of the realms of eternal bliss, even while we are grovelling here below-not in light, but darkness visible. The prospective benefits that will flow from a solution of a difficulty which has agitated the religious world for nearly two thousand years, and which already flit before us in imagination, far exceed anything that the limited faculties of man can conceive; and of their magnitude we can form no idea, as the soul is fitted for approximating perfection without end. Now to the grateful task!

THERE IS A GOD!

It is absolutely impossible that nothing at all exists, while we exist who make the assertion. As nothing can exist which is not possible, it is evident that the last ground of all possibility must rest in something that actually does exist. Hence :-that "there is a God" is a position which cannot be denied. Indeed, this overwhelming truth is so thoroughly interwoven in our nature, that all argument to enforce it seems superfluous. Yet this truth becomes even more powerful, by attempting to negative His existence. If we annul all existence, we at the same time annul all possibility, and nothing whatever remains, which contradicts the fact. Therefore, an Absolutely Necessary Being actually

exists, who comprises in himself the last ground of all possibility; and all things else must be considered merely as consequences flowing from this Primitive and Original Source. That, however, which is merely dependent may be annulled without destroying its original Cause; because it is contingent, and not absolutely necessary. This "Necessary Being," then, must contain the last ground of all possibility; and, as there cannot be two last grounds, this Absolutely Necessary Being must be ONE.

He must also be simple, that is, so constructed that, if any part is taken away, the whole is destroyed. For, if he is composed he may be divided, and part taken away. But the part which is taken away need not be necessary, but contingent. If, however, only one part is necessary, all the rest must be contingent; it is, therefore, absurd to annul part of a thing and still call it a whole. This is to destroy the internal possibility of a thing, or, in other words, to destroy it altogether. If we annul either the centre, the radius, or the circumference, the circle vanishes; and if we remove the base from a triangle, the whole is destroyed. But to assert that all triangles must be right-angled is to confound the contingent with the necessary. Likewise, if we annul

all existence we at the same time destroy all possibility and all reality, and nothing whatever remains. Hence the Divine Essence cannot be divided, and is consequently simple.

All that exists in ETERNITY is absolutely simple, having all its parts so connected with each other that if any, the least, particle were taken away the whole would be destroyed. Not so with the things in TIME. The usual tint of vegetating nature is green; but if this colour disappears the tree does not cease to exist. REASON is a faculty of man, which exists wholly in ETERNITY, though it influences the things in TIME. This will be very apparent on inspection of our Diagram, where the soul is represented as existing in the outer sphere, where every thing is pure, simple, and strictly necessary, or in ETERNITY; and the body is placed in the centre blue, where every thing is composed, and, as far as regards man, contingent, that is, part may be taken away without destroying the whole. Many are the instances in nature that confirm this truth. The loss of any one of the senses, or in fact of any of the members of the body, does not destroy the individual. But whatever occurs to the body can never affect the soul, which lives and breathes in a totally different

sphere. Principles are necessary, Sensations are contingent: thus, all the elements of the mind are absolutely necessary; and it is absolutely uncertain, being purely accidental, what sensation will next affect the SENSE which may be thus displayed:

To begin a state of itself, or to commence a series of events, is freedom; and this power is PRACTICAL REASON, which originates its own principles, that arise out of its own nature. Now, as these principles are not laws of matter, which only regard the action of matter on matter, these laws must therefore regard the com

munion of spirit with spirit, and compose a code of laws, which may very properly be termed Moral, having the Moral Law at their head. Hence man is free with regard to the motive which induces the action. Every object of nature is bound down to certain laws impressed upon it at its creation, and every alteration depends on a prior cause. The nail knows no freedom when driven by the hammer, nor the poor Negro who labours in fear of the lash. This is the instinct of Nature, and, with regard to man, slavery. Freedom in man depends on the exercise of his PRACTICAL REASON, and regards the purity of his motives, for which alone he is accountable. Slavery, on the contrary, is produced by the employment of physical power to compel actions. That these opposing powers can exist together is rendered quite evident by an inspection of the table, where the soul, or the accountable part of man, resides in a totally different region ETERNITY-from that which the body occupies-TIME. So that there is no contradiction in saying that man is both free and constrained. Free in the choice of the motive, but, not having full control over nature, he can never precisely say what effect the action will produce.