every period of his present existence. During the scason of infancy, we see him subject not only to helpless weakness, but also to many pains and diseases; and we see him too at the same time sustained and cherished by the tenderness of parental affection. Amidst the dangers and difficulties which beset his advancing years, we see him furnished with reason for a guide, and happily impelled by his social instincts

learned, (as we are allowed to suppose from the whole tenor of the fiction,) that "truth is to be found only in nature." (Vol. vi. sub finem.)-Such are the principles and sentiments in the work before us. And now can we forbear to wonder when we hear the translator declare, that " he had read few performances with more complete satisfaction, and with greater improvement, than the Studies of Nature;" and can we less wonder when he proceeds to demand with an air of confidence, "What work of science displays a more sublime theology, inculcates a purer morality, or breathes a more ardent or more expansive philanthropy?" (Vol. i. Pref.) This high-flown panegyric might induce a suspicion that the Doctor is not much conversant with the principles of a sound philosophy: and that in his extravagant zeal for his author, he had lost sight both of the Assembly's Catechism and of his Bible.

to unite himself with other men in friendly associations and bodies politic. Thus, by combined efforts, he is able, not barely to provide himself with a shelter from the elements, and 'with a scanty supply of food for his subsistence, but also, by the contrivance of fit instruments and engines, to extend his command over nature, to multiply his conveniences and comforts, and at the same time to erect a more effectual fence against the numberless evils to which he is exposed. And if to this general co-operation, we add the relief arising from particular assistance and sympathy, from the ordinary viccissitude of the world, and from the lapse of time itself, we shall find there are few instances of human distress which are not attended with many circumstances of alleviation. And, lastly, whatever be the lot of man, we see him borne up by an insuppressible hope, which affords a happy presumption, that, however his condition may be often sad and perilous, it is never absolutely desperate and irretrievable.

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We may recognise the same mixed character when we look back on the conduct of providence towards the world at large, even in the most awful instances, which by impressing a conviction of the nature and consequences of sin, were suited to obstruct progress. The instances I have here in view are, the expulsion of man from paradise; the labour and toil to which he was doomed by the curse upon the ground; lastly, the universal deluge, which probably, as the great secondary cause, by the changes it produced both in the earth itself and its surrounding atmosphere, further multiplied the evils and gradually abridged the term of human life, and thus opposed a fresh barrier to human depravity. In all this process, the attentive observer will acknowledge the Judge of the earth to be the Father of compassions, who, if his disobedient children. are not reclaimed by lighter chastisements, will not spare to treat them with greater rigours, no less from a regard to their welfare than to his own dignity and just authority.

Finally, the same character may be recognised in the state of the inferior tribes of the animal creation, which from their relation to man as their superior lord, are partly involved in his fate. With him they share in the benignity of the common parent; with him likewise they suffer

The penalty of Adam, the season's difference,

As the icy fang, and churlish chiding of the winter's wind: with other rigours and incommodities that flow from the same source.

Thus, in the whole frame and course of the world since the original defection, we may discern a display of justice softened by forbearance, and of indulgence tempered by justice; a righteous judge as well as a gracious benefactor; a God offended but not irreconcileable. By the light of scripture we are safely conducted through the labyrinth of nature, which, to the philosopher, who looks only to the present state of things, without considering the change that has taken place by man's diso

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bedience, must prove extremely dark and inexplicable.

For what account can he give upon the hypothesis of our native innocence, and of our relation to God as a benign Creator only, of the treatment we receive in the course of his providence? Should he suggest as a solution of this difficulty, as he probably may, that it is for our trial, for the exercise and improvement of our virtue, and, in consequence, the advancement of our happiness; yet is it not a strange trial, for an innocent creature to be introduced into being with weeping and anguish, to sicken a few years, and before he has committed any personal offence, to be snatched away by the hand of death; or if his term be lengthened, to see him exposed to numberless evils, both moral and physical, to injuries and disasters, to the buffets of nature and of what the world calls fortune, and then to close his days in languishing disease, and sometimes in excruciating torment? Is this a trial un