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him a kind of Man-god. Thus he seems to stand on neutral ground. On his right, appears the Angel of Light, urging upon his half willing attention, the day spring of hope. On his left, the Spirit of Darkness, pressing to his voluptuous lips, the forbidden fruit, and saying,-"Eat, and be as gods, for ye shall not surely die." To the external man, the tempter's words "are words of pleasantness," and he would fain eat, and be a god; but the inner man shrinks aghast, when his eyes are opened upon the terrific gloom, that enshrouds the prince of the nether world, and he longs for his kindred home, in the realms of fadeless light.

Man is a lover of good, but a promoter of evil. The God within, urges to Heaven;-the god without, urges to Hell. But when the attributes of the immortal mind, have called a solemn council, in the judgment hall of the inner temple, and have decided the doubtful strife, in favor of the Kingdom of Light, and taken the oath of allegiance to the King of that better land; still, still the external man, crying out-" cast down, but not destroyed"-keeps up the elemental strife for evil, and makes the old castle of humanity tremble to the latest hour of its existence. Thus the hidden life within is made to sigh bitterly over the past ;-and trembling for the future, cries out,-"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this dead body of sin ?"

What is Man?

He is an angel incarnate. Hence it is said, that "angels are disembodied spirits." He is Lord of Creation; and his authority to rule over all, he derived from his Maker, at the time of Creation.

To convince his once celestial, but now terrestrial and infidel mind, and make him happy in the belief, of a Designing, Creating Power, which we denominate God,-God spread, in panoramic beauty around him, the vast globe on which he dwells, with all the magnificent worlds of etherial space. This is the first incentive to faith, and the broad foundation, on which Hope rears the superstructure of her Cross. In these, his comprehensive, philosophic mind, cannot but see the mighty energies of a great First Cause, worthy of implicit faith, and unsullied love. Hence, we conclude, that God made all things for man, and man for Himself. He not only made the Sun to rule the day, and the Moon, the night; the Stars to revolve in their orbits; the great Globe, with its series of happy seasons,its ripening fruits,-its singing birds,-its flowering meads, and silvery streams; but he capacitated the immortal mind to comprehend and enjoy them all and besotted by sin, must he be, who is not happified by the peerless beauty of this Natural World.

God's wisdom and power are no where so strikingly exhibited, as in the creation of man's Moral, Mental, and Physical Faculties, with an ample provision of food in His vast storehouse, peculiarly adapted to the wants of each respective faculty. If he has given man the faculty of Veneration, He has also given Himself, in all the glory of His creation, as an object every way worthy of venerating love. If he has given man the faculty of conscious rectitude, He has opened a field for its exercise, in the sterling integrity of soul, manifested in "doing to others, as you would that they should do unto you." If God has made man sensible of the sublime and beautiful, he has also given him the vast fields of Science, as well as of

Nature, to amuse and exercise the faculty. If he has given him the talent of mechanistic skill, he has also exhibited his own mechanical beauties, in the frame work of great Creation; and by making man a creature of wants, left him to the shear necessity of exercising this talent in combining fig leaves for a covering. Hence the excellent wisdom of his plan is seen, in making the Physical wants, and the Physical faculties commensurate. He adapted the hand to labor, and labor to the hand, and commanded man to eat bread in the sweat of his brow. And finally, he made the earth to bring forth bread, in her fruitful seasons, that the bodily appetites, which he had created, might all be amply gratified.

Where is Man?

He is far from his native Heaven, amid the turmoil and discord of a sin ruined world;-and ruined, too, through his own instrumentality, in choosing "death rather than life.'

When five revolving days of Creation work had rolled away, evolving nature stood forth, in all its pristine beauty,-complete,-as now evinced, save one great work :-the God-like man was yet a shapeless clod of nether earth. But when the sixth auspicious day arose, glowing in the orient, man came forth from the plastic hand of Creative Wisdom; erect, dignified, and with a soul adorned with all the matchless graces of its Divine Original, and a mind endowed with all the excellencies of an enriched, mental, maturity. In all respects, Adam was the image of God, save in physical structure. Thus the morning of man's career, was bright and beautiful, with radiant hope, and celestial love. Angelic hosts celebrated his terrestrial advent, "and the sons of God shouted for joy," on beholding a kindred spirit, made perfectly happy in the possession of its blooming, elysian home.

God placed man in blissful Eden; but the wily old serpent contrived to get him out. Thus he lost his fair elysium,-his birth-right,-his inheritance, his all; and falling from his immaculate purity, to the deepest hell of moral turpitude,-sin smitten,-self-rebuked, and law condemned, he went forth from the presence of his Maker, a trembling culprit,-a vagabond amid the mazes of life, with but one lone Star to cheer his terrible night, from Eden to Gethsemane :-"The Star, the Star of Bethlehem.”

What is Man's Destiny?

His destiny is "that bourne, from whence no traveler returns." The conditions on which he will occupy that destiny, depend on the road or course taken to reach it. The journey of life is a Race, through which the calamities of time are urging the traveler to its terminus. The stream of death is accessible by two routes. At one fording, you reach the sunny plains of the Heavenly Canaan; at the other, the dismal swamps, where death for ever reigns, and the dead for ever die. Both roads to these momentous termini, are filled with busy, bustling, travelers,-all blessed with the mercies of God,-all fed from his bountiful storehouse, and all surrounded with the enlightening and instructing loveliness of the Natural World. These roads differ in some essentials. In the one, the Spirit of wickedness reigns, and converts the blessings of God into gratifications to

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This man, having a family of eleven children (a thing by no means uncommon in that country), was greatly alarmed one morning at missing the youngest, who was four years of age he disappeared about ten o'clock. The distressed family sought after him in the river, and in the fields, but to no purpose. Terrified to an extreme degree, they united with their neighbors in quest of him. They entered the woods, which they beat over with the most scrupulous attention. A thousand times they called him by name, and were answered only by the echoes of the wilds. They then assembled themselves at the mountain of Chatagniers (or chesnut-trees), without being able to bring the least intelligence of the child. After reposing themselves for some minutes, they formed into different bands and night coming on, the parents, in despair, refused to return home, for their fright constantly increased by the knowledge they had of the mountain cats, an animal so rapacious, that the inhabitants cannot always defend themselves against their attack. They then painted to their imagination the horrid idea of a wolf, or some other dreadful animal, devouring their darling child." Derick, my poor little Derick! where art thou?" frequently exclaimed the mother, in the most poignant languagebut all was of no avail. As soon as day-light appeared, they renewed their search, but as unsuccessfully as the preceding day. Fortunately an Indian, laden with furs, coming from an adjacent village, called at the house of Le Fevre, intending to repose himself there, as he usually did on his traveling through that part of the country. He was much surprised to find no one at home but an old Negress, kept there by her infirmities. "Where is my brother?" said the Indian." "Alas!" replied the Negro woman, "he has lost his little Derick, and all the neighborhood are employed in looking after him in the woods." It was then three o'clock in the afternoon. "Sound the horn," said the Indian, "and try and call thy master home--I will find his child.". The horn was sounded; and as soon as the father returned, the Indian asked him for the shoes and stockings that little Derick had worn last. He then ordered his Dog, which he brought with him, to smell them-and then taking the house for his center, he described a circle of a mile, semi-diameter; ordering his Dog to smell the earth wherever he led him. The circle was not completed, when the sagacious animal began to bark. This sound brought some feeble ray of hope to the disconsolate parents. The Dog followed the scent, and barked again; the party pursued him with all their speed, but soon lost sight of him in the woods. Half an hour afterwards they heard him bark again, and soon saw him return. The countenance of the poor Dog was visibly altered; an air of joy seemed to animate him, and his gestures seemed to indicate that his search had not been in vain. “I am sure he has found the child!" exclaimed the Indian.-But whether dead or alive, was at present a cruel state of suspense. The Indain then followed his Dog, who led him to the foot of a large tree, where lay the child in an enfeebled state, nearly approaching death. He took it tenderly in his arms, and hastily carried it to the disconsolate parents.

Happily, the father and mother were in some measure prepared to receive their child. Their joy was so great that it was more than a quarter of an hour before they could express their gratitude to the kind restorer of their child. Words cannot express the affecting scene. After they had bathed the face of the child with their tears, they threw themselves on the

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