are alike unknown? In our present state, we discover in the soul those faculties which are suitable to its present condition; and from what is unfolded we calculate upon what lies concealed. And, from those bodily powers which we possess, we presume upon those which are reserved to put forth their vigour, when the process of the shall be pasgrave sed away, and time shall conduct us to the regions of eternity.

These analogical conclusions are warranted to us by our contemplations of what has already taken place in man, both in his material and intellectual powers. The astonishing changes which all human beings undergo, from their first formation in the womb, till they reach the zenith of their material and intellectual powers, are facts which bid defiance to comparative calculations; they outsoar all our conjectures, and even arrest impossibility in its infinite distance from us.

In the womb, we discover nothing higher than a organic or vegetative life. But the change of station produces a change in condition, which is at once astonishing and incomprehensible. Organic, or vegetative life immediately subsides, and gives place to that which is animal, the instant that an infant enters the world; and respiration, which was perfectly unknown before, becomes now essentially nėnessary to future animal life. These are facts, which are self-evident. If then, the change of our station from the womb to the present life, be productive of changes in our manner of existence ;—if we, from organic or vegetative life, proceed to

that which is animal,and from animal to that which is rational; why may we not justly infer, when a similar or a greater change shall pass upon us at death, which will totally alter our manner of existence, that a similar or greater change will take place in those bodily powers, as well as mental faculties which we possess?

In our embryo state, our faculties and powers were exactly suited to our vegetative situation; all was dormant, sluggish, inactive, and almost unknown. In our present station, those faculties which had ripened through our infant process, put forth their powers; and are evidently accommodated to the station which we now occupy, and which they were destined to fill. And such, in all probability, may be the nature of their constitution, that nothing but the process of the womb, the vegetative manner of life, and the animal condition through which we have passed, could call forth these powers into their present state of partially mature exis

tence.

Every thing, which is produced by God, is the result of the most consummate wisdom; the order of nature cannot be inverted, nor can human ingenuity amend the plan which we behold. The book of nature affords us an exposition of these truths; but in no branch does infinite wisdom appear with more conspicuous lustre, than in the formation of man; and in those progressive steps, through which he is obliged to pass, from organic or vegetative existence to the maturity of the present life.

If our reasoning powers had been bestowed upon us, while we were confined within the womb, they would evidently have been in that state, bestowed in vain. And if that vegetative life, which we then possessed, had been withholden, life itself would have been impossible, according to all our modes of reasoning. In like manner, if vegetative life had been communicated to man in his mature state, even animation would be an affliction; and if, in this mature state, our reasoning powers had been denied, life itself would be little better than an intolerable burden. Thus then, the powers which God has bestowed, both mental and bodily, are exactly fitted to those stations which he has called us to occupy; and we are obliged, by the force of unquestionable evidence, to acquiesce in this conclusion,―that God in all his works has manifested perfection, and that he has not made any thing in vain.

The remarks, which have been made in the preceding paragraph, are founded upon a supposition, that such an inversion was possible as that which has been stated; and in the conclusions, which have been drawn, we see the fatal consequences which would ensue if that possibility were reduced to fact. But, that such events are even possible in all their parts, I am far from admitting. The progress of those gradations, through which we have passed, was without all doubt necessary, to call our faculties and powers from their immature to their present state; and on that account, it formed a necessary step to

wards this perfection which the human powers have attained. If, therefore, the changes which I have presumed, had taken place, they must have involved absurdities which are inseparable from the possibility which has been presumed. We must, in this case, have presumed that maturity could have taken place in a state of immaturity; and that immaturity must have existed in a state of maturity; the absurdity and contradictoriness of which it is useless to pursue. It must, therefore, be admitted, as an evident conclusion, that the condition in which God has placed us, is necessary for the use of our present powers; and that the present powers which we possess, are alike necessary to our present condition.

In this view, whether we look to the present state, or to that which has preceded it, both are confined by boundaries which they cannot pass; while they are connected together by ties which are indissoluble. The variation in our condition seems to establish the boundaries, as well as the necessity of them, which divide the states which we contemplate. The continuance of this life fixes the boundaries between our embryo and our future state; it is, therefore, in this region alone that our bodily powers can exert themselves. In like manner, our state of being in the womb fixed those boundaries which divided vegetative from animal life. In each of these states, we perceive powers and faculties, which are commensurate with our wants; in which we perceive that nothing is either given or with

holden, which was necessary to our being; so that neither deficiency nor redundancy, can be predicated of the works of God.

Thus far we have seen in what is past, analogy founded upon fact. Our observations have, however, been confined to the embryo and the present state of man. In these we have seen those faculties and powers unfold themselves, which were peculiar to the stations which we have contemplated; and in which, progression became necessary to ripen to maturity the various powers which we have beheld. We have seen the changes in station, which we have already undergone, from an embryo to a mature state; and we have seen those changes in our condition, which have been associated with the states of being through which we have passed. A recurrence, therefore, to what has passed, will become a groundwork of our analogical reasoning, and give us confidence in those inquiries where probability cannot be supported by fact.

A change in our situation of being, can hardly be conceived, without our connecting with it, a proportionable change in the condition of that being which is presumed. If, therefore, the changes which we have already discovered in our condition of being, resulting from our alteration in mode of existence, have been so great, what have we not to contemplate, when such changes shall take place upon us, as we have reason to expect, when mortality shall be swallowed up in immortal life?

The changes, through which we have passed,