together as they are in Europe, Asia, and America. Hark! the hunters are abroad, and the dogs are wildly dashing through the tangled wilderness, after the timid and scared kangaroos. The clamour echoed by the rising grounds is spreading consternation around. A flock of black swans rise from a neighbouring brook; an emu, holding his head six feet high, peeps over the thick brushwood, while a wedge-tailed eagle may be seen soaring majestically towards the skies. The deathshot from a rifle has brought down one of the stricken game, and the spear of a native has mortally wounded another. On come the dogs and the hunters, but the kangaroos have outstripped them, leaping across the brook which the dogs must swim, and bounding o'er the high brushwood through which they must force their way. And now a wounded kangaroo is surrounded, he disables one dog with a stroke of his strong tail, he hugs others with his short fore-legs, dashing out his hind feet, and tearing them with his terrible toes. But the strife is now over; the clamour has subsided, and the forest hunters, Kader among them, are roasting the flesh of a kangaroo suspended from three sticks over a well-fed fire.

Yes! very beautiful are the forests that belt the earth, and deep and impressive are the thoughts that they call up in the mind, by their unbroken solitude, their mass of foliage, and their solemn gloom. They are among His mighty works who deals in wonders, stretching out the heavens and the earth, holding the sea in the hollow of his hands, riding on the whirlwind, and directing the storm. But, as there is a fall of the leaf, so will there be a fall of the forest; and the wild beasts they shelter, and the hunters who pursue them, will mingle with the ground. The heavens shall away, the earth be destroyed, and the very elements melt with fervent heat; but the Holy One has spoken, and the Almighty has uttered his voice, promising new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Look not, then, to the lofty cedars and extended forests of the earth, but to His word who reign

eth above the skies:

pass

Though cedars perish, and though forests fail, God's word is mighty, and it must prevail.

THE LEGITIMATE PROVINCE OF

REASON.

Of all the remarkable facts with which we become acquainted by our observation of the world around us, no one is more striking or melancholy than the almost universal disposition of man to pervert that which is good, to abuse to improper and even fatal purposes, the best and noblest gifts of God. No moral proposition, no historical truth, rests on clearer evidence, or more vividly illustrates the fallen condition of our species, than this vicious tendency. It would seem as though the majority of men had, in all ages, laboured to convert their blessings into curses. Health and affluence, the natural powers of the body, and the temporal gifts of a gracious Providence are, by the depraved ingenuity of our race, continually perverted to sinful ends, and thus made to become fruitful sources of trouble and sorrow.

That

this is the case, will be at once admitted, for the fact is attested by universal observation.

But the mischief does not stop here: Not only are our corporeal, our temporal blessings thus abused; the remark applies with equal force to our mental faculties.. Those reasoning powers which are among the greatest gifts of the Creator, which were designed to direct them to the paths of truth and righteousness, and thus lay an enduring foundation for their happiness, both for time and eternity, are too frequently wrested, by the waywardness of their possessors, to their own de-struction.

Reason, the noblest and most exalted faculty of the soul, has shared the comits design, mistaking the extent of its mon lot. Many men, misapprehending province and its powers, have suffered it to over-step the boundaries assigned to it by Almighty Wisdom, and to set it up in opposition to God himself. They have: been unmindful that reason, however: efficient, is, after all, in the measure in which we possess it, a finite capacity, bestowed by God, and have invested the gift with the attributes of the Giver. Thus they have deified their rational powers, pronounced them infallible, and then placed them in opposition to the statements of revelation. But, this is

the perversion, not the legitimate use of this exalted faculty. To the possession of reason no temporal blessing is for a moment comparable. Without it, we never could have attained to any know

ledge of God, any perception of moral truth, or any sense of moral responsibility. It is man's rational nature alone that constitutes him a moral and accountable being. By its means we argue from the visible to the invisible, from the known to the unknown, from things created to their Creator. And by its means also we are enabled to discern the truths that Scripture teaches, and which nature alone could never have discovered. Every one will perceive that, had reason not been vouchsafed to man, revelation would have been entirely unintelligible. Let no one, then, attempt to exalt revelation by depreciating that reason which is also the gift of God. Such a course can result only in injury to the cause it is designed to serve.

But on the other hand, let us beware of supposing that, because reason is indispensable, it must therefore be all-sufficient; that because it is necessary to the perception of truth, it must consequently be adequate to its perfect attainment. On the same grounds we might conclude that because our eyes are essential to the faculty of vision, we therefore needed not the light of day. The very contrary is the fact. Our visual organs require the bright beams of heaven to render them available for the purposes of their creation. In like manner does our reason require to be enlightened by the rays of the Spirit of truth, ere it can discern the things that are spiritual, or comprehend aright the great truths that relate to the attributes and character of God, and the condition, obligations, and destiny of

man.

In no age or country of the world, has unaided reason been able to arrive at any certain knowledge on these all-important points. Without a revelation from God himself we must for ever have remained ignorant of those great facts as to which are most important to us as moral and responsible beings.

And is there, we may ask, anything marvellous, anything unphilosophical in this? Is it a matter for surprise or for cavilling, that the finite should not grasp the infinite, that the created spirit should not comprehend its Creator? Our faculties were all bestowed by God, and strange indeed would it be were they commensurate with his. And is it derogatory to man that his powers should be thus circumscribed by Omnipotence? Surely not! We are not responsible for the nature or extent of our mental endowments, but only for their right appli

cation and diligent exercise. It is consequently the most false and foolish pride that leads man to plume himself upon his rational faculties. "What have we that we have not received?" Yet this pride it is which induces so many unduly to exalt their reason, and to reject with scorn the proffered light of revelation, as unnecessary. But how irrational a course is this! How contrary to reason itself is the conduct of these its professed worshippers!

Others again there are who, though constrained to admit that reason of itself is incapable of arriving at certainty on religious points, will, nevertheless, receive no disclosures of revelation which they cannot understand. But is this conduct more rational, more philosophical than the former? Is it philosophical to say that, unless we can fully comprehend everything implied in the doctrines or statements of Scripture, we will disbelieve and reject them? Is nothing to be received as true in matters of religion, the nature of which cannot be fully understood by any one human mind? Is this the way we deal with other subjects? Does the natural philosopher act upon this principle when pursuing his researches into physical science? Does the student of mechanics or of chemistry recognise such an axiom, or admit such a standard of truth? On the contrary, the very first principles of all human knowledge, those simple propositions the truth of which is universally admitted, involve mysteries inexplicable to human understanding. No fact, for example, is more elementary or more certainly known, than the existence of matter; yet who knows in what matter consists, or is capable of comprehending its nature? No proposition can be more incontrovertible than the existence of gravitation, a certain power by which material bodies are attracted to the earth; yet what process of reasoning will ever enable us to ascertain in what that power consists! The truth is, that the data of science, the premises from which those processes of reasoning by which we arrive at the knowledge of higher truths commence, are themselves above our reason. They are demonstrative facts, with which we become acquainted solely by the evidence of our senses; and are attained independently of reason, to which they are from their very nature inacessible. Every philosopher knows and admits this to be the case. If, then, we find in the physical

world, in the study of nature, that our rational powers are inadequate to account for the most obvious truths, how absurd is it to suppose that in the spiritual world, in the study of revelation, every- | thing must be level to our capacity; how monstrous to affirm that whatever transcends it must be unworthy of our belief! Reasoning from analogy, should we not rather expect, as in nature, so in Scripture, to encounter mysteries, to meet with things which, though not contrary to our reason, are altogether above it. To lay down the proposition, that every statement of revelation must involve nothing that is not evident to reason, is to act the most unreasonable part. Nay, the very fact that revelation professes to teach what nature could never have disclosed, should naturally lead us to anticipate in its declarations even more of mystery than in the works of creation.

How foolish, then, how opposed to experience is it to conclude that reason alone is capable of guiding us to a perfect knowledge of religious truth! How equally absurd and unphilosophical to imagine that the revelation of God must be stripped of all mystery, ere it can establish a claim to our credence or regard! Yet these fallacious notions are the rocks upon which multitudes of immortal souls have shipwrecked their temporal and eternal happiness. Let us beware that we fall not after the same example of unbelief.

What, then, it may be asked, is the path of safety? What the course that a rational and accountable being, anxious to know and do the will of God, and to obtain everlasting happiness, ought to pursue? How shall he, on the one hand, test the doctrines of revelation, and ascertain the truth of its statements, so as to "prove all things," and to "hold fast" only "that which is good?" And how, on the other, shall he escape the snares by which such numbers, under the delusive idea that they were following the dictates of reason, have been drawn into the meshes of a cheerless, hopeless infidelity? The reply is simple. Let him exercise his rational faculties in their appropriate sphere, in examining the historical evidences of Christianity, the claims to authenticity of that book which professes to be a revelation from God. Let him try its representations of the world by their accordance with fact. Let him test the religion of the Bible by its moral character, its adaptation to the

wants, the sorrows, and the necessities of man. And if the result clearly establish the intrinsic excellence and Divine authority of the Scriptures, he has no need, he will not presume to go further. He possesses a solid foundation on which his faith may repose, a foundation whereon he may safely build his hopes of everlasting happiness. Convinced of the feebleness of his own powers, and satisfied with comprehending, in revelation, all that is necessary to his eternal welfare, he will calmly await the fuller disclosures of a more exalted state of existence for the elucidation of its mysteries. "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now we know in part, but then shall we know even as also we are known." To act thus, is to act in a manner worthy of a rational being. This is to restrict reason to its legitimate province, and at the same time to secure its highest and noblest exercise. C. J.

HOME DEMANDS EFFORT,

A RECENT traveller in the regions of central America, Mr. Stephens, found an opinion current among the people, that in a part of the country, untrod by the foot of civilized man, there was a living city, large and populous, occupied by Indians, precisely in the same state as when Cortes and Alvarado landed upon the continent. A Spanish padre stated, that having heard of the report in his youth, he commenced a pilgrimage to ascertain its truth, and having ascended the great sierra to the height of ten or twelve thousand feet, he looked over an immense plain extending towards Yucatan and the Gulf of Mexico, and saw in the distance a large city spread over a great space, with turrets white and glittering in the sun. There was a wild novelty in the intelligence. It excited the imagination of the traveller. It awakened the most thrilling interest he had ever experienced. The possibility of reaching the mysterious city-of meeting with living men such as those under the rule of Montezuma-men able to read the inscriptions on the mouldering monuments that remain-supplied sufficient excitement to attempt the dangerous and difficult enterprise, could the report have been relied on.

It is thus that we are strongly affected and roused to action by what is novel,

ledge of God, any perception of moral truth, or any sense of moral responsibility. It is man's rational nature alone that constitutes him a moral and accountable being. By its means we argue from the visible to the invisible, from the known to the unknown, from things created to their Creator. And by its means also we are enabled to discern the truths that Scripture teaches, and which nature alone could never have discovered. Every one will perceive that, had reason not been vouchsafed to man, revelation would have been entirely unintelligible. Let no one, then, attempt to exalt revelation by depreciating that reason which is also the gift of God. Such a course can result only in injury to the cause it is designed to serve.

But on the other hand, let us beware of supposing that, because reason is indispensable, it must therefore be all-sufficient; that because it is necessary to the perception of truth, it must consequently be adequate to its perfect attainment. On the same grounds we might conclude that because our eyes are essential to the faculty of vision, we therefore needed not the light of day. The very contrary is the fact. Our visual organs require the bright beams of heaven to render them available for the purposes of their creation. In like manner does our reason require to be enlightened by the rays of the Spirit of truth, ere it can discern the things that are spiritual, or comprehend aright the great truths that relate to the attributes and character of God, and the condition, obligations, and destiny of

man.

In no age or country of the world, has unaided reason been able to arrive at any certain knowledge on these all-important points. Without a revelation from God himself we must for ever have remained ignorant of those great facts as to which are most important to us as moral and responsible beings.

And is there, we may ask, anything marvellous, anything unphilosophical in this? Is it a matter for surprise or for cavilling, that the finite should not grasp the infinite, that the created spirit should not comprehend its Creator? Our faculties were all bestowed by God, and strange indeed would it be were they commensurate with his. And is it derogatory to man that his powers should be thus circumscribed by Omnipotence? Surely not! We are not responsible for the nature or extent of our mental endowments, but only for their right appli

cation and diligent exercise. It is consequently the most false and foolish pride that leads man to plume himself upon his rational faculties. "What have we that we have not received?" Yet this pride it is which induces so many unduly to exalt their reason, and to reject with scorn the proffered light of revelation, as unnecessary. But how irrational a course is this! How contrary to reason itself is the conduct of these its professed worshippers!

Others again there are who, though constrained to admit that reason of itself is incapable of arriving at certainty on religious points, will, nevertheless, receive no disclosures of revelation which they cannot understand. But is this conduct more rational, more philosophical than the former? Is it philosophical to say that, unless we can fully comprehend everything implied in the doctrines or statements of Scripture, we will disbelieve and reject them? Is nothing to be received as true in matters of religion, the nature of which cannot be fully understood by any one human mind? Is this the way we deal with other subjects? Does the natural philosopher act upon this principle when pursuing his researches into physical science? Does the student of mechanics or of chemistry recognise such an axiom, or admit such a standard of truth? On the contrary, the very first principles of all human knowledge, those simple propositions the truth of which is universally admitted, involve mysteries inexplicable to human understanding. No fact, for example, is more elementary or more certainly known, than the existence of matter; yet who knows in what matter consists, or is capable of comprehending its nature? No proposition can be more incontrovertible than the existence of gravitation, a certain power by which material bodies are attracted to the earth; yet what process of reasoning will ever enable us to ascertain in what that power consists! The truth is, that the data of science, the premises from which those processes of reasoning by which we arrive at the knowledge of higher truths commence, are themselves above our reason. They are demonstrative facts, with which we become acquainted solely by the evidence of our senses; and are attained independently of reason, to which they are from their very nature inacessible. Every philosopher knows and admits this to be the case. If, then, we find in the physical

world, in the study of nature, that our rational powers are inadequate to account for the most obvious truths, how absurd is it to suppose that in the spiritual world, in the study of revelation, everything must be level to our capacity; how monstrous to affirm that whatever transcends it must be unworthy of our belief! Reasoning from analogy, should we not rather expect, as in nature, so in Scripture, to encounter mysteries, to meet with things which, though not contrary to our reason, are altogether above it. To lay down the proposition, that every statement of revelation must involve nothing that is not evident to reason, is to act the most unreasonable part. Nay, the very fact that revelation professes to teach what nature could never have disclosed, should naturally lead us to anticipate in its declarations even more of mystery than in the works of creation.

How foolish, then, how opposed to experience is it to conclude that reason alone is capable of guiding us to a perfect knowledge of religious truth! How equally absurd and unphilosophical to imagine that the revelation of God must be stripped of all mystery, ere it can establish a claim to our credence or regard! Yet these fallacious notions are the rocks upon which multitudes of immortal souls have shipwrecked their temporal and eternal happiness. Let us beware that we fall not after the same example of unbelief.

one

What, then, it may be asked, is the path of safety? What the course that a rational and accountable being, anxious to know and do the will of God, and to obtain everlasting happiness, ought to pursue? How shall he, on the hand, test the doctrines of revelation, and ascertain the truth of its statements, so as to all things," and to "hold prove fast" only "that which is good?" And how, on the other, shall he escape the snares by which such numbers, under the delusive idea that they were following the dictates of reason, have been drawn into the meshes of a cheerless, hopeless infidelity? The reply is simple. Let him exercise his rational faculties in their appropriate sphere, in examining the historical evidences of Christianity, the claims to authenticity of that book which professes to be a revelation from God. Let him try its representations of the world by their accordance with fact. Let him test the religion of the Bible by its moral character, its adaptation to the

wants, the sorrows, and the necessities of man. And if the result clearly establish the intrinsic excellence and Divine authority of the Scriptures, he has no need, he will not presume to go further. He possesses a solid foundation on which his faith may repose, a foundation whereon he may safely build his hopes of everlasting happiness. Convinced of the feebleness of his own powers, and satisfied with comprehending, in revelation, all that is necessary to his eternal welfare, he will calmly await the fuller disclosures of a more exalted state of existence for the elucidation of its mysteries. "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now we know in part, but then shall we know even as also we are known." To act thus, is to act in a manner worthy of a rational being. This is to restrict reason to its legitimate province, and at the same time to secure its highest and noblest exercise. C. J.

HOME DEMANDS EFFORT,

A RECENT traveller in the regions of central America, Mr. Stephens, found an opinion current among the people, that in a part of the country, untrod by the foot of civilized man, there was a living city, large and populous, occupied by Indians, precisely in the same state as when Cortes and Alvarado landed upon the continent. A Spanish padre stated, that having heard of the report in his youth, he commenced a pilgrimage to ascertain its truth, and having ascended the great sierra to the height of ten or twelve thousand feet, he looked over an immense plain extending towards Yucatan and the Gulf of Mexico, and saw in the distance a large city spread over a great space, with turrets white and glittering in the sun. There was a wild novelty in the intelligence. It excited the imagination of the traveller. It awakened the most thrilling interest he had ever experienced. The possibility of reaching the mysterious city-of meeting with living men such as those under the rule of Montezuma-men able to read the inscriptions on the mouldering monuments that remain-supplied sufficient excitement to attempt the dangerous and difficult enterprise, could the report have been relied on.

It is thus that we are strongly affected and roused to action by what is novel,