incompatible with no specific fact; and though it may not be able to account for all the phenomena, a solitary fact, counter to what it presupposes, is, in itself, sufficient to overturn it. We fear our modern geologists will quail before their rigid exactions, and these architects of worlds hide their diminished heads. Too much deference, we think, has been paid to genius-men of vast acquirements in literature, or art and science. The metaphysician too often "darkens counsel" by mysticism: there are "wheels within wheels," as in Ezekiel's vision, at the river Chebar; and the mathematician is too much absorbed in his abstractions to know any thing else. In our converse with the world, we have been surprized at the extraordinary limitation of the mere mathematician's knowledge. Confined to a little Goshen of his own, and hemmed in on every side with lines of demarcation, he is content to crow, Eupnna, when the problem is solved. Mr. Lawrence seeks the mind among the convolutions of the brain-the living

among the dead. He tells us, by a species of catachresis, that "the mind is built up" of cerebral developements; but he, least of all men, can say, I have found it. Greater errors are no where committed than among men of deep research and profound knowledge, when they forsake the legitimate path of science, and enter the regions of conjecture, or leave their own familiar track, and the individual topic that has been the idol of their minds, to enter some other province-some terra incognita, where a new train of investigation, altogether foreign to their course of study, is required. A profound astronomer may be a very indifferent chemist; and Mr. Lawrence may be a skilful anatomist and an excellent surgeon, and yet utterly ignorant of any one of the numerous classes of evidence by which Revelation is substantiated. A James Watt may be conversant with mechanics in all their multifarious movements and momenta, and be baffled were the question to turn on the secretion of a pearl, or that of the Tyrian purple. A man's opinion in Biblical Science is not to be estimated by his powers of mind, as displayed in some individual branch of

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human knowledge, or even in several, but as they are
concentrated on it as a distinct and specific topic. The
range of mind may sweep far and wide, and yet, in
reference to our present question, be as helpless as
the opinion of a little child; and the rays of truth may
fail to flash conviction because they fall on a darkened
understanding, and are lost in their absorption :-" I
found," says Dr. Beattie, "that the infidel philosophy
was not what the world imagined it to be, but a
frivolous, though dangerous system of verbal subtilty,
which it required neither genius nor learning, nor taste,
nor knowledge of mankind, to be able to put together;
but only a captious temper, an irreligious spirit, a mo-
derate command of words, and an extraordinary degree
of vanity and presumption."*
And such we have
found it to be in our intercourse with mankind. It
has been stated, that men may live infidels, but that
conscience will take the alarm as "the king of terrors"
makes his approach. Doubtless, this is a period in
which men will reflect if they will ever think at all. We
would not, however, attach an undue consequence to
so sudden a change; we do not desire to rest on so
questionable and flimsy a basis. There is such a thing
as "judicial blindness;" and we believe numbers "die
as the fool dieth," but this does not alter the case.
Hume gave play to his facetious powers at the hour of
death. Was that the act of a reasonable man, or of
a reflecting mind? With all his philosophy he could
not prove, that the termination of his existence here,
involved the absolute negation of being; while such a
farewell was an extraordinary recognition of friendship
-a strange acknowledgment for a term of being,
which, though brief, had certainly been productive, to
him, of some enjoyment. A lunatic would behave
better in an hour like this. It is without a parallel
"From Macedonia's madman to the Swede."

Or shall we defend his sanity and his character at the

* The Immutability of Truth.

expense of his creed, and remind our readers of the school-boy, "whistling aloud to bear his courage up?”

The

Man is responsible for his belief or he is not accountable at all, because actions spring from belief as their source: and if the idea of accountability be excluded, the present scene ceases to be one of probation-there is no "judgment to come," nor any one "to require it at his hands." We would not, however, be understood as investing reason with a papal infallibility, or setting it above all that is called GOD and worshipped." It must be admitted that reason is not gifted with infinite attributes, and to set up her image on a shrine and fall down before her is only another version of pagan rites. Reason " grows with our growth, and strengthens with our strength"-it has childhood and maturity. mental daring of a Newton seems, indeed, to have surpassed the ordinary limits of humanity, and we are by no means prepared to determine the ultimate range of its capability. The reason of centuries ago was more circumscribed in its range than the intellect of the present day, because it had fewer materials at hand; its horizon was more bounded, and consequently its knowledge; but it has no pretensions to infinite knowledge and universal thought, though some would make it supplant "the High and Lofty ONE that inhabiteth eternity." That it is a wonderful being, and its achievements vast and stupendous, we should be the very last to dispute or deny; but, that it has not attained, and never can attain the possession of all possible knowledge, we accept as an axiom which is altogether incontrovertible. The more we know, the humbler will our pretensions be, since we shall then see more distinctly that we have, indeed, but "seen in part." It is this conviction which brings the mind to its proper level, and causes it to take that attitude which best becomes it; thereby making it the readier recipient of truth. Humility is the pearl and the ruby of its attire. When we find symbols of pride and vanity in the walks of science, we may indulge a well-grounded suspicion that the attainments which they hide are shallow and superficial:—what made a

Newton humble, need not make us proud. The analogy, in reference to Revealed Truth, is complete, and precisely such as we should expect it to be.

We of course take for granted, that there is such a thing as TRUTH, that it may be discovered, and that its source must be GOD. As every ray which emanates from the "Father of Lights" must be pure, so it must also be immutable; over it, time and its casualties can have no control; it must be also susceptible of universal application. The sun shines not for Britain merely, but a world-so the gift of Revelation is intended for the great family of man. In the sagas of the Scalds-in the koran of Mahomet-in the puranas and vedas of India, we see here and there glimpses of truth, but shaded and eclipsed with error, while fable is impressed on every line. Neither the shasters of the modern Hindoo, nor of ancient Mexico, in past ages, contain elements of good. Evil spirits of perplexity and doubt hover over and around them ;-a "darkness that might be felt" enveloped them. Do we want palpable attestation, that "the world, by wisdom, knew not GOD?" We appeal to the capital of Greece-the atmosphere of a Phidias and a Praxiteles-ATHENS, the seat of all that was sublime in science and literature, or gifted in art, and where genius itself seemed "freeborn." PAUL, before he ascended the Acropolis, and on the plain overshaddowed by the proud Parthenon, that gem of the graces, had, however, discovered an altar with this inscription, “ΑΓΝΩΣΤΩ ΘΕΩ;” as if a PANTHEON were not enough for the Athenians, and left their doubts unsatisfied. But lest the Heavenly Legend, which reveals the important fact, should as yet be questioned, we shift the evidence to the pictured. imagery which is exhibited in the hieroglyphics of the valley of Beben el Malook, in the Thebais; and the temple of Karnac,-that mythology in masquerade, of which a faithful portrait and specimen are exhibited in Plate III. fig. 19, copied from the cerements of an Egyptian mummy, realizing, to its full amount, the accusation brought against the Pagan world, by the

great "apostle of the Gentiles,"-they "became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible GoD into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Such, however, was the mythology of the capital of ancient Egypt, the far-famed Heliopolis, the city of the sun. The Roman satirist could taunt these blinded votaries with the bitter sarcasm, that their gods grew in their gardens. The religion commonly known under the name of Christianity, from its heavenly Founder, has lost none of its radiance since it arose, eighteen centuries ago, in the little land of Jewry. It is as lovely, and as bright as when Judea caught its rising beams. It has not lost one constituent of its glory; it is still the pearl of great price, and the merchantman' now who would realize its purchase, even at the expense of all else besides, would act a prudent part, and, in the acquisition, possess a rich inheritance. Christianity alone keeps pace with the progress of knowledge and the stream of time; and, even in this inferior sense, may be said to be "the light of the world." It is a plastic principle adapted to every shade of life—its lighter graces as well as its penseroso—to every character and condition, in every age and every country. She is a heavenly guide, and has never betrayed an honest confidence. Wherever sincerely welcomed, she has made that people wiser, better, and happier :-no other religion on earth will bear this test-conforming itself to every one, exalted or obscure-the sage and "the wayfaring man"-in prosperity or adversity-sickness or health-in every vicissitude, and in every clime. She is herself alone, unrivalled, and sways the sceptre of righteousness, while she wears the Alithea, or breastplate of TRUTH.

There is one peculiar circumstance which should not be overlooked in this estimate of her manifold

*Romans i. 21, &c.