LORD BROUGHAM'S DISCOURSE OF NATURAL THEOLOGY.

THERE was a class of sophists in classical times, who undertook to give a set talk extempore upon any given subject, and often upon any given side. Of the character and qualities of these men's discourses, no veer' positive judgment can be formed, since none of their confrorersife have come deurn to us. But an opinion may still be hazarded upon the subject. It requires no togated ghost to tell us that their authors must have possessed all extra- ordinary fluency of speerh. Much quickness, without any nice ex- actness e1 perceptiier, and great readiness in seizing, great dexterity in apple in'r the ideas it' other men, may also be assigned to them.

1'I had, no eloulrt, an exit usive acquitintrince with time cenneen- e•es el most sciences. and a general but supe.Ccial owledgo

of titan} 1/1'alIelloS learning,—aequirements which were neces- sary to furnish them with ILa subj(lq matter of their di-cetirees, anti ‘sith illustratiens by %%Inch tla y might Lc expanded %% ben fitter tnatei rids welo not in the head. That those gilts :lc- eoulpii-hnieuts 1,naltice plc:I-Mg, la the oar an I striking to the mind, is a natural iieferelicis Snell powers of eis- Play must have dezzled the hong:Mat ii•its d the reas,n ef the videar. whilst they surprised amid astonish( 11 ti:, toot thouelitlel aml (se:eider-ate. Cat that nothir.g original, useful, er pert et rt snlltd fr, mu their t servise, may be inferred es Later- rally. Whatever lalr•tir these persons bestowed upon lair pnr- suit,—and we mis guess front a high actte that w•i:h many it WaS incessant,''- -their s•ioly must lerve re•garded me re language and arrangement, to the subordinat,em of matter, and what is more, of truth; whilst the instal excellence they attained was rather a talent resulting from habit (i..'ire,) of skilfully disposing and presentiy!, the materials at hand, than a power of giving to arty single work the highest polish in point of execution. Upon abstruse and difficult subjects, whose merit is dependent on the coherence of the whole and the truth of every paste—and here this merit can only be attained by much meditation on the sound- ness of each opinion, am; by great care in limiting the exact mean- ing of end' expression,---the habits of their mind, as well as their made of (s•niposition, would Of necessity induce failure. When these subileis touched upon matters of piety or morals, we can readily believe that the lax and wain-glorious manner in which they were heated might have a tendency to unsettle opiniens, and to cast doubt or ridicule over things to be regarded With I1e- C0111Ill, SO as the harsh censures thesIrim.terpltilc- suphcrs anti satirists Mete accustomed to tlitlal• upon the tribe. We have endeavoured to deduce the distinguishing characteris- tics of the ancient scholastic rhetoricians, because the mods before us stigigested the task, and the eottilcarisiot between the disiintirseS of the ancient declaimers and the //iAricoirS0 cf Natural "I'll,,,togy SpOlitatwousi■ arose in our mind on its perusal. Like what tau have imagined of them, it is bread, ineenieus, and stribiug: en- riched by the results of a wide though a surface acquaintance with learning, art, and science : sometimes acute, sometimes brilliant, and mostly pleasing to the imagination. But it is :itchy deficient in rigorous exactness, and where rigorous oxactue;s i; the chief thing needed; there is occasilmally a looseness of statement wholly unpardonable except in the extempore effusions of a ready speaker; at times there is an exaggeration and a one.sided view of the sub- ject, alike unbeeeaning a philosopher or a philosophic treatise; and what is worse, the subject does not seem to have been studied or mastered in its full extent. These dekets relate to its philosophic character. Its chief literary fault is one which more or less apper- tains to modern works upon this subject : the arguments and illus- trations frequently do not seem so much the spontaneous effusions of a mind thoroughly saturated with its subject, as proofs clutched for the occasion. On this point, however, it is but right to giro

against the critical opinion of a stranger, the positive assertion of the author, that his "speculations upon this ground" extend as far back as the time of his" lamented friend ROM I IAN... It must therefore be inferred, that what seems a want of timely was a want of proper preparatiun. So far as to the general character of the Discourse. Its origin, and what the author intended to be its nature, arc thus stated by himself.

"'the composition of this Discourse was undertaken in consequence of an obser- vation which 1 had often made, that scientific men wine apt to regard the study of Natural Religion as little connected with philosophical pursuits. 3Iany of the persons to whom I allude were men of religious habits of thinking' whets were free from any disposition towards sceptiistn, rather because they had not notch discussed the subject, than because they had formed fixed opinions upon it af.ter inquiry. But the hulk of them relied little upon Natural Theolitzv, which they seemed to regard as a speculation built rather on fancy than urn argument; or, at any rate, as a kind of knowledge quite different from either physkal or mural science. It therefore appeared to time desirable to define, more precisely than had let been done, the place and the claims of Natural TI r•• among the various hrimches of human knowledge. * aa "'Ilk1)i-course is not it treatise of Natural Theology: it has not for its design an exposition of the II■,etrinei whereof Natural Theology consists. But its ob- ject is, first, to explain the natute of the evidence upon which it rests; to show that it is a seient.e, the truths of which are discovered by induction, like the truths of Natural and 3lotal Philosophy; that it is a branch of science partak- ing of the nature of each of those great divisions of human knowledge, and not merely closely allied to them both : secondly, the object of the Discourse is to explain the advantages attending this study. The work, therefore, is a logical one."

The object of the work, as hinted in the preceding extract, is to

• "Ant tantam sbulio at exereitationc pervenit. 'Nam diebus at totemihus nihil alind agit, nihil audit, tidal loton un-. Annum sesa,,csimum excessit,ct ;White ',Cholas- ticus tattoo slider. ii. Epis. 37 in w hich the reader will bud a curious and courtly suture of botus, of whom PLinv is speaking. show that " Natural Theology"—the science of the Deity—is of a similar kind with the physical and mental sciences ; resting upon, and being supported by, the same evidence. Theis position in time earlier parts is often all but expressed in the strictest terms; and the whole tendency of the argument is hitherwards. Aller long and ciaborate arguments, the. statement, however, is thus distinctly made- " It new app,irs, hit when %t-c said that Natio-al Theology can no more he (listing oisbed from the ph■sieal, ethical sciences, in le•pert tf the evide%.,• it re-is in. o and the mato■cr in U ie 1, its 'HIV( ,o.igation. ate to lin conduct, th.tn the ,;01..1111 t.01.11!, of Cali be tb,tillAtli•Ileti frOtIl rash ie her in tlic lile•CI, We' lk,•to• tr.,'■ I ....:Sheg !Jint` out

by a it is d tiet•

The tiellirig piissee- in thee, (pi, serve as a speci- men el that %a !Lich 1.-e. have c,:tinmented ; ILO it i- lieve x.c;;• aide its ilf.rcetiwr

111•11:eirie the I! Io that scientille men- a

raft, r Eut they might

1,1•011,11Cy the fir r !lee it ques'irn, it

Cline ficeeltit s (sari 1 n•cive tli,• irtielits• • •.t. their .,vt•ii It itero and se,N•er tae, e, ,,veria.,l ot. a trainee to tlaoiselvies, iii _v onl,1 be unable to 1 ii..iitit If the 1 is repta-••iilcil as

• •• aseerteit.e I le: ex-

• a as physi ib,gy I L•eia the es i 'envy of

:I (0.-101 i t 11::!I "

cintr,:eter to the /' lint r'.a \St, ill the i.atset Stith lint rt'irlvire, I f truths. erne:cot the liras of physical

epties : and our knowle(bie bete

',lir senses the truths or thesv • to our esiniprebenspel thiel truths. hut When M'e (as tin in the establish- ment of these truths), that the I:.e:lls in nature al'c adapted to the ends, and thence pr cocci t ier•i• t First Cause, the " most superfieial re.asorier,- as our ant:. .• L., it, must instantly per- ceive, that in the firmer case the j r id' is positive, depending on the evidence of our senses ; In the latter--however convincing—it is inertly inferential, the known truth U. ing used as it huh in int:Tying the unlenewit. Could an accomplished lawyer—to use an obvious made to comprelleml the areument, lie would at once perceive that there is as much dilferenia• in the evidonee ice, which mental and physical science and Namur rl Theolooy rest, as there is between the proof of an evert eel, seeh weldor, an :attempt to prove by inkrences from otte•t ii is I lie 1 tiVeS w.hirh itch tel li:e murder.

Iu a ceauu, : c'',• , 1111...1111(1.110,,S of the hittiotitti,mi would lti. it :c. I nor sii•iittilig the strunilltre t f a philoso-

phical \roll:. tic; t i•le-ent is not a common ease. The lame, rank, ;:i d pasition author-010 leiteth of tune the work

has noon it, ;---the long- trawl, dottrislais atimalicing

its advent-111e .••scii i's iticl ttie comvell-

tionii roans midis •.1 it La • le • a revel% ed--1.ot only require,

but demand, a in • :.1.tillto Prioni:silio' I ii into t

first or winch coa,,,voui., io scat:, to establish that Phi-

losophy mid Natural Theology sciences; whilst in

the second pact ail attempt is made to display the advantages of Natural Theology, and the pleasures whiell result Lams its pursuit, —We go on to look into the executiou of the DiseoursP .Vitaral Tbeolo..tfy. In doing this, we shall not follow our author step by step through the suctions of his first division; in which, after the general view and introduction of his subject, lie endeavours to establish his principle by arguments drawn front material, from littered, and from moral science, and attempts front the evidence of the latter to prove the immateriality of (tie mind. lie also dis- cusses, and certainly overturns, the areinneut ei priori: opposes; but we think net so successfully, B euers's doctrine of Final Causes ; and lastly, gives as e•xpesitieri or what he coneeives to be the true method of scientific To take up every point that would afford matter for comment in a minute examina- tion of such a series of subjects would neplire a volume larger than the origi,:al, Our course will be merely to select, without much regard to method, some Of the mote glaring instances of loose expression, rash conclusion, and apparent want of mastery in the science the author undertakes to expound.

After a dedivation to Earl SPENCER, Lord BROUGHAM com- mences his task by a definition of Theology ; and proceeds, with a pompous parade of scholastic learning, to lix the meaning of his terms, with a rigour which aims at mathematical exactness. Thus, in order to tell us that be shall always use the word moral in the sense of that by spiritual or mental Inc means intellectual as opposed to material, and by the addition of " arliee" he means au exercise of the will apart from there perception, whilst try !my- cholog-ical he intends mental science, contradistinguished from ethical—lie writes as follows.

"As it is highly de:salable to keep scientific langaagt• precise, and always to use the same terms in the same semi., we shill now further olis,reo upon the ‘• morn!" in relation to science or faculties. It is sometimes used to denote the

whole of our mental ;toil oppositiou to natural and physical ; as when

SIK•Ilk of '• morel Sc,time,tanned truths." But it is also used in entnritaiscinction " Ilrelearl" or ‘• sneetal,'• and lit connexion with or in reference to obligation ; and then it relates to rights and duties, and is sytidnytnotts with %Chiral. It seems advisable to use it always in this sense, arid to employ the words spirit:or/ and net Old in opposition to ntstarell and ntatcrird ; and psycho/evict'', as applitul to the science of mind, in opposition to phy,sica. Again, a distinction is sometimes made between the bib/kr/mai and moral powers or faculties; the former being directly those of the understanding, the latter those of the will, or, as they are often called, the "artire pouters "- that is the passions and feeling. It mina better to use the word active for this purpose, as opposed to intellectual. Thus we shall have these general terms, spiritual or mental, as applied to the immaterial part of the creation, and psyclialayical, as applied to the science which treats of it. We shall next have a subdivision of the mental faculties into infellectoo/ and oetire ; both form the subjects of lisarlaihigicol science. Moral science, in it restricted sense, and properly ,0 called, will then denote that branch which treats of ditties, and of what is implied iu those duties, their correlative rights; it will, iu short, he ethical tick nye. "

Few alio read this will deny that anxious elaboration has led to obscurity ; yet scareely has our noble author closed his laudable

attempt to " keep philosophical langunoe precise," than lie talks

"of nature, of the heavenly bulks, or the wind,"--a luoseress of phraseology which even " a careless inquirer, a superficial reasoner,

an inn erfect logiciae," (to borrow the felicitous consecutive ex- pressions cf our author) would hardly lie ve cennnitted. The most supedicial glance will satisfy any one that nature, in an extended sense, included the while; and in a popularly limited sense, it

would apply to the mental finalities of men with as much pro- priety as to the material world. The meaning of the author is

what we desire to have here expresael : judging front the con- text and the scope of the argument, he intended to say, " the heavenly bedies, the material substances of this glebe, and the mint of man."

We have spoken of a looseness of statement, and a want of cstnpleteuess anal aptitude in some of the illustrations. The following passage, w here the author is speaking of the discoveries

of geology 811(1 comparative anatomy, will illustrate both of these remarks. A. person thoroughly iodine(' with his matter NVOIllt1 not have alluded so generally to B K I. ND, sr talked so vaguely.

of " some of the caves ; for no mar unless acqsainted %Yid, the Protessor's book w ill know what is meant, and then an al- lusion were sufficient. In the passage relative to tl.e earliest con- ditions of the world, the looseness has the enhet of untruth. If we have correctly understood geologists, the order of creation was first, a world " covered \with water;" then, in succession, reptiles, /Aids, beasts, and lastly mar,—instead of the inegular medley stated below. The laxity iu the lieN t period, relating. to the beasts, gives occasion not only to falsehood, but foolishness. Ilow could beasts like elephants and river-horses exist iu a world with- out plants?

"'the discoveries already made in this branch of science are truly wonderful, and they precut d upon the sit iciest rides of induction. It is shown that animals cm-wetly existed On the globe, heitig unknown vai ieties of sic( ors still known ; but it also appears that qucies t xisted, awl even rem ra, wholly unknown for the last live thousand years. Thl se peopled the earth, as it yeas, 1.0t 1/4 ,le the general deluge, but before some convulsion long prior to that event had over- whelmed the (mutinies then dry and raised others from the bottom of the sea. In these curious itopiiiies, we ale conversant not meld:: with the world before the fiend, but with a welt(' which, before the Sous, was covered with If :INT, nod a. hid,, in far earlier ages, had been the habi::Itiiin of Little anti beasts and reptiles. Vie are carried, as it were, several worlds back ; and we reach a Retied when all was water and slime and mud, and the waste, IS ithout either 11,1I1 or plants, give resting-place to eln:1111011% ]roasts :ike lours and rlephaut, and iver- I:CPA,' it Pe the water was tenanted by lizards the site f a whale,sixty or

'evenly let t long, and by others with huge eyes Ai, his ef ,nlid lame to poem- them, mid fzlaring from a reek ten fist in Irma' at:!! the air was darheced by thing reptiles eovered with scales, e:woing the i tws of tin crocodile, ;and nil tinting wings armed at the tips it ith the claws of the Icapard.

" No less strange, and yet no less proceeding limn induction, .ne tle• diwoveriec mule respecting the former state of the ; the manner in which thus., ani- trials, whether of known or unknown tribes, occupi,v1 it ; and the period when, or at least the way in which they ceased to exist. Professor Iturldand hats demonstrated the identity with the hyena's of the animal's habits that cracked the bones which till some of the caves, in order to come at the nen row ; but he has also satisfactorily shown that it inhabited the Height/MI(110ml, amt must have been suddenly exterminated by drowning. 1 lis researches have been conducted by experiments with living animals, as well as by observation upon the fossil remains."

The object of the allusion to the productions of the antedi- luvian worlds, is to show that " the kind of evidence used to de- monstrate " their existence, does nut vary front that on which the science of Theology rests. This is more distinctly argued in the following extract ; and never surely was argument so overstrained before. It' our knowledge of antediluvian animals does not rest, as Lord Boononsist asserts it does not, on a single partide *I-y* eridenee by sense or PAtiniony, on What, in the name of wonder, does it rest? It is only by experience the comparative anatomist learns that animals with a cloven hoof ruminate, and want the collar-bone; that certain teeth indicate herb-living animals; that certain claws and teeth of another kind belong to animals living on flesh ; and that their general anatomical structure is indicative of their habits. All this knowledge is clearly acquired by the senses ; and without evidence and testimony the possessor cannot stir a step in applying it to geological discovery. The fossil bone is surely an evidence appealing to the senses; it is both visible and tangible. Nay, as the evidence submitted to our senses is more or less complete, so is the conclusion of the anatomist. From a hoof', he infers rumination ; from a jaw-bone with teeth, he decides as to the feeding; from both or either, he gives an oLi- ?lion as to size ; but he only ventures to guess as to form. Ex- tend the evidence submitted to his senses—produce a hack-bone and a thigh-bone—he will then decide upon the animal's size appeal yet further to sense—give him a skeleton without the ribs —he will put it together, and show the general osteological struc- ture: add the ribs—he will give an outline of its form; but he will not decide dogmatically upon its exact appearance, for he wants the further evidence of sense which t he muscles, fat, cuticle, and external clothing would supply. And yet these are "things respecting which we have not and cannot have a single particle of evidence either by sense or by testimony !"

Ii When from examining a few bones, or it may be a single fragment of a bone, we infer that, in the wilds where we found it, there used and ranged, some thow.ands of years ago, an animal wholly different from atoqr.al, has reached aun,(1, from any of which any account, any traaition, written or nay, from any that ever was seen Ly any person of whose existence we ever heard, we assuredly are led to this remote conclusion by a strict and rigorous process of masoning; but, as eel tank, we come through that process to the knowledge and beheld' things unseen, Leath of us and of all men ; things respect- jug whiell we have tutt, and camint have, a single particle of evidence, either by sense or by testimony. Yet we tambour uu doubt of the fact ; we go Maher, and not only implicitly believe the existence M this creature, for a Lich we are forced to invent a name, but clothe it with atti ibutes, till, reasoning step by step, we come at so accurate a notion of its form anti habits, that we can represent tlut one and describe the other with unerring at-ear-icy ; picturing to ourselves how it looked, what it fed on, and how it continued its kind.

" Now, the question is this—what perceivable difference is there between the

kind of investigations we have just been considering and those of Natural Theology, except, imieed, that the latter are fir rtior1 sublime in themselves ;111.1 incomparably more interesting to us? Where is the logical precision of the arrnigeineet which would draw a. broad line I /f d•.111 a reatiOn between t Ile tco speculations, giving to the Otte the Willie and the rank of a 'entice, and refosulg it to the other, and alllrming that tie one rested upon induction, but not the

other ? We have, it is true, no experience directly of that (seat ]icing's ex- istcuce in whom we Lelieve as utir ['renter, nor Live We the testimony of any

man relatiog such experience of his osu. l nt so, neither 'taw nor any wit- nusws in ;my age have ever seen those wm ks of that Bring, the lost animals that once peopled the earth ; and yet the lights of inductive swience have con-

ducted

iN to a full knowledge of their nature, as well as a pet feet belief in their existene,.. \t it Iwo any evidence from our senses, or from the testimony of eye-

witnesses, we the existence and qualities of those animals, because we infer by the induction of facts that they once lived and were endowed with a certain nature."

Leaviertt; 110 proof.; of the question drawn from matter, Lord Bnourinam pro :ea.:1s to consider those which may be adduced from the censtitution of the human mind. In doing this, he claims Jim himself an orieinality to the praise of which he is not so well entithd as he seems to think. Ile also appears covertly to aim at depreciating Patsy; telling us that he had " so little of scientific! habits, so moderate a power of generalizing," that " it

limy be doubted whether he MilA IV impressed with the evidence of mental existence:" and that " his limited and unexercised powers of abstract discussion appear not to have given hitn any taste fir metaphysical speculations." This is possible: it is equally probable, that Pit EV'S sagacity enabled biro to foresee that if he once became involved in that labyrinth, he might puzzle his readers, bewilder himself, and " Mai no end, in wandering mazes lust." One of the first questions that might meet him in that ele- vated realm], would be the doctrine of Necessity,—Could the universe have been made other than it is ? could tl e law of gravi- tati•on for instance, which prevents the earth and the heavenly bodies nom careering wildly through space, have been dispensed with ? and if so, how ? awl if not, was the First Cause controlled by an existent power analogous to the ancient Pena, or restrained by the inherent !ironed ies of Chines? Yet this aw nil question, from which the humble iequirer has shrunk alarmed, and the most daring retired bthied, is very coolly assumed by the Member of the French Institute,—aiA in an example inconceivably absurd. Speaking of habit, he says—" It is a law of our nature that any exertion beecmes more easy the more frequently it is repeated. This might have been °there ise it might have been just the cm:IF:try, so that each successive operation should have been more difficult ; and it is needless to dwell upon the slowness of our pro- gress as well as upoit the painfulness of all our exertions, nay rather the impossibility of our making any adcances in learnin7, which must have been the result of such an intellectual confor- mation." Something much worse than the abolition of the school- master's occupation would have taken place; the human race must have become extinct almost at the time of its creation. Upon the assumption of Lord lictounti AM, man could never have earned his bread by the sweat of his brow; he could not have acquired, much less have discovered, nay, on this crab-like principle lie could not. have retained, a knowledge, if miraculously endowed with it, of the most necessary arts, but would have miserably perished by starvation. If the race were fed, like Elijah, by ravens, it would not suffice; they must have been miraculously clothed and miraculously housed. So far as we can judge, however, even this would not have been enough, unless the world had been a dead level, without precipices, and perhaps without water. Under this fancied system of creation, it appears pretty certain that man could not have even acquired a knowledge of distances. If he walked at all, it must have been with inconceivable difficulty and incessant stumbling ; the first ditch would throw him down; he would be dashed to pieces down the first precipice he came to. Truly we may say, with a panegyrical contemporary, what an extraordinary man is this BROUGHAM !

The constitution and functions of the mind lead readily to the consideration of its nature : and the argument of our author in favour of its immateriality is shrewd, bread, and ingenious; though these qualities are accompanied, if not attained, by a deficiency in philosophical exactness, which renders all by which he proves the immortality of man applicable to the higher class of animals. For part of this break-down he is nut to be censured, unless it be for the point from which he chose to begin his attack. The mate- rialist, we suspect, cannot be overthrown by proving that none of the properties of matter with which we are acquainted arc consis- tent with mind, because the same may be predicated of the vital principle even as displayed in vegetable life. The difficulty will not be got over by allowing matter some occult quality sufficient to sustain organic life ; because the qualities of conciausness, percep- tion, memory, and the improvement which arises from habit, do mt appear to differ at all in kind, and not man widely in degree between the higher order of animals nntl the savage. than between the savage and the educated man. The only mode of crushing; the materialist is, to give a definition of the human mind which shall not only exclude all the qualities pessessed by animals, but shall display such a clearly spiritual property as to sepal ate broadly the soul of man from the hp of brutes. For wa at of this detiiii- tion, the following passage, ingenious as it is, proves worse than nothings The conscieusness of mental identity " whilst the body has been constantly undergoing change in all its parts," is equally true of animals ; as may be known by the length of time which they will remember persens and places. 'Yet even had the defi- ciency alluded to been supplied, the argument is overstated by Lord Beor (Melt : the conclusion woukl be probiible, but is not positively proved. Every one knows that the mind retains its conscioueness whilst the body is coustautly changing. ; but we Lase no experience of its existence after death.

" The strongest of all the arguments Loth for the separate eNi,tetire of mind and for its surviving the body Rawlins, and it is drawn from the strictest indne- firm of facts. Thelody is constantly underAoing change in all its part:. Pro- htlav co person at the age of tw,..iity gets IOW single !Entitle in any pot of his Ludt' which he hail at ten ; and still les; Ilia, :My pm tion ref tics he was

horn with continue to exist in or Nett], that befiii el

:ail mar

entered into new combinations, finning parts of other men, or of aid aril:, or of vegetable or mineral substances, eNactly as the body he now his Will afrorW,LIal• be reSOIVA into near conildnations after his derail. Vet the mind centiww• one

and the same, cheat;;( or shadow of turning.' N■ine of its pit, ea,, be resolved ; for it is one and siag(e, and it remains unchatiged by the changes of the hotly. The arenniem moms be quite es strong though the change under- gone by the 111'111; acre admitted 110t to he co CO,Opiett., a!:11 thol01 spill!' small portion of its harder parts Al2FC to continue with otigh ifo. " Itut observe linty snow; the iofcrences arisin_:; from these dret,.;,c,, both to prove that the eNi-fence if the tuitel witirely in lependent of the cxistei.we 4the body, and to show the 'd. j.,: sin %dyne: ! It the mind co:d! . the save while ;I:1 or nearly the body is changed. it follows that the exist, ;m• nt the mind depolids nut in the !cast th,:;vco upon the existence of the body; for it Ins already sutriv;.1 a total Flt tug.. of, or, in the common 11,2 of the 'words, an entire ifestrom ion of that body. lint ig tin, if the snow:est armilient to show that the mind perishes avid) the body, nay, the only tmotitient, be, as it isiltdritably is, derived front the phenomena of tiw fact to titchich we have been refsIT'ng atilitils an answer to this. For the argument is, that ice know of no instanee in which the mind his ever tern sleeve to it after the death of the ;Jody. Now here is exactly the instance desi- derated ; it being man ili,st that the same process which takes place on the body more sichlvnly at death is taking place more gradually, but as 01,a:wally in the result, Miring the whole of life, ;mil that death itself does not 111010 emnpletely resolve the body into its elements and form it into new combinations, than living fifteen or tw'.II- 110e, destroy, by like resolution and combination, the to prove that body's death, that is, Mier the chronic dissolution which the body undergoes Miring life, the mind continues to exist as before. Ilere, then, we have that proof so much &silk:rated—the existence of the smal atter the dissolution of the bodily flame with which it was connected. The two eases cannot, in any SIMIIIIIIeSS of reasoning, be distinguished ; and this argu- ment, therefore—nue of pure induction, derived partly from ph) sival science, through the evidence of our senses, partly front psychological science, by the tes- timony of our conscionsuess—appears to prove the possible Immortality of the Soul almost as rigorously as it one were to rise from the dead.' " With the overstraining of which we have complained, there is occasionally a frankness of admission that ought not to have been hazarded without profound consideration. Thus, the writer con- cedes to animals a kind of reason, and seems half-disposed to ad- mit the eternal existence of matter. On the other hand, amid all Ins looseness, there are attempts at the refined and subtle puzzles of the old schoolmen. if we correctly catch his meaning, he thinks it maintainable that things have no inherent qualities apart from our perceptions of than; urginie against an eternity of time, that time is merely a " succession of ideas, and the consciousness and recollection which we have of that succession." his argu meats on space are of a still inure scholastic kind,and disfigured by all the scholastic jargon. But this section," On the Argument :I Priori," is, as we have said, the most successful piece of argument in the book. He establishes his own view in a couple of pages; the chapter, without necessity, occupies sixteen. In taking leave of the first division of the Discourse, we may observe, that for the sins of laxness and rashness Lord Beounuam is without defence. For his fundamental error in asserting that the evidence for Natural 'flteology is identical with that of the physical or mental sciences, the true ground of censure is perhaps the boastful positiveness with which it is brought tbrwael : the ground of the error itself seems closely identified with what is called Natural Theology. PA LEY starts with assumingan analogy, where there is in reality none. 1Ve kick our foot against a stone, and say in reply that it may have lain there for ever, because we know nothing about its creation. We pick up a watch, and we neither inferdesign nor a maker, because we know by elperience the existence of each ; and even in the qualified case afterwards supposed by PA LEY, experience must have taught the party the existence of an art analogous to watchmaking, before he would either bele • e or com-

prehend. If a savage picked up a watch, he would answer as we might al»ut the stone ; or if the watch were going, he might take it for an animal,—as some, we are told, have done. But if he found a bow and arrows, he would at once say they were made by man. From the works of art appealing to our experi- ence, we prove; from the productions of nature—productions so far beyond our knowledge—we can only infer.

Are detailed treatises on Natural Theology, then, useless? To bsget belief, we think they are: their use is in confirming faith. The productions of nature are all astonishing alike: as regards substanee, the simplest shell—as regards structure, the meanest animalcule — are as wonderful as the most complex instance that can be selected ; and the mysterious principle by which a radish- seed gormitiates into a vegetable, is far more so. But when the mind i:, by early education, or Ly any other means, convinced of the existence of the Creator, the study of his works will expand the intellect, strengthen belief, and add. ardour to devotion. The material world, from the meanest production of earth to the vast] ne•,s of the planetary system, will alike display his power, his wiss :Ina, and his benevolence : the practical examination of our mental eonstit ti tem, with its faculties, its affeetions, and its moral senses, will establish the same conclusions; and even the existence of the ereatest of natural evils—the dependence of the mind upon the body, pain, and death—may be used to demonstrate both the wis- dom and bonevoleace the Creator, as regards our earthly condi- tion. Some of these uses have been dimly alluded to by Lord Beotrettasr, in the second division of his work : but the views he entertains upon the subject of Theslogy have prevented him front doing more than allude to them, and thou only as a reply to an objection, not as an expssitiun of a science.