Were the law which forbids those actions to be entirely set aside, or universally violated, it is easy to foresee, that, in a very short time, the whole assemblage of human beings would be transformed into a set of lawless banditti. Peace, harmony, and good neighbourhood, would be unknown among men; the strong would plunder the possessions of the weak, and deprive them of every enjoyment; children would rob their parents, and parents their children; brothers would plunder brothers, and servants their masters; buying and selling would cease, and all regular trade and commerce would be destroyed: every man's covetous eye would be directed to the wealth and property of his neighbour, with a view of depriving him of his enjoyments; and a thousand schemes, either of treachery or of open violence, would be contrived to effectuate his purpose. Murders would be daily contrived and perpetrated, for the purpose of more easily obtaining possession of the wealth and estates of the powerful and the opulent; and every man's life and happiness would be at the mercy of his covetous neighbour. The inhabitants of one province would rise up against those of another, and, by force of arms, plunder them of all their earthly treasures. One nation would invade the territories of another, for the purpose of ravaging its cities and provinces, and of appropriating its wealth and riches; and, in the midst of such lawless depredations, towns would be demolished, villages consumed to ashes, the fruits of the earth destroyed, men, women, and children, trampled under foot, and crushed to death, and every city and fertile field would present a scene of carnage and desolation. In such a state of society, no man could have confidence in his brother; fear would be on every side; uncertainty would attend every pursuit and possession; of the wealth which any one had acquired, and of the enjoyments which he possessed to-day, he might be deprived before to-morrow; and if, by means of circumspection and vigilance, and the strong arm of power, he were enabled to maintain possession of his property for one year, he could have no rational ground to expect, that he would enjoy it in security for another. And, as no one would think of engaging in regular labour, while he could subsist in plundering his weaker neighbours -the earth would soon be left uncultivated, the useful arts would be abandoned, agricultural industry and improvement would cease, and a universal famine would overspread every land, which would thin the human race, and gradually exterminate them from the face of the earth.

Such scenes of plunder and depredation, have in fact been partially realized in every age and nation of the world, and are still realized, to a certain extent, even in nations which boast of their progress in religion, in civilization, and in science. The annals of the human race contain little more than a number of melancholy records

of wholesale robbery, committed by one tribe of human beings upon another. One public robber and desperado has arisen after another, in constant succession, and, at the head of numerous armies, has violated the territories of peaceful industry, demolished the habitations of their unof fending inhabitants, broken down their furniture, and consigned it to the flames; wasted and devoured the fruits of their ground, and plundered them of every thing which could render existence desirable. And the inferior ranks of mankind, stimulated by the same principles which actuato their superiors, have supported a system of peculation, of cheating, of litigation, of injustice, and oppression, which, were it left solely to its own native energies, would soon undermine the foundations of the moral world. That such principles and practices have never yet become universal in their operation, is not owing so much to any deficiency in their malignant tendency, as to the over-ruling providence of the Moral Governor of the world, who has, by his influence, and his physical arrangements, confined the lawless passions of men within certain bounds, beyond which they cannot pass.

Were a principle of honesty and of justice, in regard to property, to pervade the mind of every human being; or, in other words, were the law to which I am now adverting universally recognised, a new scene would open upon the moral world, altogether different from what has hitherto been displayed in the transactions of mankind. The iron rod of oppression would be shivered to atoms, and destroying armies would no longer ravage the habitations of men. The crowds of sharpers, cheats, and jockeys, that now stalk through the world, with unblushing fronts, to entrap the unwary, would forever disappear from the world; and impartial justice would reign triumphant over every department of society. No malignant purpose would ever be formed to injure any one in his wealth and property; and all the harassing law-suits and prosecutions, which now distress so many thousands of families, would be swept away. Every loan of money, books, furniture, or utensils, would be returned without injury, and without unnecessary delay; and every debt punctually discharged, according to the nature of the obligation, and at the period at which it was due: Every bargain would be transacted on the principles of immutable justice, and the conditions of every contract faithfully performed: No suspicions of knavery would ever harbour in the breast, nor the least alarm at the possible consequences of any mercantile transaction. Public buildings would be secure from the inroads of the genius of mischief, and gardens and orchards from every wanton depredation. Locks, and bars, and bolts, would no longer be required for securing our substance from the pilferer and the robber; and the iron gratings of a bridewell or a jail, would never again remind us

who have gone before us-of contemplating the manifestations of Deity on a more extensive scale; and of enjoying unmixed felicity without interruption and without end; depend upon the testimony of the inspired writers, and the light in which we view the truths or declarations which they have recorded. And, therefore, the man who endeavours to undermine the authority of the sacred records, or to distort or misrepresent their meaning by sophistical reasonings, ought to be viewed as a deceiver, and as an enemy to his species, who wishes to deprive his fellow-men of their most substantial enjoyments, and of their most cheering prospects.

Again, truth and veracity are of the utmost importance in relation to the views we ought to take of the character of God. The moral character of the Deity is delineated in the Scriptures, and we are enabled to contemplate this character, in its true light, in so far as we understand and appreciate the delineations of the sacred writers. But his character is also exhibited in the works of creation and providence. Every physical law of nature, every arrange ment in the material system, every movement which exists in the boundless universe; every apparent deviation from the general course of nature, as in the case of earthquakes and volcanoes; every event in the history of nations, every fact in relation to the physical and moral condition of the different tribes of the human race, and every arrangement in reference to the lower ranks of animated beings-embodies in it an exhibition of certain aspects of the divine character; and these aspects, if fairly represented, ought to harmonize with the delineations contained in the sacred records. To ascertain such facts as those to which I now allude, requires, in many instances, the exercise of profound reasoning, and of accurate investigation, and that the mind should be free from the influence of prejudice and of every improper bias, and that the facts, when ascertained, be fairly represented, and accurately recorded; otherwise, nothing but a distorted view of the divine character will be exhibited to the mind. For example, if the earth be represented as among the largest bodies in nature, and as placed at rest in the centre of the universe, and that the sun, moon, and all the other celestial orbs revolve around it every day, and consequently, that the planetary bodies move in orbits which display inextricable confusionsuch a representation is not a true exhibition of the God of heaven, but a phantom of our own imagination; and, if carried out to all its legitimate consequences, would involve an impeach ment of the wisdom and intelligence of the Deity, and of the sublime simplicity and order, which characterize his operations in the universe. If the planet Saturn be represented as a globe 900 times larger than the earth, and surrounded with a ring 600,000 miles in circumference, it conveys

a very different idea of the majesty of the divine Being who formed it, from what we are led to entertain, when we consider it as only a taper, or a brilliant stud, fixed in the vault of heaven. If the eye of a fly be exhibited as containing ten thousand polished transparent globes, nicely adjusted for the purpose of vision, it displays the character of its Maker in a different light from that in which we might be disposed to view it, when this animal is represented as a nuisance in creation, and designed only to be mangled and tortured by a cruel and unthinking schoolboy.

In some instances the inaccurate statement of a physical fact, or the false colouring put upon it, may have a tendency to endanger the eternal interests of mankind. Mr. Brydone, in his "Tour through Sicily," states, on the authority of a priest, named Recupero, that, in sinking a pit near Jaci, in the neighbourhood of Mount Etna "they pierced through seven distinct lavas, one under the other, the surfaces of which were parallel, and most of them covered with a bed of thick earth." From suppositions founded on questionable data, he concluded, that " it requires 2000 years or upwards to form but a scanty soil on the surface of a lava," and, consequently, that "the eruption which formed the lowest of these lavas, must have flowed from the mountain at least 14000 years ago. This pretended fact was, for a while, triumphantly exhibited by sceptics, as an unanswerable argument against the truth of the Mosaic history; and its publication has, no doubt, tended to stagger weak minds, and to confirm the infidel in his prejudices against the truth of Revelation. But it has been shown by eminent geologists, that the facts alluded to are grossly mis-stated, and that no vegetable mould exists between these beds of lava; and, consequently, the argument founded upon them goes for nothing. Mr. Brydone himself, in the very same volume in which these pretended facts are stated, before he had advanced twenty pages farther in his account of the regions about Mount Etna, states a fact which completely overturns all his preceding reasonings and calculations. In describing the country near Hybla, as having been "overwhelmed by the lava of Etna, and having then become totally barren," he adds, "in a second eruption, by a shower of ashes from the mountain, it soon resumed its ancient beauty and fertility." So that it is here admitted, that, instead of requiring a period of 2000 years, a bed of lava may speedily be transformed into a beautiful and fertile region. But even although such facts were fairly represented,-yea, although Mr. Brydone and the Canon Recupero could have proved, to a demonstration, that the strata of the earth is not only fourteen thousand, but fourteen hundred thousand years old, it would not in the least invalidate a single assertion contained in the Mosaic history; for Moses de

others; when we sit mute, and refuse to vindi cate his character when it is unjustly aspersed; when we endeavour to aggravate the circumstances which may have accompanied any criminal action; when we make no allowances for the force of temptation, and the peculiar circumstances in which the criminal may have been placed; when we fix upon an insulated act of vice or folly, and apply it to our neighbour as a general character; when we rake up, with a malevolent design, an action which he has long since reprobated and repented of; when his character is made the subject of jest or merriment, and when, by smiles, and noddings, and gestures, we insinuate any thing injurious to his reputation. It is violated in promises-when we promise, either what we have no intention of performing, or what we had no right to promise, or what is out of our power to perform, or what would be unlawful for us to execute. It is violated in threatenings, when we neglect to put them in execution, or we threaten to inflict what would be either cruel or unjust. It is violated in history, when the principal facts are blended with doubtful or fictitious circumstances; when the conduct of liars and intriguers, of public robbers and murderers, is varnished over with the false glare of heroism and of glory; and when the actions of upright men are, without sufficient evidence, attributed to knavery, or to the influence of fanaticism; when the writer construes actions and events, and attributes to the actors motives and designs, in accordance with his own prejudices and passions, and interweaves his opinions and deductions, as if they were a portion of the authenticated records of historical fact. -It is violated in the invention of fictitious narratives, and in the relation of marvellous stories, when the system of nature is distorted, historical facts caricatured, misrepresented, and blended with the vagaries of a romantic imagination; when scenes, events, and circumstances, "which never did nor can take place," are presented to the view, merely to convey a transient gratification to trifling and indolent minds.

It is violated by men of science when they give an inaccurate statement of the results of their observations and experiments; when, either through carelessness or design, they give an unfair representation of the facts and principles in nature, in order to support a favourite system or hypothesis; and when they studiously keep out of view the various circumstances in which every fact should be contemplated.-It is violated in the literary world, when the editor of a magazine or a review writes an article, and addresses it to himself, as if it came from the pen of another; when, for the sake of" filthy lucre," or to gratify a friend, he bestows encomiums on a work which is unworthy of the attention of the public; or when, to gratify a mean, or revengeful passion, he misrepresents or abuses the literary productions of his

opponents; or when an author writes a review of his own work, and imposes it on the public, as if it were the decision of an impartial critic. It is violated by controversialists, when they bring forward arguments in support of any pos tion which they are conscious are either weak or unsound; when they appear more anxious to display their skill and dexterity, and to obtain a victory over their adversaries, than to vindicate the cause of truth; when sneers, and sarcasms, and personal reproaches, are substituted in the room of substantial arguments; when they misrepresent the sentiments of their opponents, by stating them in terms which materially alter their meaning; and when they palm upon them the doctrines and opinions which they entirely disavow.

It is violated in commercial transactions, when deteriorated goods are varnished over with a fair outside, and puffed off as if they were saleable and sound; when a merchant asks more than he is willing to take for any commodity; when he depreciates the commodities of his neighbour; when he undervalues whatever he is purchasing, and makes an overcharge for the articles of which he is disposing; when he denies the goods he has in his possession, when there is the prospect of an advancing price,-and in a thousand other ways, best known to the nefarious trader.—It is violated by persons in every department of life, not only when they utter what they know to be false, but when they profess to declare the whole truth, and keep back part of it with an intention to deceive; when they make use of a proposition that is literally true, in order to convey a falsehood; when they flatter the vanity of weak minds; when they ascribe to their friends or to others good qualities which do not belong to them, or refuse to acknowledge those accomplish❤ ments of which they are possessed; when they endeavour to cajole children into obedience, by promising what they never intend to perform, and threatening what they never intend to inflict; and when they indulge in a habit of exaggeration, in the account they give of their adventures, and of the things which they have seen or heard.

Truth is violated by signs, as well as by words, as, when we point with our finger in a wrong direction, when a traveller is inquiring about the road he should take; when a British ship hoists

• The following fact will illustrate this and simi. lar pieces of falsehood:-A person, when selling a watch, was asked by the purchaser if it kept time correctly? He was told by the owner, that neither the hour nor the minute hand had required to be alter

ed for more than a twelve-month. This was literally true; but the watch was, nevertheless, a very bad regulator of time. When hung in a perpendicular po sition, it went too slow, and, when laid in a horizon. tal position, it went too fast: but by alternately shifting these positions, and thus modifying the rates of motion, the hands did not require to be altered. Such assertions, however, are to be considered as direct lies, when they are intended to convey a false or erroneous conception, as in the instance now stated.