sence,* Immutability,† Justice, ‡ and Holiness. § We are taught that He is every where - that nothing is hidden from his eye- and that He will bring every secret thing to light, whether it be good or evil. The Christian's God is represented as being "jealous" of His honor," and will not give his glory to another. This, and all other traits in the God of revelation, our faculties, unbiassed, delight to contemplate. It is here that Veneration finds its restingplace; here, alone, that happiness is to be found; here, that the creature discovers the image in which he was created.

It is hoped that the truth of the fourth proposition is now fully seen: That it will appear, that man, being constrained by the constitution of his mind to worship some being, CAN APPROVE OF THE GOD OF CHRISTIANITY ONLY as the fit object of worship.

I am well aware that objections may be started against this view, by having recourse

*Psalm cxxxix. 7.

† Malachi iii. 6; James i. 17.

Gen. xviii. 25; Deut. xxxii. 4; Rev. xv. 3.

§ Lev. xix. 2; 1 Sam. ii. 2; Isaiah vi. 3; Rev. iv. 8.

to the particular character of the God of revelation, as exhibited in the facts forming the foundations of Christianity; but, as this part of the argument embraces merely the general character; and as the nature of these facts will be fully illustrated hereafter, the conclusion remains indisputable, that the God of Christianity, as to his general character, is the only one approved of by our unbiassed faculties; and, being so, we are justified in concluding, that the Author of this system is the Creator of our frames, the Former of our mental constitution.

Well, then, may the Christian disciple adopt the language of Paul and say, "For though there be indeed, what, by the heathen are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth; as there are in their estimation many gods and many lords, yet to us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things are, and we are formed for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom all things are, and we are saved by him."- 1 Corinthians viii. 5, 6.

PART II.

HAVING proved that the UNBIASSED decision of the intellectual and moral faculties leads to the approval of the God of Christianity as the object of adoration, because that God is, in His attributes, one that can admit of the activity of the whole of these faculties; and having shown that man, instead of bowing in reverence before this his Maker, has bended his knee before a Venus, a deification of lust; a Mars, an emblem of war and all its horrors; a Jupiter, a similitude of a buccaneer, despising laws civil, domestic, and religious; and others equally bad; it naturally arises as a question, how has this taken place? And when we see, in addition, that man still bows before the creatures of his lust, before some inferior object, which he considers perfection, the question is still more powerfully pressed home, and an

impulsive feeling leads to the inquiry, how it is that the world by wisdom knew not God?

The replies to these inquiries, as well as other important points, will be treated of in this, the second part of the dissertation; and, in order that this paradox may be unravelled, the argument drawn from the particular character of God, as exhibited in the means for obtaining and preserving his favor, coinciding with the constitution of the human mind as demonstrated by Phrenology, will be brought forward and illustrated.

The fifth proposition to be examined is, THAT MAN NATURALLY CAN DO NOTHING GOOD IN THE SIGHT OF GOD, AND THAT CHRISTIANITY

RECOGNISES THIS INABILITY.

It has been hinted, that in the earlier ages of Greece and Rome, some faint ideas of one wise and intelligent Being are perceptible. This, no doubt, was the result of the faculties which, unbiassed, lead to the God of Christianity as the fit object for adoration, not being totally

overpowered by the animal propensities. Still the ignorance respecting the Supreme was general; so much so, that Lactantius says of Plato, "Plato somniaverat Deum, non cognoverat ;' "Plato had dreamed about, but had not known, God." And Seneca remarks, "Nemo novit Deum; multi de illo malè existimant et impunè." Ep. xxxi. "No one has known God; many think wickedly and without punishment respecting him." So great, however, was the blindness, that even the Jews themselves, who were favored by revelations from the God of Christianity, continually forgot him, and fell into the idolatries of the surrounding nations.

Seeing, then, that the faculties, unbiassed, lead to the choice of the God of Christianity, and bearing in mind the fact, that none have ever chosen this Being, we must conclude in the existence of a general change in human nature, and that for the worse. Indeed, in any way to account for this ignorance of man, we must conclude that some evil change has taken place in his mental constitution; and the desperately wicked nature of this is shown in the effect, that it has alienated his mind from God.