INTRODUCTION.

"Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." a

To exercise reason is the privilege of man: to him alone has it been given to explore the groves of knowledge, and ascertain the virtue of every tree and plant that grow therein. Countless are these in number, infinite in variety, but conspicuously and far above all others one proudly lifts its head to heaven:

"In the mid-garden tower'd a giant tree,
Rock-rooted on a mountain-top it grew,
Rear'd its unrivall'd head on high,

And stretch'd a thousand branches o'er the sky,
Drinking with all its leaves celestial dew." b

Very beautiful and pleasing to the sight is this monarch of the grove. In grandeur he rises from the ground, piercing the highest region of thought, and spreading his arms abroad in the vast expanse of the ideal. Difficult is the at

a 1 Thess. v. 21.

B

b Southey.

tempt to climb, for every branch extends beyond the reach of sense and demands especial exertion of the intellect; but to overcome all difficulty, and gain the top, exceeds the power of man. Perfect attainment of knowledge dwells with the unfettered spirit of immortality.

Such is the philosophy which seeks to learn the nature of the infinite, the immaterial, and the eternal; and such is the tree to the contemplation of which we are about to direct the utmost power of mind. But we must first weigh the words of those who shun its presence as that of the fabled Upas, regarding it either as the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or as one of those, pleasing but delusive, which breathe the murky vapours from the sea of Sodom; the fruit thus being the cause either of sin or disappointment. Among the opponents to these branches of knowledge, there are those who believe that the study of them involves no actual sin, but consider that the result obtained, after long and arduous inquiry, is not of sufficient importance to justify the length of the examination, and that the time so occupied might have been more profitably employed. There are, too, those who regard the wish to

explore a distant country as a possible transgression; and they consequently look upon every attempt to raise the thoughts into regions where their flight can be but with difficulty sustained, as an act of presumption by which man approaches too closely those things the nature of which has not been revealed, and therefore (as they believe) forbidden to be sought after.

It is true that the uncertainty and contradiction which have attended the researches both of ancient and modern philosophers sufficiently prove that an ill-regulated or too ardent pursuit of this study must be attended with many evil effects; and from this cause probably it has been too hastily regarded by some as an amusing speculation, serving only to sharpen the intellect, without aim or purpose, and unproductive of benefit. But is not this result to be attributed principally to the mode in which the examination has been carried on, rather than to the nature of the subject? With philosophers the lamp of revelation has, I fear, but too often burned in vain; they have too frequently relied upon the unaided light of reason, and the overconfidence of the inquirer has supported that as a certainty which was in fact but the off

spring of undigested theory. But by proceeding in accordance with Scripture, the Christian will not fall into the unbelief of the present German school; and by directing his thoughts to the contemplation of his high destiny, the man of cultivated mind raises himself far above the follies of those who take delight in frivolous pursuits, or pass their time in sensual gratifi

cation.

66

Thus we are taught that our earthly nature is twofold. It is in two separate and distinct spheres that "we live and move and have our being." In the one are found the desires and wants of outward sense, in the other dwell the aspirations of the inward spirit. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit; for to be carnally-minded is death, but to be spiritually-minded is life and peace." "This I say, then; walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption;