rudest savage who may be compelled, as it has been pathetically said, to shelter himself beneath a heap of stones from the wind and rain, is "born with all those faculties which culture refines and education expands."

Let what is called the chain of existence be drawn from the vegetable to the animal creation, and from insects and reptiles to the highest order of brutes, a rank to which the ape has far less claim than the dog or beaver; but here the parallel ceases. There is nothing philosophical in the comparison of a being possessed of improvable reason, with one that is governed by natural instinct, because there is no just analogy between the talents which are compared.

This distinguishing talent, however, is bestowed upon man to no effectual purpose, as long as he continues in circumstances which do not bring it into exertion. Man is, in fact, the creature of education and discipline, and is rendered so by the very faculty which charac

terizes him; neither is it from what he is born, but from what he is capable of becoming, that he is entitled to claim a place at the head of created beings that fall within our knowledge. Supposing, therefore, as some may be contented to suppose, that the employment of the human faculties had no higher object than the advantages it produces in the present life, by exalting the character and enlarging the rational happiness of mankind, it would still be desirable that the latent powers of intellect should be excited, and the virtues of which the civilized mind is susceptible brought forward into action. Even to those who carry their views no farther, it must still appear a proof of wisdom in the Creator, if he has provided to secure the exercise of the best faculties of the human race, at the same time that he has assigned them faculties of such a nature as to be improved, by that exercise, to an indefinite

extent.

But when the question is put, to what purpose this improvement of reason, with all its

consequences, tends; it is not an answer entirely satisfactory, to reply, that mankind are thus enabled to increase the sum of their present happiness. Reason is certainly very ill employed in arguing, that the happiness of mankind is not promoted by its exercise. But though there can be no hesitation in affirming that the quantity of human happiness is greatly enhanced by the exercise of reason, and that its destined use is partly to make this addition; still there is so much imperfection, at best, in our earthly happiness, that it would be difficult to suppose this the sole and ultimate end for which reason was bestowed on man.

It is scarcely worth while to glance at a conjecture of some of the ancients, who pretended that man was made capable of reason, that he might hold dominion over the irrational animals. They require no such domination. An infinitely small proportion allow the assistance of man, and not one requires it. They are perhaps necessary to the human race, and we be

lieve, were created for its use; but the human race is so far from being necessary to them, that the greater part degenerate, and lose their finest properties, when reduced to a domestic

state.

The only answer to this question which admits of examination, and agrees with the analogy of nature, affirms, that man has the power of reason, and is destined to employ it, with reference to a future and higher state of existence. The assurance of this can only come from Revelation. But the rational faculties of man afford the strongest presumptive argument in favour of a future state. For, that one who uses these faculties best, should proceed in the acquisition of knowledge and advancement of virtue, and then, at the very time when having passed the weakness of childhood and the vehemence of youth, he seemed to approach nearest to to perfection, should be suddenly plunged into annihilation, is an order of things so inconsistent with the general appearance of

the Creator's wisdom, that the wisest of the ancients could never reconcile their minds to the belief of such a dispensation.

I shall, therefore, proceed on the assumption, that the faculty man possesses of improvable reason, is not superfluous; but was given him to be employed, partly for the advancement of his happiness on earth, but chiefly with reference to a future state of existence, in conformity with some ulterior plan of his Creator.

This view of human life is not only justified, but decisively confirmed, by the Christian scriptures. The mind is there represented as possessed of talents intrusted to its use, of which an account is to be rendered hereafter. Human life is declared to be a state of discipline, in which the various faculties of mankind are to be exerted, and their moral character formed, tried, and confirmed, previously to their entering upon a future and higher state of existence for which they are destined; and in which the final condition of every individual will be proportioned