to receive or to convey a single idea; reduced to the gestures of brute animals; this child of reason, from this defect falls, as it were, from his superior station among human beings, and is reduced to a state more helpless than the lowest order of animals.

But should the heart for one minute cease to act, nay for a space of time considerably less, this corporeal citadel falls, and the vital spark vanishes in a moment. Death is triumphant, and this beautiful structure becomes a ruin to the faultering only of one muscle, which acts sixty times in a minute. It cuts the thread of life asunder, and dissolves the strongest and dearest ties of human nature! Is it not a subject of devout thankfulness, that this muscle, the heart, shall beat incessantly, untired and uninjured, for eighty years together; and fails at last in its office, not from any defect in itself, but from some other remote cause in the general constitution. We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made!

What a system! Two hundred and forty bones, about twice as many muscles, a great number and variety of membranes, veins, arteries, glands, and other internal parts, which are tempered, figured, situated, and fitted to answer the ends and purposes of their Maker; and all these almost innumerable parts, have a mutual dependence upon each other, and correspond in the performance of every natural and rational operation! How strong and solid are the bones! How justly are the muscles placed,

giving beauty and expression to the human figure! How wonderfully are the veins and arteries spread, the former to return blood to the heart, and keep that mysterious engine playing, which throws the vital stream through the latter, to animate and invigorate every part! How beautiful and comely is the whole human form! not proportioned like the quadruped race, whose only happiness is confined to this earth; but erect and sublime, fit to contemplate and adore the majesty and glory of the great Creator, and to view and anticipate that world above, where man hopes to dwell for ever.

And, if all this display of wisdom and art appears in the formation and organization of the human frame, how much more. may I easily suppose will the Divine perfections be manifested in the nature, powers, and adorning of the immortal spirit, which is to dwell therein! I know there is something in me that is of a quite different nature from matter, and which causes me to differ from other species of animals. The soul which thinks, reasons, discourses, is an immaterial, a vital, active principle, quick in its perceptions, and vigorous in its operations. It can in a moment reach the remotest distance, even on the wings of contemplation and faith, mount up to heaven, and view the glories of that bright abode. How strange is it then, that such a spiritual being should be united so closely to flesh and blood, be lodged in a tenement of clay, use the body as its instrument, and partake in its sufferings! All this would have been

mysterious and unintelligible to an angel, had he been told it before man was created; and is so still to the human mind, however improved and capacious. I must remain, in many respects, a mystery to myself: neither reason, nor revelation, explains all the phenomena of

man.

Was this frail body formed of the dust? This nobler, better part, was originally infused by the Spirit of God, and bears some resemblance to its Divine Author. The body must soon moulder into dust, but the soul will live for ever! Am I careful to feed and clothe this body and secure it from injury? let me be more careful of my precious soul, to secure its best interest, and provide for its everlasting welfare. It cannot be lost without my own wilful neglect, and deliberate act. Let its salvation, then, be my first and chief concern, that, when this earthly tenement drops into the dust, I may have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

O God, thou art infinitely perfect, and happy in thyself. Thy being and thy blessedness are underived and independent. There is an immeasurable distance between thee and the most excellent of thy creatures, which depend upon thee for their blessedness, and owe every moment's continuance of their being to thy power and favour. Thou art my almighty and good Creator, and, on this ground, my rightful sovereign. Thy claim to me is original and absolute, without either diminution or limitation.

I bless thee for my spiritual nature, and ration al powers; by which I am distinguished from instinctive animals, and rise vastly higher upon the scale of being. Impress upon my mind with a becoming reverence an awful sense of the infinite perfections of thy adorable nature. Help me to acknowledge my dependence upon thee, and to solicit thy mercy and grace. In that course of duty and service appointed in thy word, thou hast displayed thy goodness, as well as interposed thy authority, in connecting my duty with my interest. O God, establish heart in the faith of the reasonableness, excellence, and advantage of thy service. Show me that godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of this life, as well as that which is to come. In keeping thy commandments, I am informed there is great reward, of inward peace, pure pleasure, and joyful hope. Graciously assist me to glorify thee in my body, and in my spirit, which are thine; that having my fruit unto holiness, my end may be everlasting life.

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Fvædi olavtov.—"The precept of Apollo,which teaches that every one should know himself, does not teach, as I conceive, that we should be acquainted with our own members, our stature, or our form. The body does not constitute the man; nor do I, while saying this to thee, say it to thy body. When therefore he says, KNOW THYSELF, he says, Know thy soul; for the body is, as it were, the vessel or receptacle of the soul; whatever is done by thy soul, that is done by thyself."-Cic. Tuscul. Quæst. lib. i.

MAN is a compound creature, consisting of a body and a soul. The latter is radically and essentially distinct from the former, being the main part, the animating and active principle. The body is the curious habitation in which the soul dwells, and the wonderful instrument by which its volitions are performed. Mysterious union of matter and spirit! This is the constitution of human nature, and consonant to the Scriptural account of its formation.

Moses, the sacred historian, represents the soul as a principle of life: "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Solomon's account of the dissolution of the human system accords with it :-"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." The soul is still represented as distinct from the body, and of another nature. If there were the least pretence to doubt of this on natural principles, the words of our Saviour in the case are decisive: "Fear not them which