the public, without weakening the effect which they were calculated to produce. Leaving these addresses, however, to speak for themselves, or only adding my request to any who may happen to take up this volume, that they will not neglect the opportunity that is offered, but will honestly and faithfully read, what can hardly be read by any without profit; I turn to the Association to which they were originally addressed, and desire to express the feelings with which its institution must be contemplated by every one, who takes an interest in the welfare of his fellowmen, and in the moral character of his country. Associations have always been one of the resources of mankind, in every state of life and in every degree of civilization. It seems as if human nature, conscious of its own weakness and insufficiency, conscious that in itself it was incapable of securing its own happiness, or even its own existence, sought to effect that which was beyond the reach of the individual by the consent and combination of many. In this way, a sense of self-preservation dictated the necessity of social unions at the first commencement of man's being upon the earth, in order to secure general safety by general combination. The sense of want, the desire to make labour more productive, and to obtain the largest possible returns for the exertions that were made, taught men in subsequent periods the necessity of co-operation, and led them to unite their efforts in order that they might be more effective.

When things of primary importance, when security and subsistence were provided for by these means, and civilized man began to feel the pressure of wants, of which he had been ignorant in a simpler state of living; the same consciousness of weakness and insufficiency drove him to the same resource, and led him to seek the help of others for sustaining a burden which he was incapable of bearing alone. His wants were satisfied, but his wishes began to act, and to crave for indulgence. Food and covering, the things necessary for the body, were ob

tained; but the mind had been awakened, and had risen up to a sense of wants, which had not been heard of or suspected before. Satisfactions of a new and peculiar description were called for, and called for so imperiously, that it was evident that the supply of all that the body needed was very far from being that which would give rest and contentment to the man. From that time, therefore, when the wants of the body were satisfied, the cravings of the mind began; and man was compelled to feel that this was not his home, by finding that every crease of means, every step in the ascent of civilization, did but lead to the discovery of new wants, and wants which called for fresh exertions in order to supply the necessities of his state.

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The same consciousness of insufficiency which prompted associations in the commencement of civilization, suggested the same resource when civilization seemed accomplished. The civilized man was found still more dependent on others than the rude settler in the wilderness. The one needs the help of others on some occasions, but he is not dependent on them always. He may be glad of their assistance, when it is offered in the chase or in the battle, but he can live without their society and be content; and months may pass without his being conscious of a wish for it. The civilized man, on the contrary, though he may not need the help of society, feels the want of it more keenly. He lives for society, and lives upon it; and solitude, which to the new settler or to the savage may be like the air he breathes, would to him be a banishment from all that he delights in, a burden too intolerable to be borne. Hence it is, that as men in a state of nature unite together for the purposes of selfdefence, or for subsistence; in a state of civilization they unite together for the purposes of self-support and selfamusement; and that spirit of combination which is the resource of men in the infancy of society, is at least as strong in that second childhood of society which comes

on when manners are the most refined, and luxury most general.

A feeling which exists so generally and acts so uniformly on man must be regarded as a sort of instinct in his nature. It is, at least, a conclusion which follows so necessarily from the weaknesses of which man is conscious, and the wants to which he is always subject, that it produces the same result in him, that instinct does in creatures not gifted with the powers of reasoning; and, like instinct, acts invariably and under every circumstance alike. In the brute creation, we avail ourselves of the instincts which are implanted in their nature, and turn them to our own purpose. The architectural skill of the bee, the sagacity of the dog, the gregarious tendencies of the larger animals, are the foundations of important benefits to ourselves. We feel that it would be out of our power to instil the tastes which render these creatures so useful to man; but we see that those tastes may be exercised in a manner which conduces to our advantage; and regard, and reasonably regard them, as merciful provisions made by our Creator, for the purpose of contributing to our comfort, and making the animal creation subservient to our good.

It seems reasonable that the same view should be taken of those tendencies which we discern in ourselves; and that feelings, which appear to be constituent parts of our nature; which, as such, we must suppose to have been implanted by our Maker, when He breathed into us the breath of life, should be used and improved, should be drawn out and directed in such a manner, and towards such ends, as may seem most agreeable to the will of Him who made us; and as such, most conducive to the common welfare of mankind. To make this use of natural feelings; to receive what is given and to regulate its employment; to improve what has been infused, under the conviction that whatever comes from such a source must be good in itself, and only evil in its abuse;

seems, strictly speaking, a part of christian wisdom. There have been those who, terrified at the abuse they beheld, confounded the work of man with the gift of God, and thought it their duty to overcome and to extinguish the feelings of our nature as if they were always and unalterably evil. They made the attempt with a zeal worthy of a better cause, and which might have been expected to lead to a better result; but the universal failure of their endeavours- only proved the error of their principle. They attempted a work which they had not the means of accomplishing. The nature which they endeavoured to subdue, like the fabled Proteus, assumed a variety of forms in order to baffle and escape the power which tried to bind it. Checked in one shape, it re-appeared in another. Subdued in one instance, it burst forth in another. The evil was not conquered; but it was rendered infinitely more subtle by the means that were employed for its subjugation; and all that men gained by the artificial restraints which they devised and imposed upon themselves, was to make it infinitely more difficult than it had been, to detect a corruption which they had learned to dread, but which they were not able to extirpate.

A truer wisdom would have led them to discriminate between what was absolutely evil and what was only incidentally so; between what might be done and should be done, and that which, as it could not be done with safety, ought not to be attempted by man. They might have learned, and learned from that one book which was written for our learning, had it been then within their reach, that the tempter is as busy in the wilderness as he is in the crowded city; and that the real secret of man's security does not consist in his being placed beyond the reach of evil, but in his being kept from it by a power superior to his own. At present, however, the case is altogether different. The convictions of the insufficiency of these resources, to which men trusted so confidently in former ages, has led to their disuse; and men, always

in extremes, knowing no medium in their feelings, but passing from blind admiration to unreasonable contempt, no sooner discovered that retirement from the world was no security from the world, than they discarded all caution, and conceived themselves justified in neglecting the means of their preservation, which were included in retirement and meditation; simply because they had learned from experience that those means were not infallible, and had sometimes failed of producing the expected effect. Such being the general impression and such the state of things in the world, it is idle to look back on past times and to regret the change that has taken place; and it would be worse than idle to attempt to reverse what we feel to be universal. Our security must be found where our lot is cast; and those whose lives are to be spent in the scenes of business and activity, in crowded cities and amidst the turmoil of the world, instead of dwelling on the real or imaginary advantages possessed by those who breathe a different atmosphere, and of making comparisons disadvantageous to themselves, must look round the circle by which they are surrounded, and consider what elements of strength, what materials of defence and protection may be found there, and may be collected and applied to their own use.

That the elements of evil are rife and rampant in crowded cities; that a collected and condensed population seems to bring with it, and to concentrate, and by concentration to strengthen the poison which belongs to our corrupted nature, it seems impossible to deny. The language held by writers of every age, and of every country, by the Roman satirist as well as by the English; by the heathen moralist as well as by the Christian; all seems to concur in ascribing a prevalence of evil, a predominance of its power, and a darkness of its character, to the inhabitants of those towns, where wealth and the means of enjoyment are accumulated, and where all the passions of men are irritated by opportunity or encouraged by example. If this were the