it. They live, upon the whole, at random: seldom troubling themselves with the thought of any one grand object, with a view to which their whole conduct should be regulated, but taking up with such immediate ends, as come and go, from time to time, in and out of their imaginations. Of those, again, who are more decisive in their plans,— who have chosen each his own end in life, and are turning every thing, diligently enough, to account in their respective schemes; it is clear, were it only from the great diversity of ends, that a large majority must be very far astray.

There is, then, in the conduct of human life, a stronger temptation to go on at random without any end at all, than can well be supposed in any of the particular arts. There is also a greater choice of apparent ends, than any one of them can present. For both reasons, the chances of going wrong, in pursuit of happiness, are many times more numerous than in pursuit of any particular object. And the necessity and paramount value of that Moral Taste, which can alone secure us among so many hazards, will become so much the more evident.

By "moral taste," according to that explanation of the word taste in general, upon which this argument proceeds, would be denoted a sound perception of the chief good, together with a real and steady wish to obtain it.

Now it is farther to

be observed, that in the arts and partial occupations of life, it is very possible for these two elements of

taste to be separated from each other. A man may have the right understanding of the end of an art, without caring to obtain it but so far as he does go in it from any foreign motive, his understanding of the end will make him go right. But in morals, right understanding and right desire depend much more closely upon each other. Wrong choice deadens our sense of the general principle, as surely as wrong principle misleads and debases our choice. Whether this can be fully accounted for, or no, (as it has been, in a great measure, from our faculty of passive habits,) the matter of fact is unquestionable; and we may fairly conclude from it, that the true and consistent desire of excellency is even more essential to moral taste, than to taste in any particular occupation or accomplishment.

In whatever degree, then, the considerations now advanced may seem to account for the preference, due to self-devotion and singleness of purpose above general ingenuity and talent, with a view to excellence in the several arts and pursuits, into which life is divided: in the same degree, and much more, will they account for the like preference, in the universal pursuit of happiness, and the universal art of living well. And so far we may admit the satisfactory conviction, that whatever claim Holy Scripture may seem to advance, on behalf of Christian sincerity, to be accepted as a competent judge on all questions of

practical religion, is no paradox, no unaccountable exception to the ordinary course of God's dealings with mankind, but is just what analogy, and antecedent reasoning, would lead considerate persons to expect.

In fact, we can hardly open the Bible at all, without finding such a claim earnestly and distinctly recognised. To judge fairly, indeed, of the truth and importance of this observation, we should examine, with reference to it, the whole of Scripture, considered as an exhibition more or less entire, of the scheme or system of God's dealings with mankind. The contents of the Bible should be patiently and thoughtfully considered with strict attention to this point: Whether the selection of its topics, the order in which they are disposed, and the method of treating them, be not apparently such, as to supply the fullest probation possible of the reader's honesty and seriousness: startling to such as will take offence, but ever leading those, who approach it in the right disposition, from one degree of spiritual strength to another, and fixing within them, daily, a more sober and earnest hope of everlasting life.

A striking exemplification of this may be found in the order, in which the two leading historical points of the true religion are presented to any one, who reads the Bible regularly on from the beginning to the end: the corruption of mankind being the prominent doctrine of the Old Testament,

and their redemption, of the New. That is, the truths most revolting and distressing to human nature, but most continually presented to our view in real life, are cautiously and fully impressed upon the mind, before it is invited to dwell upon the more cheering and elevating half of the Gospel. This seems exactly what ordinary minds would require. To have the disease, of which they are conscious, recognised, and its symptoms truly described, is enough to give them full confidence in their physician. But it is not so exactly the way of proceeding best calculated to attract independent and sanguine spirits, who do not so much care to be helped, as to learn how to help themselves. It is easy to perceive, moreover, how precisely the degree of acceptance, which this method of instruction would meet with, would be proportioned to the humbleness and self-denial of the learner, and to his just sense of moral obligation and how unlikely it is, of itself, to captivate minds accustomed to the graces of literature, and to the rhetorical exhibition of truth in its most inviting form.

:

Thus much by way of faint specimen of the effect of such an examination of Scripture, as was just now supposed. If fairly instituted and patiently carried through, it would leave as little doubt of the divine purpose in this matter, as the analysis of any other combination of means, natural or providential, is wont to leave of the

purpose, which the Guide of Nature and Providence had in view in that part of His dispensations".

But as any enquiry of this sort must, from its very nature, be a work of time; and moreover may seem, in some respects, peculiarly liable to be made a work of human fancy and prejudice, instead of fair and reasonable exposition upon principles taught of God: it is very material to observe, that Holy Scripture itself has, in many ways and many places, anticipated its result; laying it down repeatedly, as a kind of canon of sacred criticism, that, in disputed cases, that interpretation of God's works and ways, which approves itself most entirely to the sober and devout spirit, stands in general a fairer chance of being the true interpretation, than what has the suffrage of minds ingenious and original, but deficient in those moral requisites.

This observation might be verified by reference both to the historical and to the didactic parts of Holy Scripture: the one describing, as matter of fact, the reception which religious and moral truth has ever met with in the world at large: the other inculcating, as matter of warning, what sort of practical preparation it implies and takes for granted, by the method in which it addresses itself to each individual. Let us, for example, turn our thoughts to the numerous declarations, in the Book of Proverbs, concerning the sort of persons, who See Miller's Bampton Lectures, iv, v,

vi.