must remain for ever, even in eternity. Their very elements, therefore, are of a discordant nature, and can never coalesce. This heterogeneous mixture must then necessarily generate perpetual disunion. The natural result of this sincere and honest self-examination will be productive of more genuine Christianity than the most prolonged and vigorous argument that can be set up in defence of any favourite dogma; and the ultimate termination of the glorious work will produce the final destruction of sects, by the detection of their errors, and the permanent harmony of the disputants, who will thenceforward be for ever united in a firm bond of HOLY UNION. Then, indeed, may Religion be dignified with the touching appellation of the "SACRED SCIENCE." May this period soon arrive!

The essential and eternal distinction that exists between facts and principles, even in their very constituent elements, being now fully demonstrated, there will be no difficulty in establishing a rule for the adjustment of every religious dispute. This rule, from its absolute universality, may more properly be denominated a "CANON," or standard of evidence - not, indeed, a canon enacted by any council or earthly power, and enforced by earthly authority, but a canon, as a

divine gift, seated in the universal REASON of man. Who can doubt the uniformity of the operation of a principle which forms a constituent part of that preeminent Faculty of man-REASON? Now, as REASON is a self-active faculty, it actually originates its own laws, that is to say, they arise out of itself, uninfluenced by external objects; hence all its decisions must be both consistent and uniform. For REASON ceases to be REASON when it contradicts itself, and then we are left without a guide. This "CANON" will carry with it all the truth, correctness, and conviction, that the mind obtains from contemplating the law of gravitation, or any truth of the pure sciences which admits of no dispute whatever, and, being a constituent part of the human mind, must necessarily last as long as mind exists.

This "CANON," or general rule for the solution of all cases, is displayed in the ARGUMENT for the DIVARICATION, in two parallel columns, under the heads Thesis and Antithesis, and, departing from the popular form, we should say scientifically; that whatever is ranked under the Thesis must be, à priori, pure in its nature, unmixed with any ingredients that are derived from experience; that is to say, necessary, permanent, spiritual, immaterial, simple, perfect, infinite,

and eternal in short, principles which, when embodied into a system, constitute DoOCTRINE. But, on such sublime ideas as these, when once accurately defined and familiarly expounded, can there be two opinions?

How differently circumstanced are the affections of SENSE! Who would venture to pronounce definitively on the intensity of the sensation produced by an outward object on another person, or even to determine what will be the next Sensation that will impress itself on him? Here every thing that is ranked under the Antithesis must be, à posteriori, impure in its very nature, being constructed of the very matter of experience, consequently contingent, mutable, material, composed, imperfect, finite, and evanescent. This is the true character of experience; and, when these multifarious events are felt, they constitute facts, but, when related and recorded, they compose what is denominated HISTORY. Here no ingenuity of man can procure uniformity of opinion, much less demonstration, for the very materials on which these records are transmitted partake of the nature of the facts themselves, and are perishable: to look for uniformity here would be vain.

REASON manifests itself by the act of drawing conclusions, while SENSE, being a passive faculty, is

affected by external objects, which affections are termed sensations. Now, the conclusions produced by the activity of REASON have a double reference. They refer either to facts or to principles.

Thus it is evident that we are endowed with the sublime faculty, REASON, for two very opposite purposes in the first place, to attend to our temporal welfare on earth, to regulate and arrange the objects of nature so as to produce the greatest comfort and harmony in our mortal state, and without this faculty we should not be superior to the brutes who are guided by unerring instinct; here, then, this gift is indispensable, if we are to be considered rational animals. While REASON is content to keep within the limits assigned to it by its Maker, in the speculations in which it engages for mundane affairs, it merits all the praise that can be bestowed on so exalted a faculty; not so when that faculty oversteps the bounds of decency, and presumes, with its feeble insight, to inveigh against the arrangements of Providence, to censure what it cannot understand, because it cannot fathom the designs of infinite wisdom-this may explain the paradox why REASON is susceptible both of praise and blame. REASON, when thus occupied, is evidently engaged with

the objects by which we are surrounded, in speculating on what will form the best combinations for certain earthly views of happiness: and here it is clear that its conclusions refer only to facts; and, as it cannot foresee what is next to happen, it is compelled to meditate and speculate how to form the best arrangements; and this faculty, when thus employed, is very properly termed SPECULATIVE REASON.

On the other hand, when the conclusions of REASON refer directly to principles, the object of this faculty cannot be mistaken. That Principles, being mental or spiritual, that is, heavenly things, are the ground of our never-ceasing aspirations to become partakers of the realms of never-ending bliss, so divinely pictured by our Redeemer, is rendered manifest, to the fullest conviction of every person who uses that divine gift, REASON, in the most limited degree. Thus, then, we are endowed with REASON also, for that sublime and ultimate end of our existence, our eternal welfare. But this faculty, in contradistinction to the former, must be termed PRACTICAL REASON, or a power which creates laws and lays down rules for a virtuous and happy life here on earth, as good earnest for the purity of the motives which induce this conduct, and carry