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all these cases, and in every instance in which a new discovery of truth is made, the human mind becomes a more perfect image of the great Spirit to whom all truth is continually present. It is true we are still far distant from him; but it is also true, that while we persist in the pursuit of wisdom, every day brings us nearer to the wisdom of which he is possessed. The acquisition of new knowledge becomes more easy in proportion to the success with which it has already been pursued. Our progress will therefore be of an accelerating nature, becoming every day more rapid, and carrying us on with greater speed in the endless journey towards infinite knowledge, or a complete resemblance of the Divine Mind,

But to resemble the Deity, it is not enough to obtain a knowledge of his thoughts; we must also act as he acts, and employ ourselves in the same business in which he is engaged. For this purpose, we must particularly study to find out the schemes of wisdom by which he is occupied; and endeavour, as far as he may have placed it in our power, to assist in completing them. This, indeed, is perhaps the only rule of morality that is altogether unexceptionable, to endeavour to discover the purpose of the Author of Nature in the formation of this world, and to account it our only business to labour along

with him in accomplishing it. The great purpose for which he has obviously formed our nature, and this world, is to train up many beings to wisdom, or to the possession of much perfection. When we reflect upon the nature of intellectual excellence, we can perceive that it is good, and worthy to fill the universe. The Deity accordingly labours to extend its empire, as the best employment of his skill; and in his labour we are permitted to engage. He, no doubt, is the creator, the preserver, and the instructor of the human race; but the parents who bring a child into the world, who provide for the wants of his early years, and train up his understanding to knowledge, are also to be regarded, according to the measure of their power, as beings employed in creating, preserving, and enlightening the new inhabitants of the universe. The man or the woman whose ingenuity first taught the human race to bury seed in the ground, and to expect a harvest, did a service to mankind similar to what is performed by the great Parent of all, when he sends the sun and the rain to give success to the labours of the husbandman. They, more especially, who by their skill and courage and steadfastness, or by the sacrifices they have made, have contributed to establish those public institutions that diffuse knowledge and energy of mind among future generations, ought to be regarded as having acted the part

of a beneficent providence, and as having become the sources of an incalculable amount of excellence. It was the legislative skill of Lycurgus which produced that force of character that rendered Sparta so celebrated. It was the severe example of integrity which the first Brutus gave to Rome that raised that village to the sovereignty of the world;-a sovereignty acquired indeed by crimes, but by crimes which arose out of the bold superiority of character that her citizens possessed.

As the Author of Nature has contrived the world in the way best calculated to render men skilful and active beings, so to imitate him we must judge as he does of what is to be valued and pursued. The ancient moralists expressed this idea, by saying that he is a wise man who imitates or follows Nature; (for Nature was an abstract term which they used to avoid the frequent repetition of the name of the Supreme Being, and was necessary to avoid all discussion about the Power which governs the world, at a time when those who believed only in one God were accounted a kind of atheists). Nature, then, or, to speak more accurately, the Author of nature, regards death as no evil; for he is at every moment destroying men by thousands. He regards poverty as no evil; for it is the natural state of man, and productive of many efforts, and of much perfection of character.

He regards riches as no good, for they are bestowed without discrimination upon the wise and the foolish. He regards pain as no evil, for it is given to produce good, to lead us to preserve our lives, and to endear to the mother her infant child. He accounts pleasure no good, for he never bestows it for its own sake, but always with a view to some other object, such as the preservation of ourselves or our species. The only true and real evils that Nature labours to teach us to avoid are, ignorance, folly or error, and indolence. Against these all her artillery are pointed; and the whole order of the universe is one lesson of wisdom, and one admonition to exert the energies of our character in the cultivation of it.

He, then, who attempts to imitate the Author of nature will be led to regard life and death, poverty or riches, pain or pleasure, as of no importance, either to himself or others, excepting so far as they are connected with moral excellence or degradation. He will consider an enlightened and, vigorous character as the only good which he can acquire for himself or bestow upon mankind; and will employ himself, as Nature is employed, in rendering them wise and steadfast in the performance of what reason requires. Happy indeed is the man who can

thus consider his own mind as only a portion of the Divine Providence, or a part of the will of God, and can occupy himself wholly in diffusing reason and the love of excellence among men. He is truly an image of the Divinity; for he thinks the same thoughts, wishes to attain the same ends, and performs the same actions with the Deity himself. His nature is limited, but it is rising fast to a nearer resemblance of the Supreme Mind; and may already be regarded, if we may use the expression, as an incipient divinity.

CHAP. VI.

DIFFERENT RELIGIONS COMPARED.

IF introduced in a state of society to which they are adapted, all systems of religion, however erroneous, may be considered as possessed of some degree of utility. All of them impress upon the human mind a belief of the existence of a superior Power or Providence that inspects the transactions of men, that is pleased with rational

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