stationary, it has not merely not been progressive, it has retrograded. Such was that period in which, after the decline of the Platonic philosophy, Aristotle reigned in all the schools, and was idolized as the secretary of nature, who dipt his pen in intellect. From his dictates there was no appeal; and, what was most remarkable, his empire extended to theology. As nothing can convey a higher idea of the intellectual greatness of that extraordinary man, than the unrivalled despotism he then exercised over human minds, so nothing can present a more humiliating picture of the weakness of those minds, than the depth of mental degradation to which they thus descended. The Reformation was the great instrument in undermining and demolishing that long-established system of intellectual despotism and degradation. Under the light diffused by the reformers, men awoke from the trance of ignorance and infatuation in which they had slept for ages; they felt those energies of thought and reason which had been so long disused; they began to investigate truth for themselves; they started to that career of genius and science which has ever since been rapidly advancing. Had this been the only benefit it produced, the protestant reformation would deserve to be numbered among the noblest achievements of mental energy: viewing it in this light, even infidels have applauded Luther and his associates.

Since that æra the greatest advances have been made in every department of science, physical and

moral; more especially during the last century, in which the progress of knowledge has been more rapid than, perhaps, during any similar period of human history. In addition even to the grand discoveries of Newton, respecting the laws of nature and the system of the universe, such a mass of varied information has been accumulated, that Newton himself, could he witness the present state of his own science, would be astonished at advances he never anticipated. Every year, nay, almost every day, has added something; while the registers of discovery have found it no easy task to keep pace with the rapidity of its march. The nomenclature of the preceding fifty years has been found so inadequate to the demands of the latter half century, that it has become entirely obsolete; and a new nomenclature may be required by another age. This is remarkably exemplified in the department of chemical science: nor has less been accomplished in moral and political philosophy. The genius of legislation has been greatly elucidated within the present age. The principle of religious toleration and liberty of conscience, which required for its demonstration the reasoning powers of the immortal Locke, is now universally acknowledged. In a word, philosophy has been completely popularised, and mingles with every order of society from the palace to the cottage: all approach its illumination, all participate in its benefits.

It is true that we cannot boast, in these latter times, of oratory or poetry equal to that of

Demosthenes or of Milton. These arts, being derived from nature, the natural emanations of enthusiasm and fancy, are early brought to perfection; and are probably cultivated with less advantage in a more refined state of society. The case is different with respect to the pursuits of science and philosophy: these are permanently and interminably progressive: the induction of facts, the investigation of phenomena and principles, are susceptible of perpetual advancement: and, if it were preposterous to suppose that those great masters of poetry and eloquence will ever be superseded, or perhaps even equalled, it were not less preposterous to deny that the present amount of knowledge,-immense as it now appears,-may yet, to a future generation, appear comparatively inconsiderable. Invention has has exhausted its powers: the stores of philosophy are inexhaustible. In every successive age, it must be allowed, the increase of science, though continual, becomes less and less observable: it is during the infancy of knowledge that its growth is most apparent ; afterwards, the vast general extent renders us less sensible of every new accession; just as in a large assemblage of buildings, like that which composes your own city, we are scarcely aware of its constant enlargement; while, in a village, every particular addition becomes an object of attention. Thus less surprise is excited in the present age, than would have been felt in any preceding period, by every fresh augmentation of our intellectual stores. It is an age of universal curiosity, in which

ignorance is felt as a calamity. The extensive circulation of books, and the multitude of cultivated minds, distinguish this period beyond comparison with any that has preceded it. Never before was that prophetic feature of the latter days so strikingly exhibited-" Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."

2. A second feature by which the present age is distinguished, is an increased attention to the instruction of the lower classes.

The time has been, when the education of youth in the inferior walks of society was entirely neglected: it is only during a later period that the first impulse was given to that vast machine of universal instruction, which continues to operate with increasing energy. It is painful to reflect on the unnatural separation, in whatever relates to the mind, which formerly subsisted between the common people and those who fill the higher ranks of the community; the monstrous chasm which divided the gross barbarism of the former from the superfluous refinement of the latter. It seemed as if an entire oblivion had taken place, in reference to their original, fraternal relation, as members of one family, children of a common father. There is little, it is true, in poverty, to gratify the taste or the imagination; but it is time, surely, to lose sight of those merely adventitious accompaniments which glitter on the eye of fancy and refinement,-time to recognise, in the humblest portions of society, partakers of our nature, with all its high prerogatives and awful destinies :

it is time to remember that our distinctions are exterior and evanescent, our resemblance real and permanent; that all is transient, but what is moral and spiritual; that the only graces we can carry with us into another world, are graces of divine implantation; and that, amidst the rude incrustations of poverty and ignorance, there lurks an imperishable jewel,-a principle transcending in its value the whole material creation,—a soul, susceptible of the highest spiritual beauty, destined, perhaps, to adorn the celestial abodes, and to shine for ever in the mediatorial diadem of the Son of God! Take heed that ye despise not one of these

little ones.

*

Among the instances of an increased attention to the welfare of the lower classes, may be numbered those improvements in the penal code of our laws, which have been proposed by a living lawyer, who appears to me at least, to have understood the true nature of legal justice much better than it has been comprehended heretofore. When so much light is thrown upon a subject,before very imperfectly investigated, -the most important amendments may be anticipated in the laws, especially those which affect the criminal's life; and we may hope the time is not distant when, in conformity with the Divine Standard, the crime of murder shall be regarded as the only proper subject of capital punishment.

In short, we appear at length to have become sensible that every thing merits our earnest attention

*Sir James Mackintosh.