ercise of this great principle in its volitional form. The early intimations and beliefs found in the primitive records and traditions of those nations that are not instructed from biblical sources, harmonize essentially with the Bible, that there was once a better time and a better land, a chosen Paradise, a garden of delights, a golden age. It was then that the instinctive and volitional tendencies of the mind harmonized with each other in their action, and that God and the angels of God may be said to have dwelt with men. But God, who is truth as well as love, in giving man the mighty and crowning power of the will, which, in thus constituting the completion of his being, made him a true son of God, gave him a power which He could not violate. It is a great truth, which we propose more fully to consider at a future time, that God does not, and cannot, interfere with the action of the human will in any sense which implies a violation of its freedom. Knowing, however, that man's happiness and glory would be brought into danger by a wrong volitional position, He tested his willingness to harmonize his will with the divine will, and thus secure its perfect action, by laying his command upon him, as He had a right to do, and as it was an act of benevolence to do. Human history, which proclaims everywhere the good of obedience and the evil of disobedience, is the record of the result.

We do not propose, however, to delay upon these thoughts. Without rejecting or adopting the traditionary or the poetical statements of a golden age, and without interpreting historical records, which in the opinion of theologians may either be regarded as exact and veritable histories, or as allegories which are designed to instruct us in great interior truths, is it too much to say, in a sense which commends itself to a sound religious philosophy, that man is still born in the garden of Paradisal beauty, the garden of a mother's love? Is it too much to believe that he is born also with religious instincts, such as have been

spoken of, which in their tendencies lead him in the direction of the Infinite, but at the same time with a true and effective freedom of the will, which, by possibility at least, in the exercise of the great power that is given it, may lead him in a different direction? And is it possible to doubt that the command of God, uttered alike by the voice of nature and the voice of the great Master and Teacher, a command in its truth and essence as old as the beginnings of the universe, and as wide and deep as its vast and everlasting foundations, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself, is still uttered in his hearing, and is still binding upon the responsive action of his heart?

§ 192. Relation of the principle of supreme love of God to the other principles of the pathematic sensibilities.

In giving an account, in their succession and place, of the principles of action which go to constitute the department of the Natural sensibilities, we feel at liberty, from what has been remarked, to place at their head, both as most important in its results and as highest in rank, the principle of supreme love to God. The wisdom which we claim for the structure of human nature cannot be asserted with confidence to exist, except on the supposition that this great pillar of its support originally belonged to it, and may yet, by possibility, belong to it. And now, supposing this principle to exist in the human mind, either by being originally implanted, as in Adam, or by being restored under the name of a Regeneration or New Creation, or in any way and by any true spiritual process which enlightened wisdom may suggest, we naturally proceed to inquire what relation it holds to the other principles in this department of the mind, and what results are likely to attend upon it. In point of mere rank (that is to say, in the position which it occupies and ought to occupy in our estimation), we cannot hesitate to say that it stands first; not only before the Appetites and Propensities, but before all the other

Affections, the class with which it is itself properly arranged; taking the precedence, by an incalculable remove, not only of the love of country and the love of friends, but of the love of parents and children. "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me."-Matt. X., 37. The beneficial results connected with the exercise of this principle are such as might be expected from the pre-eminent rank it sustains. When it is in its full exercise, rendered to its appropriate object, in the language of Scripture, with all the heart, and mind, and soul, it may be regarded as a matter of course, that all the subordinate principles will be kept in their place. The appetites, the propensities, and the domestic affections still exist; but such is the ascendency of love to the Supreme Being, that every inordinate tendency is rebuked, and they all revolve in the circle which God in the beginning assigned to them.

§ 193. Illustration of the results of the principle of love to God from the character and life of the Saviour.

We have an impressive illustration of these favourable results in the character and life of Jesus Christ, who, we are informed in the Scriptures, is set before us as an example for our imitation. The Saviour, it will be recollected, appeared on earth not only in the fashion of a man, but was constituted also with those various attributes which pertain to man as a human being. He was hungry and thirsty, he ate and drank, he toiled and was susceptible of fatigue, he showed indignation, he loved, and rejoiced, and wept as other men. Not only this, we are expressly assured that he was tempted in all points as we are, and yet without sin; and this is just what might be expected when we take into view his feelings towards God. In him the principle of love to God the Father was a supreme principle. It sustained an unshaken dominion. “And, under its pervading and paramount influence, the appetites asked for no inordinate indulgence; the pro

pensities fulfilled the intentions of nature without degenerating into unseemly and sinful perversions, and all the departments of the mind maintained a harmony with each other.

And this will be the result in all other similar instances. The Saviour is set before us as an example, not merely in bodily and outward action, but still more in the propensions and affections of the heart. All that has been said of him, considered simply as a son of man, may, by possibility, be true of all men in every situation of life. Under the blaze of a burning love to God, the appetites of men, so far as they are inordinate and sinful, will necessarily wither and die. We do not mean to say that the appetites and propensities, or any other of the natural or pathematic principles, will actually cease to exist; but the mind will be so occupied with the higher and paramount principle, so long as it operates with a power proportioned to its object, that they will attract to themselves only the interest and influence to which they are entitled, and, although they will have their place and action, it will be impossible for them to become excessive.

§ 194. The absence of this principle attended with an excessive and sinful action of other principles.

Now take for a moment the opposite view, and let us see if we may not account for what has sometimes been called the Depravity of human nature, without the necessity of supposing the implantation of principles which, in themselves necessarily and under all circumstances, are evil. If the principle of Supreme love to God be removed from the place which both Scripture and reason agree in assigning to it in the original and in the renovated constitution of the mind, one of the most important checks on the undue exercise of the subordinate principles is, of course, taken away. The love which is drawn from the great Source of all good will naturally centre in ourselves, and the principles which have relation to our present enjoy

ment and interest will become predominant. Hence we see the disorders which all impartial inquirers, even heathen philosophers,* acknowledge to exist in the human race; and which it is the aim of enlightened reason and philosophy, and particularly of religion, in its instructions and its special influences, to rectify. The Appetites, which before had their appropriate place and offices, have now broken over their allotted limits, and are, on every hand, leading their victims into the various forms of excess and debauchery. The Propensities, many of which connect us closely with our fellow-beings, and, in their proper exercise, impart no small degree of strength and enjoyment to human character, have become inordinately intense in their action. Conscience, it is true, continues to repeat its remonstrances; and the Will, under the suggestions of Conscience, makes more or less of resistance; but, as they are not sustained by the love of the Supreme Being, which could not fail, if it existed, to operate in their favour, the contest becomes unequal, and the efforts which they make are found to be unavailing. In this state of things, men who, under other circumstances, would have leaned, and loved to lean, on the great arm of the Almighty for support, now find their chief enjoyment in the pursuit of wealth and power, and in the unrestricted intercourse and the uncertain enjoyments of the world.

It is in such a condition of things as this that we find the true source of the follies and crimes which afflict the human race. The dethronement of God in the heart necessarily involves the predominance of

*Cicero repeatedly asserts the fact of human depravity, not only in decided language, but in terms which, in their import, nearly coincide with the views which appear to be communicated in the Holy Scriptures. "Simul atque editi in lucem et suscepti sumus, in omni continuo pravitate, et in summa opinionum perversitate, versamur; ut pæne cum lacte nutricis errorem suxisse videamur.""Sed cum tot signis eadem natura declarat quid velit, anquirat, ac desideret; obsurdescimus tamen nescio quomodo; nec ea, quæ ab ea monemur, audimus. (Questiones Tusculanæ, iii., 1. De Amicitia, c. 24.) There are a number of passages in Seneca, particularly in the Treatises De Ira and De Clementia, of a similar import.