ceive which must yield. The human understanding cannot resist evidence founded on nature, and even if it did resist, Nature would not bend, but continue to operate in her own way in spite of the resistance, and a new and more correct interpretation of Scripture would ultimately become inevitable. Opposition between science and revelation I sincerely believe to be impossible, when the facts in nature are correctly observed, and divine truth is correctly interpreted; but I put the case thus strongly to call the serious attention of religious persons to the mischievous consequences to religion, of rashly denouncing any doctrine professing to be founded on natural facts, as adverse to revelation. Every instance in which the charge is made falsely, is a gross outrage against revelation itself, and tends to lead men to regard Scripture as an obstacle to the progress of science and civilization, instead of being a system of divine wisdom, in harmony with all natural truth.

In confirmation of these views the opinions of some of the most eminent divines may be added.

**

'Natural religion,' says Bishop Butler, is the foundation and principal part of Christianity. ** Christianity teaches natural religion, in its genuine simplicity.'* * * 'Reason can and ought to judge, not only of the meaning, but also of the morality and evidence of Revelation.' ***

'Let reason be kept to, and if any part of the scriptural account of the redemption of the world by Christ, can be shown to be really contrary to it, let the Scripture, in the name of God, be given up.'

'Those rules of action,' says Dr. Doddridge, 'which a man may discover, by the use of reason, to be agreeable to the nature of things, and on which his happiness will appear to him to depend, may be called the law of nature; and when these are considered as intimations of the divine will and purpose, they may be called the natu ral laws of God.' For any one to pour

contempt upon these natural laws of God, under pretence of extolling any supposed divine revelation, or intimation of God's will, in an extraordinary manner, will appear very absurd.'**** 'No discovery can be supposed so particular, as not to need the use of reason upon the principles of the law of nature, in explaining and applying it too particular cases.'

'The first excellency peculiar to the christian doctrine is,' says Dr. Barrow, 'that it gives us a true, proper, and complete character or notion of God, such as perfectly agrees with what the best reason dictates, the works of nature declare, ancient tradition doth attest, and common experience testify.' * * * * * 'Every religion that should, in this case, clash with the law of nature, would bear upon it the marks of reprobation, and it could not come from the AUTHOR of nature, who is always consistent, always faithful.'

All existing interpretations of Scripture have been adopted in ignorance of the fact, that, cæteris paribus, a brain in which the animal organs preponderate greatly over the moral and intellectual organs, has a native and instinctive tendency to immoral conduct, and vice versa, and that the influence of the organization is fundamental-that is to say, that no means are yet known in nature, by which a brain of the inferior combination may be made to manifest the moral and intellectual faculties with the same success as a brain of the superior combination. Only phrenologists, who have observed, for many years, in various situations, and under different influences, the practical conduct of individuals constituted in these different ways, can conceive the importance of the combinations of the organs; but after it is discovered, the inferences from it are irresistible. The religious teachers of mankind are yet ignorant of the most momentous fact in regard to the moral and intellectual improvement of the race which nature contains. I have heard it said that Christianity affords a better and a more instantaneous

remedy for human depravity, than .mprovement in the cerebral organization; because the moment a man is penetrated by the love of God in Christ, his moral and religious affections and intellect become far stronger and more elevated, whatever his brain may be, than those of any individual whatever without that love, however high his cerebral development, and however much he may be instructed in natural knowledge. I observe, however, that in this life a man cannot become penetrated by the love of God, except through the aid of sound and sufficient material organs. This fact is directly proved by cases of madness and idiocy. Disease in the organs is the cause of insanity, and mere deficiency in size in them, is one, and an invariable cause of idiocy. In neither of these states can the mind receive the advantages of the Christian doctrine. These facts show that the power of receiving and appreciating Christianity itself is modified by the condition of the brain, and I venture to affirm, that the influence of the organs does not terminate with these extreme cases, but operates in all circumstances, and in every individual, aiding or impeding the reception and efficacy even of revelation. If this were not the case, there would be a power in operation capable of influencing the human mind, during life, without the intervention of material organs; and, accordingly, many excellent persons believe this to be Scriptural truth, and matter of experience also: But those who entertain this opinion are not instructed in the functions of the brain; are not aware of the universally admitted facts, which establish, that while life continues, the mind cannot act or be acted upon except through the medium of organs; nor do they bring forward one example of idiots and madmen being render-, ed pious, practical, and enlightened Christians by this power, notwithstanding the state of their brains. Cases indeed occur in which religious feelings co-exist with partial idiocy or partial insanity; but in them the organs by means of which these sentiments are manifested, will be

discovered to be well developed, and if the feelings be sound, the organs will be found to be unaffected by disease.

Serious persons who are offended by this doctrine constantly forget that the reciprocal influence of the mind and the brain is not of man's devising, but that God himself established it, and conferred on the organs those qualities which He saw to be necessary for executing the purposes to which he had appointed them. If the statements now made be unfounded, I shall be the first to give them up; but believing them to be true, I cannot avoid adhering to them. When, therefore, I add, that I have never seen an individual with large animal, and small moral and intellectual organs, whose conduct was steadily moral, under the ordinary temptations of life, however high his religious professions might be, I merely state a fact which the Creator himself has decreed to exist. Indeed, I have seen several striking instances of persons, who, after making a great profession of religion, ultimately disgraced it; and I have observed, without one exception, that, in all these instances, the organs of the inferior propensities were large, and those of one or more of the moral sentiments deficient; and I am convinced that the same conclusion, after sufficiently accurate and extensive observation, will force itself upon all candid and reflect ing minds.

My inference, therefore, is, that the Divine Spirit, re vealed in Scripture as a power influencing the human mind, invariably acts in harmony with the laws of organization; because the latter, as emanating from the same source, can never be in contradiction with the former; and that a well constituted brain is a condition essential to the due manifestation of Christian dispositions. If this be really the fact, and if the constitution of the brain be in any degree regulated by the laws of physiology, it is impossible to doubt that a knowledge of the natural laws is destined to exercise a vast influence in rendering men capable of appreciating and practising Christianity. The

manner in which it will do so, is explained in Dr. Combe's work on Physiology applied to Health and Education, already alluded to. It contains an exposition of the laws of action of the brain and its connection with and influence on the rest of the system, and therefore its applica tion generally to human improvement.

An admirable portion of Christianity is that in which the supremacy of the moral sentiments is explained and enforced as a practical doctrine. Love thy neighbor as thyself;' all mankind are thy neighbors; blessed are the meek and the merciful; love those that hate you and despitefully use you; seek that which is pure and holy, and of good report; these are precepts of Scripture. Now, I have endeavored to show, that the human faculties, and external nature, are so constituted as to admit of this becoming a practical doctrine on earth, an idea which it has rarely entered into the heart of man to conceive as a possibility without miraculous interference. If the philosophy now explained shall carry home to the conviction of rational men, that the order of nature, by the development of its inherent resources, fairly admits of the practical exemplification of these precepts, a new direction must necessarily be given to the pursuits of the religious instructers of mankind. Christianity, after its establishment by Constantine, was left to exert its own influence over the Roman Empire, unaided by printing and natural science. It is recorded in history, that it did not suffice to arrest the decline of morals and the down fall of the State, but was itself corrupted and perverted. In the dark ages which followed the subversion of that Empire, it was again left, unaided by human learning, to do its best for the regeneration of mankind; and it became a vast system of superstition. It was only after the invention of printing, and the revival of letters, that the barbarous superstructures which had been raised on the simple foundations of the Gospel, were cleared away. But the period from the revival of letters to the present