refer to the benign and salutary influence of that parental, filial, and relative affection which forms the tender tie of all our endearing connexions, and which is productive to man individually, and to society in general, of most valuable blessings. I might hold up to your view the operations of this principle or affection of mind, as exhibited in the lovely scenes of domestic life; as influencing all the duties of that sacred retirement from the busy occupations of the world, where the holy tranquillity of earth approaches nearest to the rest of heaven, and where alone the greatest felicity which has survived the loss of paradise is to be enjoyed. Who has ever witnessed the serene happiness of the family, the tender affection by which its members are united to one another,—the pleasure that is felt in meeting, and the pain in separating, the fondness and the tender solicitude of the parents, and the love and the gratitude of the children;-who has ever mingled in such scenes, and yet relinquished them without emotions of painful regret, or refrained from admiring the wisdom and beneficence of Him who has rendered the most permanent affections of our nature subservient to the gracious purposes of his Providence, and which, by their influence on all our moral habits, are evidently designed to prepare us for a higher and a nobler state of being? If, then, these affections are so necessary to our happiness and to our very existence-so necessary that, without them, the human race must soon perish,-must it not be obvious that a Being of boundless intelligence, who has acted with a reference to futurity, has conferred them upon us? This is the more evident,

from the fact that some of these feelings do not exist till we are placed in those circumstances which require their operation. Thus, for example, we see the gay and effeminate female becoming the tender and anxious mother, cheerfully relinquishing those pursuits with which she formerly associated much of her happiness, and sacrificing her time and her repose to the comfort of her infant, with no other reward than the exquisite pleasure she enjoys in cherishing her offspring. For my part, I can never contemplate this lovely display of tenderness and affection, without marking in it the hand of that Heavenly Parent who has called us into being, and who has made provision for the happiness of the unnumbered millions who are dependant on his bounty.

The study of a science which furnishes us with such proofs of the goodness of God, and which opens up to us such interesting views of the power that renders the thoughts of the heart subservient to its gracious designs, cannot be in vain. I know not any other branch of human knowledge more calculated, when thoroughly examined, to impress upon the mind a pleasing conviction of the established order of Providence, or, to teach it the important lesson, that happiness may be secured independent of the wealth or the honour of fortune.

In any enumeration of the advantages of Moral Philosophy, the enlarged conceptions which it leads us to form of the destiny of man should not be forgotten. This has a most favourable influence on elevation of sentiment and conduct; it accustoms the mind to dwell chiefly on the contemplation of objects

that are vast and sublime; and, by fixing its views on the mighty powers and achievements of man, on the designs which he has already accomplished, and on those still greater designs which he is capable of accomplishing, it associates with his nature the grandeur of immortality. It was because Socrates and Cicero entertained such enlarged notions of the intellectual and moral powers of man, and studied his nature under every aspect which it presents, that their writings possess a charm for every reader, and leave that impression on the mind which stimulates to virtuous and lofty exertion. When we rise from the perusal we feel, not that we have been reading a libel on the species, composed by the profligate wit of an acute but vulgar mind,-we feel that there is a principle within us which cannot be mortal, which rises to an ideal standard of beauty and loveliness and moral perfection, far above the realities of the present scene, and that we have been destined by the Power which formed and which sustains all things, for nobler ends than any which terminate on this side of the grave. With such impressions we allow our thoughts to be carried forward to a period of greater improvement in the history of the human race-when philosophy and religion will shed still happier influences on the world -when the beneficent arrangements of Providence will make truth and virtue finally prevail over falsehood and error, and when the happiness of the species will be removed from every thing that might hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain.

These are the pleasing views of the future fortunes of our race, which we are led to entertain by a fami

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liar acquaintance with the Philosophy of the Human Mind. They are, like any other class of opinions, susceptible of abuse, by leading, when carried to an extreme, to paradox and inconsistency; they are, however, liberal and noble, and closely allied to all that is great and virtuous in mankind: and it is no slight presumption in favour of their truth, that "the system which represents them, even when stated with due limitations, as altogether groundless and visionary, leads by a short and inevitable process to the conclusions either of the Atheist or of the Manichean." It is an evidence of their conformity to sound reason, that they are in perfect accordance with the intimations of that pure religion which breathes peace and good-will to man; which confirms our previous convictions of the ends for which he was formed, and of the immortality through which he is to live; that inspires us with anticipations of future good, far higher and more comprehensive than ever could have entered into his heart to conceive; and that fills us with admiration of the mysterious ways of that benignant and omnipotent Being who is yet to crown him with glory and honour.

While the study of Moral Philosophy is thus ac companied with many general advantages, it has peculiar claims to the attention of the divine, the teacher of youth, the statesman, the orator, and the legislator. To the preacher, who must gain access to the hearts of his audience, before he can promote their religious and moral improvement, an accurate acquaintance with the powers, and susceptibilities, and workings of the human mind is of the greatest utility.

Though he be provided with the instructions which he is to communicate in the volume of inspiration, it is his duty to study the means by which these instructions may be rendered effectual: to ascertain with precision the various affections of that immortal spirit whose ultimate happiness it is his professed object to attain, and to acquire the faculty of so unveiling the hidden windings of the heart, as to bring the doctrines he delivers to bear on the consciences of those that hear him. In the whole range of science, I know of no branch of knowledge more necessary for his discharging with fidelity and success the important functions of the sacred office, than the Philosophy of the Human Mind; and were this a fit place to introduce illustrations in support of my opinion, I could refer to Barrow and Butler, Gisborne and Witherspoon, and to many others, whose usefulness as preachers has been universally allowed.

I am not ignorant of an opinion which generally prevails, that a metaphysical turn of thinking is unfavourable to that warmth of feeling which is essential to the orator, and without which, the most profound sermons will have little effect on any audience. This opinion, I am persuaded, is erroneous; at least, so far as it regards that noble science founded on the most rigorous induction, and which we denominate the Philosophy of the Human Mind. That the disquisitions of the schools which have no relation to the phenomena of nature, and which, consequently, possess nothing to awaken the finer susceptibilities of the heart, must have had a tendency to narrow the range of the faculties, and destroy the harmony of their