excites no emotion, conveys no sentiments, communicates no pleasure. Science is a blank to him. He is ignorant of its treasures-he despises what he does not understand. He is careful only to secure the single interest which appertains to himself, by the means presenting themselves to him with the least trouble. It is the mere impulse of necessity, the appetite of the savage-selfish, narrow, unsocial-and to such a man the city is transformed into the desert. He lives to himself, and scarcely can be said to exist at all. He vegetates rather than lives. Providence is a blank to him. He is ignorant of all that is passing in the world, or indifferent to it, except the solitary spring of his own supply be dried. He scarcely raises his eyes from the ground which he cultivates; and seems rooted to the soil from which he earns his subsistence. We must not attribute this apathy and selfishness merely to the absence of instruction. There are minds, under similar disadvantages, which soar above their circumstances-and present, in the most humble stations of life, a modest, but striking example of all that is noble in principle, dignified in sentiment, firm in purpose, benevolent in heart, and enlarged in capacity. There are others, upon whom rank reflects no glory, to whom cultivation can communicate no generous sentiments, who are incapable of appreciating or employing their advantages,-and who remain, what they were from the beginning, ignorant, useless, and contemptible. The mind in the first instance, like a few favoured tracts of the earth, spontaneously produces the most luxuriant vegetation, the richest fruits, and the fairest flowers in the other, it resembles the arid sands of the desert, upon which the showers of the spring descend in vain ; and should the husbandman divide them with his plough, or commit to their furrows his precious seed-his hope would be lost-the reaper would not fill his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. It may be easily conceived of what advantage instruction will be to a mind of superior intellectual endowments, in giving scope to faculties, before imprisoned in a narrow sphere, altogether disproportionate to their powers and desires; and with what avidity it will avail itself of the opportunities of acquiring enlarged information. Nature will be traced in all her matchless combinations; Providence will be regarded with attentive interest, and devotional admiration. Selfishness will yield to the generous impulses of sympathy-and as a man,

nothing human will be foreign to his heart. But between these characters there is a difference obviously less dependent upon circumstances, than upon the disproportion of original mental powers: and while labour may give to natural barrenness some of the features of cultivation; and the richest soil untilled, in the spontaneity of its production, can present but wild fruits and flowers; the difference between the land shall still be obvious to the eye. The contrast of intellectual powers, which has been stated, and which is not imaginary, depends not more upon application, than upon original ability. The subject, however, supposes an adaptation of talent to different purposes. It were absurd to condemn a man as destitute of capacity, because its exercise takes a different direction to the talent of his neighbour. All are not actuated by the ambition of the statesman; all are not animated with the courage of the hero; all do not feel the inspiration of the poet; all are not fitted for the laborious researches, or the patient investigations, of the philosopher. If it were so, the beautiful variety of nature would be destroyed, and the harmony of society broken. Every man would be the rival, and not the associate-the enemy, and not the helper of his neighbour. "For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, "I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? "And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am "not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the "whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? if the "whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now "hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one mem"ber, where were the body? But now are they many mem"bers, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say un"to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the "head to the feet, I have no need of you." This beautiful allusion to the distribution of the members of the body, and the different uses of the senses-as well as the adaptation of each to the end for which it was given, their harmony conducing to the perfection of the whole-was made by the Apostle in reference to the diversity, and at the same time, the unity, of the Church of Christ; and will apply with equal propriety and force, to the variety of talent among mankind, and the contribution of each to the general stability and advantage of society. The question then returns,

how may each of these be so applied, as to conduce most to the general interest; and to that especially which transcends all other subjects, and secures all other blessings—the cause of Christ?

It would be improper to dismiss this part of the subject without noticing, that there is a diversity of circumstances as well as of intellectual powers; and as a man can give only according to that which he hath, and shall be judged by his possessions as well as his faculties, we must consider his property as included among his talents.-The disproportionate allotments of Providence, are parts of the Divine government, which excite much speculation, but which must be resolved into his sovereignty, and should be cheerfully confided to his wisdom and tenderness. We are certain, that he hath done all things well; and we ought to be satisfied with a testimony written upon the face of all nature, in characters of boundless variety, and dazzling brightness, and inscribed no less upon our consciences, without demanding reasons which he has seen fit to withhold, or applying the rash conclusions of our passions to the operations of infinite wisdom and paternal love. He has decreed that the poor shall never cease out of the land. It was not an ordinance applicable exclusively to Israel, but a dispensation of Providence acting upon all ages and all nations. It is unnecessary to resort to argument, when the fact presents itself on every side; or to seek for illustration, when the cottage stands hard by the palace. “The

poor ye have always with you" hear it, ye sons and daughters of affluence and of dissipation-it is the voice of your Master; and it is enforced by the howling of the wintry winds-the peltings of the pitiless storm-and the keenness of the piercing cold.

From these external circumstances no conclusions can be drawn safely or wisely relative to the character of those who are respectively placed in them-nor are they indications of the Divine approbation, or the contrary. It might indeed be said, that the boasted privileges of the rich are artificial. The poor man beholds the same glorious sun,breathes the same air,-walks on the same beautiful earthpossesses the same senses-is an heir of the same immortality. Can the wealthy enjoy more than these? Do luxuries conduce to real pleasure? Does abundance give a greater taste for these pure and simple, but enduring bounties of nature? Is not the reverse the fact? The rich man often enjoys less of real life. He beholds every thing

through a fictitious medium. He has no relish for unsophisticated pleasures. He has created for himself artificial gratifications, purchased at an immoderate expense-palling to an appetite diseased by indulgence, and perishing in the using. Habit has rendered these necessary, and at the same time, by making them familiar, destroyed their charm, which novelty alone conferred. In the mean while, like the poor man, he is exposed to disease-to pain-to anguish of spirit to death :-even rendered more subject to those, by indolence, by sensuality, by luxury. Where then is the advantage of the rich over the poor? "The violet smells" to the one as to the other" all his senses have but human "conditions"-his " affections may be higher mounted" than those of the poor man-" yet when they stoop, they "stoop with the like wing." The balance is against wealth in no small items in the aggregate of human life, and at its close, all the distinction is swallowed up. Still further, those apparently disproportionate allotments, like the diversity of natural talents, are intended for the general advantage of society, and doubtless contribute to it. Out of these arise those beautiful gradations from its foundation to its summit; and let it never be forgotten, if the apex of the cone be the point of dignity, on its base rests all its stability. The poor are essential to society-contribute largely to its comfort and security-and are not deprived therefore of the privilege of aiding the grand cause of the Redeemer in the world.

Having shewn that talents, including alike powers and possessions, mental faculties and individual circumstances, are of various orders, and distributed in different proportions to mankind, it is time to advance to another position, taken for granted in this essay, but which must not pass unnoticed.

The cause of Religion is the sublimest object to which they can be directed. This is a sentiment which the Christian will spring forward to meet the moment it is announced. To him it is unnecessary to produce argument, where his heart has already outrun the proposition. He identifies the cause of the Saviour with his own. He burns with his displeasure, loves with his affection-triumphs in his victory-lives but in his smiles. To him empires and armies are nothing, but as the theatres on which the glory of his Master shall be exhibited, and instruments by which his right shall be facilitated. He sees in the bitterness of human contention, the promise of universal repose-in the

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collision of human passions, the wisdom of Providence working out its own unsearchable designs-and in the partial evil permitted, the universal benefit, predicted in the pages of inspiration, and sealed by the promise and oath of God. Not insensible nor indifferent to the tide of human blood which ambition causes to flow-he looks to the end of the conflict: in these elements of discord he discerns the seeds of future happiness and peace; and while man's insatiable lust of conquest would never say "It is enough," he beholds the invisible Power, who "rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm," contracting their ravages; setting boundaries to the cruelty of oppression; and saying to the wrath of princes, "Hitherto shalt thou go, but no farther." He sees, in these convulsions, the faith of ancient prophecy." The stone cut out without hands, strikes the image of despotism, crumbles its incongruous materials, and becomes a great mountain which filleth the whole earth. In every event he keeps his eye fixed upon the cause of the Redeemer, not merely as that in which he has the greatest stake, but as the most noble in its character, the most beneficial in its effects, and in which all others must merge. When the vultures gather before the battle on the summits of surrounding mountains, and so soon as the first signal-gun is fired, spread the wing, and sail high upon the air, stretching a dreadful shadow over the combatants, hiding as a cloud the mid-day sun, and darkening the field of carnage; he hears a voice which cries to the fowls of heaven, saying, "Come "and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God! that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the "flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the "flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the "flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and "great;" and he knows that these are the harbingers of his presence, who shall turn the sword into a ploughshare, and the spear into a pruning-hook; the pioneers of that mighty conqueror, "who is clothed in raiment dipped in blood, "and who hath upon his vesture, and upon his thigh, a "name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords."

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And while the Christian connects himself inseparably with these interests of the Redeemer, he connects himself with the noblest of all causes. With what shall we attempt to compare it? Not with the crooked policy of earthly potentates, and interested statesmen: for all his ways are purity and truth; and although "clouds and darkness are "round about him, righteousness and judgment are the