being, not only a distinct power from the rational mind-but that it is an intelligent power, ever ready to take advantage of our weakness, and is seen, in the reasoning faculty being suspended by it, as is the case, during a fit of passion: for, in that state, the mind is evidently held captive against its own inclination! And, in well-disposed people, a feeling of regret is afterwards perceived, as though they felt a conscious degradation by it: and such characters are ready to forgive an acknowledged error in those, whose conduct caused it, as soon as the mind regains its rule in calmness: but they feel pain, and wish the past in oblivion, when that passion was excited by a consciousness of their own injustice. But their inability to suppress such fits of passion, they always regret, yet the power to do it, commonly increases from childhood to years of maturity. Whilst, however, these feelings are seen in some of the best of men, there are characters far inferior, and who are known by the malignity of their actions:-no feelings of regret are seen in such persons, in committing the worst deeds of injustice and

oppression, to gratify their desires: but, whenever their artifices are seen, and their cunning is defeated, all the malignity of their nature, in hatred and revenge, is excited; and the greatest atrocities would ensue, were they not checked and restrained, by the fear of the criminal laws, or of shame in public estimation: and this depravity of mankind is abundantly proved, in the records of the several ages of the world.

Hence are perceived two distinct principles in mankind, from the light of our observations. Now the rules of philosophy allow electricity to be one power; because, it is perceived throughout this globe, acting by the same laws. May we not also be allowed to suppose the malignant passions to proceed from one power, as they are equally perceived in man and in brutes, and acting by the same laws in proportion to their influence over them? Such questions, however, never could be answered from our natural knowledge; but must have ever remained in mysterious conjecture, if they

were not revealed in the Scriptures! They inform us, that these malignant passions proceed from one power of evil, and pervade organized matter: and a catalogue of all the actions of man, arising from such malignant influence, is given in the New Testament, that we may know ourselves, and also others;-for therein we are told, that " by their fruit yẹ shall know them." The Scriptures also give us a catalogue of all the actions which proceed from minds uninfluenced by those malignant passions; which we know, from experience, would constitute the good man, if any one were totally free from them; and they declare that such minds emanate, and are formed by the pure Spirit of God, that freely pervades all things.

This knowledge, therefore, we could not possibly have obtained, had it not pleased the Almighty to have revealed it. It is found only in the Scriptures, and is consistent, and in unison with our experience, and knowledge of mankind, and the organization of the creation,

To illustrate: It may be asked, how can the passions freely pervade our bodies; and how can the pure Spirit, which forms the mind of man, pervade those passions and all other things? To which we reply-Physical philosophy informs us, that our bodies, and all this visible world, are entirely porous. And, by understanding this organization, we may readily understand how the gross spirit, we call the malignant passions, can pervade the body, and with what facility the pure Spirit of God can pervade the whole. The electric fluid freely pervades platina, which is two hundred thousand times denser than hydrogen gas, or 18,390 times atmospheric air; something more than 22 times rain water; near 13 times the bone of an ox; and 23 times the fat of beef.

With this progressive porosity of various substances before us;-that the pores vary in size, as so many sieves, from hydrogen gas to laminated platina, and through which the electric fluid freely pervades; and a magnet operates through them without any sensible resistance; and the power called gravitation "suffers

no diminution nor modification, when a third body is interposed between the two gravitating masses;❞—we may conceive how freely the passions can pervade the body, and act upon the nervous system, as we find by experience they do; and also how freely the pure Spirit of God, in supporting the Universe by his Omnipotence, can pervade all things, and cherish, by his benignant rays, the soul of man as He pleases. But, we will also add the observations of an enlightened philosopher of the present age, who has dispassionately considered the porosity of the creation, as it leads the mind directly towards the necessity of a revelation from God; at the same time, it points out the extent of the natural knowledge, obtained by the observation of things around us, where conjecture commences, and where uncertainty, fear, and dissatisfaction attend it.

"We cannot (Dr. Thomas Young says)* prove experimentally that the influence of gravitation is incapable of pervading even the ultimate particles of solid matter; for this Natural Philosophy, p. 609.