cause they can only spring up with moral habits; and this is what proves their affinity with moral sentiment. They acquire grandeur and truth in proportion to the purity and energy of this sentiment. Of what use is it to accumulate so many wretched examples of blind or cruel superstitions, which have sullied the worship of God upon earth? It is true that man will carry into his worship his passions and his errors and necessarily corrupt by adopting it. But it is no longer, the worship of the divine nature: it is profanation; and nothing proves better than this, how natural a preparation are purity of heart and innocence of life, for true religious sentiment. Let us seek for facts more adapted to instruct us, in the aspirations of mankind. The experience of a good man is that which I consult, and upon which I rest. Religious sentiment in him will be, as it were, but the continuation and consequence of those sentiments which already filled his soul, taking a wider range. He will be religious, for he deserves to be so. All there is in him pure, laudable and generous, will be satisfied. He thirsted for justice, and the streams of an eternal, infinite, universal juctice will flow before him, and all the wrongs of the earth will be repaired. He delights in the emotion of gratitude; he will have discovered the Author of all blessings. An ideal wandered in his thoughts; he will find it realized. He placed his happiness in devotedness; he will be able to consecrate all the faculties of his being to a boundless love, and to make a tribute to God himself, of the good he does to other men.

By the practice of excellence, then, the virtuous man is already the neophyte of religion: he desires it, he calls for it; he is prepard to understand it; he makes ready a temple for it within himself: and what temple is more worthy of it than the heart of the good man? He will not be false to its teachings; he will not pervert its august character; he will not corrupt it by the mixture of impure passions. Religion will not be to him an instrument, but an end. He will profess it, not to show, but to enjoy it; he will enjoy it, not as a vain allegory which amuses his imagination, but as a profound truth which fills his heart; not as a peculiar privilege which flatters his vanity, but as the patrimony of all mankind; not as a distinction which insulates him, but as a bond which unites him more closely to his brethren. He will not seek in it the right of condemning others, but the duty of judging himself more severely; he will not seek in it a means of encouraging him

self in his errors, of dispensing with active obligations, but a light which may guard him from erring, a power to triumph over obstacles, an encouragement to do better. In a word, he will enter into the true spirit of religion, because he will be inspired by the uprightness of his heart.

IMMORTALITY.

O, listen, man!

A voice within us speaks that startling word,
'Man, thou shalt never die!' Celestial voices
Hymn it unto our souls: according harps,
By angel fingers touched when the mild stars
Of morning sang together, sound forth still
The song of our great immortality:

Thick clustering orbs, and this our fair domain,
The tall, dark mountains, and the deep-toned seas,
Join in this solemn, universal song.

O, listen, ye, our spirits; drink it in

From all the air! Tis in the gentle moonlight;
"Tis floating 'midst day's setting glories; Night,
Wrapped in her sable robe, with silent step
Comes to our bed, and breathes it in our ears:
Night, and the dawn, bright day, and thoughtful eve,
All time, all bounds, the limitless expanse,
As one vast mystic instrument, are touched
By an unseen, living Hand, and conscious chords
Quiver with joy in this great jubilee.

The dying hear it; and as sounds of earth
Grow dull and distant, wake their passing souls
To mingle in this heavenly harmony.

RECTITUDE OF INTENTION.

WHEN deeply investigating our hearts, we often discover secret inclinations, of whose existence we were hardly aware, and which mingle with our resolutions and corrupt their principle. To their hiding place within us, the love of excellence has not penetrated and carried its vivifying light.

Then let this love of excellence resume the rank which naturally belongs to it; let it triumph without hesitation; let

it reign unlimitedly; let it take undivided possession of the soul; let it become our deep, sincere and exclusive passion; and then clouds will be dispersed, doubts will be cleared away, discords will cease, every thing will be simplified; and It man, understanding himself, will truly know how to act. is the love of excellence which assigns to every thing its true and fixed value: it is this which re-establishes subordination, and consequently harmony, among motives; this alone gives a plan and general design to life; it connects together all events, and all circumstances, even the least actions, enabling man to go on to the end without inconstancy, and to approach it with the ease and freedom of one who walks in broad daylight through a known country. Advancing in a wide and straight path, he will meet at every step those divisions of by-ways, which cause hesitation about the directions to be pursued; but he is guided by a law which has foreseen everything; and he has only the care of employing the means of execution. There is nothing more constantly animated than a life which flows on under such an influence; for an incessantly renewing interest gives value to every thing; nothing is lost; he goes step by step, and always looks onward; the motion is therefore ascending, and carries him every day into a freer atmosphere; satisfaction and security increase as he advances: for our souls find content only in what puts us on good terms with ourselves; we repose in certainty alone; there is no peace for him, who doubts of and about himself. Then no after thought comes to agitate and disturb resolution, to paralyse energy and belie evident desires; the whole heart is borne along unconditionally and unreservedly towards the noble object to which it has consecrated itself with absolute devotedness. Every thing is consistent in our motives, decided in our ideas, frank in expression, and consequently easy, rapid, and opportune in execution. The laborer, embarrassed and perplexed in his work, does not clearly perceive the relation of the parts to the whole. What an abundance of life seems to circulate and diffuse itself in the conduct of those who have accomplished this great consecration! How full are their days! How finished are their actions! How well designed is the form, how clearly marked out is the destination of all their productions! How faithful is their character to itself, constant without effort, in the most varied circumstances! What ease they have in difficult things! What elasticity of soul even in the presence of sacrifices!

The

consideration which they did not desire, or at least, only aspired to deserve, naturally comes to meet them; for it is necessarily attached to consistent, complete, and decided characters. Besides, in the language of virtue there are certain accents of truth, certain distinctive tones which naturally escape from the upright, who alone can find them, whether they seek them or not, and precisely because they have used no art in their language.

Veracity is a part of justice; for as truth is the only true guide of activity, we ought to give it to our fellow creatures. We owe it to them also for another reason; it is a blessing, which belongs to all in common, and in which each one is particularly called to make others participate, because, by communication, so far from weakening the part which has fallen to his lot, he strengthens it in a thousand ways. But such a duty can only be understood by a man, who has begun to be sincere with himself; he who truly preserves a good intention, will, naturally, without effort or reflection, be true in social intercourse. The love of truth and the love of goodness are, besides, the same love under different forms and in different applications. Inspired therefore by love of goodness, we render public worship to truth, because we render inward homage to it; we respect it in the relations of society, not only for the benefits which flow from it, and the rights which claim it, but because we venerate it in itself. It is easy to find subtle sophisms to persuade ourselves, that such and such truths are not useful to men; but there is not one, by the help of which we can dispute, that truth is, in itself, a sacred thing.

Frankness when observed as a duty is always constrained and uneasy, and therefore imperfect; but the love of goodness and truth naturally disposes one to openness, because it leaves no interest in disguising any thing.

Good intentions are a kind of probity towards one's self; imparting to our relations with others that sustained integrity, which, inspiring perfect security, commands from the most frivolous a respectful confidence.

Men of complicated and double intentions believe themselves sincere, when they promise; and think they are not wanting in faith, when they forget what they have promised. Do they really know what engagement they intend to form? Men, whom the love of excellence animates, have no need of pledging themselves; their character is a pledge, their in

tention is as valuable as a promise, and they will be faithful to it, because it is upright, enlightened and entire. Let the crafty boast of their success in a career, the plan of which they have concerted with finished art, and in which they have sported the most learned observations upon the means of conquering opinion and surprising confidence. It may be that they attain fortune and honors, and leave far behind them the modest and the peaceable, who confine themselves to the exact fulfilment of their duties. Yet when we have long and attentively observed the world, we discover, that, if not the most brilliant, at least the most certain, stable, easy, and the only desirable success attends men whose intentions are pure, upright and constant. By degrees they are discovered and made known, and they make immutable and advantageous connections with society, guarded by a peaceful but deep founded esteem, which increases and is confirmed every day. Naturally occupying their place, it becomes so much their own, that people hardly dream of taking it from them. But if the cunning man fails, and how many times he will fail! how will he be consoled and indemnified? The man of good intentions may fail without feeling regret, for his intentions still remain to him; but reverse destroys every thing for the crafty, and at the same time brings, to him confusion and shame. The honest man seeks his duty, and he has fulfilled it; what can he lose?

FALSE SENSIBILITY.

SENSIBILITY, led astray by the imagination, sometimes transfers to outward signs what it should give to the objects themselves. Signs are intended to quicken the affections, by awakening the idea of their objects, or the relations which exist between these objects and ourselves; but the sign too often takes the place of the thing signified, in vivid and exalted imaginations. Such is the origin of all superstitions, and sensibility has its share in them. We tremble at the sight of blood, and shudder at hearing groans and cries; we wander around tombs, and think and call ourselves full of sensibility; yet we do not penetrate into the secret of silent troubles, which are always deepest; we do not recognize grief, except in the robes of mourning. We carefully collect every thing which calls back the remembrance of absent friends, and we are cold and neglect them when they are present.