vation of himself, or in being dangerous to the safety of others.*

But we ask those people, who suppose they possess the most calm and reflecting minds, whether that calmness is not at times disturbed by a temporary restlessness, that prevents the study of subjects the mind is desirous of knowing?—and, whether it is not frequently drawn off, imperceptibly, from the subject before it, and against its inclination?—and, in the daily occurrences of life, when trifles occur, by the apparent negligence or inattention of others-Is there not a power perceived to rise, independent of the mind, that gives the feeling of anger, which a strong mind checks and represses, yet not always immediately, but never without sensations of pain?-whereas the calm mind only dictates the expostulation of reason, and condemns the petulance of this power of passion! And do not the Scriptures say, that this anger proceeds from the spirit of evil, and that we must not give way to it? And, with all this evidence before us, can we doubt the truth, that these passions are the sole cause or root of all our imper

By our Saviour restoring the insane to their perfect senses, and all the sick to health, who sought it in suffering humility-at the same time that he rejected the pharisees, who were wise in the cunning and hypocrisy of the spirit of this world is a demonstration-that the sorrows of the former are only in this world; and that the sorrows of the latter commence on leaving it-by their exclusion from the kingdom of heaven.

dom.

fections and infirmities? Can we then doubt "that Book of Wisthe corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthy tabernacle weigheth down the mind, that museth upon many things," with such daily experience of the fact within us, and before us in others? And if the passions have power to obtain a temporary influence over the mind, so far as to suspend its faculties, and which the strongest mind cannot always repress-Is it unreasonable to believe they have the power to obtain a full possession of the faculties of the mind, so far as to prevent the true perception of things for a longer period, and which captivity of the mind, constitutes insanity, as the Scriptures declare?

It was by these passions mankind fell from their purity in the Holy Spirit of God in love, joy, and peace; and, therefore, the infirmities and miseries they endure, are the consequences of them. If then, it shall please the Almighty to take those passions from them, as he has promised, and shall restore them in the purity of his Holy Spirit-all those miseries and infirmities will cease, and love, joy, and peace succeed them. This, then, is the revealed will of God to mankind in the Scriptures, and supported by every evidence a reasonable mind can require.

We now therefore ask-What evidence is there to controvert it? We see that God has established the creation within our reach upon immutable laws: and he has given to each of us a mind to perceive

Eccl. iii. 21.

and remember those laws, and to exercise it in reasoning of their effects, as the guide for our preservation and comforts.

In that creation are our bodies, subject to be disordered by any cause which affects those immutable laws, which govern them in health. The Scriptures reveal, that God has created spirits of evil, in which we live, that do affect those immutable laws, and cause all the diseases and sorrows incident to our nature. But, with the mind he has been pleased to give us to exercise, he has also placed within its reach the remedies, in many cases, by the knowledge of the chemical laws which govern material substances with each other: and to discover those laws is the business of the physician. But the various imperceptible operations of this base terrestrial spirit-in which we live-a physician can no more prevent, from depraving our appetites, and exciting vain fancies, and laying the foundation of disease, and in holding the mind captive in fractures and fevers, that affect the organs of the brain-by which the regular laws are impeded than he can prevent the blights and mildews in the vegetable creation!

Hence, "who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?"

Hence, "In the midst" of the spirit "of life we are in" the spirit of "death: of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord!"