;

and forced excitement-the conclusion of a long and unparalleled war; when the storm, indeed, was over, and the atmosphere was tranquil, but the agitation and swell of the ocean continued. His reflections may be worth preserving, as a record of this time and they may deserve, too, being kept, as showing, at such a critical and difficult period, the opinions of an individual free from all party bias, and who regarded the then perplexing and anxious state of things very much in the light of a problem to be solved.

In regard to the preceding extracts generally, I may remark, that I have had a double object in publishing them; partly for the sake of the sentiments. or information which are conveyed in them, without relation to their author; and partly and chiefly in relation to him, as tending to develope his intellectual character, his modes of thought and expression, and peculiarities of opinions and doctrines. For this latter purpose they appear to me exceedingly well adapted. All the extracts given may be considered (as some of them are called) common-places," views, opinions, and expressions, spontaneous productions of his mind at different times and on different occasions, and exhibiting the nature of his mind, as the branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit of a tree show the kind and quality of the particular tree to which they belong. They display, it appears to me, in a striking manner, the independence and elevation of his mind, the extent and variety of his views, his fervid imagination, and the poetical dress he delighted to clothe his ideas in; his powers of analogical reasoning and illustration, his exalted ideas of the nature of scientific glory, of the objects of science,

and of its important influence in society; and his no less exalted views of the intellectual faculties of man, and his aspirations and hopes after immortality. They display, too, very remarkably, in conjunction with such exaltation, a reserve or diffidence, and distrust of human reason, and confession of its very limited powers and comparative littleness, coupled with unbounded faith in the power and beneficence of the Supreme Intelligence. They contain the elements of all that is peculiar in doctrine in his last work, the "Consolations in Travel," especially relating to the instinctive quality of religious and moral feeling. I trust no apology is necessary in amplifying somewhat on this subject of such vast importance and interest, not only as regarding the future but even the present condition of man. He considered his religious views very much in this light: he believed that the only firm foundation of natural religion is instinctive feeling; that there is a sense in regard to religion, as there is in regard to colour, sound, tastes, or smells, or as in regard to the propensity for society, and the ties of kindred and family; that they who have the taste or instinctive feeling will be religious, obeying the impulse of their natures, and see a Supreme Intelligence governing the universe by fixed laws, and will worship this Intelligence in its power and goodness displayed in all the works of creation; whilst those (if any such there be) who are destitute of the feeling, can no more acquire a sentiment of religion than a blind man can a notion of colours, or the deaf of sounds, and that, consequently, like the brute animal, their desires must be very much bounded by the present, and will be low and grovelling,—no hopes beyond the grave, no aspirations after immortality,

no fervent, however humble, longings after the perfecting of their nature, the exaltation of intellect, the purifying of sense, and, in brief, the acquirement of a glorified nature, such as we imagine belongs to angelic beings, and to the "spirits of the just made perfect." How much more satisfactory, I may remark (at least as it appears to me), is this foundation of natural religion as an instinctive feeling peculiar to human nature, than the ordinary foundations which are laid by human art, the best of which are liable to cavil and objection, and to serious objection even on the ground of fair reasoning! The analogy of design is always adduced as one of the strongest arguments of a Creative Intelligence and Divine First Cause. Is this even satisfactory? It appears to me not. Granted that design indicates intelligence; that a watch is a proof of a maker; that the superior mechanism of man points to a higher inventive power and intelligence; are we to stop here? May we not go on with the process of analogical reasoning ad infinitum, and ask, must not the mind which created man and the universe, that small and this vast system of wonderfully adapted parts, bear stronger marks even of design and intelligence, and have been itself created by a power and intellect as much above it as it is above man and the universe, or as man is above any of the works of his own hands? Analogy may lead to a probable conclusion, but never to a certain conclusion; it is speculative, shadowy, and uncertain, neither compelling assent or conviction. Not so the instinctive feeling. It is imperative and compulsive: the brooding hen deprived of eggs will sit on pebbles; a people immersed in ignorance will worship idols, or in a comparatively enlightened state inscribe an altar

to the "Unknown God," and so indulge their instinctive feelings of veneration and worship of a Supreme Intelligence, ready with avidity, like Dionysius the Areopagite, and the "woman named Damaris," to receive the words of Paul, and transfer their belief, and veneration, and worship, to the living God. I dwell on this topic the more earnestly, on account of its deep interest, and because I hope that a feeling which was evidence to such a mind as my brother's may be satisfactory evidence to other minds. In science he employed a severe logic, and pushed it further than most of his contemporaries, and made discoveries by so doing, almost as much as by following the guidance of analogies, sounding as he went, and the more on his guard the greater the intricacies of the passage and the danger of the unexplored seas. Had he found that analogy would have aided him in his religious researches, he would naturally have availed himself of such a help, which he understood so well how to use: had he found that abstract reasoning would have conducted him to the object of his wishes, no doubt he would have employed it; but finding his belief or feeling on the subject of natural religion very much stronger than analogical reasoning warranted, or a severe logic permitted, he, probably, put them both aside, and at once boldly and honestly declared, "This feeling which I have is instinctive; it belongs to my nature, and was intended for noble and exalting purposes;" and he associated with this feeling, and so strengthened it, a conviction of the vast superiority of instinct in its results, as witnessed in the lower animals over reason as witnessed in the operations of man, often so erring and delusive, and often leading to such monstrous results. He asso

ciated it with the persuasion of the intellectual spiritual nature of man, and, consequently, of the imperishable and immortal nature of his spiritual essence. And he connected it with the belief that there are Divine revelations, and that there is a Divine system of religion adapted to all conditions of man, all states of society, and all regions of the globe; and that this religion is the Christian, which meets all the wants of man, checks his bad passions, cherishes his good feelings, exercises a wholesome discipline over the mind, requiring submission and belief, refining what is gross and sensual and exalting what is spiritual, confirming the natural longings after immortal life, and converting the aspiration and hope of immortality into a glorious certainty. He was always, on principle, averse and hostile to a system of materialism. He considered it neither congenial nor beneficial to our natures, or capable of any satisfactory proof; and in very many places he has expressed himself strongly on the subject, and especially in his last work, "Consolations in Travel." There seems, indeed, an absurdity in an intellectual being, such as man, adopting a material system, and renouncing a spiritual or ideal one. I do not understand how he can advance a single step in this system; how he can explain a single idea as relates to its origin. An idea, it must be admitted, is not material; and to say that it is produced by something unknown acting on something unknown, is an abuse of language. How much more satisfactory to the mind is the spiritual system! Not degrading in its tendency, not arrogant in its doctrines, not attempting to explain what is inexplicable; but exalting, and expanding, and raising the mind from earth to heaven, giving us fellowship with spi