the faithful use of man's natural powers. Men may call it miraculous, but nothing is more natural; or they may say it is entirely human, for it is the result of man's use of his faculties; but what is more divine than wisdom, goodness, religion?" Wisdom, goodness, religion, then, instead of resulting from the proper use of man's natural powers, aided by the grace of God, are these powers themselves; are faculties of man's nature. Whoever before called wisdom, goodness, or religion, a natural power or faculty of man? Really, we are tempted perpetually, in reading this volume, to believe in sober earnest that its author recognises no distinction between a fact of life and an element of being, that is, between the actor and the act, the cause and the effect; for he is continually confounding the

two.

Nor is this all. The view he here takes makes wisdom, goodness, religion, the source, not the effect, of inspiration. Is the author aware of the singular doctrine he teaches in this? "A foolish man, as such," he says, "cannot be inspired to reveal wisdom, nor a wicked man to reveal virtue, nor an impious man to reveal religion. Unto him that hath more is given. The poet reveals poetry, the artist art, the philosopher science, the saint religion. The greater, purer, loftier, more complete the character, so is the inspiration." p. 221. A man's wisdom, goodness, religion, are the sources of his inspiration; what then is the source of these? If Mr. Parker were asking by what means one man could inspire other men, he would not be so far out of the way. But this is not the question. Whence the inspiration which the man himself experiences? not, Whence that which he imparts? If a man is inspired only as the result of his wisdom, goodness, and religion, or piety, that is, as the result of the faithful use of his faculties, then it follows that he does not need to be inspired in order to make a proper use of his faculties, or to be wise, good, and religious. What purpose then does inspiration serve? If the poet's inspiration comes from his power, his excellence as a

poet; what is it that makes him a poet? And after you have got the poet without any dependence on inspiration, what need of the inspiration? If we have the saint, what need we care for the inspiration? We had supposed poetic inspiration necessary to constitute the poet, but Mr. Parker has discovered that the poetic inspiration is the result of the fact, that one is a poet. We had thought inspiration necessary to enable one to be wise, good, religious; but Mr. Parker corrects us, and assures us that it is necessary to be wise, good, and religious, in order to be inspired. The great end of life, we presume no one will question, is fulfilled, when one is truly wise, good, and religious. We ask again, then, the use of inspiration? Surely, it is bad economy to produce a thing so costly, when we can make no use of it; when it can serve no purpose, and is not needed to enable us to fulfil the great ends of life. We have observed, from the beginning of this volume to the end, an apparently studied effort to represent all that has usually been considered by religious people as essential, to be entirely unnecessary. Thus religion itself is made to derive its character, and all its worth, from the wisdom and goodness it finds in the breast where it lodges. So we do not need religion in order to be wise and good. What then do we need it for, but to make us foolish and wicked? And now inspiration is made to depend on our wisdom, goodness, and religion; consequently we have no need of inspiration in order to be wise, good, and religious. What then do we need it for; to be foolish, wicked, and irreligious? By and by we shall see the same thing when we come to Christianity. We shall have Christianity distinguished from absolute religion; absolute religion declared to be the only religion necessary, to be also easily ascertained, while a relative, historical form of religion, like Christianity, is exceedingly difficult to learn, and one hardly knows when he has learned it. If absolute religion is enough, and Christianity is not that religion, what need of Christianity? If a knowledge of absolute religion is plain and easy to be ac

quired, and that of Christianity difficult, why trouble oneself about Christianity at all? Is Mr. Parker aware whither all this leads? If so, it will be hard to clear him of disingenuousness; if not, he writes with an almost inexcusable degree of carelessness.

"Now, as in the days of Adam, Moses, Jesus, he that is faithful to reason, conscience, and religion, will, through them, receive inspiration to guide him through all his pilgrimage." p. 234. Very true; so he, who will exercise his reason, will be cured of his insanity. Nothing more true. But alas, the inability to exercise reason is the insanity! "Reason, conscience, religion, mediate between us and God, as the senses do between us and matter." p. 227. Here is the key to Mr. Parker's theory. The natural activity of reason, conscience, religion, (piety?) is precisely what he means by inspiration. The activity of reason, conscience, religion, is the ME, ourselves, ourself. Consequently when we act reasonably, conscientiously, religiously, we are inspired-act by inspiration. We have the natural ability so to act, and therefore the natural ability to be inspired. There is no more need of any supernatural aid to be reasonable, conscientious, and religious, than to eat, drink, or sleep. All may be done in accordance with and by virtue of natural laws. If this is not excluding God, as a free providence, from the moral world, we know not what is. This, we think, justifies us in calling Mr. Parker's system sheer naturalism, and proves that we have not misinterpreted his view of inspiration.

But to make the matter doubly sure, let us hear Mr. Parker still further, and penetrate if possible his secret thought. Speaking of the fact of inspiration, he says, p. 223, "It takes the rose out of the cheek, turns the man in upon himself, and gives him more of truth. Then, in a poetic fancy, the man sees visions; has wondrous revelations; every mountain thunders; God burns in every bush; flames out in the crimson cloud; speaks in the wind; descends with every dove; is All in All. The soul, deep-wrought, in its intense struggle,

gives outness to its thought, and on the trees and stars, the fields, the floods, the corn ripe for the sickle, on man, and woman, it sees its burthen writ. The Spirit within constrains the man." That is, the soul struggles to utter what it feels, constrained by its own intense, earnest spirit, and what it reads as the "burthen of the Lord," is merely what it has projected from itself in endeavoring to give outness to its thought. Once for all, does Mr. Parker recognise any distinction between the soul of man and God, or does he not? We feel almost authorized, from his apparent delight in designating God as the great SOUL OF ALL, to say that he does If he does, how can he call the struggles of the soul to give outness to its thoughts, and in poetic fancy writing them on trees, stars, fields, floods, corn, man, and woman, the receiving of the truth of God into the soul?

The man "is full of God. While he muses the fire burns; his bosom will scarce hold his heart. He must speak, or he dies, though the earth quake at his word. Timid flesh may resist, and Moses say, I am slow of speech. What avails that? The Soul says, Go, and I will be with thy mouth, to quicken thy tardy tongue." p. 224. This is very kind in the soul, for if it should refuse to go with him, Moses would be obliged to go without his soul. Really, this is carrying the poetic license a little too far. We can take much by way of joke or pleasantry; but when a man in downright earnest, in a passage as high wrought as the one from which we quote, talks about a man's soul rising up and telling him not to be fainthearted, not to hesitate because he is not of a ready speech, for it will go with him, be with his mouth, and quicken his tongue, we hardly know whether to grieve or to laugh.

Mr. Parker unquestionably admits degrees of inspiration, and that some are more inspired than others, because they are more obedient, and because they were created with a greater quantity of being. Is not God unjust, partial, capricious, in creating one man with a greater

are not se

quantity of being than another? But let that pass. These men,- for "inspiration, then, is the consequence of a faithful use of our faculties," p. 220,lected out from among their brethren, and specially called and qualified by their Maker through his grace to be his agents, messengers, or ministers in the accomplishment of his purposes. Indeed, according to Mr. Parker, there does not seem to be any grand providential scheme or plan in the universe, which God is fulfilling, and for the fulfilling of which he raiseth up whom he will and putteth down whom he will, making one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor; or indeed if such plan there be, God raises up no special agents for carrying it on, but makes use of such agents as he finds already furnished to his hand. Thus the specially inspired are not specially inspired to accomplish God's purposes, but are chosen to accomplish those purposes because they are specially inspired, that is, specially qualified by their own wisdom, goodness, religion, or the faithful use of their own faculties. Hence, they, who have believed that God selects, calls his agents before they are born, and sanctifies them from the womb, are greatly mistaken. We bear the "burthen of the Lord," because he sees that we are strong and able; and he chooses us to bear it, because he sees that we are able. This is the doctrine we are now to subscribe to! See me, who venture to stand forth in the eyes of the world, the herald of new views. The world denounces me, society scowls upon me, my brother abandons me, but why shall I feel it, or be cast down? Has not God chosen me to be the messenger of his truth? and me, of all men, because I am wiser, better, more religious? Was ever a doctrine more flattering to human pride? O, my brother, if you and I have been chosen to speak to this age words of which it hath need, and to bear the reproach, it is not because we are better, or dearer to God than our brethren, nor because we are stronger or more able to bear the "burthen;" but because God's providence requires certain in