where you know there is ample provision made for all you need.' He said, I am sensible of that, and all I can do is to cast myself at the footstool of divine mercy, and I trust I shall not be cast away.' I immediately presented to his mind the case of the leper, mentioned in the seventh chapter of the second of Kings, which he appeared fully to comprehend and to feel. At another time, while reading to him the fourteenth chapter of John, he took the words from me and repeated them from memory. I remarked, 'I am rejoiced, my dear, that this passage is so familiar to you in this season of trial.' He said, 'I know it all, but I want to feel it more;' and when I asked if these chapters had fastened on his mind from Sunday-school instruction, he replied, 'No, but from reading them so much.' He seemed to take a deep interest in my reading to him Mrs. Graham's 'Passage over Jordan,' which you know is a collection of portions of Scripture, adapted to these solemn circumstances with appropriate remarks. In this manner his thoughts were occupied, when he was suddenly taken from us.”

The estimate which Professor Olmsted forms of the intellectual character of the subject of his memoir, seems to us to be fully sustained by the history of his life which precedes it. The crowning attribute of his mind seems to have been a versatility which enabled him successfully to adapt himself to any thing. His powers of observation, of reflection, of reasoning, of fancy, were all of the higher, if not of the very highest order; and though he will be remembered chiefly as an astronomer, he might have been, for aught that appears, equally distinguished as a mechanician, and in a high degree as a poet. His biographer institutes an interesting comparison between his powers and those of the lamented Professor Fisher; and concludes-and we think justly -that while the former had far more versatility than the latter, he would not, if he had lived to the same age, have been inferior to him in soundness and depth of intellect.

We sometimes see great vigor of mind associated with moral qualities which almost give us a disrelish for what is admirable in the intellect; but in the case of young Mason, the heart and the head seem to have been in delightful keeping. He was a gentle, docile, unpretending youth, full of affection to his friends and of gratitude to his benefactors; and while he accommodated himself most readily to the circumstances in which Providence placed him, he possessed an invincible perseverance to overcome any obstacles that might lie in his way. Those

who knew him best seem to have given him the greatest amount of affection as well as of admiration.

We should forbear an inherent prying into the secrets of Providence; and yet one can hardly help asking wherefore it is that He, who orders all things according to the counsel of his will, sends here and there a great spirit upon the earth to exhibit its marvellous powers for a little season, and then to our view prematurely closes the present scene of its exercises and improvements. We may, perhaps, find a solution of this problem partly in the fact, that things out of the common course strike the mind with the greatest power; and that notwithstanding all the advantages of the general uniformity of the Divine government, some apparent variation from the track in which Providence ordinarily moves, may occasionally be necessary to arrest and direct the thoughts of men. The history of such a mind as that of Mason, is fitted to exalt our conceptions, more than the history of a thousand ordinary minds, of the grandeur that pertains to the human soul-the grandeur of its faculties-the grandeur of its destiny. In contemplating men of only a common intellectual stature, such as we meet with in our every-day intercourse, we are but little impressed with the greatness of the human spirit. But let us see the giant mind towering above all others with which it is associated; let us see the youth sinking into the profound of mathematical science; or exploring other worlds by instruments of his own construction; or soaring away on an eagle's wing in fields of fancyand it must be no common degree of stupidity that will suppress in our minds the feeling of reverence for our own spirits, and the feeling of concern that they may fulfil their appointed end. If the mind, even in this early stage of its existence, can achieve so much; if, while subject to the influence of flesh and sense, it can make itself at home in the distant regions of immensity;-what will it not effect, as it shall expand under purer influences, and in brighter worlds, in the illimitable progress of its being? How vastly important that this great and immortal principle should receive a right direction! and how foolish and guilty are they who trifle in any way with their own souls! And while the appearance of a youthful prodigy upon earth must impress us with the inherent dignity of the mind, his removal from the earth, if his powers have been rightly directed, is equally fitted to impress us with the grandeur and glory of heaven. For there are assembled a host of illus

trious minds, and their employments are worthy of their faculties; and every object which occupies them renders the impress of heavenly beauty more deep, and thus they are undergoing a perpetual transition from glory to glory. When a youth of exalted intellect is removed from earth to heaven, it suggests the reflection that in that world of light, all flourish in immortal youth; and even those who have descended through the vale of age, into the yet deeper valley of death, have come out of that valley in the glory of a complete intellectual and spiritual renovation.

But while the occasional appearance of these intellectual prodigies doubtless has its important uses in the government of God, let it not be forgotten that every such case is attended with some peculiar dangers. We will notice two of the most important.

There is danger to the bodily health. It often happens that a mind of the highest order is found inhabiting a tenement of unusual frailty; and unless the tenement be carefully guarded, it will inevitably go prematurely to ruin. There is an inward fire in the spirit that consumes the vital energies; and while we are yet gazing at some glorious young genius, we are called to write his epitaph. Mason from his earliest childhood had a feeble frame; and while the operations of his mind were most vigorous and intense, his ruling passion led him to the most imprudent exposures, and what was little better than trifling with his delicate constitution; and under this double influence, it was not strange that he came so early to his grave. Young men of superlative genius are under special obligations to guard their health; partly from the greater ability which they possess to render good service to their generation, and the consequently increased value of their lives, and partly from the fact, that they have to encounter some untoward influences arising from the more intense action of the mind upon the body, from which others are exempt. There is a voice from the grave of Mason charging every highly gifted young man, and indeed every one who is bent upon the highest cultivation of his powers, sacredly to guard his health, and to take care that his intellectual pursuits are not at the expense of an emaciated frame and a broken constitution. It is a debt which he owes to himself, to his friends, to his country, to his race-that so far as it is in his power, he preserve his physical vigor unabated; for, so long as the mind is connected with the body and acts through bodily

organs, it must depend in no small degree on the health of the body for the success of its operations.

And there is yet greater danger in reference to his spiritual and immortal interests, greater, as the interests at stake are more momentous. There is reason to hope that Mason was no stranger to the influence of eternal things; and that the mind which was here trained to such sublime excursions, is now prosecuting its researches into the works of God in a brighter light, and on a nobler field of observation. Nevertheless, it cannot be doubted that the intensity of his devotion to scientific pursuits, lessened his general spirituality of character, and that a portion of the time which he spent in gazing at the visible heavens, had better have been spent in communion with his Heavenly Father. True, indeed, there is nothing in science in itself considered that is adverse to the influence of Christianity, on the contrary, science supplies to a rightly disciplined spirit the materials of devotion; and this is pre-eminently true of astronomy, which has in it every thing to exalt the Creator, and to abase man at his feet. And yet science, even astronomy, may so engross the whole man that God shall be forgotten in the pursuit; or if he be not entirely forgotten, shall receive but a partial and divided homage. If we mistake not, the fact to which we here refer is often illustrated in the experience of religious students in our colleges. They suffer themselves to be so engrossed by their daily studies, that they find less time than they ought for daily devotion; while at the same time, they apologize to their consciences that necessity constrains them to be diligent, and that they are occupied in preparation for future usefulness. If the secrets of many a pious student's heart were revealed, we doubt not that it would appear that his best religious enjoyments were previous to his entering college; and that in proportion as the fire of ambition had kindled, the fire of devotion had gone out.

We have made these remarks, not with an intention to repress a suitable zeal on the part of religious students in the pursuit of science and literature, but only to put them on their guard against perverting the advantages of their situation to the neglect of their higher interests. Let them remember that it is altogether at too great an expense that they become accomplished scholars, and bear away the highest collegiate honors, if they thereby lose in any degree their evidence of the divine favor or their interest in eternal things. Let them study dili

gently, earnestly, but in all their studies let God be acknowledged, and let every new attainment be consecrated to his service. And let those who make no pretensions to Christian character, remember that this character must become theirs, else neither the purpose of their lives is gained, nor the salvation of their souls secured; and let them bear in mind that science, literature, any thing that takes complete possession of the soul to the exclusion of eternal things, will operate as a barrier between them and heaven. Learning in itself is a noble endowment, but unsanctified learning, ill directed learning, can never be a blessing to its possessor.

In taking leave of this book, we feel that we have done it but imperfect justice in the brief sketch which we have now given. We have been able to deal only in generals, whereas the book deals in particulars; and those who will estimate the character as it deserves, must not be contented with any thing short of Professor Olmsted's description of it. It is well that the writing of the memoir was confided to such hands; and we doubt not that the manner in which he has done his work will secure to him the approbation and gratitude, not only of his own generation, but of posterity.

ARTICLE IX.

CONFLICT OF LAWS OF CHURCH and State.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

WE are obliged, in the present case, either to depart from our rule as to giving the author's name, or to deprive our readers of the valuable thoughts of our respected correspondent. We reluctantly choose the former, after vain efforts to overcome the extreme modesty of the author and his reluctance to write for the public in any other way than anonymously.

His legal acquirements, however, are such as to secure for him a high judicial station, and to qualify him for speaking by authority on the points discussed in the subsequent article. The views are striking, and worthy the consideration of every SECOND SERIES, VOL. IX. NO. 1. 19