be traced throughout all the ages, and in all the circumstances in which men have been found.-The legislators of antiquity of all classes, accordingly, have uniformly spoken of their codes of lawsor of moral—or religious opinion—as destined to remain throughout all generations;--and even those who have executed works of superior excellence, have been dazzled by the same notion of an earthly immortality for their productions, and have obviously cherished and been cheered by the belief, that time, with all its subsequent mutations, would neither be able to destroy the materials of which their works were constructed--nor to give birth to other productions of human genius, more suited to any changes of taste that might subsequently

arise.

Nor are we to suppose that the men of the present day are in any degree wiser in this respect than all those that have preceded them;--they have indeed arrived at the conclusion, that all past things were destined for change, and worthy of being destroyed-but still they obviously cherish the belief, that, if their schemes were only permitted to be fully put in execution, they would give birth to a state of things-to forms of policy and systems of faith-and to modes of philosophic or literary belief-which could never need to be sup

planted by any future improvements-but which, being formed on the most perfect model of human policy and human opinion, would remain in undiminished beauty and vigour till the end of the world.

Nor is this disposition of the human mind— universal, in a certain degree, as it seems to be— without a well adjusted relation to the circumstances amidst which man is placed-or without traces of that wise and benevolent design on the part of the Author of Nature which characterizes all his works.

For it is to be kept in mind, that however incessant and efficacious the tendency to change that is in all human things may be, yet Providence has so ordered the constitution of this world, that the change which is actually going forward, is often for a long period without any apparent symptoms of its progress; the surface of society thus frequently remains for many years, or it may be ages, in a state of repose-although there is incessantly going on, as it were beneath the surface, the elements of an alteration which is destined eventually to produce the most momentous effects-and the secret hearts and thoughts of men, which are the true theatres of all great alterations, may thus for many years be slowly adopting modes of thought,

or indulging in dispositions which only increase, and are diffused with each successive generation— while yet, to a superficial observer, every thing seems to remain in a changeless state of stability and rest.

And it is further a part of the plan of Providence, conformable with the same general style of procedure, that the various modifications of existence that have a place upon the face of this world, have periods of longer or shorter duration assigned them-corresponding with the purposes they are destined to serve, and the principles upon which they have been constructed. Thus individuals are destined, by the very constitution of this world, for but a transitory and fugitive existence ; -families, being a more continuous and permanent mode of social existence, naturally maintain their place for a longer period;—and communities and kingdoms, being destined for the good of successive generations, could not have accomplished their purpose, unless they had been ordained to continue throughout a succession of centuriesand sometimes, when their foundations have been well laid, and they are in harmony with the state of the world at the time of their existence, they may be observed to have maintained their place throughout a long series of ages, and amid many great

alterations in the remote portions of the communities of men. Thus, though the tendency to change, and the actual progress of change, is incessant, yet providence has so ordered the state of things on the surface of this world, that that change is often not only not perceptible, but that the different modes of being have apparently a condition of stability for a greater or longer period assigned them by the very purposes they were formed to serve-and by their relation to the subordinate existences included in their duration.

And lastly, it is instructive to remark, in connection with this subject, that the lives of individual men, being but of very transitory duration, their imaginations, in their daily and habitual excursions, are accommodated to the shortness of the period during which human existence is to be continued. No doubt, the imagination of man is his most excursive, and, in some respects, his most unmanageable faculty, and occasionally, it does bring him gleams of light from afar, which have the effect, for a moment, of enlarging his notions of the scene on which he acts and of the results that are to flow from his exertions. But yet, these are only occasional and passing exercises of this faculty; for more habitually, it is employed in magnifying the fleeting events that make up his

daily routine, into an importance corresponding with the entire character of his mortal existence;and Providence has thus beautifully and beneficently ordained, that while the life of man, as an individual, is but of the most momentary duration, it yet seems to him, in his habitual modes of thought, to be coeval with the entire system of things in which he holds his place. He is thus, like an individual in private life, who, finding himself in a situation which he knows not how long he may occupy, yet sets himself to the improvement of every thing about him, as if it were to be his abode for ever-and who thus accomplishes far more good, and adds vastly more to his own comfort, than if he had acted on the supposition that he might only occupy his home or his garden for a few weeks or months. Were man, in the same manner, accustomed to consider his whole mortal existence, in its altogether momentary relation to the entire subsistence of this world, it is obvious that his taste for exertion, and the quantity of good he could effect, would be incalculably lowered; but Providence, which acts in this, as in the whole system of its proceedings, with a perfect adaptation to the condition of individuals, while the grand interests of the entire scheme are going forward, has wisely ordered, that even amidst this