take effect through the reason and will, when the poor fellow has no will at all?

We are heartily tired of this modern wisdom which cannot stir a foot without devouring itself. Sometimes it comes in the shape of a theologian who defines sin to be a perfectly innocent and harmless thing-a mere friction of finite nature having no evil consequences attached to it whatever, but on the other hand possessed of an educating power, by which man is steadily lifted toward perfection; and then he turns and blasts men on the right hand and on the left for their wickedness. His public vocation is to show that men generally are corrupt, cruel, grasping, bigoted, oppressive, and in every way wrong, except those who go to his meeting. Or sometimes the theology takes a somewhat different form, and teaches that to try and awaken in men a sense of sin,-to make them go with bowed heads under a feeling of guilt, is the greatest wrong which can possibly be committed, and that the man who does such a thing ought to feel what a miserable wretch he is, and to know that no punishment can be too great for him.

Or again, this wisdom presents itself in the form of a refined and gentle optimism, which bathes itself in moonlight, and goes out in dreams and exstatic visions, but if it ever condesends to come down and discourse about the actualities of this work-a-day world, it finds society at sixes and sevens, at all points, and everything, somehow, needs to be made over. Or sometimes, as in the book before us, it takes the scientific turn, teaching us that individuals and nations have their destinies determined for them, without any power on their own part to make them otherwise than they are, and then goes off into a consideration of what men should do, and what they should not do, in the regulation of their life and conduct, or, passing on to the broad field of national interests, attempts to shape out a "future civil policy of America," when that policy is determined absolutely from all eternity by the climate, soil, rivers, mountains, and lakes, and other physical influences, underlying and surrounding the nation.

It is related of the witty divine, Rev. Thomas Williams, that having written the sermon to be preached at the funeral of

the celebrated Dr. Emmons, years before the death of the latter, he was one day reading the sermon to the Doctor himself, who had a natural curiosity to hear what was said in it, when he was interrupted by a remark from the listener, "Stop!" said Mr. Williams, "you have nothing to say; you are a dead man." We say the same thing of Dr. Draper, in reference to all the suggestions which he has kindly consented to make to us in the latter part of his book. Ile has no business to be talking. He has cnt himself off from the right of addressing arguments to men, of such a nature that they can take effect only on their reason, and be acted out through their freedom of will, when they have no such freedom.

That we may not seem to be writing at random, we return again and quote the language of our author. He is speaking of the close analogy which exists between the life of an Individual and the life of a Nation, and says--" Nor does the analogy between the Individual and the Nation end here. A similar, perhaps a more surprising parallelism is perceived when their modes of growth are considered, for not alone in the incidents of birth and death are they alike. As the former pursues his way through the successive stages of infancy, childhood, youth, maturity, old age, so, as history teaches, does the latter too. The Individual, helplessly and in a predestined manner, runs through these stages, being unable to modify their succession, or to accelerate or retard their occurrence. The Nation, also, in a like helpless and predetermined way, moves through the same inevitable career. An unavoidable destiny rules over the progress of both." p. 16. If this language, so far as the Individual is concerned, is made to refer simply and solely to these successive stages of life, then of course we admit its truth. We select the sentence more especially for what is said about the law which rules over the life of a Nation. But we quote again,-" And here I cannot help making the remark, that whoever accepts these principles as true, and bears in mind how physical circumstances control the deeds of men, as it may be said in spite of themselves, will have a disposition to look with generosity on the acts of political enemies." p. 80. We do not deny that Dr. Draper claims that he finds a place

in his system for the freedom of the will, but what this freedom amounts to, we will let him explain for himself. "I have descended to these paltry facts, and quoted these seemingly trivial numbers, for the purpose of bringing into clearer relief the cardinal doctrine that in individual life, in social life, in national life, everything is influenced by physical agents, and is, therefore, under the control of law. Far from denying the operation of man's free will, I give to that great truth all the weight that can be desired; but then I affirm there is something that overrides, that forever keeps it in check.

*

"If the reader will try a very simple physiological experiment upon himself, he will, probably, come to a clearer understanding of what is here meant. Let him execute with his right hand the motion he would resort to in winding a thread upon a reel. Then let him do the same thing, only winding the opposite way. * * Next let him try to do both,not successively, but simultaneously. Let him put forth all the strength of his determination. A free-will actor, he has now the opportunity of giving an illustration of his power. In the failure of repeated trials, he may discern what his voluntary determinations come to, and what they are really worth. He may learn from this simple experiment, that there is something over-controls him, and puts a limit to his power." pp. 36, 37.

To all this we have to say, that it no more disproves freedom of the will, than does the fact, that an infant in the cradle cannot use his fingers with the skill and dexterity of an adult. That which is here presented to be done can, doubtless, be accomplished with the utmost ease by one who has trained himself to it, and he would not, perhaps, find it difficult to vary the performance, by an equally complicated double-motion with his feet at the same time.

But we have brought forward passages enough to show that our anthor does not allow any real freedom, either for individuals or for nations. They alike go on in their predestined way, under the control of physical law. And, therefore, we say that his brilliant chapter, "On the political force of ideas," and all the suggestions which he makes in the closing part of the book,

with a view to shape the "future policy of America," this way or that, are utterly irrelevant. From his premises he has no business to bring them forward. But letting go this discrepancy, and supposing the whole matter to rest upon a common basis of argument, we have this further to say,

III. That we object to this book for the estimate in which it holds moral and religious influences, as compared with scientific.

We may understand the author's position on this point by a few brief quotations. "There are but three powers that can organize the world,-theology, literature, science. Europe has tried the first; her present condition shows what is the utmost it can do. China has tried the second, and has become conceited and exclusive. It has been truly affirmed that for these purposes science has this advantage over literature, that it admits of universal communion." p. 250. "I repeat again the great truth, that the only method of ameliorating the condition of men is by acting on their intelligence; even their morals must be guided by their understanding." p. 270. "The moral is, in its very nature, stationary. Alone it is incompetent to guide the advancement of society. Social elevation can only be accomplished by appealing to the understanding, and that will influence the heart." p. 291. "The education of the clergy, I think, is not equal to that of physicians or lawyers. The provisions are sufficient, and the time is sufficient, but the direction is faulty." p. 277. "Content with such a knowledge of nature as might have answered a century ago, the imposing and ever-increasing body of modern science they decline. And yet it is that science and its practical applications which are now guiding the destinies of civilization." pp. 278, 279.

We shall not attempt to prove that clergymen are as well educated as doctors and lawyers, but we have reason to rejoice that their culture is broad and catholic enough, so that they can combine and hold in one enlarged view, theology, literature, and science, as efficient and harmonious instrumentalities. for shaping and elevating mankind. We know of no one, at least among those clergymen who have received a liberal edu

cation in this part of the land, who ever thinks of divorcing theology from literature and science, after this manner. And so far is it from true, that there is any hostility against real science on the part of the clergy, or any opposition to the widest and most thorough education of the whole people, this very idea of universal education among us came not originally from men of science, but from plain and sternly religious men. It never would have found its way into the world where such views of man's origin and destiny prevailed, as those developed in the volume before us. It is not the growth of any such philosophy. It may, with far more propriety, be regarded as a strictly religious idea. It came in with men of Puritan faith, who thought the soul of every individual, even the humblest, to be something of such infinite worth, that it must not be left in darkness and moral night. They looked upon men, not alone with reference to the place they might fill in an earthly state or kingdom (though they did not neglect this), but their thought was more intently fixed upon the place they might fill, and the part they might bear in the eternal kingdom of a personal and holy God. And with such views they had minds broad enough, and faith strong enough, to body forth and sustain such a scheme for the universal education of the people, as no materialistic philosophy ever yet conceived. So far from having any opposition to true and genuine science, the first measures for the promotion of science in this country were originated in colleges manned and controlled by clergymen, and existing primarily for the education of clergymen. Be it understood, once for all, that the educated ministers of this country, at least those of New England origin, are not afraid of science, but they repudiate such thinking and reasoning as abound in this book. They have, it is true, a profound conviction that there is an original and independent existence called Mind, as well as a world of Matter-that the former has a philosophy of its own, as well as the latter, not finished and complete any more than natural science is, but in many of its fundamental principles established beyond the liability of change.

They see at a glance that our author is beating