Pure Practical Reason is more immediately cultivated. Rending the veil of the temple may be considered a type emblematic of the abolition of the Mosaic and the perfect establishment of the Christian Dispensation. The parables constantly employed by our Saviour in enforcing his doctrine sufficiently evince his predilection for figurative language, as being a very forcible mode not only of conveying instruction but of adapting it to the plainest capacity.

Nor, indeed, is it so absolutely certain that profane History does not sometimes indulge in metaphor. Poetry, we know, delights in personification, calling the sea Neptune, and the sun Apollo. The grave and sedate History of Rome very circumstantially relates of Caligula that he consecrated his favourite horse High Priest, invested him with the dignity of Consul, provided him with marble apartments, indulged him with a golden rack and manger, besides allowing him a suite of attendants. May not this be refined censure concealed under a metaphor, reflecting upon the irregularity of the Emperor's conduct?

Let it not, however, be supposed for a moment that history can be dispensed with, for it is as impossible to teach morality without an investigation and comparison

of the actions of men recorded in history as it is to teach the mathematics without an extended surface on which to describe its Diagrams. All that we here insist upon is, that the pure part in each science is susceptible of a different mode of treatment from the empirical part. It is an acknowledged fact that the mathematical diagrams exhibited to the SENSES are only symbolical representations, which raise in the mind the PURE mathematical figures. These, indeed, can never be felt, or in any way address the senses. Exactly so is it in Morality. The various actions of man recorded in history and ranked as good, bad, or indifferent, are so many empirical symbols, referring each action to its motive, wherein alone its morality consists. The more accurately a diagram is described, the nearer it approaches to the mental figure. For this, however, it never can be substituted. This is precisely the case with "Morality;" the better the action, the nearer it approximates to its moral type, which is planted in the Reason of man, and denominated the " MORAL LAW." Nor, indeed, can man from the action decide upon the motive: this is an affair of the individual with his Maker, and is not cognizable by man. Though thousands might witness the action of

plunging the dagger into the heart, thus terminating the existence of the individual, who but God shall judge the motive! - Who shall pronounce judgment on the motive of Manlius Torquatus, who killed his own son for acting without orders! Being deeply impressed with the importance of attention to orders in military tactics, he acted towards his son as he would towards any one else under his command- he dispatched him, though his exertions were crowned with a glorious victory. Was this a crime or a virtue in Manlius ?

That the morality of an action depends on the motive is universally admitted. Hence Morality is the doctrine of motives, or a "Pure Science of Reason,” where every motive is examined and compared in point of purity with the sacred standard - the moral law, seated in Reason, where every action we are going to perform must be first submitted to this test, and either be allowed or prohibited: thus it is we know whether the motive is good or bad. In this way, man is the natural judge of his own actions, for he either acquits or condemns himself by that divine spirit of truth within him, CONSCIENCE; and, having acted conformably to its dictates, nothing more can be required

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of him. But the very essence of Morality consists in man's discharging his duty quite disinterestedly, that is, purely for the sake of duty. Thus Reason commands Morality, and gives man the power of obtaining the victory over the sinful lusts of the flesh the carnal inclinations. When these pure and permanent laws of Reason are represented as the divine commandments of God, they constitute RELIGION, that is, a demand made on the finite being to render his will conformable to the will of God.

It is a fatal error to mistake the type for the essence to adore the "Book," which is the work of man's hand, instead of the idea of the pure spiritual essence which the type awakens in the mind. This is, indeed, worshipping a material Deity, an Idol; and is as gross a superstition as any that can be charged to the Roman Catholics, or even to the most savage tribes. Sciences and precepts are spiritual or mental things, and can exist only in mind, and not in matter. To teach the science of Geometry, a book is necessary, as well as to awaken religious sentiments; yet no one would say that he had seen or felt a mathematical figure because he found diagrams in Euclid, or that he had discovered the spiritual essence of the Deity in a

printed book. It is, indeed, true that matter is necessary to instruct mind; for without it there could not be any object to think of; yet thoughts raised in the mind by material objects are themselves purely mental, that is, spiritual. So, in Religion, History, which records the actions of men, is essential, in order that these actions may be investigated as to their relative purity and correctness. But, to consider any action performed by man in experience, or in time and space, as a religious act, is quite a mistake. For it is the motive alone which is of a religious nature, and which, being invisible to man, can never become an object of experience. These spiritual essences are, therefore, affairs between man and his Maker. It must not, however, be supposed that it is even hinted at, in the most distant manner, that religious forms and ceremonies are to be dispensed with. These essential requisites for raising ideas which inspire religious awe are absolutely indispensable. All that is required is, that the one should not be confounded with the other, nor the ceremonials be mistaken for the Religion itself. Our great Prototype, Christ, has taught the futility of the outward action, and shown that "true Religion can exist only in the heart."