cedure seems to be observed---and hence we are led to the conclusion—that although the processes of nature are probably in all cases slow and gradual-yet that is only true when they are viewed in their whole extent and in their more secret as well as more superficial and apparent phenomena. But to men, whether as individuals or as communities, these extensive processes are not within the reach of their study—they are often, in fact, under the surface and conducted on a scale, which the utmost range of human intellect cannot be supposed capable of estimating-and hence it necessarily happens that as in the great processes of material nature, there are times of disruption which intervene between the different calmer states in which physical nature manifests itself-so in the affairs of communities-and in the lives of individual men, there are corresponding times when previous conditions of the social or individual life of men seem to be violently or unexpectedly broken up--and when a new order of things or of occurrences is preparing, which are to remain in repose for their own destined period. If the intellectual range of man were so enlarged as to take in the connection of the events that occur around him, with the entire system to which he belongs -it is probable that in the most sudden or violent transition states-whether of the material or of the social system, or of his own individual life-he would see one grand law pervading all things-and every thing brought forth in that quiet and gradual manner which the passages referred to have so beautifully represented. But, with our present limited powers of observation, this order is not always apparent, and the actually observed course of nature is rather that of times of quiet succeeded by transition states-which states are always times of great apparent disorder and alteration. Still it is quite true that the clearer and wider our view of the actual processes of nature, the more shall we be in a condition to accommodate ourselves to her intentions-and the less violent will be the changes which are destined to conduct us from one condition of social or individual life to that which is to succeed it. These thoughts, if followed out, would lead to some interesting and extensive views of the actual order of events. But, without enlarging on this very interesting topic at present, I cannot deny myself the pleasure of quoting another pas sage from the same author, relating to liberty of conscience, which may suggest much important matter of thought to even the most enlightened minds of the times in which we live. "The mightier," says our author, "that a man is, the more justly and temperately he ought to behave himself towards all men, but especially towards his subjects. Wherefore the senate and people of Basil did wisely, who having renounced the Bishop of Rome's religion, would not, upon the sudden, thrust the monks and nuns, with the other religious persons, out of their abbeys and monasteries, but only took order that, as they died, they should die both for themselves and their successors, expressly forbidding any new to be chosen in their places, so that by that means, their colleges might by little and little, by the death of their fellows, be extinguished. Whereby it came to pass that all the rest of the Carthusians, of their own accord, forsaking their cloisters, yet one of them, all alone, for a long time remained therein, quietly and without any disturbance, holding the right of his convent, being never enforced to change either his place, or habit, or old ceremonies, or religion before by him received. The like order was taken at Coire in the diet of the Grisons; wherein it was decreed, that the ministers of the reformed religion should be maintained off the profits and revenues of the church--the religious men nevertheless remaining in their cloisters and convents, to be by their death suppressed, they being now prohibited to choose any new instead of them which died. By which means they which professed the new religion, and they who professed the old, were to be provided for." Much interesting matter might be written on this passage as a text, but at present it is left to the careful meditation of those who are in a condition to perceive its value. ARE THE CHANGES THAT HAVE OCCURRED OR THAT MAY YET TAKE PLACE IN THE IT has been observed by Raynal, when speaking of the discovery of the New World, and of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, that the period when these events occurred, and which fell within the century in which printing was invented and the revival of letters took place-" was an era which gave rise to a revolution, not only in the commerce of nations, but in the manners, industry, and government of the world. At this period new connections were formed by the inhabitants of the most distant regions, for the supply of wants which they had never before experienced. The productions of climates situated under the Equator were consumed in countries bordering on the Pole; the industry of the north was transplanted to the south; and the inhabitants of the west were clothed with the manufacture of the east; a general intercourse of opinions, laws, and customs, diseases and remedies, virtues and vices, was established among men." "Every thing," continues the same author, "has changed, and must yet change more. But it is a question whether the revolutions that are past, or those which must henceforth take place, have been or can be of any utility to the human race. Will they add to the tranquillity, to the enjoyments, and to the happiness of mankind? Can they improve our present state, or do they only change it ?" A full discussion of this question might afford materials for a lengthened discourse, or for a volume of considerable sizeand a vast mass of curious observations might be adduced in the course of the illustrations. But the following questions, if they can be answered in the affirmative, seem to contain a summary of all that is most interesting that could be said upon the subject. In the first place, is the nature and condition of man as a social being capable of advancement? In the second place, is such advancement, supposing it possible, in conformity with the arrangements of the scene on which the human race exists? In the third place, will a sufficient length of time be granted for the development of the powers of progression which belong to the human race-and which are supposed to be in conformity with the arrangements of the scene of their existence ? And lastly, are there any symptoms of such a process having already been begun-and carried to a certain length, even during the comparatively short period during which the human race has already existed? As to the two first of these questions, there can be no hesitation in giving the reply-because it is as certain as anything whatever, that man is a being capable of great advances in his nature and condition, whether we view him as an individual, or a member of a social and moral community—and also that one of the most indubitable characteristics of the scene on which he exists is, that it is in a constant state of advancement-of evolution— and of progress. As to the third question, it is chiefly with respect to it that the views commonly entertained require to be corrected or extended -because there is little reason to believe that a speedy amelioration in the condition of men has any foundation whatever in the arrangements established by Divine Wisdom for the attainment of the end in question-but then, it must also be kept in view, that the human race are to be considered as but emerging from an infancy which is to be followed by a vastly lengthened and slowly progressive maturity-and that during the boundless ages that thus seem to be opened for the advancing career of the human family, it is impossible to say how far beyond all present calculation or probability, the attainments of the race may yet extend-or with what accessions to the tranquillity—the enjoyments —and the happiness of the whole, their attainments may be accompanied. Nor are there wanting evidences from fact that this supposed progress has already been begun-or that the comforts and social happiness of the human being have been greatly augmented by the additions which have been made to the scientific acquirements of the race-and that, as a moral and religious being, he has made decided advances on the attainments of the most brilliant of past eras-and as the career of acquisition, so far as knowledge and science are concerned, seems to be boundless-and knowledge is power-it does not seem to admit of doubt, that as science advances the dominion of man over all the materials of his happiness, must undergo a corresponding progression-and that there is no enthusiasm or extravagance, but the soundest wisdom in indulging the anticipations of fancy, even to their utmost height, on this subject-provided only we always keep in mind, that human nature itself will remain the same, in its essential elements, amidst all changes that error, and vice, and suffering, will in all coming, as in all past times, be the result of the essentially frail nature which belongs to mankind—and especially that, for the advances which we think ourselves entitled to anticipate, a vast expanse of future time must be conceded-and no hasty progression admitted as an element into our calculations. But, in the words of Kepler, " hæc et cetera hujusmodi latent in pandectis ævi sequentis, non antea discenda, quam librum hunc Deus arbiter seculorum recluserit mortalibus." "Veniet tempus," says Seneca, “ quo ista quæ latent nunc in lucem dies extrahit et longioris ævi diligentia. Veniet tempus quo posteri nostri tam aperta nos ignorasse mirabuntur." "This language," says Mr. Stewart, "coincides exactly with that of the Chancellor Bacon-but it was reserved for the latter to illustrate the connection between the progress of human knowledge and of human happiness, or (to borrow his own phraseology) the connection between the progress of knowledge, and the enlargement of man's power over the destiny of his species." It is worthy of being added to the preceding remarks, that the progress of human knowledge in all its branches, naturally leads |