which should form opinion. We talk of rationality, and boast of reason, yet there is scarcely a person who permits himself to be directed in his conduct by their faithful services!

The loftiest intelligence, and greatest attainments, seem unequal to the task of keeping the mind above prejudicial motives and passion. This evil is the bane of happiness, and robs our lives of the most delectable pleasures. The young presume, and therefore, despise knowledge; and the old in years, deride its precepts, and prefer to die blindfolded by their own obstinacy. From this cause, truth itself cannot advance, or be secure, erroneous impressions resist it, and the mind cannot judge dispassionately.

The reasoning faculties among the uneducated, are little developed, they are ruled merely by impulse and desire, and among the higher cultivated classes we too often see the same perverse influences assuming only a more refined form. Self-flattery persuades them that they judge independently, and hold opinions from conviction, but a short examination would expose them lead by the bias of certain notions. The great duty and utility of education, is to guide our natural feelings to fitting purposes, and smooth those asperities of ignorance and ferocity that roughen the way of truth and justness. The brute world have their highest gratification in sensual indulgences,-they eat and drink, and are happy; but intelligent beings find that they cannot be satisfied with such enjoyments, they, therefore, seek the nobler and loftier delights of mental culture. The educated look to character, conduct, and the sweets of free and pleasurable intercourse-dwell among the fertile meads of philosophy and science, and see in nature and

art the sources of all true enjoyment. To them, purity and truth are sublime. The harp of Orpheus vibrated not so melodious as the sacred gifts of intelligence are precious to the educated. We take it for granted then, that we love truth and purity for themselves, and that they furnish the most comely graces we can impose on ourselves, and that the purposes of our being, are to lay in store ideas of moral obligation and religious duty. However we may disagree about the means best adapted to gain such ends, all agree that error is injurious-vice is odious-that ignorance leads only to deception, and that the gratification of unrestrained desires is the greatest evil. Thus it is, that education has so important an influence, and that its advantages are so great. It benefits directly, by bringing before us the means of obtaining peace, prosperity and contentment,— come down from past ages, and assured by the authority which experience gives to them. In study, the student secures what mere worldly pursuits cannot bestow,—possesses for hope, security for groundless fear,-attainable and possitive good for vain and shadowing imaginings; and by shewing through his works the everlasting love of the Father of nature, fills the heart with joy, and launches the soul on that sea whose onward-rolling waves lave the eternal territories of light.

It has been said, by Bishop Berkley, "that utility and truth are not to be divided;"-but in practice this fact is constantly evaded:-theories are often so plausible as to gain assent, and fallacies receive sanction and credence; but, when unrestrained, it will be found that individual and national opinion are made up, ultimately, of truth and right. The chimera of the fancy, and the sinister influence

of interest may for awhile prevail and be admitted, but the laws that regulate the higher attributes of our nature, exclude such shadowy reasoning, are constant in progression, and seek for enjoyment worthy the interest and sublimity of the mind. The work of civilization is to relieve the mind from the errors which cling to it from the past. The future looks on the star-spangled firmament of knowledgewe have just emerged from the night-let it be our delightful task to count and examine them, and perhaps some opportune moment may yield us a glimpse of the bright eternal heaven above. As in the science of Ontology and politics, delusions exist which the cleverest reasoners cannot clear away, yet it is not because facts are compatable with the unreal views they form in such matters, it is rather that the fundamental principles, in these sciences, are so far removed beyond the reach of human evidence, that, at best, we can only guess our way in examining them. We embrace education, yet limit our intellectual penetration. At present, dreams and desirable anticipations rule, to the exclusion of a stern sense of inquiry-we want devotion to examine the cold realities of truth, and the consequence is, that our schemes of beatitude vanish like dew, when unveiled by genial time.

The many errors, remaining uncorrected in society, may be traced to our irrational views and unsteady purposes, and because we are content to adopt opinions, without troubling ourselves as to their sufficiency. It is this neglect of independent examination, and compliance with mere systems, whether advanced from selfish and mercenary motives, or from that mental observation that seems to delight in creeds and doctrines, which gives

power to intolerance and error, and perpetuates the worst dogmas that blight the intellect. Instead of calmly and dispassionately judging for ourselves, we are ruled by set notions or the bolder array of rancorous opposition, SO that the exertions of the few good men who labour to ameliorate the general condition, by disseminating useful knowledge, are perversely resisted and retarded in their operation. The bounds of irrationality and intolerance are made wider by selfish bigotry, and the envious reproach which assails every new discovery, and eagerly seeks to obscure the light of truth. Thus in ordinary matters excellence seldom obtains commendation, and the surest way to consideration and esteem, is to join the idiot cry raised by the multitude of all ranks, importunately, against the advance of intelligence, and in favour of opinions however wrong, if they have been only long believed.

While such is the state of opinion,-such the fallacy of our so called judgment, and our plastic submission exists to prejudices, merely because they are rooted in the mind of the unreflecting, can we be surprised that ignorance abounds, -that improvement progresses so slowly, and that we deprive ourselves of the full advantages we might derive from intelligence. Let us no longer then assume mere inferences as facts-no longer precipitately believe with the crowd, but suffer our judgment to be founded only on the real evidence which a just discrimination of nature offers to us. It is in the nature of the human mind to pursue new inquiries into the regions of imagination and the laws which regulate and maintain the life-teeming world, herein is found its noblest purposes, and rewards of the highest value; to contemplate the mighty mysteries of the

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scheme of creation and to seek to apply the universal power by which the Almighty rules and governs to the service of man, and to heighten and exalt his resources of happiness, are among its greatest and most benign achievements, and in cultivating our intellect we direct ourselves to the most desirable felicities permitted to our enjoyment, and to the knowledge of that wisdom which whilst it adorns our mental attributes, gives and secures for our bodily comfort, exemption from pain and malady. Assuredly we owe our misery to our transgressions, and sickness and decay to our evil doings. The first step, therefore, we should take, is towards truth; bringing her forwards from among the errors of the past, we should also hail gladly her approach in knowledge that shall be.

At the present time we are in the infancy of science, and wonders daily arise to astonish our senses, but because they are novel and we are ignorant, let us rather strive to understand them by patient investigation, and be ready to apply whatever is good. How different, hitherto, has been the state of mind with which new truths have been received. When Harvey announced the great discovery of the circulation of the blood, was he welcomed and respected?-Oh no-the ignorant and the envious hooted and derided him wherever he went. Lady Montague introduced inoculation for the small-pox, into this country, and I am sorry to say, that with the mob my professional brethren were foremost in assailing and persecuting her. The benevolent Jenner discovered vaccination with cow lymph, it was destined to save thousands of lives and prevent the most hideous disfigurements of the human face divine; but there was raised against him the vilest falsehoods and most savage opposi