nate who act under his influence, proceed upon the same principle. So far as they are distinct and intelligent agents in the work of seduction, they assume human nature as it is, and knowing the feelings and passions of men, and the connection which subsists between action and the inducement to action, they manifest no small degree of subtlety, as well as depravity of purpose, in spreading the snare for the feet of their victims. They never expect miracles, but they expect results, and results according to the known laws of human action.

I may be mistaken in the views which I have taken of this subject; but if not, the first sin of man, and all other sins, the first temptation and those which have succeeded, are alike in this, that they have occurred within the limits, and agreeably to the order, of second causes, and that no immediate or special interposition of the Deity was ever employed in the one or in the other. In short, my belief is, that there was nothing a whit more miraculous, and scarcely more wonderful, in the seduction of the first man, than in the millions of seductions which have taken place since. Means were arranged to an end, and such means as might be expected in similar circumstances to have a similar result, agreeably to that order which God has established between appropriate causes and their effects in the spiritual or moral world.

That God could have prevented the apostacy of man, if he had thought best, I do most cheerfully concede; but whether he could have done it without introducing some new influence to act directly upon the mind of man, I pretend not now to determine. I think it manifest, however, both from experience and from the Bible, that man can never be recovered from his apostacy and restored to the Divine image, without the intervention of an agency not known to belong to any second causes in the universe. And to this peculiarity of the case, I

attribute much of the language which we find upon this subject in the Sacred Volume, where the new heart is, in various and striking forms of expression, ascribed to the efficacious and special influence of the Holy Ghost. This fact of itself might be turned in argument in favor of our position, that the fall of man was produced by the agency of second causes only. For if God work in one way as truly, that is, as immediately and efficiently, as in the other, why is it not so declared? why this marked difference in the language of Scripture, in relation to the fall and the recovery?

LECTURE X.

ON NATIVE DEPRAVITY.

This

ONE of nature's laws, equally visible in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, is, that "like produces like." Every species propagates its own kind. Plants and trees are not of spontaneous production, but each has its own seed, its own root, and propagates its distinctive species from age to age. There is often a diversity, however, among the same species, whether of plants or animals; and this diversity in time may become so great as to form, in a subordinate sense, a new species. is particularly observable among the various tribes of domestic animals. How different, for instance, is the Arabian horse from the Canadian; the surly mastiff from the brisk and insignificant whiffit; the English ox from the Italian, and the lesser breeds of the north and south. And there is scarcely an animal about us in which this diversity does not appear, though originally, it is supposed, the parent stock was the same. But even this diversity, capable of being widened as time advances, or adventitious circumstances intervene, is but a farther development of the great law, that like produces like. It shows how closely nature adheres to the principle of imparting to the offspring, not only the general, but many

of the peculiar, characteristics of the parent. While it allows not the general order to be broken up by a confusion of the species, it favors individual diversities, and occasionally widens and extends them. This is equally true of everything that has life, vegetable or animal.

But it is more important to remark, that the same principle is amply illustrated in our own species. Men do not, by any change of time or circumstance, lose their peculiar form, and other characteristic qualities. They have the same number of limbs, the same general features, as at the beginning, and walk upright from generation to generation. Now and then one is cropped and branded, or loses an arm or a leg, but this produces no change in the descendants of such individuals. Their bodily perfection, as to all its great outlines, is preserved by the uniform laws of propagation. And the same is true with respect to the mind. The deranged man or the idiot does not ordinarily communicate his specific calamity to his offspring; but the great law which secures the identity of the species, kindly provides against any such result. Still, every one knows that there are marked diversities in the family of man, and such diversities as lay a foundation for distinguishing them into different races. How different is the negro from the Western Indian, and the European from many tribes of the Asiatics! And this difference is a difference not merely of color, countenance and form, but a difference in the native temperament and cast of their minds—a temperament and cast of which we judge not by a direct inspection of their mental elements, but by their habitudes and acts. From what causes this diversity has arisen, it may not be easy fully to determine, though climate and modes of life have doubtless had a preponderating influence. But how this diversity has been continued from age to age, no man, we should think, would be at a loss. For does not every one see that it is

by natural generation-the offspring deriving their peeuliar qualities from their immediate parents, and they again from theirs? This is a fact so palpable, and so much in accordance with the great system of nature, that we should be surprised to find a man who would deny it. But suppose such a man to be found, and he should say, "I have no doubt there is a connection between the present Africans and their progenitors, who lived fifteen hundred years ago; nay, I am willing to admit that this connection, whatever it be, has had the effect of imparting a sable hue to the present generation; but then I deny that anybody knows what this connection is, or how it operates: it is certain only that it is not a connection by natural descent, and that it does not operate through or according to any law of propagation; and this for two reasons: 1st. The present generation of Africans were neither born nor begotten of their ancient progenitors, but of their immediate parents who lived fifteen hundred years since; and, 2d. It cannot be supposed that generation has had anything to do in this business; for if this were the fact, then the man who has but one leg would beget a son who has but one leg, and a man who has but one eye would beget a son who has but one eye." I say, suppose a man of this description could be found-and in these days almost anything is supposable-what should we think of his theory, and of the arguments by which it is supported? If he were a philosopher, should we not suspect he had not thoroughly investigated his principles, or that he had made his deductions under some false and perverted view of the subject? For do we not see what the relation is, which exists between the present African and his distant progenitor? that it is the relation of natural descent, through the medium of intervening generations? and can we doubt that the same law of propagation which God established at the beginning has been