It is still more painful to see their renunciation of reason where the path is so plain, that effort seems required to go wrong; and to witness them giving up themselves and their services to the disposal of men as utterly destitute of principle as fiends.

Looking at examples of this nature, I have sometimes been almost ready to attribute the conduct of such men to infatuation. It is the folly of multitudes to be led into the plainest snares. They appear not to possess discernment enough to see what is palpably evident to all others. I think a full examination of the subject will fix the mischief on that natural fondness for error, which holds such a commanding empire over the minds of depraved beings. Men certainly love to be deceived. This is not indeed to be predicated in an equal degree of all; and if it may sound like a paradox to some, I am under no apprehension that the foundation on which it rests can be shaken.

In all legislative assemblies have been examples of flagrant injustice sanctioned by the voice of a majority, on whom arguments addressed to the understanding and appeals to the conscience were spent in vain. To show them that their regulations were fraught with mischief to the state, that they entailed curses on generations to come, that they tolerated and produced enormous injustice,-availed nothing. Some give present interest precedence to all other motives. These have the artifice to entrap many more, and make them throw their weight into the wrong scale. When a man has done violence to his conscience, and yielded his influence to the high handed measures of iniquity, however moral he may once have been, his reluctance to sin is seen to vanish; he thenceforward is sold to do mischief. Pleas of justice and calls of suffering are alike disregarded. It would spoil all the pleasure of such a spirit, to admit among its motives the desire of doing good. All its plans of aggrandizement would wither in the presence of so exalted a sentiment, as the love of its Creator.

The signal destitution of principle in many who direct the affairs of nations, gives a dark picture of the present world. While God makes use of depraved creatures as the instruments of his administration, and leaves them to a full exhibition of their character, they show how much they are his enemies and their own. So far as uncontrolled by the restraints of providence, they have tarnished the beauty of the Creator's works, and changed the blooming landscape into a field of blood. The amazing combinations of baseness and malignity existing in a given space, as within a village, a city, or a County, would be enough to appal the soul of any man, who does not understand something of the dreadful evil of sin, by the knowledge of the human heart, gained in studying the secrets of his own. So likewise, were the numerous forms of fraud practised in a small district fully disclosed to human eyes, with the aggravations attending each offence, the frightful spectacle would be sufficient to silence. many a proud asserter of the dignity of man's nature, his disposition to virtue, and the goodness of his heart. What a large proportion of the designs of men are originally wrong; and among those which have less vice in the foundation, how large a mass of iniquity attends their successive stages! the duplicity of one pretence, the sinister

motives of the agent, his aims at aggrandizement, and his hopes of impunity, if thoroughly known to his associates-would make them tremble for their safety.

For the sake of illustration, let it be supposed, that the Almighty were to make an immediate revelation of his design, in a particular instance, to disclose the true motives of the inhabitants of a single neighborhood, in all their conduct during the space of a month or a year, that each should know the most secret thoughts of all, and that no doubt should remain of such divine power being actually exerted in this specific manner,-what unutterable dismay would seize every bosom! Where is the man who could abide the revelation of the secrets of his soul, even though the awful disclosure should embrace only the period of a single day?

The same fraudulent concealment is observable in the intercourse between individuals, as in the transactions of public notoriety. In contracts, bargains, sales and purchases, all the precautions taken to bind man to his promise, speak an intelligible but reproachful language. But it is chiefly in the affairs of states, that the operations of such false dealing acquire a permanent character, which is transmitted through successive ages. The broad scale on which these are conducted, the space they occupy in the eyes of cotemporaries and in the page of history, and their effects on the happiness of millions, all unite to convey the stains of their guilt along the current of time.

In the dissolution of empires, in the destruction of their inhabitants, in the wasting march of death, triumphing over forgotten generations, in short, in all that is dreadful to the imagination and revolting to sensibility, are seen the immediate visitations of God upon the crimes of his revolted subjects, and a prelude to the destiny which awaits them.

There is something imposing in the spectacle of a body of men, selected by the public voice from a great nation, and assembled in grave debate on the affairs of that nation, ostensibly for the sole purpose of promoting its welfare. Could we rationally hope that a spark of love to God dwelt in each bosom, we might expect to see its effects in benevolence to men. Had we any evidence, that a belief of their accountability to the Supreme Lawgiver ever unchained their souls from the slavery of human opinions, and gave them a momentary elevation that they habitually placed themselves in imagination before the last tribunal, as listening to the sentence of the Judgewe should be ready to hope, that they could not be so utterly abandoned, as to lead the way to national destruction. But to see men, whose minds are enlightened by science, in the face of the world, and in the solemn act of legislation, advocate a cause begun and supported by the most shameful iniquity-to hear them in one breath boasting of freedom and whining about the rights of men, and in the next blustering for the prerogative of holding millions of fellow beings in hopeless bondage; to see them contend for the right of subjecting a fellow creature to suffering which knows no measure but the passion of an enraged tyrant, and no end but death,-to be a witness of all this, and reflect that these beings are men, and profess the highest regard for the institutions of humanity, is enough to make one blush

for the species to which he belongs. Numbers push forward in the ball of legislation offering reasons as hollow, as their purposes are base. They are not ashamed to insist on arguments grounded in the most palpable falsehood, which are not only known by their opponents to be untrue, but which themselves acknowledge to have been such, after their designs are accomplished. In such circumstances, their success is not more astonishing to other minds, than to their own. The frivolous pretexts, under which their measures are carried, sometimes have not the least semblance to truth; at others the effect is gained by clothing falsehood so well in garments of truth, that ignorant minds unaccustomed to their sophistry cannot unravel its intricacies, and noble minds have too much contempt for the whole to attempt a serious refutation.

It would greatly astonish any one, unaccustomed to examine human actions, were he to survey the busy field which encircles him, and bring home to a dispassionate judgment a full and fair representation of character. If he enter the study, the shop, or the market, the same painful exhibition meets him every where. To deceive others, seems man's first and ruling intention, to promote his self interests by the deception, the second. His past labors are magnified, his present capacities overrated; one gratifies pride, and the other increases his means of gain. The crouching flattery used before the artifice has succeeded, bears a ridiculous contrast with the boasting which follows it. When ignorance has been cheated, the exultation is loud and insulting.

It affords indeed a melancholy reflection, to observe how large a proportion of the talents and the labors of mankind, are employed in devising measures for the propagation of falsehood, and in furnishing means for accomplishing its purposes. The time, the talents, all the energies of wicked men, are chiefly devoted to maintain a fictitious appearance in the eyes of others. The strength is exhausted in the poor endeavor of seeming what they are not. They are wearied by day and waked by night in seeking to present a spectacle before the eyes of others, which cannot be preserved in their own. Instead of wishing to be generous or just, their souls are vexed and mortified by their failures of palming on spectators the resemblance of virtue which never dwelt in their bosoms. While putting their hands to specious measures of public generosity, many are only acting a farce, and when the wearisome effort is passed, and the curtain falls, they sink into the meanness of their own conceptions. Always enveloped in the fogs of selfishness, they dream of no purer region. The serene delights of disinterestedness, they never taste, nor even believe in the existence of a principle so far removed beyond their utmost flights of imagination.

A mortifying spectacle of baseness and successful villany is often exhibited in public transactions. Men of sterling integrity cannot stoop to many of the low artifices, which the unprincipled contrive without remorse and execute without shame. This unbending resistance, with which the man of incorruptible virtue meets the proposals of the abandoned, often throws employment out of his hands, and puts it in the power of the miserable, time-serving wretch, whose callons

heart never withholds him from crime, when it promises to advance. his interest. Character with such passes for nothing; or if they seek to keep up a fair appearance for a time, it is only so long as it may suit their purposes. As soon as the success of their plans is secured, the mask may either be thrown off, or reserved for a new scene of the same act. Nothing is too cruel to be pushed forward by them in their progress on the road of ambition. Those who have learned first to resist and then to silence all reproaches of conscience, never long regarded the voice of justice or the calls of compassion. Now to see the scoffers at justice succeed in their enterprise, is sufficiently perplexing. But beyond all the rest, to find the dupes of their fraud the first and loudest to trumpet their fame, and to second their measures, fills the bosom of the honest lover of his country with an anguish which no language can express. To know, that the enemies of order, the murderers of the souls of men, are at any rate triumphant, is matter enough of grief; but to see the poor victim rejoice in his captivity and exultingly forge his own chains,—to see him dance upon the scaffold of execution, and spend his latest breath in praise of his destroyer,-is enough to palsy the energies of any one who partakes of the common sensibilities of our nature. Unless he be completely broken off from the earth, and his affections centered in heaven, his very "soul sickens with despair," at the collusions of mercenary beings, of whom a great number have engrossed the honors of the world they seek to destroy. N. P.

CHARACTER OF DR. CHALMERS AS A PREACHER.

In Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, a periodical work recently established, there is an elaborate character of the celebrated Dr. Chalmers, as a pulpit orator. This character is written in a style quite too extravagant; but as it describes one of the great men of the present age, and has attracted considerable notice, we think our readers will be gratified in perusing large extracts from it. ED. PAN.

He has the art to make us listen to him with all the reverence which is due to a superior being, without taking away from the intimacy of that affection which binds us to nature like our own. We look up to him as to a father, or an elder brother, with an awe that is tempered with kindness, and an admiration that is stained by no lurking passion of envy. He produces at once the highest enjoyment in our intellect, and the most soothing calm within our hearts. We perceive, indeed, that he has the voice and the authority of a prophet, but we never forget that he has also the sympathies and fellow-feelings of a man.

We might take from him his reasonings, his philosophy, his genius, he would still be the most engaging of all orators, could he only retain that impassioned freedom which gives vent to the mild and heavenly feelings wherewith his bosom overflows. In this age of suspicion, mistrust, and mockery, most men are afraid of being ridiculed, should they unfold their inmost emotions, and retain, buried within the recesses of their hearts, nay, not unfrequently disguise, under an external veil of coldness and apathy, that genuine and melting tenderness, and that hailowed enthusiasm, which form in the eye of God, and

whenever they are made manifest, in the opinion of all good men, the best counterbalance to that weight of infirmity and sin, whereof the great mass of every human character is composed. The error has not only gone abroad among the common walks of life, it has crept into the senate-house and the sanctuary—it has banished all the fire of patriotism from the speeches of the statesman, and not a little of the fervency of devotion from the more solemn oratory of the priests. But Chalmers is too sensible of the dignity of his genius, to truckle to these base and chilling observances, originally invented by the cold and calculating infidel, although adopted by not a few among the sincerest of his brethren-He knows that he is the messenger of God to man; he knows that he would be unfaithful to his master should he leave behind him the most piercing of his weapons when he goes forth into the battle. He will not consent to conceal that which is in itself noble, out of regard to prejudices that are mean. He throws himself upon us with the fearless dignity of inspiration, and his voice awakens a sleeping echo in every human soul on which it comes. God has sent him there to speak the truth in thunder, and he flings away from him, and tramples beneath his feet, all the worthless associations with which our hearts are bound to mere earthly things-he holds his eyes fixed on the grandeur and magnificence of his mission; and as his soul rolls onward to the final accomplishment of the mighty end in view, the most common expressions seem to partake of the glory that agitates and disturbs his spirit.

Ere we have heard many sentences of his sermon, we feel that we are in the presence of a great man. A charm is upon us at once awful and delightful. We feel as if indeed born again,—as if in total forgetfulness of our own worthless individual selves, but belonging to a race of beings whose natures are imperfect, but whose destiny is glorious. Those old associations and impressions to which we have all our lives been accustomed, begin to start one by one into a new state of brightness and vigor. In every step of his progress, he seems to dissolve, by the touch of his magic wand, that stony sleep of letl:argy, in which some noble feeling of our nature had for a season been entranced. He gives us no new arguments, no new images, but be scatters the vivid rays of poetic splendor over those which, by the very frequency of repetition, have ceased to have any power either upon our reason or our fancy. We are lost in a vague maze of wonder, how it should happen that all these things seemed so trivial to us before-how arguments so convincing should have appeared weak, or images so appalling should have passed tamely and dimly before our eyes. He has at last gained the undisputed mastery, and we yield up our spirits that he may do with them according to his will. Our souls are quickened with a more vigorous sense of life; our heart-strings vibrate with unknown intensity of emotion. He carries our enthusiasm along with him in flights, whose loftiness we should not have dared to imagine. He plunges us into depths of contrition, from which he only could teach us to emerge, and shakes us over yawning abysses of despair, where his hand alone could preserve us from the last precipice of ruin. He melts us with love, kindles us with hope, or dar kens us with horror. We feel as if we were in the grasp of some