is, without examining his own thoughts, feelings and desires in the light of reason, of conscience and of Revelation, lives like the brute under the dominion of the senses. Reason to such a one is of less value than instinct is to the animal. He lives like a child led by the prejudices of others; well for him should he suffer himself to be guided by their reason. In common matters he is of the opinion of the last speaker, and in religious belief he is blown about by every "wind of doctrine." He knows not his own mind, for he has never reflected sufficiently to understand what manner of thought is his. The glass of consciousness does not hold him up to himself, so that to himself he is nobody.

Nor is this his worst misfortune. In degrading his nature, he does not lose his responsibility. He may, indeed, through indolence or a love of sensual gratification, refuse to cultivate, by means of reflection, the powers of the wonderful Intellect, revealed to him by consciousness; but he cannot do it with impunity, for consciousness will sooner or later force its light into the mind, and conscience awaking from the slumber of years, will be heard like the roar of a lion aroused in his den.

My dear young friends, the world within you is open to yourselves and to God alone. None

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else can tell what passes through your minds. You may deceive others and even yourselves by the amiability of your deportment, the correctness of your conduct, by the piety in your profession; while the feelings of envy, of pride, of passion may lie concealed in the bosom: and when in apparent devotion your lips invoke the Great Creator in prayer, or render Him homage in praise, your heart may be far from Him; God not in all your thoughts. This, while concealed from all around, to you is known in consciousness. Shut not out its light; let reflection set it before your conscience. It is known to God, He formed your understanding, and "God will not be mocked."

Says Coleridge; in the Aids to Reflection, "An hour of solitude passed in sincere and earnest prayer, or in the conflict with, and conquest over a single passion, or bosom sin, will teach us more of thought, will more effectually awaken the faculty, and form the habit of reflection, than a year's study in the schools without them. Let it not be forgotten that the powers of the understanding and the intellectual graces are the precious gifts of God; and that every Christian, according to the opportunities vouchsafed to him, is bound to cultivate the one and to acquire the other. Indeed he is scarcely a Christian who neglects so to do."

CHAPTER IV.

SENSATION.

Sensation is the perception we have of the properties of material objects by means of the five senses, smell, taste, touch, hearing and sight.

The mind being in itself an immaterial existence, intellectual and moral, it is difficult to conceive of it in connection with matter or body, though it is perhaps still more difficult, to conceive of it unconnected with body. The manner of this connection has never, as yet by scientific research been discovered. Some theorists make the brain the organ not only of all sensation and intelligence, but also of moral feeling. We are conscious that the sensation of cold, which we feel when placing our feet upon the snow, is in the feet and not in the head. We refer our perception of odours to the nose, and of the various qualities of our food to the palate. We are sensible of a pain in the head when the mind is intensely, and for a length of time, applied to any one operation of thought; so of a fluttering at the heart and tremor in various parts of the frame, when under the excitement of strong emotion. The paleness of fear or of sorrow-the flush of anger and of

shame, show the empire of mind over the circulating fluid, the blood. The common sense of mankind, as obtained from consciousness, and expressed in language, is the evidence from which we draw the conclusion that the soul uses the body as its organ, and that every part of the corporeal frame is subject to its dominion.

How the union between mind and matter is established, will probably remain among the secret things that belong to God. Let it be our wisdom to be satisfied with such discoveries as reason, aided by Scripture, may unfold. The Creator, as we are assured by the Word of Truth, intended, in the formation of the material universe, as it is known to us, to give a display of His own perfections. The wisdom seen in adapting and relating things and beings to each other, the goodness in providing for the happiness of the meanest creature, the admirable workmanship every where exhibited, plainly prove that this display of Divine perfection was fitted for creatures formed to know, to understand, to admire and to adore. To know and understand the wisdom of the Deity, the rational intellect would be sufficient; to adore His moral perfections, the moral nature alone of the soul would be necessary; but to admire His works the perceptions arising from sense are indispensable.

For what purpose is the beauty spread over the heavens, and glowing and sparkling in innumerably varied forms upon earth, but that it may charm the eye of man! Why are the woods, the groves and meadows filled with melody? why, do the waters murmur over their pebbly beds, and the soft breezes whisper among the trees, but to please his ear? Why is the air loaded with the sweets of odoriferous plants, why do trees bend under their delicious burdens, but to satisfy his smell and taste? All the works of God praise Him, and man so wonderfully made is fitted by his nature to enjoy them. In the social relations man needed an

organic frame. Without body we know not what might be the medium of spirit's intercourse with spirit; as it is, we are sensible of the delights of personal friendship, the cordial touch of the hand, the gaze of affection; the interchange of thought by the means of language, is precious to the heart.

Thus we see that man in his sensitive nature is adapted to this earth which was first created for his reception. Allied by his senses to the animal tribes of which he forms the highest species, he is akin to spiritual and angelic beings by his intellectual perceptions, his reason and his moral feelings. That we are fearfully and wonderfully made, we would humbly and grate