just commencing their inquiries on this subject. The object of this science, in the mean time, should be chiefly to the collecting of facts in reference to the structure of the earth, and the changes it has undergone. The exterior aspect of our globe, and its internal recesses, must be still more extensively explored, before any theory of the earth can be established on a broad and solid foundation. It should be left to future ages to build a system with the materials we are now preparing. POPULAR WORKS ON ASTRONOMY. Brewster's " Ferguson's Astronomy," 2 vols. 8vo. with a vol. of plates. The notes and sup- plementary chapters of this work, written by Dr. Brewster, contain a full and comprehensive detail of all the modern discoveries in this science. " Bonnycastle's Introduction to Astro- nomy," 1 vol. 8vo. La Place's %< System of the World," 2 vols. 8vo. Dr. Olinthus Gregory's Astronomy, 1 vol. 8vo. Mrs. Bryan's " System of Astronomy," 8vo. Dr. Mylne's " Elemen- tary Treatise on Astronomy," 8vo. Adam's " Astronomical and Geographical Essays," 8vo. Philips's " Eight Familiar Lectures on Astro- nomy," 12mo. Squire's " Grammar of Astro- nomy," 1 thick vol. 18mo. closely printed and illustrated with 35 plates. The " Wonders of the Heavens." 12mo. This work contains a popular view of the principal facts of Astronomy, and is illustrated with 50 elegant engravings, of a variety of interesting objects connected with the scenery of the heavens; but its discussions are too frequently blended with the peculiarities of a modern physical theory. Martin's " Gen- tleman and Lady's Philosophy," vol. 1. Der- hlm's " Astro-Theology," and Whiston's " As- tronomical principles of Religion," 8vo. Bax- ter s "Matho," 2 vols. &c. An elegant and comprehensive outline of the leading facts of Astronomy, in their relation to revealed Reli- gion , will be found in Dr. Chalmers's " Discourses on the Christian Revelation, viewed in connec- tion with the Modern Astronomy," 8vo. The general reader in commencing his study of this science, will find Bonnycastle's " iniiooin-tion" a very interesting work. It is written in an elegant and animated style, and is agreeably in- terspersed with a number of appropriate reflec- tions ; but it is deficient in the detail of modern discoveries. He might next proceed to the pe- rusal of Ferguson, Gregory, Squire, &c. La Place's work contains a beautiful exposition of Ihe Newtonian system, but it is glaringly defi cient in a reference to the wisdom and ajency of a Supreme Intelligence. "An undevout as- tronomer is mad." Baxter's " Matho," contains a popular and interesting view of this subject, and forms a striking contrast to the apathy of La Place, who carefully keeps out of view the agency of the Creator the main design of this author being to connect the phenomena of the heavens ard the earth with the attributes of Deity, and the high destination of immortal minds. Though this work passed through thre November, 1835. J CONTENTS. Page INTRODUCTION. Importance of the object proposed in the following work, and its practi- cability. Reasons why it has never yet been accomplished. Prospects of future im- provement, - PART I. ON EDUCATION. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Importance of education subject too much overlooked defi- ciency in the arrangements made in reference to this object desirable that a taste for intellectual pursuits be induced what should be the grand object of education, - 12 CHAPTER I. PRESENT STATE OF EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. Education during the dark ages erection of colleges era of the Reformation and the effects produced by it. Education in the United States of America in Silesia, Wirtem- ^erg, Bavaria, Prussia, &c. in France Spain Russia Switzerland, - 14 CHAPTER II. STRICTURES ON THE MODE IN WHICH EDUCATION HAS GENERALLY BEEN CONDUCTED Different views of the object of education absurd practices in relation to it deficiencies in the mode of religious instruction summary of the usual scholastic process. Errors and deficiencies. 1. No communication of ideas. 2. School-books not adapted to the capacities of youth specimens of their contents immorality and absurdity of some of these selections. 3. Injudicious exercise of the memory-Shorter Catechism, &c. 4. Absurd attempts at teaching Grammar Mr. Smellie's remarks on this subject. Fastidiousness in regard to the art of Writing. Strictures on the mode of teaching Arithmetic. Various circumstances which render education disagreeable to the young, want of ample ac- commodation long confinement in school undue severity hurrying children from one book to another attempts to teach several branches at one time, &c. Glaring defi- ciencies in the present practice attributable to the system more than to the teachers. Miscellaneous remarks, - - 22 CHAPTER III. HINTS IN REFERENCE TO A COMPREHENSIVE AND IMPROVED SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. General view of what an enlightened education should embrace. Defects in our treatises on this subject. Man's eternal destiny overlooked, &c., - 37 SECTION I. On the Education of the young during the period of infancy. Gradual opening of the infant mind. Manner in which its ideas are increased rapidity of its progress and acquisitions. 1. Physical education of infants, importance of, Food of infants : remarks on nursing. Propriety of paying attention to the effects of air and light. Clean- liness anecdote of a Russian. Clothing of children, simplicity of dress covering of the feet directions in regard to shoes, illustrated by figures. Sleep and exercise of children. Attention requisite to direct their pronunciation. 2. Moral instruction of infants. Means of acquiring an absolute authority over them. Plan recommended by Dr. Witherspoon. Anecdote of Mr. Cecil rule for securing authority obstacles which prevent mothers from acquiring it general violation of parental authority illustrated Abbot's " Mother at Home" recommended anecdote extracted from that work. Im- portance of attending to truth in the education of children, truth and falsehood in pic- torial exhibitions. Illustrative anecdote from Mr. Abbot. General rules on this subject. Habit of incessantly finding fault with children. Children should feel the consequences of their conduct, and be guarded against vanity and self-conceit. Danger of frightening children, illustrated by an appalling fact. Necessity of harmony in the conduct of parents towards their children. 3. Intellectual instruction of infants. Objects, natural and arti- ficial, which should be presented to their view mode of conveying a knowledge of the qualities of objects communication of ideas by engravings. Experiments on this sub- ject, with a boy about two years old. Importance of imparting correct ideas to the infant mind. Maternal associations. - - - - - -* - -38 (5) Q CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. ON INFANT SCHOOLS. Page Objects of infant schools. Proper situation for such institutions, and the apparatus requi- site for conducting them. Method of teaching vocal music, the alphabet, arithmetic, and the facts of sacred history figure of the Arithmeticon. Advantages which would flow from the universal establishment of infant schools increase of useful information for- mation of intellectual habits 'foundation laid of moral conduct certainty of success when judicious moral training is attended to. Moral effects of infant teaching, illustrated by examples. Infant schools, beneficial to general society and counteractive of juvenile delinquency. Social habits cultivated with safety. Influence of infant schools on Mis- sionary operations infant schools in Africa such institutions ought to be universally established for all ranks. Qualifications of teachers in order to render them efficient. Origin and progress of infant schools, - V' , - - ^ : , - 5T CHAPTER V. ON SCHOOLS FOR YOUNG PERSONS FROM THE AGE OF FIVE OR SIX TO THE AGE OF FOURTEEN YEARS, Introductory remarks plan, situation, and arrangement of school-room, illustrated with cuts. Idea of a seminary on a large scale. School furniture Apparatus and Museum systematic sets of engravings. Description of a new Optical Diagonal Machine, with figures, suggestions to engravers on this subject. Beneficial effects of such schools. School books, and the principles on which they ought to be constructed. Specimens of subjects for elementary books, objections obviated. Outline of a school-book for the advanced classes, drawn up twenty-six years ago, capacity of children for understand- ing judicious selections, third series of school-book, comprising popular systems of the sciences, &c. Historical class-books, with remarks on the manner in which history should be taught, propriety of embellishing school-books with engravings Dictionaries and portable Cyclopedias, - 67 CHAPTER VI. METHOD OF TEACHING, AND THE DEPARTMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE WHICH SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN EVERY SEMINARY. SECTION I. English Reading. Specimen of lessons for children, and the mode in which they should be taught. Lesson on the Peacock, with an engraving. Lesson on the phi- losophical toy termed the Sagacious Swan, with remarks. Lesson for the advanced classes description of volcanos, with engravings. Questions on the lesson. Manner in which such questions should be formed and arranged. Sets of miscellaneous ques- tions. Lessons on objects. ---_ . _ _ 73 SECTION II. Writing and Composition. Mr. Buchanan's plan for teaching writing on slates, (with a cut.) Professor Jacotot's plan. Specimens of sentiments and statements of facts for copy lines. Mode of training the young in the art of composition, - 85 SECTION III. Drawing. Mode of procedure in learning this art. Fancy landscapes, &c., should be discarded ; drawing from the objects of nature and art. Utility of this accom- plishment, - - - 88 SECTION IV. Arithmetic. Mode of conveying ideas of numbers ; the relative value of money ; the measures of length and capacity, of time, and the divisions of the circle, (with figures.) Sensible illustration of arithmetical operations, (with cuts.) Illustration of the value of fractions. Miscellaneous hints, - 89 SECTION V. Grammar. Absurdities in relation to this subject; Lord Kaimes' opinion on our mode of teaching grammar. Simple mode of communicating the elements of gram- mar. Origin of language, suggests the proper method of teaching it. Fundamental rules of syntax; complexity of some of our " English Grammars." General remarks, - 94 SECTION VI. Geography. Utility of this science. Deficiencies in the mode of teaching it. Mode of proving the globular form of the earth, illustrated with figures. Mode of conveying an impressive idea of its magnitude. Quantity of solid matter it contains; how many mountains, such as Etna, would be required to form a mass equal to the earth. Diversified scenery on the earth's surface, quantity of water in the rivers and seas, &c. Projections and delineations requisite for illustrating Geography. Maps exhibiting the ranges of mountains ; the proportional length and breadth of rivers ; comparative size of countries, lakes, and seas; Isothermal charts; charts of geographical Zoology ; chart of moral and religious geography, &c. ; views of the cities, grottos, &c. ; slate globes ; delineations of the comparative heights of mountains ; wax models of particular coun- tries, &c. Mode of describing countries. Geographical class-books, what they should contain. Directions for commencing this study. Characteristics of certain Geographical class-books lately published in America, - 98 SECTION VII. Geology. Its practical utility. Classification of the rocks and strata of the globe, illustrated with a plate. Specimens for illustrating geological facts ; books on Geology, --'--- __ - 106 (6) CONTENTS. 7 Page. SECTION VIII. Astronomy. Object and utility of this science. Mode of communicating to the young a knowledge of celestial phenomena. Observations on the motion of the sun, and the phases of the moon ; the principal stars and constellations ; apparent motion of the celestial vault ; apparent annual motion of the sun ; measures of the celestial sphere. Apparent motion of the planets ; experiment which solves the apparent irre- gularities. Proofs of the Earth's diurnal rotation ; of its annual revolution. Mode ot explaining the variety of seasons. Manner of exhibiting the phenomena of the planets, and the magnifying powers best adapted to this purpose. Circumstances to be attended to in exhibiting the moon through a telescope. Mode of exhibiting the solar spots. Im- perfect conceptions conveyed by orreries and planetariums. Manner of representing the proportional magnitudes and distances of the planets. Mode of explaining a paral- lax, illustrated by figures. Books on Astronomy ; Burrett's " Geography of the Hea- vens," &c. ... . 108 SECTION IX. Experimental Philosophy and Chemistry. Departments of Experimental Philosophy. Mechanical Powers. Experiments illustrative of Hydrostatical principles, (with figures). Simple experiments illustrative of Pneumatical subjects ; pressure, elas- ticity, and compressibility of air ; principle of the diving-bell ; siphons; effects of the expansion of air, &c. Methods of cutting glass tubes and bending them for siphons. Optical experiments, for explaining the principles of telescopes and microscopes. De- scription of a diagonal eye-piece. Camera obscura, on a large scale. Phantasmagoria, solar microscope : manner of procuring animalcula. How a compound microscope may be formed from a common telescopic eye-piece. Experiments with concave mirrors. Chemical subjects and apparatus ; Books on Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, - 117 SECTION X. Mathematics. General remarks on the plan and order in which a knowledge of this subject should be communicated to young persons, - - - 126 SECTION XI. Physiology. Inconsistency of omitting this department in a general course of education. Evils which arise from ignorance of this subject. Distortions of the human frame caused by absurd practices. Means by which a general knowledge of the human system might be communicated. Figure exhibiting the thorax and abdomen. Evidences of design in the human fabric. Practical purposes to which a knowledge of Physiology might be applied, ... _ 127 SECTION XII. Logic or the Art of Reasoning. Utility of this subject. Outline of a com- prehensive system of Logic. Popular Logic examples of reasoning with remarks. Sub- jects for exercising the reasoning powers. Anecdotes of Gassendi, when a boy, and his mode of reasoning with his companions. Analysis of Gassendi's reasoning. .Reasoning to prove that, " air exists" that " all should enjoy a moral and intellectual educa- tion." Sources of Error illustrated. Sophisms illustrated. Particular species of false reasoning. Importance of an early exercise of the rational faculty evils which have arisen from false reasoning. Diabolical reasoning reasoning by physical force by torture by fines and imprisonments reasoning of persecutors, of mobs, &c. Powerful influence of Gold in producing conviction, - - 130 SECTION XIII. Natural Theology. An appropriate study for the young. Summary of subjects and facts connected with this study. Other departments of knowledge briefly noticed, Natural History, Botany, Political economy, Vocal music, Domestic economy. Bodily exercises amusements and excursions. Female education illustrious females energy of the female mind, and its influence in society. Prevailing misconceptions. Reasons for universal instruction, - _ .... 138 CHAPTER VII. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. Instruction in the knowledge of the Deity. Mode of illustrating the Divine perfections, exemplified in reference to the Wisdom and the Immensity of God. Instruction in the history of the Divine dispensations religion to be taught chiefly from the Scriptures doctrines and precepts of Christianity propriety of a specific application of Scriptural precepts to the conduct of the youngl Moral training particularly exemplified. Man- ner in which the young should be directed in the study of the Scriptures. Scripture class-book - - > V - - - - - - - 144 CHAPTER VIII. SABBATH SCHOOLS. Defects which adhere to the present system of Sabbath Schools. Qualifications of Sabbath School Teachers. Necessity of their being trained to their office. Departments of knowledge they should study Sacred History, Ancient Geography, Biblical Criticism, &c. General remarks on Sabbath Schools practices to be avoided, &c. Books on this subject, -...-..-..-151 CHAPTER IX. SCHOOLS FOR YOUNG PERSONS FROM THE AGE OF FOURTEEN TO THE AGE OF TWENTY OR UPWARDS. Necessity of such institutions. Subjects to which this class of young persons should be directed. Pre-requisites to their establishment, - - - - 156 (7) 8 CONTENTS. Page. CHAPTER X. ON THE QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS AND SEMINARIES FOR THEIR INSTRUCTION. Deficiency in the qualifications of Teachers honourable nature of the office necessity of training. Preceptoral Colleges, and the subjects to be studied. Examination of can- didates. Importance of training candidates for teachers. Infant School Teachers. Prussian Normal Schools, . - - V 1 * y * - 158 CHAPTER XL ON THE PRACTICABILITY OF ESTABLISHING SEMINARIES FOR INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. Number of schools requisite to DC established in Scotland and England. Importance of such institutions, and the necessity for philanthropic exertions. Liberality under the Jewish economy. Enormous sums expended in war. Pension list. Contested elec- tions. Savings which might be made in personal expenditure. Sums spent on spirituous liquors. Appeal to Christians. Contributions of the Jews, and predictions in relation to the Christian Church. Means requisite for exciting attention to this subject. Limited views of education taken by statesmen. Voluntary and compulsory education, - 161 CHAPTER XII. ON THE UTILITY OF ESTABLISHING SEMINARIES FOR UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. I. They would tend to the prevention of Crime. Number of thieves in London trials at the Old Bailey erroneous views of legislation inefficiency of severe punishments juvenile delinquency deficiency of Education in England and Scotland. Beneficial esults of education Schools, publications, Sac. in Boston and New York. Expense of punishing crime. II. Universal education would elevate the general character of man. Contrast between the majority of mankind, and celestial intelligences. Native dignity of man security of property dependent on education. III. Universal education intro- ductory to the Millennium. Manner in which this era will be introduced when it will commence. Exertions preceding the Millennium. Christian generosity and heroism. Story of St. Pierre. Contributions for the tabernacle and temple. The Pilgrims of New England, . .', - *- - . - - 169 CHAPTER XIII, PRINCIPLES ON WHICH A NATIONAL SYSTEM OF EDUCATION SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED. Difficulties Brougham's " Education Bill" of 1821. Liberal views in the establishment of education. Superintendence of education. Mode of religious instruction. Efficiency of Scriptural instruction. Harmony of Sectaries in America. Proposed plan of estab- lishing education, , - *, f'*" - 179 CHAPTER XIV. MAXIMS, OR FIRST PRINCIPLES IN EDUCATION. Ideas should precede words tasks exhilarating associations principle of emulation corporal punishments confinement fixing the attention, &c. - - 1S4 CHAPTER XV. MECHANICS' INSTITUTIONS. The author's communications on this subject, in 1814. Condensed view of them. Admis- sion of members. Subjects of discussion, and mode of conducting it. Funds of the Society, and their application. Publications of the Society. Correspondence with other Societies. Defects in the objects of Mechanics' Institutions as presently constituted. Suggestions for their improvement, - - 186 PART II. MISCELLANEOUS HINTS IN REFERENCE TO THE DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF SOCIETY. Introductory remarks, 192. I. Improvements in preaching, 193. II. Union of the Christian Church, 198. III. Scriptures illustrated by engravings, 199. IV. Abridgment of the hours of labour necessary to improvement plan suggested, 200. V. Knowledge pro- moted by public exhibitions, 201. VI. Erection of Observatories, &c. 202. VII. Im- provement of towns and villages, 203. VIII. Itinerating Libraries their origin, plan, and effects, 205. IX. Delineations and inscriptions on articles of-furniture, 206. X. Changes requisite in certain laws, regulations and customs, 207. XI. Friendly intercourse between nations, 208. XII. Intellectual and religious improvement of Seamen Number of, in the British service, 209. XIII. Formation of societies for promoting improvements, 210. XIV. Counteraction of Avarice, - - - 21\ APPENDIX. Insanity from excessive study, ?.* 2 > - ^: ;; ' - -211 (8) v ON THE MENTAL ILLUMINATION AND MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. INTRODUCTION. BEFORE we attempt to accomplish any great and extensive enterprise, it is requi- site to ascertain, in the first place, whether the object we propose be attainable, and, in the next place, whether, if attained, it would be productive of beneficent effects. If these points are not ascertained, previous to our engaging in any undertaking, we may exert our intellectual faculties, and active powers, and spend our time, our wealth, and our labour, to no purpose, and in the end meet with nothing but disappointed expectations. The history of the world, and even the annals of science, would furnish hundreds of facts to corroborate this position. The object of the Alchemists was to transmute earthy substances and the baser metals into gold, and, by the fortunate labour of some happy day, when the stars were propitious, to realize vast treasures of wealth, to enable them to live in splendour and opulence during the remaining period of their lives. In this visionary pursuit, which, for severqj centuries, occupied the attention of princes, statesmen, ecclesiastics, physicians, and ex- perimenters of various descriptions, thou- sands of fortunes were irretrievably wasted, and the dupes of this fallacious science kept in perpetual anxiety, and amused with vain and unfounded expectations. Even although such schemes had been practicable which experience proves they are not it would not be difficult to show, that, had they been successful, they would have produced more misery than happiness among mankind. The study of the heavens, with the view of foretelling future events, and the desti- nies of men, from the different aspects of the planets and the signs of the Zodiac, was another scheme which, for many ages, ab- sorbed the attention of kings, legislators, popes, cardinals, and even men of science, aa well as that of the illiterate vulgar, and, 2 in numerous instances, no public affair of any importance was undertaken, without first consulting the stars. This fallacious art has likewise been proved impracticable, and inconsistent with the peace and happi- ness of mankind. The researches which were long made after the panacea, or uni- versal remedy for all disorders the search for an universal menstruum and ferment the search for a medicine which will confer immortality even in this world the attempts to discover mines by means of divining-rods and to cure palsies, inflammations, obstruc- tions, and other disorders, by animal mag- netism and metallic tractors and, above all, the attempt to conduct mankind to happiness by discarding the idea of a Divine Being and every species of religion from the plans pro- posed with hundreds of similar schemes, may be regarded nearly in the same light as the foolish arts of astrologers and alchemists, and could easily be shown to be equally unprofitable and vain. In endeavouring to promote a general diffusion of knowledge among the various ranks of society, it becomes us likewise to inquire, whether the attempt would be ac- companied with such beneficial effects as to warrant the labour and expense which must necessarily attend such an enterprise and, whether any insurmountable difficulties stand in the way of its accomplishment. There are not wanting, even amidst the light of science which is now shining around us, many individuals in the higher classes of society who are bold enough to insinuate, that an increase of knowledge would be injurious to the lower ranks of the commu- nity that its accomplishment is both un- desirable and impracticable that the moral world will proceed onward as it has hitherto done that there is no possibility of melio- rating the condition of the great mass of (9) 10 INTRODUCTION. mankind, and that it is altogether Utopian to attempt to direct the moral and jmtellectual energies of the human race into* any other channel than that in which they have hith- erto been accustomed to flow. Such insinua- tions evidently flow from a spirit of misan- thropy, and are intended, if possible, to fix the moral world in a quiescent state, as the material world was supposed to be in former times, and to damp every exertion that is now making to promote the improvement and the happiness of our species. They are likewise inconsistent with the dictates of Divine Revelation, which plainly declare that " the knowledge of Jehovah shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the channels of the seas," and that " all shall know him, from the least to the greatest." In a work lately published, I have endea- voured to illustrate, at considerable length, some of the advantages which would result from a general diffusion of knowledge, which, I presume, will tend to substantiate the position, that an increase of knowledge among all ranks would be productive of an increase of enjoyment. If a more extensive diffusion of knowledge would have a ten- dency to dissipate those superstitious notions and false alarms which have so long en- slaved the minds of men to prevent nu- merous diseases and fatal accidents to accelerate the improvement of the physical sciences to increase the pleasures and enjoyments of mankind to promote the progress of the liberal and mechanical arts to administer to the comforts of general society to prepare the way for new inven- tions and discoveries to expand our views of the attributes and moral government of the Deity to advance the interests of morality to prepare the mind for the plea- sures and employments of the future world to promote a more extensive acquaintance with the evidences, facts, and doctrines, of Revelation to prepare the way for the establishment of peace and harmony among the nations, and to promote the union and the extension of the Christian church ; if such positions can be fairly proved, every philanthropist and every rational and well- directed mind will readily admit, that a more general cultivation of the human intellect, and a more extensive diffusion of rational information, are highly desirable, and would be productive of the most auspicious and beneficial results, in reference both to the present interests and the future prospects of mankind. With regard to the practicability of this object, no rational doubt can be entertained, if the moral machinery requisite for its accomplishment were once thoroughly set (10) in motion. Wliatever Man has hitherto achieved, Man may still accomplish- If minds, once feeble and benighted, and igno- rant as the wild ass's colt, have, by proper training, been raised near the highest pitch of moral and intellectual attainments, other minds, by similar training, may be elevated to the same degree of perfection. If nations, once rude and ignorant, as the Britons for- merly were, have been raised to a state of civilization and refinement, and excited to cultivate the arts and sciences, the same means by which this object was accom- plished, may still be employed in other cases to produce the same effect. If several portions, however small, of any civilized community, have been brought to a high state of intellectual improvement, it is evi- dent, that the greater part, if not the whole, may be advanced into a similar state. It only requires that the means of instruction be simplified and extended, and brought within the reach of every one whose facul- ties are capable of cultivation. That this object has never yet been effected, is not owing to its impracticability, or to any in- superable obstacles which lie in the way of its accomplislftnent ; but because the attention of mankind has never yet been thoroughly directed to it: and because the means requisite for promoting it have never , been employed on a scale proportionate to the extent and magnitude of the enterprise. The influential classes of society, in every country, have been more absorbed in the pursuits of avarice, ambition, war, devasta- tion, and sensual gratifications, than in meliorating the physical and moral condition of their species. The tenth part of the trea- sures which have been wasted in the pro- secution of such mad and immoral pursuits, had it been properly directed, would have been more than sufficient to have brought the means of instruction within the reach of every individual of the human race, and to have transformed the barren wastes of evert country into the appearance of a terrestrial paradise. There is no govern- ment under heaven, so far as we are ac- quainted, (if Prussia and the United States of America be not excepted,) where the in- struction of the great mass of the people forms a prominent and specific object in its administration. On the contrary, in several instances, even within the limits of Europe, it is well known, that the intellectual in- struction of the lower orders is prohibited by a law.* Even in Great Britain, where * For example, A royal Sardinian edict, pub- lished in 1825, enjoins, "that henceforth no person shall learn to read or write who cannot prove the possession of property above the value of 1500 INTRODUCTION. 11 the light of science shines with peculiar effulgence, the exertions of philanthropists have been damped in their attempts to dif- fuse knowledge among the people ; heavy taxes have been imposed on the means of its diffusion ; men of knowledge have been persecuted and neglected, while men de- voted to war and bloodshed have been loaded with wealth, and exalted to the highest sta- tions of dignity and honour; no national scheme, supported by the state, has ever yet been devised for its universal propaga- tion among all ranks, and no sums set apart for this purpose, while the treasures of the nation have been wasted in extravagance, and, in too many instances, devoted to the support of vice, tyranny, and intolerance. But we trust that the breath of a new spirit is now beginning to animate the coun- cils of the nation and the great body of the people ; and when the means within our power of extending the blessings of know- Mvres," or about 62 10s. sterling. And it is well known, that the greater part of the lower classes in Russia, Austria, and Poland, are, from their situation, debarred from the benefits of instruc- tion. ledge shall be employed with energy and judgment, we may expect, ere long, to be- hold a generation rising up, in intelligence and moral action, superior to all the genera- tions that have gone before it improving the soil, adorning the landscape, promoting the progress of the useful arts, enlarging the. boundaries of science, diffusing the blessings of Christianity over the globe, giving an impulse to every philanthropic movement, counteracting the spirit of war, ambition, and licentiousness, cultivating peace and friendly correspondence with surrounding nations, and forming an impregnable bul- wark around every government where the throne is established in truth and in right- eousness. To state and illustrate the various means by which a more extensive diffusion of knowledge may be effected, and the general improvement of society promoted, is the main object of the following pages, in which the state of education in our country, and the principles on which it ought to be con- ducted, shall occupy our first, and our chief attention. (11) PART I. ON EDUCATION. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. THERE is, perhaps, nothing of more im- portance to the human race, and which has a more direct bearing on the happiness of all ranks, than the cultivation of the mental faculties, and the acquisition of substantial knowledge. Whether we consider man as a transitory inhabitant of this lower world, or as in a state of progression to another re- gion of existence it is of the utmost im- portance, that he be thoroughly acquainted with the Great Author of his existence, with the general structure of the universe in which he is placed, with the relations in which he stands to his fellow-men, and the other beings which surround him, with the duties he ought to discharge to his Creator, and to his own species, with the nature of that eternal world to which he is destined, and with that train of action and of contemplation which will prepare him for the enjoyments of a future and eternal state. All the other objects which can employ the attention of the hu- man mind must evidently be viewed as in some degree subordinate to these. For, on the acquisition of the knowledge to which we allude, and the corresponding course of conduct to which it leads, depends the hap- piness of man, considered both as an indi- vidual, and as a member of the great family to which he belongs his happiness both in the present life, and in the life to come. Nothing, however, appears to have been more overlooked, in the general arrangements of society, than the selection of the most proper means by which such important ends are to be accomplished. In those nations and societies which, in their progress from barbarity, have arrived at only a half-civilized state, the acquisition of the means of sub- sistence^ and of those Comforts which pro- mote then oeiisiuve enjoyment, forms almost the exclusive object of pursuit ; and it is not before they have arrived at a certain stage of civilization, that moral and intellectual improvement becomes an object of general attention. And, even in those nations which have advanced farthest in the path of science and of social refinement, the cultivation of the human mind, and the details of educa- tion, are not considered in that serious light which their importance demands. Almost every thing else is attempted to be accurately adjusted, while the moral and intellectual improvement of the mass of the community is left either to the direction of chance, or to the injudicious schemes of weak and igno- rant minds. Every one who has acquired a smattering of English grammar and arithme- tic, and who can write his own name, con- ceives that he is qualified to conduct the intellectual improvement of the young ; the most illiterate arid superficial pedants have intruded themselves into the office of teach- ers ; those who have never had the least ex- perience in the art of teaching, nor have studied its principles, have assumed the pre- rogative of dictating the arrangements and discipline of a school ; and hence, the office of a teacher of youth, which is one of the most important and respectable in the social system, has frequently been considered aa connected with the meanest talents, and with the lowest gradations in society. Great Britain has long held a distinguished rank among the nations of Europe in the scale of science and of civilization, and on account of the numerous seminaries of in- struction which have been established in every quarter of the island. Excepting Prus- sia, the United States of America, and the mountains, and vales of Switzerland, there are few countries in which education is more generally appreciated and more widely dif- fused than in the northern district of Great Britain ; and the effects produced by our literary and scholastic establishments are ap- parent in the desire for knowledge, and the superior intelligence which characterize the different ranks of our population. When we compare ourselves in this respect with the Russian boors, the Laplanders, the Cal- mucs, the Cossacks, or the Tartars, or even with the inhabitants of Naples, of Spain, or of Portugal, we seem to stand on an emi- nence to which they can scarcely hope to approach for a lapse of ages. On the other hand, when we compare ourselves with what we ought to be, as beings possessed of ra- PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 13 tional natures, and destined to immortality, and as surrounded with the light of science and of revelation, we shall find that we are, as yet, but little more than just emerg- ing from the gloom of moral depravity and mental darkness. When we consider the mass of depravity which is still hovering around us, the deplorable ignorance, the superstitious notions, the false conceptions ia regard to many important truths, the evil passions, and the grovelling affections, which so generally prevail, we must acknowledge that much, much indeed, remains to be ac- complished, before the great body of the people be thoroughly enlightened in the knowledge of all those subjects in which they are interested, as rational, accountable, and immortal beings, and before they can be induced to give a decided preference to moral pursuits and intellectual pleasures. And, if this is the case in a nation designated civil- ized and enlightened, how thick must be the darkness which broods over the inhabitants of other regions of the globe, how deep the moral debasement into which they are sunk, and how many vigorous efforts must be re- quisite, ere they can be raised to the true dignity of moral and intellectual agents 1 If ever this important object is to be accom- plished which the predictions of ancient prophecy leave us little room to doubt it is now high time that we arouse ourselves from our slumbers, and engage with increased ac- tivity and zeal in the work of reformation and of rational instruction. Let us not imagine that the preaching of the gospel, in the dull and formal manner by which it is at present characterized, will effectuate this great ob- ject, without the use of all the efficient means of juvenile instruction we can devise. While we boast of the privileges of our fa- voured land, of the blessings of Divine Reve- lation, and of the enlightened era in which we live ; and while we are endeavouring to impart to distant nations the blessings of science and of the Christian religion ; let us not forget, that there are thousands of the young generation around us, under the show of having obtained a good education, rising up in life, in a state of ignorance and vice, in consequence of the superficial and in- judicious modes by which they have been tutored, and which prevent them from profit- ing by the instructions of the ministers of religion. While the great body of mankind must ne- cessarily be engaged in manual employments, and while it is essential to their happiness, as well as to their bodily subsistence, that a portion of their time be thus employed, it would be a highly desirable object to induce upon their minds a taste for intellectual pur- suits, and for those pure enjoyments which flow from a contemplation of the works and providence of the Creator, and of those moral laws and arrangements which he has or dained for promoting the social order and the eternal happiness of mankind, in which those hours not devoted to worldly business might be occasionally employed. As man is a being compounded of a corporeal organized structure, and a system of intellectual powers, it evidently appears to have been the inten- tion of the Creator that he should be fre- quently employed both in action and in con- templation. But when his physical powers only are set in motion, and the principal ob- ject of his activity is to supply the wants of his animal frame, he can be considered as little superior to the lower orders of animated existence, and must, in a great measure, frustrate the end of the Creator in bestowing upon him the faculties of his rational nature. In order to raise mankind from the state of mental darkness and moral degradation into which they have fallen, it is essentially requisite, that the utmost care be bestowed on the proper direction cf the youthful mind, in its first excursions in the physical and moral world ; for when it has proceeded a certain length, amidst the mists of ignorance and the devious ways of vice, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recall it from its wanderings to the path of wisdom and feli- city. Instructions, not merely in reference to sounds and accents, and accurate pronun- ciation, but also in relation to important facts, and the various properties and relations of objects around them, must be communi- cated at an early age ; and not merely the names, but the ideas, of the most interesting objects in the physical and intellectual world, must be conveyed by a succession of well- defined mental imagery, and sensible illustra- tions, so as to arrest and impress the juvenile mind, and excite its energies and affections in the pursuit of knowledge and virtue. Without an attention to this important ob- ject, the business of elementary instruction appears to regard man rather as a mere ma- chine than as a rational and immortal being, and seems to be little short of an insult of- fered to the human understanding. The ul- timate object of all scholastic instruction ought undoubtedly to be, to convey to youth- ful minds substantial knowledge, to lead them gradually into a view of the nature and quali- ties of the objects with which they are sur- rounded, of the general appearances, motions, and machinery of external nature, of the moral relations in which they stand to the Great Author of their existence, and to one another, and of the various duties which flow from these relations, to direct their B (13) 14 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. affections, tempers, and passions, in such a channel as will tend to promote their own comfort, and the harmony of general society, and to prepare them for the nobler employ- ments of an immortal existence. Such moral and intellectual instructions ought to go hand in hand with the acquisition of the various combinations of sounds and syllables, and with the mechanical exercises of writing and ciphering; otherwise the beneficial conse- quences, which should result from instruction in the common branches of education, will be few and unimportant. Whether the pre- vailing modes of education in this country be calculated to promote the ends now stated, will appear, when we come to investigate the range of our elementary instruction, and the circumstances connected with the man- ner of its communication. Before proceed- ing to this investigation, I shall take a rapid view of the present state of education in different civilized nations. CHAPTER I. Present slate of Education in different Countries. Fon a long period, even after the intro- duction of Christianity among the nations of Europe, the education of the young seems to have been in a great measure neglected. The records of history afford us no details of any particular arrangements that were made either by the church or the state for promoting this important object. During the long reign of Papal superstition and tyranny, which lasted for nearly a thousand years, the instruction of the young appears to have been entirely set aside, or, at least, to have formed no pro- minent object of attention. The common people grew up, from infancy to manhood, ignorant of the most important subjects, hav- ing their understandings darkened by super- stition, their moral powers perverted, and their rational faculties bewildered and de- graded, by an implicit submission to the fool- ish ceremonies and absurdities inculcated by their ecclesiastical dictators ; and even many in the higher ranks of life, distinguished for their wealth and Influence in society, were so untutored in the first elements of learn- ing, that they could neither read nor write. Ignorance was one of the foundations on which the splendour and tyranny of the Romish hierarchy were built, and therefore it would have been contrary to its policy, and the schemes it had formed of universal domination, to have concerted any measures for the diffusion of knowledge and the en- lightening of mankind. We read of no nation or community, during the dark ages, that devised plans for the rational and reli- gious instruction of youth, excepting a poor, oppressed, and despised people "of whom the world was not worthy " the pious and intelligent, but persecuted Waldenses. It ap- pears that a system of instruction prevailed among these inhabitants of the valleys of (14) Piedmont, seven hundred years ago, more rational and efficient than has yet been estab- lished in the British Isles. It was not till the era of the Reformation that seminaries for the instruction of the young began to be organized and perma- nently established. Prior to this period, in- deed, colleges and universities had been founded in most of the countries of Chris- tendom ; but the instructions communicated in those seats of learning were chiefly con- fined to the priestly order, and to the sons of the nobility who aspired after the highest and most lucrative offices under the hierar- chy of Rome. Their influence was scarcely felt by the mass of the people ; and the ori- gin of the earliest of these seminaries cannot be traced much beyond the beginning of the thirteenth century. These new establish- ments, however, with the academical honours they conferred on proficients in knowledge, gave a powerful impulse to the study of sci- ence, and greatly increased the number of those who devoted themselves to the pursuits of learning. It is said, that, in the year 1262, there were no less than ten thousand students in the university of Bologna, al- though law was the only science taught in it at that time; and that in the year 1340, there were thirty thousand students in the university of Oxford. But the education of ' the middling and lower classes of society was still miserably neglected. Even in those countries which have since been distinguished for scholastic establishments, a universal apa- thy seems to have prevailed, in regard to the acquisition of knowledge, and of the first elements of education. In the year 1494, a few years before Luther began to assail the Romish Church, it was enacted by the Parliament of Scotland, " that all barons and STATE OF EDUCATION IN AMERICA. 15 substantial freeholders throughout the realm should send their children to school, from the age of six to nine years, and then to other seminaries, to be instructed in the laws, that the country might be possessed of persons properly qualified to discharge the duties of sheriffs, and other civil offices." Those who neglected to comply with the provisions of this statute, were subjected to a penalty of twenty pounds Scots. This enactment evi- dently implies, that even the influential classes of society, at that period, paid little attention to the education even of the male branches of their families, and, of course, that those in the lowest ranks must have been generally, if not altogether deprived of this inestimable privilege. It was only after the passing of this act, as Dr. Henry remarks, that several individuals began to be distin- guished for their classic^ acquirements, and that learning was much more generally dif- fused throughout the country. At the time of the revival of learning, soon after the Reformation, a new impulse was given to the human mind, a bold spirit of inquiry was excited in the laity, when the vices of the .Romish clergy were exposed, and their impositions detected ; the absurdity of many tenets and practices authorized by the church was discovered ; the futility of the arguments by which illiterate monks at- tempted to defend them was perceived ; the mystic theology of the schools was set aside, as a system equally unedifying and obscure ; the study of ancient literature was revived; the attention was directed to the sacred Scriptures, as the only standard of religious truth, the legendary tales of monkish super- stition were discarded, a taste for useful knowledge was induced, and from that pe- riod, seminaries for the instruction and im- provement of the juvenile mind, began to be gradually established in many of the coun- tries of Europe; although they are still miserably deficient both in point of number, and in the range of instruction which they profess to communicate. The following is a brief view of the present state of education in various countries : United States of America Although the system of education has never yet arrived nearly at perfection, in any nation, yet the inhabitants of the United States may be con- sidered, on the whole, as the best educated people in the world. With a degree of libe- rality and intelligence which reflects the highest honour on their character, they have made the most ample provision for the ele- mentary instruction of all classes ; and most of their arrangements, in reference to this object, appear to be dictated by disinterested benevolence, and by liberal and enlarged views of what is requisite to promote the moral improvement of society. In the New States, one square mile in every township, or one thirty-sixth part of all the lands, has been devoted to the support of common schools, besides seven entire townships for the endowment of larger seminaries. In the older States, grants of land have fre- quently been made for the same purposes ; but in New England all sorts of property are assessed for the support of the primary schools, which are established in every town- ship. The following extract from a speech of Mr. Webster, a distinguished member of Congress, in a convention held at Massachu- setts in 1821, displays the principles and practical operation of this system, and the grand design it is intended to accomplish : " For the purpose of public instruction," said this illustrious senator, "we hold every man subject to taxation in proportion to his pro- perty; and we look not to the question, whether he himself have or have not chil- dren to be benefited by the education for which he pays ; we regard it as a wise and liberal system of police, by which property and life, and the peace of society, are secured, We hope to excite a feeling of respectability, and a sense of character, by enlarging the capacities and increasing the sphere of in- tellectual enjoyment. By general instruc- tion, we seek, so far as possible, to purify the moral atmosphere ; to keep good sentiments uppermost, and to turn the strong current of feeling and opinion, as well as the censures of law, and the denunciations of religion, against immorality and crime. We hope for a security beyond the law and above the law, in the prevalence of enlightened and well- principled moral sentiment. We hope to continue and to prolong the time, when, in the villages and farm-houses of New En- gland, there may be undisturbed sleep within unbarred doors. We do not indeed expect all men to be philosophers or statesmen ; but we confidently trust, that by the diffusion of general knowledge and good and virtuous sentiments, the political fabric may be secure, as well against open violence and overthrow, as against the slow but sure undermining of licentiousness. We rejoice that every man in this community may call all property his own, so far as he has occasion for it to fur- nish for himself and his children the bless- ings of religious instruction, and the elements of knowledge. This celestial and this earthly light he is entitled to by the fundamental laws. It is every poor man's undoubted birthright it is the great blessing which this constitution has secured to him it is his solace in life and it may well be his conso- solation in death, that his country stands (15) 16 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. pledged, by the faith which it has plighted to all its citizens, to protect his children from ignorance, barbarity, and vice." These are noble sentiments and views, worthy of being adopted and reduced to practice by every government under heaven ; and we trust the period is not far distant when the British senate, and every other legislative assembly in Europe, shall have their attention directed to the arrangement of a system of universal education, on an expansive and liberal scale, and with such generous and disinterested objects in view. There are no states in the Union, nor perhaps in any country in the world, so amply provided with the means of instruc- tion, as the States of New York and New England. In New York, in 1829, there were no less than 8609 common schools, affording education to 468,205 young per- sons, which was rather more than a fourth part of the entile population! and it is pro- bable, that, since that period, the number has considerably increased. In Scotland, which is reckoned one of the best educated coun- tries in Europe, it is found, that only one in eleven, out of the entire population, has the benefit of education. In New England, free schools have been endowed by benefactions from different individuals, and the funds thus bequeathed by charity, or public spirit, have not been devoured by the cormorants of a grasping oligarchy, but prudently and carefully administered. The education given at these schools, too, is vastly superior to what is obtained at our parish schools. " The general plan of education at the pub- lic free schools here," says Mr. Stuart,* "is not confined to mere reading, writing, arith- metic and book-keeping, and the ancient and modern languages, but comprehends grammar, mathematics, navigation, geogra- phy, history, logic, political economy, rheto- ric, moral and natural philosophy. These schools being, as stated in the printed regu- lations, intended to occupy the young people from the age of four to seventeen, and to form a system of education, advancing from the lowest to the highest degree of improve- ment which can be derived from any literary seminaries inferior to colleges and universi- ties, and to afford a practical and theoretical acquaintance with the various branches of useful education. There are at present in Boston, 68 free schools, besides 23 Sabbath schools, in all of which the poorest inhabitant of Boston may have his children educated, according to the system of education now specified, from the age of four to seventeen, without any expense whatever. The chil- * "Three Years' Residence in North America.' (16) dren of both sexes are freely admitted. The funds of those schools are derived from funda and bequests from individuals, and grants from the legislature and corporations ; and enable the trustees, consisting of twelve citi- zens elected by the inhabitants of each of the twelve wards of the city, with the mayor and eight aldermen, to give the teachers salaries, varying from 2500 to 800 dollars a-year. The assistant teachers have 600 dollars. The trustees elect their teachers, and vote their salaries yearly, and no pre- ference is given on any principles but those of merit or skill. No expense whatever is incurred in these schools for the children, except in books. The richer classes in Bos- ton formerly very generally patronized teach- ers of private schools, who were paid in the usual way; but they now find that the best teachers are at the Ifead of the public schools, and in most cases prefer them the children of the highest and lowest rank enjoying the privilege, altogether invaluable in a free state, of being educated together. " In the adjoining State of Connecticut, it has been ascertained by actual reports, that one-third of the population of about 275,000, attend the free schools. The result of the recent inquiry into the state of education in the State of New York, which adjoins New England, and is almost equal to it in popula- tion, is very much, though not entirely the same. It proved by actual reports, that 499,- 434 children, out of a population of 1,900,- 000, were at the same time attending the schools, that is, a fourth part of the whole population. Although the public funds of New York State are great, these schools are not entirely free ; but free to all who apply for immunity from payment. The amount of the money paid to the teachers, by private persons, does not, however, amount to one- third of the whole annual expense, which is somewhat less than a million of dollars." Besides the seminaries appropriated to the instruction of the mass of the population, the United States contain no less than seventy colleges, in which the ancient and modern languages, the mathematical sciences, Natu- ral Philosophy, Chemistry, Logic, Christian Theology, and other branches, are regularly taught, as in the European universities; but with more attention to the moral and reli- gious conduct of the students. About the time of the American Revolution, in 1775, there were 10 colleges; from 1775 to 1800, 13 were established; from 1800 to 1814, 11 were added; and from 1814 to 1834, no less than 36 colleges have been established. In these colleges, 5500 students are prosecuting their education, in the different departments of Literature and 'Science. The American EDUCATION IN SILESIA. 17 Education Society is just now educating 912 young men for the ministry; the Pres- byterian Education Society has 612 stu- dents under its charge ; the Northern Baptist Sitciety has 250. The whole number at present educated by these Societies, includ- ing the Episcopalian, German, Lutheran, &c., is 2000. These are exclusive of a very large number who are paying the expenses of their own education, and who are equally pious and promising. It is to the numerous establishments of education the extensive range of instruc- tion they embrace the opportunities of in- struction afforded to the lowest classes of the community the superior degree of comfort they enjoy and to the elevation of charac- ter promoted by their free institutions, that we are to attribute the non-existence, in most parts of the United States, of what is usually termed a mob or rabble, and that depredations are less frequent, and property more secure, than in other countries. In the Southern States, indeed, the means of education are not so extensive, nor has society advanced to such a state of moral and mental improvement, as in the Northern. The reason is obvious. These States, with a most glaring inconsistency, still continue the abettors of slavery, in its most disgusting forms. More than one-half of their popula- tion consists of slaves, who are deemed un- worthy of enjoying the blessings even of a common education. A spirit of haughtiness and domination prevails among the influen- tial classes, barbarous amusements among the lower ; and Christian morals, the finer feelings of humanity, an* intellectual acqui- sitions, are too frequently disregarded. Silesia. This country, in consequence of the exertions of Frederick the Great, is now richly furnished with scholastic estab- lishments. Prior to 1765, Silesia, like the rest of Europe, was but wretchedly provided either with schools or with teachers. In the small towns and villages, the schoolmasters were so poorly paid, that they could not subsist without practising some other trade besides their occupation as instructors ; and they usually united the character of the vil- lage fiddler with that of the village school- master. Frederick issued an ordinance, that a school should be kept in every village, and that a competent subsistence should be pro- vided for the schoolmaster by the joint con- tribution of the lord of the village and the tenants. Felbiger, an Augustine monk, be- longing to a convent at Sagan, travelled to different countries to obtain an acquaintance with the best modes of teaching. After spending some years at Berlin, to obtain a perfect knowledge of the best method of in- struction in the schools of that city, he re- turned to Sagan, and made the convent to which he belonged a seminary for candidates as schoolmasters. Pattern schools were es- tablished at Breslaw, Glatz, and other places, on the principles he had adopted, and all candidates for the office of teachers, were obliged to attend these seminaries, and to practise the method in which they were there instructed. The clergy, no less than the teachers, were required to go through this process, because the superintendence of the teachers was to be committed to them. After these preparatory matters had been carried into effect, an ordinance was pub- lished in the year 1765, prescribing the mode of teaching, and the manner in which the clergy should superintend the system. The teachers were directed to give plain in- struction, and upon subjects applicable to the ordinary concerns of life ; not merely to load the memory of their scholars with words, but to make things intelligible to their understanding, to habituate them to the use of their own reason, by explaining every object of their lesson, so that the children themselves may be able to explain it, upon examination. The school tax must be paid by the lord and tenants, without distinction of religions. The boys must all be sent to school from their sixth to their thirteenth year, whether the parents are able to pay the school tax or not. For the poor the school money must be raised by collections. Every parent or guardian who neglects to send his child or pupil to school, without sufficient cause, is obliged to pay a double tax, for which the guardians shall have no allowance. Every curate must examine, weekly, the children of the school of his parish. A general examination must be held annually, by the deans of the districts, of the schools within their respective precincts ; and a re- port of the condition of the schools, the talents and attention of the schoolmasters, the state of the buildings, and the attendance of the children, made to the office of the vicar- general, who is bound to transmit all these reports to the royal domain offices, from which orders are issued to supply the defi- ciencies of the schools, and to correct any abuses that may be found to prevail. If one school suffice for more than one village, neither of them must be more than half a German mile, or two and one-fourth British miles, distant from it in the flat country, nor more than half that distance in the mourn tainous parts. This system had at first many difficulties to struggle with, from the indolence of the Catholic clergy, and their consequent aver- sion to the new and troublesome duty im- B 2 (17) 18 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. posed upon them. Their zeal was alarmed at the danger arising from this diffusion of light to the stability of their church. They considered the spirit of innovation, and the spirit of inquiry, as equally their natural enemies ; and the system still finds a certain degree of resistance from the penurious eco- nomy, and the stubborn love of darkness, which still prevail in some parts of this pro- vince. But in so far as it has been acted upon, its operation has proved a blessing to multitudes. As a proof of its extensive effects, the number of schools, in 1752, amounted only to 1552; but in 1798, their number was more than 3500 ; and many other facts, equally clear, attest the progres- eive increase of knowledge, and a desire for improvement. Before the seven years' war, there had scarcely ever been more than one periodical journal or gazette published in Silesia at one time ; but in 1801, there were no less than seventeen newspapers and maga- zines, which appeared by the day, the week, the month, or the quarter; many of them upon subjects generally useful, and contain- ing valuable information and instruction for the people. At the former period, there were but three booksellers, and all these at Breslaw; but in 1801, there were six in that capital, and seven dispersed in the other cities. The number of printing presses, and of bookbinders, had increased in a simi- lar proportion. Agriculture and manufac- tures, too, have been vastly improved and extended ; so that Silesia is, at this moment, one of the most flourishing districts of the Continent The habits of the people have been signally improved ; and they have be- come among the most intelligent, orderly, and industrious, in Europe.* Wirtemberg, Baden, Bavaria, $c. In Wirtemberg, during the last thirty years, the system of education has been very greatly extended and improved. A public school is established in every parish, and, in some instances, in every hamlet. The master re- ceives, as in Scotland, a fixed salary from the parish, exclusive of a small fee from the pupils, varying according to their age, and the subjects in which they are instructed. The fees are fixed by government, and are everywhere the same. Exclusive of the salaries and fees, the masters are furnished with a house, a garden, and, in most in- stances, a few acres of ground, corresponding to the glebes of the Scottish clergy. The law requires that the children should be in- structed in reading, writing, and arithmetic ; and it is specially enacted, that they shall be * See President Adams' Letters on Siletia, Quar- terly Jovrnal of Education, and Glasgow Oeoffra- phy, vol. iii. (18) instructed in the principles of German gram- mar and composition. The books used in the schools of Wirtemberg and Baden, are very superior to those used in similar estab- lishments in this country. They consist of geographical, biographical, and historical works, and elementary treatises on moral science, natural history, and the principles and practice of the most important and use- ful arts. In all the large schools, the boys and girls are kept separate. The girls, in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic, are taught all sorts of needlework, the knit- ting of stockings, the making of clothes, &c. ; receiving at the same time lessons in the art of cookery, the management of children, and other departments of domestic employment. The supervision of the schools is intrusted, in every parish or commune, to a committee, consisting of a few of the principal inhabit- ants ; the clergy of the parish, whether Pro- testants or Catholics, being always ex qfficio members of the committee. This body is intrusted with the duty of inspecting the school, and is bound to see that the master performs his duty, and that the children attend. No particular system of religion is allowed to be taught in any of the schools of Wirtemberg, and most of the other Germanic States. The tuition of this important branch is left entirely to the clergy and the parents of the children, so that the sons and daugh- ters of Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, Quakers, &c. frequent the schools, and live in the utmost harmony. The greatest desire prevails among the lower classes that their children should en- joy the advantages of the excellent educa- tion provided for them ; but the government, not trusting entirely to this feeling, has enacted regulations, by which every indi- vidual is compelled to send his children to school from the age of six to fourteen years. The public functionaries transmit regularly to government, once every six months, a list of the children in their respective districts, who have attained their sixth year ; and they are bound to see that they are sent to school. In the event of the parents being unable to pay the school fees, a statement to that effect is prepared by the parochial authorities, and the fees are paid by the public. In Bavaria, the beneficial consequences resulting from the establishment of a systeir of national education, have been more appa rent than in any other European country. Half a century ago, the Bavarians were the most ignorant, debauched, and slovenly peo- ple, between the Gulf of Genoa and the Baltic ; but, during the last thirty years, no people has ever made a more rapid advance- ment than they have done,, in the career of EDUCATION IN BAVARIA. 19 knowledge and of civilization. The late and present kings of Bavaria, have not only swept away myriads of abuses, and estab- lished a representative system of government, but they have laid the only sure foundations of permanent and real improvement, in the organization of an admirable system of national education. A school has been es- tablished in every parish, to which every one is obliged to send his children, from the age of six to fourteen; Lyceums, Colleges, and Universities have also been instituted, for the use of those who are desirous of prosecuting *heir studies ; and every facility is afforded for the acquisition of the best instruction, at the lowest price. The following is a sum- mary view of the principal seminaries in this country : Three universities, seven lyceums, eighteen gymnasia, twenty-one colleges, thirty-five preparatory schools, six- teen houses of education, seven for higher branches, two boarding-schools for girls, seven normal schools, one school for foreign- ers, two schools of law, two veterinary schools, two schools of midwifery, and two royal schools. The public, or national schools, amount to 5394 ; the inspectors to 286 ; the teachers to 71 14 ; and the pupils of all classes, to about 498,000; and, since the popula- tion of Bavaria is about four millions, it fol- lows, that not less than one-eighth of the entire population is at school, which is a higher proportion than what attends the schools in Scotland. Mr. London, the talented editor of the " Gardener's Magazine," who travelled over most parts of Wirtemberg, Bavaria, and Ba- den, in 1828, bears the most unqualified tes- timony to the excellence and efficiency of the system of public instruction adopted in these countries, and the beneficial effects which have resulted from its operation. " From what I have seen," says he, " of Wirtemberg, I am inclined to regard it as one of the most civilized countries in Europe. I am con- vinced that the great object of government is more perfectly attained here, than even in Great Britain ; because, with an almost equal degree of individual liberty, there are incom- parably fewer crimes, as well as far less poverty and misery. Every individual in Wirtemberg reads and thinks ; and to satisfy one's self that this is the case, he has only to enter into conversation with the first pea- sant he meets ; to observe the number and style of the journals that are everywhere circulated, and the multitude of libraries in the towns and villages. I did not meet with a single beggar in Wirtemberg, and with only one or two in Bavaria and Baden. The dress of the inhabitants of Wirtemberg, as well as those of .a great part of Bavaria and Baden, appeared to me to indicate a greater degree of comfort, than I had ever observed in any other country, with the exception, perhaps, of Sweden, and the Lowlands of Scotland." The above sketches were written two or three years ago. Since that time, M. Victor Cousin's "Report of the State of Public Instruction," has been published, and trans- lated into English by Mrs. Austin. This report, which fills nearly 340 pages, con- tains a very full, but rather dry detail, of the whole machinery of education in Prussia. From this document it appears, that, in 1831, there were 22,612 schools, and 27,749 school- masters and mistresses that the total num- ber of children under fourteen years of age was 4,767,072 ; the number between seven and fourteen years, 2,043,030, out of which, the number of children attending school was 2,02,1,421, or nearly a sixth part of the whole population, which is estimated at about twelve and a half millions. It does not appear, from this report, that infant schools are established in Prussia, or any institutions for the instruction of young per- sons from the age of fourteen to twenty, or upwards ; nor can we learn, from any thing stated in it, that an intellectual principle is uniformly acted upon in the details of educa- tion. The system presents too much of a military spirit and character, throughout all its departments, corresponding to the nature of a despotic government ; Ad it would re- quire a very considerable modification, before it could, with propriety, be adopted in a republic or a limited monarchy. Many defi- ciencies in the system likewise require to be supplied. Yet, notwithstanding all its de- fects, it has already produced a benign influ- ence on the knowledge and moral conduct of the inhabitants of that country ; and, in a short time, if Britain does not immediately bestir herself in the cause of education, the Prussian population will be among the most enlightened inhabitants of Europe. France. Notwithstanding the numerous scientific characters which have appeared in this country, and the discoveries and im- provements they have made in the physical and mathematical sciences the provision for public instruction, particularly in the southern departments, is very defective. The Revo- lution of 1789 annihilated almost every ex- isting institution, and those for public instruc- tion among the rest. For a period of nearly five years, a whole nation of thirty millions of people remained without any regular edu- cation. It was, indeed, enacted by a law of the 13th September, 1791, "That a system of public instruction should be organized; that the public schools should be open to (19) 20 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. every one ; and that no fees should be charged for the elementary branches. But, amidst the commotions and demoralizing scenes of that period, this law, like many others, was never carried into effect ; and, at this mo- ment, France, with the exception of Spain and Portugal, is worse provided with the means of elementary instruction, than any other countries in Europe. In the "Bulletin des Sciences Geographiques" vol. xiv. for 1828, it is stated, that "in France, the num- ber of children of an age to frequent primary schools is nearly 6,000,000. Of this number scarcely a million and a half receive instruc- tion." Thus, without adverting to the cir- cumstance of ten millions of adults who can neither read nor write, according to a recent calculation there are four millions and a half of young Frenchmen, who do not re- ceive even the first rudiments of education. The children at school, in the thirty-two de- partments of the north, are reckoned at 740,- 846 ; and in the fifty-four departments of the south, only 375,931, which is little more than one-thirtieth of the population. In Paris there are to be distinguished two popu- Iation,-"-the population already enlightened, . which comprehends, at most, about 100,000 souls; and the population which still remains to be enlightened, which amounts to nearly 800,000. Societies and individuals at Paris and other populous towns, exerted them- selves to supply so great a want; but their efforts beingi^pep'y opposed by the clergy, and se^etly by the late government, were not so successful as they might otherwise have been. Schools, upon the Lancasterian plan, were introduced by the government at Paris, and other large towns ; but the benefits of the system were extended only to pro- fessed Catholics ; none but Catholic teach- ers were employed, and the Protestants were left to educate their children the best way they could. In consequence of this defi- ciency of instruction, ignorance and super- stition, irreligion and immorality, prevail over a large portion of the kingdom, even amidst the light of literature and science with which they are surrounded ; and a con- siderable period must elapse before the men- tal darkness can be dispelled, and the moral mischief it has produced be completely eradi- cated. It is to be hoped, now that the in- fluence of the Catholic priests has been diminished, and liberal measures of policy introduced, that a more extensive system of elementary instruction will be established; and we are happy to understand that the at- tention of the Government of Louis Philip has been directed to this object, and that measures have been brought forward in order to its accomplishment. In the year 1831, (20) M. V. Cousin was sent as a deputation to Prussia from the government of France to acquire a knowledge of the details and regu- lations connected with the Prussian system of education. Since his return, numerous schools have been established on the princi- ples of the Prussian system, and there is now a prospect, that, in the course of a few years, an efficient system of education will be established in that country. According to the latest statistical accounts, the number of children who are learning to read, now amounts to 2,000,000 : the number of pri- mary elementary schools is 35,007 ; of supe- rior primary schools, 370 ; of private schools, 9092: total, 44,269. The number of boys attending these schools is, 1,175,248; and of girls, 731,773. The total expense of pri- mary instruction is 10,162,706 francs, or about 423,446. Of this expense there is paid by the Communes, 7,693,793fr.; by the Departments, 2,063,072 fr.; and by the State, 405,841 fr.; or about 16,910 a very paltry sum when compared with the magnitude and importance of the object. Spain. " In this country there are few establishments for the diffusion of the first rudiments of knowledge. The lower classes seldom learn to read or write; those above Jhem are as seldom instructed in any thing but those two accomplishments, and the ele- ments of arithmetic. Such as are intended for the learned professions attend a Latin school for three or four years ; and since the expulsion of the Jesuits, these schools are not numerous. Some private establishments, for the instruction of the boys in Latin, were rising at the time of the French invasion, and a desire of improvement in the method of teaching was showing itself among the teachers."* When we consider that the education of youth in this country is com- mitted chiefly to monks, we may rest satis- fied, that, in general, its plans and objects are very limited and defective. Nor is the system much improved, when the student proceeds to the university. He is there taught little else but the logic and natural philosophy of Aristotle, and the theology of Thomas Aquinas. If a Spaniard, therefore, attain to any thing like true knowledge, he must either leave his country in the search, or teach himself in the best way his fancy may devise. The same remarks, with a slight modification, will apply to the neighbouring kingdom of Portugal, where Papal supersti- tion and tyranny exist in all their fulneea and rigour. As the numerous swarms oi priests, monks and friars, that infest this country, are almost universally ignorant, and * Quarterly Journal of Education, vol. i. EDUCATION IN RUSSIA AND SWITZERLAND. 21 not unfrequently vicious, as they are bigoted in the extreme to the established religion and its childish ceremonials, and as the general diffusion of knowledge would strike at the foundation of their ecclesiastical sys- tem, it cannot be supposed that they will show much zeal either in making their scho- lars liberal and intelligent, or in enlarging and improving the general system of instruc- tion. Several generations must elapse, and numerous and important changes be effected, before we can expect that the great body of the Spaniards and Portuguese can become enlightened and moralized. Russia. It is only of late years that the attention of the Russian government has been directed to the promotion of education throughout that extensive empire ; and seve- ral ages will be requisite, before its half- civilized inhabitants be raised from the state of mental debasement in which they have been so long immersed. During the reign of the late emperor Alexander, Lancasterian schools and other seminaries were established in different parts of European Russia, and Bible societies, for distributing the Scriptures among the lower orders, were patronized by the Emperor, Prince Gallitzin, the arch- bishops, and other distinguished characters. It appears that in the beginning of 1830, the emperor Nicholas gave his sanction to certain regulations, providing for the estab- lishment of primary schools in the several villages appertaining to the crown. The object of these seminaries is to diffuse useful knowledge among the peasantry, and to fur- nish the villages with individuals who may act as writers. Gratuitous instruction is to be afforded in these schools to youths of not less than eight years of age, in the catechism, reading books and written documents, writing, and the first four operations of arithmetic. The lessons are to open after their return from labour, and to continue until it be re- sumed; with the exception of Sundays and festivals, they are to occupy four hours a-day. Permission is, however, given to the teacher to assemble his pupils for the purpose of re- peating their lessons, even whilst they are working in the fields : but this cannot take place without the consent of the villagers. The expenses of these schools are to be de- frayed out of the territorial income of the villages, and the first essays are intended to be made in the governments of St. Peters- burg and Pscov. Switzerland. This country, remarkable for the sublimity of its mountain scenery, the fertility of its vales, and the beauty of its expansive lakes, is no less remarkable for the means of education it possesses, and the consequent intelligence and moral order of its inhabitants. In this respect, it is scarcely inferior to the best educated coun- tries in Europe. The proportion of the inha- bitants undergoing the process of instruction is greater than that of either France, England or Scotland. In the Pays de Vaud, this proportion amounts to one-eighth of the population, which is more than the average of the other countries of Europe, where sys- tems of instruction have f been established; so that the inhabitants of this district of Switzerland, have generally been considered by travellers as the most intelligent and the best educated among the European nations. The celebrated school of Pestalozzi at Yverdun, in the Pays de Vaud, has been visited and celebrated by every traveller. This was among the first seminaries in which the intellectual system was introduced, in which the rationale of every subject taught is explained and illustrated, and the intellec- tual faculties stimulated and brought into exercise. It embraces also the plan of mu- tual instruction, as exemplified in the schools of Bell and Lancaster. The establishment of the School of Industry of M. Fellenberg at Hofwyl, in the Canton of Berne, has also been deservedly celebrated. The object of this seminary is to combine scholastic educa- tion with industrious habits, and a knowledge of the best manner of performing mechanical and agricultural operations. Although, at Hofwyl, the principles and practice of Agri- culture are the chief objects of attention, yet the general principles of the institution and the mode of instruction might, in towns, be successfully applied to mechanical opera- tions and manufacturing processes of every description. It has given a great impulse to education throughout the country, and has produced some very eminent scholars. Not only the lower classes, but pupils of the highest rank come to this seminary, from Germany, France, England, and other parts of Europe. In most of the cantons, educa- tion is a matter of state, persons of the great- est respectability are engaged in the business of instruction, and the arrangements of the system of tuition are under the immediate direction and protection of the government (21) ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. CHAPTER II. Strictures on the mode in which Education has generally been conducted. TJJEIIE are few subjects which have so fre- quently engaged the attention of the literary public as the instruction of the young; and yet there is no subject about which so many vague and erroneous notions generally pre- vail. No term in our language has been more abused and misapplied than that of education. By the great majority of our countrymen it is considered as consisting merely in the acquisition of pronunciation, spelling, and grammar of writing, casting accounts, and the knowledge of languages; and these acquisitions are considered of value chiefly as they prepare the individual for engaging in certain secular employments, and are instrumental in procuring his sub- sistence. By others it has been confined to the communication of the elements of thought, jjmd the improvement of the intellect; and, by a comparatively small number, it has been regarded chiefly as the formation of charac- ter, and the cultivation of moral habits. But, to neither of these objects is education to be exclusively confined. It consists of a com- prehensive and harmonious combination of them all, including every mean and every mode of improvement by which intelligent beings may be trained to knowledge and vir- tue qualified for acting an honourable and respectable part on the theatre of this world, and prepared for that immortal existence to which they are destined. It is deeply to be regretted, that, up to the present hour, with a very few exceptions in an age deemed liberal and enlightened the system on which education has generally been conducted is repugnant to the dictates of reason, ineffi- cient for enlightening and meliorating the human mind, and is little short of an insult offered to the understandings of the young. While almost every initiatory book has for its motto, and every teacher can readily re- peat the following lines of Thomson, " Delightful task ! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot, And pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind," the great objects which education ought to promote have been miserably neglected. A farrago of words has been substituted in the place of things / the elements of language have been preferred to the elements of thought,- the key of knowledge has been exhibited instead of knowledge itself; and the youthful mind, at the termination of the (22) common process of instruction, is almost a destitute of ideas as at its commencement. At that period of life when the minds of the young are beginning to expand when they ardently thirst after novelty and variety when they are alive to the beauties and sub- limities of nature, and listen with delight to the descriptions of other countries, and the tales of other times instead of being grati- fied with the exhibition of all that is interest- ing in the scenes of creation and the history of man they are set down in a corner to plod over unknown characters and strange sounds no pleasing objects are exhibited to inspire them with delight their memories are burdened, and even tortured, while their understandings are neglected; and, after many painful efforts, intermingled with cries and tears, while the detested lash is hanging over their heads, they are enabled to repeat, like a number of puppets, their medley of grammar rules, their psalms, their hymns, their catechisms, and their speeches from the English and Roman classics, pouring out their words with a velocity like water burst- ing from a spout, without a single correct idea connected with their exercises, " under- standing neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm." Hence it has too frequently happened, that the school-room has been viewed as a prison, their teachers as a species of tyrants, and the scholastic exercises in which they are engaged, as repugnant to their natural vivacity, and subversive of their youthful pleasures. Hence they have fre- quently been driven to the village school, like sheep to the slaughter, and like crimi- nals to a jail, or carried on the shoulders of their companions, amidst cries, and lamenta- tions, and forebodings of punishment In seminaries of a higher order than those to which I now allude, five or six years are generally spent in learning the declension of nouns, the conjugation of verbs, and the rules of syntax, and in acquiring a smatter- ing of the Roman classics; while, at the close of this tedious, and to the pupil, revolting process, he retires from the seminary to the shop, the counting-house, or the university, nearly as ignorant of the common phenomena of nature, of the sublime discoveries of mo- dern times, of the principles of the arts and sciences, and the laws of moral action, as if he had been born in Patagonia, or in the DEFECTS IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. centre of New Holland. If he has acquired any thing at all, which may be denominated knowledge, it consists chiefly in a jumble of notions about the squabbles of heathen gods and goddesses, detached fragments of Roman history, the Metamorphoses of Ovid, the fn> tions of Pagan mythology, and the revengeful encounters of destroying armies and awibi- tious despots. While his mind is familiar with the absurdities and impieties of ancient superstition and idolatry, he not unfrequently quits the scene of instruction as ignorant of the character and attributes of the true God, of the doctrines of the Christian religion, and of the tempers which it inculcates, as if he had been tutored in a Pagan land. Even in those seminaries which are de- voted to the religious instruction of the young, the same absurd and inefficient sys- tem to which I have alluded is too frequently acted upon. Instead of exhibiting to the understandings of the young the character and perfections of the Deity, and the truths of Christianity, by familiar and popular illus- trations deduced from the economy of nature and the facts of revelation, a great propor- tion of their Sabbath-school exercises con- sists in repeating, with a disgusting flippancy and vociferation, their catechisms, psalms, paraphrases, hymns, and Scripture passages, assigned them as tasks, and in listening to the crude expositions of certain abstract theological dogmas, to which they can attach no precise or well-defined notions, and which do not enter into the essence of the Chris- tian system. In certain schools of this de- scription, I have witnessed the attention of the children almost exclusively directed to the mere repetition of the Shorter Cate- chism, and other compends of divinity, and that, too, in a most inaccurate, irreverent, and vociferous manner, without a single at- tempt being made to convey any idea to the understanding of the nature of the truths repeated while the catechumens seemed to be much gratified and relieved in having got their memories disburdened of the un- gracious tasks imposed upon them. In other schools, where the teachers had acquired a smattering of systematic theology after the memorial tasks were dispatched I have lis- tened to a series of crude dissertations ad- dressed to the young respecting the cove- nant of works and of grace, predestination, absolute and conditional decrees, faith, the Trinity, and similar topics, together with long-winded exhortations, occasionally inter- mingled with boisterous and unhallowed threats and denunciations, because the young did not yield a profound attention to such abstract speculations. Yet all this goes by the name of religious instruction ; and, when it is found to produce little influence on the moral conduct of the young, the effect is at- tributed solely to the corruption of human nature, and to the withholding of the in- fluences of Divine grace, a sentiment which goes far to attribute to the "Only Wise God" those effects which are product,.! \y the folly and the injudicious schemes of men. As it is painful to exercise the me- mory to any extent on words unconnected with ideas, so it frequently happens, that a disrelish for religion and its services is in- duced, in consequence of the labour and drudgery with which they are thus asso- ciated. In these seminaries, too, the duties of Christian morality are too frequently thrown into the shade. Christianity is not a mere theory, but a practical system; for all its historical details, its doctrines and pre- cepts, its promises and threatenings, have an ultimate reference to the regulation of the temper and affections, the direction of the conduct, and to the general renovation of the moral powers of man, in order to his preparation for a higher state of moral and intellectual excellence. And, therefore, it ought to be one of the grand objects of re- ligious instruction to cultivate the moral ' powers, to direct the temper and affections, and to show, by familiar illustrations taken from the scenes of active life, how the prin- ciples of Christianity ought to operate in all the diversified circumstances and rela- tions of society. But, leaving this topic, in the mean time, let us attend a little more particularly to the range of instruction in our common initiatory schools. After a knowledge of the characters of the alphabet and of the principal elementary sounds is acquired, the scholar is led through a series of dry and uninteresting lessons and spelling exercises in which his memory and his faculty of pronunciation are solely exercised. The New Testament is next put into his hand, and, after reading a por- tion of it with great difficulty and awkward- ness, and before he is capable of reading one sentence with ease and accuracy, he is introduced to such books as " Barrie's Col- lection," and "Tyro's Guide," and "Scott's Beauties of Eminent Writers," in which there is scarcely one selection interesting to a youthful mind, or level to its comprehen- sion. But this circumstance seems to be considered by many as a matter of no im- portance ; for it is seldom or never that an attempt is made to convey to |,he minds of youth the ideas contained in the lessons they read and commit to memory. During these reading exercises, the Shorter Cate- chism is put into their hands, in order that its vocables may be committed to memory; 24 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. and that, too, at so early a period, that they find the greatest difficulty in mastering the pronunciation of the long and technical terms with which it abounds. Through this ungra- cious task they struggle, with the greatest re- luctance, and generally, too, without annexing a single idea to any of the answers they re- peal. They are soon after, perhaps before they are seven years of age, introduced to the study of English grammar; and, after feeling much apathy and not a little disgust at this abstract science, and experiencing many days and hours of ungrateful labour, they are able to repeat a few of its rules, definitions, and declensions. Like so many parrots, they can tell us by rote, what is a verb, an adverb, or a preposition, or that " conjunctions which imply contingency require the subjunctive mood," without understanding what- they say, or an- nexing a clear idea to any of the rules or de- finitions they repeat. By turning over Scott's or Fulton's Dictionary, they learn that virtue is a //own, because n is annexed to it that, to write is a verb, because v is annexed to it and that from is a preposition, because pre is annexed to it ; but, beyond such reasons they seldom attempt to aspire ; and after two or three years' training in such exercises, they know little more of the subject, or of the ap- plication of its rules to composition, than when the} 1 - first commenced. The principal acquisi- tion made, is a facility in finding out words in a dictionary, without any attention being paid to their meaning an object which may easily be accomplished in a few days. The useful art of writing is next attempted to be taught; and, in most instances, a far greater degree of importance is attached to the acquirement of an " elegant text," or a " fine running hand," than to the cultivation of the moral and intel- lectual powers, and the acquisition of sub- stantial knowledge. Arithmetic follows in the rear, and the scholar, after hurrying through its four fundamental rules, without any sensible illustrations of the different operations, is ex- ercised in calculations respecting Tare and Tret, Interest and Annuities, the Square and Cube Root, Exchange, Discount and Equation of Payments, before he has the least know- ledge of the nature of these transactions; and, consequently, like one walking in the dark, is unable to perceive the drift and ten- dency of most of his operations, or the founda- tion of the rules by which he calculates ; and hence it happens that, when he actually en- gages in the business of real life, he has al- most the whole of his arithmetical processes to study over again, and to re-investigate the foundations, objects, and principles, of his operations, in their applications to the transac- tions in which he is engaged. In fine, during the whole of the process now described, the moral powers of the young are in a great measure overlooked, and the business of moral tuition shamefully neglected. To improve their tempers and affections, and to bend them into that direction which will tend to promote their own happiness and that of others, is considered as a matter of inferior moment, in which teachers are very little, if at all, interested. It forms, at least, no promi- nent object, in our schools, to meliorate the tempers of the young, to counteract the prin- ciples of malice, envy, and revenge to in- spire them with kindness and benevolence and to train them to moral excellence. On the contrary, the mode in which they are treated has frequently a tendency to produce obstinacy, dissimulation, superstition, pride, hatred, and disaffection. The spirit of un- christian emulation, contention, and revenge is indirectly fostered by the books they read, the discipline by which they are trained, the amusements in which they indulge, the false maxims and pagan sentiments which are in- terwoven through the whole course of their education, and by the admiration which is attempted to be excited in their breasts for barbarous heroes and the butchers of man- kind. The active powers of the young being thus allowed to take the natural bent of their depraved inclinations, selfishness, pride, malice, and other malignant passions, are allowed to spring up and flourish, without feeling the force of those salutary checks which might impede their progress, or destroy them in the bud; and thus perverse habits and disposi- tions are induced, which "grow with their growth, and strengthen with their strength," till at length they display themselves with diabolical energy in the scenes of domestic life, and on the theatre of the political world, amidst the contentions of communities and " the tumults of the people." Such is the amount of the education which the great mass of our population receive prior to their entrance on the scene of active life. To affirm that it is attended by no beneficial effects, would be to fly in the face of all ob- servation and experience. It prepares the mind, in some measure, for certain avocations in civil society, and for the reception of know- ledge in after life, should it ever be exhibited in a more judicious and intelligent manner; and, in some instances, when combined with judicious domestic instruction, it will assist and direct the pupil, in the pursuit of know- ledge and of mental enjoyments. But, con- sidered by itself, as a system of culture for rational and immortal beings, in order to the development of their moral and intellectual powers, and as a preparation for a higher state of existence, it is miserably deficient, both in the means which are employed, in the range DEFICIENCY OF INTELLECTUAL INSTRUCTION. 25 of instruction, and in the objects which it is calculated to accomplish. To illustrate this position is the object of the following remarks. I. In the first place, one glaring defect which runs through the whole system of ini- tiatory instruction (except in very rare in- stances) is thai 110 attempt is made to convey idcns to the youthful mind, along with the ele- mentnry sounds of language and the art of pronunciation. Provided children can mouth the words, and vociferate with alacrity the dif- ferent sentences contained in their lessons, it appears to be a matter of little importance in the eyes either of teachers or of parents, whether or not they appreciate the moaning of any one portion of the sentiments they read. Although the great object of education is " to teach the young idea how to shoot," it is almost the only object which is thrown into the shade ; and those scholastic exercises which are only the mean* of education, are almost exclusively attended to as if they were the enii. The young arc thus treated as if they were only so many puppets, placed on a stage to exhibit a series of mechanical move- ments, and as if they were not possessed of the smallest portion of intellect, and were en- tirely destitute of affections and passions. Yet, it is undeniable, from fact, that children, at a very early age, are capable of receiving a va- riety of ideas into their minds, and of exer- cising their reasoning powers respecting them. Present an engraved landscape to a boy of four or five years of age, especially as exhibited through the Optical Diagonal Machine, where he will see every object, in its true perspective as it appears in nature he will at once recog- nize and describe, in his own way, the houses, the streets, the men, the women, the roads and carriages, and the land and water of which it is composed, and express his opinion respecting them. Present well-executed en- gravings of a horse, a cow, a lion, an elephant, or a monkey, and he will soon learn to distin- guish the one from the other, and will feel delighted with every new exhibition that is made to him of the objects of nature or of art. And, therefore, if sensible objects, level to his capacity and range of thought, and with which he is in some measure acquainted, were uniformly exhibited in his first excur- sions in the path of learning, his progress in knowledge would nearly correspond to his ad- vancement in the art of spelling and pro- nunciation. The absurdity of neglecting the cultivation of the understanding, in the dawn of life, and during the progress of scholastic instruction, however common it may be, is so obvious and glaring, that it scarcely requires a process of reasoning to show its irrationality, if we admit that the acquisition of knowledge ought to be one of the great ends of educa- 4 tion. What important purpose can be gained by a number of boys and girls spending a series of years, in pronouncing, like so many parrots, a number of articulate sounds, to which they annex no corresponding ideas or impressions, and which cost them so much pain and anxiety to acquire ] What is the use of the art of reading, if it be not made the medium by which knowledge and moral improvement may be communicated'? And, if we neglect to teach youth to apply this mean to its proper end, while they are under regular tuition, how can we reasonably expect, that they will afterwards apply it, of their own accord, when a sufficient stimulus is wanting ? By neglecting to connect the ac- quisition of useful information with the busi- ness of elementary instruction, we place the young nearly in the same predicament as we ourselves should be placed, were we obliged, from day to day, to read and repeat long pas- sages from the writings of Confucius, the Al- coran of Mahomet, or the Shasters of Bramah, in the Chinese, the Turkish and the Hindoo languages, while we understood not the mean- ing of a single term. And how painful and disgusting should we feel such a revolting exercise ! The consequence of this absurd practice is, that, instead of exciting desires for further acquisitions in learning, in a majority of instances, we produce a disgust to every species of mental exertion and im- provement; instruction becomes unpleasant and irksome, both to the teacher and the scho- lar; the child leaves school without having acquired any real knowledge, and destitute of any relish for it, and seldom afterwards makes any use of the instructions he received for the further cultivation of his mind in wisdom and virtue. To this cause, perhaps, more than to any other, is to be attributed the deplorable ignorance which still pervades the mass of our population, notwithstanding the formal pro- cess of instruction they undergo, and the little relish they feel for devoting their leisure hours to the improvement of their minds, and to those pursuits which are congenial to ra- tional and immortal natures. II. Another defect which pervades the whole system of scholastic instruction in our country, and of which the former is a native consequence, is, that there is scarcely one of our elementary hooks adapted to the capacities of youth, and calculated to excite their attention and affections, by its interesting and instructive details. Not to mention the dry and uninteresting lists and details contained in most of our spelling-books, and the vague and sombre moral instructions they exhibit let us fix our attention, for a moment, on the general train of subjects contained in " Barrie's Col- C (25) ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. lection," and " Tyro's Guide," and in " Scott's Beauties of Eminent Writers," the books most commonly used in the parochial and other schools in this country, arid we shall soon perceive that they are every thing but calculated for the purpose intended. These works (which, like some others of the same fry, seem to have been constructed by means of the scissors) chiefly contain extracts illus- trative of the beauties of sentiment and com- position : Speeches on political subjects for- merly delivered in the Roman, Grecian, and British Senates characters of Pope, Dryden, Milton, or Shakespeare descriptions of the battles of Poictiers, Hastings, Agincourt, and Bannockburn abstract eulogiums on virtue, oratory, and the art of criticism prosing dis- sertations on the cultivation of taste on hap- piness, retirement, and meditation Speeches and Epilogues of stage-players, political dis- quisitions, foolish tales, parables and allegories Falstaff's encomiums ori sack Hamlet's advice to players Epilogue of Garrick for the benefit of decayed actors the Drunken Knight and his Brawling Lady appeased Speeches of Quinctius Capitolinus, of Romu- lus to his citizens, of Hannibal to Scipio, and of Galgacus to his army East India Com- pany's address on the junction of Spain and France Mr. Walpole and Mr. Pitt's Parlia- mentary debates Extracts from the Poems of Akenside, Thomson, Milton and Young Speech of Sin to Satan Speech of Satan in his infernal palace of Pandemonium Moloch's speech to Satan Belial's speech in reply Satan's soliloquy the combat of the Horatii and the Curiatii Captain Bobadil's method of defeating an army Clarence's dream Norval arid Glenalvon's revengeful encounter Lord and Lady Randolph, Sir Charles and Lady Racket Sempronius' speech for war Description of Queen Mab Ossian's address to the Sun Soliloquy of Dick the apothecary's apprentice Alexander's Feast Blair's Grave Young's Life, Death, and Immortality Queen of the Fairies the Wolf and the Crane the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse the Tailor and the Conjurer the Old Man and his Ass with a multifarious medley of pieces of a similar description. These comprehend a fair specimen of the prominent subjects selected, in our common school books, for the purpose of training the youthful mind in knowledge and virtue. I have no hesitation in asserting, that more unsuitable subjects, consistent with common decency, could scarcely have been selected, and that they are little short of a direct insult offered to the youthful understanding. The compilers of such collections, either sup- pose, that the juvenile mind, at the age of eight or nine years, when such selections are (26) put into their hands, has embraced a range of thought and contemplation far beyond what it is capable of, in ordinary cases, or they wish to insult their imbecile minds, by offering them stones instead of bread, or they rake together their extracts at random, without considering whether they are at all suited to the class of persons to whom they are addressed. For there is not one lesson out of twenty which is level to the range of thought, and to the capa- city of the youthful mind, in its first outset in the path of science, even although parents and teachers were to attempt an explanation of the passages which are read ; as they em- body descriptions and allusions respecting objects, events, and circumstances, which cannot be duly appreciated without a pre- vious course of study ; and they abound with a multitude of abstract speculations which can never convey well-defined ideas to the understandings of the young. What ideas can a boy of seven or eight years' old form of the Parliamentary debates of Mr. Pulteney, Mr. Pitt, or Sir Robert Walpole; of the speech of Marcus Valerius on a dispute be- tween the Patricians and Plebeians concern- ing the form of government ; of dissertations on the art of Criticism ; of Belial's speech to Moloch ; or even of Blair's Grave, or Young's Life, Death, and Immortality ; or what in- terest can he be supposed to feel in such themes and discussions 1 I appeal to every one of my readers, if, at the age now specified, they ever understood such selections, or felt gratified and improved by perusing them. It is an absurdity, at once perceptible, that the beauties of sentiment and composition which are appreciated and relished by persons of re- fined taste, at the age of twenty or thirty, will be equally relished and admired by children of eight or ten years of age ; and yet, from an examination of our initiatory school-books, it is undeniable, that, on a false principle of this kind, almost all our elementary works have been constructed. But, it is farther to be regretted, that this is not the only fault that can be charged upon these productions. They exhibit scenes and sentiments which ought not to be familiarized to the minds of children, and which are repug- nant to the spirit and practice of genuine Christianity. In almost every page, both of the prosaic and poetic extracts, the war gong is ever and anon- resounding in our ears, and "the confused noise of the warrior, with gar- ments rolled in blood." The Casars, the Alexanders, and the Buonapartes, of ancient and modern times, instead of being held up to execration as the ravagers and destroyers of mankind, are set forth to view as glorious conquerors and illustrious hooes, whose cha- racters and exploits demand our admiration IMPERFECTION OF SCHOOL-BOOKS. 27 and applause. And if, at any time, the minds Sacred history, are seldom or never detailed, of the young imbibi the sentiments which per- with interesting simplicity, in this class of vade their lessons, it is generally when they publications. And, are a few extracts from breathe a warlike spirit, and exhibit those old plays and novels, romances and fables, desolations and ravages which ambition and Pagan mythology and Parliamentary debates revenge have produced in the world, and from the speeches of Roman orators and when they themselves are trained to spout at the epilogues of stage-players, to be considered an examination, and, arrayed in warlike as the most agreeable and substantial food for habiliments, with guns, or spears, or darts, to the youthful intellect, and as the most judicious ape the revengeful exploits of a Norval and a process for imbuing it with useful knowledge, Glenalvon. I have beheld the young, when and preparing it for the employments of an engaged in such exhibitions, eulogized and immortal existence ] Are the absurd opinions applauded by their examinators, and sur- of Roman and "Grecian poets and warriors, rounding spectators, more than on account respecting their gods, their heroes, and their of all the other scholastic improvements they religion, and the polluted streams of heathen had acquired. To this cause, doubtless, as morality, to be substituted in the room of the well as to others, is to be attributed the simple and sublime delineations of revelation, spirit of warfare and contention which still the pure principles of the gospel, and the reigns on the theatre of the political world, noble discoveries of modern science ? If so, and which has desolated, and disgraced, and then let us not boast of imparting to our demoralized, every nation under heaven. I children a rational and a Christian education. have known a teacher who has turned over I have alluded more particularly to the page after page, in some of the works now works above mentioned, because they are referred to, in search of a passage worthy of most frequently used in our borough and being committed to memory by his pupils, parochial schools ; but I know no works of and who could not in conscience fix upon this kind, published in this country, with the any one, in a long series of extracts, on exception of two or three volumes, to which account of its being imbued with this anti- the above strictures will not, in a greater or Christian spirit. In addition to this striking less degree, apply. I do not, however, con- characteristic of our school-collections, and in demn such books, in so far as they contain perfect accordance with it it may also be sentimental extracts, for the use of advanced stated, that Pride, Ambition, Revenge, and students of elocution, or considered as mis- other Pagan virtues, are sometimes held up cellanies for the amusement of persons ad- to view as the characteristics of a noble and vanced in life, (though even in this last point heroic mind ; and swearing, lying, brawling, of view they cannot be held in high estima- and deceit, are frequently exhibited in so tion,) my main objection rests on the ground ludicrous a manner, as almost to win the of their being unfitted to interest the minds affections, and to excite approbation. of the young, and to convey to them the out- 13ut, in fine, although the selection? to lines of knowledge and virtue, unmingled which I allude were level to the comprchen- with the rubbish of false maxims and anti- sions of the young, and untinged with anti- Christian sentiments.* Christian sentiments what is the amount of all the knowledge and instruction they con- * Tne above remarks were written in the year tain'' Thrv pmhrnro no MranicnniM v_ 182 1 and published in the " Christian Instructor." ^ nc Y e ce no perspicuous sys- Sjnce that period gevera , schoo i.books have ap- tem of interesting and useful information, peared, compiled on more rational and Christian scarcely any thing that' bears on the cultiva- Principles than most of their predecessors, par- tion of Christian .lisposhio^-no exhibition, ' ot the scenes of INature and Art in which the young may afterwards be placed, little in- formation rosnprtino- iho wnrk nf ling the works ot tho the tional School Collection," "The American Read- er '" I)V Merriam, and several others ; but they are chiefly adapted for the higher classes in schools, nnd for young people wl)0 have near| finjshe(t revelations ot his word, or the useful liiven- their course of instruction in reading, and they lions of men. The beauties which adorn the n;ive l>een introduced into comparatively few of scenery of nature, ,he wonders of Creating 1 ower, as displayed m the earth, the air, the ocean, and the heavens; the displays of aml Anierica - bl| t they are more adapted to the TVivitio Wimlrim on 1 f i u* I use of families and domestic instruction than to Lhvme Wisdom and Goodness, which every- pllhlir seminaries. I am acquainted with no book have likewise of late been published in England . quainted with for the Juvenile classes, comprising useful infor- where surround us; the mild and pacifi virtues of Christianity, which ouHit eauallv In;ilion > !in<1 compiled in such a manner as to ren- trt o 1 rr, tlm r;., , i .i i ( ' ( ' r know ledge and morality perspicuous, fascinat- to adorn the prince and the peasant; the ing, and interesting to the young, and calculated avocations and amusements of domestic life ; to give full scope to their rational and active the scenery of the country, the citv and thp P w ers. About a year after the publication of v;n _ ,1 , 4 i these remarks in the "Christian Instructor," its village, or the important facts contained in the Editor, the late Rev. Dr. A. Thomson, compiled a 127) 28 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. III. Another error which runs through our scholastic instruction is, that, while the culti- vation of the judgment is neglected, /he memory is injwiici()Ul i/i and often too severely exercised. The efforts of memory, in most cases, espe- cially when exercised in the retention of mere sounds and terms, are generally attended with painful sensations; and, when these sensa- tions are long continued, they frequently pro- duce a disgust at the objects and employments of education. Long passages from Homer, Shakespeare, Milton, or Pope, are given out for recitation to the young, while they are still incapable of appreciating the meaning of a single sentiment in the task prescribed ; and the facility with which they can recollect and vociferate a number of jingling sounds is con- sidered by many as the best evidence of their progress in the paths of instruction. The period has not long gone by (if it have yet passed) when the repetition of the first chap- ter of the first book of Chronicles, of the tenth chapter of Nehemiah, of the hundred-and- nineteenth Psalm, or of half 'a dozen chapters in the New Testament, by a schoolboy, with a disgusting vociferation, and a uniform velocity, like water dashing over a precipice, was regarded, both by parents and teachers, as an evidence of extraordinary genius, and as an achievement in education of far greater importance than if he had drawn an outline of universal history, or sketched the geography of the globe. Of all the exercises of memory to which the young tyro is accustomed, there is none more injudicious and more painful to the pupil, than that by which he is constrained to get by rote the Shorter Catechism, at the early age at which it is generally prescribed. At the age of five or six, before he is capable of understanding a single sentiment of the system of Divinity, and even before he can read with ease any one of its questions and answers he is set to the ungracious task of committing its vocables to memory, as if he were a mere machine, formed solely for school collection, and sent me a copy of it, for my inspection. My opinion of this compilation having been requested, at the next personal interview I bad with the Doctor, I told him, tht I considered the hook free of any antichristian sentiments, calculated to make a good impression on the minds of the young, and that it contained a con- siderable number of instructive and entertaining selections; but that a number of the selections, however good in themselves, were too didactic and sombre to engage the attention of the juvenile mind The Doctor admitted the justice of the last remark, and said, that, in another edition, he in- tended to throw out the pieces alluded to, and substitute, in their place, more entertaining selec- tions Dr Thomson's collection is, on the whole, a good one ; but. like the others mentioned above, i? chiefly adapted to the higher classes. The plan of all the school collections hitherto published is suscf-ptilile of much improvement ; and 1 shall afterwards take an opportunity of adverting to this subject in a subsequent part of this volume. (28) mechanical rnovements and the emission of sounds. The reluctance with which this task is generally engaged in ; the painful sensa- tions which accompany it; the correction which follows its neglect ; the ludicrous blun- dering ; and the complete destitution of ideas with which it is generally attended all con- spire to show the absurdity of the practice. I am fully persuaded, that the unpleasant asso- ciations Connected with this task, have, in many instances, produced a lasting disgust, both at the pursuits of learning, and the in- structions of religion. Yet, there are few school-exercises to which parents in general attach a greater degree of importance. To omit the teaching of this catechism by rote, even although other and more perspicuous instructions were given on divine subjects, would be considered as arguing a certain degree of irreligion on the part of the teacher ; and even respectable clergymen and others consider this exercise as a fine qua non in re- ligious instruction just as if the mere terms and definitions of this excellent summary were to produce a magical effect on the moral and intellectual faculties. The common argu- ment in favour of this practice, " that it is lay- ing in a store of religious vocables for after reflection, and that the answers will be per- fectly understood in riper years," when con- sidered in connection with what has been now said, is extremely futile and inconclusive. The blundering manner in which persons advanced in life frequently repeat this cate- chism mistaking, for example, the answer to " What is Justification 1" for that which re- lates to " sanctification," or what is forbidden for what is required in any of the command- ments, and without being at all conscious of their error plainly indicates, that correct ideas are seldom attached to whatever has been learned by mere rote, and that the rational faculty is seldom exerted in such exercises. In short, I have little hesitation in laying it down as a maxim that will generally hold true, that " whenever the words of a pro- position are committed to memory without being understood, their meaning will after- wards be seldom inquired after or perceived." I am convinced, that a careful perusal of this catechism, or any other similar system, accom- panied with proper explanations, at the age of fourteen or sixteen, will convey more real information than can be acquired by all the painful labour and drudgery endured by com- mitting it to memory at the usual age at which it is prescribed. Let it not, however, be imagined, that I wish to throw the least reflection on the Shorter Catechism, as a summary of Chris- tian doctrine and duty. On the contrary without admitting every sentiment it contains JUDICIOUS EXERCISE OF THE MEMORY. 29 as perfectly correct, or necessary to be embo- died in such a synopsis of theology I con- sider it, on the whole, as one of the most comprehensive compends of divinity ever pub- lished which, with a very few retrenchments and modifications, might form a basis <>f union to almost all the religious bodies in this coun- try. But the very thing hi which its chief excellence consists, constitutes an argument against its being used as a first catechism. It is so i-omprehensive, that almost every word includes an important meaning, and has an allusion to those profound views of the Chris- tian system, and to those controverted points in divinity, which are chiefly recognized by professed divines. It is not by endeavouring to convey general and abstract views of Chris- tian doctrine, or by cramming the memories of young persons with a multiplicity of theo- logical terms and doctrinal opinions, that in- structions in religion will be successful in arresting their attention, and impressing their minds ; but by particular explications, and familiar illustrations borrowed from sensible objects, of a few of the most prominent truths of the Christian system, that impressive and well-defined ideas will be communicated to the youthful mind. And perhaps too little care is exercised in communicating, in a vivid and impressive manner, the fundamental truths of natural religion, which form the groundwork of the different parts of the Christian superstructure. I conceive, that it is time enough to commence the regular study of the Shorter Catechism, at the age of twelve or thirteen, when its answers should be minutely analyzed, and its terms, doctrines, and moral injunctions, familiarly explained and elucidated by instructors, who have accu- rate and enlarged views of the truths it con- veys; and, when employed in this way, it will be found a useful synopsis of Christian faith and practice. Prior to the period to which I now refer, some of Dr. Watts' first catechisms might be used; or, perhaps, it might be possible to construct a catechism more simple and interesting, and containing more striking illustrations of natural and re- vealed religion, than any that have yet ap- peared; or, perhaps, without adopting the form of a catechism, we might directly refer to the positive declarations of Scripture, in reference to its facts, doctrines, and precepts, accompanying the passages we extract with short comments and familiar elucidations. The truths contained in such catechisms might be learned with ease, and even with pleasure, by the young, if they were accom- panied with a few hints from the parent or teacher, to elucidate the facts and doctrines exhibited to their view ; and especially, were they compiled on such a plan, as to give occa- sional exercise to the curiosity and the judg- ment in finding out the proper answers. In throwing out such remarks as the above, I am aware that I am treading on delicate ground. But far more convincing arguments than any I have yet heard must be brought forward, before I can see reason to alter the opinion now stated. If it be once admitted, that the communication of iikas ought to form the great object of all instruction that the young, at an early age, are capable of being the recipients of knowledge and that educa- tion should be rendered as pleasant and agree- able as the nature of the exercise will admit I will not fear to face any argument that may be presented on this subject. I am far from wishing to insinuate, that the memory ought not to be exercised in the process of educa- tion; for it is one of the powers or instru- ments conferred on us, for the purpose of making intellectual acquisitions; but I con- tend, that its exertions, in the first instance, ought to be gentle, easy, and rational, and employed chiefly in relation to those objects about which the young are capable of forming some distinct and agreeable conceptions, and not merely on sounds and terms, and abstract propositions, to which no precise meaning is attached. IV. In our schools and seminaries, as pre- sently conducted, grammar is attempted to be t(n 30 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. sentence in which a verb disagrees with its nominative, are exercises which children may be taught at an early period, by familiar ex- amples, and which might be rendered both amusing and instructive, without the formality of technical terms, complex rules, or abstract systems; but to proceed much farther than such easy exercises, before the intellectual powers are somewhat matured, appears to be wasting time and money, and mental anxiety, to no purpose. Even the elements, or the more popular parts, of natural history, geogra- phy, astronomy, and experimental philosophy, could be taught with much better effect, at such an early period, than the abstract study of verbs and adverbs, conjunctions and declen- sions, and metaphysical rules, the foundation of which no child can comprehend ; because, in those departments of knowledge, sensible objects and pictorial representations can be presented to the view of the juvenile mind as elucidations of the facts and principles incul- cated. That the opinions now stated may not appear altogether singular, I shall quote a sentence or two from the writings of the learned Mr. Smellie the well-known trans- lator of " Button's Natural History." In his work on " The Philosophy of Natural His- tory," vol. ii. p. 453, he remarks " Premature studies are uniformly painful, because young minds are incapable of comprehending the principles, and far less the application of them to arts or sciences. Grammar, the first science obtruded upon, I may soy, infantine intellects, is one of the most abstract and intricate. To attain even a tolerable knowledge of grammar, whatever be the language, (for the general principles are, and must be, the same,) pre- supposes a considerable range of intuitive facts, as well as of acquired ideas." Again, speaking of the absurdity of "journeymen shoemakers, tailors, weavers, bakers, carpen- ters," &c. sending their children for years to Latm and Grammar schools, he remarks " During the hours of recess from scholastic discipline, nature resumes her empire, and, by her irresistible power, obliges the children to frisk and romp about, and to enjoy those various and pure pleasures which result from activity and amusement. But these enjoy- ments are no sooner over, than the abhorred ideas of unnatural confinement, and of a con- strained attention to jargon, which to them is completely unintelligible, instantly recur, and harass and terrify their imaginations. The fruitless and painful labours which such pre- posterous conduct in managing the early edu- cation of youth produces, are immense, and truly ridiculous." P. 448. V. In regard to the art of writing, which is chiefly a mechanical exercise, the quality of (30) which depends somewhat on the taste of the pupil a great degree of fastidiousness exists, and by fur too much importance is attached to the acquisition of an " elegant hand" To so disgusting a degree has this predilection been carried, on certain occasions, that all the quali- ties of a good teacher have been considered as concentrated in this one acquirement ; and persons have been selected to superintend the instruction of youth, who were destitute of almost every other qualification, merely be- cause they could write " a fine text," or " an elegant running hand." The art of commu- nicating our thoughts by writing, is one of the most useful accomplishments, which every person from the highest to the lowest ranks of society ought to possess. To attain a cer- tain degree of neatness and regularity in writ- ing, is highly desirable ; and where a taste for elegance in this art exists, it should be en- couraged, though not at the expense of more substantial acquirements. To write straight, to attend to the proper use of capital letters, and to arrange the subject of writing into dis- tinct sentences and paragraphs, so as to render the writing easily legible, and the sentiments perspicuous to others, should be considered as the great object of this art ; and such qualities of writing are undoubtedly of more import- ance, in the practical purposes to which it may be applied, than the acquirement of the most elegant "dashes" and "flourishes" of penmanship. I have, indeed, known but few individuals who have prided themselves in such showy accomplishments, who were not extremely superficial in their other attain- ments. It is a very odd circumstance, and shows to what a ridiculous length a fastidious taste for elegant writing may lie carried that most of the higher ranks, who have been taught by the first writing-masters, now con- sider it as fashionable to write an illegible scrawl, which is nothing else than a caricature of good plain writing which is the pest of merchants, printers, editors, and every other class of correspondents which costs them a world of trouble before it can be read ; and, in many cases, the very names of the writers can scarcely be deciphered. This is elegance with a witness ; it is carrying it to its highest pitch of perfection, by rendering the art of writing almost useless for the purpose for which it was intended. I do not mean, by these remarks, to insinuate that care and at- tention should not be bestowed, in order to acquire a neat and accurate mode of writing ; but merely to modify that undue degree of importance which is attached to the accom- plishment of "fine writing," and to impress upon the mind this sentiment, that a man may be possessed of very slender attainments in this art, in respect to elegance, and yet prove ABSTRACT ARITHMETICAL INSTRUCTIONS. 31 a good general teacher; while another may excel in all the ornamental flourishes of peri- man&hip, and, at the same time, be altogether unqualified for directing the young mind in knowledge and virtue. I have known parents and guardians who seemed to consider the most useful and substantial accomplishments of youth as of little value, while their chil- dren remained in the smallest degree deficient in the flimsy ornaments of writing, and the higher elegancies of penmanship. In a word, to arrest and record the useful ideas which pass through our minds, to communicate them to others, in such well-defined characters, and with such external neatness and order as may be most perspicuous and easily legible to ac- quire a certain degree of facility and rapidity in forming characters and words and to state mercantile accompts with taste, accuracy, and precision should be considered as the great objects of the art of writing, beyond which it is of little importance to aspire ; though, at the same time, no individual should be dis- couraged from indulging a taste for elegance in this department, when it does not absorb the attention from more important pursuits. VI. With regard to our mode of teaching Arithmetic, a variety of strictures might be made. This department of scholastic instruc- tion, like all the rest, is generally conducted in too abstract a manner too much detached from the objects of sense, and from the pur- suits of science and the business of human life, to which it has a reference. As all our notions on any branch of human knowledge are originally derived from sensible objects, so our ideas of numbers and their various rela- tions and combinations, must be derived from the same source ; and consequently, without a reference to the original objects and ideas whence the notion of numbers is derived, no accurate impression of their signification and use can be made on the juvenile mind. A boy may be taught to distinguish the character 9 from the rest of the digits, and yet may re- main devoid of a distinct conception of the idem, for which it stands; and in the same manner, he may be taught by rote, that 9 -(- 8 =17 ; that 169=7 ; that 7 times 8 arc 56 ; and that the quotient of 84, divided by 14, is equal to 6, without attaching any definite con- ception to such arithmetical processes. By neglecting to illustrate the fundamental rules of arithmetical computation, in a familiar and amusing manner, by presenting to the eye the precise objects or ideas which numbers repre- sent, we leave the young arithmetician to grope in the dark, and to a vagueness and confusion 6f conception in all the subsequent operations of this useful study. In most of our elementary arithmetical works, the questions for exercise in the dif- ferent rules are not so simple and interesting to young minds as they might be rendered. The practical use of the various operations the commercial transactions to which they re- fer, and the extent and capacity of the weights and measures about which their calculations are employed, are seldom appreciated with any degree of precision, for want of the original ideas denoted by the terms employed, and for want of those models and representations of money, weights, and measures, by which they might be illustrated. In many instances, too, there is a studied brevity and obscurity, and a tendency to puzzle and perplex, instead of rendering the operations of arithmetic simple and perspicuous. While a young person may easily be made to perceive the object and meaning of such questions as the following " What is the price of 30 lemons at twopence a-piece 1" or, " If one pair of shoes cost 5s. 6d., what will 7 pair of shoes cost 1 ?" he is quite puzzled to conceive what is the precise mean- ing of scores of questions arranged in columns in the following manner 497865 a $'!. 7643984 n 3f //. 46794 a 4*. 7'/. 444766 a 15*. llf'/., &c. &c. Even although he may happen to perform mechanically the ope- rations intended, he frequently knows nothing at all of the principle and object of his calcu- lations. It is true, indeed, the teacher is ex- pected to explain the nature and design of such questions ; but in a crowded promiscuous school he cannot afford time to give the neces- sary explanations to every individual. And why should it be requisite? Why should not every book on arithmetic be so conspicu- ous and explicit as to render the meaning and object of every question clear and well de- fined even to the youthful understanding 1 And why should not questions, circumstances, and objects, be selected as arithmetical exer- cises, which are familiar to the young, and calculated to awaken their curiosity and atten- tion 1 In short, the greater part of our arith- metical treatises, like our " School Collections," " English Readers," and " Beauties of Emi- nent Writers," are calculated for men of ad- vanced years, instead of being adapted to the capacities and the range of thought possessed by boys and girls of from eight to twelve yearr of age. I might have enlarged to an indefi nite extent on this topic ; but several additional remarks may be introduced more appropriately in the sequel, when I shall take an opportunity of throwing out a few hints for the improve- ment of the present system of education. In addition to the above remarks, I shall now briefly state a few miscellaneous circum- stances which have a tendency either to im- pede the education of the young, or to rendej it disagreeable and irksome. (31) ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. 1. In the first place, in most of our schools both in town and country there is a deplorable want of ample accommodation, and of conve- nient srhool furniture. In many cases, a hun- dred children are compressed into a space scarcely sufficient for the easy accommodation of one-third of that number, and appear hud- dled together like a flock of sheep pent up in a narrow pen. Scarcely a passage can be ob- tained for moving from one place to another ; and when one class is about to retire, and another is called up, a noise, and jostling, and hubbub ensue, which throws the whole school into confusion. The narrow and unsteady forms on which the scholars are obliged to sit the awkward tables the confined air and the press and general disorder which fre- quently occur, all conspire to render the hours devoted to instruction tedious and unpleasant, and to make the school partake something of the nature of a jail.* Besides, in most of our cities and towns, the school-rooms are gene- rally situated in dark closes or narrow lanes, where there is a sufficiency neither of light nor of pure air, nor of space for the occa- sional amusement of the children , so that learning, instead of being connected with cheerful and enlivening objects, becomes asso- ciated with every thing that is gloomy, duly, and disagreeable. A school has generally been considered as a "noisy mansion;" and, as presently conducted, it is next to impossible it should be otherwise. There is nothing which produces greater annoyance to a teacher, than the hum and the frequent clamours of a hundred tongues assailing him on every side ; and wherever such noisy turbulence daily pre- vails, it is impossible that a train of rational instructions can be successfully carried for- ward. Of the many causes of noise and con- fusion in schools, I am persuaded this is none of the least the want of space and proper accommodation for the various movements, classifications and arrangements, which the business of instruction requires and the want of separate apartments,, or of an ample in- closed area around the school, into which a portion of the children, even during school- nours, might occasionally be sent, either for amusement, or for the preparation of their lessons, so as to prevent the general annoyance of the teacher. 2. Another circumstance which tends to make learning disagreeable to the young, is, that they are in general confined too long in * It may he proper to state, that in these, and the preceding and subsequent remarks, there is no particular allusion to Grammar-schools and other public seminaries for instruction in the hijrher branches of education; but chiefly to those schools both in town and country where' the mass of the community is attempted to he instructed in the common branches of education. (32) school. When a boy is first sent to school, he is kept in a confined posture for two or three hours at a time, and generally for five or six hours in a day. His direct attention to his lesson, during all this time, does not per- haps exceed fifteen or twenty minutes. During the whole of the remaining hours he receives no instruction, and either sits as stiff as a poker, or becomes restless and noisy, or sinks into sleep. He dares not speak to his com- panions for fear of punishment, he cannot, without assistance, apply his attention to the unknown characters and sounds he is set to learn, he cannot amuse himself with his wind- mills and whistles, and consequently, he feels himself in a state destitute of enjoyment. Can it then be wondered at th t young peo- ple should so frequently feel an aversion to school, and require to be driven to it as slaves to their task-work, or as culprits to a jail 1 In such a case as I have now supposed, there is no reason why a child should be confined to school bevond half an hour at any one time ; and it is a piece of absurdity, and even of cruelty, to prolong their confinement a mo- ment beyond the limits which are essentially requisite for their instruction ; and yet many parents are so foolish as to think that the progress of their children ought to keep pace with the number of hours they are immured within the walls of the school-room. Children are not mere machines, whose movements may be regulated by weights and springs; they must give scope to their natural vivacity and desire for activity, and must feel, like all other animals, when they are confined to un- natural attitudes, and cramped in their move- ments. The tongue that " unruly member" among all ranks and ages cannot be re- strained ; the space of twelve inches square, allotted them for their seat, they will not be confined to; their feet and limbs will not remain in that precise mathematical position which order is supposed to require; neither will their hands remain in the same unvaried posture as those of a marble statue, but will occasionally be pushing, first towards one side, and then towards another for the benefit of their companions. Hence arise noise, dis- sension, altercation, and disorder the chief circumstances which render corporal punish- ment at all expedient in public schools. To confine a little boy in school, contrary to his inclination, when no useful purposes can be served by it, and when it is productive of so many inconveniences to the teacher, to the general interests of the school, and to the boy himself appears to be the height of folly and imprudence, and must present to the juvenile mind a forbidding prospect of the path which leads to the temple of knowledge. Even when children have advanced to thai SEVERITY TOWARDS THE YOUNG. 33 stage in their education where they are capa- ble of preparing their lessons by themselves, it appears improper to confine them longer than their attention can be fixed to their scho- .astic exercises. Fifteen or twenty minutes 'of unremitting application to their lessons before and after having been heard by their teacher in their respective classes, would be more importance, in promoting their pro- ss in learning, than two or three hours rl of Infants. As soon as an infant is ushered into the world, Providence has pro- vided for it food exactly adapted to its situa- tion. The milk of the mother is at first of a thin, watery consistence, fitted to evacuate the meconium, and no other substance is found to be so efficacious for this purpose. Syrups, wines, oils, honey, or rhubarb, which have been so frequently administered to new-born infants, by midwives and nurses, are repug- nant to nature, and are condemned, except in extraordinary cases, by every medical practi- tioner. Children require very little food for some time after birth ; and what they receive should be thin, weak, light, and of a cooling quality. After a few days the mother's milk becomes thicker and more nutritious, and should form the principal nourishment of the child during the first three months. It ap- pears to be the dictate of nature, that every mother ought to suckle her own child, since she is furnished with the proper nutriment for this purpose ; and nothing but downright ne- cessity should prevent her from undertaking the task, or induce her to have recourse to a substitute. We might tell the mother who, without necessity, throws the care of her issue upon a stranger, that the admirable liquor which the God of Nature has provided for her child, may become mortal to her for want of a discharge, diffuse itself within, gather and stagnate, or, at least, bring on a danger- ous fever that there is a natural proportion between the blood that runs in the veins of a child, and the milk it receives from its mother that to receive the caresses, to enjoy the smiles, and to mark the gradual progress of her child towards maturity, would be more than a compensation for all the fatigues she INFLUENCE OF AIR AND LIGHT UPON INFANTS. 41 would undergo in watching over its infant years that the mutual affection of a mother and her child depends, in no inconsiderable degree, on the child's spending the period of its infancy in its mother's arms and that, when she substitutes another in her place, the child naturally transfers its affection to the person who performs the duties of a mother. But, before such considerations can have much weight with the higher classes of society, who chiefly indulge in this practice, their general system of education must be altered and re- formed. The daughters of the nobility and of opulent citizens, must be more accustomed to the open air and rural employments, and their bodies trained to the bearing of burdens, the endurance of severe heat or intense cold, and to the resisting of danger and fatigue ; in short, they must be educated like the daughters of Bethutl and of Lnban the no- bles of ancient times who did not disdain to " keep their father's sheep," and to go " to the well of water, with their pitchers on their shoulders." As the child advances, he may be gradually accustomed to other food besides the milk of his mother beginning with liquids, such as milk and sugar, broth, boiled biscuits, thin milk pottage, and similar aliments, and then going on to more solid nutriment, according to the strength of his digestive powers. The younger the child, the less nourishment should be given at one time, and the oftener repeated ; older children may take more food at once, and at longer intervals. All high-seasoned, salted, and smoke-dried provisions, tough, heavy, and fat meats, unripe fruits, sweet- meats, wines and spirituous liquors, are inju- rious to children. Few things are more so than the common practice of sweetening their food, which entices them to take a greater quantity than is necessary, and makes them grow fat and bloated. All cramming of their stomachs, pampering them with delicate meats, and guzzling of ale and other fermented liquors, ought to be carefully avoided. Pure water for drink, plain and simple food which will never induce them to take more than enough and abstinence from physic, except in very critical cases, will be found the most judicious means for preserving and confirming the health of children, and invigorating their mental powers. No less attention ought to be paid to the air they breathe, than to the food with which they are nourished. Pure atmospheric air is indispensable to the existence of every sensi- tive being, for where it is greatly corrupted or exhausted, animals languish or die. It may be regarded as a universal medicine and resto- rative, and as the principal pabulum of life. Wherever it is confined for want of circula- 6 tion, and impregnated with the deleterious fumes of sulphur, putrid substances, smoke, dunghills, excrements, and other noxious ex- halations, it acts as a slow poison, induces diseases, and gradually undermines the human constitution. Hence the propriety of rearing children in apartments where the air is clear and dry, uncontaminated with the steam aris- ing from cooking victuals, and from ironing linen, and from the breath and perspiration of persons crowded into a narrow room and the necessity of frequently leading them abroad into the open air, to enjoy the light of heaven and the refreshing breeze. Hence the impro- priety of crowding two or three children's beds into one small apartment, of covering a child's face when asleep, and wrapping him up too close in a cradle, by which means he is forced to breathe the same air over and over again, all the time he sleeps. In great towns, where the poorer class of inhabitants live in low, dirty, confined houses, and narrow lanes, where pure air has seldom access, the want of wholesome air often proves destructive to their offspring ; and those of them who arrive at maturity are most frequently weak and de- formed. In the improvements now going for- ward in society, it would be of vast importance to the health and comfort of the labouring classes, that such dwellings were completely demolished, and for ever prevented from again becoming the habitations of men. In connection with air, the influence of light ought not to be overlooked. Almost all organized bodies require the influence of ligh" for their health, and the full development of their parts and functions. It changes the colour of plants and animals, and the com- plexion of man. As plants when deprived of light grow pale, and insects confined to dark places remain white, so those who spend their lives in their closets, or in gloomy apart- ments, acquire a pale and yellowish com- plexion, and many sickly persons become worse about sunset, and during the continu- ance of night. Hence the propriety of nurs- ing children in light and cheerful apartments, and of carrying them frequently into the fields, to enjoy the full influence of the radiant sun. And hence it follows, that dark habitations, close and narrow lanes, houses sunk beneath the level of a street, small windows, sombre walls, trees immediately in the front of dwell- ings, and whatever intercepts the light of heaven from the habitations of men, must damp the animal spirits, and prove noxious to the vigour of the human frame. Whereas, a full and uninterrupted view of the beauty, the variety, and the lively colours, of the scenes of nature, has the happiest effects on the temper, and a tendency to exercise and invigorate the powers of the mind ; for there D 2 (41) ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. can be little doubt, that the faculties of the understanding, and the dispositions of the heart, which characterize the individual in the future part of his life, acquire their particular bias and distinguishing features from the cir- cumstances in which he is placed, and the objects with- which he is surrounded, in early life. It may not be improper to add, that, as the eyes of very young children are delicate, they should not at once be exposed to a strong light; and, when they advance, as they are eager to stare at every thing, particularly at a brilliant light, their eyes should be turned so as to have the object in a straight line before them, or their backs turned directly to it To allow them to look at it sideways, or with one eye, would teach them a habit of squinting. Few things are of more importance to the health and comfort of children than cleanliness. The functions of the skin are of peculiar im- portance in the animal system, and have a great influence in preserving the health and vigour of the corporeal frame. Through its millions of pores, the insensible perspiration is incessantly flowing, and more than the one- half of what we eat and drink is in this way discharged. Hence the danger which must arise from frequent obstruction of this essen- tial function, from wet, excrements, dirty linens, and every kind of uncleanliness. From want of attention to this circumstance, various diseases of the skin, eruptions, catarrhs, coughs, the itch, obstructions of the first pass- ages, and even many fatal disorders, derive their origin. It is injurious both to the health and the virtue of man ; it stupifies the mind, sinks it into a lethargic state, deprives him of animal enjoyment, and of the esteem and re- gard of others. Whereas cleanliness promotes both health and virtue, clears the understand- ing, encourages to cheerfulness and activity, prevents many loathsome maladies, and pro- cures the attachment and esteem of associates. Hence the incessant and minute attention which ought to De paid to this circumstance, by parents and nurses, in the rearing of the young. Cleanliness in domestic life, may be considered as one of the cardinal virtues, as an essential requisite in the physical educa- tion of children, and, perhaps, the only pro- vince of parental care in which they can never do too much. The pores of the skin should be kept open by washing the body, and changing the clothes and linen whenever they are unclean. In the first instance, children may be bathed in lukewarm water, and after- wards with water of a colder temperature, as they are able to bear it. Some parts of the body, such as the interior of the legs, the folds of the neck, the arnv-pits, and the parts behind flic ears, which are liable to be inflamed, de- (42) mand particular attention. The nose, like- wise, should be occasionally washed and thoroughly cleaned; it having been found, that the unpleasant smell peculiar to some infants, is owing to the habitual neglect of cleaning that organ. Great attention ought to be paid to children in regard to their eva- cuations ; and every thing that may occasion dampness, and every kind of offensive matter that might adhere to the skin, should be speedily removed. As children are liable to perspire more than adults, frequent change of their linen is a matter of some consequence ; and all parents who can afford it, should give them clean dry linen every day. It is as much the duty of parents to wash and clean their children, as it is to feed and clothe them; and children that are frequently washed and kept clean, gradually improve in health and vivacity ; cleanliness becomes familiar to them, their spirits are enlivened, and they grow up virtuous, polite, and happy. The Russians, with all their ignorance and rusticity of manners, are said to be superior to the more refined English, French, and Ger- mans, both in a delicate sensibility of cleanli- ness, and in the practical use of the bath. A foreign gentleman, travelling in Russia, had hired one of the natives as his groom or postillion. After having travelled several days together in very sultry weather, the semi-barbarian, upon his knees, requested his employer to grant him leave of absence for two or three hours, to refresh himself with the luxury of a bath, which to him was indis- pensable, and the want of which he had long felt. In Russia almost every house has its bath ; and the peasants in that country pos- sess a refinement of sense, with respect to the surface of the body, with which the most elegant ladies in other countries seem totally unacquainted. Even the American Indians, who cannot change their furs so frequently as we can do our clothes, put under their children the dust of rotten wood, and renew it as often as it becomes damp. The clothing of children likewise requires some degree of skill and attention. This, indeed, is so simple a matter, that it is sur- prising that persons living in civilized coun- tries should ever have erred so egregiously in regard to it ; and yet it is a fact, that many children have been rendered deformed, and others have lost their lives, by the pride and folly of their parents in respect to this circum- stance. The time has not long gone by, (if it have yet passed,) since a poor child, as soon as it breathed the vital air, had as many rollers and wrappers sometimes ten fee.t in length applied to its body, as if every bone had been fractured in the birth ; and these were often drawn so tight, as to gall its tender frame, CLOTHING OF CHILDREN. 43 and even obstruct its vital organs a piece of folly BO repugnant to the dictates of nature, that even the most savage nations never com- mit it ; and hence, deformed children are sel- dom or never found among them. By the weight and pressure of stays, bandages, heavy and tight clothes, children, who were well- proportioned at their birth, have afterwards appeared with flat breasts, high shoulders, crooked spines, and other deformities. For when a child is cramped in its clothes, it naturally shrinks from the part that is hurt, and puts its body into unnatural postures: and every part of it, even the bones them- selves, being soft and flexible, deformity, of some kind or other, is the natural result. To this cause physicians have ascribed the nu- merous instances of children dying of convul- sions soon after their birth. The general rule which reason suggests, in regard to the clothing of children is " That a child have no more clothes than are neces- sary to keep it warm, and that they be quite easy for its body." In conformity to this rule, the dress of children should be simple, clean, light, and cheap free, wide, and open, so as neither to impede the vital functions, nor the free arid easy motions of the body, nor prevent the access of fresh air, and be easily put on or taken off. The following cut ex- hibits the simple dress of a little girl. Pins should be used as little as possible, and the clothes chiefly fastened with strings, which would prevent the occasional scratching of their tender skins, and those alarming cries which so frequently proceed from this cause. Such a light and simple dress would induce children to live with less restraint in the society of each other ; and check that silly pride, which leads them to ape the fashions of their supe- riors, and to value themselve's on account of the finery of their clothes. During the first months, the head and breast may be slightly covered ; but as soon as the hair is sufficiently long to afford protection, there appears little necessity for either hats or caps, unless in seasons of rain or cold. By keeping the breast and neck uncovered, they acquire more firmness, are rendered hardier, and less sus- ceptible of being affected with cold. Besides, a child has really a more interesting aspect, when arrayed in the beautiful simplicity of nature, than when adorned with all the trap- pings which art can devise. The following anecdote, related by Herodotus, illustrates the advantage connected with a cool regimen of the head. " After the battle fought between the Persians, under Cambyses, and the Egyp- tians, the slain of both nations were separated ; and upon examining the heads of the Persians, their skulls were found to be so thin and ten- der, that a small stone would immediately perforate them ; while, on the other hand, the heads of the Egyptians were so firm, that they could scarcely be fractured by the largest stones." The cause of this remarkable differ- ence was attributed to the custom of the Egyptians shaving their heads from earliest infancy, and going uncovered in all states of the weather; while the Persians always kept their heads warm by wearing heavy turbans. Attention ought likewise to be paid to the proper covering of the feet. It is scarcely necessary for children to use shoes before they are a year old ; or if they do, the soles should be thin and soft. The form of the human foot is such, that, at the toes it is broad, at the heel narrow, and the inside of the foot is longer than the outside a form which is evidently intended by Nature to enable us to stand and walk with firmness and ease. It is therefore a dictate of nature, that shoes should be made in the same form as the feet, and be sufficiently roomy for the toes to move with ease; and in order to this, they must be formed upon two separate lasts, corresponding to the right and the left foot. How shoes came at first to be made tapering to a point at the toes, almost like a bodkin how high- heels became the darling fashion of the ladies and how a small foot came to be reckoned genteel I pretend not to determine; but certainly nothing can be more absurd and preposterous. Such opinions and practices, along with many others which abound, par- ticularly in the fashionable world, have a direct tendency to counteract the benevolent intentions of Nature, and are nothing short of an attempt to arraign the wisdom of the Creator, in his arranging arid proportionating the different parts of the human frame as if puny man, by his foolish whims, were capable of improving the workmanship of Infinite Intelligence. The following figures (taken from Dr. Faust) plainly show the absurdity (43) 44 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. of the shapes which have been given to shoes. Fig. 1. shows the original shape of the sole of the left foot. Fig. 3. shows how the sole of the left shoe ought to be formed, and Fig. 2. shows clearly that the shoes usually worn, and made on one last, cannot correspond to the natural shape of the foot. If they taper towards a point, the large toe, and some of the small ones, must be crushed and pressed against each other, causing pain to the wearer, and producing corns. The simplest and most accurate mode of taking the true measure and form of shoes, is, to place each foot upon a sheet of paper, and then draw its shape with a pencil, to which two separate lasts should nearly correspond, after having ascertained the curve of the upper part of the foot. 3 1 2 With regard to the clothing of children, in general, it is the opinion of Dr. Faust, that, from the beginning of the third, to the end of the seventh or eighth year, " their heads and necks must be free and bare, the body clothed with a white shirt, and frock with short sleeves, the collar of the shirt to fall back over that of the frock, with the addition of a woollen frock, to be worn between the shirt and the linen frock, during winter, and that the feet be covered only with a pair of socks, to be worn in the shoes." Such a cheap and simple dress, if generally adopted, would un- doubtedly be beneficial to mankind in general, and tend to promote the strength, beauty, and graceful attitudes of children, and, at the same time, check the foolish propensity of parents to indulge their children in flimsy ornaments and finery, beyond what their means can afford. At present, children are frequently muffled up with caps, hats, bonnets, cravats, pelisses, frills, muffles, gloves, ribbons, and other paraphernalia, as if they were to be reared like plants in hotbeds, so that the shape and beautiful proportions which Nature has given them can scarcely be distinguished. I shall only add, that the dress of children ought to be kept thoroughly clean , as dirty clothes not only gall and fret their tender skins, but tend to produce disagreeable smells, vermin, and cutaneous diseases ; and no mother or nurse, however poor, can have any valid (44) excuse for allowing her children to wallow in dirtiness. We may next offer a remark or two on the sleep and exercize of children. The exercise of the corporeal faculties is essentially neces- sary to the health, the growth, and the vigour of the young. The desire of exercise is in- deed coeval with our existence, which is plainly indicated in the delight which children take in beating with a stick, crawling along a floor, or climbing a stair, as soon as they are able to make use of their hands and feet. It is, therefore, the duty of parents to regulate this natural propensity, and direct it to its pro- per end. When children are very young, they may be exercised by carrying them about, giving them a gentle swing, encouraging them to move their hands and feet, talking to them, alluring them to smile, and pointing out every thing that may please and delight their fancy. When they first begin to walk, the safest me- thod of leading them about, is by taking hold of both their hands ; and when they fall, they should never be lifted up by one part only, such as by one hand or one arm, as luxations, or loosening of the joints, may be occasioned by this practice. The practice of swinging them in leading-strings, is sometimes attended with hurtful consequences. It induces them to throw their bodies forward, and press their whole weight upon their stomach and breast, by which their breathing is obstructed, and their stomach compressed. When they are able to walk with ease, they should be encouraged to run about in places where they are not ex- posed to danger, to exert their hands and limbs, and to amuse themselves in the com- pany of their associates. When they cannot go abroad, they -may be exercised in running along a room or passage, or in leaping and dancing. A certain eminent physician used to say, " that he made his children dance, in- stead of giving them physic." When chil- dren fall, or get into any difficulty in the course of their movements, if they are in no danger, we should never be forward to express our condolence, or to run to their assistance ; but leave them to exert their powers, and to scramble the best way they can, in order to extricate themselves from any painful situa- tions in which they may have been involved. By being too attentive to them, and appearing too anxious, in such cases, we teach them to be careless of themselves ; by seeming to re- gard every trifling accident which befalls them as a dreadful calamity, we inspire them with timidity, and prevent them from acquiring manly fortitude. With regard to the dtep of children, it is universally admitted, that they require far more than persons of adult age; and the younger the child, the more sleep he requires. MORAL INSTRUCTION OF INFANTS. An adult requires only about seven hours in the twenty -four ; but very young children re- quire double that number. However long they may happen to sleep, they should never be suddenly awakened. It is dangerous in the extreme to lull them asleep by doses of laudanum, or other soporific medicines, as is frequently done by mercenary and indolent nurses. In order to induce children to repose, they are generally rocked in cradles ; but there is no absolute necessity for resorting to this expedient. If they are constantly kept dry and clean, and accustomed to fresh air, and riot frequently disturbed, they will sleep com- fortably and soundly without any violent agita- tion. Some of my own children were never in a cradle, and yet they were far more easily managed, in respect to sleeping, and watching, and other circumstances, than those of them who were accustomed to it ; and many similar instances, were it expedient, could be brought forward. But if they are to be torked in cra- dles, it ought to be with the greatest gentle- ness. The violence with which children are sometimes rocked, jumbles their brain, and makes them uneasy, giddy, and stupid, and is consequently injurious, both to body and mind. If the practice of rocking, however, were alto- gether laid aside, it would be a great relief to mothers and nurses, and afford them more un- interrupted leisure for the performance of other domestic employments. As it is viewed by some to be hurtful and dangerous for mothers to take their infants with them to bed, in Italy, mothers who do so, use a machine, which protects them from all injury and dan- ger. It is called arcurcio, and is 3 feet 2 inches long, and the head-board 14 inches broad, and 13 inches high. I shall only observe further, on the subject of physical education, that, when children begin to lisp out a few words, or syllables, great care ought to be taken to give them an accurate and distinct pronunciation. Every sound we wish them to pronounce, should be slowly and distinctly uttered before them, be- ginning with single sounds, and proceeding to easy words ; and they should never be taught any pronunciation which they will afterwards be under the necessity of unlearning. The pleasure we feel at first hearing them aim at the use of language, is apt to dispose us to listen with such attention, as to relieve them from the necessity of acquiring a distinct and open articulation. The consequence is, that they get into a rapid, indistinct, and hesitating mode of speaking, which is afterwards very difficult, and sometimes impossible to correct. Would we teach them a plain and distinct articulation, we should uniformly speak with distinctness and accuracy in their presence; and refuse to answer their requests, unless they are expressed with the greatest precision and accuracy which their organs of articula- tion will permit. Attention to this circum- stance would smooth the way to accurate and early reading, and prevent much trouble both to teacher and scholar, when the child com- mences a regular train of instruction. I have been induced to offer these few hints on this subject, from a strong conviction, that the physical education of children is intimately connected with the development of mind and that whatever tends to promote health, and to strengthen the animal frame, will also tend to invigorate the soul, and call forth into exercise its energies and powers. 2. On the Moral Instruction of Infants. This is a subject of peculiar importance, to which the attention of every parent ought to be early and thoroughly directed. No duties are generally more trifled with than those which relate to the moral tuition of infants ; and even sensible md pious parents too fre- quently err on this point, and lay the founda- tion of many bitter regrets and perplexities in after life, both to themselves and to their offspring. On the mode in which a child is trained, during the two or three first years of its existence, will, in a great measure, depend the comfort of its parents, and its own happi- ness during the succeeding periods of its ex- istence. The first and most important rule on this subject, and which may be considered as the foundation of all the rest, is that an absolute and entire authority over the child, should, as early as possible, be established. By authority I mean, a certain air and ascendant, or such a mode of conducting ourselves towards chil- dren, as shall infallibly secure obedience. This authority is to be obtained neither by age nor stature by the tone of the voice, nor by threatening language ; but by an even, firm, moderate disposition of rnind which is always master or itself which is guided only by rea- son and never acts under the impulse of mere fancy or angry passions. If we wish such authority to be absolute and complete and nothing short of this ought to be our aim we must endeavour to acquire this as- cendancy over the young at a very early period of their lives. Children at a very early age are capable of reasoning, of comparing different objects with each other, and of draw- ing conclusions from them. I have seen a child of eight months turn round and point at a portrait, when the name of the individual whom it represented was announced; and another, not much older, point first to the ori- ginal and then to the painting, indicating its perception of the resemblance of the on* to (45) 46 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. the other. And as the rational and perceptive powers soon begin to operate, so we find that stubbornness, obstinacy, anger, and a spirit of independence, display themselves at a very early period, even when the child is sucki ;g its mother's breast. " What mean those c: ies, (says Augustine,) those tears, the threatening gesture of the eyes, sparkling with rage, in an infant, when resolved to gain his point with all his force, or inflamed with jealousy against one another? Though its infantine members are weak and imbecile, its passions are some- times strong and furious. I have seen a child burning with jealousy. He could not yet utter a word, but, with a pale countenance, could cast a furious look at another child who was sucking with him at the same breast." These circumstances clearly point out the period for subduing the bad inclinations of children, and training them to submission and obedience. From the age of ten or twelve months, and earlier if possible, every parent ought to commence the establishment of autho- rity over his children ; for the longer it is de- layed after this period, the more difficult it will be to bring them under complete control. This authority is to be acquired not by pas- sionately chiding and beating children at an early age but by accustoming them to per- ceive that our will must always prevail over theirs, and in no instance allowing them to gain an ascendancy, or to counteract a com- mand when it has once been given. Dr. M^itherspoon recommends the following plan to accustom children to obedience : " As soon as they begin to show their inclination by de- sire or aversion, let single instances be chosen, now and then, (not too frequently,) to contra- dict them. For example, if a child shows a desire to have any thing in his hand that he sees, or has any thing in his hand with which he is delighted, let the parent take it from him ; and when he docs so, let no con- Bideration whatever make him restore it at that time. Then, at a considerable interval, perhaps a whole day is little enough, let the same thing be repeated. In the meantime, it must be carefully observed, that no attempt should be made to contradict the child in the intervals. Not the least appearance of opposi- tion, if possible, should be found between the will of the parent and that of the child, except in those chosen cases when the parent must always prevail. Neither mother nor nurse should ever presume to condole with the child, or show any signs of displeasure at his being crossed ; but, on the contrary, give every mark of approbation. This experiment, frequently repeated, will in a little time so perfectly ha- bituate the child to yield to the parent when- ever he interferes, that he will make no opposition. I can assure you from experience, (46) having literally practised this method myself, that I never had a child of twelve months old but would suffer me to take any thing from him or her, without the least mark of anger or dissatisfaction, while they would net suffer any other to do so without the bitterest com- plaints." Such experiments, if properly conducted, would gradually produce in children habits of obedience; but they require to be managed with judgment and prudence, and gradually extended from one thing to another, till abso- lute submission is produced ; care, however, being taken that the cjiild be not unnecessarily contradicted or irritated. The Rev. Mr. Cecil, in some of his writings, relates an experiment of this kind which he tried on his own daugh- ter, a little girl of about three or four years old. She was standing one day before the fire, amusing herself with a string of beads, with which she appeared to be highly de- lighted. Her father approached her, and said, " What is this you are playing with, my little dear 1" " My beads, papa." " Show me these beads, my dear." She at once handed them to her father, who immediately threw them into the fire. " Now," said he, " let them re- main there." She immediately began to cry. " You must not cry, my dear, but be quite contented." She then sat down on the floor, and amused herself with some other toys. About two or three days after this, he pur- chased another string of beads much more valuable and brilliant, which he immediately presented to her. She was much delighted with the appearance of the new set of beads. " Now," said her father, " I make a present of these to you, because you was a good girl, arid gave me your beads when I asked them." She felt, in this case, that obedience and sub- mission to her parent were attended with happy effects, and would be disposed, in her future conduct, to rely on his wisdom and affection.* Children trained in this way, with firmness and affection, soon become happy in them- selves, and a comfort to their parents; and those scoldings, contentions, and sounds of discord, so frequently heard in the family man- sion, entirely prevented. In order to establish complete authority, and secure obedience, the following rule must be invariably acted upon that no command, either by word, look, or gesture, should be given, which is not intended to be enforced and obeyed. It is the rock on which most parents split, in infantile education, that, while they are almost *Thi9 relation is not taken directly from Mr. Cecil's writings. If I recollect risrht, it was in- tended to illustrate the nature nf faith, ; hut it may likewise exemplify the benefits which flow from unreserved obedience to the commands of an affec- tionate parent. IMPORTANCE OF ACQUIRING AUTHORITY. 47 incessantly giving commands to their children, with screaming, in a short time he drops they are not careful to see that they are punc- asleep. The same process is repeated, when tually obeyed ; and seem to consider the occa- similar circumstances occur. Now, it is ad- sional violation o'f their injunctions, as a very mitted that there is a 'difficulty in such cases; trivial fault, or as a matter of course. There but it is a difficulty which must be overcome, is no practice more common than this, and if we would not become slaves to our children, none more ruinous to the authority of parents, and render them disobedient and unhappy and to the best interests of their offspring, through life. Were a mother, for a few days, When a child is accustomed, by frequent repe- or weeks at most, to make a strong effort, and titions, to counteract the will of his parent, a to sacrifice for a little her own ease, and even habit of insubordination is gradually induced, some urgent business, and never flinch from which sometimes grows to such a height, that the object till complete submission be accom- ncither entreaties, nor threats, nor corporal plished, she would soon gain the requisite punishment, are sufficient to counteract its ascendancy ; and, having acquired it, it would tendencies ; and a sure foundation is laid for save her from a multitude of troubles and many future perplexities and sorrows. The perplexities, which must otherwise be felt rule, therefore, should be absolute that every during succeeding years prevent the neces- parental command ought to be enforced. And, sity of scolding, threatening, and whipping in order to this, it is requisite that every com- and lay a sure foundation for domestic har- mand be reasonable that a compliance with mony and filial affection. But the longer she it produce no unnecessary pain or trouble to delays, the more difficult it will be to acquire the child that it be expressed in the words the requisite ascendancy ; and the mother who of kindness and affection and that it ought trifles with this important duty, from day to never to be delivered in a spirit of pnsswn or day, lays the foundation of many bitter regrets resentment. Reproof or correction given in a and self-reproaches renders her children rage, and with words of fury, is always con- curses instead of blessings and will, sooner sidcred as tlie effect of weakness and of the or later, feel the effects of her misconduct, and want of self-command, and uniformly frustrates behold her sin in her punishment, the gurpose it was intended to subserve. " I The violation of parental authority, espe- have heard," says Dr. Witherspoon, " some daily among the children of the lower ranks, persons often say, that they cannot correct is so common, that it ceases to excite wonder their children unless they are angry ; to whom or surprise. One can scarcely walk the streets I have usually answered, ' Then you ought without seeing parental authority disregarded, not to correct them at all.' Every one would A father is beheld with a whip or a stick in his be sensible, that for a magistrate to discover hand, driving home his stubborn son, as if he an intemperate rage in pronouncing sentence were " a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke" against a criminal, would be highly indecent ; and a mother running after her child, with and ought not parents to punish their children looks of fury and words of execration, seizing in the same dispassionate manner!" him by the shoulders, beating him with her One of the greatest obstacles in the way of fists, and dragging him along like a piece of acquiring complete authority, is the want of for- lumber, while the little urchin is resisting tituiJe and perseverance, especially on the part with all his might, and bellowing like an ox. of the mother. She is sometimes oppressed A short time ago, I was passing along the with anxieties and difficulties, busied with do- suburb of a large town, when I beheld a child mestic affairs, or perhaps has a young infant of about three years old amusing himself on at the breast that requires her chief attention, the footpath before his dwelling. His mother or strangers may have paid a visit to the approached the threshold, and called him in. family. Her older child becomes restless and " Come awa', Jamie, to the house, it's a cauld fretful, and runs through the dwelling, disturb- day/* Jamie paid no attention to the com- ing every one with his cries. She tries to mand, but moved with the utmost deliberation coax him with flattering promises; but it is to a greater distance. " Come awa'," says his of no avail. He is perhaps crying for some- mother a second time, " and I'll gie ye some thing which she does not think proper to give, good thing." James, however, marched on She at length scolds and threatens, and at- to a still greater distance. " Come back, tempts to strike, which generally makes the Jamie," rejoined the mother, " and I'll gie ye child redouble his cries. Wearied out, at an apple." James paused for a moment, and length, with his cries and tears, and anxious looked back with a kind of leer ; but, recollect- to attend to some necessary affairs, she allows ing, perhaps, that his mother had often pro- herself to be vanquished, and submits to his mised, and failed in performing her promises, desires. Sugar, jellies, or plumcakes, are sup- he set off with more speed than before. His plied to pamper his depraved appetite, and mother now became vociferous, and bawled put an end to his crying; and, being exhausted out, "Come back, you little villain, or I'll 48 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. whip you, as sure's I'm alive." James, how- ever, who appeared to have known his mother better than she knew herself, still marched on. The foolish mother now became furious, rushed after the child, and dragged him home like a squeaking pig, lamenting that her chil- dren were so stubborn and disobedient ; and forgetting, in the meantime, that she herself was their instructor, and the cause of their obstinacy and disobedience. Children brought up in this manner are not only unhappy in themselves, but not unfrequently become pests in society, and particularly to the public in- structors of youth, who find it extremely diffi- cult, and sometimes next to impossible, to bring them under control and subordination to scholastic order and discipline without which their progress in learning cannot be promoted. Some children, even in the same family, are pliant and of tender feelings, and are easily brought under subjection by a judicious parent ; while others are naturally proud, self- willed and obstinate. But even in the worst supposable cases, it is quite practicable, by firmness and prudent management, to bring the most stubborn under subjection. This may be illustrated from the following fact, extracted from an excellent little work, enti- tled " The Mother at Home, or the Principles of Maternal Duty familiarly Illustrated; by the Rev. John S. C. Abbot, of Worcester, America."* "A gentleman, a few years since, sitting by his fireside one evening, with his family around him, took the spelling-book, and called upon ,one of his little sons to come and read. John was about four years old. He knew all the letters of the alphabet per- fectly, but happened at that moment to be rather in a sullen humour, and was not at all disposed to gratify his father. Very reluctantly * While I was writing the preceding paragraphs, this interesting little volume was put into my hands, a volume which I would strongly recom- mend to the perusal of every parent. Its style is simple and perspicuous, its sentiments rational and pious, and are uniformly illustrated with a variety of appropriate examples taken from real life so that the most ignorant and illiterate may easily enter into all the views and representations of the author, and feel their propriety and force. Were the principles inculcated in this small volume univertnlly recognized and acted upon, the aspect of the moral world would, ere long, undergo an important change, and a new genera- tion would soon spring up. to renovate the world, and to hail the commencement of the millennial era. The amiable author himself appears to be an affectionate and " Grateful Son;" for, instead of attempting to curry favour with the great, by dedicating his work to the Earl of F.. the Duchess of G., or the President of the United States, he very appropriately dedicates it to his " Father and Mother," of whom he speaks with affectionate re- gard. The volume is very neatly got up, contains above 140 pages, pretty closely printed, and is sold, neatly bound, for only one shilling ; so that it is within the reach of the poorest family. (48) he came as he was bid ; but when his father pointed to the first letter of the alphabet, and said, 'What letter is that, John 1 ?' he could get no answer. John looked upon the book, sulky and silent ' My son,' said the father pleasantly, ' you know the letter A.' ' I can- not say A,' said John. ' You must,' said the father in a serious and decided tone ; ' what letter is that !' John refused to answer. The contest was now fairly commenced. John was wilful, and determined that he would not read. His father knew that it would be ruinous to his son to allow him to conquer , he felt that he must at all hazards subdue him. He took him into another room, and punished him. He then returned, and again showed John the letter ; but John still refused to name it. The father again retired with his son, and punished him more severely. But it was unavailing. The stubborn child still refused to name the letter; and when told that it was A, declared that he would not say A. Again the father inflicted punishment as severely as he dared to do it, and still the child, with his whole frame in agitation, re- fused to yield. The father was suffering with most intense solicitude. He regretted exceed- ingly that he had been drawn into the contest. He had already punished his child with a severity which he feared to exceed ; and yet the wilful sufferer stood before him, sobbing and trembling, but apparently as unyielding as a rock. I have often heard that parent mention the acuteness of his feelings at that moment ; his heart was bleeding at the pain which he had been 'compelled to inflict upon his son. He knew that the question was now to be settled, who should be master ; and after his son had withstood so long and so much, he greatly feared the result. The mother sat by, suffering of course most acutely, but per- fectly satisfied that it was their duty to subdue the child, and that, in such a trying hour, a mother's feelings must not interfere. With a heavy heart, the father again took the hand of his son, to lead him out of the room for further punishment ; but, to his inconceivable joy, the child shrunk from enduring any more suffering, and cried, ' Father, I'll tell the letter.' The father, with feelings not easily conceived, took the book and pointed to the letter. ' A,' said John, distinctly and fully. 'And what is that?' said the father, pointing to the next letter. ' B,' said John. 'And what is that?' 'C,' he continued. 'And what is that?' pointing again to the first letter. ' A,' said the now humbled child. 'Now carry the book to your mother, and tell her what the letter is.' ' What letter is that, my son V said his mother. 'A,' said John. He was evi- dently perfectly subdued. The rest of the children were sitting by, and they saw the IMPORTANCE OF ADHERENCE TO TRUTH. 49 contest, and they saw where was the victory ; and John learned a lesson which he never forgot : he learned never again to wage such an unequal warfare he learned that it was the safest and happiest course for him to obey." The conduct of the parent, in this case, so far from being branded with harshness or cruelty, was the dictate of mercy and love, Had the son been permitted to obtain the mastery, it might not only have proved his ruin through life, but have produced a spirit of insubordination among the other branches of the family. The only fault which, per- haps, may be attributed to the father, in the present instance, was his insisting on his son pointing out the letters when he happened to be in a " sullen humour. 1 " But, after the con- test was commenced, it was indispensable to the happiness and order of the family, that victory should be obtained on the part of the parent. And this circumstance suggests the following rule, that, When children happen to be in a fretful or sulky humour, any dis- agreeable command or injunction thai in not indispensable, ought to be avoided: for it is best to prevent collisions of this kind, at a time when children are disposed to " summon up all their energies to disobey." Another important maxim in infantile in- struction is, that noi/ting be told or represented to children but what is strictly accordant with truth. This maxim is violated in thousands of instances by mothers and nurses, to the manifest injury of the moral principles and the intellectual powers of the young. The system of nature is frequently misrepresented, and even caricatured, when its objects are pointed out to children ; qualities are ascribed to them which they do not possess ; their real properties are concealed, and even imaginary invisible beings, which have no existence in the universe, are attempted to be exhibited to their imagination. The moon is sometimes represented as within reach of the child's grasp, when he is anxiously desired to take hold of it ; a table or a chair is represented as an animated being, when he is desired to strike it in revenge, after having knocked his j , i . i head against it ; a dog or a cat is represented as devoid of feeling, when he is encouraged to beat or whip these animals for his amuse- , . v j, . . , ment ; certain animated beings are represented as a nuisance in creation, when a boy is per- mitted to tear asunder the legs and wings of . j. , 3 , , , , flies, or directed to crush to death every worm or beetle that comes in his way ; and the shades of night are exhibited as peopled with spectres, when a child is threatened with a visit of a frightful hobgoblin from a dark apartment In these and similar instances not only is the understanding bewildered and perverted, but the moral powers are cor- rupted ; falsehood, deceit, a revengeful dis- position, cruelty towards the lower animals, superstitious opinions and vain alarms, are indirectly fostered in the youthful mind. Even the pictorial representations which are exhibited to children in their toy-books, too frequently partake of this character. The sun and moon are represented with human faces, as if they were small and insignificant objects, and partook of the nature of animated beings. Peacocks and cranes, foxes and squirrels, cats and mice, are represented in the attitude of speaking and of holding con- versation with each other, as if they were rational beings endowed with the faculty of speech. A monkey is represented as riding on a sow, and an old woman, mounted on a broom, as directing her course through the air to the moon. Even when real objects are intended to be depicted, such as a horse, an elephant, or a lion, they are often surrounded and interwoven with other extraneous objects, so that the principal figure intended to be ex- hibited can scarcely be distinguished. Hence, most of our books intended for the nursery, convey little else than vague and distorted views of the objects of nature and the scenes of human life, and are nothing short of trifling with the ideas that ought to be distinctly exhibited to the infant mind.* If children were permitted to imbibe no ideas but what ^ are true, or accordant with the existing scenes of nature, their progress in useful information would be rapid and sure, and its acquisition easy and pleasant. But, as matters now stand, one of the most difficult parts of education con- sists in counteracting the immoral principles and erroneous ideas which have been im- pressed upon the mind in early life which, in many cases, requires arduous and long- continued efforts. It has a still more pernicious effect on the moral principles of the young, when false assertions and representations are made to them in reference to facts and circumstances * A considerable degree of knowledge may be communicated to the young by means of pictorial exhibitions ; but in order to this, they must he tf a different description from what is found in most of our school-books and publications intended for the nursery. Instead of caricatures, and indistinct groups of objects unnaturally huddled together, every object ought to be neatly, vividly, and accu- rately engraved, and the principal figures well de- fined and detached from mere adventitious accom- pnniments ; and, if possible, coloured after nature. The best little books and figures of this descrip- tion I have seen, are most of those published by Truths for the Instruction of Children," &c. &c in which the scenes of human life are neatly and you th (49) 50 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. of a moral nature. How common is it, for ing stranger 1 And whom will he hereafter example, for a mother to cajole a child into most readily believe 1 It ought, however, to obedience by promising him an article or a be remarked, that, had the child been properly gratuity which she has no intention of be- governed, he would, at once, and without a stowing, or which, perhaps, it is out of her murmur, have taken what his mother pre- power to bestow! She is about to take a sented." walk, or to pay a visit, and little Tom wishes Hence the following practical rules may be to go along with her. This proposal his deduced: Never attempt in any instance to mother thinks proper to refuse. Tom begins deceive the young. How can a parent, with a crying, and attempts to assail his mother by any consistency or hope of success, inculcate his tears. She tries to cajole him, by telling upon a child, that ' it is wicked to tell a false- him she will bring home to him apples and hood,' when the child perceives his parent oranges, a little coach and four, a fiddle, a setting before him, in his own conduct, an ex- drum, or a fine new jacket. Little Tom, ample of this vice 1 Such conduct necessa- perhaps, is somewhat appeased by such flat- rily leads a child to distrust his parents, to tering promises. His mother leaves home, despise them in his heart, and to practise him- pays her visit and returns, but forgets her self the same arts of deception. Never make promises, as she never intended to fulfil them, a promise to a child which is not intended to be The same thing is frequently repeated, till at punctually performed ; and Never threaten length the child learns that no dependence a punishment which is not intended to be in~ is to be placed on the word of his parent, flicted. Children have better memories in There can scarcely be a more direct way than regard to these things than what we are apt this of training children to prevarication and to suspect, and they draw their conclusions, falsehood, and exciting them to view with con- and act accordingly. A proper consideration tempt their parents and guardians. Such de- of these things will point out the propriety of ceptions are very commonly attempted, when being very cautious and circumspect as to what children are urged to take nauseous medicines we promise and what we threaten in respect to for the recovery of their health. The loath- the young, if we sincerely wish them to re- some drug is represented as pleasant, or in spect truth, and be submissive to their supe- nowise unpalatable, till the child tastes it, riors and instructors. and finding it offensive to his palate, spits it Another rule to be attended to in infant out, and absolutely refuses to take any more education, is, that we should beware of in- of the draught while, at the same time, he dulging the habit of incessantly finding fault clearly perceives that he has been deceived, with children. The same principles and feel- Mr. Abbot relates the following story, illus- ings which operate on adult minds are gene- trative of this point : "A mother was once rally found to affect, in a similar manner, the trying to persuade her little son to take some minds of the young. When a man is con- medicine. The medicine was very unpalat- tinually found fault with, in every operation able ; and she, to induce him to take it, he performs when his most minute deviations declared it did not taste bad. He did not from accuracy are censured and exaggerated, believe her. He knew, by sad experience, and his prominent excellencies overlooked, and that her word was not to be trusted. A gen- refused their due meed of praise, he becomes tleman and a friend who was present took the disheartened in Jris pursuits, and feels little spoon and said, ' James, this is medicine, and stimulus to improvement ; whereas, the be- lt tastes badly. I should not like to take it, stowment of deserved approbation animates but I would, if necessary. You have courage the mind, and excites to more assiduous exer- enough to swallow something which does not tions. In like manner, children are discou- taste good, have you not?' ' Yes,' said James, raged in their aims to please their parents and looking a little less sulky, 'but that is very guardians, when fault is found with almost bad indeed.' ' I know it,' said the gentleman, every thing they do ; but there is nothing that ' I presume you never tasted any thing much tends more to cheer and animate the mind of worse.' The gentleman then tasted of the a child, and to produce a desire of pleasing medicine himself, and said, ' It is very un- his parents, than the hope of receiving the pleasant. But now let us see if you have not due reward of his attentions, and the smile resolution enough to take it, bad as it is.' and approbation of those whom he is taught The boy hesitatingly took the spoon. ' It is to love and obey. Many little irregularities bad,' said the gentleman, ' but the best way in the conduct of children, if they be not di- is to summon all your resolution, and down rectly vicious, or acts of disobedience, must with it at once, like a man.' James made, in be overlooked ; or if they are reproved, it reality, a great effort for a child, and swallowed should be as seldom as possible, and with gen- the dose. And whom will this child most re- tleness and affection. We should always be upect, his deceitful mother, or the honest-deal- more ready to express approbation, and to re (50) VANITY SHOULD BE COUNTERACTED. 51 ward good conduct, than to chide and frown at e\ery trivial fault that may be committed through thoughtlessness and inattention. And it is surely more delightful to the heart of an affectionate parent to have his children excited to good conduct from the desire of pleasing and the hope of reward, than merely from a fear of offending. But when children are almost incessantly scolded when, after en- deavouring to do the best they can, they are told that they never do any thing right that they are stupid asses that they will never be made to learn that they are continually giving us trouble and vexation that they are like no other children, and that we will give over attempting to teach them, such disheart- ening remonstrances, when daily repeated, tend to chill the susceptible hearts of the young, to sour their dispositions, and to render them indifferent to making improvement either in knowledge or virtue. On the other hand, nothing tends more to promote filial affection, cheerful obedience, a spirit of improvement, and to cherish the best feelings of the human heart, than the prospect of well-merited ap- probation, and the hope of reward. vcry child should be made to see and feel the natural consequences of his conduct, whether good or bad : and the punishments and re- wards he receives should be of such a. nature as to make him perceive the unhappy tendency of thoughtless and obstinate tempers, and the happiness which invariably results from obe- dient submission, and the exercise of amiable dispositions. There are certain natural and moral laws which cannot be infringed b) r any one without his feeling the consequences of their violation ; and this holds true in the case of children, as well as in that of adults. When a child rushes heedlessly into a room, without looking before him, he is almost cer- tain of getting a fall, or knocking his head against a table. When he climbs on the back of a chair, when he approaches too near the grate, amuses himself with a firebrand, or handles, without caution, knives and forks he is certain, sooner or later, by various pains and accidents, to feel the consequences of his conduct; and in such cases he should be made distinctly to perceive the connection be- tween his fault and his punishment. But, in the next place, although we should beware of constantly finding fault with chil- dren, we must carefully guard against every thing that might excite them to vanity and self-conceit. We encourage such vicious pro- pensities, when we expatiate on their good qualities to visitors, and praise them for the excellent things they have said or done, while they themselves are standing by, and eagerly listening to the conversation. At such times we are apt to forget, that they are paying strict attention to every thing that is said, and drinking in with pleasure the flattering ex- pressions bestowed upon them. One should never speak in the presence of children about any thing which he does not wish them to know, if they are above fifteen or twenty months old. It is amazing how soon children become acquainted with the meaning of lan- guage, even before they are capable of ex- pressing their ideas in words, or entering upon a regular conversation. " A little child," says Mr. Abbot, " creeping upon the floor, and who could not articulate a single word, was re- quested to carry a piece of paper across the room, and put it in a chair. The child per- fectly comprehended the direction, and crept across the room, and did as he was told. An experiment or two of this kind will satisfy any one how far a child's mind is in advance of his power to express his ideas; and yet when a child is three or four years old, parents will relate in their presence shrewd things which they have said and done, and some- times even their acts of disobedience will be mentioned with a smile !" Another circum- stance by which pride and self-conceit are excited in the breasts of the young, is, the conduct of parents in exhibiting the acquire- ments of their children to strangers, and to almost every visitor that happens to call. Lit- tle Ann has been taught to repeat by rote a few verses of a Psalm or Hymn, and Andrew, a little more advanced in years, has learned Sempronius' " Speech for War," or a piece of an old play. Although they know nothing of the meaning of the pieces they have com- mitted to memory, and cannot, perhaps, annex a single idea to the words they pronounce, yet their mamma is so enraptured with their at- tainments, that when any visitors happen to call, or a party is assembled, she introduces them to the company, and encourages them to spout in their presence, sometimes to their no small disgust and annoyance. Of course every one pats them on the head, and praises them for the exhibition they have made, while they eagerly catch the words of approbation, to nurse their latent vanity and self-conceit Such exhibitions, when frequently repeated, cannot but have an injurious effect on the youthful mind. Pride and self-conceit, how- ever common in society, are so odious, and so inconsistent with the character and circum- stances of man, that instead of fostering such unamiable principles, every exertion should be made to check their growth, aud counteract their influence. And modesty and humility are so amiable, and so congenial to beings so ignorant and depraved as man, who is but an atom in creation, and stands near the lowest point of the scale of intellectual existence that every thing ought to be carefully guarded (51) ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. agains 4 . that would prevent their culture, and every mean used which has a tendency to cherish and promote them. I do not mean to insinuate, that it is improper, in every in- stance, to exhibit the attainments of children ; but it should be done with judgment and cau- tion, so that it may produce no immoral effects, o* be tbe means of adding to the impudence and self-conceit which too much abound in the world. The practice of teaching children to repeat, like parrots, what they do not un- derstand, ought to be entirely discarded. The best exhibition of a child's attainments would be, to make him read a passage from any of his toy-books, and give the meaning of the words, and an account of the facts or senti- ments it contains. To the rules on this subject, already stated, may be added the following : Never attempt to frighten children to their duty by presenting to their fancy terrific objects, and exciting ima- ginary alarms. This rule is violated, when frightful hobgoblins are represented as having been seen in darkness, and during night, and when foolish tales of fairies, witches, and ap- paritions, are gravely related to children. And, when their minds are thus stuffed with con- fused ideas of imaginary objects, they are afterwards frightened into obedience by the terror of some of these visionary beings sud- denly making their appearance. Darkness is thus associated with terrific phantoms, and children are sometimes thrust into dark and narrow rooms, to make them cease their cry- ing, or to frighten them into obedience. It is not uncommon to hear nurses, and even fool- ish mothers, threatening to send for the " black man" with cloven feet, and horns on his head to cut off their children's heads, to toss them out of a window, or to send them to the black-hole. Such a mode of frightening chil- dren into obedience, not only lays the founda- tion of superstitious notions, and renders them afterwards cowards in the dark, but is some- times attended with the most tragical effects. An English writer, says Mr. Abbot, gives an account of two instances in which fatal con- sequences attended the strong excitement of fear. He says, " I knew in Philadelphia a child, as fine and as sprightly, and as intelli- gent a child, as ever was born, made an idiot for life, by being, when about three years old, shut into a dark closet by a maid-servant, in order to terrify it into silence. The thought- less creature first menaced it with sending it ' to the bad place/ as the phrase is ; and at last, to reduce it to silence, put it into the closet, shut the door, and went out of the room. She went back in a few minutes, and found the child in a fit. It recovered from that, but was for life an idiot." It is not long since we read in the newspapers of a child (52) being killed by being thus frightened. The parents had gone out to what is called an evening party. The servants had their party at home, and the mistress, who, by some un- expected accident, had been brought home at an early hour, finding the parlour full of com- pany, ran up stairs to see her child, who was about two or three .years old. She found it with its eyes open, but fixed ; touching it, she found it inanimate. The doctor was sent for in vain ; it was quite dead. The maid affected to know nothing of the cause ; but some one of the persons assembled discovered, pinned up to the curtains of the bed, a horrid figure, made up partly of a frightful mask ! This, as the wretched girl confessed, had been done to keep the child quiet, while she was with her company below. It is surely unneces- sary to add more, in order to deter parents and servants from practices fraught with such dangerous and appalling consequences. Let children be inspired both with physical and moral courage. Let them be taught, that there is nothing more frightful in the dark than in the light of day, except the danger of knocking against any object we do not per- ceive. Let them be accustomed, at times, to be in the dark, both in company and alone, in the house, and in the open air, when there is no danger of meeting with accidents. Let them be taught, above all things, to love God and fear him ; and that they need not be greatly alarmed at whatever may befall them from any other quarter. In practising the rules now laid down, and in every branch of domestic education, it is a matter of the first importance, that fathers and mothers, nurses and servants, fhould act. in harmony in the commands and instructions given to children. When a foolish mother, from a mistaken affection, indulges her chil- dren in their vicious humours and impertinent whims, and is careless whether or not parental authority be respected it is next to impossible for a father, however judicious his plans, to maintain domestic order and authority, and to " train up his children in the way they should go." The altercations which not unfrequentJy happen between parents, as to the mode of managing their offspring, and that, too, in the presence of their children, subvert the very foundations of family government, and en- danger the best interests of those whom they profess to hold dear. Little John lias, per- haps, been for some time in a sulky humour; he has struck his sister, torn her frock, and tossed her doll into the fire, and obstinately refused to comply with some parental com- mands. His father wishes to correct him for his conduct, which his mother endeavours to prevent. Punishment, however, is inflicted corresponding to the crime ; but the silly mo- INTELLECTUAL INSTRUCTION OF INFANTS. 53 ther, instead of going hand in hand with her husband in maintaining family order, ex- claims against the severity of the correction, and, taking the child in her arms, caresses him, and condoles with him on account of the pain he has suffered plainly indicating to the child that his father had acted towards him with cruelty and injustice. Wherever such conduct frequently recurs, domestic order is overthrown, the moral principles of the young corrupted, deceit and hypocrisy cherished, filial affection undermined, and a sure founda- tion laid for many future perplexities and sor- rows. However much parents may differ in opinion about certain principles, or modes of conducting family affairs, it ought never to be displayed in the presence of their children : and, for the same reason, parents ought never to speak disrespectfully of any teacher they employ, while their children are listening to their remarks, whatever may be the private opinion they entertain respecting his qualifi- cations or conduct. 3. On the Intellectual Instruction of Infants. In regard to the intellectual instruction of infants, I have already thrown out a few cur- sory remarks, and shall afterwards illustrate more particularly a few principles applicable to this subject. In the meantime, the follow- ing brief hints may suffice. As the senses are the primary inlets of all knowledge every object, within view, in. the system of nature, which has a tendency to convey a new idea, should be distinctly presented to the eyes of a child. He should be taught to contemplate it for some time with steadiness and attention, and the sound or name by which it is distin- guished frequently repeated to him. In order gradually to enlarge the sphere of his infor- mation, the objects more immediately around him may, in the first instance, be separately and distinctly pointed out, uniformly accom- panying the name with the exhibition of the object. He should next be occasionally led into the fields, and to the banks of a river, the margin of the ocean, and a seaport, if such places lie adjacent, and his attention directed to the most prominent objects connected with those scenes ; care being taken not to confuse his imagination with too many objects at one time. Perhaps it may be sufficient to confine his attention to about three or four objects at a time such as a house, a tree, a cow, and a horse. To these his attention should be par- ticularly riveted, so that the idea of the object and its name may be inseparably connected, and indelibly impressed upon his mind. After- wards, other objects, as a ship, a boat, a spire, a flower, the clouds, &c., may, in the same manner, be presented to his view, varying the scene, and gradually presenting new objects to his attention. When he has thus acquired some knowledge of the most interesting ob- jects which compose the scene around him, he may be desired to point out any particular ob- ject when its name is mentioned. Supposing him in the fields, or on the banks of a river, let him be desired to point to a tree, a sheep, or a boat, if such objects are within view ; and by this means, he will become gradually familiarized with the scenery of nature, and the terms by which its various parts are dis- tinguished. His attention may also be di- rected to the sky, not merely for the purpose of distinguishing its objects, but for tracing their motions. Let him be taken to a certain point, where he will observe the rising sun, and, on the evening of the same day, let him be brought to the same position to behold his setting, and let him be taught to mark the dif- ferent direction in which he sets from that in which he arose ; from which he will naturally conclude, that motion of some kind or other has taken place. In like manner, about twi- light, when the moon begins to appear, let him be directed, from a certain station, to mark her position in the heavens with respect to certain objects on the earth over which she appears, and before going to bed, let her be viewed from the same station, and the different positions in which she then appears pointed out. Such observations will pave the way for more particular instructions on such sub- jects, as he advances in years. In the same manner, artificial objects of various descriptions, as windmills, tables, sofas, candlesticks, hammers, scissors, organs, piano- fortes, clocks, watches, globes, telescopes, mi- croscopes, & c., may be exhibited, and some of their uses explained. It might not be impro- per to give a child of two years old a lesson of this kind every day, making it a rule to have, if possible, some new object to exhibit to him at every lesson, and occasionally recur- ring to the objects to which his attention was formerly directed, that they may become still more familiar to his mind. In communicating to children the names of the various objects of nature and art, all improper pronunciations and diminutives ought to be avoided such as doggie, cattie, horsie, chairie, instead of dog, cat, horse, chair. It should be considered as an important rule of infant education that a child should never be taught any pronunciation, or any sentiment, opinion, or idea ivhattver, which he icill afterwards be obliged to unlearn. Were this rule universally attended to, in con- nection with the hints now suggested, the path to knowledge would be rendered smooth and easy every day would inciease the ideas which tend to enlarge the capacity of the in- fant mind the way for regular scholastic in- E 2 (53) 54 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. struction would be thoroughly prepared as the youth advanced towards manhood, his knowledge and perceptions, if properly di- rected, would increase with his growing years and, as no limits can be affixed to the ex- pansion of the human mind, he may go on to increase his perceptions and intellectual enjoy- ments to an indefinite extent, not only during the fleeting periods of time, but throughout the ages of eternity. But, in the present state of infant training, a very considerable 1 portion of our scholastic instructions must consist in counteracting the impressions which have been previously received. After various objects of nature and art have been presented to the view of a child, in con- junction with the names by which they are distinguished their qualities should next be pointed out and illustrated. Objects are either animated or inanimated, vegetable or mineral, hot or cold, rough or smooth, hard or soft black, blue, green, yellow, or white round, oval, square, triangular high, low, long or short, &c. Several properties such as these can easily be illustratred to children by familiar examples. To convey an idea to a child that fire is hot, he may be presented with a piece of iron, and caused to feel it ; it may then be put into the fire till it become just as hot as a person may touch it without danger, and then desire the child to put his finger upon it, which will convince him of the nature of that property which resides in the fire ^-the epithet cold being applied in the .first case, and hot, in the last. To illustrate the ideas of rctt/i- wcss arid smoothness, he may be made to press his hand along an unhewn stone, and the top of a mahogany table. Seven small boards or pieces of card paper, painted with the seven primary colours of light, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet occasionally exhibited for his amusement, in connection with these terms, would soon teach him to distinguish the prominent colours of natural and artificial objects ; and, when he is led into the fields and gardens, he should be induced to apply his knowledge of colours by naming the prominent colour of every flower or shrub that may be presented to him. The qualities hard and toft may be illustrated by making him press his finger upon a stone or a bar of iron, and upon a piece of clay or a lump of dough. The property of light in enabling us to discover the forms and colours of objects may be shown, by closing the window-shut- ters, or putting out a candle under night, and then desiring him to name the objects and colours he perceives * and the correspond- ence of the organ of vision to the rays of light may be impressed upon his mind by blindfolding him for a minute or two, and accompanying such exhibitions with appro- (54) priate remarks level to his comprehension. The figures of objects may be represented by pieces of wood or pasteboard cut into the shapes of squares, parallelograms, triangles, trapeziums, circles, ellipses or ovals, and other mathematical figures, which would gradually impress the names and characteristics of such figures upon his mind, and tend to facilitate his progress in the scholastic instructions that may be afterwards imparted. His idea of length, measure, or distance, may be rendered somewhat definite, by presenting to him pieces of wood of the length of an inch, a foot, a yard, and a pole, and causing him to notice how many lengths of the one is contained in that of the other ; and the idea of the ?i>ecific gravities of bodies may be impressed, by caus- ing him to lift a weight of brass or cast iron, and another, of nearly the same size and shape, made of light wood. The sonorous qualities of bodies may be exhibited by making him strike a small hand-bell with a key or a piece of thick wire, and immediately after- wards, an egg-cup, or any small dish made of hard wood. The various odoriferous smells connected with the vegetable kingdom may be communicated by presenting to his nos- trils, in succession, a rose, a bunch of thyme, of balm, of peppermint and of southernwood. Such experiments and illustrations of the qualities of bodies may be varied and multi- plied to an indefinite extent; and as they form the foundation of all knowledge, and may be rendered subservient to the child's amusement, they ought not to be considered as unworthy of our attention. Many useful ideas might likewise be com- municated to infants by means of engravings ,- especially in relation to objects which cannot be directly presented to their view. Foreign animals, such as the elephant, the lion, the buffalo, the camelopard, the monkey, the dromedary and camel, may be in this way ex- hibited and also domestic animals, as the cow, the horse, the ass, the dog, &c. as chil- dren feel a considerable degree of pleasure in bping able to trace the resemblance between pictures and the objects they have seen, when accurately represented in engravings. Foreign scenes, as towns, churches, bridges, mauso- leums, triumphal arches, rural landscapes, mountains, volcanoes, cataracts, lakes and other objects, when accurately delineated, may like- wise tend to expand the conceptions of chil- dren, and give them an idea of objects which their own country does not exhibit. Various objects of art, as ships, boats, windmills, towers, spires, lighthouses, coaches, wagons, smiths' anvils, forges and hammers, weavers' looms, fyc; may also be thus exhibited. One of the most pleasing and useful modes of exhibiting real objects by means of pictures, is that of INTELLECTUAL INSTRUCTION OF INFANTS. 55 viewing perspective prints of streets, towns, villages and rural landscapes, by means of the optical diagonal machine; of which I shall, in the sequel, give a short description. In exhibiting objects to a child through the me- dium of engravings, it may be proper, in the first instance, to present to him only one ob- ject, well-defined and disconnected with every adventitious circumstance, as a man, a horse, a mountain, or a tree, so that he may acquire a correct and well-defined idea of the particu- lar object exhibited. Afterwards, a landscape in which these and other objects are embodied may be laid before him, and he may be desired to point out the individual objects of which it is composed, when their names are mentioned. It is almost needless to remark, that the pic- tures contained in most of our nursery and toy-books, are altogether unfitted for the exhi- bitions to which I allude. They are generally mere caricatures, and are little short of an in- sult to the young, both as to the objects they most frequently represent, and the manner in which they are represented. Engravings, cal- culated to convey instruction, should be on a moderately large scale every part of the object represented should be accurately de- lineated no objects should be placed in awk- ward or unnatural positions and they should, in most cases, be coloured after nature, care being taken that they be not daubed with fan- tastic or too glaring colours a fault which attaches to most of our pictures intended for children. A series of engravings exhibiting all the prominent scenery and objects of na- ture and art, on a cheap plan, and properly classified and arranged for the purpose now specified, is still a desideratum. While writing the above hints, I had an opportunity of trying the experiments now suggested, on a fine little boy, a friend of my own, about two years old. Little Tom was first presented with the plates of a book of Natural History, and desired to name the lion, the elephant, the camel, and about twenty or thirty other animals when their figures were pointed out, which he did without the least hesitation. The plates were then put into his hand, and he was desired to turn up any particular animal when its name was mentioned, which he accomplished with con- siderable facility. A sheet, containing about sixty engravings of birds, quadrupeds, and fishes, where the different kinds of animals were grouped without any order was 'next laid before him, when he was requested to point out a particular animal, when its name was given, which he also did, in almost every instance, after casting his eye up and down, and across the engraving, and, when he had hit on the object, he pointed to it with exulta- tion, saying, There's the lion there's the goat there's the dromedary," &c. The figure of a compound microscope was next exhi- bited, which he readily named; and several hours afterwards, a microscope of the same construction as represented in the engraving, was placed before him, which he immediately recognized and named, and then turned up the engraving where its figure was delineated, marking the resemblance between the one and the other. The same experiments were made with a terrestrial globe, an orrery, a telescope, a clock, a watch, and various other objects. He was next desired to point to several arti- cles in the apartment the table, a chair, the tongs, the shovel, the poker, a map, a portrait of a friend whom he knew, and other objects, which he at once recognized and distinguished. Several engravings of landscapes were then presented to his inspection, when he was re- quested to point out the men, women, trees, ships, houses, &c., of which they were com- posed; which he did with pleasure, and without hesitation, pointing his little fr 6 ers to different parts of the scene, and saying, " There's a dog there's a man there's a house there's a tree," &c. I next led him into the garden, and placed him in a proper situation for viewing the surrounding objects. I first asked him to point to a windmill there being one, and only one, in view. He looked around for a few seconds, and, after fixing his eyes on the object, and pointing with his finger, exclaimed with pleasure, " There's windmill" and, looking at it with steadiness for a few seconds, said with a kind of surprise, " No going round ;" which was actually the case, as there was no wind. He was next desired to point out a flower, a tree, a cow, a ship, and other objects, which he at once distinguished with the same facility. The desire of this little boy for the exhibi- tion of new objects, especially as represented by pictures, was almost voracious. After spending several hours in succession, in ex- hibiting to Trim several hundreds of plates of different encyclopedias, and books of tra- vels, he was still unsatisfied, called for more books, and seemed to forget both hunger and sleep. He recollected, with considerable accu- racy, the prominent objects that had been pre- sented before him in these engravings ; and, therefore, when a volume containing plates, which he had already seen, was again pre- sented, he pushed it away, and requested another. Every morning, as soon as he was dressed, his first request was, " See more pic- tures you please ;'' and, leading me into the room where the books were kept, pointed to the particular volumes he wished to inspect Even his cravings for breakfast seemed to be forgotten, amidst the delight with w v . on ne contemplated new exhibitions of nature and (55) 56 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. art. The varieties of animated nature seemed to afford him the greatest degree of pleasure ; but every striking and well-defined object, of whatever description, which he had never seen before, particularly arrested his attention. The exhibition of perspective views, through the optical diagonal machine, where the ob- jects appear as they do in nature, afforded him a high degree of gratification, while he described, in his own way, the different parts of the scene. These circumstances evidently demonstrate the innate principle of curiosity, or desiie for knowledge, implanted in the in- fant mind, which only requires to be judi- ciously regulated, and a series of interesting objects exhibited, in order to raise the human soul to the highest pitch of intellectual im- provement. They also indicate the vast capa- city of the mind for receiving an indefinite variety of ideas the pleasure associated with their acquisition and the boundless desires after new and varied scenes and enjoyments, w. ; ch evidently point to a higher state of existence, where they will be fully gratified. In stating the above circumstances which to some readers may perhaps appear trifling my intention is not to insinuate that the child alluded to is superior to others of the same age. Every child, whose physical and mental powers are in a sound state, is capable of making the same acquisitions, and feeling the same enjoyments ; provided due care be taken to direct the principle of curiosity into a pro- per channel, and to supply it with proper ob- jects. Some children, in consequence of their physical organization, may have more vigour of intellect than others ; they may feel highly gratified with some objects and pursuits, and indifferent towards others ; but they have all, substantially, the same faculties, and the same desire for the acquisition of knowledge, in one shape or another, when its objects are pre- sented, in an interesting manner, to their view. Such exhibitions as I have now de- scribed ought not to be viewed as mere amuse- ments. While they gratify the mind of a child, and increase his enjoyments, they also embody a train of useful instructions, which lay the foundation of mental activity, and of all those improvements he may afterwards make during the future scenes of his exist- ence, whether in the present life, or in the life to come. And, if this be admitted, it will evidently appear to be a matter of considerable importance that nothing but useful and cor- rect ideas be imparted to the infant mind, and that care be taken that every thing that is whimsical, fanciful, -or inconsistent with ex- isting facts, be excluded from juvenile instruc- tion, so that a child may never afterwards have occasion to struggle with youthful prejudices, or to "uuteract any of the instructions or im- (50, pressions he had previously received. And in order to accomplish this end, it is requisite, that servants, nurses, and every other person connected with a family, be specifically in- structed as to the manner in which they ought to conduct themselves towards children, both in their words and their actions, and strictly looked after, that nothing be said or done inconsistent with the rules of parental tuition. At the period of life to which I now refer, it would be almost preposterous, to pester the child with learning the characters of the alphabet, or the uninteresting sounds of b a, ba, b i, bi, b o, bo ; unless it can be done purely in the way of amusement. For a child is generally disgusted with every thing given him as a /a.*/r, and which is not accom- panied with pleasing emotions. It is quite time enough, at the age of four years, in ordi- nary cases, to instruct a child in reading his native language ; though, before this time, he may speak it with considerable correctness, and acquire an indefinite number of ideas. And when he has once seriously commenced his scholastic instructions, they should be associated with every thing that may have a tendency to render them interesting and de- lightful a principle which ought to be kept in view throughout all the subsequent depart- ments of education. I have enlarged farther on the subject of infant education than I at first intended, from a strong conviction of its primary importance to the improvement of society in knowledge and virtue. If domestic training, during the three first years of human existence, be either trifled with, or not conducted on rational and moral principles, the arrangements in regard to their future education will be to a certain degree frustrated. The habits acquired, and the impressions made upon the mind of a child, during this period, may have an influ- ence on his improvement and happiness, not only in the present world, but throughout the whole of that endless existence to which he is destined.* * It gives me pleasure to learn, that the subject of infant education is now beginning to excite more attention than it has hitherto received ; par- ticularly by the establishment of Mitcrnal j?,s0- ciations. The first maternal institution appears to have originated with Mrs. Payson of Portland, province of Maine, North America, about 1815. A maternal association was first organized in Utica, in 1824. It commenced with eight mem- bers ; but it appears from the Report of J833, that it now consists of above a hundred Similar associations were formed, about the same time, in Boston, New England, and at Hartford, and they have lately been organized in Glasgow, Greenock, and several other towns in Great Britain. Their object is to diffuse information in relation to the best methods of training up chil- dren in knowledge and moral habits, and promot- ing their best interests, both in respect to the present life and the life to come. For accomplish- INFANT SCHOOLS. 57 CHAPTER IV. On Infant Schools. NOT many years ago, it would have been deemed romantic, and even absurd in the ex- treme, to have attempted the establishment of seminaries for the instruction of infants of the age of eighteen or twenty months, or even of two or three years. But such institutions have not only been attempted, but actually established to a considerable extent in various States both in Europe and America, and have been attended with the most delightful and beneficial effects. Children, at a very early period, as formerly noticed, before they have acquired the alphabet of any language, are capable of receiving a very considerable por- tion of mental instruction. They possess the five senses, in nearly as great perfection as those of mature years ; and it is through the medium of these senses that all our know- ledge, whether historical, philosophical, or religious, is acquired. Children possess, in a high degree, the desire of novelty and the principle of curiosity faculties intended by the Creator to stimulate to the prosecution of knowledge ; and it is only requisite that we direct the operation of these faculties in a proper channel, and present interesting and appropriate objects to stimulate their activity, The principal objects of infant schools ought therefore to be to exhibit to the view of children as great a variety as possible of the scenes of nature and the operations of art, either by directing their views immediately to the objects themselves, or by means of pictorial representations to teach them to distinguish one object from another, to mark its peculiar qualities, to compare one object with another, and to deduce certain useful truths or conclu- sions from them to instruct them how to use their voices, their eyes and ears, their hands and feet to teach them the properties of num- bers, the magnitudes, distances, and relative positions of objects, the forms and habits of animals, the diiferent classes and uses of vegetables and minerals, the various objects to be seen in the fields and gardens, and the sometimes attend a periodical ha? been com- menced in America, entitled, "The Mother's Magazine," which is reprinted in London, con - taining various useful facts, narratives, and oh- servatinns, illustrative of this subject. Such associations, if judiciously conducted, cannot fail general society. general aspect and phenomena of the atmos- phere and the heavens to impress their minds with the existence of a Supreme Being, of their continual dependence upon him, of his Goodness, Power, and Omnipresence, and of the duties they owe him to teach them the fundamental maxims and rules of the Chris- tian system, and make them reduce them to practice to train them to kindness and afFec- tion towards one another, to habits of clean- liness, neatness, and regularity in all their movements, and to conduct themselves with moral order and propriety, both in the school, the play-ground, and in their domestic asso- ciations in short, to develope all the intel- lectual and moral powers of the mind, at a much earlier period than has hitherto been deemed expedient, in order to prevent the growth of vicious habits and false / opinions, and to prepare them for all the subsequent instructions and scenes of action through which they may afterwards pass, that they may become blessings, instead of curses, to the world, and rise up in wisdom and know- ledge, and in favour with God and with man. In order to accomplish these purposes with the greatest effect, infant schools, as well as all others, should be erected, if possible, in an open and commanding situation, that a full view may be obtained of the heavens, the earth, and the ordinary phenomena of nature. The best dimensions for the school-room are found to be about 80 feet long, by 22 or 24 wide, with seats all round, and a rising plat- form or gallery at one end. .Connected with this should be a room, from 14 to 18 feet square, for the purpose of teaching the children in classes, and for those children who have made greater progress than the rest, that they may be trained for monitors. The furniture necessary for such a school, consists of a desk for the master ; a rostrum for the occasional use of the monitors ; seats for the children, who should all sit round the school-room with their backs to the wall ; a lesson-stand, of a considerable elevation, for f h S P"* and lessons pasted on mill- board; stools for the monitors; slates and pencils; pictures of natural history, of scrip- f nr! ,i sll HJ p ,, t(3 ~f i-n/le^ nf rural and I s . ub jects, ot landscapes, ot rural and domestic life, &c. ; alphabets and spelling- lessons; brass letters and figures, with boards for them ' cubes, parallelograms, geometrical figures of various descriptions illustrative of (57) 58 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. plain and solid geometry ; the transposition- frame, or arithmeticon, for illustrating the properties of numbers. To these should be added various little books, with cuts, level to the comprehension of children ; and sets of maps, on a large scale, with the states, kingdoms, provinces, counties, &c. accurately distinguished and neatly coloured. It is in- dispensably requisite that a play-ground be attached to every infant school, containing swings and other contrivances for the purpose of amusement, and that the children may divert themselves without danger, in any innocent way their fancies may devise. This play-ground should be as spacious as possible. Even in towns, where property is most valu- able, the space allotted for this purpose (in- cluding the school-room and teacher's house) should not, if possible, be less than about 180 feet long, and from 60 to 100 feet broad. In villages, where the ground is less valuable, it may be made of still larger dimensions. With such accommodations, infants, to the number of 150 or 200, may be trained by a master and an occasional assistant. One of the main principles on which infant schools should be conducted, is that of Love ; and therefore, in commencing such an insti- tution, every action and every circumstance should be attended to, which is calculated to convince them that their teacher sincerely loves them, and wishes to promote their hap- piness, and that they ought to be kind and affectionate to one another. The first diffi- culty to be encountered, is to arrest and keep up their attention, to make them act in con- cert, and to class them according to their age and capacities, causing those who obey any commands with the greatest promptness to be classed together. Such difficulties are gene- rally surmounted by making them all move their hands and feet at the same time, when repeating any sentence ; sometimes by causing them to march in a regular body round the school ; sometimes by making them put their hands one on the other when they are repeat- ing a fact or a sentiment, and sometimes by exciting them to dance to the sound of a clarionet or the viol. Monitors are selected by drilling the oldest and the most expert of the children at, separate hours, instructing them particularly in the work they have to perform, and making every one of them an- swerable for the conduct of his class. These little masters frequently conduct themselves with great shrewdness and ability, and some- times with a degree of importance and pom- posity which it is found necessary to check. The children are taught singing, by the master singing a psalm or hymn several times in their hearing, till they acquire a certain idea of the tune ; after which they are required to join (58) with the teacher, and, in a short time, the greater part are enabled to join in the music with considerable correctness ; and nothing can be more interesting and exhilarating to a pious and benevplent mind, than to listen to a hundred young voices thus joining in unison, in a hymn of praise to their Creator. The) are taught to repeat hymns generally in the following manner. One of the monitors is placed in the rostrum, with a book in his hand ; he then reads one line, and pauses till all the children in unison have repeated it; he then reads or repeats another, and so on in succession till the hymn is finished. The same method is adopted in teaching them spelling, catechisms, moral maxims and pre- cepts, and whatever else is to be committed to memory. It should, however, be attended to, that every thing they commit to memory from catechisms, hymns, or other books, should be previously explained ; so that in every case, if possible, they may acquire the ideas con- tained in the passages they are to repeat, before they charge their memories with the vocables by which they are expressed. The Alphabet is taught by means of twenty- six cards, corresponding to the number of let- ters, on each of which is engraved a letter, along with some object of nature or art, whose name begins with that letter. Thus, on the card of the letter A is engraved an apple. This card is held up to the children, who name the letter and the object depicted beside it. A variety of questions is then put repre- senting the nature, form, and properties of the apple, and of the root, trunk, branches, leaves, &c. of the tree on which it grows ; by which the attention of the children is kept alive, certain portions of useful knowledge communicated, and the idea of the letter more deeply impressed upon their minds. On the card of letter C, a cow, a camel, or a cat, is depicted ; which is exhibited in the ame manner, and various questions put respecting the figure, parts, habits, and uses of either of these animals : and so on through the other letters of the alphabet. This exhibition is varied as much as possible, and practised only two or three times a week, that the children may not be wearied by its too frequent repetition. An- other plan is sometimes adopted, an alpha- bet, printed in large letters, both Roman and Italic, is pasted on a board, and placed against the wall ; the whole class then stands around it, and the master or mistress points to the letters, desiring the children in a body to pro- nounce the letter to which he points. In spelling, each child is supplied with a card and tin, on which certain short words are printed. A monitor leads the rest in the fol- lowing manner : " C-h-a-i-r ;" the other chil- dren immediately follow : and when they have METHOD OF TEACHING ARITHMETIC. 59 spelled one word, he repeats another, till he has gone through all the words on the card. For the purpose of teaching the older children to write the alphabet, they are supplied with slates, on which the whole alphabet is en- graved some in capital letters, and others in text ; the children then put the pencil into the engraving, and work it round into the shape of the letter, which they can scarcely avoid doing, as the pencil will keep in the engraved part. In this way they gradually learn both to form the letters correctly, and to read written characters and sentences. The properties and numbers, and the fun- damental rules of Arithmetic, are taught by various modes ; particularly by an instrument which has been termed the Anthmetiion, or Transposition-frame. The following is a figure and description of the use of this instrument, taken from Mr. Wilderspin : " The frame is sixteen inches square, and made of wood : twelve wires pass through it at equal dis- tances ; on which wires, seventy-eight move- able balls are to be placed, beginning with one on the first, two on the second, three on the third, &c. up to twelve." By this instrument may be taught " the first principles of gram- mar, arithmetic, and geometry. It is used as follows Move one of the balls to a part of the frame distinct from the rest : the children will then repeat, ' There it is, there it is.' Apply your finger to the ball, and set it running round : the children will immediately change from saying, ' There it is,' to ' There it goes, there it goes.' When they have repeated ' There it goes,' long enough to impress it on their memory, stop the ball : the children will probably say, 'Now it stops, now it stops.' When that is the case, move another ball to it, and then explain to the children the differ- ence between singular and plural, desiring them to call out, ' There they are, there they are ;' and when they have done that as long as may be proper, set both balls moving, and it is likely they will call out, ' There they go, there they go,' &c. &c. By the natural posi- tion of the balls they may be taught to begin at the first. The master, raising it at the top of the frame, says, 'What am I doing 1 ?' Children answer, ' Raising the ball up with your hand.' Q. ' Which hand ]' A. ' Left hand.' Then the master lets the ball drop, saying, ' One, one.' Raise the two balls, and propose questions of a similar tendency : then let them fall ; the children will say, ' Twice one :' raise three, and let them fall as before ; the children will say, ' Three times one.' Proceed to raise the balls on each remaining wire, so that they may say, as the balls are let fall, Four times one, five times one, six times one, seven times one, eight times one, nine times one, ten times one, eleven times one, twelve times one. We now proceed as follows : 1 and 2 are 3, and 3 are 6, and 4 are 10, and 5 are 15, and 6 are 21, and 7 are 28, and 8 are 36, and 9 are 45, and 10 are 55, and 11 are 66, and 12 are 78. Subtraction is taught by this instrument thus ; Take 1 from 1, nothing remains, moving the first ball, at the same time, to the other end of the frame. Then remove one from the second wire, and say, ' Take 1 from 2 ;' the children will instantly perceive that only one remains : then 1 from 3, and 2 remain ; 1 from 4, 3 re- main ; 1 from 5, 4 remain, -ej'osition*, with examples of their mean- ing, and the effect of their composition in English words. 17. Definitions of scientific terms, and of the more difficult words which occur in the lessons. 18. Tables of money, weights and measures, with illustrations of the value of coins, the capacity of measures, linear dimensions, &c. 19., A general fet of queries, referring to some of the principal sub- jects described in the lessons. Such was the outline of a class-book which was intended to be published six-and-twenty years ago. One peculiarity by which it was intended to be distinguished, was that a set of questions without answers, bearing on every particular object and circumstance detailed, was to be a/upended to each lesson, for exercis- ing the attention and judgment of the pupil, previous to his being examined on the subject. The various subjects introduced were intend- ed to be partly original composition, partly compilations, and partly selections, abridged, modified, of altered, to suit the object in view. Fables and fictitious stories were to be entire- ly discarded, and the leading facts to be illus- trated by engravings. After composing a preface or introduction, showing the utility of such a work, and obviating objections that might be made to its plan, and having pro- ceeded a certain length in its compilation, I was induced to lay aside the design, in con- sequence of the apathy and indifference of most of the teachers I conversed with on the subject. Some of them who stood high on the ranks of city and parochial schoolmasters told me plainly, that they considered it as no part of their duty to teach their pupils any thing but reading or pronunciation, and that if their parents wished them to understand what they read, they might teach them at home. Such a school-book is still a desideratum, notwithstanding some improvements which have lately been made "in school-collections. Whether it would be expedient to publish such a work at the present time, the public must determine. If properly executed, it would require a considerable degree of labour and research, a discriminating judgment, a familiar acquaintance with the tastes and dispositions of the young, and a talent for simplifying de- scriptions, and rendering them perspicuous to a youthful understanding. Such a book could not be constructed either by the scissors, or by merely copying or abridging pieces from va- rious authors ; but by entering thoroughly into the spirit of every subject, and modifying it in such a manner as to interest the affec- tions, and to convey well-defined ideas to the minds of those for whose improvement it is intended. The formation of the questions on each lesson would require a considerable share of judgment and discrimination, so as to ren- der them perspicuous and specific. Most of the questions of this kind which have been attempted in certain school-books, are so gene- ral and vague, that they serve no useful pur- pose either to teacher or scholar, and are frequently so worded and arranged, that a pupil might find out the answers without un- derstanding them or exercising his own judg- ment. It is, unquestionably, an eligible plan, in every department of learning, to have sets of questions without answers, bearing on every branch of study. Such questions tend to ex- cite the curiosity of the pupil, to exercise his judgment, and to arrest his attention to the subject; and the finding out of the proper answers affords him a certain degree of plea- sure. They are also of utility to the teacher, and may suggest to him numerous other sub- ordinate questions connected with the subject. The old plan of constructing books by way of " Question and Answer" and causing the vo- cables of the different answers to be commit- ted to memory without being understood, is too absurd to require a moment's considera- tion. It will be admitted. I presume, by every in- telligent person, that a class-book, judiciously arranged and executed, and comprising such subjects as above stated, would be far more interesting to the young, and calculated to convey to their minds a much greater portion of useful information, than all the " Beauties of eminent Writers," "Speeches in the Ro- (75) 76 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. man Senate," "English Readers," "Tyro's Guides," and " Oratorical Class-books," which have been so long in use in our English schools. Such a book should contain hints and sketches of every thing that has a tendency to expand the intellectual views, and which may be applied to useful practical purposes in the several departments of human life, and be completely purified from every thing that might produce national prejudice and par- tiality, the spirit of contention and warfare, and the indulgence of selfish and malignant affections in short, a book which might be read with pleasure by the young who under- stood its language, in every nation of the world. In the hands of a judicious teacher, every idea it contained might be communi- cated to the understandings of the pupils; and, as early impressions are the most lasting, the sentiments conveyed, and the impressions thus made upon the mind, could not fail to be of incalculable service to them throughout the whole course of their lives. The foundation of useful knowledge would be laid, and a taste for intellectual pleasures induced, which would stimulate them to still higher pursuits and in- vestigations as they advanced in life. Nor heed we have the least fear that children, at an early age, would be incapable of acquiring such knowledge as that to which I allude. If they have not hitherto acquired it, it is be- cause such knowledge as they were capable of acquiring has seldom been judiciously pre- sented before them. We have compelled them to " feed upon ashes" we have offered them " scorpions" instead of " eggs," and "stones" instead of "bread;" and because they were unable to masticate and digest such substances, we have deprived them of whole- some and nutritious food, and wondered why they have not been strengthened and invigo- rated. When truth is simplified by familiar illustrations taken from objects with which they are acquainted, and confirmed by appeals to their senses, they imbibe it with avidity, and frequently retain the impressions thus made to the latest period of their existence. The celebrated Fenelon has observed, that " Before they are thought capable of receiving any instruction, or the least pains taken with them, they learn a language. Many children at four years of age can speak their mother tongue, though not with the same accuracy or grammatical precision, yet with greater readi- ness and fulness than most scholars do a foreign language after the study of a whole life." This circumstance certainly indicates no small degree of intellectual energy and acumen. And to this I may add, that they discover their intellectual powers by connect- ing the if'ea with the sign of it, and acquire many notions of good and evil, right and (76) wrong, in that early period of life. Such are their powers of discrimination, that they can distinguish the characters and dispositions of those with whom they associate, and fre- quently know the tempers and weaknesses ot their parents much better than the parents know theirs, and are dexterous enough to avail themselves of that knowledge in order to obtain their desires and gratify their hu- mours. A third scries of school-books might consist of popular systems of the sciences, and descrip- tions in relation to the mechanical and liberal arts. The fundamental principles and the most interesting facts connected with botany, mineralogy, zoology, geography, geology, ge- ometry, astronomy, experimental philosophy and chemistry and likewise those connected with the arts of weaving, book-binding, print- ing, clock and watch making, brass-founding, carpentry, &c. might be familiarly detailed, and illustrated with as many plans and en- gravings as the different subjects might re- quire. The general knowledge of the sciences, which the pupil would acquire from such compilations, would prepare him for after- wards entering on the study of particular sciences, when their principles and applica- tions would be illustrated in more minute de- tail. The sketches of the different arts and trades would unfold to him some of the lead- ing processes and operations peculiar to the several mechanical employments, and lead him to determine which of these would be most congenial to his own taste and genius. In compiling such sketches of the sciences and arts, a considerable degree of knowledge, taste, and discrimination, would be requisite. Every thing that is intricate or abstruse, or not level to the comprehension of young people from the age of ten to the age of fourteen years, should be omitted. Vivid and familiar descrip- tions of facts and scenery, details of interest- ing experiments, and engravings of natural and artificial objects, should accompany the explanations of the fundamental principles of the different sciences. In short, every thing should be introduced which can be illustrated by sensible objects, and every thing discarded which the senses cannot easily' appreciate. Mere skeletons of the sciences would be quite uninteresting, and would produce no good effect. If any particular science could not be comprehensively illustrated in the space al- lotted for its details, a selection of its more prominent and popular departments might be substituted, which would be quite sufficient for communicating a general view of the sub- ject, and inducing a taste for its further prose- cution at a future period which is all that is requisite to be aimed at in the first exhibitions of science to the youthful mind. ILLUSTRATIVE ENGRAVINGS. 77 Another class of school-books might be chiefly Historical. These should comprise a lucid and comprehensive view of 'he leading events which have happened frcm the creation to the present time, omitting those details which would either be improper to be exhi- bited, or which might prove uninteresting to the young. As a supplement to such a work, a more detailed history might be given of the particular nation or country in which the school is situated. In compiling such histori- cal works, great caution is requisite that no scenes be exhibited, and no sentiments incul- cated, that would pollute the minds of the young, or foster malignant affections. Many of our h'ptorians detail the convulsions of na- tions, and the horrid scenes of devastation and carnae-e, with a revolting degree of apathy, without interweaving any reflections tending to show the folly and wickedness of war, and to denounce those malignant passions from which it springs. Nay, we frequently find the writings of historians abounding with panegyrics on public robbers and desperadoes, encomiums on war and on warriors, and de- signating the worst enemies of the human race as patriots and illustrious heroes. Hence it has happened, that the study of history, in- stead of leading the mind to contemplate the character of the Moral Governor of the world, and the retributions of his providence, and to mourn over the malevolent passions and the depravity of man has not unfrequently tended to excite desires after the acquisition of false glory, and to cherish a spirit of contention and warfare, the effects of which are visible, even at the present moment, in the ambitious projects which are carrying forward by haughty despots and their obsequious ministers, and in the devastations which are committing, and the contests which are taking place, in almost every region of the globe. If we wish to counteract the effects of pagan maxims and morality, and to imbue the minds of our youth with Christian principles and feelings, we must carefully guard against the influence of such antichristian sentiments. The history of all nations ought to be considered, not merely as the exploits of kings and heroes, but as the histoiy <>f the providential di*pensa- twns of the Almighty towards the human race, and the history of the moral character of man- kind. We should study it, not merely or chiefly, for the purpose of admiring and imi- tating the exploits of those who have been extolled as illustrious characters, (for there are few of them whose deeds deserve our imi- tation) but for expanding our views of the character and moral government of the Ruler of the Universe for confirming the repre- sentations given in the Scriptures of the depra- vity of man and for exciting an abhorrence of those lawless passions and deeds of injus- tice, which have covered the earth witli car- nage and desolation, and entailed misery upon the race of man. If we wish to study pat- terns of moral virtue worthy of imitation, we have the example of Jesus Christ set before us, as the pattern of every excellence, " who was holy, harmless, and undefiled," "who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered he threatened not, but committed his cause to him who judgeth righteously." We have likewise the examples of his holy prophets and apostles, men as far superior in their moral principles and conduct to the most distinguished sages of Greece and Rome, as the Christian religion is superior to all the systems of theology in the pagan world. In compiling histories for the young, the historian ought, therefore, to pause at certain periods and events, and direct the attention of his readers to what is moral or immoral in the actions detailed, to what is worthy of being approved or condemned in . the scenes described, as determined by the principles and rules of Christianity. He should direct the attention of the young to the scenes of horror which a spirit of ambi- tion and revenge has created, to the malignant passions it has engendered, and to its contra- riety to the spirit of true religion and the best interests of man. He should lead them to remark the justice and long-suffering of the Governor of the world the retributions of his providence in the case of nations and indi- viduals the accomplishment of Divine pre- dictions and the evidences which the records of history afford, that man is no longer in a paradisiacal condition, but has fallen from his high estate. In short, he should direct their views to the means by which the spirit of warfare may be counteracted and destroyed, to the happy scenes which would be realized were a spirit of philanthropy to reign trium- phant, and to that glorious era, foretold by ancient prophets, when the nations "shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, and learn the art of war no more." Were history studied in connection with such views and instructions, instead of fostering malignant passions it might become a handmaid to science and re- ligion, and be rendered subservient for direct- ing the mind to the Great Ruler of the nations, and the plans of his moral government, and for stimulating the exercise of those benevo- lent affections by which the tribes of mankind may be united in harmony, and the world restored to tranquillity and repose. All the class-books now described should be embellished with engravings, wherever they appear requisite for illustrating the descrip- G 2 (77) 78 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. tions contained in the text. The subjects of such engravings should not only be accurately delineated, but delicately coloured after nature, so as to convey, as nearly as possible, a cor- rect and vivid impression of the objects in- tended to be represented. Nothing is more pleasing and gratifying to the young, than accurate engravings of the subjects about which they read, and nothing has a greater tendency to convey well-defined ideas of those objects which are not present to the senses, and to impress them indelibly upon the ima- gination. But we have hitherto had no school- books embellished with such engravings as those to which I allude. The expense of such books might probably be objected to, as an argument against their introduction. But if the great end of education be carefully kept in view, and the importance of conveying clear and comprehensive ideas to the rising generation be duly weighed, no considerations of expense ought to deter us from the execu- tion of any plan by which instruction in the dements of thought may be rendered delightful and efficient Society, if once aroused to con- sider the importance of an enlightened educa- tion, would find no difficulty in defraying every expense connected with its arrange- ments. If such books were in universal re- quest, and, consequently, many thousands of them thrown off at one impression, they might be afforded at a price veiy little higher than that of the paltry and inefficient class- books which have been so long in use in our scholastic establishments. The series of books now described should be accompanied with dictionaries, and other books of reference, for obtaining definitions of words and descriptions of the objects of nature and the terms of science and art. These dictionaries, along with clear defini- tions of English words and synonymes, should contain short definitions of Latin, Greek, and French primitives and phrases, particularly those which have been adopted into our lan- guage, and which, in composition, modify the meaning of many of our own words. The Latin and Greek prepositions should be ex- plained, and their force in the composition of English words, and in the terms of art and science, particularly illustrated. Portable cy- clopedias or technological dictionaries, with numerous illustrative cuts, such as Crabb's " Dictionary of General Knowledge," would likewise be highly requisite for the occasional use of the higher or primary classes, in all our schools. CHAPTER VI. Method of Teaching, and the Departments of Knowledge which should be taught in every Seminary. THE teacher being understood to have a school furnished with the accommodations, museum, and apparatus formerly described, and with a reries of books adapted to intel- lectual instruction I shall now offer a few hints on the mode in which the several depart- ments of instruction might be conducted. SECTIOK I. English Reading. In throwing out a few hint* on this depart- ment, I shall take it for granted that the pupils have acquired a knowledge of the alphabet, in the manner in whjch it is gene- rally taught in infant schools, and that they are qualified to read, with a certain degree of ease, a few short lessons, consisting of words of one or two syllables. Let us suppose, for example, such a lesson as the following, on the general nature and qualities of certain objects, to be the subject of attention. 1. A bell gives a brisk sound when we strike it with a key, or with a stone, or with a large nail. If we strike an egg-cup made of wood, or if we strike a board or the table with (78) a key, none of these things will give such a sound. A wine-glass will also produce a pretty brisk sound ; but if we strike it hard with a nail or a stone, it will break. We hear every sound by means of our ears, which God had formed and placed on each side of our heads, that we might listen to our teachers, and be able to talk with one another. 2. The light which flows from the sun consists of seven colours ; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The earth is spread over with most of these colours; the fields appear spread over with green, some parts with a light green, and some parts with a dark green colour. Fir trees and some pop- lar trees are dark green, corn and grass are of a light green colour. A rose is red ; some roses are white. The crowfoot, the cowslip, the crocus, and the wall-flower, are yellow. Furze and broom have also pretty yellow flowers. The blue-bottle flower, and some hyacinths, are of a blue colour. Some daisies are red, some are white, and some have two or three colours. The corn in the fields, the grass in the meadows, and the leaves of trees, LESSONS FOR JUVENILE CLASSES. 79 are green. 3. Iron is heavy, copper is heavier, lead is heaviest. Lead will sink, if you throw it into a basin of water, but a cork will swim on the top of the water. A stone will sink in water, but a piece of light wood will swim ; and if you push the wood down with your hand to the bottom of the basin, it will quickly rise again to the top. 4. The sun shines from the heavens, and gives us light all the day. He is so bright that we can scarcely look up to him. If we were to look straight towards the sun, it would dazzle our eyes. But if we take a piece of glass that is red or dark green, or a glass that is covered all over with the smoke of a candle, we may look through this glass to the sun without dazzling our eyes. The sun. sometimes shines very bright, and sometimes he is covered with clouds. The sun is giving us light at this moment, but we cannot see him. Can any of you tell the reason why the sun is not seen just now when he is giving us light] What hides him from our sight 1 ? The sky some- times appears clear, like a large blue dome or half-globe, and sometimes it is all over covered with dark clouds. When the sun rises in the east, that part of the sky is often covered with bright red and yellow clouds; and when he sets in the evening in the west, the same kind of clouds are sometimes seen. God made the sun, the moon, and the stars ; he also made the fields, the trees, and the corn ; he formed our bodies and our souls ; he gave us eyes to see with, ears, that we might hear, hands to to handle with, feet to walk with, and he pre- serves us every moment. He is present with us in this place, and sees all that we do, though w cannot see him. Let us give thanks to God, for he is good, and let us do what he commands. None, I presume, will be disposed to deny, that children of five years of age, who have been previously accustomed to observe the facts around them, may easily be made, under the guidance of an intelligent teacher, to un- derstand every idea contained in such lessons as the above. The lesson should first be dis- tinctly and deliberately read over by the class two or three times, and then illustrated by objects and experiments. Lesson 1, may be illustrated by a small hand-bell, a key, a wine- glass, and a piece of wood ; and some of the children might be permitted to try the experi- ments, which would gratify their natural curi- osity, and excite an interest in the subject of their lesson it being always understood that the teacher accompanies such experiments with familiar explanations and remarks. For illustrating Lesson 2, it would be requi- site to have a large white pasteboard painted with the seven primary colours of light, so that the pupils might be exercised upon it, in naming and distinguishing the different colours. The objects whose colours are stated might be shown them ; or if any of these ob- jects are not at hand, they may be exhibited by coloured engravings. To illustrate Lesson 3, a pair of scales, a basin of water, a piece of cork, and three pieces of iron, copper, and lead, of eijnul size, will be required, and then the experiment of weighing the pieces, and plunging them into the water, may be ex- hibited to the class. When explaining Les- son 4, a piece of stained or smoked glass may be put into the hands of the pupils, when the sun is visible, that each of them may try the experiment. The questions proposed in this lesson, which are not answered, may serve to exercise the judgment of the pupils. They are understood to refer to the circumstance of a cloudy day. Various simple questions of this description should be embodied in the lessons, to give scope to youthful judgment and ingenuity. The latter part of this lesson might afford an opportunity to the teacher of impressing the minds of the class with a sense of the presence, goodness, and universal agency, of the Creator. It will scarcely be denied, that in this way instruction may be blended with amusement, and that a con- siderable variety of useful knowledge might be gradually imparted to the juvenile mind. Descriptions of animals would form another interesting class of lessons for the young, as in the following example : The Peacock. The Peacock is the most beautiful bird in the world. Its beauty excels that of all other animals. Its bill is about two inches long, and is of a brown colour. Its head and neck, and part of its breast, are of a dark blue colour. On the top of its head there is a tuft of pretty green feathers, which adds to its beauty. Its neck is long and slender, and its back of a whitish grey colour, spotted with black. But the plumage and tail of this splen- did bird are the most beautiful parts of its body. They are adorned with colours so rich and various, that no human art can make any thing like them. When this bird walks in (79) 80 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. the sunshine, every moment produces a thou- sand shades of colouring, which are beautiful and ever varying. These fine colours exceed the lustre of the finest flowers of the fields and gardens. But, like the flowers, they fade every year, and the feathers drop from their bodies, and are again renewed every spring. The length of the peacock, from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, is about three feet eight inches. Some of its longest feathers are four feet long. This bird appears haughty and proud, and loves to display its fine colours to those who are looking on, like those little boys and girls who are proud of their fine clothes. The peacock perches upon high places, and lives upon barley and other kinds of grain. Its beautiful plumage does not appear before it is nearly three years old. When it drops its fine feathers in th3 time of harvest, it does not like to be seen, but seeks to hide itself in some gloomy place. Though the peacock is very beautiful, it utters a very harsh and disgusting cry. For whole hours it will repeat the cry of Eko, eko, eko, with the most hideous noise. It cannot sing a pleasant song, like the linnet and the blackbird. It is so wicked that it will scarcely live with any other bird, except the pigeon ; and it tears and spoils every thing it gets a hold of with its bill. This bird was first brought from a far distant country, from the East Indies, and it lives to the age of twenty-five years. Little boys and girls, be not like the peacock, proud and vain, on account of your beauty and your fine clothes ; for humility and goodness are always to be preferred to beauty. In teaching this and similar lessons, a stuflM specimen of the animal described should be placed on a table opposite the class, and its different parts and colours pointed out ; but if a specimen is not at hand, a coloured en- graving should be exhibited, either in the class-book, or on a large sheet pasted on a pasteboard. The terms, tuft, piluituagf, bill, perching, &c. should be explained by a refer- ence to the figure or specimen, and the length of a yard, foot, and inch, or any number of these combined, should be distinctly explained and exhibited, by means of rods of different lengths. There is another class of lessons for the juvenile classes, which might consist chiefly of descriptions and exhibitions of enter- taining experiments. For example The Sagacious Stvan. There is a nice little amusing toy which is sold in some toy-shops, called the Sagacious Swan. This swan is mads of very thin tin- plate, or other light substance, and is hol- low within. Near its mouth, in the inside, is fixed a small magnet or loadstone. The (80) swan is placed in a large basin full of water, in which it swims. A small rod of metal about five or six inches long, with a piece of bread fastened to one end of it, is held out to the swan, at the distance of an inch or two from its mouth. The swan then moves for- ward after the rod, as if it wished to take hold of the piece of bread. If you move the rod gently from the swan, it will swim after it all round the basin, and from one side of it to another, as if it were a living swan swimmiug aftei its food. But if you present the other end of the rod to the swan, it will swim back- wards, and try to avoid it, as if you wore wish- ing to mock or insult it. The rod on which the piece of bread is fastened is also a load- stone. A loadstone attracts or draws to it needles, and any small bits of iron or steel that are near it. Every loadstone has two ends, which are called its north and south poles. When the -north pole of one loadstone is brought near to the south pole of another, they will attract each other. But when the north pole of one is brought near to the north pole of another, they will repel or move from each other. When a small loadstone is placed on a piece of cork or light wood, and made to swim hi a basin of water, it will turn itself round, till it point nearly north and south. The compass which directs sailors in their course along* the sea, consists of a small load- stone, which moves upon a pivot. It shows them how to steer to the East and the West, to the North and the South. By means of this small bit of loadstone, they can find their way over great seas and oceans, to the East Indies and America, and round the whole world. God created the loadstone for this pur- pose ; and if we had never known its proper- ties, we should never have been able to bring tea from China, or sugar from the West In- dies, or to send Bibles to the people that dwell in the far-distant isles of the sea. This lesson would of course require to be illustrated by the philosophical toy which it describes. This toy could be easily construct- ed by any ingenious mechanic, or it may le purchased for about five or six shillings. The experiment of placing a small magnet upon a piece of cork, and suspending it on the water, to show how it fixes itself north and south, might also be exhibited ; and by taking an- other magnet, and suspending it. in the same manner opposite to the first, the attraction and repulsion of the different poles of the two magnets might be shown, which would ex- plain the phenomena of the sagacious swan. The power of the magnet in attracting needles, small keys, penknives, &c. might at the sams time be shown. A pocket-com- pass might likewise be exhibited, and its LESSON ON VOLCANOES. 81 ase described ; and the attractive and re- pulsive powers of the magnet shown, by presenting it alternately to the north and south poles of the compass-needle. It might also be shown, that the magnetic power passes through interposing substances, by placing a board between the pocket-compass and the magnet, and causing the pupils to observe, that the needle is made to turn round, by the influence of the magnet trans- mitted through the board. This is only one example out of a hundred that might be pro- duced, of rendering entertaining experiments interesting and instructive to children ; and when truths are, in this way, associated with sensible representations and experiments, they are seldom erased from their minds to the latest period of their existence. In the next stage of English reading, the pupil might enter on the perusal of a volume containing lessons on subjects of a higher order, such as those formerly described which might be substituted in the place of our common school collections. The lessons in such a volume should be distinguished for the perspicuity and neatness of their style, although specimens of what io termed ele- gance and fine writing may be occasionally introduced. The following may serve as a specimen of the manner hi which such lessons may be constructed: Description of Volcanoes. Volcanoes are mountains, generally of a large size, from the summits of which issue fire and smoke. On the top of these moun- tains, there is a vast opening called the Cra- ter, sometimes two or three miles in circum- ference, reaching from their summits to an immeasurable depth in the bowels of the earth. From these dreadful openings are fre- quently thrown up to an immense height, torrents of fire and smoke, clouds of ashes and cinders, and red-hot stones, together with torrents of melted lava, which roll down the declivity of the mountain like an immense flaming river. These alarming appearances are frequently accompanied with thunders, lightnings, darkness, quakings of the earth, and horrid subterraneous sounds, producing the most terrible devastations through all the surrounding country. Previous to an erup- tion, the smoke, which is continually ascend- ing from the crater, increases, and shoots up to an immense height ; forked lightning issues from the ascending column ; showers of ashes are thrown to the distance of forty or fifty miles ; volleys of red hot stones are discharged to a great height in the air ; the sky appears thick and dark ; the luminaries of heaven dis- appear. When these alarming phenomena have continued for some time, the lava, or 11 stream of melted minerals, begins to make its appearance, either boiling over the top, or forcing its way through the side of the moun- tain. This fiery deluge runs down the de- clivity of the mountain, forming a dismal flaming stream, sometimes 14 miles long, 6 miles broad, and 200 feet deep. In its course it destroys orchards, vineyards, corn-fields, and villages ; and sometimes cities, containing 20,000 inhabitants, have been consumed and buried under the burning lava. There are reckoned about fourteen of these volcanoes in Europe ; of which the principal are Mount Hecla in Iceland, Mount Vesuvius, near the city of Naples, Mount Etna in Sicily, and Stromboli in one of the Lipari islands. Etna and Vesuvius are often quiet for many months, and even years, without the appearance of fire, though the smoke is always ascending from their craters ; but the mountain Strom- boli is ever at work, and appears to be the only volcano that burns without ceasing ; and for ages past, it has been looked upon as the great lighthouse of the surrounding seas. Several phenomena of awful sublimity and terrific grandeur frequently accompany the eruptions of these volcanoes. Hecla in Ice- land, is a mountain nearly a mile in perpen- dicular elevation, and a considerable portion of it is covered with snow. In an eruption of this volcano in 1775, a stone weighing 290 pounds was thrown to the distance of 24 English miles. Not far from this mountain, in the year 1783, there happened a most dreadful and appalling eruption, which was preceded by a violent earthquake, which lasted for a fortnight ; after which the lava broke out from the earth, in three different places, forming three dreadful fire-Spouts. These fire-spouts, or streams of burning lava, after having risen a considerable height into the air, united into one, arriving at last at such an amazing altitude, as to be seen at the distance of more than 200 miles. The height to which this fiery stream ascended was reck- oned to be not less than two miles above the surface of the earth. This fire first became visible on the 8th of June, and continued to produce devastation and terror till the 16th of August following. In one direction, it formed a lake of fire spreading out itself in length and breadth more than 36 miles ; and, having converted all this tract of land into a sea of fire, it stretched itself out in another direction, and rushed down the channel of a large river with violent impetuosity, tearing up the earth, and carrying on its surface flaming woods, and every thing it met with in its course, and forming other lakes of fire. The whole extent of ground covered by this fiery inundation, was no less than 90 miles long, by 42 in breadth, or 3780 square miles, the depth cf (81) ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. the lava being from 96 to 120 feet. All the time of this great eruption, the whole atmos- phere was loaded with smoke, steam, ashes, and sulphureous vapours. The sun was fre- quently invisible, or, when seen, was of a dis- mal reddish colour ; and the rain which fell through the smoke and steam, was so impreg- nated with salt and sulphureous matter, that the hair and even the skin of the cattle were destroyed, and the grass c^" the fields rendered poisonous. Twelve rivers were dried up by Interior of the Crater of Vesuvius Vesuvius and Naples. this fiery inundation, many lakes were filled up, 20 villages were destroyed, many thou- sands of sheep and cattle perished, and more than 240 human beings were destroyed. After this eruption, two islands were thrown up from the bottom of the sea, 100 miles south-west from Iceland one of them 3 miles in circum- ference, and about a mile in height, which continued for some time to burn with great violence. In an eruption of Vesuvius, in 1769, about midnight, a fountain of fire was shot up to an amazing height, casting so bright a light, that the smallest objects were clearly distinguish- able at any place within six or seven miles of the mountain. On the next day a most Tiolent report was heard, which shook the houses of the town of Portici to such a degree, that the windows were broken and the walls rent by the concussion of the air ; and, in an instant, a fountain of liquid transparent fire began to rise, and, gradually increasing, arrived at length at the amazing height of 10,000 feet and upwards, when its blaze was (82) reflected with awful grandeur from the sea. A gentleman, at Sorrento, twelve miles distant from Vesuvius, read the title page of a book by that volcanic light. Mount Etna is the largest volcano in Europe. It is above 2 miles in perpendicular height ; it is about 30 miles in a straight line along its declivity to the top, its circumference at its base is above 120 miles, and its crater above three miles in circumference. In 1669, burning rocks, 15 feet long, and 50 in circumference, were thrown to the distance of a mile, and showers of cinders and ashes to the distance of more than 60 miles. A fiery stream burst from the mountain, 14 miles long and 6 miles broad, which destroyed in its course the habitations of nearly 30,000 persons; and, meeting with a lake four miles in compass, not only filled it up, but made a mountain in its place. The quantity of materials thrown out by volcanoes is prodigious. It was calcu- lated that, in this eruption, the matter thrown out amounted to 150,000,000 cubical yards; so that, had it been extended in length upon the surface of the earth, it would have reached nearly four times round the circumference of the globe. The noife emitted by volcanoes has been compared to a mixed sound made up of the raging of a tempest, the murmur of a troubled sea, and the roaring of thunder and artillery, confused altogether. The roarings of Cotopaxi in South America, one of the largest volcanoes in the world, have been heard at the distance of more than 200 miles. Volcanoes are found in every quarter of the world. Forty have been observed constantly burning between Cotopaxi and the Pacific ocean ; 20 have been seen in the chain of mountains that stretches along Kamtschatka ; and many of them are to be found in the Philippines, the Moluccas, the Cape de Verd, the Sandwich, the Ladrone, and other islands in the Pacific ocean. About 205 volcanoes are known to exist, of which 107 are in islands, and 98 on the great continents. AH these grand and terrific phenomena of nature are under the direction and control of the Creator of the universe ; and they afford pre- sumptive proofs that man has fallen from his original rectitude, and is no longer in a state of innocence. Questions on the preceding Lesson. (1.) What is the nature of a volcano! What part of a volcano is its crater ? What substances are thrown out from volcanoes? What appearances generally accompany their eruptions 1 What are the signs or forerunners of an eruption 1 What is meant by lava ? What appearances does it present, and what effects does it produce 1 What are the prin- cipal volcanoes in Europe ? What is peculiar QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES. 83 with respect to Stromboli 1 Describe the size and situation of Hecla. What preceded the eruption in Iceland in 17831 What extra- ordinary appearance did this eruption exhibit ? Of what did the fire-spouts consist ? at what distance were they seen 1 and to what height did they rise 1 How long did they continue to burn 1 How large a tract of country was covered by the burning materials 1 and what devastations did they produce 1 What was the depth of the burning stream 1 What was the appearance of the sun during this erup- tion? What effects were produced by the rain, and what was the state of the atmos- phere] What striking appearance was be- held during an eruption of Vesuvius? At what time of the day or night was it seen ? What happened before another awful appear- ance ? Describe the size of Mount Etna, and state the circumference of its crater. What were the circumstances attending its eruption in 1669, and what effects did they produce ? (2.) What number of volcanoes has been ascertained? In what countries are they found? How many are in Europe? How many in the mountains of Kamtschatka? What size of stones have been thrown out of Etna and Hecla, and to what distance were they thrown ? How many villages were destroyed by the eruption in Iceland ? What effect did it produce on the lakes and rivers ? and upon animated beings ? Were any men and women destroyed? What were the length and breadth of one of the lakes of fire formed by this eruption? Describe the dimensions of the fiery stream which ran down Mount Etna in i669. To what has the noise of volcanoes been compared ? What effect did this noise produce in the town of Portici ? At what distance was a gentleman enabled to read by the flame of a volcano ? What was reckoned the height of the stream of fire which ascended from Vesuvius ? How many habitations were destroyed by the erup- tion of Etna ? and what effect did it produce on a lake ? Have any volcanoes ever risen from the bottom of the sea ? From what part of a volcanic mountain does the eruption of lava proceed ? and does it always issue from the same part ? What was the size of one of the islands thrown up from the sea near Iceland? To what distance have sand and ashes been thrown in the eruptions of volca- noes ? What is generally the appearance of the sky, and of the luminaries of heaven, pre- vious to an eruption, and during its continu- ance ? At what distance have the sounds of the volcano Cotopaxi been heard ? What is the meaning of the word subterraneous? whence is it derived, and of what words is it compounded ? Describe, likewise, the mean- ing of the words phenomena, summit, devasta- tion, inundation, lava, &c. Point, on the map of Europe, to the situation of Hecla, Vesuvius, Stromboli, and Etna. Point, on the map of the World, to the situations of the other volcanoes mentioned in the lesson. How many volcanoes are situated in islands ? What length of a journey is requisite in ascending to the top of Etna ? Under whose superintendence are the operations of volca- noes ? and what moral instructions may we learn from their terrific and destructive effects? The above lesson is compiled from five or six different sources, so as to condense as many interesting facts as possible in one description. The language of the original authors has been altered and simplified, and some original sentences interwoven. It is seldom that a mere extract will be found, in all its parts, sufficiently perspicuous and in- teresting to the young ; and therefore it would require a considerable degree of labour and research to arrange and compile a volume or two on the plan proposed. The questions are intended to excite the attention and judgment of the pupil, and the answers are understood to be prepared by him, previous to his reading the lesson along with his class. At the same time, the teacher has it in his power to put to his pupils as many subordinate questions con- ne*cted with the subject as he may deem expe- dient, and to illustrate, by familiar descriptions, any objects either directly or indirectly con- nected with the facts stated in the lesson. The first twenty -six questions are stated nearly in the order of the lesson ; the remain- ing queries, beginning at No. 2, are intention- ally arranged in a different order, to exercise the judgment of the pupil, and to prevent him getting his answers by rote. This arrange- ment would require to be adopted in almost every lesson. Each lesson should contain a perspicuous description of some well-defined scene or object, the knowledge of which would form a portion of the foundations of useful science. And, were all the ideas comprised in a lesson of this description to be impressed upon the mind of the pupil every day, it can- not be doubted, that in the course of a year, when above three hundred such lessons would be studied, a very considerable portion of use- ful information would be communicated far superior in utility and extent to all that has hitherto been acquired by the perusal of Epilogues of stage-players, Speeches in the Roman Senate, Parliamentary debates, the encounters of knights and warriors, essays on criticism and oratory, and all the other prosing dissertations with which so many of our school- collections are occupied. Besides the questions referring to the de- scriptions contained in the lessons, a variety (83) 84 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. of miscellaneous questions, in reference to the common appearances of nature, and the differ- ent branches of popular science, might occa- sionally be proposed to the pupils to excite their curiosity, and exercise their reasoning powers. For example How many miles should we require to travel before we could go quite round the world ? What proofs can you give that the earth is round like a globe ? Is there more land or water on the surface of the earth 1 What is meant by the atmosphere 1 Has the air any weight? By what experiments can you prove that the air presses upon our bodies, and upon all parts of the earth 1 How do you prove that air exists, since it cannot be seen? What is the appearance of the sky during a thunder-storm ? Whether is the lightning seen before or after a peal of thun- der ? By what means could you measure the distance between the earth and a thunder- cloud? What effects does lightning some- times produce ? How many senses has man ? What is the organ of vision ? What part of the eye lets in the light? Is the opening which lets in the light always of the same size? What knowledge do we derive by means of the sense of seeing ? -Have all animals the same number of eyes ? What is peculiar in the eyes of flies and other insects ? What are some of the different kinds of animals that live in the air, the waters, and the earth ? What is the difference between a beast, a bird, and a fish 1 between a reptile and an insect? &c. Is a lobster a beast, a reptile, or a fish? What are the different parts of a plant ? What part of a plant is the stem or trunk ? What enables plants to stand upright, although they are tossed with the wind? Do all plants grow upright? What plants are useful for food ? for build- ing ? for clothing ? &c. What parts of our clothing are made from plants ? Could we have clothing from animals, if no plants existed ? What would be the appearance of fields and mountains, if there were no plants ? What are the tides ? How often do they ebb and flow in the course of a day ? At what periods of the moon are the tides highest ? Does the sun appear round ? Does the moon always appear round ? What other phases or shapes does she assume ? At what period of the day or night does the moon rise when she appears with a round full face ? In what direction does she appear after sunset, when she assumes the form of a slender cres- cent ? If you take a wine-glass, fill it with water, and press a piece of paper upon the mouth of it, and then turn it upside-down, will the water run out of the glass ? If you take a glass tube, and fill it with water, and (84) press your thumb hard upon the top of it, what is the reason that the water will not run out at the bottom of the tube, although it is open? When a boy's sucker is moistened with water, and pressed upon a smooth stone, what is the reason why it is able to lift up a stone of a pretty large size ? Would the sucker produce the effect if it were not moist- ened with water? Many thousands of queries of this descrip- tion might be proposed to the young, which, if judiciously selected, explained, and illus- trated, could not fail of gratifying their curi- osity, and of imparting the elements of useful knowledge, and, above all, of exciting a spirit of observation, of fixing the attention, and of promoting a habit of reasoning on the various objects and operations they perceive around them. An hour or more, during two or three days in the week, might be profitably spent in such exercises, which should always be ac- companied with familiar and minute explana- tions, and, where the subject admits of it, with amusing and illustrative experiments.* Another occasional exercise might consist in exhibiting to a class a variety of objects, both natural and artificial, such as, the model of a ship, a pair of bellows, a mineral sub- stance, a shrub, a flower, a leaf, a bird, an in- sect, or any other object and causing the pupils to describe the parts or qualities of the object exhibited, and the characteristics by which it is distinguished from every other class of objects. If it be a ship, the masts, the yard-arms, the bow, the poop, the keel, the different kinds of sails, &c., their uses, properties, and the terms by which they are distinguished, may be pointed out and de- scribed. -If it be a flower, the calyx, corolla, stamina and pistil, may be pointed out, the class to which it belongs described, and the characteristics by which it may be known from every other flower distinguished. After having several times exhibited and described such objects, they may afterwards be held up to the view of a class, or handed round among the pupils for their inspection, and each of them, or at least a few of the more intelligent, interrogated respecting the parts, qualities, uses, or circumstances connected with the ob- ject exhibited. The objects which may be thus described are almost innumerable ; and hence the necessity, in such a system of in- struction, of collecting for every school an ex- tensive museum of natural and artificial objects, of having an extensive plot of ground con- nected with the seminary, for rearing trees, * A considerable variety of such questions as those to which I allude, will be found in an excel- lent little work, by Mr. Jacob Abbot, Principal of Mount Vernon School, entitled, "The Little Phi- losopher." WRITING AND COMPOSITION. 85 shrubs, and flowers of different kinds and of enjoying an extensive prospect from the roof of the building, with the view of descry- ing as many objects as possible, for the pur- pose of elucidation and instruction. The following example, taken from the " Lessons on Objects," as given in a Pestalozzian school at Cheam, will partly illustrate the plan here suggested : Lesson on Glass. The pupils are supposed to be arranged before a black board, upon which the result of their observations is writ- ten. The glass is passed round the party to be examined by each individual, so that his attention and powers may be exercised about it. " Teacher. What is that which I hold in my hand 1 Children. A piece of glass. T. Can you spell the word ' glass V [The teacher then writes the word < glass' upon the slate, which is thus presented to the whole class as the subject of the lesson.] You have all ex- amined the glass, what do you observe 1 what can you say that it is 1 C. It is bright. [The teacher, having written the word ' qualities,' writes under it, ' It is bright.'] T. Take it in your hand and feel it. C. It is cold. [Writ- ten on the board, under the former quality.] T. Feel it again, and compare it with the piece of sponge that is tied to your slate, and then tell me what you perceive in the glass. C. It is smooth, it is hard. T. Is there any other glass in the room ! C. Yes, the win- dows. T. Close the shutters : can you see the garden now 1 C. No. T. Why cannot you 1 C. We cannot see through the shut- ters. T. What can you say, then, of the glass ] C. We can see through it. T. Can you tell me any word that will express this quality 1 C. No. T. I will tell you then ; pay attention, that you may recollect it. It is transparent. What shall you now under- stand, when I tell you that a substance is transparent ] C. We can see through it. T. You are right ; try and recollect some- thing that is transparent. C. Water. T. If I were to let this glass fall, or you were to throw a ball at the window, what would be the consequence 1 C. The glass would be broken. It is brittle. T. Could I in the same manner break the shutters 1 C. No. T. Could I break it if I used great force ? C. Yes. T. Would you therefore call the wood brittle 1 C. No. T. What substances then do you call brittle! C. Those which are easily broken." These are probably as many qualities as would occur to children at their first attempt, which, being arranged on the slate or board, form an exercise in spelling. They should then be effaced, and if the pupils are able to write, they may endeavour to remember the lesson, and put it down on their slates. Va- rious other qualities of glass might afterwards be described to the pupils, particularly its power of forming images and magnifying ob- jects, when ground into convex lenses, and combined in telescopes and microscopes, which unfold to our view the wonders of the hea- vens, and the minute parts of creation. The chief business of a teacher, in such exercises, is, to draw out the ideas of children, to direct them in a right channel, to teach them to fix their attention on what is immediately before them, and to employ their reasoning powers in drawing the proper conclusions from the objects they contemplate. Contrary to the almost universally prevailing practice, the idea of any object should generally precede the term by which it is designated; so that a child having acquired a clear conception of an object, may feel the want of a term or terms by which its nature or qualities may at any time be expressed, and be enabled, on every occasion, to associate the one with the other. SECTION II. Writing and Composition. On this branch of education, I shall offer only a few general remarks, in addition to those formerly stated. Writing is an art of the greatest utility and importance, and to which children should be accustomed at an early period of their lives. In the first in- stance, they may be taught to write on a slate, with a slate-pencil, which they may be taught to hold in the same way as we hold a goose- quill or a steel-pen. Instead of beginning with straight lines and parts of letters, they might at once begin either with complete let- ters or short words, which should seldom be made of a larger size than half text, as in the actual business of life there is seldom occa- sion for writing a large text-hand. Mr. Bu- chanan (a gentleman who has been long a successful teacher hi Greenock, and the author of several useful publications) lately showed me a plan he had recently introduced to facili- tate the forming of letters, when a child is set to write on a slate. The method is as fol- lows : Slates are prepared, as in the following figure, with the letters, a, b, c, &c. indented on the left-hand side. The pupil works his pointed slate- pencil several times through- out the indent- ings of each letter, and, af- ter he has be- come familiar with its slopes and curves, and acquires the movements re- H (85) 86 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. quisite to form the letter, he tries to write * num- ber of the same letters in succession, on the line drawn on the slate immediately opposite. Mr. Buchanan has found this plan greatly to facili- tate the accurate formation of the letters, in the first attempts of children to write on slates ; and it certainly deserves a fair trial in other seminaries. Short words might be indented in the same manner ; and when the pupil is at a loss as to the formation and the joinings of the different letters, he may recur to the indented model, and by following with his pencil its turnings and windings, three or four times in succession, he will soon be enabled to form the word on his slate. On a principle somewhat similar, a child may be taught to write with ink upon paper, by setting before him a piece of good writing made with a red pencil, and making him pass and repass over all the strokes and curves with a pen full of black ink. In Professor JacQtot's system of education instead of com- mencing with elementary lines, curves, and letters, in what is called text-hand a com- plete sentence, written by the master, or en- graved in small hand, is put before the eyes of the pupil, which he is directed to copy. He writes, as well as he can, the first word suppose ' The ;' and no further progress must be made, till, by an attentive comparison of his own performance with the original copy, he becomes conscious of the faults and defects of the former. Such questions as these are then put. Q. Is this T well made 1 ^. No ; it is too high, or too short, or too long. Q. Could it be made better 1 Jl. I think so. Q. What must you then do to improve if? A. Make it longer, or broader, or shorter, &c. Q. How could you have made it better at first ? A. By paying more attention, &c. But I leave it to the writing-master to adopt such plans for teaching the formation of writ- ten characters as his experience may deem most expedient, and conclude with two or three general remarks. The principal object of writing is to com- municate our sentiments to others, or to record the fleeting thoughts that pass through our own minds for the subject of future considera- tion. The art of writing should therefore be made to bear, as soon as possible, on the prac- tical purposes of life. Instead of continuing children for years, at the formal practice of writing from ' copy -lines' as soon as they ac- quire a tolerable hand, they should be accus- tomed to write forms of mercantile accounts statements of arithmetical operations cards of invitation letters of friendship or business forms of address and superscriptions and whatever else they may afterwards have occa- sion to practice in the actual business of life. The miscellaneous sentiments embodied in the (86) lines and pieces which they copy, should uni- formly contain religious and moral precepts and sentiments easily understood, ar.d state- ments of historical, geographical, astronomical, and scientific facts, in order that no opportu- nity may be lost in familiarizing the mind to useful knowledge. For example, instead of the unmeaning words generally given as ' co- pies,' such sentences as the following might be substituted : " The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. He knoweth our downsitting and our uprising, and under- standeth all our thoughts. The darkness can- not hide from him ; for the darkness and the light are both alike to God." " The power and wisdom of God are seen in the construc- tion of the smallest insect. In a single drop of certain kinds of water, hundreds of little animals may be seen, by the microscope, swim- ming like fishes in a pond, every one of them having eyes, a mouth, stomach, and bowels, and instruments of motion." " About sixteen hundred years after the Creation, the whole earth was covered with a flood of water, which reached more than twenty feet above the tops of the highest mountains." " Fear God, and keep his commandments. Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and live peaceably with all men. If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink. For God is long-suffering and kind, even to the unthankful and the evil ; He causeth his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth his rain to water the fields both of the righteous and of the wicked." " The world in which we dwell is round, like a globe or ball ; and it would require a jour- ney of nearly twenty-five thousand miles be- fore we could go quite round it." "The Atlantic ocean lies between Europe and Ame- rica, and it is three thousand miles broad." Africa is a very hot country, and there are great numbers of people living in it whose skin is entirely black. " China is the most populous empire in the world : it contains about three hundred millions of inhabitants. The whole world contains above eight hun- dred millions." " The moon is two thousand one hundred and sixty miles in diameter ; and is two hundred and forty thousand miles dis- tant from the earth." " The sun is ninety- five millions of miles distant ; and is more than twelve hundred thousand times larger than the whole earth." " The air, or atmo- sphere, presses upon every square yard of the earth's surface with a force equal to more than nineteen thousand pounds." " The river Amazon is three thousand miles long, and is the largest river on the globe," &c. A sentence or two of this description might UTILITY OF EXERCISES IN COMPOSITION. 87 be given to a whole class of writers, to be co- pied several times over ; and after the class has finished the writing, the fact, or senti- ment contained in the sentence might be ex- plained and illustrated. By this means, a number of useful facts and practical rules of conduct might be gradually communicated to the youthful mind ; and, being noted down in the pupil's copy-book, they might be reperused and referred to on any future occasion. Per- haps it might not be inexpedient to classify a number of fundamental truths, facts, and apho- risms, under such heads as the following Religious, Moral, Geographical, Historical, As- tronomical, Chemical, Optical, Botanical, &rc., allotting two or three pages of the copy-book foi each department. The above suggestion proceeds on the principle, that in every depart- ment of study, an opportunity should be taken of imparting some new and useful truth to the under standing of the young, or impressing some moral lesson upon the heart. As soon as the pupil is able to handle the pen with some degree of dexterity, he should be accustomed to write forms of letters, narra- tives, essays, or real epistolary correspondence. He may likewise, at this period, be gradually taught the art of composition. This may be effected, in the first instance, by recounting to him a striking narrative, or an interesting historical fact, and desiring him immediately to repeat it in his own style, and afterwards to write it down nearly in the same manner. After being accustomed to write, a few simple narratives, descriptions of some objects con- nected with natural history, or some striking moral sentiments, may be read over several times in his hearing, as exercises in composi- tion. He may next be requested to give a narrative of any excursion he has made, either alone, or in company, and a description of the scenes he has visited, the events that occurred, and the friends by whom he was entertained. He may also be desired to describe the rural scenery around him, and the streets, lanes, public buildings, and other remarkable objects connected with the town or village in which he resides. A stuffed bird or quadruped, an insect, a plant, flower, or any other object, might occasionally be presented to him, with a request to describe in writing, its form, parts, proportions, and properties, as they appear to his senses after a minute inspection. The apparent motion of the sun during summer might be prescribed as an exercise of this kind, in which he might be desired to describe the direction or position of the sun at 6 and 9 o'clock in the morning, at noon, and at 3, 6, and 8 o'clock in the afternoon. A descrip- tion of the different phases of the moon, and of the positions in the heavens in which she appears, immediately after sunset, when she assumes the figure of a crescent, a half-moon, a gibbous phase, and a full enlightened hemi- sphere might form another exercise.* Such exercises would tend to excite a spirit of ob- servation, and to impress the mind with va- rious facts, which would be found of immense benefit to the pupil when he should afterwards enter on the regular study of the sciences. When such exercises are prescribed to a whole class, a day and hour may be appointed, when a few of the compositions might be read by the teacher in the presence of the class. This will give him an opportunity of offering remarks on the merits of the different compositions, and of showing how the same ideas may be expressed in different language. On such occasions, orthographical and gram- matical errors may be pointed out, and direc- tions given how they may be avoided. At the same time, instructions may be given in reference to the proper use of capital letters, stops and marks, and the proper arrangement of any piece of composition into sentences and paragraphs. The utility of such exercises will scarcely be called in question. They would habituate the young to observation and reflection instead of looking at the objects and phenomena of nature with an unconscious gaze, they would learn to inspect them with minute attention, and investigate their forms, qualities, and effects. In such observations they would feel a variety of pleasing emotions ; for the acqui- sition of new facts and ideas, and knowledge of every description, is a source of enjoyment to every mind, whether young or old. Be- sides, such studies and employments would have a tendency to prevent them from en- gaging' in frivolous pursuits and mischievous devices ; and, in the future periods of their lives, they would be enabled to record and de- scribe, with perspicuity, any remarkable oc- currences or facts that may fall under their observation. We have reason to believe that many interesting facts in relation to geology, mineralogy, zoology, meteorology, and other departments of natural history, have been de- tected by persons in the lower ranks of life, which have been lost to the scientific world, *In order to understand the object of such an exercise, it may not be improper to state, that im- mediately after sunset, the moon, when in a cres- cent phase, appears near the west or south-west quarter of the heavens, in our northern latitude when of the figure of a half-moon, she appears nearly in the south at the same hour when of a gibbous phase, about the south-east and when a full moon, in the east, nearly opposite to the point of sunset, and sometimes a little to the south-east or north-east, according as she is in north or south declination. These circumstances can be easily ascertained in the course of a fortnight, and it is of some importance to a young person that he be enabled to determine them from his own observa- '""" (87) ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. in consequence of their being beheld with an incurious eye, and from the observers having been incapable of writing an intelligent de- scription of the objects which came under their inspection. Hence the numerous bones of fossil animals which have been mangled and destroyed, and thrown aside as rubbish, by labourers and miners, had they been pre- served entire, might have thrown a new light on the extinct species of the animal kingdom, and on the former state of the world. But in the present state of society, there is not one out of a hundred capable of writing a per- spicuous description of any fact, physical, political, or moral, that may fall under his ob- servation. If, therefore, young people were early excited to habits of observation, and to record in writing the results of their observa- tions, they might afterwards, in a variety of ways, be eminently useful in contributing to the advancement of science and of general knowledge. SECTION III. Drawing. In connection with writing, Drawing is an accomplishment in which every young person should be initiated. As writing consists in the imitation of characters and words, so draw- ing is the imitation or writing down of objects. Almost every child feels a desire to imitate the actions of others, and when he has it in his power, to draw representations, however rude, of the objects around him ; and in such exercises feels no small share of enjoyment. He may be taught to begin with geometrical figures, as lines, angles, squares, parallelo- grams, triangles, polygons, arches, circles, ovals, cones, pyramids, cylinders, and the like, as being the foundation of all other propor- tions. He may next proceed to the drawing of fruits, as apples, pears, cherries, &c., with their leaves ; of flowers, as roses, tulips, and daisies ; of birds, beasts, fishes, and serpents ; of the human body, with its several linea- ments ; and of houses, spires, public buildings, and landscapes. After he has executed some of these objects from patterns set before him, he should be encouraged as soon as possible to copy from nature. For this purpose, he might be directed to begin with attempting to draw the representation of an adjacent build- ing, of the schoolhouse, with its garden and area, of a church, a spire, a tower, or some adjacent public edifice also the imitation of a tree, a flower, a horse, a cow, a dog, a ship, or a windmill. After drawing several land- scapes from copies, he may be requested to delineate a particular landscape in the neigh- bourhood of the seminary; and if such an exercise were prescribed to a whole class, pre- miums (if such a principle be admitted) might be offered for two or three of the best finished (88), drawings. Previous, however, to such at- tempts, some of the principles of perspective would require to be familiarly illustrated. The pupil might next be instructed in the delinea- tion of maps, the drawing of architectural plans, garden plots, and rural ornaments, ma- chinery of different kinds, and optical, mathe- matical, and philosophical instruments. In the present state of society, and amidst the improvements now going on in all kinds of machinery, a particular acquaintance with this department of drawing would be found of great practical utility, and there are few mechanical exercises in which the young would take greater delight Drawing has hitherto been considered chiefly in the light of an ornamental study, and has been viewed as principally adapted to the amusement of ladies, and the higher ranks of society ; and their attention has been chiefly directed to the copying of paint- ings, engravings, drawings, and fanty -pieces, which have no prototypes in nature. Hence there are comparatively few w r ho have learned this art in the usual routine, that can accu- rately delineate a landscape from nature, draw an architectural plan, or give a correct repre- sentation of any instrument or piece of ma- chinery. The art of drawing ought not to be considered as merely an elegant amusement : it is capable of being rendered of the greatest utility to science, and to those arts which minister to the comfort and rational enjoy- ments of human life. Were useful know- ledge more generally diffused, and were the young universally taught to draw from nature, our views of the landscape of the world, of the facts of science, and of the operations of art, might be indefinitely enlarged. Every traveller would be enabled to take a sketch of the wonders of nature, the varieties of art, the domestic associations, and the more in- teresting scenery displayed in the different regions through which he passed ; and such sketches, being afterwards expanded into panoramas, or engraved for the optical ma- chine, might extend our conceptions of the scenery of the world, and convey clear and distinct views of objects which we may never have an opportunity of visiting. Every natu- ralist would be qualified to delineate an exact representation of any unknown tree, flower, shrub, or uncommon animal, that might fall under his observation. Every one engaged in astronomical observation could represent to others, with accuracy, the phenomena of the solar spots, with their numberless variations the aspect of the lunar mountains, peaks, and vales, in every phase of the moon, and the changes which may occasionally be taking place the varied appearances on the surfaces of the planets, as seen through telescopes-- EXERCISES IN NUMBERS. and the relative positions, sizes and pheno- mena of the stellar and planetary nebulae dis- persed through the distant regions of space. Every artisan and mechanic would be quali- fied for sketching any mechanical improve- ment or invention, either of his own or of others; and every labourer, for delineating whatever curious or uncommon objects he might meet with, either in his rural walks, or iu his digging, mining, and agricultural opera- tions. But, in order to enjoy the advantages which would be derived from universal instruction in the art of drawing, every object which the young are set to copy should be one which has a real existence in nature, and which may be instrumental in conveying to their minds a new and correct idea of objects which they may not previously have seen, and thus of adding something to their stock of general knowledge ; and they should be given to un- derstand, that the object of drawing is not mere amusement, but practical utility ; and consequently they should be induced to copy from nature and art as soon as they are able to handle the pencil with any degree of dex- terity. It appears truly absurd and prepos- terous to set before children, as patterns of imitation, fancy pictures and imaginary land- scapes which have no prototypes in the real world, when there are so many real objects and diversified landscapes around us, and when we consider that every new object which has a real existence, presented to a young mind, adds something to its stock of knowledge. Fancy pictures are of as little use in giving us correct representations of nature and art, as novels and romances are in conveying accurate information of the trans- actions and events recorded in history. On this ground, I would deem it inexpedient to distract the attention of the young with his- torical paintings or drawings, however much such pieces may be admired. In short, when we consider how much useful information, as well as pleasure, may be conveyed by accurate pictures taken directly from the scenes of nature and the operations of art, we cannot but view it as highly expedient, in attempting the general diffusion of knowledge, that every young person should be taught to delineate, on any emergency, whatever phenomena or processes of nature, or operations of art, may be thought worthy of being depicted and recorded. SECTION IV. Arithmetic. Arithmetic is the science which explains the properties and relations of numbers, and the method of computing by them. A knowledge of this subject should form a part of every system of education, as its principles and rules form the groundwork of all the compu- tations connected with commerce, geometry, mensuration, geography, astronomy, naviga- tion, and other departments of science. Previous to engaging in the regular study of this science, and attempting its more com- plex operations, the general properties of num- bers should be familiarly illustrated by sensible representations, in a manner similar to what is generally practised in infant schools. This may be done either in private by an intelligent parent, or in a public school, as an occasional amusement for those who have not entered on the regular study of arithmetic ; which would prepare them for understanding its funda- mental rules and computations. A variety of moveable objects, as peas, beans, beads, marbles, cubes, &c. may be provided, or perhaps small pieces of wood cut in the shape of cubes or parallelepipeds, as they do not roll, may be more convenient for this pur- pose and a method such as the following, corresponding to the spirit and plan of Pesta- lozzi, may be pursued. The teacher, placing one of the cubes before the children, says, " This is one cube ;" the children at the same time repeat, " This is one cube." The teacher, adding another, says, " These are two cubes," which the children likewise repeat. This process may be continued till they advance to the number ten. Then, taking all the cubes from the table, and throwing down four, the question is put, How many cubes are on the table 1 which the children, after having been for some time familiarized to this mode of notation, will be able to answer. In like manner, other numbers may be successively placed on the table, and similar questions put. This process may be varied as follows : Placing a parallelepiped or oblong figure be- fore the children, the teacher may say, " Once one" placing another at a little distance from the first, " Twice one" adding another, " Three times one ;" and so on, making the children repeat the numbers as the pieces are laid down. When the ten oblongs are thus arranged at equal distances and in a straight line, such questions as the following may be put. How many oblongs are there on the table ? Do they lie close together 1 Is the first oblong placed nearer to the second than the second is to the third? Do their long sides lie in the direction of the window or of the door, &c. 1 Could they be placed differently without changing either their num- ber or distance 1 When these questions are answered, they may then be desired either to shut their eyes or to turn their backs to the table, when three oblongs may be taken away, and the second moved nearer the first, and the question put, How many oblongs are there now? The children, having counted them, H 2 (89) 90 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. will say, "There are seven" How many were there before ? " Ten." How many have I taken away 1 "Three." Did these oblongs undergo any other change 1 " You have moved that (pointing to it) nearer to the other." In order to vary these processes as much as possible, the children should be de- sired to count the number of fingers on one or both hands, the number of buttons on their jackets or waistcoats, the number of chairs or forms in the room, the number of books placed on a table or book-shelf, or any other object that may be near or around them. By such exercises, the idea of number and the relative positions of objects would soon be indelibly impressed on their minds, and their attention fixed on the subject of instruction. These exercises may be still farther varied, by drawing, on a large slate or board with chalk, lines, triangles, squares, circles, or other figures as under. D A QD AA ODD AAA DDDO AAAA O oo ooo D DD ODD OOOO DDDD Having chalked such figures as the above, the children may be taught to say, " One line, one triangle, one circle, one square two lines, two triangles, two circles, two squares three lines, three triangles, three circles, three squares," &c. which may be continued to twelve or twenty, or any other moderate num- ber. They may be likewise taught to repeat the numbers either backwards or forwards, thus : " One triangle, two triangles, three tri- angles, four triangles" " Four circles, three circles, two circles, one circle." The nature of the four fundamental rules of arithmetic may be explained in a similar manner. Draw- ing five squares or lines on the board, and afterwards adding three, it would be seen that the sum of 5 and 3 is eight. Drawing twelve circles, and then rubbing out or crossing three of them, it will be seen that if 3 be taken from 12, nine will remain. In like manner the ope- rations of multiplication and division might be illustrated. But it would be needless to (90) dwell on such processes, as every intelligent parent and teacher can vary them to an indefi- nite extent, and render them subservient both to the amusement and the instruction of the young. From the want of such sensible re- presentations of number, many young people have been left to the utmost confusion of thought in their first arithmetical processes, and even many expert calculators have re- mained through life ignorant of the rationuk of the operations they were in the habit of performing. When the arithmetical pupil proceeds to the compound rules, as they are termed, care should be taken to convey to his mind a well defined idea of the relative value of money the different measures of length, and their proportion to one another the relative bulks or sizes of the measures of solidity and capacity angular measures, or the divisions of the rircle square measure and the measure of time. The value of money may be easily represented, by placing six penny pieces or twelve halfpennies in a row, and placing a sixpence opposite to them as the value in silver; by laying five shillings in a similar row, with a crown piece opposite ; and twenty shillings, or four crowns, with a sovereign opposite as the value in gold ; and so on, with regard to other species of money. To convey a clear idea of measures of length, in every school there should be accurate models or standards of an inch, a foot, a yard, and a pole. The relative proportions which these measures bear to each other should be fami- liarly illustrated, and certain objects fixed upon, either in the school or the adjacent premises, such as the length of a table, the breadth of a walk, the extent of a bed of flowers, &c. by which the lengths and pro- portions of such measures may be indelibly imprinted on the mind. The number of yards or poles in a furlong or in a mile, and the exact extent of such lineal dimensions, may be ascertained by actual measurement, and then posts may be fixed at the extremities of the distance, to serve as a standard of such measures. The measures of surface may be represented by square boards, an inch, a foot, and a yard square. The extent of a perch or rod may be shown by marking a plot of that dimension in the school area or garden ; and the superficies of an acre may be exhibited by setting off a square plot in an adjacent field, which shall contain the exact number of yards or links in that dimension, and marking its boundaries with posts, trenches, furrows, hedges, or other contrivances. Measures of capacity and solidity should be represented by models or standard measures. The gill, the pint, the quart, and the gallon, the peck and the bushel, should form a part of the fur- CIRCLE OF WEEKS AND MONTHS. 91 niture of every school, in order that their rela- tive dimensions may be clearly perceived. The idea of a solid fact may be represented by a box made, exactly of that dimension; and the weights used in commerce may be ex- hibited both to the eye and the sense of feel- ing, by having an ounce, a pound, a stone, and a hundred-weight, made of cast-iron, presented to view in their relative sizes, and by causing the pupil occasionally to lift them, and feel their relative weights. Where these weights and measures cannot be conveniently obtained, a general idea of their relative size may be imparted by means of figures, as under. STONE. POUND. OUNCE. Angular measure, or the divisions of the circle, might be represented by means of a very large circle, divided into degrees and minutes, formed on a thin deal board or paste- board ; and two indexes might be made to re- volve on its centre, for the purpose of exhibit- ing angles of different degrees of magnitude, and showing what is meant by the measure- ment of an angle by degrees and minutes. It might also be divided into twelve parts, to mark the signs or great divisions of the zodiac. From the want of exhibitions of this kind, and the necessary explanations, young persons generally entertain very confused conceptions on such subjects, and have no distinct ideas of the difference between minutes of time, and minutes of space. In attempting to convey an idea of the relative proportions of duratinn, we should begin by presenting a specific illustra- tion of the unit of time, namely, the duration of a ternnfl. This may be done by causing a pendulum of 39^ inches in length to vibrate, and desiring the pupils to mark the time whi^h intervenes between its passing from one side of the curve to the other, or by reminding them that the time in which we deliberately pronounce the word twenty-one, nearly corresponds to a second. The dura- tion of a minute may be shown by causing the pendulum to vibrate 60 times, or by counting deliberately from twenty to eighty. The hours, half hours, and quarters, may be illustrated by means of a common clock ; and the pupils might occasionally be required to note the interval that elapses during the per- formance of any scholastic exercise. The idea of weeks, months, and years, might be conveyed by means of a large circle or long stripe of pasteboard, which might be made either to run along one side of the school, or to go quite round it. The stripe or circle might be divided into 365 or 366 equal parts, and into 12 great divisions corresponding to the months, and 52 divisions corresponding to the number of weeks in a year. The months might be distinguished by being painted with different colours, and the termination of each week by a black perpendicular line. This apparatus might be rendered of use for fami- liarizing the young to the regular succession of the months and seasons ; and for this pur- pose they might be requested, at least every week, to point out on the circle the particular month, week, or day, corresponding to the time when such exercises are given. Such minute illustrations may, perhaps, appear to some as almost superfluous. But, in the instruction of the young, it may be laid down as a maxim, that we can never be too minute and specific in our explanations. We generally err on the opposite extreme, in being too vague and general in our instructions, taking for granted that the young have a clearer knowledge of first principles and fun- damental facts than what they really possess. I have known schoolboys who had been long accustomed to calculations connected with the compound rules of arithmetic, who could not tell whether a pound, a stone, or a ton, was the heaviest weight whether a gallon or a hogshead was the largest measure, or whether they were weights or measures of capacity whether a square pole or a square acre was the larger dimension, or whether a pole or a furlong was the greater measure of length. Confining their attention merely to the num- bers contained in their tables of weights and measures, they multiply and divide according to the order of the numbers in these tables, without annexing to them any definite ideas : and hence it happens that they can form no estimate whether an arithmetical operation be nearly right or wrong, till they are told the answer which they ought to bring out. Hence, likewise, it happens that, in the process of re- duction, they so frequently invert the order of procedure, and treat tons as if they were ounces, and ounces as if they were tons. Such errors and misconceptions would gene- rally be avoided were accurate ideas previously conveyed of the relative values, proportions, and capacities of the money, weights, and measures used in commerce. 92 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. Again, in many Floor and rof. cases, arithmetical , processes might be 2> illustrated by dia- .- grams, figures, and "g pictorial represen- tations. The fol- lowing question is stated in "Hamil- ton's Arithmetic," as an exercise in simple multiplica- tion " How many square feet in the tf floor, roof, and ~ walls of a room, 5 25 feet long, 18 broad, and 15 high? It is impossible to convey a clear idea to an arithmetical tyro, of the object of such a question, or of the process by which the true result may be ob- tained, without fig- Breadth, 18. ures and accompanying explanations. Yet no previous explanation is given in the book, of what is meant by the square of any dimen- sion, or of the method by which it may be ob- tained. Figures, such as the foregoing, should accompany questions of this description. The idea of superficial measure, and the 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ~sT 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ~32~ ~sT ~sT 35 36 i 1 reason why we multiply two sides of a quad- rangular figure in order to obtain the super- ficial content, may be illustrated as follows. Suppose a square table whose sides are 6 feet long, and another of the form of a parallelo- gram, 9 feet long and 4 feet broad, the super- ficial feet contained in these dimensions may 9 be represented as above 6x6=36, and 9x4=36. By such a representation it is at once seen what is meant by a square foot, arid that the product of the length by the breadth of any dimension, or of the side of a square by itself, must necessarily give the number of square feet, yards, inches, &c., in the surface. It will also show that surfaces of very different shapes, or extent as to length or breadth, may contain the same superficial dimensions. In the same way we may illustrate the truth of such posi- tions as the following: That there are 144 inches in a square foot 9 square feet in a square yard 160 square poles in an acre 640 square acres in a square mile 27 cubical feet in a cubical yard, &c. For example, the number of square feet in a square yard, or in two square yards, &c., may be represented in cither of the following modes. 1 Sq. Yard. 1 Square Yard. When the dimensions of the mason work of a house are required, the different parts of the building, which require separate calcula- tions, as the side-walls, the end-walls, the gables, the chimney-stalks, &c., should be separately delineated; and if such delinea- tions are not found in the books where the questions are stated, the pupil, before proceed- ing to his calculations, should be desired to sketch a plan of the several dimensions which require his attention, in order that he may have a clear conception of the operations be- fore him. Such questions as the following should likewise be illustrated by diagrams. " Glasgow is 44 miles west from Edinburgh ; Peebles is exactly south from Edinburgh, and 49 miles in a straight line from Glasgow. What is the distance between Edinburgh GLASGOW. 44 Miles. EDINBURGH. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 92) FRACTIONS. and Peebles'!" This question is taken from " Hamilton's Arithmetic," and is inserted as one of the exercises connected with the ex- traction of the Square Root ; but no figure or explanation is given, excepting the following foot-note. " The square of the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle, is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides." It should be represented as on page 92. In a similar manner should many other ex- amples connected with the extraction of roots be illustrated. The following question can scarcely be understood or performed, without an illustrative figure, and yet there is no figure given, nor hint suggested on the subject, in the book from which it is taken. " A ladder, 40 feet long, may be so placed as to reach a window 33 feet from the ground on one side of the street ; and by only turning it over, without moving the foot out of its place, it will do the same by a window 21 feet high on the other side. Required the breadth of the street 1" The following is the representation that should be given, which, with a knowledge of the geometrical proposition mentioned above, will enable an arithmetical tyro to perform the operation, and to perceive the reason of it. By this figure the pupil will see that his calculations must have a respect to two right- angled triangles, of which he has two sides of each given to find the other sides, the sum of which will be the breadth of the street. The nature of fractions may be illustrated in a similar manner. As fractions are parts of a unit, the denominator of any fraction may be considered as the number of parts into which the unit is supposed to be divided. The fol- lowing fractions, |-, |, fa may therefore be re- presented by a delineation, as follows : 7 parts I I I I I I I I 5 parts. 4 parts rrn 9 parts. u 2 parts = 12 parts. By such delineations, the nature of a frac- tion, and the value of it, may be rendered ob- vious to the eye of a pupil. A great many other questions and piocesses in arithmetic might, in this way, be rendered clear and in- teresting to the young practitioner in num- bers ; and where such sensible representations have a tendency to elucidate any process, they ought never to be omitted. In elementary books on arithmetic, such delineations and il- lustrations should frequently be given ; and, where they are omitted, the pupil should be induced to exert his own judgment and imagi- nation, in order to delineate whatever process is susceptible of such tangible representations. I shall only remark further, on this head, that the questions given as exercises in the several rules of arithmetic, should be all of a practical nature, or such as will generally oc- cur in the actual business of life that the suppositions stated in any question should all be consistent with real facts and occurrences that facts in relation to commerce, geography, astronomy, natural philosophy, statistics, and other sciences, should be selected as exercises in the different rules, so that the pupil, while engaged in numerical calculations, may at the same time be increasing his stock of general knowledge and that questions of a trivial nature, which are only intended to puzzle and perplex, without having any practical tendency, be altogether discarded. In many of our arith- metical books for the use of schools, questions and exercises, instead of being expressed in clear and definite terms, are frequently stated in such vague and indefinite language, that their object and meaning can scarcely be ap- preciated by the teacher, and far less by his pupils : and exercises are given which have a tendency only to puzzle and confound the learner, without being capable of being ap- plied to any one useful object or operation. Such questions as the following may be reck- oned among this class. " Suppose j62 and $ of ^ of a pound sterling will buy three yards and -f of | of a yard of cloth, how much will T 6 T of | of a yard cost 1" " The number of scholars in a school was 80 ; there were one- half more in the second form than in the first ; the number in the third was f of that in the second; and in the fourth, of the third. How many were there in each form T' In some late publications, such as " Butler's (93) 94 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. Arithmetical Exercises," and " Chalmers' In- troduction to Arithmetic," a considerable va- riety of biographical, historical, scientific, and miscellaneous information is interspersed and connected with the different questions and ex- ercises. If the facts and processes alluded to in such publications, were sometimes repre- sented by accurate pictures and delineations, it would tend to give the young an interest in the subject of their calculations, and to con- vey to their minds clear ideas of objects and operations, which cannot be so easily imparted by mere verbal descriptions ; and consequently, would be adding to their store of genial in- formation. The expense of books constructed on this plan, ought to be no obstacle in the way of their publication, when we consider the vast importance of conveying well-defined conceptions to juvenile minds, and of render- ing every scholastic exercise in which they engage interesting and delightful. SECTION V. Grammar. Grammar, considered in its most extensive sense, being a branch of the philosophy of mind, the study of it requires a considerable degree of mental exertion ; and is, therefore, in its more abstract and minute details, beyond the comprehension of mere children. Few things are more absurd and preposterous than the practice, so generally prevalent, of attempt- ing to teach grammar to children of five or six years of age, by making them commit to memory its definitions and technical rules, which to them are nothing else than a collec- tion of unmeaning sounds. In most instances they might as well be employed in repeating the names of the Greek characters, the jingles of the nursery, or a portion of the Turkish Alcoran. The following is the opinion of Lord Kaimes on this point : " In teaching a language, it is the universal practice to begin with grammar, and to do every thing by rules. I affirm this to be a most preposterous method. Grammar is contrived for men, not for chil- dren. Its natural place is between language and logic: it ought to close lectures on the former, and to be the first lectures on the lat- ter. It is a gross deception that a language cannot be taught without rules. A boy who is flogged into grammar rules, makes a shift to apply them ; but he applies them by rote like a parrot. Boys, for the knowledge they acquire of a language, are not indebted to dry rules, but to practice and observation. To this day, I never think without shuddering, of Disputer's Grammar, which was my daily persecution during the most important period of my life. Deplorable it is that young crea- tures should be so punished, without being guilty of any fault, more than sufficient to produce a disgust at learning, instead of pro- (94) moling it. Whence then this absurdity if persecuting boys with grammar rules 1" In most of our plans of education, instead of smoothing the path to knowledge, we have been careful to throw numerous difficulties and obstacles in the way. Not many years ago, we had two characters for the letter s, one of them so like the letter f, that, in many cases, the difference could not be perceived. We had likewise compound letters, such as ct, fl, fh, &c., joined together in such an awk- ward manner, that the young could not dis- tinguish them as the same letters they had previously recognized in their separate state ; so that, in addition to the ungracious task of learning the letters of the alphabet in their insulated state, under the terror of the lash, they had to acquire the names and figures of a new set of characters, before they could pe- ruse the simplest lessons in their primers. Such characters, it is to be hoped, are now forever discarded. We have still, however, an absurd practice in our dictionaries and books of reference, which tends to perplex not only our tyros, but even our advanced stu- dents, when turning up such works I mean the practice of confounding the letters I and J, and the letters U and V, which are as distinct from each other as a vowel is from a conso- nant ; so that all the words beginning with J must be sought for under the letter I, and the words beginning with V, under the letter U, causing to every one a certain degree of trou- ble and perplexity, when searching for words beginning with any of these letters. Most of our school Dictionaries and Encyclopedias are still arranged on this absurd principle, which should now be universally discarded. ' In the construction of our books of Gram- mar for the use of children, instead of facili- tating this study, we have done every thing to render it as dry apd intricate as possible. We have definitions, general rules, exceptions to these rules, declensions and conjugations, profusely scattered throughout every part of these scholastic manuals, and a cart-load of syntactical rules and examples, all of which must of course be crammed, like a mass of rubbish, into the memories of the little urchins, although they should not attach a single cor- rect idea to any portion of such scholastic exercises. Nothing can be more simple than the English verb, which, unlike the Greek and Latin verb, has only two or three varieties in its termination ; yet, we perplex the learner with no less than six different tenses the pre- sent, the imperfect, the perfect, the pluperfect, the first future, and the future perfect, while nature and common sense point out only three distinctions of time in which an action may be performed ; namely, the past, the present, and the future, which of course are subject METHOD OF TEACHING GRAMMAR. 95 to a few modifications. On the same principle on which we admit six tenses, we might intro- duce nearly double that number. Hence a celebrated grammarian, Mr. Harris, in a dis- sertation on this subject, enumerates no fewer than twelve tenses. It is quite easy to make a child understand that a man is now striking a piece of iron with a hammer, that he did the same thing yesterday, and will perform the same action to-morrow, in other words, that an action was performed at some past time, is performing now, or will be performed at some future period ; but it is almost impossi- ble to convey to his mind a clear idea of twelve, or even of six, tenses, although a hun- dred distinctions and definitions should be crammed into his memory. A disposition to introduce quibbling and useless metaphysical distinctions has been the bane of theology, and one of the causes of the divisions of the Chris- tian church. A similar disposition has ren- dered grammar perplexing and uninteresting to young minds, and prevented them from understanding or appreciating its nature and general principles. By attempting too much, in the first instance by gorging their memo- ries with all the distinctions, modifications, and rules, which grammarians have thought proper to inculcate, we have produced a dis- gust at the study, when, by attempting nothing more than they were able clearly to compre- hend, we might have rendered it both delightful and instructive. There are, properly speaking, no oblique cases in English nouns, excepting the possessive case, and yet, in some gram- mars, we have six cases specified, similar to those of Latin nouns ; and in almost every book on grammar, three cases at least are con- sidered as belonging to English nouns. On the same principle, we might affirm that there are as many cases as there are prepositions in the language ; for every combination of a pre- position with a noun forms a distinct relation, and consequently may be said to constitute a distinct case. Were it expedient in this place, many such remarks might be offered in refer- ence to the absurdities and intricacies of our grammatical systems, and the perplexing and inefficient modes by which a knowledge of this subject is attempted to be communicated. In communicating to the young a know- ledge of grammar, or of any other subject, that plan which is the easiest and the most in- teresting should of course, be adopted. All in- tricate and abstruse definitions and discussions ought to be avoided, and nothing attempted but what is level to their comprehensions, and which may be illustrated and explained by sensible images and representations. In en- deavouring to impart a general idea of the elements of grammar, I would, in the first in- stance, lead the pupils to a position where they would have a distinct view of an exten- sive landscape, where they might see either ships sailing, birds flying, windmills in mo- tion, men digging the ground, or working with saws and hammers, carriages moving, or reap- ers cutting down the corn. I would then in- form them (if they are acquainted with num- bers,) that there are about fifty thousand words in the English language, but that they may be reduced to about eight different classes-;* or kinds ; or, in other words, that all the words they see in the different books that come into their hands, however numerous they may ap- pear, may be arranged into these classes. I would next tell them that one of these kinds of words is called nouns, or terms which ex- press the names of all kinds of objects, and desire them to point out, in the landscape be- fore them, some of those objects designated nouns. They would find no difficulty in com- plying with such a requisition, and instantly, " a house, a tree, a ship, a church, a flower, a man, a horse," and similar names, would be cheerfully vociferated. They would next be told that certain qualities or properties belong to every object; that a house may be high or line, large or small, white, gray, or red a tree, tall, thiik, or slender that a feather is light gold, heavy butter, soft, &c. ; and that the words, high, low, light, heavy, soft, &c., be- long to that class termed adjective.", or words expressive of qualities. Some particular ob- jects might then be mentioned, and the pupils requested to point out some of the qualities which they may possess. For example, Boy. After two or three qualities that a boy may possess are stated, they would soon apply the adjectives, good, bad, lazy, diligent, tall, hand~ sows, mischievous, beautiful, and other quali- ties. A Table, round, oval, square, oblong, high, /otw, long, short, &c., adding the word table to each of these qualities. To diversify this exercise a little, a quality might be men- tioned, and the pupils desired to name any objects to which it will apply. For instance, the quality Round, when such answers as the following might be given ; " A hat is round, a wafer is round, a saucer is round, a shilling * The words in the English language have gene- rally been arranged into nine classes, or " parts of speech ;" but it appears almost unnecessary to consider the article and the interjection as distinct parts of speech, particularly the interjection, which is not necessary to the construction of a sentence, bein? only thrown in to express the emotion of the speaker. It is proper, however, that the nature and use of these words be explained to the young. Perhaps all the worda essential to language might be arranged into the four following classes; JVbwnr, Attributives, (or adjectives,) Affirmatives, and Con- nectives. Such arrangements, however, are of lit- tle importance, provided we convey a clear idea to those whom we instruct of the leading parts of speech which are essential to language, and be careful not to perplex their attention with too rai- nute or unnecessary divisions. (95) ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. is round, the sun and moon are round." In like manner, High, which applies to towers, mountains, trees, the clouds ; and Soft, which applies to butter, dough, jelly, slime, pudding, snow, &c. I would next direct their attention to that class of words which express actions, and re- quest them to look around upon the landscape, and tell me if they perceive any thing in mo- tion, or shifting its position from one place to another ; (for motion, either mental or corpo- real, is implied in every action.) Should they hesitate in answering this request, an instance or two may be pointed out ; but they will sel- dom be at a loss, and will at once reply " Ships are moving birds are flying the horse is trotting men are walking the ma- son is breaking stones the trees are waving the labourer is digging the earth." They may also be told to stretch out their hands, to walk a few steps, to strike the ground with a rod, to look up to the sky, or to perform any other action that may be judged expedient, and then informed, that the words expressive of such actions, as walking, striking, breaking, flying, &c. are denominated verbs. Having engaged them several times in such exercises, till a clear idea of the nature of a verb is communicated, it will be easy to explain the difference between actwe and neuter verbs, and the three tenses, the past, the present, and the future. They may be told, for ex- ample, that masons broke stones yesterday, and will break stones to-morrow that James wrote a letter to his cousin a few days ago, and will probably tvrite another in a few days hence and that birds fine through the air last year, and unll fly in the same manner in the year to come. The quality of an action, and the manner in which it may be performed, or any circumstance that happens to be con- nected with it, may also be .explained and illustrated. Thus, they may be asked, In what manner the clouds move, and the birds fly slon-ly or swiftly ? In what manner the labourer performs his work slovenly or neatly, cheerfully or heavily ? In what manner the river runs smoothly o'r rapidly? How James behaves during the time of instruction attentively br foolishly? How the house to which I point is situated pleasantly, awk- wardly, or disagreeably? They may then be told, that such terms as slowly, swiftly, smoothly, pleasantly, &c. which express cer- tain qualities of actions, constitute another class of words, denominated adverbs. Words which express the relations in which objects stand to each other, may be next pointed out. They may be directed to observe that a certain house (pointing to it) stands near a tower, a river, or a large tree that a house on the right hand is distant from an- (96) other on the left that the clouds are placed above the earth that the grass is under our feet, and that a certain mansion is situated upon the declivity of a hill. Such relations might also be illustrated by desiring one of the pupils to walk to a certain point, suppose a tree, and then to return from that point to his former position ; or, to place himself in a position before the rest of the pupils, and afterwards in a position behind them when the relative positions of objects denoted by the terms near, above, to, and from, before, and behind, may be familiarly explained, and de- signated by the word prepositions. An idea may be given of another class of words, which stand instead of names, by asking such ques- tions as these : How does that house look among the trees, on the opposite bank of the river ? The answer might be, ".It looks beau- tifully." How does that lady walk? She walks gracefully. What kind of a scholar is John? He is a good scholar. What did two wicked boys do to Arthur a few days ago? They struck him with tlxir fists. By such examples, it will be easy to show that the words it, she, he, stand in the place of house, ludy, and John; that they and their refer to the wicked boys, and that him stands instead of Arthur. They may be then informed, that such words are distinguished by the name prc- nouns ; and, by a few more familiar instruc- tions, they may be made acquainted with the nature and use of the nominative, possessive, and objective cases, both singular and plural, by which they are varied. In a similar way the nature and use of the article and of con- junctions may be pointed out and illustrated. The plan now described may be varied, by directing the attention of the young to the objects contained in a parlour or a school- room or, a large engraved landscape, accu- rately coloured, containing a considerable variety of objects, and representing various artificers at work, and objects in motion, might be placed before them, and used for the same purpose as a real landscape or, they may be desired to form an imaginary- picture, every one being called upon to specify the objects they wish to be put into the picture, along with their qualities, and the actions and movements they wish to have exhibited. This picture may either be merely imaginary, or it may be rudely sketched with a pencil on a sheet of paper. One may desire that an ele- gant mansion may be placed in it ; another, a church with a spire, and near it a small cot- tage ; another may wish to see exhibited, a smith hammering his iron, or a few persons fishing in a river; and another, a school and play -ground, a cotton-manufactory, or a steam- vessel sweeping along the river. The exhi- bitions at a market or fair, a public procession, RULES OF SYNTAX. 97 boys and girls at play a festive entertainment, with all its accompaniments, the scenes of a sea-port, or any other scene connected with nature or human society, might be conceived or delineated for this purpose, and grammatical exercises connected with it in the manner now illustrated. I should, however, prefer a real landscape, as it appears on a fine day of sum- mer or autumn, to any other exhibition; as real objects make a more lively impression on the mind than any picture can produce, and the view of a beautiful landscape, in the open air, is attended with the idea of liberty, free- dom from formal tasks, and various exhilarat- ing circumstances. And it ought never to be forgotten, that, by connecting the process of education with varied and pleasant associa- tions, we gradually enlarge the sphere of juvenile knowledge, and impress more deeply on the youthful mind the instructions we in- tended to impart By a few occasional les- sons, in the way of amusement, on the plan now stated, which may be varied in every possible mode, more correct ideas of the parts of speech may be communicated, than what is generally done in a year or two by the dry and abstract modes in which this branch of instruction has usually been conducted. Such a plan of instruction appears to be suggested by the mode in which we may con- ceive language to have been originally formed. Were we to suppose man just now created, and placed for the first time on the surface of this globe, his attention would, in the first place, be directed to the various objects which he beheld existing around him. These he would endeavour, by some means, to distin- guish one from another ; and, if it were his design to invent a language by which he might hold a communication with other rational beings, his first effort would un- doubtedly be, to give them names by which the ideas of them might be at any time re- called, when the objects themselves were absent from his view. These form a copious source of words, which must be common to every language formed for the communication of thought among intelligent beings, wherever existing, throughout the immensity of the universe. He would likewise soon discover that every one of the objects around him was endowed with certain attributes or qualities, to express which another class of words or signs would be requisite. In the course of his further survey, he would perceive certain changes, motions, and events, such as the ebbing and flowing of the sea, the rising and setting of the sun, the flight of birds, the movements of quadrupeds, &c. the expression of which would require a class of words dis- tinct from the former. These classes com- prehend all the words which can be deemed essential to language, or to a mutual inter- change of sentiments between rational beings. In the progress of the formation of language, however, other words would be found highly expedient, for the purpose of ease or ornament, for connecting the different parts of a discourse, or to avoid circumlocutions or disagreeable repetitions ; and hence the invention of pro- nouns, prepositions, and conjunctions. If this appears to have been the process by which language was originally formed, it likewise suggests the proper mode by which a general knowledge of the object, use, and component parts of language may be communicated to the young. With regard to Syntax, in many of our initiatory grammars, there are between thirty and forty syntactical rules, many of them long and complex, and accompanied with numerous explanations, distinctions, and exceptions, all of which are intended to be crammed verbatim into the memory of the grammatical* tyro, whether he understand them or not, and how- ever ungracious and irksome the task assigned him. Is such a task necessary to be imposed, in the first instance ? and, if imposed, will it tend to inspire the pupil with a greater relish for grammatical studies, or render hrm more accurate in the art of composition 1 I have no hesitation in answering such questions in the negative. Although all the rules alluded to were admitted to be useful, it would be highly inexpedient to burden and perplex a young person with such exercises, when commu- nicating the first elements of grammatical arrangement, especially when he cannot be supposed to have a clear conception of the meaning and application of the greater part of such rules. What idea, for example, can a child of six or seven years have of such a sentence as the following, which forms only the one-fourth part of the 30th rule of syntax, in Blair's Grammar " The same adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions, are always under- stood to apply to their respective parts of speech, when connected by conjunctions ; so that, if either of them be changed in the next clause of the sentence, or the mood or tense of the verb be changed, the nominative or its pronoun must be repeated," or of the follow- ing, which forms another part of the same rule " All the parts of a sentence should corre- spond with each other, and a regular and similar construction be carefully preserved throughout; and this corresponding analogy in the construction of sentences constitutes the principal charm of elegant composition."* * Mr. Blair, in his Preface to the Grammar alluded to, says, "A grammar for the use of schools should not contain any thing superfluous," and "every thing should be expressed ire the smallest number of words," which are certainly good maxims, and yet some of his syntactical rules I (97) 98 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. I am fully convinced that, in the first in- stance, it is quite unnecessary to advert to more than three or four fundamental rules in syntax, in order to direct the young in the general construction of sentences. There is one principal rule, which, if punctually ob- served, would prevent any egregious blunder from being committed either in speaking or writing, and that is, " Jl verb should agree with its nominative in number and person." This might be called, with some propriety, the Rule of syntax a rule which is short and simple, which can be easily explained and comprehended, on the observation of which the meaning of a sentence frequently depends, and a rule, in short, which is most frequently violated, even by good writers, especially when their sentences are long and complex. To this rule I would add the following "Active verbs and prepositions govern the objective case of pronouns ;" and, in order to prevent such inaccurate expressions as " 'more better" " more dearer" &c., the rule, " Double comparatives and superlatives are improper," may be added. Exercises might also be given to illustrate the two following rules "The past participle should be used after the verbs ham and be ;" and " The verb to be, should have the same case after it as before it." It ought never to be forgotten, that the habit of accurate com- position depends more on practice, and the study of good writers, than on a multitude of rules ; and I appeal to every one who is in the habit of composing, whether, in the mo- ment of committing his thoughts to writing, he ever thinks of the rules of syntax, except, perhaps, some of those now specified. I have known an individual, in the lower walks of life, who had never been taught grammar, nor perused any book on the subject who wrote essays on physical subjects, which might have been inserted with propriety (and some of them were actually inserted) in respectable sci- entific journals. The only inaccuracy which appeared was an occasional violation of the first rule of syntax above stated. A more correct idea of the construction of sentences will be conveyed to the young by the occa- sional remarks of a judicious teacher, during their reading lessons by exercising them fre- quently on the rules above stated, particularly the first in causing them to correct ungram- occupy nearly a page. He immediately adds, " Whatever it is desirable young people should know they must ham by rote the memory is the onlii faculty of children of which teachers can pro- perly avail themselves, and it is a vain attempt to address their immature powers of reason and reflection." Such sentiments are rather too anti- quated for the nineteenth century. This gentle- man, whether his name be real or fictitious, has succeeded much better in the execution of his "Class-Book," and his "Grammar of Natural Philosophy," than in his "Practical Grammar of the English Language." (98) matical sentences and by pointing out the inaccuracies which occur in their written com- positions, than by all the formal rules that can be packed into their memories. All the instructions alluded to above may be imparted without the assistance of any book or manual of grammar, and that, too, almost in the way of amusement. When the pupil has arrived at the age of 13 or 14 years, such books as " Murray's English Grammar," and " Irvine's Elements of English Composi- tion," may be put into his hands for private perusal, where he will meet with a number of minute remarks and observations on the sub- ject, which may be worthy of his attention. But, at the same time, he may be given to un- derstand, that the careful study of good au- thors, a clear conception of the subject to which his attention is directed, and the exer- cise of judgment, taste, and common sense, on every piece of composition, will be of more avail than any system of abstract rules ; and that a breach of some of the rules laid down by grammarians may sometimes be as proper as a strict observance of them. In short, in training children to accuracy, both in gram- mar and orthoepy, it might have a good effect were care uniformly taken, both in the school and the parlour, to correct every expression in their ordinary conversation that is un gram- matical, or incorrect in their pronunciation to explain the reasons of the corrections, and to endeavour, on all occasions, to induce them to express their thoughts with propriety and precision. In the schools in Scotland every child should be taught to pronounce the Eng- lish language with accuracy, even in his common conversation, so that the Scottish language may be extirpated as soon as possi- ble, since it will never again be the language of literature or science. SECTION VI. Geography. Geography is a branch of knowledge with which every individual of the human race ought to be, in some measure, acquainted. It is scarcely consistent with the character of a rational being, surrounded by the immensity of the works of God, to feel no desire to become acquainted with these works, and, particularly, to remain in ignorance of the form, magnitude, component parts, and gene- ral arrangements of the terrestrial habitation allotted for his abode. It is equally incon- sistent with a principle of benevolence, and with the relations in which he stands to beings of the same nature and destination, to remain altogether unacquainted with the physical and moral condition of other tribes of his fellow- men, and to feel no interest in alleviating their miseries or promoting their improvement. It is even inconsistent with the spirit of reli FIGURE OF THE EARTH. 99 v gion and tne duties of a Christian, to remain in indifference with regard to geographical knowledge, for " the field" of Christian labour and benevolence is " the world" with its nu- merous tribes of inhabitants, which it is the great object of this science to investigate and describe. As the depositories of Revelation, of "the good things of great joy," which are intended to be communicated " to all peo- ple" we are bound to study this subject in all its bearings and relations, and to teach it to our children, and our children's children, that they may feel an interest in the moral condi- tion of the inhabitants of distant lands, and employ their energies in diffusing Divine knowledge, in counteracting moral evils, in abolishing the system of warfare, and pre- paring the way for a harmonious intercourse among all the families of the earth. This science, therefore, ought to form a subject of study in every seminary devoted to the instruc- tion of the young. Yet it is a fact, that, in the present state of society, we find thousands of our fellow-men almost as ignorant as the horse or the mule, of the arrangements of the world in which they dwell, and of the various tribes of human beings with which it is peo- pled as if they had no connection with their brethren of the same family, nor any common relation to the Universal Parent who gave them existence. This study, like many other scholastic ex- ercises, has too frequently been conducted in a dry and uninteresting manner, and very in- adequate ideas communicated of its grand fea- tures and leading objects. Lists of the names of towns, cities, countries, rivers, bays, and gulfs, have been imposed as tasks to the me- mory, without any corresponding ideas ; and the mechanical exercises of copying maps, and twirling an artificial globe, have not un- frequently been substituted for clear and com- prehensive views of the leading facts and principles of the science. Physical geography has been almost entirely omitted in the initia- tory books on this subject ; and most of them are constructed on this principle, that the meagre descriptions and details they contain shall be committed to memory by rote. In this way, months and even years have been spent, and as little real knowledge of geography ac- quired, as there is of theology by the common routine of committing to memory the vocables of the " Church Catechism," or the West- minster Assembly's synopsis of Divinity. In communicating a knowledge of geogra- phy, it is requisite, in the first place, to give the young a clear and impressive idea of the yize, form, component parts, and ge.wra.1 ar- rangements of the earth, considered simply as an object of contemplation, and a part of the creation of Got*. In stating to a class of pu- pils that " the earth is round like a ball," the reasons or arguments which prove this posi- tion should be clearly and familiarly illustrated. If they are near the sea-coast, they should be conducted to the margin of the sea, to ob- serve how the hull of a ship, leaving the shore, disappears, near the horizon, before the sails, and the sails before the topmast; and a telescope should be provided, that the obser- vation may be made with perfect distinctness. They may be informed, at the same time, that a ship disappears from the view, in the same manner, in all parts of the ocean ; and if so, the ocean must form a part of the surface of a sphere ; and if the ocean, with its numerous ramifications of seas, straits, and gulfs, be of a spherical form, the surface of the land must be nearly of the same figure, since it is nearly on the same level as the sea, no part of it rising more than a mile or two above this level, except the peaks of a few lofty moun- tains. Where there is no convenient access to the sea-coast, or the margin of a lake or river, the same fact may be illustrated by the appearance of a person going over the top of a conical hill, or any waving tract of ground may be selected, and a little boy directed to walk from the one extremity to the other, over the highest point of it ; when it will be per- ceived, after having passed this point, that the lower parts of his body will first disappear, and that the top of his head will be the last part of him that will be visible, as represented in the following figure. The pupils may next be made to perceive, that if the earth be round like a globe, we might travel directly east or west, and, hold- ing on in the same direction, without turning back, might arrive at the same point from which we set out ; and then be informed, that the experiment has actually been made that ships, at different periods, have sailed quite round the world, the course of which may afterwards be pointed out on the artificial globe. But, as these voyages have been made only in an easterly or westerly direc- tion, they may be led to understand that, had we no other proofs of the earth's rotundity, this experiment would only prove that the earth is round in one direction, like a cylinder or a drum. The roundness of the earth, from north to south, might, at the same time, be ex- plained from the fact, that when we travel a considerable distance from N. to S. or from S. to N., a number of new stars successively appear in the heavens, in the quarter to which we are advancing, while many of those in the (99) 100 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. opposite quarter gradually disappear; which could not happen if the earth were a plane in that direction, like the longitudinal surface of a cylinder : for, in this case, we should see all the stars of the heavens, from the North pole to the South, on whatever portion of the cylindrical surface we were supposed to be placed. This might be illustrated by sur- rounding a terrestrial globe, or any other ball, with a large hoop or circle, about twice or thrice the diameter of the globe, on which some of the stars might be represented. This circle might be made either of wood or paste- board, and the globe within it connected with a moveable plane to represent the horizon, as exhibited in the following figure. In this figure, the inner circle represents the earth; A, the North pole, and B, the South; and the larger circle, E C F D, a portion of the celestial sphere. It is evident, that if a person be placed at the equator at G, he will see all the stars above the horizon C D, in the hemisphere D F C. If he move to the point H, 45 degrees nearer to the North pole, the moveable plane C D, may be moved in the direction E F, to represent the horizon of that place, when it will evidently appear that he has now lost sight of all the stars situated between F and D, and that the pole- star C, which, in his former position, was in his horizon, is now elevated 45 degrees above it In a similar manner it might be shown that no such difference in the aspect of the starry heavens could take place, in travelling from South to North, or from North to South, were the earth of the form of a cylinder ; and consequently, that the fact above stated proves the rotundity of the earth in that direction. That the earth, considered as a whole, not- withstanding the irregularities caused by its mountains and vales, is of the figure of a sphere, may be illustrated from the phenome- non exhibited during the progress of an eclipse of the moon. An explanation of a lunar eclipse, accompanied with familiar illustra- tions, will be requisite to be given, before the proof of the globular figure of the earth be (100) deduced from this phenomenon. Let the flame of a candle or gas-lamp represent the sun, and a wooden ball, supported by a wire represent the earth; and let a circle, some- what less than the diameter of the ball, be drawn on a piece of pasteboard, and coloured, to represent the moon. Let them be placed at a moderate distance from each other, and nearly in a straight line, and let the pupils mark the curve of the shadow of the ball on the circle representing the moon, and that there is no body but one of the figure of a globe that can project a circular shadow in every direction ; for, although a counter or a shilling will cast a circular shadow in one direction, yet in every other direction it is either an oval or a straight line. Hence the conclusion is easily deduced, that, if the shadow of the earth falling on the moon is the cause of an eclipse of that orb, and if this shadow, so far as it is seen, is always a por- tion of a circle, the earth, as a whole, must be nearly of a globular figure. In order to render such explanations clear and impressive when a visible eclipse of the moon takes place, young persons should be directed to observe such a pnenomenon with attention to mark the figure of the earth's shadow when it first enters on the eastern margin of the moon before it leaves its western edge and during the whole of its progress along the disk, if it happen to be a partial eclipse of the moon ; and, although they be not directly engaged in geographical studies at the time, yet such observations will afterwards prepare them for understanding such explanations as now sug- gested. Such minute illustrations, so far from being superfluous or unnecessary, are essen- tially requisite for producing in the minds of the young, a rational conviction of the rotun- dity of the earth. I have known young ladies, and gentlemen too, who had passed through a scholastic course of geography, and yet could assign no other reason for their believing that the earth is .globular, than this, " That their teacher told them so, and showed them a representation of it by the artificial globe." Besides, such specific explanations and illus- trations tend to exercise the reasoning powers of the young, and to bring to their view a variety of incidental facts and circumstances connected with the subject, and thus their store of general information is gradually in- creased. Having, by such methods as the above, pro- duced a clear conviction of the spherical form of the earth, the next step might be to convey an impressive idea of its magnitude. For this purpose, let a class of young persons be con- ducted to an eminence, where they might have a distinct view of a landscape stretching about tight miles in every direction. Let their atten- MAGNITUDE OF THE EARTH. 101 tfon be particularly directed to the various ob- jects which compose the scene before them ; let them be directed to consider the vast mass of materials contained in the hills or moun- tains which form a portion of the view the millions of labourers, and the number of years which it would be requisite to reduce the whole landscape to a perfect level, the num- ber of trees and shrubs of every kind contained within the range of their view the almost innumerable millions of flowers of every hue, stalks of corn, blades of grass, mosses almost invisible to the naked eye, and vegetables of every description, which cover every portion of the landscape the cattle, sheep, horses, dogs, and other quadrupeds, and the multi- tudes of birds, worms, flying and creeping insects, and microscopic animalculae, which no man can number, comprehended within the limits of their view the number of houses and human beings in the towns, villages, and hamlets, which are scattered around, and the labours in which they are employed the mass of waters in the rivers, and in that portion of the ocean which lies before them, (if such objects be in view,) and the numerous tribes of fishes which glide through the watery ele- ment. Let them be directed to consider the time and exertions which would be requisite to travel to the most distant parts of the land- scape, to go quite round it, and to cross it in forty or fifty directions, so as to attain a more intimate, inspection of the multifarious scenes itnd objects of which it is composed. Let certain general calculations be made of the number and magnitude of such objects, of the motion of the inanimate parts of nature, of the activities of animated beings, and of the quantity of matter which appears on every hand. Having impressed upon their minds, as clearly as possible, such ideas of the mag- nitude and variety of the scene before them, let them be informed that the landscape they are contemplating is about 50 miles in cir- cumference, and that its surface contains 200 square miles ; but, that the whole surface of the earth contains more than 196 millions of square miles, and, consequently, is nine hun- dred and eighty thousand times larger than all the objects they behold around them ; so that they must conceive 980,000 landscapes as large as the one before them, before they can form an adequate idea of the magnitude of the earth. To impress this idea more deeply, they may likewise be told, that, were they to remain in the station they now occupy, ten hours every day, (the time usually allotted for daily labour,) and were a landscape of similar extent to that which they behold, to pass before their view evwy hour, till the whole extent and scenery of the terraqueous globe were brought under their observation, it would require more than two hundred and sixty-eight years before they could survey, even in this rapid and imperfect manner, the whole superficial dimensions and variegated scenery of the globe on which we dwell. Their attention should likewise be directed to the solidity of the earth that it is not a mere superficies, but contains within its bowels an immense and indescribable mass of matter, extending nearly 7900 or 8000 miles in every direction between the opposite portions of its circumference, amounting to more than 263 thousand millions of cubical miles. An idea of this enormous mass of materials may be communicated by such illus- trations as the following: Suppose Mount Etna, which ranks among the largest insu- lated mountains on the globe, and which con- tains around its sides 77 cities, towns, and vil- lages, and 115,000 inhabitants, to be 120 miles in circumference around the base, about 10 miles in circumference near the top, and 2 miles in perpendicular altitude, and consider- ing its figure to be nearly that of the frustrum of a cone, it will contain about 833 cubical miles, which is only the 7Tff>T VTPTFT P art ^ the solidity of the globe, reckoning it to con- tain 263,858,149,120 cubical miles; so that it would require more than three hundred millions of mountains, such as Etna, to form a mass equal to that of the terraqueous globe : and were these mountains placed side by side in a straight line, they would extend 12,100,097,- 574, or more than twelve thousand millions of miles ; that is, more than six times the distance of Herschel, the remotest planet of our system. And were we to travel without intermission, till we reached the extremity of such a line of mountains, at the rate of 25 miles every hour, (the utmost speed which our steam- carriages have yet attained,) it would require fifty-Jive thousand, two hundred and fifty-one years, before the journey could be accom- plished. And, were they arranged in circles, equal to the perimeter of the sun, they would go 4376 times round the circumference of that stupendous globe, and cover a great por- tion of its surface. Again, suppose that all the inhabitants of the earth were to be em- ployed in removing a mass of materials equal to that of our globe; suppose all that are capable of labouring to be 200 millions, and that each person removes ten cubical yards in a day, it would require more than 1,970,956,- 164, or, one thousand nine hundred and seventy millions, nine hundred and fifty-six thousand, one hundred and sixty-four years, before such an operation could be completed ; which is more than 337,550 times the num- ber of years which have elapsed since the Mosaic creation. It is of some importance, that, by such 1 2 (101) 102 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. illustrations, Tve endeavour to convey to the minds of the young a luminous and impressive idea of the magnitude of the globe on which we dwell. For it is the only standard, or fcale o/ magnitude, by which we are enabled to form a conception of the bulk of the sun, and some of the more magnificent globes of the solar system, and of the immensity of the universe. If we entertain imperfect and con- tracted conceptions of the size of our globe, we shall be led to entertain similar contracted views of the celestial orbs, and of the ampli- tudes of creation. No adequate conception of the magnitude of our world can be con- veyed to the young, by merely telling them that it is 8000 miles in diameter, and 25,000 in circumference, and showing them its figure an.d the divisions on its surface by an artificial globe. For, in the first place, few of them have an accurate conception of the extent of one thousand miles, much less of twenty five thousand ; and, in the next place, they are apt to fix their attention merely on the length of a line or a circle, without considering the extent of surface contained in a globe of the above dimensions ; and therefore, the number of square miles comprised in the superficies of the earth, amounting to nearly 200 mil- lions, should always be specified, as that which conveys the most correct idea of the amplitude of our globe and, in the last place, unless an ample prospect be presented to their view, and their attention fixed upon its multi- farious objects, while such instructions are im- parting, the illustrations of the magnitude of the earth will neither be clear nor impressive. In a private apartment, where the view is con- fined to the walls of the room, such instruc- tions would lose a considerable part of their effect. Having thus impressed on the understand- ings of the pupils clear conceptions of the figure and magnitude of the earth, its leading divisions and grand natural outlines should next be presented to view. An eigh teen-inch terrestrial globe should be placed before them, on which they should be directed to mark the great divisions of land and water that the regions inhabited by man, and other terres- trial animals, lie between two expansive masses of water more than ten thousand miles in length, and one of them nearly the same in breadth, which cover about three- fourths of the surface of the globe that the northern and southern portions of this watery mass are, for the most part, compacted into a body of solid ite , that the other portions move backwards and forwards in different directions by a kind of libratory motion, every 12 hours, producing the flux and reflux of the sea ; that currents, such as the gulf stream, are found in different parts of the ocean, flowing uniformly (102) in the same direction that the land is divided into three principal portions or masses, the Eastern and Western continents, and tho territory of New Holland, besides thousands of islands of every form and size, which diversify the surface of the ocean that lofty ranges of mountains, some of them three or four miles in perpendicular height, run m different directions through these continents, some of them hundreds and even thousands of miles in extent that hundreds of rivers, many of them above 2000 miles in length, have their rise in these elevated regions, and carry an immense body of waters into the ocean that the ocean has been sounded with lines nearly a mile in length, when no bottom was found; that it is probable, it is several miles in depth, and that its bottom is diversified with mountains and vales like the surface of the dry land ; that it contains a mass of water sufficient to cover the whole globe to the height of more than a mile and a half; and that, were its caverns drained, it would require more than 20,000 years before they could be filled by all the rivers running into it at their present rate, although they pour into its abyss 13,600 cubical miles of water every year that the atmosphere surrounds the whole of this terraqueous mass ; that by means of thi.s atmosphere and the solar heat, a portion of the waters of the ocean is carried up to the region of the clouds in the form of vapour, and condensed into rain to supply the sources of the rivers, and to water and fertilize the earth and that, by these and similar arrange- ments of Infinite Wisdom, the lives and com- forts of myriads of animated beings throughout the regions of the earth, air, and ocean, are preserved and perpetuated. Such general views of the grand features of the globe, when occasionally enlivened with particular details of what is curious and novel to the young, cannot but arrest their attention, and excite their curiosity to acquire more minute information on the subject; while, at the same time, they have a tendency to inspire them with sublime and reverential ideas of that Almighty Being who, "laid the foundations of the earth, who causeth the vapours to ascend, who measureth the ocean in the hollow of his hand, who weigheth the mountains in scales, and taketh up the isles as a very little thing." After describing such general views, the attention may be directed to various other objects connected with the physical constitution of the globe, such as rocks and insulated mountains, promontories, isthmuses, caverns, icebergs, forests, mines, and deserts volcanic mountains, and islands that have been raised from the bottom of the ocean by the force of subterraneous agents lakes, mediterranean seas, fountains, springs, GEOGRAPHICAL DELINEATIONS. 103 whirlpools, gulfs, and water-spouts the pecu- liarities of the different zones the climates, and the distribution of plants and animals in the different regions of the earth the atmos- pherical phenomena in different countries, thunder, lightning, aurora-borealis, the mon- soons, trade-winds, sea and land breezes, hurricanes, and tornadoes the distribution of lenifiera/ure in different parts of the earth the variety of seasons in the different zones, and the reasons why all the four seasons pre- vail at the same moment in different countries the changes which have been produced on the surface of the globe by earthquakes, vol- canoes, the action of water, the influence of the atmosphere, and the agency of man the varieties of the human race, the population of the globe, and the number of individuals that are daily ushered into existence, and of those who daily retire from the living world. To these views of natural scenery may next be added explanations of maps, and of the differ- ent circles on the artificial globe, of the nature of longitude and latitude, the division of the circle into degrees and minutes, the variety of days and nights, the reasons why the zones are bounded at particular degrees of latitude by the tropics and polar circles, and the mode by which the circumference of the earth and its other dimensions have been determined. The explanations of astronomical geography, such as the causes of the different seasons, the annual and diurnal motions of the earth, and the method of finding the latitudes and longitudes of places, may be postponed till the pupil proceeds to the study of astronomy. In describing such objects as the above, and other departments of geography, illustrative maps and delineations, such as the following, are requisite : 1. A stereographic projection of the globe on the plane of the meridian, which divides it into the eastern and western hemispheres ; and another projection on the plane of the equator, having the poles in the centre, dividing the earth into the northern and southern hemispheres. Without this last projection, which is seldom exhibited in books of geography, the relative positions of countries in Asia, North America, and other rpgions, cannot be distinctly traced. On both these maps, the ranges of rnountains which diversify the globe, and all the rivers which flow from them, should be particularly de- lineated, without any other objects or distinc- tions, except the names of the countries, seas, oceans, rivers, and mountain-chains, in order to present to the young mind, at one view, this grand and distinguishing feature of our globe. For want of such maps on a large scale, accurately delineated, with the moun- tains and rivers, represented in their propor- tional magnitudes, no accurate nor compre- hensive ideas are generally entertained of this noble and interesting feature of the terrestrial surface. Three or four extensive chains of mountains may be distinguished, from which flow numerous ramifications, and which, with some interruptions from the sea, extend nearly round the globe. One of these chains runs through Lapland, Finland, and Northern Russia, including the Ural mountains, send- ing forth branches in different directions. Another runs along the southern parts of Europe, including the Alps and Pyrenees Hungary, Persia, Tibet, including the Hima- laya, and, stretching in different directions, pass through China, Japan, and the Kurile islands towards Kamtschatka, from which another chain diverges, and establishes a con- nection with the grand chain of the American continent. Another ridge runs along the southern hemisphere, through Africa, Para- guay, the islands of the Pacific, and New Holland ; and another extensive chain runs from north to south, along the whole length of America, including the Andes, the Rocky and the Blue mountains. The pupils should be directed to trace these ranges, with all their different branches, not only along the conti- nents, but across the oceans, where the tops of the higher ridges appear hi the form of islands, their average elevations remaining below the level of the sea. 2. Another de- lineation should consist of an elementary map, showing the various objects connected with geography : such as continents, islands, peninsulas, isthmuses, promontories, moun- tains and plains, woods and forests rivers, lakes, seas, gulfs, friths, straits, and channels and the manner in which cities, towns, forts, roads, shoals, sand-banks, soundings, sunken rocks, and the direction of the winds, are represented in maps. 3. Delineations showing the proportional length and breadth of the principal rivers on the globe. This might, perhaps, be more distinctly exhibited by a number of rods of different lengths, gradu- ally tapering to a point as the respective rivers diminish in breadth, from their mouths to their sources. Other delineations might represent their lengths, not in straight lines, but with all their curves and windings. 4. A chart or delineation of the comparative size of countries, lakes, and islands ; so that the proportional spaces on the globe, occupied by such countries as Russia, China, Great Britain, the United States, &c. may be perceived at a glance. These spaces may be represented either by squares, parallelograms, or circles. 5. An Isothermal chart, showing the cli- mates and vegetable productions of the earth ; in which the mean temperature of its different regions, the plants which flourish in Ihem, the length of the longest days and nights, the (103) 104 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. divisions of the zones, and other particulars may be distinctly noted. 6. A chart of geo- graphical zoology, showing the various tribes and species of animals with which the earth is peopled, and the several regions where the different species abound. The names of the animals might be engraved instead of the names of towns, and if the chart was on a large scale, the figures of the most remarkable animals might likewise be engraved. 7. A map of Africa and America, and the Atlantic ocean lying between them, on the same sheet, for the purpose of exhibiting, at one view, the whole Atlantic, with its islands, and the rela- tive positions of the coasts of Africa and South America. Also, another map, on the same scale, representing the eastern parts of Asia and New Holland on the one hand, and on the other, the western coast of America, with the Pacific ocean, and its numerous groups of islands which intervene, for the purpose of showing the nearest approach which the old and new continents make to each other, and the relative positions of the islands and coun- tries connected with the Pacific. 8. A map or chart of Moral geography, exhibiting the prevailing religion of the several countries, and the moral state of their inhabitants, which might be distinguished, either by different colours or by different shades in the engrav- ing. In this map the countries enlightened by Christianity, and those which are still shrouded in Pagan darkness, might be ex- hibited at one view ; for the purpose of show- ing to the young what an immense portion of the world is still immersed in heathen ignorance and idolatry, and what exertions are still requisite for enlightening the be- nighted nations; and for the purpose of stimulating them to bear a part in those philanthropic movements which are now go- ing forward for the enlightening and renova- tion of the world. 9. Views of cities, public buildings, mountains, caves, grottos, volcanoes, interesting landscapes, and whatever scenes or objects are most striking on the surface of the globe. Some of these views might be exhibited by the optical diagonal machine formerly described. 10. Sets of coloured maps of the quarters of the globe, and its different countries, delineated in the usual way. 11. A projection of the globe on the horizon of the particular country where the pupils reside, for the purpose of showing the bearings and distances of places from the country in which they are placed. 12. Plate globes, on which the pupil may trace with a pencil the circles of the sphere, the ranges of mountains, the course of rivers, the outlines of continents and islands, and whatever else may tend to familiarize his mind to the gen- eral arrangements of the earth. On such (104) globes mistakes may be remedied and inac- curacies corrected by the application of .the sponge; and, after the pupil has been for some time accustomed to such delineations, he will soon acquire a clear and comprehen- sive view of the outlines of the globe, and become familiar with the relative positions of its continents, seas, and islands. 13. Deline- ations of the comparative heights of the prin- cipal mountains on the globe the mountains in the eastern and western hemispheres being arranged in two separate groups. On the same sheet might likewise be delineated, com- parative views of the heights of different range ., arranging them into six or seven classes, be- ginning with views of such mountains as those of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, which do not much exceed 4000 feet, and gradually pro- ceeding to such as the Cordilleras and the Hi- malaya, whose summits reach an elevation of above 20,000 feet. 14. Models of particular countries might occasionally be made of wax or other materials, particularly of mountainous regions, for the purpose of exhibiting an idea of the scenery of a country, the windings of its rivers, and the comparative height of its mountains above the general level of its sur- face. No map can convey an idea of such particulars, or of the general appearance and prominent features of any country, similar to that of a well-executed model. I have seen in the Museum of the University of Edinburgh, several models of the kind to which I allude, of the vales and mountainous regions of Swit- zerland, in which the position of the towns, the course of the rivers, the lakes, the lines of roads, the vales, the rocks, the forests, and the comparative elevation of the mountains, are exhibited, as if one were looking down upon the country from the clouds. The only ob- jection to such models would be the difficulty of getting them executed, and the consequent expense which would be incurred. But, if one model were accurately executed, others could easily be taken from it, on the same principle as phrenologists take casts of the human skull. By the assistance of such maps and deline- ations, and with the aid of a judicious text- book, comprising a comprehensive view of the outlines of physical, mathematical, civil, sta- tistical, and historical geography, an enlight- ened teacher will be enabled gradually to lead his pupils forward to luminous views of this interesting subject. In describing the different countries, he should give a comprehensive outline of whatever is peculiar to each country, and select for particular description, whatever interesting objects of nature or art may have a tendency to excite the attention and gratify the curiosity of his pupils, referring them to their larger systems of geography for more minute details. In such descriptions, the de- GEOGRAPHICAL BOOKS FOR SCHOOLS. 105 tails of moral, statistical, and religious geogra- the subject, to afford scope for the industry of phy should occupy a more prominent place the pupil, and for the exercise of his judgment than they generally do in our systems of geo- and reasoning powers. But however excel- graphy and scholastic courses on this subject, lent the plan and details of any school-book The statistics of our own country, of the vari- may be, it ought by no means to be considered ous states of Europe, and particularly of the as superseding the more familiar illustrations United States of America, which are very im- of the teacher, and the conversational lectures perfectly known, and respecting which there alluded to above. No man can be a success- exist numerous misconceptions and unreason- nil teacher of this science, but he who has a able prejudices on this side of the Atlantic, familiar and comprehensive knowledge of all should be particularly detailed. The moral the subjects connected with it, and who can, and mental degradation of the heathen world ; at any time, illustrate its principles and facts the missionary stations which have been fixed by viva voce descriptions and elucidations, in different parts of it for counteracting the which always make a deeper impression on influence of barbarism and idolatry, and dif- the young mind than can be produced by the fusing the light of divine knowledge ; the mere perusal of the best treatises. In working various success which has accompanied such the usual problems on the terrestrial globe, undertakings ; and the philanthropic enter- (some of which are of little practical import- prises which are now going forward in differ- ance,) due care should be taken, that the pu- ent countries for the moral renovation of man- pils be not guided merely by the rules given kind, should be depicted to the view of the f r the respective problems, but that they under- young with all the vividness and energy which stand the reasons why they turn the globe in the importance of such subjects demands, in this r that direction elevate the pole to a order to allure them to the consideration of certain degree above the horizon or set the such objects, and to secure their endeavours horary circle to a given hour. In problems in promoting them. It is a striking and melan- which have a reference to the difference of choly feature in the records of our race, that time at different places, they may be taught to almost the whole of history and historical geo- perform the operations by a mental calculation, graphy is occupied with details of the miseries an( l to ascertain, in the course of a few se- of mankind, produced by ambition, avarice, conds, what nations have noon, midnight, and injustice, the tyranny of despots, and the morning or evening, at a given hour, or sum- desolations of war ; and that scarcely a bright mer or winter, spring or autumn, on a given spot can be perceived on the surface of the day or month. In commencing the study of globe, and amidst the gloomy records of past geography, a plan or map of the town or vil- generations, on which the eye of benevolence la S e in which the pupils are taught, along can rest with unmingled delight. Hence it with the adjacent country, and some of its has happened, that we have scarcely a history prominent objects, might be laid before them, of the operations of pure philanthropy, except as introductory to the study and explanation in the instance of our Saviour and his apostles. of maps. On this map, they might be directed And now, when philanthropic plans have been to attend to the cardinal points of the compass, formed, and benevolent enterprises are carry- the boundaries of the town, the streamlets or ing on, our geographers and men of science, rivers, ponds or hills, and the bearings of the so long accustomed to blaze abroad the exploits different streets, lanes, public buildings, and of ambition and malignity, will scarcely con- other objects, from each other ; and various descend to notice or record the operations by questions and exercises in reference to such which the moral world is beginning to be en- objects, might be proposed, which would ex- lightened and regenerated. This is not what it " te a spirit of observation, and prepare them ought to be, or what we ought to expect from for understanding maps of countries on a those who are engaged in the diffusion of know- larger scale. A map of the county, and then ledge. All knowlege should be directed so as to a ma P of the state or kingdom, might next have a moral bearing, and to stimulate the men- f rm the subject of attention, which would pre- tal activities of the young to those benevolent P are them for the study of the particular quar- exertions by which the best interests of their ter of the globe in which they reside, and of fellow-men, in every land, may be promoted. a11 the other countries, seas, and oceans, dis- Geographical compendiums for the use of persed over the surfape of the earth. This plan schools should be clear and comprehensive in * s evidently in conformity to the order of na- their details, and enlivened with occasional ture > although directly opposite to the order picturesque descriptions of human scenery generally pursued.* and of natural and artificial objects, which * Since wilting the preceding part, of thfa work, illustrated with neat engravings. I have been favoured, through the liberality of a They should also abound with questions and res P ecte d literary correspondent in the State of pTprriiSp<3 nf PVPI-V rlAar>rir>ti'n n ,!. Connecticut, North America, with a variety of exercises ol every description connected with school-books on geography and other subjects, (105) 14 106 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. SECTION VII. Geology. Geology is a science which, of late years, has excited the attention of philosophers, natu- ralists, and theologians ; and, in consequence of the researches of its votaries, many striking and important facts in relation to the structure of the earth and the changes it has under- gone, have been brought to light. Many of the facts which this science discloses have a tendency to convey to the mind impressions of the wisdom, and particularly of the power of the Creator, in those stupendous forces which produced the convulsions and changes which have taken place both on the surface and in the interior strata of the globe. They are likewise applicable to various practical purposes. A minute and circumstantial know- ledge of the various facts which have been as- certained by geologists in different countries, may be of extensive use to those employed in mining operations, when searching for coal, fossil salt, or metallic veins, and might prevent many ruinous speculations to which ignorant projectors are frequently subjected. In exca- which have an extensive circulation in the New- England States. Among these are the following : 1. Woodbridge's "System of Universal Geogra- phy, on the principles of comparison and classifi- cation. 5th edition, 1833." This work, comprised in a thick 12mo. volume of 500 very closely printed pages, comprehends an immense mass of informa- tion on physical, civil, and statistical geography, including descriptions of a great Variety of facts in relation to the geological structure of the earth. It is illustrated by nearly a hundred engravings of natural and artificial objects ; such as Sections of rivers, canals, comparative elevation of moun- tains, cataracts, races of man, geological sections, cities and public buildings, which both enliven and elucidate the descriptions. Appended to this work, is a lucid and judicious compend of "Ancient Geography, as connected with Chronology," in- cluding sketches of sacred history, mythology, and the early history of mankind, by Mrs. Wil- lard a lady who appears to have made considera- ble researches into the different departments of geographical science, and to have promoted the cause of general education. Both these works are admirably calculated for the higher classes in schools, and abound with a great number of ques- tions and exercises, for stimulating the attention and ingenuity of the young. Had this volume been sparsely printed, according to the fashion that prevailed 20 or 30 years ago, like " Playfair's Geography," and other works, it would have oc- cupied two or three quarto volumes of 1500 pages. 2 Woodbridge's " Rudiments of Geography, on a new plan," 18mo containing 208 closely printed pages, and about 170 cuts, and comprising a very considerable portion of information on the different departments of geography. It may be considered as partly an abridgment of the larger work no- ticed above, and partly an introduction to it. The cuts, though small, are sufficiently vivid and dis- tinct to convey an accurate idea of the objects they are intended to represent. It has passed through seventeen editions, comprising more than 200,000 copies. Mr. Woodbridge is a correspond- ing member of the Geographical Society of Paris, and Editor of the American "Annals of Educa- tion ;" and a gentleman who appears to be quite familiar with all the departments of geographical, physical, and mathematical science. His geo- graphical works are rich in information in respect (106) vations for the purpose of forming canals, tun nels, and rail-roads operations which arc now going forward in almost every part of the civilized world a knowledge of this subject could not fail to be highly beneficial to all par- ties engaged in such projects. Besides, the study of this science is intimately connected with Scripture history and theology, and its facts, when viewed in a proper light, have a tendency to elucidate certain portions of the Sacred writings, and to illustrate the harmony and the connection which subsist between the visible operations of the Creator and the reve- lations of his word. For these reasons, it might be expedient to communicate to the young a general idea of some of the leading facts connected with geology, without perplex- ing them with any of the speculations of phi- losophers, or the theories which have been formed to account for geological phenomena ; leaving them to deduce their own conclusions at a future period, when their knowledge of such subjects shall be increased, and their judgment matured. to every topic connected with his general subject, and have received the approbation of the Geo- graphical Society of Paris, and of many scientific characters on the continent of Europe, particularly Humboldt and Fellenberg. 3. " A Practical Sys- tem of Modern Geography," by J. Olney, A. M. an 18rno. of 288 pages, closely printed on a plan somewhat similar to Woodbridge's Rudiments, illustrated with nearly a hundred engravings, and containing a very considerable portion of useful information. This work has passed through fifteen editions. 4. "The Malte-Brun RchoorGeogra- phy," by Mr. Goodrich, a large 18mo. volume of nearly 300 pages, and containing about 133 engrav- ings. This work contains a larger quantity of letter-press than the two former, and a great va- riety of facts in relation to civil and descriptive geography, but is not so full as Woodbridge's volumes in its details of physical and statistical geography. Fifteen thousand copies of this work were sold in the space of 18 months from the date of its first publication. The Atlases belonging to these works are beautifully executed, and contain several of the projections I have suggested above, besides sets of maps as usually delineated, along with a variety of useful descriptions a-nd statisti- cal tables. In the Atlas which accompanies Ol- ney's " Practical System," the population of the respective towns and cities can be ascertained at a glance, by means of certain characters and figures connected with their names. Hall's "Child's Book of Geography," and Peter Parley's "Ge- ography for Children," each of them rontainin? about a hundred pages, in a square 18mo. size, and embellished with a variety of maps and cuts, ap- pear well calculated to interest the minds of yoiuh, and to convey a general idea of the leading fea- tures of the world. Some of the above works, with a few alterations, might be published with advantage in Great Britain. They contain more particular maps and descriptions of the Unite.d States than are to be found In geographical works published on this side of the Atlantic A com- prehensive and useful compend of geography for the use of schools, might be compiled from the volumes now mentioned, by selecting the descrip- tions, exercises, and more interesting portions of each, and combining them into a volume calculated for the meridian of our own country. GEOLOGY. 107 A brief description might be given, in the first place, of the solid parts of the earth, of the various strata of which they are com- posed, and of the classifications which geolo- gists have made of the different kinds of rocks. These rocks are usually arranged under the following classes: 1. Primary rocks, which compose the grand framework of the globe, which form the most lofty mountains, and ex- tend to the greatest depths yet penetrated by man, and below all the other formations. The substances of which such rocks are composed, are granite, gneiss, mica-slate, hornblend, granular quartz, &c., but never contain salt, coal, petrifactions, or any remains whatever of organized substances; and therefore are supposed to have been formed before the crea- tion of animals or vegetables. 2. Transition rockf, which include those rocks that lie over the primitive, and are composed of the larger fragments of the primitive rocks. They con- tain graywacke, transition limestone, slate, sandstone, &c. Shells are sometimes found in them, but no remains of land animals or vegetables. It is supposed they were formed next after the primitive rocks, and after the creation of some kinds of organized beings. 3. Secondary rocks, which lie upon the transi- tion rocks, and appear like deposites, composed of grains which once belonged to primitive rocks. jfThe principal secondary formations are coal, chalk, secondary limestone, oolite, mill" stone, grit, &c., which contain petrifactions of animal and vegetable substances. 4. Tertiary strata, which consist of beds of clay, sand, marl, and the newer limestone deposites. These formations are considered as newer than the secondary, and contain abundance of fossil shells -and plants, along with the bones of quadrupeds and fishes. 5. Volcanic and basaltic rocks, which owe their origin to volcanic fire, and are sometimes forced up to the surface of the earth in a melted state, by the action of subterraneous heat. The prin- cipal volcanic rocks are basalt, lava, and greenstone. 6. diluvial strata, which include deposites that are made of broken strata, con- sisting of sand, mud, clay, pebbles, &c., which are formed by the currents of rivers, and other causes now in operation. These classifications of rocks and forma- tions might be illustrated by such figures as in the annexed cut, which is taken from Wood- bridge's "System of Universal Geography," where Fig. 1, represents the strata of the earth, P the primary strata, T transition, S secondary, Fig. 1. A alluvial, B basaltic, V vein, b bed. Fig. 2, repre- sents a section of the earth between latitude 40 and 45 north. In conjunction with such pictorial repre- sentations, a cabinet of ma- terials should be procured, containing at least the fol- lowing: quartz, mica, talc, feldspar, limestone, argillite, or slate, /tornblend, gyp- sum and chlorite, which form what has been termed the alphabet of geology. Besides these, specimens should be procured of ba- salt, gneiss, greenstone, lava, porphyry, graywacke, and other substances men- tioned above. About thirty specimens in all are suffi- cient for illustrating the classes of geology. With- out an exhibition of these, in connection with geolo- gical descriptions, no defi- (107) 108 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. nite ideas can be conveyed to the mind of the student on this subject.* SECTION VIII. Astronomy. Astronomy is a science which has for its object to explain the motions of the heavenly bodies, their various aspects, and the facts which have been ascertained in the planetary system, and throughout the region of the fixed stars. This is a subject of considerable interest and utility. It is intimately connected with geography, navigation, agriculture, com- merce, chronology, and other arts and sciences, and has lent its aid to promote their improve- ment. The study of it is likewise attended with many pleasures and advantages in a moral, intellectual, and religious point of view. It expands the range of the human intellect, and unfolds to our view the most striking displays of the perfections of the Deity, particularly the grandeur of his Omni- potence. It sets before us objects of overpow- ering magnitude and sublimity, and demon- strates the unlimited extent and magnificence of the universal empire of the Almighty. It has a tendency to raise the soul above grovel- ling pursuits and affections, to inspire hope, reverence and humility, and to excite to the contemplation of objects far surpassing every thing we behold in this terrestrial scene, and worthy of the dignity of immortal minds. In short, it prepares the mind for the employments of the future world, and demonstrates that the Creator has it in his power to distribute end- lessly diversified streams of felicity, among every order of his intelligent offspring, through- out all the revolutions of eternity. It is a sub- ject, therefore, on which a certain portion of information should be communicated to the young, and to every human being. In communicating to the young instructions on this subject instead of commencing with definitions of astronomical terms, and a vague description of the solar system, as is frequent- ly done, the pupils should be gradually pre- pared for acquiring a general knowledge of * Books on geology have, of late years, increased both in number and in the interesting nature of the discussions they contain. The names of Bake- well, Mar.ciilloch, Delabeche, Buckland,Ure, Lyell, &c. are well known as cultivators of this depart- ment of natural science. The new edition of Mr. Lyell's " Principles of Geology," in 4 vols. 12mo. lately published, is perhaps one of the most lu- minous and attractive works which has hitherto been published on this subject though perhaps somewhat deficient in what relates to the primary and secondary rocks, and embodying certain state- ments which some will be apt to consider as scarcely consistent with the records of sacred history. Dr. Comstock, of Hartford, State of Con- necticut, has lately published, in a duodecimo vol. of about 340 pages, an interesting work, entitled, "Outlines of Geology," which contains a popular and comprehensive view of this subject, and is peculiarly adapted to the instruction of general readers. (108) the principles of the science, by being taught to observe, with their own eyes, the motions and general phenomena of the heavens. The first object to which their attention might be di- rected, is the apparent motion of the sun. On some clear evening in the month of June, (in our northern latitude,) they may be placed in a situation where they may behold the setting sun, and be desired to take particular notice of such objects as mark the place of his going down. Next morning, or the first clear morn- ing afterwards, they may be placed in the same situation, and, having first requested them to point to the place where the sun dis- appeared the evening before, their attention should next be directed to the point of his rising, and to mark the terrestrial objects in the direction of which he appeared to rise. The difference between the points of his set- ting and of his rising should be particularly impressed upon their minds. On this day, too, about twelve o'clock, they should be di- rected to attend to the sun's meridian altitude. These observations may either be accompa- nied with certain appropriate remarks, or the pupils may be left, in the mean time, to rumi- nate upon them, to consider them simply as facts, which may be afterwards adverted to, and to form their own conclusions. Similar observations may be made from the same spot about the 23d September, and particularly about the middle of December, when the di- rection of the rising and setting sun, his meri- dian altitude, and the apparent diurnal arc he describes, will appear very different, when compared with the observations made in the month of June. Their attention might next be directed to the phases and motions of the moon. About three days after new moon, when the lunar crescent first makes its ap- pearance, they may be directed to mark the form of the crescent, the most conspicuous stars in its vicinity, and its apparent distance from the place where the sun went down. Every clear evening afterwards, the gradual increase of the crescent, its motion among the stars, and the apparent distance it has moved during every successive period, should be particularly marked, till it arrive at the eastern part of the horizon after the sun has set in the west, when it will appear a full enlightened hemisphere. During the months of August, September, and October, when the effect of the harvest-moon is apparent, they may be directed to trace the gradual diminu- tion of the full moon, through its different stages of decrease, till it assume the form of a half moon or a large crescent. During the months of March or April, their attention may be directed to the difference in the time of its rising on each successive day after full moon, from what takes place during the DIURNAL MOTION OF THE HEAVENS. 109 months of harvest, in the one case, namely, in harvest, there being only 20 minutes of difference after full moon, in its rising on each successive day ; while in spring, the dif- ference is nearly an .hour and a half, which prevents her, at that season, from being seen in the form of a half-moon, during her de- crease, till early in the morning ; whereas, in harvest, she may be seen rising in the north- east, in the form of a half-moon, about 8 or 9 in the evening. They may next be directed to attend to some of the principal stars, and the more con- spicuous constellations, and particularly to the apparent diurnal motion of the whole celestial vault. The month of January is perhaps the most eligible season for such observations. About the middle of that month, at eight o'clock in the evening, the most striking and brilliant constellations visible in the northern hemisphere are then above the horizon. The Pleiades or Seven stars, and other portions of the constellation Taurus, are nearly on the meridian, at an elevation of above degrees. The splendid constellation Orion, to the south of Taurus, is a little to the east of the meri- dian ; Cants Minor to the east, and Cam's Major to the south-east of Orion. Nearly due east and near the horizon, is the zodaical constellation Leo. To the west of the meri- dian are the constellations dries, Pisces, Cetus, Andromeda, Pegasus, and Cassiopeia, which is not far from the zenith. To the north-east is Ursa Major, or the Great Bear, sometimes distinguished by the name of the Plough, or Charles's Wain. The star Aldebaran, or the Bull's eye, is nearly on the meridian, at an elevation of 54, supposing the place of ob- servation to be in 52 north latitude. It is distinguished by its ruddy appearance. The brilliant star Capella is nearly 32 north by east from Aldebaran, not far from the zenith ; and Rigel, in the left foot of Orion, is about 27 south by east of Aldebaran, and a little east of the meridian. Betelgeux is north-east from Rigel, and forms a right angled triangle with it and Aldebaran. The stars Cos/or and Pollux are east by north from Aldebaran, at a considerable distance from it, (45,) and nearly halfway between the zenith and the eastern horizon. Nearly straight south from Pollux and east from Betelgeux, is Proryon. These three stars form a right-angled triangle, the star Procyon being at the right angle. Near the south-eastern part of the horizon, and a little elevated above it, is Sinus, or the Dog-star, which is generally reckoned the most brilliant fixed star in the heavens. West from Rigel at a considerable distance, (46,) and at nearly the same elevation above the horizon, is Mira, or the Wonderful star which changes from a star of the second magnitude, so as to become invisible once in a period of 334 days. The brilliant star Lyra is north- north-west, very near the horizon. The two stars in the Great Bear, called the Pointers, are in a direction nearly north-east from Cas- tor and Pollux, but at a considerable distance ; they direct the eye to a star of the second magnitude, in Ursa Minor, at a considerable distance towards the west, called Abruccabah, or the Pokstar. Having pointed out these leading stars and constellations, to serve as so many known points in the heavens, the attention might be directed, on a subsequent evening, about six o'clock, to the apparent motions of these bodies, and of the whole celestial sphere. On the evening of January 16th, at six o'clock, the star Procyon will be seen nearly due east, a very little above the hori/on ; Aldebaran, in an easterly direction, nearly halfway between the meridian and the eastern horizon : Rigel, towards the south-east, a little above the hori- zon; and Lyra, in the north-west, about 15 degrees above the horizon. Having marked the terrestrial objects which appear in the direction of these stars, they may be viewed, from the same station, about two hours after- wards, when Procyon will be found to have risen a considerable way above the horizon ; Rigel, to have moved nearly 30 degrees to the westward; and Aldebaran, to have arrived near the meridian ; while Lyra has descended within two or three degrees of the horizon ; and Sirius, which was before under the hori- zon, is elevated about ten degrees above it. At ten o'clock, the same evening, Rigel and Aldebaran will be seen at a considerable dis- tance westward of the meridian ; Sirius, within 6 or 7 degrees of it ; the star Lyra, near the northern horizon ; and the constellation Orion, which in the first observation appeared in the direction south-east by east, will be found to have moved to the iveshvard of the meridian. By such observations, it may be shown that the whole starry firmament has an apparent diurnal motion from east to west. While pointing out these apparent motions to the young, it will be proper to direct their atten- tion to the polestar, which, to a common observer, never appears to shift its position. They may likewise be directed to notice that the stars near the pole appear to move slower, and to describe smaller circles than those at a greater distance from it that those which rise near the south describe smaller arcs than those which rise farther to the north that the stars which rise due east, set due west, after an interval of twelve hours that the stars which rise in the north-east, after describing a large arc of the heavens, set in the north-west, after an interval of about seventeen hours that all the stars within a certain distance of K (109 110 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. the pole never appear to rise or set, but de- scribe complete circles above the horizon that the stars near the pole, such as those in the Great Bear, appear in one part of their course to move from west to east, and in another part of it from east to west and that the revolutions of the whole, however different the circles they apparently describe, are com- pleted in exactly the same period of time. These positions may afterwards be more par- ticularly illustrated by means of a large celes- tial globe, by which it will be seen that all these appearances are the result of one general apparent motion, which, at first view, will ap- pear to exist in the celestial sphere. An idea of the general motion of the stars may be ac- quired by a simpler process than what we have now described. Let any observer bring a star, in any position between the zenith and southern horizon, into an apparent contact with a tree, spire, or chimney-top, and, in the course of fifteen or twenty minutes, he will perceive that that star and others adjacent to it have moved a little space from east to west. But the observations alluded to above are calcu- lated to give a more satisfactory idea of this motion, and to make a deeper impression on the minds of the young. The next series of observations might be those which demonstrate the apparent annual motion nf the sun. For the purpose of exhibit- ing this motion, the Pleiades, or seven, stars, along with Aldebaran, might be selected as fixed points in the heavens to indicate the progressive motion of the solar orb towards the east. About the middle of January, at eight o'clock in the evening, the Pleiades will be seen on the meridian ; which observation should be noted down, for the purpose of being compared with a future observation. On the 1st March, at Hie same hour, these stars will be seen nearly halfway between the meridian and the western horizon, while all the other stars, at the same declination, will be found to have made a similar progress. About the 15th April, they will be seen, at the same hour, very near the western horizon ; and every day after this, they will appear to make a nearer approach to that part of the heavens in which the sun appears, till, being overpowered by the splendour of his rays, they cease to be visible. From these and similar observations, it will be easy to make the young perceive, that the sun has an apparent motion from west, to east, through the circle of the heavens, and that the revolution is completed in the course of a year. They may next be taught to acquire a defi- nite idea of the measures by which the appa- rent distances of objects in the heavens are expressed. To talk to the young, as some are in the practice of doing, of two stars being a foot, a yard, or two yards asunder, is (110) altogether vague and indefinite, unless we arc told, at the same time, at what distance the yard or foot is supposed to be placed from our eye. As Astronomers divide the circumference of the celestial sphere into 360 parts or degrees, they may be told, that from any point of the horizon to the zenith are 90 degrees, and, consequently, that from the eastern to the western, or from the northern to the southern points of the horizon, are 180 degrees. And, in order that they may have a definite idea, 01 something approximating to it, of the extent of a degree, they may be told that the breadth of the moon is about half a degree that the space occupied by the three stars in a straight line in the belt of Orion sometimes distin- guished by the name" of the Three Kings, or the Ell and Yard is exactly 3 degrees in length, and, consequently, the distance be- tween any two of them is a degree and a half that the distance between Castor and Pollux is nearly 5 degrees between Dubbe and Me- rah, the two Pointers, in the Great Bear, is 5^ degrees and that the space between Dubbe, or the northermost pointer, and the polcstar, is about 29 degrees. By familiarizing the mind with such measures, the young will soon acquire a tolerable idea of the distance of any two objects in the heavens, when the number of degrees is mentioned. All the observations above stated may be made, in the way of an amusement, previous to the time when the pupils are expected to enter on the regular study of astronomy. They may be completed in the course of ten or twelve observations, made at different times, within the space of seven or eight months. They are intended for the purpose of stimu- lating the young to habits of observation and attention to the appearances of nature around them ; so that, in every clear sky, they may learn to make similar observations by them- selves, fqr confirming and amplifying their former views of the motions and aspects of the heavens. Such observations form the ground- work of astronomy, and of all the instructions they may afterwards receive in relation to this science, although they are generally neglected. When problems on the celestial globe are pre- scribed, and vague descriptions of the planetary system given, previous to having made these observations, the subject is seldom understood, and no clear nor expansive conceptions formed by the young, of the motions, phenomena, and relations of the great bodies of the universe. It may not be necessary, in the first instance, while making these observations, to attempt any explanation of the phenomena, but merely to impress upon the mind a clear conception of the apparent motions and relative averts, of the celestial orbs, as they present themselves to an attentive spectator ; leaving the pupil to APPARENT MOTIONS OF THE PLANETS. Ill ruminate upon them till it shall be judged proper to direct his attention to the investiga- tion of the true causes of celestial phenomena. The pupil's attention might he next directed to the motions of the planets, and the general phenomena of the solar system. When any of the planets are visible in the heavens, their positions in relation to the neighbouring stars should be particularly noted, so that their apparent motions, whether direct or retrogrude, may be clearly perceived, which, in most cases, will be quite perceptible in the course of a few weeks or months. The direct, sta- tionai'y, and retrograde movements of Mars and Venus should be particularly attended to, for the purpose of afterwards demonstrating that the annual motion of the earth accounts for the apparently irregular and complicated motions of the planetary orbs. Large dia- grams, representing the apparent motions of Mars, Mercury, and Venus, as seen from the earth during the course of several revolutions, with all the apparently irregular loops and curves they appear to describe* should be laid before the pupil for his particular inspec- tion, in order that he may perceive the im- probability that such motions are real, or that an Infinitely Wise Being, who is the Perfec- tion of Order, would introduce such inextri- cable confusion into the motions of the most splendid of his works A common planeta- rium, which shows by wheelwork, the relative motions of Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars, may be easily made to illustrate these motions, and to solve all their phenomena. Let a circle, two or three inches broad, and of such a diameter as to surround the planets, with a few stars marked on its inside to repre- sent the Zodiac, be suspended on three pillars, so as to inclose the Earth, Mercury, and Venus. Let a wire be fixed by a socket, on the top of the pillar which supports the ball representing the Earth, and let this wire rest on a slit or fork fixed to the top of the pillar which supports the ball representing Mercury. When the machine is set in motion, the wire will point out on the Zodiac the apparent motions of Mercury as saen from the earth. When he passes from his greatest elongation westward to the superior conjunction and to his greatest elongation eastward, the wire will move eastward, according to the order of the signs. About its greatest elongation, it will appear stationary, and immediately afterwards will move westward, or contrary to the order of the signs, till it arrive at the western elonga- tion, when it will again appear stationary ; so that the pupil will plainly perceive that the direct and retrograde motions of the planets, * Specimens of such diagrams may be seen in r Long's Astronomy," vol. i., and in plate 3 of "Ferguson's Astronomy," Brewster's edition. as seen from the earth, are in perfect accord- ance with a regular circular motion around the sun as a centre ; and that such apparently irregular movements arise from the motion of the earth, and the different velocities of the planets, when compared with it, just as the objects around us appear to move in different directions, and with different velocities, when we are sailing along a serpentine river in a steamboat. The arguments or considerations which prove that the Earth is a moving body, should next be presented to the attention, and illus- trated in the most simple and familiar manner of which the subject will admit. The pupil will easily be made to perceive, that, if the earth is at rest, the whole frame of the mate- rial universe must move round it every twenty- four hours ; not only the fixed stars, but the sun and moon, the planets and their satellites, and every comet which traverses the firma- ment, must participate in this motion, while, at the same time, they are moving inanolher and an opposite course peculiar to .themselves. He will perceive, that, in proportion as these bodies are distant from the earth, in a similar proportion will be the velocity with which they perform their diurnal revolutions that the sun behoved to move five hundred and ninety* 8''vcn millions of miles every day, the nearest fixed star 125,000,000,000,000 of miles in the same time, or at the rate of fourteen hundred millions of miles every second, and the most distant stars with a velocity which neither words can express, nor imagination conceive, and that such motions, if they actually ex- isted, would, in all probability, shatter the whole material frame of the universe to atoms. He may be directed to consider, that such ra- pid velocities (if they could be supposed to exist) are not the motions of mere points or small luminous balls, but the motions of im- mense globes, many thousands of times larger than the earth that a hundred millions of such globes are visible from our abode, besides the myriads that may be hid from human view in the unexplored regions of space and that it is impossible to conceive how all these in- numerable globes, of different magnitudes, at different distances, and moving with different velocities, could be so adjusted as to finish their diurnal revolutions at the same moment, while many of them are at the same time im- pelled by other forces in a contrary direction. He may be reminded that the Creator, who formed the universe, is possessed of INFINITE WISDOM that wisdom consists in proportion- ating means to ends, or in selecting the most appropriate arrangements in order to accom- plish an important purpose that to make the whole frame of Universal Nature move round the earth every day, merely to produce the (111) 112 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. alternate succession of day and night, is re- pugnant to every idea we ought to entertain of the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Divine Mind, since the same effect can be produced by a simple rotation of the earth in twenty- four hours ; and since we find that Jupiter and Saturn, and other globes much larger than ours, move round their axes in a shorter period that in all the other works of Omnipotence, means apparently the most simple are selected to accomplish the most grand and magnificent designs and that there is no example known to us, throughout the universe, of a larger body revolving around a smaller. When such con- siderations are fully and familiarly illustrated, the pupil will soon be made clearly to perceive, that the rotation of the earth must necessarily be admitted, and that it will fully account for all the diversity of diurnal motion which ap- pears in the sun and moon, the planets and the stars. The annual revolution of the earth, and its positiori*in the solar system, might be proved and illustrated by such considerations as the following : that if this motion did not exist, the motions of all the planets would present a scene of inextricable confusion, consisting of direct and retrograde motions, and looped curves, so anomalous and irregular, as to be inconsistent with every thing like harmony, order, or intelligence that Mercury and Ve- nus are observed to have two conjunctions with the sun, but no opposition ; which could not happen unless the orbits of these planets lay within the orbit of the earth that Mars, Jupiter, and the other superior planets, have each their conjunctions with and oppositions to the sun, which could not be unless they were exterior to the orbit of the earth that the greatest elongation of Mercury from the sun is only about 20 degrees, and that of Ve- nus 47 ; but if the earth were the centre of their motions, as the Ptolemaic system sup- poses, they might sometimes be seen 180 de- grees from the sun, which never happens that some of the planets appear much larger and brighter at one time than at another, on account of their different distances from the earth ; but, on the other hypothesis, their brilliancy should be always the same that Mercury and Venus, in their superior con- junctions with the sun, are sometimes hid behind his body, and in their inferior conjunc- tions sometimes appear to pass across the sun's disk, like round black spots which would be impossible according to the Ptolemaic system ; and, in short, that the times in which the conjunctions, oppositions, stations, and retrogra- dations happen, are not such as they would be if the earth were at rest, but precisely such as would happen, if the earth move along with all the other planets, in the stations and pe- (112) riods assigned them in the system which have the sun for its centre. From such considera- tions, when properly explained, the annual motion of the earth, and its relative position in the system, may be clearly demonstrated, and the pupil made to perceive the beauty and harmony of the celestial motions, and the ne- cessity of having the great source of light and heat placed in the centre of the system. For as the sun is intended to cheer and irradiate surrounding worlds, it is from the centre alone that these agencies can be communicated, in a uniform and equable manner, to the planets in every part of their orbits. Were the earth the centre, and the sun and planets revolving around it, the planets when nearest the sun, would be scorched with excessive heat, and when farthest distant would be frozen with excessive cold. There is another consideration by which the earth's annual revolution and its position in the system are demonstrated ; and that is, that the planets Mercury and Venus, when viewed through good telescopes, are found to assume different phases, in different parts of their orbits ; sometimes appearing gibbous, sometimes like a half-moon, and at other times like a crescent, and a full enlightened hemi- sphere, which could never happen if they re- volved round the earth as their centre, and if the earth was not placed in an orbit exterior to that of Venus. I have sometimes illustrated this argument, with peculiar effect, by means of an equatorial telescope and a common plane- tarium. By the equatorial telescope, with a power of 60 or 80 times, most of the stars of the first magnitude, and some of those of the second, may be seen even at noonday. Venus may be seen by this instrument, in the day- time, during the space of nineteen months, with the interruption of only about thirteen days at the time of her superior conjunction, and three days at the time of her inferior, so that the phase she exhibits may be seen almost every clear day. Having placed the Earth and Venus in their true positions on the plane tarium, by means of an Ephemeris or the Nau- tical Almanac, I desire the pupil to place his eye in a line with the balls representing these planets, and toward the phase of Venus as seen from the earth whether a crescent, a half- moon, or a gibbous phase. I then adjust the equatorial telescope for Venus, if she is within the range of our view, and shmvhim the planet rvith the same phase in the heavens. This ex- hibition never fails to gratify every observer, and to produce conviction. But it can seldom be made, if we must wait till the planet be visible to the naked eye, and capable of being viewed by a common telescope ; for it is some- times invisible to the naked eye, for nearly one half of its course from one conjunction to aii PHENOMENA OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. 113 other. Besides, the phases of this planet are more distinctly marked in the daytime, when near the meridian, than either in the morning or evening, when at a low altitude, in which case it appears glaring and undefined, on ac- count of the brilliancy of its light, and the undulating vapours near the horizon, through which it is seen. As actual observations on the planets in the heavens make a deeper and more convincing impression on the mind of a young person, than mere diagrams or verbal explanations, I consider an equatorial tele- scope in conjunction with a celestial globe and an orrery, as essentially necessary to every teacher of astronomy ; as, independently of its use, now hinted at, it is the best and most comprehensive instrument for conveying an idea of the practical operations of this science. It may be made to serve the general purposes of a transit instrument, a quadrant, an equal altitude instrument, a theodolite, an azimuth instrument, a level, and an accurate universal sundial. It serves for taking the right ascen- sions and declinations of the heavenly bodies, and for conveying a clear idea of these opera- tions. It may be made to point to any phe- nomena in the heavens whose declination and right ascension are known ; and, in this way, the planets Mercury, Herschel, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta, a small comet, or any other body not easily distinguished by the naked eye, may be readily pointed out* The cause of the variety of seasons may next be explained and illustrated. It is difficult, if not impossible, by mere diagrams and verbal explanations, to convey a clear idea on the subject ; and therefore some appropriate ma- chinery must be resorted to, in order to assist the mind in forming its conceptions on this point. The difficulty is, to conceive how the sun can enlighten the North Pole without in- termission, during one half of the year, and the South Pole during the other, while the poles of the earth never shift their position, but are directed invariably to the same points of the heavens. This is frequently attempted to be illustrated by means of a brass hoop with a candle placed in its centre, and a small ter- restrial globe carried round it having its axis inclined to the brass circle, which is intended to represent the orbit of the earth. But this exhibition requires some dexterity to conduct it aright, and after all is not quite satisfactory. An orrery, having all the requisite movements by wheel-work, and where the Earth moves with its axis parallel to itself and inclined to * A small Equatorial, having the Horizontal, De- clination, and Equatorial circles about six inches diameter, surmounted with a twenty-inch achro- matic telescope, with magnifying powers of from 30 to 80 times, may be procured for about fifteen or sixteen guineas, which will serve every general purpose in teaching astronomy. itO the plane of the ecliptic, is the best instrument for illustrating all the variety of the seasons. When such a machine cannot be procured for this purpose, its place may be supplied by a neat little instrument, called a Tellurium, which has been manufactured for many years past by Messrs. Jones, Holburn, London, and may be purchased for about thirty shillings. This instrument consists of a brass ball repre- senting the sun which may be occasionally screwed off, and a lamp substituted in its place an ivory ball representing the earth, having the circles of the sphere drawn upon it, a small ball representing the moon, and about eight wheels, pinions, and circles. It exhibits the annual motion of the earth, and the moon re- volving around it, with its different phases, the causes of eclipses, the retrograde motion of the moon's nodes, and the inclination of its orbit to the plane of the ecliptic. The earth is movable on an axis inclined 23 degrees to the ecliptic, and its axis preserves its paral- lelism during its course round the sun. The seasons are exhibited on this instrument as follows: the index, which points out the sun's place and the day of the month, is placed at the 21st March, the time of the vernal eqi- nox, and the north and south poles of the earth are placed exactly under the terminator, or boundary between light and darkness. When the machinery is moved by the hand till the index points to the 21st of June, the time of the summer solstice, then the North Polar regions appear within the boundary of light, and the South Polar within the boundary of darkness. Turning the machine till the index points to September 23d, both poles again appear on the boundary of light and darkness. Moving it on to December 21st, the Arctic circle appears in darkness, and the Antartic in the light. During these motions, the earth's axis keeps parallel to itself, pointing uniformly in the same direction. This exhibition is quite satisfactory and convincing ; the only objection to the instrument is, that it is small, about eight or nine inches diameter and, conse- quently, will admit only four or five indi- viduals at a time to inspect its movements with distinctness. A full and specific description should next be given of all the facts connected with the solar system the distances and magnitudes of the sun and planets their annual and di- urnal revolutions the solar spots the belts and satellites of Jupiter the rings of Saturn the phases of Venus the spots of Mars, and the mountains and cavities of the Moon. After which some details might be given of the facts which have been ascertained respect-, ing comets, variable stars, double and treble stars, new stars, stars once visible which have disappeared, and the numerous nebula which K 2 (113) 114 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. are dispersed through different regions of the heavens. The pupils should now be gratified with a view of some of these objects through good telescopes. A telescope, magnifying about 30 times, will show the satellites of Ju- piter, the crescent of Venus, the solar spots, and the rugged appearance of the Moon. With a magnifying power of 60 or 70, the ring of Saturn, the belts of Jupiter, the sha- dows of the lunar, mountains and cavities, and all the phases of Venus, may be distinguished. But the views of these objects obtained by such magnifying powers are unsatisfactory. No telescope should be selected for this pur- pose less than a 3^ feet Achromatic, with powers varying from 40 to 180 or 200 times.* A power of 150 is a very good medium for inspecting all the more interesting phenomena of the heavens. With this power, distinct and satisfactory views may be obtained of the solar spots, the phases of Mercury, Venus, and Mars, the belts, and sometimes the spots of Jupiter, and the shadows of his satellites, the ring and some of the moons and belts of Saturn, the spots of Mars, the minute hills and cavities of the moon, several of the double stars, and many of the most remarkable ncfntla?. To perceive distinctly the rfitnVi'nn of Saturn's ring, requires a power of at least 200 times. In exhibiting such objects to the young, espe- cially when the lower powers are used, some attention is requisite to adjust the instrument to distinct vision, as their eyes are generally more convex than the eyes of persons ad- vanced in life, and those who are short sighted will require an adjustment different from that of others. Unless this circumstance be at- tended to, their views of celestial phenomena will frequently be unsatisfactory and obscure. In exhibiting the surface of the moon, the period of half-moon, or a day or two before or after it, should generally be selected ; as it is only at such periods that the shadows of the mountains and vales, and the circular ridges, can be most distinctly perceived. At the time of full moon, its hemisphere presents only a variegated appearance of darker and brighter streaks, and no shadows are discernible ; so that, from the telescopic appearance of the full moon, we could scarcely determine whether or not its surface were diversified with moun- tains and vales. Previous to exhibiting the moon through a telescope, it may be proper to give the observ- ers an idea of some particular objects they will see, on which their attention should be fixed, and from which they should deduce * An Achromatic telescope of this description, with an object-glass, 45 inches focal distance, and about three inches diameter, with 4 or 5 maznify- ing powers, with a brass tu'.e monntsd on a brass tripod, may be purchased iu London, for 25 guineas. (114 certain conclusions. For, a view of the moon, for the first time, through a powerful telescope, is apt to overpower the eye, and to produce a confused and indistinct perception. As one of the peculiarities of the lunar surface con- sists in the numerous cavities, and plains sur- rounded with circular ridges of mountains, and insulated mountains rising from a level surface an idea of the shadows and circum- stances by which these objects are indicated should be previously communicated. This may be done by means of a saucer, the top of a small circular box, or any other object which may represent a plain surrounded by a circular ridge. In the middle of any of these objects may be placed a small peg to represent a mountain. Then placing a candle at the distance of a foot or two, so as to shine ob- liquely upon the objects, the inside of the cir- cular dish farthest from the candle will be seen enlightened, while a considerable portion of the bottom will be covered by the shadow thrown upon it by the side next the candle, and the shadow of the peg will be seen verg- ing toward the enlightened side. This pre- vious exhibition will give them an idea of the form of some of the mountains and vales on the lunar surface, and enable them to appre- ciate the nature of those striking inequalities which appear near the boundary between the dark and enlightened parts of the moon. Other objects which diversify the moon's sur- face may be represented and illustrated in a similar manner, and sufficient time should be allowed to every observer for taking a minute inspection of all the varieties on the lunar disk. The solar spots may be viewed with ease, by interposing a coloured glass between the eye and the image of the sun ; but, in looking through the telescope in the ordinary way, they can be perceived by only one indi- vidual at a time. In order to exhibit them to a company of 30 or 40 persons at once, the image of the sun may be thrown on a white wall or screen. I have generally exhibited them in the following manner. To a 3 feet Achromatic telescope, I apply a diagonal eye- pi""', which has a plain metallic speculum placed at half a right angle to the axis of the telescope. By this eye-piece, after the room has been darkened as much as possible, the image of the sun and his spots is thrown upon the roof of the apartment, which forms a beautiful circle of light, and exhibits all the spots which then happen to diversify his sur- face. His apparent diurnal motion is also re- presented, along with the motions of any thin fleeces of clouds which may happen to cross his disk. In this way, too, the proportional magnitudes of the spots may be measured, and compared with the diameter of the sun, and, of course, their real magnitudes ascertained. PARALLAXES EXPLAINED. 115 In illustrating the phenomena of the planet- ary system by means of orreries, plane tariums, and lunarjums, great care should be taken to guard the young against the false and imper- fect conceptions of the magnitudes and dis- tances of the planets, which such instruments have a tendency to convey. No orrery, of a portable size, can represent, at the same time, both the proportional distances and relative magnitudes of the different planets. Even those large machines designated Eidouraniums and Transparent Orreries afford no correct views of these particulars ; and some of them convey very erroneous and distorted concep- tions of the relations of the solar system, where it is the chief design to dazzle the eye with a splendid show. In some of these ex- hibitions I have seen the stars represented as if they had been scattered through different parts of the planetary system. An orrery re- presenting the proportional distances and mag- nitudes of the sun and planets would require to be more than three miles in diameter ; and, even on this scale, Jupiter would be less than 3 inches diameter, the Earth a quarter of an inch, or about the size of a small pea, and Mercury only about the dimensions of the head of a small pin, while the sun would re- quire to be represented by a ball 30 inches in diameter in which case all the planets would be invisible from the centre of the system. To correct, in some measure, the erroneous ideas which a common orrery is apt to con- vey, the magnitudes and distances should be separately represented. Suppose a celestial globe, 18 inches in diameter, to represent the Sun, Jupiter will be represented by a ball about 14 inch diameter, Saturn by one of 1$ inch, Herschel by one of about inch, the Earth by a ball of ^ inch, or somewhat less than a small pea, Venus by a ball of nearly the same size, Mars by a globule of about -Jy inch, Mercury by a globule of T ' ? , and the Moon by a still smaller globule of ^ inch in diameter. These three last might be repre- sented by three different sizes of pin-heads. When balls of these sizes are placed adjacent to an 18-inch globe, and compared with it, an impressive idea is conveyed of the astonishing magnitude of the sun, which is 500 times greater than all the planets, satellites, and comets, taken together. The proportional dis- tances may be represented as follows. At one end of a table, 9 feet in length, fix a ball upon a pillar to represent the sun; at 2 inches from the sun's ball, place another to re- present Mercury ; at 3$ inches, Venus-, at 5 inches, the Earth ; at 7^ inches, Mars ; at 25 inches, Jupiter ; at 47$ inches, or about 4 feet, Saturn ; and, at 95 inches, or about 8 feet from the sun's ball, place one to represent Herschel. This will convey a pretty correct idea of the proportional distances from the sun of the principal primary planets. The dis- tances of Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta, might likewise be represented, if judged expedient; but as their orbits are more eccentric than those of the other planets, and some of them cross each other, they cannot be accurately represented. When orreries, or telescopes cannot be procured for exhibiting the celestial motions and phenomena to which I have al- luded, some of these objects, such as the rings of Saturn, the belts and moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, the Moon, and some of the constellations, may be represented in a dark room by means of the phantasmagoria. But the representations made by this instrument form but a rude and paltry substitute for the exhibitions presented by the orrery and the telescope, and need never be resorted to, ex- cept for amusement, where these instruments can be obtained. It might next be expedient to communicate to the pupil an idea of the nature of a parallax, to prepare him for understanding the mode by which the distances and magnitudes of the heavenly bodies are ascertained. This might be done by fixing a pole or staff, with a pointed top, in a garden or large area, opposite a wall or hedge, F G, Fig. 1, and, desiring one of the pupils to take his station at A, and another at B, and to direct their eyes to the points on the wall which appear in a line with the top of the pole, when the one stationed at A will perceive it to coincide with the point C, and Fig. 1. the other stationed at B will perceive it at D. They may be told that C D is the parallax, or the difference of the apparent place of the pole P, when viewed from the positions A and B, which is measured by the angle C P D ; and that, if the distance between A and B were measured, and the number of degrees or minutes in the angle C P D or A P B ascer- tained, the distance between the pole and any of the stations can be easily determined. This may be easily applied to the case of the heavenly bodies by means of such a diagram as Fig. 2, where H I K represents the Earth, M the Moon, P a planet, and S T a quadrant of the starry heavens. It is evident, that, if the moon be viewed from the surface of the (115, ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. 116 earth at H, she will appear in the heavens at the point a; but if she be viewed from the centre C, she will be seen at the point b, the angle a M 6 being the angle of parallax. This angle being found, which is the same as the Fig. 2. angle H M C, and the base line H C, or the earth's semidiameter being known, which is nearly 4000 miles the length of the line H M, or the distance of the moon, can be easily determined. It may be proper also to state that the farther any heavenly body is distant from the earth, the less is its parallax. Hence the parallaxes of the sun and planets are all much less than that of the moon, which is the nearest celestial body to the earth. Thus, the parallax c d of the planet P is less than that of the Moon, M, and the same principle like- wise holds true wkh respect to all terrestrial objects. This subject may soon be rendered quite plain to the pupil, by familiar illustra- tions, in connection with a few instructions on the nature and properties of triangles, and the first principles of trigonometry. I have been somewhat particular in some of the hints thrown out above, because it is of some importance that the young should have clear and impressive conceptions of every object presented to their view, in every step of their progress on this subject, and not depend merely on the assertions or the posi- tions announced by their teachers; and be- cause such a train of observations and experi- mental illustrations has seldom been attended to, in attempting to convey to the juvenile mind a popular view of the leading facts of astronomy. After the pupil has acquired a knowledge of the subjects to which I have adverted, an intelligent teacher will find little difficulty in gradually unfolding to him the doctrines and facts in relation to solar and lunar eclipses the tides the form of the planetary orbits the nature of refraction the divisions of time the mensuration of the (116) earth centrifugal and centripetal forces- the circles of the celestial sphere and various other particulars connected with astronomical science. In illustrating the principles and exhibiting the objects of astronomy, the pious and intelli- gent teacher will have frequent opportunities of impressing upon the minds of his pupils the most sublime ideas of the Perfections of the Creator, and of the Extent and Grandeur of his Empire, and of inspiring them with Love, Admiration, and Reverence ; and such opportunities ought never to be neglected. When descanting on the number and mag- nificence of the celestial world, he may very appropriately take occasion to impress them with the idea of the littleness of this earth, and its comparative insignificance, when placed in competition with the numerous and more re- splendent worlds and systems which compose the universe ; and, consequently, with the folly and madness of ambition, and of all those war- like schemes and ferocious contentions, of which our world has been the melancholy theatre. He may occasionally expatiate a little on the folly of pride, and its inconsistency with the character and circumstances of man, when we consider his comparative ignorance, and the low station which he holds in the scale of creation and the reasonableness of cultivating a spirit of humility in the presence of that Almighty Being whose " glory is above the heavens," and "whose kingdom ruleth over all," when we consider, that, when com- pared with the myriads of more exalted intelli- gences that people the universe, we are only like a few atoms in the immensity of space. He may direct their attention to the infinitely diversified scenes of grandeur and felicity which the universe must contain, since its range is so extensive and its objects so mag- nificent; and to the evidence which these facts afford, that the Creator has it in his power to gratify his rational offspring with new objects, and new sources of enjoyment, during every period of infinite duration. In short, he may excite them, from such con- siderations, to aspire after that more glorious state of existence where the works of Omni- potence will be more fully unfolded, and to cultivate those holy principles and dispositions which will qualify them for mingling in the society and engaging in the employments of the heavenly world. Such instructions, when amalgamated with Christian views and mo- tives, could not fail of producing a beneficial impression on the susceptible hearts of the young, which might, in some measure, influ- ence their conduct and train of thought through all the remaining periods of their lives.* * The most celebrated writers on Astronomy are Long, Ferguson, La Caille, Martin, O. Gregory, MECHANICS. 117 SECTION IX. Experimental Philosophy and Chemistry. The object of Natural and Experimental Philosophy is to investigate the phenomena of the material world, in order to discover their causes, and the laws by which the Almighty directs the movements of the uni- verse ; and to apply the observations and dis- coveries we make to useful purposes in human life, and to expand our views of the perfec- tions and operations of the Creator. This department of study has generally been divided into the following subordinate branches, Me- chanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, Pneumatics, Meteorology, Acoustics, Optics, Electridty, Gal- vanism, and Magnetism. This is a subject, the popular and experimental parts of which may be rendered highly entertaining and in- structive to the minds of the young. But, however important the subject in all its branches may be to the regular scientific student, it would be inexpedient to attempt conveying more than a general view of the more popular parts of it to young persons from the age of ten to the age of fourteen, although many of the experiments connected with it may, with propriety, be exhibited even to children of an earlier age, in order to excite a taste for the study of natural science. Experimental illustrations of the subjects of Natural Philosophy sometimes require an ex- tensive apparatus, which cannot be procured but at a considerable expense ; but there are many interesting experiments, illustrative of scientific principles and facts, which can be performed with very simple apparatus, and at little expense ; and all that I propose, under this article, is to suggest a few of those experi- ments which almost every teacher may have it in his power to perform. In the department of Mechanic*, illustra- tions might be given of the mechanical powers, which are generally arranged under the heads Vince, Herschel, Robison, La Lande, La Piace, Biot, and various others. Popular works on this subject, which may be put into the hands of young persons, are such as the following : Ferguson's "Gentleman and Lady's Astronomy" Martin's "Gentleman and Lady's Philosophy," vol. i. Bonnycastle's "Introduction to Astronomy" Mrs. Brian's "Astronomy" "The Wonders of the Heavens" Gregory's "Astronomical Les sons," &c. But none of these works are adapted to the purpose of teaching. The best treatise of this kind I have seen, calculated to be a text-book for an intelligent teacher, is a work entitled "The Geography of the Heavens," by Elijah H. Burrit, A. M., lately published at Hartford, State of Con- necticut. This volume comprises 342 closely print- ed pages, large I8mo., and several appropriate wood-cuts. It contains a very full and lucid de- scription of all the particulars respecting the differ- ent constellations and principal starsj*the general principles of astronomy, the facts connected with the solar system, problems, astronomical tables, and almost every thing that can be deemed inte- of the lever, the pulley, the wheel and axis, the inclined plane, the ivedge, and the screw. A simple apparatus for illustrating these powers could easily be constructed by an ingenious mechanic, at a trifling expense, and might be rendered conducive both to the entertainment and instruction of the young. In particular, the nature and power of the lever, and the principle on which it acts, should be minutely explained, by experimental illustrations, and by showing its effects in the common opera- tions of life. A long bar of iron or hard wood might be erected on a steady fulcrum, and placed in the area adjacent to the school, which might serve both for amusement and for illustrating the power of the lever. This bar might be divided into feet or half feet, or any convenient number of equal parts, and so constructed that any of those parts might be placed upon the fulcrum. By such a lever the different powers to be applied at distances from the fulcrum, when a weight is to be raised, might be familiarly illustrated. A seat or swing might be fixed at one end of the beam, on which a boy might sit, while some of his companions, towards the other end, ap- plied different powers or weights at different distances from the fulcrum, as a counterpoise ; which would suggest various calculations re- specting the powers requisite to be applied in any given case, according to the distance from the point of support. It will tend to excite their interest in this subject, when they are in- formed that scissors, pincers, snuffers, oars, the balance, the tec-saw, doors turning on hinges, the rudders of ships, cutting knives fixed at one end, and the bones of the arm, are all so many different kinds of levers ; and that the operations of quarrying stones, raising great weights, poking the fire, rowing a boat, dig- ging the ground, and such like, are all per- formed on the principle of this mechanical power. Similar contrivances might be adopted for illustrating the wheel and axle and other resting to the general student. Every page con- tains Questions, as exercises for the judgment of the pupil. It is accompanied by a large and beau- tiful Atlas, 16 inches by 14, containing 7 Plani- spheres or Maps of the Heavens: 1. The visible heavens in October, November, and December. 2. Do. in January, February, and March. 3. Do. in April, May, and June. 4. Do. in July, August, and September. 5. The visible heavens in the North Polar Regions for each month of the year. 6. DO. in the South Polar Regions. 7. Planisphere of the whole heavens on Mercator's projection. "The first four maps are so constructed, that the pupil in using them must suppose himself to face the south, and to hold them directly over head, in such a manner that the top of the map should be to- wards the north, and the bottom towards the south." In the construction of these maps, and in the composition of the work, the latest discove- ries have been carefully inserted. This work, since its first publication in 1833, has had an extensive sale in the United States, and been introduced into many respectable seminaries. 118 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. powers. A knowledge of the mechanical powers may be useful to every individual, whatever may be his trade or profession in future life, but particularly to those who may afterwards engage in the arts of carpentry, architecture, mining, engineering, and other operations- where a knowledge of the mecha- nical powers is essentially requisite ; and the impressions made upon their minds in early life^by familiar illustrations of these powers, would tend to facilitate their study of such objects when they became the more particular objects of their attention. The fundamental principles of Hydrostatics and Hydraulics might be familiarly illustrated by a variety of simple experiments, some of which might be rendered extremely amusing. That fluids press in all directions that their pressure is in proportion to their perpendicu- lar height that a small quantity of a fluid may be made to counterpoise any quantity, however great that a fluid specifically lighter than another will float upon its surface that the surface of all fluids which communicate with each other will be on the same level that the velocity with which water spouts from holes in the side of a vessel, is in proportion to the square root of the distance of the holes below the surface of the water : These, and similar positions, along with the principles on which syphons, jets, and artificial fountains act, can be illustrated with an apparatus which every intelligent teacher., if he has the least share of mechanical ingenuity, can easily con- struct for himself, with the assistance of glass vessels, which are to be found in almost every family. To show that water will find its level, and rise to the same height in tubes which have a communication, an instrument similar to the following, Fig. 1, may be con- Fig. 1. stand on a table without requiring any sup port. An instrument to show that a small portion of water will counterbalance a large quantity, may be made as follows: A B, Fig. 2, is a vessel which may be either square structed :- A B and E D are two tubes which have a communication with each other by means of the tube B D ; if water is poured into the tube A B, it will run through the tube B D, and stand at thie same elevation in the tube E D. To save expense, the tube B D may be made of wood, and plugged up at both ends ; and the glass tubes A B, E D, fixed into it at each end with cement ; and if B D be made flat on its under part, it will (118) Fig. 2. or round, and which may be made either of wood or tin- plate ; C D is a glass tube of a narrow bore, ce- mented into the short tube E, which commu- nicates with the large vessel ; if water be poured into either of these, it will I stand at the same height in both, which proves, that the small quantity of water in the tube C D, ba- lances the large quantity in the vessel A B, and illustrates what has been term- ed the hydj-o- statical para- dox. Jets and fountains may be represented and illustrated by such an in- gtl-jft is the reservoir, and C D E a tube con- nected with it, bent at right angles at D ; when these are filled with water the finger having previously been pressed upon the open- ing F as soon as the finger is removed, the water rises in a jet, nearly to the height of the fountain, A B. A jet may likewise be pro- duced by the instrument recommended, Fig. 1, by plugging up the tube E D, and opening a hole at C, when a jet will arise after the Fig. 4. PNEUMATICAL EXPERIMENTS. 119 tubes are filled with water. To show the dif- ferent q lantities and velocities of water spout- ing at different distances from the surface of a reservoir, such a vessel as that represented, Fig. 4, page 118, may be used. The water will issue from the orifice at C with greater velocity, and consequently in greater quantity than at B or A ; if the orifice C be four times as deep below the surface as the orifice A, it will discharge twice as much water in a given time as A , because 2 is the square root of 4 ; if the orifice B be in the centre of the column of water, it will project the water to the greatest horizontal distance. The vessel here represented may be made either of wood or of tin-plate, and if a bent tube be inserted at D, and the holes ABC shut up, it may serve to exhibit a jet d'eau The cup of Tan- taulus, the fountain at command, the hydrau- lic dancers and divers, and other entertaining devices might also be exhibited, and accom- panied with explanations of the principles on which they act. By such means, several of the leading principles of hydrostatics might be easily impressed upon the youthful mind, and would doubtless be found of practical utility in future life, provided the teacher is careful to show, by familiar examples, how they explain many of the phenomena of na- ture and operations of art. The science of Pneumatics affords scope for many curious discussions and experiments respecting the air and atmospherical pheno- mena, which may be rendered interesting to the young. In illustrating the pressure, elas- ticity, and other properties of the atmosphere, the assistance of the air-pump, with its usual apparatus is highly desirable ; as, without it, some of the most interesting experiments on this subject cannot be performed. But where this instrument, on account of its expense, cannot be procured, various useful and enter- taining experiments may be exhibited by means of a simple apparatus which almost every one can procure. For example, the pressure of the atmosphere may be proved to the convic- tion of every one by such simple experiments as the following : The common experiment of filling a wine-glass with water, covering its mouth with a piece of paper, and then invert- ing it, is quite decisive of the atmospheric pressure ; for the paper underneath, instead of being convex by the pressure of the water within, is concave, by the pressure of the at- mosphere from without ; and no other cause can be assigned why the water is supported in the glass. Another simple experiment, where no paper is employed, proves the same fact: Take a glass tube, two or three feet long, with a narrow bore ; put one end of it into a vessel of water, put your mouth to the other end, and make a deep inspiration till the air is drawn out of the tube, when the water will rush to the top of the tube ; then place your thumb on the top to prevent the access of air from above, and when the other end of the tube is taken out of the water, the column of water will be suspended in the tube by the atmospheric pressure, although the lower end of it is open. When the air is sucked out of the tube, a vacuum is pro- duced, and the external air, pressing upon the surface of the water in the vessel, forces it to the top of the tube ; the thumb being applied prevents the air pressing the water down, and the atmospheric pressure on the bottom pre- vents the water from running out. The same fact is proved by the following experiment: Let a piece of burning paper be put into a wine-glass, so as to rarify or exhaust the air, and while it is still burning, press the palm of the hand against the mouth of the glass, when it will adhere with a considerable de- gree of force, by the pressure of the atmo- sphere on the bottom and sides of the glass. This experiment may be varied as follows Pour a certain quantity of water into a saucer-, invert a wine-glass over a piece of burning paper or burning brandy, and, after holding it a short time in the flame, place it in the saucer, when the water will rush up into the glass in consequence of the atmospheric pres- sure, as it did in the glass tube when it was exhausted of its air by suction. These and similar experiments, which every one may perform, are as decisive proofs of the atmo- spheric pressure as those which are performed by means of the air-pump. Such experi- ments, when conducted by intelligent teachers, may easily be applied to the explanation of the causes of certain natural and artificial processes, such as the firm adherence of two polished surfaces the action of a boy's sucker in lifting large stones the operation of cup- pins, the process of a child's sucking its mother's breast the effects produced by ce- ments the rise of water in pumps the firm adhesion of snails and shell-fish to rocks and stones the action of syphons what is termed suction, as when we take a draught of water from a running stream the fact, that a cask will not run, in certain cases, unless an open- ing is made in its top and many similar processes, some of which will be found of con- siderable practical utility. The elasticity of the air may be proved by such experiments as these : Take a bladder, and fill it with air by blowing into it, and then apply a force to the sides of it, so as to compress it into a smaller space ; when the force is removed, it immediately expands and fills the same space as before. This experi- ment proves, not only the elasticity of air, but that, though invisible, it is as much a material (119) 120 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. substance as wood or iron ; for no force can bring the sides together, without breaking the bladder, although the parts of an empty blad- der may be squeezed into any shape. The same thing is proved by the following experi- ment : Open a pair of common bellows, and then stop the nozle, so that no air can rush out and no force whatever can bring the parts together, without bursting the leather, or unstopping the nozle. That heat increases the elasticity of air, may be shown, by placing before a strong fire a bladder with a small quantity of air, when the small portion of air will expand, till the bladder appear quite full and ready to burst. These experiments may be applied to the explanation of such pheno- mena as the following : Why the compressed air between the liquid and the cork, in a bot- tle of beer or ale, bursts forth in the form of froth when the cork is drawn why fishes, in consequence of their air-bladders, are enabled to rise and sink in the water and why the carcass of a man that has been drowned, in a few days rises and floats on the surface for a short time, and then sinks to rise no more. The compressibility of air may be shown, by taking a glass tube which is open only at one end, and of course full of air, and plung- ing the open end into a vessel of water, when the water will be seen to have risen to a small height, near the bottom of the tube, which proves that the air which filled the whole length of the tube is compressed by the water, into a smaller space. In a similar way the principle of the diving-bell may be illustrated. Let A B, Fig. 1, represent a large tumbler or drinking glass, which may be nearly filled with water. Place a piece of cork on the surface of the water, and over the cork an ale-glass C D, with its mouth down- wards, then push the glass perpendicularly down towards the bottom of the tumbler, and the cork will ap- Fig (120) pear swimming a little above the bottom ; plainly indicating that there is no water above it in the ale-glass, which is prevented from entering by the re- sistance of the air within. The wa- ter in the tumbler may represent the water of a river or of the sea ; the ale-glass may re- present the diving- bell, in which a person may sit with safety in the depths of the sea without touching the water, provided fresh air be sup- plied. A small quantity of water will be found to have entered the ale-glass, and the deeper it is plunged in any vessel the higher will the water rise within it. At the depth of 33 feet, where the pressure of the atmo- sphere is doubled, a diving-bell will be half filled with water at the depth of 66 feet, it will be two-thirds filled at Ihe depth of 99 feet, it will be three-fourths filled, and so on in proportion to the depth ; which shows the propriety of having this vessel in the form of a bell, that the perpendicular height of the water may be as little as possible. The fol- lowing simple experiment illustrates the pres- sure of the atmosphere in a mode somewhat different from those already stated. Procure a tin vessel about six or seven inches long, and three in diameter, having its mouth about a quarter of an inch wide, as E F, Fig. 2. In its bo^om make a number of small holes, about the diameter of a common sewing- needle. Plunge this vessel in water, and when full cork it up, so that no air can enter at the top. So long as it remains corked, no water will run out the pressure of the at- mosphere at the bottom preventing it ; but as soon as it is uncorked, the water will issue from the small holes in the bottom, by the pressure of the air from above. The same experiment may be made by means of a tube, Fig. 2. Fig. 3. seven or eight inches long, and about three- fourths of an inch diameter, having two or three small holes in its bottom ; and another tube, G H, Fig. 3, of the same dimensions, having a small hole in each side, I K, will il- lustrate the lateral pressure of the atmosphere the water being retained when it is corked, and running out when the cork is removed. It will likewise illustrate the lateral pressure of water and other liquids. Several amusing experiments may also be performed by means of syphons, when con- cealed in drinking-cups and other vessels; PNEUMATICAL EXPERIMENTS. 121 and the utility of the principle on which they act may be illustrated in certain practical ope- rations. For example, their use may be shown in conveying water over a rising ground. In Fig. 4, let M represent a pond or pool of water, in a quarry or other situation, which is wished to be drained, and where there is no declivity or lower ground adjacent to which the water can be conveyed it may be carried over the rising ground M N, by means of the syphon M N L ; provided the perpendicular elevation N P above the level of the pool M, does not exceed thirty -twcx feet, for to that height only will the water rise in the syphon by the pressure of the atmosphere ; and pro- vided that the end of the syphon at L de- scends a little way beyond the level of the pool at M, in which case, when the syphon is filled, the water will rush out at L, so long as any remains in the pond. In the same way may be shown how a cask of liquor may be decanted by a syphon placed in a hole made in its upper side. The use of the syphon might likewise be shown when placed in a reverse position, as in Fig. 5, when it Fig. 5. may be applied to the purpose of conveying water from a fountain at R, along a hollow or valley to a house, S, at the same height on the other side of the valley ; and however deep or broad the valley may be, the water may in this manner be conveyed, provided the syphon is sufficiently strong near its lower parts to sustain the perpendicular pressure of the water. The following simple and interesting experi- ment might be exhibited to show the effects of the expansion of air. Procure a common Florence flask, F G, Fig. 6, and pour into it a large wine-glassfull of water ; then take a tube, I H, bent at the top, H, like a small syphon, and fasten it air-tight into the mouth 16 of the flask, I, so that its bottom may be im- mersed in the water at K, but not touching the bottom of the flask. Then immerse the flask into a vessel of very hot water, when in conse- quence of the expansion of the air in the flask, the water at K will be forced up into the tube I H, where it is received into a wine- glass at H. Holding the wine-glass, into which the water is now received, at the end of the tube, as repre- sented in the figure, take the flask out of the hot water, and plunge it into another vessel full of cold water, and the water in the wine- glass will be thrown back into the bottom of the flask, by the pressure of the at- mosphere on its surface at H. The flask may then be again immersed in the hot water, when the water at its bottom will be thrown up into the wine-glass, as before^ and the operations may- be repeated as often as judged expedient. This experiment when dexterously performed, sel- dom fails to produce a pleasing effect upon the spectators, especially when the water is tinged with a red colour, by means of the sulphuric or any other acid dropped into an infusion of red cabbage.* The science of Optics affords scope for * In arranging and performing such simple ex- periments as those above stated, it is expedient that the teacher or operator should know how to cut phials and glass tubes, and to form syphons. The neck of a common phial may be cut off so as to form a tube, by sliahtly indenting a portion of the circumference with the sharp edge of a com- mon file, and then, with the point of a hot iron, beginning at the indention, go round the circum- ference of the phial, and the head will at once be separated from the body. Otherwise, tie a thread which has been steeped in turpentine or spirits of wine, firmly round the mouth of the phial, then set fire to it, and the operation is performed In the same manner, long glass tubes may be cut into any lengths. If the tubes be of a small diameter, it is only requisite to indent them with a file at the point where they are intended to be cut, and then holding one end of the tube in the left hand, give a blow with the right on the other end, and the tube will snap asunder. To bend a glass tube into the form of a syphon : Put the tube through the bars of a common grate, when the fire is burn- ing clear; let the part of the tube which is to be bent be in the centre or hottest part of the fire ; take hold of the tube at both ends, and when it begins to melt near the middle, gently bend it with both hands, in the form which is wanted, and then remove it from the fire. A little experience will render such operations quite easy and efficient for the purpose intended. If a small bend only at one end of the tube is required, that end may be put into the fire till it begin to melt, then take hold of it gently with a pair of tones, and bend it in the form required with the right" hand. L (121) 122 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. many delightful and interesting experiments ; but some of its instruments are very expen- sive. I shall therefore state only a few simple exhibitions and experiments which can be made at a trifling expense. Before the teacher can illustrate any of the principles of this sci- ence by experiment, it will be requisite that he provide himself with a few convex lenses, some of short and others of pretty long focal distances. For example, double or plano- convex glasses, inch, 1 inch, 3 and 4 inches, focal distance, which may be made to illustrate the construction of a compound microscope, as I have elsewhere shown in my work, " On the Improvement of Society." Also lenses, from 3 to 6 or 8 feet focus, to illustrate the construction of a telescope, and the nature of a camera obscura ; and two or three concave mirrors for illustrating some of the phenomena of reflection. The principle on which a com- pound microscope, a solar microscope, and a magic lantern or phantasmagoria, are con- structed, may be shown by one easy experi- ment. Let A, Fig. 1, represent a convex glass, suppose six inches focal distance, and B the flame of a candle. Hold the glass, A, at a little more than six inches from the candle, and on an opposite wall will be formed a large magnified image of the candle, C E D. This image will be inverted, and larger than the flame of the candle in proportion as the dis- Fig. 1. C tance, A E, from the glass to the wall, exceeds the distance A B, from the glass to the candle. Suppose the distance A B to be exactly 6 inches, and the distance A E to be 7 feet or 84 inches, then the image of the candle will be magnified in proportion, of 6 to 84, or 14 times. In this experiment the candle repre- sents the object to be magnified in a compound microscope, A the object-glass, and C D the image formed by the lens, which is magnified a second time by the eye-glass of the micro- scope. In reference to the solar microscope, the candle represents the small object to be magnified, and C D its magnified image on a white wall or screen ; and in reference to the magic-lantern, or phantasmagoria, the candle represents the figures painted on the sliders, (122) A the convex lens which throws the image of the figures on a screen, and D the magni- fied image of the painted figures. In all these instruments, the principle on which the objects are magnified is precisely the same ; the size of the image is always in proportion to its dis- tance from the lens by which- it is formed ; but as the image is enlarged it becomes less bril- liant and distinct, and therefore there is a pro- per medium which must be fixed upon as to the distance between the lens and the screen on which the image is thrown ; but a skilful teacher will always know how to modify such circumstances. The nature of a telescope and of the camera obscura may be illustrated as follows : Fix a lens of 4, 5, or 6 feet focus, in a hole made in a window-shutter ; darken the room, so that ho light can enter but through the lens.* If its focal distance be 5 feet, or 60 inches, a white screen placed at that distance will re- ceive the image of the objects without, oppo- site the glass, where they will be beautifully depicted in all their forms, colours, and mo- tions, in an inverted position, forming a kind of living picture. This exhibition never fails to excite the admiration of the young. If now, a lens, about 2 inches focus be placed 2 inches beyond the image thus formed, and the screen removed in looking through this lens, the objects will appear magnified in the proportion of 2 inches to 60, that is, 30 times ; and as the image was inverted, so the object, as seen through the glass, will appear as if turned upside down. This is perhaps one of the best modes of explaining the principle of a refract- ing telescope, and the reason why the object appears inverted, when viewed with a single eye-glass. The same thing may be partly shown by a common telescope. Having taken out all the eye-glasses, except the one next the eye, adjust the telescope to distinct vision, and all the objects seen through it will appear as if turned upside down. The manner in which the image is reversed by the other eye-glasses, and the object made to appear upright, might then be explained. Objects might likewise be exhibited through a telescope, as appearing in different positions and directions. This is ef- fected by means of a diagonal eye-piece, which is constructed in the following manner : Let A B, Fig. 2, represent a convex glass about 2 inches focal distance ; C D a plain metallic speculum, of an oval form, well polished, and placed at half a right angle to the axis of the tube ; and E F, another convex lens, 2 inches * A lens is a round piece of glass, ground either concave or convex. All lenses that magnify ob- jects, are convex, or thicker in the middle than at the edge, such as common magnifiers, reading- glasses, and the glasses used in microscopes and telescopes, except the Galilean perspective, in which the eye-glass is concave. OPTICAL EXPERIMENTS. 123 focus. The centre of the speculum may be about 1 inch from A B, and about inch Fig. 2. from E F. The rays proceeding from the lens A B, and falling upon the speculum, are reflected in a perpendicular direction to the lens E F, where they enter the eye, which looks down upon the object through the side of the tube. When this eye-piece is applied to a telescope, with the lens E F on the upper part of it, we look down upon the object as if it were under our feet. If we turn the eye- piece round in its socket a quarter of a circle towards the left, an object directly before us in the south will appear as if it were in the u-est, and turned upside down. If from this position, it is turned round a semicircle to- wards the right, and the eye applied, the same object will appear as if it were situated in the east ; and if it be turned round another quad- rant, till it be directly opposite to its first posi- tion, and the eye applied from below, the object or landscape will appear as if suspended in the atmosphere above us. Such experiments, when accompanied with proper diagrams, and an explanation of optical principles, may easily be rendered both entertaining and instructive. A camera ob- Fig. 3. scura, on a lar- ger scale, and on a different plan from that alluded to above, might be erected on the top of every school- house, which is constructed with a flat roof, as formerly sug-j gested. Fig. 3j contains a re- presentation of a wooden building, on the top of which is a large convex lens H I, about 10 or 12 feet focal distance. At half a right angle to this lens is a plain speculum, by which the rays of light from the objects O are reflected downwards through the lens, which forms a picture of all the objects before the speculum, on a round white table, T, in all their colours, motions, and proportions. If the speculum be made to revolve, the whole of the surrounding landscape may be suc- cessively depicted on the table. When the lens is of a long focal distance, as from 10 to L5 or 20 feet, it produces a pretty powerful ielescopical effect, so that objects may be dis- tinctly perceived at a considerable distance, and individuals recognized on the picture at the distance of a mile or more. Wherever there are objects in motion, such as ships sailing, birds flying, smoke ascending, crowds of people moving to and fro, or boys and girls engaged in their amusements ; this exhibition always affords a high degree of satisfaction. It might occasionally be used, not only as an illustration of optical principles, but also as a reward for diligence and good behaviour. In connection with the above, representa- tions might be given of natural and artificial objects as exhibited by the phantasmagoria. Discarding the ridiculous and childish figures which were formerly used in the common magic lanterns, opticians have now constructed sliders which exhibit representations of the telescopic appearances of the heavenly bodies, the different constellations, the motions of the earth and moon, and various objects connected with botany, mineralogy, and zoology; and such objects^ when exhibited in this manner, are calculated to produce both instruction and amusement. The solar microscope in parti- cular, (or the oxy-hydrogen, if it can be pro- cured,) should be occasionally exhibited to the young, to convey to them some ideas of the wonderful minuteness of the atoms of matter, and the admirable mechanism dis- played in the structure of vegetables and the bodies of animals, particularly in those myriads of animalculae which are invisible to the un- assisted eye. Such animalcules may be pro- cured almost at any season, but particularly during the summer months, by infusing in separate open vessels, small bits of grass or hay, leaves of flowers, or other vegetable sub- stances, when, after a week or ten days, ani- malculae of different kinds, according to the nature of the substances infused, will be per- ceived in vast numbers, by the aid of the microscope, in every drop of the infusion. A compound microscope is perhaps as good an instrument as any other for giving a steady and satisfactory view of such objects ; and the only objection to its use for a school is, that only one individual can see the object at a time. When a teacher is not furnished with an instrument of this kind fitted up in the usual way, he may, with a little trouble, con- struct a compound microscope, by means of the eye-piece of a common pocket achromatic telescope, which may be purchased for one guinea, or less. The eye-pieces of such tele- scopes contain four glasses arranged on a (123) 124 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. principle somewhat similar to that of the glasses f these animals is somewhat different from that of man, yet the organs contained in the cavity of the * breast and abdomen are essentially the same, though differing in some minute par- ticulars are placed nearly in the same re- lative positions, and perform the same or similar functions as in the human system. As hares, rabbits, and other quadrupeds are frequently slaughtered for food, and as dogs and cats sometimes require to be killed, oppor- tunities might be taken of dissecting such ani- mals, and showing the forms and positions of those parts which most nearly resemble those of the human subject. I recollect, when young, having received my first clear ideas of the form and position of the lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, stomach, &c. from the dissection of a cat, of which the anatomical figures I had in my power to inspect, could afford no accu- rate or satisfactory conception. 3. Dried pre- parations of certain parts of the human body portions of the muscular parts, such as the heart, liver, &c. preserved in spirits skulls, and detached portions of the skeleton might be occasionally procured, which might serve for the illustration of particular functions. 4. Where such objects as the above cannot be procured, some general and useful ideas on this subject may be communicated by means of large coloured anatomical plates. These are found necessary to accompany every course of anatomical dissection ; and, although they cannot convey the same accurate ideas which may be obtained by a direct inspection of the human subject, yet none will deny that a very considerable degree of useful information may in this way be obtained, especially with the assistance of a teacher who can explain, with simplicity and clearness, the several organs and functions of the animal system. Sup- posing a person knew nothing of the internal parts of the human body, it is evident, that, from such a figure as the preceding, an idea might be obtained of the relative situations of the lungs, the heart, the diaphragm, the liver, the gall-bladder, the pancreas, the stomach, the kidneys, and various other parts, and much more so from a variety of separate figures delineated on a large scale, and coloured after nature. There would be no necessity for exhibiting or describing any other parts or organs but those which are common to both sexes, so that there would be no room for ob- jections on the score of indelicacy. The female sex, however, as well as the male, ought to be instructed in this science ; for, as females have the physical education of chil- dren more immediately under their control, it is of vast importance to the human race at large, that they should be endowed with that knowledge of the functions of the human frame, which will enable them to conduct such education with intelligence and discre- tion. There is no department of science, moreover, in which a pious and intelligent teacher has a better opportunity of directing the minds of his pupils to the evidences of de- sign, and of descanting on the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator, than when de- scribing the mechanism of the human frame. In the various articulations of the bones, in the construction of the venous and arterial system, in the process of respiration, in tn circulation of the blood, in the muscular and nervous systems, in the motion of the heart, in the mechanism of the eye and ear, in the (129) 130 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. construction of the spine, the hand, the skull, and other parts of this admirable machine, the Divine Wisdom and benevolence shine conspicuous ; and, when clearly exhibited to the young, must impress their minds with the truth that they are, indeed, "fearfully and wonderfully made," and that they ought to consecrate the temple of their bodies for " a habitation of God through the Spirit." One great practical end which should al- ways be kept in view in the study of physi- ology is the invigoration and improvement of the corporeal powers and functions, the pre- servation of health, and the prevention of dis- ease. For this purpose frequent instruction, illustrated by examples, should be imparted in relation to diet and regimen. The young should be instructed in the laws of the ani- mal economy, and the sources of diseases ; the practices which induce certain disorders, and the means of counteracting them ; the functions of the skin, lungs, stomach, and bowels ; the nature and importance of insen- sible perspiration, the means of regulating it, and the evils which flow from its obstruction ; the rules which should be observed in bathing and swimming ;. the importance of pure at- mospheric air to the health and vigour of the animal system, the circumstances by which it is deteriorated, and the means by which its purity may be preserved; the necessity of cleanliness, in respect to the hands, face, neck, and other parts of the body, and to the clothes, linens, blankets, sheets, and household furni- ture, and the rules which should be attended to for preserving the person and dwelling from filth and noxious effluvia ; the articles most proper for dress, and the mode of con- structing it so as not to impede the vital func- tions ; the proper use of food and drink, and especially the moral and physical evils which flow from intemperance? and the frequent use of ardent spirits; the exercise and reft requi- site for body and mind, the means by which they may be duly proportioned, and the evils which arise from immoderate exertion either of the mental or corporeal powers ;* the im- provement of the organs of sensation, particu- larly the organs of vision, and the treatment requisite for preserving them in health and vigour. Instructions on these and similar topics, when occasionally illustrated by strik- ing facts and examples, could scarcely fail to exert a powerful and beneficial influence on the minds of the young, on the families with which they are connected, on society at large, and even on succeeding generations. That such information has never yet been regularly communicated in our schools and seminaries, reflects disgrace on our scholastic arrange- ments, which are frequently directed to ob- (130) * See Appendix. jects of far inferior importance. Till such instructions be generally communicated, in connection with other portions of useful know- ledge, man will never rise to the highest dig- nity of his physical and intellectual nature, nor enjoy the happiness of which he is sus- ceptible even in the present state. SECTION XII. Logic, or the Jlrt of Reasoning. Logic may be defined to be " that art or branch of knowledge which has for its object the investigation of truth, and the best method of communicating it to others ;" or, in other words, the art of employing our rational facul- ties in the best manner in searching after truth and duty on any subject. Although all men have essentially the same mental facul- ties, yet there is a great difference in respect to the vigour of these faculties in different in- dividuals, according to the improvement they have received, and the objects to which they have been directed. The improvement of the reasoning powers, and the manner in which they have been exercised by the wise and learned in Europe, America, and other parts of the civilized world, have raised them almost as high in the scale of intelligence above the Hottentots, the African negroes, or the inha- bitants of New Holland or Nootka Sound, as those savages are superior to the beasts of the forest or the fowls of heaven. The acquisi- tion of truth, in relation to all those subjects which are connected with the present and future happiness of man, x is obviously a mat- ter of the highest importance. By the proper application of our reasoning faculty we be- come acquainted with the properties and rela- tions of the objects around us in this lower world, and the distances, magnitudes, and real motions of the celestial bodies, and the pur- poses for which they appear to have been created. By the same means we acquire a knowledge of the perfections of God, the principles of Natural Religion, the Evidences of Divine Revelation, the improvements of art, and the discoveries of science. By the cultivation of reason we discover our duty to God and to our fellow-creatures, either from the light of nature or from the study of Reve- lation, and learn to distinguish truth from falsehood, and good from evil ; and to apply the truths we thus acquire to the direction of our moral conduct, to the promotion of human happiness, and to the invigorating of our hopes of eternal felicity. It is therefore a matter of considerable im- portance, that, at an early period, the reasoning powers of the young be directed, both by pre- cepts and examples, in their inquiries after truth, and guarded from the influence of false principles and fallacious reasonings, by which errors have been propagated, prejudices pro- SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH LOGIC. 131 moted, truth obscured, and the improvement of the human race prevented. Were this subject to be illustrated in all its extent, it would be requisite, in the first place, to give a description and analysis of the intellectual powers, which are the means or instruments by which we are to pursue our discovery after truth. In the second place, to exhibit an ar- rangement and classification of the objects in nature to which these powers are applied. In the third place, to illustrate the most success- ful meihod of applying our natural powers in the investigation of truth ; and lastly, to explain the best method of communicating the truth to others, when discovered. Under the first head, it would be requisite to enter into the discussion of the faculties of sensation and perception, attention, consciousness, memory, conception, abstraction, imagination, judg- ment, taste, the moral faculty, and other powers ; or, according to the phrenological system, the knowing and reflecting faculties, the moral sentiments, and the animal propen- sities which may be considered as so many different modes of the operation of mind. Under the seror**, a brief view might be given of the peculiar characteristics of mind and matter, and a more particular survey of the sciences, or the knowledge which men have acquired respecting the objects of human thought, which might be arranged under the three following heads : 1. History, compre- hending sacred, prophetic, and ecclesiastical history ; literary history, including the history of philosophy and the arts ; civil history, in- cluding particular history, general history, memoirs, antiquities, and biography ; also, geography and chronology, which have been denominated the Eyes of history ; natural his- tory, including mineralogy, botany, and gen- eral zoology, meteorology, geology, and the facts which relate to the heavenly bodies. 2. Philosop h y, including ontology, the mathemat- ical sciences, pure and mixed ; natural and revealed theology, esthetics, or the science of our feelings and emotions ; ethics, logic, po- litical economy and legislation ; natural phi- losophy, chemistry, physical astronomy, medi- cine, the physiology of plants, human and comparative anatomy, &c. 3. Jlrt, including the fine arts, as poetry, oratory, painting, architecture, gardening, &c. ; the liberal arts, as practical logic, practical geometry, practical chemistry, surgery, &c. and the niechanifal arts, as dyeing, weaving, clock and watch making, &c. Under the third head might be illustrated the different kinds of evidence, as the evidence of intellection, of sense, of testi- mony, of analogy, &c. and the means by which evidence on any subject may be most successfully obtained ; which would include a discussion of the modes of reasoning by syllo- gism, induction, analysis, and synthesis of the sources of error, and of the dispositions and circumstances among mankind from which errors and fallacious reasonings arise a sub- ject which would require to be illustrated with considerable minuteness from the facts of history, and the circumstances which exist in the present state of the human race. Un- der the fourth head, might be included 1. A general view of the different means, which men have employed for communicating their thoughts to each other. 2. An explanation of the nature of arbitrary signs, and the prin- ciples of universal grammar. 3. An enumer- ation and description of the different qualities of style, and the best method of constructing a discourse on any subject. To a class of young persons, about the age of fifteen or sixteen, a popular illustration of some of the above topics might be attended with many beneficial effects, particularly in inducing upon them habits of reasoning and reflection, and guarding them against the influence of prejudices, and sophistical argu- ments and reasonings. Although it would evidently be injudicious and premature to at- tempt such discussions in primary schools, yet a judicious teacher, well acquainted with the science of mind and the nature of evidence, might occasionally illustrate certain parts of this subject, particularly in teaching the young to reason with propriety on any familiar objects or incidents with which they are acquainted. It may be laid down as an axiom, that from the earliest dawn of reason children should be accustomed to exercise their reasoning faculty on every object to which their attention is direct- ed, and taught to assign a reason for every opinion they adopt, and every action they per- form. Without troubling them with expla- nations of the various forms and moods of syllogisms, they may be taught the nature of reasoning, and the force of arguments, by fa- miliar examples taken from sensible objects with which they are in some measure ac- quainted. Logicians define reasoning to be that power which enables us, by the intervention of intermediate ideas, to perceive the relation of two ideas, or their agreement or disagreement. This might be illustrated to the young, by such examples as the following : Suppose there are two tables, A and B, which cannot be applied to each other, and we wish to know whether A be longer or shorter than B ; we endeavour to find an " intermediate idea," or measure, namely, a three-feet rule, and apply it, first to table A, and then to table B. We find that A measures thirty- six inches, coinciding exactly with the three- feet rule, and that B measures only thirty- four inches ; therefore, the inference or con- clusion, at which we wished to arrive, u 132 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. evident, that table A is longer than table B. Again, suppose we would know whether the space contained in the triangle C, be equal to, or greater or less than that contained in the circle E ; we cannot apply these figures to each other, in order to determine this point 5 we must therefore search for an intermediate idea which will apply to both. We fix on a square a square foot for example, and from the length of the base, E F, and the perpen- dicular F G, in the triangle C, we find the number of square feet to be 160. Having the length of the diameter of the circle H I, we find that there are likewise 160 square feet contained within its circumference ; and therefore the conclusion is evident, that the space contained within the triangle C is equal to that contained in the circle E. This ex- ample, reduced to the form of a syllogism, would stand thus : Any two figures which contain the same number of square feet are equal to one another ; but the triangle C con- tains the same number of square feet as the circle E ; therefore the space contained in the triangle C is equal to the space contained within the circle E. Again, the sun appears to be only a few inches in diameter, and 1 as flat as the face of a clock or a plate of silver. Suppose it were inquired how we may determine that the sun is much larger than he appears to be, and whether his surface be flat, or convex, or of any other figure, the pupil may be requested to search for intermediate ideas, by which these points may be determined. One idea or principle, which experience proves, re- quires to be recognized, that all objects appear less in size, in proportion to their distance from the observer. A large building, at the distance of twenty miles, appears to the naked eye only like a visible point ; and a dog, a horse, or a man, are, at such a distance, altogether invisi- ble. We find, by experience, that when the sun has just risen above the horizon in the morning, he appears as large as he does, when on our meridian at noon-day ; but it can be proved, that he is then nearly 4000 miles (or the half diameter of the earth) nearer to us than when he arose in the mornjng ; there- fore, the sun must be at a greater distance from us, at least several thousands of miles, otherwise he would appear much larger in the one case than in the other, just as a house (132) or a town appears much larger when we approach within a mile of it than it does ax the distance of eight or ten miles. It is known that the inhabitants of Great Britain, and those who live about the Cape of Good Hope, can see the sun at the same moment ; and that he appears no larger to the one than to the other, though they are distant in a straight line more than 5000 miles from each other. We also know, from experience, that when we remove fifty or a hundred miles to the west of our usual place of residence, the sun appears, at his rising, just as large as he did before ; and though we are removed from our friends seve- ral hundreds or even thousands of miles, they will tell us that the sun uniformly appears of the same size, at the same moment as he does to us. From these and similar considerations, it appears, that the sun must be at a very con- siderable distance from the earth, and conse- quently his real magnitude must be much greater than his apparent, since all bodies appear less in size in proportion to their dis- tance. If the distance of the sun were only 4000 miles from the earth, he would appear I wire as large when he came to the meridian, as he did at his rising in the east ; if his dis- tance were only 100,000 miles, he would appear ^ part broader when on the meridian than at his rising but this is not found to be the case ; consequently, the sun is more than 100,000 miles distant, and therefore must be of a very large size. Supposing him no far- ther distant than 100,000 miles, he behoved to be nearly a thousand miles in diameter, or about the size of Arabia, or the United States of America. To determine whether the sun be flat or convex, we must call in to our assistance the following ideas. Every round body which re- volves around an axis, perpendicular to the line of vision, without altering its figure or apparent dimensions, is of a convex or globular shape ; and, Every object which appears of a circular shape near the centre of such a body, will as- sume an oval or elliptical form when it ap- proaches near its margin. This might be illus- trated by fixing a circular patch on a terres- trial globe, and turning it round till it appear near the margin. By means of the telescope, it is found that there are occasionally spots upon the sun, which appear first at the east- ern limb, and, in the course of about 13 days, approach the western limb, where they disap- pear, and, in the course of another 13 days, reappear on the eastern limb ; which shows that the sun revolves round an axis without altering his shape. It is also observed that a spot, which appears nearly circular at his centre, presents an oval figure when near his margin. Consequently the sun is not a flat surface, as he appears at first sight, but a POPULAR LOGIC. 133 globular body. Again, suppose it was re- quired to determine whether the sun or the moon be nearest the earth. The intermedi- ate idea which requires to be recognized in this case is the following. Every body which throws a shallow on another is nearer the body en which the shadow falls than the luminous body uihich is the cause of t/te shadow. In an eclipse of the sun, the body of the moon pro- jects a shadow upon the earth, by which either the whole or a portion of the sun's body is hid from our view. Consequently, the moon is interposed between us and the sun, and therefore is nearer to the earth than that luminary. This might be illustrated to the young by a candle, and two balls, the one representing the moon, and the other the earth, placed in a direct line from the candle. In like manner, were it required, when the moon is eclipsed, to ascertain whether at that time the earth or the moon be nearest to the sun, it might be determined by the same pro- cess of reasoning ; and, on the same principle, it is determined that the planets Mercury and Venus, when they transit the sun's disk, are, in that part of their obits, nearer the earth than the sun is. Such reasonings as the above might be familiarly explained, and, in some cases, illus- trated by experiments ; and the pupil occa- sionally requested to put the arguments into the form of a syllogism. The reasoning re- specting the bulk of the sun may be put into the following syllogistic foim : All objects appear diminished in size in proportion to their distances. The sun is proved to be many thousands of miles distant, and consequently, dimin- ished in apparent size. Therefore the sun is much larger in reality than what he appears. The two first propositions are generally denominated the premise*. The first is called the major proposition, the second the minor proposition. If the major proposition be doubt- ful, it requires to be proved by separate argu- ments or considerations. In the above ex- ample, it may be proved, or rather illustrated, to the young, by experiment such as placing a 12-inch globe, or any similar body, at the distance of half a mile, when it will appear reduced almost to a point. If the minor or second proposition be doubtful, it must like- wise be proved, by such considerations as suggested above ; or by a strictly mathemati- cal demonstration, if the pupils are capable of understanding it. But, in the present case, the arguments above stated are quite sufficient to prove the point intended. When the premises are clearly proved, the conclusion follows as a matter of course. Similar ex- amples of reasoning may be multiplied to an almost indefinite extent, and, in the exercise of instructing the young, they should always be taken from sensible objects with which they are acquainted. As it would be quite preposterous to attempt instructing young persons, under the age of twelve or thirteen, in the abstract systems of logic generally taught in our universities it is quite sufficient for all the practical pur- poses of human life and of science, that they be daily accustomed to employ their reasoning powers, on the various physical, intellectual, and moral objects and circumstances which may be presented before them ; and an en- lightened and judicious teacher will seldom be at a loss to direct their attention to exer- cises of this kind. The objects of nature around them, the processes of art, the circum- stances and exercises connected with their scholastic instruction, their games and amuse- ments, the manner in which they conduct themselves towards each other, their practices in the streets or on the highways, and the general tenor of their moral conduct, will never fail to supply topics for the exercise of their rational faculties, and for the improve- ment of their moral powers. In particular they should be accustomed, on all occasions, to assign a reason for every fact they admit, and every truth they profess to believe. If, for example, they assert, on the ground of what they read in books, or on the authority of their teachers, that " the earth is round like an arti- ficial globe," they should be required to bring forward the proofs by which this position is supported, so that their knowledge may be the result, not of authority, but of conviction. In like manner, when they profess to believe that the earth moves round its axis and round the sun that the atmosphere presses with a weight of fifteen pounds on every square inch of the earth's surface that a magnet will stand in a direction nearly north and south that water presses upwards as well as downwards that it is our duty and interest to obey the laws of God that we ought to exercise justice be- tween man and man and that children should obey their parents and teachers, they should be taught to bring forward, when required, those experiments, arguments, and reason- ings, by which such truths are proved and supported. As an illustration of some of the modes of reasoning to which I allude, the following story respecting the celebrated French philosopher, Gassendi, may be here introduced. From his earliest years he was particularly attentive to all that he heard in conversation, and was fond of contemplating the scenes of nature, particu- larly the magnificence of a starry sky. When only seven years old, he felt a secret charm in the contemplation of the stars, and, without M (133) 134 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. the knowledge of his parents, he sacrificed his sleep to this pleasure. One evening a dispute arose between him and his young companions, about the motion of the moon, and that of the clouds when they happened to be impelled by a brisk wind. His friends insisted that the clouds were still, and that it was the moon which moved. He maintained, on the con- trary, that the moon had no sensible motion, such as they imagined, and that it was the clouds which appeared to pass so swiftly. His reasons produced no effect on the minds of the children, who trusted to their own eyes rather than to anything that could be said on the sub- ject. It was, therefore, necessary to unde- ceive them by means of their eyes. For this purpose Gassendi took them under a tree, and made them observe that the moon still ap- peared between the same leaves and branches, while the clouds sailed far away out of sight. This exhibition, of course, was convincing, and at once settled the dispute. The principle, or " intermediate idea," which Gassendi recognized, in this case, for proving his position, was the following, although he could not at that time express it in words : Oassendi demonstrating the motions of the clouds. When motion appears in the case of two bodies, we ascertain which is the moving body, by caus- ing one of them to appear in a straight line with an object which is known to be fixed. This principle is of considerable practical utility. By means of it we ascertain, when we see a number of ships in a river, or narrow arm of the sea, which of them are in motion or at rest, by comparing their positions or motions with a fixed point on the opposite shore. When looking at the wheels, pinions, and other parts of a piece of machinery, we can, (134) on the same principle, perceive which paits are in motion and which are at rest, which the eye at first view cannot determine ; and, in the same way, the real and apparent mo- tions of the planets in the heavens are ascer- tained, by comparing them with the position of the stars, which may be regarded as so many fixed points for directing the astronomer in his investigations. The principle above stated, therefore, was the major proposition in Gassendi's reasoning, and the minor proposi- tion was the following : " When we bring a tree, which is a fixed object, in a direct line between our eye and the moon, she appears for a few seconds to have no sensible motion, while the clouds have passed away." There- fore the conclusion follows, that " the motion which was the object of dispute was not in the moon, but in the clouds." Subjects might occasionally be prescribed in schools, for the purpose of exercising the reasoning powers of the young, and proving the truth of certain positions. Suppose it were proposed as an exercise, to prove lliat air exists, although it cannot, be seen, a certain time might be allowed for every one to think and to converse on the subject, when some one or other of the following proofs, though in different words, would probably be stated. 1. Take a rod, and make it pass rapidly through what appears empty space, and you will hear a sound and feel a slight resistance. 2. Take a large fan or umbrella, and push it forcibly from you, and you will feel a con- siderable resistance, and hear a sound, and a person opposite will feel a certain impression made on his face. 3. Take a renj larse um- brella, and stand on the top of a stair or build- ing, 15 or 20 feet high, and you may jump from such a position, while holding it stretched, and gradually descend to the ground without injury. 4. Plunge a glass jar into a vessel of water, with its mouth downwards, and only a very small quantity of water will enter the glass, which shows that there is something in the glass which excludes the water ; and this is the reason why we cannot fill a vessel with water by plunging its orifice downwards. 5. Take a smooth cylindrical tube, shut at one end, and fit a plug exactly to its open end, and no force whatever can push it to the bot- tom of the tube, which shows that there is some invisible substance that prevents it. G. Open a pair of common bellows, and shut up the nozle* and valve-hole, and it will be im- possible to bring the boards together, in con- sequence of the resistance of an invisible sub- stance within. 7. Take a telescope, of a high magnifying power, and look through it to dis tant objects, in the forenoon of a hot summei- day, and you will see the air undulating about the objects like the waves of the sea. All SOURCES OF ERROR IN REASONING. 135 which circumstances show that there is a ma- terial, though invisible substance around us, which resists a force, produces a sound, excludes other bodies from occupying the same space, and whose undulations, in certain circum- stances, may be rendered visible. Again, suppose it were required to prove the following position, that " it is highly expe- dient that the whole community should enjoy the benefits of an intellectual and religious education," such arguments as the following might be brought forward. 1. Such an edu- cation invigorates the faculties and enlarges the capacity of the mind. 2. It presents to the view objects of delightful contemplation, which exercise the rational powers, and con- tribute to the happiness of the individual. 3. It prepares the young for acting an honour- able and upright part in society. 4. It quali- fies them for the several professions in which they may afterwards be employed. 5. It tends to undermine foolish and superstitious notions, and to prevent diseases and fatal accidents. 6. It prepares the mind for a rational contempla- tion of the works of God, and of his perfections as therein displayed. 7. It fits them for taking a part in the elective franchise of their coun- try. 8. It prepares them for understanding the Scriptures, and for receiving profit by their attendance on the ordinances of religion. 9. It qualifies them for advancing the cause of useful knowledge, and for promoting the re- formation and improvement of their species. 10. It tends to the prevention of intemperance, tumults, crimes, and all those vices and evils which result from ignorance ; and lead to the practice of the Christian virtues. 11. It pre- pares the soul for the employments and the felicity of the heavenly world, &c. Again, suppose the question, " Is it the duty and in- terest of all men to love one another ?" to be given as an exercise of thought and reasoning. Independently of the positive command of God, in relation to this duty, such considera- tions and arguments as the following might be brought forward. Men ought to love one another 1. Because they are all brethren of the same family, descended from the same original pair, and formed by the same Al- mighty Parent. 2. They are possessed of the same bodily organization, and the same moral and intellectual powers. 3. They are subject to the same wants and afflictions, and susceptible of the same pleasures and enjoy- ments. 4. They inhabit the same world, and breathe the same atmosphere. 5. They are dependent uporreach other for their comforts, and connected by numerous ties and relations. 6. To all of them God distributes his bounty, without respect of persons, causing his sun to cheer and enlighten them, and his rains to de- scend and fructify their fields. 7. They are all animated with immortal spirits, ana destined to an eternal existence. 8. The exercise of kindness and affection would unite, in one harmonious society, men of all nations, and diffuse happiness through the heart of every human being. 9. It would promote the uni- versal practice of equity and justice between man and man, and prevent all those litiga- tions, contentions, and animosities, which have so long disturbed and demoralized the world. 10. It would " turn wars into peace to the ends of the earth," and promote a de- lightful intercourse between all the kindreds and tribes of human beings, wherever dispersed over the surface of the globe, &c. In prescribing such exercises as the above, the teacher would require, in the first instance, to suggest some of the leading arguments, in order that the pupils may perceive the nature of the mental process in which they are called to engage ; and when they had leisure to think on the subject, some of them would doubtless bring forward some proofs or con- siderations of their own, though perhaps ex- pressed in homely language. At any rate, an exercise of this kind, prescribed once or twice every week, could scarcely fail to sharpen the faculties of the young, to induce habits of rational thinking, and to promote both their moral and intellectual improvement. It would likewise be of considerable utility to set before them the springs of false judg- ment, or the sources of error the false con- clusions which arise from prejudices, or pre- conceived opinions the nature of sophistical reasonings, and the means of guarding against their influence. The following are specimens of the prejudices to which I allude : 1. We are apt to judge of persons or things merely from their external appearance. A picture of no value, daubed with bright and glaring colours, is frequently admired by the vulgar eye ; and a worthless book, splendidly printed and adorned with flashy engravings and ele- gant binding, is prized and extolled by a ra perficial thinker. From such a prejudice we are apt to conclude that a man is happy who is encircled with wealth and splendour, and that he who is covered with coarse or ragged garments has neither knowledge nor comfort, and is unworthy of our regard. Hence the Jews rejected the Saviour of the world, and the Corinthians despised the Apostle Paul. 2. Another prejudice arises from not viewing an object on all sides not considering all the circumstances connected with it, and not com- paring all the aspects in which it may be con- templated. Thus, when we view a cone placed at a great distance from the eye, we are apt to imagine it a plain triangle ; and if its base were placed at right angles to the line of vision, we should conclude that it was nothing (135) 136 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. else but a plain circle. Thus, a round plate, when placed obliquely at a considerable dis- tance from the eye, appears as an oval ; and with its edge turned towards us, as a lint. Thus, the sun and moon, though globular bodies, appear fl poses of human improvement, and the teacher himself degraded from that rank which he ought to hold in the scale of society. It is not a little unaccountable, that, in this coun- try, no seminaries have ever yet been estab- lished for training young men for the office of teachers, so that the important ends in- tended by a system of education may be fully accomplished. A watchmaker, a smith, a mason, a carpenter, or a weaver, Serves an apprenticeship of from four to seven years, before he is considered qualified to exercise his profession. A clergyman generally under- goes a course of training for eight or nine years, before he is licensed to perform the functions of the sacred ministry. Even a menial servant, a stable-boy, a cook, or a laundry-maid, must devote a certain portion of time and attention before they are consi- dered as qualified for such occupations. But the office of an instructor of youth is fre- quently assumed at random. If a man ima- gines he can execute such an office, and publishes an advertisement of his intention, he is believed to be qualified for what he un- dertakes, although, perhaps, he has never ap- plied his mind to investigate the principles on which instruction should be communicated, nor the objects which education should em- brace. Such an anomaly in the state of civil- ized society, in regard to a matter of such vital importance, is a disgrace to the character of an enlightened age,. and ought no longer to exist If we had right views of all the important objects which a system of moral and intellectual education should embrace, and its extensive effects upon all ranks of society, in relation beth to the present and the future world, we should at once admit, that an in- structor of youth should be a man possessed of almost universal knowledge, conjoined with a high degree of moral probity and fervent piety. How then, it may be asked, are we to pro- ceed in elevating the teachers in the scale of intelligence, and thus laying a sure basis for an efficient education 1 The first arrange- ment, which is obviously requisite, is to estab- lish seminaries or college* for their instruction. In these Prereptoral Colleges, as they might be called, such branches as the following might be taught. 1. Arithmetic, Drawing, Algebra, and the Mathematical sciences, par- ticularly those which are more immediately applicable to practical purposes. 2. Graro- mar, Logic, History, and Christian morals.- PRECEPTORAL COLLEGES FOR TEACHERS. 159 3 Natural History, Natural Philosophy, Geography, Astronomy, Chemistry, Physio- logy, and Vocal and Instrumental Music. 4. Natural Theology, the Evidences of Chris- tianity, Sacred History, Christian doctrines and duties. To teach these sciences with effect, three or four Professors would be re- quired. They should be taught, not merely by lectures, but by regular examinations and numerous exercises connected with the several topics of discussion; and, where the subjects admit of it, by experimental illustrations. The course should be as popular in its plan and illustrations as the nature of the subjects treated of will admit, and all the discussions should, if possible, be made to bear upon matters of practical utility. Of course, all abstract metaphysical disquisitions, intricate mathematical questions and theorems which are more curious than useful, and all theolo- gical speculations respecting mysteries and questions which are beyond the reach of the human faculties to resolve should be care- fully avoided. The great object of these in- structions should be, not to make the students profouni mathematicians, philosophers, or divines but to communicate to them a clear and comprehensive view of all those subjects of a practical nature which are level to the comprehension of the bulk of mankind, which may present to them objects of delightful contemplation, and which may have a bearing on their present and future happiness. In connection with these subjects, instructions and exercises should be given in the art of (onimuiriniting knowledge, and on the various modes which may be employed to excite the attention, and to convey clear and well-defined ideas to the understandings of the young. The plan and routine of teaching, the various evolutions requisite for preserving order in a school, the divisions of time, the arrangement of classes, the moral treatment of the youthful mind, the punishment of offences, the best methods of impressing upon the heart the truths of religion and the rules of morality, the method of using the different class-books, and every thing else which has a relation to moral and intellectual tuition should be ex- plained and illustrated in minute detail. For the purpose of exercising the students in the practical application of these instruc- tions, two schools should be connected with every Prereptoral College one for the primary and the other for the higher branches of education. Over these schools the professors, though not constant or regular teachers, should be in- vested with a special superintendence and control. Under their direction, each student, in turn, should be appointed to engage in the business of instruction, so as to reduce to practice the philosophy of teaching. Remarks on the manner in which he executes his office, may be made in private, and hints by which he may be enabled to correct any of the errors or defects into which he may have fallen. These remarks should have a refer- ence not only to the mode of communicating knowledge, but likewise to the moral disposi- tions displayed towards the children, and the treatment they receive. While a proper de- gree of respect and authority is maintained, the young teacher should be taught to address his pupils in the language of kindness and affection, as a father does his children, and to avoid every thing in his manner that has the appearance of being boisterous or domineer- ing. Besides being occasionally employed in scholastic teaching, the students should be frequently exercised in the art of composition, and, at certain distant intervals, in delivering lectures of their own composition, to the rest of the students, on any physical or moral sub- ject they may choose to select This practice would tend to prepare them for becoming public lecturers on the different branches of useful knowledge, in the districts where they might afterwards be appointed as teachers. All the public exercises of the students, both in learning and in teaching, should be com- menced with pruyer, and a recognition of the superintendence and agency of the Divine Being, and the business of the day concluded in the same manner a practice which, in this country, has almost fallen into disuse, especially in those seminaries devoted to the promotion of a fashionable education. In short, the whole system should be considered as chiefly of a moral and religious nature having for its main and ultimate object, not merely the communication of literary and scientific knowledge, but the promotion of moral order and happiness among mankind, and their preparation for the felicities and employments of the world to come. Such a noble object can only be obtained by impress- ing such views on the minds of the rising teachers, and training them up to habits of universal benevolence and of Christian piety and devotion, that, in their turn, they may communicate the same habits, feelings, and affections, to young immortals over whose instructions they may be afterwards called to preside. Every candidate for the office of school- master, previous to being received into such a college or seminary, should be strictly ex- amined as to his mental powers and natural capacity for acquiring and communicating knowledge, his moral principles and conduct, and his leading motives and aims in wishing to devote himself to the office of an instructor. It should be understood that he has previously acquired the elements of a common education (159) 160 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. can read his native language with some degree of correctness, can write a tolerably good hand, and has acquired a knowledge of the leading rules of arithmetic. For it would be inexpedient to spend much time in such elementary instruction, except in the higher departments of arithmetic, and in demon- strating its fundamental rules. No candidate should be under eighteen or above thirty years of age. From eighteen to twenty-foui would, perhaps, be the most eligible period for admis- sion. The course should continue at least three years; and if the student can afford the time and expense, it may be expedient to extend it to four years. About eight or nine hours every day might be employed in public and private studies and ten months every year, allowing a vacation of a month about midsummer, and another of the same length about Christmas. During the period now specified, under the direction of zealous and enlightened professors, a far greater portion of substantial and practical knowledge might be accumulated than is generally acquired at our universities, in a course of instruction extending to more than eight years. Exami- nations should take place, at least once a-week, to ascertain the progress made by every stu- dent, and the degree of attention he bestows on the several branches of study. After having passed through the usual course of instruction, a more minute and extensive examination should be appointed of all the candidates for the office of schoolmaster, on all the branches of instruction, both theoretical and practical, to which their attention had been directed. Those who are approved should receive a certificate, or lirense, signed by all the pro- fessors, specifying the progress they have made, and their qualifications for* the art of teaching which certificate should be con- sidered as a sufficient guarantee to secure their admission as teachers into any vacant schools for which they may apply. Those who are found deficient in qualifications may be recommended to remain another year, or other period, to revise their studies. The teachers who had been inducted into office, previous to the arrangements now supposed, should be enjoined, or at least requested, to attend two months every year at the Precep- toral College for three or four years in suc- cession, in order to finish their education in all those branches which are considered as necessary for an accomplished instructor. The proper training of teachers lies at the very foundation of a moral and intellectual system of education ; and no class of men but those whose minds are furnished with a large stock of general knowledge are capable of carrying it into effect. It may be laid down as a general principle, that no man can com- municate to others knowledge of which he himself is not possessed; and consequently, whatever knowledge it may be judged neces- sary to impart to the great mass of society, must previously exist in the minds of thofe who are appointed to instruct them. Even the lowest class of schools, such as infart schools, and the details of primary instruc- tion, require men of general knowledge ns superintendents and teachers. For it requires more care and attention, more experience and sagacity, and a more intimate acquaintance with the principles of human nature, to direct the opening intellect in UK firs' excursions in the path of knowledge, than to impart to it instructions respecting any particular science in after-life. An infant-school teacher, for example, should be intimately acquainted with the facts of sacred history, with general history, with physical and geometrical science, with the phenomena of nature, and the processes of the arts, with human nature in its different aspects, and with the scenes of domestic life. For, it is from these sources that he is to de- rive those facts, exhibitions, descriptions, and illustrations, which are requisite to excite the attention, to interest the affections, and to gratify the curiosity of the infant mind. He must tell them stories borrowed from sacred and civil history he must describe the ap- pearances of nature he must perform enter- taining experiments he must tell them of other countries, and the manners of their inhabitants he must describe the conduct of bad children and of good, and have a story at hand to illustrate his descriptions. He must vary all his descriptions, experiments, and anecdotes, as much as possible, so that new scenes and subjects may be gradually opening on their view, to prevent that satiety which a frequent repetition of the same topics would necessarily produce. It is evident, then, that no one but a person possessed of extensive knowledge is qualified fully to accomplish such objects. It is an egregious mistake to imagine, that the knvwlfrfge of a plan of teaching, or of the mere routine of a system of education, is all that is requisite for conducting the instruction of children. This is an error, which of late has been too frequently acted upon, and which threatens to strike at the foundation of many of our infant schools. A young man, or a young lady, who has acquired only the ele- ments of a common education, and who has never been in the practice of teaching in any seminary, is sent for six weeks to an infant school, to learn the system, and to witness its movements ; after which they are considered as properly qualified, and inducted as super intendents of infant seminaries, without much attention being paid to the range of informa- PRUSSIAN PRECEPTOR AL COLLEGES. 161 lion they possess. I am aware, indeed, that several worthy persons of this description have conducted these institutions with con- siderable energy and success, especially when they entered with vigour into* the spirit of their office, and felt ardent desires for their own further improvement. But it would be dangerous to the existence and utility of such institutions to recognize such a practice as a general rule, although in their first establish- ment, necessity compelled their patrons to select as teachers, pious and discreet persons, however deficient in general information. For the reasons hinted at above, I am clearly of opinion, that an infant school teacher should be instructed in all the branches of knowledge to which I have already referred as requisite for other instructors ; and on this ground chiefly I rest my hopes of the permanency and efficiency of the system of infant training which has been lately introduced. In short, if the world is to be ever thoroughly enlight- ened and regenerated if men of all nations and of all ranks are to be raised to the dignity of their moral and intellectual natures, and fitted for " glory and immortality," it is essen- tinlLij requisite that teachers of every descrip- tion, whether superintending infant, parochial, or Sabbath schools, or any other seminaries, be men of decided piety, of the highest moral attainments, and possessed of us large a. mea- sure of useful knowledge as mortal can acquire. And, although we may not be able to procure persons endowed with such high qualifications for another generation or two, yet nothing short of such an elevated standard should be ultimately kept in view. Such characters, of course, would occupy a rank and station in society far more respectable and elevated than they have ever yet attained, and be looked up to as the directors of the intellectual and mo- ral faculties, and the best friends and benefac- tors of the human race. Four preceptoral colleges, at least, would require to be established in Scotland, and about six times that number in England, for the training of teachers. Much expense would not be requisite in their erection, excepting what behoved to be laid out in the purchase of a library, a museum, and a philosophical apparatus ; which articles would be indispen- sable in such a seminary, and the more ex- tensive the better. In the meantime, as a temporary expedient, arrangements might be made for establishing such a system of instruc- tion in the different universities and colleges which already exist ; as the same class-rooms presently used for the different departments of academical instruction, might, without much inconvenience, at separate hours, be devoted to the system of instruction now pro- posed. The principal country in which such seminaries have yet been established, is the kingdom of Prussia, where they are desig- nated by the name of Normal Schools. In 1831 there were thirty-three of these schools in full operation, containing from 40 to 100 pupils ; that is, one Normal school for every 385,660 souls ; the population of Prussia, ac- cording to the latest census, being 12,726,823. From these seminaries are furnished almost all the masters of the public, schools, elemen- tary and intermediate, in the kingdom. The annual expense of these establishments is 110,553 thalers, or 16,583, of which the state contributes 13,260. M. Victor Cousin, in his voluminous and somewhat tedious " Report on the state of public instruction in Prussia," states a variety of minute details in reference to the economy and regulations of these schools, but affords us no clear idea of the m-inner in which the different branches of knowledge are taught to those who are intended to be the future teachers of primary and burghal schools. Although these institu- tions are, doubtless, the most respectable and efficient that have hitherto been established in any country, yet the range of instruction is not so extensive as that to which I have al- luded, nor is the office of a teacher placed in that elevated rank which it ought to hold in society. Teachers in Prussia are still con- sidered as belonging to a grade inferior to that of ministers of the gospel, and are placed partly under their superintendence. But if teachers were once endowed with all the knowledge and qualifications to which I have adverted, they ought to be regarded a.i moving in a station equal to that of the most dignified clergyman. CHAPTER XL On the Practicability of Establishing Seminaries fur Intellectual Education. To any new proposals for the improvement of society, however just or rational, numerous objections from different quarters are generally started. Difficulties are magnified into impos- sibilities, and a thousand prejudices are mus- tered up against innovations on established 21 practices, and in favour of existing institu- tions. In attempting to establish such semi- naries as now proposed, the most formidable objection would be founded on the difficulty of obtaining pecuniary resources adequate to their erection and endowment; and, it is o2 (161) 162 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. fra..kiy admitted, that a very large sum of money, reckoned not by thousands, but by millions of pounds, would be requisite for their establishment and support. A rude idea of the requisite expenditure will perhaps be conveyed by the following statements. It may be assumed as a fact, that the num- ber of children in any State, from the age of two to the age of fifteen years, is about one- third of the whole population ; "at least this proportion cannot be materially different from the truth. We find that in the States of Mas- sachusetts, Maine, and Connecticut, North America, there is one out of every four of the population attending a seminary of instruction. In the State of New York, the proportion of pupils to the whole population is as 1 to 3.9, a greater proportion than is to be found in any other country in the civilized world. The ages of the children attending these schools are, in all probability, from four or five to fifteen or sixteen years ; for I presume that the chil- dren attending infant schools are not included in this enumeration. But although they were, it is well known that infant schools have not yet been multiplied to such an ex- tent as to furnish instruction for one-fifth of the children who would require to attend these institutions. We may therefore fix on one-third as the proportion of the population that requires to be instructed at infant schools, and the higher seminaries of education. This position being assumed, the number of schools required in any city or country may be at once determined. Suppose, for example, we fix on a town of a medium size, such as Dun- dee, we can easily ascertain the number of seminaries requisite for the instruction of its juvenile inhabitants. The population of Dun- dee is about 48,000 ; the one-third of which is 16,000, or the number of individuals that require instruction. Suppose 80 scholars, at an average, to attend each school, there would require to be no less than 200 seminaries erected to supply adequate instruction for such a town. Of these, 50 would be requisite (for infant instruction, and 150 for the instruc- tion of children from the age of six to the age of fifteen, in the higher branches of education specified in the preceding part of this work. According to a statement made in Parliament, by Mr. Colquhoun, in June, 1834, there is only one-fifitenth. of the population of this town at present receiving the rudiments of a common education ; so that, instead of 16,000 receiving instruction, there are only 3,200, and instead of 200 schools, averaging 80 chil- dren in each, there are only 40 schools* on an average, containing the same number, * There is a great sr number of schools in Dun- dee than the number here stated, but the average attendance of scholars is only 43 in each school. (162) which is only one-fifth of the number of schools which require to be established. In order to supply Dundee with proper education, a large building has lately been erected at an expense of about 10,000, which is called " The Dun- dee Seminaries," where about 200 or 300 chil- dren receive education. The expense was supplied partly by subscriptions, and partly by funds belonging to the town ; and the whole of this sum has been expended merely to afford accommodation for the children of 100 or 150 genteel families ! while the great mass of the population has been entirely overlooked. There is no law against the children of the middling and lower classes attending that seminary ; but the fees demanded amount, in their case, to an absolute prohibition. With the same sum of money, ten commodious seminaries, capable of containing accommoda- tion for 200 pupils each, or 2000 in all, might have been established. It has never yet been stated to the public, on what principle educa- tion is to be conducted in these seminaries whether it is to be conducted on the o/il system, or whether a plan of intellectual in- struction is to be prosecuted a most impor- tant matter, which ought to have been deter- mined before a stone of the building was laid, or even before a plan of it was selected. For the plan and arrangements of any building intended for intellectual instruction ought to be materially different from those of others, and to have conveniences and arrangements peculiar to itself. But the erection of an ex- pensive and splendid building, as an ornament to a commercial town, seems to have been an object of far greater importance, in the view of the Committee of Education, than the arrangement of an efficient plan of moral and intellectual tuition. Such are the prin- ciples and views of many in this country who profess to be the patrons of education ! Let us now consider the number of semi- naries which the whole of Scotland would, require. The population of Scotland, accord- ing to the census of 1831, is nearly 2,400,000, the one-third of which is 800,000. Supposing, as before, 80 children at an average in every school, there would be no less than 10,000 schools required for the efficient instruction of all the youth from two to fifteen years of ageof these 2500 would be infant schools. According to Mr. Colquhoun's statement, " the number of parishes in Scotland is 907, and the parochial schools of Scotland at this moment, 1005 ;" so that, in Scotland it would be requisite to establish ten limes the number of schools that presently exist, in order to the efficient instruction of the whole population. On the supposition that there are about 1000 private schools, besides the parochial, or two schools, at an average, for ever 7 parish NECESSITY OF PHILANTHROPIC EXERTION. 163 there would still be required 8000 additional schools, or fn',e times the number presently existing. Taking the population of England at 14,000,000, the number of children to be educated will be 4,666,666, and the number of schools, allowing 80 for each, 58,333, or nearly six times the number of schools re- quired for Scotland; so that in the whole island of Great Britain there would require to be established sixty-eight, thousand three hundred and thirty-three schools * Let us now consider the expenses which would be incurred in the erection of such schools. Estimating the expense of each school at 1000, that is. about 700 for the building and playground, and 300 for maps, views, library, apparatus, museum, &c. the neat cost of the schools for Scotland would be ten millions sterling. But, if infant schools, wherever they arc required, were to be con- nected with the other schools, so as to be under the same roof, the former on the ground flat and the latter on the upper, a building consisting of two stories, with suitable accom- modation for both departments, could, I pre- sume, be erected for the sum of 700. In this case, the number of erections would be reduced to 7500 ; and the whole expense would amount to 7,500,000. On the same plan, the number of school-houses required for England would be reduced to 43,750, and the expense would be 43,750,000 ; that is, about fifty-one millions for the whole of Great Britain. If we suppose, what is not impro- bable, that the number of infant schools, instead of bearing a proportion to the other schools as one to three, as here supposed, would require to bear a proportion of one to two, or half the number of the other schools, the number of school-houses would be reduced to 6666 for Scotland, and the expense to 6,666,000; and for England, to 38,889 schools, and the expense to 38,889,000 ; so that the whole amount of expenditure for both divisions of the island would be about 45^ millions. This will appear, in the eyes of many, a most prodigious sum a sum which we can never hope to realize. It is admitted that the sum is great ; but nothing in proportion to the magnitude and importance of the object in- tended to be accomplished which is nothing less than to raise the great mass of our popu- lation from degradation and misery to irra- diate their minds with knowledge to inspire them with moral principle and holy affections to render them happy in this world and to prepare them for the noble enjoyments of the life to come ; in short, to strike at the * On the same data, the numhfr of schools re- quired for the United States of America, would be above 54,000. foundation of every moral evil to counteract the principles of vice and criminality of every kind and to make the moral world, in all its departments, move onward in harmony and order. Surely, if such objects could be ac- complished, we need not grudge the expendi- ture even of a hundred millions of pounds. And such objects will never be accomplished, nor will the moral world be ever thoroughly improved, till such a system of moral and mental tuition as we have faintly sketched, be universally established. We sometimes talk about the approaching Millennium, and look forward to it as if it were to be introduced by some astonishing miracle, similar to that which caused the chaotic mass at the Mosaic creation to be enlightened, and reduced to beauty and order. But such views are evi- dently fallacious, and contrary to what we know of the general plan and tenor of the Divine government ; and they have no other tendency but to unnerve our energies, and to damp our exertions in the cause of human improvement. Throughout the whole range of the Divine dispensations recorded in Scrip- ture, we can point out no miracle that, was ever performed, where the operation of the established laws of nature, and the ordinary powers of human agents, were adequate to accomplish the end intended. Man, under the present dispensation, is "a worker together with God," in accomplishing his purposes ; and, under the agency of that Almighty Spirit which "moved upon the face of the waters" at the first creation, is able to accomplish all that is predicted respecting the Millennium, provided his rebellious will were subdued, and his moral energies thoroughly directed to this grand object It is owing to* the sin and rebellion of man that this world has under- gone such a melancholy derangement, both in its physical and moral aspect ; and it will be by the moral and mental energies of man, when properly directed by the Divine Spirit, that the chaotic mass of the moral world will be reduced to harmony and order, and the wastes and barren deserts of the physical world adorned with fertility and rural and architectural beauty, so that " the wilderness and the solitary place will rejoice and blossom as the rose." It is one chief ingredient in the happiness of man, and an honour conferred on him, that he is selected as an agent, under God, for bringing about such a glorious con- summation ; and there is no man that ought to assume the name of a Christian, who is not ready to exert his activities, and to sacrifice a considerable portion of his wealth in this service. Under the Old Testament economy, the pious Jews brought forward to the service of God their tithes and free-will offerings, their ir4 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. bullocks and rams, and "the first fruits of their increase." When Solomon had dedi- cated the temple, he offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen, and of 120,000 sheep ; and when Hezekiah set himself to purify the worship of God, and to promote reformation in Israel, he gave to the congregation a thou- sand bullocks, and seven thousand sheep the princes gave a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep and the common people "brought in abundance, the first fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey ; and of all the increase of the field, the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly, and laid them in heaps upon heaps," for four months in suc- cession, so that Hezekiah was astonished at the voluntary liberality of the people, " and blessed the Lord and his people Israel." When the tabernacle in the wilderness was about to be reared, " both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, brought brace- lets and ear-rings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold ; and every man that offered, of- fered an offering of gold unto the Lord. E very man with whom was found blue and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought them. Every one that had silver and brass and shittim-wood for any work of service, 'brought them. All the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue and purple, and scarlet, and of fine linen. And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breast-plate. Every man and woman brought a willing offering to the Lord, till they had much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make."* These offerings were, doubtless, emblematical of the exertions which would be made, and of the costly offerings which would be brought forward for rearing the fabric of the New Testament church. But what are all the offerings which have been hitherto received for this purpose, compared with the offerings now stated, or with what is requisite to accom- plish this grand object! One of the offerings above stated as made by Solomon is equivalent to more than five hundred thousand pounds of British money, which is more than the amount of the funds of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and all its auxiliaries, during the first ten years of their operation. Christians do not seem to have yet recognized their duty, to devote a certain portion of their substance to the service of God and the im- provement of man. The pitiful sums hitherto devoted to these objects, compared with what is expended in gratifying pride, and ambition, * See Exod. xxxv. 21-20, &c.~ 2 Chron. vii. 5, YT* 9i l. mid ixx. 5-8. (164, and luxury, is a libel on the Christian world. If we had right views of the grandeur and importance of such objects^ instead of con- tributing sixpences, shillings, and guineas, we should behold wealthy Christians devoting hundreds, and even thousands a year, to the improvement of society and the advancement of the interests of religion ; and all this could be done by thousands in our country, without depriving themselves of a single comfort or sensitive enjoyment. Let us consider, for a moment, the sums we have expended in madness and folly, in the pursuits of ambition and the desolations of war and we shall then be able to deter- mine whether it be not in our power to raise 40 millions of pounds for the improvement of society. It has been calculated, that, out of 127 years, commencing with 1688, and ter- minating in 1815, England spent 65 years in war, and 62 in peace. The war of 1C88, after lasting nine years, and raising our expenditure in that period 26 millions, was ended by the treaty of Ryswick, in 1697. Then came the war of the Spanish succes- sion, which began in 1702, was concluded in 1713, and absorbed 62 millions of British money. Without noticing the wars of the Pretender in 1715 and 1745, the next was the Spanish war of 1739, settled for at Aix-la- Chapelle in 1748, after costing 54 millions. Then came the seven years' war of 1756, which terminated with the treaty of Paris, in 1763, in the course of which we spent 112 millions. The next was the American war of 1775, which lasted eight years, in which crusade against the liberties of mankind, we expended no less than 186 millions. The French revolutionary war began 1793, lasted nine years, and exhibited an expenditure of 464 millions. The war against Buonaparte began in 1803 r and ended in 1815. During those twelve years of extravagance and car- nage, we spent the enormous sum of 1159 millions ! ! 771 of which were raised by taxes, and 388 by loans. In the war of 1688 we borrowed 20 millions ; in the war of the Spanish succession, 32 millions; in the Spanish, war of 1739, 29 millions ; in the seven years' war, 60 millions ; in the Ameri- can war, 104 millions; and in the revolution- ary war, 201 millions ; so that the sums borrowed in these 7 wars, during 65 years, amounted, in all, to above 834 millions. During the same time, we raised by taxes 1499 -millions forming a total expenditure of 2333 millions! which is equal to about 100 for every man, woman, and child in Scotland, or about 600 for every family; and which would be sufficient to establish a system of education, such as we have de- scribed, for a population of about 820 millions ; PENSION LIST. 165 or, in other words, for all the inhabitants of the globe. Thus we see, that when ambition and revenge are to be gratified, when tyranny is to be supported, when the human race is to be slaughtered by millions, and when all the arts of mischief and destruction which the demon of war has devised, are to be brought into operation there is no want of funds to carry such schemes into effect. During the war with Buonaparte 40 millions would have been considered as a mere item in the national expenditure, amounting to little more than the war taxes of a single year. And shall it ever be said that such a sum cannot now be raised for counteracting moral evil and human misery, and training our population to " glory arid immortality ?" That man who would oppose such a grant, whatever rank he may hold in society, ought to be branded as an enemy to his species. It was but the other year that twenty millions were granted for the emancipation of our colonial slaves, and scarcely a voice was lifted up against it ; and there is not an individual at this moment that can say that he personally feels any part of the burden. It requires only that a similar sum be doubled in order to set in motion a machinery which would, ere long, promote the renovation of the British population, and, ultimately, of all the inhabitants of the globe. Let us consider, farther, a few more items of our expenditure, which might be saved and appropriated to purposes of human im- provement. We have, for example, a pension list, the amount of which, for the last half century, would more than accomplish all the objects to which I allude. This list includes the names of many hundreds, nay thousands of individuals, who never performed the least service for the benefit of their country, and yet have been permitted to devour thousands, and even millions, of the wealth of the nation. A considerable portion of these individuals are ladies, connected with the nobility and gentry, no one of whom ever wrote a treatise on any subject, promoted a useful invention, or handled a single musket in defence of their country. One of these ladies, since 1 823, has pocketed more than 10,000; another, since 1803, above 16,000; another, since 1784, above 28,000; and two ladies, be- longing to the same family, 28,096. One family, consisting of four individuals, one of whom is a lady, since 1787, has swallowed up q,o less than 86,000 of the national resources ; and two individuals, belonging to another family, the sum of 60,816. About a dozen individuals, belonging to seven or eight fami- lies, have consumed no less than 280,000, wrung from a nation ground down under the load of excessive taxation. What, then, would be the amount of all the sums which have been expended on the thousands of individuals whose names have been recorded in the pen- sion list during the last 50 years ! And, be it remembered, that most, if not all, of these persons are possessed of independent fortunes, are connected with the higher circles of so- ciety, and scarcely a dozen of them have per- formed a single action that entitled them to such remuneration while many worthy indi- viduals, men of science and philanthropy, who have promoted knowledge and the best interests of society, have been left to pine in poverty, and to pass their lives in an inglorious obscurity. Another item which might be saved, and devoted to the purpose of mental improvement, is the immense sums which have been expended in electioneering contests. In some instances, no less than forty thousand pounds have been expended by a single family in endeavouring, for selfish pui poses, to ob- tain for a friend a seat iri Parliament, which were wasted hi promoting bribery, perjury, broils, contentions, rioting, and drunkenness. In the late elections (January, 1835) we have reason to believe that several millions have been expended. Supposing that there were only 550 contested elections that only two individuals were opposed to each other and that the average expense of each candidate amounted to 3000, the whole sums wasted in this manner would amount to three millions three hundred thousand pounds. In one or two instances it is asserted, that the expenses in- curred by a single candidate were no less than twelve and fifteen thousand pounds. The expenses, too, connected with sinecure offices, which have been bestowed on wealthy individuals, would be nearly sufficient to pay the annual interest of the sum requisite for establishing all the institutions to which I have adverted. It has been calculated, that the in- comes of only eleven persons connected with the " Peel and Wellington ministry," along with some of their friends derived from sinecures, places, and pensions amount to about 88,000 per annum, besides their offi- cial salaries as ministers of the crown. The Duke of Wellington alone including pen- sions and interest of grant is said to cost the country 33,104 a year. Almost all the mo- ney expended in elections might be saved, if proper laws and regulations were adopted, and if electors were uniformly permitted to act as rational beings, and to vote according to the dictates of their consciences ; and if only half the expenses usually incurred on such occasions were devoted to nobler objects, it would form an important item in the expenses requisite for establishing philanthropic institu- tions. As to sinecures, either in church or state, it is nothing short of barefaced robbery of the national wealth, and an insult offered (165> 166 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. to an enlightened people, that such offices should exist ; and, particularly, that they should be bestowed on those who are living in splen- dour and luxurious abundance. Besides the savings which might be made in the public expenditure, there is still a greater sum which might be saved from va- rious items in the private establishments of wealthy individuals, which might be devoted to national improvements. The saving of a single bottle of wine a-day, would amount to 50 a-year ; the discarding of an unnecessary servant, to nearly the same sum; keeping four horses instead of six, would be a saving of at least 60 ; and discarding a score of hounds would save more than a hundred pounds a-year. There are thousands in our country, who in this way could save 500 a year, to be devoted to rational and benevolent purposes, without feeling the least diminu- tion of their sensitive enjoyments. There are hundreds of thousands in the middle ranks of life who could save 20 a-year, by discard- ing unnecessary luxuries, in regard to houses, furniture, food and clothing, and feel them- selves just as comfortable as before ; and there are many more among the lower ranks who could save several pounds every year, which are now wasted either in folly or intem- perance, and find themselves richer and more comfortable at the close of the year than at any former period. Let us suppose, what is perhaps not far from the truth, that there are 50,000 individuals, or the ^^ ff part of the British population, who, at an average, have incomes of 3000 per annum, and could de- vote 300 a-year to public purposes some much more, and some less ; this would amount to fifteen millions a-year. There may next be reckoned about 200,000 with incomes, at an average of 300 per annum, who could devote a similar proportion, namely 30 per annum ; which would amount to six millions. Supposing the population of Great Britain to be 16,000,000, and that only one-fourth of this number, namely 4,000,000, have it in their power to devote a certain portion of their income to the purposes alluded to, there would still remain 3,750,000 of the lower classes, who might be supposed, on an average, able to devote one guinea a-year, to the same ob- jects, which would amount to nearly four mil- lions. So that twenty-five millions of pounds might be raised annually for literary, philan- thropic, and religious purposes, without any one feeling the loss of any sensitive enjoy- ment, but, on the contrary, enjoying the purest gratification in beholding improvements going forward, and the plans of benevolence gradually accomplishing. Passing many other consi- derations of this kind, the only other item of expenditure I shall notice is. that which is (166) spent in the purchase of spirituous which are for the most part devoted to the purposes of intemperance. According to an estimate made by Mr. Buckingham and the Committee appointed by Parliament to inves- tigate the state of intemperance, it appears, that, within the limits of Great Britain and Ireland, there is a loss sustained by the use of ardent spirits amounting to nearly "fifty millions sterling per annum /" It is stated, that, in the city of Glasgow alone, the sum expended in intoxicating drinks " is nearly equal to the whole amount expended on pub- lic institutions of charity and benevolence in the entire united kingdom." This item alone would be more than sufficient for all the pur- poses of philanthropy and universal improve- ment. I shall only add farther, that, were all the bishoprics in England reduced to 2,000 a-year, the balance would furnish several hundred thousands of pounds a-year which might be devoted to educational purposes; and both religion and education would be pro- moted by such an arrangement. Still, our bishops would have more than double the income of the Protestant bishops on the Con- tinent, and would likely perform more sub- stantial services than they now do to the cause of religion. Conversing lately with an intelligent Prussian gentleman on this subject, he informed me that the clergy in Prussia of the same rank with vicars and rectors in the Church of England, have an income of from 100 to 250, reckoned in British money ; and that the salaries of the bishops are only from 300 to 500, and that they are far more actively engaged in the services of the church than the bishops of England. Thus it appears, that there is, in reality, no want of resources for establishing an efficient system of moral and intellectual education on the most splendid and extensive scale. In- stead of forty millions in all, we could raise forty millions per annum, and would ulti- mately be gainers by such a sacrifice, in the diminution of crime, the protection of pro- perty, the progress of improvement, and the increased physical and mental powers of our population. We have the power and the means to promote the reformation of society, and even the renovation of the world at large, if we had the will to apply them. But this is the grand desideratum. To attempt to con- vince some of our dukes and marquises, our bishops and squires, our fox-hunters, horse* racers, and fashionable gamblers, that it is their duty to contribute of their abundance for such an object, would be as vain as to beat the air, to speak to the hurricane, or attempt to interrupt the dashings of a cataract by the breath of our nostrils. But there is one class of the population to which I would address NECESSITY OF PHILANTHROPIC EXERTIONS. 167 myself with some hopes of success namely, members of the Christian Church on whom Providence has bestowed a considerable por- tion of wealth and influence. Many of these have already come forward with a noble libe- rality in the cause of missions and of general philanthropy ; and they require only an addi- tional stimulus to excite them to still more liberal exertions in the cause of human im- provement. But the generality of Christians *eem to have forgotten the Divine declaration, " The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts," and that a goodly portion of the wealth which God hath be- stowed upon them, ought to be directly conse- crated to his service. The church itself has hitherto been too remiss on this point, and has not been careful to enforce upon the con- sciences of its members, their indispensable obligation to devote their treasures to the pro- motion of religion and of public improvement. How many nominal Christians do we see living under the influence of that " covftons- neys which is idolatry," hoarding up hun- dreds and thousands of pounds, for the purpose either of avarice or ostentation, or under pre- tence of providing fortunes for their families, while it is with the utmost difficulty that a sin- gle guinea can be squeezed from their pockets for any object of benevolence or public utility 1 Almost every one seems to reason, like the Duke of Newcastle, that he has a right " to do whal he pleases with his own" not consider- ing that he is responsible to God for the use he makes of his riches, and for every shilling he withholds from his service. Under the Mosaic economy, the Jews were enjoined to devote a tenth part of their sub- stance to the Levites and the Priests, or, in other words, for the purpose of supporting education and the worship of God ; for the Levites were the principal instructors of the people. Under the Christian dispensation, the same proportion, if not more, ought to be voluntarily offered for carrying forward those plans which have a tendency to promote the honour of God and the good of mankind. In certain cases, where a wealthy individual has no family of his own, I conceive it is his bound- en duty to devote at least the one-half of his riches to such purposes. Till such views and practices become more general among Chris- tians, we must still look forward to a distant period for the arrival of the Millennium. For the purpose of hastening the approach of this glorious era, we are told, in ancient prophecy, that the " kings of Tarshish and of the isles, shall bring presents, and offer gifts" that " the flocks of Kedar and the rams of Ne- baioth," shall be brought as acceptable offer- ings to the altar of God, that " the glory of Lebanon, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, shall beautify the place of his sanctuary," and that, " they shall come on camels and dromedaries, and bring gold and incense, and show forth the praises of the Lord." Such offerings are expressions of our gratitude to God for the bounties of his provi- dence and the riches of his grace, and of our desire to co-operate with him, in bringing into effect the purposes of his will and the predic- tions of his word ; and no one who is indif- ferent to such objects ought to assume the character of a follower of Jesus. And, let Christians remember, that by carrying for- ward such a system of education as that to which I refer, they are using the most efficient means for promoting the extension of the gos- pel. For the gospel can never be universally understood or appreciated till the young be universally educated. It is owing to the want of education, and the ignorance and vicious habits that result from it, that multitudes re- fuse to enter within a place of worship, and when they do come, are incapable of fixing their attention on religious objects, or of un- derstanding the truths delivered. In the above statements and remarks, I have taken for granted, that the government of this or of any other country might afford, from the natiqnal funds, a grant of money adequate to the establishment of all the institutions to which I have alluded whether infant schools, Sabbath evening institutions, seminaries for the higher branches of moral and intellectual in- struction, or preceptoral colleges for the train- ing of teachers. But although no government were to feel the least interest in such institu- tions, it is in the power of the people, and within the range of the means they actually possess, to establish them, independently of any extra- neous support. This, I trust, will appear from the considerations stated in the preceding para- graphs. Let a general " agitation" be excited on this subject let the importance of it be clearly proved and illustrated let the necessity of doing something more than has hitherto been done in this respect be fully established let a convirlinn be deeply impressed upon the minds of the influential classes of society, of the utility of such exertions for counteract- ing immorality and crime, for improving the social state of human beings, and preparing them for future felicity let societies be formed and subscriptions entered into for this purpose and let a few seminaries of the description referred to, be erected in different districts of the country, and I have little doubt that a spirit of improvement in this respect would ere long pervade the mass of the community. Although many would stand aloof, and even spurn at such movements, yet I trust there is still as much virtue, and liberality, and philan- thropy among us, as would lead to no incon- (167) 168 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. siderable exertions in the advancement of society in knowledge and religion. For my own part, I have no hesitation in pledging myself to devote one-fifth of my annual in- come, in the first instance, and one-tenth of it every year afterwards, for the promotion of the objects now stated : provided three hun- dred individuals in this or any other country, shall come forward and pledge themselves to dedicate a similar proportion of their incomes to the furtherance of the same object.* Such is the importance I attach to the subject and the plans under consideration ; and I feel con- fident, from the improvements now going for- ward and in agitation, that something more extensive and efficient in this respect than has ever been attempted, will, ere long, be ac- complished. There is a certain people, at whom many of our British grandees and newspaper critics are disposed to sneer, and upon whom they affect to look down with a certain degree of contempt, who, I am confi- dent, will be the first to move forward in this work of improvement. They have already made an advance in education beyond that of any other civilized nation, but their system is not yet perfect, nor universally extended, The subject, however, is exciting among them almost universal attention, and whenever a hint for farther improvement is given, it will, I doubt not, be eagerly seized upon, and speedily reduced to practice. They have late- ly undermined, to a great extent, the cause of intemperance, and they have it now in their power to consecrate the millions of dollars which were formerly spent in degrading sen- suality, to the furtherance of education, and the cause of nation al improvement^ If Britain doesnot soon arouse herself from her slumbers and move forward in the cause of education, it will be degrading to the rank she holds in * To prevent misconceptions, it may be proper to state, that the author's income, like that of Gold- smith's "country clergyman, "has, for eight years past, scarcely exceeded "forty pounds a-year," exclusive of the house in which he lives; but should it be increased in future years, the same proportion shall be allotted for the object now specified, and a eimilar proportion shall be deducted from what- ever profits he may derive from the publication of the present volume, or any other that may sue- ceed it. Three hundred gentlemen whose incomes 12,000, and every succeeding year a sum of 6000 to carry forward, their operations ; so that, in the course of ten years, 66,000 would be raised, which would be sufficient to establish nearly sev- enty seminaries, with their libraries, apparatus, and museums. However romantic it may appear as a tax on such incomes during the late war with France ; and they are now solicited only in the shape of a voluntary donation. Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine. 168) the civilized world, to reflect, that she is fai excelled in this respect by a republic on the one hand, and a despotical government (Prussia,) on the other. The only grant of money that was ever directly given by the British Parliament for the promotion of edu- cation, was 20,000, which was conceded by the House of Commons in 1833; and Mr. Colquhoun stated, in 1 834, that " the utmost that Scotland required (ultimately) for the supply of education, was a provision of 60,000 per annum." The proposal of such pitiful sums for so grand and extensive an object, is little short of an insult offered to the cause of education, and plainly indicates the imperfect and limited views which are still entertained on this subject. Some of our members of Parliament, when they talk of education, appear to mean nothing more than giving the mass of the community a few gen- eral instructions in reading, writing, and arith- metic, according to the old inefficient system which has so long prevailed. The only gentle- ' man who has broached this topic in the House of Commons, and who appears to entertain clear and comprehensive views on the subject of education, is Mr. Roebuck ; but, unfortu- nately, his proposals and his luminous expo- sition of this subject, seem to have been, in a great measure, unappreciated and neglected. Supposing seminaries established to the extent which the population of any country requires, a difficulty still remains to be sur- mounted ; and that is, How we shall be en- abled to induce parents and guardians of all ranks to send their children to rfie different schools appropriated for their instruction ? It would certainly be eligible, in the first in- stance, to try the effects of moral SUHRWI to represent to reluctant parents, in the most affectionate manner, the utility and import- ance of rational and moral instruction, both to themselves and to their offspring the bene- ficial effects that would accrue to them even in the present life, and the moral certainty that they would be directed in the path which leads to happiness in the life to come ; and, in every instance, where poverty, or a disin- clination to pay the fees, stood in the way, the children should be educated free of ex- pense to the parents. For this purpose, about ten millions more, for Great Britain, would require to be annually raised, for defraying the charge of educating the children of the poor, and affording salaries for the teachers in every case where salaries are required. Few veringly resist the force of such arguments. But, should moral suasion be insufficient for this purpose, a law might be passed, as in Prussia, rendering it imperative on every pa- rent to have his children, of a certain age, INEFFICIENCY OF SEVERE PUNISHMENTS. 169 regularly attending an appropriate seminary. Such a law would not require to be rigidly enforced beyond the period of a generation, or even a period of twenty years. For the chil- dren, once thoroughly trained in morality and religion, and in all the branches of useful knowledge formerly specified, when they ar- rived at manhood, and had families of their own, would require no persuasion or extrane- ous excitement to induce them to give their offspring all the education that can possibly be obtained. The advantages they themselves have experienced from instruction, and the relish for knowledge they have imbibed, would be instead of a thousand arguments to impel them to seize upon every mean of instruc- tion within their reach ; and any individual who reasoned or acted otherwise, would be considered as a phenomenon in society. Igno- rance and its usual accompaniments, obstinacy and self-conceit, are the chief obstacles which prevent rational arguments from producing their effect, and which render compulsory measures, in certain cases, expedient. But when a community has become once tho- roughly enlightened and moralized, the path of duty is clearly perceived to be the path of interest and of happiness, and compulsory enactments are rendered unnecessary. CHAPTER XII. On the Utility of establishing Seminaries for Universal Education. VARIOUS insulated remarks on this topic have been interspersed in the preceding pages, and " the advantages which would result from a more general diffusion of knowledge among all ranks," have been illustrated in a separate volume.* I shall, therefore, in this place, advert to only two or three additional considerations. I. The establishment of schools for uni- versal instruction, while it counteracted igno- rance, and improved the intellect would tend to the prevention of crime, and might ultimately extirpate those dispositions and affections which led to it. It was lately stated in the Times newspaper, as the result of a moderate calculation, that there are 50,000 thieves and pickpockets in and about London. According to the state- ment of an intelligent person, who acted seve- ral years as the teacher of the boy-prisoners in Newgate, there are above fifty committals to this prison every week, on an average, or nearly 3000 in the year. The persons com- mitted, of course, are not all new offenders, as the same individuals frequently return again. But, although on this account we subtract two or three hundreds from this sum, the black catalogue swells to a dreadful amount when we add to it the number of prisoners committed to the penitentiaries, correction houses, and other jails of the metropolis. "The trials at the Old Bailey average 2550 in the year, and they are said to be hurried for- ward with .appalling rapidity ; the average time given to each case being only eight minutes and a half; though many cannot oc- cupy two, three, or at most five minutes, as *"The Improvement of Society by the Diffu- sion of Knowledge," first published in 1S33, of which two editions have been published in Scot- land, and four or five in America. 22 the average time now stated includes trials that will last a day, and others that occupy several hours. According to a Report of a Committee of the House of Commons, there were confined in prisons and bridewells, dur- ing seven years, ending in 1831, 122,000 persons accused of crimes, or at the rate of 17,428 per annum. Of these, 85,000 were convicted of the crimes laid to their charge, so that 12,142 was the average amount of the yearly convictions. It has been estimated, in regard to juvenile delinquency, that more than 1500 boys, in London alone, are employed in thieving, picking pockets, and committing all kinds of petty depredations. It is also found, that crimes, so far from diminishing, are, in this country, regularly increasing. From the Report of a late Committee of Parliament, it appears, that, during the last 14 years they have increased in the proportion of twenty- four to ten, that is, they have been far more than doubled in the course of that short period. These statements exhibit a frightful view of the extent and the progress of crimes. Nor is it to be wondered at, when we con- sider the present state of education, and the manner in which it is conducted the princi-' 1 pies on which our penal code has been con- structed, and the manner in which our criminal laws are executed. Our penal code, through- out all its departments, is deeply imbued with the spirit of revenge. To produce pain and disgrace to the criminal appears to be its principal object ; and, in the great majority of instances, it has the effect of hardening and rendering more desperate the persons whom it ought to have softened and reformed. To reform the criminal, to cure him of the moral disease which led him into crime, to impart P (109) 170 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. appropriate instruction to his mind, and to prepare the way for his restoration to society as a renovated character, are circumstances which seem to have been entirely overlooked in the arrangements connected with our crimi- nal legislation. In this respect a dreadful infatuation seems to have seized upon our legislators, implying a deficiency both of wis- dom, of humanity, and of benevolence. When certain species of crime are on the increase, laws still more severe are enacted, and put in execution with all the pomp and rigour of authority and revenge. If whipping and im- prisonment, toiling at the tread-wheel, labour- ing in the hulks, and transportation beyond seas, are insufficient to arrest the progress of crime, then executions without number are resorted to, in order to sweep the culprits at once from the face of the earth. One enact- ment after another issues from the source of power ; one law comparatively mild is can- celled, and another more severe substituted in its place ; a severe punishment is some- times modified and rendered less severe ; the sentence of death is commuted into transporta- tion for life, and a year's labour at the tread- mill for seven 5 ears' transportation. Every year new enactments, laws, and regulations, with alterations and modifications of former laws, issue from the legislative department of government ; but all is of no avail to stop the progress of immorality and crime. Nor need we wonder at such a result ; it is precisely such as we ought to expect from such a mode of legislation as now exists. Our state physi- cians act nearly in the same manner as the quack, who, instead of striking at the root of a sore which is undermining the constitution, covers it over with a slender skin, and leaves the internal virus to gather strength till it break out in incurable ulcers, throughout every part of the system. They attempt to lop off the twigs and branches from the tree of crime, while they leave the root and the trunk to break forth afresh in still greater luxuriance. No efficient preventive system has yet been arranged to strike at the root of crime, to prevent its growth, and to make the ma- chinery of society move onward with smooth- ness and harmony. And, so long as preventive measures are overlooked, and moral training neglected, the severest laws that can be framed will be altogether inefficient to counteract the criminal propensities of the human heart.* Our legislators and political quacks tell us, * America is almost the only country where a considerable degree of attention has been bestowed on this subject. The inhabitants of the United States are greatly in advance of European govern- ments in this respect, having established systems of penitentiary discipline, on enlightened princi- ples, connected with regular latiour and religious instruction in Auburn, Sing Sing, Weathersfield, (HO) that the desiam of severe punishments is to deter others from the commission of crimes. But even this object they are altogether in- sufficient to accomplish ; for it is well known, that in those countries where punishments are most appalling and severe, crimes are the most frequent. Even the dreadful punish- ment inflicted in Russia on the pirates and robbers who infested the banks of the Wolga, who were hung alive on hooks fastened into their ribs, and left to pine away in agonizing torture, for days together, and in hundreds or thousands at a time, was insufficient to put a stop to the robberies it was intended to pre- vent, and it has been lately abolished. If we compare the crimes committed under some of the despotical governments of Europe, with those committed in the United States, where the laws are comparatively mild and equitable, we shall find that there are much fewer crimes committed in the latter case than In the former. That capital punishments have little influence in deterring from criminal prac- tices, appears from the circumstance of rob- beries being frequently committed among the crowds assembled during the time of an exe- cution. The following example, extracted from " The Schoolmaster in Newgate," will illustrate our position : " One morning u boy," who appears to have been previously in the habit of pilfering, " came into his father's room, and seeing nothing to eat for breakfast but bread and butter on the table, he said, ' What ! nothing for breakfast 1 Ah ! wait a bit.' He then went out, and in a quarter of an hour came back with rump steaks and a pint of rum, besides having mo- ney in his pocket. He had gone out, and stolen a piece of Irish linen from a shop on Ludgate Hill, took it to a buyer of stolen goods, and bought the articles he had brought home, all in the short space of fifteen minutes ; and this was not an uncommon thing for him to do, although his parents were not in need. The boy was at length transported, when he was only fourteen years of age. He subse- quently detailed to me all his practices, and how he got into crime. His parents resided in a court running out of the Old Bailey, and he had witnessed every execution which had taken place during his short career. So much for the effect of executions, as supposed to deter from crime ; indeed most of the boys engaged in crime appear to have a great pleasure in attending executions. The Pittsburg, and other places, which have already- been attended with the most beneficial effects. Of course, several defects still attach themselvea to these establishments ; but the plan lately pro- posed by Mr. Livingston, Secretary of State at Washington, promises to carry such penitentiaries in their principle and operation very near to per- fection. DEFICIENCY OF EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 171 author adds, " These boys are capable of re- ceiving impressions, and are as susceptible of sentiments of gratitude as any lord's son, if the proper treatment were used to draw them out. It is only by cultivating the best feel- ings of our nature, that any human beings can be improved ; all other systems are falla- cious, and founded on gross error." The same author informs us, that " There are whole families who had never any other calling but that of theft ay, hundreds of such families are now in being in London who have continued the same course, some for twenty, thirty, or forty years. One old woman said, last year, when her seventh son was transported, 'Ha! I know not what I shall do, now poor Ned is going ; he was a good lad to me ; and though I say it, he was as good a hand at his business as any in Lon- don.' ' 0, then, he was brought up to busi- ness,' I replied. She rejoined, 'God bless you, no ! I thought he had told when you made his brief that ours was a right sort of cross family ;' adding, ' and so was their father's father, and good ones they all were ; now there's little Dick, my eldest son's boy ; but I think he'll never make the man his father did he's dull; besides, he's not old enough quite for any good business yet.' Some of these pathetic mothers will, when warmed with the cream, speak of the num- bers which have fallen in their families with as much pride and exultation as a Spartan mother 01 old used to do, when numbering her sons who had fallen in their country's cause. The increase of these families is daily going on, through intermarriages, and other ramifications of family connections ; and thus, in a great measure, is the problem solved, as to the increase of crime. This is an epitome of the history of the poor in London and its environs, which might have been given of them forty years ago, and will apply, for ages to come, unless the legislature grapple with the subject at once." Such facts evidently show, that neither severity of punishment, nor any other arrangement yet made by our legislators, is adequate to arrest the progress of crime, and to promote the reformation of society. The deficiency of education in our country, as well as the inefficiency and absurdity of our penal enactments, will account for the increase of crime. Instead of one out of four of the population, attending instruction, it is estimated that in England only one out of sixteen, in Scotland one out of ten, #nd in Ireland but one out of eighteen, are receiving scholastic instruction, which, in most cases, is miserably deficient ; " every miserable garret or hovel in which weakness or decrepitude ekes out a wretched subsistence, by abusing the title of teacher being dignified with the name of a school." But let us come to par- ticulars. According to the "Report of the British and Foreign School Society," for 1833, it is intimated that in the Metropolis alone, above 150,000 children are growing up without education. In one village, containing 272 families, consisting of 1467 persons, only 562 were found able to read. In other dis- tricts, villages are pointed out containing 1000, 1500, or 2000 inhabitants, without any efficient school. Whole families are described as having reached maturity, without any mem- ber of them being able to read a single letter in short, that many thousands of children are growing up hi utter ignorance, not only oi the elements of learning, but of all moral and religious obligations. In the town of Notting- ham, it is asserted, in a circular lately published, that above a thousand children of an age suit- able for school, are growing up in total igno- rance. From a canvass lately instituted by the Committee of the Herefordshire Auxiliary Bible Society, it appears that out of 41,017 individuals visited, only 24,222, or little more than one-half, were able to read.* In the Report of the British and Foreign School Society, for 1831, is the following statement: " Debasing ignorance prevails to an extent which could not be credited, were it not veri- fied by the closest investigation. The facts which have been elicited respecting the moral and intellectual state of those counties which have been disgraced by riots and acts of incendiarism, are truly affecting, and yet they are but a fair representation of the actual state of our peasantry. Out of nearly 700 prisoners put on trial in four counties, up- wards of two hundred and sixty were as ignorant as the savages of the desert they could not read a single letter. Of the whole 700, only 150 could write, or even read with ease ; and nearly the whole number were totally ignorant with regard to the nature and obli- gations of true religion." In the reports of the same Society for 1832-3, it is stated, " In September, 1831, out of 50 prisoners put on trial at Bedford, only four could read. In January, 1833, there were in the same prison between 50 and 60 awaiting their trials, of whom not more than ten could read, and even some of these could not make out the sense of a sentence, though they knew their letters. At Wisbeach, in the Isle of Ely, out of 19 prisoners put on trial, only six were able to read and write, and the capital offences were committed entirely by persons in a state of the most debasing ignorance. Not only in England, but even in Scotland, we shall find a glaring deficiency in the means of education. In Glasgow, at the last census, * Edinburgh Review, No. 117 Oct. 1833. (17 D 172 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. there were, between the ages of 5 and 15, 46,000, that is, between one-fourth and one- fifth of the population at an age to receive education. But, in point of fact, it is found that there are only one-fourteenth at school, or 14,285, reckoning the whole population at 200,000; consequently there are 31,715 children absent from the means of instruction, who ought to be attending them ; and it is found that there are about 6000 living by crime, a large proportion of whom are young. In the Abbey parish of Paisley, which con- tains nearly one-half of the whole population, only one-twentieth attend school. In this town there are 3000 families among whom education does not enter, and where children are growing up wholly untaught. " In Perth, the proportion attending school is under one- fifteenth ; and in Old Aberdeen only one twenty-fifth. As to the country districts, in the 132 parishes in the counties of Banff, Elgin, and Aberdeen, the average of the whole is one-eleventh ; and there are in- stances of one-twelfth, one-thirteenth, one- fifteenth, and one-twentieth, in the other parishes, taken indiscriminately over the south and central parts of Scotland. In a parish in the county of Berwick, the propor- tion at school is one-fifteenth ; in a parish in the county of Dumbarton one-thirteenth ; and, lest it should be surmised that this deplorable state as to education exists only in manu- facturing parishes, where a dense population has recently arisen, it is proper to state, that several of these instances are in rural parishes ; the two worst instances those in the counties of Banff and Aberdeen being entirely conn- try parishes. In the 143 Highland parishes, out of 500,000, there are 83,000 who cannot read, and have no means of learning; and there are 250,000 who cannot write."* Such is the deplorable deficiency of education even in Scotland, which has been so much lauded on account of its parochial establishments, and the intelligence of its population ; and therefore we need not wonder that, even here, immorality and crime have of late been on the increase. What is the remedy, then, which will coun- teract, and ultimately subvert the moral evils to which we have adverted ? I answer, with- out the least hesitation Intellectual, Moral, and Religious instruction, universally ex- tended not the form of education without the substance, not merely pronunciation, cy- phering, and conning memorial tasks, not merely committing to memory, formulas, cate- * The above facts are abridged from Mr. Colqu- houn's statements in Parliament respecting edu- cation in Scotland who deserves no little praise for the labour and attention he has bestowed on the subject. U72) chisms, speeches, psalms and hymns ; but the imparting of clear t and comprehensive idea? on all those subjects on which man is inte- rested as a rational, social, and immortal being. There has never yet been a complete and efficient system of education, of this de- scription, established in any country under heaven; the improvements lately introduced in the United States, Prussia, Wirtemberg, Bavaria, and other places, being only approxi- mations ; and hence society, in such countries, though greatly meliorated, is not yet half moralized or reformed. That such a system of instruction, universally established and judi- ciously conducted, would raise the tone of moral feeling, and counteract criminal propensities, no sane mind will presume to call in question. We find, from the facts above stated, that ignorance and crime are intimately connected that those who rendered themselves amen- able to the laws of their country, had been allowed to grow up without instruction and that " the capital offences were committed entirely by persons in a state of the most debasing ignorance." Indeed all the cases stated, may be considered as cases of absolute ignorance ; for although some of the criminals alluded to, " knew their letters, they could not make out the sense of a sentence ,-" and the bare circumstance of being able to read, or, in other words, to pronounce the sounds of words and characters, is unworthy the name of education, though it is too frequently digni- fied with this appellation. If ignorance, then, with all its usual debasing accompaniments, be one of the chief sources of crime, we have only to remove the cause in order to prevent the effect. Wherever the mind has been thoroughly enlightened and judiciously trained from infancy in moral habits, the tendenev to criminal practices has been at the same time subdued. " Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." I question if a single instance can be brought forward inconsistent with this position. (See page 61.) This likewise holds true in the case of nations as well as individuals in propor- tion to the extent and the efficiency of the means employed. In Ireland, there is more crime than in England, and in England more than in Scotland ; and this is corresponding to the proportion of the means of instruction in the respective countries. In the Northern States of America, particularly New England, where almost the whole population is well educated, there is perhaps less crime and misery than in any other country in the world.j" In regard to New York, it is worthy } In reference to the cjty of Boston, the Capital of New-England, Mr. Stuart, in his '-Three years in North America," has the following remarks EXPENSE OF PUNISHING CRIME. 173 of remark, in this point of view, that there support an efficient national education. It was no conviction for murder or any other has been estimated, that the expenses attend- capital offence, in that State, comprising two ant on the imprisonment, the conviction, and millions of inhabitants during the year 1832. the punishment of criminals, will average The number of schools in New York, that more than a hundred pounds for each indi- year, was 9270 ; the number of scholars about vidual. According to a statement formerly 500,000, besides those .attending academies made, there are yearly committed to jail and colleges; and the total expenditure for 17,428 persons accused of crimes. At 115 common schools the same year, 1,126,486 for each, the annual expense of the whole dollars, or 250,329 ; which is more than would amount to more than two millions. If four times the sum which Mr. Colquhoun we add to this the interest of the money ex- says Scotland would require for the supply pended in the erection and repair of jails, of education, although its population exceeds penitentiaries, bridewells, bulks, and houses that of New York by 400,000. In Prussia, of correction the salaries of jailers, judges, since an improved system of education was bailiffs, and all the other officers connected established in that country, it is found that with criminal courts, together with the fees crimes have been greatly diminished, and that of pleaders, attorneys, &c. we shall have at newspapers, magazines, and other publica- least other four millions. If we were to make tions, have, in many places, increased more a rude estimate of the loss of property sus- than tenfold. Were we possessed of accurate tained by criminal depredations, the amount statistical statements of the progress of educa- would be enormous. " I have been assured," tion and of crime in the different countries of says " The Schoolmaster in Newgate," " that Europe and the States of America, 1 have no 200 and even 300 in a week, has been doubt it would clearly appear, that crime is obtained by one man and a boy, merely by regularly diminished nearly in proportion to abstracting the money in shops which is kept the progress of an enlightened and efficient in tills and desks." But supposing, on an aver- education. But let no one presume to affirm age, only 120 per annum, as the amount of that the inhabitants of any country are edu- depredation committed by each thief and pick- cated, when little more than the form of pocket the number of such characters in instruction is imparted, and where less than London being estimated at 50,000, the loss one-fourth of the population is actually in- sustained by such depredations will amount structed. to six millions ,- and if we reckon the depre- Had I not already dwelt too long on this dations in all the other parts of the kingdom topic, it might have been shown, that the to amount only to the same sum, we shall expense of punishing crime, and the losses have twelve millions of loss sustained by de- of property to society in consequence of its predations on property. The police estab- prevalence, would be more than sufficient to lishment in London costs above 200,000 various descriptions ; of which there is one pub- lished every half year; 7 every quarter, 5 every two months, 3 every fortnight, 2*2 monthly, and nine annually, including 6 almanacs ; being in all, 47 periodicals, in a city containing only 62,000 in- habitants. These periodicals, it is evident, would never he published and sold, unless the inhabit- ants at large were universally given to reading. And where a habit of reading useful publications is general, the hydra of Crime will seldom lift up its head the mind being preoccupied with nobler pursuits. As an evidence of the immense quantity of literary works distributed in these States, I was lately informed by a literary correspondent in Connecticut, that one of the printers in Hartford, the capital of that State, containing only 8000 in- habitantshad printed, during the year 1833, of Geographies alone, great and small, no less than 200.000 copies. The general state of education in Massachusetts is as follows : The whole number of towns in the State is 305, and the whole popu- lation 610,014. The population of 99 towns, from which returns were lately made, is 201,681. Of these 57,866 attended public or private schools, which is equal to the proportion of 1 to 3i; or three times the number in proportion to the popu- lation of those attending schools in Scotland. In addition to which it ought to be considered that the education in New-England is far more effi- cient and comprehensive than in this country. The above statements are selected from the " American Quarterly Register" for May, 1833, and the "American Almanac" for 1834 p 2 (173) "This city is clean and well paved, and seems to be not only entirely free of beggars, but of any population that is no't apparently living comfort- able. I did not observe a single individual in the streets of this city who was not well apparelled, nor an individual of what we call the lower orders." " At Boston there is not the semblance of idleness and filth among the people anywhere. All are, or seem to be, in the full enjoyment of the necessaries of life ; and all busy, active, and em- ployed. What a contrast, in these respects, be- tween this city and the city of Dublin, which, in July, 1827, I saw crowded with beggars almost naked, even in the heart of it ; and, on the arrival of a mail-coach in Sackville Street, scrambling for the few halfpence which the passengers threw among them." In 1830, the number of schools in Boston was 235, of which 80 were public, and 155 private schools, besides about a dozen academies and classical schools, several of which are exclu- sively devoted in female pupils. The total expense of the schools in 1829, for tuition, fuel, books, &c. 196,829 dollars, or about 13,739, which is more than double the grant for education voted by par- liament in 1833, to be distributed over the whole of Britain Where education is so general and well-conducted, almost every individual is a reader. Hence the number of publications in Massachusetts, Connecticut, &c. exceeds that of any other country. In Boston, there are regularly published 10 daily newspapers, 7 twice a-week, and 26 weekly, being 43 in all besides Magazines, Reviews, and Religious and Literary Journals of 174 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. a-year ; and if we take into account the ex- penses connected with all the other police establishments of the nation, which may be reckoned at seven times that sum, we shall have an amount of 1,400,000 on this head: whereas, less than one-fifth of that sum would be suffLlcr.t for the preservation of order among a renovated population. Many other items might have been stated, but the above sums, amounting to nearly twenty millions, would be more than sufficient for carrying forward a system of national educa- tion on the most ample and splendid sca'e. It is therefore madness in the extreme to attempt any longer to repress crime by such a machinery as has hitherto been employed, while we neglect the only efficient means by which its operation? may be controlled, and its principle extirpated. The very principle of economy, if no higher motive impel, should induce us to alter our arrangements, and to build on a new foundation. It was lately said to the public of Edinburgh, with great propriety, when solicited to contribute to the erection of a school, " Give your pence to infant schools," (I may add, to well conducted seminaries of all descriptions,) " and save your pounds on police establishments, jails, bride- wells, transportations, and executions." In this way we should be enabled, at the same time, both to improve society, and to increase our national resources. II. Such an education as now proposed, universally extended, would improve the men- tal faculties, and raise the character of man far beyond the level to which it has hitherto attained. During almost the whole of the past periods of this world's history, the human faculties have been seldom exerted with vigour, except for the purpose of promoting mischief, procuring the means of animal subsistence, or indulging in childish and degrading amuse- ments. Even in the present enlightened age, as it has been termed, what are the pursuits which fascinate and absorb almost the whole attention of the higher classes of society 1 Horse-racing, fox-hunting, prize-fighting, gam- bling, duelling, coach-driving, "steeple -chases," slaughtering moor-fowl " o'er hill and dale," masquerades, theatrical amusements, and dis- sipations of all kinds. And what are the em- ployments of a great proportion of the lower ranks, besides their stated occupations ] Cock- fighting, gambling, sauntering about the streets, indulging in drunkenness, licentiousness, and cruel sports and diversions while they remain in ignorance of all that is grand and beautiful in the Creator's works, and feel no relish for intellectual enjoyments. Even the acquire- ments and pursuits of professed Christians are far inferior to the standard of intelligence and morality which religion prescribes; for we (174) behold, even among this class, ignorance of most subjects with which every rational and religious being ought to be acquainted, com- bined with hatred of all religious sects but their own, with wealth-engrossing dispositions, and " covetousness, which is idolatry." What a pitiful picture of ignorance and degradation would the inhabitants of this world present to the view of intelligences of a higher order ! Were an inhabitant of the planet Saturn to wing his flight to this globe of ours, and were he capable of communicating his sentiments in language intelligible to man, we should expect to learn from him a minute detail of the history and geography of the globe to which he belonged, of the peculiar phenome- na of nature in that region, of the various as- pects of the moons, the diversified appearance? of the magnificent rings which encircle that world, and descriptions of the different scenes of nature, the operations of art, the sciences cultivated by its inhabitants, and the plan of God's moral government among them ; and, doubtless, our curiosity to become acquainted with the physical and moral arrangements of another world, would be abundantly gratified. But were an inhabitant of our globe, from among the lower or even from among many of the higher classes, to be transported to one of the planets, what account could he give of the arts and sciences, of the history, statistics, and natural scenery of our world 1 What could he say of its continents, rivers, islands, oceans, and volcanoes ; its mountain scenery, arid the properties of its atmosphere, of the variegated surface of the moon, and the pecu- liarities of its motions, of the history of its inhabitants, or the progress they had made in knowledge ] What description could he give of the arts and inventions of modern times, of the construction of the instruments by. which we view distant objects, and by which we penetrate into the scenes invisible to the un- assisted eye, of the principle of air-balloons, steam-engines, air-pumps, mechanical powers, electrical machines, or galvanic batteries 1 Above all, what could he tell them of the moral dispensations of the Creator towards our world, and of what is contained in the rev- elations of his word 1 He could perhaps tell them that there were hills, and rivers, and four- footed beasts, and men that were employed in killing each other; but could convey no precise idea of any thing in which this world differed from that to which he had been transported. He would be looked down upon with pity as a kind of lusus naturae, unworthy of the name of a rational being. Of 800 millions of men that people our globe, there are at least 750 millions of this description, who could give little more information respecting the peculiarities of our world to the inhabit- INTRODUCTION OF THE MILLENNIUM. 175 ants of another planet, than they could re- ceive from an elephant or a beaver, if such creatures had the faculty of communicating their ideas. Such is the present character of the great majority of this world's population and how is it to be elevated to a standard befitting a rational and immortal intelligence 1 Only by the universal extension of such an education as that, the outlines of which we have faintly sketched. The communication of knowledge is the first part of that process by which the human character is to be raised and adorned, as light was the first agent employed in the arrangement of the material creation; and this knowledge must, in every instance, be conjoined with religious principle and moral conduct, otherwise it will only prove the ig- telligence of demons. Man, although, in one point of view, he is allied to the beasts of the field, in another, he is allied to superior na- tures, and even to the Deity himself; and therefore ought to be rendered fit for asso^ ciating with such intelligences for receiving from them communications of knowledge and felicity, and for imparting to them similar benefits in return. If man is destined to a future world, as we profess to believe, he will, doubtless, mingle with beings of various orders during that interminable existence which lies before him ; and his preparation for such intercourses will, in a great measure, depend on the training he receives, and the principles he imbibes, during his sojourn in this sublu- nary sphere. There is no essential difference between men on earth, and the highest created beings in any region of the universe, but what consists in the degree of knowledge, and the degree of holiness, or moral perfection, which they respectively possess. When man is endowed with a competent measure of these qualifications, he is fitted for the highest de- gree of social enjoyment, both in this life and in the world to come ; and therefore, in so far as we refuse to lend our aid to the cause of universal instruction, or set ourselves in oppo- sition to it, we do every thing in our power to debase the character of our fellow men, to prevent them from rising in the scale of in- telligence, and to interpose a barrier to their present and future happiness. I might likewise have shown the utility of universal education, from the tendency it would have to induce the mass of mankind to lend then: aid in promoting every scheme which tends to advance the improvement of the social state of man ; the cultivation of the soil, the forming of spacious roads and foot- paths, canals, rail-roads, and bridges ; the uni- versal illumination of towns, villages, and the country at large, by gas-lights and other con- trivances; the establishment of expeditious conveyances in every direction by sea and land ; and the carrying forward to perfection the various arts and sciences. But as I have elsewhere adverted a little to some of these objects, I shall only add, in the meantime, that the value and security of property in any country, depend, in a great measure, upon the intelligence and morality of its population. If the whole mass of society were thoroughly enlightened and moralized, we should no longer hear of " strikes" taking place among workmen, of servants embezzling the property of their masters, or of combina- tions being entered into in opposition to the interests of their employers. Every man's house would be his castle ; and we should lie down to rest in the evening in perfect security from the incendiary, the insidious pilferer, and the midnight depredator. This security has already been partially felt in those countries where an enlightened education is general. Mr. Stuart, when describing the New England States, remarks, that " robberies very seldom happen in that country, and that the doors of houses are frequently left unlocked during night" the inhabitants having little fear of either depredations or annoyance from their neighbours. III. Intellectual and religious education, universally extended, in combination with every other Christian exertion, would be more efficient than any other arrangement hitherto made for hastening the approach of the Mil- lennium. That a period is about to arrive, when knowledge, holiness, and joy, shall dis- tinguish the inhabitants of the world in a degree far surpassing what we have yet ex- perienced, is clearly predicted in the oracles of inspiration. By these oracles we are in- formed, that "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations worship before him" that " the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the seas," and that " all shall know him, from the least to the greatest," that " the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh see it together," that " the heathen shall be given to Mes- siah for his inheritance, and the uttermost ends of the earth for his possession," that " all kings shall fall down before him, all na- tions serve him, and the whole earth be filled with his glory," that during the continuance of this happy era, "wars shall cease to the ends of the earth, and the nations shall de- light themselves in the abundance of peace," that " the earth shall yield her increase, and be fat and plenteous," that the inha- bitants " shall build houses and inhabit them, and plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them, and shall long enjoy the work of their hands," that " they shall go out with joy and be led (175) 176 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. forth in peace," that " there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy," and that " righteousness and praise shall spring forth before all nations." In what manner, then, may we conceive that such predictions will be accomplished 1 Are we to suppose that, by one appalling act of Omnipotent power, the wicked will at once be swept from the face of the earth, and that the physical aspect of our globe will be in- stantly changed and renovated by the same Almighty energy, as at the first creation? Or, are we to conclude, that this auspicious era will be introduced in consistency with the established laws of nature, and by the agency of human beings, under the influence and di- rection of the Divine Spirit 1 For the former supposition we have no evidence whatever in any of the intimations given of this event in the Scriptures, and it would be inconsistent with all that we know of the by-past opera- tions of the Divine government ; as might be clearly shown, by an induction of facts and arguments of various kinds, were this the proper place to enter into such a discussion. If, then, we admit the latter conclusion, it will follow, that the Millennium will be introduced by a concentration of the moral and intellec- tual energies of mankind directed to this great object by following out those plans which are calculated to promote the renovation of the world by the consecration of a far greater proportion of our treasures for this purpose than has ever yet been thought of and by directing our eyes to the Supreme Disposer of events for that wisdom which is " profitable to direct us" in all our arrangements, acknow- ledging Him as the original source of all our activities, and who alone can render them successful. What, then, are those means by which the moral world may be i enewed " in knowledge and holiness, after the image of Him who created it T' Undoubtedly the efficient train- ing of the young from the earliest period of infancy to the age of manhood, is one of the first and most important steps to the thorough renovation of the world a subject which has hitherto been egregiously trifled with, and al- most overlooked, in our Christian arrange- ments. We have all along laid tbo much stress upon the mere preaching of the gos- pel, or, in other words, the delivery of a piece of human composition to a mixed multitude, the one-half of whom are unprepared by pre- vious instruction either to understand or to appreciate its truths ; and hence the compara- tively feeble effects which have been produced on the moral characters of men ; hence the confused conceptions entertained of Divine truth ; and hence it happens, in certain cases, that the truth delivered rebounds from the heart like a ball of cork from a wall of ada- (176) mant, because it has not been previously pre- pared for its reception ; and, to palliate oui remissness and inactivity, we have sometimes had the presumption to ascribe this effect to the withholding of Divine influence. Let it not, however, be imagined that I mean to dis- courage the preaching of the gospel. No : nothing is farther from my intention. Let the gospel be proclaimed still more exten- sively, and with far more energy and pathos than have ever yet been displayed ; and let missionary exertions, and every other Chris- tian activity now in operation, be carried for- ward with still greater vigour. But let our chief attention be directed to the preparation of the minds of the young for the reception of the truths of religion to invigorate their rational powers and their principles of action, and to counteract, on the first appearance, every evil propensity, and then we may ex- pect that the " Word of God" will soon run like a mighty river through the world, and " have free course and be glorified," enlight- ening the understanding, purifying the affec- tions, and " bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." An in- tellectual, moral, and religious* education, universally extended, constitutes the essence of the Millennium ; it is one of its chief cha- racteristics, and will form the foundation of all the happiness which will then be enjoyed ; for it is one of the distinguishing circum- stances connected with that period, that " all shall know Jehovah, from the least to the greatest." But how can we expect that the superstructure can be reared, if the founda- tions be not laid, or that " the desert will re- joice and blossom as the rose," while the hand of industry is never applied to root up the briers and thorns, and to cultivate the soil ? Is it inquired, when may we expect the Mil- lennium to commence ? I reply, just when we please. Are we willing that it should commence in the present age 1 We have the means in our power, if we choose to apply them. In the course of forty years from this date the Millennium might not only be com- menced, but in a rapid progress towards the summit of its glory, provided we are willing at this moment to concentrate all our moral and intellectual energies, and to devote all our superfluous wealth, or at least a tenth * In this and various other parts of this work, I have used the words moral and religious, in com- pliance with common usage, as if they conveyed distinct ideas. But I conceive that the ideas they express are so intimately connected that they can never be separated. There can be no true mo- rality but what is founded on religion, or the prin- ciples of Christianity ; and religion can have no real existence but as connected with the morality of the BiMe the promotion of which, in principle and conduct, is the great object of all the revela- tions of Heaven. EXERTIONS PRECEDING THE MILLENNIUM. 177 part of it, to the furtherance of this object. Nay, in the coursa of half that period, we should have a generation rising up in know- ledge and holiness, far superior to any race which has appeared in the world during the ages that are past. For, were we just now to commence a universal system of infant in- struction, and continue the course through all the higher departments formerly specified in the course of twenty years all the children who are now about two years of age (if con- tinued in life) would have arrived at the age of twenty-two, in an enlightened and moral- ized state, and would form the most numerous and influential portion of the population, and give a tone to all ranks of society. Even the physical aspect of the globe, within the course of another century, might be renovated, and adorned with every thing that is beautiful and sublime. The wealth that has been ex- pended in the madness of warfare, even by civilized nations, during a century past, had it been appropriated to philanthropic improve- ments, would have been sufficient to have cultivated all the desolate wastes of our globe, to have made its wilderness like Eden, and its deserts " like the garden of the Lord,'' in short, to have transformed it into something approaching to a terrestrial paradise. We have it in our power to accomplish all this in the century to come, if we are willing to de- vote our energies and our treasures to the purposes of philanthropy and general benevo- lence. But, is it of any avail to address the ma- jority of our fellow-men on this subject ] No : we might as soon speak to the tides and cur- rents of the ocean, and expect them to stop at our command, as to expect that the current of licentiousness, folly, ambition, and avarice, in which three-fourths of mankind are carried headlong, will stop its course, and diverge into the channel of religion, philanthropy and beneficence. But I trust there is still a select band of Christian philanthropists who only require to be convinced of the necessity of extraordinary exertion, and to receive an ad- ditional stimulus, in order to excite them to a godlike liberality. What sacrifice would it be to a man who has 500 a-year to devote an- nually 100 to the purposes of religious and intellectual improvement ? to another who has 1000 a-year to devote 300, and to another who has 10,000 to allot 4000 an- nually for the same object] It would not de- prive any one of them either of the necessa- ries or of the luxuries of life, or of any thing that contributes to comfort, honour or sensi- tive enjoyment. It is now high time that ths sincerity of a profession of Christianity should be tried by the test of pounds, shillings, and dollars. We have beheld numerous instances 23 of ministers and others aspiring after the highest stations and the largest salaries, in order to increase their incomes. Let us now see what sacrifices they will make of the wealth which God has given them for the pur- pose of promoting his glory in the world. Let us see whether God or Mammon, whether the promotion of the best interests of man- kind or " the lust of the flesh and the pride of life," rule supreme in their hearts. That man who refuses to come forward with his wealth, when it is proved to be requisite for the pur- poses alluded to, ought not to assume the name of a Christian. He has never felt the influence of that divine maxim of our Saviour, " It is more blessed to give than to receive." He virtually declares, that " laying up treasure on earth," providing fortunes for his family, keeping up a certain rank in society, and living in luxurious abundance, are matters of far greater importance than the approach of the Millennium and the regeneration of the world. If a man is in doubt with respect t the existence of religious principle in his soul, I know not a better test than this, by which to try the sincerity of his Christian profession : Is he willing, at the call of God, to give up a portion of his possessions to His service, and even " to forsake all" to prove himself " a fol- lower of Christ?" There is a certain class of religionists who are continually whining about the low state of religion, and the wickedness that prevails among all ranks ; and there is another class who are frequently talking about the calculations that have been made respect- ing the predicted period of the " latter-day glory ;" but when you ask any of these classes to put their hands in their pockets, in order to supply means for improving society and hastening the approach of that glory, they will rebound from you as the north-poles of two magnets rebound from each other, and will tell you, with an air of apathy and spiri- tual pride, ' that the spirit is not yet poured out, that man can do nothing of himself, and that God's time is not yet come.' If Chris- tians were universally to act upon such views, the predicted glory of future ages would never be realized. " It is not for us to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath reserved in his own power ;" but we know that it is our present duty to consecrate to the service of God and the good of man- kind all the powers and faculties with which we are invested, all the energies we are capa- ble of exerting, and all the treasures not es- sential to our comfort, to carry forward the building of the Spiritual Temple, and to " prepare the way of the Lord." In short, it is now more than time that true Christians were rising above the false maxims of the world, the calculating spirit of com- (177) 178 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. merce, the degrading views of the sons of avarice, and the pursuit of earthly honours and distinctions, and acting in conformity to the noble character by which tbey wish to be distinguished. Let them come forward in the face of the world, and declare by their conduct, and their noble generosity, that while they enjoy and relish the bounties of the Creator, they despise the vain pageantry of fashionable life, with all its baubles, and are determined to consecrate to rational and religious objects all the superfluities of wealth which have been hitherto devoted to luxury and pride. Every Christian hero should be distinguished hi so- ciety (whether he be sneered at or applauded by the men of the world) by his determined opposition to worldly principles and maxims by his abhorrence of avarice by his active ex- ertions in the cause of philanthropy and by the liberal portion of his substance which he devotes to the cause of education and reli- gion ; and the Church ought to exclude from her pale all who refuse, in this way, to ap- prove themselves the disciples of Jesus. Bet- ter have a Church composed of a select band of a hundred "right-hearted men," ardent, generous, and persevering, than a thousand lukewarm professors, who are scarcely dis- tinguishable from the world, and who attempt to serve both God and Mammon. Such a select band of Christian heroes, in different parts of the Universal Church, " shining as lights in the world, in the midst of a perverse generation,'' and exerting all their influence and power in counteracting ignorance and de- pravity, and promoting the diffusion of every branch of useful knowledge, would do more to prepare the way for the approach of the Mil- lennium, than ten times the number of a mixed multitude of professing Christians who are sunk into a state of apathy, and have little more of religion than the name. Their in- fluence would be powerful in every circle in which they moved they would make the rich professors of religion ashamed of their parsimony and their indolence they would induce the lukewarm Christian either to come cheerfully forward with his wealth and influ- ence, or give up the profession of religion al- together, and take his stand at once among the men of the world : and they would stimu- late the young generation around them to con- secrate the vigour of their lives to such holy activities. They would doubtless be sneered at by the licentious, the avaricious, and the gay ; and even by the proud and wealthy ecclesiastic, who has never imbibed the spirit of a Neff or an Oberlin ,- but every one who is conscious that " his witness is in heaven, and his record on high," will look down with a becoming indifference on the scorn of such men, and " hold on his way rejoicing." (178) " Who, then, is a wise man among us, anil endowed with knowledge," " to whom God hath given riches, and the power to use them 1" let him come forward with his stores of knowledge and his treasures of wealth, and dedicate them to the service of the Most High ; and bring along with him a few more conge- nial minds to embark in the same undertak- ing, and great shall be his reward. " For they that be wise shali shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." It is said, that when the town of Calais, after a siege of twelve months, wished to sur- render to Edward III. he demanded that six of the most considerable citizens should be sent to him, carrying the keys of the city in their hands, bareheaded and barefooted, with ropes about their necks, to be sacrificed to his vengeance. This cruel demand threw the in- habitants into a state of unutterable conster- nation, and they found themselves incapable of coming to any resolution in so distressing a situation. At last, one of the principal inhabi- tants, Eustace de St. Pierre, stepped forth, and declared himself willing to encounter death for the safety of his friends and companions ; another, animated by his example, made a like generous offer ; a third and a fourth pre- sented themselves to the same fate, and the whole number was soon completed. Shall such a sacrifice as this, extending even to life itself, be cheerfully made ; and shall we not find as many Christians in every town will- ing to sacrifice the third, or fourth, or at least the tenth part of their property for the good of mankind, and the regeneration of society 1 The offerings, in ancient times, for the service of God, far exceeded any thing that has yet been attempted under the Christian economy. The gold and silver alone, offered for the rearing of the taber- nacle, amounted to upwards of 300,000 of the present value of British money, besides the brass, the shittim wood, the linen, the em- broidered curtains, the oynx stones and jewels, and the regular tithe which every Israelite an- nually paid of all that he possessed. When the temple was about to be erected, David, along with his princes and captains, contri- buted no less than 108,000 talents of gold, and 1,017,000 talents of silver, which amount- ed to more than 900 millions of pounds ster- ling; and the expense of the sacrifices offered on this occasion amounted to several hundred thousand pounds. 1 Chron. xxii. 14. xxix. 3 9. These offerings were a tribute of gra- titude to God, the original bestower of every enjoyment ; and hence, David, when he blessed the Lord before all the congregation, declared, " All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. All this stor THE PILGRIMS OF NEW ENGLAND. 179 we have prepared to build an house for thy holy name cometh of thee, and is all thine own" The tithes, or tenth of their income, were designed as an acknowledgment that they had received their estates from his free gift, and held them hy no other tenure but his bounty. They were a kind of quit-rent annually paid to the Great Proprietor of the soil, for the maintenance of his worship, and the instruction of the people. And why should not the estates of Christians be viewed in the same light, and a similar portion of them be devoted to the same purpose 1 The tenth of the incomes of the inhabitants of Britain would annually amount to many mil- lions ; yet all that has been collected by the British and Foreign Bible Society, the most popular of all our religious institutions, during thirty years of its operation, is only about two millions of pounds. Notwithstanding, how- ever, the general apathy which exists on this subject, I am disposed to indulge the hope, that, ere long, thousands of Christians in dif- ferent parts of the Church, will come cheer- fully forward and consecrate, not merely a tenth, but in many instances, one-half of their substance, for carrying forward the designs of Providence for the reformation of the world. Such offerings are nothing more than what is requisite for accomplishing this grand ob- ject ; and when such a spirit of liberality be- comes general in the Christian Church, we may confidently expect that the happy era is fast approaching, when the light of divine truth shall shed its radiance on every land when " The glory of Jehovah shall be re- vealed, and all flesh shall see it together when the wilderness and the solitary place shall be made glad, and when righteousness and praise shall spring forth before all na- tions." The inhabitants of New England, I am confident, will be among the first to set such a noble example to every other nation. From small beginnings, they have advanced more rapidly in religious and intellectual improve- ment than any other people under heaven ; but they have not yet attained the acme of improvement, " neither are they already per- fect ;" but " must press forward to the mark," without " looking back" with self-complacency on the advancement they have hitherto made, and " stretch forwards towards those things which are before." There are, perhaps, few circumstances in the history of mankind more remarkable than the landing of the persecuted pilgrims of New England on the rock at Plymouth, and the important consequences which have been the result of the settlement of that small and distressed colony. About a hundred individuals, driven from their native land by the demon of persecution, landed at that point, near the middle of winter in 1620, with prospects the most dismal and discour- aging fatigued by a long and boisterous voy- age forced on a dangerous and unknown shore on the approach of the most rigorous season of the year surrounded with hostile barbarians, without the least hope of human aid worn out with toil and suffering, and without shelter from the rigour of the climate ; so that, in the course of three or four months, forty-six of their number were carried off by mortal sickness. Yet this small band of Chris- tian heroes laid the foundation of all the im- provements in knowledge, religion, liberty, agriculture and the auX. that distinguish the New England States ; wnich now contain a population of nearly two millions of souls. Through their instrumentality, and that of their successors, " the wilderness has been turned into fruitful fields," hundreds of cities and towns have been founded, colleges and splendid temples have been reared, civil and religious liberty established on a solid basis, the education of the young, and mental and moral improvement, promoted to an extent beyond that of any other nation upon earth. These circumstances furnish a proof of what a small body of persevering and well-princi- pled men can achieve in the midst of diffi- culties and discouragements, and a powerful motive to excite us to engage in every holy activity. And I trust, the descendants of these pilgrims, animated by their noble exam- ple, will rise to still greater heights of intel- ligence and virtue, till knowledge become universal till moral evil be completely un- derminedtill " righteousness run down their streets like a river," and till the influence of such moral movements be felt among all the families of the earth. CHAPTER XIII. Principles on tuhich a National System of Education should be established. f -.. Iy attempting to establish any new system, however excellent, many obstacles and impe- diments present themselves, arising from the feelings, interests, and preconceived opinions of mankind. In establishing such a system of education as we have described, one great obstacle would arise in this country from the interests and conflicting opinions of religious sectaries. Religion, which was intended by its Author to introduce harmony, and to pro- (179) 180 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. mote affection among mankind, would, in all probability, be brought forward to interrupt the noblest efforts of benevolence in the cause of universal instruction. Every sectary would be apt to insist on its peculiar dogmas being recognized, and especially those which are more directly patronized by the State would prefer a double claim for the* superintendence and control of all the arrangements connected with the education of the young. Such con- flicting elements and party interests have already prevented the establishment of insti- tutions which might have proved beneficial to the rising generation, and would, doubtless, mingle themselves with any future discussions or deliberations that might take place on this subject. In the year 1820-21, Mr. Brougham (now Lord Brougham) introduced a Bill into the House of Convaons, entitled, "A Bill for better providing the means of education for his Majesty's subjects," which was imbued with a spirit of illiberality and intolerance which would have disgraced the darkest ages of the Christian era. The following were some of its leading provisions. " 1st, No per- son is capable of being elected as Schoolmaster by the Parish, who does not produce a certifi- cate that he is a member of the Church of England, as by law established" In this sweeping regulation, it is roundly declared, that, among all the six or seven millions of respectable dissenters ; that, among all that class of men who have descended from the congregations formed by Baxter, Owen, Watts, Doddridge, and a host of other illustrious Di- vines, renowned for their sterling piety and learning ; that, among the whole of that class of men who, for the last forty years, have shown more disinterested zeal and activity for the instruction of the poor than any other class in the British empire ! there is not a single individual that deserves to be entrusted with the education of youth ! and for no other reason than because they have dared to think for themselves, and refused to submit to cere- monies and ordinances which are not appoint- ed in the word of God. In another regulation, power is given to the clergyman of the parish " to call before him the person chosen by the parish, and to exa'mine him touching his fit- ness for the office, and if he shall not approve of the person chosen, he may reject his ap- pointment" as often as he pleases, without assigning any reason, save his own will and pleasure, and front this decision there was to be no appeal ! which rendered nugatory, and little short of a mere farce, the previous elec- tion made by the qualified householders of the parish. After the teacher was supposed to be approved of and fixed in his situation, a et of arbitrary regulations and restraints were (1*0) imposed upon him by " the rector, curate, or other minister of the parish." " He may at all times enter the school, examine the scholars, question the master touching his government of the school : may direct, from tims to time, what portions of Scripture shall be read, either for lefsoris or for writing in the school, which direction the master is hereby req\iired to follow." The teacher was also enjoined " to use select passages [of the Bible] for lessons, whereby to teach ,reading and writing, and shall teach no other book of religion with- out consent of the resident minister of the parish where such school is held, and shall use no form of prayer or worship in the said school except the Lord's Prayer, or other select passages of the Scriptures aforesaid" Such regulations and injunctions reduced the teacher to something very little superior to a mere machine, or to a slave in the hands of a clerical despot. He was every day liable to be degraded and insulted in the presence of his scholars, whenever a haughty clergyman took it into his head to enter the school, and to display his magisterial and consequential airs. By the regulations enacted in this Bill, the children of Dissenters were likewise de- graded. For, although they were to be per- mitted to attend the schools to be established, yet they were to be distinguished, in many respects, as speckled birds, different from those of the immaculate churchman, and compelled "to learn the liturgy and catechism of the Church, and to attend the Divine service of the Church of England," unless their parents "proved themselves to be Dissenters from the Established Church, and notified the same to the master." Such is only a specimen of the spirit and enactments which pervaded " Brougham's Education Bill ;" enactments repugnant to the views of every liberal mind, and pregnant with bigotry and intolerance. It was a fortunate circumstance that the bill never passed the House of Commons ; other- wise, it might have prevented the establish- ment of a liberal and efficient system of edu- cation for a century to come.* It is to be hoped, that, in any future delibera- tions on this subject, a more noble and liberal * Lord Brougham has displayed more enlighten- ed views on the subject of education, in his speech delivered in the House of Lords, on the 21st of May, 1835, and the resolutions founded upon it, than he did in his "Education Bill" of 1821, or even in 1833, when he declared, that there are sufficient means of education in England, and that " he had become a convert to the opinions of tho?e who thought it would be unwise to disturb a state of things which produced such admirable results." It is to be hoped, for the good of the nation, that his lordship's suggestions will soon be carried into effect ; and that the principles on which a national system of education is established, will be such as to meet the approbation of an enlightened and religious public. PAROCHllL SYSTEM. 181 spirit will be displayed in the arrangements connected with education. Indeed, no efficient system of national instruction can be estab- lished on an exclusive or sectarian principle. Persons of all religious denominations ought to be eligible as teachers, visitors, superintend- ents, and members of school-committees, on the sole ground of their intelligence, piety, and moral conduct and of the knowledge they have acquired of the true principles of education, and the mode in which they should be applied. As, in every country, numerous classes are to be found differing in sentiment respecting subordinate points in religion, it could not be expected that they would come forward either with voluntary subscriptions, or submit, without reluctance, to be taxed for such establishments, if any particular sectary were to be invested with the sole superintend- ence, and all others excluded from a share in the deliberations and arrangements connected with their operation. Such an arrangement would be an act of glaring injustice to the parties excluded, since they have an equal right of management on the ground of their subscriptions, or of the taxation to which they would be subjected ; it would foster invidious distinctions between the different parts of the same community ; it would tend to prevent independence of thinking on religious subjects, and to promote a spirit of hypocrisy and syco- phancy in inducing persons to sacrifice the dictates of conscience to the emoluments of office ; it would throw into a state of unmerit- ed degradation a large portion of the most re- spectable characters in Christian society for eminent piety, intelligence, and benevolence, are not confined to any section of the Chris- tian church ; it would nourish a spirit of alienation among the different portions of religious society, which has too long rankled in the human breast ; it would prevent some of the most worthy and enlightened characters from coming forward as candidates for the office of instructors ; it would interpose a bar- rier to that harmony and affection which should subsist among all ranks and denomi- nations of society; and would ultimately frustrate, to a very great extent, the grand objects which an enlightened education is intended to accomplish. Nothing but a spirit of selfishness and ambition, of bigotry and intolerance, inconsistent with the harmony of society and the principles of our holy re- ligion, will again attempt to establish educa- tion on such illiberal and exclusive principles. In this point of view, we cannot avoid repro- bating an attempt which is now making by certain individuals to extend the system of parochial schools, so that there shall be no occa- sion for teachers of any other description. We object to this object on the following grounds : 1. Because it is assumed that the education generally imparted in parochial schools, and the plan on which instruction has usuallv been communicated, are to be considered as patterns of excellence, and, consequently, re- quire only to be more generally extended. In the preceding pages, we have endeavoured to show, that, in common with most other schools in this country, the parochial system is miser- ably defective and inefficient as to the great objects which an enlightened education ought to embrace; and, in proof of this, we need only appeal to the ignorance and vice which have hitherto prevailed, and still prevail, among the great mass of the population. That parochial schools have been, on the whole, of considerable advantage to Scotland, none will deny. But they have not produced the one-tenth part of the moral and intellectual effects they might have done, had they been established on a more liberal and enlightened basis ; and, consequently, were the system to be extended, it would tend to prevent, for an indefinite period, the establishment of a more enlightened, comprehensive, and efficient sys- tem of moral and intellectual instruction. Be- sides, there is not one out of a hundred of the parochial school houses furnished with the apartments, apparatus, and other accommo- dations, requisite for carrying forward a plan of intellectual instruction. 2. We object, on the ground of the exclusive principles on which parochial schools are conducted. They are considered as so intimately connected with the established church, that no one but a member of that church is eligible as a parish teacher. Consequently, in attempting to ex- tend the parochial system till it is supposed capable of affording instruction to the whole population, it is virtually declared, that, among all the dissenters in this country, amounting to more than one-third of the population, and whose moral and intellectual character stands as high as that of the other two-:Mrds, there is not one who ought to be entrusted with the education of youth, however respectable the qualications he may possess. Those who countenance a principle of this kind have, surely, never studied the principles of religi- ous liberty or of natural justice, nor opened their eyes to " discern the signs of the times." In so far as the individuals alluded to have it for their object to improve the plan of public instruction, and to raise the qualifications of the teachers, we wish them every success ; but the community will certainly pause before it gives its sanction to a principle which Would deprive nearly one-half of the nation of all interest and superintendence in regard to an object in which they are all equally concerned. Hitherto, the superintendence of education, both in Scotland and England, has been chiefly entrusted to the clergy ; and, at the time when our parochial and other scholastic Q (181) 182 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. institutions were established, there was per- haps a propriety in this arrangement; since, at that period, clergymen were almost the only educated persons, and literature was chiefly concentrated in their order. But the case is quite different in the present day, when a liberal education is not confined to any one rank of society, and when classical learning is not considered as the most im- portant accomplishment. There is not, there- fore, the same reason why the superintendence of education should be exclusively entrusted to clergymen, or to any other class of com- munity. We should deprecate the idea of the education of the general mass of the population being entrusted exclusively either to the established church, or to dissenters of any denomination. Clergymen of all de- nominations should be considered as eligible, in common with other intelligent individuals, as superintendents and members of Educa- tional Committees ; but experience proves that it is dangerous to the general interests of the community to entrust its affairs, especially those which, relate to education, to any privi- leged class of society ; for in such a case the general good of the public has frequently been sacrificed to the interests or ambition of a party. One of the chief pretences generally set up for exclusive clerical superintendence, is the promotion of the interests of religion. It is much to be deplored that religion, which was intended to promote " peace on earth, and good-will among men," should so fre- quently have been used as a pretence for sow- ing dissensions in society, and violating the principles of natural justice. Whether " pure religion and undefiled" is promoted by at- tempting to raise one portion of the commu- nity and to crush another, and to throw a large body of respectable characters into a state of unmerited degradation, on account of their adherence to the dictates of con- science is a question which may be safely left to every unbiassed inquirer to decide. With regard to the religious instruction of the young, no difficulty could arise from the circumstance of persons belonging to different religious parties having the superintendence of it; since almost every denomination of Christians recognizes the essential facts, doc- trines, and duties of Christianity, Avhicli are the only religious topics which ought to be exhibited to the young either in public or in private. The man who, overlooking such subjects, would attempt to expatiate before the young on sectarian points of controversy, ought to be considered as destitute of that prudence and discretion which are requisite for a public instructor. If religion were taught, as it ought to be, directly from its Original Records, instead of beiujj inculcated (182) from human formularies, there would soon be little difference of opinion respecting its main and leading objects. The religion of Heaven has been communicated to us chiefly in the form of historical narrations, unfolding to us the Divine dispensations, in relation to the fall, the recovery, and the renovation of man- kind, and embodying certain leading truths and moral precepts, to direct our affections and conduct the great end of which is, not to engender strife and a spirit of metaphysical speculation, but to counteract moral evil, and to promote union, harmony, and love, among all who acknowledge its authority. There is no believer in revelation that calls in question the facts of Scripture, the perfections of the Deity it unfolds the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ the immortality of the soul a future state of punishments and re- wardsor the propriety of the moral princi- ples it inculcates. These are the leading topics of revelation ; and to insinuate that such subjects cannot be taught directly from the Scriptures themselves, without the aid of hu- man formularies, is nothing short of throwing a reflection on the wisdom of God, on account of the manner in which he has communi- cated his will, and of affixing a libel on the character of the inspired writers, as if their writings were not sufficiently plain and per- spicuous. The efficiency of religious instruction de- duced from- the Scriptures- alone, is clearly proved from the mode of tuition in infant schools. ' In these schools, religion is taught by familiar descriptions and details of scriptural facts by illustrations, taken from Scripture and the scenes of nature, of the perfections of God and by enforcing the moral precepts of the Bible on the young, and showing how they ought to be exemplified in all their inter- courses with each other. Now, I appeal to every one who has witnessed the religious knowledge of the children in these schools, and its influence upon their conduct, if this mode of tuition is not infinitely preferable, as to its practical effects, to the usual method of instruction by catechism, or any other formu- lary. Let us take a number of children at random from any common school, who have learned the " Shorter," or any other catechism, from beginning to end, and compare their knowledge and feelings in regard to religion with those of the children of a well-conducted infant school, and the superiority of the in- fant school children will be strikingly appa- rent, even although they are much younger than the former. Should parents, howerer, wish to inculcate upon their children the peculiar tenets of the sect to which they be- long, they have an opportunity of doing so at home, or by means of the pastors belonging to that denomination to which they are at- HARMONY OF SECTARIES IN AMERICA. 183 tachcd ; but, in public schools, to attempt the inculcation of sectarian opinions, would be equally injurious to the interests of religion and the cause of universal education. This was attempted by the Church of England, in the enactments contained in Brougham's " Education Bill," and the same principle led the dignitaries of that church to oppose the Lancasterian system of education, and to pa- tronize that of Dr. Bell, in which the peculiar tenets of the Episcopal church were to be exclusively inculcated. That Christians of different denominations may cordially co-operate in the arrangements of education, appears from various existing facts. In the Northern States of America, as already noticed, education is far more general than in this country, and conducted on more rational and enlightened plans ; and persons of all denominations in religion co-operate in its superintendence. In the 24th "Annual Report of the Trustees of the Public School Society of New York, for 1829," it is stated, among many other interesting facts, that " The Board of Education consists of members of eight or ten religious denominations, all act- ing with entire harmony" that " they dis- charge the important duties of their trust, with a single eye to the public good" and that they received the sanction of " an inde- pendent set of examiners, who have repeatedly inspected the schools, and are acquainted with the operations of the Board" who express in their Report " their full confidence that the literary, moral, and religious instruction, cal- culated to fit the young for the duties of life, and to prepare them for the happiness of futurity, is properly attended to, and the school monies strictly and most beneficially applied to their legitimate purposes." This board has the superintendence of "21 schools, with 21 principal and 24 assistant teachers, and 6007 children," the expense of which amounted to 62,000 dollars: besides which there were above 450 private, charity, and other schools in the city of New York. We know, too, that the " British and Foreign School Society" is conducted on similar principles its Di- rectors consisting of persons belonging to the established church and the various denomina- tions of dissenters ; and the same is the case with the institutions for infant education which have been lately established in many of our populous towns. The hand-bill, an- nouncing the objects of the Model Infant School, Glasgow, which was framed by the Rev. Dr. Welsh, then of St. David's church, states, as one of the objects of this institution, that it is " for the reception of children from the age of two to that of six years, with the view of imbuing their minds with the know- ledge of religious truths," and that "the plan of communicating religious truths is by the narratives, the precepts, and the plainest announcements of Scripture." In short, the liberal plan now suggested has been adopted in all its extent in the kingdom of Prussia, where a national system of education has been established in which all classes of reli- gionists, whether Protestants or Catholics, have an equal interest, and which, for more than half a century, has been conducted with the greatest regularity and harmony. So that there is no impossibility in persons belonging to different religious persuasions co-operating in the business of education, where there is a sincere desire to promote the improvement ot the young, and the best interests of general society. But should it be found impossible to induce the dominrmt sect in any country to co-ope- rate with dissenters in the arrangements of education, perhaps the following might be the most eligible plan of procedure: Let the government allot a sum adequate to the erec- tion and endowment of all the schools requi- site for an enlightened and efficient system of education let this sum be divided between churchmen and dissenters, in a fair propor- tion, according to their respective numbers and let the application of this sum, and the details respecting the patronage of the schools, the qualifications of teachers, and the mode of instruction, be left to the respective parties, to be arranged as their judgment and circum- stances may direct specifying, however, some of the grand and leading principles on which the schools must be established. A plan of this kind would, indeed, still preserve tho invidious distinction between churchmen and dissenters ; but it would be infinitely prefer- able to bestowing the whole patronage and superintendence of education on any one sectary or class of men whatever. Should government refuse to grant any pecuniary assistance to such an object, dissenters and all others have it in their power, by coming for- ward, in one grand combination, with volun- tary contributions, to accomplish this noble design, independently of aid from any power under heaven ; provided they are willing to make some of those small sacrifices formerly suggested. (See page 177.) And if they will not stand forward as bold champions, with their purses in their hands, ready to be delivered up for the support of this good cause, they will declare themselves to be unworthy of the name of Christians, or of lovers of their species, and will deservedly be deprived of all the advantages, in time and eternity, which might result from the accom- plishment of this object, to themselves and to their offspring, both in the present and future generations. (183) 184 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. CHAPTER XIV. Maxims, or First Principles in Education. I. THE idea should go before the word which expresses it or, in other words, A clear and distinct conception of an object should be impressed upon the mind, before the name or terms which express it be com- mitted to memory. This may be considered as the first and fundamental principle of intellectual instruc- tion; and, if admitted, the following rule should be strictly adhered to in the business of education : Let no passages of any book be committed to memory before the leading ideas they contain be clearly understood. If this principle were universally introduced into education, it would overturn almost every sys- tem of instruction which has hitherto prevailed both in secular and religious tuition. An opposite principle has almost uniformly been acted upon ; and hence, catechisms, psalms, hymns, grammar rules, chapters of the Bible, and speeches in the Roman senate, have been prescribed as memorial tasks, before any of the ideas contained in them could be appre- ciated. We may ask, in the name of all that is wise and rational, Of what use is it to stock and overburden the memories of children with a medley of words to which no correct ideas are attached ] Although a child could com- mit twenty catechisms to memory, or could even repeat the whole of the Old and New Testaments, what purpose would it serve, if he did not enter into the spirit and meaning of the truths therein recorded ? I have con- versed with an individual who could repeat the whole Bible from beginning to end, and yet was entirely ignorant of the meaning of almost every proposition it contained, and its most interesting truths appeared to have made no impression upon his heart. As in the original formation of language, the objects of nature must first have been observed and known before words or signs were fixed upon to distinguish them ; so, in communicating the elements of thought, the objects of thought must first be recognized and described before the terms and epithets which express their natures and qualities be committed to memory. Instead of obtruding a medley of words before they are understood, upon the memories of the young, they should be made to feel a desire for terms to express their ideas ; and, in this case, the ideas and the words which express them will afterwards be inseparably con- nected. II. In the process of instruction, Nothing (184) (if possible) should be assigned to the voting merely as tasks. Every thing prescribed for the exercise of the faculties, should be represented both as a duty and as a pleasure; and if the young understand the nature -and objects of their scholastic exercises, and the manner in which they should be prosecuted, . they will find a pleasure in endeavouring to surmount every apparent difficulty. I once knew a gentle- man, the Rector of a grammar school, who^ on his admission to his office, boasted that he would conduct his school without inflicting any corporal punishment instead of which he prescribed from twenty to sixty or eighty lines of Virgil or Horace, as memorial tasks and, when not accurately repeated, increased their number. But this practice had no other tendency than to excite revengeful feelings, and to produce disgust at the process of learning. III. Every thing that is cheerful and ex- hilarating to the young should be associated with the business of education. Hence, school-rooms should be spacious, light, and airy comfortably heated during winter, and erected in delightful and com- manding situations. The school-books should be neatly printed, and enlivened with pictures and engravings coloured from nature amus- ing and instructive experiments should fre- quently be exhibited and the pupils should be occasionally gratified with excursions into interesting parts of the country, to view the beauties of nature and enjoy the bounties of Providence ; so that all their scholastic exer- cises may be connected with delightful asso- ciations. IV. In the practice of teaching, the prin- ciple of Emulation should be discarded. By a principle of emulation I mean, the exciting of the young to exertion from the hope of reward when they excel their com- panions in intellectual excellence, or from the fear of punishment or degradation when they fall beneath them in industry and acquire- ments. Many teachers have asserted that they could not conduct education with any effect without the aid of this principle. But, whatever effect it may have in an intellectual point of view, it almost uniformly produces an injurious effect on the moral temperament of the young, on their companions whom they excel, and on their parents and guardians, who are led to form false estimates of their progress and acquirements by the prizes they MAXIMS IN EDUCATION. 185 receive and the places they occupy in their respective classes. One grand end of instruc- tion, which has been too much overlooked, is to cultivate and regulate the moral powers to produce love, affection, concord, humility, self-denial, and other Christian graces. But the principle of emulation has a tendency to produce jealousy, envy, ambition, hatred, and other malignant passions, and to exhibit intel- lectual acquisitions as of far greater importance than moral excellence. Besides, it is only a very few in every class that can be stimulated to exertion by this principle, and these few are generally^of such a temperament as to require their ambitious dispositions to be restrained rather than excited. In the " American An- nals of Education," for January, 1833, there is an excellent paper on this subject by Miss C. E. Beecher, of Newport, Rhode Island, a lady well known as an efficient teacher. After enumerating the evils which uniformly flow from the principle of emulation, she states the following motives, as those which she has found "not only equal, but much more efficient, in reference to all the objects to be gained 'in education:" 1. Personal influence endeavouring to gain the esteem, the affection, and the confidence of the pupils," &c. In this connection she justly remarks, " that commendation for improvement needs to be practised much more frequently than re- proof for deficiency. 2. By habitual appeals to the Bible as the rule of rectitude, and to conscience as the judge. 3. By cultivating a love of knowledge for its own sake, that is, for the pleasure it imparts ; and also for the sake of the increased good it will enable us to do for our fellow-beings. 4. By efforts to form a correct public sentiment in school, so that it shall be unpopular to do wrong. 5. By appeals to parental influence, and that of other friends. This is accomplished by trans- mitting frequent accounts both of deficiency and improvement to the friends of the pupils. 6. By cultivating in the pupils a sense of obligation to God, of his constant inspection, and of his interest in all their concerns." These principles, (which are more particu- larly explained and amplified in the paper referred to,) she adds, " I have chiefly de- pended upon during the last three or four years of my experience as a teacher. Every year has added to my conviction of their efii- cacy, and every year has increased my satis- faction that the principle of emulation has been banished with no consequent evil, and much increase of good." Mr. Morgan, in his -late "Address "to the Proprietors of the University of London," expresses sentiments in accordance with the above. Speaking on the subject of prizes, he Bays, " A prize is the least effectual mode of 24 accomplishing the desired object ; it is founded on injustice, inasmuch as it heaps honours and emoluments on those to whom nature has already been most bountiful, and xvhose en- joyments are multiplied and increasing in a greater ratio than others by the more easy acquisition of knowledge." " Praise, and in- vidious comparisons, are only other forms of the same 1 principle, alike fruitful in envy, pride, scorn, arid bitter neglect. In the curio- sity of children, there is a sufficient and a natural stimulant of the appetite for know- ledge, and we live in a world abounding in the means *of useful and pleasurable gratifica- tions. All that is required of preceptors is to aid the development of the faculties with af- fection and judgment." A certificate of dili- gence and good conduct seems to be all that is necessary to distinguish from the vicious, the idle, and slothful, those who have employed their time and talents in a proper manner. V. Corporal p unishments should be seldom or never inflicted and when they are deter- mined upon as the last resort, they should be inflicted with calmness and affection. There is something revolting and degrad- ing in corporal punishments, and the necessity of resorting to them generally indicates, that there had been a ->vant of proper training in the earlier stages of life. It is vain to ima- gine, that children can be whipped either into learning or religion ; and, if an enlightened and judicious mode of tuition were universally adopted, there would seldom be any necessity for resorting to such a stimulus. But in the modes of teaching which have most generally prevailed, corporal punishments are almost in- dispensable. In the German " Pedagogic Ma- gazine," for 1833, we are told that "there died lately in Swabia, a schoolmaster, who, for 51 years, had superintended an institution with old-fashioned severity. From an average inferred fjom recorded observations, one of the ushers calculated, that, in the course of his exertions, he had given 911,500 canings, 124,- 000 floggings, 209,000 custodes, 136,000 tips with the ruler, 10,200 boxes on the car, and 22,700 tasks to get by heart. It was farther calculated, that he had made 700 boys stand on peas, 600 kneel on a sharp edge of wood, 5000 wear the fool's cap, and 1708 hold the rod," amounting in all to 1,421,208 pun- ishments, which, allowing five days for every week, would average above a hundred punish- ments every day. There is something ex- tremely revolting in the idea of such a series of punishments being connected with learn- ing ; and we may justly infer, that, however much classical learning may have been ad- vanced, very little useful knowledge or moral principle was communicated in that seminary. For, a system of moral and intellectual in- q 2 (185) 186 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. struction, calculated to allure the minds of the young, is altogether incompatible with such Gothic rudeness and severity.* VI. Children should not be long confined in School and never longer than they are actively employed in it. A school ought never to serve the purpose of a prison. If the junior classes are incapable of preparing their lessons by themselves, they should either be provided with some amusing toys or picture books, or be turned out to romp about in the open air, or under a covered shed in rainy weather, and called in when their , lessons are to be explained. VII. Young people should always be treated as rational creatures, and their opin- ton* occasionally solicited as to certain points and scholastic arrangements. The reasons of the treatment they receive, and of the ex- ercises prescribed, in so far as they are able to appreciate them, should occasionally be stated, and explained and illustrated. VIII. Reproofs should always be tendered with the utmost calmness and mildness. When they are uttered in passion, and with looks of fury, they seldom produce any good effect, and not unfrequently excite a spirit of revenge against the reprover. IX. One great object of education should be to fix the attention on the subjects we. wish to explain and elucidate. On the proper exercise of the faculty of attention depenat almost all our improvement in knowledge and virtue. Even the senses are improved by the exercise of this faculty. Hence the peculiar delicacy of touch observable in the blind, and the quick-sigh tedness of the deaf; hence the distinct perception of distant ob- jects acquired by sailors, and of delicate and minute objects by watchmakers and jewel- lers, in all which cases the attention has been specially directed to particular objects. It was by fixing his attention on the sub- ject, or " continually thinking about it," that Newton, as he himself declared, discovered the laws of the planetary motions, and was enabled to unfold the true system of the world. Hence the propriety of presenting sensible objects to the view of children of ex- hibiting before them interesting experiments, and of having their books adorned with lively and accurate engravings. Hence too the pro- priety of teaching them to notice every object within the reach of their vision, and to mark every minute change that takes in the form, colour, and situation, of the- objects around them, and to give an account of what they may have seen or heard in any of their ex- cursions : all which circumstances have a tendency to induce a habit of attention, with- out which there ca.n be no solid improvement in any department of instruction. CHAPTER XV. Mtchanica 1 Institutions. Ox these institutions I intended to offer a few particular remarks, and to suggest some arrangements by which they might be ren- dered more extensively useful than they have hitherto been, both in a moral and intellectual point of view, but as this volume has already swelled to a considerable size, I shall confine myself to a very few general observations. It is now more than twenty years since I had an opportunity of suggesting the estab- lishment of such institutions, under the desig- nation of "Literary and Philosophical So- cieties, adapted to the middling and lower ranks of the community." The details in relation to this subject, consisting of a series of five successive papers, were published in the London " Monthly Magazine" for the * Corporal punishments have generally a harden- ing effect on the minda both of young and old. A blacksmith brought up his son, to whom he was very severe, to his own trade. The urchin was, nevertheless, an audacious dog. One day the old vulcan was attempting to harden a cold chisel which he had made of foreign steel, but could not succeed. "Horsewhip it, father," exclaimed the youth, "if that will not harden it, nothing will." (1S6) year 1814 more than eight years before any mechanics' institutions were organized in this country ,-j- Although these papers have seldom been referred to, in the history of me- chanics' institutions, yet the author is aware that they were the means of suggesting, to certain individuals, the idea of establishing such societies ; and, not above a year or two after their publication, a society was organized in the vicinity of London, on the plan and principles suggested in these papers, of which the author was elected an honorary member. Instead of inserting, in this place, the sub- stance of these papers, as was originally in- tended, I shall merely give a short sketch of their contents. In the first communication, after a few in- f See "Monthly Magazine." vol. xxxvii. fo April and July, 1814, pp. 219, 507, and volume xxxviii. for August and September. 1814, pp. 23, 121, and for January, 1815, p. 503. These commu- nications occupy more than 22 closely printed columns, and contain several minute details in relation to what should be the leading objects of ouch institutions, and the meant by which they might be established. LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES. 187 troductory observations in reference to exist- ing associations, and other particulars con- nected with the dissemination of knowledge, the following, among many other advantages, were pointed out as likely to flow from the extensive establishment of such institutions: 1. They would serve to unite and concen- trate the scattered rays of genius, which might otherwise be dissipated, and enable them to act with combined vigour and energy in the discovery and the propagation of useful know- ledge. 2. They would tend to promote the rapid advancement of general science ; for if the labours of those societies which already exist have produced a powerful effect on the progress of science, much more might be ex- pected were their number increased to eighty or a hundred fold. 3. They would have a tendency to produce an extensive diffusion of rational information among the general mass of society, particularly among those in the in- ferior walks of life, by which the narrow con- ceptions, superstitious notions, and vain fears, which so generally prevail, might be gradually removed, and a variety of useful hints and rational views suggested, which would tend to elevate and ennoble the mind, and promote domestic convenience and comfort. 4. They would induce a taste for intellectual pleasures and rational enjoyment, in which those hours generally spent in listlessness, foolish amuse- ments, and the pursuits of dissipation, might be profitably employed, and, consequently, the sum of general happiness augmented. 5. If properly conducted, they could not fail of producing a benign influence on the state of morals and of general society. As vice is the natural offspring of ignorance, so true virtue can only flow from elevated and enlightened principles ; and where such principles exist, their operation, in a greater or less degree, will always appear. The habits of order, punctu- ality, and politeness, which would prevail in such associations, would naturally be carried into the other departments of life, and produce their corresponding effects. The frequent in- tercourse of men of different parties and profes- sions, associated for the purpose of promoting one common object, would gradually vanquish those mutual prejudices and jealousies which too frequently exist even in cultivated minds, and a liberal, candid, and humane spirit, would be cherished and promoted. Society would thus acquire a new polish, and wear a different aspect from what it now exhibits in the in- ferior ranks of life ; more especially, if the means now suggested be combined with the operation of Christian principles. The other communications illustrated the arrangements and regulations requisite in the operation of such institutions, particularly in relation to the following circumstances. I. The Admission of Members. In regard to this circumstance, the two following ex- tremes should be guarded against the indis- criminate admission of all who may wish to become members, whatever may be their lite- rary or moral characters and the giving an undue preference to certain individuals on account of their rank, who have not a corre- sponding share of common sense and literary acquirements. In a literary society, the dis- tinctions of rank ought to be, in a great mea- sure, if not altogether, overlooked ; while, at the same time, the utmost decorum and polite- ness ought always to prevail. It is now high time that human characters were estimated according to their real and intrinsic worth, independent of those external and adventi- tious circumstances with which they may be accompanied ; and it will be highly becoming in rational associations to set an example of estimating the characters of men on principles purely of a moral and intellectual natures. Al- though money is a useful article in all socie- ties, yet it would be inexpedient to solicit any individuals, not otherwise qualified to become members, chiefly with a view of their contri- buting to the pecuniary interests of the asso- ciation. Such persons would not only be a dead weight upon the society, but, by the undue influence they would have, might tend to impede its progress, and prevent its chief design from being accomplished. Besides their literary acquirements, the moral quali- fications of those who desire admission ought not to be altogether overlooked. Knowledge is chiefly desirable in proportion as it is useful. If it does not lead its possessor to propriety of moral conduct, its utility, at least to him, may be much questioned. In all rational institu- tions, the melioration of the moral characters and dispositions of mankind ought to form as prominent an object as the illumination of their understandings. II. The Subjects of Discussion, and the mode of conducting it. Every subject which has a tendency to induce a habit of rational thinking, to elevate arid ennoble the mind, and to present sublime and interesting objects of contemplation every subject which tends to unfold the wise arrangements of nature, and the laws by which the economy of the universe is regulated, which displays the at- tributes of the Divinity, and leads the mind upwards " from Nature to Nature's God ;" every subject which tends to promote the pro- gress of science, the advancement of the liberal and mechanical arts, and the moral improve- ment of mankind, might occasionally become topics of discussion in a society constituted on the principles to which I have alluded. These subjects would embrace the prominent parts of natural history, geograohy, astronomy. (187) 188 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. experimental philosophy, chemistry, natural theology, ethics, education, arts and manufac- tures, physiology, domestic economy, and sim- ilar branches of knowledge. Although party- politics, and sectarian views of religion should be excluded, yet there are certain general topics connected with these subjects, which might form legitimate subjects of discussion : such as the general principles of legislation, the causes of the wealth of nations, the effects of different modes of taxation, and other branches of political economy the character and attributes of the Deity, the principles of moral action, the immortality of the soul, the facts of sacred history, and the evidences by which they are supported the harmony of nature and revelation, and the means by which the character of the human race may be elevated and improved, and the moral world regenerated. In the discussion of such subjects, there are four different modes which might be oc- casionally adopted. 1. The first mode is that of public lectures. A lecture might be delivered once a week, or fortnight, or oftener, according to circumstances, on some inter- esting subject on natural history, chemistry, or experimental philosophy, accompanied with experiments. In order to raise a sum for remunerating an intelligent lecturer, persons not members of the society might be invited to attend, on the condition of paying a small contribution, the members at the same time contributing a little, though in a smaller pro- portion. In order to excite attention, and to stimulate the exercise of the rational faculty, an examination of such of the auditors as chose to submit to it, on the different particu- lars detailed in the lecture, might take place either at the conclusion of the lecture, or at some future hour ; and, at the same time, an opportunity offered of putting questions to the lecturer, and stating any difficulties or objec- tions which may have occurred to them, in order to their solution. 2. By tbe more in- telligent members composing essays on par- ticular subjects, and reading them to the society. For the benefit of young writers, it might be proper, in a candid and friendly manner, to point out the grammatical blun- ders, improper phrases, erroneous statements, or other improprieties which may be found in the essay ; and the writer ought to consider such hints as so much new and useful infor- mation, by the help of which he may be en- abled to render his future compositions more correct. In order to make a respectable figure as writers of essays, particular atten- tion should be given to the arts of grammar and composition; and exercises and instruc- tions on these subjects might occasionally form a part of the business of the society. As (188) some essays may occasionally be read of which the society may wish to have copies for future inspection, in order to save the trouble of the secretary transcribing them, it might be proper to recommend that every essay be written on paper of the same size, so that they might afterwards be bound in regu- lar volumes, to be preserved as part of the records of the society. In this way, the lite- rary communications made to the societv would be recorded in the hand-writings of their respective authors, free of those errors which might be occasioned in their transcrip- tion by another hand. 3. Another method of discussion might be by Forensic disputa- tions. In this case, a question is proposed and state'd, and opposite sides of the question are supported by different speakers. This method has its advantages and its disadvan- tages. Its disadvantages are, that persons, in their eagerness to support the side they have taken, are sometimes apt to contend more for victory than for truth ; and, unless they watch over their tempers, are ready to fall into a spirit of altercation and ill-humour, and to throw out unhandsome epithets against their opponents. Many persons, too, from their having ably supported the erroneous side of a question, have been insensibly led to adopt that opinion, though, in the first in- stance, they defended it merely for the sake of argument. Its advantages are, that it ex- cites interest and attention, exercises the rea- soning faculty, and affords an opportunity to every member of taking a part in the discus- sion. It may, when properly and calmly conducted, suggest useful information, and throw light on many obscure and interesting subjects. It has a tendency to teach persons not to be too rash in adopting opinions till they have weighed the objections that may be brought against them. As the discovery of truth ought to be the chief object in all literary debates in order to insure this object, an intelligent person, who has taken no direct share in the debate, might be appointed to sum up the arguments on both sides, and en- deavour to balance them, in order to ascertain on which side tbe truth seems to lie. In cer- tain cases, it will be found, that the truth does not lie directly on either side, but in a middle position between the two extremes. This mode of discussion, when adopted, should be used with extreme caution, with an equable temper, and, with a sincere desire to discover truth, wherever it may be found ; otherwise, it may be attended with hurtful consequences. 4. Another mode of discussion is, the deter- mining of a question by an induction of facts or reasons, in order to illustrate a par- ticular subject; or, in other words, by an inquiry into causes and effects. For example, FUNDS OF PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES. 189 suppose such questions proposed as the follow- ing : What are the different causes which operate in the production of rain 1 On what principles are we to account for the various phenomena attendant on thunder-storms ? By ;vhat means may the stroke of lightning be averted 1 What are the various useful pur- poses to which the late discoveries respecting uie gases may be applied ? By what means, ind on what principles, may human beings be transported from one place to another with a snore rapid motion than has hitherto been effected ] What are the best means for un- lermining the principles of avarice, and coun- -eracting its effects 1 What are the most efficient methods for diffusing, knowledge and improving the moral and intellectual powers of man ] On such questions, every member aright be called upon to suggest whatever occurs to him that has a tendency to elucidate the subject, and to determine the inquiry ; and the remarks of all the members who deliver their sentiments, when combined, could not fail to throw some light on an interesting question, or, at least, they would tend to ex- cite to further inquiry at a future period. III. The Funds of the Society, and the purposes to which they might be applied. Money is a necessary article in every associa- tion, and is indispensable in the vigorous prosecution of scientific objects. Little of it, however, is required for rational and literary purposes, compared with what is spent in the pursuits of folly and dissipation. Although it is not usual in most societies to make any difference in the sums to be paid by every member, yet it appears somewhat unreason- able, that a person whose income is known to be very limited should contribute as much as one whose income is five or six times greater. A minimum, however, ought to be fixed, below which the poorest member should not be permitted to go, except in very singular cases. Those whose incomes are known to be considerable should be requested to give separate subscriptions, besides the regular quarterly or annual fees, for the purpose of more speedily accomplishing the objects of the institution. Two or three different rates of annual fees or subscriptions might be fixed upon, a maximum, a middle, and a minimum, and every member left at liberty to choose that rate which suits his circumstances. Nor ought those who are unable to pay the maxi- mum rate, or to give separate subscriptions, to be, on this account, considered as inferior to their fellows ; for it is no disgrace for a man to be poor, if he is honest, prudent, and industrious, and has not wasted his substance in folly or dissipation ; as it is no honour to a fool to possess wealth which he was not instrumental in acquiring. The purposes to which the funds of a literary institution may be applied are such as the following : 1. The purchase of boohs. These are the gsand depositories of human knowledge, and> therefore, it should be the first object of every literary establishment to procure a judicious selection of the best books, in every depart- ment of science. In regard to the general subjects of the books to be purchased, it may be proper that every member have it in his power to give his vote and opinion ; but the selection of the individual books on any par- ticular science, should perhaps be entrusted to a committee composed of such members as are best acquainted with the present state of literature. 2. The purchase of philosophical instruments. It may perhaps be a consi- derable time before the funds shall permit the purchase of an extensive apparatus of this kind, yet if a certain portion of the funds be appropriated to this object, in the course of 20 years 500 guineas might be devoted to it, supposing the society to consist of 100 mem- bers, every one contributing annually half a guinea, and that only one half of the funds are appropi iated to this purpose. Nor should it be considered as an object too grand and extensive, to have ultimately in view the erection of an observatory for astronomical observations, and a complete apparatus for illustrating the doctrines of chemistry, natural philosophy, and all the other departments of natural science. Specimens of interesting objects in botany, zoology, mineralogy, and geology, might also be procured, along with models of useful machines for illustrating mechanical powers and operations. Where there is an ardent love of science, and an ani- mated perseverance in prosecuting its objects, all the ends now stated might, from small be- ginnings, be in due time accomplished. 3. Another purpose to which the funds may be applied might be, the distribution of pre- miums to those who solve any difficult and useful problem, or who produce the best essay on a given subject. If the propriety of be- stowing premiums in such cases be admitted, the following principle might be adopted as to the nature of the premium ; namely, that it be such as can be procured at a moderate expense, and, at the same time, be of some utility to the person to whom it is adjudged. Instead of a gold or a silver medal, a pocket compass, a sun-dial, a pocket telescope, a small microscope, a quadrant, a case of mathe- matical instruments, a terrestrial or celestial globe, a tellurian, or any useful article which may best suit the taste of the successful can- didate, might be given as a premium ; and along with it a medal of copper, pewter, or brass, or an engraved card, with an appro- priate inscription. (189) 190 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. IV. The Publications of the Society. A considerable time would probably elapse be- fore such a society would have it in its power to communicate any new discoveries worthy of the attention of the scientific world. Yet this consideration ought not, perhaps, to deter the society from exhibiting some of its trans- actions to public view. In the progress of the institution, after the lapse of a few: years, a selection might be made of the best essays that had previously been communicated, and published in a neat duodecimo volume, with an historical account of the progress of the institution since its commencement, and the manner in which its operations are conducted, together with an abstract of the general pro- gress of science during the same period, which might be collected from certain scien- tific journals. It would also be useful to give a brief statement of what has hitherto been discovered in relation to the different sciences, with hints respecting the desiderata, or things which still remain to be discovered which would tend to direct the attention of the ra- tional inquirer to those particular investiga- tions by which science might be advanced, and carried forward to perfection. Such a volume, though it might not embody any new deductions, or discoveries, might, not- withstanding, be of considerable utility in different respects. It might convey new and useful information to those who are just com- mencing the study of science, and who have no access to the more learned transactions of other societies ; it might become a depository for inserting accounts of interesting facts, and of researches that may be made in that part of the country where the society is situated ; it might tend to excite the rational part of mankind in other cities and towns to form similar establishments, and to cultivate a mu- tual correspondence ; and, as it would proba- bly obtain a considerable circulation in the surrounding districts, (being printed in a cheap and economical form,) it might diffuse new information in different quarters where more expensive volumes would never have found admittance. V. Correspondence and intercourse of the members of the different societies. It might be of considerable use for promoting the ob- ject of these institutions, that the societies, in their corporate capacity, and individual mem- bers, should correspond with ear h other, both personally and by literary communications and that the members of one society, when occasionally residing in the locality of another, should be admitted gratis to all the privileges if that other society ; such as, the use of the library, the inspection of the museum, and attendance on lectures. In or-der to designate the members of all such societies, and to pre- (190) vent the necessity of a circumstantial proof of their belonging to similar institutions, every member might be furnished by his own society with an engraved card or ticket, or rather with a medal of brass or pewter, having the society's name and motto engraved on it, and to which the name of the person, at his admission, might also be appended. The ad- vantages which would result from the pos- session of such a document are sufficiently obvious. It would form, as it were, a bond of union among all the lovers of science in different parts of the empire, and enable them with facility to recognize each other. Travel- lers, whether on business or for pleasure, when visiting the different towns in the line of their route, would thus obtain an easy access to the society of persons of congenial minds ; useful hints would be reciprocally communicated, and an interesting correspond- ence occasionally formed, which might be productive of many pleasing and important consequences, both to the individuals and to the respective societies. They would thus feel themselves more at home, devoid of that ennui which one so frequently feels in strange places, and have an opportunity of improving those hours which might otherwise be dissi- pated in listlessness, to rational and scientific purposes. In short, by this means, the idea suggested by the celebrated Lord Verulam, of uniting the learned world into one great re- public, might be in some measure realized ; every person of intelligence carrying along with him his badge of distinction, and thus indicating to all congenial minds, the grand association to which he belongs. The present is an age in which scientific associations have rapidly increased. The prin- ciple of the division of labour seems now to be judiciously acted upon in scientific investi- gations, by the formation of societies which have chiefly one great object to promote, or one particular science which they propose to cultivate ; and therefore we have reason to indulge the hope, that the different sciences will now make more rapid advances to perfec- tion than in former times. Still, however, much remains to be accomplished in regard to the establishment of literary and rational associations. The discoveries hitherto made in the various departments of human know- ledge are entirely unknown to by far the greatest proportion even of the civilized part of mankind. Institutions, therefore, still re- quire to be formed, on an extensive scale, for communicating to the great mass of society at least the results of those researches which have hitherto been made, for eradicating those erroneous notions which so generally pievail, and for directing their attention to moral and intellectual pursuits. And should such s.'cie- DEFECTS IN MECHANICS' INSTITUTIONS. 191 ties be formed, we might indulge the hope that, ere long, they would be enabled to co- operate with those respectable societies which now exist, in making researches into those regions of science which are yet unexplored, and of promoting the moral improvement of all classes of the community. They would likewise have a tendency to advance the in- terests of genuine religion. For, true science and the doctrines of revelation, so far from being at variance, perfectly harmonize, and reflect a mutual lustre upon each other. Of course, the more general information persons acquire in relation to the system of nature and the economy of the material world, the more will they be qualified for studying the Scriptures in a rational manner ; the light of sound philosophy will have a : tendency to guard them from scepticism on the one hand, and from superstition and enthusiasm on the other, and to prevent them from imbibing those foolish and erroneous interpretations of Scripture, which have tended to bring discredit on the oracles of Heaven. If, therefore, the moral improvement and the intellectual illu- mination of mankind be an object at all de- sirable, it is to be hoped the intelligent public will duly appreciate its importance, and en- courage every scheme which has a tendency to raise our species to that dignity which they ought to hold in the scale of existence, as ra- tional and immortal beings. Such is an abridged view of the communi- cations on this subject, which were offered to the public above twenty years ago, long be- fore any such society actually existed. Such institutions have now been established in most of the large towns of the British em- pire, and in various parts of the United States of America ; but none of them with which I am acquainted comprehend in their plan all the objects above stated. In their present state they appear defective in the following respects: 1. In these institutions being re- garded as chiefly adapted to the instruction of artists and mechanics, for rendering them more intelligent and expert in their respective trades and professions ; and hence the instruc- tions communicated have been almost exclu- sively confined to mathematics and mechanical philosophy. It is highly requisite that me- chanics should be instructed in the physical and mathematical sciences connected with their professions ; but this, instead of being considered as an ultimate object, should be viewed as only one of the subordinate objects of such institutions. Their grand and ulti- mate objects ought to be, to induce a taste, among the great mass of society, for moral and intellectual improvement and to diffuse, throughout all ranks, useful knowledge of every description, in order to raise the human mind from that state of degradation in which it has been so long immersed, and to direct its contemplations to objects worthy of the dignity of rational and immortal natures. In order to accomplish such objects, it is essentially requisite that knowledge be pre- sented to the understanding in its most inte- resting and alluring forms. In the first instance, all abstract disquisitions, and ab- struse mathematical investigations, should be studiously avoided, or postponed to a future period ; and those scenes and objects presented to view, which have a tendency to allure the imagination, to excite inquiry, and to produce rational delight. Such are the subjects of Natural History, which, considered in its most comprehensive sense, has for its object, to arrange and describe all the known facts in the material universe. Facts constitute the foundation of all the sciences they are most easily acquired when properly described their acquisition requires the least exertion of intellect and, when presented to the view in sufficient number and variety, they will always produce pleasurable emotions, and a thirst for intellectual enjoyment. And, therefore, in the natural order of instruction, they ought to constitute the first portions of knowledge to be presented to the untutored mind in all colleges, academies, and mechanics' institu- tions. After the student has acquired a know- ledge of such facts, the elements of the mathe- matical sciences might next occupy his atten- tion, for enabling him to enter on the discus- sions of natural philosophy, astronomy, and the investigation of the causes of the pheno- mena of nature. A profound knowledge of the abstruse parts of mathematics, however, is not absolutely necessary for the acquisition of the more useful branches of general knowledge. An acquaintance with the demonstrations of the first book of Euclid, and of a few propo- sitions in some of the other books the elements of plane trigonometry and conic sections, along with practical geometry is almost all that is requisite for understanding the more interesting departments of science, and may be acquired in a very short time, by a moderate application of the mental powers. The order I have now stated has, however, in most instances, been inverted. The abstrac- tions of mathematical science have been pre- sented to young and untutored minds before they had any conceptions of their utility, or the investigations to which they are applied, and before they had acquired a 'relish for sub- stantial knowledge ; and the consequence has been, that many have abandoned the pursuit of knowledge, on account of the dry and unin- teresting form in which it was presented to the mind. In conformity with this practice, the directors of some mechanics* institutions (191) 192 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. have selected lecturers chiefly on the ground of their being expert mathematicians without any knowledge of their accomplishments as popular teachers of natural science ; and the consequence has been, that both the superin- tendents and the members of the institution have been disappointed, and the society has fallen into disrepute. For, a profound mathe- matician is not generally the person best calculated to convey a knowledge of the facts of natural history and philosophy, in the most simple and alluring manner, to the untutored mind. 2. Another defect in these institutions, as presently conducted, is, that they are not ren- dered so subservient as they might be to the moral improvement of society. Knowledge of every description ought to be rendered sub- servient to the illustration of Divine truth of the attributes and moral government of the Almighty of the facts and evidences of reve- lation and for counteracting evil passions, and promoting the advancement of the human race in true morality and thus preparing them for the employments of that future and eternal world to which they are destined. Unless this object be kept in view, the advan- tages which society will derive from such institutions will be comparatively few and unimportant. For the mere acquisition of scientific knowledge will not of itself counter- act the depravity and moral evils which exist in the world, nor raise mankind in the scale of moral excellence, unless it be blended with that celestial light which proceeds directly from the great Source of intelligence. Dis- cussions on some of the leading subjects to which I allude can easily be conducted, with- out in the least interfering with sectarian views of religion ; and I cannot account for the almost universal practice of setting aside such topics in philosophical discussions, with- out being inclined to suppose that there is a certain degree of antipathy entertained towards such subjects, notwithstanding their important bearings on the present comfort and the future happiness of mankind. I shall only add farther, that besides the. communication of knowledge by public lec- tures in mechanics' institutions, the members of such societies might have occasional meet- ings for mutual instruction. At such meet- ings, a portion of some standard, scientific, or other work, might be read, and a conversation entered into respecting the subject it discusses. Every member should have an opportunity of proposing questions in reference to that subject, and of stating any objections or diffi- culties that may occur to his mind not for the purpose of cavilling or of formal disputa- tion, but to increase his information, and to draw forth the remarks of his associates. In this way the leading branches of any parti- cular system of science might be explained and elucidated in the course of a session. PART II. MISCELLANEOUS HINTS IN REFERENCE TO THE DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF SOCIETY. Oif the following subjects I originally in- tended to enter into some specific details and particular illustrations. But as this volume has already swelled to a considerable size, I can offer, in the meantime, only a few general hints. If we would carry forward the social state of man to that " consummation" which is so "devoutly to be wished," we would require, in the first place, to enter into every department of society, and detect the absurdi- ties, abuses, and immoral principles connected with it, and expose them to view in all their naked deformities and unchristian tendencies. For there is scarcely a department of the social state, in Europe or Asia, whether civil, political, or ecclesiastical, but is based on self- ishness, ambition, avarice, tyranny, or other anti-social and malignant principles. In the (192) next place, it would be necessary, not only to investigate the remedies to be applied to such evils, but to introduce practices which have never yet prevailed, and to lay the foundation of institutions which have never yet been established. For, if ever we expect to behold a period when knowledge shall be universal, when "Righteousness shall run down our street^ as a river," and when " Holiness to the Lord" shall be inscribed on all the em- ployments of human life our existing insti- tutions require to be new modelled, and many of them altogether overturned, and a new foundation laid for the advancement of society, and the future progress of the human mind. Notwithstanding the vague and violent decla- mations of certain politicians and divines about the necessity of " preserving unimpaired OUT IMPROVEMENTS IN PREACHING. 193 national institutions," it is evident that some of them are rotten to the very core, and stand as obstructions to the rights of mankind to the progress of knowledge, and to moral improvement. There is a continual outcry among certain classes against every thing which has the appearance of "innovation" and which implies a want of confidence in "the wisdom of our ancestors;" as if laws and institutions, framed in an age compara- tively barbarous and unenlightened, were so absolutely perfect that they required no far- ther correction or improvement. Without innovation there can be no thorough reforma- tion. Many existing institutions, laws, and usages, have been tried for centuries, and have been found of little avail to the renova- tion of the world ; and he who insists that they shall be still supported in every iota, as they have hitherto been, virtually declares, that the moral world ought to stand still, and that no such period as the Scripture- Millennium will ever arrive to bless mankind. There is an utter inconsistency in maintaining that every practice and institution should con- tinue in its present state, and at the same time admitting that the world is to be regenerated, and that "the knowledge of Jehovah shall cover the earth." The one position appears incompatible with the other, and he who tenaciously adheres to the former must give up the latter ; and hence we have sometimes found, that those who are strenuous supporters of " things as they are," do not hesitate to affirm, that " the world will never be much better than it has hitherto been, and that wars, and ignorance, and misery, will con- tinue to the end of time." But such a sentiment, as we have already shown, is inconsistent with the plainest declarations of the oracles of Heaven, and tends to throw a dismal gloom over all the future prospects of society; and I trust there is scarcely one enlightened Christian that would dare to vin- dicate an opinion so inconsistent with the future improvement of our species, and with the benevolent purposes and arrangements of the Governor of the world. But to enter particularly into the subjects to which I allude would require a separate volume of no incon- siderable size. I shall therefore, in the mean- time, offer only a few general hints, leaving every one to prosecute the subject more par- ticularly by his own reflections. I. On Improvements in regard to Preaching. In the few remarks which I intend to make on this topic it is taken for granted that the fundamental facts and doctrines of Christianity are to be frequently illustrated, and always recognized in every discussion that has a refer- 25 ence to religion. But it is preposterous to dwell almost perpetually, as some preachers do, on what may be termed the alphabet, the rudiments, or first principles of Christianity, as if Christians were always to remain " babes in Christ." " Leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ," but neither forgetting them, nor dwelling exclusively upon them, they ought " to go on to perfection," carrying forward and tracing these principles through all their important bearings and consequences in the Christian life, and expanding their minds with all the views of the Divine opera- tions which the aids of Revelation, art and science, can furnish. This progress towards perfection, however, can never be attained, if Christians are always employed in "laying again the foundation," and never attempting to rear the superstructure ; and if Christian instructors are always exercised in attempting to prove and explain a few of the fundamental articles of the Christian system, and neglect to carry forward their readers and hearers through all the different departments of Christian ac- tion and contemplation. What should we think of the teacher of geometry who, after explaining the terms, axioms, and first princi- ples of the science, stopped short, and left the student either to prosecute his path through the leading propositions and higher branches, or not, as he deemed proper 1 What should we think of the philosopher who spent his time merely in explaining the rules of philoso- phizing, and the general laws of motion, without ever applying them to the investiga- tion and explanation of the phenomena of the visible world ; and who is always defining first principles, without tracing them to their consequences, or pointing out the manner of their application 1 We could expect but poor geometers and philosophers from such meagre instructions. And can we expect that the Christian instructor who seldom goes beyond the axioms of Christianity shall render his hearers enlightened and practical Christians, and bold heroes in promoting the cause of re- formation and religion ] If such a plan of instruction be wise, then the apostles and prophets were fools in directing us so particu- larly in all the practical bearings of religion, and taking such expensive views of the works and the moral government of God. But, waiving such general observations, I proceed to offer two or three particular remarks. The preacher should take in a more com- prehensive range of subjects, in his instruc- tions, than that to which he is usually confined. The Scriptures contain references to a greater variety of objects than any other book all of which must be considered as legitimate sub- jects for discussion in the pulpit. The works of creation, as displaying the Power, Wisdom, , R (193) 194 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. Benevolence, Grandeur, and superintending care of the Creator the events recorded in sacred and civil history, as manifestations of the character and principles of his moral government the history of nations and the revolutions to which they have been subjected, as illustrative of his faithfulness and retribu- tive justice, and of the fulfilment of ancient predictions the harmony which subsists be- tween the system of nature and the system of Revelation, and the mutual light they re- flect upon each other the depravity of man, and the proofs and illustrations of it which are to be found in the constitution and opera- tions of nature, and in the wars and devasta- tions, and malignant principles which have prevailed in the world the truth of Revela- tion, as displayed in its powerful and beneficent effects in the case of nations, families, and in- dividuals, and in its transforming influence on the state of society and on the physical aspect of the world the various active means by which society may be improved and re- generated, and the blessings of the gospel diffused among all nations the multifarious ways in which benevolence and general phi- lanthropy may be made to operate in diffusing knowledge, counteracting misery, alleviating distress, and promoting happiness among all ranks the rational grounds of those moral laws which God has promulgated in his word, which form' the basis of the order and happi- ness of the moral universe, these, and other topics connected with them, in conjunction with the leading doctrines of Christianity, and the views which the Scriptures unfold of the glories of the Millennial era, the resurrection of the dead, the new heavens and earth, and the employments and felicities of the future world should be exhibited in a luminous and energetic manner, and illustrated with all the facts and scenes which the physical and moral world can supply. In particular, the duties of practical Christianity, the government of the temper, the dispositions and principles which should be displayed amidst the scenes and de- partments of human life, the duties incum- bent on masters, servants, parents, children, teachers, scholars, merchants, judges, authors, publishers, neighbours, and other relations in society, should be specifically explained and illustrated. Graphical descriptions might be given of the scenes of human life and the practices which abound in society, delineating the selfish and malignant principles which pervade them, drawing them forth from their hiding place, and portraying them before every eye, in all their contrariety to the principles of the gospel, and in all their repulsive features and abominations at the same time showing how the spirit of Christianity ought to operate in every scene and department in the com- (194) mercial, political, and religious world, and what delightful and harmonious effects would be produced, were the principles of our holy religion to be universally recognized in all the transactions of mankind. Had we a preacher endowed with the gra- phical powers of a Sir Walter Scott, with a mind imbued with Christian principles, and ardently desirous to consecrate his faculties to the advancement of practical Christianity he might, by his lively and picturesque de- scriptions of the scenes of sin and holiness, and their respective effects on the moral world, excite attention to such subjects almost to as high a pitch as that celebrated novelist did to his tales of warlike encounters, and of knights and ferocious chieftains whose names ought now to descend into oblivion. Such were some of the inspired preachers, whose orations are recorded in the book of God. Such was the prophet Isaiah when he proclaimed to the tribes of Israel the counsels of the Most High. Let us conceive him standing in an elevated position in the court of the temple, at one of the solemn feasts, surrounded with thousands of worshippers, describing the majesty of Him " who measureth the waters in the hollow of his hand, meteth out heaven with the span, and weigheth the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance" contrasting the grandeur of Jehovah with the vanities of the heathen and the pitiful images of the idolater por- traying the destruction of Babylon, and its hideous and perpetual desolations depicting the riches and splendour of Tyre, and the doom which awaited her proud inhabitants foretelling the downfall of Egypt and the utter confusion and despair which would seize upon all ranks denouncing the wickedness and abominations of the people of Judah dis- playing the Messiah, in his character, humilia- tion, sufferings, and triumphs, and unfolding the future glories of his triumphant reign, when " the Gentiles shall come to his light, and kings to the brightness of his rising," and " all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God," and we have a represen- tation of a sacred orator, animated with the most sublime conceptions, and delivering his message in language calculated to arrest the attention of every hearer.* The apostle Paul at Athens is another example.f Standing on the summit of Mars hill, under the open canopy of heaven, with the lofty Acropolis towering behind him, with islands, seas, mountains, and the peerless city of Athens, with the Porch, the Lyceum, and the Grove, stretched out before him, and pointing to the splendid temples of idolatry, and to the altar * See Isaiah, chapters xi, xliv, xiii, xsiii, xix, liii, Ix, Ixv, &c. t Acts, xvii. DOMESTIC EDUCATION". 195 erected " To THE UNKNOWN GOD" he de- scribes that incomprehensible Being " who dwelleth not in temples made with hands," who is the Source of life to all beings, and who has " appointed the times of their exist- ence and the boundaries of their habitations" demonstrates the absurdity of idol-worship proclaims the commencement of a new era, and the command of the Most High to " all men every where to repent" and declares the certainty of a future state, a resurrection from the dead, and a day when " God will judge the world in righteousness" by the man Christ Jesus. There is no doubt that in this discourse, of which we have only a brief sum- mary, the apostle would select all the sur- rounding objects, the facts of history, and the scenes of nature, which could be made to bear on the point of discussion, in order to illus- trate the sublime topics of his address, and to produce an indelible impression on the miuds of his audience. We have another representation of what a Christian preacher ought to be, in the exam- ple of Messiah, the great " Teacher sent from God." Seated on a mountain, v/ith the vault of heaven above him for his sounding board, he expatiates on the happiness of the humble, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peace-makers, and they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, in opposition to all the false maxims which had prevailed in the world ; and, in a long discourse, exposes the hypocritical and corrupt principles of the age, and enforces the true laws of moral action on every class of his hearers a discourse which, if it were not recorded in the Bible as having been delivered by the highest authority, would be considered by some as a specimen of legal preaching. On other occasions he collected multitudes on the sea-shore, and addressed them from a ship, illustrating his heavenly doctrines from the sowing of seed, the tares among the wheat, the gradual progress of vegetation, the mustard tree, the pearl of great price, and the net which gathered fishes of every kind. The objects both of the living and inanimate creation were presented to his hearers, as conveying sentiments of instruc- tion and piety. He inculcated upon them confidence in the care of Providence, from the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. " Behold the fowls of the air," which are now flying around you, " they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feedeth them ;" " Consider the lilies of the field" growing on yonder meadow, " they toil not, neither do they spin, yet Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." Such were the subjects illustrated, and the mode of instruction adopt- ed by those who were commissioned from hea- ven to make known the will of God to man. How very different, both in matter and man- ner, were those simple and sublime instruc- tions, from some of the meagre metaphysical discourses which are frequently read in our churches, in a dull monotonous tone, and which present scarcely one well-defined or animating idea to the majority of the hearers 1 And let the reason of every man, who acknowledges the Scriptures as a Divine Revelation, deter- mine which of these modes of preaching is to be preferred whether we ought to imitate the example of inspired teachers, or that of fallible and erring men ! Again, the subject of the education of chil- dren, and the proper means to be employed for training them in knowledge and Christian morality, should occasionally form the subject of preaching. Lectures might be delivered on this subject on Sabbath evenings, or on week days, and the general principles and rules laid down, particularly illustrating by examples taken front the existing scenes and practices of society. With regard to private or family education, I know no book that would serve for a better model, as to the manner in which such instructions should be conveyed, than Mr. Abbott's " Mother at home," with all its appropriate facts and examples. Even the mere reading of such a book to a public audi- ence, with occasional pauses, remarks, and familiar illustrations, might produce a more powerful practical effect than many elaborate sermons, whose object is merely to prove a doctrine which a single text of Scripture is sufficient to establish. This is a subject of par- amount importance, and which has been too much overlooked in the business of Christian instruction. Most of the evils which abound in society may be traced to the want of proper tuition in early life, under the domestic roof, and to the ignorance of parents and servants, as to the rational and moral principles on which instruction and family government ought to proceed. Discourses should like- wise be occasionally preached on the duty of Christians devoting a considerable portion of their wealth for the promotion of educa- tion and universal improvement in society. This is a duty which, in the present age, is scarcely understood or appreciated ; and yet, upon the universal attention that is paid to it will depend the future progress of knowledge and religion, and all the bright scenes to which we look forward in the days of the Millennium. But it is needless to enlarge on this topic after what has been stated in the preceding pages. (See p. 176, &c.) 2. The effect of preaching might be in- creased, by illustrating the facts and rtasdn- ings connected with religion in so far as they are susceptible of it^unth sensible re 196 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. presentations. In describing, for example, the Jewish tabernacle, and its utensils, models or pictorial representations of such objects, on a large scale, might be exhibited. I have known persons who were considered as intel- ligent Christians and mighty in the Scriptures, w.ho appeared to have no accurate conceptions of such objects, and who, when the relative positions of the altar of burnt offering, the sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies, were re- presented on paper, along with the furniture and vessels in the respective apartments, ac- quired ideas on the subject which they never before entertained. When we consider the frequent allusions made to such objects in the writings of the prophets, in the Evangelical history, and particularly in the Epistle to the Hebrews, it cannot be a matter of mere indif- ference, that Christians should be altogether destitute of clear conceptions of the scenes and objects connected with the tabernacle in the wilderness, or the temple at Jerusalem ; and there are comparatively few individuals who are able to form a distinct picture in their minds of such objects merely from reading the descriptions in the books of Moses. I have heard a preacher attempt to convey an idea to his hearers of the Ark of the Covenant, by telling them it was about the size of a tent-bed, and somewhat similar to it in form. But it would certainly have conveyed a more precise and accurate idea, had a large drawing or en- graving of it been exhibited to their view, and the different parts of it pointed out and ex- plained. Maps, on a large scale, of Palestine, Asia Minor, and the countries around Judea, where the Apostles travelled to propagate the gospel, might likewise be exhibited, when the preacher is lecturing on the journeyings of Israel from Egypt, on the Evangelists, or the Acts of the Apostles, for the purpose of eluci- dating the narrations of the sacred historians, a.nd showing the relations of the several towns and countries to which a reference or allusion is made; for the interest excited by these narratives, and some of the instructions to be derived from them, partly depend on our knowledge of the geographical positions and relations of the persons and places to which the history refers. Similar exhibitions might likewise occasionally be made of various ob- jects alluded to in Scripture connected with the agriculture, antiquities, arts and sciences of the Eastern nations, on a knowledge of which a clear preception of the meaning and references of many passages in the prophet- ical and historical writings in a great measure depends. The only point to be settled is, whether it be proper, in any case, to introduce such subjects into the pulpit. If this point be admitted, then the question is, whether we ought to convey a clear and distinct idea of (196) the object, or an obscure and distorted concep tion, or no idea at all. For mere verbal de scriptions can convey no distinct conceptions of the objects to which I allude. Some worthy Christians, I am aware, would be apt to imagine, that such illustrations are altogether foreign to the business of religion, and that they would draw aside the mind from God and spiritual objects. But, I would ask, what do we know of religion except the no- tions we have acquired through- the medium of the senses 1 What ideas have we of God but what we have derived from the history of his dispensations recorded in his word, and the contemplation of his visible works ] Every fact contained in the Bible embodies in it a description and exhibition of sensible objects, without the intervention of which we could have no ideas of religion at all ; and the material ci-eation around us is an adumbra- tion or sensible exhibition of the attributes of the invisible Divinity. His ominipresence and agency is manifested in every object we behold. Every plant and flower, as it springs upward to maturity, indicates the presence and incessant operation of Him who formed it by his wisdom. Every ray of light descend- ing from the solar orb, is an indication of the presence and glory of Him who is represented as dwelling " in light unapproachable." Were we, in reality, " spiritually minded," were our thoughts and affections properly directed, we would see God in every object and in every event in the instruments of agriculture, by which the earth is cultivated in the micro- scope which discloses to our view the invisible worlds of life in the Jewish tabernacle, with all its furniture and utensils in the history of nations, and the revolutions through which they have passed in the whirlwind, the tem- pest, and the refreshing breeze in the verdure of summer, the storms of winter, the fruits of harvest, and in all the beauties and sublimities of earth and heaven ; and therefore, whatever artificial representations can assist our minds in forming distinct conceptions of such objects must have a tendency to convey instruction, and to inspire us with sentiments of piety and devotion. 3. In order to diversify the topics of preach- ing, and to render it more interesting and instructive, the education of candidates for the ministry ought to embrace a more appro- priate and extensive range of subjects than that to which it has been usually confined. It is somewhat strange, that, in reference to preaching, the simile has been introduced into our language, "as dull as a sermon." There is no class of orators that has such a multiplicity of sublime and interesting objects and motives at his command, and so extensive a range of illustration as the Christian preacher SUBJECTS FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP. 197 He has the boundless field of the universe, in all its diversified relations, in which to expa- tiate all the scenes of Providence which have been displayed in every age since time began eternity, past and to come, with all its awful and glorious realities the ruin and the reco- very of a fallen world the virtues, miracles, death, resurrection, ascension, and glory, of Him who is " the image of the invisible God" the operations of the Divine government in reference both to man and to angels the powers and agencies of superior intelligences the perfections of the Deity, and the gran- deur of his empire the moral principles of the Christian system, and the virtues which, if practised, would reunite all the tribes and families of mankind the hopes and fears of human beings both in regard to this world and to the life to come the felicity and glory of the millennial church the scenes of the con- flagration, the general resurrection, the last judgment, and the happiness and employ- ments of men and angels throughout an end- less duration, these, with all the endlessly diversified objects connected with them, form so many legitimate topics and sources of illus- tration to every Christian preacher. And yet, a sermon is generally characterized as a dull and somniferous composition. If this charac- teristic be true, the fault lies, not in the sub- ject, and the narrow range of topics, but in the preacher himself. It is not a little unaccountable, that the series of instruction through which students for the ministry usually pass, is every thing but adapted to produce intelligent and eloquent preachers of the gospel. Almost the one-half of the time devoted to what are called philo- sophical studies is employed in the study of Latin and mere classical literature, while they are never introduced to the knowledge of those more interesting and luminous subjects which have a far more direct bearing on the- ology and the objects of the Christian minis- try. Even the subjects of natural history, natural theology, geography, popular philoso- phy, and pulpit oratory, are seldom discussed or illustrated in the seminaries where they are taught ; and hence may be traced the limited views which are entertained respecting the range of illustration on subjects of divinity, and the little effort which has been made to excel in sacred eloquence. A preacher, in so far as is practicable, should be a man of almost universal knowledge. Without extensive in- formation on all the subjects to which I have alluded, he cannot be supposed to enter with spirit and energy on the illustration of such topics, or to exhibit those graphical descrip- tions, and delineations of physical and moral scenery to which I lately adverted. The time employed in the study of Latin, and classical learning, might be sufficient for laying the foundation of knowledge in all those useful departments of science and religion, which, when thoroughly studied in after life, would " make the man of God complete, and tho- roughly fitted for every good work." It is little short of criminality to waste so much time in such studies, while subjects of infinitely greater importance are either overlooked, or altogether neglected. And therefore, if we would render the Christian ministry fully effi- cient for all the great purposes it is intended to accomplish, we must introduce new arrange- ments into the plan of our academical instruc- tion. In connection with Biblical criticism, and the study of Greek and Hebrew, in so far as necessary for reading the Scriptures in the original languages, all the branches of natural history, geology, geogiaphy, experi- mental philosophy, chemistry, physiology, na- tural theology ; ancient and modern history, sacred, ecclesiastical, and civil ; the progress of the arts ; the physical, moral, and political state of the nations in short, all the facts which can be ascertained in reference to the operations of the Creator in the physical and moral universe, ought to be studied, in so far as is practicable ; and no one should be sent forth as a preacher (unless in extraordinary cases).* Such knowledge would furnish in- exhaustible sources of illustration on divine subjects, which would both arrest the atten- tion, and increase the general knowledge of the hearers of the gospel. I have always con- sidered it as a characteristic of a good sermon, which the hearers would appreciate, ivhen an outline of the leading ideas contained in it could be sketched on paper or canvass. We can paint the outlines of our Saviour's instruc- tions, Paul's sermon at Athens, Moses' fare- well address to the Israelites, the speech of the Almighty addressed to Job, and most of the orations of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and the other prophets. But this can never be done, unless there be interwoven with the texture of the discourse tangible illustrations, borrowed from the subjects to which I have alluded. I may just add, that every candidate for the ministry should pay particular atten- tion to the improvement of his voice and man- ner of delivery, so that he may be enabled to express his sentiments with a distinct articu- lation, and with becoming energy and pathos, suitable to the nature and solemnity of his subject, and not, as is frequently the case, like a school-boy reading his lesson with a disgusting monotony. Where there is any * There appears no necessity for courses of moral philosophy in Christian colleges and acade- mies ; as every one who takes Revelation for his guide, finds the purest and most comprehensive system of moral science explained and illustrated by the sacred writers. K 2 (197) 198 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. natural or acquired defect in the organs of speech, the individual ought to be considered as unfit for the office of a Christian preacher. 4 Divine worship should be so conducted that praise offered to our Creator and Re- deemer should be appropriate, and according with the dictates of inspiration. In order to this, all the subjects of praise should be taken directly from the sacred oracles, and the poeti- cal version into which we throw them should embody, as nearly as possible, the very lan- guage of the inspired writers, and, in every instance, the exact sentiments. The Scottish version of the Psalms of David though con- taining many doggrel rhymes, and susceptible of considerable improvement is, perhaps, the most accordant of any with the language and sentiments of the inspired penman. It is strictly coincident with the common version of the Bible, and where that version is incor- rect, the poetical version is likewise deficient in precision and accuracy. But it does not appear to be incumbent upon us either to use the whole of the book of Psalms in our praises, or to confine ourselves to that selection of sa- cred poetry. The books of Moses, the book of Job, the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Habakkuk, the Evangelists, the Epistles, and particularly the book of Revela- tion, can supply many appropriate passages to direct our meditations in the exercise of praise. But I would lay it down as a princi- ple, that, in translating them into English verse, we should strictly adhere to the senti- ments of the inspired writers, without inter- weaving our own paraphrases and comments. I hold it as an axiom, that the inspired writers are the best judges of what is proper to be addressed to God in praise, and that our praises ought to contain nothing but the pure sentiments of inspiration. In opposition to this maxim, we find Independents, Methodists, Baptists, and others, using collections of what are termed hymns in public worship, and al- most discarding the book of Psalms, as if it were too antiquated a composition for direct- ing Christian worship. Many of the compo- sitions I allude to are vague, enthusiastic, too familiar in their language when addressing the Creator and Redeemer in many instances exhibit confused and distorted images of di- vine things, particularly when descanting on the joys of heaven ; and their style and man- ner as well as some of their sentiments, alto- gether different from those of the prophets and apostles. To prefer such compositions in our addresses to God, to those of inspired men, is little else than to " forsake the foun- tain of living waters, and to hew out broken cisterns that can hold no water." I know not a more glaring piece of contradiction than in the pertinacious use of such hymns by the (198) denominations alluded to, since they acknow- ledge no creed but the Scriptures ; and when, in fact, there is a creed in some instances not very consistent embodied in the hymn book. The only question to be determined is, Are inspired writers the best judges of what we ought to address to God, and ought we to be directed by them in our devotions, or by the flimsy and erring compositions of fallible man 1 Private families and individuals may be left to their own feelings and discre- tion in this respect, but it is scarcely fair to impose such compositions on a public as- sembly. There is another circumstance, in the exer- cise of praise, which deserves censure, and that is, foolish and unmeaning repetitions. Some tunes used in public worship require the last line of the verse or stanza to be two or three times repeated, whether it contains a complete sense or not ; other tunes require half a line to be repeated three times, al- though the pause should happen to be in the middle of a word ; so that a worshipping as- sembly, chiming in with such an absurd prac- tice, appears " like children babbling nonsense in their sports." Such a practice is highly indecorous ; it is little short of mocking the Great Object of worship ; and were an infidel entering an assembly when thus engaged, he might have some show of reason for declaim- ing on the absurdities of Christian worship. Those who abet such a practice would do well to consider the import of the Apostle's resolution, " I will sing with the spirit, and I vrill sing with the understanding also." II. The Union of the Christian Church would have a tendency to promote universal improvement. The jealousies and mutual recriminations of contending sectaries constitute one of the many causes which have prevented the ad- vancement of society. They have prevented the harmonious co-operation of all ranks and parties in establishing seminaries for the in- struction of the young, and for promoting the knowledge of religion in our own country and in other lands; so that society, instead of moving forward as one great harmonious body in the path of improvement, has been shattered into a hundred different parties, each moving in its own direction, sometimes crossing the path of the others, sometimes advancing in an opposite direction, and some- times clashing and engaging in mutual war- fare. This is a state of Christian society which is much to be deplored, and which re- quires the most serious and solemn considera- tion of all denominations of the religious world, as to the means which ought to be em- ployed, and the concessions which ought to be made, in order to produce a cordial union SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED BY ENGRAVINGS. 199 of all who appear to be imbued with the spirit of Christianity. Were this desirable object neatly effected, numerous obstructions to the general diffusion of knowledge would be re- moved, and a new impulse given to the cause of universal improvement. A broad and solid foundation might be laid for the universal in- struction of all ranks in the leading truths of religion, and in every department of useful science, without interruption from those sec- tarian interests and contentions which have hitherto obstructed the rearing of the temple of knowledge and of Christianity. Liberality of views, and a spirit for introducing improve- ments into the social state, would be more extensively cherished. National reformation would be carried forward with more vigour and effect. Political parties in the State which are frequently based on sectarian in- terests and opinions would be gradually un- dermined, and all who are " right-hearted men" disposed to co-operate in every measure that has a tendency to promote the general good. The influence of such a state of society would be powerful in procuring the enactment of laws congenial to the spirit of philanthropy, and the dictates of revelation. Missionary enterprises to heathen countries would be car- ried forward on a much more extensive scale, and with far greater energy and effect, than can now be produced by the separate and in- sulated operations of sectarian missions. Unity of pljan and operation would be introduced into all such expeditions, and a saving in the pecuniary means by which they are carried forward. Money, for all the purposes now stated, would be collected with less trouble and to a much greater amount ; perhaps not only double or treble the amount now fur- nished, but even tenfold such sums might be collected, were the spirit of Christian union, and the liberal views which would accompany it, to pervade the whole range of the religious world. III. The knowledge of the Scriptures might be promoted by illustrating various portions of them with appropriate engrav- ings. We have, indeed, Bibles and Commenta- ries of all sizes, from a 24mo to a folio, hawked through the country, " embellished" with en- gravings of different kinds, some of them not a little expensive. But these embellishments are, for the most part, only fit for the amuse- ment of children, and, instead of elucidating the facts recorded in Sacred history, only tend to distort them. They consist almost wholly . of pictures taken from fancy, in which the manners, costume, architecture, and rural scenery of the Eastern nations, are grossly misrepresented. Among these, we find views, connected with Jerusalem, and other cities in Judea, in which the houses are represented with sloping roofs and large arched windows in the modern style, and the streets crowded with horses, and horsemen, richly caparisoned, like knights-errant or modern dragoons, and holding halberts in their hands. The inhabit- ants of these countries are represented as wear- ing neither shoes, stockings, nor sandals, but quite bare from the soles of the feet to the knees. In a picture of the baptism of Christ, he is represented as standing quite naked beside a small rivulet, while John the Baptist is standing on the other side of it, holding a long cross in the one hand, and pouring water from a basin on the head of Christ with the other. In a picture of the Temptation, Christ is represented as sitting in something like an elbow-chair, with bare feet, a long robe like a surplice, and a glory round his head, while Satan appears addressing him in the attire of a modern female, standing upon cloven feet, and having wings attached to his shoulders. Such representations, which may be considered as specimens of most of our Scripture prints, instead of conveying ideas of the facts they are intended to represent, tend only to degrade and caricature them. Nothing can be more foolish and preposterous than most of the pictures representing the scenes of Scripture history, particularly in reference to the ana- chronisms they display. Burgoyne, in his Travels, notices a painting in Spain, where Abraham is preparing to shoot Isaac with a pistol, and an angel employed in providing that it shall miss fire ! There is a painting, at Windsor, of Antonio Verrio, in which he has introduced himself, Sir Godfrey Kneiler, and Captain May, surveyor of the works, as spectators of Christ's healing the sick. There was in the Houghton Hall collection, Velvet Brughels' " Adoration of the Magi," in which were a multitude of figures, all finished with the greatest Dutch exactness. The Ethiopian king is dressed in a surplice, with boots and spurs, and brings for a present, a gold model of a modern ship. Poussion's painting of Rebecca at the well, has the whole back- ground decorated with Grecian architecture. The same artist, in the picture of the Deluge, has painted boats, not then invented. Some of the Saxon painters put our Saviour, Noah, Abraham, and king Edgar, all in the same habit. Many useful ideas respecting Scriptural facts may be communicated by means of engravings ; but such representations as those to which I allude, should be for ever discarded from our Commentaries and family Bibles. Instead of such absurd exhibitions, delinea- tions of real objects should be introduced, as illustrative of some of the facts and descrip- tions of Sacred history. For example, the (199) 200 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. plan of the Jewish tabernacle and temple, the party, between the hours of seven or eight in altar of incense and of burnt-offering, the ark the morning, and six in the evening, if propel of the covenant, the tables of showbread, the arrangements were made for that purpose, golden candlesticks, the brazen laver, and When once the public is aware that certain other utensils, as described by the sacred shops- are shut up at a particular hour, every historians the instruments of agriculture and one would endeavour to supply himself with of music, in so far as they are known, the the articles he required from such shops before manner of grinding corn, the plan and form that hour arrived ; and though they were to of the Eastern buildings, the war-chariots be kept open till twelve at midnight, or one and battering-rams of the ancients views of in the morning, we know, from experience, modern Jerusalem, with plans of the relative that certain individuals would postpone their positions of Mount Zion, Mount Calvary, purchases, till these hours had nearly arrived. Mount of Olives, the brook Kidron, &c. In order to prevent any inconvenience to views of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Joppa, the society, by the shops of bakers, grocers, ruins of Tyre, Zidon, Babylon, and other apothecaries, or others, being closed at an cities mentioned in Scripture, as illustrative early hour, an arrangement might be made to of the fulfilment of prophecy, which may be have one shop of every class kept open to a collected from the embellishments contained later hour, in every street or district of a in the works of modern travellers delinea- town, so that, on any unforeseen emergency, tions illustrating the manners and customs articles of provisions, groceries, medicines, of the Eastern nations maps of Palestine, &c. might be procured. Every shopkeeper Egypt, Arabia, Assyria, Idumea, Babylonia, of this description would, of course, have his Persia, Greece, the islands of the Mediterra- turn, in succession, of keeping open his shop nean, and the Roman empire, for illustrating during these extra hours, and of reaping, the journeyings of Jesus Christ, the travels in rotation, the additional profits that might of the Apostles, the route of the Israelites accrue, so that, in the course of a year or through the wilderness, and the descriptions less, all would find themselves on an equal of the ancient prophets. Engravings might footing in regard to the quantity of business also be given of the more remarkable animals, transacted, and the advantages gained, by trees, and flowers, to which allusions are fire- keeping open in rotation their shops till later quently made in the Sacred writings. Such hours. views and delineations might be given at an There is nothing to hinder the immediate expense much less than what is generally in- adoption of such arrangements, but that spirit curred in engraving the paltry and fictitious of jealousy which too much prevails among representations to which we have alluded ; persons of the same profession, and which and they would certainly be much more con- prevents a friendly intercourse among them genial to the taste of intelligent readers of the for concerting measures for the good of the Bible, and much more conducive to the illus- whole. A few obstinate and selfish characters, tration of the scenes described by the Sacred in the spirit of contradiction, would, doubtless, prophets and historians. set themselves in opposition to such regula- IV. Knowledge and 'moral improvement tions ; but as their sordid and avaricious views might be promoted by abridging the hours would be apparent to every one, they would of labour. soon be despised and deserted by the respect- One great objection to the prosecution able portion of the community, and would of knowledge and general improvement is sufier the natural consequences which almost founded on the fact, that the bulk of mankind invariably flow from selfishness and avarice, have not sufficient leisure from their daily There is no man who, in such a case, seta avocations for such purposes. This is partly himself in opposition to the general good of a true in regard to merchants' clerks, haber- community, that ought to be regarded as a dashers, grocers, apothecaries, and their ap- Christian ; as such conduct is directly opposed prentices and shopmen, and those employed to the precept which enjoins us " to love our in spinning-mills and several other manu- neighbour as ourselves," and "to look not factories. In these cases, shops are kept merely on our own things, but also on the open, and persons employed from six in the things of others." Such an arrangement, morning till eight, and even till ten or eleven while it could be injurious to none, would o'clock in the evening. But there is no neces- be highly beneficial to all. It would afford sity, in order to carry on the business of life, leisure for public, private, and domestic inter- that such long hours of labour and attend- course for attending philanthropic associa- ance on shops should be imposed either on tions, or lectures on any branch of useful masters or servants. All the business usually knowledge for improving their minds in carried on in shops and manufactories could wisdom and virtue for instructing their be transacted, without inconvenience to any children, and enjoying the sweets of domestic (200) DIRECTION OF PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. 201 intercourse and for taking an active part in all those schemes which tend to promote the best interests of society. In particular, it would afford an opportunity to merchants' clerks, shopmen, apprentices, and others, of attending societies, lectures, schools, or other seminaries of instruction, for improving both their intellectual and moral powers for want of which opportunities many young persons of this description rise up to manhood in comparative ignorance, and easily slide into the paths of folly and intemperance. But, before such an arrangement is effected, it would be, previously requisite that seminaries, such as those formerly suggested, be estab- lished, for promoting the instruction of the classes to which I allude, so that their evening hours may not be spent in sloth or licentious- ness. In regard to weavers, masons, tailors, carpenters, mill-spinners, and common labour- ers, eight hours a day employed in labour, in- stead of ten or eleven, might be sufficient for all the purposes of society. Since the inven- tion of modern machinery, a much greater quantity of labour than formerly can be effected in the same time. It appears to me, that the Governor of the world, in permitting such inventions for facilitating the process of manufactures, evidently intends thereby that the period of human labour should be abridged, in order to afford scope to all classes of society for mental, moral, and religious improvement, and in order to prepare the way for that period when " the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth." It ought, therefore, to be con- sidered as a misapplication of machinery when it is employed chiefly for the purpose of enriching and aggrandizing a few individuals, while the mechanic and labourer are deprived both of the physical and moral advantages which it was intended to produce. V. Knowledge might be promoted by a proper direction of public amusements. There can be no impropriety, at certain in- tervals, of gratifying the mass of society with an exhibition of public amusements. But such amusements should always be blended, if possible, with moral and intellectual instruc- tion be congenial to the dignity and the high destination of man and ought never to inter- fere with the purity of Christian morals. We have public amusements of various descrip- tions, such as stage-plays, balls, masquerades, horse- racing, cock-fighting, bull-baiting, eques- trian feats and exhibitions, tricks of legerde- main, rope-dancing, &c. &c. ; but most, if not all, of these, have an immoral tendency, and some of them are inconsistent with humanity, and degrading to the character of man. In- stead of such trifling and demoralizing amuse- ments, such exhibitions as the following might be adopted : 1. Air balloons, of a urettv 26 v y large size, which might be sent up into the atmosphere either with or without living be- ings, and might be rendered subservient for investigating atmospherical phenomena, the different currents and electrical states of the air, and other particulars. At the same time, descriptions and explanations might be given to the assembled multitude, of the nature of balloons, the principle on which they ascend, the mode of inflating them, the facts which have been ascertained by means of them in regard to the upper regions of the atmosphere, the nature and use of the parachute, and vari- ous details in relation to aerial navigation. 2. Panoramas, or perspective exhibitions, on a large scale, of ancient and modern buildings, cities, towns, ranges of mountains, sea-ports, volcanoes, grottos, romantic rural scenery, and whatever is grand, beautiful, and interesting, in the scenes of Nature and Art. Such pano- ramic scenes, while they could not fail to gratify every spectator, would convey to the mind ideas which could not be derived from any other source, except the actual view of the objects represented. 3. Camera obscuras, on a large scale, constructed in the manner formerly described, (p. 123.) If these were constructed with large lenses of twenty or thirty feet focal distance, their magnifying power, on distant objects, would be equal to that of a telescope magnifying from thirty to about fifty times, which would show the dis- tant scenery of a country with great minute- ness, and people, sheep, and other animals, at the distance of many miles, while more than a score of persons at one time might contem- plate such a scene. 4. Telescopes, constructed of a single convex lens, or a concave speculum of a long focal distance, for example, from twenty-five to forty feet, might be fixed in certain positions, so that several individuals at the same time might perceive their effect on distant objects. Sir W. Herschel informs us that, by looking with his naked eye on the speculum of his forty feet telescope, without A the interposition of any lens or mirror, he perceived distinctly one of the satellites of Saturn ; so that such an instrument would (201) 202 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. present a brilliant view either of the moon or of terrestrial objects. The manner of looking at objects with such an instrument is repre- sented p. 201, where A B represents a concave mirror or speculum of a long focal distance, C the focal point, a little within which several spectators might stand with their faces to the speculum, and view the distant objects behind them. Were A B a large convex lens of a similar focus, the spectators could stand in a similar position and view the objects before them. 5. Philosophical and chemical experi- ments, of various descriptions, on a large scale, might be exhibited such as the explosion of a bladder full of oxygen and hydrogen gas, by means of an electric spark, which produces a tremendous sound the breaking of a piece of glass or bladder, or a large square bottle, by the pressure of the atmosphere the burn- ing of charcoal or phosphorus in oxygen gas, which produces a most brilliant illumination the ascent of turpentine, when tinged of a red colour, through water in long glass tubes, which produces a beautiful effect the burn- ing of spii-its of wine, after having been boiled, which produces an extensive and beautiful jet or spout of fire the Chinese lights,* and an indefinite variety of similar striking experi- ments, all of which might, at the same time, be familiarly explained. Such exhibitions might be made either in large halls, in squares, or in open areas in the neighbourhood of towns, according to the na- ture of the exhibition ; and the best instru- mental music might accompany them, and might occasionally be enlivened by the sur- rounding multitudes joining in unison with then- voices. The expense of such exhibitions would be far less than the sums generally wasted in the encouragement of horse-racing, * The Chinese lights are produced by the follow- ing composition : Take twelve parts of nitre, five and a half of sulphur, one-half of orpiment, one- half of indigo, one-half of gunpowder, all finely pounded and intimately mixed. When this com- position is set fire to by a burning match, it pro- duces a most splendid illumination. In the year 1814, when peace with France was proclaimed, a friend of mine, at the request of the magistrates of Paisley, got a large quantity of this composition prepared, which was iffnited on the parapet which surrounded the spire of the High Church of that (own, and which burned for more than half-an hour, producing the most brilliant illumination over all the town, and was -an object of curiosity at Glasgow, about eight miles distant. It would be visible from elevated situations, more than thirty miles distant Such was the splendour of the light, that the birds rose from their nests, and tiew around it, as if it had been the rising sun. At the same time, a balloon, made of the allantois of a calf, was sent up into the atmosphere, and a num- ber of large bladders, filled with oxygen and hydro- gen, gas, were exploded, by being held in the Chi- nese lights, which produced sounds that were heard over all the town. The composition ex- pended on this occasion, cost about ten pounds; but a quantity sufficient for a common experiment may be procured for two or three shillings. (202) theatrical diversions, and similar amusements , and, while they tended to increase rational information, and to gratify the principle of curiosty, would be much more congenial to the taste of intelligent minds. There are certain towns in this country whose magis- trates give, from the public funds, more than a hundred guineas annually for the encour- agement of horse-races, besides the expenses .connected with the various preparations and erections deemed necessary on such occasions. Such sums, along with a small contribution from each individual, (for example, an English penny or twopence,) would, in general, be adequate to defray the expenses of such exhi- bitions. VI. Knowledge and rational enjoyment might be increased by erecting observatories in every town and populous village. These observatories might be furnished, not only with some of the best achromatic telescopes for viewing terrestrial and celestial objects, but likewise with several articles of philosophical apparatus, and specimens of natural history. In studying the science of the heavens, there is nothing more gratifying to those who have acquired a relish for this subject, than to view the telescopic objects described by astronomers, such as the moons and belts of Jupiter, the ring of Saturn, the crescent of Venus, the mountains and vales of the moon, the nebulae, the double stars, and other interesting celestial phenomena. Such views tend to produce a higher relish for as- tronomical studies and rational investigations ; and no pictorial representations can serve as a substitute, or convey the same ideas as actual observations by good instruments. But the majority of rational inquirers and of the com- munity at large are deprived of such views on account of the expense of such instruments. An establishment of this kind might be set on foot, either by a grant of money from a public fund, or by subscription. All the instruments re- quisite, in the first instance, would be, a large achromatic telescope for viewing celestial phe- nomena, and an equatorial telescope, for illus- trating practical astronomy, and viewing the stars and planets in the daytime. These might be purchased for about forty guineas, (see article Astronomy, p. 113-14,) and if an hundred and twenty individuals were to co- operate in such an undertaking, the subscrip- tion would be only seven shillings to each, and, if an additional subscription of about two shillings a-year were paid, in the course of a few years the apparatus might be considerably- increased. One special advantage arising from the universal esablishment of observatories would be, that the true time might always be accurately ascertained, and the public clocks regulated accordingly on which circumstance IMPROVEMENTS IN TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 203 depends, in certain cases, the determining of the altitude of certain atmospherical pheno- mena, such as a fiery meteor, or a luminous arch, when seen by different observers in places distant from each other. VII. The improvement of towns, villages, and roads, is intimately connected with the advancement of society. There are few circumstances in the state of society which exhibit the folly and depravity of man in a more striking point of view, than the state of most of the cities and towns of Europe, and other parts of the world not even excepting the British empire. In some of our cities we have palaces, churches, col- leges, and public buildings of the most mag- nificent description, while the great mass of the population around are living in miserable habitations in narrow dirty lanes, which are seldom or never waited by the rays of the sun, or the refreshing breeze. In the High street of Edinburgh and its ei virons, which contain a greater number of human habitations than any other spot of the same extent on the sur- face of the globe, the inhabitants appear to be huddled together like so many rabbits in their cells. The houses are from five to eight and ten stories high, with numerous narrow lanes or closer, from four to six feet wide, branching from the street, and running down a great ex- tent towards a hollow on each side. In these closes there is neither light nor pure air, but a continual gloom and noisome exhalations ; and the physical filth and darkness which abound are generally emblems of the moral pollution and scenes of depravity which are too frequently exhibited in such habitations. Such abodes are incompatible, not only with physical comfort, but with any attempts at im- provement in knowledge ; and it is a kind of degradation to the nature of man, that any human beings should be doomed to spend their lives in such wretched habitations. It tends, not only to debase the moral character, but to prevent the expansion of the human intellect. Instead of an extensive landscape, adorned with flowers and verdure, and the \iew of the expansive canopy of heaven the inmates of such dwellings, for months and years, have nothing presented to the eye but a dead murky wall bespattered with filth, which confines the range of their vision with- in the compass of a few feet, and prevents them from becoming acquainted even with the common scenes of nature. What has been now stated will apply in a greater or less degree to almost all our cities and large towns, und even to some of our villages. Were we to inquire into the circumstances which led men thus to immure themselves in gloomy holes and corners, like bats and owls, we should doubtless find that the abominable system of warfare has been one of the chief causes of the evil of which we complain. Man, living at enmity with his fellow-man, judged it expedient to surround his habita- tions with a huge wall for protection against the inroads of his hostile neighbours ; and the problem to be solved, in this case seems to have been, ' In how small a space can we compress the greatest number of inhabitants, so that our wall and fortifications shall cost us the least trouble and expense V Small towns and villages which were afterwards built, and which required no fortifications, copied the plan and dimensions of their streets from fortified towns, and thus the whole of our cities, towns, and villages have been bungled and deranged. Great cities, especially when ill-planned, may be considered as great evils. The Crea- tor evidently intended that the population of the globe should be more equally distributed than it is at present. We are told that " He created it not in vain, but formed it to be inhabited" But, how monstrous a dispro- portion is there in the distribution of its popu- lation, when we find a mass of human beings, as in London, compressed into a space of little more than 20 square miles, and a sirviilar mass, in another part of the same island, spread over an extent of 20,000 square miles ! There appears to be no reason, except in a very few cases, why any city should extend beyond a population of a hundred thousand inhabitants ; and a city containing such a population should occupy five times the area that it does at present. Towns distributed a* nearly equal distances over the face of a coun- try, would be of far more importance for the general improvement of society than a few crowded cities with an overgrown population, and more conducive to the health and muialj of the inhabitants. There is one circum- stance that characterizes almost all our cities, towns, and villages, except in some recent instances ; and that is, the extreme narrow- ness of the streets, some of which do not ex- ceed 15 or 20 feet in width. Even in the United States of America, where the towns have been more recently built, and formed on more expansive plans than in Europe, this evil is found to exist. The street Broadway, in New York, which is so much celebrated, and which is 3 miles in length, is only 80 feet broad, and most of the other streets are con- siderably narrower. Most of the streets in Philadelphia are little more than 50 feet broad, except Broad street and Market street, the latter being 100, and the former 113 feet in breadth. Most of the small towns, how- ever, in the Northern States, such as New- Haven, Northampton, and others, are described by travellers as having broad streets and spa* (203) 204 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. cious squares, and remarkable for their clean- liness and beauty. In Great Britain, most of the streets, especially in seaport towns, are wretchedly narrow and dirty. In North- Shields, county of Northumberland, the main street is nearly a mile long, but so narrow that in many places two carriages cannot pass each other. The New Town of Edinburgh, which contains the most spacious and elegant streets of any city in Europe, is disgraced with two or three long narrow streets, not above one-fourth the breadth of the others, intended for the residence of the lower classes ; as if they had no right to enjoy a free light, pure air, and a cheerful prospect, as well as their superiors. The following hints are sug- gested in relation to the improvement of towns and villages ; though I have no hope of living to see them realized in my native country. 1. Most of our crowded towns should be demolished, or at least their streets ought to be widened, at an average three times their present breadth. Extravagant as this propo- sal may appear, there is nothing that stands in the way of its accomplishment but selfish- ness and avarice. If the promotion of the comfort and happiness of our species were the great object of our ambition, all difficul- ties would soon evanish, and all obstructions would speedily be removed; and why call ourselves Christians, if this object is not kept in view ? 2. No street in any town or vil- lage should be less than 80 feet wide. In large towns, where the houses are above two or three stories in height, the streets should not be less than 100 or 120 feet in breadth. 3. Narrow lanes and closes, of all descriptions, ought to be for ever banished from all our towns and cities. 4. The practice of sinking stories below the level of a street, unless for cellars, should be laid aside. It has become an almost universal practice in Edinburgh, and other towns, especially in genteel houses, to have a sunk story for the kitchen and ser- vants' rooms, as if they were unworthy of enjoying free light and pure air, and their health in no danger from the dampness of such apartments. There is something absurd and preposterous in being at the expense of digging a hole for the under story of a house, when a kitchen and laundry could be built behind the house, on the level of the street, which would be more convenient and salu- brious. 5. Houses might be built with flat roofs, with a parapet surrounding them, breast high, which would form a promenade for families in towns, where they would enjoy an airing and a prospect of surrounding objects, without removing from their own dwellings. It would also serve for drying clothes, contemplating the heavens, and va- rious other purposes. In Eastern countries, (204) where the houses are constructed with flat roofs, they form the sleeping places of the family during the summer months. The rain that falls upon them might be so conducted as to supply every family with water for washing, and cooking victuals. 6. Squares, crescents, or octagonal spaces, should be ap- propriated in different parts of a town, for bazaars, or shops where all kinds of merchan- dise should be sold ; each shop having an apartment or two connected with it, for the temporary accommodation of a family. 7. The streets more particularly appropriated for dwelling-houses, should have verandas or garden-plots in front of the houses on each side, diversified with shrubs, flowers, and ever- greens, and, at certain regular distances, a few forest trees, so that the street, although 80 feet broad, would require only about 40 feet of pavement. 8. In every large city, open spaces, within the city, should be set apart for pleasure walks for the citizens, and diversified with trees, evergreen, shrubs, seats, and bowers for shelter from the heat or rain. In small towns, such rural walks should be formed to go quite round them. 9. A square plot of meadow ground, at each end of a town, might be set apart for public meetings, amuse- ments, or exhibitions, which might also serve for grazing, bleaching, promenading, and other purposes. 10. Certain streets might be al- lotted for houses of one or two stories, for the accommodation of those who have it not in their power to occupy more stately mansions, so as to preserve uniformity in every street ; but such streets should be equally broad, and adorned in the same manner as the other streets. 11. Between the different streets should be garden-plots for every family, and accommodation for washing and bleaching, as also for erecting workshops for smiths, car- penters, weavers, &c., wherever they are re- quired. 12. Encouragement should be given in the neighbourhood of large towns, and throughout the country at large, for building towns on such plans, and for transforming our present hamlets and villages into more convenient and pleasant places of residence. If mankind were united by the bonds of Christian affection, and if all were as anxious to promote the happiness of their fellow-men, as the greater part are to hoard up wealth and riches which they can never enjoy, all the im- provements now suggested could easily be ac- complished within the course of a few years, or, at farthest, within the limits of the next generation. But so long as avarice sways its sceptre over the human breast, no extensive improvement, either in knowledge, religion, or physical comfort can be effected. The following engraving exhibits a plan of a town of a moderate size, which, with a PLAN OF A SMALL TOWN. ITINERATING LIBRARIES. 205 few modification?, according to circumstances, might be copied, in the formation of new towns and villages. In this plan all the streets cross one another in right angles, and are supposed to be at least 80 feet broad. In the centre there is a circular space about 240 feet diameter, from which four streets diverge Public Walk. PLAN OP A STREET Shrubbery flats Carriage way ..: r.~r.-~ to each quarter of the town. The central part of this circle might be formed into a bowling green, diversified with shrubs and flowers ; or a circular tower might be erected in the midst of it to overtop the surrounding buildings, on the top of which a large camera obscura and some telescopes might be placed, for the purpose of surveying the heavenly bodies, or the surrounding country. The four openings into this circular space might be about 40 feet wide, or half the breadth of the streets, which would afford the houses at each end of the four crescents a commanding view, not only of the interior of the crc's- but of the whole street in both directions. Instead of a circle, an octagon, if ju'ir^l more convenient, might be adopted, Piroctiy oppo- site this central circle, on the north and south extremities of this lown, s:e two squares, each of whose sides is about 170 feet long, and at the east and west extremities two cres- cents, about 360 feet diameter. In each of the squares, and in the middle part of the crescents, a church or other public building might be erected ; and the entrance to these squares, &c., from the country, might be by a broad arch-way under one of the buildings. The principal shops might be placed, and the principal business of the town transacted, in the squares, crescents, and central circle. The spaces between the backs of the houses in the different streets might be set apart either for gardens, washing-houses, or workshops for the different mechanical professions. These spaces should be from 120 to 150 feet wide. A walk should be made to go round the whole town, decorated with trees, shrubs, and bowers ; and on each side of the town should be a large common or bleaching green. The extent of such a town would be about a mile and a quarter in circumference, but might be indefinitely extended according to circum- stances. Such a town would undoubtedly be much more commodious, pleasant, and salu- brious than most of the small towns and vil- lages that now exist. VIII. Knowledge might be diffused at a cheap rate by means of itinerating libraries. Of late years small libraries have been es- tablished in most of our populous villages, and in connection with Christian churches ; but the want of sufficient funds prevents the purchase of such a variety of books as is suf- ficient to keep alive the attention for any number of years. In the year 1817, the plan of itinerating libraries was suggested by Mr. Samuel Brown of Haddington, and, under his auspices, was commenced in East Lothian and the neighbouring districts. The object is, " to furnish all the towns and villages of the country with libraries of useful books, and to plant them at such distances that no individual may be more remote from one than a mile and a half." " The books are formed into divisions of fifty volumes each. One of these divisions is stationed in a place for two years, and the books are issued to all persons above twelve years of age who will take proper care of them. After that period it is removed to another town or village, and a new division is sent in . its room, which after other two yes*-? is again exchanged for another." By *hii means a perpetual succession of new Vooks is introduced into each town and village, *he principle of novelty is gratified, and the interest of the readers kept, alive. The books are kept for a few years for the use of annual subscribers of five shillings. They are after- wards formed into divisions of fifty volumes, and are lent the first year for one penny a volume, (provided it is not kept longer than one month) and gratis the second. One of the principal features of these libraries is their cheapness. A single library of fifty volumes, with book-case, catalogue, labels, advertise- ments, and issuing books may be procured for about 10 at an average, as they are pur- chased on the most economical plan. Were a British and Foreign Itinerating Library Society established in London, that could S (205) 206 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. raise 10,000 annually, it is calculated that, in conjunction with the small sums furnished by the readers, there could be established, in the course of twenty years, a library for every 524 persons in Great Britain and Ireland, taking the population at twenty millions ; and in twenty-five years, for every 294 persons, which would be a complete supply for the wants of the whole population. And what would such a sum be to the British govern- ment, which is extravagant enough to waste twenty times that sum every year in bestow- ing pensions on those who neither deserve them nor stand in need of them 1 The great object of these libraries is to promote the in- terests of religion, in connection with the study of history, biography, voyages and tra- vels, and all the popular and useful branches of science. They have been supported and patronized by the most respectable persons in the country, and have met with almost unpre- cedented success. They have been introduced into several other counties in Scotland and Ireland, and in some of the West India islands, and even in South Africa. The number of volumes connected with the East Lothian itinerating libraries now amounts to nearly three thousand. In some of the divisions every volume has been issued about 120 times, and many of them much oftener. Mr. Brown, who has directed and superintended these libraries for eighteen years, deserves the thanks of his country for his benevolent and unremit- ting exertions.* In several cities and towns in America, such as Philadelphia and Albany, libraries have been established for the use of apprentices, both male and female. The ap- prentices' library in Philadelphia contains above 8000 volumes. Although well-selected libraries are of immense importance for the diffusion of knowledge, yet no person, who has it in his power to purchase a few good books occasionally, ought to confine his read- ing to the books of a public library ; but in conjunction with the use of such books, should endeavour to furnish himself with selections of some of the best standard books in the language, which he may study at leisure, and to which he may immediately refer for any particular information of which he is de- sirous. Every general reader should, if possi- ble, be furnished with an English Dictionary, a portable Encyclopedia, a summary of uni- versal history, and some of the best systems of popular science. * Mr. S. Brown is a son of the Rev. John Brown, of Haddington, well known as the author of the "Self-Interpreting Bible," "Dictionary of the Bible," "System of Divinity," and many other works. His exertions, and the beneficial effects which have flowed from them, show how much even an individual engrossed in an extensive busi- ness has it in his power to perform, when his aims are directed to promote the good of mankind. (206) IX. Knowledge might be promoted by de- lineations and inscriptions on various articles of furniture. We have, for example, many kinds of bowls, drinking* vessels, &c., made of porcelain or earthen ware, on which many foolish inscrip- tions and devices are engraved. We have likewise carpets, bed-curtains, handkerchiefs, &c., on which groups of fantastic figures, and various distorted representations of natural and artificial objects, are depicted, which serve no purpose but that of exhibiting a gaudy show. Now, if, instead of such paltry de- vices, moral sentiments and maxims, pithy sayings, and sentences descriptive of certain historical and scientific facts, such as those formerly specified, (pp. 68, 205,) were in- scribed on the articles to which I allude, useful hints might be communicated and rendered familiar wherever we turned our eyes, and might occasionally suggest topics for useful conversation. In like manner, were real objects in nature and art depicted on china-ware, drinking vessels, printed cotton handkerchiefs, window-curtains, carpets, and similar articles, in place of the fantastical figures usually de- lineated, which have no prototypes in nature, a considerable fund of information might in this way be imparted. For pictures, when true to nature and correctly delineated, con- vey useful knowledge as well as books, and sometimes in a more pleasant and rapid man- ner ; and there is no more difficulty in engrav- ing real objects than in depicting the distorted and fantastic objects which are usually repre- sented ; and in course of time, every rational person would be induced to consider every thing as beautiful which is really useful. In following out these suggestions, we might have paper hangings and carpets deversified with maps of the world and of particular countries bed and window curtains adorned with public buildings, landscapes, views of caverns, grottos, volcanic mountains, cataracts, steam-carriages, air-pumps, telescopes, foreign trees, shrubs, and animals our plates, tea- cups and saucers decorated with miniature pictures of similar objects, accompanied with wise sayings, immutable truths and short statements of important facts. In this way a fund of sententious wisdom, in connection with views of interesting scenery, might be introduced into every family ; which would tend to excite inquiry, to lead to improving conversation, and to deter from the pursuit of vicious and criminal courses. A king was said to have been saved from being poisoned by his cup-bearer, by the following motto en- graved on the cup which contained the poison, " Never begin any action of which thou hast not well considered the end." It is evident, that the above hints might be reduced to prac- ABOLITION OF TAXES. 207 tice with as much ease and cheapness as silly and licentious inscriptions and clumsy castles m the air; and that almost every article of dress and furniture, every garden bower, and every rural and architectural decoration, might in this way be rendered subservient to human knowledge and improvement ; provided society would give encouragement to such devices. J5ut, hitherto, the foolish and depraved cha- racter of man has displayed itself in this as well as in almost every other department of his actions. X. The improvement of society requires that changes and alterations be made in many of our established laws, regulations, and customs. The laws and practices to which I allude are so numerous, that I shall mention only two or three as a specimen. 1. All taxes connected with the diffusion of knowledge should be wholly and for ever abolished. These include taxes on the materials and the manufacture of paper, which, besides directly adding to the price of this article, are found to be extremely vexatious to the manufacturer, and prevent him from getting his articles rapidly conveyed to the market taxes on newspapers, engravings, pamphlets, periodical works, and advertisements of books and other articles of trade and taxes, too, in the shape of entering books in " Stationers' Hall," de- priving the author or publisher of thirteen copies of his work, however valuable and expensive, which in certain cases will amount to the sum of 200 or 300. Were these and all other taxes connected with literature abolished, and an economical mode of printing adopted, books might be purchased at little more than one half of their present price. In this connection, too, it may be stated, that the charges demanded for the insertion of adver- tisements of books in newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals, are extravagantly high, and add, in no inconsiderable degree, to the price of literature. In consequence of the tax on newspapers there are only 30 millions of them circulated in Great Britain and Ireland, which is but the one twenty-fifth part of the number circulated in the United States of America, which contain little more than half the population of the British empire. In England there is only one newspaper to 46,- 000 inhabitants. 2. The postage of letters should be greatly reduced. The conveyance of letters is scarcely a fair subject of taxation, if we wish to facilitate the interchange of sentiment and friendship among mankind. It tends to prevent the poor man from corre- sponding with his friends and relatives at a distance to prevent communications being sent to periodicals and to abridge the corre- spondence of men of literature and science, some of whom have vtry little money to spare. I have known persons tf this description taxed in this way, to the amount of three or four shillings, and even of half-a-guinea in one day, when such sums were imperatively re- quired for procuring the necessaries of life. It is likewise unfair, and absolutely unjust, that the inhabitants of villages, who are gene- rally poorer than those in towns, should pay more for letters and newspapers than others. While a person in a large town receives a daily newspaper from London gratis, the villager, only four miles farther distant, pays for the conveyance of the same paper, twenty- six shillings a year, besides paying an addi- tional penny for all his letters.* The postage of letters should be so regulated that all may enjoy an equal benefit that every facility may be afforded for transmitting them to foreign countries, whether belonging to the British dominions or not, and the charge for letters and packages should be no more than what is sufficient to defray all the expenses of the Post-office establishment ; as is the case in the United States of America. Under certain regulations all proof sheets of any work sent to the author for corrections should be free of postage. In these and many other respects our Post-office regula- tions require a thorough investigation and amendment.-}- 3. The names of ships and steam-vessels should be painted in large characters on the most conspicuous parts of these vehicles. If the names of ships are intended to distinguish them from each other, it appears preposterous and truly ridiculous, to have the name depicted on the lower part of the stern, which always stands in an oblique position, and which is seldom or never seen, when approaching another vessel or towards the shore. If the name of a vessel were painted in large characters on each side of the bow, it might be distinguished by a good telescope at the distance of four or five miles, whereas it is sometimes difficult to read the name of a vessel on the stern at the distance of a few yards. As it is interesting in many cases, not only to the owners of ships, but to those who have friends and relatives on board, to be able to distinguish any particular vessel, when it first makes its appearance, the hint now given cannot be deemed altogether unimportant. 4. The practice of paying waiters, chambermaids, boot-boys, and ostlers at inns, servant-maids, &c. at private houses, and guards and postil- lions in stage-coaches, should be universally discarded as creating unnecessay trouble and * Here I allude to the Penny posts lately estab- lished in most of our villages. f In America the postage for any distance under 300 miles, is 5 cents j over 300 miles, 10 cents. (207) 208 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. expense to travellers, and fostering a spirit of meanness, impudence, and avarice, in the persons occupying such situations. It would be conducive both to the moral and pecuniary interests of all parties concerned, were such customs abolished. Mr. Stuart informs us, that no such custom prevails in the Northern States of America, and that it would be con- sidered in almost every instance as an insult, to offer such persons a gratuity for performing their duty. This absurd and degrading prac- tice has been handed down to us by the aris- tocracy, the servants of whom are always on the watch for gratuities from strangers and visitors. A literary gentleman, Dr. , who had frequently been invited to dine with Lord , was one day accosted by his lordship, and asked why he had not for a long time past complied with his invitation to dinner 1 " Why," replied the doctor, " because I can- not afford it ; I can dine at my own apartments for less than two shillings, but when I dine with your lordship it costs me at least five shillings every one of your servants, at my departure, holding out his hand, and expect- ing a half-crown or a shilling at least to be given him." 5. Another abominable custom which prevails at public meetings, and which should be discarded, is, hissing and groaning at certain speakers, or at the sentiments they express. A hiss or a groan may display the malignity of those who utter it, and their antipathy to the opinions expressed, but it never embodies a reason or an argument to confute the speaker, or convince the audience of the futility of his sentiments. In all delibe- rative assemblies, every speaker who conducts himself with decorum should be listened to without interruption, and facts and argu- ments brought forward to confute his posi- tions, if they be untenable. To attempt to put down a speaker by hisses or groans is inconsistent with the dignity of an assembly of rational beings is characteristic of a rabble, or a company of boors, rather than an assem- blage of men of intelligence and generally indicates the weakness of the cause which such conduct is intended to support. 6. Our civil and criminal codes require to be simpli- fied and re-modelled, and formed on the principles of equity and natural justice. Many of their enactments are repugnant to reason and religion, and inconsistent with the dictates of philanthropy and common sense, and with the spirit of an enlightened age. The expense of law processes, as presently conducted, amounts to a prohibition of a poor man's obtaining justice in any case where he has suffered an injury ; and the multiplicity of statutes and precedents, the vagueness of their language, and the unintelligible jargon of terms and phrases connected with them, (203) frequently lead to almost interminable litiga- tions, till the whole value of the subject in dispute is more than expended, and the liti- gants reduced to poverty. Our civil code requires to be cancelled, and reconstructed, de novo, on principles similar to the " Code Napoleon" and our penal statutes require to be remodelled in such a manner, that punishments may be proportioned to crimes, and that they be of such a nature as to promote the reformation of the criminal. The above are merely specimens of customs, laws, and usages, which require to be either modified or abolished, in order to promote the advancement of society. XL The diffusion of knowledge, and the improvement of mankind, are, in some measure, dependent on a friendly inter- course being established among all civilized nations. Hitherto, nations, even those that are adja- cent to each other, have acted towards other nations with a .spirit of selfishness and jea- lousy, as if they were beings of a different species, and had no common relation as brethren, or as children of the same Benevo- lent and Almighty Parent. Harassing restric- tions, duties, excise regulations, and every other impediment, are thrown in the way of travellers, when passing from one country to another, as if the interests of one class of human beings were set in opposition to those of another. When a traveller passes from England to France he must pay for a pass- port, and should he happen to lose it he is treated as a rogue or a spy. When he passes from Holland to Britain, and carries an old Dutch Bible along with him, before he can convey it from the shore he must pay a duty to the amount of far more than its value. When he is about to embark at Liverpool for America, his trunks and packages are searched, duties demanded, and a host of petty tyrants under the excise vex and harass him in all his arrangements ; when he lands on the other side of the Atlantic, he is sub- jected to a similar ordeal; and when he returns to England with a few volumes of American literature, his luggage is again sub- jected to a strict scrutiny, and he must pay a shilling for every pound weight of knowledge he has imported.* Besides the spirit of war- * The following instance, among many others, shows the harassing nature of custom-house re- trictions : A. Davidson, A. M., a celebrated lec- turer on experimental philosophy and chemistry, after having returned from Ireland to Liverpool, had his packages, containing an extensive appa- ratus, thrown into the custom-house, which were not permitted to be removed till they should be minutely inspected. They consisted chiefly of glass cylinders, globes, receivers, &c. of all de- scriptions, which required several days and much exertion to get packed ; and they could not be un INSTRUCTION OF SEAMEN. 209 fare, which has so frequently interrupted the distinguished for heroism, humanity, and a correspondence of nations, such harassing noble generosity ; and, were they generally and vexatious restrictions have a tendency to instructed in useful knowledge and Christian foster a principle of antipathy, and to impede morals, they might; be rendered useful agents the progress of knowledge. They are founded in promoting the good of mankind both at on a principle of selfishness and malignity, home and abroad. The " British and Foreign and, like all such principles, they frustrate Sailors' Society" was formed sometime ago, even the pecuniary object they were intended "for promoting the moral and religious im- to promote ; for, in point of fact, so far from provement of seamen." Of this society, Lord increasing the wealth of a nation, they tend Mountsandford is president ; Alderman Pirie, in many ways to diminish its resources. Were and G. F. Angas, Esq., treasurers ; the Rev. all such restrictions and exactions abolished, Dr. Cox, and the Rev. T. Timpson, secreta- philanthropic travellers might make a tour ries gentlemen distinguished for their activity through the nations without being annoyed in every department of philanthropic labour, the manufactures and natural productions of The principal scene of their labour is the port every country could be afforded at a much of London, where the gospel is preached, and cheaper rate than at present and the hundred prayer-meetings held on board ships, every thousands of pounds and dollars annually ex- evening, by agents of the society, who distri- pended in keeping up a numerous retinue of bute Bibles, religious books and tracts, and excise officers and underlings, would be saved enter into conversation with the seamen on for the purposes of national improvement, moral and religious subjects. They have al- The most enlightened political economists ready spent upwards of 2000 in fitting up now agree that Free Trade should be uni- a chapel and other buildings, and have pro- versally encouraged, and that extraordinary vided 140 "Loan Ship Libraries," comprising restrictions upon the importation of goods are 4000 volumes, now abroad in many vessels ; injurious to the wealth and prosperity of and 50 small libraries for the fishing smacks nations. ^ sailing from the Thames ; besides the Vestry XII. The improvement of society requires Library," which contains upwards of 3000 that particular attention be paid to the intel- volumes, daily open to the sailors in the depot lectual and religious instruction of seamen. of the chapel ; but the want of adequate The British navy includes about 30,000 funds prevents them from enlarging the sphere men ; the British merchant service about 220,- of their operations. To complete such be- 000, of whom about 100,000 are engaged in nevolent arrangements, it would be requisite, the coasting trade, and 120,000 in the foreign could funds be procured, to establish schools trade. The coast-guard service includes 21,- on a moral and intellectual principle, some of 000 individuals ; and there are of fishermen, them adapted to the children of sailors, and watermen, and boatmen, probably not- less others for the rational instruction of adults, than 50,000 persons, beside their families, Lectures on popular Science, accompanied amounting in all to above 320,000 individuals, with experiments, might likewise be occasion- exclusive of their wives and children. An ally delivered ; and the religious books con- immense number of this class of men is like- tained in the libraries blended with popular wise connected with the United States of and interesting publications on geography, America, but I have no data on which to form astronomy, history, voyages, travels, and other an estimate of their amount. A great pro- departments of knowledge. Were sailors portion of these persons have been brought well instructed and moralized, they might im- up in debasing ignorance, both of general prove their own minds by reading and con- knowledge and of the truths of religion, and versation, during long voyages, and feel a they are too frequently addicted to habits of superior degree of enjoyment to what they profaneness and intemperance. They form, now experience ; they might be the means of however, a most important and interesting promoting both knowledge and religion in class of our fellow-men they are frequently foreign lands they might soon be accustomed packed, in such a situation, without considerable expense and great loss of time, and the risk of having a great part of the apparatus broken and destroyed. He offered to unpack them in the presence of excise officers, in the apartments he bad procured for the purpose; but this was re- fused. He called day after day at the custom- house about the matter, but to no purpose. One underling gave him a sealed card, containing about two lines of writing, to carry to another underling, for which he charged half-a-crown ; this last gave him a similar card to a third person, for which the same charge was made ; this third person gave another half-crown card, to be handed to a fourth person who could give him the requi- site information, but this fourth person could never be found; and thus he was bandied about from one harpy to another, and filched out of four or five half-crowns. In this way, three weeks were wasted to no purpose, till by accident he met with a gentleman, connected with the custom- house, with whom he was formerly acquainted, who got his packages released, after he had been subjected to much trouble, expense, and anxiety, and lost nearly a month, during which his lecture* might have been nearly finished. Regulations which lead to such impositions and perplexities, require to be speedily abolished. .2 (209) 210 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. to contemplate with intelligence the various scenes of nature which pass under their ob- servation, and record them for the information of others and thus become contributors to science, and benefactors to their species, in- stead of " increasing," as they often do, " the transgressors among men." XIII. In order to carry into effect the hints suggested in the preceding pages, societies might be formed for the promotion of educa- tion, and the general improvement of the so- cial state. From the operations of Bible and Mission- ary Associations, it is evident how much may be achieved by the formation of societies for the accomplishment of a specific object. The societies to which I allude, including the Church Missionary, Scottish, London, Wes- leyan, and several others, now raise nearly 300,000 annually. The general object "l would propose to accomplish by a new asso- ciation, is as important as any other which has yet engaged the public attention ; for it lies at the foundation of all other philanthropic plans, and they can never be brought into extensive operation till it be accomplished. If all ranks were thoroughly instructed in knowledge and ^eiigion, and, consequently, led to appreciate the importance of Christi- anity, and the necessity of its universal propa- gation, the funds of our missionary institutions, and the energies with which they would be conducted, would be increased tenfold more than they now are, and few individuals would be found altogether indifferent to such noble enterprises. Such an association might be instrumental in calling the attention of the public to the subject in diffusing information respecting it in detailing plans for accom- plishing the grand object intended in illus- trating the noble and beneficial effects which would flow from its accomplishment and in exciting the more wealthy members of the community to contribute a portion of their substance for carrying forward the requisite arrangements. By such a society, with all the auxiliaries that might be formed through- out a nation, it would scarcely be too much to expect that a million of pounds might an- nually be procured, which would render so- ciety nearly independent of the caprices and partialities of civil rulers, or of the grants of money which governments might either with- hold or bestow. XIV. Before any plan for the improvement of mankind can be brought extensively into ef- fect, the principle of avarice, as it now operates in society, must be counteracted and subdued. The great object of the majority of man- kind appears to be, to acquire as much wealth as possible, not for the purpose of applying it to the service of God and the good of society, 210) but to gratify a selfish principle and an avari- cious propensity to make a splendid figure in life, to lay up portions for children, or merely to glory in the idea of having hundreds or thousands of guineas or bank-notes deposited in a chest, in the stocks, or other place of se- curity. Every one seems to think that he may use his money just as he pleases, without being resposible to a higher Power ; and even many of those who call themselves Chris- tians, are glaringly guilty of that " covetous- ness which is idolatry," although they are pointedly admonished that " the love of money is the root of all evil," and, consequently, the prevention of much good ; and that " it leads into many snares and temptations, and foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in de- struction and perdition." Nothing can be more irrational and degrading than for an im- mortal being to hoard up treasures which he never applies to any useful purpose, and who only feasts his imagination with the idea that he has them, to a certain amount, in his pos- session. Yet thousands of such characters exist even in the Christian world. What should we think of the man who took it into his head to lay up, in a large shed or garret, which was carefully locked up from public view, 5,000 pair of boots, 10,000 tea-cups, 20JOOO coffee-pots, or 30,000 cork-screws, with no other view than to please his fancy, and to tell the world that he had such a num- ber of articles in his possession 1 We should, doubtless, consider him as an arrant fool, or even as a downright madman. And what is the difference between hoarding thousands of guineas, dollars, or bank-notes, which are never brought forth for the benefit of man- kind, and accumulating fifty or a hundred thousand pair of boots, spurs, or knee-buckles ? How ridiculous would it appear if all that could be said of a_man when he died was, that the great object of his life was to lay up in store 25,000 tea-kettles, which were never in- tended for cooking, and 30,000 great-coats, which were never intended to be worn? Equally foolish and contemptible is it, to lay up thousands of pounds or dollars that are never consecrated to the glory of God or the good of man. I know individuals who are worth 1,000 a year, and whose annual ex- penditure does not amount to above 150: and I know others who are worth ten times that sum, who do not spend above two or three hundreds a year ; yet it is sometimes difficult to obtain from them a guinea, or even a few shillings, for a religious or philanthropic object ; and, were you to call in question their Christianity, it would be considered as little short of an insult.* * The late distinguished philanthropist, J. B. Wilson, Esq., of Clapham Common, was once RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION. 211 It becomes Christian churches and ministers seriously to consider this subject, if they wish to see the principles of pure Christianity re- duced to practice, and worldly maxims under- mined, and if they would be instrumental in preparing the way for the universal propaga- tion of the gospel, and the arrival of the pre- dicted Millennium. Were it not for the prevalence of the debasing principle of avarice, we should, ere long, have seminaries of all descriptions established among us, for training both the young and the old in knowledge and virtue, and " to glory and immortality" we should have our towns and cities cleared of every nuisance our roads and footpaths im- proved our deserts turned into fruitful fields new towns and villages erected on spacious plans intelligence speedily and cheaply con- veyed the physical aspect of the country Beautified and adorned and the whole frame of society transformed and remodelled, in conformity with the principles of reason and religion. Were I to enter into minute calcu- lations on this subject, it might easily be shown, that the wealth presently possessed by civilized nations, were it properly distributed and applied, would be more than sufficient to introduce every improvement in society, phy- sical, moral, and intellectual, of which the terrestrial state of man is susceptible to raise the degraded mass of this world's population to intelligence and virtue to bring into a state of cultivation almost every waste on the face of the globe to intersect every country with canals and rail-roads and to transform the whole earth into a paradise, scarcely in- ferior in beauty to that which appeared at the first creation. And those who expended their superfluous wealth in such noble achievements, so far from having any of their sensitive en- joyments diminished, would enjoy a happi- ness, both physical and mental, far surpassing any thing which they formerly experienced. Recapitulation and Conclusion. In the preceding pages I have endeavoured to illustrate a variety of topics in reference to the education and general improvement of all classes of society particularly the physical, moral, and intellectual instruction of infants the advantages which would result from the universal establishment of infant schools the seminaries which require to be erected for the instruction of youth from the age of six to the age of fifteen years the plan and arrange- ment of school-rooms, and the objects and ap- paratus with which they should be furnished the principles on which school-books should heard to say of one who had been looked up to as a good man and Christian, "He died wickedly rich," evidently implying, that he thought such a man's Christianity was extremely doubtful. be constructed the modes of teaching, by which substantial knowledge and moral prin- ciple may be communicated the branches of knowledge which should be taught to all classes of the community the rational and intellectual processes by which a knowledge of them is to be conveyed the moral and re- ligious instruction of the young the manner in which Sabbath schools should be conduct- ed, and the qualifications requisite for every teacher, in such institutions the seminaries which require to be established for young persons of both sexes from the age of fifteen to the age of twenty years or upwards the qualifications requisite for teachers of all de- scriptions, and the seminaries which ought to be established for their instruction the practicability of establishing all such institu- tions the utility of such improvements in education, in counteracting crime, raising the 'moral and intellectual character of man, and preparing the way for the approach of the millennial era the principles on which na- tional systems of education should be estab- lished mechanics' institutions, and the im- provements of which they are susceptible with a variety of miscellaneous hints in reference to the diffusion of knowledge and the improvement of general society. Were such institutions once established throughout every part of our country and of the world at large, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Christianity, and conducted with activity and zeal there can be little doubt that they would, ere long, be accompanied with the most interesting and beneficial results. We should soon behold ignorance, foolish prejudices, superstition, enthusiasm, bigotry, and intolerance, with all their accompanying evils, gradually evanishing from the world, as the shades of night before the rising sun. We should behold the human mind aroused from the slumber of ages, exerting its energies on objects worthy of its high dignity and desti- nation, and conducive to the improvement and the happiness of the social state. We should behold science enlarging its boundaries, th useful and ornamental arts carried to perfec- tion, and the universe more fully explored throughout all its departments. For we should then have a thousand experimenters, and a thousand intelligent observers of the phe- nomena of nature, for one that exists in the present state of intellectual debasement. New and interesting experiments would be insti- tuted, new facts explored, new regions of the universe laid open to view, and a nobleness, a vigour, and a lofty spirit of independence, on every subject of thought, displayed by the human mind. We should behold avarice, pride, ambition, revenge, and other malignant passions, in a great measure extirpated ; and (211) ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. a spirit of love, affection, liberality, and har- mony, pervading every department of the moral world. We should behold the Chris- tian world approaching to a harmonious union the spirit of jealousy and dissension laid to rest the demon of persecution chased out of the world the truths of religion and its holy principles recognized in every depart- ment and arrangement in society the great realities of the eternal world contemplated in their true light, and men of all ranks walking hand-in-hand, as brethren of the same family, to the same glorious and incorruptible inheri- tance. In the progress of such institutions when they shall have been brought into full opera- tion I behold, in the prospect of future ages, the most important transformations, and the most glorious results, in the improvement both of the intellectual and of the physical world. I behold the surface of the earth, at no distant period, adorned with vegetable and architectural beauties and embellishments our deserts transformed into fruitful fields our marshes drained our moors and heath- clad mountains adorned with fruitful trees our gardens producing the fruits of every clime our highways broad and spacious, accompanied with cleanly footpaths, and at the distance of every half-mile furnished with seats and bowers for the shelter and refreshment of the passing traveller, and every bower furnished with Penny Magazines and other works for the instruction and amusement of every one who has leisure to peruse them our abomi- nable lanes and closes, the seats of physical and moral pollution, completely demolished and laid open to the light of heaven our nar- row streets expanding into spacious squares, cheered with the solar beams, and with rural prospects, and ventilated with the refreshing breeze our densely crowded cities almost completely demolished, and new cities arising from their ruins, on noble and expansive plans, corresponding to the expansive state of the human mind. I behold the climates of the earth meliorated by the hand of genius and industry by the cutting down of forests, the draining of marshes, the improvement of sandy and rocky wastes, and the universal cultivation of the soil the thunderbolts of heaven, wielded by the philosophic sage, and the forked light- nings, directed by the hand of art, to play in harmless coruscations in the regions of the clouds. I behold locomotive engines, steam carriages, and air balloons, brought to perfec- tion, transporting multitudes of human beings from one city to another, from one nation to another, and from one continent to another, with a degree of velocity which has never yet been attempted. I behold the savage re- (212) stored to the dignity of his moral and intellec- tual nature, no longer roaming the desert wild and uncultivated like the beasts of prey throwing aside his warlike bows and his battle- axes, directing his faculties to the improvement of his species, and to the most sublime inves- tigations. I behold men of all nations and kindreds cultivating a harmonious and friendly intercourse; the tribes of New Holland, Borneo, Sumatra, and Madagascar, visiting the British Isles with the productions of their respective climates, and holding literary and religious correspondence with the directors of our philosophical and missionary associations, on all the subjects of Christian and scientific investigation. I behold the scenery of the heavens more fully explored, and new prospects opened into the distant regions of the universe the geo- graphy of the moon brought to perfection, its mountains and vales thoroughly explored, and traces of the existence and operations of its inhabitants exhibited to view the nature of comets ascertained the causes of the various phenomena which appear on the planets explained the construction of the sun and the nature of his spots determined the sublime scenes connected with the new and variable stars, double and treble stars, and the many thousands of nebulas dispersed through the regions of boundless space, more fully displayed and the Divine character and perfections appearing with still greater lustre and magnificence throughout the am- plitudes of creation. I behold the ministers of religion expatiat- ing, amidst thousands of intelligent worship- pers, on higher themes and more diversified topics than those to which they are now necessarily restricted not confining their at- tention merely to first principles, and to a few fragments of the Christian system, but taking the whole of Divine Revelation as their text- book, and deriving their illustrations of it from the records of Providence, and from all the diversified scenes of the universe. In fine, I behold the human soul, thus elevated and refined, and endowed with multifarious know- ledge, dropping its earthly tabernacle in the dust, and, in another and a higher region of existence, contemplating the economy of other worlds, exploring the wonders of Divine Wis- dom and Omnipotence throughout the immen- sity of creation, prying into the mysteries of human redemption, rising nearer and nearer to the Divinity, expatiating amidst objects of beauty and beneficence, and beholding new scenes of grandeur and felicity rising to view, in boundless perspective, while ages, numerous as the drops of the ocean, are rolling on. Let none imagine that such views are either romantic or Utopian they are the necessary PRELUDES OF THE MILLENNIAL ERAS. 213 results of what will undoubtedly take place, when knowledge and Christian principles are universally diffused. It is owing chiefly to ignorance and the prevalence of malignant principles, that science has been so slow in its progress, that contention and warfare have wasted and demoralized the nations, that the earth has been left barren and uncultivated, that savages have been permitted for ages to roam without arts and instruction, that religion has been neglected, and that so many evils, physical and moral, have been introduced into the social, state. Reaiove the canse of exist- ing evils, and opposite effects will be produced effects surpassing, in benignity and gran- deur, every thing which has occurred since time began. In the present age, distinguished from all the periods of time which have hitherto elapsed, these effects are beginning to appear. All the movements now going forward in the moral, political, scientific, and religious world, have an evident bearing on the approach of a more auspicious and en- lightened era. The rapid progress of scien- tific discoveries, and of improvements in the arts the numerous and cheap publications, on all subjects of useful knowledge, now is- suing from the press, in hundreds of thou- sands at a time, and read by all classes of the community the erection of public seminaries on new and improved plans, throughout dif- ferent countries both of Europe and America the establishment of philosophical institu- tions, missionary associations, and reading so- cieties, in every town, and almost in every parish the extensive circulation of news- papers, magazines, and literary and religious journals, of all descriptions the steam-boats and carriages which have been constructed, and the numerous canals and rail-roads which have been formed, for the speedy conveyance of passengers from one place to another, in order to facilitate the intercourse of human beings the application of machinery to the different arts and manufactures, for increasing the productions of human labour the desire excited among all ranks, even the lowest, for rational information, and for investigating every subject connected with the happiness of the social state the abolition of slavery, with all its degrading accompaniments the reformations going forward both in Church and State the spirit of liberty bursting forth among the nations in both hemispheres of the globe the conversion of savage tribes to Christianity, and their advancement in know- ledge and civilization, these, and many simi- lar movements, viewed in connection with the Divine declarations, that " Wars shall cease to the ends of the world," and that u the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah" plainly point to a period which is on the wing, when the light of truth shall irradiate the inhabitants of every region, and when improvements of every description shall be introduced into every department of the phy sical and moral world. It only remains, that, as agents under the Moral Governor of the world, we arouse ourselves from our present lethargy, and devote all our powers, and wealth, and energies, to the accomplishment of such glo- rious designs, resting assured, that "oui labour," if coducted with wisdom and perse verance, " shall not be in vain in the Lord." In fine, if the world is ever to enlightened and regenerated if the predictions of ancient prophets are to be fulfilled if the benevolent purposes of the Almighty, in relation to our world, are to be accomplished if war is to cease its desolating ravages, and its instru- ments to be transformed into ploughshares and pruning-hooks if selfishness, avarice, injustice, oppression, slavery, and revenge, are to be extirpated from the earth if the tribes of mankind are to be united in the bonds of affec- tion, and righteousness and praise spring forth before all nations if the various ranks of so- ciety are to be brought into harmonious asso- ciation, and united in the bond of universal love if the heathen world is to be enlight- ened, and the Christian world cemented in one grand and harmonious union if the landscape of the earth is to be adorned with new beauties, and the wilderness made to bud and blossom as the rose if " the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Messiah," " the whole earth filled with his glory," and his sceptre swayed over the nations throughout all succeeding ages these long-expected events will, un- doubtedly, be introduced by the universal instruction of all ranks, in every tiling tuat has a bearing on their present happiness, and their immortal destiny. If we, therefore, re- fuse to lend our helping hand to the accom- plishment pf this great object, we virtually attempt to frustrate the purposes of the Eter- nal, and to prevent the present and future happiness of mankind. And while we pray to the "Great Lord of all," that he would " appear in his glory to men," and hasten the time when " his name shall be great from the rising to the setting sun," we only offer an insult to the Majesty of Heaven, while we refuse to consecrate our wealth and influence to his service, and to engage in holy activity as " workers together with God." We may legislate as we have hitherto done, for ages to come we may make, unmake, and modify our civil laws, enforce hundreds of regulations and enactments for the punishment and pre- vention of crime we may build thousands of churches and colleges, arid academies with- out number we may engage in profound (213) 214 ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND. discussions and investigations, and compass will prove abortive, and our superstructures sea and land to make proselytes to our opin- gradually crumble into dust, and, " like the ions ; but unless the foundations of society be baseless fabric of a vision, leave scarce a wreck laid in the rational and religious education of behind." all classes of the young, our most specious plans APPENDIX. INSANITY FROM EXCESSIVE STUDY. THE following instance of the effects of excessive study, and the danger of neglecting the animal functions, is extracted from the " American Annals of Education" for Sep- tember, 1833. Mr. Joseph Frothingham, from Salem, State of Massachusetts, was a student of the Oneida Institute. In April, 1833, he was suddenly missed, and strong suspicions were entertained of his having been murdered. Nothing was heard of him, however, until a letter was re- cently received by his parents, dated "Atlantic Ocean, 12th May, 1833, 500 miles east of Newfoundland Banks." The following ex- tract from his letter will show to what account his abduction is to be charged : " While at the Institute, ha, ng nothing else to do, and wishing to get au ad, I applied myself very closely to study, (pa Ocularly the Latin gram- mar,) leaving off only when absolutely neces- sary. You recollect, I arrived during vacation, before the regular course of labour had com- menced, and thinking I should have plenty of it in a few days, contented myself with taking very little exercise. The effects of this close application from sunrise till nine in the evening I soon perceived, and several times was sensible that my thoughts for a moment or two were rather wandering. Yet I did not feel at all anxious or discouraged, reasoning with myself, that so sudden a change of pur- suit must necessarily cause me at first to feel rather unwell, and that after a few days my mind would recover its wonted tone. After the 5th or 6th of April, the little momentary aberrations became more frequent, and how I spent much of the time intervening between that date and the 8th, I am wholly unable to say. Some things which I did I recollect dis- tinctly, and others only as we recall the vaga- ries of a dream. But after the 8th, every thing is wrapt in confusion, ' shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it.' I have a vague dim recollection of feeling something as if standing near a mountain, when a volcano (214) bursts from the side. To escape the fiery deluge I travelled by sea and land, but onward it still seemed to move, and ever to rear itself a wall of living fire. One only thing I can recollect clearly. Finding myself in a strange street, near a large stone building, I inquired of a soldier the name of the place, and he an- swered, ' Montreal.' For a moment 1 won- dered what could have brought me there, but then came confusion over my mind again, and not an idea or incident can I recollect until yesterday about 10 a. m. when I found myself in the steerage of a ship bound from Quebec to Liverpool. I immediately communicated every thing to my fellow-passengers, (a young man and wife,) and from them learned the following particulars." It appears that he met them accidentally, and embarked with them, after making most of the necessary preparations; and, after pass- ing through various difficulties in his way dow . the river, reached the ship. In conse- qw ice of the small sum of money which Mr. F. nad, he was consigned to the steerage, but kindly supplied with necessaries by the captain. It was not until a week's confinement with sea- sickness (which perhaps was the very remedy v hich a kind Providence saw necessary) that he recovered his recollection ; and then, he ob.-erves, his " mind, in an instant, was as clear and as rational as ever." The conclu- sion of his own letter will be more interesting than any abridgment. " The captain remark- ed, that he had sometimes suspected me to be a little deranged, and my fellow-passengers thought my appearance very odd at Quebec ; but as I was frequently engaged, while on board, in reading their books, they concluded it was owing to ' absence of mind, and a natu- rally eccentric character.' They could hardly believe me, when I first made known to them my utter ignorance of every transaction sinco the time I met with them on the St. Lawrence. They told me I had been uniformly courte- ous and cheerful ; and that, when we walked APPENDIX. 215 from the shore to a nouse during the storm, I carried her in my arms about half the way, she being too cold and wearied to walk. They were well wrapped up in blankets, but I had nothing but my cloak, and got two of my fin- gers frozen. You can better conceive than I can express, how strangely I felt when reason first told me I was in the cabin of a vessel ; and when I knew, from the pitching and toss- ing, that that vessel was on the ocean. I am in hopes of meeting with some vessel bound homeward ; and, if I cannot return in her, to send this" letter. If we speak no vessel in which I can return, I shall probably take pas- sage immediately after arriving in Liverpool. Till then, I leave all other incidents connected with this almost incredible loss of reason. I do not doubt that study was the cause, and thus are all my hopes of going through college blasted for I should not dare to make a second attempt. But I think nothing of that. I am lost in wond&r that such a journey should have been performed in safety in such a singular absence of mind ; and to think too that I even went through all, without ever losing my money, is most strange. My pre- servation appears indeed miraculous but I know not what to say. How thankful should I be to the Great Being who has guided and directed my wanderings thankful ! 't is too tame a word. Words cannot express my feel- ings, and I leave all, for the contemplation almost overwhelms me." Mr. Frothingham has since returned, and confirms the whole account. " Would that his well-meant but mistaken zeal in study (says the editor) might be the means of saving many now in danger from a result not less fatal to future plans, and of preserving others from that partial mania that predominance of the body over mind, which we believe gives rise to not a few of the follies, and errors, and faults, of sedentary men. We will only add, as an example of a result more deadly, from a similar imprudence, that one of the most diligent and promising students of an institu- tion, returned to his room after a long tour on foot, in perfect health, and, as he imagined, with a stock laid up on which he might draw. He sat down closely to study. The blood thus accumulated, which rushed to Mr. Froth- ingham's brain, in this case burst forth in a profuse discharge from the lungs ; and, after years spent in struggling, by the aid of a fine constitution, against the diseases and the effects of study, he fell, in the midst of the brightest prospects of usefulness, a victim to his hasty efforts to be a scholar. Would not a thorough knowledge of physiology preserve both sexes from incalculable evil]" The very singular case of Mr. Frothing- ham, described above, suggests, both to the philosopher and the divine, a variety of inter- esting reflections in reference to'the action of mind on the corporeal functions, and to the goodness and care of a superintending Provi- dence. He must have travelled more than two hundred miles by land and water, before he found himself in Montreal ; and, as he could not be supposed to have taken the near- est road to that city, perhaps he may have travelled more than double that distance, and crossed several lakes and rivers which abound in the territory through which he passed. H<3 must have inquired for lodgings, paid for victuals, found out the different ferries where he behoved to cross, and all, without being conscious where he was, or what was his object. With regard to the effect of study on the functions of the body and mind, I have every reason to believe, that those studies which are most abstruse, such as the ancient lan- guages, metaphysics, and the higher branches of pure mathematics, when closely pursued, have the greatest tendency to injure the or- ganic functions, and the mental powers ; while natural and civil history, geography, astrono- my, and the other physical sciences, being conversant about sensible objects, will seldom produce such effects, when prosecuted with judgment and moderation ; so that those studies which are in reality most useful, will be found in few instances injurious either to the animal or mental powers. Mr. Frothing- ham was deeply absorbed in the study of Latin grammar when his mental aberration was in- duced. Were he to refrain from such abstract studies, and apply himself with moderation to the more interesting departments of natural science, I should have DO fear of the return of his former insanity. (215) AN ESSAY ON THE SIN AND THE EVILS OF COYETOUSNESS; HAPPY EFFECTS WHICH WOULD FLOW FROM A SPIRIT OP CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. ILLUSTRATED BY A VARIETY OF FACTS, SELECTED FROM SACRED AND CIVIL HISTORY AND OTHER DOCUMENTS. BY THOMAS DICK, LL. D., AUTHOR OF THE "CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER," "PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION," "PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE," " IMPROVEMENT OF SOCIETY BY THE DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE," " THE MENTAL ILLUMINATION AND MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND," etc. etc. HARTFORD: PUBLISHED BY SUMNER & GOODMAN 1849. PREFACE. THE subject of the following treatise, considered in all its aspects, is one whish has an important bearing on the happiness and improvement both of Christian and Civil society. Impressed with a deep conviction of this truth, the author intended, some time ago, to address his fellow-men on the subject ; but other engagements prevented him from entering on the consideration of the several topics connected with it, till about the month of August last, when a Prize, to be given for the best Essay on the subject, was announced in some of our religious periodicals. Being then engaged in conducting his work " On the Mental Illumination of Mankind," &c., tnrough the press, and in various other avocations, he could not find leisure to finish the Essay within the time prescribed in the advertisement. It was, however, sent some time afterwards, and returned unopened, on the ground, " that the carriage and porterage of it were not paid ," and had it not been for a particular circumstance, the package might have been lost, as there was no intimation on its exterior as to whom it should be addressed and returned. These circumstances the author was disposed to consider as little short of an exemplification of Covetousneas the very evil which the Essays advertised for were intended to counteract. For, although a hundred Essays had been sent, the carriage of which was two shillings each, the whole sum thus expended would not have amounted to above a610 which could only be a trivial sum to the individuals who offered the Prize. And equity required, that those who had been at the expense of paper and quills, and who had devoted a certain portion of their time to the subject, in compliance with the request of those gentlemen, should have been freed from the expense of carriage, especially when no intimation of this circumstance was contained in. the announcement. But we too frequently find, that it is much easier to laud a virtue than to practise it, and to de- nounce a vicious principle than to act in opposition to it. The Essay is now presented to the public by the Author, on his own responsi- bility, as he originally intended, in the hope that it may not be altogether inefficient, in counteracting the principle of Covetousness, and stimulating the Christian to those noble acts of Beneficence by which physical and moral evil may be prevented, re- ligious society improved, and the world enlightened and regenerated. Having been composed in the course of four or five months, and in the midst of many interrup- tions and avocations, it is hoped, the critical reader will candidly overlook any slight inaccuracies it may contain. Should any pecuniary emolument be derived from the sale of this volume, the greater portion of it will be devoted to the purpose of social and religious im- provement. BROUGHTY FERRY, near DUNDEE, ) 1836. 5 (3) CONTENTS. Page. INTRODUCTION. Remarks on the necessity of giving more particular attention to the duties of practical Christianity, &c. Plan of the Essay, ... - 9 CHAPTER I. ON THE DISPOSITION OR PROPENSITY DESIGNATED BY COVETOUSNESS AND THE VARIOUS MODES IN WHICH IT HAS OPERATED IN THE WORLD, AND IN CHRIS- TIAN SOCIETY. General remarks Description of covetousness, - - - - 12 SECTION I. On the Operations and effects of covetousness as displayed in the world ct large. Historical sketch of its operations and progress in ancient times. Modern examples plunder of Mexico and Peru Slave trade Colonization, Piracy, &c. - <- >18 SECTION II. On the effects of covetousness, and the manner in which it has displayed itself among those who acknowledge the authority of Christianity, and profess to submit to its dictates. Benevolent dispositions of the first Christians, &c. Progress of covet- ousness in the Christian Church rapaciousness of the Popes and Bishops sale of in- dulgences vast quantity of wealth extorted from the people by the Romish Church, on the continent and in England practices of the Pope's Nephews extracts from the writings of an Italian Catholic, &c. Operations of covetousness in Protestant and Evangelical churches. Miscellaneous remarks. 1. Practice of hoarding money and ac- quiring houses and lands. Description of a miser. Various examples of avarice. 2. Gratifying a desire for ostentatious display. 3. Providing portions for children. 4. Covetousness in the mercantile transactions of mankind. 5. In cases of bankruptcy. 6. As it sometimes appears in the conduct of ministers of religion. Miscellaneous ex- amples, in people professing evangelical religion. Covetousness of Great Britain in a national point of view. Various instances Revenues derived from the support of idol- atry in India scenes of Juggernaut description of his temple, &c. Pilgrim hunters General reflections, - - V . - - - ' - 17 CHAPTER II. "ON THE ABSURDITY AND IRRATIONALITY OF COYETOUSNESS. Proof of the irrationality of covetousness from the noble intellectual faculties with which man' is endowed, from the absolute want of utility, which characterizes avarice, from its incapacity of affording rational enjoyment, from the consideration of man's immortal destination, .-.. ....37 CHAPTER III. ON THE INCONSISTENCY OF COVETOUSNESS WITH THE WORD OF GOD. The idolatry and atheism of covetousness particularly illustrated. It forms an impassable barrier to the kingdom of heaven, inconsistent with the idea of our being redeemed by the blood of Christ, inconsistent with love to God, its malignity demonstrated from the numerous cautions and exhortations of Scripture, in relation to this propensity. Selection of a variety of Scriptural declarations on this subject. General remarks and reflections, ... f - - - ' " . - 43 A 2 (5) 6 CONTENTS. Pago CHAPTER IV. ON THE EVILS WHICH FLOW FROM COVETOUSNESS. The covetous man a thief and robber. He robs his Maker, he robs the poor and dis- tressed, he robs his family and himself, he robs society. Covetousness leads to falsehood and injustice, destroys natural feeling and tenderness of conscience, leads to the indulgence of murderous wishes, and to murder itself, prevents the administra- tion of the law, and the ends of public justice, (illustrated with examples,) transforms many of the ministers of religion into hunters after places and pensions, leads to pre- sumption and a virtual denial of Providence, has produced all the public evils, wars, &c. which have prevailed in the world , prevents the extension of the Christian church and the improvement of society. What would be the consequences, were it universally to prevail, it infallibly leads to misery in the life to come, - 56 CHAPTER V. ON THE PRINCIPLES BY WHICH CHRISTIANS SHOULD BE DIRECTED IN THE APPLICATION OF THEIR WEALTH. Preliminary remarks general observations connected with this topic God the original source of wealth. Riches a trust to be employed in his service. Christians bound to such appropriation, from a consideration of the love of Christ. A particular inquiry into the proportion of wealth which should be directly consecrated to the service of God. General remarks and maxims on this point considerations to direct us in this particular. 1. Proportion of wealth dedicated to God, under the Jewish economy. Proportion of wealth which might be raised' in Great Britain for religious and philanthropic purposes. 2. Voluntary contributions made at different times under the O. T. dispensation. Offer- ings at the erection and dedication of the tabernacle, at the dedication of the temple, offerings by Josiah, Hezekiah, David, &c. 3. Predictions of the prophets in reference to the liberality to be displayed by the Christian Church. Remarks on these predic- tions. Amount of what might be raised in our country. Appeal to Christians, - 7tf CHAPTER VI. ON THE BENEFITS WHICH WOULD FLOW TO THE WORLD, WERE COVETOUS- NESS UNDERMINED, AND AN OPPOSITE PRINCIPLE PREVAILING IN CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. General remarks. Provision for the external comfort of the poor and destitute. State of the poor in Ireland, in Italy, &c. Method of promoting the best interests of the poor. Improvement of general society removal of physical evils. Original and present state of the globe evils which require to be removed, and scriptural predictions in relation to this subject. Universal education would be promoted. Utility of, in reference to the spread of the gospel. Defects in this respect, in the present state of society. Ez- pense of establishing universal instruction. Promotion of science and art. Connexloo of science and art with the objects of religion. The progress of Christianity would b promoted, exertions requisite for this end, and the extent of tl2 object to be accom- plished, reflections on this subject, and appeal to Christians. Preparation nrght ooor be made for the speedy arrival of the millennium. Predictions in relation to tK<3 period by what means it will be introduced arrangements requisite for p:e^ rf& the way for its arrival addresses to professing Christians on this subject, - SD CHAPTER VII. ON THE MEANS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR THE COUNTER hf f ,+ <,f COVETOUS- NESS. Introductory remarks frequent preaching and public discussions on '"/> fibject. Duty of Christian churches in relation to their members. More particular care requisite than hitherto, for detecting the latent principle of avarice, and for exciting to liberality. Acts which display the covetous principle various examples illustrative of this subject. The churches of Christ should now begin to distinguish themselves by a spirit of liberality. Examples of liberality, in Britain and America, calculated to stimulate Christians to this duty. Various remarks on this subject. Associations might be formed for encouraging liberality and counteracting avarice, - - - - - - -98 (6) CONTENTS. 7 Page CHAPTER VIII. CONSIDERATIONS ADDRESSED TO PROFESSING CHRISTIANS, AND OTHERS, AS TO THEIR AFFECTIONS AND CONDUCT IN RELATION TO COVETOUSNESS. I. To professing Christians in general. 1. God claims the supreme affection of the heart, which is incompatible with the indulgence of covetousness. Hints for self-examination on this point. 2. Considerations founded on our redemption by Christ. 3. On the privileges and prospects of Christians, -.----- 107 II. Considerations addressed to the Covetous. Wealth cannot secure from misery and calamity. Riches uncertain, as to their enjoyment. Folly and unreasonableness of covet- ous affections illustrated from facts, and various considerations. Light in which wealth will be viewed at the hour of death. Difficulty of subduing the covetous pro- pensity. Covetous affections necessarily unfit men for the enjoyment of celestial bliss. Appeals on this subject, - - - - 110 III. Considerations addressed to Christains on whom God has bestowed wealth and in- fluence. Expostulations with such, on the proportion of wealth they ought to allot for the promotion of religion, &c. Necessity of extraordinary exertions being made for the renovation of society. Inconsistency of professors of religion, in not bequeathing, at their decease, a portion of their wealth for religious purposes. Illustration of the spirit and import of our Saviour's maxim, " It is more blessed to give than to receive." Considerations founded on the fleeting nature of earthly things, on the promises and declarations of God selection of Scripture passages calculated to inspire the Christain with contentment and dependence on God for his temporal support. Sentiments on this subject, and anecdote from Dr. Witherspoon, - <' ' -. .- - 115 APPENDIX. Statements in relation to the condition of the lower classes in Ireland. Re- flections on these statements, - - ; ' '* ', '" T ' * , . - 123 (7) ESSAY OK COVETOUSNESS OR THE LOVE OF MONEY. INTRODUCTION. CHRISTIAXITT has now subsisted in the world throughout the lapse of eighteen hun- dred years. During the first periods of its existence, when its facts and doctrines were propagated in their native purity and sim- plicity, uncontaminated with Pagan ceremo- nies and worldly maxims ; its progress was rapid, and was accompanied with many asto- nishing and auspicious results. The empire of the Prince of Darkness was shaken to its centre, the altars of Paganism were over- turned, its oracles struck dumb, its worship forsaken, and its temples levelled with the ground. "The word -of the Lord had free course and was glorified," and multitudes both of men and women, of the higher and the lower ranks of society, formerly immersed in all the vices and abominations of heathen- ism, were "turned from darkness to light, and from the worship of dumb idols to the service of the living God." By the unwearied labours of the Apostles and their successors, the knowledge of the true God was commu- nicated to the inhabitants of the Grecian Islands, Asia Minor, the Northern coasts of Africa, the Southern shores of Europe, and throughout the greater part of the widely extended Roman Empire, where the abomi- nations of Pagan Idolatry had, for ages, de- based and demoralized the minds of men. The darkness of heathenism began gradually to vanish before the light of the " Sun of Righteousness," and a new and happier era appeared to dawn upon the world. The in- fluence of Christian principle was felt in all its force; love knit together, in "the bond of perfection," the various members of the Church ; a spirit of holy fortitude, and of non- conformity to the world, pervaded the minds of the disciples of Jesus, and the " lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life," were considered as unworthy the pursuit of those who accounted themselves "strangers and pilgrims upon earth," and travellers to a blessed immortality. 29 Little more than two centuries, however, had elapsed, before a worldly spirit, and a " love of pre-eminence," began to appear, and to diffuse their malign influence throughout every department of the visible church, which prepared the way for the unhappy dis- sensions which afterwards arose, and for the long reign of Antichrist over the nations. During the period of more than a thousand years "darkness" again "covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." Pagan maxims and ceremonies began to be blended with the pure precepts and sublime doctrines of the Gospel ; vain speculations were indulged on questions which the limited faculties of man are unable to resolve ; a multitude of unmeaning rites were substituted in the room of love to God and man ; pride, and a desire of domination, usurped the place of meekness and humility; the power of the clergy was augmented ; the bishops aspired after wealth, magnificence, and splendour ; and their ava~ rice, extortion, and licentiousness, at length became notorious even to a proverb. Errors in religion, whether real or supposed, were punished by civil penalties and bodily tor- i tures ; and the select few who adhered to the cause and " testimony of Jesus," and lifted up their voice against such abominations, were reproached and persecuted, and obliged to seek for shelter in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. Hence it happened, that the spirit of genuine religion was almost evaporated; carnal maxims and policy were introduced ; the love of riches and aggrandizement began to gain the ascendency ; and thus a barrier was interposed to the pro- pagation of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, and to the renovation of the world. Even since the Reformation from Popery, it is amazing how little practical influence Chris- tianity has obtained over the nations who profess to have submitted to its authority. While its leading principles and precepts are not called in question, as matters of mere (225) 10 INTRODUCTION. opinion, the great majority of professing Christians seem to act as it they were to be left entirely out of view in their ordinary deportment, or as if there were no specific difference between Christian principles and the corrupt maxims of the world. It is a fact which cannot be denied, that, considering the long period which has inter- vened since its first promulgation, Christianity has never yet produced all the practical and beneficent effects which might have been expected from a religion introduced by the authority of heaven, and confirmed by a series of the most august and striking mira- cles, nor has its empire been extended throughout the nations in any degree pro- portionable to the zeal of its first propagators, and to the rapidity and the extent of its progress after it was first announced to the world. This is a fact which has filled its sincere friends with deep regret, and which has been held up by its adversaries as a pre- sumptive proof that its claims to a Divine origin are unfounded. Although there are, doubtless, to be found, in the principles of the Divine government, reasons inscrutable by us, why Christianity has been so slow in its progress and so limited in its effects ; yet, I presume, that one grand reason is to be found in the fact, that the great majority of its professors have paid more attention to its theory than to its practical requisitions that its original record has been too much neglected, and human systems substituted in its place, and that contentions about matters of " doubtful disputation" have occupied the room of fervent piety and practical godliness. No nation under heaven has yet recognized its principles and maxims, in all their extent, in its civil and criminal code, in its legislative enactments, in its colonial transactions, and in its intercourse with other nations. No Christian church has yet been formed on the principle of a full and unreserved recognition of its precepts and laws, in all their bearings and practical applications ; and even the most exemplary Christians, in their general deport- ment, and particularly in the application of their wealth, fall far short of what the religion of the Bible inculcates. It is now high time that Christianity were recognized in all its holy principles and pre- ceptive requirements, and that its votaries show to the world that they have imbibed its heavenly spirit, and are determined to rise superior to the grovelling affections and the carnal policy of worldly men, and to follow the footsteps of their divine leader, and of his holy prophets and apostles. Jf we expect to behold the moral world regenerated, and Zion appear " beautiful and glorious in the eyes of the nations," we must exhibit our religion, (226) not merely in theory, but in its renovating and beneficent effects. If we ask surrounding nations to embrace its doctrines, and introduce among their people its divine institutions ; if we entreat the tribes of the heathen world to listen to its stupendous facts and to receive its ordinances and laws ; or if we urge the infidel to examine with attention the evidences of its divine original, they have a right to demand from us proofs and examples of its benignant tendency and of its harmonious and beneficent effects. If we could show, that, wherever it is professed, it uniformly produces love, bro- therly affection, forgiveness of injuries, peace and harmony, philanthropy, temperance, cha- rity, and a spirit of noble generosity ; if we could say with Lactantius, one of the early Apologists, " give me a man that is wrathful, malicious, revengeful, and, with a few words of God, I will make him calm as a lamb, give me one that is a covetous, niggardly miser, and I will give you him again liberal, bounti- ful, and dealing out of his money by handfuls ; give me one that is fearful of pain and death, and immediately he shall despise racks and crosses, and the most dreadful punishments you can invent" could we, with truth and sincerity, propose to the world such arguments and examples in behalf of our holy religion, could we show that in every case where a Christian or a Christian society is to be found, such virtues are uniformly displayed ; the progress of Christianity over the globe would soon be accelerated, and "righteous- ness and praise would," ere long, "spring forth before all the nations." And, I verily believe, that, till we can exhibit our religion in all its amiable and beneficent effects, its progress will be comparatively feeble, and its enemies numerous and powerful. We have been long engaged in controversies about theological opinions,- and, in such conten- tions, have too frequently overlooked the grand practical objects which it is the design of Christianity to accomplish. The govern- ment of the temper, the regulation of the affections, and the mortification of the prin- ciple of sin and corruption, have been, in a great measure, lost sight of, amidst the fiery zeal which has sometimes been displayed in the propagation of dogmas and opinions, which do not enter into the essence of our holy religion. While we have endeavoured to display our bravery as champions in the cause of orthodoxy, we have too frequently given vent to unhallowed passions, and aspired after worldly emolument and ap- plause, instead of " the honour which cometh from God alone." Of all the practical requisitions of Christi- anity, there is none which seems to be so much overlooked as the duty of contributing, INTRODUCTION. li with liberality, for the extension of the Gos- pel, the diffusion of knowledge, and the gen- eral improvement of mankind. This has been owing to the prevalence of that most vile and unchristian propensity, designated in Scripture by "COVETOUSNESS, which is IDOLATRY" a propensity which has affected all ranks of men, from the highest to the lowest, and which is characteristic of multitudes who make a glaring profession of evangelical re- ligion. Were this single affection either un- dermined or extirpated, a deluge of miseries would soon be swept away from our suffering world philanthropy would distribute its thou- sand blessings among all ranks ; universal education would be established in every land ; Zion would be built up even in troublous times ; " God would appear in his glory" to men ; the benighted heathen would, ere long, be enlightened with the " day-spring from on high," and the way prepared for the ushering in of that glorious period when " the know- ledge of Jehovah shall cover the earth, and the kingdoms of this world become the king- doms of our Lord, and of his Messiah." In the illustration of this subject the follow- ing plan may be adopted : I. I shall describe the disposition or pro- pensity designated by " Covetousness" as it has operated, and still operates, in Christian and civil society. II. Demonstrate its absurdity and irra- tionality. III. Show its inconsistency with Christian principle, and the general tenor of the Word of God. IV. Illustrate some of the Evils which flow from the indulgence of Covetousness. V. Investigate the Principles by which Christians should be directed in the applica- tion of their wealth. VI. Illustrate some of the Benefits which would result to Christians and general so- ciety, were Covetousness undermined, and an opposite principle universally cultivated. VII. State some of the means to be used, in order to counteract the influence of Covet- ousness, and to promote a spirit of Scriptural liberality among Christians. VIII. Offer a few solemn considerations to different classes of individuals in relation to this subject CHAPTER I. On the Disposition, or Propensity designated by Covetousness, and the various modes in which it Aos operated in the World, and in Christian Society. COVETOCSNESS consists in an inordinate desire of any worldly enjoyment, particularly riches, for the purpose of gratifying ambition, avarice, or* sensual desires. It is the opposite of generosity, or that liberality and content- ment which the word of God inculcates. The Creator has furnished the material world with an immense variety of objects, and has endowed us with sensitive organs, through the medium of which these objects may be perceived and enjoyed. He has also implant- ed in us desires and affections which, in subor- dination to higher aims, were intended to be directed to the objects of the visible world, and the enjoyment of the good things of this life. We may lawfully desire water to quench our thirst, food to nourish our bodies, clothes to cover us, and comfortable shelter and ac- commodation if such desires be regulated by scripture and reason, and confined within their proper bounds. We may even desire the pos- sessions of others when they are willing to relinquish them, and when we are able and willing to offer them a fair and equitable com- pensation. We may lawfully labour by the exertion either of our bodily or mental powers, to acquire a more comfortable house or garden than we now possess, and to enjoy a little more of the external bounties of Providence, when proper motives regulate our exertions and our aims. For, the Creator has exhibited, in his creation around us, an immense variety of beauties and sublimities to gratify the eye and the imagination, and has furnished the world in which we live with a multiplicity of delicious fruits, flowers, herbs and roots, to gratify every taste, as well as to afford nour- ishment to our animal system. It is, therefore, evident, that he intends his creatures should participate the sweets of sensitive enjoyment. "For every creation of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving." " I know," says Solomon, " that it is good for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life, and also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, for it is the gift of God." Every thing in the system of nature is so arranged as to produce pleasure and sensitive enjoy- ment, when used with moderation, and accord- ing to the design intended by the Creator. To condemn the moderate use of sensitive enjoy- ments, or to inculcate the austerities of an ascetic life, is, therefore, repugnant to the dic- (228) tates both of reason and revelation, and tends to frustrate the beneficent designs of Him whose goodness and " tender mercies are over all his works." It is not, therefore, in the simple desire of worldly good that covetousness consists, but in an inordinate desire of sensitive objects and enjoyments a desire which is inconsistent with the rational nature of man, and with our duty to our Creator and our fellow-men. Covetousness assumes a variety of forms, and manifests itself in many different modes. 1. It appears in its most degrading form in hoarding money, and acquiring houses and lands, fur the mere purpose of accumulation, when there is no intention of enjoying such wealth, or bringing it forth for the good of society. This is the characteristic of the man who is denominated a miser a word which originally signifies wretched, or miserable, as all such persons necessarily are. 2. It appears under the pretence of making provision for children a pretence which is generally no- thing more than a cloak to cover the principle of avarice which is fixed in the mind. 3. It operates most frequently for the purpose of gratifying sensual propensities displaying elegance in dress and furniture, and giving scope to a spirit of pride and ambition. In these, and many other ways, this vile affec- tion manifests itself, robbing man of the true glory of his nature, degrading him in some respects below the level of the brutes, under- mining every principle of religion, counteract- ing human happiness, preventing the renova- tion of the world, and reducing the soul to the level of a groveling idolater who " wor- ships and serves the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever." This inordinate desire of wealth has been productive of more mischief and misery in the world than almost any other unhallowed affection of the human heart. It has been the malignant source of almost all the evils which have been introduced into the social state, and of all the sorrows and sufferings to which the inhabitants of the earth in every age have been subjected. In order that we may clearly perceive the malignity of this affection, it may not be improper to take a cursory view of the effects it has produced, and of the manner in which it has operated, both in the world at large and in Christian society. OPERATION AND EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. 13 SECTION I. On the operations and effects of Cmetoumess as displayed in the world at large. This vile affection may be considered as the first display which was made in our world of sin or rebellion against God. Our first parents commenced their apostasy from their Maker by coveting the fruit of " the tree of knowledge," which he had expressly inter- dicted under the highest penalty. Though they were surrounded by the munificence of the Deity, though they were permitted to eat of every other tree in the garden of Eden, and possessed every thing that was pleasant to the eye and delicious to the taste yet they dared to put forth their hands to the forbidden fruit, from the covetous propensity of enjoying what was not their own, and the ambitious desire of being " like the gods, and knowing good and evil." This covetous and ambitious act "brought death into the world and all our woe," and was the prelude and forerunner of all those devastations and miseries which ava- rice and ambition have entailed on the inha- bitants of the world. We have reason to believe, that this woful propensity, in con- junction with ambition, with which it is in- separably connected, in one shape or another, was the principal cause of the wickedness which abounded in the world before the flood, and of the overwhelming deluge which swept away its inhabitants. For we are told, that "the earth was filled with violence" plainly intimating, that wars and devastations were every where carried on that a system of ra- pine and plunder universally prevailed that the strong and powerful forcibly seized the possessions of the weak that the poor and needy were robbed and oppressed that cities were demolished, fields and vineyards laid waste, and the ploughshare of destruction driven through every land. The whole history of the world, since that period, may be considered as little else than a revolting detail of the operations of covet- ousness and ambition, and of the direful effects they have produced on the destinies of man- kind. The oppressions which Babylon and Assyria exercised over the Jews and neigh- bouring nations, the plundering of the sacred vessels which belonged to the temple of Jeho- vah ; the mad expedition of Xerxes against the Grecians, with his numerous fleets and armies, and the slaughters an,d devastations they produced; the boundless ambition of Alexander, his cruelties and injustice, his burning of cities, plundering of palaces and temples, and the destruction of thousands and millions by his conquering armies, while en- gaged in the mad pursuit of universal empire ; the atrocities and murders committed by his successors, and the commotions and revolutions which followed in their train; the plunder, butchery and devastation of the Roman legions, and the terror they inspired throughout sur- rounding nations; the dreadful contests be- tween Rome and Carthage, known by the name of the Punic Wars, which lasted for more than forty-five years, and in which millions of hu- man beings were sacrificed to the demon of war ; the slaughter and ravages produced by the jealousy and ambition of Csesar and Pompey ; the terrible desolations and carnage produced throughout Asia and Africa by Mahomet and his ferocious disciples, while they were laying waste cities without number, and cutting in pieces all the enemies of Is- lamism ; the commotions, assassinations, mur- ders, and contests which happened during the reign of the Roman Emperors; the pillage of Rome by the barbarous Alaric, when the streets and houses were deluged with blood, the buildings enveloped in flames, the monu- ments of ancient grandeur overturned, and the soldiery raged and ravaged with all the ferocity of infernal demons ; the irruption of the Goths and Vandals, who rushed like a torrent into the Roman Empire, who respected neither rank, age nor sex, who covered the earth with carnage, and whose route was uni- formly marked with desolation and with blood ; the incursions of the Scythians, who rushed with irresistible impulse on western Europe, exterminating the inhabitants wherever they came, and threatening almost total destruction to the human race ; the ravages of Jenghis Khan, the most bloody conqueror that ever existed, who, in twenty-two years, destroyed fifteen millions of human beings, and trans- formed their countries into hideous deserts ; the mad expeditions of the Crusaders, who went forth by millions along the eastern parts of Europe, breathing out threateriings and slaughter against the inhabitants of Asia ; the ferocious and fiendlike wars of the Turks against Christian nations these, and thou- sands of similar scenes of atrocity and plun- der which have entailed misery and destruction on hundreds of millions of the human race, arc to be attributed to the insatiable lust of covetousness, when pandering to the pur- poses of ambition and worldly aggrandize- ment. In the wars of modern times, and in the numerous expeditions which have been un- dertaken for the discovery and colonization of new countries, the game avaricious principles have been almost uniformly displayed. No sooner had Columbus discovered a portion of the Western World than the cursed love of gold began to absorb the whole attention of his followers. No desire to confer benefits on the natives, who almost adored them, U (229) 14 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. seems ever to have entered their breasts ; but, on the other hand, they displayed every spe- cies of perfidy, inhumanity, and injustice; and inflicted every kind of cruelty on the In- dians, if they could but extort from them the golden treasures they possessed. As if the acquisition of gold had been the great end of human existence, their whole faculties and exertions were directed to this object. They went from one part of the island on which they had landed to another ; they sailed east- ward and westward, and from one island to another ; and wherever they went, their sole inquiry was for the mountains and vales where gold was to be obtained. The island Hispaniola was the earliest settlement of the Spaniards in the New World, on account of the quantity of gold it supplied. They forced its inhabitants, as so many slaves, to dig this object of their avarice out of the bowels of the eaith, and when the source of it was dried up, they exterminated the natives by a series of barbarities more shocking than ever before disgraced the history of man. Of two mil- lions of inhabitants which the island con- tained when discovered by Columbus in 1492, scarcely 150 were alive in 1545, only about fifty years afterwards. The conquest of Mexico by Cortez and his followers,, impelled by an insatiable lust for gold, was accompanied with horrors, atrocities and slaughters more dread- ful and revolting than almost any other scenes recorded in the annals of our race. To pre- pare the way for enjoying the plunder they had in view, the unoffending Indians were butchered by thousands, and their towns laid in ruins. Throughout the whole of their progress, their route was marked with perfidy, injustice, carnage, and deeds of atrocious cruelty. On one occasion, 60 Caciques or leaders of the Mexican empire, and 400 no- blea, were burned alive with the utmost cool- ness and deliberation, and, to complete the horrors of the scene, the children and rela- tions of the wretched victims were assembled and compelled to be spectators of their dying agonies. On another occasion, when the in- habitants of the city of Mexico were celebrat- ing a festival, and all the people, particularly the nobles, were dressed in their richest deco- rations, under the pretence of an intended conspiracy, the Spaniards, in order to glut their avarice, fell upon the unthinking Mexi- cans, slaughtered 2000 of the nobles, and stripped their dead bodies of all their valuable ornaments. Every right was violated which is generally held sacred even by hostile na- tions. On every trivial occasion the Indians were massacred in great numbers, their lands apportioned among the Spaniards, the inha- bitants reduced to slaves, and forced to work without payment at all their public works, (230) while the officers distributed into different provinces, faithfully imitated their avaricious commander in all his excesses arid barbarities. In the siege of Mexico alone, no less than a hundred thousand of the natives fell by the sword, besides those who perished by famine and other causes connected with warfare. And all these revolting scenes were produced in violation of every moral principle, merely to gratify the unbounded desires of sordid minds for the unsatisfying treasures of gold and silver. And while they had the effrontery and impiety to elevate the standard of the Cross, and to implore the God of armies to assist them in their conquests, no means were ever used to meliorate either the physical or moral condition of those whom they had so cruelly plundered. But God, whose laws they had so wantonly violated, caused them to suffer a just retribution, as a punishment for their enormities and their avaricious de- sires. For numbers of them were butchered by the enraged Mexicans in their retreat from the capital, and those who were taken alive were carried off in triumph to the temples and sacrificed with all the cruelties which re- venge could invent, to the god of war, while their companions, at a distance, heard their dismal screams and piteous lamentations. Many of them so overloaded themselves with bars of gold as retarded their flight, so that they fled ignominiously, the victims of their abominable avarice, and a great part of the gold and treasures they expected from their conquests, was commanded by their enemies to be thrown into the lake. Such are the effects of the operation of that detestable pas- sion which has so long degraded the character of man, and which tramples under foot every principle of virtue, and every dictate of justice and humanity. The same atrocities were committed, and the same execrable propensities displayed in the expedition of Pizarro and his followers for the conquest of Peru. In order to glut their avarice for plundering the golden trea- sures of this country, the basest treachery, and the most cold-blooded cruelties, were exer- cised. Under profession of amity, they seized upon the Inca or emperor of the country, who had received them in a friendly manner, and had commanded his attendants to offer the strangers no injury ; and butchered, with de- liberate and unrelenting fury, above 4000 of his attendants, who never offered the least resistance ; after which they passed the night in the most extravagant exultation, at the greatness of the plunder they had acquired from the bodies of the slain. The Inca, in order to regain his libert} T , promised them as many vessels of gold as would fill an apart- ment twenty-two feet long, sixteen wide, and OPERATION AND EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. 15 eight high : and after having despatched mes- sengers throughout his kingdom to collect the promised treasures, he had fulfilled his en- gagement they not long after, under the most ridiculous pretences, condemned him to be burned alive. The booty they obtained by such atrocious deeds, amounted to more than two millions of pounds sterling. The day ap- pointed for the partition of this enormous sum was the festival of St. James, the patron saint of Spain ; and although assembled to divide the spoils of an innocent people, procured by deceit, extortion, and cruelty, they had the impiety and audacity to commence the trans- action with a solemn invocation of the name of God, as if they had expected the benedic- tion of Heaven in distributing those wages of iniquity. Such was the commencement and such the progress of the expedition by which the empire of Peru was subjugated to the dominion of Spain. A curse has rested upon the wealth which was thus procured ; and the nation that sanctioned such injustice and atrocities, has, in the just providence of God, suffered the punishment due to its cruelties and avarice. Instead of being en- riched by such treasures, it has been impover- ished. That very wealth which its inhabi- tants so ardently desired, and for the acquisi- tion of which they violated every principle of religion and morality, laid the foundation of Spanish indolence, checked the increase of population, prevented the exertions of industry in the improvement of agriculture, manufac- tures, and commerce, which are the only true sources of wealth, and has reduced their country from one of the most powerful and wealthy of European kingdoms, to a state of comparative poverty. The wars which have, of late years, been carried on in that country, and in its former colonies, and the commotions and massacres which are at this moment tak- ing place, may be considered as part of the punishment for national offences, inflicted by Him who " visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation" thus by a kind of retributive justice, avenging the many innocent nations which were ravaged by their forefathers on the continent of America. Another mode in which Covetousness has displayed its malignity is, the traffic in slaves. Among the circumstances connected with this trade, are found whatever is dark in treachery, odious in cruelty, or horrible in war, whatever afflicts the body or degrades and tortures the soul. It is a traffic which has suffocated thousands of human beings in the cells of a floating dungeon, plunged ten thousands into a watery grave, and doomed the survivors to long years of captivity and sorrow, under the lash of relentless task- masters a traffic which has produced wars and massacres of every description, torn asunder the most endearing ties, trampled under foot every dictate of justice and hu- manity, transformed civilized men into infernal fiends, and embodied in it whatever has been feared or imagined in the cup of human woe. Yet this infernal traffic has been encouraged and carried on by men who make high pre- tensions of their improvement in science and civilization ; by States that, with the most glaring inconsistency, boast of the liberties they have acquired above all other nations; by Roman Pontiffs who pretend to be Christ's vicegerents on earth ; by thousands who pro- fess the greatest zeal for the interests of Re ligion, and who would consider themselves as scandalized and insulted, were we to refuse them the name of Christians and all for the purpose of glutting their insatiable lust of avarice, at the expense of the blood and suf- ferings of their fellow men. Early in the 15th century, the Portuguese, under the au- thority of the Pope, explored the African coast, planted colonies, and reduced the Afri- cans to slavery. The decrees of five succes- sive Roman Pontiffs " granted, conveyed, and confirmed to the most faithful king [of Portu- gal], a right to appropriate the kingdoms, goods, and possessions of all infidels, wherever to be found, to reduce these persons to per- petual slavery, or destroy them from the earth" for the declared purpose " of bringing the Lord's sheep into one Dominican fold under one Universal Pastor." By whom, then, was this atrocious commerce opened, and by whom has it been so long and ardently pursued ? By the subjects of their Most Faithful, most Catholic, and most Christian Majesties, Defenders of the Faith : by Bri- tish subjects, who have only lately been forced to abandon it, and by the citizens of the Most Republican States, with the sanction of his holiness the Pope. It has been calculated that, in this accursed traffic, eight millions of slaves have been shipped in Africa for the West India Islands and the United States, ten mil- lions for South America, and two millions have been taken and held in slavery in Africa ; in all, about twenty millions of negroes who have been consigned either to bondage or to death.* Reckoning the value of each slave at 40 Sterling, this horrid trade has accu- mulated for its unprincipled abettors, the enormous sum of 800,000,000, a sum which would be nearly sufficient for effecting the physical and moral renovation of our world ; but the greater part of which, we have too much reason to believe, has been wasted in luxury and debauchery. * See Gurley's "Life of Ashmun," page 101. Printed at Washington, in 180i. (231) 16 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. I have stated these more atrocious acts of avarice, for the purpose of showing to what a pitch of wickedness and barbarity the princi- ple of covetousness will lead its votaries when no human laws or prudential considerations interfere to obstruct its progress. Men are apt to imagine, that the occasional indulgence in covetousness, in respect to little things, can produce no great harm, when actions directly criminal are not resorted to for its gratifica- tion, that to take a quarter of an ounce from a pound of sugar, in inch from a yard of print, a " remnant" from a suit of clothes, to ask more than the fair value for an article of merchandize, to withhold a few pence or shillings from a philanthropic institution, or to desire the wealth of others which we cannot by fair means obtain, must be faults of trivial consideration, and can produce little injury to general society. But such persons ought to consider, that the very same principle which operates in such cases, if left to its own na- tive energies, and to operate without control from the force of human laws, would lead to all the atrocities and scenes of horror to which we have now alluded, and would, ere long, transform the world into a field of plunder, an immense charnel house, and a habitation of demons. Were its influence universal, it would destroy the happiness of rational beings, subvert the moral order of intelligent agents, both in heaven and on earth, and even sap the foundations of the throne of the Eternal. Hence, it is described in Scripture as "THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL," and designated by the term IDOLATRY ; a crime which, above all others, has a tendency to degrade the charac- ter of man, and to subvert the relations in which he stands to his fellow creatures, and to his Creator which includes in it a com- prehensive summary of wickedness, pride, falsehood, malignity, rebellion, hatred of moral excellence, and the basest ingratitude towards him " in whom we live, and move, and have our being." Besides the more barbarous acts of plunder to which I have adverted, there are innumer- able other acts in the conduct of nations and societies, flowing from the same principle, which are every day committed without a blush at their enormity and injustice. Almost the whole of our colonization system has been commenced and carried on from a principle of avarice ; when the rights of independent tribes have been invaded, and their territories wrested from them without an adequate com- pensation. Whether we go to America or Africa, the West Indies or Hindostan, or wherever colonies have been established by European nations, we shall find numerous exemplifications of the truth of this position. Instead of rendering our geographical disco- (232) veries subservient to the happiness and im provement of unenlightened tribes ; we have sent out expeditions to deprive them of the property which God and nature had given them, to massacre and to hunt them as wild beasts from the face of the earth, for the pur- pose of acquiring plunder, and gratifying our avaricious desires. And when we have thus laid the foundation of our colonies in avarice and injustice, we have next oppressed their inhabitants by arbitrary enactments and exor- bitant taxes, which have frequently led ttt protracted and expensive wars, in which our treasures, acquired by injustice and oppression, have been wasted, our previous riches and pros- perity diminished, and our finances sometimes brought to the verge of ruin. It is thus that the Governor of the world frequently punishes the crime of avarice, by forcing it again to disgorge those riches which were unjustly acquired, and to make nations perceive, if they have any moral perceptions, their sin in their punish- ment. Hence when the British roused the in- dignation of their American Colonists, by their despotic enactments and oppressive taxations, a desolating and unnatural war ensued, which cost Britain not only many thousands of val- uable lives, (about two hundred thousand in all) but no less than 139,000,000; a sum far greater than had ever been acquired from the possession of these colonies, and which might have sufficed to transform Britain into a terrestrial paradise, and to establish churches and seminaries to the utmost extent, for the diffusion of knowledge and religion among all classes of the inhabitants. There would be no end to the illustrations of the operation of covetousness. as displayed on the general theatre of the world, were we to enter into particulars. The barbarous prac- tices connected with piracy, or the plundering of vessels at sea, and the deeds of violence and atrocity which pirates have committed ; the robberies arid depredations which have been perpetrated by land, and the horrid mur- ders which have been committed by lawless banditti in pursuit of spoil ; the cruelties ex- ercised by Turkish Bashaws and Moorish Emperors, in squeezing from their subjects exorbitant taxes; the plundering of caravans in the desert by wandering Arabs ; the savage practices of a set of men denominated wreck- ers ; the perfidy and perjuries of spies and informers, in convicting the innocent of crimes in the hope of reward; the trepanning of soldiers and the impressment of seamen ; the secret murders committed on friends and rela- tives in hopes of obtaining an inheritance ; the treachery of executors and lawyers in betray- ing their trusts, in order to fill their coffers : the frauds of public officers in conducting the affairs of governments, the embez/ling of pub- ON THE EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. 17 lie money by close corporations for the purpose of selfishness and sensuality ; the oppressions which, in almost every nation, have been ex- ercised by unprincipled and avaricious men, on the poor and destitute, the widow and the orphan ; these, and hundreds of similar modes in which avarice is displayed, would require volumes to describe and record the revolting details SECTION II. On the effects of covetousness, and the man- ner in which it has displayed itself among those who acknowledge the authority of Christianity, and profess to submit to its dictates. When the leading facts and doctrines of Christianity were first publicly proclaimed on the day of Pentecost, those who were con- verted to the faith imbibed its heavenly spirit, and acted according to its holy requisitions. This was particularly manifested in their noble indifference to earthly possessions, and their anxious desire to consecrate the wealth which God had given them to purposes of Christian beneficence. So great was their admiration of the love of God, and the riches of his grace, and so elevated their hopes of heavenly felicity, 1 that they looked down with a becoming con- tempt on worldly treasures, except in so far as they were subservient to the purposes of benevolence, and to the promoting of the inter- ests of the Redeemer's kingdom. For, we are told, that " all that believed,'' being inspired with mutual love and affection for each other, " had all things common." Nay, to such an extent did this generous principle prevail that they who had estates or other valuable effects, " sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every one had need." This Christian liberality and heroic indiffer- ence to the world continued to distinguish the followers of Jesus, in a greater or less degree, during the first two centuries of the Christian era. For the sake of Him who had " redeem- ed them with his blood," and brought them " from darkness to marvellous light," they cheerfully parted with houses and lands, and brethren and sisters, and subjected themselves to the severest persecutions, that they might obtain " a better resurrection," and an " incor- ruptible inheritance." They were admonished beforehand that they were to be " betrayed by friends and brethren and kinsfolk, accused be- fore rulers and kings, and hated of all men for his name's sake." And these premonitions were fully realized in the experience of all who professed an adherence to " the testimony of Jesus." t the instigation of the heathen priests and emperors, every species of con- tumely and cruelty was inflicted which the wicked ingenuity of our fallen nature could 30 invent. Some were slain by the sword, some were whipped and scourged, after the cruel manner of the Romans, and others were roasted in the flames. Some were stabbed with forks of iron, some nailed to a cross, some torn by wild beasts, and others drowned in the sea, or stoned to death ; some .starved with hunger or killed with cold ; some had their hands and tongues dissevered from their bodies, and others were wrapt in combustible garments, and fire set to them when evening came on, that they might serve like torches to dispel the darkness of the night. Hierome, in his epistle to Cromatius, observes, " There is no day in the whole year to which the num. her of five thousand martyrs cannot be ascribed, except only the first day of January." So that every year no less than one million, eight hundred and twenty thousand Christians must have perished from the earth by the in- fliction of such demoniacal punishments, and all to glut the avarice and revenge of Pagan priests and rulers. Yet the number of those men " of whom the world was not worthy," still continued to increase through- out every province of the Roman empire. They magnanimously looked down on all the wealth and splendour of this passing scene as unworthy to be compared with the glory which was about to be revealed. " They counted all things as dung in comparison of the excellent knowledge of Christ, for whom they had suffered the loss of all things ; they knew in whom they had believed," and " chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of earth, and having respect to the recompense of reward." How many members of the Christian church should we have in modern times, were they all exposed to such persecutions and tribula- tions ! Were all professing Christians ani- mated with such heavenly principles and affections as distinguished the primitive saints and martyrs, there would be little need to write an Essay on the evils of Covetousness, or to enforce the duty of a noble and disinter- ested liberality on the members of the visible church. But, alas ! the gold has become dim, and the most fine gold has changed ! The great majority of those called Christians, in our times, can scarcely be distinguished, in their dispositions and conduct, from civilized Pagans, and the professed men of the world, " whose god is their belly," who glory in their wealth, and " who mind earthly things." When the Christian church began to enjoy the favour of worldly men, it was not long before many of its members began to imbibe a worldly spirit. As the wealth and honours conferred on the church increased, the hea- u 2 (233) 18 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. venly /eal of its votaries diminished, and a spirit of Covetousness, and a desire for worldly honours and distinctions, began to prevail throughout all the official departments con- nected with Christian worship and instruc- tion. Even so early as the third century, this melancholy change began to appear, par- ticularly in the contests of the Bishops for power and pre-eminence, and for worldly splendour and magnificence. Though a con- siderable number of them continued to exhibit to the world illustrious examples of primitive piety and virtue, yet " many of them were sunk in luxury and voluptuousness, puffed up with vanity, arrogance and ambition, pos- sessed with a spirit of contention and discord, and addicted to many other vices, that cast an undeserved reproach upon the holy religion of which they were the unworthy ministers."* The Bishops assumed, in many places, a princely authority, particularly those who had the greatest number of churches under their inspection, and who presided over the most opulent assemblies. "They appropriated to their evangelical function, the splendid en- signs of temporal majesty. A throne, sur- rounded with ministers, exalted above his equals the servant of the meek and humble Jesus, and sumptuous garments dazzled the eyes and the minds of the multitude into an ignorant veneration for their arrogated autho- rity. The example of the bishops was ambi- tiously imitated by the presbyters, who, neglecting the sacred duties of their station, abandoned themselves to the indolence and delicacy of an effeminate and luxurious life. The deacons, beholding the presbyters thus deserting their functions, boldly usurped their rights and privileges, and began to despise those lower functions and employments which they had hitherto exercised with so much liumility and zeal, and the effects of a corrupt ambition were spread through every rank of the sacred crder."j- Wherever luxury, ambition, and a desire for worldly splendour, gain ascendency over the mind, Avarice follows in the train as an inseparable concomitant. In the progress of the corruptions which were afterwards intro- duced into the church, this degrading passion was displayed, with shameless effrontery, in all its impious and demoralizing effects. The rapaciousness of the bishops and popes, and of almost every order of ecclesiastics, became excessive, and even proverbial ; and they did not hesitate to employ the most insidious and sacrilegious means to gratify their covetous propensities. The possessions of the church were sold to the highest bidders, or turned into a patrimony for the bastards of the in- * Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. Century third. 1 Mosheim. (234) cumbents. Frauds and abuses of every de- scription were practised ; legends were forged, lying wonders invented, and all the resources of fable and forgery exhausted, to celebrate exploits which had never been performed Skulls and jaw-bones, legs and arms, were collected under pretence of being the relics of the primitive martyrs, and deposited in churches in order to procure the rich present? of wealthy supplicants, who flocked to them for deliverance under affliction and dangers. Marriages, wills, contracts, the interests of families and of courts, the circumstances con- nected with the living and the dead, were all converted into instruments and occasions for increasing the power and riches of the church. The ignorance and superstition which the corruptions of Christianity had introduced, were dextrously improved by the ecclesiastical rulers to fill their coffers, and to drain the purses of the deluded multitude. All the various ranks and orders of the clergy had each their peculiar method of fleecing the people, and increasing their revenues. " The bishops, when they wanted money for their private pleasures, granted to their flock the power of purchasing the remission of the penalties imposed upon transgressors, by a sum of money which was to be applied to certain religious purposes, or, in other words, they published Indulgences, which became an inexhaustible source of opulence to the Episcopal orders, and enabled them to form and execute the most difficult schemes for the enlargement of their authority, and to erect a multitude of sacred edifices which augmented the external pomp and splendour of the church. The abbots and monks, equally covetous and ambitious, had recourse to other methods of enriching their convents. They carried about the country the carcasses and relics of the saints, in solemn procession, and permitted the multitude to behold, touch, and embrace those sacred and lucrative remains, at certain fixed prices. By this raree-show, the monastic orders often gained as much as the bishops did by their indulgences.''^ At length the Roman Pontiffs assumed the chief power over this profitable traffic, and " when the wants of the church or the demon of avarice prompted them to look out for new subsidies, published not only a universal, but a plenary remission of all the temporal pains and penalties which the church had annexed to certain transgres- sions." " They even audaciously usurped the authority which belongs to God alone, and impiously pretended to abolish even the punishments which are reserved in a future state for the workers of iniquity, a step which the bishops, with all their avarice and pre- sumption, had never once ventured to take. t Mosheim, Cent. 12. $ Ibid. ON THE EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. 19 It was by the sale of such indulgences that Pope Leo X. carried forward the magnificent structure of St. Peter's church at Rome. He published a system of indulgences suited to all ranks and characters of men, and promised a plenary remission to all who should contri- bute their money to the furtherance of this and other ambitious projects. So that the foundations of this edifice, which has been so much extolled, were laid, and its superstruc- ture reared, by means the most impious and diabolical, by a diplay of reckless perfidy and insatiable avarice, and at the expense of under- mining the whole fabric of Christianity, and usurping the prerogatives of the King of heaven. To such a pitch was this daring impiety carried, that indulgences were farmed out to the highest bidders, who, to make the best of their bargains, procured the ablest and most eloquent preachers to extol the efficacy, and enhance the value of such wares. A price, on a graduated scale, was set upon the remission of sins of every description, not even excepting the most horrid crimes, such as the murder of a father, mother, or wife ; so that for ninety livres, or a few ducats, or even for half a guinea of English money, a pardon might be procured from the " Apostolic Chan- cery," for crimes which all civilized nations punish with death. The raging thirst of dominion which consumed the Roman Pon- tiffs, prior to the Reformation, and their arro- gant endeavours to oppress all that came within the reach of their power, were accom- panied with the most impudent and insatiable extortion. " All the provinces of Europe were in a manner drained to enrich these ghostly tyrants, who were perpetually gaping after new accessions of wealth, in order to augment the number of their friends, and the stability of their dominions ; and every strata- gem was used to rob the subject without shocking the sovereign, and to levy taxes under the specious mark of religion."* Such was the shameless rapacity which then pre- vailed, that even in that age of superstition and servility, the eyes of all ranks began to open and to perceive the vileness and impiety of the pretensions of the ecclesiastical orders. Not only private persons, but also the most powerful princes and sovereign states ex- claimed loudly against the despotic dominion of the Pontiffs, the fraud, avarice and injustice that prevailed in their councils, the arrogance and extortion of their legates, and the un- bridled licentiousness and rapacity of the clergy and monks of all denominations, till at length the Reformation dawned and brought to light a scene of extortion and profligacy produced by the lust of covetousness, which had never before been exhibited with such * Mosheim, Cent. 12. effrontery in any country under heaven. In such a state of things it was no wonder that ignorance prevailed, that morality was under- mined, and the peculiar doctrines of Chris- tianity thrown into the shade and entirely overlooked. The public worship of the Deity was little more than a pompous round of external ceremonies more adapted to dazzle the eye than to enlighten the understanding or to affect the heart. The discourses of the clergy were little else than fictitious reports of miracles and prodigies, insipid fables, wretched quibbles and illiterate jargon which deceived the multitude instead of instructing them. The authority of the holy mother church, the obligation of obedience to her decisions, the virtues and merits of the saints, the dignity and glory of the blessed virgin, the efficacy of relics, the adorning of churches, the endowing of monasteries, the utility of indulgences, and the burnings of purgatory, were the principal subjects on which the clergy descanted, and which employed the pens of eminent doctors of divinity, because they tended to fill the coffers of the mother church to gratify her ambition, and to advance her temporal interests. It is impossible to ascertain, with any de- gree of accuracy, the vast sums of money and the immense property which for ages were extorted from the people of Christen- dom for such unhallowed and sacrilegious de- vices. But it must have amounted to many thousands of millions of pounds, the greater part of which was employed for the purposes of devastation and carnage, of luxury and de- bauchery, and for tyrannizing over the people, whom the clergy had reduced to poverty and ignorance, by their shameful licentiousness and unbounded rapacity. The one-fifth of the wealth thus acquired, had it been spent for the good of the church, as was impiously pretended, might have been sufficient to have diffused the knowledge of the gospel of Christ over every region of the globe, and to have evangelized every portion of the Pagan world. But, alas ! it was wasted in promoting schemes directly opposed to the principles and interests of genuine Christianity, forming one striking instance, among many, of the incalculable good which has been prevented, and the nu- merous evils which have been entailed on the world by the indulgence of Covetousness- The Pope's present revenues as a temporal prince, have been calculated to amount to at least 1,000,000 sterling, per annum, arising chiefly from the monopoly of corn, the duties on wine and other provisions. Over and above these, vast sums are continually flowing into the Papal treasury from all the Roman Catholic countries, for dispensations, indul- gences, canonizations, annats, the pallia, the (235) 20 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. investitures of bishops and archbishops, and other resources. It is computed, that the monks and regular clergy, who are absolutely at the Pope's devotion, do not amount to less than 2,000,000 of persons, dispersed through all the Roman Catholic countries to assert his supremacy over princes, and to promote the interest of that church. The revenues of these monks do not fall short of 200,000,000 sterling, besides the casual profits arising from offerings, and the people's bounty to the church, who are taught that their salvation depends upon this kind of benevolence. In Spain alone, the number of ecclesiastics, in- cluding the parochial clergy, monks, nuns, syndics, inquisitors, &c., amounts to 188,625. The number of archbishops is eight, and of bishoprics, forty-six. The archbishop of To- ledo alone has a revenue which, according to the most moderate calculation, amounts to 90,000 annually. In Portugal, in 1732, there were reckoned above 300,000 ecclesiastics out of a population of less than two millions. The patriarch of Lisbon has an annual reve- nue of 30,000, and the revenue of the Pa- triarchal Church, above 114,000 sterling per annum. It is stated by Mr. Locke, in a Diary of his travels when on the Continent, inserted in Lord King's late biography of that iii'istrious philosopher, that the expense of the ecclesiastical establishment of France, at the period in which he resided in that country, amounted to above twenty-four millions of pounds sterling. What, then, must have been the immense treasures of wealth col- lected by the extortions of the Roman pontiffs and bishops prior to the Reformation, when the whole of the European nations lay pros- trate at their feet, and were subservient to their interests, and when the newly disco- vered countries in America were plundered to augment their revenues, and to gratify their unbounded rapacity ! The wealth thus amassed, might have been almost sufficient to have cultivated every region, and to have transformed every portion of the globe into an earthly paradise. Even in England, during the reign of Pa- pal tyranny, the avarice of the clergy seems to have risen to an enormous height. Mr. Hume, in his history of the reign of Henry III. of England, gives the following descrip- tion : " Every thing was become venal in the Romish tribunals; simony was openly practised; no favours, and even no justice could be obtained without a bribe ; the highest bidder was sure to have the preference, with- out regard either to the merits of the person or of the cause ; and besides the usual per- versions of rights and the decision of contro- versies, the Pope openly assumed an absolute and uncontrolled authority of setting aside, (236) by the plenitude of his Apostolic power, all particular rules and all privileges of patrons, churches, and convents. On pretence of re- medying these abuses, Pope Honorius, in 1226, complaining of the poverty of his see as the source of all grievances, demanded from every cathedral two of the best prebends, and from every convent two monks' portions, to be set apart as a perpetual and settled reve- nue of the papal crown ; but all men being sensible that the revenue would continue for- ever, his demand was unanimously rejected. About three years after, the Pope demanded and obtained the tenth of all ecclesiastical re- venues, which he levied in a very oppressive manner, requiring payment before the clergy had drawn their rents or tithes, and sending about usurers who advanced them the money at exorbitant interest. In the year 1240, Otho the legate, having in vain attempted the clergy in a body, obtained separately, by intrigues and menaces, large sums from the prelates and convents, and on his departure, is said to have carried more money out of the kingdom than he left in it. This experiment was renewed after four years with success by Martin, the nuncio, who brought from Rome powers of suspending and excommunicating all clergy- men that refused to comply with his demands. Meanwhile all the chief benefices of the king- dom were bestowed on Italians ; non-residence and pluralities were carried to an enormous height ; Mansel, the king's chaplain, is com- puted to have held at once seven hundred ecclesiastical livings, and the abuses became so evident as to be palpable to the blindness of superstition itself." " The benefices of the Italian clergy, in England, were estimated at the amount of 60,000 marks a year, a sum which exceeded the annual revenue of the Crown itself." " Pope Innocent exacted the revenues of all vacant benefices, the twentieth of all ecclesiastical revenues without excep- tion, the third of such as exceeded 100 marks a year, and the half of such as were possessed by non-residents. He claimed the goods of all intestate clergymen ; he pretended a right to inherit all money gotten by usury ; he levied benevolencies upon the people ; and when the king prohibited these exactions, he threatened to pronounce against him the sentence of ex- communication." Such was the boundless rapacity of the Popes, the extravagant ex- actions they enforced, and the power they wielded to gratify their avaricious desires. There is, perhaps, not a similar instance to be found in the history of man, in any nation on the face of the globe, of Covetousness, under the mask of religion, so impudent, unbounded, and extravagant. There is a certain class of persons con- nected with the Romish Church, who hav ON THE EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. been more arrogant and rapacious, than al- most any other class, except the pontiffs, namely, those individuals commonly desig- nated by the title of " The Pope's Nephews" An Italian writer of the 17th century, who appears to have been a moderate Catholic, when sketching the characters of the existing cardinals, and the Pope's Nephews, relates, among other curious and melancholy pieces of history, the following circumstance : " A friend of mine had the curiosity to calculate the money that has been given to the Ne- phews, and he began at the year 1500, and, after a great deal of pains, he found issuing from the treasury of the church above seventy millions of double ducats,* all delivered into the hands of their kindred : And this is to be understood of visible moneys ; for of private and invisible sums, there may perhaps be twenty millions more. And those Romans that are within the town, and have more time to cast up what has been extorted from them, if they would take the pains to examine it more strictly, I am satisfied, would find it much more." The author, like a good and zealous Catholic, makes the following reflec- tion on this fact : " If these seventy millions of double ducats had been spent in persecut- ing heretics, or in making war upon infidels, where would any infidels be 1 where would any heretics be'! Those seventy millions would have been enough to have overrun all Asia. And (which is of importance too) the princes would have contributed as much more, had they seen the Popes more tenacious against their kindred, and more free to the soldiers who were fighting for Christ." The same author states, that " Innocent the tenth, to satisfy the fancy of a Kinswoman, spent a hundred thousand crowns upon a fountain ; yet with great difficulty could scarce find forty thousand to supply the Emperor in his wars with the Protestants," and " This good Pope would nevertheless leave to his cousin, to the house of Pamphilia, and other houses allied to that, above eight millions of crowns, with which sum they flourish in Rome to this very day." Again, " The Barbarini were in Rome at the same time, and enjoyed a rent of four hundred thousand crowns / and yet in a war of so much importance to the Catholic reli- gion, they could not find forty thousand. But, oh God ! (I speak it with tears in my eyes) against the most Catholic princes of Italy, wlwk millions were nothing ; they could turn * A ducat is about 4s. 6d. or 5s. in value, when of silver, and twice as much when of gold. The double ducats of Venice, Florence, Genoa, &c., weigh five pennyweights, seventeen grains of gold, and consequently are about the value of an English guinea, so that the above sum may be considered as equivalent to 73,500.000 sterling, which is equivalent to more than 200 millions of pounds at the present time. the Cross into a sword to revenge their par- ticular injuries ; but in the relief of the Em- peror, who was vindicating the Christian faith, they could not find so much as a few hundreds." On such circumstances he makes the following remarks: "The infidels laugh, and the heretics rejoice to see the wealth of the Church so irreligiously devoured, while the poor Christian weeps at their merriment." " The heat and passion which the Popes show hourly for their Nephews to gain Principali- ties for them, to bestow pension upon pension upon them, to build palace upon palace for them, and to fill their coffers with treasure to the brim, is that which cools the resolution of the zealousest piince, and exasperates the in- fidels in their wicked designs. A great shame it is, indeed, that the heretics should have more ground to accuse the Catholics, than the Catholic has to impeach the heretic." I shall only extract farther the following apostrophe of the author, in reference to this subject: " Oh God ! to what purpose will they keep so many jewels at Loretta, so much consecrated plate at Rome, so many abbeys for their Ne- phews, so much wealth for the Popes, if aban- doning their commonwealth, and refusing it that humane supply that is necessary for the celestial glory, it be constrained to submit to the Ottoman power which threatens it now with the greatest effect ] If the wealth of the Popes be devoured, the benefices of the cardi- nals given to the priest of Mahomet, the ab- beys of the Nephews usurped by the Turks, the sacred vessels at Rome profaned by these Infidels, and the seraglio adorned with the gems of Loretta ; God grant my eyes may never see that spectacle !"* Thus it appears, even, from the testimorv of Roman Catholic writers, that immense sums were wrested from the " Christian people," by every species of fraud and extortion ; that these sums, instead' of being applied to the maintenance and defence of the Church, as was pretended, were wasting in luxury and extravagance, in selfish gratifications, in riot and debauchery, in accumulating wealth on the heads of their relatives and favourites, most of whom were infidels and debauchees, in gratifying the pride and avarice of courte- zans, and in the most romantic and ambi- tious projects. The single structure of St. Peter's at Rome, cost the enormous sum of twelve millions of pounds ; and, in our age and country, would have cost at least thirty- six millions of pounds sterling. What, then, must have been the immense sums expended * See a folio volume of 330 pages, entitled " II Cardinalismo di sancta Chiesa; or the History of the Cardinals of the Romish Church, from the time of their first creation to the election of Pope Cle ment the ninth. Written in Italian, by the author of Nepotismo di Roma. London. 1670. (237) 22 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. on similar objects, intended merely for worldly ostentation throughout the whole of Christen- dom, besides the millions wasted in the pur- suits of tyranny, sensuality and debauchery ! The mind of a reflecting Christian is almost overwhelmed at the thought that such sacri- legious enormities should have been so long permitted to continue under the moral govern- ment of God ; and that such treasures should have been consecrated, for so many ages, to the support of the kingdom of darkness, while the true Church of Christ was obliged to pine away in poverty, and hide its head in dens and caves of the earth. But such are the deplorable and overwhelming effects of Covet- ousness, when it gains an ascendency in the minds of individuals, communities, or nations. To accomplish its objects, every dictate of prudence is discarded, every law, human and divine, trampled under foot, every ordinance of religion violated and profaned, every threat- ening of future punishment set at nought, the happiness or misery of fellow-creatures entirely disregarded, atrocious murders per- petrated without remorse, and, in its boundless projects, the whole earth appears too narrow a field for the scene of its devastations. Let us now attend to the operations of Covetousness as it appears in individuals and societies connected with PROTESTANT and Evangelical Churches. The operation of this affection among pro- fessing Christians in general, is apparent, from the eagerness and restless activity with which the acquisition of wealth is prosecuted. Diligence and activity in business is the duty of every man ; and he who, in this way, " provides not for his household, hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." But tne keenness and unwearied exertion so fre- quently displayed in the accumulation of wealth, are very different, and ought to be dis- tinguished from that dutiful attention which every man ought to exercise in procuring the means of comfortable subsistence. When we look atound us on the world, and even on the conduct of many Christians, one would be almost apt to conclude, that the acquisition of riches and honours is the great object of pur- suit, and the ultimate end of human existence. For men will make sacrifices, and expose themselves to inconvenience, privations, and dangers, to acquire money, which they would refuse to do, in order to supply the wants of a poor and afflicted family, or to promote the best interests of an immortal soul, even when there is no necessity for accumulating wealth in order to family comfort. This disposition likewise appears, in being unsatisfied with the wealth already acquired, even when every sensitive comfort consistent with reason and religion is already enjoyed. There is too (238) much aiming at what is called independent a want of conlentmsnt under the present allotments of Providence, arid a DISTRUST of the care and the promises of Him who has said, " Thy bread shall be given thee, and thy water shall be sure," and " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." How few are there to be found, even among evangelical Chris- tians, whose language and conduct declare, " We are perfectly contented with the ar- rangements of the Almighty, and with that portion of earthly good which he has bestowed upon us, and we confidently trust that in the use of all proper means, he will cause ' good- ness and mercy to follow us all the days of our lives ;' for all his allotments are deter- mined by Infinite wisdom and rectitude !" The same disposition appears in refusing 1o contribute to philanthropic objects, or in con- tributing the smallest and most trifling su?n*. While large sums are unnecessarily expended in expensive articles of dress and furniture, the most pitiful and niggardly sums are some- times reluctantly given, for the promotion of objects which have for their ultimate end the alleviation of human misery, the diffusion of divine knowledge, and the renovation of the world. But, leaving such general observa- tions, it may be expedient to descend into par- ticulars, and fix our attention for a little, on some of the more prominent modes by which covetous affections are manifested by profess- ing Christians. Covetousness assumes an immense variety of different shapes, and manifests itself in such a multiplicity of modes, that it would require volumes of description, were we to trace it in all its turnings and windings, and the diver- sity of phases in which it appears in different individuals, and throughout the ramifications of Christian society ; and therefore I shall confine myself to some of its more general or leading aspects. 1. It appears in its most abject and degrad- ing form in the practice o/ HOARDING money and acquiring houses and lands for the mere purpose of accumulation, when there is no intention of enjoying such wealth, or bringing it forward for the good of society. A man who is under the influence of this vile propen- sity will sometimes exhibit an apparent de- cency and respectability of conduct to general society. He will seldom be distinguished for gluttony, drunkenness, or debauchery; for such indulgences run counter to his love of gain and 'his hoarding propensities. He will even attend with punctuality on the public ordinances of religion, and, for the sake of character, will give his half-penny or his penny to the collections for the poor, and will likewise keep up a routine of family worship in private, because it costs him no- ON THE EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. thing. Among his neighbours he may enjoy the reputation of being a sober, industrious and frugal character, and be set in contrast with the profligate and the profane. But all the while his heart is set upon his covetous- ness. To acquire money by every mean that will not subject him to the criminal laws, and to place it in security, are the great and ulti- mate objects of his pursuit ; his whole affec- tions are absorbed in the accumulation of wealth ; mammon is the great idol which he adores; and whatever semblance of religion he may assume, he worships and serves the creature more than the Creator. He is hard and griping in every bargain he makes ; he grinds the faces of the poor, and refuses to relieve the wants of the needy ; his weights and measures are frequently found deficient, and he cheats without remorse, if he can pass without detection. He envies the man who is richer or more prosperous than himself, and he casts his eyes around him on the posses- sions of the poor, if perchance, by cunning and deceit, he may acquire them at half their value. However fast his wealth may increase, " though he heap up silver as the dust," and " the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks," his wishes are never satisfied, and his accumu- lated wealth always lags behind his avaricious desires. He thinks he has a right to be rich, and he murmurs against the dispensations of Providence, when they frustrate his schemes and disappoint his expectations. He is un- happy, because he is unsatisfied with what he has acquired, and because his plans for accu- mulating gain are so frequently disconcerted. Gratitude to God and reliance on his provi- dential care, tenderness, sympathy, and kind- ness, domestic affection, and expansive benefi- cence, are virtues which can never find an entrance to his heart ; for all the avenues to true enjoyment are interrupted, and closely shut up by the cold hand of avarice. He denies himself those sensitive comforts which Providence has put within his reach, and almost starves himself in the midst of riches and plenty. He stints the comforts of his family and dependants, imparting to them the necessaries of life in shreds and crumbs, and stooping to the meanest and most debasing expedients, in order to save a shilling or to increase his store days and years roll on and carry him near to the verge of time. As he approaches nearer the grave, into which his riches cannot descend, his desires after them still increase, and he clings to them with a more eager grasp. His last sickness seizes him while he is counting his gold, arranging his bills, collecting his rents, or prosecuting the poor debtors who have come under his grasp. He is determined to hold fast his treasures till the last moment ; even the near prospect of dissolution is insufficient to make his heart relent over a poor family whom he is hurry- ing into ruin, and in the very article of death, his heart is glued to earthly treasures, in spite of every remonstrance ; sometimes grasping the keys of his coffers with a desperate reso- lution, till, at length, his soul takes its down- ward flight to that world for which it is pre- pared. Such is a faint picture of the covetous man who " lays up treasures for himself, and is not rich towards God." Such is the character, more or less deeply marked, of not a few who pass under the Christian name, and have a place in the Christian church. When they are dextrous in the exercise of cunning anJ deceit, and their conduct is unmarked with any flagrant vice, they may long continue their course without much reprobation from general and even Christian society, especially if they have acquired the habit of dissimula- tion and hypocritical canting. But the prin- ciple which pervades the souls of such persons, if permitted to operate without control, would display itself in a still more glaring and dis- gustful manner, of which we have many examples recorded in biography and history. In order to exhibit covetousness ' in its real light, and to impress the mind with the base- ness and revolting nature of this passion, it may not be improper to select two or three examples. Edward Nokes was by trade a tinker, at Horn-church in Essex. His apartments por- trayed symptoms of the most abject poverty, though, at his death, he was found to be possessed of between five and six thousand pounds. He had a wife and several children whom he brought up in the most parsimonious manner, often feeding them on grains and offals of meat which he purchased at reduced prices. In order to save the expense of shaving, he would encourage the dirt to gather on his face, to hide in some measure this defect. He never suffered his shirt to be washed in water, but after wearing it till it became intolerably black, he used to wash it in wine to save the expense of soap. His coat, which time had transformed into a jacket, would have puzzled the most accom- plished chemist to determine its original colour, so covered was it with shreds and patches of different colours, and those so diversified as to resemble the trophies of the different nations of Europe. The interest of his money, together with all he could heap up, he used to deposit in a bag, which bag was covered up in a tin pot, and then con- veyed to a brick kitchen where one of the bricks was taken up, and a hole made just large enough to hold the pot ; the brick was then carefully marked, and a tally kept behind (239) ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. the door, of the sum deposited. One day his wile discovered the hoard, and took from the pot one of 16 guineas that were placed therein ; but when her husband came to count his money, on finding it not to agree with the tally, behind the door, which his wife did not know of, he taxed her with the theft, and to the day of his death even on his death bed, % he never spoke to her, without adding the epithet " thief" to every expression. A short lime before his death he gave strict charge that his coffin should not have a nail in it, which was actually the case, the lid being fastened with hinges made of cords. His shroud was made of a pound of wool, the coffin was covered with a sheet instead of a pall, and was carried by six men, to each of whom he left half a crown. At his particular desire, no one who followed him to the grave \vore mourning; even the undertaker was habited in a blue coat and scarlet waistcoat. He died in 1 802, a wretched example of the degrading effects of avarice. In November, 1821, a person of the name of Harrison died in Bennet street, Rathbone Place, Oxford road, London, where he had lodged 20 years. The furniture in his room consisted of one old chair, a table, an old stump bedstead, and a bed of straw; in one corner was a heap of ashes ; and the cupboard, the day after his decease, contained a few potato peelings and a stale roll. His body presented a picture of extreme misery and starvation, though he had no family, and had property in the funds to the amount of 1500. A female friend who was in the habit of visit- ing him, deposed before the coroner, that he would let no person but her enter his room, which he always kept padlocked on the inside, for fear of being robbed. He lay on his bed in the day time, and sat up at night without any fire, always burning a lamp. A few evenings before his death, he told her, that many persons wanted to finger his cash, but they should not. He then desired her to lock him in, and take the key with her, which she did; but on going again next day, she found him lying on his bed, with his clothes on, quite dead. He was in the practice of carrying large sums of money, and sewing them up in different parts of his clothes, for which reason he never pulled them off. Up- wards of 100 was found upon him at the time of his death; on the night previous to which he sent for one oyster, half a pint of beer, and a pennyworth of figs, which he ate. Such is the wretchedness and degradation to which covetousness reduces those miserable beings who live under its influence. Such examples form a striking commentary on the words of Solomon: "There is a sore evil, which I have seen under the sun ; riches kept (240) by the owners thereof to their hurt, and those riches perish by evil travail. As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return, to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour which he may carry away in his hand. All his days also he eateth in darkness, 'or wretchedness,' and hath much sorrow and wrath with his sick- ness" under the curse and displeasure of God. Numerous examples of this kind might be brought forward ; but I shall adduce only the following well authenticated instance, in rela- tion to John Elwes, Esq., who was for some time a member of parliament for Berkshire. The father of this gentleman was a brewer, of great eminence, but his mother, though she was left nearly 100,000 by her husband, literally starved herself to death. About the age of 40, Mr. Elwes succeeded to the pro- perty of his uncle, which amounted to no less 250,000. Yet this wretched man, notwith- standing his immense wealth, denied himself of almost every comfort, in order to increase his store. He would walk home in the rain in London, rather than pay a shilling for a coach; he would sit in wet clothes sooner than have fire to dry them ; he would eat his provisions in the last stage of putrefaction, sooner than have a fresh joint from the butchers; and he wore a wig for a certain time, which his biographer saw him pick up out of a rut in a lane where they were riding ; which had all the appearance of the cast-off wig of some beggar. When setting out on a journey, his first care was to put two or three eggs, boiled hard, into his great-coat pocket, or any scraps of bread which he found ; then mounting his horse, his next attention was to get out of London into that road where turn- pikes were the fewest ; then stopping under any hedge whose grass presented stuff for his horse, and a little water for himself, he would sit down and refresh himself and his horse together, without ever once stopping on the road at any house. Two of his residences he chiefly visited were, March am in Suffolk, and another in Berkshire. Marcham was the 1 place he most frequently visited as he advanced in life ; for this reason, that the journey into Suffolk cost him only two pence halfpenny, while that into Berkshire amounted to four pence. To save fire he would walk about the remains of an old green-house, or sit with a servant in the kitchen. During the harvest, he would go into the fields to glean the corn on the grounds of his own tenants, and they used to leave a little more than common, to please the old gentleman, who was as eager after it as any pauper in the parish. In the advance of the season, his morning employ- ment was to pick up any stray chips, bones, ON THE EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. or other things, to carry to the fire in his pocket ; and he was one day surprised by a neighbouring gentleman, in the act of pulling down, with some difficulty, a crow's nest for this purpose. On the gentleman wondering why he would give himself this trouble, " Oh ! sir," he replied, "it is really a shame that these creatures should do so. Do but see what a waste they make they don't care how extravagant they are." As he approached to the close of life, his avaricious disposition increased, and bis penu- rious habits became still more inveterate. He used still to ride about the country on one of his mares, but he rode her on the soft turf, adjoining the road, to save the expense of shoes, as he observed, " the turf is very plea- sant for a horse's foot." When any gentleman called to pay him a visit, and the stable-boy was profuse enough to put a little hay before the horse, old Elwes would slyly steal back into the stable, and take the hay very carefully away. He would continue to eat game in the last state of putrefaction, and meat that walked about his plate, rather than have new things killed before the old provision was finished a species of provisions not alto- gether unsuitable to so degraded a mind. During this period, he one day dined upon the remaining part of a moor-hen, which had been brought out of the river by a rat ; and soon after ate an undigested part of a pike, which a larger one had swallowed, but had not finished, and which were taken in this state in a net remarking to a friend with a kind of satisfaction, " Ay ! this is killing two birds with one stone." It is supposed that if his manors and some grounds in his own hands had not furnished a subsistence, where he had not any thing actually to buy, he would have suffered himself to have starved rather than have bought any thing with money. His dress was in unison with his mode of living. He would walk about in a tattered brown-coloured hat, and sometimes in a red and white coloured cap, like a pri- soner confined for debt. His shoes he would never suffer to be cleaned, lest they should be worn out the sooner ; but still, with all this self-denial, he thought he was too profuse, and would frequently say, " he must lv a little more careful of his property." His disquietude on the subject of money was now continual. When he went to bed, he would put five or six guineas into a bureau, and then feel of his money, after he had retired to rest, and sometimes in the middle of the night, he would corns down to see if it was there. Money was now his only thought; he rose upon money upon money lay down to rest. He would carefully wrap up a few guineas, in various papers, and deposit them in different 31 corners, and then run from one to the other, to see whether they were all safe ; then for- getting where he had concealed some of them, he would become as seriously afflicted as a man might be who had lost all his property. During the last winter of his life, he would frequently be heard at midnight, as if strug- gling with some one in his chamber, and cry- ing out, " I will keep my money ; I will : nobody shall rob me of my property." At length, on the 26th November, 1789, expired this miserably rich man, while absorbed in his avaricious propensities, leaving to the world a most striking and melancholy example of the miserable and debasing effects of covet- ousness. At his death, his property amounted to above eight hundred thousand pounds, which were soon dispersed throughout all parts of England.* Such examples may be considered as in- tended by Divine Providence to show us the wretched and degraded condition to which avarice reduces the soul of man, and to serve as beacons to guard us against the influence of this debasing and soul-ruining propensity. For it is impossible for a soul thus absorbed in the accumulation of money to love its Creator or its fellow-creatures, or to submit to the requisitions of the gospel ; and conse- quently it must be altogether unfit for engag- ing in the sublime exercises of the heavenly world, and for relishing the enjoyments of that " inheritance which is incorruptible and that fadeth not away." The service of God and mammon are absolutely irreconcilable; and the man who devotes himself to the lat- ter, by his own act renders himself unfit for being a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. Than such a man there can scarcely be presented a more pitiable picture of human depravity and degradation. An immortal mind grovelling in the dust, and having for its highest aim to heap up treasures which are never to be enjoyed ! and despising those incorruptible riches which shall endure forever ! what folly can be compared to the conduct of such an infatuated mortal ? "Oh. cursed lust of Gold ! when for thy sake The fool throws up his interest in hoth worlds ; First starved in this, then damned in that to come." Who that ever tasted the pleasures of knowledge, or felt the sweets of beneficence, or the comforts of religion, can but pity the poor wretch whose soul is chained to earthly treasures, and tortured on the rack of avarice 1 And, let it be remembered, that although the examples related above are extreme cases, yet the principle of covetousness is the same in every individual in whose heart it predomi- * Selected from Topham's " Life of John Elwes, Esq." X (241) 26 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. nates, and it is owing only to certain restrain- ing circumstances, that it does not carry them to the same stage of misery and degradation, as in the instances I have now related. Let this depraved principle be let loose to operate without control, and it is impossible to depict the miseries and degradations of human cha- racter that would follow in its train. The world would soon become an immense acel- dama, and its inhabitants a society of fiends, fit only to be the companions of the prince of darkness, and his infernal legions. 2. Another way in which Covetousness operates, even among professed Christians, is, in gratifying a desire for ostentatious dis- play, and a spirit of pride and ambition. The Creator evidently intended that his creatures should be suitably 'clothed and ac- commodated with comfortable habitations ; for he has replenished the earth with every thing requisite for those purposes ; and were proper arrangements made in the social state, and be- nevolence as frequently displayed as the prin- ciple of avarice all the ranks of mankind would be comfortably clothed, and conve- niently accommodated. A spirit of covetous- ness is not necessarily connected with a desire after decent apparel and comfortable dwellings, nor with those exertions which are requisite to procure them. But when I behold a pro- fessed Christian decking himself and family with gaudy attire, replenishing his dwelling with the most expensive furniture, erecting a huge mansion, superior to those of all his neighbours, and sufficient to accommodate three or four families contenting himself at the same time with subscribing half a guinea a year for a religious or philanthropic institu- tion, and so eagerly engaged in the pursuit of wealth, that time is scarcely left for mental improvement or family religion I cannot help drawing the conclusion, that covetous- ness is a principle which rules in such a mind for the purpose of fostering a spirit of vanity and pride, and a desire for worldly ostentation and parade. I have seen in the house of a professor of religion, whose income did not exceed 150 a year, an article of furniture, of no great utility, which cost twenty or thirty guineas, while a sixth part of this sum would have been sufficient to have procured a neat article to have answered every purpose for which it was intended. Yet if the indi- vidual had been urged to subscribe a guinea for a benevolent institution, it would have been refused as a most extravagant demand. Lhave seen a single flat of a house furnished, at an expense of seven or eight hundred guineas, where there was scarcely a family to occupy it, and where the proprietor, in all probability, never gave the tenth part of this sum to the purposes of religion or human im- (242) provement. Without calling in question the right of those to whom God hath given wealth and riches, to adorn their mansions with splendid furniture or decorations, it may still be proper to inquire, if the paltry sum gene- rally given by many such persons for the pur- poses of philanthropy, be at all proportionable to the expenses incurred in procuring such costly articles and decorations. Is it the part of a Christian man to be so liberal and even extravagant in his external trappings, while he can scarcely be induced to put his hand into his pocket to supply the means of propa- gating the gospel through the world, and while the one half of his superfluities would be hailed as a precious boon for this purpose 1 To such persons we might apply the words of the prophet Haggai, " Is it time for you, O ye," fashionable Christians, " to dwell in your decorated houses, and this house of the Lord lie wasted Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little ; ye eat, but ye have not enough ; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink ; ye clothe you, but there is no warm; and he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put them in a bag full of holes." In the course of his providence, God frequently causes such persons to behold their sin in their punishment, by blasting their hopes of worldly gain, and sweeping away their treasures by unforeseen accidents and adverse dispensations. Such was the case in the days of Haggai, when the people refused to exert themselves in rebuilding the temple. " Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and, when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it Why 1 ? saith the Lord of Hosts; because of mine house which is waste ; and ye run every man unto his own house." With how much propriety may such declara- tions be applied to many religionists in our times, when there are so many urgent calls to arise and build the New Testament Church, and extend its boundaries and who yet run every one to his " decorated houses," to in- dulge in ease and luxury, while the extension of the house of God and the reparation of its desolations require their most vigorous exer- tions 1 The money which is wasted in unne- cessary decorations, in regard to dress and furniture, and other superfluities, even by Christians were it collected into one sum, would amount to far more than the whole of the funds belonging to all the Religious and Philanthropic institutions of the British Em- pire, and may be considered as nothing less than a robbery of the Most High of his "tithes and offerings." 3. Covetousness manifests itself under pre- tence of providing suitable portions for chil- dren. ON THE EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. 27 This is a very common apology for the keen prosecution of wealth, and the anxious care which is exercised in securing it. In most instances, however, it is nothing more than a cloak to cover the vile principle of covetous- ness, when it is beginning to sway its sceptre over the mind. But, supposing a regard for the temporal interests of children to mingle itself with a covetous affection, the practice of laying up fortunes for children, so as to make them independent, is both injudicious, and immoral in its general tendency. Every parent ought to give his children a good edu- cation, so far as in his power, and above all things, "train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." So far as his cir- cumstances permit, he should indulge them in every innocent enjoyment; and when they are beginning business or setting up in life, he may afford thenv as much money as he can spare for enabling them to conduct, with suc- cess, the professions or employments in which they engage. This is nearly all that a Chris- tian parent should be anxious to accomplish, in reference to the temporal condition of his children. For, when a young man has re- ceived an education suitable to his station, and adequate allowance for the commence- ment and prosecution of his business, and is, at the same time, given to understand that the whole of his future happiness and success in life will depend upon his own prudence, ex- ertions and moral conduct, he will more readily apply the powers of his mind to his profession, and attend to the dictates of pru- dence, than if he had a constant dependence on the wealth and support of his parents, whatever conduct he might pursue. Every young person should be taught that he has a certain part to act in the world, for which he is accountable to the great Lord of all that his happiness or misery in this world, (under God,) is dependent upon himself and the course he pursues that he ought not to live merely for the gratification of his own humour or pleasure, but for the good of mankind and that there are certain physical and moral laws which he can never violate without feel- ing a corresponding punishment. But, if a parent act on a different principle ; if he indulge his covetous disposition for the purpose of enriching his children, and give them reason to expect that they shall inherit wealth and independency, when he shall have left the world, the worst consequences may ensue, both to himself and to his offspring. When children begin to discover that the penurious disposition of their parents is a mean cringing vice, they will be led to con- clude that extravagance is a virtue, and thus a broad path will be opened for licentious conduct in the future part of their lives. They are trained up in the idea, that their parents are accumulating a mass of wealth, which they are destined one day to spend, and they live under restraints and privations, which they hope the death of their parents will soon remove. The children of very covetous parents are frequently found in this situation. The old men die, and we imme- diately behold the children entering on the career of gaiety and licentiousness, and run- ning headlong to poverty and destruction ; and, instead of feeling grateful to their parent for the riches he had accumulated, can scarcely conceal their joy, that they are re- moved from under his restraints. The mo- ment of his death, is the signal for the plunder of his penurious savings. " I never knew the son of a miser," says a certain writer, " either feeling or expressing the least gratitude for the means which his father had employed to amass his fortune. The heir of this kind of wealth receives it as a debt which has been long due, and which has been recovered by a vexatious law-plea. He may dispute the sum, but he will not esteem the person who has prevented him from enjoying it." Many examples, were it expedient, might be pro- duced to illustrate the fact, that the riches of the covetous man, after his death, " make themselves wings and fly away" and that those to whom they are left, too frequently "fall into snares and drown themselves in destruction and perdition." It is truly astonishing, that so many indi- viduals are to be found, whose faculties are unimpaired, who appear in other respects men of sense, and profess a decent respect for the ordinances of religion, and yet allow the love of money, and the absurd desire of heaping up useless wealth, to triumph over every rational and religious principle. When we speak to them on the subject, they attempt to silence every argument by expatiating on the necessity of providing for their children, as if they wished to prove that money is a better provision than training them in intelligence, and in moral and religious habits, and in rendering them meet to be heirs of a blessed immortality. Now, even in a temporal point of view, nothing can be more injurious to a young man, than to leave him such a portion of wealth as will render him, in the language of the world, independent, especially if he have little relish for rational and religious pursuits. He has no stimulus for cultivating his intellectual and moral powers; his time frequently lies heavy on his hands ; to pro- mote the physical or moral comfort of others, forms no part of his plan ; his faculties become benumbed ; he becomes a prey to the crafty and licentious; he wanders about from one place to another, and from one pleasure t< (24 J) ESSAY OX COVETOUSNESS. another, without any defined object in view, but the gratification of his humours ; he feels, on the whole, hut little enjoyment, for this is only to be found in mental and bodily activity ; he gives up at length to licentious habits and sensual indulgences; his resources begin to be diminished he feels pecuniary embarrass- ments ; his pleasures are interrupted, and his miseries increase ; and thus he passes through life in a fretful humour, without rational en- joyment, and without contributing to the good of others. Such is too frequently the case with the children of those who have worn themselves out in avaricious activity, and de- prived themselves of almost every comfort, in order to lay up an inheritance for their off- spring. Every young man, even the son of a noble- man, should be taught that he is placed in a scene of action, as well as of enjoyment ; that, to contribute to the good of society, ought to be one main object of his life ; and, that although he may not need to earn his sub- sistence by the labour either of his hands or of his mind he ought to engage in some honour- able pursuit, which may tend to promote his own happiness, the improvement of society, and the glory of his Maker. Even the sons of the most opulent ought not to consider it as a degradation to learn a mechanical em- ployment, and to apply their corporeal powers, occasionally, to useful industry. Among many other advantages, it might tend to strengthen their animal system, to invigorate their minds, and to enable them to form a judicious esti- mate of the value of mechanical inventions, and of the employments and intercourses of general society. And their earnings might become a source of wealth for carrying for- ward improvements, and adding spirit and vigour to every philanthropic movement With regard to the female members of a family; if a parent have any wealth or in- heritance to leave, the greater part should be bestowed on them, as they are neither so well adapted by Nature for active labour, nor have the same opportunities as the male branches, for engaging in business and increasing their store. Yet, even the female sex, in the higher ranks, ought not to consider them- selves as exempted from any labours to which they are competent, and in which they may promote the best interests of mankind. In short, it may be laid down as a kind of maxim, that a great fortune bestowed upon a young man is one of the greatest evils than can befal him, unless he make it one of his great objects to devote a considerable portion of it to the good of society ; and, that labour, both of body and mind, is essential to the true happi- ness of man. 4. Covetousncss displays itself on an ex- (244) tensive scale, and in an innumerable variety of modes in the various mercantile trans actions of mankind. It would be impossible to describe all the variety of manoeuvres by which covetousncsj is, in this way, displayed, even by multitudes who consider themselves as followers of Christ ; and, therefore, I shall only glance at some of the nefarious means which are fre- quently employed. Among other well-known practices, are the following : varnishing over deteriorated articles with a fair outside, in order to deceive the purchaser, and to prevent the real state of the commodity from being perceived. Hence, a pound of butter has frequently been found with a quantity of Scotch porridge in its interior; milk mixed with chalk and water; sugar mixed with white sand ; the under part of a chest of tea of an inferior quality to that of the top ; and many such frauds and deceptions, best known to the nefarious trader. Other practices are, taking advantage of ignorance to pass off an unsaleable commodity, and asking more than the just value of whatever is offered for sale : in a merchant denying the goods which he has in his possession, when there is the pros- pect of an advancing price ; in his overcharg- ing for the articles of which he is disposing, and undervaluing those he intends to pur- chase ; in using light weights and deficient measures, when there is little prospect of their being detected ; in the jealousies, slanders, and evil surmising which one trader harbours, and endeavours slyly to throw out against another ; in their attempts to extol their own article? beyond their just value, and to depreciate the characters and the commodities of their neigh- bours; in their engaging in smuggling and other unchristian modes of traffic ; in taking advantage of the necessities of the poor and unfortunate, in order to procure their goods at half their value ; in selling spirituous liquors to the worthless and dissipated, whether men, women, or children, to swell the list of " trans- gressors among men," merely for the sake of the paltry profit of such a traffic ; in trafficking in wind-bills, bribing the officers of justice for the liberty of continuing a nefarious trade, and in a thousand other modes which the fraudulent dealer alone is best qualified to describe. In all such transactions, not only is covctousness displayed, but a principle of falsehood runs through all his mercantile negotiations, so that every fraudulent trader is of necessity a systematic liar. I have known high-flying professors of reli- gion guilty of most of the frauds to which I now allude. I have known a merchant, an office-bearer in a Christian church, who, by a dexterous mode of measuring his cloth, kept off nearly an inch from every yard, and who ON THE EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. charged a higher price for his commodities than any of his neighbours ; another of the same pretensions, who seemed to consider himself as holier than others, who possessed a considerable quantity of wealth along with a good business, and who could, notwithstand- ing, degrade himself and gratify his avarice, by selling drams and gills of whiskey and gin over his counter, to dissipated women, and all others who chose to be his customer* I have seen such practices in the shop evei of the mayor of a large town, who was also a distin- guished member of the church. I have known others of similar religious pretensions, who have engaged in smuggling spirituous liquors, paper, teas, and other commodities, who have even forged excise stamps, and who seemed to consider such practices as nowise inconsis- tent with the principles of Christianity. I have known such whose weights and mea- sures were deficient, whose quartern loaves were from five to ten ounces below the just standard, and whose butter, when exposed to sale in the public market, has been frequently seized by police officers, on account of its de- ficiency in weight. I have seen the confi- dence of their brethren in this way grossly abused by their assumed character of piety and rectitude, and have been sometimes tempt- ed to suspect the honour and honesty of every one who made high * pretensions to sanctity and evangelical religion. Yet many such nefarious practices are overlooked in Chris- tian churches, as scarcely worthy of censure, especially if the guilty individuals have a large share of wealth, and regularly attend the public ordinances of religion. Were it expedient in the present case, numerous ex- amples of the above description might be brought forward. Another way in which merchants display their covetous disposition is, by toiling their apprentices and servants, and confining them for so many long hours, that their health is injured, and their intellectual and religious improvement prevented. I have known ap- prentices not above thirteen years of age, confined in shops from seven in the morning till twelve at midnight, and sometimes to an early hour in the morning, and having scarcely two hours out of the twenty-four alloted them for meals ; and that too, by merchants who made a splendid profession of piety, and were considered as pillars of Dissenting churches. By such conduct young persons are not only deprived of that recreation which is necessary to the vigour of their animal system, but pre- vented from attending the means of moral and religious instruction, and from storing their minds with that knowledge which they ought to possess as rational and immortal beings. If, iu the present state of things, merchants and others require so long continued drudgery from their servants, other arrangements ought to be made, and additional servants or appren- tices procured, so that a moderate and reason- able service only should be required from them. But such arrangements would run counter to the principle of avarice. Similar practices have long been complained of in regard to many of our spinning-mills, and other public manufactories, and yet they have been de- fended by Christian men, as if the labouring classes were to be considered in no other light than as mere animal machines, or as beasts of burden. Covetousness likewise displays itself in keeping open shops to late hours, and thus preventing families, servants, shopmen, and apprentices from domestic enjoyment, and from the means of rational improvement ; and, when measures have been concerted to put a stop to this evil, I have known two or three professed Christians, by their obstinacy and avaricious disposition, disconcert every plan which had been formed for this purpose. 5. The covetous principle, conjoined with glaring acts of inhumanity and injustice, is frequently displayed in cases O/BANKRUPTCT How frequently do we find persons estab- lishing an extensive business on credit when they have no funds of their own ; using wind- bills and sometimes forgeries ; furnishing ele- gant houses with money which is not their own ; living in luxury and splendour ; dashing along in gigs and landaus ; entertaining friends with sumptuous dinners, and indulging in all the fashionable follies of life, till, in the course of two or three years, they are run aground and declared to be Bankrupts, who can scarcely pay a dividend of three shillings a pound. Previous to such bankruptcies, many cases of fraud and injustice very frequently occur. I have known office-bearers in Chris- tian churches, distinguished for their high pre- tensions to religion and piety, who, only a few day previous to their failure in business, have borrowed pretty large sums of money, and that, too, even from an industrious me- chanic, who was induced, by deceitful words, to lend the whole of what he had accumulated by industry and economy, during a course pf many years, scarcely a fraction of which was ever recovered. In such cases we not unfre- quently behold selfishness assuming a vast variety of forms ; practising low cunning and dishonesty, resorting to all possible shifts of duplicity, to prolong the credit of a tottering establishment ; concealing property which be- longed to others, or secretly disposing of it at half its value ; dealing in contraband articles, defrauding government of its revenues', de- ceiving the unwary, weaving a web of entan- glement throughout every department of the mercantile concern, gathering up payments x 2 (245^ ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. of money and merchandise against the crisis which is approaching, and implicating friends and acquaintances, and even the poor indus- trious labourer in their concerns, and involv- ing them in the impending ruin. If such were the practices merely of professed worldly men, we might cease to wonder. But, alas ! such wiles and shufflings and dishonesties, are too frequently displayed by those who profess to be seeking after an incorruptible inherit- ance. But the exhibition of covetousness and dis- honesty does not end at the period of bank- ruptcy. After a legal settlement has been obtained, and business resumed, similar exhi- bitions are repeated. I have known many individuals, belonging both to the established church and to dissenters, men whose profes- sions of religion were ostentatious and glaring; who, after having become bankrupts, lived as luxuriously, dressed as gaily, gave their chil- dren as fashionable an education, and set them up in as lucrative professions, as if no such event had taken place. I have known others who, after having paid six or seven shillings on the pound, and been permitted to resume trade, have, in the course of a few years, purchased heritable property to a con- siderable amount, without ever thinking of restoring to their creditors a single shilling of what they had lost by their bankruptcy. Because they obtained a settlement from their creditors, and therefore are not legally bound to refund their loss, therefore, they imagine that they are under no moral obligation to perform such an act of natural justice. The cases of this kind which daily occur, are so numerous and striking, that it would be need- less to condescend to particular instances. It is little short of a libel on the moral percep- tions of general society, and particularly on the Christian world, that a man voluntarily coming forward and settling with his creditors, when he is not legally bound to do so, should be considered as a kind of phenomenon in the commercial world, and worthy of being pub- lished in every newspaper, when it is nothing more than what a sense of natural justice would, in all cases, obviously dictate. It is true, indeed, that the men of the world seldom consider such cases as I have alluded to, as of a criminal nature ; but it is amazing that Christian churches should almost entirely overlook such displays of covetousness and injustice, and inflict no censure on the offend- ers, notwithstanding the malignant and anti- christian dispositions and practices with which they are associated. 6. There is too frequently a striking dis- olay of covetousness in the case of many of ihe ministers of religion. Not to mention the buying and selling of (246) benefices and other Simoniecal practices, which have long abounded, and which have tended to throw disgrace on the sacred office ; there are many other ways in which worldly- mindedness is manifested by not a few in this class of Christian society. Although I wish to speak Avith the greatest respect of the mip- isters of the church, on account of the sanclity and importance of the sacred office, for which no one entertains a higher veneration ; yet I cannot shut my eyes to the many examples around me, which prove that not a few Chris- tian ministers are too much actuated and directed in their movements, by a worldly- minded and avaricious disposition. This pro- pensity is displayed in aspirings, with the utmost keenness, after ecclesiastical dignities and preferments not for the sake of the duties connected with such situations, nor with a view of occupying a field of more ex- tensive usefulness ; but for increasing their revenues, and living in opulence and splen- dour. The general conduct of many to whom I allude, their neglect of the flock over which they have been made overseers,, and their indulgence in the fashionable pursuits and amusements of the world, too plainly evince the ruling disposition of their hearts. Would to God that such persons would consider what views they will have of such things, when stretched upon that bed from which they are to rise no more, and about to enter the con- fines of the eternal world ! The pious Mr. Hervey, about four days before his death, when Dr. Stonehouse paid him a visit, and was discoursing on the emptiness of worldly honours to an immortal, and on the unprofit- ableness of riches to the irreligious, replied, " True, Doctor, true, the only valuable riches are in heaven. What would it avail me now, to be the Archbishop of Canterbury ] Dis- ease would show no respect to my mitre. That prelate is not only very great, but I am told, he has religion really at heart Yet it is godliness, and not grandeur, that will avail him hereafter. The gospel is offered to me, a poor country parson, the same as to his Grace. Oh ! why then do ministers thus neglect the charge of so kind a Saviour, fawn upon the great, and hunt after worldly prefer- ments with so much eagerness, to the disgrace of our order 1 These are the things which render the clergy so justly contemptible to the worldlings. No wonder the service of our church has become such a formal, lifeless thing, since it is, alas ! too generally executed by persons dead to godliness in all their conver- sation; whose indifference to religion, and worldly-minded behaviour, proclaim the little regard they pay to the doctrines of the Lord, who bought them." The same covetous propensity is indicated, ON THE EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. 31, when a minister leaves an affectionate people, among whom he has a competent support, for a larger and more opulent congregation, where his income will be considerably increased. I have seldom known an instance in which a minister voluntarily left his charge, unless when he had the prospect of a larger stipend. There are, doubtless, valid reasons why a minister of the gospel may, with propriety, leave his charge; but if he has previously been in moderately comfortable circumstances, and if the increase of income be the chief or only motive for the change, there is too much reason to suspect, that a covetous disposition has lurked in the breast, and has influenced his decision. Not long ago, a dissenting pastor received a call from a congregation in a large town where he was offered a larger stipend than he had previously received. He was generally beloved by his people, he had received from them handsome presents, as testimonials of their gratitude and affection ; he received from them an income adequate to his station, and to the supply of every reason- able want ; they pressed him to remain, and promised to do every thing that might promote his comfort. But, for no other reason, appa- rently, than the prospect of about 50 more being added to his income, he parted with them almost abruptly, and left them to draw the inference, (which they did not hesitate to do,) that he had more regard to his worldly interests than to superintend the spiritual in- terests of an affectionate people. I am much mistaken if even the temporal happiness of such a person shall be augmented by such conduct; and if God, in the course of his Providence, does not try him with unexpected difficulties, and make him behold his sin in his punishment. This covetous disposition is likewise dis- played by ministers of the gospel when they take large farms and engage with keenness in the pursuits of agriculture, and when they embark in extensive mercantile concerns and speculations, for the purpose of increasing their fortunes, and enabling them to live in splen- dour and affluence. It is not long since a dissenting minister was advertised in the newspapers, among the list of bankrupts, as " the Rev. Mr. H , Banker and Builder." And, even a Doctor of Divinity, who enjoyed a handsome stipend, and was distinguished as a popular preacher, has been known to have embarked with eagerness in mercantile speculations, connected with shipping affairs, spinning mills, banking, building, and other departments, for the purpose of gratifying a worldly disposition, and enabling him to leave, at his death, several thousands of pounds to each member of his family. Another of the same description has been known to engage in extensive agricultural operations, in sur- veying and superintending roads and acting as factor for neighbouring Squires, in order to hoard up worldly treasures, although his stipend was one of the largest in the country around. Indeed, instances of this description are so far from being uncommon, that they are scarcely considered as inconsistent with the sacred office ; and a man, under the influ- ence of such principles, will pass through life with a certain degree of respect from the church and the world, as if he had acted in no way inconsistent with the character of a Christian. In the case of such, the duties of their office generally form only a subordinate object of attention. Another way in which covetousness sometimes manifests itself, espe- cially in the case of dissenting ministers, is- their concealing certain important truths in their public ministrations, and neglecting to apply the principles and precepts of Chris- tianity to the particular cases of every class of gospel-hearers without respect of persons, for fear of offending certain leading indivi- duals of the church, and risking the loss of a portion of emolument. It is likewise mani- fested in winking at the delinquencies of men of wealth and influence, in cringing to such characters, and attempting to screen them from censure when their conduct demands it. In all such cases as those to which I allude, the conduct of a Christian pastor requires to be guided by wisdom and prudence. But when he clearly perceives the path of truth and duty, he ought at once, without fear of consequences, to act on the principle "Fiat Justitia mat ccelum" Let what is accordant with eternal truth and righteousness be per- formed, although the mighty should rage, the heavens fall, and the elements rush into con- fusion. But, in general, it will be found, that he who prudently discharges his duty, trusting for support in the Providence of God, will seldom be left to sink under his difficulties, or to want the means of comfortable support. The conduct of the apostles, in such cases, should be imitated by every Christian minister. When Peter was brought before the Jewish rulers to account for his conduct in healing the impotent man, and preaching the resur- rection of Jesus, he boldly declared, " Be it known to you all, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand before you whole. This is the stone that was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of 'the corner." And when he was commanded to teach no more in the name of Jesus, he replied, with the same fearlessness of consequences; " Whether it be right in the sight of God to (247) ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For I cannot but speak the things which I have seen and heard." And Paul, when he was about to leave the church of Ephesus, could declare, " I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you ; I have not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God : I have coveted no man's gold, nor silver, nor apparel, for these hands have ministered to my necessities. I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." Were all Christian ministers animated by the spirit which actuated these holy apostles; we should seldom find pastors shrinking from their duty, from the fear of man, or from worldly motives, " shunning to declare the whole counsel of God." Much less should we ever behold men more careful to fleece their flocks than to feed them with knowledge and who have the effrontery to receive many hundreds, and even thousands of pounds a year, as Christian ministers ap- pointed to the charge of souls, while yet they spend their incomes in fashionable dissipation in foreign lands, regardless of the spiritual interests of those precious souls which were committed to their care. It is by such con- duct in the clerical order, that religion and its ordinances are despised and treated with con- tempt, more than by all the efforts of avowed and unblushing infidelity ; and it becomes all such seriously to consider how far they are responsible for the demoralization of society, the prevalence of irreligion, and the ruin of immortal souls ; and what account they will one day be called to give of the manner in which they discharged the important office committed to their trust. I shall now adduce a few miscellaneous examples, illustrative of the ascendency' of the covetous principle in those who made, or who still make a flaming profession of religion. A certain member of a dissenting church, who had long been a zealous supporter of its peculiar modes and tenets, had, in the course of his business as a carpenter, and by penurious habits, amassed a considerable portion of pro- perty, but was remarked to be of a hard and griping disposition, and could seldom be in- duced to contribute to any religious object. He had a brother, a man of good character, and a member of the same church, who, by family and personal distress, had been reduced to extreme poverty. Some of his Christian brethren represented to him the case of this distressed brother, and urged him to afford the family a little pecuniary relief. He 're- plied, " My brother little knows how difficult it is for me to get money ; I have nothing that I can spare. Does he know that I have lately (248) bought a house, and have the price of it to pay in a few days?" and he peremptorily refused to bestow a single shilling upon his distressed relative. Yet no public notice was taken of such conduct by the religious society with which he was connected, for, unfortu- nately, such cases are not generally considered as scandals, or tests of the want of Christian principle. His wife, who survived him, and who was of a similar disposition, while lying on her death-bed, kept the keys of her trunks and drawers constantly in her hands, and would, on no account, part with them to any individual, unless when she was in a position to perceive exactly every thing that was transacted while the keys were used, and appeared to be restless and uneasy till they were returned. The idea of losing a single sixpence, or the least article, seemed to go like a dagger to her heart. After she had breathed her last, a bag, containing bank- notes, bills, and other documents, was found in her hand, which she had carefully con- cealed from her attendants, as if she had expected to carry it along with her to the world of spirits. Such are the degrading and awful effects of covetousness, when suffered to gain the ascendency over the heart. Can such a spirit be supposed to be prepared for the mansions of the just, and for entering into that inheritance which is incorruptible, and that fadeth not away ? The following is another example, relating to a lady in comfortable circumstances, who died three or four years ago. This lady was married to a gentleman who was generally respected as a worthy man and a zealous Christian. His habits were somewhat penu- rious ; and from a low situation, he rose bv various means, some of which were scarcely honourable, to a state of wealth and inde- pendence, so that, about 12 years before his death, he was enabled to retire from the duties of his office, to live in a state of respectability. His wife was likewise a professed religious character ; she had no children, and her great anxiety was to preserve, if possible, any por- tion of her husband's property from passing into the hands of his relations. When any of her husband's relatives happened to live with them for the sake of sociality or for affording them assistance in their old age, she denied them almost every comfort, and grum- bled at the least article they received, as if it had been a portion of flesh torn from her body till, one by one, all such relatives for- sook her. After her husband's death, the same penurious habits remained, and, as is usually the case, grew stronger and more inveterate. After her death, a purse was found concealed under her pillow, contain- ing above 300 in cash and bank-notes, to ON THE EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. 33 which, it appears, her heart had been more firmly wedded than to " the treasure in the heavens that faileth not," and " the glory which fadeth not away." Yet this sordid mortal passed among Christian society as a follower of Jesus. Another old woman died lately, who was a professed zealot for the truth, for " a covenanted work of reforma- tion," and for testifying against abounding errors and immoralities in the church. She was noted among her neighbours for telling fibs, and giving false representations of her own circumstances and those of others. She represented herself as destitute of money, and almost of daily bread that she could scarcely attain the enjoyment of the coarsest morsel and, of course, she was favoured with a small aliment from a charitable fund. She was also distinguished as a busy-body and tale-bearer, and was frequently caught secretly listening to the conversation of her immediate neighbours, and had burrowed a hole below the partition which separated her apartment from that of another family, in order that she might indulge in this mean and unchristian practice. In a short time after she had represented herself as a destitute pauper, she died, and, after her death, when her store was inspected, it was found to contain a considerable quantity of confectionaries of different kinds, spirits, wines, and not a small portion of money and other articles, some of which had been accu- mulating for years. Yet no one was more zealous than Margaret for the truth, and for testifying against the "defections" of the established church, and the sins and immo- ralities of the age. Such examples as those now stated, are to be found throughout almost every portion of the visible church, and might be multiplied to an indefinite extent. There is not a more common case of covet- ousness that occurs in Christian society, than that of taking advantage of the civil law, in opposition to natural justice, in order to gratify an avaricious affection. A father dies suddenly without a will ; certain relations, perhaps the son of the first marriage, seize upon the father's property, while the widow and her infant children are turned adrift from their accustomed dwelling, either with nothing, or with a pittance so small as to be insufficient to procure the coarsest necessaries of life. Or, perhaps a will has been drawn up, specifying (he intention of the father in regard to the in- heritance of his property, but he dies before he has had an opportunity of subscribing the deeument. Though the will of the father was clearly made known to all concerned, yet a person called the heir at law, will imme- diately step in and claim the whole property which the parent intended to bequeath, with- out any regard to the natural rights of others. 32 The death of parents and relatives frequently produces a scene of rapacity and avarice which is truly lamentable to a pious mind, and which no one could previously have ex- pected. The death of friends, which should naturally lead us to reflections on the vanity of worldly treasures, and the reality of a fu- ture state, not unfrequently steels the heart against every generous feeling, and opens all the avenues of ambition and avarice. As a certain writer has observed, " The voice from the tomb leads us back to the world, and from the very ashes of the dead there comes a fire which enkindles our earthly desires." The instances of this kind are so numerous, that volumes might be filled with the details. In opposition to every Christian principle, and to the, dictates of natural justice, professed religionists will grasp at wealth wrung from the widow and the orphan, because the civil law does not interpose to prevent such bare- faced robberies; and yet they will dare to hold up their faces, without a blush, in Chris- tian society while one who had committed r, far less extensive robbery, in another form, would be held up to execration, and doomed to the gibbet. I k'now no practical use of Christian principle, unless it leads a man in such cases to perform an act of natural jus- tice, altogether independent of the compul- sions or regulations of civil codes. "The law," says Paul, " was not made for a right- eous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, the ungodly and the profane ;" and he who, in cases which natural justice should deter- mine, takes shelter under the protection of law, in committing an act of oppression, ought to be excluded from the society of the faithful, and regarded as a " heathen man and a pub- lican." That such characters are so frequently found in the visible church, is a plain evidence that the laws of Christ's kingdom are not yet strictly and impartially administered. The forms of our civil laws are a striking proof of the extensive range of the operations of the covetous principle, and a kind of libel on the character of mankind, however much refined by civilization and Christianity. " It is impossible," says a periodical writer, " to see the long scrolls in which every contract is in- cluded, with all the appendages of seals and attestation, without wondering at the depravity of those beings who must be restrained from violation of promises by such formal and pub- lic evidences, and precluded from equivocation and subterfuge by such punctilious minute- ness. Among all the satires to which folly and wickedness have given occasion, none is equally severe with a bond or a settlement." And is it not a satire upon Christianity, that its professed votaries require such legal obli- gation, and punctilious forms and specifica- (249) 34 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. tions, to prevent the inroads of avarice 1 and that no one 'can safely trust money or pro- perty to any one on the faith of a Christian, or depending purely on his sense of equity and justice ] Before proceeding to the next department of our subject, it may not be improper to ad- vert to our covetousness and idolatry, consi- dered as a nation. Great Britain has long been designated by the title of a Christian nation. But, if proud ambition and an inordinate love of riches and power be inconsistent with the religion of Jesus, we have, in many instances, forfeited our right to that appellation. Without ad- verting to the immense load of taxation which has long been levied from the mass of the people, and the extravagance with which many portions of it have been expended the heavy imposts on foreign produce, and the harassing regulations of the excise, which prevent a free intercourse with foreign nations the keenness of our merchants and manu- facturers in accumulating wealth and amass- ing immense fortunes for the purposes of luxury the eagerness with which our Land- holders endeavour to keep up the price of grain, although the poor should thus be de- prived of many of their comforts the poverty of one class of our clergy and the extravagant incomes enjoyed by others passing the con- sideration of these and similar characteristics, I shall only mention one circumstance which appears, altogether inconsistent with our cha- racter as a Christian nation, and that is, the revenues derived from the support of IDOI.A- TRT in India, and the encouragement thus given to the cruelties and abominations of Pagan worship. In another age, it will perhaps scarcely be believed, that Britain, distinguished for her zeal in propagating the gospel throughout the heathen world, has, for many years past, de- rived a revenue from the worshippers of the idol Juggernaut, and other idols of a similar description at Gya, Allahabad, Tripetty, and other places in Hindostan. From the year 1813 to 1825, there was collected, by order of the British government, from the pilgrims of Juggernaut alone, about 1,360,000 rupees, or 170,000; a great part of which was de- voted to the support of the idol, and the priests who officiated in conducting 'the cere- monies of this abominable worship. Dr. Bu- chanan, in his " Christian Researches," states, from official accounts, that the annual expense of the idol Juggernaut presented to the Eng- lish government is as follows : Rupees. . Expenses of the Table of the Idol, 36,115 or 4,514 Do. of his dress, or wearing apparel, - - - - 2,712 339 Do. wages of his servants, 10.057 1,259 (250) Do. contingent expenses at the different seasons of pilgrimage, - - 10,989 1,373 Do. of his elephants and horses, - - - - 3,030 378 Do. of his annual state car- riage, or the car and tower of the idol, 6,713 839 Rupees, 69,616 8,702 In the item " wages of servants," are in- cluded the wages of the courtezans, or strum- pets who are kept for the service of the temple. Mr. Hunter, the collector of the pilgrim tax for the year 1806, told Mr. Buchanan that three state carriages were decorated that year, with upwards of 200 sterling of English broadcloth and baize. The following items show the gain of this unnatural association with idolatry at some of the principal stations appropriated for idol worship. Rupees. Net receipts of pilgrim tax at Juggernaut for 1815, 135,667 Do- at Gya for 1816, - ... 182,876 Do. at Allahabad, for 1816, - - 73,053 Do. at Kashee-poor, Surkuree, Surnbal and Kawa for 1816, ------ 5,683 Do. at Tripetty, near Madras, for 1811, 152,000 Rupees,* 549,279 Mr. Hamilton, in his " Description of Hin- dostan," as quoted by Mr. Peggs, in his " Pil- grim tax in India," states with respect to the district of Tanjore, that "in almost every vil- lage, there is a temple with a lofty gateway of massive architecture, where a great many Brahmins are maintained, partly by an allow- ance from government. The Brahmins are here extremely loyal, on account of the pro- tection they receive, and also for an allow- ance granted them by the British government of 45,000 pagodas or 18,000 annually, which is distributed for the support of the poorer temples," a sum which would pur- chase one hundred and eighty thousand Bibles at two shillings each! Can any thing be more inconsistent than the conduct of a pro- fessed Christian, nation in thus supporting a system of idolatry, the most revolting, cruel, lascivious, and profane 1 Yet a member of the parliament, C. Buller, Esq., in his letter to the Court of Directors, relative to Jugger- naut, in 1813, says, "I cannot see what pos- sible objection there is to the continuance of an established tax, particularly when it is taken into consideration what large posses- sions in land and money are allowed by our * A Rupee, though generally considered to be only the value of half a crown, yet is reckoned in the case of thp pilgrims of India, to be equivalent to the value of one pound sterling to an inhabitant of Britain, so that, in this point of view, rupees may be considered as equivalent to pounds. ON THE EFFECTS OF COVETOUSNESS. 35 government, in all parts of the country, for keeping up the, religious institutions of the Hindoos and the Mussulmans. The scenes of Juggernaut and other idol- temples are so well known to the British pub- lic, that I need not dwell on the abominations and the spectacles of misery presented in these habitations of cruelty. I shall only re- mark that, from all parts of India, numerous bodies of idol-worshippers or pilgrims travel many hundreds of miles to pay homage to the different idols to which I have alluded. A tax is imposed by the British government on these pilgrims, graduated according to the rank or circumstances of the pilgrim, and amounting from one to twenty or thirty ru- pees which, according to the estimate stated in the preceding note, (p. 34), will be equiva- lent to one pound sterling to the poorest class of pilgrims. Those journeying to Allahabad, for example, are taxed at the following rates. On every pilgrim on foot, one rupee. On every pilgrim with a horse or palanquin, two rupees. On every pilgrim with an elephant, twenty rupees, &c. Vast numbers of deluded creatures flock every year to these temples. In 1825, the number that arrived at Jugger- naut was estimated at two hundred and twenty-Jive thousand, and in some cases they have been calculated to amount to more than a million. The deprivations and miseries suffered by many of these wretched beings are almost incredible. Dr. Buchanan, who visited Juggernaut temple in June, 1806, gives the following statement. " Numbers of pilgrims die on the road, and their bodies generally remain unburied. On a plain near the pilgrim caravansera, 100 miles from Jug- gernaut, I saw more than 100 skulls; the dogs, jackals, and vultures, seem to live here on human prey. Wherever I turn my eyes, I meet death in one shape or other. From the place where I now stand, I have a view of a host of people, like an army encamped at the outer gate of the town of Juggernaut, where a guard of soldiers is posted, to prevent them from entering the town until they have paid 1he tax. A pilgrim announced that he was ready to offer himself a sacrifice to the idol. He laid himself down on the road be- fore the car as it was moving along, on his face, with his arms stretched forward. The multitude passed him, leaving the space clear, and he was crushed to death by the wheels. How much I wished tJiat the proprietors of India stock would have attended the wheels of Juggernaut, and seen this peculiar source of their revenue ! I beheld a distressing scene this morning in the place of skulls ; a poor woman lying dead, or nearly so, and her two children by her, looking at the dogs and vultures which were near. The people passed by without noticing the children! I asked them where was their home ] T^ey said they had no home but where their mother was. there is no pity at Juggernaut! Those who support his kingdom, err, I trust, from ignorance ; they know not what they do." " The loss of life," says Colonel Phipps, who witnessed this festival in 1822, " by this deplorable superstition, probably exceeds that of any other. The aged, the weak, the sick, are persuaded to attempt this pilgrimage as a remedy for all evils. The number of women and children is also very great, and they leave their families and their occupations to travel an immense distance, with he delusive hope of obtaining eternal bliss. Their means of subsistence on the road are scanty, and their light clothing and little bodily strength, are ill calculated to encounter the inclemency of the weather. When they approach the temple, they find scarcely enough left to pay the tax to government, and to satisfy the repacious brahmins ; and, on leaving Juggernaut, with a long journey before them, their means of support are often quite exhausted. The work of death then becomes rapid, and the route of the pilgrims may be traced by the bones left by jackals and vultures, and the dead bodies may be seen in every direction." The Rev. W. Barnpton, in an account of this festival, in July, 1823, states, " in the front of one of the cars lay the body of a dead man ; one arm and one leg were eaten ; and two dogs were then eating him ; many people were near, both moving and stationary, but they did not seem to take any notice of the circumstance. I went to see the pilgrims, who, because they could not pay the tax, were kept without one of the gates. In the course of the morning, I saw, within a mile of the gate, six more dead, and the dogs and birds were eating three of them. Five or six lay dead within a mile of the gate. A military officer pointed out a piece of ground, scarcely an acre, on which he had, last year, counted twenty-jive dead bodies" Mr. Lacey, a mis- sionary, who was at the festival in June, 1825, states, " On the evening of the 1 9th, I counted upwards of sixty dead and dying, from the temple, to about half a mile below leaving out the sick that had not much life. In every street, corner, and open space in fact, where- ever you turned your eyes, the dead and the dying met your sight. I visited one of the Golgothas between the town and the principal entrance, and I saw sights which I never shall forget. The small river there was quite glutted with the dead bodies. The wind had drifted them all together, and they were a complete mass of putrefying flesh. They also lay upon the ground in heaps, and the dogs and birds were able to do but little towards devouring (251) ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. them." Such horrid details could be multi- plied without number; every one who has visited such scenes of misery and depravity, gives similar relations, some of which are still more horrible and revolting. With regard to the number that perish on such occasions, the Rev. Mr. Ward estimates that 4000 pil- grims perish every year, on the roads to, and at holy places an estimate which is con- sidered by others as far below the truth. Captain F : estimates those who died at Cuttack and Pooree, and between the two stations, at 5000. How many of these miser- able people must have died before they reached their homes ! many of them coming three, six, or nine hundred miles. Mr. M , the European collector of the tax at Pooree, esti- mated the mortality at 20,000 ! Juggernaut is one of the most celebrated stations of idolatry in India. All the land within twenty miles is considered holy ; but the most sacred spot is inclosed within a stone wall twenty-one feet high, forming a square of about 656 feet. Within this area are about fifty temples ; but the most conspicuous build- ings consist of one lofty stone tower, 184 feet high and twenty-eight and a half feet square inside. The idol Juggernaut, and his brother Bulbudra, and his sister Sabadra, occupy the tower. The roofs are ornamented with re- presentations of monsters ; the walls of the temple are covered with statues of stone, re- presenting Hindoo gods, with their wives, in attitudes grossly indecent. The three cele- brated idols alluded to, are wooden busts six feet high, having a rude resemblance of the human head, and are painted white, yellow, and black, with frightfully grim and distorted countenances. They are covered with spangled broadcloth, furnished from the export ware- house of the British government. The car on which the idol is drawn, measures forty-three and a half feet high, has sixteen wheels, of six and a half feet diameter, and a platform thirty-four and a half feet square. The cere- monies connected with this idolatrous worship, are, in many instances, exceedingly revolting and obscene. At Ranibut, in the province of Gurwal, is a temple sacred to Rajah Ishwara, which is principally inhabited by dancing women. The initiation into this society is performed by anointing the head with oil taken from the lamp placed before the altar, by which act they make a formal abjuration of their parents and kindred, devoting their future lives to prostitution, and the *" British government, by giving annually 512 rupees to the religious mendicants who frequent this temple, directly sanction this system of ob- scenity and pollution. Many temples of im- purity exist in other places of Hindostan. Tavernier mentions a village where there is a (252) pagoda to which all the Indian courtezan* come to make their offerings. This pagoda is full of a great number of naked images. Girls of eleven or twelve years old, who have been bought and educated for the purpose, are sent by their mistresses to this pagoda, to offer and surrender themselves up to this idol. In order to induce ignorant devotees to forsake their homes, and commence pilgrims to these temples of impurity and idolatry, a set of avaricious villains, termed Pilgrim hunters, are employed to traverse the country, and by all manner of falsehoods, to proclaim the greatness of Juggernaut and other idols. They declare, for example, that this idol has now so fully convinced his conquerors [that is, the British] of his divinity, that they have taken his temple under their own superintend- ency, and that they expend 60,000 rupees from year to year to provide him with an attendance worthy of his dignity. These pilgrim hunters are paid by the British gov- ernment. If one of them can march out a thousand persons and persuade them to under- take the journey, he receives 1500 rupees, if they be of the lower class ; and 3000 rupees, if they be persons belonging to the highest class. But, what is worst of all the conduct of the British government in relation to this system, has led many of the natives to believe that the British nation approves of the idol" atrous worship established in India. A Hin- doo inquired of a missionary in India, " If Juggernaut be nothing, why does the Com- pany take so much money from those who come to see him 1" Mr. Lacey, a missionary, who went to relieve the destitute on the road to Cuttack, during one of the festivals, relates the following incident : " You would have felt your heart moved, to hear, as I did, the natives say ' Your preaching is a lie , -for, if your Saviour and your religion are thus merciful, how do you then take away the. money of the poor and suffer him to starve?" It is indeed no wonder that when the natives see a poor creature lying dying for want, they should reflect, that the two rupees he paid as a tax, would have kept him alive. Nor is it indeed a pleasing reflection to a European mind, that these two rupees form precisely the difference between life and death to many who have perished for want on their road home. Another missionary relates, " Passing one evening a large temple, I caught a sight of one of the idols, and exclaimed, sinful, sin- ful. The native who was with me asked, ' Sir, is that sinful for which the Company give thousands V A man said to me a few days ago, ' If the government does not forsake Juggernaut, how can you expect that we should V " In this way the efforts of Chris- tian missionaries to turn the Hindoo from ABSURDITY AND IRRATIONALITY OF COVETOUSNESS. 37 idolatry, are, in many instances, completely paralyzed.* Such is the worship which the British gov- ernment supports, and from which it derives an annual revenue : Such is the covetousness literally and directly connected with " idola- try," manifested by those who give their sanc- tion and support to a system of idol-worship, distinguished for rapacity, cruelty, obscenity, and every thing shocking to the feelings of humanity ! If we are commanded to " flee from idolatry," " to abstain from meats offered to idols," and to "hate even the garment spotted by the flesh," what shall we think of the practice of receiving hundreds of thou- sands of rupees annually, for permitting blind- ed idolaters to worship the most despicable idols of clothing those idols, repairing their temples, and paying the rapacious and unfeel- ing priests that minister at their altars 1 What shall we think of the practice of Christian Britons sending forth a body of idol-mission- aries, far exceeding in number all the Christian missionaries, perhaps, throughout the world, who, from year to year, propagate delusion, and proclaim, for the sake of gain the tran- scendent efficacy of beholding " a log of wood.'" "Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this." No wonder if Christian missionaries have the most formidable opposition to en- counter, when the very nation that sent them forth to undermine the fabric of Pagan super- stition, gives direct countenance and support to every thing that is abhorrent and debasing in the system of idolatry. How appropriate the wish expressed by Dr. Buchanan, " that the proprietors of India stock, could have attended the wheels of Juggernaut, and seen this peculiar source of their revenue !" I would live on " a dinner of herbs," or even on the grass of the fields, before I would handle a sum of money procured in this way, to sup- ply the most delicious fare. From whatever motives support is given to this system of Idolatry, it will remain an indelible stain on the British nation, to generations yet unborn, and its miserable and demoralizing effects will only be fully known in the eternal world. CHAPTER II. On the Absurdity and Irrationality of Covetousness. THE Creator has endowed man with men- tal faculties which, if properly directed and employed, would be sufficient, in many cases, to point out the path of virtue, and to show the folly and unreasonableness of vice. All the laws of God, when properly investigated as to their tendency and effects, will be found accordant with the dictates of enlightened reason, and calculated to produce the greatest sum of human happiness ; and the disposi- tions and vices which these laws denounce will uniformly be found to have a tendency to produce discomfort and misery, and to sub- vert the moral order and happiness of the intel- ligent system. On these and similar grounds, it may not be inexpedient to offer a few re- marks on the folly and irrationality of Ihe vice to which our attention is directed. In the first place, the irrationality of Covet- ousness, will appear, if we consider the noble intellectual faculties with which man is en- dowed. Man is furnished not only with sensitive powers to perceive and enjoy the various ob- jects with which his terrestrial habitation is replenished, but also with the powers of me- mory, imagination, judgment, reasoning, and the moral faculty. By these powers he can * Most of the facts above stated have been se- lected and abridged from Mr. Peeg's "Pilgrim tax In India." retrace and contemplate the most remarkable events which have happened in every period of the world, since time began ; survey the mag- nificent scenery of nature in all its variety arid extent ; dive into the depths of the ocean ; as- cend into the regions of the atmosphere ; pry into the invisible regions of creation, and behold the myriads of animated beings that people the drops of water ; determine the courses of the celestial orbs ; measure the distances and mag- nitudes of the planets ; predict the returns of comets and eclipses; convey himself along mighty rivers, and across the expansive ocean ; render the most stubborn elements of nature subservient to his designs and obedient to his commands ; and, in short, can penetrate be- yond all that is visible to common eyes, to those regions of space where suns unnumbered .shine, and mighty worlds are running their solemn rounds; and perceive the agency of Infinite Power displaying itself throughout the unlim- ited regions of the universe. By these powers he can trace the existence and the attributes of an Invisible and Almighty Being operating in the sun, the moon, and the starry orbs, in the revolutions of the seasons, the agency of the elements, the process of vegetation, the functions of animals, and the moral relations which subsist among intelligent beings ; and in such studies and contemplations he can enjoy a happiness infinitely superior to all the Y (253) ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. delights of mere animal sensation. How un- reasonable then, is it, for a being who pos- sesses such sublime faculties, to have his whole soul absorbed in raking together a few paltry pounds or dollars, which he either ap- plies to no useful object, or employs merely for purposes of pride and ostentation ! We are apt to smile at a little boy hoarding up heaps of cherry stones, small pebbles, or sea shells ; but he acts a more rational part than the covetous man whose desires are concen- trated in " heaping up gold as the dust, and silver as the stones of the brook ;" for the boy has not arrived at the full exercise of his rational powers, and is incapable of forming a comprehensive judgment of those pursuits which ought to be the great end of his exist- ence. The aims and pursuits of every intelli- gence, ought to correspond with the faculties he possesses. But does the hoarding of one shilling after another, day by day, and the absorption of the faculties in this degrading object, while almost every higher aim is set aside, correspond to the noble powers with which man is invested, and the variety and sublimity of those objects which solicit their attention 1 Is there, indeed, any comparison between acquiring riches and wealth as an ultimate object, and the cultivation of the intellectual faculties, and the noble pursuit of knowledge and moral improvement ? If man had been intended to live the life of a miser, he would rather have been formed into the shape of an ant or a pismire, to dig among mud and sand and putrefaction, to burrow in holes and crevices of the earth, and to heap up seeds and grains against the storms of winter ; in which state he would live accord- ing to the order of nature, and be incapable of degrading his mental and moral powers. There cannot be a more absurd and pre- posterous exhibition, than that of a man fur- nished with powers capable of arresting the elements of nature, of directing the lightnings in their course, of penetrating to the distant regions of creation, of weighing the masses of surrounding worlds, of holding a sublime intercourse with his Almighty Maker, and of perpetual progression in knowledge and feli- city, throughout an interminable round of existence ; yet prostrating these noble powers by concentrating them on the one sole object of amassing a number of guineas and bank- notes, which are never intended to be applied to any rational or benevolent purpose ; as if man were raised no higher in the scale of intellect, than the worms of the dust ! Even some of the lower animals, as the dog and the horse, display more noble and generous feel- ings, than the earth-worm, from whose grasp you cannot wrench a single shilling for any beneficent object. And shall man, who was (254) formed after the image of his Maker, an obtain them, but is doubtful of success ; his mind hangs between hope and fear; his desires are, however, continually exerted ; he is on the rack as it were, till he sees the issue of his adventure, and in nume- rous cases, his hopes arc blasted, and his schemes disconcerted; and when the plans of gain he had laid are frustrated, or a portion of his wealth destroyed by an unexpected accident, he feels all the pains and agonies of a man verging towards poverty and ruin. While a contented man may become rich, to every desirable degree, amid the full posses- sion of serenity of mind, and self-approbation, the anxiety of the covetous is necessarily great and distressing , and that is one part of the punishment he inevitably suffers under the righteous government of God, on account of his infringement of the natural and moral laws of the universe. To the misery of per- petual anxiety are added incessant labour, and an endless and wearisome train of exer- tion to augment his gains and secure himself from losses. Like a slave or a mill-horse, he drudges on in a state of travail, and in an un- ceasing whirl of toil and effort, which leave no intervals for rational reflection and enjoyment ; and, after all, his desires are still craving and still unsatisfied. In the midst of such labour and mental efforts and perplexities, he meets with fre- quent disappointments. His deeds or obliga- tions are found to be defective ; his bills are (356) refused to be discounted ; his agents prove cheats and deceivers ; storms will blow in spite of him, and sink his ships in the mighty waters ; floods and inundations will sweep away the produce of his fields ; his crops will fail ; his cattle die ; his debtors abscond or become bankrupts, and the devouring flames will seize upon his houses and barns, or his shops and warehouses, and consume them to ashes. In all such cases, where a contented mind will endeavour to submit with calmness to the allotments of Providence, the mind of the covetous impugns the rectitude of the Divine dispensation, and heaves with unutter- able throes of agony and despair. In the lan- guage of inspiration " he is pierced through," or, compassed on every side "with many sorrows,'" and the inward language of his heart is and it is awfully appropriate, " Ye have taken away my gods ; and what have I more ?" Amidst such misfortunes and mental pangs, he is frequently left without friends, without pity, or sympathy, or commiseration pointed at with the finger of scorn, stung by the keen scarcasnis of his neighbours, and considered as a fit mark for the shafts of con- tempt and derision, while the lashes of his own conscience add a keenness to his anguish. It is almost needless to add, that he derives no enjoyment from the exercise of kindness and benignity, from the pursuits of knowledge, the contemplation of nature, the affectionate association of his fellow-men, or the satisfac- tion which arises from deeds of beneficence, for his degrading pursuits leave him neither leisure nor relish for such refined gratifications. Who, then, that has any regard to rational enjoyment, would desire the state of mind, and the condition of such a wretched mortal, even although his bags were full of gold, and his barns filled with plenty. Nor are the enjoyments much superior, of the man who covets riches merely for the purpose of living in splendour and fashionable dissipation. To a rational mind conscious of its dignity, and of the noble powers with which it is furnished, how poor a gratification would it receive from all the pleasures and gewgaws that fascinate the worldly minded and the gay ? Are the pleasures derived from rich viands, delicious wines, costly apparel, stately man- sions, splendid equipages, fashionable parties and diversions, an enjoyment adequate to the sublime faculties, and the boundless de- sires of an immortal mind 1 How many of those who make such pleasures the grand object of their pursuit, are found the slaves of the most abject passions, with hearts over- flowing with pride, rankling with envy, fired with resentment at every trivial affront, re- vengeful of injuries, and hurried along, by the lust of ambition, into every folly and ABSURDITY AND IRRATIONALITY OF COVETOUSNESS. 41 extravagance 1 Where such passions are continually operating, along with all their kindred emotions, and where benevolence is seldom exercised, it is impossible that true happiness can ever be enjoyed. And hence, we find, among persons of this description, more instances of suicide, and more numerous examples of family feuds, contentions, and separations, than among any other class of general society. So that there is no reason to desire the enjoyments of covetousness in whatever channel it may run, or whatever shape it may assume. 4. The folly and ii rationality of covetous- ness appears, when we consider the immortal destination of man. There are thousands of misers and other worldlings who are governed by the lust of ambition and covetousness, who admit the doctrine of a future state of punishments and rewards. Independently of those arguments which may be drawn from the nature of the human soul, its desires of knowledge and capacious intellectual powers, the unlimited range of view which is opened to these facul- ties, throughout the immensity of space and duration, the moral attributes of God, the une- qual distribution of rewards and punishments in the present state, and other considerations, there is a premonition and a powerful im- pression in almost every human mind, that the range of its existence is not confined to the pre- sent life, but that a world of bliss or woe awaits it beyond the grave. And, as vast multitudes of worldly and avaricious characters are to be found connected with the visible church, or frequenting its services ; by this very circum- stance, they formally admit, that there is another scene of existence into which they enter at the hour of dissolution. Now, how irrational and inconsistent is it for a man to admit, that there is a world beyond the present which is to be the scene of his everlasting abode, and yet continue to have his whole thoughts and affections ab- sorbed in pursuing the riches and transitory gratifications of the present life, without cast- ing a serious glance on the realities of the invisible state, or preparing to meet them,? If we had just such views of, all the mo- mentous icalities, and the scenes of glory, and of terror, connected with the idea of an eternal world, and could contrast them with the vain and fleeting enjoyments of this mortal scene, we should perceive a folly and even a species of madness in such conduct, more astonishing than what is seen in any other course of action pursued by human beings. If a man have an estate in a distant country, on the proceeds of which a considerable por- tion of his income depends, he will not forget that he has an interest in that country; he 33 will correspond with it, and will be anxious to learn intelligence respecting its affairs from periodical journals and other sources of in- formation. If a person, on the expiry of ten years, has the prospect of entering on the possession of a rich inheritance, he will look forward to it, with longing expectations, and will employ his thoughts in making arrange- ments for enjoying it, though perhaps he may not live to take possession. Nay, we shall find many individuals spending weeks and months in melancholy and chagrin for the loss of a few guineas or dollars, and, at other times, deriving their chief pleasure from the prospect of a paltry gain. Yet strange to tell, many such persons remain altogether insen- sible to the joys and sorrows of a future world, and never make the least arrangement in reference to that state ; although there is an absolute certainty that it awaits them, and that it is possible they may be ushered into it before to-morrow's dawn. Can any species of folly with which men are chargeable, be compared with such apathy and indifference about everlasting things, when such things are admitted to have a real existence 1 It is a dictate of wisdom, and even of com mon sense, that when a person has a prospect of occupying any office or condition in life, he ought to engage in that course of prepara- tion which will qualify him for performing its duties and enjoying its comforts. But what preparation does the covetous man make for enabling him to relish the enjoyments, and to engage in the exercises of the eternal world ? Will heaping up silver as the dust, and filling his bags with sovereigns and dollars, and con- centrating his thoughts and affections on such objects, prepare him for the sublime contemplations of the spirits of just men made perfect, and the hallelujahs of the heavenly host? Will his hard griping disposition which never permitted him to drop the tear of sympathy, or to relieve the widow and the orphan, render him meet for associating with the inhabitants of that world, where love and the purest affections, in all their varied ramifi- cations, forever prevail? Will his anxious desires and his incessant toils from morning to night, to add to the number of his guineas, and the extent of his property, qualify him for sun-eying the wonderful works of God, and contemplating the glory of Him "who was slain and hath redeemed us to God by his blood?" Can any man, who has the least spark of rationality within him, imagine that such conduct and such dispositions, are at all compatible with preparation for the feli- cities of the heavenly state? Or, does the poor degraded miser really believe that heaven- is filled with bags of gold and silver, and that' there is no employment there but "buying Y 2 (257) 42 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. and selling, and getting gain!" If the man- sions of heaven, and the exercises of its inha- bitants, be such as the Scriptures delineate, then, there is an utter incompatibility between the employments of the celestial state, and the train of action, and the temper of mind, of the covetous man, which renders him alto- gether unqualified for its enjoyments. And, if he be unprepared for the joys and the ser- vices of the heavenly state, he cannot, in con- sistency with the constitution of the moral world, be admitted into its mansions, but must necessarily sink into " the blackness of dark- ness for ever." Nor are the pursuits of the worldling, who spends his wealth in vanity and luxury, more compatible with the joys of the heavenly world. This will appear, if we consider some of the ingredients which enter into the essence of heavenly felicity. From the representa- tions of this state given in the Scriptures, we ilearn, that it is a state of perfect purity and holiness; that the minds of its inhabitants are irradiated with divine knowledge, and adorned with every divine virtue ; that love pervades and unites the hearts of the whole of that vast assembly ; that humility is one of their distinguishing characteristics; that they are for ever engaged in beneficent ser- vices ; that the contemplation of the works and ways of God forms a part of their em- ployment ; and that they are unceasingly en- gaged in sublime adorations of the Creator of the universe, in contemplating the glory and celebrating the praises of Him "who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." But what resemblance is there between such a state and such employments, and the pursuits of the gay worldling whose heart is set upon his riches as the chief object of his affections ? Would the man who spends his wealth in hounding, horse-racing, cock-fighting, and gambling, find any similar entertainments for his amusement in the upper world! Would the proud and ambitious, who look down on the vulgar throng as if they were the worms of the dust, and who value themselves on account of their stately mansions and glittering equipage, find any enjoyment in a world where humility is the distinguishing disposition of all its inhabitants 1 Would the warrior, who delights in carnage and devastation, expect to have cities to storm, towns to pillage, or armies to manoeuvre, or would he think of rehearsing in " the assembly of the just," the deeds of violence and slaugh- ter which he perpetrated upon earth 7 Would the fine lady who struts in all the gaiety and splendour of dress, who spends half her time at her toilette, and in fashionable visits, whose chief delight consists in rattling dice and shuffling cards, in attending balls, masque- rades, and plays; who never devotes a single sovereign to beneficent purposes, or to the propagation of religion ; whose life is one continued round of frivolity and dissipation ; would such a character meet with any similar entertainments in the society of the angelic hosts, and of the spirits of just men made perfect 1 In short, can it be supposed in con- sistency with reason, that such dispositions and pursuits have a tendency to produce a relish for the enjoyments of the celestial world, and to prepare the soul for joining, with delight, in the exercises of its inhabitants ? If not, then such characters would find no en- joyment, although they were admitted within the gates of paradise ; but, like the gloomy owl, which shuns the light of day, and the society of the feathered tribes, they would flee from the society and the abodes of the blessed, to other retreats, and to more congenial com- panions. Thus it appears, that covetousness, what- ever form it may assume, is utterly inconsistent with any rational or scriptural ideas we can entertain in relation to man's eternal destiny. He is a poor, pitiable fool who makes the slightest pretences to religion, while his heart is the seat of avaricious desires, or who makes riches, gay apparel, foolish amusements, and the gratification of pride and vanity, the chief object of his pursuit. He subjects himself to unnecessary distress by the compunctions of conscience, which the denunciations of re- ligion must occasionally produce ; and, if he has any measure of common sense, he must plainly perceive, that any hopes of happiness he may indulge in relation to a future state, are founded on "the baseless fabric of a vision." The only consistent plan, therefore, which he can adopt if he is determined to prosecute his avaricious courses is, to endea- vour to prove religion a fable, to abandon himself to downright scepticism, to scout the idea of a Supreme Governor of the universe, and to try, if he can, to live " without God, and without hope in the world." (MS) INCONSISTENCY OF COVET OUSNESS WITH THE WORD OF GOD. 43 CHAPTER III. On the Inconsistency of Covetousness with the Word of God. TKEIIE is no vicious propensity of the hu- man heart more frequently alluded to, and more severely denounced in the scriptures of truth, than the sin of covetousness. For it strikes at the root of all true religion, saps the foundations of piety and bevevolence, and is accompanied with innumerable vices and evil propensities, which rob God of his honour and glory, and " drown men in destruction and perdition." It would be too tedious to enter into all the views which the word of God exhibits of the nature and tendencies of this sin, of the threatenings which are de- nounced against it, and of its utter incon- sistency with the benevolent spirit of the religion of Jesus ; and therefore, I shall select for illustration, only two or three prominent particulars. In the first place, this propensity is branded in Scripture with the name of IDOLATRY. "Let not covetousness," says Paul to the Ephesians, " be once named among you, as becorneth saints. For this ye know, that no covetous man, who is an idolater, hoih any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." And, in his Epistle to the Colossians, he enumerates, among the vices which bring down the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience, "covetousness which is idola- try."* Idolatry is one of the greatest crimes of which a rational being can be guilty ; for it is that which is the source of all the ignorance, superstition, cruelties, immoralities, and ob- scene abominations of the heathen world. It is to idolatry we are to ascribe the burning of widows in Hindostan, the cruel rites of Juggernaut, the exposing of the sick and dying on the banks of the Ganges, the mur- der of infants, the infernal sacrifices of the Mexicans, the making of children pass through tbe fire to Moloch, the human butcheries which are perpetrated in almost every pagan land to appease imaginary deities, the abomi- nations of the ancient Canaanites, the mur- ders and obscenities of the South Sea Islanders, the degradation of intellect which is found in every heathen country, and the innumerable vices and moral pollutions of all descriptions which abound among the tribes and nations that are ignorant of the living and true God. So that idolatry may be considered as a com- prehensive summary of every species of ma- lignity, impiety, and wickedness. It was for this reason that the children of Israel were separated from the nations around, and so strictly interdicted from the least inter- course or communion with idolaters. So " jealous" was the God of Israel in reference to idolatry, that the least approach to such worship, either in word or action, or even in imagination, was pointedly forbidden: "In all things that I have said unto you be circum- spect ; make no mention of the XAME of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do after their works, but thou shalt utterly overthrow them and quite break down their images ; ye shall destroy their altars and cut down their groves. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them ; for they will turn away thy son from following me, and the anger of the Lord will be kindled and destroy thee suddenly ."( If idolatry had not been strictly forbidden and undermined, the knowledge and the wor- ship of the true God would never have been established in the earth. In accordance with these injunctions, the first and fundamental precept of the moral law was given, which has a reference not only to the Jews, but to all the inhabitants of the World, "thou shalt have no other gods before me /" and the second, which forbids any visible representa- tions of Deity, has this strong and impressive sanction, " for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." For this reason, likewise, the nations of Ca- naan were devoted to utter destruction. For they not only worshipped a multitude of strange gods, but offered human victims on their altars, and sacrificed even their sons and daughters to devils ; and such practices led to adultery, incest, sodomy, bestiality, and other kindred crimes, by which these nations were distinguished : so that, by these abominations, they rendered themselves unworthy of a place within the precincts of terrestrial existence ; they were blotted out as a stain upon the creation of God ; and their doom was intended as an awful warning to the Israelites, of the evil and danger of turning aside from the * Ephes. v. 3, 5. Colos. iii. 5. t Exod. xxiii. 13, 24, &c. Dcut. vii. 3, &<:. 44 ESSAY ON COVETOUSXESS. true God to idolatry. Hence the curses and denunciations that were threatened against the least tendency of the heart to idol-worship. " Cursed be the man that makctli any graven or molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place." "Every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, who separateth himself from me, and setteth tip his idols in his heart, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me, I the Lord, will answer him by myself, and I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the. midst of my people., and ye shall know that I am Je- hovah."* Hence the punishment of death which was uniformly denounced and inflicted upon the idolater. " If there be found among you man or woman that hath gone and served other gods and worshipped them, either the sun or moon, or any of the host of heaven ; then shalt thou bring forth that rnnn or that woman, who have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, and shalt stone them with stones till they die."-}- Such denuncia- tions may be seen running through the whole of the prophetical writings in reference to Is- rael ; and almost every judgment of God, either threatened or inflicted, is ascribed to the abounding of idolatry, and the sins con- nected with it, as its procuring cause. These circumstances, therefore, maybe con- sidered as stamping upon idolatry a higher degree of opprobium and malignity than upon any other crime ; and consequently, as repre- senting the idolater as the most depraved and degraded of human beings. We are, there- fore, apt to recoil from such a character, as one who labours under a peculiar mental and moral derangement, in virtually denying the first principle of human reason, and " the God that is above" as one whom we would al- most shudder to receive into our company, and would think unworthy to enjoy the com- mon sympathies of human creatures. But, wherein lies the great difference between " the covetous man who is an idolater," and him who falls down to Moloch or Juggernaut, or worsnips the sun, and moon, and the host of heaven? There is the same mental de- rangement, the same malignity of affection, and the same dethronement of God from the heart, in the former case as in the latter, though they are manifested by different modes of operation. Let us consider, for a little, the resemblance between these two modes of 'dolatry. Covetousness may be considered in two points of view : as consisting either in the in- * Deut. xxvii. 15. Ezek. xiv. 7, 8. f Deut. rvii. 2,5, (260) ordinate love of money on its own account^ or in the love of those sensitive gratifications which it procures ; and in both these respects it may be shown to partake directly of the nature of idolatry. In what does the essence of idolatry consist, but in the estrangement of the heart from God, and setting up, in competition with him, any other object, as the supreme object of our affections and the ulti- mate end of all our pursuits? While the pious soul joins in unison with the Psalmist, and says, "whom have I in heaven but thee, O Lord, and there is none on earth that I de- sire besides thee ;" the covetous man says of his gold, " thou art my hope, and to the fine gold, thou art my confidence. I rejoice, be- cause my wealth is great and my hands have gotten me much." And such mental idolatry is no less irrational and hateful in the sight of the Most High, than that of the blinded pagan who prostrates himself before a block of wood or the figure of a crocodile. Pagan idolatry consists either in worship- ping the sun, moon, or stars, or in paying homage to a statue of gold or silver, brass or stone. Mental idolatry consists in paying a similar homage to gold and silver, either ab- stractly considered, or to those sensual objects and pleasures which they are the means of procuring. The idolater bows down before the shrine of a splendid image ; perhaps one formed of the richest materials, such as the golden image set up by Nebuchadnezzar, in the plain of Dura, which was ninety feet high, and contained a thousand Babylonish talents of gold, or about four millions of Bri- tish money. To this splendid image he pays his homage in the midst of assembled multi- tudes, and at the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music. The glittering pomp and splendour of such a scene fascinates his affections and overpowers his reason, so that he may be led for a moment to imagine that it is a fit repre- sentation of the unknown God. But the covetous idolater worships an image, or an imaginary idea, still more degrading. He adores, or, in other words, he concentrates JWj affections upon a circular piece of gold which he can carry in his pocket, or a thousand such pieces tied up in a bag, or locked in his cof- fers. On such objects his mind incessantly broods, even when they are not present to his senses ; and when he is deprived of them by any accident, he is overwhelmed with anguish, and exclaims in despair, " my gods are taken away, and what have I more ?" There can be no essential difference between gold and silver shaped into statuary, adorned with splendid trappings, and set up for the worship of Pagan nations, and the same metals shaped into the form of guineas, crowns, and dollars INCONSISTENCY OF COVETOUSNESS WITH THE WORD OF GOD. 45 to -which a similar homage is paid by the in- habitants of an enlightened land. The forms of the idol and the modes of adoration are somewhat different; but the idolatry, in all its main points and bearings, is substantially the same. Which of these species of idola- try, then, is most irrational and debasing] There can no apology whatever be made for idol-worship, in any shape or under any cir- cumstances. But, in the case of the Pagan idolater, there may be certain extenuating circumstances. The ignorance and supersti- tion in which he has been trained from early life, the opinions of his relatives and of so- ciety around him, the strong prejudices and the numerous associations connected with the religion of his country, the importance he has been taught to attach to his superstitious rites, and the apparent splendour of the idol he adores, and of the ceremonies connected with its worship, might lead us to commiserate, while we cannot but condemn, the idolatrous heathen. We might almost cease to wonder that a rude savage should mistake the glorious sun in the firmament for his Almighty Maker, and the silver moon and the radiant stars for the ministers of his kingdom. When we consider the splendours they exhibit, the light they diffuse, and the general utility of their influence on terrestrial objects, we can scarcely be surprised that fallen reason should have mistaken them for their Divine Oiiginal. But what sympathy can we feel, or what apology can we make for those who are trained in a civilized and Christian country, who are freed from Pagan prejudices, who have the free use of their reasoning powers, and who have been instructed in the existence and attributes of an Almighty and Eternal Being, and yet practice an idolatry even more degrading than that of the Lama of Thibet, or of the most untutored savage 1 " Be astonished, ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid ! For my people (saith God) have forsaken the fountain of living waters, hewn out to them- selves broken and empty cisterns, and have gloried in their shame." The other species of covetousness namely, that which consists in gratifying the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, while God is banished from the heart, partakes no less of the nature of idolatry, than that which con- sists in the love of money, abstractly consi- dered. He who is incessantly engaged in the pursuit of money for the purpose of increas- ing the extent of his property, living in luxury and splendour, dashing along in his chariot, holding intercourse with the higher ranks of society, spending his time in fashionable di- versions, or in laying up a fortune for his de- scendants, to render them independent, while he has no higher ends or aims, is as much an idolater as the votary of Bacchus, or the wor- shipper of Baal. For, if such pursuits be considered as the great ends of our existence ; if they occupy the greatest share of our thoughts and affections; if our chief happi- ness is placed on the enjoyments they afford ; if every thing else is estimated only in so far as it contributes to such ends, and " if we trust in the abundance of our riches, and make not God our confidence," we frustrate the great ends for which we were brought into existence, and are guilty of every thing that enters into the essence of idolatry. The first duty of every rational creature is to love God supremely and affectionately, to render him the highest homage of our hearts, and to serve him throughout every period of our ex- istence, in preference to every other object or being. In this manner we testify that he is Divinely Great and Excellent, worthy of our highest reverence and regard, and that we are under obligations to Him for every enjoyment we possess. Angels, and the holy inhabitants of all worlds, are obedient to his laws, and make his glory the great end of all their ac- tions. They bow in cordial submission to his allotments, " they do his pleasure and hearken to the voice of his word," and he is the supreme object of their affection and ado- ration. But, when we permit any other ob- ject to occupy our supreme regard, affection or esteem, we virtually dethrone Jehovah from our hearts, and banish him from his own uni- verse. " If we make gold our hope, and fine gold our confidence," if the favour of the great, the honour that cometh from men, the vain pageantry of life, the richness of our dress, the elegance of our furniture, the inde- pendence of our fortune, and the greatness of the inheritance we provide for our children, are the objects that stand highest in our affec- tions ; these are the gods at whose shrine we worship, and whose attributes we adore. In so doing, we are guilty of the grossest false- hood; for we practically deny that Jehovah is possessed of those attributes, which demand the highest tribute of homage and affection from his intelligent offspring. We are guilty of injustice ; for we violate the rightful claim of the Deity to the obedience of rational agents, and render to creatures the service and regard which is due to Him alone. We are guilty of the basest ingratitude , for, to his Power arid Wisdom we owe our very exist- ence, and to his boundless Benevolence, all the rich variety of comforts we enjoy. In short, by such conduct, we give evidence that pride, rebellion, selfishness, hatred of moral excellence, and all their kindred emotions rankle in our breasts, and sway their sceptre over all our moral faculties. This sin is not only peculiarly malignant in (261) 46 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. itself, but lies at the foundation of every other species of impiety and ivickedness. The commencement of moral turpitude in any in- telligent being, wherever existing throughout creation, is found in the alienation of the heart from God, and the preference of any other object to the Eternal Jehovah. Hence the fall of Lucifer, and the malignity of his designs, and the dismal effects which have followed in the moral order of our terrestrial system; and henca the anxiety which this arch enemy of the moral universe displayed in order to tempt the Saviour of the world to covctousncss, ambition, and distrust in the care of Divine Providence. In proportion as this spirit prevails, will wickedness of every kind reign triumphant. Wherever God is acknowledged, and loved, and adored, all di- vine virtues flourish and shed their benign influence. But wherever the affections are alienated from the original source of felicity, every heavenly virtue declines and dies, and its place is usurped by every species of moral abomination. Hence the monstrous iniquities and cruel- ties, flowing from their religion, which have distinguished every nation of the heathen world. As they had gods of all descriptions and characters ; as almost every being, real or imaginary, was included in the list of dei- ties; as every degree of stupidity, folly, im- purity, revenge, and other species of moral turpitude, was attributed to such beings, so the moral conduct of their votaries cor- responded with the character of the idols at whose shrines they paid their adorations. Hence the unnatural cruelties connected with their worship ; the various species of tor- ture enjoined for obtaining remission of sins ; the thousands of human victims which have bled and are still sacrificed on their altars; the murder of female infants as soon as they breathe the vital air ; the burning of widows on the bodies of their deceased husbands ; the crushing to death of the worshippers of Juggernaut, and the want of humanity and natural affection which forms a striking cha- racteristic of the rites of Paganism. Hence the spirit of daring falsehood displayed in their lying oracles and modes of divination, their pretended cures of diseases, their selection of human victims, their representations of the fu- ture world, their fallacious predictions, dreams, and visions, which pervade the whole of their mysteries and systems of mythology. Hence the obscene pollutions and abominations in- corporated with the ceremonies of idolatry, by which both matrons and virgins, with the most revolting rites, are consecrated in an idol-temple, to a life of impurity and prostitu- tion ; and hence the wars of revenge and de- ^astation, with all the enormities, immoralities, (262) and revolting atrocities, which have followed in their train. Now, the idolatry of covetousness ; as hav- ing its origin in the same alienation front God, and the same depravity of the affections, is the source of similar evils and immoralities, wherever its influence extends, as appears from certain facts and illustrations already stated, and which I shall more particularly elucidate under another department of this subject. When the objects on which the mind is fixed, are low, debased, and impure ; and when they are connected with pride, falsehood, ingratitude, inhumanity and injus- tice, being destitute of higher conceptions and nobler aims, it conforms all its views and affections to the character of such objects, and, therefore, nothing can flow forth in the conduct but what is immoral and impure. God is the sun of the human soul, and of every intelligent being. Wherever he dis- plays his radiance, there is moral day, spirit- ual life, and holy energy; and, under his quickening beams, every divine virtue springs up with vigour and beauty. But, where the light of this divine Luminary is excluded, and the eyes of the understanding shut to its glorious excellencies, darkness and desolation ensue ; a moral winter chills every faculty, and the genuine fruits of righteousness can never appear. And hence the world has become little else than a suburb of Pande- monium, the greater part of its inhabitants " being filled with all unrighteousness, forni- cation, wickedness, maliciousness, envy, de- ceit, and malignity ;" and bearing the character of " backbiters, haters of God, proud, boasters, covenant-breakers, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without natural affec- tion, implacable, and unmerciful. Who know- ing the judgment of God ; that they who do such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Again, covetousness bears another resem- blance to idolatry, in that it is essentially connected with ATHEISM. Idolatry, strictly speaking, is not atheism ; for it recognizes the existence of superior beings as the objects of adoration. But, although in theory, there appears a shade of difference, it is substantially the same, as to all its practical results- For, in banishing the idea of the true God from the understand- ing and the affections, it virtually deposes the Divinity from the universe ; and all the immo- ralities and enormities which would flow from atheism, were its influence universal, result from heathen idolatry, wherever it abounds. The same thing may be said of covetousness : it is virtually, and to all intents and purposes, a species of atheism. For, if atheism throws INCONSISTENCY OF COVETOUSNESS WITH THE WORD OF GOD. 47 off all confidence in God, and trust in his Providence, so does covetousness in all its multifarious transactions. Look at the man whose highest object is to make a fortune, and to fill his coffers with gold. He devotes his time, his affections, the power of his understanding, and his acquired knowledge and experience, with a steady and persevering aim to secure this ultimate end. He sits all day long in his shop or counting-house, poring over his ledgers, examining his bills and secu- rities with unremitting attention ; devising plans of profit, selecting every mean that ingenuity can suggest, and seizing on every opportunity, however deceitful the means employed, for driving a profitable bargain, and increasing his store. No hopes transport him but the prospect of gain, and no fears torment him but the risk of loss, except, per- haps, the chance of accidents or the fear of death. When he has placed his treasures in proper security, whether in his bags or coffers, in the bank or the stocks, in title deeds or books of registration, he feels himself as inde- pendent upon God, and the movements of his Providence, as if a Supreme Moral Governor had no existence. Without such securities, he feels no more dependence on an Invisible Power, than the confirmed and avowed atheist. I appeal to every one who knows the world, and to the consciences of multitudes, if there are not thousands of characters of this description in the church, the state, and every department of the commercial world. And what is the great difference between such dispositions and conduct, and downright atheism ? Sup- pose the idea of a Deity to be a mere chimera, and the notion of his existence for ever ban- ished from their thoughts, would their conduct be much altered, or would it be altered in the least 1 except perhaps that they would deem it unnecessary, in compliance with custom, to attend the external forms of worship. Would they be more griping, deceitful or penurious, more eager and persevering to lay up treasures on earth, and to add house to house and field to field, or trust more confidently in their riches, or feel more independent of a Supreme Being, than they do at present] It cannot be supposed ; for they have already carried these propensities and practices to the highest pitch, which their ingenuity and energies would permit; and therefore, the existence or non-existence of the Deity may be con- sidered in relation to such characters, as a matter of mere indifference. Their wealth stands to them in the place of God, on which they depend, and to which they look as the fountain of their enjoyments, and the founda- tion of all their future prospects, both for themselves and their descendants. Even although the whole course of nature vtere deranged, the earth turned into a dry and parched desert, "the windows of heaven" never opened to pour down fruitfulness upon the earth, and, consequently, money cease to be of any utility for procuring the means of enjoyment; still, such are the associations connected with this irrational propensity, that they would cling to gold and silver, and houses and landed property as their darling object, " their high tower and rock of defence." The same things may be affirmed in regard to those who covet money for the sole purpose of self-gratification, and indulging in luxury and sensual enjoyments. They drink of the streams, but forget the fountain. They store up from the rich abundance of nature, what- ever treasures they can collect for contributing to their splendour and giving a relish to the pleasures of their senses ; but they forget the benevolent operations of HIM "who giveth rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filleth the hearts of men with food and glad- ness." They buoy themselves up with the idea that their own wealth and power and influence have procured them these enjoy- ments, while they regard not the Hand and Power of that Almighty Being who super- intends the minutest agencies of the material system, and who " giveth to all, life and breath and all things." They enjoy the comforts of splendid mansions, and delightful gardens ; they relish the juice of the strawberry, the peach, and the nectarine, and regale them- selves with the fruit of the vine ; but to Him " who giveth them all things richly to enjoy, and to the intimations of his will, they pay no more regard than they do to a breath of wind, or to what is going on in the upper regions of the atmosphere. Now, what would be the difference, in the feelings and practice of such persons, although it could be proved to a demonstration that a Supreme and Eternal Mind had no existence 1 Although the world had sprung from a fortuitous concourse of atoms, and were going forward through inter- minable changes without the direction and control of an all-pervading Spirit, and although every individual were to consider himself as a part of an independent system of material ex- istence unconnected with mind or moral error, would there be less of true adoration or grati- tude to an invisible Creator, or less reliance on a superintending Providence, in the case of such, than there is at present? Would the hunter after places and pensions be more keen in his aspirations after posts of opulence and honour] Would the gambler be more eager in prosecuting his demoralizing pur- suits ? Would the pride of rank and dress and equipage be carried to a higher pitch than it now is 1 Would the votary of fash- ionable dissipation pursue his giddy course (263) 48 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. with more rapidity and vehement desire 1 Would there be more horse-racing, cock- fighting, hounding, balls, masquerades, and other frivolous and vicious diversions, or less money bestowed by those who are absorbed in such entertainments for the relief of the widow and the orphan, for the propagation of religion, and for the general improvement of mankind 1 We have no reason to believe that any essential difference would be per- ceptible in the general pursuits of the world- lings to whom I allude. For, as it is evident, from their governing disposition, and the general train of their conduct, that " God is not in all their thoughts," that "they live without God in the world," and that many of them have already "run to the utmost excess of riot," and licentiousness so we have no valid reason to conclude, that any considerable change would take place, al- though they acted on the full belief, that the visible world, and its several elementary parts are all that we have to do with, and all that exists in the universe. i In the train of thought and action of such individuals, there is a certain resemblance to the atheism (if I may so express it) of the inferior animals. " The hart panteth after the brooks of water, and quenches its thirst at the flowing stream ; the ox browses on the grass, and lies down and ruminates, till he is satisfied ; the lion roars after his prey ; the goats clamber among the high hills and rocks, the wild deer gambol through the lawn and forests, and the fowls of heaven wing their flight through the air, and rejoice to perch and " sing among the branches." In such gratifications and exercises, every sentient being finds its peculiar enjoyment, and looks no higher when its wants are sup- plied and senses gratified. The worldling, too, finds enjoyment in the exercise of his physical powers, and in the rich and diversi- fied bounties of nature; and the keenness with which he rushes forward to participate of his viands, his delicious wines and other sensual pleasures, bears a certain resemblance to that of the inferior tribes when they rush to their peculiar food or beverage and satiate their desires. But, in both cases, the physical materials of the enjoyment, or the pleasures arising from the adaptation of the senses to the objects of external nature, are all that they recognize; while the Great Author of their enjoyments is unheeded and unacknow- ledged. In the one case, it is owing to the want of faculties capable of appreciating the existence and character of a Supreme Bene- factor; in the other, to the perversion of rational powers adequate for tracing every comfort to its original source. The one, from the original constitution of its nature, is, so (264) far as we know, incapable of perceiving oi acknowledging God; the other "does jiot like to retain God in his knowledge." He might raise his thoughts to his Almighty Benefactor, if he chose, and acknowledge his bounty; but he chooses to shut his eyes to the evidences of his unceasing agency and beneficence, and to harden his heart against him. Though he has been endowed with more knowledge than the beasts of the field, and made wiser than the fowls of heaven, yet his superior powers have carried him no nearer to the fountain of happiness, than the instinct of the brute's. In short, his atheism is nearly as complete as theirs with this dif- ference, that while they fulfil their destination and act up to the constitution of their natures, he degrades the moral and intellectual facul- ties with which he is invested, by rendering them instrumental for promoting sensuality and alienating his heart from God. What a pitiful picture does this representation present of the great majority of our species, and of many even of those who profess the religion of Jesus, and who display a fiery zeal in de- fence of the Christian church ! Alas ! that man who is made only a little lower than the angels, and is allied by his intellectual nature with the highest orders of created beings, should thus pervert and prostrate his noble powers, in attempting to banish the Creator from his own universe, and to deprive him of that gratitude and adoration which are due from all his rational offspring! Such, how- ever, is the atheism of covetousness ; and that the conclusions we have deduced are not groundless, appears from the following pas- sage of an inspired writer : " If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold 1 Thou art my confidence :' if I rejoiced be- cause my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much, if I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; and my heart had been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand ; this were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge ; for I should have denied the God that is love" This subject deserves the serious considera- tion of every professing Christian. Many who are members of the visible church, and regularly attend the dispensation of its ordi- nances, because they do not run to the samo excess in covetousness as others, or as such characters as we have alluded to above, are apt to imagine that no principles either of idolatry or of atheism lurk in their hearts. They hug themselves in the belief that they love God and man, and desire to deal justly towards their neighbours, while their affec- tions are alienated from God, and their hearts going after their covetousness. " Their riches INCONSISTENCY OF COVETOUSNESS WITH THE WORD OF GOD. 49 are their strong city, and as an high wall in their imagination," and their trust in the Most High extends no farther than to the visible means of supply which they think their own means and wisdom and industry have provided. There is no mental propensity, or subject, in regard to which men are more apt to deceive themselves than that under consi- deration. It is the last thing a professed religionist will be apt to suspect, that he is acting on the principles either of atheism or idolatry ; and he would consider it nothing short of an insult, were even a suspicion to this effect insinuated. But, it becomes every one, on this point, " to search and try his ways." Let me ask you, O professor of religion, have you never come to the house of God. under the profession of adoring his perfections and giving thanks at the remem- brance of his mercy and goodness, while, during almost the whole of the public services, your thoughts and desires have been wander- ing abroad among your shops, your counting- houses, your ledgers, your gains, your losses, your commercial projects, and other objects of covetousness, while " the God in whose hands your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified," although <; your hands were lifted up in the sanctuary!" Have you not repeatedly, yea times without number, neglected to adore God in your fami- lies, and " to show forth his loving kindness in the morning," from your hurry to engage in the bustle of the world, and in the acquisi- tion of gain 1 Do you seldom or never lift up your hearts to God in the midst of your worldly business, and implore his direction, and his assistance to guard you from worldly- mindedness and every temptation 1 If your conscience bears witness against you, that such dispositions are indulged, and such duties neglected, you have too much reason to sus- pect, that your heart is not right with God, and that a principle intimately connected with idolatry, holds the ascendency over your affections. In such a case, it becomes every one to exercise a holy jealousy over himself, and to examine the secret springs of his actions, lest, perad venture, he may be found among those who are " without God in the world." If he is in doubt or perplexity about this important point, he will apply to Him " who searcheth the hearts and reins of the children of men," and will say with the Psalmist, " Search me, O God, and know my heart ; try rne and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me," and discover it to me, " and lead me in the way everlasting." For if the principles and affections which constitute the essence of idolatry and atheism shall at last be found to have pervaded the heart, and to have been 34 formed into a habit, the doom which awaits the idolater and the atheist will be pronounced by Him who is " a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," at that solemn day when " he shall come to judge the world in righteousness." "Having dwelt with some particularity on the above topic, I shall take only a cursory view of a few more particulars connected with this department of the subject. 2. Covetousness is declared to form an im- passable barrier to the kingdom of heaven. " Be not deceived," says the apostle of the Gentiles, " for neither fornicators, nor idola- ters, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." This is the law of the God of heaven a law which is eternal and immutable a law more steadfast and unalterable than that of the Medes and Per- sians. The laws of earthly sovereigns may be changed, or their designs frustrated, but the moral laws of the Most High are abso- lutely immutable, and no created being can attempt to violate them, and prosper. As soon may we expect to unhinge the fabric of the universe, to toss from their foundations the everlasting mountains, to pull the s\m from his place in the firmament, or to quench the stars of heaven in eternal night, as to ex- pect admission into the kingdom of the just, while covetousness holds the ascendency over the heart. For the declaration is express, and is repeated in another epistle, and similar declarations are interspersed throughout the volume of inspiration, that " no covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ or of God." Now the laws of God are not be considered as the dic- tates of an arbitrary sovereign, but as founded on the nature of things, and the general con- stitution of the moral world. Although, in some instances, we are unable to perceive the precise reason of certain laws or injunctions, contained in Revelation, yet we may rest assured, that, in every instance, God has the highest reason for what he declares, and for what he does ; since His wisdom is infinite, and since his eyes comprehend, at one glance, all the objects and relations which exist throughout the universe. In the present case, there are obvious reasons why the covetous must be excluded from the kingdom of heaven. For, in the first place, they are unqualified for its enjoyments. The pleasures of heaven are pure and spiritual but the pleasures of the covetous are " earthly, sensual, and devilish," The pleasures of heaven flow from a principle of universal benevolence, which pervades the minds of all its inhabitants, and without which it would be a place of misery ; but the Z (265) 50 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. pleasures of the covetous, if they may be ao called, are derived from principles connected with envy, deceit, falsehood, injustice, apathy in regard to the wants and happiness of others, and with almost every species of ma- lignity. It is, therefore, impossible that covet- ous characters should either contribute to the happiness of fellow-associates in the realms of bliss, or find any enjoyment for themselves in the perpetual exercise of heavenly virtues. In the next place, they are qualified for engaging in its employments. Heaven being a social state, and consequently, a scene of moral action, its inhabitants are, of course, perpetually employed in beneficent services corresponding to the nature and circumstances of that happy world. As to the nature of some of these services, and the manner in which they are performed, we must neces- sarily remain in ignorance in our present state. Although, in that world, there are no poor to be relieved, no sinners to be reclaimed, nor distressed to be consoled there are, doubtless, innumerable ways in which bene- volence exerts its noblest energies, in com- municating happiness and augmenting the joys of surrounding associates. Angels are " ministering spirits " to the saints on earth, and have, in numerous instances, contributed to their preservation and comfort ; and, in the celestial state, "just men made perfect," may, in a thousand ways incomprehensible to us, be ministering spirits to one another. They may deliver lectures to each other on the works and the ways of God direct the atten- tion to those scenes and objects in which the glory of their Almighty Creator is most con- spicuously displayed relate the history of Divine dispensations towards them in the present state seize upon every circumstance by which ecstatic joy may be diffused through- out the hearts of each other ; and as know- ledge is necessarily progressive, even in that world, and in every region of happy existence, the benevolent principle may be exercised in various ways in communicating and diffusing it among the numerous hosts of heavenly intelligences. But in whatever benevolent services " the saints in light " may engage, it is evident that the covetous are altogether unqualified for entering on such employments. They are uncongenial to the train of thought they pursue, and to their leading dispositions. For either selfishness, apathy, pride, sensual gratification, or other malignant propensities constitute the prominent features of their character ; and as these are directly opposed to the benevolence of heaven, such predomi- nating principles must render them entirely unfit for mingling in " the general assembly of the first born whose names are written in (266) heaven," or for taking a part in those labour of love for which they are distinguished. Some of the other employments of heaven consist in the celebration of the divine perfec- tions. " They worship him who liveth for ever and ever," saying, " Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." They are likewise engaged in contemplating the glory of the Divine administration in the works of creation and providence, for such is the subject of their song : " Great and mar- vellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." But all such sublime exercises, being uncongenial to the ruling passions and pur- suits of avaricious worldlings, could afford them no pleasure ; and, consequently, for the reasons now suggested, they must be abso- lutely unfitted for participating in "the inheritance of the saints in light." And, if they are found unqualified for the pleasures and enjoyments of the celestial world, " they cannot, ' in the nature of things,' enter into the kingdom of God." They will be banished from that blessed world, riot in consequence of any arbitrary decree of the Almighty, but in virtue of the constitution of the intelligent system, and the fundamental laws of the moral universe. And the very circumstance, that they are unqualified for relishing the exercises and felicities of the heavenly world, will add a peculiar poignancy to those bitter reflections which will be felt when they find themselves for ever excluded from the New Jerusalem. What should we think of the degraded worshippers of Juggernaut, who prostrate themselves before the car of that abominable idol of the priests of Baal, who cut them- selves with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them, and cried aloud, " O Baal, hear us ! of the votaries of Moloch, who threw their children into the burning arms of their idol, while drums beat and trumpets sounded to drown their cries of the South Sea islanders, who sacrifice human victims to their wooden gods, accompanied with rites the most horrid and obscene ; what should we think of such debased and wretched idolaters, with their minds polluted with every moral abomination, being admitted into the society of saints and angels in the upper world. Would they be fit companions of the heavenly inhabitants, or could they join with intelligence and fervour in their sublime and holy employments 1 The supposition would be utterly repugnant to every idea we ought to form of the associations of heavenly intelli- gences, or of the arrangements of the Divine INCONSISTENCY OF COVETOUSNESS WITH THE WORD OF GOD. 51 government. But, we have already seen, that every covetous man is an idolater, with a mind as grovelling and impure, as that of the votaries of Paganism, to whom we have alluded, and, consequently, equally unfitted for the society of blessed spirits in the man- sions above. The same impressive truth was announced by our Saviour, when he commanded the young man who inquired the way to eternal life, to sell all that he had and give to the poor, and come, and follow him ! " Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of God." And again ; ' I say unto you, that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." These declarations plainly imply the following things : I. That a rich man, considered as such, or, as it is elsewhere expressed, one who " trusts in his riches," cannot be admit- ted into the kingdom of God ; for such a trust partakes of the nature of idolatry, which necessarily excludes its votaries from the ce- lestial kingdom. 2. That it is extremely difficult for a man who abounds in wealth, and has large possessions, not to trust in such uncertain riches, and to bring his mind to submit to the self-denying requisitions of the gospel, so as to be ready to resign his worldly treasures, when the laws of the gospel king- dom require it. The truth of this is apparent in the comparatively small number of rich men who have devoted themselves to the cause of evangelical religion, as humble and self-denied followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. There are men at this moment in the higher places of society, abounding in riches, ten times more than sufficient for all the lawful purposes of sensitive enjoyment, whom it would be as difficult to induce to give the tenth part of their incomes, for the support and propagation of true religion, as it would be to drain the caverns of the ocean, or to hurl the mountains from their bases, and toss them into the depths of the seas, not- withstanding their pretended zeal for the external interests of the church. Such is their pride, and their attachment to the pomp and splendours of wealth, that no- thing short of Divine power could detach their hearts from trusting in their uncertain riches, and induce them " to count all things but loss that they may win Christ." Such is the powerful influence of wealth and external grandeur over the human heart, that none but those who have attained a strong and per- manent conviction of unseen and eternal reali- ties, can look down upon them with becoming indifference or contempt. And this consider- ation should form a powerful argument to the lower ranks of society, to encourage them to submit with contentment to the allotments of Providence, for their circumstances do not expose them to the same temptations as the rich to neglect the gospel and those things which belong to their eternal peace. Were the riches, after which they are sometimes apt to aspire, to be granted to them, it might prove, as it has often done, the greatest curse that can befall them, and lay the foundation of their eternal ruin. " For they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition." 3. Covetousness is inconsistent with the idea of our being redeemed by the blood of Christ. The apostle Peter declares, in reference to all Christians, that " they are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." And he brings forward this consideration as an ar- gument against wordly lust, and in support of universal holiness, that, " as obedient chil- dren, we ought no longer to fashion ourselves according to the former lusts in our ignorance ; but as he who hath called us is holy, so we ought to be holy in all manner of conversation." And Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, declares, that one end of the death of Christ is, " that he might deliver us from this present evil world" and consequently, from all its covetous affec- tions and lusts. The work of our redemption is one of the most astonishing displays of Di- vine perfection, and the most glorious mani- festation of Divine love towards the sons of men. Preparations for its accomplishment were going on in every preceding period of the world. Prophets, in different ages, were raised up to announce it ; the ceremonial law was instituted, and thousands of victims were slain on the Jewish altars to prefigure the suf- ferings of Messiah and the glory that should follow ; the various events of Providence, the rise of empires, the fall of kings, and the re- volutions of nations, were all directed in such a manner as to accomplish the purposes of the Almighty, and to bring about that great event the death of Christ in all the circum- stances in which it actually happened. Celes- tial messengers descend from heaven to earth to announce the birth of the Saviour to man ; a series of august and striking miracles, such as had never before been exhibited, give attes- tation of the Divine mission of the promised Messiah ; and at length, our great High Priest humbled himself, and became obedient to the death of the cross, when the sun was darkened in his habitation, the earth did quake, the rocks rent, the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, the graves were opened, and many of their inhabitants (267' 52 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. arose to life. Our Redeemer at length burst eternal blessings which the Son of God came the bonds of death, arose to an immortal life, into the world to procure ; since those effects ascended to heaven amidst a choir of angels, which his death was intended to accomplish, and is now set down at the right hand of the have never been produced on his heart. Majesty on high. The great end of all these 4. Covetousness is inconsistent with Love solemn preparations in prophecies, in provi- to God. dences, in sacrifices, types and shadows, and Love to God is the foundation and the first of the astonishing events which have accom- principle of universal holiness. In every re- panied and followed the death of Christ, was newed soul it reigns triumphant and supreme. to counteract sin in all its various bearings This holy affection includes in it reverence, and aspects to emancipate the soul from admiration, humility and gratitude, and is the thraldom of the world and its affections uniformly accompanied with adoration of the and lusts, and " to purify" for the service of perfections of God, and an unlimited depend- of God, " a peculiar people zealous of good ence upon him, in reference both to our tern- works." poral comforts and our eternal destination. It Now, it is evident, that such noble designs pervades the hearts of all holy beings where- would be entirely frustrated, were a principle ever existing throughout the amplitudes of of covetousness to hold the ascendency over creation, and inspires them with permanent the human mind, however fair a character its and rapturous delight. It assimilates us to votaries might exhibit in the sight of men. angels and other pure intelligences, and pre- If we are not determined to " mortify the flesh pares us for associating with them and bearing with its affections and lust," and to make God a part in their labours of universal benevolence, the supreme object of our desires and affec- Hence, we find, that this sacred emotion tions ; if, on the contrary, we are determined has formed the distinguishing characteristic to give loose reins to avaricious propensities, of the saints in every age. We find the to make weallh and grandeur, and worldly spirit of the Psalmist, in his devotional exer- honours and distinctions the chief object of cises, continually rising towards God, as his our pursuit, then Christ " has died in vain" hope and confidence and the source of his with respect to us, and we have no interest, felicity : " Whom have I in heaven but thee, and ought to claim no interest in the benefits and there is none upon earth that I desire be- which he died to procure. It is presumption sides thee. As the hart panteth after the in the highest degree, for any man to claim brooks of water, so my soul panteth after thee, an interest in the blessings of salvation, whose O God. My heart and my flesh shall fail, conscience tells him that this world and its but God is the strength of my heart and my enjoyments are uppermost in his affections, portion for ever. He is my refuge and my For, can we for a moment suppose that the fortress, my God ; in him will I trust. In Most High God would form a design which God is my salvation and my glory ; the rock is the admiration of angels, that the most of my strength, and my refuge is in God. solemn preparations should be made for its Who in heaven can be compared with the accomplishment, that all the events connected Lord ] who among the sons of the mighty with his moral administration should be so ar- can be likened to Jehovah ] Behold as the ranged as to have a special bearing upon it, eyes of servants look to trie hands of their that the laws of nature should be suspended masters, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our and controlled, and a series of astonishing God. My soul trusteth in thee ; yea, in the miracles displayed, that the Prince of Life shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge would suffer the agonies of an accursed death until these calamities be overpast. Blessed that He " who thought it no robbery to be is the man who maketh the Lord his confi- equal with God, should take upon him the dence, and whose hope is in the Lord his form of a servant, and become obedient to the God." death of the cross ;" that angelic messengers Throughout the whole range of Divine should take so deep an interest in such trans- revelation such sentiments are expressed, and actions, and wing their flight from heaven to such affections displayed by the people of earth in embassies connected with such events God. But is it possible to be conceived, that can we suppose that such an astonishing either the niggardly miser or the vain world- train of events would have been arranged and ling can enter into the spirit of such sub- brought into effect, if a principle, which, above lime sentiments, or elevate his soul to such all others, has a tendency to estrange the af- holy affections, however much he may attempt fections from God, were to be permitted to to mimic the external forms of devotion? rule in the human heart 1 The thing is impos- Though he should affect humility by bowing sible, and, therefore, the covetous, whatever down his head like a bulrush, and profess to show of religion he may exhibit, cannot, with join in adoration of the Most High, " in the any consistency, lay claim to any of those place of the holy," yet God is not in all his (268) INCONSISTENCY OF COVETOUSNESS WITH THE WORD OF GOD. 53 thoughts, " and his heart is still going after his covetousness." Those eternal respects which are due to God, and that hope and con- fidence which his people repose in his perfec- tions, are to him altogether unheeded and unknown. The world, with its riches and splendours, is the deity which he worships, wt.ile the attributes of the true God are sel- dom present to his mind. While the true Christian exclaims with exultation, " Thou irt my portion, O Lord, therefore will I trust in thee," the worldling overlooks the Eternal Source of felicity, and " trusts in the abun- dance of his riches." While the Christian hopes in God for every thing requisite to his happiness, both in the life that now is and in the life to come, the worldling makes "gold his hope, and says of the fine gold, ' Thou art my confidence.' " While the Christian, in the view of every calamity that may befall him, boldly declares, " God is my refuge and strength, my high tower and fortress, a pre- sent help in the time of trouble ;" on the other hand, " the rich man's wealth is his strong city, and a high wall in his own con- ceit." Hence, the love of riches and the love of God, are altogether incompatihle ; and hence the positive declarations and injunc- tions of scripture on this head : " Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." Such declara- tions are plain and explicit, and ought for ever to set at rest the question whether covetous- ness and the love of God be consistent with each other 1 whatever form, either of avarice or ambition, the covetous principle may assume. And if covetousness is inconsistent with love to God, it necessarily excludes those who are under its influence from a participation of the joys of heaven. For the inhabitants of that world have their minds completely pervaded with this sacred principle, in testimony of which "they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, " Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power, for thou has created all things, and for thy plea- sure they are and were created." " Blessing and honour, and glory and power be unto Him that sittcth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever." 5. The evils of covetousness, and its in- consistency with religion, appear from the numerous cautions and exhortations delivered in Scripture on this subject. Our Saviour frequently took occasion to admonish his disciples and the multitudes who attended him, on this point : " Take heed" said he, " and beware of covetousness /" and he enforces the admonition from this argu ment, " For a man's lite consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth ;" that is, neither the happiness of our present existence, nor the continuance of that exist- ence, depends upon the abundance of earthly riches. For a moderate portion of them will suffice for all the purposes of human enjoy- ment; and where great riches are possessed, they usually bring along with th progress of the Gospel, and the extension of Christianity to distant lands, so we have 2 c 2 (305) 90 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. reason to believe, that it will contribute still more extensively to its propagation in future ages, than it has ever yet done in the ages that are past. Great improvements are still required, both as to the safety and the rapidity of our modes of conveyance, from one place to another, whether by' sea or land. Ships require to be constructed on improved plans, less liable to be endangered by the billows of the deep, or even when striking against a shoal, and from the recent progress of inven- tion, it is not unlikely that contrivances may be suggested for impelling them across the ocean with a greater degree of velocity than has hitherto been attained, and which may enable them to glide, with more safety, through the foaming billows. Locomotive engines, by land, may be brought to a still greater degree of perfection ; and even balloons may be con- structed with apparatus adequate to conduct them, in any direction, through the regions of the atmosphere. Agricultural instruments may be contrived for facilitating rural opera- tions and the cultivation of the soil ; and new inventions brought to light for the quick per- formance of all kinds of labour, so that the labouring classes may, ere long, have abun- dant leisure for the enjoyment of the bounties of the Creator, and for storing their minds with all kinds of knowledge, both human and divine. Our knowledge of the powers of nature, and of the functions of the animal system, may be so increased as to enable us to prevent diseases of every description ; and instruments or contrivances of various kinds may be invented to ward off those disasters, and fatal effects which now so frequently flow from the operations of lightning, noxious gases, storms, and tempests, and other agents in the system of nature, which have so fre- quently been the cause of many accidents and calamities. Now, it might easily be shown, that all such improvements in science and art, are intimately connected with religion, and have a bearing upon the happiness of man, and upon the propagation, and the universal esta- blishment of Christianity throughout the world. But, ivitkout money, such improvements can- not be effected. Many persons of genius, who have hit upon useful inventions, have been obliged to drop the prosecution of their plans, when they were nearly ripe for execu- tion, for want of pecuniary means to carry them into effect. And, in numerous in- stances, when a model, or small machine has been constructed to illustrate the operation of a certain principle or theory, the want of money or patronage has prevented its being exhibited on a large scale, so as to demon- strate its practical utility ; and all the labour, anxiety, and expense, previously incurred, (306) have been wasted to no purpose.* But if avarice were transformed into generosity, and generosity directed to patronize and assist schemes which are praiseworthy, and of prac- tical utility, many useful contrivances, which are now in embryo, might soon be brought to perfection, and rendered subservient to the good of mankind. Those who are possessed of wealth, have it not only in their power to patronize perse- vering genius, but to establish lectures on science, and every branch of useful know- ledge; to build lecture-rooms, to provide apparatus, to erect observatories, to found museums in towns, villages, and all partfr of the country ; and, in proportion as science is extended, and the number of rational in- quirers and experimenters is increased, may we expect, that new facts will be elicited from the system of nature, and new inventions brought to light for the improvement of the social state of mankind. The sums wasted in extravagance and luxury, in gambling, horseracing, and hounding, or hoarded for the purpose of gratifying a covetous pro- pensity, might, when applied in this way, draw forth the latent sparks of genius, and prove a powerful stimulus to inventions #nd enterprises, which might contribute to the advancement of society, and to the counter- action both of physical and moral evil. 5. The progress of Christianity through the world would be rapidly promoted, were the inordinate love of wealth thoroughly subdued. It is evident, from the general tenor of the Scriptures, and particularly from the writings of the prophets, that the blessings of salvation are intended to he enjoyed by all the nations of the world. "It is a light thing," (saith God, when addressing Messiah,) "that thou * A scientific gentleman, of very limited in- come, had, for several years, devoted a consider- able portion o r his time in experiments, tending to prove, that a beautiful and permanent light may be obtained from electricity, and has already exhibited an apparatus and experiments on a small scale, which prove, that the object intended is likely to be effected, could funds be procured to encourage the ingenious and persevering inven- tor, and enable him to go forward with his experi- ments on a larger scale. A nobleman in the neigh- bourhood, distinguished for his "liberal politics," lately paid a visit to the inventor, and was grati- fied in witnessing some of the experiments. Ho told him to persevere, and if the plan succeeded, as was expected, he would have his mansion illu- minated by this electrical light. But although he must have known that the inventor's income was extremely limited, and that he must have denied himself most of the comforts of life, from having laid out so much expense in conducting his experi- ments, he never thought of saying to him, "I'll give you a hundred guineas to enable you to per- fect your invention, and to bring it forth for the good of mankind ;" although he could well afford it, and has, doubtless, spent ten times that sum for a worse purpose. Such, however, is the con- duct of avarice, combined with indifference to the promotion of the good of society. BENEFITS FROM THE UNDERMINING OF COVETOUSNESS. 91 shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel, I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth." Hence, it was among the last instructions that Christ de- livered to the apostles, and to all their suc- cessors in their name- "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to evp.ry crea- ture ; and lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." Notwithstanding the lapse of 1800 years since this commission was given to the followers of the Redeemer, it has only been very partially fulfilled. Dark- ness still covers the greater part of the earth, and gross darkness the people. The greater portion of the vast continents of Asia and Africa, a great proportion of America, and even of the southern parts of Europe ; almost the whole of Australasia, the immense islands of Borneo, Sumatra, Madagascar, the Kuriles, Japan, and hundreds of other islands, inha- bited by millions of human beings, still lie within the confines of Pagan darkness, where scarcely a ray of Divine light has yet pene- trated " lo guide" their benighted inhabitants " in the way of peace." Even in those na- tions where the religion of Jesus is known and established, the inhabitants are not yet half christianized, and multitudes " are perish- ing for lack of knowledge," even where the sound of the gospel is heard, and its light shining around them, for want of proper instruction to arouse their attention. To fulfil the commission of Christ, and to bring into effect the purposes of God in the conversion of the nations, will therefore re- quire vast and long continued exertions. If our future movements be as slow, and our energies as feeble as they have been for 300 years past, we could not expect to behold the glory of the millennium till after the lapse of two thousand years. Yet it is in our power, as agents under the guidance of the Divine spirit, to hasten the approach of the blissful era, within little more than half a century, if we, at this moment, arouse ourselves from apathy and spiritual slumber, and bring forth all the treasures at our command to carry for- ward the enterprise. But without wealth, and that, too, to a vast amount, nothing of any great importance can be achieved. If the principle of covetousness shall still hold pos- session of the soul, as it has done for ages past, and if even Christians will entrammel themselves in the cords of avarice, and refuse to come forward with that noble generosity which becomes their character, and lay down their wealth " at the feet" of the messengers of salvation, as was done on the day of Pente- cost, our hopes of the speedy conversion of the world will be miserably disappointed. What is all that has been done hitherto, in propagating the gospel, compared with what might have been done, had we been deeply impressed with the importance of such enter- prises, and acted in the character of devoted servants of the Redeemer, "who count all things but loss," in comparison of the interests of his kingdom 1 All that has hitherto been raised for missionary purposes within the last twenty years, (and it is chiefly within this period that such enterprises have been in operation) is little more than two or three millions of pounds, when at least five times such a sum might have been raised every year, had we been animated with any thing like the spirit and the holy zeal of the primi- tive Christians. This is evident from what has been stated in the preceding chapter. Were thousands of Christians, on whom God has bestowed property and riches, to conse- crate not the whole of their estates, as was done at the period alluded to but only the one-half, what immense sums for rearing the spiritual temple might speedily be raised ! And such sums are almost indispensably re- quisite. We have a work of immense extent and importance to accomplish. We require thousands, and ten thousands of preachers, missionaries, catechists, linguists, translators, schoolmasters, lecturers, and other labourers, to be trained for their respective departments of sacred labour. We require them to be more thoroughly trained than they have ever yet been for the services to which they are devoted. It is not enough that a missionary, of any description, be a man of piety, though this qualification is essentially requisite. He should, if possible, be a man of universal knowledge, having his mind richly imbued with all the information he can acquire on sacred and civil history, mythology, science and art, and the system of nature, in all its departments ; for he will find abundant scope for all his acquirements, wherever he may labour in the heathen world, and particularly among those tribes that have made certain advances towards a state of civilization. From such sources, he must occasionally draw his illustrations of Divine subjects, and his proofs of the facts and doctrines of revela- tion ; and endeavour to make general know- ledge on every useful subject, go hand in hand with his expositions of the Christian sys- tem. In particular, he should be thoroughly acquainted both with the theory and practice of the most efficient modes of intellectual and moral instruction, to which I lately alluded ; in order that he may seize on the first oppor- tunities of imbuing the minds of the young with general knowledge, and with the facts and principles of religion. I am fully con- vinced that far more converts will be made (307> ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. from among the heathen, by the early and judicious instruction of the young, than by preaching to the adult population, though both plans should be attended to, and go hand in hand. By arranging a judicious system of education for the young, we may strike at the root of those heathenish opinions, practices, and prejudices, which have so power- ful an influence over adults in preventing the reception of Divine truth ; and have it in our power to prepare the youthful mind for listen- ing with attention to the truths and historical details of Christianity, when they arrive at riper years. Such seminaries would undoubt- edly prove " nursing mothers" to the church, from which the greater part of the young would come forth to consecrate themselves to the service of the Redeemer, and to the pro- motion of the prosperity of his kingdom. Now, in order to accomplish such objects, we require colleges to be founded, and pro- fessors appointed for instructing students and intended missionaries, in all those branches of knowledge with which they ought to be acquainted. We require, as their instructors, men of general information, of talent and piety, who will render their lectures and other instructions, as popular and perspicuous as possible ; and who, on every branch of science, will point out the moral and religious purposes to which it may be applied, and direct their students to render every department of human knowledge subservient to the interests of Christianity. We require, that our mission- aries be possessed of vigorous mental powers, and that they be instructed in the best modes of infant education, and that they actually practise as teachers of such institutions, as well as in conducting those of a higher order, that they may be quite familiar with all the details connected with such seminaries, and be competent to superintend them wherever they can be established in heathen countries. We require that they should have a competent acquaintance with the construction of the in- struments connected with science, and modern improvements, and the manner of applying them to practical purposes, so that they may be enabled to explain and exhibit them in the countries whither they are sent, and to intro- duce among their inhabitants whatever may tend to gratify a rational curiosity, or to pro- mote their physical comfort. For all such purposes, funds to a considerable extent are required, for creating seminaries for salaries to professors for supporting students for sending out missionaries for supporting them for a season for apparatus for infant- schools and other seminaries for books on general knowledge, and the instruments con- nected with science, husbandry, and the mechanical arts. And whence are funds to (308) be supplied if the spirit of covetousness it not counteracted and subdued 1 We have, hitherto, been parsimonious in the extreme, in our contributions for mission- ary purposes, and we have been almost equally parsimonious in the training and preparation required for our missionaries, and in the equipment and encouragement afforded them. We ought to serve God, in all cases, and in this in particular, " with our best /" with the highest talents, and the greatest measure of acquired knowledge we can command ; and with all the auxiliaries for facilitating the work in view, which Christian wisdom can devise ; and then we may go forth with confi- dence, trusting in Him " who hath the residue of the spirit," that he will render our endea- vours, when conducted with wisdom, success- ful for promoting the extension of his spiritual kingdom. Let Christians, then, seriously ponder on this subject, and consider whether there be not an urgent call addressed to them in the providence of God, to awake from their slumbers, and come forth with their treasures, in a far more liberal manner than they have ever yet done, to assist in rearing the spiritual temple of Jehovah. Some years ago, I was conversing with a shrewd and intelligent gentleman on the sub- ject of missionary operations, who seemed to think that there was too much fuss and bustle about such enterprises, when so much is re- quired to be done at home with the money expended on such objects. " I do not think," he said, " that the heathen are in so wretched and dangerous a state as many of our religion- ists represent, and would have us believe ; but, if I really thought, that they were perish- ing for lack of knowledge, and exposed to everlasting misery on this account, and if preaching the gospel to them would prevent their destruction then I admit, that we all ought either to embark as missionaries, or sell the greater part of our property in order to send messengers for their deliverance. We ought even to sell all that we have, to our last coat, if such an object might thereby be accom- plished." And does not every Christian, at least theoretically, admit that the heathen nations are in a dangerous situation, as here supposed, and exposed to misery in the life to come 1 Whatever opinions we may form of the salvable state of any small portion of the Pagan world, it is a fact, that the great majority of heathens, by the malignant pas- sions and ferocious tempers they display, appear altogether unfitted and unprepared for the enjoyments of the celestial world ; and consequently, cannot in such a state, be ad- mitted into the mansions of bliss, and if their existence be prolonged, when they pass from this earthly scene, it must of necessity be an BENEFITS FROM THE UNDERMINING OF COVETOUSNESS. 93 existence connected with misery. It must, therefore, be an object of the greatest moment to embark in an undertaking which has for its grand aim, to enlighten " the people who are sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide their feet in the way of peace," and to prepare them for glory and immortality. And although we were "to sell the half of our goods," and devote it to such objects, we should do no more than the importance and the eternal consequences of such enterprises evidently require. There is now a call, and an urgent call, from tribes and nations in every quarter of the globe, to send to them the messengers of peace and salvation. "The wilderness and the solitary places, the isles and the inhabitants thereof are lifting up their voices" from afar to the people of Britain and America, to send to them the revelations of heaven, and mis- sionaries to expound them. India alone, at this moment, requires at least a thousand en- lightened and devoted men to sow the seed of the Divine word, and to refresh the spiritual wilderness of that vast heathen territory with the streams of salvation. Ethiopia is begin- ning to stretch out her hands to God, and many of hei sable sons are now waiting for his salvation, and hailing the arrival of the messengers of peace. The inhabitants of the frozen regions of Greenland, Labrador, and Siberia, are imploring Divine instruction from Christian nations, and thousands of Negroes under the scorching suns of the West Indies, are ardently longing to be furnished with co- pies of the book of God. The Chinese are now beginning to inquire after the Oracles of heaven, and the arts and sciences of Chris- tian nations. Even from "the ends of the earth," from the distant barbarous isles of the Pacific, the cry is now heard in our land, " Britons, come over and help us !" Their inhabitants are trembling lest the messenger of death should seize them, before the ships that convey British missionaries appear in their horizon, and lest a sufficient number should not arrive. They are " lifting up their voices from their rocks, and shouting from the tops of their mountains," in expectation of the heralds of the prince of peace, and are ready to receive them with open arms. And will Christians, who profess to be infinitely in- debted to the Redeemer who purchased them with his blood who profess to regard SALVA- TION as of all things the most desirable and momentous, and who would tremble at the thought of the possibility of their own eternal destruction will Christians, to whom God has given wealth, suffer their minds to be so governed by the " mammon of unrighteous- ness," that they will refuse to bring forth their treasures at his call, as the means of " deli- vering those who are ready to perish," and rescuing their souls from destruction? If so, where is their love to the Saviour ] where is their benevolence towards men] where is their belief of the importance of eternal reali- ties ? and where is the evidence they give that they ought to be distinguished by the Christian name 1 O ! into what a blissful scene might this ruin of a world yet be transformed, were covetousness thoroughly subdued, and were only those who profess to be Christians, to come forth with unanimity, and lay down their superfluous treasures at the foot of the cross ! In the short space of little more than half a century to come, we might behold celestial light diffusing its radiance over the most distant and benighted regions of the globe ; the idols of the nations abolished ; the savage raised to the dignity of his moral and intellectual nature, and his mind adorned with the beauties of holiness ; the instruments of warfare broken to shivers, and peace shedding its benign influence over the world ; temples erected in every land for the worship of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ; the minds of the young irradiated with Divine knowledge, and rising up in wisdom, and in favour with God and man ; the principle of crime extirpated, and poverty and wretched- ness banished from the earth ; the moral wil- derness of the heathen world cultivated and adorned with every heavenly virtue and grace : the wastes and wilds of the globe transformed into fertile regions, and arrayed in all the beauties of Eden ; the hatred and jealousy of nations changed into benevolence, and a friendly and harmonious intercourse esta- blished between all the tribes and families of the earth ! And is not the prospect of the mere possi- bility of accomplishing such objects, suffi- cient to quicken every Christian activity and to draw forth every generous emotion ? more especially when we consider that such events are predicted in the records of ancient pro- phecy ; that the certainty of their being real- ized is confirmed by the declaration and the oath of God ; and that ti e energies of the Divine Spirit are promised . o accompany our endeavours and to secure their ultimate suc- cess 1 Let us then, arise arid " shake our- selves from the dust" from the dust of carnal maxims and worldly views ; and be " strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." " For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, so (saith Jehovah) shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth ; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accom- plish that which I please, and it shall prosper in (30.9) 94 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. the thing whereto I sent it." " I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. For Zion's sake I will riot hold my peace, till the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salva- tion thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness and all kings thy glory. For, behold I create new heavens and a new earth,* and the former shall not be remembered nor come to mind. But, be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create ; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord."f 6. We might expect the SPEEDY arrival of the millennial era, were a spirit of Christian generosity universally to prevail. To this topic I have already had occasion to allude, particularly in the preceding section, and I shall therefore offer only a few addi- tional remarks. That a period is about to arrive when the physical and moral condition of the human race, is to be greatly meliorated, when the ignorance and idolatry of the heathen world are to be abolished, and when Divine truth shall extend its influence over all nations, is clearly predicted in the writings of the Jewish prophets. In these writings it is declared, that " the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together" that " all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord" that " the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord " that " Jeho- vah shall make bane his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God" that " the heathen shall be given to the Re- deemer for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession" that " all kings shall fall down before him, all na- tions serve him, and the whole earth be filled with his glory." Predictions of this description, run through most parts of the inspired writings, and are embodied in nume jus passages which we are apt to overlook, particularly in the Book of Psalms. All the calls, or commands to praise * The "new heavens and new earth" here mentioned, evidently denote the renovation of the physical, moral, and spiritual world, at the period when the gospel shall be universally extended, by which, a change, in these respects, w ill be effected, which, in prophetic language, may be very properly compared to a new creation, on account of the contrast it will exhibit to the state of the world in preceding ages. That the passage does not refer to the period of the resurrection, appears from what is stated in the sequel of this chapter. Isaiah Ixv. t Isaiah Iv, 10, 11; xlv. 23; Ixii. 1, 2; Ixv. 17, J8, 25. (310) . God, which are addressed to the inhabitant* of the world at large, may be considered as including predictions of such events ; as in the following and similar passages : " Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth, make a loud noise, and sing praise." " Sing unto the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, fear before him all the earth. Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth, sing praises to Jehovah." " O praise the Lord all ye nations, praise him all ye people," &c. And, since God has given a universal call to all people to engage in his service, we may rest assured, that this call will, at some future period, be universally responded to by the inhabitants of every clime. For the word which has proceeded out of the mouth of Je- hovah, shall not return to him void, but shall accomplish the purposes of his will. " His counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure." In accordance with such calls, we find likewise, in the Book of Psalms, many positive declarations on this subject. "All the earth shall worship thce, they shall sing to thy name." " The people shall praise thee, O God, all the people shall praise thee. God shall bless us, the fields shall yield their in- crease, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him." " The heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory." " All nations whom thou hast' made, shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name." " All the kings of the earth shall praise the Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth." " From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, God's name is to be praised." " Kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth, both young men and maidens, old men and chil- dren, shall praise the name of the Lord ; for his name alone is excellent, and his glory is above the earth and heavens." Our duty, in reference to the promotion of such events, is likewise plainly declared. " bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard." "Declare his glory among the heathen; his wonders among all people' 1 " Thy saints shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power, to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom." The above passages, although there were no others recorded in the book of God, on this subject, clearly point to a period, when the moral state of the world shall be regenerated, when persons of all ranks shall do homage to the Redeemer, and when the light of Divine truth shall shed its radiance on every land. It is of importance that a clear conviction of the certainty of such events should be deeply BENEFITS FROM THE UNDERMINING OF COVETOUSNESS. 95 impressed upon the mind of every professor of religion; as some who call themselves Christians, have not only insinuated, but openly declared, that the state of the world will never be much better than it is; and, consequently, that we need give ourselves little trouble in making exertions for the re- generation of society which is just, in other words, an apology for indulgence in covetous- ness. But nothing, I presume, can be more decisive, in reference to the approach of the millennial era, than the passages we have now quoted, if the word of God is not to be deemed fallacious. This period, we trust, is now fast approach- ing; and our duty in reference to it, is clearly pointed out! "declare his glory among the heathen, and his wonders among all people. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desart a highway for our God. O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion, lift up thy voice with strength ; lift it up, be net afraid ; say unto the cities of Judah," and to the tribes of the heathen, "behold your God." While we engage in our duty in reference to such events, we have full assurance of direc- tion and support from Him, who is the moral governor of the world, and the Supreme dis- poser of events. When it is declared that " all the ends of the earth shall turn to the Lord, and all kindreds of the nations worship before him" it is added, " for the kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the Governor among the nations." And, consequently, he can re- move every obstruction out of the way, and arrange every event in such a manner as to facilitate the progress of Divine truth through the world, till, at length, " the everlasting gos- pel shall be preached to them that dwell upon the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." The only thing to be determined, is, whe- ther that renovated and happy state of the world, which we call the millennium, shall be introduced by some astonishing miracles, such as happened at the creation, and the deluge ; or, by the agency of Christian men under the influence of the Divine spirit, de- voting all their talents, energies, and treasures, to the accomplishment of this object. For the former supposition, I know no arguments grounded either on reason, or the dictates of revelation. To suppose the Almighty, to interpose by such miracles to accomplish such events, would be contrary to every thing we know of the principles of the Divine government, or of its operations during the lapse of more than four thousand years. At the introduction, indeed, of the New Testament economy, mi- racles were wrought by Jesus Christ, to de- monstrate to the world his Messiahship, and a similar power was conferred on his Apostles, to convince their hearers, wherever they tra- velled, that they were the messengers of heaven, and that they had authority for the truths they declared. But no miraculous change was effected in the general order, either of the physical or the moral world. It might be asserted, i"Uhout fear of contradic- tion, that, throughout the whole train of the Divine dispensations towards our world, there was never a miracle performed to accomplish any object, when that object could have been effected in consistency with the established laws of nature. Now, men, " as workers together with God," are adequate to accomplish all that is predicted respecting the happiness and glory of the millennial era, provided they arouse themselves to holy energy and activity, and are WILLING to consecrate their mental powers, and their worldly riches to the pro- motion of this noble object. Besides, were tho millennium to be introduced by a sudden mi- racle, it would deprive the saints of God, both of the honour which will be conferred upon them, in being instrumental in preparing the way for its arrival, and of the happiness they will feel in beholding the .Divine plans gra- dually accomplishing, and their own exertions crowned witfc success. For, since the physical and moral state of the world has been deranged by the sin of man, and since God in his mercy has deter- mined to effect its regeneration, it ought to be considered as a high honour conferred upon his people, that he has been pleased to select them as agents in accomplishing his benevolent designs ; and all who are " right hearted men," will enrol themselves in the service of the Redeemer, as Christian heroes, to increase the number of his subjects, and to extend his kingdom over the world ; and to this service, they will a'ccount it their greatest happiness to devote all their wealth and trea- sures. " This honour have all the saints ;" and it is to be hoped, they will now come forward, with cheerfulness, and alacrity, in numerous bands, casting their treasures at his feet, " and give him no rest till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." If, then, it be admitted, that the millennium will be ushered in by the exertions of the friends of the Redeemer, in conjunction with the agency of the Spirit of God ; the most energetic means ought now to be employed, and with unremitting activity, in order to ac- complish this desirable end. And, as those means involve a consecration of a far greater portion of wealth than has ever yet been de- voted to the service of God, the principle of covetousness, in all the shapes it assu v.c.s, (311; 96 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. must be almost completely extirpated, and and employed in such operations, no want of new principles acted upon, in relation to the real comfort would be felt, but on the con appropriation of riches, before we can expect trary, a degree of rational and sensitive en- to behold those arrangements going forward, joyment, far superior to what has ever been which are requisite to bring about this " con- experienced in the world, summation so devoutly to be wished." Chris- It was lately stated, in some of our periodi- tians may wish, and hope, and pray with cals, that there are in and about London, apparent fervour, for the coming of the king- about two or three hundred individuals, whose dom of Christ, and the glory of the latter fortunes, combined, would be nearly sufficient days they may profess to celebrate his death, to pay off the whole of our National debt, to celebrate his praise, and may make a great now amounting to above 800,000,000. stir and bustle about adhering to his cause What would the half, or even the tenth part and testimony ; but unless they put their of such wealth not accomplish, were it applied hands in their pockets to supply the means in consistency with the dictates of reason and requisite for accomplishing the benevolent religion ? But where do we ever find such an purposes of God, our expectations of the near appropriation of such abundant riches 1 Is it arrival of the millennium will be frustrated ; not a proof, or something approximating to and their conduct can be considered as only a it, that we might be characterized rather as a mockery of God, while, under profession of nation of atheists and infidels, than as a nation serving him, " their hearts are still going after of Christians, when so little of our national their covetousness." wealth flows into Christian and philanthropic The arrangements requisite for preparing channels ? Let us no longer boast of Britain the way for the approach of the millennium, being by way of eminence a Christian land, have already been stated in the preceding till we display more Christian principle in our sections. actions, and a more noble spirit of Christian Abundant provision requires to be made to liberality than we have done for ages past, promote the external comfort of the poor, and If we wish to lay claim to this sacred name, other ranks of society ; many physical evils let us show by our Christian virtues, our require to be remedied ; improvements of every Christian generosity, and our heavenly aims, description carried forward ; the *wastes and that we are entitled to this distinguished ap- deserts of the earth, cultivated and adorned ; pellation. old cities and towns cleared of every nuisance ; and new towns and villages erected on spa- cious and improved plans, adapted to health, cheerfulness, and comfort. Seminaries require to be established for the instruction of all ranks, in every department of knowledge, con- nected with the life that now is, and the life to come, without which the foundations of or to reason with the tornado, or the whirl- the millennial state cannot be laid. All the wind, as to expect that any arguments, how- useful arts and sciences must be promoted ever powerful, will make the least impression and carried towards perfection, as auxiliaries on their hearts, or induce them to alter the to the extention of the gospel and the renova- conduct they have hitherto pursued, tion of the world. Missionary enterprises But, I trust, that amidst all the apathy that must be carried on with more vigour, and on prevails in regard to this subject, there are a scale far more extensive than they have still many thousands in our land, who only ever yet been, before we can expect to behold require to have their duty clearly set before the dawnings of the millenial glory. them, in order to excite them to the noblest In order to accomplish such objects, it is displays of Christian beneficence. And, if evident, that vast resources of wealth are ab- they were once aroused to devote their wealth solutely requisite ; resources a hundred times to the cause of the Redeemer, and to come greater than have hitherto been consecrated boldly forward as Christian heroes, in the to the service of God, and the benefit of man. face of the world, " counting all things but But, I have already shown, that we have loss," in comparison of the prosperity and ex- wealth adequate to every purpose now sug- tension of Messiah's kingdom their example, gested, if we choose to employ it in such I doubt not, would prove a powerful stimulus achievements. Instead of a quarter of a mil- to thousands of Christians in other parts of lion, we might raise fifty, or even a hundred the world, to embark in the same glorious un- millions of pounds annually, to promote the dertaking. extension of the Messiah's kingdom, the im- It is strange, it is passing strange it is provement of society, and the regeneration of passing wonderful ! that Christians should the world. And, while such sums are raised, have been so long sunk into a state of apathj (312) For raising such contributions as those to which I allude I, in the mean time, look to Christians alone, and not to nations or com- munities, that have assumed that name. As for those who are governed by carnal max- ims, and the fashion of the world, we might as soon attempt to control the laws of nature, BENEFITS FROM THE UNDERMINING OF COVETOUSNESS. 97 on such a subject, and that they should never yet have come forward with treasures corre- sponding to their high and heavenly charac- ter, and to the greatness of the work they are called upon to achieve. Had God commanded us; to forsake houses and lands, and friends, and country to sell all that we have, and devote it to his service, and to depend every day for our sustenance on whatever his provi- dence might supply, it would have been our duty cheerfully to have acquiesced in such an arrangement, in gratitude for the spiritual benefits he had conferred ; " for the sufferings of the present time are not to be compared " with the glories of futurity. But when he requires from us only the superfluities of our wealth, which are not essential to our com- fort, and which are generally devoted to " the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," why should we hesitate a moment to devote all we can spare from moderate personal enjoy- ment, to the service of the Most High 1 Is it consistent with a man's being a Christian, indeed, and in truth, to hesitate for any length of time on this subject] Were Christ now to demand of wealthy Christians what he once demanded of the young man who came to in- quire the way to eternal life, " Go sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and come and take up thy cross and follow me," how would many of them reply to such an injunction ? We are in the habit of condemning the choice of this rich man, in having his heart so much glued to the world, and in preferring tem- poral enjoyments to eternal realities. But let me ask, how many British professing Christians, were the same requisition ad- dressed to them, would act in a different man- ner 1 And, if there be any who can lay their hands upon their hearts, and say, as in the presence of God, that they would be willing " to forsake all " at his command, let them now come forth, in the face of the church and the world, and consecrate to the service of the Redeemer, all that they can possibly spare in consistency with rational enjoyment. Let none imagine that the views now stated are Utopian, or inconsistent with reason or revelation. To accomplish every object which has been adverted to, we require nothing more than t\\e*faculties, and the wealth which now exist in society. The only desideratum lies in the human will. Will men come for- ward with all their energies and riches in this glorious cause ? Secure the co-operations of the human will, and I should have no fear of the grand result, nor of any arguments that could be brought forward to show its imprac- ticability. I defy any believer in revelation to prove that the grand objects alluded to are impracticable. Is it impracticable to cultivate barren wastes, and to turn the wilderness into 40 fruitful fields ? Have not Britain and the East- ern States of America been cleared of their ancient forests, and been transformed into gardens and cultivated plains'? and where savages once roamed among caves and thickets, are there not splendid cities, palaces, temples, and seats of learning every where to be seen 1 Is it impracticable to arrange and establish a system of moral and intellectual instruction for all ranks of men 1 Are there not thousands of seminaries, both in Europe and America, and millions receiving instruc- tion at them, where, a century ago, no such institution existed? Is it impracticable to convert savage nations to the Christian faith, and to bring them into a state of civilization and social comfort 1 Have not thousands and ten thousands of rude Hottentots, and the idolatrous savages of the Isles of the Pacific, been turned from heathen darkness, to the light of the gospel, and raised from a state of degradation, to the enjoyment of the blessings of civilized life, within the course of the last thirty years ? In such instances, we behold at least a. partial accomplishment of the objects to which we allude ; and on the principle that " whatever man has done, man may do" it requires nothing more than an indefinite increase of the same energies we have already put forth, and a greater proportion of wealth to assist in carrying forward such energies, in order to bring into effect every thing requisite for the regeneration of the world. Above all, can we say, that it is imprac- ticable to bring about what God has positively declared shall be realized in our world ? He hath given forth his decree, and " sworn by his holiness," and " by the right hand of his strength," to secure its accomplishment that "the whole earth shall be filled with his glory, and all flesh see it together" that " the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all things of the earth his glory" that "there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy, in all his holy mountain," and that " righteous- ness and praise shall spring forth before all nations." And we know, that " his counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure," for " the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the Governor among the nations," and " all his saints are in his hand," as instruments to execute his designs. Shall it then be said, that the physical and moral renovation of the world is impracticable ? or that it is impossible to raise a hundred mil- lions of pounds, every year, for such an object, when no less than fifty mil/ions are annually expended in Great Britain and Ireland for ardent spirits alone. It is calculated, that there are in the British metropolis alone, upwards of one hundred thousand confirmed dram-drinkers, who drink, on an average, two 2D (313) 98 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. glasses of spirits a day, which allowing only l%d. per glass, makes 1250 daily spent in dram-drinking, which, in a single year, amounts to the enormous sum of 456,250, or nearly half a million of pounds, which is nearly double of what is contributed by all the Bible and Missionary Societies of Britain. And shall less than the twelfth part of the population of London spend such an enor- mous sum in such vicious and degrading practices, arid shall the whole inhabitants of Britain not raise the one-half of it for pro- moting the most glorious and important object to which our aims can be directed 1 A most glaring deficiency in Christian principle and liberality must exist, where such incongruities occur; and, it is now more than time for Christians to ask themselves, what they have been doing with their money. A labouring dram-drinker can devote two shillings a wefek, or nearly five guineas a year, to his demo- ralizing habits, while a wealthy Christian, with five times his income, contents himself, perhaps, with the contribution of a single guinea, or even less, for promoting the king, dom of Christ, and the eternal salvation of men ! Such an inconsistency ought no longer to exist among those who assume the Christian name. Let them either take their stand at once, among the men of the world, who attempt to serve both God and mammon, or come forward like noble champions of the cross, and consecrate to the honour of God, treasures worthy of the sublime and glorious undertaking, which they are call^* upon to achieve. CHAPTER VII. On the Means to be employed for the counteraction of Covetousness. EVERT improvement in society is brought about by exertion, and by the diligent use of those means which are best calculated to pro- mote the end intended. Christianity was in- troduced into the world, and rapidly extended over many nations, by the unwearied labours of the apostles, who travelled into remote countries, submitting to numerous hardships, dangers, and privations, and "counted not their lives dear to them, so that they might testify the gospel of the grace of God," and promote the salvation of men. Had the same holy ardour which animated those first am- bassadors of the Prince of Peace, been dis- played by their successors, the world would have been in a very different state from that in which we now behold it. It is owing to our apathy and inactivity as Christians, that so many immoralities and unholy principles are to be found displaying their baneful effects around us, and that so little has been done for the advancement of society, and the evan- gelization of heathen nations. If we wish to behold a work of reformation going for- ward, and Zion beginning to appear "beau- tiful and glorious in the eyes of the nations," we must arouse ourselves from our indolence, and seize upon every means by which vice and every malignant principle may be coun- teracted and thoroughly subdued. And as covetousness lies near the foundation of most of the evils connected with general society, and with a profession of Christianity, it be- comes us to use every rational and Christian mean, which may have a tendency to crush its power, and to promote the exercise of opposite affections. Some of the means by C314) which this unholy principle may be subdued, have already been alluded to, and embodied in the form of motives and arguments ad- dressed to the consciences of professors of religion, In addition to these, I shall suggest only two or three particulars. 1. Frequent preaching on this subject, and occasional public sermons for the pur- pose of illustrating it, should be resorted to for the purpose of counteracting this malig- nant affection. There is, perhaps, no mode by which so powerful an impression may be made on any subject, on the minds of Christians in general, as by the viva voce discourses of a respected, eloquent, and enlightened preacher, especially if his discussions be enlivened by vivid repre- sentations of sensible objects, and appeals to striking facts connected with his subject. Suck appeals can scarcely be altogether re- sisted by persons impressed with religious principle ; and it is to be regretted that Chris- tians have not more frequently, in this way, been stirred up to a performance of their duty. Nor ought it to be considered as deviating from the preaching of the gospel, when such subjects are introduced into the pulpit. For they are intimately connected with the pro- gress of Divine truth; and the gospel can never extensively take effect, nor its princi- ples be fully acted upon in Christian society, till such subjects be pointedly and publicly brought forward, and undergo the most seri- ous and solemn consideration. But it requires to be carefully attended to, that no preacher come forward publicly to denounce covetous- ness, and to attempt to stir up Christians to MEANS FOR THE COUNTERACTION OF COVETOUSNESS. 99 liberality, who is himself known, or suspected to be under the influence of a worldly or ava- ricious disposition. The most vivid represen- tations, and the most pathetic appeals of such a preacher would only rebound from the hearts of his audience, like an arrow from a wall of marble. For how can a man who is continually aspiring after wealth, living in splendour, yet grumbling on account of the smallness of his income, and who seldom gives in proportion to his ability to any philanthropic object ; how could such a one expect, by the most splendid oration, to produce a deep and moral impression upon his hearers 1 For ex- ample, in this, as well as in every other case, would have a more powerful effect than precept. A few months ago, I was conversing with a gentleman on this subject, who mentioned several honourable examples of liberality con- nected with the congregation of which he is a member ; some of whom, who only occupied a medium station in life, contributed to the amount of twenty and thirty pounds yearly for public religious purposes, so that the whole congregation raised 500 or 600 annually, for missionary and other puq>oses, besides the regular maintenance of the gospel among themselves. His minister, he said, maintained the principle, that every Christian should, at least, devote the one-tenth of his income for religious purposes. I asked him the amount of the minister's stipend, and was informed that, it was at least 450 per annum. I then inquired if his minister set an example to his hearers, and by acting in accordance with his own principle, and if it was a fact that he devoted 45 per annum to religious and philanthropic objects 1 The reply was, " I am sure he does not." " To what amount, then, does he contribute for such purposes'?" " About eight or ten pounds annually, at the utmost." " If this be the case," I replied, '"I should scarcely have had the effrontery to inculcate such a principle upon others ;" and I was given to understand, that, in this case, the discrepancy between his conduct and the principle admitted, was beginning to be par- ticularly marked. Why should ministers, particularly those who have handsome in- comes, consider themselves as exceptions to a general rule 1 If they do not set an example of liberality in their conduct, all their instruc- tions on this point will go for nothing, and be only as " a sounding brass or tinkling cymbal." 2. Christian churches should strictly inves- tigate the conduct of their members, in relation to the portion of wealth they devote to religious objects. Those members of a Christian church whose incomes are generally known, and who are remiss on this point, ought to be calmly reasoned with as to their duty in this respect, on scriptural grounds, and in accordance with the principles and obligations they admit as Christians. And if they obstinately resist every argument and admonition addressed to them, and refuse to give a fair proportion of their substance to the service of Him from whom they derived it, they ought to be sus- pended from the peculiar privileges of Chris- tian society. The church of Christ has un- doubtedly a. 'right to take cognizance of its members, as to this point, as well as when they are chargeable with a breach of duty in any other respect, or found guilty of a direct violation of the laws of God. We are too apt to imagine (and custom has 'ong sanc- tioned the opinion) that the censures of the church are only to be inflicted on those who are guilty of what the world terms scandals ; and many professors of religion are thus led to consider themselves as acting a dutiful part in Christian society, if no such scandals can be proved against them. But the non-per- formance of duty is equally sinful, and as regularly denounced in scripture, as the direct commission of vicious actions. " If thou for- bear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain ; doth not He who pondereth the heart con- sider it!" "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" The unprofitable servant who hid his talent in the earth, is not accused of drunkenness, unclean- ness, licentiousness, or any similar crime, yet, because he misimproved the talent committed to his trust, he is doomed to the same punish- ment as the most flagrant workers of iniquity. " Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnash- ing of teeth." It is by the regular perform- ance of duty, more than by freedom from vicious practices, that the reality of Christian principle is displayed. There is, perhaps, nothing that brings a man's Christian cha- racter to a more decisive test, both to his own conscience, and in the eyes of others, than the circumstance of his voluntarily and perse- veringly devoting a fair proportion of his wealth to the service of God, and the benefit of mankind. A worldly-minded man may continue for a considerable time to attend Divine ordinances, and make a fan profession of religion, while no regular demands are made upon his purse ; but when called upon to contribute regularly, at least the tenth part of his income, it is more than probable he would display the latent avarice of his heart, by mustering up a host of carnal arguments against such a demand, and would soon take his station, where he ought to be, among the (315) 100 JKSSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. men of the world. But, if a man of wealth devote one-third, one-fourth, or even one-tenth of his riches to the cause of God and religion, and act a consistent part in other respects, a Christian church possesses, perhaps, the most tangible evidence they can demand of such a man's religious principle. There is a certain false delicacy which some religious communities seem to feel in meddling with the pecuniary affairs or allot- ments of individuals, and especially of those who are wealthy, and who move in the higher spheres of society. They are afraid lest the pride of such persons should be hurt by such plain dealing lest they should fly off at a tangent from their community, and lest the funds of their society should be injured by their withdrawment. But, although it is pro- per to use the greatest prudence and delicacy in such matters, yet, if such persons refuse to listen to calm reasoning and scriptural argu- ments and admonitions, they give evidence of a spirit which is inconsistent with Christian principle ; and it is no honour to any church to have such enrolled among the number of its members. A church of Christ is a society whose members are animated by holy princi- ples and affections ; but most of our churches require to be sifted and purified to be puri- fied from the communion of those who are actuated by a worldly spirit, and who have little more of religion than the name ; and, I know no better external test that could be applied for this purpose, than that which is stated above. A church composed of eighty "right-hearted" Christian men, generous, ar- dent, harmonious, and persevering in their efforts to promote the extension of Messiah's kingdom, would do far more to advance the interests of true religion, than if they were mixed up with 500 men of a carnal spirit, who are chiefly guided in their religious pro- fessions by the opinions of the world. Such a select band would move onward in harmony and peace, without interruption from men of proud and carnal dispositions, "their light would shine before men," and others would " take knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus," and might be induced to follow their example and walk in their steps. As Christian churches should be zealous in inculcating the duty of liberality, so they ought to take special cognizance of ACTS, and general conduct which display a spirit of avarice. When a church member has been found guilty of uncleanness, of an act of drunken- ness or of pilfering an article from his neigh- bour, a hue and cry is instantly raised ; and he is separated from the society, or at least, brought under the discipline of the church. And the purity of Christian communion re- (316) quires that censure should be inflicted on all such delinquencies, and the offender, if pos- sible, brought to a sense of his guilt, and to the exercise of repentance. But, it is not a little strange and unaccountable, that while strict attention is paid to such insulated acts of moral delinquency, which in some instances, are only exceptions to the general character of the individuals, and not habits of vice; men should be permitted to remain in the church, without the least censure or admoni- tion, who are guilty not ofily of acts which indicate the predominance of avarice, but go on in a systematic course of such conduct. Although there is scarcely any thing that so clearly designates the character of an indi- vidual, as habitual avarice, yet in many cases, it is scarcely considered as a scandal, because general society is disposed to wink at it as if an avaricious Christian were not a contra- diction in terms. For example, a member of a church be- comes bankrupt and compounds with his cre- ditors, some of whom are poor people, for seven shillings in a pound. 'He resumes busi- ness, lives as luxuriously as formerly ; and, in the course of eight or nine years, purchases property and enlarges his domestic establish- ment ; but never thinks of paying off even a fraction of his former debts, because he knows that the civil law cannot compel him. Yet, he may hold his places in Christian so- ciety, and even in churches that profess a peculiar strictness as to Christian communion. Take another example: A person who en- joyed a lucrative trade, and who was known to be possessed of a certain portion of pro- perty or wealth, went to a friend, when lying on her death-bed, in the absence of her hus- band; and, instead of conversing with her on the important realities of religion and the eternal world endeavoured to inveigle her to subscribe an instrument, conveying to his family the whole of her property; which would have reduced her husband to some- thing approaching to absolute poverty, al- though they were all members of the same religious community. What shall we think of such a person going from one attorney to another,* to endeavour to ascertain, whether * A friend of mine lately informed me, that when conversing with a young lawyer of an upright dis- position, on a late occasion, he remarked to him, " that he had never been so deeply impressed with the evil dispositions which abound in society, as since he commenced business as a legal practi- tioner. He had been applied to by persons of aH ranks, and of almost all religious persuasions by persons who rank as respectable characters in so- ciety, for the purpose of ascertaining whether, by any'legal quirk or man(cuvre, they could manage to V et wills altered or cancelled, and deeds and contracts broken or evaded, in order to enrich themselves at the expense of others, and in viola tionof natural justice. So little moral and Chris- MEANS FOR THE COUNTERACTION OF COVETOUSNESS. 101 he could by legal means, inflict an act of in- justice on his Christian friend and brother, and rob him of his worldly substance, and so far as in his power, reduce him to a state of indigence ] Or, what shall we think of one who has a flourishing business, in conjunc- tion with a certain degree of wealth, who is extremely fastidious about certain disputed points of religion, and who assumes an air of peculiar sanctity, yet will condescend, in the regular course of trade, to sell over his coun- ter gills of ardent spirits to emaciated and de- bauched females and others, merely for the sake of the paltry gains which such a demo- ralizing practice procures ] The instances of avarice, as displayed among members of the Christian church, are so numerous, that volumes might be filled with the details. What should we think of a clergyman selling a quantity of victuals to a baker; and finding immediately afterwards, that prices were rising, importuned the pur- chaser to give up the bargain, under pretence of his requiring the whole of it for seed which was no sooner done than he imme- diately sold it for an advance of several pounds'? What should we think of the same individual receiving from a friend an article of dress, and immediately offering it for sale to gratify his disposition for hoarding 1 pilfering quantities of nails from the workmen employed on his premises cheapening every article he intended to purchase, till he could acquire it, if possible, at half its value, and manifesting duplicity and falsehood in many of his transactions 1 Yet, although such con- duct was somewhat notorious, and even talked over throughout all the country around, no public notice was ever taken of it by the judi- catories of the church to which he belonged. Many who make the most glaring profes- sion of religion and are extremely fastidious in respect to evangelical views and orthodox opinions, are not unfrequently distinguished by selfish and avaricious dispositions. There would be no end in specifying all the particu- lar instances, and circumstances connected with the manifestation of covetousness, even by persons who are continually talking about union with Christ, spiritual mindedness, and their own and others' conversions. Some of these, and I state it with deep reluctance and regret, have been known, on many occasions, to practise duplicity and deceit in many of their dealings, in order to secure a good bar- tian principle is yet to be found even in religious society, that many who name the name of Christ, think all is ri^ht if the civil law cannot interpose to punish their deceitful and nefarious practices. A gentleman who is an elder in a Presbyterian church, lately averrpd to me, in strong language, "that no man should be considered as acting im- properly or unchristianly, if he acted in accord- ance with the civil lav *' gain or an extraordinary profit to traduce the characters of their brethren in order to gain a lucrative situation to injure most seriously the pecuniary interests of others by not fulfilling a verbal agreement, because the civil law could not compel them to rob the widow and the fatherless, under the pretence of legal right and power to condescend to every low and squeezing means of deriving profits, and increasing their riches to deny contracts and obligations, when they could not be legally proved and, when solicited tu contribute to a religious or philanthropic ob- ject, have either refused with a sneer, or a shuffling promise, or bestowed with a grudge the most insignificant sum. Now, it is not a little unaccountable, that such practices should be overlooked, especially by Christian com- munities that profess a strict adherence to the principles and precepts- of the New Testa- ment. Yet it is a fact, that all the cases I have now stated, or alluded to although some of them excited the attention and repro- bation of a few individuals, were never thought worthy of being brought under the discipline of the church. There is an indifference, and a bluntness of moral perception among the members of many Christian societies, which prevents them from perceiving the malignity and unscriptural character of such disposi- tions and practices, because they are not generally considered as scandals by the world around them. But, if we wish to preserve purity in the church, to promote the exten- sion of Christianity, to undermine the spirit of avarice and to encourage a principle of Christian generosity it becomes religious so- cieties to look more narrowly into the disposi- tion and practices of their members, and by every scriptural means, to endeavour to wipe away the disgrace which has been cast on our holy religion, by the worldly-mindedness of those who " have crept in unawares" into the bosom of the church. 3. The churches of Christ should now be- gin to distinguish themselves from other socie- ties, by exhibiting to the world such displays of liberality as Christianity requires. If we ever expect to behold society ad- vancing in its progress, the knowledge of Divine truth rapidly extending through the world, and a noble generosity, in respect of money, displayed for accomplishing such pur- poses ; it is to the church we must look in the first instance, to set an example, to all others, of its disinterested and godlike liberality. The true church is " a city set upon an hill ;" it is an object of attention, and minutely surveyed by surrounding spectators, many of whom have their eyes directed so as to mark its de- fects, and to expose the conduct of its citizens to public view. According to the aspect it 2 D 2 (317) 102 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. presents, and the virtues or vices displayed by those who enjoy its privileges, will be the opinion formed by those who are without its pale, and who may wish to enrol themselves among the number of its citizens. It is, therefore, incumbent upon every one of them, that they " let their light so shine before men, that others may see their good works, and glorify their Father who is in heaven." If its light shine with brilliancy, it will attract the eyes of surrounding spectators; if the heavenly virtues of its citizens are conspicuous, and uniformly displayed in all their actions and arrangements, it will have a tendency to lead .them to inquire into their principles and to join their society. Now, this virtue of Christian liberality is perhaps one of the most visible and tangible modes by which the light and efficacy of heavenly truth are made manifest to all. In the display of this virtue, hypocrisy cannot continue long to wear the veil. A worldly-minded man may be induced, in an instance or two, to make a display of generosity for the sake of charac- ter; but his ruling principles will soon in- duce him to muster up numerous arguments against the continuance of such exertions, and to retire from the field of Christian benevo- lence. Other virtues and displays of religious principle may sometimes be construed into superstition or fanaticism ; but a perseverance in the path of Christian liberality, and a visi- ble exhibition to the world of its benignant and extensive effects, can scarcely be imputed to such causes, but to the influence of higher principles which have been impressed with powerful conviction upon the mind. And I am strongly convinced, that Christianity will never make a powerful and universal impres- sion upon the inhabitants of any land, till its beneficent effects be thus visibly displayed in the conduct of those who profess an adherence to its cause. So long as selfishness and worldly-mindedness are displayed by the ma- jority of its professors, so long as many of its ministers are beheld aspiring after its wealth and emoluments more than after the perform- ance of its duties, it will continue to be de- spised by those whose hearts have never been brought under its influence. In order to induce Christians to come for- ward and display their liberality on a larger scale than they have ever yet done, I shall lay before them a few recent instances of genero- sity in promoting the cause of learning and religion, which, I trust, will prove a stimulus to those on whom God has bestowed riches and affluence, to " go and do likewise." Some of the following statements are taken from Drs. Reed and Mattheson's " Narrative of a visit to the American Churches." Grenville is a small town which is consi- (318) dered as wholly religious. The settlement was formed by a party of ninety persons from New England. On arriving at this spot, they gave themselves to prayer that they might be di- rected in choosing their resting-place in the wilderness, and enjoy the blessing of God. At first they rested with their little ones in their wagons, and the first permanent building they erected was a church for Divine worship. The people retain the simple and pious man- ners of their fathers. They all go to church ; and there are 400 in a state of communion. They give a thousand dollars a year to religious institutions. One plain man, who has never allowed himself the luxury of a set of fire-irons, besides what he does at home, gives a hundred dollars a year to religious objects. In this settlement, the drunkard, the fornicator, and the sabbath-breaker are not found ; and, what is yet better, in the last report, there was only one family that had not domestic worship."* In this instance, we behold a select band of Christian men, volun tarily devoting their wealth to the cause of God ; and as an evidence of the effect of such a principle, almost the whole community is distinguished for the practice of Christian vir- tues. The Theological Seminary at Andover, which contains a chapel, a set of elegant and commodious buildings, a philosophical appa- ratus, a library of 11,000 volumes, and em- bracing a portion of land of 150 acres, was founded not many years ago, at the suggestion of the Rev. Dr. Spring, father of the Rev. Dr. Spring of New York, in concert with Messrs. Bartlett and Brown. When they met to en- gage in free conversation on the subject, and had considered the nature of the object to be accomplished, "Well," said Mr. Brown, "I will give 10,000 dollars." " Why," said Mr. Bartlett, "did you not say 20,000, and I would too." Dr. Spring went to Salem, and saw his friend Mr. Norris there, told him what it was proposed to do, and obtained another ten thousand dollars, and thus the work pro- ceeded. Mr. Bartlett, in addition to his first gift, built the chapel connected with the insti- tution, which cost 50,000 dollars, afterwards one of the wings, and several houses for the professors, as well as endowed several profes- sorships. It is thought, that in several ways he has given to this object, not less than 200, 000 dollars, (about 45,000), and there is reason to believe, that all his benevolent in- tentions are not yet fulfilled."! Here is an example of truly Christian liberality, which deserves to be imitated by our wealthy pro- fessors of religion. Had we only a thou- sand Christian men such as Mr. Bartlett * Narrative, vol. i. pp. 168, 169. t Ibid. vol. i. pp, 425 0. MEANS FOR THE COUNTERACTION OF CGVETOUSNESS. 103 among us, we might raise fifty millions of pounds from them in the course of a few years ; and what immense benefits might thus be conferred on mankind ! Mr. Bartlett, how- ever, did not receive this wealth by inheritance, but by his own energies. He was first a shoe- maker in Newbury, and became, in the end, for talents and success, a fitst-rate merchant. He occupies a good house, but lives in a very plain style, and has evidently more pleasure in bestowing than in consuming his property."* And is it reasonable to suppose that this gen- tleman is less happy than others, because he has parted with so great a proportion of his wealth for the good of mankind 1 On the contrary, I am certain, he enjoys a serenity of mind, and a satisfaction infinitely superior to the grovelling, mortals who either hoard their wealth for no useful purpose, or who waste it in gratifying a taste for worldly splendour and extravagance. After a revival in a church in Geneva, State of New York, in 1830, it is remarked that the appropriations of religious charity were nearly doubled the succeeding year. That church sustains one foreign missionary, at an expense of 666 dollars thirteen home missionaries, at one hundred dollars each nine scholarships of the American Education Society, at 75 dollars each ; which, in addition to the appro- priations for the Bible, Tract, Sabbath-school, and other objects of benevolence, amounts to more than 4,500 dollars during the first year.j" This fact demonstrates, what we have alluded to, that wherever the principles of true religion and sterling piety take a thorough possession of the mind, they lead to acts of noble gene- rosity ; and that a perseverance in such con- duct, is one of the strongest proofs of the power of religion upon the heart. At Dorchester, a village six miles from Bos- ton, Dr. Reed observes, " there are Sabbath- schools and an Academy for superior educa- tion. The ignorant are taught, the sick find medicine and sympathy, and the poor are pro- moted to adopt methods of domestic thrift and decency. The whole village presents an ex- ample of the effect of religion so administered. No children are left to grow up in ignorance ; few persons abstain from a place of worship ; and here, where every thing else is on a small scale, the schools and churches assume an im- posing character." How many villages of this description can be pointed out in Great Britain and Ireland 1 and is it not owing to our apathy and avarice, that so few scenes of this descrip- tion should meet our eye ? " I know of no country," says Dr. Reed, " Where there are more examples of benefi- cence and magnificence, [than in America.] * Reed's Narrative, vol. i. p. 488. f Ibid. vol. ii. p. 19. The rich will act nobly out of their abundance, and the poor will act nobly out of their penury. There are refreshing instances of individuals sustaining schools, professorships, missiona- ries, and evangelists. Ministers are repeatedly making movements, in which it was evident that every thing was to be sacrificed to use- fulness. I have seen the pastor, at sixty, beloved and happy in his people, give up all to go forth into the wilderness, because he thought that his example more than his la- bours, might bless the West, while the church has been as ready to relinquish him, though with tears, when she has been satisfied that it was for the good of the church Catholic. I have seen a band of students, careless of ease and reputation at home, forsake the college at which they had passed with honour, and cove- nant to go forth together, some 2000 miles, to rear a kindred institution in the desart. And I have seen the aged man kindle at their en- thusiasm, and support them with his purse, when unable to be their companion.* As an evidence of the liberality displayed in the Northern States of America, there are no less than twenty-one Theological colleges, all of which have been instituted since the year 1808 ; they contain 853 students, and have accumulated 57,000 volumes. There, are seventy-five colleges for general education, most of them with professional departments ; and they have 8136 students; and forty of these have been erected since 1814. Altoge- ther there are ninety-six colleges and 9032 students. In the State of New York alone, besides all the private seminaries, there are 9600 schools, sustained at a yearly expense of 1,126,482 dollars! Most of the above- mentioned seminaries, with the stately edi- fices connected with them, have been reared and established by voluntary donation's. The " American Sunday School Union" is likewise a noble example of Christian activity and be- neficence. In 1832, the eighth year of its existence, it had 790 auxiliaries ; 9 1 87 schools were in connection, having 542,420 scholars and 80,913 teachers. The expenditure for that year was 117,703 dollars: for 1833, it was 136,855. The most vigorous efforts of * "Narrative," &c. vol. ii. p. 282. While re- turning thanks to Drs. Reed and Mattheson for the entertainment and the valuable information which their " Narrative" affords the writer of this can- not but express his regret that their work was not published in a more economical style. Had it been published, as it might have been, at half its present price, and comprised in two neat 12mo volumes, it would have been purchased by three times the number, and have been read by ten times the num- ber of individuals who will be likely to peruse it in its present state. The price of such books pre- vents their being generally read by the mass of Christian society, and consequently forms a barrier to the general diffusion of knowledge. Has covet- ousness on the part of the publishers, any share in this matter 1 (319) 104 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. this society have been directed to the valley of the Mississippi. In 1830, it was resolved unanimously, " That in reliance upon Divine aid, they would endeavour within two years to establish a Sunday-school in every destitute place where it is practicable, throughout the valley of the Mississippi," that is, over a country which is 1200 miles wide, and 2400 in length. There are thirty-six agents wholly employed in this service; and, during 1833, they established 500 schools and revived a thousand. The following examples of covetousness and liberality are extracted from an American periodical, entitled " The Missionary," for May 2, 1835; published at the Missionary Press, Burlington, New Jersey, by Members of the American Episcopal Church. " A gentleman having called the preceding Autumn, to obtain aid for hiring a missionary in Tennessee, I thought I would go and intro- duce him to our congregation ; and we called first on Squire L , as he is the richest man in town, although I had little hope of success from that quarter. He put us off, as usual, with an account of his numerous family expenses, the frequent balls upon him for money, the duty of seeing our own church free from debt, and our clergyman well pro- vided for, before we assisted others, and con- cluded with his old, threadbare proverb, " Charity begins at home" We then called on his neighbour, Mr. S , a man of considerable wealth, and no children to inherit it. He read the paper, said that it was a de- serving object, but that he felt too poor to contribute. He coloured slightly as he said this, and then, as if ashamed to give nothing, and anxious to rid himself of such troublesome visitants, handed us 25 cents, (two shillings,) and we took our leave. We met with various success ; some gave cheerfully and liberally ; others grudgingly, and not a few declined al- together. Our last call was on Mr. R , the shoemaker ; we found him, as I expected, busily engaged at his work. He received us kindly, made inquiries about the state of the church in Tennessee, which showed that he felt a lively interest in the subject, lamented his inability to do much, but said he would do something. He then stepped into the house, and returned immediately with two dollars, which he begged my companion to accept, as an expression of his good will. Knowing him to be what is called in the language of the world, a poor man, [though in gospel phrase he is eminently rich ;] I asked him how he contrived to subscribe to each one of our bene- volent institutions, to take a weekly religious newspaper, to contribute liberally to the sup- port of our clergyman, and yet have so much to spare for a distant church 1 He told me, it was (320) easily done, by obeying St. Paul's precept in 1 Cor. xvi. 2. In other words, he was system- atically charitable. He made it a point of duty always to consecrate a portion of his weekly income to the Lord. "learn," said he, " one day with another, about a dollar a day, and I can, without inconvenience to my- self or family, lay by five cents of this sum for charitable purposes ; the amount is thirty cents a week, (half a crown.) My wife takes in sewing and washing, and earns something like two dollars a week, and she lays by ten cents of that. My children, each of them, earn a shilling or two, and are glad to con- tribute their penny ; so that altogether, we " lay by us in store" forty-five cents a week. And if we have been unusually prospered, we contribute something more. The weekly amount is deposited every Sunday morning in a box kept for that purpose, and reserved for future use. Thus, by these small savings, we have learned, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. The yearly amount saved in this way, is about twenty-five dollars ; and I distribute this among the various benevolent societies, according to the best of my judg- ment." Now this man is a consistent Chris- tian, a bright example of Christian benevo- lence. He looks upon his little earnings as a talent lent him of God, a part of which should be sacredly appropriated to his service.' In the same " Missionary Tract," it is stated, that the Treasurer of the " Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society," on April 10th, received 477 dollars and 41 cents,* of which 5 dollars are the avails of needle-work by four little girls, from four to eleven years of age, for the church at Jacksonville, Illinois ; and 35 dollars from the Sunday-school of St. Luke's church, New York ; 15 of them in redemption of a pledge for the education of an Indian child, named Levi Silliman Ives, in honour of their former rector, now the excel- lent bishop of North Carolina. In our own country, we have likewise many characters distinguished for Christian beneficence. Mr. John Lloyd of Nelson square, London, who died in June, 1835, was a liberal contributor to the cause of religion, under the signature L. He was civil engineer, employed at the government dock yards. He retired from business four years before his death, devoting his large fortune to the glory of God, and the good of men, both at home and abroad. More than 12,000 are known to have been distributed among different socie- ties under the letter L ; nor was he unmindful of them in his will, having bequeathed to the Missionary Society 4000 ; the Home Mis- * A dollar is equal in value to about four shil- lings and six pence, and a cent to one half-penny English MEANS FOR THE COUNTERACTION OF COVETOUSNESS. 105 rionary Society 4000 ; the British and Fo- F. Agnes, Esq., well known for his benevo- reign Bible Society 3000 ; Religious Tract lent plans and exertions to promote the best Society 3000 ; the Southwark Sunday interests of British Seamen both at home and School Society 1000 ; Surrey Chapel Bene- abroad, has likewise distinguished himself by volent Society 1000; the Christ church his liberal contributions to various religious Surrey School in Marlborough street, 500 ; and philanthropic objects. In addition to his the London Hibernian Society 500 ;* in all labours and donations in behalf of the " British 29,000 ! What an example to wealthy and Foreign Sailor's Society," and as a mem- Christians ! and how much good may such her of the committee of the New Australian an individual be instrumental in communi- Colonization Association," he has lately sub- eating to the church and the world ! The scribed 50, in behalf of the mission to the concealment of his name in the numerous colony to be planted in the south-western donations bestowed in his lifetime, arose from quarter of New Holland.^ Various similar his retiring habits, and a desire " not to let instances of British generosity might be stated his left hand know what his right hand did," were it expedient, although it is much to be and a hope that others would follow his regretted that their number is so small, example. It is one of the hopeful signs of our times, The Rev. Richard Knill, in the Evangeli- and a prelude that " God is about to appear cal Magazine for November, 1835, mentions in his glory to men " that Christian churches a Welsh gentleman who has 200 sovereigns and congregations are now beginning to come ready to be given for introducing more of the forward with far more liberality, than for- piety and talent of our churches into the work merly, in the cause of missions, and of the of the ministry ; and a minister, once a stu- extension of religion both at home and dent at Homerton, who proposes to assist abroad. The churches under the inspection four, six, or eight students in their prepara- of the Rev. Dr. Brown and Mr. Gilchrist, in tory studies, gratuitously. In the same number Edinburgh, and of Drs. Mitchell, Hough, and of this Magazine, Mr. Rathray of Demarara, others in Glasgow, have lately distinguished mentions that the negroes are beginning to themselves by raising from five to eight, or make monthly contributions for the purchase ten hundred pounds annually, for domestic of Bibles, and other religious purposes, and and foreign missions, besides affording a hand- that their first monthly collection amounted some support to their respective pastors. The to 123 guilders, or 8 15s. and that they church under the pastoral care of the Rev. make a point of giving something for their Dr. Wardlaw, Glasgow, is said to have raised children. A woman, says Mr. R., gave me for such purposes, during last year, no less 3d. one day, saying, "This is for Jane, a than 1700, besides supporting their pastor, child about two years old ; I give with the other Mr. Williams, missionary from the South people for Kitty and Yaha, when we gave Sea Islands, in one of his interesting addresses the money to Jacob ; but I had nothing to to the public, on a late occasion, stated, that a give for Jane , and, Massa, take this for her." certain congregation in England, mentioned This idea, suggested by poor negroes, of to him with a certain degree of satisfaction, giving a sum for every child of the family, as if it had been a great and unlocked for deserves the consideration and imitation of effort, had raised the sum of 50, during the thousands of those who are better instructed, preceding year for missionary and other pur- and who move in a far higher grade than the poses, besides maintaining the gospel among despised sons of Africa. themselves. He told them, they ought to do The name of Thomas W T ilson, Esq., which much more ; for such an exertion did not stands in the front of most of our religious amount lo half penny a week, to every indi- and philanthropic institutions, will recall to vidual. They began to bethink themselves the mind of every one acquainted with that on the subject, and next year raised, without respected gentleman, the many hundreds and much difficulty, above four hundred pounds, even thousands of pounds he has generously Mr. Williams also stated, that, at a late public devoted to the rearing of chapels, to mission- breakfast, in a certain town in England, a ary and other benevolent purposes, the effects sum of nearly 200 was collected in a few of which will be felt and appreciated in future minutes, from a very limited number of indi- generations, and " many will rise up to call viduals one subscribing 20, another 10, him blessed." For, to those whom God has another 5, &c., with the utmost frankness enlightened in the knowledge of the true use and animation. of wealth, " it is more blessed to give than to The following experiment in behalf of mis- receive." In addition to his many other muni- sions, deserves attention, and might be tried, ficent donations, he has lately given 100 to in reference to any philanthropic object. Mr, the New Chapel, Albany street, London. G. Clayton, of Walworth, proposed to his con- * See Evan. Mag. for August, 1835. f Evan. Mag. for Dec. 1835. 41 (32U 106 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. gvegation, that a thousand of them should take up the subject, and each of the thousand subscribe one farthing a day to the missionary cause. This was recommended to be done immediately after morning prayer, that as soon as they rose from their knees, they might make an offering to the Lord of one farthing. This will raise more than a guinea a day, and consequently, more than three hundred and sixty-five guineas a year, (or 370 4s. 2cf.) which sum would support six missionaries in the South Seas. Having such noble examples as above stated, set before us, Christians of every name should now begin to arouse themselves from their apathy and inordinate attachment to the world, and to consider that they cannot bestow their wealth on a more honourable and im- portant object than in promoting the glory of God, and the best interests of the human family, wherever they are dispersed over the surface of the globe. Were such liberal offer- ings becoming general throughout the univer- sal church, (and why should they not 7) we might, ere long, have the near prospect of beholding the light of Divine truth irradiating every land, the moral wilderness turned into a fruitful field, and righteousness and praise springing forth before all the nations. It may not, perhaps, be improper to remark, that the contributions of Christians should not be chiefly confined to missionary purposes, or to the support of the stated ordinances of the gospel. These objects, indeed, ought to be supported with far more liberality, and carried forward with more vigour than they have hitherto been. But, while we look abroad to distant tribes, and provide mission- aries for their instruction, we are sometimes apt to forget the duty we owe to our country- men at home ; and, while we pay some atten- tion to the religious improvement of the adult population, we too frequently overlook the rational and religious instruction of the young. On the proper moral and intellectual tuition of every class of the young, from two years old till twenty, the whole frame of civil and Christian society almost entirely depends. This grand object has been too much over- looked in all our Christian and philanthropic arrangements ; and while it is so, all our other schemes of improvement will be partially fru- strated. They will have a tendency only to lop off the twigs and branches of immorality and crime, while the roots of evil are left to break forth in fresh luxuriance. Christian society, therefore, should not rest satisfied, till every human being, from two years old till manhood, be brought under the influence of an efficient system of intellectual, moral, and Christian tuition, both in our own country, and, so far as our influence extends, hi other (322) lands ; and a very considerable, if not the greatest portion of our Christian contributions ought, in the mean time, to be devoted to this object, which lies at the foundation of all those arrangements which are calculated to introduce the expected millennium. But, as I have already adverted to this subject, it is unnecessary to enlarge. 4. Associations might be formed, particu- larly among Christians, for the purpose of encouraging liberality and counteracting avarice. As the spirit of covetousness is so exten- sively prevalent, and as it stands as a barrier to every noble and Christian enterprise, no means should be left unemployed to counter- act its tendencies and effects. And, as socie- ties have been formed for less important purposes, there appears no reason why an Association should not be entered into for promoting the cause of Christian liberality and beneficence. Such a society might be composed of persons who are willing to devote the one-tenth, or any other portion of their incomes to philanthropic objects. Such a society, if it could be formed, would set an example of liberality to the church and the world around them, and might prove a stimu- lus to many who might not otherwise have thought of it, to devote a proportion of their superfluous wealth to rational and religious purposes. It might establish, in particular districts, systems of education on new and improved plans, as specimens of what ought to be set on foot for the improvement of so- ciety in every place. It might purchase barren tracts of land, and make arrangements for their cultivation and embellishment. It might rear small towns and villages, on spacious and improved plans, with every requisite accommo- dation and embellishment, and calculated for the promotion of health, convenience, and comfort. It might provide employment for the industrious poor, and commence new enterprises for civilizing and christianizing rude and uncultivated tribes, whether in our own country, or in other lands, and accom- plish many other objects which an enlightened benevolence would readily dictate. The fre- quent publication of the operations of such a society, might be the means of exciting the attention of mankind in general to such bene- ficent pursuits, and leading to the promotion of similar associations. However romantic such a project may ap- pear to some, I have no doubt that there are hundreds of benevolent individuals in various districts of our own country, who would re- joice to have it in their power to co-operate with other congenial minds in promoting the best interests of their fellow-creatures in the above, or in any other modes that a rational CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHRISTIANS. 107 or religious mind might devise and that they are only waiting for such openings, in order to give vent to their Christian liberality. It is an evil, or at least a defect, in many of our Christian arrangements, that, in the first instance, we aim too high, beginning at the top of the scale, when we should com- mence at the bottom. This is the case when our attention is almost solely devoted to the improvement of the adult population, while the young are, in a great measure, neglected ; and when our efforts are entirely directed to the promotion of the spiritual interests of mankind, while their temporal comfort is overlooked or disregarded. We have hitherto laid much stress on merely preaching the gospel to adults, while we should have been equally active in preparing the minds of the young for the reception of Divine truth, by all the rational and religious arrangements which Christian wisdom can devise. We likewise profess great zeal for the spiritual and eternal Interests of the poor ; while we not unfrequently leave them to pass their existence in the most abject hovels, and to pine away in the midst of filth, penury, and wretchedness. If we wish that they may appreciate the truths of religion, we must endeavour, at the same time, to meliorate their external con- dition, and render it pleasant and comfortable. To tell a poor wretch that he may have spirit- ual blessings, and eternal treasures, by coming to Christ, while he is destitute of both food and clothing, and we refuse to supply his wants when we have it in our power, is something approaching to a species of insult. By endeavouring to meliorate the condition of the poor, while we offer them Christian instruction, we prepare the way for the recep- tion of Divine truth. For, in so doing, we exhibit a visible proof that Christianity is a beneficent system, and tends to promote our happiness, both in the life which now is, and in the life to come. Now, such societies as suggested above, while they have for their ultimate object, the spiritual and eternal happiness of men, might be instrumental in promoting the external comfort of all ranks, particularly the lower, in furnishing them with employment, in pro- viding them with comfortable habitations, in securing the proper instruction of their fami- lies, and directing them in such a course of conduct as will infallibly lead both to present and future enjoyment. CHAPTER VIII. Considerations^ addressed to Professing Christians and others, as to their Affections and Conduct in relation to Coveiousness. HAVING, in the preceding chapters, embo- died a variety of motives and considerations, to direct the views of professing Christians, in reference to this subject, it would be expe- dient to dwell on this topic, and therefore, I shall only offer a few additional arguments and considerations. I. To professing Christians in general, we would call attention to the following con- siderations. 1. Consider, what God claims the Supreme affection of the heart. He is possessed of every attribute calcu- lated to excite the adoration and love of all holy intelligences. He inhabits eternity and immensity, and is near to them who fear him, and hope in his mercy. His power and wis- dom gave birth to the innumerable worlds which fill the universe, and all the streams of happiness which gladden the hearts of their inhabitants, flow from Him as the un- created source of felicity. To the inhabitants of this lower world, he has displayed his love and mercy in a way that " passeth compre- hension" in the mission of his Son for the purpose of procuring our salvation an event which ought to draw forth our highest affec- tion, and gratitude, and praise. And he is " daily loading us with his benefits, giving us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, and filling our hearts with food and gladness." Hence we find the inspired writers, and other holy men, expressing their emotions in such language as this: "The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in Him ;" " Whom have I in heaven, but Thee, and there is none upon earth, I desire in comparison of Thee. Who in the heaven can be compared to Jehovah 1 who among the sons of the mighty, can be likened unto him 1" Now, this supreme affection towards God, is altogether inconsistent and incompatible with the indulgence of a principle of covetous- ness. For, such an affection ruling supreme in the heart, virtually deposes God from his throne, and robs him of the glory of his per- fections. As soon may we expect to make the north and the south points of the firma- ment to meet together, or the light of the heavenly world to mingle with the darkness of the infernal pit, as to reconcile the service of God and mammon. For, while the true (323) 108 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. Christian, in all his movements, privations, and afflictions, puts his confidence in God, and looks up to Him as his portion and deliverer, " the rich man's wealth is his strong city," and " he trusts in the abundance of his riches." The one joins with the heavenly host, in ascribing " wisdom and power, and glory, and thanksgiving to Him who sits upon the throne;" the other is an idolater, who says to gold, " thou art my hope, and to the fine gold, thou art my confidence," and thus in effect, " denies that God is above." Let Christians meditate deeply on this important point, and consider whether their affections towards the treasures of this world be at all compatible with supreme love to their God and Redeemer. What is it that conscience tells you is uppermost in your hearts ? What are among your first thoughts in the morning, and your last in the evening ] What is it that gives you most pain, the loss of a portion of your wealth, or the appre- hension of the loss of the Divine favour f Are your desires more ardent after the in- crease of riches than after the treasure in heaven that fadeth not, and the incorruptible inheritance that shall last for ever 1 Is your joy greater in the acquisition of riches or of a great estate, than in the consideration, that God is your Father, and your everlasting portion ? It was a convincing evidence of Job's heavenly temper, that "he did not re- joice when his wealth was great, and his hand had gotten him much." Are you affected with deeper sorrow, when you lose your substance, than when you lose the bene- fit of Divine instructions, or although you were to lose a sense of the mercy of God 1 Would you rather be stripped of all your earthly possessions, and go naked into Para- dise, than to be laden with gold and jewels, although you should run the risk of falling into the pit of perdition 1 Do you make it your great and ultimate object to gain riches or an estate rising early, lying down late, and eating the bread of carefulness 1 Do you grudge your families the necessary comforts of life, and, when requested to devote an offer- ing for promoting the cause of religion, and the benefit of mankind, do you bestow it with a grudge, or with the spirit of a cheerful giver ? In all the arrangements you make as to your lot in this world, are you chiefly directed by the prospect of worldly honour and gain, or by the opportunities you may have of glorify- ing God, and being useful to mankind 1 If you regard God as your supreme portion, and the rock of your salvation, you will consider all that you have as too little to be consecrated to his service, and will make the advancement of his kingdom, the object of all your arrange- ments, and will come cheerfully forward at his K324) call to contribute for this end, according as he hath prospered you, saying with the Psalmist, " What shall I render unto the Lord, for all his benefits towards me 1" 2. Consider the obligations you are under to Him who procured our redemption. You profess as Christians, to be under infinite obligations to the mercy and love of our Redeemer, " who died and rose again," that your souls might be rescued from destruc- tion. You profess to believe, that you were "redeemed not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ," and that it was one great end of his death, that " you might be delivered from this present evil world, and its affections and lusts," and consequently, from the dominion of covetousness, which is the ruling passion of the men of the world, and which is utterly inconsistent with the character of the re- deemed. While you, then, virtually acknow- ledge these truths, can you allow the love of the world to predominate in ^our hearts 1 Can you think it a hard demand that God makes upon you, when he requires a portion of the wealth which he himself has bestowed, to be dovoted to the extension of the Re- deemer's kingdom, and the promotion of his glory 1 He might accomplish all his gracious designs without your assistance ; for all the treasures of the universe are at his disposal. But he has condescended to put an honour upon Christians, in selecting them in parti- cular, to be "workers together with Him," that by their voluntary and liberal oblations, they may exhibit themselves in the face of the world, as " followers of the Lamb," and con- tributors lo " the prosperity of Zion." Can you, then, in consistency with your profes- sions, refuse to come forward with munificent and god-like offerings, according to your ability, for every enterprise that has for its object, the promotion of the Divine glory, and the present and everlasting happiness of men 1 For, it is by such conduct, that your avarice, or your Christian principle will be detected. The latent principle of covetous-- ness, in its workings in the heart, though open to the inspection of Omniscience, cannot be directly traced by human eyes. But, if you be hypocrites in religion, your hypocrisy will be laid open, and your true character determined by your refusing to con- tribute to the service of God, what is in your power to bestow. And this is a characteristic of the sense we entertain of our obligations to the Redeemer, which ought to be more attended to than it has hitherto been in the visible church. If, then, Christians in general, and espe- cially wealthy Christians, admit that they are under inexpressible obligations to Him " who CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHRISTIANS. 109 came in the name of the Lord, to save them" is it compatible with such obligations, " to walk according to the course of this world," and to prevent, by their niggardly offerings, the gracious purposes of God from being brought speedily into effect 1 If you profess to celebrate the praises of Him, " who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father" shall you con- sider it as too great an expression of your gratitude, to devote a hundred or even a thou- sand pounds, at a time, for carrying forward the grand design of the death of Christ, and the regeneration of the world when you have hundreds or thousands at your com- mand 1 If God were calling you to devote all your worldly possessions to his service, would you consider it as too great a sacrifice for the gift bestowed 1 If not, how can you stand aloof and grudge a mere tithe of your earthly estate, when it is called for at your hands, and when every needful comfort is still secured for your enjoyment 7 Let Christians seriously pause on such considerations, and judge, whether the gene- ral conduct of professors of religion, in regard to the dedication of their wealth, be consistent with the obligations they profess to Him who hath procured for them all spiritual and eter- nal blessings. 3. Consider that all the privileges and prospects of Christians are incompatible with the indulgence of covetousness. Believers are brought by the gospel into the high and honourable relation of " Sons of God" and consequently, "joint heirs with Christ Jesus" of the blessings of his media- torial kingdom. They are under the special care of the Providence of God, who has pro- mised, that " their bread shall be given them, and their water shall be sure," and that " He will never leave them, nor forsake them." But a spirit of conformity to the world, a co- vetous disposition, and an eager desire after earthly honours and splendour, are evidently inconsistent with such exalted privileges. The sons of God must resemble the moral charac- ter of their Father in heaven, particularly in the display he has given of his benevolence. But, "if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him," and consequently, he can lay no claim to the prerogatives of sons. " Whosoever is born of God, over- cometh the world," and, of course, he whose soul is absorbed in its pursuits and vanities, has never been brought into this Divine rela- tion, but remains among " the children of the wicked one." The prospects to which the saints look for- ward in the future world are glorious and magnificent, beyond any thing which this world can present, or which human imagina- tion can depict. In that world, there are scenes and objects calculated to gratify the sublimest faculties of the immortal spirit ; an enlarged sphere of contemplation the beatific vision of God in the effulgence of his glory " fullness of joy" a treasure in the heavens that fadeth not an incorruptible inheritance, and " an exceeding great and an eternal weight of glory." If Christians, then, believe in the existence of such grand and substantial realities, and have the lively hope of entering, ere long, into their full possession, is it consistent with such exalted hopes, and such animating pros- pects, to have their chief affections placed on the vain and transitory objects of this earthly mansion, which must soon be snatched from their embrace'? And how can they say it is otherwise, if, they are found grasping their worldly treasures so firmly, that nothing but a small fraction can be squeezed from them for the cause of God and the renovation of the world 7 What should we think of a man come to his full stature, devoting the greater part of his time and attention to amusing him- self with tops, marbles, and cherry-stones, as when he was a child, and setting a higher value upon them than upon all the serious employments of life 7 We should imme- diately denounce him as a fool, or a maniac, or, at least, as one who acted with the most glaring inconsistency. What should we think of a set of mariners, sent to circumnavigate and explore a large continent, stopping in the midst of their course in. an insignificant island, and employing themselves in catching mus- quitoes, or fishing for shrimps, without at- tempting to prosecute their course 7 or of a traveller, on an important embassy to a large city, taking up his abode at an inn, in the midst of his journey, and amusing himself for days and weeks with gathering shells, or with the humours of a fair, instead of prosecuting the object of his expedition 7 It is equally preposterous and inconsistent for a man who professes to be " born from above," and to be travelling to heaven, as the place of his ulti- mate destination, to have his heart glued to the treasures of this world, and " to boast himself in the multitude of his riches." Let Christians, then, throw off every earthly encumbrance, and arise and act in a manner befitting their celestial pedigree, and their high destination. For what are the treasures of time to him who is begotten to the lively hope of an incorruptible inheritance 7 What are the frowns of fortune to him who claim,s the celestial world as his eternal portion 7 What are thousands of guineas, or dollars, to an exceeding great and an eternal weight of glory 7 What arc the honours, the titles, and 2 E (325) no ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. the pageantry of this passing scene, in com- parison of the riches and grandeur of the New Jerusalem, and the dignity of being " kings and priests" to the " Father of glory," in the mansions not made with hands, eternal in the heavens'? As heaven in its height far surpasses the circle of this lower world, as the earth is but a point in comparison to the wide extended universe, and as time, with its cir- cling years, is but a moment to the ages of eternity; such ought to be the hopes and affections of Christians, in comparison of earthly possessions, and of every sublunary misfortune. Were such views fully realized, and duly appreciated ; were we living under the powerful influence of that faith, which is " the consent expectation of things hoped for, and the conviction of things which are not seen ;" were the great realities of the eternal world, as they ought to be, ever present to our view, in all their grandeur and importance, a very different display would be made of riches from what we now behold, and multitudes, who now stand aloof when called upon for contributions to the service of God, would come cheerfully forward, " bringing their gold and incense, and showing forth the praises of the Lord." II. I shall next offer a few considerations to the COVETOUS, whether professing or re- jecting Christianity. From what has been stated in the preceding pages, and particularly in the preceding article, it will not be difficult for any one to discern whether covetousness or an opposite affection rules in the heart. To those whose con- sciences declare that they are under the in- fluence of this debasing passion, I would earnestly call their attention to the following considerations. 1. Consider that wealth, however great, cannot secure you from misery and calamity. The rich man is as much exposed to the afflic- tions and accidents of human life as the poor, and sometimes his very riches, in which he trusts, are the means of exposing him to dis- eases and dangers. A chimney top, or even a tile falling from a house, will kill a noble- man as well as a beggar. When infectious fevers are raging around, when the cholera is sweeping away hundreds in the course of a day, can wealth prevent its ravages, or secure you from its attacks ? When the thunders are rolling along the clouds, and the lightnings flashing amidst the dismal gloom, can riches secure you from the lightning's stroke, or pre- vent your hay or corn from being set on fire 1 When you are crossing the ocean in pursuit of gain when you behold the tempest raging, and the waves rolling mountains high, can your treasures still the stormy ocean, or pre- vent your being engulfed in the devouring deep 1 In such cases, the king and the pea- (326) sant are on a level, and equally impotent to control the laws of nature, or to counteract the operations of the Most High. How many instances do we see of persons in the prime of life, possessed of wealth and honours, and in the midst of all their earthly hopes and schemes, cut off in a few days, and sometimes in a moment, by a burning fever, by a fall from a horse, the overturning of a chariot, or by an unexpected conflagration 1 ? It was but a little while ago, that a lady of noble rank, of great wealth, adorned with the richest jewels, distinguished for her splendid enter- tainments, and, while she was preparing for a magnificent fete, on the ensuing day, was in- volVed, while sitting in her apartment, in a sudden and mysterious conflagration, and her body and jewels reduced to an invisible gas, so that no trace of them except a few small burnt fragments of bones has yet been found. But accidents apart riches cannot ward off those diseases which may prevent all com- fortable enjoyment from their possession. The greatest wealth you can accumulate leaves you still liable to the attacks of the gout, the epilepsy, the palsy, the asthma, the burning fever, the gravel, the ague, and to the loss of sight, hearing, tasting, and feeling, and to in- numerable other disorders, so that the most splendid spectacles, the most exquisite music, or the most costly viands, may be unable to convey any real enjoyment. Under such dis- eases, to which all are liable, the most splendid estate can afford little or no alleviation ; and the possessor of thousands or millions of pounds may feel far less enjoyment than the poorest peasant ; nay, may smart under pains of body and agonies of mind, to which the beggar expiring on a dunghill is an utter stranger. Wealth, with all its gorgeous trap- pings, cannot prevent the pain of surgical operation, the bitter taste of nauseous medi- cines, the agonizing throes of suffering nature, the terrors of a guilty conscience, or the fear- ful forebodings of a future judgment. And, therefore, the man who, in such circumstances, has no better comforter than the idea of the greatness of his richness, is one of the most miserable objects in creation. 2. Consider the uncertainty of riches. It is only during the continuance of life that earthly possessions can be enjoyed. "For when you die, you can carry nothing hence, your glory cannot descend after you to the dust." " But what is your life 1" It is only " like a vapour," which a small breath of wind may soon blow away. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, while you are hoarding up treasures, and trusting in the abundance of your riches or even you are aware the decree of heaven may go forth, as in the case of the rich man in the parable, " This night CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHRISTIANS. Ill thy soul shall be required of thee." Almost every newspaper that comes to our hands, and almost every returning day, bear witness to such sudden transitions from time to eternity. While mortals are reclining on the lap of ease, their hearts overcharged \with surfeiting and drunkenness, running the giddy rounds of fashionable dissipation or working all man- ner of uncleanness with greediness while imagining themselves secure, and foreboding no evil death interposes, at a day's or even a moment's warning, cuts down their mortal frames, and summons their spirits to appear before the Judge of all. But although li& be continued, the wealth in which you place your confidence may soon be snatched from your possession. The providence of God has many ways by which to change the greatest prosperity of this world into the greatest misery and adversity, and, in a moment, to throw down the fortune of the proudest aspirer after wealth, in order to make him contem- plate his sin in his punishment. Such a change in your fortune may be produced, either by the rapine of enemies or the treachery of friends, by your own avarice or folly, or by the malice or revenge of your enemies, by the prodigality of your children or the unfaith- fulness or your servants. The elements of nature, the hurricane, the tempest, the over- whelming deluge may conspire for your ruin. Your ships may be dashed to pieces on rocks or shoals, or a sudden conflagration may lay all your boasting hopes prostrate in the dust. And wilt thou place thy confidence in such uncertain possessions!" "Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not ; for riches certainly make themselves wings ; they fly as an eagle towards heaven. 1 ' 3. Consider the folly and unreasonableness of covetous affections. This will appear, in the first place, if you consider, that riches con- sidered in themselves without regard to their use are of no value whatsoever. Suppose a man could lay up a stock of clothes and pro- visions sufficient to last him for 300 years, what would it avail him, if he is certain that he cannot live above seventy, or, at farthest, above a hundred years ] Suppose he laid up in a storehouse 70,000 pair of shoes, to what end would it serve, if he could make use, during his whole life, of only the one-hun- dredth part of them 1 He would be in the same condition as a man who had a hundred dishes placed before him at dinner, but who could only partake of one, or of a person who had a hundred mansions purchased for his residence, but who could occupy only one. The same thing may be said of pounds, shil- lings, and dollars, which are of no use in themselves, but only as they are the repre- sentations of articles of necessity and luxury which they may be the means of procuring. How ridiculous would it appear, if all that could be said of a man while he lived, was simply this that his whole life was occupied in collecting and laying up in a storehouse 60,000 mahogany chairs, which were never intended to be used for the furniture of apart- ments, or 80,000 pair of trousers which were never to be worn 1 And where is the differ-, ence in point of rationality and utility, be- tween such absurd practices, and hoarding thousands of guineas or bank-notes which are never brought forth for the benefit of man- kind 1 There is no conduct, connected with the pursuits of human beings, that appears more mean, contemptible, and absurd, than such practices (however common) if examined by the dictates of reason and the word of God. The folly of covetousness likewise appears in this, that its objects cannot afford solid satisfaction to the mind. Wealth can neither convey new senses, or open new avenues to pleasure, nor block up the passages of pain and anguish. It cannot produce inward peace, equanimity, domestic comfort, or a delightful self-consciousness of virtue, or of the Divine approbation. On the contrary, the passion of covetousness is uniformly attended with men- tal anxiety, inquietude, restless and insatiable desires, and keeps its votaries in continual fear of losing what they have acquired, so that they are generally fretful and discontented, and in a Kind of hell of their own creating. However much they may have acquired, they are still in the pursuit of more; and the riches of the whole world, were it possible to obtain them, would be inadequate to satisfy their desires. In their mad career of gain, they will rush forward with the utmost impe- tuosity, even at the hazard of losing all that they had formerly toiled for and amassed. Marcus Crassus, a celebrated. Roman, surnamed the Rich, had above 500 talents left him to begin the world with, and by his excessive covet- ousness, scraped together vast sums of money. Being desirous to know at a certain period, what his estate amounted to, it was summed up at seven thousand one hundred talents, or about seven millions nine hundred and eighty seven thousands of British pounds. But it appears, this immense treasure was not suffi- cient to satisfy his avaricious passion ; for, casting an evil eye upon the treasure of the Parthians, he marched with a great force against them, and, being defeated, and taken prisoner, the Parthian general gave orders to cut off his head, and pour melted gold down his throat, to upbraid his excessive covetous- ness, that never thought he had enough. Such are, not unfrequently, the results of excessive avarice, and such the termination of all the desires and passions, the hopes and (327) 112 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. fears, the anxieties and pursuits, which are engendered by covetousness. Happiness never would have been expected to result from the pursuits and enjoyments of avarice, if man had retained the full exercise of his reason, and had never fallen from his original estate. The misery arid folly of avarice may be illustrated by the following recent occurrence, extracted from the " Sunday Times," of Oct. 4, 1835. "A few days since, an old miser, named Webb, who has, for several years, re- sided in an obscure lodging in Barrack court, Woolwich, called upon Mr. White, a broker, residing in Powis street, in the same parish, to inquire whether he would allow him to lodge with him, as he had been uncomfortable for some time past. The request was com- plied with, and, in the course of the evening, he took possession of his new apartments. He had retired to rest but a very short time before he was taken ill, and at his request, two medical men were sent for. Upon the arrival of Messrs. McDonald and Gaul, they pronounced him to be in a dying state, which was no sooner communicated to the patient, than he ordered an attorney to be sent for, as he wished to make his will. An attorney was speedily in attendance. The old man raising himself upon the bed, bequeathed to his daughter 100, to three nephews, 30, 40, and 50 each. Upon being asked if he had a wife, he replied ' Yes,' but he had been parted from her three times ; that she had been in a workhouse near Stroud, in Kent, for a number of years, and that he did not intend to leave her a single penny. He had also two brothers and another daughter, who had all (he said) behaved ill towards him, and he would leave them nothing. Upon being asked to whom he left the residue of his property, he replied, ' To Mr. White for his kindness,' at the same time handing the attorney a paper, which, upon being opened, was found to con- tain securities for upwards of 800 in the Bank of England, so that Mr. White, (who is sole executor,) will, after paying the re- spective legacies, clear upwards of 500 for his lodger, who continued to get worse and died on Sunday. It is a remarkable fact, that the deceased (who was 75 years of age) has been frequently seen to pick up bones and rags in the street, and put them in his pocket ; and at the time of his death he was in a most filthy condition." Here we have a picture of a poor wretch, who appears to have spent the greater part of a long life in scraping together 800, and, at last, bestowing the greater part of it upon an entire stranger. We behold him neglecting his own family, and his nearest relatives ; and, almost in the very agonies of death, indulging ranplacable resentment against his own daugh- (328) ter, and the wife of his bosom, and leaving her to be maintained on public charity, when he had enough and to spare. He displayed himself to be little short of a thief and a rob- ber, as most misers are. He robbed the public in leaving his wife to be maintained in a poor- house, he robbed his wife and children in de- priving them of what they had a natural right to, and giving it to a stranger : he robbed God of his tithes and offerings, in bestowing no portion of his substance in his service, and he robbed himself, in depriving himself of the good opinion of his fellow-men, and of those enjoyments which might have rendered him comfortable and happy. It is more than pro- bable, that all his domestic broils and conten- tions, and the alienation of affection he ex- perienced, were the results of his niggardly and avaricious disposition. Who that enjoyed peace and contentment would envy either the life or the dying hours of such a wretched being 1 Yet such are the rewards, such the folly and wretchedness of those who surren- der themselves to the power and dominion of covetousness. If riches could procure true happiness, even in the present life, there might be some apology for pursuing them with eagerness ; but even this, they are in- adequate to confer ; for experience demon- strates, that their votaries are frequently among the most wretched of the human race a prey to restless and malignant passions, and despised by their fellow-men. The folly of covetousness will further ap- pear, if we consider, that the objects which it pursues are not to be compared, in point of grandeur and enjoyment, with those which are within the reach of all. Wealth can command stately buildings, splendid apart- ments, gorgeous apparel, marble statues, cu- rious pictures, gold and silver vessels, spacious gardens, and other objects which the world calls noble and magnificent. But " what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the be- holding of them with their eyes." Every spectator that has a taste for such objects may enjoy the pleasure arising from the sight of them as well as the possessor. Every gar- dener and labourer on a nobleman's estate may participate of the pleasure of viewing his improvements, as well as the owner himself. But, what are all the gorgeous toys and trap- pings of art, or the beauties which genius can invent, or riches purchase, compared with the beauties and magnificence of Nature ? What are the glitterings of the most pompous pro- cession, or the splendour of a Vauxhall, in comparison of the august spectacle of the ver- nal sun rising in unclouded majesty, diffusing his beams over surrounding worlds, gladden- ing the animal tribes, and shedding a radiance on every object in our terrestrial sphere 7 CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHRISTIANS. 113 There is not a scene, though finished with the most costly refinements of art, comparable to the splendour and magnificence of the sun rising in his glory. All on earth appears a dreary waste till the aurora brightens up the East, as the harbinger of the orb of day : then the plains are arrayed in verdure, the flowers put forth their colours, the glittering spires appear, the birds warble from spray to spray, and renewed life, activity, and beauty, appear throughout our lower creation as if a new world had emerged from chaotic darkness. What, are the finest varnishings of art com- pared with the polishings of the bodies of insects, or of sea-shell or the most exquisite pieces of machinery to the mechanism of a plant, a gnat, or a microscopic animalcula? Above all, what can be compared to the glories of the unclouded firmament, where suns unnumbered shine, and myriads of mighty worlds run their ample rounds 1 Yet all such august and splendid scenes, with all the variety of beauty and magnificence, with which the Almighty has adorned his vast creation which are open to the contempla- tion of all are overlooked by the worldling as unworthy of his regard. In short, the folly of covetousness appears in its most striking light, in preferring ob- jects which are seen and temporal to those which are unseen and eternal. We can scarcely have an adequate idea of -the extreme folly implied in such conduct, unless we could form some adequate conception of what is in- cluded in the word ETERKAL. To enable us to form some faint conception on this point, some of our old writers have suggested the following illustration : Suppose the whole earth to be made up of particles of sand, and suppose a bird to come every thousand years to pick up and fly away with one grain, how immense must be the duration before the whole sands which compose the earth, could, by this slow process, be removed ! as many thousands of years as there are particles of sand in the whole globe of the earth, which would amount to the following number of years, 30,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,- 000,000,000, or thirty thousand septillions of years! Yet this immense period of duration is still but as a point, or a moment, when compared with eternity ! On such a supposi- tion, the Schoolmen stated the following ques- tion. " Suppose that you had it in your choice to be happy all the while this prodi- gious mass of sand was consuming, by this slow method, till there was not a grain of it left, on condition you were to be miserable for ever after ; or, supposing you might be happy for ever after, on condition you would be miserable, till the whole mass of sand were removed or annihilated, at the rate of one grain 42 of sand in a thousand years which of these two cases would you make your choice 1" It must be confessed, that, at first view, consider- ing the extreme length of the period which, to our limited view, appears like an eternity itself we should be apt to choose the former in preference to the latter. But our reason tells us, that the latter ought to be our choice, since there is no comparison between the one duration and the other, any more than there is between a unit, and the greatest number of figures or sums we can possibly suppose. What, then, must be the extreme folly of those who for the sake of enjoying a few fleet- ing baubles, for 20, 30, or 40 years, or at the utmost, for " three score years and ten," will run the risk of experiencing all that is in- cluded in the idea of a miserable eternity ! How can we sufficiently denounce the stu- pidity and madness of those who, resolutely and determinately, make so absurd and irra- tional a choice 1 especially, when we consider, that even in this life, the path of contentment, and the ways of wisdom and holiness, are ways of pleasantness and peace ! To prefer trifles to the most momentous objects, shadows to realities, the toys of time to the treasures of eternity if any thing may be termed folly and madness such conduct ought to brand every one who is guilty of it, in whatever sphere he moves, with the appellation of a fool or a maniac. If then, riches are only valuable in propor tion to their use if they cannot afford solid satisfaction to the mind if the objects which the worldling pursues are not to be compared in point of grandeur to those which are with- in the reach of all and if he prefers shadows to realities, and fleeting objects to eternal en- joyments it must be folly in the extreme for a rational being to have his affections placed upon them as the ultimate object of his pursuit. 4. Consider in what light the objects of covetousness will be viewed, and what comfort they will afford at the approach of death. When your soul, which has long been im- mersed in the cares of the world, feels itself hovering on the verge of life, and about to take its flight into the world unknown, In that dread moment, when the frantic soul Raves round the walls of its clay tenement, Runs to each avenue, and shrieks for help, But shrieks in vain in what a very different light will you view the perishing treasures of time from that in which you now behold them? You now trust in uncertain riches, and refuse to place your confidence in the living God, who is the alone source of felicity. But, "will riches profit you in the day of wrath," or amidst the agonies of dissolving nature 1 Will they 2 E 2 (329) 114 ESSAY ON COVETOTJSNESS. smooth your dying pillow, or assuage the bitter anguish of your spirit, when heart and flesh begin to faint and fail 1 Will they then be viewed as a sufficient compensation for the dismal forebodings of future wo which may then assail your conscience, and render you a terror to yourself and to all around you 1 Alas ! they will only tend to plant thorns on your dying couch, to sharpen every pang, and to augment the horrors of despair. Con- science, now lulled asleep amidst earthly vanities, may then awake, " like a giant re- freshed with wine," and pierce your hearts through with unutterable sorrows. Many striking instances of this kind have been witnessed by the ministers of religion, when called upon to attend the death-bed of the worldly and profane. " Had I now a thou- sand worlds," said a certain worldling, who bore a fair character, *' Had I a thousand worlds, I would give them all for one year more, that I might present to God one year of such devotion and good works as I never before so much as intended." The noble Altamont,* who had spent his life in all the fashionable dissipations of the world, a little before his death, on hearing the clock strike, exclaimed with vehemence, " Time ! Time ! i't is fit thou shouldst thus strike thy murderer to the heart. How art thou now fled for ever ! A month ! O for a single week ! I ask not for years though an age were too little for the much I have to do." And a little after- wards, " This body is all weakness and pain, but my soul, as if strung up, by torment, to greater strength and spirit, is full powerful to reason, full mighty to suffer." Cardinal Wolsey, whose grand aim through life was worldly aggrandizement, a little before he died, declared with anguish, in the midst of his disgrace, " Had I but served God as dili- gently as I have served the king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs." In like manner, many a one at the hour of dissolution will have to exclaim, "If I had been as anxious to attend to the eternal inte- rests of my immortal spirit, as to lay up trea- sures which I can never use, I would not have been left to suffer the pangs of remorse which I now feel." Such considerations demand the most seri- ous attention of those who have grown old in the habits of covetousness, and whose gray hairs and infirmities warn them that they are on the confines of the grave. It has been re- marked, that, as in winter, the roots of plants retain the sap, when the branches have lost their leaves and verdure, so, in old age, the winter of life, covetousness, " the root of all evil," retains its vigour, when other vices * s,^po M d to be Lord l^on.-Young's "Cen- tat r IVM fibulous." have withered, and fallen into decay. It is strange, indeed, but not more strange than true, that the nearer such men approach to the earth, they become more earthly-minded, so that, at the evening of life, they appear as if they were providing for a long and prosper- ous day. No one is more fearful of want, and more hard and griping, than the old miser, who is just about to step into the grave. While other vicious propensities are weakened by the lapse of time, covetousness derives new life and vigour, as age increases. Like a patient in the dropsy, whose thirst is inflamed by drinking, the desires of the covetous are augmented by increasing riches, and they are never more tainted with earthly affections, than when their bodies are about to be re- duced to their original dust. The difficulty of subduing such a woful propensity, especially in the decline of life, is great, and, in most cases, insurmountable. It is like tearing the skin from the flesh, or the flesh from the bones. There are not, perhaps, twenty out of a thousand, on whom the most cogent or alarming arguments will have the least effect in awakening them to consideration, or turning them from their covetousness. The vicious principle they iu- dulge is so subtile, that you cannot lay hold of it, so as to render it tangible. It is so deeply seated, that you cannot draw it from its hiding place to make it visible in the face of day. You may convince a man who goes on in a regular course of licentiousness and intemperance, of the folly and wickedness of his conduct,, by showing him the inevitable miseries? to which it leads even in the present life. But we have no such hold on the covet- ous. In reply to every argument, he will tell you, that what we call covetousness, is only a necessary prudence to augment his estate, and secure jt from danger, to provide for the wants of his family, and leave some- thing to his children, when he is gone ; and that persons of great repute for probity and wisdom, are found prosecuting a similar course. He is unwilling to be convinced of his sin and danger, and is like a person dying of a mortal disease, who yet perceives not the malignity of the malady which is hurrying him to his grave. But the difficulty of curing such a distemper, though great, is not insurmountable. While there is life, there is hope. Let such as enter- tain the least suspicions, that all is not right with them as to this matter, seriously examine their hearts on this point, and weigh the con- siderations which have already been adduced. Above all things, look up to God, who alone can heal your disease, and purify your affec- turns, and say unto him, in the language of the Psalmist, "Search me, O God, and know CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHRISTIANS. 115 my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Remem- ber that your happiness through eternity is at stake ; and give not sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids, till you have fled for refuge to the hope set before you in the gospel till you have renounced your idolatrous affections, and consecrated your heart to God. Your feet are already " stumbling on the dark mountains," and, ere you are aware, you may fall, at the next step, into irretrievable ruin. And if you depart from this world, under the dominion of covetous affections, you are ren- dered unfit for the mansions of the just, and the happiness which will be their portion for ever and ever. 5. Consider, in the last place, that your covetous affections, if obstinately indulged, will necessarily exclude you from the king- dom of heaven, and involve you in eternal perdition. This has already been illustrated in various points of view, (see pp. 41, 65.) It is the unalterable decree of the Most High, as recorded in his word, that "the covetous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ;" and, that those who are banished from this kingdom and its honours, "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." In the face of such awful declarations, to continue in the lust of covet- ousness, grasping incessantly after riches as the highest object of desire, is the ^greatest folly and madness of which men can be guilty. For what a poor compensation will men run the risk of such terrible and appalling consequences! Our Saviour tells us, that it would profit a man nothing, " should he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul." But how often does it happen, that men for- feit their eternal happiness for the merest trifle, and set their immortal souls to sale for a thing of nought 1 One will sell his soul merely to gratify his lust, or his revenge; another will rather go in the broad way to hell, than be out of the fashion of the gay world. That officer in the army, who lords over his inferiors, in all the pomp of his brief authority, what does he sell his soul for] "For the false glory of swearing expertly, and uniting blasphemy with politeness." That perjured wretch, who bears false wit- ness against his neighbour, or robs him of his property, by fraud or deceit what price does he put upon his soul 1 A few guineas, per- haps, or a house, or a few acres of land. Few men ask a throne, a kingdom, a province, or even a barony, but will hazard the loss of their immortal spirits, for the most paltry compensation that this wretched world can afford. "Be astonished ye luavtns, at this, and be ye horribly afraid." O, my deluded brethren, arouse yourselves to consideration ; and let not the encumbrance of this world's wealth sink you down to the lowest hell. Listen to the dictates of reason, to the voice of conscience, and to the word of God. Consider the terrible reflections you will make upon yourselves, and the deep and inexpressible anguish and regret you will feel at the madness of your choice, should you fall into perdition. Your loss will then be found not only vast beyond comprehension, but absolutely irreparable. You will curse those false and flattering pleasures, and covetous lusts, which have cheated you out of eternal life, and rendered you vessels of wrath fitted . for destruction, and would be glad to part with a thousand worlds, were it in your power, for the opportunity of making a new, and a better choice ; but in that prison of despair, no price will ever be accepted for your redemption. Could I describe to you the geography of that dismal region, where hope never enters, and over which hangs the blackness of dark- ness for ever ; could I paint the gnawings of " the worm that never dies," and the sharpness of " the fire which is never quenched ;" the raging anguish, the fearful despair, the want of the least pity or commiseration ; " the inso- lent scorn and cruelty of wicked associates ;" " the weeping and wailing, arid gnashing of teeth," which form only a portion of future misery ; how would the folly of your conduct startle, and confound you, in hazarding such an awful, and interminable retribution, for the short-lived enjoyment of trifles light as air ! Let such considerations sink deep into the heart of every worldling, and, without a mo- ment's delay, let him take refuge from " the wrath to come," by betaking himself to "the hope set before him," and by consecrating to the service of God all his riches and treasures, all his powers and affections. To all the deceitful promises and prospects, which the world and the flesh may set before you, oppose those emphatic and momentous words of Him who is Lord of the visible and invisi- ble worlds, " What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul 1 ? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" III. Considerations addressed to CHRIS- TIANS, on whom God has bestowed wealth and influence. To you, my beloved brethren, who " know the truth as it is in Jesus," and who feel an ardent desire for its universal propagation, I would offer a few considerations and motives, " to stir up your pure minds, by way of remembrance." (331) 116 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. In the first place, I would have you con- if you entertain a lively sense of God's provi- sider, that a far greater proportion of your dential goodness towards you, and of your ob- substance than has ever yet BEEN thought of ligation to Him*, who hath redeemed your by Christians in general, should be devoted souls from destruction, and crowned you with to the service of God, and the promotion of spiritual and heavenly blessings ; you will re- the best interests of your fellow-men. sign to his service without a murmur, nay, God is the original proprietor of your with the utmost cheerfulness, a large portion estates ; from Him you derived them ; and of those treasures which his bounty has be- if, by the exertion of your own powers and stowed. activities, you have acquired the wealth you But, to come to particulars : I shall sup- possess, you are aware, that the faculties which pose you have an income of 800 a year, enabled you to acquire riches, were gifts be- What would you think of devoting 300 ari- stowed upon you by his bounty, and that the nually, exclusively for the purposes to which I train of circumstances which led to your sue- have alluded 1 You will, perhaps, think it is cess, was the result of the arrangements of his bearing too hard upon you, to make such a Providence. You might have been born a demand. But, can you deny, that with the changeling, destitute of both bodily and men- remaining 500, you can enjoy all the sensi- tal energies ; you might have been placed in tive pleasures which a Christian, or any ra- other circumstances, which would have pre- tional man ought to desire. You would perhaps vented your acquisition of wealth, and doomed require to part with some luxury in dress, you to perpetual poverty ; or you might have food, clothing, or equipage, which is not es- commenced your existence in the centre of sential to human happiness ; but, are no small New Holland, or the wilds of Patagonia, sacrifices to be made for the general good of where you could never have experienced mankind, and to testify your love to the R 118 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. and of the work to be accomplished, and the immense sums requisite for carrying them for- ward ; from which it will appear, that all the liberality which every Christian can display, is absolutely necessary, in order to promote the renovation of the physical and moral world, and to diffuse the knowledge of divine truth among the nations. Almost all the depart- ments of the social state require to be remo- delled- universal education, on a broad and universal basis, requires to be established in every land the poor require to be furnished with employment, instruction, and comforta- ble habitations " the face of the earth" re- requires to be "renewed," and the desarts, marshes, and barren wastes, transformed into fertile fields, and luxuriant vegetation the 600 millions which people heathen nations, require to be instructed in the knowledge of the true God, and of Jesus Christ whom he hath sent the " isles afar off must be visited, and vast continents explored, that their inha- bitants may be visited with the day-spring from on high and the knowledge of salvation." The gospel must be published to all nations, and the way prepared for the triumphant reign of Mes- siah over all kindreds and people. Every valley must be exalted, and every mountain and hill must be levelled, to prepare a highway for the approach of Him " to whom is given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, na- tions, and languages, should serve Him" "whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom that which shall not be de- stroyed." All these extensive and important ob- jects require to be accomplished by the com- bined efforts of the citizens of Zion, in connec- tion with the movements of Divine Providence and the operations of the Divine Spirit, and an imperious call is addressed to every one to en- gage in this holy enterprise. Say not ye, there- fore, as the ancient Jews, " The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built." " For, thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways, go up to the mountain, and bring store, and build this house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Je- hovah. Be strong all ye people of the land, and work, for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts. For thus saith the Lord, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen, and I will give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.". Now, therefore, my brethren, listen to the (334) admonition : " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, CONSIDER YOUR WAYS ;" consider whether you have yet done all that is in your power, to accomplish the purposes of the Most High. Consider whether your indifference and par- simony have not prevented the preparations requisite for rearing the spiritual temple of Jehovah. And if you are convinced, that, were you weighed in the balance, you would be found wanting, it is now time to make up your deficiency, and to awake to spiritual activity, and to holy enterprises. Will you allow the love of the world to prevent the ex- tension of the gospel, and to retard the ap- proach of the millennial era, and the full glory of Messiah's reign 1 Yet this ye do, if ye do not come forward, with cheerfulness, to devote ail the treasures you can possibly spare, to prepare the way for the proclama- tion among all people of "the salvation of our God." What a sad reflection is it, should conscience arouse us, that we have been guilty of standing as obstructions to the pro- gress and prosperity of the Redeemer's king- dom "? It is not unlikely that a reflection of this kind may occasionally damp the joys of individuals, even in the celestial mansions. We are told of some who shall be saved, " yet so as by fire" implying, that, though they shall be rescued from perdition, yet a mark of disapprobation will be set upon certain parts of their conduct, which will prevent them from receiving the higher rewards of the heavenly state. But every Christian should so act as to render himself worthy of the highest approbation of his Lord and master, and of the higher seats in the mansions of bliss. Those to whom God has given abun- dant treasures, have the best opportunities of thus distinguishing themselves; and we know, moreover, that " to whom much is given," from them " much will be required." Let it never then be surmised of you, that your con- duct appears as if you set a higher value on the pomp and fashion of the world, in laying up treasures on earth, in providing portions for your children, or in living in luxurious abundance, than in hastening the arrival of the millennium, or in aiming at the highest honours of the celestial kingdom. Let the promises of your God and Redeemer, the pleasure of beholding the gradual progress of the world's regeneration, and the glorious prospects presented to your faith, animate and encourage you to come forth as a Christian hero in the cause of universal benevolence ; and although you should be sneered at by the men of the world, " great shall be your re- ward," in that kingdom where they who have been instrumental in turning many to right eousness, " shall shine as the brightness of CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHRISTIANS. 119 the firmament, and as the stars for e^er and ever."* 3. Consider the import of the words of your Redeemer, "It is more blessed (or happy) to give than to receive." The disposition to communicate happiness to fellow-intelligences, is one of the charac- teristic traits of the true Christian, by which he is distinguished from the selfish and avari- cious soul, and from the world that lieth in wickedness. It is the source of all natural and moral good, the spring of all public and private happiness, and the only real excellence of moral and intelligent beings. A disposi- tion to receive happiness from others, but never to be instrumental in imparting it, would create a vast blank throughout the uni- verse ; and its countless tribes of inhabitants would remain for ever destitute of enjoyment. Creation might present a scene of beauty and fertility to the eye, but the affection of moral beings would be cold and chill as the frosts of winter, and their hearts would never thrill with joy amidst surrounding associates. But from the voluntary and benevolent agency of intelligent beings, beginning at the great first * It is not a little unaccountable, on Christian principles, that so many wealthy professors of re- ligion leave the world, without bequeathing any portion of their substance for religious and phi- lanthropic purposes. An aged gentleman, a pro- fessor of religion, who had for many years attended a respectable dissenting place of worship, died a few weeks ago, leaving money and property to the amount of 20,000. But, although he was unmar- ried, and had no children, nor brothers nor sisters, not a single pound of it was devoted to the public, charitable, or religious objects while the one half of this sum might have been appropriated to such objects, without the least injury to surviving rela- tives, most of whom stood in no need of it. About a month ago, a lady informed me, that a gentleman in one of our populous cities had died worth 300,000. I replied, in the words of the late J. B. Wilson, Esq., "He has died wickedly rich." She was startled at the reply, and said " that he was a respectable character, and had acquired his wealth in an honourable way." I asked, how much of it he had left for the purposes of religion and philan- thropy 7 She replied, " that she had heard of no- thing being left for such purposes, but he had, no doubt, given during his life, something for charita- ble objects ; and that it was very proper and duti- ful for a man to provide for his family, that they may move in their proper station ; for we are told, that he who provideth not for his household, hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel," &c. I replied, such a man ought to have left at least, 20,000, for rational and religious purposes, with- out in the least injuring his family, in whatever station they were brought up, and 1 could not but entertain a very low opinion of that man's Chris- tianity, who could accumulate so much wealth, and leave none of it to promote the cause of reli- gion and the best interests of mankind. But my worthy female friend could not be persuaded but that a man might lawfully do with his own as he pleased, and that his family were, entitled to the whole of what he possessed. This is a fallacy which ought to be removed from the minds of pro- fessed religionists, as it implies a virtual denial of our dependence upon God, and of our obligations to consecrate our wealth and talents to the ac- complishment of his benevolent designs. cause of all enjoyment, and descending through every subordinate rank of intellectual exist- ence, flows all that happiness which is en- joyed, either in earth or heaven, by every rank of moral agents, whether men or angels, cherubim or seraphim. This is the plain im- port of the maxim of our Saviour : " It is more happy to give thai, to receive," namely, that the communication of good ought to be the great object of every Christian, and that it is more desirable and honourable to impart enjoyment to others than to receive it from them. I cannot conceive a source of greater hap- piness on earth, than that which would flow to a Christian, whom God hath blessed with abundance of weath, in distributing at least the one-half of his substance, in works of piety and beneficence. He might soon be- hold, every where around him, the young trained up in knowledge and virtue, the gos- pel preached to the poor and to every class, the ignorant instructed, the industrious la- bourer supplied with employment, the afflicted relieved, the wants of the destitute supplied, schools, churches, and commodious dwellings with garden plots, rising on every side ; the desart cultivated, and the wilderness made to bud and blossom as tM rose. Such a charac- ter would be as eyesto the blind, and feet to the lame, and would cause the widow's heart to leap for joy. Wherever he appeared mi- sery would smile, and his presence would be hailed with gratitude and joy. How many improvements of this description might be effected, and how much happiness diffused, by judiciously distributing in every district five thousand, or even one thousand pounds annually, on such objects 1 But where is the man or the Christian to be found who pants for such celestial enjoyment? In the exercise of this disposition we be- come imitators of God, and are assimilated to his character. When he brought creation into existence, he could have no possible view, in launching innumerable worlds into the depths of space, but to display the glories of his nature, and to confer benefits on their inhabitants. Could we wing our flight through the regions of immensity, and survey the va- rious ranks of the population of the universe could we mingle with the hosts of angels and archangels, and witness their enjoyments, we should find that all the arrangements of the Almighty, in reference to their situation and activities, have a tendency to contribute to their felicity that his benevolence is dis- played wherever matter exists, and wherever there are sentient and intellectual beings to participate of his bounty. He is not adored by the heavenly host, or by any of his crea- tures, " as if he needed any thing" to aug- (335) 120 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. ment his glory, " seeing he giveth to all, life and breath, and all things." He is declared in Scripture to be " abundant in goodness," " good to all," continually " doing good," and that his tender mercies are over all his works." Now, we are commanded to be imitators of God in his universal beneficence. " Be ye merciful, as your Father in heaven is merci- ful ; love your enemies, and do good to them that hate you ; that ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just, and on the unjust." By acting in this character, we are likewise imitators of the blessed Redeemer, " who went about doing good" to all classes of men, without distinction of rank or na- tion. Though he was " the brightness of the Father's glory," yet, " for our sakes he be- came poor, and took upon him the form of a servant." His whole life was an uninter- rupted series of beneficent actions." He had compassion on the ignorant and the distressed ; he fed the hungry multitudes in a desart; he opened the eyes of the blind, unstopped the ears of the deaf, made the lame man to leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb to sing. He restored to disconsolate parents the children whom death had snatched from their embrace ; he healed all manner of sickness and disease among the people, and none ever applied to him for relief, who was refused as- sistance or spurned from his presence. And now that " he has entered into heaven to ap- pear in the presence of God for us," he is engaged in similar benevolent services. For, we are told, that " the Lamb in the midst of the throne feeds" the redeemed inhabitants, " and leads them to living fountains of water, and wipes away tears from every eye." We are, therefore, exhorted to " be followers of Christ as dear children, and to walk in love ; for he hath set us an example that we should walk in his steps." Again, in the exercise of the disposition to communicate happiness, we imitate the an- gelic tribes, who are incessantly engaged in similar services. Those glorious beings not only contribute to the happiness of each other, but rejoice to wing their downward flight to communicate messages of mercy to mankind. Although they dwell amidst the splendours of eternal day, they refuse not to descend for a season to our wretched world. They entered the lowly cot of the Virgin Mary, with a message of joy ; they flew swiftly to Daniel, to explain his vision ; they unbarred the pri- son gates to rescue Peter from his enemies ; they comforted Paul with the assurance of divine protection, while tossing on the raging Dillows ; and, in numerous ways with which we are unacquainted, " they encamp around (336) those who fear the Lord," and are " minister- ing spirits to the heirs of salvation." In short, heaven, whither we profess to be jour- neying, is a scene of pure beneficence. In that happy world, the spirits of the just will spend an immensity of duration, in an endless diffusion of benefits among countless orders of holy intelligences ; and while they derive enjoyment from blessings conferred by kindred spirits, they will still find, that " it is more blessed to give than to receive." For in so doing, we most nearly resemble the original source of felicity, who is " the blessed and only potentate," supreme in happiness, yet in- cessantly diffusing benefits among unnum- bered beings, throughout the whole extent of his universal empire. Were such dispositions to be generally pre- valent among men, what a happy world should we look upon, compared with that which we now behold ! Were it universally prevalent, into what a glorious scene would society be transformed ! Heaven would descend to earth, and an image would be presented of the intercourses and the joys of the blessed above. And, what should hinder such a dis- position from being universally displayed, but the selfishness and depravity of man ] Why may not our world be filled with intelligent beings, devoted to such noble and god-like aims, as well as with tribes of selfish demons ? There is no physical impossibility to prevent such a blessed transformation. But the WILL of man stands as a barrier ; he perceives not in what his true happiness consists ; " he loves darkness rather than light," and misery more than happiness, and will not bend his ears to the instructions of heavenly wisdom. No man, however, ought to assume the name of a Christian in whom this benevolent and god-like disposition does not exist. Were Christianity universally diffused, and its holy principles recognized as the basis of human action, we should, ere long, behold such dis- plays of beneficence in all the regions of the globe, and among every kindred and tribe and people ; and the sighs of the disconsolate, the groans of the oppressed, and the shouts of the warrior would be heard no more. Let me beseech you, then, my Christian brethren, to cultivate this benignant principle, and show to the world that you are actuated* by higher aims than the sons of avarice, and that you are of one heart and affection with the angels of light. To do good, and to com- municate, forget not, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased, And, if you are thus disposed, you will come forward, with c^er- fulness, in every work of universal philan- thropy, and will not grudge any of the small sacrifices we have now proposed. You will thus be instrumental in augmenting the sum CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHRISTIANS. 121 of happiness on earth, and prepared for engaging in the benevolent employments of the inhabitants of heaven. 4. Consider the fleeting nature of earthly enjoyments, and how soon you may be called to part with every thing you now possess. You may be disposed, at first view, to think it hard to part with a hundred or two hundred pounds for the good of others, while you do not know how much you may require for yourself and family, at some future period. But you ought to recollect, that we should be directed by what appears to be present duty, without looking forward to mere possibilities, or contingencies which may never happen, and should trust in God, as to all the future arrangements of our lot in this world. While we perplex ourselves with anxieties about futurity, that futurity, in relation to the pre- sent scene, may never arrive. In such an hour as we think not, the messenger of death may rnahe his appearance to summon us to the world of spirits. So numerous are in- stances of this description, and so frequently reported in our daily records of intelligence, that no one can, with any show of reason, flatter himself that he shall certainly live to enjoy a long succession of months or years. And, should the grim messenger arrive at a time when you have been withholding your wealth from benevolent objects, and laying it up for future use, how many painful reflec- tions may arise to imbitter your comforts and shake your hopes, on the eve of your de- parture nay, to produce painful feelings, if that be possible, even on your entrance to the world of bliss.* When you have the imme- diate prospect of bidding a last adieu to all earthly riches and grandeur, they will appear of a very different value from that by which they are now estimated. At that period, you will look upon them in the light in which a great man in a neighbouring country, viewed * It is not altogether improbable, that certain painful feelings or reflections, may occasionally raise in the mind, even in heaven itself. We have no reason to believe, that it is such a state of absolute perfection, at least on our first entrance to it, as entirely to prevent some transient uneasy reflections. The saints will carry with them into that, state all their recollections in reference to their dispositions and conduct in the present world, and, therefore, it is not unlikely, that the sins they committed in this life, and particularly, the little zeal they displayed in promoting the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom, after they were brought to the knowledge of the truth may Dc.rasioniilly produce an unpleasant feeling in the midst of all their joys. This idea seems to be in- cluded in the representation given in the parable resppctinu the degrees of honour to which persons will be advanced in proportion to their zeal and activity in the cause of God, while upon earth. Hut all such uneasy reflections, should they arise, will only tend to lead the soul to higher admiration nfthe boundless arid unmerited love of God which Is in Christ Jesua our Lord. 43 some extraordinary mark of distinction and honour sent him as he lay on his death-bed. " Alas ! (said he, looking coldly upon it) this is a mighty fine thing here in this country, but I am fast bound for a country where it will be of no service to me." Reflect then, my Christian friend, on the views you will have of riches, at the hour of death, and let this consideration excite you, while in the vigour of health, "to devise liberal things," in regard to the furtherance of every philan- thropic object, so that no bitter regrets may disturb your last moments, and that "an abundant entrance may be ministered to you into the everlasting kingdom of your Lord and Saviour." 5. Consider the promises and declarations of God in reference to the certainty of tem- poral support. There is scarcely any thing that causes so much anxious thought and perplexity to man- kind in general, as the consideration how they arc to acquire the means of subsistence ] and, on this account, they have always an argument at hand, against distributing their money for public and religious objects. But there is nothing more clear and express than the promises made to the Christian in refer- ence to his temporal support, so that while he is diligent in his business and conducts his affairs with prudence and discretion, he need never harass his mind with anxious thoughts about future subsistence. The following are a selection of those divine declarations on which his faith and hope may confidently rely, as the words of him who is immutable, and who keepeth covenant and mercy to a thousand generations. " The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof. Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. Honour the Lord loith tJty substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase ; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great riches and trouble therewith. A little that a right- eous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. I have, been young, (says the Psalmist,) and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed beg- ging bread. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watcreth shall be watered also himself. Thy bread shall be given thoe, and thy water shall be sure. Take no anxious thought (says our Saviour) for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet. your heavenly father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they] And why take ye * 2 F (337^ 122 ESSAY ON COVETOUSNESS. thought for raiment ! Consider the lilies of the field how they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith 7 The time is short, it remaineth that they who weep be as though they wept not ; and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not ; and they that buy as though they possessed not; and they that use this world as not abusing it ; for the fashion of this world pas- seth away. He who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly,- and he who soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully , for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. Be careful for nothing, but in every thing, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. I have learned (says Paul) in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know' both how to be abased, and I know how to abound ; every where, and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. But I have all and abound, and my God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Godliness with contentment is great gain ; for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out; and having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high- minded, nor trust in uncertain riches; but in the living God who giveth us all things richly to enjoy that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come." The ancient worthies " took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and more enduring substance." Moses "esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt." " Let your conversation be without covet- ousness, and be content with such things as ye have ; for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. A good man showeth favour and lendeth ; he will guide his affairs with discretion. He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever. Surely jfre shall not be moved for ever. The right- eous shall be in everlasting remembrance." (338) Such Divine declarations as the abov* should have a powerful influence on the mint: of every Christian, in reconciling him to his situation in life, and to the measure of wealth which Providence has allotted him; and, inspiring him with a noble liberality in the distribution of his riches, without fear of con- sequences. For God has pledged himself in these promises and declarations, that they who trust in Him, and conduct their affairs with discretion, shall want for nothing that is truly desirable in their pilgrimage through this world. " The young lions may lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." All the saints, in every age, have in some mea- sure experienced the truth of these declara- tions, and, in many remarkable instances, they have been strikingly fulfilled, in cases where all prospects of subsistence had dis- appeared, and all hopes of deliverance had nearly failed ; as might have been illustrated by many interesting facts recorded in the history of the church, and of individual Christians, had our limits permitted. I shall conclude with the following sen- timents, and an anecdote stated by Dr. Witherspoon. There are those who are rich in their poverty, because they are content, and use generously what they have; there are those, who, in the midst of their riches, are really poor, from their insatiable covetousness, or profusion. Calmet. The prayer which Socrates taught his pupil Alcibiades, is remarkable, and deserves the consideration even of a Christian: " That he should beseech the Supreme God, to give him what was good for him, though he should not ask it; and to withhold from him whatever would be hurtful, though he should be so foolish as to pray for it." The following piece of private history that happened in Great Britain, is related by the late Dr. Witherspoon, in one of his sermons. "A gentleman of very considerable fortune, but a stranger to either personal or family religion, one evening, took a solitary walk through a part of his own grounds. He happened to come near to a mean hut, where a poor man with a numerous family lived, who earned their bread by daily labour. He heard a voice pretty loud and continued. Not knowing what it was, curiosity prompted him to listen. The man, who was piously disposed, happened to be at prayer with his family. So soon as he could distinguish the. words, he heard him giving thanks with great affection to God, for the goodness of his providence in giving them food to eat, and raiment to put on, and in supplying them with what was necessary and comfortable in APPENDIX. J23 the present life. He was immediately struck that is grateful and desirable, have hardly with astonishment and confusion, and said ever bent my knee, or made any acknow- to himself, 'does this poor man, who has ledgment to my Maker and Preserver]' It nothing but the meanest fare, and that pur- pleased God, that this providential occurrence chased by severe labour, give thanks to God proved the means of bringing him to a real for his goodness to himself and family, and I, and lasting sense of God and religion." who enjoy ease, and honour, and every thing APPENDIX. THE following statements extracted from the " Report of the Commissioners," who were sent to Ireland to investigate the state of the lower classes in that country, exhibit a picture of the effects of covetousness, com- bined with its usual accompaniment apathy in regard to the sufferings of others, which would disgrace a Pagan land, and much more a Christian land. These Commissioners appear to have con- ducted their inquiries openly and fairly. They held their sittings in upwards of one hundred parishes. They were sent through the whole of the four provinces of Ireland, and obtained information from all ranks and classes, from "the highest landlord, down to the lowest beggar." The details stated below, are only speci- mens of hundreds of similar details, equally horrible and revolting, which are scattered throughout a quarto volume of between four and five hundred pages. The answers to the questions put, taken viva voce, are printed verbatim, under the following seven heads. 1. Deserted and orphan children. 2. Illegiti- mate children and their mothers. 3. Widows with families of young children. 4. Impotent through age and infirmity. 5. Sick, poor. 6. Able-bodied out of work. 7. Vagrants. 1. The following extracts relate to widows with children. They are seldom half fed, say a cloud of witnesses. One meal of potatoes a day, is the most they can expect, eked out with unwhole- some weeds. Mr. Cotter, rector of a parish in the county of Cork, says, " One evening a par- cel of workmen came to me for soup, which I was in the habit of giving. Some cabbage stumps that were thrown out of the kitchen were lying near. The pigs and fowls had picked them almost quite bare. / saw myself six or seven of the poor women turn their faces to the wall, and eat the stumps the pigs had left. Peggy Kiernan, a beggar woman, says, the widows get, when at work for the farmers, l^d. per day. They rarely beg in public, unless when their children are so young they cannot leave them." The Assistant Commissioners found widow Halloran working a quilt. She worked eight hours a day, and it would take her a week to finish it, and all she had bargained for, was one shilling. A man who happened to be standing by, said he would not give two pence a day, for what any widow in the parish would earn by her labour. Parochial assistance is unknown, and the question, whether the absen- tee proprietors who hold nearly the entire parish, ever contribute to the relief of those who pay them rent, was answered with a laugh, that expressed astonishment at the thought of such a thing being entertained. When th.3 cholera appeared at Cork, a small hospital was established, and a few pa- tients admitted into it. Notwithstanding the great dread that was entertained for the disease, three poor widows feigned sickness, in order to gain admission,- one, the widow Buck, had two children. When these women wero detected, they refused to go out. In the county of Limerick, there had been no widow driven by her necessities to prostitution, though one of these virtuous poor women states, that she lives in a hovel without a roof. " I have no house," says she, " but I got a few poles, and made a narrow shed, by placing them against the wall and covering them with loose weeds. The end is open to the air, and there is no door." She expects, with her boy, to pass the winter under the same shed. Even in the north of Ireland, where Pro- testants chiefly reside, similar privations are found to prevail. The following is a picture of a Londonderry widow. - The Assistant Commissioners visited one widow. She lived in a wretched hovel on the road-side, about half a mile from Dungiven. There was a little straw in a corner, which, covered with a thin linen quilt, served as a bed. Over two or three kindled turf, a girl of (339- 124 APPENDIX. about ten years of age, was bending, and a middle-aged woman was sitting, spinning in the centre of the hut. She said that the girl was the youngest of eight children, and was only a month old, when, by her husband's death, she was left wholly dependent on her own exertions. None of the children were at that time able to assist her ; and the only employment open to her was spinning, by which she could then make 4e?. a day. By her spinning, which was gradually diminished to 2d. a day, she brought up her eight children, sending them out to service as they grew up. They are nfcw married, or engaged in service. The three eldest married when they were under eighteen. "They never," said she, " got a noggin of broth in charity ; nor did a handful of potatoes badly got, ever enter my house. I always kept the roof over them, and prevented their begging." She never had any land ; her landlord having taken from her, that' which her husband held ; but he left her the house, half of which was blown down, and in the remaining half, she still lived. She seemed cheerful and contented, but said, she had gone through unutterable hardships. " Many a time," said she, " a neigh- bour woman that lived with me, did not know that I had only eaten two or three potatoes that day, and, at night, I used to be up two or three times, when I could not sleep, thinking of my misfortunes, and looking out for the daylight to begin working." Widow M Crow, another inhabitant of the north, stated, " The rain comes in through the roof of my hut. I sleep on the ground, which is constantly wet, and have not so much straw as would fill a hat. I have but a single fold of a blanket to cover my whole family. I have had it for eight years. My children are naked. I have a lump on the shoulder, for which I cannot get medical assistance." It was agreed by all present, that few widows can be better than this woman. The gentry, says the Report, scarcely ever assist the poor widows, but the labourers will ofton work a day for them gratis in building a hovel. Some of these widows have too much pride to beg, and pine in hopeless misery, in some wretched cabin. In the single parish of Killaloe, in the county of Clare, the R. C. Priest speaks of sixty widows in this destitute state. " I had not," says Mary Slattery, " a sod of turf to warm a drink for my sick child. All I had to-day, was four cold potatoes. The rain comes down through the roof, and my lodger never slept a wink last night, trying how to keep the bed-clothes dry. As God knows my heart, I spent the night on the hearth-stone, crying and praying that God would look down on me and my children/' As to laying by any thing when ir employ- (340) ment, that is out of the question. " No man," says Mr. Donaugh, " could lay up any thing for his old age, unless he have an old lease. In other cases, there is no chance of it." The effect of this wretched life, and diet, in too apparent, and cuts off the sufferers before the usual period' of human life. Labourers usually break down at the age of fifty-five, from the effects of scanty food, and exposure to the weather. The same is reported of me- chanics. If there is a bridge to be built, there will not be a man above fifty-five upon it. Poverty bends their spirits and breaks them down. It appears from the evidence, that the custom of supporting their parents, which used to be the pride of the Irish peasants, is decay- ing fast, from the pressure of the times, and incapacity. Labourers supporting their pa- rents, are often reduced to one meal of dry potatoes. It sometimes comes to counting the potatoes. Then, as the second family grows large, the daughter-in-law begins to grumble. She will not see her children starved to feed her husband's parents. " Being always at home, she is apt to find her husband's father in the way, and you will see the old man cowering in the chimney, as if he were endeavouring to hide himself from her." An old man says himself, " the few potatoes I eat, sir, cannot do me good, for I am afraid they are grudged me, and what is more, I grudge them to myself, when I see so many mouths opening for them." One witness states, that " the turning out of the father is so common, that the contrary is the excep- tion." The Rev. Mr. Gibson mentions the follow- ing case. " The wife and family of a mun who had been respectable, died here of want, a short time since. They could not get any thing to eat at times, more than once in two days. They died rather than beg." Such cases, alas ! are by no means scarce. Mr. Riley says, "two months ago, I saw an old woman eighty years of age, going over the bridge to beg her breakfast. When she got to the top, she stopped to rest herself, and, when I came up to her, she was dead." Dr. Walsh, M. D., states, " that in his parish in Kildare,"many have died of actual starvation." Yet, in a country where such scenes are daily passing, all the great land owners are averse to the introduction of poor laws, and for this most selfish reason, that the principal burden of supporting the poor, would, [as it ought,] fall upon themselves. It is curious to remark, that the farmers and shop-keepers, in a word, the middle and producing classes of the Irish community, approve of some system of poor laws, while the gentry as decidedly set their face against any such system. "T/ie gentry never give to beggars" says one of APPENDIX. 125 the witnesses, "high walls surround their de- mesnes, and a dog is kept at the gates to pre- vent the entrance of a beggar. Absentees, even in times of dearth, or infectious disease, fiend over no subscriptions.'" " They send over nothing bul latitats and ejectments," says the Rev. Mr. Burke. The evidence of Dr. M'Hale, R. C. Archbishop of Tuam, writ- ten by himself, is remarkable on this point. " The gentry," says the Archbishop, " scarce- ly ever subscribe regularly for their support : even in the seasons of appalling distress (1832 and '34,) there were individuals ol large fortunes, who did not subscribe one shilling. The burden is thrown by the affluent gentry on their poorer neighbours ; orders are of fen issued by the proprietors oflargt ^an- sions, not to suffer such a nuisance as a beg- gar, to approach the gates. I could name the persons. The general opinion is favour- able to a provision for the poor, in case the burden do not fall on those classes that are already taxed for their support. It is in vain to make a provision for the poor, unless the property of the absentee, and the church lands are almost exclusively fixed with the amount ; otherwise, such a provision would be no re- lief. All that could be gained by taxing the industrious classes, would be to make that compulsory which is now voluntary. If the properties of the absentees are tax^d, and the church lands be re-appropriated to their origi- nal destination, a large fund, now lying idle, will be applied to the support of the people." In the examinations in the county of Long- ford, Mr. K - said, he represented the feelings of a great number, when he expressed himself " in favour of a support for the infirm, especially from a tax on absentees, one of whom draws 10,000 per annum, from the county, and 3000 from the parish, without contributing any thing for the support of the 2. Under the head of " sick poor" we find that no relief exists for the poor, when sick or diseased. If the disease be contagious, they are cither put out of the cabin into a temporary hut, or the reH^ of the family leave it and them. Any nourishment the neighbours may give them is left at the door, and the creatures crawl out to take it in. Many have been disabled for life, by scrambling out of bed to get what is left for them at the door. " The day before yes- terday," says a witness, " a woman coming from Galway, was taken ill on the road. The people thought she had the cholera, and refused to let her into their houses. She lay by the side of a ditch and died in the morning." Our diseases," says Mr. Powell, " are caused by cold, hunger, and nakedness. The poor man on regaining his appetite, finds nothing to eat. A little food would restore him, but he sinks for the want of it. People are constantly tapped for a dropsy arising from starvation." " I have frequently," says Dr. Walsh, " found the sick lying on the bare damp ground, straw being considered a luxury which the pig only, which pays the rent, has a right to enjoy." In some places, there are charitable loan funds ; " but," says a witness, " the gen- try and landlords seldom subscribe." When we go to beg at a gentleman's house, says Pat Mitchell, beggarman, it is the wife that asks relief, and the answer frequently is, " go from the door, woman." The farmers are kindlier by far. It is the humble sort that live on the road-side, that are really good to us ; but half the country, God help them ! have no Christianity in them at all" Mola- mey says, that, in the mountains of this parish, when the potatoes fail them, they bleed the cattle, and eat the boiled blood, sometimes mixed with meal, but oftener without it ; he has himself known the same beast to have been bled three times in one season / they never bleed their cattle for this purpose, when they can procure any other food; he says, " the mere labourers would not get a potatoe on credit ; they would gladly take credit on any terms, if they could get it ; they would promise any thing before they would beg, which some are obliged to do, and to leave their own place in shame. They take one journey by night before they begin, that they may save the exposure." The assistant commissioners entered into the cabin of a woman labouring under the disease of water in the chest. She said, " I have not this morning been able to rise from that bed of straw. I felt a sort of gnawing about my heart. The only thing I had was these few potatoes, (pointing to some on the ground between her and a little girl, who had the small-pox,) you see they are rotten the most of them, and all are wet." " Yet these very people," says a respectable newspaper editor, " thus abandoned by wretches fiends in the human shape, who call themselves landlords, exhibit some of the finest feelings that ever adorned the human heart." When one has a tolerable coat, he lends it to a neigh- bour, that he may carry something to the market, and look decent. The Rev. Mr. Gib- bon says, "when I go to a village to hold a station, one man comes to me, and confesses, and when he "has done, goes out and lends his coat to a neighbour, that he may come in also ; the very women do the same, and lend not only their cloak but their gown." Mary Carr, who is a widow, and who is rearing up a foundling, says, " the blanket that was on my bed, I cut up to make two little petticoats for the child. I do not know 2 F 2 (341) APPENDIX. what kitchen means. I am not able to buy a ha'porth of milk in the fortnight, and have not tasted a herring these three months." This woman, says Mr. G. Gottingham, is a fair specimen of the widows of the parish. In transcribing the above revolting state- ments, I have been almost led to feel ashamed of the order of intelligent beings to which I belong. It cannot but fill every feeling and well principled mind with a holy indignation, that such scenes should be found to exist in a country that boasts of its religion, and requires so much money for its support The facts are not the exaggerations of any political party ; as they were publicly and minutely investi- gated, and are admitted by all parties to be substantially correct. They are corroborated by the statements of the late Mr. Inglis, in his " Journey throughout Ireland in 1834," and, by all others who have lately visited that mis- governed, and unhappy country. At this very moment, hundreds of poor starving wretches have been ejected by their rich landlords, from the half acres and miserable hovels they occu- pied, in the midst of the most inclement sea- son of the year, to wander through the country, houseless and forlorn, and to perish of hunger and cold. One of the unfeeling miscreants, who acted as factor to some of the landlords, when remonstrated with on the dismal and destitute situation of the poor people, who were deprived of every shelter, and of every means of subsistance, had the fiendish ef- frontery to declare, that " they might go and EAT ONE ANOTHER, if they phased" Even the " Quarterly Review" which is not generally very squeamish on such subjects, exhibits a becoming indignation at this picture. " The wonder surely is, (says a writer in No. 109,) not that men become monsters under such circumstances ; that they make war upon the world, and the world's law which neglects and oppresses them; that being left to the destitution of the savage, they exhibit his disposition, adopt his system of self preserva- tion, and disregard the first principles of so- ciety. No ! the wonder is, that philosophers are found audacious enough to maintain that sufferings, such as we have related, should re- main unrelieved, in order to keep up the charitable sympathies of the people for each other, uncontaminated by the odious inter- ference of a legal provision for the destitute." And again, " the social virtues are stifled in an atmosphere of such misery and selfishness, for the instinct of self-preservation overpowers every other feeling." Perhaps there are few instances of covetous- ness more palpable and odious, than are dis- played in reference to the facts that have been now stated. It is a striking feature connected vith these facts that, while thousands of poor (342) creatures are living in roofless huts, with no- thing but a cold damp floor to lie upon, and not even enough of a few rotten potatoes for their food, the nobility, gentry, and rich landlords, seldom contribute in the Jeast, to relieve their misery, while none are more loud in their bawlings about religion, and the sup- port of the church. It is a most unhappy and unnatural state of society, that when thou- sands are revelling in the midst of luxury and debauchery, there should be tens of thousands immediately around them, suffering every privation, and many of them absolutely pe- rishing for want in the midst of plenty and splendour. That such scenes should be daily realized in a country blessed with fertility, and a fine climate ; in a country where so much wealth is lavished in folly and extravagance, and where so many enormous pensions and sinecures are enjoyed, both from the church and the state, cannot but fill every generous mind with swelling indignation. Here is surely a fine opportunity for wealthy gentle- men of benevolent feelings, to come forward and display their generosity. What might hinder them from purchasing some of the Irish moors, and mosses, and wastes, and setting thousands of the labouring poor to bring them into a state of cultivation, and to rear for themselves comfortable habitations 1 The blessing of thousands ready to perish would rest upon them, and their own hcart.s would feel a satisfaction superior to all the pleasures derived from pomp and pageantry, and riotous abundance. What becomes of all that wealth which has been bestowed on the Bishops, Deans, and many of the Rectors of the Episcopal church ; the one half of which would go a great way towards meliorating the condition of the lower class of the population of Ireland ? When the lands and other emoluments were first al- lotted to the bishops, it was, on the provision, that the one half, or at least --the one third of the proceeds should be devoted to the poor. This appears to be admitted by the benevolent Archbishop of Tuam, in his evidence stated above. " If the church lands," says the Archbishop, "be reapprop rioted to the ori- ginal destination, a large fund would be sup- plied to the support of the people." And would not the one half, of incomes amount- ing to eight, ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand pounds annually, be quite sufficient for any order of ministers belonging to the Christian church ? That such an appropriation has never yet been voluntarily made, even when the most urgent demand for it existed seems to indicate that there is a glaring want of Christian principle and benevolence, even among the ministers of the Christian church. 20 51 RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 202 Main Library LOAN PERIOD 1 HOME USE 2 3 4 5 6 ALL BOOKSiMAYnBE RECALLED AFTER 7gBAar#05 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing the books to the Circulation Desk Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date J DUE AS STAMPED BELOW O!C CEIVED F B 2 1 mSl f*CUL/- "*"'">.*' -> r W6 71986 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY FORM NO. DD6, 60m, 1/83 BERKELEY, CA 94720 $ ^ \, V GENERAL LIBRARY - U.C. BERKELEY